(About 5 minutes earlier)

Fuji was in a room, he didn't see where he was, the grunts that brought him there chloroformed him, and he was tied to a chair and bound.

Fuji was a smart man, he knew a lot of things, even things he shouldn't, when was woken up the grunts continued asking about the master ball, but he knew that these grunts weren't told everything about him, the master ball may be the most important thing he knows, but it wasn't the most valuable.

All the same, he didn't say anything, he knew they wouldn't do anything to him he was sure. And even though he was the Boss, Giovanni always made sure to keep his promises.

The grunts kept giving empty threats that he knew they wouldn't, or couldn't, do. Until they received a notification on something that appeared to be a pager, they looked at it and put on a grin.

"Well old man, you made the wrong decision, you should have spilled the beans when you had the chance hehehe." one of the grunts said before walking off with the rest, but as they left he could faintly hear them say something.

"Hey, is Chiyo back yet?"

Fuji was left in the room alone, he didn't bother trying to escape, he probably could but there was no point since he didn't have a Pokemon to escape from. So he stayed put.

*Tap**Tap**Tap**Tap* he heard the sound of shoes on stone, it came in a slow tempo almost as if whoever was coming wanted suspense to be built.

Then from the door, he saw something that made his throat dry, he saw the big boss himself, Giovanni.

He stood at the opening and smirked, "Hello Fuji, long time no see, I think you and I need to have a talk."

—

(Present time)

Ash was tidying up loose ends after he got everything he could from the grunts, none of them knew much but they did tell them how many more grunts were in the base, and that they wanted Fuji to hand over the plans for the Master Ball, but he didn't know which room he was in.

Ash could check to see if they lied by looking at their emotions and heartbeat, and they all told the truth or at least what they knew.

Erika on the other hand was inspecting Ash's Vileplume since he was sent out to help.

"I'm impressed with how healthy your Vileplume is, his flower is such a vibrant color, you must have raised him well," Erika said petting Vileplume in a place that she knew most Vileplume liked.

"I did raise him since he was an Oddish, anyway enough that we aren't any closer to finding Fuji, I guess we should keep moving and see what we find."

"Yes, that would be the best course of action,"

Ash and Erika continued walking, they both knew they wouldn't be able to continue trying to stealth the whole base after the grunt told them how big the base was, and Ash used his senses again sensing more movements, about 10 in the connecting room ahead.

Ash and Erika peeked and saw 10 grunts just patrolling with 4 guarding 2 tunnels, one of which had someone walking down to the right.

"Well that's a problem," Ash mumbles, "I don't think we can keep our cover and get through all of these guys."

"Yes I suspect this will be far more difficult, we may need to reveal ourselves and battle our way through to the other side."

"Well, then we'll probably attract attention to ourselves with all the noise so we need a game plan, first of all, we should split up and each go down one tunnel it will be better to find Fuji."

"Yes, I suspect that if they learn of our presents and we choose the wrong room they may do something irrational or perhaps attempt to relocate Mr. Fuji." Erika agreed, "I suppose I shall follow the right path if that is ok with you."

"Fine by me, we should also try and take down as many as we can without letting them get their Pokemon, we'll waste too much time, do you think your Pokemon could work fast enough."

"If we work together I am confident at least 4 members should get taken down rather quickly, after that I suppose it depends on their reaction time."

"Not fast enough," Ash said thinking about something, "I can take care of all of them, but when I start you need to move fast and get out of here, understand."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Erika looked back at Ash and looked confused but still nodded, "I suppose I can but how do you plan to do so."

"Simple, it starts with …."

—

(Back to the past)

Fuji was being stared down by the big boss himself, questions were racing through his mind, why was he here, what did this mean, what did he want, is Reina ok?

But he wouldn't get answers by just sitting down helplessly so he gulped and finally spoke up, "John, I see you decided to pay me a visit, you should have called. I would have prepared tea and the police."

"Ever the jokester, but no no I wouldn't want to disturb you like that, I just need some information."

"Oh well what could you want from me, I'm just an old man."

"Don't act that way, we both know what I want, the Plans for the Master Ball, that's all I want."

Fuji looked shocked and confused, "What could you possibly want with it," he asked, already knowing the answer but just buying time for him to think.

"Don't ask stupid questions, I'm not in the mood to answer with stupid answers," Giovanni said, straightened himself up, and walked closer to Fuji.

"Now let's make this easier for both of us, just answer the question, are you going to tell us?" Giovanni said, putting his arms on the chair and leaning close.

Fuji's mind is moving at 100 miles per hour taking everything in, even though everything checked out there was something in the back of his head just scratching in his head, "You're not getting anything from me."

Giovanni got up and turned away from Fuji, "It's really a Shame, I didn't want things to come to this."

Giovanni walked over to a table on the side and lifted a towel revealing all sorts of items, "I suppose I need to make you talk, really a shame."

Fuji's eyes widened as he started struggling, "What are you doing, you said that you would stay away from me, you never break your promises so what is your goal."

"I don't recall ever saying that," Giovanni said, turning back to Fuji and kicking his chair down making him fall, "The deal was that Team Rocket would not harm your friends or family, but it never said anything about you or me."

Giovanni had the towel over his shoulder and picked up a bucket of water, "Now I'll give you one more chance will you-" but he stopped and put his finger to his ear.

After a moment Giovanni sighed and threw the towel to a corner, "I have some things to do, I hope you decide to cooperate by the time I am back."

Then Giovanni walked out of the room leaving Fuji on the floor, left to gather his thoughts. With no one but the 2 grunts guarding him.

—

(Back to the present)

The room is a large hall, and it is dark, it leads directly to the abandoned railroads underneath the city.

And to make it worse there was an annoying buzzing sound that seemed to begin then disappear every other moment and without pattern, which just made them more annoyed.

Little do they know just in the hallway over two people were preparing something, or rather the third figure in their room was.

"Alright it's ready," Ash told Erika as she gave a nod and got in position.

Ash put his hands in his pockets and walked out into the open, almost immediately everyone in the room ran to him and surrounded him, including the 2 people guarding each of the tunnels.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing here? This is private property." One Grunt said.

Ash raised his hands in the air, "Sorry I got lost looking for the Bathroom, I'll just be on my way if you can point me in the right direction," Ash said as in the corner of his eye he saw Erika swing to the tunnel using her Tangela, then gave him a look before rushing in.

"You're coming with us, and don't try to resist it will only make things worse for you." another grunt said as he walked up and tried to grab Ash until he stopped.

In Fact, all of the grunts stopped in place, and all of them struggled trying to move to no avail.

"What? What happened? Did you do this?"

"Whaaaaaat no how could I do this," Ash said looking offended, then he pointed his thumb behind him, "But she did."

Then behind him, Beedrill appeared and touched what looked like nothing but when she did thin and hard webs appeared all around the room including around the grunts and loosely around their necks.

"Why you little-ga" the grunt tried saying until Ash used his finger to pull on one string and the strings around his neck tightened.

"Now that's no way to talk," Ash shook his head looking disappointed, and let go of the string letting the man breathe normally again.

"Now I would love to stay and talk but I need to go sooooo *Snap*" Ash snapped his fingers and Beedrill moved quickly and pulled some strings that made all the grunts get tied up and hung from the ceiling. The strings were around their necks in a way where they could breathe but they couldn't talk.

"Just don't struggle, the more you move or try to scream the tighter they'll get, I'm sure someone will find you down here… probably," Ash said as he returned Beedrill and started running into the second tunnel.

As he ran he turned on his Aura sensing again to see the surroundings, he could see Erika's Aura running parallel to him and he could see 3 Auras in his direction, meanwhile, Erika had 1 in her direction.

But that confused Ash, if he took what those grunts said and took out 1 because of Fuji, that meant that there was 1 extra person with them. But Ash didn't have the luxury to stop and think about that he just continued to run until he could see the opening.

There he stopped and had a better look with his Aura. There were 2 Auras with indifferent emotions, but the one in the center was more fearful and confused.

It didn't take much brain power to realize that it was Probably Fuji, so he released Vileplume to tell him the situation.

–

In the Room, Fuji was still lying on the floor with nothing but the 2 grunts standing by his head for company. He started putting the pieces together but something just didn't feel right, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

The two grunts were constantly belittling him and mocking him for being a helpless old man, it seemed like they were about to pick up where Giovanni stopped, until both their heads got covered in vines.

They got pulled down to the ground and slammed into the cement, but then they both started getting up getting ready to lash out, until a boy rushed to them, grabbed both of them, and smashed their heads together knocking them both out.

That boy was Ash, and after confirming that the grunts were knocked out he quickly ran to Fuji to help him out of the chair by untying the ropes binding him.

Then he helped him to his feet, after which he introduced himself, "Hello Mr. Fuji, I'm Ash and I'm here to save you."