Welcome to Chapter 41 of the Story. Hope everyone has been doing well, College is a pain as per usual. Finding time to type is nothing easy, but I'll manage. Anyways, if you're new, please make sure you follow, favorite, and review the story. If you have a community for Pokémon stories, I'd love it if you were to add it in! I would be very honored!

This chapter takes us off in a much different direction but does lead to a very important part to the story, trust me on that. Chapters 35-39 were almost always focused on John, Ash's AuraMancer partner. Those chapters weren't as important to the main storyline but these upcoming ones most certainly will be, I can assure you all of that. Anyway, I believe that's enough of past, it's time to focus on the future. Let's get going.

ReignZ Presents… 10 Minutes Chapter 41

Last Chapter…

"Now Bisharp! Psycho Cut!" May's jaw dropped open in shock when Bisharp emerged from its hiding spot; Golurk's Back! She didn't have time to react and could only watch in terror as Bisharp nimbly sliced Blaziken's gut with its blades. May watched in fear as she saw Blaziken begin to sway, then hit the ground, knocked out in one move, a powered up, super effective, critical hit strike. Max gasped at his sister's Pokémon being knocked out, and took his focus off the battle. John showed him no mercy, remembering the time he had hurled Max over a house in Twinleaf Town(Chapter 3). He yelled. "Golurk, use Shadow Ball!" Max, this time, did react.

Only, he chose the wrong move to use. "Counter that with Hammer Arm!" You could actually hear the gasps of shock and confusion in the stadium at the amateur move choice. John knew he had Max trapped. "New Plan! Same Moves, but let Swampert use the move on you, then smash it with a critical hit when it's vulnerable!"

Swampert charged up to Golurk, the swung it's arm downwards. It got quite a start when the move went right through Golurk's body. It didn't have time to react as it looked up and saw the Shadow Ball crash straight into its head. An explosion covered the field as a result. The referee peered around the smoke, attempting to see if he could locate Swampert and determine if it could still battle. He did after a few moments, and saw it had a very large bruise on the side of its head. He raised the flag.

"Blaziken and Swampert are unable to battle, Bisharp and Golurk win!" The crowd roared in cheers for the favored duo's, who praised their Pokémon for a tremendous opening battle. The announcer commentated.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Golurk, Unleash Phantom Force!" Suddenly, all the copies vanished, and from John's side of the field, came Golurk, flying in at maximum speed. "Nooooo! Gallllaaaaddeeee!" Max yelled in horror as he watched Golurk smother Gallade with a crisp, Ghost type move. It was Super Effective, and Max knew even without looking at his Pokémon that he had been absolutely manhandled by the two superstars, and didn't react nor hear the referee calling out.

"Gallade is unable to continue, Bisharp and Golurk win! And therefore the winners of the match and advancing to the Quarterfinals are none other than Alpha and Omega!" The referee announced in a loud and professional voice. Bisharp cried out its name loudly and held it's blade to the sky as a Victory pose. Golurk slowly raised its fist as well, asserting its dominance. Ash and John gave one another a bro hug before walking out to give their Pokémon praise. They watched as May and Max quickly returned their Pokémon and left the field, not even stopping to congratulate them on their Victory.

Present…

Ash moaned softly as the light outside attacked his vision. It was the morning after their Victory against the Maples. The press conference that followed had been beyond boring. All he wanted to do was simply wave his hand and use Aura Push to send them all barreling out the door and leave him in peace and quiet. However, because of such reporters, he had been stuck there for nearly an hour answering questions. Thankfully, John had been there to answer some questions as well.

Finally, they had caught a break when Mr. Goodshow told the reporters to scram. They thanked Mr. Goodshow and he gave John a hug once more, telling him how happy he was to see him battling at full strength. John gave him a grin that could be seen underneath his hood, and then the two left the building, called out their respective flying types, and took to the skies to return home. When they got back, the girls were already waiting for them, as they expected. They celebrated and then went to bed rather fast. Ash looked to his side and noticed his two lovers were not in bed with him. He was curious to where they went and hopped out of bed to go find out.

He walked into the living section of their room and saw John relaxing on the couch by himself. He peered back when he heard shuffling in the room. He laughed a little and said jokingly. "Morning sleepyhead." Ash grunted back. "Morning indeed. Where are the girls?" John replied. "Your girls went out to have some "girl time." Don't ask me what that means, because I was seriously confused by it too. My girls are still asleep." Ash nodded and then walked to the pantry to grab some cereal, still half asleep.

John laughed and said with a grin. "You need anymore sleep bud?" Ash didn't even hear him, he felt his eyes drooping as he held a carton of milk in his hand he couldn't help but feel startled when he felt something cold coat his hand and begin to coat the floor. He looked down and heard his friend roaring with laughter. Ash had unknowingly spilled milk all over his hand. He looked rather embarrassed for a moment before he filled his bowl with milk for real this time. He then turned around with his cereal intact to try and grab paper towels to clean up the mess he had made. What he forgot about was that there was still a lot of milk on the ground, and he flailed wildly as he lost control. In this process, he hurled his bowl of cereal flying through the air and landed with a loud CRASHon the ground.

John had started to laugh even louder and harder, but then got a glimpse of a bowl flying towards him. He didn't have time to move as he was coated in milk and cereal, and then got bonked in the head with the bowl, which made him stumble backwards from the seat he was sitting on and topple backwards. He wiped his eyes to clean off the white liquid before he saw Ash gawking at him. Then, they both started to die of laughter. Ash was laughing so hard he was crying, while John looked like he may have pissed himself from laughter. John got up and tried to wipe himself off, but knew the damage had been done, and he was going to have to clean himself off again. Ash chuckled and got up, he had yet to shower in the morning anyway, so it wasn't all too much of a bother to him.

"My my, what have we here?" The two men looked over and saw Jasmine and Skyla trying to withhold from bursting out into giggles as well. John just chuckled and greeted his two lovers. He was about to kiss Jasmine before she immediately backed away. "Not so fast mister! You're cleaning yourself off before you get any of THIS!" She puckered her lips at him playfully. Skyla just giggled at the whole situation. Ash had to comment. "What would Gary have done in this situation, I have to know!"

Suddenly, something dawned on John's face and he suddenly said. "Ash! Totally forgot! While you were reenacting sleeping beauty…" this got another giggle from the girls "… Gary called. He wants to know if you want to hang out with him in the Cerulean Mall today for a few hours." Ash blinked before shrugging nonchalantly. "Sure. Sounds good to me." John chuckled a little and then said. "He did invite me too but… as you can see…" he gestured to his milk soaked clothes. "I may not get out." Ash was about to gesture to himself that he was even more soaked in milk than John was, but then he realized that other than his arm, he really was rather clean, even though it was all his fault in the first place.

Ash grinned. "Guess so. I'll meet him there." John replied. "I'll be there…" He was cut off by a very loud. *AHEM* John turned and his jaw dropped a few inches when he saw Skyla seductively rubbing her lower area, and Jasmine slowly using her finger to gesture him to come into the bedroom with them. He sputtered incoherently for a second before muttering. "… on second thought… maybe I won't go… tell Gary… I have plans…" Ash chuckled at his lovestruck friend before smirking and saying. "Alright Loverboy, have fun." He expected his friend to respond but John just walked into the bedroom without another word being said.

Ash suddenly grimaced as he realized he had a little cleanup work to do before he could spurn into action and go see Gary.

XXXXXXXXXX

Ash had already been with Gary for quite a few hours. Had he totally lost track of time? A little bit, yes. However, he was partly just trying to distract himself. They finally had a little bit of free time. Since they had emerged victorious against Max and May, the Maple's had reportedly left to return to Hoenn. It was Ash's hope that they never returned so they would never have to see them again. It gave him a small commodity that he rarely ever got; peace. For these next few days, it was in his full intention to relax.

However, as much as he wanted to allow his mind relaxation, he knew he couldn't. He needed to begin his search for the commanders of Rocket to lead him to the inevitable Team Rocket Leader, Giovanni. What perplexed him slightly was that as many appearances and run-ins with Harley and Jones, yet they never saw the known Leader. This was very confusing. Despite shattering the LOS, the five of them were determined to defeat Rocket. But, issues still remained in the open.

For example, Jasmine and Skyla. After not one, but two near death experiences for their lover, they flat out refused to let John leave for the time being. Ash would only laugh at his friend when he pleaded with his girls to allow him to leave, only for his pleas to fall on deaf ears. They wanted to keep him safe, and sadly for him, that meant no reckless behavior. He was still able to train his Pokémon, but no business with the Legion or Rocket. As far as they were concerned, he was doing the Legion more than enough of a favor by winning the tournament and preventing the Victory rewards from falling into Rocket's hands. That left the four of them to decide their next play.

Keeghan was their information gatherer. He would commonly make trips to the Violet Legion Base, now their HQ. They were attempting to prepare an attack on the Rocket HQ, which Daniel had given the location to, however, without knowledge on their leaders, they really couldn't do anything. Daniel was unable to gather any information on the blueprints of the Headquarters. This would mean they would essentially be going into the most heavily guarded Rocket base… Blind. Regardless of how much better fighters the Legion agents were compared to the Rocket grunts, they stood no chance with almost no intel and being outnumbered that badly.

So until they decided their next move, they couldn't really do anything about Rocket. They needed a move that would be unseen and uncalculated by Rocket to deal a blow to the Rocket organization, but nothing came to mind. So, until something did, they were trying to relax, the key word being trying.

Gary cut off Ash's train of thought by punching him on the arm playfully. "You heading into La-La land Ashy?" Ash grinned playfully and said. "Oh yeah, I was just thinking about removing your Aura Illusion." Gary's smirk had vanished clean off his face and in his place was a very pale one. He shakily said. "You're… you're bluffing!" Ash grinned cheekily before raising his arm and slowly began moving it in front of Gary's face and he immediately cried. "Okay Okay! You got me! You got me!"

It was true, for once, Ash and Gary had opted to not wear their… usual attire. Ash was wearing his usual Illusion, (AN: I Gave an Example of It Around Chapters 9 and 10 If You're curious to what he looks like)and he had given Gary an illusion as well. Gary had lost his spiky brown hair and had adopted a jet black hairdo, sporting dreadlocks along with dark green eyes. His height dropped a little from 6' 2' to 6' even. His face slightly morphed, giving him a slightly more defined Jaw-line. He wasn't complaining about the swap.

The two of them were walking through a candy store. Ash hadn't eaten candy in years, aside from the semi-sweet morsels that John put in the chocolate chip pancakes and waffles. Gary had practically forced Ash to go, or else he would "Pay the price." Ash just chuckled and said he would go, but didn't promise to buy anything.

They had been there for at least twenty minutes at this point in time. Gary was searching around endlessly for something, yet still couldn't seem to locate the item. Ash was just admiring his Illusion form in the window, running a hand through his hair and grinning slightly at the reflection. He could detect that there were people watching him, but not in a cryptic way, rather a flattering one. He turned and saw the culprits: a group of teenage girls. They were whispering to one another and giggling madly. Gary came over and said to him. "You haven't seen the dark chocolate froakie's have you?" Ash blinked. "Who is dumb enough to make candy named after a Pokémon?"

Gary just shrugged and said to him. "Don't judge em until you've tried em." Ash sighed and said. "I'd help you on your incredibleextravaganza, but unfortunately it seems as though I'm about to have an unwanted guest and unwanted attention." Before Gary could ponder what Ash meant, one of the teenage girls came over. She had flowing orange hair and dark brown eyes. Her chest was particularly impressive, and her curves were very defined. She walked towards him with her hips swaying, catching the attention of almost any male that walked by. She greeted them sweetly. (AN: Get it? The Candy Shop!? No… sorry..)

"Hi there… my name's Madison." She gave Ash a seductive look. "I couldn't help but notice how… handsome you look today, care to join me tonight on a date?" Ash was already thinking of ways to deal with this, and he quite obviously would know what would happen if either of his girls would ever find this woman, things would end quite badly.

He gave her the sweetest look he could back and said while putting on a fake smile. "Hi, I'm quite sorry, but I'm taken." He made the point of not mentioning he was taken by not one but two beautiful women. However, regardless of said number, Madison wasn't having it. "Oh, but I'm sure you can spare a beautiful afternoon with me and my gorgeous body…" Ash was getting a little agitated. He said sternly. "Look, I'm not going out with you. Understand that if you want to, but it's not happening."

Madison smirked and revealed a ton of her cleavage, still not giving in. "Oh… are you sure? My breasts don't want to be left alone tonight… and I promise I'll be great in bed with you… you have my word." Ash looked bored and annoyed at her, so she made the final press. "Come on… all I'm asking for is your name and number baby… don't be shy." She pressed her chest against his toned one. Ash smiled lightly before saying. "Well… okay. Do you have a piece of paper?"

She took out a very small slip of paper and pencil out of her purse in a flash. Inside, Ash could also see some other things he preferably didn't want to see, and all relating to sex and things he would never do to betray his lovers. Gary was about to cut in with absolute fury, thinking Ash was cheating on Elesa and Cynthia, when Ash handed her back the slip of paper in a flash. She smiled and said. "It's nice to meet you…" She looked down at the name and blinked.

"Aimnot?" She held the card out and Gary could clearly see the word, Aimnot, written there. She blinked again and said. "Your… your name is Aimnot?" She didn't believe it one bit, and Ash replied.

"Yup! Aimnot! As in, Aimnot Interested!" Gary roared with laughter and toppled back onto the floor, laughing his eyes out. Many customers had turned to see what all the commotion was about, creating a scene. Madison had flushed a bright red in utter embarrassment. She immediately turned tail and fled with her friends from being further embarrassed. Ash chuckled and helped his friend off the ground. Gary, still laughing hard enough to be judged as crying, commented. "And to think… I was about to tear you away from those girls for betraying Cynthia and Elesa!" Ash laughed. "I'm a little bit dull when it comes to girls… but not that dull."

Gary was about to burst out into another round of hysterics when all of the sudden the breath got caught in throat. He saw someone walk into the Candy shop, completely unaware of the situation that had just unfolded and began to search around the shop aimlessly. Gary immediately turned his back and fled to the opposite side of the shop, peaking Ash's interest. He found Gary with his hand on his forehead, breathing coming out in quick, ragged breaths.

Ash was dumbfounded; he had never seen Gary like this before. He placed a hand on his friends shoulder and said in confusion. "Gary? What's wrong?" Gary immediately shushed him before whispering. "I… I can't believe it…" Ash blinked. "What?" Gary slumped down on the ground with his back against the wall, not carrying if he crushed any of the Peanut Butter Buizel's behind him. He was shaking his head slowly, as if he was completely in a trance. Ash was still entirely perplexed by his friends behavior, and took this moment to stand up and look around the store to see what exactly was making his friend act as though he may suffocate.

His eyes ran all across the store, coming up empty handed. Then, he looked towards the "On sale" signs, and saw a familiar face, and one that was getting quite a bit of attention. It was a woman. She had flowing blonde hair and bright green eyes. Her body was so well developed it rivaled the looks of Cynthia's and Elesa's. She had a pink flower in the side of her hair and she seemed a bit lost, similar to how Gary looked to how he was searching for his sweets.

Wait a second… Ash suddenly braked on his thoughts. …Gary…His eyes widened as he now realized who this person was, and more importantly, why Gary was hiding from her.

"You've seen her." Ash looked down at his friend, who looked like he'd been punched in the gut multiple times then thrown off a cliff. Gary shook his head, at a loss for words. "I… never thought I'd see her again…" Ash knew Gary had been dating this girl prior to his presumed death. Ash knew Gary had not talked with anyone after the incident, and that, sadly, included this girl.

Daisy Waterflower.

Gary's body ached to go back to her. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he still loved her. He wanted nothing more than to make her his own. He wanted to hold her in his arms, kiss her, and keep her all to himself. These past few years had only been dedicated training and allegiance to the LOS. He had never thought he'd ever have a chance to see her again, but now… it was staring him right in the face.

And what was worse, was that he couldn't do a thing about it.

With Rocket still at large, and his death status known as Alive to all Team Rocket members, he couldn't risk being found out or worse, ratted out by Daisy. Daisy had never really been much of a secret keeper, although his hope had been that she matured a little bit more. She certainly lookedlike she had matured. That much, he was very much enjoying. However, he just couldn't bring himself to suck it up and talk to her.

Ash took a step towards her before Gary grabbed his ankle and made Ash lose his balance for a moment. "What the hell Gary?" He said in annoyance. "Aren't you gonna talk with her?" Gary was speechless for a few moments. He didn't know what to do. "I… I'm not sure…" He murmured.

Gary was still unsure. What if he was found and killed by Rocket? What if she didn't approve of his job? Hell, what would she say when she realized the man she had loved years earlier was not dead at all, and rather than seek her out with all the resources in the world, he chose to avoid her? To him, it seemed like a one way ticket to failure. Gary knew he needed to keep quiet. He heard her speaking as he was lost in his own thoughts.

"Hi! My name is Daisy! And you are?"

"My name? Oh… It's Gary Scepter!" Gary's eyes widened, not when he heard her speak, nor the name being said of the other person, it was the voice of the other person who caught his ears. He whirled back into reality and almost shit himself on the spot when he realized Ash had went to talk to her while he had been in La-La Land.

He silently cursed karma for mocking Ash about being in his own little world and knew this was his punishment. He bit his lip and then made a last second decision: He walked over and blurted out. "Hey As-Gary!" He quickly corrected himself. "You left me over in the gummy Beartic aisle all by myself!" Gary silently cursed again as he knew that sounded like the dorkiest thing he possibly could've said.

Ash was about to remark before Daisy giggled and said. "Wow, some friend you are Gary, leaving you friend all alone like that!" Ash smirked a little. "Well, Daisy, this is my friend…" He waited for Gary to take the initiative, before he finally did after a few second. "I…Ian. Ian… Poscha. It's nice to meet you." Gary felt as though an entire ton of pressure had lifted off his shoulders. Daisy cast one of her brightest smiles and said. "It's nice to meet you too Mr. Poscha."

Gary (Ian) held up his hand. "Please, Ian is fine. Mr. Poscha makes me sound like an old man."

Daisy smirked a little and said. "Is that so, Mr. Poscha?"

Gary grinned back and said. "Yes, it is so, Ms. Waterflower."

Daisy gave a fake gasp and said while holding a hand over her heart in mock outrage, "Why! The nerve of you! You'll pay for that!"

Gary smirked and leaned in and whispered teasingly. "Is that so?"

"Very much so."

For a small moment, there was silence. Then Daisy said, still lightly smirking. "I'll tell you what. Come visit me at my house. There's going to be a party coming up for my sister's birthday." Before either of them could inquire which sister it was, she said brightly. "Violet is always the easiest to shop for because she loves Candy and makeup cosmetics! It's why I'm here! It's too bad they don't have her favorite candy, so I'm going to have to say goodbye for now." Daisy smiled and said. "Here… it's my number, I only give it out to the guys I think are worth having it. You're both welcome to come along. See you soon…" She sent Gary a wink before walking out of the store, swaying her hips purposely trying to make Gary drool.

Ash watched his friend in amusement; he was going to be able to hold this over his friend forever. Gary suddenly snapped back to reality before reaching for his phone and began to swipe through it mercilessly with Ash watched with curiosity. Gary stopped messing with his phone for a moment before holding it out to Ash. Ash took the phone from his friend before looking at what Gary was showing him. It was a picture of him and Daisy in front of Prism Tower, located in Lumiose City. Ash grit his teeth tightly, knowing this was also Clemont's HQ.

Gary smiled softly. "This was one of the few pictures I was able to save. My phone was damaged in the fire but I managed to salvage this picture before it broke completely and I had to get a replacement." He paused briefly. "This was just three weeks before Gramps died… our last photo together." Tears threatened to fall freely. "Is… is it finally time? Can we go back together again? Is she seeing someone?"

Ash smiled lightly at his friend before studying the picture once more. He cocked his head, staring at the tower in the background. All of the sudden, he gasped in shock. It had hit him like a ton of bricks; it was the next step of their plan. Gary noticed his friend's reaction and questioned. "What is it?" Ash looked at Gary and said softly.

"I know what we can do to deal a blow to Rocket." Gary looked at him, awaiting the answer. Ash said softly. "We go to Lumiose." Gary blinked, not believing he heard Ash correctly. He asked him. "Come again?" Ash replied. "We go to Lumiose, and we get answers." He said firmly. "From who? From where?" Gary further pressed.

"We go straight to the source… our new Target… is Clemont Tower." Ash said.

AN: Annnnndddd Now you all get to see the first step on Team Rocket. Ash has determined the best location to get information on Rocket and expose their weakness' is by raiding Clemont Tower (AKA Prism Tower) to get information. Clemont is the only member of Rocket that Ash and Gary currently know is hiding in plain sight, and he's a highly ranked one at that.

Next Chapter is the Raid on Clemont Tower… and Ash's quest to gain intel on the organization seeking to control the entire Pokémon world. Will he succeed? Will John free himself of his girls to join them? Will Gary pursue Daisy's heart once more… but if yes… As Gary, or Ian? Keep reading to find out.

Trust me… because… the biggest surprises have yet to come.

Please make sure to follow, favorite, and review! Every one counts! Thanks Guys! Hope you enjoyed!

ReignZ