Author's Note

May's POV

"PI-KAA-CHUUUUUU!"

Before I could register what was going on, an explosion rocked my body. As I tightened my arms around Max, Ash's arms tightened around me simultaneously. As a unit, the three of us were pushed back across the ground several feet by the explosion's force. Dust flew up in thick clouds, obscuring my vision as I opened my eyes.

The first thing I processed was that Ash's body was still protectively braced above mine. I let out a sigh of relief; if he'd been knocked unconscious, his body would've gone limp. Beneath me, Max's body was still tight as well, which was a good sign.

I checked to make sure. "Max, you okay?" I immediately coughed up dust that was too pervasive not too inhale.

Max's body squirmed under mine nervously. "Y – Yeah." He was obviously shaken.

"Are you okay, May?" Although I'd known he was safe, Ash's voice was a much-welcome confirmation. I felt the shock fall away from my body and tears began to rise to my eyes.

"I'm fine, Ash. Thanks to you." I pulled away from him slightly. The dust had cleared enough for me to make out his face, which looked concerned for me despite my reassurance. I touched a hand to his cheek intimately; he really was my hero.

I might've done more than that, but the details of the last few moments came rushing back to me. Around us, a commotion drew our attention as well. The three of us detangled ourselves, stood warily, and took stock of the situation.

Dust continued to fly up around the point of explosion. As I mentally pieced together the moments leading up to the blast, my hands paused in the middle of dusting myself off.

Scampering out of the dust cloud in front of us was a bruised and battered yellow mouse, complete with the signature smile of unabated love towards his trainer. Besides my own, he was probably the only Pokémon I could recognize apart from others of his species, by virtue of the time we'd spent together and the bond we'd developed.

Ash's Pikachu.

Max and I stood dumbstruck as said Pikachu neared us, glistening tears now apparent on his face. With a mighty leap, Pikachu completed his journey, landing squarely in Ash's arms and nuzzling against his face. Ash looked stricken, but not unpleased.

Max and I shared a look of happiness. I, for one, let out a breath of relief I felt I'd been holding for days. The mystery of where Pikachu had gone was one of the most unsettling for all of us who'd ever travelled with Ash. Thank Rayquaza he was here.

But… where was here?

As Ash, still dumbfounded, stroked the still sobbing Pikachu, Max and I spun in a circle to try to figure out where exactly we were. Or rather, a semicircle. Because what we saw behind us stopped us in our tracks.

It was a town, seemingly pulled up by its roots and transplanted to this space. A circle of earth about a mile in diameter, atop which were houses and roads and lawns and people. As I looked closer I saw a hill atop which was a laboratory I'd seen many times before. Within the town, a signature white house with a brown roof and a white picket fence confirmed what'd been nagging at my mind from the first glance. It wasn't just a town.

It was Pallet Town.

I staggered back, feeling numb. The outline of the earth that'd seemingly been transported here perfectly matched the outline of the crater I'd seen at Pallet. There was no mistaking it.

On one hand, I knew I should be overwhelmingly happy: after all, Pallet Town was in one piece. On the other hand…

How was this possible?

The same question seemed to be on the minds of the rest of the crew, who were standing frozen in place not too far in front of me. I was about to call out to them when I noticed movement in the town.

The sound of the explosion had apparently been pretty loud, because doors throughout the town began opening, and people started flowing out onto the roads. My heart leapt as I recognized the people of Pallet. A smile crept onto my face as I spotted the faces of Gary, Professor Oak, and… thank Rayquaza… Delia.

For a second, the unbelievable nature of it all left me, and all I felt was pure happiness. Before I could even think, I called out to Ash to look.

Ash turned and stared. Pikachu had calmed down in his arms and now looked between the town and Ash, occasionally licking his trainer's face. I watched Ash, noting the gears turning in his head, recognizing him piecing things together. He saw nearly immediately that this was Pallet.

But I'd forgotten that, for him, seeing didn't mean remembering.

As I cringed in realization of my mistake, I heard a half-cry, half-sob come from the crowd. I watched in a mix of sadness and horror as Delia ran past all of us straight to Ash, smothering him in her embrace.

"Oh, Ash! Ash! I was so worried, so, so worried. After what happened, I had no idea how you were, or where you were. Oh, Ho-Oh, I still don't know where I am. But I just knew you had to be ok. You had to be. I didn't know what I'd do if you weren't. Everyone told me not to worry, that you could take care of yourself. But I just had such a bad feeling, like – "

Delia stopped her hugging and kissing to look down at Ash. I could tell just by looking that Ash's body wasn't responding the way Delia was used to. She could sense it, and she knew something was wrong. Ash was merely looking down at the ground, knowing he would have to break the most devastating news she'd ever heard.

Tears in her eyes, Delia put one hand on each of Ash's cheeks, tilting his head so they were seeing eye-to-eye.

"Ash, what's wrong?"

Ash gulped. He must have been feeling a lot of pressure from Delia's emotion, because he didn't handle the situation as well as he usually did.

Ash clenched his jaw. "I take it you're my mother, then?"

Delia stared.

Note to self: never break news like this to my mother like that.

Much sobbing and many explanations later, Delia finally understood the situation. She stared at Ash, teary-eyed.

"So, you don't…" Delia crossed her arms over her heart.

Ash gave the softest, saddest smile I thought a human being was capable of. "No… I'm sorry." After a sad last pat from Ash, the equally dejected Pikachu jumped out of his master's arms to lick Delia's face comfortingly.

Delia sat down on the ground heavily. I moved to her side, but she just put a hand up. "I – I'm alright. Just give me a moment."

I stepped back, surprised. Talk about fortitude – I guess I knew where Ash got it from.

With the emotional high out of the way, I became aware of our current situation again. We were safe – for the time being – thanks to this mysterious place we were in. So, again, the question was, where –

"The Reverse World." Dawn said heavily. Her hands were interlaced behind her head, and she was staring upward, in apparent disbelief. I followed her gaze to see, once again, the gray and black caterpillar-like Pokémon, circling above us.

"Dawn?" She met my gaze and sensed my question.

"That," Dawn said, looking back towards the Pokémon, "is Giratina. You're looking at the third big legendary of the Sinnoh region, and as you can probably guess, the ruler of the Reverse World."

"Third?" Misty piqued, stealing the question right out of my mouth.

Brock spoke up this time. "Yup. The big legendaries, or the 'creation trio', of Sinnoh are Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. Dialga represents time, Palkia represents space, and Giratina here represents antimatter. The three exist in a rough sort of harmony." He directed the last part towards Dawn as some sort of inside joke, but Dawn didn't seem to even hear him. Just looking at her I could tell that what Brock said had set off a thought process in her head. I could practically see the gears turning: I'm telling you, that girl's got the mind of a detective.

Ash caught on to the same thing I had. "Dawn, anything the matter?"

Dawn snapped out of her thoughts and stared at him. "Yes. But first, it's about time I fill you in on what Cynthia and I found at the remains of Pallet." I leaned forward. I wished Cynthia were here to help tell it herself, but I was curious nonetheless. Ash crossed his arms and faced Dawn fully, nodding for her to continue.

Dawn took a deep breath. "The artifact that Officer Jenny found was a small red fragment which she'd discovered was connected to some research Professor Rowan – that's Sinnoh's Pokémon Professor – had done. Specifically, research on the jewels on the heads of Sinnoh's lake trio – Uxie, Mespirit, and Azelf – as well as research on the Veilstone Meteorites. That red fragment she found was made of the same substance."

Here Brock inhaled deeply, obviously realizing what that meant. I was still clueless, but hopefully the rest of Dawn's explanation would change that. "That fragment could've only had one use – as part of the Red Chain, an artificially engineered… charm, I guess you could say, that has only one purpose."

Dawn paused, as if even she dreaded this part. "It gives the user the ability to summon and control Dialga and Palkia."

I breathed in deeply. That was bad. And it meant –

Dawn picked it up. "Cynthia and I concluded that the Red Chain had been used at Pallet to summon Dialga and Palkia… and the summoners used them to – at least we thought then – destroy the town. Now that we know Pallet is here, my guess is that Giratina stepped in to prevent that from happening. It's a story for another day, but during my Sinnoh travels with Ash, he once helped Giratina save the Reverse World. My guess is that the disturbance caused by the summoning of Dialga and Palkia – or maybe those two even calling for help – drew Giratina's attention. When Giratina saw that Pallet was in danger of destruction, it saved the town by transporting it to the Reverse World, probably as an act of goodwill towards Ash. It was probably in the last moments before Dialga and Palkia's blasts hit, which is why nobody was the wiser as to the fact that Pallet wasn't actually destroyed." Dawn took a deep breath.

It was a lot to process, but it all made logical sense. There was only one question remaining. "But then who was responsible for controlling Dialga and Palkia and trying to destroy Pallet in the first place?" I asked, wondering if she knew.

Dawn's gulp told me she did. "It's just a theory Cynthia and I had, but… we think it was Team Rocket."

I stared, shocked. I took it she meant the Team Rocket organization, not the trio Ash and I used to bump into in Hoenn and the ones we'd bumped into outside Pallet. Although, them actually being outside Pallet and what they'd been saying backed this up. Could Team Rocket have really –

"It's not just a theory," Delia suddenly spoke up. "It's what happened. I guess you kids don't know, so let me fill you in on what happened that night."

We all stared at her. Honestly, she didn't look too good. She was shivering and hugging herself, but nobody was about to tell her to stop speaking. There was a fire in her eyes – she needed to share this with us. And to be honest, I really wanted to know.

Delia rested her chin on her knees. "That night, Ash was on his way back from spending the day at Professor Oak's laboratory. I'd finished preparing dinner, and was waiting for him out in the garden with Mr. Mime. There he was, waving, jogging down the path towards me, when… when…" She sniffled.

Before I could move towards her, Ash was at her side, hand on her shoulder. Delia looked up at him, and even though she knew Ash wasn't himself, I could still see the love in her eyes for him. It was faith, I realized. Faith that Ash was in there somewhere. For Delia, there was none of the questioning and fear that I'd gone through, none of the worrying that Ash was gone forever. For her, it was a fact that he was still in there.

That made me feel a little better.

Delia put a hand over Ash's and took a deep breath. "He didn't stand a chance, not the way they ambushed him. Looking back, I'm amazed he dodged the first few strikes. Probably a combination of his and Pikachu's instincts." Delia smiled absently. "But it didn't – couldn't – last. It was one of Ash's habits to only carry Pikachu around with him when he was home in Pallet. He always thought that his Pokémon were better rested at the Professor's laboratory, and he would've left Pikachu there for rest, too, if the two of them could be apart for even a moment."

Here Pikachu licked Delia's face again, and I saw her lips twitch even as she steeled herself for the next part. "Like I said, he managed to dodge the first few attacks, but they literally ambushed him, and in the dozens. They came out of nowhere, or maybe everywhere – the air, bushes and trees on the ground, vans. They poured in, like an army, sent especially to… exterminate him."

Tears glossed my eyes even as I felt my blood boil in rage. My fists clenched reflexively. Max clutched at me, but I couldn't even comfort him through my own emotion. Why couldn't I have been there when he needed me so badly?

Delia continued, though her voice kept breaking more frequently as she did. "The Rocket grunts and their Pokémon surrounded him, and when he couldn't dodge any more, he fought back. But like I said, all Ash had was Pikachu, and even as strong as he was, he was eventually overpowered."

From his spot in Delia's lap I saw Pikachu's eyes flash with an anger I didn't know the little guy was capable of. I didn't blame him.

"Even when Pikachu fainted, even when the grunts knew Ash had no other Pokémon, they kept attacking. Ash covered Pikachu… with his own body. The attacks just kept… raining down on him… until there was an explosion that threw him out of the circle of grunts."

Delia's shivering increased, despite Ash warming her with his hands on her arms. "He got thrown down the road towards me. When I saw him flying I ran, I ran to catch him, but I… I wasn't fast enough. He hit the ground so hard… and his head took a lot of the impact. For a few seconds, I thought he was…" She sobbed.

I slowed my own breathing down, reminding myself that Ash was alive and here. No matter how bad the story got, that had to be my consolation.

"By the time I reached him and tried to wake him up, the Team Rocket grunts had already mobilized the next 'stage' of their plan. They retreated to the outskirts of the city, and someone was standing up on the hill holding something red and shiny – that Red Chain thing you were talking about, I guess – and shouting into the sky. By the time I'd made sure Ash was… alive… the commotion brought all of Pallet out of doors. Professor Oak reacted quickly, mobilizing the Pokémon at the lab for an offensive."

Delia sighed. A strange calm seemed to set over her. "But it was too little, too late. The Professor met me down in Pallet with the Pokémon, but by then the sky was dark and swirling. Before I knew what was going on, two large and mysterious Pokémon – Dialga and Palkia, I realize now – seemed to materialize out of nowhere, and started attacking haphazardly. The Pokémon from the lab were able to fend off the first attacks together, but I sensed these Pokémon were capable of more. I found Ash's Swellow and pulled it from the pack, giving it instructions to fly Ash into the forest, to safety."

"It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do, sending Ash off in a state like that, not knowing whether he would live or…" Delia sniffed. "I hoped Swellow would stay with Ash, protect him. But it returned… I guess it felt a sense of duty to Pallet. It just gave me this look, like it was assuring me Ash would be safe, and then it rejoined the battle. But it wasn't long after that Dialga and Palkia charged up a combined attack, larger than all of the ones before by volumes. The Pokémon tried to stop it, but there was just nothing anybody could do."

"But the second before it impacted, it was like we got sucked into a vacuum, like the world got turned inside out. We were transported here, to safety, though we didn't know how for a long time. I guess we were lucky to be saved, but ever since then I've just been sitting here, thinking, wondering about whether Ash was ok. Thank Ho-Oh he is," Delia said, smiling at Ash through tears. "I don't know what I would do if… if…" She broke out into severe sobs, which I suspected she'd been holding back since that traumatic night.

I wiped away the film of tears over my own eyes. It was awful and horrible and stupid and I should've been there to do something. But I wasn't and there was nothing to do about that. All I could do was figure out what I could do for Ash now.

I watched as Ash patted Delia's back and whispered to her soothingly. After a few moments the woman wiped her arm over her eyes and managed a twitch of her lips. "Don't mind me. I'm sure you kids have something you still need to do. For me, it's enough to know Ash is safe."

I felt a well of respect towards her as tears continued to stream down her face. She kept silent, though, prompting us to continue doing whatever we had to do.

Brock spoke first. "So... I suppose it makes sense. Physical – and, honestly, emotional – trauma explain the amnesia. And now we know Team Rocket's responsible for it. So… the mystery part's solved, right? We put together all the pieces of the puzzle."

I guess so. On one hand, it was somewhat relieving to know exactly what had happened. On the other, it meant we now had to tackle how to reverse Ash's memory loss, which was scary at best. But maybe now that we had all the pieces –

"No." Ash spoke up suddenly.

We all looked at him. Brock frowned. "What do you mean, Ash? Don't you want to get your memory back?"

Ash's brow furrowed in thought. "Of course. I was talking about what you said before. Having all the pieces of the puzzle."

"What about it?" Brock asked.

"It's not true." Ash deadpanned. "If my theory is right, we barely know the half of it."

I stared at him. What could he mean? What else was there?

"What's your theory?" I asked curiously.

Ash looked at me meaningfully. But without speaking, he returned 5 of his 6 Pokémon – all fainted from protecting us from Thunder Wave – to their Poké Balls. He then moved towards the last one. Charizard.

Kneeling down, he patted Charizard on his head. "Good work, my friend. Thank you." He then returned Charizard to his Poké Ball, which snapped my attention to something that'd been lying on the ground behind the big guy.

A brown, burlap sack. I tried to place it, thinking back.

Hmm... The underground cavern beneath the Poké Gear fitting rooms. That sack had made noises – gagging, screaming sounds. I remembered being scared, but moving to protect Max. We'd never found out what it was because we were interrupted by the guards. Charizard had carried it to the arena.

I blanched, remembering the writhing and wriggling the sack was doing. Scratch that, not what it was.

Who.

"If my theory is correct, there are a lot more pieces to this puzzle than we thought." With that, Ash deftly untied the sack and stepped back so we could get a clear look.

I didn't recognize the person in the bag immediately. It was a middle-aged man with full, gray hair, dressed in a purple tie and long brown trench coat.

I heard a sharp intake of breath off to my left. I looked to see Dawn with her gears-turning face, only her eyes showed that what she was deducing was not good news. Next to her, Brock's eyes showed something similar. He was clutching his head with his hands in an uncharacteristic loss of his cool. Why –

Wait. Those features… They sounded so… familiar.

… he was dressed in a long brown trench coat and was very official-looking. He addressed me by the name I later found on the Pokédex, Ash, as if he knew me…

It couldn't be.

Faced with Brock and Dawn's speechlessness, Ash went ahead and rummaged around in the man's coat. He pulled out a badge, which he perused quickly. A storm settled over his face.

"As I feared." He showed the badge to the rest of us.

I read it, feeling myself sweat.

Detective Looker, International Police

I stepped back involuntarily. The world seemed to swirl around me. Ash was right. This meant there were a lot more pieces to the puzzle than we thought.

The group took a collective breath. Instinctively, we started what'd become our natural coping mechanism, a sort of group deductive process.

"Detective Looker…" Dawn breathed. "Ash, you said you last saw him in the woods outside Pallet. He told you to run to Viridian while he headed for Pallet."

Brock grunted. "Based on the timeline we know now, the fact that Looker saw Ash in the forest means that Team Rocket had already mounted their offensive on Pallet."

Misty spoke softly. "That means that Looker probably would have reached Pallet around the time Dialga and Palkia launched their massive attack. He'd come to save Pallet, and instead got there to watch it – at least he thought – get destroyed. He ran out of time."

"But he didn't just run out of time." Tracey said darkly. "He was out of time and outnumbered. He basically walked into a Team Rocket trap."

Beside me, Max spoke up hoarsely. "Since they thought they were getting rid of Pallet entirely, Team Rocket didn't think they had to worry about witnesses. So when they saw Looker stumble in on what they'd done, they captured him."

I picked it up. "So Team Rocket captured Looker to keep their crime secret. We know the crime stayed secret, which means Looker was detained by Team Rocket this whole time." As my mind spun with the facts, my mouth opened to voice the final question.

"So how did we find Looker detained in the basement of an official PokéCamp building?"

Everyone's heads lifted to face one another. It couldn't be, but I saw it in everyone's eyes.

"Look guys, there's something I've been thinking about that I think you should know. It might mean big trouble for us."

And Ash had caught it a while ago.

"…does anyone know anything about these guys who put it together?"

"Future Trajectories Inc. They're very mysterious. … I found absolutely no history on them."

"No history at all? That's impossible. A startup company couldn't put something like this together. The level of funding required would be impossible."

"Exactly. I dug a little deeper but I found nothing. … either these guys just started up and had some wealthy benefactors, or someone went through a lot of trouble to erase any information connected to them."

Or a little of both.

Jessie, James, and Meowth had, in my experience, only one aim: to capture Pikachu…

So what were they going to do now?

And where were they going?

"Are they heading to PokéCamp?"

… "Well, there are a bunch of quality Pokémon gathered there. Considering their line of business, I wouldn't be surprised if they were here to steal them."

The three of us flew back up and towards the far wall of the camp….When we cleared the far wall we immediately saw Team Rocket's balloon resting on the ground, deflated.

But the basket was empty. And the trio were nowhere in sight.

"Well," I offered, "if they haven't headed anywhere on foot where we've checked, that only leaves one place they could've gone."

Into the camp.

Because it was home base.

Space was the most apt description of it. It was fairly undeveloped and very natural, in stark contrast to the entire rest of PokéCamp. Obviously, as with the guards' clothes, Future Trajectories cared far more about its outward appearances than anything else.

Because the outward appearances were necessary to keep up the deception.

But why? Why so much secrecy? Why the special interest with us suddenly?

It wasn't sudden.

… Pokémon trainers, coordinators, breeders, doctors, stylists, and researchers from all over the world will come together with their Pokémon…

"This is perhaps the most celebrated gathering of elite trainers to ever occur."

"I can understand why you wouldn't let people in, but why can't we leave if we wish to?"

Because those big gates weren't for keeping people outside out – they were for keeping trainers inside in.

Future Trajectories, Inc.

Rayquaza help me if the name didn't say it all…

Everyone, including me, stared at Ash, pale-faced.

"I take it by your expressions that you've put all the pieces together the same way I have." Ash smiled wryly. We continued staring at him. He breathed in deeply. "And unfortunately, I see no other way the pieces can fit together. Unfortunately, we have arrived at the correct, and only, explanation."

"Future Trajectories, Inc. is actually Team Rocket." Ash clenched his jaw.

"PokéCamp is a trap."

Author's Note

Apologies for the delay.

This story's plot will likely conclude in the next chapter. The addition of an epilogue - for plot closure, not development - will be based on reader response.

Feedback is appreciated. Now also welcoming requests/recommendations for future stories.

Thanks for all the support as this story comes to a close.

Next Update: 07/12/14, by 4:00 AM UTC