Gary smiled, as he looked into the conference room and noticed Ash, sitting at a table in front of hundreds of reporters. Ash was never the best with the media. He has a tendency to either brag about himself, too much or would sit awkwardly, as he was bombarded with questions. To Gary's amusement, it was the latter.

Gary made his way through the reporters, who were just now filing out of the room, until he finally reached the table and saw Ash, with his head on the desk and arms over his head.

"You look more tired than when you battled against Trevor, out there today." he teased to his old rival.

Ash grunted, as he took his hands off his head and looked up to the smirking professor.

"You try being asked the same question, in twenty different ways, and then we'll talk!" he said, with a tone of annoyance in his voice.

"I heard that last question was about your matchup on Saturday. That seemed new." Gary pointed out.

Ash chuckled while scanning the now empty room. "Yeah, but you missed the first dozen or so. They were all the same. 'How would I deal with his Persian or if I suspected that he has more powerful Pokémon in his arsenal?' You know, stuff like that. Just rehashing the same old question."

"Well, the media likes to be thorough." Gary teased.

"Either that or they like to hear themselves talk." Ash joked.

Gary laughed, as he saw Ash shake his two Pokémon awake. Pikachu and Lucario had dozed off, in the background, while Ash was tackling questions for roughly thirty minutes. They groaned and yawned, as they woke from their nap.

"Come on, Aaron," Gary used Ash's alias, in case anyone was around. "Let's get going. We're meeting up with Trevor, for some ice cream. As well as seeing if any vendors have leftovers, for us to grab along the way."

"What about Brittany and Ashley?" Ash asked with a curious look in his eyes.

"Brittany's busy with treating Trevor's Pokémon, and Ashley wanted to watch her mother work. It'll be just the three of us." Gary responded.

"Alright. Let's go." Ash replied.

---

The two childhood friends exited out of the conference room, where they saw Trevor, waiting for them, by the door. The three friends walked around the atrium until they managed to find an ice cream vendor, who was cleaning, and asked if he had any ice cream left. The vendor smiled and handed the three young men some sea-salt ice cream, that was all that they had left, for today. Pikachu smiled, when he saw Ash grab a few extra ketchup packets, for the road, from another vendor, as they stopped and managed to get some hot dogs, French fries, and pretzels, that they had remaining. The group found a bench, outside the stadium, that was lit by a lamppost, but still gave them a sense of privacy.

"Is Serena with the others?" Ash asked, between bites of food.

Gary nodded, before wiping off some mustard from his lips. "Yeah, I convinced her to head back with the others. She seemed disappointed, but knowing her, she'll probably try and see you tonight."

"Thanks for doing that for me, Gary," Ash responded.

"Sure thing, Ash," Gary said, with food in his mouth. He swallowed, before continuing. "So you said that you wanted to talk to us about something."

"Oh yeah." Trevor joined in, after swallowing the French Fries in his mouth. "I forgot about that. So what's up?"

Ash made a sound of realization, before coughing and swallowing what was in his mouth. He turned to his backpack and dug through it, before taking out three Pokéballs. He turned to Gary, with a serious expression on his face, and wordlessly handed the three miniaturized Pokéballs to his longtime friend and professor. Trevor looked on with a puzzled look in his eyes.

Gary looked down in shock, as his fingers traced over the Pokéballs. "Ash, what is this?" he asked while looking back at Ash with a confused look on his face.

"It's the Pokéballs of my Venusaur, Floatzel, and Infernape," Ash said, in a serious tone, which sent shivers down his friends' spines. "I've told them to listen to you, no matter what, for the time being."

"Ash, that doesn't explain anything!" Gary was now panicking. "You can't be thinking about leaving now, Ash! You're so close! Serena would be devastated!"

"Yeah, Ash!" Trevor responded, while also panicking. "What's going on here?! Why are you giving Gary a few of your Pokémon?! Explain!"

Ash shook his head, as he turned forward and seemed to stare off into the distance. "It isn't anything like that, guys." Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw his two friends relax a little. "Listen, I talked to Giovanni, earlier in the tournament." Again, Gary and Trevor tensed, as Ash spoke more solemnly than ever before. "He claimed that he wouldn't try anything because he didn't have the pull, that he once had, over the PLA and police force, but I can't take that risk. I can't stay near Serena all the time, so I need you two to stay as close to her as possible, until the day of the battle."

Gary shook his head, once again. "But Ash, wouldn't it be easier for you to do that?"

Ash sighed and looked at the ground, in front of him. "Gary, if this doesn't work, if I can't stop Giovanni here, then I'm going after him, following the tournament. I don't know what will happen, but maybe, with three of my strongest Pokémon, along with Trevor's Pokémon, you guys will be able to protect yourselves and the others."

"Come on, Ash! Don't be talking like this, man!" Gary began to feel his voice rise, as he felt his body beginning to shake.

"You're this close!" Gary began to yell, "You're Ash fucking Ketchum! You've always come through in the clutch when you really needed to!"

"That's right!" Trevor shouted. "You're proved that today by defeating me and Mewtwo! You can get through this challenge and come out as a winner! No matter how many times you may have fallen, you always get right back up and continue to fight for the people that you love!"

Ash chuckled, as his eyes rose to the sky above them. He took in the stars, while silently sitting next to his friends. Gary then took a closer look at Ash and went silent. Trevor saw it too. There was sadness in Ash's eyes, no longer excited or enthusiastic. Gary and Trevor began to shake, even more, when they noticed another expression that they've never seen before in Ash. Fear.

"Ash . . ." Gary whispered.

"Listen, guys, I don't know what will happen in two days," he sighed, as his gaze fell back on the shaking friends. "I'm scared as hell. Last time I faced him, I nearly died in an explosion; but this time, there's much more at stake here."

This time, Gary chuckled, as he began to relax again. "I don't know, Ash. The fate of the world is pretty high stakes."

Unfortunately for the young professor, no one was laughing.

"This isn't something to be joking about, Gary, and you know it!" Trevor responded, with a tone of annoyance in his voice, as they saw Ash shake his head while turning to Lucario and Pikachu, who was sitting and joking around a few yards away.

"Trevor's right," Ash responded as he turned back to his two Pallet Town natives. "This isn't a joke. We've have lost so much, last time. Trevor lost his father because of Team Rocket when he was little. We aren't fighting for just the outcome of the world anymore; no, it's so much more than that. We're fighting for our very lives, in order to return to those things that we hold very dear to us. With stakes that high, anything can happen."

Gary began to speak but was interrupted by Ash. "I know I'm asking a lot from you too, but just promise me that you'll both take care of everyone if things don't go the way we want to. Promise me that."

Gary and Trevor turned to each other, before nodding and looking back at Ash, with a smile. Gary then placed an arm around Ash and playfully shook him.

"For the great Ash Ketchum, I'd face all the champion at once!" Gary replied.

You can count on us, Ash, to protect our friends and family from any threat!" Trevor responded.

Ash chuckled, as he looked into each of his friends' eyes. "Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it."

"Sure thing, Ash," Gary replied.

"Yeah. And now," Trevor began to speak. "I think it's time for a little icing on the cake!"

The two Pallet natives were confused by their friend's statement until they noticed the young man giving them their sea salt ice cream. The trio then began to eat them.

"It's salty," Gary began to say, after taking a bite out of the blue ice cream.

"but sweet!" Ash finished the young professor's thought, as it seemed that they both enjoyed the ice cream flavor.

"That's usually the reaction I see on people's faces when they first try it," Trevor responded as he had eaten this kind of ice cream before. Brittany introduced it to him when they first met, and it has been Trevor's favorite since.

After eating the ice cream, Gary was the first to get up from the bench that they had been sitting on.

"Come on, guys. Let's head back. I'm sure Serena will want to talk to Ash before it gets too late."

"Agreed," Trevor replied.

The three friends got up and walked to the hotel, with Lucario and Pikachu following right behind them.

---

Giovanni rustled through his pocket until he got hold of an electronic key card. He swiped the card and opened the door. When he heard the beep, indicating that it was unlocked, he opened the door and walked in, with his Persian following closely behind. He sighed, before slumping into a chair, in the corner, and turning on a little lamp, which was positioned on the adjacent table.

He could hear Persian purring, as she climbed into the bed and curled up in a ball, leaving him with the other half of the bed, whenever he decided to call it a night. He smiled weakly, as his eyes danced across the faintly lit room. His gazed moved from the window, which displayed the brightly shining Saffron City, in the distance, to the peaceful classy cat Pokémon; until finally, coming to a rest on a small picture frame that was on the table next to him.

He slowly moved his hand, until he grabbed the picture frame while bringing it up, in front of him. His smile grew, as he took in the image.

The picture showed him sitting in his plush office chair, behind his desk, with his Persian on the ground, with a paw on his lap. They were genuinely smiling at the camera, but it wasn't their image that made him smile.

Standing behind him, on the left, was a young blonde, with about shoulder length hair, which was stylishly curled. She wore a unique uniform with a white and pink cap, long white gloves with a black shirt, along with a pink R in the middle. She wore a white skirt that had a pink line, on the bottom of them, along with white boots that ran up to her thighs, with a pink ring, on them, at the thighs.

Behind and to the right of him, was a man with grey hair, which was curly and fell past his ears, along with a thick mustache of the same color. He wore a purple shirt, under a white lab coat, with brown pants and shoes. What stood out about the older gentleman, was a monocle that he wore on his right eye.

Although he didn't like to admit it, Giovanni had grown close to the two members of the Team Rocket staff over the years. Domino was a bright and beautiful young girl, who had become one of, if not, his top agents. He considered her as a daughter, more than anything.

As for Dr. Zager, he was a friend that went way back into the Team Rocket history. In the early years of the organization, Giovanni had found the great scientist, out on the streets, at a rather early age. The scientific community had blacked ball the young inventor because of his rather eccentric and inhumane methods of Pokémon control. Giovanni had found and given him the job as a lead scientist for Team Rocket.

Since the two had worked so closely together, for many years, they had developed a close friendship. They were the closest thing to a family that he ever had.

A few months after the explosion, once the heat had died down, he started looking into what had happened to his two friends. Dr. Zager was executed for his crimes of inhumane treatment against Pokémon, after a quick trial. Domino had gotten a luckier break, if there was such a thing, for her role in the organization. She was never someone that was sent on hits, so she wasn't given the death sentence, like many of his other elite agents; but instead, she was sentenced to life imprisonment, which wasn't much better.

At least, I can get her out, once all this is over. Giovanni thought as he felt a few tears, beginning to fall from his cheeks.

He let out a low growl while wiping the tears away with his hands, before slamming the picture frame face down, causing the glass to break.

He was silent, for a bit, before feeling something rubbing against his hand. He looked down to see his Persian gently rubbing his hand. He smiled and chuckled softly, before petting his last remaining friend, behind the ear, while earning a purr of content from the normal type.

The boy will pay for what he has done, and soon, Team Rocket will rise again to its rightful glory!