Chapter 3

Black Jack, Ash and the pokemon were running down corridors of the base. It was falling to pieces and Black Jack was carrying Mewtwo on his shoulder.

"Black Jack," Ash said. "We could've asked one of our pokemon to carry Mewtwo out of this base first."

"And let them miss the search?" Black Jack asked in reply. "This base is big and besides, when Mewtwo wakes up he may be able to help us find the pokemon and John's family."

"Good point. But how long will take for Mewtwo to wake up?"

"He'll wake up soon."

"How come the guards are not stopping us?"

"They must've escaped when they found out the building was collapsing."

They stopped at the corridor that led into three directions. "We have to split up from here," Black Jack said. "Ketchum, I'll be going on the right. You take whatever direction you want. When you free anyone, get the heck outta here, unless you want to see if being trapped under a collapsed building would increase your lifespan."

"Gotcha," Ash said. "I'm on it."

"Pikachu!" Pikachu cried.

Ash and Black Jack split up, going into different directions, along with their respective pokemon.

Outside the building, Ash and Black Jack's friends were watching what was going on.

"The building's falling apart," Cassandra said.

"No! My little Ash!" Delia cried as she attempted to run in the building.

"Ash!" Misty cried as tears dropped from her eyes, also trying to get inside the base.

"Wait, guys!" Brock yelled as he grabbed hold of them both. "It's dangerous in there!"

"Sandra! Alice!" John cried as he also tried to run into the building. "My family is in there!"

Suddenly, a hand grabbed hold of his shoulder and squeezed it tight, putting him to sleep. It was Seed, much to the others' surprise. "So, it's coming true…" he said.

"Who are you?" Max asked.

"My name is Seed," he replied. "Do not worry, for you all should have faith in your friends."

They spotted a helicopter flying away with Mane in it. "Mane!" Brock yelled.

"We can't let him get away with this!" May shouted.

"Let them go," Cecilia said. "He is the least of our worries now."

"It has been a long time, Cecilia," Seed said.

"Yes, it has," Cecilia replied.

"I think they know each other," Cassandra thought.

Meanwhile, back in the base, Ash and his pokemon ran into one of the rooms. Inside that room was a woman locked in a cell. She had blond shoulder-length hair and green-buttoned shirt and small skirt.

"Who… who are you?" the woman asked in a frightful tone.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Hummingburg," Ash replied calmly. "We're here to get you out. Just stand back."

Mrs Humminburg took a few steps back away from the cell door. "Snorlax!" Ash cried. "Break the door down!"

Snorlax grabbed hold of the cell door and pulled it all with all his might. "Oh, thank you," Mrs. Hummingburg said as she ran out of the cell. "But where's my daughter?"

"Don't worry, ma'am," Ash replied. "We're gonna look for her now."

Elsewhere in the base, Jesse, James and Meowth were unlocking the code to release all the pokemon when they started noticing that the base was falling apart. "Wot's happenin'?" Meowth asked in a scared tone.

"I guess the building has taken too much of the twerps' battle," James replied, also in a scared tone.

"Stop talking and keep cracking!" Jesse yelled.

"But Jesse, the computer seems to be malfunctioning!"

"We don't have time left!" Meowth cried. "Let's go!"

A man's footstep was heard and they turned their attention to its direction. "Bl, bl… Black Jack!" they cried in a frightened tone.

"Jesse, James and Meowth," Black Jack snarled. "What are you three still doing here?"

"Prepare for trouble!" Jesse cried, putting on a brave and evil tone.

"Make it double," James continued.

"To protect the world from devastation…"

"To unite all peoples within our nation…"

"Shut up!" Black Jack yelled, interrupting their speech. "Time is running out for this building!"

"How dare you interrupt the Team Rocket motto!" Jesse yelled.

"Team Rocket??" Black Jack thought. "… I guess those guys haven't been told about the Team Rocket change."

"Forget the motto!" he shouted. "How are you trying to steal those pokemon exactly?"

"Code cracking of course!" Jesse replied.

"Have you cracked it yet?"

"We're still on it!" James replied. "Once we crack the code we're taking those pokemon back to the boss!"

"Still on it, you said!" Black Jack snarled. "Not good enough! Nidoking! Smash that computer apart!"

Nidoking ran at the computer that James was working on and smashed it with his Dynamic Punch, causing the computer to explode!

That explosion knocked Nidoking down, but it sent the Team Rocket trio flying out of the base! "We're blasting off again!" they cried.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet cried as he popped out of Jesse's pokeball.

The destruction of the computer caused the cells to release all the legendary pokemon that Mane captured. As soon as they were freed, they used their strengths to break out of the base. Black Jack and the pokemon ran out of the room and Mewtwo started to wake up.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You're inside Mane's base, but he's gone," Black Jack replied, still carrying him over his shoulder.

Black Jack placed Mewtwo on his feet. "You should've let me destroy him," Mewtwo said angrily. "Not attack me."

"We'll settle this later," Black Jack said. "I have relatives to save now."

He turned to the other pokemon. "Guys," he said. "Get out of here now."

He ran off into another corridor. Feraligatr and Nidoking wanted to catch up with him but Mewtwo stopped them. "You all have known Black Jack for a long time," he said. "We all know how strong he is. What makes you think that he wouldn't survive this crumbling building?"

(Author's note: The pokemon speak their own language, so I'm going to translate.)

"He just can't do this alone," Nidoking replied.

"You're correct, Nidoking," Blaziken replied. "Black Jack does need our help."

"The thing is," Tyranitar continued. "We are already helping him. We have faith in him that he will save his relatives."

Nidoking and Feraligatr looked at each other and nodded, agreeing to the fact they do believe in him.

(Author's note: Transalation ended.)

Mewtwo, using his telepathy, looked for Ash in different corridors and spoke to him. "Ash," he called out.

"That's Mewtwo's voice," Ash thought to himself. "He must've woken up."

"Yes. But have you found anyone yet?"

"Yeah, we found Mrs. Hummingburg and now we're looking for John's daughter."

"There will be no need for that. Black Jack is already looking for her."

"Black Jack? But we can't…"

"We must teleport out of here this instant."

"Wait, Mewtwo! What about…"

Before he could finish his sentence, Mewtwo used teleported everyone outside the base, except Black Jack.

"… Black Jack?" Ash said, finishing his sentence.

He looked around him and found out that he was outside the base. He also found out that Black Jack and his pokemon freed the legendary pokemon. His friends were outside with them.

"Ash!" Delia sobbed as he ran over to him, giving him a big hug.

"Mom!" Ash said in an embarrassed tone.

"Welcome back," Brock said.

"You had us really worried there, Ash," May said.

"I wasn't, I knew that Ash would be okay the whole time," Max said, trying to put on a brave face for Ash.

Misty wiped a tear off her eye, thanking Black Jack from the inside that Ash was safe. Ash spotted John lying on the floor, unconscious. He then noticed Seed standing next to him.

"Ash," Seed said.

"Seed," Ash replied.

John started to wake up and found that Ash was standing quite close to him. He quickly picked himself up. "My wife and daughter," he cried as he grabbed hold of Ash's collar. "Are they…"

"Mrs. Hummingburg's here," Ash replied.

John looked around and spotted his beloved wife. "Sandra!" he cried. "Just like my brother promised!"

Sandra looked round and spotted John. "John!" she cried. They both ran into each other's arms and fell to their knees and cried their eyes out. "Alice! My daughter!" he cried in realisation. "Where is she?"

"Umm…" Ash replied, not knowing how to tell John without mentally hurting him.

"Black Jack's in there, looking for her," Mewtwo replied.

"Jack… No!" John cried.

"Do not interfere," Mewtwo said. "Black Jack sees this as a test to see if he is worthy of keeping promises to his siblings." He looked back at the base, which was near total destruction. "Good luck to him…"

Inside the base, Black Jack was running through the crumbling corridors in an attempt to find his niece. "Kid, where are you!?" he yelled.

"SOMEBODY, HELP ME!" cried a child's voice.

"That must be her voice!"

He ran into the voice's direction and ran into one of the rooms. Inside, was a child locked in her cell. "Kid," he said breathlessly.

"Un… Uncle Jack?" the kid asked as she had tears in her eyes.

Black Jack smiled and his trademark aura started surrounding him again as he grabbed hold of the cell doors. "We're getting out of here," he said. "RIGHT NOW!"

He ripped the cell door open with his might and quickly grabbed the child. He carried her and ran into different corridors, trying to make it to the exit. But suddenly, a huge block fell in front of them, stopping them in their tracks of escaping. Black Jack tried to turn back but another block fell in front of them.

"Oh, great!" Black Jack snarled. He suddenly noticed that huge blocks of steel were falling on top of them. Realising that Alice was also in danger of getting hurt, he placed her on the ground and protected her with his body.

Outside, everyone stared in terror as the whole building collapsed. The two people that were the most shocked were John and Sandra… the parents of the child…

After the base collapsed, everyone kept on calling out for Alice and Black Jack but there was no answer.

"Black Jack and Alice have got to be down there, somewhere," Sandra said in a sad and desperate tone. "We have got to find them."

"We will," Ash said in an assuring tone.

"They are over there," Mewtwo said pointing to a part of the rubble.

"Let's dig them out," Brock said.

Everyone agreed and attempted to do that. But to their surprise, Black Jack used his strength to break out of the rubble. He had cuts and bruises on his arms, body and all. He was carrying the child around her middle. "Alice!" John and Sandra cried as they ran over to her.

"Mama! Papa!" Alice cried as Black Jack released her to let her rejoice with her parents. Seeing his brother happily together with his family, Black Jack also became happy, even though he was badly hurt.

"Oh no, darling!" Sandra cried. "You got a scar on your cheek."

"It's just a scratch, mama," Alice replied.

"Sounds just like me," Black Jack thought to himself.

He walked over to Ash. "Thank you, Ketchum," he said. "When I was a kid, my parents were murdered by an unknown stranger and my brother was the only family I had left. If it wasn't for you, I would've lost another one."

"No problem, Black Jack," Ash replied. "You would've done the same if my mom got captured."

Black Jack smiled. "One day, we will battle again to see who is the better trainer," Black Jack, making a vow.

"Deal," Ash replied as he gave a thumb's up.

Black Jack looked back at his pokemon. "C'mon, boys," he said. "We're leaving."

As he and his pokemon were about to leave, he heard a voice. "Uncle…"

He turned round to the voice's direction to see Alice standing near him. "Uncle… I finally get to meet you… and now… I wanna be a great trainer like you."

Black Jack smiled happily. He looked at John and Sandra and they were crying happily also, happy that their daughter was meeting her uncle for the first time ever.

A voice came into Black Jack's mind again. "You have done well, Jack."

"Thanks for the talk back there," Black Jack thought back in reply. "So I guess you did part of my job. And I don't even know you're name."

The personality of the creature has changed from being wise to being a child's.

"Aw, that's not important right now. How about you call me a friend?"

"I'd rather have guys as my acquaintances. But looking at you, Alice would sure like to make friends with you."

"Goody! I'd like to meet her one day! See ya!"

The creature mysteriously vanished from Black Jack's mind. "That was weird," he thought. "That thing changed its personality so suddenly."

In Blaziken's mind, a familiar voice spoke to him. "Blaziken… my son."

"Master," Blaziken said deep in thought. "Looks like Black Jack did everyone a favour."

"In fact, you all have done a good job… so far."

"Huh? What do you mean, sensei?"

"There is great danger ahead. So you all must be careful from now on."

"I don't understand, master."

"I cannot predict everything, Blaziken. But we all must understand that there are other enemies who are more dangerous than Mane."

"I understand, Master."

"I'll stay by your side, my son… always…"

"Thank you…"

The spirit of Sensei Wong vanished from Blaziken's mind as he had tears coming from his eyes, happy that he had avenged the death of his former master.

Seed and Cecilia focused on both Ash and Black Jack. "So it's coming true," Seed said.

"Two great trainers came together by fate, saw each other as rivals, yet they helped each other in difficult times," Cecilia continued.

"The difficult has yet to come," Seed replied. "This is only the beginning."

Elsewhere, around the rubble, Lugia was talking to Mewtwo telepathically. "These humans are strong," Lugia said.

"Indeed," Mewtwo replied. "Strong minded, strong willed and strong hearted. Strong enough to so-call themselves, 'Pokemon Masters'."

"And strong enough to save this world from the great evil."

"Shall we inform them?"

"Not yet. Black Jack, Ash and others will have to find out themselves."

"So, kid," Black Jack asked to Alice. "Wanna go home?"

"You bet!" Alice replied happily.

"Let's celebrate, everyone," John said.

"YAY!!" May and Max cried happily in unison.

Black Jack and Ash were able to defeat Mane and free the legendary pokemon. Black Jack was also happy with the knowledge that with a family around, he now had a reason to battle and will be able to accomplish anything. He felt that he had fought the biggest battle of his life, but there are more big battles to come…
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