Previously, Jonathan helped out a few people around Gearen City, and proceeded to explore Goldenwood Forest. There, he and Melia battled each other, which ended in a victory for the young man. The duo then proceeded to head back to Gearen Laboratory, but not before a sudden explosion halted their plans.

Thanks for all your reviews everyone, you are all awesome!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon Rejuvenation, it is the property of its creator, SuperJanBro.

Chapter 4:

Having healed their Pokémon back in the cave, the two trainers had ran out of the cave, and stumbled upon a scene of chaos. The forest was now filled with several black trucks and buggies, featuring a large red 'X' on the sides. Jonathan tensed up at the sight, he'd recognised the red X, it was the logo for Team Xen, the criminals responsible for blowing up the boat, and kidnapping his mother.

"Shhh! Keep your voice down, they haven't seen us yet." Melia whispered to the young man, as the two hid behind one of the trucks.

"Alright then." He replied quietly, gently opening his bag and taking out a bottle of water. "So what's the plan?" He asked, while taking small sips.

"We're gonna go through the bushes, and avoid detection. Simple stealth tactics." Melia informed him. The two moved out from behind the truck, and were about to commence sneaking, when they were halted by the voice of a young man. In an instant, a pair of Xen Grunts stormed up to the duo, their eyes locked on Melia.

"Well, well. It looks like we found our target." A grunt sneered, as he pushed aside Jonathan and grabbed Melia by the arm.

"L-Let go of me right now!" she demanded, desperately trying to push the grunt off her.

"I'm coming Melia!" Jonathan cried out, as he attempted to run up to her, only for the second grunt to pull out a handgun.

"Not so fast, little boy! I'm not afraid of using a gun on a child." The Xen grunt sneered, pointing the weapon at the young man, causing him to back off a few feet.

"Come on now Melia, it'll be better if you stopped resisting and come with us…" the first grunt told her, in an attempt to calm her down, only this made her even angrier.

"I SAID, LET GO OF ME!" Melia snapped, pushing the grunt, and throwing him into the air, rocketing him through the sky, the grunt screaming all the way. Jonathan and the second grunt were utterly shocked at what they saw.

"WHAT IN ALL THAT IS HOLY, DO YOU EAT FOR BREAKFAST?!" The second grunt exclaimed, scared out of his wits. The distraction gave Jonathan an opportunity to sucker-punch the grunt, knocking him out cold.

"Well then…that's those two taken care of." Jonathan commented, before he turned to Melia. "What the hell was that?!"

"I don't know…I was just trying to get him off me. I didn't anticipate throwing him across the sky." Melia replied.

"Either way, these guys are no joke. They blew up the ship that I was on. Had it not been for Tesla, I'd be on the bottom of the ocean." Jonathan explained.

"I know, I've heard about Team Xen." Melia told him. "They have Shadow Pokémon with them."

"Shadow Pokémon? What are they?" the young man inquired, a baffled expression on his face.

"Alright then, here's a little backstory. Shadow Pokémon were first created in the Orre region, 30 years ago, by an organisation known as Cipher. Their goal was to create an ultimate fighting machine, by shutting the door to their hearts, removing their emotions. Somehow, Team Xen acquired the technology to create their own Shadow Pokémon, which is far from good news." Melia informed the young man.

"So how do we deal with these Shadow Pokémon?" Jonathan inquired. Melia then reached for her bag and opened it, rummaging around for a few seconds, before retrieving a rather odd contraption. The device was some sort of metal glove, with a concave over the back of the hand. There was also what looked like a metal shoulder pad, attached to the glove, via a spiralling wire.

"Put this on." Melia instructed, as Jonathan put the device over his left arm. "This is a Snag Machine, a device created in the Pokémon HQ Lab of Orre, in an attempt to capture Cipher's Shadow Pokémon."

"Err thanks, but how did you get this?" Jonathan asked.

"I made it myself. I read up on them a few weeks ago, and decided to build on, to get a closer look at it." Melia replied. "We should snag some of their Pokémon, and take them back to the lab to purify them. Let's go!" Melia called out, as the two trainers began running.

Around ten minutes later, they came across the lake, and spotted a few black boats, with the all too familiar insignia of a red X. But what really caught their attention was the massive purplish-black orb, hovering a few feet over the Goldenwood Lake.

"What the hell is that?!" Jonathan gasped, his eyes refusing to move from the large orb.

"I don't know, but it can't be good." Melia commented. Just then, they were spotted by another Xen grunt, this one a female.

"Hey! It's that Melia girl. Come with us right now!" the grunt demanded.

"Over my dead body!" Melia retorted.

"Hehehe, that can be arranged…" the grunt sneered, sending out a Cherrim in its Overcast form.

"Too easy. Go Harptera!" Jonathan called out, as the large Dragonfly Pokémon materialised out of the Pokéball. Naturally, the Xen grunt was surprised at seeing a Pokémon she never saw before.

'That appears to be a rare Pokémon, and rare Pokémon are usually powerful. Just imagine how powerful a Shadow version of it could be.' The grunt thought to herself. "Cherrim, use Growth!"

The Cherrim's large petals opened up, as it absorbed sunlight and changed into it's Sunshine form. The energy that it gained from the sun bolstered its attack power.

"Setting up your Cherrim to sweep me. Not a bad strategy, but it won't be enough. Harptera, use X-Scissor!" Jonathan called out. The Dragonfly Pokémon darted towards the Blossom Pokémon, it's tail glowing harshly.

"Protect!" the Xen grunt demanded. A wondrous wall appeared around the Cherrim, blocking the incoming attack and pushing Harptera a few feet back. "Now counter with Magical Leaf!" The Cherrim then flung a barrage of multi-coloured leaves that homed in on Harptera, dealing a small amount of damage.

"Are you alright Harptera?" Jonathan asked, as the Dragonfly Pokémon nodded in response. "Alright then, why don't we try an Aerial Ace?" the young man suggested. The Harptera then did a loop-de-loop and began flying at absurdly high speeds, surprising both the grunt and her Cherrim.

"Argh! It's too damn fast." She growled. "Go for another Magical Leaf!" The Cherrim launched another barrage of multi-coloured leaves, which managed to strike the incoming Pokémon, but like before they did little damage. The Harptera then struck the Blossom Pokémon, sending it flying into a tree, knocking it out.

"You're better than I thought…" the Xen grunt commented, returning her Cherrim. "But how will your bug fare against my Shadow Pokémon?!" she called out, as a Tympole materialised out of a pitch black Pokéball. Unlike regular Tympole, this one was coloured a harsh purple, and kept growling at Jonathan and his Harptera.

"I assume that's a Shadow Pokémon…" Jonathan asked Melia.

"Yep. What you need to do is hold an empty Pokéball in the palm of the Snag Machine, and wait for a little while." Melia replied, tossing the young man an empty Pokéball. "Try this one."

"Uh, alright then." Jonathan replied, as he caught the Pokéball and turned to face the battle. "Alright Harptera, since this is our first time facing a Shadow Pokémon, we can't charge in recklessly. We got to be on our guard."

"What's the matter, too scared to make a move?" the grunt jeered. "In that case, I'll start thing off. Use Shadow Wave!" the Tympole unleashed a wave of shadowy aura from its body, dealing a lot of damage to Harptera, causing the Dragonfly Pokémon to cry out in pain.

"What is this?!" Jonathan cried. "How could a Tympole deal that much damage?"

"It's the power of Shadow Pokémon. Their unique Shadow moves deal major damage to non-Shadow Pokémon." The grunt explained, her voice filled with arrogance. Suddenly, a black aura surrounded the Tympole, as it cried out in pain, surprising the grunt.

"It seems that the Tympole has entered Hyper Mode." Melia commented. "That's when a Shadow Pokémon's emotions rise to a fever pitch. The Pokémon takes some damage after using a Shadow Move, a possible side-effect of the cruel conversion."

"If that's the case, then we've got to end this battle as soon as possible." Jonathan called out. "Alright Harptera, use X-Scissor." The Harptera quickly flew into battle, and struck the Tympole with it's glowing tail, sending it back a few feet.

"Go Pokéball!" Jonathan threw the empty Pokéball at the Shadow Pokémon, the energy from the Snag Machine blocking the grunts own Pokéball. The Pokéball caught the weakened Tympole, and began shaking for around 5-10 seconds, before the light died out, indicated that the Pokémon was caught.

"Bu-but how?!" the grunt cried out, as Melia gingerly picked up the Pokéball.

"It's a rather easy process, but I won't tell you." Melia replied, a small smirk on her face.

"Argh! This isn't over!" the grunt snarled, as she ran away from the duo. Both Melia and Jonathan then walked up and hi-fived each other.

"Now that's what I call teamwork!" she told him.

"Yeah, had it not been for you and your high intelligence, we wouldn't have this awesome machine at our disposal." Jonathan replied.

"Now then, we need to make our way to the lake. I've got a gut feeling that Team Xen's responsible for that large orb over the lake." Melia said, as the two trainers made their way towards the southern part of the lake. While on their way, they were stopped by a pair of Xen grunts, one male and one female.

"Eh…how you say…not so fast?" the male called out, in a thick Russian accent, causing the female to facepalm.

"Eli, it's not so fast. Not 'not so furst'…" the female sighed to him.

"Ah, I see. Thanks Shardon!" Eli replied.

"Eli, for the last time. It's Sharon, not Shardon!" the now named Sharon snapped.

"Eh, now I am confuse…" Eli said, as both Melia and Jonathan stared at each other, baffled looks on their faces.

"Are you fucking kidding me…?" Jonathan deadpanned to Melia.

"I think so. After all, truth IS stranger than fiction." Melia replied.

"Look, we don't have time for this. Just hand over Melia, or else!" Sharon demanded.

"Or what, you two morons will attack us?" Jonathan retorted.

"I'm not kidding around. Hand her over right now!" Sharon growled, retrieving a Pokéball from her belt.

"If it's a battle you want, then it's a battle you're getting." Melia replied, as she and Jonathan both got a Pokéball from their belt.

"Shardon is very scary when she mad…" Eli sighed, as he got a Pokéball from his belt. The four trainers then threw their Pokéballs, calling out their Pokémon. Sharon and Eli had a Solrock and Lunatone respectively, while Melia sent out her Togetic, and Jonathan sent out another one of Tandor's unique Pokémon. This one was a breathtakingly beautiful sea-slug, that was coloured blue and white, and had a pair of fins for arms, and had a frilly tail. The Pokémon also had a pair of large head fins, on top of it's head, above the eyes.

"Say hello to my Glavinug, a rare Pokémon that leaves ice crystals behind, whenever they swim." Jonathan introduced his Pokémon, whom smiled and took a bow.

"Huh? Where you get such Pokémon?" Eli inquired.

"It's a Pokémon that's exclusive to the Tandor region. I'd recommend a trip, but I don't want to give any ideas to Team Xen scum like you." Jonathan retorted.

"Alright then. Once we defeat you two, we'll snatch both Melia and your Pokémon." Sharon commented.

"Hah! We'll see about that." Melia retorted. "Alright Happiness, use Magical Leaf on Solrock!" The Togetic summoned a barrage of multi-coloured leaves, and hurled them towards the enemy Pokémon.

"Too easy." Sharon scoffed. "Solrock, use Fire Spin to protect yourself." The Solrock then spun around in a circle, creating a fiery vortex that incinerated the incoming leaves. This tactic surprised the duo, since it wasn't very common. Whoever they were, they were more competent than the previous grunts they encountered.

"Glavinug, use Reflect!" Jonathan called out, as his Glavinug crated a wondrous wall of blue light to decrease damage taken from physical attacks. He knew that he couldn't just go in and launch a reckless attack, so he figured that his best move would be to set up a defence.

"Uhh, Lunatone, use Harten." Eli called out.

"Harden." Sharon reminded him.

"Oops, I sorry…" Eli replied. "Use Harden!" The Lunatone then glowed brightly as it's body tensed up, increasing its defences.

"Is that the best move you got?!" Sharon inquired, a hint of frustration in her voice.

"But young man over there did the same. I just copy him." Eli responded, neither of them aware that Melia picked up on their weakness.

"Hey Jonathan." Melia whispered.

"You got an idea?" The young man asked, turning to face her.

"Their chemistry is out of whack, meaning that they aren't likely to use a combo attack. My suggestion is to take out the weaker of the two first." Melia continued, gesturing at Eli's Lunatone.

"That's a pretty great idea. I'm down for it." Jonathan replied, before turning to face the enemy. "Alright Glavinug, use Bubble Beam on Lunatone!" The Sea Slug Pokémon projected a torrent of bubbles at the Lunatone, dealing a lot of damage to it and sending it back a few feet.

"Now follow that up with another Magical Leaf, Happiness!" Melia called out, as her Togetic launched a barrage of multi-coloured leaves for a second time, sending Lunatone flying into a tree and knocking it out.

"Ah, Lunatone!" Eli ran up to his fainted Pokémon and returned it into it's Pokéball. "I sorry Shardon…" the man sighed, walking back to his partner.

"Looks like it's all up to me again…" Sharon sighed, a hint of frustration in her voice. "Use Rock Slide, Solrock!" The Solrock used it's psychic power to lift up a large boulder by the lake and floated it up in the air above Togetic and Glavinug, before crushing the boulder into lots of smaller rocks. Although the damage was reduced, due to the Reflect, both Togetic and Glavinug took a fair bit of damage respectively.

"Ok, we've got the upper hand now. This should make things easier." Jonathan commented. "Glavinug, use Bubble Beam on Solrock!" the young man called out. Like before, Glavinug projected a torrent of bubbles at the enemy Pokémon.

"Not this time, use Fire Spin again!" Sharon retorted, as Solrock began spinning rapidly and used the fiery vortex to block the incoming bubbles. Both sides were continuing their attacks for around a minute, before they both stopped and panted for breath.

"Perfect! Happiness, use Dazzling Gleam!" Melia seized the opportunity for attack. Togetic emitted a bright, rainbow shine around it's body, and sent the beams towards the Solrock, sending it flying into the same and knocking it out.

"Tch, return." Sharon muttered, before she turned and glared at Eli. "Well this didn't go to plan."

"Ohah no…we lose." Eli whined.

"Of course we lost! We were supposed to improve our teamwork before going out on this assignment. That way, we could implement combo moves like those two did!" Sharon ranted, pointing at Melia and Jonathan, whom stared at the arguing duo.

"Shall we leave these two idiots to themselves?" Jonathan suggested.

"That would be preferable." Melia replied, as the duo walked away, leaving Sharon and Eli to argue among each other. A few minutes of walking later, Melia and Jonathan finally reached the southern part of the lake, and spotted a figure that was a lot different from the Xen grunts. The figure was a tall, stocky man, with spiky blonde hair. He wore a greyish-black coat with a blue undershirt, and a matching pair of trousers. The man didn't take his gaze away from the large orb hovering over the lake.

"I think this guy's their leader. We just gotta move quietly…" Jonathan whispered, only for a deep voice to silence him.

"Going somewhere?" the sinister man called out, his gaze still focused on the orb. He then turned around slowly and noticed both Melia and Jonathan. "Funny, I don't recall asking for an escort."

"Ha-ha. That was so hilarious…" Jonathan deadpanned, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I suppose I should thank you. You saved me the trouble of searching the forest for the girl." The man commented.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?!" Melia demanded an answer, causing the man to raise his hands.

"Whoa there, no need to get feisty." He replied, in an attempt to calm her down. "That aside, I am Zetta, and I believe it's time for our pickup/delivery, Melia."

"No need to get feisty?! You're trying to kidnap me, and you have the gall to tell me to calm down?!" Melia shouted in anger. "Why do you want to take me anyway?" Zetta was unaffected by Melia's ranting.

"Listen, we have two ways to do this. The easy way, or the waste of time way." The tall man smirked. "Either way, it's going to end in your defeat."

"Our defeat? Do you even know who we are? I am Melia, and this is Jonathan." She told Zetta, while pointing to Jonathan. "I'm next in line to becoming a Gym Leader, and Jonathan has some powerful Pokémon from a region I doubt you've heard of."

"So he's the kid with the Tandor Pokémon, am I right?" Zetta asked, surprising the two trainers.

"No way! How do you know about where they came from?!" Jonathan gasped, causing Zetta to smirk.

"And why would I tell you that?" he replied. "Besides, I can still crush the both of you with ease."

"Oh really? And how do you plan to do so?" Jonathan scoffed at the idea of getting bested by some Xen thug. Zetta then chuckled loudly, before gesturing to the large orb over the lake.

"You see this ball of energy behind me? Time to educate you two, before I send one of you to the hospital." Zetta said, as he cleared his throat. "This is a Dimensional Rift, a multipurpose ball of dark energy, created from the energy of the twisted dimensions of in-between. They have multiple purposes, such as transportation, destruction, and repelling pesky trainers. It only takes a simple sacrifice to ignite the dark energy, such as the entire Magikarp population of this lake." Zetta explained, as the ball then began to glow harshly, and descend onto the lakes surface, where it transformed into a monster of terrifying proportions. In front of the three trainers was a colossal Gyarados that was pitch black and had blood red eyes. It growled at the humans before it, sending shivers down Melia's and Jonathan's spines.

"What…IS THAT UNHOLY ABOMINATION?!" Jonathan screamed in fear, his eyes wide open.

"Say hello, to my gigantic friend!" Zetta jeered. "This thing will be the one who will send you to an early grave. But before I do so, I'll need to weaken Melia in order to make kidnapping her easier." Zetta got a Pokéball from his belt.

"Alright then, I'll teach you not to mess with me!" Melia declared, as she sent out her Dodrio, with Zetta sending out a Murkrow in response.

"Ha! This'll surprise you. Murkrow, use Wing Attack!" Zetta sneered. Murkrow took to the sky and charged at Dodrio, its wings glowing brightly.

"It'll take more than that to surprise me." Melia retorted, as Dodrio dodged the attack with ease and used Fury Attack on Murkrow, repeatedly jabbing the small bird with it's three sharp beaks.

"Break out of there and go for another Wing Attack!" Zetta yelled out loud. The Darkness Pokémon freed itself from Dodrio's barrage and attempted to strike the Triple Bird a second time with its wings.

"Do you really think I'd let you land a hit on my Dodrio?" Melia asked a rhetorical question. "Use Tri-Attack!" Dodrio proceeded to open its mouths and charge up a ball of energy in each one. A few seconds later, the balls of energy combined to form a triangle, as Dodrio launched it at the Murkrow, knocking it out of the sky and crashlanding on the ground.

"Return…" Zetta muttered, returning his fainted Pokémon, before reaching for another Pokéball. "Use Ice Punch Sneasel!" the Xen commander called out, as his Sneasel hopped out the Pokémon and ran up to Dodrio, it's fist covered in ice. It punched the Dodrio with it's frozen fist, pushing it back a few feet and dealing a decent amount of damage.

"Dodrio! Are you alright?" Melia asked her trusted companion, whom nodded with its heads in response. "Alright then, use Jump Kick~" Dodrio then ran at the Sneasel before jumping into the air and aiming it's leg at the Sharp Claw Pokémon, landing a direct hit and sent the Pokémon flying a few feet back. Zetta gasped in surprise when he saw that the Sneasel was knocked out in one hit.

"Argh! You're better than expected." Zetta complimented. "But see how you fare against my Shadow Duskull!" the man called out, releasing his Shadow Duskull. The Requiem Pokémon laughed in an ominous tone.

"Another Shadow Pokémon? Quick, Jonathan, charge up a Pokéball!" Melia called out, tossing the young man another empty Pokéball.

"You got it!" he replied, holding it in the Snag Machine.

"Alright Duskull, use Shadow Wave!" Zetta called out, as the Duskull emitted a wave of dark energy at the Dodrio, dealing massive damage and sending it flying a few feet, knocking it out.

"You did well Dodrio, take a nice rest…" Melia informed it, returning it into its Pokéball, before sending out her Togetic. "Alright Happiness, use Dazzling Gleam!" The Togetic shone with a rainbow-coloured aura, and projected the rays of light at the Duskull, dazzling the Duskull and dealing a fair bit of damage.

"You're getting on my nerves…" Zetta growled. "Duskull, use Shadow Wave again!" The Duskull emitted another shadowy wave and sent it towards Togetic. The attack landed, but strangely it didn't do as much damage as before. The Duskull then entered Hyper Mode, the Requiem Pokémon moaning in pain. "Argh! Not Hyper Mode!" Zetta snarled.

"Huh? Why didn't Shadow Wave do much against Togetic?" Jonathan interjected.

"I don't know, but now's not the time to answer. Throw the Pokéball!" Melia ordered. Jonathan nodded and threw the Pokéball at the weakened Shadow Duskull, capturing it. The Pokéball jiggled violently for a few seconds before the light died down, indicating a successful capture.

"Hmph, this was surprising." Zetta snorted, as Melia retrieved the Pokéball and tucked it in her bag.

"And you were so confident that we were going to lose. Guess the joke's on you now!" Jonathan jeered, outing his hands on his hips. Zetta simply laughed the young man's joke off.

"Ha! You think that you've won, but I still have a trick up my sleeve…" the Xen commander replied, gesturing to the behemoth of a Gyarados behind him.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Ehehehehehe…" Jonathan laughed uneasily, scratching the back of his head.

"This may be a deviation from the plan, but Madelis should be pleased nonetheless." Zetta said to himself. "Dimensional Rift, deactivate yourself." On cue, the Gyarados disappeared and turned back into its large orb form.

"What are you planning Zetta?" Melia demanded, only to have her question fall on deaf ears.

"Now Dimensional Rift, absorb Jonathan and gain his powers!" Zetta ordered, as the orb began to generate a powerful vacuum, lifting the young man off the floor.

"OH SHIT!" Jonathan shouted, as he was getting sucked up by the orb. Melia ran up to him in an attempt to rescue him, but was unsuccessful.

"No, Jonathan!" Melia cried out, as the young man disappeared from view and was sucked up into the Dimensional Rift.

"Now that worked like a charm, I should have done that from the beginning." Zetta smiled. "Now where were we…?"

Meanwhile…

Jonathan had ended up in what could only be described as a realm of chaos and madness. The usually golden leaves were replaced with a blood red hue, with the grass being the same blood red as well. The river was also blood red, with several Magikarp flopping around by the river side. The sun was blocked out by angry-looking black clouds. The young man got up off the grass and stretched his back.

"Welp…time to go save some Magikarp." He said to himself, as he began the tedious, but rewarding process of pushing the Magikarp back into the river. The process took between 60-90 minutes, with Jonathan saving a lot of Magikarp, though some of them had perished before he could save them. Once the last Magikarp was back into the river, Jonathan wiped the sweat off his brow and began thinking of a plan.

'Maybe I should follow the stream to find a way out of here…' he thought to himself, as he shrugged his shoulders and began walking downstream. After a few minutes, the young man arrived at the large lake, where he and Melia encountered Zetta and his Dimensional Rift.

"Now what am I supposed to do?" he asked himself, before a large rumbling startling the young man. He looked over the lake and saw the large orb from before, as it collided with the water's surface and transformed into the massive Gyarados from before.

"Aw shit, I have to fight this thing, don't I?" Jonathan asked a rhetorical question, as the Gyarados bellowed loudly. "Alright, by the time I'm finished with you, you'll be dead meat. Go Yatagaryu!" Jonathan sent out the majestic Stormbringer Pokémon, whom stared at the Gyarados with a baffled look.

"It's a Gyarados corrupted by some twisted energy, but it's no match for you." Jonathan told it, bolstering the Yatagaryu's confidence. The gigantic Gyarados then charged up a massive beam and fired it at the Yatagaryu, whom narrowly dodged it.

"Whoa! Now that was a massive Hyper Beam." Jonathan noted. "Luckily for us it needs to—Huh?!" he began, as the Gyarados didn't look exhausted at all, and proceeded to charge up another Hyper Beam.

'That thing doesn't need to recharge after using Hyper Beam. I better attack quickly before I get wiped off the surface of the planet.' Jonathan thought to himself, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead. "Alright Yatagaryu, Thunder this thing into oblivion!" Jonathan called out at the top of his lungs. The Yatagaryu nodded and took flight, dodging the Hyper Beams from the Gyarados and charging up it's attack. After a few seconds, it unleashed the wicked bolt, dealing catastrophic damage to the Gyarados as it howled in pain. The creature then fainted into the water, as it began to slowly vaporise into thin air; Jonathan could hear a faint voice when the Gyarados disappeared completely.

"Thank you…"

Jonathan then congratulated his Yatagaryu and returned it into its Pokéball, before a question ran through his mind.

"Now what…?" he asked himself, as a familiar voice got the young man out of his stupor.

"Jonathan! Can you hear me?" the voice called out, with Jonathan recognising it as Melia's.

"Yes I can! Where are you?" he asked out loud.

"Follow my voice!" Melia asked him, as the young man saw a silhouette of her walking into the forest, towards the cave. Jonathan proceeded to run after her with haste, not wanting to stay in this hellish dimension for any longer than he has to. After around five minutes of running, Jonathan had arrived at the cave and confronted the Melia silhouette.

"Oh thank goodness, you're here!" Melia exclaimed. "Did…did you defeat the Gyarados?"

"I sure did. It was a real monster, but nothing I couldn't handle." Jonathan told her.

"That's wonderful! Just before Zetta was about to capture me, the Gyarados howled in pain and began to disappear. I took this opportunity to escape, as Zetta was too busy ranting about how something like this could happen." Melia informed the young man. "Any way, we have to leave this instant."

"Good idea!" Jonathan replied, as he and the Melia silhouette were surrounded by a bright glow. Once the glow subsided, Jonathan noticed that he was back at Goldenwood Forest, right in front of the cave. The young man was startled to see sunlight, and was startled even further when Melia gave him a big hug, causing the young man to blush madly.

"Oh thank goodness you made it out alright!" she smiled, releasing her grip on Jonathan.

"Uhhh…ehehehehehe…" the young man didn't know how to reply.

"Now then, we've got to get out of here. The last thing we want is for Zetta to find us and send you to another dimension. Happiness can use Alpha Metronome to teleport us to the Gearen Train station." Melia told him, as her Togetic began waving its tiny arms side-to-side, before all three of them were surrounded by a blue aura and were teleported away from the forest.

Gearen Train Station

The two trainers and the Togetic were teleported to the Gearen Train Station, right in front of the old man from before, who was hugging his granddaughter.

"What a surprising appearance…but I can't complain. You did find my granddaughter after all." The old man replied, a large smile on his face.

"No problem. I assume the fisherman helped take care of her." Jonathan said, with the old man nodding in response.

"Oh yeah. Turns out that he was a police officer who wasn't on duty today." The old man commented. "Thank you so very much."

"You're welcome sir." Jonathan replied, tipping his fedora. "Now with that said, we've got to report back to Professor Jenner." The two trainers then left the train station, with Melia returning her Togetic. While walking their, Jonathan noticed a bothered look on Melia's face.

"Is everything alright?"

"Not really…I still don't know how Zetta knew about you and your Pokémon." Melia admitted.

"Maybe it was a lucky guess." Jonathan suggested.

"No, it didn't sound like a guess. Perhaps…" Melia said to herself, before a disturbing thought crossed her mind. The young women shook it off, not wanting to believe it. Eventually, the duo arrived at the Gearen Laboratory and quickly made their way into Professor Jenner's office. They entered the office, only for Melia to halt Jonathan instantly.

"Quickly, to the other side!" she whispered, as the two trainers proceeded to hide behind the walls leading into the corridor in the room. "There's someone here." The two trainers peered from behind the walls, and saw Professor Jenner talking to a mysterious woman. She had short red hair, and wore a grey and red dress, with matching coloured boots.

"You know, I didn't exactly appreciate you turning the monitor off while I was speaking…" the woman told Jenner.

"What else was I supposed to do?! They entered the room; my cover could have been blown!" Jenner retorted.

"Fair enough. However your recklessness was bound to blow your cover eventually." The woman replied, somewhat satisfied with Jenner's excuse.

"Why are you here, Madelis?" Jenner asked, surprising Melia and Jonathan. Didn't Zetta say something about a Madelis when Melia battled him?

"I heard rumours that the plan had went south. Madame X would be furious once she learns of this failure." Madelis answered the question.

"Wait, Zetta failed in his duties?! How did that happen? Surely he would have been able to defeat Melia easily. Unless…" Jenner exclaimed, as a thought crossed his mind. "Unless Jonathan had helped out Melia."

"Jonathan?" Madelis asked, an intrigued look on her face.

"He's a trainer who recently joined the Aevium League. He brought along some powerful Pokémon from the Tandor region. I informed Zetta beforehand, but I guess it fell on deaf ears." Jenner explained.

"How fascinating…" Madelis replied, before she got back on topic. "You better have not warned Melia beforehand of the plan. Just because we had you take care of her when she was a baby, doesn't mean that you should get attached to her."

"But…" Jenner began, only to get interrupted.

"Has the old man grown soft over time? You hand us Melia, and you'll be able to live your life the way it was before this all happened. Isn't that what you wanted after all?" Madelis said to Jenner, who was about to answer, when the duo were confronted by Melia and Jonathan.

"It's always been about you, hasn't it…?" Melia asked Jenner, a look of betrayal, anger and sadness on her face.

"Oh Melia, good to see you—"Jenner began.

"Save it! You have no right to say that! I heard every word." Melia snapped at the man who she saw as her father. Jonathan was tempted to say a few choice words to Jenner, but figured that it would be wise to let Melia handle the situation.

"Melia, I—"

"Save it! I was nothing but a chore to you, was I?! I'm not even your real daughter! How could you do this to me?!" Melia ranted, as a few tears fell from her eyes. "My life was nothing but a big lie. A big, godforsaken lie!" Madelis was busy gazing at the young man beside Melia

"So this is that young man whom Jenner referred to as Jonathan..." Madelis said to herself, unaware that he had heard her.

"That's right. And I'm not afraid of crushing the two of you with my Pokémon!" Jonathan informed Madelis and Jenner, his voice dripping with venom.

"Ha! It'll take more than boasting to best me in battle!" Madelis retorted. "But we'll save the battle for another time. Melia, won't you be a dear and come with us?"

"I'd rather die than go with you!" Melia called out, sending out her Togetic. "I'm sorry about this Jonathan, but I can't stay here. Happiness, teleport me out of here!" Togetic nodded and surrounded itself and Melia in a blue light, as the duo were teleported out of the building. Madelis, surprised by what she saw proceeded to call up Zetta on her walkie-talkie.

"Zetta, this is Madelis here. The target has teleported out of the vicinity. Suspected location is somewhere around Route 2." Madelis spoke into the device.

"Roger!" Zetta responded, as Madelis turned to face Jenner.

"Remember, we don't tolerate betrayal." The woman warned him, as she proceeded to leave the room. Jenner then gazed at Jonathan, intimidated by the trainers glare.

"Melia would have gone to Route 2. Find her and bring her back here. I need to talk to her." Jenner said.

"And why should I?! It's clear that she wants nothing to do with you!" Jonathan retorted.

"Listen to me. The reason I sent you to Goldenwood Forest was to help her." Jenner explained. But before Jonathan could reply, Ren burst into the room.

"Professor! I'm done with my assignment." Ren shouted, as he walked up to Jenner, before noticing the animosity between Jenner and Jonathan. "What's with the tension in the air?"

"Oh this just won't do!" a female voice called out, a hint of regal elegance in it. Suddenly, a rather intimidating Gothitelle appeared out of nowhere.

"Who are you?" Ren asked.

"To break any assumption, I am not a Gothitelle. It's my companion." The voice replied. "Now Professor Jenner, you've been rather naughty. I'll have to put you in time out for a bit. Is that fine? Because it sounds fine to me~" Before the older man could so much as scream, he was teleported somewhere.

"Now as for you two, should I do the same to you? Or should I practice mercy?" the voice asked itself. "I think I'll practice mercy."

"Oh thank you miss!" Jonathan replied.

"Listen, Jonathan is it?" the voice said. "Don't involve yourself any further with this. Following Melia would only leave you on a path to despair." The voice then disappeared, with the Gothitelle following suit.

"Ok, what was all that about?" Ren asked out loud.

"Basically, Melia is being pursued by Team Xen for some reason." Jonathan replied.

"What, Team Xen is after Melia?! We got to help her out!" Ren called out.

"From what they said, she should be on Route 2." Jonathan informed the lab assistant, whom ran out of the room at a quick speed. Jonathan sighed to himself; as much as he wanted to help Melia, he and his Pokémon were exhausted from the ordeal. Additionally, he had no idea what sort of powerful Pokémon, Zetta and Team Xen would have at their disposal. The best course of action was to train up his Pokémon, preferably by defeating Venam and obtaining the first Gym Badge of the Aevium League. Jonathan then left the room and made his downstairs, to heal up his Pokémon and rest in the lobby.

This chapter was a little longer than usual. Tune in next time, for the Gym Battle against Venam.