Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate you taking the time to write one.

Here's chapter 48 I hope you enjoy it.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can get the gist of what his Pokémon are saying due to his close bond with them.

"- Human speech

'- Thoughts'

"- Telepathy

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

In the blink of an eye Catherine and George were sat either side of Ash and they started checking over every inch of the egg to see any changes to it. Ash wasn't sure what to do, he wanted to put the egg either back in the incubator or give it to Catherine but due to how close the Daycare couple were they gave Ash no room to move as they discussed any changes other than the colour that they could see. So he just sat there and listened to the two of them.

"We need to do the tests again now that it has changed." George said.

"Yes I agree. Ash can you bring the egg through to the egg storage room. We want to do another series of test to hopefully get some insight into what's inside the egg or at least how long we've got until it hatched." Catherine instructed.

Ash nodded and followed George and Catherine out of the living room, through the house and into the storage room. Ash looked at the multitude of machines around the room and remembered how they had done a check up on Raimodo when he had first hatched. He was brought out of his memory when he felt an arm around his shoulders leading him towards one of the machines. He looked at the owner of the arm and saw Catherine smiling at him softly.

"You were thinking about Raimodo just now weren't you?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah just holding this egg and looking at the machine brought back the memories of him hatching."

"I think about it too whenever I place an egg in any of the machines. I remember both your Raimodo and the one that passed away, the thing that always stands out is how they both wrapped their tail around my finger. It's moments like that that you'll never forget. Alright let's see if we can find out something about this egg. Place the egg in this machine and we can start the first test, this one will just confirm that the egg is still perfectly healthy." Catherine said.

Ash placed the egg in the machine as asked, Catherine then attached several cables to the egg and then pressed a button on the machine. A whirring sound filled the room as the machine ran the first test. A few minutes later the whirring stopped and the machine printed out the results of the test. Catherine tore the paper away and read the results, a relieved look appearing on her face.

"Well the tests say that it is perfectly healthy. Let's start doing the real tests that will hopefully give us some insight into what is in this egg." Catherine said.

"Is there anything I can do? I'd like to learn a bit more about how you take care of the eggs and the tests you do on them." Ash asked.

George and Catherine admired the enthusiasm Ash showed and couldn't help but think that he reminded them a lot of themselves when they were his age.

"Okay Ash, you can help out." George said.

A giddy grin plastered itself on Ash's face, he always enjoyed learning anything about Pokémon especially from experts like Catherine and George.

"Awesome! So what can I do first?" Ash asked excitedly.

"Actually Ash how about we get something to eat first? The test will take a long time and we won't have the time for breaks between testing the egg and examining all of the other eggs." Catherine replied.

Ash's desire to learn more about the mystery egg had made him forget about his stomach, he was about to say that he could wait when his stomach voiced itself by growling. The sound made Catherine and George chuckle at Ash, they then led the young trainer out of the storage room and into the kitchen.

Many hours, a delicious meal, several tests and countless cups of tea later the last test was finished, Catherine sighed in annoyance as the last of their tests showed no change to all the others they had done over the past six months. She took the egg out of the final test machine and placed it back into the incubator, she then took a seat next to George and the couple exchanged an annoyed look. They had been taking care of eggs for so many years now and they had never been so stumped about an egg which annoyed them both.

"So I'm guessing that your tests didn't give you any information about what made the egg glow?" Ash asked.

"No according to our scans nothing has changed." George replied.

"But what about the colour change? Surely the machine should have picked that up." Ash said.

"The machine thinks that the colour is the same as before." Catherine stated.

"Maybe there's a problem with the scanning machine." Ash suggested.

"All of the machines are working perfectly, we tested one of our other eggs earlier today and it showed signs of development so it's not the machines." Catherine replied.

Ash could sense that they were both annoyed that the results had not provided any clarity on the egg and to be honest he was pretty annoyed too, he just watched to know what Pokémon was in the egg and why it still hadn't hatched. Ash walked over to the egg which had been placed back in the incubator again, he crouched in front of the egg and stared at it.

"You're such a mystery aren't you? Why can't we find out anything about you?" Ash murmured.

Ash again wasn't expecting as answer so he was beyond shocked when he saw the egg wiggle and then glow again, he turned around and looked at the shocked looks on George and Catherine's faces.

"Hey did you see that? It glowed again and this time it moved. Maybe it's getting ready to hatch, maybe it… Why are you looking at me like that?" Ash said.

"It must be you." Catherine said.

"What do you mean?" Ash replied.

"The egg has done nothing while we have held it no matter what we have done. However it spent a few seconds in your arms and it glowed. Just now you simply looked and spoke to it and it glowed while moving. It could well be a sign that the egg has been waiting for you and should stay with you." George stated.

"Wait a minute I think you're over analyzing this. It could just mean that after all these months it's getting ready to hatch. Besides I held the egg when we saved it from Moukoko and it never glowed."

"Well maybe at the time you weren't paying attention to it like you were now. I imagine that when you saved it you were fully focused on returning it and didn't really interact with it so maybe it didn't know that you were nearby." Catherine mused.

"Or maybe the egg could somehow sense that Salem was evil and didn't want to put itself in harm's way." George added.

Ash had to admit that both George and Catherine's theories seemed plausible, he'd been involved in some pretty unbelievable things over the past few years so the idea that the egg was in some way linked to him wasn't that farfetched especially considering what had happened with the G.S. Ball.

"That could make sense." Ash murmured.

"I tell you what how about George and I do a few more tests on the egg and tomorrow we can decide what we'll do." Catherine suggested.

"Okay that sounds like a good idea." Ash replied.

"Alright then, now I want you to go to bed and get some sleep." Catherine insisted.

Ash nodded at Catherine and left the egg storage room, he then walked down the corridor to the stairs and started to ascend the steps. Halfway up he stopped and looked back down the hallway and saw Catherine and George meticulously examining the egg.

"Goodnight." Ash yelled from the stairs.

"Goodnight Ash." George and Catherine replied.

Ash then walked up the final few steps, he walked into the guest bedroom and was about to flick on the light when he saw Meowth, Raichu, Celebi and Raimodo fast asleep on the bed. He didn't want to wake the four of them up so he quietly hung up his cloak and then crawled in-between the covers. He pulled his Pokémon close to him and then drifted off to sleep.

Ash woke up bright an early the next day, he got dressed and then quietly went downstairs so he could round up his Pokémon and talk with Catherine and George about what they were going to do with the egg. He walked into the kitchen and saw both George and Catherine already hard at work preparing food for all the Pokémon. They couple heard Ash's steps and turned to face him.

"Good morning Ash did you get a good night's sleep?" George asked.

"Yeah I did thanks. So did you find out anything after I went to bed?" Ash asked.

"Unfortunately we didn't find out anything." George replied.

"Now we have to decide what we do now. What do you think Ash?" Catherine queried.

Before Ash could reply a loud explosion deafened everyone in the building and caused a small tremor which shook the house. Everyone was disorientated by both the deafening noise and the house shaking violently and it caused George and Catherine to accidentally drop the food they'd be preparing.

Suddenly everyone heard something shatter, they looked where it came from and to their horror saw that the incubator had been broken after falling over and the egg was now plummeting towards the hard kitchen floor. Catherine closed her eyes and turned away expecting to hear the egg crack open however several moments passed and she didn't hear anything. Catherine turned back around and Ash hugging Raimodo whose tail was wrapped firmly around the egg.

"Nice catch Raimodo." Ash said.

Raimodo's smiled at Ash and carefully handed the egg to Catherine who clutched onto the egg tightly. A tear trickled down the elderly woman's face as relief flooded through her, seeing the egg roll of the table had been one of the most terrifying moments of her entire life.

"Thank goodness you're okay. Thank you Raimodo." Catherine said.

Raimodo responded with a nod and a smile which Catherine returned. Ash then released his hold on Raimodo and started walking towards the backdoor that led to the pastures.

"Where are you going?" George asked.

"I'm gonna go see whatever it was that made that explosion. You two stay here and keep the egg safe." Ash replied.

"Okay Ash, just be careful." George said.

Ash nodded and then ran out into the pasture, his attention was immediately drawn to outbuilding where the Pokémon slept and ate due to the thick black smog billowing from the building. He let out a relieved sigh when all of his Pokémon surrounded him and he saw the Pokémon that Catherine and George were looking after were stood outside the outbuilding. Ash quickly hugged all of his Pokémon as he had been worried that his Pokémon had been in the outbuilding.

"I'm glad you guys are okay. Do you know who did this?"

Ash's Pokémon shook their heads, they had been laying in the early morning sun when they suddenly heard the explosions and like Ash had run straight towards where it had come from. Everyone turned their attention back to the outbuilding when they heard several Pokémon cry out in terror and were surprised to see a giant metal Rhyhorn picking up all of the Pokémon with several small claws and dropping them into a large container.

Ash suddenly heard a man and woman laughing, he was sure that recognized the laugh but wasn't sure from where. A hatch opened at the top of the head of the Rhyhorn and a platform raised two people out of the robot. Ash, Meowth and Raichu all groaned and face palmed as they saw a golden haired woman and a green haired man with a Raticate stood in front of them.

"Oh Arceus please no." Ash murmured.

"Prepare for trouble..."

"…and make it double!"

"To infect the world with devastation!"

"To blight all people in every nation!"

"To denounce the goodness of truth and love!"

"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"

"Cassidy!"

"And Butch, of course!"

"We're Team Rocket, circling Earth all day and night!"

"Surrender to us now or you will surely lose the fight!"

Cassidy, Butch and Raticate then struck a pose in front of Ash, Meowth and Raichu which made the trio groan again.

"Great these morons are back. Why did Biff and Cassidy have to show up?" Ash asked.

"It's Butch, my name is Butch. I even say it in our damn motto!" Butch yelled.

"Well I didn't listen to your motto. I just drowned you out after I heard the banshee screech prepare for trouble."

"What did you call me you twerp?!" Cassidy snarled.

"You heard me or have you been deafened by your own screeching?" Ash replied with a cocky grin.

Cassidy growled angrily and glared at Ash.

"That does it Raticate use Hyper Fang on that mouthy little shit."

Raticate nodded and his fangs glowed white, he then leapt at Ash however a pair of metallic tails belonging to Raichu and Meowth soon put a stop to Raticate's attack and sent the rat slamming into the Rhyhorn robot. Raticate dragged himself up and glared at Meowth and Raichu while he growled threateningly, he then jumped back onto the robot.

"You're gonna pay for that you brat." Cassidy said.

"I seriously doubt that. Pidgeot, Sandshrew, Togetic, Vibrava, Phanpy, Axew, Pawniard, Eelektrik and Nox come on out!"

The balls burst open and the nine Pokémon appeared in front of Ash, they stood alongside Raichu and Meowth and got into battle stances. Although the moment they saw who their opponents were everyone except the four new additions to their family relaxed their stances since they knew that Cassidy and Butch were nothing to worry about.

Butch and Cassidy saw all of the Pokémon in front of them and lowered the platform so they were back inside the safety of the robot. Dozens of robotic arms with claws extended from the robot and launched straight towards Ash's Pokémon and tried to capture them however the Pokémon were easily able to dodge the claws which got buried into the ground. This gave Ash a moment to think about how to set free the Pokémon and get rid of Team Rocket, by the time the claws were all pulled free Ash had a plan.

"Pidgeot smash through the container with Steel Wing and save the Pokémon. Raichu, Eelektrik, Meowth, Vibrava and Togetic cover Pidgeot and make sure none of those claws try to grab her."

All six Pokémon nodded showing that they understood Ash's instructions and they sprang into action. Pidgeot led the charge by flying straight towards the container with Togetic and Vibrava by her sides while Raichu, Eelektrik and Meowth tried to keep up on the ground below. The claws from the Rhyhorn robot suddenly appeared in front of Pidgeot, it lunged for her but before it could get near her a Thunderbolt from Raichu deflected it away, another claw then aimed for her but Vibrava quickly reacted by firing a green and yellow beam at the claw which melted it.

Butch and Cassidy growled in frustration as they watched the claws be destroyed one by one, they decided to stop messing around and launched all of the claws at the six Pokémon trying to free the other Pokémon. The sheer number of claws made it difficult for Raichu and the others to protect Pidgeot however her aerial prowess allowed her to dodge the claws that couldn't be stopped.

While Pidgeot tried to find an opening to free the Pokémon Ash felt something nudge his leg, he looked down and saw Phanpy as well as the other Pokémon he hadn't given instruction to yet staring at him.

'What about us?' Phanpy asked.

Ash crouched down in front of Phanpy and gazed at all of his Pokémon, he was certain that his eldest had just asked how they could help and this thought was reinforced by the look in their eyes that they wanted to help.

"I want you guys to attack the main body of the robot, it will distract them away from Pidgeot. Try to aim for the tank tracks first to stop it moving."

Everyone nodded and charged towards the Rhyhorn robot, they were easily able to get up close due to Butch and Cassidy completely ignoring them and focusing on stopping Pidgeot from freeing the Pokémon they'd captured.

Pawniard was the first to reach the robot and he raked his metallic claws along the tank track tearing open a massive gash that revealed the insides of the tracks. Nox then followed up by increasing the size of the gash by repeatedly slashing at the tank tracks with her sharpened claws. Axew finished the job by poking her head inside the shredded tank track and formed a blue orb on her mouth, she then fired a blue and black energy wave from the orb which tore through the robot and blew a massive hole into the hull of the robot.

Phanpy and Sandshrew then slammed into tracks on the side of the robot that had been left alone so far at the same time, the momentum they'd picked up allowed them to penetrate the track and disable it. The force of the ground types ramming into the robot rocked it and nearly made it topple over, as the robot rocked Butch and Cassidy were forced to abandon their assault on Pidgeot so they could prevent the robot from tipping over and revealing the vulnerable underbody.

Pidgeot knew that this was her chance so she flew high above the container and then aim straight down at the container, as she got closer her wings turned metallic and moments later she tore through the container like a knife through warm butter. The Pokémon inside quickly leapt out of the container and landed on the ground, they quickly pushed the younger ones behind them to protect them. Everyone then glared at Butch and Cassidy who were starting to get incredibly worried by both the smoke that was pouring out of various mechanisms and by the furious group of Pokémon in front of them.

"Let's finish these guys off, Raichu and Pidgeot blow that robot up with Hyper Beam."

Raichu and Pidgeot nodded and then orange orbs formed in their mouths, they were quickly joined by a couple dozen Pokémon who were all forming Hyper Beam's. After a few moments several incredibly powerful orange beams shot from the orange orbs and headed straight towards the Rhyhorn robot. As the beams approached Butch and Cassidy fumbled around trying to hit the ejector button however they couldn't find the button in time and the beam shattered the window and missed them by a whisker. The beams drove through the metal plating inside the robot and hit the energy core which created a huge explosion that destroyed the Rhyhorn robot and sent Butch, Cassidy and Raticate flying miles into the air.

When Butch and Cassidy faded from view Ash charged back towards the house with Meowth, Raichu and Raimodo close behind, he was concerned about the egg due to what happened earlier and wanted to make sure that it was okay. He knew that even though Raimodo caught the egg there was still a chance that whatever was inside it had been somehow hurt when the incubator fell over and shattered.

Ash burst through the door and ran into the egg storage room, he saw George and Catherine removing several cables from the egg. When the cables had all been removed they placed the egg on a cushion on the desk. Ash walked over to Catherine who had a very relieved look on her face which made Ash feel a bit better however he was still curious about whether there had been any kind of damage.

"Is the egg okay?" Ash asked.

"Yes it is." Catherine replied.

Ash breathed a sigh of relief, he picked up the egg and held it close to him.

"Thank Arceus you're okay." Ash murmured.

Suddenly the egg started radiating a brilliant white and loud cracking sounds filled the room. Everyone looked at the egg with wide eyes as they realized that the egg was finally hatching. The light then intensified which forced everyone to close their eyes and look away from the egg. As soon as the blinding light died down everyone looked into the shattered remnants of the egg to see what had been residing within it. All of theirs eyes widened and they gasped in shock as they finally saw what had been in that egg for so long.

"No way. I can't believe it, it's a…." Ash murmured.

Notes

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like. It really helps me know what I am doing right and what I can improve on.

If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.

Ash:

Kanto - Raichu, Meowth, Butterfree, Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros (x20), Snorlax, Sandshrew, Jolteon (Shiny), Vaporeon (Shiny) & Aerodactyl

Johto - Croconaw, Meganium, Quilava, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny), Phanpy, Hitmontop, Togetic, Sneasel, Espeon (Shiny) & Celebi

Hoenn - Marshtomp, Ninjask, Shedinja, Treecko, Vibrava, Zangoose, Sableye, Plusle, Minun, Raimodo & Kirlia

Sinnoh - Monferno & Glaceon (Shiny)

Unova – Axew, Eelektrik, Pawniard & Zorua (Nox)

Kalos - Meowstic & Amaura

Pokémon currently on hand – Raichu, Meowth, Celebi, Togetic, Raimodo, Sandshrew, Vibrava, Phanpy, Pidgeot, Axew, Eelektrik, Pawniard & Zorua (Nox)