Hey, guys! Sorry that this is so late! I hope that the action and suspense make up for it though! Enjoy! Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

Chapter 44: "The Return of Team Umbra, Part 2: Day in the Museum"

"Ooh! I can't believe that we're watching the Slateport City Contest!" May squealed from the couch that she was sitting on next to Ash.

It had been a few hours since the battles that they had had with the Amaro League Champion Chris. After they had finished, everyone had split up to do different things.

Misty, Leaf, and Iris had all decided to go to the mall together in order to actually enjoy it without having to deal with May and Dawn's shopaholic tendencies. Meanwhile, Gary, Tracey, Max, and Cilan had all decided to check out the Noctae City Library.

Bianca, along with Georgia, Stephan, and Luke, had all gone to scope out the city while Burgundy went off on her own in order to stalk Cilan and plot his demise. Zoey, Kenny, and Kelly had decided to practice their Contest techniques and Paul for some strange reason decided to watch.

The two Champion siblings had gone off to spend some time together, and Drew had simply disappeared. Nobody knew where he had gone.

Anyways, this left Ash, May, Dawn, Gavin, and their Pokémon to watch the Slateport City Pokémon Contest on TV in the lobby of the Pokémon Center.

"I know, right?" Dawn agreed, just as excited as her best friend was. The blunette was currently sitting by Gavin on the couch adjacent to Ash and May's.

Ash and Gavin both sighed in unison. They would rather be practicing for Ash's next gym battle right now, but after the girls had given them the dreaded puppy-dog eyes, they had been forced to watch the Pokémon Contest with them.

The same went for their Pokémon. May had brought out her Skitty and Glaceon to watch with her and Dawn had done the same with Piplup and Buneary. Currently, both Glaceon and Buneary were on either side of Pikachu, gazing up at him lovingly and Skitty had found a nice seat for herself next to Meowth. Meanwhile, Pichu was next to Gavin with his arms crossed and a pouting expression on his face.

"Pi-chu-chu-chu-pi-pi-chu-pi-chu-pi-chu?" Pichu muttered to himself. ("Why am I the only one without a date?")

On the TV, the contest was just getting started as Vivian Meridian appeared on the screen to announce the first coordinator.


(Slateport City Contest Hall – Hoenn Region)

"And our first coordinator will be the world famous Top Coordinator Marina from New Bark Town!" Vivian said as she extended her hand towards where a girl with light blue hair that had been put into pig-tails and light blue eyes appeared onto the stage. She was wearing a particularly stunning purple strapless dress.

"Time for the show!" Marina said with a smile. "Little Miss! Center stage!"

She then threw a Pokéball into the air, and in a flash of light, the aforementioned Screech Pokémon appeared above the stage.

"Mis-dreavus," Little Miss said as the crowd cheered for it.

"Now, Little Miss! Use Psybeam and give it a twirl!" Marina commanded.

Little Miss floated higher into the air and then released a magenta beam of energy with multicolored particles from its eyes. It then began to twirl around and make it look like the beam was a ribbon that it was twirling.

"What a sight!" Slateport City's Nurse Joy said in awe.

Then, Little Miss continued to twirl around faster and faster until it managed to create a rainbow above it with the Psybeam ribbon. The crowd then managed to work its way into a frenzy of cheers as Marina and Little Miss finished their appeal.

(End Appeal)


"That's awesome!" May commented.

"She's really talented!" Dawn remarked.

The four of them then heard Vivian say on the television, "Up next, we have Kyle J. Chang, another coordinator from New Bark Town!"

"Hey, wasn't he in the Kafue Town Battle Tournament with us just a week ago?" Ash thought out loud.

"Yeah, I wonder how he got all of the way to Slateport City so fast," Gavin wondered.

The four of them just shrugged and proceeded to watch the Johto native's appeal.


(Slateport City Contest Hall – Hoenn Region)

"Beautifly, go get 'em!" Kyle, who was wearing a blue suit, a purple vest, and a top hat, said as he hurled a Pokéball into the air.

In a burst of blue light, the Hoenn-born Butterfly Pokémon appeared in the air, ready to appeal.

"Start off with Whirlwind and finish it off with Stun Spore!" Kyle ordered.

Beautifly began to flap its wings at a high speed, creating a gust of wind that seemed to form into a mini tornado. Then, it released a wave of sparkling golden powder from its wings into the wind, causing the cyclone to sparkle and turn gold in color.

The audience was awe-stricken and continued to watch the appeal in astonishment.

Finally, the tornado burst into a multitude of golden sparkles that shimmered throughout the air above the stage.

"What a performance!" Mr. Contesta said as Kyle and Beautifly finished their appeal.

(End Appeal)


"Whoa," Gavin said, impressed. "Kyle sure knows how to make an entrance."

"And now, we have Nikki Avalon from Valor Lakefront!" Vivian announced.

"Huh," May said with a thoughtful look on her face. "That means that she might have been there at the Wallace Cup!"


(Slateport City Contest Hall – Hoenn Region)

It was just as May said as a girl with short brown hair and green eyes, wearing a pink strapless dress, ran onto the stage.

"Jolteon, I call upon you now! Release and appear!" Nikki said as she tossed her Pokéball to the stage.

In a flash of blue light, the Lightning Pokémon appeared onto the field.

"Jolteon, begin with Pin Missile!" Nikki called out.

Jolteon's fur became spiky and it then fired yellow needles from its fur all around it.

"Now, use Thunder!" Nikki instructed.

Jolteon fired a massive beam of yellow electricity from its body at all of the needles, causing all of them to explode like fireworks.

As the crowd cheered, the judges, who were now wearing sunglasses, loved it as well.

"Remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo said with a smile.

(End Appeal)


After they watched a few more appeals, Ash and the others watched and saw that Kyle, Marina, and Nikki all three made it to the double battle round.

Unfortunately, Kyle and Marina had been paired up for the first battle, so now they had to watch as the two New Bark Town natives battled it out.


(Slateport City Contest Hall – Hoenn Region)

"Espeon, Beautifly! Go get 'em!" Kyle said as he threw two Pokéballs to the stage.

The Sun Pokémon and the Butterfly Pokémon immediately materialized onto the contest stage.

"Little Miss, Little Pink! Center stage!" Marina cried out as she tossed her two Pokéballs into the air.

Instantly, Little Miss and a green-eyed Jigglypuff appeared in front of her on the stage.

"There's five minutes on the clock," Vivian told the crowd. "Now begin!"

"Espeon, show them your Attract!" Kyle yelled.

Espeon winked at the opponents and then multiple pink hearts with pink sparkles around them came out of its eye and floated towards its opponents.

Surprisingly, as the hearts went into the two Pokémon, the attack seemed to do nothing.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Kyle?" Marina teased.

"Oh, shoot," Kyle said as he face-palmed himself. "I forgot that both of your Pokémon are girls, too."

"That's right," Marina winked. "Now, Little Miss, you use Perish Song and Little Pink, you use Psychic!"

Little Miss began to sing loudly and black waves of energy came out of its mouth. Little Pink's eyes glowed light blue as it began to control the black waves of energy psychically and send them straight at Espeon and Beautifly.

"Espeon, use Psychic as well and Beautifly, use Stun Spore!" Kyle shouted.

Beautifly flapped its wings rapidly, releasing a cloud of sparkling golden powder. Espeon's eyes then glowed light blue and the cloud was outlined in the same color, allowing Espeon to control the cloud and send it right at Marina's Pokémon.

The audience was in awe as the cloud covered Little Miss and Little Pink, causing the two of them to cough.

"Little Miss and Little Pink! Put them to sleep with Perish Song and Sing!" Marina told her Pokémon.

Little Miss once again released a sonic blast of black sound waves. As well, Little Pink released colored musical notes from its mouth as it sung its lullaby.

Suddenly, the combined power of the two musical attacks caused both Espeon and Beautifly to fall asleep. As they slumbered peacefully, crimson shockwaves covered all four of the Pokémon on the stage's bodies.

"Now, let's finish them off with Psybeam and Hyper Voice!" Marina directed.

While Little Miss released the Psychic beam of energy from its eyes, Little Pink's eyes began to glow light blue and it then fired multiple transparent rings outlined in light blue from its mouth at Kyle's Pokémon. The two attacks combined and created what kind of looked like a pink death-ray that engulfed both Espeon and Beautifly in a small explosion.

As the smoke cleared, everyone could see that both Pokémon had been knocked out by the blast.

"Because both of Kyle's Pokémon have been knocked out," Vivian began, "Marina is declared the winner of this battle, and will move on to the next round!"

(End Battle)


After that, they continued to watch as Nikki managed to win the final battle of the contest against Marina with her Jolteon and Staraptor.

"What a great contest!" May said happily.

"I still can't believe that Kyle lost to Marina," Dawn commented.

"Well, she is one of the world's best coordinators," Gavin said. His cousin nodded in agreement.

"Ahem," Ash and Gavin practically jumped at the angry looks that both May and Dawn were giving them.

"Except for you two," The two cousins both nervously said in unison.

"That's what we thought you said," May and Dawn said with menacing smirks on their faces.

Meanwhile, Pikachu and Meowth were both continuing to feel uncomfortable as they were surrounded by female Pokémon.

"Pika-pika-chu-pika-chu-chu," Pikachu said while sweat dropping. ("This is getting awkward.")

"Yeah, tell me about it," Meowth groaned.

Strangely, Glaceon, Buneary, and Skitty didn't even notice them speaking, although Pichu did.

"Pi-pi-chu-chu," Pichu grimaced. ("I hate Mondays.")


The next day, the group woke up and decided to go to the nearby Noctae City Museum. As usual, some of them were more excited than others.

"I've heard this place is supposed to be so cool!" Max said enthusiastically. "There's gonna be fossils and moon rocks and jewels and…"

Suddenly, May gave him a chop to the head and said, "And hopefully, silence."

"I did hear that this museum has more in it than the other museums in the other regions," Brock commented.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Leaf asked. "Let's go!"

With that, they all began to run down the sidewalk towards their destination.


A few minutes later, they had arrived, and surprisingly, there were several people there that seemed to be waiting for them.

"Hey, guys!" Barry waved frantically. "You made it just in time, so I don't have to fine you!"

"Just in time for what?" Iris inquired.

Before Barry could answer, Bianca got in front of him and blurted out, "Cynthia and Chris said that they were going to give us an exclusive tour of the museum!"

"Hey! I was gonna say that!" Barry complained. "I oughta fine you for that!"

"Okay, how much money do you want?" Bianca comically asked as she brought up her purse.

Barry's eyes went wide in surprise. Nobody had ever taken his "finings" seriously. What was up with this girl anyways?

While the oblivious Bianca was making Barry's mind go blank, everyone else turned to see five people walking out of the museum up to them.

"Hey, guys!" Chris said coolly. "You ready for that tour?"

"Yeah!" Most of them said enthusiastically, with the exception of Gary, Paul, and Drew.

"By the way, I heard that a few of you know my grandmother?" Chris said, gesturing towards the older woman beside him with grayish-blonde hair and gray eyes.

"Professor Carolina!" Ash exclaimed.

"What are you doing here?" Dawn asked.

"Well, after the events in Sinnoh, they asked me to come have a look at the Noctae City Museum," The woman explained. "And also to watch my granddaughter kick my grandson's butt!"

"Hey!" Chris said with an annoyed look on his face. "Why are you rooting for her?"

"Oh, don't worry about her, Chris," Cynthia said, trying to stop them before they got into an argument. Then, the Sinnoh Champion gestured over towards one of the two other people there and said, "And some of you might know Looker?"

"Hey, it's the Lunchbox Guy!" Meowth said with surprise as he saw the black-haired agent of the International Police.

"It's nice to see you all again," Looker smiled. He looked over all of them until his eyes stopped on Gavin.

Gavin flinched and frantically shook his head when no one but Looker was watching. Looker gave a slight nod of understanding that the others didn't pick up, and suddenly, the other man cleared his throat.

"I think that it's high time that we start this tour, would you not all agree?" He said with a frown.

Gavin found the man kind of odd. He was pretty tall and was wearing a gray suit that you would find on a business man. He had short and spiky hair that was jet black and close to pale skin. As well, he also had deep scarlet eyes.

"Oh, yes," Professor Carolina said as she looked towards the man. "Everyone, this is Damien Black, the curator of museum. He's the one that's going to be giving us that tour today."

"A pleasure," His lips curled with discomfort.

There was something about this man that Gavin didn't like. Could this be the agent of Team Umbra that he had been told to go after?

His thoughts aside, they all began to walk inside for the tour, unaware that several different people were watching them all closely.


"It's time," A cloaked figure said in a feminine voice. All around her were a large group of cloaked men and right by her side was a purple leopard-like creature. "Execute Plan Alpha."


"It's time," A red-haired woman said to a blue-haired man and several grunts that were behind them. "Execute Plan Omega."


"It's time," A hat-wearing man said to a Murkrow on his shoulder. "Execute Plan Puppet."


As the teens all stepped inside, almost all of them were filled with awe and wonder at all of the sights that the museum had to offer.

All around them were suits of armor, fossils of the prehistoric Pokémon of the past, and gems as far as the eye could see. Ancient artifacts abound, but one item in particular caught Cilan's attention.

"Uh, what's that?" The Pokémon connoisseur asked, pointing a short distance away.

Damien turned in the direction that Cilan was pointing and his gaze softened.

What they were all now looking at was a glass case, and within that case was a small blue jewel that looked perfectly crafted. There was not a flaw on it. As well, if one looked closely at it, there seemed to be an inner glow within the jewel that made it sparkle brightly.

"Ah," He began, a smile creeping up on his face. "That there is the ancient and priceless jewel known as the 'Jewel of Willpower.'"

"The Jewel of Willpower?" Stephan repeated.

"Yes," Damien nodded. "Do any of you know about the legend of how the Amaro Region was created?"

Everyone shook their heads slowly, so Damien began to elaborate.

"You see, a long time ago, Arceus created this region with the help of his children, the legends of Time and Space. As well, three jewels were placed in different spots in the region that held the powers of three of his other children, the Sinnoh lake guardians.

"The three jewels are known as the Jewel of Emotion, the Jewel of Willpower, and the Jewel of Knowledge. Now, this is the only jewel that has been found as of yet, but the legend says that if someone finds all three of these jewels and brings them together, they will be able to unlock the powers of the guardians of Time, Space, and Distortion. Ultimately, this can also lead to unlocking the powers of Arceus himself."

The teens were all in awe. The power of Arceus?


Their trains of thought were broken, however, when suddenly, a few suits of armor behind them began to rattle and shake.

"Huh?" Georgia said with a confusion expression on her face. "What's going on?"

Then, as soon as the Unova native finished saying this, all of the suits of armor became surrounded by a dark-purple aura and began to walk straight towards them.

"Th-they're…they're moving!" Kenny exclaimed in shock.

"And they're not the only ones!" Luke added.

As quick as the suits of armor had seemingly came to life, the same could be said for the prehistoric Pokémon fossils of Kabutops, Armaldo, Carracosta, and other fossils.

Soon enough, they were all surrounded by knights and skeletons, all surrounded by a dark-purple aura. It was as if the entire museum had come to life.

"What do we do?" Burgundy asked, not looking as confident as she was earlier.

Everyone was dumbfounded until they heard a voice say, "What do you think? We fight them!"

Everyone turned and saw that it was Drew who had said this. A serious look was on his face as he took out a Pokéball and threw it into the air, yelling, "Absol, go!"

In a flash of light, the Disaster Pokémon appeared beside him, looking ready to fight.

"Absol, use Razor Wind!" Drew commanded.

The scythe on Absol's head glowed white and it swung its head, sending out a white crescent blade of energy at one of the suits of armor, immediately causing it to fall apart.

The others' jaws hung wide open at the sight of this until Paul brought them back to their senses as he growled, "Well, don't just stand there! Help him out!"

The purple-haired trainer then hurled a Pokéball out in front of him while shouting, "Ninjask, standby for battle!"

Instantly, the Ninja Pokémon materialized beside him, swiping its claws a couple of times at a fast speed.

"Pupitar, I choose you!" Ash said as he tossed a Pokéball into the air.

The Hard Shell Pokémon appeared in front of him, looking prepared for a fierce battle.

"Weavile, come on out!" Gavin yelled as he threw a Pokéball into the air.

In a flash of light, the Sharp Claw Pokémon appeared and prepared its guard.

A few minutes later, there others had sent out a multitude of Pokémon to fight against the armor and the fossils. The Champions nodded to each other, feeling that the teens could handle it themselves.

"Piplup, use BubbleBeam!" Dawn instructed.

Piplup opened its mouth and released a barrage of blue bubbles at one of the fossils, forcing it back a little.

"Forretress, use Rapid Spin!" Brock ordered.

The Bagworm Pokémon pulled its horns into its body and began to spin rapidly, knocking over many of the ghostly suits of armor.

"Be careful of the artifacts!" Damien scolded.

"If we don't do something quick, the artifacts won't be so careful with us!" Georgia snapped back. "Beartic, use Icicle Crash!"

The large, polar bear-like creature took in a deep breath before releasing a wind with light blue sparkles in it from its mouth into the air. Then, small clumps of ice formed in the wind, growing larger and larger until they formed into sharp icicles that rained down upon the skeletons.

"Sawsbuck, use Horn Leech!" Burgundy shouted.

Sawsbuck lowered its head and its horns became surrounded in orange. Its horns then started to glow gold and it charged at the enemies, stabbing its horns straight through them.

"Glameow, use Shadow Claw!" Zoey told her Pokémon.

Glameow held out its paw and its lower arm became surrounded by a black aura with a purple outline. The aura then took the form of a huge claw and Glameow slashed a suit of armor with it.

"Empoleon, use Hydro Cannon!" Barry called out.

Empoleon opened its mouth and fired a large blue orb of water that knocked down several skeletons and suits of armor.

All of them continued to fight as hard as they could to stop the armor and skeletons, but every time they knocked one down, a mysterious force seemed to pull the parts back together. It was like a never-ending battle.

'Something's not right,' Gavin thought as he observed this phenomenon. Then, his eyes widened as a thought struck him. He looked around really fast until something caught his eye.

"Pichu, use Thundershock right over there!" Gavin hollered out, pointing at a certain spot.

"Pi-chuuuuuuu!" Pichu cried out as he released a bolt of yellow electricity in the direction that his trainer had indicated. Strangely enough, the electricity outlined a small, invisible creature that became visible after it had been electrocuted.

Now laying on the ground unconscious was a diminutive hominid-like creature with a dark purple body, gemstone-like eyes, a gemstone on its chest, and razor sharp teeth.

Gavin took out his Pokédex and scanned the Pokémon.

"Sableye, the Darkness Pokémon. It usually lives in caves and eats rocks. Its diet of gems has transformed its eyes into gemstones. To get the gems that it eats, it uses its sharp claws to dig for them."

"So that's it!" Gavin exclaimed. "Weavile, use Foresight!"

Weavile nodded and then its eyes and body outline began to glow light blue. It then released a large light blue force field from its body that expanded all around them.

After the force field went over the suits of armor and skeletons, not only were multiple Sableye revealed to be controlling the artifacts, but it also revealed a group of cloaked figures that had been commanding the Sableye.

"So it was those Sableye who were making the artifacts move!" Misty said in shock.

"That's right," They suddenly heard a voice say.

The cloaked figures all removed their cloaks and everyone was surprised to see that they were wearing black uniforms similar to many of the evil teams that they had met before, except this time, they had the symbol that they had seen on the submarine back in Grenia Cove: a white skull with a crescent moon behind it and a single star above the top left-hand corner of the skull.

"It's Team Umbra!" Max cried out.

"Who?" Kenny asked.

"They're a sinister group who is always followed by darkness," Chris said with anger in his voice.

"So these are the fiends that have been causing all the trouble in the Amaro Region lately," Looker said as he glared at the grunts.

"Oh, so you do know of us," The voice spoke again.

The grunts moved apart, allowing a single figure to walk up to them.

It was a woman with long, silver hair and silver eyes. She was tall and looked physically fit. Her uniform, which was black as well, but had a skirt to it, showed off the curves that her body had. She was beautiful, but yet sinisterly frightening.

"Who are you, exactly?" Cynthia asked.

"I am one of Team Umbra's three generals, Eclipse," The woman smirked. "And we are here for the Jewel of Willpower."

"No way!" Damien said as he got in front of the case with the blue gem in it. "I won't let you fiends have it!"

"Oh, come now," Eclipse said with a sneer. "We already have the Jewel of Emotion, and once we have this one, we'll need only one more jewel to become one step closer to achieving our ultimate goal: to take hold of the powers of Arceus and use them to throw the entire world into eternal darkness."

Everyone flinched at these words. They had one of the jewels already? And they were going to use them to get the powers of Arceus and throw the world into eternal darkness? That didn't sound too good.

"If you're all just stand there gawking, we'll go ahead and take the jewel," Eclipse said as she pulled out a Pokéball. She threw it up into the air, and in a flash of light, a Liepard appeared beside her.

"Lie-pard!" The Cruel Pokémon snarled menacingly.

Before she could call out a command, however, an explosion occurred behind the case and smoke covered up the room.

"What's going on now?" Leaf coughed.

They all then heard two very familiar laughs from behind the smokescreen.

As the smoke cleared, they saw a man with blue hair and a woman with red hair wearing uniforms with a red letter "R" on each of them.

"Team Rocket!" Ash yelled angrily.

"Did someone call our name?"

"Surely we're not to blame!"

"Putting the world in devastation!"

"Uniting all within the new sensation!"

"Thrusting the black dust of shadows throughout the age!"

"Blinding all with the power of our rage!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Causing evil and chaos wherever we show!"

"Stealing Pokémon is the way we go!"

"Now say good-bye for our rhyme is done!"

Suddenly, a Pokéball on Jessie's belt opened up and a Pokémon appeared in between the two of them. However, it wasn't the usual Marowak.

It was a tall, cyan-colored blob-like creature with a black tail with two eye spots on it, flipper-like arms, a crooked expression on its face, and four legs at its base.

"Wob-buffet!" It said with an evil grin.

"Wobbuffet!" Meowth exclaimed in disbelief. "The blue blob is back?"

"And he's not the only one," Jessie said with a smirk.

"Here to help us capture the jewel are some old friends of ours," James sneered.

They both then each threw a Pokéball into the air, and in a flash of light, two Pokémon appeared in front of them.

One was a large, purple snake-like creature with a face on its belly, and the other was a large, floating purple blob that had two heads stuck together and several holes on its body.

"Cha-bok!" The snake hissed.

"Wee-zing!" The blob wheezed.

"Arbok and Weezing!" Meowth said in shock.

And as all of this was happening, Jeremiah and Mimi watched with concern in their eyes and serious looks on their faces.

What will happen now? Not only are they surrounded by Team Umbra, but also by Team Rocket, who has brought back some deadly old friends! Will our heroes be able to get out of this? Stay tuned to find out!


Next Chapter: Chapter 45: "The Return of Team Umbra, Part 3: Total Eclipse"- Our heroes our now trapped between two evil forces and now have to find a way out! But will they be able to save themselves and the Jewel of Willpower as well? Find out next time!

I hope that you liked it! Read and Review!

Okay, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we're only one chapter away from the movie fic, "Kyurem and the Hero's Sword!" The bad news is that because of projects, work, and my finals in the next two weeks, I will not be updating any of my stories until after my finals. I wish that I didn't have to, but I've got way too much studying to do to be able to update. As soon as my finals are over, which will be by the 27th of this month, I will work on and upload Chapter 45 of this story, Chapters 7-10 of Fusion Warriors, and then, I will begin the movie fic and put all of my focus on writing it and completing it. Until then, though, I'll see ya!

Oh, one more thing! For the first part of the chapter, I adapted the latest chapter of KJC71790's spin-off story of my story called "League of Ultimate's Spin-Off: Hoenn Adventures. It's not completely the same as he wrote it because I had to "ultimize" it, so that's why it's different. Just wanted to tell you all that.