"He's trapped us!"

Goh screamed in anger in response to Ash's words. He felt like such an idiot. He had been completely duped by Lawrence's true nature and let down his guard at the wrong moment.

And now Chloe was in his clutches, he had taken all the clues they had for pursuing the true 'treasure' he had been describing, and they were trapped in this underground castle.

"Eievui…"

Goh looked down at his feet and saw Chloe's Eevee there. He saw the sad look on her face and felt the tears and frustration welling up inside of him. Chloe was taken by Lawrence, used as little more than a human shield as the villain made his escape. Goh punched at the wall, letting his anger explode from inside, but he only managed to hurt his hand against the fine stone construction.

He squeezed the pain out of his hand and grunted. "I'm so stupid…"

Ash scoffed, patting him on the shoulder. "Oh no you are not," he said. "If I had a gym badge for every time Team Rocket tricked me with something, I could enter every Pokémon League tournament in the world. You just weren't expecting it, you know?"

"I should have been!" Goh countered. "But I got so mixed up, I lost sight of things…"

Ash didn't play into his self-flagellation. "Well, the important thing is to stay focused and work together, right?"

"Pika!" Pikachu added, trying to raise Goh's spirits.

Goh took a deep breath. "R-Right," he said, with a nod. "Let's focus on the problem right in front of us." He turned his attention to the door, blocked by the shattered statue. "How do we get this stuff out of the way?"

He frowned, looking around. Argent's glowing body naturally drew his eye, and the pieces of a plan began to fit together. "Alright, I've got it!"

Argent looked up at Goh with quiet yellow eyes, waiting for the command.

"Argent, use Dig to burrow through the statue!"

Ash pumped his fists. "Right! Awesome idea! The rock might be a bit hard, but I'm sure Argent can bust through it!"

"Grooki!" the chimp added with a cheer.

Argent roared and leapt forward, his forepaws tearing through the face of the ancient king - the broken head of the statue that barred the way. It was slow going at first, but the Umbreon was making headway as he tunneled through, tossing pieces of rock behind him as he broke his way through. Eventually, the light of the torches on the other side of the pile of rocks began to shine through as Argent made it through to the other side.

"Way to go, Argent!" Goh shouted. "Awesome work! Now we just…"

As he approached the newly tunneled hole, he came to a grim realization. Since the tunnel was dug through solid rock, the shape of it was only big enough for Argent to squeeze his body through. Goh knew his Umbreon was a full meter tall, but that was from the bottoms of his toes to the tips of his ears; squeezed down digging through a tunnel, the hole wasn't definitely not wide enough for him and Ash to crawl through it.

"Man, now what…?" he said, crossing his arms. "I thought for sure we'd be able to get out of here this way…"

Ash tugged on the bill of his cap. "Well, now you leave this to me!" he said confidently. "That Lawrence guy might have his collection of gizmos and stuff, but you've got friends an' bonds with 'em! Those'll win against any trick, any day!"

"Pika, pikachu!" Pikachu cheered from his partner's shoulder.

Ash's never ending positivity and confidence helped Goh relax. "Right," he said. "I'm not in this alone. I have you and all our Pokémon to help me out!"

"And right now," Ash said, taking out a Poké Ball, "we need a little ramming speed, so Sirfetch'd, I choose you!"

Ash stepped back from the top of the stairs where Argent's small hole was dug through, giving his wild duck knight room to maneuver his impressively large leek. Sirfetch'd stood at the ready, wielding his lance-like leek more like a sword than a spear, Goh thought.

"Alright, Sirfetch'd! Use Meteor Assault! Let's bust our way out of here!"

"Sirfetch'd!"

At his lord and trainer's command, Sirfetch'd raised up his lance and began focusing his energy on it. Holding the leek steady, Sirfetch'd charged up the stairs like a medieval knight atop his noble steed, though it was really just his small webbed feet conveying him up the stairs. Goh and Eevee pressed themselves up against the stone walls of the stairwell as the wild duck surged past. Like a living battering ram, Sirfetch'd crashed through the pile of stones blocking the way, using the hole Argent dug to aim his leek straight through to the other side.

Goh winced in pain at the noise, sounding like a stick of dynamite just exploded next to his head. But once the dust cleared, light from the throne room was pouring in, and he and Ash could finally step out.

Stepping into the light, Goh saw Sirfetch'd stop cold just before the leek crashed into Argent as well. The Umbreon was looking wide-eyed at the end of Sirfetch'd's weapon with more than a bit of shock and worry on his face.

Goh almost laughed at the Moonlight Pokémon's completely shattered composure. "Uh, Ash?" he asked.

Ash chuckled, holding up the knight's ball. "Heh, awesome work, Sirfetch'd! Return!"

The ray of red light shot from the ball and tagged Sirfetch'd, and as the Fighting-type disappeared back into the ball, Goh could have sworn he saw the duck's eye sparkle and a confident grin.

Argent, for his part, shook his head as though to shake something off of it and returned to his normal, somewhat reserved self.

Rushing out from where Goh and Ash were standing was Chloe's Eevee, who approached Argent. "Vui? Eievui?"

"Umbre…" he replied, shaking his head.

"Eievui!"

Eevee turned back towards the secret door that Ash, Chloe, and their Pokémon entered the throne room through and darted to the edge of the light.

"Eevee… is this the way Lawrence went?" Goh asked.

"We'll have to hurry," Ash said. "We'll have to go back the way we came to get down here."

"Do you remember the path? We can't afford to be lost…"

"Uh…" Ash stammered at Goh's question, but before the Palletonian could answer, another voice interrupted.

"Eievui!"

Eevee drew their attention back to her as she raised her tail into the air, wagging it as it began to glow a fiery orange before Eevee herself spit a flame forward, breathing fire. She darted ahead, still glowing with her mysterious copying powers as she called upon the memories of the circus performer Billy and his Flareon to become a flame to light their way.

At least, that's what Goh thought, anyway.

"Eevee, can you lead us?" Goh asked.

"Vui!" And with that confident affirmation, Eevee darted into the darkness as a glowing spot, with Argent quickly following her into the darkness.

"Umbre!" he called back. "Umbreon!"

"I trust in Eevee," Goh said. "We have to believe she'll lead us back to Chloe."

Ash nodded. "Right! Let's hurry as fast as we can!"

"Pika!"

"Grooki!"

Goh and Ash, with Grookey and Pikachu on their shoulders, rushing through the ruined castle. Racing through corners, Goh saw that there were more torches that seemed to be lit up, but he didn't ask Ash if he and Chloe had lit them. It seemed more likely that the strange construction of the lost castle was the cause for these mechanisms to be working even through an apocalyptic level event.

Goh wondered briefly if it was the work of some Pokémon he had never seen before, but refocused his attention on heading out of the ruins.

The run was arduous, with Eevee and Argent only slowing down in complicated sections of the ruins to ensure that Goh and Ash weren't completely lost. Goh's legs felt like they were on fire from all the running, but he pushed past his own pain with a rush of adrenaline and his worry for Chloe. Still, try as he might, he wasn't able to keep up with Ash, only barely keeping pace behind him. For a moment he considered letting out Flygon or Aerodactyl to fly out of the ruins, but there wasn't enough room for that to be viable either.

The only thing he could do for Chloe was rush ahead at full speed, and so that's exactly what he did.

Eventually he and Ash left the area of the ruins that seemed to be the submerged castle and came to the area where the floor was weak and Goh fell through, and they ran past the remnants of their lunch break. Eevee gave an echoy shout of 'Vui!' as she turned the first corner once more and caught sunlight in her eyes again.

The sunlight was a tinted orange, which told Goh that the sun was setting over the horizon outside, so he prepared himself as he rushed into the sunlight after Eevee.

Once they were under the sunlight, both Eevee and Argent stopped glowing, only standing side by side as both Pokémon turned their sights towards the sky. And as Goh and Ash stepped into the light, they saw what the two were looking at.

The trees nearby were all shaking, like a great wind was blowing through them. Though, from what Goh could see, it appeared to be a localized phenomenon not far from where they had emerged.

Eevee and Argent both sniffed at the air before darting towards the shaking trees, but as Ash and Goh gave chase, a large flying machine emerged from the trees, coming from hiding. It almost looked like a jumbo jet airliner, like one of many he had flown on in the past to reach some faraway place, only larger. Within each wing, Goh could see a propeller spinning, lifting the craft into the air. The jet began turning away from them as the craft continued to lift-off.

"Vui! Eievui!"

Goh felt his eyes go wide. Chloe was on that thing.

"Flygon!"

Goh tossed out his Poké Ball, calling out his reliable desert spirit. With his free hand, he took Argent's ball and recalled the Umbreon.

"Dragonite!"

Ash, not asking questions, just followed Goh's lead as he and Pikachu leapt onto his dragon's back.

"Eievui!"

Eevee rushed up to Goh and scrambled into his lap. Goh put one hand on Eevee, holding her safely. "Alright, let's get going. Hang on tight, everyone!"

"Grooki!"

"Eievui!"

"Let's chase down that jet!"

"Pikachu!"

Just as Dragonite and Flygon took off after the jet, the jet, too, began flying away from them. As they rose over the tree line, it didn't take long for Goh to realize where the plane was headed. Directly ahead in his line of sight were the Raizen Mountains and Mount Tensei.

"Where d' you think he's goin?" Ash asked, holding his hat to his head as they raced forward.

He almost didn't want to say it, but based on all the information he had, there was only one place that came to mind. "He's got to be headed to the Tree of Beginning! He might be going after Mew!"

"If he does that, the whole area could die!" Ash shouted back.

"Which means we've got to catch him!"

Even as fast as they were flying, the jet seemed to be outpacing them, even if they were still somewhat staying with it.

"We need to slow it down, fast!"

Ash reached into his pocket and pulled out another Poké Ball. "Gengar, I choose you!"

In a flash of light, Ash's phantom appeared flying ahead of and past Dragonite and Flygon. With his wicked grin on his face, he awaited Ash's order.

"Fly ahead to that jet and gunk up the propeller wings with Sludge Bomb!"

"Gengen!"

Goh reached into his own pocket. "Aerodactyl, go!"

Flying ahead of the two dragons was now Goh's Fossil Pokémon. "Use Dragon Breath to try and slow it down!"

With a primal shout, Aerodactyl rushed ahead, already forming the blast of wind and force in his mouth. But the speedy Gengar had already zipped ahead and was reaching the jet's left wing. Forming the two sticky, explosive globs in his hands, he slung the sludge at the rotor, making an explosion of noxious fumes as the remains of the sludge stuck to the blade. The jet began listing to one side as the propulsion from the damaged rotor began affecting the jet's trajectory.

Not to be outdone, Aerodactyl caught up with the now slowing jet and added his own attack, slicing through the metal and damaging the other rotor. As thick, black smoke choked the air, Aerodactyl reared back towards Goh and Ash, with Gengar zipping back towards his trainer as well.

Though slowed by the damage, the jet righted itself in the air and began flying forward again, albeit at a slower pace than before, and now Flygon and Dragonite were making up for lost ground. Goh let out a sigh of relief as they drew closer.

At least, until he saw multiple hatches open on the top and sides of the ship, and floating out of them towards Goh and Ash were pink-and-blue Pokémon.

"Hey, those are Porygon!" Goh exclaimed as he took out his phone, being careful to balance Eevee with holding his phone.

On the screen of his phone, a picture of the Pokémon that looked similar to Porygon2 appeared, only paler in color and completely angular rather than rounded. "Porygon, the Virtual Pokémon. A Normal-type. State-of-the-art technology was used to create Porygon. It was the first artificial Pokémon to be created via computer programming."

Goh quietly wondered how 'state of the art' it could be to create a Pokémon that looked like it belonged in the old video games his father would have played, but he slid his phone back into his pocket as they approached.

The Porygon began dispersing into a cloud that threatened to surround and stop Goh and Ash in their tracks. The artificial Pokémon turned their attention to the humans and their Pokémon, quickly growing angry in the presence of the strangers.

"They look like they're about to attack!" Goh called out to Ash.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

As a wave of Porygon drew close, Pikachu leapt from Ash's shoulder with his cheeks and tail already sparking with electricity. With a mighty roar from the mouse, Pikachu unleashed a wave of electrical energy that began scorching the Porygon directly in front of them, blowing them out of the teen's flightpath. The mouse was then grabbed by Gengar, who tossed him back to Ash and Dragonite.

As those few began to fall into the forest below, another wave came attacking, and they were also sparking with their own electricity. While there were many more of them than there was Pikachu, their electric attacks were also much smaller, but Goh figured that the rapid-striking nature of the wave of Thunder Shocks would be just as damaging as a direct hit from a Thunderbolt.

Goh motioned for Aerodactyl to swerve wide, and Ash apparently thought the same, taking Dragonite in a direction away from the currently attacking Porygon. Now, though, the two boys were in the horde with tens of Porygon buzzing all around them.

"Goh!" Ash shouted. "We've gotta break through!"

"Right," he called back. "We're not here to fight the Porygon!" He looked around for his flying fossil. "Aerodactyl, use Rock Slide! Take as many down as you can!"

"Gengar, you use Dazzling Gleam!"

Aerodactyl rose up into the air, and despite being surrounded by Porygon, brought down a series of tumbling stones from the air. Each crashed into a Porygon and continued to crash into Porygon as they were knocked from the sky, giving Goh and his Pokémon some breathing room in the swarm. Nearby, a bright, colorful flash exploded outward, like a wave bursting out from a central point. The explosion of color blasted the Porygon close to the center of the explosion outward and pushed those farther from the epicenter away to the edges of the attacking horde.

Goh could still see the jet through the waves of Porygon, but this attempt to slow them down was definitely succeeding. "We need to break through, now!" He searched through the cloud of Porygon to find the spot in them that was the thinnest before catching a glimpse of a small gap. "Ash! Right there, where they're the thinnest! Do you see it!"

"I sure do!" he called out. "Gengar, use Sludge Bomb and give us an opening!"

"Aerodactyl, use Iron Head to punch us out of here!"

Gengar zipped ahead of the boys, forming the spheres of condensed, corrosive, and explosive sludge in his claws before flinging them both with a flourish. The wads of sludge flew out to the edge of the horde before exploding, knocking a few more of the Porygon away. Aerodactyl was next, hardening his head into a crown as hard as steel before charging through the floating Pokémon, knocking a few more of them away from the newly formed hole in the group.

"GO!"

Goh and Ash called the word out at the same time, and Dragonite and Flygon both took the same instruction, zipping through the cloud as quickly as they could before diving on the other side of the assembled horde.

As soon as he was out, Ash called for Gengar and leapt from Dragonite's back. Gengar swooped in and caught him and Pikachu, though the ghost was nowhere near as swift carrying Ash as the dragon was.

"Dragonite, use Hurricane on all those Porygon an' blow 'em away!"

"Buoh!" With a shout of her own, Dragonite began rapidly flapping her wings, creating galeforce winds that blew all off the Porygon back and away. Dragonite turned back towards the jet, and Gengar gently dropped Ash and Pikachu onto the dragon's back.

Goh gestured Aerodactyl forward towards the jet, and the pterosaur obliged, taking Goh as close as he could to the top without landing directly onto it.

This close to the top of the jet, Goh saw an access panel on it that no doubt led inside, to where Lawrence and Chloe were. "We have to get in there…!"

Ash and Dragonite caught up, with Ash eyeing the panel as well. "Do we just bust in…?"

"I have a better idea," Goh said, taking a Poké Bal from his pocket. "Inteleon, we need you!"

The ball snapped open, and Goh's Inteleon appeared, leaping down on top of the aircraft, using his sticky hands and feet to hang tightly to it.

"Inteleon, can you use your spy tools to open that up?"

Inteleon looked at the access panel and crawled over to it on all fours. "Intel," he nodded, turning around and brandishing the small blade on his tail. Inteleon began picking at the lock, and after a few moments the hatch opened, revealing a small ladder that went lower inside. Aerodactyl lowered Goh down as closely as possible, and first Eevee and Grookey leapt from him to jump down the hatch. When it came for Goh's turn he thought for a moment that he would miss grabbing the lip of the opening, but he dropped from Aerodactyl and onto the roof of the jet before pulling himself inside. Inteleon was behind him, crawling on all fours, with Ash not far behind. Dragonite, Flygon, Aerodactyl, and Gengar stayed outside to deal with the threat of the Porygon returning and continuing their attack.

Eevee was already sniffing the ground when Goh crawled down the ladder, but there weren't many ways to go and the craft was small enough as it was. Goh wasn't sure they had time to be searching all around, but Eevee apparently picked up the scent and began racing towards the front of the craft.

As soon as Eevee stood in front of the door that led into the front compartment, the automatic door opened up and she raced inside, with Goh and Ash in hot pursuit. In this room there were several glass cases set up, each containing some ancient rock or weathered tool - pieces of Lawrence's collection, Goh was sure, but he wasn't focused on looking at them.

Following Eevee through the chamber, though, lead Goh to the front. There was a raised platform gazing out the window, and on this platform was a large revolving chair that was facing away from Goh and Ash as they entered. The seat was surrounded by metal bars, looking almost like guardrails to prevent someone from falling off of the raised platform.

And handcuffed to one of these rails was Chloe, currently dealing with Eevee licking her face.

"Chloe!"

She looked up at him, her eyes quickly meeting his. "Goh! You're here!"

A familiar voice laughed in the chair as he spun it around.

"Well, Goh, it's good to see you here," Lawrence said, sounding happy to see him. "How have you enjoyed my collection?"

Goh, however, was not.

"I don't care about your collection! I'm here to save Chloe!"

"Grooki!" the chimp shouted, leaping up and down on Goh's shoulder.

Lawrence was taken aback. "You must not have looked closely, then, because you and I have a great deal in common. Go on, look."

Goh turned to look for just a moment, and he felt his breath catch in his chest.

Inscribed on the stone tablet that Goh had so quickly walked past was the image of Mew.

Goh turned to the tools, and recognized them as being shaped like Mew's long, thin tail.

The more he looked about this room, the more relics of Mew that he seemed to see.

"You see, Goh, you and I… we share a similar obsession."

As Lawrence spoke, he stood from his seat and the bars in front of him lowered. The bar Chloe was handcuffed to, however, remained the way it was. As Lawerence stepped forward, his Porygon2, faithful creature that it was, emerged from a vent in the ceiling and floated by his head.

However strong Goh's curiosity was about what Lawrence was playing at, he wouldn't be moved from his current, singular focus. "Release Chloe! Now!"

Lawrence looked taken aback before putting a gloved hand to his chin. "Oh, of course. You mentioned you had a girlfriend, didn't you? She's the one who can decipher the ruins, right?" He chuckled. "Beauty and brains… she's quite the catch, my friend."

"I'm not your friend! Not after all of this!" Goh shouted. "Friends don't ambush each other or kidnap each other!"

"It was necessary," he said, shrugging. "That brute next to you was already poisoning your mind with his false apology."

Ash, being singled out as 'the brute', took offense. "Hey, I wasn't lyin'!"

"Pika pika!" Pikachu protested as well.

Lawrence gestured to him. "This was the young man who ended up wrecking my first collection."

Goh frowned. "Your first collection? Why would Ash wreck that?"

"I mean my collection of winged mirages… the legendary Bird Pokémon that inhabited the Orange Islands."

"Yeah, I did it!" Ash shouted. "And I'd break 'em out all over again! Pokémon aren't just things for you to collect!"

Goh's mind quickly began putting the pieces together. "So… when you said that you used to collect Pokémon, you meant that time you had taken the legendary Pokémon and disrupted the current in the Orange Islands?"

Rather than ask Goh how he was aware of such a thing, Lawrence merely smiled. "Which is why I respect your dedication," he said. "Living beings are very difficult to collect, after all. Sooner or later, as you near your complete set, you'll have someone coming out of the woodwork to tell you to stop. And I hate to have a collection that is incomplete.

"But your friend there ruined my last collection by freeing Moltres and Zapdos, and then worked with Lugia to foil my attempts at securing them. I was left with only my mother's last piece, and the first piece of my original collection. And that's when I decided to take another road."

"Another road…?"

Goh quickly ran through the facts of the situation again as he contemplated Ash's question. "You mean… you're going after Mew."

"Not directly," Lawrence said. "But Mew is a mercurial Pokémon that has been seen all over the world at various times and in various places. They have left relics and sightings both old and new in their wake, and it is my goal to collect every piece of Mew's legacy."

"Legacy…?"

Now Goh was the one asking the question.

He nodded. "There is an incredible amount of history to be found, and I will be the one to uncover Mew's lost treasure. My name will go down in history as the one who discovered such an incredible treasure, and I shall be the only one to ever own it." He smiled, though to Goh, the teeth Lawrence was showing might as well have been razor sharp.

"Mew's lost treasure…? What are you talking about?"

Goh felt a bead of sweat forming on his forehead. "What do you mean…?"
Lawrence opened his arms wide.

"My goal… is the very weapon Mew used to destroy the Kingdom of Pokélantis!"

The three teens and their Pokémon all gasped at his words.

"That's crazy," Chloe said from where she was still handcuffed. "There's no way Mew could get enough power to destroy an entire city!"

"And besides," Ash spoke up, "Ho-Oh destroyed Pokélantis, not Mew!"

"They speak, but they do not know," Lawrence said, smiling at Goh. Goh felt his hands reflexively clenched into fists. "There is only one god who would destroy Pokélantis, and one god alone!"

Chloe looked up at him with concern in her eyes. "Wait… Goh, is he…?"

"You know what you saw in that ruin," Lawrence said. "You know the truth about what happened. And yet, you still want to find Mew, don't you…?"

The sweat rolled down Goh's face. He could see the temptation Lawrence was going to offer him, the appeal to his own greed. He had seen the look on his own face once before.

That's what made the look on Lawrence's so easy to place. That look of unfettered greed, that single, all-consuming desire. That which had chained him to Mew in the past and nearly ruined his oldest friendship.

Rather than temptation building up, Goh felt his blood begin to boil. He wasn't like this man, this thoughtless collector who only wanted his complete collection and damn the consequences to others.

"That's enough!"

Goh's shout echoed through the jet, still flying slowly towards whatever destination Lawrence had in mind. He knew they were running out of time, and he doubly knew that he couldn't negotiate with someone like him.

"It doesn't matter what Mew did or didn't do! I'm not listening to you!" He glared right back at Lawrence and pointed his finger directly at the man. "Give Chloe back right now!"

Lawrence's wide, almost manic grin faded. "And here I thought you understood me, one collector to another. The joy of starting with so little and building it up to so much." He glared at Goh and Ash. "But I see I was mistaken. You do not understand what it is like to be a true collector. And if you are not a friend who comes to greet me, you are a thief who comes to burgle."

Lawrence reached into his pocket and pulled out a Poké Ball.

"And I do not take kindly to thieves!"

He opened the Poké Ball in his hand, and what appeared in the air almost made Goh's stomach twist. The Pokémon now floating in the air in front of Lawrence looked like the Porygon2 that was still next to him, only if the pieces were all put together head was detached from the body and upside down, and the body itself was backwards. They moved erratically in the air, twitching like they were fundamentally broken on some level.

Goh took out his phone and pointed it at the Pokémon. And much like before, it appeared on the screen, with his Rotom identifying them.

"Porygon-Z, the Virtual Pokémon and the final evolved form of Porygon. A Normal-type. Porygon-Z had a program installed to allow it to move between dimensions, but the program also caused instability in Porygon-Z's behavior, so the experiment may have been a failure."

"Porygon-Z, use Zap Cannon!"

Porygon-Z's deranged looking yellow eyes locked onto Goh and Ash and their arms began gyrating as though they were building up electricity in their body. Soon, they began forming a sphere of electrical energy at the end of their beak before lunging forward to launch it.

They were standing not that far away. The attack was moving incredibly quickly, and Goh hesitated to make a move.

But thankfully his friend would not.

"Pikachu, use Electroweb!"

Pikachu responded to Ash's shout as quickly as it was his own thought. Leaping up, he flipped, flinging a glob of electricity forward at the Zap Cannon all in less than a second. The glob opened up into a wide net that wrapped around the blast of electricity, detonating it into a cloud of smoke away from Goh and the others.

As the smoke cleared, Goh looked at Pikachu, who was now standing between the two boys and Lawrence.

"If you want a battle, we'll give you one!"

"Pika!"

Pikachu's cheeks sparked, and Ash was ready to push forward.

Goh, however, shook his head. "We're not here to battle! We're here to get Chloe back! Inteleon, go around and free her!"

"Intel!"

"Ice Beam!"

As Inteleon approached where Chloe was still handcuffed to the platform that Lawrence was apparently flying from, Porygon-Z turned and fired a chilling blast of cryonic energy at him. Inteleon shielding himself with his arms and seemed to take the blow rather well, but it still pushed him away from his goal.

Lawrence returned to his seat, smiling. "You won't take a single thing from this ship. Not one item and not one person. This ends here for you both!"

"You can talk as big as you want, but we're not leavin' without Chloe!" Ash shouted. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu leapt up, slapping his cheeks to make them sparkle and crack as he built up the electrical power in his body before unleashing it as a gigantic blast towards Porygon-Z.

"Ally Switch!"

At Lawrence's command, Porygon-Z and Porygon2 seemed to swap places with a flash of light just before the Thunderbolt made contact, frying the more stable Normal-type rather than their glitchy compatriot. Porygon2 shrugged off the blast and turned toward Ash and Pikachu.

"If you think I won't use every option at my disposal, you're sorely mistaken," Lawrence said. "I will use both Porygon2 and Porygon-Z in battle against you. My double Porygon team is perfect, you see."

"Not as perfect as our teamwork," Goh said. He took another ball from his pocket and tossed it forward. "Cinderace, let's go!"

In a flash of light, Goh's reliable Striker appeared next to Pikachu and put up his fists. "Cinderace!"

"Very well. I'll show you my own excellent combination. Porygon-Z, use Nasty Plot, and Porygon2, you use Speed Swap."

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"

"Cinderace, use Blaze Kick!"

Pikachu and Cinderace both leapt forward, with Pikachu's tail glowing with a metallic sheen and Cinderace's feet cloaked in flames. Meanwhile, Porygon-Z seemed to chitter about as they began to glow orange for a moment, indicating that Porygon-Z raised their status with a move. Before Porygon2 could act, though, Pikachu and Cinderace had closed the distance, crashing into the two Normal-types with their attacks. Porygon2 turned their eyes towards the Fire-type who had struck them and began preparing the strange power that was Speed Swap.

"Cinderace, get back!"

With a large leap, Goh's rabbit jumped back just as Porygon2 began to fire the move. However, the Speed Swap seemed to miss by a wide margin, aiming towards Pikachu and Porygon-Z.

"Dodge it!" Ash cried.

Pikachu looked up with a "Pika?" before leaping so high that he could grab the lights in the ceiling. The Speed Swap hit Porygon-Z, who was now slowly rising back into the air.

All the while, Goh glanced back towards Inteleon. He was already working on Chloe's handcuffs while Eevee watched nearby impatiently. Cinderace and Pikachu were acting as great distractions for now, but they would need to give Inteleon the time he needed to free Chloe so they could escape.

Goh quietly hoped that bit of friendly fire between Lawrence's Pokémon would put a stop to his plans, but instead the look on the man's face told him that they had fallen into his trap.

"Now, Trick Room."

Porygon2 began to glow and excluded a strange light that seemed to surround not just Cinderace, Porygon2, Pikachu, and Porygon-Z, but the humans and the rest of the Pokémon in the room.

"What the…?" Goh frowned. "What's this stuff?"

"Porygon-Z, use Zap Cannon on Cinderace," Lawrence ordered.

"Dodge it, Cinderace!" Goh shouted.

But as Cinderace went to move, the rabbit's normally lithe and quick body seemed to move at a sluggish pace while Porygon-Z zipped up to him almost instantly. Porygon-Z once again formed the sphere of electrical energy before blasting it at Cinderace nearly point-blank, knocking Goh's partner back onto the ground, groaning from the pain and crackling with paralysis.

"What happened…?" Goh asked. "Cinderace's much faster than that usually."

"It's the Trick Room," Ash said. "It makes a weird area where the faster a Pokémon normally is, the slower it becomes."

"...and the slower you are, the quicker you move! So that Speed Swap was always aiming for Porygon-Z to give them Porygon2's naturally low speed!"

Goh glanced towards Chloe, Eevee, and Inteleon. The Agent was now moving in slow motion as Eevee herself seemed to be moving extra slowly despite her normally hyper nature.

He grimaced. Lawrence had turned the tables on them in one move.

"Faster doesn't mean untouchable, though!" Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu leapt back up and with a shout of "Pii-kaa-chuuu!" unleashed another large bolt of electricity towards Porygon-Z.

But Lawrence was ready for it. "Substitute, then Ally Switch!"

As the now painfully-slow Pikachu built up his power before attacking, Porygon2 created a double and then switched places just as the Thunderbolt was about to hit. The blast struck the double, which looked a bit burnt by the attack but remained near Porygon2.

"Ice Beam, Porygon-Z. Freeze Pikachu solid!"

With the same quickness that they exhibited before, Porygon-Z zipped over towards Pikachu, charging a blast of cryonic energy as Pikachu was still dealing with the recoil from his own Thunderbolt. The blast of Ice Beam struck true as Cinderace was too slow to intercede, and ice crystals began forming on Pikachu, solidifying him into a tomb of ice.

Ash gasped. "Pikachu!"

"Cinderace, quick, break Pikachu out with Quick Attack!"

Cinderace looked slow to move, but once he cloaked himself with the power of his own speed, it seemed like his movement speed returned to normal. Leaping past Porygon2 and their substitute, Cinderace charged into the ice cube containing Pikachu, shattering it with a solid strike.

"Kachu!" Pikachu shouted as he was freed.

"Derace!" Cinderace replied.

Goh studied the phenomenon. "Wait, try Quick Attack again, Cinderace! Use it on Porygon-Z this time!"

Once again, the scene played out before them. Cinderace was slow in preparing to execute the move, but once he was ready and launched himself forward, his natural speed returned, and he crashed into Porygon-Z long before any Ally Switch or attack move could be called.

"Goh, what's goin' on? Why's Cinderace so fast in the Trick Room?" Ash asked.

Goh frowned, trying to piece together how the strange move worked. "Maybe… since Quick Attack is a move that's always supposed to strike first, Trick Room can't stop that effect, but it can still make a faster Quick Attack start after a slower one?"

Ash grinned madly at the thought. "Then why don't we use Quick Attack, too, buddy!"

Pikachu rose to his feet and shook off the last few bits of ice before leaping forward with blinding speed, almost as though the Trick Room wasn't even in effect.

Lawrence stood up from his relaxed position in his chair. "Ally Switch! Now!"

Before Pikachu could make contact, Porygon2 swapped places with Porygon-Z, causing Pikachu to crash into and through the substitute as it faded. Pikachu skidded to a halt with a wide grin on his face.

Goh and Ash glanced at each other with a wide grin.

"Cinderace!"

"Pikachu!"

Both boys punched forward with their fists side by side.

"Use Quick Attack!"

Cinderace and Pikachu both leapt forward, their blazing speed carrying them into strikes against the two evolved Porygon. Even as Porygon2 sought to Ally Switch away, that just moved both themself and Porygon-Z in the path of the other attacker.

After each strike, there were a few moments as Pikachu and Cinderace skidded back to a stop in what looked like slow-motion, but they quickly leapt back into action, rushing ahead and moving lightning fast once more for another strike.

Lawrence was shaking with fury. "Stop them…! STOP THEM!"

Porygon2 created another substitute, but even as the fake shielded them from harm, Porygon-Z was struggling to strike back with a Zap Cannon that wasn't managing to tag their targets.

"GO!"

Goh and Ash called out to their Pokémon, and Cinderace and Pikachu responded with even more furious Quick Attacks, destroying Porygon2's substitute and sending Porygon-Z to the ground. As Porygon2 glanced around at their attackers, the Trick Room that they had set up began to break apart, splinter, and fade as the move's efficacy ended, and the movements of all the Pokémon returned to normal.

And as his strategy was disassembled in front of him, Lawrence grew even more furious. "Porygon-Z, use Hyper Beam!" he shouted, pointing ahead at the boys and their Pokémon.

Porygon-Z began vibrating wildly as they locked their gaze onto Ash and Goh. From the virtual bird's beak came an orange blast of purely destructive energy that aimed for right where they were standing.

Ash was the first to act, leaping to tackle Goh out of the way as the beam exploded behind him. Porygon-Z raked the beam across the room and all of Lawrence's carefully curated displays, destroying them in a series of explosions that choked the air inside the plane with smoke.

Only until there wasn't any smoke anymore.

The Hyper Beam was pulled up and cleaved a wide hole through the roof of the craft, and the wild winds this high up were beginning to blow around.

Goh looked up at Lawrence and he looked furious as he sat back in his chair.

"Fine! You win today, Goh," he said, scowling as he sat. "My collection has been ruined all thanks to you, and so now I'm going to have to leave without a full set."

Lawrence glanced down at Inteleon, who was still working the lock on Chloe's handcuffs. The delicate work was already slowed by the Trick Room and now from the increased turbulent rumbling of the jet, wasn't getting any easier.

"But I wonder if you'll leave here with a complete set, either? Porygon2, Trick Room!"

He held up a ball to recall his weary Porygon-Z as Porygon once more created the twisted space. Lawrence pressed a button on his seat and the entire chair, minus the railing around it that Chloe was cuffed to, descended into the floor of the plane.

"He's getting away!" Ash shouted, standing up.

Goh jumped to his feet as well. "Never mind him! We've gotta get Chloe out of here!"

Goh rushed back over to where Inteleon was still working the lock, but the Trick Room had caused him to move at a snail's pace.

"Can't we just break it?" Goh asked.

"The Trick Room's makin' everything but Quick Attack too slow," Ash said. "And I don't know of any fast ways t' get rid of it."

"Is there a way to get rid of it faster at all?!" Chloe asked, almost shaking the chain holding her captive."

"There was one thing," Ash said, "but I don't think we can do it right now!"

Goh scratched his chin. "How can we undo it? Can we reverse the Trick Room?"

He began thinking very quickly about how the move worked based on what he saw. It used telekinesis to twist the space and invert a Pokémon's speediness.

"...if the space is twisted," he said, "maybe we can use Trick Room to re-twist the space back to normal?"

"But none of our Pokémon know Trick Room!" Ash shouted.

"Vui!"

Eevee, who had been sitting uncharacteristically patiently the entire time, stood up and raised her tail into the air. She began to glow with a pinkish-purple aura, with her cream colored tail tip looking like a painter's brush dipped in ink. With a howl of "Vuii!" Chloe's Eevee released similar waves to the ones Porygon2 had dropped, and the twisted dimensions returned to normal.

Goh's grin widened. "Way to go, Eevee! You reversed the Trick Room!"

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"

Ash's command was quickly acted on, and the cuffs were sliced off of Chloe's wrists in one swift motion.

"Great," she said. "Now we've just gotta get out of here…"

Goh glanced out the window and his eyes went wide. "And we've gotta hurry! Look!"

Chloe and Ash turned to look and out of the windshield of the jet, they saw the treeline growing closer and closer.

"We're gonna crash!" Chloe shouted, scooping Eevee up into her arms.

Goh quickly recalled Inteleon and Cinderace into their balls while looking up. "Aerodactyl! Flygon!"

"Dragonite!" called Ash.

The summoned Pokémon arrived quickly, using the hole blown into the jet by Porygon-Z as an entrance with Goh, Chloe, and Ash mounting Flygon, Aerodactyl, and Dragonite, respectively. The three flight-capable Pokémon lifted into the air out the same breach, escaping the jet as it began crashing into the tops of trees in the valley below them. Goh still saw Mount Tensei looming ahead of them, so they weren't yet in Rota's territory, but the plane was still making a wreck of the forest as it crashed through, destroying trees and scarring the land as it came to a rough, sudden, smokey stop.

Goh and the others stayed in the air for a few moments as they awaited any sort of scene to occur, but as the jet laid quiet, they eventually decided to fly closer to the fallen jet to determine the damage caused to both it and the land below.