"Squirtle!" Ryan called out into the forest.

"Squirtle? Where are you?" Eevee cried out as she walked next to Ryan and Umbreon.

"Where could Squirtle have gone?" Umbreon thought.

Ryan, Eevee and Umbreon searched around the forest near Arrowroot for approximately fifteen minutes. The night sky made itself prominent with a more complete, shining moon. The group was on a forest path marked with a dusty trail and lines of bushes.

"Boy, it's getting dark... I hope Squirtle's alright." Ryan thought aloud.

"Yeah." Eevee and Umbreon both nodded in agreement. Ryan combed through some bushes with no luck.

"Let's search over th-"

"Hey!"

Ryan jumped in surprise and fell on his backside, knocking Eevee off of his shoulder.

"Ow..." Eevee got up from the ground. "What's going on Ryan?" Eevee looked at Ryan with a wondering look.

"What's up with Ryan?" Umbreon asked Eevee.

"I don't know brother! He jumped suddenly, like he was surprised by something..." Eevee explained.

"Professor Maple?" Ryan suddenly said.

"What?" Eevee and Umbreon looked around. There was no sign of Professor Maple. Was Ryan going nuts?

"Wait, listen carefully..." Umbreon's ears twitched, almost like an adjusting antenna.

"I hear Professor Maple... coming from Ryan's ear?" Umbreon said surprisingly.

"What? Let me go see!" Eevee ran up to Ryan and jumped onto his shoulder.

"Oh! Sorry Eevee! Professor Maple called on the earpiece." Ryan pointed to the earpiece in his right ear. "See?"

"Oh!" Eevee nodded. She turned to her brother behind her, on the ground.

"How does that thing work?" Eevee asked.

"I don't know- humans make the weirdest things..." Umbreon commented.

"Uh huh. Okay. Yeah, no luck yet." Ryan answered to Professor Maple.

"What's Ryan talking about?" Eevee asked Umbreon.

"Professor Maple asked if we found Squirtle yet..." Umbreon's thoughts threatened to wander to his friend's whereabouts when a juicy bit of information came up.

"What? The human translations were stolen?" Umbreon commented.

"What? Espeon's following him? Okay..." Ryan said into the earpiece.

"Are we still looking for Squirtle, brother?" Eevee asked.

"I don't know, but we need to get those translations back for the sake of pokemon across the world... We can't let a human control Arceus..." Umbreon commented, wondering where the name Arceus came from.

"Arceus?" Umbreon thought.

"Wait, who's Arceus? But... you might be right." Eevee reluctantly agreed. She wanted to find Squirtle, but this sounded more important.

"Don't scratch those translations? Got it. I'll call back- the button? Okay. Bye." Ryan clicked the button on the earpiece and turned to Umbreon.

"We got a problem- the translations were stolen by a thief! We gotta get 'em back, right?" Ryan said to Umbreon, who nodded in response.

"Professor Maple told me his Espeon is still chasing the thief. We should probably find Espeon, right?" Eevee and Umbreon both nodded.

"Okay, let's hurry before the thief gets away!" Ryan, with Eevee on his shoulder, and Umbreon picked their pace up and started running through the forest with two objectives in mind.

"Come on Squirtle... we need you too!" Ryan thought.

"Okay, bye." Professor Maple pressed the button on his earpiece and turned to Emily, who was in front of the phone again. Nurse Joy appeared on the screen.

"Emily, what's up?" Professor Maple asked as he walked up to her."I'm about to find out," Emily answered then turned to Nurse Joy. "What's up?"

"We have a situation here- Ash and the others were leaving the center to go after the thief, but a giant robot dropped down from the sky!"

Professor Maple and Emily widened their eyes in disbelief.

"Say what?" They both said.

"I'm afraid so. Ash and the others can't get past the robot- none of their attacks are working!" Nurse Joy told them.

A giant, stick figure-like robot stood nearly three stories tall, facing Ash and company. The robot was like something a little kid drew in a kindergarten class...

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash pointed at the giant robot.

"Thunder... bolt!" Pikachu jumped up into the air with a twirl to increase the voltage through his body before launching the Thunderbolt.

"Piplup, use Whirlpool!" Dawn pointed at the robot. Piplup launched water straight up into the air. where it formed a giant whirlpool. Piplup launched the attack at the robot.

The Whirlpool splashed all over the robot, leaving it drenched. Then the Thunderbolt hit, causing an explosion- which sent smoke flying.

"Alright! We did it!" Ash proclaimed.

"Hee-hee! Not so fast!" An intercom-like voice rang out from the smoke.

"What?" Ash said.

"Look!" Brock pointed out past the clearing smoke- the robot was still standing with barely a scratch!

"No way!" Dawn said in disbelief.

"We know your bag of tricks inside and out, twerp!" Team Rocket called out as their robot struck a mocking pose.

"Electric attacks won't work!" Ash said.

"It's like they never do..." Brock thought.

"Well, I gotta go help them then!" Professor Maple said.

"No, you're not." Professor Rowan appeared next to Nurse Joy.

"Remember, we need to get those translations back, not get distracted." Professor Rowan continued.

"Ash and the others, what about them? And Leaf?" Professor Maple asked.

"Matt," Leaf appeared on screen as well.

"Leaf! I thought you went with Ash!" Professor Maple said.

"I called her in before she left- good thing, since Team Rocket's keeping Ash and the others busy." Professor Rowan explained.

"Huh? Who's- What... nevermind. What are we gonna do?" Professor Maple asked.

"We? Matt, you're in no shape to wander around! I'll meet up with... Ryan? Was that his name?" Leaf finished with a question.

"Yeah. Wait, how're you getting past Team Rocket?" Professor Maple asked.

"Easy." Leaf pulled out a Pokeball and enlarged it.

"Espeon!" Ryan called out into the forest.

"I don't see Espeon anywhere..." Umbreon noted.

"Me neither, brother." Eevee said.

"Guys, see any sign of Espeon, Squirtle, or the thief?" Ryan asked.

"No..." Eevee and Umbreon shook their heads as they stopped on the forest path. Ryan sighed.

"I wonder how we're gonna find them at this rate?" Ryan scratched the back of his head.

"Ryan, you there?" Professor Maple's voice suddenly rang in Ryan's right ear.

"Yikes!" Ryan jumped, but didn't fall over. Eevee fell forward, off of Ryan's shoulder, but Ryan caught her before she landed on the ground.

"You alright?" Ryan asked. Eevee nodded as Ryan set her down and pressed the button on the earpiece.

"Professor, what's up?" Ryan spoke through the earpiece.

"Listen, Ash and the others were going to go and search for the thief, but they're being kept at bay by Team Rocket..." Professor Maple told Ryan.

"Team Rocket? What're they doing here?" Ryan said aloud.

"I don't know, but the others can't help you- except Leaf, she's headed towards the forest outside of Arrowroot."

"Okay. Got'cha."

"Brother, did you hear that?" Eevee asked.

"Yeah, that girl called Leaf's coming to help us." Umbreon said with a nod.

"How's Leaf getting here, Professor? Isn't Team Rocket blocking their way?" Ryan asked.

"She's flying." Professor Maple plainly said before cutting off.

"Wait! Professor!" Ryan clicked the button again to try to restore the connection.

"Dang, either this thing's broken, or I'm out of range..." Ryan thought. He turned to Umbreon and Eevee.

"Guys, Leaf's coming- flying here. Don't ask me how. We have to send a signal for her so she knows where we are!" Ryan told them.

"Right! I got it!" Umbreon nodded then faced the night sky.

"Shadow..." Umbreon's eyes caught the moon. "...Ball?"

Umbreon fired a Shadow Ball, but not like the night he evolved. This Shadow Ball was whimsical, wobbling back and forth toward the sky.

"Brother, what's wrong?" Eevee saw the reason her brother lost focus.

"The moon? You're still..." Eevee realized her brother's fear of the moon still hasn't gone away!

"Umbreon! You okay?" Ryan noticed Umbreon blankly staring at the sky.

"Umbreon, you gotta snap out of it!" Ryan kneeled down in front of Umbreon, with Eevee next to him.

"Yeah, what Ryan said! Come on brother!" Eevee nudged Umbreon with a little force. The nudge shook Umbreon from spacing out.

"Aah! Where- sis!" Umbreon said in surprise.

"Brother! You were staring at the sky like a Slowpoke!" Eevee said.

"I was?" Umbreon was confused.

"You don't remember?" Eevee asked him.

"No... all I remember was charging up Shadow Ball... Wait! Where'd-" Umbreon looked up. The Shadow Ball was still wobbling towards the sky.

"That's my Shadow Ball?" Umbreon asked his sister.

"Yeah! You were spacing out while you focused it... I thought you saw the moon or something..." Eevee said.

"The moon...! That's right- I did! ...Gulp." Umbreon remembered the sight of the moon and seemed to shrink in stature.

"Come on, brother! You're an Umbreon! You're supposed to like the moon!" Eevee said.

"Well... I'll get back to you on that." Umbreon said nervously. Eevee let out a sigh.

"Umbreon, you alright?" Ryan asked after letting them talk for a bit.

"Yeah." Umbreon nodded.

"That's great, the way you were spacing out had me worried... The Shadow Ball seems a little weird though. Oh well, as long as Leaf saw- Hey!"

Ryan noticed a shadow floating in the sky, coming towards them. Eevee and Umbreon both turned to see the shadow as well.

"Brother, what is that?" Eevee asked.

"I don't know, but don't you smell that? There're two scents coming towards us!" Umbreon said.

"Two? I only see one!" Eevee tried looking for the second mysterious shadow, but failed.

"Wait a second... It's a bird- No! Not just any bird... I know what that is!" Ryan thought aloud. The shadowy figure hovered over where the Shadow Ball was launched and began to descend. Leaf was on the back of the giant bird, which was bigger than Staraptor! It had a tan color, black markings around it's eyes, red and yellow colored head feathers that were nearly as long as it's body, and it had red tail feathers.

"That's a Pidgeot!" Ryan pulled out his Pokedex and opened it to get Pidgeot's entry.

PIDGEOT: THE BIRD POKEMON.

Leaf and Pidgeot landed a few feet away, but next to Ryan. The wind from Pidgeot's wings blew by Ryan as the Pokedex entry continued.

IT SPREADS ITS GORGEOUS WINGS WIDELY TO INTIMIDATE ENEMIES. IT RACES THROUGH THE SKIES AT MACH-2 SPEED.

"Wow! Mach-2? That's super fast!" Ryan thought as he closed the Pokedex and pocketed it. Leaf disembarked from Pidgeot's back and pet it.

"Thanks Pidgeot..." Leaf thanked with a half smile.

"No prob!" Pidgeot chirped as he looked at Leaf. Pidgeot knew what was troubling Leaf, even though this was the first time in a while he flew. Leaf turned to Ryan.

"Any luck finding the thief?" Leaf asked.

"No, and I couldn't find Espeon either! I was talking with Professor Maple and then the line cut off!" Ryan explained.

"We can't get in touch with him?" Leaf frowned a bit and put her hands at her waist.

"He really could've helped us out... Wait!" Leaf seemed to have a "Eureka moment" as she opened her bag and dug through it to pull out a phone-like device.

"I nearly forgot I had my Pokegear with me! We can just call the Pokemon Center!" Leaf explained to Ryan.

"But isn't Professor Maple at his lab?" Ryan thought aloud.

"Yeah, but Nurse Joy can help- and it's better than wandering around aimlessly." Leaf said.

"Sounds good." Ryan didn't object as Leaf looked up the Arrowroot Pokemon Center number and dialed it. After a few dial tones, a screen of Nurse Joy popped up.

"I'm sorry, we're experiencing a problem right now. Could you- Leaf! Ryan!" Nurse Joy said as she saw their faces.

"Nurse Joy! We need the number for the lab- we need to talk to Matt." Leaf explained.

"I don't think you'll need it, he's over here with Ash and the others!" Daniel popped up and explained.

"He still went?" Leaf felt like saying something about his stubborness, but decided there'd be a time for that later.

"Can you guys get him here? It's urgent." Leaf asked.

"Right away!" Nurse Joy turned to Daniel. "Could you stay here while I get your brother?"

Daniel nodded.

"Dan, is Emily there with Matt?" Leaf asked out of curiosity.

"Yeah, she's over here- Hang on a sec." Daniel went off screen to grab Emily.

"Wait, I don't need-" Leaf couldn't say it in time.

"Shouldn't we keep moving?" Ryan asked as Leaf and him waited. "I mean, the thief might get away!"

"Normally that'd be a great idea, but we don't have a clue where to keep moving to!" Leaf said.

"But then how's Professor Maple gonna help us? He doesn't know either!" Ryan asked.

"But Espeon does." Leaf said.

"Huh? Espeon's chasing the thief, how-" Ryan was cut short as Nurse Joy and Professor Maple popped on screen.

"Leaf, I see you've met up with Ryan!" Professor Maple noted aloud.

"Yeah, but we don't know which direction the thief went! We need you to talk to Espeon." Leaf asked.

"What?" Ryan shook his head, dumbfounded.

"How-" Leaf shushed Ryan's question as Professor Maple began to talk.

"I'll see where Espeon is." Professor Maple said.

"Alright! Good, we'll wait a sec' then." Leaf said.

"How can he keep running?" Espeon was silently hopping through the bushes, following the thief.

"He's been running for almost a couple of miles!" Espeon noted as the thief kept running past trees and shrubs.

"I have no idea if-" Espeon stopped his line of thought as a familiar voice came into his head.

"Espeon, can you hear me?"

"Matt! Are you alright?" Espeon worriedly asked as he kept chasing the thief.

"I'm fine, how're things going on your end?"

"I'm still chasing the thief- we must've ran at least a couple of miles!"

"That far? Anyways, Leaf and Ryan are coming to help you, but they need help finding you! See any landmarks that'll help them find you?"

Espeon looked around. There were only trees, bushes, and more trees.

"Nothing prominent... there're a ton of trees everywhere!"

"So, you're not on the forest path?"

"No, I'm deep in the forest! And it seems like he's looking for something- a place to meet up with someone." Espeon noted.

"Okay. Leaf and Ryan are on the phone, I'll tell them that."

"Wait, tell them I'll leave some kind of trail for them to follow!"

"Okay old friend, be careful."

"You're sounding older everyday." Espeon joked.

"I am not!"

"I'll give you updates if he does something." Espeon said.

"Guys, Espeon's still chasing the thief, but he's about a couple of miles deep in the forest!" Professor Maple said after a minute and a half of silence.

"That deep?" Leaf commented.

"And Espeon says that the thief seems to be looking for a place- like a rendezvous point!"

"He might be handing the translations off to someone to get away!" Ryan commented.

"That could be the case!" Leaf agreed.

"Did Espeon say where he was?" She asked.

"Espeon couldn't find any landmarks deep in the forest, but he said he'll leave a trail of some sort for you guys to follow." Professor Maple said.

"Got'cha. Thanks! And stay out of trouble!" Leaf said.

"What makes you say that?" Professor Maple asked with a sly smile.

"Matt Maple!" Emily stood behind him, staring at him.

"E-Emily! Uh... nice weather we- uh…" Emily cracked her knuckles.

"Mommy." Professor Maple murmured as he shut the phone off. Leaf, Ryan, and the pokemon all seemed to sweat drop.

"Those two..." Leaf sighed, put her Pokegear away and then turned to Ryan.

"We'd better move."

"How?" Ryan definitely had more than one how question.

"We're going to fly on Pidgeot- It'll be faster." Leaf suggested.

"How am I gonna carry these two along?" Ryan asked, while motioning to Eevee and Umbreon.

"Don't you have any Pokeballs?" Leaf asked.

"I don't." Ryan shook his head. Leaf dug through her bag and pulled out a couple of reduced sized Pokeballs.

"Here, take these- they're empty." Leaf handed the empty Pokeballs to Ryan.

"But, won't that make me their trainer?" Ryan asked.

"It'll make them your pokemon, unless you release them later." Leaf explained.

"Guys," Ryan faced Eevee and Umbreon. "I don't want to force you guys to do anything you don't want to do..." Ryan pressed the buttons on the two Pokeballs, enlarging them.

"It's up to you." Ryan left the Pokeballs on the ground, in front of Eevee and Umbreon.

"He really cares about our opinions that much? If only Squirtle were here..." Umbreon let out a smirk.

"Well sis, I know what I'm gonna do. Do you?"

"Did you have to ask that question? You already knew the answer." Eevee ran up to the Pokeball on the right and nudged it.

"I guess so!" Umbreon ran up to the Pokeball on the left and nudged it. Both Eevee and Umbreon turned into a red energy like form as their Pokeballs opened up and captured them. Their balls both wiggled three times before they stopped. Ryan picked up the Pokeballs and looked at them.

"Don't worry... I'll take good care of you guys, I promise!" Ryan thought aloud.

"Hey, that's great and all," Ryan turned to Leaf, who was sitting on Pidgeot's back watching the scene. "But, we got a thief to catch!"

"Right!" Ryan pocketed Eevee's and Umbreon's Pokeballs and ran up to Pidgeot and climbed on.

"Hold onto me!" Leaf said as Pidgeot climbed up to the sky.

"Say what?" Ryan made sure he heard right.

"Don't get the wrong idea!" Leaf huffed as Ryan wrapped his arms around Leaf's waist.

"We've got a thief to catch, Pidgeot! Let's go!" Leaf said as Pidgeot took off soaring.

In a nearby bush, a tiny turtle rustled out from the bushes, bewildered by what he saw.

"They went with him..." Squirtle thought. "He even gave them a choice." Squirtle looked at the sky, seeing an image of his former trainer.

"You never gave me a choice." Squirtle now looked determined.

"It's about time I helped this kid out." Squirtle ran off in the direction Pidgeot flew.