Chapter 3: On the Road
Ross slowly opened his eyes as the morning sunrise peaked through the Pokémon Center windows. Faint sun rays touched his face softly as he sat up and stretched his arms.
He looked over at Natalie who was still sleeping soundly. He smiled and gently kissed her forehead and turned to look at Miho. His heart filled with warmth as he watched her sleep peacefully. He smiled and placed a soft kiss on her lips, which instantly brought a smile to her face as she slept. Ross started to get up when Natalie started to stir. She stretched and awoke with a little sigh. She blinked her eyes a few times as she woke up. "Good morning sleepyhead," Ross whispered.
Natalie looked up at him and smiled. "Da-da," she babbled as she reached up to him.
Ross picked her up and she wrapped her tiny arms around his neck. Natalie clung to him tightly, pressing her cheek against his. He walked around the bed and put his hand on Miho's shoulder to wake her. She groaned a bit as she woke up. Miho tiredly looked up at Ross. "Good morning," Ross greeted with a bit of amusement.
"Morning," Miho replied with a tired smile.
Ross picked up his Pokégear from the bedside table where his and Miho's were charging. He opened the map on it and examined the map of Johto that popped up. "We should probably get going early today. The Pokégear map says that there's a fair distance from here to Mr. Pokémon's house," he said.
"Yeah, I think we should, too," Miho agreed as she got up and swung her legs off the side of the bed. The trio prepared themselves for the day before leaving their room to get breakfast from the Pokémon Center's cafeteria. Ross dropped off their room key at the front desk and signed them out before they went to the cafeteria and got food.
The three ate breakfast together at one of the tables in the cafeteria. Thankfully, the Pokémon Center had high chairs available for Natalie. She could only eat scrambled eggs from the options on the menu, but she didn't seem to mind. Ross had packed plenty of formula packets in his bag if she got hungry later anyway.
"Hey Ross, I know we talked about it a little yesterday, but what should we do if we're stuck here for the long term?" Miho asked.
"What do you mean, like if we're stuck here for the rest of our lives?" Ross asked.
Miho frowned and shook her head. "No, just, what happens if we meet Mr. Pokémon and he doesn't know a thing about how we got here?" She asked.
"Well, then I guess we have to figure something out on our own, huh?" Ross replied with a shrug.
"I suppose so," Miho nodded as she scooped some eggs off her plate and ate it.
"To be honest though, I'm pretty interested in this Pokémon battling thing. It sounds kinda fun," Ross admitted.
"You think so? I don't know... Maybe we can ask Mr. Pokémon about it when we see him," Miho suggested.
They finished eating and left the cafeteria together. Outside, Ross looked at his map again and saw that they weren't very far from Route 31. With Natalie in her carrier on Ross's back, the group left Violet City and began the trip to Mr. Pokémon's house on Route 31.
The light blinding Maho's vision slowly started to fade. She found herself lying on the ground in some greenhouse building of some sort. Above her was a bright blue sky with a handful of clouds. "What in the world… where am I?" she wondered as she slowly sat up. She looked around the area.
The greenhouse was pretty large, with lots of greenery and even a pond with a bunch of large plants around. As she looked around she noticed a young girl kneeling not far to her right holding a small blue mouse creature with a large blue ball at the end of its tail. The girl had yellow-blonde hair with a side ponytail tied with an orange band. She wore a sleeveless brown top with a black ribbon on her chest, black shorts, and a white skirt that resembled a cloud. Her sky-blue eyes were wide open in shock and awe as she stared at Maho. "Um… hey kid, where am I?" Maho asked.
"T-this is Professor Sycamore's lab," she stuttered.
"Bonnie, you really shouldn't run off on a whim without me!" another person called out. He was an older boy, around Maho's age, with similar hair and eyes to the little girl. He wore a blue jumpsuit with a large white backpack, and he also had round glasses. He stopped running and looked at Maho with confusion. "Who are you? I hope Bonnie didn't cause you any trouble," he asked with a hint of weariness.
Maho stood up and dusted off her black skirt. She was wearing Kuromormine's Sensha-do uniform. "Oh no, not at all. I am Maho Nishizumi," she introduced formally
Clemont sighed with relief. "I'm Clemont and this is my sister, Bonnie," he greeted.
Bonnie let go of the Azurill she was holding and jumped up suddenly to run up to Maho. "Do you have a Pokémon that knows Teleport?! Can I see it, pretty please?!" she requested excitedly while practically invading Maho's personal space.
"What? Pokémon? Teleport?" Maho asked as she stepped back wearily, "what do you mean?"
"Bonnie, you shouldn't pester people like that, remember what happened with Pikachu?" Clemont scolded.
"But Clemont, she just appeared out of nowhere! There was just a bright flash and then she was here! That means she has a Pokémon that knows Teleport! Isn't that so cool?" Bonnie enthused.
"Yes, but you shouldn't invade her personal space like that, especially since we don't know her well," Clemont lectured. He turned to Maho apologetically. "I'm sorry, but my sister gets really excited about anything Pokémon-related. Is it true that you teleported here with a Pokémon?"
"What's a Pokémon?" Maho asked blatantly. It's obvious that some form of teleportation brought me here… but how and why?
"What?! You don't know what a Pokémon is?!" Bonnie gasped. She rushed over to where she left Azurill and picked it up again, much to the little Pokémon's surprise. She ran back over and practically shoved the Pokémon in Maho's face. "This is Azurill, it's called the Polka Dot Pokémon and it has the Normal and Fairy Type!" she explained excitedly.
"Have you never seen a Pokémon before?" Clemont asked.
"No, I've never heard of them before," Maho replied.
Another person stepped into the greenhouse. He wore a lab coat over a blue shirt and black pants. He had a slight stubble and wavy, long black hair. "What's going on out here?" he asked as he approached.
"Professor, this girl teleported here! I saw it! There was a flash of light and then she fell out of the air!" Bonnie explained energetically.
The professor raised an eyebrow and turned to Maho. "Is that true?" he asked.
Maho nodded. "I'm sorry for any trouble I've caused," she apologized with a bow. "But I don't know what's going on," she said as she rose.
The professor tapped his chin in thought. "Do you remember anything from before you appeared here?" he asked.
Maho thought for a moment. "I think I was in my room. I was studying if I recall correctly," she explained. She looked up and noticed the bright blue sky. "It was also late in the evening," she explained, "I'm guessing this is your lab? Where is it located?"
"We're in Lumiose City, the largest city of the Kalos region," the man answered, "where are you from?"
Maho furrowed her brow and frowned. "I've never heard of Kalos or Lumiose City. I'm from Japan. Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture specifically," she answered. She took a deep breath for a moment. It wasn't like her to be anxious, but she was starting to get a little concerned about the situation.
"I've never heard of such a place," the professor replied with confusion. "My apologies for not introducing myself earlier, but I'm Professor Sycamore."
"Wow, you must be from really far away then!" Bonnie exclaimed.
The group was interrupted by a horrible screech that pierced their ears. "What in the world?!" Professor Sycamore shouted as he turned to the source of the terrible noise. A shockwave blasted through the air, shattering some of the greenhouse glass. He took off running towards the lab.
"That sounds like Garchomp!" Clemont exclaimed.
"Something must be wrong! Let's go!" Bonnie added. She took off after Professor Sycamone.
"Wait, it could be dangerous!" Clemont called out fearfully as Bonnie ran after Professor Sycamore. He started running after her clumsily and much slower than Bonnie or Professor Sycamore.
Her mother's words echoed in Maho's head. No matter what befalls us, we advance! Maho steeled herself and chased after them into the lab. It wasn't long before she found them in the large foyer of the lab. Immediately as she entered to foyer she saw the source of the noise.
"Look out!" a boy with messy black hair called out from the other side of the foyer, near a window that had some Pokémon medical machinery behind it.
Maho looked up to see a massive dragon/shark-looking creature with a purple and black ball of energy charged up just outside its mouth. It leaned back before lurching forward and firing the beam straight at Maho! She threw herself onto the ground and rolled away from the beam as it shot above her and crashed into the walls of the hallway behind her. Dust and debris showered over her as she got up from the floor. "What is that thing?!" she called out.
"It's my Garchomp! What's the meaning of all this?!" Professor Sycamore shouted.
A trio of people stepped out from behind Garchomp. "Prepare for trouble!" the woman declared.
"And make it double!" the man followed.
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all people within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!" The woman tore off her lab coat and face mask, revealing a short white pencil skirt and a white top with a red R featured prominently on the front.
"James!" The man tore off his coat and mask, revealing a similar get-up, but with white pants instead of a skirt.
"Team Rocket! Blast off at the speed of light!" Jessie shouted while striking a pose.
"Surender now or prepare to fight!" James followed.
The third "scientist" shed its coat, revealing a bipedal cat-like Pokémon and a blue blob Pokémon. "Meowth, that's right!" Meowth declared.
"WOOOBBUFFET!" the blob cried out.
Is this some sort of fever dream? Maho thought, completely perplexed by the scene in front of her. Motto-reciting villains, a talking cat, a blue blob… thing, and a shark-dragon trying to kill them all. "Alright, what's going on here?" she asked.
"What's going on here, girlie, is we're taking Garchomp and Pikachu!" Jessie declared.
"Garchomp hit them with your Hyper Beam!" James commanded while tapping rapidly on a device he was holding.
The Garchomp roared at the ceiling as its eyes flared red. Around its neck was an electrical collar with a cube at the center. It charged another purple and black ball of energy. "Everyone get back!" the boy with the messy black hair shouted.
Garchomp stumbled around in pain momentarily before turning around to face Team Rocket. "Wait Garchomp, you're on our side!" James shouted in panic. Garchomp roared and fired its Hyperbeam, shaking the building and blasting Team Rocket with a fiery beam. The explosion rocked the area and sent Team Rocket flying into the sky above an blast of dust and debris. "Team Rocket is blasting off again!" they screamed as they flew into the distance before disappearing from everyone's sight with a slight twinkle in the sky.
Maho stared at the scene aghast. "A-are they going to be okay?" she wondered aloud.
"I'm sure they're fine. They always are," the boy said nonchalantly.
"Right…" Maho followed, "so is Garchomp okay now or…"
The red angry eyes of Garchomp said otherwise. The Pokémon roared and flew out of the lab angrily through the massive hole left by Team Rocket's explosion. It flew across the street straight to the opposite building, causing it to partially crumble under Garchomp's weight.
Immediately, the boy jumped into action and ran out of the lab to chase after Garchomp with a small yellow Pokémon on his shoulder.
Far away from Lumiose City was a small town called Vaniville Town. A middle-aged woman sat in her living room and watched the news on her television while sipping a cup of tea. "Hey, Serena, take a look at this, something incredible is happening on TV," she said to her blonde-haired daughter who was looking through the fridge in the other room.
"Oh yeah? Well, something incredible happened to my face," she quipped while taking out a water bottle. She had a bandaid on her nose and a patch on her cheek.
Her mother, Grace, looked away and sipped her tea awkwardly as Serena sat down on the couch across from her. "What movie is this?" Serena asked.
"It's not a movie, it's live from Lumiose City," Grace replied.
"Oh wow…" Serena whispered as she watched a Hyper Beam plow through a row of townhouses. "Oh no…"
"A rampaging Garchomp is loose on Lumiose City, we just barely dodged one of its Hyper Beams in our news helicopter," a TV reporter explained as the helicopter circled the scene.
The sound of crunchy gravel under Ross and Miho's feet filled their ears as they walked along Route 31. A slight breeze accompanied them and they saw a few bird-like Pokémon fly above them. Miho took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. "It's actually really nice to be out here. It's so refreshing," she exclaimed.
Ross smiled. "Yeah, it is. It's great for Natalie to be outside like this after being stuck in the hospital for so long. The air is so fresh," he added.
Natalie looked up at the sky with wonder in her eyes. It was an endless sea of bright blue with spots of pure white clouds. She lifted her arm to point at a small brown spot in the sky that was getting closer. "What is it, Natalie?" Ross asked. His eyes followed her arm and saw the brown dot flying closer and closer. He and Miho stopped as a small brown and cream-colored Pokémon landed in front of them. Its stomach, face, and the tips of its wings were cream-colored while the rest of its wings, back, and head were brown, except for two black marks behind its eyes and two streaks of cream feathers on the top of its head.
Ross and Miho stepped back for a moment as the bird took an aggressive stance. "I think it wants to battle?" Ross guessed, "Professor Elm did say they might be hostile."
"You go ahead, I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with battling yet," Miho prompted, "I'll hold onto Natalie." She quickly took Natalie from her carrier and stepped back.
"Let's do this then! Go Cyndaquil!" Ross shouted and threw Cyndaquil's ball out in front of him after pressing the button to release her.
The ball popped out and a flash of blue light burst out and curved in the air to reach the ground in front of it. It morphed into the shape of Cyndaquil before dissipating, revealing the Pokémon. After it was finished, the ball returned to Ross and he caught it with a bit of surprise. That's pretty cool! he thought. "Cyndaquil, that Pidgey is looking for a battle! Let's give it one!" he called out.
"Quil!" Cyndaquil squealed back. She spread out her arms and legs to assume a battle stance and let her flames erupt from her back.
Natalie stared at Cyndaquil's flames with an entranced expression. Miho giggled with a smile at her daughter's captivation. "Look, it's Da-da and Cyndaquil's first battle!" Miho cooed. Natalie smiled brightly and clapped in anticipation.
"Use that tackle attack!" Ross ordered first. Cyndaquil nodded quickly and began rushing at the bird Pokémon.
The bird Pokémon squawked, "Pid-gey!" as it leaped into the air to dodge. It flew into the air with a quick flap and spun around as Cyndaquil jumped after it only to fall back to the ground quickly. "Pid-geeeeey!" it squawked as it spun around and flapped its wings ruthlessly. A swift gust of wind was kicked up and it was so powerful that Cyndaquil was launched backward to Ross.
"Quil!" she cried out as she squeezed her eyes shut and tumbled backward along the gravel.
"Cyndaquil!" Ross called out as he rushed forward against the wind to kneel by Cyndaquil's side as she skidded to a stop. "Are you alright?" he asked.
Cyndaquil opened her eyes. She rolled over back onto her arms and legs determinedly and nodded. "Quil!"
"Alright, let's lure it in with that eye shining move!" Ross instructed.
Cyndaquil ran forward away from Ross and glared at the bird Pokémon. Her left eye shined and a small four-pointed stair appeared momentarily.
The bird Pokémon looked like it felt a little unnerved. Its flapping slowed slightly and it descended closer to the ground. "Now, tackle it!" Ross eagerly commanded.
Cyndaquil charged at the Pokémon quickly and before it could react, she slammed into it with all her strength. The bird Pokémon squawked and skid across the ground with Cyndaquil rolling over it and landing on the ground ahead of it. "Again!" Ross shouted.
Cyndaquil rushed forward again and jumped into the air. She flipped in the air and landed with her back on the bird before rolling off toward Ross. She spun around ready to attack, but the Pidgey didn't get up and had swirls in its eyes. "I guess we won?" Ross wondered.
Miho and Natalie give him a little clap. "I think so! Good job you two!" Miho cheered.
"Da-da! Da-da!" Natalie babbled excitedly.
Ross smiled and knelt next to Cyndaquil. "Great work Cyndaquil!" Ross congratulated, "that was really fun. Did you enjoy it?"
"Quil!" Cyndaquil squeaked happily.
Ross patted Cyndaquil on the head. "That's great. Would you like to rest in your ball now?" he asked. Cyndaquil nodded and Ross returned her to her ball. "Now… what to do with that bird?" Ross wondered as he stood up and looked over to the bird laying defeated on the ground.
"Yeah… it's not right just leaving it like that," Miho added as she walked over to him. They both looked at the fainted bird apologetically.
Suddenly, the bird started to stir on its own. It rolled over and stood up slowly on its tiny claws. It shook its feathers clean and looked behind it to Ross and Miho. Their eyes met, but the bird didn't look at Ross hostilely anymore. Rather, it looked like it had a bit of respect in it. Then it flapped its wings and took off to fly away.
"Huh, I guess it's fine then…" Miho said.
Ross nodded. "That was kind of strange, but I guess it respected us for fighting it?" he wondered.
"I guess so," Miho replied, "well, let's keep walking to Mr. Pokémon's house." She lifted Natalie up and latched her back into Ross's carrier.
"Well, you're not very far, thankfully!" an older man exclaimed as he approached them ahead. He wore a fedora covering most of his white hair, black and white striped pants, a brown suit jacket with a white shirt underneath, a black bowtie, and he held a cane.
"Oh, thank you very much, is it just ahead on this path?" Miho asked.
"Indeed it is! Please, follow me!" he prompted as he turned around and began walking down the trail. Miho and Ross caught up to him and followed him down the trail. "I heard the sound of battle and simply had to investigate. Route 30 and 31 are often the sites for beginning trainers to battle their Pokémon or against wild Pokémon and I often spectate and give advice to them."
"Oh, that sounds nice. You must meet all kinds of people then. " Ross said.
"Ah yes, I do. And I must say, you handled that battle very well. Have you just started training your Cyndaquil?" the man asked.
"Yes, I have," Ross answered, "just yesterday in fact."
"My, my! The way you two worked together would've convinced me that you two had been working together for some time. You have a solid grasp of the art of battling. However, it would be best if you diversify your Cyndaquil's move set. Tackle and Leer are good moves for a start, but as you could probably tell, Pokémon like Pidgey can easily avoid them. You should work on training Cyndaquil Ember to give it some range. Also, Cyndaquil can easily learn Smoke Screen at the start, so I would recommend working on it."
"Oh so those two moves were Tackle and Leer, I had just been calling them whatever," Ross admitted with a nervous chuckle.
"Oh, do you not have a Pokédex? It can easily tell you all of your Pokémon's moves," the man explained.
Ross shook his head. "No, I've never heard of it. I must have missed it in the book," he answered.
The old man laughed heartily. "Well, in life sometimes you either have to study every word thoroughly or completely discard the book and learn from experience! Truly it is quite a contradiction," he pondered. "I believe Professor Oak may be able to give you a pair of Pokédexes. He seems to always be swimming with them."
"Isn't that who we're supposed to meet with Mr. Pokémon? Do you know him?" Miho asked.
The old man stopped and slapped his forehead. "Ah, of course, I got so caught up talking about Pokémon that I forgot to introduce myself!" he exclaimed as he turned around to face Ross and Miho. "I am Mr. Pokémon, a pleasure to meet you, and your names are?" he asked as he offered his hand.
Miho and Ross stopped with their eyes widened. "Oh wow, I'm Ross Huot," Ross introduced and shook his hand quickly.
Miho shook Mr. Pokémon's hand with a little anxiety. "I'm Miho Nishizumi, a pleasure," she followed.
"With that out of the way, my house is not far now. Come and I shall introduce you to Professor Oak. You must be the trainers sent by Elm," Mr. Pokémon said as they began to walk again.
It was not long before a nicely sized house appeared along the gravel trail. "This is my home and lab," Mr. Pokémon'explained. The house was made of wood and had a black curved roof with a brick chimney. It also had a red mailbox and a small fenced-in yard with a few small trees growing inside it. On those trees were several varieties of palm-sized fruits growing off the branches.
"What types of trees are you growing here?" Ross asked.
"Ah, those are Apricorn trees. Those are various types of Apricorn growing on them," Mr. Pokémon answered.
"I've never heard of an Apricorn before," Miho said.
"Ah, I see!" Mr. Pokémon exclaimed, "they are a type of fruit that are used to make specialty Pokéballs. There's a craftsman in Azalea Town who makes them and he's one of the few people who can still make Pokéballs that way. I just grow them to make juice." He stepped up to the door and opened it for Ross and Miho. "Please, come inside," he offered.
Ross and Miho smiled and thanked him before they stepped inside. Inside the house was a simple square layout. A lab with lots of equipment was in the left corner ahead of the door on the north wall. Next to it was a set of stairs that hid the lab from view from the living room, dining room, and kitchen to the left. The kitchen was in the right corner on the south side of the house and had nice white counters and appliances with a dining table next to it. The living room had a purple couch near the center of the house with a TV mounted to the middle of the east wall.
Standing in front of the TV was another old man who had tan hair, a red shirt under a lab coat, light brown khakis, and brown leather shoes. He was staring at the TV intensely as a breaking news story was developing on the screen. "Professor Oak, I'm back," Mr. Pokémon announced, breaking the man from his determined watching.
"Come here Mr. Pokémon, quickly! There's something terrible happening in Lumiose City!" Professor Oak exclaimed.
Garchomp charged through the street recklessly. She bumped into a car and in response threw it upside down onto the sidewalk. "Garchomp, wait!" the black-haired boy called out as he chased after Garchomp. In front of them, the street led to a tower that was the center of Lumiose City, the Prism tower.
Not far behind, Maho, Bonnie, Clemont, and Professor Sycamore raced to catch up as Garchomp neared Prism Tower. Before she flew into the building, she flapped her arm fins and shot up into the air. Then she landed on a platform near the very top of the towering structure. She turned to look over the edge and fired another Hyper Beam down into the plaza surrounding Prism Tower. The beam thankfully crashed into an empty area of the plaza.
The boy and Maho stopped in front of the tower to look up at Garchomp. "What's causing Garchomp to do this?" Maho asked.
"Team Rocket's collar. It's hurting Garchomp and sending her into a rage. We need to break it off her," the boy replied.
Maho nodded. "How do we get up there?" she asked.
Clemont, Bonnie, and Professor Sycamore finally caught up to them and stopped behind them. "Come with me, I know a way!" Clemont exclaimed. He clumsily ran around to a maintenance entrance followed by Maho, Bonnie, and the black-haired boy. The entrance was blocked by a large steel door, but Clemont used buttons on his backpack's straps to reveal a purple mechanical arm that extended out of the back with a white sphere on the end with three fingers. The fingers connected to three similar connection points on a control panel on the tower's wall and spun around. The door opened and retracted into the ceiling. "Alright, let's go!" he declared.
"Right!" the boy with messy hair exclaimed. He and Maho ran forward with Bonnie and Clemont following them after a moment. From above, another roar pierced the sky as Garchomp leered down from the top of the tower befitting firing a Hyper Beam straight down. The beam blasted the ground in front of Clemont and Bonnie. Clemont was quick enough to jump in from of Bonnie and catch her before she was flung back from the blast. A wall of rock and debris rained around them.
The boy and Maho stopped and turn around to see a wall of debris blocking the entrance to the tower. Clemont peaked through a small hole in the debris. "Go on without us, we'll find another way through!" he called out.
"You got it!" the boy shouted back before he and Maho turned back around to rush into the maintenance passageway. "Looks like we're on our own," he stated.
"I guess so. I'm Maho," she quickly introduced.
"I'm Ash, and this is my partner Pikachu," Ash replied while gesturing to the yellow Pokémon clinging to his shoulder.
"Right, let's get that Garchomp under control. Do we just need to break that collar?" Maho asked as Ash climbed onto a ladder at the end of the passageway. She quickly followed once he climbed far enough ahead.
"That should work. Garchomp was friendly earlier before Team Rocket put that collar on her," Ash answered.
"Alright, let's do it then," Maho stated. She and Ash reached the top of the ladder and climbed onto the platform Garchomp was on. Both were nearly thrown backward when the Garchomp unleashed a Hyper Beam at them. They rolled to the side, but still caught a few pebbles in their arms.
They both stood and brushed themselves off. "C'mon Garchomp, calm down," Ash called out as he approached the dragon Pokémon. Garchomp looked up at him and snarled as she started to charge another Hyper Beam. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt but don't hit Garchomp!" Ash ordered the electric mouse. Pikachu jumped into the air and released a lightning bolt at Garchomp, striking her Hyper Beam as she released it. The electricity from the attack crashed into the Hyper Beam and caused an explosion, but the attack was stopped.
"Garchomp, stop!" Ash commanded and tried to grab hold of her. Garchomp pushed him away and kept charging the Hyper Beam. But she stumbled backward and neared the edge of the platform.
A small blue frog Pokémon leaped into the air from behind Miho and Ash. He shoved his hands into the mass of sticky bubbles around the back of his neck. "Froa-kie!" he cried out as he lobbed the bubbles at Garchomp's feet, stopping her in her tracks.
"Froakie, great job! Thank you!" Ash cried out.
Maho didn't waste a moment. She picked up a palm-sized chunk of concrete that had been blasted by Garchomp's Hyper Beam. Unconsciously, she envisioned the TZF 9c gun sight from her Tiger I tank. The reticle adjusted precisely to focus on the collar. She raised her arm swiftly and threw with all her might. Like a speeding tank shell, the concrete flew through the air and crashed into the collar perfectly. The plastic shell shattered into dozens of smaller pieces and fell to the ground. The internal components sparked relentlessly for a moment before fading and the blue light around Garchomp's neck disappeared. The rest of the device fell to the ground and broke apart.
Garchomp fell to her knees breathing heavily. Her once red eyes returned to normal as Ash approached it. "Are you better now Garchomp?" he asked kindly.
"Gar…" Garchomp weakly replied, bowing her head in exhaustion.
Ash smiled and patted Garchomp's head. "It's alright now…" he comforted.
Maho breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, let's get Garchomp down," she stated.
"Pika!" Pikachu cheered and ran forward to hop on Ash's shoulder. Suddenly, the edge of the tower's platform started cracking from the damage. "Pikapi!" Pikachu cried out as he slipped off the crumbling piece and fell over the edge.
Ash quickly turned the moment he heard Pikachu call for help. "Pikachu!" he shouted and ran to the edge. Then he dove over the edge after Pikachu.
"Oh my God, Ash!" Maho shouted in horror as she saw him dive after Pikachu.
Everyone's jaws dropped and their eyes widened in terror as Ash caught Pikachu. "I got you buddy!" he shouted as he curled around Pikachu and braced for the impact.
Suddenly, a blast of flaming light shot out from one of the nearby buildings over the plaza around Prism Tower. It intercepted and caught Ash with quick precision and brought him and Pikachu down to safety. A giant red, black, and white humanoid bird-like Pokémon looked down at him momentarily before leaping back into the air to another rooftop.
"Good work, Blaziken," a mysterious man praised with a mask that looked like his partner's face and a red cloak over his shoulders. Then as soon as they appeared, they leaped away into the darkness.
Ash stared at the place where Blaziken once was silently in awe and thankfulness.
Serena breathed a sigh of relief once she saw that the boy and his Pikachu were safe. "That's such a relief," she whispered.
"Yeah, he probably wouldn't have survived that fall without that… things help," Grace added.
When the camera showed a close-up of the boy's face, Serena's eyes widened in recognition. That's him! She thought excitedly, I have to go to Lumiose City right away!
"Good heavens, that boy is going to be the death of me…" Professor Oak mumbled as he collapsed into the couch. Everyone else was still glued to the screen as the report started to end.
"Wait a minute, that girl…" Miho said as she squinted at the screen while Maho stepped into frame. She immediately recognized Kuromormine's black leather jacket and black garrison cap. "That's Maho!" she shouted abruptly.
000
Next time on Panzer und Pokémon: XY
Chapter 4: Sister's Reunion