Disclaimer: I do not, nor have I ever, owned anything related to Nintendo's Pokémon franchise.

Legend:

"A human or a Pokémon is talking."

'A human or a Pokémon is thinking.'

"A machine is being used."

Chapter 19:

(Kanto—Route Five)

At the moment, one could find Ash and Anabel walking down a well-trodden path through the forest that made up Route Five. Honestly, it came a surprise to Ash that Trainers could get lost, as all they had to do was stay on the path or keep the path in their sight at all times.

"What kind of Pokémon do you think is inside this Egg, Anabel?"

This question had bugged Ash ever since Willow had told them both that his Pokémon Egg didn't match any descriptions in her Breeder Handbook. He had come to the conclusion that the Egg could've been a newly discovered or new Pokémon species. That would explain why the Egg wasn't in the handbook; Breeders wouldn't put it into the book unless they knew how to care for it.

However, Ash had come to start doubting that. Based on what his Pokédex's entry on Starmie, he was forming a crazy idea in his head; could the Pokémon that came out from his Pokémon Egg be an alien? It would explain why he and Anabel had found the Egg inside that enormous Moon Stone—it could've been a 'vessel' for an alien—and why the wild Clefable and Clefairy had tried to destroy it.

What if this idea was true? What would it mean? Ash could imagine people asking after it or trading for it. He could even imagine people like Jessie and James trying to steal it from him because it would be the only one of its kind. Pokémon Professors or Researchers such as Professor Oak would also ask about it, asking if they could study it and bringing up the question if he could 'raise it right'.

Ash, however, didn't know if he could allow that. Despite not knowing what type of Pokémon it would be, or what type of personality it would develop, it had already grown on him. He had already risked his life to protect it once and, based on the surge of protectiveness he got whenever he thought of the Egg, he would do it again.

"... I think it could be a lot of things. It could be a recently discovered Pokémon or a Pokémon that people haven't discovered yet..." Anabel said after a moment before she paused. "But, you're not really asking about that, are you?"

Ash shook his head, "I don't know... I mean, I'm curious about what it'll be but..."

"You want to know what type of Pokémon it'll be?" Anabel asked with a slight tilt of her head, having somewhat understood Ash's unspoken question. "... I think that depends on how you raise it, Ash."

"Huh?"

"... That Pokémon will probably see you as its parent, Ash. It will grow and develop a personality based on how you will raise it." Anabel stated in an informative way. "For example: if you raise it to love battling, then it would grow up to love battling. If you raised it to love participating in contests, then it would grow up to love participating in contests."

Silence descended upon the pair as soon as Anabel had finished speaking, with Ash turning his head towards his Egg. Thinking about it, he realized that Anabel made a lot of sense. But that also brought up another slew of questions. How should he raise it? Could he raise it?

XXXXXX

(Meanwhile)

"How the mighty have fallen..." A pale-skinned man with short blue hair and black eyes mocked as he looked over his new 'charge'. "They said that you guys were so good that you had the chance to become the first triad to achieve Admin status but... after your recent string of failures... it was lucky that your team was merely disbanded."

"Shut up."

The man—Pierce—only grinned, "Aw, did I touch a sore spot?" He took a step forward towards the woman he was talking to, quickly getting within her personal space. "Well, you're going to have to get used to it. Your team lost favor with the boss and was disbanded, where you were put under my supervision." He leaned over until his mouth was next to her right ear, "One wrong word from me will lead to your dismissal."

Jessie clenched her fists together so tightly that her fingernails began to bite through her gloves. She wanted to scream or yell at Pierce—tell him that nobody ordered her around—but held her tongue. Right now, Pierce had all of the cards and, if she did anything to displease him, he would report it to the Boss. And, if he did that, she would be dismissed.

She had originally believed that, after her team's failure on Mt. Moon, they would be dismissed. The Boss, however, had found a harsher way to punish them; he had separated them. It became quite clear within the next few days on how cruel that decision had been.

She, James, and Meowth had been working together as a group for years. They had come to depend on and trust one another and, dare she say it, love on another like siblings. When the Boss had torn up her team, Jessie hadn't realized how much she would miss them. It felt like a part of her identity had been stolen from her, that she was missing half of who she was.

So, despite how much she resented where she was or who she was working with now, she would do anything to get back with James and Meowth. Even if that meant having to put up with self-absorbed jerks like Pierce.

"I... understand, Pierce." Jessie muttered despite wanting to bash his face in. Hearing this, Pierce stepped off, believing her to have been sufficiently cowed by his threat. She turned her head to the side, playing up the image. "... What is the mission?"

Pierce's grin grew, "We're to relieve a certain village of all its Pokémon."

With that vague piece of information delivered, Pierce let out a chuckle before he turned around. He missed the angry glare that Jessie aimed at his back, internally vowing that she would personally dismiss him when she got back into the Boss' good graces.

XXXXXX

(Kanto—Route Five—Hidden Village)

How could it all have gone so wrong so quickly?

Today had started out like any other day. She had woken up at 6:00 am and had a small breakfast before she had gone out to give the Pokémon under her care their breakfasts. She then began to tend to their healing wounds with her variety of homemade medicines.

Unlike some days where the Pokémon would get into a squabble, today had been relatively peaceful. There were no arguments over what part of the village belonged to which group of Pokémon. Or no fights about her having to spilt her attention as she tended to the sicker or played with the younger Pokémon.

Then, right before lunch, everything changed.

It started when she noticed the three canisters in the middle of the village, seconds before the canisters had exploded. She had been quickly consumed by the resulting smoke and then knocked down as the Pokémon around her panicked and ran for cover.

She could only watch as nets launched out from the smoke and snagged the running Pokémon before the nets were retracted into the smoke. She then screamed as a net launched out of the smoke towards her, unable to believe what was going on.

It was right before the net could capture her that a long green vine whipped it, so powerful that it actually cut the net in half. She shakily turned to see her savior—Bulbasaur—before he began to whip at the incoming nets, taking them down and sparing the still-fleeing Pokémon from being captured.

She had been so relieved to see Bulbasaur at that time. He was one of the stronger Pokémon that lived in the Hidden Village and had been dubbed 'The Protector' because of how protective he was of his fellow Pokémon and her. Surely he could defend them from whatever was attacking them.

By this point, the smoke had cleared enough to reveal the shadows of two figures—one male and one female—alongside a small machine and a pile of captured Pokémon. She didn't get a chance to do more than yell at the figures, demanding to know what they were doing, before their machine launched another net.

She and Bulbasaur followed the path of the net with their eyes and saw that it was racing towards a scared-looking Pichu. Unlike the other free Pokémon, it hadn't run away or hidden, though it was still very young, so it probably didn't even understand what was going on.

"No!"

Bulbasaur quickly used his vines to cut through the net heading towards Pichu, having reacted to her unspoken command. In the next instant, twenty nets were launched from the tip of the two figures' machine. Bulbasaur's red eyes narrowed before he began to cut through or knock the nets away.

"You sure have some talent." The male figure stated before he touched the top of his machine. Seconds later, a net that was sparkling with electricity was launched from the tip of machine towards Bulbasaur, who was too busy hitting the other nets that he didn't notice the net heading for him.

"Bulbasaur—look out!"

Her warning only startled Bulbasaur and caused him to glance at her. She screamed as Bulbasaur was caught within the net before it shocked him, causing his vines to collapse to the ground. A trio of nets quickly covered Bulbasaur—further shocking him—before they began to retract, dragging Bulbasaur over to the two figures.

She quickly got up off the ground and raced towards Bulbasaur, whereupon she grabbed onto the nets holding him. She screamed again as nets released another surge of electricity but refused to let go; she had to save Bulbasaur! She just had to!

XXXXXX

Pierce frowned, "Not letting go, eh?" He touched the top of the machine again, which then released a surge of electricity through the cable that connected it to the nets. He then watched as the girl screamed again before she fell to her knees, clinging onto the net stubbornly.

"She must really like that little weed." Jessie remarked.

Pierce's frown grew. If that was true, then the girl wouldn't let go, no matter how high he turned the voltage. 'But... why waste our electricity on her?' He withdrew a Poké Ball from his pocket and enlarged it. "Double Kick, Hitmonlee."

There was a red flash as Pierce's Pokémon was released before it raced towards the girl in a brown blur. It swung one of its legs at the girl's middle, sending her flying backwards while her breath was forced out of her lungs. Hitmonlee didn't let up, however, as it instantly appeared by the downed girl's side and kicked her right side.

Like before, the girl was sent flying, where she came to a stop by crashing into the side of her hut. The girl groaned painfully as Hitmonlee quickly returned to its Trainer's side and was recalled back into its Poké Ball. Pierce sneered at the girl as he put away his Poké Ball.

The captured Grass-Type shouted in concern for the fallen girl before it began to struggle within the nets that were holding it. A quick dose of electricity through the net, courtesy of Jessie, caused the injured Pokémon to cry out in pain. When Jessie increased the voltage, it knocked the little weed unconscious.

Pierce then turned towards Jessie, "Load the Pokémon up; we're done here."

"Of course."

XXXXXX

When Melanie had next woken up, she groaned weakly and wondered why her stomach and back were hurting so much. It seemed like it would be better for her to just go back to sleep, though some part of her rebelled against the idea. Why were stomach and back hurting so bad? Did something happen?

"-chu, pi-pi chu, chu!"

'Is that... Pichu?' Melanie thought before she frowned. 'Has she... been crying?'

"Pichu, pi-pi chu, pichu!"

Melanie struggled to open her eyes as her concern for Pichu slowly overcame her desire to go back to sleep. As her eyes cracked open, she became truly aware of how awful she felt and realized that it wasn't just her stomach and back that were hurting her. Her entire body felt as if it had been run over by a herd of Tauros!

But, why was she feeling this way? What had happened to her?

"... Pichu?" Melanie called out.

Instantly, Melanie heard Pichu perk up before the baby Electric-Type Pokémon rushed over to her. She felt Pichu jump onto her chest and groaned from the sudden pressure; why did it hurt so much? She had held Pichu before and it hadn't been a strain on her body before, so why would it be now?

Melanie slowly sit up, having to stop a couple times when the pain grew too intense, and gasped at the sight before her eyes. Knocked over food bowls with scattered bits of PokéChow covered the ground, which seemed to have been flattened during the stampede of 'her' fleeing Pokémon. There were also scattered, broken nets scattered all over the ground.

It was all coming back to her now. The canisters exploding, the nets being launched from that horrible machine and capturing the Pokémon, Bulbasaur saving her, Bulbasaur being captured, grabbing onto Bulbasaur's net, being electrocuted, being Double Kicked by a Pokémon, and blacking out.

Oh, god. It was real. Why had that have happened? How could that have happened? She had promised all of the Pokémon that she would protect them! How could she have allowed this to happen to them and have broken her promise to them?

"Pi-pi, pi-pi chu... Pichu, pi-pi..."

Melanie sniffled as a few tears escaped her eyes despite her intentions to not cry. She had to be strong in front of Pichu. Pichu was still a baby and was probably frightened beyond belief. It wouldn't help if she started bawling as well.

"I-It's going to be o-okay, Pichu." Melanie's voice cracked as another few tears escaped her eyes. She tried to keep her voice steady but could not, "It's g-going to be okay...!"

XXXXXX

(Route Five—With Ash and Anabel)

Anabel suddenly froze on the path, which caused Ash to turn around when he stopped hearing her walk. "Are you okay, Anabel?"

"... I can feel somebody crying..." Anabel muttered to herself before she frowned. "But, why are they so sad?" She began to turn in place, trying to get a feel of the direction where the overwhelming sadness and despair that had captured her attention.

Sadness? Ash was confused and, judging by the way Eevee looked at him when he turned to her, so was she. That was until he remembered Anabel telling him of her abilities as an Empath. She was probably reading somebody's—or something's—emotions.

That realization brought to mind the fact that he had never seen Anabel use her powers before. Could this be the way she reacted when she used them? No. Back when he first met her, she said that she had used her powers to read his and Clefairy's emotions. She hadn't been as unresponsive as she was now back then.

So, why was she?

Before Ash's question could be answered, he was alerted when he saw Anabel pause for a moment before she suddenly darted off the road and into the forest. Alarmed, Ash began to run after his friend, shouting at her to stop. He felt a bit offended when she seemed to ignore him and increase her pace a bit; was she ignoring him?

"C'mon, Anabel, you need to wait up!" Ash called as he raced after his surprisingly fast friend. Why hadn't she told him that she could run like this? "Can you hear me? Anabel?" When he received no answer he frowned, only to curse when Anabel's speed increased yet again. "Dammit, Anabel! Wait up!"

"Ee Eve Eevee Ve Eevee!"

XXXXXX

After chasing Anabel through the forest for what seemed like hours, Ash finally saw Anabel stop after coming into a large clearing. Sighing in relief, he went up to catch her and, when he did, he fell to his knees. As he did so, he made sure not to loss hold of his Egg Container or knock Eevee from her perch, but only just.

That had been some chase Anabel had led him on. He suspected that they were probably near the heart of the forest that made up Route Five by now and, when they tried to get back to the road, find themselves completely lost. Great.

"W-What do you want?"

Eevee let out a sound similar to a squawk was knocked off his shoulder as Ash suddenly jerked upwards at the sound at that unfamiliar voice. Eevee got up and huffed over the treatment, though Ash was too busy staring at the sight before him. It looked as if a tornado had swept through the place!

The clearing itself was comparable to the size of his house and yards, though it was slightly bigger than it. In the corner of the clearing was a small hut with a broken wall, surrounded by a lush patch of grass that stretched to the edge of a small lake. The grass itself was torn and flattened in numerous places while shredded reddish-black nets were scattered over it.

Near the broken wall of the hut was the one who had spoken. It was a pale-skinned teenage girl with dark-blue hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a white shirt underneath a pair of dark-blue overalls and a pair of black sneakers. She looked terrified and as if she had been crying recently but, despite that, she was looking at him and Anabel distrustfully.

"I'll ask you once a-again; what do you want?" The girl demanded as she slowly stood up, making sure to keep whatever she was hiding out of their view. "Did you come to finish the job those other two started?"

Ash took a step backwards before he glanced at Anabel, hoping that she would be able to provide the answer. This girl was probably the one that Anabel had seemed to sense earlier, judging by the dried-up tear tracks still staining the girl's face.

But, who were these two people that the girl was talking about? She seemed really angry at them. Could two people have caused the havoc that he could see the clearing and upset the girl? It was likely, as it was the only explanation that he could come up with right now.

"... You were sad." Anabel's eyes weren't glazed anymore, and she seemed to be slowly getting out of whatever she had been in. This was good. Well, it was, until the girl's confused expression faded and was replaced by anger.

"Of course I'm upset! Two strangers attack my village and kidnap most of the Pokémon that lived here, scared the others off, and then had one attack me!" The girl all-but shouted before her eyes narrowed. "So, I'll ask you one last time; what do you want?!"

Ash was caught up by the girl's mention of a Pokémon attacking her. While it wasn't uncommon for a Wild Pokémon to attack people, it didn't happen as much as the Wild Pokémon would focus on the Trainer's Pokémon. Knowing this, the people who didn't own Pokémon would stick to the roads to avoid them or hire a Trainer who would accompany them.

But, for someone to order their Pokémon to attack somebody? That was a completely different matter. For as long as people had been able to capture Pokémon, they had been using them against one another in hopes of defeating them. People had used them to protect themselves from other people and Pokémon, take over someplace, assassinate people, hypnotize people, confuse people, threaten people, and many other things.

Eventually, the use of Pokémon against People had gotten so bad that the governments around the world had to act. They had banned this usage of Pokémon through a series of laws, though there were some exemptions. The Police Force was able to use their Pokémon against people, though it was said to be heavily regulated.

Ash had learned about such laws after the incident in Viridian City by reading about them in the Pewter City library. He didn't understand much of the wordings of the laws themselves, but the meaning behind them, when the librarian had explained them to him, was pretty clear. Do not use a Pokémon against a person.

Groups like Team Rocket, however, cared little about such laws or the meaning behind them. Or so he had heard. In his encounters with Team Rocket, Jessie and James hadn't used their Pokémon against him, so he had thought it was just a rumor. This girl's story disproved the rumor, though, as who would else would steal Pokémon? Team Rocket certainly fit the bill, given what the girl had said had happened to her.

But, if Team Rocket was using their Pokémon to target Trainers, then why hadn't Jessie and James done so? It would've been easy for Jessie or James to order their Pokémon to attack him at the Pokémon Center so that Nurse Joy would've been unprotected. If they had done that, they probably would have pulled off the heist. Doing that in a place like Mt. Moon would've allowed them to take him and Anabel down and get the Moon Stone.

The real question was why did Jessie and James didn't use their Pokémon to attack people if other people in Team Rocket did?

"We don't want anything." Anabel finally answered. The girl looked disbelieving and opened her mouth to retort, only for Anabel to beat her too it. "As I said earlier, 'You were sad'." She looked down for a moment before looking up. "You see... I... I can sense emotions."

The girl's frown morphed into a small sneer, "You can 'sense emotions'? What do you take me for? I am not an idiot."

Ash was getting angry now. Who did this girl think she was, hm? Anabel had just revealed probably the biggest secret she had and the girl was now throwing it into her face. He saw the way Anabel recoiled slightly and silently wondered if this is why Anabel didn't tell people about her power. They wouldn't believe her.

"... You're feeling very angry, but that is just an attempt to smother your other emotions: sadness, longing, despair, fear, hopelessness, and grief..." Anabel said, looking the girl straight in the eyes, seeing how the girl's eyes widened. "The Pokémon in your arms—" The girl flinched before bringing the yellow Pokémon closer, as if trying to hide it from Anabel. "—is feeling very confused and nervous, as well as a departing sadness."

The girl shook her head defiantly, "T-That doesn't mean anything! You could just be making it all up!"

"You're feeling denial and are probably trying to convince yourself that I am lying to you, correct?" Anabel said knowingly. The girl shook her head again, unwilling to believe Anabel but still wondering how Anabel could know her emotions. "I'm not lying. I would never lie about things like this."

"How... How do you know that?"

"I told you already; I can sense emotions. It is as simple as that." Anabel answered calmly.

The girl clenched her eyes shut and tightened her hold around the yellow Pokémon, which gave a soft 'Chu' of protest. She then took a deep breath and opened her eyes, "... What are you two doing here and how did you get here?"

"We were on our way to Saffron City, where I was going to challenge the Saffron City Gym, when Anabel stopped." Ash explained as he stepped forward, causing the girl's eyes to lock on to him, Eevee, and his Egg Container. "She sensed your emotions and started running. I followed behind."

Anabel frowned, "Normally I'm more in control of myself but... when I sensed your emotions, it was like a tidal wave had crashed into me. I was swept up into the emotions and I couldn't escape, no matter how much I tried. All I could think of was stopping the flow of emotions..." She paused for a moment, thinking back. "I didn't even know I had moved until the last remnants of that 'wave' had vanished..."

This was news to Ash. It wasn't that hard for him to have believed in Anabel's powers and he soon thought that they were cool. I mean, who wouldn't want to be able to sense the emotions of their Pokémon? That opened up so much possibilities for Pokémon Battles; knowing when your or the enemy's Pokémon was tired, for one. It had seemed really awesome.

'Until now.' Ash thought with a small frown. Based on what Anabel had just said, her power did have its disadvantages. For one, it seemed that she could be 'swept away' if there was enough emotions and effectively black out as she lost control of her body.

"I see..." The girl muttered, breaking Ash out of his thoughts. Raising her head, the girl looked at them before sighing. "... I'm sorry for acting so hostile towards you guys."

XXXXXX

(Meanwhile)

Bulbasaur growled at his two captors hatefully, daring them to approach. If they took a single step towards the cage they had thrown him in earlier, he would make them pay. He had recovered from the electrical shock that the net had given him; he was ready to fight again.

Besides being ready to fight, Bulbasaur was also ready to escape. He thought that he would be able to cut the bars of his cage with a Vine Whip. He would have to do it when those two Humans weren't looking, but, if he could free the others before the Humans found out, they could escape. Get back to Melanie and make sure that she and the others that hadn't been captured were okay.

"You really think that growling at us will help, weed?" Jessie sneered as she approached the small Grass-Type. Two vines escaped from the sides around the bottom of its bulb and raced towards her, only for her to grin; she had expected this. When the vines were on the outside of the cage, she pressed the button on the remote she was carrying. "Take this!"

Bulbasaur fell to the ground, screaming, as over a hundred volts of pure electricity coursed through the floor underneath him. The vines fell inches away from Jessie's face, jerking occasionally because of Bulbasaur's spasms. Jessie 'tched' at the sight of the weed; did it somehow think that it could outwit Team Rocket?

The cells seemed to be designed so that captured Pokémon did have a chance to attack. This was not true. The bars of the cells were spaced far enough apart that no Pokémon could slip through them while, if a Pokémon attempted to break or cut them, would cause the electric floor to turn on. They could also turn on the electric floor with a remote for any disobedience.

Jessie turned off the electric floor before she approached the downed weed's cage. She put away the remote and withdrew an orange collar—one of the latest gadgets in Team Rocket—from her pocket. She slipped her arm into the cage and put the collar over Bulbasaur's throat. The weed tried to stop her but it was too late; with an audible 'snap', the collar snapped shut, thus sealing Bulbasaur's fate.

"Welcome to Team Rocket, little weed." Jessie mocked as she withdrew her arm and walked away.

Ash's Pokémon Team:

Eevee (Female): Level 19.

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

Pidgeotto (Male): Level 17.

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

Rattata (Male): Level 16.

Attacks: Bite (Dark), Tackle (Normal), Quick Attack (Normal), Hyper Fang (Normal), Scratch (Normal), and Quick Swim (Normal).

Beedrill (Male): Level 17.

Attacks: String-Shot (Bug), Poison-Sting (Poison), Bug-Bite (Bug), Fury Attack (Normal), and Twineedle (Bug).

Clefairy (Female): Level 13.

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

Paras (Male): Level 15.

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

Anabel's Pokémon Team:

Abra (Male): Level 20.

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

? Unknown:

Attacks: Unknown.

Jessie's Pokémon Team:

Ekans (Male): Level 22.

Attacks: Wrap (Normal), Leer (Normal), and Poison Sting (Poison).

Jigglypuff (Female): Level 15.

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

Pierce's Pokémon Team

Hitmonlee (Male): Level 30.

Attacks: Double Kick (Fighting).

A/N: Author's Note: Well, that's the end of this chapter. Tell me what you guys thought of the chapter in your reviews and/or PMs; what you liked, what you disliked, and etc. As always, flames will be ignored and/or deleted. Constructive criticism is approved and welcome.

And didn't I promise you guys that there would be a familiar face appearing in this chapter? It was Jessie, though you could also think of Bulbasaur as another familiar face... That's it. See you guys later, when I finish the next chapter.