Team Valor, Team Mystic, and Team Instinct. The leaders of these relatively new Pokemon Organizations were all gathered around in a secret meeting room—

"How is it you get more Pikachu plushies whenever we come here?" Candela, leader of Team Valor, asked as she picked up an adorable stuffed toy from the floor.

"Hey!" Spark, leader of Team Instinct, looked hurt. "I bought some Pichu ones too!"

There was a groan coming over from Team Mystic's leader, Blanche. "As… riveting… as all this talk of Spark's memorabilia of all thing of similar color to him is," The blue-themed leader gave another, noticeable pause when the only place left for her to sit was on a Pikachu bean bag. "We're here, in Spark's room—to my utter exasperation,"

"Your what now?"

"to discuss a very important topic." Blanche continued on with little acknowledgment of Spark's comments. "Do you all recall that attack two weeks back in the Mystic Gym? It took me a while due to a leftover virus. But I was finally able to recover what the attackers were looking for."

The other two remained silent as Blanche took out a laptop and began opening it up. "As you know, my gym is filled with state of the art technology located from around the world. I designed it in the mind of computers helping out simulate battle strategies and Pokemon raising instructions. Which in order to do, I needed to access the databases of over ten regions outside of Kanto and Johto to cater to any member that wished to join. See, the attackers knew that my system software could access information from other regions remotely. They used my software and access points to hack into the Sinnoh and Kanto government files, especially the Refugee Witness Protection programs."

Blanche took a small break before looking at Spark. "They're looking for someone. And by what they're risking, and what they're attacking, it's something big."

The colorful room was silent.

"Have you reported it to the authorities?" Candela folded her arms.

"I have. They gave me the usual: procedures and empty circle jerking, saying as how we shouldn't interfere, and that they'll have everything under control."

A smile appeared on Spark's face. "We're totally not going to listen, aren't we?"

"No, we are," Although Blanche said this, a noticeable smirk was on her face. "But it's such a problem that we have so many members under us. I mean, they could be off—oh I don't know: looking for our research for Professor Willow at the same in areas that seem suspicious and areas where rumors about a certain something are going on. Why! There's no way the Kanto Government can punish us for utter coincidences they can't and have no way of disproving."

"And that's why you're the brains of the groups. So what's the first lead you got?" Candela smiled.

Blanche turned her laptop around. "My first lead comes from the virus used to hack my systems. To put things in Spark's words: something like a Porygon is involved. If a Porygon is involved, I have a way of recognizing and tracking the specific Porygon that attacked my database if it uses any computer again here in Kanto."

As she said this, she showed a hologram of a Porygon and made it fly across the map of Kanto. The hologram Porygon flew across the Kanto map until it landed over in...

"Lavender Town?" Spark noticed the placement. "What are they doing over there?"

"I don't know the details, besides my hypothesis—guess—from earlier in that they were looking for someone. I'll have to comb my software for what specific data they were after, but I have a hunch they might go for this man, who goes by Marshello Lok." The hologram changed to an old man with a large beard but a scar across the top of his forehead that went from left to right. "I think he might be part of the Witness Protection Program."

Candela raised her fist. "Then what's our plan of attack if these guys are after him?"

"I already sent some of my best and secretive trainers en route here to meet with Mr. Lok, but they won't make it in time. Candela, according to our gear tracking systems, one of your trainers is already there, but he's a newbie. I don't think we should get our freshmen involved in this secret mission, but at the same time, he might be the only one available to actually catch these men before they leave."

Team Valor's leader blinked and leaned in to ask, "Which one is it?"

"Gary! How are you, my boy?!" The brunette smiled at his grandpa.

"I'm fine gramps; I caught a new Pokemon. I'm sending him your way: a Ghastly."

"A ghost Pokemon! Well done, Gary. I'm sure this will help wonders around my—" A sudden, unrecognizable sound came from Professor Oak's end of the transmission.

"What was that?" Gary noticed everyone looking over to him before he lowered the volume of his call. "Gramps, what was that?"

Professor Oak had this look of realization on his face "It's Ash's Clefairies! I told them no laser drilling in the fire Pokemon area! I specifically banned them from creating a castle made entirely of fire! I've got to go, Gary! I'll see you later!" Professor Oak was in such a hurry, he didn't even hang up the phone. However, Gary didn't put it off. He was too enthralled to later see that in the background, out of cabinets, ceiling tiles, and even underground trap doors he sure wasn't in his Grampa's lab, opened up. Then a bunch of Clefairies ran in the opposite direction of his grandfather while taking items like toasters and plungers, and whatever small object that wasn't nailed to the floor.

'Flee! Flee with our spoils! Before the human with too much time on his hands returns!' One of the Clefairy pointed and spoke in perfect human language.

Gary decided to close the call himself before he understood less of the situation. "Well, might as well get some training in before I reach Cleadon City."

Young Gareth walked out of the Pokemon Center only to see a fishing line fly in and hook on to his shirt. With a sudden tug, Gary found himself shirtless and people all staring at him with varying levels of screams and…

…

Gary was quick to try and shield himself before looking in the direction of his ripped up shirt. He spotted an old man in a wheelchair near the lake of the city. He had a white beard, a worn out and faded fishing hat with baits and dull hooks attached. His vest and clothes were similar to other fishermen trainers he spotted, but much faded and worn out like him.

See, the thing was though was that he was facing away from Gary. So that meant that the old man seemed to hook his shirt on the backswing—which is strangely dangerous for an old man. Gary made his move to the seated old man who was scratching his head.

With a voice that was older than the man looked—and he made Professor Oak look like a man in his forties— the man spoke. I don't remember em magikarps being purple—is that what them youn' uns are calling them shinies these days?" The old man scratched his beard as he looked at Gary's shirt floating in the water.

"Sir?" Gary asked politely before the man turned around—and he could see, even below the hat was a scar across his forehead, and his right eye looked to be made of glass. "Can I have my shirt back?"

Gary had a bad feeling when he saw the old man put some kind of ear horn towards him. "What is that, hooligan? You went and gone gave birth? Kids these days and their fancy-schmancy metamorphism! Back in my day, we were given what we were given a gender, and we liked it—no, no that's not right. We hated it… But by golly, we lived with it dang it!" The man spoke out before pulling out the shirt from the water.

Gary made a grab for it, only for the man to suddenly flick it back into the water. The brunette looked back at the man who looked back at him—then did a double-take. "Uwah? Where'd you come from, young hooligan?"

Young Gareth Oak knew instantly that this was going to be a problem. He looked around for anyone, but he saw that there was no one coming this way. In fact, people seemed to be avoiding him and the old man.

"Oh, there he is!" Gary looked to see a nurse—it was surreal to see a nurse that wasn't a nurse Joy—run up to them. She focused on the old man before looking at Gary, seeing his predicament before bowing. "I am so terribly sorry for Mr. Lok. He's… he's been like this ever since we've got him."

The nurse then got Mr. Lok's wheelchair and started to pull him away. Gary couldn't help but kinda pity the old man. But his shirt was still left in the water. The brunette from Pallet Town sighed—it was one of his favorite shirts too, but he bent down to fish it out.

"Mr. Lok! Put away that fishing rod, you might hurt someone!"

While Gary was bent over, he suddenly felt a pulling sensation coming from…

RIP!

At the same time a child and their mother were walking past and then the young child looked over and pointed. "Mama, look! That guy's wearing the same Squirtle undies I do!"

"Avert your eyes, Horton!" The woman covered her child's eyes before running away with him.

Gary, now feeling a breeze between his legs, could only sigh. "This is Ash's fault against all odds. I know it is."

"Huh. Why does my nose feel so itchy all of a sudden?" Ash wiped his nose as he asked this.

'Maybe it's all the dirt around us? We are in a cave.' Riolu suggested.

'What was that, defendant!?' The scene zoomed out to Ash, wearing stone forged cuffs along with his Pokemon, who was surrounded by many Digletts and Dugtrios in what looked to be a court. The 'judge' Dugtiro—which all three heads had beautiful cascading long hair—had one of his head slam into a nearby rock and made a mallet sound. "Do you confess to the heinous crime of cutting off our poor Alolan-cousins' Dugtrio's hair?!'

In the 'witness stand', there was a blonde Dugtrio who had half their hair ripped out, and they were crying tears. 'Our righteous locks, dude! This is totally not far out!'

'Objection!' Prince Nidorino declared. 'We did no such thing! It's not our fault your peasant hairstyles were too weak to withstand my amazing attacks during our spars!' As soon as the words left his mouth, everyone else in Team Luckless could only stare at Prince Nidorion's blunt almost-confession.

The entire court of ground Pokemon gasped, and many more started to whisper.

'Order! Order!' One of the heads banged on the rock again to calm down the court. 'So, you admit to the crime then?!'

'Nooo! I don't wanna go to Pokemon Jail!' Jigglypuff started to tear up and sniffle.

"Yeah, I can't go to jail! My mom will kill me!" Ash added along. A part of him was pretty sure his mom would punish him if he went to a human jail, but being a criminal to a Pokemon society might be in the same ballpark.

There was suddenly an explosion at the back of the cave. Out of the dust, a new Dugtrio appeared. The center head had a deerstalker hat while the right head had a monocle and wore a top hat. The third head was… actually normal.

'Hold fine gentlemen of the court!' The center head spoke with a powerful posh accent. 'These outsiders are innocent! You see—they've all been framed!'

'They have?!'

"We have!?"

Both the court and the defendants exclaimed.

'Quite! It was a clever ploy—but not clever enough for we: The Trio Holmes!' The main head declared. 'For you see, it was a plot deviated by none other than our arch-nemesis: The Dug Moriarty!'

Ash couldn't help but sigh as the new Dugtrio revealed a rather complex that made a simple accident in training look more elaborate than it was supposed to be—even more so when he started to prove it. On one hand, it looked like he was going to be innocent, but on the other, it meant he was behind in getting his badges again.

"Man, I sometimes wonder what a normal life looks like."

Gary didn't really want to say how normal the retirement home looked like—well it wasn't bad, but it was pretty boring looking. Even Pallet Town was more exciting even though it was peaceful… when Ash was not in the nearby area.

The reason why he had come after the old man was because the nurse wanted to pay back the trouble the old man caused with a free lunch. Gary tried to be polite and decline it, but the free meal did interest him enough. That, and he wanted to get away from the area where rumors of a streaker were starting to appear. He was able to change into different clothes like his black collared shirt and baggy brown pants.

While he was waiting in the lobby, he was distracted by the fact the same old man that stripped him was now wheeling out of the office with almost no one stopping him. Gary stood up and was about to tell the other workers, but it was then he noticed something: the nurse wasn't behind the counter. He did recall she suddenly left to go visit another client. However, it meant that she couldn't send someone else to do it for her, which also implied that maybe the retirement home was understaffed?

Gary shook his head at the inductive reasoning his brain gave him and decided to follow after the wheel chaired fisherman.

For an old man, he was surprisingly hard to keep up with. Eventually, Gary found him further down the body of water and now towards the southern bridge path.

The man was fishing, or now that Gary took a look, all he had was a fishing rod. No bait, no catching net, just a fishing rod.

The man turned around. "Ah! Joey! Is it time for your visit already?"

"What my name isn't—" 'Joey' didn't get a chance to deny it as he was tossed an old rod—which was just a stick with a hook in it.

"This time, I'll catch a Magikarp first!" The old man exclaimed as he threw his hook into the sea.

Gary tried to get a word edgewise in, but then…

"You're shorter than I remember, Joey, how are you? Still playing basketball?" The grandad asked.

It wasn't really hard for Gary to absorb all these hints. The fact the old man gave him another fishing rod to fish with him, the fact he was talking so comfortably towards this Joey person: the old man was mistaking him to be someone else.

Gary could have just stopped and had him be brought back. It was the right thing to do; the proper thing to do rather than leave a man and his failing mind out where he might hurt someone or himself.

Yet instead, Gary cast his lure over the bridge. "No, I haven't played basketball in a while."

"I see," The old man gasped. "don't worry, Joey, keep practicing and you'll be the best pitcher in all of Kanto baseball." Even though it was completely different than what he originally said, Gary did notice the sincerity of his words.

Gary rolled his eyes and whispered to himself, "What the hell am I doing?" He just… he didn't like the idea of this guy being alone.

It was then that he heard the sound of the bridge creaking. He looked further off in the bridge path and saw someone in the distance. Someone who was fully cloaked. Gary felt himself already reaching for his Pokemon just looking at the man.

"Huh," Mr. Lok was still looking at his fishing rod. "Fish ain't biting today. Something has the fish spooked, I bet. Only thing I know can do that is a predator."

Gary saw the cloaked figure slowing down. He couldn't see behind the hood, but he could feel the figure looking over to them.

"Predators are really something, Bobby!" Mr. Lok continued to talk. "Some of the evolved predators have this way of just waiting for their prey to make a mistake before they pounce right for them like un—whatcha macall it? Elecktross? Elekid?"

"I think you're trying to say lightning." Gary was now fully gripping his Poke Ball and then turned to face the man on the opposite bridge.

"Sometimes," Mr. Lok continued. "Predators hunt in pacts—makes it easier for predators to cut any escape routes for their prey, Johnny."

It was at that moment that Gary—against the higher functions of his subconscious—looked behind him. He hated the fact he saw there was another cloaked figure blocking any path of escape.

At that moment, both men stepped forward, and Gary could see them starting to move. Something told him they weren't just planning to cross the bridge, nor were they a part of the nursing home. When the one in front of them somehow leapt into the air that even a basketball player couldn't match, Gary had one thing in mind.

"Gramps, time to go for a swim!" He shouted as he threw his Pokemon Ball, kicked down the fence and grabbed Mr. Lok, and dived into the water. Gary opened his eyes and he saw Wartortle already heading to him and dragging both him and Mr. Lok away from where they were.

However, Gary saw some kind of energy blast miss past them then explode.

Back above, the two hooded figures watched the water explode high before the water started to splatter around them.

"That... makes things difficult: a trainer playing hero." The hooded figure on the right explained while a Glalie floated next to him.

"Z will be very displeased." The other cloaked figure then viewed the water. "He dodged my attack. The question is, where could he have gone? There's nothing but water for miles."

The other figure looked away from the bridge and then pointed to something in the distance. "I think I have a good idea where they're heading. Considering it's where I would hide."

The other hooded figure spotted the giant Lavender City Tower that had a huge 'Under Renovation' sign across it.

"Is there a water path?"

"I can guess they had to dig under to create floors to properly supply water and electricity."

"Hmm, well guessed."

The two then threw out more Poke Balls.

Gary gasped as he and Wartortle dragged out Mr. Lok in some unfinished but somewhat open sewer under the tower. To Gary's surprise, Mr. Lok fished himself out and hoped on his two legs on the cave path.

"Why were you in a wheelchair!?"

"I once threw rocks at other kids my age!"

Gary supposed the senile old man wasn't completely vulnerable, but who the heck were those guys? Wait, he did hear rumors in the Team Valor forum posts about terrorist attackers in the Mystic Gym. In fact, he believed these rumors since they talked about 'A kid with a Riolu that was unlucky enough to get caught up with that and not die'.

"I knew Ash would be the death of me somehow." Gary got out of the water and threw out his other Pokemon consisting now of Eevee, Eletabuzz, Nidorina, and now a Growlithe and Kadabra.

"Alright, so guys, we're going to need to stick together and—what are you all looking at…." Gary tried to put up a game plan, but he noticed all of his Pokemon were looking away from him and in the direction… of where Mr. Lok was running away to.

"Wait! Come back here, Gramps Number Two!" Gary called out as he and his partners all ran after him.

He wasn't expecting a senile old man sitting in a wheelchair for a long time to be able to run with a lot of speed.

As he kept running, he eventually found a path into the old tower. It was obviously not touched yet, but there were still signs of graves loitered around. However, Gary lost sight of the man seemingly climbing up to the tower.

It was a second later that he felt goosebumps on his skin followed by a lower temperature in the air. No second later, his Growlithe jumped to his right and fired a flamethrower at icicles aimed right for him.

"This doesn't concern you, child." Gary turned to see one of the cloaked figures walking right through the wall as if it wasn't there! A second later, a Frosslass and a Glalie appeared, making the young trainer imagine that it was Frosslass that somehow allowed their trainer to phase through a solid wall.

"Doesn't concern me? You guys are attacking a senile old man!"

Even though Gary couldn't see this guy's face, he could feel eyes leering into him. "You have no idea what that man has done in his past."

Gary was caught off guard by that. It's true, he knew nothing about this situation or this person, why was he risking his life for him?

Don't worry, Joey, keep practicing, and you'll be the best pitcher in all of Kanto baseball.

"You're right, I don't know who I'm defending. He probably does deserve it! But that doesn't mean he should get what he deserves considering who he is now!" Gary clenched his fist and pointed. "And why should I trust you? Why are you after a senile old man?"

Silence was Gareth's only answer until he saw both Frosslass and Glalie starting to move. That was his signal to— "Electabuzz, Protect!"

—defend himself from an ice blast that turned the room into a winter danger land. As the barrier fell, the hooded figure noticed a giant hole where the trainer and his Pokemon were.

Further, in another room, Eevee broke through the floor with Dig and Gary, and his other Pokemon, all swarmed out.

"Okay, if one of them is after me, does that mean the other is after Mr. Lok? I can't go after him with the other guy on my tail." The rest of Gary's Pokemon started to growl, meaning that their pursuer wasn't far from where they were.

"He's to your right!"

A voice made Gary look back and get out of the way of two ice beams.

The cloaked figure and Gary looked to the sound of the new voice which came from a floor above. When they did look up, something—two somethings jumped off and landed on the same floor as them. Gary recognized one of them as it was a Pokemon, not just anyone: it was a Lucario, the evolution of a Riolu like Ash's. The one beside the Lucario was obviously his trainer: a tall man with black hair, a fierce look in his dark brown eyes, and he wore a specialized blue hat that was frayed at a tip and tilted over one of his eyes.

"I find it very strange two cloaked people are chasing a random young man and old man with the intent to kill."

Gary was quick to point. "I don't know why they're after him, but they're pretty determined to do it!"

The cloaked figure dropped a Poke Ball, and out came a Castform.

"Hail." The word escaped the hooded figure's lips before the Castform unleashed a blizzard inside a tower.

The hooded figure moved fast in the blizzard. This time, he was aiming for the new threat that appeared before them. As he was moved by his Pokemon, he had already opened another Poke Ball and brought out a Sneasel that aimed a claw right for the back of the new man's head.

However, without even looking, the stranger already dodged the attack as if he knew it was coming. Lucario slammed a Force Palm directly into the stomach of the ice and dark type with enough force to slam it into the wall. The impact created a crater surrounding it and knocked it out in one blow.

The stranger and his Lucario moved, only for both to lose their footing when they slipped on the floor because it was frozen solid.

Castform, Frosslass, and Glalie all aimed right for the falling two strangers until they were attacked by a Flamethrower, Water Gun, and Thunderbolt respectively.

The ice trainer looked back to where the attacks were coming from. At the same time, a voice called out, "Growlithe, Sunny Day!"

The weather changed instantly, turning that into an intense sun despite it still being indoors. As soon as the weather changed, there was a teleport with Kadabra along with Nidorina and Eevee already about to unleash an attack right in front of the Castform. The explosion of the attack warded away the ice trainer as he looked back up to see Gary and his Pokemon now making a run up the stairs.

He took a step forward—only to step back as a Bone Rush staff was slammed in front of him by Lucario and the other man.

"You," The new stranger spoke as he eyed the cloaked figure. "What's wrong with your Aura? It feels like there are two auras twisted together?"

The figure returned the Castaform and Sneasel into his Poke Balls while speaking his own response. "How interesting, I've heard rumors of people with natural-born special abilities in this world similar to that of Pokemon. One of the famed ones was supposedly Aura Guardians and their ability to use powers similar to that of a Lucario and its evolution line. However, something is obviously amiss, I was under the impression that they were a staple of Sinnoh's culture. What is someone like you doing all the way in Kanto?"

The blue-themed stranger only seemed to tense along with his Lucario before revealing an extravagant band with a beautiful colored stone on it. "Since you didn't answer my question, it's only fair I don't answer yours."

It was then the stranger from Sinnoh noticed something odd. The aura of this person started to flare. As he took a step forward, vines started growing out of the bottom of his cloak.

"This is a test to see if the ancient powers of old can stand up to the New Age of Metas!"

"New Age of Metas?" The stranger asked before he pressed his bracelet stone as the man suddenly threw his sleeves at him, and large vines shot right for him. Before the attack reached him, a burst of rainbow light exploded.

Gary saw the light from below, but he shook his head and ordered his Kadabra to teleport him to the top of the tower as he gathered the rest of his Pokemon to make the teleport easier.

The trainer from Pallet Town noticed he was at the top floor and saw Mr. Lok seemingly sitting down in front of an empty gravestone.

"You truly are dedicated, Mr. Lok." Gary looked to see the other cloaked figure, who despite wearing a full-body cloak was far more expressive with his words than the ice trainer from awhile ago. "Before your Musharna died of old age, you asked it to make you senile. Your mind knew too many secrets. And with your reliable partner kicking the bucket, you knew you couldn't' protect the secrets you held."

The name of the Pokemon seemed to put Mr. Lok in a daze as he stared at the empty cemetery in front of him. "… Mushi?"

"But luckily for us, if your damage was done by a Pokemon, it can be undone by a psychic one as well." The second cloaked figure started walking towards Mr. Lok until Gary and his Pokemon slid between him and the old man.

"You're not taking him," Gary spoke with finality as he glared at the stranger.

There was a second that passed before the cloaked figure burst out laughing. "Oh, sorry about that. I think it's so cute you playing hero when you have no idea what's going to happen."

To the surprise of Gary, he smelled something bad. It took him a second before he and his Pokemon got out of the way of something like acid attacking where he previously was standing. As he looked up, he saw the following Pokemon already out: an Arbok, a Seviper, a Roserade, and a Venomoth. As they all landed back on the ground two more Pokemon appeared beside the second cloaked figure: a Drapion and a Muk that seemed striped with multi-color.

The second hooded figure snapped his fingers. All six of his poison types rushed for Gary and his Pokemon.

While that battle raged on, The cloaked figure walked, as if strolling through a park—avoiding stray moves and having his own Pokemon' moves protect him from being hit with one of those stray attacks—and headed up to the kneeling old man.

"You're coming with us, Mr. Lok. Sword can get a good look at your mind." The cloaked figure stopped while standing right above him and

The young trainer saw this and his eyes widened. "No!" Gary screamed as he took something in his bag pack and threw it at his Growlithe. At that moment, a bright light exploded that the cloaked figure recognized as the Light of Evolution.

Something bashed through the Drapion, showing that it was Gary atop an Arcanine—that obviously evolved from his Growlithe. The new speed and power of the Fire Type were enough to slam right into the robbed man and send him flying into a slide.

Gary picked the old man up and put him atop of the fire type. However, when he looked back, he saw that the skid marks the man made were starting to steam? Wait, was the ground melting?

"You made a bad choice, child." The cloaked figure raised his palm, which signaled the Pallet Town to get out of there last week. Arcanine leapt out of the way before some kind of lance-like object was fired into where Gary and his transport were previously.

The Trainer from Pallet Town looked back to his Pokemon. They seemed to be struggling against the obviously higher level Pokemon of his opponent. "Guys! Let's make a run for it!"

That was all they needed to hear before Gary's Pokemon split and made a beeline after their trainer and their newly evolved ally.

"After them!" The cloaked figure screamed before he and his poison types bolted after Gary and his Pokemon.

See, the place was still under construction, so there were pillars and beams scattered above the floors. Gary and Arcanine were forced to run atop of it along with the rest of his Pokemon. However, even though Arcanine was newly evolved, he wasn't used to his new body. Adding along with the fact a fair amount of Pokemon was on top of him, he wasn't moving as fast as he hoped he would. It didn't take long for their pursuers to catch up and start their attack to steal back the old man.

Gary and his Pokemon did their best to defend themselves. However, this Poison Man shot a blotch of purple liquid on the pillar in front of Arcanine. It was acid. Gary and his partners found that out after the pillar melted and snapped under their weight.

Luckily, Gary's Kadabra teleported all of them at the ground level. Unfortunately for them, Seviper and Arbok burst out of the ground. The two snake Pokemon launched themselves at Gary and his team. In the chaos, and while being caught off guard, the two snakes snagged Mr. Lok.

"NO!" Gary cried out. However, the Poison Man landed in front of him. The man had a hand raised out at Gary's face, and for one moment, Gary noticed... scales? He lost focus as a bright blue sphere knocked the Poison Man's hands out of the way before it could grip his fist.

The man with a Lucario returned. However, the Lucario looked different, stronger even. But with the return of the stranger, the air around them dropped in temperature.

The two teams regrouped. When they did so, Gary noticed one of the Sevipers holding on to Mr. Lok.

"Alright, it's time to finish—!" The Poison Man stopped when the Weather User raised his hand to stop him.

"We have what we came for. We can't keep fighting." The Poison Man clicked his teeth.

Gary recognized the fact that they were about to escape with the old man in tow. "No you don't!" However, try as he might, the weather user threw something in the ground that exploded with light. As the Flashbang died down, the two and their Pokemon disappeared.

"Lucario," The stranger looked to his partner, "Do you sense where they are!?"

The Lucario put a palm on his chest as he tried to sense where they escaped. However, everyone noticed the look of frustration on the transformed Pokemon. "What?! How could they escape even in your Mega Evolution!?"

Gary's eyes widened as he looked at the Pokemon in front of him. He heard of Mega Evolution, but this was his first time seeing it. Gary noticed Mega Lucario lift his head up. He opened his eyes and started walking to Gary. The young trainer was taken aback by the movement until the jackal-Pokemon pointed to his right pocket. Gary was confused, but he moved his hand into the pocket, only to find something there that wasn't there before.

When Gary took the item out, he was surprised to find a USB drive. Gary remembered during their first attempt at escaping, the old man must have slipped something in his pocket.

Gary eyed the device in his hand before he sighed. "Why do I get the feeling that Ash's luck is contagious?"

Professor Oak sighed deeply as he returned to his lab. It took some time, but the Cleferairy Conclave—Professor Oak hated how a miniature society started to form in his backyard—returned all his belongings. Well, some of them had very obvious spy-gear attached to them, but he had nothing to hide. Hopefully, now he could sit down, relax, and maybe make some poems—

Professor Oak yelled as he suddenly lost all footing and the floor beneath him.

As the old trainer shook his head, he suddenly found himself unable to move. He had fallen into a pit hole and was now trapped in some Rock Tomb Move that covered up to his neck.

'Mwahahahaa!' Professor Oak looked up to see a Dugtrio... an Alolan Dugtrio with mustaches and bowl hats instead of hair. 'Salutations, plebian, you will get the privilege of being an instrument of revenge against the one named Ash Ketchum!"

The older Ex-Trainer found himself in a deadpan after hearing that name.

It was then that another Dugtrio appeared on the other side of the hole's wall. This one was a Kanto Dugtrio, but the center head hat a deerstalker hat while another head had a monocle and top hat. The third head looked tired. 'Halt, Dug Moriarty! Your half-witted schemes of villainy end here! I knew you'd attempt to accost friend Ketchum's allies! But we, The Trio Holmes saw ahead!'

'Ah, Holmes, you ignorant runt. It is you who have fallen for my elaborate trap! For you see, this hole has miniature Stealth Rocks laced!' As he exclaimed this, pointed and small rocks flew out of the wall and surrounded the new Dugtrio. The Alolan Dugtrio gave a laugh that really animated their mustaches.

'How elementary, Moriarty! We saw through your trap, which is why we stole a Protect TM, which will give us impunity towards any bodily harm you intend to inflict upon us!'

'Aha! I knew you'd try to defend yourself from my first trap which is why I set a secondary trap behind the stealth rocks!'

'You are of slow wit, my nemesis! I have already discombobulated your henchmen before coming to this old person's rescue!'

'I'm afraid it is you who is obtuse, my rival! For you see,'

Professor Oak was starting to see a pattern with the two needlessly bickering over-elaborate plots. Overall, he greatly disliked the fact he seemed to be forgotten and trapped while the two Dugtrios kept arguing with each other. Professor Oak started to seriously consider stopping Ash from sending Pokemon his way.

Oh? What perfect timing. His nose was getting itchy.

[A/N]

I don't know why this took so long to make. What can I say besides 'that life got in the way'? It's been a long time guys, and hopefully, this shows the story isn't dead. I just had a lot of fun with this story to truly give it up. I admit it's a bit weird to have a return to this story with Gary when Ash is the main character, but at the same time, there's a lot of stuff in this story that I'm building up.

Anyway, good luck out there, guys. And if you can, be especially safe out there. I heard things are going worse out there. Hopefully it might only be my area, but be safe out there.