Before this chapter starts, I want to say that this is the longest chapter written so far and the last POV is pretty dark, I changed a few words so it wouldn't be as bad as I had orginally planned. I wanted to warn those ahead of time who may be uncomfortable with images of violence. Nothing is explicitly stated but inferred as the reader would like it to be at the moment.

Chapter 22

June 21st, 2006

Gary clenched his fists in frustration. He never thought he could hate something as much as he hated Team Rocket. He was furious, and with all honesty it did scare him a little because right now he was willing to do anything to get the three back. After seeing and feeling the extremes that Lugia felt, and no doubt that Ho-Oh and Celebi felt too, he couldn't imagine the state Leaf, Ash and Lyra were in. Gary knew he'd kill if he had to. He didn't want to be the same monster that Team Rocket was but he just needed to do something, he couldn't let his pokémon do all the work, he wouldn't feel satisfied. Gary needed to beat as many people as he could to a pulp for their actions, and even if they didn't partake in anything bad, they still joined the masses of Team Rocket and that was unforgivable.

The radio tower loomed overhead, the sky was dark as it was still night. No lights were on as far as he could tell. Who knows if they draped anything over the windows? Gary paused, everyone behind and beside him paused as well. Sammy was the one standing next to him, the other current very important person.

"What should we do?" Sammy asked, there was a familiar glint in his eyes that Gary couldn't quite place. "I think the best thing we should do is split into groups, correlate our pokémon so we have the advantage and attack. The night will give us reasonably good cover and it's the best plan we have so far." Sammy answered his own question and closed his eyes tightly. He chewed the inside of his cheek as he concentrated. "The other three are still a ways away; they're at the edge of Ecruteak City." Sammy was by far the best at connecting with his legendary partner to seek out the others. No form of pain came to him like it did to Gary.

"What do they look like?" Gary asked. "We should keep an eye out if we know."

Sammy closed his eyes again. "There are two boys and one girl. Both boys are wearing hats and one has brown hair while the other has black. The girl has light blue hair, she has a yellow hat on too, it's different from the two boys. One boy has a Pikachu with him and..." His featured contorted and he frowned. "Now the girl has picked up somebody and pulled them onto Suicune? What...?" Sammy silently questioned.

"What does he look like?"

"Long red hair, black jacket."

Gary scratched his head. "Do you know any of them yourself?"

"Can't say that I do. Probably people like you from the future."

Gary nodded. "That's most likely true." He looked behind him at the others. "Two groups of four and one group of three." He said loud enough for them all to hear.

"What?" Iris asked.

Gary ignored her, "Group going through the front entrance is Misty, Drew, Iris and Clemont. Group going to the back entrance is Dawn, Serena, Paul and me. Group waiting outside in case of other grunts being called; Sammy, May and Cilan, you'll enter the building after waiting twenty minutes outside, stay outside if grunts do show up. Let's hope that the others also show up by the time you go inside." Nobody argued and went into their selective groups. "Group at the front entrance is to keep the majority of the grunts distracted while back entrance group is to make their way to the top where everyone is being held captive." He looked around at everybody and nodded once. "Okay, let's go."

The three others in Gary's group approached him. He looked at each one of them in their own turn. "Hold onto a pokéball. We're going right in."

"Okay." Dawn agreed slowly. "We're going to do this." She said enthusiastically, though it sounded more like she was telling herself that than the group.

Paul looked down at the blue haired teen. "Just remember what I said." He advised. "You'll be fine." Dawn stared at him and took a deep breath then gave him a firm nod.

"All of you will do great!" Serena encouraged. "You three are all very strong trainers and your will as a person is powerful and I know all of you will be unstoppable. You've all been trainers for such a long time; this will be like any other battle you've faced. Unlike me who's started much, much later than usual and have very little battling experience. This will be a breeze for you!"

"Serena, you're a strong trainer too!" Dawn said quickly. "Just look at your team! They're all super strong pokémon. If anything you're probably the kindest person here and the most helpful. I know you're a strong trainer Serena, just as strong as you are talented. I'm really happy Gary put you in our group. Your personality will give me a calming presence and a refreshment from these two, cocky and stotic."

"You think I'm cocky?"

"How the hell am I stotic?"

Dawn looked between the two with a wry smile. "Are you both being serious? Gary do you even know who you are? Paul, I think the question is; how the hell are you not stotic? Your only emotion is anger." She teased. Paul glared at her for a moment too long, then whipped his head around and ignored her.

"Cocky?" Gary muttered under his breath and his face was set into a frown. "Whatever, let's just hurry up and get to the back of the building. I need to kick some Rocket ass quite literally."

"Lead the way sir." Dawn said with a cocky grin of her own. "You're the one who's in charge here."

Gary gave her a look and led the way to the back of the building. He let her get away without more arguing, if it calmed her nerves then so be it. Dawn was still young and it was understandable, she was being put in an experience that she shouldn't have to go through, then again the others shouldn't go through it wither but just knowing that they were older, that made them think that they had to be stronger. The majority of the group was at or older than the legal age of eighteen, so they were all considered adults.

He paused at the door, one hand on the handle while another was holding onto a pokéball in the other. He looked behind him, checking each of the other's hands which were also clutching onto matching red and white balls. He gave them a signal indicating that he was going to open the door and got a positive response from each of the three other trainers in his group. The door didn't budge. Gary jiggled the handle again and got the same result, he cursed under his breath. A hand placed itself on his arm and gently pushed him away. Serena held up a bobby pin and a nail filer. She gave him a gentle smile. "Always have to look your best when preforming right?" She reasoned. Gary smiled back at her and let her take over; inserting the two items into the lock and after a few tries, the door clicked and she swung it open. The room was dark, the only light came from what had leaked inside from the door being pushed open. Dust particles could be seen floating around in the room. Dawn released her Quilava and the flame's on his back exploded to life, giving some sense of light, enough to be able to close the door. "Be careful," Gary advised. "There could be people in this room."

"I don't think there is." Paul disagreed. "There's nothing really in here except for clothing, it's pretty clear to see that."

The room was small and black costumes were either lined up hanging on the wall or neatly folded in piles with papers taped to the wall indicating their sizes. Paul stepped forward and picked up an outfit from the extra small pile, handing it to Dawn. "Put it on." He instructed. "They're bigger idiots than I thought by putting their uniforms here; let's just hope it isn't meant for some sort of trap. Dawn carefully looked over the clothing. "Jessie and James wear white."

"That we do!" A voice cackled, making both Serena and Dawn groan. Gary turned his attention to the door, a tall red-haired woman standing next to it. "Black is Johto division uniforms, white is Kanto. Why are all you twerps here? I thought the twerp with the Pikachu was done with Johto?"

"I thought you were done with Johto too, why are you here?" Gary asked. "Shouldn't you be in Kalos stalking around to find Ash?"

"I agree." Serena said. "Why did you just get up and leave? The break from you three was nice but why would you leave the kid who's supposedly your job?"

Jessie shook her head. "The boss stationed us here... though now that I've seen what he's done to the legendary pokémon, I don't quite agree."

"You don't agree?" Dawn questioned. "What do you mean?"

"James and I aren't criminals!" Jessie said shrilly, her hands firmly planted on her hips and she glowered at the teens, she tried to look down on all of them but that was hard to do for Gary, who was the same height as her, and Paul who towered over her like he did to everyone else. "Who do you think we are?" She asked.

"You're part of Team Rocket, it's pretty clear to see who you are." Paul said dryly. "Unlike you, or Ash, we are not morons. Like we'll fall for what you're trying to say to us."

"I'm being serious here!" Jessie grumbled. "James is trying to help your trapped friends upstairs right now and Meowth is trying to find the others. We've been doing field work most of our lives and have never actually been in the loop where we do the super evil things like what Proton has planned."

"Proton?" Gary questioned. "Who's he?"

"Proton is one of Rocket's four highest executives. Boss had stationed them all over the regions as Rocket representatives and temporary leaders for the organizations in each region. Proton is in charge here and as you can tell, he seems to be just as sadistic as the other three." Jessie shrugged casually as if this was knowledge that everybody should know. "Proton is in charge of Johto and is calling all the shots, still run by Boss of course before he actually does anything."

"Leave the building." Gary instructed the much older woman. She stared at him, her mouth agape.

"Excuse me?" She said haughtily, "Leave the building?"

"Yes, you're not somebody that we can trust and even if you are telling the truth then the best bet is for you to run before you get caught, tell your friends that too. We can handle this thing ourselves."

Jessie stared at him with a narrowed eyed look. "Listen here twerp, who do you think I am? I'm the lovely Jessie and nobody can talk to me like that, not even James' mother!"

"James'... mother...?" Dawn deadpanned. "Can you just go please? It will help us greatly."

"Fine!" Jessie exclaimed as she snapped her head around to face Dawn, "I'm only going to do this because you were a decent enough rival in Sinnoh. No matter how much I want those legendary pokémon in my grasp, you better get them out of here." Jessie grabbed a hold of the doorknob, "James, Mewoth and I are plenty capable of capturing them ourselves." She paused for a moment and added, "Top floor, not the lookout deck." She then turned and made her exit.

Gary sighed as he watched her leave. "Grab a uniform and put it on." Gary made his way over and grabbed a medium while Serena got a small and Paul, a large. Gary pulled his regular shirt over his head and tossed it aside, everybody else was doing the same, nobody really cared for privacy at this point in time, there were other more important matters to worry about instead. When Gary was finished, he didn't turn around.

"Is everybody dressed?" He asked. There was a chorus of "Yes." And he turned around, Serena and Dawn matching and Paul and him were matching. "Good, let's storm the place." Gary threw open the other door, shouts immediately reached their ears. Gary released his Umbreon and took off running down the short hallway. He reached the end and peered around the edge of the wall, two Rockets were engaged in a tough looking battle with Iris who was commanding her Gabite to viciously attack a Raticate and a Golbat. Gary frowned, perhaps Gible had evolved into a Gabite moments before because he didn't remember it evolving any other time.

"Gabite, crunch!" She shouted and the dragon pokémon raced forward, its teeth gleaming. Iris spotted them as they raced by. Gary gave her a small smile and jerked his thumb behind him, hoping that she understood what he meant. She gave him a subtle nod and focused her attention back onto the continuing battle.

Gary spotted a staircase not too far away. He didn't look back to see if the others were following him as he made a quick dash to it. He pushed open the door that blocked his way in and rushed up them, taking two stairs at a time. He could hear the pattering of feet racing up after him, too many to count if everybody was there or not, or if they even had an extra Rocket after them. "Top floor... Top floor..." He raced up, not once taking a break, how many flights were there exactly?

A group of grunts burst out of one door. "What are you doing?" One of them demanded. Gary took a deep breath to steady his breathing then replied.

"Going to see if any more protection is needed upstairs, we were asked by a higher up downstairs. There's so many of them coming in they wanted us to help backup upstairs."

The grunt stared at Gary then nodded slowly. "Very well. Get to your posts."

"We'll be there in a flash." Gary promised. The grunt didn't more for a moment then stepped around Gary and the three others, leading the way back to the first floor.

"That was close." Dawn sighed. Gary looked back, analysing the three with him. Paul, Dawn and Serena all seemed to be tired but the looks on their faces showed otherwise. Gary couldn't help the small smirk upon seeing Dawn squeezing onto Paul's hand.

"It was nothing we couldn't handle." Gary said reassuringly. "If I counted correctly this is the fourth floor, the next one is where we need to be, so get yourselves ready."

"Got it."

June 21st, 2006

Iris looked at the group she was assigned to by Gary. "We're a pretty solid team." Iris noted, "Three gym leaders and a top coordinator." She placed her hands on her hips firmly. "I guess we might as well barge in right now. The sooner we start the sooner we'll finish."

"I'm ready." Misty said, she had two pokéballs in her hands. "Do you think a Gyarados will fit in there, or will he be too big?"

"It'll be too big." Drew commented. "I was wondering the same on whether I should use my Flygon or not, I'm just going to stick with Absol for now."

Misty nodded. "Yeah, I've learned my lesson by using certain water types out of water so I have five others I can use instead." She laughed. "Goldeen isn't much help flailing on the ground."

"Be sure to stay away from me." Clemont noted. "It won't help either if your pokémon get electrocuted by mine."

"I'll stay in the middle, Iris and Clemont can go to the left and Misty can go to the right." Drew instructed. "That way those who need to be separated will be, just be wary of whoever's next to you."

"I'm going in now." Iris said, she didn't want to wait any longer, the other's might be inside and they needed to get to the others, Gary and Sammy were the only two people who really knew where the others were, but Sammy was needed outside to greet the other three protectors that were supposedly coming, and being the small group that they were, small compared to Team Rocket, they needed to act now and they needed to act fast.

"We're ready," Clemont nodded. "Let's go."

Once she heard his words, Iris made a dash for the door, enlarging Gible's pokéball. She smashed through the door, causing it to crash loudly against the walls. There were a few people stationed on the first floor and Iris immediately threw the pokéball into the air and in a flash of bright red light, Gible appeared. "Dragon claw!" She shouted and Gible's claws enlarged, encased in a bright red light and be began to slash anything in sight. Next to her there were collective shouts of;

"Thunderbolt!"

"Razor wind!"

"Water pulse!"

Different objects around the room burst into smoke as each attack hit something around her. The grunts immediately went into action, pulling out their own pokémon and commanding them to use moves that so far barely put a scratch on the other's pokémon.

"Dig!" Iris called with a grin. Gible's face matched her own as it began to tear through the floor, not actually going deep enough so he would fall. Looking around, Misty was holding back three pokémon with her own Politoed. Drew continued to call attacks for Absol that would damage the building further, and Clemont had called out a second pokémon. Chespin and Helioisk fought furiously with a large Houndoom, one that was bigger than usual.

"Clemont!" Iris called to get his attention. He gave her a quick glance and a small nod, barely taking his attention away from his two fighting pokémon. In that small span of a glance she jabbed her thumb, indicating that she was going elsewhere, spotting an open hallway that she could possible sneak around and fight more grunts by surprise.

Iris made a mad dash to the place she spotted, narrowly missing a racing Furret with unsheathed claws which had been enlarged to a terrifying size. She turned around and shouted to her Gible. "Dragon claw!" Gible's claws flashed white and sunk deeply into the Furret's side a cry came from it and it whipped its body around, flinging Gible. The dragon-type did a rotation in the air and sent a blazing flamethrower at the Furret, without Iris asking, though she couldn't complain about the choice of move. The Furret began to race around in a circle; it looked similar to a Linoone at the speed it was going at, though it wasn't moving in a straight line. The flamethrower still hit the Furret and left a visible burn on it. "Crunch!" Gible started its decent and bit the Furret directly where it was previously burned. Furret began to thrash, its claws elongating again and slashing at Gible. Suddenly, Gible's body began to glow a bright white. Iris grinned. Gible's appearance began to get larger and lankier getting a longer torso, legs, and arms.

"Gabite!" It shouted.

"One more dragon claw!"

Gabite brought down its arm and slashed at the Furret. It let out one more cry of pain before falling limp of the floor, fainting. Iris couldn't help but envelope her pokémon in a quick hug before letting him go and hurrying to the hallway. A Raticate and Golbat jumped in her way and Iris smiled down at Gabite. "Let's kick some ass! Gabite, crunch!" The Raticate leaped out of the way and bared it's front teeth which gleamed from a super fang attack.

There was movement out of the corner of her gaze, she glanced over quickly and spotted a Rocket grunt. Upon a closer inspection she recognised the face. Gary gave a jab behind him. She didn't really understand what he was telling her but she nodded nonetheless. Gary was pleased with her reaction and ran towards a staircase, she watched as Dawn, Serena and Paul raced after him.

"Carnivine!" A familiar voice shouted, it was then followed by a loud screech. "No get off of me! You're not supposed to bite me, oh and use bullet seed!" Seeds were blasted all around the two pokémon, causing small explosions to injure them.

Iris looked around for the source. She saw the Carnivine and gasped when she saw who was ordering it. None other than the blue haired Rocket grunt himself, James, was defending her.

June 21st, 2006

May waited impatiently with Cilan and Sammy. Sammy had his eyes closed, concentrating hard on the three, or now four, others that were going to come and help. Their given twenty minutes have long passed, they weren't following the plan but Sammy kept on insisting that the others would show up soon.

"They're almost here." Sammy announced. "They just got into Goldenrod city. Suicine, Entei and Raikou are moving faster now; it'll probably be a matter of minutes before the get here." Sammy opened his eyes and looked to his two companions; there was a gleam in them. "Once they get here, then we can go inside."

Just like Sammy had said, the others did in fact arrive in a matter of minutes, four minutes and thirty-two seconds to be exact, not that May was counting or anything.

May didn't know how to explain it, but she could tell when the three legendary beasts were coming. It felt as if a huge thunderstorm was looming around them, a wave of heat and followed by a muggy-electric feeling in the air. She was almost certain that a storm would in fact be coming along with the arrival of the legendries. It wasn't something to be certain about, it was a fact.

The first one to arrive was Entei, the boy sitting on its back slid off with a smile. "Four protectors are at your service!" Heat blared around them, instantly making May sweat and wipe at her brow and chin. She craved for a drink of cold water, but she didn't doubt it would start boiling if she did have one.

"Pika!" A pikachu announced as it jumped off of Entei and onto the boy's shoulder. It had a tuft of fur that looked very much like hair; this Pikachu looked nothing like the Pikachu that belonged to Ash, the one she was so used to.

"Four?" Sammy asked, "There were only three legendary pokémon with you. I could only connect to three of you briefly."

The boy nodded, "Yeah four. There's a total of seven legendary pokémon confined in the area of Goldenrod City."

May frowned. "What do you mean seven? There should only be six."

The boy shook his head. "No seven," He held up his hands and began to count them off on his fingers. "Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Celebi, Ho-Oh, Lugia and Lugia's child."

"That's right," Cilan agreed. "We had a whole conversation on whether or not legendary pokémon can breed and it's been proven that some in fact can despite our understanding. Most legendary pokémon have been proven to be genderless but Lugia is a prime example of that mystery."

"But how can it breed without..." May trailed off.

"Genitalia?" Cilan spoke for her, "It's like what I said, some legendary pokémon can breed without them, which is why we cannot comprehend how."

There was a small shock that erupted from the ground, startling May. In a leap, Raikou landed beside Entei, the boy sitting on top of it slid off just like the first did. "Jeez Ritchie," he sighed. "You were right, Entei is faster."

"Of course Entei is." He reached over and stroked the legendary with a smile.

The other boy took off his hat and rubbed his forehead. "Why does it have to be so hot around these guys?"

"Entei is a fire-type." Ritchie reasoned. "Suicune is a water-type and can control the moisture in the air, usually trying to keep it cool because Entei's trying to make it warmer. Lightning comes when hot and cold air collides, which is electricity." He shrugged. "Basic science."

The other boy glared at him. "Yeah, thanks for making me seem stupid genius." He muttered. He glanced at the group, "Anyway, my name's Jimmy! The other two should be coming soon."

As if on cue, the others did in fact arrive. With a rush of chilling air, Suicune landed gracefully next to Entei and Raikou, letting out a pleasant noise of greeting. "Marina!" Jimmy said loudly. "It only took you forever." The blue haired girl waved him off.

"Are we going to go inside or what?" The third, red-haired boy asked. "We're here for a reason and we should get it done as soon as possible before I lose my position." His cold gaze immediately flashed to May who stiffened, she was caught staring, but there was something odd about this guy. She didn't know if it was just her first impression of him or what it was exactly.

Marina jabbed him with her elbow. "I'm Marina," She looked to the boy who frowned at her.

"Gin." He introduced plainly. He then looked to the three people he traveled with. "We need to go in now. If we wait any longer I will pass out."

"Do you experience pain too?" Sammy asked. "I don't, not anymore, but I know of one inside who does, possibly two."

Gin nodded. "Chest pains, headache." He stated. "That's why we need to go now, I cannot tell whether it is my lungs or my heart, or both." He took a deep breath, it seemed like he was in no pain.

"Shouldn't it hurt to breathe like that?" May asked wryly.

Gin narrowed his eyes at her. "Of course it does. That's why I'm barely breathing if you haven't noticed; it's also why I don't want to talk." He turned back to Jimmy, Marina and Ritchie, he then pointed to the building.

"Yes we can go in now." Marina answered.

June 21st, 2006

Gary stared at the door with a frown. It said it was the fifth floor and so far they had hardly gone through anything significantly tough. He took a few calming breaths to soothe his anxiety about the situation and touched the doorknob, pushing it open.

The room was dark and was only lit by the light oozing off of the computer monitors around the room giving the room an eerie glow. There was a steady tapping noise, probably form a computer, but it could also be something so much worse. He reached into his pocket, feeling relief when he touched the round pokéballs inside. He was almost there; he was so close to her.

Looking around the room closer, he realised that it was the room he had seen through Lugia. Gary looked towards one end of the large room. The wall were steel-lined like he had thought and it was overall chilly and malicious. A place nobody would ever want to be, it just leaked an evil aura. He could hear the breaths of the others behind him. He tried his best to ignore them and concentrate as hard as he could. There were so many important things in this room and he couldn't exactly pinpoint where to go first.

Gary felt drawn to this one point in the corner. He looked around to try and see if the presence he felt was what he thought it to be. Seeing no signs of a free roaming human, he stalked towards the corner. Every hair on his body stuck up, both from adrenaline and from a deep underlying fear that was impossible to ignore. He could feel his heart pick up speed and hammer harshly against his lungs, into his throat, and down to his toes.

There was a splash as he stepped through some kind of puddle. Once he heard a harsh gasp and a small whimper from behind, he had decided not to look, only imagining what it could be. The only thing it had to be.

A puddle of fresh blood.

Even though he knew what it was, not looking down made it seem less repulsive. He kept walking in the direction he felt that called to him. He could see where his body was leading him now. There was a tall, floor to ceiling glass cage in front of him. It was split into sections to accommodate each of the things inside it.

Two Lugias.

One Ho-Oh.

One Celebi.

Three battered human bodies.

None were dead, but they might as well be. The three legendary pokémon looked horrid and one from what he could see, so did the people. He could feel a strong gaze on him. He looked directly in front of him and stared up at the great pokémon before him. The one that protected the seas. The one that he protected. Gary could feel power surge within him. He clenched his jaw and pulled out a pokéball without saying a word. In a flash of red light his partner pokémon stood behind him.

"Rapid spin Blastoise," He said calmly. Much calmer than what he had expected to come from himself. Blastoise retracted its body into its shell, head, appendages, cannons, everything. Slowly, but surely, Blastiose began to pick up speed and rammed itself against the glass, there was hardly a crack. He felt the floor shake and one by one, three other pokémon began to attack. There was an Aagron using metal claw, a Mamoswine using take down and a Slyveon using swift, Gary smiled.

The glass began to break more and more, the sound of the attacks catching the attention of all that were captured. Gary looked towards the three people who were tangled in the mess, hell, they were all tangled in this mess and this was just the beginning of the whole thing, and Gary was the one to start it all. He was making the first move to make things right in the world again.

He watched as he saw three sets of eyes light up in happiness upon seeing them there. Giving them their own smile, a cocky one like Dawn said, and an overconfident wave, Gary pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose so he could get a better look. Ash sat up quickly, his hair was matted and his hat was gone. His grin dazzled through the glass. Lyra smiled weakly, her hair had been pulled from its pigtail and noticeably cut shorter in some chunks but seemed rather unharmed despite a few bruises here and there. Looking back to Ash he pointed to the glass section beside him. There was a girl he had not seen in person in two years. She had the expression he would remember the best out of every face he had seen. The happiness on her face outshined the horrible things done to her body. Gary's gaze softened when he saw her, his smile became gentler. He knew he still loved her just as much as he had two years ago.

Then the glass shattered.

Woooo! Three more characters introduced :))))) Sorry for the long wait! I had limited internet thanks to my youtube obsessed little brother, but hey, this chapter on it's own is over 5000 words long! Only one other chapter had been 5000+ words long and that was when everything went downhill and May, Drew, Dawn, and Paul had to get a flight to leave for Kalos!

Tell me your thoughts! About the chapter, current characters and newly introduced characters! For those of you wondering, I'm trying to use mostly game and anime-verse characters. I've never read the adventures manga so I'd rather not try and guess each character's personality.

Have a lovely week!