Calm. Peace. Bliss.

Three words that summed up the place, heart and soul.

"Of course, heart and soul were the only things left here." Said the Pokemon to itself as it went with the flow.

It soon came to a mountainous region with much fog. Shiny blue crystals were scattered everywhere.

Nearby was a majestic castle, Its first stop. It came to a balcony, where a woman with long blond hair stood and watched and waited, like she had done for so many years and so many years to come.

"Greetings."

She was surprised by It, but barely showed it. Barely.

"Oh, it's you?"

"It is me. Tell me, have you seen your lover and his friend recently?"

"They left this morning for the tree. Do you have business with them?"

"Yes, I do. Although they welcomed death for the sake of others, They are not through with the mortal realm."

She gave the Pokemon a confused look. "But they can only go back if they have some sort of... Oh!"

"Yes. I will see you later." And with that, It stepped into the flow again.

Now it was near a tree. Close to the top, a cloud was floating a few feet above the hillside.

Just what it was looking for.

Laying one the cloud was a man in blue and pokemon about half his height, both in a deep sleep.

"Hello?"

It got now response.

"Wake up, please."

The pokemon stirred slightly, rolled over, and went right on sleeping.

Finally, the pokemon lost it's temper.

"AARON!!! LUCARIO!!! WAKE UP!!!!!!!"

Now they reacted. They jumped, falling through the cloud and landing hard on the ground below.

"Ow..." said Aaron.

/That was not pleasant./ Lucario "said' Telepathically.

"I see you two are awake."

The pair turned to the huge white and gold Pokemon.

"Arceus!!" cried Lucario, getting down on one knee.

Aaron just kept on staring. "God of Pokemon, what do want of us?"

"I have a mission for the two of you..."


In a dark labratory, a man in a suit was talking to a team of scientists. Many had shunken faces. Many others were ghostly pale. Quite a few had both. All had an evil look to their eyes.

"I see you failed to bring Riolu back to us." said a female scientist to the man in the suit.

"Yamino, you idiot!" yelled at male. "Do you realize what kind of rewards that hade to offer if you succeeded!?!"

Another male shivered. "And what kinds of punishments await failure...?"

"Uh... I was aware of that, yes... But it wasn't my fault! See, Hunter J-"

"You actually trusted that wicth? You fool."

"I thought J was one of our most trusted contacts. Why would she..."

"No, It wasn't that either!! There was a young ranger and these three kiddie trainers and they took Riolu back!!!"

The whispers started.

"Three trainers!?"

"And a single ranger!?!"

"All young...?"

Yamino was struggling to get out. "Oh c'mon... What's one Riolu, anyway?"

"That Riolu could use Aura Sphere. I'm sure you were aware of this when you started this assignment?"

"Yeah... But why does the boss want Riolu so badly?"

"I don't know... And with your failure, I wouldn't ask questions. Consider yourself lucky if you see tomorrow."

Then a girl came down. She had curly blonde hair and was dressed in black . On her shirt was a bright red R.

"009!!"

"Geovanni is ready for your report."


It was simply amazing. He had been bored ‘till about a month ago. What a difference it had made just by figuring out why.

Staraptor made to land. Goldenrod City, a place a hustle and bustle. With the Magnet train, Radio tower, and everything going on in between, it was a best spot in the Jhoto region to pick up info.

It was the end of a long flight to get here. Starapter really needed a rest. He would like one himself, but things needed to be done. He returned the giant bird to its ball and headed in to town, his faithful companion and friend on his shoulder.

The first place to go was the Pokemon center.

“Excuse me, Nurse Joy?”

“Yes?”

“Could you take care of my Starapter?”

“Certainly. It does look very tired. Where did you fly from anyway?”

“You knew I was flying?”

“Of course. There are no wounds I can see, so you must have been flying. Beside, Flying types are rarely used for anything else. Just how far did you guys come from, Cherrygrove?”

He blushed, “New Bark.”

“No wonder. Well, I’ll see what I can do. Next time, try to make more stops.”

“Got it.” He was about to walk away when a thought occurred to him. Her ability to tell what a Pokemon had been doing, above average nursing skills, and good use of logic made her a good alley.

“Miss?”

“Yes?”

“Are you related to the Joy in Violet city or Olivine?”

“Your close. My sister works in Azalea, my cousin works in Blackthorn, and my second cousin does live in Violet.”

“Oh. I thought you looked a lot alike.”

His friend on his shoulder, being sharp as a tack, had already dived in to his backpack and was probably writing down notes.

“Do have anything thing else to do here? People never come here just to come to visit the center.”

“Yeah. I just wanted to make sure Starapter was in good hands.”

Second on his list was the police station.

“Hello, young man. What can I do for you?” It was one of the many Officer Jennys.

“I was just wondering something. Is it true that all Team Rocket activities have stopped?”

“It’s true. They were a real problem in this city, but now we can’t find a trace of them.”

Uh-oh. Bad sign.

“They stopped in other regions, too. Very rare.”

Very bad sign.

“Teams Magma, Aqua, Galactic, and even teams in the small regions, like Cipher and the Go-rock squad disappeared.

Worse and worse.

“But the most surprising thing is that Jessie, James, and Meowth aren’t anywhere. They all vanished about two months ago.”

If the persistent trio was gone, something was wrong. That was all there was to it. Only stupid people could believe this was progress.

“They must be changing their ways.”

The world needed smarter people.

“Thanks. I have to be going now.”

“See you around.”

The boy and his Pokemon walked around the city. He had suspected. Now, not only was certain, but the problem proved to even worse than he thought.

“The calm before the storm, eh Pikachu?”

“Pikachu pika!”

“Yeah, I can’t wait for it either.” Ash answered.