Chapter 3

Back at Black Jack’s location, the combination of Team Molten and Ocean were at a disadvantage with two pokemon left while Ash’s team still had five members being able to battle against them. But judging by the appearance and presence of the two pokemon Ross and Maxwell summoned, things were about to get more challenging for Ash and his comrades despite their strength in numbers.

The creature that Ross had summoned up was huge four-legged beast. It had a blue and white fur with a purple cloud-like mane and white patterns on parts of its body. Its appearance was mostly elegant to many. Maxwell had summoned a red bird with flames engulfing on its wings and the rest of its body. The alliance was confident that they would defeat their enemies in order to do what they want with no interference.

They were a distance away from their opponents, Pyro the Typhlosion, Jacky the Hitmonlee, Darkness the Dragonite, Tattoo the Medicham with a steel chair in his paws and Pikachu. They too were battling alongside their human partners and friends Ash, Alice, Keith, and Jerry with their friends standing by the sidelines supporting them. They had high hopes to defeat the opposition to free the hostages.

Standing between them was one of the most sadistic humans to train his pokemon, Black Jack. He volunteered to be the referee knowing that no one, but no one, would have the guts to confront or mess with him. Despite having Team Molten and Ocean as his enemies, he made a promise that if they win he will allow them to do whatever they please. He looked at both sides as they stood their distances, ready to attack… with a couple of exceptions.

“Suicune… and Moltres,” Ash said as he angrily gnarled his teeth and shook his clenched fist. “This must be why Ross and Maxwell never wanted to release them while we were beating the others. They were saving their energies while we were weakening. Why would they allow those two jerks to get them?”

“They can answer that,” Jerry said as he took a pokedex out of his pocket as he surprised by their appearances. “I found these guys in books and I know that Suicune’s known as the legendary North Wind and Moltres is the protector of fire in the Orange Islands. Still, I wanna check if they’re for real.”

Spotting the gadget Jerry was taking out, Ross pointed at him. “Use your Water Gun, Suicune!” he ordered. “At that blond wannabe.”

Suicune quickly shot a gigantic spray of water out of its mouth. Despite the projectile’s great velocity, the battling pokemon managed to jump out of the way in time, as did the humans, hitting one of the rocks behind them and smashing it to pieces. “That was close!” Max said in shock. “That looked more like a Hydro Pump than a Water Gun!”

“But it missed them!” Tracey said.

“She was aiming at me!” Jerry cried fearfully. “Probably doesn’t like to be pointed at or talked about.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that, Jerry,” Ash said suspiciously.

“What do you mean?” Jerry asked.

“You’ll see soon enough.”

Black Jack looked at his enemies’ side, also with a suspicious mind. His train of thoughts was interrupted when he sensed a metal object was flying towards him yet he made no move. The chair flew past him and towards Suicune, courtesy of the suicidal Medicham.

“Suicune, counter with your Ice Beam,” Ross ordered with confidence.

Suicune obeyed as she opened her mouth. A blue energy ball formed inside it, powering up her attack until it was strong enough for her to blast out a huge beam of ice at the chair, stopping the flying chair in its tracks while totally covering it in ice, making it fall harshly to the ground.

“Ice Beam again,” Ross commanded confidently.

“Moltres, take flight and use your Flamethrower,” Maxwell ordered, also being confident.

Suicune shot out another blue icy beam while Moltres flapped his fiery wings, flying off into the sky before blasting out a stream of flame out of his beak.

“Dodge!” all of their opponents yelled.

Their pokemon did as they were commanded as they simultaneously dodged the attack, barely, making the attack hitting ground causing a huge explosion. The force of the explosion not only knocked down the battling pokemon on Alice’s side but a bunch of sand came flying from the sandy ground after the hit and on top of them. They covered their eyes to avoid getting blinded by the small grains, as did their human friends.

Afterwards, Tattoo quickly dashed towards one of his opponents, grabbing the ice covered steel chair in the process, with deep desire to smash it over anyone’s head. This time, he tossed his weapon towards Moltres’s head but missed as Moltres moved out of the way, making the chair fell and crashed on the ground.

Not caring whether it hit the flaming bird or not, he now focused his concentration on the serene beast. He attempted to do his Hi jump Kick attack as he leapt into the air and then aimed his foot at Suicune, diving in her direction. Upon her master’s command to use Headbutt, Suicune also leapt into the air, dodging the Medicham’s attack and slamming her head on his gut with a great force, sending him flying.

Tattoo felt a great deal of pain in his gut when he was sent airborne. With his eyes closed, he expected to harshly crash onto the ground but only felt a furry arm wrapped around him, stopping him from falling. He opened his eyes and found himself caught by Pyro, Alice’s Typhlosion. “Great catch, Pyro!” Alice cried while the other pokemon ran towards the enemy.

“(You can’t do this alone, pal),” the Typhlosion growled as he released him before running towards

Tattoo looked up, seeing Darkness, the only pokemon flying, going up against Moltres. He looked back at both Alice and Keith, and pointed at the airborne pokemon. They both nodded, understanding and agreeing to Tattoo’s plan. “Go for it,” Keith said.

“Pyro!” she yelled to her pokemon while Tattoo ran towards him. “Throw Tattoo over to Darkness!”

The Typhlosion looked up towards Darkness flying towards Moltres. With hope and determination, he looked down, grabbed Tattoo and tossed as hard as he could in the air.

“Darkness! Get ready to catch Tattoo! ” Keith called towards his black Dragonite.

Darkness looked down at Tattoo being launched into the air. Seeing that the Medicham had a plan in mind, he swooped down in order to catch him.

“Moltres, use your Flamethrower on that pitiful dragon,” Maxwell ordered relaxingly.

The fire covered bird obeyed as he opened his beak, forming a fireball inside before blasting a huge lick of flame aiming at Darkness. “Darkness! Look out!” Keith yelled warningly with shock.

Darkness turned towards the fiery attack, and immediately yet barely moved out of the way. “Tattoo!” Keith yelled. “He’s falling!”

Darkness looked around and quickly spotted him falling towards the ground. Knowing how much damage the ground could do after falling a great he zoomed in his direction.

“So much fun,” Maxwell said. “Moltres, use your Flamethrower again.”

Moltres shot out another blast of flame at Darkness. “Keep your eye on Tattoo,” Keith commanded. Obeying and trusting his human friend and trainer he kept his eyes on the scarred Medicham, while Keith kept his eye on the incoming blaze. “Fly to your right!” he yelled as he saw the attack coming towards the Dragonite’s left wing from above.

At the last second, Darkness moved to his right while still keeping his focus on his falling partner while diving towards him at the speed of a shot out cannonball, narrowly missing the blazing scorch. He successfully grabbed Tattoo and held him against his chest.

“Good work, Darkness!” Keith yelled while everyone sighed with relief.

“Keith, I think the Team Molten leader was playing with ya,” Jerry said noticeably.

“He’ll regret that by wasting Moltres’s energy,” Keith said. “You should keep your focus on your part of the battle.”

“I got no problem with dat,” Jerry said as he looked back. “Look how many guys we got here.”

“Don’t get so overconfident, Jerry,” Ash said bitterly. “Suicune’s more than just some everyday pokemon you see in forests.”

They looked at Suicune, Ross’s water beast, being surrounded by their pokemon, Pyro, Jacky and Pikachu. The three pokemon stalked and slowly walked around her while Ross waited for them to attack. “There’s no use stalling,” Ross said smugly. “Afraid of what this beast can do?”

“Pikachu!” Ash yelled. “Use your…”

“Wait a sec, Ash,” Jerry said suddenly. “I’ll go first. Let me try to find the weak spot at least. After all, I’m not the best trainer ever.”

Alice and Ash turned their attention to their friend, upset. “Jerry…” Alice said worriedly. “Are you…?

“Don’t degrade yourself like that, Jerry,” Ash said. “I’ve won a couple of championships but that doesn’t mean I’m the best trainer either. I still got a lot of things to learn too, you know.”

Jerry looked down, understanding what Ash meant. “Still, I don’t know if I’m going to get knocked out of this battle… but at least le me try to do something. Jacky! Use your Mega Punch attack!”

Jacky ran towards the blue beast, aiming his clenched fist towards her face. “Jerry!” Alice cried. “Don’t attack straight on!”

“Suicune, use your Water Gun,” Ross ordered.

“Jacky! Slide down! Change the attack into a sliding Low Kick!” Jerry yelled.

Suicune quickly blasted out a huge jet of water out of her mouth but Jacky quickly slid down to the ground, aiming his strong feet towards one of his opponent’s forelegs. “Got ‘em!” Jerry said triumphantly.

But Suicune saw it coming and lifted up her left foreleg, much to Jacky’s and Jerry’s surprise, and slammed it on the Hitmonlee’s gut when he slid under it, knocking some air out of his body. “Ice Beam, Suicune,” Ross said.

“Jacky’s in trouble!” Alice cried when she saw Suicune forming a ball of energy in her opened mouth, aiming down on the helpless fighter. “We got to help!”

“Pikachu! Thunderbolt attack!” Ash commanded, pointing at the opposition.

“Let’s go, Pyro!” Alice yelled. “Mega Punch!”

The electric rodent ran towards them and leapt into the air before yelling out his battle cry, releasing a powerful stream of electricity towards the beast while the fiery monster ran towards Suicune.

“Suicune, Mirror Coat against that Thunderbolt,” Ross ordered, still confident in himself and his pokemon. “It’s coming from your right.”

The majestic looking Suicune quickly withdrew her Ice Beam attack and looked at the direction of the attack and her eyes glowed energetically while a barrier formed around her. The bolt struck the barrier but the defence move deflected the move as it bounced back towards Pikachu, who quickly moved out of the way. “Now use Ice Beam,” Ross said.

Suicune’s eyes stopped glowing while the barrier slowly disappeared simultaneously. She quickly shot out her Ice Beam attack but the Typhlosion ducked underneath and his tightly clenched paw viciously slammed her face from underneath, knocking her upwards and off Jacky’s stomach, much to Ross’s shock.

Jacky leapt up to his feet, ready to fight with Pyro and Pikachu standing beside him. “Looks like we done some big damage,” Jerry said smugly.

Suicune’s back was turned away after being given a hefty punch to the face. She slowly turned around, showing that she was unfazed, let alone hurt or bruised. “No way!” Alice said in shock. “But… that Mega Punch.”

Ross let out a small titter. “I may have underestimated you,” he said. “But as you can see, it takes more than just your pitiful punch to stop my Suicune.”

“Huh, no matter what it takes, or what your plan is, I know one thing about YOUR Suicune, Ross,” Ash said loudly. “That’s why I’m going to go all out.”

“Darn right!” Jerry yelled, agreeing with Ash. “We’re gonna knock the taste out of their arrogant mouths!”

Kenzo, one of the trainers who was eliminated courtesy of Pikachu’s Thunderbolt, was confused about Ash’s statement. “Ross’s Suicune?” he said. “What is he on about?”

“I think he may be onto something, monsieur Kenzo,” Pierre said. Despite also being eliminated, he still remained in his calm state. “I also think that monsieur Ross is hiding something about Suicune.”

While they discussed, Ruth of Team Ocean couldn’t help but glare nastily at the opposing team after her defeat. “Those people and their pokemon… they have no guts… nothing but cowards,” she grumbled angrily before looking up at the airborne pokemon and Tattoo battling in the air.

Both Keith’s Dragonite, Darkness, and Maxwell’s Moltres were blasting out their Dragonbreaths and Flamethrowers while avoiding each other’s attacks upon their trainers’ commands with Tattoo holding on to Darkness’s back. Tattoo’s eyes focussed on Moltres as he thought up a plan to help beat the flaming bird.

Soon, he found himself at a distance when Darkness flew above Moltres. He jumped on his partner’s head and then leapt off, falling down about fifteen feet before safely landing on top of Moltres’s back, much to surprise of everyone, especially Keith and Maxwell.

“What’s this?” Maxwell asked bewilderedly.

“What is he, Ariados-man?” Keith said also confused with surprised.

The suicidal Medicham began pummelling on the enemy’s back with his bare paws, attempting to put a hurting on him, or at least distract him but Moltres wasn’t feeling any affect. “Moltres, shake him off!” Maxwell ordered gruffly.

As he was told to do, Moltres frantically tried to shake him off but Tattoo wrapped his arms tightly around the bird’s neck, hanging on for dear life and attempted to choke the air out of him. Almost everyone on Keith’s side looked on in fear for the sacrificing Tattoo. “Keith,” Black Jack murmured to himself, noticing what he was attempting to do. “It’s now or never.”

“Keith,” Tracey said worriedly. “You’re not going to…”

“It’s going to a waste if I don’t,” Keith said determinedly, knowing what kind of damage it would have on his partner yet he had no choice. “Darkness! Hyper Beam attack! Full power!”

Darkness also knew the dangers of using this move when his team mate was holding onto the enemy. Seeing no other way, he glowed vigorously, charging up his powers. It took a long moment until he was at full power. He blasted a huge energy beam out of mouth, aiming towards Moltres.

“Moltres,” Maxwell shouted. “Dodge the beam.”

Moltes quickly turned his attention to the attack heading his way at blinding speed. “No way he’s going to dodge that in time,” Keith said with confidence.

Suddenly, Moltres barely moved out of the way, much to the astonishment of everyone standing in this battlefield, spectator and battler alike but with the exception of a few people.

Referee Black Jack was one of them. “[I know there’s something weird about that Moltres],” he thought to himself. “[A lot of the time, people and pokemon would lose focus when being choked. And legendary pokemon are no exception].”

“No way!” Keith yelled in disbelief after seeing the attack missing its target.

“But… Moltres was being choked!” Christie yelled.

“Something’s wrong here,” Brock said suspiciously.

“I agree,” Oak said. “With the speed of that Hyper Beam and being distracted by that choke hold, there was no way Moltres would be able to dodge that.”

In the air, Darkness was also in disbelief after seeing his energy beam missing Moltres. He was also low in energy and tired after blasting out his most powerful attack as he heavily breathed in and out, while flapping his wings keeping himself in the air.

Tattoo still maintained locking onto the neck, still attempting to choke the air, and if possible life, out of the legendary firebird while Moltres was still trying to shake him off. “Now, Moltres,” Maxwell commanded. “While that Dragonite is weakened, use your Flamethrower.”

“[No way that’s possible],” Black Jack thought, knowing that most fire types would breath fire from their stomachs, which needs to go through the throat before coming out of the mouth or, in Moltres’s case, beak.

But to more of his suspicion, a ball of energy formed inside Moltres’s beak, almost ready to shoot Darkness with it.

“Gah!” Keith grunted. “Darkness, try to get out of the way!”

Knowing what was going to happen, Tattoo quickly released his grip and began to leap onto the bird’s head. “What is he doing?” Keith asked himself.

“Don’t tell me…” Black Jack mumbled with narrowed eyes.

“Fire!” Maxwell ordered quickly, just before Tattoo leapt off Moltres’s head.

“He’s committing suicide!” Black Jack yelled noticeably after seeing what he saw; Tattoo, in a nick of time to save Darkness, got in front of Moltres before getting hit and burned by the flame attack the flaming bird blasted.

That caused an explosion upon impact on Tattoo’s body, in front Moltres’s face, much to the shock of those fighting with Alice. The suicidal Medicham fell from the smoke, unable to move after taking a direct and hefty hit from the legendary bird. “Tattoo’s in trouble!” Keith yelled. “Darkness! Help him!”

Darkness quickly swooped down and successfully caught his comrade, seconds before he was about hit the ground, much to everyone’s relief. He slowly laid him on the ground while Black Jack walked over to Tattoo and checked on him. He lifted up his wrist to see if he could feel his pulse.

Somewhat normal.

Black Jack checked on his heart, placing his hand on his chest.

Beating slowly. Normal.

Black Jack checked on his breathing, holding his hand near his mouth.

Breathing small breaths. Normal.

“Tattoo, can you hiss for me?” Black Jack asked.

No response. This meant that he was unconscious. “Tattoo’s unable to battle,” Black Jack announced. “He’s eliminated.”

He lifted Tattoo up, hoisting him onto his shoulder before walking off the battlefield. “Get on with it,” he ordered as he continued walking while Darkness looked on.

“Darkness, behind you!” Keith warned towards his Dragonite.

Darkness quickly turned around, seeing a huge blue energy blast coming his way at high speed. “Fly away now!” Keith yelled.

His Dragonite quickly flapped his wings to take off but it was too late. The beam connected, hitting him in one of his wings, freezing it completely. Keith snarled a small curse after finding that Suicune was the one blasting out her Ice Beam attack after knocking down three of her opponents when they were distracted by the explosion. “That was a cheap shot, Ross!” he yelled angrily.

“I don’t get the reason why you left to team up with Black Jack… the guy who is so gutless that he backed out of this match so he could be the referee,” Ross said back while Black Jack placed Tattoo down. “It doesn’t matter. Because we’re gonna knock all your pokemon out so bad that he will have no choice but to make you all lose out.”

Black Jack looked at his direction sternly. “I chose to be the referee because no one, let alone you, have the balls to yell at me. Ruth is stupid enough to go against me,” he said.

Ruth growled and her eyes showed anger when he mentioned that.

“I don’t intend to lift a finger unless you make me do it,” Black Jack continued. “Because the guys on Ash’s team are more than a match to you. Now get on with it!”

“With pleasure,” Maxwell said with a sly smirk on his face. “Moltres, use your Hyper Beam!”

“Fly away now, Darkness!” Keith yelled in desperation.

Unfortunately, his pokemon wasn’t able to. As much as he struggled, his frozen wing was completely stiff, making him unable to fly. His team mates tried to help him but Suicune held them back while hurting them with her constant projectile attacks. “(Damn)!” Darkness growled, cursing his bad luck while looking back at the Hyper Beam, coming straight towards him.

An explosion occurred upon the thunderous impact, much to the delight of the leaders of Team Moten and Ocean. Keith shut his eyes close in shame and disappointment, knowing what the outcome would be. He opened his eyes while the smoke cleared, now seeing Jacky, now appeared to have bruises all over his body, arms and all, much to everyone’s shock.

“Jerry…” Alice said in shock. “How did Jacky…?”

“I knew Jacky would come and help Darkness out!” Jerry said. “Better than that, he withstood that Hyper Beam!”

Jacky laughed triumphantly pointing at the opposition. “(I, Jacky the great Hitmonlee),”he yelled. “Trained by the master of all masters, Chan the invincible Blaziken, has endured your most powerful attack! In return, I will…)”

He stopped before he could say another word for a brief moment. He suddenly collapsed to the floor face first. “Jacky’s unable to battle,” Black Jack announced with a dull face, pointing at the knocked out pokemon. Despite that Jacky was unconscious, he was slightly twitching.

“Oh man!” Jerry said, returning Jacky back into his pokeball. “You did your best, bud.” He made his pokeball small before placing back in his pocket. “Get’m guys! Show them what you’re made of!”

“[Jacky and Jerry sacrificed themselves to save us],” Keith thought in amazement as he looked at the blond underdog. “[He knows that Darkness is injured but he has faith in me and him. I’m not gonna let that sacrifice be in vain].”

“Pyro! Thunderpunch!” Alice commanded pointing at Suicune.

The flaming monster powered up his clenched paws with electric powers, and tried to slam them onto the blue beast but to no avail as Suicune kept on dodging them.

“Pikachu! Thunderbolt her!” Ash ordered.

Pikachu yelled out his battle cries, blasting out electric bolts towards the same enemy but they were also being missed.

“Moltres, shoot out your Flamethrowers on that pitiful dragon!” Maxwell ordered.

“Dodge them, Darkness! Run and tackle down that Suicune!” Keith yelled knowing that his dark Dragonite will be unable to fly momentarily until the ice melts.

The firebird blasted out a large number of flame attacks, aiming towards Darkness but they hit nothing but the ground, causing big explosions upon impact while Darkness dodged each one. He kept on running in Suicune’s direction.

“[Thanks, guys],” Keith thought to himself when Pyro and Pikachu led Suicune to jump in front of one of the rocks. “Now, Darkness! Slam her!”

“(Got her in the ropes),” Darkness growled as he, the black Dragonite, aimed his body in Suicune’s direction, attempting to slam her into the rocks after she got distracted by the electric attacks.

She quickly looked at Darkness coming her way. With just millimetres away, she dodged the attack by quickly jumping into the air upon her master’s command making him inadvertently crash into the rocks. They crumbled into a large heap all over his body.

“Now’s our chance, Pikachu!” Ash yelled. “Thunderbolt!”

“Flamethrower, Pyro!”

Both of their pokemon shot out respective attacks, attempting to blast and defeat her once and for all. The attacks collided on impact causing a big explosion. Ash and his team were confident that Suicune was knocked out. As much as they hated to hurt a pokemon so badly, they had no choice but to do so.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Ash said, sensing that something was wrong.

A huge energy beam came shooting out of the smoke, heading towards one of the heroes’ pokemon at blinding speed, with no pokemon able to protect each other at this point. “Darkness! Look out!” Alice yelled fearfully.

But Darkness, feeling rather weak and hurt after getting damaged he received in this battle, was struggling to get himself out of the rubble. He slowly turned his head around after hearing what Alice cried out, and what he saw next was a huge energy beam coming his way.

The beam clashed on him with raw force, causing another explosion and Darkness to scream in pain. Everyone covered their eyes to avoid getting the dust and dirt in their eyes while Maxwell and Ross looked on with smirks on their faces. While the dust cleared, everyone looked back on the battlefield with Darkness lying unconsciously on impacted ground where the Hyper Beam hit.

“Keith... Darkness...” Alice said worriedly.

“Damn,” Ash muttered, not happy with the outcome of the attack while Suicune landed on her feet.

Keith gnarled his teeth as he glared angrily at Ross, his former boss, while returning Darkness back into his pokeball. “You did your best, pal,” he said to the pokeball.

“Darn!” Max yelled in shock. “We took out three of their guys when it was five against three. But now after those leader showed off their legendary pokemon, they had been dominating us! Sure, it’s two-on-two now, but it’s hardly a levelled playing field!”

“I know,” Christie said. “This is bad. They thought they had all the advantage but now…”

“You see?” Ross said arrogantly. “Traitors and other cretins like you are no match for me. Not even the great Black Jack can beat me.”

“Current and future pokemon masters?” Maxwell said also being arrogant. “We made you look like novices.”

Ash still had the look of anger on his face while Alice’s eyes showed fear after seeing three of their partners get beaten by two rare and very powerful pokemon. Black Jack looked at their direction and noticed that they were now losing focus. The bodies of their pokemon showed they had taken several damages, thanks to Suicune. They were both breathing heavily, trying to gain a small rest and energy.

“[Don’t listen to them, kids],” Black Jack thought. “[They’re trying to psyche you out. Stay focussed].”

Alice looked back at his uncle. Though she can’t his eyes because of his sunglasses, she felt deep within her mind and heart that he’s encouraging her in silence. She smiled as she clenched her fist, feeling her confidence and the will to win growing back. “Ash,” she said catching his attention. “I got an idea.”

Ash nodded and lowered his head towards her while she whispered in his ear. He nodded a couple of times while he listened intently. “Got it,” he said with a smile. They both smiled nastily, looking back at the opposition.

Maxwell showed suspicion but Ross was still confident. “It doesn’t matter what plans you got,” Ross said. “Maxwell and I will crush you like nuts.”

“We’ll see about that,” Alice said, this time putting on an evil face. “Pyro! Run and hit Suicune with your Flame Wheel attack!”

“[An evil looking face]?” Black Jack thought to himself. “[That’s my trademark look, isn’t it]?”

The Typhlosion looked back at his trainer, also with a small smirk before putting his focus on the battle. On his four legs, he ran towards the blue beast at high speed while a ball of flame engulfed around him.

“Suicune… Hydro Pump,” Ross said, thinking that it was now a good time to finish this match once and for all. Blue energy surrounded the blue elegant beast showing that she was charging up her power while Pyro kept on running towards her.

“Hey! Don’t attack up ahead!” Jerry yelled in shock.

“Too late!” Keith said.

Suicune opened her mouth, shooting out a mighty blast of water at Pyro.

“Now’s our chance!” Ash yelled. “Pikachu! Volt Tackle now!”

“What!?” Ross yelled in a displeasing shock.

The Hydro Pump connected with the Flame Wheel attack, causing an explosion. Pikachu dashed towards Suicune at the speed of sound with a strong electric power surging around him. He was so fast that no one, not even a legendary pokemon could catch up with him. Close enough for the move to connect with great accuracy, he leapt and ferociously slammed his body right into Suicune’s neck... and through it.

Pikachu’s powered up body ripped a hole inside her neck, going inside before slamming through the back of the neck and ripping her head off, much to the shock of almost everyone while the rest of the body collapsed to the floor.

“Pikachu...” Christie said fearfully. “He just ripped Suicune’s head off!”

“Ash!” Max yelled angrily and disapprovingly. “Why did... hey, wait a minute...”

His expression turned into puzzlement when he and the others saw something falling out of Suicune’s dismembered head before it fell to the floor in front of Black Jack. He looked down and saw some bolts and other pieces of scrap sticking out. “As I thought,” he said tonelessly. “It’s a robot.”

“You mean... after all this time people are saying that Suicune’s a legend, it has been actually a robot?” May said in shock.

“It’s a fake Suicune, May!” Max shouted in an annoyed way. “Couldn’t you tell the difference!?”

“You couldn’t!” May yelled back.

“As I thought,” Black Jack said with a smirk on his face as he picked up the robot’s head and observed it closely. Somehow, he knew that the Suicune was a robot all along, which also explained why he wasn’t shocked when Pikachu destroyed it. He arrogantly looked at Ross, who was so shocked and displeased. “Let me guess, not insured, right?”

“This… cannot be…” Ross said in dismay. “How could this happen?”

“I had a feeling that there’s something wrong with that Suicune,” Ash said. “There’s no way that you could get her to follow you around. If memory serves correctly, she’s one of the legendary pokemon that helps protect the planet, not destroy it.”

“No pokemon would follow villains like you around!” Alice yelled.

“[Alice, you took one look at me and somehow you gained your confidence there],” Black Jack thought noticeably. “[Not to mention figuring out why I wasn’t so shocked when I first saw them. Ash is right, every legendary pokemon we know would never dream of damaging their home planet].”

“Moltres! Sky Attack on that rodent!” Maxwell yelled suddenly, using the distraction against his opponents. The firebird engulfed himself in flames while glowing brightly before he quickly dived down, aiming his beak towards his target Pikachu.

“Pikachu! Watch out!” Ash yelled in desperation. Pikachu turned around, seeing Moltres dashing down towards him. There was nothing he could do except defend himself. He held his paws up, ready to receive the impact.

Suddenly, a steel chair fell and crashed on top of Moltres’s head, crushing it to the ground and smashing it into pieces of nuts and bolts, courtesy of Pyro who was standing on top of the chair. Moltres was no longer moving, much to Maxwell’s dismay. Almost everyone was shocked that this Moltres was a robot too.

“(This one’s for Tattoo, mate),” Pyro growled bitterly as he stepped off the chair.

Black Jack held up two fingers. “Suicune and Moltres are out of the game and Team Molten and Ocean are out of useable pokemon,” he announced. “Ash’s team wins.”

“Did it!” Ash yelled triumphantly as he raised his fist up high into the air and everyone cheered for joy except for their opponents.

Black Jack lowered his sunglasses down, giving his enemies a death-threatening look. “And you know what that means,” he said with a smirk.

Ross slowly stepped. “Everyone! Retreat!” he yelled. Everyone from Team Molten and Ocean ran to their vehicles and entered them.

For Ocean, they were using their car to get away. The driver started to drive but for some reason, they were not moving. “What’s going on here?” Ross yelled angrily. He turned around and saw Tyranitar and Feraligatr grabbing hold of the back of the car with their strong claws. They then heard some glass bashing from the front of the car and turned into that direction. They saw Nidoking slamming his head into the windscreen before shattering to pieces. “(Here’s Spiky)!” Nidoking roared in a manically playful manner, which made Team Ocean scream in fear.

Team Molten tried to get away using their helicopter. “Pilot! Start flying!” Maxwell yelled. A man in a red cap with scruffy hair showed his face.

“Who to, pally?” he said with a cheesy grin.

“Wait a minute! You’re not our pilot!” Maxwell yelled.

“Isaac Wolfpack, Orre Pack member. Don’t bother finding us because we’re not available for servicing at the moment.” the man said while several police officers arrived on the scene. “Please leave an appointment after you get out of this predicament,” he continued sarcastically.

Outside the vehicles, Black Jack looked around seeing the pokemon and people his friends and associates had saved. They all rejoiced after being saved and for some, a job well done. He was mostly disappointed when he saw a bunch of police officers arriving on the scene. “That detective Stevens,” he moaned, knowing that Stevens was a member of authority. “I wanted to have some fun here.”

“Ash! Ash!” a woman cried. Ash’s attention was caught as he turned to the direction that the person was calling from. It was Misty, who he dearly missed for many days after her kidnap. She was running to him with tears of joy in her eyes.

“Misty!” he yelled happily as he started doing the same.

They ran closer and closer to each other. Close enough for Misty to slap him in the face, knocking him down. Ash was shocked by this sort of action as he placed his hand on his hurt cheek. “Misty…” he said. “Wha…?

“That’s for not saving me!” she yelled angrily.

Ash looked down in shame, still remained seated. “Misty…” he said guiltily. “I REALLY wanted to save you, but…”

He felt a soft hand touching his, where the hurt cheek was. He looked up and saw a sad yet happy look on her face. Her eyes showed sadness after what she did to him, the smile was for another reason. “And this is for thinking, worrying and caring so much about me,” she said softly as she closed her and moved her head towards Ash’s while he did the same until their lips touched. The kiss was light with passion.

Tracey and May couldn’t help but look in their direction. “It looks like Ash has really grown a lot in the past five years,” Tracey said noticeably.

“Yeah,” May said solemnly seeing how happy Ash was with Misty.

Everyone was rejoicing, apart from Bluesky, who couldn’t help but look at Aurora celebrating with her friends and family. He mentally asked himself where would he go from there that now he found his mother and long lost friend. That and much more questions.

While Alice, Keith and Jerry observed, one by one, each member of both criminal organisations were being arrested, handcuffed and placed into vans. “Okay,” one of the officers said while Ross and Ruth were being handcuffed. “That should be all of them.”

Ross knocked the officers away before he could get handcuffed. He grabbed one of their guns before looking at the teenagers. “You think you can get away with it?” he snarled. “You think I’m going to let you get away with that? Think again!”

He quickly aimed the gun at Alice, much to Keith’s and Jerry’s shock, and shot out a bullet. Both Keith and Jerry reacted at the same time. Keith tackled Alice down while Jerry dived taking the bullet in the chest, spewing some red liquid out of it. The small furry red dogs, Growlithes, which belonged to the police, ran and tackled Ross down.

Everyone reacted to the gunshot sound in shock. They ran into the scene, seeing Ross being held down by the Growlithes, Keith picking Alice up after tackling her down and Jerry lying on the floor with red liquid on the chest where he was shot.

“Jerry!” Alice yelled sadly. “He’s hurt!”

Jerry let out a small moan. “Somebody! Get the ambulance!” Ash yelled.

“Don’t bother, Ash,” Jerry moaned, struggling to get to his feet.

“Jerry, you’re hurt!” Ash shouted, angry at Jerry’s stubbornness.

“Hurt? I’m not hurt,” he said as got to his feet, standing like a healthy person who wasn’t hurt. “Probably something I ate.”

“But the bullet…” Alice said in puzzlement.

“Oh, that!” Jerry said as he placed his hand inside his t-shirt through his neck collar. “I got an inner-pocket in my t-shirt,” he continued as he took out a small notebook with steel covers. “I was looking for a notebook when the boss took me in. I chose this one because it looked cool… I never thought it’s gonna be a life saver,” he finished gleefully.

“[I guess he’s got his luck streak],” Black Jack thought theoretically.

“But that blood…” Cassandra said, also puzzled.

“Blood?” Jerry said before looking at his notebook. The cover was smeared with a red splat and he had a look of displeasure on his face. “Tell me it’s not what I think it is,” he said with quiver in his voice as he reached into his inner pocket, this time he took out a ripped and ruined packet of tomato ketchup. It turned out that the sauce covered his t-shirt and book when the bullet hit him.

He shook, trying to breath after he saw the ruined packet. Not able to take in the horrendous moment, he fainted. Everyone, except Misty who was confused, let out a small moan, thinking how ridiculous it was to have a breakdown over a small packet of ketchup. “What’s wrong with him?” she asked.

“He’s obsessed with food,” Black Jack said simply in a dull tone.

“I’ll get all of you if it’s the last thing I do!” Ross yelled whilst being dragged away by the police. “You’ll never get away from me! This isn’t over by a long shot!”

While being handcuffed, she used her body knock the police officers away before storming towards Black Jack and kicking him in the gut. It only had little to no effect on Black Jack. He narrowed his eyes at her before looking away in shame. “I wish you hadn’t done that,” he said. “But then again… I’m kinda glad you did.”

He quickly turned around kicked her right in the face, knocking her down. He let out small groan out of pain while shaking her head to shake away the dizziness. “This isn’t over, Black Jack,” she snarled. “Just remember who just kicked you in the stomach!”

“Idiot,” Black Jack grunted. He knew that she was blaming him for her loss.

“Right,” one of the officers said, dusting his hands after shoving Ruth into the van. “That’s all of them.”

“Wait a minute,” Alice said. “Where are Pierre and Kenzo?”

“Who?” the officer asked.

“The French and Japanese guys,” Mecha said as he walked towards them. “They’re members of Team Molten.”

“Don’t tell me they’ve escaped?!” Alice said in disbelief.

“Via remote control I see,” Mecha said. They both let out a small, annoyed sigh; not knowing what ideas those villains will come up with. “Even though Tyranitar told me that they beaten up their pokemon, I bet they had some gadgets attached to them that helped them escape.”

“Do not worry,” the officer said. “We’ll keep an eye out for them.”

“Yeah, let’s not worry about them...” Alice said.

While everyone rejoiced and celebrated, Black Jack couldn’t help but look at a nearby tree branch. He sensed that a pokemon with a strong presence with power was just resting there, taking off just before he could see who it was. “Something wrong, Black Jack?” Ash asked, noticing something suspicious.

Black Jack didn’t turn his attention to him. “It’s nothing,” he replied simply yet suspiciously.


At a forest, not far from Black Jack’s location, a black bird with a yellow beak and talons, known as a Murkrow, was flying towards the deep part of his destination. A purple fathered Blaziken looked up into the sky and spotted him flying down. “(Raven has returned, master),” he growled.

A human hand reached out from the shadows, allowing Raven, the Murkrow to safely land on it. “Welcome, Raven,” he said in casual tone. “Unlike some other spies, you never get shot.”

Raven whispered to the shadowed figure, who let out a small laugh. “It seems to me that he’s got time now,” he said. “Hmhmhmhm...”


What’s with this guy? Has he been spying on Black Jack for some time? What does this guy want? Find out next episode.
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More coming! Reviews please!