"Let go of me, you psycho!" Bolt screamed, struggleling in Doug's arms
"Be quiet!" Doug said "Your screaming is driving me crazy!"
"Heh, too bad you simply can't stop listening to me!" Bolt said, yelling louder
"Maybe, but I can stop understanding you" Doug said, pressing a button on his helmet
"Pika ka pika?! What did you just do?!" Bolt said
"Finnaly" Doug said "Land there Zapdos" he pointed at a small section of the tower he knew it was safe to land in, his shadow pokemon
nodded and flew down to the ridge, were a man wearing a large trench coat and a fedora, with a Roserade, Gallade and Dusknoir with him
"Ah, hello Lewis" Doug called out, his bird landing on the tower and tossed the pikachu to Lewis
"Hello Bolt" Lewis said, greeting the pokemon "Long time no see, eh?"
"Pika pika pikachu ka pi! Your gonna regret doing this Lewis!" Bolt yelled
"I highly doubt I will" Lewis said smugly, pulling out a small transparent sphere out of his jacket and tapped Bolt with it, it then expands and traps Bolt in a bigger version of the sphere
"Pika chu? PikaCHUUUUUUU! What the heck? Thunderbolt!" Bolt yelled, shooting off electricity, witch just bounced back at him "Piiika!"
"Nice try. This is how we take care of caught pokemon" Lewis said "Now, let's keep-"
"CHAAAAAAAAR!" a voice roared in the sky near them, the two Cipher operatives turned to see a giant fire lizard flying to them
"Kachu chu! Charizard!" Bolt yelled happily
"Quiet!" Lewis said, shaking the sphere
"Pika!" Bolt squealed as his head bumped into the ball
"Let's go" Doug said, Lewis nodded and followed him inside the next floor "Zapdos, deal with them!"
"Come on, I saw them!" Ash yelled, pointing at the tower
"Okay, I'm going in" Charizard said, folding his wings and dive bombing to the tower, just then a purple thunder attack flew in their direction, missing by an inch
"What was that?!" Ashchu screamed, looking for the source of the electricity
"LEAVE!" a voice screeched suddenly the shadow Zapdos flew out of nowhere and started hovering right in their path
"Get out of our way Beak Face!" Ash yelled
"No, I will not" the Zapdos said
"Forget about him" Ash said, pointing down below Charizard nodded and flew below, only to be zapped
"Let us through!" Ashchu said
"I shall not!" he said, realising a wave of purple electricity towards the three pokemon
"UP!" Ash yelled, Charizard nodded and flew upwards, only for the Zapdos to follow them
"Grrr" Charizard growled "Flamethrower!" he blew fire out his mouth straight to the Zapdos, bathing it in orange flames, causing it to fall, still engulfed in flames
"Good one" Ashchu said
"Thanks now let's-" Charizard began to say
"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" the Zapdos screamed, flying back up and swatting the flames off in their direction and shot thunderbolts in every other direction
"Incoming!" Ashchu screamed, Charizard looked around, there was no way to doge without getting hit with an electric attack
"Brace yourselfes, guys" he said, the two pikachu gulped and got down on their stomach
"VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" they heard a voice scream, blasting the fire out of the way and sending the Zapdos flying and crashing into the side of the tower
"What the..?" Ash said, turning to see a meowth shaped balloon following them, and inside there were
"Gary, Nubtup?!" Ash yelled, seeing his two friends pilot the balloon
"You didn't think we were gonna let you have all the fun, did you?" Gary yelled back
"Where did you get the balloon?" Ashchu yelled
"Remember that Team Rocket agreed to help us? They lent us the balloon" Nubtup yelled
"Cool!" Ashchu yelled "Come on!" all the pokemon nodded and landed on the ridge, only to see the Zapdos glow green, and stared in haw as the purple feathers turned yellow and it's eyes transformed from irisless red eyes to normal ones
"Thank you" the legendary bird said, bowing it's head at his saviors
"Um, your welcome" Ash said, confused at what just happened "Why were you like that?"
"I was transformed into that mindless slave by those humans, I am in your gratitude for snapping me free of their control. Is there anyway I can help you?"
"Well, we're trying to rescue our friend from those humans that transformed you" Gary said "I just hope we don't bump into a lot of ghost pokemon.."
"That I can help you with" Zapdos said, took in a deep breath and screeched, causing all of them to cover their ears "There, the path to your friend should be clear of ghosts" Zapdos took of
"Thanks!" Nubtup yelled, before following the others inside the tower
Bolt moaned, waking up and saw that he was still stuck inside the transparent sphere, he looked outside and realised that they were nearing the top of the tower
"Pika pikachu ka chu? Where are you taking me anyway?" he asked his captors
"We're taking you to the top of the tower." Lewis said
"Pikachu pika kachu pi? Pika pikachu pika, kachupi?The top of the tower? What can I do for you two nut-jobs up there, anyways?" Bolt asked
"You do something for us? Ha!" Lewis laughed "Your nothing but bait on a hook, the one we want is your friend, Ash"
"Pika kachu pik pika!? What do you want with him!?" Bolt yelled
"Hum, do you think we're just going to tell you our plans?" Lewis said "Now be quiet, we're here" Bolt turned and looked at the top floor of the tower, there were consederebly less graves than the previous floors, with one large and expensebly desinged gravestone in the back of the room, with the name inscribed in the front, faded beyond recognision
"At long last" Doug said, walking towards the grave "The grave of Pokemon Tower's architect"
"Pi, pikachu? Wait, architect?" Bolt asked
"Yes, the architect. When he passed away, his final wish was to be laid to rest in the cementary he built." Lewis explained, Bolt was speechless, he was only snapped back to reality when he heard a loud buzzing noise, he looked over to see Doug using a small laser to cut the stone open to reveal a coffin "Good job Doug, catch" Lewis said, tossing the sphere with Bolt in it to Doug and walked up to the coffin, grabbing the lid and ripping it off, reaviling a perfectly clean skeleton, with a black book in it's hand, Lewis reached in and grabbed it
"Pikaa! Gross!" Bolt said, sticking his tounge out in disgust
"Finaly! The tome is in our hands" Lewis said, putting the book in his pocket "Now we-"
"STOP RIGHT THERE, WACKO!" Bolt heard a voice scream, he looked at the stairs to see his friends standing in the doorway
"Never mind, we don't have to wait after all, Dusknoir!" Lewis yelled, the ghost appearing right in front of him
"Ah, perfect. Commands?" Dusknoir asked
"You know I don't give commands, do whatever you want, but we need them alive" Lewis said
"Perfect" Dusknoir chuckeled
"Get out of my way, Dusknoir" Ash threatned the ghost "Let me get to my friend, and this won't get ugly"
"Too bad, I like when it gets ugly. Shadow Ball!" the ghost yelled, Ash simply yelled in rage and took of on all fours, phasing through the ghost and ran straight for Doug, tackling him and knocking the ball out of his hands
"Ow" Bolt said, rubbing his head "Ash!"
"Bolt!" Ash said happily, rushing over to his friend "Hang on, I'll figure out how to break you out of there" he raised his fist as it started to glow "Brick Break!" he ramned his fist into the plastic sphere, making a crack in it
"I'll help you out. Iron Tail!" Bolt screamed, hitting the same spot as Ash
"Just a little more" Ash said, but just before he hit the ball again, he felt like something grabbed his foot, looking he saw a black metal claw when he was suddenly pulled away "Ahhh!"
"Ash!" Bolt yelled, he kept punding on and on to try and escape. Ash stopped in front of Lewis, who pocketed a grappiling hook
"Hello Ash" Lewis said, pulling out his stun-stick
"You.." Ash growled
"Is that anyway to adress your former trainer?" Lewis asked, extending the stick and turning it on
"YOUR NOT MY TRAINER!" Ash yelled in anger, shocking Lewis
"Augh!" Lewis yelped, falling down to his knees
"FIRST YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS TURN ME INTO A POKEMON" Ash screamed, shocking Lewis again "THEN YOU ATTACK US!" he shocked him again " THEN YOU CAPTURE ME AND MAKE ATTACK MY FRIENDS" he pumped another 50,000 volts through Lewis "AND THEN YOU KIDNAP MY BEST FRIEND!" before he could shock him again Lewis said
"Best friend? *Cough* Don't you mean. Pet?"
"What?!" Ash said, still steaming angry "What do you mean?!"
"I mean that friends don't go around screaming orders at each other do they?" Lewis said, giving his pokemon a tiny, almost undtectable nod, Dusknoir nodded back, dropped Gary and turned into a shadow
"What, but I.." Ash said, confused
"Think about it, you act more an owner than a friend" Lewis said, Ash thought for a minute before looking at him with a look of pure anger
"THAT'S A LIE!" Ash screamed, his fist glowing white
"Too late" Lewis said as Dusknoir appeared next to him and swatted Ash away
"Gah!" Ash grunted as he crashed into one of the gravestones
"Gallede" Lewis said as his pokemon came out of his pokeball "Use teleport" he looked at Doug a second before they dissapierd "Sorry old friend. But sacrifices must be made" the Cipher operative dissapiered in a flash of pink light
"No!" Ash yelled, running foreward to the spot were Lewis was standing, he punched the floor "He got away"
"Calm down Ash" Gary said, walking over to his friend and putting his paw on his shoulder "We'll catch him"
"I know" Ash said "But, I can't calm down. He did so many things to me, I want him to pay"
"I understand that Ash." Gary said, trying to find ways of claming Ash down "Hey Ash, do you remember what I wrote on the back of the route sign?"
"Yeah, you wrote Gary was here, Ash is a loser" Ash said
"I never apollogiesed for that, didn't I?" Gary asked, Ash shook his head "Well, then I'm sorry Ash"
"I forgive you Gary" Ash said. The two helped get Bolt out of the ball just in time for the police to appear
"Looks clear Jenny!" a male police officer said, seconds after that officer Jenny walked up the stairs to find five pokemon and a passed out man, wearing Cipher armor
"Growleth, you go talk to the pokemon. I'll go look at that man" Jenny told her partner, who nodded and ran to Ash and Gary
"Um, hi" Ash said to the dog pokemon
"What's your name?" the growleth asked
"He's Ash, and my name's Gary" Gary said
"You've got a trainer, right?"
"Well-" Ash tried to say before Gary poked the back of his head "Ow"
"Sorry Ash, we do have a trainer. Professor Oak" Gary lied
"Prof Oak? Did this guy steal you?" the growlithe asked, pointing at Doug, Gary and Ash nodded "Okay, I'll tell Jenny that this guy isn't your trainer. You'll be back with Oak soon" the dog pokemon walked to his trainer
"Why did you poke me in the head?" Ash asked
"It's a chip grandpa made that registrasts us as his pokemon, so we can't get caught" Gary explained
"Cool!" Ash said
"Okay, come with us." the Growlithe said "We'll take you to the police station"
"Okay" Ash said, following the police pokemon down the stairs
