"Ash? Ash? Can you hear me?"
Ash slowly opened his eyes and found himself staring into his mother's face.
"Mom? Is it time for school alrea…" Ash winced in pain.
"Oh, baby." Delia held her son close to her and started stroking his hair. "Just be brave. The pain will go away in a couple of minutes."
When the pain had subsided and he had feeling in his body again, Ash opened his eyes once more. He saw Professor Oak tending to a semiconscious Misty, and Brock, who was awake but still trying to shake off the effects of the paralyzing ray, sitting slumped against the wall.
"What happened? Where are we?"
"I believe I can answer that question for you, O Chosen One."
Ash jumped to his feet. "You!"
"I must admit that this is a pleasant surprise, our meeting again like this."
"Let us go, you…" Ash lunged at Jiraldan and crashed headlong into the invisible force field.
Jiraldan shook his head. "I honestly still don't believe why you were the Chosen One."
Brock restrained his friend. "Easy, Ash."
"Why did you capture us?" Misty asked Jiraldan.
"I wasn't intending to capture you and your friends, young lady. I was interested in that," he said, pointing at Raikou. "Although now that you're here, I insist that you stay and enjoy my hospitality for a while."
The doorbell's chime echoing throughout the massive room ended their conversation.
"Excuse me, today's my butler's day off. Enjoy yourselves."
As Jiraldan left the room, Ash whipped out a Poké ball.
"I know how to break through that force field! Go, Cyndaquil!" With a flash of light, Ash's fire mouse Pokemon appeared. "Cyndaquil, use your Flamethrower!"
"Ash, wait!" Misty ducked as the flames bounced off of the force field and back towards the occupants of the alcove.
"Oops, sorry Misty. Cyndaquil, return!" Ash recalled his Pokémon and pointed at Pikachu. "Pikachu, short out that force field!"
"Pika!" Pikachu let loose with a powerful Thunderbolt, but to everyone's dismay the bolt's energy was absorbed into the force field.
"Grrr!" Ash growled in frustration. "Totodile, go!" The water Pokémon appeared with a joyous leap.
"Dile!"
"Totodile, use your water gun! Together with Pikachu's Thunderbolt, we should be able to short out that force field!"
"Well, looks like Ash is using his head for once," Misty commented to Brock. "Ash actually remembered that water conducts electricity."
But even the combined effort of Totodile and Pikachu, the force field still remained intact.
"Totodile, return." Disappointed, Ash recalled his Pokémon. "It's no use. How are we gonna break through that thing?"
"Actually, I have an idea."
All eyes turned to Delia.
"It's not as dramatic as my little pumpkin's Pokémon," Delia said as Ash turned bright red. "But I think it might work."
---
"James, will you look at the size of this place?" Jessie exclaimed in amazement as she, James, and Meowth stood on the doorstep of the enormous mansion.
"Actually," James sniffed, "this is close to the size of our summer cottage."
"Shaddup, Rich Boy," Meowth snapped. "We're here to make a delivery for the Boss, not…"
The three stopped bickering as the door opened.
"Yes? Can I help you?"
"Yes," said Jessie haughtily. "We have an important delivery for the owner of this incredibly huge house, so quit wasting our time and take us to him right now." Jessie had assumed that the man answering the door was the butler.
"I am the owner of this incredibly huge house," Jiraldan answered coldly.
"Oh." Jessie's face turned bright red.
"Our boss asked us to give this to you," James said, handing Jiraldan a Poké ball. "It's a very rare Pokemon. A Dragonite."
"Thank you," Jiraldan said, taking the Poké ball from James.
Jiraldan studied the trio for a moment. "Haven't we met before? You look familiar."
"Would you wanna remember a face like that?" Meowth chimed in.
Jiraldan turned to Meowth in astonishment. "You can talk!"
"Well, of course I can talk, mister. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out."
"A talking Pokémon, how wonderful," Jiraldan gushed. He turned to Jessie and James. "That Pokémon would be an unique addition to my collection. How much do you want for it?"
Meowth was indignant. "I'm not for sal…"
Jessie clapped her hand over Meowth's mouth. "Sorry, sometimes Meowth just doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut," she said, smiling broadly at Jiraldan. "Excuse us for just a second while we consider your offer."
"Jess, what are you doing?" James whispered.
"Solving our money problems," Jessie whispered back.
Jessie, her hand still clamped tightly on Meowth's mouth, hissed at the Pokémon. "Not a word out of you, Meowth, unless you want to use up all your nine lives at once." Jessie then turned her attention back to Lawrence. "Judging from your excellent taste in Pokémon and your very large, beautiful house, it's obvious that you're a man of great wealth and refinement. So I'm sure that you can easily afford the price of one million dollars for this exceptionally rare and valuable Pokémon."
"One million dollars?!" James and Meowth exclaimed in unison.
Jiraldan raised an eyebrow. "I may be wealthy, but I'm not stupid." Before Jessie could make a counter offer, he shut the door in their faces.
"Jessie, I can't believe what you just did! You just tried to sell Meowth!" James exclaimed in indignation.
"Hey, I'm worth a lot more than a million dollars!" Meowth snapped as he broke free of Jessie's grasp and the three began fighting.
---
When Jiraldan returned to the salon where the legendary Pokémon were being held, the mood had changed dramatically. Entering the room, he saw the occupants of the cell in the alcove huddled around Delia, who was lying on the floor with her eyes closed.
"Mom, please open your eyes!"
"Oh, Mrs. Ketchum…"
"How bad is she, Professor?"
"Not good, I'm afraid."
"What's going on here?" Jiraldan asked as he approached the somber scene.
Without looking up from his examination of Delia, Professor Oak answered their captor. "She collapsed a couple of minutes ago and now she's going into shock. It's some sort of delayed reaction to that capture ray you used on us."
"How do I know this isn't some sort of ruse?" Jiraldan said suspiciously.
Professor Oak, eyes blazing, looked up. "This woman is dying! I can barely find her pulse. We have to get her help right away before it's too late."
At the word dying, Ash went into hysterics. "Dying? Oh no, Mom!" Misty put her arm around Ash and tried to console him.
Jiraldan was silent for a moment, contemplating whether or not to believe Professor Oak.
Professor Oak turned to the teenager behind him. "Brock, you know CPR, don't you?"
With an alarmed expression, Jiraldan began entering the code in the control panel that operated the force field. "All right, everyone back away from her. Up against the wall." Professor Oak and the three teens exchanged glances and moved against the walls of the alcove.
As the force field fell, Jiraldan entered the cell and knelt beside the unconscious Delia. As he lifted her hand, Jiraldan was immediately jumped from behind by Professor Oak and Brock. Opening her eyes, Delia quickly pulled her hand away and leaped to her feet.
"Bulbasaur, I choose you!" Ash released his grass-type Pokémon.
"Bulba!"
"Bulbasaur, use your sleep powder to take care of this guy!"
"Bulbasaur!" A blast of sparkling pink powder shot out of the bulb on the Pokémon's back and went straight into Jiraldan's face. He yawned and sank to the floor.
"All right! Great job, Bulbasaur!"
As everyone stepped out of the alcove, Delia entered Jiraldan's code in the control panel next to the door.
"I didn't realize you were such a good actor, Professor. You almost had me convinced that I was ill." With a bright flash, the force field reappeared. "There."
"What shall we do now?" asked Misty.
"Let's see if we can help free Suicune and Raikou," said Professor Oak.
The five made several attempts to locate a switch or some sort of device that would release the Pokémon from the glowing spheres that held them captive, but their efforts yielded nothing.
Ash reached for a Poké ball. "Hey, I know. Remember what worked last time?"
"Yeah, but you don't have Charizard," Misty replied.
"But I do have Pikachu and Totodile. Let's go, Totodile!"
"Totodile!"
"Pikachu, you use your Thundershock to try to help Raikou, and Totodile, you try to free Suicune with your water gun!" Both Pokémon attacked the glowing spheres with vigor, but to no avail. "What'll we do now?" a dejected Ash wondered as he recalled Totodile.
"There must be some sort of master control that operates the spheres," said Brock. "Why don't we split up and look around?"
"That's a great idea, Brock," said Misty enthusiastically.
"Okay, let's do it! Professor Oak, you stay with my mom. The rest of us will go find a way to free Raikou and Suicune."
As Ash started out of the room, Delia grabbed him by his shirt collar. "Now hang on just a second, young man. That sounds like a pretty dangerous idea to me. I'm not going to let you wander off and get lost or hurt."
"But Mom…" Ash protested.
"It's all right, Mrs. Ketchum. We'll look out for Ash," Brock assured her.
"We'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid or impulsive like he normally does," said Misty.
"Hey! What do you mean by that? I'm not impul…"
Misty slapped her hand over Ash's mouth. "Don't worry, Mrs. Ketchum. We'll take care of him. Come on, Ash." With a protesting Ash in tow, Misty and Brock set off down the hall.
"Come on, Delia," said Professor Oak, taking her hand. "Let's go see if we can find a way to help these Pokémon." The two went off down the opposite hallway.
---
Jiraldan awoke to find himself staring at an ornate ceiling. Looking around, he realized that he was in the cell in the alcove and his prisoners were gone. Quickly glancing out, he was relieved to discover that Raikou and Suicune were still in the adjacent salon.
Standing up, he reached for one of the gilt cherubs that adorned the walls of the alcove. Sliding it aside, he pressed a small red button and the force field fell.
---
"What is this place?" Delia asked as the two of them opened yet another door in the long hallway.
"Looks like a control room of some sort," said Professor Oak as he sat down at the computer in the center of the room and started clicking open several files. "There might be something here that controls the system that's holding the Pokémon."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Delia asked, looking over his shoulder.
"Watch the door and let me know if someone's coming down the hall."
Delia stuck her head outside the door and peered into the hallway. It seemed to stretch for miles in both directions. The walls along the darkened hallway were interspersed with illuminated alcoves that contained various works of art: sculptures, etchings, miniatures, and paintings. One painting in particular caught Delia's eye, so she wandered down the hall to take a closer look. Delia recognized the subject instantly: it was a blue doglike Pokémon rising from the foaming waters of the ocean, surrounded by angels and cherubs.
"Suicune," she whispered.
She was so engrossed in the painting that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her.