A/N: Heyo, another chapter, let's go.
And I should just say that those goofballs in the reviews are some of my closest friends and we do get pretty chaotic but they've helped me feel really confident in my writing, along with all of my wonderful readers, so I'll take the story in the direction I want it to go and I'm not going to change that because some random person on the internet had a bad day and took it out on a random fanfiction author.
Also, thoughts on Sinnoh Remake leaks?
And finally, 105 reviews, 82 followers, and 70 favorites? And this is my very first fic? You guys are awesome, thank you all so much for providing motivation and dopamine through all of this. Honestly, knowing that a bunch of strangers on the internet enjoy reading my stories makes me really happy so again, thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.
"We're close! I can feel it!"
"Not so loud," Chloe hissed, "Do you want all of Team Flare to know what we're doing?"
"But we've almost found my parents, Chloe! We're so close!"
"She's got a point, Goh. I know you're relieved, but you need to control yourself, there is a high level of danger if the grunts are alerted to our presence. Garchomp and I can take a few grunts, but if they outnumber us, we're toast."
Goh bowed his head, heeding the words of the Sinnohan Champion.
"Rab raboot."
"Gar," Garchomp growled, causing Raboot to pale and duck behind Goh's leg.
"Hey, play nice Garchomp," Cynthia scolded.
The Mega Mach Pokemon winced at Cynthia's scolding, giving Raboot an icy glare.
"Raboot," the Rabbit Pokemon protested.
Garchomp growled again, earning a stern glare from Cynthia as Goh scolded Raboot.
"Yamp!"
The Puppy Pokemon wriggled out of Chloe's arms, landing on its stomach with a thud. Scraping his paws on the metal floor, Yamper regained his footing and craned his neck down to the ground, sniffing.
"What did you find?"
Yamper bolted down the hallway, keeping nose to the ground and wagging his tail. It followed the trail to a door and started scratching at it.
"Good job, Yamper," Chloe cooed, scratching the Galarian native behind the ear.
"Chloe, Goh, stand back. Garchomp, use Dragon Rush!"
Garchomp became enveloped in a blue light and rammed itself into the door, knocking it off its hinges and created a cloud of dust.
Goh ran to the doorway, "Mom? Dad?"
"Goh?" Camile and Walker cried.
The dust settled, allowing the family to see each other. Goh darted forward, wrapping his arms around his parents.
"Thank Arceus you're okay," Camile sobbed.
"We were so worried about you, are you alright? How did you find us?"
"Chloe's Yamper helped."
"And Garchomp assisted."
"You-you're-"
"Champion Cynthia Shirona of the Sinnoh Region," Cynthia announced, lowering into a sweeping bow.
"How'd you manage to team up with a Champion?" Walker asked.
"Ash is technically one in his own right, and the Champions of Hoenn and Kalos are here as well," Goh explained.
"Champion Cynthia?"
"Have you come to save us?"
Cynthia nodded, "Don't worry everyone, I intend to get you all out of here."
"Thank Arceus!"
"The Champion is going to save us!"
"We're saved!"
A chorus of delighted and relieved cries rang out among the personnel that were there. Cynthia frowned, "This is no time for celebration, that can happen when you're clear of the area. More valuable personnel will be out in front to prevent Lysandre from gaining even more control over the electric flow than he might already have," the Champion's eyes darted over to Walker, who audibly gulped under her gaze.
Goh looked at his father in confusion before a realization dawned on him, stepping away from his parents, he took a breath, "Dad, what did you?"
The room fell silent, Goh shuddered under the stares of the room.
"Answer the question!"
"What did you do?"
"Answer the kid's question, damnit."
Garchomp roared, causing everyone (except Chloe, surprisingly) to cower in fear of the pseudo-legendary.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Cynthia snapped, "We have bigger problems than fresh gossip for your dinner tables, now follow me and stay quiet. Chloe, stay close, got it?"
Chloe nodded, following the Sinnoh Champion with Yamper hot on her heels.
"Dad?"
The personnel had left with Chloe and Cynthia, leaving Goh and his parents alone in the room.
Sensing the possibility of an uncharacteristic hostile response from her son, Camile stepped between Walker and Goh and turned to face Goh. "Your father had no choice," she explained, "He-"
"You helped a madman!" Goh cried, "How am I supposed to be sympathetic to that?"
"I did what I had to do, Goh. To protect your mother."
"Thousands of people could die, Dad! You could've made a trojan horse, you had the experience."
"And what if that failed. What if that madman saw through my lie, what would I have done then?" Walker argued, raising his voice.
"Fought back! He's been beaten before and he'll get beaten again."
"Beaten by Champions, Goh; not programmers."
"Based on the hobbies of some of the Gym Leaders, I'm not sure I get your point," Goh muttered.
"What was that?" Walker interrogated.
"Nothing."
"Walker, let him be."
"No, I want to hear what he has to say."
"Golbat!"
"Raboot, use Quick Attack!" Goh shouted.
The Rabbit Pokemon darted forward, jumping up and ramming itself into the Team Flare Grunt's Golbat.
Chloe glanced over her shoulder for the tenth time in the last three minutes, Goh and his parents still hadn't caught up with them.
"If you keep doing that, you'll have a nasty pain in the neck that'll make it impossible to focus for a day or two."
"Sounds like you're speaking from experience."
Cynthia shrugged, "Of course I am." She and Chloe were bringing up the rear of the group, Cynthia's Roserade, Lucario, and Togekiss were leading while Garchomp was protecting the group of workers from the rear.
Out of the blue, Cynthia asked, "What is your goal, Chloe?"
Chloe stumbled out of shock, drawing a concerned yip from the Puppy Pokemon. She felt incredibly nervous, she'd found a way to be comfortable while feeling the Champion Aura that Cynthia projected but that comfort was gone now.
"I-i'm not sure," she answered meekly.
Cynthia gave a contented hum, surprising Chloe. The Sinnohan Champion raised an eyebrow at the Kantonian girl's shocked expression, "Were you expecting me to assume that you'd take after your father?"
"Ye-yeah, but is this the kind of conversation we should be having while escaping."
"They're more worried about Steven, Diantha, Ash, and Alain. The four of them have taken Lysandre down before and Alain knows the inner-workings of Team Flare because he was tricked into believing what they were doing was good."
"Really?"
"Yep."
"And-and yeah, I was expecting you to think that I'd be like my dad. Everyone does. And everyone seems to have a goal; Goh is trying to catch every single Pokemon and then catch Mew. Ash has his sights set on being a Pokemon Master, Serena is aiming to be the greatest performer; heck even my little brother has a better idea of what he wants to do than I do, and he's seven."
"I understand. My Grandmother is a Professor as well, and those who knew me believed that I would follow in her footsteps; it was kind of a shock for Celestic Town when I won the Sinnoh League, and even more of a shock when I became Champion."
"So how'd you figure out what you wanted to do?"
"I just tried. I know it's cheesy and cliche, but it's true. To find out what you want to do, you need to try."
"I-i'll keep that in mind."
"Liepard!"
"Houndoom!"
Two Team Flare grunts darted out of the shadows.
"Chloe, get behind me!" Cynthia yelled.
Garchomp and Cynthia stood side-by-side blocking as many attack paths as possible with just their bodies.
Yamper wriggled out of Chloe's arms once again and jumped out to face the attackers.
"Yamper!"
Cynthia narrowed her eyes at the Puppy Pokemon, "I think he wants to battle them."
Chloe kneeled as Yamper turned to face her, "Is that really what you want to do?"
"Yamper!"
"Alright, Cynthia, we'll take Liepard. Yamper, use Spark!"
"Garchomp, Stone Edge on Houndoom!"
Yamper was surrounded by golden electricity as it sprinted towards Liepard.
"Knock that mutt back with Shadow Claw!"
Liepard slashed at Yamper's face, knocking him back with enough force that he landed by Chloe's feet.
"Lucario, fall back and protect the group from behind with Spiritomb," Cynthia shouted, releasing Spiritomb and turned to Chloe. "You go with them."
Yamper slowly rose from the ground and snarled.
"Yamper, you're only going to get hurt if you keep this up."
The Puppy Pokemon shook his head vigorously and began to glow. He grew bigger, his legs becoming longer and thinner, the furry collar around Yamper's neck disappeared as well. His tail became thinner and lost the thunderbolt shape the fur on his sides turned black.
"Boltund!"
"Yamper? You- you evolved!?"
"Bolt!"
"Okay, use Spark again!"
Once again, Chloe's partner was surrounded by golden electricity, but it was surrounded by a lot more than before and it seemed the attack was stronger. He rammed into Liepard before it could counter, but winced after delivering the blow.
"That wasn't Spark, that was Wild Charge!"
Chloe's jaw dropped, "Really?"
"I know my Pokemon Moves, that was definitely Wild Charge."
"Crap," Liepard's trainer muttered, returning Liepard.
"LYSANDRE WILL CREATE HIS BEAUTIFUL WORLD AND YOU WON'T BE APART OF IT!" The Houndoom trainer screeched.
Cynthia rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. Garchomp roared on cue, causing the grunts to turn pale and run faster than a Deoxys using Extreme Speed.
"How, what, when? Mom and I were convinced you were dead!"
Giovanni winced.
"If you were alive, why'd you just disappear, you could've at least told-"
"I couldn't."
Serena narrowed her eyes, "Why?"
"I was trying to protect you and your mother from my family's mistakes, and my own mistakes."
"So you faked your death and sent Mom into a depressive state which took her three years to recover from?" Serena snapped.
"That wasn't my intention-"
"So what was it? Was it to fake your death to destroy your wife and daughter's mental health that was already affected by the fact that you lived on a different freaking continent and barely ever came to see us?"
"I DID IT TO PROTECT YOU!"
"FROM WHAT?"
"From my mistakes," Giovanni uncovered the R patch on his coat.
Serena's eyes widened, "You're Team Rocket? For how long?"
"Longer than you've been alive."
"Wait, Ash told me-" Serena opened her mouth in shock after the realization hit her, "YOU'RE THE HEAD OF THE LARGEST CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION IN THE WORLD?"
"Yes."
"Why? You had mom and me, why-"
"I wanted to, Serena. I wanted to."
"Then why didn't you?"
"I had every intention of leaving, and the role of both Gym Leader and Leader of Team Rocket would've gone to my brother. But…" he trailed off.
"But what?"
"Your grandmother, my mother, died unexpectedly and my brother disappeared. I couldn't-"
"You could. No one was keeping Team Rocket together as an organization except you if you think about it. As their Leader, you could've disbanded them."
"Lance would've dug me up eventually, I didn't want to possibly put you through that."
"So your solution was to fake your death."
"I wanted to keep you safe from as much as possible, and as you can see, I failed."
"You're the reason Lysandre wants me dead."
"I'm sorry. I don't even know how he discovered that you were my daughter, I had no traceable records of you and your mother that he could've found," Giovanni said, shaking his head.
"What did you do that caused him to focus on killing me?" Serena asked.
"Straight to the point, just like your mother. He asked me to provide assistance to Team Flare, using Team Rocket; when I refused, he sent out the kill order."
Serena nodded, absorbing the information.
"Is your wrist okay?"
"Pretty sure it's broken, I have some bandages so I'll be fine."
"Good."
There was an awkward silence between the two of them.
"You should get out of here. I'm assuming Ash is heading towards Lysandre."
Serena flinched.
"Don't worry, I won't stop your relationship with him, even if your mother still thought I was alive, she'd pressure me into allowing it if I disapproved."
"So do you disapprove or?"
"Not at all, you could do worse. And he's a good kid and strong enough to keep you safe. As a father, that's all I could ask for."
"Thanks, Dad," Serena said.
"Of course, Princess."
"Lysandre, should we evacuate?"
"Not at all, I'm so close and nothing, NOTHING, will get in my way," Lysandre answered, his eyes widening and hands beginning to shake. The scientists around him slowly backed away as he let out a barking, maniacal laugh.
Xerosic cleared his throat, "Maybe we should start evacuating the less valuable personnel, one can never be too careful."
"One can never be too careful, Xerosic? If you were being careful, then why did I have to organize an operation to break you out of one of the highest security prisons in the world?"
The portly Team Flare scientist audibly gulped.
"Do you fear me, Xerosic?"
"Sir?"
Lysandre ran his hand over the metal surrounding his eye and running down his jaw. "Do you fear me?"
Xerosic was sweating bullets, "No, sir?"
The Team Flare Leader chuckled, "Wrong answer."
Diantha flinched at the bang, "What the hell was that?"
"If we're lucky, Lysandre just shot himself in the head."
"What's the realistic answer?"
Steven pondered that for a split second, "A scientist disagreed with him and he decided to make an example of said scientist by murdering them."
The Champion of Kalos shuddered, "That's messed up."
"That's exactly what Lysandre would do."
"Doesn't change the fact that it's messed up."
"True."
Gardevoir nodded in agreement with her trainer.
"We should consider the worst-case scenario based on hearing that."
"Why do I feel like you're going to say Ash even though we all agreed that you and I were going to find and face Lysandre?" Diantha asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Because he's incredibly reckless and we both know it?" Steven offered.
"Probably."
"How is he still alive, have you read the old news reports?" The Hoennian Champion asked, keeping pace with Diantha as they started moving once again.
"I have, and I have no idea," she shrugged.
"Double Kick that door down, Raboot!"
The Rabbit Pokemon delivered two swift, forceful kicks to a metal door, the second of the two succeeded in knocking the door of its hinges.
"Nice job!" Goh praised, fist-bumping his partner.
"You and Raboot have become such good friends," Camile observed, clapping her hands together.
"You don't get a much better training partner than Alola's first-ever Champion."
"Goh!"
The Vermillion native turned around, "Chloe!" He cried.
Chloe ran over to Goh, wrapping her arms around him. He awkwardly returned the hug, his cheeks turning red.
"Um, Chloe?"
She squeaked and quickly let go. "Can I borrow your RotomPhone?"
"For-for what?'
"Bolt!"
Yamper's evolved form, which Chloe still had not identified, tackled Goh and slobbered all over his face.
Pushing the Pokemon off of him and coughing, he turned to his childhood friend. "What is that?"
"Yamper's evolved form, which I don't have a name for."
Goh's RotomPhone flew out of his backpack and hovered in front of the Pokemon. "Boltund, the Dog Pokemon, and the evolved form of Yamper. This Pokémon generates electricity and channels it into its legs to keep them going strong. Boltund can run nonstop for three full days."
"Boltund, huh?" Chloe smiled, scratching the Dog Pokemon behind one of his ears, earning her a contented bark.
"Cynthia!" Dawn shouted, running with May, Max, Brock, Alain, and Korrina in tow.
"Where's Drew?"
May's face fell. Dawn opened her mouth before being interrupted.
"Right here!"
The brunette coordinator turned around and started sprinting forward, "Drew!" She cried.
Drew wrapped his arms around her waist, spinning her around. May cupped his face in her hands and leaned into him, causing their lips to brush.
"Get a room, weirdos," Max groaned, causing the couple to break apart.
"You know Max, one day you'll have a girlfriend and you'll-"
"NO, NO I WON'T!"
"Yes you will," May teased.
"No I won't," Max protested.
"You will, and I'm bringing this up at your wedding."
"MAY!"
"They'll be at that for a while, have you seen Ash and Serena?"
"No, but I have a sinking feeling that Ash decided to go after Lysandre on his own."
"He did!" Serena called.
"What happened to your wrist?" Dawn asked, noticing the bandages.
"I think it's broken, and it's a long story. But Ash and I got split up by a ceiling collapse so he went to track down Lysandre and I worked on getting out."
A/N: So (and I'm guesstimating here) we've got two or three chapters left, and I've got two more stories that I'm ready to start after this (though I will take at least a month-long break to prepare). Onto the reviews.
Amourshipper35 - Let us see.
WhiteLotus21 - Thanks for the review :D
IAmDomeAceTucker - I second mom-bot
PotterBoi999 - Thanks bro, and yeah Gary is pretty cool and I'm watching Black and White rn and I actually really like Iris as a character and I don't get why she gets the hate that she does. And yeah, it is cool, but I still feel like I'm getting trolled lol.
Robins in the Ashes - correction, I third mom-bot
UnKnownGuy2006 - We talk all the time and I have basically no idea what they're talking about, and if Xerosic is considered a major character then yeah, you were right.
