Lucario pulled Ash away, -Calm down, Meema. I know you are furious, but calm down.-
Ash took a deep breath and released it, "Yeah, let's go meet James. He no doubt has a plan."
Pikachu nuzzled him, "Pikapi."
Ash reluctantly left the area despite his strong desire to go down and release Ritchie who was tied up and looked terrible. He had no idea how long his red head friend had been here and decided to call Banette. Banette looked at his trainer who was furious and distraught then pat his cheek understanding what he wanted. Banette entered the shadows and went to stay beside Ritchie to make sure he was okay after Ash gave him medicine.
Ash, 'Hang on Ritchie. Just hang on.'
Lucario, -Here we are.-
James was quietly talking to Meowth, "Do you think that kid will be okay?"
Meowth, "Dat kit is Ash's frnd. He's strng."
James looked up on hearing the vent open, "Who? Ash! What are you doing here?"
Ash got down, "Just received a mission. I am just tempted to destroy this place to the ground."
Meowth jumped patting his head, "I knw kit, I knw. We or rthr James tuk ovr watchng hm. He's strng, he'll be fine."
Ash gave a small smile, "Thanks Meowth."
James was holding clothes, "Here, coffee, it's already midnight, you'll need this to help pick you up. Lucario, Ash change into these uniforms, I managed to snag them. Quickly, I'll make sure no one comes."
Ash drank the strong coffee that James made using the machine and Lucario grabbed the uniforms and started to wear it. Ash wore it on top of his padded clothes that he had commissioned a few months ago for missions. Lucario wore a face mask along with his clothes, unless someone looked closely, they could not tell he was not human. Ash thanked James and they started to plot, Meowth had mapped the whole place down. No one pays attention to Pokemon that belongs to grunts especially a weak Pokemon like Meowth.
Lucario's eye twitched, 'Weak my foot.'
Meowth, "Be creful, kit. Dun wrry bout yor frnd, we'll kip hm safe."
James, "Correction I will. You three need to make your move."
Ash, "Lucario connect us using aura."
Meowth gave a feral grin and disappeared out the door followed by James who went to where Ritchie was being held. It was high time for the red head to get out and rain hell on his tormentors who caught him. Ash took a breath then he left the room as well following the map to get to his target. They came across a room where his target or rather targets were being held, a Lugia and a baby Lugia. Pikachu growled under his throat from his side as the crazy Professor, Namba he called himself, actually gave a villainous dialogue.
Lucario, 'Meema?'
Ash, 'Don't worry, we will take them down.'
Pikachu, 'The poor cub. He is not doing well.'
Ash, 'Have I ever told you you have a nice voice?'
Pikachu cooed, 'More then once. Okay then, as according to plan I'm gonna sneak around those consoles and sabotage them.'
Ash, 'Be careful.'
Namba, "You there, prepare the mind control machine."
Lucario grounded out, -Yes sir!-
Namba, "That's Professor Namba to you sonny. Don't forget it."
Lucario, 'You won't remain one for long.'
Namba, "And you bring the boy."
Ash watched with dread as another grunt brought a child, a mother fucking child who was not even a teenager. The child went by the name Oliver and was according to the Professor one of the few people Lugia actually listened to. Ash had to hold himself back from taking his gun out and shooting the man dead on the sight as he talked about his insane plan. He wanted to turn the child into a full fledged Aura Guardian? What? How? That is not how aura works.
Oliver, "You are crazy. I'm not an aura user."
Namba laughed, "My dear boy, don't you know? Legendary Pokemon only listen to aura users no one else."
The adult Lugia was filled with fury and trashed against the bindings holding them captive when Namba showed different footages. The first one was from the Shamauti island incident, where Ash dressed as a blond girl used aura to protect the four Legendaries. The second had Ash and Lucario gritting their teeth, it was the incident with Gonzalez where Ash as himself used aura again. This bastard was working with Team Rocket after all, especially with the dark faction that almost killed Jessie and James.
Max was sitting with Serena, Chloe and Gou in the audience. He was feeling very conflicted at the moment. Ash had missed his match the previous evening and was considered as forfeit. The audience were surprised but was distracted by the other matches. But that was not what upset him. What actually upset him were the gossip that some people were doing about Ash. He was trembling from anger as he tried to hold back from shouting they were wrong and Ash was on a mission.
Gou pat his head, "I know the feeling."
Serena was smiling in a scary way, "Ash will prove them wrong."
Chloe, "Yeah."
Before Max could answer there was a rumble and the arena shook. The group nodded at that and moved to get everyone out as fast as possible. The audience were scared and worried by the tremor. The arena were fitted with anti tremor equipment so for them to feel an actual tremor it meant only one thing. It was an earthquake and they needed to get out as fast as possible. Their Pokemon helped in keeping control over the crowd as they were guided out of the arena.
Max, "I only hope Ash and Brock are okay."
Ralts, -Don't worry Max, Ash is strong. He will be okay.-
Ritchie woke up feeling sore all over, 'They did quite a number on me.'
"You're awake good."
Ritchie's eyes flew open, "Who?"
James, "Relax kid, it's me."
Ritchie released a breath of relief, "James, you why are you here?"
James, "Ash contacted me."
Ritchie, "Ash is here."
Banette, "Ban nette banette."
James grinned at the ghost, "Champion Gold too. They are planning on exposing the man behind this madness. There will be no way for that Professor to escape once they are done with him. Here are your Pokemon. Sorry, it took twenty four hours to find them."
Ritchie, "Zippo, Happy, Sparky come out."
Sparky, Zippo and Happy were worried sick about their trainer, they had been inside their pokeballs for more than ten hours. That was not normal for their trainer, especially during a serious high level mission. When they saw Ritchie, Sparky and Zippo were so close, so close to committing murder. Ritchie pat them promising he was alright, and they still have a job to do as well as get revenge.
James, "Meowth is sending the information he collected to the Police and Rangers who are waiting."
Ritchie, "Say what's the time?"
James, "It's early, two o'clock in the morning."
Ritchie, "Okay, that's enough sleeping on the job then. Let's go help the others."
James, "Here change into these. Those are not exactly in one piece."
Zippo growled seeing the state his trainer was in and helped him change while Sparky and Happy put medicine on his cuts. Thank Mew, there were no broken bones or sprains, heaven help their enemies, if there had been any on their trainer's body. Ritchie got up ready to battle and walked out as the base trembled from a powerful blast. It looks like Ash had already started battling against the criminals. Ash was furious as he held Oliver who was shaking from whatever the machine did you him.
Gold, "Get them out of here. Big Lugia and I will deal with these clowns."
Ash nodded taking the safety off his gun, "On it. Lugia you good carrying Oliver?"
Baby Lugia nodded, "Iiiia."
Lucario, -Let's go. We'll keep you safe.-
Pikachu, "Pika pika pikachu."
Baby Lugia cooed at his friend who curled up on his back as they flew after Ash who led the way away from the battle. Gold sported a dark look, a look Ash recognized very well, he had held the same look at one point. Ash ran behind the group while Lucario ran in front of the group with Pikachu knocking out the grunts trying to stop them. Ash made sure none of them woke up, permanently, he was well beyond the point of forgiving any of the adults.
Ash grunted as the base shook, 'I hope the others are okay. It is difficult to say the time down here.'
Gold, "Give it up Namba!"
Namba, "Never, you blasted child. I was this close to controlling Lugia."
Gold, "Don't hold back everyone. We are destroying this place."
Ash went outside and saw it was already morning, "Brock, there you are, can you help them? They tried to force Pokemon energy inside his body."
Brock blanched, "What?"
Lucario growled disgusted, -They wanted to force him to become an Aura Guardian.-
Brock was furious, "They did what? Leave him to me. Yellow and I completed our mission and we received the Intel you and Gold sent over."
Ash, "Good, I'm gonna go rejoin the others."
Yellow, "Be careful. We will make sure you all come out safe."
Ash nodded and rushed back in, just in time to see Ritchie take down one of the Team Rocket members. James was beside him sporting a brown wig, and battling another member with Arcanine by his side. Ash joined the fray and dealt with the last member and joined them.
Ritchie, "Ash?"
Ash, "You good?"
James, "We are good."
Ritchie, "Yeah."
Ash, "Let's blow this joint."
They rushed back inside and started to search for Gold and Namba. They followed the destruction and found them outside on the other side. Namba as it turns out had created an abomination that Gold and his Pokemon were battling. James jumped in to help him while Ash and Ritchie were helping Lugia deal with the other Pokemon and other members.
Ritchie, "Zippo, Sparky, combine your over heat and thunder shock."
Ash, "Lucario with me, Pikachu with Sparky thunder shock, Bayleef vine whip and Cyndaquill use flame thrower."
The Pokemon worked I'm tandem as a team and started throwing their attacks around in a coordinated manner. Ash and Ritchie were standing back to back as they fought off the enemies and coordinated their Pokemon to battle. As they fought Gold took down the abomination and was going after the crazy Professor.
Ash, "Let's round them up."
Ritchie nodded, "Yes, then we get him."
Lucario eyed them, -Alright are you sure you are both okay?-
Ash looked at the dead bodies, "No, but we will be later."
Ritchie had a dark look, "Yeah, now is not the time to break."
They joined Gold and helped his Pokemon recover their strength while they took over going after their target. Ash attacked from the right while Ritchie from the left as their Pokemon covered attacking from above and the ground. The battle was fierce but with a clever use of Happy's sleep powder they put the last of their enemies to sleep.
Ash, "Nice one."
Happy nodded, "Cree."
Ritchie, "Good job buddy."
Gold who was worse for wear, "Good job everyone. Now let's deal with that base."
Ash, "What do we do with it?"
Gold, "We destroy it obviously."
Ritchie, "Fine with me."
Ash took out a usb, "I already collected the information they had here. So go ahead."
Gold, "Steelix, Onix, Sandslash, do your thing."
Steelix, Onix and Sandslash gave feral grin and went crazy on the base and the building which was part of it, really. Ritchie and Ash along with their Pokemon pulled the ones who were alive along with them and dumped them on the Rangers, who reached them. The Rangers were helping the City evacuate while they were fighting and dealing with the crazy.
[A. N.: I won't be able to write anything this week. But next week I'll upload again.
Love you my dear readers.]