Red Haze

"Machop, dodge it and counter with Focus Chop."

The superpower Pokémon dodged the incoming Zephyra to the side before countering with his own move. However, Zephyra was too fast and he missed by a hair's breadth. Machop was already at a disadvantage but that didn't stop him from trying.

It had been five days since they've left Cerulean City, they were currently in the small forest area between Cerulean and Saffron. Joe was currently having his Macho trained against Zephyra, the speedier flying type was giving a headache to bulky fighting type.

Ash was sitting with his back against a tree while brushing Growlithe's hair. The clearing they were on wasn't that big, so they had to take turns to train. They flipped a coin and it was Joe's turn first, while Ash waited on the side and groom his partner.

Every so often the ground would shake violently making the fighting Pokémon grind his teeth in frustration as if it wasn't difficult enough trying to hit a flying turkey, Ronar had decided to practice Bulldoze right at the edge of the clearing. He had already knocked several large trees but apparently wasn't satisfied with that and kept going and going.

Ash turned to the side and looked at Ronar, he could barely make out his Pokémon's outline between the fallen trees. "You should be almost done mastering the attack. Keep going."

Ronar didn't response but the intervals between shakes became less and less. Machop was truly angry right now, he could barely maintain his footing and Zephyra kept pecking him on the head. In a fit of anger, he picked up a large boulder and threw it at Ronar.

Next to Ash, Nidorina and Bellsprout were trading grooming secrets. The only one suffering at the moment was Machop. The boulder flew at rapid speed and hit Ronar. Unfortunately, the boulder broke on his horn without doing any damage.

After seeing that Macho snapped and started insulting both Ronar and Zephyra. Calling the former a rock headed moron and the later an annoying buzzing turkey. Both Ash and Joe had noticde that Zephyra had gained a complex with her weight after evolving.

From what they could tell she didn't like the tummy she developed and was very self-conscious. Hearing Machop make fun of her she went into a frenzy and started pecking Machop like her life depended on it. For his part Machop covered his head, but soon his tough skin was riddle with holes and dark blood was starting to pour from it.

Machop begged for mercy but Zephyra was having none of it and started pecking even harder. Joe was about to intervene when he noticed that Zephyra's beak started glowing with a bright white light elongating it into a sharp spear like point. The pecking got even harder and brutal soon Machop collapse on the ground with tears running down his eyes.

Watching him collapse Zephyra felt vindicated and flew up towards where Amber was circling. The steel bird had gotten annoyed at Ronar's ruckus and had been flying ever since.

Ash exchange a look with Joe, before his eyes followed Zephyra "Did she just learn…"

Joe checked his Pokedex and smiled. "Yeah, she just learned Pluck of all things."

He then went to his bag and picked up a potion. He slowly walked over to Machop and started to apply the medicine. Ash chuckled at the poor Pokémon's misfortune then he turned to his own vain Pokémon and had a sudden thought.

He whispered in Growlithe's ear. "You better learned from Machop and not insult Nidorina's looks or you will be in for a world of hurt."

Growlithe looked at the pitiful fighting type that was complaining to Joe with tears in his eyes. He nodded and gave a playful bark in response before going back to enjoy his grooming. Nidorina had heard everything her trainer said but didn't comment. She was a delicate flower that wouldn't go overboard if someone insulted her looks, she would just bash their heads into the ground and call it a day.

After Machop collapsed, Ronar had finished his training session for the day and opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by trees. He slowly pushed the trees to the side and walked over to his trainer. He still hadn't mastered the technique, but he was closed very closed.

Ash looked at Ronar and smiled before giving him an Oran Berry. "How was it did you made any progress?"

Ronar growled and nodded his head before taking the berry. Machop turned to look at Ronar who was enjoying his berry and blew his top. He rushed towards him and started screaming at his face before pointing to his wound. Telling him that it was all his fault and he better apologize.

Ronar looked at the mentally disturbed Pokémon thinking that he might be suffering from a mental breakdown or something. He turned towards Growlithe and asked what was wrong. Machop saw that he was been ignored and tears started to pour out of his eyes again before hanging his head in defeat.

Ash was turned his head from the scene for fear that he might burst into laughter. Joe tried to keep his composure. "Machop do you want to rest in your ball?"

Machop nodded sadly, his finger was tracing circles in the ground. Joe felt sorry for the poor thing and called him back. "I know it was technically his fault but still felt bad for him."

Ash couldn't hold it anymore and laughed. "Well at least Zephyra learned a new attack that's…something. Anyways looked at this."

He pushed a button on his Pokenav and a hologram of the area flashed. "According to the map it should take us another two days to get to Saffron from here."

Joe looked at the map and thought for a moment. "The conference is just less than eight months away the distance between Cerulean to Saffron it's five days if were doing nothing but walking. It's already been that long and we're still a couple of days away."

Ash traced his finger along the route from Saffron to Celadon it was mostly a straight line, but the problem was that it was littered with hills and strong winds making the track more arduous. "From Saffron to Celadon it should take us about a week and a half and that's being optimistic if the weather turns for the worse, we would have to bunker down."

Joe frowned. "Then from Celadon to Fuchsia should take us three days if we rent some bikes and take the Cycling Road. Here's the question, do you want to take on Koga? It's a bit suicidal if you come to think about it but we have to save as much time as possible."

Ash looked at the map and didn't say anything. Joe continued tracing his finger along the route from Fuchsia to Vermilion. "This will take us a month of travel easily that is if we don't have a strong water type to take the short way and even then, I would prefer to take the long way. Those waters are filled with all mannered of dangerous Pokémon. And that's without taking into account that the only way to get to Cinnabar is in Fuchsia City and it takes about a month to get there. Then we either have to come back to Fuchsia City or Pallet Town."

Ash kept looking at the map and something struck him as strange. "Wait what are we doing? Why don't we just cut down straight from Saffron to Vermilion then take the ferry to Celadon and take the Cycling Road to Fuchsia then the ferry to Cinnabar? Five days to Vermilion, then another day Celadon, then three days to Fuchsia. That cuts our travel time by more than a month and hopefully by that time Zephyra would've evolve and we don't need to take the ferry and just fly back to Saffron to confront Sabrina."

Technically Ash could've fly to all the cities on Amber, but he wasn't comfortable flying yet. They have just started their relationship and if the bird got irritated with him, he would be a splat on the ground, also he was travelling with Joe. So, until Zephyra evolved and both he and Amber deepened their bond they were grounded.

Which wasn't a bad thing, they still needed to capture a full team and trained them. So, they barely had enough time. Joe looked at the map. "I mean yeah that makes sense, but didn't you say you wanted to battle Erika first?"

He did say that, didn't he? He waved his hand dismissively. "I was worried about my fight with Daisy. Let's go with this plan, its better and we should finish the other six gyms in about six months that should give us two months to prepare for the conference."

Joe was about to respond when out of the trees came a terribly wounded Pokémon. It stood about three feet tall, its cream-colored fur was matted with blood, the flames that formed its mane and tail were about to flickered out at any moment. It stood shakily on its four legs, a hole on its neck was leaking a purple substance.

It looked at the boys with fear in its eyes before collapsing on the ground. Joe rushed over with the potion he still had on his hands and started spraying it all over the Pokémon's wounds.

Ash got up and scanned it with his pokedex to get a better idea of what they were dealing with.

[ Ponyta, the fire horse Pokémon. Ponyta has extraordinary jumping abilities and is capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound. However, a newborn Ponyta is a weak runner and is barely able to stand. It gradually strengthens its legs and becomes faster by chasing after its parents. If you've been accepted by Ponyta, its burning mane is mysteriously no longer hot to the touch. ]

"Ash the wounds are too serious, my basic potion is barely able to staunch the bleeding. We need to take it to a Center as soon as possible."

Ash checked his pokenav but the nearest Center was in Saffron City, two days away. "Joe we're nowhere near close a Center… hold on." He checked the map and there was a small dot a couple of miles south of them.

"I think we're in luck, there's a daycare center four miles south of here. Maybe they can help, but how are we going to move it there?"

"I'm sorry." Joe murmured to the injured Ponyta, before taking out a pokeball and pressing it to the Pokémon's nose. The fire horse didn't offer any resistance, or it was more likely that it didn't have the energy to resist.

Ash had already recalled Nidorina and Amber. "Growlithe see if you can catch Ponyta's trail, it might not be the only injured Pokémon."

Growlithe started sniffing the area and within seconds he caught a pretty good trail.

Joe for his part had already recalled all of his Pokémon. "Ash we need to go now."

Ash turned towards Joe. "Hop on Ronar and go to the nursery. I'll go with Growlithe and see if anyone else needs help."

Joe paled for a moment. "Are you off your rocker? We don't know what happened, there could be dangerous Pokémon out there."

"But there could also be a number of injured Pokémon and we might need to report it to the League. So, get on Ronar and save that Ponyta. If it comes to it, I'll hop on Amber and book it out of there."

Without waiting for Joe to answer he turned towards Ronar. "I need you to take Joe to the daycare center, it's just south of here. I'll be right behind you guys so behave and don't throw him off. Okay?"

Ronar nodded and scooped up Joe with his horn before taking off running. Joe yelp in surprised but manage to grab unto one Ronar's spikes before been thrown off. Ash looked at his friend leave before turning to Growlithe. "Okay boy, lead the way."

Growlithe nodded and move towards the forest. Ash knew this was a stupid idea, then again when has he ever had any other kind but the wounds on Ponyta were ghastly and if it was done by humans or Pokémon the League had to be made aware off.

He followed closely behind Growlithe as they made their way through the forest. Here and there they stopped as Ash noticed patches of cream color fur, dark spots of blood or burned branches. It was a clear signed that Ponyta had ran through here.

The pair walked for a couple of hours before coming upon a large gray building. It had no windows and parked in the front were two large jeeps and some people in some sort of white tactical armor were loading crates into them. Supervising them was tall skinny man wearing the same tactical armor but his was green instead of white.

"What's going on here?" He whispered not knowing what to make of it.

He motioned for Growlithe to move quietly as he slowly made his way towards the group to see what they were up to. He inched ever so closely to the group without getting caught but he was still too far away to make just a couple of words been exchange between the green armored man and one of his subordinates.

"…Too Slow…Idiots…Away" The green man admonished one of his subordinates.

"…Apologies… thought it was dead."

"The missing revenue will come…. must move fast…Rockets may know our location."

"…sure sir?"

"Are you doubting me? Get these crates loaded up and lets torched the place!"

After screaming at his subordinate, the man turned away and went into the building. At that moment Growlithe grabbed Ash's jacket with his teeth. He turned towards his partner who was looking in the direction of the back of the building.

Moving slowly, he made his way towards it following Growlithe. Before they got within 20 feet of the stench of rot and decay hit both so hard, they almost vomited right there. Growlithe had his nose between his paws and whine softly. If the smell was bad enough that Ash wanted to vomit, then it must be a hundred times worse for his poor pup.

"Don't worry bud, I got it from here." He recalled Growlithe and made his way towards the source of the smell. But when he got there the sight of what he found was too much and he couldn't hold it anymore and puke to the side.

A couple of feet in front of him was a large pit and inside were dozens of Pokémon Corpses, all of them mutilated in some way. They were Rapidashes missing their horns, Beedrils missing all three of their stingers, Krabbies and Kinglers missing their claws and legs as well as Persians and Golducks that had their forehead jewels taken. Blood and gore were everywhere.

Who could do such terrible things? This was beyond evil it was inhumane. With trembling fingers, he took out his pokenav and started taking pictures and videos. Of both the pit and the van outside, then he called the only person he could think of.

The phone rang for several seconds before a man in his early forties came out, wearing a dark three-piece suit answered. "Who is…wait your that trainer from Pallet Town…. Ash, right? Why are you calling me?"

Ash looked at the Viridian City Gym Leader and got straight to the point. "Sir, I'm sorry to bother you but I didn't know who else to call and this was an emergency."

Giovanny had been in the middle of a meeting with one of his executives when the call had come in. At first, he thought to ignore it but when he realized who it was, curiosity got the better of him. "Okay I'm in the middle of something important, you got five minutes."

Ash didn't wait and just forwarded the images to Giovanny. The older man looked at the file and his face turned stoic. "Okay you have my undivided attention. Speak."

The young trainer didn't waste any time and explained everything from the moment the Ponyta appeared to, following the trail and finding the pit. "Sir the people are still here. The leader seems to be in a rush, if they get away…"

Giovanny let out a breath. "Why do you Ketchums always find yourselves in the worst situations possible. Like father like son." He then turned to Ash. "Listen Ash those people are very dangerous, the compound you're at right now is about to be hit by the Ace Rangers. I was just coordinating with my field officer. I'll forward her your location, under any circumstances are you to enter that compound. Wait for the Ace Rangers to arrive and take control of the situation."

"With all due respect sir, they look could leave at any moment. I could distract them, keep them here until help arrives." Ash tried to persuade Giovanny.

"Absolutely not, if those people find out you're there, they won't hesitate to kill you. Stay put and don't do anything stupid. I will not have a wet behind the ears trainer getting himself killed because of some misplace sense of heroism, wait for the professionals."

With that Giovanny ended the call and made another call. The line was picked up by a woman in her early thirties with shoulder length red hair, at the moment she was wearing a white uniform with a small R above her breast. "Ariana there's been a slight change of plans. The compound was discovered by a rookie trainer, he forwarded evidence so you will need to play the roll of an Ace Ranger strike team."

Ariana looked at Giovanny as she started issuing orders for her men to change uniforms. "On it Sir, what should we do about the witness."

"Protect him, he may be a rookie but his connected to several key figures at League HQ."

Arianna nodded. "It shall be done."

Giovanny ended the call and looked towards the man sitting in front of him, in his late thirties with short blue hair and wearing the same uniform as Arianna. Archer was the perfect right hand man. Efficient and with a profound attention to detail.

"This last attempt by Cipher to encroach on Kanto is really bold of them, do you think it has any thing to do with the sudden shift in Unova?" Asked Giovanny while taking a sip of Scotch.

Archer thought about it for a moment before answering. "Scum like them will attack at the slightest hint of weakness. Maybe they thought that with Unova taking a more aggressive stance the other leagues would focus on that and thus lowered their guard. Hoenn has those environmentalists nutt jobs, Sinnoh has been suffering from attacks to some of their historical sights and Kalos just lost one of their leading scientists. The only ones in relative peace are Kanto, Johto and Orre; having been kicked out of Orre they must've thought Kanto was easy pickings with the world going to shit."

Giovanny considered Archer's point of view, but something was nagging at the back of his head. But he couldn't quite figure out what it was, and it was frustrating him. He didn't like being frustrated. "This could be something more, Notify the Saffron City Police Chief about the raid and find out how did Cipher got passed us. That compound wasn't built in a day."

"Right away Sir." With that he turned and left.

Giovanny looked at the pictures that Ash sent him, and he could feel his anger slowly bubbling to the surface before he forced it down. He made one last call. "Proton you and Petrel are to find Cipher's latest movements in the region and exterminate them."

He didn't wait for a reply and hung up the call now all that was left to do was wait for the final report of Ariana's raid. Hopefully the boy listened to reason and stayed put.

Currently Ash was running for his life. If Giovanny knew this, he would've wrung his neck. As soon as he hung with the Gym leader, he stealthy made his way towards the back of the compound. There he found a back entrance that wasn't lock and snuck in.

He found himself in a storage area that was dimly lit. Metal crates lined the floors with several labels like, Poison Stings, Gems, Stardust and Starpiece. He opened the crates and to his horror they were filled with body parts of different Pokémon.

He quietly closed the crates and move further into the building, after opening several doors and finding nothing inside he found himself in a room with two large tables. One of them had cases filled with water most of them were empty except for the last one.

In it a star shape Pokémon lay at the bottom. It had three silver color arms instead of five around its chest was golden metal like structure and at the center was a blinking blue jewel. Ash had never seen such a Pokémon.

He slowly pulled out his Pokedex and scanned it.

[Staryu the star shape Pokémon. Staryu's center section has an organ called the core that shines bright red. Large numbers of these Pokémon make their home at the seaside. If you go to a beach toward the end of summer, the glowing cores of these Pokémon look like the stars in the sky.

An enigmatic Pokémon that can effortlessly regenerate any appendage it loses in battle as long as its red core remains, it can regenerate its body instantly, even if it's torn apart.]

Ash looked at the Pokémon shown in his pokedex then at the one in the case and though they look similar the one in the dex was golden brown with a red core while the one in the case was silver with a blue core. The core seemed to be blinking and the Pokémon look very sickly.

He turned towards the other table that had two crates one labeled Gems while the other Starpiece. A slight suspicion rose in his heart and he slowly opened them. The one labeled Gems had dozens of red cores while the Starpiece one had dozens of golden-brown appendages and quite a few silver ones.

Those bastards, they had been chopping Staryus for their cores and appendages. Even though the Pokedex said that they could heal with relative quickness they must be almost hundred appendages and at least thirty cores.

He walked over to the case where the lone Staryu was. "Hi, I'm sorry this happened to you, but I'll get you out of here would that be ok."

Staryu's core was blinking rapidly and Ash felt a sense of relief and warmth coming form it. It was the first time he was feeling like this. He took it as a good signed and took out a pokeball and tapped the injured star with it. A blinding flash of white light filled the room before Staryu was sucked into the ball.

Ash felt that same sense of urgency and he threw himself to the ground. Looking back, he saw a green bipedal Pokemon with red stripes around its belly. Ash was sure he was alone in the room just a moment ago and the door was close. So how did it get in here?

The green Pokémon opened its mouth sending a wicked long tongue. Ash dodge to the side making the tongue missed. The tongue made a hole in the ground, seeing Ash knew it was time to get out of there.

He rushed towards the door and bumped into one of the white armored guys. "What the hell? What's a kid doing here?"

Ash didn't have time to waste and kicked the guy in the crotch. Armored or not a kick in the balls would hurt like hell. The man dropped his knees, yowling in pain. He didn't have time to think, he needed to get to a place with more room to maneuver.

Behind him he heard the man yell. "Solox this is Torkin we have an intruder and its heading your way."

Ash found himself in an open space and thought he was in the clear when another of the white armored guys dropped from the ceiling.

"You've made a grave mistake kid." He threw a pokeball releasing a spherical red and white Pokémon with an angry look on its face. "Voltorb, Sonic Boom."

Ash recognized it as a Voltorb, an electric type Pokémon that made its home near powerplants. Well if Ash wanted to cause a commotion now was the time. He grabbed one of his pokeballs and released Amber.

The steel bird screeched her joy and upon noticing the small angry ball she clicked her beak and soar to the skies. "Amber there's no time to waste. Air Cutter"

Voltorb eyes glowed with faint white light as he sent an arrow of sound towards Ash. Amber saw the whole thing from the air and flapped her wings hard, a wind blade cut through the air destroying the sound attack.

The white armored man frowned when he saw this. His Voltorb was one of the fastest attackers on his team. Once he launched an attack the enemy was sure to suffer yet this brat blocked his attack with ease.

"Do you think that metal scrap is going to beat me? Voltorb fry that chicken, Thunder Shock."

The ball Pokémon glared angrily at Amber releasing a spark of electricity into the air. Amber flew up high dodging the blast. That only angered the angry stress ball and it continue to bombard them. The walls were scorched from the blast, Amber was too fast for the attacks to land. She mocked the ball from above sending the round electric type into a fit of rage.

Countless arcs of electricity filled the room and one of them hit Amber square in the chest. It barely did any damage only singing her a bit. Angry at getting hit she flew as high as she could before diving with her claws extended. Bright light shone from them, she scooped the ball Pokémon from the ground digging her talons deep into it before throwing it from the right at the white armored man.

Giving the strength and speed with which Amber sent Voltorb flying plus the fact that it was still covered in electricity. The white armored man tried to dodge but he was too slow, the electric Pokémon hit him right in the nose. Ash could hear the bones crunching back where he was, before the man could scream in pain he was shocked by his own Pokémon into unconsciousness.

Ash was about to tell Amber that she did a good job when a laughed filled the room. "What a piece of trash, beaten by a child. Sceptile take care of him, Shadow Blade."

Ash turned to see the green armored man from before standing by the door. Behind him climbing a wall was a large green bipedal Pokémon with yellow orbs on its back and large leafy tail. The Pokémon was climbing the walls at incredible speed once it got high enough, the Pokémon jumped towards Amber on its forearms were two small leaves that glowed with dark purple light extending into a three-foot-long blade on each arm.

Amber tried to dodge but the Pokémon was too fast and slashed her across the wings and chest. Skarmory's had insane physical defenses that on top of been resistant to most grass attacks should've made it almost impossible for the grass Pokémon to injured her. But that wasn't what happened.

The dark blade cut through Amber's steel skin and feathers like a hot knife through butter. Amber shrieked in pain. The grass Pokémon grabbed her by the throat with his glowing green claw and used her to break his fall.

The green armored man sneered at Ash. "A brat that doesn't know how insignificant he is wants to meddle in our affairs. What a joke. Sceptile kill it."

Ash paled when he heard that everything had happened so fast that he hadn't had a time to react. Amber was bleeding from several cuts and her chest seemed to be caved in. He quickly pulled out his pokeball and recalled her as the glowing dark blade came down on Amber's neck.

"Is that all you got? On good for nothing Pokémon that didn't even serve as a warm up. You look like a strong trainer. You must have other Pokémon, my Sceptile hasn't had enough blood yet."

The green armored man mocked Ash and he thought about calling both Nidorina and Growlithe but more white armored guys were showing up and not to mentioned the evil look on that Sceptile's purple eyes had him completely frozen in fear.

Seeing that Ash wasn't going to make a mouth the green armored man sneered. "In the end you're nothing more than a brat that still stinks of his mother's milk. Sceptile finish him. Leaf Storm."

The dark glint in Sceptlie's eyes grew a shade darker almost black in color. His tail was glowing with dark green light as the wind started to pick up made of razor-sharp leaves. The storm grew in speed and intensity as it slowly covered half the room before Sceptile launched at Ash.

Ash saw the coming storm and knew he had to avoid it, but his legs wouldn't move. He felt so powerless and stupid. He thought he could do something and help catch the bad guys but all he accomplished was getting his Pokémon hurt and himself killed.

He was about to resigned himself to death when a huge dark blue bird landed in front of him, the feathers around its chest were white while the ones on its head resemble a hat. Then he heard the loud voice of a woman. "Screecher Hyper Beam now!"

The dark blue bird opened its beak an launched a beam of orange energy at the incoming storm. The two attacks clashed against each other, fighting to over take the other. For a moment it seemed like Sceptile's attack was going to prevail, but the piercing power of the Hyper Beam was too much for it and broke through it hitting the grass Pokémon square in the chest sending it crashing through the far wall.

"Well, well if it isn't Greed, what gave you the right to come into my region and bully my trainers?

Ash turned to see a woman in her early thirties with shoulder length red hair wearing a white and gray suit. Above her left breast was a badge with the image of a Rhydon, beneath it were four stars.

Oh my god a four-star Ace Ranger, Giovanny wasn't kidding when he said back up will be arriving. But Ash never expected such a high-ranking trainer to show up.

The green armored man, Greed sneered at the woman. "Ariana despicable as ever, launching a sneak attack on an unsuspecting person."

Ash looked at the man and thought he was crazy, the man had mutilated dozens of Pokémon, tried to kill him and now was crying foul play. He was about to say something when Ariana walked over to him making sure he was alright before glaring at Greed.

"You want to talk about fair? Give me a break, your pathetic attempt at stalling is worthless. My men have this whole building surrounded and your grunts are already in custody. The only one missing is you." Then she turned to her Pokémon. "Screecher Thunder Wave them."

The dark blue bird shrieked but before he could make a move. Greed laughed. "You think you can capture me so easily? Dream on. Sceptile, Earthquake."

Sceptile stood up on shaky legs most of its chest was bloody and one of its eyes had swollen shut. The grass type glared at the dark blue bird before slamming its tail on the ground with tremendous force. The whole building started to crumble unto itself.

Ariana glared at Greed. "Are you crazy? You want to bring the whole building down on us? You'll die too."

Greed laughed and released another Pokémon this one was a large quadruped Pokémon with a long neck that had fruits hanging from its ears. On its back four large leafy wings lifted the him off the ground. The Pokémon grabbed Greed by the armor and put him on his back.

"Have fun in hell, you old hag." He then recalled his injured Sceptile and cut a hole in the roof making his escape.

The building was shaking violently, and large chunks of ceiling had begun to fall killing several of the white armored guys. Ariana was cursing Greed to get eating by a flock of Fearows before she turned to her Pokémon.

"Screecher get us out of here." She then turned towards Ash. "Okay kid, get on."

Ash was about to comply when a chunk of ceiling fell on his head and the last thing, he heard was Ariana cursing again.

Pain was the first thing Ash felt when he came to. He slowly opened his eyes which was a bad idea as the glaring sunlight gave him a massive headache. He looked around and saw that he was in some sort of hospital room. He was hooked up to several machines and his head was killing him. When he touched it, he found that most of his head was bandaged.

He saw that to the side was a small table with a pitcher of water. His mouth felt parched, he tried to pick it, but his arm felt heavy and he almost dropped it to the ground.

"Careful you don't want to open your stiches."

Ash turned around to find Ariana standing next to his bed. She still wore the same uniform that he last saw her, but they were bags under her eyes as if she hadn't slept in days. "Here let me help."

She poured him a glass of water and help him sit up to drink it. Once he was done, she served him two more before his throat felt refresh. She put the glass way and sat in a nearby chair.

"I was thinking about yelling at you for being an irresponsible brat and almost killing yourself, once you woke up. However, looking at the waiting room it seems other people got that covered. And you technically didn't screw up completely so there's that."

She said in a serious tone. Ash felt his cheeks burned as he looked away from Ariana. "What happened? All I remember was the ceiling caving in and then nothing."

She sighed and pulled up a nail filer and started doing her nails. "I have to tell you kid, there hasn't been a rookie trainer with as much bad luck as you in a long time. Giovanny told me about your first days, the thing with the Nidoking and Onyx as well as the Rhyhorn stampede in Pewter. Now this mess with Cipher. What, did you blow up a salt factory or something?"

He felt his cheeks burned even hotter. "Those things weren't my fault. I just seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. As for what happened back there, I felt like that turning my back and waiting would be like failing all those Pokémon that died."

Ariana rolled her eyes. "God save me from idealistic punks." She tapped him on the nose with her nail filer before going back to her nails.

"If you had used your head and waited a little bit you and your Pokémon wouldn't have gotten hurt. But had you done that Greed and his grunts would've gotten away. By the time we arrive all of the grunts were waiting outside for something and it was pretty easy to take them by surprise and capture them. Only when I went inside did I notice that they were waiting for Greed who was busy dealing with you. So, in a way your meddling help but don't let it go to your head. That was still reckless and foolish."

Ash felt a little better knowing that he wasn't totally useless. He looked up to Ariana. "Who were those guys? How can the do something so horrible to innocent Pokémon."

Ariana stopped filing her nails and look at Ash with a complicated expression as if coming to a decision. "That was Greed one of the top lieutenants of the Cipher Syndicate. As you saw back there, he specializes in grass types. No one knows what the Syndicates motives or goals are, but they go around the world dealing in Pokémon parts and selling them through the black market. They are watch list of every League, but they have some powerful back because the most we have seen of them are their grunts and lieutenants like Greed. We have next to no information of their upper management. Hopefully that will change with this recent raid."

Ash thought about Greed and how he derived pleasure from injuring Amber. "His Sceptile seemed wrong. I don't know how to describe it, its like he had a deathly aura around it."

Ariana went back to filing their nails. "They genetically altered their Pokémon. We're not sure how but their Pokémon are stronger than average and develop strange attacks. It makes a pain battling them. The good thing is that apparently is an arduous process and those altered Pokémon are only given to high ranking members."

She tapped him on the nose again. "Don't interrupt your big sister while she's explaining how idiotic you were. It's rude."

Ash was about to say he didn't interrupt her but decided to err on the side of caution and remain quiet.

She then continued. "Anyways after that bastard flew away on his Tropius I was about take you with me when you went and hit yourself on a piece of rock. Totally inconsiderate of you by the way, forcing me to carry you on top of Screecher. I'll forgive you but this will be a one-time thing. Since you were bleeding so badly, I took you directly to the Saffron City Center. They had the facilities to treat you and your Pokémon. You've been sleeping for a week in case you were wondering. Thanks to that little quake your sister had to fly back and force to dig up evidence from the rubble and interrogate our prisoners. I'm just about to drop and that's without taking into account looking after you."

Ash thought that while Ariana wasn't talking official business she liked to berate and treat him like a little brother. It was amusing if she wasn't so terrifying.

She then slapped her nail file against the palm of her hand. "Which reminds me. Your Skarmory is all better now, Nurse Joy was put through her paces in the OR keeping her alive, but she pulled through as for your Staryu, well even with their incredible regenerative capabilities it still took it six days to grow its appendages. So, both of them are okay. Those bastards really did a number on it, so the league thought it be best if it remains in your care. As for the Ponyta that escaped, it was a little touch and go but they manage to save it."

She finished her nails and stood up stretching herself. "Now that you're awake your sister will now take her leave and let those people outside wring your ears. I programmed my number in your pokenav if you ever find yourself in a difficult situation give me a ring."

She then leaned down and gave Ash a kiss on the cheek before leaving. Ash felt his ears burn bright and was about to say something when Joe entered followed by a young-looking Officer Jenny.

"You just had to go by yourself, didn't you? I swear its like watching a toddler. You take your eyes off them for five minutes and they go sticking their tongue in the nearest electrical socket. This is the last time I'm leaving you alone." Joe smacked him on the head as he berated him.

Ash rubbed his head and glared at him. "Hey injured person here, be more gentle."

Joe snorted. "Gentle my ass, who asked you to get yourself injured?"

Ash sighed in defeat. "Fine, I promise to bring you along next time. There happy?"

Joe rolled his eyes. "Why would I volunteer to go and get injured. Man, that hit really scrambled your brains."

Ash was about to snipe back when Officer Jenny stepped. "God, I remember now why I don't want kids. Do you two always bicker like this?"

They were about to respond when she raised her hand. "No, don't answer her that. I was hoping to meet you under better circumstances but now is a good time as any. I'm the Chief of Police for Saffron City. I was going to give you a lecture about how foolish your actions were, but your friend beat me to it and I'm sure Ace Ranger Ariana also had something to say."

Ash felt his cheeks burning again. "I'm sorry for any trouble I might've caused."

Chief Jenny shook her head and gave him a warm smile. "Don't be, from what Joe tells me getting into trouble seems to be your thing. The important thing about getting into trouble is having the skills to get yourself out of it. Anyways the doctor say you need a bit more rest, so we'll leave you to that. Once you get discharge come look for me. Your Growlithe is staying at my place getting acquainted with his sister so you don't need to worry about him. Joe knows where I live."

Joe nodded. "Don't worry and get some rest. Chief Jenny has been nice enough to let me stay at her place, so I've been looking after your Pokémon there. The only ones who aren't there are Amber and Staryu. Heal up fast because we got some catching up to do."

Ash nodded and wanted to say more when Nurse Joy entered and made everyone go away as she started doing a check up on him. Ash remember the frightening power Greed displayed with his Sceptile and how hurt Amber got. He promised himself that he would do better in the future and not allowed his Pokémon to get hurt like that again.

Across from the Center up on a rooftop stood a young woman in her early thirties with long black hair and a serious expression as she looked at the window where the injured trainer was. A rare wisp of a smile adorned her face.

"Destiny is a fickle thing; how can two generations of men have the same propensity for getting into trouble."

She looked up to the sky. "The winds of change are slowly blowing in our direction. Are you going to be a trailblazer like your father or be swept by the coming storm? Maybe that's a question only time will tell."

With a final look she at the window the woman teleported back to her room to meditate and prepare for the upcoming challenges.

Hullo guys, HK here back with the long awaited update to Titans. A lot of personal stuff happened this last couple of years that prevented me from writing but I've always kept this story on the back of my mind hoping for a day to come back to it and lo and behold that day is here. And apparently Ash still having a streak a bad luck, nothing we can do about that lol.

I wanted to thank the fans of the story that have asked for an update and wanted to see more. Hope this latest chapter won't disappoint you. And for any new readers welcome to the world of Titans here we hope you laugh and enjoy every chapter as we see what shenanigans Ash and his friends get to. As always leave review with your thoughts and comments to let me know what you like or didn't like and if you have questions leave them as well.

Until Next Time

HK