chapter 17

Ash's POV-

"Somethings off about lana." I thought to myself. 

I hadn't noticed at first, but lana was unusually quiet today. She hadn't said a single word to me today, which was worrying. 

The school day had gone by faster than I thought it was going to. Most everyone had filtered out of the classroom by the time I had finished packing my stuff up. The class had planned on getting together at Mallow's restaurant to hang out on Sunday.

I was heading to the door of the classroom, when I was stopped by lana. 

"H-hey Ash." lana quietly muttered. 

"Hey lana, how are you doing today?" I asked her.

"I'm good, thank you for asking." She responded.

I nodded and smiled at her. "No problem lana."

We stood there in awkward silence for a few seconds, while I tried thinking of how to continue the conversation. 

"Hey Ash...did you...want to hang out today, I-if you don't have anything going." She stammered. 

I chuckled a bit before nodding. "Yeah sure lana, I don't have anything going today." I said.

"Do you mind if we stop by Kukui's place, I want to let him know that I'm not gonna be back till later." I asked her.

lana shook her head. "Not at all Ash, go ahead and do what you need to." She told me.

I smiled at her and put my backpack on. "Well then let's get going." I said as I walked out the door and turned back to her, waiting for her to follow me.

lana followed me out the door of the room and through the school. Once outside, we set off in the direction of professor Kukui's home.

It was pretty hot outside, though a balmy breeze made it a livable warm, which in turn made the walk much more bearable. 

I sighed and smiled to myself. "You know lana, it's weather like this that I love, it's not too hot outside, and it's not to cold outside." I said.

I glanced over at lana and saw her nod. "This weather is amazing, especially when most of the time it's really warm out." She said.

"Yeah.." I said, "so lana, I gotta ask...why don't you have a Pokemon of your own?" I asked her.

lana grimaced and looked down at the path we were walking on, almost like she was studying every single little rock on the path.

"If you...don't wanna talk about it then that's ok, I'm sorry I asked." I told her.

She looked back at me with a saddend expression and nodded. "Sorry Ash...It's just something I don't like talking about" lana quietly muttered. 

I nodded in understanding. "That's fine lana, no need to tell me if you don't want to." I told her.

We continued walking down the path in relative silence. 

"I wondered what could of happened to her Pokemon?" I pondered.

I looked over at lana and saw her looking out over the edge of the path and across the city.

"So lana, what did you wanna do after we leave professor Kukui's place?" I asked her.

I really had no idea as to what she might have had planned for the day.

lana looked back at me and smiled slightly. "Well...I have a few ideas as to what we could do." She responded. 2

"What might those ideas be?" I questioned.

lana quietly laughed. "Well that's a surprise." She answered.

I sighed and nodded. "Fine." I replied before continuing the walk back to professor Kukui's house.

Before I knew it, we had reached Kukui's home, and my temporary housing. I walked up to the door and was about to knock, when I realized that lana wasn't beside me anymore. I turned back and found lana standing at the bottom of the steps.

"Uh...lana, what are you doing?" I asked her.

"O-oh, I-I was gonna wait outside, I don't want to intrude." She responded.

I chuckled and shook my head. "I'm sure Kukui would appreciate the thought, but at the same time, I don't think he'll mind if you come inside for a minute to get out of the heat." I told her.

lana stared at me for a few seconds, before walking up the stairs and standing next to me. "A-are you sure he won't mind?" She asked me.

"I'm sure he won't." I answered. I reached over and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, ok?" I told her.

lana nodded and looked past me to the door in front of us. 

I turned back to the door and knocked on it, I waited about ten seconds before opening the door and walking in, lana tentatively followed me inside.

"Professor?" I said a loud, hoping he'd respond while I looked around the first floor for him. 

I heard a shout from down in the basement. Though I couldn't quiet make out what was said. 

I turned back to lana and smiled. "I think he's in the basement, if you want, you can wait up here for a couple of minutes." I told her.

She nodded and looked around the open living room. "Would it be ok if I sat down on the couch?" She asked me.

"Yeah of course lana." I answered.

I looked at Pikachu, who had jumped off my shoulder as soon as I had walked into the home. I kneeled down and motioned for Pikachu to come over to me. 

Pikachu ran over to me and looked up at me. "Hey buddy, can you go and keep lana company while I go talk to Kukui?" I asked. 

Pikachu nodded, before turning and running over to lana, he jumped onto her lap and laid down. lana looked over at me in surprise and curiosity.

I smiled at her. "I thought Pikachu could keep you some company while I went downstairs." I told her.

lana smiled and nodded. "Thank you." She replied, the look of surprise slowly being replaced with one of contentedness and enjoyment.

I nodded and headed downstairs to the basement.

I was about to step off onto the ground floor, when numerous sharp rocks came speeding past me, lodging themselves into the wall with a loud crash.  

"What the Hell!" I shouted in surprise. My balance leaving me as I fell backwards onto the stairs. 4

I gave my heart a couple of seconds to recover, before getting up and peering around the corner, finding professor Kukui with Rockruff.

"Professor, what the hell? You almost got me with those!" I shouted.

Kukui sheepishly smiled at me. "Sorry about that Ash, are you ok?" He asked.

I sighed and stepped onto the floor of the basement. "Yeah, I'm ok, just... don't do that in front of the stairs next time." I said to him.

Kukui chuckled and nodded. "Fair enough. So what did you need Ash?" He asked.

"Well, I came home to let you know that me and lana were going to be hanging out in town today, so I didn't want you to worry about me." I said to him.

Kukui smiled. "Alright, you two have fun, but be home by eight at the latest, you're still my responsibility while you're living here." He told me.

I nodded. "Alright, I will. Thanks." I responded.

"Look's like I might have a father figure of sorts." I chuckled as I thought about the concept. 6

I headed back upstairs to the main floor, finding lana still sitting on the couch, with a sleeping Pikachu on her lap. "Well, ready to go lana?" I asked.

lana looked up at me and nodded. "I'm ready to go." She answered.

lana picked Pikachu up and laid him down on the spot she was sitting on. She went and grabbed her things, before walking to the door. I picked up my backpack and brought it with me, just incase I needed to carry anything with me.

We headed out the door and started walking down the road to the city. I looked over at lana and smiled. "So what do you wanna do once we get into the city?" I asked her.

lana leaned her head side to side. "Hmm...do you wanna go and grab something to eat first? Maybe explore the city a bit." She said to me. 

My eye's lit up at the word eat. "That sounds like a great idea." I replied. 3

I looked over at lana and smirked. "Think you could keep up with me in a race?" I asked.

lana laughed and shook her head. "There's no way I could keep up with you." She responded.

I chuckled and shook my head. "Hey, you never know." I said.

lana suddenly bolted down the pathway, I stood there for a few seconds, stunned. "H-Hey, that's not fair!" I shouted as I ran after her.

I could hear her laughing as she ran down the path, with me in pursuit. 8

We reached the city a lot sooner than I thought we would of, though, we were now exhausted. 

I had reached the city first, with lana only a little ways behind me. I was trying to catch my breath when she caught up to me. "Nice job lana, you managed to keep up fairly well." I said to her.

lana nodded while she slightly wheezed. "T-th...thanks..." lana replied.

"Oh jeez." she said as she walked over to a nearby bench and sat down. 

I chuckled and followed suit. "You gonna be ok lana?" I asked her.

She nodded. "Y-yeah, just gotta catch my breath." She answered.

I nodded and looked around the plaza we were in. "Hey lana, do you wanna stop by the restaurant Mallow works at?" I asked her.

lana turned and looked at me curiously. "I-I guess, do you know where it is?" She asked.

"Yeah I do, me and the others were planning on meeting there this Sunday, so she told us where it was ahead of time." I explained. 1

lana sat there for a few moments, before looking at me. "Yeah sure, why not." She responded.

"Alright then, let's get going." I said.

I stood up and stretched for a moment, before setting off in the direction of where Mallow's restaurant was.

lana's POV-

It didn't take long for Ash and I to reach the restaurant. The place was fairly busy when we got there. 

"Why does it have to be busy, now of all times." I thought to myself.

Ash led the way inside and to the counter that was at the other end of the room. A green haired girl was standing behind the counter and working. Upon our approach, she raised her head to look at us, her green eye's widening upon seeing us.

"Ash, lana? What are you two doing here?" She asked in surprise.

I quietly giggled at this. 

"Me and lana were hanging out today, so we were going to stop by and grab something to eat. I hope that's ok?" Ash replied.

Mallow nodded. "Of course it is. If you two could just follow me, I can get you seated." She said.

Ash nodded and followed Mallow as she led us to one of the tables that was beside the wall.

Mallow stopped me before I could sit down, she leaned in and whispered to me. "It's good to see you out and about lana." She said with a smile.

I blushed in mild embarrassment. "Th-thanks." I quietly replied.

Mallow nodded before letting me sit down. 

"So, what would you two like to drink?" She asked us.

"Um...I think water would be fine." I replied.

"I'll have coconut energy drink Ash said.

Mallow nodded. "Alright then, I'll be back in a couple seconds with your water and coconut energy drink. In the meantime, you two can decide on what to eat." Mallow told us, before turning and walking back to the counter.

I looked up at Ash and then back down at the menu. "Should we get something small that we could take with us?" I asked.

Ash looked back at me and nodded. "Yeah that sounds like a good idea. How about a couple of Malasadas to go?" He asked.

"Yeah, that sounds good." I replied.

Almost as soon as I had finished talking, Mallow appeared with our drinks. She set them down in front of us, a smile on her face as she did. "So, what can I get the two of you to eat?" She asked.

I glanced up at Ash, hoping that he would answer her. 

"Do you think we could get a couple Malasadas to go?" He asked.

Mallow nodded. "Of course you can. Give me ten minutes and I'll be back with your food." She answered. 

Ash nodded and turned back to me as Mallow left. "So where should we go after this?" He asked.

I looked around the room for a few seconds, contemplating my answer. "Well.. like I said before, we could go and explore the city, its just a matter of figuring out where to start." I answered.

"Fair enough...maybe we should start from the market and go from there." He suggested.

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea." I answered.

Before I knew it Mallow was returning with our Malasadas, carry out bag and all. She set it down on the table between Ash and I. "There you two go, there's four Malasadas in there." She told us.

Ash had started pulling out his wallet from his pocket, while I looked up at Mallow. "H-How much is it going to be?" I slightly stammered.she said 50$ ash gave her 110$ and said keep the change for yourself she said thank you

I looked at Ash and stood up. "Ready to go Ash?" I asked.

"Of course." He replied, a slight smirk present on his face as he spoke.

I let out a quiet laugh while leading the way out of the restaurant. I waited for Ash once I was outside.

I glanced over at Ash and smiled. "Alright, let's head back into the city." I said.

"Would you like to lead the way lana?" He asked me.

I blushed a bit out of embarrassment, before turning back to Ash. "You know...I would..but I don't really know my way around the city, or how to get to the market." I answered with a sheepish smile.

"How do you not know where the market is?" Ash asked. 

"I'm....not really allo-...able to get out and walk around town as often as I'd like." I stammered, hoping he'd buy the lie.

Ash stared at me for a few seconds, before shrugging. "Eh, fair enough." He said.

Ash took the lead and started walking down the path to the city. I let out a quiet sigh of relief before following him. "Thank Arceus he bought it.." I thought to myself.

Ash's POV-

"Well that was odd." I thought to myself as I led the way into the city.

It only took us a few minutes to find the way to the market. lana and I looked around a bit as we tried deciding which way to go. 

"So this is what the markets like." lana muttered.

I glanced over at her and smiled. "Yeah, it's kinda interesting, seeing so many people gathered in one place." I said.

lana nodded. "Yeah, I guess so." She said.

"Wanna start at the shopping district and see where we go from there?" I questioned. 9

lana shrugged slightly. "I don't see why not." She answered.

"Well then lets get going." I said.

I led the way through the market, making sure to stay close to lana so we didn't get separated. 

We eventually got out of the market, though it did take a bit longer than I wanted it to. That was made up for by the fact that the shopping district was a quick three minute walk from the market. 

I cast my head from side to side, looking at each shop as we passed them. It only took a couple of minutes for me to find a store I wanted to go in. 

"Hey lana, you wanna head in there and look around for a couple minutes?" I asked.

I pointed to the shop in question, a clothing store that I had seen before when I was out on errands for Kukui. 

lana looked from me to the shop and back again. "A clothes store?" She questioned.

I nodded. "Yeah, If i'm gonna be staying here for a while, then i'm gonna need a bit more than what I brought with me." I replied with a chuckle. 1

"But only if you want to, I can always come back here on a different day." I continued.

lana shook her head. "If it's alright with you, I'd rather not today, sorry." She said.

"No need to apologize lana." I said as I looked over at her.

When I looked over at her, I noticed she was staring off into the distance, like something had caught her eye.

"Hey lana, you ok?" I asked her.

She didn't respond when she started running in the direction she was previously looking at. 

"Hey, wait up lana!" I shouted as I started running after her. 

"What the hell is she running for?" I questioned.

lana's POV-

"It was him, I know it. There's no one else that looks like him."  I told myself as I ran down the pathway to where I last saw him.

"I can't let him get away, not again, not after what he did." I thought.

I could hear Ash shouting behind me, telling me to slow down and stop running, but I couldn't. I couldn't let Gladion escape.

I turned the corner and kept running down the street, hell bent on catching my brother.

I saw his blonde hair in the distance. "Gladion!" I shouted, hoping that he heard me. 

Instead, I saw him go around the corner and down into an alleyway.

"Dammit, why can't I catch him?" I questioned.

I ran around the corner that Gladion had took, only to come face to face with a dead end.

"No, no, no, where'd he go?" I muttered as I looked around the alley way.

I turned around when I heard footsteps behind me, seeing Ash walking towards me. 

"lana. What the hell?" He said, "Why did you go running off like that?" He asked me.

I looked around the dead end once more. "I...I saw someone I knew....Someone who was dear to me, and left not that long ago.." I quietly answered.

"Look at that....abandoned once again." I thought to myself. 

"Was this person your boyfriend or something?" Ash asked. 1

I looked up at him and shook my head. "No. family member actually." I replied.

I sighed and started walking back towards the entrance of the alleyway. "Sorry about that Ash." I quietly spoke as I passed him.

Ash shook his head. "No need to apologize, just, don't go sprinting off like that, ok?" He responded.

I glanced back at him and smiled slightly. "Sure Ash." I said, "Now let's go and find something to do." I continued.

Ash smiled and nodded his head. "Sounds good to me." He said.

Ash's POV-

The rest of the day had passed without incident, which I was thankful for. We had visited a few shops while we were in the city, though for the most part, we just walked around and talked about whatever had come to mind. It was really enjoyable.

I looked at the Pokegear that I had to check the time. The clock on it read 7:17 pm. 

"Damn, time passed a lot quicker than I thought it was going to." I thought to myself.

lana and I were sitting on a bench in the plaza of the city, just enjoying the breeze and hanging out. 

I turned to lana and noticed the smile she had on her face, and for some reason, that smile made my heart beat a little bit faster.

"Hey lana, It's getting close to 7:20. We should probably start heading back." I said.

The smile on lana's face quickly faded. "D-do w-we have to end the day right now, I-I don't really wanna go home just yet." She replied.

"Why does she sound...scared?" I questioned.

"Well, Kukui said he wanted me home by eight pm at the latest, so I don't want to make him worried." I said.

"I can walk you home." I continued.

The change was almost immediate, as soon as I spoke the word 'Home.' lana started shaking.

"lana, what's wrong?" I asked her.

I had an idea of what was going on, but I wasn't sure just yet.

"I...I-I..." lana glanced over at me, a look of fear present on her face as she did. She turned her head and began looking down at the ground. "I'm.....scared to go home.." She quietly answered.

"Why are you scared to go home?" I asked.

lana started shaking a bit more. "B-because....There's nothing good there....It's just hell there, and I can barely stand it." She answered.

"That explains quiet a bit actually." I thought to myself. 1

I looked around the area we were in, before looking back to lana, making up my mind on what I had to do for her. 

I stood up and held my hand out to lana. "Come on lana, we're going." I told her.

She looked up at me. "W-Where are we going?" She questioned.

"We're going home." I told her.

lana looked like she was on the verge of tears. "A-Ash, please, I don't want to go home right now." She replied.

I chuckled and shook my head. "I never said I was taking you back to your home." I said, "Can you trust me?" I asked her. 2

She looked at me and then to my hand, she slowly reached out and rested her hand on mine. The contact making my cheeks flush a little. 

"I...I trust you Ash." She whispered, just loud enough for me to hear. 

I smiled and pulled her up to her feet. "Good, now let's get going." I told her. 

I started leading the way through the plaza and to the road that led out of the city and back to Kukui's home. 

Fifteen minutes had passed before we reached the outskirts of the city.

"Hey, Ash?" I heard lana ask.

I turned and looked at lana. "What's up lana?" I replied.

"You're still holding my hand." She said.

I looked down at my hand, seeing that I still had a hold of hers. My cheeks lit up with a crimson blush as I quickly let go. "S-sorry about that lana." I replied.

lana let out a quiet laugh. "It's ok Ash." lana said.

"Thank you..for helping me, and hanging out with me today." lana continued.

I smiled at her and nodded. "You're welcome." I said, "I'm glad that we could hang out today."

"Me too." She replied.

We started off out of the city and towards Kukui's home. The sun had started slowly descending down under the horizon, letting the night come forth. 

We eventually made it to Kukui's house after a couple more minutes of walking. I knocked on the door and waited a couple of seconds. Surprisingly, it opened on its own.

Kukui was standing on the other side of the doorway. "Ah glad to see you're back Ash." He said, before noticing lana. "lana, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"I uh, actually needed to talk to you about that professor." I responded.

Professor Kukui looked at lana and then me. "Alright, come on in." Kukui said as he stepped aside to let us in.

I led the way inside with lana following close behind. I turned to her and smiled. "You can go and sit on the couch for now, ok?" I said.

lana nodded and walked over to the couch, taking a seat and looking around the room. 

I turned to professor Kukui and glanced at the stairs leading to the basement. "Can we go and talk about this downstairs?" I asked.

"Yeah, let's go." He responded before walking down the stairs and into the basement.

I glanced back at lana one more time, before I descended the steps into the basement.

I found Kukui sitting in his normal work chair when I got into the basement. "So, what's going on with lana?" Kukui asked.

I leaned against the wall beside Kukui's work desk. "lana's scared to go home. When it was time for us to go home, she started shaking, badly. I asked her what was wrong, and she told me that she was scared to go home." I explained.

Kukui nodded and leaned back in his work chair. "Do you have any idea as to why she's afraid to go home?" He asked. 

I shook my head. "No, but I can sorta tell that something's going on, something that shouldn't be going on." I replied.

"I'm assuming you offered her to stay here for the night?" Kukui questioned.

I nodded. "Yeah, sorry, it was the only thing I could think of at the moment." I said.

"I don't have a problem letting her stay for the night, but please let me know ahead of time if you do this again." Kukui said.

"Of course, and thank you professor Kukui." I said.

"Of course, I guess you better go and let lana know what's going on." He told me.

"Oh, and if she's going to be staying more than one night, then make sure you go and grab some of her things from her home." Kukui continued. Ash said I'm going to check on her sisters tomorrow and if they have been beaten i well call the cops to take theid mom and adopt them

"Gotcha, thanks again professor." I replied, before heading upstairs and back to where lana was sitting.

I sat down on the couch next to lana. "Well, I got some good news lana." I said.

lana looked over at me. "What did he say?" She questioned.

"Well, you're able to stay the night." I answered.

Before I could say anything else, lana tackled me, throwing her arms around me and hugging me. "Thank you Ash, really, thank you for doing this for me." lana muttered.

I sat there in slight shock for a couple seconds, before finally wrapping my arms around her and hugging back. "Anytime lana." I responded.

We stayed like that for what seemed like a while, but was in reality, only about ten seconds. We pulled away from each other, I looked away from her and let out a little cough, trying to hide the fact that I was blushing . 1

"Well I'll show you where you'll be sleeping tonight." I said as I stood up and walked over to the ladder that led to a raised part of the room. I climbed the ladder and looked back over the railing and down at lana.

"Well, come on lana." I smiled as I spoke.

"Alright I'm coming." She replied. 

lana walked over to the ladder and slowly climbed up it.

"This is the loft." I said, "This is where I usually sleep." I pointed to a couch by the wall that had a blanket on it.

lana looked around the loft and then sat down on the couch with the blanket. "So..where are you going to sleep Ash?" She questioned. 

"I'll probably sleep on the couch down on the first floor." I answered.

"Are you ok with that?" She asked with a slightly worried tone.

I nodded. "Of course, don't worry about it." I replied with a smile. 

In actuality, I hated the first floor couch, especially for sleeping. Though she didn't need to know that. 1

"Well, I'm gonna go and get ready for bed." I said. 

"Alright Ash." lana replied as she set her bag down beside the couch.

I climbed down the ladder after grabbing a change of clothes from my dresser on the loft.

Ten minutes later and I was laying down on the couch over by the TV. "Hey lana? Is there anything that you need before I go to sleep?" I asked.

"I think I'm good, but thank you Ash, have a goodnight." She responded.

"Have a goodnight lana, see you in the morning." I said as I closed my eyes.

"Hopefully everything goes well these next couple of days." I thought before drifting off to sleep

lana turned her head and stared at me for a few seconds before nodding. "Alright, what do you wanna ask?" She questioned.

I leaned my head side to side as I contemplated what to ask. 

"Well, I guess I'll start with something basic. What's your favorite color?" I chuckled as I asked.

lana fixed me with a look of mild amusement. "well I...honestly don't know. No one really care's enough to ask simple things like that." She quietly responded.

I grimaced momentarily when I heard this. "So that's what it's been like for her..no wonder she never talks to anyone." I thought to myself.

"Though if I had to choose...I'd have to say...green would be my favorite color." lana continued. 3

I nodded. "Good choice, though, mine would have to be blue." I said.

lana smiled at me. "Blue is nice too." She said.

"Yeah, it is." I responded.

I glanced over at lana as we walked. Her head was down, like she was thinking about something. "So what do you usally do for fun?" I asked her.

lana stayed silent for a minute or two, a quiet and thoughtful hum emanating from her.

"Really the only things I can do at home is read, and watch Pokemon play around outside the manor." She answered.

I nodded in understanding. "Well, time to start asking the real questions." I silently told myself.

I took a deep breath before looking over at lana.

Only to find her looking back at me. "Hey Ash, can I ask you a question?" lana asked.

"Oh, uh yeah, go ahead." I responded with mild suprise.

"Why did you come to Alola, why attend a school if you've been through six regions?" She asked me.

I sighed and put my hands behind my head. "I've...been in six different leagues over the course of my travels. I haven't been the victor in any of them, and the closest I have come to winning is runner up. After my last go at trying to win a league, I realized that I still had a lot left to learn." I said. 3

"It's demoralizing, being in six different leagues and not winning any of them...I try to not think about it too often." I continued with a bittersweet smile.

lana fixed me with a curious gaze. "But wouldn't you have learned all you'd need to know?" She asked.

I chuckled and shook my head. "You of all people should know, you're never really done learning." I replied.

lana nodded after a few seconds. "Yeah...I guess you're right." She said.

We kept walking for another twenty minutes, talking the whole way. The subjects ranging from favorite foods, to favorite kinds of music. 

A few minutes of silence followed afterwards, until I finally spoke up. 

"So lana...Why did you come to school covered in bruises?" I tentatively asked.

lana's cheerful expression turned to one of slight panic. "W-what do you mean, I-I f-fell down the stairs, remember?" lana responded, a nervous laugh following closely after.

"lana, I'm not stupid... I've fallen down stairs plenty of times, they don't leave those kinds of bruises." I responded. 4

"I-I don't really wanna talk about it." She said, averting her gaze so I couldn't see her face.

.

I was so focused on talking to lana, that I didn't realize that we had arrived at her home.

The front doors opened to the home, and out stepped a woman with long blond hair, green eyes, and a white and yellow dress on.  1

"Ah lana, so glad you're back, who is this?" She asked.

There was something about her smile that made it almost sickly sweet.

"O-oh, th-this is my friend Ash." She responded. 

The woman nodded. "Nice to meet you Ash, my name is Lusamine, lana's mother." She told me.

"Ah, I see, nice to meet you ma'am." I responded.

I looked over at lana and moved a bit closer to her, before whispering to her. "I have to go, stay safe ok and look at your sisters wene you get in there and if they have bruises call me and i well come back at 12 o'clock tonight and git you guys and adopt your sistets so they can not go back there and you can say that you move out because you are18 yearsold" I said to her.

lana nodded and i said if she hits you push the word pokemon on your blue book and I well come right away and take cary of her she said ok as I moved back. "I would love to stay and chat miss Lusamine, but I'm expected home soon, so I should really get going." I told her.

Lusamine nodded without saying a word.

I gave one last glance to lana, before turning and walking back down the path.

"Hopefully she'll be ok." I thought to myself.

lana's POV-

I watched Ash disappear around the bend, his words echoing in my mind. "Does...does he know?" I thought to myself.

I turned back towards my mother, she looked upset to say the least. 

"lana, would you be a dear and come inside, there's something we need to talk about." Lusamine said.

Her tone sent shivers down my spine. I nodded and slowly walked into the house. Lusamine closed the door before turning towards me. 

"So lana, who gave you permission to make friends?" Lusamine asked. 3

"P-permission?" I responded.

Lusamine nodded her head. "That's right you little brat." She said.

"I'm not going to let you drag that Ash boy, down with you." She told me, slowly approaching me as she spoke.

"So here's what you're going to do, tomorrow, you're going to go and find this boy, and tell him you're not his friend anymore." Lusamine continued.

My stomach starts sinking as I listen to her speak. "I can't let her do this, I can't let her take away the first friend I've had in years." I told myself.

"I-I c-can't do that, he's my first friend in years." I told her.

Lusamines expression quickly changed to one of anger. "If you don't do as I say, then this Ash boy might have an accident." She told me.

The pit in my stomach grew infinitely larger, "I knew she could do it if she wanted to...but to actually threaten it.." I thought to myself.

"Fine...I'll do it..just please..don't hurt Ash." I told her.

Lusamine nodded. "Good choice...maybe you're not as stupid as I thought." She said with a snide laugh.

She turned and walked down the hallway, leaving me at the entrance of the home, pondering what I'm going to do about tomorrow.

"I wish I could just run away from this place." I muttered to myself.

I sighed and started slowly walking down the hallways to my room. "I can't do that, I can't end my friendship with him..What am I going to do?" I contemplated. I checked on my sisters like he said and they had bruises on them so I called him and told him to meet me at 12:00 p.m. tonight outside the house I will tell the Butler to leave the alarm off so we can get out without being heard

Ash's POV- Half an hour later

I had just walked into professor Kukui's home, intent on finding him and asking him something. I didn't see him anywhere on the first floor, so I decided to try calling out for him. 

"Hey, professor Kukui! Where are you?" I shouted.

"Down in the basement Ash!" He responded.

I set my backpack down on the floor next to the door, before making my way downstairs to the basement. I found Kukui sitting at the desk downstairs, Rockruff laying down next to his feet. Pikachu jumped off of my shoulder as soon as he saw Rockruff, he ran over to him and woke him up, and soon enough, the two were playing and running around the basement.

Kukui turned around in his chair and looked at me. "Where were you Ash? I was expecting you home an hour or so ago." He said.

"Sorry about that professor, I was walking lana home." I responded.

Kukui nodded, a slight smirk adorning his face. "That was nice of you, how's she been lately?" He asked.

I tilted my head side to side. "She seems to be doing alright." I told him.

"That's good." Kukui responded. He turned back and continued working.

"So, professor.. do you by any chance have a video phone I could use, and a way I could get Pokemon transferred here?" I asked.

Kukui turned back around, giving me a curious look. "Yeah there is, it's in the corner over there." He answered while pointing his pen towards the video phone in the corner of the room. 

I nodded. "Thank you." I told him.

I walked over to the phone and powered it on, I put in the number I wanted to call, and waited for it to dial.

The dial tone stopped a few seconds after it started, the face of a man with gray hair popped up on the screen. 

"Hello there Ash." The man said with a smile.

I smiled back. "Hello professor Oak. How are things going at the lab?" I questioned. 

"They're going well, thanks for asking, so what can I do for you Ash?" Oak asked.

"Well, I was hoping you could send some of my Pokemon over." I told him.

The smile from professor Oaks face slowly faded. "I must say Ash, that's quiet odd, usually you don't just ask for your previous Pokemon, unless something's going on. Is something going on?" He questioned. 1

I grimaced slightly. "No, not particularly, lets just call it a hunch, besides, it'll be good for them to stretch their legs in a new region." I responded.

Professor Oak nodded after what I can only assume was a few seconds of thought. "Alright Ash, who would you like me to send?" He asked.

"Well, for this hunch, I'm gonna need Noctowl, Donphan, Sceptile, and Infernape. Rekkuuza,Darkrai. Yveltal,Zacian,Zamazenta,  Eternatus,Calyrex,Raikou, Entei, and Suicune,Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres;Mewtwo Lugia,Ho-Oh Regice, Registeel,Regirock Latias,Latios

Cobalion, Terrakion,Virizion Keldeo,Dialga,Palkia,Giratina,Heatran Regigigas,Tornadus,Thundurus,

Landorus,Reshiram,Zekrom 

Xerneas,Yveltal,Zygarde,Kyurem Silvally,Cosmoem,Solgaleo,Lunala,

Necrozma,Cosmog,Galarian Articuna

Galarian Zapdos,Galarian Moltres

Kubfu and Urshifu Regieleki,Regidrago Eternatus

Groudon, Kyogre,Rayquaza Azelf, Mesprit,Uxie,Dialga,Palkia, Giratina Cresselia

Charizard,Rhyhorn,goodra and Luxray

Oak nodded. "Alright, give me 30 minutes to go and grab them." He told me.

I nodded and looked around the basement. Kukui was looking at me curiously. 

"Ash, what do you need all of them for? Those are mostly powerhouse Pokemon." and legendary He asked.

I sighed and started rubbing the back of my neck in slight embarrassment, my cheeks lighting up with a red blush. "It...may have something to do with lana..something about all this doesn't seem right." I told him.

Kukui nodded. "Well, at the very least, keep me informed with what's going on, ok?" He asked.

"Of course professor." I replied. i also got a call from her on My way home she said her sisters had bruisers so I told her at 12 o'clock tonight I will come and take them out of the house and adopt her sisters so that this will never happen again and that she could move out because she's 18 He said OK

Kukui turned back and kept working, while I waited for professor Oak to return. 

30 minutes passed before professor Oak finally returned. "Alright Ash, I have all of them, I'm gonna start sending them through." He told me.

"Alright professor, ready when you are." I said.

He nodded and began putting the pokeballs in the transfer. The machine on my side started coming to life, and a few seconds later, the first pokeball came through. I grabbed it and waited for the next one to come through.

The process took a 1 hour but by then, I had all 73 of the Pokemon I had asked for. "Thanks professor, I got all of them." I told him.

"Glad to hear it Ash, I'm sorry to cut this short, but the other Pokemon need attending to, so I must be going." He said. 

"No worries professor, I'll call you later." I said.

Professor Oak nodded and ended the call.

I gathered the 73 pokeballs and placed them on my belt, before turning to professor Kukui. "Thanks for letting me use that professor." I said to him.

Kukui turned to me and smiled. "You're welcome Ash. I'll be upstairs in a few minutes, I just have to finish what I'm working on." He said.

I nodded and headed back upstairs, once upstairs, I went and sat on the couch by the TV. 

I sighed and leaned back against the couch. "Hopefully my hunch is wrong, and I won't have to use any of them." I thought to myself. i called her and told her to not worry about getting clothes for you guys i well take you shopping she said ok At 12 o'clock p.m. he went to the house and picked them up and gave them each a pokeball and said this is for if you run into your mom ever when you're out in about Lana you get my lucario that can mag And You two get my Greninja and Noctowl to protect you from your mom

lana's POV-

We had managed to get back to Professor Kukui's house before the storm that hung overhead began. The wind had started picking up, and the clouds had begun darkening to almost pitch black. The conversation between Ash and I had dropped to nothing, I was too busy with my own thoughts, trying to keep this sense of impending doom from growing any more than it already has.

"Please let this not be what I think it is." I thought to myself while I walked through the front door of the house.

My gaze drifted back to Ash, seeing him close the door behind him as a question of mine made itself known to him. "Hey Ash, does Professor Kukui have a computer anywhere?" I asked him.

Ash nodded. "Yeah he does, it's in the basement." Ash responded.

"Do you know how to use it? or at the very least how to play whatever might be on this disc?" I asked him.

Ash shrugged, "I mean I'm not really a computers sort of person, but I can try. Besides, I don't think it'll be that hard to do." He answered.

I nodded. "Good enough for me." I gestured over to where the stairs leading to the basement were. "Go ahead and lead the way." I continued.

Ash nodded and led the way downstairs to where Kukui had his computer set up at. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw that there were small holes in the wall besided the bottom of the stairs.

"Uh Ash, why are there holes in the wall?" I asked him while I pointed to the holes.

I saw Ash shiver slightly. "Just uh, one of Kukui's experiments gone wrong, that's all." Ash answered.

I noticed the shiver, but decided not to push the issue too much. "Alright then." I replied.

Ash sat down at the computer and hit the power button, allowing the computer to come to life. After going through the boot up sequence, it immediately brought us to the desktop without asking for a login.

"Huh, I thought Kukui would of been the kind of person to have a log in for his computer." Ash muttered, before shrugging and turning back to me.

"Alright, can I see the disc?" He asked me.

I nodded and opened the case, taking the disc out of the CD case and handing it to Ash. "Here you go." I said.

"Thank you lans." Ash responded, taking hold of the disc and hitting a button on the tower that was beside the monitor, letting a CD tray slide out from it. 

"Alright, here we go." Ash muttered as he put the disc in the tray and hit the button again, letting the tray slide back into the tower.

"So..do you have any idea what might be on this disc?" Ash asked me.

"I have an idea...but I'm not quite sure actually." I responded.

"Well we're about to find out." Ash said as he opened a video player from the options given to play the disc.

The video started with a shot of a bright white room, nothing in it, just an empty room.

"Well let's get this started." Someone said. 

It was a voice I knew all to well, one that sent a shiver down my spine and caused me to freeze up, almost sending me into a panic.

The camera panned to the right and Gladion came into view.

My stomach dropped when I saw him, my worst fears being realized.

Gladion was battered and bruised, the side of his face swollen badly, he was tied to a chair and unconsious.

"No..." I muttered. It was all I could manage to say at that moment.

The camera zoomed out and my mother came into view. She had a smirk on her face that made my skin crawl.

"Now lana, I know you're watching this, even you couldn't of been so stupid as to miss this disc in such an obvious spot. Then again, maybe that's hoping for too much." She said with a laugh.

"Now then, here's what I want you to do lana, I want you to come back home, I have a very important mission for you, and you seem to be the only guinea pig that's able to do it." She said.

"I can't send anyone else to do this, because everyone else matters in some small sort of way, but you lana, you are about as useless as anyone could possibly be, so I have nothing to lose by sending you." She said.

"Even if it was from someone I despised, it still hurt like hell." I thought to myself as I felt the tears rolling down my face, not from sadness, but from frustration.

"Now if you don't come home by Tuesday at midnight, then your dear brother Gladion will be met with an unfortanate fate." Lusamine smiled at the camera.

"Now I hope you don't make the wrong decision this time around, wouldn't want your father and your brother to share the same fate, would you?" Lusamine smile morphed into a hard glare. "Then again, that may be hoping for too much from a stupid brat such as yourself." She continued.

The video went to black, and when I glanced down at the time on the video, I found that it had reached the end of its playtime.

I turned my gaze to the ground and stared at it, letting my mind drift off into deep thought as my tears fell from my face and onto the desk below.

"What am I going to do?" I thought to myself.

I glanced at Ash and found him staring at me.

"So lans, got any ideas for what you're gonna do?" He asked me.

I sighed and shook my head before wiping the tears from my face. "No...I don't know what I should do." I said.

"Maybe...I should just go and do what she says...That way Gladion won't get hurt." I said, "It's probably the only useful thing that someone as useless as me will be able to do." I continued with a broken chuckle.

The chair that Ash was in suddenly flew back as he jumped out of his seat. "No, absolutely out of the question. I refuse to let you just submit to that psychotic bitch and her demands." Ash said to me. 11

I looked over at Ash and could see that there was a fire in his eyes, unbridled fury for those that would hurt the ones he cares for. It made me feel safer, like things might just turn out alright.

I smiled softly at him as I reached over and hugged him. " Alright Ash, and thank you." I whispered to him.

Ash wrapped his arms around me and hugged me back. "You're welcome lana." He responded. 3

"Just remember lans, that no matter what, you are not useless, no matter what that psycho or anyone else says, you are never useless." Ash said to me.

I stared at him for a second, before smiling and resting my head on his shoulder. "Thank you Ashy, that means a lot coming from you." I told him.

Ash nodded, a slight blush adorning his face at the use of the nickname I had given him, as he smiled back at me. "You're welcome lans." Ash replied.

We stayed like that for another minute or so before I reluctantly pulled back. "How about we go upstairs and get something to eat." I said to him.

Ash nodded after retrieving the disc from the computer and handing it back to me. "Yeah sure, then we can discuss how we're going to deal with this thing. How's that sound lans?" Ash asked me.

A small smile formed on my lips as I nodded. "That sounds good to me." I responded, while leading the way back upstairs to the main floor.

"Hey Ash, where has Professor Kukui been? I haven't seen him at all for the past couple of days." I asked him.

I looked back at him as I ascended the last step to the main floor.

Ash shrugged while he followed me up the stairs. "I'm actually not sure, I only ever see him when he gets back late. He usually doesn't say much and just goes right to bed." Ash replied. 

"Hmm, well that's odd." I said with a shrug. "But it can't be helped." I continued.

Ash nodded as he made his way over to the kitchen. "Go ahead and sit down at the couch while I make us something to eat, ok?" Ash told me. 1

I smiled softly at him and nodded. "Alright Ash, thank you." I said, before walking over to the couch and sitting down.

Before I reached the couch, I heard Ash say something to me.

"Hey, lans...don't worry. We'll get Gladion back no matter what." Ash said to me.

I smiled at him and nodded. "Alright..thank you Ash." I responded.

Ash nodded and kept heading into the kitchen. 

I turned around and folded my arms on the top of the back of the couch and rested my head, looking out the window and watching the storm rage on outside.

The pitter patter of the raindrops on the roof was rather calming in a way.

I sighed quitely enjoying the brief peace that I had, though that was short lived as I heard a crash from the kitchen and the sound of a plate shattering on the floor. The sound sent a shiver up my spine, and when I turned to look towards the kitchen, I found myself back in my old room.

"Wait...wasn't I just." I muttered to myself as I heard another much louder crash behind me. The sound of it reverberating in the room, making it much louder than it really was.

I turned and saw my mother on the otherside of the room, grabbing the stuff my dad had given me before he had passed away. My stomach sank as I began shaking.

"No...No I can't be back here. No!" I said, as an almost primal fear began to take hold of me, yet there was nothing I could do about it except sit there and endure it.

Lusamine looked backed and glared at me. "You're not allowed to have any of the things he's given you brat." She said to me.

I felt my body freeze up, preventing me from moving. All the while I kept shaking, feeling  pressure slowly building up on my chest and making it hard for me to breath.

Lusamine started crossing the gap that was between us, I already knew what was coming.

"The reason he's gone is because of you, if you weren't here then he would still be alive." She said as she closed the gap between us and started reaching out to grab me.

My body finally started moving as I moved back and away from her. "No, don't come any closer!" I shouted.

As I moved back, the ground underneath me fell away, and I started falling. I let out a scream of terror just before my back hit the ground.

I was jolted back to the living room in Professor Kukuis home, I was shaking hard as I saw Ash leaning over me, a look of worry in his eyes as he stared at me.

"lana what happened, are you ok?" Ash asked me.

I shook a bit harder and felt tears rolling down my face as I got up and practically tackled him, latching onto him in a desperate effort to keep my self grounded in reality.

I started explaining everything to him, the fear I felt, the helplessness, and everything that happened. It just came pouring out until I had nothing left to tell.

"I-I'm sorry Ash. I-I thought I was ok now, but...I guess I'm still not ok." I said as I cried into his shoulder.

"I-I don't think I'm ever going to recover from this." I told him. The thought alone kept me crying, that thought that I might always be damaged.

Ash's arms wrapped around me as he pulled me close and hugged me. "lans,that's ok, this isn't something that you'll recover from in a week of being away from her." Ash said.

"It's going to take a long time to get over the things that she put you through. You may not ever really get over what she did to you. That's ok though, you will live and you will learn to keep moving forward just like before. You'll learn how to live life in spite of it, so don't give up hope lans. Just know that I will be here by your side every step of the way." Ash said to me, hugging me a bit harder as he spoke.

I smiled softly and looked up at him, nodding as leaned my head against his chest. "Thank you Ash....I really appreciate that." I responded to him.

   Ash's POV-

My eye's slowly crept open as I awoke from my slumber, my eyes slowly scanning the room around me as I attempted to get my bearings. I noticed the sunlight filtering into the house through the windows in the room while I tried sitting up, finding that there was a pressure on my chest that kept me from sitting up.

"What the hell?" I quietly muttered to myself. While I let my gaze fall down to my chest, trying to see what was ontop of me.

My eyes came to a rest on lanas head, seeing that it was resting on my chest as her hair was being hit by the sunlight, lighting it up and making it almost glow. The memories of last night ran through my mind, letting me remember that we had eventually fallen asleep together on the couch after we had finished eating. 2

I blushed a little before letting my gaze travel farther down, noticing that there was a blanket on top of us. "Did Kukui put the blanket on us?" I thought to myself, while I looked back down at lana. 4

A soft smile crept onto my face as I started slowly moving myself to the edge of the couch, before slowly rolling her over to get out from under her.

I softly rested her on the couch before standing up and stretching a bit. I looked around the room for a moment, before deciding what I wanted to do.

"I wonder if Kukui's in the basement?" I pondered.

I looked around for a couple of seconds before walking to the stairs that led down to the basement. I let out a yawn and glanced back at lana, before descending into the basement.

When I reached the bottom step of the basement, I found Kukui sitting in his computer chair and working on something on the computer that sat in front of him.

"Oh wow, you're actually home Professor." I said with a chuckle.

Kukui turned in his chair to face me and smiled. "Good morning Ash." He responded.

I returned the smile before crossing the distance between the two of us. "So where have you been anyways?" I asked him.

Kukui chuckled and glanced at the window that was open on the computers monitor. "Well I've been trying to gather research on some pokemon that reside in the mountains of Alola, so I've been heading up there early in the morning to see if I can find them." He answered.

I nodded and glanced at the computer screen before bringing my gaze back to Kukui and sighed.

"While you were gone, some things ended up happening with lana." I said.

Kukui's eyes widened in what seemed to be shock. "Oh god, she's not pregnant is she?" He asked in what sounded like mild panic. 25

My face exploded with a red blush as my mind tried to process what he had just said. "Oh my god, no, no, nothing like that Professor, holy crap!" I shouted at him.

Kukui looked down at the ground and let out a sigh of relief before looking back up at me. "Alright, good, just making sure." He said. "So what's going on?" He continued.

I took a deep breath to calm the blush on my face as I thought of how to try and explain this. I walked over and grabbed the spare chair that was in the corner of the room and pulled it over to Kukui.

I sat down and sighed quietly as I gathered my thoughts and got ready to explain what was going on.

"Well to start out with, lana's mom Lusamine is a friggin psychopathick Bich and needs to be brought in for what she's done and is most likely still doing." I said, "The next thing is that Lusamine kidnapped Gladion and is holding him hostage to get lana to bend to her will. She said that we have till Tuesday at midnight to be there, otherwise she's going to kill Gladion." I told him.

Kukui stared at me in shock for the next minute or so before he started speaking. "Alright, well I can handle notifying the police, but what does she want with lana?" He asked me.

"From what I can tell, she wants to use lana as a guinea pig in one of her experiments, what that experiment might be, I'm not quite sure." I answered.

Kukui nodded his head in thought. "So then what do you and lana plan on doing about this?" He asked.

I chuckled and leaned back in the chair. " I'm thinking of calling my gym leader friends from the kalos region and my scientist friend and all the rest of my gym leader friends from all over the place and pay for them to come to help us out and to be at Lana's and my wedding Kukui said ok then we're gonna try and sneak into the place where he's being held and get him out without making a big scene about it." I responded.

"Alright, so what part would you like me to play in all this?" he asked me. " I don't do this often, but it seems like you have a much better grip on this situation than I do at the moment." Kukui continued.

I nodded before sitting back up in my chair. "Well..that's the thing. I'm thinking that there has to be a diversion of some sorts, some way to get the attention of whoever might be guarding the place. That way me and lana will be able to sneak in without alerting everyone." I explained.

"So essentially what you're asking is for me to provide that distraction, with the help of a couple of other people?" Kukui questioned.

"If you would be able to, then yes, please. It would be a great help." I replied.

Kukui sat there with a thoughtful expression, his eyes locked onto the wall behind me as he thought about my request.

"Come on Kukui, don't leave me hanging here." I thought to myself while I watched him and waited for an answer.

A couple minutes of silence were all that I got from him, before he looked back up at me and nodded. "Alright Ash, I think I can gather up some of the Kahunas and provide the distraction, but I'll have to let the police know about what's going on with this distraction." He told me.

I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. "That's fine, they should be able to help quite a bit." I responded before leaning back in the chair.

I tilted my head up and looked at the ceiling. "Thank you Professor, I really appreciate it." I told him, before letting my gaze drift down to him and smiling. "I gotta go and figure out the rest of this with lans, so I'm gonna head back upstairs and see if she's awake." I explained, before standing up and stretching.

Kukui smirked before letting out a little chuckle. "Ooh I see you're on the nickname level with her, nice job Ash." Kukui said in a teasing way, before letting out a laugh.

I blushed hard and turned away. "Yeah..I know." I let out a quite chuckle before heading to the stairs.

"Hey Ash?" Kukui asked me.

I turned back to him, a curious look on my face. "Yeah, what's up?" I replied.

"Does lana have a Pokemon that she can use during this?" He asked me.

The conversation I previously had with lana flashed in my mind, before I shook my head. "No, she doesn't have any Pokemon." I answered.

no but i have a Pokemon that I'm giving yo her to use he said ok I headed back upstairs.

When I got to the main floor, I saw that lana was up and walking around in the kitchen. I smirked to myself, knowing that she didn't hear me coming up the stairs.

I channeled my inner ninja and silently crossed the room, before sneaking up behind her. I put my hands on her shoulders while I whispered to her. "Hey lans."

lana let out a yelp of terror as she practically jumped out of her skin. She whipped around and glared at me. "Ash what the heck?!" She shouted, before lightly pummling my chest.

I laughed as I looked down at her. "I'm sorry lans, I couldn't let an opportunity like that pass me up." I told her.

lana looked away from and huffed, while crossing her arms and pouting.

I chuckled and wrapped my arms around her, hugging her as I spoke. "I'm sorry lans, I didn't mean to scare you."

A few seconds passed before she uncrossed her arms and wrapped them around me. "It's fine..just don't do it again, you almost gave me a heart attack." She told me.

I smiled softly at her and nodded. "Alright, I won't." I told her.

"So, where were you anyways? You weren't there when I woke up this morning." lana asked me.

I chuckled and nodded my head towards the stairs that led to the basement. "I was down in the basement talking to Professor Kukui, getting a rough plan together for how we're going to get Gladion back from Lusamine." I answered.

"Oh wow, He's actually home for once." lana muttered.

I let out a chuckle as I nodded. "I know right, I was surprised too." I said.

lana let out a quite giggle before casting her gaze up at me, curiosity in her eyes. "So what did the two of you come up with?" She questioned. 6

"Well so far, we've come up with the idea of using a distraction to draw the attention of any guards that might be there, so that we can sneak in there undetected." I replied.

lana nodded. "Alright, I know the lay out of the place like the back of my hand, so it shouldn't be too hard to find our way around the place." She said.

I nodded in response before hugging her tightly. "Hey lans, I was thinking of doing a bit of training today to brush up on everyones skills, would you like to join me? It'll be good if you know what moves all of them can use, just in case you need to use them yourself." I said to her.

lana smiled softly and nodded. "I think that sounds good Ashy. Though, do you think we can do that after we eat?" lana asked, while her stomach let out a loud growl.

I looked down at her and found that her face was slowly turning red. I let out a laugh as she buried her face into my chest to try and hide her blush. "Yeah of course lans, that sounds like a great idea." I told her.

i have to go call my gym leader friend clemont and my scientist friend and all my gym leader friends from all over and have them meat me here in 2 days because I am having them help you well i ride my Charizard and pervide cover from the air with all the people that can fly with their Pokemon he did they all said well do

Ash's POV-

"Damn bushes and undergrowth." I muttered to myself while I trudged through the forest, making my way towards the mansion where Gladion was being held. I had hold of lanas hand and was leading the way through the dense undergrowth, clearing a path for everyone in the group while I walked. Professor Kukui was following behind us as we made our way to the designated waiting spot. Meanwhile, the two Kahunas, Hala and Olivia, and officer Jenny were making there way towards the other side of the mansion.

I glanced over at lana and gave her hand a small squeeze before softly smiling at her. "Are you ready to get your brother back?" I asked.

lana looked around like she had just been shaken from a daze, before letting her gaze fall to me. She nodded and smiled back at me. "Yeah..I'm ready to get him back, and hopefully put a stop to my mom." She responded.

Kukui let out a cough while he followed behind us. "lana, do you have what ash gave you this morning?" He asked her.

lana looked back at Professor Kukui and nodded. "Yeah I have it." She answered.

Kukui smiled and nodded in response. "Good, make sure to hold on to it no matter what." He told her.

lana smiled at Professor Kukui and nodded. "Of course." She responded.

The undergrowth and brush thinned out a bit as we came to the edge of the tree line, getting a good view of the mansion as we came to a stop. I kneeled down and let out low and quiet whistle as I let my gaze drift across the mansion.

"This place looks like a fortress, guards everywhere, search lights at the top of the house, guards manning said seach lights...this is gonna be a pain in the ass to get into." I whispered to Kukui and lana.

Kukui nodded and looked out across the front courtyard where quite a majority of the guards were located at. "That's what the distraction is for Ash." Kukui responded.

I nodded in response to what was said, and as if on cue, all hell broke loose at the front of the mansion. The ground shook as an explosion could be heard down on the other side of the masion. drawing the guards from our side of the mansion towards the large plum of smoke that started rising above the home.

"Well done guys. Now we can get in without getting destroyed by the guards." I thought to myself.

I waited until most of the guards had left their posts and ran towards the explosion. I glanced back at lana and Kukui and nodded my head towards the small group of guards that were left on our side of the mansion. "Alright, are the two of you ready for this?" I asked them.

Both lana and Kukui nodded in unison. I smiled at the two of them and took two of the pokeballs off of my belt and clicked them, enlarging them and throwing them up in the air. A bright light flashed in front of the three of us, and when it cleared, Infernape and Donphan were standing infront of us.

I studied the small group of guards for a minute, concocting a plan for how to dispatch them without letting them call for help. My gaze slowly made it's way to Donphan and Infernape as a small smirk formed on my lips. "Alright, Donphan use Rollout and take out as many of the guards as you can, Infernape, use Flamethrower on the guards that are left, make sure they can't call for help while we attack." I told the two of them.

Donphan and Infernape nodded and charged out of the cover of the tree line and started closing the distance between them and the guards.

Donphan jumped in the air and curled up into a wheel, immediately transitioning to Rollout once he hit the ground. Donphan rocketed across the open ground and barreled into the guards, knocking them over and tossing them aside like they were ragdolls.

Meanwhile, Infernape reared his head back and opened his mouth, before letting out a ferocious Flamethrower, burning the remaining guards and incapacitating them.

I took a close look around and made sure that there weren't anymore guards coming, before nodding to the others and leading the way towards the side of the mansion. "Awesome work guys." I said to the two of them.

I returned Donphan to his pokeball before pointing at the wall of the mansion. "Infernape, Flamethrower on the wall. We need a way inside." I told him.

Infernape let out a sound of approval before rearing his head back and letting out another Flamethrower, blasting a hole in the wall and allowing us a way inside.

A smile formed on my face as I looked over at Infernape and nodded in approval. "Good job buddy, now go ahead and take a rest, this isn't over yet, and I'm gonna need my heavy hitter later on in this fight." I said while returning Infernape to his pokeball.

I waited for the hole to cool down before crossing over it and entering the mansion. I took the lead and scanned the room that Infernape had burned a hole into, making sure that there was nobody waiting there for us as we walked in.

My gaze drifted back to lana after I had finished looking around the room. "Do you have any idea where they might be keeping Gladion at?" I whispered to her.

lana stared at me for a moment before shaking her head. "No not really...Other than that he's probably being held in the lowest floor of the house." She responded.

I nodded and started slowly approaching the door on the other side of the room. "Alright, then that means that we have to make our way down to the basement." I said before stopping in my tracks and turning back to look at her. "Your mom isn't the kind of person to have a secret evil bunker...is she?" I asked her.

"Please have her say no, I really don't want to deal with anymore secret evil bunker bullshit. I've had enough of that for one lifetime." I thought to myself while I waited for lanas answer.

"No I don't..think so..though I'm actually not sure..she very well could have a secret bunker." She replied.

I sighed and nodded as I grabbed hold of the door knob, slowly twisting it and pulling it open, peering out into the hallway and listening for any sounds that might indicate someone was nearby.

I took a deep breath and slowly pulled the door open and creeped out into the hallway after a minute or so of waiting. I looked up and down along the hallway and made sure no one was coming, before looking back at lana once more.

"So which way do we have to go to get to the basement?" I asked her.

I noticed lana's eyes were darting from side to side, a look of growing distress and panic present in her eyes. I leaned in a bit closer to her whiled I grabbed her hand and gave it a soft squeeze. "Easy there lans, I got you. No one is gonna hurt you." I whispered to her. not as long as I have my legendary pokemon that are stronger than any other pokemon

lana flinched as I took hold of her hand, her posture tensing up and becoming very rigid. A few moments passed before her gaze dropped down to meet my own, a soft smile forming on her lips as she relaxed a bit and nodded. "Thanks Ashy." She said, before slowly looking around the hallway that we were in.

2

"What happened lans?" I asked her.

lana took a deep breath and sighed. "Just..memories of running through these halls in my attempts to escape my mother.." She replied.

"Well don't worry, I'm here to protect you, she isn't going to hurt you anymore." I told her.

lana smiled at me before nodding. "Thank you, now we're going to want to head down to the left of the corridor, and then at the end of the hallway we'll have to head right and keep going down." She told us.

lana's POV-

My eye's darted from side to side as the elevator continued its descent. Windows broke up the monotonous walls of the elevator shaft every so often, allowing us a glimpse at the different levels of the underground bunker. I glanced over at Ash and saw him grimacing a bit, before looking over at Kukui and finding that he had a thoughtful look on his face.

"H-how far do you think this goes down?" I tentatively asked, not quite sure if I really wanted to know the answer or not.

Ash tilted his head back and let out a small sigh as he looked up towards the top of the elevator shaft. "Well if I'm being honest, I'm not quite sure. I'm guessing that it'll only go for a couple more levels." Ash replied.

A few seconds passed before the elevators descent slowed down and came to a stop. "Or I could be wrong." Ash muttered.

The wall in front of us let out a low yet sudden creaking sound, causing me to jump in surprise and slight fright. I watched it retract into the walls and open up to reveal a path for us to travel down.

"Oh, it was just the doors..good." I muttered to myself.

I started slowly walking towards the door, when Ash suddenly grabbed a hold of my hand and pulled me up beside him. His back was pressed up against the wall beside the opened doorway.

I gave him a curious look, while I felt my face heating up a bit, as I wondered what he was doing.

His eye's darted from side to side as he peaked around the corner and into the corridor. "This... doesn't seem right, there should be someone guarding the door to the elevator, right?" Ash asked.

After a moment of thought I nodded. "That's true...where is everyone?" I responded quietly.

Ash shrugged, before leaning over and peering around the corner once more. He stayed like that before leaning back and looking at Kukui and I. "It looks like everything is clear at the moment, though I get the feeling that it's a trap." Ash told us.

"That would make sense...Though..what should we do, assuming it's a trap?" I asked him.

"I don't know if there is anything we can do other than keep moving forward. Going up to another floor and going down a seperate way might end up taking more time than we can afford to waste." Ash responded.

I nodded and took a deep breath. "Alright, let's go then, the sooner we get this done the sooner we can get out of here." I told them.

Kukui let out a cough from behind us. "If you two want me to...I can go and search the upper floors while you two handle the one down here." Kukui said. "I can make my way down to the lower floor after I've searched the upper ones." He continued. 2

I glanced over at Ash and then to Kukui. "Would you really be willing to do that? I mean, you'd be going it alone up there with no backup." I pointed out.

Kukui chuckled. "Yeah I'm ok with it, I have quite a bit of experience in this sort of thing, so this should be a breeze." He responded, a grin present on his face as he spoke.

I smiled softly and nodded. "It would be greatly appreciated if you could, that way we don't have to worry about missing him if he's on the upper floors." I responded.

Ash's POV-

I had kept watch from the elevator doorway while lana and Kukui discussed what to do. It took a couple of minutes, but we soon got a plan together. I stopped leaning around the corner and looking into the hallway for a moment, to see lana giving me a thumbs up.

I glanced back at Kukui and smiled at him while lana walked over to me and stood beside me. I looked over at her and smiled softly. "You ready lans?" I asked her.

lana nodded in response. I took hold of her hand and gave it a light squeeze as I took the first step out of the elevator, taking a good look around to make sure that there weren't any traps waiting for us.

"Ash, make sure to come back safely, both you and lana." Kukui said.

I stopped looking around for a moment and looked back at Kukui, finding him smiling at me. I stared at him for a few moments before allowing a grin to form on my face.

"Don't worry Kukui, we'll come back safely. I promise." I responded, giving him a thumbs up while I spoke.

Kukui nodded before hitting the button on the elevator, causing the doors to close and the platform to start rising, leaving lana and I alone in the hallway.

The hallway was dimly lit, almost as if taking on the form of something from a horror movie, a strange contradiction to the upper floors of the bunker and the house.

I took a deep breath, attempting to calm my beating heart as I glanced down at lana. "So lans, are you ready to go and kick your mom's ass?" I said with a chuckle.

lana looked up into my eyes as I finished talking, letting me see the fire and determination that was alight in them. "Yeah, of course I am, I'm ready to get this done with. I don't want her hurting anyone else that I love and care about." She responded.

A small smile formed on my face as I nodded. "Good, then let's get this done with." I said, before leaning in and kissing her on the cheek. "Just make sure to stay close to me. I don't want the one I love getting hurt during this." I told her, a cheeky smile present on my face as I looked at her. 1

lana blushed as she looked away from me, trying in vain to cover up her blush. "Y-Yeah, s-sure Ashy, j-just don't let yourself get hurt either." She stammered, before slowly turning and looking back up at me. The fire in her eyes burning brighter than before, while the blush remained on her face.

"Still as cute as ever." I thought to myself, letting out a quiet chuckle while I stared at her for a few more moments.

"I'll try not to, thank you for worrying though." I responded to her. "Now let's get going lans." I continued.

We began heading down the corridor, keeping to a slow and relatively silent walk while we kept an eye out for anything that might point us in the right direction. Rather something that at the very least might tell us where we were going.

Every so often we would come across a trap or camera that we'd have to either disarm or sneak around, but for the most part it was an uneventful walk.

It little bit of time had passed before we came to a split in the path. Three different paths, each one branching off in a different direction. I glanced back at lana and whispered to her. "Which path do you think we need to go down lans?" I asked.

lana walked up beside me and started examining the paths that layed before us. It took her a couple of minutes before she turned back to me and give me her answer. "If I'm being completely honest right now, I think we should head down the left path, that one feels like it should be the best one out of the three." She responded.

"Alright, we'll go with that one then, though hopefully it isn't packed with guards." I told her, before taking the lead once more. I took a couple steps down the path, before suddenly stopping and reaching for my belt.

"Better yet, how about we send a scout to see what's down there." I said.

I grabbed a pokeball off of my belt and pushed the button in the center of it and tossed it up, releasing Greninja.

"Hey buddy, can you head down this path for a little ways and check out what's down there. Keep a low profile and report back as soon as possible." I explained to him.

Greninja nodded and sped down the corridor without hesitation. I glanced back at lana, finidng her staring back at me, a look of mild fascination on her face. I smiled and nodded to her before we started slowly following Greninja.

"I wonder what she's thinking about right now?" I pondered.

A few minutes had passed before Greninja came back and gave his report to us. I listened closely to him as he relayed his findings.

"Thanks Greninja, go on and get some rest for now." I said, before pulling his pokeball out and returning him to it. I secured the ball on my belt before looking back at lana, a slight grimace present on my face as I looked at her.

"So there's good news and bad news. The good news being that it looks like Gladion is farther down this path, and that the corridor is clear until we get to where he's being held. The bad news is that where he's being held is loaded with guards." I told her.

"Then...what should we do?" She questioned.

I let out a sigh as I tried to think of something, something other than just using brute force to push our way through all of them.

"Well, we could always draw them down the hallway and then slip past them and make our way to where Gladion is being held. The only problem with that, is that we risk them doubling back and surrounding us, closing off our only escape route." I muttered aloud.

lana nodded as I finished speaking. "Well..if we didn't do that, then that means that we'd have to fight all of them, right?" She questioned.

"Yeah, but that might be our only option at the moment." I said before taking the lead once more.

A couple minutes had passed, before I heard Lille whisper to me. "Hey Ash...how are you able to understand your Pokemon like this, like how you're able to understand what they tell you?"

I let out a quiet chuckle. "Is this what that look of fascination was about earlier?" I asked her.

A light blush spread across her face as she nodded. "You..you noticed that?" She asked.

I smiled and nodded as I leaned my head back in thought. "Well...I'm not quite sure actually, I mean we've been through so much together and we've formed such a strong bond together, that we don't have a problem communicating." I explained, a thoughtful tone present in my voice as I spoke.

lana smiled softly. "I wonder if I'll be able to get that deep of a bond with my Pokemon?" She muttered to herself.

I let out a quiet chuckle, before reaching over and lightly patting her head. "I'm sure you'll get that kind of bond eventually, it just takes time and dedication." I responded to her. "Now let's keep moving lans." I continued.

We had been walking for about ten minutes now, though the corridor was completely empty, no signs of life anywhere, but I was still keeping my eye out for possible traps.

"Hey Ash, how much longer are we gonna have to walk?" lana asked me.

"Honestly, I'm not sure, we just gotta keep going till we get there." I responded. "Though where is everyone, I was expecting at least some form of resistance." I muttered to myself.

lana nodded in response before we continued down the corridor.

It took maybe another five minutes of walking and creeping down the hallway, before the corridor opened up into a huge spacious room. The floor dropped away about three levels to form what was essentially an artificial hole in the ground. The path that we had to take down to the ground floor spiraled around the edges of the whole room, leading us through long, slow descending walkways.

Staircases were present at the end of each walkway, which led down to another level with another walkway we had to traverse. The walkways were pressed right up against the wall and completely exposed to fire from the ground.

The room itself was huge and had quite a few guards in it. There was anywhere from forty to fifty guards in it, and smack dab in the middle of it all was Lusamine and a tied up Gladion.

"Well shit...that's gonna be a bit of a problem." I muttered to myself.

"We have to go down at least three levels, while fighting through all the guards, grab Gladion and then make it back up those walkways, before trying to get out of here." I thought to myself.

There was no cover on the walkways at all. We'd be under fire the whole time with no hope of taking cover from the attacks.

"God I hate Lusamine so much right now." I muttered to myself.

I sighed to myself before moving back into the hallway. I grabbed all the Pokeballs on my belt and tossed them up in the air, releasing each of the Pokemon inside of them.

I took a deep breath and gathered my thoughts for a couple minutes, while I slowly formed a plan. I spared a moment and glanced over at lana.

"Hey lans, how about we try out what Professor Kukui gave you before we left the house?" I asked her.

"Are you sure Ash?" She questioned.

I smiled at her and nodded. "Yeah I'm sure lans, while maybe not the most perfect time to do this, I think it would be a great asset in the battle." I told her.

lana stared at me for a couple of seconds, before nodding and reaching into her backpack, grabbing a Pokeball from it and pressing the center button on the ball. Tossing it up and releasing a white fox Pokemon that had a bushy tail and blue eyes, an Alolan Vulpix. 1

I nodded and looked around at the group of six Pokemon.

"Alright everyone, here's what we're gonna do..."

Ash's POV-

I looked around at the group, a small grin present on my face as I finished explaining the plan to everyone. "I think we can pull this off guys." I told them.

"But is it really going to work? I mean that's..a rather risky plan." lana responded.

I turned my gaze to her and smiled softly at her. "I know, but that's the thing, Lusamine won't be expecting it, and the confusion from all of it will give us the upper hand." I said.

lana stared at me for a few seconds, hesitation present in her eyes as she stared. I leaned forward and reached across the group, taking her hand in my own and slowly squeezing it. "Don't worry lans, I'll make sure nothing bad happens, ok?" I told her.

lana stared at me for another couple of seconds, before the hesitation left her eyes and she slowly nodded. "A-Alright..let's do this then..let's put an end to all of this." She responded.

I stood up and stretched, before looking around at the others. "Alright everyone, get into position. Greninja, Infernape, Vulpix, you're up first. Make it count." I told them.

I took a step back and let the three of them take their positions. "Alright everyone, let's get this show on the road." I said. "Greninja, use Hydro Pump." I continued.

Silence overtook the group after I gave the order. The three of them stepped up to the edge, with the only audible noise being the chattering of the guards down on the ground floor. Greninja took a deep breath and took a stance, his webbed feet planted firmly on the ground. A few silent moments passed before he moved forward and opened his mouth, releasing Hydro Pump.

The pillar of water slammed into the ground floor and started expanding outward, knocking over any guards in the immediate vicinity. I glanced over at Vulpix and nodded.

Vulpix let out a noise of approval as it took a stance of its own. Vulpix opened its mouth and shot a icy blue beam at the pillar of water, causing all of it to freeze after a few seconds. The guards who were caught in the water from before became frozen in place, unable to do anything.

"Alright Infernape, use Flamethrower to carve us a way down out of the column of ice." I told him. All while the confusion and panic of the guards could be heard from the floor that we were on.

Infernape nodded and stood infront of the column of ice, his head reared back and then lunged forward. A bright orange flame shot out of his mouth and started hollowing out the column of ice.

After half a minute or so, there was a small slide carved out of the column of ice, the bottom of the column was untouched, but the top part of the column had been hollowed out to make a tube slide that led down to the ground floor.

I glanced over at Sceptile. "Sceptile, head down first and use Rock Tomb once you're on the ground floor, if we don't have any cover, then we're gonna get decimated once we're down there." I told him.

Sceptile nodded and got onto the hollowed out part of the column and started sliding down.

I looked back at lana and saw a look of apprehension in her eyes. "A-are you sure about this Ash? This doesn't seem very safe." lana asked me.

I let out a small chuckle and nodded. "I'm sure it's safe. I'll be right beside you when you go down, ok?" I responded to her.

lana's eyes darted from me to the hollowed out column, and back again. "A-Alright, I-I trust you. Let's go." lana said.

I nodded and took hold of lana's hand, before walking over to the column. I glanced back at lana and smiled softly as I kneeled down at the very edge. lana followed suit and kneeled down close to me.

"Alright, ready lana?" I asked her.

lana bit her lip and gave my hand a light squeeze before nodding. "Y-yeah, let's go." She responded.

I smiled at her before moving forward and starting the slide down to the ground floor. The only light present in the tube, was the bit of light peeking through the thinnest parts of the ice.

lana held onto me as we slid down the column, while the rest of the group followed behind us.

I glanced over at lana and quietly chuckled to myself, before leaning in and whispering to her. "You know, if we weren't in this kind of situation, this might actually be a bit romantic."

lana glanced over at me, a light blush present on her face as she smiled. "Y-Yeah, it probably would be." She responded.

I felt the column of ice rumble a couple of times as we kept sliding down towards the ground floor.

"Good, Sceptile managed to get us some cover down at the exit." I thought to myself.

I looked back over at lana and smiled softly, before leaning in and whispering to her. "Once this whole things done, and we get your brother back, let's go on an actual date. One where your mothers goons aren't chasing us around and trying to kill us." I leaned in closer and kissed her on the cheek as I finished speaking.

I heard lana let out a small squeak, before turning towards me and nodding, a bright blush present on her face as she did.

I was about to chuckle when I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and realized how fast we were going now. I put my foot out to try and slow us down, but to no avail.

"Oh crap, we're going a lot faster than I thought we were, when we hit the ground, make sure to tuck and roll to avoid getting hurt." I told everyone.

lana looked like she was about to respond, though there was no time to respond as we hit the end of the tunnel. I tucked and rolled the moment my feet made contact with the ground, causing me to roll a little ways past the boulders.

When I got up, I saw the guards rallying and vollying attacks towards the exit of the tunnel. A Thunderbolt came arcing over me, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end and sizzle a bit.

"Shit shit shit!" I muttered as I got up and scrambled behind the closest boulder I could find.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down, before I peeked around the boulder, letting my eyes drift across the battlefield before me.

"Okay, there's a mob infront of us and.." I looked around the area one more time. "And two smaller groups on each side." I continued.

My eyes drifted back to everyone, and saw Infernape opposite to me and standing behind another boulder.

I let out a little whistle to get his attention, before nodding to the mob of guards in front of us. "Why don't you disperse that group a bit Infernape!" I shouted to him.

Infernape nodded and poked his head out from behind the boulder and let loose a Flamethrower into the mass of guards, causing the group to disperse in a hurry.

There was a loud bang on the other side of my cover, followed by the boulder rumbling. I ducked as I heard the bang, before peeking around the corner and having an attack from the air landing right infront of me.

I looked up into the air and saw a large group of flying Pokemon advancing towards our position.

"Ah crap." I muttered to myself.

"Crap, what should we do....Oh yeah that's right, we have a Vulpix with us." I thought to myself.

My eyes started scanning the area around me, as I looked for lana. After a few seconds of looking, I found her on the right flank with Greninja and Noctowl.

"lana, can you get Vuplix to knock those guys down?!" I shouted to her. Hoping that she could hear me over the sounds of the battle.

To my relief, lana looked around for a moment before finding me. I pointed to the group of flying Pokemon in the air, hoping that she got what I was trying to tell her. lana looked from them to me and then nodded.

I watched as lana signalled Vuplix, who was over by Sceptile on the left flank.

"Vulpix use Icy Wind!" lana shouted, while she pointed to the same group of Pokemon as I had earlier.

Vulpix let out a loud cry as the temperature dropped in the room and the wind came up. The group of flying Pokemon started dwindling as the Pokemon started falling from the sky one by one, while their wings were covered in a sheet of ice.

I smiled and nodded. "Thanks lans!" I shouted to her.

lana gave me a thumbs up before continuing the defense on the right side. I turned back and glanced around the boulder, watching the guards rally again, before continuing their attack.

I was about to turn back when I heard the roar of an attack overhead. I looked up and saw a bright white beam above me. I watched it make contact with the wall behind us, absolutely destroying it.

"Oh shit, that's Hyperbeam isn't it?" I thought to myself.

I tracked the beams path to its origin and saw a group of Pokemon readying another volly.

"Oh shit, everyone get down!" I yelled, while I turned around and started rushing away from the boulder that I was behind. I only got a couple feet away from the boulder when it suddenly exploded with a sound akin to a frag grenade going off.

The boulder sent rocks flying in every direction, while I felt something large hit my left shoulder, knocking me to the ground and breaking my shoulder in the proccess. I let out a loud cry of pain, as I reached over and grabbed my broken shoulder.

I laid there on the ground for a few seconds, before rolling over onto my back and looking up at the ceiling. The only thing I could hear was the ringing in my ears after the explosion. I laid there on the ground in shock, as I waited for my body to recover enough for me to move.

I felt a light tug on my right arm, and I suddenly felt myself being dragged across the ground by my right arm. I looked up to find lana pulling me across the ground and towards another boulder.

lana pulled me up and leaned me against the boulder before she started tending to me. While I just sat there, trying to pull myself together.

Ash's POV- +

I sat there propped up against the boulder that lana had dragged me behind. My gaze drifted around to the rest of the group, letting my eyes linger on each of them for a couple of seconds, before looking towards another. My eyes came to a rest on lana, she had taken control of the group and was trying her best to direct everyone once she had finished tending to me. I couldn't hear anything being said because my ears were still ringing, though after a couple of minutes my hearing finally returned.

Explosions, crashes, and various other sounds rang through the battlefield. That was all I could hear for the first few seconds once my hearing returned. I winced a little bit in those first few seconds, as everything sounded much louder than it really was.

I let out a little grunt of pain as I slowly pulled myself to my feet , using the boulder as a bit of a crutch as I slowly stood up. lana looked over at me as I stood up, eyes wide with concern as she rushed over to me and helped me up.

"Ash you shouldn't be moving just yet, you haven't even had a few minutes to let yourself recover!" lana pleaded.

I let out a pained chuckled as I nodded. "I know lans, hurts like absolute hell too, but we're in a battle right now. I can't really take any time to rest." I responded.

lana continued looking at me with pleading eyes, silently begging me to just sit back down and leave the battle to her.

I smiled softly and sighed as I looked into her eyes. "I'll try and take it easy ok? Though I'm still gonna be helping out." I told her.

lana stared at me for a few moments, before finally nodding. "Alright, just..please be careful, I don't wanna lose you." lana quietly responded.

A small goofy looking grin spread across my lips as I nodded and fully stood up, before looking around at everyone. "So what's been going on so far since you pulled me behind the boulder?" I asked.

lana grimaced and bit her lip as she reached behind to the back of her own belt and grabbed a Pokeball, handing it to me. "Noctowl got knocked out, so I took his ball and returned him to it, everyone else is a bit banged up and slowly getting exhausted. No matter what we do, there just seems to be no end to them, and they've slowly been gaining ground as we fought." She responded