"Ok," Brock said to his companion. "Thats one hour finished. We can go back to the lab now."

"Gimme a minute Brock," a now seventeen year old Ash mumbled through his last mouthful of ice cream. Within five seconds, it had vanished down his throat.

Brock smiled at his friend. It had been seven years since he had first met him and his appetite hadnt changed a bit since then. During that seven years, they had seen all sorts of places and monsters with amazing powers. As always, Pikachu remained by his side but was moving a lot slower now due to his old age. In his heart, Brock knew that Pikachu was due to pass away any day now, even though he could still throw a good Thunderbolt attack. Ash knew that too and had decided to make their last days together as peaceful and enjoyable as he could.

Today, they had come to Cinnabar Island because Brock had wanted to use the hi-tech laboratory there to investigate a strange Pokemon fossil that his recently deceased grandfather had left him. They had handed it over to the scientists there and had been told to return within one hour.

Brock looked up to see the doors of the lab.

Were there already? Brock thought to himself. I must have been way out of it.

"Cmon Brock," Ash wined. "Lets go in. Dont you want to know what that fossil was?"

"Sure," Brock smiled as he came out of his mental trance and opened the large glass doors. They turned left and right down the clean white hallways with doctors and scientists hurrying in and out until they reached a door with LAB 14 printed above it.

"Come in," a voice called after Brock sharply rapped his knuckles upon the steel door.

"Oh, its you," a scientist smiled as he saw the young adults. "Please come in. I think youll be very impressed with what we found."

The scientist showed them a table standing towards the back of the room. Sitting on the table was a Pokeball.

"See that Pokeball," the scientist pointed. "That fossil you brought in was an extinct Pokemon but, thanks to our advanced technology, we were able to revive it using the D.N.A contained in the fossil."

"It was a Pokemon?" Ash gasped. "What sort?"

"You can find that out for yourself," the scientist said. "Provided you take it outside first. It is a big Pokemon."

"How much do I owe you?" Brock asked, taking the Pokeball in one hand while fishing in his pockets with another.

"Oh, dont worry about it," the scientist said quickly. "I did this as a favour to your grandfather. I knew him, he was a good man."

"Thanks," Brock gave a weak smile before silently walking out of the lab.

"Is he ok?" The scientist whispered over to Ash. "Did I upset him or anything?"

"Dont worry about it," Ash reassured him. "Hell be all right. Thanks for the Pokemon."

With Pikacu on his shoulders, Ash sprinted down the pathway to catch up to his old friend. He found Brock in a clearing surrounded by woodland, staring silently at the Pokeball in his hand.

"You ok Brock?" Ash asked, concerned. "You going to see what Pokemon youve got?"

"Sure," Brock smiled as he snapped out of his daze. "Dont worry, Ill be fine in a while."

Without any further discussion, Brock held out the Pokeball and slowly pressed the release button with a shaky finger.

The flash of white light quickly faded to reveal a tall Pokemon with large leathery wings, sharply clawed talons, a huge gaping jaw, large jagged teeth and an arrow headed tail. Ash yelped and jumped back in shock as he remembered his past experiences with such a Pokemon.

The ancient Pokemon looked down on the two trainers and let out an ear shattering shriek as it puffed out its body and loomed over the humans below.

Brock, unfazed by this display of dominance, walked straight up to the winged Pokemon with a stern expression set into his features. If there was one thing he had learnt from his years of Pokemon breeder training, it was never to show fear in front of a new monster. The two locked eyes and stared into each other for a minute before the great beast gave a low shriek and lowered its head, allowing Brock to climb on.

"Come on Ash," Brock called. "This young one wont hurt you."

"Young one?" Ash choked as he witnessed the scene. "Its huge! And how do you know that thing wont eat you once youre back is turned. In case you have forgotten, one of those almost ate me once!"

"This Aerodactyl is just young Ash," Brock reassured, patting the dinosaur Pokemon on the head. "Itll be easy to teach it how to behave. And besides, youre Pokemon are strong enough to take on one thats just been resurrected. Youll be fine, I promise."

Ash hesitated for a moment before accepting the offered hand and hanging on for dear life as the Aerodactyl took off into the air. After a while, he got used to the surprisingly smooth motion and took Pikachu in a hug instead. They flew for over an hour over sparkling blue seas, occasionally spotting a pod of Seaking or Mantine. The young flying Pokemon became tired after a while and, with its new trainers permission, came to land on a small island, set away from other larger ones.

"Brock," Ash said, pointing to something near the bushes. "Check out that Pokemon over there."

Returning the tired young Pokemon to its Pokeball, Brock turned to spot the Pokemon that Ash had seen. A young Butterfree had attached itself to a tree and was licking up the last of the sap left behind by a Heracross. Unlike any other Butterfree, this one was smaller in size and had different patterns and colours on its wings.

"Hey," Brock smiled, recognising the surroundings and the familiar Butterfree patterning. "No wonder that Butterfree looks different. Were in the Orange Islands region."

"Really?" Ash said with sudden excitement. "Ive gotta try and catch one of the Pokemon here. Garys gonna be so jealous!"

Ash took off into the vegetation with Pikachu only just managing to keep up. The two burst out onto the shoreline and instantly saw a uniquely coloured Pokemon lazing in the sun among the rock pools. Usually, this Pokemon would be a pink and white colour but the pink was replaced with red and it had orange spots dotting its body.

"All right!" Ash cheered. "Meganium, I choose you! Use your Vine Whip!"

Meganium burst from its Pokeball, ready for battle and instantly threw two strong vines from its flower necklace. The attack hit the unsuspecting wild Pokemon and, because Meganium was at such a high level now, it promptly fainted.

"Yes," Ash congratulated Meganium as he tore an empty Pokeball from his belt. "Go Poke..."

Ash stopped at the sight of the injured Corsola, just waiting to be caught. His memories took control as he remembered when Misty had caught her own Corsola in the Whirl Islands. Way after that, she had continued on her journeys with him and, although he hated to admit it to himself, he had started to develop a deeper feeling towards her. As the years went by, the feelings grew stronger and stronger but he had always been afraid to admit them to her. What if she laughed at him and turned him down? It would break his heart so he just kept it to himself. He hadnt even told Pikachu, his oldest and most faithful Pokemon.

But then, two years ago, Misty had met this guy called Brad on their travels. The two had hit it off straight away and spent every single moment together. Ash felt angry about this, as he had suspicions about this Brad being from the wrong crowd, but was also glad to see that Misty seemed to be happy. Then, one day, she had just left while he was still asleep in the morning. All there that was left of her was a note saying Im leaving with Brad now. I really feel like hes the one for me. Good luck with all your Pokemon. Misty. Ever since that day, the memories had eaten him up inside. He couldnt believe that she would just leave like that. After all they had been through. How could she do that to him? But still, he had never once let his feeling slip out. He wouldnt let the others know and make a fool of himself.

"Pikachu?" Pikachu said quietly as it tugged Ashs trouser leg to snap its trainer from his trance.

"Wha..." Ash gasped, surprised, as he came back to reality. His expression turned from shock to anger as he realised that the Corsola had disappeared. He couldnt believe that had happened. Every time he was close to catching a water Pokemon, this happened. Without saying a word, an enraged Ash turned and stalked back into the forest, leaving his stunned Pikachu and Meganium on the sand.

His stomach moaned in hunger and Ash, annoyed, quickly grabbed a handful of orange berries from a bush and crammed as many as he could into his mouth.

As he swallowed, an unusual sensation came over him. His vision swam towards him and turned a sickening purple colour. His head suddenly felt like it weighed a ton before an unbearable sickness exploded all over his body.

Unable to hold it in, Ash threw up what he had just eaten before fainting on the forest floor.

In the next chapter: A little girl celebrates her seventh birthday with a party. Seems fairly normal right? Not when Nikki invades the scene.