Ash, Serena, May and Max were once again traveling on the back of a Lapras, on their way to their next destination.
They have left Mossdeep City yesterday late in the afternoon, and after few hours of traveling, they found a small island where they spent the night camping out in the forest just pass the beach. This morning, they left the island, and continued their journey.
Right now, they are approaching the next island on their journey, and Max is the first who noticed that, as he was looking at his PokéNav.
"Hey guys," Max shouted! "You can see Wales Island from here."
"Yeah, we can see it." Ash said.
While Ash, May and Max were looking at the island they were approaching to, Serena was reading a Hoenn guide book. "It says here that the Wales Island is a nature preserve, and that it hasn't changed one bit in a thousand years."
"Sounds like a good place to train." May said.
"I guess so," Ash said. "We can probably spend a little while here, and train for our final gym battle. What do you say? Serena."
"I agree," Serena said. "The gym leader in the Sootopolis City is supposed to the strongest in Hoenn, and he will be tough to defeat, so we might as well decide on which Pokémon we will use in that battle, and prepare them."
"I think that's a good idea," Ash said. "We can chose several Pokémon for that battle, and train them in the next few days, and after we get our last gym badge, we can focus on the rest of our Pokémon."
XXX
Once they arrived on the Wales Island, the gang saw that there is a small town there, right at the coast, but the rest of the island is completely covered in forest, and is considered to be a nature preserve.
Since they decided to spend a day here on the island so they can train, the gang went to another part of the beach, away from the town, where they found a nice place to train with their Pokémon.
May and Max didn't have any approaching battles of any kind, so they weren't in need to train their Pokémon, but they did want to train anyways, which is why they are currently in the middle of a sparring match between each other. May was using her Bulbasaur, while Max was using Slakoth.
A little away from them, Ash and Serena were also having a sparring battle, but in their case, they were doing two-on-two battle, as they haven't practiced that way until now, and there were several times that they had to battle opponents in two-on-two battles, like the one in Mossdeep Gym. They might not have to battle that way again in Sootopolis City, but they most likely will have those kind of battles in the Hoenn League. As such, they need to train and improve.
The two of them have selected three Pokémon which they plan to use in the Sootopolis Gym. Now, they don't know what kind of a battle they will have there, but most gym battles are three-on-three, so it wouldn't be a surprise if the Sootopolis Gym Leader, does gym battles that way as well. Thus, Serena and Ash are preparing three Pokémon for that challenge.
To battle against the gym leader of the Sootopolis City, who uses Water Type Pokémon, Ash chose Grovyle, which as a Grass Type would have advantage against almost any water type, except maybe a few who have other type next to a water. The second Pokémon he chose is Mudkip, as he didn't have a lot of battles and needs to get stronger. As for the third Pokémon, Ash chose Milotic, which at this point, is probably the strongest Pokémon he has caught in Hoenn Region, next to maybe Dusknoir and Swallow, both of which are currently at Oak's Lab.
Ash though that this might be a good chance to use Finizen, a water type Pokémon which he got at the Swap Meet, but Finizen doesn't have that much of a battle experience, and while Ash believes that he can defeat some trainers and their Pokémon with Finizen, he isn't sure about being able to defeat the gym leaders Pokémon.
Still, being on the beach like this, around the sea, it gives Ash a chance to train his Finizen. Finizen is a Pokémon which can't battle outside of the water. It's a Pokémon like Goldeen, Seaking, and several others who have to be in the water during the training and the battle. This is something which makes them hard to train, especially when trainers are far from the large sources of water, like lakes, rivers, seas, or even ocean.
Now though, Ash is close to the sea, which means that he can let his new Pokémon swim to his heart's content, and can even do some training. Now, since Ash is focusing on Grovyle, Milotic and Mudkip, he has left Finizen in the capable hands of his two Lapras's, who will train him, and teach him everything they can, as they are Water Type Pokémon as well.
Serena decided to go with Magneton, Crawdaunt, and Marshtomp. An Electric/Steel Type, a Water/Dark Type and Water/Ground Type. They will either have the advantage, or at least be on equal ground against almost anything Juan throws at them.
Serena thought about using at least one of her new Flying Type Pokémon, as she does want to be a Flying Type expert, but in the end she realized that her new Pokémon are not ready to face against who is considered to be the strongest gym leader in the Hoenn Region. She will train her new Pokémon after the gym battle, and prepare them for the Hoenn League Tournament.
They all spared for a while, before May defeated Max, with her Bulbasaur using Petal Dance, which it something he managed to pull off for the first time. May was very happy with her Bulbasaur, while Max was annoyed that he lost to his sister… again. He decided to go and look around the forest a little bit. He hopes he can find something to amuse himself, while Ash and Serena are training, and May decided to simply sit down and watch the sparring matches between Serena and Ash.
XXX
Max walked through the forest, searching for anything interesting, or even some Pokémon which he can battle, even though he can't catch them without May, as she is the one with the Poke Balls, and the one who catches the Pokémon for him, and then gives them to him.
While he was walking through the forest, Max heard some rustling in the bushes. "Whose there," Max asked a little scared? "Show yourself!"
Suddenly, a green Pokémon with yellow eyes and pink tentacles around its neck, came out from behind the bushes.
Max took one look at the Pokémon, before his eyes widened and his mouth flew open in shock. Then he screamed, spooking the Pokémon, which screamed as well, and then run of.
"What the hell is that?" Max yelled, his yelling caring across the forest all the way to the beach, where Ash, Serena and May were. They heard Max's yelling, and immediately summoned all of their Pokémon back to their Poke Balls, and then run into the forest to see what's going on.
"Max, why are you screaming?" Ash asked.
"What happened?" Serena asked at the same time as Ash, before May asked. "Are you ok?"
"You won't believe what I just saw." Max said.
"What did you see?" Ash asked.
"A Cradily!" Max said.
"Really?" Serena questioned, quite surprise. Ash said nothing, only looked at Max with raised eyebrows, while May took her Pokedex to look at Cradily.
"Cradily have been extinct for a while now," Serena said. "A chances to see one in a wild like this, are almost nonexistent."
"They are extinct?" May questioned, as she didn't know anything about Cradily.
"Yes," Serena said. "I've also heard that the fossils of its pre-evolved form, Lileep, are rarely found."
"But I saw a live one come out from the bushes over there." Max said, while pointing at the bushes where he saw Cradily earlier.
"Where did it go?" Ash asked.
"I don't know," Max said. "I was so surprised that I didn't see where it run of to."
"Are you sure that you saw Cradily," May asked? "Maybe you confused it with some other Pokémon."
"I didn't." Max said with crossed arms and annoyed tone of voice.
Suddenly, a Breloom jumped out from behind the same bushes that Cradily was behind, drawing the gang's attention on it.
"Maybe you just saw that Breloom." Ash said, while looking at the Pokémon.
"Probably," Serena agreed. "It's an easy mistake to make. They do have some similarities."
"I'm telling you that I saw a Cradily and not some Breloom," Max yelled! "I'll find it again and I'll prove it to you!" He then run off further into the forest.
"Well, he's angry," Ash sighed. "Maybe we should have believed him."
"Come on, Ash," May said. "Didn't Serena say that Cradily are extinct and that even the fossils are rarely found?"
"There is a difference between, rarely and never," Ash said. "I have Aerodactyl, Kabutops, Tyrantrum, and Amaura. Four Pokémon which are considered to be extinct, so it's not impossible that Max saw a Cradily. Rare, yes; but not impossible."
"What are we going to do now," May asked? "Are we going to go and search for Max?"
"We don't have to," Ash said. "He has his own Pokémon, so he can handle one or two wild Pokémon if he comes across them. Besides, this is a small island. It's not like he can go too far and get lost."
"I guess so." May said, before she turned around and followed Ash and Serena, who went back toward the beach.
XXX
Max run across the forest, thinking of the Cradily, and how there is no way that he was wrong and has confused a Breloom for a Cradily.
After several minutes of running, Max found himself in front of a huge mansion, which didn't look like it's in a perfect state, with parts of the walls, being covered in moss.
"What's with this house," Max wondered? "Why is it all the way here, so far from the town?"
Max approached the building and looked inside through one of the windows. Inside, he saw a bunch of computers and other equipment. "This must be some kind of a Laboratory." Max mused to himself.
While looking through the window, inside of the room he spotted three Lileep, standing inside of the fenced area. "I don't believe it," Max said! "A Lileep. Three of them at that. This is amazing. If there are Lileep here, then that must mean that there are also Cradily, just like the one I saw."
"Hey," suddenly, Max heard a voice yell behind him! "What are you doing here?"
Max looked at the man in front of him, with a frightened look on his face.
XXX
"I don't know if it was a good idea to leave Max to wonder off like that." May said, as she, Ash and Serena, were walking through the forest on their way back to the beach.
"He'll be fine," Ash said once again. "What could possibly happen to him on an island like this?"
"I don't know, Ash," May said. "But many things have happened since we started to travel, and I guess I'm worried that something bad will happen once again."
Ash sighed. "Look, if you want, we can go back and look for him," he said. "But I still believe that you are worrying too much."
Before May could say anything, a man appeared in front of them. He was a tall man with long wavy black hair. He wears black pants, black muscle shirt and a green vest over it. Overall, he looks relatively normal, yet there was something unsettling about him… at least to Ash, who looked at the man with narrowed eyes.
"Hey kids, can I ask you something?" The man asked.
"Sure, go ahead." Serena replied.
"You wouldn't happen to have seen a Cradily around here, have you?" The man asked, making Serena's and May's eyes widen, while Ash's narrowed even more.
"Isn't a Cradily supposed to be an extinct Pokémon?" May asked, drawing the man's attention.
"It is," he replied. "But there have been some seen here, and I want to catch one. If I get my hands on Anorith or Armaldo, as well, even better.
Serena and May looked at each other, wondering what to say. Before they could say anything, Ash spoke. "Sorry. But we haven't seen any of those Pokémon. We just got here as well, so we didn't even have a chance to look around much."
The man looked at Ash, and didn't know what to think. On one hand, he feels like Ash is lying to him. But on the other hand, the look on Ash's face is scaring him… not that he will say that. As such, he isn't sure if he should question Ash.
"Ok," the man finally said. "Well, if you do run into one of those Pokémon, then can you at least find some way to inform me? I would really like to catch some of them."
Ash nodded. "We'll see about doing that."
The man turned around and walked away, leaving Ash behind, along with confused May and Serena.
"What was that about," May asked? "Why did you lie to him?"
"I don't trust him," Ash said, making Serena and May look toward where the man walked to. Ash then looked at May, and said. "I guess you were right, and that something bad is going to happen. I think that we should go and find Max."
May's eyes widened for a moment, before she nodded.
The three turned around to walk toward where they last saw Max, when suddenly, a Cradily came out in front of them from behind the bushes.
"Well, I'll be damned." Ash said, as he looked at the extinct Pokémon.
XXX
Max was seating on the floor next to a wall, in a lab he has found earlier. He was all tied-up, with his hands behind his back, and with his feet tied together around the ankles, so he wouldn't try to run away.
Next to him, there are a man and a woman, tied-up in the same way as Max. They were both in their late twenties, early thirties. A man has black hair, and was wearing a white shirt with a green tie, brown pants, and a white lab coat. The woman has red hair. She was wearing a lab coat over a yellow blouse and a dark blue skirt. On her feet, she was wearing an orange and yellow ankle-high shoes.
Around the lab, there are a bunch of man, all wearing black pants, black muscle shirt and a green vest over it. Over their heads, they are wearing balaclava masks, only revealing their eyes, and the area around their eyes. Each one also has a gun strapped in their holsters on the hips.
To Max and the two people with him, these man all look-like they are some form of military, not just because of their dress, and looks, but also because of the way they are going around and doing things, with efficiency only seen in someone with military experience.
"What's going on here," Max asked, scared out of his mind, though he wasn't crying, as you would expect from a nine-year-old kid? "Who are these people, and what are they doing here? For that matter, where is here and what is this place?"
The man and a woman looked at Max, before they looked at each other, and then they sighed. "I'm Professor Proctor, and that is my wife, Annie," the man spoke. "This is our lab, along with all the equipment in it. We are researchers who are working on finding and reviving the ancient Pokémon. As for these man… we have no idea who they are. They just barged in here, tied us up and then started to gather all the Pokémon we have revived, and are now gathering the computers and the equipment. None of them has said anything. Not who they are, who they are working for, or even why they are here, though judging by the fact that they are taking the revived Pokémon and the equipment we used to research those Pokémon and revive them… it's not hard to guess what they want."
When Proctor finished, his wife spoke. "But who are you, and why did you come here?"
"My name is Max," Max said. "I was traveling with my sister and our friends, but then I run into a Cradily, in the forest, and when I told them about that, they didn't believe me, so I decided to search for the Cradily, so that I can prove it to them. I found this place while looking for Cradily, and I was caught outside by one of the man."
"So you saw a Cradily that run from here, after these people broke in?" Proctor questioned, with happiness in his voice that at least that Cradily is fine.
"Yes," Max confirmed. "But as I said, my sister and friends didn't believe me, so I went to look for it. Big mistake."
"Sorry," Annie apologized. "We never thought that something like this would happen because of our research and desires to bring back the extinct Pokémon."
"Its fine," Max sighed. "Let hope thought that these people will let us free once they are finished."
Professor Proctor and Annie agreed with Max.
Several minutes later, the lab was left completely bare of anything except Max, Proctor and Annie. All the equipment and everything else, was gone.
With everything taken out, soldiers all gathered in the lab, not far from Max and the others. They were discussing what to do with them, if they should dispose of them so that they wouldn't say anything to anyone, or they should just leave them there.
"I say we have some fun before we do anything," one of the soldiers said, as he moved away from the group, and went toward Annie, where he stood above her and looked at her. If he wasn't wearing the mask on his head, everyone would be able to see a look of lust on his face. "I mean, just look at this woman. She's such a beauty, and it would be a waste to not have some fun with her before we leave."
Hearing this, Annie paled, along with her husband. Even Max, as young as he is, knew what the soldier was talking about.
"Forget about it," one of the soldiers said to the one in front of Annie. "Remember what you were told when you joined?"
"I remember," the apparent raper said. "But I also know that she isn't here, and if she doesn't see anything, she won't know. Right?"
"I'm not going to risk my life, just so you can fuck some woman," the second man yelled at the first! "Leave her be, or we will have a serious trouble!"
The first man sneered, and turned to look at the second man, who was backed by the rest of the soldiers. "What," he spoke? "Are you going to shoot me if I don't listen to you?"
Suddenly, there was a loud, 'bang', before the first man fell to the floor, right next to Annie, who screamed at this, while Proctor's mouth fell open. Max paled like a ghost and tears started to trail down his cheeks.
The soldiers were all surprised by this, and looked toward where the bang came from… only for all of them to pale when they saw who was standing there.
There, at the entrance of the lab, stood a woman so beautiful that it was unbelievable. She is a tanned skinned woman with long purple hair tied in a ponytail, and with few bangs on the side and over her face. She wears a white choke collar, a white bellybutton length t-shirt, which is very tight, showing off her large breasts, and the fact that she's wearing no bra, with her nipples poking from below the t-shirt. Over the t-shirt, she wears a green military jacket with rolled-up sleeves, and left unbuttoned. On her left wrist she has a bracelet, while on both of her hands, she has black glows. Finally, she wears a light grayish pants, tied with a darker gray belt low on her hips, and high string panties, clearly visible high on her hips above the pants, and above her ass. On her legs, she wears a shin-high black boots.
In her right hand, she has a pistol, which she placed in a holster attached to the pants of her right leg. In between her lips, she has a cigarette, which she took in between her fingers, after she returned the gun to the holster and then blew the smoke from her mouth. "I thought I told you… not to rape woman while on the mission," the woman spoke in a low and soft tone of voice, which scared the crap out of the soldiers, who all shivered in fear. "And yet, one of you decides to do it, completely disregarding my orders. Why is that?"
"W-we are really sorry, ma'am," the soldier which tried to stop the now dead soldier, said. "I told him not to do it, but he didn't want to listen."
"Then you should have tried harder," the woman said, as she entered further into the lab, now standing in front of the prisoners. "You are supposed to be my second in command, which means that after me, you are the one who orders the rest of the army. If you can't do that… then you should quit… and you know what that means. Right?"
The guy shivered some more, as he knew exactly what quitting the team, means.
"Then again," the woman spoke again, as she kneeled down in front of Annie, and took the woman's chin, with her thumb and point finger, while looking her in the face. "You are one beautiful woman," she said, as she scanned Annie, making the tied-up professor feel a little uncomfortable. Not nearly as uncomfortable as Proctor was feeling at that moment, as… certain pictures are running through his brain as he was watching his wife, and the enemy woman. "I can understand why he would wish to have some… fun, with you. I also feel like I want to have some fun with you."
With that said, she moved her head forward, and captured Annie's lips, with her own, much to Annie's shock, as well as Proctor's and Max's shock, who both blushed at what was happening.
The kiss went on for a full minute, with the soldier woman even using her tongue to break into Annie's mouth, and start to fight with Annie's tongue, overwhelming the woman in moments.
Eventually, she pulled back, leaving the trail of saliva connecting hers and Annie's lips. She was also wearing a satisfied smirk on her face, while Annie was blushing up a storm, while also breathing hard.
"Such a beautiful specimen," she said. "I wish to gobble you up right here and now, but unfortunately, we have to go." With that said, she stood back up, before she looked away from Annie, and toward Proctor and Max.
"I see that your husband has liked the shown" she said, as she was looking at Proctor's pants, which were showing a tent in between his legs, much to the man's embarrassment. "Maybe I will come back one day, and then we can have some fun, the three of us."
Proctor and Annie both blushed cherry red at the implication, but none said a word.
The woman looked at Max, and asked. "And who might you be? I didn't have any info about anyone except these two being here in the lab, so where did you come from?"
"I… I was traveling with my sister and friends, but we separated and I found this place by accident." Max said, deciding not to mention Cradily, as he now knows that these people are after it.
"Is that so?" The woman questioned looking at Max.
"Yes," Max said. "I was caught outside by one of them," he pointed his head at the soldiers, "and they brought me in here."
The woman looked at her soldiers, and one of them nodded, indicating that he is the one who caught Max.
"And where are your friends and sister now?" She asked.
Before Max could say anything else, a man walked through the entrance of the lab. It was the same man who met Ash, May and Serena, earlier. "I might be able to tell you that." He said, getting the attention from everyone.
"I run into some kids while searching for that escaped Cradily, which, by the way, I didn't find," the man spoke. "They are probably the ones that the kid is talking about. A boy, and two girls, with the boy being the oldest."
The woman looked at Max with a questioning look on her face. "I can't be sure," Max said. "But it's most likely them."
"Did you speak to them?" The woman asked her soldier.
He nodded. "I asked them if they've seen a Cradily because I heard that there is one here and that I want to catch it. They seemed surprised, though, and the boy said that they didn't see any Cradily. Then again… there was something weird about the boy, though. I felt like he was lying."
"And why didn't you question him more?" The woman asked.
"I… There was something strange about him," the soldier said. "The look in his eyes… it was very intense to the point that I…" He didn't finish his words, as the woman interrupted him.
"You were scared of a teenager." The woman said, with narrowed eyes.
He didn't say anything.
"You're pathetic," she said, before she looked at Max. "Is there something… special about this friend of yours?"
"Why would you ask me that?" Max asked.
"My man are not cowards… even though that one seems like one," she said, pointing at the man who encountered Ash, Serena and May. "As such, if he noticed something strange and unsettling about this friend of yours, then that's because there is something strange about him."
"And why would I tell you?" Max asked, feeling more brave then he actually is.
The woman raised her eyebrows at Max, before she kneeled down next to him, looking him straight in the eyes. "Because if you don't," she spoke, moving her hand in between his legs, and grabbed him by his dick and balls, over the pants. Max, Proctor and Annie were shocked by this, as they all gasped. "I will neuter you."
Max gulped at the threat. "You don't want that to happen, do you?" She asked him, and Max shock his head. "Good. Now be a good a boy and tell me what I want to know."
"A-Ash is a really good Pokémon trainer," Max said. "As such, he is really hard, almost impossible to defeat. He can also be… scary at times, especially when he's angry or wants to threaten someone."
"Ash," the woman spoke Ash's name, while tilting her head to the side. She knew that name, but from where. "And what's your name, and the name of your sister and the other friend?"
"My name is Max," Max said. "My sister's name is May, and the other friend is Serena."
"Ash, Max, Serena and May..." the woman said the names, her eyes getting wide for several moments, which wasn't missed by Max, Proctor and Annie.
Suddenly, the woman stood up, and looked at her team. "We are leaving. NOW!"
Everyone was shocked by this sudden turn of events, and the fact that this woman, who has killed one of her own man in cold blood, suddenly seems to be scared.
"W-What about them?" The second in command soldier, asked.
The woman looked at him, and then at the prisoners. Then she said. "Leave them. We don't want to draw the attention of Ash Ketchum, even more then we will, when the boy tells him about us."
"Wouldn't it be best to kill them, then," the soldier asked, scaring the prisoners? "If they can't talk, then no one will know we were here?"
"I have my doubts about that," the woman said. "As such, we leave them alive and well. We can't deal with Ketchum right now, and we don't want to draw too much attention. Is that clear?"
"YES MA'AM!" All the soldiers said at the same time, before they started to walk out of the lab. The woman told two of them to take the corpse of the soldier she killed, as she didn't want him found by anyone.
In less than a minute, they were all out of the lab, leaving only Max, Proctor and Annie behind.
XXX
Less than five minutes after the soldiers left, Ash, Serena and May arrived in the Lab. They were following after Cradily, who brought them all there to help, as that is why it run away. To find someone to help Professor Proctor and Annie against those soldiers.
When they got there, they found Max and the couple, and untied them, before they found out what happened, and that there was someone there who cleaned out the whole lab of all the Pokémon, fossils and all the equipment that the lab had.
After he heard about what happened, and about the reaction that the woman had after she heard his name, he thought that she and the soldiers, might be from the Shadow Legion, as Team Rocket, Team Aqua and Team Magma were disbanded, and members in jail - most of them anyway - and there are no other criminal organizations that operate in Kanto, Johto and Hoenn. Not that he knows of, anyway.
Just like Ash; Serena and May were also thinking that this might have something to do with the Shadow Legion, and they were not happy, after all that they've been through in the last few months because of that organization. On top of that, May was also worried because Max was exposed to danger, and has even seen someone being killed right in front of his eyes. She blames herself for not believing Max that he has seen a Cradily, and basically pushing him to go on his own and end up in danger.
With the soldiers, and especially the woman gone, Max has calmed down now, as that means that he can keep his balls and dick, and not worry about losing them to that woman. She was scary with that threat.
As for Professor Proctor and his wife Annie, they were devastated because of what happened and because of the fact that years of work and so much money spent on the equipment and the research, were now gone, and will most likely not come back. Even more then the equipment, they feel bad because of all the revived Pokémon, who will now go through, who knows what, in the hands of the criminal organization, not to mention all the fossils taken from the lab, which could be revived with the machines that were taken. Whoever has taken all of that, is now going to have an army of Lileep and Anorith, and eventually Cradily and Armaldo.
Considering the fact that they've lost everything except the building, Proctor and Annie decided to leave the Wales Island and go somewhere else. They are still unsure if they will continue their work, because of the fact that, if they were found once, what's to say that they won't be found again, and the same thing that happened now, could happen again.
This is where Ash came in to help them. He said that he has built a PPA in Pallet Town, and that he could have a place built as part of the PPA, where Proctor and Annie can work at, and continue their research. There, they will be protected, and can work in secret with not many people knowing about it. Ash also told them that he will see to it that his family funds their expeditions all over the world and that they could work on reviving all the fossil Pokémon, and not just Lileep and Anorith line.
"We accept," Proctor said to Ash, after he and Annie discussed about it for a few minutes. "We decided that it's the best offer and a chance we will ever have, and agree to work for your family as the fossil Pokémon researchers."
"I'm glad to hear that." Ash said with a smile on his face.
"There is one thing we need to get before we leave, though," Proctor said, getting the looks from everyone there. He looked at them all with a smile on his face, before he said what he wants to take with him to the Pallet Town.