A couple of hours had passed since Machoke was defeated and Machop was kidnapped. Currently, Gardevoir was by his side while he lay in their bed, the woman too shaken up by everything to sleep.

However, it seemed as if things were finally starting to look up when a certain flying vessel crash-landed on Earth's surface. And out of the wreckage emerged Beedrill and Butterfree, the butterfly groaning, "Seriously, is this just a thing with you and your father?"

"Hey, it was either that or take our time," the wasp remarked, "I can always just call for another one to bring us back to Hero Planet."

Both bugs then took to the sky and looked around until they spotted seven cloaked figures. It was clear that these were the villains they were looking for, but while Butterfree was more than eager to dive-bomb them, Beedrill tapped her on the shoulder and shook his head.

"But why?" she uttered only for the wasp to explain, "There's seven of them and two of us. Even though we're both total badasses, you know full well that we can't stand up to all of them," Butterfree grumbling, "I hate when you're right."

With that in mind, both simply drifted down toward the group so they could listen in on them and possibly get an idea of what their plan was. However, when Beedrill spotted a baby who resembled Machoke in Deoxys' arms, his eyes widened with panic. Now the bugs were even more curious as to what was going on.

"Wait, did Machoke and Gardevoir-?" Butterfree whispered as Beedrill nodded and whispered back, "Remember, it was in the news very recently. But if they have their child, they must have fought Machoke and Gardevoir already," gulping, "And won."

However, things were about to get much worse when Rotom frowned and grunted, "We can hear you, you know?" both bugs tensing up nervously only for the wasp to let out a rather pathetic meow.

Deoxys frowned and grunted, "Show yourselves!" thus Butterfree rose up and forced her husband to do the same, grunting, "Whatever! We were originally gonna challenge you guys anyway! Now why do you have that baby!?"

The others turned to the alien who simply shrugged and remarked, "We plan to raise this child as our own so she can help us enslave humanity while also using her to lure out guys like you so they can fall to our hands. It's as simple as that."

The wasp stared and uttered, "Okay, that first part makes sense, but doesn't that second part of your plan kind of complicate things?" only for Butterfree to snap, "Who cares!? They're not gonna succeed because we're here to stop them!"

"Machoke couldn't defeat me," Deoxys retorted, "What chance could you possibly have?" Beedrill narrowing his eyelids and grunting, "Chance or no chance, we're still kicking your asses! Come on, honey, let's let them have it!"

Butterfree latched onto Beedrill from behind before both took to the sky. The wasp aimed his stingers toward the villains while the butterfly spun around, forming a twister around herself. Both then flew forward and shouted, "TWIN NEEDLE TORNADO!"

However, Genesect immediately dashed in front of them and charged up the cannon on her shoulders, a ball of bright purple light forming as she exclaimed, "BUG BLASTER!" a beam shooting out and striking Butterfree hard, sending her careening into a lamp post and knocking her out cold.

Beedrill turned and stared at his unconscious wife in terror. He then turned toward Genesect and fumed, barking, "How dare you do that to my wife, you bitch!?"

He proceeded to fly toward the bug when Blacephalon placed his hands against his own head. He then pried it right off and said, "I don't think so."

The other villains stared in confusion while he hurled his head toward Beedrill. The wasp turned to see this just in time for the sphere to fly into his gut, the dots flying off of it to create a fireworks effect when Blacephalon exclaimed, "MIND BLOWN!"

This was just enough to knock Beedrill out cold as Deoxys folded his arms and said, "Most impressive. I can see I made the right choice picking you two as allies."

"You flatter me," Genesect replied with a grin, Blacephalon striking a supermodel pose and saying, "Oh, I'm not that good. Those two just weren't much of a challenge is all."

The alien shrugged and replied, "Nevertheless, that takes care of another threat. And while taking down Hero Planet's chairman would certainly give us a very good reputation, I feel like we could stand to take things a step further and generate more fear and respect from the public."

"What did you have in mind?" Medicham enquired before Deoxys stated, "I want a big tower that I can use as my base. See, back in the day, I used to set one up on every planet that I conquered. It was a symbol of my status as the planet's new ruler."

Stakataka pointed at himself questioningly as Deoxys replied, "No, I don't want it shaped quite like you. I'm thinking something a bit fancier and more current."

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem," Medicham replied with her arms folded, "While it would take humans years to make such a thing, we'll have it built overnight. But where would you like it?" the alien implying a smirk with his eyes and replying, "I'll have it in the same place I had my original tower built."

And so he and the other villains relocated to a nearby construction site and got to work, using any materials they could find. They also brought Beedrill and Butterfree along just in case someone spotted their corpses too early and leaned them up against a wall And while holding Machop and watching the others build, Deoxys looked back to the very first time he had set up a tower back on his home planet, Mercury.

As it so happened, while living there, he had been frequently teased, berated and beaten for his outward appearance. For some strange reason, he looked nothing like any of the citizens there, including his own parents. He was truly one of a kind, and that made him an outcast.

As such, he spent his entire childhood honing his combat skills so that one day, he could exact revenge on his kind. And after reaching adulthood, that was exactly what he did. He proved to be stronger than anyone else on the planet, thus it was easy for him to enslave everyone.

But afterwards, something snapped in his mind. Suddenly, he felt a strong desire to conquer other planets. If it had been this easy for him to take over Mercury, who was to say he could not do the same for the rest of the galaxy? Perhaps he could even rule over the universe. After all, the other planets might very well have been just as judgemental as this one.

'Yes, soon the citizens of Earth will suffer the torment I experienced in my youth,' he thought with his eyes implying a wicked smile, 'No one will stop me this time, no one!'

While this went on, though, the villains failed to notice Beedrill and Butterfree start to move. It seemed much like Machoke, they had miraculously survived the attacks that defeated them. Thus when they opened their eyes, they both gazed upon the half-completed tower, turned to one-another and slowly crawled out of the area. After all, not only were they still too weak to use their wings, but they could not risk being spotted right now.

At around four in the morning, it seemed Gardevoir had finally managed to fall asleep. Even in her panicked state, she could not resist her drowsiness for too long. Thus she was spread out over Machoke and snoring softly.

She was startled when she heard a ringing on her doorbell, bolting upright with her eyes wide open and bags under her eyes. Though due to his condition, Machoke was still asleep, thus Gardevoir smiled at him and kissed his forehead before getting up and heading out of the bedroom. And she would certainly need to answer the door soon since for some reason, the doorbell was still ringing.

When she reached the entrance, she opened it and asked, "Who is it?" squeaking when she noticed Beedrill and Butterfree, the wasp's left arm stinger still pressing the button only for Butterfree to pry it away from it.

Though it only made sense. Judging by each one's condition, Gardevoir could tell it must have taken a lot for Beedrill to so much as lift his arm. Thus she ignored how tired she was and helped the two walk to the sofa so they could rest.

"Thank you," Beedrill gasped, panting heavily with his arms slumped over the back of the sofa while Butterfree sighed, "Drama queen," not willing to admit that she was just as winded as he was.

"What happened to you?" Gardevoir enquired before Butterfree grunted, "Let's just say we had a run-in with someone who we think beat up your husband."

That was all the woman needed to hear as she gasped, "Where are they!?" Machoke's eyes finally opening as he had a look of panic on his face.

Before Beedrill or Butterfree could answer Gardevoir's second question, the man sprang up out of bed and ran downstairs to the living room. He breathed heavily and looked around, barking, "Where is she!? Where's Machop!?" Gardevoir gasping, "Honey, you shouldn't be up right now!" Beedrill and Butterfree both staring silently before remembering this was Machoke of all people.

Soon enough, Machoke was seated on an easy chair across from the sofa. Beedrill and Butterfree had both explained everything that had happened to them, but they also assured the man and his wife that their daughter was unharmed. After all, Deoxys did have far more sinister plans for her.

"He plans to corrupt our daughter!?" Machoke spat with a look of fury in his eyes, "Hell no! I am not letting her become evil! She can follow almost any path she wants, but not that!" rising to his feet only for the pain from earlier to catch up with him.

The man winced and held onto his bleeding chest while Gardevoir walked over to him and gently pushed him back down onto the chair. Beedrill took a deep breath and said, "Relax, okay? There is an upside to all of this. Deoxys and his followers are still in Tokyo and have no plans of leaving. I say the best thing we can do is lay low until we have more heroes on our side."

Machoke gritted his teeth and was about to protest when Gardevoir gasped, "That's right! Machoke, the others are on their way! They can help us!" the man groaning, "But I don't wanna do that to them! They're coming here for a good time! If we stop Deoxys and get our daughter back right now, then we can still have the party and they won't have to fight these guys!"

The woman took a deep breath and sighed, "But you know as well as I do that even if you were at full strength, we alone couldn't possibly take them. We need the whole team, Machoke," the man looking deep into her eyes with uncertainty.

As much as it pained him to admit it, she had a point. He had lost easily to Deoxys, and one could only imagine how much worse it could have been if the others had helped him. And while Gardevoir was a lot stronger than she looked, the two of them combined would not be enough. And to top it all off, there was certainly no way Beedrill and Butterfree were in good enough health to assist them.

With that in mind, the man breathed in and out before sighing, "Alright, we'll wait for the others to arrive. But if we're gonna get them involved, we may as well call up Aipom and Hawlucha as well, don't you think?" Gardevoir nodding with a big smile on her face, Butterfree grumbling, "You know, if we'd gone to their house first instead of challenging Deoxys, we'd be in good enough condition to join them," Beedrill shushing her.

Two hours later, Machoke's friends had finally arrived at the airport. However, while they had every intention of heading to Machoke and Gardevoir's house as soon as possible, it was no longer for the same reason. Naturally, the green woman had sent them all a text informing them of what was going on, telling them all to assemble at the household for a strategy meeting.

And of course, Hawlucha and Aipom had also received the same text seeing as they lived in Tokyo and could get there right away. When Gardevoir had said she wanted the whole team, she meant it.

Meanwhile, the villains had finished constructing Deoxys' tower as he gazed upon it, saying, "Well, I'm impressed. Though how's the interior?" stepping foot inside and looking around in wonder, adding, "Wow, this is actually better than the first tower I built here. Very, very impressive."

He then held up Machop and asked, "You see this? This is your new home. You like it?" the baby squealing with delight and clapping her hands. It seemed as if she had already forgotten who her real parents were.

After another hour had passed, Beedrill and Butterfree were fast asleep in the living room, though Machoke and Gardevoir were unable to get back to sleep. Right now, they were looking at the door, wondering when the others would arrive. Both just wanted to go out and save their daughter as soon as possible.

When the doorbell rang, both went wide-eyed and bolted toward the door. They immediately threw it open and smiled wide when sure enough, all but Aipom and Hawlucha were there.

Gardevoir squealed with excitement and immediately raced toward Gallade, holding him in a tight embrace as his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He laughed and patted her on the back, sighing, "I swear, your hugs will never stop being deadly," Blaziken pounding Machoke's fist and saying, "I wish circumstances were better, but it's nice to see you again."

Scyther walked over to the man and patted him on the back, stating, "Don't you worry about a thing, Machoke. We'll help you get your daughter back," as Reika nodded and added, "Damn straight. We came to celebrate her birth and we're gonna do that."

But after she pounded her fist against her palm, Scyther laughed nervously and uttered, "I'd prefer it if you just provided moral support," the human woman uttering, "Oh, right, I don't have powers like you guys."

Beedrill and Butterfree finally woke up, both of them happy to see the others. And of course, Machoke smiled wide when he noticed Lucario, the dog approaching him and saying, "You haven't changed a bit," the reptilian man replying, "I can say the same about you."

However, the moment was soon broken up when a certain monkey knocked on the door with her tail hand despite it still being open. Machoke's eyes lit up when he gazed upon his former trainer, a big grin forming on his face as he ran over to her and lifted her up, giving her the biggest hug. After all, despite the fact that Aipom was now twenty, she was only half the man's height.

Aipom smiled softly and embraced him, wrapping her tail around him and saying, "Sorry I don't visit more often, Machoke."

"I take it Takashi's not coming?" Machoke enquired as Aipom nodded and replied, "Yeah, I figured it would be better if he didn't get involved with a matter like this. He's not really the fighting type, you know?"

Blaziken grinned and stated, "It's so nice to have the team back together, ain't it?" before Gallade nodded and added, "And who knows? Maybe I'll actually be able to help this time," laughing nervously and uttering, "Yeah, maybe they'll give me a mere lackey to show off my mad skills on," lowering his head only for Hitmonchan to kiss him on the cheek and raise his spirits.

And so, Beedrill and Butterfree both explained everything they knew about the situation. They told the group where specifically the tower was, how many villains there were and just how powerful this threat was. However, they also remembered to add that they themselves were in no condition to help out, though this was not too alarming to the group. After all, there were seven villains and by the time Hawlucha finally showed up, there would be nine heroes capable of fighting, and that would allow them to just barely outnumber the villains.

"Well, I'm ready to bust some heads when you are," Blaziken quipped with a smirk, Lucario folding his arms and adding, "Indeed. I won't allow this child to walk down the same path I almost did."

The dog looked back to when he was fourteen. He had left his home one day without any warning or a letter to his parents. The reason for this was to join the dark side as he believed he did not have what it took to be a hero like his father. He had even killed an innocent human just for a sick thrill. The last thing he wanted was for Machop to end up like that.

And of course, Hitmonchan grinned and exclaimed, "Let's march right up to that Deoxys bastard and punch him in the face!" Gallade shouting, "Hell yeah!"

Scyther nodded as Reika gave her a look of encouragement. She then kissed her compassionately and said, "Do your best out there, darling," before the insect blushed bright, smirked and replied, "You know I will."

Aipom, all the while, turned to Machoke and asked, "Are you sure you want me to come along?" Machoke nodding and remarking, "As if I'd leave my number one trainer behind. Besides, you were a total badass in the tag tournament," the monkey beaming bright.

She remembered that day during a big event known as the Ultimate World Team Tournament. Machoke did not have a partner for the semi-finals, so Aipom ultimately decided she should step in and fill that role. And after undergoing some difficult training from three wise monkeys, she knew she would make for the perfect ally. And while she was hospitalized for the final round, she and Machoke had ultimately won the match together.

Gardevoir was just beyond happy to have all these familiar faces together again. Sure, it was not for the fun time they had initially planned, but they still seemed to have the same camaraderie from way back when. Just the fact that they were all ready to put their lives on the line one last time was inspiring in a strange way.

Suddenly, they all went silent when Hawlucha finally arrived, opening the door and exclaiming, "Lo siento! I only just saw your text a while ago!" the others giving the parrot a smile, just glad to see that he would indeed join them in this battle after all.

And with all said and done, the heroes were on their way to Deoxys' tower while the alien stood on the top floor. He looked out the window upon the city down below and said, "Soon, all of these people will bow to me, their new king."