Okay, I need to a take a poll, in your next review tell me who do you think will say or kiss first; Ash or Misty? When will they do it? How will they do it? Spontaneously, nervously, shyly, slowly, quickly? I'm stuck on that, it's bothering me! ! Just let me know your view, thanks! BTW; that is about the hardest aspects in an AAML fic, if you were wondering, because it's so hard to picture it… BUT STILL POSSIBLE :D!

Now…

To My beloveds:

gilmaxter – Er, yeah, "dude" lol. Thanks for liking it J…

fincache – I like your name, what is it made up of? (Like, how did you invent it; I might need it for my fic!)

AshK – Look forward to it; answer my survey!

petites sorcieres - thank you so much for your review, I will keep your idea in mind ;). Please answer my survey!

sharpiequeen666 – Thanks!

…/\/\...

Chapter 8 – The Explosion

"So you're the culprit!"

Misty turned slowly and laughed nervously up at a very distressed-looking chef and two angry police officers, "hehe."

"You're coming with us young lady!" The two policemen grabbed her wrists and pulled her into the kitchen.

"Hey let me go!" Misty cried loudly, wringing herself away from their grasp and running inside, Azurill right on her heels.

----aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa------

"Misty!" Ash wanted to stand and get to her but Latias' grip on him was too strong, "Why won't you let me go help Misty!"

"La!" Latias pleaded, "La, la!"

"Pika?" Pikachu began speak to Latias, "Pikachu!"

"La!"

Ash just stood there, scratching his head, "Umm…"

"Pika!" Pikachu stood solemnly and nodded, pulling Ash and Latias back into the clearing.

"Pokemon are so strange sometimes," Ash joked and watched a deep discussion between Latias and Pikachu.

Some people were starting to stare and watch the girl converse with a Pikachu. The Pokemon noticed this and quickly stopped.

"Hey," a four-year-old came over and pointed at Pikachu, "was Pikachu just talking to that girl?"

"Umm," Ash quickly grabbed Pikachu and hid Latias behind his back, "of course not; kid!"

"Are you suuuuuure?" the blond girl continued staring at Pikachu suspiciously and circled Ash and Latias, "Sissy!"

A teenager suddenly jumped out of the crowd and grabbed the child's pale arm, "Kimmy, what are you doing? I told you to stay with me at all times!"

The girl pouted and pointed at Latias, "That girl was talking to Pikachu in Pokemon language!"

"Oh Kimmy," the brunette teen rolled her eyes and picked up the small child, "stop thinking that weird stuff, you know that's not possible!"

Ash continued watching the two and coughed nervously to get their attention, "Hi, er, I'm, um, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town…"

"Oh sorry," the brunette turned and shook his hand avidly, "Lily, Lily Cove…"

"Lilycove?" Ash looked puzzled, "I thought that was a town…"

"No, not that…" Lily laughed, "silly, I am from Lilycove, my family are the originators of Lilycove and I'm named after my great grandmother."

"Oh," Ash pointed toward Latias, "this is Bianca."

Latias just smiled at her and stuck out her hand unsurely, gripping Lily's hand, not seeming to let go. Ash watched the stern smiling Latias grip Lily's hand tighter and let go reluctantly.

"Okay…" Lily aided her red hand and gestured to the child, "this is Kimmy, sorry, she's a little… weird."

"That's okay," Ash bent down to Kimmy and smiled, "Hi Kimmy, I'm Ash!"

"Hi," Kimmy glared at him, "that girl was still talking to Pikachu and I know it."

"Funny," Ash smirked and looked at Lily, "are you competing in the Hoenn League?"

"Actually!" Lily took out a sheet of paper with her picture and registration, "I am! I suspect you are too!"

"Yeah, I sure am!" Ash winked at Pikachu, "I am definitely winning this one!"

Lily laughed and picked up Kimmy once more, "Cool, so I'll see you at the opening ceremony then?"

"That would be great." Ash and Lily shared a smile.

"See you Ash, Pikachu… Bianca," Lily disappeared.

"Pika?" Pikachu watched Ash continue to stare after Lily and tugged on his sleeve.

"Huh?" Ash shook his head and said, "Alright, let's head back to the Pokemon Center, I'm sure I'll see Professor Oak some other time!"

"Pika!" Pikachu and Ash began heading back and then turned, "Latias, you coming?"

"La," Latias murmured, glaring at the spot where Lily had been.

Not another one.

----aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa----

Misty continued running through the hotel, knocking down guests and workers until se knocked into someone; hard.

"Oi, watch where you're going!" Misty looked up and brightened, "Professor!"

"Misty," Professor Oak looked down at her, holding a newspaper, "What are you up to?"

"Oh professor, you see I just—" Misty began.

"Hold it right there young lady!" the two police officers appeared with Jenny and stood before Misty with her hands on her hips, "you're in big trouble!"

"What's going on?" Tracey, Richie, and Georgio appeared and watched the scene.

"Yes, what is the meaning of this?" the professor helped Misty up and looked at her the officers, "What do you want with Misty?"

"This girl, had messed up the kitchen, sneaked out, and caused nothing but chaos!" The chef appeared very distraught and pointed his wooden spoon at Misty offensively, "get her out of here!"

"Misty—is this true?" Professor Oak looked very surprised.

"I just, I…" Misty was at loss of words, "I just… Oh, I wanted to see Ash!"

"Ash? Ash is here?" Oak smiled and shook his head, laughing, "it's alright Officer Jenny, this won't happen again… Come with me Misty!"

Misty shrugged and the two left without another word, leaving the police very confused.

----aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa----

Ash reached the Pokemon Center just as the sky began turning purple. The sunset was absolutely beautiful and they entered tiredly. May and Max were sitting on the couches waiting expectantly.

"Where have you been Ash?" May ran to him hurriedly with Max on her heels, "Getting in trouble again?"

"NO!" Ash folded his arms and stopped in front of them, "I was looking for Professor Oak!"

"Really?" May put her hands on her hips, "Well, what happened?"

"Well, I found Misty," Ash looked at Brock, "Why didn't you tell me she was here?"

"Well, first of all, you never asked," Brock smiled, "and second, I wanted to but you ran away too quickly!"

"So what happened with Misty?" Max asked happily, "I see she's not with you?"

By now Latias was standing next to Ash and catching her breath, "La!"

"Well, we tried to sneak into the hotel—" Ash squeezed his eyes closed as May and Max began to yell about his troublesome self, "—and we knocked into Misty, then when someone came out, Latias saved me I guess…"

"La," Latias smiled and blushed.

"Well, that's good," Brock nodded, "what happened to Misty?"

"Well, er, she ran into the hotel, so I don't know what happened," Ash scratched his head, "I guess she'll be okay, if the professor is with her…"

The gang agreed and helped Ash get comfortable in their room.

-aaaaaaaa-

"Come over here Misty…" Professor Oak led her to his hotel room and showed her around, "I know, this isn't like yours or the other's room but it's my special researcher's room…"

Misty stared in awe at the spacious and brilliantly decorated room. It was like a luxurious apartment. The walls were a velvet red hue, as was the carpeted floor and the flat screen television was pinned to the wall before the king-sized bed with equally red velvet coverings. He led her across the threshold and into another room that seemed extremely high-tech. There were buzzing and beeping sounds everywhere and metal computers and compartments made up the technological room.

"It's just like my lab was brought here with me," the professor joked and sat Misty down on a blue swivel chair next to a black one where he took a seat, "I got you out of some real trouble Misty, and I had to lie…"

"So this has nothing to do with Ash?" Misty asked strangely, it wasn't like the professor to resort to lying.

"Not exactly," he clicked away on the computer, his eyes not leaving the screen, "Misty, I know what you saw."

"Saw where?" Misty stared puzzled.

"The creature," Professor Oak massaged his eyes and turned to her, "this has to do with Ash but I'm not sure exactly how…"

"What creature, and when?" Misty had completely forgotten.

"The one we saw when we were on the Hoenn Copter," Oak reminded her and Misty's mouth formed in an 'o'.

"So why did you pull me away from Officer Jenny," Misty continued looking puzzled.

"I well, because you reminded me of what I needed to tell you," Oak laughed then became serious, "I think you need to know the whole story. When Ash started his journey, he saw a very rare Pokemon. It was unknown to us until later. When Ash continued seeing it throughout his journey… And I think that's what we saw…"

"A Pokemon?" Misty crossed her arms, "So what? We've seen plenty of legendary Pokemon before… It's just another Lugia right?"

"Not," the professor bit his lip, "exactly."

Misty scratched her head, "What's wrong professor?"

"Well, Ho-oh," the professor scanned the computer and showed Misty photos of the large bird, "It's a strange Pokemon."

"Yeah, legendary," Misty tried to understand.

"No, I mean, it has different… features, you could say." The professor continued explained, "even though it has not been recorded or passed as truth, many have theorized problems with Ho-oh's evolutionary paths."

"Evolutionary paths?" Misty squinted at the pictures.

"Yes, it well, it is believed that Ho-ohs have turned into—" The professor was cut off.

"Professor," Tracey burst in, "come quickly!"

"What is it Tracey?" Oak stood and exited out fo the pictures he was showing Misty.

"Something happened," Tracey tried to catch his breath, "At the Pokemon Center!"

I'll be right there," Tracey disappeared and Oak turned to Misty, "We'll talk about this later."

Misty nodded and watched the professor disappear. She stood there until se remembered.

"Wait, I'm coming with you!"

-aaaaa-

"Ahh," Ash sighed and fell back into his bunk bed, satisfied, "this is much better than the last Pokemon Center!"

"Pika," Pikachu nuzzled his trainer, "Cha!"

"Ash!" May appeared at the door, "come downstairs, we're supposed to go eat!"

"Oh, I almost forgot, give me a few minutes," May disappeared and in her place stood Latias.

"Hey Latias," Ash stood to greet her, "any news from Ho-oh?"

Latias shook her head and turned to Pikachu, "La, Latias, la!"

"Pika?" Pikachu turned to Ash, "Pika, pi, pi, pi!"

"Oh," Ash understood his best friend, "You haven't been able to contact Ho-oh?"

"Its fine, I'm sure we'll have time to talk to him and help him," Ash smiled and put his hand on her shoulder in a friendly gesture.

Latias smiled at him and Pikachu jumped on her shoulder happily, "Pika!"

"Hey guys," Max and Brock appeared at the door, "May is waiting for you to come and eat!"

They grabbed Ash, Latias, and Pikachu's hands and pulled them out the door.

"Waa!" Ash yelled as he was shoved out the door and down the stairs.

-aaaaa-

When they reached the dining room, May already had the food set up and looked rather grumpy.

"I'm hungry," she moaned, "hurry up!"

"C'mon May," Ash started, then shut up as his stomach growled loudly, "Oh, nevermind, let's eat!"

"Yeah," Max and Brock agreed and Latias began stepped back and disappeared before anyone noticed.

"Bon appetite!" they exclaimed happily.

Suddenly, there was an explosion and the group went flying out of their seats.

-aaaaa-

"So what happened?" Misty caught up with Tracey and the professor, shortly followed by Georgio and Richie.

"My dad says there was an explosion at the Pokemon Center," Georgio said matter-of-factly, "We don't know the details-it just happened!"

"Where is your father anyway," Oak asked, huffing and puffing.

"He and Officer Jenny took the motorcycle and are probably already there," Georgio jogged and looked exhausted.

"Over there," Richie pointed at the building with smoke protruding from a large section on the right in a giant cloud.

"Whoa," Misty worried about the people inside and suddenly remembered, "I've forgotten Azurill!"

"That's okay, Misty," Richie reassured, "I'm sure she's safe in Professor Oak's room."

"Yeah," Misty frowned unsurely and looked back at the hotel worriedly, then continued toward the Pokemon Center.

-aaaaa-

A young girl with red hair smiled and approached the sleeping Azurill on the professor's large bed. She hummed softly and took Azurill in her arms.

Azurill awake and cuddled in her supposed trainer's arms, "Azu!"

Then it smelled the girl's scent and exclaimed loudly, before being taken out of the hotel and behind a dark, unknown alley.

-aaaaa-

This is brilliant, the giant Pokemon chuckled, those fools that call themselves criminals are wasting their time… This is a wonderful new plan.

The human-Pokemon smiled and nodded, handing the other an unconscious blue Pokemon.

This is much, much better, the bird looked up to see smoke rising up from the other end of the city, is he telling anyone?

The other Pokemon looked down and stared around unsurely.

You don't know, the Pokemon growled angrily, I knew it was too easy to be true… Stop him, by any means necessary.

-aaaaa-

"Pika," Pikachu shook the unconscious Ash, "pika…"

"Pikachu," May called and coughed loudly, crawling through the dust and debris, "where's Ash?"

Pikachu led her to him and she shook Ash and checked his pulse, "He's just knocked out, where's Brock and Max?"

She continued dragging herself around the rubble and saw cracked glasses through the smoke.

"Max!" She sprinted to her little brother and took him in her arms, "Oh, Max!"

The little boy chocked and opened his eyes slowly, "May? What happened?"

"I don't know," May said defeated.

There was an evil laugh and three figures appeared through the smoke.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

"You guys?" May stood on her shaky legs, "How could you do something like this? You could have killed someone!"

"To protect the world from devastation!" they ignored her.

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"Shut up!" Max screamed loudly and threw a rock at Team Rocket.

"Hey!" Jessie rubbed her head and threw a rock back at them.

Max and May dodged it.

"Now, since you don't wan to listen to our motto, you'll have to face the consequences," Jessie and James threw out Pokeballs, "Seviper/Cecnea!"

"Meowth that's right!" the third figure grinned evilly.

May and Max screamed and held each other tightly, preparing for the attack.