Chapter 9

*Five months later, Mt Silver*

Ash was standing on the edge of a cave which they had turned into their temporary resting place while they were on Mount Silver. Ash often visited Pupitar, who was a Tyranitar now. It had been almost a year since the day he had escaped custody. There were still three years left till the tournament would begin so both he and Dawn would still train each day.

Pikachu came up to him and quietly nuzzled his foot. Everything seemed peaceful. Suddenly he felt an attack come near him and he had to bend to avoid it. "C'mon Ash, stop staring at the scenery, it's the same each day. Lets practice our Aura moves" Dawn called from behind him.

Ever since they had discovered Dawn had Aura, Ash had begun training her in it. He had also learnt how to properly use the staff to awaken someone's Aura and had already awakened Brock's. "Coming Dawn", he said, giving a smile which he knew Pikachu would tease him about later.

*Pokémon League HQ, Goodshow's office*

Tobias was standing in front of Goodshow who seemed highly concerned. "Tobias, what have you found? Any evidence on where Ash Ketchum might be? It seems he has completely disappeared after the Petalburg incident" Goodshow asked the man who simply looked uninterested". "Well, you could say that. Although the Pokémon Ranger HQ near Mount Silver did call once on sightings of a human who matched his profile. We could look into it" Tobias answered.

"And what about our contact? Is 'she' here yet?" Goodshow asked, seeming as excited as a little kid about to be offered a treat. "She should be here any minute. She'll be sent in as soon as she arrives. Now for the tenth time, please stop bothering me! I have a mission you know" Tobias said annoyed. "Uh yes, although I gotta ask, what is this secret mission that you are so obsessed with?" Goodshow asked. "Oh just something I like doing" Tobias said with a wicked smile.

Tobias then proceeded to leave the office. In a few minutes, a cloaked woman walked down the hallway to Goodshow's office. Anyone who saw her felt just one emotion – Fear. Wearing a purple battle dress, the woman had hair that were white as snow and struck out in every direction. But the most captivating feature was her eyes. She wore a cracked visor over her eyes, but even that couldn't hide the glowing red pupils she had gotten as a result of being pushed into an alternate dimension. Her face had a long scar running all the way across her left cheek, and countless others from fighting Pokémon.

As she entered into the office, Goodshow was immediately taken aback by how fearsome the woman looked. He however soon regained his composure and said with a high yet shaky voice. "You must be Hunter J. I have a mission for you and I can offer any price you like"

Hunter J looked at him with interest. For the president of the Pokémon League to contact him this way, things had to be serious. This was a good time to exploit the league in any way possible. Carefully analysing the situation, she asked him "What's the mission?"

Goodshow had been waiting for this. He knew that Hunter J already knew Ash due to having already entangled in the past. "I want you to find the boy, Ash Ketchum, and capture him, dead or alive. Once done, you can keep his Pokémon for yourself. Also if any of his friends stop you, you are allowed to kill them too"

Hunter J was a woman who mostly kept her emotions to herself. But hearing this mission was one of the things which made her smile. These were the kind of missions she liked. She could kill the boy, keep his Pokémon, and still get paid. She still remembered him and wanted a payback.

*A little more than a Year ago*

The aircraft J was in had just crashed and the windows had broken. Water was seeping in all around her. She ran from the control room to where the escape pods were located. However, before she could reach out, water came crashing in and threw her into the side of the aircraft. A large piece of glass crashed against her face and left a huge gash over her left cheek. Gathering all her strength, she pushed herself out of the window, and tried to swim to the top of the lake. However, there was something more than just her body weight pulling her down.

Looking down, she saw her ship vanish into the depth. However, it hadn't crashed. Then she realised what was going on. The ship had just gotten sucked into the rift from where Azelf had emerged earlier. She tried to escape the vortex, however was soon overpowered and fell into it.

When she passed through it, none of the water passed with her. The ship that had passed earlier lay dry, and her crew was helping each other get off. She looked around and saw that she was standing on a kind of black rock that stretched endlessly in all directions. Above her was a red sky dotted with what seemed like black stars. Once her crew of fifteen had all gotten out, she went on with them to explore it, as most of them had not received much injury. They had been walking for almost what seemed like an eternity when they saw something in the distance.

Feeling relieved, they ran towards it and were absolutely shocked when they found it was the ship they had crashed in. No matter which way they went, they found that they would always end back at the same place. It soon became known to them that they were on a circular planet, almost 10 kilometres in diameter, and there was no way of escape. Soon they realized that none of them needed any food or drink, or had any need to sleep.

They thought of it as a blessing since they could think of a way off this planet without any problems. However, even after what seemed like months, they couldn't come up with anything. When it seemed like a year had passed, some of them started losing their minds, and attacking others. Even the Pokémon couldn't resist it, and many were driven mad. Time was of no meaning in that dimension and they were caught in an infinite loop. Another ten years passed, and one by one, all of the humans had killed themselves, or been killed by someone else. J was the only one who had survived along with a couple of other Pokémon. Having nothing else to do, they simply kept of training day after day.

After what seemed like centuries, only Hunter J, and her two Pokémon Drapion and Salamence remained. J had begun to grown aware of a great power inside of her. It soon manifested itself as an energy that could be made into anything – a sphere for attacking, or a shield for defending, and thanks to it, she could also understand her Pokémon.

After a long stretch of time, getting used to this power, one day as she was sparring with her Pokémon, she released an extreme amount of power, much more than she had ever managed to do before. To her amazement, it actually opened a portal. Barely able to contain herself, she immediately returned her Pokémon and jumped through it. She found herself surrounded by a huge amount of water.

Having used all of her aura power in opening this portal, she lost consciousness and floated to the top of the water body. A man found her and helped her regain consciousness. When she awoke she came to know of her surroundings. She found that while to her, centuries had passed; only a few months had passed in this world. Team galactic had been destroyed and the boy Ash and his friends had gone criminal.

She tried to eat but it seemed she was repelled by it. She soon found that because of staying too long in the alternate dimension, she no longer needed food or water or sleep. When the man who had saved her returned, instead of thanking him, she killed him. It seemed, killing was the only thing that seemed to satisfy the intense hunger she had developed inside her. So she began to take missions of assassination or capture and within a few months had surpassed her earlier glory. She had also managed to locate, and with the help of team Rocket's O-ball, capture a very unique Pokémon, that she kept for her own private sake.

*Goodshow's office, Present time*

"So, what do you say, hunter J? Would you take this mission? You know as well as I do that you want revenge from the kid, right?" Goodshow asked her, trying to gauge her reaction. "Fine" she said, her smile getting wider. "It has been some time since I have unleashed my full power"

*Team Rocket HQ, few hours later"

"Ah Tobias, how has your mission been going?" Giovanni asked Tobias who had just entered his office. "On schedule" said Tobias smiling. "Though it would go faster if that damn Goodshow didn't keep bothering me now and again". Tobais had a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Anyways" he continued. "I have already captured Kyurem, Regigigas and Genesect. And I already have Giratina and Latios secured in O-balls. And I'm going to transfer Darkrai today. Then I'm going to go after one of the Sinnoh legends, probably the space one. That's Palkia isn't it" Tobias said, wondering to himself. Giovanni smiled a big smile. It seemed everything was going well. Once they removed Ash from the picture, everything would be just perfect.

"Well I gotta say, I'm proud of you, son. You have truly proved yourself" Giovanni said, patting Tobias on the back.

*Few hours later, Research Lab, Rocket HQ*

Tobias had just released Darkrai and was talking to him. "Well Darkrai, now you stay here while I shift you from this ball to the O-ball. However, Darkrai knew he wasn't gonna give up so easily, and had already thought of a plan. Tobias recalled him and put him in the poke ball.

He then placed Darkrai's pokeball and the O-ball on the two slots of the Pokémon transfer machine. He then started the machine. As it did, Darkrai felt itself being released of the power of the pokeball and being caught in the bonds of the O-ball. Before they could touch, however, just as the bonds of the pokeball left him, Darkrai immediately transported himself to the reverse world.

Normally, such a travel would have not been possible, as Giratina would have immediately driven him back from his realm, but since Giratina was already captured, he could do this. In the actual world, Tobias was thoroughly surprised when the O-ball remained empty. It took a while before he realised Darkrai had escaped. "Well darkrai" Tobias said to himself. It seems you really did escape. You were always a clever one, weren't you? But with Pokémon like Giratina, who needs you" Tobias chuckled to himself.

Darkrai however, was fully focused on finding Ash. He was the one person who could help him. Just like he had helped Darkrai save his home – Alimose town. Darkrai wanted to repay him so he focused all of his power on locating the boy. He soon recognised the Aura from Mount Silver, however, it was a lot more radiant and brighter than before.

As he came out of the Distortion World, he immediately stopped dead, as almost a dozen Pokémon had their attacks pointed at him.

"Ah Darkrai, I felt you before when you locked onto me. Now where is Tobias" Ash said, conversing with Darkrai directly in his mind. Darkrai, decided not to answer and instead relayed all he knew and how he had escaped to Ash. It wasn't much since Darkrai was in his poke ball most of the time when important meetings and all happened. "Ah, so that's what they're up to" said Ash as he relayed the information to Dawn and Brock.

"Well Darkrai, I'm sorry for my earlier behaviour. We are all thankful for you giving us this information, and you can stay with us as long as you want. Though, I guess we gotta move soon" Ash said to Darkrai. "Well, actually" Darkrai said, speaking for the first time since he had come "Ever since you helped save Alamose town that day, I've wanted to come with you. Can I?" Darkrai asked him

"Well sure" I know you will be a great help to all of us, and a power to be reckoned with. If you want to join me, all I can do is be grateful" Ash said, giving him a smile. "Also Ash…can you ask all these Pokémon to calm their attacks…you're making me nervous" Ash suddenly remembered the dozen or so Pokémon waiting for his command.

"Calm down guys" he said, signalling his Pokémon to stop charging their attacks. "Darkrai is a member of our team now. Treat him like family" Ash said, which got him a cheer from his Pokémon. "Dawn, Brock" he said looking to his friends. "We leave for Kalos tomorrow"

A/N: And that's it, another chapter done. Nothing major happens just kind of filler, though we did get Hunter J's story. Next chapter, the most badass villain of Pokémon (in my opinion) returns. Let's see who can guess the special Pokémon she has with herself. Hint – it's a legendary and it's shiny. And when it joins Ash's team (it will though not permanently, more like mewtwo), it will become one of the strongest, if not the most powerful Pokémon he is. Also tell me what you think of Tobias' team. If you want a Pokémon in Ash's or Tobias' or Dawn's team, PM me or leave a review. And keep guessing. See ya next chapter…Ciao!