The room was nearly pitch black. Secret Agent Anabel of the International Police slammed her fist on her desk in fury. Anabel was a young woman hardly over the age of twenty. She had long, violet hair that was draped into a curl behind her head and wore a slim, jet black, suit with a black tie half-showing from her shirt, and she was currently having an intense, heated debate with her employer over the phone.. Anabel had spent many a sleepless night trying to figure out what exactly happened to Looker after he had completely vanished from the face of the planet from his last mission at Goldenrod City's Radio Tower, and when she finally gets the chance to investigate the tower after having speedily completed her other missions in what would have taken other members of the International Police weeks, her boss has the gall to shut her down without even giving her a chance?!

"No?!" Anabel screeched in rage, "What the hell do you mean no?!"

"Anabel, please-" The head of the International Police tried to say to sway Anabel from getting herself killed, only for Anabel to shut him up.

"Don't you "Anabel" me! I spent an entire week getting every single one of the missions you assigned me done so I could do this, and as soon as I get them done, you suddenly say I can't go?! I spent six hours chasing some guy who stole a motorcycle for you! Who am I, Officer Jenny?!"

"Anabel, listen," Her boss spoke from the opposite side of her phone, "Looker was one of, if not the best guy we had! And now he's disappeared from the face of the Earth! I don't want to lose two of my best agents!"

"I am not going to sit by and twiddle my thumbs when Looker's life could be on the line!"

"Listen ! me, Anabel!" Anabel's employer seethed , "Looker isn't one to disappear out of nowhere! We don't know what we're dealing with, and if you go off the fritz and do whatever you want, it will reflect on the International Police! Do you realise what would happen if an enemy organization learned of us?!"

"If you're willing to leave one of your agents for dead, then maybe I'd rather the International Police to be destroyed," Anabel hissed coldly, narrowing her eyes, "I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of your heartlessness."

The head of the International Police could be heard banging something loudly on the other side of the phone, "Agent 4N4B3L, I have been running the International Police for longer than you have been subjected to oxygen! I will be damned to see it fall apart because one of my agents going haywire!"

"With or without you, I'm going!" Anabel screeched, slamming her hand on a nearby wall, "And if I don't have your full support, I might not be all that careful about cleaning up afterward. So either you have my back on this, or I'll go it alone and if I die, I will make sure a heartless bastard like you and his life's work comes down with me!"

The head of the International Police silently cursed. His ultimatums weren't working. In all honesty, he still needed her. The entirety of their mission to uncover the secrets of the Ultra Beasts would have gotten nowhere were it not for Anabel's...relation to them. But he'd already lost Looker to that mission, that much was true, and it was looking like Anabel, their greatest weapon against them, would be lost too. But at the moment, it wasn't looking like there was anything he could do to stop her. Finally, after a period of painful silence, the head of the International Police let out a long, winded sigh.

"...Fine. I will allow you to undertake this mission of yours under one condition."

Anabel was taken aback for a brief moment, "Really? What is it?"

"You must maintain contact with me for the entire duration of the mission on your earpiece. It was because Looker shut off his connections with you then that he has disappeared now."

"Of course!" Anabel exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically for her liking. Clearing her throat, she repeated the statement once more in a professional manner, "I mean, of course, sir."

On the opposite side of the phone, the head of the International Police pinched his temple and forced himself to refrain from letting out a warped mixture of a groan and a sigh. Were it any other agent, they would already be terminated for such threats against the International Police. But Anabel was invaluable at the moment.

"Then we are understood. Put on your earpiece; I'll resume contact with you shortly on there."

With that, Anabel's employer hung up the phone. Taking quick action, Anabel quickly shoved the phone into her pocket and began scrambling through the drawers in her desk for her earpiece. Finally, upon opening one of them, she spotted the small, black device and hastily attached it to her right ear, being met with her boss's voice on the opposite side.

"-ello? Anabel, where are you?! I swear, if that girl went off without me, I'm gonna-"

Anabel nervously cleared her throat, catching the attention of her boss, "Sorry, sir. I had minor trouble finding the-"

"No matter," Anabel's boss waved off, "If we're going to do this mission, time will be of the importance, so let's just get moving."

"Yes, sir!"

"Oh, by the way," Anabel's boss spoke up, "About that motorcycle you stole back. The guy who you gave it back to ended up being so grateful, that he ended up giving it to us."

Anabel's eyes lit up, "You mean…"

Anabel could've sworn she heard the nod from her boss, "Yep. She's all yours. It'll be in your garage."

Ecstatically, Anabel quickly lunged for the door and ripped it open, illuminating the darkened room. Wasting no time, the violet-haired agent rushed down the stairs of her apartment. Bursting out of her front door, she furiously whipped her head to her right to see her garage. She sprinted over to it and jammed in the barcode, making the gate slowly raise. She could hardly keep herself still in anticipation as the garage doors lifted to reveal the prize within.

"My, my, Anabel," The head of the International Police said with an amused chuckle, "I had no idea you would be this excited about it."

"Well," Anabel replied, "I can't put my finger on it, but they've always seemed...appealing to me."

"I see," The head of the International Police replied flatly.

Maybe she had someone close to her that owned one of these before we found her with UB-05, He thought to himself. It would be something he would have to look into.

Anabel slowly made her way over to the shimmering black motorcycle. It had oddly wide wheels for a motorcycle and it was almost completely coated in similarly-black metal plating. Upon closer inspection, she found that the tires themselves were metal. In fact, the only parts of the bike that weren't made of metal were the seat and the headlights. Even the grippers used for throttling were metallic rather than rubber like they normally were.

"We made some alterations to it before shipping it to you," Anabel's boss said over the earpiece, "Don't worry about the metal tires. They're completely rounded and coated in a special sheen so they won't spark up on the road, though you might want to find some leather gloves for the handles. We made sure to coat as much of it in a steel more durable than the skin of a Steelix as possible without completely ruining its functioning."

Anabel frowned, "Won't the metal cause an imbalance in weight distribution? I doubt I could make it five feet without the thing tipping over. And speaking of tipping, how exactly am I supposed to turn with metal wheels?"

"You underestimate us, Anabel. The International Police isn't so cheap that we'd give you a worthless motorcycle. Why don't you try driving it? It's a lot more flexible than you think."

"If you say so."

Tentatively, Anabel inched her way onto the bike and found her boss's words to be blockiness of the bike didn't impair the flexibility of it in the slightest. Placing a purple motorbike helmet over her head and clipping it down, she revved the engine, kicked up the stand and rocketed out of the garage.

"Well, I see you're taking a liking to it," Anabel's employer said with a chuckle. Anabel couldn't help the grin that erupted from her face.

It wasn't long until she reached her destination. There it was: Goldenrod City's Radio Tower, and the place where Looker had disappeared. She quickly found a parking spot and hopped down from her new bike,kicking up the stand and letting her helmet loosely fly from her head.

"What would be the best approach?" Anabel inquired of her employer, "It's broad daylight out, so we can't just barge in.'

"Hmm...there should be plenty of staff members. Knock one out and take their uniform, perhaps?"

Anabel sighed, "Not the most elegant approach, but I suppose it is a necessity. Alright, let's see what I can find."

The agent quickly darted into a shaded alleyway and waited for her opportunity. It wasn't until nearly half an hour later when a woman in a brown suit came walking past Anabel's hiding place.

"That's one of them," Anabel's employer spoke through the earpiece, "I've gained access to all the building's cameras. Quickly, before she gets away!"

Without needing to be told twice, Anabel leapt from her position and caught the woman by the neck, cupping one hand over her mouth and using the other to jab an index finger into the side of her neck, immediately causing her to go limp.

"Boss, please turn off those cameras of yours for a few seconds," Anabel said coyly.

In less than a minute, Anabel had now adorned the previous woman's uniform, the employee now being buried underneath a particularly large pile of trash.

"You brought the hair spray, right?" Anabel's boss asked, "Your hair sticks out like a sore thumb."

"Of course I have it," Anabel snapped back, "I may be crazy for going on this mission, but I am far from an idiot."

"I'm just making sure."

Moments later, Anabel had reappeared from the alleyway, now with her new uniform and a brunette hair style. She had a silver nametag that read "Alice Hennings" on retaking action, the agent made her way to the entrance of the Radio Tower and after entering through a rotating door, found herself in the main lobby. Anabel nearly winced as a voice she didn't know called out to her.

"Alice! You're back from your lunch break already?"

Quickly taking composure, Anabel came up with a response.

"Erm, well, they were closed today, so I came back!"

"Haha, what?" The other female laughed, "But you hate working here!"

Anabel inwardly scowled, but retained her cheery expression, "Ah, well, the place pays well at least. Kinda wanna make some more money by the end of the month, ya know?"

The woman raised an eyebrow, "We get payed minimum wage."

Anabel quickly lost patience and marched up to the woman, glaring darkly at her, "Your Alice is currently in an alleyway unconscious and buried under a mountain of garbage. If you do not want to end up in a similar manner, this conversation is over."

The Agent mustered a bright smile that somehow still looked incredibly intimidating, "Got it, sweetie?"

Eyes widened in terror, the woman quickly pursed her lips and nodded furiously.

"Greeeaaat."

Anabel's threatening smile turned back into a glare, "Now stay silent about this, got it?"

Without waiting for a response, Anabel quickly turned around and began walking to the elevator.

"Easy there," Anabel's boss said, "I get you're worried about Looker, but keep your emotions in check. We can't risk you getting caught, so keep it together, will you?"

Anabel let out a deep sigh, "Yes...yes, you're right."

"Just keep it together, Anabel. You're already getting some odd looks."

"I got it...I'll get out of here quickly after I get what I need."

"You better. Looker disappeared because he was hesitant to leave. You cannot make his same mistakes."

Anabel soon exited the elevator, glancing around to see rows of computers...and luckily for her, not a person in sight. Anabel quickly leapt for the nearest computer and began clicking away, scanning through file after file, but nothing of value was found.

"Boss, can you file through the video files of that day? I'll go through the activity feed and hopefully I'll find something there."

"Of course," The old man replied over the earpiece.

After a few minutes of rigorous clicking, the Head of the International Police spoke up.

"Anabel, I think I've found something."

"What is it?!" She demanded.

A blue file appeared on her desktop with "Hours 12:00-3:00 [DATA EXPUNGED]" labeled on it.

"This is...was the camera feed of the duration of Looker's mission here. Whoever was involved in his disappearance was thorough about it. They completely removed every trace of the video feed."

Anabel cursed, "So what, is that it, then?! That can't be it!"

"It isn't." Anabel's boss said flatly, "I've been hacking things far more dire-looking than this for over fifty years. This is nothing. I know from personal experience; there is no such thing as destroying data completely. If I can get ahold of the infared cameras, I can- no…"

"What is it?"

Anabel's employer scowled, "They were more thorough than I thought. I had tried to look at the infared cameras to at least get a glimpse of what happened, but they had deleted that too. It seems I'll just have to tear it back."

"Tear it back?" Asked Anabel, clueless to the old man's ramblings, "What does that even mean?"

"You're a good field agent, Anabel, but compared to me, you're a lousy hacker. Like I said, data can never truly be deleted. The pieces of the video feed are currently scattered across fields of code. If it were anyone else, repiecing this feed would take years. Luckily, I've been running a secret organization of hackers for many of those. Sit back, Anabel, and tell me if we're being tracked. I'll handle the rest."

Anabel simply looked at the screen in front of her in awe, both at her boss's little speech and the fact that ones and zeros were now racing across the screen, mixing and matching faster than she could keep track of.

"R-right," She stuttered, clicking out of the tab of racing code to keep track of their surroundings.

"I think I've...got it," The old man announced after roughly half an hour, "I have to give them credit. Whoever was responsible for this really knows their code."

"Now's not the time to be praising the guys who kidnapped Looker," Anabel deadpanned, "But what have you got?"

Her answer was a page appearing. Upon clicking it, she was greeted with footage of Looker furiously fumbling with wires and a small laptop.

"You did it!" Anabel cheered, earning a proud chuckle from her boss.

"It was nothing. Now, let's get a good look at those bastards who took Looker, eh?"

Anabel let out a small giggle, "Where was that guy who wanted nothing to do with this mission from earlier,"

"Talking with a rogue agent who's on the verge of being fired if she doesn't quit it with the quips," Anabel's boss replied with a laugh.

Turning their attention back on the mission at hand, the two of them watched over the footage. On it, Looker had just opened up his laptop. What was on it, they couldn't quite see.

"Boss, change the camera angle," Ordered Anabel.

"I can't. I was only able to piece in footage from one camera. It could've taken days for me to piece back the entire thing."

Anabel cursed under her breath, but kept silent. Viewing the footage, the two of them looked at it with fierce, unblinking eyes. Neither dared look away for fear of missing what event could have taken Looker. They finally blinked when a large figure came at Looker from the side and slammed his laptop shut. A wave of static began appearing in front of the footage as that happened, earning a gasp from Anabel.

"What's happening out there, Anabel?" Her boss demanded.

A harsh beeping noise from another tab was their answer.

"Anabel, get out of there, now!" Her boss shouted, "We're being tracked! They've shut down the video feed! You need to leave! NOW!"

Anabel pursed her lips, "But...We already have the vi-"

"If you don't leave, Anabel, you'll end up just like Looker! If they're only after us after this long, we can safely assume they don't have any agents here, so we'll be free to view the rest of it later. I've already memorized the code process, so we can resume where we left off, but if you get captured here, we're back at square one! Call me heartless, but I'm not going to finish this mission by myself if you end up like Looker! I have an entire International Police to run!"

Anabel growled and clenched her hands to the point where she thought they would bleed.

"ANABEL!"

"FINE!"

With a few clicks, the computer was shut off and Anabel rose from her seat.

"But mark my words, I am coming back with or without you."

"Keep it up, and it'll be the latter. NOW GET OUT OF THERE!"

Bursting out of the front doors, Anabel quickly hopped onto her motorcycle and took off. She didn't know where her helmet was, and she certainly wasn't going to bother looking with these guys on her tail.

"How can I lose them, boss?" Anabel asked over the earpiece.

"You sho-"

The Head of the International Police was cut off by a loud explosion and the earpiece was ripped from her ear by the harsh winds that erupted from it. Turning the bike sharply, to avoid being burnt to cinders, Anabel was thrown from her bike and sent rolling harshly onto the road. She managed to get onto her feet only to be swept off them, landing her on her back. Scrambling frantically, she ripped a Pokeball from her pockets and tossed it into the air, only for a streak of white to slice it in half and make the ball explode. Anabel watched in horror as her Pokemon died above her, not even getting the chance to fight. But she had no time for grieving. As sick and twisted the thought was, the explosion of the Pokeball gave the perfect cover. Hopping to her feet, the agent sprung into an alleyway behind a corner. She covered her mouth, attempting to hide her breath along with the tears dripping down her face as the full weight of the loss of her Pokemon dawned on her. Alakazam, who'd remained quite possibly her most faithful partner and friend...was now dead...but she was an agent. She had to keep her wits about her, else both her and the remainder of her team would end up in a similar manner. She couldn't release another Pokemon; whoever was hunting her would hear it and kill her on the spot. No, if she were to survive this, only her wits would get her out of this alive. Wiping away her tears, she peered out from her corner.

There was nothing.

Anabel scowled and returned to hiding. She knew the moment she walked back out there, she was dead. And whoever was hunting her was fast...fast enough to destroy her Alakazam's Pokeball fast enough to destroy it without it being able to release its contents whilst being completely unseen. Her only chance was to wait...no, if she waited, she'd only give them more time to call reinforcements. The longer she waited, the larger the chance that she would end up completely surrounded. Analyzing her surroundings, she found that a line of hedges led outward. This was her one and only chance. She slowly inched her way into the bushes, but just as she fully entered them, she heard a particularly sharp gust of wind. They were closing in. Slowly moving through the bushes, she peered out to see a large clearing. That only looked like death. Slowly closing the branches, she continued her endeavors through the bushes in hidden. She heard it again. That sharp gust of wind. Was it...stalking her? Either way, she had to keep moving. This didn't seem like a threat that'd give up easily. The agent really wished she still had that earpiece. Her boss's wise words would be very appreciated right now. But she was alone...alone and afraid. Afraid that any single mistake; any single step out of line or stutter in movement would result in her ending up...like Alakazam. The image of Alakazam's Pokeball being sliced in two before exploding flashed in her vision. It was obvious she wouldn't be escaping this without scars.

She was suddenly blinded by an intense light. How was it this bright?! Was it...was it night already? How much time had passed?! It was only then when she realised there was more than one of these lights, and that they were in pairs. Were they...headli-

A sharp pain erupted from her back. Everything went silent. She watched with dazed eyes as the world itself seemingly spun in circles. Anabel's body was sent spiraling across the open field as a large, black van rushed into the bushes where Anabel was hiding, veering into her with a sickening crack. Finally, the agent came to a stop, sprawled on her back in a pile of shattered bones. She couldn't even scream, only let out choked gasps. She managed to struggle enough to look up to see a figure slowly walking towards her, shadowed by the lights. The figure looked down on her cruelly with crimson eyes amidst a blackened, void-like face. With the last of her dwindling senses, Anabel looked to her side amidst blood-smeared eyes to see a Pokeball beside her. In horrible desperation, she thoughtlessly reached for the ball, her senses shattered alongside her skeleton. Suddenly, a streak of white crashed into the ground beside her to reveal the shadowed figure glaring into her widened, fearful eyes as their foot drove into the Pokeball, crushing it beneath their feet and sending fire and smoke outward. Anabel soundlessly reared her head back from the fiery explosion of her Pokeball. Her senses were gone and the fact that her Pokemon was obliterated in an instant went unnoticed. All she could think of with her fractured skull was one thing. A single, primordial thought: Survival. She turned away from the fires, her face being doused with them nonetheless. The shadow peered over her, holding something in its hand. Her earpiece.

"You should have learned from the last one...not to go prying into other people's business. The International Police...master will find this very...very...interesting…"

With a wordless motion of his hand to someone outside of Anabel's dwindling vision, the shadow turned away and left. However, a larger shadow appeared in its place. Yellow eyes peered down at her, glaring into her very soul. It grinned cruelly. It was Tyranitar, who'd come for seconds. The large Pokemon raised its mighty foot, and the last thing Anabel ever saw as her vision faded to black was the shadow of its foot racing down to meet her head.


After having won their third Gym Badges from the retired Lieutenant Surge, Ash and Serena were making their way towards their next destination: Celadon City for their fourth Gym Badge that was being held by Erika, the Grass-Type Gym Leader and owner of the Rainbow Badge. But being a Grass-Type Gym Leader would entail that they are surrounded by flora and forestation which, unfortunately for Ash and Serena, was the case. They had been walking for hours in this blasted, dark forest due to Ash's insistence that they still had plenty of day.

"Ya know, Ash," Serena said, "The point of a journey is to enjoy it while it lasts. It's been, what, a week since we first got back to Kanto?"

"Well yeah," Ash retorted, his hands folded behind his neck nonchalantly while his partner slept on his head, "But I've already beaten all these guys before. You're only talkin' like this because you wanna stop for the night, right?"

Serena let out an exasperated sigh, "Ya got me...so, can we do that then?"

Ash shot her a smile, "Sure!"

Serena's eyes practically sparkled at that, "Wow, really?!"

"Yeah, once we get to Celadon!"

Serena tripped in both fatigue and disbelief, falling flat on her face with a thud.

"Aaaash!" The female trainer whined, inducing a laugh from Ash.

"Haha, alright fine. We'll settle here for the night."

"For real this time?" Serena pleaded.

Ash nodded in response, "Mhm! But, I don't think the rocky trail right here would be comfortable for either of us, right?"

Without waiting for a response, Ash took Serena by the hand and pulled her to her feet, "C'mon, let's go find a field of grass to sleep in or somethin' "

Serena let out something that Ash could only be described as a yawn and a groan, but nodded weakly anyways, rubbing an eye tiredly. The two began scouring the darkened night forest for an open field, walking past tree after tree. A glint caught Serena's eye for a moment, but it disappeared the moment she noticed it. However, in the glint's disappearance, she noticed something else.

"Hey, Ash!" She called, "I think I found something!"

Intrigued, Ash peeked his head, which Pikachu was still passed out on, from behind a tree and jogged his way over to meet her.

"Whatcha find?"

"I think I found that field we're looking for," Announced Serena, pointing through the trees. As Ash tilted his head to see what she was talking about, he was greeted by a large open field coated in grass. From their standpoint, the field was declining slightly, just enough so that they could easily look at the starry skies above.

"Wow, nice going, Serena!" Ash praised, "That's perfect!"

Serena, however, didn't have the energy to be as thrilled anymore.

"Greeeat," She yawned, "Now...how about we…"

That was as far as Serena got before she promptly collapsed from exhaustion in Ash's arms.

"Aw, geez," Ash said with a weak smile. He looked up at Pikachu sleeping on his head, "Yeah, maybe it is a good time to settle for the night…"

Carrying Serena in his arms bridal style, he made his way down through the remaining trees and into the open field. He stared down at the small decline below him. It looked incredibly welcoming. He slid down the hill and turned his heel to halt his momentum once he'd made his way down some. Gently placing Serena down, he took Pikachu off of his hat and put him next to Serena, who'd curled into Serena's neck on reflex. With one last stretch, Ash plopped down next to his two partners and curled his arms behind his head to look up at the stars. It was the perfect view of the infinite void of space. Anyone in his situation would have fallen asleep by now due to such a relaxing scenario. However, Ash couldn't bring himself to fall asleep. It was odd; he didn't even feel tired in the slightest. Even for one as energetic as him, he usually didn't have many problems sleeping. No matter how much he twisted and turned, he couldn't even bring himself to feel tired in the slightest. After about an hour, Ash finally got fed up with it and hopped up from the grass in exasperation.

"Gaaahh!" Cried Ash, "Why can't I sleep?!"

He looked down on Serena and Pikachu enviously, "I never thought the day would come when I'd want that Jigglypuff to come back. Maybe a walk'll tire me out."

Sliding down the remainder of the hill, he made his way into the forest once more. He spent nearly half an hour out there until he finally came to another clearing. This one was completely flat, however, but the grass was incredibly tall. The trainer slowly walked towards the center of the field, looking around the forest on edge. Not even he knew why; something in the back of his mind was practically screaming for him to stay alert. Suddenly, Ash was blinded by an incredibly bright light. Oddly enough, Ash was able to regain his vision fairly quickly. Though, questioning it was the least of his concerns; especially when the source of the light, which he found to be a black, offroading truck with lights strapped to the top of it, rushed forward. Before Ash knew what he was doing, his body seemed to lurch back on its own. The truck rushed forward once more, attempting to close the gap, but Ash would have none of it.

"Who are you?!" He called out to the truck, "What do you want from me?!"

No response. Ash couldn't even see who was driving the truck. The windshield was pitch black, alongside the rest of the truck. The truck, once again, attempted to close the gap. It let out a menacing revving noise and bolted at Ash, to which Ash's body once again bolted backwards on its own. Ash caught a glimpse of himself in the windshield's reflection and he saw that his eyes were an azure, shimmering blue. But stuff like this could be questioned when he didn't have some crazed maniac in a truck chasing him. Turning on his heel, he sprinted out of the grass and into a direction, any direction, into the woods. He felt incredibly light on his feet. As he sped into the woods, he could see trees flying by him.

What the...heck is happening?!, The young trainer thought to himself.

He had no time to ponder, however. Ash could see the lights from the truck through the trees, and it was easily keeping speed with him. Ash growled and turned his attention in front of him, just in time to sidestep a tree that would have been in his path. He narrowed his eyes as he saw there were more. Pressing his heel into the ground, he dodged to the right as another tree flew by him and slid underneath a tree that had fallen over and impacted another, but jumped back to his feet in time to hurl himself over a stump.

Ash's blue eyes widened as he saw a familiar pair of bright lights burst from the woods. In response, Ash's body seemingly began to move on its own once more and he launched himself onto the hood of the truck and sprung over it, sprinting into the woods again. He didn't know where he was going. Just that he needed to. There was a voice in the back of his head screaming at him, and though Ash couldn't discern what exactly it was saying, he knew what it wanted, and he was happy to oblige.

The trainer barged through a piece of bramble blocking his path and peered to his right to see the eerie lights keeping pace with him. And when he turned to the left, he saw the same thing. There were two of them?! Ash heard the intense sound of an engine revving and foliage collapsing back over to his right and turned back around just in time to jump back away from the truck attempting to ram into him from the side. But in doing so, he stopped short when he felt metal on his back, nearly making him trip. Yet he was able to keep his balance...oddly easily. But still, they had him pinned.

An idea sprang to Ash's mind. Ash suddenly stopped in his tracks, digging his heels into the soil and grinding to a halt before swiftly turning around and bolting the other way, allowing the two trucks to go flying behind him. Ash couldn't help but smirk even in this dire situation. It was his competitive side somehow showing itself even now. As he sprinted, his smirk gave way to a look of concern and finally desperation once more as he could practically feel the trucks gaining back up on him, and fast. Ash let out a gasp as air suddenly left his lungs and his back arched backward. He was sent sprawling through dirt and foliage before finally coming to a stop. As the boy slowly came back to his feet, he noticed a faint blue glow on his arm that disappeared the moment he looked at it. What was happening?!

The boy grunted and winced as he attempted to spring back into a sprint. His odd little boost of stamina was fading, and he ended up tripping over himself and falling back over in a heap. He noticed as he got up for a third time that he was in the same field he started in...and he could see a familiar pair of lights reflecting off of the dew of the grass. But that's odd...since there was two trucks, shouldn't there be four-

VVRRRRRRRMMMMMM!

The second set of lights appeared in front of him once more and began closing in on his position quickly. Ash desperately pleaded for that voice in the back of his head to return, but both it and that burst of power were gone. Ash ended up simply falling forward as he attempted to burst into that sprint once more. The two trucks were there. Even before Ash got up for a final time, he knew they were looming over him on either side. As Ash flipped over onto his back, he was suddenly blinded by a bright light from the top of each truck that shined down directly onto his face.

With one of Ash's remaining four senses, he heard the slamming of car doors. He slowly opened his eyes to see four shadows surrounding him. Finally, his sight returned to him, allowing him to see his four pursuers. They all had identical-looking black suits on that covered their entire bodies, except for their faces which was covered with equally-colored black gas masks. They each had a patch over their hearts that looked like an explosion in space surrounded by stars. They each held out an arm and thin metal rods erupted from their fists. The pressed a button on them with their thumbs and the rods began sparking blue menacingly.

"Ash Ketchum," One of them spoke, "You will come with us."

Ash gritted his teeth, "Who are you people?! What do you want with me?!"

One of them chuckled ominously, "When next you awaken...you will soon find out."

Unbeknownst to Ash, one of them approached Ash from behind. He held up the sparking rod and aimed it at the nape of the boy's neck. Just as he began to bring his arm down, his other arm was impacted from the side by an orb of blue that bent it inward with a sickening snap, sending the figure crashing into the black truck and falling in a heap, limply letting loose the sparking rod rolling to his side.

The other three figures reeled back in shock.

"What the hell?!"

Ash and the remaining three figures turned to the direction the orb was fired to see two more figures walking towards them, cloaked in the shadows of the bright blue lights they were giving off.

"I dunno who the hell you think you are," One of the figures in black suits said to the newcomers, "But if you think you're leaving here alive after that, you are SORELY MISTAKEN!"

The black-suited figure who issued the threat charged the two newcomers with his taser rod and swung at the one on the right...only for them to catch it in their hand.

"What...in the fu-"

The other new figure took the opportunity to swing around behind the black-suited figure and charged another blue sphere in its hand before planting in in their aggressor's back and jumped backward while the other one formed some sort of semi visible blue sphere around the black-suited figure just in time to catch and trap the ensuing explosion from the sphere inside it with the black-suited figure.

When the blinding explosion faded, the two remaining black-suited figures were greeted with the thud of their comrade hitting the ground at their feet.

"DAMN YOOOUUU!" One of the two bellowed as he prepared to charge the newcomers as well, until the one at his side pulled him backward.

"Don't go blindly rushing at them you idiot!" He hissed, "We've already seen how that worked out. We don't know what we're dealing with...but neither do they. Let's be smart for a second and use that to our advantage."

"R-right," The other one said, "Sorry. So, then, what's your plan?"

His response was his partner pulling out a small black can from his pocket and throwing it on the ground, coating the area in a thick smoke which caused Ash to begin a coughing fit. Yet the newcomers remained unperturbed as they slowly made their way over.

A rod swung from the smoke at one of the figures, only for them to once again catch it in their hands and snap it in half, tossing the remains of the rod to his side, to which the black-suited figure begrudgingly tossed his half away as well and backed away, disappearing into the smoke. The newcomer's partner turned away from them just in time to duck underneath the other black-suited figure swinging his taser rod and brought up their...paw? To meet with the suited figure's chest. The black-suited figure managed to land back on his feet and retreat back into the black smoke where the two of them met back-to-back.

"What the hell are these guys?!" One of them hissed, clutching his aching chest, "They aren't bothered by the smoke and they can predict our movements!"

"I don't know. They certainly aren't human, though. Maybe the kid's Pokemon? It doesn't matter. Anyways, if these are Pokemon, they'd have to be Psychic types, and if they were, they'd have obviously immobilized us by now. No, these guys are just keen, that's all. We just have to outwit them. We have to catch them off guard, and then victory is ours."

"Well said. Alright, let's do this."

With that, the two mysterious figures disappeared into the black smoke once more. One of the figures jumped at the newcomers from the smoke, aiming for a punch to the head only to meet air. The newcomer had easily ducked underneath the punch and retaliated with an elbow which was caught by the black-suited figure.

"Really?" One of the newcomers spoke, "You're attacking with only your fists now? Have you run out of toys already?"

Their response was another wordless punch aimed at their face. The newcomer raised their hand to catch the punch until they suddenly bolted backwards just in time to avoid a long blade shooting out from a slot in the suit above the knuckle.

"Apparently not, then."

"Tell me," The black-suited figure said, "Why are you protecting that boy? Are you a friend or something?"

"You could say that."

The newcomer ducked down and lunged at the figure, aiming for an uppercut. In response, the figure managed to reel his head back just barely enough to avoid it and lunged out with the blade on his arm, only to find air. The newcomer had jumped skyward and lunged down with an axe kick that took the figure's shoulder with an audible snap. If the figure had been any less disciplined, he would have collapsed on the spot. But he had a mission to fulfill.

"You'd do well to surrender now."

The figure's face twisted in rage, not that it could be seen.

"I'd sooner die."

Lunging out with his left arm, he aimed a punch with speed that caught the newcomer off guard, who barely managed to jump backward in time to avoid another blade erupting from this arm was well. The blade had just stopped inches before coming in contact with the newcomer's nose. But respite from that was not something the newcomer would be granted, and the figure had to sidestep as the blade lunged forward again. Taking advantage of this, the newcomer saw that the figure's arm was now fully outstretched...and exposed. Quickly taking action, the newcomer sidestepped again and delivered a devastating karate chop to the figure's remaining arm with another sickening crunch.

The other figure wasn't having much luck either. Even though he still had his taser rod, he wasn't able to hit his target in the slightest. Though he'd like to believe he was keeping his target on the ropes, none of his strikes were connecting. And what was pissing him off even more was that his target wasn't even fighting back! They were just sidestepping over and over!

"You little- stand still, damn you!"

The figure's prayers went unanswered, and the two of them continued their little dance in the smoke. Finally, the other newcomer stretched out a punch that connected with the figure's face. However, the figure managed to stay on his feet and retaliate with a swing that managed to catch the newcomer off guard. Quickly protecting themselves with their arms, the figure hissed in pain as the taser made contact. Furiously, the newcomer summoned a flash of blue around themselves and bellowed, blowing away the fog and sending their opponent flying into the truck that hadn't yet been impacted.

"Easy there, Lucario," The other newcomer said to his partner, "Our objective isn't to kill them. You're letting your emotions take the better of you again."

Lucario let out a sigh, looking down at the spike on the back of his hand that had been sliced and replied to his partner through his Aura, unbeknownst to the only remaining black-suited figure, "You're right, Riley. I should know better."

"Do not beat yourself up too hard over it."

"What the hell?!" The remaining black-suited figure roared, "So you are a Pokemon! But you...what the hell are you?!"

Riley chuckled at his opponent, "A magician never reveals his secrets."

Riley was preparing to deliver one final strike to the black-suited figure's head when a voice rang out.

"Stop! Don't you dare move or I'll BLOW THE KID'S HEAD OFF!"

The three of them turned to the source of the voice to see the black-suited figure who had initially been sent flying into one of the trucks by Lucario's Aura Sphere now holding Ash in a chokehold with some odd metal-looking object that Riley couldn't identify being held up to the boy's head. Regardless, if the figure regarded it as a weapon, Riley wasn't about to assume otherwise.

"Nice going!" Cheered the black-suited figure who'd been fighting Riley, "How resourceful of you."

Riley glared at the figure holding Ash hostage fiercely before sighing in defeat and letting his arms fall to his sides.

"Very well. What are your demands?"

Lucario was taken aback, "Riley, you can't mean to-"

"We can't let him die!" Riley retorted through their Auric bond, "And not to mention, you felt it too, didn't you? His Aura is incredible!"

Lucario growled, "Still…"

Luckily for them, it seemed this figure still had a few screws loose from his impact with the truck as he suddenly turned the metal object towards Riley.

"I demand...that YOU DIE, YOU BASTARD!"

A horrendously loud bang ensued from whatever metal object the black-suited figure was holding and Riley was forced to sidestep with widened eyes as he witnessed a tiny metal shard slowly fly by him until his reflexes wore off, allowing the metal shard to go sailing into the trees faster than he could calculate.

"DIE, DAMN YOU, DIE!"

More loud bangs from the guns ensued and Riley was forced to put up a defensive barrier to keep himself from becoming swiss cheese. He was astonished at the speed and power those tiny little projectiles had in them. Even now, he was still struggling more than he'd like to with these tiny things. Finally, the bangs stopped and were replaced with vastly quieter clicking noises and Riley was allowed the chance to redirect the metal projectiles harmlessly into the sky.

"Phew," Riley said, allowing his arms to fall downward.

"YOU IDIOT!" Bellowed the other remaining black-suited figure, "WE HAD THEM RIGHT WHERE WE WANTED THEM, AND YOU WASTED ALL YOUR BULLETS?!"

Ash's eyes flashed blue once more for a split second, allowing his body to move on its own once more and deliver an elbow into his captor's face which allowed him to break free.

"Nice work!" Riley cheered, "Now, let's finish this up."

"You two," The Aura Guardian said menacingly, his face darkening from the shade of his hat, "I'm only going to say this once. Leave."

The figure with the now-empty gun stood back up and entered a battle position, "OH, YOU THINK IT'S THAT EASY, HUH?! WELL, WE'LL SHOW Y-"

"SHUT UP, YOU DAMNED IDIOT! DO YOU WANT TO DIE HERE?!"

Everyone turned their attention on the figure with the broken arms who began speaking once more.

"We've lost. Both my arms are broken, you obviously have brain damage, and the others are out cold. Dying here will do nothing for us. Loathe as I am to let you drive in your state, we need to get out of here!"

"Don't forget this one," Lucario said to them, not that they could hear it, and threw the figure who'd been knocked out afar back to them, landing in the back of one of the trucks.

The figure with at least one good arm remaining tossed the last figure in the back of the truck and hopped in, but the final figure turned around one last time.

"We'll be back," He said simply before jumping in the back of the truck with his fallen comrades in time for the truck to speed off, although swerving from side to side a bit.

"Huh," Riley noted, "They left the other truck behind. What should we-"

Before Riley could finish the sentence, Lucario shot an Aura Sphere at the remaining black truck and making it explode with a near-deafening boom.

Riley could only shake his head in exasperation and sigh, "Well, that takes care of that at least. As for you…"

Ash blinked, "Me? Sorry, I'm just trying to...process what happened...oh yeah, thanks for the save, by the way. They would've got me if you hadn't come!"

Riley chuckled, "Indeed. You're lucky Lucario and I sensed your aura, or we might not have found you."

Ash stood back onto his feet and gave Riley an odd look, "Aura? Now why does that sound familiar?"

"Say," Lucario said to his partner, unbeknownst to Ash, "Isn't this the boy who assisted in liberating those Team Galactic cretins from Iron Island two years ago?"

"I think you're right, Lucario. Good eye. Though, I didn't remember him having such incredible aura back then."

"It isn't important. We've saved him, so let us bid him farewell and continue our search for the Tree of Life."

"Lucario, isn't it our duty as Aura Guardians to train a fellow Aura-user? Especially one with this much potential."

Lucario closed his eyes and let out a low growl, "Maybe so, but I think our journey to the Tree of Life is of much greater importance. We can train the boy afterward, if that creature we sensed hasn't already destroyed the world by then, if Iron Island wasn't enough of a sign."

"Who's to say we can't train him along the way?"

"Riley, do you even know how long that would take? We can come back later, if need be."

"Yes, but what if the two of us aren't enough? The more the merrier, you know?"

Lucario let out a growl and put a paw to his face, "I'm not even going to bother arguing with you further. If we're too slow with our journey to the Tree to alert the Legends because of this, it's on your head."

"I'm prepared for that, partner."

"Umm," Ash spoke up. He'd been watching his two saviors making odd hand gestures at each other silently for the past five minutes and frankly, he was afraid to even ask.

Riley suddenly clapped his hands and turned to Ash, making the boy jump, "Well, then. Congratulations; we'll be your teachers in Aura from now on!"

Ash waved his hands in front of him, shaking his head, "Woah, woah, woah. Aura teachers? What even IS aura? And do I even have a say in this?"

"Somethin's telling me you already know what aura is, right?" Riley asked with a grin, avoiding the last question.

Ash put a hand to his chin in deep thought for a few seconds until he finally gave up, shaking his head, "Nope, not a clue."

Riley sweatdropped, attempting to keep his grin in place while Lucario simply groaned behind him.

"Well, we'll help you figure it out eventually."


Celadon City, former Team Rocket hideout beneath the Game Corner.

...There were eyes everywhere. Always watching...always watching...scribbling down notes on their little writing pads at the slightest twitch...this...was routine...it was life...the only life I'd ever known. They rarely allowed my exit of my casing anymore...the water and glass was all I ever felt these days. When I had been let out, I had met wondrous creatures. Frogs that could shoot water, lizards who could shoot fire, and creatures who could move things with their minds. But I never saw them twice. I had only been allowed to play with them a short time before we were taken to an odd machine each time. It...hurt...but it always ended, and soon it stopped hurting...but the creatures...never exited the machine. Every time they made me go in the machine, it hurt less and less each time. The last time I went in, it didn't hurt at all...but where did the creatures go? When I asked the doctors where they went, they always either turned away or said "Inside you." ...I never understood what it meant, but one day the doctors said I wouldn't be seeing them anymore. They said I had met every one of those creatures that I could...all the doctors ever did was...stare at me...it makes me mad sometimes...I can't talk to them anymore because I never get let out of here...the water...is...hard to breathe in...I want to see them again…

An eerie chuckling echoed throughout the facility room. An old scientist with a hunched back, purple hair that curved in the back and had two streaks running from the top of his head, and a patch over his heart with the image of an explosion in space being surrounded by stars chuckled as he gazed upon his latest project...Project 0. A creature built from nothing but a single strand of human DNA.

"Sir," Another doctor said to him, "Project 0's powers have almost fully matured. The Pokemon we've fused into her are beginning to take their course."

The old scientist wheezed out a short cackle, "Good...when are they expected to take full effect?"

"In three months, sir."

"And the Shadow Pokemon serum we ordered from Orre?"

"The vials are expected to reach here by tomorrow at latest."

A sinister grin tore at the old scientist's face, "Then we've no need to wait. If we inject her with it, the process should speed up immensely."

"You can't mean...all of it, sir?"

The old scientist shot his underling a dark, paralyzing glare, "Are you questioning me?"

The younger scientist instinctively backed away, "N-no, sir, I was just worried that she might not be able to handle it. Project 0's body has matured, but her body is still that of a child. There's a great possibility that she'll die from so much liquidized Pokemon being injected into her."

"She'll live," The old scientist retorted, "And Project 0 is far more Pokemon than human, so their DNA lines up better than with the human subjects. She is the only subject of thousands that has survived thus far...she will live."

"...If you say so, sir."

...What...are they saying…? Poke...mon? Like...my friends? Will I finally be free once more…? I miss them...


AN

Creator: Sweet mother of Arceus...Chapter 9 is finally out! After a month and a half of hiatus, we're finally back! ...Though, to say we're back is to say we're confident it won't happen again, which we're not, sadly. We'll try, that's for sure. It's just that I usually have the opposite problem when writing fics. I'm garbage at writing dialogue, but amazing, at least I'd like to think so, at writing fighting scenes...which doesn't bode well considering random dialogue, which I again suck at, is the majority of a chapter. Chapter 10 is a Gym Battle, and those are usually pretty easy to write, and Chapter 11 will shed some light on what that last scene was about...TheOGPokemonMaster knows what it's about, that's for sure. ...and yeah, if you couldn't tell already, these chapters are getting a lot darker and more brutal. Anabel's death was a lot more vivid than Looker's, that's for sure.

Hydra: Well I am very sorry it took this long we have our whole vision planned out on how we want this story to go. The only problem is the execution and events that lead up to the big points of the story are very hard to make and plan out I think a lot of other writers know what I'm talking about so I'm just asking you guys to bare with us don't worry because once we get further in it will be much easier to write.

Creator: With that, let's get ROOOOOOOOIIIGHT INTO THE REVIEEEEEWWWWS!

Armorshippingfan

"Good chapter I liked Ash's battle with Surge and I liked how Serena realized that if she wants to grow stronger she has to without relying on Ash all the time and I hope the Legendaries warn Ash about Necrozma and fast"

Creator: Our most loyal Reviewer, I cannot apologize enough for making you wait this long for such a short chapter. And yeah, the battle with Surge and Black was one of my personal favorites I've written, so thanks! ...Necrozma VS Three Birds and Lugia is still gonna be my fav for a while.

Hydra: I personally loved the chase scene in this chapter the most, but glad you liked the battle between Ash and Surge. I can tell you're probably gonna love what we have planned for the next chapter.

TeamPiperM

"Sorry. Guess I missed the last chapter! Anyway, great battle with Surge there! Sad he has to go, even if he called everyone "baby." Also, screw Christopher Lee...though it's awfully convenient of him to show up again. I'm starting to think that he's a more than a rambling buffoon…"

Creator: Eh, it's no problem, man. Chapter 7 wasn't much to look at. And yeah, I wanted to make all the Gym Leaders seem lovable before sending them off.

Hydra: ...that's an interesting hypothesis you have there.

Creator: Once again, we're incredibly sorry for the delay and we'll try to get the next chapter done much faster this time. When inspiration hits, inspiration hits, I guess. However, I am writing another, albeit shorter, story called One Punch SCP that focuses on Saitama and Genos from One Punch Man being captured by the SCP Foundation, but they escape during the events of Containment Breach. So, if you wanna read something during our downtime, there ya go. Oh, and remember to review! It speeds up a Chapter's progress, after all.

Hydra: I'm so very sorry for the delay I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as I've said before don't worry guys we know how we want the story to go, the only problem is describing the events leading up to the whole point of the fic. Once we get there it will be much easier to write and will greatly inspire us, but enough of that we hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and look forward to taking you guys on a long epic journey thank you for being patient with us and have a nice week.