Return to Mt. Silver

"So wait a moment, you used to have a Larvitar only you gave it up so that it could be reunited with his family?" Marnie questioned while the group walked up the path leading to Mt. Silver, having taken the first flight to the Johto region they could upon Ash hearing that his old friend was in trouble.

"He was just a baby and the family had been separated thanks to some poachers, I was simply reuniting the family and bringing the mom some closure." Ash stated.

"Still that's some luck of yours, I've wanted a Tyranitar my whole life and you easily could have had one of your own!" Marnie exclaimed.

"Family is important though, if Ash had taken Larvitar so soon after reuniting with it the mother likely would have viewed him no different than the poachers. Ash made the right decision, they've probably had a happy life together." Zach stated as he walked with his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, Raboot copying her trainer's actions by hiding her paws in a tuft of fur on her stomach as she walked alongside him.

"Yeah I couldn't do that to them, I mean the thought did cross my mind at several points over the years wondering how different life would be had Larvitar joined my team but I don't regret my actions in the slightest. Larvitar deserved to be happy!"

"Hopefully he's okay, we've been running across some dangerous Team Rocket agents lately. Heck one tried murdering me and Zach by bringing down a mountain on top of us!" Chloe exclaimed with a look of concern as she looked ahead.

"I'm sure he's fine, I've dealt with Domino before and I can assure you that she's no murderer."

"So how do we go about finding Larvitar? Mt. Silver's an awfully big place and he's quite small!" Zach pointed out as he motioned towards the massive mountain with his hands, the top half of the mountain area was covered in snow and ice making it doubtful that he was up there but there was still a vast amount of space to maneuver through in order to find him.

"Well it could also be a Tyranitar or Pupitar by now," Ash pointed out before looking down at his Pokeball. "I was actually thinking that Charizard and Corvisquire could fly through the skies. They could cover a large amount of ground and move faster than any of us possibly could, we'll still look on the ground though in case their search turns up blank!"

Charizard and Corvisquire were soon released from their Pokeballs and turned to face their trainers as they were instructed to search for a member of the Larvitar family and report back if they found anything. Zach had to show pictures from his Pokedex app to Corvisquire though as the bird merely tilted his head in confusion before shortly letting out an understanding caw as he took off and joined Charizard in his search. The two Flying types soared through the air and kept their gazes focused upon the ground below. A harsh breeze of cold mountain air cause Corvisquire to become overwhelmed and bring him off course, the raven being brought right up into the snow covered mountains as he wasn't strong enough to fight the breeze until it came to a halt. Luck turned out in his favor however as he saw a Tyranitar defending the path up the mountain and currently under attack by two figures dressed in black.

"Corvi!" Corvisquire quickly flew back to the group and began frantically exclaiming what he saw while motioning with his wings towards the tip of the mountain.

"You found him?!" Ash shouted with a look of relief, Charizard let out an annoyed snort at the small bird one upping him in the search.

"Lead the way, Corvisquire!" The raven nodded before taking to the skies above once more, setting course to where it had seen Tyranitar and leading them further up the mountain.


"This Tyranitar sure is fighting harder than the rest, it must have a really strong spirit!" Domino smirked. "Petal Dance!"

"Rose!" A Roserade cried out before spinning in place as pink petals fired out out of flowers and spiraled towards Tyranitar. The Rock/Dark type was finally brought to it's knees as it grunted out from pain. Domino recalled Roserade as she saw it no longer a threat but her partner continued the assault.

"Time to make sure that he no longer interferes, can't risk him interfering again and Articuno getting away!" Sasuke threw out his arm while a sadistic look could be visible beneath his ninja garb. "Shedinja use Solar Beam!"

"Shedinja!" His partner began glowing bright green before shortly unleashing the bright solar energy upon Tyranitar who was too tired and weakened to avoid the attack. Domino gasped and covered up her eyes, a sudden breeze came swooping by her followed by a loud thud as Charizard had landed in front of Tyranitar and took the blow for him. Sasuke's eyes widened from surprise at the sight and was prepared to order out another attack before Raboot came rushing in and delivered a fiery kick to the back of Shedinja's body, knocking the Pokemon out cold!

"Tyranitar!" Ash shouted as the humans had caught up to the Pokemon, his words had gotten Tyranitar's attention as he looked towards Ash and smirked from recognition. He never imagined that he'd see Ash again!

"I don't like this, it's too risky. We should call this off, they've got the numbers advantage and one is Ash freaking Ketchum! He's dealt a blow to several of our organization's members, I suggest we retreat!" Ash raised an eyebrow from her words before recalling that while he remembered her, Domino would have no recollection at all due to Mewtwo wiping her and the other agents mind. Only him, Brock, Misty and the Rocket trio remembered the events along with their Pokemon!

"Afraid of some kids? They're hardly adults at all!" Sasuke grabbed another Pokeball from his belt and threw it forward. "But if you insist, I've got a way to wipe them out in seconds!" An Electrode burst out with a smirk upon it's face as it turned to face his trainer.

"Sasuke... what are you doing?" Domino asked with a look of fear as she dreaded his choice of words for a Pokemon like that.

"Explosion!" Electrode's body ignited and cast off a huge explosion, causing the mountain above and beneath them to begin rumbling before quickly coming down and knocking them all off their feet and sending them down the mountain!

Domino let out a pained grunt as she laid trapped beneath the snow, feeling her consciousness begin to fade away from her. Sasuke was quick to recover as he was already on his feet, no sign of the twerps were anywhere. "Sasuke..." Domino reached out with her arm, hoping for him to come and help pull her out. The Rocket ninja turned to face her with narrowed eyes before letting out an annoyed humph and leaving her behind. Domino felt rage flowing through her, wanting to scream and curse at her partner for abandoning her but found she lacked the ability to do so as her consciousness soon left her.


"Charr!" Charizard had freed himself rather quickly and began frantically searching for his trainer before spotting him being carried away by the weakened Tyranitar who had found him first, the boy unconscious within the creatures arms. Charizard landed with a growl as he tried asking him to drop Ash and preserve his strength while wanting to personally check on his trainer. Tyranitar shook his head as he looked up at the sky, a harsh storm could be seen forming in the sky above and Tyranitar motioned towards a nearby cave as he suggested they take shelter. Charizard let out an annoyed grunt as he wanted to help Ash's friends but knew it wouldn't do much good if Ash didn't make it either. Choosing to follow Tyranitar into the cave.


Marnie held her head as she began waking up, luckily for her she had managed to end up in a small blanket of snow and easily managed to push out of it. She gazed around and hoped to locate the others before quickly pulling back and hiding in the shadows as she heard the voice of one of the Rocket agents.

"All is going to plan, sir. Soon enough you'll have all three birds in your collection!"

"Excellent!" Zager's voice could be heard on the other line of the device. "Don't dally, get that Articuno stat! I'm quite eager to perform the experiment on them!"

Marnie gasped out before holding her and Morpeko's mouth as Sasuke paused and looked in their direction with narrowed eyes before eventually shrugging it off and continuing the trek up the mountain.

"I know we oughtta look for Ash and the others but this sounds bad, we can't let them take Articuno!" She had a feeling that they were safe anyways, Ash had Charizard and Raboot was close enough to Zach and Chloe that she could break them out. She quickly followed him up the mountain but kept her distance as she didn't want to alert him to her presence until Articuno had gotten away!


"Ra!" Raboot's body encased in flames as she raced around the area, burrowing through the snow and digging her friends out. Lucario gasped for air before frantically looking around and making a mad dash for their trainer, pointing with his paw at a snow bank for Raboot to rush through next as the rabbit soon followed through. Zach let out a cough before pulling Chloe out along with them, the two were a close enough distance that they managed to grab each other in the mere seconds they had, knowing that it was smarter to wind up together rather than get separated.

"Blizzard's coming in, we should find shelter..." Chloe stated as she looked towards the dark cloudy sky above them while Raboot helped Eevee out of the snow.

"Right, Lucario see any shelter nearby?" Zach turned to his faithful partner Pokemon who quickly nodded in response as he pointed a bit further up the hillside.

"Carrr!"

"A cave, perfect!" Zach waved Chloe on to follow them before suddenly stopping as he noticed Domino's body trapped within the snow nearby, she was clearly unconscious from the look of things but if she didn't get warm soon she'd likely die! "We can't leave her."

"Huh, what are you saying? Her friend just tried to kill us all, why should we trust her?!"

"She didn't, besides we'd be condemning her to death. You want that on your conscious? I thought I accidentally killed somebody and the thought haunted me immediately!" Zach exclaimed while recalling the Porygon incident. Chloe went silent for a moment before eventually nodding her head in agreement.

"You're right, we're better than that. Let's get her into the cave."


"Articuno!" Sasuke stood atop the mountain, a Scizor stood by his side as they looked towards the storming sky above. "I know you're out here, probably going restless at the thought of the stranded civilians anticipating rescue... but I've got something that is sure to get your attention far more than they!" The ninja placed two feathers upon the icy ground, one had an intense flame while the other shot off electricity. "Look familiar? We've got Zapdos and Moltres, if you want to rescue them I suggest you come and face me!"

"Arrrr!" Articuno shot from the sky with an enraged expression, firing beams of ice from her mouth while Sasuke nimbly dodged them with surprising speed for a human before turning his head to face Scizor, lightly nodding as he signaled the attack! Scizor nodded back before crossing his arms as they began glowing bright blue, the Bug flew towards Articuno and prepared to strike before Grimmsnarl let out a loud roar and tackled Scizor to the ground, pinning him down as Marnie appeared.

"Ya thought you could take Articuno? We ain't gonna make that easy for ya!" Marnie shouted out. Sasuke turned towards the girl and let out a laugh, causing her to step back a bit as she didn't expect him to do so.

"Foolish girl, I'm a ninja! You honestly thought I didn't know you were there? Scizor was nothing but a decoy, the real attack is over there!"

A Marowak slammed it's bone club against the icy ground as large rock pillars burst out and struck Articuno from beneath! The Ice/Flying legendary letting out a cry from the critical blow before an electrical attack was launched, zapping Articuno as either the same or a different Electrode had appeared and gave the legendary a powerful shock, causing her to go falling towards the ground before landing in a defeated heap, snow was kicked up into the air, blinding Marnie as Grimmsnarl rushed over to her and took a protective stance before letting a threatening growl out at Sasuke.

"Mission accomplished!" The ninja trainer smirked as he threw a Rocket Ball at Articuno, the bird disappeared in a sinister purple ray of light as the ball hit the ground and began shaking. "No point in sticking around!"

"Hey where do ya think you're going-?!" Sasuke threw down a smoke pellet causing Marnie and her Pokemon to begin coughing. As the smoke cleared up Marnie could see that she had failed, the trainer had gotten away with Articuno!

Marnie kicked the ground with a furious expression, enraged at herself. Perhaps if she had simply gone to find backup instead of pulling a Zach move and trying to handle it on her own then Articuno would possibly be safe! Who knows what Team Rocket would be doing to the poor creature now that they had their dirty hands on it!

"Holy s-Ash!" Marnie's eyes widened as she quickly rushed down the mountain, realizing that although her gut said that they were okay didn't necessarily mean that her friends were okay!


"Ugh," Domino groaned as she started to stir.

"She's waking up!" Chloe couldn't help but have a panicked tone as she saw the Rocket agent waking up, Zach placed his hand on Chloe's shoulder before nodding to Lucario. If Domino tried anything then Lucario would quickly restrain her.

"W-Where am I...? Sasuke did you come bac-?" Domino's eyes widened upon realizing that it hadn't been her partner. Instead it was the so called 'kids' that Sasuke had tried killing with an avalanche! But they saved her...?

Domino narrowed her eyes before Chloe approached with a nervous yet kind smile as she offered her a bowl of food. "Soup? I-It'll warm you up! I-I didn't have much to go with but Raboot's fire did enough to warm up the cave and cook up a warm meal!"

Domino kept on alert, wondering if they were playing some sick game on her but her stomach ended up winning resulting in her taking the soup before eagerly digging into it.

"So which of you... saved me?" Domino asked between sips, her body had laxened up some as she seemed to sense that these two didn't seem to have any mean bones in their body to be found. They were simply nice... for the heck of it? Domino couldn't help but feel guilt over her partner's attempt at killing them.

"That'd be me, so why were you attacking Tyranitar if you don't mind me asking?" Zach asked, curious as to what their actions were.

"We-I'm afraid I can't answer." Though Domino looked unsure as she thought back to Team Rocket's plans for the legendary. The plans to make... an abomination! Domino shivered before shaking her head, not want to worry those two with the truth. After all what were the chances that they'd meet it?

"Hm, fair enough I guess. Well so long as you don't attack us, we won't attack you. Truce?" Zach held out his hand as he offered Domino a truce, the Rocket agent stared at his hand for a moment before taking it with a light nod.

"Truce!"


"Tyrani!" Tyranitar began looking exhausted, not taking a single moment's rest as he spent the past few hours awake and eyes full of worry for Ash as he laid unconscious by the fire. Tending to Ash and making sure that he stayed warm by the fire that Charizard had lit within their own cave, had either group bothered venturing deep enough they'd discover they were practically sitting on the other as the caves were part of a connecting system!

Charizard gazed at Tyranitar with concern before offering him a Sitrus berry with a light growl. Tyranitar looked at the berry and glanced back at Charizard before accepting it, uttering out a growl of appreciation as Charizard smiled. Ash soon began to stir as he and Pikachu awakened from their slumber. "Charizard...? Tyranitar...?"

"Char!" Charizard gave Ash an affectionate lick while Tyranitar let off a warm smile before hugging Ash.

"Tyranitar!"

"I-It's good to see you too, buddy! How's life been treating you? Well aside from being all grown up of course!" Ash chuckled. Tyranitar began waving his arms about as he talked about his actions over the past few years, Ash didn't understand a single word but he listened with a kind and caring smile upon his face. "That sounds very interesting, I'm glad you had a good life here. I've actually been busy myself, I beat the Kanto branch of the Battle Frontier, won the Alola League, met some amazing people and caught some equally amazing and incredible Pokemon over the years, and I'm still working on becoming a Pokemon Master! Right now I'm participating in the Pokemon World Championship and doing quite well though I've still got a ways to go before I hope to stand a chance against the likes of Cynthia and Lance."

Tyranitar listened with a warm smile before letting off a friendly sounding growl as he looked towards Ash's belt. Ash didn't seem to catch the hint but Pikachu sure did, his ears flicked before a smile crossed his face. "Pika pika!"

"Wait-Tyranitar, you want to join me? A-After all these years?" Ash couldn't help but stammer out, a few tears forming from his eyes followed by a large smile as Tyranitar nodded his head and let out a roar!

"Alright then, I'll catch you but I won't be seeing you right away as I've got a full team. I'll get you back as soon as I can though!" Ash produced an empty Pokeball and held it out, Tyranitar uttered an excited roar before tapping it with his hand, disappearing into the Pokeball moments afterwards as it hit the cave floor and shook immediately to reveal the capture.

"Alright we just caught Larvitar-er Tyranitar!" Ash messed up in his excitement but didn't much care for his mistake as him and Pikachu gazed towards one another with an excited expression as they were eager to get reacquainted with their old friend as soon as the blizzard died out.


Domino stood up once the blizzard had cleared up, not saying any parting words to Zach and Chloe as she left the two sleeping by the fire. Raboot woke up a few seconds later and took a look outside before excitedly crying out to get their attention, causing the two to stir before standing up and looking outside.

"The blizzard is gone!" Chloe exclaimed.

"Let's find the others, I've had enough of snow for awhile." Zach shook, being trapped in snow twice within the same month wasn't fun! They began walking down the mountain right before Marnie stumbled across them.

"There ya are, I've been looking for ya-wait where's Ash?!" Marnie's face quickly turned to that of a panicked expression as she looked around.

"We thought he was with you." Zach replied before taking a quick glance around and noticing Ash exiting a cave nearby with Pikachu and Toxel following him out. "There he is-!"

"Ash!" Marnie raced towards Ash before springing her arms around him and pulling him into a tight hug! Ash returned the hug, not thinking much of it.

"It's good to see you too Marnie, I was worried for you. All of you." He looked towards the others before looking back at her. "I think we should go, who knows when another blizzard will form." Marnie nodded her head in agreement before glancing back at the mountaintop with a regretful glance. Hopefully nothing bad was happening to Articuno...


Arlo and Sierra watched on as Sasuke entered Zager's lab, the ninja trainer soon dropping the Rocket Ball upon the mad scientist's desk as the two admins turned to each other with a wicked smirk upon seeing that their operation was a success! Zager grabbed the Rocket Ball and examined it before nodding in approval as he walked towards a strange device with a rather massive glass container linked to it via the Pokeball transfer tube. The balls containing Moltres and Zapdos sat on the machine and were soon joined by Articuno as Zager let out a mad laugh.

"This is the grand beginning of a new Team Rocket, once our new Pokemon is ready nothing will stop it! We'll be able to capture Lugia with ease and begin operation XD001!"

Domino rushed into the room, panting and breathing heavily as her uniform was still wet from the snow. She glared at Sasuke but he didn't even acknowledge her. "You left me for dead, asshole!"

Sasuke turned to her and waved it off. Neither Arlo nor Sierra seemed to care either. "So what? The mission comes first!" Arlo stated.

"Whatever the cost." Sierra added.

Domino clenched her fists as she quickly realized that nobody actually gave a damn about anyone other than themselves and the Boss himself in the organization.

"Silence!" Zager rubbed his hands together before pulling a switch, a large blinding light filled the lab and temporarily blinded the five Rocket members as the three birds could briefly be seen standing side by side before they started morphing together and uttering out a cry of agonizing pain that pierced Domino's heart, she flinched and covered her ears in an attempt to block it out. The light soon faded and only one Pokemon remained, it had the heads of the three birds much like a Dodrio but the body was a fusion of all three! Domino began feeling sick while the others looked on with glee and sadistic looks as Zager produced a glass.

"I propose a toast to my newest creation, Thu-Fi-Zer!" The others clinked glasses against Zager's as the man continued. "In just two weeks this Pokemon will be ready to take to the field, I want you all to go ahead to Fula City and get ready for our operation. It won't be long until we're ready to strike and Lugia will be ours!"

Much like the classic manga the birds have become fused. The bad guys have been winning a lot lately but will the wind change and allow Ash and his friends to save the birds along with preventing Lugia's capture? Or will XD001 become unleashed upon Fula City? Next up the Power of Us arc!