Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters. I only own Charlotte Shable and anyone else that doesn't seem familiar. Any of the story line that doesn't seem familiar, I most likely do not own.

Lottie spent a couple of hours leading Ash, Dawn, and Brock around the research camp. Brock was rapidly asking questions, Dawn and Ash added a few here and there. Lottie, still holding Shinx, happily answered them all.

"This is the last spot in our research camp. These are where the researchers and assistants stay." Lottie explained, coming to a stop in front of a group of tents.

"Are you an assistant?" Brock asked.

"Lottie here is one of our top researchers!" a voice startled the four.

"Oh, hello Gabriel." Lottie greeted the man.

"You're a researcher?" Dawn awed, "But you're only like, fourteen!"

Gabriel snickered as Lottie sighed. Dawn looked confused.

"Miss Lottie here is eighteen," Gabriel informed, still smiling.

"Really? I had no idea!" Dawn looked down, embarrassed.

"It's okay, you're not the first one to mix up my age." Lottie soothed.

"It's because she's tiny," Gabriel teased.

Lottie rolled her eyes, "What can I do for you?"

"Just wanted to say hi to our guests. Are you going to introduce me to your friends?"

"Oh yes! Of course! This is Brock, Ash, and Dawn. They stumbled upon Shinx, who ran off again, and I found them on the main trail. They asked for a tour of the facility."

Gabriel nodded his head in greeting as Lottie introduced the three newcomers, "Well you've landed yourselves with the best woman for the job! Lottie's been here just as long as I have. Feel free to stay as long as you'd like! I'm sure Lottie will happily show you our spare tents. If any of you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask!"

Gabriel flashed the group a large grin before he turned and walked off. Lottie rolled her eyes again, good-naturedly at his display.

"Gabriel means well, he's just overzealous," Lottie informed, turning to the three.

"Oh, it's no problem at all!" Ash reassured.

"Well, would you like to see what we're currently observing?"

The three all nodded. Lottie led them to the far side of the research camp where a group of eggs lay clustered together. There were sleeping Bidoof and Bibarel around the eggs.

"We're studying the relationships between Bidoof, Bibarel, and their eggs. They're some of the more trusting species of Pokemon. Using the information we gather from them, we can determine a better baseline for relationships between wild pokemon and their colonies."

"That's amazing!" Brock awed.

"Thanks!"

The four became fast friends as they discussed more researching techniques and the forest they found themselves in. It was fast approaching lunchtime and Brock offered to cook up something for lunch as thanks for Lottie's help. Lottie let out her team of pokemon again so they could eat as well. It happened in the span of seconds, Lottie blinked and her entire team was gone.

"Hey! Wait!" Lottie cried and jumped up in the direction of where her pokemon disappeared to. The six were trapped in a net underneath a Meowth air balloon.

"Listen, is that a voice I hear?"

"It's speaking to me, loud and clear!"

"On the wind!"

"Past the stars!"

"In your ear!"

"Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace!"

"Dashing hope, putting fear in its place!"

"A rose by any other name just as sweet,"

"When everything's worse, our work is complete!"

"Jessie!"

"And it's James!"

"And Meowth, now that's a name!"

"Putting the do-gooders in their place!"

"We're Team Rocket!"

"And we're in your face!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Its Team Rocket!" Ash yelled, "Give us back Lottie's pokemon!"

"Who's Team Rocket?" Lottie asked, gritting her teeth.

"A bad group of people," Brock responded, "They steal pokemon."

"Give me back my pokemon!"

"They're our pokemon now!" Jessie laughed.

"Snover! Use razor leaf on the net! Ponyta! Use ember!"

"Huh?" Team Rocket all noised before they all screamed when their balloon lurched sideways as Lottie's pokemon fell from the net.

Lottie ran to where her pokemon were falling from the sky and caught her Shinx. Her other pokemon were all old enough to where they were able to right themselves and take control before landing on the ground.

"Alright! Let's finish this!" Ash called.

Lottie put out a hand to stop him, "Thank you Ash, but let me. Glaceon! It's all you! Use blizzard!"

"Glaceon!"

Glaceon let out a powerful blizzard and attacked Team Rocket's balloon.

"We're blasting off again!" Team Rocket was blasted off into the sky.

"Lottie! That was awesome!" Dawn awed, watching Lottie who was still glaring at the sky. Shinx was snuggled in her arms. Lottie recalled all of her pokemon including Shinx.

"If anyone thinks they can take someone else's pokemon without any consequence then they have another thing coming." Lottie finally breathed out.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked, seeing Lottie's frustration.

Lottie took in a big breath, "Yeah. I will be."

"You have such a great team. We should battle!"

Lottie laughed, "I'm game."

The group of four found their way to an open space away from the research camp.

"I'll referee!" Brock announced, "Three on three battle, the first to have all their pokemon faint loses!"

"Alright! Let's go Starly!" Ash started.

"Snover! Your time to shine!" Lottie threw out Snover's Pokeball.

"Starly!"

"Snover!"

"You can have the first move, Ash." Lottie offered.

Lottie and Ash's battle was intense. With Ash using his three pokemon, Aipom, Starly, and Pikachu, Lottie using Snover, Vaporeon, and Glaceon. The two were pretty evenly matched, but due to Lottie knowing her pokemon longer and having a better battle rhythm, she won with Glaceon over Pikachu.

"That was awesome! Are you going for the Sinnoh league too?" Ash asked after checking on Pikachu.

"Honestly I never gave it much thought. I wasn't too interested in contests and I got pulled into researching pokemon shortly after I decided contests weren't worth the struggle. Then I decided I didn't want to travel alone after being apart of a research team for so long." Lottie explained.

"Oh! You should come with us! Please!" Dawn jumped up and down in excitement.

"I don't know about that."

"You'd be more than welcome, right Ash?" Brock agreed with Dawn. Ash nodded his agreement as well. Lottie was hesitant, her entire life was with this research group. Glaceon was still out of her Pokeball and was sitting at her trainer's feet.

"What do you think Glaceon?"

"Glaaaceon!" Glaceon nodded her head.

"You have to go! This is the perfect opportunity!" The four turned to see Gabriel walking up to them, "You know we love having your expertise, but you have bigger and better things to do! That battle between you and Ash was enough proof of that. Go on, we'll be good without you. We'll miss ya."

Lottie smiled and gave Gabriel a small hug, "I guess that's settled then!"

Dawn cheered as Lottie packed her things. After she had her backpack slung over her shoulders and her pokemon nestled in their pokeballs, she was ready to start a new adventure with Ash, Dawn, and Brock.