A/N: I suck so bad it hurts.

It hadn't taken long for Flint to ride up the elevator to the 7th floor where he was immediately greeted with his two companion's backs. They were blocking his view from the hallway and he whistled loudly to gain their attention.

"Hey, you managed to make it Flint." Ash called throwing a hand up in greeting.

"Glad, you could join us." Zoey said smoothly as Flint walked up to them. He smiled at her stiffly.

"Yeah, thanks by the way. Don't be surprised if we have to jump out of the windows to get away from those guys if they figured out I lied."

"No one cares about you enough to riot." Zoey dismissed easily, he gaped at her. "Getting back to the point, we're pretty sure this is where all the action took place." Flint glared at her shortly before he composed himself to actually look at the hallway. Not too far from where they were standing were several dark, charred areas scattered around the ground. Flint leaned down running his hands over the surface of the floor; he glanced up to see several similar burnt patches randomly placed on the walls. Pikachu hopped off Ash's shoulder to sniff around.

"Looks like there was a fire." Ash muttered.

"High voltages could cause the same effect," Flint rose back up looking around with a thoughtful countenance. "It certainly looks like a battle took place here." Flint crouched down near Pikachu to get a closer look at the marks on the floor. "These look like they're from Raichu, hm? What do you say Pikachu?"

"Pika." The electric mouse nodded in confirmation. Flint glanced at the burn marks on the wall.

"Those are from a fire-type, definitely….a Houndoom maybe?"

"So basically Volkner got in a fight with someone, but then what?" Zoey asked, leaning against an unmarked part of the wall. "We've checked all the rooms in this hallway, there aren't any markings in any of them. Although, for some reason the control room isn't opening…"

"Maybe Volkner got captured." Ash grimaced when silence followed his statement, he was hoping for some sort of protest against the notion. Flint was still staring carefully at the burn marks, quickly bringing up a point.

"Look at these burn marks, guys." Flint pointed as the charred areas made a splotchy pattern towards the end of the hallway. "They almost form a trail."

"Yeah, it looks like he got attacked over there." Zoey pointed near the control room, "It probably happened right after he left the control room. The path continues past that corner…" The trio followed the burnt trail turning into the next hallway. "And it ends…"

"Over here." Ash finished on a strange note, pointing to the dead end of the hallway. All three trainers stared silently at the corner which was almost completely blackened from the ceiling to the floor.

"Hmm. Certainly, a bit of the overkill. I mean you don't need this much fire to burn some wallpaper off." Flint commented. "And it completely ruins the chance to repaint it."

"I'm ignoring that completely." Zoey rolled her eyes and concentrated on something that was bothering her. "According to this little charred path of the Galaxy grunts chasing him, Volkner tried escaping by running down this way."

"But that doesn't make sense; if Volkner was trying to get away he would have headed towards this side of the hallway to where the elevator was." Ash said, "Why would he purposefully head towards a dead end?"

"Maybe he wanted to get caught…" Flint mumbled. Zoey and Ash shared a look of confusion but before either could question the elite four member a phone starting ringing. Ash reached into his pocket to take out his cellphone.

"It's Reggie." Ash informed the other two before answering. "Hello?" a startled look immediately infiltrated Ash's face before it was replaced with confusion. He turned around with the phone, "Whoa…wait, slow down Reggie. Say that again." Ash turned back to the hallway where the control room was, Zoey and Flint followed him.

Flint glanced at Zoey, "You said the control room isn't opening?" she nodded.

"Yeah, it's locked tight. I'm not that surprised because it is the control room; its access is probably only limited to the crew of the Lighthouse." Flint frowned glancing at the door of the control room. "The lock on the door is password protected."

"A number password?"

"Yes, it's a six digit code though. We'd waste too much time trying to figure it out."

"That control room faces the harbor north of Sunyshore…" he mumbled. "That's where Paul found the Team Galaxy base, I wonder if-"

"Guys! Hold up, this is important!" Ash rushed towards Flint and Zoey wagging his phone impatiently. "Reggie just told me that Volkner sent two messages to your phone Flint!"

"What? My phone, I-" he patted his pocket and cursed when he didn't feel anything. "I guess, I forgot it at Volkner's house. But, wait he sent me two messages? When was this?"

"Let me put Reggie on speaker…" Ash mumbled fumbling with the cell phone. "Hello? Reggie?"

"Yeah, I hear you. Flint, Zoey you there?"

"Reggie! What happened?" Zoey asked instantly.

"Volkner sent two messages on my phone?"

There was a pause, "…Yes, I was checking your phone to see if Volkner had tried getting in contact with you. Suddenly it started vibrating and you received two messages."

"What did it say on them?"

"The first one says: Lighthouse, control room, password-981264." Reggie said. "Does that help you guys at all?"

"It's probably the passcode to opening the door for the control room. Volkner must have locked it before those guys attacked."

"Then there must be something important in there he was trying to protect, what was the number again?" When Reggie repeated it, Ash wrote it down and rushed towards the control room to input the number.

"What does the other message say?" Zoey asked. Reggie sighed before continuing.

"It says: Computer Access, computer password-…"

"Wait, what? That's all it says?"

"Yes…what did you guys seen when you got there."

"A lot of damage, Volkner obviously got into a fight." Flint sighed, "He must have been typing that message when those guys attacked."

"The message still doesn't make much sense." Zoey pointed out.

"Well actually-"

"Guys, the control room is open! Ash called out. Zoey and Flint hurried towards him to reach the room. When they got in the room looked pretty normal. There was a large window that showed the north harbor, along with the warehouses right nearby. The control panel was pushed up against the window, and sitting in the middle of the panel was probably the closest computer looking device in the room.

"This must have been what the message was talking about." Flint said. He sat down in the chair in front of the keyboard and tried turning the computer on. When the screen lit up, the computer immediately asked for a password and 9 blanks appeared. "Could you repeat the second message again Reggie, Ash didn't hear it."

"It said: Computer Access, computer password-…that's it."

"Are you kidding? It gets cut off right before the password!" Ash let out a frustrated sigh.

"I still don't get what the first part of the message is saying. What does Computer Access mean? Does it literally mean access to the computer? But why would Volkner tell us to get on the computer?"

Flint shook his head staring seriously as the screen "No, Access is a tracking program that the League uses."

"A tracking program?" Reggie asked his voice ringing out from Ash's phone.

"Why would the league have a tracking program?"

"It's part of a research pact the league has with professors. They wanted a program that would help track certain Pokémon for research purposes. So the league created this tracking device that you can just stick onto a Pokémon to track them. Lately the league hasn't exactly been using them for research purposes…."

"A tracking program? Well why does Volkner have it."

"I'm not sure." Flint frowned, "I mean I know some gym leaders use it for their own research, but Volkner isn't that kind of person. Researching is not his favorite pastime."

Zoey frowned "…I'm not sure why Volkner wants us to get on Access, but I'm sure we can figure it out when we get on the program.

"How are we going to do that? We don't even know the computer password!" Ash exclaimed.

"Uh…guys, I should probably go." Reggie interrupted apologetically. "I don't think I'll be any help with trying to figure out the password. And I should probably catch everyone else up with the news anyway."

"Alright, thanks for all the information Reggie." Zoey said.

"We'll call you if we figure anything out." Flint added on.

"Alright. Good luck guys." When Reggie hung up, all three trainers looked up at the computer screen.

"Okay then…9 letter password to Volkner's computer." Zoey nodded her head, "Well, go for it Flint."

"Whaa! Why are you pushing this on me?" Flint protested.

"Need I remind you, you're Volkner's best friend." Zoey annunciated with a smirk, Flint scowled.

"Oh stop threatening me." He looked up at the screen and stared at it for a few seconds. He then typed something in. After a few seconds, the password was denied. He tried again, and again.

"Come on Flint." Ash complained after the elite four member got it wrong for the fifth time, "You're not doing a very good job…"

"Well, why don't you give it a try then." Flint offered, moving over to allow Ash to type on the keyboard. Ash stared at the screen and then started mouthing some words, spelling out each letter slowly. "Trying to remember the alphabet there?" Ash glared at him shortly.

"Ooh! I know." Ash quickly typed something.

"What did you type in?"

"Electricity."

"…Electricity is more than 9 letters how did you," Zoey paused. "Ash, you spelled electricity wrong."

"Oh. Hold on, let me try something." Ash exclaimed, Zoey and Flint watched as the boy slowly typed in 1, 2, and 3 before Zoey lost patience and slammed her fist down.

"1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9 is not the password Ash!"

"You don't know that!" he protested back. He quickly typed in the rest and when the password failed again, he lost confidence in his abilities and cowered away from the keyboard.

"His password probably involves something personal only he knows about." Zoey stated.

Ash groaned, "Then how are we supposed to figure it out?" The trio sat in silence. Flint was staring out into the harbor his eyes glazing over with a distant look.

"Okay, let's take a step back here. I think it's pretty positive that Volkner got captured." Zoey and Ash grimaced at this. "If that's the case then who captured him."

"Team Galaxy."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well…he came here because he thought there was someone guarding the Team Galaxy base from the Lighthouse."

"If what Paul and Dawn overheard from those Galaxy grunts is true, then Hunter J's base is right next door. They could have captured him too."

"So what…who cares who kidnapped him?"

"No wait…let's think about this. We came here because Volkner was missing. Volkner came here because he thought someone was tampering with the lighthouse. Volkner is now gone, presumably kidnapped. Why hasn't anything happened to us yet?"

Zoey stared at him blankly before blinking and looking away, "I…I never thought about that."

"They kidnapped Volkner cause they were trying to protect something, either Volkner caught them doing something or he was about to catch them. If they aren't worrying about protecting it from us…then…."

"Then they've hidden whatever they were protecting?" Ash asked.

"So the question is what were they protecting?" Zoey continued. She stared at both of them with widening eyes, "The base, right? They were protecting the base."

"Of course!" Flint yelled, "That's what happened, Volkner must have seen the base from here."

"But we kind of already know where the base is already." Ash mentioned, "When Paul and Dawn dropped in on it."

Flint smirked, "They don't know that. They assumed this was the first time Volkner heard about it, so they kidnapped him. Either those Galaxy grunts or Hunter J."

"So we just went in a huge circle of conversation there, great job guys. Volkner is gone, congratulations." Zoey quipped unenthusiastically.

"Nope. I figured it all out." Flint said smugly crossing his arms behind his head with a prideful look. Ash and Zoey shot him bewildered looks.

"Indulge us." Zoey said with narrow eyes.

"I was trying to think about why Volkner wants us to get on Access. It's a tracking program; he's tracking himself on the system. He purposely got caught so that when they captured him we could follow him back to the base. I bet once we get on we'll know exactly where Volkner is in that base."

Ash shrugged, "Makes sense."

"That seems like a lot of assumption to me." Zoey replied skeptically.

"But it makes sense. Think about it, we know where the base is. What is stopping us from barging in their guns blazing?"

"What? Are you crazy? We'd get killed!"

"But, why would we get killed? What is the problem with just prancing in guns blazing?" Flint asked, "We technically know where the base is."

"We have no idea what their numbers our, that's a freakin base. There are like 7 of us 8 if we can find Volkner."

"That's irrelevant. We're basically studs when it comes to Pokémon battling. We can take on their numbers. So what would another problem be?"

Zoey looked a little frustrated, "How about navigation? If we go into one of those bases, the other base will know. And what was the whole point of this, to find Chimchar!"

Flint seemed to be getting excited, he jumped up closer to Zoey "And what would be the solution to that problem?"

"What?" Zoey exclaimed. Ash glanced between the two giving them strange looks. "Solution?"

"How would we be able to infiltrate both bases without setting off an alarm for either of them."

"Invisibility!" Ash piped up, Zoey and Flint glared at him. The younger trainer shut up.

Flint turned back to Zoey, "Well, what would be a solution to the navigation problem."

"I-I don't know…a map, a map of both bases I guess." Zoey muttered, she rolled her eyes. "Where the hell are we supposed to get those."

Zoey glanced back up and was startled to see Flint grinning wickedly. "What is your problem?"

"Access makes maps."

"What…."

"Because it tracks Pokémon, there are situations where a Pokémon will get stuck in a cave or underwater. Anyway, they built a program where they will formulate map based on where the Pokémon you are tracking is."

"So…you are saying, if we get on Access we can get a freakin map of the entire base. We can navigate it and everything."

Flint nodded with excitement, "And because Hunter J's base is right nearby we can get a map of their base too."

Zoey punched Flint square in the shoulder, "You could have led with this!"

"Ouch! Jeez, you're hard to please."

"So once we get onto Access…we can get maps to the base and rescue Volkner and Chimchar." Ash said slowly finally catching up with his friends. "That's all fantastic…"

"Yeah, right!"

"Certainly looks like it."

"…except we still can't get on the computer." Ash'a voice flat lined as he pointed to the computer.

Zoey's bright face dropped. "He's right."

"Spoil-sport." Flint muttered. "In any case call Reggie. Once we do figure out this stupid password, we need a plan. Half of us need to rescue Volkner while the other half need to help Chimchar."

A/N: THIS FIC IS TAKING TOO LONG TO FINISH, BLAAARGH! This was literally supposed to be done by now.