Rematches and Re-meetings

Ash was lost in thought as he strolled down the beach a few miles away from Crescent Town. He had left Pikachu and his other pokemon with Nurse Joy to make sure they where in top shape for his rematch at the Mosdeep Gym. At the moment however, his mind was on anything but Gym battles. In spite of everything his mother had told him about not being able to get a boat back to Kanto he had tried anyway, and to his utter disappointment Dellia had been telling the truth. He had found out the Kanto was now under marshal law. The ruling government had 'mysteriously' ceased action and all high ranking government officials had either left the region or resigned from their positions. Ash couldn't figure out what would make the entire ruling body of a country leave during a time of crisis. What could possibly be so terrible?

As he continued walking down the beach he noticed a bunch of Murkrow a little ways away huddled around something on the ground. Something must have died. He thought as he watched the Murkrow peck at the carcass. Suddenly one of them was sent flying away and landed a few feet in front of Ash. In the gap left by the Murkrow Ash saw a bit of silver and noticed that the 'carcass' was moving. Without a second thought Ash ran toward the horde of birds startling them and sending the mass of them flying into the air. Now that Ash could see what they had been pecking at he was utterly shocked. On the sand lay the silver and blue form of a Lugia. It wasn't as big as the Lugia in the Orange Islands but it was a Lugia all the same.

Ash knelt down and checked to see if it was breathing. It was but only barely. "Don't worry I'll help you out." Said Ash he reached into his backpack and pulled out one of the few Hyper Potions he had "You're gonna have to swallow this. I'll poor it in a little bit at a time." He said trying to comfort the fallen avian. He gently pulled the birds mouth open and poured a few drops of the potion onto its tongue. He then closed the bird's mouth and pushed its head back so it was forced to swallow the liquid. After repeating this process a few times the Lugia opened its eyes and took in its surroundings.

In the months since he had lost his mother and father the little Lugia had been struggling to survive. He knew how to hunt a bit and managed to survive off of small fish like Remoraid and Feebas or if he was desperate enough a bony Magikarp. It had been on one of those desperate occasions when he was swimming looking for some kind of food when he saw a lone Carvahna. Being unfamiliar with this particular fish he thought he could take it on and win himself a nice meal. Unfortunately for him Carvahna hardly ever travel alone and within seconds of his initial attack a swarm of the savage pokemon where attacking him. He attempted to blast them away with a Confusion attack, but thanks to their dark nature the attack was useless. Another unfortunate occurrence was that because of the blood in the water from the various bites the beasts had inflicted upon him a pack of Sharpedo appeared on the seen. Thinking quickly the small Lugia swam toward the surface. After getting out of the water it managed to get into the air and started to fly at a low altitude over the water. Again it seemed that luck was against him because a hungry Pelipper decided to attack him. After deflecting the greed bird with a blast of Confusion he began to glide in the air where he eventually passed out and landed on the beach where the Murkrow found him. After a few pecks from the darkness pokemon he regained consciousness and started to struggle against them. That's when the human that was now stroking his head had come and saved him. This human looked familiar but he couldn't quite place where he'd seen him before.

The potion helped but it's my last one and it didn't help all that much. Thought Ash contemplating the situation. He needs to get to a pokemon center but he's a little too big for me to carry there in a hurry. I wonder if he'll let me put him in a pokeball. "Hey I need to take you away from here before those birds circling us up there figure out I don't have any other pokemon with me and attack us again." Said Ash "I'm gonna have to do something you probably won't like but I promise I'll release you when we get to where you need to be."

Lugia didn't like the sound of that but he was too weak to protest. He felt something hard hit him on the back then there was a red flash of light. After that it felt like he was in a warm enclosure with a limited amount of space. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it wasn't the coziest of places either. His energy all but depleted he decided to sleep.

Ash picked up the pokeball and headed back to the pokemon center. The Murkrow who had been observing the situation, and hoping the meddlesome human would go away, were not happy about loosing dinner and decided to attack Ash for disturbing their 'hard earned' meal. Ash began running as soon as he heard the first "KROW!" interpreting it to mean something along the lines of ("KILL!").

As he ran he couldn't help but draw a few parallels between what he was doing now and what he had done his first day of his pokemon journey. He just hoped that this time would end a little better then the last. The Murkrow began to use Faint Attack hitting Ash on his sides and back causing him to stumble. In spite of the pain he still ran fueled by adrenaline and the need to save a dieing pokemon. He was now in site of the town and knew he could make it if he had something to distract the birds. Unfortunately he had nothing so the birds kept hitting him full force. Then he got an idea. He reached in his pocket and withdrew a miniaturized pokeball. He wasn't intending to catch one of the birds but he figured if he tossed it they'd scatter for fear of being captured. He enlarged the ball and threw it toward to mass of birds. They immediately scattered and one of them was actually hit with the ball. Ash didn't stick around to see what happened he simply kept running and managed to make it to the pokemon center.

He stumbled threw the door panting heavily and bleeding from several wounds inflicted by the Murkrow. Nurse Joy immediately ran up to him with concern written all over her face. "Are you alright?" She asked "What happened to you?"

"I'm fine" He lied "He needs your help more then I do." He handed her Lugia's pokeball. "Don't let anyone see what's inside there."

"Okay…" Said Joy confused. "I don't know why you'd be concerned about that but if that's what you want…"

"It is, and thanks" Said Ash "Just make sure he's okay."

"I will don't worry." She assured him "Now you look like you've been through hell. I think you should get some rest and put some antiseptic on those cuts."

"I'll take care of it." Said Ash "Are my other pokemon alright?"

"Their all fine and your Pikachu should be in your room." She told him "I'll take care of this one for you and let you know how he is in the morning."

"Alright then I guess this is good night." Said Ash

"Good night Mr. Ketchum." She said

The next morning Ash awoke to find that he had overslept. As a result he'd missed the morning ferry headed to Mosdeep. He wasn't too concerned after all he was only going to the Gym to make sure he got in some good training. Competing in the Hoenn League just didn't seem too important anymore.

He went to the Reception desk to check with Nurse Joy on Lugia's condition. When he got to the desk Joy immediately grabbed him by his shirt collar and dragged him to the back of the center.

"How did you get that pokemon?" She asked as soon as they were out of the main lobby. "And how did it get in that condition!"

"Well I found him on the beach and he was surrounded by some Murkrow and-"Began Ash "That's not important. How is he?"

"He was in critical condition when you brought him here." She said "The good news is we managed to stabilize him. The bad news is we weren't able to properly treat injuries that severe here."

"So what does that mean!" Asked Ash incredulously "Is he going to be okay or what?"

"Calm down Mr. Ketchum!" Said the nurse 'I understand your concern, but there's no need to worry. We transferred him to Mosdeep City. They were the closest with enough equipment to handle a pokemon that size and that injured."

"You did tell them to be discreet about him didn't you?" Asked Ash

"Of course." Said Joy "Although it's not every day you get to treat a legendary pokemon. And a baby at that." She mused

"Yeah, I guess so." Said Ash

"Oh yes and one more thing Mr. Ketchum." Said Joy "Someone found this outside of town and when I scanned it I found it was registered to you."

She handed Ash a pokeball "huh?" He said taking the pokeball "I don't remember dropping any pokeballs."

"Well that pokemon has you listed as its original trainer so it belongs to you." Said Joy "Now if you'll excuse me Mr. Ketchum I have patients to attend to."

Ash was ushered out of the back room by a Chansy and he returned to his room. He took the pokeball and released the pokemon inside to reveal the black feathered form of a Murkrow! "What?" stuttered Ash

"Krow? Murkrow?" ("Huh? Where am I?")

("When'd you catch that?") Asked Pikachu bounding into the room.

"Last night I guess." Said Ash

"Krow krow Mur Murkrow." ("You're that guy who stole our lunch.") Said the bird

"What's it saying Pikachu?" Asked Ash

("He said you stole their food yesterday or something.") Said the mouse.

"He was still alive you shouldn't have been trying to kill him!" Yelled Ash

"Murkrow! Krow mur krowkrow" ("Fool! We where hungry.")

Pikachu again translated for Ash "That doesn't excuse trying to kill him!"

("Ash go sit over there or something let me handle this.") Said Pikachu

"Whatever." Said Ash as he picked up his Pokedex and started sorting through his party for the day.

("Why do you hang around with this stupid human?") The bird asked Pikachu

("Ash isn't stupid he just cares about pokemon a lot.") Said Pikachu

("Well if he cares about us so much what's the harm in letting us do what comes natural?") Asked Murkrow

("He's just mad because that Lugia you were attacking wasn't dead and you were going to kill it.") Said Pikachu ("Then after he tried to help it you chases him. At least that's what he told me last night.")

("So that was a Lugia?") Asked the Murkrow ("We didn't know what it was but it looked tasty.")

("Yeah well next time tell your buddies not to attack something that isn't dead.") Said Pikachu. ("Since you're too chicken to hunt for your food.") He added

("Hey!") Said the Murkrow insulted. Then he remembered the first part of what the mouse said ("What do you mean next time? I'm captured so I won't see my flock again unless your trainer takes me there.")

("If you wanted to be released Ash would let you go.") Said Pikachu

("Yeah right.") Said Murkrow ("Keep telling yourself that.

By this time Ash had walked back over. He knew what Pikachu was saying and was starting to gather the gist of what Murkrow said from his tone. "It's true, if you wanted to go back you could." Said Ash. "I don't force anyone to stay with me unless they want to."

("What about Onix?") Said Pikachu with a slight laugh

"That's different." Said Ash "The minute I let him go he'd try to kill us again. If he'd just listen to me for a few minutes instead of trying to crush me I'd explain things to him and apologize for making Croconaw hit him with the Water Gun."

("Yeah well I don't want to go back to the flock.") Said the Murkrow.

("You don't?") Asked Pikachu

("Are you kidding? Those guys were ass holes.") Said the bird ("They always beat me up when we went to eat and I had to be left with the scraps and bone or whatever they decided to leave. That's why I couldn't fight off that pokeball last night because I was too weak from lack of food. Being with this guy can't be that bad.")

Seeing Ash's puzzled look Pikachu answered his silent question. ("Basically he said you can't be worse then his flock so he doesn't want to be let go." Said the mouse

"Fine then welcome to the team Murkrow!" Said Ash. He was happy to get a new Dark-type just before his match at Mosdeep.

A lone Wailord swam north of Mosdeep City. It swam as close to the cliffs as it could before releasing a powerful Water Spout attack and sending three small figures toward the top of the cliff. They landed with a thud at the top in a small dog pile. At the bottom was Meowth his two Eevee companions on top of him.

("That was fun!") Said Mune

("Can we do it again?") Said Dawn

"Meowth, My head"

("Thanks for telling me where those Barboach were hiding Meowth.") Said the Wailord

"Yeah no problem pal!" Meowth called back as the Wailord swam away. Sucker he'll probably run into a pod of Sharpedo.

("Thank you Mr. Wailord!") Called Dawn and Mune

("What now Meowth?") Asked Dawn

"We find some food!" Declared Meowth

Ash arrived in Mosdeep City a few hours later via Ferry. He immediately made his way to the pokemon center to check on the injured Lugia. Once at the reception counter he was greeted by yet another Nurse Joy. Just how many of them are there?" He wondered to himself.

"Hello, and welcome to the Mosdeep pokemon center." Said Joy cheerfully "Do your pokemon need healing?"

"No" Stated Ash "My name is Ash Ketchum I had a pokemon sent here last night."

"You mean the-" She began loudly

"Keep it down." Hissed Ash "Yes I mean the Lugia"

"Sorry" Said Joy weakly "Right this way."

Ash followed her to the back and he found the Lugia on a stretcher with various tubes hooked to different parts of his body and an oxygen mask over its face.

"The patient was barely above critical condition when we received it last night." Said Joy now all business "We used several Max Potions before we realized that he was poisoned. We then used some Antidotes, however, the poison had already damaged some of the internal organs. It will take at least a few days for the anti-corrosive agents to finish up their job. The tubes are keeping him hydrated and pumping him full of Antibiotics. We also had to give him a blood transfusion from a Ditto."

"Wow he was worse then I thought." Said Ash quietly. He was amazed that the bird had managed to survive after all that. Then again he was a legendary pokemon and they were hard to kill. "Is he awake?"

"Not sure." Said the nurse "He opened his eyes a few times earlier this morning but he doesn't respond to anything I say."

"Can me and Pikachu go talk to him?"

"He really needs his rest." Said Joy. She looked at Ash's pleading eyes and caved in "But I suppose you can. Make it quick."

Ash and Pikachu walked into the room where the Lugia was resting. Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and scurried over to the bed and climbed up to the Lugia's head.

("How you feeling buddy?") Asked Pikachu

The bird didn't respond at first but then opened his eyes and looked at Ash. He felt a little better then he looked and managed to send a weak telepathic message to Ash. "You." He said "You're the one my father told me to find."

"Your father?" Asked Ash

"Yes, he was captured by a man" Said Lugia "He got dad, killed mom and got the other three too."

"Who?" Asked Ash "Who got them?"

An image flashed through Ash's mind. Several pokemon on an Island fighting Zapdos. Another of a man in black fatigues with a red 'R' on the front standing on a boat. Two Lugias fighting several flying and water pokemon. Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres firing three Hyper beams at the female Lugia killing her in front of her son. A Master Ball striking the Adult Male and capturing him. The smiling face of Giovoni brimming with triumph.

"NO!" Ash yelled "It can't be. He can't have done that." He was shocked. He knew the situation was bad before but now…

"He did." He said "Before dad was caught he told me to find the chosen one. I didn't know who he meant at first, but after meeting you somehow I just know he meant you."

"Well Lugia I don't know what your father wanted me to do, but I will try my best to stop him." Said Ash "You need your rest. I'll be back and check on you later. Pikachu stay here and keep an eye on him for me, okay?"

("But don't you need me to go to the Gym with you?") Asked the mouse

"In all honesty buddy, you won't do much good there." Said Ash honestly "They use Lunatone and Solarock. Their rock/psychic types. The only moves you have that might damage them are Iron Tail and Focus Punch. And Focus Punch won't do much good because their psychic."

("You're probably right." Pikachu said grudgingly ("But when we get to Sootopolis I want action.")

"Sure bud." Said Ash.

The warm sea breeze was pleasing to Ash as he walked toward the giant stone doors of Mosdeep City Gym. The doors where adorned with the Symbol of a Heart with a small circle in the middle. On either side of the door where the carvings of a Sun and a Moon. Ash walked up to the doors and they opened automatically.

"Welcome back Ashton Ketchum." Two voices said in his head

I hate telepathy Thought Ash It really freaks me out. And do both of them have to do it at the same time?

"We know you do, We know it does, and yes we do." They said in his head

"Don't do that!" He yelled as he entered the main hallway.

He made his way down the ornately decorated corridor and into the battle Arena. The Arena was a very interesting one. Various platforms floated in the air above a flat marble surface. The ceiling was decorated to look like the night sky and craters where painted on the white marble to give it a lunarscape look.

"Welcome to Mosdeep City Gym." Said two figures in Unison

"I am Liza" Said a girl with black hair that went to her shoulders.

"I am Tate" Said a boy who looked just like the girl only with less feminine aspects and short black hair

"I am Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!" Declared Ash "I challenge you to an official Gym Battle!"

"As the Gym Leaders we must accept all challenges." They said simultaneously again. "This will be a Two-on-Two double battle."

"Lunatone." Said Liza

Solarock." Said Tate

The sun and moon pokemon appeared on the field and floated in front of their masters.

Ash quickly went through his options. The best choice he had was Crawdaunt. His Corphish had finally decided to evolve a few weeks ago. He had quite a few pokemon that had advantages over rock types and one other that could be strong against psychics. Seeing the impatient look on the leaders' faces he made his choices

"Crawdaunt, Murkrow I choose you!"

The two pokemon appeared on the field side by side. Crawdaunt, ever ready for battle, started beating his pincers onto his chest. Murkrow on the other hand decided this was an ample opportunity to stretch his wings.

("You guys don't look so tough!") Declared Crawdaunt.

("Man that ball is cramped!") Said Murkrow oblivious to the situation he was now in.

"Begin" The leaders said together. Their pokemon immediately went into battle. Lunatone sent an ice beam at Murkrow and Solarock used Rock Tomb to try and trap Crawdaunt.

"Hey you didn't even give them any commands!" Said Ash

"We trust our pokemon." Said Liza "They don't need us to tell them what to do." Finished Tate

"Crawdaunt Crabhammer that Solarock, Murkrow Steel Wing!"

Crawdaunt charged toward the sun pokemon readying a vicious assault with his pincers. Unfortunately for him a wall of rock materialized in front of him. He was moving so fast that he couldn't stop in time and ran into the wall full force. Meanwhile Murkrow had been dodging Ice beams and was getting sick of it. Instead of using a Steel Wing like the stupid human had told him he used a Faint attack and slammed into Lunatone hard.

Ash was shocked. He hadn't expected his orders to be totally ignored, but he was happy Murkrow had scored a hit. Why do I always get the weird pokemon?" He asked himself. "Murkrow keep pounding it with Faint attack! Crawdaunt use Bubble Beam on both of them!"

Before Ash could finish giving his orders the two space rock pokemon had begun counter measures They both put up protect to stop any damage from whatever was coming at them. Ash noticed that there was a slight aura around the two Gym Leaders that matched that of their pokemon. Ash wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer but he knew something was up. Their probably sending them commands the telepathy, and reading my mind before I can give the commands. "Guys I trust you just do whatever you can to beat them!"

("It's clobbering time!") Yelled Crawdaunt

("So I guess I'll just keep doing what I've already was doing.") Said Murkrow.

Pikachu was enjoying some top quality pokemon food at the pokemon center courtesy of Nurse Joy. He was just about to dig in when he remembered something very important. Pikachu ran into the Kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Grade A Gourmet Ketchup. When he carried the bottle back to the place where he was eating he noticed that his food was missing. There was a set of dirty foot prints leading out of the pokemon center. Thinking that Lugia would be fine by himself for a little while Pikachu fallowed the foot prints out of the door.

("Wow Mr. Meowth this stuff is good") Said Mune as he ate the bowl of pokemon food with his friends.

("Why aren't you eating any?") Asked Dawn

Meowth was on edge because he just noticed the set of foot prints leading to his position. He also noticed a very angry looking rodent with a large bottle of Ketchup heading their way.

"Kids on my signal get ready to run." Said Meowth quietly. He waited a moment for them to respond and when they didn't he turned around. "Kids?"

Both Eevee were curled up next to each other sleeping after eating half the bowl of food.

"You gotta be kidding me" Muttered Meowth.

Just then Pikachu arrived and took in the scene. There were two Eevee obviously not very old by the looks of them. A half eaten bowl of pokemon food. And…

("Meowth?") Gasped Pikachu

It had been over a year since Team Rocket had stopped trying to capture him on at least a weekly basis so it was understandable for Pikachu to be just a little surprised to see him here of all places without Jessie and James. ("What are you doing here? More importantly, why'd you take my food?")

"Hey dere Pika-Pal." Said Meowth nervously "Uh…You see…Um"

("You better not be trying some stupidly complicated and overly elaborate scheme to once again try and capture me only to have me have to send you blasting off with a Thunderbolt.") Said Pikachu ("Because I am seriously not in the mood today!")

"Don't worry I was fired-" Started Meowth "I mean I quit Team Rocket!"

("yeah right.") Said Pikachu ("You've tried that one before and I aint falling for it.")

("Who's your friend Mr. Meowth?") Asked Dawn yawning.

"Kid I told you to quit with the 'Mr.' stuff!" Said Meowth exasperated "Dis here's my pal Pikachu. Right buddy?"

("No") Said Pikachu ("I don't know what he told you kids but he's no friend of mine.")

"What?" Yelled Meowth "You mean after all we been through you can't at least consider me a friend?"

("You put me through most of the stuff I went through!") Hissed Pikachu cheeks sparking.

("Meowth I'm scared.") Said Mune who had woken up after Meowth had yelled. ("He doesn't look too friendly.")

Pikachu immediately stopped his sparking and attempted to put on a friendly smile. He wasn't trying to scare the kids, but Meowth had pissed him off. ("Sorry kids I just wanted my food back that Meowth here Stole without asking!")

The two Eevee looked at Meowth questioningly waiting for him to deny the accusation.

"You said you were hungry so I got you some food." Said Meowth simply

("We didn't think you'd steal it.") Said Mune sadly

("We wouldn't have taken it if we knew you did that.") Said Dawn

The two Eevee ran off looking very sad.

"Now look what ya did ya stupid rat!" Yelled Meowth. He was rewarded with a strong Thunder Shock "We gotta find dem before dey get into trouble!"

("Why should I help you?") Asked Pikachu

"Because if you don't you'll never see dis again!" Said Meowth picking up the Ketchup bottle. He then took out a claw and held it to the bottle. "One wrong move and the bottle gets it."

("Ok, Ok, No need to do anything hasty.") Said Pikachu ("I was just kidding I'll help you find the kids.")

Lunatone dodged another Bubble Beam attack fired by Crawdaunt but was unable to dodge the Shadow Ball fired by Murkrow. Solarock sent a Rock Slide at the bird by using its psychic powers to levitate part of the floor. Murkrow flew low to dodge the attacks but was unprepared for the Rock Tomb set up by Lunatone when it got down. The bird found itself trapped. Meanwhile Crawdaunt had snuck behind Solarock and grabbed it with a Vice Grip. He then proceeded to slam it over and over again until he was hit with a Blizzard attack and frozen solid.

"Crawdaunt, Murkrow!" Yelled Ash.

"Looks like you loose again Ash" Said the twins. "We recommend a little more training before you challenge us again."

"I'm not done yet!" Yelled Ash. "Murkrow break out of that tomb with Shadow Ball. Crawdaunt Hidden Power!'

Inside the Rock Tomb Murkrow decided to obey Ash, just this one time, and powered up a Shadow Ball. Inside the Ice Block Crawdaunt's eyes started to glow purple and the Ice started to crack. In a two massive bursts of energy the two prisons exploded and their captives charging back into the fight. Murkrow had decided to just let the Shadow ball grow until it was big enough to break the Rock Tomb and Launched it straight toward Lunatone. Meanwhile Crawdaunt now invigorated by using Hidden Power. Launched a Bubble Beam from both Claws aiming at both pokemon. Lunatone was desperately trying to think of which attack to dodge when the voice of Liza in his mind told him to use Light Screen. Before he could get the screen up he was hit by a Faint Attack from Murkrow. The bird quickly dodged the oncoming Shadow Ball and Lunatone was hit hard. The moon pokemon collapsed unable to continue the match after such a vicious hit. Solarock was faring far better then its partner and was busy battling Crawdaunt's bubbles with Flamethrowers. Murkrow decided he had done enough for the battle and lay down on one of the floating platforms and used Rest.

Ash was suddenly reminded of a painful memory during the Indigo Plateau when Charizard had done the same thing costing him the match with Richie. "Murkrow this is not the time to sleep!"

("Bite me ass hole I'm tired") Said the bird

Ash had no Idea what exactly he had said but didn't like the tone of it. Seeing the Murkrow was not going to battle anymore Ash returned him to his pokeball and concentrated back on the match.

Solarock was dodging everything Crawdaunt threw at it. The lobster was steadily growing fatigued and new he had to try something fast. Thinking quickly he ran toward Solarock his claws glowing white. Thinking the lobster was using Crabhammer the sun pokemon put up a reflect. Unfortunately Crawdaunt had been using Brick Break and the Reflect was obliterated. Crawdaunt grabbed Solarock by one of the spicks and began hammering him with a Crabhammer from the other pincer. Solarock refused to submit and used Cosmic Power to strengthen his Attack and Defense. Crawdaunt now very frustrated used his free pincer to shoot a bubble beam at point blank range while tightening the other pincer in a brutal Crunch attack. The combination of Dark and Water type attacks proved too much for the Sun Rock and he joined his partner in the peaceful state of unconsciousness.

"I don't believe it" Said Tate

"He won." Said Liza

"I won?" Said Ash then he realized what it meant "Yeah I won!"

A purple badge in the shape of a heart with a black and white yin-yang symbol in the middle floated to Ash's hand.

"You have earned the Heart Badge" Said Liza

"This proves that you have passed the challenges of Mosdeep Gym " Continued Tate

"Well fought" They said together.

("Mune I think we should go back.") Said Dawn

("You're probably right.") Said Mune ("He said he did it because we where hungry. We didn't tell ask him not to steal the food.")

("Yeah I think that Pikachu was just mad because it was his food we got.") Said Dawn

The duo had gotten pretty far away from the populated part of the island. They were now in a forest not to far away from a cave. In the cave dwelled a very temperamental and hungry Aggron. Seeing that the Eevee would probably be an easy lunch the beast decided to go in for the kill.

("I wonder how we get back to town.") Said Mune

("You mean you weren't paying attention?")

("I thought you were!") He retorted

This continued for some time until they realized they were suddenly in the shade. They looked up and locked eyes with a the fearsome Aggron. The beast licked his lips and let out a loud roar.

("RUN!") Mune yelled.

They began to run but the Aggron let loose a Metal Sound attack that caused them to collapse and hold their ears in pain. The Aggron reared back and prepared to slash the two Eevee. They closed their eyes and waited for the pain of their flesh being ripped by a Metal Claw.

What they didn't expect was a loud screeching sound like nails on a chalkboard. Meowth had found them just in time to start scratching the Aggron with Fury Swipes. Unfortunately for Meowth his attacks were little more then a tickle to Aggron. They did succeed in drawing his attention away from is in-prompt-to snacks. Mune and Dawn took the opportunity to hide and watched as Meowth bravely tried to take down a creature almost ten times his size. The sound of Meowth's claws scraping against the metal of Agrron's back was more annoying to the metal armor pokemon than the scratches themselves. He reached onto his back and grabbed the cat by his tail. He then proceeded to use Meowth like a yo-yo and twirled him around by his tail. Suddenly the Aggron felt a searing pain in his left shin. He looked down to see a little yellow mouse with pointed ears and brown stripes on its back. The mouse had hit his leg with an extremely hard Focus Punch. The Aggron, now extremely pissed off, aimed a kick at Pikachu. The mouse used his Agility to dodge it then let loose a Thunderbolt aiming right at Aggron's horns. The battle was now on.

Aggron shook himself after the powerful electric attack. He glared at Pikachu wondering how this little pipsqueak could dare to interrupt his hunting. Pikachu glared right back wondering what the hell he was thinking trying to take on something that big. Aggron charged Pikachu again with a powerful Take Down. Again the mouse was ready and used Double Team to confuse Aggron. Then he combined his Quick Attack with his Iron Tail to perform an Iron Quick Attack which slammed into Aggron from behind. Aggron prepared to let loose another Metal Sound when he felt something land on his head. He saw the brown bob of Meowth's tail between his eyes. Now very angry he aimed his fist right at his head putting all the force he could muster into the punch. Meowth jumped off of Aggron's head just before the fist made contact. There was a resounding ding noise and the Aggron began to sway on his feet. Pikachu let loose a Thunder attack for good measure and the Aggron finally fainted.

Meowth sank to the ground panting. "I thought I was a goner." He panted "Thanks Pikachu.")

("Whatever.") Said Pikachu ("Hand over the goods.")

"Uh…" Stuttered Meowth. "If you mean the ketchup I think I may have…"

("Don't tell me you lost it!") Exclaimed Pikachu. ("Do you know how long it's been since I had some of that quality sauce?")

The Eevee ran out and ran around the two arguing pokemon happily. ("Thank you Mr. Pikachu!")

("Just Pikachu.") Said Pikachu ("I need to get back to the pokemon center before Ash gets back from his Gym battle.") He hesitated then continued ("You guys can come I'll try to convince the Joy there that you're Ash's pokemon.")

"I don't want to be thought of as anybody's pokemon let alone that twerps." Said Meowth angrily.

("What's a twerp?") Asked Dawn

("I think it's some kind of compliment for a human.") Said Mune.

("Not quite.") Said Pikachu. ("You don't have to come Meowth, but I'd hate to be out here in the woods when he wakes up." Continued Pikachu while pointing to the fallen Aggron.

"Good point." Said Meowth "Can't be that bad. At least we get free food."

Ash was ready to relax for the rest of the day and think through a lot of things that were on his mind. What he was not ready to do was come into his room in the pokemon center and find two Eevee a Meowth and Pikachu running around and making a big mess of the place.

"What the hell?" He asked.

Just then Nurse Joy came behind him a viewed the carnage that had once been Ash's room. "Mr. Ketchum!" She yelled startling Ash. "I can respect your wishes to keep some of your pokemon out of their pokeballs, but this behavior is unacceptable."

She continued scolding a very confused Ash for the next twenty so minutes. He was made to promise to restore the room to its former state before he left and finally Joy left him to deal with his pokemon.

"Hey dere twerp!" Said Meowth

("I still don't know what a twerp is.") Said Dawn

("Nice hat.") Said Mune

("Sorry about the mess Pikapi") Said Pikachu. ("The kids here got a little carried away.")

"You better start explaining Pikachu." Said Ash

An hour or so later Ash sat in the now clean room talking to Pikachu and Meowth while the Eevee pups slept. Meowth told Ash how Jessie and James abandoned him after they got their new mission. He explained how he met the Eevee and how he ended up in Mosdeep. Much to Ash's disappointment, he found that Meowth didn't know anything about Giovoni's Kanto take over. Meowth said he sympathized with Ash but he had no idea how he could get back to Kanto.

It was decided that Meowth and the kids would stay with Ash since Ash was pretty uncertain about Meowth's ability to find food for all three of them. Reluctantly Meowth agreed.

The next morning Lugia was almost fully recovered. His wounds had healed and he was now able to stay awake for more then ten minutes at a time. He told Ash his name was Silver and that he wanted to leave with him when he left the center. Ash happily agreed since he always wanted a chance to train a legendary pokemon. After Lugia's recovery the group boarded a ferry and headed For Sootopolis City.

A/N: Please let me know what you think of this chapter. I will have the next one up as soon as possible. Maybe even today. I haven't gotten any flames yet so I will take that as a good thing. In the event that you feel the need to flame please be constructive. Don't say "The story Sux" Tell me why. I can't fix the suckiness of it if I don't know why.

Till next time! Bye.