Last Time, Ash and the gang talk to Servine about her past, after drawing some disturbing images, she goes into the forest to reflect, and asks that no one comes, Emolga doesn't listen and instead gives Servine a mini therapy session, after a lengthy conversation Servine decides that she's going to try to reform Derik so that the world will be less punishing on him, she has no idea how, but she'll try, meanwhile Derik confronts Volcarona about her behavior and ends us abusing her, surprising she's proud of it, but Derik begins to doubt his own pokemon's goodness.
Up in Twist Mountain…
Missile was standing on a cliff edge, using a pair of binoculars he saw a helicopter embedded with Rocket's signature R approaching him through the freezing blizzard.
"Derik, long time no see" A familiar talking Meowth said, as he opened the doors. "Jeez what happened to your face?"
"I don't feel like talking about it" Missile said.
"Where have you been these past few weeks?" Jessie asked.
"We were just told of your presence up here in these freezing peaks" James said, he was piloting the chopper.
"And they're not getting any warmer, so I'd like to get out of here as soon as I can" Missile said, he took a seat in the back.
"Well alright then, let's get out of here" James said. "As soon as I figure out where we are"
"Ugh, I don't miss this" Missile said, face palming.
Meanwhile with Ash and the gang…
"Wow we've been walking for four hours and none of us have gotten hungry" Cilan said.
"And my feet are getting tired" Iris said. "And you're wrong, because my stomach's starting to growl, when can we rest?"
"Not right now, Opelucid City's at least a couple days walk from now" Cilan explained.
"Well actually" Ash said.
"Oh please tell me you're hungry so we can sit down and eat" Iris begged.
"I'd like to get some training in before we get there, so let's stop" Ash said.
"I guess that means I don't have to cook anything right now" Cilan said, sounding rather pleased.
"No! I beg of you! Cook something! Anything!" Iris said, getting down on her knees.
"Well if you insist, I guess I could" Cilan said, backing up a bit.
Ash, Iris, and Cilan sent out their pokemon, Ash's and a few others trained, while everyone else did various things.
Cilan cooked some food just for Iris, much to his annoyance, but she didn't really gobble it up like he expected.
"Aren't you hungry?" Cilan asked.
"Not really" Iris said.
"What?! I mean why not? You did say you were"
"Well, to be honest I only really did that so we'd take a break and we'd go to Opelucid later, if only by a little bit"
"Oh why's that? Why don't you want to go to Opelucid so much?" Cilan asked. "It's your hometown isn't it?"
"Yeah, but the reason why I left is why I don't want to come back" Iris explained.
"Oh, then why did you leave?"
"I guess it all started back when me and Excadrill won that battle competition, and then proceeded to lose to Drayden" Iris explained.
*flashback*
"Excadrill!" Iris called for her defeated pokemon, running up to care for him.
"Haxorus return" Drayden said, returning his shiny Haxorus. "Hmm, well you certainly tried your best"
"Thanks, but I still lost" Iris said.
"You're strong, but not fully mature, I think I know how you can improve, visit my hut tomorrow I have someone you would like to meet" Drayden said, before walking away.
Tomorrow came, and Iris went to Drayden's hut, she first knocked on his door.
"Ah Iris you came, come on" Drayden said, letting the little girl within his home.
Inside she saw someone, someone she recognized. "You're the village elder" Iris said, surprised.
"Indeed I am, and I have been made aware of your prowess in raising pokemon" She said. "That Excadrill you raised was once a hooligan around these parts, and you turned him into a hero"
"Thanks, it was more Excadrill than me though" Iris said. "I just cared for, and trusted him that's all"
"In fact those attitudes are just why I think you'd be the perfect fit for this" The Elder brought around an egg, it wasn't glowing in the slightest, it was probably recently layed.
"It was one of my Haxorus' eggs" Drayden said. "No one else wanted to take it, but after seeing you battle today, she requested to give it to you"
"Me? Take care of a pokemon? An Axew at that!? I'm sorry I don't think I can" Iris said, nervous to accept the gift.
"Oh come on, we know you can do it" The Elder reassured.
"I'm sure you'll do great, and raise a wonderful Haxorus of your own" Drayden added.
"Well, alright then" Iris said, taking the egg within her arms.
"Now, go out there and raise that little Axew to become a big great Haxorus" Said the Elder.
"Okay!" Iris said, not really sure about this.
*flashback end*
"Oh so that's how you first met Axew" Cilan said.
"Yeah, right away I was given the task to raise him to become super strong, but" Iris paused for a bit, looking to see the little dragon type trip and fall while chasing Petilil. "I'm not sure he's really gotten there yet"
"What do you mean, he's a great pokemon, beaten many powerful opponents, learned plenty of moves" Cilan continued, his evaluation skills really shining through.
"Yeah but, he's still an Axew, I know dragon types, especially the Haxorus line, can take a while to evolve, but I've had him for many years now, surely he'd be a Fraxure by now" Iris said.
"Oh I see" Cilan said.
"I guess that's the reason I decided to leave the village in the first place, and thus Axew never really got to know his mother, I think he sees me as more of his mom, a mom who can't even raise him to be half as strong as his real mother was"
"Hey don't say that, we all start from somewhere, so what if Axew hasn't evolved yet, he'll get there eventually, you just gotta work hard and believe in your pokemon"
"Yeah I guess, but I still can't shake the feeling that Axew would've grown a lot faster if he was with his mother instead of me, you know?"
"Is that why you're scared of going back then?"
"Yeah, not only will Drayden and the Elder be disappointed to see an unevolved Axew, Axew will be disappointed that he could've gotten much stronger if he wasn't with me!"
"Axew doesn't think that way, he'll still see you as his trainer, friend, and, I guess, mother even after he's evolved into a Haxorus" Cilan said.
"But that's what happened with Excadrill" Iris rebutted. "He lost faith in me when he saw a flaw in my training, and he disobeyed me until recently, the only thing stopping Axew from doing the same is his lack of experience, he's only really ever trained with me, and no else, well other than Ash I guess" Axew and Braviary were training together, Ash and others cheer them on.
"I see now, you're not scared because you're afraid you'll disappoint everybody, but because Axew might leave you" Cilan examined.
"Heh, you got me there, that could be a reason, no that could be the reason, I've grown attached to Axew, I've known him ever since he was born, and he's been with me ever since"
*flashback*
*gasp* "The egg it's shaking!" Iris said, quickly she got out the egg from her bag, to find it truly dazzling, Iris also sent out Excadrill so he could watch to.
'Hmm so you can care about stuff, just not me' Of course at this point they hadn't made up yet, so Excadrill was too uninterested to keep watching.
"It's hatching!" Iris said, eyes shimmering.
The egg morphed into a rounded creature with a large protrusion on its head, it had two large spikes protruding from its jaws, and it had red eyes. "Axew?"
Iris brimmed with excitement and could hardly keep in a shout. "You're so cute!" Iris said, hugging the newly hatched dragon closely.
"Axe!" Axew yelped, unable to form coherent words in pokespeech anyway, the little dragon was caught off of guard, but he still liked the hug anyway.
'Tch she'll just end up not listening to it either' Excadrill said, turning away.
"You and me Axew we're gonna be best of friends" Iris said.
'F- Fwen?'
'That's not quite it, little dragon' Excadrill said, unamused.
"I'd better show Drayden and the Elder" Iris said.
Later…
"Heh heh, I'd knew you'd be right for him, he's bonded with you immediately" The Elder said. "Who wants an Oran berry? Do you want an Oran berry? Oh yes you do" The Elder played with Axew a bit, giving him an Oran berry.
"Haxorus will be very pleased indeed" Drayden said. "If you don't mind I'll let her out for bit okay?"
"Uh, yeah sure" Iris said, Drayden released his Haxorus, she roared loudly, her pure black form dominating the sky, Axew was a bit scared, but his fear quickly turned into admiration.
'Mommy!' Axew said, recognizing his mother almost immediately.
'My little son, you've hatched already, I'm so proud' Haxorus said, nuzzling her offspring closely, Axew return the affection.
For some strange reason Iris felt unnerved by this interaction. What is this feeling? Why do I feel defensive, she's not hurting him at all, what am I doing?
"Iris? Are you okay? You seem dazed" Drayden said, noticing Iris' nervousness.
"Oh it's nothing" Iris said, why was she feeling this way, so selfish?
Eventually after some time Iris and Axew left, although Axew was a bit reluctant, they said their goodbyes and headed home.
*flashback end*
"Ever since that day, me and Axew were always together when we had the choice, but I think in doing so, he's been falling behind a bit" Iris said.
"Oh well, he's being with others now right?" Cilan said.
"Yeah, him and Braviary are practically best friends, and he's getting along with everyone else too" Iris said. "Maybe I was the one in the wrong, maybe I was too determined to make Axew strong"
"What do you mean by that?"
"What I mean is, what if it's best, if I gave Axew away" Iris said.
"What!? But he's still young, and I'm sure he still likes you" Cilan rebutted.
"When I get to Opelucid, I think he might be better off staying there with his mother, Drayden, and the Elder, they all have raised dragons before, and they've done a wonderful job at it, meanwhile I couldn't even get Axew to evolve by one stage, let alone all the way to a Haxorus, I just let everyone down, Axew included, he would be much better off with some real dragon masters, not some wanna be dragon master like me" Iris said, she watched Axew run around and play, they had gotten so close, but letting him go just seemed like the best thing to do.
"Well Iris, it's up to you I suppose" Cilan said, breaking the silence. "I just want you to know that you're a great trainer, and there's nothing anyone can do to change that"
"Thanks Cilan" Iris said, they both got up to train with the others.
Somewhere, far up north…
There was a large facility built into a cliffside, it was well protected with pokemon, lasers, doors, and plenty of Rocket grunts.
"This is the Team Rocket Trio, requesting entry into base" Jessie said from the helicopter transceiver.
"You are clear to land, open up the gates!" An admin responded, the base opened up, and the helicopter flew in.
Giovanni was waiting for them inside the base. "Missile have you gotten the item I requested?"
"Safe and sound sir" Missile responded.
"Good, come with me" Giovanni said, he lead Missile into the top office. "Now show me it"
Missile brought out the Light Stone, still glowing, and still broken, the other half was nearby. "Here it is"
"Perfect" Giovanni brought out his part of the stone, and joined the two parts together to form the Light Stone. "Heheh, Hahaha, HAWHAWHAWHAW! We have it Reshiram is within our reach!"
"How do we awaken it then? Right now it's just a stone" Missile said.
"I'm getting to that, according to our sources we need to perform a ritual, one that involves a certain group of pokemon which we currently do not have in our possession"
"And who would they be?" Missile asked.
"Why of course it's those genies you failed to capture" Giovanni said, turning away in disappointment. "Thanks to your incompetence we need to find another way to capture them"
Missile frowned. "Well, what's the plan then?"
"It's actually the exact same now compared to before you failed, it'll just be a bit harder" Giovanni turned on a screen. "This is Meloetta, a Mythical pokemon we had in our possesion, there's said to only be one in the whole world, it is said to be able to uncover the hidden undersea temple, in said temple is a piece of glass, this glass has special properties, it can call the forces of nature to who ever holds it up, not only that but it can also transform them to their more powerful therian forms. Once they have transformed, they can used their combined strength to reawaken Reshiram, then from there, Team Rocket will take over to entire Unova region, and eventually the entire world!"
"So this is your master plan? Then why are you telling me all this, especially right now?" Missile asked.
"Well that Meloetta I mentioned earlier, well, it's escaped" Giovanni said. "Yeah that's right, it broke free of our capture systems and is currently roaming the Unova region, we predict that it fled south, and is heading towards the east side of Unova"
"So then, you want me to recapture it?" Missile asked.
"Why yes, of course, once Meloetta is back in our possession, we can begin world domination! There's only one problem with that"
"And that would be"
"Team Plasma, they're doing their own evil thing, and there's a chance they could mess everything up" Giovanni said. "It doesn't help that we have no way to control pokemon like they do"
"So what should we do then?" Missile asked.
"Meloetta is a higher priority, the more we sit around and wait, the more it can hide, I want you Missile to focus on that, as for Team Plasma, well I'll send over a few spies over, specifically three of them"
"You're not talking about those dolts are you?" Missile asked.
"It's none of your business, you are dismissed" Giovanni said, Missile left the office without much resistance, soon after he left, he heard this on the loudspeakers. "May James, Jessie, and Meowth come to the top office?"
"I just had to say it!" Missile said, face faulting.
Back to Ash and the gang…
"Alright keep it up!" Ash cheered, Whirlipede and Braviary were having a battle.
'Go Ruffie!' Axew cried out.
"This battle's really intense" Cilan observed.
Braviary shot forwards with an Air Slash, which Whirlipede dodged.
She retaliated with Rollout, striking Braviary twice.
Braviary goes for one more Air Slash, striking Whirlipede.
'Come on Whirlipede you got this!' Shouted Dewott.
Whirlipede went for a Twineedle, hitting Braviary twice.
Braviary shot back with Shadow Claw, knocking the bug type back.
'Who's gonna win? I can't tell!' Petilil said, jumpy as always.
Whirlipede rammed into Braviary with Puruit, but the bird was still standing.
Braviary slammed down on Whirlipede with a Superpower, Whirlipede was unable to get up, ending the battle.
'Well that was still fun' Whirlipede said, lying down on the ground.
'Yeah! Ruffie won!' Axew said, coming up to hug the bird, which Braviary returned.
"Hmm, he really has grown hasn't he" Iris said, looking at the pokemon she raised for so long. Maybe going back to Opelucid won't be so bad, maybe I didn't fail after all, maybe we can grow stronger together, and stay friends, forever. We've always been at each other's side, but maybe it's time for us to go our separate ways, if it's for the best.
*flashback*
"Excadrill why won't you listen to me?" Iris said, clutching his ball, stranded far from home in a cold rainy night, with only two pokemon, one of which wouldn't even listen to her.
'Iris? Are you okay' Axew asked, worried. 'I'll make sure you're okay' Axew said, snuggling up to his trainer.
"I'm okay now at least, with you, there's nothing I can't do" Iris rubbed Axew's back, and he drifted off to sleep. "If only I was a better trainer, then maybe I could give you the life you deserve, but for now, it's just us three"
*flashback, yeah we're having a flashback in a flashback*
"Well Iris, if you're absolutely sure" Drayden said.
"The outside world can be a dangerous place you know" Said the Elder.
"Yeah, but I've got to travel the world, and really become a dragon master" Iris said.
'Well take good care of Axew for me please' Haxorus said.
"Don't worry I'll take care of Axew too, he'll come back a mighty Haxorus, I swear it!" Iris said.
"Well just know that no matter who you come back as, you'll always be welcome here" Drayden said.
"Alright, well I've got to go, I'll come back much stronger, bye!"
*flashback within a flashback end*
"If only I knew how hard that would be" Iris said, before drifting off into the dream world.