Cheers for your reviews. Means a lot.

The diary entries were pulled directly from the games. I'm also going off the timeline from when Pokémon first came out so the experiments on Mewtwo were ten years before Mewtwo Strikes back, that would put the timeline at 1987/1988. Red disappeared when Ash had just turned 5 months old in 1988.

I'm aware that the movie came out in 1998, I'm simply pushing events of Ash's travels back a year. If any of my timelines don't add up can someone let me know so I can amend it. I never planned on writing all of what I have done when I first started the story, but I can't seem to stop writing :D

I own nothing.

Chapter 28- Cinnabar

Cinnabar had long been in Ash's thoughts. Ever since the incident in Lavender Town Cinnabar had been the main destination where he thought the puzzle of his fathers' disappearance would show what the majority of the picture would be. He had a lot to do on Cinnabar, the main thing was receiving his badge. He doubted he would get one from here if he had the confrontation with Blaine first. Perhaps he should have the battle first. Shaking his head clear of his thoughts he disembarked from the boat and headed down the path towards the centre of the island. It was unbelievably hot on the island and Ash was thankful his mum had forced him to buy hot weather clothes. Looking around he was amazed at what he was seeing. It was a bloody tourist trap! People everywhere selling tat and crap. Shaking his head, he made his way through the crowd and headed to the Pokémon Centre. Walking inside he was further amazed to find it was very crowded. Pushing his way through to Joy he saw how frazzled she looked.

Before he could say anything, she said "I'm so sorry, we have no rooms available."

"I'm a junior professor Miss Joy" Ash said handing over his Pokedex "Are there no professors room available?"

"Oh" she said, "yeah there's one available."

"Thank you" Ash replied, "why are you on your own here?"

"My aunt has the week off and the League forgot to send someone to help out." Joy said. She nearly looked in tears.

"I'll speak to Professor Oak to have a word with his son. It's unacceptable that you've been left alone in this place" Ash said as he walked over to the phone. Ringing Sam he explained what happened and he told Ash he would speak with Charles. Walking back over to Joy he informed her what Sam said and she just hugged him in thanks. Walking up to his room he closed the door and just basked in the blissful silence. Setting down his backpack he rummaged through it and cursed out loud. He had forgotten the third reason of coming to Cinnabar. He rang his mum to let her know and she just laughed, called him an idiot and told him to send Charizard to pick it up. Smacking his head, he hung up, walked back out of the room, said hello to Joy and he walked down to the beach where he called out Charizard.

"I'm sorry to ask this buddy but I've been an idiot" Ash said.

Charizard just snorted as if to say what else is new. "Can you go back to our home please and pick up my Old Amber. I promise you I wont challenge the gym leader without you. I plan to scout around the island for the rest of the afternoon, but I won't go anywhere without you here. Ask mum to let me know when you're on your way back and I'll meet you back here" Butting heads Charizard took off and headed back north towards his home.

"Was that your Charizard?" a voice asked from behind Ash. Turning around he saw it was quite a tall man with wavy blonde hair, a red top and a cool looking moustache. Immediately his aura senses screamed 'deception'.

"Given you've just watched me release him, talk to him and wish him a safe journey that question seems a bit redundant, no?" Ash said arching his eyebrow.

"Now, now. There's no need to be rude young man" the bloke said, "it was just a question."

"And mine was just an answer" Ash replied "now, what can I do for you?"

"I was simply wondering about your Charizard. It looked to be a magnificent specimen." He said, "he looked strong."

"He is" Ash said, "as are all of my Pokémon."

"Ah" the man said, "I take it you're here for a gym match then?"

"Among other things yeah" Ash said "I have other business on the island too though. The first one is to find the resurrection lab, the second is to find some information about the eruption ten years ago and the last one will be tom challenge Blaine." There! Ash's aura picked up a twinge at the last two points he made.

"I can help you with two of those. The lab is just north of the Pokémon Centre, next to an inn called The Big Riddle Inn. There's not too much to say about the eruption" the man said "an explosion at the labs that were here back then caused significant seismic activity and the volcano erupted. I have no idea what they were doing but it was bad enough to have to evacuate the island for three years to make sure the lava had hardened. Since then though it's become a tourist trap because of the natural hot springs that popped up due to the heat from the lava. As for Blaine he hasn't had a gym battle in ten years, I don't even know if he's still on the island."

"Well, thank you for the first two bits of information" Ash said "as for the third I know you're lying, why though is a mystery. I know he's here because I was told he was here."

"Oh?" the man asked, "by whom?"

"Agatha of the Elite Four" Ash felt a spike of annoyance flair up from the man. It all but confirmed to Ash who the man really was but as he didn't need the man yet he decided to leave him alone.

"Should you see Blaine let him know that there's a challenger to get his badge. I'll be on the island at least three or four days."

The rest of the afternoon Ash spent exploring the forested parts of the island. He had printed off an old map of the island and was tracking where the labs used to be. He knew they'd be under lava by now or were supposed to be according to the official reports, but Ash was convinced it was still accessible.

Stopping at a certain point Ash said "well Pi, were supposedly right above where the explosion occurred. Only this part is suspiciously devoid of lava and there's no lab here. Do you think it was underground?"

"The evidence would say so. But why would the reports say everything was covered in lava when its clearly not?" Pikachu replied.

"I believe they used a general term for the report and led everyone to believe the whole island had been swallowed up" Ash said musing out loud "The issue I have here though is that if the lab was underground, then there must be an entrance for evacuation somewhere."

"Didn't you say Blaine was one of the lead scientists?" Pikachu asked, "wouldn't that mean that it could have been connected to his gym?"

"The theory is sound Pi" Ash said after thinking it over "and it would make sense for him to have direct access to the lab. We could always ask him, but I really don't want to announce myself before the battle. He'll know instantly who I am and would likely clam up."

"So, we explore until Charizard returns, we battle Blaine and then we hunt for his lab?" Pikachu asked.

"Yeah" Ash replied "that sounds like a good plan. We better start heading back now though, were losing light and it's getting very gloomy in these woods, and I have no plans to sleep outside when there's a nice comfy bed available. We'll continue the hunt tomorrow. I need to inform Lance I'm on the island anyway."

The trek back to the Pokémon Centre only took two hours but when they got there Ash was relieved to see that the crowds had disappeared. Walking in he noticed the time. It would be too late to ring Lance right now, so he just sent him a message. Surprisingly Ash received a message twenty minutes later saying he'd be there in two days. Ash was fine with that. He had lots to do on the island anyway.

As he was sitting down to have his tea his name was called over the tannoy system. Sighing he put his fork down and walked out of the canteen to the front desk. Who the hell would be needing him at 10:30 at night? Reaching the front desk, he immediately knew why. "I genuinely forgot about you two. Joy, thanks for letting me know about them. I'll leave the canteen door key on the front desk when we're done. Thank you again for letting me use the facilities to cook."

"No problem, Ash" Joy said cheerfully.

"I'll see you in the canteen. Let me go and get the information you're after from my room." Ash said. Scanning his card on the panel Ash entered his room, retrieved the information from his backpack and walked back to the canteen. Sitting down he slid over the folder to Jessie and James and carried on eating while they read the report Sam had given him.

"Are you certain about this?" Jessie asked.

"Yup" Ash said "when I had you guys arrested, the day after my uncle came and visited me. When I told him that I'd stopped a Rocket raid he was visibly angry and left to 'deal with you'. Now I have no idea if he spoke to you or not, the next time I saw you guys was in Dark City eight months later. But when you told me that he'd gone missing I knew there was only one person who would have the clout to separate you all as apart from Professor Oak and my mum he was the only other person who I told."

"So, Giovanni, the strongest gym leader in Kanto has Meowth?" James asked.

"Yup. He claimed that he would rehabilitate the Meowth" Ash said "whatever he did since then though…" he finished trailing off.

"Thank you, Ash" James said looking at Jessie "we'll have to come up with some sort of plan to retrieve him."

"I've been thinking about that" Ash said wiping his mouth having finished eating. "I have a gym battle for my last badge with him soon. Once I'm done here, I plan on visiting Seafoam then going to Viridian. He's a Ground type gym leader so I seriously doubt he'll be using Meowth in battle. That means he likely keeps him around the gym somewhere as he'd be too much of a flight risk in Gio's home. My battle with him would likely give you an hour or two tops to infiltrate his gym and rescue Meowth. After that though I have no guarantees. I also have no idea you're planning on raiding my uncle's gym, understood?"

"Understood" Jessie said nodding "come on James, we still need to prepare to meet our contact tomorrow night."

"Better get moving guys, I have already found the man you're after" Ash said smiling at them before he left them sat down looking at each other in shock.

The next morning Ash received a call off his mum at 07:00 that Charizard was on his way back. It only took him four hours to get to Pallet Town, so Ash decided to head down to the beach around 11:00 to find him. Walking onto the beach he noticed that the beach was pretty crowded. Strolling along the beach he mused to Pikachu how he didn't like hot places. Pikachu was the same, so they stopped at a vendor selling hats and put them on. Ash noticed a bit of commotion not far from him, so he went to investigate. It was only when he heard a roar that he sprinted to the scene.

"Hey" Ash shouted, "get away from my Charizard."

As the crowd parted Ash saw his Charizard looking very angry at a group of people who had quite clearly been trying to capture him. "Do you really think a wild Charizard would suddenly land on the beach?" Ash asked the stunned crowd "all of you, clear off before I let him take his annoyance out on you." pretty quickly the crowd dispersed leaving Ash to walk forwards. Butting their heads Charizard handed over the package he was carrying and clicked on his pokeball returning himself. Shaking his head Ash walked back to the Pokémon centre and up to his room. Opening it he took out the Old Amber and looked at it. It had been a while since he had closely observed it. Holding it up to the light he saw quite clearly a fossil preserved inside. Who would have thought that armed with only a fossil about two inches long you could reanimate it into a fully-fledged Pokémon?

Walking back down Ash decided to carry on with his exploration of the island. Heading back to where he left off yesterday Ash trekked for hours to the other side of the volcano. It was tough going as there wasn't really anywhere he could get a good foothold but he had to do this on foot. If anyone saw him flying Charizard it would attract a lot of attention, something he was eager to avoid. After a few hours Ash stuck gold. About 200m in front of him a small trail could be seen leading up to a small door. The door however had no handle and no lock.

"It's a fire door Pi" Ash said "opens only from the inside. Damn"

"Could we not prize it open?" Pikachu asked.

"No, these things are notorious for being stubborn." Ash said.

"What about the hinges" Pikachu said pointing them out.

"That could possibly work" Ash said looking at them "try using Iron Tail on them. See if they can break easily." After Pikachu tried and failed with them Ash had an idea. Calling out Wartortle and Charizard he explained his plan. "we're trying to warp the hinges so that we can open the door from the outside. Now Pikachu's Iron Tail didn't so much as move them, and fire wouldn't work as they're designed to cope with intense heat. I mean it clearly survived a volcano blast so Charizards fire wouldn't do much. However, if we can rapidly heat up and then cool the hinges it could warp them. So can you guys do your thing please?"

Nodding Wartortle and Charizard stepped forward and took deep breaths before firing alternately at the hinges. After twenty minutes they finally saw some form of success. They hadn't warped completely but the door had definitely moved from where it was originally.

"Try Iron Tail again Pi" Ash said. Pikachu did as he was asked, and a crack could be heard as a small fracture appeared on one of the hinges. "Yes!" Ash shouted before quieting down quickly when he realised how loud he had been. "Let's keep going guys." The next few hours passed by very slowly as they did more and more damage to the door. Eventually though their hard work paid off and the three hinges lay in pieces on the floor. Calling out Machoke, he and Charizard helped move the door to lean against the outside rock wall. Recalling them Ash put a bandanna on over his face to protect him from whatever was in the air inside the tunnel. For it was a tunnel that led steadily downwards. After a few minutes Ash came to another door only this one had a handle.

Grabbing it he immediately pulled his hand back. He had forgotten he was inside an active volcano and things were bound to be hot. It hadn't scalded him, for which he was thankful, but he did have an angry red mark where he had grabbed a hold of the handle. Putting his gloves on he opened the door, walked in and found he was on a balcony looking over what looked like a bomb sight.

Looking around Ash observed the room he was now in. The room was huge; he had clearly stumbled on the lab he was after. At the far end of the room was another door, presumably heading into the heart of the volcano. All around the lab was devastation, broken computers, cabinets and glass strewn all over the floor. Remnants of CCTV lay in two of the corners. But what dominated the room was a giant machine, that was the size of one of the walls and was smashed to bits.

Making his way down the steel staircase Ash cursed at how loud the clanging was. Eventually he made it onto the ground and walked across the floor. It was strewn with debris and glass. There were also several decayed books on the floor. Picking a few up Ash put them back down when they started disintegrating in his hands. Clearly whatever happened here had been catastrophic. Walking over to computers that were on a desk he tried to power them on but wasn't successful. As he walked around the room his Aura pinged every now and then. It wasn't huge, but something down here was demanding to be heard. Walking over to the door Ash observed what looked like disused CCTV cameras above the door. Curiously though Ash's eyes were drawn to the ground where footmarks where clearly visible indented on the dust that had gathered over the years.

"Someone has been in here recently Pi" Ash murmured.

As he walked up to what looked like a huge incubator, he touched the broken glass, and something flashed across his mind. Letting go very quickly Ash pondered on what he saw. Something with immense power had been housed here. And it hadn't been a fun existence. As he walked over to another computer his aura sight picked up on something just underneath smashed metal cabinet. Turning it over as gently as he could he immediately stood up and looked around. On the ground, quite clearly out of place was a red book. Carefully picking it up Ash saw that it was a diary of some sort, he opened it and saw on the front page a picture of two men, cheerfully waving at whoever was taking the picture.

"Blaine and Fuji" Ash said recognizing them both from pictures he had seen when trying to find out information about them. Opening up the first few pages he skimmed through some of the writing. It was when he read some of the entries, he realised he had struck gold with this. This was exactly the evidence he needed to incriminate Blaine and Fuji.

Diary: July 5 1987
Guyana, South America
A new Pokémon was discovered deep in the jungle.

We had no idea Pokémon like this even existed anymore. We're convinced that it's an Ancient, but we have no proof.

Diary: July 10 1987
We christened the newly discovered Pokémon, Mew.

We were apparently wrong. After scoring various texts we discovered a picture, purely made of Hieroglyphs that depict a Pokémon that was so revered they called it Legendary.

Diary: Feb. 6 1988
Mew gave birth.
We named the newborn Mewtwo

We were commissioned by a strange man to create the Pokémon we had discovered after he had read my thesis on cloning Pokémon to preserve them. He paid us very handsomely to do so. We have failed so many times to find a viable strand of DNA from the fossil that we are about to give up hope as they were all under powered and couldn't survive the cloning process. Finally, on the last shot we gave it we had success. The Pokémon born from this strand had to be spliced with the DNA of several psychic type Pokémons DNA, which sadly cost them their life. However, we have done something no one else has ever done before. We created life from a fossil.

Diary: Sept. 1 1988
Mewtwo is far too powerful.
We have failed to curb its vicious tendencies...we once dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon. And we succeeded!

Reading on Ash was surprised when the handwriting changed, and the diary carried on.

Diary: October 1 1988

Its rage knew no bounds. When it discovered that it was created to be nothing more than an experiment it grew angry and attacked. It apparently has all the thoughts and feelings of a natural born Pokémon, which is not what we had designed however it has the rage and power to level cities. And nothing we could say or do could halt its destruction of the laboratory.

After the explosion I was ordered to come up with a covering story for what happened. Luckily, we live on a volcanic island and the lab was hidden deep into the core of it. The idiots at the League however were not fooled and sent their champion to oversee the recovery of evidence. We were fortunate that the explosion damaged the computers and electricity beyond repair. I fear my days of experimentation is over.

Diary: October 4 1988

Fuji is a fool! The bastard is trying to throw me under the bus when the entire lab was built to his specifications. Every Pokémon brought in; he oversaw their experiments. And he is saying it was me that was the mastermind behind it all. I should present this as evidence, but it would also implicate me. All I can do is present the evidence I can present. Hopefully the world will see what I was trying to achieve. I have no illusions about how the trial will go. We're both guilty. And we both will pay for our sins. Fujis time spent in jail will all depend on the Champions testimony.

Diary: October 8 1998

The Champion has disappeared! Dead according to the official reports however I doubt the veracity of that statement. It was far too convenient of an excuse. I wonder what happened to him. Official reports say he chased the Rocket Boss down and confronted him in his headquarters where it exploded killing them both. Hmmm…another explosion. Two days before he was due to give evidence against Team Rocket. It's a very convenient excuse, isn't it?

Diary: October 11 1988

Fuji was offered a deal due to lack of evidence. He has been relocated to Lavender Town. I bet that fool Agatha is pleased. I was given a slap on the wrist as there was no clear evidence that I did anything other than what I was ordered to do. As I told the courtroom I am a gym leader who wanted to preserve endangered Pokémon and had the means to try. Luckily the jury bought it, and I kept my job. I am very fortunate but if I ever see Fuji again, I will kill the bastard.

Diary: November 12 1988

They have set me up in Seafoam Islands! In the middle of fucking November! The absolute bastards! That witch Agatha is behind this I'm certain. The smirk on her face when she delivered the news said it all. "it's just until the island recovers". No, I refuse to be beaten by them, and especially her..

Diary: June 18 1993

Has it really been five years since I last wrote in this? I had forgotten this thing existed. Not a lot has happened in that time. Cinnabar has long since recovered from the explosion and volcanic eruption. The lava conveniently covered all but one entrance to the lab. No one can access the lab from the outside due to the blast door I installed. And the tunnel from my gym is only accessible by myself.

Diary: June 12 1998

Something is happening. Fuji has gone missing. The contacts I have in Lavender Town have all told me that he seemingly disappeared overnight. And the Pokémon Tower has been conveniently closed up.

Diary: August 3 1998

I heard rumours of an attack on Viridian Pokémon Centre. Apparently, a child foiled an attack from a Team Rocket Cell. This is disturbing. Maybe I should make contact again, just in case.

Diary: September 11 1998

My contacts in Team Rocket tell me a cell has gone missing inside Mt Moon. How could people disappear like that? And what in the world is project M2?

Diary: November 1 1998

The child from the Viridian incident was on the news again. He apparently rescued a Zapdos from the Power Plant that was on a rampage. He apparently took down an entire team of Rockets on his own. Of course, he claims they told him they were simply poachers that were killed by Zapdos but how did some of them make it back down the corridors if Zapdos killed all of them? Who is this child?

Diary: November 19th 1998

The child has struck again. Lavender Town suddenly being set free from mind control using Pokémon Tower as a beacon? I know a Fuji experiment when I see one. I wonder where that bastard is hiding. The child though…

Project M2 just became a whole lot clearer. I have heard they have captured a Mew…history it seems is doomed to repeat itself.

Diary: December 18 1998

The child took down an Ancient single handedly…who the hell is he?

Diary: March 1 1999

Finally, my contacts have come back with information. The child is apparently Red's child. That explains a lot. And he's been finding answers no eleven-year-old should be able to find. That's concerning. I have been warned off Professor Oak that he knows I was around when his father disappeared. Hopefully when I see him, I can convince him of my innocence in the matter. After all I have no idea how Red died, other than my hunch Fuji and the league are in cahoots that is.

Diary: May 28 1999

The child will not believe me. I engaged him on the beach when he was talking to his Charizard. He's far too guarded to believe anything I will say. Hopefully he believed me with the minimal information I have given him. I received word form a contact that Team Rocket is trying to find me to silence me. I'll place this diary down in the lab. Hopefully should anyone find it they'll realise that while I am not proud of what I did, I am proud of the fact that we did something incredible.

I wonder what became of Mewtwo…

Closing the diary Ash pondered on what he had read. Should he leave it down here now he knew what happened? No, he decided placing inside his bag. With the door to the outside blown off anyone could come in here. And should it be Team Rocket, they'd happily destroy it. Giving the door to the gym one last glare Ash made his way back up the stairs, careful to tread in his own dusty footprints, closed the door behind him and made his way out of the tunnel. Stopping to look at the ruined door he called out Machoke and asked him to help him put the door back in place. Hopefully from a distance it would fool anyone who believed it was still a secure door. Ash decided to just fly Charizard out of the place. It was difficult enough climbing down to get here, he really couldn't be arsed climbing back up. Flying around the volcano Ash was explaining to Charizard what they had discovered when he saw something that made him double take.

"Charizard, can you land over there please?" he said pointing out a ridge that jutted out from the volcano. "Look at this guys, this is very strange". The ridge he was standing on was connected to a huge fissure on the side of the volcano that stretched down at least twenty feet. "I think this was the done by an attack. But it's strange, didn't the reports say that the explosion occurred from within the volcano due to Mewtwo's wrath on the other side? I'm not an expert on volcanic eruptions but this fissure wasn't naturally made, especially as the lava flow ran down from here. Guys have a look around, will you? But be careful, that's still a volcano down there!"

"Ash" Charizard growled after a few minutes "something isn't right here; these look like attacks from a fire type" Ash leaned as carefully as he could over the side to see what Charizard was looking at. Sure enough where the blast originated from were marks along the wall.

"Are you sure it wasn't the lava that did this?" Ash asked as he righted himself which earned himself a glare from Charizard. Holding his hands up he continued "I'm just asking that's all."

"I'm a fire type" Charizard said simply "I play with fire every day. I know the difference between the marks left from lava compared to a fire type attack. Lava doesn't leave scorch marks like those in the area surrounding it. No whatever did this was a fire type Pokémon, the burn marks are proof of that."

"How could no one spot that?" Pikachu asked perplexed "was it not in the official report?"

"No" Ash said "don't forget this island was uninhabited for three years due to the explosion. And by the time it had settled everyone had long forgotten about the lab being responsible for it going off. Plus, the only people who could spot this are people with flying types or those with strong enough fire types. This could be what my father had found you know. At this point it is pure speculation. But I think we can conclude that the lab exploding did not set off the volcano."

"So, what did?" Charizard asked.

"Mewtwo wasn't responsible for the volcano erupting. Blaine was" he said shocking them all.

Flying back to the Pokémon centre Ash was full of thoughts. As soon as he walked into his room, he scanned the diary entries to his computer along with his thoughts at various points. Nodding to himself he secured his laptop into his bag when he found something odd. Something was missing. And for the life of him he wasn't sure what it was. Shaking his head, he decided to video call his mum. Strangely she never picked up. Looking at the clock on the wall he noticed it was after 8pm so she wouldn't be at the restaurant. Concern started to flood him, so he rang Sam. After the third ring someone picked up, but it wasn't Sam. It was his mum.

"Mum!" Ash said relieved "there you are. Are you ok?"

"Yes, I am" Delia said cheerfully "your timing is impeccable though. I was just about to message you asking you to ring me. Something happened this afternoon".

"Oh?" Ash asked confused "what've I done?"

"First let me ask you a question" Delia said, "was the Old Amber the only thing you forgot to take with you?"

Racking his brains for a minute he came up empty and said "I think so. I mean I have just been thinking somethings missing from my bag, but I can't put my finger on what it is."

"It wouldn't be this would it?" Delia asked amusement in her voice as she panned the camera over to Professor Oak taking measurements on a Pokémon on his desk. Looking closely Ash couldn't really tell what it was and said as much.

"So, the thing you were missing, it wouldn't happen to have been egg shaped, would it?" Delia asked laughing as she saw realisation dawn on his face. "This little thing almost gave me a heart attack Ash when it walked into the kitchen and started crying at me."

"Oh wow" Ash said, "how the hell could I forget the egg?"

"How indeed" Delia said "however that has brought up a more interesting point. The Pokémon that hatched from the egg is apparently a Togepi. What do you know about them?"

"Very little really" Ash said, "they're said to have their own kingdom somewhere, and I read about an island where if one comes to someone, they rule that place but apart from that nothing."

"Well, the biggest issue we have is that Togepi seems to have imprinted on me" Delia said raising her eyebrow "so thanks for that Ash."

"Ah" he said shaking his head "sorry about that mum. Does that mean it's yours now and not mine?"

"She certainly believes that I'm her mother" Delia said, "It's only because I'm within reaching distance that she's stopped crying long enough for Sam to take some recordings of her."

"So, I have a baby sister?" Ash said laughing causing Delia to giggle. "Oh dear. Well, congratulations mum, it's a girl!"

"Ash!" she said cracking up laughing. "it's not funny."

"It kind of is mum" Ash said as his laughter receded "I'm glad you're both there anyway. I have information for you both about the Cinnabar incident. I'll speak to you both about it when I head back, I'm going to challenge Blaine tomorrow after I've revived the fossil, I'm heading to Seafoam afterwards so I should be home next weekend at the latest."

"Ok, Ash" Delia said seriously "did you find out what happened to Red?"

"No" Ash said shaking his head "but I think I found out why he may have been targeted. It's purely a hypothesis though, there's very little facts about what I'll tell you. But it's a strong argument."

After a few minutes of small talk Ash hung up. Tomorrow was a big day. The next day Ash had just finished his training workout when he received a call on his Pokegear. Seeing the name Ash chuckled. "Hi Lance"

"Hi Ash, I'm around half an hour away from Cinnabar now" Lance said, "where are you?"

"I've just finished my workout so I'm at the Pokémon Centre still." Ash replied.

"Ok, wait for me there. I've arranged a private meeting with the lab on the island. It's at 12 so we have a chance to talk first" Lance said

"No worries. I'll grab a quick shower and meet you in the lobby. Be warned though, the place is always rammed with tourists." He said laughing.

"Shit" Lance said "I forgot about that. Can you meet me at the lab instead?"

"Yeah, I'll do that" Ash said, "I'll head straight there from my shower."

Lance hung up as Ash chuckled. Going to his room he showered, picked up his Old Amber and walked to the lab. He had passed by it several times since arriving on the island, so he knew where it was. Blaine had been right that it was just North of the Pokémon centre. It was a huge white building that dominated the landscape. Walking inside he checked in with the receptionist and sat down to wait for Lance. Not even a few minutes later the man in question walked in and greeted the receptionist too. Spotting Ash he walked over.

"Hi Ash" Lance said shaking his hand "hard to believe it has already been seven months since you contacted me first about this."

"Yeah" Ash said, "and so much has happened in that time too."

"It sure has" Lance said.

Five minutes later a man in a white coat came to meet them. He was tall, balding with some strange glasses on his face. "Hello. Come, come" he said excitedly shaking both their hands at the same time while crossing his arms. As he was walking away Ash exchanged a glance with Lance. This was shaping up to be very interesting. The man was talking a mile a minute about what was going to happen, where it was happening and who was part of it. Ash could barely get a word in.

"Hey" Lance shouted startling the man "that was not what was agreed. I specifically asked for a private area to resurrect an extremely dangerous Pokémon. There's a reason Aerodactyl are on the restricted list for trainers. You better have a damn good reason for breaking the confidentiality clause."

"Now, now" the man said holding huis hands up "it'll be perfectly fine. No one but us three will have access to the room, the others will be on the viewing gallery behind glass."

"No" Ash said interrupting him "that ain't gonna fly mate. Not with me. No one but us three will be there. I am not risking my life just so you can play 'entertainer' so you better go and tell those people, whoever they are that they're not welcome."

"I can't do that" the man said outraged "some of them are from companies that fund us."

"Don't care" Ash replied "my Old Amber has been around for fifty million years. I'm pretty sure I can arrange to resurrect it at another lab where the specifications for resurrecting an Aerodactyl will be adhered to."

"He's right" Lance said taking out his pokegear and calling a number. After a few seconds it was answered "Hello, can you put me through to the Head of the lab please, it's Lance Wataru, yeah I'll hold."

By this time the man was starting to seriously sweat as he realised he had messed up big time. Panicking he ran into the main room. Chuckling Lance put his pokegear away "works every time."

"I'm not happy about this Lance" Ash said.

"I'm not happy about this either Ash" Lance replied "but we're here now. And we're both too busy to be pissed around and have to schedule another date."

"True" Ash said nodding "could you not just take the Old Amber and get it done by yourself?"

"Unfortunately, not" Lance said "there's been far too many instances in the past of Gym leaders, Elite Four and Champions deciding for themselves that they didn't want a potential opponent to have a strong Pokémon that may challenge them for their position and used their own position to 'confiscate' said Pokémon. So, in the law we made for Aerodactyl and Pokémon like it, we had to put in the clause that the party giving the Pokémon up had to sign two contracts. One with their sponsor and the other with the Champion or their deputy. And both had to be signed in different locations so no coercion can be found."

"Ah that makes sense" Ash said nodding "I did wonder why you didn't ask for it the first time we met."

"Yup" Lance said "you hadn't signed the release papers yet at that time. I have the second copy here with me. I believe Sam has your other one for you to sign."

"I signed it before I came here" Ash said, "I've just spent a week in Pallet Town, and I sorted it out then."

"Smart thinking" Lance said. They stopped talking as the man came rushing back to them, bright red. "everyone has gone. Follow me."

Doing so they entered a huge room that had various sizes of incubators in different areas. Walking over to the huge one labelled 'birds' he took out the Old Amber and placed it onto a little platform as he was told. Immediately robotic arms picked it up and turned it around before another machine with a drill was used to create a small shallow hole leading directly to the fossil. After the drill had done its job, a syringe was used to extract whatever DNA it could from the fossil. The whole thing lasted around half an hour.

"This is where we have to ask you to go behind the glass. Our reanimations are trade secrets. You can observe from up there." Unsure but complying Ash and Lance walked into a little room on a balcony overlooking the room. They observed many scientists walking in and out of the room with various flasks and official looking equipment. Finally, they placed an object into the incubator, and everyone backed away as the incubator closed and panels came up on every side and encased it blocking it off from view. Twenty minutes later a screech was heard from inside the incubator that got louder and louder as each minute passed. Half an hour later the panels retreated back into the base of the machine and Ash and Lance gasped. Inside the incubator was a Pokémon, but it looked nothing like a normal Aerodactyl.

"How did it mega evolve without a keystone?" Lance murmured. Ash heard every word and waited for him to tell him. When that wasn't forthcoming Ash opened his mouth to ask himself when the scientist came barrelling in shouting "Success."

Immediately Lance swept from the room and headed down to the Incubator Room with Ash closely following him. Walking warily up to the incubator Ash received a look at his Pokémon. Suddenly it reared upwards and stretched its wings while screeching. It was huge. Its wingspan must have been easily twenty meters. They each had 5 razor sharp spikes protruding from the ridges of its wings, its tail also had the same kind of spikes on it and its claws were like knives. Before their very eyes though it gradually changed back to what a normal Aerodactyl looked like.

"How did it mega-evolve without Aerodactylite?" Lance asked seriously.

"Oh" the man said "that's normal. When we resurrect these Pokémon, if they have the ability to Mega-Evolve then we have to give them a small portion of their Mega Stone during the reanimation process. Otherwise, they will never gain that ability. From now on though it will only evolve when it reacts with the Key-stone and Mega-stone."

"Ah" Lance said "that makes sense. How can you be sure?"

"We've never had information to tell us otherwise and we've resurrected hundreds of fossils here" the man replied as he pressed a button on the panel. Immediately the Aerodactyl was sprayed with a gas that gradually put it to sleep. When it was completely out the scientists pressed another button and the incubator doors opened. "It should stay knocked out for at least another half an hour. So, I suggest you capture it now." Nodding Ash took out a pokeball and touched it to the sleeping Pokémon. While it may have been sleeping it was still aware that it was being captured as the ball rocked fiercely. After a minute of shaking, it finally stopped and dinged. Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding in Ash picked up his new Pokémon and attached it to his belt. Nodding to the scientist they both said their thanks and began to walk out. Just as they were leaving the front door to the lab they were stopped by the scientists.

"Here" he said handing Ash back the Old Amber "you forgot to take this. It's perfectly harmless, we extracted everything we could before the resurrection so it's just an ornament now. Thank you for helping us with more data on Aerodactyl. And I sincerely apologise for earlier."

"No problem" Lance said shaking his hand "but next time I tell you that I want a private room to resurrect an incredibly dangerous Pokémon I expect that to be adhered to to the letter. Understood?"

Nodding the man quickly made a retreat as Lance and Ash walked outside.

"Is there somewhere private we could go?" Lance asked.

Thinking of the Pokémon Centre he immediately nixed that idea. Suddenly another place sprang to his mind. "Yeah, but it needs a flying Pokémon to reach." As he released his Charizard.

"An impressive specimen" he commented before he released his Dragonite and quickly followed Ash to the ridge they had looked at yesterday.

"Interesting place" Lance said looking around and over the edge carefully at the seething hot volcano.

"Yeah, we thought so" Ash said, "this is the exact spot that was attacked to erupt the volcano."

"By Mewtwo?" Lance said looking at him in shock "no, the explosion happened inside the lab. Unless I've misread the reports from back then."

"No, you didn't misread them" Ash said "the reports were what was accurately described. However the official report and what actually happened are two different things."

"Explain" Lance said looking serious.

"First of all, do you have a fire type on you?" Ash asked.

"Yeah" Lance warily said as he released his own Charizard. Immediately both Charizards looked at each other with narrowed eyes. Lances was very big and was clearly battle hardened with the number of scars that littered its nose.

"Enough" Ash said startling them both "Charizard, I want you to explain to Lances Charizard your theory on what happened. Lances Charizard, I want you to listen and take a look for yourself and then tell me if you agree." After receiving a nod from Lance both Charizard nodded and flew over the side of the ridge to have a look at the fissure from the inside of the volcano. The noise from the volcano itself drowned out any conversation they had but a few minutes later Ash saw Lances Charizard nod and fly closer to the ridge where he inspected it closely. Surprisingly it used a Flamethrower on the rock just off to the side and observed the reaction. Nodding they both flew up to the ridge and nodded. Recalling them Ash looked at Lance and told him of what he believed happen.

"Our Charizard have both just said the same thing. The explosion was caused by an attack from within the mouth of the volcano. Now the only person who had access to this place and fire type Pokémon is Blaine. Here" Ash said pulling out the diary "I'm very reluctant to give this to you. but as the statute of limitations has long since passed on this and Blaine can't be tried for anything I see no issue giving you this. It's Fuji and Blaines diary from 1987/1988 onwards. It's pretty detailed about what they did. I found it in the lab that was said to be ground zero. It was placed there the day before yesterday, given the last entry was me meeting Blaine on the beach here the day I got here."

Nodding Lance warily skimmed through the diary, his eyes widening at the implications. When he got to the last paragraph he stopped and put the diary away. "I'll study it more tonight and let my fellow Elites know. Thanks for this Ash. Now onto why we're here" he said pulling out the documents and a pen. "The handover needs to be officially recognised." Ash skimmed the document and signed it before handing both the paper and the pokeball containing Aerodactyl in it.

"Thank you, Ash," Lance said pocketing them both "very few trainers would give up a Pokémon like this. It shows a level of maturity that is sorely lacking these days so, as a reward I will give you this" he said pulling out a Pokeball "it's already registered to you so don't worry about that. And I know you'll be exactly the right trainer for her. Look after her Ash, I'll be keeping an eye out for you at the League." Releasing his Dragonite he climbed aboard, said goodbye and then flew off at high speed.

Looking at the pokeball he decided the best place to see who it was, was on the beach. Flying down on Charizard he pondered what had just happened. He was unsure about being gifted a Pokémon. He enjoyed knowing what he was after, this was a curveball he didn't see coming. Landing on a somewhat secluded part he released all his Pokémon and explained what happened.

"Now let's see who we've been given shall we?" he finished earning exciting nods from everyone.

Throwing the Pokeball up into the air, he released the Pokémon from the ball. Gradually a small light came out before disappearing. As one they all gasped as the Pokémon looked up at them as it stood on its hind legs. "You're my trainer huh?" it said looking at everyone. It immediately spotted the Charizard, and its eyes narrowed. "You'll do."