Chapter 13

It was 9:30, and Ash's Pokemon were debating on how to wake him up.

"I say we go for the shock!" said Pikachu.

"That's kinda old," said Latios, "how about I mentally throw him out of bed?"

"Or what about soaking him?" asked Syke in her Vaporeon form, ready to do so.

"But that would also get the bed wet," said Latias, "hey, I know! Ash! There's an all-you-can-eat buffet in the hotel lobby, and the food will be all gone if you don't wake up now!"

Ash jolted awake. "Food? Where?" then he saw his Pokemon trying their best to hide their laughter. "It was a joke, wasn't it?"

With that, Pikachu, Latios, Latias, and Skye burst out laughing. Once they had calmed down a bit, Pikachu spoke up, "Well, it was that or we shock or soak you, which would you rather have?"

Ash groaned. "You guys are impossible," This statement only caused them to laugh louder.

"There is breakfast though," said Pikachu.

"Right!" said Ash, turning into his lati-form and shooting out of the room.

"I knew that would work," said Latias, grinning.

"Yeah, but I didn't get to shock him," said Pikachu.

"Alright," said Ash, they had eaten, "let's try to get these stone things to work,"

"I think Regigigas called them mega-stones," said Latios, "we're supposed to use them to mega-evolve or something like that."

"Well," said Ash, "let's put the bracelets on; maybe they'll do something,"

After trying various things for about several hours, such as pressing the stones on the bracelets, Ash switching between his human and lati form, and even doing a little practice battle to get them 'pumped up' as Ash put it, Ash and his team were thoroughly exhausted.

"Maybe we need a harder battle," said Ash, "hey Latios, how about we try tomorrow when we battle? That should probably do it, I heard Harrison's tough."

"Not as tough as we are," said Latios.

"Yeah," said Ash, "if we get these things to work, I'm sure he'll stand no chance!"

The next day…

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the semi-finals of the Silver Conference!" cheers erupted from the stands. "Today, on the left side, we have Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, and on the right side, we have Harrison of Littleroot Town!" Ash and Harrison walked out onto the field.

"Good luck!" called Ash.

"You too!" replied Harrison.

"Alright, if both sides are ready, please-"

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

The crowd gasped as a group of people wearing black outfits with a purple 'V' on the shirt appeared.

"Guys," telepathed Ash to Latios and Latias, "I think that's-"

"Yep," said Latios, "that's definitely Team Void,"

"I thought Arceus said they would come after the tournament,"

"I guess they showed up early," replied Latios.

Latias shuddered. "What do we do?"

"Well," replied Ash, "we don't have much of a choice; you guys ready?"

Latios and Latias nodded, still invisible.

"Pikachu?"

"Let's do this!"

"Alright! What do you want, team Void?" yelled Ash.

The man who Ash presumed to be the leader of the group looked at him. "How do you know us?"

"That doesn't matter; what do you want?" asked Ash.

"Impatient, are we?" asked the man, "I guess we'll just have to show him the hard way, won't we?"

The others nodded. "Yes sir!"

Ash gasped when they sent out their Pokemon. There were a wide variety of them, ranging from Aipoms to Azumarills. What was different about them, however, was that they had red eyes. They were surrounded by clouds of purple gas, and they looked pure evil.

"Evacuate the stadium!" yelled Ash, we'll hold them off here!

Pikachu jumped off his shoulder, cheeks crackling.

"Latios, Latias," telepathed Ash, "stay invisible and use psychic on as many of their Pokemon as you can."

"Pikachu!" yelled Ash, "Use Thunderbolt!"

Harrison ran up to Ash. "I can help too, go Blaziken! Use Blast Burn!"

Ash nodded. "Thanks,"

The Team Void grunts all commanded their Pokemon to attack, and to Ash's surprise, the attacks seemed much stronger than that of normal Pokemon.

'Must be because of the gas,' thought Ash.

To Team Voids' utter shock, the attacks stopped mid-way towards the two teens, being held by an invisible force. Slowly, the attacks turned back on them and combined with Pikachu and Blaziken's attacks. The impact of the attacks was so great that it sent Team Void blasting into the sky.

"Thanks, guys," Ash telepathed.

"No problem," replied Latios.

Officer Jenny pulled up to the two boys. "Are you two ok?"

"We're fine, ma'am," replied Harrison, "some kind of force stopped those attacks from hitting us."

"Good," said Officer Jenny, "unfortunately, due to Team Void coming, we will have to put the conference on hold until further notice. I apologize, but we have to evacuate immediately."

"Well Ash," said Harrison, "I look forward to our battle later,"

Ash nodded. "Me too,"

"So how are we planning to defeat them?" asked Pikachu, "We don't really know anything about them or where to find them."

"Hmm," said Ash, "didn't Arceus say he would explain our mission?"

"Yeah," replied Latios, "but he said he would explain after the Silver Conference and the Conference is canceled,"

"I guess we'll just have to-" Ash was cut off by a flash of bright white light which blinded the group for a few seconds. When the light had died down, they found themselves in a white room made mostly of marble. In front of them was the familiar form of Arceus.

"Welcome, Chosen One, Latios, Latias, and Pikachu," said Arceus, "it appears that Team Void has decided to attack early,"

"Uh, can we talk to you?" asked Ash.

"Yes, you may," replied Arceus, "this is not a pre-recorded message. You are currently in the Hall of Origin. Now, as for your mission, you are to stop Team Void. To do this, you will need to accomplish several things. First, you will have to be able to use your Mega-stones. This can only be done when a very strong bond has formed between the trainer and the Pokemon. Once that has been accomplished, you can activate Mega-evolution by pressing the stone on your wrist while in battle."

"Secondly, you will have to locate Team Void. This will not be too hard if you use your psychic senses to track them down. Thirdly, you will have to break into their base and defeat them. Ash, I suggest bringing your strongest team, as most of Team Void is much stronger than those you fought just recently. Finally, you will have to find a way to purify all the shadow Pokemon. This you will have to figure out by yourself. Do you have any questions?"

"Is our bond strong enough to use Mega-evolution?" asked Latios.

"Not quite," replied Arceus, "remember, you three just met a few weeks ago. It will take some time to develop the bond required for Mega-evolution. Anything else?"

"I think that's all," said Ash.

"Alright," said Arceus, "I will send you back to start your mission. Remember, the sooner you get it done, the better," With those final words, there was another flash of light, and Ash, Latios, Latias, and Pikachu were back in their room in the Pokemon Center.

Thanks for reading!

Sorry it took a while to get this up.

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