And here I am again with another chapter. After some thinking this weekend, I think I finally figured out what the heck I want to do with this this series. I even have several alternate endings in mind. (A couple that would send fellow AAMR/Poke-shipping fanatics after my head.) Anyway, as the series progresses, I will try and figure out what exactly is going to happen. So let's get started, shall we?

-Kouji Tamino

-

After many trials and errors, our heroes finally made it to the Sevii Islands! Ash became reacquainted with fellow trainers from Pallet, while Brendan got himself lost. Team Magma and Team Magma are back, and now Misty has been kidnapped! So now, with Kanto disconnected with Hoenn, and all of these events stacking up on Ash, can he manage to make everything going wrong right again?

-

A Series of Events… Episode 6: Team Aqua Strikes Again! (Part 1)

-

Earlier that day…

Misty, Brock, and May sat around bored, guarding the Sapphire plate and the Network Machine while Celio was out. "Gee, this is boring…" May said, slumping in her seat. "I hate to say this, but I'd rather deal with tons of Team Aqua members than just sit here like this…"

"Excuse me?" a woman asked, walking in. She was dressed in a yellow t-shirt and red skirt. She was also holding a pokemon egg. "Is Celio here?" she asked, looking around.

"Um, Celio is out right now…" Misty replied. "You want to… wait? He stepped out a while ago, so he should be back soon…"

"Okay!" she replied, sitting at a nearby seat. She ran a hand through her short brown hair as she sighed.

"Oh wow!" May said in surprise. "A pokemon egg! What's inside?"

"I don't know…" the woman said, standing up. "Want to hold it?"

"Oh, could I?" May asked, walking over and holding out her arms. She gasped as the woman dropped it. "Hey, what the--" As it hit the ground, it broke open. Smoke began to fill the room, blinding and choking everyone except the woman. She was wearing a mask, protected from the fake Pokemon egg.

"All right, there's only a few guards!" the woman shouted into a communication device. "We greatly outnumber them all!" A moment later, there was a big boom from the front of the building. An 'all-terrain' vehicle that could become a land, sea, and air transport had crashed through the Net Center. As the smoke cleared, our heroes found themselves surrounded by 35 Team Aqua members. The woman had ditched her disguise to reveal herself as a Team Aqua Admin. "Get your hands on that Sapphire Plate! Take out anyone that gets in your way!"

"Not so fast!" Misty shouted, releasing all of her pokemon one by one. "We won't let you take it! Psyduck, Starmie, Azumarill, Corsola! Go!"

Brock smirked, releasing his own pokemon. "Your turn, guys! Swampert, Crobat, Forretress, Ludicolo, Go!"

May growled angrily, readying her own pokeballs. "How dare you trick me! Blaziken, Delcatty, Beautifly, Wartortle, go!"

The Aqua Admin laughed. "How pathetic! We still outnumber you! It would be much easier to just give up!"

"No way!" May shouted. "There is absolutely no way that I will ever let you take the Sapphire Plate! You'll have to kill me first!" she sweat dropped in realization, chuckling nervously. "Did I say kill? Erm, maybe that was a little harsh…"

The Aqua members released their pokemon as well, which consisted of mostly Poochyena, Mightyena, Carvanha, Sharpedo, and the occasional other type. "Don't hold back!" the Admin commanded. "Make sure they can't follow us! Completely beat their pokemon into submission!"

And so, the fight went on. Brock and Misty, with a lot of water pokemon on their teams, didn't have too much trouble. May's Blaziken managed to take out a few of Team Aqua's pokemon, all being of the Dark-type, but was quickly doused by the water-hybrids. But despite having more varied teams, they were eventually worn down by the sheer number of enemy pokemon.

"No…" Misty said to herself, running over to the Network Machine and standing in front of it. "Stay back!" she grunted in pain as a Mightyena used Take Down on her, knocking her out.

"Misty!" Brock and May shouted, gasping as a net fell over them. "What the--?"

The Team Aqua Admin stared at Misty's unconscious form. "Hey, isn't that…?" She called over to two of her men. "You two!" she shouted, pointing to them, then to Misty. "We're taking her with us!"

"Hey! Put her down!" Brock screamed angrily, only able to watch as Misty was carried off and Team Aqua ran off with the Sapphire Plate. Just then, something sprayed from the bottom of the net, knocking them out.

-

When they awoke, they were out of the net and Celio was pacing frantically back and forth around the remains of the Net Center. He sighed in relief as he looked over to them. "Oh good, you're awake!" he frowned apologetically. "I'm sorry… I had no idea that there were going to be so many of them!" He looked around, shaking his head.

"…Damn, I have to go call Ash…" Brock said simply. "Do you have a phone around here?"

"There's one upstairs…" Celio replied. "Hopefully it still works…"

"Right…" Brock realized, walking upstairs. "Ash is going to be devastated…"

-

Misty awoke with a low groan, finding herself in a large and dark room with seemingly no way out. "Where am I?" she asked herself, attempting to stand up. She gasped as she realized that her arms were chained together. "I remember getting attacked by Team Aqua, then being knocked out by a Mightyena, and then--" she gasped in fear. "Oh no… I must be at Team Aqua's hideout!"

"You would be correct, Ms. Waterflower…" a voice said, walking out of the shadows. "Allow me to introduce myself… My name is Kaine, the current leader of Team Aqua…" wearing the Team Aqua leader outfit, he grinned. He was much younger than former leader Archie, and had shoulder length brown hair in a ponytail. His eyes were gray, and he wore an eye patch over his left eye. "I apologize for the roughness of my men…"

"Yeah, thanks a lot…" Misty muttered sarcastically. Although she had to admit, he was kind of cute. "Why did you kidnap me? And where are my pokemon?"

"Your pokemon are right here…" he replied, holding up a belt with 4 pokeballs. "I assure you that they are not harmed… And as for what I want with you," he continued, "You love water, correct?"

"Well yeah, I love the water and Water-type pokemon…" Misty answered, a tad confused. "What's it to you?" she asked suspiciously.

"Team Aqua has been getting a bad wrap…" Kaine replied. "…All we want to do is create a more water dominant world…" He sighed, rubbing his temples. "Both people and pokemon need water to survive… We're not the bad guys anymore! Team Magma, however, wants to decrease the world's water-mass! I cannot just stand here and let them do that!"

Misty's eyes widened, convinced by his words for a moment. She shook her head, glaring at him. "That's still no excuse to commit crimes to do so!" She squirmed as he treached over and held her face. "What the hell are you--?"

"My my, such a lovely young lady…" he said softly. "I humbly ask you to join us… With your help, we can teach others of the wonders of the ocean…"

"No, I can't… As much as I want to…" Misty admitted, blushing. "I cannot turn to a life of crime in order to do so…"

"I understand…" Kaine said in a kind tone, smiling sadly. "Well, I can't force you to join… Too bad, you would have made a wonderful addition to the group…" He reached behind her, unlocked her chains, and tossed her pokeballs to her feet. "I do wish you would reconsider, but…"

"You're… letting me go?" Misty asked in complete befuddlement. "But why?"

"I told you, Ms. Waterflower…" Kaine said with a grin. "We're not the bad guys!" And with that, he left through the hidden door in which he entered, which he left open for Misty to escape.

The girl's face flushed bright red. "What a charming man…" She stood up, no longer bound by chains. Picking up her set of pokeballs, she stared at the open doorway, then down to her pokeballs.

-

Ash stared at the wall as he sat down. "Damn it! How could this have happened!"

"Ash, please calm down!" May pleaded, grabbing him in a hug. "We'll get Misty back, I swear it!" This time, she was downright serious. In love with Ash or not, her friendship with Misty outweighed that at the moment. That didn't mean that she couldn't comfort Ash in her own special way, however… She looked at him with big, vulnerable looking eyes. "It scares me when you're angry…"

Ash blushed, calming down a bit as May's cuteness sunk in. Her breasts were pressing against him. 'They're a bit bigger than Misty's…' he thought to himself. He quickly shook his head in disbelief. "What the hell am I thinking!" he accidentally screamed out loud.

"Huh?" May tilted her head in confusion. "What was that, Ash?"

"Um, it was nothing!" he screamed frantically. He sighed. "But you're right… I should really calm down… It's not like she's in any immediate danger…" He gulped nervously. "I hope…"

Brendan clenched his fist angrily, gritting his teeth as he held back the urge to sock Ash right in the face. And May, who never returned his feelings, was just as guilty. If only he could make her see how much she really meant to him. He sighed, calming himself down. "So, what do we do now?"

"Who knows?" Omi said lazily as she stretched. Taylor, Gary, and she had came back down to Knot Island along with Ash when they heard the news. "We're completely in the dark about the whereabouts of both teams, so there's not much that we can do…"

"Dat's what you tink!" the familiar voice of a certain talking pokemon shouted.

Everyone turned to him and shouted his name in unison. "Meowth?"

"Don't forget us!" Jessie and James chimed in, popping up next to him. They were wearing their usual outfits, sans the white shirts.

"What the hell are you three doing here?" Ash asked distrustfully.

"Hey, calm down twerp…" Jessie muttered, crossing her arms. "Ever since Team Rocket was disbanded 2 years ago, we've been out of work, wandering the world… We had to sneak onto the damn ferry when you guys got on to get here…"

"Hey!" James shouted, pointing to Taylor. "That's the guy who beat Giovanni!"

"Whoa, you beat the leader of Team Rocket!" Ash shouted, almost falling over. "Geez, I wanna battle with you after this is all over!"

"Anyway, we were snooping around, when we discovered Team Aqua's hideout…" Jessie aid with a smirk. "If you want, we can go check it out later…"

"I don't know…" Ash said suspiciously, glaring at them. "How do I know that you guys didn't just become a couple of common thieves?"

"Ash, calm down…" Brock scolded. "It's a tad hard for me to trust them as well, but they are our only hope right now… Besides, they've helped us out in the past. Why not now, especially since Team Rocket is no more?"

"…Fine" Ash growled, holding out his hand. "You've got a deal! But if you even sneeze in the wrong way, Pikachu will fry you, got it?"

"Piiikaaa…" the mouse said deviously, grinning at them evilly while a few sparks went off on his cheeks.

The former Team Rocket members eyed the electric pokemon nervously. "Sure, whatever you say…" James replied, shuddering at the memory of getting shocked by Pikachu. "So, when should we go?"

"Tomorrow night…" Ash said in a stern tone. "James, Jessie, you two come with me and the rest of you stay here…" Only those two knew the way and he didn't want to endanger the others if he could help it.

"I really think we should go together, Ash…" Brock replied, getting a tad annoyed with Ash's recklessness. "You know, safety in numbers…"

"You can't tell me what to do!" Ash snapped, walking up to the older man. "I'm going and that's final!" The stress and pressure of everything that'd been going on lately was finally catching up to poor Ash.

"Ash, you're acting like a child!" Brock shouted. He ran hand through his hair. "You know, maybe you should go get some rest… You're obviously not well mentally right now…"

"Shut up!" Ash screamed as he socked Brock right in the side of his face. He began to breath heavily, then broke down crying and falling to his knees. "Misty… We have to save Misty!"

Brock rubbed his cheek, wincing. "Didn't see that coming…" Sighing he started to walk away. "I wasn't trying to make fun of you, Ash… I'm serious, you need to rest up…"

"Oh Ash, please don't cry…" May said, leaning down to his current level, taking his hat off, and running a hand through his hair. "Don't you worry, we'll get Misty back!" May hated to see Ash like this. If this is what it took to be the only girl near him, then forget it. His happiness was not worth it. "Everything is going to be all right…"

"Thanks, May…" Ash said as he kissed her on the forehead. "You're a really great friend…"

"Um…" May stammered, her face turning beet red. "N-no problem…"

-

That night, they all stayed at the Kin Island Pokémon Center. Ash lay in his bed, wide awake. A lot of bad things had been happening to him in the past week. He jokingly passed it off as a new daily routine. "What terrible thing will happen to me next?" A determined look appeared on his face suddenly, and he sat up. "Misty… No matter what, I will rescue you!"

"Shut up!" Gary screamed, sitting up as well. "Some of us are trying to get to sleep!"

-

Meanwhile, at the Sevii Islands Team Aqua hideout, a woman with long red hair in a ponytail was putting on her uniform. She tied the blue bandana around her head, then put on her shoes. After tightening them, she looked into the mirror of her new room. She then walked out of the room to report for duty.

To Be Continued… And the events keep piling up…