Chapter 2

*** Flashback 20 years ago***

Meowth and James stood outside a drug store, waiting impatiently for Jessie to emerge.

"This is a big wasta time. We aint drug smugglers. What we doin' here anyways?" Meowth complained to his human pal.

"Jessie hasn't been feeling well lately so she's just shoplifting some medication. To make her feel better." James reasoned with the talking cat.

"Ya tellin' me! Waking me up from my cat nap, throwin' up every morning and complaining more dan usual. I guess it has been going on too long ta be your cookin' Jimmy. But seriously how long does it take ta swipe some pills?"

"She has been a awhile …" James looked to the door of the store with slight concern.

With that the door of the pharmacy burst open and Jessie sauntered out, an undisguisable look of joy on her face.

"James … I have some big news." Jessie pulled out a small plastic stick from behind her back. "Ta da!"

James and Meowth looked closer and immediately gasped in union.

"Positive"

James eyes widened "Jessie! Does this mean? Are we? Am I?"

"Yes James, you're going to be a Daddy." Jessie beamed. Meowth paled and feinted.

James took a moment to take in the life changing news before welling up with tears and embracing his life partner. "Oh Jessie!"

"Are you happy James?"

"Happy? I'm ecstatic! I'm going to be a Papa!" James hugged the woman he loved tighter.

"I'm so glad … because there's something I need you to do for me."

"Anything Jessie! Anything!"

"We need your family's money, James."

"My family's money?" James raised an eyebrow, unsure where this conversation was going.

"I can't let little bean grow up in poverty and living rough like we've been. I want better for our little treasure. It deserves the best!"

"But Jessie you know the only way I'll ever get my inheritance is if I marry that awful Jessebelle. I can't do that. Not now, not ever."

"James. That's exactly what you have to do."

James eye's bolted wide open in shock. "What?! Jessie no! How can you ask that of me? Especially now!" He placed a hand delicately over Jessies midriff.

"Don't worry. I have a plan to get us exactly what we want." Jessie placed her hand over his.

James looked at his love, uncertain, he looked down at her stomach, there hands entwined and back up to her confident beautiful face. How could he possibly say no?

James stood at the altar, suited up in a white fitted tuxedo, surrounded by his wealthy family and "family to be." It was a lavish ceremony, in a large grand church building surrounded by hordes of expensive flowers and designer ornaments. James was struggling with the jitters. Not the usual pre wedding nerves everyone assumed he was going through; he was nervous for an entirely different reason.

"I hope Jessie and Meowth know what they are doing …" He looked up the ceiling, stressed.

Suddenly the music changed to the traditional wedding march and the doors of the church burst open. A woman emerged in a large extravagant bridal gown. Her face covered by a large veil, but her magenta hair styled in soft curls was visible. The man intent on giving her away stood beside her.

James gulped.

The woman grabbed the elderly man stood to her side and practically stormed down the aisle, lacking elegant grace and formality.

James winced, dreading what was coming.

Soon the woman was before of him. James gulped and nervously lifted the veil, expecting to see the face of the woman he loathed most, but instead he saw. "Jessie!" The man's face lit up with joy seeing his true love before him. Jessie put a finger to her lips, gently signalling her partner to keep his voice down and not give the game away. James whispered, "But where's Jessebelle?"

"She's been, shall we say taken care of." Jessie whispered back.

"You maaangy alley cat! Set me loose at once! I demaanndd it!" Jessebelle was tied up down the basement kicking out furiously as Meowth watched over her with a grin on his face, filling his nails casually.

"Ahh put a sock in it!" Meowth shoved a sock into the "classy" woman's mouth silencing her. "Literally. Hee hee."

"Now play along." Jessie whispered back to James, winking.

James nodded and clammed up immediately a big dumb grin across his face. The ceremony continued, with Jessie covering her face from the relatives with her large poufy veil.

Jessie and James spent the entire time gazing lovingly into each other's eyes as the rouse continued, the oblivious wealthy families looking on in awe and approval. "It's about darn time our delinquent son grew up and settled down!" James's mother remarked happily. James's father nodded in agreement. "Jessebelle will make a fine daughter-in-law."

"James do you?"

"I do." The man smiled warmly.

"Jessebelle. Do you?"

"I do." Jessie spoke in her normal voice. Both James and Jessie panicked slightly before Jessie corrected her accent to a soft southern tone. "I mean-er, Aye Dooo."

"The by the powers vested in me I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."

James grinned, he put his arm around Jessies waist and spun her around, dipping her down for a dramatic romantic kiss.

That was it! Jessie and James were married! Jessie hid her face behind a large fan as her and James sat down to sign the registry.

Jessie couldn't help the large grin spreading across her face as she singed her own name instead of Jessebelle. She looked down at the gold ring on her finger. They'd done it! They were officially married. Now they just had the keep the rouse up till the money went into James's name and they would be set for life!

"All for you, little Bean." Jessie tenderly rubbed her belly. Her bump only just starting to show. "Mommy and Daddy will give you the life you so richly deserve. I promise you."

*** End ***

"Well here they are. Amber meet Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad this is Amber. She's your old friend, Ash Ketchum's kid."

Amber sweat dropped. There before them were two weathered old stone statues, that somewhat resembling human form.

"Isn't it fantastic, Amber! After 12 years I finally found my parents." The boy beamed at Amber, clearly overjoyed to be with his family.

Amber looked to Thea and Meowth for some clarification that this was real, Thea nodded.

"That's errr great." Amber paused and looked at human resembling rocks before her. "IT'S NICE TO MEET YOU."

"We're petrified not deaf!"

"Huh?" Amber's eyes widened. Was she hearing things or did that statue just talk?

"Ugh another twerp. It was bad enough with the original ones. Now they're multiplying."

"Come, come, now dear Jessie. There's no need to be hostile. How do you do, it's nice to meet the daughter of our old acquaintance. I'm James and this is my partner, Jessie. Looks like you've met our dearest son Shane already. I know we should all have tea and catch up!"

"… Wha." Amber's jaw dropped and her face paled. "… The statues are talking?!"

"Yeah fancy dat, sommat else dat talks." Meowth looked up at girl slyly.

"James you idiot! You can't offer the brat tea! … We don't have a tea set!"

"Oh yeah, you're right."

Amber fell to the floor.

Foster and his colleague Cara Liss walked over. Cara Liss was a strange eccentric type of person. Her hair was styled in a thick unflattering bob, framing her small piercing eyes. She wore odd un-matching shoes, and her lab coat was filthy. She was short in stature accentuated by her poor posture. She looked more like she was ready for bed than solving mysteries.

"I see you've met Jessie and James, quite the intrigue. We've been working on their case for over a decade now. It's really something. Who knew the power of the legendary pokémon could do this!" The eccentric woman commented, tapping on the hard rock that was Jessie, placing two probes onto her rock body that began feeding data to a machine.

"You know they're people, right?" Thea grumbled under her breath but loud enough to hear.

"Hey, hands off the merchandise lady!" Jessie screeched unimpressed at the scientist's rough treatment of her stone carcass.

"The team here have managed to bring back their conscious mind, however we still haven't been able to re-animate their bodies like we have been able to do with the pokémon … we're just missing that final piece of the puzzle." Foster explained. "Kinda like with your fossil Amber."

"Amazing…" Amber was dumbstruck.

"Sure is. I didn't think dey had brains to bring back." Meowth quipped.

"It's been so great making up for lost time with them, we've been getting to know each other all over again." Shane beamed at the statues. "It's the best!"

Amber offered a soft smile. "That's great Shane."

"Ugh still no change today, The Leaf and Ice Stone combination didn't work." Cara Liss pulled up the fresh data and slumped seeing the disappointing results. "I really thought we'd cracked the rhyme this time."

"The rhyme?" Amber questioned.

"There is an ancient prophecy about the power of the legendary birds, that I think's connected. But, well, we're having trouble."

"Did you say trouble?"

"If you did then make it double!"

"To protect the world from"

"You numbskulls aint protectin' nuthin'. Ya hunks of rock! Stop intarruptin!" Meowth shouted at the two Rocket statues shutting them down mid motto.

Cara Liss continued. "As I was sayin', there's an ancient prophecy connected to all this, but we just haven't deciphered how it's supposed to help."

"When the powers of fire, ice, and thunder, join and lock.

All life in it's path, will turn to rock.

A precious gem, strong and rife.

Evolves the form, restores the life.

A true loves power, that gleams and shines.

You know it's true, because it rhymes."

The rest of the group all sweat dropped on the last line.

"I've deduced from the ancient inscriptions they must be talking about precious evolution stones, but so far, we haven't found on that works! We've tried fire stone, water stone, leaf stone, thunder stone, moon stone, sun stone, ice stone, dusk stone, dawn stone. None of them have worked. So now we're trying combinations, but without even knowing how many stones we need it's just trial and error, experiment after experiment, day in and day out."

"I'm still not convinced about it all, we've had absolutely no breakthroughs." Foster scorned.

"Phish phosh. It even says it's real in the verse!"

"I'm a man of science not jibba jabba." Foster dismissed. "It's all a load of baloney if you ask me."

"There have been plenty of times where the world of history and magic collide into our own. You can't dismiss these things so flippantly." Cara reminded the man.

"Sure I can. And I do." With that Foster began running his own tests.

"Humph. Stubborn man." Cara crossed her arms over the chest and huffed.

"Hey Cara, you mentioned all the stones you tried, but you didn't mention a shiny stone?" Amber piped up.

"A Shiny Stone?"

"Yeah, my mom used one to evolve her friend Togetic into Togekiss."

"OHMYMEW! I'D NEVER EVEN CONSIDERED IT! Heh … and it even say's in the rhyme…" Cara admitted, embarrassed.

The group fell over.

"Ok so we need to get a shiny stone!" Shane thumped his fist into the palm of his hand.

"But where in the world do we find one? We've been collecting stones for Cara since we've been here, and we've never found a shiny stone?" Thea reasoned.

"The Stone Circle at the Lake of Outrage. It's the Galar hotspot for evolution stones." Foster re-joined the conversation. "But I don't want you kids getting your hopes up. I still think this "prophecy" is long shot."

"But if there's a chance …" Thea started.

"Then we have to take it." Shane finished.

"Well I guess there's no harm in getting a shiny stone ..." Foster reasoned.

"Ok, we're going to Lake Outrage! You up for it too Ambs?" Shane looked at the red headed girl.

"Umm, sure." Amber blushed shyly. She wasn't used to people calling her by the nickname. She liked it.

"It's getting on in the day now, by the time you kids got there it would be too dark to find stones. You'll have to wait till daybreak." Cara reasoned.

"That's settled then. Me, Thea and Amber will set off first thing tomorrow morning." Shane nodded and half smiled.

"Hey don't forget Meowth!" The cat pokémon piped up.

"Of course, you too Meowth." Shane beamed at his pokémon.

"Oh our brave son …" Jessie's voice cracked with emotion. "Taking charge and playing the hero, just like his Mama."

"The only time you played hero Jessie was that time you dressed up as Wonder Wo"

"Not the time James!"

"I don't usually agree with Cara, but she's right, it's starting to get dark. I say we all get some dinner and then retire for the night." Foster began to pack away his instruments.

"Good luck tomorrow son." "We know you'll find that stone and bring us back to life!"

"I will, see you tomorrow, Mom and Dad." Shane gently ran his fingers over his parents fossilised shells.

"Love youuuuu son."

The group left and joined the rest of the excavation and research team to a full dinner. Tables were lined with curries and desserts as everyone joined in the mealtime. Leaf and Tracey also re-emerged and joined the crew. Bellies satisfied everyone went their separate ways to enjoy the evening their own way.

Leaf, Tracey, Shane, Thea, Amber and Meowth hung out for a while. They all sat around a campfire, the seniors regaling the teenagers with stories of adventures past, Shane and Amber in particular both delighted and simultaneously profoundly embarrassed by their parents past escapades.

Soon the topic came up of that night.

"Dad told us his version of what happened that night …" Amber looked down at the embers of the fire. "I can't imagine …"

"It was a night I'll never forget." Leaf replied solemnly. The former Pokémon Champion began to recollect that night from 12 years ago from her memory. Her account just as chilling if not more so than Ash's. "That night changed all our lives. Me, Ash, Gary. Nothing was ever the same. In fact, everyone sat around here has been affected, heck it's why we're all joined here together tonight. Crazy to think the impact of such events is still felt just as strongly over decade later …"

Everyone looked at each other. A deeper bond felt between all involved. Meowth teared up remembering the feeling of being petrified with his dearest friends as if it were yesterday. The long years he'd spent waiting for that key breakthrough. He now felt closer than ever to getting his family back.

"Except me, I wasn't really there." Tracey sweat dropped. Everyone fell over. The mood broken.

After a few more light-hearted stories circled round to ease up the atmosphere, Thea turned and began whispering in Shane's ear. The brunette teenager blushed crimson and smiled at his girlfriend, who in turn smiled deviously at her beau. He spoke up to announced their departure. "Umm it's getting pretty late, and we've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow. I think it's time to call it a night."

"Meowtthhh. That's right." The cat pokémon bounded upon a nearby rock and curled up. "Ahh nothing like a cat nap unda da stars. Night kids."

Thea smiled and clasped Shane's hand, their fingers interlocking. The pair stood up and made their way to the sleeping quarters of the site.

"See you in the morning." Shane waved Amber goodbye as he was gently dragged into the tent by Thea. Amber could hear the pair giggling away before it went quiet.

"Arwww young love." Leaf chuckled, "I don't think there's going to be much sleeping in there. If you know what I mean." Leaf nudged Amber playfully. The redhead frowned slightly as her stomach gently flipped.

"Come on Red, I'll show you where you'll be sleeping." Amber followed Leaf who showed her to her own make-shift tent. "Well, it's not exactly the Raltz, but it's pretty cosy …" Leaf defended the slightly weather beaten little single tent. "We don't erm entertain much." Leaf reasoned.

"It's fine, I'm used to sleeping rough." The teenager smiled.

"Ok! Well amenities are over the far side of the camp, just past that large outcropping rock. You'll find all your necessities there. Any problems I'm based just up there." The woman pointed to her trailer. "Goodnight, have a good rest and I'll see you in the morning sweetie." The elder trainer saluted the girl and left her to her own devices. Tracey waved bye to the young teen and trotted after Leaf.

Amber crawled into her tent and zipped up the hatch. She released her little magnemite who hovered above and acted as a perfect night light, releasing a gentle Flash move. The teen smiled at her friend and clambered into her sleeping bag and sighed. Shane and Thea together made her feel weird. It wasn't jealousy she felt … was it?

Morning broke over the research facility.

Amber sat on the ground and looked out across the dusty terrain. She hadn't been able to sleep at all so decided to watch the sunrise. The beautiful hues lighting up the sky did nothing to quell the feelings she couldn't comprehend whirring around in her mind.

A figure approached her and sat down by her side. The older teenager pushed his hair out his brilliant green eyes and smiled at the girl.

"Hey you're up! It's a bit early, isn't it?" Shane commented.

"You're up too?" Amber countered the boy. He gave a small chuckle.

"I'm so excited I couldn't sleep any longer. You?"

"Yeah, I guess I just have so much buzzing in my head right now, it was hard to get any sleep after what Leaf told us. What happened that day … Team Rocket, merged pokémon hybrids, fossilising, resurrection … it's all mind blowing and kinda scary to think they had that much power. Imagine if Dad hadn't been there and stopped them ... and your parents. I can't imagine how you must be feeling."

"Yeah, it's all been pretty wild."

Thea walked over the brow of the hill, ready to inform the pair about breakfast. She eyed Shane and Amber talking and was about to walk over when Leaf approached her.

"I'd watch your man around that Chimchar if I were you." Leaf whispered in the blonde teenager's ear.

"What?!" Thea tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and glared at the older woman.

"Just speaking from experience hunny. Watch your back before your heart gets broken."

"Her? But she's just a kid! What could he possibly see in her?" Thea almost scoffed at the notion.

"Is she just a kid though? She looks pretty well developed to me. What with that slim figure, long lean legs, natural fiery hair and that make-up free porcelain complexion. Quite the natural beauty. She's not much younger than you, no?" Leaf put a hand to her chin, as she looked over the Ketchum girl.

"There is no way Shane would go with her over me!" Thea gritted her teeth.

"Well just don't say I didn't warn you." With that Leaf left and Thea slightly stewed looking at the scene before her of her boyfriend clearly in a deep conversation with the fresh young teenager.

Thea growled and stomped over. "Heyyyy. You two losers hungry? There's a buffet on the go." She spoke out loudly interrupting the duo. "Best get in line before the diggers get going before their excavation."

"Awesome! Oooh I hope there's sausages!" Shane drooled as he practically ran back towards the base, ready for his feast.

Amber smiled and got up, dusting herself down, she went to proceed forwards, only to be blocked by Thea. "Hold it there, you Chimchar!"

"Chimchar?!" Amber ruffled her hair slightly.

"Don't think I'm not onto you. I see what's going on! So, know this. You don't stand a chance against me. It's a battle you won't win."

Amber furrowed her eyebrows. "Battle? Ha I accept your challenge! My pokémon have grown a lot stronger since our last encounter! We can beat you!" She pulled a pokéball from her belt and enlarged it.

Thea deadpanned. Either this kid was mocking her or was just plain dumb.

"I got my eye on you, Red." With that the blonde flicked her hair and sauntered off.

Amber shrank her pokéball back down and stood dumbfounded. What was that all about?

After a hearty breakfast and well wishes from the elder team members, Amber, Shane, Thea and Meowth were off to the Wild Area of Galar to find an elusive shiny stone.

After many hours of searching the infamous Stone Ring, renowned for its wealth of evolution stones, the group had still not found their prize.

"Watar stone, watar stone, watar stone. I don't wanna see another watar stone!" Meowth wailed.

Amber nodded, even she didn't think she could get bored of thunder stones, but after pocketing a couple she was a bit sick of the sight of the green stone.

"It's weird, each rock in the circle seems to house a different type of stone … but we've checked all the rocks …" Shane frowned; he could feel the frustration building in his chest. "No shiny stones…"

"Not all of them." Thea pointed to a gap in the circle. "The southeast stone is missing."

The group looked seeing a hole in the ground where the rock once stood with faded trail marks leading to a pokémon den in the middle of the circle.

"Well, that's not good …" Meowth commented looking at the glowing cave before them.

"Pokémon are known to dynamax in dens like these, we'll have to be careful." Thea warned Shane who nodded in response. "Without dynamax bands our pokémon won't stand a chance if that happens."

"Then we'll go in, get the shiny stone and be back out before we draw attention to ourselves." Shane nodded at his girlfriend.

"Well? What are we waiting for!" Amber enlarged a pokéball and headed into the cave.

Shane grabbed Amber by the wrist and pulled her back. "No, you can't go in there, it's not safe!"

"But I have to!" The redhead protested. "I'm the most experienced trainer here. My pokémon will be a big help if there's wild pokémon down there. You'll need us!"

"No way, I won't risk it." Shane looked Amber in the eye, his face serious. He placed his other hand on her waist, securing the girl in place. "Not after what happened at Victory Road. I'd never forgive myself if you got hurt down there."

Thea glared and gritted her teeth at the special attention her boyfriend was giving the girl.

Amber blushed and began to protest but Shane stopped her.

"Just wait for us out here." With that Shane started to enter the den. "Coming Thea?" Shane looked over his shoulder. "Sure. What if I get hurt?" Thea growled sarcastically under her breath slightly but followed him into the cave regardless.

"Meowth?"

The cat pokémon side eyed the dark glowing pokémon den before resigning his fate. He shrugged in surrender. "Guess I don't really gotta choice …" He ran in after his friends.

The entrance was dark and narrow as the three made their way through into to the main chamber, a weird light emitting around them helped illuminate their passageway. Soon they reached the central area.

"Dey say a cats supposed to have 9 lives ... I've gotta have used up at least 8 by now ... maybe I can just say it's 7 ..." Meowth mused, looking up at the ceiling worried.

Thea tapped Shane on the shoulder and pointed, there was the large rock, and protruding from is fascia was a yellow shining gem.

"A shiny stone!" The trio chorused together.

Amber waited impatiently outside, minutes past and she could take no more. "This is Tauroshit! I'm going in!" The young teenager followed in after the trio.

Shane strode over to the rock and went to pull out the shiny stone.

"Cccinnooooo!" A loud pokémon cry echoed around the chamber.

The three ex Rockets stood rigid in panic. A large shadow loomed over the far side of the wall.

"Ohhh no…" Shane slightly backed away from the stone as the giant shadow loomed closer, but then became infinitely smaller.

"Minccino!" The little grey fluffy pokémon squeaked.

"Oh my Mew! It's sooooo cute!" Thea's eyes became hearts at the sight of the adorable little pokémon.

"Cino! Minccino min min!" The little pokémon chattered angrily, launching itself between Shane and the shiny stone. Knocking the teenager's hand away from her possession.

"Hey!" Shane argued back, annoyed with the little newcomer.

"Ccino! Ccino minccino!"

"Meowth what's it saying?" Shane asked, as the minccino continued to chatter loudly at him.

"She's sayin' the stone is hers. She needs it to evolve into a Cinccino, like all her friends have done. She's da last Minccino left here."

"Can't you explain that we need the stone to bring back my family?" Shane pleaded.

"Sure. I'll explain it." Meowth walked over to the minccino. "Hey! Outta da way fluff ball, we need dat stone more! Now scram!" Meowth pushed Minccino away from the stone and threatened the smaller pokémon with his claws.

"Um don't get too close Meowth!" Shane warned. His "cute but deadly" pokédar going off.

"Oh please, what couldda widdle pipsqueak like dis do?" Meowth teased the cute chinchilla pokémon, pointing his finger into her cheek.

"Min cinnnnn OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

Meowth paled as the cute little pokémon began to glow magenta and morph into a not so little version of itself.

"That … it can do that!" Shane's face drained of colour. "It's dynamaxing!" Thea cried out.

Soon the trio was faced against the giant not so cute wild pokémon.

"MIN CCIN O"

Amber skidded into the chamber and fell back slightly at the sight. "Wow that's a big pokémon …"

"Amber! No!" Shane cried out at the new arrival. "Get out of here now! It's too dangerous in here!"

Thea frowned out the outburst. The negative feeling in her chest reared its ugly head again.

"No way! You need my help! I know exactly what to do! We all have to attack together, like a raid battle!" Amber instructed releasing her Electabuzz. "So long as we work together, we've got this!"

Shane and Thea nodded, releasing their Meowstic's and Meowth used himself as the 4th member of the team.

"Minccino is a normal type, so will be weak to fighting moves. Electabuzz use Focus Blast." Amber called out confidently.

"Power-up Punch Attack." Shane and Thea both chorused at their pokémon.

Meowth had love hearts in his eyes seeing Thea's female meowstic, then frowned at Shane's male one, feeling jealousy. Shane's other cat. Ugh. I'll show him! He focused his eyes and jumped into battle mode clearly to impress the pretty female cat pokémon. "Meowth use fury swipes!" Meowth commanded himself.

Minccino swiped with his mammoth paw, Meowth took the opportunity to sneakily push Shane's Meowstic in the way, protecting himself in the process. The move knocked out the male meowstic in one hit. Meowth couldn't help but give the cat pokémon a side eye. "Heh, looks like I'm still the top cat, chump!"

Shane recalled his feinted pokémon and released his koffing. The battle continued, but with the four working together, they managed to whittle down the minccino's stamina.

In a desperate act, the oversized minccino took another swipe at the team, they all dived out the way to dodge the attack. Thea's meowstic dodged the wrong way and found herself in the path of the oncoming attack. Meowth jumped to her defence, tackling her down to the floor, allowing the giant paw to pass over them.

"Meow?" Meowstic looked up at Meowth with her large, beautiful eyes.

"Heh, dat was a close wasn't it. Good job I was so quick ta save ya doll-face." The senior cat pokémon blushed, rubbing his finger under his nose smugly, rose to his feet and too distracted to notice the oncoming back-paw swipe. "OOOOF!" Meowth was pummelled into the side of the cave.

"Electabuzz, let's finish this, Thunderbolt Attack!" Amber cried out.

After one last thunder bolt attack from Electabuzz, the pokémon closed her eyes in defeat and began to shrink down to normal size. The red glow around her subsiding.

"Nice one Electabuzz." Amber smiled at her pokéfriend, who immediately began flexing and showboating for his audience.

Shane threw out a pokéball and hit the shrunk down feinted fluffy pokémon. She morphed into a red light and went inside the pokéball, which clicked with little wobbling. Shane smiled as he picked up the ball. "Gotcha."

Thea walked over and aggressively pulled out the shiny stone. She flicked her hair and stormed off without saying a word, making her way out the cave.

Amber, Meowth and Shane all shared a look and shrugged. They followed after the peroxide blonde, making their way out the den and back into the outside world.

"We made it!" Shane beamed as he looked up at the sunny sky above. "Eh?"

Thea turned around slammed the stone into Shane's hand. "There, happy?!" She snapped angrily.

"Well sure." The boy looked at his girlfriend wide-eyed. "Are you?!"

"NO! I … huh?!"

Shane thrusted a pokéball into his girlfriend's hand and smiled. "For you."

"For me?" The blustering blonde stopped in her tracks, her wrath mission derailed.

"Minccino. I saw how you fawned all over this pokémon. You found it so cute, and you were so cute when you found it cute. I had to catch it for you." The boy gave the girl a wide cheesy grin.

Thea's rage melted away. Her angry red face replaced with a gentle blush and half lidded eyes. "Really?! Oh Mew! My very own Minccino!" Thea rubbed the pokéball affectionately against her cheek. She stopped and batted her eyelids, planting a kiss on her beau, which he gratefully received. Her earlier aggrievance with him now completely forgotten. "Thank you." "No, thank you!" The couple exchanged a couple more pecks and Shane wrapped his arms around the blondes waist, she reciprocated the affection as they Eskimo kissed.

Amber gagged slightly and rolled her eyes at the sight. Did they have to pack on the P.D.A so much right in front of her? She turned away so she didn't have to witness anymore, taking a step forward she found herself falling over, face planting right into the dirt.

"Hey! You OK?" Shane and Thea paused canoodling, to stare down at the younger teenage on the floor.

"Ugh … I'm fine." Amber groaned, embarrassed more than hurt. "I tripped over this … rock?" Amber picked up the offending item and looked at it with a raised eyebrow. This was no ordinary lump of rock. But what was it? She put it in her backpack for safe keeping and got back up on her feet.

"Let's get back to the research site. I'm finally going to get my parents back!" Shane beamed excitedly at Thea, who smiled back.

"Meowth! That's right!" The cat pokémon fist pumped the air.

Authors note - For backstory please read my other story Electric Tales.