On the other end of the Island, far away from the Plasma commotion, Maddie, Max, and Noah huddled around Michael, who streamed a stranger's video of the throwdown outside Stadium C on his PokeGear.
"I hope Red and Blue are all right," Max said, brows furrowed. "That's a scary situation to be in."
Maddie squinted at the screen. "Who are the people in the white uniforms?"
"That's Team Plasma," Noah shook his head. "Awful people."
Michael nodded. "Dead on. They started off wanting to separate people and Pokemon, then decided that they'd rather take over Unova. Tried twice and never succeeded, thank goodness."
"If they lost," Max said, "why are they still around?"
"Question of the century," Michael muttered, noticing a few familiar charcoal-colored blurs darting in and out of the stream. "Hey, looks like we don't have anything to worry about any longer, whoever those people are just took care of-"
A blast of blue fire from both the new operatives cut Michael's sentence short.
"... that's not normal," Maddie shook her head. "I didn't think humans could do... whatever that is."
Max stayed silent, gears in his brain turning.
"Wait," Max said. "Michael, can we rewind the stream? I want to see that blue fire again."
"Sure can," Michael answered, rewinding by a minute.
Max took the PokeGear, light reflecting off his glasses. "Hang on… look! There!"
Before the blue fire erupted into existence, slight sparks came off of the new operatives' hands.
"I've seen that before, I swear!" Max said. "Brock has too, but I'll need to ask him if I'm right or if I'm going crazy."
Maddie shrugged. "We'd need Brock to, like, be here… which he isn't. I thought he and Misty were right behind us?"
"Unless they stayed behind to see what was going on," Noah pouted. "The grown-ups get to have all the fun."
"Hey, I've gotten involved in something kinda similar to this and wouldn't recommend it," Michael shook his head. "Don't wish for trouble unless you're prepared to deal with both it and the aftermath."
Some time later, Misty and Brock burst into the Center, eyes roving over the crowd to find their friends. Max stood on a bench and waved so hard that he fell over backwards with a yell.
"Careful there," Michael said, catching Max and setting him back on the ground.
Max sighed. "If I had a nickel for every time my clumsiness got the best of me, I'd be a millionaire…"
"You guys okay?" Maddie asked, hugging a relieved Misty.
Brock nodded. "Yeah, we're fine. Max, do you remember everything that happened at the Tree of Beginning?"
"How could I forget? Mew, a vanishing Pikachu, Ash nearly dying while trying to save the world, and-"
"Blue fire," Brock said. "Just like what we saw today."
Max nodded. "Yes! Brock, do you… do you think it could be aura?"
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, you've met Mew and this is the first time you're mentioning it?!" Maddie half-yelled, jaw nearly on the floor.
Misty patted the younger girl's shoulder. "They're on to something, but let's talk about that later. Brock, didn't you say that Ash could use aura when you called after your trip to Rota?"
"He wasn't an expert, but Ash could make do. Those people we saw back in the forest, though… I imagine that's what the old Guardians were capable of, maybe even more," Brock said. "It was unreal."
Max paused. "You don't think one of those two could be Ash, do you?"
"Whoa there, back it up. Who're y'all talking about?" Michael asked, crossing his arms.
Max, Brock, and Misty told a truncated version of Ash's last known days.
"Okay, so even if you're seeing some connections here," Michael prayed no one could tell how sweaty his hands were, "that's a ton of circumstantial evidence and not a lot of proof-"
At that, Red and Blue burst back into the Center, running back to find their friends.
"I'm glad everyone's okay," Blue said, fielding a hug from her trainee.
Michael nudged Red's shoulder. "What'd y'all find out there?"
"Rampaging Pokemon in the forest," Red panted. "Blue and I managed to calm everything down on that front. Before we got too far out of the trees, all the Plasma people were under Jenny custody. I'm sad we couldn't do more to help, but it looks like someone took care of business on that front."
"That 'someone' being the G-Men," Misty added, enthusiasm lost from her voice. "Anyways! We can probably make it over to WhataTauros before Michael and I battle today. Anyone still hungry?"
After a fantastic lunch at Aurian's favorite burger joint, the gang retreated to the stands of Stadium B for both Misty and Michael's second round battles.
"Man, I am so excited for this," Max grinned, pulling a notebook from his backpack. "Not just to see Misty wallop someone else, but to see what we can learn."
Ash wiped an imaginary tear away. "I am so, so proud of you."
Maddie brandished a bright pink notebook and fuzzy pen, earning a high-five from her mentor.
"Well, I don't have anything that fancy," Noah said, tucking his pencil behind his ear, "but I'm ready!"
The current battle finished with an explosive bang, Faith Sorenson's Machamp destroying a Staraptor without a second thought.
Ash and Aurian clapped as the trainers exited the field.
"Was that Machamp that strong during prelims?" Ash frowned.
Aurian bit her lip. "No… no, it wasn't. Remember, it struggled pretty hard before earning a win. What changed?"
Trace and Lorelai called Misty and Barry onto the field, earning a reprise of the 'water, water, H2O' chant from her prelims battle.
Ash would never admit it out loud, but the secret smile that crossed Misty's face as she readied herself for battle made his heart skip a beat.
Misty made quick work of Barry's first two team members but struggled with his Empoleon.
While Misty's Lanturn faced off against the Emperor Pokemon, Ash's PokeGear dinged in his back pocket. Ash flicked the notification to find a message from Lance, consisting of a coded list of theft targets found on Cassidy's Rocketdex.
He recognized scores of names from his pre-G-Men days; the vast majority of his old rivals and folks he battled in League tourneys were present. Ash was relieved to find that both his and his patonai's aliases weren't considered enough of a threat to make the list.
He'd have to ask Aurian about the names he wasn't familiar with, he thought, scrolling to the bottom of the list. As the last name appeared on the screen, Ash's soul went cold.
I have to call Lance, now, he thought, cheering along with his friends as Misty won her second-round battle. The sooner he knows, the more eyes we can have on the Island…
"Looks like there's a break before Michael battles," Aurian said, standing to stretch. "Anyone down for food?"
"Always!" Max joined the older girl.
Everyone but Ash left the grandstands, in search of concessions. He waited two minutes then darted into the crowded concourse, looking for the janitor's closet he commandeered to call Riley.
After blocking the door and pulling his headphones from his pocket, he dialed Lance, praying his commander general would answer.
"Status report."
Ash frowned. "... aren't you supposed to be commentating for Stadium D today?"
"Bathroom break, Agatha's covering for me while I'm out."
"Got it," Ash cleared his throat. "Two names of note are missing from the list we swiped off of Cassidy- Tobias Langley and Faith Sorenson."
Lance scribbled the information down in a miniature notebook. "The first one I expected, but… Faith? Have you heard of her before this tournament?"
"I hadn't, but her team got way stronger between prelims and this round."
"Did she use different Pokemon?"
"No, that's the thing- she used the exact same combination of three Pokemon in both her first round and second round battles. Faith's prelims round wasn't overly spectacular. She annihilated her opponent a few minutes ago, using the exact same team she did last round."
Lance paused, tapping the end of his pen against his fingers. "Normally I'd say not to sweat it, but something's not sitting right with me about this. Did you get the chance to check auras?"
"No, the trainees were with us," Ash shook his head. "I'll try soon."
"Good decision. We'll see what Research can find on those two. Keep your heads down, be careful, let us know if you see anything else of note."
Ash nodded, ending the call. He waited a minute, then cracked the door open to find an eavesdropping Max.
"This isn't what it-" Max's protest was cut off by Ash clapping a hand over the younger trainer's mouth and pulling him back into the closet.
Ash flicked the light switch, revealing shelves stacked high with cleaning supplies and boxes. Four brooms, two mops, and a Swiffer sat forsaken in a corner.
"How'd you find me?" Ash asked, crossing his arms.
Max shifted, knees knocking together. "I… I saw your sweatshirt and wanted to know what was back here."
The unlikely duo stood in silence, acutely aware of how small the closet truly was.
"... there are only two people you could have been talking to, and I don't think that was Agatha," Max's face burned red. "The list of names you're keeping isn't just for you and Blue, is it?"
Ash sighed. "That answers how much of the call you overheard."
"Who the heck is Cassidy?"
"No one worth your worries," Ash said, putting both hands on Max's shoulders. "The more questions you ask about what you just heard, the more danger you'll put yourself in. When I signed on to be your mentor, I promised I'd keep you safe for the duration of the tournament."
Max nodded.
"That's a two-way agreement for us. I need you to trust me. Can I trust that you'll be careful from here on out?"
"Yes," Max blurted.
"Don't tell anyone about what you heard. Not Brock, not Misty, not Michael or Maddie or Noah."
Max frowned. "You didn't say Blue."
"Anyways," Ash muttered, cracking the door open and peeking both ways. "Everyone's left for Michael's battle. Let's get a move on."
The two trainers left the closet and walked back along the concourse, tracing the familiar path back to their seats.
"What happens if I say something I shouldn't?" Max asked, voice just above a whisper.
Ash took a second to gather his thoughts. "You won't. Best not to worry about that now, let's go figure out the best way to heckle Michael through his next battle…"
Even though his mentor told Max not to worry, he spent the rest of the day doing precisely that.
Ash jolted awake just before eleven that evening, his PokeGear vibrating profusely next to his head.
"Lance, it's late," Ash groaned, taking an earbud. "Please tell me this is good news."
"I wish it was. Captains, we need you to report to headquarters for an emergency operation. If everything goes to plan, you'll be gone for an hour, tops."
Aurian gave the camera a suspicious look. "I know our division scored highest on covert ops, but… doesn't it seem a little odd to pull a team out of the field to take on a separate drop-and-go assignment?"
Grimsley joined the call, splitting the screen in half. "Believe me, that's my thought, too, but you two are the only ones easily accessible that have the qualifications to pull this off."
"What will we be doing?" Ash asked.
"There is some good news for you- we have a definite location for Sector A9, which the disaster trio mentioned. Bad news is that it's New Moon Island, which is where Mewtwo was created," Lance said, fiddling with his notecards. "Worse news is that we've discovered there's a serious mistake in whatever the Rockets are programming into MissingNO. We haven't found any evidence of instructions or orders based on ethos."
Ash hissed. "Can't distinguish friend from foe, no definition of right or wrong other than what it's told… crap, we're in for it if we can't take this thing down."
"Dead on," Grimsley sighed, head in his hands. "Additionally, there are still Rocket moles present at that tournament. We suspect that they'll end up releasing MissingNO towards the end of the Global Invitational. However, Research's created a bug that we can sneak into the Rocket mainframe to counteract their poor programming. Brendan calls it Operation Surskit."
Aurian groaned at the obvious pun.
"... he's rather proud of the name, don't tell him you're disappointed," Lance muttered. "This'll be similar to your first Sinnoh mission- get in, plant the bug, get out. Riley will be guiding you from a distance and you'll be in disguise. Come back to base, we'll give you more information and give you a chance to swap out your teams before we send you out to New Island."
The patonai nodded, ending the call.
"Well, no time like the present," Ash shrugged.
Aurian snorted, tossing Chimecho out. "What a gift. Inbal, take us home."
Ash and Aurian arrived at Lance's office in a burst of pink psychic energy, where they were greeted with Riley, who brought leftover donuts and freshly-made coffee.
"Saints, both of you," Aurian sighed, hunting down a blueberry donut and pouring herself a huge mug. "What else do we need to know?"
"I'll be keeping Pikachu here to preserve your cover identities," Lance said, motioning for Pikachu to dig in to a separate bag of donut holes. "Have a pillow and hash browns with ketchup ready for him."
Ash shook his head. "You know us too well, Lance."
"Wear your combat uniforms underneath the disguise," Riley added, finishing off his donut. "Aurian, I'd like you to safeguard the USB with the bug on it."
Aurian nodded, taking the stick and slipping it on the chain that held her arrowheads. "I'll protect it with my life. When do we deploy?"
"Fifteen minutes. Good luck, Captains. Be careful."
"Looks like it's up to us," Ash said, determination settling in his gaze.
Aurian grinned. "Just how I like it. Meet you back here in five."
The patonai stood on the bridge of a small fishing boat, shielding themselves from the frigid wind pushing them ever closer to New Island.
"What's our entry plan?" Aurian asked, fiddling with the USB.
Riley stalled the boat. "The island's protected by radar transmitters scattered through the water and on the beach. I'll handle that, but I'll need someone to drive the boat while I disable everything. Once we get to shore, sneak in at the changing of the guard, wreak havoc, and get the hell out. Don't stay for anything."
"Thanks for keeping an eye on us," Ash said.
"That's what I'm here for. I'll watch out for any potential threats and do my best to warn you. If you're in trouble, let me know. Your lives are more important than anything else."
Aurian nodded, swapping positions with their division commander. "Yes sir."
Riley paused, hands glowing blue as he closed his eyes in concentration. Spots of bioluminescence appeared in the water around them, flashing off and on to the rhythm of Riley's heartbeat.
"We're through the first layer. Aurian, take us forward fifty meters."
"Why don't I get to drive?" Ash pouted.
Aurian rolled her eyes. "Remember the last time you drove a boat like this?"
"I saved our hides in Unova, thank you very much!"
"By wrecking us in front of fifteen Plasma grunts!" Aurian sighed.
Riley smirked. "How'd you pay for it?"
"By scrubbing the Armada's common room with my toothbrush."
"There's a reason the place still smells good, even after all the mess we make on a weekly basis," Aurian spun the steering wheel to stay on course.
The process continued until their boat slid onto the shore, transmitters back online like nothing ever happened.
"This is where you strike out on your own," Riley said, tossing Ash a package while constructing a sound-proof aura shield. "Go on, open it."
Ash ripped the brown paper to reveal two more arrowheads forged from Rota crystal. "Riley, I can't thank you enough."
"One for you, one for your patonai," Riley said. "Use them how you need to- energy storage, back-up reserves, preventing overflow… just try not to cause too much damage."
Ten minutes later, the patonai crept through the back hallways of the Rocket research lab, doing their best to look inconspicuous.
"Why is this lab so damn big?" Ash hissed. His third arrowhead clinked against the first two, already halfway filled.
"Can it!" Aurian whispered, adjusting her hat. "We're almost there, don't you dare blow this. One more left turn…"
The hospital-white hallway ended with a single black door, guarded by two security cameras. Ash held a hand behind his back, concentrating aura into his fingertips. As he motioned forward, two strands of blue energy left his hands, shorting out the cameras.
"This has to be it," Aurian said.
Ash's eyes burned blue around the edges of his contacts. "Four men on the inside, three to five Pokemon each. How long will it take you to free their Pokemon?"
"I'll need a minute for each person. There's no telling how long the upload will take, but… we'd best play it safe. What's their position?"
Ash paused. "One directly in front of the door, three talking around a set of computers fifty meters away. Not good for us."
"Unless we can take their lights out," Aurian said, peeking through a minute crack in the door. "Main switch is visible. I can hit it from this distance."
"You sure?"
"Oh, please. You know the Counsel doesn't call me the Sinnoh Sharpshooter for nothing," Aurian shook her head, aura swirling between her fingers.
She took a deep breath, pulled her right hand into position, and fired. A single strand of aura rocketed through the crack in the door and collided squarely with the light switch, plunging the room into darkness.
Ash slammed into the door, blowing it off the hinges with an Earthquake from his Flygon.
"Aura sight from here on out," he said, ignoring the panicked screams from the other Rocket agents and ordering his makeshift team forward. "See you on the flip side."
Ash ordered Flygon, Muk, Gengar, and Aurian's Altaria to sweep the room for traps or hidden Pokemon as he knocked the first of four Grunts out, sparing a second to eliminate the first two security cameras.
Aurian ducked into the shadows, popping back out behind the main computer console after shorting out the other four cameras.
"Agh, this isn't going well," Ash muttered, just ducking a sideswipe from two Grunts at once and landing a weak right hook. "Should we risk aura?"
"Not unless absolutely necessary," Aurian answered.
Ash grunted, doing his best to draw fire away from his patonai.
Aurian plugged the USB into a port, navigating her way through the rows and rows of code on the monitor as she worked her way into the Rocket mainframe.
"Okay, there's the secondary checkpoint, now to breach the firewall and we're home free…"
Ash tossed eight pokeballs from two unconscious Grunts to Aurian, who caught them and placed them in her belt. Between dodging punches and landing a few of his own, he stared amazed at his partner, her face lit up from the harsh light coming off the screens. The last person who managed to infiltrate their systems was Steven himself on an extended mission two years ago.
The remaining two Grunts charged Ash simultaneously, knocked back by a Sandstorm from Flygon. Sand went everywhere- both layers of Ash's disguise, his ears, his hair, his eyes.
Both Grunts fumbled around the space, rubbing hopelessly at their eyes.
"Hurry, Surskit's downloading," Aurian said.
Ash finished the job with three kicks and a lucky punch to the temple.
Flygon ceased the Sandstorm and dug through the Grunts' pockets, unearthing five more pokeballs.
"Good work, buddy, thanks," Ash said, calling his teammates back after handing Flygon's discoveries to Aurian. "How close are we?"
She frowned at the screen. "Two minutes?"
"Just enough time to explore," Ash answered. "I'll be careful, promised."
Aurian nodded, keeping an eye on the room as the loading screen continued to progress.
Ash stuck to the side walls of the room as he investigated the area. A thin black line bisected the pristine white floor, the walls filled with monitoring equipment and blank screens. Part of the room was curtained off, purple fabric obscuring a corner.
Before Ash could pull the curtains aside, he looked down to find minuscule sprays of red dancing across the floor.
"Ri?"
Aurian's gaze flickered between the edge of the room and the monitor. "We didn't do that, did we?"
"No, all of our combat was on your end of the room…"
Ash paused before pulling the curtain aside, revealing an examination table with limb restraints, a heart monitor, and abandoned EKG stickers with a single piece of blue fur hanging on.
"This doesn't look good," Ash muttered, getting closer.
"Ash, is there anything inscribed on the table?"
Ash took an instinctive step back once he saw a series of runes scratched into the wooden base of the table. "Oh God. No, no, no, no, no-"
All too familiar burn marks decorated the surface of the table, boring a hole in his heart. Ash pulled his right glove off, an identical scar emblazoned on his palm.
Aurian was at his side in an instant, hands shaking as she took in the scene. "Oh my God…"
"This looks exactly like what Galactic did to you," Ash shook his head, "but there's no way in hell they have anyone in captivity that's receptive to Red Chain torture, right?"
"That we know of," she said, eyes grave as she returned to her monitor.
The room went oddly quiet…
Ash threw up an invisible shield around his patonai as a hidden door opened, revealing five Rockets standing in shadow.
"Hood up, let me do the talking," Ash blurted, taking a few steps back to analyze the situation.
Aurian nodded, doing her best to slow her breathing down. None of the criminal syndicates they'd faced in the last three and a half years knew that the G-Men were no longer exclusively male. After all she and Ash went through to reach base before the League could put them on trial, all their missions, after being unmasked by Saturn- Aurian, miraculously, was never connected to the G-Men.
She had about sixty seconds to keep that statement true.
"Well, I must say I'm impressed," a new voice purred, stepping into the low light. "I certainly wasn't expecting intruders to get this far."
Aurian's monitor flashed a new image- a bright red outline of a surskit, web lines trailing through the code on the screen. The line- no, the slit- in the floor leaked red light, throwing the room into relief.
Ariana gasped. "I know those uniforms, Sir. It looks like the G-Men know more than we thought they did about our little project."
Giovanni diAngelo crossed his arms. "So it seems. Two bugs that we need to squish, little more. I was under the impression that the G-Men were above breaking and entering?"
Ash and Aurian glanced at each other.
"In our defense," Ash offered, "the back door was unlocked. I was under the impression you were above torturing with Red Chain to get what you want, but we both know how that one plays out."
Giovanni whipped around to face the exposed examination table, Red Chain burns livid against the grey plastic cushions. "How did you…"
Ten grunts came from behind the Rocket executives, heavily armed.
"Sixteen of them, two of us. Any ideas?" Aurian asked, removing the USB from its slot and crushing it in her fist.
Ash bit his lip. "Delta-Seven?"
"Drop everything and run like hell? I'm in."
"We know your alliance but not your intent," Giovanni said. "Why are you here?"
The red light from the floor grew in intensity, a tinny, high-pitched screech catching in all ears present to hear.
Ash detonated smoke bombs in sync with his patonai.
Aurian ducked as bullets flew, shooting ten separate strands of aura to disable the Grunt's weapons.
Ash grabbed her hand and pulled her forward, back into the hallways they came from.
The patonai raced through the hallways and barreled up to the surface of New Island, throwing as many obstacles behind them as they could.
"Riley!" Aurian screamed the second they hit the sand.
Riley zoomed to shore in their boat. "Get in! What happened?"
Ash paled as he helped his partner on the boat before climbing on himself. "Giovanni happened, that's what!"
"We'll talk more," Riley slammed the throttle, "after we're out of range!"
Ash and Aurian clutched the railing for dear life as Riley swerved, dodging a radar detector.
"Do something about those, would you?" Riley yelled, swearing under his breath.
Ash concentrated, a shield appearing around the boat before flickering out of view. "Take the detectors, you're the sharpshooter."
"On it," Aurian said, hands igniting.
No less than thirty radar detectors glowed blue before glitching out, exploding in the ocean as the little G-Men boat disappeared into the night.
"...did you really have to destroy that many?" Ash muttered, releasing the shield.
Aurian crossed her arms. "Did you want Rocket to pinpoint the route we took? Better to destroy half the island's security than leave ourselves exposed!"
Riley released his Gallade. "No time. We're abandoning the boat. Gallade, take us home!"
A flash of light later, all that remained of their presence in the Eastern Sea was the burning shell of a boat and an echo of their voices, floating across the waves.
(A/N): It's getting real now... thanks for sticking around for C12! Special thanks, as always, to the irreplaceable thechinskyguy for his feedback. Drop a review if you'd like, hearing from y'all always makes my day. Hope all is well with you!