A/N: Hey, everyone! Yes, yes, I know, another chapter from me for this story. And an early one too! But who could blame me? After the success of the previous chapter, I just couldn't resist myself. After all, this is the first chapter of the story's final battle sequence, and I have to tell you all, it'll be a final battle for the ages! ;D ;D ;D

Also, before I begin with the chapter, I have a warning for everyone: if you are a fanfiction writer, you may have received a form of communication (typically a review) from someone affiliated with (or claiming to be affiliated with) the online literature platform Webnovel, soliciting you for the monetized publication of your works on their site under a contract. If you see such an offer, DO NOT ACCEPT IT AND IGNORE IT ALTOGETHER! Webnovel has a reputation for horrendous contracts in which you, the original author, get screwed over royally, one way or another. For further information, please Google "Webnovel Writer Beware" and click on the search result for the blog Writer Beware. They go in-depth about Webnovel's infamy, and it's a good read. I'm one of perhaps many people who have received such an offer, and I knew better than to accept their offer right off the bat. Reading between the lines is always important!

Alright, now that that's over with, I'll be cutting this rambling short! Let's get on with the hotly-anticipated chapter. ENJOY!

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In the skies of an unknown location

The rumbling of thunder echoed in the distance, resonating through the seas below. A gigantic bank of thunder-clouds rolled over the ocean, turning its shimmering blue surface into a dull gray color. In the waters, various schools and pods of Water-type Pokémon scrambled away from the surface, having sensed the turmoil that was about to follow. Even a Kyogre released a bellow and dove its titanic body deeper into the ocean, unwilling to deal with the potential force of the storm that was coming.

However, deep in the bank of storm-clouds, a Shiny Salamence raced through the air at a breakneck pace, its Mega Evolved form providing additional, almost freakish strength to its flight. For a couple of points in its flight, the Dragon Pokémon looked close to breaking the sound barrier. However, it was not alone: a Mega Evolved Sceptile was holding tightly onto its wings, staring ahead with intensity and intent. Despite the astoundingly great speeds Salamence was taking, Sceptile appeared to be unfazed, even though one slip of its finger would guarantee instant doom for it.

It was no surprise, though, given the top-priority mission that its Trainer gave to it, a mission it was ordered not to fail in. And it never did fail him.

Laurier Maison
Northern Kiloude City, Kalos

Yancy's brow became slightly wrinkled at the sight of Aria and Foster stargazing romantically together. She had already seen so much in the span of a few minutes. First, her parents made the final leap from friendship to romance with a dance and a kiss under the starlit sky and to the tune of a passionate song. Then, her Aunt Shauna and Uncle Calem finally confessed their feelings for one another and launched their own romantic relationship. And now, Aria and Foster were showing signs of doing the exact same thing.

"Perfect," she thought with a mixture of sarcasm and pride. "That's just perfect. Now all I need to see is-"

She turned her head in another direction, only to become simultaneously unfazed and surprised at what she saw next: Tierno and Nini in a tight, amorous, almost messy lip-lock. It would've been almost revolting to see if it weren't for the fact that they were her honorary relatives.

"Wow," a familiar voice piped up. "Since when did that happen?"

With an intensifying blush, Yancy flitted her gaze beside her and saw none other than Nate standing a couple of feet away, gawking at Tierno and Nini as well. At the same time, the current song faded out, its lyrics melding into the crisp night air. Then, the loudspeakers slowly, smoothly transitioned to the new song.

"One of a kind, forged of steel from a beautiful mind and with a mighty heart that drove men apart."

"Well, can you blame them?" Yancy replied nervously. "They're supposed to get together in the future, after all."

Nate swallowed apprehensively. "I guess..."

Then, both of them mustered the courage to look at each other. When they did, their eyes locked onto one another like strong magnets, unable to pull away no matter how much force they could apply. For once, Yancy didn't see the usual spark in Nate's eyes that would ignite every time he looked at her. The kind of spark that told her that he only saw her as a friend.

No, this spark was different. And it made her heart flutter inside.

"A forgotten plain, where only the damaged remained."

"So..." Nate awkwardly said, before his voice trailed off.

With Ash's words in mind, Yancy swiftly took the initiative and blurted out, "Nate! Will you dance with me?!"

For one second, she wanted to beat herself up for sounding so forceful and domineering. Another second later, she could feel her heart bursting out of her chest when she saw a gentle smile grace Nate's face, followed by a single word in response.

"Sure."

"That's where I found my destiny. One more lost refugee."

He held out his hand, and she took it with her own. Then, they pulled each other in until they were in an intimate embrace. Once they were, the couple began dancing, their bodies softly rocking to and fro, in sync with each other and the beat of the music. In the background, Yancy could hear Selene and Bonnie squealing quietly with delight.

"Come with me, feel my Soul-Heart if you've been seeking a new start."

Neither Yancy nor Nate knew exactly what was going on. Everything about their environment seemed surreal, like it was all one big dream. But these feelings were swiftly disproven by the sensations that they felt all around them as they continued with their slow, smooth dance. The beating rhythm of the music. The smell of the fresh open air. The sight of each other's eyes gazing deeply and longingly into them.

And most of all, the feeling of each other, daintily wrapped together like a precious gift. A gift that had been waiting to be unwrapped until the end of the night.

"Let me be your guiding light till the end of the night."

"So..." Nate said again, "whaddaya think?"

"Think?" Yancy asked softly. "Think of what?"

"My dancing skills, what else?"

"Oh." She giggled sweetly. "You're a natural, Nate. I'm surprised."

"Well..." He flashed her one of his signature cocky grins. "I am full of surprises, Yancy Ketchum."

Yancy rolled her eyes. "Oh, please."

"Close your eyes, know my Soul-Heart keeping watch over the rampart."

Silence soon fell over the two teenagers, and they continued their dance like this, letting only the lyrics of the song carry them away. Neither of them had known peace and tranquility like this, simply being with each other in such an intimate embrace and a chilly and yet so warm environment. Yancy felt like she was in her mother's shoes in that moment, finally getting an opportunity to take the next step with her crush and spill her entire heart out for him. As for Nate, everything about the moment felt strange and foreign in his mind, and yet his heart was telling him to carry on, to let things proceed naturally so he could see where all of this was going.

One thing was for sure to the both of them: this was something that both of them wanted to experience again.

"Let me be your shining star, leading bright from afar from whoever you were to whoever you are."

Eventually, Nate blurted out, compassionately so, "Hey, Yancy?"

"Yeah, Nate...?" Yancy asked tenderly.

"I...I...I..."

The pink-haired girl felt her heart flutter with excitement. "Yes?"

"I...really don't know what to say..." Nate's eyes broke away from hers, and his cheeks became florid. "I-I seriously don't know what's going on right now."

"You don't?" She brought him a few centimeters closer. "What does your heart tell you?"

"Feel my Soul-Heart now."

"M-My heart?" Nate's face became redder, and he started to tremble a little in embarrassment. "It's...It's saying..."

Yancy's smile widened by a centimeter. "Yes?" she replied hopefully.

"It's...saying...I...I...l-lo-"

Suddenly, it was like the next words were poison to Nate. His racing brain triumphed over his beating heart. He ripped himself away from Yancy and clutched at his chest with one hand while rubbing his scalp with the other. Yancy blinked in incredulity, but a second later, this was supplanted by confusion, and then worry.

"Nate?" she asked.

"I'm sorry..." Nate wheezed helplessly. "I-I'm so sorry, Yancy. This is... Oh, this is so, so, SO weird, Yancy! I...I don't know what to do!" He started to stumble in his step, dizzy from all of the overwhelming, conflicting feelings that were washing over him. "I-I-I-"

"No, Nate."

Nate gasped at the sound of Yancy's voice. He looked at her and saw that she had her eyes closed in disappointment. She then ran a wrist through her eyelids, and he realized in that moment that she had been...

"Dry all your tears; I've returned after so many years."

"I'm sorry." Yancy opened her eyes, and her blue pupils were brighter than ever. "I shouldn't have thrown this onto you. You've got a lot on your plate as it is. The Kalos Battle Frontier, Emboar's Battle Bond Ability, Teams Ebony and Ivory, Kyurem..." She lowered her face in shame. "I'm...I'm very, very sorry, Nate... I should've known I'd be a huge burden on you..."

Nate's eyes grew wide. Even though everything about this was utterly perplexing to him, he could still feel his heart being torn in half at the sight of Yancy's face. It was something that he hadn't felt before...and yet, now that he was thinking about it, he felt as though he had been feeling that same emotion a few times before, every time his eyes laid themselves upon Yancy's sad face.

He just didn't catch onto the true magnitude of those feelings until now.

"Let the creatures I cherish flourish now. This is my vow."

With a sniffle, she turned her back on him. "I'll just-"

"Wait a minute!" he blurted. "Yancy!"

But Yancy didn't turn around, to his dismay. "No, it's alright, Nate. I shouldn't have said anything. I shouldn't have forced this on you. Maybe..." She briefly paused, briefly contemplating her father's words. "Maybe there is a point where you should just give up. Maybe this is the end of all this-"

Nate couldn't take it anymore. He lunged forward, grabbed Yancy's arm, and spun her around so she could finally face him. Her sapphire-blue eyes grew wide with surprise and a little wonder at his show of initiative. With every second that passed with him clutching Yancy's arm, Nate could feel the dizziness recede, and his posture had become steady again. It seemed as though his body was telling him what to do now.

"Know forever my Soul-Heart, anyone seeking a new start."

"N-Nate...?" Yancy asked in a low, fond whisper.

"Yancy..." he whispered back tenderly. "I...I..."

His voice failed him. There were no words to describe the spinning vortex of emotions that he was caught in. And yet, in spite of all the chaos, his heart could already pinpoint the single endpoint of this conflict, the place where chaos could finally straighten out into logic. Instead of staggering confusion, the boy's mind started to race with memories of all the happiest moments he shared with Yancy throughout his journey in Kalos, moments that turned out to be more intimate than he originally remembered.

And it was these memories that were motivating him to lean his face closer towards hers.

"Nate...?" Yancy asked again, with excitement and a little terror.

Nate didn't say anything and simply continued to bring his face closer. In the background, he and Yancy could both hear Selene and Bonnie squeal with excitement at them, but they simply tuned out those external noises.

"Let me be your guiding light till the end of the night."

At that moment, something came to mind, a conclusion that had already been natural but denied to them for a long time.

"I lo-"

KA-BOOM!

The dance floor exploded in a mighty burst of purple fire and blue electricity. Before he knew it, Nate was torn away from Yancy, and his world was spinning. Then, for one precious millisecond, he felt his body make contact with a hard, rough surface, and then-

"Yancy."

He knew nothing.

Outside the main entrance to the Laurier Maison, Trevor had just returned with a wide, proud smile on his face. He was scrolling through his camera gallery, examining all of the photos that he had been taking for the course of his stay in Kiloude. To him, there was nothing better than passing the time waiting for his friends by taking photos of the scenery. It may have been considered somewhat unusual to all the kids in his neighborhood, but with the support of Shauna and Tierno, he pursued his dream and wasn't regretful of that one bit.

"These photos will be great additions to my album," he thought with a chuckle. "And to think that I was able to snap pics of-"

KA-BOOM!

The sound of the explosion forced Trevor out of his thoughts, just as the surrounding tourists screamed and fled from the Maison. However, unlike all the others, the amateur photographer stood still and watched as a column of billowing smoke rose from behind the medieval-style towers of the Showcase Theater.

"Oh, my Arceus..." he whispered in realization. "That's..." His eyes broadened in concern. "Shauna! Tierno!"

He stuffed his camera into his knapsack and ran past the fleeing civilians and tourists, towards the Laurier Maison. His legs carried him as fast as they possibly could, and without any hesitation. Once he entered the front lobby, he was greeted by the sight of a familiar Pokémon Ranger.

"Summer!" he cried.

"Yeah, I know!" Summer exclaimed in response. "It's at the dance floor, no doubt!"

For a split-second, Trevor's heart stopped beating in terror. But he didn't let his fear take over his train of thought, and he proceeded to follow the Ranger through the Maison.

Elsewhere in the Laurier Maison, Palermo's head perked up at the noises of walls rattling and ceramicware shaking on the surfaces of tables. Nearby, Amara stifled a gasp and took a few steps closer to the Showcase producer, just as the sounds of rumbling receded.

"Wh-Wh-What was that...?" stammered the young woman.

Palermo's eyes narrowed. "It sounded like it came from outside..."

Amara glanced at her, her own eyes widening in horrified realization. "Oh, no... Foster..."

The Blue Suns Deluxe Hotel

Upon hearing the distant boom, Grace and Meyer dashed out onto the balcony of their hotel room, both of them only wearing bathrobes. Their eyes grew wide, and Grace gasped in horror at the sight of the column of smoke rising from the Laurier Maison.

"Serena..." she whispered in concern.

Laurier Maison
Northern Kiloude City

"Serena...? Serena? Serena... Serena!"

Shaking off the grogginess and the disorientation as best as he could, Ash stumbled through the smoky, fiery wreckage and approached Serena's splayed, still, soot-covered form. The moment he laid his eyes on her, the intense beating in his eardrums was receding into a cold stop. He forced all negative thoughts to the back of his head as he knelt down and gently shook her.

"Serena," he said, trying to keep down his worst fears. "Serena, please get up. Please get up."

His plea was met with no response, and Serena didn't move at all. Ash felt his breath become caught in his lungs, and he shook her again, this time with slight desperation.

"Serena?" he asked. Then, he shook her again, this time with more vigor. "Serena?! Serena!"

A moan came from the honey-blonde. Ash almost collapsed on his side in unbearably immense relief.

"Oh, thank Arceus..." he mumbled.

"Pikapi!"

"Sylveon!"

Ash looked over his shoulder and saw Pikachu and Sylveon running towards them. Both of them were covered in soot and had scuffed fur, but otherwise, they were clearly unhurt. Pikachu scurried up his shoulder, while Sylveon extended one of her feelers and used it to shake Serena.

"Eon?" Sylveon squeaked in concern.

"Uuuuuggggghhhhh..." Serena lifted her head, revealing a face half-caked with dirt and debris. "Wha...What happened...? Is the dance over...?"

"No..." With narrowed eyes, Ash looked around to survey the destruction. "Not even by a long shot..."

Indeed, he could see that the entire dance floor was entirely obliterated. Performers and dates were strewn across the venue, many of them bruised and scraped, and some of them were still regaining consciousness.

"Ahhh, nooooo!" the Scizor Trainer squealed. "My clothes are torn up!"

"My makeup!" shrieked the Honedge Trainer. "It's ruined!"

"Litleo?!" the Litleo Trainer exclaimed as she shot up to her feet. "Litleo, where are you?!"

"Heliolisk!" the Heliolisk Trainer cried while she cradled her Generator Pokémon in her arms. "Heliolisk, are you alright?!"

"Teddiursa, Ducklett!" another Performer shouted while she chased after her two panicked Pokémon. "Girls, please don't run off!"

"WWWWWAAAAAHHHHH!" Kayleigh wailed. "My Furfrou's trim is a disaster now!"

"Concetta!" Sara Lee yelled in a mixture of frustration and panic. "Concetta, for the love of Arceus, shout out to me so I can find you, or I swear, I'll-!"

"Sara Lee!" Blanche called, catching the green-haired girl's attention. "Sara Lee, I think I saw her by the drinking fountains! I'll help you find her!"

"Sereeenaaa!" a familiar voice cried.

"Mommy!" another voice yelled.

Yancy, Selene, Bonnie, Shauna, Calem, Miette, Clemont, Nini, Tierno, and Clarice all emerged from the clearing smoke and dust and ran up to Ash. Calem knelt before Serena as well and took one arm, while Ash followed it up by taking her other arm. Together, the two boys helped the honey-blonde up to her feet. Still groggy, Serena stumbled in her step, forcing Ash to catch her with his body and use himself to prop her up as support. Once he did, Selene ran up to hug Serena's leg with one arm, the other still cradling Celebi.

"What in the world was that?!" Miette exclaimed, her voice cracking in the process.

"Did a gas pipe blow up or something?" asked Clemont.

"It doesn't matter!" squeaked Clarice. "We need to get to a Pokémon Cent-"

"Everyone!" a new voice hollered, piercing through the unfolding chaos. "Everyone!"

Ash, Serena, and the others watched while Aria ran to the center of what was once the dance floor, waving her hands high in desperation. However, her voice wasn't enough to placate the increasingly panicked Performers and their Pokémon, so the Kalos Queen looked around in search of something. Eventually, she found it and bent down to pick it up: a microphone. After tapping it thrice to make sure it worked, she held the device close to her mouth and spoke into it, allowing her voice to echo resonantly across the venue.

"Everyone!"

That did the trick. All of the Performers, their dates, and their Pokémon looked towards her, and when they collectively recognized who was speaking, a wave of hope swept over them. Aria took a deep breath of relief and then pointed towards the nearest exits.

"It's alright," she said in a calmer voice. "If any of you are able to walk, please take the nearest exit and get to the Maison's Pokémon Center. Please carry any injured that you can carry. If anyone's badly hurt, please just stay put; Nurse Joy will be on the way." Her gentle, confident gaze swept through the crowd. "It's going to be okay, everyone."

"No, my dear. I'm afraid it's not going to be okay."

Short but powerful bursts of air cleared out the thinning veil of smoke and dust, revealing a Druddigon that was descending to the ground. However, everyone's eyes were drawn to the Druddigon's rider, a menacing woman with chin-length green hair and eyes just as green, narrowed to slits behind her futuristic visor, which did nothing to protect anyone from her deathly cold gaze. She was wearing a green trench-coat and all-orange clothing underneath. The design of the trench-coat and the other clothing was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before.

That is, anyone except for Yancy, Selene, and Aria.

"No..." Aria breathed out. She took one step backward, then two, and then three, towards all of the other Performers, who were surprised by her sudden, uncharacteristic reaction. "No... You? No, it...i-it can't be you-"

"Yes, little girl," the woman replied coldly. "It's me."

"KAY!" Yancy shouted angrily, her voice of white-hot fury blazing through the cold silence. "YOU DID THIS!"

Kay glared at her in cold displeasure. "You're a fan of stating the obvious, Ketchum."

"Kay?" Blanche repeated incredulously while looking at Yancy.

Immediately, murmurs began to break out amongst the other Performers.

"Who's Kay?" Alouette asked.

"Is she talking about that retro woman?" asked the Honchkrow Trainer.

"How does the crasher know this new crasher?" queried the Furret Trainer.

"Serena's family sure knows some interesting characters..." the Marill Trainer commented.

"I'll say," the Vileplume Trainer replied while she sized up Kay with an approving nod. "I'm kinda digging her style..."

"Y-YOU!"

Everyone's heads turned towards the Heliolisk Trainer, who had just recalled her Electric-type back into its Poké Ball. Now, she was standing up to her feet and unflinchingly staring down Kay, who simply looked back at her with dull disinterest.

"You hurt my Heliolisk!" the girl screamed. "You're...You're gonna PAY for that!"

Then, she started running towards the Pokémon poacher. Yancy felt her skin crawl, and her breath was abated as she took a step forward with her hand stretched out in warning.

"NO!" the pink-haired girl cried shrilly. "DON'T!"

Suddenly, a Chesnaught jumped into the air with a roar and landed between Kay and the approaching Performer. The Heliolisk Trainer quickly stopped, but she slipped on her own shoes and fell to the ground. The girl then looked up helplessly as the outline of a person dismounted Chesnaught's back and towered over her with an ominous scowl and a beady-eyed stare that made her shiver. On instinct, she scrambled back to the safety of her fellow Performers.

"Parker!" Ash, Serena, Yancy, and the rest of their group shouted at once.

Parker glared at them and sneered deviously. "Did you really think I'd given up so easily?"

At that moment, more people began to flood the venue, yelling and shouting incoherently all the while. From all directions, people dressed in construction uniforms with the logo of a badly-drawn Dedenne and a hammer surrounded Ash and Serena's group, as well as the group consisting of Aria and the other Performers. They were accompanied by their Pokémon, all of whom sized up their captives and readied up some attacks. Finally, Parker's horde of Hoppip, Skiploom, and Jumpluff hovered onto the scene, with some of them shining flashlights upon the destroyed venue. In response, the Pokémon belonging to Ash and Serena's group took on defensive postures, ready to fight; in contrast, the other Performers' Pokémon huddled closer to their Trainers, terrified out of their minds.

The last of Kay and Parker's new accomplices to show up were none other than Nick, Floyd, Lloyd, Sid, and Cecile, all of whom were swiftly recognized by Ash, Serena, and the others in their group. Without warning, Nick, Floyd, and Lloyd took a position in the middle of the destroyed dance floor and...

...

They began reciting a motto, much to the stunned disbelief of absolutely everyone else.

"Prepare for trouble!" proclaimed Floyd.

"And make it double!" declared Lloyd.

Ash, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie blinked in dull confusion and disbelief, the familiarity of the phrases latching onto their minds in an instant. Just then, they couldn't help but sense a dark aura coming from Aria's group, a dark aura that was triggered by those very phrases.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To ignite all people within our nation!"

"What in the name of copyright?!" Jessilee's voice snapped.

"What is this travesty?!" demanded Jessilee's date.

However, their voices went unheeded by Nick, Floyd, and Lloyd, and they simply continued with their motto.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Floyd!"

"Lloyd!"

"Nick's the name!" Nick announced.

"And evildoing is our game!" all three declared simultaneously.

"What is happening right now...?" Clemont deadpanned.

In the corner of Yancy's eye, she could see that Kay and Parker weren't exactly pleased by Nick, Floyd, and Lloyd's antics either. Kay's eyelid was twitching in silent rage, while Parker was holding his lowered face in his palms, an act that was mirrored by his Chesnaught.

"Team Pocket, blast off at the speed of light!" Floyd proclaimed.

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!" warned Lloyd.

"And thaaaaat's right!" completed a jubilant Nick.

Everyone could've sworn they saw an imaginary P-shaped logo materialize behind them.

...

In almost an instant, Jessilee, her date, and her Meowth and Wobbuffet stood up from the second group of Performers.

"THIEVES!" Jessilee barked.

"SWINDLERS!" Jessilee's date snapped.

"PIRATES!" Meowth yelled in plain English.

"WOBBUFFET!" an affronted Wobbuffet exclaimed.

Parker also found the strength to speak up. "What...in heaven's name...was that, you three?" he asked in a chillingly calm voice.

"Our motto!" Nick proclaimed with a bright but oblivious smile that stretched from ear to ear. "What else?"

"IT'S COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT, THAT'S WHAT THAT WAS!" shrieked Jessilee.

Nick looked at her in confusion. "Well...I admit that it needs a little more work, but-"

"WE'LL SEE YOUR SORRY BUTTS IN COURT!" Jessilee's date yelled, cutting him off.

"WE'LL DRAIN YER POCKETS OF EVERY LAST PENNY!" warned Meowth. "JUST YA WATCH, BOZOS!"

Meanwhile, the other Performers were gawking at Meowth in confusion.

"Since when did Jessilee's Meowth know how to speak?" Kayleigh asked incredulously.

In a matter of milliseconds, the trio became so rowdy and vocal in their outrage that some of the other Performers and their Pokémon had to hold them back. Parker shook his head in increasing exasperation, just as a new voice spoke up.

"About TIME you guys showed up!"

Everyone's heads turned towards the speaker, Adam, who was marching over to Kay and Parker with a red face and clenched fists. Hesitantly taking his cue, Amelia stood up from Aria's group and followed her uncle, provoking whispers and murmurs amongst the other Performers.

"Amelia?" the Scizor Trainer asked in shock.

"You're with them?" asked the Trainer with the Pansage, Pansear, and Panpour.

Amelia didn't say anything and simply continued to meekly follow her uncle over to the group of poachers and construction workers. As they approached, Kay analyzed them with a scowl of disapproval.

"Let me guess," she commented in a dull voice. "Adam Glazing?"

"In the flesh," growled Adam. "I've been waiting for hours! Do you have ANY idea how much posturing I had to do in this silly venue?!"

"Watch your tone, Glazing," Parker snarled. "The Eight-Headed Seviper may be aligned with you and your..." He disapprovingly glanced at Sid, Cecile, Nick, Floyd, and Lloyd. "Interests, but we do not answer to you or them."

"Oh, you don't, huh? Well, don't you forget that this operation of yours wouldn't be happening if it weren't for me and my associates! Without the resources that we offered to you, you wouldn't have been able to dig her-" He pointed a quivering finger at Kay, who remained unperturbed. "Out of the rock and snow of Mt. Kiloude! You'd still be rotting in that jail cell if it weren't for me!"

"You broke Parker out of prison?" Yancy asked incredulously.

"Wait a minute!" Ash cried. He took a step forward and sized Adam up, his eyes slowly widening in realization. "I recognize that voice! You're...You're the Trainer with the Aggron!"

Adam glared at the Pallet Town native, initially in outrage. But when he recognized Ash, his scowl turned into a malevolent sneer.

"Well, well, well..." The green-haired man took a couple of steps towards Ash, snickering when he saw Serena protectively inching closer to the boy with every step that he took. "And you're the kid with the interesting Greninja. I thought I gave the two of you the beating of a lifetime?"

"We got better," snarled Ash. Then, his anger gave way to confusion. "Somehow."

Adam responded with a coldly passive shrug. "Eh, it doesn't matter. I intend to finish what I started." He lifted a hand and snapped his fingers with a smirk. "Men, seize him at once."

"You're not in charge of this operation, Glazing," Parker growled disapprovingly. "Kay is. And you answer to her."

Adam glowered confrontationally at the poacher. "No, you answer to me!"

The poacher clenched his fists in outrage. "No, you answer to Kay!"

The green-haired man gnashed his teeth together in frustration. "No, to ME!"

"No, to KAY!"

"TO ME!"

"TO KAY!"

"TO ME!"

"Can't we just settle this with a game of rock-paper-scissors?" Nick suggested.

Parker and Adam both shot him the same look of exasperation. "CAN IT!"

The Dedenne-like man cowered and whimpered in response. Meanwhile, Kay ruffled her hair in enraged disbelief.

"PARKER!" she barked, catching her colleague's attention. "FOCUS, NOW! WE HAVE WORK TO DO!"

Parker loyally straightened up. "Yes, ma'am!"

"Unbelievable... Just unbelievable..." She flashed Adam a wordless glare of warning, then she faced Ash, Serena, and their group, evidently trying to save face. "Now, where were we...?" Her eyes gravitated towards Selene, who held Celebi tighter in her arms as she took cover behind Ash and Serena. "Give us what we came here for, and we'll leave without making a bigger mess. And when I say 'a bigger mess', I mean..."

She pointed a gloved index finger at Aria's group. At the cue, Chesnaught summoned its Wood Hammer and Druddigon opened its mouth to materialize the beginnings of a Dragon Pulse, with both Pokémon aiming their attacks at the Performers. Realizing what was happening, the girls impulsively huddled closer and closer to each other until they formed a large, tight-knit group. They beseechingly looked towards their dates, only to catch the last of them cowardly fleeing off the venue.

"Wh-What the heck?!" the Smeargle Trainer squeaked in disbelief.

"What'd we do?!" the Psyduck Trainer shrieked shrilly.

"No, no, NO!" Elma cried, already teary-eyed as she grabbed onto Alouette and hugged her tightly. "This can't be HAPPENING! It just CAN'T!"

Blanche stared at Yancy in mounting confusion and terror. "Yancy?"

As for Aria, she was shaking so badly that she looked like she had been caught in a mighty blizzard. Her red eyes were as wide as they could possibly be, and she was utterly speechless and paralyzed with fear. That much was clear to the other Performers, and it proved to be influential to their subconsciousness, for they too were unable to move and could only feel nothing but overwhelming terror.

Even so, Selene put on a brave, defiant face and tightened her grip on Celebi. "NEVER! I'm not giving up Celebi, you meanie!"

But Kay smirked and lifted a gloved hand, flexing her fingers in the process. "We figured that you'd say that, little one. Which is why..." She aimed her hand at Selene's direction. "We'll be taking you too."

A clawed tentacle shot out of Kay's wristwatch and headed for Selene at a great speed. Ash and Serena stood protectively in front of the little girl, but it didn't stop. Instead, it effortlessly knocked them aside, wrapped itself around Selene's body, and yanked her away from her parents and towards Kay, knocking Pichu off of Selene's shoulder in the process. Bonnie dove for Selene, but she missed and landed painfully on the ground instead.

"Selene!" Bonnie cried.

"Pichu-piiiii!" Pichu squealed in horror.

But Selene didn't have a chance to respond. She tried to release Celebi so it could avoid capture as well, but the claw at the end of the tentacle reacted quickly. It grabbed onto the Time Travel Pokémon with its jagged, metallic pincers and held on tight.

"AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!" Selene desperately reached out with her free hand. "MOMMY! DADDY!"

"SELENE!" Ash and Serena cried.

Then, everyone reacted at the same time.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" ordered Ash.

"Sylveon, use Fairy Wind!" Serena commanded.

"Use Moonblast, Flo!" yelled Yancy.

"Solar Beam, Ivysaur!" shouted Shauna.

"Hydro Pump, let's go, Empoleon!" Calem hollered.

"Energy Ball, Slurpuff!" commanded Miette.

"Use Double Slap, Bunnelby!" exclaimed Clemont.

"Smoochum, use Heart Stamp, my dear!" Nini ordered.

"Hydro Cannon, Blastoise!" Tierno screamed.

"Fl-Fl-Fletchling, u-use E-Em-Ember!" Clarice stammered.

"Piiiii-CHUUUUU!" Pichu cried as it unleashed a Thunder Shock.

All ten Pokémon launched their respective attacks, which joined Pichu's Thunder Shock in barreling towards Kay, Parker, and their own Pokémon. However, Parker calmly snapped his fingers.

"Bullet Seed," he said coolly.

Several of his Hoppip, Skiploom, and Jumpluff fired barrages of the Grass-type attack, which were enough to intercept all ten attacks before they could land their targets. At the same time, the clawed tentacle pulled Selene and Celebi into Kay's arms, whereupon the girl began struggling intensely.

"AGH!" Selene shrieked. "Lemme go, lemme GO! YANCY! MOMMY, DADDY! HELP MEEEEE!"

"YANCY!" Ash, Serena, and Yancy all yelled at the same time.

But Kay was unaffected by the seven-year-old's resistance. Instead, with a malevolent smirk, she held out Selene and Celebi for everyone to see. Ash and Serena prepared to run forward, but they stopped dead in their tracks when they saw how threateningly Kay was holding their future daughter.

"I wouldn't interfere if I were you," the green-haired poacher hissed. "One wrong move and..." The clawed tentacle autonomously came close to Selene's face and lightly snapped its pincers at her. "Well, you get the picture."

"You..." Serena growled with tightly clenched fists, "you evil, evil person!"

"You call what I do evil; I call it earning an income. I call what you do childishly, pointlessly prancing around a stage; you call it fun." Kay tightened her grip around Selene, drawing a pained groan from the little girl. "In the end, we all do what we do to get by in this world. Anyway, enough of this nonsense." She held out a hand and reached for Celebi, which squeaked in horror and started squirming in Selene's arms. "I'll be taking good care of Celebi now."

"BIIIII!" Celebi shrieked in fear.

"NO!" A teary-eyed Selene tried to inch the Time Travel Pokémon away from her, but it was fruitless, for she already grabbed it and was now trying to pull it away from her grasp. "NO! CELEBIIIII!"

"BI!" Celebi tried to hold onto Selene's arm, but Kay's grip was simply way too strong, and it yanked the Legendary Pokémon away with ease. "BIIIII!"

"CELEBI!" shrieked the helpless Selene. Then, she started struggling even more, earning her an irritated grunt from her captor. "GIVE BACK CELEBI! GIVE IT BACK, GIVE IT BACK, GIVE IT BACK!"

Over at Aria's group, all of the Performers gawked at the scene in abject horror. Then, Blanche quirked an eyebrow in stunned confusion.

"Wait a minute," the blue-haired girl said. "Did Selene just call her Sewaddle a 'Celebi'?"

Kay glared at her, then at Celebi, who was still in its Sewaddle costume. "This thing had you all fooled?"

"Heh." Parker's lips twitched into a nasty grin, and he shook his head. "Incompetent little girls. Were you really blind to the true identity of this powerhouse? One that's been under your noses this entire time?"

Gossipy whispers broke out amongst the Performers, confirming the poacher's suspicions. He broadened his grin, and he walked up to Kay, loud thuds punctuating his footsteps. With a smirk of her own, Kay held Celebi out towards her colleague, further away from Selene's futile reach. The Time Travel Pokémon squealed at the sight of the approaching Parker and struggled even more in Kay's clutches, but it was useless. Ash, Serena, Yancy, and the others desperately wanted to do something, but the clawed tentacle precariously close to Selene's face quashed any willpower they had to muster to resist.

"Well, then," Parker continued, "I guess it's time to show you girls the truth."

He grabbed the collar of Celebi's Sewaddle costume and violently pulled at it, choking the helpless Legendary in the process. Selene gasped and struggled even further with growing desperation.

"NOOO!" she shrieked. "STOP IT! STOP IT! YOU'RE HURTING IT! CELEBI! CELEBI!"

"BBBBBIIIIIIIIII!"

Celebi's squeal of agony echoed resonantly in the sky. Then, after one last twitch of a struggle, the Time Travel Pokémon opened its eyes, revealing a light-blue glow in its pupils. A second later, Selene, Kay, and Parker's outlines began to glow the same color. Before any of them knew it, they were being lifted off the ground, foot by foot with every second, stunning the others.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Nick squeaked. "Wh-What the heck is going on?!"

"Uhhhhh..." Amelia mumbled while taking a step away from Adam's side in caution.

"It...It knows Psychic?" Shulin asked incredulously.

"SELENE!" Ash, Serena, and Yancy all shrieked.

But Parker was unphased as he ordered, "Bullet Seed."

Kay released Celebi, just as a Hoppip, Skiploom, and Jumpluff obeyed Parker's command and fired their attacks at it. All three moves found their shared target, bombarding it and enveloping it in a cloud of thick smoke. The auras around Selene's, Kay's, and Parker's outlines vanished in an instant, and the two poachers fell back to the ground with the little girl in tow. However, Kay and Parker deftly landed on their feet, with the former swiftly cradling Selene in her arms in the process.

In contrast, Celebi fell from the cloud of smoke and landed on the ground with a painful thud, its body bruised and burnt, its Sewaddle costume incinerated.

"CELEBBBBBIIIII!" screeched a mortified Selene.

The others' reactions were mixed. Ash, Serena, Yancy, the others in their group, and everyone in Aria's group watched on in horror and shock at the revelation that Selene's Sewaddle was indeed Celebi. Parker and Kay looked quite proud of themselves. Adam coldly observed the entire proceeding with a pronounced scowl of impatience. Beside him, Amelia was looking back and forth between her uncle and the horrifying scene before her, visibly ambivalent and conflicted. Sid was rubbing his hands together in devious, calculating pleasure. Nick, Floyd, Lloyd, Cecile, and their colleagues looked just as uncomfortable as Amelia, but none of them bothered to speak up. But collectively, no one did or was able to do anything while Celebi toiled in the middle of the destroyed dance venue.

"Biiiii..."

Celebi struggled to get up, but it lost all of the strength in its arms and collapsed back to the ground. It could only look up helplessly while Druddigon and Chesnaught advanced upon it, their larger, menacing forms more than enough to match it. With a grunt and one last, futile lift of its arm, the Time Travel Pokémon fell unconscious, allowing Chesnaught to pick it up with a hammy hand. With an elated chuckle, Parker approached his Spiny Armor Pokémon, took Celebi from its hand with his own, and held it towards Selene and Kay.

"After so long," he said triumphantly, "we have our bounty back in our possession."

Ash couldn't take it anymore. With a furious yell, he broke himself from his group and ran towards Kay and Parker as fast as his feet could carry him. Pikachu instinctively hopped off his shoulder and sprinted by his left side, his red cheeks crackling with electricity. At almost the same time, there was a bright flash, and a split-second later, Greninja was running by Ash's right side. But the raven-haired boy didn't sense either of his Pokémon partners.

Instead, he felt white-hot fury at the sight of Selene in so much of distress.

"LET. MY. DAUGHTER. GOOOOO!"

"PIKA-CHUUUUU!"

"GRE-NIIIIINJAAAAA!"

Pikachu fired off a particularly strong Thunderbolt, while Greninja materialized and hurled a rather enormous Water Shuriken. The Thunderbolt headed straight for Kay's Druddigon, while the Water Shuriken barreled towards Parker's Chesnaught. But before either attack could reach its target, a new voice hollered into the air.

"AGGRON, USE FLASH CANNON!"

The Steel-type attack intercepted both the Thunderbolt and the Water Shuriken, swiftly dispelling both. Ash, Pikachu, and Greninja stopped in unison, just as they heard Serena's voice yell out shrilly to them.

"ASH! WATCH OUT!"

"NOW, BODY SLAM!"

The trio looked to their right, just in time to see an Aggron stampeding towards them. In a matter of milliseconds, it powerfully slammed its body into them, sending their bodies tumbling across the dance floor until they came to a stop several feet away. Just like Celebi, they were rendered unconscious.

"AAAAASH!" Serena screamed.

"DAD!" shrieked Yancy.

As for Kay and Parker, they glared at Adam, who was approaching Aggron with a snobbish smile on his face. But when his gleaming eyes met theirs, he saw pure, unadulterated contempt, not the gratitude he was expecting.

"We had that under control, Glazing," snarled Kay.

"I can certainly see where your colleagues get their nosiness from," Parker spat harshly.

"Wh-Wh-What?!" Adam sputtered with narrowed eyes. Then, he shook his head and pointed at Ash, Pikachu, and Greninja's still forms. "Look, you're welcome! Now, seize them! That boy and his Greninja gave me a hard time earlier today, and I do NOT intend to let him slip past my fingers again!"

Parker rolled his eyes and walked up to the fallen trio. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it. That was the plan anyway, Glazing."

He gestured Chesnaught over to Ash, Pikachu, and Greninja. With a huff, the Spiny Armor Pokémon picked up all three unconscious bodies with its large arms. Once it did, Parker glared at Serena, Yancy, and the others; most of them cowered underneath the poacher's burning gaze, but Serena stood her ground valiantly and defiantly.

"Let Ash and Selene go right now," the honey-blonde snarled, "or ELSE."

Kay cracked a smirk at her. "Of course, Gabena. Only if you and your other brat of a daughter come with us."

Serena's eyes grew wide, and she heard Yancy gasp beside her. "Us?"

"What do you want with Serena?!" Shauna demanded. She stepped protectively in front of her fellow Performer, and she was joined by Miette and Nini. "If you're even thinking of hurting her, then you've got a whole new problem coming your way!"

"Yeah!" Miette shouted defensively. "We're gonna kick your sorry butts if you dare to lay a finger on her!"

"Seconded!" chirped an angry Nini.

"Girls..." an awestruck Serena whispered.

As for Kay, she shook her head and tutted in disappointment. "Ohhh, you foolish, foolish little kids. After all the things you've seen us do, all the things you know we're capable of, you still insist on standing up to us like we're schoolyard bullies or something."

"Ohhh, you're not schoolyard bullies," Miette replied tauntingly. "Far from it. You're lower than that, after all."

A muscle suddenly twitched in Kay's brow. With pursed lips of nasty contempt, she lifted a hand and snapped her fingers, beckoning her Druddigon over. The Cave Pokémon threateningly stomped over to the quartet of Performers, its shadow towering over them easily and its toothy jaws opening. Realizing what was about to happen, Serena pushed past her friends and rivals and raised her hands high in surrender.

"Okay, okay!" she cried. "I'll come with you too! As long as no harm comes to anyone, especially Ash!"

"Serena?" Shauna asked in disbelief. "Wh-What're you doing?!"

Serena could only look at her rival and shake her head at her with a small smile of defeat. Shauna got the signal and glanced at Miette and Nini, silently telling them not to protest or resist, which they reluctantly complied to.

"A wise decision, little girl," Kay remarked. "Very wise. But don't you dare think that you can have your other daughter squirm her way out of this. She comes with us too. That's part of the deal." She looked over Serena's shoulder at Yancy. "Do we have an understanding, Ketchum?"

The pink-haired girl nervously eyed Serena, then Selene, who was starting to weep in Kay's grip. Finally, she looked around the devastated dance floor, observing all of the enemies surrounding her and her friends. Realizing that they were outnumbered and there was no other way out, Yancy took a deep breath and hung her head low in submission.

"Yes..." she whispered bitterly. "We do..."

Kay's smirk widened. "Brilliant. Now..." She swept her gaze across the dance floor. "Where in Arceus's name is Gray?"

"It's most peculiar," Parker replied as he too searched for Nate. "I haven't heard one soundbite from him ever since we got here."

"Hm... You'd think he'd make his presence known by now, given the circumstances..." Kay took a couple of steps forward and hollered out, "GRAAAY! Show yourself! I know you're here somewhere, so come on out and face us, you pest! Don't tell me you've decided to run away from us today of all days!"

When her calls were met with no response, Kay's triumph faded into irritation, and she approached Yancy. Feeling her skin crawl, the pink-haired girl instinctively stepped closer to her mother. But before she could take shelter behind her, the green-haired poacher had ominously placed a hand on her shoulder, with each finger tapping her exposed skin one by one.

"Come on out, Gray," she hissed, "or I'll make sure you-"

"CHARIZARD, USE HEAT WAVE!" a new, familiar voice yelled.

An orange gust of superheated air flew through the dance venue, striking Parker's horde of Hoppip, Skiploom, and Jumpluff, injuring many of them. Parker gasped and glared at the direction from which the Fire-type attack came from. Serena, Yancy, and the others followed his stare and saw Trevor arriving on the scene with his Charizard, along with Summer and a Spring Form Sawsbuck that she had just captured.

Then, a group of police officers and Pokémon led by Officer Jenny arrived after them, followed closely by Palermo, Amara, and a small group of Laurier Maison security guards. The police officers and security guards worked together to corner all of Nick's subordinates and their Pokémon, cutting off any and all potential escape routes. The Performers began to cheer and squeal in relief at the sight of reinforcements.

"Hold it right there, poachers!" Summer ordered harshly. "You're not going anywhere!"

"What in the world is going on here?!" Palermo demanded, her alarmed tone cutting through the air like a freshly sharpened knife.

"Curses!" Parker spat while taking a step backward. "It's the Pokémon Ranger!"

"A Pokémon Ranger, huh?" Kay remarked. She glanced at Summer and sized her up, looking almost impressed. "Huh, I guess you guys haven't gotten extinct at this time."

"So I've been told," Summer replied in a hostile voice. "Now give it up! We've got the upper hand now!"

But Kay smirked and snapped her fingers. "On the contrary, Ranger."

All of a sudden, the ground beneath everyone began to shake. At first, the shaking was light and unnoticeable, but it grew in intensity by the second, until the rubble began to bounce on the surface. In a matter of seconds, a gargantuan shadow enveloped the entire dance floor, prompting everyone to look up. What they saw next horrified them to the very core, to the point where even the police officers and security guards were paralyzed with fear and perplexity.

It was a mecha of identical design to Parker's, but it was ten times larger, making it half as tall as all of the Laurier Maison. The mecha's many clawed, tentacle-like arms, dangling from its underside, immediately aimed themselves at the direction of everyone on the dance floor and the general vicinity of the Laurier Maison. The claws opened up wide to reveal shining barrels of silver, revealing their true purpose to everyone.

While everyone was distracted by the mecha's presence, Kay's Druddigon seized Serena and Yancy in its arms, provoking screams of surprise from them. Once Kay jumped on its back with Selene still in tow, the Cave Pokémon took off to the air, allowing her to look down upon everyone left on the dance floor.

"I think we've still got the upper hand over you," the poacher completed triumphantly.

Kay's declaration was punctuated with a mechanical roar from the massive mecha, a roar so loud that it forced everyone to cover their ears and scream in pain. Everywhere on the Laurier Maison's external walls, glass windows became adorned with cracks, and nearby wild Pokémon fled in terror.

"SERENA!" Shauna, Miette, and Nini all yelled.

"YANCY!" Blanche, Kazalie, and Shulin screamed at the same time.

"SELENEEEEE!" a helpless Bonnie screeched shrilly while Clemont held her back.

But there was nothing that could be done. Druddigon began flying towards the mecha's distant cockpit, taking Kay, Serena, Yancy, and Selene with it. Nobody made any further efforts to resist, with Officer Jenny, the police officers, and the Laurier Maison security guards keeping their wary eyes on the mecha's many weapons.

Meanwhile, Parker tucked the unconscious Celebi under his armpit, procured a futuristic remote from his pocket, and pressed a large red button on it. In response, his own smaller mecha rose above the balcony of the dance venue, its shadow looming over the entire group. Once the mecha held out one of its clawed tentacles, the male poacher turned around and gave the group of Trainers and Performers a mocking salute.

"I'd love to stay and chat," he said, "but I think it is time for us to make our leave. After all..." He tightened his grip around Celebi. "We got enough of what we came here for. Tell Gray that if he wants Celebi and the others back, he's gonna have to find us. Sound fair?"

Parker then stepped onto the claw, followed by Chesnaught as it continued to carry Ash, Pikachu, and Greninja. Next, he looked at Adam, Amelia, Sid, Cecile, Nick, Floyd, and Lloyd, all of whom were looking back at him expectantly.

"You and your people distract these fools," he ordered. "Make sure they-"

"Now just hold on a minute!" Adam snapped, cutting Parker off with his harsh voice. "You're just trying to abandon us, aren't you?!"

Parker froze for a moment, then he smiled innocently at them, though it did nothing to mask his malevolence. "Now what makes you think that? I have utmost faith in your abilities to handle yourselves with these children."

"Cut the Tauros-crud!" Adam stamped a foot on the ground. "I've spent a lifetime dealing with backstabbers and one-celled cretins! I know better than to fall for such obvious lies. Now, whatever you and your boss have planned for that Celebi, I want to see it firsthand! That's nonnegotiable!"

Everyone could see the subtle recoil in Parker's posture. Then, the poacher quickly recomposed himself and forced a smile of approval onto his face.

"Very well, then," he replied. Then, he tapped his foot against the claw he was standing on. "Hop aboard. We don't have all night."

"And I intend to bring along my associates for this operation!" Adam glared at Sid, Cecile, Nick, Floyd, and Lloyd. "Consider it a potential countermeasure, in case you get any funny ideas while I have my back on you!"

Parker pursed his lips in discomfort and then took a mental headcount of Adam's associates. After crunching the numbers, he looked back at the green-haired man and nodded curtly.

"Only half," he instructed. "The other half stays behind to watch over these meddlers and make sure none of them escape. We can't afford to have anybody interfering with our plans any further. And given their..." The poacher shot Clemont, Shauna, Calem, Miette, Tierno, and Nini a hateful glare. "Reputation, I'd say that scenario has a strong likelihood of happening."

"Excellent!" Adam clapped his hands together with glee, then he pointed at Sid. "Sid, you're coming with me."

The periwinkle-haired, eyepatch-wearing man bowed his head. "As you command."

Then, Adam glared at the rest of Nick's underlings. "Alright, everybody with the last names beginning with A through M gets to come along as well! The rest of you stay here and keep watch!"

"Yes, Adam," Cecile replied loyally.

"W-Wait a minute!" Nick piped up, his beady eyes widening in alarm. "W-We're not coming along?"

"B-But we wanna see what happens too!" Floyd whined.

"Can we come?!" Lloyd pleaded with his hands clasped together. "Pretty please?!"

"No," Adam replied harshly. "You heard Parker! These kids cannot leave this area!"

"Wait, hold on!" exclaimed a worried Floyd. "You're...You're not trying to...abandon us, are you?"

Adam froze for a moment, then he smiled innocently at them, though it did nothing to mask his malevolence. "Now what makes you think that? I have utmost faith in your abilities to handle yourselves with these children."

"Oh." Floyd blinked thrice as he tried to process his superior's words. "O-Okay..."

"Heh, that's funny," Nick commented with a grin of oblivious amusement. "That's exactly what Parker told you when you accused him of trying to abandon you."

A muscle twitched in Adam's eyebrow, while Parker and Sid rubbed their foreheads in disbelief. But before Adam could respond, a new voice spoke up.

"U-Uncle?"

A certain gleam passed through Adam's eyes as he looked down at Amelia. She stared at him with a wrinkled brow of concern and a nervous fidget of her hands. For once, the Performers could see how absolutely vulnerable she was.

"I...I don't understand what's going on," she said. "I'm..." Her face turned florid, and she glanced at all of the Performers in embarrassment. "I'm scared..."

Adam gently smiled at her. "Of course, you're scared." He ruffled her hair, drawing a coo of semi-comfort from her. "It's natural. After all, I am about to completely and utterly destroy your life."

"Huh?"

Amelia dumbly looked back up at her uncle, unsure if she heard him correctly. But she could plainly see that the gentle smile she long associated with him was now gone. In its place was a malevolent sneer, one that a predatory Haunter would wear on its face upon cornering its hapless prey.

"Actually," Adam continued, "I'm not just gonna destroy your life, Amelia. I'm gonna destroy your entire existence. Wipe it from all memory. Purge this timeline of every trace of you." He gestured to the unconscious Celebi in Parker's grip. "It's gonna be easy with a Celebi in my clutches."

Amelia slowly blinked, then the corners of her lips twitched into a nervous smile. "You're...You're joking, right...Uncle? 'C-'Cause th-this isn't th-the most acceptable time to be joking-"

"Ohhh, he's not joking, sweetie," Cecile interrupted.

The rich girl glanced at her, dumbfounded. "What?"

"Your uncle's hated your guts since, well, forever," Floyd explained bluntly.

"Can't blame him, really," added Lloyd. "I've only known you for a few seconds, but I can already tell that you're quite the pest."

"NO! No, my uncle loves me!" Amelia looked at Adam and fell to her knees in overwhelming disbelief. "Tell them you love me, Uncle Adam! Tell all of them that you love me!" Her eyes grew wide with escalating horror as she absorbed the image of her uncle's victorious sneer. "T-Tell them!"

"Oh, I love you, alright. More specifically, I love the look on your face right now, Amelia." Adam lifted a finger and ran it across Amelia's chin, eventually parting from it with a not-so-gentle scratch. "And I'm sure I would've loved to see the horror that'll show up on your face when I do this universe a favor and rid it of your existence." He grabbed the back of Celebi's head and tugged it roughly. "All thanks to this Celebi and its powers. But of course, I'd have to be busy carrying out the deed, so I'm afraid I'll have to miss out on that one. Truly a shame."

Amelia could feel everything in her heart and soul draining away like a dam being destroyed. She felt utterly annihilated inside. Everything that she knew about her uncle was turned completely upside-down and inside-out. She almost wanted to throw up at the sight of his repulsive expression of sadistic joy.

"H...How?" she asked in a hoarse whisper. "H-How could you? How could you do this to me, your niece?! The one who's supported you when no one else has?!" She shot up to her feet. "This...Th-This is UNACCEPTABLE, Uncle!"

The delight in Adam's face faded away in an instant, and it was replaced with a growing fury. Shauna, Miette, Nini, and the boys couldn't help but take a couple of steps back, feeling the intensity of the green-haired man's wrath.

"Unacceptable?" he repeated ominously. "Unacceptable?! On the contrary, Amelia! What is truly unacceptable is being forever destined as the next in line to inherit the company! Next in line, that is, until someone decides to cut ahead!" By that point, his voice was practically spitting white-hot fire, startling and terrifying even his comrades. "Someone like a certain stuck-up little princess who lords herself over everything and everyone, like the world owes her something for nothing but her presence!"

He stomped his foot defiantly. "BUT NO MORE! I WILL NOT LET ARCEUS DICTATE THE COURSE OF MY LIFE FOR ANY LONGER! I WILL TAKE CONTROL OF MY DESTINY AND SEIZE WHAT'S RIGHTFULLY MINE!" He tightened his grip on Celebi's head, earning him a low but pained groan from the Time Travel Pokémon. "I WILL TAKE CONTROL!"

...

...

...

"That's cool," Parker replied, sarcasm dripping from his impatient voice. "Now can we move along, please? We don't have all night."

Adam struggled to recompose himself, and he took a deep breath even as his body continued to tremble intensely. "Alright, alright... Alright..." He glared at Sid. "Come on now. We've got work to do."

"You got it, my good sir," Sid replied flatly.

Adam recalled his Aggron, and he and Sid prepared to join Parker on the claw. However, Amelia's broken voice prompted them to stop.

"This...This is what this has been all about, Uncle...? The hotels...?"

"You catch on quick, my dear Amelia," Adam replied derisively.

"Then...why didn't you just...tell me...?" By this point, Amelia's eyes were pathetically wide, her pupils dilated and unable to stand still. "I...I-I would've done something, anything t-to-"

"Once again, you miss the entire point, my dear." Adam bared his teeth in a devious chuckle. "I'm only employing the family way, Amelia. Always keep your eye on the goal and always treat everyone as an obstacle to be utterly destroyed. And in this case..."

He proceeded to make swiping motion with one of his legs, using it to knock Amelia back to the ground with a yelp. Cecile, Floyd, Lloyd, and many of Adam's other associates laughed and snickered at the girl's misfortune; while Shauna, Miette, Nini, and the other captives watched on with sudden pity for the once-snobbish Performer.

"That would be you," Adam completed.

Amelia couldn't take it anymore. She started to weep softly, her head buried in her elbows out of shame and horror. Adam snickered derisively, gave his niece's body a soft kick to twist the knife, and then joined Parker and Chesnaught on the mecha's claw, with Sid following right after him. Once all four were onboard, the tentacle lifted itself high in the air, taking them to the cockpit while the others watched helplessly below.

"ASH!" Clemont, Calem, and Shauna called simultaneously.

"Don't worry, you guys!" Nick cried while giving Adam and Sid an innocent wave. "Floyd, Lloyd, Cecile, and I will keep those kids busy! I promise you that! Or my name isn't Nick!"

His promise was met only with silence from the two men. The Dedenne-like man chuckled nervously at the lack of response, just as the two mecha began to march away from the Laurier Maison, the shaking in the ground fading with each thunderous step they took. Parker's horde of Hoppip, Skiploom, and Jumpluff followed after them, with not a single one bothering to remain and look after Nick and his group.

As they all left, Clemont, Shauna, Calem, Miette, Tierno, Nini, and Trevor could do nothing but stand there and watch in silent frustration. Deep in their hearts, they sorely, desperately wanted to do something, but there was no doubt that they were outmatched. It was hopeless.

Only time will tell whether things would shift in their favor or not.

Twenty years in the future...

Kiloude Forest
Near Laurier Maison

"So, this is the place where Yancy, Selene, Nate, and Evelyn disappeared?"

Clemont stood in the middle of the small clearing at the edge of Kiloude Forest, adjusting his eyeglasses. Accompanying him were Bonnie, Shauna, Calem, Tierno, Trevor, Miette, Sawyer, Nini, Grace, and Meyer. Together, they stared at the ethereal twinkle of emerald-green suspended in midair, a small tear in the fabric of time and space. It reflected lights all around it, its twinkling almost taunting them over the loss of their loved ones.

"Yeah," Finn said, the adolescent boy also adjusting his own eyeglasses at the sight of the strange phenomenon. "What is it, Dad?"

"A Time Ripple..." Clemont replied, almost to himself than to his own son.

"A Time Ripple?"

This time, it wasn't Finn who had spoken, but Rosa. She broke off from her group, comprising Hugh, Constance, Lane, Dash, Savannah, Millefeui, Benji, Nali, Mackenzie, Tyler, Morgan, Dana, and Nita. With a soft swish of her twin pigtails, the brunette girl approached the emerald-green twinkle and stared at it in wonder.

"I...I heard about 'em before," she said. "They're the remnants of time portals that are opened up by Celebi."

"Time portals?" repeated a stunned Constance.

"So you're saying Nate and Yancy got transported to a different time?!" Lane exclaimed in shock.

"Yes," Clemont replied with narrowed eyes. "And we're gonna get them back."

"But how?!" Elio cried. The seven-year-old boy detached himself from Shauna's leg and ran up to the inventor with shimmering eyes of despair. "We don't even know what time Selene went to!"

"Mm-hm, mm-hm!" Allie and Maddie vocalized behind Bonnie's legs.

"Of course we do," Bonnie replied confidently. "Like we said, they're with us twenty years in the past!"

"They're with you guys?" Hugh repeated. "Twenty years...in the past?"

"Isn't that gonna, like, mess up the timeline or something?" Savannah asked in increasing alarm. Then, her eyes grew wide with fear. "D-Does that mean we're gonna get wiped from existence?!"

"EEEEEK!" The squealing Nali and Mackenzie hugged one another, tears cascading comically down their cheeks. "WE DON'T WANNA GET WIPED FROM EXISTENCE!"

"AAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!" Dana and Nita screamed at the same time, both sisters hugging each other as well.

However, Morgan took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Relax, you two," she replied coolly. "We're not getting wiped from existence."

"And how would you know that, sis?!" spat Dana.

"We'regonnadiewe'regonnadieWE'REGONNADIE!" Nita shrieked in one breath.

"Because..." Morgan took a deep breath of contemplation and then opened her eyes again. "Mom told me that this would happen."

Everyone's eyes turned towards the eldest of Evelyn's sisters. The adults' expressions were full of understanding, but the younger Trainers looked stunned and confused by Morgan's revelation.

"You..." Rosa said. "You know what's gonna happen?"

"Mm-hm." The older girl approached the Time Ripple and stared at it longingly. "Yancy and Nate landed in a time where Mom needed help the most. And if Mom was able to remember what happened all those years ago...well, then that means there's no cause for concern."

"That still doesn't answer the question on everybody's minds," Rosa replied. "And that's, well..." She took a deep breath to compose himself, before speaking again. "HOW THE HECK ARE WE GONNA GET MY BROTHER BACK?!"

"Patience, Rosa, patience," Clemont said.

In response, the twin-tailed girl glared at the older inventor, causing him to recoil. He could've sworn he saw a literal white-hot fire burning in her eyes.

"HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT, CLEMONT?!" she roared, an invisible fire jettisoning out of her mouth with every word that she spoke. "MY DUMB, STUPID, RECKLESS JERK OF A BROTHER IS IN DANGER! IT DOESN'T MATTER IF HE'S WITH YOU TWENTY YEARS IN THE PAST; KAY AND PARKER GOT SUCKED INTO THAT SAME STINKIN' TIME RIPPLE AND YOU'RE SAYING EVERYTHING'S GONNA BE OKAY?! HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT?! HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT TO MY FACE?!"

"Aaaaand there she goes again," Hugh deadpanned. Then, he stepped behind Rosa and wrapped his arms underneath her armpits to prevent her from potentially lunging at Clemont and throttling him. "Calm down, Rosa. Calm down there. You and I both know that Nate's been in stickier situations than this before, and he's gotten through them just fine."

"Yeah?!" Rosa glared at him. "What about the time he burned himself trying to tend to that Moltres?"

"Well-" began Hugh.

"Or the time that wannabe warlord nearly buried him alive while trying to capture that special Tyranitar?"

"W-Well-"

"Or the time he almost drowned after being thrown into the sea by that pirate going after Kyogre?!"

"Well..."

"Oh, and how about the time he tried to take on Kyurem all by himself with Tepig?!"

"...Well..." Hugh scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Now that you think about it-"

"AND YOU'RE SAYING NATE BEING STUCK TWENTY YEARS IN THE PAST IS NOT AS STICKY AS ANY OF THE EXAMPLES I JUST LISTED?! OR THE HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF OTHER EXAMPLES THAT I'VE GOT SAVED IN MY MEMORY?!"

"I didn't know you've been keeping track-"

"WELL, WHEN IT'S MY DUMB IDIOT BROTHER, YOU'RE ARCEUS-DARN RIGHT I'M GONNA KEEP TRACK!"

At that moment, Rosa caught herself in the middle of her fury. She looked around, realizing how everyone was staring at her with various expressions of surprise, terror, and even a hint of amusement. With a twitching eyelid, the brunette whipped her face away from everyone else, sticking her chin up high in pride.

"A-After all, I-I'm the older of us! S-So of course I gotta lord my superiority over him! I-It's not like I care deeply about him or anything!"

"Yeah, sure thing," Mackenzie deadpanned.

"Uh-huh..." Nali added with blatant doubt in her voice.

Rosa shot her face at them, her searing stare back. "Plus, my mom trusted me to watch over his sorry butt, so if anything were to happen to him, it'll be MY head on a silver platter!"

"Anyway!" Shauna piped up, dispelling the increasingly awkward and comical turn the conversation had taken. "The only thing we can do right now is to wait! Be patient and wait."

"W-Wait?" Finn asked in confusion. "Wait for what?"

The tan-skinned woman looked at the boy with a mystifying smile.

"The signal that we need," she said.

In the skies over Kalos

Ash peered out of the window of the helicopter while it continued to fly towards Kiloude City. Just a few minutes ago, it had emerged from the approaching thunder-clouds, thereby giving the Kalos Frontier Brain an unobstructed view of the landscape below. He could still recall all of the fantastic and memorable adventures that he had with Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie all those years ago. Just the mere sight of the forests and villages from so far away was enough to provoke clear, tangible memories of his Kalos escapades, escapades that brought him closer than ever before to the Pokémon world...and the one that he loved the most.

And so, deep down in his heart, he knew how important this particular journey was. There was no excuse for him to deviate from destiny now.

"It's time to complete this circle," he thought. "I gotta do my part. I just...need to stomach what's gonna happen next..."

"Pikapi?"

With a warm smile, Ash glanced down at the speaker, Pikachu. The Mouse Pokémon was looking back up at him with his beady eyes, which were shimmering with worry at the moment.

"Ah, I'm fine, Pikachu," he said. "Really, I am."

"Pika, pikachu?"

Ash knew what his trusted partner was talking about. "Yeah, I know. I know. But I have faith in our younger selves." He started petting Pikachu on the head, earning him a coo of comfort. "It's gonna be okay, buddy. They're never gonna give up till the end. That's the most important thing to know."

Then, out of sheer, subconscious impulse, the Frontier Brain lifted his other hand and put it over his chest. A phantom stinging sensation coursed through his heart, coming from the place where he knew the scar was. It may have faded away over time, but scars never do fully disappear, after all.

"We just need to let things proceed just as we remember them," he continued sagely. "That's the only way this is gonna work. There is no other way."

Pikachu crooked his brow in amusement. "Pika-pika, Pikapi."

Ash chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, I know that's not our usual style. But hey, what else can we do? Time is a very fragile thing to mess with." He gazed longingly out of the window again. "But then again, it's as the good ole Professor Oak would say: time's on our side. And it is. We just gotta have faith...and never give up till the end."

The Mouse Pokémon smiled in agreement. "Pika, pikachu!"

Kiloude Forest
Near Laurier Maison

"I can't BELIEVE you let Celebi go! I thought you guys had a ninety-five percent success rate?! Ninety-five percent success rate, my BUTT!"

A mile away from Clemont's group, in another part of Kiloude Forest, ten people stood in the middle of a clearing that they made for themselves. All trees within a several-yard radius were completely razed, the once-fertile ground was scorched until the soil was now mere ash, and there wasn't a single wild Pokémon in sight. One of these people, an older-aged woman, was staring down five of the others with an expression of smoldering fury; she had cold gray eyes and strange hair: the right side was black with one white stripe, while the left side was white with one black stripe. She was also wearing a sleek, massive, whitish-golden fur-coat that looked like it was taken directly from a Ninetales's fur. She was also flanked by four towering, muscular men who looked to be no more than generic bodyguards.

"I mean, how difficult was it supposed to be to keep track of a little Pokémon like Celebi?!" demanded the woman.

"We apologize for the unfortunate turn of events, Countess Diable," replied one of the five people that were being reprimanded, a bald man with sky-blue eyes, and he was also wearing a simple pinkish-red kimono. He spoke in a tone so placating that it almost shook the woman out of her blind rage for just a moment. "We are working around the clock to rectify this situation as soon as possible-"

"As soon as possible isn't good enough, Delos!" Diable snapped at the top of her lungs. "I want Celebi, and I want Celebi NOW!" She childishly kicked at the burnt earth, sending chunks of it flying in the air in her outrage. "Its powers are absolutely crucial to my desires, and the longer it is out of my grasp, the more I must suffer from the cruel effects of time!"

"I understand your anger and your frustration, Countess," Delos said, the tone of his voice impressively not changing by a single beat, "but we must remain calm and composed. If we continue to let our emotions drive our decision-making, we will never be able to achieve our current objectives in a timelier manner. Rest assured, this operation will not be part of the Eight-Headed Seviper's failure stories. By the time the day has reached its conclusion, you will have witnessed the true magnitude of our ninety-five percent success rate."

Diable gritted her teeth and looked away with a scoff. "Well, you'd better make it quick, poacher! I have no patience with time, none at all! This is already turning out to be a highly disappointing day for me, and the last thing I need is more false promises from smooth-talkers like you!" Then, with a disgusted scowl, she lifted one of her high-end leather boots and glared at the soles. "And my beautiful brand-new boots are ruined. Perfect. Just perfect."

The countess began walking away from Delos to blow off some steam, with her four bodyguards following closely behind her. This gave the kimono-wearing man an opportunity to face his own colleagues. Already, he found discord erupting amongst some of them.

"Awww, what an Arceus-damn MESS!" snapped one of the poachers, a hulking, muscular, dark-skinned brown-haired man. "We lost Celebi, Kay, AND Parker; the cops and the Guardians are likely zeroing in on us as we speak; and most of all, we're not gonna get our paychecks on time! I blame you for this travesty, Zora!"

"Me?!" exclaimed the man's colleague, a woman with blue eyes and bushy red-and-black-striped hair tied into a ponytail. "Now what the heck did I do?!"

"If you hadn't split up from the boss and started searching for blood like the thirsty, scheming vagabond you are, then the boss and Parker would still be here!"

"Yeah?" The woman gave him a nasty, unrepentant smirk. "Well, maybe if you hadn't been trying to settle your score with that kid and his Samurott like some immature, underdeveloped brat, then you would've been able to stop that Celebi from sucking the boss and Parker into that vortex! I mean, at least I wasn't hung up with trying to prove myself over one of those kids."

"THAT'S DIFFERENT AND YOU KNOW IT!" roared the man.

"Oh, I dunno, Matt," said one of the others, a copper-haired man with an Australian accent, wearing tan explorer clothes, complete with a hat with a mesh face-mask meant to protect him from Bug-type Pokémon. "Zora's got a good point there. You've been trying to one-up that Samurott kid for ages now. It's getting pretty old."

Matt glared at his associate with a fiery expression that made the other man cower in terror. "It'll never get old for me, Hector. Hugh Matis did an unspeakable thing to me and my Swampert, and I'm not gonna rest until he eats the dirt!"

"What unspeakable thing?" Zora asked mockingly. "Defeat Swampert the first time you guys met, on his first try?"

Matt whipped his face back at the black-haired woman. "MATIS CHEATED AND WE ALL KNOW IT!" He pointed a hammy finger at her. "DON'T YOU DARE GIVE ME THAT SMUG, SELF-SATISFIED SMIRK ON YOURS, ZORA, OR I'M GONNA CAVE YOUR FACE IN MYSELF!"

"Now, now, now, Matt," Delos said. "We mustn't let our emotions get the better of us. It doesn't matter who is at fault here. What matters now is that Kay and Parker are in a serious predicament here, and we must do everything in our power to get our colleagues back."

"Heh, yeah," Zora replied with a derisive roll of her eyeliner-lined eyes. "Newsflash here, Delos: the 'serious predicament' you're talking about involves Kay and Parker being sucked into a wormhole. How are we gonna get our colleagues back if they're on the other side of the universe for all we know?"

Delos smiled gently and confidently. "Ohhh, ye of little faith, my dear Zora." He pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "That's where she comes in."

Zora, Matt, and Hector looked behind Delos and saw their final associate sitting on a freshly-cleaved tree stump, a few feet away from the others, staring intently at the screen of a futuristic laptop and typing away on its keyboard at an abnormally high speed. She was a woman so petite that one would mistake her for a young girl, with curly, messy blonde hair bearing a gray stripe vaguely shaped like a lightning bolt. She was also wearing an overlarge white lab-coat and a pair of circular glasses with lenses that had peculiar squiggly marks on them.

"I'm analyzing the footage Alizée's Staraptor recorded of our confrontation with those children," the woman said in a slightly nasally voice. "It wasn't just any wormhole that sucked in Kay, Parker, and those kids."

"It was a vortex that sucked 'em into what I can only assume is oblivion," deadpanned Zora. "A.K.A., a wormhole, Inezia."

Inezia tutted and wagged her finger at her female colleague without even looking over her shoulder. "Uh-uh-uh. Your ignorance of science and common sense has once again blinded you to the truth, Zora!"

Zora's eyelid twitched nastily. "Who the heck are you calling ignorant?!"

The bespectacled woman ignored her and continued, "Closer analysis of Alizée's footage indicates that the portal was opened up by none other than our bounty, Celebi itself. And you all know what that means."

...

...

...

...

...

"I don't," Matt replied bluntly.

"Same here," added Hector.

"Ditto," deadpanned Zora.

Inezia immediately clutched at her hair in frustration. "UGH! Such idiocy!" She finally twirled around to face her colleagues. "I assume you all still remember the legends about Celebi, yes?"

"Yeah," Hector replied. "It's capable of time travel. And its portals leave behind residues of time energy that people have harnessed in the past to become prophets."

"Yes, yes, YES!" Inezia madly pumped a clenched fist. "And if Celebi was the one who opened the portal that sucked Kay and Parker in, that can only mean one thing!"

Delos's eyes grew wide in stunned realization. "Wait a minute, Inezia. Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Yes." The bespectacled woman gave her colleagues an overly enthusiastic grin befitting that of a mad scientist. "Kay and Parker may be in some other point of time."

"Well, great," Matt growled in exasperation. "That doesn't really narrow things down, now does it?"

"Actually, I think it does." Inezia refocused her sights on the laptop and continued typing. "You were all doubting me when I conducted those experiments on the Griseus Orb a couple of years back, and it looks like they're now finally coming in handy. Now..." She narrowed her eyes at the screen. "If my sensor technology is accurate, and it always is, then we can be able to detect anomalies in the space-time continuum, identify what kind of anomalies they are, and use them to pinpoint Kay and Parker's approximate location in the timeline."

"Uh-huh..." Zora replied dumbly. "Now, can you explain that again in English, please?"

"Alright. Now, you ever hear of the Beautifly effect?"

"That's still not English, Inezia," deadpanned Matt.

Inezia sighed in frustration, then she said in an extremely slow voice, "Okay. Let's say you were transported to the time period when the Brass Tower in Ecruteak City burned down. That was when the Legendary Suicune, Raikou, and Entei were created. But before the tower could fully burn down, you had the chance to save the Pokémon that would become the Legendary Suicune, Raikou, and Entei before they became the Legendary Suicune, Raikou, and Entei."

"That would sound like a monumental score," Hector commented with an impressed grin.

"Yeah! But that means there would be no Suicune, Raikou, and Entei in the present day! If something like that were to happen, we'd see the consequences of that in our own time, obviously. And every change, even the smallest tinkering of the past, leaves a mark on the present, a mark that leaves behind a residue of energy. Time energy, to be exact." She wiggled her laptop in emphasis. "The sensors that I created detects such residues."

"Okay..." Zora replied doubtfully. "So this thingamajig can detect changes in the present that were made by someone who traveled to the past. Okay. I think I get your drift."

"Excellent!"

"But can it detect changes made by someone who traveled to the future?"

...

"Inezia?"

...

...

...

"Hellooooo? Inezia, you there?"

...

...

...

...

...

Zora frowned. "You didn't think that part through, did you?"

"Yep."

"Of course you didn't."

Just then, a single but resonant beep sounded from Inezia's laptop, catching everyone's attention. The bespectacled poacher leaned her face closer to the laptop screen, her eyes wide with maniacal giddiness.

"Ooh, ooh!" she exclaimed. "But we don't have to worry about that part, because my sensor technology has just detected an anomalous occurrence!"

"Really?!" Hector cried in surprise.

"What kind, Inezia?" Delos asked coolly.

"Hmmmmm..." The bespectacled poacher peered at the numbers and writing on the screen. "It's...kinda minor, actually. Just some flowers and grass that have disappeared, nothing too important. It's surprising, really. That's the first anomaly the sensors picked up, but there really should've been a whole lot more popping up ever since Kay and Parker were sucked into the portal."

"So, in other words," Zora concluded in bitter disappointment, "we're getting nowhere with your stupid sensor technology. That's what you're trying to say, is that right?"

"Calm yourself, Zora," Delos advised. "I understand that there's tension going around from the absence of Kay's leadership-"

Zora rolled her eyes at that.

"But we must remain composed, for her sake, and for Parker's and the client's. We still have a contract to fulfill here, people."

Meanwhile, Inezia blinked in perplexity and lightly slapped the side of her laptop thrice. "I don't get it. The timeline is extremely fragile and sensitive to even the most minor of actions that should not have happened before."

"I dunno..." Hector replied while scratching the top of his head. "It sorta depends on what kind of time travel rules we're actually following here."

"Time travel rules?" Inezia repeated without averting her gaze from the screen.

"You know how all those movies and books show the consequences of time travel differently? I mean, in some, you can change destiny through the simplest of actions. In others, your actions don't change a thing and simply solidify one's destiny. Does the Universe operate in the former rules, or the latter?"

Matt grunted in disbelief. "Oh, I dunno! Maybe we should go ask Arceus or something!"

"I can do you one better," said a voice as cold as the peak of Mt. Coronet.

Everyone looked up, even Diable and her bodyguards, just as their ears were filled with a high-pitched whirring noise. Through the brightness of the afternoon sunlight, they could see a minuscule, skateboard-shaped aircraft slowly descending towards the scorched forest floor. Riding this aircraft was a lone person wearing a skintight, pale-blue jumpsuit; an equally pale-blue, leather flight helmet with an oxygen mask and pipe that traveled all the way to a brown backpack; and a pair of blue goggles with glinting navy-blue lenses. Following this person was a Pidgeot, its mighty wings flapping in the air and triggering resonant whooshing noises; its metallic helmet and goggles glinted from the sunlight.

Delos smiled and greeted, "Alizée."

Once the flight device settled on the ground, Alizée hopped off of it and landed smoothly on the scorched earth. The aircraft then transformed into a tiny sphere, which Alizée caught as it fell through the air. After putting the sphere away, they approached the others, removing their oxygen mask and lifting their goggles to the top of their helmet in the process. This revealed a feminine face with cold gray eyes, entirely devoid of human emotion.

"Prompt as usual, Alizée," Zora remarked sarcastically. "And always making a grand, colorful entrance. I'm impressed."

"Enough with the dry wit, Zora," Alizée said emotionlessly. "I have something to report."

"Excellent, Alizée," replied a satisfied Delos. "Just excellent. What kind of valuable information have your observations yielded us?"

"Pidgeot."

At the cue, the Bird Pokémon landed beside its Trainer and stared straight at the empty ground between the six poachers. The goggles attached to its helmet activated themselves and projected a holographic image of a group of people congregated around something that was out of sight. Delos slightly narrowed his eyes in recognition of the bespectacled man taking charge of this group, as did Inezia.

"Clemont!" Inezia squealed quietly; her eyes began to glitter brightly with admiration.

"The Ketchum family and friends," Delos said in an ominously calm whisper. "What thorns in our sides."

"So, this is the place where Yancy, Selene, Nate, and Evelyn disappeared?" Clemont's holographic image asked.

"Yeah," Finn replied. "What is it, Dad?"

"A Time Ripple..."

"A Time Ripple?" Rosa repeated.

"They're before a Time Ripple?" Hector asked.

"Yes," Alizée replied. "See the twinkle in that corner?"

She pointed towards a small space in the holographic recording, and the others immediately saw the nearly-invisible twinkle. Inezia adjusted her eyeglasses at it, while the curious Delos rubbed his chin with his thumb and index finger.

Alizée lowered her hand. "That's not some sort of artifact from the recording itself. I've seen it with my own eyes. That is indeed a Time Ripple."

"I...I heard about 'em before," Rosa continued. "They're the remnants of time portals that are opened up by Celebi."

"Time portals?" repeated a stunned Constance.

"So you're saying Nate and Yancy got transported to a different time?!" Lane exclaimed in shock.

"That certainly confirms our suspicions," commented Inezia.

"No Tauros-crud, Sherlock," Zora replied grumpily.

Hector put a finger to his mouth in warning. "Shhh!"

"Yes," Clemont replied with narrowed eyes. "And we're gonna get them back."

"But how?!" Elio cried. "We don't even know what time Selene went to!"

"Of course we do," Bonnie replied confidently. "Like we said, they're with us twenty years in the past!"

Alizée paused the recording there, just as Delos's eyebrows shot up with intrigue.

"They...They had foreknowledge of this situation with the Time Ripple?" Delos asked.

"It's not just that!" Inezia exclaimed as she drew herself closer to the hologram. "There was an incident regarding time travel twenty years ago, an incident that they remember! No, they didn't just remember! They're...They're letting this situation play out, as if...as if they know what's gonna happen next! This could certainly explain the lack of anomalies in the space-time continuum! This isn't interference with the timeline! It's been a straight circle, all this time! This was all predetermined! Fascinating!"

"Predetermined?" Hector asked worriedly. "To what end, though?"

"It doesn't matter," Delos replied triumphantly. "Predetermination or not, we all still have a contract to fulfill. Prepare to move out, everyone. When there's development with this Time Ripple situation, we move in, quick and hard." Then, he looked over his shoulder with a smile. "Did you hear that, Countess?"

"Yes," Diable replied. Her expression of white-hot anger had faded away in an instant, and it was replaced with pure, unadulterated glee while she raised a tightly clenched fist. "Finally! The power I've been seeking all these years is now...MINE!"

...

...

...

"Heh, you say that as though you've got Celebi in your clutches already..." Zora whispered to herself with a derisive roll of her eyes.

A/N: Hoo, boy! As you all can see, it's because a lot happened in this chapter. Nate and Yancy almost get somewhere with their feelings for one another; the dance party is interrupted and taken over by Kay, Parker, and company; Ash, Serena, Yancy, Selene, and Celebi all get captured; Adam reveals his true nature to Amelia and betrays her; and two different groups twenty years in the future strategize their next move while the Time Ripple remains open!

And trust me, there's going to be more to unravel in the next few chapters, as the final battle gets underway! It's going to be something to look forward to! ;D ;D ;D

Anyway, for those of you who have forgotten the content of the earliest chapters of this story, as well as the additional world-building that I've been doing in "The Way We Will Be: Beginnings", here is a quick refresher on all of the future generation characters:

-Rosa is Nate's twin sister, obviously.

-Hugh is Nate and Rosa's childhood friend, and the former's main rival.

-Finn is Clemont's second child with Korrina, and one of Nate and Yancy's traveling companions.

-Constance and Lane are Nate, Yancy, and Finn's other traveling companions.

-Dash is Clemont's first child with Korrina, and Finn's older brother.

-Allie and Maddie are Bonnie's twin daughters with Max, and some of Selene's friends.

-Savannah and Elio are Shauna and Calem's children, with Savannah being one of Yancy's rivals and Elio being one of Selene's friends.

-Millefeui is Miette's daughter and one of Yancy's rivals.

-Benji and Nali are Tierno and Nini's children, with Nali being one of Yancy's rivals.

-Mackenzie and Tyler are Trevor's children, with Mackenzie being one of Yancy's rivals.

-Morgan, Dana, and Nita are Aria and Foster's daughters, and Evelyn's sisters.

-Delos, Matt, Zora, Hector, and Inezia are Kay and Parker's fellow Pokémon poachers. Alizée is the final member of their group, the Eight-Headed Seviper (or EHS for short); she had yet to be introduced in the story until now, but she was briefly mentioned in Chapter 7 as the poacher who didn't attend the rendezvous with Countess Diable as a precautionary measure.

Now, I'd like to thank the following people for reviewing:

-FantasyLover88:

1) Yes! It's about frigging TIME! And I don't just mean it in terms of the time travel themes! XD

2) Bonnie and Selene truly do make a killer couple of friends. :D

-SunnyEspeon22:

1) Yes, yes they did.

2) Is there anything that you'd like to specify further in your review? Anything that you loved about the chapter? Anything that you might have disliked? Any questions or other comments? It'd be greatly appreciated!

-Ander Arias:

1) Yeah, yeah, I know. Not only did it take 35 chapters, but it took over FIVE FRIGGING YEARS to get to this moment. It truly feels like reaching the top of Mt. Everest at this point. But I'm glad to see that the sequence was well worth the wait and then some! :D :D :D

2) Indeed, Serena truly deserves to be the next Kalos Queen. One of these days...

3) Ohhhhh, the final battle will be one for the ages, I gotta tell ya! Keep your fingers crossed for it! ;)

-DarkKitten94: Your fangirling is fully appreciated and welcome! :D

-DragonicFireLord: Is there anything that you'd like to specify in your review? Anything that you loved about the chapter? Anything that you might have disliked? Any questions or other comments? It'd be greatly appreciated!

-assistanceneededhelppls:

1) I'm so glad that I used one of your favorite songs for this memorable sequence. Also, I hope you recognize the lyrics for the other songs, both here and in the previous chapter! :D

2) No, the time travel mechanics in this story won't be following the multiverse theorem. I'm not going to elaborate further than that, other than saying that the timeline is fairly inelastic, and that I have a way of wrapping all the inconsistencies and continuity errors up by the end of this story.

-F4nficR5der47:

1) Yes, AmourShippers truly got c**ked in "Party Dancecapades", but this story certainly makes up for it and then some! :D :D :D

2) Just like I said to the above reviewer, I have a way of wrapping all the inconsistencies and continuity errors up by the end of this story. This is something that I've been dead-set on since day one, literally.

3) There were more Theme Performances; they were all just held off-screen at this point because they didn't feature anyone noteworthy. (Unless I forgot some details of my own story once again, curse these hiatuses.)

4) Looks like the surprise will have to wait until the final conflict is resolved! :O

5) Yes, yes it is.

6) I do intend to explore that in my companion story "The Way We Will Be: Beginnings", which is up right now but currently on hold while I dive further into this main project.

-IrslanHussain:

1) Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the father-daughter bonding! Yes, you'll be seeing more of their relationship in "The Way We Will Be: Beginnings". Once it starts back up again, that is.

2) Ohhh, you never know. I think I can fit something else in before everything is wrapped up.

3) As you can see, this chapter featured that exact scene you were hoping for! But there's going to be more, don't worry. :D :D :D

Well, hope you enjoyed this fairly early chapter! TheCartoonFanatic01 is out. PEACE!