OK, so the last chapter was a bit confusing but hopefully this should make up for it :)

Thanks to spliheart1120, Rawrazor, Kurai Dawn, Foxgrl18, LeafxGreenx3, Moonfur10, ninetailsgirl94, zflame393, dattebayo4321, Lightwolfheart, Lynx of the Sand, LuckyTigger, GlitchGirl123 and RaveOn21now22.

Just a quick note to RaveOn21now22: Please don't think about the physics behind the time travel. I did that when the plot came to me and I had to give up writing the story for two weeks 'cos I had that big a headache T_T

Chapter Twenty-Five: Of Tunnels and Rescues

We walked down a dark rock tunnel that pointed us vaguely in the direction of the base. I walked behind Paul with my hand in his. We sent Ash up at the front to make sure there were no loose rocks or whatever. He occasionally tripped over but not too often.

"So what are you doing here?" Gary asked Celeste.

"I was approached by Andromeda a few months ago," Celeste explained, "She told me that she had seen a girl who told her to dig a tunnel from Mount Moon so that people can get into the base. She said that Raven was in trouble and so was Silver. So Andromeda used her Pokémon to dig out this tunnel for her. She said I was supposed to lead you through the tunnel."

"Leaf," Gary muttered.

"And then what?" Drew asked, "What do you do after that?"

"I'm not sure," Celeste replied, "But I just want to help stop the world from ending. Andromeda should be waiting for us at the end of the tunnel."

"Just her? No mass of grunts?" Drew said. Celeste shook her head.

"Just Andromeda," Celeste promised. Drew nodded. Paul glanced back at me.

"You look a little distracted," Paul said. I shook my head. "Don't linger on what Arceus said."

"There was something in his tone," I explained, "That makes me wonder… Do we actually win this? And at what cost?"

"Don't think about it," Paul said, "What will happen will happen."

"But-"

"Do you trust me?" Paul asked. I nodded. "Then don't worry."

"Why do you sound like you know more than you do?" I asked. Paul shrugged.

"I don't," Paul replied, "I'm just focusing on getting out of here alive."

"I guess you're right," I agreed. I let out a sigh.

"Dawn," Paul said, "When we get out of here… There's a shop in Veilstone that sells the nicest rings."

"Rings?" I asked. Paul nodded.

"You can pick it yourself," Paul went on. I stopped dead in my tracks. Paul slipped from my grasp as he continued to walk forwards. He stopped turned around to look at me.

"Hey, Dawn," Drew snapped as he walked into me, "What's going on?"

"Did you just… propose?" I asked Paul, ignoring Drew for the minute. Paul nodded slowly.

"Who's proposed?" Ash asked from the front of the group. Everyone had stopped to listen in now.

"Drew to Gary," Silver replied, "Who do you think?"

Paul and I were staring at each other. Finally Paul closed his eyes.

"Forget it," he said. He continued walking forwards. I ran up to him and hugged him from behind. I felt tears begin to roll down my cheeks.

"Can it be a pink stone?" I choked out, "On white gold?"

"Sure," Paul said, letting out a soft breath.

"I thought you weren't stupid enough to ask me after two months of dating," I said as I pulled away from him. He turned back round so he was looking at me. I smiled at him and nodded. "Of course. I look forwards to picking out rings with you."

"OK," Silver said, "Well that was soppy. Now I'm down to zero men."

"Oh, shut up," Paul snapped. I giggled as Silver rolled his eyes and continued to walk onwards.

"I'm only telling you the truth," Silver said.

"Geez, who knew that Paul could be so romantic?" Drew commented.

We walked to the end of the tunnel without much trouble. Finally we reached the end. It looked like a metal door with a wheel in the centre of it. Silver was the one to turn the wheel until the door unlocked but Celeste was the first to emerge. She checked around before telling us to come out. I shielded my eyes slightly as we entered a brightly lit room. The walls were white. The lights were bright. I cringed at the intensity of it all.

"So we're inside?" Gary asked. Celeste nodded. Gary punched his hand with his fist before he walked across the room. As my eyes adjusted, I could see we were in an office of some kind. There were shelves on the wall and a large desk with a computer and other officey things near the back wall. Gary had jumped into a large chair and was frantically typing on the keyboard of the computer. I glanced behind me as Silver and Ash closed the door we had just come through. It was cleverly disguised as a filling cabinet.

"Oak," Paul said as he marched over to Gary and peered over his shoulder, "What have you got?"

"I can't access," Gary replied, "Something about access codes."

"Access codes?" Drew asked, "Why didn't you say so?"

The green haired boy walked cockily towards the table. He brushed Gary and Paul out of the way before typing quickly on the keyboard. After a few seconds Drew straightened up and walked towards Ash and Silver. Gary nodded before hacking into the system.

"They're in the sub basement," Gary stated.

"Only the hardest room to get into," Celeste said, "It's teamed with grunts and you need to have level five security to even get into the second elevator."

Ash and Silver looked at each other before they looked at Ascot. Ascot looked like he was thinking about something but in the end he shook his head.

"Never mind," he said.

"Isn't there another route?" Drew asked Celeste, "Like another secret tunnel?"

"Uh uh," Celeste replied, "I don't even know what's down there."

"It's the heart of Rocket," Ascot stated, "It's where everything started. It's a high security place where Elite member Leo lives."

"Leo?" Gary asked. He typed something and then looked at the screen. "I've heard about him. He's a scientist. He used to work with my Grandfather back in the day."

"What did he study?" Silver asked.

"Legendary Pokémon," Gary replied, "He was insane though."

"Then he's definitely a Rocket," Silver muttered, "Right, we need a plan. Gary, Drew, see if you two can get us to the sub basement. Ascot, Celeste, tell us everything you know about this building. Dawn, get some rest."

"Why me?" I asked, puffing out my cheeks.

"I don't want you shorting out on me," Silver replied. I walked over to the opposite side of the room before I sat down on the floor. Stupid Silver and his stupid plans. I watched as the others talked about getting down to the sub basement. I idly waited for them to call me over.

"Dawn," I froze. That was Raven's voice. I made my thoughts go blank. I'm not here, I'm not here. "Saying you're not there doesn't make you invisible."

"Sorry," I thought.

"You guys coming for us anytime soon? My head's beginning to hurt," Raven said.

"What are they doing to you?" I asked. I had a nagging thought in the back of my head that told me not to talk to Raven. She could have easily been brainwashed into luring me into a false sense of security so that she could find me.

"The whacko scientist has gone for a bit, I can talk freely without anyone picking up on it," Raven explained, "They've got us hooked up to these machines. I can't do anything about them. I can't break free of my prison. May, Misty and Leaf are OK. Lyra's struggling a bit. You bumped into Wyre I see."

"Yeah," I said.

"I've told my mother you're here," Raven stated, "I have to go now but she will be with you shortly."

"Keep alive," I told her. Then her voice faded into silence. I got to my feet. Drew glanced up at me from the computer.

"Something wrong, Dawn?" he asked. I shook my head. I watched the door for a few seconds before Paul caught my gaze. He silenced all chatter in the room. We waited for a few minutes. Silver nodded suddenly and we all scrambled into hiding places.

The door swung open a few seconds later. A woman with blonde hair walked through the door. She was wearing a high waist pencil skirt with a military style top. It had the letter R over her left breast with brass buttons running up the top, slightly to the left. She closed the door behind her before she looked round at us.

"Really," she said, "Hiding behind the table?"

"You didn't really design this place for hiding in," Silver said as he slipped out of his hiding place. "Andromeda."

"Andromeda? So formal," Andromeda said, "Don't I get a mummy?"

"No," Silver stated while Drew and Gary sniggered. We got out of our hiding places and crowded round the woman. She looked at us all before she smiled.

"Well, it's nice to meet you all," she greeted us, "I'm Silver's and Raven's mother. How do you do?"

"You're a little too nice to be an Elite," Drew commented.

"It's a little odd," Gary agreed. Andromeda shrugged slightly.

"When I heard that my little girl and my son were going to be in danger in the future, I couldn't bare it," Andromeda explained, "I may be a Rocket but I'm a mother too and being a mother is a pain. You get these weird emotions that make you think about others more than yourself. Not that I'm complaining, of course."

"If you say so," Ash said, shrugging towards the other guys like he had no clue about what Andromeda was saying.

"I can get you to the sub basement," she told us, "But you'll have to get yourselves out."

"No problem," Ash said confidently, "We're the best at Rocket Academy. We can handle it no problem."

"Piece of cake," Drew remarked, flicking his hair.

"And we'll have the girls to help out," Ascot added, smiling. Andromeda smiled and nodded slowly.

"Now," she said as she walked over to another filing cabinet which was next to the one which disguised the secret passage. She opened a draw and pulled out some clothes for us. They looked like proper grunt clothes. She threw the clothes at the boys before she opened another draw, getting more clothes. Finally she passed me some clothes. I looked at them and then at the boys. I blushed to find that Ash, Gary, Drew and Ascot were already stripping down. I glanced at Paul who seemed to be understanding my thoughts. Silver, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to his surroundings. He was eying up the clothes with a strange expression on his face. It was almost like he was admiring them or something. Paul walked over to me. He turned away from me, shielding me from the other guys. Celeste seemed to catch on and she jumped next to Paul so that I had more room to change.

"Does this mean I get to see you without your top on?" Celeste asked Paul with a coy smile on her face.

"I'm definitely changing behind Dawn now," Paul replied. Celeste laughed.

"You have to get used to her undressing for when you two get married," she teased him.

"She'll have to get used to me too," Paul said. I paused as I looked at the two of them.

"Does she blush when you take off your clothes?" Celeste asked.

"What have you two being doing while you've been away?" Drew asked, sounding very shocked.

"N-nothing!" I yelled back at him. Gary and Drew nudged each other.

"Oh yeah," Gary said, "I get it. 'Nothing'."

"Shut up," I stammered.

"Real good way to convince them, Dawn," Celeste commented.

"Leave her alone," Paul told his friends, "She can hurt you if you continue to annoy her."

"That's true," Ash said. I walked out from behind Paul wearing the female grunt suit. It was weird and tight. It was a tight black sweater with R in red on the chest with a tight, square cut skirt that was about mid thigh in length. High black boots came to my knees and wrist length black gloves. There was also a hat in a similar style to my raid uniform hat. I was going to have trouble moving in it. I glanced at the guys to see their eyes practically jumping out of their heads. I looked at them. Even Silver seemed to be gawking at me. I wasn't surprised to see Gary, Drew and, to some extent, Ascot looking at me with wide eyes. Ash's mouth was open. I glanced at Paul to see him slightly surprised at my attire.

"Wow," Celeste said, "I don't know about you but I'm going to have a hard time keeping my hands off of you."

"What?" I asked. I found that I had an echo as most of the boy's asked Celeste this too. Celeste looked over at them, smiling pleasantly.

"You… like girls?" Gary said, after several attempts.

"Duh," Celeste snapped, "I am a charmer by nature but notice how I never took it too far?"

"You like girls?" Ash blurted.

"Yes, Ash," Celeste replied in a bored sort of tone, "Why do you think I went to an all girls school before the Academy. I wanted to check out the girls."

"OK," Silver said, "Moving on. Paul get dressed."

"No arguments there," Paul said before he pulled off his clothes. I averted my eyes, going slightly red as Paul changed beside me. I only looked round when I heard Celeste yelp.

"Ow," she cried, "What was that for, Paul?"

"Stop checking out my fiancé," Paul replied. I put my hand over my mouth before I began laughing loudly. Celeste smirked at me.

"Well," she said, "I'm glad someone isn't weird with this."

"I guess this makes you more manlier than the guys now," I said. Celeste nodded.

"I guess so," Celeste agreed, "Because unlike them, Paul not included, I can actually pick up women and keep them."

"Oh no," Gary roared, "That is so untrue!"

I fell into giggles once more as Celeste began an argument with Drew, Gary and Ascot. Silver watched them in an unimpressed sort of way. Ash looked rather confused.

"I thought girls were supposed to like guys," Ash murmured. Silver patted the confused lad on the back.

"You'll understand one day," Silver told him.

~R~

We walked down a bright corridor, walking like grunts. People passed us by wearing identical clothes to us. We blended in perfectly. I walked beside Paul. He was looking straight ahead, ignoring everything. I could see that he'd slipped into mission mode.

We stopped at an elevator. Andromeda pulled out a card from her pocket and scanned it under a red laser. The doors opened with a ding noise. We squeezed into the elevator and began out descent down. None of us spoke as we went down and down, deeper into the facility. I felt butterflies bubbling in my stomach. I wanted to take Paul's hand in mine but I knew I couldn't.

The elevator stopped. The doors opened and we poured out of the small space in a professional sort of way. Andromeda led us to another elevator not too far away. She scanned her card once more and the doors opened.

"What are you doing?" came a cold, harsh voice. All of us froze, even Andromeda. We looked to see a man with combed back white hair with a small moustache and long thin beard looking at us. Andromeda laughed.

"Scorpio," she said, "It's nothing really. Giovanni wants some extra security downstairs. I did show you the paperwork this morning."

"I did," Scorpio agreed, "But when I phoned Giovanni he said he requested no such thing."

"Oh," Andromeda said, "Well… Go."

"Go?" Scorpio asked. Andromeda launched herself at Scorpio, knocking him backwards. He fought against her. Celeste turned to us as red lights began to flash and sirens began to ring.

"Go down in the elevator," she told us, "And hurry."

"Wait!" I yelled as she ran over to help Andromeda. Paul pulled me into the elevator where the other guys had already shuffled into. The doors closed slowly, leaving me with the final image of Scorpio pointing a gun at Celeste. The doors closed before I could see anything else but the shot afterwards told me of her fate instantly. Paul hugged me tightly as I began to cry. I was given a few minute to compose myself as the lift went deeper into the depths. I dried my eyes and pulled away from Paul. I had to be ready otherwise I might die too.

"Ready," Silver ordered. The guys nodded. "On my order."

The elevator slowly came to a stop. It dinged and the doors slowly slid open.

"Go!" Silver ordered. We sprang out of the small space, attacking ten or so grunts that were already waiting for us. I turned to the elevator and froze it solid before it could move. Next I turned and froze a door which looked like it may have been stairs. No body would be getting through to us.

I turned back to the boys to find that they had knocked out all of the grunts without much difficulty. We nodded at each other before we ran down the hallway. We were definitely in the right place. There was only one door on the corridor. That had to be it.

We flew through the door to find ourselves in a bright lab.

Raven, Lyra, Misty, May and Leaf were lying on tables, strapped to them by various things. I looked around in horror to see that they weren't moving.

"So," a voice from behind us said, "You finally made it."

We looked round to see a weird looking man wearing a lab coat. He was short with wild orange hair. It looked like a mane. He wore glasses too and a cruel smirk.

"I've been looking forwards to this day," he said, "Finally, it all falls into place."

"You're Leo," Gary stated, "I recognise you."

"That's true, I am Leo," the man said, "Head of Rocket research and soon the ruler of the entire world."

He gave a loud evil laugh.

"Now for you, Suicune," he went on. We readied ourselves for an attack. "First I'll get rid of your friends and then I'll finally have everything I need."

"Because someone has to ask it: what are you planning?" Gary asked. Leo let out laugh.

"It's simple really," Leo said, "I am going to use the Legendaries to bring the darkness into this world. When the darkness comes here I shall rule the world with nothing to stop me! Think of it. Everything dark, everything gloomy with each Pokémon and human as my personal slave. The darkness will mean that even I would control Arceus! I'd control the world!"

He fell into manic laughter like only a mad scientist could.

"Dude," Drew said, "You are totally insane."

Leo clicked his fingers loudly. The lights dimmed and two figures emerged from the floor. I gasped. I had never seen a Pokémon like it before. It was human shaped but a whitey-purple colour. It had rounded horns on its head, a long purple tail and long legs.

"Mew Two," Ascot said, "Oh dear."

"What's a Mew Two?" Gary asked.

"It's like a Mew but twice as good," Ascot replied.

"Oh," Ash said, "That's bad."

"No kidding," Gary remarked.

"Let's go," Silver ordered. Ascot nodded. He suddenly flew up into the air. He seemed alarmed by this at first until he realised this was he Pokémon powers working.

"So cool," he said. He soon snapped out of it. Gary and Drew smirked while Ash fist pumped the air.

"Let's go," Gary yelled, "Go… Jirachi!"

Nothing happened. Paul and I looked at Gary for a few seconds like he was an idiot. He froze before his arms fell to his side.

"It's not as easy as I thought," he muttered.

"Try saying an attack, genius," Paul snapped. Gary perked up.

"OK then," Gary said, "Er… What does Jirachi know?"

"Dragon Pulse," Ascot yelled. A turquoise ball appeared in Ascto's hand. He threw it at one of the Mew Twos.

"Swift?" Gary said. Stars erupted from his hands. They shot towards the other Mew Two, hitting it dead on. Gary and Ascot gave a cheer, but it wasn't over yet. The Mew Twos were damaged but still standing.

"Hey," Ascot said to Gary, "Let's do a combination."

"Sure," Gary agreed.

"Dragon Pulse."

"Swift."

The two attacks flew towards each other. They morphed into a glowing golden ball. We stood in amazement at the power of it.

"Psychic," both Gary and Ascot yelled. The ball was hit by two beams of multi-coloured light. It shot towards the Mew Two's causing smoke to arise upon impact. The guys cheered. Ascot floated to the ground and stood haughtily on the spot. Leo looked over at the boys before smirking.

"You'll have to do better than that," Leo told them. The smoke cleared. The Pokémon were still standing.

"Again," Gary ordered.

"Dragon pulse!"

"Swift."

Nothing happened.

"Oh no," Gary said, "We must have used the powers up."

"Not good," Ascot agreed. Silver raised his hand to attack but he stopped as he heard someone else shout.

"Now!"

I glanced over towards the girls. They opened their eyes at the same time. Misty pointed and shot a beam of lightening towards May, setting her free from her restraints. May in turn released both Raven and Leaf with an ember attack. Leaf used Razor Leaf to cut Lyra free while Raven used Psychic to free Misty. The five of them jumped off their tables ready to fight.

"How can this be?" Leo asked. He fell to the floor in fear, scrambling backwards in fear.

"Now, Fire Blast!" Lyra ordered. Both she and May sent out powerful fire attacks.

"Shock wave," Misty said, releasing thunder bolts. The two attacks combined.

"And Psybeam!" Raven said, shooting her beam into the attack. It glowed white at it hit the Mew Twos. The two Pokémon collapsed on the floor, slightly blackened by the attack.

"Guys!" I yelled running towards them. I embraced Leaf first. Misty and May jumped on me, hugging me tightly. Raven joined in the group hug too. Lyra just watched from the sidelines, smiling at us.

"Hey, Silver," she greeted the red head, "Took your time."

"So sorry," Silver replied sarcastically. We laughed at them. But our laughter was cut short.

"Hey," Ascot yelped suddenly. We turned to look at him and Gary. They seemed to be… disintegrating.

"What's going on!" Gary yelled.

"Gary!" Leaf cried rushing forwards to help her boyfriend. She held his hand tightly. "Don't worry. We're going to help you."

"Ah," Ascot said as his knees disappeared. Raven rushed forwards. She looked around at the two of them at a loss of what to do.

"There's nothing we can do," she stated simply. My eyes widened as I remembered something.

"Arceus said…" I stammered.

"Once they had used up their powers, they would disappear," Silver finished for me.

"So that's what he meant," Gary said.

"No way!" Ash yelled, "That's not right! Arceus said he'd help us right?"

"He did tell us this would happen," Paul stated, "I don't think we can do anything to stop it now."

"What?" Drew asked, "No. No this can't be!"

I was glued to the floor, like the others were. We could only watch as Ascot and Gary faded away bit by bit. Ascot was talking softly to Raven as if nothing was happening. She was smiling at him, tears in her eyes. My eyes fell onto Gary and Leaf.

"Gary, hold on," Leaf was saying to Gary as tears streamed down her face. Gary seemed to have gotten over the initial shock of fading away. He was watching as his legs disappeared with a blank look on his face. He glanced at Leaf as she began to sniffle loudly beside him. He cupped her chin with his hand.

"Listen," he said, "You'll find how to fix this. Don't worry. I'll be waiting."

"Gary," Leaf cried, "I've only just got you back."

"I know," Gary said, "But you've got to continue on your own now. I'll be fine. I'll be chilling until you get me back."

"Promise you'll come back?" Leaf asked. Gary nodded. He leant into her and kissed her cheek gently before he totally disappeared. Leaf let out a scream as he disappeared. She crumbled to her knees, sobbing violently into her hands. Misty and May ran to comfort her. She latched onto Misty instantly, crying into the orange haired girl's shoulder. I glanced at Raven and Ascot. They were holding hands right until the last second. Only when Ascot had gone did Raven let the tears slide down her face. She quickly brushed them away.

"We need to stop Leo," she told us. I looked round the room to see that Leo had scurried away while we were preoccupied. "He's got the feathers and the crystal bell. He's going to use them to open the distortion world right here."

"And that will bring the darkness?" Paul asked.

"Yes," Raven said, "He'll use them items to control the other Legendaries. If he controls Giratina then the distortion world is his. Then nothing will be able to stop him."

"We need to find him," Silver agreed.

"No!" Leaf yelled, "What if you all disappear like Gary did? What can we do then?"

Misty patted Leaf's back in a comforting sort of way.

"I don't want to do it!" Leaf cried. I walked over to Leaf and knelt down beside her.

"Leaf," I said in a gentle tone. Slowly she looked at me, eyes filled with tears. "I know it's scary but we need to do this. If we lose then Gary will never come back. So we need to fight. Is that OK?"

"OK," Leaf agreed with a nod of the head. She wiped her tears away. She stood up bravely and nodded again. "Let's do this."

"It looks like we won't have to wait long," Drew said, looking over his shoulder. More Mew Twos were coming our way.

Drew and Ash stepped forwards.

"What ever happens," Drew said, "I'll love you always, May."

"Drew," May said.

"You're the best, Mist," Ash told Misty. He looked at her and gave her a goofy smile. "Let me handle this OK? I know I can win this one."

"But Ash…" Misty said. She couldn't continue. Ash nodded once and she nodded back at him. He turned back towards the Mew Twos.

"You should go," Silver told us as he walked forwards, "You go and find Leo and stop him at any cost."

"Silver," Lyra said but she was cut off by a glare from Silver. She fell silent.

"Paul," Silver said. Paul nodded. He looked at me.

"Keep safe," he told me. He took my hand in his. "I'm coming back. Don't worry."

"Be careful," I warned him. He nodded before he leant in to kiss me. We kissed briefly before Paul tore away and joined his comrades a few metres away. I stood back in horror as it suddenly dawned on me.

This could be the last time I ever saw Paul…

Voting on my poll finishes on Tuesday so don't forget to vote. Also, I have put up a picture on my blog which is the whole reason the plot came to life so go check it out! Also, I'm uploading a 'lost chapter' on my blog. I did write it but then I got rid of it so you want to know how Ursula reacted to the news of Paul and Dawn dating, go check it out. The link is on my profile :)

I feel like I'm telling you to do way too much but don't forget to review.

Til Wednesday!

RSx