"You're coming with me," Ash growled at his hostage who returned a glare but nodded. He glared at the guard and approached him. As he had predicted, the guard did not know what to do without orders from higher authority.

Each time he took a step closer to the guard, he would take one step back. Ash calculated his chances. He might be able to get to the orb if nothing were to interrupt, and if he moved fast. He broadened his strides, causing his hostage to stumble slightly.

Impatiently, he waited for her to right herself, before pulling her out of the room to the hallway, where more security people had gathered. Keeping one eye out for his back, he moved backwards, tracking his progress through his glasses.

It was fortunate he had tuned his hearing to his surroundings. Ash leapt backwards, straining himself to carry his hostage along, so as not to let her be injured. Recovering, he looked upwards furiously at Celadon Gym leader Erika, and Lorelei. His hostage was staring at him blankly in shock, for she had not anticipated such a movement.

"Stop him you fools! What are you waiting for?" Lorelei's spoke to the guards. However, it was Erika who answered her.

"He's got a hostage, Lorelei. You want him to kill her?!" she almost yelled at the elite leader.

Ash quickly pulled his hostage back to her feet, and began dragging her along. As always, Murphy's law had struck and he could only hope that he would still be able to accomplish what he came here for.

"Gun him down! Sacrifice her if you need to! We can't have the orb fall into his hands!" Lorelei ordered, totally ignoring Erika's outburst. "This is a direct order from your superior!"

Erika did not get a chance to protest, as the security started shooting at Ash and his target. Quickly accessing his situation, he pushed his hostage behind a wide pillar, before taking cover behind it as well. Leaning over, he released a few quick shots before retreating back into the safety of the pillar.

"You stay low. They'll come for you," Ash muttered to his hostage, who gapped at him incredulously. Before she could speak, he quickly ran off, the ping of the bullets fading towards the direction he ran off.

Once he had turned the corner, the guards followed, running past the pillar trying not to let him out of their sight. Misty peeked out behind the pillar, causing Erika to shriek with joy as she ran over to hug her friend.

The reunion was short, however, as the wall broke open to reveal a Dragonite which crashed onto the opposite wall. Lance got up from where he had fallen off Dragonite, just in time to avoid a blast of orange flames.

"What the hell's going on?" he yelled at the two women who stared at the wall. "Come on. We better get out of here!"

Ash laid against the wall as he observed his injuries. He was in rather bad condition, being overwhelmed by so many guards. Some had even attacked from above. Because of that, his right arm now had a bullet wound, while blood stained his shirt from the deep slash he received.

He knew that he had failed this mission. He had blundered and top to it off, he was hurt. He knew he could not try to contact his pokemon, until he was close enough to them, or Sabrina would be able to detect his position.

Blood caked hands scrabbling the tiled wall, Ash got up slowly and headed for the door. As soon as he reached the wooden barrier, it blasted open as long pieces of ice broke through the flimsy material. The javelins had been tossed so hard that Ash found himself hitting the wall he had got up from. However, instead of sliding to the ground, he was pinned against the wall.

"So how does it feel, intruder?" Lorelei asked, a hint of triumphant evident in her voice. "We do not tolerate people like you, as you can see."

Ash chose not to answer her, as he stared at her. Each passing moment made him angrier, till his vision was red with his fury. This was the one that was willing to sacrifice one of her pack. To him, every body in the team contributed to success, if they are competent enough. And she was willing to throw away one of them, just for the sake of killing him.

"Kill him," Lorelei ordered her Cloister, which obeyed and fired several more rounds of ice cannon at Ash, his body jerking each time a spike entered him.

"What's going on?" Lance approached her, just as she turned away.

"I got rid of the intruder," she answered simply, before leaving the scene. Lance gapped at her statement, before entering the room to see for himself. He then cringe, when he saw Ash's chest still heaving, but each movement getting slower until it stopped gradually.

That's a gawd awfully way to die, he thought to himself, as he looked at Ash suffer before his death, doing nothing to either kill him more quickly, or to help him. Only after the chest stopped moving, did he realize his mistake. "Should've kept him alive for interrogation," he muttered to himself as other started to approach him.

Misty turned away from the scene as a wave of nausea threatened to engulf her. It wasn't all due to the view in front of her, however. It was mainly due to the fact that he was now dead, because he let her go. Misty wondered, as she headed back to the lounge, why hadn't him used her as a shield. He could've survived longer if he did, maybe even enough to get away.

Lance wasn't as focused on the intruder, instead talking about the two pokemon he had battled. Misty wasn't surprised as he described how they had taken his Dragonite's hyper beam shots with ease. What surprised her was that no one else but Brock seemed to take much interest in the conversation.

Glancing out the window, Misty looked at the two pokemon staying out of the building, both of them unrestrained but unmoving. She stared at them, and she could've sworn they returned the look, had she known better that they couldn't see her from outside.

"Say, Lance?" she turned to the leader of their little group. "Do you think I can check out those two pokemon?" she inclined her chin out the window, indicating her plan to go outside.

Lance stared at her in shock. "I don't know... they're really dangerous, and I don't to see you hurt," he told her, running his hand up against his fringe, pushing it back. "Even if they seemed to have stopped attacking, we can't be sure of their plans."

Misty nodded, and headed for the door. "I'll take care of myself," she assured him, before closing the door behind her. With quick steps, she left the museum, which was still in a rather high state of alert in case their intruder had brought 'friends'. As Misty rounded the side of the building, the dragon and tiger like creatures turned to her sharply, before relaxing, settling themselves back on the grass.

To say that she was puzzled would be an understatement. Those two had reacted hostilely when other people got even fifty meters close to them. Yet here they were, treating her as though she was nothing but a common ant they saw often enough. Still cautious, she closed the distance between the pokemon and her slowly.

Not that she was close enough, she could see how big they really were. Halgre was almost least twice as tall as her, and Eidra was almost the size of a small bus. "Um... hey," she greeted uncertainly, the two turning their attention to her without a look of hostility.

"Grr..." Halgre let out a low growl in greeting, as Eidra did. However, Eidra let out a small bellow instead.

"I know I probably won't understand you, but I've been wondering about your master..." Misty went on, taking their sounding as tokens of her safety. "For one thing, I don't know his name, and he... I don't know. That first time I saw met him, I really hated him, cause he hurt my Dewgong..." Misty told the two, which came closer to her and settled themselves around.

"This is only the second time I saw him, but he seems to have changed a little... for one, he didn't use me as a human shield, even when he could. And now he's dead," she said quietly. "I guess you two already know that... So what are you two going to do now?"

Eidra growled in response, reminding Misty of the fact that she couldn't understand them. "I'm sorry. I forgot I can't understand... how about this? If Lance allows, will you be my pokemon? It may be silly, but I guess I should take care of that challenger's pokemon. After all, he didn't hurt me."

Halgre dipped his head, as though in agreement. Eidra then slowly approached Misty, staring at her straight in her eyes. Misty was mystified and drawn by the black dragon's glowing amber eyes, unable to pull herself away, even when she heard a commotion back at the museum.

Slowly, her eyelids fell, Halgre gently letting her down onto the grass. The two pokemon then turned to look at the building where their master was. They knew that Ash was not normal, and they were not worried. And they knew that he found this woman different. That in itself allowed them to trust her...

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Author's notes again:

That's the end of chapter six! I think I'm moving along fine, but I'm still developing ideas, each making this plot more and more interesting.(To me, at least) anyway, just tell me if you have any ideas or suggestions. For a few of you who e-mail me... well, I don't have much time to reply if I want to work on the fic so forgive me.

For those looking for a bit of action in my story, I have to say that I don't really write action/adventure, so please don flame. (Does the wobbefet face)

I would like to take this chance to once again thank Optimus Magnus for his help, and to Sierra for her support. And all those people out there who might have read this story, irregardless of comments.

Please review!

Grypheon