Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Pokemon.

Legend:

"A human or a Pokemon is talking."

'A human or a Pokemon is thinking.'

"A machine is being used."

Chapter Thirteen:

It was shortly after Ash had woken up that both he and Anabel had gotten going—with Anabel telling him about her vision along the way. She hadn't gotten very far, however, when he interrupted her.

"You're a Psychic?" Ash asked.

Anabel bit her lip for a moment, "I am. I have this… ability that allows me to read the emotions of Pokemon."

"Really?" Ash asked.

"Yeah. The day we met, I was mad when I saw you carrying Clefairy, as she looked really hurt. I was about to do something when I sensed her emotions. And that made me stop; she was happy, blissful even." Anabel admitted quietly. "When I looked at your emotions—"

"—Wait!" Ash interrupted, looking at Anabel with a stunned expression on his face. "You can read the emotions of people too?"

"I can, though it's harder than reading the emotions of Pokemon, as their emotions are rarely as complex as ours usually are." Anabel answered.

XXXXXX

-Mt. Moon: The Moon Stone's Cave-

After Team Rocket had threatened to hurt their baby Pokemon that they had captured, the older Clefairy and Clefable had reluctantly agreed to hand over the Moon Stone. This decision had caused Jessie to smirk—as this would make her team's mission all that easier to accomplish.

The red-haired woman turned to face her comrade, "James, go get the truck. We'll keep an eye on these pathetic star-gazers until you get back."

"Alright." James nodded.

With that simple statement, James quickly turned before he made his way out of the cave. He would back-track his way back to their temporary H.Q. and be back with their truck as soon as possible.

Once James came back with the truck, it would then be a simply matter of ordering the Clefable to load the Moon Stone into it. They would then take the Moon Stone back to their boss—where he would spare their lives.

XXXXXX

-The Kanto Region: Mt. Moon-

It was soon after Anabel had finished explaining about her abilities to Ash—and answering several of Ash's questions—when Anabel stopped suddenly. Ash skidded to a stop in front of Anabel before he turned to look at her with a confused expression on his face.

"Why'd you stop Anabel?" Ash asked.

Anabel shuddered slightly before she pulled Ash into the bushes, "shush"-ing him. It was only a few moments later when the two of them saw James emerge from behind an outcropping of rock forty feet before them.

Ash's eyes narrowed as he whispered, "Its James!"

"Luckily, he hasn't seen us yet." Anabel whispered back, her hand inching towards a Pokeball on her belt. "Let's use that to our advantage."

"Right!" Ash drew out his own Pokeball.

When James was only ten feet away from them before Ash's Paras came of the bushes. James made to sidestep Paras—only for Paras to release a cloud of paralyzing spores from the mushrooms on its back.

"What the he—!" James cursed, seconds before his entire muscular system locked in place, sending him towards the ground face-first. "Ugh!"

The bushes rustled as Ash exited them with Anabel at his heels. Ash grinned at the increasingly angered expression on James' faces before he turned to Paras and said, "Good job, Paras."

"Paras Ra Para Ra." Paras gibbered happily.

James grit his teeth as he futilely tried to move his paralyzed body even an inch, "How did you brats know we were still here?"

"Lucky guess?" Anabel shrugged before she called out her Abra, directly it towards James' downed form. "You know what to do, Abra."

The Psychic Pokemon moved towards James before it crouched down and put its hands on James' head. The purple-haired man's eyes widened as he felt something akin to a semi-frozen liquid moving inside his head.

"You b-brats!" James shouted. "Get out… GET OUT OF MY MIND!"

XXXXXX

-The Kanto Region: Mt. Moon-

As soon as Anabel's Abra had finished reading James' mind, it had knocked out James—who hadn't been able to do anything but shout—upon Anabel's order. Abra had then proceeded to relay the information he had gotten from James to Anabel, who told Ash.

"How are we going to do this Anabel?" Ash asked.

Anabel bit her lip as she thought about what they could do, "Meowth and Jessie are keeping control over the Clefable by threatening to hurt their children. Ash… if you make a big enough distraction, Abra could use Teleport to get into the cave, then teleport the younger Pokemon away."

"I think I can do that." Ash replied.

XXXXXX

-Mt. Moon: The Moon Stone's Cave-

It had been thirty minutes since James had left the cave to get the truck—causing Meowth and Jessie to grow increasingly worried. It wasn't that far of a walk to their temporary H.Q., so it shouldn't have been taking James long to get there.

Jessie gritted her teeth, "Enough of this! Meowth, I'm going to go find James and get the truck." She then turned her gaze towards the Clefable. "If any of you pathetic star-gazers so much as even twitches while I'm gone…"

Even though she hadn't stated what would happen, the Clefable knew what would happen if they disobeyed; their children would be hurt. So, knowing this, the muttered their reluctant willingness to obey Jessie's order.

"They say's that they won't move a muscle Jess." Meowth translated.

Jessie nodded curtly, "Good. Now, I'll be back with the truck—and James—as soon as I can."

With that, Jessie turned on her heel before she made off towards the entrance of the cave. She had barely made it outside of the cave when she spotted movement in the corner of her eyes, which caused them to narrow dangerously.

The red-haired woman fingered her remaining Pokeball as she continued to walk, her shoulders tensed. It was only a few moments later when she saw a Paras scuttle out of a nearby bush.

'I thought that Paras' preferred to stay in caves.' Jessie thought as she stared at the crab-like Pokemon. 'So why would this one be outside? Unless—!'

It was at that moment that multiple things happened at once. Firstly, the Paras released a large yellow cloud from the mushrooms on its back. Then, an all-to familiar Pidgey flew out of a nearby bush before it used its wings to create a gust of wind that pushed the yellow cloud towards her.

'It's those two twerps!' Jessie thought in realization as she dodged to the side, before enlarging the Pokeball she had been fingering earlier.

"I choose you, Ekans!" Jessie shouted as she released her faithful Pokemon.

Ash emerged from the bushes as his two Pokemon moved in front of him, "It really sucks that move didn't work... I wouldn't have to fight you."

"You think you can beat me, twerp? Don't flatter yourself; you're not even in the same league as I am!" Jessie retorted.

"I don't have to be." Ash returned as he crossed his arms. "Pidgey, Sand-Attack, now!"

The twerp's Pidgey chirped an affirmative before it began to flap its wings, causing any and all of the loose earth and gravel to rise into the air. Jessie had to shield her eyes from the make-shift smokescreen, gritting her teeth once more.

With that smokescreen, the twerp's Paras would be able to move around the battlefield undetected—which was unacceptable—as it could position itself to paralyze her or her Pokemon. On the other hand, Ekans had an acute sense of smell, and would be more than able to beat down the twerp's Pokemon, if given the chance to.

"Pidgey, peck!"

From the corner of her eye, Jessie caught sight of the twerp's Pidgey before it dive-bombed her Ekans. Ekans, however, smelled the bird Pokemon with its tongue and slithered away moments before the attack would've connected. While the twerp's Pidgey banked to the right, Ekans launched itself towards the bird Pokemon.

"Bite!" Jessie commanded.

XXXXXX

-Mt. Moon: The Moon Stone's Cave-

It was only a few minutes after Jessie had left that Meowth noticed the commotion coming from the outside of the cave. The cat-like Pokemon's eyes widened slightly as he heard the all-too familiar sounds of Jessie's Ekans; Jessie was battling someone.

'It's the twerps!' Meowth thought in realization. 'They must've seen James and ambushed him, which is why he was taking so long!'

Meowth then proceeded to conclude that James had been defeated and the twerps had somehow gotten the location of Jessie and himself, though he didn't know how the twerps could've obtained that information."

"Jiggly-puff Jig!"

Meowth spun around at the urgency he could hear in Jigglypuff's voice, though he wondered how there could be an "intruder". He hadn't seen anybody walk inside the cave, and he had been watching the entrance since his team had taken control of the cave.

When he had fully turned around, he saw that purple-headed twerp's Abra was sitting on top of the pile of captured Pokemon. His eyes widened in shock—and dawning horror—before the Abra vanished with all of the young Pokemon his team had captured.

The sound of knuckles cracking could be heard as Meowth and Jigglypuff turned to face the Clefable, "Cle Fable Fa… Fable Clefable."

"T-There's no need ta resort ta that!" Meowth muttered with his hands held up in front of him, with Jigglypuff nodding her head in fervent agreement. "W-Why don't we all just calm down and—aah!"

"Cle!" One particularly angry Clefable interrupted Meowth by punching the cat-like Pokemon in the gut, sending him flying into a nearby wall.

"Clefable Cle Fable Le Fable! Fable!" That same Clefable called out, turning to face its comrades—who looked back at it with respect and appreciation in their eyes.

The remaining Clefable lifted their fists into the air, "Fable!"

XXXXXX

-The Kanto Region: Mt. Moon-

Anabel smiled when Abra rematerialized with the Pokemon that Team Rocket had captured, sending a wave of appreciation to her Pokemon. The Psi Pokemon flushed slightly at the sudden emotion before it nodded, and mumbled its name softly.

"Now, let's see if we can't get you little tykes out of that net…" Anabel muttered as she moved towards the large knot holding the net together.

"Ab Abra! Ab-ra!" Abra chattered warningly.

Anabel turned to face her Pokemon and—while she was turning—caught a glimpse of an all-too familiar figure. His clothes looked a bit scuffed up, and his hair was in a slight state of disarray, but that didn't matter. What did matter was the extremely angry expression on his face.

"So… you think you can just ambush me, read my mind, knock me out… and get away with it?" James asked as he grabbed a Pokeball from his belt.

"H… How did you wake up so fast?" Anabel asked, her shock of the situation causing her to stutter slightly. "That blow should've kept you under for at least an hour!"

James' face twisted into a vicious smirk, "That's my little secret, little girl. But enough of that… Go, Koffing!"

The purple-haired man's Koffing materialized within a flash of white light as Anabel's Abra teleported in front of his master. It was only seconds after this that Koffing charged towards Abra, probably intending to Tackle him.

"Psyshock." Anabel ordered.

Abra waved his arms in the air before a glob of psychic energy formed before in front of its hands. The Psi Pokemon launched his attack at Koffing only seconds after completing it, before his eyes widened slightly—Koffing had dodged to the side.

Koffing hovered for a minute before it charged towards its foe, "Koff-ing!"

"Confusion followed by Psyshock!" Anabel ordered.

"Abra!"

The area around Abra's eyes glowed a faint, pale-red color before Koffing became outlined in that same energy. Koffing's usual, blissful expression turned into a look of confusion before it started shaking within Abra's psychic grasp. While this was happening, another glob of psychic energy began forming before Abra's hands—though it was forming much more slowly than the first.

James' mouth twisted into a frown, "Selfdestruct!"

Confused, it took a few moments for Koffing to actually register James' order. It then nodded with a faint "Koff" before its body began to glow a putrid purple color. Then, time appeared to slow down. Abra released his Psyshock towards Koffing, whose purple glow increased in brightness and intensity as the seconds ticked by. Then, when Abra's Psyshock attack was mere inches away from Koffing, the Poison-Type Pokemon exploded in a cloud of black smoke.

The power of this explosion was only increased by Abra's Psyshock attack, the energy in which resulted in another explosion that pushed everybody back and scorched the earth.

Abra—being closer to the explosion than Anabel or James—was knocked into unconsciousness, with severe-looking burns covering its body. Anabel had been thrown back from the force of the explosion where she landed harshly on the rocky ground, with a trickle of blood coming from her freshly-scraped knees and arms.

Having not expected the secondary explosion, James had been unprepared. This ended up with him being thrown back into a nearby tree, the resulting impact causing a small flock of Spearow to caw out in distress before flying away. For his troubles he got a couple scrapes and bruises, a slightly ripped and burnt uniform, and a mild headache.

"Koffing!" Koffing called out confusedly, looking around for its master. When it spotted James it flew over to him before looking at him, "Koffing Kof Kof-ing? Koffing!"

James groaned and got up, using the tree behind him for support. He ignored his Pokemon for a moment and looked towards his enemy—who had yet to get up—before he looked at her Pokemon. It appeared to be unconscious, with easily-visible burns peppered around its body.

XXXXXX

-The Kanto Region: Mt. Moon-

Ash frowned as his improvised smokescreen began to clear, something that he knew that he wouldn't be able to do again.

While he had known that Jessie was on a higher level than him, he had thought that the smokescreen would help him distract—if not defeat—the red-haired woman. He was wrong. She had seemed to quickly figure out his strategy and then make up a counter-strategy.

Jessie had outsmarted him by appearing to have her Ekans attack his Pidgey when she had merely used that as a diversion so he focused his attention on Pidgey. In reality, her Ekans had attacked Paras, whom he had to recall soon after Ekans' attack.

After that defeat, he had focused his attention on Pidgey, who tried its best to avoid Ekans. The smokescreen and its ability to fly had given it some advantages but, even with them, Ekans had been able to score some decent hits on Pidgey.

"What's the matter, twerp?" Jessie asked with a smirk, visible through the dissipating smokescreen. "Are you afraid your little birdy is going to get hurt?"

"Not as bad as your Ekans is going to get hurt!" Ash hotly retorted.

Jessie laughed, "I thought I already told you, twerp… I'm on a completely different level than you are. You only won that match in the caves because you used ALL your Pokemon. Even two-to-one, Ekans is still able to beat the crap out of your team without breaking a sweat!"

"Why you—!" Ash began angrily, stopping mid-sentence when he heard his Pidgey cry out in pain; Ekans had bitten Pidgey's wing. "Pidgey!"

Jessie crossed her arms with a smirk, "It's like I told you; your Pokemon don't stand a chance against mine. You had no hope of winning, little boy."

By this point, Pidgey looked to be struggling to stay aloft, with its left wing bleeding freely. The Tiny Bird Pokemon seemed to get more tired with every passing moment—Ekans' bite had poisoned him—which was not a good sign at all.

"Surrender and tell me where James is, and I might give you an antidote to save your bird. If you refuse…" Jessie paused for a moment before she spoke again, with her eyes glinting maliciously. "Your Pidgey will make a lovely snack for Ekans."

Ash clenched his hands into fists and was silent for a minute and, just when he looked like he was about to speak, he was cut off by his own Pokemon.

"Pi Pidgey… Pidge… Pidgey Pi-ey Pidge Pidgey!" Pidgey chirped loudly, drawing Ash's attention to it, even as it held its opponent's gaze with its own determined visage. "Pidgey!"

"You… You still want to fight, Pidgey?" Ash asked, stunned.

Pidgey turned its head to face its trainer before it gave him a resolute nod, "Pidgey. Pidge… Pidgey Pi Pidge Pid."

"I'm sorry…" Ash said as he lowered his head, causing Jessie to smirk, only to raise his head a few seconds later with a smirk of his own. "Pidgey wants to fight, and I don't have it in me to go against what he wants. So, prepare yourself, Jessie! Pidgey, Peck!"

Pidgey gave an excited chirp before it nodded, with its beak beginning to glow a faint white color. It then flew towards Ekans just as the snake-like Pokemon launched itself towards Pidgey, following Jessie's growled-out command of "Attack!"

"You can do it Pidgey!" Ash shouted from the sidelines. "Show that stupid snake what you're made of!"

"Such big words! Unfortunately, your bird's all outta luck! Finish it off with another Bite, Ekans!" Jessie ordered.

Right when the two Pokemon were about to collide, Ekans opened its mouth and hissed at Pidgey, who began to glow a faint white light. The two humans had to shield their eyes as the brightness of the light increased, with Jessie muttering a curse as she realized what was happening. Pidgey was evolving.

Ash shielded his eyes with his hands, confused about what was happening to his pokemon. However, once the light had faded and he was able to look at Pidgey again, his confusion turned to excitement. That light had come from Pidgey evolving into its second form, a Pidgeotto!

Pidgey—now Pidgeotto—was a large, raptor-like bird. While his primary color was brown, his plumage was much more elaborate than his pre-evolution, Pidgey. His head-crest was much longer than Pidgey's and was a reddish color. The plumage of his tail was also quite colorful, alternating between red and yellow. Other than his ornamental plumage, his basic coloration is similar to Pidgey, with pinkish-gray feet and black markings around his eyes. Pidgeotto also had powerful talons in which it could use to grasp prey and inflict a lot of damage.

Ash quickly took out his Pokedex and flipped it open, "Pidgeotto, the Bird Pokemon. It flies over its wide territory in source of prey, downing it with its large claws."

"Geotto!" Pidgeotto cried as it raised its talons—which were currently holding the two sides of Ekans' opened mouth—before it threw Ekans off of it. The snake-like Pokemon impacted the ground hard enough to leave a slight crater, a testament to Pidgeotto's new strength.

Jessie grit her teeth as Ash pumped a fist, "Yes! Way to go Pidgey—I mean, Pidgeotto! Now, let's see if we can't finish that stupid snake; use your Tackle attack!"

"Get up, Ekans!" Jessie demanded as Pidgeotto cried out before dive-bombing her Pokemon. "Get up, now!"

Ash's Current Pokemon Team:

Eevee

Attacks: Tackle (Normal), Scratch (Normal), Tail-Whip (Normal), Helping Hand (Normal), and Growl (Normal).

Pidgeotto

Attacks: Sand Attack (Ground), Tackle (Normal), and Peck (Flying).

Rattata

Attacks: Bite (Dark), Tackle (Normal), and Scratch (Normal).

Kakuna:

Attacks: String-Shot (Bug), Poison-Sting (Poison), and Bug-Bite (Bug).

Clefairy:

Attacks: Sing (Normal) and Pound (Normal).

Paras

Attacks: Poison Powder (Poison), Stun Spore (Grass), and Spore (Grass).

Anabel's Current Pokemon Team:

Abra

Attacks: Teleport (Psychic), Psyshock (Psychic), and Confusion (Psychic).

Jessie's Current Pokemon Team:

Ekans

Attacks: Bind (Normal) and Bite (Dark)

Jigglypuff

Attacks: Sing (Normal) and Pound (Normal)

James' Current Pokemon Team:

Koffing:

Attacks: Tackle (Normal), Selfdestruct (Normal), and Smokescreen (Normal)

Mankey

Attacks: Scratch (Normal), Covet (Normal), Low Kick (Fighting), and Leer (Normal)

A/N; Author's Note: And we're back! I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while, but I've had some major writer's block, some medical issues, and boring school projects/assignments you don't want to here about. I've also tried to get my other story (Arrancar in Amity) close to this one, chapter-wise.

Anyways, you guys know the drill. Read and review. Flames will be ignored, as always.