Disclaimer: Pokémon is copyrighted property of Nintendo.

Authoress' Notes: I'm surprised by the response this story has received. Thank you all for your favs, follows and kind comments.

I'm really not sure what each of you might be expecting from this story, so I feel a bit nervous about this chapter. Still, I hope you keep enjoying it anyway. :)

Sapphiria – I tried replying to you but it seems private messaging is disable. Anyway, thanks for the heads-up! If you find any other corrections, don't hesitate to point them out! :D

Chapter 2 'Battling Against Overwhelming Forces'

Ash and Mallow were late. Professor Kukui was just outside of his house, looking towards the road that leaded to the forest in the hopes of finding his charge and student returning from their little expedition. Expecting the hyperactive kid to get easily distracted in his way, he had promised to have breakfast ready upon their return, getting a very excited Ash proclaiming they were going to be back before he knew it. That had been the actual reason for Kukui to mention breakfast in the first place. He had hoped for them to return in time before classes started, but that hadn't been the case...

He was considering leaving a note on the door for them to let them know he was going ahead, when RotomDex came flying at a speed he hadn't seen it doing before. Kukui's smile at seeing it was immediately replaced with a frown at noticing how distressed the sentient pokédex was.

"It's an emergency, btzz!"

"Rotom? Where are Ash and Mallow?"

"There's trouble, btzz! Ash sent me back to let you know, btzz!"

"Trouble?! Are they okay?" Kukui was already stepping out of the porch as he asked Rotom what he meant.

"A group of unknown people surrounded us deep in the forest! They looked ready to fight, btzz!" Rotom flew beside the professor as he was running to show him a picture of said group. Kukui didn't recognize them, but could tell they were bad news only by their appearances.

"Show me the way!"

"Roger, btzz!"

.:oOo:.

"Pikapi!"

Back in the forest, Ash was trying to get up after being thrown off by the power of a hyperbeam that had landed too close for comfort.

"Ash!" Mallow was fast to reach him; helping him up.

"Thanks…"

"I must admit I'm surprised," Lysandre commented. "I didn't expect you to last this long with just your Pikachu against Mega-Gyarados."

Ash frowned at Lysandre; Rowlet had stayed behind at Professor Kukui's house, still sleeping, so he just had Pikachu at the moment. He looked down at the ring in his wrist. That was their only chance now. He nodded with determination at Pikachu, who had been waiting for instructions and nodded back, understanding his trainer's plan.

"Let's give them everything we got, Pikachu!" Ash yelled as he positioned himself in synch with Pikachu's movements.

Mallow stepped back to give them space. Even when she had seen their Z-move before, she still felt awed by their strength. Hope rose through her chest; a small smile gracing her lips as she watched them finish the sequence.

"What is this power?" Lysandre asked in fascination as he watched both trainer and Pokémon irradiating a bright yellow light with synchronized movements.

"Here we go! Gigavolt Havoc!"

Just as Ash yelled the command, Pikachu unleashed a powerful electric attack that hit the expectant Gyarados head-on. The flash coming from it and the consecutive explosion was so strong, everyone, including those with sunglasses had to turn away from the blinding light and the strong wind it produced.

It took a few seconds after the attack was done, for the dust to clear, showing a knocked out Gyarados back to its normal form. Lysandre looked on with a stoic face and returned his Pokémon before turning to face the trainer he had come looking for.

"You and your Pokémon never cease to amaze me, Ash," he smiled with something akin to pride and raised his palm towards him. As if it was a signal, the grunts that surrounded them released their own Pokémon ready for a fight. "It's truly a shame… Such potential wasted in wrong and foolish ideals."

Ash's glare intensified at his words; both kids tensing in worry at the new threat surrounding them. Lysandre seemed a bit different than the last time he had seen him. His eyes were slightly unfocused and his smile didn't seem to fit the rest of his expression. Somehow, he gave the impression of being a lot more dangerous than before.

"I see now, I have underestimated you yet again…" as he said that, his raised hand turned to point ahead. "But as much as I would like to keep testing that strength of yours, I'm afraid we have wasted enough time."

The very moment he finished that sentence, the menacing group ordered their Pokémon different attacks all at once. Mallow gasped in fright, seeing the attacks going straight at them and hugged Bounsweet tightly. Ash and Pikachu on the other hand, ran to stand in front of them, brazing themselves for the impact.

As faith would have it, a sudden cry coming through the trees got their startled attention, before a gust of wind came from behind the kids and placed itself protectively in the way of the attacks.

"Tapu Koko!" Ash was the first to recognize their savior before the impact of the attacks blinded them for a second time...

.:oOo:.

"Team Flare is still active."

"No way..." Korrina said in disbelief as she joined the conversation.

"Are you certain of this?" Z2 asked gravely.

"One of the cells just spotted them going after Ash and alerted me," Squishyexplained.

"What? Ash? Why him?"

Not waiting for an answer, Greninja closed his eyes in concentration. Squishy didn't have to ask to know what he was attempting to do. Even from far away, the connection to his trainer was as strong as ever. Greninja had learned to control it so he could check on him every now and then. He could establish a connection without disturbing his trainer with his presence and still know how he was doing.

He felt something was wrong immediately. Exhaustion and distressed feelings that were not his own invaded his mind. He knew his trainer enough to understand the level of possible danger that could have triggered those emotions. Even when confronting Team Rocket, while there was a bit of stress, it came accompanied with slight annoyance. But now, he could perceive something he hadn't feel from his trainer since they had been capture and taken to Prism Tower during the crisis: fear.

Greninja allowed himself to make the connection strong enough so he could make his presence known and ask Ash if he was okay; this also allowing him to see through Ash's eyes for few moments. His trainer was fast to acknowledge his presences and looked momentarily away from the battle in favor of looking at the man in front of him; clearly wanting Greninja to know who he was fighting against. Just seeing the crazed smile in the supposedly dead face made the water type understand what had unnerved his trainer so much. Feeling he had seen enough, he bolted without a word.

"Wha-? Where is he going?" Korrina asked in confusion.

"Korrina," Squishy got the girl's attention. "We count on you and Lucario while Greninja is away."

Forgetting their inquiry, Korrina and Lucario straighten their back with pride and saluted.

"Yes, sir!"

"Rwar!"

.:oOo:.

"Pikachu! Reflect the next attacks with Iron Tail!"

Even with its guard up, Tapu Koko had received enough damage to stunt him to the ground. Most attacks had been poison based, so Ash figured their effectiveness had been greater. Trusting his partner to pull through, Ash ran forward towards the fallen Guardian Deity, as Pikachu complied to the instructions with flawless speed and precision in spite of the increasing exhaustion; the result of the counters being loud explosions when the long range attacks hit the surrounding area instead.

"Bounsweet, help Pikachu with Aromatic Mist!" Mallow commanded somewhere behind him.

She might have never trained Bounsweet for actual battles, but she decided they were not going to stay idle and was determined to help Ash and Pikachu with whatever they could. Once her Pokémon provided Pikachu with extra defenses, they took off after Ash who had just kneeled beside Tapu Koko.

"Oh, no! It looks poisoned," Mallow noted.

"Tapu Koko, are you able to get up?" Ash asked the island guardian, noticing it was conscious but weak. "You gotta get out of here. These people are dangerous."

Having faith in Pikachu to keep the attacks at bay for a bit longer, he neglected to keep an eye in his surroundings and the villain syndicate took complete advantage of it. A blurry shadow jumped from the bushes behind them and ran forward. Tapu Koko was the first to notice, and cried out in warning just as the grunt moved to disable the children. Taking it for what it was, Ash acted on instinct, turning around as he stood while pulling Mallow to the ground in time to see their aggressor lashing out. It was too late to do any more than that. The attack connected, and the last thing he registered was a sharp pain on the side of his neck before his sight blackened out.

"Ash!" Mallow hurried to get off the ground at seeing her friend slump forward; the grunt's ready grasp on him being the only thing preventing him from falling face first to the ground.

"Don't bother, sweetie," a woman's voice right next to her made her jump. She hadn't seen her coming either. "Let's keep the dead weight to a minimum, shall we?"

"Pikapi!"

"Kokooh!"

"Now, you two stay put as well," a second woman warned as she stepped closer to her companion, who had adjusted his hold on Ash to carry him over his shoulder. "You wouldn't want to accidentally harm your precious trainer, would you?"

Pikachu hesitated, and that was all they needed. The next set of attacks hit their intended target simultaneously. With a pained cry, the exhausted mouse was thrown a few feet into the air, before crashing against the harsh ground near Mallow's feet.

She froze in horrified disbelief. With no indication of remorse, these people had used Ash's safety as leverage against Pikachu. Trembling in both adrenaline and fear, she kneeled towards Pikachu and cradled him in her arms, not remembering the last time she felt like crying so badly.

"Well done," the Director's voice sounded like thunder through her inner turmoil. "Bring the children over to the ship."

.:oOo:.

"Authorities of Lumiose City are still working to find the whereabouts of the convict who escaped last week from prison… the ex-member of the criminal organization Team Flare was known to be the science lead of the syndicate, who…"

"Professor? We have visitors."

Professor Sycamore turned away from the television at the sound of one of his assistants' voice. Right next to her stood Clemont, the young Lumiose City's gym leader and his younger sister Bonnie.

"Hello, Professor!" The girl greeted him brightly. "Can we go see the Pokémon?"

"Sure, Bonnie. You know the way."

She nodded with enthusiasm and ran off.

"Careful, Bonnie! Don't rush!" Clemont warned her. He made to run after her but stopped, turned to the professor and bowed. "Thank you very much for letting us come and visit again. We appreciate it," that said, he went after his bubbly sister.

Sycamore just smiled at the kids antics and with one last worried gaze to the television, he decided to follow them outside.

Their visits had been frequent since they came back from their journey. Clemont had explained how little Bonnie had been feeling down without their friends around, so Sycamore invited them to visit whenever they wanted. The prospect of being able to play with the labs' Pokémon had cheered Bonnie up almost immediately.

"Professor, come quick!" Clemont's alerted voice cut through his musings and he ran outside to see what the emergency was.

What he saw was beyond his expectations. A Greninja had broken through one of the top glasses and was staggering to its feet with the siblings' help. That's when it clicked; that wasn't just any Greninja, it was Ash's.

"Hey, Greninja! Are you okay?" Bonnie was asking in worry.

"What happened?" Sycamore asked as he approached them to check on the Pokémon himself.

"Greninja was coming over from the rooftops when he seemed in pain and crashed against the window," Bonnie explained.

"He doesn't seem to be severely injured," Clemont observed.

Sycamore finished doing a quick check up and nodded. It was true the fall didn't seem to have caused too much damage, and he couldn't see any injury that could be causing the frog-like Pokémon any discomfort, yet Greninja looked dazed and a bit out of it. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind.

"Could it be… you and Ash are still able to connect with each other?"

The implication set in the children's minds and both gasped at the same time, with a new kind of worry filling their insides.

Greninja gave a silent croak of affirmation and Professor Sycamore frowned, asking the children to help him take the water type inside so they could figure out what was going on.

.:oOo:.

Near the road that leaded to the Pokémon School, a certain honey blonde performer was walking with her eyes transfixed in her electronic map.

Now that she thought about it, maybe her decision of coming to Alola without letting anyone but her mother know had been a bit rash.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Serena had been at a Pokémon Center in Hoenn, talking through video call with Aria, who she had kept in contact with. The older girl had told her about a tour she was going to be taking part of, to introduce the showcases to other regions. The idea was to give friendly showcases as a way to promote the competition outside of Kalos. Saying she missed Serena's enthusiasm and determination, she had invited her to take a break from contests so she could come along.

Serena felt excited about the idea, but what truly sealed the deal for her, was the mention of the first region in the tour scheduled, which Aria mischievously had informed her to be Alola.

Serena was thrilled, and her first thought was to contact Ash to let him know, but Aria had stopped her, telling her it would be more romantic if she showed up by surprise, making the younger girl blush in flustered embarrassment.

Serena remembered her friend giggling as if she was enjoying the whole thing. Apparently Aria had taken a personal hobby of plotting ways to make their next reunion memorable.

Back to the present, Serena didn't know if she should have been grateful for her support or blame her for being practically lost. Since she had not tell anyone she was coming, she never asked were to find Ash. Her only option was to wander around through the island, hoping to grasp any clues as to where her childhood friend could be.

"I wonder what could have happen…"

A voice not far from her caught her attention, noticing a group of kids her age walking down the road. Worried frowns were adorning all their faces as they continued their discussion unaware of her presence.

"Maybe they overslept?" the shortest of them was suggesting, not sounding very sure himself.

"Well… I somehow can expect that from Ash, but Professor Kukui would make sure to wake him if that happened," the only other boy of the group, answered with a shrug.

Serena almost felt intimidated by his rough aspect and by how tall he was, but at the mention of her crush, she perked up, wondering if it was wise to interrupt.

"Mallow mentioned they were going to search for berries," a blue-hair girl explained in thought. "Maybe they found so many they need help to carry them back?"

"That's… unlikely, too," the same dark skinned guy dismissed yet another idea. As the other kids deflated, he stopped in his track with a resolute grunt, making the rest of his companions stop in confusion. "That's it! I'll ride on Charizard to Professor Kukui's house and find out what's the hold up."

This seemed to cheer the group back up.

"We'll keep going through the road in case you miss them," a girl in a white dress informed.

Wishing good luck to their retreating friend, they made to continue on their way and Serena took her chance.

"Excuse me. I couldn't help overhearing your conversation," she apologized politely before continuing. "Do you happen to know a boy named Ash?"

The three other kids exchanged curious looks in respond.

.:oOo:.

As he approached Professor Kukui's house, Kiawe spotted him running towards the forest's outskirts with Rotom in the lead. Kiawe asked Charizard to descend just enough for him to be heard, and was surprised to find a sense of urgency in Kukui's expression; definitely not usual on the laid back teacher.

"Professor Kukui! Running late?" he called out.

"Ah, Kiawe!" he said turning towards the boy. "I am actually searching for Ash and Mallow. They went to the forest early this morning but haven't come back. Rotom says they stumbled into trouble!"

"What? What kind of trouble?"

As if to answer his question, an explosion coming from deeper within the forest resounded all the way to their location, startling them into silence.

"I'll go ahead!" Kiawe decided, ordering his Charizard to fly towards the noise.

"Be careful!" Kukui called back as he too entered the forest behind Rotom.