Compared to the interior, the outside of Professor Oak's laboratory was unadorned. Sure it was cut off from the rest of the town, decorated with a surrounding forrest, a slowly turning windmill and a neatly cut stone path winding up the hill- and the uneven terrain decorating the background wasn't exactly ugly either- but it didn't come close to giving outsiders a glimpse of the genius inside. You'd never know that behind the relatively plain outer walls, a mastermind was at work, scrawling furiously on a scrap of paper as a new theory for Pokemon behaviour sprung to his mind.

At least, that was what Professor Oak would usually have been doing on such an afternoon, with no meetings, interviews or social events to get in the way. But for the last few hours, he'd been staring blankly out of the window, forefingers pressed against his temples as he spun his chair around. The phone call from Ash had been troubling him greatly, and no solutions seemed to pop into his head the way they normally did. He had no idea what to do.

On the other side of the room, Tracey sat at a desk, tongue stuck out in concentration as he dabbed at the sheet of paper before him with his stub of a 2B pencil. The boy leant back in the dilapidated leather chair, held his work up to the light, and, satisfied that he was finished, pushed himself onto his feet, thumb and forefinger carefully holding the page.

"Professor?" he said, and cleared his throat when the statement was only met with silence. Oak snapped his head around, forced a weak smile and stood up.

"Ah- finished it, have you?" he asked, taking the picture. Tracey nodded.

"I was thinking we could add it to the profile on legendries," he explained as the Professor lifted it up to his face. "I've made a few notes, too."

Tracey's drawings never failed to amaze Oak, despite the fact that he was presented with them on a daily basis. The one of Moltres he was currently gazing at was no exception. Delicate, masterfully placed strokes of lead swept across the page, dark and light shades caressing the form of the giant bird. The wings, each one made up of individually drawn, amazingly detailed feathers, seemed to lift off the paper, sending the Pokemon into flight. Its eyes displayed an emotion Oak didn't think possible in a mere picture, in just a couple of dots, yet it stared back at him with equal curiosity, pools of light in its fabricated pupils.

The flames running along the back of the Moltres seemed to flicker under the light of the bulb overhead; Oak could visualise them wobbling, curling up towards the air and sending bursts of crimson, yellow and orange in every direction. He had to remind himself, as he examined the drawing, that it was only in black and white.

He handed the drawing back to Tracey, wondering how the boy managed to amaze him time and time again. "Incredible," he praised, exhaling a little. "I wish I could produce more than a 2D sketch!"

Tracey smiled. "I wish I could understand what a Pokemon's thinking just by looking at it," he countered. "That's a much more practical talent."

Oak shrugged. "Either way, that's perfect. Stick it in the folder, and I'll add my own notes later."

Nodding, Tracey set the piece of paper back down, and frowned a little. "Um, Professor... Have you been thinking about that phone call?"

Oak sighed heavily. "Nothing else," he admitted. "It's strange; why would Ash ask me not to involve the police? That's not like him at all."

"Should we tell them anyway?" Tracey suggested.

Oak rubbed his forehead, sucking in air through his teeth. "I don't know," he answered wearily. "I can't see what harm it would do, but he must have had a reason for telling me, especially since he knew he only had a couple of minutes at best."

"It does seem odd," Tracey agreed, "but since he asked, maybe it's best that we listen. Like you said, there must be some explanation for it."

"You're probably right. Though Ash didn't give us much to go on..."

Squeezing his eyes shut in frustration, Oak watched the colours swirl on the insides of his eyelids for a while, and then nodded a little to himself. "Okay. I'll hire a boat, and we'll head out tomorrow. I think I might have a rough idea of where they ended up, based on the area they were last seen and the climate they described on the phone. Unless they went really far, they should be within a certain area of sea, and I know for a fact that many of the islands in that spot are deserted."

Tracey shook his head, smiling. "And you wish you could draw," he muttered, greatly impressed at the Professor's geographical knowledge without even a map at hand. "Are you going to bring anyone else?" he inquired, raising his voice so Oak could hear him clearly.

"I haven't decided yet. Maybe one of the gym leaders nearby, if they're available, but truthfully, more hands on deck probably won't be of much help in this case. In fact, the fewer people, the easier it'll be."

"Right- and we can always bring Pokemon just in case," Tracey added.

"Hm," Oak concurred. "I suppose if all proves fruitless, then we'll contact other people. The most important thing is that we find them."

The two briefly discussed a rough outline of a plan for the rest of the evening, and, discarding their papers on the desk, retired to their rooms as the moon took the sun's place in the now inky sky. Tracey made his quick, nightly phone call to his parents, assuring them as always that he was getting on fine, and that, yes, he was brushing his teeth and saying please and thank you to the Professor. He'd been researching with Oak for more than a year, yet his mother still seemed to be unsure of the answers to her same two questions, even after having asked them countless times and receiving the same reassuring answer.

"Yeah, mom, really, I'm fine." Tracey rolled his eyes to himself as his mother babbled worriedly through the phone. "Yes, I'm still okay since you asked thirty seconds ago. Love you too. Put dad on the line? Yeah, okay. Yeah. G'night."

The boy listened to his mom call up the stairs faintly on the other side of the connection, and the sound of heavy footsteps thudding down the hall. "Hey sport," came his dad's cheery voice. The two had a brief conversation with a much more mutual level of emotion, Tracy feigning interest as his dad talked about an "unbelievable" contest, before wishing each other good night and hanging up.

Looking out of his window, Tracey sat down on the blanketed mattress and let his thoughts drift for a while, away from the dilemma with finding Ash and the others at hand as his eyes took in the blackness of the sky, barely blinking. He let his head fall back on the pillow beneath him, and sank into a disturbed sleep full of blurry faces and distant islands, a strange sort of dread seeping into his dreams.

The air on the island was surprisingly sharp in the early hour of the morning, given the usual stifling climate. Meowth had woken up almost as soon as he'd fallen asleep, and, unable to force himself back into the irregular slumber that left him in a cold sweat each time he awoke with a start, had been spending the last few hours watching the moonlight bounce off the sea. He wasn't one to appreciate such a view normally, but even the cat had to admit that the wobbling shades of silver looked pretty on the dark waves as they smothered the shore.

A hint of a smile creeping onto his face, Meowth thought of his philosophy with Meowsie, how maybe she was staring up at the same moon. It was silly when he thought about it, his strange hope that the Pokemon who'd unknowingly manipulated him into destroying himself was also looking at a big lump of rock in the sky; it didn't seem quite as romantic when he put it literally, but even so, he couldn't push the thought away.

Before long, the sky faded from black to a gentle orange, the sea a fiery reflection of the sun above. The five humans were still lying, asleep, around the dwindling fire, oblivious to the world around them. Meowth had considered waking them up, but decided that he'd take all the peace and quiet he could get a hold of.

After a while, the cat Pokemon heard footsteps behind him, and turned to see Dawn walking in his direction, rubbing her eyes.

"You should have woken us up," she muttered, suppressing a yawn.

"Good morning to you too," Meowth said sarcastically.

"We need to get moving if we want to make any progress," Dawn continued, ignoring his comment. "I'll wake up Ash and Brock- you deal with" (she looked at Jessie and James' sleeping forms with distaste) "those two."

"I hear ya," Meowth mumbled back, reluctantly sliding off the rock he'd been perched on. Whilst Dawn tenderly shook Ash and Broke awake, Meowth trudged over to his team mates, and settled on kicking them gently rather than fury swiping their faces like the previous morning; he didn't feel like facing off against a furious Jessie again.

"Ugh," James groaned, holding his arm up above his forehead so his eyes were shielded from the rising sun. "What time is it?"

"How am I meant to know? Look, we gotta get goin', ya dig?" Meowth told them.

"No, I don't dig," Jessie grumbled, mocking the cat's dialogue. She glanced at the still orange sky, and immediately fell back onto the sand. "Too early," she said dismissively, closing her eyes again. "I'm going back to sleep."

"C'mon Jess," Meowth insisted, tugging at her sleeve. "We're gonna check out da jungle for anyting useful, remember? We've got to go as soon as we can, so we can cover decent ground before it gets dark again."

"And I wish you the best of luck in doing so," Jessie replied, not moving.

"Hey!" Meowth complained. "Since when were you so ready to quit? We gotta move- what if we get lost and den you're by yourself?"

"Then I'll enjoy a lot of undisturbed mornings," Jessie said, but sat up slowly. "Fine," she agreed reluctantly, pushing herself to her feet. "You two will probably get yourselves killed in there without me, anyway."

"Since when has our safety been a concern of yours?" James asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

"Since I figured that if you two die, I'll be reassigned some other whiny partner who I'll have to get used to," Jessie told him, "and that seems like a lot of hassle."

"How considerate of you," James said flatly.

"Oh, you know me- always looking out for you dweebs," Jessie replied.

Meowth grinned. "Dat'll be da day..."

The group made much quicker progress through the jungle than they had the day before, now having Spinarak to lead the way whenever they got lost, or were unsure of which route would be fastest. Meowth- being the only Pokemon present with a suitable move for the task- was given the job of fury swiping any vines or shrubs that got in the way, though after a while, he lost any enthusiasm he might have had for the chore, and only cut through the most unavoidable obstacles.

"Get it together, Meowth!" Jessie snapped as the cat tiredly pawed at a clump of reeds blocking their path. "If you'd just stop being lazy and actually make a straight path for us, we wouldn't have to spend nearly as much time trekking through this stupid jungle!"

"You try constantly swingin' at all dese plants!" Meowth countered. "It's hard woik!"

"I'd do it myself if I was a Pokemon," Jessie snapped back, "but since none of us have extendable claws, we're stuck with you."

"Hey, calm down," Brock interjected warily. "I'm sure Meowth's doing his best to-"

"Since when are you one to talk about bein' lazy?" Meowth questioned, ignoring Brock and glaring at Jessie. "You weren't even goin' to get up dis mornin'!"

"Oh, like you're always keen to make an early start," Jessie said sarcastically. "I can name several occasions where you've held us back with your cat naps!"

"I do all the woik for dis team!" Meowth yelled. "You and Jim would be even bigger failures widout me!"

"Hey!" James protested, about to say something but beaten to it by Jessie, who took a menacing step in Meowth's direction, and reached out to grab him.

"Stop!" Dawn ordered; Jessie and Meowth turned to her, both still scowling. "This isn't helping anyone- we're just wasting time arguing like this."

"She's da one who-"

Meowth stopped mid-sentence, his ear twitching slightly; he frowned in concentration, and gestured for silence from the others. "I hear somethin'," he told them, looking around and apparently no longer interested with his argument with Jessie.

"What?" Ash asked in a hushed tone, looking a little nervous. "A Pokemon?"

"Nah, don't tink so," Meowth said, shaking his head. "Sounds more like... Water."

"Well, it wouldn't be surprising to find a waterfall in this kind of terrain," Brock mused. "Fresh water could be useful, too."

"Which way is it coming from?" Jessie inquired, her expression back to normal and no longer murderous.

Meowth paused for a few seconds, and then extended a paw in front of him. "Dat way."

After following him for a couple of minutes, a raging river came into view, cutting off the path forwards. The water was rushing from right to left at a great speed, a few rocks sticking out but too damp to consider walking on.

"Great," Jessie sighed, folding her arms. "That's just what we need- how are we meant to get any further now?"

Ash picked up a fairly large stick from the ground, and threw it experimentally into the river. It was immediately flung sideways by the power of the current, and smashed against one of the larger rocks so hard that it splintered into pieces. "There's no way we're walking across that," he agreed.

"Yeah," Brock said. "Even if it's fairly shallow, we could still get swept away if we tripped. It's too dangerous to try doing."

"So what, we just turn around and go back to da beach?" Meowth asked.

"That doesn't sound like the worst plan," James nodded, not at all keen to risk knocking himself out a second time.

"Wait- there's got to be another way across," Ash insisted, scratching his head. Spinarak clicked its pincers impatiently, shot a web across the river onto a tree and swung itself across. Once it was on the other side, it tilted its head at the humans as if expecting them to do the same.

"Nice move, but we can't all do that," Dawn told the spider Pokemon, smiling. "Wait there- we'll work something out."

"What about some kind of bridge?" James suggested. "Then we could walk across safely, without having to even touch the water."

"And what do you propose we make that out of?" Jessie questioned. "It's not like we have an abundance of materials to hand."

"We've got trees all around us," James shrugged. "Maybe we could find one that has fallen down, or something."

"That'd be grasping at straws," Dawn chimed in. "Even if we did find a tree that's been knocked down, it might not be long enough, or the timber could have rotted."

"Then let's just cut one down ourselves," Jessie said casually. Everyone turned to face her, bewildered at her seemingly impossible proposition.

"I don't know about you, Jessie, but I don't see many axes lyin' around!" Meowth replied.

"Can't you just fury swipe a tree and get it to fall down?" she suggested. "It's pretty much your only move other than scratch- you should be pretty good at it by now."

"I can't cut down somethin' dat big," Meowth said, ignoring Jessie's snide remark and shaking his head. "Hey, maybe we can just use dat web Spinarak shot out."

"Is it strong enough?" Ash asked, looking unsurely at the string suspended above their heads that stretched over the river.

"Should be- at least, providing we don't all go across at once," Brock confirmed. "It's a fairly strong material, as far as I remember from your Pokedex."

Jessie reached up, and pulled down on the string experimentally, testing its stability and jumping up to see if it could hold her weight. "Seems alright," she said with a nod. "So, are we going to cut one end and swing across, or just pull ourselves along it or what?"

"Maybe if you just walked in the water but held onto the web for support," Dawn proposed. She picked up a stick and prodded at the river, testing how deep the water was. "It's shallow enough to walk in," she announced, "at least if we're careful enough."

"Eh, what's da harm? The woist that can happen is one of us trips and ends up fallin' down some massive waterfall," Meowth said sarcastically. "Well, I guess we can always get Spinarak to help us out with string shot if dat does happen- besides, all youse lugs seem to be indestructable, the amount a times I've seen you fall off some high structure..."

"Okay- let's test this out then, I guess," Ash said warily.

Jessie looked over at James, who smirked back. "Well, where would our manners be if we didn't let the twerps go first?" he said.

"Wherever they've been for the last few years," Dawn muttered.

"Phh- you're a fine one to talk," Jessie countered. "I'm still waiting for a thank you for all that fruit."

"Oh, so all it takes is one act of sympathy and suddenly you're in the clear?" Dawn shot back, crossing her arms.

"I'm not asking to be your friend, twerp," Jessie growled. "I'm asking for a little appreciation."

"That might be easier if you three weren't always getting in our way and trying to steal from us!"

"Hey, uh, little help?"

The two turned to Ash, who had made it halfway across the river by holding onto the string, but had lost his hat in the process, which was now caught on a rock about a metre away from him and perilously close to being washed away.

"Forget the stupid hat!" Meowth sighed with exasperation. "How ya even managed to get it through dat storm is a mystery."

Ash was clearly not very interested in the Pokemon's advice; he was gripping the web with one hand, and, leaning forwards dangerously, stretched out his other arm towards his trademark cap, tongue stuck out in concentration. Water rushed over his shoes, coming up well over his ankles and drenching the portion of his trousers below the knees.

"Nearly... there..." he commentated, his fingertips brushing the fabric as he strained to increase his reach. "Got it!" he cheered triumphantly, grabbing the hat and readjusting it on his head with a grin. And then the web snapped.

"Ash!" Brock and Dawn screeched simultaneously as the boy yelped and collapsed in the river, fumbling desperately for some kind of hand hold as the current tried to drag him along whilst he pathetically still tried to hold the cap onto his head.

"I'm alright!" Ash spluttered as he was stopped by a large rock, and stumbled to his feet again, nearly slipping over in the process. He made his way across the rest of the river in a few hurried footsteps, and sat down on the riverbank, dripping with water and looking like he couldn't care less.

"You idiot..." Dawn tutted, rolling her eyes. She glared at Jessie, James and Meowth, who were sniggering at Ash's display and not trying very hard to hide their amusement.

It was hard to insult the enemy, she mused, when your own team mates did such a good job at being fools.

"Hey, that looks like something."

Cassidy glanced up at her partner's remark, and adjusted the headset that had been resting on the back of her neck for the last few hours.

"Where?" she asked, craning her neck to try and get a better view of the front window.

"Just ahead, a little to the right," Butch responded as he gingerly steered the chopper around so the angle in which it was facing slightly changed. "It looks like an island with a lot of foliage. Jungle or something."

"What, like the last dozen ones we've landed on?" Cassidy snorted. "You've probably been leading us in circles, and we're really just re-visiting the same ones over and over again."

"No way," Butch disagreed, shaking his head irritably. "I've been following the GPS on this thing the whole time."

"Knowing you, you'll still have found a way to screw even that up."

Rather than engage in an argument with his partner, Butch let the comment go, his eye twitching a little as he instead concentrated on moving the helicopter forwards. Since he and Cassidy had managed to steal it from the cops back in the city, he'd adjusted to the previously alien controls, and- although still miles away from being close to a professional pilot- had improved massively, much to the relief of Cassidy, who no longer had to endure the queasiness induced by the chopper's constant swaying.

"Alright- I'm bringing it down," Butch announced, the helicopter hovering directly above the beach of the island. Deep in concentration, he moved the vehicle slowly downwards, doing his best to make the descent a smooth one. Sand was kicked up into the air by the force of the chopper blades as it got close to the ground, creating a miniture, temporary sandstorm. The helicopter, brought down with a little too much force, bounced upwards slightly on impact with the terrain below, but- after rocking forwards slightly- safely came to a halt.

"Well," Cassidy started as Butch turned off the engine, causing the blades above to slow and stop making so much noise, "it was better than the first take off, anyway."

"Hey! I had had next to no experience back then, and the fact that we were being chased by all those officers didn't exactly help," Butch said in his defence, crossing his arms as he stepped out of the chopper and onto the white sand.

"Phew- it's hot," Cassidy noted somewhat unnecessarily, taking off her gloves and discarding them in the vehicle behind her.

"Yeah," Butch nodded, pulling off his black Team Rocket jumper and wiping his palms on his t-shirt. "We should come out here again if the boss ever thinks to give us a vacation."

Cassidy sighed. "I wouldn't hold your breath about that, the way things have been going recently. I swear, those kids are a curse..."

"Eh," Butch said, waving his hand. "We'll shake them off one way or another. Then the boss'll like us just as much as he ever has." He walked along the border of the sea, Cassidy not far behind, scanning the area for signs of life as he moved.

"I don't see a shipwreck," Cassidy pointed out. "How long should we stay here before moving on to some other island?"

"I guess as long as it takes for us to search the whole beach," Butch said.

"Ugh- this is such a pain..." Cassidy groaned, dragging her heels. "Lying down and relaxing on a place like this wouldn't be so bad, but I'm exhausted already. The temperature's way too high- I think I'd pay Wendy just not to do this in hindsight." She frowned as her partner picked something up from the ground; his back was to her so she couldn't get a proper look at the object. "Hey, what did you find?" she queried.

"That's weird," Butch said as he turned around to face her, a coconut in his hand.

"What?" Cassidy prompted.

Butch met her gaze, looking confused. "There's a big pile of fruit here."

AN

SORRY! I really had no idea it would take this long to post a new chapter- I'll do my best to update more frequently once exams are done. I don't blame you if you've forgotten this story existed at all.