Chapter 4:

Location: Silver Town at the foot of Mount Silver

It was around midday; the very next day after Jane's departure to Lavaridge Town that Charles received a call from Lance.

"Mr. Goodshow, I have sent someone there whom I'm sure you will approve of, Dylan, the Hoenn League's current champion. He has decided to help us."

The older man nodded approvingly. "Yes, that is good to hear. I'll take care of the necessary deployment process once he's reached here."

"So, how's Jane doing?" Lance asked suddenly.

"Oh, she's fine alright, just left for Lavaridge Town."

Lance's eyes widened on the screen. "She's heading to Hoenn?"

"In fact, I send her intentionally there to back you up. Gary Oak and Ash Ketchum are also headed there as well since most of the Gym Leaders there are concentrated around that area. Besides, we have to protect the preponderance," Charles answered. "I've also enlisted for the Elite Four of Hoenn for aid as well."

"I see. I know she's perfectly fine in holding up on her own but are you sure about this, Mr. Goodshow?" Lance asked.

Jane's grandfather nodded firmly. "I'm absolutely sure. Unless push comes to shove, Joshua will be on hold for now."

"Yes, I've gathered that. What about the rest of the Elite Four members?"

"Lorelei and Agatha are organized within the Kanto Region but Bruno is helping out in Johto, though we're still unsure about the current location of Giovanni, as a result no one is at Viridian City at the moment."

"So, there are only two leaders left in Kanto?"

Charles nodded. "Yes, Erika and Koga are the only ones left, I'm afraid."

Lance's expression became grave.

"He's moving faster than before," the young man remarked.

"Furthermore, he's doing it in a indiscriminate pattern all over the regions that we are unable to pin down where exactly he might strike next," the older man said, shaking his head.

"From what I gather, he's calculating his moves and moving vigilantly now. I'm sure it might not have escape his notice that now professionals are bring thrown into the game," Lance replied.

"But to be able to control Mew?" Charles argued. "How does one even do that?"

This was something Lance did not know. He paused, choosing his words carefully since he knew that he was threading on a thin layer of ice. "Maybe he might have found a way to do it."

"That is something we have to find out and fast."

After all, having Legendaries involved was risky business. The relationship between people and pokemon hangs precariously on the balance. The ice might just shatter and break, plunging everything into darkness.

Location: Ecruteak City's Bell Tower

Banette knew almost instantly that other than those stray ghost pokemon that inhabited here, the one pokemon that it was searching out was not here, at least not any longer.

"Tch, how in the world did those two managed to escape?" Jayden demanded furiously. "First Lugia and now Ho-oh? What is happening?"

Suddenly, Lexie's words drifted through his mind and his eyes widened as her words finally dawned on him.

Could it be that someone actually did catch them already…?

Pure indignation filled him as he clenched his fist.

"Change of plans, Jay. He told us to abandon the design and just go after the rest of the Gym Leaders like what was originally intended. It seems that by annex of those Leaders, it would mean the securing of the Legendaries, child's play."

Lexie's voice filled his ears, via his communication device.

"What?" the twenty-year-old hissed. "Are you sure Seth said that?"

The girl was silent at the other end of the line.

"Lexie?"

"I suggest you don't question his authority. It seems that the League Council has gotten wind of what's happening. Already, trainers are being called in to guard the gyms throughout the regions. This would make it troublesome for us. Now, our job is to head for the Hoenn Region while he finishes up in Johto. I've already informed Daniel about this. He's headed for Mossdeep City to take care of the remaining twin sibling while I'm almost to Lavaridge Town. You are to go for the Fortree Gym. Information on Winona will be sent to you via email."

With that, Lexie disconnected the call and the line went dead. All Jayden could hear was simply static on the other end.

His blue eyes narrowed into slits.

What is he thinking…?

"Who goes there?"
Jayden looked up, almost immediately. It was Morty, the Ecruteak City's Gym Leader. He smirked.

"Someone is definitely here. Gengar, search him out," the blonde-haired trainer ordered.

Jayden revealed himself before the Gym Leader before Gengar could even do anything.

"Who are you? State your reason of your coming here!" Morty demanded.

Jayden's eyes narrowed. "I don't have to do that now, do I?"

"Your objective here is the rainbow-colored pokemon, isn't it?" Morty asked.

"My business here is none of your concern, Morty of the Ecruteak Gym," Jayden sneered, glaring murderously at the older guy. "Now if you may, I have places to be and people to thrash."

With that, Jayden threw out a pokéball. Alakazam used teleport, vanishing along with its trainer.

The Gym Leader made a rude noise as he could only stare helplessly at the spot where the enigmatic stranger had been earlier. With the unexplained disappearances' of six of the Gym Leaders in Kanto region, it was only natural for the other Gym Leaders in the Johto region to up their defenses against this anonymous trainer that rumors had, had a Mew. Morty could no longer sense him. This white-haired trainer's presence was neither in the Bell Tower nor in the city as well. Although, the intruder was gone, his words niggled at him.

Who were the people that he was after?

Location: Lavaridge Town's Gym

"Splendid job there, Dragonair."

Jane stroked the beautiful dragon's head affectionately, before returning it back into its pokéball for its long and well-deserved rest.

Together with Furret, they headed towards the Lavaridge Gym.

"Um, excuse me?" Jane forced the gigantic doors of the Gym, open.

"Yay! Grandpa, look another challenger!" a vivacious girl, not much older than her with her long crimson hair tied up sloppily in a ponytail, yelled as she grabbed Jane's hand and pulled her inside.

This girl must be Flannery, was her best bet.

"Uh, wait a second…I'm not –" Jane began.

Flannery twirled around and grasped both the girl's hands in hers, her eyes sparkling with delight and enthusiasm.

"Let's get started then. My pokemon are always ready to battle."

Jane's blue eyes widened and aggressively jerked her hands away from Flannery's grip.

"Hold it; I'm not here to confront you in a battle or anything. I've been dispatched here to protect you," Jane snapped, brandishing an identification card to prove her credentials and her affiliation to the Pokemon League.

Before Flannery could take the card from her, someone beat her to it, apparently by a much older man who must be her grandfather that the Gym Leader mentioned. He peered intently at the card through his reading glasses.

"I'm Jane Cruise at your service," Jane spoke up politely, introducing herself to the two of them. "A message should have arrived long before stating an explanation about my arrival here."

"An officer, huh?" the man said, as he handed the card back to her and examined her face.

"Yes."

The man's eyes narrowed. "Pink hair and blue eyes…are you by any chance, the granddaughter of the President of the Pokemon League Council?"

The nineteen-year-old's face broke into a huge grin. "You mean to say that you know my grandfather?"

He guffawed, "Course', I do. Everyone knows Charles. I'm Mr. Moore and this here, is my granddaughter, Flannery."

Flannery looked blushed in embarrassment. "Gosh, didn't know you were an officer. Sorry about that, my bad."

"Don't worry about it, I'm glad that's settled," Jane said, laughing.

"Yes, we did receive a memo about that not too long ago. What's this about Gym Leaders disappearing?" Mr. Moore questioned.

Jane's face took on, a more serious expression. "Yes, it seems to be that way. Already six Gym Leaders in Kanto have gone missing and one from Hoenn while Johto is yet to be affected."

"Six?" the man echoed, taken aback.

Jane nodded. "That's why the Pokemon League and the Elite Four members of the regions have decided to step in to stop this."

"And the one who vanished here in Hoenn?" Flannery asked.

"Twin Gym Leaders of Mossdeep City," Jane answered promptly.

The Gym Leader's face grew pale.

"So it's clear that someone out there is targeting the Gym Leaders of the regions," Jane continued.

"So you're deployed as damage control?" Mr. Moore inquired.

Jane smiled, a small smile. "I guess you could say that."

"Wow, that's so cool!" Flannery gushed, staring at Jane in admiration.

The other girl looked at her in bewilderment.

"What's so cool about it?"

"This means you have some neat pokemon with ya," Flannery replied, grinning. "What say you to a one-on-one friendly match? After all, you have to prove your worth if you wanna defend a Gym Leader. "

Jane returned her grin with her own, friendly one and nodded.

"Well, if you put it that way…I accept wholly."

Location: Petalburg City's Gym

"Well, would you look who it is?" Norman replied, smiling at the two boys before him as he wiped sweat of his brow with the towel that hung around his neck.

Ash was willing to bet that Norman was still rigorously training ever since he had defeated the Gym Leader before.

"Hello Norman!" Ash greeted the older man and introduced Gary to him.

"Hey look! It's Ash and Pikachu!" Max yelled as he ran forward to meet his friend.

Soon he was followed by, May and their mother, Caroline.

"It's so good to see you again!" May said happily.

Her mother nodded and smiled down at the two boys warmly.

"Let us all get inside and I'll see to it, we all get some of my secret recipe cookies to munch on. How's that sound?"

"I'll help you out, mum," May volunteered sweetly, raising her hand quickly.

Everyone voiced out their agreement, in unison. Together, they headed towards the house.

"Hello I'm Gary Oak and – " Gary started but was interrupted by Max.

"Hey, you are the Professor Oak's grandson, aren't you?"

The young boy looked up at him in a mixture of awe and exhilaration. Without even waiting for Gary's answer, Max answered his own question.

"I'm so excited. You know, I saw you once on television when you were battling at the Silver Conference. Boy, the way you battled with your pokemon was simply exceptional!" Max gushed, his eyes shining. "I'm so lucky to be meeting you."

"Uh…thank you, Max," Gary replied awkwardly, unsure how to react to Max's palpable veneration of him.

Ash made a face.

"You weren't even that happy when you met me, Max," Ash teased him.

Max shot him a dirty look. "That was then, Ash. This scenario is way better than the first time I met you."

Norman chuckled at his son's behavior.

The tray of freshly baked cookies came shortly, served by Caroline while May set the dishes and poured fruit juice into everyone's glasses.

As they dug into the food, it was Norman who began the conversation. "So I heard that Gym Leaders are vanishing around the regions?"

Ash swallowed his cookies down with the fruit juice before wiping his mouth on his sleeve. Before he could answer, Gary beat him to it.

"Yeah, already six Gym Leaders have gone missing in the Kanto region as well as the twin Gym Leaders in Mossdeep City. Witnesses claim that they were in fact abducted."

There was silence after Gary's explanation as the words settled over them. Norman's expression was severe.

"Thus, the two of us were sent here to protect you," Ash finished.

The older man looked at them and nodded slowly.

"But Dad is fully capable of defending himself well on his own," Max argued.

"Yes. We do know that, Max," Caroline answered. "But he needs someone to back him up too."

Her son appeared to have accepted her answer. Without warning, his face brightened up and the young boy leaned forward in his seat.

"How about a pokemon battle, Gary?" he asked the brown-haired researcher. "I've been training hard ever since we came back to Petalburg."

Ash's eyes widened. "You got your own pokemon, Max?"

The younger boy nodded. "Sure, I did."

"But he caught just one though," May added mischievously.

Max glared at his older sister. "Can it, May."

Then he turned to Gary, ignoring his sister completely. "So, can we, Gary?"

Gary laughed awkwardly and nodded. "Uh, if you say so but don't think I'll go easy on you, kiddo."

Max smiled surreptitiously. "I was hoping you would say that."