Thanks once again to all who reviewed the last chapter:

Queen of the Sacred Flames: Thanks. (returns the salute) Although this chapter contains no fighting, it should be good.

You wanted it, so here it is, another installment of…

BKA:

The Big Plot:

Ash and Yugi's Big Chance


Chapter 4—The First Briefing: Assessing the Damage
As Bernie, Ash, Joey, and Yugi drove back to tell the others the bad news, Bernie, now in the back seat, held out May's glove, as he lamented on his failure. /I couldn't save you two once, and I'll make sure that doesn't happen again./ he thought as they made their way down Interstate 80.

Ash, from the passenger side, noticed how down Bernie had looked, and he turned his head and asked, "Are you okay, Bern?"

"What?" Bernie said, looking up. "Oh, I'm okay. I'm just worried."

"Same here, Bernie." Yugi said from Bernie's side. "With what I've read in the reports about Team Rocket, and what they're capable of, who knows what they'll do."

That's true, a voice from within Yugi's head, which was the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, Yami. And based on what they did prior to the capture, I'm not surprised that we find out that our enemy is involved.

What do you mean, Pharaoh? Yugi asked his alter ego, confused. Are you talking about Marik and the Rare Hunters? Butch and Cassidy didn't even try in that duel.

They didn't need to, Yugi. The former ruler of Egypt stated. That duel was merely a diversion. They only needed to divert our attention long enough, so we would let our guard down, and so they could pounce.

But what does Marik stand to gain from capturing May and Max? Yugi asked him.

I'm not quite sure yet, Yugi. But from what I can deduce, this capture will only be the first of many, if we don't find where they have taken our friends, and stop them. And with that, their mental conversation ended with Bernie asking Yugi, "What do you think about what happened?"

"What was that?" Yugi asked the Chief. "Oh, about the duel, has Team Rocket ever joined forces with another enemy organization before?"

"Nope, and I'm beginning to suspect that a bad-guy team up just happened." Bernie said, as they pulled off 80 and into Totowa.


Meanwhile, back at the base, Tristan, Duke and Brock were busy doing whatever they could to kill one another in Halo, the 4 other girls were busy having girl-talk with one another, Mokuba was watching TV, and Kaiba was checking his company's stocks on his laptop computer, when an alarm suddenly sounded, filling the entire house with sirens and red and blue flashing lights.

"Is this a fire drill?" Mokuba asked, shouting to be heard over the noise, which was heard by Tristan as he came into the living room.

"As Bernie might say, Mokuba, 'This is far worse than a simple staged incendiary evacuation procedure.'" Tristan said, trying his best to sound intelligent, as the 4 girls entered the room.

"Well, whatever it is, we know it's bad enough to earn a Purple Priority Alert, so it has to be serious." Misty said, pointing to the light indicators, showing that the red and blue lights were flashing. "Every officer to the Briefing Room! I'm sure we'll all find out what's going on in there." And with that, the others followed Misty towards the elevator which would lead them to Level B.

Once they got to the Briefing Room and took their seats, they found that no one was there. After a while, they all began to believe this was a false alarm, but those thoughts quickly subsided when Bernie came through the doors, covered in scratches and bruises, followed by Yugi, Joey, and Ash. The 4 went up to the stage, with Bernie standing at the podium.

"I come to you with dire news," Bernie said. "May and Max have been kidnapped." And everyone but the 4 in the front gasped.

"No way!" Tristan said in awe.

"How did it happen?" Duke asked, angrily. "You guys were right there!"

"I agree with Devlin, it seems you're losing your touch, Byrne." Kaiba said, although not showing his worry in his voice.

"I know you all are pretty upset by these turn of events," Bernie said. "But we did witness who took them, and it was none other than Butch and Cassidy of Team Rocket."

"Impossible!" Brock shouted. "Ash, Misty, and I put them away years ago!"

"Well, guess what, Brock: They're back!" Ash said to his friend, which seemed to calm him.

"All right, there's more: how it happened." Bernie continued. "To start off, the terrible twosome challenged May and Max to a Duel Monsters game." This statement raised a few eyebrows among the group, and then Misty stood up.

"Wait, a Duel Monsters game? They specialize in Pokemon, since when were they duelists?" she said, confused, as were the rest of the group.

"Not sure, but I'm beginning to suspect that our biggest foes are now one team, Team Rocket and the Rare Hunters, I mean." Bernie stated, turning to the large computer display. "Thanks to A.L.E.C., we can track where they went. All right, A.L.E.C., time track. Officers: Sergeants Max and May Evans. Date: 15 August 2003." He ordered, and a Mercator projection map of the world appeared on the screen, showing a broken line from Dewford Island to Cerulean City to Domino to New York and New Jersey.

"Zoom in on northern New Jersey." Bernie said, and the northern half of Bernie's home state was boxed in, and this box took up the entire screen. The broken line, indicating where the two missing officers have been, went from the George Washington Bridge to Totowa to Wayne. "Zoom in on Wayne." He said, and the same process occurred, but this time, a town was involved. This zoom-in showed the broken line on the Newark-Pompton Turnpike and Willowbrook Boulevard, which was the route they took to get to Willowbrook Mall.

"That's our route." Bernie said, indicating the line, which he was following. "That's about where Butch and Cassidy grabbed them." He stated, indicating the point near the food court, though was not shown on the map. He kept on that line, hoping to follow Team Rocket's path. Unfortunately, it stopped at the parking lot of the mall, where they were thrown into their van.

"Shit." Bernie cursed, as he pulled his hand down from the screen. /Damn you, Rocket./ he thought. /But still, clever move. You figured out that my first move would be to use A.L.E.C. to find them and you, so you masked yourselves. No matter, that just means I'll have to take my game up a notch./ He then turned back to the rest of the officers. "Okay, according to A.L.E.C., there's no way of knowing where they are, so we'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way."

"How?" Duke said. "We're all on vacation."

"Not anymore. I called Krulan's office. We're back on active duty." Bernie said. "And I've already got a plan. First off, the most logical reason that May and Max haven't appeared on our maps is that Rocket's weakened their ComWatch's GPS signal, so we can't get it."

"Or they destroyed them." Mai said.

"Impossible!" Mokuba said. "Seto designed them to be virtually indestructible, and he said that included being bulletproof, shockproof, waterproof, and fireproof."

"True." The elder Kaiba said. "And I also doubt they found a more advanced technology, in order to destroy one of those things."

"That may be, but we don't know for sure." Bernie said. "Kaiba, you and Mokuba stay here tomorrow and try to strengthen the receivers and transmitters."

"Got it." The Kaiba brothers said.

"Tristan," Bernie said, continuing his plan, and as his name was said, he stood up. "Yes, sir?" he said. "You, Ash, Misty, and Brock will be in the situation room, discussing where they might be. I have no doubt in my mind that they're out of the state, because staying in Jersey is way too risky for them. If they went somewhere, it's probably a place that was friendly to them. No doubt it's one of their old base spots."

"Yes, Chief." The four said.

"The rest of you will break into teams of two. We'll check out every close-by airport, because I'm certain they left by air. I want the departing flight logs from each of these four: Newark, Teterboro, JFK, and LaGuardia. If there's one flight no airline cleared, I want to know about it." This was met with a group nod of understanding.

"Now I need you all to get some rest. I'm gonna need you all at the top of your game tomorrow. I know you two teams have never worked together before, but our enemies are now one. It will take everyone giving 110 percent to this mission to bring them down. I will see you all tomorrow morning. Until then, dismissed!" he said, as they got up from their seats, and filed out of the room.

Bernie then took a different route, as he headed to the gym. He changed into a tank top, and went straight to the punching bag. He started out just lightly punching it to get it started, but then went into more aggressive moves, including kicks, and his eyes like before, were bright blue, instead of hazel.

/You got lucky this time, Rocket./ he thought. /But mark my words, you won't be so lucky when you have to face me./ and then he hit the bag again with a glowing fist, knocking it clean off the hook on the ceiling, and then his Millennium Card began to glow again, meaning that BKAi Chief was awake again.

Well, he said, I'm not the kind of spirit who says 'I told you so', but… His thought was interrupted by a sharp pain in his head, caused by a swift flick to the Item. OWW! BERNIE! How many times have I told you not to…

Shut up, Chief, right now I'm not in the mood. Bernie said to the spirit, depressed. Because of my mistake, two officers went down tonight.

You'll get them back, Bernie. I have faith in you. He said, sensing Bernie's foul mood. Anyway, I sensed Bernard's energies activating again. What did it?

The fact that 'Botch' and 'Calamity' had Duel Discs set him off. Bernie mentioned.

Well, you may need him, if you're theory's correct. The 5000-year-old warrior said to his reincarnation, which was met with a harsh, What do you mean, 'may'? from a white-haired, purple-eyed spirit that was dressed similarly to Bernie, and had the Lightning Square symbol on his forehead. (If you don't know what that looks like, check the second chapter.)

I meant that even with his own skills, it's going to take a lot to take these people down, Bernard. BKAi Chief said to him.

What exactly has happened? The personification of Project BKA said in a gruff voice to the two.

May and Max got captured, and I believe Team Rocket and the Rare Hunters are both behind it. Bernie said to the two. And if we want to win, I need the both of you to put aside all animosities and work together. He said, which was met with a mutual nod from the spirits, and he closed the mind-link, and headed upstairs.


Meanwhile, elsewhere in the house, someone else was lamenting on their defeat, and that person was Ash. "I can't believe it! I was three damn feet away from them and I couldn't stop them! GOD DAMN IT!" he shouted as he punched the wall, attracting the attention of one Teá Gardner. "What's going on?" she said to him.

"Sorry, Teá. I'm just ticked off at myself for not running interference to those two." He said to her, which nearly brought him to tears. She brought him into a hug as he sobbed. "I just feel so helpless. I couldn't save them." He choked out, and Teá shook him, to help him regain his composure.

"Listen to me, Ash. You've stopped them before, and we sure as hell can beat them and the Rare Hunters, too!" she said with total confidence. "You just gotta believe you can."

"That's true. Where'd you pick that one up?" he asked, and she pointed to a quote on the wall that read:

Ya Gotta Believe!

-Frank "Tug" McGraw

"Oh." Ash said, dumbfounded, but feeling better nonetheless. "Thanks, Teá." He said to her.

"You're welcome, Ash." She said, smiling. She then walked over to Ash and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, making the trainer blush like a tomato. "Good night." She said to him.

"Good night." Ash said back as she left. Unknown to Ash or Teá, a certain redhead was glaring at the brunette as she saw their close interaction. (3 guesses who.)

Little did they know that someone else had heard every word…


Akon "Locked Up" (instrumental)

Butch and Cassidy had just brought the two young, and now bound, BKA officers to their base, when they received a tirade from their boss.

"WHAT!" Giovanni shouted. "You LOST? And not to mention the damage caused to one of the organization's vans, I should fire you! I'm tired of always cleaning after you and bailing you out of prison! You two are a small step above those idiots Jessie and James! I ought to…" His loud chastising of his lackeys was stopped by his young partner, Marik.

"Calm down, Giovanni." He said, gesturing to the two now locked up officers. "At least they provided a distraction, which was all they were needed for.", and despite the fact that he was sticking up for them, they shot a glare to the young Egyptian.

"You're right." The Rocket boss said, then relaxing his glare upon his so-called "highest-ranked" minions. No sooner did they make this conversation, did Odion appear in front of them, saying, "Masters, Chief Byrne and his friends have already formulated a plan to find them."

"Good work, Odion. They still do not suspect the bug that was inserted in their precious A.L.E.C. network, which means that we know what they are saying, and what they are planning, most importantly." He said with a sneer. "Now I need you to put Phase 2 into action. Go to Totowa, and bring us Chief Byrne, as well as anyone else you can."

"Yes, Master Marik." He said, and with a bow, he left, and Marik and Giovanni left the room as well, leaving Max and May alone in their cell.

Little did they notice a white-haired boy with cold brown eyes, scowling and glaring at them. /Soon, Marik, soon./ he thought. /You will pay for betraying our agreement./


"Did you hear that?" May said, standing up, now free of her restraints.

"I sure did, and it sounds like Bernie's in danger." Max said, concerned. "We gotta warn him!" as he went through his pockets, and sure enough, he found his ComWatch. "Yes!" he shouted in delight, as he opened the device, but his delight turned to frustration as the screen showed nothing but static.

"Crap." He said as he dropped the mini-computer, and slouched down against the back wall. "Tell me that wasn't what I thought!" May said frantically.

"Unfortunately, it was, sis. I have no way of contacting Bernie, or anyone else. It seems we're right where they want us. I just don't know where 'here' is." He said in a stoic voice, which sent May in a frenzy.

"AAH! I'm too young to rot in a cell!" she shouted as she paced about, until a guard came to their cell, and based her on the head, knocking her out.

"Shut up, you BKA trash!" the guard said. "Hey, nobody hits my sister like that!" Max shouted, and he rushed at the guard, to bring him down, only to be flung to the back wall.

"That's for not knowing your place, brat!" that guard spat at Max, who struggled to get up, but was still glaring at him as he left.


That night, Bernie found himself looking at what appeared to be a cage containing May and May. Full of joy and relief, he rushed over to open it, when they disappeared.

"Huh?" Bernie said in confusion, until an image of a man and a woman crying at a pair of graves appeared. He walked towards them and was shocked to see what was carved on the tombstones:

MAY EVANS

SEARGENT, BKA

1992-2003

Beloved Daughter and Sister

MAX EVANS

SEARGENT, BKA

1995-2003

Beloved Son and Brother

"Oh my God!" he said, and their father stood up and faced him. "How dare you show your face around here, Byrne!" the man said to Bernie, as he socked him in the jaw, sending the teen to the ground. "What the hell was that for?" Bernie said, wiping his mouth clean of blood.

"For not saving our children!" their mother shouted. "You could've saved them, but I guess you just weren't strong enough, or you thought them worthless!"

"That's total bullshit! They weren't worthless!" he shouted back, offended beyond belief. But as she went to slap him…


Bernie shot up in bed with a gasp. /It was all just a bad dream./ he quickly thought as he went downstairs to the bathroom. Once there, he went to the sink, and splashed cold water on his face. /It all seemed so real. Could this have been a premonition? I understand them being pissed, but at me? That I don't get./

His mental conversation was interrupted by someone entering the bathroom, and that was Joey. "What's up with you, Bern?"

"I had a nightmare, Joe." Bernie said stone-faced. "I'm guessing it's due to my worry over my plan."

"Bern, ya got nuttin to worry about. Ya beat those bastards before, and ya can beat 'em again!" he said, with some naïve confidence.

"I guess you're right. I better get back to bed, I need my strength." Bernie said, before heading out of the bathroom, and back to bed. However, there was still something troubling his mind. BKAi Chief? He said to the spirit of his Item, who responded with a, What is it, Bernie?

Do you think that my nightmare was a premonition? The chief of the BKA queried.

I doubt it. It was merely a manifestation of your anxiety and uncertainty. Rest assured, they believe it will be a success, and wasn't it you that said that belief in one's success is the key to success? The warrior stated, which got a chuckle from Bernie.

That was inspired by Tug McGraw. Bernie said. And said by me, yes. Thanks, Chief, for your help. And with that reassuring phrase, he closed the mind-link, and jumped back into his bed.

/Look out, Rocket. You may have won Round One, but you won't be so lucky in Round Two. I'm coming for you./ he thought as he drifted off into a deep sleep.


Thus closes Chapter 5. How would you break up the remaining personnel into pairs?

And about the AshxTeá hinting: Don't shoot me, all the other shippers. I just wanted to experiment with this.

This chapter is dedicated to the late Tug McGraw, who showed many people, especially Met fans, to have faith, and you could succeed. Rest in peace, #45.

Please read and review.

Your Friendly Neighborhood BKA Chief