"...Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me. Right. Now?! PIKACHU, STOP THAT ICE BEAM WITH THUNDERBOLT!" Ash hollered at the top of his lungs. An equally furious Pikachu, with his cheeks sparking, jumped off his shoulder towards the multiple beams of light blue energy that were being fired at a stunned Serena and Serenity.

"PIKA-CHUUUUUU!" he shouted as he shot out a bolt of electricity from his body. The Thunderbolt and Ice Beam collided in midair, creating a massive explosion.

"Serena, get out of here! We can handle it!" Ash exclaimed urgently while he and Kevin grabbed a Pokeball from their belt. They pressed on the white buttons to enlarge them.

"Squishy, let's go! 50% Forme!" Bonnie yelled out viciously.

"Champ..." Kevin started.

"Charizard..." Ash said simultaneously.

"I choose you!" they both finished together, throwing their Pokeballs forward. They opened up in front of Serena and Serenity, revealing Charizard and a red Gyarados wearing a blue headband containing a Gyaradosite around his forehead. They let out a massive roar as the Lizard Pokemon fired a Flamethrower up in the air. Squishy jumped out of Bonnie's bag and started to glow green, with streams of green light entering his body. Serenity flinched from seeing Charizard, almost as if she had seen a ghost.

'You...' she growled angrily. After a few seconds of staring down the back of Charizard, Serenity suddenly felt a tap on her head.

"You'll get what you rightfully deserve. Just not now. We should get going." Serena said calmly. Serenity mentally sighed before nodding and flying away from the scene as fast as she could. Before they were out of view, Serena glanced towards Ash with a blush on her face.

"...Thank you...Ash." she muttered quietly. Squishy had just finished transforming into his 50% Forme and was standing next to Charizard. Once the dust cleared, everyone saw a serious Dragonite flying in the air. A tall, thin man sat on his back, glancing down at them with a neutral expression. He had bright scarlet red spiky hair, pale skin, and dark eyes and wore a medieval-looking navy blue tunic with red-orange trim and the cuffs of his long sleeves being black with orange zigzagging trim separating them from the navy blue part, a brown belt around his waist, large black boots with two orange rings around the top of each one, and a long, flowing cape which was black on the outside and red on the inside around his neck.

"...OK, Lance, you seriously need to chill out. No pun intended." Kevin stated sternly. Champ glared viciously at Dragonite, causing him to become nervous for a split second.

"Yeah, the same can be said for basically everyone else who is trying to kill Serena." Ash added, clearly annoyed by this point. Charizard grunted in agreement. At first, Lance didn't respond. With a nod from his trainer, Dragonite flew down and landed on the ground, making it shake a little bit. Lance got off, never taking his eyes away from the group.

After a brief staredown, he calmly said one word: "...Talk." The trio and their Pokemon were completely caught off guard.

"HUH?!" they shouted in unison. Lance and Dragonite couldn't help but smirk.

"Come on, Ash, Kevin. You two, part of an evil organization? Please. I know you better than this. Red would never let his sons become criminals. Plus, you two, combined, have saved the world more times than I'd like to count. And Diantha spoke highly of you and Greninja after the Kalos League. I don't believe what Looker said about you all 'turning your backs on us'. There's got to be a deeper reason for why you are protecting Serena." he replied thoughtfully. Ash, Kevin, and their Pokemon let out a relieved breath that they didn't know they were holding in. Bonnie, Dedenne, Ballerina, and Squishy looked confused, however.

"Uh, Ash, you mind telling us who he is?" she asked innocently. The brothers just stared at Bonnie like she had grown two heads.

"Bonnie, how can you not know of Lance, a Dragon type Master and the Champion of both the Kanto and Johto regions?!" Ash asked back incredulously.

"Oh." Bonnie uttered. There was a pause before her and her Pokemon's eyes widened.

"WAIT, WHAT?! You're THAT Lance?!" Bonnie screeched out so loud that she almost shattered everybody's eardrums. Lance chuckled.

"Yep. Good to meet you, Bonnie. Though, Ash, just between you guys and me, you're wrong about one thing. I am not the true Champion of Kanto. That distinction belongs to your father, even though he doesn't want to admit it. He always says that he is a former Champion, but the fact of the matter is, he just didn't want to take on the responsibilities. To him, Red was always, above all else, just a trainer on a journey. But to me and everyone else in the know, he is the undisputed World Champion and Pokemon Master." he stated pridefully. Dragonite smiled upon remembering his battle with a certain Kanto Fire type starter. To say that everyone else was absolutely amazed would be a massive understatement.

"Wow. Sounds like you two have an awesome dad. I bet he'd make a great father in law for Serena and Leaf." Bonnie said mischievously. Ash and Kevin's faces turned red, which piqued Lance and Dragonite's curiosities.

"BONNIE!" the brothers shouted simultaneously. Bonnie and the rest of the Pokemon all had a good laugh out of that. Once the laughter died down, Lance spoke up.

"Now I see why you're very overprotective towards Serena, Ash. You are in love with her, aren't you?" he inquired sternly. Ash shot a glare at Bonnie, who simply giggled.

He then sighed and gazed back to Lance while saying, "Well, you see, Bonnie and I were supposed to be in Hoenn right now, watching Serena in the Grand Festival. And I was going to ask her to be my girlfriend while I was there. But then five days ago, Guzma, the leader of Team Skull, kidnapped her." Lance and Dragonite's eyes grew wide in shock.

"Damn, that's terrible! Why would he do that?!" he spat out angrily. Everyone else's moods darkened.

"That is a long story." Ash responded furiously.

"Do tell. Who knows, you might need a G-Man by your side right now." Lance stated expectantly. Ash proceeded to tell him and Dragonite everything that had happened up to this point. Kevin also told them about Leaf's disappearance. While that was happening, Latias had changed into her normal form, which stunned the unsuspecting duo. Squishy also transformed back to his Core Forme and was resting in Bonnie's bag alongside Dedenne. Once Ash finished his narration, Dragonite looked like he wanted to unleash an Outrage on some certain people.

"...Yep, I knew there was more to this than meets the eye. Diantha also spoke highly of Serena in regards to the Kalos Crisis and the recovery in Lumiose City. I kept thinking that there was no way she would suddenly just get up and join an evil organization. Dang, this reminds me of that Blue Orb incident in Hoenn. What some people would do for power..." Lance said, shaking his head with disbelief. Ash and Pikachu shivered upon remembering the incident.

"True. And like that incident, we have to get the neurotoxin out of Serena's system. Unfortunately, we'd have to wait until the League. This is why we need Anabel to lift our bans. If she doesn't, Sylveon WILL die first of all, and secondly, Serena and Delphox...I don't even want to think about what might happen to them." he replied, sounding scared for Serena, Sylveon, and Delphox's sakes. Pikachu and Greninja were feeling shaken up from the mere thought of what they had seen in their dreams.

Lance nodded before saying, "You know, I was going to arrest you all for meddling with the International Police's business. But now I know that would just make this situation a lot worse. So instead, I'm going to help you persuade Anabel to lift the bans. But I want you all to promise me something. Promise me that you'll fight with everything you've got. After all, what kind of boyfriend would you two and your Pokemon be if you let your loved ones slip away from you?" Bonnie, her Pokemon, Maria, Champ, Latias, and Charizard all snickered at a blushing Ash, Kevin, Pikachu, Greninja, and Kong. The five of them glanced towards each other and smirked deviously. Everybody else except for Lance and Dragonite saw that and gulped.

Ash gazed back to Charizard and said in a teasing tone, "Hey Charizard, I bet Charla misses you. I should call up Liza soon, don't you think?"

"And Bonnie, you might be seeing Max soon. Very soon, if my hunch is right. And remember what I said about my hunches always being right?" Kevin asked mischievously. Bonnie and Charizard had nothing to say to that, as they were too embarrassed. Ash, Kevin, both Pikachus, Greninja, Latias, Kong, Champ, Dedenne, Squishy, and Ballerina had to stifle a laugh. Everybody eventually became serious and turned to Lance and Dragonite.

"Now that's a promise we intend to keep. Greninja and I lost our best friends to a Hypno and Team Flare once. We're not going to lose them to a Nihilego and Team Rocket too. No way! We're not giving up on them!" Ash shouted while he and the rest of the group gave them determined looks.

Before Lance could respond, a boy's voice called out from above them, "Yeah? Well, maybe you should give up on Serena, Ash." Ash, Pikachu, Kevin, Maria, Kong, and Champ flinched upon instantly recognizing it. Everyone looked up and saw another Charizard, a Dragonair, a Flygon, and a Metang flying in the air. Lana, with her Popplio on her head, and Mallow were sitting on the backs of the two dragons, respectively, while two boys sat on the others. The muscular Charizard rider had dark skin, orange and brown hair in a style resembling fire, and brown eyes and was wearing a necklace which had a small badge and feather decorations, some black cloth strips on his shoulders, a red Z-Ring with a Firium Z-Crystal etched into it around his left arm, red shorts with a black outline, and sandals with the same color scheme, while the short, chubby boy had orange hair and brown eyes and wore a yellow scarf around his neck that resembled a Pikachu's tail, a white T-shirt with an orange design of a Game Boy Color printed on it, a yellow Z-Ring with an Electrium Z-Crystal etched into it around his right arm, brown pants with a yellow outline and keychain with a miniature Electrode attached to his right side of the hips, a belt containing a badge around his waist, and some green shoes with a lightning design and blue soles. A Togedemaru was perched on his left shoulder, looking at Pikachu in a disappointed manner.

"...Tell me you didn't just say that, Kiawe." Ash replied, dumbfounded. The Trial Captains and their Pokemon all scowled.

"Oh, I'll say it again for emphasis. YOU SHOULD GIVE UP ON SERENA, ASH!" Kiawe shouted viciously. Suddenly, a purple aura surrounded his body.

"Uh oh. I think someone is definitely pissed." Bonnie commented, sounding angry herself. Before anybody in the sky could respond, Kiawe got yanked off his Charizard's back and, with a scream, was hanging up in the air.

"What the-KIAWE!" Mallow exclaimed fearfully. They then heard a loud roar as Ash's Charizard flew up to Kiawe's with one of his hands becoming surrounded in a light green, claw-shaped energy.

"Oh...fuck." Sophocles muttered, eyes wide. Ash's Charizard swiftly gave Kiawe's an uppercut on the jaw, launching him even higher. The group could only watch as he fell to the ground with swirls in his eyes. Almost everyone couldn't believe what they had seen. Kiawe was shaking violently from the sheer power of the Dragon Claw before he was sent hurling down diagonally. He soon stopped in midair and let out a shocked yelp as he came face-to-face with a furious Latias, whose eyes were glowing purple. Mallow, Lana, Sophocles, and their Pokemon just gaped at the sight of a Legendary.

'Say it again, I dare you.' she growled telepathically into Kiawe's mind. To Latias's disdain, he scoffed.

"Ash, you're walking down a dangerous path here. Trust me, nobody knows the Ultra Beasts better than we Alolans do. My grandfather, Mallow's mother, Lana's father, and Sophocles's grandparents were all slaughtered by them eight years ago! You don't know the destruction they've caused here. Calem had to die! And so will Serena if she keeps this up! You can't save her! So, leave this region and let us handle her!" Kiawe yelled out, clearly enraged. All of a sudden, Latias turned him around, and what he saw scared him to no end. Two torrents of water had just shot up out of seemingly nowhere.

"What in the world?!" Kiawe gasped in horror. Everyone above them was feeling terrified. Even Lance and Dragonite looked a little pale.

From inside one of the torrents, Ash's voice boomed out, "You want us to leave and let you murder my childhood friend?! The love of my life?! My angel?! Some friends you are! You guys don't even know the truth about Serena!" It then merged with the other one, revealing Ash, whose eyes were closed. The torrent turned into a pair of huge wings around Greninja's back, which solidified into a giant water shuriken. He and Ash opened their glaring red eyes. Mallow gasped upon recognizing it.

"Wait, Kiawe, stop!" she cried. Everyone glanced at Mallow, confused.

"Huh? Why me? Ash's Charizard did just knock out mine in one hit, after all." Kiawe stated, irritated. Mallow sighed.

"Kiawe, I love you and all, but seriously, you need to stop letting the past cloud your judgement. We know Ash and Kevin. They wouldn't be standing up to one of the most powerful trainers in the region, Jason, for Serena without a good reason. Well, besides the most obvious one, being that Ash truly does love her. That's just not them." she replied firmly. Sophocles, Togedemaru, Lana, Popplio, and especially Kiawe flinched while the rest of the group rose an eyebrow.

"You guys know Jason?" Ash asked with curiosity evident in his voice.

"Who in Alola doesn't know The Last Titan? Honestly, Ash, Kevin, you guys are lucky he was too focused on trying to end Serena's life. Jason would have torn into you like there's no tomorrow. Though, I am surprised that you managed to bring him down to the brink of defeat. Nobody's done that in a long time. But anyway, don't take Jason's words personally. He just wants the Ultra Beasts gone. Trust me, we all do. We're all on edge, especially with what happened eight years ago." Lana answered sadly. Ash and Ash-Greninja's glares softened.

"Guys, I want the Ultra Beasts gone as much as you do. Believe me, I do. But before that can happen, I want nothing more than to beat them into oblivion in a six-on-six battle at the League. I want nothing more than to see the look on Lusamine's face when her plans for world domination fall flat like every other villain had every time they went up against me. I want nothing more than to hold Serena, with those beautiful blue eyes and no purple aura around her otherwise perfect body, in my arms. Kiawe, you say I can't save her? That's where you're wrong. I CAN, and I WILL, save her. You've only gotten a small taste of my Charizard's power. He's beaten an Articuno once and, in his Mega form, knocked out an Elite Four caliber Pokemon in one move. Pikachu's beaten Regice and tied with a Latios before. I have the power of a Legendary by my side now. And my other two Pokemon are no pushovers either. In fact, one of them had beaten a Darkrai...twice. And then there's Greninja, who, in this form, handed Guzma's Darkrai his first loss...in three moves, may I add, beat another Elite Four caliber Pokemon in one move, and, along with my brother's Bond Phenomenon Infernape, almost defeated a Bond Phenomenon Decidueye with a brand-new Z-Move that no one's ever seen before. This power is what's going to tear the Nihilego's neurotoxin away from Serena's body. It's not her that needs to die. It's the neurotoxin poisoning her mind that needs to be destroyed! AND WE WILL NEVER GIVE UP UNTIL IT'S OVER!" he exclaimed passionately as his blue aura flared up even wilder than before. Charizard roared ferociously and shot up another Flamethrower. Pikachu's cheeks emitted a spark of electricity. Latias simply smiled at Ash. And Ash-Greninja, despite not doing anything, felt empowered by what he had said.

Thank you. I needed that after the Delphox dream. he stated graciously.

No problem. I will always have your back, no matter what. Remember that. We WILL save Sere and Phoxy together. Ash replied with a determined look on his face, which Ash-Greninja reciprocated.

"But Ash, even Red couldn't-" Kiawe tried to protest, but he ended up getting slammed, face first, into the ground by an irritated Latias's psychic powers. Mallow winced as the purple aura and glow in her eyes vanished. The brothers both scoffed.

"Beat the Ultra Beasts? You don't know anything about Dad. Just like you don't know anything about what really went on inside the Ultra Wormhole eight years ago." Ash said firmly.

"Yeah, they are not invincible. When Serena and I battled the first time, Predator, in his Mega form, managed to land two solid hits on Guzzlord. If I didn't get careless at the end, we might have won. But the point is, nobody's unbeatable. Trust me, we've had our fair share of Legendary wins in the past when everything is at stake." Kevin added while smirking slightly. There was a stunned silence among Kiawe and the rest of the group in the sky. As Ash-Greninja changed back to normal, Ash, Kevin, and Bonnie returned him, Charizard, Kong, Champ, and Ballerina back to their Pokeballs. With Pikachu and Maria on their respective trainers' shoulders, they all got on Latias's back.

Ash then looked up at Sophocles with fire in his eyes before saying determinedly, "Tomorrow, Sophocles. Be prepared, because I AM NOT MESSING AROUND ANYMORE!" The Trial Captain gulped at the sound of that. Before he could respond, Latias took off at a very fast speed, with Lance and Dragonite actually lagging behind her. Kiawe and the rest of the group were too focused on the two blurs to notice Tapu Lele higher up, observing the scene wth a smile.

In her mind, she was thinking, Ah, love is such a powerful emotion and not to be trifled with. And I have never seen such strong love than what Ash has for Serena. This amour is why he will prevail.

Meanwhile, over at the International Police's headquarters, Anabel had just finished up a press conference and was sitting in her office, staring at the picture of herself and Ash.

Why, Ash? Why are you protecting an Ultra Beast trainer? Why?! This just doesn't make any sense...unless...no, impossible. He can't be. Last time I saw him, he was dense! she brooded bitterly. Before Anabel could think any more, she heard a loud knock on the door, causing her to jump a little bit.

"Come in!" she called out, trying to sound calm. The door opened up, and a girl walked in, clearly livid. She had long black hair that was tied up in a ponytail and purple eyes and wore a black fedora with a white band, a red and black top with a black jacket, black cycling shorts, and red shorts. A Fennekin was perched on the girl's shoulder, also staring down Anabel. The Salon Maiden flinched upon recognizing her.

"Caitlin...didn't expect you back here so soon. I-" She got interrupted.

"I didn't come here for small talk. You fired my boyfriend...and for what, telling the truth?!" Caitlin asked viciously. Anabel tensed up from hearing that.

"Caitlin, Nate stood up for a monster! Aren't you even mad at him?!" she shouted venomously. To Anabel's chagrin, Caitlin scoffed.

"As if you're such a saint. You opted for killing Serena without thinking up a better solution! You clearly just wanted her gone with not a care in the world. I heard from Nate about how Jason's first attempt was thwarted by your old crush, Ash Ketchum. And now you ban him from doing the League and, by extension, the trials, which he really needs to do!" she yelled back, frustrated. Anabel turned pale upon remembering that she did indeed have a crush on Ash.

"My crush is no more. Ash is a criminal. He deserves the ban for protecting Serena from Jason-" Once again, Caitlin cut her off.

"Oh, shut up. Ash, a criminal?! Please. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have a world to journey across right now. If you want to hate on someone, hate on the two-faced bitches, Palermo and Lusamine. They are the reason why Serena is like this. They were the reason why Calem became a monster. You should call up Lucy. She knows a lot about what is going on there. Enough to see why Ash doesn't deserve this ban at all!" she exclaimed, irritated. At that point, Anabel finally snapped.

"You know what. You just lost your job. You're fired!" she shouted angrily. Caitlin and Fennekin gasped in shock before sneering.

"Good, because we don't want to work with this stupid police force anymore." she shot back. Caitlin was about to turn around and leave when suddenly, Mewtwo popped up out of nowhere and was glancing at Anabel with a calm demeanor.

"Ah, Mewtwo, you're back. You got an update?" Anabel asked expectantly. Caitlin had her hand on the doorknob when she and Fennekin heard a voice that didn't sound like the Mewtwo she knew. In fact, this one sounded masculine. And Mewtwo's body was also surrounded by a light blue aura while his eyes were glowing the same color.

Caitlin, Fennekin, and especially Anabel were left utterly stunned by what he said: "Caitlin is right, Anabel. You must lift the bans on Ash, Kevin, and Bonnie...NOW!"