A/N: Sooooo, Team Flare Finally showed up. Took them long enough they've been here since chapter three. AND, Serena's secret will finally be revealed. And I did get some reviews for chapter 15 before I took it down so I'll acknowledge them up here
Amourshipper35 - Definitely not good
WhiteLotus21 - Yeah the site was buggy since it was the day after Halloween which is why I'm doing a double upload today. IF Greninja returns I might swap sone moves. And ughhhhh, I love Korra cause of girl power but Aang is a little cinnamon roll, so I pick both
"I don't know who they are, but based on your reactions, it's not good," May said.
Serena and Ash shook their heads, "If I had to choose between getting turned to stone by Mew and Mewtwo again and dealing with this, I gladly get turned back to stone," Ash said.
Absol had been growling the whole time, Serena finally noticed where he was looking.
Celosia and Mable and their backup.
"We gotta go," Serena yelled.
Ash nodded.
The group started running in the other direction, occasionally stopping to cut down the vines in their way.
"Okay, asking the people that were there, are these the same vines from the Kalos Crisis?"
"Yeah, and Team Flare was disbanded after that, Serena and I made sure of that. But they're back and I don't know how."
"You two also looked pretty spooked at the vines, I mean we all were, but you two looked like you'd seen a ghost."
Serena rested her hand on the Pokeball and looked down.
"The vines are still in the Kalos Region, both Zygarde core cells asked my Greninja to help since he could see them before they came out of the ground, I thought they had them under control, I didn't know they spread to other regions," Ash explained.
They did which is why-Serena thought before getting cut off by a vine appearing next to her and whacking her away.
Pikachu didn't need the command, his tail turned white as he slashed through the vine, running after Ash, who had run to Serena's side.
"Serena!"
"I'm fine," she said, pushing herself up.
Her jeans had torn on the left knee and her knee was covered in blood.
"No you're not, you're bleeding."
Serena winced when she saw her knee.
Ash's face lit up as if he had an idea, and he grabbed a handkerchief from his bag.
"Wait, is that?"
Ash nodded, tying the handkerchief around her knee. The light blue turned to dark from the blood.
Ash stood up and pulled Serena up. There were about 60 feet between them and the group and the vines took advantage of that space, creating an impassable barrier.
"Can you guys cut through?" Brock yelled.
"No, I've never seen so many in one place," Ash shouted back.
"We can meet in the harbor," Chloe yelled.
"Got it, see you guys there."
Ash grabbed Serena's hand and started running.
"Noivern, can you be our eyes in the sky?"
"You do realize that the harbor is like six miles away, right Chloe?"
"But most people are getting out of that area so we should be able to get in and find them when they get there pretty easily," Chloe retorted.
Go shrugged, "I guess we're following you."
Chloe and Yamper moved to the front and the rest of the group had brought out their Pokemon.
"Haven't you lived here as long as Chloe?" May asked.
"Yeah but, uh, most of my childhood may or may not have been me sitting behind a screen."
"Most," Chloe scoffed, "how about 99.99% percent."
*30 Minutes Later*
"Your leg doing okay?"
"Yeah, it's fine," Serena panted, "how far is said harbor?"
"Another 30 minutes at that speed."
"Arceus above," Serena groaned.
"Noivern," came a shrill cry from overhead.
"Did they find us?"
Noivern nodded.
"Alright," Ash said, returning the Pokémon to it's Pokeball.
The two started running again, hand in hand. Ash had barely let go of hers the entire time they'd been running.
Serena had been forcing herself to keep up with Ash, whether or not he'd noticed her limp, she couldn't tell. Absol had been more protective too, he knew what was at stake if Team Flare got ahold of them.
"We're cut off up ahead, can you keep moving?" Ash asked, noticing her limp.
"I think, for now at least," Serena said.
"Is there something you're not telling me? I feel like you've been hiding something, I want you to know that you can tell me."
"Yeah, I do. I actually-"
"Found you," Mable sang sadistically.
Ash took a protective stance in front of Serena and scowled.
"Who dug you guys out of the trash pit?"
Celosia cackled, "That was your little girlfriend's doing."
Ash glanced over his shoulder at Serena who was covering a Pokeball on her belt with her hand.
"Agh," she yelped as the vines coiled around her, and before Ash could react, the vines had wrapped around both him and Pikachu.
"Can't have you using it," Celosia taunted, wagging a finger at the performer.
"Argh, Psycho Cut," she yelled.
Absol readied the attack, but before he could send it out the vines wrapped around him and held him in place.
"Even your little mutt is powerless against us, so now that we've won why don't we take what we want, as our proof of victory," Mable sneered.
"You're not touching Serena!" Ash yelled.
"She's not the one we're after, we're after what she's been lying about. Drapion, Confuse Ray." Celosia snapped.
Both trainers lost consciousness and went limp almost immediately. Pikachu fought to stay awake before succumbing to exhaustion. Absol fought the longest though.
Serena needs me awake, I've seen what they're after and it can only be used to destroy, I...have...to...fight...for, Absol thought before falling unconscious.
The vines around the trainers and their unconscious Pokemon loosened.
Two of the grunts went to grab Ash, another went to grab Pikachu, and one moved towards Serena.
"Not her, she's 'under Diantha's protection'. Bring the brat and his Pikachu to the boss," Mable snapped, striding over to the unconscious form of Serena.
Her hand hovered over Serena's belt as if testing which was the most powerful Pokemon. Her hand finally settled on the Pokeball that Serena had spent months hiding from them. When she picked up, she felt a rush of power crash through her body.
"Lysander wasn't lying when he said this thing really packed a punch."
"Ugh, where are they," Chloe groaned, her panic starting to take hold.
"I'm not sure, they should be here by now."
"Well, I'm guessing we're not them."
Chloe gasped, two Team Flare admins had shown up.
"No, you're the last people they wanna see," someone said.
The person behind them did a front handspring off the guard rail and landed in front of the group and was joined by someone jumping off their Charizard.
"Bryony and Aliana," the Charizard trainer sneered.
"Alain and Korrina, two of Diantha's little mega trainers."
Korrina crossed her arms as Lucario released himself from his Pokeball, "Ya got that right."
"Korrina?" Go whispered.
"Recognize her?"
"Yeah, I met her when Ash and I went to Kalos."
"Ha, Celosia and Mable already told us the good news, what are you gonna do about it."
Korrina smirked, "Well, we could start by kicking your butts, Lucario, Mega Evolve."
"Charizard, Mega Evolve."
Charizard turned from orange to black and its orange flames began glowing blue while Lucario gained more spikes and its paws turned red.
"Blast Burn," Alain yelled.
"Aura Sphere."
"Drudgion, use Dark Pulse."
"Bisharp, Stone Edge."
The black and purple orb collided with the pale blue orb, while the stone edge blocked Charizard's Blast Burn.
"Power-Up Punch, then Aura Sphere," Korrina yelled.
"Charizard use Dragon Claw."
Lucario ran towards Drudgion and delivered his Power-Up Punch right under his jaw, snapping his neck back giving Lucario to send an Aura Sphere directly at him.
Aliana grumbled as she returned Drudgion to its Pokeball.
Bisharp dodged Charizard's attack and Lucario sent an Aura Sphere directly at him.
Bryony had a similar reaction to pulling Bisharp back.
"Retreat, but if you came to help the performer, it's hopeless, Celosia and Mable got the brat and secured what you three so desperately tried to keep from us," Aliana said as her Bryony turned and left.
"Well, if they're not lying, we're screwed," Alain said to the Shalour City Gym Leader.
"Didn't Ash bust himself out Team Flare restraints that you helped put him in," Korrina said, pointing a finger at Alain.
"Fair."
"Woah, woah, woah, what?" Go said.
"Nice to see ya, Go," Korrina said.
Alain turned to her in confusion.
"He's the guy that's traveling with Ash right now."
"And you know this how?"
"Because I battled Ash like, three weeks ago."
The group exchanged awkward glances.
"Hold on," Dawn said, "You guys know Ash and Serena?"
"Alain beat Ash in the finals of the Kalos League, but that's not important, do you guys know where they are?"
Chloe shook her head, "The vines cut us off from each other."
"Well, looks like you were right."
"About what," May asked.
"Korrina and I were thinking about the possibility that Team Flare could control the vines instead of just letting them grow randomly like they did in the Kalos Crisis, and if the vines split Ash and Serena from you guys, it's likely they can."
"Why would they wanna split us up?"
"Serena has something that could put a stop to their plans but it doesn't fully work without Ash," Korrina explained.
"Huh," Dawn said.
"We'll explain more later, right now we have to try to find them."
"Absol? You alright bud?"
The Disaster Pokemon raised himself up from the ground, shaking a little, and limped over to its trainer.
Serena ran her hand over Absol's white fur, "They hurt you pretty bad, huh."
Absol nodded.
Serena grabbed an Oran Berry from a special capsule and held it out to Absol who immediately took it and looked a tad bit better.
"I wish I had a hyper potion," Serena said, feeling for the Pokeball on her belt.
Her eyes widened as what had happened finally kicked in.
"Oh Arceus, no, no, no."
"Serena!"
Absol took a protective stance in front of his trainer until the person that had shouted came into view.
"Korrina?"
"You alright?"
"Yeah, but do you have any hyper potions, Absol's hurt bad."
Korrina nodded and brought out a small spray bottle.
After getting Absol back to full strength, Serena stood up.
"I'm assuming they got a hold of him."
Serena nodded.
"Well, then we just have to find him."
Ash had no idea where Team Flare had taken him, it probably didn't help that they were keeping him in a barely conscious state.
The entire time they had him the only thing he was thinking about was Serena.
Is she okay, is she safe, did they kidnap her too and have her in another area, where is she?
He felt something clamp around his wrists but couldn't tell what it was.
His thoughts continued to race with all the possibilities of what could have happened to Serena until he felt a familiar sensation that he hadn't felt in months. Ash forced his eyes open.
Team Flare grunts and scientists were milling around the room. He glanced down at his feet which were in the same restraints they used during the Kalos Crisis. He looked to his left, Riolu's restraint wrapped around its entire body, Dragonite and Gengar had similar restraints to Ash. Pikachu was in the same situation as Riolu, as was Noivern.
The sensation hadn't gone away so Ash turned to his right.
"Wait, you had a secret Pokeball this whole time?" May yelled in disbelief.
"Yes, I did."
"So what was in it?"
"It was…"
Ash's eyes widened as he saw the Pokemon.
Greninja?!
A/N: MORE CLIFFHANGERS, MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA, and major props to UnKnownGuy2006, he figured out that it was Greninja pretty early on so good job dude. So, see y'all next week.
