Luna dropped her stuff and then plopped down on the ground.

"I'm tired." She yawned. "We walked a lot."

Tory sighed and opened up a map of Hoenn. "Darn! Wrong map!"

Ash looked over his shoulder. "Where to?"

"I don't know! You know Unova better than I do! Where should we go?!" Tory snapped.

Ash flinched. "Gees. I didn't mean to anger you."

"How about Kanto? Surely, Ash knows a place where we can spend a night or two." Luna suggested.

"How would we get there?" Tory asked.

Luna pulled out Kirlia's pokeball. "Kirlia will take us. What do you say? It'll take a while for word of us to reach the Kanto police. They don't think we'll go there." Tory and Ash nodded. "In that case, where to, Ash?"

Ash thought for a moment. "Cerulean Gym."

Luna threw Kirlia's pokeball. "Ash, picture the place in your mind where you want to go and Kirlia will take us there."

Ash nodded, closed his eyes, and pictured the Cerulean Gym.

A bright light and then SPLASH! They fell right into the pool.

"Ash! When I said picture the place, I didn't mean picture the pool!" Luna scolded.

"Sorry! It's the part I remember best!" Ash responded.

The three kids, Pikachu, and Kirlia swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out.

Pikachu immediately ran over to Misty, who was staring at them.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Sorry for intruding like this, Misty." Ash replied. "Can you do me a favor? We need a place to stay the night and you can't tell anyone we're here."

"Why?" Misty asked.

"We're being chased." Tory answered without thinking. "By kidnappers."

Misty put a hand over her mouth.

"Tory! You're not supposed to tell her that!" Luna yelled at him.

"Sorry." Tory said. "But it's true."

Misty shook her head to clear it. "Of course I'll help you, Ash. You're my friend and I help my friends when they need me to."

"Thanks, Misty. We really appreciate it." Ash said. "Remember, no one knows we're here."

Misty nodded. "Right. You're not here."

She led them to some guest rooms where they could stay the night.

Then, the doorbell rang.

"Stay here. I'll get it." Misty said.

After she left, the three travelers sat in a circle.

"I'm worried." Tory said. "Are you sure no one will find us here?"

Misty's voice floated up the stairs. "Ash and a girl? Nope. Not here. Why do you ask?"

Luna, Tory, and Ash scurried over to the door to hear the response.

"Professor Oak got word that Ash had run away from his friends with some girl." Somebody, possibly Tracey, responded. "Apparently, they have a pokemon that can teleport, so they could show up anywhere. The thing is… we don't know why he left. His new friends, Iris and Cilan, are convinced it's nothing they did, so it must have something to do with that girl. Professor Oak, Professor Juniper, Iris, and Cilan just want an explanation for why he left without saying goodbye."

"He must've had a good reason. It isn't like Ash to do something like that without a reason." Misty said. "I wish I could ask him."

"Yeah. Me too." Tracey replied. "He's got to have some kind of reason."

Upstairs, Ash turned to Luna and Tory. "Okay, I say we spend the night here. Then, in the morning, I tell them my reason and we teleport to Johto. No one will know where we've gone and it will explain to my friends why I left."

Tory and Luna exchanged glances.

"Can't we do that after a few nights here?" Luna asked. "In a way, this is a safe haven."

"I say, we tell them as soon as we're found out, then we leave." Tory suggested. "That will give us a little while of safety and your friends will still be given the reason."

Ash nodded. "That works."

Tracey's voice came from right outside the door. "Why can't I use the guest bedroom I normally stay in?"

"I've got something in there right now. Can't you just accept the one across the hall?" Misty replied.

"I'd like to see what this something is first." Tracey responded.

"Tracey, no." Misty put a false hard edge in her voice, but Tracey saw right through it. He opened the door to the room the other three guests were in. Everyone froze.

Luna threw Kirlia's pokeball and she and Tory grabbed their stuff.

Ash stared into Tracey's eyes. "Tell them it's not their fault. It's mine."

He picked up his backpack and walked over to Luna and Tory.

"Ash… why?" Tracey asked.

With his back facing Tracey, Ash bowed his head. "I'm sorry."

The bright flash came and then they were gone.

Tracey turned to Misty, who shrugged and said. "They wanted me to keep their presence a secret."

"Doesn't matter." Tracey said. "Did they tell you anything we need to know?"

Misty considered for a second. "The other boy accidentally revealed they were running from kidnappers. The police will want to know that."

Tracey nodded. "The first call should be to Professor Oak. He'll want to know about this."

Misty sighed sadly. "I can't believe it. Ash trusted me and I let him down. Who knows where they're going to go know?"

Meanwhile…

Luna and Tory travelled slowly, trying to match their speed to Ash's, who was lagging behind.

Finally, Luna spun around and put her hands on her hips. "Get over it, Ash! When you're on the run, you can't worry about people who aren't in any danger!"

Ash stopped. "But what if they are in danger?"

The other two stared at him.

"What do you mean, Ash?" Tory asked.

"Think about it. If they captured someone we care about, they could easily lure us in." Ash pointed out.

Luna and Tory exchanged glances.

"But who would they take?" Luna asked.

"It could be anybody. Friends, family, pokemon, anybody." Ash answered.

Luna and Tory exchanged glances again.

"Now you've got me worried." Luna said. "Let's hope you're wrong."