~Pokeball Factory~

~Collection Room~

Deep inside the pokeball factory, the rescue mission started by Clemont and Anabel was reaching it end. Everyone was released by now, and everyone's pokemon, save for Tory's Plusle and Minun who were perched on his shoulders still, and of course Lucy's Abra, had been returned Max, May, and Abel stood and watched as two gentlemen, albeit naïve gentlemen, helped Delia off the ground and supported her as the three proceeded towards the portal being held up by a very obviously strained Abra. Behind them what looked like a mother and her young daughter followed closely. As the five made it through the small portal, Max took a look around to find the only people left were companions of Ash. "That looks like the last of the civilians." Max reported. "I feel like going home and sleeping for a year. Let's blow this place."

May nodded. "C'mon Misty..." She turned around to an empty room. "Misty? Misty!" May called frantically. "Where'd she go?"

"Maybe she already left. She could've easily slipped into the crowd without us noticing." Abel suggested. "I'm sure she's just waiting for us on the other side."

"No." A new voice added from in front of them. Ritchie turned to face the three. "She didn't feel Brock was being fair, so she followed him and the little blonde girl when they left to find Ash."

"And didn't tell us?!" May yelled. "Come on! We should be allowed to go just like her!"

"Then go." Ritchie shrugged. He turned back to the portal and took a few steps towards the glowing door. "Nothing's stopping you, now, right?" Ahead Molly and Trip stepped through and disappeared to the lab on the other side of the gateway. "I assume you hurt Ash just like Misty did. That's why Brock didn't want you to go with?" May nodded somberly. "Then prove you're sorry."

Her face lit up with hope. "About time! That's what I've been saying this whole time!" May agreed. "At least someone here has some sense of humanity!"

"I'd be no help, though. Besides, Sparky's more important right now." Just after Miette had slipped through the portal, Ritchie took his place in front of the gateway as it illuminated the outline of his body. He lifted one arm into the air and conformed his hand into a thumbs up position. He let it drop back down to his side and left the room in prideful strides.

"I like that guy." Abel said. "He's like if Ash would lighten up every once in a while." He chuckled. Beside him, May pivoted around towards the door. "Hey, where you going?" Abel asked tilting his head.

"Weren't you listening at all? You heard Ritchie! I'm going to find Ash!" May asserted. "Whether Brock and Bonnie like it, or not. And that's that!"

"Mind if we tag along?" Iris and Cilan walked up to the trio and smiled. "We're not too happy with our current standing with Ash, either. Not to mention whoever it is running this machine stole a whole year of our lives."

"Indeed." Cilan nodded. "Overall our current situation has the sour aftertaste of the Beribi fruit native to Hoenn. And I fear our reunion with Ash will be welcomed like a platter of Durins." He added.

"...what?" Abel asked turning to Max. Max subtlety shrugged back at him in confusion as well. He looked to May who just shook her head at him.

"I know, I know. It takes a while to decipher what he says, especially if you're not familiar with cuisine." Iris said. "He said our situation sucks and we won't be welcomed by Ash's friends." She expertly translated sticking a finger in the air. "You'll pick up on it sooner or later."

"Well, why didn't he just say that?" Max asked.

"Because my way is much more sophisticated. It presents phrases with the elegance and maturity of a finely seared-" Cilan defended.

"Not that this isn't the most interesting conversation I've ever heard, but... Ash? Remember?" May interrupted irritably. "I'm out of here!" She declared. She turned to take off once again before being stopped...again.

"Wait! May!" Max interrupted her mid-step. "We still don't know where in this place Ash is!" Max said grabbing his sister's wrist. "We need a way to find him, first." Max reasoned. "Any ideas?"

May sighed. "Fine, you're right." She admitted. "So what do we do?"

"Simple." Iris said. "All we need to do is get close. Then I can find him for you!" She said putting her hands proudly on her hips and sticking her nose in the air. "I may have been incapacitated for a while, but I still remember a lot about my time with Ash. I can follow his stench!"

"You know what he smells like?" Max cringed. "That's weird."

"I have an extraordinary sense of smell from living in the wilderness for so long! Recognizing scents is the most efficient way to find food! In fact, I've recognized most of your scents too! I still haven't quite pinned down Max but-" Iris leaned towards Max in inquiry.

"Please don't." Max interrupted taking a step back. "You can smell Ash. Great. Lead the way." He said gesturing to the other side of the room. "Just don't smell me." He ordered.

"You got it! First, let's get out of the basement! You guys did come from the upper levels, right?" To her inquiry Max and Abel both nodded. "Great! Let's go people!" She exclaimed taking off.

Behind her closely followed Cilan, Abel, and May. Max shook his head. "Guys wait up!" He called chasing after them frantically. "Wait for me!"

At the sound of Max shouting the only other remaining residents, Lucy, Tory, Alain, and Bianca, all turned to see the five of them rushing to the far side of the room. Lucy narrowed her eyes at the group. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?! Get back here!" Lucy yelled.

Turning around to face Lucy, but not stopping, now running backwards, May waved at the four allies. "Don't worry about us! Just get yourselves out of here!" She yelled she turned back around and resumed her normal running format.

"I guess they're going to look for Ash." Tory said walking to the right side of Lucy. "That's what they wanted to do in the first place, right?" From his shoulders both Plusle and Minun nodded once simultaneously.

Lucy facepalmed as Alain joined her on her left. "Why did it have to be them of all people? If they find their way to Ash, Brock's going to flip, and probably blame me." She groaned angrily pinching the bridge of her nose.

"What's everyone's deal with them? I can't vouch for all of them, but May and Max are cool. Why do you hate them so much?" Tory asked.

"Because they're traitors." Lucy answered. "But there's nothing I can do about them anymore. Even if I could catch up to them, I doubt I could stop all five of them. We'll have to leave without them."

"Traitors?" Tory asked tilting his head. "What do you mean?"

"You can't be serious, Lucy." Bianca said. Lucy quickly dismissed Tory's inquiry and turned to the Alto Mare girl. "We have to at least leave Abra here with the portal up, or they might not make it out." She suggested. "I don't know what a 'traitor' entails but we were supposed to save everyone."

Lucy sighed. "And I was going to. But they should've thought of that before running off. I'm not going to let my precious little Abra die of exhaustion because he kept the portal up waiting for them. We leave now." She ordered.

Bianca and Tory nodded in submission but Alain continued to stare at the end of the narrow room. "I'm going, too." He said. "Mairin's somewhere here as well, and her fate will be my fate." He took a step forward with intentions of leaving when Lucy put a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look her in the eyes. "Yes?"

Lucy grabbed his other shoulder and flipped him back around to face the gate. "What are you...?" Lucy ignored him and let go of his shoulders and moved her hands to his back. She thrusted forward and shoved the champion into the portal head-first. Alain disappeared with a flash of light leaving only the three of them left.

Lucy wiped her hands together and turned to Tory. "I've let too many people slip by already. Would you like to go willingly or will we do this the fun way?" She asked.

Tory put his hands in front of him quickly. "Willingly. Definitely willingly." He answered fearfully. "No need to use force, right guys?"

"Plu Plu!" Plusle said nodding.

"Nun!" Minun added.

"Good. After you, then." Lucy said gesturing to her pokemon's gateway.

~ Kanto ~

Scott was currently spending his afternoon the same way he had been spending most of his free time for quite a while, at his kitchen table, which was covered in papers and documents, in front of his small television with his face in his hands. Things had really taken a turn for the worse. Not only had he been unable to find trainers he felt could take on his Battle Frontier as of late, but his brains... It started off with Anabel quitting to go travel to Kalos, but that wasn't so bad, in fact, ever since Ash moved there, he saw it coming. Everyone knew how she felt about Ash. So, Scott already had a replacement lined up who instantly fit in with the others, but then just days later he gets a call from the Battle Arena saying they couldn't find Greta, then Tucker disappears form the Battle Dome, and finally Lucy and Noland took a leave of absence to investigate and look for the two missing brains but Lucy didn't come back with everyone else. No one knows what happened to her.

Not only was he behind in his bills without a functioning Battle Frontier to bring in money, but he was down three employees, three friends. He had already dug into his emergency funds just beefing up security for the remaining four brains and he was running out fast. He needed a miracle.

'We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you breaking news in what has been dubbed 'The Kidnapping Phenomenon'. My name is Michelle Lyn and as you should know, there has been a spike in kidnapping cases in recent months,' A reporter said from Scott's TV. She was a girl with long brown hair and a business suit with 'Kalos Channel 7' plastered on the front.

"Great. More depressing news." Scott said he reached for his remote eager to change the channel before he became any more depressed.

'We just got word from the famous Professor Sycamore that he has found the captives.' In the report released by the Kalos Police Force, he is currently working hard to reunite the victims. He has agreed to answer a few questions for us here at Channel 7. Joining us now are Professor Sycamore and Kanto's own Dome Ace-'

"Tucker!" Scott said dropping the remote just before he hit the button. The TV panned to reveal Professor Sycamore and Tucker standing side by side. "I don't believe it! I thought everyone gave up on searching!"

'So, Professor...' The reported said pointing the microphone in his face. 'everyone wants to know from the hero himself, exactly did you find the captives?'

'Hero?' Sycamore flinched. 'No, no, no. I'm not the hero. I did not mastermind the plan. I was merely a follower. To make a long story short, when a close friend of mine never came home, we discovered he might have gone to the pokeball factory and that's where we found everyone.' Sycamore explained. Scott leaned forward in suspense. He remembered Anabel talking about Ash going to live with Sycamore after his mother showed her true colors. He really hoped that Ash wasn't the 'friend' he was talking about. He did have a knack for finding trouble.

'Can we meet these masterminds?' Michelle asked. 'They deserve recognition, wouldn't you agree?'

'Unfortunately, they're still in the factory. Poor Anabel! In a dark factory with that evil man!' Tucker said dramatically resting the back of his hand on his forehead. Sycamore glared and elbowed him the side.

The reporter's eyes widened. 'Do you mean to say that there are still people in the factory and more importantly in danger? You didn't save everyone?'

'We did the best we could.' Sycamore responded. 'I'm sure Ash will be able to save everyone else still inside.' He said confidently.

'Ash as in Ash Ketchum? The boy who came in second in the Kalos league not that long ago?' The reporter asked.

'Professor Sycamore!' Another voice called. The camera shifter to the right, showing The Pike Queen standing behind the Professor. Professor Sycamore quickly turned around to face the beauty. 'We got a situation!' She informed him.

"Lucy." Scott said smiling. That was two out of three. All he wanted now was confirmation that Greta was okay, and he would finally be able to sleep again.

'No more questions.' Sycamore said rushing off. Tucker waved to the camera quickly before running off as well.

Michelle turned to her cameraman and brought the mic back to her mouth. 'Jennies are now hatching a rescue plan for anyone who might still be inside the factory, and hope to dispatch very soon. This is truly-' Scott had seen enough. He picked his remote back up and turned off the TV.

Beside him his mobile began vibrating on his table. He picked it up and hit the green button. "Spenser?" There was a moment of silence from Scott's end before he spoke back. "Yeah, I saw it." He informed the elder man. "And I'll bet Greta's there, too. Pack a change of clothes. You and me are heading to Kalos on the double. Tell Brandon to hold down the fort 'till we get back." Scott told him. "Meet me at the airport in a couple hours."

~Pokeball Factory~

~The Heart~

Aaron, with a prideful, cocky, stance looked to the other side of the field at the newcomer glaring at him, not moving from her stance over the fallen Sceptile. He then looked to Ash who still held a look of uncertainty on his face. In front of Aaron floated his shiny Jellicent, bobbing up and down with grace. Jellicent was eyeing Donphan eagerly waiting for her master's orders. "Keep in mind Ash," Aaron said. "One more loss and I win." He taunted. "and there are still four matches left. I might not even get to my partner."

"Which is?" Ash asked.

"My secret. If you want to know so bad, then let's see you fight your way there! But I'll have you know Jellicent has only ever lost once. Only to my partner."

Ash groaned in frustration. "Listen here, traitor." Ash said dangerously causing Donphan to look back at him with saddened eyes. She obviously didn't like being called traitor but Ash figured she should've thought about that long ago. "He only wants to battle you for some reason, so you're going to do exactly as I say, when I say it!" Donphan nodded sadly and looked back to Aaron's Jellicent. Ash quickly returned Sceptile, removing him from his position under Donphan who was intensifying her glare at Aaron.

"That's it." Aaron taunted. "Show me some of that spunk I saw in your eyes earlier. Jellicent, dear," He said turning to the bulbous creature. "Use Scald for me." From her mouth shot a stream of boiling hot water on a straight path towards Donphan. Without stopping her attack, Jellicent began giggling and moved forward towards Donphan.

"Defense Curl! Block it!" Donphan curled up into a ball and began glowing a light blue as she spun rapidly in place. The beam of hot water collided with the armored up Donphan but instead of doing damage, was deflected off of her. The stream quickly changed course and shot ninety degrees upward from Donphan's position hitting the ceiling and dispatching into a rainstorm of large and not so large. Ash found it weird however, that even though it clearly wasn't affecting Donphan, Jellicent just kept going.

Serena put out her hand and felt the raindrops hit her skin. "What's the point of the Scald. He's just wasting Jellicent's energy."

"I doubt that's all there is to it." Anabel said. "He's planning something else. Don't forget it's currently two-nothing."

Aaron looked up the ceiling to find it had reached what was probably the maximum number of raindrops that would be gathered at once. Lucky for him they were mostly conglomerating around Donphan thanks to the Scald being directed towards her alone. He looked to see Jellicent still going strong. "Switch gears, Jellicent!" Aaron called.

Jellicent shot into the air and descended back closer to Aaron. She spread out her larger tentacles and began vibrating furiously. All around the room fierce winds of freezing temperature kicked up.

Ash did his best to look through the storm and could make out at least Donphan's figure. "She's using Blizzard!" Clemont called placing both arms in front of his face to try and block out as much of the storm as possible. Anabel and Kidd tried backing up as far as possible in a desperate attempt to get out of the storm. Mairin curled up into a ball protecting Chespie and Paul turned around and enveloped Dawn in a hug in an attempt to shield her as much as possible. Finally, Serena grabbed her hat to keep it from blowing away and tried to mimic Clemont's movements and squinting, trying to look through the storm.

"Pika!" Pikachu yelled. "Pika!" He pointed to the storm above them.

"Freezing rain? What are you talking ab-" Ash was cut off as he finally was able to make out the scene above them.

Above them all the large raindrops quickly froze over creating falling icicles that rained down on Donphan. The Armor Pokemon tried avoiding them by sidestepping, trying extra hard because of her weakness to ice, but it was inevitable that some would make contact. Donphan could be seen visibly flinching with each icicle that hit her. Ash gritted his teeth as he watched his former friend take a barrage of much larger Icicles before the rain finally stopped. All his friends behind him resumed their normal stances as the storm died. "Neat trick, huh? Jellicent keep it up with Hydro Pump! And leave them a little surprise!" Jellicent floated swiftly and gracefully to the left before firing a large blast of water at Donphan.

The Hydro Pump hit Donphan directly in the face causing her to revert into ball form and roll backward, in a daze. She quickly went back to her regular state, sprawled out on the ground. "Get up, Donphan!" Ash urged. "You're not done yet; I know you aren't!" Donphan slowly but steadily got to her feet, shivering the whole time. Her face was turning a deep red and there were small purple blotches scattered across. "What the-" Before he could finish his sentence Donphan fell backwards onto her rear and rested her front feet on the ground in an effort to stabilize herself. Ash looked to Aaron who was giving Ash a knowing smirk. "Don't tell me,,, the surprise was more poison..."

"Kaa..." Pikachu said, ears drooping. "Chuu."

"Okay. I won't tell you. But I think you already know it." Aaron replied. "I'd get a move on, if she's anything like Sceptile, she won't last much longer." He said.

"But how?" Mairin asked. "How could a Hydro Pump poison Donphan?"

"In theory," Clemont responded scratching his chin. "if she were to use both Hydro Pump and Toxic at the same time, he'd be able to slip in the toxins without anyone noticing." Clemont told her.

Beside him, Kidd nodded. "As long as they're focused on the giant pump of water, they'd easily overlook a few toxic bubbles. He might have even submerged the bubbles in the water."

"Bingo." Aaron said. He looked to his Jellicent who was looking very proud of her triumph. "Don't celebrate yet, she's weak but not out."

"Got it!" Ash said turning to Pikachu. "Manuvir 5, remember?!" Beside Pikachu nodded eagerly. "Donphan! Think back to our old training days for the Sinnoh League! Manuvir 5, go! Use Rollout!" Ash ordered. Donphan nodded and shakily got back to all fours and eyed Jellicent.

"Doooon!" She growled contorting back into a ball. She rolled at a fast pace in place for a moment before using Rollout to shoot forward, making a beeline for Jellicent.

"A single Rollout?" Aaron mused. "You'll have to do better than that. Block him." Jellicent crossed her two longer tentacles across her body in an 'x' formation. Donphan leaped into the air, still in a spherical form, and slammed into Jellicent's crossed limbs trying to force her way through. Jellicent struggled for a moment before pushing the armored pokemon back by thrusting her tentacles in a wide formation and pushed Donphan into the air.

Ash narrowed his eyes. Now was his chance as Jellicent's tentacles pushed Donphan back they also left an opening leading straight to her face. "Manuvir 5 go!" Ash called. Donphan quickly loosened her body back to normal mid-air. She looked down at Jellicent's parting tentacles.

"Phan!" Donphan opened her mouth wide and an orange-yellow glow enveloped her face before she fired of a heavy beam of pure strength down at the bulbous pokemon. It traveled through the small opening and before Jellicent could react the Hyper Beam connected with her face, knocking her back all the way into the wall behind her.

"I see." Aaron mused as he watched Jellicent regain her composure. "The old fake-out. Well played, but you know the downside with fake-outs?" He asked Ash as Jellicent slid back to her trainer.

"They never work a second time." Ash groaned. Not only did he lose Manuvir 5, but Donphan was still poisoned. And it showed on her face. She was red in the face and probably losing strength fast. "I know. But we landed a hit, and that proves we can land another one! Rollout!" As soon as Donphan touched the ground she shot back forward toward the recomposed Jellicent.

"Block it! Don't make the same mistake twice!" Aaron ordered. Jellicent knocked Donphan away again, this time making sure to knock her to the ground to prevent anymore unfortunate circumstances. Donphan hit the ground but instantly attacked with another Rollout, only to be knocked with Jellicent's other main tentacle this time. She fell back onto the ground and retreated back to Ash.

"Whatever you're going to do Ash, do it quick!" Anabel yelled.

"Why?" Dawn asked.

"Besides the obvious?" Anabel responded sacastically. "Donphan's last two Rollouts were slower. No doubt you've noticed, Ash." She said addressing the boy.

"Yeah. That wasn't any small dose of poison. Donphan's losing. She will lose if I don't think of something." Ash said. Ahead of him Donphan was panting heavily and shivering constantly. Suddenly it felt like twenty light bulbs went off in his head. "Anabel, do you have anything that can use protect?"

"Mirror Coat work?" Anabel smirked.

"Even better. Whoever it is, call them out." Ash ordered. Anabel nodded and unclipped a pokeball off of her suit. She held it out in front of her and in a flash of light released one of her oldest friends. A humanoid creature with a long mustache and two spoons for weapons. Alakazam. "Perfect. I knew I could count on you." Behind him Anabel shot Serena a cocky smirk causing the latter to let out an audible 'hmph' as Dawn patted her back half-sympathetically.

"Oh, Ash." Aaron said. "You don't plan on cheating, do you? Granted if you do, I'll still win, but I'll be very disappointed."

"Not on your life. I've just never tried this before." Ash said confidently. He reached to his shoulder and grabbed Pikachu and brought him in front of his face. "Sorry, buddy. It's one thing if me or Donphan get hurt, but I don't want to risk your health. You can take your spot back in a minute, I promise."

"Pika?"

"Serena, catch!" Ash called. He turned swiftly and tossed the little mouse towards the performer. Pikachu let out a surprised chirp as he flew through the air and a soft grunt as he landed in Serena's arms. Slightly dazed he looked up to see Serena smiling down at him. As Pikachu repositioned himself into a more comfortable position. Serena shot a look of her own at Anabel and raised her eyebrow at the empath who just frowned in return.

"Put up that barrier, Anabel, because I have no clue what I'm doing!" Ash said. "Donphan, get ready!"

"What about you?!" Serena yelled. From the ground in front of her a giant pink wall phased into existence and rose to the ceiling effectively cutting the rest of them of from Ash and Aaron's battle.

From the entrance came two new figures. Brock skid to a stop once he was inside and spotted Ash on the other side of the barrier. Right after him came little Bonnie, still holding Squishy in her arms. She looked and immediately spotted her brother. "Clemont!"

Clemont turned around at the sound of his little sister's voice and darted toward her. "Bonnie!" He exclaimed wrapping her in a hug. "I'm so glad you're here safe." He said squeezing her. "I wish I could've come and found you-"

"It's alright, big bro. I'm fine, thanks to Squishy." She said happily presenting Squishy to her brother proudly.

Brock quickly approached the group and took a place between Serena and Anabel. "What's going on? And is that...Ash's old Donphan? How'd she get here?"

"Oh, you know, a battle to decide the fate of Kalos and possibly the world. Just another day for Ash." Serena answered.

"As for Donphan," Anabel continued. "It's a long story, all I know is, her pokeball broke and she's remorseful for what she did, and while I'm not sure she's worthy of forgiveness, she is extremely strong so..." She shrugged. "might as well take advantage of the situation."

"On another note, it's good to see you alive and well, Brock." Kidd said. "You had me worried when I heard you got caught."

"Kidd! I guess you came to my rescue, too."

On the other side of the barrier unaware of the reunion going on, Ash stood ready. "Donphan, use Rollout, one last time!" He ordered. Donphan curled up into a ball and started on her trail to Jellicent.

"This again?" Aaron groaned. "Jellicent use Scald, stop her in her tracks." Aaron ordered. From Jellicent's mouth a beam of water shot forward at Donphan. Donphan shifted her roll to the left dodging the attack easily. Annoyed, Jellicent fired another one just to have Donphan lean to the left again causing the attack to miss. "Jellicent, hit her!" Aaron yelled. Jellicent nodded and shot another Scald at Donphan. This time Donphan had mostly closed the gap between them making her easier to hit, the attack finally went through crashing into Donphan with a good-sized splash.

"Power through it!" Ash said. "Into the air!" Donphan kept rolling against the stream of water coming at her without slowing down a single bit. In seconds the stream weakened and Donphan broke through causing the beam to split off into two different directions with Donphan at the center. She jumped into the air just as Ash ordered her to as she began to feel the poison coming close to taking her out.

"Don't stop rolling! Use Hyper Beam!" Ash said pumping a fist into the air. "This is our last chance!" Keeping up her speed and form, you couldn't tell where from Donphan the Hyper Beam was coming from, all one could see was a rolling ball of fury and a giant laser coming from her. As she rolled the laser began firing everywhere. First at Jellicent who was knocked back by the laser, but as she continued rolling, she was eventually in a position of firing the laser towards Ash. Seeing this coming Ash dropped to the ground quickly, landing on the duffle bag with his pokemon in order to shield them from any damage, and causing the laser to fly past him and into the barrier keeping his friends apart.

"Ash!" Anabel yelled as Alakazam flinched holding the barrier against the Hyper Beam. "Are you okay?!"

"Told you you were going to need that barrier." He said cockily. He pushed up from his knee back to his feet and dusted himself off before he turned back to the fight just in time to see the fiery balled-up Donphan collide with Jellicent. At collision, a giant explosion, caused by the Hyper Beam, occurred between the two pokemon at the point of impact. The explosion pushed Aaron back a few feet as he covered his face with his arms. As the smoke cleared, both Ash and Aaron waited for the victor to be revealed.

Jellicent was the first to come into view. She was laying on the back of her large, bulbous head with her much smaller body drooping over. As she remained unmoving Ash's friends began to regain hope. "He beat her!" Serena exclaimed. "I told you all you had to do was believe!"

"Sorry, Serena." Brock said. "But you might want to take a closer look." He said pointing forward. Ahead of them Donphan was laying on the cold floor on her side, eyes closed, and panting heavily.

"Well, well." Aaron mused. "We have a tie. You scrape by another round, Ash." Aaron returned Jellicent before pocketing the pokeball and turning his attention back to Donphan. "Now what to do with her? She may have finally given me a fight but she's certainly outlived her welcome here." He said.

Behind the two trainers Anabel had returned Alakazam causing the barrier to phase out and a pokeball flew forward and smack Donphan on her armored back. It flew backwards a bit and open up mid-air, sucking Donphan inside. It quickly snapped shut and bounced off the ground and back into the hand of Ash's buddy, Brock. "I'll hold onto her for the time being." Brock said.

The familiar voice caused Ash to immediately turn around and make quick eye contact with his best friend. "Brock!" He yelled happily. He took a step to rejoin his friends when another figure entered the room. An orange haired girl Ash knew very well. "Misty..." Ash said shocked. "What are you doing here?"

Brock whipped around and lowered his eyebrows at the girl. "I thought I told you to get out of here with the others." He groaned.

Misty looked around the room to find everyone but Kidd and Anabel staring her down too. "Uhh...I..." She shook her head rapidly knocking herself out of her trance. "I couldn't just leave. Not while Ash was in trouble." She said confidently.

Serena gritted her teeth hard. "You don't deserve to be near him. Now leave, before I make you leave."

"Pika-"

"I'll gladly help." Paul interrupted cracking his knuckles. "I'm done playing nice with traitors." He growled.

"Now hold on." Anabel added. She walked over to Serena and grabbed her by the shoulders. "You're going to stand over here," She said pushing a reluctant Serena over by where she and Kidd were standing. "and leave her be."

"But-"

"Pikachu!" The little mouse screeched.

Misty's eyes widened. "Pikachu?!" She gasped covering her mouth, scanning his implants. "Oh my Arceus! What happened to you?!"

"As if you don't already know." Paul said bitterly. "You're lucky Pikachu can't use electric attacks anymore or you'd be getting one hell of a Thunderbolt." Misty reached out to pet Pikachu's ear sympathetically only to have Serena yank the mouse out of her reach.

The performed glared at the orange haired girl. "Don't touch him." She growled.

"Anabel's right, Serena." Kidd added resting a hand on Serena's shoulder. "Don't focus on her. Try and remember the real enemy here." She said.

Serena snapped her head to the side away from Misty. "Fine. But I don't have to like it." She reeled back to look Misty in the eyes. "But I'm still watching you, scum." Misty recoiled slightly. From what she had previously heard about Serena, she wasn't one for throwing insults.

"And you..." Dawn added grabbing Paul's arm and pulling him back. "don't need to be doing anything illegal." She scolded. "No one likes a criminal." Paul crossed his arms and scoffed.

"Aww." Aaron interrupted. Everyone turned to the older man. "I was really hoping for some good old-fashion fisticuffs." He said. "Oh well, guess I'll have to make my own!" He pulled out another pokeball and spun it on top of his pointer finger. He opened his hand up and the ball dropped into his palm. "Gallade!" He yelled opening the ball up. Out of it came a white and green humanoid pokemon.

"What is that?" Bonnie asked.

"A Gallade." Anabel answered. "An extremely strong psychic and fighting type pokemon. I considered training one once before but came across a lonely Kadabra first."

"Fighting, huh? Well let's fight fire with fire. Or in this case..." He pulled out a pokeball of his own out of the duffle bag beside him. "fists with fists. Infernape!" Ash threw the pokeball into the air, releasing the fiery ape onto the field.

Infernape slowly lifted his head up to meet Gallade's glare with his own. "Ape!" He roared, bearing his fangs at his opponent. "Nape!" He raised both his fists in front of him and planted his feet, one ahead of him and one behind. Gallade gracefully mirrored his movements and held the pose.

~Lab 1~

Kane was standing outside the first of several labs scattered across the entire factory. Ahead of him there were two women guarding the entrance to the lab. He was currently in line with two people ahead of him and seven people behind him. He had no idea what was going on, just that a code black was issued. He figured that information must be above his pay grade. Hanging off of his shoulder, swinging happily, was his best friend Aipom. As it came to be his turn, he stepped up to the doorway to the lab.

"Name and occupation, please." One of the women asked.

"Kane Hopper. Progress information manager." Kane responded.

"And the pokemon?" She added.

"You mean Aipom? He's my...assistant, I guess. He's definitely good at keeping the morale up." Kane said. Aipom swung himself up around Kane's arm and into the air. He did a little half-flip and landed on top of his friend's shoulder before nodding.

The older lady holding an electronic pad looked up and turned to her partner. "He's clean. No previous infractions and no archived family." She said. "You can go in." The door they were guarding slid open for Kane and Aipom.

"Hey, what do you mean, archived family? You've got birth records on there?" Kane asked.

"Sir, if you don't go in now, I'll have to deny you access." The first lady asserted. "We have many more people to get through."

"Sorry." Kane said, bowing apologetically. "Thank you for your time." He added. He straightened out and stepped through the door into the lab. The door violently slid shut behind him as he found himself in a room with many people he had never even seen before. "These must be lab workers." Kane said turning to Aipom. "It's the one place we rarely visit."

"Pom. Ape." The purple monkey nodded. "Aipo?" He asked tilting his head.

"Don't know. I guess we'll just have to hide out in here until we get word that everything's safe. I really wish I knew what 'code black' meant. It might set my mind at ease a bit more." He responded. "Until then, we'll just have to keep ourselves occupied. If this is a secret safe room, then they have to have emergency food stashed away somewhere in here. Wanna help me find it?"

"Pom!" He said happily, performing a backflip and landing on his tail-hand. "Aipom!"

"I hope they get those kids in here before whatever's happening happens. I'd hate to see the happy couple suffer that kind of pain at their age." Kane thought out loud. "Right, food. Let's go." He said getting himself back on track.