~Hall of Origins~

Arceus and many of the other legends watched closely as Ash and Aaron took up fighting stances. Arceus had known all along that it would come to this. Ash versus Aaron, and the winner would decide the fate of Kalos and possibly the world. Arceus stood by her morals; if she broke a single one then the entire rulebook would be thrown out. And Arceus couldn't allow that to happen.

'Hey Arceus?' Mespirit said turning to her creator. 'What's that staff supposed to do anyway? I've never seen it before.'

'You young one,' Cobalion interjected. 'were not around for its conception. It is quite possibly the most dangerous artifact of the olden days. In the hands of someone like him, that is. To a normal human it would simply be a stick and a rock.'

'Did anyone even know he had it?' Dialga asked. 'Surely we couldn't have missed that.'

'I knew.' Arceus said. 'He took it so long ago that I had forgotten he even had it up until recently. I once ordered one of my Guardians to retrieve it from him. I never heard from her again.'

'So, what's it do?' Mespirit asked. 'How bad can it be?'

'Immensely.' Darkrai added. He and Deoxys had since returned from driving away the invaders in Sinnoh. They had come back just in time to see Ash lose his patience with Aaron. 'Just as he said, it will amplify his powers to a level that no Aura Guardian has reached in over a thousand years. Normally he could only drain the aura of a single person at a time, but with that staff and the aura of the past Guardians inside of it...'

'Who knows how many people he can drain at a time.' Cresselia finished. 'He could drain the entire factory at once for all we know.'

'What!?' Shaymin yelled. 'We have to get everyone out of there! Mostly Dawn, though!' Shaymin said zipping around anxiously. 'Hurry!'

At that moment Mewtwo and Latias blipped into the room thanks to Mewtwo's teleportation. Latias looked much happier but not as much as she was before all this started. Luckily, Arceus had good news for her. 'Latias, Mewtwo,' She acknowledged. 'I trust you mission was a success.'

'Weaklings, all of them.' Mewtwo reported. 'I didn't even have to break a sweat taking ten on at once. I didn't have nearly as much fun as I hoped I would.'

'Well, while you were gone, it seems that the tide has turned. The Professor and that boy, Tory have freed the hostages. There are barely any left.'

'Bianca?!' Latias asked zipping to the vat they used to observe the world. 'Is she free?!'

'Yes. All of the chosen's friends have been freed from their respective prisons and are being led out of the factory.'

'But the staff!' Mespirit exclaimed. 'It could ruin everything!'

'What staff?' Mewtwo asked. 'I thought you said the tide had turned?' He said eyeing Arceus. 'Is Ash in danger?'

'When is Ash not in danger?' Uxie asked turning to Mewtwo. 'I'd say this is just a day in the life of Ash Ketchum. Even if Aaron has the Guardian Staff in his possession.'

There was a dangerous yell, and in seconds a stray purple sphere of psychic power went flying at Arceus. Arceus caught this out of the corner of her eye and reared her head back. In a flash of light, eighteen shards of the same shape but all different colors appeared. To her right a single dark pink shard glowed the brightest and the resulting light caused Arceus's body to take on a much pinker tone. The attack collided with Arceus's side but was immediately absorbed into her body without Arceus making a move. She turned her head to a furious Mewtwo with his left arm outstretched towards her. 'I prefer talking things out.'

'He has the Guardian Staff?!' Mewtwo asked furiously. 'Why weren't we told this from the beginning?!'

'Because this is how you would've reacted then, too. Angrily, and without purpose.' She said knowingly. 'I consulted Cobalion, Terrakion, and Verizion long ago on outside opinions, we all agreed that anyone who went after the staff would be captured. So, we decided it best to keep the information from you for your own safety.'

'Let me get this straight,' Mewtwo said clearly irritated. 'You consulted three pokemon you created,' He said pointing at Arceus 'for an outside opinion? You CREATED them! Of course, they share your points of view! If you wanted an impartial view point you should've consulted me!'

'We may have been created by her, but we have minds and opinions of our own.' Cobalion said calmly. 'And that crazy scientist who created you wasn't even born yet when all this happened.' He retorted. 'You are showing your irrational side right now, aren't you? To say that you should've been asked is ludicrous.'

'So what now then?' Mewtwo asked bitterly. 'What if Ash can't beat that?! What then, oh so great one?!'

'I admit, there is a chance that Ash can't win. But he doesn't necessarily have to.' Arceus said. 'Ash is the Chosen one, but if he falls here, there's one last hope. But I suppose you have a plan Mewtwo?'

'Yes.' Mewtwo said. 'Stop standing around and let me fight with Ash!' He growled. 'It's that simple.'

'I can't do that Mewtwo. I admire you a great deal for your courage to stand up to me and stick to your beliefs so firmly, it's a rare quality to find. But if you fought with Ash and lost, it's likely that Aaron wouldn't let you live past that point.' Arceus revealed. 'And I can't allow that. This world has much more planned for you Mewtwo. You have a home to return to. Your people need protecting. But I can offer you... another quest.'

'You mean another distraction.' Mewtwo retorted. The image in the vat changed to that of Dawn and Paul leading their group of refugees to the main door.

'They won't make it out alone.' Arceus observed. 'Those innocent people are much more urgent a matter.' Arceus said.

'More urgent than your Chosen in a life and death battle?' Cresselia asked. 'How so? I fail to see your point of view.'

'My Chosen can take care of himself. He has shown that time and time again. But these people are everyday workers, children, and maybe a few casual trainers. Easily caught, and easily manipulated. It is best we get them out.'

'So that's it? Save the weaklings then report back here? No helping Ash?' Mewtwo pressured. 'What a waste of my time.'

'Helping those who cannot help themselves is never a waste of time.' Arceus said.

'What are you, a freaking fortune cookie now?' Mewtwo asked angrily. 'I've got better things to do than-'

'The blue haired one,' Arceus interrupted. 'and the headstrong boy are his close friends. By helping them, you are helping Ash. It would be in your best interest to get them out.'

Mewtwo crossed his arms angrily. 'I'm done with side quests. I didn't ask for an escort mission.'

'I am well aware of that, but if those people don't get out of there before Aaron has a chance to use that staff, then they have no chance of survival.' Arceus said. 'You can go and help them, or I could always send someone else. What will it be Mewtwo?'

~Pokeball Factory~

Dawn, Paul, and Silver lead the group of captives down the final corridor leading them to the large mechanical front door to the factory. They hadn't been interrupted by a single grunt at any point. Dawn found it almost like she and the other escapees weren't Aaron's number one priority. One problem they still had to face however was the door. The entire factory was still on emergency lockdown, meaning all doors and windows were currently reinforced with multiple layers of thick, solid, metal barriers. Barriers that left no openings anywhere. Silver came to a stop in front of the door and everyone else halted behind him as well. He smacked his face with his right palm hard. "I forgot about the lockdown!" He cursed. "We're boned."

"It's just metal." Paul said. He pulled Absol's pokeball from his pocket and tossed it in the air. "Absol," The disaster pokemon appeared in front of the door ahead of them. "use Flamethrower! Melt that door!" He ordered. Absol nodded and opened his mouth. His mouth was quickly engulfed in a hellfire before the beam of heat shot straight forward towards the door. Once it hit the door, it was stunted for a few seconds before firing right back at the captives.

"Hit the deck!" Dawn yelled. She put a hand on Paul's back before shoving him to the ground violently and tackling Absol to the floor as well.

Most of the others got the hint and ducked in time, but Meowth's tail was just far enough up to be clipped by the flames. "Ouch!" His tail lit up with a tiny fire and Meowth grabbed his tail with both paws, bringing it up to his mouth and blowing on it rapidly. When he eventually got it down far enough, he patted his tail a couple times, officially ending the fire. But leaving behing a patch of missing fur and charred skin underneath. "Watch where you fire that thing! It's gonna take me weeks to regrow my hair back perfectly!"

"Well what now?" Paul asked returning Absol to his pokeball. "Metal's supposed to be weak to fire, right?"

"We could always try freezing it." Dawn suggested. "Then shatter it into a million pieces."

"Pip-Lup" The little penguin agreed.

"Oh, please." Paul scoffed. "That'll never work."

"Oh, and I guess firing molten hot fire at it only to have it ricochet and almost kill everyone was the best idea ever, huh?" Dawn said crossing her arms and looking away with a 'hmph'. "You are so full of yourself."

"You're both wrong." Silver interrupted. "That metal was crafted by our best scientists. It has special properties. Think of it as a mirror. Anything you shoot at it will just be reversed onto the attacker. You'll never get through it with brute force." He informed them.

"Well if you're so knowledgeable, then how do we get through it?" Paul asked irritably.

"That's the point, we can't." Silver answered. "The boss would never make such an easy escape. He's probably watching us on a security camera and laughing at us right now."

'I suppose that's where I come in.' A voice said.

Dawn turned around to see where the voice came from. As she turned, she came to find the Genetic Pokemon inches away from her face. She flinched and, in her stupor, fell backwards onto her ass. She looked back up at the cat-like pokemon. "Who are you?! Where'd you come from?!"

'My name is Mewtwo. And I came from a test tube.' He answered dryly.

"More importantly what are you doing here?" Paul added grabbing Dawn by the shoulders and pulling her to her feet.

'I'm saving your hide since you seem to be incapable.' Mewtwo answered. Paul growled at him and reached for a pokeball, but Dawn grabbed his arm and shook her head at him. 'Any more questions or are you going to let me help you?'

"Hey I remember you!" Meowth pushed through the crowd and made his way up to Mewtwo. "Are you the same Mewtwo from-"

'Yes. As far as I know, I'm the only Mewtwo. It is good to see you again, Meowth.' Mewtwo said. 'I'm here on orders to get you all out of here before Aaron kills you all.' The crowd behind Mewtwo started being overcome with gasps, cries, and screams before devolving into chaos.

"Couldn't have had a little more tact with that information, could you?" Paul deadpanned. "They'll never calm down now."

'Not until they leave this hellhole.' Mewtwo agreed.

"But the door's locked." Meowth said. "The twerp said no getting through it with brute force."

'Then we won't use brute force.' The Genetic Pokemon ascended off the ground and levitated his way to the large, reinforced door and examined it for a moment. He landed right in front of it before Mewtwo dipped his head and closed his eyes. He outstretched his right arm towards the door touching it gently.

Starting from his shoulder, a powerful, bright purple energy flowed down his arm and into his hand before his hand transferred the energy into the door in front of him. The light took the form of a circle then expanded into a large oval shape large enough for multiple people to fit in at a time.

"Why are you helping us?" Paul asked.

'I told you, I had orders. Besides, I still owe Ash a few favors. This should dig me out of his debt."

"You know Ash?" Dawn asked.

'And Brock and Misty and Team Rocket. We've had our share of times together. Ash is the only reason I have faith in your race.'

"Sounds like him." Dawn agreed. "Are you a psychic-type pokemon?"

'I am the most powerful psychic-type pokemon in the universe.' Mewtwo answered.

"Don't forget modest." Paul mumbled.

"So, if you know Ash, and you can teleport, could you take us to him?" Dawn asked. "We still need to find him as well."

Mewtwo glanced at her for a moment then back at the door. 'This portal will lead you straight to Professor Sycamore's lab. There you'll find the professor and the other captives that your other friends have managed to dispatch there. I need to return to the Hall. The portal will be up for twenty minutes before it begins to collapse in on itself. Anyone not out by then will be on their own. I suggest you make two lines of mortals and begin immediately.' Mewtwo advised.

"Wait! What about Ash? You can take us to him, right?" Dawn asked. "If Aaron intends on killing us all, that means our friends, too! You gotta teleport us there now so we can warn them.

'Arceus said to steer clear of the chosen one.' Mewtwo responded. 'I am not part of his destiny. Only a speedbump that he hit a couple times on his journey there.'

"So, take us to Ash, then leave right away." Paul said. "If you're fast enough, you'll be out before she knows it."

'Arceus will know.' Mewtwo replied simply. 'She's always watching. Especially when it comes to Ash. I have done what I came here to do.' He said watching as people began entering the portal he'd created.

"So what I'm hearing is you're whipped!" Paul said.

"Paul..." Dawn warned. "Knock it off before you get hurt."

'Whipped?' Mewtwo asked. 'Is that your human slang?'

"It means you're so scared of Arceus, that you don't stand up for what you believe in. You've lost your fight! So much for the most powerful psychic pokemon." Paul scoffed. "You're a joke. I could beat you with a newly hatched Ralts."

Mewtwo's eyes closed slowly before shooting back open, this time glowing wildly. He siphoned his powers at Paul lifting the boy off the ground. 'Do not think you are permitted to talk to me with such disrespect, boy. All I need to do is raise my finger and you'll cry for your maker.' He threatened. 'I would love nothing more than to help Ash,' Mewtwo said not loosening his grip. 'but his destiny doesn't lay with me.'

"Then make it your destiny. The future is what you make it." Paul argued weakly, beginning to lose his breath from Mewtwo's grip. "If Ash isn't in your destiny now, take us to him and he will be."

Mewtwo let his grip go and Paul fell back to his feet. 'You couldn't be more wrong, boy. Destiny cannot be changed. It's up to Ash to save this region from the clutches of Aaron, not me...but I will help you. I will take you to Ash, if that is what you truly wish.'

"Really? What about Arceus?" Dawn asked. "You were so worried about her a moment ago." She pointed out. "I don't want to get you in trouble."

'It was Arceus's wish that I stay at a distance from Ash until this all blows over, but as long as I don't fight his battles for him, I'm sure she'll overlook it. If she didn't trust my judgement, she wouldn't have let me leave the Hall of Origins in the first place.' He said. 'Meowth, see to the evacuation, my friend.'

"...Okay. But only because it's you!" Meowth said saluting the taller pokemon. "Team Rocket'll get everyone out of here and play hero one last time."

'Thank you, old friend.' Mewtwo watched as Dawn picked Piplup off the ground and brought him into her arms. Mewtwo nodded and extended his left arm to Dawn's face and touched a single finger to her forehead holding the position before repeating the process with Paul using his right arm. The three figures began to glow before disappearing with several directional blurs and a flashing purple light.

~The Heart~

Ash and Aaron stood at opposite sides of the room, both with a single pokeball in hand, ready to start the battle that would decide the fate of Ash's friends. Everyone present, per Ash's request, stood back at the door ready to root their friend onto victory. If he lost this, they were all done for, if he won, well they still might be in for it but at least he'd have a chance. No backup was coming, but at least he knew that his friends had made headway with the hostages.

"Come on, Ash..." Serena whispered. "You can do this."

"Show him why you're the best, Ash!" Anabel cheered.

"Kick his butt so we can leave!" Clemont added.

Ahead of him, Aaron chuckled. "Well don't you have the nicest little cheering section?" He teased. "I don't think they'll be so optimistic in a few moments, however. Thanks to this staff," He started as he twirled the staff one full rotation with one hand. "your fate's already been sealed."

"We'll see about that! I was never one to let others decide my fate for me! Bulbasaur, I need you, old friend!" He called releasing the smaller pokemon, in a flash of light, Ash's old friend from Kanto appeared before him with a determined look. "I assume you've been listening, buddy. So, you know how serious this is. We're not fighting for a championship here!"

"Saur!" The seed pokemon nodded. "Bulba-saur" He let out a low growl at Aaron.

"Oh, Ash. I offer you the battle you craved and you send out Bulbasaur? Are you mocking me?" Aaron asked.

Bulbasaur began growling again. "Cool it, Bulbasaur!" Ash ordered. "You gotta keep a level head. You'll get a chance to show him exactly how strong you are in a moment."

Suddenly alongside Serena, a blur of purple in white flashed before the group, before fading revealing three figures. Dawn, Paul, and Mewtwo. Mewtwo backed away intending to leave before he caused to much of a distraction. But before he could get out Ash turned to examine the source of the light.

"Dawn! Paul! ...Mewtwo?" Ash asked. "What are you doing here? I thought you were with the other clones."

Mewtwo sighed. He was already caught, so he might as well acknowledge him. 'Hello Ash. It's good to finally see you again. Your friends wanted to find you so I brought them to you. I've already done too much, I must leave. We're counting on you.' With his peace said, he teleported out of the room.

"We?" Ash asked. "Who's we? Mewtwo?!"

"Dawn!" Serena said wrapping her in a hug. "You found Paul!"

"Yep." Paul nodded. "Everyone else is being evacuated as well. Mewtwo got a bunch out before bringing us here. I'm sure Professor Sycamore is getting the others out, too."

"Well you're just in time to watch Ash mop the floor with this Aaron guy." Mairin told them. "They just started."

"So it seems my captives aren't very captive anymore." Aaron said. "That's annoying. But you lot should give me enough aura to buy me enough time to recapture and rebuild my empire."

"He's right guys!" Ash called. "Staying here is only giving him more power! It's best you leave!"

"But you said-" Serena started.

"I'm starting to change my mind!" Ash shot back.

"Well I'm not leaving." Paul said defiantly. "Besides if you fail, I can always pick up where you left off."

"He's not going to fail, Paul!" Dawn scolded. "Be supportive!" She ordered. "We believe in you Ash!"

"If this is how you want it to go, your other friends can watch too. Oh, the double-edged sword of loyalty." Aaron smiled. He held his hand out in front of him and opened the pokeball, not letting it leave his hand. "Scizor, show them just what they're in for!" Out of the pokeball came a slender, red pokemon with two giant pincers for hands and metal plating covering its entire body. As a bug, it's almost unrecognizable. Scizor looked down at Bulbasaur and glared at the Seed Pokemon. "I think it's high time you felt the true wrath of Sir Aaron!" He laughed.

"What did he just say?!" Clemont yelled.

"Impossible." Kidd remarked. "It can't be...it has to be another trick."

"What are you, crazy?" Ash asked. "Sir Aaron is dead. He died stopping the Ancient War of Rota!" Ash glared. "You don't even look like him!"

"I know I just got here and all," Paul said. "but could someone explain what's going on? I'm already lost. Who's Sir Aaron?"

"Your parents never told you the story of Sir Aaron? It's one of the most widely read legends in the world. When the legendary Kingdom of Rota was at war, it was Sir Aaron who single-handedly stopped the fighting with the help of a mysterious place called The Tree of Beginnings." Dawn said. "But that was over a thousand years ago. There's no way he could be Sir Aaron! He'd have to be a thousand years old. No one lives that long."

"I did. Perhaps you should know, but the Sir Aaron you knew was not the first. I was. The one you saw at the Tree of Beginnings was Sir Aaron III!" He yelled. "He was named after me, but he never listened to me. He thought my ideas were too 'extreme'. He and that despicable Lucario of his. My ingrate grandson had to go and ruin everything. That war was supposed to last hundreds of years and distract the population while I exterminated the other Guardians, and take the Guardian Staff with ease, but the brat had to fill their hearts with peace and understanding before I could complete my mission. It set me back a few years." He finished with disdain.

"Don't you feel at all bad?" Anabel asked. "That was your grandson! He died!"

"I gave him a chance to join me. And it might have worked, if not for that blasted partner of his. That damned Lucario never liked me." Aaron said.

"Gee, I wonder why?" Ash shot back. "Could it possibly be that you were trying to destroy everything he knew and cared for?"

Aaron smiled. "Oh, Ash. So naïve. I'm tired of talking. The sooner you lose the sooner you join me. Scizor!" The Red bug turned his head back to his master. "Use Swords Dance!" Scizor nodded and flexed out his arms and legs summoning forth several swords all around him in a flash of light. The swords began spinning clockwise around Scizor and Scizor began glowing blue as his strength began increasing drastically.

"That's not good." Anabel said. "His power can just keep increasing unless Ash does something to stop him."

"Bulbasaur, we gotta stop him before he gets to powerful! Bullet Seed! Break his concentration!"

"Saur!" The smaller pokemon inclined his body and fired multiple little seeds at Scizor from his bud.

"You don't think we can't multitask, do you?" Aaron mocked. "Keep collecting power. Use Reflect! Reflect those bullets!" In front of Scizor a small shield form form nothing just in time to cut the seeds from their intended path. The seeds split off into two new paths, one deflecting left, the other right.

"Fine. We'll have to hit him up close. Hit him with a Solarbeam. Up close!" Ash ordered.

Bulbasaur nodded and sprinted towards Scizor, as the bud on his back began collecting power. Catching up to Scizor, who was still increasing his power, Bulbasaur jumped into the air and did a semi-flip pointing his powered-up bud at Scizor. Bulbasaur let loose all the energy stored inside with a single beam of power, shooting it straight past the swords.

"You can let up now! Use Superpower!" Aaron ordered.

"Zor." The Pincer Pokemon looked to his left pincer and found it glowing white-brown with power. He snapped his head quickly back to the Solarbeam coming for him. He dismissed the dancing swords around him and launched himself forward, thrusting his powered pincer in front of him causing in to collide with the Solarbeam.

Bulbasaur's Solarbeam was too weak. The pincer cut right through the middle causing it two split and create a path for him. He locked his eyes on the Seed Pokemon and, once he had closed the gap, slammed his pincer in the temporarily defenseless Bulbasaur's head.

There was a moment of sharp pain for the grass pokemon and instantly after impact, Bulbasaur flew backwards, high into the air doing multiple flip and spins. Falling from the sky he fell perfectly into Ash's open arms. Too perfectly. Ash turned Bulbasaur around to face his eyes. Bulbasaur's head hung back and a huge bruise showed just under his chin. "Bulbasaur?" Ash quizzed. "You okay?"

"You should thank Scizor." Aaron said. "Knocking him into your arms so he didn't have to hit the ground so painfully."

Ash shook his head at Aaron. "We were too late. The Swords Dance made him too powerful." Ash said sadly.

"On the contrary. Scizor never needed to be powered up." Aaron told him. "He simply needed you to think he did so you would get close. Honestly, I thought you'd see right through it."

Ash pulled out Bulbasaur's pokeball. "I'm sorry, Bulbasaur. I failed you. Rest up, I'll get you some help soon." Ash said sadly, returning the little guy.

"Did he really just beat Ash's Bulbasaur?" Anabel asked.

"He didn't just beat him." Kidd told her. "He annihilated the poor little guy. That was a one-shot ending." She observed. "And he says he didn't even need the extra power gotten from Swords Dance. I didn't know any of Ash's pokemon were that low on health."

"They aren't." Paul said. "I was there when Sycamore first examined Ash's pokemon. He said they were some of the toughest he'd ever come across. Sycamore even said Bulbasaur has exceptional stats to that of even some Venusaur. Whatever Ash's training method for Bulbasaur is, it works. For someone to just one-shot him like that..."

Aaron recalled Scizor and looked at Ash. "You told me you wanted to fight, but that...that was anything but. I expected Greninja or Infernape, but what do you do? You bring your C game."

"I'm getting really sick of you shit talking Bulbasaur. I don't ask him for power like you do, he did his best, and that's what matters." Ash glared.

Aaron chuckled. "Whatever helps him sleep at night, I suppose. Maybe I overestimated you, Ash. Perhaps your only good pokemon is Greninja." He taunted. Of course, he was just egging him on. Aaron knew better than most, just how powerful Ash's pokemon could be. For him, it would only get harder.

~Lower Levels~

~Collection Room~

There was currently a long, single file line of people crowding the collection room. One by one, they were disappearing at a leisurely pace. Lucy's secret pokemon, Abra, was holding open a single man-sized portal leading to Professor Sycamore's corral where Sycamore was waiting for the saved hostages and ready to help reunite the victims with their families in any way possible. Brock, Lucy, Alain, Bianca and Cilan were doing their best to calm the former captives and guide them as they got closer and closer to the portal. Brock, Lucy, and Cilan were on one side while Alain and Bianca were on the opposite side.

"Just a little bit longer." Brock said wiping sweat from his brow. "This nightmare's almost over and done with. Hopefully Ash is doing okay." He thought out loud. "Keep moving people!" He called.

"Brock!" A voice called. Brock turned to his right to see Max approaching him. "Misty and May just disconnected the last of the pods,"

"Good." Brock said cutting him off. "Once everybody's out of here, I can focus on finding Ash. I can't imagine he's having a picnic right now."

"But I find it weird that the grunts have just stopped trying. We're basically destroying the heart of their operation and no one seems to care anymore." He said. "They can't have just given up." Max said. He remembered Silver telling them that most of the grunts here only worked because their friends and family were being locked away and threatened, but if any of the attacking grunts did have family in the collection room, why weren't they helping?

"Yeah." Brock said. "I hate to admit it, but you make a good point." He said.

"Maybe we're looking at this wrong." Cilan offered. "This guy had to have known we were down here freeing the people or he never would've sent anyone after us."

"But then why aren't they seeing their loved ones and joining our fight?" Max asked.

"Because maybe he's not sending people with ties to the captives down here." Cilan put out. "Maybe those grunts are being occupied elsewhere. Cleaning, managing, those types of jobs."

"I guess that makes sense." Brock said scratching his chin. "Regardless, we can't focus on them. Our first priority is the victims."

"What about Ash?" Max asked. "We still have to find him, too."

"You're not going anywhere near him." Brock said sternly pointing at Max. "And neither are you." He said changing his attention to Cilan. "I appreciate what you've done to help here, but I'm still not risking it. You and the others can go back to Sycamore's lab once everybody else is out. If we don't hear anything by the time we're finished here, I'll handle getting Ash."

"Now wait just a minute!" Max said taking a step towards Brock. Before he could get any closer, Lucy stepped between Brock and Max and glared down at the younger boy narrowing her eyes. Max flinched and threw his hands up in mock surrender. "Okay." He said quickly. "Okay. I get it." Max let out an exasperated sigh.

"Hey!" The group turned their attention to Abel, May, Misty, and Bonnie joining the group on Brock's side. "You're not picking on Max, are you?" May yelled putting her hand on her hip.

"Picking on him?" Lucy asked. "Don't be ridiculous. Brock was just telling him how it is."

"And how exactly is it?" May glared. "Maybe you should tell me."

"Really, May, it's fine." Max said. "We're all good, we were just talking about Ash, that's all. It's still a touchy subject you know. I just wanted to help in the search for Ash and-"

"Oh, you're helping find Ash." May interrupted. "So am I. Even if we have to do it on our own." She asserted. Glaring straight at Brock.

"This isn't good." Misty sighed. "This isn't good."

"Let them get it all out." Iris said shrugging it off. "It's the only way to move past our differences."

"Do we have to remind you what you did to Ash the last time you 'went looking for him'?" Bonnie snarked. "We don't need your help, do we Brock?!"

"Look this is getting out of hand, here." Brock said. "My point was-"

"That we shouldn't be allowed to see Ash. What we did wasn't our fault Brock! Were you listening at all?!" May retorted. "We're his friends! I don't want to see him hurt, either!"

"Of course, not. You want to be the one to hurt him." Lucy said. "Tell me I'm wrong." Beside her Brock buried his head in his hands and let out a deep sigh.

"This is getting us nowhere, guys." Misty pointed out. "Can we put a pin in this conversation?"

"Why don't you try listening to her side of the story instead of being so biased towards Ash's story." Abel cut in, ignoring Misty. "Maybe it really wasn't their fault!"

"Whose fault was it then, huh?" Bonnie asked tapping her foot impatiently. "I'm listening..."

"I don't have the answer to that, but I've spent enough time with Max to know he's not a bad person." Abel shot back. "So, his sister can't be that bad, right?"

By now Alain had caught wind of the argument and was shaking his head. Molly, Tory, and Miette began gathering around as well. Soon everyone but Bianca and Alain, who were dead set on helping the captives instead of wasting time, were gathered around by Brock too.

Brock clenched his fist together. He had had enough. He put a hand on Lucy's shoulder and gently pulled her to the side and took her place. He glanced around the verbal brawl in front of him. "Shut up!" He called. Everyone was quiet, not because Brock ordered them to, but because of the terminology Brock used. 'Shut up' is something no one thought Brock would ever say. He's much too nice and logical for that. "Listen to me, and listen close, because you're all wrong!"

"What?" May asked.

"Lucy, I appreciate you, but let me handle this on my own." Lucy nodded and backed out to return to helping Alain and Bianca. "Bonnie. Try and be a little more understanding. Adding fuel to the fire doesn't help Ash at all. Listen and give people second chances and you may find they're not as terrible as you thought." Bonnie looked to her feet. "May. Stop making the argument about yourself and your innocence, this is about Ash and Ash alone. Even if helping Ash was the intention of this argument, you're doing the opposite." May nodded slowly. "Abel. You seem like a good kid, but you're a little out of the loop and out of your element here." Abel shrugged. "Max. My point wasn't that you stay away from Ash forever. My point was that, if what Bonnie said is true, and it most likely is, then Ash is in huge trouble right now. Possibly in the middle of a battle as we speak. And to win that battle we need him to keep a level head. Yes?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Max said scratching the back of his head.

"Good. Then you can wait until after he's saved the world to give him your sob stories. If he's gonna win, he needs no distractions, and you and your sister might be the biggest distraction you could give him. Once this is all over, if Ash decides to give you another chance, I will too. If not, I'll stand by him." Brock finished. "Now are we finished fighting?"

"Yes." They all said in unison.

"Good. Anyone who has a problem with that," Brock said. "can walk right through that portal and be on their merry way." He finished pointing to the portal. "Bonnie, May, shake hands and make up." Brock ordered. As he watched the two young girls exchange hands, albeit still slightly bitterly, he smiled to himself. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pokeball he had put away just a little bit earlier. "Crobat!" Out of the pokeball came one of Brock's longest running traveling companions, a familiar purple bat.

"Crobat."

"Crobat, pal, I need you to go find Ash. He's somewhere in this factory, on the first floor, that's we're sure of. Use those patented sonars of yours. When you've found him, come back here." Brock ordered.

"Cro." The purple poison bat replied. It took off in the direction of the door leading to the factory corridor they had all entered from flapping its purple wings furiously.