First off, to reveal which Legendaries chose which Trainer:

ASH - Mewtwo. Everyone knows Ash died in the first movie, right? I made this one too easy.

MISTY - Suicune. It's the only Water-type Legendary from Kanto or Johto. LUGIA AIN'T A WATER-TYPE, FOLKS! (weird, I know, but it's not.)

BROCK - Groudon. The only Rock- or Ground-type from any of the regions that Brock traveled to with Ash. Except Regirock. But... it wasn't Regirock. Sorry. XD

MAX - Kyogre. The only Water-type Legendary from Hoenn.

MAY - Manaphy... May and Manaphy are just SO CUTE!

DREW - Rayquaza. With Kyogre and Groudon already taken, the last of the "big three" from Hoenn.

DAWN - Shaymin. How will Ash put up with Shaymin, though...

PAUL - Palkia. MeliaAntiqua says she'd have chosen Giratina, but... Diamond & Pearl. Dialga & Palkia. Dawn & Paul. Do I see a pattern here?! And you know how Shaymin said Dialga wanted to choose Dawn?!

CILAN - Reshiram. I think this one might've been trickier than the others, but still, no real challenge, right?

IRIS - Zekrom. If you can get Cilan's, you can get Iris's easily!

TRIP - Kyurem. The last of Unova's "big three", so it's easy to get once you get Zekrom and Reshiram.

EMILY - Articuno. You remember that presence Emily felt way back a whole bunch of chapters ago?

GARY - Zapdos. Same thing as with Emily.

RITCHIE - Moltres. Extra nerd points to whoever got this one! Ritchie felt Moltres's presence a whole bunch of chapters ago. He wasn't in the guessing game, but it's not too hard to figure it out, once you've got Emily's and Gary's.

Thanks for playing the guessing game, Merry Christmas, and enjoy this chapter along with a virtual assortment of holiday goodies! Candy canes, gingerbread houses, cinnamon rolls, apple pie, and Christmas cookies! Have fun and please overeat all these virtual goodies!

...

Professor Oak needed to know where Ash and the others were.

Gary was gone. Professor Oak couldn't let anyone else go through the pain he was going through now - he couldn't let anything happen to any of the other children. He knew what it was like to lose a child, a grandchild, a mother, a wife. He could not let anyone else go through such pain.

So he needed to contact Ash.

Professor Oak's hands shook as he picked up the video phone's receiver. He had sent Ash an XTransceiver soon after the boy arrived in Kalos, saying it would be useful for keeping in touch. Now he was thanking Arceus he had done so.

Slowly, Professor Oak put in the number. He did not want to talk to Ash. The only thing it would do was hurt the both of them. Whenever the Professor thought of Ash, he had always thought of Gary, as well. And now...

Struggling to hold in the tears, the Professor finished dialing the number and waited. It rang. And rang. What if Ash didn't pick up? Did he even have his XTransceiver with him anymore?

Finally, the ringing stopped and Ash's face appeared on the screen. "Hello?" Ash frowned, obviously surprised and somewhat confused. "Professor Oak?"

...

The eleven Trainers were all gathering up their things and getting ready to keep moving. Staying in one place was dangerous for all of them right now, and they had already come to a decision late last night after Shaymin's "Guessing Game" anyway. They needed to find the other five Chosen Ones. Iris and Cilan were two of them, obviously. Ash thought Ritchie might have been, as well, but he couldn't be sure. And Clemont and Serena were probably also Chosen. Shaymin confirmed this, saying Bonnie had that aura, too, but she wasn't a Trainer, so she didn't get Chosen.

So now, the group was spread out, mostly just chatting while waiting for May, Drew, and Dawn to come back from out in the woods, where they were trying to gather food and supplies. They had volunteered to go earlier.

"Hey, Ash?" Misty said shyly. She could have slapped herself. Why was she being so shy?! It was stupid. She was NEVER shy, especially not around Ash...

"Yeah, Misty?" Ash looked up, seeming somewhat absentminded.

"Ash, I..." she swallowed, trying to force herself to continue. For some reason, she felt her face getting hot. Nononononono Misty nononononono... stop acting like this, this is stupid...! Nonononononono...!

"...Misty, are you okay?" Ash prompted.

"Y-yeah," Misty muttered. Trying to sound confident, she continued. "I kept this for you. After... after the fire." She bit her lip and held out Ash's hat.

It was the hat he had worn in Kanto, the one he got from the Pokémon Expo so long ago. It was one of the few things that had been salvaged from the wreckage of the Ketchum household. The one he had worn in Kalos was with his mother.

Ash's eyes widened. This was a very important hat to him. Even after he started wearing a new one when he went to Hoenn, this hat stated safe in his room, where he would sometimes pick it up and just stare at it for awhile, lost in memories. As Ash slowly took the cap from Misty's hands and put it on, he smiled. It was the icing on the cake. The hat was practically a symbol of Ash Ketchum.

Misty laughed. "Perfect," she said. "Perfect."

Ash nodded. "That's right. It's perfect." He grinned at her. "Perfect, just like us. Right?"

Misty blinked. "Wait... what do you..." Her face turned as red as her hair as she comprehended what he had just said. "What the...! Ash!"

Ash just grinned his trademark crooked grin. Then, suddenly, a ringing noise came from his wrist. Ash frowned and flicked his wrist towards his face as if looking at a watch. For a moment, Misty thought it was a watch. Then she realized it was actually an XTransceiver - a special device with a lot of different functions, including calling people. Like someone was apparently doing right now.

Ash frowned when he saw the caller I.D., then pressed the button to answer it. "Hello?" He said, obviously confused. "Professor Oak?"

...

"Hello? Professor Oak?"

From a few yards away, Gary's head snapped up, interrupting his conversation with Max. The two were getting along very well, and Max seemed really interested in all of Gary's studies as an aspiring Pokémon Professor. But now, hearing his grandfather's name, Gary froze, not making a sound. He stared at Ash and the XTransceiver for a moment, then at Misty, who was frantically gesturing for him to back away, to move, to not let the Professor know he was there.

Gary did so, backing up against a tree. He couldn't risk the dangers that might come with his grandfather finding out that he was alive. But he stayed close enough to listen to and watch the conversation.

Big mistake.

"Ash..." Professor Oak began. "Look, I... I just wanted to... to check up on you. I... didn't want... I wanted to make sure you were okay. Team Rocket... I didn't want them to hurt you like..." Professor Oak's voice cracked. "L-like Gary..."

Gary felt like his heart was being wrenched out of his chest. He couldn't bear to hear his grandfather like this. Tears welled up in his eyes.

"Professor Oak..." Ash's voice was watery, probably for the same reason Gary was crying. "I... we're... we're fine." Ash looked down. He couldn't bear to see Professor Oaklike this any longer.

Misty took over for Ash. "Professor..." she tried to act as though she were emotionally hurt, to keep up the ruse of Gary being dead, even though the Professor probably wouldn't notice anyway if she didn't, looking at the state he was in. "Professor, we're... we're fine. We can't tell you where we are, though. I just... it could..."

Professor Oak nodded tiredly. "I know. It could... it could put you in danger. I... I've seen what they can do. I saw them... with... with Gary..." the Professor seemed to choke on his words. "I... I can't... I have to go..." Then he ended the call.

Gary clenched his fists. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. To see and hear his grandfather in that state... Gary sank to the ground against the back of the tree, his breathing unsteady.

The world thought he was dead, and so did his only living relative, and it was going to stay that way for who-knows-how-long.

Great. Just great.

Gary Oak never cried, but now, with his grandfather thinking he was dead and being an emotional wreck, and there was nothing Gary could do about it, he couldn't stop the tears.

So Gary hugged his knees to his chest and just continued to cry.

...

"Articuno is doing its job well," Giovanni said with a creepy smile. "The entire Napaj nation is, bit by bit, getting colder and windier. They don't notice it yet, but it'll be upon them before they know it."

Persian purred happily in Giovanni's lap. The Pokémon was proud of what he had done the day before. To actually kill a Trainer was a big accomplishment to Giovanni, and he had graciously awarded Persian with better food and more of it, as well.

Archer nodded as he listened to what Giovanni was saying. It was all true. This was only the beginning of Team Rocket's plan though.

"Have the Black Hands succeeded in capturing the two from Unova?"

"Yes, Giovanni, sir." Archer replied. "They are being held in a cell together right now."

"Excellent. Tell the scientists they may begin with them now."

"Yes, sir."

Archer exited the office and headed down to the lower basement floors, where the science labs were. Finding one of the scientists, he grabbed her and pulled her aside.

"Giovanni says you may begin working with the two captives from Unova." Archer stated.

The scientist nodded quickly. "Yes, sir. I will go tell my colleagues right away."

Archer smiled evilly. This was all working out just right for Team Rocket. Just perfectly right.

...

Iris woke up in a dark, cold room.

She shivered. She had always hated the cold.

Then she frowned. Wait, how was she alive?

"Cilan? A-anyone?" She said tepidly. "Hello? Is... is anyone there?"

Beside her, the limp form of a person shifted slightly.

"Wh-wha...?" Cilan grumbled. "I... Iris?"

"Cilan!" She gasped. "Are you all right?"

"I hope so," the connoisseur replied with a sigh. "I've certainly felt better."

"So...any clue what happened?" Iris said, biting her lip.

"This probably has something to do with Team Rocket and that fire," Cilan mused. "But I haven't really got any idea. Maybe we were captured?"

"It would make sense," Iris reasoned.

Then, all around them, bright fluorescent lights flashed on, and everything changed for the worse.

...

"C-Cress? Cilan?" Chili's voice shook as he called his brothers' names. They had to have made it out. They had to. They had to...

"Chili!"

The red-haired Gym Leader turned to see Cress waving and calling his name. Chili raced over to Cress and wrapped him in a hug. "Oh, thank Arceus you're okay," Chili muttered.

"But what about Cilan?" Cress wondered, eyes wide.

"I - I don't know..." Chili looked at the chaos around them, and the huge crowd. "What if..."

"Don't say that," Cress snapped. "Cilan made it out, okay?"

Chili nodded, but he was not at all reassured. Because Cress only ever snapped when he was very, very scared.

But everything was all right, wasn't it? The two brothers had easily made it out. Cilan had to have, too.

But then... Cilan was hospitalized for being shot four times... He couldn't have been very good at maneuvering through a burning building. What if...

Chili could have slapped himself. Stop thinking like that! Cilan is fine. He made it out. I bet he's with Iris, somewhere in this crowd. He's fine. He's fine. He's fine...

Chili just had to keep telling himself that. He had to.

Because he would find his brother. Cilan would be okay.

He had to.

...

Okay, guys! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, plus all of those Christmas goodies! Not forget to revieeeeeeeewwww!