I've been getting a lot of reviews demanding I update. Listen guys, the last chapter 'Time of Respite' was also my subtle way of saying I may have to take a break from this story for a little bit. It's not that I've given up on the story, but I've moved on to other interest and when I try to force myself to do this I just end up botching it up and it looks rushed again. Losing my co-writer really made it hard for me to continue and I can't just use any co-writer either. I can't just use someone who only focuses on their own OC or doesn't do their share of the work, otherwise it just feels like I only have a beta reader and nothing more- no offense to any previous co-writers I worked with before of course, it's just I'm really more used to how Key and I used to write. If there's someone who can help me write this story and actually do other characters other than an OC then talk to me. I want to get to know how your writing skills work first most importantly. But until then, I may have to put this story in temporary hiatus. I will try to continue it on my own, but if I'm forced to then the story will not turn out as good as it could be. Right now I'm mostly focusing on We Are Phantoms and Mother 3: To Rebuild or to be Reborn? As I just became a Mother/Earthbound fan a few months ago. Maybe once my Pokemon mood comes back I can continue this story, or when I get a co-writer that writes like Key used to. So all I'm asking is for you guys to be a little patient with me. I will still update but at a slower pace, but if you continue to rush me I may have to go on hiatus, none of us would want that. Now that I've said that, enjoy this chapter, it'll be the last one until I can get everything straighten out.

*Important AN notice*

Chapter 27: The Safari Zone

Blue and Ash were walking down the dirt path, Storm was clinging to Ash's shoulder while Nya decided to take a nap in Ash's backpack. Blue looked up when he noticed a small building up ahead, "Ah, this must be the Safari Zone's warden's house. We just sign up here and he'll give us Safari Balls to use."

"Safari Balls? Why couldn't we just use our own Poke Balls?" Ash asked.

Blue folded up the map he was using and answered, "Didn't you know?"

"About what?" The younger boy asked.

The spiky hair boy sighed and said, "About 30 years ago, the warden found a Dratini in the Safari Zone's lake, word spread fast and many people came to this place just to find it. But they also captured many other Pokemon as well, leaving the Safari Zone barren and in ruins. Since then, they only permit the use of Safari Balls here, since it limits on how many Pokemon you can catch at a time."

"A Dratini?" Ash said in wonder. "I remember befriending a Dratini here a long time ago. I wonder if she's still here? Oh, I saw you had a Dragonite, which is the fully evolved form of a Dratini, where did you get it?"

Blue sighed before he said, "Believe it or not, I won my Dragonite in Celadon's casino, they had all sorts of rare Pokemon there, including a Porygon."

"Wow, I wish we could've seen that." Storm said with a curious look.

"Storm, I'm not old enough to go to a casino, besides, Memma wouldn't allow it." Ash grumbled.

As they approached the warden's house, Blue stopped Ash, "There's something about that warden you should know. He's kind of old, but he's very feisty, I'd imagine he's on edge because he doesn't trust people, especially after that whole Dratini incident, just watch what you say and do around him, okay?"

"Alright, thanks for the warning." Ash said with a nod.

As soon as they got to the steps of the door, a somewhat old man opened it and held a hand held gun to their foreheads. Ash tensed up and backed away, the old man looked at him and Blue before he put it away, "I take it you young children came here for the Safari Zone?"

"Y-yes sir, if it's not too much trouble." Ash said nervously.

"My friend and I would like to play the Safari Zone game please." Blue said calmly.

The warden looked at Blue for a minute before he nodded, "Very well, come in."

Ash sighed in relief, he was glad Nya wasn't awake right now or she might've freaked out when she saw the guy had a gun to his face. He and Blue hurried inside.

"Geez, what's this guy's problem? He had a gun right at your face!" The Pikachu frowned, his good mood diminished when he saw the gun at Ash's face earlier.

Ash wisely decided not to answer Storm since the said old guy was in front of him. "That'll be five dollars each." The warden said.

Ash and Blue reached into their pockets to pull out five dollars to give to the warden, who nodded, "Stay here, I will get your Safari Balls."

When the warden went to the back, Ash decided to look around the place, he saw pictures on the wall, but the one that caught his attention was an old bronze looking picture with a much younger warden with a Dratini beside him. The Dratini's little horn had a small scar on it, Ash narrowed his eyes as he looked at the horn.

"Hey Ash, try not to mention Dratini around him, he's very sensitive about it." Blue suddenly said from behind, causing Ash to almost yelp.

"O-oh, right, sorry." The younger boy said as he quickly put the picture down. But he shouldn't put a picture of Dratini here if he didn't want people to see it.

Ash noticed a computer on a desk nearby before he remembered something, "I hadn't called Professor Oak in a while, I should at least let him know how I'm doing."

"Oh sure, that's a great idea, use the crazy, trigger happy old man's computer to call home." Storm said sarcastically, obviously uneasy with the warden.

"Hey, he's not a bad guy, just on edge a lot." Blue defended. "And you go ahead and call him Ash, but don't let him know I'm here. I'm not quite ready to face him yet and would rather stay disappeared for a little while longer."

"But Gary already saw you, don't you think he would've told him by now?" Ash asked.

"Maybe, but just don't let him know I'm traveling with you. If he asks where I am, lie." Blue said with a serious tone.

Ash sighed and nodded, "Fine, but you'll have to face him at some point." With that, he began dialing on the video phone of the computer.

A few seconds after the phone on the computer rang, Professor Oak had answered, his face appearing on screen. Blue was on the wall, out of the computer's camera sight. Oak looked happy to see Ash.

"Ash! It's been so long since I've heard from you. Are you doing well?" Professor Oak asked.

"I've been doing good considering what I've been through lately." Ash said. "I'm at the Safari Zone, hoping to catch some new Pokemon to send over to you."

Professor Oak looked surprised, "You're at the Safari Zone? Wow, not even the others except Gary reached there yet. I'm impressed Ash, you're coming a long way."

"Thanks Professor. By the way, how is Gary now? I met up with him a while back, I saw he had a Blastoise." Ash asked curiously.

The professor crossed his arms, looking a bit serious all of a sudden. "Yes… about him… I've spoken with Gary not too long after he met up with you. He told me about seeing you and… well… was there someone who looked like Gary with you at the time?"

This made the boy nervous, it was obvious Oak was asking about his long lost grandson Blue, who was leaning on the wall not too far away from him, but Blue made him promise not to tell Oak where he was. "Uhh… I've seen someone I thought looked like Gary… why?"

Ash couldn't read Oak's expression, "Well Ash… did you remember where he went? I've been looking for him for a long time."

"He's right here." Storm secretly chuckled.

Ash was tempted to bonk the Pikachu on the had for that comment, he better hope Prof. Oak hadn't secretly learned how to understand Pokemon. "He didn't say much, just that he had to go, I don't remember where he went."

Oak looked disappointed, "That's too bad. Ash, I had another grandson, he's four years older than you and Gary. His name is Blue, and while they're not technically twins, the resemblance with each other is uncanny, because Gary looked up to Blue and wanted to be like him, so he got his hair done to look like Blue. That's why they look so much alike."

"I see." Ash thought it was weird that Gary and Blue looked so much alike, despite not being twins exactly, even though Blue had called Gary his twin brother at one point. "I'll be sure to keep an eye out for him then."

Oak gave a nod, "That will be appreciated. And now that you're in the Safari Zone, I suggest you catch as many as those Safari Balls allow you to get. I heard there was a Dratini there, but you shouldn't bother it. Still, a legendary Pokemon like Dratini is quite a find."

Ash rolled his eyes, he knew Dratinis were rare and can become powerful, but it was far from an actual Legendary Pokemon like his Memma. Back in the old days, they were considered myths, but lately people had found a few colonies of Dratinis in other regions, but they remain especially rare in Kanto. But still, a Dragon type would be a nice addition to his primary team.

"Here are your Safari Balls and rods to fish with." Ash heard the warden said, holding two boxes of green Poke Balls and two fishing rods.

"Alright, thanks. I better go Professor, so be on the look out for new Pokemon." Ash said with a wink before he hung up.

As soon as Ash hung up the phone, Blue sighed in relief. "Thanks for not ratting me out."

Ash nodded to him before taking one of the boxes with the Safari Balls and one of the fishing rods. "Thanks."

"Thank you." Blue said as he took the other box with Safari Balls and fishing rod.

"Now remember, you can only keep playing until you run out of Safari Balls, after that you are to come back here and leave. You are not allowed to engage in a Pokemon battle, you might destroy the Safari Zone if you do, just use rocks and bait to capture the wild Pokemon." The warden said, explaining the rules.

Ash and Blue both nodded, the warden then said, "Good, now go."

"Boy am I glad to be away from that old man, I wouldn't want him drawing that gun on me." Storm said in relief, following Ash and Blue out into the Safari Zone.

"Don't mind him too much, Storm." Blue said. "He won't bother us as long as we play by the rules. So that means no attacking other Pokemon while we're here, got it?"

The Pikachu sighed, "Of course, I don't want to get us into trouble."

Ash smiled, looking excited, "Alright then, let the Pokemon hunt begin!"

Ash and Blue began exploring the Safari Zone, seeing many different Pokemon. Ash planned on getting these for the sake of the Pokedex and Prof. Oak rather than use them, he's already spreading himself too thin enough as it is already. Ash caught a Ryhorn, Tauros, Nidorina- mostly for Nidosaur-, and more. Blue caught his fair share of Pokemon too, but he was mostly doing it to help Ash since he already caught almost all the Kanto Pokemon once before and he wanted to have some fun.

"Looks like we're down to just two Safari Balls left." Ash said with a sigh, looking in the box.

"Yeah, but at least you managed to get a good haul, so you can't say you didn't catch a lot of Pokemon for the professor." Blue chuckled.

"That's true. I hadn't found any Pokemon I personally want to train though." Ash shrugged. "Oh well, I'll stick to my primary team for now."

"Prepare for trouble!" A familiar woman's voice said.

"And make it double!" A familiar man's voice said.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all the people within our nation."

"To denounce the evil of truth and love."

"To extend our reaches to the stars above."

"Jessie!" The woman jumped out of nowhere and landed in front of Ash.

"James!" The man crawled out of the bushes and came beside the woman.

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!" Jessie announced proudly.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight, fight, fight!" James announced, posing.

"Meowth, that's right!" Their talking Meowth landed in front of them.

Ash, Storm and Blue all stared at the trio, it's been a while since they had seen these three.

"Jessie, James and Meowth, what are you three doing here? Oh and long time no see." Ash said casually as though greeting friends he hadn't seen in a while.

"Hey! Don't greet us so casually!" Jessie snapped.

"Did you three come here to steal Pokemon?" Blue asked, though his tone was just as casual as Ash's.

"Well that was the plan." James started.

Meowth sighed and answered, "Until the old guy pulled a gun on us and we decided to just pay. We're a little short on cash, but we got a good haul for the Boss!"

"The Boss huh? I take it you're on Giovanni's good side now?" Ash asked, having met their boss before back in Silph Company a while back, he didn't stand a chance against the man.

"Well… we don't know… we hadn't contacted him yet." James said with a frown.

"But we're sure we are, after all we were his favorites before that little wretch Cassidy and her partner Botch came along." Jessie seethed.

"His name is Butch actually." James corrected.

"Whatever!" The woman with the long red hair snapped.

"And that Persian… ever since the Boss found that Persian it's all about that big, lazy cat!" Meowth growled, his fur fizzling in irritation.

"So the three of us have been working extra hard to send rare and strong Pokemon to the Boss!" Jessie said with a big smile.

"And the Boss will pay us handsomely, no more sleeping out in playground or abandon warehouse, no more scavenging for food or working lame jobs just to make minimum wage." James had a big dreamy smile on his face.

"And I can finally get a decent cat chow." Meowth drooled as he daydreamed about high class chow.

"Why do you work for someone like that if he treats you like dirt?" Ash asked. "From what I hear, you three could barely afford food."

"It almost sounds like you three are living off the streets." Blue frowned.

"They'd probably be better off living that way, at least then they're not working for a crime syndicate." Storm commented, even though two out of the five of them couldn't understand him.

"We're a part of Team Rocket and we will do whatever we can for the Boss!" Jessie snapped. "We've swore an oath of loyalty to him after all."

Ash crossed his arms and said, "Right… well then… if you don't mind, Blue and I are going to fish around here for some Water Pokemon before we call it a day. As long as you're not causing trouble, we'll leave you three to your business."

"But it is more fulfilling and less of a hassle to capture these Pokemon rather than steal them from persistent Trainers." James admitted. "We should do this more often."

"Are you sure you should just let them go, Ash? They're transferring Pokemon to Team Rocket after all." Storm said with a frown as Ash and Blue walked around a lake.

"That may be so, but we shouldn't cause a ruckus if they're following the law, otherwise we'll be the ones who look bad." Ash answered.

"Yeah and I don't feel like going to prison." Blue commented.

The Team Rocket Trio went off somewhere, probably to go capture more Pokemon. Ash sighed in relief as he threw the lure from the fishing rod into the lake with a small splash. "I hope we can get something other than Magikarp around here. A Gyarados would be nice, but I'm not looking to train one right now."

"Besides, you already caught three Magikarp." Blue chuckled. "Anymore and it'd be a waste of the two Safari Balls you have left." he too threw his lure into the lake before he sat down. "But this is a good way to relax. If you're too tense the Pokemon will sense it and stay away from the lure."

"Good point." Ash nodded.

Storm laid down on the edge of the nice cool rocks, looking up at the sky. "What a nice day, I could just lay here for a long time."

"No wonder Memma wanted a nap." Ash chuckled. "It feels like a nice lazy day."

"Maybe the respite from the battle with Hunter Jay gave us more appreciation for relaxing days like this." Blue commented with a calm smile.

Blue's fishing rod soon got a bite, the boy quickly pulled, trying to get the Pokemon that bit onto the lure. He heaved and pulled until a Poliwag was pulled out of the water. It yelped and landed in front of Blue.

"W-what the? Oh, Trainers. C'mere, let's see what you've got!" The Poliwag glared as he wagged his tail in an eager manner.

"Alright, I'll get this one." Blue said as he picked up a rock and ready to throw at it.

"Uh… excuse me?" A timid voice suddenly spoke up, startling Blue and making him stop from throwing the rock.

Ash and Blue turned their heads to see a young looking boy… or possibly girl… wearing a black shirt with an orange-yellow tunic over it that looked a little cowboy-ish, with a brown belt, dark blue jeans and purple boots. The young child also has yellow hair and a big straw hat over their head. Ash and Blue couldn't tell if this person is a boy or a girl, they seem boy-ish, but their voice sounded feminine.

"Are you two together?" The child asked.

Blue blinked, looking at her/him. Who is this person? They look familiar…

"We're traveling together yeah." Ash said, smiling at the child. "My name's Ash."

"It's nice to meet you Ash, my name is Yellow." The child greeted.

"Yellow?" Ash blinked.

"First Blue, then Red and now Yellow? What is with these color names?" Storm commented, chuckling in his paw.

Blue suddenly looked down and dropped the rock, Ash looked over to him and noticed Blue seemed to be blushing a bit, looking rather embarrassed.

The Poliwag looked at them before pouting about being forgotten before jumping back into the water with a splash. Ash frowned at this but couldn't help but notice Yellow looking at Blue.

"Uh… do you two know each other?" Ash asked them curiously.

"I thought I recognized you." Yellow said to Blue suddenly. "Green, it's been a while."

"What? GREEN?" Ash blinked, looking at the Gary-look-alike.

"That's not my name, Yellow." Blue replied. "I'm Blue, not Green."

"I know, but I like calling you Green, it matches your co-" Yellow began to say when Blue interrupted.

"Not in front of Ash, please. Just call me by my real name." Blue said quickly.

The two looked at Ash, who just smiled and waved awkwardly, Yellow seemed surprised and looked at Blue, "You're actually traveling with someone?"

"Yeah…" Blue hesitated.

"I'm surprised, you said you wanted to go on this journey alone." Yellow said as she/he moved closer to Blue and began sniffing at him, almost like a canine-Pokemon Ash blinked at this odd behavior. "And you even have some Pokemon with you, I thought you said you didn't want to bring any."

Blue turned away, "Look, Yellow, things happened and it just turned out differently than I had originally planned. Why are you wearing that hat? People can't tell if you're a boy or a girl with that on."

"I like this hat." Yellow stated. "A nice old lady gave it to me. And anyway, I'm surprised to run into you here."

"So am I. What ARE you doing here? Last time I saw you, you were on the island." Blue said, frowning.

"I decided to travel this region as a Trainer…" Yellow said, hesitating.

Ash and Storm wisely kept quiet as they just continued fishing while Blue and Yellow have their little reunion talk.

"Since when were you interested in being a Trainer? You hate battling with Pokemon, you rather pamper them or be their friend." Blue stated.

Yellow huffed, "Okay, so I came out here to look for you. I really missed you Green."

"Yellow, I told you to call me Blue." Blue groaned. "You came out here as a Pokemon Trainer to come looking for me? Don't you realize how much danger you're putting yourself in? I just ran into Hunter Jay not long ago, what if she caught you then?"

Yellow suddenly hesitated and looked troubled, Ash noticed. Something definitely happened between them and Hunter Jay. "... Well… she can't detect me so easily, you know this Blue."

Blue groaned and looked flustered. It was then Ash decided to speak up, "Hey uh… I hate to be rude and interrupt, but what's the story between you two?"

Yellow and Blue looked over at the boy and the older, spiky haired boy sighed before he said, "Ash… I'd like you to meet… my sister, Yellow."

Yes, it's a shame that the chapter ended off in a cliffhanger, but you guys kept wanting another chapter so here it is. Like I said I will try to keep updating but I can't do it very quickly right now. Just be patient with me and this story can continue even if it's slow. There are times when a writer needs a break from a fandom of their own story, and this is one of those times. The Mother series has my attention the most right now, but maybe once Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon comes out I'll be in a much better mood to continue Shadows of Kanto again, or if I find a co-writer who can write like my online friends, or if Key decides to come back. Either way, this will be the last chapter I will update for a while, so be patient with me, please. You can come up with interesting theories while you wait, or you can check out my other two most active stories I update every week to pull you over. Again I'm really sorry about this and I wish it hadn't come to this, but hopefully I can get things to straighten out soon. I will see you guys later, please leave a review on the chapter and try to be patient. I am DarkFoxKit and I look forward to hearing from you.