Disclaimer: Pokémon is still owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.

Chapter 34: Change Of Plans

There was a surprise waiting for Max and Danny when they entered the same room they'd had lunch in the day before. Specifically… "That wasn't there yesterday."

Anabel laughed softly. "No, it wasn't," she said, sitting down on the large mattress that had been put in the middle of the room, shoving all other things to the side. It looked like it was two mattresses shoved together, and then some more. "Distance matters, so sitting close together is a good idea. This is a bit safer if you fall over."

"Did that happen to you?" Danny asked. "That sounds really specific."

"Guilty as charged. Maybe it was that I hadn't eaten anything for a bit, but better safe than sorry." The Frontier Brain got up in one fluid motion. "And besides, not like moving it was any difficult. It–"

Her sentence was interrupted by the sound of an incoming call on a Pokénav. The tune was flighty and whimsical, and something that vaguely reminded Max of something he'd seen when he was younger. It was on the table they'd sat at the day before, now near the door, and Anabel answered it without picking it up. "Anabel here."

"Anabel, it's Bruno. There's an emergency in Rota," said the gruff Elite Four member. Max had met him, naturally, back at the Silver Conference, but they hadn't shared more than two sentences. "I need you to come, and one of your Pokémon to pick up Brock of Pewter."

"What kind of emergency?" Anabel asked as alakazam left the room with a swoosh of vanishing air.

"The Tree of Beginning is glowing. Rota Palace told me that the last time this happened was about three and a half years ago."

"What colour is the glow?" Max interjected before Anabel could speak up, stepping forward. "Orange-red?"

"Max Maple?" Bruno asked to confirm, but he didn't give the opportunity to. "It's green. But nothing like that time."

Anabel's alakazam returned, handing several pokéballs to the Frontier Brain. She clipped them on with audible snaps. "I'm ready Bruno. Do you need transport?"

"Will left some. I'll be at the bridge to the castle, town-side. Bring your company."

The call ended, leaving Max a bit surprised. He had not expected the out-and-out invitation slash order for them to come. "Why did you ask about the colour?"

"Because it turned orange when the mew inside was dying." Anabel reacted to his answer, recoiling instinctively. He could sympathise. "And only lucario sacrificing himself stopped that. And it could've been Ash." He took a step towards alakazam. "I'm ready."

"I'm not," Danny replied, "but someone needs to keep you safe. And like hell I'm going to wait here." He placed a hand on Max's shoulder. "Let's go."

"Can you have your gardevoir transport Brock from the Pewter Gym?"

"Once we're in Rota, yes."

The air shifted around them: from climate-controlled to slightly warmer and fresh air that smelled like recent rain. Murmuring sprang up the moment the three faded into the area, but Max paid it no heed, instead sending gardevoir out and instructing him what to do before looking around and rejoining the two others.

Bruno was easily found. His height alone made him stand out, and if that wasn't it, the muscles or even hairdo were enough. A young boy nearby yelled that it was him, but the Elite Four member shook his head in that direction, and Max saw a parent drag the boy away.

There was a green glow on the horizon, and not the green-blue that had come with mew's rejuvenation from last time. "That's not what I was expecting," Brock said from behind them. "But it's probably the Tree alright."

"It is. It's been doing this for about fifteen minutes now," Bruno said, turning around to face the six of them. "I don't know what is causing it, but after last time, we're not taking chances." He glanced at the two Psychic-types. "Anabel, can your alakazam take us all?"

"Yes," the Frontier Brain replied. "But after that, she'll have to recover for a third."

"That is acceptable. Have her deposit us half a mile from the entrance." He turned to Max and Danny. "Which Pokémon do you have on you?" he asked, prompting them to share their teams. "Good. Now get ready."

They did, and another Teleport happened.

And Max was hit inside the head with something. Like he hadn't had anything to drink on a warm day. Annoying. A hand went to his temple, but before it reached, a psionic pulse buffeted him.

He didn't fall thanks to Bruno being in the way, and he opened his eyes to see Anabel's alakazam clutch hands and spoons to her head. Wisps of power thrashed around her, lightly gouging the soft soil until the Frontier Brain returned her; the red looking strange in the unearthly light of the nearby Tree.

Brock summed it up for all of them. "What was that?"

"I… I couldn't reach her," Anabel said, sounding shaken. "It was turmoil and pain and fog." She rubbed her head. "I'm going to try something."

It was another Pokémon appearing. The girafarig tensed up immediately, before starting to buck in place, similar wisps as with alakazam slashing around it. "Wait a minute..." Danny said as the vaguely green-tinted yellow Pokémon vanished into red light. "Max… How are you feeling?"

He knew that tone of voice, even through the annoying pain. "Like I've got a dehydration headache," he answered. "Or something like it."

"Do you know what's going on?"

"I don't know," Danny stressed as he answered Brock. "Guessing there's something around to annoy Psychic-types specifically." He looked Max straight in the eyes. "Like in June."

"Be that as it may," Bruno said before more questions could be asked. "How can we solve this?"

"There's a machine somewhere. Destroy it, and..." Max spread his hands. "But finding it here's gonna be hard."

"If it's a machine, could it reach mew inside?" Brock asked.

A cold hand grasped Max's heart as he thought about the question. If it disabled alakazam and girafarig, gave him and Anabel a headache, and it could reach into the heart of the Tree… "They're after mew. It won't be able to transform and get out."

"Then this is a distress signal." Bruno unclipped one pokéball from his belt, handing it to Anabel. "My crobat. Use it to find the machine."

"Take steelix too. He's not going to be useful inside."

It was spur of the moment, but it felt both right and wrong. More the first, though. "Here," Max said as he held out his Friend Ball. "He can Teleport to either of us."

They looked at each other for a moment, and Anabel broke contact first. "I'll keep him safe. I promise."

"Good thinking. Now, let's move."

Bruno set off at a jog – for him – that required the rest of them to basically run to keep up. To his surprise, Max felt like he kept up better than he'd expected, and the distance to the entrance was soon covered, without any interference.

As one, four Pokémon came out: a hitmonchan and a kabutops, plus manectric and froslass. "We'll hit a fork inside. Brock, Danny, you take one path. Max and I take the other. Move quietly, and keep your ears open. People prepared to steal mew have a plan for the guardians."

Needless to say, those plans were generally loud. The Golems didn't care about collateral damage, or hadn't three years ago. "And if the guardians find us?"

"Maybe they'll recognise Brock or Max," Bruno answered. "If not, we'll run. Our fight is with the other intruders."

Nothing more was said, and at the first fork, Max and Bruno headed right.

~~§~~§~~

They moved slowly and cautiously. Danny scanned every corner of the tunnel they were in, but nothing prepared him for the semi-open inner cavern that they reached after a sharp bend left. "Whoa..."

"Beautiful, isn't it," Brock said, stopping to allow Danny to look around. The water looked calm and tranquil, and pillars rose into the air, with Pokémon on them. Lileep and cradily, he thought. "Last time I was here, this place was teeming with Pokémon."

"And now it's not?"

"They're hiding. Look closely at the water."

Danny did, and after a moment, he saw what Brock had meant. There were a ton of omanyte and omastar in the water, using the sediment as camouflage. A sole yanma skimmed over the surface hurriedly as well. "They're afraid. Of us?"

"Of what's causing the Tree to react," the Gym Leader corrected. "This is their home, and it's almost alive. These Pokémon are in tune with it more than anything you and I can understand. They sense that something has come to threaten it." He pointed right. "Let's head up. We've got climbing to do."

The path itself wasn't steep enough to cause Danny problems, but having to climb up ledges was something that started to be annoying after the third one in two minutes. "Not the easiest path here, is it?"

"It'll level out in a bit. And hopefully, we won't meet the same Pokémon we did last time."

"Which of the Golems?"

"Regice," Brock said, lifting himself onto ledge with ease before giving Danny a hand for help. "Even if it's probably the easiest for the two of us to hold off, I really don't want to tussle with any of them."

That, Danny could agree with fully.

~~§~~§~~

The path was winding upwards in a spiral, and it wasn't a route Max remembered taking the last time he had been to the Tree of Beginning. Or even if the path had been there at all, really – he didn't remember the fork that they'd used existing. That could've been the headache too, though: it got worse as they climbed.

It levelled out after a bit, and to the right, Max could see a small tunnel to what looked like the outside. "That's an entrance."

"Not surprising. And someone entered here," Bruno added, pointing at some rock dust, which had part of a footprint in it. "Recently. Can't say how many." He put a hand on Max's shoulder. "You've seen the guardians. How many would you send to fight one of them?"

"Two of your Pokémon can easily tag-team them."

"Most Trainers aren't that quality. Nor yours." They resumed walking, Bruno thankfully keeping Max's smaller steps in mind. "But two sounds right. Two trainers, to use that advantage." The Elite Four member looked around across the area, and Max followed suit, ignoring the chills he got when looking down from this height. "That makes six total. Let's hope that they'll be occupied."

"And what do we do if we find them?"

"We defeat them. By any means necessary."

"Any means?"

"Any means," Bruno repeated simply as they reached a narrow tunnel. Hitmonchan gestured once, going on inwards while the rest paused in place. Max gave manectric a quick scratch. "The attack on this place cannot stand. You have my full permission in this."

Manectric barked happily, reaching up to paw at Max's wrist, but he shook his head at her antics. "Not yet. That tunnel looks narrow, and if I return you, it's just wasted." The plaintive whine went ignored with practice. "If it's okay to ask… What's your team?"

"Hitmonlee, toxicroak, heracross, machamp. Medicham and Will's beheeyem are out. I'll tell toxicroak to not use sludge if you use clefairy."

"Same for Metronome," Max said, smiling despite the situation. "Don't want a bridge blowing up under us. That would be..."

His words were interrupted by the return of hitmonchan, who signalled that it was safe. They all filed into the tunnel; the punching Pokémon taking point. Max and manectric followed half side-by-side, and Bruno took up the rear, being able to use his height to see what was up ahead anyway.

They hiked for several minutes, and sound started to filter down the tunnel. Sound that belonged to battle. The two humans exchanged glances, and Max stepped behind manectric as she Mega Evolved mid-step.

Twenty seconds later, as they turned a corner in the tunnel, green met them.

~~§~~§~~

A bridge made out of blue crystal had caused Danny to look at it awkwardly, but he'd followed Brock onto it. The teenager seemed to be taking everything well enough. Brock hadn't really expected differently, but it was still good to know.

Then he saw something he'd really hoped to avoid. Freezing was instinctual: he knew what it was and he knew what it could do. And it wasn't fun or pretty. "That's the immune system stuff, right?" Danny asked.

The green floating blob was. It wasn't doing anything, just floating, but Brock knew that it could spring into action at any moment, and last time, nothing had done anything to it. "Yeah, it is."

"Looks a bit like reuniclus. You think it's dangerous?"

"I know it is," Brock countered. "Doesn't look like they're after anything, thou..."

The blob, and five more that appeared from below out of nowhere, suddenly shot into the tunnel up ahead. Before one of them could say anything about that, a sixth one suddenly appeared between the two Trainers. It squeezed through, even adjusting for his flinching, and then it ignored them as it shot off in the same direction. "Eh..."

"Well… That's new." Brock said, as he let tension drain from his body. Kabutops relaxed a bit as well. "Not going to complain about that."

"Maybe… If it's the immune system, it doesn't see us as a threat?"

"Or there's a bigger threat up ahead." Which was likely. "It's like the immune system. Human and Pokémon ones are pretty indiscriminate, but this one has some form of sentience." He shrugged in response to Danny's jaw dropping. "There's a mew here, and this place has been around for millennia. And we're standing on a bridge made out of solid crystal."

That got through to the teenager, who glanced down for a moment to remind himself of that. The froslass above him seemed to smile fondly. "Let's go see what's up ahead?"

That was a good plan, and kabutops took point while the rest of them followed slowly. They didn't know what was up ahead, but being caught off guard was not a good idea here.

As it was, they found nothing but tunnels and more crystal bridges for about five minutes until a large green blob took up half of the path. A blob that wasn't the same green all-over. "Is that..."

"I think." That wasn't what had happened to them. "Looks like two humans and… A machamp at least."

"There's something underneath the machamp."

Brock took a closer look, spotting a familiar silhouette that he'd seen in battle yesterday after the Gym had been steam-bathed. "That's a magcargo. And a magneton too,' he added, spotting the Electric-type half-hidden behind one of the humans. "Guess that was what they spotted."

The mass pulsed, and a small green bit flew off, away from the two of them. It still caused Brock to take steps back, and more when he saw it morph.

Into mew? And then it hovered in front of them like it was hoping to… Do something? "Are you… Are you mew?"

It shouldn't be, not with that machine keeping Psychic-types disabled. But as the green sort-of Pokémon floated around them, the sense that it was the one living here crept up on him.

Then a registeel landed on the path ahead of them, looking battered, scorched, and all sorts of things, but the dot pattern lit up in an attack pattern when it saw the humans here. Brock's hand immediately went to his belt, but before he could send golem out, the blob moved itself over to in front of registeel.

And without hesitation, the Legendary stood down. "The hell?"

"I think that means it is mew. Or something else that can talk registeel down," Brock told Danny, and the teenager also removed his hand from his belt. He looked calmer than expected. Wasn't this his first time this close to a Legendary? "Are regirock and regice also fighting?"

The mew blob split itself in two, forming arrows. One went off to the right and up, but the other pointed straight down the path they were on. "If we continue… We'll find one?"

Mew reformed, zooming around their heads happily, but then it stopped, affecting a sad look. It looked at the blob and at registeel, and then at them with… Something else? Was that… Hope?

It was a bit weird to see an expression he usually saw on his youngest siblings on the imitation of a Legendary Pokémon, but it didn't even hit the top fifty of weirdest things he'd ever seen. Probably. "You need to stay here with registeel?" he asked. The reply was clear as day. "Okay. We'll go on. And..." he added just as the registeel sat down with a grind of steel against rock. "There's two of our friends here too. Don't freeze them like you did this bunch, okay?"

"So..." Danny said two minutes later, when the tunnel they'd entered was levelling off again. "That's a lot different than Max told me about that immune system. And shouldn't mew be..."

"Should, yes. But there's a lot we don't understand. And I'm not going to think about that now." He looked Danny in the eye as best he could in the dim light. "You were calmer than I thought you'd be."

"You didn't see me jump when registeel landed. But it wasn't really scary after that. Seen scarier."

Whatever the story behind that was, it was going to have to wait. There was more to do.

~~§~~§~~

The Solar Beam passed by the tunnel exit, and so did an Aura Sphere. Something cracked and shattered at the same time, and bright light flared into existence from up above. "Regice," Bruno muttered from behind, a hand nudging Max aside. "Cover me."

Without waiting, the Elite Four member burst out of the tunnel, heading right immediately, and Max followed as the last in line, releasing clefairy. He saw five other Pokémon: jumpluff, mienshao, swampert, and weezing going up against the regice. Manectric aimed for the weezing, hitmonchan punched the swampert out of the way as Bruno ran past everything, going for the Trainers themselves.

Regice attacked the jumpluff, and Gravity held mienshao in place for manectric to electrocute it. Toxicroak slammed itself into swampert as regice turned to Max for a moment.

Time froze for a split second, but then the Ice-type seemed to recognise that he was friendly, too, and charged a Zap Cannon that homed in on manectric. She felt it coming, moving close to the jumpluff that was low to the ground from earlier. The Zap Cannon hit, some of it overflowed into the already hurt Grass-type, and the rest was absorbed by Lightningrod, fuelling a blinding bolt of Thunder that sent the mienshao flying off the platform they were on entirely with a crack of shattering rock.

The two remaining Pokémon were no match without the Trainers to help them.

Moving closer, Max saw that Bruno had been absolutely ruthless. One of the men was unconscious, with blood all over his face from a broken nose. The other was whimpering on the ground, cradling his left wrist. And the martial artist himself was holding a small thing between his fingers. "If you're listening, hear me. I'm Bruno of the Elite Four. You've made a mistake coming here. I will find you. And I will get you."

It sounded cheesy, but Max wasn't going to argue with the man who'd just broken bones on his own. "Any means, huh," he said after a snap of metal announced the device's destruction.

"My word is my word," Bruno replied stoically as he returned the fallen opposing Pokémon and put them in stasis. A chill announced the arrival of regice. "Your duty is to protect the Tree and mew. I know that. But we are stronger. Will you guard these men while we get others?"

"Re-re-gi," said the Ice-type, sounding like it was thinking it over, and no other sound was audible except for whimpering as it did so. "Regice."

"Thank you," Bruno said at the confirmation. "I promise you, we will do everything to keep this place safe."

Regice gave something that looked like a nod before forming a small Ice Beam, aiming it at the feet of the black-wearing thieves. The conscious one whimpered, but Max couldn't find it in himself to feel any kind of pity.

The light of the Sunny Day faded as they went back into the Tree's interior as four again. This path was rocky, and more than once, Max had to be held up after rocks gave way under his feet. "Sorry," he said after the fourth time it had happened; the embarrassment and annoyance warring with the energy from his Mega Evolution bond. "Don't know what's going wrong."

"You're doing it the wrong way around," Bruno replied, which caused Max to raise his eyebrows despite not seeing the Elite Four member. "You're staying light on your feet. Walking on loose rocks needs to be more convincing. Like you're not going to fall over."

It sounded weird and paradoxical, but when Max tried it out, he found that it gave him more control over where he was going. It didn't stop him from needing to be grabbed by the arm one more time, but that that was some scree giving way.

They reached an open area, high up. Looking down, Max saw the same spot that he, Brock, and May had found themselves at after lucario had sacrificed himself. Not that they'd known that at the time. It was also a dead end, with no easy way to get anywhere else. He also didn't remember a fork in the last long tunnel either. "Well, crap."

Bruno didn't respond, instead looking at a few things around them as crystals pulsed in the same green that they'd done all the time. On and off, regular as anything. Mew still thought it was in danger, and the headache Max still had – even if it had been shoved behind the bond and exertion – said clear as day that Anabel hadn't found the machine yet after… Probably forty minutes of searching?

His watch revealed that it had only been about thirty minutes since they'd entered the Tree. It hadn't felt like it, but it was.

"That path down there. Do you know if it leads anywhere?"

"Ash came out of it after everything was done," Max replied. "Didn't ask, but… It's got to be close to the centre."

"And your clefairy… Can she create a low gravity area?"

It wasn't hard to see where Bruno's thoughts were going. "Should be able to. You want to jump the distance?"

"After testing, yes. We can't return ourselves into a pokéball, and there's nothing underneath us." He sighed. "Send her out. Hitmonchan will test."

And as he was about to do that, Max felt something envelop him, and he soared into the sky.

~~§~~§~~

There wasn't any warning when Danny and Brock came out of another tunnel. They saw a regirock off to the side, lying on its back, and two Trainers and a few Pokémon walking down the path further on. "Shit," Brock swore, and Danny immediately looked upwards to see froslass already charging up a Blizzard, zooming forwards with every bit of speed that she could muster. "Probopass, stop them!"

"You too, houndoom," Danny added, throwing in his newly evolved Dark-type as the Trainers noticed them – probably from the sound. "Flamethrower!"

"Thunder!"

Both attacks were not at the optimal range, which probably was the only reason why the entire group of Pokémon wasn't knocked out after taking ice, fire, and lightning. One was returned – a shiftry, Danny thought – but two more were able to stay up and launch counters.

They looked sluggish and tired, though. Dark Pulse ate through the Flash Cannon from a klinklang that went for froslass, who blocked a carracosta's Hydro Pump together with probopass's Power Gem. The explosion tore away part of the path in between the two groups. "Confuse Ray, Dark Pulse!"

"Zap Cannon!"

The Electric-type attack arrived first, obliterating counters in the way, and klinklang was thrown backwards into carracosta, who then took the brunt of the Dark Pulse.

Froslass's Confuse Ray had taken a bit longer, but Danny saw why immediately: the attack covered not only the Pokémon, but also the humans, who started clutching their heads immediately. "Pretty stupid to stay that close to their Pokémon," Brock said. "Kabutops, probopass!"

The former fossil jumped on top of probopass as it used magnetism to start floating, and faster than Danny had thought possible, the two Pokémon crossed the distance as an Icy Wind kept the group of four busy.

Probopass slammed itself into the Pokémon, and kabutops jumped off, vaulted over, and proceeded to headbutt the Trainers down, before taking his scythe-like arms and cutting… Their trousers? Before throwing them off the edge entirely.

But probopass's magnetism easily collected the pokéballs that were on there, as well as the belts. It then sped back, leaving kabutops alone, but a Leaf Blade on carracosta showed that it had things well in hand. Or scythe. "Thunderbolt!"

Brock responded by returning kabutops from afar, and the electricity did its work on humans and Pokémon alike. All of them slumped, twitching in paralysis. "Ash help you with that?"

"Yeah?" Danny had no idea how Brock had figured that out. "Nice trick with the magnets," he said as the probopass arrived back with them. The Gym Leader quickly put the two pokéballs that were filled in stasis mode, before returning the other two Pokémon and doing the same to them.

"Team Rocket inspired, if you can believe it. They liked magnets." The Gym Leader went to check on the knocked-out regirock that was now behind them, and Danny followed him after returning houndoom, waiting while the Pokémon was checked to the best of Brock's abilities. "Can't see anything really bad. Probably just knocked out."

"Leave it here, go on?"

"That's a good idea." He looked into the distance. "Don't know about you, but I'm riding probopass to the other side."

"It can take us?" Danny asked. A jolt of electricity hit him in the hand, and he yelped involuntarily. "Sorry for doubting. You're not a standard riding Pokémon."

It was a bit weird, and he couldn't really get a good grip, but it was good enough for the thirty feet of hovering, giving Danny his first look at the thieves that were still knocked out. He didn't recognise any of them, but the type of clothing they wore – all black, or at least the half that hadn't been ripped off – was familiar somewhere. Not because of the colour, though. It was something else…

He only noticed Brock when he was tapped on the shoulder. "Something wrong?"

"There's something about the clothing that's familiar. Somewhere."

Brock bent down, checking the sleeve of one of them and taking it between his fingers. "There's something woven into it. High quality stuff too. But… What's this?" he said, picking up something from behind one man's ear. "Okay. That's high tech." He tossed it onto the ground. "Pulse it."

A crackle of electricity played over the grey device, and Danny had an idea about what it was. "Communication device?"

"Yeah. Didn't look open. There's a button on top that's probably used to activate it." He stood up. "Probopass, stay here and guard them. We'll go on ahead. Still others to find."

"If Max and Bruno haven't found them already."

"That'd be great."

~~§~~§~~

The mission was going sour. Raphael could feel it in his bones; that sixth sense honed by years of intelligence work.

It had started out okay. The third team had found opposition first: the registeel. That had proceeded along expected lines: careful coverage and copious defensive measures had allowed the team to start winning in a war of attrition, and the first team had started doing the same to the regirock somewhere high-up, they'd reported. The second team was proceeding slowly after having to sneak around a swarm of wild Pokémon.

And then a scream into static had happened, cutting the third team's communication entirely. There was nothing he could do to reach them.

It could mean several things. One was the device being destroyed somehow. This was an option, but the scream didn't match one of terror at being attacked. It had been a surprised one. There hadn't been any pain in there either, which decreased the odds of an attack making it through and disrupting it. There were several options for that, but none that wouldn't be paired with pain at being hit by an attack. It was a mystery he was not inclined to solve.

By that time, the second team had engaged with the regice, and it was not long after that opposition made itself known. That was expected, but the speed at which they had been taken out, as emphasised by terrified shouts and the crunching of bone, was impressive. There had also been no mention of which Pokémon had been arrayed against them, and only the message from one of the Elite Four – Bruno, as was honestly expected – had told him who was responsible.

It didn't add up in full, as a crackle of electricity had burst through the open channel, and Bruno did not have any Pokémon who could muster the voltage to evoke such a sound. Had Surge been at the Plateau?

It mattered not. He was approaching the uppermost reaches of the Tree, with a bit of help from the only Psychic-type in the area that could do anything. The control band also rendered it immune to the disrupting effect of both this device and the ones used in Hoenn. The mew would be easy pickings.

He'd just reached another dead end on the outside of the tree, and he was looking for another platform to Teleport to when he heard a noise from below.

Looking down revealed Bruno and a teenager whose sight was intimately familiar. It was one of the two who got away. The ones that he'd ordered to be captured, which hadn't worked out for whatever reason. His contacts in Johto hadn't been able to find out, even three months later.

And where one was, the other followed. A quick blast of sound in his ear proved that: the last team standing had been engaged after defeating regirock, and a froslass was mentioned before a crashing sound announced things going sour there as well.

The mission was a failure. Mew would not be captured. Not when it was one on four at best, and likely with the teenagers as the weakest of them all.

But Raphael Paulson would be damned if he went home to Hoenn empty-handed. A change of plans was in order, and he knew just what he wanted.

A muttered order to the gardevoir by his side disabled all the pokéballs on the boy's belt. As welcome as the chance to take some powerful Pokémon would be, leaving a Trainer of his calibre with Pokémon anywhere near him was a recipe for disaster. He'd have to settle for just the boy and whatever he had on him.

A bit of talk between the two on the lower level caused a stab of anger. He'd been so close to the mew, but for being too high up.

A second muttered order, and on the count of three, the boy flew upwards, surprised. The manectric turned around, and Raphael saw a Thunder start to form.

But that never hit them, as the world changed from verdant green to seaside rocks in blazing sun. The boy stifled something as he fell onto the ground before being gripped in a bind tight enough to only allow shallow breaths. "Hello, Max Maple."