Burst Heart Theft II

Melemele Island: Abandoned warehouse

In the villains' lair, the villains were attempting to spy on the heroes to see if they were doing something of interest.

"So, what have those goody-goods been doing recently?" Zach wondered.

Then, the villains got the live video and they all gathered to see the heroes training with their Pokémon.

"Ugh, it looks like they're just messing around with each other!" Zach said.

"Yes. Quite a waste of time, if you ask me." Paisley said.

"Why are they fighting each other with their Pokémon though?" Donita asked.

"They're probably just training!" Gourmand said.

"We need to think! What could we do to finally beat those meddlesome heroes or at least give ourselves an advantage?" Zach said as he turned to his fellow villains.

"Maybe we can try trapping them?" Dabio suggested.

"Sounds good, but they always escape or something else saves them. Besides, that's more of a short-term thing. Think again, Dabio!" Donita said.

"What if we used pavement?" Rex suggested.

"Yes. It did seem like a good idea, but that didn't work, Rex." Paisley said.

Then, the villains turned their attention back to the heroes.

"Okay, now let's use Burst next!" Kiawe said as he took out his Burst Heart.

Then, the other kids took out their Burst Hearts as well.

"It's those crystals again!" Gourmand said.

"The ones they use to take on those forms resembling Pokémon!" Paisley said.

"Honestly, the jewels themselves would be much more suited for fashion." Donita said.

"Hey! That's it! If we can steal those crystals, then we can remove an advantage those twerps have over us!" Zach said. "Who knows, then maybe we can use their own powers against them!"

"Oh, the beauty of irony. I like it!" Paisley said.

"That's only fitting considering what we usually go through at their hands," Gourmand said.

"Now that sounds like a plan!" Donita said.

"Great! Let's go!" Zach said, and the villains got ready to leave.

Back with the heroes, they just finished some more training and deactivated whatever form they were in to take a break.

"Whoo, that was quite a workout!" Sophocles said.

"I agree," Lillie said, wiping sweat off her forehead.

"Here guys, refreshments!" Jimmy said as he brought out some cold drinks.

The kids set their Burst Hearts aside at a nearby table, except for Kiawe and Gladion, who put them away in their pockets, and went off for a break.

Unnoticed by the heroes, a Spybot was lurking around in the area, checking on the heroes.

Then, a few more Spybots joined the first one and they noticed the five Burst Hearts on the table.

The Spybots identified the Burst Hearts as their targets and made their move, sneaking their way without being noticed by the heroes and reached the Burst Hearts; the Spybots picked up the Burst Hearts and started fleeing.

Ash, Mallow, Sophocles, Lillie, and Lana then came by and noticed that their Burst Hearts were missing.

"Our Burst Hearts! They're gone!" Lana said.

"I know we left them here! Where did they go?" Mallow said.

"What's wrong?" Kiawe asked as he and Gladion came over.

"Well, we left our Burst Hearts here, but now… they kinda disappeared." Ash said.

"What!? They disappeared? What do you mean by that?!" Kiawe asked with a hint of anger in his voice, causing Ash, Mallow, Sophocles, Lillie, and Lana to slightly get back. "Why did you just leave them out in the open!? Why didn't you keep them with you!?"

"We figured since we're the only ones here, it wouldn't matter?" Mallow sheepishly replied.

"Calm down. Getting mad about it isn't gonna solve anything." Gladion said. "Let's use the tracking to find out where they are."

Kiawe and Gladion used their Burst Hearts to project a map that showed the two Burst Hearts at their locations, and the other five moving away.

"I see them!" Lana said.

"They're moving, which means they're being carried away!" Lillie said.

"We gotta find out what's doing it!" Sophocles said.

The kids took the matter to Aviva and Koki who promptly started tracking down the Burst Hearts using the maps.

Then, the heroes got visual, and they saw the Spybots carrying away the Burst Hearts.

"Figures, it's Zach!" Aviva said.

"He's probably trying to get the Burst Hearts for himself!" Koki said.

"Well, he can't even if we let him, as we all know. The Burst Hearts work only for their users, and it's only the smaller, one-use ones that can be used by anyone." Gladion said. "But we still need to get them back!"

"Now that we know who we're dealing with, let's go!" Ash said.

"Here, this should help!" Gladion created five mini Burst Hearts for Ash, Mallow, Sophocles, Lillie, and Lana.

"Thank you," Lillie said.

"Hey, can you make some for us too?" Martin asked.

"Here!" Kiawe created four extra mini Burst Hearts for Martin, Chris, Aviva, and Koki.

Then, the heroes left the Tortuga to chase down the Spybots.

Meanwhile, at the villains' location, the Spybots arrived and handed Zach the five Burst Hearts they had snatched.

"Good work, Spybots!" Zach praised until he realized the number count was off. "But wait, why are there only five? There should be seven, there are seven Twerps, so seven crystals!"

"Because not all of us were careless to leave them out in the open!" Kiawe's voice said, and the villains turned to see the heroes.

"Wild Ratts?! How did you find us so quickly?" Zach asked.

"We tracked our Burst Hearts using Kiawe and Gladion's Burst Hearts!" Lillie said.

"Give us back our Burst Hearts!" Lana demanded.

"Not happening!" Gourmand said, and the villains got ready for a fight.

"Let's go!" Kiawe said.

"Burst!" Kiawe and Gladion used Burst combined with Turtonator and Silvally.

"Hah! Thanks for that, losers! Now we know how to do the thing that you do!" Zach said as he held out a Burst Heart, with Donita, Gourmand, and Paisley doing the same.

However, the heroes stared unamused, knowing that the villains only knew half of what needs to be done.

"Burst!" The villains attempted to trigger Burst upon themselves, but as the heroes expected, nothing happened.

"What? Why didn't it work!?" Zach asked.

"Because it doesn't just work by putting it on your chest and shouting 'Burst!'" Kiawe said. "Also, when combining with a Pokémon, they need to be willing to lend their power to you, and I can't imagine any Pokémon that would want to lend you their power!"

"Also, those Burst Hearts only work for their true owners. Meaning that our friends are the only ones who can use them." Gladion added.

"There you have it! Now give them back!" Ash demanded.

"Uh, no way! Even if we can't use them, at least if you lot don't have them! That's an advantage for us! So there!" Zach said.

"Then don't expect to hold onto them for so long!" Chris said.

All the heroes who had the mini Burst Hearts got them ready.

"Burst!" Ash, Mallow, Sophocles, Lillie, and Lana used Burst to combine with Incineroar, Serperior, Togedemaru, Snowy, and Primarina.

Then, they sent out some of their other Pokémon for Chris, Martin, Aviva, and Koki.

"Burst!" Chris, Martin, Aviva, and Koki used Burst to combine with Decidueye, Marowak, Magearna, and Sandy.

"But on the other hand, these one-use Burst Hearts can be used by anyone!" Martin said.

"And it's more than enough to get the Burst Hearts back!" Koki said.

"Well, we're not gonna let you!" Donita said, and Dabio handed her the Mannequin control remote, calling for the Mannequins.

Then, Rex and Zach called for the pavers and Zachbots as well.

The heroes charged at their enemies to fight and get the five Burst Hearts back.

"Darkest Lariat!" Ash lit his hands on fire and spun rapidly in place before ramming into some pavers.

"Shell Trap!" Kiawe turned his back towards some Zachbots, causing them to charge into the spikes and trigger them to explode.

"Multi-Attack!" Gladion, with the Rock Memory equipped, enveloped himself in aura and slashed some Mannequins.

"Sparkling Aria!" Lana sang to form a ball of water and made it burst, shooting out multiple bubbles at some Zachbots.

"Blizzard!" Lillie blew out a blizzard from her mouth to freeze some Mannequins.

"Slam!" Mallow used her tail around some Zachbots and slammed them into the ground.

"Zing Zap!" Sophocles rolled into some pavers for an electrified tackle.

"Spirit Shackle!" Chris fired arrow quills at some Mannequins

"Shadow Bone!" Martin struck a few pavers hard with his bone imbued with purple spiritual energy.

"Gyro Ball!" Aviva folded into a ball and spun rapidly as she rammed into the Zachbots.

"Freezy Frost!" Koki generated a black haze around the Mannequins and froze them in black ice.

After defeating all the villains' minions, the heroes all launched a combined attack at the villains, causing an explosion and leaving them a mess.

The five Burst Hearts were thrown into the air, and as Ash, Mallow, Sophocles, Lillie, and Lana reached out, they were called back to their rightful owners' hands.

Seeing their plan foiled, the villains decided to retreat.

"I'll get you next time, Wild Ratts!" Zach said.

"Me too!" Donita said.

"Lousy Wild Kratt Croutons!" Gourmand said.

"Always ruining our plans!" Paisley said.

"We wouldn't even need to ruin their plans if they didn't do bad stuff!" Mallow said.

"That's the way they are. They're never gonna change." Kiawe said.

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