I'm sorry this update took so outrageously long! Thank you for the reviews. And despite all this time I had to write it, this chapter still just kind of seems like filler to me -_-. So I apologise for any disappointment there. I'll do my best to get the story moving more next time.

Also, just a reminder that I'm really just writing this story because I'm bored. If you're looking for a more serious, plot-driven story about the manga and anime colliding, I recommend you read "crisis on two pokeworlds" by pokerescue18. That one's more about storyline, as opposed to funny stuff my brother and I come up with when we're bored. Or keep reading mine, I don't really care.

And one last thing: I would like to introduce my new co-author, SageGanon! Hopefully I'll be more on track now, and updates won't take a year anymore. Round of applause, everyone!

"LET US OOOOOOOOOUUUTTT!" shrieked Ash, propelling himself at the wall. As usual, the wall remained a wall and nothing happened. The others, attached to him by a length of rope, jerked towards him.

"Okay, that didn't work the last fourteen times, and it didn't work this time," said Gold slowly, trying to pull himself up from where he'd faceplanted on the ground.

Ash sunk to the floor, a pained look on his face.

"What have we learned?" asked Gold carefully, finally sitting himself up.

"Well I had to try something!" Ash burst out. "We need to get out of here!"

"We're handcuffed and tied together. Some escape that would be," said Gold, laughing slightly.

There was a silence at this. Ash slumped against the wall and joined his friends on the ground. Brock was trying to squirm out of the handcuffs and Dawn was desperately scanning the room, trying to find a way out.

Gold carefully wormed his way up the wall so that he was standing in the corner. He began to examine each wall of the place in which they were being contained. Suddenly, there was a large bump and he was knocked off his feet. Everyone lurched forward as the rope followed. Gold beeped quietly, worming his way once more up the wall without using his hands. He continued to inspect the walls of what they had determined to be the back of a truck.

They had no pokemon, it was pitch dark, and they barely had the use of their hands. Not an ideal situation, overall.

Red was sitting in the corner, eyes closed, deep in thought.

Yellow looked at him apprehensively, trying to think of a way to reach the pokedex. But even then, what could they do?

The group had noticed the bug the second they had been stuffed into the room, the hoods hastily yanked off of their heads. Beeping, emitting a red light, it wasn't even disguised in the slightest. Their captors wanted them to know they were listening to their conversations, watching their every move.

She bit her lip, silently trying to find an answer. If their captors got the slightest wind of the fact that they had a pokedex with them, it'd be all over. The pokedex would be taken, and they'd have no hope at all.

"Red," she said suddenly. "I… do… do you remember the last time you were captured like this?"

He opened his eyes, looking at her with slight confusion.

"Yeah… I guess that would be when we were frozen as statues, or…"

"I…" Without pausing in her sentence, Yellow tapped Red's hand three times from where they were handcuffed behind their backs. "…was thinking more of that time with the elite four," she said carefully. "It was… quite the adventure."

She smiled a little.

"What… yeah, I guess so?" said Red, very confused.

"I remembered you as the person who gave me my first pokemon, and I had to get to you. Just like I have…" She tapped on his hand again, very deliberately. A bit of the confusion left his face, as if he might be on to something. "… to get you out of here now. I'll get us all out of here."

"You don't have to do that alone. We'll all get out," said Red confidently.

"You need to just trust in your friends sometimes," Yellow smiled a little. "Like that time with the elite four. Green, Blue and I had a…" More tapping. Comprehension dawned on Red's face. "…plan, and we saw it through. I'm just sorry I didn't get to you sooner. Green made me train for a really long time."

"That's okay," said Red, keeping the conversation going.

"Well, it did help out in the end. Not just the physical training, either. He made me study all kinds of pokemon and stuff. Their names, their types, their pokedex…" She tapped on his hand. He smiled widely. "…numbers. And I guess it all paid off in the end. I know we'll find a way out of this, we've been through too much to quit now."

She looked at him, trying to see if he fully understood. He nodded his head, then silently jerked his head towards her pocket. She nodded, grinning excitedly. He got it! Now if they could just get to the pokedex, they could find out where they were, at least…

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"They've been gone for a long time," said Crystal worriedly.

Her arms were crossed around her pokedex as she stood in the middle of the pokemon centre lobby, tapping her foot tunelessly.

"If they come near us again, the pokedexes will resonate," said Silver stoically. He had his out as well, quietly watching it for any sign of responsiveness.

Blue was soundlessly pacing the room, and Green was standing a few feet from Crystal, trying to get Crystal's pokegear to do something.

They had been like this for about an hour, unwavering. It was getting on 2 am, but they showed no signs of fatigue.

"I just wish we had some way to contact them!" said Green, in a sudden burst of frustration. He tossed the pokegear onto a nearby couch cushion. "Any of them! Our juniors included!"

There was a silence as they all tried to think of something. They stood still, wracking their brains.

"My pokegear doesn't work either," Silver supplied gruffly. "I just get static."

Nobody responded to this. Crystal resumed tapping her foot, scooping her pokegear off the couch and thumbing through options.

"Maybe we should…" Blue began.

She was interrupted by the loud wail of sirens blaring. A motorcycle screeched up to the front of the building, and a breathless woman hopped off of it and ran up the steps.

"That's the officer from before," said Green, with a hint of curiosity.

"Or maybe it's one of her relatives," said Crystal pointedly.

The officer burst through the door, running up to the counter.

"Nurse Joy!" she called. "Nurse Joy, there's been a kidnapping!"

The door behind the counter opened, and Nurse Joy burst through, gasping.

"Oh no!" she cried. "Who was it? Team Rocket?"

The pokedex owners stopped what they were doing, paying close attention to the conversation.

"No, we don't think so! The villains were identified as men wearing black with brown hair!" announced Officer Jenny.

"Okay! I'll keep my eye out!" said Nurse Joy seriously.

The dex holders exchanged looks.

"So who was kidnapped?" asked Nurse Joy.

"Six kids. A couple looked familiar. They mostly had dark hair but the one girl was blond," Officer Jenny declared.

Crystal took a sharp breath inward.

"That's so terrible!" said Nurse Joy sorrowfully. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, I was thinking I'd drive around on my motorcycle," said Officer Jenny purposefully. She turned on her heel and left for the door.

"Good luck!" Nurse Joy called.

"Wait!" Green called, but it was too late. The officer was gone. He whirled around to face Nurse Joy, but she was already back through the door behind the counter. "Seriously?" he mouthed, slamming his hand on the back of a chair in frustration.

"We need to find them!" Crystal said desperately.

She was shaking slightly, trying to imagine who could possibly overpower three dex holders and three other trainers. This was NOT good.

"Where would we even start?" asked Silver, pressing his fingers together in concentration. "We know nothing about the layout of this world."

"We have to try something!" Crystal wailed.

Blue nodded, worry in her eyes.

Green had his eyes closed in deep concentration. He'd suspected something like this all along. Red didn't just disappear without warning, unless something had happened. He sighed, then let out the verdict.

"No. Someone's out to get us. They all know that, and they can hold their own. Before we do anything else, we need some way to communicate. Then we can split up into smaller groups. Maybe we'll try to contact our juniors. We'd be wasting time if we just blindly chased a lead we don't have. Clearly the justice system has no idea what's going on."

"We're sure it was them that was kidnapped?" Blue asked anxiously. "It could have been any other group of six kids, really…"

"No, there's definitely someone who's targeting us," said Green sullenly. "Think about it. Back in our world we were all challenged to what appeared to be a simple battle, but somehow they managed to lure all of the dex holders. The next thing we knew, they had Giratina on us. And now here we are. Clearly they're plotting something."

The dex holders were silent again, desperately trying to think things through.

"I guess your plan makes sense…" Blue said finally. "I mean, this is Red we're talking about. Gold and Yellow aren't bad either. I'm sure they'll be able to hold their own until we find them. I just wish we had some way to get there sooner..."

"We have no idea where they were, or where their kidnappers might have headed. The best we can do now is stick with Green's plan of getting some sort of means of communication, and look for information along the way," said Silver logically.

Crystal nodded determinedly, balling her hands into fists.

"Um, a there's a bit of a problem with that plan," said Blue slowly. She turned her pockets inside out. A candy wrapper and six cents fell out.

"Well, there's my contribution," she said. "Anyone care to pool their money?"

"I spent the last of it on lunch yesterday," said Crystal shamefully.

"I have eight dollars," said Green quietly.

Silver remained quiet, shaking his head.

They stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do next. Suddenly, Blue whirled around to face Crystal.

"Hold on!" she said, as if struck by brilliant inspiration. "Remember that ad we saw yesterday? With that girl who looked just like Crystal?"

Silver seemed to catch on, and smirked slightly.

"Hold on, are you suggesting…" Green began.

"Well, clearly the people in this world aren't the most observant. It might be possible to go down to wherever they sell poketches and use Crystal's face to get at least a deal on one. And then we just try again at a different store, until we have enough for all of us!" Blue said, smiling widely at the brilliance of her plan.

"I'm really sick of following shaky plans that may not work…" Green said wearily.

"Well, it's something, at least," said Blue, shrugging.

"I suppose so," he sighed.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"And that's what happened!" said Blue cheerfully, smiling at the man across the counter.

The man frowned slightly, brow furrowed.

"So… you broke your poketch…"

Crystal forced herself to nod, trying to keep from turning red at the lie.

"And… you don't have any money to just buy one?"

Blue gasped theatrically.

"Oh no! That's a raw subject! My client here thought she was being safe when she left her money with her mother for safekeeping, but then… her mother… she spent it! She spent it all! On stuff my client never even wanted! Like berries and potions and…"

The man held up a hand, signalling that he'd heard enough.

"Whatever you say, I suppose. And you're Marina's…"

"Manager!" chirped Blue, smiling merrily.

"Okay, I'll be right back."

The man left through a door behind the counter, leaving the four dex holders alone in the store.

"Blue!" hissed Crystal, discomfort evident on her face. "There's no way they're going to believe that! A person would never use their child's money to buy items they never asked for."

Blue laughed. "I'm just testing them! It's interesting to see how much the people of this world will believe! Think of it as a… psychology experiment."

Green, who had been silently standing by a shelf of pokemon-shaped televisions, rolled his eyes and muttered something. Silver gave him a sharp look.

Suddenly, the door creaked open. Crystal glanced over, then quickly froze, her heart racing.

"Blue?" she squeaked, gripping her senior's arm.

Blue looked over, then suddenly turned serious.

"Well that puts a bit of a wrench in our plans."

She gestured to Green and Silver, who were also looking at the new arrival.

"What are the chances…" Green said, scanning the walls for another door.

"There's an exit at the side," Silver whispered.

Crystal nodded, tearing her eyes away.

Marina was standing at the door, chatting animatedly to a man beside her. Her powder blue hair bounced as she talked, smiling and approaching the counter with every passing second.

The four dex holders made a silent break for the side door, Silver in the lead. Crystal's mind raced as they slunk away. She never knew it would feel this strange to meet her double in person. She looked even more like Crystal offscreen, all except for her hair, and the way she carried herself…

"Oh-em-gee!"

Crystal flinched, desperately hoping she was talking to someone else.

"You! Over there!"

Crystal felt a hand on her shoulder. No such luck.

"You are soooo cyuute!" Marina said in a high-pitched half-squeal.

The other three had stopped as well, looking at Crystal hopelessly

Marina spun Crystal around, so they were face-to-face. The effect was eerie. Like staring into some sort of weird funhouse mirror.

Marina squealed. Crystal leaned back a little, wishing Marina would let go.

"We're like twins or something! This must be a sign!"

Crystal put on a painful smile.

"Yeah! Weird… we, um… really have to go…"

"But we haven't even introduced ourselves yet!" said Marina, with a dramatic expression of shock. "I'm Marina, this is my manager, and THIS…"

A misdreavus flew from over her shoulder, smiling widely.

"Is my misdreavus Little Miss!"

There was a long silence as they all contemplated this nickname. Crystal startled.

"Right… and I'm Crystal. Nice to meet you."

"Are you guys all pokemon trainers?" asked Marina, finally releasing Crystal and looking around at the four of them.

"Yes," said Blue, after realising the other three were remaining silent.

"That's ah-mazing! We should battle sometime! Or do you do contests?"

"Battles," replied Green quickly. "And we actually have to go, so…"

"No problem! I'd ask for your poketch numbers, but mine's broken, you see?" She held up a poketch with a smashed screen. "I accidentally threw it when I was battling!"

"You… threw it?" mumbled Crystal.

"I move around a lot while I battle! It's an idol's duty to put on a good show with every attack!"

Crystal didn't have the slightest idea what that meant.

"So that's why I'm here! It must be fate that we met Crystal, just wait, as soon as I get this fixed we'll be able to call each other and…"

Crystal was slowly backing up.

"Hold on… you guys do have poketches, don't you?"

Marina got four blank stares in return.

"Whhhat? How are we supposed to swap numbers, then? I know! I'll get some for all of you! I get special discounts, you know."

Crystal squirmed guiltily.

"No, no we couldn't possibly accept…"

"That would be great!" Blue burst out. "Thank you sooooo much Marina! I'm Blue, and I just LOVE your stuff! I think you're AWESOME!"

The other three stared at her. Even Silver had never seen her act quite like this. She was playing to Marina's personality type, no doubt.

"Thanks Blue! For sure I'll get you a poketch! Just let me ask!"

Blue giggled slightly as Marina turned around. It worked! Why not accept charity, if she was offering it in the first place? Either way they got what they were after.

Blue was awoken from her fantasy by a hiss from Crystal.

"Blue! The guy behind the counter still thinks I'm Marina!"

Uh oh. Blue whirled around towards the door again, holding a hand in the air.

"Buuuuut… we should go somewhere else!" she announced.

Marina blinked. She really had just wanted to get a quick replacement, but it had been so long since she'd had a good chat, she couldn't resist spending some time with these people.

"Okay, I guess. There's a place not far from here, If you'd like."

Blue smiled. "Great! Lead the way!"

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"Ash, could you please stop moving around?" snapped Gold after being pulled onto his face for the three hundred and fifty ninth time.

"We need to get out of here!" said Ash desperately.

"Really?" asked Gold. "I had no idea. Anyway…"

Gold was cut off as the truck slammed to a stop, causing its passengers to be thrown towards the front. They painstakingly untangled their limbs and sat up again.

"We stopped!" cried Dawn unnecessarily.

They sat quietly and listened as a door slammed at the front of the truck. Footsteps approached, then faded away.

"I think they're gone!" said Dawn.

"No, there's probably someone watching the truck," Red said. "They wouldn't just leave us…"

Dawn slumped back down, looking pensive.

"I've got an idea," said Ash, as if announcing something extremely important. "We'll break out!"

"Okay! You start!" Said Gold, feigning excitement.

Ash made a small movement, then stopped, looking confused. He sunk back down, thinking hard. There was a long silence, the group completely out of ideas.

Red desperately tried to think of something to say. Really any suggestion would work. He just needed to get them talking again. Gold being silent was a little weird.

Suddenly, Red faltered in his thoughts. Was that noise just his imagination? He had thought the truck bed was silent before, but now…

"Yellow, what's that beeping noise?" he asked slowly.

Her eyes widened as she listened.

"It… it's…" she bit her lip, nodding feverishly. It was the pokedex, but she couldn't let the bug pick up on it.

Red grinned widely, while the others looked severely confused.

"I don't get it. What are you guys talking about?" asked Dawn.

Red turned to her, excitedly.

"Let's just say… help is closer than you think."