As the police took down everyone's story and examined the lab's security footage, the Professors were having a difficult time trying to keep the news reporters at bay. The trainers were insistent on joining the investigation, trying to help in any way they could.

Meanwhile, Avery was sitting on a couch in Professor Oak's study as he had been told. Oak was doing his best to shield him and Kasi from the prying eyes of the media, saying they have already been through enough trauma. Sitting across from Avery in an office chair was Kasi. She stared at Avery with great concern as he sat on the couch, hunched over looking at nothing but the floor.

"Avery…" Kasi spoke.

"Kasi, please not now." Avery said, shutting his eyes tightly to try and hold back the tears. "…I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make you feel bad, and I know you are worried about me… I want to cover everything up and just say I'm fine. But I can't." Avery balled one of his hands into a fist. "Takuya meant a lot to me, to us. I could have saved him… They took him away, and I could have saved him. I could have stopped Denzel. If I had just pushed myself further, given more effort than I did…"

"Avery! Quit blaming yourself…" Kasi said flatly in anger as she stood up. "There was nothing anyone could do. You saw how tough that mech was! We could barely even scratch it. True, maybe if we had more focus and control of our abilities, we could have stopped it, but we didn't, and it doesn't matter now! What happened has happened, and it cannot be changed. All we can focus on is trying to find Takuya now. I know he wouldn't want to see you beating yourself up over this if he was here."

Avery looked up at Kasi, sadness in his eyes as he stood up. Kasi then saw how badly he was shaken. She ran forward and seized him in an embrace.

"We just have to keep moving forward, Avery." She said, starting to cry herself. "We have to find him. We will find him."

Avery slowly returned the embrace. "Kasi… I have a confession I need to make. I know this isn't the best time, but I don't' know if I will ever get another chance to tell you this so please listen…"

Kasi paused, listening.

"…Ever since I met you three years ago, when you were traveling with Takuya and you both invited me along… I've felt that we've had this connection. As we traveled further and time went by, I only felt this connection get stronger. But I never knew if you felt the same way… I wanted to tell you this before, but I didn't know how to explain it. That, and I was afraid of what either you or Takuya would say, of what you would do. I eventually worked up the guts to talk to Takuya about this, and he understood… But I didn't know if you would understand. Or feel the same."

He then eased up his embrace, and they looked at each other eye to eye. "In all the time I've been around you, I have felt happy… Happier that I have ever felt in my life. When we traveled from Jhoto, to Hoenn, and Sinnoh… Wherever we went, I felt like you filled a void in my life. A void I never thought could be filled. Whenever I'm around you Kasi, I feel complete, whole… I want to remain with you, now and always. I want to be by your side for the rest of my days… Kasi Martens, I love you."

Kasi's arms slacked after she heard those words, Avery letting go from the embrace. For a few minutes, a silence filled the room. The two just stood there, seemingly floating in a painful limbo.

Finally, Avery looked down at the floor, and walked over to his pack he set on the table. He rapidly started to pack up his things, shoving them into his pack with aggression. He felt like he was going to implode, he felt like a fool.

"I shouldn't have said that…" Avery said, saddened. Then he felt Kasi's hand on his shoulder. She gently took him by the chin and turned his face towards hers. Avery saw in her eyes a deep pain. A yearning, a need that he then realized only he could fulfill for her.

Kasi, without warning pulled Avery's head towards hers, as their lips sank into each other in an aggressive kiss. Avery then held one hand on her hips, another on her back as he drew her in. He now realized she needed him as much as he needed her.

# # # # # # # #

Ash, Dawn, Brock, Misty, Tracey and the Professors were looking over the data captured by security, as well as looking over the remains of the damaged drones left behind as Avery and Kasi walked down the stairs from the study a few hours later.

"Any good news?" Misty asked as Tracey and Elm looked over the remains of one of the drones.

"Well, we think we've found something." Oak said, holding up a small computer chip. "After looking over this, we found out this is a tracking device. It can read the drone's location via GPS. However, Elm thinks he can reverse engineer it and use it against Team Midnight to track them down."

Avery looked at Oak, a spark of hope in his eyes. "How soon can it be ready?"

"Oh, it's ready now." Elm said. "We prepped this with a tracker a few hours ago."

"Now hold on a minute." Oak looked at Avery with a very serious expression. "You can't just go charging in at them alone…"

"Professor!" Avery snapped cutting him off. "I can't just sit here twiddling my thumbs. Takuya's my friend, one of the closest friends I have ever had… I can't just leave him at Team Midnight's mercy. I need to save him, and the longer we wait the harder it's going to be. He's helped me with so much over the years. Hell, I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for him, spliced DNA or not! I can't let him rot away in their clutches, subject to whatever tortures they have planned for him."

"You are being too reckless, boy!" Professor Rowen scolded. "What if they catch you as well?"

"That's a chance I'm willing to take." Avery got on his hands and knees. "Please… Give me a shot at this. Let me save him…"

Quiet rained over the room for what seemed like forever. Oak, Elm and Rowen looked down at Avery unsure of what to do as they tried to calculate out the variables in their heads.

"If you are going after Team Midnight to get Takuya back, you are definitely not doing it on your own." Tyler spoke, stepping forward. "I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not so don't even think of arguing."

"Ditto here." Kasi said. "Takuya means a lot to me as well. Don't even think of stopping me."

"I echo that." Ash said, joining in. "You are not doing this all by yourself."

"In that case, I'm going too." Misty said.

"So am I." Brock agreed.

"Don't think I'm just going to sit this one out." Tracey added in.

Oak sighed. "Fine, very well. We're going to go along too, I guess."

The trainer's eyes went wide. None of them were expecting this.

"That does make sense." Elm said. "We have Pokemon of our own, and with us backing you up there is a much greater percentage of success."

"It's only logical." Rowen agreed. "Give us about thirty minutes, and we will have the tracker ready and our preparations complete for this trip."