AN- Presenting chapter eight! Hey, I technically made my deadline of one per month!

"Speech" 'thoughts' 'telepathy'

Thanks to my beta reader, Flamewing98!

Please enjoy and review!

Chapter Eight

As the sun rose, the first light hit Ash, waking him up. He yawned and sat up before getting out of his tent. After he was fully awake, he got ready then performed his daily exercises of running, push ups, and sit ups with Pikachu and Lucario, then worked on his aura with Lucario. He pushed himself even harder than normal because of his encounter with Red several weeks ago. Ash didn't want to be beaten again. After he finished, he let the rest of his Pokemon out to work out with him. Everyone knew the works, and they all sparred for awhile before going off into their respective teams to work on their specialties. Ash watched over all of them, occasionally giving advice or correcting form. As he did this, he mentally and visually assessed all of his Pokemon.

One was a massive Pokemon, who was asleep more than he was awake, and was a part of Ash's main powerhouse squad, being fast and enormously powerful. Snorlax loved to eat, and he was the only one Ash was worried about who would have trouble surviving on low rations. His partner was Aggron, another huge Pokemon, who was relatively new to the team. Aggron, back then an Aron, was the first Pokemon Ash caught after he joined Team Rocket, saving him from a forest fire. Aron wanted to repay the debt he owed Ash, so he and stayed with him, vowing to become stronger.

Next was Ash's main mode of transportation, a huge, orange, dragon-like, lizard. His Charizard had gotten him out of a pinch more than once, and while he was a powerhouse, he was in Ash's transport squad for his flight. The second squad member, was Blastoise. Ash saw the potential in Squirtle for amphibious movement and combat, and Squirtle had the drive to reach Ash's expectations, evolving twice to become a Blastoise.

The third group was comprised of two of some of Ash's fastest Pokemon, Pikachu and Sceptile. Both were powerful in their own right, but their main strength was speed. Their speed allowed them to be excellent scouts, allowing them to cover great distances quickly; they also could perform powerful hit and run maneuvers, creating confusion and discord among enemies.

He walked over to the newest member of his team, only having caught him five months ago, who was sparring with his partner. This one's role was being the second of Ash's hand to hand combat specialist trio, Ash being the first. It's main characteristics were it's green, sword-like arms, and sense of honor. Ash caught Gallade through a duel. Gallade was intrigued by him, and challenged one of his Pokemon to a fight, and Ash accepted. However, he chose to fight Gallade himself. After Ash knocked him out, he caught Gallade because of his impressive abilities. Gallade was an excellent fighter, proving every time he sparred or fought that he belonged on the team. The third member was on almost on par with Ash's skills, though more combat than aura. After all, he did teach him most of them. Ash's Riolu evolved fairly quickly after being given to him, because Ash treated him with kindness he didn't know previously. While Lucario knew a powerful long ranged move or two, his expertise was hand to hand combat. He preferred using his bare paws or his aura staff, while his aura allowed him to react quickly to his enemy's movements with split second precision.

The final team was Ash's most diverse, which specialized in espionage, surveillance, covert combat, and sabotage. First up was Gengar. Ash caught Gengar when he was had the idea for this team. He traveled to the Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town to catch a ghost type Pokemon. When he arrived, Gengar sneaked up on Ash and tried to steal his hat. However, Ash's aura let him see the Shadow Pokemon and avoid him. Gengar was impressed with this mortal's skill, and chose to join him to make things more interesting. Gengar's ability to become unseen was next to none, and allowed him to conduct his missions remaining undetected by anyone with ease. The second member was Ninjask. Ash stole Ninjask from a trainer along with the rest of the kid's Pokemon. When Ash turned them into Team Rocket, he gave Ninjask a choice. He could either join Ash or go to Team Rocket. Reluctantly Ninjask agreed to join Ash, and was rebellious for a time. But Ash's love, though not always spoken, won Ninjask over, and he became loyal to Ash. Ninjask was arguably the fastest of all of Ash's Pokemon, but what led Ash to make him a spy rather than a scout was his silence With some training from Ash, he was able to overcome his species tendency to cry out all the time, making him silent. His silence coupled with his staggering speed made him able to move so quickly and quietly, and he was basically invisible. These two could gather intelligence on anyone, or anything.

The last two of Ash's Pokemon were specialists, but didn't belong to a group. One was Glalie. Domino had given Ash extensive training in a snow environment, so Ash needed a Pokemon who could survive the cold, and Glalie was the perfect candidate, his multiple talents being: power, speed, the ability to survive the cold, and the ability to almost disappear in the snow.

The other was Meowth, whose specialty was anything electronic, mechanical, or robotic. He was also a powerful fighter, like the rest of Ash's Pokemon, and was a kind of an adviser to Ash in tactics and strategy.

After an hour of more work, Ash called all of his Pokemon together.

"Okay guys, good work. Time to eat." None of his Pokemon moved. "Did you guys hear me? I said it's time to eat." The Pokemon chattered before Lucario stepped forward.

'Master, we have a few questions first.'

"Um, okay." Ash was hesitant. When his Pokemon got like this, it was serious. "Shoot."

'What are you planning? You did not seem to be especially happy yesterday.'

Ash stiffened "I can't keep anything from you guys, can I?"

His Pokemon responded with roars of agreement.

"Fine." Ash hesitated for a moment "I'm trying to think how to escape from Team Rocket."

Once again, his Pokemon roared, but this time in protest.

"Yes, I remember that they have the rest of us prisoner." Ash reassured them "I meant that I'm trying to think of a way to save everyone and then escape Team Rocket."

'How do you plan on doing so, Master?' Gallade asked.

"I have an idea, but it will take awhile." Ash looked around "And don't tell Domino until I deem it safe. It's not that I don't trust her, but I don't want to take any chances when my Pokemon's lives depend on it, understand?"

His Pokemon all nodded.

"Good. Now obviously, we can't do this by ourselves. The problem is, there aren't exactly a plethora of people that we can call on anymore. My main focus is taking out Giovanni, but that will obviously take a long, long time to pull off by ourselves. So, any ideas, guys?"

No one said anything, and was beginning to get a little discouraged.

Meowth shot up "Oh! I got an idea, Boss!"

A hooded figure walked down the dusty streets of Pyrite Town, keeping his head down. As he walked along, he received multiple looks from various gangsters and thugs, but none gave him trouble. He didn't look like someone they wanted to mess with.

He made his way into the Pokemon Center and over to the counter.

"May I help you, sir?" the Nurse Joy asked.

A short nod was his answer, and he quickly pulled out some poke balls and placed them on the counter.

"They'll be ready shortly, sir." Joy pressed a button and a Chansey rolled a cart over and took them up as the man turned around and left.

He walked the streets while waiting until he heard a strange sound. Curious, he followed it to the source. It was coming from a rooftop above an alley, where he saw another hooded figure flanked by a Gallade and Lucario with a Pikachu on one shoulder and Meowth on the other holding a man over the edge by his legs.

"This is your last chance," Ash growled "tell me where to find Mewtwo."

"I-I don't know, I swear!" the dangling man shouted.

Ash kicked him hard in the back "You don't want to lie to me. I know for a fact that you Galactic scum have him. I read it in a file in the base twenty klicks west of here, right after I killed everyone. Just tell me where he is, and I won't have to kill you too."

He loosened his grip on his legs.

The grunt's face contorted in fear "Alright, alright, just put me down you Magma psycho!"

"Good choice." Ash heaved up, and threw him back up onto the roof.

Down below, the man ran up to the fire escape and climbed up, intent on watching. He barely lifted his head up so he could see.

The Galactic grunt hastily pulled out a scrap of paper and a pencil and wrote something down.

"Here, this is where the base holding it is located. P-please let me go."

Ash took the paper and looked at the grunt with a thoughtful look. "Under the Coliseum, huh? Hmmm..."

He sighed "Unfortunately, I don't think I can afford the chance that you go back to your little friends, can I?" Lucario and Gallade

The man gasped "No! I won't tell anyone at all! Nobody, I swear it!"

Ash sighed again "Look, it's nothing personal, I just can't have you telling anyone."

"No really; may I get hit by a Tauros if I'm lying!"

"Well," Ash raised his hand and looked him straight in the eyes "fine. But if I see you even near Pyrite again, I will kill you, no questions asked, no hesitation. Do you understand?"

The man nodded furiously.

"Good. Now get out of my sight before I think I've made a mistake."

The man gushed something about how his family thanks him before taking off into the stairwell.

"Idiot." Ash grumbled before heading down himself, Pokemon closely behind.

'The coliseum...' the hooded man though before climbing down the fire escape and running back to the Poke Center.

"Hey, how much ya wanna bet that this guy falls off of his Dragonite, and into the pit of Arbok?" a very bored Galactic grunt watching Pokemon videos on his phone asked his fellow guard.

The other guy looked at the video. "I'll bet twenty bucks he doesn't fall off."

"Deal."

The guy on the Dragonite fell off and the guard who won laughed. "You owe me twenty bucks, loser."

"Yeah, yeah." the grunt took out two tens and handed them to him "There."

The guard smirked, and as he was about to grab it, was smashed in the chest with an aura sphere.

The living grunt jumped up "Holy-" he was cut off by a scratch attack.

Ash jumped down from a big crate "No one ever has competent guards."

He ran past the bodies and into the coliseum. "Do you see the entrance guys?"

"No/Pika."

"Alright, gimme a sec." Ash closed his eyes and raised his hand, then pointed it at the corner once he sensed a large group of life forms, and one that seemed more powerful than the rest "Okay, it's over there, let's go."

Ash ran to the a wall and searched for a moment; he tore down a poster and pressed the button in the wall behind it. A hidden door built into a massive column opened up, and Ash headed down it.

The guards and receptionist in the front room looked at Ash and immediately pulled out their weapons. Before they fired, Ash threw up an aura shield, and Pikachu and Meowth ran around the room and killed the three grunts before they had a chance to radio for backup.

Meowth jumped on the receptionist's desk and started typing on the computer "This place is huge! It says here that Mewtwo is here direction, but that's it. Can you find him yourself?"

"I'm glad I have aura." Ash remarked as used his aura to sense where the power he felt a moment earlier was emanating from. It was clearly coming from an enormously powerful Pokemon, located roughly a couple hundred feet to his left "He's over there." He pointed to the left doorway.

"I'm gonna need some extra firepower to steamroll through this quickly, aren't I Meowth?" Ash questioned as he pulled a set of two poke balls off of his belt.

"You betcha, Boss." Meowth agreed as he unsheathed his claws.

"Let's roll you guys!" Ash threw out the balls, releasing his go-to power duo, Snorlax and Aggron "Clear a path, would you?"

Snorlax nodded and charged up a hyper beam before destroying the door in their way. Aggron, the more violent of the two, gave a wicked smile before running in with cover from Ash and Snorlax. That was their go-to strategy; Aggron's defense made him the perfect shield to soak up punishment while Ash and Snorlax blasted enemies with their long ranged attacks. Aggron charged through the halls, killing any grunts he saw with hyper beams, flamethrowers, thunderbolts, and dragon claws. Ash and Snorlax acted as support, Ash using his aura while Snorlax used thunderbolts, shadow balls, and body slams. A grunt jumped out after they had passed him and aimed his rifle at Ash. But before he could shoot, he was hit by an iron tail on the back. As the grunt fell, his Croagunk spun around, letting loose purple gunk. Pikachu jumped up to dodge the sludge bomb, then hit him with a flash, momentarily blinding him. As Croagunk stumbled back, rubbing his eyes, Pikachu used his downward falling force to boost his volt tackle, knocking out the Croagunk. He gave both of the body a shock to be safe and continued behind the rest. There weren't too many grunts, only about thirteen spread out through the hallways. Finally, they stopped at a heavily reinforced door and Ash could sense the amount of aura emanating from behind it.

"Alright guys," He panted "Mewtwo should be right behind there. Use brick break!"

His team's hands glowed brightly before they smashed it into the door. They gave it a deep dent, but the door still stood.

"Again!"

The door couldn't take another beating, and it flew off and crashed into the room. Ash and his Pokemon went in, and were greeted by the sight of Mewtwo in plasma bindings in a huge room that seemed to revolve around the pedestal he was elevated on; he was surrounded by experiment stations and computers. Unfortunately for Mewtwo, the plasma was self sustaining, created by a strong psychic Pokemon of some sort, and was held together with an alloy bonded with the plasma. If Mewtwo tried to move them or destroy them they only intensified their hold on him; a very painful experience.

Ash ran over to Mewtwo and tried to wake him up.

"Mewtwo! Come on!" he looked at the plasma "Meowth, see if you can find the controls for these!"

Meowth scampered off, and Ash tried to communicate with the Genetic Pokemon with his aura.

'Mewtwo, wake up!'

Mewtwo stirred a little.

"Boss, I found it!" Meowth waved his paw to show Ash where he was "Gimme a sec!"

'No,' Mewtwo groaned as he started to regain consciousness 'don't…'

"Got it!" The plasma opened up and Mewtwo fell into Ash's arms.

"Are you okay?" Ash laid him down against a wall.

'Ash, you've got… to get out of here.' Mewtwo said.

"I know, we're about to leave now."

'No!' Mewtwo weakly shoved Ash away from him 'Leave me!'

"Why would I do that?" Ash asked "We came here to rescue you, we need your help."

'You, don't understand.' Mewtwo tried to shout 'It's a trap!'

Suddenly, a torrent of grunts and Pokemon poured into the room, quickly outnumbering and surrounding Ash and his team. Soon, a large number of grunts had Ash in Pokemon and gun point

A thin man with darkish blue hair stepped forward "Magma scum! Surrender yourself and your Pokemon, and you nor them will have to be killed."

Ash looked at him in anger. He couldn't believe he had gotten caught in a trap by Team Galactic of all people. They were lucky that Ash had been too distracted by the amount of power Mewtwo gave off to notice all of the auras in one place.

He stood up slowly, raising his hands, mind racing trying to think of a way out of this mess.

"Recall your Pokemon, now!" The man barked.

Ash growled in anger and frustration before complying. He would be able to take down a lot of them, but there was no way he could take on all these grunts at once and make it out alive.

He recalled Aggron, Snorlax, Meowth, and reluctantly, Pikachu. Pikachu hissed and let some sparks fly, but he knew he had no choice.

As soon as his Pokemon were in their balls, a pair of grunts moved in on Ash and shoved him onto the ground, handcuffing him. Another one picked Mewtwo up and put him back in his restraints. Mewtwo didn't resist for fear of getting Ash hurt.

Saturn crossed his arms behind his back, then walked up to Ash and bent down to face him "So, you thought you could destroy one of our bases, and then just walk in here and steal the most powerful Pokemon in existence?" He punched Ash across the jaw "You know, I almost wouldn't be too disappointed if you had him, just so Team Rocket couldn't hog him again. But, I can't have that." He motioned at the grunts holding Ash, and they lifted him up.

"Put him in a cell." Saturn turned around and walked out, leaving his grunts to do it.

The two holding him pulled him with them, walking him out of the room. The adjacent room was very similar, but smaller. It was a sickly shade of green, with a jail cell instead of a pedestal. The cell was designed for high risk prisoners; the walls were reinforced steel and the wall with the door was made of multiple layers of shatter proof and bullet proof glass. The door was extremely high tech; the core of the was made from two layers of grating around a steel sheet so that if the grating on either side is attacked, two layers of protection still remain. The locks were armored and encased in drill resistant manganese plates to prevent the lock from being manipulated, or a biometric fingerprint scanner programmed with only handful of fingerprints to open it with. Inside the cell, there was a small bed, a sink and toilet, and gas fixtures built into the ceiling in case the prisoner needed to be killed instantaneously. And in case that failed, there were HMX explosives built around the cells that could be detonated if necessary. It would be almost impossible to break out of the cell, aura or no.

Next to it was a desk with a computer on it, for security to sit at. Other than that, the room was empty.

The grunts took Ash over to the cell, and one took all of his poke balls while the other unlocked the door.

The door swiveled open, and they shoved Ash into his cell.

The hooded man watched Ash go into the hidden base. He followed him down into it, and watched as he killed the guards inside. He waited until Ash and his Pokemon left the front room, then took a uniform from a dead guard, and put it on. After it was on, he pulled out a poke ball and threw it in the air, releasing an Aerodactyl.

He pointed to the body of the grunt he took the uniform from "Burn it Aero. No evidence."

Aerodactyl released a flamethrower, incinerating the body and leaving nothing but a giant scorch mark on the floor. Luckily, it would just be automatically assumed that it was from Ash.

"Good job." he returned Aerodactyl back into his ball, then headed into the base.

AN- *Gasp!* Who is the mysterious man, and what does he want with Ash? And will Ash be able to escape from his captors?

Tune in next time to find out!

See y'all later

DarkLucario98