About ten minutes after Serena left the battlefield to go to the toilet in the Pokémon Center, Caroline came walking from the side of the Pokémon Center, and into the field.
She looked at May and Max, who were in the middle of the Pokémon battle, and was happy with the fact that they have found something to distract themselves, instead of thinking about Norman and what happened to him. She knew that the children will never be able to forget about what happened to their father, but she was at least happy that they were never able to see how Norman looked-like, after the 'animals', which attacked him, were finished with him. Caroline was sure that that image, would hunt May and Max, 'till the end of their days.
Caroline then looked at Riley, who was seating on the bench on the side of the battlefield. She saw the look on his face, and realized that he looks worried. She wondered why, when she finally saw that Serena was not there with the others.
"Where is Serena?" Caroline asked, after she approached to Riley. The man looked at her, and sighed.
"She went to the toilet about 10 minutes ago, and is not back yet." Riley said.
Caroline narrowed her eyes. "That's strange," she said. "Ten minutes is not a long time to be worried, but I was in the Pokémon Center hall, for the last half an hour, and I'm sure that I would have seen her when she entered."
Riley immediately looked at Caroline with narrowed eyes. He knew what that means. Caroline also realized what that means, and her eyes widened. "No," she said. "She couldn't have been."
"It would seem so." Riley sighed, and got up from the bench.
"But you are here," Caroline yelled, making May and Max stop their battle, and look at her! "How could she have been taken when you are supposed to watch over us?"
"I can only watch over all of you, if you are at the same place," Riley said. "I can't watch you all the time, when you are in different places. And there is no way, I can follow one of you to the toilet. You know that perfectly well."
"Mom," May called, as she and Max were approaching to Caroline and Riley. Their Pokémon were already back in their Poke Balls, as they figured that whatever happened, means that they won't be able to continue the sparing match. "What happened?"
"It seems that Serena has disappeared." Caroline said, making May's and Max's eyes, widen in disbelief.
"We still can't be sure," Riley said, before he closed his eyes, and used his aura to try and track down, Serena. If she was in the Pokémon Center, or the surrounding area, he will find her. If not… well then it will take him a little while to find her, considering that his range for searching people with aura, is lower than Ash's and Red's.
Riley thought how Red's plan, might be more faulty then he first though.
About half a minute later, Riley opened his eyes. "She isn't in the Pokémon Center, or anywhere in the 500 meters around it."
"Oh, hell no,' Caroline swore! "Now what? How are we going to find her?"
"I can use my aura to find her, but my range is only half a kilometer in diameter," Riley said. "That means that it will take me a while to find her. Fortunately, whoever took her, only has a little over 10 minutes head start, and depending on what they are using to take her away, they couldn't have gone too far. But most definitely, they are still in this City, as there is no way they would want to leave it with a hostage to drag around."
"That's still bad news," Caroline said, as she started to run toward the entrance of the Pokémon center! She was followed by Riley, May and Max. "Petalburg isn't just some village or a small town, it is a big city, and they could be literally anywhere!"
"There is no other choice," Riley said, as they all run through the Pokémon Center, entrance, and run to the Nurse Joy, who was still working in there, and will be, until the day comes for her to move in Pallet Town. Another Nurse Joy, is already ready to replace her, and is currently learning all she needs to know about the Petalburg City and its Pokémon Center.
"Joy," Caroline shouted as she stopped running in front of the Nurse Joy's working desk! "Have you seen Serena, in the last 15 minutes?"
Nurse Joy suddenly had a bad feeling and thought she knew what was going on. She didn't like it one bit. "No," she said. "I didn't. What happened?"
"She told me that she needs to go to the bathroom, and I let her come here by herself," Riley said, as he was again focusing his aura, to try and find Serena.
"You shouldn't have left her alone?" Nurse Joy shot back at Riley, with narrowed eyes.
"I shouldn't do a lot of things in my life, and I agree that this is one of them," Riley said. "But again, I couldn't follow her, as I would have to leave May and Max behind. Also, it would have been ridiculous if we all just came to follow Serena."
"Now what?" Nurse Joy asked.
Riley didn't answer for a few seconds, as he was still searching for her with his aura. Once he didn't find her, he opened his eyes, and said. "Now we search for her." As he said that, he took three Poke Balls, from his poke belt, and released them. The Pokémon were Alakazam, Lucario, and a Mega Lucario. Everyone in the Pokémon center were surprised by the look of one Lucario, until Max suddenly remembered that Ash has a Mega Lucario."
"Isn't that Mega Lucario, Ash's?" Max asked.
"Yes, I am," Mega Lucario talked, much to the shock of Caroline, Nurse Joy, May and few other people in the Pokémon Center. Mega Lucario looked at Riley and spoke. "I assume that it happened, and that you need our help?"
"Yes," Riley replied, confusing the others, but none asked anything. They wanted to see what will happen. "Can you track her down?"
Mega Lucario narrowed his eyes, before they glowed blue. There was a slight pulse in the Pokémon Center, while the invisible aura, spread around the center, the surrounding area, and went into the distance. Half a minute later, Mega Lucario's eyes stopped glowing, and he spoke. "My range is about a mile in diameter. She isn't inside of that range, but since this Pokémon center seems to be at the right side of this City, I was able to search this whole side, and about 20% of the left side, the one which was close to the right side. That means that if she is still in this city, she will be somewhere in the last 30% of the left side of the City."
Caroline, May, Max and Nurse Joy, were impressed by this Lucario. He really knew how to do his job.
"We already discussed about the possibility of the kidnappers leaving the city," Riley spoke. "The chances are small, so they are here in the city, with a very small possibility of them being somewhere on the outskirts of the city."
"This city has a rectangle-like shape," Mega Lucario spoke. "My power has searched the entire right side, and some of the surrounding area, along with 20% of the left side. If they are not in the last 30% of the left side, they can only be in the surrounding area of that side. If they are in neither of those locations… then they could be anywhere."
"Ok… so how are we going to do the search?" Caroline asked, getting curious looks from Riley and Mega Lucario.
"You won't," Riley said. "My Lucario and Ash's Lucario will search for her with me, while Ash's Alakazam will stay here, and watch over you. Mega Lucario and Alakazam can speak telepathically, so in the event that we need to be teleported somewhere, quickly, we will call him to get us there."
"But wouldn't it be better if we search as well," Nurse Joy asked?
"No, because you have no power to do the search, and just going around, will not help," Riley spoke the truth, much to the woman's disappointment. "Besides, as I said earlier, I can't watch over all of you unless you are all at the same place. The same goes for Alakazam. You will all be much safer here, then anywhere else. In case you are attacked, which I doubt will happen, but just in case, no one will get pass Alakazam. Trust me on that."
Though reluctantly, Caroline and Nurse Joy, along with May and Max, agreed to stay in the Pokémon Center, and be safe. They didn't want to cause even more trouble for Riley, by disappearing as well. Ash's, Grace's and now Serena's disappearance, are more than enough for a lifetime.
With the course of actions agreed upon, Riley, his Lucario and Ash's Mega Lucario, run out of the Pokémon Center, and went to search for Serena. As he was running, Riley prayed that Serena is well, and that Red's plan, won't come back to haunt them all.
XXX
Grace and Ash have arrived in the Petalburg City, via an airplane, which brought them all the way from Lumiose City in the Kalos Region.
Since the Lumiose is the only City in the Kalos Region, which has an international airport, it took Grace and Ash, several days to get there from Vaniville City, and then another half a day, to get from Lumiose to the Petalburg City, which happens to have an international airport.
As soon as they arrived at the Petalburg airport, and boarded of the train, Ash felt something was wrong. He felt that there is far too much psychic energy in the air, and he didn't like this. He has never met someone who had that much psychic energy, not ever Grace.
Ash looked toward Grace, and saw that her eyes were wide open, and she was sweating. He suddenly got a very bad feeling.
"What's wrong," Ash asked? "Whose psychic energy is this? This is unnatural even by my and your standards."
Grace kept quiet, and said nothing. She was sweating, and fear was very visible on her face. A minute later, she said. "T-This is Serena." Ash's eyes widened in disbelief.
"What do you mean, Serena," Ash shouted, though as there was no one around them – all the other passengers have already left – so no one has heard him? "She has no psychic powers! I would have known if she does!"
"Actually, she does have psychic powers." Grace said, with a gulp, making Ash glare at her with narrowed eyes.
Deciding that it's useless to keep it a secret, but also wanting to know as soon as possible, what's going on, Grace started to walk toward the inside of the airport. She said that she will explain everything to Ash, after they leave the airport, and head toward the Pokémon Center.
Ash didn't like that, but he knew that it's better not to talk about sensitive stuff, in a public place, where others can hear them.
Half-an-hour later, Ash and Grace left the airport, and headed toward the Pokémon Center, hoping that they will find Serena there. Ash thought about trying to sense her, but with the amount of psychic powers in the air, it's impossible to sense her.
As they were walking with quick steps, Grace decided to speak, as she saw the look on Ash's face.
"I'm a psychic, and my mother is psychic, so is it really strange that Serena would be a psychic as well," Grace asked? Ash thought about it, and realized that she is right. Psychic and Aura powers are passed down in the families, though there are cases when it skips some generations. Ash thought that it was the case with Serena, which is why he was surprised that she has psychic powers, when he thought she doesn't have them, as he was never able to sense them.
"The reason you never sensed Serena's psychic powers, is because I sealed them away, when she was five years old," Grace said, and Ash's eyes widened. Sealing away Aura and Psychic powers, is possible. There was a talk of sealing some of his powers, because they were so high and hard to keep in control, but in the end, it never happened. To hear that Grace has decided to seal Serena's psychic powers, while she knew that there could potentially be consequences, made Ash wonder, why she has taken that risky step?
"Seven years ago, I took Serena to Lumiose City, so we can do some sightseeing," Grace spoke. "Before that, I never took her out of Vaniville Town, and she was existed to see everything, so I decided we should take a walk there, instead of going with the car. It would take us a while, but we weren't in a hurry, and I could show her many interesting things on the way there. At first, everything was ok. We traveled for several days, went through several small settlements and towns, saw many things, but then we got to the Santalune Forest. Normally it's a very peaceful place, with many Pokémon, I could show to Serena. But that day, we run into some poachers, who were capturing Pokémon. When Serena saw all those Pokémon in cages, and how those poachers treated them, she… sort of… snapped, and her psychic powers activated for the first time.
"Even before that day, I knew that she has psychic powers. I knew that since the day she was born, because her psychic powers were very high. I knew that in the future, there might be problems because of that, especially since Freya also knew of Serena's powers, but in the end, I decided not to do anything about it, and simply left Serena as she is, as I didn't want to take any risks in sealing her powers.
"That turned out to be a mistake. Up until that day, she has never done anything with her powers, and I never told her anything about them, but that day, after she saw that terrible sight of injured and captured Pokémon, her powers activated, and she attacked the poachers. No, I'm not joking. She literally run at them, with her eyes glowing red, and she punched one of them, breaking his neck and instantly killing him," Ash's eyes widened at that. "She then did something which will stay in my mind until the day I die. She approached the corpse, and… and kissed him on the lips. In an instant, the corpse was turned into nothing but ash. She has drained him of all of his essence, and left nothing behind. She then went and did the same to the other two poachers. She killed them and then drained them, leaving behind three piles of ash.
"I was so shocked by the sight, that I couldn't do anything, until it was all over. I only snapped, when Serena drained the third poacher, and then turned and looked at me. I saw insanity in her eyes, and the desire to do to me, the same thing she did to them.
"I knew right then and there, that I need to stop her, or she would be lost. I was able to subdue her, and hit her in a way that she passed out. Then, I decided to seal her powers, as I knew that whatever consequences were to happen, it can't be as bad as what Serena has just done. It was a risk, but a risk I was willing to take, as I never wanted to see Serena, as she was that day.
"After I sealed her powers, I cleaned the ashes, scattering it around the forest, so that no one would ever know what happened. I also released the captured Pokémon, and treated their wounds, before I let them go.
"By the time I did all of that, Serena has awakened from her sleep, and when asked what happened, I realized that she doesn't remember anything. I thanked the god for that, and lied her that she passed out, because she was tired, and then I told her to sleep some more, as it was already late in the afternoon, and we won't continue our journey until the next day. She did just that, and from the next day, everything with her was back to normal. She didn't remember anything, and I couldn't sense her psychic powers any longer, as they were completely sealed away.
"From that day on, I paid attention to her, and everything she has done, but there were no indications that he powers were going to break through the seal, so when they day came for her to start her traveling, I let her go, as I didn't think that there was any danger. But seeing that her power is felt all over the Petalburg City, something must have happened to make the seal break, and her powers to be released. It's even more bothersome the fact that her powers are much more powerful than they were that day in Santalune Forest."
She finally stopped speaking, and looked at Ash. She saw that he was deep in thought, and looking at the road in front of them. He wasn't saying anything, for a while, as they just kept walking in a hurry.
Soon, Ash decided to say something. "First off," he spoke. "I'm pretty sure that Serena's powers are now higher than normal, because they were constantly under pressure for the last seven years. Her powers have been trying to break through the seal, unsuccessfully, but in doing that, they've been increasing in size, until eventually, the seal broke, and all that power, came out on the surface. To tell you the truth, it's a miracle that she is alive," here, Ash made a pause, "IF, she's alive, because I can't sense her because of all this psychic energy in the air.
"Second; we really need to figure out why Freya wants Serena. Someone with Serena's powers, can't be allowed to go to the enemy's side, under any circumstances.
"And third; depending on what happened, and in what state Serena currently is… she can no longer have her powers sealed away. She needs to know of them, and what happened, so she can learn to control them, and herself. We can't allow her to snap and kill people all over the place. I'm more than enough for that, and I don't want to worry about her as well."
Grace listened to what Ash said, and she mostly agreed with him. She wasn't so sure about revealing everything to Serena, but she most likely, will have to, as, depending on what happened to cause all of this, things might have gone too far, and to a point of no return.
"Fine," she said. "Let's see first what happened, and then I'll talk to Serena, and tell her everything, starting with my past, all the way to that day in Santalune Forest."
Ash nodded, and the two continued to run in silence. Few minutes later, they arrived in front of the Pokémon Center… only to see quite a lot of people, already there. All of them were holding Poke Balls in their hands, and they all looked worried. Ash and Grace, also looked worried, as they got a bad feeling.
"What's going on?" Grace asked.
"I don't know," Ash replied. "But I have a bad feeling about this."
The two approached from the back of the crowd, and asked one of the kids, who were standing there. "What's going on," Ash asked the boy, who looked to be his age? "Why all this crowd in front of the Pokémon Center?"
"Haven't you heard already," the kid asked back? "All the psychic Pokémon in the city, have gone berserk, and suddenly started attacking everyone! I had to actually send three of my other Pokémon, to subdue my Gallade! He has completely lost his mind, but not only that, he was quite a bit more powerful then he usually is."
Ash and Grace heard this, and paled instantly. This was really, really bad. They didn't' think that Serena's psychic powers, would be so high as to influence Psychic Type Pokémon, let alone, empower them. It is as ridiculous as it's unheard of. Ok, technically, Ash can do that as well, but with his Aura powers, and only with his Pokémon. There was no way that his aura and psychic powers, would be able to spread around the entire city, and influence all of Psychic type Pokémon.
"We just came from another region via a plane, so we don't know anything," Ash spoke to the same boy. "Can you tell us when did this happened, and do you know what caused it?"
"It suddenly started about, two hours ago," the kid said. "But I don't know what caused it. I don't think anyone knows just yet, as everyone was busy stopping the Psychic Types, which were going all over the place, and attacking everyone."
Ash and Grace looked at each other, before they decided to just push through the crowd, and go inside. There must be someone inside who will be able to tell them, what happened to cause all of this, and to also tell them, where Serena is.
Not carrying about the complaining of the other people and kids around them, Ash and Grace pushed them away, as they run through the entrance to the Pokémon Center, only to see even more people inside, the on the outside.
They looked at the reception desk, and saw two Nurse Joy's, as well as their Chansey', running all around, and doing as best they could, to help all the injured Pokémon. Ash and Grace knew though, that it was a losing battle, as there is no way that two Nurse Joy's and their assistant Chansey', would be able to handle all of the Pokémon who were currently being brought in the Pokémon Center, especially since, there is even more coming.
Besides the two Nurse Joy's - one of whom Ash knew - neither he nor Grace saw anyone else they recognized, and they have looked around for a while, trying to see any familiar face.
Seeing that it's useless to try and find someone in a crowd this big, Ash approached to the Nurse Joy, who he knew was a in a relationship with Norman, before his death, and asked her. "Nurse Joy, what happened, and where are Serena and the others?"
"Ash," Nurse Joy exclaimed in surprise as soon as she saw him! "Where have you been? Do you have any idea how worried everyone was, after you disappeared like that?"
"I can imagine," Ash said. "But that's not important right now. Tell me what happened. I have a feeling that this is all Serena's doing, and that she might be in danger."
Nurse Joy sighed. "She is in a hospital," she said, making Ash's and Grace's eyes widen. "Your uncle, May, Max and Caroline, are all there as well, though they are fine. Only Serena was… injured."
"By whom," Grace growled? "Who has injured my daughter, and how did it happen?"
Up until that moment, Nurse Joy didn't know who Grace was, but now she does, and she can understand the look of anger and worry on Grace's face.
"I don't have time to explain everything to you, as I have my hands full with all these Pokémon," Nurse Joy said. "Go to the hospital, and you'll find the others there. Ask them, or specifically, ask Riley. He is the best suited to explain what happened, and Serena's condition."
Ash and Grace nodded, knowing that it's useless to try asking the Nurse Joy, as they are not blind, and can see that she has too much work with all the injured Pokémon, to be able to tell them anything. As such, the two left the Pokémon Center, again pushing through the crowd, but this time, so that they can go out of, and not inside of the Pokémon Center.
XXX
Inside of the Petalburg Central Hospital, which was a hospital for humans only, and not Pokémon; Caroline was seating in the waiting room, along with her children. The three of them have been seating there for almost an hour and a half, ever since they arrived, after Riley called them in the Pokémon Center, and told them that he has found Serena, but that she was severely injured and needs to be taken to the hospital.
All this time, spent there in the hallway, without knowing anything, was starting to get to Caroline, May and Max. They wanted to know what happened to Serena, but since they arrived, they weren't able to see her, none of the doctors were saying anything, except that there are several doctors and nurses working on her. Riley, he also wasn't saying anything. He didn't even tell them what happened to Serena, and why was she in that state. He didn't even tell them if the outbreak of the Psychic type Pokémon, all over the Petalburg City, is related to what happened to Serena, in any way.
As such, the two kids and their mother, were on their last leg. If someone doesn't come to tell them what's going on, they will snap.
Someone did come, though, but not to tell them anything. Instead, Ash and Grace busted through the entrance of the hospital, and right into the main lobby/waiting room.
The two drew the attention of the other occupants of the lobby, among which, were Caroline, May and Max. As soon as the three of them, saw Ash, they shouted and run at him.
"ASH!" Came from three different voices at the same time, which drew Ash's and Grace's attention to where it came from. Ash saw Caroline, May and Max, run toward him, before few seconds later, he was hugged by Caroline and May, while Max stood behind his mother and sister, with a smile on his face. "Ash, where have you been? What happened to you? Why did you disappear like that? We had no idea if you left by yourself, or someone took you away! We were all so worried!"
Caroline and May fussed over Ash, as they looked him up and down, while at the same time, asking questions, and making statements. To an outsider, who was looking at this scene, it looked ridiculous, and if they all weren't in a hospital, they would have laughed.
Ash was somehow able to calm them all down, before he said that he will tell them later what happened with him, and where he went. He then introduced Grace, and said that she is Serena's mother. After he mentioned Serena, he saw that the smiles on Caroline's, May's and Max's faces, disappeared, and they all looked down to the ground.
"What happened to Serena," Ash asked? "What made her cause all of this trouble around the Petalburg City, with all the psychic Pokémon, going crazy?"
They looked at him, with surprised faces, before Caroline asked. "What makes you think that it was Serena, who caused that? Not even we know what caused it. We only know that Serena was kidnapped by someone, and that Riley, his Lucario, as well as your Mega Lucario, went to search for her, while you're Alakazam, stayed in the Pokémon center, to look after us and the Nurse Joy, in case someone attacks. Sometime later, your Alakazam said he felt a powerful pulse of psychic energy, and soon after, Riley called and said that he has found Serena, but that he will have to take her to the hospital, as she was injured. It was right after that, that the people started to come to the Pokémon center, and bring their Pokémon to be checked. They were saying that their psychic types started attacking everyone and everything, and they have no idea why."
Ash wanted to ask about his Alakazam, but he was sure that his psychic type, his most powerful psychic type Pokémon, was fine, as he was too powerful to be controlled by Serena's psychic energy, even as powerful as it is.
"Right after Grace and I came off the plane, we felt psychic energy in the air," Ash spoke, and saw that Caroline, May and Max were surprised when he said, plane. Before they could interrupt him, he continued. "I didn't know what it was, but Grace said that this is Serena's psychic energy, as they are both psychics and Grace has felt Serena's powers before, so she knows how it feels. We went to the Pokémon Center, and there we found out about the problem with psychic Pokémon, and that Serena and you are in the hospital. So, we came here right away."
"Well, that's news to us," Caroline said. "We don't know what happened to Serena, and we definitely didn't know that it was her, who caused all of the problems with psychic Pokémon."
"Where's Riley?" Ash asked.
"He said that he has to talk with Red, so he went to call him in private." Caroline said. Ash nodded, and seeing that there is nothing else he can do, he decided to wait for Riley to show up, as it would be a waste of time to search for him in the hospital, when he is sure that Riley will come back to the lobby.
Grace didn't feel like waiting, as she wanted to know what happened to her daughter, but in the end, she decided to wait for Riley. He will tell her everything. She could, of course, ask the doctors, but she knows that if there were any news of Serena's condition, Caroline would know about it, and she would have told her.
As such, Ash, Grace, Caroline, May and Max, set on the chairs, and waited for the news, while Ash told the curious Caroline and her children, where he has been for the last few days.