The Deadliest Tournament

by pokeplayer984

My first R rated fic. The members of the Elite are murdered and a tournament is thrown to replace them. However, when Ash & co. find out the tournament is run by Team Rocket, can they stop their plans? Despite all who are lost? Please R&R. CANCELLED!

3. Call of the Tournament

Here it is! Chapter 3! The longest chapter ever!
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Chapter 3

Many occupants stood in front of a freshly dug up hole. A finely carved oak closed casket with golden handlebars was in front of them, supported on top of the hole by strong metal bars made of steel. All of them were dressed in black clothing that consisted of suits, dresses, bow ties and hats with a black veil. Each being had their head facing downward, their eyes on the verge of streaming out an endless sea of painful sorrow. A perfectly carved tombstone stood at one end of the perfect rectangle shaped hole. The name "Golduck" was carved out upon it. The words "Father, Friend, Misty's Savoir" were carved out below the name.

It had only been a few days since the tragedy that had befallen Golduck. Only a few days since the brave single Golduck that risked his own life to save his master was killed by that mysterious unnatural attack by that monstrosity of a creation. Only an unknown amount of time, at least to those who were around, since Misty's heart vowed that she would get revenge on the one that had killed her pokemon.

Vengeance rested deep within Misty's heart. She wanted revenge. She wanted to make the heartless bastard that she considered to be from hell pay with his own ice-cold blood for what he had done to Golduck.

No one had spoken to Misty during the few days that had past. She was in such a state of grief and anger, that it was your wisest decision in your life to leave her alone. Due to these things, Misty had not been informed of how the meeting she missed out on went. She hadn't eaten anything since the tragedy, nor had she slept well at all during the time Golduck met his horrific fate. She had to practically be dressed by one of her three sisters and dragged over to the grave sight just to make it to the funeral. It was a tragic state for her sisters to see her in, but they hoped she would snap out of it soon.

It hurt her sister's greatly to see her like this. Daisy, Lily, Violet, all of them felt grief within. Daisy was the one with blond hair. Lily was the one with pink hair. Violet was the one with blue hair. Each one of them looked about the same age and could easily be guessed as triplets. Maybe that's what killed their mother, triplets and then a few years later another daughter being born. That must've been a real strain on their mother.

The triplets didn't care one bit for the pokemon that had died. To them, pokemon were tools. They thought that pokemon were nothing more than something to have a battle with. How wrong they were. Daisy was great with battling skills, but could care less about pokemon and only cared about a few because they were cute. That was the real reason Misty took care of the gym. She didn't want the pokemon that were under her responsibility to be treated like they were tools. What she really wanted was her pokemon to be treated with love, and out of Misty's whole family, she was the only one who could do that.

The thing that was grieving Misty's sisters was their sister's current state. She was so heartbroken. They could tell that she really loved the duck, though they could never see why. Why would their sister love a tool? Them simply not understanding pokemon was what made them not realize the pain Misty was in. They just had a different grasp that made them not comprehend anything at all. Though they all had one conclusion in their minds. Damien, the one they considered was a heartless bastard from hell, would pay for hurting their sister.

Ash was standing next to Misty, holding her hand in a sign of comfort. It hurt him to see her in this condition. He also probably knew what she wanted. However, he knew that it was not wise for her to get revenge. It was not about justice. It was only about making herself feel better, and that's probably what he figured she wanted. Ash knew he had to help her any way possible. He knew he would find a way to make her understand that, even with such a tragedy, revenge was not the answer. He as well considered Damien to be a heartless bastard from hell just like Misty, and wanted revenge just as badly, but he knew that was not the answer. Even though Ash was dense, he had enough wisdom to understand that revenge only made you feel worse in the end.

A tear streamed down the yellow mouse that was on Ash's shoulder. Pikachu knew the duck well enough. He was a special friend to him. He was one of those friends that were so close to you, it was wrong in every way to lose him. A friend you didn't want to lose.

Pikachu and Golduck had a friendship of their own. Sure he was dumb, but he really cared about Misty's Psyduck. Their bond seemed to be a little more than friendship. It was almost as if they were brothers. Pikachu was at the Pokemon Center when the incident happened. He was incredibly shocked when Ash went to pick him up and told him the news. The pain he felt was unreal. In fact, he never realized how much he cared for the duck until he lost him. He dropped into tears of great sorrow the moment he was told the news. He couldn't believe that he actually cared. When he was told who did it, his anger increased greatly. He then promised within his heart to make the one that he considered being a heartless bastard from hell pay for killing his brother.

Right below Misty was a small female mouse. Tears of great sorrow for the loss of her father flowed down where her supposed cheeks would be for her perfect sphere shaped body. The blue tears of anguish almost seemed to blend in so well with the skin that only the sun's reflective rays shining off them could tell you that she was crying. Yes, this Marill was the direct blood daughter of the dead Golduck. Her round red on the inside ears was drooped down, nearly covering her face. Her spring like tail with a blue ball on the end, which was always up with happiness, was now down flat, almost like that part of her was as dead as her father was. The sadness within her was beyond the size of her small body, coming out in tears of great unhappiness.

Insignificant is what one would call her life. A normal life of love and family the best way possible was what she lived. Many wouldn't care. However, her family and friends would. She grew up with Golduck most of her life. Her mother was far too busy to spend any real time with her and see the daughter that had developed over the years. Her father was gone now. What would become of her? She looked next to her at her mother. She was now the one who would take care of her. With how busy her mother was, no bond would possibly be made unless she participated in the same work. She basically hated the kind of work her mother did to the very core. She completely, of her own free thought, considered that her life was going to be hell. The Marill would make sure Damien, the one that she believed to be the heartless bastard from hell, would pay for that.

The mother of Marill stood next to her daughter, crying as well. She was the evolved form of Marill, an Azumarill. Indeed, understanding the species of Pokemon, it was easy now to see that the Marill next to her was her own blood daughter. She too hated what happened to Golduck. Of course, considering she was the love-mate of Golduck, it was easy to understand why. Her heart felt like it had been stabbed with a rusty dull butter-knife when she heard the tragic news of Golduck. She loved the duck that sacrificed himself to save the trainer he cared about. Who loved him more out of Azumarill and Misty? That was a question beyond measure and of great difficulty to answer. Not even the greatest love expert in the world could answer that question truthfully. Ever since her trainer, Tracey took up a job with the renowned Professor Oak, the old gray haired human who was doing the part of the minister for the funeral, Azumarill had seen less of her beloved soul mate. She remembered them first meeting as if it were yesterday. A memory of that very day entered her mind.

It was a bright sunny afternoon. The sun was a good distance past the southern noon position, and would soon set in west. A Marill lay on the sand, basking herself in the warm rays of the setting sun, a pair of sunglasses over her fragile eyes. Suddenly in the distance, she heard a cry for help.

"Help! Help! I can't swim!" the voice cried out, though it was difficult to hear.

Only Marill, thanks to her increased hearing, could distinguish the cries for help. She looked out to the ocean and saw something flapping about wildly. The creature was struggling to keep itself surfaced. According to what she saw, she knew the being would drown soon if she didn't hurry.

"Hang on! I'll save you!" she called out at the top of her voice.

She had no fear of the water at all and ran right into the water, throwing her sunglasses down onto the beach. Her species was natural at swimming. In fact, they could swim like an expert from birth. She stroked and kicked towards the victim of the unforgiving sea at quite a high speed. She soon reached the creature and could tell what it was now. Flapping about wildly right in front of her was a yellow duck pokemon, a Psyduck. Why he couldn't swim, Marill didn't know, it should've been natural for his species. She didn't have time to think about that.

"Quick! Grab on to my tail!" She instructed him.

The Psyduck obeyed and grabbed onto the ball at the end of her tail. The ball kept him afloat while she carried him back to shore. She soon reached the shore, but she suddenly realized that a heavy weight of some kind was on her tail, making her unable to continue forward. She looked behind herself and saw that the Psyduck she had just rescued was lying right on her tail, unconscious.

One would probably conclude that he passed out while she was pulling him back to shore, yet amazingly stayed on her tail. At this point, for one of the oddest reasons, at least to herself, Marill went into a sudden panic mode. She couldn't explain it, but for some reason, she started to worry for the duck she just saved. She grabbed him and started to frantically shake him, trying to wake him up.

"Hey! Wake up! We just made it to shore!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, hoping the Psyduck would hear her and wake up. There was no response. Now she really started to panic.

In all truth, she was unprepared for such a situation. She was never taught the lesson of how to save a life when it was believed that they were dead. In a simple understanding, cardiovascular therapy was not her forte. Luckily, for both her and the victim, someone came who knew what to do.

Someone suddenly rushed up to the little duck. It was a Pikachu, Ash's Pikachu. She definitely recognized the yellow mouse that was now holding Psyduck by the arm and checking his pulse.

"What happened?" He asked Marill, having a bit of worry in his own voice.

"He was drowning in the ocean and I saved him." She explained in as short of a well-explained summary as she could think up.

Pikachu didn't need to be told anymore. "Go get Misty, now!" He ordered her.

As Pikachu began the cardiovascular therapy method on Psyduck, Marill ran across the beach as fast as she could. Pikachu was having a difficult time trying to breathe some oxygen into Psyduck through the mouth. Knowing how difficult it would be, he opened the mouth and breathed out the air deeply into the back of his throat. The mouth smelled horrible, traces of his last meal still remained. A part of Pikachu was wondering what he had for lunch that smelled so terrible. With great difficulty, he was able to get some air into his lungs. He then brought his head out as quickly as possible.

Pikachu was thankful that he didn't have to get into the mouth again for about literally a minute or two. He then located the chest of his rounded body as best he could and pushed down where the heart would be. He had not received a pulse. So he had to revive the heart as best he could. As he continued the procedure, he wondered if Psyduck would be all right.

Meanwhile, Marill ran as fast as her stubby feet would allow. Marill weren't as fast on land as they were in the water. However, she was able to locate red-haired female human quickly. She soon arrived in front of Misty.

"Hey, Marill! What's up?" She asked.

Marill started to speak very quickly. However, her speech was so improper that she couldn't understand what she was saying herself. A teenaged, brown haired boy with a red bandana across his forehead bent down to the babbling Marill.

"Calm down, Marill! Tell me what's wrong." Her trainer told her. She calmed down and was able to tell them, in complete detailed perfect speech, what happened to Psyduck. A look of worry suddenly showed on her trainer's face. "Uh-oh!"

"What is it, Tracey?" Misty asked.

"It's your Psyduck…" Tracey started, but he wasn't able to finish. Misty was off like a shot, knocking him down in the process.

Misty ran quickly across the beach. Worry entered her face at incredible velocity, much faster than the speed of light it almost seemed. She soon reached the scene and saw only Pikachu there.

"Hey Pikachu, is Psyduck okay?" She asked, in a very worried tone.

"Yeah, he's fine, but we've got a problem!" Pikachu said. He turned towards them and it could be seen that Pikachu was stuck inside the mouth of the Psyduck he just revived.

Misty looked at them with an opened mouth for a split second. She then started to try and hold back the laughter that dared to leave her mouth with her hand, but completely gave up and started laughing hysterically at the situation. She had to hold her sides to suppress the slight pain the laughter was causing her. She then fell to the ground, rolling around, completely full of giggles.

Pikachu was embarrassed and annoyed at the same time. Ash and Tracey soon arrived, and saw that Misty was laughing while rolling around on the ground. They looked towards Pikachu and got the exact same reaction. Basically, they too had their mouths hung open. Then tried to suppress the laughter, failing in the end. Holding their sides and falling down and rolling around on the ground, completely full of ha-ha.

Marill then arrived. Pikachu hoped she wouldn't laugh as well, but his hopes vanished as Marill ended up in the same situation as the others.

"This is not funny!" Psyduck said in a muffled, angry tone, but it was completely impossible for them to tell what he was saying. Which only made them laugh even harder.

Pikachu decided to change the subject a bit in hopes to make them stop laughing. "What did Psyduck have to eat earlier anyways?" He asked.

"P-poke-pokemon f-food w-with pea-pea-peanut but-butt-butter!" Tracey answered, still laughing, which only made them get into a bigger fit of laughter, if that was even possible.

"Pokemon food with peanut butter? No wonder I'm stuck to his mouth!"

It was about a good five minutes later before they got their laughter under control enough to take the two to the Pokemon Center. The memory ended there.

That moment in life seemed to almost make the Azumarill smile, but the tragic situation at hand made her sorrow overwhelm that brief moment, as happy as it was, and made it almost vanish from her. She needed another happy memory and the vast heavens seemed to provide her that. A strangely shaped cloud passed by, one that seemed to remind her of another day. The day she confessed her love to him. The memory entered her mind.

The same strangely shaped cloud was in the sky. They say that it is an impossibility to see a cloud shaped exactly the same twice in your lifetime. Yet it was the exact same cloud. She looked on at the cloud with in quite a great state of depression. She knew now why she worried so much about that Psyduck when he was on the brink of death. Why she had felt such a way when it was them first meeting eachother. There was only one simple explanation for it all. She figured out why she cared. She was in love, in love with Psyduck.

Ever since that day that she saved his life, her mind was constantly on the yellow duck. Yet, she did not know why she was in love. What reason did she have to love this duck? Why did she love him? Those were the questions that constantly plagued her mind. Why was it that she fell in love with someone so clueless that he wouldn't know what love was if it smacked him right in the face? At least the last question was her very own opinion on the whole species.

Now that she had come to the startling conclusion that she loved him, how could she tell him? Ever since that time they had become friends. It would be very awkward if you told your friend that you love him. There was also the possibility that the one at hand didn't love you back. Love must be returned when it is presented, otherwise all the efforts are for not.

Now the most dreaded of all questions haunted her. What if he didn't love her back? What if he didn't accept her? Her heart would be so broken that it would probably never mend. If he didn't accept her, she would probably just die. Also, if he didn't love her back, the friendship would be over. Knowing that this one being in life was in love with him would make a very awkward situation every time they met, if they ever met again.

She made a heavy sigh and turned around, but bumped into someone. She backed up and saw it was Pikachu. "Oh, hi Pikachu!" She said in a tone that she hoped hid the fact that something was on her mind. "What's up?"

"Except us going to the Johto region tomorrow, not much. What's on your mind, I saw you staring into space there and didn't want to disturb you." He said, knowing that she was hiding something.

She knew that she was caught and looked around cautiously. "Can you keep a secret?" She asked, whispering to him, once she came to the conclusion that they were alone.

He gave her the motion that his lips were sealed, knowing that she could trust him. Unknown to them though, someone was nearby, well concealed behind an apple tree. Occupied by gathering fruit for a little snack.

"Okay, I've come to the realization that I'm in love with Psyduck." She told him.

The one behind the tree heard her and dropped the fruit he was about to eat. He then carefully looked behind the tree and eavesdropped on their conversation.

"And you noticed this just now?" He asked.

"You knew all along?" She asked in shock as a blush of pure embarrassment appeared on her face.

"Hey, you'd be surprised what I notice! However, I'm surprised with you! I never thought you'd fall for someone like him. If anyone I would've guessed Squirttle." He said, with the last word referring to a water-elemental turtle with blue skin and a brownish shell.

She sighed heavily. "I know. I can't believe I fell for him out of all the known species of Pokemon. Oh, god! How did I fall for him?"

"Now there's only one question that remains… Are you going to tell him?" He asked her.

She blushed harder, if that was possible. "What… what if he didn't love me back? I… I couldn't live with myself anymore if he didn't."

Pikachu started to snicker when he heard what she said.

"What's so funny?" She asked, feeling that she was being left out of something important.

"Don't you know that Misty is in the same situation as you?" He asked.

"Really? Who is she afraid to tell?"

"Ash!"

"Him? Out of all people? I've would've expected Tracey, maybe even Rudy, or Brock, but Ash?"

"Trust me, I was as surprised as you."

"I can't believe that she fell for the dense one!"

"Anyways, back on topic, you care about the friendship you two have, right?" He asked.

Marill nodded.

"I understand. Listen to me, okay? I have a hunch that Psyduck loves you as well."

"Really?"

"Trust me on this, okay? I believe you should tell him before he leaves tomorrow. It could be a long time before you see him again." Pikachu then decided to leave her with her own thoughts.

"Hey, Pikachu…" Marill started, making him stop.

"Yeah?"

She smiled at him. "Thanks. You're a real pal."

Pikachu smiled back. "Glad I could help." He then left her alone.

Marill started to think about what Pikachu said. Was it possible that Psyduck loved her too? How could that be when he was so dumb, at least in her opinion, that he didn't even know what love was?

She was suddenly brought out of the thinking, when she heard someone nearby fall over with a loud thud. She looked next to her and saw that the one that listened to their conversation had tripped over one of the roots of the tree's trunk. She looked up and saw the exact same duck that she was in love with. The moment he said "hi," she turned away from him. She knew one thing by the look in his eyes. He heard her. If the earlier moments weren't obvious enough to make one believe that she was embarrassed, this moment would indeed. She blushed so hard, that her entire blue skin had become a light shade of pink, from head to tail.

"Marill, I heard you. I heard what you said." Psyduck said.

He then walked up to her and so that he was right behind her. "Marill, I want you to look at me when I tell you this, okay?" Marill obeyed him.

She didn't know whether this was good or not. She didn't know whether he was going to say the one thing she was hoping, or would end up being very cold and break her heart. Destroy it! Shatter it! Crush it! And demolish it! She thought he would do that out of all things. How could he love her? He didn't know what love was, did he?

"Marill, I love you!" He said so very sincere and honest that there was no doubt that he meant what he said.

Suddenly, all the doubt inside her had vanished. All traces of the fear of Psyduck not accepting her had left. There was nothing left inside her to worry about. Her heart swelled with happiness. So much joy filled inside her that she dived into his short arms and cried out all her happiness. Every teardrop that fell from her face only increased her happiness further.

"I – I love you, Psyduck! I – I love you so… so very much. Eve… ever since the first day I met you, I knew you… you were the… the one!" Marill said while sniffing and sobbing at him.

They then looked at one another in the eyes. If there was ever a moment in life to not ruin, this was it. Even the heavens from above would destroy you if you dared to interrupt such a moment. Yet, that was quite impossible, for they were alone on that green grassy hill. They closed their eyes and started moving their faces closer and closer to one another. The lips and front of the beak respectively touch eachother.

For Marill, the moment was magical. The pure taste of the kiss was far sweeter than sugar. It was such an addictive taste of sweetness that she could taste it forever. She didn't want this moment in her life to end. It felt too unreal for it to end. Never in a million years would anyone, not even the great pokemon gods, could imagine these two being together. However, it was something that would indeed be welcomed. The kiss lasted for several minutes. It could've gone on forever, only Marill having to breathe made the moment stop.

It was a moment to cherish. They then sat down next to eachother with Marill laying her head down on Psyduck. She felt the warm feathers on her skin and treasured it. There was no telling when she would feel the love of this duck again. She felt secure as the duck instinctively wrapped his arm around the mouse and watched the sun in front of them set. The memory ended.

This one memory did indeed fill her with happiness. Still, it didn't take away the sorrow that she felt now. The Azumarill looked over at her daughter, who was trying her hardest to hold back the painful tears for the loss of her father, and yet failing miserably. The mother felt even more hurt. It hurt her to see her daughter like this. There was, sadly, nothing she could do though. Though she was happy to see how beautiful, to her own eyes, a daughter had developed. Who would've guessed such a lovely teenaged girl could develop from her and her love-mate, Golduck? Seeing such a thing brought back one memory that was quite treasured. Even though it would be originally thought to have the worst thing of all happen to you. That one precious memory enveloped her mind.

A Marill stood outside Oak's lab, where she just had her physical taken. She couldn't believe the news she had just received. The one word she heard that seemed to continuously stab her in the heart, killing her everytime her mind said it. It was one word that showed how much her life would change from now on. Pregnant! Pregnant! The one word explained it all. She would soon produce an egg and have a baby.

She should've known that's what was wrong with her. It just explained everything. She was constantly vomiting for three days in a row, this one being the third. The first day it happened, she suspected it was something she ate. The next, she was curious as to what it could be, with her not having a fever, there was great suspicion on what could be wrong with her. The third day, she told Tracey that she had been throwing up a lot. Those were her exact words. Tracey had Professor Oak examine her, and the results were clear. She was pregnant!

Pregnant! Pregnant! The word continuously enveloped her mind. She couldn't take care of a child. She was far too busy helping Tracey. Tracey was inside talking with Professor Oak, trying to figure out what to do about this situation. He couldn't take care of a baby either. With all the odd jobs he does for Professor Oak, he could barely take care of his own pokemon. While she was busy in her thoughts the door opened and she looked up to see Tracey.

"Marill, come on in. We need to talk to you." He said in a gentle yet serious tone.

Marill obeyed and went inside the lab to have the talk she was expecting.

"Me and Professor Oak have been talking about your current situation." Tracey began as he tried his best to comfort his poor pokemon. "And we have come to the conclusion that it will be your choice and your choice alone of whether or not you will have the baby, and if you choose to have it, who will take care of it."

"Yes," Professor Oak began, "it won't be long before you produce that egg, so it is important that you make that decision within the next seventy-two hours. Otherwise, you will have no choice but to have the egg, as at that time, you will most likely be in labor. Understand?"

Marill nodded. She understood everything he said. She understood that the decision she would make might change her life forever. However, she didn't understand one thing. One question continuously enveloped her mind. How could she be pregnant? She wore protection, didn't she? Maybe not! Maybe she only thought she did.

"Marill," Tracey began, getting her attention. "I need to know who the new father is."

Marill sighed deeply. "There's only one who's been having sexual relationships with me, Misty's Psyduck." She said very sadly.

Tracey sighed deeply, rubbing his temples. He should've known that's who it was. How he was able to miss that, he wasn't sure of. He had known the relationship of Ash and Misty up to a point where they dared to kill him if he ever brought it up again. He had kept silent about that since.

Still, he couldn't believe it. Then again, Tracey's Marill was constantly sneaking off somewhere whenever they went to the Cerulean City Gym. He was suspicious and wanted to find out what was going on. However, Daisy often kept him busy, asking him constantly to do chores she didn't want to do. He had to admit that he was only doing it because he loved her. Though he wandered often if she loved him.

"Tracey," Marill said, interrupting him from his thoughts. "I don't want your life to be ruined because of me. I don't want you to marry Misty because I'm having sexual relationships with Psyduck. I want you to choose the one you love in your heart, and not the owner of the pokemon whose heart I have chosen."

Marill was on the verge of crying during her heart throbbing speech. Marill loved Misty's Psyduck deeply, but she didn't want that to be the reason for her master to end up with Misty. She wanted her master to choose someone from his heart, and not because of what she did.

Tracey smiled at his Marill. "Marill," he said. "I'll tell you now that my heart hasn't chosen Misty, but someone else. Misty and me are just friends, and I want us to stay that way. I really can't imagine the two of us being together. It's almost like it's practically a sin rather than anything else. I'll choose who my heart wants when I feel the time is right, and I promise, it will not be Misty."

Marill sniffed. "Thank you, Tracey." She said as she hugged him. The hug soon ended.

"So, have you decided what you're going to do?"

"Yes, I've chosen to have the baby, and I'll do what's best for it, even if it means I can't take care of it."

"But wouldn't that be giving it up?"

"No, I wouldn't be giving it up. I'd be giving it more!"

The memory ended there.

Looking back on the memory, it would seem interesting to someone that she never once considered that she was giving her baby up by the decision of not taking care of her. She could never give the daughter everything she really needed in order for her to survive. Her daughter was one of those special kinds of Pokemon that needed the love and care of a real mother or an untimely death was sure to come upon the baby. She didn't give her up. She gave her more! As she thought about this, one final memory entered her mind. The day her daughter was born.

Marill looked impatiently at the dark blue egg with several white spots on it. Moments ago, the egg started to glow, which gave her the signal that the egg was ready to hatch. Depending on the species of the pokemon, it could take several minutes to several hours for the pokemon to come out of the egg. It had now been twenty minutes that the baby had taken so far to try and break out.

As Marill being the mother of the egg, it was natural for her to be there when the egg hatched. She was helping Tracey with several chores at Professor Oak's when she heard the news. After which, she was quickly transported to the Cerulean City Gym by means of the Pokeball Transporter System, more preferably known as the PTS. The PTS was a machine that transported pokeballs instantly to any Pokemon Center or Gym in the world. You would receive the pokeball, which might contain a pokemon, within a matter of seconds.

Misty was nearby, anxiously waiting for the new pokemon to hatch. Marill had chosen that Misty would take care of the baby. Not only did Misty have experience taking care of baby pokemon, and that her Psyduck was the father, but with her being a gym leader, the baby would grow up to be very strong. Psyduck was also there. With him being the father, it was natural.

Even though things seemed to go well, something felt different. Ever since she produced that egg, something just didn't feel right. It almost seemed as if producing that egg was something against nature. It just seemed wrong somehow. Something felt amiss, but what it was, she didn't know.

She was brought out of the thoughts when the egg started to glow. It glowed very brightly, emitting a light that blinded everyone. They had to cover their eyes to avoid losing their sight. It was because of this bright light that no one had naturally witnessed the hatching of a pokemon egg. With the technological advances, one could watch it on the television. Yet the brightness of the light made it impossible for one to witness it first hand. The ray of light disappeared and a new pokemon was sitting at the place the egg once was.

Marill looked at the new female baby pokemon with astonishment, yet with an amount of happiness so great, it was hard for you to tell she was surprised when she looked at her new daughter. She could tell the baby was a girl just by looking at it. She didn't even need to look at the equipment that all females held to tell her what gender the baby was. Yet there was one thing that surprised her. The baby didn't look exactly like her, which she was expecting. Marill was looking at a small blue mouse that was about one-fourth her size. The only part of it that wasn't a certain shade of blue was the white cheeks. It also had no arms. Other than size, all blue skin, white cheeks and no arms, it was exactly like Marill. Marill suspected it to be a possible birth defect. However, she had no idea that this was the pre-evolved form of her species. She was never born as that species. She was a Marill all her life and had yet to reach the point in life where she would evolve into an Azumarill.

Though looking at the baby, she could care less about the disability that had come forth upon birth. Regardless of her new daughter's problem, she would love the child like any normal mother would. She ran up to the new baby, picked her up, and hugged her tightly with love.

"Welcome to the world, my daughter." She said to the new baby girl.

With the baby just being born, she hardly understood. Yet she somehow knew the one hugging her to be her own mother. A baby's mind doesn't need an answer of how or why she knew. She just knew that this was her mother.

Marill turned away from the new Azurill, which made the said pokemon cry. Not seeing the face of Marill seemed to make her cry.

"Psyduck, come over here and meet your new daughter." She said.

Psyduck obeyed and walked up to Marill to see the new baby she was holding. Looking upon the new baby, he smiled.

"She's beautiful." He said, which was normal for any father of their child to say.

"Yes, very beautiful." Marill said on the verge of crying out tears of happiness.

The happiness she felt looking at the new daughter of theirs was immeasurable. Even the expression she held on her face wasn't enough to show how happy she was.

"Now, let's give our daughter her first bath. She's still sticky from that egg!" Marill said as the memory came to the end.

All of these memories made Azumarill happy. They made her feel better, but it still hurt. She then realized the pain would always be there. However, she had more than enough memories in her life needed to move on. She looked again at her daughter. The Marill was now wearing the only part of the blue duck that survived. The jewel that was once on Golduck was hanging by a thin string around her where-it-would-supposedly-be neck.

Marill wanted to wear that jewel. Her mother was against it, but Marill felt the jewel was important to her. She felt that as long as she wore it, the jewel always with her, she felt that her father was with her. Wearing it made her feel better. It made her happy.

Azumarill didn't want to take away her happiness, so she let her wear it. If she could make her daughter happy, that made her happy. Yet the hurt! It continued! Hurt! Hurt! Hurt! More and more! It just hurt! Her daughter was hurt as well. It hurt her more. Hurt! Hurt! Hurt! Continued still! Nobody hurts her daughter and gets away with it! She swore that she would make the heartless bastard from hell, which was her own opinion, pay for hurting her daughter.

Tracey stood behind his Azumarill. He felt a remorse for the blue duck's situation as well. However, he was mostly saddened by the state his Azumarill was in. He understood the sorrow and anger she felt. Loosing the one you loved most must've been very hurtful. However, he knew that Azumarill wanted revenge, which he knew was never the answer. It would only bring her more pain. He too pretty much thought of Damien as a heartless bastard from hell. It seemed to be everyone's opinion right now. However, he had to make sure his pokemon didn't get revenge. He knew it would only hurt her more.

Finally, there was Brock. He stood there alone as he was overlooking his friends. He had never lost someone in his life before. Ash had lost his dad. Misty had lost both her mom and dad. Brock had his whole family still of mom, dad and ten younger siblings. Which was rather a large family. For the time being, he had overtaken as gym leader to teach one of his brothers to takeover when they got older. For the first time in his life, he had lost someone. There were rumors spreading around his hometown of Pewter City that his mom had passed away, but that was untrue. His mom just one day left, without a trace, only leaving a note behind. Probably the pressure of taking care of eleven kids was too much for her.

One day though his mom came back, but she had ruined the gym. Brock did come back and set everything right. After that, he let the oldest out of his siblings, his brother Jiroo, take care of the gym. Jiroo had been doing fine as a gym leader, but it was not going so well lately. He was now on a losing streak of three hundred to zero. He practically begged Brock to come back and help him learn some new tricks. Brock agreed to come back and help. He didn't have to beg to make Brock come back.

He was very open with how he felt about the loss of Golduck. He was probably a little too open as he cried in sadness like a baby. One would call it overactive hormones. With how open he was with his feelings, chances were that if he lost someone he truly cared about, he might be depressed forever.

How he felt about Damien killing Golduck would be a surprise to anyone as he was probably more angry than Misty, though the chances of that were pretty slim. It wasn't often that he got that mad about anything in his life. In fact, chances were that he never got as mad as he was right now. He never really had a very negative view about someone, but once in a while he did consider some people to be bad, but not evil. There were no questioning Damien's actions as he was truly evil. Even Brock, the one who tried to find some good in everyone, considered Damien to be a heartless bastard from hell. Brock knew it wasn't the best of intentions to get revenge, but he would also make sure that Damien would pay for what he did.

Professor Oak closed the book and said the last words as the casket descended slowly into the hole. Everyone soon left the place with heavy hearts. As the funeral ended and everyone left the grave of Golduck, one thing was very clear in everyone's mind. Damien, the one that everyone saw as the heartless bastard from hell, would pay for what he did to Golduck.

Far away from the gravesite, inside a dark underground base, Giovanni was at his office desk, sitting in his leather chair, talking to someone. He was talking to Damien Daisuke, the murderer of Misty's Golduck. Damien was sitting in a wooden chair across from Giovanni, his boss. They were discussing the earlier incident he caused.

"So, the youngest Waterflower defended Ash?" Giovanni asked.

"Yeah, she did! However, her pokemon were no match for me. I even, literally, turned her Golduck to dust! I bet she's still crying over it!" He said as if he was mocking Misty.

"And you were still stopped?"

"Yeah! Some bitch of a doctor came in and had her Golem use a close range Explosion on me. I'm surprised it actually worked!"

"Did you get a good look at the name tag?"

"All I got out of that was 'Jun.' That's pretty much it."

"Thank you! I believe that will be all."

They then shook hands with each other and Damien started to leave when Giovanni suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Giovanni started, which made Damien stop and face him. "We've added a few new members to your team of Shadow Pokemon. The pokemon that I gave you hold a special ability within them. With this new special ability, you will be able to create Exoeon without all the members of the Eevee Family. So, if by some chance a pokemon is still knocked out, you'll be able to replace it with one of the pokemon I provided you and still make Exoeon. Use the pokemon to the best of their ability if a member of the Eevee Family gets knocked out."

"Thanks boss! I'll do that! I'm sure that with the new pokemon, that Ketchum kid will be no more." Damien said. He then left the room.

As soon as Damien left, Giovanni had an evil smirk upon his face. "Yes, but even with the new pokemon, you can still be beaten."

Back in Cerulean City Misty's sisters had brought her back home from the funeral. Accompanying them were Ash, Brock, Tracey and their pokemon. Misty was still very devastated. Her friends and family tired to comfort her.

"Misty," Ash began, sitting next to her and holding her hand in a sign of comfort. "We're all very sad about what happened to Golduck, but you've got to stop feeling sorry for it. You know it wasn't your fault."

She didn't hear them. She was so lost in her own world of inner pain that it drowned out the words. Though she still somehow knew that her friends were trying to comfort her. Maybe it was the way Ash was holding her right hand that told her so.

"He's right, Misty." Brock said, trying to help as well. "Golduck loved you so much that he didn't want you to get hurt. That's why he risked his own life to save you, Misty."

It didn't work. She was so lost in a shroud of darkness, that only pain and misery was the very thing she felt. There was only one thing invading her mind, telling her what she had to do. She had to kill the one that she considered was a heartless bastard from hell.

Pikachu sighed heavily. He had never seen anyone in so much emotional pain. He then walked up to a long-necked dinosaur with flower petals around her neck, which according to experts was the pokemon Meganium, her back turned from Pikachu.

"This is bad! Misty's not doing too well, Meganium." Pikachu said.

Meganium bent her long neck and so that she faced him. "I know, and Azumarill is doing no better." She said.

The long eared mouse had backed herself into a corner. Her eyes were half closed. She was lost in her own world of sadness, grief and anger. There was no telling when or if she would get over the loss of Golduck. There was only one conclusion to what her mind was telling her.

"She wants revenge. She only wants to kill Damien. You know that's not a good thing, Pikachu." Meganium said.

"I know, I want revenge as much as her. After what Damien did, the heartless bastard from hell doesn't deserve to live! He will pay for killing him! Golduck was like a brother to me, damn it!"

Meganium sighed in a rather sad way. "Pikachu…"

Misty interrupted Meganium when she accidentally knocked her down. Misty ran into her room, crying her eyes out.

"All I said was, 'He'll always be with you.'" Ash said.

Tracey sighed. "Misty won't even listen to the right things to hear." He said.

"This is bad. I fear that she will only feel better if she kills Damien." Brock said.

"But guys…" Ash began, but they were interrupted by someone ringing the doorbell.

"Ding Dong!"

"I'll get it!" Tracey said as he went to the door.

Tracey opened the door and saw a man in an all tan-brown outfit and hat with a clipboard in his hand. His hat and so that it was impossible to tell what he looked like shrouded his face.

"I've got two packages. One for a Misty Kasumi Williams Waterflower, and one for an Ash Aka Satoshi Red Ketchum." The mailman said as he read the two names on the clipboard.

Ever since Ash proposed to Misty, he had been living with her. Misty made sure that he had gotten done all the arrangements in order for his mail to come to her house. Ever since then, only those that didn't know he made the change in address were the one's who got their mail returned.

"Ash, it's for you!" Tracey said.

Ash went to the door and saw the mailman. "Package for you, sir." He said.

Ash signed his name on the dotted line, which was on the clipboard the man was holding. "Misty can't come to the door right now." He said.

"That's fine, just sign for her."

Ash signed the second line.

"Oh, there's also the ten credits shipping charge."

Ash sighed and took out his card that had a certain amount of credits on it and swiped it through the electronic slot on the clipboard.

"Payment approved." A female computerized voice said.

"Well," the mailman said as he handed two medium sized boxes to Ash. "They're all yours." The mailman then tipped his hat to him and waved goodbye. "Have a nice day." Ash closed the door.

"I wonder what it is." Ash said.

"Hmm, that's strange, no return address." Tracey said as he looked at the box.

Ash opened the one that was addressed to him. He was shocked by what he found. He was looking at a device that was as big as his head in circumference. It had six smaller circles that seemed to be dug into the white circle, each being a shade of light blue. They were big enough to fit a pokeball into it. From looking at it, Ash could tell what it was. He quickly jumped back in complete shock.

"That's the thing Damien used to launch his pokeballs into battle with Misty!" He said.

Brock then noticed something. "Hold on! There's a note attached."

As Brock removed it, it was shown that the device had a red colored launcher on top, and instead of one button like the one Ash saw, it had about ten different colored ones. Each one was probably used for a different command.

Brock read the note out loud:

Dear Mr. Ash Aka Satoshi Red Ketchum,

As it may have come to your attention and several others all of the members of the Elite were tragically killed. With this unfortunate event, Giovanni, Leader of the Viridian City Gym has requested a tournament to take place.

In about two weeks, on December 17, the tournament will begin. Four days prior to that, a ship from Viridian City will take you to your destination. The chosen region for the tournament to take place is the Orre Region. Which is one of the roughest places in the world. The only pokemon known around there are ones owned by pokemon trainers. No known pokemon have been known to survive in the harsh conditions.

As with the tournament, there shall be brand new rules to follow. First off, only those who wear the patented pendent Battle Wrist, which came in your package, can be the only ones you are allowed to battle. The one's that have been given the Battle Wrist are all of the trainers who have ever competed in an official Pokemon League Tournament that are still alive today and/or are an official Pokemon League Gym Leader.

Next, there are special rules to be followed when battling, all of which will determine the skill you hold in battle. They are as follows:

Species Clause: All pokemon in battle for your team must be different. In other words, your team can't have pokemon that are the same. (Ex. Two Golduck are not allowed, but a Golduck and a Psyduck is allowed.)

Sleep Clause: If one pokemon is asleep, no other pokemon can be put to sleep. The exception to this rule is using the move Rest. In other words, if one of the pokemon on your opponent's team is asleep due to a sleep-inducing move, no other pokemon on that team can be put to sleep by sleep-inducing moves. Failure to follow this rule will result in automatic defeat.

Sleep-Trap-Perish Clause: The strategy of using a trap move, then putting the opponent to sleep, then using Perish Song is forbidden. You can use any two of the three moves together, but you can't use all three. Also, using Baton Pass to pass moves like Mean Look to avoid the rule is forbidden. Failure to follow this rule will result in automatic defeat.

Read-KO Clause: There are moves that ensure a pokemon can automatically hit an opponent. Combining them with a One-Hit KO Attack is forbidden. Also, using Baton Pass to pass moves like Mind Reader is forbidden. Failure to follow this rule will result in automatic defeat.

Same time Rule: At anytime there is no pokemon on the field, the trainers must bring out their pokemon at the same time.

Item Ban: No items, including ones that can be held by a pokemon, allowed to be used during battle.

Amount Rule: Trainers agree on the number of pokemon that they are allowed to use during battle. Also, they get to choose how many pokemon get to be out on the field at the same time. You can have up to twelve pokemon to be chosen for battle.

Defeating Move Clause: If you are down to your last pokemon, you are forbidden to use the following moves: Perish Song, Explosion, Self-Destruct and Destiny Bond. Failure to follow this rule will result in automatic loss.

Also, only those who participate in the tournament are allowed to come. That means that no friends or family can come to the tournament. You will not be allowed to battle and will have to leave immediately if you do not follow this rule.

As a final rule, I am sad to say that it has come to our attention that you have a pokemon that is not registered to a pokeball. I am afraid that you are forbidden to use this pokemon during the tournament. The Battle Wrist can not register pokemon that are not registered to a pokeball. We are very sorry for this unfortunate thing, but it must be done. There are thieves among the trainers of the Orre Region, and they will snatch any pokemon that aren't registered inside pokeballs. Even Pokemon Nurses have been known in that region to steal any pokemon that is easy to get their hands on. So, for the pokemon's safety, you must either register it to a pokeball, or leave it behind.

Brock stopped reading the letter, and saw the shocked expression upon Ash's face. The tournament forbid him to use Pikachu and it was because the Battle Wrist was unable to register the little yellow rat. Ash couldn't believe it. He wasn't allowed to use Pikachu. Mixed feelings came to Ash. He was saddened by the sudden change in rules. How could he battle without Pikachu?

Pikachu heard everything. He couldn't believe what Brock had just said. A part of Pikachu believed him to be making it up, but then, why would Brock lie? He wouldn't. He was their best friend… the second human one they had made in their whole journey. Misty was the first. He was completely sure Ash would not go along with it.

Yet, there was a problem. It was Ash's dream to be a Pokemon Master. He often believed there was nothing that could stop him from fulfilling his destiny. Right at this moment though, something very strong was tugging at him. A deep feeling within told him to not participate. Something inside told him that if he joined, it would be a mistake.

Ash had never had this kind of feeling before. He was always anxious to better himself. Whenever a tournament came that would increase his skill, he'd go for it. He had competed in many tournaments, losing at most of them. Only time he backed down was Pokemon Contests. It wasn't that he felt that doing such things made you weak. In fact, he didn't think that at all about said contests. It was just that he didn't feel that those kinds of things were for him. Other than that, he had always competed in any possible competition that would increase his skill as a Pokemon Trainer. And now, for once, he was considering not going.

Pikachu went up to his master. Pikachu seemed to know what he was thinking. Though it was kind of obvious.

"You're not going to that tournament, are you Ash?" Pikachu asked.

Ash looked at Pikachu. The dark blue eyes that Pikachu held seemed to plead with him. It was as if they begged him not to go. It was difficult for Ash to make such a decision. There were times that Pikachu wasn't battling with him, but he was there for support. Now, he couldn't actually be there for support. Ash was about to make his decision, but Pikachu ran away before he could.

"Pikachu! Wait!" Ash said as he chased after the crying yellow rat.

Brock sighed and continued to read the letter, this time to himself, and only to his mind:

Your pokemon shall not be risked. The Battle Wrist makes the pokemon automatically leave the field by means of teleportation as soon as it's defeated. So the pokemon you hold will only receive any type of injury possible during a regular battle.

We hope for you to participate in the tournament and wish you the best of luck in becoming a new member of the Elite.

Sincerely,

The Pokemon Battle Tournament Board of Directors

Brock had finished reading the letter. Everything was legal on the letter. It even had the official Pokemon League symbol on it. It was an official letter from whatever was left of the Pokemon League. However, he didn't realize the hidden stuff on it that made it a complete forgery.

Outside, an individual was hiding in the evergreen bushes.

"Get ready, 'cause here comes Pikachu!" It said.

Ash chased after Pikachu. He ran along up the frosty grass hill. The signs of winter coming were amongst the area. Ash stopped to catch his breath at the top. His breath soon caught up with him. He then looked to see Pikachu. The yellow rat was sitting with his back against a bare tree. The state of the tree seemed to show that of the rat. What the tree looked like was as sad of a site as Pikachu was. The head of Pikachu was down so one could not see his face, but you could probably easily tell what it looked like. Sad, and almost dead of any other emotion!

Ash approached Pikachu. Pikachu looked up to see his master approach him and turned away from him. When Ash saw Pikachu look at him, he noticed the cheeks had signs of a clear liquid on them. Pikachu had been crying out his sorrow. Ash stopped when Pikachu turned away from him. He was very depressed to see one of his best friends depressed like this. In the simplest sense, one's depression seemed to cause the depression for another.

Suddenly, a familiar red gloved hand grabbed Pikachu and pulled him towards the nearby evergreen bush. It was bigger than most of the ones that had grabbed him before. It was so big that it had covered his entire body. The hand had pulled Pikachu into the bushes just as quickly as it had grabbed him.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried out with concern upon his face.

The giant hand drowned the pleas of Pikachu out. He cried out, but he was not heard. An all too familiar evil laugh rang through the air. A machine suddenly rose from the ground into the air. It soon reached its full height. If anyone could guess, it was about five hundred feet tall. It was hard to tell exactly what it was. Pieces of it were so jumbled up that it looked like it had a zero percent chance of working. Unfortunately, it was one hundred percent functional. Two humans came out of a hatch on top of the strange machine. It was hard to tell who they were because they were so high up. However, they chanted a familiar motto that made it easy to tell who they were.

"Prepare for trouble, this is your last fight!" A feminine voice rang out.

"Make it double, this time we'll get it right!" A male voice said.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evil's of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth!" Practically sang-yelled a familiar white cat. "That's right!"

A blue blob appeared, which it was male, from out of no where and gave a salute. "Buffet!" He said.

Another creature that looked like a blue ball and a rectangle tail, which seemed to float, appeared in front of the blue blob. "Chime!" It said.

One more creature appeared in front of them. It was female and seemed to be a human clown of some kind. "Mime!" She said.

"Team Rocket!" Ash yelled.

Pikachu was finally able to pop his head out of the top of the closed fist he was in. "Okay, after ten years, this has gotten very old, very predictable and very boring." He said.

It was none other than Jessie, James, Meowth and their pokemon of Team Rocket. It had been ten years and still hadn't gotten the message that they should give up on capturing Pikachu.

"Look! Let's just stick to the damn normal routine, okay?" Jessie asked.

Pikachu sighs and rolls his eyes. "Fine!" He said. "Take this!"

The power of the electricity element flowed through the tiny yellow mouse and released from the pink cheeks a bolt of electricity that hit the glove, but was suddenly shorted out.

Damn it! Electric proof again! I always fall for that! Pikachu thought angrily to himself. "Ash, help!" He cried.

The Meowth laughed. "Little Pikachu fell for it again!" He taunted.

"Ha! The little twerp winning this time will not happen!" James said.

"Especially when he's up against the power of our All-bot!" Jessie said.

"'All-bot?'" An unfamiliar voice said.

They looked down and saw someone new on the ground. His short black hair swayed slightly in the natural wind. His eyes behind his thick glasses focused heavily on the Team Rocket trio. In fact, the glasses were so thick that it was hard to tell what color his eyes were. He wore tan trousers and a black T-shirt with a dragon of some kind on his back. He seemed to be somewhere in the area of thirteen to sixteen years old. He drew a single pokeball from his belt and readied himself for battle.

"That's the worst name I've ever heard for one of your damn monstrous creations!" He spoke.

Team Rocket didn't know who this teen was, but he did hold a formality of some sort.

"For your information, it's one of the most ingenious names ever made!" Jessie fumed at the insult.

"Yeah!" James agreed.

"Wow me!" The teen said.

"How about this for genius, everything that the little twerp here has come up against, a piece from each one has been put together into this one fantastic robot." Jessie explained. "So, since it's basically all the robots combined into one, 'All-bot' is quite clever!"

The teen with glasses thought about it, and saw how clever it truly was. There was unnoticeable genius behind simplicity.

"Wow! That is genius! Still, I'd say that the look of your creation is rather atrocious." Such a comment from the glass-eyed teen got them very angry. "In fact, atrocious doesn't even describe just how ugly it is. It's making me sick just looking at your ugly monstrosity. Then again, since ugly or atrocious doesn't describe just how terrible looking it is…"

He got interrupted by Jessie yelling out at him, "Oh yeah? We'll show you, you bastard!" Jessie then turned her attention to her teammates. "Let's take care of him!"

"Right!" Her five teammates said.

They all went inside. The controls were very different from the other machines. Instead of where there was only up to four cockpits, this one had six. Each of the cockpits controlled a different part of the robot. It was human like, but it did have wings to make it soar into the air. However, they were all painted a different color to tell which parts whom commanded.

The left arm was painted a purplish-red color, which Jessie was in the power of. The right arm was painted a dark blue, which James took full direction of. Meowth got the pleasure of commanding the wings, which was obvious due to them being stained white. The left leg was black and ruled by the blue blob that was called a Wobbuffet. It was dyed black because that was the tint of his tail. The right leg was pigmented pink and governed by the clown known as Mr. Mime. It was shaded pink because that was the tone of his cheeks. Finally, the midsection, chest and head were all led by the wind-chime like pokemon, which was called a Chimecho. It was obvious, due to it being a light sky blue.

Each bar was treated the same tinge as which they had domination over to easily tell them apart. They were seated in the middle of the ill-favored robot. Jessie was seated in the back and on the far left. Meowth was in the back in the middle. James controlled the cockpit on the far right in the back. Then on the bottom, Wobbuffet controlled the far left. Mr. Mime controlled the far right, and Chimecho got the pleasure of controlling the middle. However, the controls on the cockpit Chimecho controlled were different. The controls in that box were made to work with his element of light.

"Let's take that little son of a bitch down!" Jessie fumed.

The glass-eyed teen just gave them a smirk. "You have no idea who you're dealing with!" He said. He then threw his pokeball out and unleashed his pokemon. "Gardevoir, I choose you!"

The pokemon that appeared was human like. The skin was white. It had green hair that curved naturally over its shoulders. It seemed to wear a dress, which almost looked like a wedding gown of some kind. However, that was part of the creature's main body. The top part of the dress like appendage was red at the top part, while the bottom was half white and half green, which hid the legs. Its arms were green and its red eyes focused with determination. Like all of this type of species, it looked feminine, but whether or not it was, was hard to tell. Only the trainer could tell you exactly what gender it was.

The Gardevoir looked up, and seeing that a little Pikachu was being practically held hostage, it narrowed its eyes.

"Uh-oh! You're in trouble now!" The Gardevoir trainer said.

"Oh, and why is that?" Meowth asked.

"Because, people that hold pokemon hostage make her mad."

They were a bit shocked by that for a few seconds, but then returned the gesture. "So she's a little mad, big deal!"

The glasses of the new teen seemed to flash light off as he gave a sinister look. "You don't know how mad she gets. In fact, mad doesn't even describe it. She actually gets pissed off. So pissed, I can't stop her until she's done. Luckily, she hasn't killed once in her life… yet!" He said the last part with a smile as sinister as his look.

Gardevoir, of her own free will, started charging the element of electricity within her. She then shot a bolt of lightning at the right shoulder of the giant robot.

"Ha!" The Meowth said. "You'll never beat us with that! This thing is one hundred percent electric proof!"

However, James seemed a little worried. "Uh, I think she just hit our weak spot!"

"Huh?" Meowth and Jessie said in unison.

Suddenly the hinge that connected the right arm exploded and it fell off. Unfortunately for them, having that happen made them lose their prize, and now they were one less Pikachu, as that was the arm that was holding the yellow rat.

Jessie, James and Meowth became shocked by what just happened.

"James! You were in charge of putting electric proof lining on this damn robot!" Jessie yelled at James.

"Well I ran out on the arms?" He asked, trying to come up with an excuse that was good enough to avoid punishment from his partners. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

"I'll show you 'ran out on the arms!'" Jessie and Meowth said as if out of one mouth.

Jessie produced a giant mallet from out of nowhere and Meowth readied his claws. They both started attacking poor James. James just cowardly ducked down into a fetal position and covered his head with his hands.

Meanwhile outside of the robot, the one's inside were oblivious that their robot would soon come to an end. Even after Pikachu was saved, Gardevoir was not finished yet. She then used her element of light on the arm that she just disconnected on the robot and made it levitate in the air. She then threw it at left arm. The arm was hit so hard, that it came loose very easily and disconnected from the robot, crashing down with a very loud boom on to the ground below. The crash was so out of tune, one could believe that it was broken into a million pieces. However, that would be a lie as it was still amazingly in one piece.

Back inside the two that were attacking James stopped their punishment almost immediately when the other arm was impacted. They then hear an out of tune crash. Jessie and Meowth looked outside to find the other arm detached and on the ground. Whilst James just casually walked back to his seat with multiple bruises, bumps, scratches and scars on his body, a few of which were bleeding, but not severely.

"Uh-oh! We lost the other arm!" Meowth said in worry.

"Well, we can still kick her butt!" Jessie said the word "kick" as if she was trying to make a bad pun.

They immediately went back to their seats and readied to attack. However, they never even got the chance to move the legs as Gardevoir made both arms levitate and hit both legs so hard that they broke apart almost instantly. One couldn't help but hear a roar come out of Gardevoir when she threw the arms.

Pikachu just sat there, staring at what Gardevoir was doing in awe. "Boy, I wouldn't want to get on her bad side." He said.

As Gardevoir continued to attack, one could guess she either had mental problems or really hated people holding others hostage so much that she had a sense to kill them. She then made one of the arms hover in the air as if it was a baseball bat. She even made the "arm-bat" swing like a real baseball bat, knocking off the head of the robot. The robot was now armless, leg-less and headless, but she was still not done with it.

She then used it once again like a baseball bat and broke the last of the robot in half, making the chest go flying through the air.

Team Rocket said their all too familiar line when they had lost and were flying through the air. "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" They soon vanished in the distance almost seeming to turn into a twinkling star as they disappeared from view.

Gardevoir was not finished quite yet. The midsection of the robot was all that was left and that was where the main core was. Gardevoir made the arm float in the air and so that the fist was aiming right at where she believed the main core to be. She then threw the arm down at the midsection and made the fist connect with the robot. Metal and metal met one another as the fist connected with the midsection. The fist broke through the metal, ripping it apart and hit the core dead center. The remainder of the robot exploded in a beautiful blaze of fire and smoke. Gardevoir calmed down. She was finished with it now, considering that if the robot was alive, there was no doubt it was dead.

The trainer of the Gardevoir ran up to his pokemon. "Good job, Gardevoir!" He said.

"Thank you, Master." She said.

Pikachu then ran up to Ash and they were reunited with a hug. Pikachu squeezed Ash's tender rib cage a bit too hard though, which made him wince in pain.

"Pikachu, I'm glad you're okay, but not so rough!" Ash begged. After the reunion, Ash turned to the stranger. "Hey, thanks for saving my Pikachu, but who are you?"

The teen with glasses turned to him. "Ash, I can't believe you don't recognize me!" He said.

Ash was still confused and could not place where he had seen the man.

The mysterious person with black hair sighed. "Then again, you were always dense. I believe Max would ring a bell." The teen introduced.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket had crashed several miles away on the hard ground. They amazingly ended up with no injuries, not even a tiny bump or bruise. Jessie had landed first, then Mr. Mime, then Wobbuffet, then James, then Meowth and finally Chimecho, all on top of one another. They once again failed to capture Pikachu and they knew that if they came back without him… well, they didn't want to think of that.

"I can't believe we lost again!" Jessie fumed, getting up with amazing strength and knocking all of her teammates off of her. "And it's all your fault!" She said, pointing at James.

"Me? How was it my fault?" He asked.

"It was you who forgot to put electric proof lining on the arms! If you did do that, this wouldn't have happened!"

"Hey, it was Meowth who said we should do that plan rather than the boss' plan!"

Very angry, Jessie punched Meowth and knocked him out. "Well this time we will use his plan, and this time, we won't fail!"

Meanwhile, Ash and Max had gotten reacquainted. Ever since his departure from the group, Max had been doing well on his own. He started out in the Hoenn Region with a green gecko pokemon called a Treecko, which was now a Sceptile. In all truth, his Gardevoir, which at the time was a Ralts, which said pokemon looked like a human child with so much green hair that it covered her eyes, wasn't his first pokemon, even though he promised something like that to her. However, Max explained to her that he was only officially a Pokemon Trainer if he already had a pokemon. It pretty much made since, and she forgave him. Along the journey, Max had gotten five more pokemon. However, there was one that he always kept a secret. One that he decided only to bring out into battle if he needed it. Only he knew of the secret pokemon, and no one else. Max had recently won the Hoenn Region finals in Ever Grande City. He was in Kanto now, taking on the Indigo Challenge. He had come to battle against Misty for the Cascade Badge.

They had returned to the Cerulean City Gym and were conversing with one another in the living room. They were sitting on a fine, light brown leather couch, which had a table that was made from a maple tree in front of it. The carpet was a light tan and the walls were white.

"So, you're here to battle Misty, huh?" Ash asked.

"Yep! With this victory, I'll earn my fourth badge." Max said happily.

Ash then went from a fake blithe mood to the true melancholy state he was in. "Well, Misty won't accept any matches."

"That's okay, I can wait until tomorrow."

"No, I mean, ever." He said "ever" so firmly that he meant it.

"Huh? Why? What's wrong?" He asked both confused and upset.

"Her Golduck was killed." He sadly told Max. "She hasn't gotten over it, and probably never will."

"Oh!" Max said in a rather sad tone. "I'm so sorry to hear that."

Ash let out a sigh. "Worst of all, she feels that the only way she'll feel better is if she kills the heartless bastard from hell that killed her Golduck."

Max understood that what Ash called Damien was of his and Misty's own free opinion. If he understood completely, he'd probably think the same thing. He probably only thought of him as a really bad person, and not a heartless bastard from hell like Ash had called him. Though if he knew him well, he'd probably think the same thing.

"But… that's not right." Max said.

"I know!" Ash said sadly. "As bad of a person as he is, the justice system should have to deal with him and not Misty. However, she won't listen to reason."

"Hey, where's Brock?" Max asked, finally noticing that Brock hadn't been seen since he arrived.

Ash wasn't sure himself, so he decided to ask. "Hey, Tracey?"

"Yeah?" Tracey called from the kitchen.

"Do you know where Brock went?"

"He said that he had to hurry back to Pewter City Gym to help his brother with his training. Oh, and to see if he got a package like yours."

This intrigued Max a bit. "What package?" He asked Ash.

Ash picked up the white device that was on the table near the couch they were sitting on.

"This!" He said as he showed it to Max. "It's called the Battle Wrist."

Max took the device and examined it. "Hmm, this is nothing like I've seen before." He said, rather amazed at mainly what it looked like.

"It's something that I have to wear for a tournament coming up." Ash then had a solemn look upon his face as he eyed Pikachu, who was deep into a conversation with Gardevoir. So deep, he couldn't hear them. "The only thing is, the rules forbid me to use any pokemon not registered in a pokeball. Which means, if I go, I can't use Pikachu. I can't even bring it with me."

"That's pretty unfair." Max said. "So, who's all competing?"

"The letter said that all Gym Leaders and those who have participated in an official Pokemon League Tournament get a Battle Wrist, which will be the only ones competing in the tournament."

This information suddenly hit Max at something. "Wait, that means I should be getting one too!"

"Hey, yeah! You competed in the Hoenn League, right?"

"Not only that, I won it!" He then sighed deeply. "However, I lost against Sidney Kagetsu, the first of the Hoenn Elite."

"Yeah, that was rather rough! I only won the Elite League Tournament due to a forfeit."

"From Maiden Sukiade, right?" He asked. He hadn't known the full story of the attack Damien did, only that the murderer of Golduck was the one that attacked.

"No, Maiden Sukiade was actually Damien Daisuke in disguise." He said with pure hatred.

"What?" He asked in surprise.

"Yeah, and I don't get it! He shouldn't have been able to pass the test that allows you to enter without having to earn badges. I remember taking that test. It was hard! He doesn't have the skill or the knowledge to enter any of the official Pokemon Leagues, so he shouldn't have been there."

Max decided to change the subject, as he anxiously wanted to get a Battle Wrist. "Anyways, I earned a Battle Wrist as well, right?"

"Yeah, you should've!"

"Hmm, I'll rush over to the Pokemon Center and see if one is there."

He got up and went to the nearby Pokemon Center to see if he was right.

Inside another room, the lights were dimmed, reflecting the emotion the occupant was currently in. Misty was on her bed. Her knees were bent and so that her legs were right up against her body. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her legs. Her chin was resting on top of her knees. Her sorrow filled eyes stared blankly forward, hardly interested in anything in the world.

There was no telling how long she was like that. Hours had past since she had run into her room. Hunger and thirst never seemed to reach her mind, even though her stomach was constantly begging to be fed. She seemed to either ignore or not hear her pains of hunger, and dehydration was very slowly killing her, so slowly, she didn't notice.

One thing was constantly on her mind. She constantly thought upon the pokemon that made the selfless sacrifice of his life to save her own. They say that you are supposed to look at the good times of the past you had to fell better in this situation. However, all the past brought to her was pain and sorrow.

Looking at past good memories didn't help. They offered nothing but pain to her. Some would say to forget about the pokemon and move on. What did they know? They probably never loved a pokemon like she did.

One thing was constantly aching on her heart. Her mind and heart were so set on one thing that her good will seemed trapped behind the evil thoughts inside her. She only wanted to do one thing now. She wanted to kill the one she saw as a heartless bastard from hell. She wanted to kill Damien.

The phone next to her bed rang. Ring! Ring! She was able to answer the phone without looking directly at it.

"Hello?" She asked in a fake cheerful voice.

"Hello, Misty. This is Giselle."

"Oh, hi Giselle!"

"Misty, I got back your test results…"

She listened to what the tests had confirmed. After that, more sorrow entered her, if that was possible. She hung up the phone without looking and sobbed into her knees. The news was that something was growing inside her, and worst of all, it was what she feared.

Max had arrived at the Pokemon Center in only a few short minutes. He looked around the room. The floor was so filled with humans and pokemon, that it was hard to tell what color the tiles were, but one could expect them to be blue. Several people leaned against the white wall of the center, resting themselves. He continued to look around. Several people were on the many couches in the center, conversing with friend, acquaintances, rivals and/or complete strangers.

As he continued to look around, someone called to him.

"Hey, you're Max Masato Maple, right?" A male voice asked.

He turned towards the voice and saw a man in a tan-brown outfit with a hat covering the eyes of his face. How he could see was beyond the understanding inside Max.

"Uh, yeah! I am!" He said.

"I've been waiting here for you. I've got a package for you!"

The strange man walked over to Max and handed him a brown package.

"Oh, thank you!" He said when he was given the brown box.

"Of course, there is the usual routine I have to go through with this." The deliveryman said as he held a clipboard in front of him.

Max understood and signed the piece of paper on the clipboard.

"Oh, and there is the five credits shipping charge."

Max sighed and slid his card with a certain number of credits on it through the slot on the clipboard.

"Payment approved!" A digital female voice said.

"Well, I got to get going!" The man said as he left the place. "I'd better earn one hell of a raise for all of this shit I had to go through!" He murmured to himself under his breath as he left.

Max didn't know what the man murmured under his breath nor did he care. He got the package he was pretty much hoping for. He was about to open it when someone called him.

"Max? I can't believe it!" A female voice said behind him.

He turned around and saw a rather beautiful woman he almost didn't recognize. Her brown hair went all the way down to her waist. Her eyes of blue were rather beautiful and seemed to just about hypnotize any man within a few feet of her. It was hard to believe, but her Double D size breasts were very natural and real, starting their development in a rather young age of her youth that almost seemed impossible. With just those few features, she could attract any man she pleased. She wore a red sleeveless shirt that showed off every curve in her body. She wore tight white shorts that showed off her bare legs from the middle of her upper thigh. Though there was one thing that gave her away and made it very clear who it was in front of Max. The one article of clothing that made it very clear was the red bandana she wore in her hair. It was very clear that this girl was his sister, May Hakura Maple.

"May? Wow! For a minute there, I almost didn't recognize you! If it wasn't for that bandana in your hair, I'd probably faint from your beauty right in front of you!" Max said, which made his sister blush of embarrassment. "What are you doing here?"

"Just passing through on my way to my next Pokemon Contest." She answered.

"Still going for those ribbons even after you won the Grand Festival, huh?"

"Yep, I sure am!"

It had been about five years since Max had last seen his sister, May. Since that time, May competed in many Pokemon Contests, and even won the Grand Festival three times in a row. Her team of pokemon hadn't changed much since the time she last saw Max. Nearly all of them were fully evolved now. She loved being a Pokemon Coordinator probably a bit too much. However, others could tell you that there was a certain green-haired male rival she loved more. She just couldn't find the way to tell him.

Both of them talked for the rest of the day. With it being five years, they had so much to catch up on, and besides that, it was probably best for them to be alone to talk.

She had to hurry though. May's next contest was only a few days away and she had to leave almost immediately after they were done conversing with one another. She asked Max to say "Hi" for her to the rest of her friends. Max promised he would.

After she said goodbye, Max had remembered the package he got. He immediately opened the package and tried on the new Battle Wrist that was officially his. Thanks to the adjustable strap made of Velcro, it was easy to make it a perfect fit. All that was left now was for him to test it out.

It was night and most individuals were asleep by now, but three had a mission to complete, and would not rest until it was finished. James was holding the small box firmly in his hand. Inside was whatever device it was their boss gave them. They decided to not open it until they were ready to use it.

Jessie had a crowbar ready in her hand. They were going to need it to pry open locks on doors and windows.

They were quietly sneaking up towards a building they knew their prey was at. They made sure they were, to borrow a phrase, quieter than a mouse and sneakier than a cat, though one could practically qualify as a cat. They soon arrived at the building and peered inside through the window. There he was, Pikachu, fast asleep and very deep into dreamland.

They grinned. It was almost too easy. However, they weren't going fail their boss this time. It was their last chance. This time, there were to be no mistakes.

James opened the box. They looked upon the item inside, and were rather surprised. The item inside was nothing more than a simple pokeball, though it was colored black and had a red "R" on it. The only difference from the one Giovanni held was that it had two purple bumps on it. They were curious as to how it would help them get Pikachu. They decided to throw it at Pikachu just like any other normal wild pokemon.

Jessie stepped up to the window and was about to pry it open when someone appeared right next to them. The trio froze and looked upon the entity that had been fortunate enough to see them. It was the Gardevoir owned by Max. She looked at them and put on a wicked smile.

"Never learn, do you?" She asked.

She didn't let them answer. The power of light flowed through her body and almost immediately her body was surrounded by a blue aura. The same blue aura surrounded Team Rocket and they suddenly started floating in the air. Gardevoir did nothing more. She just let them float there.

"Talk! I want answers! Why Ash's Pikachu? You could go after any other Pikachu in the damn Viridian Forest nearby!"

"And if we refuse?" Meowth asked.

"Oh, I have ways of making you talk! Especially when I have ways of making you literally spill your guts!" She lied about making them literally spilling their guts. She just knew crafty ways to make someone talk.

This pretty much shocked them and got them talking.

"It's our boss who wants it!" Jessie confessed.

"Why does he want him? What's so special about this Pikachu?" Gardevoir demanded.

"Are you kidding? That Pikachu is no ordinary Pikachu! His power would make a Raikou envious!" Meowth said, referring to a legendary beast with the element of electricity that resembled a tiger.

"Really?"

"Yeah!" James confirmed.

"What about this?" She held up a Battle Wrist that she was secretly borrowing from Max. "I find it too much of a coincidence that someone like Damien would have one with him being so weak and all." She overheard the conversation between Ash and Max, which explained how she knew about Damien.

"We don't know anything about that!" James said.

"Well, it's been nice doing business with you!" Gardevoir said. She then threw them off into the horizon.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" The all said as they disappeared in the distance.

Team Rocket went flying through the air. They soon landed on the ground. However, something was different. One of them was missing. It was Meowth.

"Where's Meowth?" Jessie asked.

James noticed that he was missing as well and started looking around. Jessie joined him. They then heard something above them and looked up to see Meowth flying through the air screaming. They didn't understand why he still hadn't landed yet, but they guessed it was because he was lighter then them.

James then saw something that made him completely horror-struck. The ball, which had been given to them, had been shattered into millions of pieces of metal and wire. The ball had hit a very hard rock and shattered upon impact. The metal frame around the ball had broken as easily as glass. Only the wires inside seemed to stay intact, but it was now completely useless. Jessie saw the state of the ball and was just as shocked as James.

"Oh no! The boss is going to kill us! We are so dead!" James whined.

"How right you are!" A male voice said behind them.

Jessie and James shook in fear. They turned around and saw a figure cloaked in the shadows. He walked closer to them. Moonlight then shone upon the figure as he got closer to reveal who he was. It was Damien Daisuke.

"Well, right about the dead part anyway." He corrected himself. "The boss won't be too thrilled once he gets news of how you not only failed, but that you also destroyed his most prized creation, the Dark Master Ball!"

"The… the Dark Master Ball?" Jessie asked, a little confused.

"You've heard of the Master Ball, right? The one pokeball that guarantees you capture a pokemon without failure?" He asked. Jessie and James only nodded. "Well, the Dark Master Ball is like that, only whatever it captures is guaranteed to follow your every command without a second thought. The boss was planning on using it on Ash's Pikachu to gain the control he lost eleven years ago, but you ruined his plans for that!" He then took out a pistol and pointed it at the duo. "And he fires anyone for that, and now for what happens to those who get fired from Team Rocket!"

Damien pulled the trigger, and from the gun a bullet whizzed through the air. The bullet struck James in the chest. The bullet pierced through the skin, punctured through his blood vessels, detaching those connected to the heart, severing a lung as it continued and bursting through the other side, spraying sanguine fluid in all directions as it did it's evil damage. James felt the extreme pain and collapsed to the ground.

A small, almost inaudible whisper seemed to escape his mouth. "Jessie, I love you!" After which, he let death take him.

Blood was slowly soaking the ground from James' corpse. Jessie looked at James' body horrified. There was a feeling deep within her for the blue haired individual. Was it compassion? Maybe it was friendship? Perhaps it was anger? Possibly hate was what she was feeling? No! It was nothing more than simple feeling of love.

The true revelation within her that she loved him and he had died hit her like a thousand knives. She bent down to her dead beloved.

"No! James! No! Wake up, you idiot!" Jessie slapped him out of what seemed to be anger, trying to wake him. Her slap was so hard, the force had a high possibility of breaking his neck, but he was already dead. "No! James! No!" She sobbed into James, but she didn't care that the vital fluid of life was ruining her beautiful face.

"How touching! Not!" Damien said and pulled the trigger, making Jessie meet the same fate as the one she loved.

It was late within the night, possibly early morning. Misty had destroyed her alarm clock out of anger long ago, so it was unknown to her what time it was. She didn't care what time it was, or how late she was up. Sleep didn't seem to come.

She had multiple sleepless nights like this. Nothing more than pain, sorrow and darkness surrounded her. However, things were a lot worse now. Not only had she lost the one pokemon she loved most, but also now something that ruined her life forever was growing inside her.

She just wanted all the pain to disappear and leave her. She wanted everything back to the way it was before that special night happened. The tests, they were perfect. No mistakes could be made. Everything was perfect in her life, and in a few weeks, it was destroyed.

She knew one thing that would make her feel better, killing Damien. The constant idea of her feeling his warm blood flowing through her hands played in her mind repeatedly. Stabbing a rusty knife into his cold heart would feel like heaven to Misty. Pulling out his heart and showing everyone how much of a heartless bastard from hell he truly was would be like a thrilling theme park ride that you couldn't get enough of to her. In a simple sense, she wanted Damien dead, and she knew she would enjoy it.

A bright flash within the room she was currently in interrupted Misty's thoughts. The light was so bright that Misty had to cover her eyes to not lose her vision. An entity stood in front of Misty. The brilliant light was still there, but it was dimmed so she could see who was standing before her. The beauty the creature held seemed to defy all description. However, she still recognized who it was. It was her Golduck!

Overwhelmed with disbelief and joy, Misty rushed up to hug him, but only to have her arms meet one another as she attempted to do so. She immediately stepped away from him, both shocked and confused.

"Misty," her Golduck said, "I know how much you miss me, but I don't want you to constantly cry over losing me. The Misty I know would never do that. She also would not plot revenge like you are."

"But Golduck, he murdered you?" Misty reasoned.

"And you think I have any regrets for getting in the way of that attack? I don't! If I were to be given the choice to go back in time and relive that moment, I would not change the choice I made. I once again would've jumped in the way of the attack and sacrifice my own life for yours. I'd do it again, because I love you!"

Misty couldn't help but give a sad sniff at this. "I love you too, Golduck!"

"And Misty, I know what you want to do to the one who murdered me, but you are not the one meant to do that. He will pay the price of death for his actions, but it will not be by your hands. You will only meet the same fate as me if you take on Damien. It would not be worth it. All of your pokemon will meet the same fate if you take him on. You would be fighting a battle you could not win."

"Then, who will kill him?"

"I cannot say, nor can I hint who it's going to be. Just know, your hurt will be gone once Damien is dead."

Misty felt a bit better knowing this, but she was still hurt.

"Also, I know what you are planning with the thing inside you, but I tell you now to not do so. What you will soon receive is a wonderful thing. True, it will change your life forever, but you are looking at it all the wrong way. As you know, I had one too, and it was the greatest thing to ever have in my life. I wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world. You shouldn't either!"

"But, are you sure Ash will accept this? I don't want his dream ruined because of a mistake we made."

Golduck couldn't help but chuckle at her statement. "You really think what you're going to have is a mistake? You really think that the love you felt for him was a mistake?" Misty only nodded. Golduck shook his head in sympathy. "Oh, how blind you are." He was now speaking in wisdom that he never had in life. "How misunderstood you have made everything. I believe one day you will understand. You will see that this precious gift you will receive is the greatest thing in the entire world. They are so innocent, so precious and so welcoming, that's it's hard to believe anyone could ever hate such a thing. Just tell him when you believe the time is right. You'll know in your heart when the time is right."

Misty had tears of joy streaming down her eyes. Such words coming from the pokemon she loved most made her feel so much better. She gave him a slight nod. "Thank you, Golduck!"

"I must leave now, Misty. Goodbye! And always remember what I have taught you!" Then, in the same bright light he had appeared, he vanished, returning to the world of the afterlife.

Misty sat there for a few minutes, reflecting on all that Golduck had told her. She felt so much better now that she couldn't believe how much in a state of depression she was in. Suddenly, sleep finally overtook her after so many restless nights. She collapsed on the bed and slipped into dreamland.

Charles Tamaranze Kaichou Goodshow quickly trudged through the area. A member of Team Rocket was running behind him, firing bullets at him, which had rather bad aim and was hitting everything but Charles Goodshow. The Team Rocket agent soon ran out of bullets. He cursed himself and took out a sharp knife, continuing to chase Charles.

He was able to escape Team Rocket Headquarters, but not long after, he was caught by one of their spies in the woods, which was now chasing him and trying to kill him. For an old man in his sixties or seventies, Charles was remarkably fast. In fact, the physically fit Team Rocket agent behind him could barely keep up. How Charles was so fast was unknown. However, it mattered little as his life depended on him reaching his destination.

Ash was asleep, resting on Misty's couch. He had been contemplating for some time whether or not to enter the tournament. So much thinking about a decision though tired him out and he decided to simply sleep on it, hoping his choice would come to him in the morning.

Pikachu was sleeping soundly on top of Ash's stomach. Pikachu had a rather rough day. Ash was actually considering the choice of going to the new tournament without him. Yet, the bond they shared was so strong, one would think that they were one being spilt into two entities. Pikachu wanted to shock Ash nearly to death for thinking of not going with him, but Pikachu was too kind-hearted to do something like that over something as simple as a harmless choice. He knew one thing in his heart, and that it was Ash's choice, not his.

Suddenly, there was not a knocking, but a pounding on the door. By the rapid knock, it sounded like someone desperately wanted in. Pikachu was awoken by the sound of the pounding and started yelling at Ash, trying to wake him. Ash groggily got up, and rather tired, as he still hadn't gotten enough sleep yet, he walked to the door.

"Okay, I'm coming, hang on!" He said rather tiredly.

As soon as he started unlocking the door, the knocking had stopped. He opened the door and was fully awoken by the inner shock he had received. Charles Goodshow was standing in front of him, but almost a second later he collapsed forward. Ash grabbed him and saw that a knife was sticking out of his back. The back had been stabbed right where the heart would be.

Ash looked up ahead to see who was responsible for this act of murder, and saw a black clothed individual running into the forest. He was too far away. Ash would never catch him.

Suddenly, Ash felt movement on him and heard something. He looked down and saw that Charles was still alive, but barely. The old man was fighting death. He wasn't about to let the enemy take him without telling Ash what he needed to.

"Ash… you must… stop Team… Rocket… they control… the tournament!" Those were his final words in life. For as soon as Charles finished, he died.

Ash had heard him, and now thanks to what Charles had said, he had made up his mind. He was entering the tournament.

His choice was really of what was official Pokemon League Master business. With the Elite dead, he was officially Pokemon Master. Though he didn't really think he deserved the title as he had won it by a forfeit. Still, thanks to all this, he now had no choice but to enter the tournament… without Pikachu.

The day soon came when Ash had to leave for the tournament. He had little choice but to enter now, and thanks to the enemy's rules, he couldn't bring Pikachu. He was saying goodbye to his best buddy, Pikachu.

They were on the same grassy hill where Pikachu was nearly kidnapped by Jessie and James. The signs of winter coming were still about. The tree was bare and the grass was covered with frost. Chances were that he would see snow on the ground by the time he returned. He bent down, and started saying goodbye to Pikachu.

"I guess this is goodbye!" Ash said, giving a fake smile.

Pikachu knew Ash was only faking it, trying to keep him from missing him too much. "Ash, I don't want you to leave!" Pikachu admitted.

"Pikachu, you know I have little choice on this. I don't want to do it, but I have to!"

"Then take me with you, Ash!" Tears of sorrow were streaming down his face as he begged.

"Pikachu, I can't enter you into the tournament, and because of that, I can't take you with me."

"But Ash…"

Ash silenced him by putting a finger on his lips. "It'll be okay, Pikachu! I'll return! I promise!"

Pikachu jumped towards him and Ash caught him. They embraced eachother in a hug of goodbye. What choice did Ash have? It was either having the world fall into darkness at the hands of Team Rocket or enter and hope to stop them.

"Goodbye, Ash! I'll miss you!" Pikachu finally said, though those words seemed to be the hardest ones to say in his life.

"I'll miss you too, Pikachu!"

Ash kissed Pikachu on top of his head and set Pikachu down on the ground. Ash then left, without another word.

Pikachu had never received a kiss from Ash before. They say that a kiss from your trainer is something special. It was true. Pikachu would forever treasure it.

Sadly, he didn't get long to treasure it as suddenly, from the bush nearby, someone grabbed him and pulled him away. Pikachu tried to scream, but his mouth was covered before he could shout. He tried to shock the individual, but it was wearing a suit of rubber.

Pikachu was kidnapped, and Ash would most likely never know it.

Giovanni was in his office, petting his Persian. He had just received the call that Jessie and James had failed and had been properly punished by fate of death. He knew they would fail and would not succeed. He couldn't be happier with getting rid of them. To him, they were nothing more than a waste of money.

He then heard his phone ring. He answered it.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Sir, the final dragon pokemon you requested has been put through the Shadow process. It's a success. All three legendary dragons are officially yours!" The voice on the other side said.

"Perfect! Bring it to me immediately!" He then hung up the phone.

As he waited, his cell phone suddenly rang. He answered it.

"Yes?"

"Sir! The boy's Pikachu… we've captured it!"

"Excellent! I'll be there in a few hours!" He then hung up!

"Well, Ash, I have finally caught your secret weapon! Your Pikachu is mine!" He let out an evil laugh once he finished the sentence.

Things were only going to get worse from here. By leaving Pikachu behind, Ash has made the biggest mistake ever, and he would never know it.

---End Chapter 3---
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Well, hope you liked that. Please review.