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 27:

(Saffron City—Pokémon Gym—Storage Room)

After they had left Jessie behind in Sabrina's office, Delia led the group in the search for a storage room. They checked all of the rooms in the hallway they were in and found two small bedrooms, a small bathroom, and a cleaning closet. The storage closet had a few bandages but nothing else which forced Delia to lead the group down another hallway.

Luckily, they weren't ambushed or attacked by Team Rocket and quickly found a storage room. On one side of the room were shiny metal racks that held a variety of Potion, Super Potion, Antidote, and supplemental Pokémon medicine. The other side of the room held a rack full of towels, blankets, pillows, a couple of first aid kits, flashlights, light bulbs, and some cleaning supplies. In the middle of the room were a couple of taped boxes, which proved firm enough to serve as seats.

Once Delia knew that the boxes were okay to sit on, she told Ash and Anabel to sit down on them while she moved towards the first-aid kits. Kadabra took up a stance near the door into the room, eyes glowing with psychic power as he scanned for any nearby people. If there were, Kadabra would alert the others and Delia would decide on their course of action would be.

First-aid kit in hand, Delia returned to the two pre-teen Pokémon Trainers and began to work. She gave Anabel a couple of painkiller tablets and, after having Ash turn away, wrapped some bandages around Anabel's chest when Anabel told her that Jessie's Jigglypuff had been standing on there and had made it hard to breath. It may have been a little extreme to do, but Delia wasn't going to be taking any chances. When she was finished, she gave Anabel a pillow and blanket and told her to rest before she moved on to her son.

Ash got his stomach and chest wrapped with bandages after making sure that Jessie's heels hadn't pierced his skin. Delia had then moved on and gave him some painkillers, some tissue to deal with his bloody nose, and then gave him a pillow and blanket of his own. Her own bloody nose had been dealt with by sticking some ripped tissue to stop the flow of blood and, unlike the children, she didn't need any painkillers. So, she would be on watch with Kadabra while they attempted to rest.

Something cracked.

Delia almost fell from her "seat", but managed to hold on. She started looking around for what could have caused the sound as Ash and Anabel sat up and began to look themselves. Whatever it was that made the sound hadn't seemed to alarm Kadabra, but... one could never be too careful.

It was Anabel who spotted it first, "It's Ash's Pokémon Egg!"

Delia and Ash quickly turned to where they had put the Egg Case on another box. Anabel was right. Inside the Egg Case, the Pokémon Egg was slowly rocking back and forth on its cushion. The cracking sound had come from the crack the Pokémon within the egg had caused.

"It's hatching!" Ash said excitedly, throwing off the blanket and getting up to quickly walk over to the Egg Case and his Pokémon Egg. Why shouldn't he be a bit excited? For a while now, he and everyone else had been wondering if the Pokémon inside the egg was actually an alien. What Sabrina had told them of what Professor Oak's friend had said, he knew it was probably an alien species, like Staryu and Starmie, but... "I wonder what it will be...?"

Delia smiled, "We'll find out soon, honey. But, first, we need to get it out of that Egg Case and get its future Poké Ball out."

"Right." Ash nodded seriously, almost slapping himself for forgetting.

Ash then removed the shrunken Poké Ball from the top of the Egg Case and then removed the top as Anabel and Delia watched. This was one of the times where they could only watch and feel happy, despite what had already happened today, about what was happening. He was the one that had discovered the egg on Mt. Moon and carried it this far. He was the one to buy all of those books on caring for and raising Baby Pokémon, even though he had only started to read them recently. What he had learned from those books were shown in how he had disciplined Eevee for her bad behavior and how he had begun to treat his other Pokémon.

Instead of just being tools for him to use, anyone who had spent enough time with Ash could see how Ash's Pokémon had become a family all on its own. Pidgeotto and Beedrill were the tough older brothers, Rattata the brash little brother, Paras the quiet but smart little brother, Clefairy the shy little sister, and Eevee the excited older sister. Ash served as the father of the group who cared for them all and pushed them to their limits, constantly striving to make them tougher to meet challenges that they would face in the future.

Whatever that Pokémon inside the egg was, alien or not, it already had a place waiting for it. Like many other Trainers in similar situations, Ash would remember it as his first Pokémon he raised from birth as opposed to catching it when it was old enough to fight and raising it from then on.

While his mom and Anabel were thinking about how much this situation meant, Ash was carefully holding onto the Pokémon Egg as carefully as he could. It a little bit weird, but nice.

The egg's shell radiated a constant, pleasant warmth and, while holding it was a little bit awkward, he could feel every time the egg moved. He could feel as the Pokémon inside of it tried to wriggle and bat its way out of the egg and cause small cracks to form on the shell as a result. For some reason, his heart felt warm, his stomach full of Butterfrees, his arms weak, and his cheeks hurt from the wide smile he was sporting.

Within a few moments, the cracks connected into a long, branched circle around the top of the egg before, with a strong push, the Pokémon within knocked it off. Looking down, Ash found himself forgetting everything he had been thinking about before—practicing at the Gym, talking with Sabrina, Team Rocket's attack, Jessie's attack, the pain—everything. The reason...? Oh, that was simple. He was too busy staring in awe at the baby Pokémon as it stared up at him.

The baby looked like a miniature, infant-sized version of the Pokémon that Ash had seen on Mt. Moon. Like that Pokémon, the baby's skin was red-orange, it had a blue-green face, its eyes were white inside black eye-sockets, its arms looked like cords, and it had to legs that ended in a point. The only difference was that, unlike that other Pokémon, it had a pink stripe on its face and the crystal in its chest was pink, as opposed to the purple the other Pokémon had.

"Hello..." Ash whispered to the small Pokémon in his arms. "My name is Ash Ketchum."

XXXXXX

(Meanwhile—Kiyo's Pokémon Dojo)

It was only a few seconds before an Arcanine broke and then raced through the front doors of the dojo when one psychic turned to another, opening his mouth to warn his fellows. He never got a chance as the Arcanine's rider—dressed in a Saffron policemen's uniform—patted Arcanine's back and caused the creature to unleash two consecutive Ember towards the psychics. Unfortunately, the psychics were able to use their telekinesis to grab hold of the attacks and collected them into two flaming orbs before moving to send it back at the police officer.

That's when three more officers burst in through the windows. Amidst the shards of falling, broken glass their Pokémon unleashed a flurry of Fire and Normal-Type moves. The surprise allowed them to hit a psychic before she could put up a barrier to protect herself and startle another psychic, so one officer went after him while the other two went after two other psychics.

The flaming orbs were launched back at the first officer on the Arcanine, who charged forward before it used Fire Spin to dispel the flames with its own. It then dodged to then side as the three psychics battling it unleashed a concussive wave of mental energy that knocked Arcanine and its rider backwards. Before they could hit the floor, one of the psychics used his telekinesis to grab hold of them both and hoisted them up into the air.

With a flick of his hands, the psychic sent the two of them flying towards where Officer Adams was quickly overwhelming a black-haired psychic with his Sandslash. Officer Greenly shouted a warning to him just in time, so Officer Jacobs and his Sandslash quickly jumped to the side. It proved ineffective as the psychic they were after unleashed another wave of concussive mental energy at them, sending them flying into the air.

Just in time for Officer Adams to release a Golbat in the direction of "his" psychic, "Use Supersonic, Golbat!"

"NO!"

The psychic that Officer Adams had chosen to go after was the one that was currently holding Kiyo, his students, and their Pokémon up in the air. If that Supersonic hit her, then she could become confused and lose control over her abilities and accidentally let their captives go. And if that happened, then their enemies would outnumber them and take away their advantage. They would be overwhelmed, captured, and, worst of all, they would fail their mission.

Unfortunately, there was no time for anyone to do anything to stop Golbat's Supersonic. The rings of energy hit the psychic in the face and knocked her back. Above, the blue glow surrounding the psychics' captives flickered but held strong. The other psychics, that weren't being attacked by the two non-captive officers, breathed a sigh of relief... which they sucked in sharply when the blue glow faded completely.

Kiyo, his students, and their Pokémon dropped to the ground. And then quickly rushed in to join the battle against their former captors.

XXXXXX

(Saffron City—Silph Co. Building—President's Office)

As soon as Mr. Silph's safe opened, Domino allowed a satisfied smirk to appear on her face. Sitting in the safe were a neat pile of marked folders, two piles of marked CDs, a few small-scale replicas of inventions that Silph Co. had made, and a few miscellaneous things. It was really helpful that it was so organized as that allowed her to quickly snatch up the files and the CD marked "Master Ball". She then took everything else, besides the replicas, that was in the safe from the safe and stuffed it all into her hip-pouch.

Who knew how useful those files could be to Team Rocket.

Finished, Domino turned around and smiled at Silph. "Thank you for you cooperation, Mr. President~! I'm sure that you'll be very satisfied with how we use your technology."

Silph was silent. While she was putting in the combination she had gotten out of him, Domino had told him what some organizations, such as Team Rocket, were using his inventions for. It disgusted him to think that his technology was being used and manipulated to commit things he didn't want to even think about. So, he remained silent.

"Don't be that way, Mr. President!" Domino said with a childish pout. "You did want to know about what we could use your inventions for, after all."

Silph didn't respond. In reality, perhaps he had been a bit too shocked that a group like Team Rocket would want his company's technology. There were other groups and companies that had wanted to steal the knowledge of how he mass-produced Poké Balls, how to make Great Balls and Ultra Balls, or know how to make the special resin they used that allowed his Silph Scopes to work. It was standard corporate espionage which, if one was to tone down Team Rocket's actions, this whole thing was about.

Domino frowned, "Fine! If you want to be that way, Mr. President, then I'm afraid this game is over. Ekans, Poison Sting." Ekans obliged by clamping his mouth around Silph's throat, startling the man and making him start to squirm against the body that held him. "Now, now... my Ekans won't kill you, Mr. President. Its poison is unusually weak for its species, but I've found that I can use it as a sedative."

Silph blacked out.

XXXXXX

(Saffron City—Pokémon Gym—With Sabrina and Jonathan)

They were finally done.

An hour after Jonathan had left with Sabrina to help her clear out the remaining Rockets in the Gym and they were finally done. It had been exhausting, going from room-to-room and dealing with the Rockets hiding in them. And it had only gotten tougher when Sabrina had started to ask him to help out more. Seeing the fallen was hard both emotionally as well as mentally, no matter who that person had been before death.

Jonathan was sitting down on the floor, back against the hallway's white wall as he rested. Sabrina stood above, the perfect picture of calm, despite what she had done and seen today. What she had just ordered her Kadabra to do before it had left.

Someone had to take care of the bodies.

Jonathan didn't want to go back. He didn't want to see the fallen, black-clothed bodies of the Rockets that he and Sabrina had dealt with. He didn't want to see the broken furniture, the ruined room where Sabrina had kept Pokémon Eggs, the scorched walls and floors, the rubble, the smells... He didn't want to have to deal with anything that had happened today.

"Go to your family."

Jonathan's head snapped up towards at Sabrina's voice and found that, instead of looking at him, Sabrina was staring at the wall across from her. There was a certain shakiness in the renowned psychic's voice and the way she was staring at the wall, as opposed to looking at him, was very telling. How could he have been so stupid as to not notice? Sabrina wasn't calm or undisturbed at what had happened... she had put her poker face on. It was slowly falling away, revealing the hurting woman hiding underneath it.

"Sabrina—" Jonathan said, getting up.

Sabrina shook her head and avoided the hand that had tried to land on her shoulder, "No, Mr. Ketchum. I will be fine. I just need some time to... gather... myself." She pointed down the hallway, from whence they had come. "You should go to your family, Mr. Ketchum. They need you and you need them."

"What are you talking about?" Jonathan asked.

Sabrina didn't answer. And that spoke volumes.

Jonathan turned around and began to run down the hallway. Sabrina had implied that something was wrong with his family. Something bad. So, he ran. He ran until he turned around a corner and he couldn't see Sabrina's sad face anymore. He ran past Kadabra and the bodies it was teleporting away. He ran until his legs hurt and his lungs ached, until he had thrown open the door to Sabrina's office. It was empty and trashed, as if someone had battled inside of it.

Heart clenching, Jonathan quickly and ran from the ruined room. He needed to find his family. He had to find his family. He just had to. Because, if he had left them alone and they had gotten hurt... he didn't know what he would do. He desperately hoped he wasn't about to figure out what he would do, either.

XXXXXX

(Saffron City—Police Headquarters)

Chief Jenny all-but collapsed into the seat behind her desk. Within the last hour, her police force had been dealing with the last remnants of Team Rocket's attack on the city. An hour ago, her officers had reported that fireworks had gone off in the sky, an apparent signal for all Team Rocket members. Most of the Rockets had retreated but some of the stupider or more bloodthirsty ones had stayed back to cause more damage, inadvertently preventing the police from following their retreating comrades.

Despite the retreat and decrease of Rockets present throughout the city, the last hour had been the hardest out of the entire attack. Frankly, Chief Jenny wanted to forget what had happened. She wanted to forget about all of the men and women she had lost, all of the civilians that had died, all of the crimes that had happened—both reported and not—, the property damage, and all of those tough choices she had to make. It was just too much.

Still, the chief did have to think about it. The government was going to start butting in and demanding answers. The most-populated city in the country, bar the capitol, had been attacked by a terrorist organization. There would be repercussions for all those involved and, for the first time in her career, the chief couldn't see what was going to happen.

The chief's office door slid open, "Chief?" Jeremiah Stones asked as he poked his head into the room. "We've just gotten word from Kiyo's Pokémon Dojo."

Chief Jenny almost snapped at the man to just leave her alone. Couldn't he see that she didn't want to hear anymore? But, no. The chief simply raised her head and nodded at the man, beckoning for him to continue and tell her the news. As the chief, she had to know about the fate of the people so that she could make arrangements If need be.

"Officer Adams had reported in to say that the situation is under control. He says that all of the Team Rocket psychics have been subdued and that the hostage situation is over." He paused, unsure of himself now that it came to the hard part. "Ma'am... we lost Officer Quil, Officer Greenly, and five of Kiyo's students."

The chief was silent for a moment, "Very well. Send the first available team we have to Kiyo's Dojo and have them assist Officer Adams and Officer Jacobs. When we have identified the bodies, I will personally deal with informing their families of their loss. You may go, Stone." The man stood there for a moment, unsure. Chief Jenny frowned, "I said that you can go, Stones."

Stones quickly turned tail and left the room. Now alone, the chief sighed and allowed her head to fall until it hit the top of her desk. How many more deaths would she hear about today? How many more trusted, dependable men would be reported to have fallen to Team Rocket? How many more families would soon be torn apart by grief over the loss of someone who had died?

How much more was she supposed to take?

XXXXXX

(Saffron City—Pokémon Gym—Storage Room)

It had been some time since Ash's newest Pokémon had hatched, though none of the people or Pokémon within the room were sure about how long it had been. Still, it didn't really matter much. The humans had been distracted by the arrival of the Baby Pokémon and helping Ash with it. Even though Ash had read the books on how to care for Baby Pokémon, he was in no means close to being an expert.

This could be seen in the way, only a couple minutes after the Baby Pokémon had hatched, it started making hungry, keening sounds. Ash hadn't known what was wrong at all and turned to the females in the room as the Baby Pokémon continued to fuss. His mom had been able to tell that the small creature was hungry and had Ash take out some Poké Chow and mash it in a small dish alongside some water while she held his Pokémon. The result was only vaguely similar to the food that Baby Pokémon were supposed to eat, but it was the best they could do.

When Ash had gotten the food ready, Delia had handed his Pokémon back to him and taught him the correct way of holding it. While he had been holding the baby okay so far, he needed to know the correct way of holding and properly supporting it while he fed it. It was a bit hard to find where the baby's mouth was supposed to be until, with the edge of the mush-filled cup against of face, a small rip opened up to reveal an infant-like mouth.

The surprise of it had worn off quickly which left Ash to feeding the baby and switching out to Delia when his arms got tired and the baby was still eating. The way she held the baby, talked to it as the baby ate, it stirred the strings of Ash's heart. If that was even a fraction of how his mom held him, how she looked at him when he was a baby... then he was very, very lucky to have her as his mom. Extremely lucky.

Soon after Ash had that realization, his newest Pokémon finished feeding, mouth closing and fading from view as it slowly closed its eyes. Delia handed it over to Ash before it could fully fall asleep and then watched her son startle as it snuggled into his arms, seeking warmth.

At the moment, Ash and Anabel could be found snuggled under the blanket that Delia had given them earlier. Ash's Baby Pokémon was sleeping on the cushion from its Egg Case next to Ash with one of the boy's arms leaving the warmth of the blanket to wrap around the cushion. Delia sat on a nearby box and watched the children sleep while Anabel's Kadabra continued to stand guard by the door.

'What a day...' Delia thought. So much had happened today. Ms. Sabrina had revealed that one of Professor Oak's friends may know about Ash's egg, Team Rocket attacked, one of the two Rockets that Ash and Anabel had fought in the past had found them, Ash and his friend had gotten hurt, she had fought an Ekans, they escaped, and Ash's egg had finally hatched. The brown-haired woman sighed, 'If only Team Rocket hadn't attacked. We would be in our rooms in the Pokémon Center instead and... Jonathan would be here.'

Jonathan...

Delia had no idea of what had happened to her husband since he had left to go help Sabrina deal with the Rockets. While the day's events had helped her push her worries and concern over her husband aside so she could focus on the matter at hand, she was worried about him. How was he doing? Was he safe? Was he hurt? Where was he? Was he looking for them? Was in the condition to be able to look for them?

What if Jonathan was—

Kadabra touched her on the arm, an urgent look on its face. "Kadabra." It pointed its spoon towards the door, then repeated the action when it seemed like Delia didn't understand what it was trying to say. "Kadabra Abra Kada-kada bra Kadabra."

"Capture whoever comes in that door with a Psychic. If it is an enemy, knock it back into the wall." Delia said.

Kadabra nodded and readied its spoon, stepping forward so that it would be the first thing that the person coming towards them would see if they opened the door. The peaceful atmosphere that had enveloped the room was quickly replaced with one of tension, Delia tightening her fingers around the hem of her pink sweater.

There came the sound of frantic footsteps in-between pauses in which the sound of doors being opened could be heard. Finally, a shadow appeared under the door before the door handle clicked opened. It barely opened before Kadabra had waved its spoon at the door, catching the person that had opened the door with its Psychic. The person's glowing blue body was lifted into the air at the same time as he made a startled sound, matching the one that had escaped from Delia's throat.

"Jonathan?!"

Despite his current predicament, Jonathan's face became less panicked and more relieved looking. A heavy weight looked to have been lifted off of his shoulders. "Delia..."

"Kadabra, put him down!" Delia hurriedly ordered the Psychic Pokémon. Kadabra looked at her for a moment, saw her expression, and nodded. A moment later and the glow faded from around Jonathan's body and Jonathan was eased back onto the ground. He was almost knocked over by his tearful wife as she lunged at him, arms wrapping around him to form a tight hug. "Jonathan..."

"It's alright, Delia. I'm here." Jonathan said as he patted his wife on her back, holding back tears. She was safe. His wife was safe. There, behind two boxes, lay two form wrapped in blankets with their heads tucked under bright white pillows. The kids were safe, too. He looked down at her as the first tear slipped from his eyes, "I'm okay. We're okay. It's okay... It'll be fine, now."

Ash's Pokémon Team:

Eevee (Female): Level 25.

Attacks: Tackle (Normal), Sand Attack (Normal), Scratch (Normal), Tail-Whip (Normal), Helping Hand (Normal), Growl (Normal), Bite (Dark), Quick Attack (Normal), Covet (Normal), and Take Down (Normal).

Pidgeotto (Male): Level 20.

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

Rattata (Male): Level 21.

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

Beedrill (Male): Level 20.

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

Clefairy (Female): Level 17.

Attacks: Sing (Normal), Pound (Normal), Metronome (Normal), DoubleSlap (Normal), Defense Curl (Normal), Follow Me (Normal), and Bestow (Normal).

Paras (Male): Level 19.

Attacks: PoisonPowder (Poison), Stun Spore (Grass), Sleep Powder (Grass), Spore (Grass), Leech Life (Bug), and Fury Cutter (Bug).

Anabel's Pokémon Team:

Kadabra (Male): Level 27.

Attacks: Teleport (Psychic), Psyshock (Psychic), Confusion (Psychic), Psychic (Psychic), Disable (Normal), Miracle Eye (Psychic), and Ally Switch (Psychic).

Butterfree (Female): Level 20.

Attacks: Confusion (Psychic), Poisonpowder (Poison), Stun Spore (Grass), Harden (Bug), Sleep Powder (Grass), String Shot (Bug), Gust (Flying), and Supersonic (Normal).

A/N: Author's Note: Well, that's the end of this chapter and, furthermore, the final battle-ish chapter of the "Battle of Saffron City" arc. The next chapter will be its resolution: how Saffron City and Kanto are going to deal with what Team Rocket did to the city, how Team Rocket stole valuable information from Silph Co., city and government officials talking about new security and preventive measures, and some people talking about and examining Ash's newest Pokémon.

... Do I smell a trip to the Hoenn region soon? And, if I did, would you readers like for that to happen? It would be the first time that Ash and Anabel left Kanto, since they can't be separated yet, and it would allow me to show you guys some of the reasons why I believe that, if Ash went to another country, he would start over with a new team.