Ash stepped out of the car, and held the door open for Mellanie. She climbed out, looking around. "Indigo Plateau?"

"I said we were going to meet the regional leaders. This is where my office is, so it makes sense."

Mellanie smiled. "True I suppose."

She followed Ash as he strode into the administration building, somewhere he hadn't been for a long time. The receptionist sat up in surprise as he walked in.

"Welcome back Sir." She stammered.

"Thank you." Ash said, seamlessly transitioning into his public image. "Have the regional Champions arrived?"

"Yes sir. They are with Miss Shirona."

Ash nodded. "Tell them to go to my office." He turning away to the elevator, Mellanie in tow.

A few minutes later, Ash was seated behind the desk in his office. It was as plain as it ever had been, no adornments, just a simple desk with a computer on top. Mellanie was sat to one side, next to four empty chairs. Ash didn't seem to be doing anything so she looked at him.

"Ash, why are there four chairs? Aren't there only three regional leaders?"

Ash smiled mysteriously. "You'll see soon."

The door opened and outside Cynthia was a few feet away, walking towards it. Behind her followed Steven and Lance, with somebody else hidden by their figures. Cynthia strode into the office, looking around approvingly. She liked the way that Ash never bothered to make it ostentatious. Steven was right behind her, before Lance gestured for the fourth person to enter the room. Mellanie gasped as she rose to her feet slightly.

"Sam?!" She asked incredulously.

Her childhood friend grinned at her. "Hey Mel. Congratulations on winning the Johto League again."

"What are you…" She rounded on Ash. "What's he doing here?"

Ash smiled. "Why don't you ask him?"

Mellanie turned to face Sam again, who was trying not to laugh. "Well?" Mellanie demanded.

Lance stepped forwards, a broad grin on his face. "Sam is here as my tutee."

"As your..?" Mellanie asked, not comprehending.

"Let me put it this way Mel." Sam said. "After winning the Indigo League, I trained for a bit, while you were away. Then I undertook a private challenge of the Kanto Elite Four."

"And you won?" Mellanie asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Sam looked a bit sheepish. "Actually no, I lost. I came back to train with Ash for a while, developing a style, maximising the potential of my Pokémon. I improved, and tried again."

"He was very nearly successful." Lance admitted. "He didn't quite manage to get past Karen, but forcing her to use her entire team is quite an achievement. That was a while ago though, he could probably beat her now. After watching his challenge, I knew he'd be back to beat me sooner or later. I offered to train him in running a region, so that when he does beat me, he won't mess up Kanto and all my hard work."

Mellanie digested all of this, while watching her friend. There was an aura of confidence that she didn't remember from him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked weakly.

Sam grinned. "Call it pride, but I didn't want you to know I'd failed, or that I needed Lance's instruction. I wanted to surprise you when I became the leader of Kanto."

Ash coughed, and everybody turned to him. "I'm pleased to hear of your good progress Sam, but we are here for something more pressing than the past and future of Sam Fernandez."

Ash gestured to the seats and everybody quickly sat, their attention fully focused on him. He continued to stand, as he spoke.

"I'm sure you all remember Professor Samuel Oak." There were nods all around. "When he resigned his position as Researcher of Kanto he began to travel the world, often venturing outside of the four regions." Ash held up a hand to forestall the interruption he could sense was coming from Cynthia. "Oak had the Pokémon to withstand most attacks, and he is a canny trainer. I have good relations with Pokémon across a wide spread of the world, and I have been keeping tabs on him. Six weeks ago, he vanished."

Ash looked around the room, but nobody tried to interrupt. They just sat, hanging onto his every word.

"You are all aware of the capabilities of my Pokémon, but when they reached the place he had last been seen, they found nothing."

"How long between him vanishing and your scouts arriving?" Steven asked instantly.

"A few weeks, but that would make minimal difference. They are adept at finding cold trails. Whatever did this erased their tracks extremely well."

There was a few moments silence, then Cynthia spoke. "What are we here for? What do you need Champion? We are all here with our best Pokémon as you asked."

"While my scouts are superb, they have a certain way of doing things. Since they have drawn a blank, I need another opinion."

"You want us to…" Lance asked, before trailing off.

"Yes." Ash answered the unfinished question. "We will go to where he was last seen. If we can find anything, we may have a clue into where he is."

"Why are you so worried about him?" Steven asked. "I mean, he's a missing person. It's a tragedy but we get a few each year. Why is he different?"

"Because he's a good man." Mellanie barked, suddenly animated. "Are you saying we should leave him in danger?"

"Enough Mellanie." Ash said, his voice sharp. He turned his gaze onto Steven. "Gary Oak has gotten engaged, and has asked Cynthia to find a way to contact his grandfather. She asked me, not knowing that the Professor had gone missing. We cannot be seen to be losing people, especially people as famous as the Professor."

Steven nodded, but Ash wasn't finished. "Furthermore, the last man to evade my scouts was Agent. I cannot permit another such atrocity to occur."

"Do you think that is likely?" Cynthia asked, ignoring the intake of breath from Sam and Lance.

"Until proved otherwise, we assume the worst." Ash said. "We leave in one hour. We should return by tonight, but bring supplies for three days."

They all stood, the dismissal evident in Ash's voice. As they turned to leave, Ash put a hand on Mellanie's shoulder. The young girl spun to face him, but he gestured for the others to leave. As the door shut behind them, he turned his gaze onto his young student.

"I expect you to voice your opinion Mellanie, but I also expect you to cut emotion out. I have taught you better than that." Ash said sternly.

"I…" Mellanie said before trailing off.

"I understand that you are worried for him." Ash said, more kindly. "But we will not find and help him if we allow emotion to dominate our actions. I know I have rushed you into this, but I need you to keep calm and rational. Understand?"

Mellanie sighed. "Yes. I'm just worried."

"I know." Ash said. "But we will find him Mellanie. We will do whatever it takes to find him."

There was a flash of light, and the six humans appeared together in the forest, along with a large group of Pokémon. Five of them started looking around, while the sixth was already moving.

"Aggron, Sceptile, Sharpedo, Machamp, Onix, Snorlax set up a perimeter." Ash barked, pointing where he wanted each Pokémon as he called their names. "Charizard, Altaria into the sky. I need to know if there is anybody nearby."

The others were staring at him in shock, but he ignored them.

"Scouts, get to work. Espeon, Pikachu go with them."

Mellanie was the first to react. "Ampharos, help with the perimeter." She called. "Go with Machamp."

Her words seemed to snap the others into action, and soon Pokémon were moving all over the place. Before anybody could get their Pokémon to start searching, Ash held up a hand.

"Wait. Somebody will be here soon." Ash said, and promptly sat down, shutting his eyes. Steven glanced at Sam and Mellanie.

"What's he doing?" he asked quietly.

"Meditating." Mellanie answered. "And he likes silence." She added pointedly.

Steven raised an eyebrow, but turned away, moving to talk quietly to his Metagross. Cynthia watched the exchange, amused, while Lance had already taken his signal from Sam who ignored what the Pokémon Master was doing. He swung himself onto the back of his Dragonite and took to the sky, watching the surrounding area. Charizard swooped down, and hovered next to him. Lance looked down into the forest, but couldn't see any sign of Ashs Pokémon. They had hidden themselves well. Yet he knew they would catch anybody coming in. Suddenly there was movement out of the corner of his eye. Dragonite spun, and Lance gripped his Pokémon tight. Charizard had shot up into the sky, but before Dragonite could follow a small Pokémon smashed into him.

Lance shouted in surprise as Dragonite spun out of control, before managing to catch himself. He looked up into the sky, but couldn't see what had attacked them. All he could see was Charizard with what looked like a smirk on his face.

"What's going on?" Lance shouted up to the Flame Pokémon who simply dropped down to next to Dragonite once again. Charizard roared, and there was another flash of movement, before a small blue-purple Pokémon appeared in front of them. Charizard roared again, and the Gliscor clapped its wings, before turning and flying towards the ground. Charizard gestured to Lance to follow, before returning to his vigil in the sky.

As the Gliscor landed, Ash moved smoothly to his feet, striding across. He glanced at Lance, who landed nearby, seeing the bruise on Dragonite starting to form.

"I wouldn't advise you try to tackle Gliscor." Ash said, his voice not showing any of the amusement he felt. "He is by far the most powerful Pokémon in this area. You wouldn't stand a chance. Even my Pokémon wouldn't find it easy against him."

"Don't I know it." Lance muttered. "We didn't even see him coming."

Ash ignored him, turning to face Gliscor. "It's good to see you again old friend. Thank you for the warning." Gliscor bowed, something so human in its motion it made the watching humans stare. "What can you give me?" Ash continued.

Gliscor leapt back into the air, landing on Ash's shoulder and started to mutter into his ear. Ash didn't move, listening hard. As Gliscor finished, he jumped back into the air, watching Ash carefully. Ash bowed deeply.

"We'll be quick. I hope to be out of your territory very soon."

Gliscor nodded again, before there was a flash of movement. The small Pokémon vanished, shooting off at an incredible speed. Ash turned back to the others.

"When you travel into areas such as this, particularly when bringing a large number of Pokémon, it is worth getting permission. Gliscor couldn't defeat us, but if he gets into a fight, any Pokémon living under his protection will join him. I would rather not have to fight an army yet."

He turned away, as Espeon came padding back towards him. Ash knelt next to the Sun Pokémon, petting her before starting to talk quietly.

Mellanie turned to the others. "That's as good a signal as we're going to get from him. He's brought us here, we need to get to work."

After a long moment, there was a flurry of commands. Lance stood quietly watching Pokémon getting sent out by Cynthia and Steven. He didn't feel his Pokémon could contribute to searching, but he had released them all anyway. He turned to Sam, who still had all of his Pokémon nearby.

"Aren't you going to start searching for a clue?" Lance asked, his eyebrow raised. Sam chuckled.

"I think it would be counter-productive. Cynthia is good at this kind of thing, and Steven has better Pokémon. Even Mel will be better at it than me. No, I put my energy towards something else."

"What?" Lance asked.

"When you train with Champion you learn never to miss anything. If you do, you'll usually pay for it pretty quick." Sam said, before turning back to his Pokémon. "Guys, I want you to defend us, but not get too close unless you need to. Typhlosion, stay with me." The young trainer then swung back towards Lance. "You coming?"

As the two started to move away, Ash looked up, watching them go. Espeon gazed at Sam, who met the Pokémons eye with an easy grin. Then they were gone, away into the forest.

"He'll get into a fight." Espeon said.

"I know." Ash said. "But then he can. And he knows what to do if he does"

Espeon didn't answer, knowing what her trainer meant. Very few Pokémon would ever try to attack Ash, such was his reputation even among wild Pokémon. Even if angered at an invasion of their territory, most Pokémon wouldn't risk a battle with a trainer that they couldn't beat. Furthermore, the aura of respect that that they had for Ash usually extended to anybody with him. Now though, Ash wasn't sure. Sam might be able to fight them if he got far enough away. Which would give Ash a chance to see the attitude of local Pokémon.

"Have the scouts found anything else?" Ash asked. Espeon shook her head.

"They are still drawing a blank. Alakazam is torn between shame and fury. It is quite amusing."

Ash laughed quietly. "He always did have too much pride."

"Maybe he takes after you." Espeon commented, drawing another chuckle from her trainer. Ash moved across to lean against a tree, sitting down. Espeon sat next to him, and they sat quietly, searching with their minds. Neither expected to find anything, but they felt they should try. Even if it wasn't the real reason they were here.

"This is completely unremarkable." Cynthia said to Steven. "There is nothing here."

Steven nodded. "I don't know what he wants from us here. If he couldn't find anything, I doubt we can."

"Has Metagross found anything?" Cynthia asked.

"No. None of my Pokémon have. You?"

"Complete blank."

There was a flicker of something in the trees, which didn't elude Steven. He stared at it, with Cynthia taking a moment to realize what he was doing.

"What?" She asked, slightly nervously.

"I thought I saw something." Steven said uncertainly. "It's gone though."

Cynthia nodded, before moving away again. As they got further into the forest, she couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. After a few more minutes she turned to Steven.

"Is it just me or…"

"Yes." Steven said, cutting her off. "There is something out there."

"One of Champions Pokémon?"

There was a long moment where the two trainers stared at each other, before something dawned.

"How far have we come?" Steven asked quietly.

"I don't know…" Cynthia said. Suddenly there was a loud hissing noise. They spun to see a group of Crobats appear, glaring down at them. Their own Pokémon rushed to their defence, forming a defensive circle to protect against the Pokémon staring at them.

Sam stopped, looking around. By his side, Lance tried to match his tutees calm posture. Having fought Pokémon so far into the wild before, he was aware of how strong they were. Yet Sam didn't seem to care. Lance jerked around when he heard rustling. Sam put a hand on his arm, gesturing into a different direction. Where Sam was pointed, a group of Ariados were crawling out. Sam gestured for Typhlosion to step forwards. Before his starter could do anything, the Ariados surged forwards into an attack.

"They are all getting into trouble." Espeon said. "Something is very wrong here."

"I know." Ash mused. "Is Alakazam ready to help them if they need it?"

"Yes. He wants to know when."

"Not yet. I need to know more. Have him bring Mellanie here though."

There was a flash, and Mellanie appeared with all her Pokémon, Alakazam next to her. She turned around and glared at Ash.

"You really need to give me some warning before you do that." She accused.

Ash held up a hand, stilling her instantly. "Sam, Lance, Cynthia and Steven are all under attack."

Mellanie stared at him, all her anger gone. "What? Where are they?"

"Not far away. If it wasn't for the forest you would be able to hear to noise of battle." Espeon said.

"And you are gathering information?" Mellanie asked, to which Ash nodded. "You didn't tell them they are bait?"

"No." Ash said. "Although, Sam has probably guessed. He's extremely intuitive."

"Ash." Espeon said. "Cynthia and Steven are beginning to be overwhelmed."

Ash twisted around in surprise. "What? Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Ash turned to Alakazam. "Go. Take Sceptile, Onix and Machamp. Charizard will bring support from the air. Then get Sam and Lance. Get them out of here, then come back for us."

Alakazam nodded, and crossed his spoons. There was a flash, and he was gone.

"Why are you getting them out the way?" Mellanie asked slightly nervously.

Ash stood up, ignoring his pupil for a moment, as he turned slowly around the clearing. He glanced back to Espeon who nodded. She then flicked her tail at the remaining Pokémon around them. Ash raised an eyebrow then nodded slowly.

"What?" Mellanie asked, the exasperation beginning to show. "What is going on?"

Ash turned back to her. "Something is very wrong here. The others shouldn't have been attacked so strongly. You know they were here as bait, but I didn't expect them to be overwhelmed, and definitely not this quickly."

"Could it have something to do with Professor Oak?" Mellanie asked excitedly. "Is this another clue you can work with?"

Ash sighed. "It almost certainly does, so most likely yes."

"What does Espeon want to do?"

Ash hesitated for a moment. "She wants to draw the trap."

Mellanie blinked. "You mean…"

"Yes. Whoever is behind this will most likely have set a trap. Espeon wants to spring it."

"Garchomp, use Flamethrower!" Cynthia shouted. Her Pokémon roared in response and fired a burst of flame up at a Crobat that simply twisted out of the way. Cynthia gritted her teeth in frustration; her Pokémon were struggling to land hits and even when they did, the Pokémon they faced were so strong! Next to her Steven was barking out instructions, but his team of Pokémon were retreating every moment, trying to get some respite from the overwhelming numbers of Pokémon they were facing.

"Cynthia, help!" Steven barked as his Pokémon withdrew around him, leaving him isolated for a moment. A pair of Crobats saw their chance and shot at the Hoenn Champion, clearly going after the human.

"Petal Blizzard." Cynthia called to Roserade. Roserade spun and fired a huge torrent of petals in front of Steven, backed up by a Hydro Pump from Milotic. The Crobat's changed direction rapidly, avoiding the attacks, giving Steven enough time to get back inside the defensive line of his Pokémon.

"This is ridiculous." He panted. "We were attacked before we could make any progress. How are we meant to do anything here?"

Cynthia didn't answer, looking around. Her Pokémon were firing off attacks almost constantly, desperately trying to hold back the attacks of the horde of Crobat's that they were facing. Every moment, more Pokémon streamed out to join the attack on them. She turned back to Steven.

"If you withdraw, I will cover you. Try and get back to Ash."

Steven shook his head. "No way. My Pokémon are better able to take this punishment."

Before Cynthia could answer there was a cry from her Pokémon. Lucario was down, overwhelmed by sheer numbers of rapid moving Pokémon. Gastrodon leapt forwards but more poison Pokémon met him, forcing him away from his fallen teammate.

"Aggron, Hyper Beam!" Steven called, but before his Pokémon could respond, his Skarmory dropped out of the sky, more Pokémon tearing after it. Aggron was momentarily distracted and in the second he wasn't paying attention another group of Crobat's swarmed down to begin to overwhelm him.

"Retreat!" Cynthia shouted. "We need to…"

Cynthia turned and froze. Behind her were yet more Pokémon, swarming blocking their escape. Steven had seen the same thing turned back to his Pokémon.

"Stand down. Stop attacking and surrender."

"What are you doing?" Cynthia hissed. "They are going after us."

"Our Pokémon cannot win this." Steven answered. "And I won't see them hurt trying to protect us."

Cynthia nodded slowly as her Pokémon returned to her side, no longer attacking. She looked around; her entire team was battered and dead on their feet. The last time she had felt so hopelessly beaten was when she had faced Ash and his Charizard had taken out her entire team. The Pokémon that had been attacking them stopped, and turned to look into the sky. There was a streak of colour, before Gliscor appeared, hovering in front of the two trainers.

Cynthia looked at Steven nervously and bowed in front of the leader of the swarm that had just overwhelmed them.

"We apologize if we caused any offence." Cynthia started, but before she could continue Gliscor looked around and hissed before vanishing in a flash of colour. The Pokémon who surrounded them leapt up and started to charge attacks. Cynthia and Steven closed their eyes and turned away.

There was an explosion followed by a series of thuds and a deafening roar. Cynthia opened her eyes once more to see some of Ash's Pokémon tearing through their attackers. Some of the Crobats took to the sky but were cut off by a huge torrent of fire as Charizard dropped down. The survivors fled, vanishing into the woods to escape the onslaught of raw power.

"Return your Pokémon" a voice said into the heads of Steven and Cynthia. "They cannot fight anymore and it is time you got away from here."

Nodding shakily they did so. As Cynthia's last Pokémon, Garchomp faded from sight, Alakazam appeared in front of them. He crossed his spoons and they, along with Ash's Pokémon vanished in a flash of light.

Espeon looked at Ash. "Alakazam has taken them back to Indigo Plateau. He will be back shortly."

Ash nodded. "I assume they got there in time?"

Espeon gave him a withering look. "Of course they did."

"What about Lance and Sam?" Ash asked.

"I'm not sure. They were being pressed hard but then something happened. There is no longer any fighting going on around them."

"Interesting. Send Alakazam over to them and have them withdraw. It is time to spring the trap."

"What do you think will happen?" Mellanie asked.

"I'm not sure." Ash said. "None of this makes any sense. It would take a lot to turn Gliscor against me, he owes me a great deal. If everybody else leaves whoever is behind this might try to use it as an opportunity to strike at me."

"And if they don't?" Espeon asked. "How long will you stay out here?"

"Not long." Ash said. "If they don't strike quickly, it will be obvious we want them to attack. We will remain just a few minutes, enough so that it looks natural."

Mellanie nodded. "And if somebody attacks?"

Ash grimaced. "We will have to lose."

"Typhlosion, use Eruption!" Sam barked as he dropped to the floor. Typhlosion dropped to all fours and the flames on his body began to expand. They covered his entire body, before erupting out in all directions. Sam felt the heat as the flames passed inches from his body. The trees around them caught fire from the power of the attack, but the Ariados that had been close to overwhelming them were sent flying backwards. Sam climbed to his feet to watch the Pokémon they had been fighting scurry away. He turned to Lance who was picking himself up from the ground.

"Sorry about that, but it needed to be done."

Lance nodded shakily as his Dragonite returned to his side. Both of them had ended up using the vast majority of their Pokémon as they tried to hold off wave after wave of attacks. Dragonite looked around at the burning trees before looking questioningly at Lance.

"Don't look at me." Lance said. "Look at him." He pointed to Typhlosion who didn't react. Lance looked back at Sam. "We should put the fires out."

Sam shook his head. "We can't. I've trained out here before but never faced anything like the numbers we just fought. My team are exhausted." He patted his belt. "Why do you think I've ended up recalling most of them? They can't fight anymore."

"We can't just let the forest burn down." Lance argued.

"I know, but we also can't fight that again." Sam said. "Soon Ash will come and we'll be safe again. He must know we are under attack"

Lance looked around, trying to peer through the flames. On the other side he could see shapes moving, always staying away from the fire but never going far. Their opponents were being kept at bay by the fire, but were not fleeing.

There was a flash of light and both the humans spun to see Alakazam appear. He nodded to them both before crossing his spoons. As the flames glowed blue and started to die, Sam glanced back at Lance.

"He'll almost certainly teleport us out afterwards. I doubt he will want to fight the Pokémon either."

"Could he?" Lance asked.

Sam shrugged. "I have no idea. I know Ash trained out here for a long time, so I assume he could. But against these numbers I don't want to find out." He turned back to Alakazam. "I assume we leave when the fire dies?"

Alakazam nodded before focusing back on the fire. As the last few embers died out, the Bug Pokémon on the other side leapt forwards but in a flash of light their targets were gone.

Cynthia sat in a chair, waiting. Across the room Sam, Lance and Steven were huddled talking, but she had very quickly gotten fed up of it. They had been discussing what had happened for ten minutes since Ash had returned them all to Indigo Plateau, but none of them really knew what to do. They were just waiting for the Pokémon Master to appear.

"How did you manage to hold them off?" Steven was asking.

Lance shrugged, and gestured to Sam. "He's the one that did it. Nearly burnt down the forest."

Sam grinned. "They were Bug Pokémon, they fear fire. Really Lance, you should know that."

Lance frowned. "Don't forget, I am still your tutor. I was trying to protect their natural habitat. You just tried to burn it down. You still have a lot to learn."

"Worried I could beat you?" Sam asked.

"Worried what will happen when you do." Lance retorted, causing his tutee to laugh.

Steven smiled, before looking across to Cynthia. "Don't you want to get involved?" He asked. "When Ash gets back he will want our opinions."

"I've given you mine." Cynthia said, tiredness creeping into her voice. "When we went there, Ash told us that we should be safe because he got permission from that Gliscor. As soon as we got away from him we were attacked and overwhelmed. Clearly something is…"

Cynthia trailed off as there was another flash of light. Ash had appeared in the room, Espeon on one side and Alakazam on the other. Mellanie was just behind him, an annoyed expression on her face.

"We got nothing." Ash said into the silence, his calm voice hiding his inner frustration. "This is a problem."