It was midnight when Ash made it to the location, which Tallonflame considered to be Team Rocket`s base. It was situated on the north of Kanto, far from any cities or villages, so it was a perfect place to hide from people`s awareness. When you were flying from the air, the base was nearly invincible; you had to land on the ground to notice a few details that proved that Tallonflame was right. One of them was a large piece of glass that was situated in one of the valleys. It was covered with many plants, some of them were the same plants that Ash had met in the base, where Team Rocket was keeping May. It was a perfect point to strike, but Ash wasn`t stupid. He knew that this time his enemies will be ready for him to come.
"If we want to go inside, we must dig a tunnel under that main corridor" Ash pointed out to show his Pokemon what he had on his mind. "Flareon will take care of it. When he will end his work, it will be Sceptile`s and Greninja`s turn to get rid of some guards that will surely be somewhere near. After that, we should sneak into the chamber, where they are keeping Serena" the raven-haired trainer sighed. "It also won`t be easy, because we don`t know where is it situated. And, we can`t take this information from any of the people from inside of the base, because they will surely alarm the others."
The loyal Pokemon agreed with their trainer: trying to get information like this was very risky. While they were arguing about it all, no one noticed that Snorlax woke up from his long nap. He moaned loudly, which bring Ash`s attention to him. When Ketchum realized that Snorlax was lying near him, an idea came into his mind.
"Okay, maybe there is a chance to find it out. When we`ll be inside, I`ll release Snorlax from its Pokeball and he will try to get the attention. It won`t be so hard for him, and also no one will hurt him because of his… high amount of fat. Furthermore, if anyone will just try to do something to Snorlax… ouch. That should give us a chance to sneak into the main room, where all of the machines and databases are situated. There we will get what we want."
Only Snorlax made any sound when Ash has ended his talk. It was a burp, but it sounded quite as an agreement for Ash`s plans.
"Then, Charizard and I are going to break into the right chamber and release Serena. You, guys, will cover our back while we will be running out of this place. Be sure to watch at yourselves, because we can`t leave anyone behind us. I know that it will be hard for all of us, but I believe in you. Will you help me?" Ash threw his punch in the air with his confident smile back on his place, and after a few seconds all of his Pokemon imitated his move.
"Flareon, are you ready?" the trainer with auburn eyes asked his dog-like Pokemon. Flareon, being himself, just snorted at his trainer as if he tried to say "Are you kidding me? I`m always ready" and dug a pair of his front legs into the ground. It was a matter of seconds when he disappeared completely, leaving only a hole width for two meters. If he wasn`t in this kind of situation, Ash would be very impressed by his Pokemon`s progress, but in this case only Serena`s safeness was important to him. Flareon was digging very silently, and after 5 minutes he came back with a proud smile on his face.
"Okay guys, as we planned, I`m putting some of you into Pokeballs, be sure to get ready for action!" and with those words Ash returned Tallonflame, Flareon and Snorlax. Sceptile and Greninja jumped into the hole without their trainer to clear the way for him. But Ash instead of following them decided to wait a bit and looked at the sky, which was filled with many stars this evening. He closed his eyes and pulled his cap closer to his face.
"Pikachu, you know that if something will go bad, we can never return from there?" he said quietly. His yellow friend released a single Thunderbolt on his trainer and yelled proudly at him. Ash, who was invulnerable to these types of attacks (because of Pikachu`s tendency to use them) could only smile.
"Yeah, I also think that it was a stupid question. Let`s go!" and with those words they jumped into Flareon`s hole.
"(Don`t you think that it`s a little too dark in here?)" Greninja asked.
"(Yeah? No kidding, I can see nothing!)" Sceptile hissed at his partner.
"(Well, we could bring some light with us, but it would be too risky. At least my senses are very useful for these kinds of situations)" Greninja pointed in an unknown direction. "(For example, somewhere there are four people, all of them adults. One is a woman and three others are men. One of them has overweight, the woman is on her period and…)"
"(Woah, hold on Froggy)" Sceptile whispered. "(We don`t need a summary of their lives, just focus on a number of them. By the way, how were you able to learn so much information about them?)"
"(Special training can work miracles)" Greninja smiled. "(I can train you after this mission if you want)"
"(I don`t need any training, especially from a frog)" Sceptile laughed quietly.
"(Okay, if you say so)" Greninja said and disappeared from Sceptile`s side. The green Pokemon didn't notice it and kept going into the direction where Greninja disappeared. So he was very surprised when from out of nowhere he heard a swish on his other side.
"(The way is clear, we can go through)" Greninja whispered.
"(What?)" Sceptile was speechless.
"(You didn`t hear me? I cleared the way. All of them are unconscious for a while. The woman with her period and this fat one too.)"
"(But how were you able to do this so quickly?!)"
"(You see, that training we were talking about gave me various skills, and also I`m very quick now, but you probably know that already.)" Greninja shrugged. "(But, you didn`t want it, so I hope that you are on the same level as I am, because if you`re not…)"
Before he could end, something barked above him. One second later, something crashed onto the ground heavily. When Greninja focused on the object, he noticed that it was a large Mightyena. When he looked at Sceptile, the giant lizard-like Pokemon shrugged, imitating Greninja nearly perfectly.
"(Why are you so surprised? Don`t tell me that you didn`t notice that overgrown dog! You know, he could bite off your head, or something. Luckily, I also had some training, and maybe I can teach you to gain some reflex.)" he laughed, while Greninja could only shook his head in annoyance.
"(Maybe let`s focus on our mission now. This corridor is clear, so our trainer will be able to move around carefully. Now, let`s try to find his girl, she must be somewhere there)" Greninja said.
"(You mean the blonde?)" Sceptile asked. "(I thought that he prefers the brunette that we have been travelling with. You know, there was a time when everyone around thought that they were mates… or…? Well, I don`t know how they are calling mates in their language, people are weird.)"
"(I don`t know about his life before Kalos, but I can say that the blonde and our trainer are close. I had the opportunity to observe them for over a year and I know that she is highly interested in him. She proved it in many situations, but he wouldn`t notice her actions. But even if I am a Pokemon, I can say that she`s very attractive, and maybe he finally noticed it, assuming from his reaction to all of this)" Greninja frozed and caught Sceptile`s arm.
"(Wha…)" Sceptile couldn`t end, because Greninja quickly covered lizard`s mouth with his hand. They stood like this for a while, before Greninja let go Sceptile`s face and started walking again. And that was a bad decision. They heard some clicks and suddenly, the lights came on. There was a huge group of Team Rocket`s agents with Pokeballs in their hands, who were grinning evilly at two Ash`s Pokemon. Sceptile and Greninja slowly looked at each other.
"(Well)" Greninja started. "(We both didn`t notice them, so I assume that it`s a draw?)"
"(Yeah, you can say that)" Sceptile turned to their enemies. "(Now, let`s see who is going to eliminate more of them.)"
Ash was walking through another one of many corridors in this base. In the background he heard some shouts and cries. Well, Snorlax was doing his job pretty well.
The trainer used a small flashlight to read the inscription, which was written on the door. He sighed when he realized that it meant 'Toilet'.
"Gah, the same thing again! I`m starting to wonder about if we are ever going to find this stupid room" he said quietly. Pikachu felt his master`s pain, so he started thinking about a way to solve this problem. Something came into his mind as he jumped of his trainer`s shoulder. He started running in some direction and when he found the thing that he was searching for he released a single spark from his finger to help his trainer in locating him. When Ash stopped walking in front of the door, he used his flashlight and started reading the inscription.
"It means… the Kitchen" he sighed again. "Pikachu, I understand that you are hungry and believe me, after this mission I`ll buy you twenty bottles of Ketchup if you want, but please, focus on our mission right now."
Pikachu just pointed again at the door. Ash understood that his yellow friend wasn`t going to give up, so he opened the door. And he was very surprised because of what he saw inside.
There were tons of computers and other electronic stuff. There were also some databooks, which were put on a shelf near the entrance. Ash opened his mouth in awe, while Pikachu looked at his trainer angrily.
"Woah… Sorry for underestimating you Pikachu. But how did you know…?" Ash stuttered. Pikachu simply touched his cheeks and pointed out to the computers in the room.
"Yeah, I forgot that you can feel the electricity, even if it`s coming from the electronical stuff" he rolled his eyes. "Okay, now let`s look for some kind of map… There!" he pointed out to the piece of paper, which was hanging on the wall. He started to examine it, and after a while he turned his head to Pikachu with a smile on his face.
"The prison is down this corridor, so I suppose that they keep Serena in there" he said. "But there probably will be some enemies, will you take them down for me?"
Pikachu nodded and jumped onto the ground, ready to electrocute some bad guys. Ash sprinted towards the door to the prison chamber and opened them, to reveal three people inside. Pikachu released a single Thunderbolt, and that was enough to make them unconscious, at least for a few hours. When it was safe, Ash walked inside to discover a giant cave-like room with some stalactites and stalagmites. It wasn`t the nicest place to be in for sure. The trainer started to look around to find anything, and he noticed a medium-sized cage on the end of the chamber. He quickly ran to it, picking up Pikachu by the way, and stopped running in front of the cage. He noticed a person inside, and his heart broke in half when he realized, that it was Serena. She started to shake her head in fear, but it was too late. Ash heard the footsteps behind him, and when he turned back, he saw a well-built man with a brown hair and an evil smile on his face.
"Well, isn`t that Ash Ketchum, the Kalos Champion?" Giovanni said. "It`s an honor to have you as my guest."