Essence

by vincentgrey21

Ash has always wanted to be a pokemon master. When the time comes for him to pick out his first pokemon, he shocks Professor Oak with a peculiar request. One thing leads to another, and he ends up with a loyal Growlithe. How will this unique situation affect the boy's destiny?

6. Kanto 6

A/N: I know I'm early with the release, but I doubt any of you will complain...It took me quite some time to finish this monster chapter, and I am way too happy with how it came out to wait until the 13th.

For clarification purposes, someone pointed out that my depiction of Stored Power was incorrect. While it was originally a mistake, I have decided to run with it. It is rare to have a move that can counter against status effect moves. Therefore, pokemon are usually free to use status moves without any repercussions.

I've decided that it would be a good idea to reconfigure Stored Power, in order to create a move that can counterbalance pokemon that primarily use status techniques. It's fanfiction after all; I don't think you should have a problem with me changing the dynamics of a couple moves here and there. Thank you to the follower that pointed this out. You've helped me look at a certain aspect of my story that wasn't previously on my radar.

Also, before you read, I want to point out that this is by far my longest chapter. For a lot of you, it may be too long to read in one sitting. If that's the case, the best way to read my chapters is by using the scene breaks (XXX) as a bookmark. I try to give you as much as I can every month without leaving the chapter in a weird place. Well, anyways, enjoy...

Pwnerbrad here and before you start reading, I thought I would introduce myself! I'm vincentgrey21's beta reader and it's my job to make sure that these monstrous chapters are grammatically correct. Now that I've said hello, you may start this amazing chapter.

Kanto 6: Essence

Just as planned; Ash, Growlithe, Wallace, and Austin arrived in Saffron the morning before the ACE trainer recall. The two day journey to the big, shining city was exhausting. On both days, they traveled all day long, only stopping to eat and sleep.

Ash had to admit, it was kind of nice traveling with other people. He still preferred trekking Kanto alone with just his pokemon, but the accompaniment of other trainers definitely had its benefits.

He thoroughly enjoyed the long, pokemon related, conversations that came up while on the road. The ten-year-old boy learned a lot from the two older trainers, particularly Wallace. The Champion shared all kinds of useful bits of information concerning what it took to become a master, such as rigorous training regiments, the need to challenge superior trainers, deep bonds with your pokemon, and an accumulation of battle strategies.

The dark-haired boy also appreciated spending time with someone around his own age. The majority of the friends he had made on his journey had been much older than him. Therefore, being able to have a friend like Austin, that he could easily relate to, was pleasant and impactful; especially since Austin was going through a lot of the same things that he was. The SS Anne had caused quite a lot of damage to their subconscious minds and having a friend to talk to about it was paramount in regard to the recovery process.

Despite the ample dose of travel, Ash was still satisfied with the amount of training he had gotten in. The primary reason for his intense exhaustion was his current training schedule. Due to the long days on the road, the only time he had to work with his pokemon was early in the morning and late at night. It was arduous and sometimes even aggravating; however, just because his journey had taken an unexpected turn over the last couple of days, it didn't give him an excuse to slacken his workload.

As a reward for his resolute dedication to his pokemon, all of his friends had benefited from the past couple days of drudgery. Some more than others, but that was to be expected. All pokemon grew at different rates, and some techniques were harder to conquer than others. Mastery over a pokemon's somatic potential and moveset was different for each individual specimen.

Out of all of his pokemon, Clefairy had probably profited the most from her training. She had gained complete mastery over Stored Power—which didn't come as a surprise. The fairy pokemon had excelled at it from the very beginning after all. The skill that she had attained with her thaumaturgic energy while mastering Minimize had made the learning process for Stored Power relatively simple.

They had also learned that, if necessary, Clefairy could distribute the lunar essence from her wings into her Stored Power, in order to create an even more powerful clairvoyant blast.

In addition, Ash and Clefairy had figured out that the fairy-type could maintain her Stored Power's enhancement for up to five status conditions. After five, it maxed out. And that limit more than likely wouldn't increase—at least until Clefairy had gained more overall strength and experience.

Charmander had also noticeably improved. The luscious, moist terrain in between Lavender Town and Saffron City had allowed him to train without fear of starting a forest fire. On multiple occasions, the fire-lizard had shown that he had truly completed Focus Punch, landing it against almost all of his teammates during heated sparring matches. The only pokemon he had trouble connecting a Focus Punch against was Growlithe. The canine's speed made it nigh impossible with Charmander's current skill level.

Ash had also started to teach the fire-lizard Dragon Rage. So far, it hadn't been easy, albeit it had proved to be much more facile than teaching Pidgeotto Twister. Even though Charmander wasn't a categorized dragon-type, the lizard pokemon was still close enough to where he could innately conjure at least a minuscule amount of draconic energy.

It wasn't like Pidgeotto, where the flying-type had to manipulate draconic properties from an external source. The fire-lizard had traces of dragon in its DNA, however, those traces weren't potent enough for the species to be considered a bona fide dragon.

The dark-haired boy was also happy to see that Charmander was beginning to show a lot of the signs of evolution. His tail flame was growing larger, and his orange, reptilian skin was beginning to darken into more of a reddish pigmentation. It wasn't necessarily surprising. When trained right, all three of the original Kanto starters typically didn't take too long to evolve into their intermediate phases. It was the final evolution that was tedious to attain. Once all three of his starters had finally reached their second stage, they would probably remain there for quite some time. There was a reason why charizard, blastoise, and venusaur had never been common pokemon amongst Kanto trainers.

Out of all of his pokemon, Squirtle probably put in the least amount of work the last couple of days. It wasn't his fault. After his intense battle to capture Haunter, Ash had made the choice to keep Squirtle's training light. Other than helping Clefairy and Charmander, Squirtle hadn't really done anything on their first day of travel. Yesterday, however, Ash had Squirtle begin the process of learning Rapid Spin.

It was rather evident that Squirtle would have Rapid Spin down soon. He was a natural when it came to using his shell. He had already proven it with his lightning fast Withdraw, but now it was even more evident. With only a couple of training sessions under his belt, Squirtle could already spin like a revolving helicopter propeller. The only thing holding him back was dizziness, which he would overcome in time.

On account of his unusual appetite for close combat battle, it was rather clear that Squirtle would have an easy time adjusting to the more physical wartortle stage. It was a good thing to know, since it was pretty apparent that evolution was closing in on the turtle pokemon. Like Charmander, his skin was darkening, shifting from a light blue into a darker cerulean blue. The turtle pokemon's tail was beginning to sprout thick, white fur and two sharp teeth were starting to protrude out of his upper jaw. In Ash's opinion, Squirtle could evolve at any moment. All he needed was one last push.

Although he had made some progress, Ivysaur was still struggling with Razor Leaf. It wasn't considered an easy move to learn, so his struggles were to be expected. Nevertheless, it was obvious that Ivysaur was getting frustrated. Finding the right seed for Razor Leaf was a process of trial and error. Ash just hoped that the saurian duel-type would stumble across the answer sooner rather than later. Razor Leaf would be an extremely important facet of Ivysaur's moveset; giving him a prompt, hard-hitting, long-range grass-type move, which was something that his present moveset lacked.

Much like Ivysaur, Growlithe was struggling with his new technique: Reversal. He had made some progress, as far as inflicting decent damage, but according to the pokedex, he wasn't even close to realizing Reversal's true potential.

Reversal is a technique that grows in strength depending on the user's fighting spirit. Typically, in order to tap into Reversal's full power, the wielder needs to be pushed to borderline unconsciousness. However, with good form – regardless of their stamina – a pokemon can become capable of turning Reversal into a high damaging grappling technique. Unfortunately, the form was difficult to implement with non-fighting types. Ash had a feeling that Growlithe would be stuck on Reversal for a while. They would eventually master the momentum harnessing physical throw, although it would take a while for the quadruped to completely iron it out.

In regard to his Pidgeotto's progress with Agility, Ash had to say, he was slightly disappointed in himself. The highly evasive technique was giving Ash and his flying-type a lot of trouble and the dark-haired boy was having a tough time figuring out why. They were doing everything that the pokedex said and then some. Pidgeotto was pushing himself to the absolute limit, trying to breech his mind's breaking point apposite to speed.

Unfortunately, Pidgeotto had exhausted himself past that limit numerous times and had gotten zero results. Ash was starting to think that it might have something to do with Pidgeotto's king's nature, but he had no way to know for sure. All they could do was keep working at it. Maybe continuous repetition would eventually garner results.

Last but not least was the newest addition to his team: Haunter. Over the past couple of days, the ghost-type had made quite the impression on Ash. Due to his willingness to get stronger, he was easy to train, and on account of his humorous personality, the apparition never failed to make a training session entertaining.

After doing some research on his pokedex, Ash had decided to try and teach Haunter Payback. The vicious technique would give Haunter another solid dark-type attack to add to his repertoire. Ash didn't think he would have it ready for his battle against Sabrina, but it would pay off in the future. Payback was a powerful technique when used correctly, and it would give Haunter a good counter move against psychic-types and other ghosts. The ten-year old boy didn't think it would take Haunter too long to master the physical dark-type strike, but he didn't think it would be combat ready within the next couple of days.

Throughout the long few days of travel, Ash had gradually introduced Haunter to all of his friends. There wasn't a single one that he didn't get along with—which didn't come as too much of a surprise. Haunter was an extremely likable pokemon and truly seemed to enjoy the company of every single member of Ash's team.

Haunter, especially, seemed to gravitate towards Growlithe and Charmander. He'd gotten along with Growlithe from the very beginning, so Ash was expecting them to share a healthy friendship for years to come. However, regardless of Growlithe's influence on him, Ash was astonished with how well Charmander was getting along with Haunter.

After observing Charmander's behavior within the Pokemon Tower, Ash was under the assumption that his fire-lizard wasn't a fan of anything phantasmal. Apparently Ash had been wrong. It appeared as though Charmander was more put off by the environment than anything. Not once since leaving the Pokemon Tower had Charmander revealed any apprehension toward the ghost-type.

Needless to say, although maybe at various rates, his pokemon were growing stronger day by day and we're well on their way to becoming a force to be reckoned with…

Right now, Ash, Growlithe, Wallace, and Austin were traipsing across Saffron in search of the city's pokemon center. By virtue of Wallace's request, Ash had called Bill immediately upon arrival into the massive, busy city. The group had decided that they would meet the famous researcher at the Pokemon Center ASAP. Just like he said, Bill arrived in Saffron a couple of days ago. Ever since then, he had been busy doing some in-depth recon around the city. Apparently, he had come across a couple of leads that he was dying to fill them in on face-to-face.

"Are we almost there?" groaned Austin as he leaned over and looked at the digital map on Ash's xtranceiver.

"It should be coming up pretty soon," grumbled Ash, slightly annoyed. "I say we're about ten minutes away."

"We are," inserted Wallace, assertively, as he also examined the little pink dot on Ash's xtranceiver, which was betokening a nearby pokemon center, "just a little bit further."

They'd been trekking across Saffron City's southern suburbia for quite some time now and were beginning to become hot-tempered. The location of the Pokemon Center was extraordinarily inconvenient. It was situated in the city's southwestern corner—far away from any of Saffron's main attractions. The only thing that was advantageous about it was that they had entered Saffron from the city's southeastern entrance. Therefore, they didn't have to trudge through all of the hectic traffic that was located within the city's central and northernmost districts.

From his vantage point, it was clear to Ash that Saffron was gargantuan. It was the biggest city he'd ever been to, utterly dwarfing any of the cities he had previously visited. He knew this beforehand; Saffron City was well known for being the largest city in Kanto, as well as the second most populous. In the far-distance, he could see the colossal, skyscraping Silph Co. headquarters. The Montgomery family's pride and joy was one of the tallest buildings in the entire world, said to be visible for miles on end. The fact that it looked so far away only proved Saffron City's staggering immensity.

Saffron's southern districts may have been quieter than what Ash assumed the central and northern districts to be like, but they were still humming with people and light vehicle traffic. The majority of the people that they passed by were friendly and took time to wave as well as say hello. It was a nice change of pace compared to Lavender Town, where the citizens barely paid him any mind.

Also, unlike Lavender Town, Saffron City's suburbs were very distinctive. A lot of the houses and apartments were extremely modern and unique looking. Furthermore, they tended to be very divergent from one another. There was no pattern in the layout. Every individual building seemed to have sprouted up from a different allegorical seed, formulated from the minds of several dissimilar styled architects. It was definitely contrary to any of the other cities Ash had been to—which were all basically thematic in their designs. Ash couldn't wait to check out the bustling central and northern districts. He was sure he'd find all sorts of cool buildings and worthwhile commodities to look at.

Ash's favorite part about Saffron's suburbia was that there appeared to be all kinds of recreational things to do. Lavender Town's suburb only consisted of monothematic housing. The streets were dead, and you barely saw anyone. Saffron's suburbs consisted of everything you could possibly need to have a high quality life such as shopping centers, rec. centers, libraries, parks, training facilities, etc. It was a pleasant community: the kind of place that you'd like to raise a family.

Nevertheless, they'd been slogging across it for hours and couldn't wait to arrive at the Pokemon Center. Just because the scenery was convivial…didn't mean they weren't tired of walking. If it weren't for the delightful, steady, autumn breeze that was capering across everyone's skin, they would have gotten a taxi by now. Austin had suggested it when they first arrived, but Ash and Wallace wanted to fully embrace the city. It was hard to do that from the backseat of a moving vehicle.

As they continued to near the location of the pink dot on Ash's xtranceiver, the dark-haired boy and his Growlithe spotted a couple of domesticated meowth playing in someone's front yard. Pet pokemon were rather common amongst the suburbs. Ash had already seen several meowth, pikachu, jigglypuff, and even nidoran under the ownership of some of the civilians.

It was actually a rather nice site to see. The pokemon looked happy and so did their owners. Therefore, there was no reason for Ash to think anything other than positive thoughts. A lot of trainers carried contempt for people that only kept pokemon for self-gratification. However, Ash didn't mind. As long as the pokemon were happy, he couldn't see any harm in it. Training pokemon to their potential, and building friendships in the process, was his personal affiliation with the wonderful creatures of this world. He had no qualms with other humans that peacefully chose to interact with pokemon in a different way.

Ash, Wallace, and Austin's cranky moods lightened up when Growlithe predictably snarled at the two playful meowth. The never ending struggle between feline and canine pokemon was especially strong between the growlithe and meowth lines. Although it wasn't quite as comical amidst powerful, fully-evolved arcanine and persian, this case was a different story.

The meowth were merely kittens—babies of their species. As Ash and his friends passed by, they showed no animosity towards Growlithe. As a matter of fact, they looked at him with jovial eyes, evidently desiring contact. Growlithe simply snarled and looked ahead; he knew better than to mingle with felines. In his opinion, they were sly and not to be trusted. And even if they weren't, it was nonetheless unnatural. Growlithe were dogs, and meowth were cats. The two species simply weren't compatible.

Growlithe's disinterested gaze was enough to beckon the meowth not to approach them. Ash simply laughed. The whole brief situation was way too stereotypical not to. It was almost like something straight out of a cartoon.

Anyways, after about five more minutes of dragging through the neighborhoods, they eventually reached and entered Saffron City's pokemon center. It was situated in a more commercially inclined section of the suburbs—surrounded by all kinds of busy concession and convenience stores.

Although his digital map said otherwise, Ash had a tough time believing that this was the only pokemon center in the city. It was state of the art and expansive, appearing to have all of the features of a major city's pokemon center. However, it was too ill-placed.

Thus far, in every city he'd been to, the pokemon center had been located within close proximity to the city's official gym. But that wasn't the case in Saffron City. Sabrina's gym was located on the opposite side of Saffron—planted somewhere within the city's northeastern district. That didn't make any sense to Ash. Why would the League set things up that way?

Nevertheless, Ash discarded the unnecessary speculation. They had finally arrived at the Pokemon Center—which meant that it was finally time to meet up with Bill…

"Do you guys see Bill?" asked Austin as he scanned the lively lobby. "I've only seen a few pictures of the guy, and I'm having a tough time remembering what he looks like."

"I don't see him," answered Wallace while also surveying his surroundings, "but remember, he's supposed to be in disguise. I don't know Bill quite as well as I know his father. He's Robert's son, I assume he'll be tough to find. Chances are he'll spot us first."

Simultaneous to Wallace finishing up his statement, Ash, all of a sudden, noticed a lone, brown-haired woman sitting by herself—reading a book in one of the lobby's comfortable lounging areas. Typically, Ash didn't get stuck examining too many random people, but for some reason the brunette seemed familiar. He was certain he'd met her before.

She looked to be in her late twenties, but it was hard to tell her age because of the irrational amount of make-up that was heaped on top of her thin face. She had dark-brown eyes and extremely long lashes: it was pretty evident that they were fake. However, a lot of girls wore fake eye lashes, so Ash didn't think too much about it. Her outfit was rather professional, consisting of a violet colored blouse and a black, draped skirt. She also wore black, pointed toe heels that seemed to fit awkwardly on her wide feet.

Needless to say, she was a strange looking woman. Why did Ash recognize her? Surely he had seen her before.

"Ash, is something wrong?" asked Wallace after watching the ten-year-old boy zone out into oblivion.

Ash shook himself out of his self-inflicted trance. "No, it's just…I feel like I know—"

He suddenly cut off his sentence as the woman looked up from her paperback book. He had to cover his mouth in order to stop himself from making a scene. After all, this quite possibly was the funniest thing he had ever seen. Now that she and her masculine jawline were staring straight at him, it was blatantly obvious to Ash that the woman was none other than Bill in disguise—cross dressing as a young, business women.

"What is it, A—?" asked Wallace before catching a glimpse of Bill himself. The Champion instantly recognized the famous researcher, prior to reacting in a similar manner as the ten-year-old boy.

"What are you guys laughing at?" whispered Austin confusedly as he noticed Growlithe begin to emit a sound that resembled mumbling laughter. "I mean, I know that lady's weird looking, but don't you think you're acting kind of rude?"

Ash and Wallace disregarded Austin's comment while wiping the laughing tears from their eyes. Once they'd gotten themselves under control, they approached Bill, who was glaring at them with fiery eyes.

"Shut it, you bloody prats!" hissed Bill quietly as he slammed his book shut. "You'll blow my cover!"

"Oh my god, don't tell me…" muttered Austin with a flushed face.

"You hit the nail on the head," chuckled Wallace in a quiet intonation as he nonchalantly crossed his arms. "It's been a long time, Bill."

"Yes, yes…good to see you, too, Wallace. Now, hurry up and sit your arse down. You're drawing unwanted attention."

Ash looked around the Center only to notice that Bill was in fact correct. A few of the other trainers in the Pokemon Center had stopped what they were doing in order to pay attention to their group's peculiar display. Ash disregarded it for now and focused back on Bill. Their stares would go away as soon as he and his friends calmed down.

Wallace seemed to relax a little bit as he adjusted his suit—which had gotten ruffled amidst all of the body jerking laughter. Ash was slightly surprised that no one in the Center seemed to recognize Wallace. He was the Champion of a region after all. But then again, Ash hadn't recognized the Champion the first time he'd met him aboard the SS Anne, so maybe it shouldn't have come as a surprise. Hoenn was pretty far away.

Everyone proceeded to sit down before Bill turned his attention towards Ash.

"How's it going, Ash?" asked Bill with care. "You look rather weary in the eyes."

"I haven't been getting very much sleep since the SS Anne," answered Ash with a shrug before smirking at his friend, "but at least I haven't resorted to cross dressing."

"Ha Ha—hilarious," answered Bill sarcastically. "When you hear the Intel I got my hands on, though, you'll be thanking me for dressing up as a bloody munter. I wasn't messing around when I said I'd go completely incognito on the Rocket bastards."

"Apparently…" drawled Wallace in a heckling tone, "I mean, people have given me crap for dressing a little too flamboyant from time to time. But, Bill, you've taken things to the extreme. It's not like Team Rocket expects you to be in Saffron. You could have chosen a million other disguises, but you decided to dress up like a business women."

Ash watched Bill's complexion turn red, from embarrassment, as Wallace gave him a hard time.

"At least this isn't a regular thing," angled Bill while leaning forward. "You wear a bloody cape under your own volition."

"You wear a cape?" asked Austin incredulously as he turned to Wallace. "Don't you think that's kind of lame?"

"It's not a cape!" hissed Wallace in a whisper while becoming as red as Bill. "It's a cloak. There's a difference."

"Don't let him fool you," heckled Bill as he sat up in his chair and pointed at Wallace. "It's a cape. I don't know what it is with you Champions. Lance wears one, too; he has an excuse. His is a cultural tradition of the dragon clan. I don't know why you wear a cape, other than the fact that you enjoy drawing people's attention."

Ash watched Wallace shake his head; he clearly didn't have comeback. Although their bickering hadn't been entirely serious, Ash had a feeling that Bill had slightly irritated the Champion. Ash wasn't shocked, though. Bill had warned him back at the lighthouse that he wasn't the best at making friends. Maybe this was the reason why? Ash never took anything Bill said too seriously, so he usually didn't get offended by what Bill said. Nevertheless, Bill could be a little too blunt from time to time—which definitely rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

"Anyways…" drawled Bill, sensing that it would be a good idea to change the subject, "did you have any luck catching a ghost-type, Ash?"

"I did," replied the ten-year-old boy with a wide grin. "I caught a Haunter. He's pretty awesome."

"Good," answered Bill as he anxiously looked around the Pokemon Center. "You'll need it against Sabrina. She's extra scary right now."

"What do you mean?" asked Ash in a confused manner. "Did you visit her gym?"

"Not exactly…" mumbled Bill while scratching the back of his head, "she actually sort of came to visit me."

"But, what about your disguise?" asked Ash, "how'd she know it was you?"

"Are you kidding me?" Bill scoffed, "that woman is the greatest psychic of this generation. You'd have to be an idiot to think that you'd walk into her city – with the kind of information we have – without her knowing about it."

Wallace and Austin sat up in their chairs as they zeroed in on Bill.

"What did she say?" asked Wallace as he pointed at Bill. "Sabrina Marvil doesn't just visit people for the hell of it. Does she know about our plan?"

"Of course she knows about it," huffed Bill. "Come on, Wallace, you couldn't have possibly thought that she wouldn't find out."

"Kind of," answered Wallace, slightly flushed. "At least, I was hoping she wouldn't…"

Bill raised his eyebrows and shook his head before replying. "Well, I guess it's not your fault. You are from another region. I should have known that you'd underestimate Sabrina. Most of the population of Kanto doesn't even know what she is truly capable of."

"What exactly is she capable of?" Ash asked curiously.

"Her true team is at least elite level, probably just as strong as Agatha's. The only reason she isn't a member of the Elite Four is because she is obsessed with Saffron's protection. Don't get me wrong, she cares about all of Kanto, but she wouldn't bat and eye if she had to choose between Saffron and the rest of the region. She grew up here. It's her home. In addition to her pokemon's strength, she is the most powerful human psychic in the world. Sabrina is rumored to be on equal terms with her most powerful Alakazam—which she only uses against the toughest of challengers. If she were to throw her true power at the trainers that challenge her, I'm afraid she wouldn't be giving away any badges."

Ash gulped as he processed Bill's words. Even though her power would be compromised, he would have to face Sabrina's unbelievable strength in order to walk away from Saffron with the Marsh Badge.

"Okay…" retorted Wallace, "so if Sabrina knows about Team Rocket's plan to attack Silph Co., why hasn't she informed the League?"

Bill smirked, "Because then she would blow our chances at saving my father, whom she shares a strong friendship with. Sabrina and my dad work together, to protect and help govern Saffron. They have a father-daughter relationship or something along those lines. Besides, she's fully aware of your strength, Wallace. Why does she need to call the League, when she has the strongest representative of another region coming to help her?"

"Hold on, let me get this straight…" answered Wallace—void of emotion. "Sabrina's become a part of our plan?"

"Yes," replied Bill, "whether you want her to or not, she will be taking part in our plot to stop Team Rocket and rescue my father. Sabrina made that very clear when she visited me yesterday."

"I see…" mumbled Wallace. "I guess we don't have much of a choice than. We should probably meet with her as soon as possible."

"I agree," said Bill, "but before we do that, I would like to fill you in on the information we have already procured."

"Of course," answered Wallace.

Ash and Austin continued to watch Bill and Wallace with bewildered expressions as they tried to digest all of the information that was being passed between the two extremely important individuals.

Bill crossed his legs and cleared his throat before continuing. "Essentially, Sabrina and I have managed to procure two pivotal tidbits of information."

"And…?" drawled Wallace. "Elaborate please."

Before leaning forward with a smirk, Bill scanned his surroundings to make sure that no one was listening in.

"What if I told you that we figured out the name of the Team Rocket executive that's leading the operation?" whispered Bill.

All three trainers sat up on the edge of their seats as they greatly anticipated what Bill was going to say next.

"Sabrina scraped the name from some cack-handed cock-up that stumbled into one of the central district bars last night," said Bill. "You see, wherever their main force is hiding out, it is protected by numerous psychic-types. We've tried to find their hideout, but have had no luck. Sabrina thinks they're using a legion of psychic pokemon to mess with everybody's brains. The woman can feel a presence, but she can't locate it. She was able to pull some information from the misplaced grunt's mind. Unfortunately, for the most part, he didn't know anything. It's like his mind had already been wiped of anything substantial, possibly an after-effect of leaving this, so-called, psychically protected hideout."

"Wait. I'm confused," interjected Wallace. "How'd she know that this grunt was going to be at the bar?"

Bill shook his head. "The woman's not just a telepathic psychic, but she's also an empath. She's got this whole city under some kind of empathetic link. She can feel the slightest tinge of evil coursing throughout someone's being. She explained it to me, although a lot of it was hard to make sense of. Essentially, we all have traces of evil: greed, selfishness, jealousy...I can keep going, but I think you get the point. Anyways, in essence, we all bear the fallacies of the human race. However, there is a difference between evil of the mind and evil of the heart."

"Evil of the mind is natural. It's part of living in this fallen world. You can't avoid it. Evil of the heart, on the other hand, is different. This is the kind of evil people act on. It's the kind of evil that inflicts pain on everything it comes in contact with. Minor evil buggers possess small traces. Super evil buggers are brimming with this kind of black essence. This is how Sabrina knows there's a psychic barrier concealing the bloody pricks. There's a block in her empathetic link. Something's protecting Team Rocket from being sensed by Sabrina."

"But wait," interrupted Wallace, "shouldn't she be able to locate the psionic block?"

"Hmmm…under normal circumstances, yes, she would be able to," said Bill as he mindlessly played with the pages in his chapter book. "Unfortunately, they've got enough psychic-types to not only conceal their presence but to also scramble their location. The bloody bastards really thought this one through."

"I see…" drawled Wallace with a deep sigh, "but like you said, one of them messed up and ventured outside of Team Rocket's psychic concealment."

"True," said Bill with a shrug. "But, I also said that the barrier stripped nearly everything from his mind. Sabrina immediately sensed his insane levels of corruption with her empathetic link. However, when she interrogated him after taking him into custody, only one thing remained etched into his anima—and that is the name of the executive."

"Which is…?" questioned Wallace.

"Ariana," answered Bill. "Her name is Ariana."

All three trainer's eyes lit up, and their jaws unhinged, as they soaked in what Bill had just said.

Vivid images of the SS Anne tournament grated against Ash's psyche as he remembered the name of the beautiful, burnished-haired emcee. Ash was honestly shell shocked. How could such a gorgeous, charismatic woman be an executive for Team Rocket? Maybe it was just a coincidence? It had to be. True evil couldn't look like that, could it? No. Evil looked more like the Rockets they'd confronted on the SS Anne: Reid, Sid and Jack. Evil couldn't look like Ariana: the delightful figurehead of the SS Anne. If so, she had put up quite a facade

Bill raised an eyebrow, "Does that name mean something to you?"

"Damn…" muttered Austin as he clenched his fists and shook his head. "Could it really be her?"

"It can't be," inserted Ash with a frown. "She was nothing like the other Rockets. It's probably just someone with the same name."

Wallace used his hand to gesture for Ash to be quiet before shaking his head. "I'm afraid it's probably her. It actually makes perfect sense."

"Can somebody please fill me in on what's going on," Bill implored as he leaned forward in his chair—eyes glued on Ash. "Who is this woman?"

Ash cleared his throat before answering. "There was a pokemon tournament aboard the SS Anne. A woman named Ariana was the tournament's emcee, but she didn't seem like the type of person that would work for Team Rocket."

"Listen, Ash," interrupted Wallace, "often times, it's the ones that don't look it that are the worst of the all. Have you ever heard the saying, don't judge a book by its cover?"

"Of course I have," said Ash, "everyone's heard that."

"Well, it doesn't just apply to good stories with bad covers," answered Wallace with narrowed eyes. "Sometimes, it's the books with the most pleasant covers that are filled with atrocious content."

"Deep…" chided Bill sarcastically as he eyed Wallace. "I think he gets the point, Wallace. No need to speak in rhetoric."

Wallace sat up in his chair and huffed, clearly offended. Before continuing, he took a moment to regather his thoughts after Bill's sarcastic remark.

"I guess my point is that, although Ariana seemed like a good person, she was just fooling us. Her cover was perfect. She worked with Robert on a daily basis as part of the tournament committee and used her position opportunistically to gain his trust. The wench lied through her teeth, making Robert feel comfortable until it was time for Team Rocket to strike."

"If that's the case," said Austin while scrunching his eyes in thought. "Why wouldn't she use an alias?"

"In her mind, their probably wasn't any point," inserted Bill. "If what Wallace says is true, she probably thought that everybody that knew her name would be killed in the explosion."

"Exactly," replied Wallace under his breath as he angrily pounded his fist into his palm. "I should have known something was wrong with her! I was so close to her, and I had no idea. Dammit, I could have stopped everything before it even started!"

Austin placed a hand on Wallace's shoulder. "We were all there Champ. Don't beat yourself up over it; it's not your fault."

Ash looked Wallace in the eyes while he spoke with conviction. "He's right. None of us suspected anything of her. If anything, this just proves the lengths at which Team Rocket is willing to go. In order for a Team Rocket Executive to get a position like Ariana's, they must have been planning this operation for years. The SS Anne didn't just let anyone work for them."

"You guys are right," said Wallace with an exasperated sigh. "I just can't help but feel incompetent."

"Oh please, Wallace," spluttered Bill. "You're a bloody Champion. Everyone here knows that you're the farthest thing from incompetent."

"Yeah," muttered Ash. "If you're incompetent, what does that make us?"

"Magikarp," heckled Austin, causing everyone – other than Wallace – to burst out into laughter.

Wallace just sat there without saying a word, more than likely reflecting on the events that took place aboard the SS Anne. Although Wallace had a sense of humor, Ash had spent enough time around him to tell that he was a bound and determined man. It would take a lot more than some reassuring comments, from a couple of kids, to get Wallace's mind off of his failure to see through Ariana's facade.

Bill seemed to catch on to the fact that Wallace needed to be distracted. He set his eyes on Austin before reaching out to shake the teenager's hand. "I'm sorry. Our conversation began before I got a chance to properly introduce myself. I'm Bill Montgomery."

"Nice to meet you, Bill," replied Austin in a confused manner as he shook the young researcher's hand. "I'm Austin."

Ash assumed that the chiseled faced teenager's confusion stemmed from the fact that Bill was just now introducing himself.

"Ah, yes, you're the one Ash mentioned over the phone," said Bill with a quirky smile. "Well, any friend of Ash is a friend of mine. I look forward to getting to know you."

"Same here," retorted Austin while reciprocating an awkward smile.

After Bill had finished introducing himself to Austin, he diverted his gaze back towards Wallace. "Are you going to come back to reality anytime soon? Before we go see Sabrina, I have one more bit of information that I'd like to share with you."

Antecedent to a reply, Wallace shook himself out of his self-inflicted trance. "Of course, sorry, I was just thinking about something. What else have you found out?"

"Something important," replied the researcher. "We can base our entire plan off of what I'm about to share with you."

All three trainers perked up in their seats as they waited for what Bill was about to say.

"Sabrina shares a special kind of empathetic bond with my father. She can perceive all of his thoughts and emotions as if they were her own."

"How's that different than her other empathetic link…?" questioned Wallace.

"Just let me explain," retorted Bill. "Anyways, this special empathetic bond is called empathetic symbiosis. It's something that often forms between a psychic pokemon and their trainer. Essentially, it's an empathy link that develops on account of deep levels of emotional intimacy. Ever since she lost her dad, my old man has been like a second father to Sabrina. I've never really gotten a chance to get to know her, but my parents think of her as a part of the family. My dad was good friends with her late father; he felt like it was his duty to be there for her after her dad's death."

"Hmmm…so Sabrina and Robert are that close, eh?" drawled Wallace. "I wasn't aware of that. So, what exactly does this empathetic symbiosis entail? How does it apply to our plan?"

"It applies to our plan," answered Bill, "because her empathetic symbiosis with my dad is too strong for the Rocket's psychics to distort."

"So you're saying that we can locate the Rocket's base by following Sabrina's empathetic symbiosis," answered Wallace with an energetic rise in his intonation.

"Not exactly," frowned Bill. "Sabrina and I are both under the assumption that they're holding my dad at a different location. On account of the failed attempt to kill everyone aboard the SS Anne, Team Rocket is most likely hesitant about including their henchmen in on the full details of their plan. The less people that know about the details, concerning how the executive is going to steal the Master Ball, the better."

"Besides, they think there plan will be a complete surprise attack. All they think they need to do is attack Silph Co. brainlessly with their main forces, while a small, elite Rocket team sneaks in to steal the Master Ball. If it weren't for Sabrina, they'd get away with it, too. Fortunately, Team Rocket isn't aware of the full extent of Sabrina's prowess. They don't know about her adroitness with empathy."

"I see," answered Wallace. "That would make sense. Have you guys tried to follow this empathetic symbiosis yet? Have you looked for this location?"

"Indeed," retorted Bill. "We think they're holding my dad in an abandoned warehouse, within Saffron's northwestern district. That's where Sabrina's empathetic bond with my father leads to."

"So, you're pretty set on their being two locations, eh?" asked Austin. "I mean…don't you think you're putting a little too much weight into that?"

"Maybe," said Bill with a shrug, "but it makes the most sense. The warehouse that Sabrina's empathetic symbiosis leads to isn't very big, and this has to be a large operation. Even if Silph Co. won't be guarded by authentic ACE trainers, they're still trainees for a reason. Each one of them is worth at least three or four Rocket grunts."

"Therefore, if Team Rocket is who we think they are, they're more than likely bringing at least three hundred grunts...probably more. They want my dad's bloody Master Ball. That much was made clear by what they did to the SS Anne. Team Rocket will not come unprepared, we need to do whatever we can to stop them. We may be acting on a whim. But, if that whim gives us a chance to get my father back, and cause a major blow to the bloody rotters, we have to take it. There's no other choice."

"I understand," replied Austin, "you're right."

"What do you think, Wallace?" asked Bill.

"I think that there's a good chance you're right," answered Wallace. "And even if you aren't, it wouldn't change how we should handle this situation."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Bill with a raised eyebrow.

Ash leaned over and scratched Growlithe behind the ears, who had been sitting patiently throughout the entirety of the conversation, as he waited to hear Wallace's proposition.

Wallace shook his head, "It doesn't make sense to talk about a plan until we meet with Sabrina. Besides, we're being careless. We shouldn't be talking about such serious matters in public. I'll share my idea later. For now, let's get our pokemon restored by Nurse Joy. I have a feeling they're going to need to be at full-strength. There's a storm coming."

"A storm?" asked Ash.

Wallace nodded before surveying everyone with his eyes. "The storm's name is Team Rocket. It is best we prepare. Whatever strategy we come up with, one things for certain, tomorrow there will be a battle. Don't be fooled, we will all be pushed to our limits."

Everyone stared ahead intently—anxiety evident in their collective disposition.

XXX

As they exited the Pokemon Center, they were nearly blinded by a sudden flash of silvery light. It penetrated Ash's pupils, causing them to drastically contract like parchment at the touch of flame.

"What the hell was that!?" blurted Austin as he too was evidently affected by the incandescent surge.

"I don't know," answered Ash in between awkwardly concentrated blinks, "it kind of looked like a pokeball release."

"It wasn't," inserted Wallace while rubbing out his eyes. "It was some kind of supernatural energy."

"Sabrina…" groaned Bill, "I think it was Sabrina's teleportation."

"Hello again, Bill Montgomery," said a soft, toneless female voice present amidst the temporary blinding light, "Wallace Mikari, Austin Turner, Ash Ketchum, hello to you as well."

While listening to Bill reply, Ash repetitively scrunched his eyes in attempt to regain his eyesight. His current status distracted him from giving a response.

"Bloody hell, Sabrina," grumbled Bill, clearly peeved, "what are you trying to do, blind us?"

"No. I wasn't," retorted the monotonous voice that belonged to Sabrina. "Although blindness would relieve your friends' minds from the grotesque image of the disguise you are wearing."

While his vision finally started to defog, Ash couldn't help but snicker at Sabrina's curt jab. It was still difficult to get a clear picture, but Ash could see an obscured image of a woman standing in front of him. She looked to be about average height for a female adult, albeit she appeared to be somewhat frail. That didn't shock Ash, though. Just like most psychic pokemon, Ash assumed that human psychics were probably weak in stature. Almost all of their strength came from their minds.

Psychic pokemon, who were natural wielders of the mystic, cognitive element, were practically required to spend countless hours in meditation, honing their craft in order to become adequate. Humans had to nearly double the hard work of a psychic-type in order to even breach the surface of their latent psionic potential. This type of mental training didn't leave room for conquests of the body. Sabrina, more than likely, had to completely forfeit her physical fitness to be able to reach her unmatched psychic capabilities.

"I see you're as pleasant as ever," angled Bill while rubbing his eyes. "Now tell me, why have you come out here? We were just about to head over to your gym? We have a lot of things to discuss."

"Hence the reason I am here," replied Sabrina, "I thought I would save you the time and energy. I've come to pick you up; we will be traveling to the gym by means of teleportation."

Once his vision had shifted back into focus, Ash looked over Saffron's famous gym leader. She was actually way prettier than Ash would have expected, although her distant pink eyes were slightly off-putting. The young woman wasn't quite as frail as Ash had thought she was. Sabrina was skinny, however, she wasn't bony. In fact, her body resembled that of an inverted triangle. Her chest was well-endowed, her hips were narrow, and her waist wasn't well-defined by any means.

Sabrina's facial features were fine and unlined. She only wore a small amount of make-up, and in Ash's opinion, she didn't necessarily need it. Her skin was flawless and unblemished, although she was rather pale. Not that it was a bad thing. As a matter of fact, her pale skin made her look delicate and royal, almost like an Edo era princess. Her hair was jet-black, shoulder-length, and styled in a blowout. As she looked at them with a detached expression, the curls at the end of her hair sat perfectly atop her bare shoulders.

Her outfit was rather simple and casual. She wore a light-pink spaghetti strap tank top that ended just below her belly-button and a pair of white skinny jeans. Fastened around her waist was a thick, black trainer belt with at least a dozen different kinds of pokeballs clipped around its circumference—most notably a couple of pristine ultra balls. Her outfit was completed by a pair of light pink tennis shoes that matched her top.

Once Ash was done looking Sabrina over, he took a step forward in order to introduce himself to the powerful gym leader.

She instantaneously gestured for him to stop in his tracks as she spoke up, "We will avoid introductions until we are back at the Gym, Ash Ketchum. I do not sense any malignant intent within close proximity. However, Team Rocket is precarious. I'd rather not stay here any longer than necessary."

Ash gulped. The fact that Sabrina was more than likely observing his thoughts made him feel awfully uncomfortable. He proceeded to nod his head before diverting his attention towards Wallace, who had seemingly shaken off the blinding effects of Sabrina's teleportation.

"How would you like to do this, Sabrina?" asked the Champion. "Typically, teleportation requires physical contact. Would you like us to link arms or something?"

"That won't be necessary," answered Sabrina with vacant eyes. "My power stretches beyond rudimentary laws such as that one. Stand still. We will arrive at the gym momentarily."

"Okay—" Wallace managed to splutter as he was cut off by Sabrina's abrupt, blazing eyes. They fluctuated between the colors pink and purple while emanating an intense aura.

Between blinks, within a fraction of a second, they were all elsewhere. Ash's vision was once again briefly disoriented, and his stomach was slightly nauseous. It was reminiscent of how he felt when he was teleported by the clefable envoy back at Mt. Moon. On account of the collective groan, it appeared that everyone was having the same adverse reaction to the teleportation except for Sabrina, who was quiet amidst the choir of empty disgorge.

"That bloody sucked!" blurted Bill as he stood up from a keeled over position. "I forget how awful teleportation feels."

"It isn't exactly pleasant to have the energy in all of your nuclei ripped apart and put back together," answered Sabrina. "Nevertheless, you get used to it with repetition. The side-effects will go away in about a minute. It doesn't take too long for your energy to replenish."

As Ash's vision corrected itself, he looked around at his surroundings. They were in an enclosed, medium-sized, rectangular shaped room. In the center lay a far-reaching, oval shaped conference table. There were probably close to twenty chairs neatly pushed in and arranged around its perimeter. In addition, the walls were brown and void of décor. The only color in the room was the indigo, marble tile that covered the floor.

"Where are we?" asked Austin in a confused intonation. "This doesn't look like the Saffron Gym."

"It is," replied Sabrina, "this is my meeting room. I meet with my gym trainers and visiting League Officials in here. I figured it would be a good place to talk about the upcoming events."

Austin simply nodded as he and the rest of the group continued to examine the Saffron City Gym's meeting room.

"Shall we engage in introductions?" asked Sabrina. "Every second counts. As Bill Montgomery said earlier, we have a lot to discuss."

Ash had only been around the psychic virtuoso for a couple of minutes, and he could already tell she was peculiar. She spoke almost like a machine, bearing an uncanny tonal resemblance to a female artificial intelligence. Her posture was kind of stiff, albeit all of her movements were efficient. Sabrina didn't seem like the kind of person that ever wasted a step. The thing Ash noticed the most, though, was her countenance. It never changed. Her expression was always empty of emotion, similar to his stone-faced squirtle.

Sabrina approached Wallace first before reaching out to shake the Champion's hand. "Champion Wallace, nice to finally meet you. With your help, I look forward to squashing this Team Rocket operation."

"Hello, Sabrina," replied the Champion with an awkward smirk. "I'm happy to be able to help. Team Rocket doesn't stand a chance."

"That they do not," retorted Sabrina expressionlessly, anterior to moving on to acknowledge Ash.

"Greetings, Ash Ketchum," nodded Sabrina while suddenly depicting her first hint of emotion towards the group.

Sabrina expressed a slight smile before holding out an open palm. "Can I have your hand please? Your relationship with your memories is rather interesting. Your mind is still developing, yet your maturation is confounding. With your permission, I would like to perform a palm reading."

"Um…sure," replied Ash, slightly abashed. He raised his hand up to Sabrina's before gently resting it on top of her palm. Her hand was cold and soft. For the first time, Ash noticed her silver painted finger nails.

"Do not worry," murmured Sabrina, "I will not disclose any information unless you ask. This is simply to satisfy my own curiosity."

"Okay then…go ahead," answered Ash.

Although he wasn't exactly keen on getting his palm read, Ash didn't want to rock the boat. As long as she didn't share too much with him – or anyone else for that matter – he figured there was no harm in allowing Sabrina to look into his future. When he looked around at his friends, he could tell that they were interested as well. Bill seemed to have gotten to know Sabrina the past couple of days, and he wasn't trying to stop her. Therefore, Ash figured he would be just fine. Bill and Wallace would have asked Sabrina to refrain if they were skeptical.

Anyhow, with Ash's permission, Sabrina proceeded to examine his palm. She started at the base of his middle finger and worked down, following a faded palm line all the way down to Ash's wrist. The dark-haired boy watched as Sabrina suddenly lifted her hand from his own before hovering it back over to where she originally begun. Ash didn't know anything about chiromancy, but he figured she was about to begin the actual reading. The human psychic once again pressed down on the same palm line, except this time, she only used her first two fingers. She carefully brushed her fingers down his palm, spontaneously stopping along the way. Throughout the process, Ash watched her facial disposition. It was stuck like a statue, depicting nothing but sober-mindedness. There was a slight glow within her irises, albeit it wasn't auroral like when she had performed her teleportation.

"Are you seeing anything interesting?" queried Bill, interrupting the unmediated silence.

Sabrina remained focused on Ash's palm as she answered Bill undemonstratively, "I've chosen to ignore all but his fate line. It's all that I'm interested in. The rest I can read through his memories and psyche."

"Err...and how's that going?" stammered Ash.

"I'm not finished," retorted Sabrina. "Your fate line is unwonted. I've read thousands of lines of destiny, and I've only ever seen one other like it, whose identity I have sworn not to reveal."

"Is that a good thing?" asked Ash with a frown, ignoring the sworn secret, "or…not?"

"That's for you to decide," answered Sabrina. "I didn't actually look into any of the events that your fate line alludes to. Something powerful is telling me that I shouldn't. However, I can say this. You will have a monumental impact on our world, whether you want to or not. Be prepared for anything. Fate has a lot in store for you."

Ash gulped as he soaked in Sabrina's words. Fate was a scary thing, what could it possibly want with him? If Sabrina was reluctant to look into his future, it couldn't be good. But, then again, maybe he was wrong. Maybe, it was good. He couldn't know for sure, all he could really do was wait. Time would eventually unveil what destiny had in store for him.

Sabrina's irises ceased their glow as she lifted her fingers from Ash's palm, "Very interesting. I look forward to watching you grow. Thank you for being brave. That is all for now, although it seems this reading has had the opposite effect of my original desire. My curiosity has only grown towards you."

"Err...no problem," replied Ash as a question pierced through his mind.

The dark-haired boy didn't even get to open his mouth before Sabrina replied to his thought.

"Like I said earlier, I chose not to perform a reading on your other palm lines because it wasn't necessary. You have a strong personality. Other than the line of fate, most of the palm lines pertain to character and personality. Yours is very, very strong. There is no need to examine the other palm lines because your entire being radiates who you are, unparalleled to any other child your age that I have ever encountered."

"I see…" drawled Ash, "that's a lot to take in, especially since I don't feel all that special."

"Ah...but the fact that that was your response," said Sabrina, "only proves that my analysis of you is correct. I could have guessed that you would respond with humbleness. It is a part of your confounding maturity."

"Just take the praise," said Austin as he placed a friendly hand on Ash's shoulder. "She's pretty much calling you a prodigy. You couldn't ask for a higher compliment."

"Austin is right," inserted Wallace, "you are incredible for your age, Ash, and it doesn't take a psychic to know that."

"I can second that," replied Bill. "Look at the pokemon you've procured in less than two months, it's almost unheard of. You're well on your way to becoming a master. Just apply yourself and see what happens."

"Thanks guys," replied Ash, "I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything at all," retorted Wallace. "We're just stating what we've seen firsthand. There is no reason to thank us for that."

"What he said," added Austin with fiery eyes, "I just can't wait until you get a couple of years under your belt. That way, we can have a battle on more equal terms. Who knows, maybe one of these days we can even compete in the same league."

"That would be awesome!" blurted Ash.

Vivid images of himself facing off against his older friend flooded throughout his psyche, causing his countenance to outwardly gleam.

"Speaking of battles," interrupted Sabrina, "your memories say that you are also in Saffron City for a gym battle."

"I am," retorted Ash with a smile. "It'll be my third gym battle."

"I'm well aware of that," replied the psychic virtuoso, "however, I'm afraid now is not the best time. It would be better if we wait until after we have handled this Team Rocket ordeal. That way your mind is clear, and your pokemon are at full-strength to fend off the enemy. Besides, I'm under the assumption that you still have a bit of training to do. After we dismantle this Team Rocket operation, you should work with your Clefairy. It is essential that she learns how to deal with a psychic assailment, although my words are just meant to help persuade. I know that you are already aware of what you must do."

"I was already planning on waiting to challenge you," muttered Ash as he ignored the fact that Sabrina was actively reading his mind. "I can wait a couple of days. Right now, this operation comes first. Also, you're right. I do need to work with Clefairy on defense against psychics. I got so caught up teaching her Stored Power, the past couple of days, that I forgot to look into how to create mental barriers."

"Leave that to me," answered Sabrina monotonously. "I will teach you how to train your pokemon to defend against psychics. It's the least I can do. You are helping me protect my city after all."

Ash's jaw dropped. Sabrina, the most powerful human psychic in the world, was going to teach him how to protect his pokemons' minds against mental assailments, but why? Why would Sabrina offer to help a challenger prior to their battle? It seemed sort of counter-productive. What exactly was her motive?

"I wouldn't necessarily say I have a motive," said Sabrina, reading Ash's mind once again. "If anything, I'd say that I merely wish to help. Mental barriers are easy to put up when you know what you are doing. But, if done incorrectly, it can take ages. Ask your friends, they would agree."

"She's right…" muttered Austin, "it took me forever to help my pokemon put up the mental barriers. It wasn't until I caught Golduck that I really learned how to do it. The best way to put up defenses against psychics is with the help of one."

"It's a rather short process with a psychics help," added Wallace. "It pretty much requires the exposure of psychic essence. It's very possible to do it without a psychic. However, it's a much longer process that requires hours of meditation. Exposure to a psychic-type quickens the process, sort of like how the body's immune system creates antibodies when exposed to fragmented bacteria. The brain is part of the body after all. You can think of this psychic exposure kind of like a vaccine. It'll artificially give your pokemons' minds the ability to create the barriers."

"Very well put, Champion Wallace," said Sabrina before diverting her attention back towards Ash. "So, will you accept my help?"

Ash didn't need to think it over. The offer was way too good to pass up. "Of course I will. Thank you so much."

"Good," retorted Sabrina, "now back to the introductions. We will discuss this subject more in-depth once we've rid of Team Rocket's presence in my city."

"Absolutely," said Ash as he watched Sabrina abruptly shift her gaze over to Austin.

"Austin Turner—longtime no see," said Sabrina while holding out her hand.

"You remember me," replied Austin with a surprised look on his face, prior to shaking Sabrina's delicate hand. "I could have sworn you didn't recognize me."

"I don't forget anything," replied the gym leader with a hint of pride in her eyes. "Besides, I could never forget that golduck of yours, quite the unforgettable specimen."

"Thanks," retorted Austin with a smirk. "Golduck's grown a lot since I challenged you."

"Your memories say so," said Sabrina, "It will be a valuable asset against Team Rocket."

"Ah, so you guys do know each other?" interrupted Wallace. "I figured as much."

"Yes. We have met," replied Sabrina with vacant eyes. "Austin Turner came to my gym a couple of years ago seeking the Marsh Badge. We had a four-on-four match. He won. Austin Turner was the only rookie, with more than three badges, to beat me that year. Although other than my hypno, I didn't use any pokemon from my true team. Nonetheless, it was an impressive feat. Hypno alone is enough to wipe the floor with most veteran challengers."

Austin scratched the back of his head sheepishly as a result of the praise. "Eh, I probably got lucky. Anyways, it's nice to see you again, Sabrina."

"Nice to see you as well," spoke Sabrina before pivoting her attention over to Bill, who she glanced over with a judgmental eye.

"What?" asked Bill snootily, "is there something you'd like to say?"

"Nothing…I just can't get over your abominable disguise," chided an expressionless Sabrina, prior to addressing everyone. "Anyways, shall we take a seat? We have a lot to discuss."

In response to Sabrina's suggestion, everyone took a seat at one end of the conference table. One look at Bill, and Ash could clearly tell that he was desperately trying to refrain from a snide remark. It appeared that the famous researcher had realized that the forthcoming meeting was more important than his pride.

"Now, where do you suppose we should start?" asked Wallace, initiating the discussion.

"Right before we left the Pokemon Center, you said you had a plan," replied Bill while shifting back to his normal, intuitive disposition. "How about we start there?"

"Yes, Champion Wallace," inserted Sabrina, "if you have a suggestion, I would love to hear it."

"Very well," answered Wallace, "this plan is reliant upon the idea that there are two Rocket hideouts in the city: one where they're keeping Robert, and the other, where their main forces for this operation reside."

"I see, so you believe there are two locations as well," answered Sabrina.

"According to all of the information Bill has already given me, yes, I believe there are most likely two locations."

"Interesting," murmured Sabrina, "I can see this plan floating amongst your thoughts. It is bold, but it just might work."

"How about you fill the rest of us non-psychics in then," groaned Bill with a look of irritation.

Ash leaned forward in his chair as he anticipated Wallace's words.

"Well…" drawled Wallace, "in order for this plan to go smoothly, we'll need two teams…"

XXX

"At this rate, he's going to be a monster," praised Wallace as he watched Ash's muscular squirtle spin throughout the air like a propeller.

"He's got a real knack for close combat," said Ash with a grin. "I can't wait until he evolves. He's going to make one hell of a wartortle."

It had been about an hour since their meeting concerning Team Rocket, and Ash wanted to do a little bit of training with Squirtle. The turtle pokemon had gotten the least amount of work throughout the past couple of days, and he wasn't very happy about it. The ten-year-old boy had decided that they would use a portion of today to master Rapid Spin; Squirtle was close to completely grasping it after all.

Besides, Ash was hoping that Squirtle would evolve soon. The more work they put in the faster it would happen. Squirtle had great endurance, so Ash figured that a good training session wouldn't tire him out for tomorrow's mission. It's not like he was sparring. They were just doing some technique training in hopes that Rapid Spin could be ready by tomorrow.

After listening to Wallace's proposition, they could use every bit of extra power that they could acquire…

As Squirtle emerged from his shell, Ash approached the somewhat disoriented water-type. Although it wasn't nearly as bad as when Ash had first started teaching Squirtle Rapid Spin, the stony-faced turtle was still battling the dizzying side-effects. The pokedex revealed that Squirtle's internal recoil would go away in due time, albeit Ash hoped it dissipated sooner rather than later. Rapid Spin would be a formidable technique once finished, and Ash wanted nothing more than to have it as an option against Team Rocket.

"Is it becoming more natural?" asked Ash with a curious eye. "Are you feeling any better?"

Squirtle nodded his head before tensing his leg muscles in preparation to launch into another Rapid Spin.

"Stop, Squirtle," commanded Ash. "Take a breather. Rest is part of the process. We'll pick it up again in a couple of minutes."

The turtle pokemon let out a noise that was similar to that of an aggravated groan before relaxing his contracted muscles. It was pretty apparent that Squirtle wanted to continue to develop Rapid Spin. Nevertheless, Ash knew what was best. It wasn't beneficial to continue to procure any more disequilibrium within Squirtle's vestibular system. A few moments rest, to gain sufficient balance, would be the best course of action.

"Don't complain," muttered Ash lightly, "you know I'm right. There's plenty of time left in the day. No need to spin yourself sick."

For a short moment, Squirtle looked at Ash inexpressively before obediently sitting down cross-legged. It was rather clear that Squirtle was annoyed. The water-type had a lot of pride, and he didn't like the fact that he was being slowed down on account of something trivial like dizziness.

"Two minutes," said Ash, "that's all I'm asking for. After two minutes, you are more than welcome to start at it again."

Squirtle's agitated eyes seemed to lighten a bit. He could wait, two minutes wasn't very long after all.

"You've got quite the iron-willed water-type," snickered Wallace with a smile. "He definitely has the drive to be a great one."

"That's for sure," answered Ash as he turned away from his squirtle. "Iron-willed and poker-faced, those two words explain Squirtle in a nutshell."

The turtle pokemon crossed his arms and followed their conversation with his eyes. His vision was still a little blurry because of all of the Rapid Spins. However, with every second that passed by, he was starting to feel a little less flushed. The recovery time was most definitely diminishing. Soon it would be vacant, leaving him capable of using Rapid Spin at will without any repercussions.

"Ash, can I talk to you real quick while Squirtle's resting?" asked Wallace as he grasped the ten-year-old's shoulder.

"Of course…what is it?" asked Ash with a curious disposition.

"I just want to talk about your role in this operation," said Wallace. "Are you sure you're up for it? I'm aware that I have given you and Austin a lot of responsibility, but I don't want you to feel like you're obligated to participate. The ACE trainer trainees are more than strong enough to handle your team's job on their own.

"To be quite frank, they don't need you or Austin. That being said, no matter your age, you have a right to help. You've been exposed to Team Rocket; you've seen what they can do. Ash, you no longer are oblivious to the anguish of this world. A pokemon trainer that has seen the face of evil and chosen not to run can no longer be looked at as a child."

Ash didn't think twice. "I want to help. Even if they don't need me, I need to be there. I'm strong enough to fight."

A small smile formed across Wallace's face. "That's what I thought. You're a brave kid, Ash. No doubt about it."

"Thanks," muttered Ash as he bashfully scratched the back of his head.

Even though Ash was nervous, he was kind of looking forward to taking on Team Rocket. The ten-year-old boy needed to face them. He needed to confront the fear that was welling up inside him. The past three days had been brimming with intrusive thoughts and anxiety. Ash needed tomorrow in order to cinch his nerves. The anticipation was killing him. Until he came face-to-face with the organization that mercilessly blew up the SS Anne, he wouldn't be able to step forward with confidence. Simply put, this was a test. Destiny was testing his fortitude. How would he fare? He had to know.

Ash's thoughts were interrupted when he saw Squirtle stand up out of the corner of his eye. Although his facial expression was lifeless, the turtle pokemon's eyes portrayed vigor. He was ready to continue his training.

"Well, that's all I had to say," muttered an amused Wallace. "I'll let you get back to your training."

"Alright," answered Ash, "thanks for your concern, Wallace. It means a lot."

"Concern comes with friendship," replied Wallace as he began to make his way back to the gym's lounge.

"That's for sure," replied Ash before Wallace's proximity grew too far to speak in his natural intonation. In precedence to Wallace exiting the gym's tile based arena, which Sabrina had given him permission to use, Ash had an idea, "Hey, Wallace, wait up!"

Right before exiting the expansive room, the turquoise haired Champion briskly turned around. "What is it!?"

"Squirtle's a water-type, and you're a water-type master!" howled Ash—hands wrapped around his mouth like a megaphone

Wallace started to walk back towards Ash as he guessed the boy's forthcoming request. "And…?"

"Could you give me some pointers, Wallace?" queried Ash with conviction.

"I was starting to think you'd never ask," said Wallace with a smile. "Of course, I'd love to help."

"What do you say, Squirtle?" questioned Ash. "How would you feel about some pointers from the greatest water pokemon trainer on the planet?"

Squirtle's facial expression depicted indifference, albeit his eyes gleamed with interest. Ash had spent enough time with his water-type to know that he was excited. It was time to master Rapid Spin and procure as much wisdom from Wallace as possible. They would need it against Team Rocket.

XXX

"Who would have thought that the Saffron Gym had rooms?" questioned Austin as he threw himself onto one of the two twin beds.

"Not only is this a gym, but it is also my home," answered Sabrina tonelessly, "I had this room arranged for you two last week. As I said earlier, I have been aware of your arrival for quite some time."

The room was medium-sized and rather plain. Ash didn't mind the lack of embellishment, though. At least he had a bed to sleep in. Well, even if he didn't stay at the gym, he would have slept fine. Their original plan was to stay at the Pokemon Center. Even Bill was unaware of the fact that the Saffron Gym had rooms that they could stay in. In fact, Bill was offended that Sabrina hadn't mentioned it to him before now. It was pretty clear that Sabrina either didn't like Bill or highly enjoyed messing with him. Whatever the case, it was amusing.

Other than the two twin beds, the only other noteworthy things in the room were a small portable desk that supported a desktop monitor and a quaint, frizzy, purple rug in the center of the room. As Ash sat down on his one person bed, he sighed. The lack of sleep, over the past couple of nights, had him instantly yearning to crawl under the covers. If Austin didn't mind the ethereal presence in the room, maybe Ash would let Haunter eat his dreams tonight. A dreamless sleep sounded pretty good to the tired ten-year-old.

"I'll leave you two to settle in," said Sabrina with vacant eyes. "My chef will have dinner ready shortly. Feel free to use the computer if you wish."

"Sounds good!" blurted Austin as he stretched out in his bed.

"Thanks, Sabrina," answered Ash, "how will we know when dinner's ready?"

The dark-haired boy hadn't had anything substantial to eat since breakfast, and his stomach definitely wasn't happy about it. It was blatantly clear that everyone in the room could hear his belly's pleas for sustenance. However, there were no reactions from Austin or Sabrina. The psychic virtuoso didn't really show any emotion towards anything, and Austin had no room to judge. His stomach was protesting just as loudly maybe even more so.

"I'll send Wallace or Bill," replied Sabrina monotonously.

Ash affirmatively nodded his head as Austin gave Sabrina a dopey thumbs-up.

"Okay," said Sabrina as she began to back out of the room. "I am going to go now. I need to have a quick conversation with Wallace and Bill concerning tomorrow. There are a lot of components of this plan that still need to be put in motion."

"Alrighty," drawled Austin, "see you in a bit."

Ash simply waved, not seeing the need to say goodbye with his words. Sabrina was probably reading his mind anyway. Besides, it wasn't like anyone was actually going anywhere. They would all be reconvening soon for dinner, which Ash couldn't wait for.

After Sabrina left the room, there was a brief moment of silence before Austin spoke up. "So, what do you think, dude?"

"About?" queried Ash, even though he was rather certain he knew what Austin was talking about.

Austin emitted an exasperated sigh. "This plan…I can't get my mind off of it. There are a lot of ifs and not a lot of facts. I'm a little worried, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am," replied Ash, "but it's the best course of action. We don't have very much information to go off of."

"I know…" drawled Austin, "but still...Team Rocket's been dormant for a long time, who knows what they have at their disposal? We can't take them lightly. I know you and I should be up against grunts, but how can we know for sure? We've got to be ready for anything."

"I agree," answered Ash, "that's why we've got to stick together like Wallace said. The trainees should be able to take on anything that's out of our league. If we have each other's backs, we should be fine."

"To be honest, it's not us that I'm worried about," said Austin.

"Huh?" questioned Ash—confused. "If you're not worried about us, what are you worried about?"

"Everyone..."

"Everyone?" asked Ash, "what do you mean everyone?"

"Well…" mumbled Austin, "if things go awry, who knows what kind of damage will be accumulated. Ash, were in the middle of a freaking city. Think of all the people. We may know that the location of the warehouse they are holding Robert in is isolated, but what about the other hideout? Where the hell is it? We're relying on Growlithe and any other ACE trainer trainees' tracking pokemon to find it."

He paused.

"Dude, what if it's in the middle of the city? What the hell do we do then? So many people could get hurt. Pokemon battles are one thing, but this is different. Our pokemon are going to be fighting with all they got. The aftermath could be catastrophic."

Ash was surprised to say the least. Austin was usually calm and level-headed, but right now the teenager was legitimately distressed. He was thinking of things that Ash hadn't really considered beforehand. They hadn't even talked about these different scenarios in the meeting. All of their discussions had implied that Team Rocket was probably hiding out in the outskirts of the city. If they were located in the heart of Saffron things could get really ugly.

This was a top-secret operation...not even the League knew about it. Ash assumed that Sabrina had yet to inform the ACE trainer trainees; they hadn't arrived after all. There were a lot of ifs, ands, and buts—almost nothing was concrete. The citizens had no idea what was about to happen. Team Rocket had no idea what was about to happen. And unfortunately, they themselves had no idea what was going to happen. There only edge was that they knew there would be a battle. Hopefully, it didn't come with too many repercussions.

"All we can do is fight and protect what's in front of us," muttered Ash, "the rest will just have to fall into place...it has to. Because, honestly, we won't know the answer to any of it until it's staring us straight in the face."

Austin released another long sigh, "I guess you're right…I mean, no matter what, the plan we have is all we've got. Worrying about it doesn't really do us any good."

"Exactly," replied Ash.

"But…" bemoaned Austin, "there is one thing that's been eating at me for the past couple of days. It's really freaking me out."

"What is it?" asked Ash as he sat up on the edge of his bed.

"Err…it's just," mumbled Austin, "Why do you think Team Rocket is so desperate to get their hands on the Master Ball? What kind of messed up motive could they possibly have?"

Ash had thought about it briefly before now, but had discarded the thought immediately. Whatever reason Team Rocket had for destroying the SS Anne and infiltrating Silph Co. couldn't be all that rational. Although it would be interesting to find out if they had a concrete plan for the almighty capture device, Ash sort of just figured that they were after it for power's sake.

"Do you think that they're after it with something specific in mind?" asked Ash.

"I mean, why else would they go after it?" questioned Austin as he pulled on his hair. "Why would they choose now to reveal themselves? There's got to be a reason. Why would they go to such lengths for the Master Ball? They freaking kidnapped Robert Montgomery, Ash. And in order to do it, they blew up the damn SS Anne. Who in their right mind does that for a capture device? No, I don't believe it. There's something bigger going on here. They're after something, and it doesn't stop at Silph Co. There's something specific they need the Master Ball for…but what is it?"

"Now that you mention it, why would they—"

Austin's eyes lit up as he interrupted. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"

"What!?" blurted Ash unable to ignore Austin's course language. "What is it!?"

"I hope I'm wrong…" bemoaned Austin, "but it's the only thing that makes sense."

"Come on. Tell me," implored Ash, "what is it?"

"...I have a feeling they're after something Legendary…"

"Legendary? But Legendaries are legendary for a reason. They're supposed to be nearly impossible to find let alone catch."

Austin shook his head. "It doesn't mean it's impossible. People have captured some of the lesser Legendaries before."

"I know that, but—"

"Ash, why else would they need the Master Ball?" interjected Austin. "Think about it. After all of the heinous things they've done over the years, they disappeared. All of a sudden, they're back and they're after a capture device that is exponentially stronger than an ultra ball. Dude, they're going to freaking use it to catch a Legendary. What other explanations are there?"

Ash had to admit, Austin's logic made a lot of sense. Moreover, if Austin was right, their mission just became a lot more pivotal than it already was. That was a scary thought. A lot rode on this top-secret operation. If Team Rocket got their hands on the Master Ball, not only would they acquire an almighty capture device, but they would also hold the key to wielding any pokemon that they desired. They had to warn the adults; they needed to know.

"We have to go tell Wallace!" spluttered Ash. "You're right, there's something more to this plot."

"Don't bother," said Austin with a sigh. "He probably already knows…"

Ash raised an eyebrow. "If he knows, why wouldn't he have told us?"

"Because," said Austin as he rolled his eyes, "no matter how much they praise us for being strong, for our age, they can't help but see us as kids. They probably didn't want to worry us. Ash, there is some weird stuff going on here; so many questions. Sabrina, Wallace, and Bill are aware of the stakes that are involved with this mission. They have to be, especially Sabrina. That woman is too strong of a psychic to not be aware of all of the scenarios. Despite the risks, there's a reason she is going along with Wallace's plan. I'm worried because of the people, but so is Sabrina. This city means everything to her. She wouldn't let us fight in it unless she had no other choice."

Ash took a deep breath before answering. "Dammit, Austin, what have we gotten ourselves into?"

"I don't freaking know," answered Austin, "but whatever it is, tomorrow's just the beginning. Wallace was lying. There's not a storm coming. There's many…"

Ash had a short moment to soak in Austin's comment before there was a loud knock on the door. It caused both boys to jolt on account of the intensely foreboding conversation.

"Ash, Austin—supper!" bellowed Bill's boisterous, well-cultured voice from the other side of the door.

Ash stood up from his bed and walked over to the door. He proceeded to open it, revealing Bill's normal chassis and depiction. He had gotten rid of the disguise, for now, choosing to roam the gym in some casual garments. Ash thought it was strange seeing Bill in normal attire. Including the disguise, he'd never actually seen the man wear anything close to the word casual.

"So that's what you normally look like," drawled Austin as he lifted himself out of bed.

"Yup," replied Bill, "believe it or not, I don't always look like a bloody munter."

"What does that even mean?" asked Austin with a curious eye.

"Don't worry about it," replied Bill. "You're too young to comprehend my intelligent articulation."

"That's not true," said the familiar, silvery voice of Wallace as he suddenly entered the room. "I'm just as old as you, and I don't understand half the words that come out of your mouth."

Wallace was wearing the same semi-formal attire as earlier, albeit his long turquoise colored hair had been tied back into a ponytail. His demeanor looked tired; Ash figured that the quick meeting the Champion had just had with Sabrina and Bill had exhausted him.

"Maybe I just have a phenomenal vocabulary," replied Bill in a snooty voice. "You should probably brush up on your word choice. Spend some time in a dictionary or better yet a thesaurus. It would do wonders for your intellect."

"What's the point in that?" asked Austin, "if nobody else understands what the hell you're saying."

"Not to mention the fact that I'm pretty sure some of the words you use aren't even real words," inserted Wallace.

"Psht, whatever!" blurted Bill. "Anyways, we should probably head over to the dining hall before Sabrina skewers us with her mind."

Ash had to admit, he was amused by his friends' peculiar antics. However, he couldn't help but dwell on what he and Austin had spoken about earlier. Is it possible that Team Rocket was planning something even bigger? We're Bill and Wallace keeping information from them? Or, at the very least, fabricating the truth in order to squelch their anxiety?

Ash was brought back to reality as Bill waved a hand in front of Ash's bemused face.

"Hello…earth to, Ash," drawled Bill in attempt to procure the boy's attention. "You've barely said two words since opening the door. Is something wrong?"

Wallace gave Ash a curious glance while Austin shot him a look that portrayed disconcertion. It was rather apparent that Austin knew what was troubling Ash and didn't want him sharing their conversation from earlier.

"Err…yeah. I'm fine, just tired," lied Ash, "can we go eat now?"

Bill shrugged, whereas Wallace gave Ash a look that depicted that he knew Ash wasn't telling the truth.

"Yeah, let's go!" exclaimed Bill with excited eyes. "I'm bloody starving!"

As they exited the room, Austin quietly whispered something in Ash's ear without Wallace and Bill noticing. "Keep our conversation between us."

Ash understood Austin's reason for staying quiet. Although Ash didn't actually think that Wallace and Bill would take them off of the mission if they were to disclose that they were aware of Team Rocket's true intention, it was still possible. If Austin's assumption was correct, and Team Rocket was after a Legendary, than this business about Team Rocket wouldn't be solved after Silph Co...Team Rocket had a deeper agenda, and their return would most likely result in many more operations such as this one.

Despite the fact that Ash and Austin were a part of this mission, it was highly unlikely that Wallace and Bill would want them to get further involved with stopping Team Rocket, especially when they weren't there to watch over them. After this top-secret mission, Wallace would be returning to his home region of Hoenn, and chances are, Bill would be heading back to his lighthouse in order to resume studying Dragonite.

Simply put, Wallace and Bill had to be worried that Ash and Austin would want to help. Therefore, they were not only keeping the boys in the dark on account of their adolescent mental fortitude, but they were also trying to ensure that their vendetta against Team Rocket didn't cause them to do anything stupid in the future.

It all made sense. However, it was a bit idiosyncratic. It's not like Ash planned on traveling around the region in search of leads on Team Rocket. He had a journey to get back to after all. In addition, Austin was competing in Johto this year. Ash assumed that the chiseled faced teenager would be heading back to the foreign region as soon as things in Saffron were cleared up.

Of course, Ash would help if Team Rocket tried to wreak havoc in front of his face or if his help was requested of by the League—which was highly unlikely. But, he'd have to be an idiot to try and take Team Rocket on alone. No. If it were up to Ash, his maladjusted connection with Team Rocket would be severed after tomorrow. He just wanted to resume his travels with his pokemon. Hopefully, things would settle down after Saffron City.

Ash snapped back to reality as the smell of a home cooked meal wafted down the hall and into his nostrils. He'd almost lost track of his surroundings on account of his racing thoughts. Ash decided, then and there, that thinking could come later. Right now, he had an empty belly to appease.

XXX

After getting one of the best night's sleep he'd had since starting his journey, Ash stood up from his bed and stretched. His muscles ached—an unfortunate side-effect of the grueling past couple days of travel.

On the foot of the bed lay Growlithe whose eyes were barely open. Ash could tell that the pup was reluctant to get up. Floating by Ash's side was a jolly Haunter: the reason behind Ash's fantastic night's slumber.

Austin agreed to let Haunter stay outside of his pokeball while they slept, although there was one condition. Haunter had to eat the teen's dreams as well, which wasn't much of a problem. Going off of the good-natured ghost's chipper mood, Ash had a feeling that everything went well.

In addition, Austin was still snoring away like a congested walrein—which meant that Haunter had done his job. Like Ash, the teen hadn't been getting very much sleep since the SS Anne. The damage that was done to their minds was most evident in their dreams. Where, without Haunter's help, they had no means to protect themselves from their minds.

"Growlithe, time to get up," said Ash as he sifted through his backpack in order to change his clothes.

The puppy pokemon emitted what sounded like an annoyed groan as he slowly stood up from the foot of the bed. Haunter proceeded to float over to the lethargic canine with a giant smile on his face. Ash couldn't help but smile as he watched his goofy ghost-type gently pet Growlithe on the head with his shadowy hand. On account of Haunter's unorthodox behavior, Growlithe's expression lightened up. The charismatic poltergeist had quite the knack for putting the puppy pokemon in a good mood.

Ash smiled at his two friends before diverting his attention towards solely Growlithe. "Can you wake-up Austin? I would have had Haunter do it, but I don't think that would go over too well."

Growlithe nodded before gracefully leaping off of the bed. Haunter simply laughed, more than likely musing over his idea of waking the sleeping teenager up.

As Ash finished getting dressed, by placing his Pokemon League cap over his messy hair, Growlithe used his tongue to wake-up his trainer's friend. It took a couple rounds of Austin slapping his own face, in response to the tickling sensation of Growlithe's wet tongue, before the sleeping trainer finally reemerged from comatose.

"Err…what the hell, Growlithe?" mumbled Austin. "Stop…"

"Wake-up, Austin," chuckled Ash, amused by the teenager's reaction, "it's time to get up. It's seven o'clock. Wallace wanted us up by six-thirty."

"I don't see him," groaned Austin as he concealed his face underneath the bed's covers, "if it was that important for us to get up so early, don't you think he would have come and woken us up already?"

All of a sudden, as if on cue, the door to the room turbulently swung open causing Ash and Austin to flinch.

"I've let you two sleep in late enough!" howled Wallace slightly out of character. "Come on, it's time for breakfast!"

After shaking off the surprise, Ash shrugged indifferently. He was already ready after all. Austin, on the other hand, had covered his entire body under the covers in order to hide from the inevitable.

"I hate everyone!" hissed Austin, causing Ash and Wallace to break out into laughter. "You guys are seriously the worst!"

"I told you six-thirty," said Wallace with an amused smile. "How am I the bad guy? I let you sleep in."

"You don't have to be so freaking loud," groaned Austin. "It's common courtesy. Being a Champion doesn't give you free reigns to be an asshole."

"Whoa there, buddy," said Wallace in between surges of laughter, "watch your language."

The Champion proceeded to walk over to Austin's bed and impetuously rip the covers off of him. As the comforter wafted throughout the air, Austin's livid facial expression was revealed. He was curled up in a ball and appeared to be as angry as an enraged primeape. His face was about as red as the scarlet colored pajamas that he wore.

"You are literally devil…"

"You're acting like an idiot," said Wallace. "Ash is already ready. Hurry up and get dressed, or I'll send Swampert in to teach you a lesson."

Austin turned pale at the mention of Wallace's monstrously powerful water-type, "Fine, but don't be surprised if I'm mad at you all day."

"I could honestly care less," replied Wallace. "Once the operation gets started, you won't have any time to think about your animosity towards me."

Ash leaned over and pet Growlithe as Wallace and Austin continued to bicker. After petting his puppy pokemon, the dark-haired boy gestured for Haunter to float over to him.

While ignoring Wallace's lecture to Austin, Ash spoke quietly to Haunter. "Hey, Haunter, can I ask you something?"

Haunter's countenance changed from amused to bemused as he listened attentively in precedence to Ash's forthcoming question.

"I was actually going to ask you this yesterday, but I forgot," muttered Ash as he patted the corporeal ghost in between his upper spikes. "I remember reading somewhere that ghosts can conceal themselves within a being's shadow. Well, I was wondering if you could spend the day in mine. That way you can watch my back. If any hostile Rocket's try to sneak up on me, you can knock them out however you see fit.

Haunter didn't hesitate. With a mischievous grin painted across his face, he frantically nodded his body up and down. The ghost-type then proceeded to disembogue a cacophonous array of laughter before launching his body towards the floor. Within the blink of an eye, Haunter was gone, phasing into an incorporeal reality by means of Ash's shadow.

As Haunter disappeared, the ten-year-old boy suddenly felt a slight chill. It was strange and somewhat alien, reminiscent of the feeling he had in Lavender Town, when he was inside of the Pokemon Tower. Except this time, it felt more internal, almost like a connection of some sort. It wasn't a bad feeling. In fact, he felt safe. He felt like he had something watching over him.

"Weird," said Ash. "Is that feeling coming from you, Haunter?"

Ash watched as Haunter's hands suddenly emerged from Ash's faint shadow. The friendly ghost-type proceeded to pull himself out of the grounded obscuration, revealing his now corporeal face. His smile stretched from one side of his ghostly mug to the other. Ash wasn't quite sure, but it appeared as though Haunter was enjoying being attached to his shadow.

"This is actually kind of cool," muttered Ash as Haunter once again faded into his shadow.

"That it is," inserted Wallace, having finished up scolding Austin. "That was a good idea, Ash. I feel a lot more comfortable leaving you alone now. Haunter's formidable; he should be able to do a good job of protecting you from any grunts."

"Yeah, dude," said Austin, finally fully awake, "good idea. I'll have Golduck put up a barrier as well, and nobody will be able to touch us."

Wallace scratched his chin as he mused. "Yeah, that should be a strong enough defense. Just remember, Team Rocket's pokemon of choice are usually poison-types. At least, that's what all of the old records say. They could have restructured and revamped their resources. However, after seeing that Rocket's arbok back on the SS Anne, I highly doubt it. That guy was a little higher up than a typical Rocket grunt, too. I doubt the Rockets that you'll see will be that strong. Maybe a few, but the ACE trainer trainees will be able to handle anyone that you can't. The real problem is going to be the executive, Ariana, and whoever is with her. Sabrina and I should be more than enough, though."

"We'll be fine," said Austin with a smirk. "Remember, I'll be there. Also, I made a couple of switches back at the Pokemon Center. I've got my strongest team with me, so Ash and I will be able to handle anything that Team Rocket throws at us."

"Good. I'm glad you're confident," stated Wallace. "We'll discuss the rest later. For now, let's go to the dining room. Sabrina's chef made us some tofu and rice balls."

"That sounds awesome!" blurted Ash as beautiful images of broiled tofu and onigiri flowed throughout his mind.

"Hell yeah, it does!" exclaimed Austin. "Just let me get dressed, and we can go."

"No way," replied Wallace. "You can catch up when you're done. Ash and I are leaving. We gave you plenty of time to get ready earlier."

"Seriously, man…" groaned Austin with a furrowed eyebrow. "Not cool."

Ash laughed as he led the way through the doorway. "See you in a few, Austin. You better hurry before we eat all of the onigiri."

"And the tofu…" crooned Wallace as he followed Ash out of the room.

"Yup, it's a fact. I hate you guys…" whined Austin while slouching his shoulders and hanging his head.

XXX

After eating breakfast, everyone gathered in the conference room to review the plan one last time. Ash could feel the nervous energy in the room. If it weren't for the fact that his best friend, Growlithe, was right by his side and one of his strongest pokemon, Haunter, was residing within his shadow, Ash would likely be completely unglued.

Wallace's goofy attitude from earlier had been replaced by an austere disposition. The Champion's brow rested lower than normal, and his expression was devoid of his typical friendly smile. Wallace's entire countenance had shifted back to resembling the form of the man that had incapacitated the Rockets aboard the SS Anne and willed thousands of passengers to safety.

For the first time, Ash saw the Champion wearing, what the dark-haired boy assumed to be, his battle attire. Wallace wore his typical colors, however, his clothing was made out of a sleek material that appeared to be easy to move in. He wore a satin, white-based, button-up shirt with a streak of turquoise shooting across the front. His pants were smooth and lilac, covering the entirety of his long legs. Wallace's shoes were white, elegant, and athletic looking. Ash assumed that they were well-equipped for running. Last of all, his outfit was topped off by a long, lustrous, white cloak that adhered to Wallace's shirt. Ash had to admit, it looked like a cape. However, now was not the time to give the Champion a hard time.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ash could see Bill holding his hand over the lower half of his face in order to keep his mouth shut. Despite the fact that he most likely wanted to make a snide remark in regard to Wallace's cape, even the pokemon researcher was able to sense the pressure in the room.

Bill was wearing casual clothing. He would be staying behind at the gym after all. The pokemon researcher didn't have any pokemon of his own to use in battle. Besides, they needed someone to stick back and work as a communication link. Someone had to perform the duty of keeping each team informed on the other's status.

Sitting at the head of the conference table was Sabrina. As usual, her disposition was empty of all emotion. Howbeit, considering the circumstances, she appeared to be much more foreboding. Like Wallace, she was wearing her battle attire. It was hard to see because of her current positioning, but Ash had gotten a good look earlier during breakfast.

The foundation of her outfit was a black, skin-tight jumpsuit that emphasized her above-average curves. The jumpsuit was accessorized externally by a long-sleeved, glossy, burgundy, turtle-neck shirt that stopped just below her chest, leaving the black material over her skinny stomach visible. At the end of both sleeves were two bright yellow stripes that contrasted nicely against the burgundy. She wore a short mini-skirt over her jumpsuit that matched her crop top.

In addition, just like her shirt and skirt, her long leather boots were burgundy. Rising up and out of both of her low heel boots was a piece of bright yellow cloth that covered her knees. Ash couldn't quite tell if the cloth was annexed to the boot or if Sabrina was just wearing really long socks. The most interesting part of Sabrina's outfit, though, was the obnoxiously thick metal bracelets that were bound to her wrists. Ash wasn't positive, but he had a feeling that they served a unique purpose because of their machinelike resemblance…

After taking a good look at Sabrina and Wallace, Ash was sort of upset that he didn't have a cool outfit to fight Team Rocket in. Thankfully, he wasn't alone. Austin was forced to partake in the mission wearing his travel clothes as well. Speaking of Austin, the teenager was finally in a better mood. It had taken him all of breakfast to get over how Ash and Wallace had woken him up this morning. In Ash's opinion, the chiseled faced teenager was being melodramatic. However, Ash couldn't help but be amused by it. The whole situation was utterly hilarious after all.

Anyways, the first to speak up was Wallace. As they sat around the conference table, the Champion cleared his throat before addressing the group.

"Alright, I think we should begin by reviewing our main objectives," said Wallace as he rested his elbows on the table.

The Champion paused for a brief moment while setting his eyes on Sabrina. "Sabrina and I will be leading an attack on the warehouse that they're keeping Robert in. We'll only be taking ten ACE trainer trainees with us. We're going to keep our operation small. Our pokemon should be more than strong enough to take out Executive Ariana and whoever is with her."

"Are you sure you shouldn't take more men?" asked Austin. "All we really know is that Mr. Montgomery is in the warehouse. We have no clue how many men Team Rocket has inside."

"Ten is more than sufficient," inserted Sabrina. "Anymore would just get in the way. The Champion and I are good for at least a hundred grunts each, probably more."

"Damn, one hundred…" drawled Austin, "that's a lot of pokemon."

"I said one hundred grunts," replied Sabrina monotonously. "That's assuming they each have at least three pokemon."

Ash and Austin's jaws simultaneously dropped. If what Sabrina said was correct, the two masters' joint power was worth more than six hundred Rocket pokemon.

"However, they probably won't have nearly that many men," informed Wallace. "Remember, we think they are trying to limit the amount of grunts that are aware of Robert's location. My guess is that they will have a smaller team of lesser ranked Rockets accompanying the executive. Nevertheless, we'll be fine. Sabrina and I will take care of them."

"Okay," muttered Austin, "so if you guys have your end on lock, why don't we just move on to ours?"

"I was getting there," retorted an annoyed Wallace, "but I'll let Sabrina explain your mission. You'll be more likely to listen and less likely to interrupt if it comes from her."

"I can't argue with that," blurted Austin as he humorously winked at Wallace.

The Champion rolled his eyes in response to Austin's comment while Sabrina spoke up.

"Well, the first thing I would like to discuss is the fact that the ACE trainer trainees arrived in Saffron earlier this morning and have been quietly made aware of the plan," informed Sabrina. "They have three arcanine and four growlithe on hand. So, Ash Ketchum, your growlithe will not be alone while tracking down the hidden hideout."

"Gotchya," answered Ash, with a nod, before leaning down and petting his best friend behind the ears.

Growlithe responded by licking Ash on the hand as he lay down by his trainer's feet.

"I have a quick question," said Austin, interrupting once again. "I promise I'll shut up after this one, though."

Sabrina replied before Austin even had a chance to verbalize his question. "Good question, Austin Turner..."

Ash had to say, the whole mind reading thing was beginning to become rather normal—which was a surprise. The ten-year-old boy never, in a million years, would have guessed that Sabrina's ability to snatch thoughts harmlessly from their minds would ever cease to be anomalistic.

"The reason why the Champion and I deem it safe to inform the ACE trainer trainees is because of their irrelevance amongst the rest of the League. To put it bluntly, it's highly unlikely that Team Rocket would go through the trouble of infiltrating such low ranks, too much risk for such little gain. In addition, to be safe, I have already done a detailed examination of all of their minds. They are, in fact, clean of corruption. There is nothing to worry about. Was that answer sufficient enough for you, Austin Turner?"

"Um…yeah, that was good enough for me," replied Austin—impressed by Sabrina's thoroughly efficient answer.

"Anyways," said Sabrina, "now that Austin Turner's curiosity has been resolved, I would like to be able to explain your mission without being interrupted."

"Sure," answered Ash.

"Fair enough," replied Austin.

"So, the first phase of the operation will be for you two boys to rendezvous with the fifty ACE trainer trainees that will be accompanying you on your mission," stated Sabrina.

Ash listened attentively as Sabrina continued.

"The ACE trainer trainees are currently stationed at Silph Co. in order to maintain our oblivious ruse," said Sabrina. "After we are done with our meeting, I plan on sending one of my alakazam over to pick them up. There has been no movement within the city, so we assume that we have time before Team Rocket strikes. The alakazam that I send over will be dropping off both of my mr. mime, who will be left with the task of creating a believable illusion."

She paused.

"With ten trainees accompanying Wallace and I and fifty trainees joining you two that should leave twenty trainees to man headquarters. My two mr. mime will have no problem making them look like eighty. They've been trained to perform illusions way more difficult than mere augmented replication."

Sabrina ran her fingers through her hair while she zeroed in on Ash.

"Once the Ace trainer trainees get here, Ash Ketchum, I would like you to introduce yourself to the other growlithe and arcanine trainers. You will be working directly with them. With the help of the other canines, your job will be to lead your team to the hidden hideout. In case I didn't clarify this yesterday, this whole thing is possible because of the stray Rocket that we captured. We will have the tracking canines pick up the grunt's scent. The grunt should have left a trail, and the growlithe line is the only species capable of finding it and following it back to its highest duration point within the city—which should be the base."

Once again, Ash leaned over and scratched Growlithe behind the ears. His friend had been given a lot of responsibility, and Ash wanted to make sure that he was being as supportive as possible. Today was a perfect opportunity for the fire-type to prove his worth as a leader. Ash had no doubt that the puppy pokemon would take this chance and run with it.

"Although we are going through the trouble of creating a large scale illusion at Silph Co., our hope is that this battle will never reach the building. Once you track down the hideout, you are to waste no time. Leave all of the psychic pokemon to the ACE trainer trainees, and make sure that Haunter and Golduck protect both of you from any psychic incursions. I doubt that any of the psychic pokemon they have are individually formidable, so you should be fine. The trainees will be able to handle them."

Even though he was nervous, Ash was confident that he and Austin would be safe from any psychic attacks. Haunter would have type advantage and would be dwelling within his shadow, whereas Golduck would be protecting them with psychically induced protective enchantments. They would be fine. Ash's only worry, concerning psychics, had to do with his other pokemon. They would be fighting outside of Ash and Austin's protection, and the dark-haired trainer had yet to help them procure the mental barriers necessary to fend off psychics.

"Do not fret, Ash Ketchum," stated Sabrina, clearly reading his mind, "The trainees' first task will be to incapacitate the psychics. Amongst their pokemon are formidable dark-types. Psychics are difficult to train correctly. I doubt that Team Rocket has taken the time to train each and every psychic to a level in which they can overcome distinct type advantage. More than likely, they are working with quantity and not quality. The trainees should be able to make quick work of them, so that you can battle the grunts' pokemon without having to worry about the status of their minds."

Ash nodded in response to Sabrina's reassuring words. Out of his peripherals, Ash saw Austin's attentive disposition. The teenager's eyes were fastened on Sabrina as she carried on.

"Even though we can assume that there are many Rockets stationed at the hideout," articulated Sabrina, "we have no way to make a significant estimate on their numbers. I'd assume there are at least a couple hundred, but who knows. There could be more, there could be less. Just be careful and take out as many as you can. I've analyzed these trainees. They're stronger than I originally assumed. Your mission should go smoothly. Once you've wiped out the base, restrain the grunts. Bill Montgomery will be briefing you on our status. Once the Champion and I give you the clear, contact Saffron's Police Department, they will help you take the Rockets into custody."

Sabrina proceeded to casually rest her chin on her palm. "That is the entirety of your mission. Now would be a good time to ask questions."

Just as Ash was about to open up his mouth to speak, Bill said his first words of the entire meeting.

"In regard to the communication link, Austin, do you have a mobile phone that I can contact just in case you get split up from Ash? I have everyone else's numbers memorized."

Austin nodded before answering, "Yeah, I've got a pokegear. I'll give you my number after the meeting."

"Great," replied Bill while restlessly tapping his fingers on the table.

Judging by his demeanor, Ash could tell Bill was extremely nervous, which made sense given the fact that the focal point of this mission was to rescue his father. However, Ash thought that the young pokemon researcher was handling the present circumstances well, especially since he was typically overdramatic.

"That's all I have to say," muttered Bill, "other than, good luck. Also, I'll be sending you updates via text messaging. It'll be easier on you if you don't have to answer a bloody phone during the mission. Just send me information whenever you can. That way, I can keep everyone in the loop."

"Gotchya," muttered Ash.

"Will do," answered Austin.

"Absolutely," replied Wallace.

"I'll be using long-distance telepathy," retorted Sabrina with a blank expression, "but, nonetheless, you will be updated regularly."

"Whatever floats your boat," replied Bill as he leaned back in his chair and winked at Ash. "Now, resume your Q&A. Sorry for interrupting, Ash."

"It's fine," said Ash. "I only have one question."

"What is it, Ash?" asked Wallace, chiming back in.

"Where is the captured grunt being held?" asked Ash curiously. "How far do we have to go in order to get a reference scent? The stronger the scent…the easier it will be to track. It makes the most sense for us to pick the aroma up directly from the source. A secondary item, like an article of clothing or something else that he's touched, will make finding this hideout much more difficult."

Ash paused to look down at his partner, who was comfortably nuzzled up against his leg, before continuing, "Growlithe could track it down either way, but the potency of the scent will quicken the process. Especially, since we're tracking something complex like duration. This guy could have wandered all over the city before you arrested him—which means his scent will be scattered all over the place. We're going to need as good of a sample as we can get. Growlithe should be able to lock onto the place where this grunt's scent is most potent, but in order to be efficient, he'll need a strong reference scent."

In antecedence to giving Ash a verbal response, Sabrina casually pointed down at the ground.

"Holy crap, he's in Hell!?" blurted Austin with wide eyes. "You killed him!?"

For a split-second, the room was silent before Sabrina replied. "No, Austin Turner, he is not in Hell. There is a cellar underneath the gym. The grunt is being held in there."

Ash couldn't help but laugh at Austin's hilarious outburst, especially when put in contrast with Sabrina's deadpan answer. Wallace and Bill joined the fresh faced boy as they too got a kick out of the teenager's humorous upheaval. Austin's face turned red in response to the laughter. It was rather apparent that he was embarrassed.

"It was an honest mistake," mumbled Austin in between forced laughter. "I didn't know the gym had a cellar. How was I supposed to know that you were pointing to a freaking basement?"

"Fair enough," inserted Wallace in between laughter, "but what would make you think she was pointing towards Hell. I mean, why would we kill our one and only hostage? That doesn't make any sense."

"Screw you, Wallace," groaned Austin, his face as read as a tomato due to embarrassment. "I swear you're out to get me today."

"I see the mystique of being a Champion has faded away," said Sabrina as she glanced over at Wallace. "These boys treat you more like an older brother than a man of power."

Wallace scratched the back of his head as he sighed. "Tell me about it…"

As much as Ash was enjoying the comical display, he wanted to hear what else Sabrina had to say about the captured Rocket. He cleared his throat in order to garner everyone's attention. "So, Sabrina, will you be taking us down to the cellar once the trainees arrive?"

"Yes," replied Sabrina as she gave Wallace and Austin a devastating look that beckoned them to shut up, "that was the plan. Once Yin picks up the ACE trainer trainees, I will take you and the other canine trainers down to the cellar to pick up the scent."

"I assume Yin is your alakazam," answered Ash.

"That is correct," replied Sabrina. "Yin is one of my alakazam. She is rather adroit when it comes to large-scale teleportation, although she has a long way to go before she is up to par with her father."

"Her father?" questioned Bill with a look of intrigue.

"Yin is the daughter of my strongest alakazam, Kaz," said Sabrina. "All of my alakazam are related in some fashion."

"I thought your league registered team is an abra and a kadabra?" questioned Ash. "Just how many pokemon belonging to the abra line do you have?"

Sabrina answered the question without a moment's hesitation. "I have four alakazam, three kadabra, and three abra, so ten in total.

"Damn…" drawled Austin. "That's a lot of psi pokemon."

"They're my favorite species," replied Sabrina with a small smile on her face. Ash was surprised, it was the first time the gym leader had legitimately smiled since he'd met her. "They have been cherished by my family for centuries. I could never have too many of them."

"Wow!" blurted Bill. "You must really love them if they got you to smile. I didn't even know you were capable of such a thing."

"Shut your mouth, Bill Montgomery, before I turn your mind into mush," hissed Sabrina as her disposition suddenly became as cold as ice.

In response to Sabrina's intimidating display, Bill slouched back in his chair and looked away from her. For the first time, Ash saw the otherside of Sabrina: The cold, witchlike gym leader that sends hundreds of trainers home devastated each and every year. It was blatantly obvious that Sabrina was the kind of person who you didn't want as an enemy. Ash almost felt bad for the Rockets that would be forced to go up against her today.

"Relax, Sabrina," inserted Wallace in a soothing tone, "I'm sure Bill didn't mean anything by it."

In subsequence to Wallace's gentle tone, Sabrina relaxed in her chair. "Yes, I apologize. My emotions are a complex subject. I'm afraid much has been sacrificed in order to obtain my power. I do not respond well to jokes concerning my exterior disposition."

"Good to know," replied Bill with a nervous intonation. "I'll refrain from saying them then. However, I don't have that much control over my thoughts."

"I do not get offended by distasteful thoughts," retorted Sabrina. "Even I struggle with unwanted and uncontrollable thoughts. It is part of what makes us human. A thought is a thought. It is merely information and says nothing about your character. What you do with that thought is who you are."

"Makes sense," said Bill before trying to divert the conversation. "So, does anyone else have any questions, or has everything been addressed?"

"I do," muttered Austin as he goofily raised his hand.

In antecedence to Austin's question, Ash looked at his shadow, which was being delineated upon the wall. It was strange that within the outlined obscuration resided one of his friends. The initial odd perceptual feeling that Ash had gotten from his ghost type's emergence into his shadow had lessened dramatically—almost to the point where Ash sometimes forgot that Haunter was even there. From the outside, it was basically impossible to tell that something existed within his shadow. The shape of his shadow had remained the same. The only difference was the minute hint of dark purple that Sabrina had pointed out to him during breakfast.

Ash's rumination was precipitously interrupted by Austin's query.

"Are there any specific parts of the mission that you want us to report to Bill?" asked Austin in a serious manner.

"Only the bare minimum or if something goes wrong," retorted Wallace as he looked Austin in the eye. "We want to know when you arrive at the hideout and when your objective is complete. However, let us know if something is askew. Otherwise, we will just assume that everything went according to plan."

"Alrighty," answered Austin as he glanced over at Ash. "I don't have any more questions. What about you, Ash?"

"Nope," replied Ash while shaking his head. "I'm good. I think I've got a pretty good understanding of what's going on."

"What about you, Sabrina?" asked Wallace with a raised eyebrow. "Is there anything else you'd like to add?"

"Negative," retorted Sabrina with a blank expression. "I'm ready to go get Yin. It's best we don't waste any more time."

"Agreed," inserted Bill as he stood up out of his chair. "Meeting adjourned?"

"Meeting adjourned," reciprocated Wallace with a smile. "Now let's take care of business."

Ash leaned down and petted the tuft atop Growlithe's head before flashing him a smile. "You ready, buddy? It's time to find out just how tough we actually are."

Growlithe replied with a firm, dauntless grunt.

XXX

As Ash and Growlithe stood by the outer rim of the arena, there was a sudden, expansive light that illuminated the entirety of the Saffron Gym's main hall. When the bright light faded, a crowd of red was left in its wake. Ash stared ahead in awe of the display. Fifty plus men and women that wore the same fashionable, pristine, red uniforms were scattered amongst the gym's battlefield.

Although all of the ACE trainer trainees wore the same stylish outfit, they were all diverse in their individual appearances. There was a wide spectrum in terms of age. Some of the trainees were teenagers, while others were middle-aged. In terms of gender ratio, it appeared that there were more males than females. However, it wasn't a significant contrast.

Because of the fact that none of them visually displayed any kind of adverse physical reaction, Ash assumed that the trainees had been regularly exposed to teleportation as part of their training. Either that or they were all really good at hiding their displeasure...

Moreover, this was the first time that Ash had gotten a chance to see Yin. The female alakazam stood aloof amongst the crowd, holding her two spoons causally by her side. Back on the SS Anne, Ash had been impressed by the gaggle of kadabra that raised the psychic barrier for the single-elimination tournament. However, Sabrina's alakazam was even more impressive than all of them combined.

Yin stood about five-feet tall, and she was humanoid in body structure. The most notable physical feature on Yin was the long mustache that protruded out of both sides of her thin, protracted snout. He wasn't positive, but he thought he remembered hearing somewhere that the mustaches of female alakazam were significantly shorter than male alakazam. However, that bit of information was misleading because Yin's mustache was still substantial and immense in comparison to anything a human could grow.

Yin had two lanky, ear-like spikes that extended out of the back of her head. Ash couldn't spot any outer apertures amidst the two growths, so he was curious as to how alakazam actually perceived sound. Protecting certain sections of her yellow, skeletal body was a brown, armor-like integument that enshrouded her chest, shoulders, forearms, and knees. Yin had three digits on each of her extremities, and although her hands were devoid of claws, her feet had three sharp, white claws that protruded from her toes.

In addition, Yin clenched onto her two large, silver spoons like her life depended on them. Alakazam were well known for their fascination with metal spoons, which they used as amplifiers for their psychic power. It wasn't unheard of for powerful psychic pokemon to use some kind of conduit to help them focus their power. Alakazam used spoons, hypno used pendulums, starmie used a jewel, etc...Ash didn't know the specifics, but it was a common feature amongst psychics.

The fact that Yin was able to teleport so many people at one time was extraordinarily impressive. A mature alakazam was said to be easily capable of teleporting more than one person at a time, but this was simply astounding. She had teleported more than fifty trainers at once, and the female alakazam didn't look the least bit exhausted. Ash wondered just how much she truly was capable of, although it was kind of overwhelming to think about, especially when he factored in the idea that she wasn't even Sabrina's most powerful alakazam. Kaz could probably perform feats exponentially more profound.

Ash's intramural rumination was cut short by the sound of Sabrina's voice reverberating within his head. Sabrina's telepathy was much gentler on his mind compared to the ancient clefable back at Mt. Moon, which was his only other experience with the supernatural communication method. Sabrina's toneless voice was soft, but clear. It didn't grate against his psyche, like the clefable's telepathy had, and it didn't feel nearly as intrusive.

"Salutations, ACE trainer candidates," said Sabrina over her cerebral intercom as she stepped out in front of the crowd. Prior to Sabrina's greeting while the teleportation had taken place, Ash and Growlithe had been standing next to Sabrina, Austin, Bill and Wallace.

In response to Sabrina's telepathy, Ash watched the numerous ACE trainer trainees begin to speak amongst themselves, until one of them eventually stepped forward. He looked to be in his late teens, and he had long, black hair that was tied back into a pony tail. His face was sculpted and unlined, whereas his body was thin but athletic looking. The trainee's most distinguishable feature was his bright, yellow irises that were similar to that of a foreign luxray…

"He looks strong," whispered Austin to Ash as the yellow eyed man drew closer to Sabrina.

"How do you know?" asked Ash curiously.

"I'm not sure," replied Austin with a shrug. "I tend to have an affinity towards this kind of thing."

At the sight of the forthcoming trainee, Sabrina's eyes lit up with recognition. "Ah, Kent Barringer, it's been a long time. So, you've decided to become an ACE trainer. I have to say, I didn't see this in your future when you battled my gym eight years ago," murmured Sabrina. "Your mind is formidable. I would have to really exert myself if I wanted to breach your mental defenses."

"So, what they say is true?" questioned Kent Barringer in a gravelly voice. "You really don't forget anything, do you?"

"That is correct," replied Sabrina as she ran her fingers through her hair, "especially someone as strong as you. You were the only trainer to win the Marsh Badge that year."

"Oh, really…?" drawled Kent, "I was unaware. That battle was such a long time ago. My memory of that day isn't that great, however, I do remember you being significantly less hospitable."

Sabrina diverted her gaze towards the ground before answering. "Yes, in those days I was going through a lot. On account of my personal issues, I was particularly ruthless in the gym. Kaz and I didn't give trainers much of an opportunity back then. In fact, if my memory is correct, which it always is, I believe you are the only challenger, since I became gym leader, to defeat Kaz with one pokemon."

Kent Barringer moved a hand up to his chin as he seemingly racked his brain. "If by Kaz, you're referring to that monstrous alakazam of yours…then, yeah, I beat it with my umbreon."

Ash was having a tough time following the conversation. From what he understood, this Kent Barringer sounded like an unbelievable trainer. It came off like he was close in strength to Sabrina or at least was at one time. Ash could tell because of the fact that Sabrina talked to him with the same reverence that she did Wallace. Quite frankly, Kent Barringer seemed above the position of a trainee. Sabrina was treating him like he was something much more. But then again, what did Ash know?

"Sabrina didn't even use Kaz against me when we battled," inserted Austin. "There's something more to this guy. I don't believe for a second that he's just a trainee…"

"Neither do I," added the previously quiet Bill, "but then again, maybe it's just his bloody eyes. Those things are kind of ominous, don't you think?"

Both boys nodded before focusing back in on the conversation.

"Anyways," said Sabrina with a sudden shift in her countenance. "Before we initiate this mission, how about we sever the ruse? How exactly does this system work? You were originally here to oversee the examination, right? Don't think I don't know and don't lie. Lance isn't stupid enough to leave an ACE trainer examination, such as this one, unsupervised. So, my question is...how far up are you? I can sense your power. You're definitely the strongest trainer here by leaps and bounds. I would investigate your mind to find out, but that would take too much energy. I need to be at full-strength for the mission."

Ash watched as there was an array of gasps and whispers amongst the crowd of trainees. Apparently, Sabrina had struck their interest—which didn't come as a surprise. She had struck Ash's intrigue as well, and even more importantly she had procured Wallace's.

"Told you," said Austin with a wink. "I knew he was a big deal."

"So, I guess it wasn't just the eyes," said Bill with a shrug. "According to Sabrina, this guy's a total badass."

The dark-haired boy ignored Austin and Bill and watched Wallace casually stroll over to Sabrina and Kent. His disposition was curious, albeit stern. He carried the full-weight of his title in his demeanor.

"Sabrina, what are you implying?" asked Wallace with a raised eyebrow. "Who exactly is this young man?"

Sabrina turned to Kent while gesturing towards Wallace. "This is the Champion of Hoenn, Wallace Mikari. He is here to help. He bears the same title as Champion Lance. I suggest you properly introduce yourself."

Kent shook his head and chuckled under his breath. "I guess there's no point in keeping my cover anymore. So, the ACE trainer examination has turned into an actual mission, interesting. It seems you have a lot of questions, Sabrina. So do I? However, first things first, I need to address the trainees. You've made them aware of Team Rocket's plot. You've made me aware of Team Rocket's plot. They need to know just how much plans have changed."

"Very well," replied Sabrina, "go ahead."

Before the yellow eyed ACE trainer turned around to speak to the trainees, he held a hand out to Wallace, "Nice to meet you, Champion Wallace. Thank you for helping to protect Kanto. On behalf of the League, I truly cannot thank you enough. I will answer any questions you have momentarily."

"Nice to meet you, too," retorted Wallace with a smirk, "I look forward to working with you."

Kent nodded his head before casually turning to address the trainees. He cleared his throat, garnering their complete attention, before speaking out with a booming voice.

"I apologize for the deception, but I am not a trainee! All of you that I have fooled recently, I did so entirely on behalf of the League! When Sabrina planted Saffron City's present circumstances into our brains this morning, our agenda changed dramatically! Not just that, but your examination has been converted into a real mission! I hate that I have to throw you into the fire, but we have no other choice! Kanto's beloved Robert Montgomery has been kidnapped by the corrupt organization Team Rocket! We have to get him back!"

Ash leaned over and stroked the tuft atop Growlithe's fur as he listened to Kent Barringer's speech.

"The League sent me to oversee the examination and pose as one of you! It is how we evaluate, first hand, which of you are worthy of the rank: ACE Trainer! I am actually one of the few select ACE trainers that have reached the status of first-class! With my rank, I have the power to decide which of you are worthy of serving the League! Therefore, just because our plan for today has changed that doesn't mean that your examination has been cancelled! You will be evaluated based off of your performance today! We shall thwart Team Rocket's plan and avenge the memory of the SS Anne!"

In response to the declaration, the crowd of trainees went wild. Ash was surprised. He figured that they would be nervous due to the intense change of plans. However, they weren't. In fact, they barely needed a moment's notice to embrace the new goal. It was clear that they had been trained well.

"Jeez, he's an even bigger deal than I thought," said Austin with raised eyebrows. "First-class, that's got to be pretty good. The lowest ranked ACE trainer is formidable. He must be a real monster."

"Mhmm…" drawled Bill, "even though Silph Co. is typically guarded by more than one hundred ACE trainers, not a single one of them bears the rank first-class. They are the cream of the crop, the most powerful League officials outside of the Elite Four and the Champion. Some gym leaders are as strong as them, namely: Sabrina, Giovanni, and Koga. However, first-class ACE trainers refrain from the lime light. They are essentially the League's black-ops unit, elected to do all of the dirty work."

In response to Bill's explanation, Ash and Austin stared ahead utterly awe-inspired. According to Bill, Kent Barringer was one of the strongest trainers in Kanto and they couldn't wait to meet him…

"You are only to take orders from Gym Leader Sabrina, Champion Wallace, and myself from this point forward! Do not do anything unless we say so! We are Kanto's protection, and we're alone in this fight! We cannot call for reinforcements. Remember, we have been warned by Gym Leader Sabrina's projected vision from earlier! However, we will persevere regardless of today's circumstances because we have no other choice!" howled Kent.

The crowd of trainees erupted once again. Ash had to admit, although Kent didn't look it, he was quite the motivator. It was actually rather impressive. Ash's astonishment didn't stop there, though. The thing that inspired him the most was the behavior of Growlithe. In the past, the puppy pokemon would have been in a daze because of all of the people. But now, it seemed as though Growlithe was hardly affected by all of the strangers. Call it a product of hard work or a miracle of maturity. Whatever the case may be, Growlithe had almost completely squashed his phobia, which put a smile on Ash's face.

As the crowd of trainees continued to speak amongst themselves, Kent Barringer turned around to face Sabrina and Wallace. On account of all of the noise, Ash was unable to listen in on the conversation between the group of important people. Ash wasn't well educated on the weight of Kent's position, but now that he knew that the supposed trainee was a first-class ACE trainer, there was an air of mystique around him. He carried himself with the same presence as Wallace and Sabrina. Ash had a feeling that the ACE trainer was a master of battle in his own right.

"Ash Ketchum, Austin Turner, Bill Montgomery come over here," articulated Sabrina with telepathy. "It is important for you to meet Kent Barringer."

Both boys jumped up at the sudden mental intrusion before looking at each other quizzically.

"Let's go," said Austin with a nod, "I don't want to make Sabrina wait."

"Yup," replied Ash before diverting his gaze at Growlithe. "Come on, buddy, time to go."

Accompanied by a yawn, Growlithe stretched his hind muscles in antecedence to following Ash and Austin over to meet the first-class ACE trainer.

"Wait up for me!" implored Bill as he chased after the two energetic, young boys.

As they approached the group, Wallace was the first to acknowledge them. "Boys, Bill, meet Kent. He will be in charge of your team's mission. I have already informed him of your involvement and have made him aware of your skills. Bill, you are to program Kent's pokegear number into your pokegear before we begin the mission. He will be updating you on his team's activity. Ash and Austin no longer have to bear that responsibility."

"Alrighty," replied Bill as he held a hand out to Kent, "nice to meet you, Kent. I'm Bill Montgomery.

Kent politely shook Bill's hand before responding. "Hello, Mr. Montgomery. I've heard so many great things about you. It's nice to finally get the opportunity to meet face-to-face."

Bill bashfully scratched the back of his head. "Thank y—"

"Do any of those great things you've heard include his uncanny talent at cross dressing?" interrupted Sabrina with a deadpan expression.

Ash, Austin, and Wallace instantly burst into uncontrollable laughter, whereas Bill's face turned red due to embarrassment. Kent Barringer simply looked ahead in a confused manner as he tried to figure out the context behind the humorous jab.

"Screw you, you bloody witch!" howled Bill before sporadically clearing his throat and trying to change the subject. "So…Kent, I assume I can trust you to keep an eye my two friends here during today's mission."

Bill's attempt at diverting everyone's attention worked as Kent's yellow eyes instantly shot down to survey Ash and Austin. There was an intense moment of silence while Kent seemingly stared into their souls, however, the mood quickly lightened up when a massive grin formed across the ACE trainer's sculpted mug.

"No worries," retorted Kent. "Nothing will happen to them, I'll make sure of it. It's nice to see a couple of kids with guts."

The ACE trainer proceeded to shake both of the boys' hands in subsequence to one another. "The name's Kent Barringer. I look forward to working with you kids."

"I'm Austin Turner," replied the chiseled faced teenager. "Let's go kick Team Rocket's ass."

"Ash Ketchum," answered the ten-year-old boy. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Barringer."

Kent chuckled in response to Austin's arrogant comment before pivoting his eyes back and forth between Ash and Growlithe. "So, Ash, Sabrina's informed me that you will be working with the tracking specialists. She says your Growlithe has quite the olfactory sense. My arcanine will be leading the team, so you will be working directly with me throughout the tracking process."

Ash's eyebrows lifted as he processed Kent's words. "You have an arcanine?"

Growlithe's ears instantly perked up, and his tail started to wag precipitously, at the mention of his evolved form.

"Ah, yes, I remember your arcanine," said Sabrina, "it had recently evolved when you faced me. I recall that it was a unique specimen."

"A unique specimen?" queried Bill with curious eyes.

"Your memory is impeccable, Sabrina," replied Kent with a nod before addressing Bill. "I'll show him to you later, Mr. Montgomery. It's about time we get this mission started. What do you guys say?"

"I agree," replied Wallace.

"Affirmative," retorted Sabrina.

"I'm ready," crooned Austin.

"Growlithe and I are good to go," answered Ash.

"Alrighty," muttered Bill slightly peeved. "I guess it can wait."

"Okay then," said Kent with a smile. "Allow me to gather the rest of the tracking specialists and order the rest of the trainees to standby."

"Go ahead," replied Sabrina, "Ash Ketchum, Austin Turner, and I will be waiting for you right here. Champion Wallace, Bill Montgomery, I would appreciate it if you two would stick back and watch the remaining trainees. It is unnecessary for all of us to go down to see the Rocket. Your services would be better suited on ground-level."

"That's fine with me," replied the Champion, "I was planning on sticking back anyway."

"Don't tell me what to do, Sabrina," snorted Bill, "I'll stay behind...but only because I want to. After I get Kent's number, I'm going to set up mission headquarters in the guest room that I stayed in. I think I can hook my pokegear up to the computer in there, so it'll be a good place to standby for calls."

"Fine," said Sabrina, "As long as you stick behind, I don't care what your reasons are."

Bill responded by sticking out his tongue and pulling down his right eyelid like a child. Ash thought he heard the famous researcher mutter a curse word under his breath, but it was too quiet to know for sure.

"Well, then…" inserted Kent, "I will be back momentarily. When I return, we will pay this grunt a visit."

Everyone replied in their own way before they watched the first-class ACE trainer ambulate towards the trainees. As Kent addressed the conflux of ACE trainer candidates, Ash had only one thing on his mind: Team Rocket's demise.

XXX

"We're you aware of Kent's identity the whole time?" asked Austin in a curious manner as they made their way down the long, enclosed stairwell.

Sabrina stole a glance at the two boys by her side, prior to glancing back at Kent and the six trainees that were following a fair proximity behind them.

"I was aware of his strength," replied Sabrina with a blank expression, "however, I was completely unaware of his identity and League position."

"How come?" asked Ash with a raised eyebrow, "didn't you have to go inside of his mind in order to plant the thought about Team Rocket. Couldn't you have figured out his identity then?"

"Normally, yes," answered Sabrina with a sigh, "but he has defenses. He's been trained to withstand psychic incursions. The League makes sure that their top ACE trainers are nearly impenetrable, in terms of identity and knowledge, just in case they get captured. I'm probably one of the few human psychics that could break Kent's defenses; however, the amount of energy I would have to utilize would negatively affect today's mission."

"Do you have mental defenses?" asked Ash—interested.

"Sort of," articulated Sabrina, "I am a functioning psychic. I can easily recognize when someone, or something, is trying to enter my mind. My power is exponentially stronger than any other human and most psychic pokemon that might try to breach my psyche. They say the best defense is a good offense: I live by that concept. Typically, the only reason to acquire a mental defense is if you are a non-psychic. If you are psychic, there is no need to formulate a defense. Just being able to recognize cerebral intrusions is good enough for a powerful student of the mind."

"That makes sense," replied Austin as they continued to climb down the bland flight of stairs.

Ash had to admit, he was astonished by how deep into the ground the Saffron Gym's cellar was. He was expecting it to be like a typical basement—a mere fifteen to twenty feet below ground. However, that wasn't the case. They had been descending for a while now, and Ash assumed that they were at least seventy-five to a hundred feet below ground-level.

"How exactly do mental defenses work?" asked Ash.

"You boys sure ask a lot of questions," muttered Sabrina as she pulled up her sleeves. "However, I did too at your age. Curiosity is the trigger for knowledge. Knowledge is power and the key to becoming a good trainer."

Both boys nodded their heads as Sabrina continued.

"Essentially," said Sabrina, "just like with pokemon, there are two ways to acquire mental defenses. The traditional way is to internally train you mind. Through countless hours of meditation, most people can inwardly teach themselves how to access previously out of reach segments of their mind. The cerebrum is a deep and complex thing. Although it is a misconceived lie that humans are only capable of accessing ten-percent of our brain, it is true that most of us don't know how to utilize the most intriguing parts. It is difficult, but with mental fortitude, it is possible to uncover details about your psyche that you never would have dreamed of."

Sabrina paused as she cracked her knuckles.

"Using this traditional method, of looking deep within yourself, you can learn to put safeguards around areas of choice. The majority of Kanto's League officials focus on their hippocampus, which is the portion of your brain that processes and maintains memories. No human's mental firewall is impenetrable, but some are damn near close. Kent Barringer's wall is as vast and as tall as Mt. Silver. Wallace's is even bigger, but the Champion only protects specific information. The rest is as easy as reading a children's book.

"I see…" drawled Ash as he felt Growlithe brush up against his pant leg. "What about the other method?"

Sabrina shook her head. Ash thought he sensed a little bit of grief in the gym leader's disposition.

"The other method is external exposure. This method is better served for pokemon. I will be more thorough in regards to explaining external psychic exposure after the mission. For now, just let me make one thing clear. Even though some humans have had great success using this method, it is incredibly dangerous. Never try it. If things go wrong, the repercussions could be astronomical..."

Ash couldn't be positive, but he was pretty sure that Sabrina was speaking from experience. He would never ask, but maybe this explained why she was so emotionless. Maybe something had happened concerning external psychic exposure which obfuscated her emotions.

Their conversation came to an abrupt end when they finally reached the end of the descending stairwell. At the very bottom was a rather boring, wooden door. Sabrina waited for all of the trainees to disembark from the stairs before opening the door with the wave of her hand. It was highly apparent that she used some kind of telekinetic power, because the door knob turned without any anterior touch.

"I really could benefit from a psychic teacher," spoke Kent for the first time since embarking down the stairwell. "The most simple of things, such as opening doors, looks way more fun than doing them the old-fashioned way."

"I couldn't have said it better myself," inserted Austin with a smile. "I would give up my left nut to be able to open doors with my mind."

"I can arrange that," replied Sabrina with an emotionless expression.

Ash cringed at the thought, whereas Austin depicted an unpleasant frown.

"Err…it was just a figure of speech," mumbled Austin. "I'd rather not sacrifice my manhood for something like that."

Ash could hear a couple of chuckles coming from the trainees behind him as they passed through the doorway and into a room full of darkness. Before he had an opportunity to make a comment, regarding the lack of light, Ash heard a snap come from somewhere in front of him. In response to the snap, which sounded like it had come from the forced friction between somebody's fingers, the room was instantly illuminated. It only took a moment for Ash to realize that the snap had come from Sabrina. Apparently, the lights in the room were triggered by it. Either that or Sabrina was using yet another one of her psychic abilities for a rudimentary task.

"Follow me," said Sabrina as she gestured for the rest of the group to carry forward. "The Rocket grunt isn't far."

Ash took a split-second to look down at Growlithe, who glanced back up at him with affable eyes. The dark-haired boy always felt better about the unknown when he had the support of his best friend.

The first room in the Saffron Gym's cellar was peculiar to say the least. The walls were painted white, and there was no décor whatsoever. There was one lone couch sitting in the middle of the room, and there were a few oddly placed psychic pokemon scattered about. Ash would have wondered why the two psychic pokemon were previously loitering about in the dark, but then he remembered an interesting fact that he'd learned from Professor Oak. A lot of psychics were innately nocturnal; Over an unknown amount of time, their eyes had evolved to help them see in the dark.

In the far corner of the indigo tiled room sat a powerful looking hypno. It was presently using its ruff of white fur, which wrapped around its neck like a fluffy collar, to polish its marble based, circular pendulum. Its long nose quavered and its ears perked up as it acknowledged Sabrina with a nod. Sabrina casually waved back before diverting her attention towards the group.

"That hypno over there is one of my oldest friends," said Sabrina. "Her name is Rin. She is the same hypno that you defeated a few years ago, Austin Turner." Sabrina then pivoted her eyes towards Kent, "as well as the same hypno that you faced off against eight years ago, Kent Barringer."

"I thought I recognized her," replied Austin with a small smile.

"Ditto," added Kent with an expression of nostalgia.

"She likes to lounge around down here," answered Sabrina before pointing over to the kadabra that was meditating in the opposite corner of the room, "so does that kadabra over there. His name is Whiskers. He just recently evolved, so he's been spending a lot of time getting used to his newly enhanced intellect."

A thought popped into Ash's head. However, before he got the chance to articulate words for it, Sabrina gave him his answer.

"No, Ash Ketchum, Whiskers is not the kadabra that you will be battling when we have our match. However, I do hope that once the kadabra that is currently on my league registered team, Merlin, evolves; Whiskers will take his place as the kadabra on my registered team."

Ash simply nodded his head as they passed through the room and entered a short, narrow hallway. Just like the anterior room, the hallway's walls were devoid of decoration. Ironically enough, the cellar sort of felt like what Ash assumed a modern day psych ward to be like: colorless, quiet, and devoid of balanced emotions.

The abbreviate hallway briskly opened up into another similar looking room, albeit this one was much smaller. In the corner of the room was a quaint little lounging area. It consisted of a couch, a love seat, and a small, contemporary coffee table. Lying on the couch was a gorgeous espeon.

The psychic, evolved form of eevee was one of the most elegant pokemon Ash had ever seen. It was medial size compared to Growlithe, Ash thought that the espeon was probably slightly taller. However, the espeon looked to be a little bit skinnier than Growlithe, although that was to be expected. Most psychic pokemon were rather scrawny, since the majority of their training was cerebral.

Ash was sort of surprised that Growlithe, thus far, hadn't had any kind of reaction towards the psychic pokemon. Then again, Growlithe's aromatic awareness was powerful, so the pup probably knew of their presence long before Ash did.

"This is Espee," said Sabrina as she once again introduced the group to another one of her pokemon, "she is another one of my long-time friends. Espee likes to take naps down here. She enjoys the quiet…"

"Lucky…" drawled Austin with a hint of jealousy. "I want to take a nap."

"We just woke up," replied Ash as he and Growlithe passed over the misplaced, frizzy, purple rug that was rolled out in the middle of the room. "How could you possibly be tired?"

"I'm not," retorted Austin with a goofy smile, "I just like naps."

"Who doesn't," inserted one of the female trainees. She had short, black hair and a baby face. In spite of the fact that she was short in stature, her body was slim and fit.

"Too bad we don't get naps with our regiment," bemoaned a rough-looking, bald-headed, male trainee.

"Psht…we hardly get time to sleep at night, and you guys are talking about naps," scoffed another male trainee. This one was tall and lanky. Ash also noticed that he didn't have any eyebrows, which was very bizarre looking.

"Life gets better once you pass the exam," answered Kent, "outside of missions the regiment of a trainee is much more brutal. When you finally pass, your schedule will lighten up. Things like physical and mental fortitude training will stay the same, but almost everything else will lessen."

"Well, that's good to know," added another female trainee in a monotone voice. She was average in height, had long blonde hair, and didn't have much of a personality.

"Yeah…" drawled a tall, dark-skinned trainee as he nonchalantly cracked his knuckles, "I just can't wait to battle. The rest is all just fluff."

"Agreed," said a rather attractive, young female candidate. She looked to be in her late teens and was nearly flawless in appearance. Her hair was glossy. Her eyes were entrancing. And the teen's body was sculpted perfectly into an hour-glass figure. The only evident blemish was a thick, jagged scar that began at the base of her jaw and staggered all the way down her neck.

The amusing conversation, between trainees, came to an abrupt end as they passed through another short hallway and ended up standing in front of an extrinsic, steel door. The door had no handle, although situated where a handleset should be was a tablet sized, mechanical apparatus. The device on the door looked like a scanner of some sort.

Without a moment's hesitation, Sabrina proceeded to drag one of her thick, metal bracelets over the apparatus on the door. There was a momentary pause as they waited for something to happen; however, within a few seconds, there was a response. The screen on the tablet sized device illuminated a vibrant green before the entire door itself emitted a loud, grating sound.

There was a loud clonking sound accompanied by a high-pitched beep. It was put forth from the apparatus before the door slowly began to slide open. The thick, steel door gradually receded into the wall as the group of pokemon trainers looked ahead towards the new room that was being revealed.

Once the extrinsic door finally receded, Sabrina beckoned them to follow her through the doorway. On the other side of the door was a strange, small room: its purpose was revealed the moment that they entered. Straight across from the door was a compact, metal panel. There were all kinds of buttons and levers on top of it. It reminded Ash of the control panel that was located within the SS Anne's wheelhouse. Ash wasn't quite sure what all of the buttons and levers exact purposes were, but he was more than certain that they had something to do with what was directly behind the panel.

The control panel was protruding out of a transparent wall that was made out of sturdy plexiglass. Inside of the bright, white room that the plexiglass was shielding off was a restrained, handcuffed man. The handcuff's strands were made out of solid metal material, just like a typical set of standard police handcuffs. However, the unique link that connected the strands appeared to be made out of some kind of laser. The bright, blue light constrained the handcuff strands tightly, giving the man little to no slack.

The Team Rocket grunt looked like he had been starved by Sabrina. His complexion was pale, and his body was grotesquely thin. He was wearing casual, but tattered, clothes. It made him appear as if he'd been stranded on an uncharted island for a couple of weeks. His hair was messy, and his eyes were disoriented. Ash was under the assumption that the plexiglass had been tampered with. Although they could see him, the ten-year-old boy was pretty sure that he couldn't see them. The grunt was staring straight at them without a hint of recognition in his depraved eyes.

"This is the grunt, eh?" questioned Kent with raised eyebrows. "Have you been torturing him, Sabrina? He looks awful."

"Other than when I sifted through his few remaining memories, I have done nothing to him," replied Sabrina, "he refuses to eat and will only drink the bare minimum amount of water to survive. He's been excruciatingly difficult. If I weren't a psychic, I'm afraid I probably wouldn't have been able to get anything out of him. The bastard has no regard for himself. His mind is twisted and fragmented. He's been brainwashed down to his core. Simply put, he is nothing but a nefarious shell."

"Is he responsive?" asked the tall, dark-skinned trainee.

"He is," replied Sabrina with a sigh. "This plexiglass is only transparent from our point of view. I had one of my mr. mime modify it. He can't see anything. It is also soundproof, which means that he has absolutely no awareness of our presence."

"So, are we going to go in there or not?" asked the beautiful, but scarred, brunette trainee in an edgy tone.

"Momentarily," retorted Sabrina as she gave the teenager's attitude no mind whatsoever. "First, I would like you to release your canines. The grunt will be less hostile if he knows of their presence from the beginning, albeit I would still expect some sort of physical outburst. His wrists are the only part of his body being presently restrained. I do not desire to be cruel, however, if I find it necessary, I will disable his entire body with my mind."

At the mention of the other canines, Growlithe's entire demeanor shifted. His eyes lit up, and his tail wagged energetically. In response to Growlithe's excitement, Ash bent over and ruffled up Growlithe's fur. He had never actually seen Growlithe amidst others of his breed, so the dark-haired boy was pretty excited.

On account of Sabrina's request, each of the trainees proceeded to simultaneously detach a pokeball from their trainer belts. Even Kent unclipped a pokeball from his belt, which Ash assumed belonged to his arcanine. There was a brief moment of silence, while everyone handled there canine's pokeball, in precedence to the accordant sound of a collective release.

In subsequence to a massive display of effulgent light, seven new canines stood in the congested room. Four of the newly released canines were growlithe. They instantly began the process of feeling out each other's pheromones before interacting together in a playful manner. The adorable, heartfelt scene didn't hold Ash's attention for too long, though, and it wasn't because it wasn't interesting, but rather on behalf of the fact that the sight of the three regal arcanine was that much more compelling.

It had been a long time since Ash had seen the evolved form of his best friend. The dark-haired boy hadn't set his eyes on an arcanine since the last time he had seen Professor Oak's monstrous specimen. Growlithe's mother was significantly larger than the two arcanine that belonged to the trainees. However, that didn't take away from the immense presence that the beasts had. Arcanine were a large species after all. Even the smallest specimen would completely tower over the ten-year-old boy.

The bigger of the two, average sized, arcanine belonged to the tall trainee with the dark-skin. He gently ran his fingers through his arcanine's long, off-white mane before smiling at the orange and black canine. "Good to see you, too, Samson. We've got an important task to complete. Are you up for a hunt?"

The evolved canine nodded his head before he grunted. The dark-skinned trainee's arcanine was extremely well-behaved, however, it had a hint of malice in its eyes. Ash could tell that it had a strong affinity towards battle.

The other, trainee owned, arcanine was a little bit shorter and a lot slimmer than the dark-skinned trainee's arcanine. On account of its physique, Ash assumed that it had just recently evolved. More than likely, it was a young female. Female mammalian pokemon tended to be smaller than their male counterparts. The female arcanine was also a lot more energetic than the other arcanine. Her eyes were constantly darting over to the playing growlithe, eager to join them.

The female arcanine belonged to the girl with the scar. She smiled at her canine before using her right hand to gesture for the canine to sit down. "I know you want to play, but now is not the time. We have work to do. I need your help."

The canine pokemon heeded her trainer's request, relaxing her eyes, before fastening them on her trainer.

"Good girl," crooned the brunette teenager as she soothingly scratched her overgrown pup underneath the muzzle.

All conversation came to an end when Kent's prodigious arcanine walked out into the middle of the room. Ash had obviously noticed it the second it was released, but all of the activity within the room had swayed his undivided attention. The dark-haired boy was convinced that all of the trainees must have already been introduced to the monstrous Arcanine; otherwise, everyone in the room would be utterly entranced.

The sight of the incredible canine was enough to render Growlithe completely still. The moment of its release, Growlithe had locked his eyes on the beast and never looked away. The puppy pokemon was captivated. He paid attention to nothing else in the room as Kent's canine approached him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ash noticed that Austin's eyes were cemented on the arcanine. The young teenager was clearly astonished: his slacked jaw and wide eyes made that rather obvious.

Sabrina looked as stony-faced as ever which didn't come as a surprise. She was Sabrina after all. Besides, the gym leader had mentioned earlier that she had faced off against the unique specimen a long time ago, and she didn't seem like the type of person that could be amazed by the same pokemon twice. No matter how astounding it was.

Kent's arcanine was, by far, the most mesmeric pokemon Ash had ever seen. He was a little bias toward the species, but the internal compliment was still saying quite a bit. The special arcanine was even more impressive than Professor Oak's Arcanine, which was hard to admit, given the fact that she was Growlithe's mom and a pokemon that Ash had known ever since he was a toddler.

Although it clearly wasn't a bearer of the king's nature, Kent's arcanine was a very large specimen. If Ash had to guess, he'd say that it probably stood two-feet taller than the other two arcanine. Pokemon continued to grow well past their final evolution; their age, health, strength and experience all factored into their size and power. It was highly possible for a fully-evolved specimen to grow significantly. However, the amount of time and energy it took to raise a pokemon of that level was considerable.

Its immense size wasn't what made it enamoring, though. It was impressive and definitely gave Ash an idea of how strong it was, but it wasn't what had caused the dark-haired boy to stare straight ahead, utterly enraptured. No. What blew Ash away was the arcanine's gorgeous color scheme. Kent's arcanine was born with one of the two distinct genetic mutations that Bill had spoken of back at his lighthouse. The arcanine was born with the same, rare, genetic difference as Wallace's wailord, Dreca, and the giant dragonite that he and Bill had become friends with.

Kent's arcanine was born different. The first-class ACE trainer's arcanine was, what pokemon researchers like to call, shiny.

The muscular canine's shaggy fur, on its head, muzzle, and chest, was off-white, which remained the same as a typical arcanine. The long tufts of off-white fur that grew out from behind its forelegs, and around its hind ankles, also remained the same. The major difference of Kent's arcanine, compared to a normal specimen, was that the part of its pelt that was typically orange had been traded for an aureolin yellow. Although the rest of its features were relatively the same, the lone color change in its pelt made the powerful arcanine look so much different. Arcanine were sometimes called the "legendary pokemon" because of their stoic nature, but Kent's arcanine, in a way, almost looked like an authentic Legendary.

For some reason, Growlithe's silent infatuation with Kent's arcanine was being requited. Ash found it peculiar that out of all of the canine pokemon in the room, especially the two arcanine, the unique beast had shown the most interest in his pup. Maybe it was because the arcanine was already familiar with the other canines, or maybe it was because Growlithe was entirely focused on him. Whatever the reason was, the alternate colored arcanine was slowly approaching Growlithe with a look of intrigue.

"It seems as though Arcanine has taken an interest in your Growlithe," said Kent to Ash as he casually folded his arms.

"I see that," muttered Ash in return. "Do you know why? I mean, it's not like he's the only growlithe here."

"My arcanine has always been intrigued by others of his kind that bear a vast amount of latent potential," replied Kent, "if Arcanine is interested in your Growlithe, I'd assume that you have one special pup."

Ash watched as Growlithe proceeded to sit on his haunches and allow Arcanine to explore his scent. At this point, even the other energetic growlithe had stopped what they were doing to watch the interaction. The two arcanine looked forward attentively, completely fascinated by the display.

"I'm confused," said Ash with a sigh. "Why are they all watching? They were all doing their own thing a moment ago."

"It's because Arcanine hasn't taken an interest in any of them before," retorted Kent. "You see, I posed as a trainee for more than a month. During that time, Arcanine never interacted with a single one of the trainee's canines. He's kind of weird that way. He may show a lot of interest in those that bear potential in his eyes, but the opposite is true for those that don't. If they don't live up to his standards, Arcanine barely acknowledges others of his species."

"Is he that way with other pokemon species?" asked Austin curiously.

"He isn't," retorted Kent with a sigh. "I don't know why either. I've been trying to figure it out for years…"

"Hey, yo, Kent," blurted the tall, dark-skinned man with the male arcanine. "Looks like your arcanine finally found one that he likes. I don't think he's ever even, so much as, glanced at my Samson here."

Ash listened to the conversation as he watched Kent's arcanine beckon Growlithe to play with him by lightly nudging him with his furry muzzle. Growlithe responded by leaning back on his posterior legs and using his paws to playfully swipe at arcanine's chest. For the first time, Ash thought he saw what resembled a smile on Arcanine's face as the large canine emitted a jovial yip. Ash had to admit, it was a heartfelt display. He hadn't seen Growlithe show such pure joy since before the SS Anne.

"Must be a special Growlithe, Tompkins," replied Kent as he spoke in the direction of his fellow arcanine trainer, "I'm not saying that Samson isn't, but you know how my arcanine is…"

"Yeah, he's a jerk," chided the girl with the scar, "Sheila's been trying to get his attention for more than a month now and nothing's worked."

"Well…I don't know what to tell you, Trish," replied Kent with a shrug. "Arcanine is how he is. He's never going to change the way he sees his kin, at least not by any of our persuasion."

In response to his last comment, Arcanine diverted his attention from Growlithe over to his trainer. He gazed at him with soft eyes before setting his attention back on Growlithe. The dark-haired boy wondered what exactly that look entailed. It appeared as if Arcanine was yearning for Kent's approval. What he wanted approval for, who knows?

"I understand that the puppies want time to get acquainted," interjected Sabrina in a loud, but monotone, voice. "However, it is not wise for us to waste anymore time. Team Rocket could move at any moment, and our plan relies on them staying put. My two mr. mime may have conjured an illusion, but that doesn't change the fact that Silph Co. headquarters is vulnerable. Let's go pick up this grunt's scent, so your canines can track down the hidden hideout."

There were a few wry faces, but for the most part everyone understood where Sabrina's sudden oration was coming from. Regardless of how great it was to see Growlithe having a good time with Kent's arcanine, now just wasn't the appropriate time. They needed to move as quickly as possible. And although it had only been a couple of minutes, they were wasting valuable time.

"I agree," replied Kent with a nod, "let's go in."

In subsequence to Kent's suggestion, the gaggle of trainees responded with a quiet, affirmative nod.

"Very well," answered Sabrina as she beckoned the group of pokemon trainers over to the thick, steel door situated to the side of the control panel.

As they made their way over to the door, Ash noticed that Austin appeared to be slightly hesitant. The dark-haired boy was curious as to what had caused such an expression to form across his friends mug, but his answer was soon given to him by means of Sabrina's articulate, robot-like voice.

"Austin Turner, you are here on account of your friend," spoke Sabrina as she dragged her thick bracelet over the door's external entry lock. "I do not feel comfortable separating you two. Fate wants you both to learn what lengths we must go to in order to protect what is important to us. You and Ash Ketchum are to learn together. Although I am unaware of the details, I have had visions of your importance to Kanto."

"It is necessary for you to take this time to learn how to protect each other. After today, your journeys will take you to different places. However, the two of you shall have a major influence on the next generation, and your paths shall cross plenty of times along the way. Just because you do not have a canine does not mean that your presence is not needed. Throughout today's mission, there will be things that you can do that young Ketchum cannot. That does not mean that his presence won't be needed. Lean on each other. That is what friends are for, am I correct?"

Austin hastily nodded his head before flashing a smile at Ash. "You hear that, dude. Even fate thinks we're gonna be a big deal."

Ash couldn't help but snicker, "That would be what you would take from all of that."

"Ah, I see…I was wondering why these kids came along with us," said the bald-headed trainer.

"Same," inserted the female trainee, with the baby face, as she leaned over and patted her growlithe on the head.

"So, you kids are special…why?" questioned the blonde haired woman with the distinct lack of personality.

"Did you really not pick up on any of that, Gretchen?" asked the trainee with no eyebrows, "Sabrina had a vision. Fate wants them here. You can't argue with that."

"So, you guys are like prodigies, eh?" questioned Trish as she pursed her lips. "When you get strong, I'd like a battle. What do you say?"

"Um…sure," drawled Ash, with an overwhelmed expression, as he eyed his loyal pup.

Growlithe sat next to him, confused, trying to follow the sporadic conversation.

"Give em a break, Trish," chided the dark-skinned trainer named Tompkins. "Besides, I'll be the one that gets the battle, right boys?"

Austin scratched the back of his head in a confused manner, while Ash was thinking of a way to divert the conversation.

"Enough talking," groaned Kent with a look of irritation, "can't you guys see that the doors unlocked. It's time to go in."

Everyone went silent in response to Kent's abrupt scolding. Sabrina peered at all of them for a split-second, depicting who knows what, before gesturing for them to follow her through the swung open door.

As they entered the room, Ash instantly shuddered in response to the grunt's precipitous outburst.

"Ariana! Ariana, is that you!? Ariana!" the grunt blustered with depraved eyes and a contorted face.

"How many times have I told you?" replied Sabrina, in a calm voice, while she approached the Rocket, "Executive Ariana isn't coming for you."

"You!?" hissed the grunt, "why do you continuously doubt Ariana's love for me!? She will come! She will come! She will come! She will come!"

Ash's stomach dropped in response to the grunt's evident insanity. His outcries of nonsense proved just how far gone he was. As intrusive thoughts of fear grated against the ten-year-old boy's psyche, Ash tried to squelch his rising anxiety. He had no such luck, until the boy suddenly felt Growlithe nuzzle up against his leg, offering his support, which sent a flood of comfort throughout his body. Ash looked down at Growlithe with thankful eyes before focusing his attention back on the deranged grunt.

"You don't even know who you are," replied Sabrina, "yet you put your faith in a single memory of someone else, why?"

"Ariana is all I know," mumbled the grunt as he shot his scornful gaze toward the ground. "She is my entire existence."

"Damn…" muttered Austin quietly to Ash, "this guy's freaking crazy."

"You can say that again," added Trish before glancing over at Kent. "Kent, should we just take the redolence from here, or should we have the canines get in closer?"

"We should get in closer," answered Kent, "we want the scent to be as strong as possible. The closer we can get...the better."

"Gotchya," replied Trish before turning her body to face Tompkins. "You hear that, Tompkins?"

"Affirmative," retorted the dark-skinned trainee before pivoting his line of sight towards Kent. "What do you say, Kent? Should we send the arcanine in first?"

"Yes," said Kent in a no nonsense tone of voice. "My arcanine will lead the group and instill fear. Have Samson and Sheila follow in behind him. The five growlithe will swoop in from the back. We want to make sure he doesn't lash out. I'd rather not have Arcanine have to draw blood until later today. This guy isn't an actual treat, so I'd rather not have to hurt him. It wouldn't sit well with my conscience."

"There's no need to go through all of this trouble," articulated Sabrina with vacant eyes, "on second thought, I'll just restrain him. We'll let the dogs do their job and get out."

Ash processed the formulating strategy while watching the grunt's peculiar behavior. The captured Rocket continuously spewed out the name Ariana as he viciously ground his teeth. Although the man was a Rocket, Ash couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He was nothing but a mindless fiend now, operating off of nothing but the memory of his twisted superior and his own corrupt soul.

"Go ahead and restrain him then, Sabrina," said Kent with a gesture of his hand. "We'll send the canines in once he's under your control."

Sabrina wasted no time. She raised an open hand, in the direction of the grunt, before lightly clenching her fist. In response to her movements, the Grunt's mouth instantly froze, and his body went stiff. A string of drool dribbled out of his mouth, and his eyelids stayed still like an untouched dead man.

"It has been done," informed Sabrina, "now hurry. It is time we move on to the next phase of the plan."

"Gotchya," replied the yellow eyed trainer as he casually pointed towards the grunt. "Arcanine, lead the way. Get in close and retrieve the scent."

Arcanine surprisingly looked down at Growlithe before gesturing the pup to follow closely behind him. Ash understood that the original plan was for the three arcanine to lead the way, but it appeared as though Arcanine had other plans. The two, trainee owned arcanine looked at Kent's canine quizzically, for a fraction of a second, before shaking it off and following closely behind. Trailing in behind Growlithe, and the three Arcanine, were the other four growlithe. The previously playful pups' disposition had changed. All four of them had a look of seriousness depicted across their face as they readied their minds for the upcoming task.

Ash watched as Arcanine and Growlithe severed the proximity between themselves and the Rocket. Once they deemed to each other that they were close enough, they leaned forward, leading with their snouts before drawing in a large breath. From their current positioning, the scent of the Rocket was strong. Ash assumed that neither had any complications because it only took them a few seconds to procure expressions of satisfaction. Once they were done, they peeled away from the Rocket and headed back in the direction of their trainers, allowing the rest of the canine's to follow suit.

It only took a couple of minutes for the rest of the growlithe and arcanine to pick up the scent. Once they were done, they returned to their respective trainer's side.

"The task is complete," spoke Kent with a smirk, "they've embedded the Rocket's scent into their aromatic almanacs. Arcanine is presently sorting through durational periods with his aromatic awareness. He should be locking onto the location of the hidden hideout rather quickly. Once he's finished, he'll help the others. By the time we ascend back up to ground-level, we will be ready to initiate the tracking phase."

"Understood," replied Sabrina as she released her psychic grip on the Rocket.

The grunt instantly began to leave off where he started, shouting Ariana's name like it was the only word he knew. It appeared as though whatever Sabrina had done to the grunt hadn't caused any evident side-effects. More than likely, she had put some kind of mental lock on his movements. The deranged grunt didn't seem to acknowledge that anything had happened to him, so Ash figured it was relatively painless.

"I've had enough of this place," said Trish as she pointed up toward the ceiling. "Let's go back up."

"Agreed," retorted Tompkins with fire in his eyes, "I'm ready to beat some Rocket ass!"

"Hell yeah!" blurted Austin with a devious expression. "Let's freaking go!"

The rest of the trainees agreed in their own way before Sabrina spoke up.

"Very well, it's nice to see some urgency. We have a big day ahead of us. It is time we decimate Team Rocket and rescue Robert."

"Absolutely," answered Kent with a thick grin before looking down at Ash and Austin. "What do you say kids? Are you ready to find out just how strong the League is?"

Both boys nodded with a hint of veneration in their eyes.

"You'll never win!" interrupted the disoriented grunt with insidious eyes. "You won't defeat the goddess Ariana! She will come for me! You'll see! And when she does, we'll kill all of you! And we won't stop there! We'll murder everyone that you've ever cared about especially this Robert that you're trying to rescue! Every! Last! One!"

Ash watched as Sabrina raised her hand from her side before precipitously pinching her thumb and index finger together. In response to the rapid movement, the grunt's lips closed shut, muting the evil that was coming out of his mouth.

"That's where you're wrong, trash," articulated Sabrina—void of emotion, "we will win. We will destroy Ariana. And we will make sure that the bitch pays for kidnapping Robert. I will see to it myself. Now, just rot away in this hole and get this through your thick skull, the last face you will be seeing is mine. When this is all over, I'll come down here and show you exactly how I decimated this 'so called' goddess of yours. Next time you see me, your Ariana will be in chains, fearfully dreading the day that she is put to death for the crimes that she has committed."

Out of the corner of Ash's eye, he noticed Austin staring at him with a look of bewilderment. If the dark-haired boy had to guess, he'd say that Austin was thinking the exact same thing that he himself was mulling over: this Sabrina was scary. The Sabrina that Ash had heard stories about growing up, the Sabrina that lashed out at Bill for making a joke about her emotions, and the Sabrina that had just threatened the delusional Rocket, they all painted a picture of what Sabrina could turn into if she ever lost control. It was a scary thought. Thank God she was on their side.

"Let's go, Sabrina," stammered Ash as he mustered up the courage to interrupt the gym leader's rant. "We're wasting time. Like you just said, we need to move before Team Rocket does."

"The boy's right," added Kent, "Sabrina, let's go."

The master of psychics turned around with eyes as cold as an articuno, "You're correct. It is time to take back Robert and destroy every last trace of Team Rocket in my city. I can no longer stomach the knowledge of their presence."

XXX

To their pleasant surprise, it only took the canines about an hour and a half to track down the hidden Team Rocket hideout. The location of the hideout came as somewhat of a surprise, although it only took a brief moment to dissect the logic behind it. The scent had led them to Saffron City's Magnet Train station, which operated as one of the few public commuting options to travel to and from the Johto region.

The magnet trains were, without a doubt, the most economically friendly way for the general public to travel between neighboring regions. It was much more cost friendly than buying a plane ticket or traveling aboard the SS Aqua. It was also well known as the most convenient option, linking two of the biggest cities in the world: Saffron City and Goldenrod City.

The highly efficient travel option had only been around for the last decade or so. Even though the technology needed to successfully create such a system of travel had been around for quite some time, the sheer amount of labor required to link the two regions took countless years to complete, especially in regard to finding viable pathways to navigate through Mt. Silver.

Two magnetically based guideways connected the Magnet Train station in Saffron with the station in Goldenrod City. One of the guideways existed above ground, functioning in a similar manner as an elevated monorail, while the other operated underground, resembling an old-fashioned subway system. The magnet trains worked using magnetic levitation to move without touching the ground, reducing friction and allowing the vehicle to perform at an incredible speed. During their trip over to the station, Kent had explained to Austin and him that both trains can travel up to 340 miles per hour.

Their trip over to the station had been interesting. Ash and Austin had gotten a chance to prod Kent with all kinds of questions, the majority of which regarded subjects such as the League, missions, pokemon, Team Rocket, and Kent's expectations for the forthcoming invasion. The ACE trainer was very open with them, sharing anything that wasn't classified as top-secret information

Ash had to say, he liked Kent. Besides the fact that the older trainer was powerful beyond measure, Ash could already tell that he was a genuinely good guy. He spoke to the boys as if they were equals and included them in on everything. He wasn't the kind of overzealous prick that abided strictly by the rules and saw them as a nagging nuisance. He was much like Wallace, in the way that he used their accompaniment as an opportunity to speak into the lives of the next generation.

Speaking of Wallace, the moment that they had reemerged from the Saffron Gym's cellar, Wallace and Sabrina had taken their small, twelve-person team and headed towards the Rocket's warehouse base. Both Sabrina and Wallace were antsy to save Robert, particularly Sabrina, who had been sent into an introspective rage on behalf of the captured grunt's abhorrent words.

Bill had already contacted Kent in order to inform him that Wallace and Sabrina's team was in preparation to strike. However, they were waiting on Kent to check in on his end. The plan required a simultaneous invasion by both teams. They couldn't risk a leak, from one base to the other, signifying that they were under attack. It would result in a complete forfeit of the element of surprise that they had worked so hard to attain.

The best news, in regards to the location of the hidden Rocket hideout, was that the Magnet Train station wasn't that far away from the warehouse hideout. Originally, they had figured that Team Rocket would try and further distribute their forces amongst the city. However, that wasn't the case. Team Rocket had elected to locate both of their hideouts within Saffron City's northwestern quadrant.

On account of the fact that the Magnet Train station was practically hugging Saffron City's border, it served as the perfect place to hide grunts without being spotted. It was far away from the heart of the city, where the majority of the population resided. In addition, it maintained hundreds of artificial maintenance tunnels that the League used to provide the trains with sustenance. It provided plenty of opportunistic underground locations to conquer and create a base of operations within a functioning part of the city.

All Team Rocket would have had to do is exterminate one of the magnet trains maintenance crews and operate their base of operations under the disguise of a work crew—similar to what they did aboard the SS Anne. Given the fact that Team Rocket had been dormant for more than five years, and the world had yet to hear about their second coming, they very easily could have been occupying and managing a division of the Magnet Train system for years while waiting for this one lone opportunity.

The fact that both hideouts were in the northwestern quadrant of the city could become essential if the plan were to go awry, namely, Wallace and Sabrina's objective. They had only allotted themselves with ten trainees, which could become problematic if Team Rocket had a lot of men stationed at the warehouse. Regardless of their individual prowess, numbers did factor into the outcome of pokemon related warfare.

No matter how strong Sabrina and Wallace were…it would be hard to lead a successful operation if the warehouse concealed more than the expected number of grunts. Ash doubted that Sabrina and Wallace would be in danger, however, Ariana could use her men as a distraction to escape with Robert. He definitely wouldn't put it passed her, especially after seeing the mental state of the captured grunt.

The topic of Wallace and Sabrina's mission had been one of the many things that the boys had talked to Kent about on their way over to the station. Even if it was only for a short while, they had touched on the idea of providing backup if deemed necessary. Kent was convinced that their half of the operation would resolve smoothly. The only thing he was worried about was Ariana. Kent was adamant about how critical her capture was.

If they could apprehend Ariana, the League could find out what Team Rocket has been up to the past five years. Kent hadn't exactly been specific, but it was obvious that after all these years, Team Rocket was still on the League's radar. Although they didn't suspect terrorist attacks as big as the SS Anne and Silph Co., the first-class Ace trainer left many verbal hints that the League had been waiting for Team Rocket to make a move.

Despite the fact that the trip over to the Magnet Train station revolved around a vital hunt, and consisted of intense conversation, Ash and Growlithe were able to see a part of the city that they hadn't previously explored. The northern part of Saffron was very commercially inclined. There were a lot of busy shops and tall office buildings. The streets were flooded with people who were completely unaware of the forthcoming chaos.

One of the more notable buildings that Ash had noticed – almost immediately after exiting the Saffron Gym – was Saffron City's Fighting Dojo. Ash had heard a lot of the history behind the building before visiting Saffron, but Austin and Kent had decided to give him a lesson on its backstory anyway.

The Fighting Dojo had been around ever since the foundation of Saffron City and had served as the city's first official gym. The dojo was run by the Katsu clan, which was a family of martial artists that had trained and battled in the gym for over a century. Their current head of the family – also known as the Karate Master – was Kiyo Katsu. Kiyo was extremely famous within the world of martial arts, having acquired the majority of his region-wide fame as being the second best fighting-type specialist in the region—outside of Bruno of the Elite Four.

Ash knew he wanted to visit the Fighting Dojo at some point, however, he wasn't sure when. He had thought about attempting to take on Kiyo after the mission, but that likely wouldn't go over too well. Even though the Fighting Dojo had lost the battle to be recognized as Saffron City's official gym, that didn't mean that it was weak. As a matter of fact, the Fighting Dojo was probably stronger than more than half of the official gyms in Kanto. Howbeit, to the dojo's dismay, it resided in the same city as Sabrina's gym, which would always remain in control of Saffron as long as Sabrina was still breathing.

Other than the Fighting Dojo, Ash also enjoyed walking passed Saffron's local governmental buildings and pristine City Hall. They were extremely elaborate and embellished, giving off an unprecedented feeling of prestige. Ash wasn't all that into politics, especially as of late, but that didn't change the fact that the architecture was alluring.

Anyways, they presently stood outside of city limits in the brushwood with an observant eye on the Magnet Train station. Ash's group consisted of Kent, Austin, five other trainees whose names escaped Ash's memory, and himself. They had split up in attempt to stay unnoticed. Traveling in a group of fifty wasn't exactly inconspicuous. Instead, they decided to track the scent in seven different groups, with seven different tracking specialists leading each one.

Kent's arcanine's aromatic awareness was extraordinarily powerful, thus they had arrived at the site of the hideout before anyone else. Growlithe had followed the scent as well, although it wasn't necessary. For the most part, Growlithe's role was that of a student learning from an elder of his kind.

Upon arrival, Kent had immediately contacted the rest of the groups. They would be reconvening shortly. From his group's vantage point, they hadn't seen any suspicious movement outside of the station, just the typical travelers, entering and exiting in order to reach their designated destinations.

The Magnet Train station was enormous in terms of breadth. Its external perimeters covered a vast amount of space. Kent had informed them that the building inhabited more than two million square feet. Ash wasn't exactly sure what those measurements entailed, however that didn't matter. Just by eyeing it, Ash could comprehend its humongous size. In regards to overall space, it was probably the biggest building in the city—even exceeding Silph Co. headquarters.

Its design was very contemporary. Judging by appearance, it was obvious that it had been built within the last decade. Saffron City was a rather modern city to begin with, but the station was definitely the most modern of all of the architecture Ash had seen. It was built almost entirely out of fine alloys and glass window panes. The station's exterior was somewhat abstract in shape, giving off a distinct artistic vibe. Overall, its appearance didn't exactly appeal to Ash. He tended to appreciate more rural and old-fashioned architecture, probably on behalf of growing up in a small town like Pallet.

In response to Kent's update regarding their location, it took about five minutes for Trish's group to shuffle up to the meeting point, with her female arcanine leading the way. They must not have been too far in front of Tompkins because he filed in a few minutes later. Eventually, after about twenty minutes of accumulated standby time, all seven groups had conjoined into one fifty plus unit of trainers that were ready to bring the fight to Team Rocket.

"Alright," orated Kent in subsequence to clearing his throat, "now would be a good time to make sure that you have all of your pokemon close at hand. The infiltration phase is going to be hectic."

Kent proceeded to unclip a pokeball from his trainer belt before casually tossing it up and down. "Sabrina thought of a way to bypass a search of the building. To be honest, I'm a little reluctant to try it. But, we don't have much of a choice. Who knows how detailed Team Rocket's security of the building is. We can't just walk into the lobby with our canines and expect nobody to notice."

There was a collection of nods and grunts as everyone listened to Kent's words.

"So, Sabrina let me borrow Yin. Now that the grunt's scent has been confirmed to the Magnet Train station, there is no doubt in my mind that the hideout is somewhere underground. We can't risk being spotted traveling down to the maintenance tunnels, so we're just going to have to avoid that step all together. Instead, were going to have Yin teleport us in."

There was a collection of gasps as Ash, Austin, and the trainees processed Kent's words.

It didn't take long for Tompkins to speak up, "How are we going to do that, Kent? There are countless amounts of tunnels down there."

"Yeah...," added Austin, garnering annoyed looks from some of the less friendly trainees. Not everyone agreed with Ash and Austin's presence, "how's Yin going to know where to teleport?"

Kent smirked before giving an answer, "My arcanine is quite talented in regards to picking up the details of a scent. From this range, he can practically visualize the highest duration point of the grunt's scent, which just so happens to be the location of the hideout."

Kent proceeded to take his eyes off of the group before looking at his big, yellow arcanine for reassurance. "Right, Arcanine?"

Arcanine emitted an affirmative grunt as he nodded his massive head up and down.

"But, still…" interrupted Trish with a curious expression, "how are we going to get in? Unless—"

"Were going to have Yin take the location from Arcanine's mind and use it as a destination point for her teleportation. If we do it this way, not only will we avoid being spotted by any Rockets, but we will also be able to teleport in all at once. Best case scenario is that by the time Team Rocket can react, we'll have already decimated nearly half of their main force.

There was a collection of smiles and laughter while everyone internalized the ingeniousness of the plan. However, Ash felt slightly weary. He didn't exactly respond well to teleportation. He hoped that he'd be able to endure the nausea and disoriented vision, in order to fight and properly command his pokemon.

Almost immediately after his pessimistic thought, Ash felt an alien stir within his demeanor. His eyes instantly shot down to his shadow, which was the cause of the peculiar feeling. Suddenly, a two-dimensional image of his haunter appeared amongst the earth's surface. Haunter gave him a distinct look of support as the poltergeist tried to use his optimistic disposition to calm down Ash's thoughts.

Ash wasn't exactly sure of the details concerning the connection he and Haunter had while the ghost-type was dwelling within his shadow, but Ash could tell that it went beyond mere inhabitation. When the ghost-type concealed his presence, for long periods of time, it felt as if Haunter always provided him with a shell of protection. The ghost-type would fade in and out of Ash's conscious thoughts frequently, but there was always a deep rooted feeling that he was looking out for him.

The dark-haired boy didn't know if he would always let Haunter dwell within his shadow, but it was definitely something that he was going to repeat the next time he faced danger. His confidence had been boosted by the ghost-type's incorporeal form, and it didn't appear that anyone that wasn't previously informed of Haunter's existence was even slightly aware of his presence. The ghost-type quite possibly offered Ash the perfect invisible defense.

Ash's thoughts about Haunter were interrupted as Kent continued to take charge.

"Now, it's time to prepare for battle," said Kent with fiery eyes and a fierce intonation, "I will now release Yin. I have informed Bill that we're about to initiate the invasion, so there is nothing holding us back. Please handle your pokemon of choice. Prepare to release them the moment we are teleported."

The trainees responded with grunts of obedience. Ash glanced at Austin, who was detaching a pokeball from his belt, before looking down at Growlithe in search of his best friend's support.

"You ready, buddy?" asked Ash in an antsy tone.

The puppy pokemon looked up at him with assertive eyes. Ash could tell that his friend was prepared for the upcoming events. Although Ash was originally worried that the horrific events aboard the SS Anne would debilitate Growlithe, they had actually had the opposite effect. Growlithe had always been a focused pokemon, but as of late, his level of focus had increased to extremely high levels. The puppy pokemon no longer acted like a youngling. Even in comparison to the other trainees' growlithe, Ash's best friend was much more mature and ready to take on whatever the world threw at him.

After interacting with Growlithe, Ash looked down at his thick, murky shadow. "Haunter, we're about to be teleported into hostile territory. I need your protection."

In response to Ash's request, the dark-haired boy heard a cacophonous array of ghoulish laughter being emanated from the earth's surface. Ash knew it was Haunter reassuring him that he had his back, but the trainees that heard the guffaw didn't. They looked at Ash with confused expressions, wondering what could possibly have made such a discordant noise.

The looks of confusion suddenly ceased, though, when a bright light erupted from the pokeball that Kent had been handling. Left in the coruscating light's wake was one of Sabrina's alakazam: Yin. For a brief moment, she stood aloof in front of them before looking at Kent with inquisitive eyes.

"Hello, Yin," said Kent, "Sabrina filled you in on the objective, right?"

Yin stared at Kent momentarily, more than likely speaking to him telepathically.

"I understand," said Kent before directing his gaze towards his arcanine. "Arcanine, you need to let down your mental defenses in order for Yin to get a perfect read."

Ash assumed that Yin must be talking to Kent through telekinesis, either that, or Kent was just really good at reading psychic pokemon's dispositions. More than likely, it was the former rather than the latter. Alakazam didn't typically portray any kind of readable countenance. Just like Sabrina, their dispositions were usually barren and void of emotions.

Arcanine gave Kent an acquiescent nod, letting the alakazam retrieve the necessary information from his mind in order to make the jump. After a few seconds, Yin was crossing her spoons in preparation to teleport. In subsequence to Yin's movements, Kent spoke out once again.

"Last warning to prepare for battle!" Kent blustered.

Ash watched Austin, Kent, and the trainees firmly grasp the pokeballs in their hands while he himself reached for Squirtle and Ivysaur's pokeballs. His heart pounded, and his palms sweat as he anticipated the forthcoming moments.

"Ash," muttered Austin with a no-nonsense look depicted across his face, "as soon as we're in the hideout, I'm going to release Golduck. Stick close. I want to make sure that both of us battle from within Golduck's barrier."

The dark-haired boy had just enough time to respond with a nod before being distracted by the sound of Kent's booming voice.

"Yin, do it now!"

The next few seconds of Ash's life were spent in a crepuscular sequester before his vision readjusted to reveal someplace new. There was a cursory lag as everyone came to grips with their current circumstances. They rematerialized together, in the same physical position that they previously stood, only to find themselves surrounded by an utterly bewildered crowd of disgruntled people.

They looked to be preparing for something. The hundreds of palpable Team Rocket members were at various stages of getting ready. Some were putting on their black jumpsuits; others were loading their trainer belts. Ash saw multiple, assumed to be, Rockets dressed in white work-crew clothes which proved his theory that Team Rocket had been posing as part of the Magnet Train's maintenance crew.

There was a moment of peace as Team Rocket desperately tried to process their appearance, which was much needed on account of the after-effects of Yin's large-scale teleportation. Until, all of a sudden, there was a loud outcry that was put forth by one of the many grunts.

"Shit, it's the League!"

Simultaneously, within the blink of an eye, Ash, Austin, Kent and all of the trainees released whatever pokemon they had been previously handling in their pokeballs. There was an immense array of effulgent, white light as a multitude of pokemon exited their personal capture devices.

Appearing directly in front of Ash were Squirtle and Ivysaur. Both elemental starters peered forward as they tried to come to grips with their current whereabouts. Instantly, upon recognition of the frantic Rockets, Ash's two newly released pokemon looked back at their trainer with knowing eyes before entering a defensive stance. In immediate subsequence, Growlithe stepped forward in order to stand beside his two teammates. The pup emitted a series of barks and grunts, clearly trying to fill his peers in on their present circumstances.

To Ash's left, Austin's golduck and a large, bulky nidoking had materialized. The dark-haired boy felt a sudden surge of relief as Golduck immediately tapped the red jewel that was embedded into his forehead, causing a shimmering, purple-tinted light to surge out of nowhere and safely envelope them.

Nidoking instantly shot his gaze down at Austin, desiring clarity. The chiseled faced teenager looked up at his fully-evolved poison barbed friend with an adamant expression.

"Knock out anybody that's wearing black!" bellowed Austin with an underhanded smile on his face, "smash any pokemon that gets in your way!"

Over Austin's blustering exclamation, Ash was able to hear the sound of numerous other trainers giving their pokemon orders. One of which was Kent, who was to his right. By the time Ash had swiveled his head around to look, Arcanine had already taken off with what the ten-year-old boy assumed to be Extreme Speed.

Extreme Speed was an incredibly formidable technique that allowed a pokemon to reach speeds even greater than what Agility had to offer. It was one of the few attacks that a well-trained arcanine could learn after being exposed to a fire stone. Ash had never actually seen the move in person before now. But, judging by the way it nearly forced Ash's hat off of his head, due to the aftermath, the dark-haired boy knew that Kent's arcanine was a master of it.

Ash could hear the panicked screams of Team Rocket grunts as Arcanine powered through their forces. At this point, some Rockets had managed to release pokemon, but so far Ash hadn't noticed anything arduous: just some ekans and zubat, heedlessly trying to protect their evil trainers.

The dark-haired boy quickly diverted his attention back to his pokemon as he tried his best to focus on what was in front of him. "Squirtle, Ivysaur, Growlithe listen up! I need you to knock out as many Rockets as possible! They should all be wearing either black or white! Use whatever means necessary, in regards to their pokemon; just don't kill them! Haunter is protecting me, so I'll be fine! I'll give you commands when I can, but don't expect too much. Right now, I just need your strength! I'll be releasing the others as well! So, try and help each other out whenever you can!"

Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Growlithe emitted low, acquiescent grunts before exploding out of their individual stances. All three took off at different angles as they zeroed in on their selected targets. While he watched Ivysaur close in on one of the grunts, Ash watched Austin's nidoking engage the enemy in the same general area. The fully-evolved poison-type was a monster, using his fists to ruthlessly swat several zubat out of air like they were nothing but a nuisance.

Next, the ten-year-old boy quickly diverted his line of sight to Squirtle, who was already mercilessly using Rapid Spin to knock out a couple of misfortunate grunts. Ash had to admit, he was pretty impressed by how fast his friend had gotten the hang of the new technique. Even though Ash's turtle pokemon had more of an affinity for close-ranged battle than others of his breed, it was still rather awe-inspiring.

Ash noticed that Growlithe had been bombarded by a wall of rattata and raticate as the pup neared the mass of Rockets. Ash caught a glimpse of Ivysaur debating with his eyes to double back, in order to provide Growlithe with support. The seed pokemon decided it wasn't necessary when a trainee's long-legged hitmonlee and another trainee's muscular machop came barreling forward in order to help manhandle the brigade of rodents. It took the advantage bearing fighting-types only a couple of minutes to incapacitate the normal-types. However, they were soon caught in a bind as a trio of drowzee fumbled onto the scene out of seemingly nowhere.

The three yellow and brown furred psychic pokemon used their powers to disable the hitmonlee and machop. Their stubby trunks quavered, and their eyes glowed blue, as they forced the two fighting-types to the ground. Ash was just about to open his mouth – in order to send out Haunter – when a black, horned canine, Ash recognized as a Johto native houndoom, used a series of techniques that consisted of the dark element to make quick work of the drowzee.

It was after this short-lived exchange that Kent gave his first command since entering the hideout. "Release the dark-types! Incapacitate all psychic pokemon! They're our number one threat!"

In immediate subsequence to Kent's orders, there was another accordant outburst of pokeball releases; one of which happened right next to Ash, when Kent released an ominous looking umbreon.

"Umbreon, take out as many psychics as you can," said Kent in a quiet, but stern, voice. "I'm counting on you."

Ash watched as the jet black eevee evolution stretched both of its muscular legs before taking off in a black blur. For the first time, Ash noticed the surplus of psychic-types clustered up together behind him. It was apparent that they had been working on some type of psychic protective barrier, because they instantly dropped their guard the second that they noticed the gaggle of dark-types charging towards them.

Within the squadron of Rocket controlled psychics, Ash saw multiple drowzee and exeggutor. He thought he spotted an outlandish jynx, or two, amidst the skirmish, but he couldn't take the time to find out. His part of the mission had nothing to do with the psychics. His pokemon didn't have any mental barriers, so he had no way to defend against them. He had to leave the psychics to Kent's umbreon and the other trainees' dark-types. For now, he needed to focus on his pokemon.

Ash swiveled his head and instantly tried to track down Ivysaur. It didn't take him long to spot his grass-type, who was currently engaged in combat with a rather baneful looking golbat. The golbat's small eyes never ceased to remain planted on Ivysaur, and it continuously emitted a vehement hiss out of its oversized mouth.

The golbat was the first formidable Rocket pokemon that Ash had seen throughout the beginning of the fight. He would be worried, but Ivysaur had a good matchup. The grass-type had the type advantage and seemed to be holding his' own. Anytime the golbat tried to get in close, Ivysaur would fight it off with his Vine Whip. And whenever the golbat tried to hit him with long-ranged attacks, such as Sludge Bomb or Supersonic, Ivysaur was quick enough to dodge. It would probably be a tough battle, but as long as nobody interfered, his grass-type would be just fine.

After using his eyes to check up on Ivysaur, Ash desperately tried to hunt down Squirtle's whereabouts. Over by a plethora of unconscious Rocket bodies, Squirtle was presently fending off two ekans. Both of the purple snake pokemon were trying to viciously strike at Squirtle with their fangs, however, anytime they lashed out, Squirtle either effortlessly dodged or withdrew into his shell. It was rather obvious that Squirtle would eventually come out as the victor.

Now that the rattata and raticate had been taken care of, Growlithe was currently battling by Austin's nidoking's side. Nidoking was taking on another golbat nearly identical to the one Ivysaur was facing off against. Whereas Growlithe was using Ember to shoot as many zubat out of the air as possible. They were also getting help by some trainee's poliwhirl, who's Water Gun rivaled Squirtle's in terms of accuracy. One by one the zubat fell to their demise as they were shot out of the air by an enfilade of fire and water.

All of a sudden, amidst the sea of Rockets, three more golbat were released into the dark, underground enclosure. Ash instantly reached for Pidgeotto's pokeball as his eyes shot over to Austin.

"Do you see those golbat?!" shouted Ash, trying to be heard over the cacophony of chaos.

"Yeah, I do!" Austin blustered as he waved a pokeball in front of Ash's face, "let's find out if Pidgeotto and Fearow can work together!"

"Gotchya!" howled Ash with a nod.

The dark-haired boy proceeded to face the direction that the golbat had been released. The egregious creatures hissed and shrieked as they flew towards the group of trainees. Ash wasted no time. He quickly pressed the release button on Pidgeotto's pokeball, releasing him on the ground right next to his side.

Pidgeotto's eyes instantly shifted in the direction of Austin, who had just released his overpowered fearow. Ash's avian immediately puffed up his chest and disembogued a nefarious squawk. It was blatantly obvious that Pidgeotto was debating whether or not to lash out. His disdain for Fearow hadn't lessened since the last time they saw each other.

"Now's not the time!" scolded Ash as he pointed forward towards the forthcoming golbat trio. "We're up against Team Rocket! You can settle your feud with Fearow another day! Right now, I need your help! Take out those golbat! When you're done, help the others and knockout any humans wearing black! Also, I won't be able to give you frequent orders, so act as you see fit! Can you handle that!?"

Pidgeotto's eyes shot forward as he seemingly searched for his teammates. Ash watched his flying-type's line of sight pivot between Growlithe, Ivysaur, and Squirtle before the disgruntled flying-type made a decision. He shot his eyes back at Fearow, who emitted a malicious chortle that reminded Ash of the flock of spearow he had escaped from at the beginning of his journey. There was a brief moment of tension, as the two birds of prey glared at each other, before they both abruptly burst into the air with only a few vicious thrusts of their wings.

In a matter of seconds, Pidgeotto and Fearow had collided with the three golbat. Pidgeotto initiated the action with a coercive Quick Attack. Ash could hear the collision from his present position as his avian knocked golbat down to the ground with a turbulent strike. Simultaneously, Fearow used a skillful combination of Agility and Aerial Ace to quickly dismantle another one of the golbat.

"We've gotta keep a close eye on them!" bellowed Austin. "They could be at each other's throats in a matter of seconds!"

"Agreed!" howled Ash in attempt to be heard. "I think they're good for now, though!"

Austin nodded his head in agreement before reaching for one of the remaining three pokeballs that were attached to his belt.

Now that the trio of golbat had been accounted for, Ash brought his line of sight back down to ground-level. It appeared as if everyone was doing just fine. Ivysaur was still engaged in battle with the same menacing golbat, although it appeared as if his grass-type would be coming out on top relatively soon. The golbat looked exhausted and beat up, whereas Ivysaur appeared to be as good as new.

Growlithe, and the poliwhirl that he had been battling beside, were finished shooting down the zubat and were now facing off against a duo of crazed meowth. The malicious felines repetitively lashed out with their claws and fangs, in attempt to catch Growlithe and Poliwhirl with either Fury Swipes or Bite. A small smile creeped across Ash's face as he watched Growlithe respond by turbulently barreling into one of the meowth with his Flame Wheel. The feline hissed as it was immediately knocked out. After Growlithe had finished his meowth off, in order to provide support, he diverted his attention towards the meowth that the poliwhirl was taking care of.

Not far from where Growlithe and the poliwhirl were taking on the meowth, Austin's nidoking was in an intense battle with some Rocket's golem. The hardy, spherical rock-type was actually a rather impressive specimen, switching between various physical ground and rock-type moves that Ash didn't recognize.

The dark-haired boy didn't have all that much knowledge on golem's typing. He didn't have a rock or ground-type of his own, so the majority of his knowledge was from his prerequisite studies with Professor Oak. Either way, regardless of the golem's skill, Nidoking was in control. Right before Ash shifted his attention, Austin's nidoking had buried his horn into the golem's hard exterior with a devastating Horn Drill. Judging by the screeching golem and the battered, unconscious golbat that was lying close by, it was rather apparent that Nidoking was one of Austin's strongest pokemon.

Over by where Ash had last seen Squirtle was Kent's monstrous arcanine. The beast was wasting no time with the grunts' lightweight pokemon, completely bypassing them in order to take out the real threats: the grunts themselves. Left in Arcanine's wake was a surplus of unconscious bodies. The fully-evolved Arcanine ripped through the Rockets' shoddy defenses as easy as a machamp rips apart tissue paper.

While Ash was following Arcanine's movements, he coincidentally caught sight of the tail end of Squirtle's battle with the two ekans. One of the snake pokemon had already been thrown into the corner of the underpass; it was dripping wet and deep into involuntary comatose. The other ekans was currently being pelted by an array of chemically induced bubbles. Without a fraction of an expression on his face, Squirtle used the barrage of bubbles to knock the ekans out before using his short stubby arms to dispose of the reptilian pokemon in the same corner as its partner.

In the thick of all of the chaos, Ash's attention was suddenly grabbed by the sound of two new pokeball releases on both sides of him. To Ash's left, Austin had released his intimidating marowak. The fully-evolved, skull wearing, ground-type hoisted its oversized bone over its shoulder – like it was nothing – as it scanned its surroundings.

"Go knock out as many Rockets as you can!" commanded Austin.

Marowak used both of its hands to get a firm grasp on its bone before charging forward with ill-intent in its eyes. The dark-haired boy had seen enough of Austin's marowak, throughout the SS Anne tournament to know that it was an absolute beast when it came to close combat battle. Now that it had been released from its pokeball, Ash was sure of one thing: a lot of Rocket's would be waking up from unconsciousness with excruciatingly brutal concussions.

To Ash's right, Kent had released a black, pearl-like pokemon known as cloyster. Ash had never seen a cloyster in person before, so he was instantly intrigued. Its main body was encased by a light gray shell, which was surrounded by a second jagged, blue-violet outer shell casing. Cloyster had several conical horns that came out of its outer shell, and it had a long, barb-like spike that protruded out of the top of its head. However, despite all of the protection, Cloyster's most distinguishable feature was its blatantly mischievous expression and fierce angled eyes that appeared amidst its pitch-black, interior mug.

"Stay here and watch the boys!" ordered Kent as he gestured over to Ash and Austin. "I'm going out there! Also, if you can, try and cover me! Use Ice Beam on anything that comes after Electivire and I!"

As it gave its trainer an acquiescent look, Cloyster disembogued a peculiar noise that was somewhere on the spectrum between a whinny, gargle, and snort.

After addressing his cloyster, Kent proceeded to shoot his gaze back toward Austin and Ash. "Listen! You boys should stay back here! Command your pokemon from the main group and stay safe! Keep an eye on all of your pokemon as well! Rocket pokemon have been known for their demented ferocity! They will not hesitate to kill! Once one of your pokemon is on the cusp of unconsciousness, return them! Do not risk what is unnecessary! We are already in control of this battle!"

"Whatever you say, boss!" retorted Austin with a goofy grin.

"Gotchya," replied Ash with a nod.

"I'll be right back!" Kent blustered, "I'm just going to go tip the scale a little more!"

Kent's yellow eyes gleamed before he took off straight ahead in a canter. His dominant right hand was at his waist as he used his stellar hand-eye coordination to detach a great ball from his belt. Ash cringed as a trio of ekans shot high-velocity Poison Stings at Kent. The Ace Trainer, as smooth as a ninetails, avoided the barrage before pressing the release button on the great ball that was within his grasp.

There was a quick ray of white light before a massive, yellow and black furred monster was instantly sprinting alongside him. The beast needed no warning, whatsoever, as it precipitously pounded its fists together in antecedence to throwing a gargantuan lance of electricity at the ekans. There was an abrupt explosion as the unidentified technique collided with the ekans. When the explosion fizzled out, three charred and unconscious reptiles lay convulsing in the middle of the battlefield.

"Damn, did you see that, Ash!?" bellowed Austin with wide-eyes. "What the hell was that!?"

"No idea!" blustered Ash while keeping his eyes fastened on the action, "It must have been some kind of self-invented move, because I've never seen anything like it!"

Ash was unable to hear Austin's reply as he watched Electivire enshroud itself within a coat of electricity. It proceeded to use its fists to Thunder Punch two heedlessly aggressive raticate – that were trying to slow the electric-type down – prior to barreling into the crowd of Rockets, with his trainer close behind him. Ash felt a rapid wave of anxiety as Kent was almost hit by a flanking rattata's tackle; but within the blink of an eye, it was shot out of the air – mid jump – by a piercing beam of ice. It took a moment, but when the dark-haired boy felt a brief surge of frigidness, he eventually realized that the Ice Beam had come from Cloyster's barb-like spike. The water/ice-type had an impish expression on its face as it continuously hit any pokemon that got too close to Kent.

Ash watched in awe as the bipedal electric-type discharged its coat of electricity into the crowd of Rockets. There was a collection of high-pitched squeals while roughly fifteen Rockets and some of their pokemon dropped to the floor temporarily paralyzed. Ash recognized the technique Electivire used as Discharge: an electric based move that he had studied back when he was getting ready to face Lt. Surge.

Even though Electivire had just taken out a significant number of Rockets, and many more had already been incapacitated, it was rather blatant that they had barely put a dent into Team Rocket's underground forces. When devising the plan, they had definitely underestimated how many grunts would be down here. In regard to their half of the mission, it didn't necessarily matter. They had the advantage, so far, and were winning. However, he couldn't say the same thing in reference to Wallace and Sabrina. Hopefully, the warehouse base didn't house more grunts than expected; otherwise, the operations success would be in jeopardy.

After watching Kent and Electivire disable a few more Rockets with a potent Thunder Wave, Ash did a brief scan of his four battling pokemon. Going off of the fact that Ivysaur was now thrashing at a duo of raticate with his Vine Whip, Ash figured that he had soundly defeated the golbat from earlier. Ash had to admit, he was incredibly impressed by Ivysaur's newfound strength. Prior to evolution, Ash didn't think that his grass-type could have defeated the Rocket golbat and if he did, he wouldn't have had any fight left in him afterward. Evolution had given the saurian a significant boost in strength. Ash couldn't wait to find out what Ivysaur would be capable of with a little more training under his belt.

In subsequence to watching Ivysaur finish off one of the Raticate with Sleep Powder and the other with a violent Vine Whip/Take Down combination, Ash caught site of Pidgeotto's aerial battle. On account of the action pertaining to Kent and Electivire, Ash had missed out on the majority of the carnage that Pidgeotto and Fearow had wrought. However, there was a massive pile of unconscious golbat and zubat in the same general area as Pidgeotto and Fearow and Ash didn't see any other powerful pokemon within a close proximity, so he figured that the pile consisted of the two avians' victims.

Presently, Pidgeotto was using his Feather Dance to weaken an average looking machoke's powerful punches, while Fearow was involved in an aerial battle with a smaller member of its species. Pidgeotto was the stronger specimen and had the type advantage against machoke, so Ash figured he would win rather easily. Fearow's match didn't seem like it would be a tight one either. Just by eying the other fearow, Ash could tell that his Pidgeotto was stronger. And Austin's Fearow had easily handled Pidgeotto back on the SS Anne, so the Rocket fearow would probably be a cinch.

Meanwhile, Growlithe and the trainee's poliwhirl had defeated the two meowth before splitting up. Now, Growlithe had reunited with Austin's nidoking as they took on an angry vileplume. The large, floral pokemon's main target appeared to be Nidoking. It continuously tried to douse Nidoking with all kinds of status powders; however, the poison-type wasn't having any of it.

The barbed beast disregarded the multiple attempts that vileplume made at inflicting a status condition before driving his fists into the top of the grass-type's head. Vileplume was simultaneously hit in the side by Growlithe's Flame Wheel which caused the outlandish flower pokemon to shriek in pain. Howbeit, despite the powerful combination, the vileplume remained standing, ready to fight until it ran out of strength.

"Growlithe, hit it with an Ember barrage and then follow it up with Flame Wheel!" howled Ash at the top of his lungs.

Somehow, amidst the ruckus, Growlithe heard Ash's command. The orange and black pup dug deep into his internal furnace before putting forth an enfilade of powerful flames. They shot through the air at an incredible speed, not giving the vileplume, who was focused on Nidoking, enough time to dodge.

Vileplume emitted an ear-shattering shriek, in response to the impact of the Ember barrage, as Growlithe enveloped his entire body in a wheel of fire. As expected, the grass-type shifted its attention toward Growlithe after the barrage of fire had weakened it even more. Although the vileplume was aware of the pup's impending approach, all that the exhausted flower pokemon could manage was a weak attempt at a Mega Drain attack.

Growlithe tore through the grass-type technique, like a knife cuts through butter, before colliding with the vileplume head-on. Simultaneously, Nidoking mercilessly stabbed the vileplume in the back with the horn on its head. The horn was emanating a bright, yellowish green, which gave Ash the impression that Nidoking was using Megahorn: a highly advanced bug-type move that causes an immense amount of damage to those that are at a disadvantage to the technique's typing.

Vileplume didn't even make a sound as it instantaneously crumbled to the floor. The combination of Flame Wheel and Megahorn had knocked the poor creature into a coma. It was rather apparent that Vileplume had been severely injured. Ash hoped it wasn't too bad, though. Regardless of the vileplume's affiliation with Team Rocket, it was still a pokemon. Few pokemon were inherently evil, especially in regards to the oddish line. Ash knew that it was more than likely Team Rocket's fault that the specimen was so corrupt. Who knows, with the League's help, maybe some of Team Rocket's pokemon could be rehabilitated to garner their natural personalities?

Now that the vileplume had been taken care of, Ash took his eyes off of Growlithe and looked for Squirtle. Throughout the process, he noticed that Kent and several of the other ACE trainer trainees were wreaking havoc within the crowd of Rockets. The dark-haired boy estimated that nearly half of the grunts had been defeated.

Ever since a portion of the team had made the decision to attack more aggressively, grunts had been dropping like caterpie. Nearly all of the psychic pokemon had been knocked out of the battle, which allowed a lot of the trainees with dark-types to stray away from the main group and incapacitate even more of the grunts.

Ash hadn't been able to pay too much attention to the trainees, but up to this point, he was relatively certain that their side hadn't lost any significant casualties. On account of some of the cursing and words of disappointment amongst the main group, Ash knew that there had been some losses. However, he was positive that neither, Austin, Kent, or himself had been forced to return any of their pokemon.

Austin's nidoking, marowak, golduck and fearow were all in great shape, contributing their power in a multitude of different ways. Nidoking was probably the worse for wear, having been involved in the thick of the battle from the very beginning. Nonetheless, he still had plenty of fight left in him and was nowhere close to unconsciousness. Outside of the vileplume and golem, the beast had hardly been challenged. The grunts' pokemon weren't that powerful after all, even their fully-evolved specimens weren't very well trained in comparison to Nidoking.

Kent's pokemon were absolutely demolishing Team Rocket's forces. Arcanine had probably gotten rid of close to a quarter of the grunts by himself, choosing to focus his energy on the trainers rather than the pokemon. Ash hadn't seen much of Umbreon, but he was sure that the dark eevee evolution was responsible for most of the dismantling of Team Rocket's psychic pokemon. The trainees were strong, but only a master's pokemon could rid of a conflux of psychics that fast. Umbreon was most certainly trained by a master. Therefore, it was more than likely responsible for the psychics' demise.

The yellow eyed ACE trainer's Cloyster had provided an ample amount of long-ranged support for Kent, as well as the main forces. The water/ice-type had been picking off Rocket pokemon like it was a breeze. It had hardly exhausted a fraction of its energy, yet so many pokemon had fallen victim to its acute, overpowered Ice Beam. Cloyster's support had pretty much allowed Kent and his electivire to run free, dismantling the Rockets and their pokemon by the handful. Many had fallen prey to Electivire's numerous paralyzing electric techniques, which the Rockets weren't even close to coming up with an answer for.

Anyways, just in the nick of time, Ash finally located Squirtle in the midst of a very dangerous situation. In the back of the dark, brick-walled, underground alcove; his emotionless water-type was cornered by a ferocious persian and an infernal arbok. Unlike the other fully-evolved Rocket pokemon that Ash had seen, these specimens looked well-trained.

They also appeared to be commanded by a tall, brawny Rocket. Judging by his powerful looking pokemon and slightly altered uniform – which included a couple of pristine, silver badges that were clipped to his jumpsuit's Rocket emblem – Ash guessed that he was a higher rank than the rest of the feeble grunts. He didn't appear to be an executive, but Ash could see him being in charge of supervising the grunts. His posture and demeanor itself seemed much more powerful and sophisticated, albeit just as evil.

From Ash's current vantage point, he could only manage a shoddy attempt at lip-reading the ranked Rocket's commands. The Rocket was too far away to perceive audibly, and Ash's line of sight only allowed for him to get a visual roughly half of the time. It only took a quick examination of Squirtle's current circumstances to be able to tell that, if Ash didn't make a move, his friend wouldn't stand a chance. There was no way that Squirtle could take on the two robust, fully-evolved Rocket pokemon by himself.

As Ash watched the corrupt persian unload a battery of golden stars and witnessed arbok spray a significant amount of acid at Squirtle, the ten-year-old boy used both of his dexterous hands to unclip his Charmander and Clefairy's pokeballs. He quickly released both of them, by his side, as he anxiously observed Squirtle dodge the splurge of Acid Spray before withdrawing into his shell, in order to protect himself from the widespread Swift.

"Charmander, Clefairy!" blurted Ash, frantically, as he gestured towards his cornered Squirtle, "Squirtle's in trouble! He needs your help!"

Both Charmander and Clefairy quickly shook off the after-effects of a long rest before peering ahead with worry filled eyes. As they processed their surroundings, Ash could see the potent effect that their natural adrenaline had had on their dispositions. Charmander's eyes turned feral, and his tail-flame rapidly pulsed. Clefairy's wings started to glow a faint blue as she pounded her fists together.

Charmander and Clefairy gave Ash a brief look of reassurance before darting off at full-speed. The fire-lizard used his compact leg muscles to scamper across the concrete floor of the underground hideout. He pumped his short, stubby arms for extra power as he tried to sever the proximity between himself and his friend. Along the way, Charmander was briefly ambushed by a couple of rattata, but the fire-type used a couple of quick-fire Focus Punches to make quick work of them. Despite the rattatas' lack of strength, it was an exciting feat. Getting to see Charmander use Focus Punch so easily, in live battle, put a smile on Ash's face.

Clefairy moved across the battlefield a lot faster than Charmander. It wasn't because Charmander was slow, but rather on behalf of the fact that Clefairy was using some of her stored lunar essence to hover across the battlefield as briskly as possible. A couple of pitiful zubat tried to intercept her, but the fairy-type easily grounded them with a couple of well-timed Pound attacks.

While Charmander and Clefairy desperately tried to come to Squirtle's aid, Austin turned his attention away from his marowak's battle with a grotesque, sludgy, purple grimer in attempt to check on Ash.

"Do you need help!?" blustered Austin, with an intense expression painted across his face, as he reached at his belt for one of his last two remaining pokeballs. "I can send Meganium!"

Ash noticed a look of respect in Golduck's eyes as his trainer mentioned Meganium's name. Ash had never actually met Austin's foreign starter, but he had heard plenty of stories concerning her aboard the SS Anne and while they were on the road, to know that Austin's meganium was one of his most powerful pokemon.

"Help would be aweso—" managed Ash before being interrupted by a miraculous display.

As Charmander and Clefairy approached the scene, Squirtle, who was beat up, exasperated and cornered, all of a sudden erupted into a surging, white light. Some of the surrounding pokemon, Rockets, and trainees stopped to watch as Squirtle's faint, but visible, form started to change within the illumination. Ash could barely contain the excitement welling up inside him as he watched the spectacular display.

"He's evolving!" cheered Austin as he took his hand off of his meganium's pokeball and placed it on Ash's shoulder. "Perfect timing, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah…" mumbled Ash, completely mesmerized by the obscure light that encased Squirtle's evolving form.

The dark-haired boy's joy was abruptly torn apart, by the feeling of fear, as he watched the persian and arbok lash out with contempt filled eyes, in attempt to interrupt the evolution. Ash instantly went into panic mode. When disrupted, the evolutionary process was unpredictable. If Squirtle was attacked, the shock could completely bastardize the reshaping process. Simply put, if Arbok and Persian managed to reach the turtle pokemon, they could cause permanent damage and disfigurement.

Ash had to force himself to keep his eyes open as arbok and persian were about to make contact. The persian was leading with its claws, probably in preparation for a Fury Swipe attack, whereas the arbok had its mouth agape and fangs ready, fully-prepared to sink its poison bearing teeth into Squirtle. Ash mumbled a silent prayer under his breath, begging an unknown deity for help. Charmander and Clefairy weren't close enough to intercept the merciless Rocket duo. Unless something unexpected happened, they were going to disturb Squirtle's evolutionary process.

That's when it happened...

Two blurs, moving at an inconceivable speed, cut off both of the callous Rocket pokemon. They collided with the persian and arbok, sending them flying into the alcove's brick-wall. There was a nasty duet of squeals that was emitted from the two infernal creatures as they were heavily damaged by the assault, as well as the unforgiving wall.

At the moment of impact, one of the two high-speed obscurations was unveiled. It was Kent's Arcanine, who was clearly using Extreme Speed to protect Ash's evolving Squirtle. After knocking the ranked Rocket's arbok into the wall, Arcanine came to a skidding halt before dashing over to the coruscating light that was still encasing Squirtle.

In subsequence to the collision, the other breakneck blur shot up into the air before unshackling its wings and coming to a precipitous stop. Ash couldn't believe his eyes. The obscure form unveiled itself to be a giant pidgeotto. Pidgeotto had come to Squirtle's rescue, using a technique that was, without a doubt, Agility.

With blood red eyes, Pidgeotto used both of his wings to conjure Twin Tempest, which captured the eyes of many of the battlefield's occupants. As the two massive, purple-tinted twisters formulated in the air, Pidgeotto used his breath to separate them. The howling sound of the duel-twisters caused Ash to cover his ears in order to protect his eardrums. Twin Tempest had proven itself to be the most powerful technique amongst Ash's pokemon, however, the ten-year-old boy had never seen it quite like this. It was at least twice as powerful as normal. Ash could tell Pidgeotto was formulating it based off of pure rage. The avian wasn't holding anything back. At this rate, it was likely that Persian and Arbok would be killed.

If Ash could, he would stop Pidgeotto. The last thing he wanted was for his friend to be labeled a killer, but all he could do was watch. At this point, there was no way to talk sense into his barbarous avian. Regardless of Pidgeotto and Squirtle's less than friendly relationship, they were teammates. And it was rather apparent that Pidgeotto would come to the aid of any of Ash's pokemon, even Squirtle. The fact that Persian and Arbok had tried to disrupt something as sacred as evolution was despicable and dishonorable. Pidgeotto planned on making them pay for their insolence.

As Pidgeotto unleashed his Twin Tempest, Ash saw Kent and his electivire out of the corner of his eye. The yellow eyed Ace trainer and his electric-type were sprinting desperately in order to reach Pidgeotto's powerful attack. While it came screaming down from above, Kent gave two booming commands.

"Electivire, stop the Twisters; Arcanine, take care of the Persian and Arbok!"

At a speed almost impossible to follow, Electivire, covered in a jacket of electricity, jetted over to the action, leaving a trail of blue lightning in its wake. Electivire came to a sudden halt in front of the fast approaching Twin Tempest before initiating a trickle of electricity from its antennas. Within a fraction of a second, the trickle of electricity grew into a highly condensed Electro Ball. With no time to spare, Electivire catapulted the Electro Ball into the, now merging, twisters. Almost instantaneously, the Electro Ball caused an elemental reaction as it forced the tempests to disperse. There was a sudden, widespread, blast of wind that shot its way throughout the entirety of the underground alcove the moment Twin Tempest was nullified.

Ash had to admit, he was relieved at the outcome. Pidgeotto's Twin Tempest had been stopped, which meant that he wouldn't have to live with the guilt that his flying-type had killed two pokemon, no matter of their affiliation. The dark-haired boy had also noticed that, in the thick of all of the chaos, Arcanine had knocked out both Persian and Arbok: a much deserved punishment for their ambush of Squirtle, but a lot more humane than what Pidgeotto had planned to do to them.

In addition, Squirtle's evolution had been completed. A wartortle now stood, slightly dazed and disoriented, in the middle of the battlefield. Wartortle stood about two feet taller than he did while he was in his primary squirtle form. He was a lot more muscular than he used to be, and his pigmentation was an indigo-blue which was a whole shade darker than the squirtle species' light-blue color.

Wartortle's eyes were brown, and he had a dark blue streak of reptilian skin on each of his cheeks. The newly evolved turtle pokemon had two sharp teeth that protruded from his upper jaw, and his fingers had grown sharp, white claws. The bluish white fur that was already starting to grow on Squirtle had completely flourished and now covered the entirety of Wartortle's long ears and tail.

Despite Wartortle's many changes, he still wore the same blank, emotionless expression. However, even though Wartortle's expression remained hard to read, his overall body language projected clearly that he was at least slightly delirious. When evolution is triggered during the middle of battle, it usually results in one of two prototypical responses. Either the adrenaline from the evolution gives the pokemon an initial surge of energy, which typically provides them with a chance to finish out the battle, or evolution results in a temporary exhaustion of all of their power, similar to the after-effects of Torrent. It appeared as though Squirtle was reacting in a way that closely resembled the latter.

Therefore, Ash proceeded to do the only thing that he could: return Wartortle. The ten-year-old boy hastily detached his wartortle's pokeball from his trainer belt before quickly pressing down the button on the face of the capture device. A scarlet red stream of light emanated from the pokeball, shooting through the air in precedence to connecting with its target. Up until Wartortle dematerialized, he stared blankly in a confused manner. Ash couldn't wait to find out how powerful Wartortle had become after evolution, but that would have to come later. Wartortle needed some time to get used to his new form, and he wouldn't be able to do that until after the mission had been resolved.

Anyways, as much as Ash wanted to take a moment to reflect on Wartortle's evolution, his present priority was to focus on the rest of the mission. Although some of the battling had temporarily ceased on account of Wartortle's evolution and Pidgeotto's display, the majority of the chaos was still in full motion.

The ten-year-old boy knew he couldn't risk getting sidetracked. Just because they were being protected by Golduck and Haunter didn't mean that they were invulnerable. Team Rocket had some decent pokemon. If a Rocket pokemon caught them off guard, and was strong enough to break Golduck's barrier, it was possible that Ash and Austin could take damage.

Ash's attention instantly shot back to where all of the excitement had previously taken place. Pidgeotto was squawking angrily at Kent and Electivire, probably on account of the fact that Electivire had nullified his Twin Tempest in order to preserve the lives of the persian and arbok. Ash wasn't surprised by Pidgeotto's attitude; the bird had never responded well to humiliation. And although most pokemon wouldn't see it as that, Pidgeotto most certainly did.

His most powerful technique had been dismantled like it was nothing but a mere Gust. That wasn't something that his Pidgeotto could simply disregard. No. Pidgeotto would more than likely be pissed off for the next couple of days which didn't really bother Ash. His avian had showed something that completely blotched out any qualms regarding his barbarous attitude: a need to protect his teammates, regardless of his relationship with them. No matter how much Pidgeotto and Squirtle disliked each other, Pidgeotto saw him as one of them and, therefore, he came to his rescue when it was necessary.

Ash also had to admit, he was extremely thrilled when it came to Pidgeotto's evident use of Agility. Ash thought that Agility was a technique that they were going to be stuck on for weeks, however, maybe that wasn't the case. Pidgeotto had been forced into a state of mind in which he mentally willed himself to transcend his prior concept of his own speed. Of course, it was possible that the effects were merely temporary, and Pidgeotto had yet to find a way to consistently tap into Agility. Nevertheless, Pidgeotto's brief use of Agility was a good sign. He was a lot closer to mastering the essential move than Ash had originally anticipated which was exciting to say the least.

The only thing that worried Ash about his Pidgeotto's display was how quickly the avian was prepared to kill. It was possible that Pidgeotto was using the full-extent of his power without thinking, but that was rather unlikely. Pokemon were typically very good at guesstimating each other's present stamina. The avian had to have been aware that persian and arbok were already in pretty bad shape due to his and Arcanine's assault. Ash wasn't necessarily surprised; Pidgeotto had always been extremely rough around the edges.

Out of all of his pokemon, the avian would probably be the least guilty after killing an enemy. Pidgeotto was a bird of prey after all. In the wild, Pidgeotto killed caterpie and weedle for sustenance. Therefore, even though the hunting of a bug-type wasn't necessarily of the same ethical principle, it was in Pidgeotto's genes to kill for self-preservation and the preservation of family. Regardless of his disdain for Squirtle, the turtle pokemon was family. Pidgeotto deemed it essential to save the turtle pokemon, no matter the cost. Death of another pokemon wasn't an exception, and quite frankly even though it sickened Ash, he didn't expect anything less. His avian was an especially bloodthirsty specimen. To be honest, Ash was just happy that he was on his side...

Nonetheless, despite Ash's understanding of Pidgeotto's current behavior, now wasn't the time to throw a fit. There were still a lot of Rockets left, and the giant avian was becoming a distraction for Kent, even though the ACE trainer's disposition didn't convey it. For now, it was probably best that Ash returned his friend. His power was no longer imperative. The majority of the golbat had been taken care of, and Pidgeotto had already wrought a significant amount of havoc to the enemies' forces. Besides, nothing was stopping Ash from re-releasing Pidgeotto if he had to, although, going off of the fact more than half of Team Rocket's underground forces had already been defeated, the chances of that were slim.

Ash proceeded to retrieve Pidgeotto's pokeball, which was fastened around his waist, before briskly returning him. Right before the scarlet red light from the capture device made contact with Pidgeotto, Ash thought he saw a look of agitation shoot across the flying-types face. Ash disregarded it, though. He'd deal with Pidgeotto's brief animosity towards him later. At the moment, his other pokemon needed his mind focused and alert in regard to their current circumstances.

Once he finished returning Pidgeotto, the dark-haired boy tried to relocate Charmander and Clefairy. The fire-lizard and the fairy pokemon had just recently entered the battle, and Ash wanted to make sure that they were doing alright. Throughout the process of searching for his two newly released pokemon, Ash witnessed that Kent had taken complete control over Electivire and Arcanine. The ACE trainer led both of his elite level pokemon with authority and confidence, taking out Rockets like it was as easy as catching a wingless pidgey.

After spending a second, or two, mindlessly admiring Kent's powerhouses, Ash recognized a familiar duo of pokemon. Tompkins' bulky male arcanine and Trish's lean female arcanine were working together in order to incinerate a group of atrocious grimer. Ash hadn't noticed too many grimer, but their presence was significant enough to accumulate a horrible smell that, without a doubt, belonged to them and wafted throughout the entire underground base.

Not too far from where Tompkins' and Trish's arcanine were scorching the quartet of grimer, Ash caught sight of Charmander. The fire-lizard was wrapped up in a battle with a tandem of raticate. Despite Charmander's Focus Punch attack, taking on two aggressive raticate, by himself, was a tall order. Raticate weren't exactly the most powerful fully-evolved species found in Kanto, especially the Rocket grunts' poorly trained rodents, but Charmander had a long way to go until he could adroitly battle two pokemon at the same time. The fire-lizard had one of the highest ceilings, in terms of potential, out of all of his friends, but that didn't change the fact that he was Ash's weakest member of the team.

Thankfully, Charmander wasn't forced to take on the two feral raticate by himself. He had the help of some trainee's raichu. The electric rodent wasn't of the same level as Lt. Surge's beastly specimen, but it was still an adept battler. With the raichu's help, Ash felt confident taking his attention away from Charmander for the moment. He and the electric mouse wouldn't have any problem defeating the normal-type rodents.

BAM!

Ash's thoughts were suddenly jumbled and jarred by the impact of an unforeseen attack. The dark-haired boy used his eyes to scan through the, now rippling, psychic barrier that Golduck had raised to protect them.

"What was that!?" stammered Ash as he tried to gather himself after the unexpected surprise.

"It was a koffing!" groaned Austin as he pointed at a bizarre looking, spherical, levitating, pokemon. "I think it just shot a Sludge attack at us!"

"Damn..." drawled Ash while placing his hand over his palpitating chest, "I didn't see that coming!"

"That's why we've got Golduck with us," said Austin as he watched his water-type shoot the koffing out of the air, through the translucent barrier, with a broad, high-velocity surge of water.

"Thank God," muttered Ash as he observed the purple poison eat away at the hard, stony floor of the underground hideout, "Otherwise, we would have been goners."

"I wouldn't necessarily say that," said Austin with a smirk. "Look down."

With a curious expression on his face, Ash looked down at the ground directly in front of him. What he found was scary, albeit reassuring. The top of Haunter's head was protruding out of the shadowy floor. At first, Ash couldn't see the expression depicted on Haunter's spooky face. However, after leaning forward in order to get a good look, Ash caught the gist of Haunter's demeanor. The poltergeist's mouth was still concealed within the ground, but his eyes could be seen. They were blood red, and his pupils were no longer visible. If Haunter wasn't his friend, he would be terrified. In that moment, the gaseous ghost wasn't the laid-back, hilarious apparition that Ash knew and loved. Instead, he was an outraged, barbaric demon that was ready to hunt down whatever had tried to hurt his master.

Ash followed Haunter's general line of sight only to expectedly find koffing's unconscious, spherical body spewing out all sorts of different toxins. While Ash had been observing Haunter, Austin's golduck had been busy hitting the koffing with Hydro Pump after Hydro Pump in order to ensure its defeat. It looked as if Golduck had gone slightly overboard, but it was better that the water-type had taken care of the koffing rather than Ash's Haunter. In Haunter's current state, he probably would have killed the poison-type.

Ash didn't know what he did to make his pokemon so protective of him, and each other, but he would have to have a talk with them after the mission in regard to boundaries. The dark-haired boy wasn't upset, in fact, he appreciated that he could abide in their protection, but that didn't change the fact that killing was wrong and immoral, and Ash would rather not condone such actions under any circumstances. Team Rocket killed for their twisted cause, Ash didn't want to reciprocate them in anyway. Even if it was for self-defense, he and his pokemon would find another way.

"It's okay, Haunter, relax," crooned Ash to his ghost-type, "we're in the middle of a battlefield; I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. Go back in my shadow, for now, and be prepared for another attack."

There was a brief moment of uncertainty as Haunter continued to stare forward with murderous eyes, but after a couple more seconds the apparition's angled eyes defogged and went back to normal. The ghost-type looked back at Ash with an expression of deep-rooted concern before nodding his head and receding back into his trainer's shadow.

"That's gotta be the most loyal act I've ever seen from a ghost-type," said Austin. "He's special."

"I know," replied Ash with a smile on his face, "although we're going to have to talk about boundaries. I thought he was going to go and kill that that koffing."

"Eh, it happens," retorted Austin with a shrug. "He'll learn. When my Nidoking first evolved, he wanted to kill anything that so much as looked at me wrong. Now...he just wants to hurt them."

"Okay..." drawled Ash with raised eyebrows, "I guess that's encouraging."

"Hey, I can sense the sarcasm in your voice, Ash," said Austin with a furrowed brow. "Believe it or not, that's a huge step forward. You should have seen him, man. One time he tried to rip a jigglypuff in half because it gave me the stink eye after I fell asleep during her performance. I mean, who tries to hurt a jigglypuff? There so freaking cute."

"Dude, what is it with you and small, pink pokemon?" queried Ash. "First my clefairy, now jigglypuff, I'm starting to see a pattern here."

"Hmm...I don't know," mumbled Austin as he raised his hand up to his chin, "If I had to give you a reason, I'd say it all started when—"

"Whatever!" interjected Ash as he suddenly remembered where he was, "We're in the middle of a battle! We don't have time for this!"

"Good point," retorted Austin with a shift in his countenance, "but we're going to revisit this topic after the mission."

"Suit yourself," replied Ash as he chimed back in on his surroundings.

Now that he'd gotten a visual of Charmander's current status and whereabouts, Ash did a quick scan of the battlefield in search of Clefairy. It didn't take too long to find her, due to the fact that she was battling in close proximity to Ash's fire-lizard. Clefairy was fighting against a rare scyther and pinsir. The majority of her attention was planted on pinsir, whereas scyther was being handled by Austin's marowak.

The pinsir was average. It was most certainly stronger than the pinsir that Samurai had used back in the Viridian Forest, but it wasn't nearly as skilled as Austin's pinsir. In fact, compared to Austin's pinsir, the pinsir Clefairy was up against was rather weak. Nevertheless, the stag beetle pokemon's pincers posed a problem. No matter how adept the specimen was, a pinsir's horns were dangerous. Clefairy would need to be smart about how she handled the weaker opponent.

Austin's marowak appeared to be having a tough time against the scyther. Even when poorly trained, scyther were extremely dangerous. They were nothing like the other frail bug-types in Kanto. Scyther were highly skilled warriors in the wild; their tenacity and thirst for battle went uncontested in the thick forests and woodlands that they occupied. Their adroitness at battle is what made Ash want one so bad. A powerful bug-type was rare in Kanto, and scyther's evolved form, scizor, was part steel—which was another rare typing in the region.

From what Ash could see, it appeared as if Clefairy was quickly taking control of her battle with the pinsir. Clefairy's evasive skills were just way too good for Pinsir to overcome. Every time the stag beetle would get close to connecting with its giant pincers, Clefairy would either use Minimize or just dodge them outright. Pinsir also tried to land various other physical techniques such as Brick Break, Vital Throw and Double Hit, but they were easily dodged by Clefairy's adept evasive abilities.

As the battle went on, Pinsir was becoming more and more reluctant to strike. Clefairy was tearing pinsir apart every time he missed with either a precipitous Double Slap or a hard-hitting Pound. Every once in a while, Pinsir would use Harden to enhance its defenses, however, that would come back to bite it pretty soon. Clefairy had been charging Stored Power for practically the entire battle, and Ash knew that by the time Pinsir realized it, it would be way too late.

The battle between Marowak and the Rocket Scyther was incredibly intense. Marowak was much better trained, but it was also exhausted. Austin's ground-type had been battling for quite some time now and had gone up against some of Team Rocket's more formidable pokemon. As things stood now, Ash wasn't sure who would come out on top. They were trading blow for blow, using their own natural weapon of choice to hack away at each other. Marowak used its giant bone to leave nasty bruises on scyther's segmented body, while Scyther had left a couple of shallow cuts across marowak's arms and chest with its biological scythes.

Ash had glanced over at Austin a couple of times, who was also watching the battle. The teenager didn't seem too worried, but Ash did notice that he was paying extra attention to Marowak's battle compared to the others.

But, then again, the others didn't need his active attention. Nidoking was a monster, and even though he was tired, the beast just kept on decimating opponent after opponent. Ash's guess was that Nidoking would make it throughout the entirety of the fight. The only reason Austin could be forced to return him is if Nidoking was too tired. Damage wouldn't be an issue. Outside of the single ranked Rocket's few remaining pokemon, the grunts didn't have anything left on the battlefield that could harm Nidoking.

Fearow's role in the battle had dwindled now that all of the Rocket's flying-types had been defeated. He was the last avian in the available airspace and had also proven himself to have been the best. Despite the underground facilities tall ceilings, it wasn't exactly the best place for pokemon species that relied on flight. However, Fearow had shown just how good of a flyer he was throughout the battle, having grounded a good chunk of the Rocket's flying-types. For the most part, the bird of prey now just provided aerial support by throwing powerful gusts of wind down on land pokemon and grunts.

After observing Austin's pokemon for a short while, Ash tried to track down Ivysaur and Growlithe, who had been battling hard since the very beginning of the invasion. It took him a little while to track down Ivysaur, who was busy knocking out a few cornered grunts. From Ash's vantage point, he could tell that Ivysaur was exhausted and had taken a significant chunk of damage, albeit he could still battle. The saurian's stamina had greatly increased after his evolution, and the majority of his fighting had been done using status powders and his Vine Whips. Ivysaur was built for long, grueling battles, and he had definitely shined throughout the entirety of this one.

While Ash was using his eyes to survey the alcove, in search of Growlithe, he spotted Kent at the tail end of a battle against the ranked Rocket. Ever since his persian and arbok had been defeated, the ranked Rocket had been battling with a massive, muscular, four-armed machamp and a nasty, feral flareon. His pokemon were impressive; they were definitely light years ahead of the rest of the grunts' pokemon. But, just because the ranked Rocket was skilled didn't mean that he stood a chance against a trainer of Kent's caliber. Ash's guess was that the brawny Rocket could probably take on the majority of the trainees one-on-one, but Kent was just too powerful.

Kent battled with Electivire and Arcanine, who hadn't taken a hint of damage throughout the entirety of the mission. They'd been battling non-stop, not taking a break for anything, and they didn't have a scratch on them. Ash couldn't even fathom what they were like when pushed to their limits. Thank goodness that Kent was on their side; he made victory a sure thing before the battle had even begun.

During his brief viewing of Kent's battle against the leader of the base, Ash had noticed that almost all of the Rockets had been knocked unconscious. There were probably less than fifty still standing, and they were dropping by the second. Cloyster had played a major role within the main group, using his Ice Beam and Water Gun, like a turret, to mow down the enemy. Once Electivire and Cloyster were released, less than twenty minutes ago, Team Rocket didn't stand a chance. They were just way too powerful.

Going off of what Ash had been able to see of Growlithe throughout the battle, he'd say that his puppy pokemon fought well. Other than Vileplume, Growlithe had primarily gone after pokemon that were within his league battle wise. The canine was getting stronger, but he was still young. What made him effective in the battle were his wits. Growlithe had battled where he could do the most damage, taking on grass-types and the grunts' pokemon that were in their primary form. With the help of the Poliwhirl from earlier, Growlithe was currently finishing off the last of the rattata and raticate within the hideout. His canine looked tired and beat up, but Ash was pretty sure that he could make it until the conclusion of the mission...

In between blinks, Rockets were being sent into a motionless comatose. There were now only a handful left, and the yellow eyed ACE trainer had almost subdued the lone ranked Rocket. The last of the Rockets' pokemon were trying to protect their trainers, but it was of no use. There were just way too many trainees, and the amount of trainee pokemon nearly tripled the grunts' last remnant of battlers.

As the main group converged on the remainder of the grunts, there was nothing that the enemy could do but back away and allow themselves to get cornered. A few grunts tried to sneakily escape, but their attempts were futile. Either one of the trainees' pokemon knocked them out, or one of the trainees themselves used their hand-to-hand combat skills to immobilize them.

Ivysaur, Charmander, Nidoking and about two dozen other trainees' pokemon were attacking together in order to finish of the last of the Rockets' poison-types. Of course, it wasn't a tidy assault: there were some normal-types, bug-types and grass-types intermixed within the group. However, their main objective was to get rid of the last fragment of poison-type pokemon.

Ash managed to catch the tail end of Clefairy's battle against the pinsir, when she finally used the Stored Power that she had been saving up throughout the entirety of the battle. The explosion of energy was emanated at point-blank range, completely catching Pinsir off guard. The menacing stag-beetle was sent flying into the hard brick-wall. Ash wasn't exactly sure whether the pinsir blacked-out upon impact with the Stored Power or the wall. Either way, it was out cold.

Austin's marowak hadn't been able to defeat the scyther on its own. Marowak was just too worn down to finish off scyther and had to rely on Fearow to help ensure victory. Ash could tell that Marowak was a prideful pokemon, but this was a mission...not a league match. Victory is what mattered. By working together, Marowak and Fearow were able to finish off the barbarous scyther with a devastating Double-Edge and Drill Peck combination.

The remainder of the rattata and raticate had been defeated, so Growlithe was helping the majority of the trainees' pokemon immobilize the last of the grunts. They were working fast and their task would be complete any moment now. The grunts were few and cornered; the battle was coming to an end.

The ranked Rocket desperately tried to fend off Kent, but Ash could tell by the look of despair on his face that he knew his attempts were frivolous. His flareon was unconscious, and the only pokemon that he had left was his machamp. Arcanine had left the battle to help the trainees' disable the last of the grunts. Arcanine's Extreme Speed would have the grunts utterly defeated in a matter of seconds. Ash didn't even need to watch the battle against the grunts anymore. He decided to just focus his attention on Kent and Electivire.

"Electivire, finish it off!" howled Kent with fire in his eyes.

The monstrous fully-evolved electric-type burst forward while discharging electricity in every which direction. He forced the machamp onto its heels as he got in close. The four-armed humanoid pokemon tried to defend itself with a couple of heavy haymakers, but Electivire effortlessly dodged all four arms before connecting a Thunder Punch into Machamp's gut. The superpower pokemon spit saliva everywhere, after having the wind knocked out of it.

Electivire didn't give the onlooking trainers a chance to cringe at the blow, though, because he instantly began to unload Thunder Punch after Thunder Punch on machamp's muscular body. The machamp cried out while being pulverized by Electivire's electricity doused fists. Once Electivire was done, he stepped away with a large satisfied grin on his face as Machamp heedlessly fell onto its back with vacant eyes.

Ash stared ahead with wide-eyes and a slacked-jaw. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. Electivire had manhandled the machamp like it was a newborn machop. Kent's pokemon were on a level that Ash could hardly comprehend. Much like Wallace and Sabrina, there weren't very many trainers that could hold a candle to his skill level. Kent was amongst the cream of the crop, he was a master at battle. Without Kent, this mission may have gone differently. With Kent, it had been utterly one-sided.

As Kent had Electivire quickly use Thunder Wave to temporarily paralyze the ranked Rocket, Ash felt a sudden surge of movement within the main group. When the dark-haired boy pivoted his eyes to see why everyone was hastening forward. He realized that all of the grunts had been knocked unconscious and their pokemon had all been defeated. The base had been conquered, and the battle was over. They had won. Their part of the mission was complete. Team Rocket's main forces in Saffron had been defeated.

Like the rest of the trainees and Austin, Ash cantered forward in order to shower his pokemon with congratulations and thanks. They had fought well. They deserved the praise.

As he ran out towards his friends, and bypassed the lot of unconscious Rockets and pokemon, one by one his exhausted pokemon spotted him. Growlithe was the first to approach, followed by Clefairy, Charmander and finally Ivysaur. They looked up at him with exhausted expressions, especially Growlithe and Ivysaur, who had been his only pokemon that had endured the entirety of the battle. Outside of Haunter, who had dwelled within Ash's shadow throughout the battles complete duration.

Speaking of Haunter, the ghost-type exited Ash's shadow in order to greet his teammates. Ash had to admit, having Haunter's incorporeal form bound to his shadow throughout the battle had given him a lot of security. Although, other than the lone koffing that attacked Golduck's barrier, he had never been in actual danger. Ash now knew that if he were put in a situation in which his life was in jeopardy, Haunter would protect him. The way Haunter had behaved in response to the koffing's Sludge attack had proven that the apparition was more than reliable.

Although they were incredibly thrilled that the battle was over and that they had been reunited with their trainer, Ivysaur and Growlithe were having a tough time showing any kind of emotion other than exhaustion. Now that they had a second to breathe, the full-weight of the battle had caught up to them. They could barely stand because of how much energy they had exerted.

"Growlithe, Ivysaur, you two were amazing," crooned Ash as he handled both of their pokeballs. "Words cannot describe how proud I am of you. But, I can give you praise later. For now, take a break. You've earned it."

Prior to the return, Ash thought he saw a look of relief sprout across their faces. Once the red light from the pokeball had receded back into its place of origin, Ash attached Growlithe and Ivysaur's pokeballs back onto his trainer belt before addressing Clefairy and Charmander."

"How are you two feeling?" asked Ash in a curious manner, "I'm sorry I didn't release you earlier, but things were kind of hectic. I could only do so much at once. I'm proud of the way you battled, though. Charmander, your Focus Punch was awesome. And, Clefairy, the way you handled that pinsir was really impressive. I couldn't have asked for a better effort out of you two."

Since Charmander and Clefairy weren't nearly as exasperated as his starter and saurian, Ash could actually see the bashful expressions that they had accumulated while he was complimenting them. Charmander had even proceeded to latch onto the ten-year-old boy's leg, which was his most frequently used method of showing affection.

As Charmander hugged Ash's leg, and Clefairy and Haunter visited amongst each other, Ash caught a glimpse of Austin and Golduck steadily approaching him out of his peripherals.

"Well, what do you think?" questioned Austin as he clipped one of his pokeballs to his belt. "I knew we'd win, but that went better than expected."

"Right," replied Ash while he gently patted the top of Charmander's head, "the element of surprise really did them in. They definitely weren't expecting us."

"It was a good plan," said Austin with a slight look of guilt on his face, "I shouldn't have been so skeptical."

"All of your concerns made sense," answered Ash. "Besides, we still don't know what happened with Sabrina and Wallace."

"True," retorted Austin with a shrug, "I'm sure they're fine, though. Speaking of Wallace and Sabrina, we should probably see if Kent has gotten an update on their status. I'm sure he's heard something by now.

Ash and Austin surveyed the destroyed underground hideout in search of Kent. After a brief struggle to track him down, they finally spotted him a fair proximity away from the conflux of unconscious bodies and trainees, speaking to someone on a black and red pokegear. They wasted no time as they signaled for their pokemon to follow them before they briskly jogged over to Kent. As they approached the yellowed eyed ACE trainer, he had just finished up his conversation over the phone.

As they neared Kent, the Ace trainer flashed them a large grin prior to using both of his rough hands to pat them on their heads as if they were his little brothers. "Good job, boys. You kept your composure and battled well. I'm glad that you came along. It's nice to see that your generation has some trainers that are willing to throw themselves into the fire. There are not many kids, like you two, out there anymore. Gives me hope."

"Thanks," answered both of the boys with humongous smiles stretching from cheek to cheek.

"All of your pokemon were impressive," said Kent as he placed his hands on his hips, "but, Austin, your Nidoking really caught my eye. He battled like a true warrior. You trained him well. And, Ash, despite your Pidgeotto's lack of self-control at the end there, it was an impressive specimen. The way it came to your wartortle's aid was admirable, although, you might want to address the concept of mercy."

Both boys nodded their heads as they continued to listen to Kent's unexpected evaluation.

"Also, Ash, I want to point out that your Growlithe reminds me of Arcanine when he was a pup. Their battle styles are very similar. Your Growlithe is going to be one special arcanine when it evolves. Keep training him hard."

"Really?" asked Ash, flattered, "maybe that's why Arcanine has taken an interest in him."

"I guarantee it," retorted Kent with a grin. "Anyways, I just got off of the phone with the Saffron Police Department. After Officer Jenny gets over the shocking news that Team Rocket has returned, they should be on their way to help detain the grunts."

"That's good news," replied Austin with a nod, "have you heard any news from Bill yet? What happened on Wallace and Sabrina's end?"

"Yeah…" added Ash, "they're okay, right?"

"I haven't gotten any word yet," answered Kent as he shook his head, "I was just about to call Bill before you guys came over here."

"You can call him now," replied Austin with a shrug, "don't mind us."

Ash nodded his head in agreement as he waited for Kent to respond.

"Will do—" managed Kent before his pokegear interrupted him.

"Ring…"

"Ring…"

Ash caught a glimpse of the pokegear's external screen as it lit up: it read Bill Montgomery.

"I guess Bill beat me to it," blurted Kent before flipping open the pokegear and pressing the talk button. "This shouldn't take too long boys."

Ash watched as Kent proceeded to walk a short-distance away from them, with the pokegear held up to his ear. He paced back and forth as he listened to whatever Bill had to say. Ash's anxiety spiked as he watched Kent's disposition go from relaxed to alert and disturbed. His body language and facial expression explained it all...something had gone wrong.

The dark-haired boy couldn't hear what they were talking about, but he could make out the indisputable tone of agitation in Kent's voice. Whatever Bill was reporting to him didn't make the yellow eyed ACE Trainer happy. When their conversation was over, Kent carelessly closed his pokegear and stormed over to the boys.

"What's wrong!?" questioned Ash as he felt Charmander's claws cling onto his pant leg.

"What did Bill say!?" queried Austin with worry in his voice, "did something go wrong?"

"Ariana is on the run!" bellowed Kent, "There's not enough time to explain the rest! We've got to go! Time is of the essence! Sabrina and Wallace need our help! Follow me!"

Ash gulped as images of the deceitful Ariana flooded his mind. It appeared as though their role in the mission wasn't over after all. Wallace and Sabrina needed them. The streets of Saffron weren't safe. Ariana had escaped the warehouse and it was up to them to help bring her down.

Ash didn't know where they were going, but one thing was certain. There was going to be another battle and it more than likely wasn't going to be pretty.

XXX

To be continued…

XXX

A/N:

Well friends, that was Saffron City "part 1". The next chapter will resolve the arc and include Sabrina's gym battle. I honestly was not expecting to write so much this chapter, but I couldn't help it. I like to develop my arcs and take my time with my story telling. Nothing will be rushed in Essence. This is a long-term project, and my characters will be developed accordingly. I will try to get the next part out by September 13th, but that will be hard. I usually try to write about a month ahead, and my cushion has diminished because of the length of the last three chapters. I will try to stick to my specified update date, but if there are any setbacks I will put something up in my bio page. I have a lot to write and am also currently in the process of re-editing chapters two through four. Nevertheless, chapter 7 will be out sometime in September at the latest. Expect another long chapter, hopefully not quite as long as this one. The last battle scene was a lot longer than I thought it would be. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. With the help of Pwnerbrad, I just finished editing this beast and am way too thrilled about how it came out to wait until the 13th for you guys to read it. Please take the time to review. I would love to hear your thoughts. I put a lot of effort into this and knowing that I have active readers is a great motivator.

Much Love, vincentgrey21