I watched as Antonio walked down the hall without a second glance.

"Good luck," I said to Jason and Michelle.

"You too,"

We split up and I looked down at the map. I was in a hallway off to the left of the main entrance. The holding cells were a floor below me. I was thankful that we had stopped at home just yesterday because my grandma Delia had given us some pens. I put an "X" where the holding cells were and turned back around and headed down the hall that Antonio had just gone down.

I was being careful as I walked. I had to be careful, extremely careful, or else Team Rocket would hear me coming. One mistake and it would be over.

"Pi..." Pikachu said nervously.

I stopped and heard footsteps echoing through the quiet hall. I backtracked and hid in an empty room.

"We'd better hurry. They're almost ready to go to the temple." one grunt said.

The other nodded. Once they were gone, I released my breath.

"I should have Haunter come out." I said to myself.

"Haunt-"

"Shh..." I said.

Haunter looked at me questioningly.

"I need you to be quiet. Follow me and if I say 'Now', I need you to use Hypnosis. Do you understand?"

"Haunt."

"You should also turn invisible so the guards won't see you coming."

Haunter faded away and I stepped out from the room and continued on my way.

Normal POV

Darien stood in a bedroom in his ship. He crossed the room and stopped, kneeling in front of a small eight-year-old girl. She had turned eight not long ago.

"Listen, I'll be going away soon and I might not see you for a very long time." he said.

"Why?" she questioned, tilting her head.

"I have something important to do."

He stood up and looked at the small girl. "When I leave, don't follow me. Stay here where it's safe."

"Okay."

"If I don't come back for you...I want you to go to Pallet Town and find a woman named Dawn. You can trust her."

"Why wouldn't you come back?"

He ignored her question. "I want you to do that for me. Can you do it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good."

Darien left the room and closed the door behind him. He had his reasons for doing this. He was going to try to stop his father and probably would not live to see another day.

Adam's POV

I had gotten to the floor where the holding cells were and just my luck, there were grunts. I crept up to the corner, peered out around it, and I quickly pulled back. Four grunts, all in front of the holding cell room and it didn't seem like they were going to be moving anytime soon.

Dad had to be in there. It had four grunts standing outside it, after all.

"Now." I said. I peered out and watched as Haunter appeared and used Hypnosis. The grunts fell to the ground, sound asleep.

"Thanks, Haunter." I said.

I pulled the door open and walked inside. I checked around and found it empty. The cells had no prisoners in them.

"No..." I was too late. They had moved my dad already.

I sighed and pressed the button on the radio receiver on my ear that Antonio had given me.

"My dad's not in the holding cells. They must have already moved him or are moving him to the ships." I said. "Michelle, my dad might be heading your way. Let me know if you see him."

"I will, Adam. I'm almost to the hanger." she replied.

"Thanks, I'll meet you there."

I walked out of the room and stepped around the grunts.

Jason's POV

I stopped and looked down at the map. The storage room was be close by. I retraced my steps, went back the way I had gone, and found it.

"It was to my right." I muttered.

I stepped out and walked through the hall. I had called out Haunter so that if I needed to act fast, I could. I stopped and peered around the corner. All clear.

"Haunter..."

I glanced at Haunter. I was approaching a door and it started to open. Someone was coming out!

"Hypnosis..." I said softly as I back-stepped to get behind the corner. A grunt fell to the ground, asleep. That was close, I could have gotten caught.

I peered into the room that the grunt had come from and saw that this was the storage room. I walked in and shut the door behind me. I ran over to the nearest cabinet and looked around. I checked the other shelves and more cabinets and found Pokeballs belonging to Team Rocket, but nothing that belonged to Ash.

Then I realized...they wouldn't hide his things where all of the grunts would have access to them. It would be a place where only certain people had access. A safe place. I looked around the room and as I stared at the cabinets and shelves, I saw something. One of the shelves was on wheels. I walked over to the shelf and pushed it aside to find...a safe.

"Aha!" I cried. Now I just needed to get it open.

"Antonio, do you know the combination to a hidden safe in the storage room?" I asked.

"Sixty, thirty, zero."

That was a strange combination. I put the numbers in and the safe opened. I looked inside and saw five Pokeballs and a Pokedex that was an older version than mine. This was Ash's Pokedex and his Pokeballs. I took my backpack off and put the things into my bag.

"I found Ash's Pokeballs and his Pokedex." I said over my radio earpiece. I just wished that Adam could have found his dad when he went to the holding cells.

"Guys, come to the hangers, quick! I found Ash!" Michelle cried.

Adam's POV

"Great, Michelle! Keep us informed." I said.

I couldn't believe it. We were close to getting my dad out of here! Without him, Team Rocket wouldn't be able to activate the temple! I had to be careful, though.

I looked at the map and found the hangers. Not too far. As I stopped to see if the coast was clear, I heard footsteps approaching from behind me. I spun around and sighed in relief to see that it was only Jason.

"You're lucky I realized that it was you, Adam." he said.

"Same to you, Jason." I replied.

We got through the door to the hangers and sneaked past the grunts that were around a few crates. This hanger was huge! All four of the Hunters' ships were here, along with several helicopters and many trucks.

"Guys..." a soft voice said. We looked to our left and saw Michelle hidden behind a stack of crates. We hurried over to her and hid with her. Our Ghost Pokemon appeared behind us and we returned them.

I took notice that there were Pokemon with glowing red eyes boarding the ships. Those poor Pokemon were being mind-controlled by Hunter Michael. Speaking of Pokemon Hunters, all were present except Darien. I scanned the area once again and he wasn't there.

"All of the Pokemon Hunters are there but Darien." I said softly.

"I noticed. And the Pokemon are being controlled like last time." Michelle said.

We stayed hidden and Michelle raised her hand and pointed up towards a helicopter. I followed her finger and Jason did, too. Standing by the helicopter was a figure who had his arms tied together. That figure was...my dad.

I stared at his appearance. His clothes that he had been wearing on the day that he disappeared had faded in color and were worn and torn. His skin wasn't tanned like it always was, it was now pale and he was a lot skinnier. His hair was a lot longer too, falling in front of his eyes and grazing his shoulders in the back, and a thick beard was on his face. Eight months of being held captive and this is what my dad looked like. Despite his appearance, I knew it was him and even if I had doubts, the z's under his eyes made me know that it was definitely him.

I went to move, but Jason grabbed my arm.

"They'll see you." he said.

"We can't get caught when we're this close to saving him." said Michelle.

I looked at my dad. We were this close and we couldn't rescue him! I frowned, but nodded. I had to think before I acted. Like Jason had said when Michelle was captured by Oliver, I needed to think instead of trying to act.

"Antonio, my dad is being taken to the Temple of Legends. We're too late to rescue him." I said.

"Okay. You three are going to need to sneak aboard one of the Hunters' ships and follow them to the temple. It's not too late to save him. I'll be staying behind to make sure that the bomb goes off once you leave."

"Okay,"

"This is where we part ways. I'll make sure that the bomb goes off once you're gone. And...If you three ever see my daughter on your journey, could you tell her that I'm alive and that I love her and miss her, and I hope that she achieves her goals in life? She's probably around your ages by now."

"We promise we'll tell her if we find her. What's her name?" Michelle asked.

"Her name is...Amber."

Then the line cut out and we looked at one another in shock.

"Amber? The girl that we met on Cinnabar Island?" Jason asked softly.

No wonder she was acting strange when we met her. Her mom had been killed, her dad wasn't around, and she was raised by her grandma. She didn't know that her dad was alive and she didn't know who her family was. She was hurt and felt betrayed by her father, Antonio.

"We have to tell her when we see her again. She deserves to know." Michelle said.

"We will," I agreed.

"We owe it to Antonio for helping us." Jason added.

We looked around. We were close to one of the Hunters' ships. "Okay, now all we have to do is get onto the ship. We've done it before and we can do it again." I said.

We moved quietly from crate to crate, being careful to stay low and hidden. We made it to the crates that were in front of the ramp that lead onto one of the ships. Glancing around, we saw no one looking at us.

We stepped out, only to find boots that lead up to Darien. Before we could do anything, Pikachu and Pichu were shot and turned to stone. We didn't even have time to try and run because grunts ran up behind us. They grabbed our arms and put them behind our backs and tied our arms tightly. I heard Michelle cry out when the grunts tied her arms. Our earpieces were also removed and Darien crushed them under his foot.

Darien started walking and we were pushed, forced to follow him. We were lead to another part of the hanger and a helicopter was behind the people standing in front of Darien. I felt my blood run cold. Standing in front of Darien was Pokemon Hunter Oliver, Mya, and Michael, and a man that I guessed was the leader of Team Rocket.

The leader was about my grandma Johanna's age, maybe a coupe of years older. He had grey hair and was wearing a charcoal colored suit with a dark gray button up shirt and a dark tie. His eyes looked cold and cruel.

"I captured the three children as you requested." Darien said.

"Great work, Darien. You are to bring the children to the temple on your ship, since everything is now ready and loaded." he said.

Darien nodded his head. The leader stepped back, looking at the other Hunters and nodded. He then got into the helicopter. It was then that I realized that was where my dad was, in that helicopter with Team Rocket's leader.

"Enjoy the last few hours that you three have left to live." Oliver said.

"Because once this mission is over...we will kill you." Mya added.

"As slowly and as painfully as possible for all of the trouble that you have caused Team Rocket." Michael finished.

We were forced to follow Darien onto his ship. We were shoved into an empty room and I heard the door lock. I looked and saw Pikachu and Pichu in glass domes, still turned to stone. We had escaped all of the other times that we'd been captured, but this time, there was no way that we could escape. Our luck had finally run out.

Michelle sat down against the wall and stared at the floor. I saw that her eyes were glassy with unshed tears.

Jason sighed and sat down. His face showed that he was angry, but hidden underneath that anger was fear.

Where did Darien even come from? We had checked from behind the crates and he wasn't around.

It looked like things had taken a turn for the worse. I was glad that I had gotten to see my mom yesterday...because that would probably be the last time that I would ever see her. All we needed was some hope and a little bit of a fighting chance, but with our arms tied and Pokemon as stone, we didn't stand a chance.

I looked at Pikachu and Pichu with sadness. I sighed and sat down.

We were going to be the reason that Team Rocket wins, the reason Team Rocket takes over the world. My dad wouldn't have a choice with our safety at stake. He would do anything to keep us safe.

I'm sorry, dad. I'm sorry that we're going to cause you to do this. I'm sorry that I couldn't rescue you in time. And most importantly, I'm sorry that I couldn't reunite you and mom...and I won't be able to stop Kenny from trying to rip our family apart. I'm so sorry, dad.

Author's Note: We've been posting these chapters really fast, haven't we?

Adam and his friends find Ash but are too late to save him and have gotten themselves captured by Team Rocket, unable to escape. Darien was the one who captured the kids, too. Did he really change his ways or not? And who is the girl on his ship that he was talking to?

Also, the kids learn that Amber, a girl that they've met on their journey, may be Antonio's daughter. Is this the secret that she's been hiding from them?

Now, Team Rocket is heading for the Temple of Legends with nothing standing in their way! Has Team Rocket finally triumphed? Is this the end for Kanto...and for the story, too?

Stay tuned and find out in what may be the final chapter of Pokemon NG!