A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates guys. Thanks for the reviews- I didn't know that about Hoopa having not seen the movie but I'll make sure to incorporate it now.

Ash blinked.

There was the clear sky above him, green grass around him, and a gentle humming of some Bug Pokemon in the nearby woods. The sun was shining just the right amount and he could feel his Badges which seemed to be pulsating with energy near his chest.

All was at peace in other words.

But he found himself disoriented- as if he had just woken up after a nap, and there was a nagging feeling in his head that there was something wrong.

Pikachu and Hoopa had fallen asleep beside him, and he felt like he had all of the rest of his Pokemon…

And that was when he realized what was missing and jolted up as he began shouting, "Charizard! Charizard!" His Charizard had been outside and last that Ash remembered, hadn't been transported along with Pikachu and Hoopa along with himself to... well, wherever he was.

And it also occurred to him that things were not going well- no, he was supposed to be back in the mainland in Galea right now, not… where was he again?

He looked around. He was in a clearing in a forest… but that didn't explain much. Hoopa and Pikachu got up thanks to his shouting.

"I don't know where we are," Ash said. "And I don't know where Charizard is either."

He glanced around the place and guessed that it would be best for them to figure out where they were first.

"Hey Hoopa? Can you go and scout around for where we are?" Ash asked.

Hoopa disappeared but then reappeared ten seconds later and said, Ash, from what I can see we are on an island- a very big one- and there is a large battle going on towards the south with many ships fighting with each other. The ships are very large, and from what I can tell whoever's the defending team is doing badly.

Ash guessed that meant they had been transported to His Majesty's Island which explained the battle going on towards the south. But given that Ash couldn't hear anything coming from that direction meant that the battle was a long way off.

"Okay then, our first priority should be getting out of here and back to the mainland," Ash said. "We have to meet up with Drake, Steven, Gary, and the others. Hoopa, can you teleport us out of here and back towards the sea where we were?"

Hoopa closed its eyes and after a moment replied, Sorry Ash, but no. There's… something in the air that isn't right here. I don't know what it is but my powers aren't working like they should. Even trying to communicate with you… is difficult. I don't what it is, but if you want to get off this island we're going to have to do it manually.

Ash sighed. "Alright then, we'll just take a ride on Fearow."

Before he could do such however, he heard a weird sound coming from the nearby woods. It sounded like… crying?

Pikachu and Hoopa noticed it as well and turned to their heads as a small girl, about four years old, wandered out of the woods. She was dressed not unlike the other peasant's children whom Ash had seen which was made of hemp. She stopped crying as she noticed Ash and his Pokemon and asked, "Who are you?"

"Uh… I'm uh, Mark," Ash said. "Mark, that's it. Who're you?"

"I'm not supposed to tell my name to strangers," she sniffed. "But mommy and daddy left… they left and they forgot about me…"

"Huh?" Ash said. "What does that mean? I mean, what happened? Can you tell me a bit more clearly?"

Pikachu sidled up to the little girl. Ash guessed that people usually found Pokemon cute and easier to speak with.

And from what Ash was able to get out of the toddler, it seemed that her parents had left her in quite a hurry, either to go join the battle, or they were running away from something… the picture wasn't quite clear but Ash guessed she wasn't able to describe all of it.

"What's your name?" Ash asked.

"Lilith," the girl squeaked.

"Oh right, what did your parents look like?" Ash asked.

"They were both very big and tall," Lilith said.

Ash sighed. "That… kind of doesn't explain anything… do you remember what they did or where you lived?"

Lilith shook her head.

Hoopa had disappeared again but came back soon enough.

I can't find any life forms of significance within a few miles. Wherever her parents are, they aren't near here.

"So what do we do then?" Ash asked and said in a lower voice, careful so that the girl couldn't hear him, "Her parents could be dead by now if they were going towards where the battle between Selena and His Majesty is going on. And we can't take her to a combat zone either."

So I think the best thing to do is to take her with us.

"I don't like the idea though," Ash said. "It feels like kidnapping when her parents don't know… but we don't have time to scout half of this island looking for them when His Majesty's also going to be looking for us… well, let's fly out of here then. I think the best thing to do is keep her safe on the mainland, then we can regroup and once we beat His Majesty we can go and try to reunite her with her family. But it still feels wrong..."

Well, I think if they abandoned her they aren't exactly the poster child for good parenting… get it? Poster 'child?'

"No more jokes, Hoopa," Ash said.

He then released his Fearow.

The girl stopped tugging on Pikachu's cheeks and said, "You can't fly out of here… there's a wall that won't let you out…"

She's right, you know. I felt a barrier holding us out about five miles above us.

"But we got in somehow, right?" Ash said. "We should be able to get out then… argh, this is just like the Barrier of Galea over again." He withdrew his Fearow.

"But if you want, why don't you break the machine?" the girl asked.

"What machine?" Ash asked.

"There's a machine that daddy was working on… His Majesty built it to make the huge wall to protect us… daddy took me to see it once…" the girl said and almost began crying again.

"Wait, wait, do you know where it is?" Ash asked.

"Near the mountains," the girl said, pointing to the mountains which Ash knew were to the north of His Majesty's island, mountains… or were they technically hills? Mr. Jennings had told him the difference once but he didn't remember it, anyway, that was where the Elite Four's headquarters were situated, and also the secret that Freyja had mentioned to him that people got to know if they ever became part of the Elite Four.

"Okay then, I guess that's where we're headed then," Ash said. "Hey, uh, Lilith, you can come with us if you want. We'll take you somewhere safe…"

"But what about momma and papa?" Lilith asked.

"Uh, we can try and see if we can find them," Ash said. He had no clue how to tell a young girl that she might never see her parents again and didn't even want to try. "Can you lead us to where the machine might be?"

The girl thought for a second and said, "Okay, sure."

She led them through the woods and throughout the whole time Hoopa kept disappearing and coming back again- it was trying to scout the area but couldn't find anything.

And there's something really wrong about this place- I can't feel anything. It's like if you were human and trying to walk around blindfolded. And there's something crazy going on at the top of those hills- mountains, whatever you want to call them. I don't even want to go near them. But it's a little weird, I can't find or sense a machine of some sorts….

"I think that's pretty off too," Ash said. "I don't- well I haven't ever heard of a machine like that. I think only the Badges could do something like that… but she seems like she knows what she's talking about…"

Suddenly, Hoopa and Pikachu began acting hostile.

I heard something! There was something there!

Pikachu began growling at some spot in the bushes and for a tense moment Ash waited for something to come out… but nothing happened.

Funny, I don't sense anything anymore. But don't get me wrong Ash- there was something there right now even though it's gone...

Even Ash felt weirded out now… as if there was something watching him. He was pretty jump during the last few minutes of their walk and kept imagining shapes in the shadows of the trees that weren't there.

They reached the base of the hills and right there was the most gorgeous garden that Ash had ever laid eyes on. Berries of every variety (Brock would have a field day here) loomed out at him and seemed to be three times their normal sizes and were planted in strange patterns all across the fields.

Ash was so busy appreciating all of this that he forgot about the machine for a moment. And he didn't notice that Lilith had stopped walking and was instead glaring at him intently.

We've got company!

Hoopa shouted this and Ash turned around to see a tall, handsome man dressed up in an old-fashioned suit walk towards him.

So distracted was he by the man that he didn't notice the net that fell from the sky and then constricted around him, pinning him and Pikachu to the ground. Lilith was no longer there, and standing there instead was a Zorua.

The man smiled. "Look what I've managed to fish up…"

Ash snarled and immediately went for his Badges and began drawing power from them. The man seemed to notice his intentions and pulled out a glittering object of his own- the Celestial Badge.

Ash struggled and tried drawing on his own Badges' power some more, but it was just like when he had tried to pierce the barrier that Selena had created. The more he drew on their power, the more a headache began to grow and finally he gave up.

Impossible, Ash thought. Sure, His Majesty's Badge was supposed to be stronger than any other here, but Ash had four of them versus one. There was no way that it should have been possible for His Majesty to imprison him like this.

"There is no point in struggling," His Majesty said, the smile now wiped off his lips. He sent out a Zoroark which grabbed Ash and lifted him off the ground. Pikachu was also caught up in the net, but Ash realized that Hoopa wasn't with them… meaning that he had escaped and there was still hope.

The Zoroark suddenly dropped him though and struck out at something in the air, which turned out to be Hoopa, who dropped to the ground.

Ack! Ash heard Hoopa's scream echo through his head.

"Now that is something I have never seen before," His Majesty said, examining Hoopa. "What is this Pokemon called?"

Hoopa didn't reply and instead got up to attack again but was pounced on by Zorark, and His Majesty pulled out a glowing, silvery net from his right sleeve and wrapped it around Hoopa. "Quite a troublesome little Pokemon, but I think this trap of mine will hold you for some time. I only have one and I wanted to use this to deal with her Pokemon or one of theirs, but you know, I suppose I will have to use it now. I do not assume that a simple net is going to hold something like you..."

Let me out! Let me out!

Hoopa continued to struggle against His Majesty's grasp as the Zoroark picked up Ash again and began carrying him up the mountains.

It wasn't as if neither Ash nor Hoopa made any attempts to get out. Pikachu, in a bout of desperation, tried using a Thunderbolt but the net didn't seem to conduct electricity and it only ended up shocking Ash.

Time and time again, Ash kept trying to use the Badges, but they always left him feeling sick and nauseous afterwards with no result to show for them. He tried wriggling out or untying the knot that was there in the net but that didn't go very well either.

After a few hours he was carried to a cave in the mountains which opened up into a small glade filled with trees. There was a stream running nearby and in the center there was a raised gray platform on top which rested two wooden pillars and a pair of chains.

His Majesty first tied Hoopa to a small hook near one of the pillars, with Hoopa cursing at him all throughout the ordeal. He then had Zoroark open up Ash's net, but as Zoroark clawed open the net it also pushed Ash forward onto the platform where it seemed, as if by their own will, the chains came to life and wrapped themselves around Ash's arms.

"Let me go!" Ash said. Pikachu was still in the net and was tied onto the pillar opposite to that of Hoopa.

His Majesty shook his head. "I am afraid your Badges will be useless in getting out of there… that is a prison meant for something far more dangerous than you… and only the hottest of fires have been known to melt those chains. But I digress, the platform negates the powers of your Badges, and that net prevents that Pokemon of yours from causing any mischief." He then paused and glanced in another direction. "It appears that there are other matters that require my attention… Selena seems to be having some success and is now boarding my southern border. She will be on land soon, and ah well, I suppose I should not leave her waiting." He turned to Ash. "Do be good, would you, I will come back to deal with you later." He then removed Ash's Poke Balls and threw them across the glade so that Ash couldn't use them. He then took out a Poke Ball of his own and released a jet-black Charizard which he climbed on and then rode away.

As his figure retreated across the horizon, Ash immediately turned to Hoopa. "Hoopa, you can get us out of here, right?"

Hoopa wriggled in its net and said, Sorry Ash, I don't know what this things made of- it's no normal butterfly net that's for sure. I can't use any of my powers through here and I can't teleport out either. This is worse than being in a Poke Ball!

Ash sighed and then tried using his Badges again, but this time it seemed to be even worse now that he was on the platform… and he actually felt the chains beginning to zap him with electricity whenever he tried to.

He looked up. It was a few hours past noon judging from the sun, though given how erratic time was beginning to flow now that the Barrier was down that didn't mean much.

Ash cursed himself. He couldn't believe he had fallen for such a trick- he had dealt with a Zorua before! He should've been able to spot it! Hoopa wasn't having any luck breaking out either.

He then turned to Pikachu. "Pikachu… I don't know what kind of net that Hoopa is in but I'm betting yours is just a normal net. Can you bite out somehow?"

Pikachu began twisting and turning and trying everything but the net seemed to be woven out of something hard enough that Pikachu couldn't get through.

"Well, this is bad," Ash said. He couldn't even reach for any of his Poke Balls, and soon enough His Majesty would return, or Selena would, and then they would… well, he was sure that Selena would probably kill him or torture him but he was unsure as to what His Majesty wanted.

He tried racking his brain, thinking of something, anything, that could've been useful in this situation but kept drawing up a blank.

A/N: And that ends this chapter. Do please rate/review if you liked, and until next time, I guess.