The hallways slowly transformed from their usual straight rigid structures to long, winding snakelike pathways. Serena followed her captors, but the individual soldiers level of unease made it seem as if she was the one in charge. What had been bright white, industrial walls were now stone bricks akin to a medieval castle. Each brick must've been laid by hand by a craftsman, a stark contrast from the impersonal Sato Empire.

She tried to remember the was she was traveling, in case she needed to escape back to Ash, but after some time she gave up on memorizing the layout. The two of them were bound to meet again, and until then she needed to gather as much information as possible.

Unlike the grueling journey she had taken to arrive, her mind was not set on  her own survival, but instead on fixing him.

How she would accomplish this goal was beyond her for the time being, but she was ready to do something. Anything to make the best of her situation. The path had begun to slope up, and in the distance she could make out a door. She picked up her pace, the guards snapping back to alertness quickly catching up.

The door's small wooden frame still had a strength about it, and the large lock bolting it to the stone wall reinforced that idea. "In here, ma'am" the guard said, semi-hesitantly pointing towards the room. The other guard pulled a key from his belt, using it to sluggishly swing the door open.

Ma'am, they called me ma'am... Serena though to herself about how differently they had been treating her. Something about her connection with Ash. Maybe this was what she could exploit to help fix all of the wrongs of this world, but for now she just surveyed her new surroundings. The room was spacious, resembling even more that idea of a castle. Large bookshelves stretched out from where she was, leading into other passageways. It was lit by a single, bright bulb barely hanging on from a wire protruding out of the tall ceiling.

It was furnished with a wide variety of couches and chairs, as if it was some type of important meeting room, but now just felt empty and mysterious.

She made her way along the bookshelves, feeling their smooth surfaces that were surprisingly void of dust. Down the hall she noticed another light, this one instead a candle. She watched as it flickered in and out like a human heartbeat.

Serena's head snapped forward as she heard a shuffling of papers from down the hall. Slowly she inched her way towards the sound, before turning into a side room.

"Hello there" a voice said, Serena jumping a bit at the new face.

"H-hi..." she responded.

"So what's your name, young lady?"

Serena surveyed this new arrival up and down, noting his long green hair and unassuming posture.

"Serena" she answered his question.

"Lovely" the green haired man smiled. His gaze took a weight from Serena's shoulders, something about it piercing deep into her soul. "Oh, and where are my manners. My name is N, pleasure to meet you"

He had a rather odd name, but his eyes shined with a wisdom that she was dying to tap into.

"A strange name, you must be thinking" he continued "but the long version causes more problems than it is worth to explain. However, I feel as if there are other things that are more worth explaining.."

Serena nodded her head, and began to ask... "H-how do you know him"

N leaned forward from his chair, brushing his long hair to the side. "We used to be partners, me and him. A formidable duo. Two of the strongest trainers around, and the only two worthy of having pokemon. Once you put an idea into a mans head, it can become an unstoppable force. After the first gravitational incident I approached him, offering all of Team Plasma. I explained the same naive rhetoric I was told as a child. That humans owning pokemon was the root of all evils. Recent events compelled him to join me"

"Recent incidents..." Serena attempted to piece things together in her head "like the party..."

"The attack on a party of Ash Ketchum and his friends was the first gravitational incident involving Team Rocket's newfound legendary power"

"I... I was there-" Serena dug deep into her memories. It seemed like so long ago that everything had started.

"Did you experience the anomaly?"

"It... pulled me in"

"Fascinating. It must've been terrifying"

"Everything was dark" she explained "and then I was here"

"Time dilation!"

"Huh?"

"It's a theory that time, just like any other dimension, can be manipulated... by gravity. When you went through that gravitational anomaly, what must've been minuets for you was for us several years."

Serena didn't have much else to add, and N looked to be deep in thought, so she took a long sip of her drink. Details of her situation weren't pertinent to the future, or at least the one she was planning.

"I guess it's rude for me to not share the rest of my story" N got up from his chair "why don't we do it over dinner"

Yes. Dinner. At the mention of food her entire body lit up. With all that was happening she hadn't really been able to eat.

Serena followed N into another room, where the green haired man pulled a loaf of bread from the shelf. He broke it into halves, handing some to Serena.

"After Ash was convinced to side with Team Plasma, the rest came easily. Team Rocket's ploy at world domination left them weak. With little control of the legendaries they had used to cause the gravitational anomalies, and lacking the firepower we had, Ash Ketchum decimated our enemies. But this victory was only a temporary alleviation to his true demon, the loss of his friends. Nothing I did would soothe him, and soon Ash began to fall deeper into his madness. He ordered the legendary pokemon celebi to be captured, something to do with its ability to jump through time. When I objected, he had me locked up in here. That was three years ago..."

Serena nearly choked on her bread at the realization that this man was locked up for that long. It truly amazed her how he was able to stave off the madness of solidarity for such a vast span of time. He must've had some type of contact, someone on the inside keeping him in check, someone she could use to get out of here—to get to Ash.