Authoress' Notes:

Sorry this chapter took so long. One of my other projects was on its final stage, so it took priority over others. Also, life is being keeping me busy these past weekends (that's when I normally have time to write), so it took me even longer to finish. Not to mention, the last scene was a pain to write (too many ideas). I hope it's still good…

I appreciate your patience and as always, I want to thank everyone that left a review. Your feedback is always encouraging! :)

Enjoy chapter seven!

Chapter 7 'Chaos in the Mine Field'

"Whoever built these traps was a genius!"

"I shall take photos for further studies, bzzt!"

"Great idea! I'll pass you my notes if you send me copies!"

Jessie and Meowth could just watch with deadpan expressions as their teammate jabbered on about the mechanics and durability of the 'ingenious' trap the twerps had been released from minutes prior. It was nothing out of the ordinary for James to get obsessed over things like this, but they didn't expect the weird sentient PokéDex to join in the fun, taking photos and commenting how it looked so much like the one he once saw used on his favorite TV show.

"James just found a new geeky pal…" Meowth commented.

"Good to see their friendship is taking off..." Jessie said next; mouth full of sarcasm.

The sound of a Poké Ball being opened and a flashlight later. "Wooobbuffet!"

"There you are, pal! I wuz starting to wonder if da writer had forgotten about you!" *

Quite a few steps away, the rest of the group was standing within a cleared area. It had taken a few minutes to set his friends free, but Kiawe was able to remove their bindings, using Tapu Koko's help to carry them over.

"Thanks a lot, guys!" Ash exclaimed brightly, starting to stretch his muscles the moment he was back on the ground.

"Not a problem," Kiawe answered with a smile.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu yelled from Serena's arms. He was about to jump towards his trainer, but noticed Serena's grip going slightly tighter and decided to stall in favor of turning curiously at her.

She was looking at her crush with a subtle blush on her face.

Noticing her nervousness, Pikachu called her name to get her attention and smiled reassuringly when the girl looked down at him. She smiled back, but seeing she hadn't moved, he climbed over her shoulder and call towards his trainer again, effectively getting his attention this time.

When he finally noticed Serena standing there, Ash stopped his stretches and looked at them. She seemed to panic a little, hands flailing around indecisively and blush brightening, before opting for looking at the ground and grabbing her skirt with tight fists.

"Long time no see!" he greeted cheerfully; seemingly unaware of her nervous demeanor.

She tensed and nodded, still not looking at him. All of her courage seemed to have drained out of her; their last moment together, playing through her flustered mind as fresh as if it had just happened. Feeling a bit impatient, Pikachu sighed, climbing to Serena's head and pushing her hat over her eyes before jumping off to join the others.

Confused by Pikachu's actions, Serena pulled her hat back up only for her sight to stumble over the boy in front of her. Ash was now walking towards her with that warm smile she knew so well. And she suddenly stopped thinking.

"How have you been, Sere-?" Serena's actions caused him to cut his sentence short as she enveloped him in a tight hug. He blinked in confusion for a moment, not knowing how to react.

"I'm so glad you are okay!" she said in obvious relief. The tension and fear for her friend finally being released at seeing him unharmed.

Understanding crossed through Ash's expression, his smile back on his face, and he returned the embrace. "It's really good to see you again, Serena."

A few steps away, Mallow squealed happily to herself watching attentively, while Kiawe had just turned around in apparent disinterest, but feeling the weather warmer for some reason.

"Is it me or there is something different about them?" James blinked as he stared at the scene, finally leaving the ancient trap alone.

"I dan't see anything different," Meowth commented.

Jessie just frowned at her two teammates. "Are you really that blind? Hmph, can't really expect you to understand the heart of a young maiden in love," she said as she made a dramatic pose.

"And what's up with her?" Meowth deadpanned.

As the trio continued bickering in their own corner, Serena's brain seemed to finally catch up with her actions and she pulled away from the hug as if she had been burned. Seeing Ash's confusion, she just smiled at him.

"I-I… I missed you," she said in embarrassment.

Before Ash could vocalize his answer, the sound of motor engines got everyone's attention to the sky.

"It's one of their ships," Kiawe recognized.

"We better move before they find us," Ash suggested as they kept going; Meowthtwo taking the lead once more.

"Right! We were trying to find a way out of the island before we fell on that trap," Mallow explained.

"Huh? Aren't we going to stop Team Flare?" Serena blinked in surprised. That was not Ash's usual plan.

Ash grimaced at her comment, looking at the Slowking before turning back to her.

"Slowking says they cannot continue with their plan without me, so we thought the best option to stall them, was not letting them find us again…"

"They... need you? W-What for?"

"There's this Legendary Pokémon they need my help to unseal."

"How exactly do they expect you to do that?" Kiawe asked in confusion.

Ash pressed his lips with a thinking frown for a second before nodding.

"I have no idea," he answered with a confidence that didn't match his words.

"Don't sound so proud of it!" Kiawe growled.

"Still… getting out of the island will be difficult with that energy shield around it…" Serena commented in thought.

"What? There's a shield around the island?" Mallow asked.

"Uh-huh, we barely manage to pass through it before it finished forming," Serena explained.

"What do we do now?"

"Pika?!"

Reacting right on time, Pikachu jumped in front of Jessie's face and swung his tail to intercept a sudden attack that had been directed at them. A few yells of surprise followed the consequential explosion, before anyone understood what had just happened.

"So kind of you to come running right back to us~" a female voice turned their attention to one of the lower branches of a tree, where Celosia, the purple hair scientist stood; her two Pokémon standing at the ready at the base of the same three.

"It's them!" Kiawe exclaimed in alarm.

"Watch where you throw that at! Do you have any idea how long it takes to get my hair done in the morning!?" Jessie complained, having taken the worst part of the attack right in the face.

"Move along and away. Our business is with that boy," Celosia continued, causing the kids and their Pokémon to stand on guard. "You and your eyesore of a hair are totally irrelevant to our mission."

"Eyesore?!" James and Meowth were wise enough to step back at Jessie's suddenly dangerous aura. "I can't expect you to understand the beauty of my wonderful hair, you bubblegum-haired weirdo!"

"I don't see what's so wrong with purple hair…" James commented, grabbing a lock of his own hair to look at it uncertainly.

"Yours is more of a lavender color, James," Jessie explained matter of factly, as if that justified her comment completely.

"Hmph, you are the last person I want to hear fashion advices from," Celosia's comeback was calmed and collected, bypassing the insult entirely.

"And what are you implying with that?!" Jessie yelled back; emotional intelligence had never been her forte.

"I'm already bored of you. Get them!"

At her command, a small group of Team Flare grunts showed up around the group throwing their own Poké Balls to the air. Forming a protective circle around those who couldn't fight, Ash's group stood back to back.

"Pikachu, get ready!"

"Go, Braixen! Help us out!"

"Turtonator, you go too!"

"Let's do our best, Bounsweet!"

"Pukokoo!" The Deity Guardian was fast to surround the field with electricity; not about to let them catch it by surprise a second time.

.:oOo:.

"Director, sir!"

"Ah, Aliana, any news?"

"We just got a report from Celosia's team," she explained. "They found our target near the east coast and are currently engage in battle."

"Very well. Prepare a team. We'll use the confusion of the battle to retrieve the boy," Lysandre ordered, before addressing his second in command. "Now, what did you say your plan was?"

Xerosic chuckled. "Oh, I was just thinking it might be a good time to test my newest prototype," he commented excitedly as he lifted a heavy looking gun the size of a grenade launcher.

Aliana smiled at the sight. "I'll be happy to play with your new toy.~"

.:oOo:.

When Mewtwo and Pidgeot finally arrived at the island, they encountered a preoccupying problem… they had been prevented from getting any closer by an energy field that surrounded the entire island. After a couple of attempts, Mewtwo was quick to notice that attacking it didn't work.

"Pidgeooot!"

"You are right. We must find another way through."

A sudden flash at the other side of the field got their attention not too far from where they were, before a group of familiar figures appeared from within it and yelled in surprise as they fell to the trees below.

"..."

"Pid?"

"I was just thinking, I should really learn that move..."

.:oOo:.

Luckily for the recently teleported group, the trees were dense enough to stop their fall. Even if a bit disoriented, they were still in one piece.

"Where are we?" Bonnie asked as she tried to readjust her position in the branch she was sitting on.

Greninja made sure their new team addition was still securely perched on his head and looked around tapping into the bond's connection. He immediately perked up, feeling his trainer close by.

"Ninja!" he croaked in excitement, pointing ahead.

"Is Ash near?!"

He nodded causing Bonnie to laugh in excitement. "We did it, Brother!"

"Great! I'll send our coordinates to Professor Sycamore right away!" Clemont announced, already typing away in his calculating device. "There!"

"...Uh… Clemont? Is it supposed to make that sound?"

At Bonnie's question, everyone turned to the device in Clemont's possession noticing it had started to rumble; a bit of heat in the shape of steam escaping through the metal fissures.

"Oh-oh…"

.:oOo:.

Scouting the area, Maple's team stopped on their track at the sound of an explosion coming from the top trees. Seconds later a couple of kids and a Greninja came falling down with frizzy hair and stained faces; the Greninja managing to maneuver around to catch them both before reaching the ground with the grace only its species was capable of.

"There goes another one…" the smaller girl mumbled.

"Ugh, it's those kids again!" Maple complained, signaling her Houndoom to get ready. "Are you ever going to stay out of our way?"

"Ah! It's Team Flare!"

"Now I'm a hundred percent sure we are at the right place!"

"I don't have time to deal with you! Get rid o-! Huh?" half through her next order, Maple got distracted by the device in one of the kids' hands, which had started to make strange noises and looked about to explode.

"Oh no! Not the Teleporter-To-Ash's-Location-Device too!"

"Brother! Do something!"

The boy fiddled with it uselessly in an attempt to stop it from breaking down, but before anything happened, it suddenly disappeared from his hands making him stare dumbfounded.

"H-Huh? Where did it go?"

The Greninja looked surprised for a second before sharply looking behind Maple. She followed his line of sight only to find a second Pokémon sneakily flying through her ranks with the faulty device in claws. Maple cursed under her breath at the smug look the little owl-like Pokémon threw at her before the device exploded in hers and her team's faces.

Coughing the remaining dust away, Maple turned back to the intruders only to find empty space. She growled in frustration, realizing the explosion had proven to be the perfect distraction for the kids and the two Pokémon to escape.

"The Director won't like this… Find them!"

As her team ran ahead, they failed to notice the apparently new hole in the ground, where their current target had fallen into.

"Ow! Why did the ground give away like that?" Bonnie complained.

"It looks like an ancient trap," Clemont commented in slight fascination below her.

"Let! Rowlet-row!"

"Oh, it's you!" Bonnie giggled as she let Rowlet land in her arms. "Nice work back there!"

He chirped happily at the compliment, letting her pet him for a bit before flying back to his self-assigned position on Greninja's head, who didn't mind at all and just croaked while looking up to remind the children they had to hurry.

.:oOo:.

Back in Melemele Island, Officer Jennie was giving the last security instructions to her team.

"From what we know about this criminal organization, they are very dangerous, and a threat to the world as a whole. Please practice caution, and do not underestimate them."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Officer Jennie, there's someone in line thirty-three," one of the officers informed. "Professor Sycamore. He says it's urgent and mentioned to be looking for Professor Kukui."

"He must have the coordinates we need," Professor Kukui figured.

With a last order to get ready, Officer Jennie and Kukui went to take the call. The anxiety he thought would go away at getting the missing coordinates, just incremented by his own impatience to get to his missing students already. But Professor Kukui managed to keep it at bay, if only for the sake of the other half of his class, who were waiting nervously alongside the rest of the policemen.

"Hang in there, kids," he mumbled. "We are on our way…"

.:oOo:.

"Drapion, don't forget our true mission!" Celosia yelled. "Let the others take care of the Pokémon and concentrate on our target!"

With a roar of understanding, Drapion completely ignored its match against Turtonator and shot a Confuse Ray attack towards Ash, whose concentration had been completely on a battle against a couple of Houndoom.

"Ash, watch out!" Kiawe yelled.

Seconds before impact, Wobbuffet was standing in the way, receiving the attack with Mirror Coat. "Wobbuu!"

"Keep your eyes open, Twerp!" Jessie chastised behind him. "It is hard enough to keep track of all the enemies and traps without you needing saving again."

"I see yar point, Jess. Da place's infested," Meowth commented next to them.

"Sorry… thanks for the help."

"Pipika?"

"Yeah, I'm okay, buddy," Ash reassured him before switching back to their battle. "Watch out for that Houndoom's jaw and use Quick Attack! Wait! There's a trap there! Go to your right instead!"

"Turtonator, use Flamethrower!"

"Move out of the way, Drapion!"

Seeing as he had gained Celosia's attention back, Kiawe glared at her. "What do you think you're doing attacking a trainer like that!?" Kiawe yelled in anger, offended by both being ignored and seeing someone throwing such a cowardice move.

"That's an unfair and illegal strategy on a Pokémon battle, bzzt!" Rotom's seconded in outrage.

"Who said anything about following rules? This is no kiddies' playground," Celosia countered.

"Don't underestimate her, Kiawe!" Mallow warned him from within the protective circle, having taken a supportive roll in the battle. "These guys are really dangerous."

"She is right!" Serena nodded. "Don't let your guard down! Ah- Braixen, watch out for that Ice Beam!"

"Clearly, you don't understand your situation," Celosia continued. "If you can't deal with grownups' battles, go back to your little island and stay out of our way!"

Kiawe just growled at her antagonizing words. He knew they weren't just dealing with Team Skull wannabes, but he didn't expect them to be in a totally different level. Not only did their battle skills felt superior to the bullies back home, but they also seemed more malicious. Not even Team Rocket, who constantly tried to steal Pokémon, had displayed such lack of honor when battling. The conversation at Professor Kukui's house came back to mind, reminding him of how truly dangerous they were.

"Turtonator, get ready!" he yelled making up his mind. If they wanted to win, they had to give it their all.

"What is the bigger twerp doing?" James asked his companions curiously.

"Huh? What do you me-Whaaa!"

A strong wind coming from a sudden Brave Bird attack threw the Rockets against a rock one after the other.

"Hey! We are on your side, you bird brain!" Jessie yelled at Tapu Koko, who had been fighting a group of Skorupi, and apparently had retaliated with its own attack after avoiding several attempts at getting poisoned again.

The rock behind them moved slightly under the pressure of their collective weight.

"What… was that?"

"Wobbu?"

"Hey, der's a lever right here."

"Well don't touch it, Meowth," Jessie ordered. "It could be another trap for all we know."

"Too late for that…" James informed. "Lever's been pushed…"

"…"

A hidden trapdoor on the rock opened up, and the next thing they knew, they were falling headfirst through a sliding tunnel surrounded in darkness; their screams muffled by the rocky trapdoor as it returned to its original position.

"Hey, where did Team Rocket go?" Serena asked, being the first to notice their sudden disappearance.

"Eyes on the battle, girly," a mocking voice addressed her just as an Ice Shard attack hit Braixen head on, throwing her near her trainer. "Such an amateur mistake…"

"Braixen! Are you okay!?"

"Oh no! More of them just showed up!" Mallow alerted everyone just as Maple made her presence visually known.

"What took you?" Celosia asked her teammate casually.

"Kids are multiplying. Had to send for another search party," Maple explained as if it was just an inconvenience. "Now, who wants to try their luck with me?"

"How about we have a rematch?!" A voice from within the trees answered, before a Luxray jumped out and placed itself protectively in front of Serena and Mallow.

"That's-!" Serena turned sharply to the trees were Luxray had come from and two familiar faces made their appearance. "Clemont! Bonnie!"

"Serena! You are here too!" Bonnie exclaimed running to tackle the older girl in a hug, before looking smug. "Does that mean you two are finally together?"

"Bonnie!"

A shadow passed by the siblings at an unrecognizable speed and stood tall right beside Ash, who stared in awe before grinning excitedly.

"Greninja! You made it!"

"Pi-pika-pikachu!"

"Row-Rowleeett!"

"And you brought Rowlet with you! Awesome!"

"We got your back, Ash!" Clemont told him, as he and Bonnie positioned themselves ready for battle, completing the empty space in their circle left by the Rocket trio.

"Thanks, Clemont!" Ash nodded, before turning back at the bad guys he was facing; his three Pokémon eagerly awaiting commands. "Alright guys, let's show them what we got!"

*I did… oops?