DING!

An elevator's double metallic doors slid open. Meters in front of the elevator, two guards stood in front of a large and elegant-looking double door on the opposite wall. The guards blinked at the empty elevator, its doors closing after a few seconds.

"...That's new," one of the guards said.

The other turned his head to look at him. "Reckon it was a bored kid who pressed the button to this floor before he got out.

The other shrugged. "You don't need to explain everything, you know.

"I know, I know..." the other said, sighing. "I'm just bored, is'all," he said, scratching his scalp under his guard hat.

Thud!

The guard blinked and turned to look at the other, who was now lying unconscious on the floor. He blinked. "Uhh—" he was cut off with a powerful blow on the side of his neck that knocked him cold as he collapsed on the floor with a thud.

Seconds of silence flew by until suddenly, the large double doors slowly began to open outward. As soon as a crack was opened, the mighty double doors was violently pushed open by a powerful beam of light, hitting the closed metallic double doors of the elevator. The beam lasted for only a second or two before it exploded in front of the elevator, thick black smoke covering the entire thing. After the smoke had cleared, seemingly out of nowhere, a man in a black suit appeared against the elevator doors, unconscious. Gravity then pulled him down, and he collapsed on the floor along with a small, gray and unconscious fox-like Pokémon.

A part of the hallway shifted, revealing a grinning man who stood away from the double doors and was looking at the black-uniformed man.

"Nice try," said a well-suited man in a large room beyond the elegant double doors. He stood behind his desk, his glare fixated on the black-suited man lying on the floor outside his office.

Beside him was a pale green, four-legged, sauropod-like Pokémon that has two stamen-like protrusions sprouting from the top of its nose and has leaves around its neck that seem to have sprouted into a large pink flower.

"You should know from long ago," the man continued to speak, "that you cannot sneak up on me. Ever."

"Nice to see you, too," the other black-suited man walked out from the safety of the walls and stood in front of the wide open doors, smiling at the man inside the room. "...old friend."

"Nnnium...!" the pale green Pokémon glared, her flower-like leaves slightly glowing.

Her trainer also glared at the man. "You dare call me your friend?"

"Aw, come on, Rolf. Don't be like that—"

He slammed a fist on his table. "After what you did to me?! To us?!"

The black-suited man raised both arms in front of him. "Whoa whoa whoa there... Calm down—"

"And after what you did to Kanto and to our region?!" Rolf, the president of the Modern Silver Productions, snarled. "You have some nerve to even show yourself to me, Red!"

Redanato smirked. "All right. You still have a great memory! I get it."

"If you're here to joke around, I suggest you turn around and leave before the authorities arrive."

Redanato blinked, his smirk fading. "Aw... You already called the cops?" he asked with a pout, which was very unfitting for a fit man in his late twenties. "And here I was hoping we could chat and try to catch up."

"Nium!" Rolf's Meganium fired a thin beam of light towards Redanato, who easily dodged the attack by taking a small step to the side. The beam struck the elevator doors again, exploding upon impact.

"Nice to see you, too, Cook," the black-suited man said, smirking at the grass-type. "And wow, have you grown since the last time I've seen you!"

"Red," Rolf said quietly, leaning back as faint siren noises reached the room from way down below. "You have a minute to leave before the police gets here."

"More than that, actually," Redanato said with a calm smile. "They'll be taking the stairs, but those who'll take the elevator will get here first. If..." he turned to look at the damaged elevator doors, "...they can open that."

Rolf's eye twitched.

Redanato turned back to him with a smirk. "Although they'll arrive faster if they took a chopper or if some of them flew with their Poké—"

"I don't need to hear any of that," Rolf growled. "Why are you here and what do you want?! Besides annoying me!"

"To annoy you," Redanato shrugged. He blinked. "Oh! That, and to ask you if you'll let me borrow a Master Ball."

Rolf arched an eyebrow. "A Master what now?"

Redanato spread his arms to the side. "Hey! Don't act dumb all of a sudden. It doesn't suit you!" He smirked. "I know for a fact that your lovely little company is flinging with Silph's Corporation in Kanto!" He blinked. "...Or whatever the correct term it is in the business world." He shrugged. "So yeah! I just wanna borrow a Master Ball, and I'll be out of your hair! Or floor? Room?"

Rolf's eye twitched again. "And what makes you think I have such a device in my company?"

Redanato rolled his eyes. "Really, Rolf?" He pointed at the many glass-cased items lining on a long table behind the president. More specifically, he pointed at a glass case where inside was a purple-colored Pokéball with a white letter "M" on the front and with a pink circle on either side. "First, you act dumb, and now you're stalling?" He shook his head, dropping his hand to his side. "It doesn't really suit you."

"Right. It suits more to a criminal such as yourself."

The black-uniformed man suddenly clutched his left chest, feigning pain. "Ugh... Your words struck my poor, little heart—" He quickly took a step to the side to avoid another beam of light, exploding behind him. He blinked at the president. "Wow... Did you just now tried to sucker punch me?"

Rolf and his Pokémon glared daggers at him. "Leave my company, or else...!"

Redanato blinked, stood straight up and sighed. "Wow, Rolf... You've changed." He looked aside, staring at the setting sun in the distance through the large windows. "I sure hope little Billie didn't change as much as you have."

"Billie?" Rolf echoed. He slammed his fist on his table. "You...! What did you do to Bill?!"

"Nothing!" Redanato quickly replied in panic. That panic then morphed into a grin. "...yet." He shrugged. "I won't do anything to him as long as he cooperates." He then smirked at the president, but his eyes shone dangerously. "...the same I could say to you, actually..."

The two stood in silence.

The Meganium took a side-glance at her trainer, and returned her gaze back at their former friend at the doors.

Finally, Rolf broke the silence: "Leave."

Redanato arched an eyebrow, lips still curved in a smirk. "Not until you let me borrow what I came here for—"

"Cook!"

"Ganium!" Cook, the Meganium, glowed brightly in a blink, and fired a large beam of light as quickly as she glowed.

Redanato smirked at the blindingly fast beam heading his way. The beam exploded upon impact that shook the entire floor, covering him in thick black smoke.

Rolf and his Meganium stood in silence, glaring. Seconds passed, and he and his Pokémon both sighed in relief. "Good riddance..."

"Wow!" Redanato's voice echoed in the room, startling the two occupants inside. The smoke had cleared somewhat, revealing the black-suited—and unharmed—man's smirking face behind a thick wall of fire. "So you two have finally perfected that move, huh?!" He brought a hand on his chin, looking elsewhere as the firewall disappeared. "Hm... What did you two call it again? The 'Quick CookBoss Beam' or something?"

"H-h-..." Rolf stammered, staring at him in disbelief. "H-how did...?"

"Hm?" Redanato blinked at him.

The smoke cleared some more, revealing a tall and quadruped badger-like Pokémon who stood on its two hind legs, with a short snout and small eyes and ears with a cream-colored fur on its underside and dark-blue fur on its back.

"Oh, right!" Redanato turned his head and stared proudly at his Pokémon. "You weren't there when Hero evolved into an awesome Typhlosion!" He looked back at the two figures inside the room. "Let me reintroduce you guys to my beloved partner, Hero!" He turned back to his partner. "Hero, you've met Rolf and his partner, Cook, before, right?"

With the setting sun's rays reflecting on his glaring eyes like flames, Hero threw a menacing smirk at the Meganium's way.

Cook shivered with a cold sweat that ran down her face.

"Right..." Redanato yawned. "I only got a few minutes left before the cops get here, so yeah," he extended a hand forward. "May I borrow a Master Ball, pretty please?" he asked with a smirk and with a cold glint in his eyes.

Wishing he had teeth to grit them, Sky flew through the long and dark tunnel in a slow pace, his entire body glowing with a faint white aura, giving him enough light to see three feet or so ahead of him. He flew low, taking little comfort from seeing the illuminated dusty floor that slowly blurred beneath him.

No sooner than two minutes from flying, the little bird saw light up ahead, but it was too small to be the other end of the underground ruins.

"Shock..." He gulped, slowing his already-slow flight as his ears registered the faint noises of sparks that echoed from the walls of the tunnel. He took deep breaths to calm himself down and to compose himself. Eyeing the Pikachu—and the Vulpix he was carrying—Sky guessed that the electric rodent hadn't noticed him yet. "D-damn..." he muttered under his breath, "...I...don't know what to do... How shocking."

Silence...

He sighed. "I can't even chuckle at my own stupid jokes..." He hung his head, flapping his wings to hover on the spot. "...Because I've been stupid..."

The Taillow hovered there, eyeing the retreating Pikachu with sad eyes as the electric rodent took small, careful steps forward, unknowingly increasing the distance between them as the minutes flew by.

A few Sentrets roam around an earthern path, scurrying from bush to bush and from tree to tree to grab a berry or two. The darkening sky already pushed out most of the golden bands of the setting sun. It'll be dark soon, and the predators of the night would wake up and hunt the scurrying mammals if they won't hurry.

They suddenly stopped, their ears twitching as they heard a screeching noise that accompanied the slight shaking of earth and tree branches against their feet. Suddenly—

VROOOOOOOM—!

—a black-armored van flew in the air, dust and smoke trailing behind it. Gravity soon grabbed it back down, slamming its four spinning tires against the uneven earthern path, and the vehicle continued running forward in illegally fast speeds.

Sentrets jumped out of the way, some barely escaping the vehicle's path before it could turn any of them into roadkill. The retreating vehicle left a cloud of dust and smoke, making the Pokémon close to the path to cough and wheeze.

As the smoke and dust cleared, the Sentrets decided to retreat back to their dens, ignoring a bleeding and exhausted Bulbasaur who was struggling to keep up its sluggishly running pace. He gritted his teeth, his tired yet glaring eyes locked on the retreating vehicle that became smaller and smaller as the seconds passed. He slipped, making him roll and tumble down the sloping earth and he stopped with a groan where the slope ended.

Gritting his teeth, he tried but failed to push himself back up on all four paws. His vision dimmed, or maybe it was the night's growing darkness? Saur wasn't sure, but he started to feel cold and lightheaded. He mentally cursed as he tried to push himself up again, but his paws didn't have the strength to do so. He mentally panicked, making him dizzier. "N-nnn..."

It was too dark now. Too dark to see anything. He was losing his strength to move, to even shiver from the stabbing cold night air that pierced through his skin.

"F..." he breathed out through his tired lips. "...F..."

He felt his heavy eyelids closed. He felt his heart beating weaker and weaker... He felt—

"...Faaay..."

Yellow ears twitched in the dark tunnel. Tired and glaring eyes twitched as Shock heard the unmistakable sounds of flapping wings through the sounds of sparks from his cheek pouches. He gritted his teeth and moved on, hoping against all hope that whoever was flying wouldn't be—

A familiar bird suddenly flew overhead, making a u-turn and slowly landing on the Pikachu's path. As the Taillow landed, he looked up and winced at the sight before him.

Tired as he was, Shock gave him the glare of all glares as he continued moving towards him, carrying Vixie on his shoulder.

"G-get...out..." he hissed through gritted teeth. "...of...my...w-way...!"

Sky opened his beak to say something, anything, but no words came out. His eye twitched as he closed his beak. He threw his gaze to the side, too ashamed to stare at the two approaching figures any longer. After he saw the Pikachu closing in on him from the corner of his eyes, he reluctantly stepped aside to give way.

Sky took a glance or two as Shock slowly walked past him. "S...Shock, I—" he chocked on his own words. He took a breath to compose himself. "I...I-I..." He slowly turned around and stared at the two's retreating forms. "I'm...sorry..."

There was no response.

Sky winced. He didn't like being ignored, so he did his very best to at least be lively and likeable, both back home and in this world. Being ignored meant that he did something terribly wrong that no simple words of apology could ever fix.

"S-Shock...?" he tried again, but he didn't receive a reply. "Please, I ah..." he took a step towards them, but he winced, looking down at the talon that took the step. "I..." He hung his head as he pulled his talon back. "I'm...so, so sorry..." He clenched his eyes shut to stop his eyes from watering. He hated crying. "I'm...so sorry..."

Silence...

He can't be forgiven. He didn't like that, but he couldn't do anything about it, not after what he did to his...no, to his brother's friends. He wasn't their friend, so what right did he have to call them his friends?

He took another breath so he could calm himself enough to accept that fact. He sighed a heavy sigh before he looked up at the retreating forms of Shock and Vixie.

"Shock..." he said as he flapped his wings and took flight. He flew and landed a few paces in front of the Pikachu. He took a steeling breath before he turned around to fully face him...to fully face them. "Please, listen to me..."

"Get...out..." Shock's angry hiss echoed around the walls of the tunnel. "...of...my...way..."

Sky nodded and took a step aside, but he willed himself to maintain his gaze on them. "Please, Shock. I'm so sorry for what I did back there. I...I know you can't forgive me that easily. None of you can. I doubt you guys could ever forgive me anyway..."

"Y-you're right...on that last part...at least," Shock hissed as he slowly walked past him.

Sky winced once again, but nevertheless pressed on. "I didn't...mean for any of this to happen. I was...just...excited...to get you guys to my bro...and..." he looked away. "...it made me stupid..." He took a breath before he turned back to the two retreating figures. "But...please Shock... Please... Allow me to do at least one right thing."

"G-go kill yourself in a hole..." came Shock's harsh reply.

"I...I might just do that, but," Sky persisted as he took a few bold steps after them. "Please Shock... Please let me help you."

"You've...done enough..." Shock hissed. A second or two later, a Taillow landed right in front of him, making him stop and making his already boiling blood to boil even more. "Get...out..."

Sky held his ground as he slowly shook his head. "No, Shock." He frowned a concerned frown at him. "I...can't do that."

"You didn't have...problems doing that...earlier."

Sky sighed. "Shock... Please..." He guiltily stared at Vixie's unconscious form. "...Let me help you..."

"I don't...need your help," Shock replied with a twitching eye. "Now get out...of my way...!"

Sky frowned at him, but nodded anyway. "All right... I understand you don't want anything to do with me any more, but..." he slowly shifted his gaze over to the fire-type. "Please let me correct the wrongs I've done to you and especially to..." He hung his head. "...to Vixie..."

A thin bolt of electricity struck him, jolting him back. Shock panted heavily after the attack, losing his strength on his feet and dropping himself—and Vixie—on the dusty floor. "Oof!"

"Shock!" Sky yelped as he pushed himself up on his talons. "A-are you—"

Shock shot him a venomous glare, making the bird to stop his approach. "D-don't even pretend to care, you, you..." He felt an annoying stinging sensation around his eyes as he looked at his unconscious friend lying beside him. "...Y-you were trying to kill her..." He sobbed, leaning his forehead on the dusty old floor.

Sky hung his head in shame.

Seconds passed, the silence occasionally broken by Shock's quiet sobs.

"Shock...please—"

"No!" Shock yelled, glaring at the floor's grains of dust close to his face. "Just l-leave us alone! Go back to your s-stupid world a-and never come back!"

"Please, Shock..." Sky pleaded as his entire body glows a soft white light. "A-at least let me take you two to a Pokémon Center..." He tried to smile a small smile. What came out was a wince. "T-the nurses there can help her... So please..."

Shock closed his eyes in irritation, but he desperately needed to get Vixie out of the ruins, and then he needed to get her healed, but where? As frustrating as it sounded, Sky was right... The stupid bird could take her to the closest Pokémon Center. He can get out of here on his own, he hoped, but Vixie...

He sighed in resignation as he opened his eyes. He blinked in surprised when he noticed that the floor around him was struck by a bright white glow. He slowly pulled his head up, and he immediately glared daggers at the shining Taillow with that mysterious plate-like...thing emerging from his body.

Tiny sparks flew out from his cheeks as he tried to stand back up on his hind legs, but he was too weak to do so. "Y-you still want...to take her?!" Shock weakly snarled as he pushed himself up on all four paws. "A-after what you've done—"

The bluish-white plate clanged on the floor, creating a small cloud of dust around as the Taillow took a few painful steps back, clenching his head with shivering wings, the white glow around him dimming. "Grrrkt..." Sky tried taking deep breaths to ease the pain he was feeling, his entire body slowly becoming translucent.

Shock blinked a confused blink. "W-what are you—"

"J-just...!" Sky teetered, his colors turning solid and then transparent and back. "Ack...! J-just get on th-the plate..."

Shock, anger replaced by confusion and uncertainty, nervously eyed the flat and metallic plate a few paws before him.

"C-can't..." Sky panted, eyes still screwed shut as he slightly teetered from where he stood. "...c-carry you b-both, so...get on...g-get on the damn plate...!"

Shock stared at the Taillow, unsure of what he was doing, or what was even happening to him this time. He shifted his gaze to the bluish-white plate, and then to his unconscious friend. He gritted his teeth as a few more tears ran down his face.

Far, far away from the land of Johto, a large, avian Pokémon with orange plumage was perched on a tall rock pillar, its long and flaming head crest and tail flowed behind the massive bird as it turned its straight, brown and pointed beak at the last golden strands of the sunken sun on the horizon.

Wishing the burning orb goodnight, the large bird stretched its wings which were shrouded in fiery plumage. It slowly flapped its long wings up and down, and soon, the bird jumped off of the rock pillar, taking flight.

The fiery bird tilted its body, turning its flight around and around its large mountain-island home. A small group of smaller flying-type Pokémon greeted the large bird as they returned to the island after a long day's flight from...wherever they went.

The fiery bird was thankful for its fiery coloration, for it was good enough to hide the blush on its cheeks after a few good-looking flying-types greeted it. The Pokémon living in the island kept their distance in respect for the legendary fire bird, and would often greet it when they get the chance to fly close enough. In truth, the fire bird was a shy little sparrow, wishing every night to gain enough courage to be able to mingle with other Pokémon, and perhaps be able to get a mate to spend the cold nights—

The fire bird violently shook its head to get rid of the naughty thought. Blushing furiously, the large bird decided that it was probably time to go back to its nest and roost.

As it gracefully turned in the air, it heard a faint boom-like sound. Blinking, it turned its head up to look at the sky. Aside from the large, hulking and floating metal...thing floating high above the sky that seemingly appeared from out of nowhere, no clouds were in sight, so whatever it was that it heard, it wasn't thunder. Suddenly, it heard faint swishing noises, getting louder and louder pretty fast. The noises were coming from behind the fire bird.

Blinking in confusion, it flapped its fiery wings to hover in place as it turned its neck to look at whatever it was that was approaching. Four large and square metallic frames spun and flew towards the fire bird in a very fast pace. It yelped, but as soon as it tried to flap its fiery wings to fly away, the metallic frames reached it, attaching themselves on each other and formed a cube-like cage, trapping the startled bird inside. Suddenly, the framed cage released bolts of electricity, making the fire bird cry in pain as the cage floated back up, up and up, leaving the small flying-types who wanted to help behind.

Author's Notes

Were you guys expecting me to publish a new chapter in another month or two? Well, too bad! Because you guys just finished reading this new chapter I published! Ahem, so uh, yeah, I'm starting to get motivated enough to continue writing this little fic of mine, and boy, does the story grow bigger each time I try to write my crazy imagination into a chapter. Whew...

So yeah... I hope you guys enjoyed reading this new chapter. I really don't know what's going on with the story anymore. o.o

—Idontexistexceptinyourmind
Is it? *looks outside* Looks a little cloudy to me...

—ClassicalInvention
Even I don't know what's going on with the story anymore. xD And thanks! I've been writing a lot during this story's 2 or so months of hiatus, so I hope that my poor grammar has improved somewhat. *shrugs*

—Modern Silver Productions
Pinkie failed to bronitize you? Damn! I paid her lots of bits to make it happen! ;~; I feel ripped off... About the plot-hole, Bill only replied like that after he heard the grunts say it out loud. But as a trainer, he can somewhat understand other Pokémon, but he spent most of his time with birds, so he understands them better than any other Pokémon. Anyway, I haven't really seen Shadow Snivy lately. I wonder where that little Snivy fish went. Aw well~