Disclaimer: I do not own any part of this story. All rights go to Nintendo for use of their characters, etc.

Chapter 9: Enemies from the Past and Visions of the Future

"My feet are killing me!" May groaned, sitting down and rubbing the soles of her feet.

"Mine, too," Cilan said, collapsing beside her.

"Ash, let's face it; we're lost. We're exhausted. And we've been walking in circles for hours," Iris huffed between breaths, before slumping to the ground beside the other two. The group had set out from the base of Twist Mountain early that morning, hoping to reach the other side by noon. But now, with night fast approaching, it looked like they would have to spend the night on the mountain.

Ash's enthusiasm, however, remained undimmed.

"C'mon, guys! Where's your spirit?" he exclaimed. "It can't be much farther. We can do better than thi-AAAGH!"

Ash's attempt to boost morale was cut shockingly short by a rather disgruntled Pikachu.

"Pika-pika, pika-chu! Pi-ka!" the Mouse Pokémon grumbled unhappily.

"Aw, what're you complaining about? You haven't even had to walk!" Ash retorted.

Pikachu responded with another electrifyingly persuasive argument, amping up the voltage slightly.

"...Okay, okay, so we're lost," Ash admitted, coughing out smoke. "But that just gives us all the more reason to keep going! We can't get held up here."

"Ash, none of us can walk another step tonight," May replied. "We'll just have to camp out here tonight."

"But..."

"Papaaa. Want sleeeeeep," Manaphy whined, fighting to keep his eyes open as May held him in her lap.

"Ax-ew-ew," Axew agreed, already half-asleep.

"Look, the Pokémon are exhausted too," Iris said.

"...Alright, we'll camp out here for tonight," Ash conceded. "But we'll be starting early tomorrow, so..." Ash trailed off, leaving his sentence unfinished as he noticed that everyone had already fallen asleep.

Sighing to himself, Ash settled into his sleeping bag and tried to get comfortable. Something was bothering him, however. It was more than just his usual zeal that had made him want to press on, made him so reluctant to stay on the mountain for the night. He had a nagging suspicion that they were not alone on the mountain.

Ash slowly drifted into an uneasy sleep, not realizing that his suspicion was entirely correct.

They were not alone on the mountain.

Not by a long shot.

/-/-/

Ash found himself in darkness. The pale moonlight illuminated his surroundings just enough for him to make out the shapes of trees. Hundreds of trees.

A... forest? he thought. Where the hell am I? How did I get here?

"Pikachu, how did we... Pikachu? Pikachu!"

Ash's Electric-Type companion was nowhere to be seen. For that matter, no one was.

Great. I wake up in a forest, alone, with no memory of how I got here. Fantastic.

The utter silence felt heavy and oppressive. It was not a peaceful silence; it was a tense, expectant silence. The calm that precedes the storm.

"ASH!"

The sound of May's voice, filled with panic, made Ash jump.

"Ash! Help!"

"May? May! Where are you?!"

Without another thought, Ash took off running, following the sound of May's voice. He didn't have a plan, he didn't know what he was up against. But he knew May needed help.

"Ash, help! Please!"

"May! I'm coming! Stay where you are!"

Ash blasted through the forest as fast as he could, twigs and broken branches whipping against him as he ran. He thought he could see a clearing ahead, and he sprinted towards it.

Ash burst from the tree line – and nearly ran off the edge of a cliff that had appeared before him.

"Whoa, shit!" he exclaimed, stopping just in time and peering over the edge. Hundreds of feet below him, the ocean surf pounded against the face of the cliff.

Ash could no longer hear May's cries for help, but they were replaced by another sound. A sort of mechanical grinding and whirring, coming from below. As Ash continued to watch, he could faintly see a massive, dark shape moving just below the surface of the water. As it approached the surface, Ash thought he could see what appeared to be a glowing symbol emblazoned on it. He couldn't quite make out what the symbol was, but it felt familiar somehow. As though he should know what it was, but couldn't quite put his finger on it...

Ash was so focused on whatever it was moving beneath the waves, he hardly noticed as thick smoke slowly began to fill his vision.

Ash turned around to find that the forest had become a blazing inferno. Flames leapt at him as the fire advanced. Ash reflexively took a step back – and stepped right off the cliff. Down he fell, plummeting straight towards the water, straight towards whatever that monstrous thing was that was waiting for him...

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Ash screamed, sitting upright in his sleeping bag - only to take a face full of water from Manaphy's Surf attack, clearly intended to wake him up.

"What... how... where...!" Ash stammered, looking around at the concerned faces of his friends before burying his face in his hands.

Just a dream, he thought. Thank Arceus, it was just a dream.

"Ash, you poor thing!" May exclaimed, taking his hands in hers. "You must have been having one awful nightmare!"

"You've been screaming like that for the past ten minutes," Cilan added. "We tried to wake you up, but you were out cold."

"Seriously, what on earth were you dreaming about?" Iris asked.

"Pi-ka-pi?" Pikachu asked as well, concerned for his trainer.

Ash started to speak, but hesitated.

It was just a dream, right? he thought.

And yet, it felt like more than just a dream. All of it felt completely real.

"It... was nothing, really," Ash finally said. "Just a bad dream. Nothing to worry about."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Just, go back to sleep."

Ash's assurances did little to assuage the concerns of his friends, but they nonetheless took him at his word and returned to their sleeping bags.

Ash rolled over and tried to get back to sleep, but something was nagging at him. He couldn't get his mind off the dream he'd had. It felt like an incomplete memory, as though he were missing something about it that should've been obvious.

Just stop thinking about it! he mentally scolded himself. It was just a stupid dream, nothing more.

Try as he might, though, Ash couldn't quite bring himself to believe that.

/-/-/

The next morning, everyone slept late due to how exhausted they were the night before. After a quick breakfast, the group set out. Ash led the way, but remained unusually quiet. The others noticed this.

"Ash? You okay?" Iris asked.

"Hmm... what? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Ash responded, not looking back.

"Are you sure?"

"I said I'm fine!" Ash replied, a little more roughly than he had intended. "I... sorry, sorry. I just... didn't get much sleep last night. I'm a little on edge."

The subject was dropped, even though everyone could tell there was more to it than what Ash claimed.

Meanwhile, Ash had become lost in his own thoughts. He was still trying to figure out what his dream meant. The more he thought about it, the more it reminded him of something else; May's dream about Manaphy and the Sea Temple the night before Manaphy was born.

It was back in Kanto that Ash, Brock, May, and Max had stumbled upon the travelling circus based around Water-Type Pokémon, owned by Lizabeth and her family. Along with an undercover Jack Walker, they were transporting Manaphy's egg. May had caught a few quick glimpses of it, but it was enough. That night, she had a vivid dream of meeting Manaphy and seeing the Temple of the Sea. The very next day, Manaphy was born, and the rest was history.

May had seen the future in her dream, Ash thought. Could this be anything like that?

Eventually, the group stopped for a lunch break. Ash sat apart from the others, barely touching his food as he remained deep in thought.

May came over and sat down next to Ash. His strange behavior was really making her worry. She had to get to the bottom of it.

"Ash?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"Ash... what's been bothering you so much?"

Ash turned to May. Seeing the concerned look she was giving him, he sighed. Dwelling on his dream wasn't getting him anywhere, so he figured he might as well talk about it.

So he did. He opened up to May, telling her all about his dream and how he couldn't figure it out. May listened with rapt attention, realizing how deeply Ash's dream had affected him.

"So you think you might have been seeing the future?" May asked once Ash was finished explaining.

"Maybe. I dunno. It just... doesn't make sense. Nothing about it makes any sense!" Ash replied, frustrated. "All I know is that if anything ever happened to you, I... I..." Ash turned his face away, unable to finish.

"Ash, nothing is going to happen to me," May assured him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"But..."

"Ash," May said again, cutting him off, "...even if you're right, even if you did see into the future, it doesn't have to turn out that way! In fact, it gives us an advantage; now that we know ahead of time what might happen, we can we can take extra measures to avoid it."

"...I guess I hadn't thought about it like that," Ash replied. In reality, he had thought about it like that, and it did little to allay his concerns. Ash was still full of doubt, but didn't see the point in getting the others, especially May, all worked up over nothing.

After lunch, the group continued onwards through the mountain. They eventually found themselves at the entrance to a cave. As they entered, Ash was the first one to notice the sounds coming from deeper in.

"Anyone else hear that?" he asked.

Everyone fell silent, straining their ears to listen. The sound was faint at first, but began to get louder the farther into the cave they went. It was unmistakably the sound of metal against rock. A sort of grinding, drilling sound.

"What the...?" Iris wondered.

"It sounds like it's coming from just around the corner," May noted.

The group rounded the corner and, when they began to hear voices, ducked down and hid behind some large stalagmites. As the sound of machines began to die down, the gang could hear the machine's operators talking.

"...unbelievable. We don't hear anything for months, and then they decide to call us up out of the blue. We were on vacation, dammit!"

"Which is exactly why they sent us. We were closest. It would take a few days to get anyone else over here."

"Right, yeah. Because this stupid rock the boss wants couldn't wait a day or two. I guess it was gonna sprout legs and walk away, huh?"

"It's a fossil, not a rock, smartass. And we've almost got it, so quit whining."

The group exchanged glances as the sound of drilling resumed. Overtaken by curiosity, they slowly peeked out from behind their hiding place.

From their vantage point, the four could see a wheeled machine with a large drill attached. The drill was hard at work, cutting through the layers of rock that formed the cave wall. As Iris and Cilan observed the drill, May and Ash got a good look at the operators themselves.

And it took everything they had not to yell out in surprise.

The machine was being controlled by two men, dressed in striped shirts and blue pants, with blue bandanas wrapped around their heads. And on each bandana was a white skull-and-crossbones symbol, arranged roughly in the shape of an "A".

Team Aqua.

Ash and May immediately ducked back into cover before motioning for the others to do the same. The two trainers stared at each other wordlessly, thoughts racing through their heads.

How was it possible? Why was Team Aqua in Unova? What the everloving HELL?!

"Guys? What's wrong?" Iris whispered, jarring them from their state of shock.

"We... uh...we've dealt with these guys... before. They're bad news," Ash responded. "They raised hell for us back in Hoenn, but they were defeated. I didn't think they were still around."

"Who are they, anyway?" Cilan asked.

"Team Aqua," May replied. "A criminal organization, just like Team Rocket. They wanted to flood the world by using the Legendary Pokémon Kyogre before another criminal team, Team Magma, used the Pokémon Groudon against them. Long story short, they fought and neither side won. But it looks like they're back in action."

The group fell silent again as the sound of the drill cut off.

"About damn time," one of the Aqua grunts said. "Prep the machine."

As the group shifted their position to get a better view, they were able to see the machine the grunt was referring to. It appeared to be a medium-sized glass cylinder filled with an orange liquid. It was attached to a wheeled machine, which had a control panel and several knobs and levers. The group could also see the fossil the grunt was carrying, which was grey and resembled a turtle shell.

"That must be some kind of revival machine," May whispered. Ash nodded, but kept his eyes forward as the Team Aqua members placed the fossil in the liquid-filled cylinder and began using the control panel, turning knobs, and pulling levers.

The liquid began to bubble and change color as the machine emitted a low humming noise. The fossil inside the cylinder appeared to be moving and changing shape, obscured by the now-murky liquid. After a few moments, the liquid grew clear again, revealing a Pokémon in the place of the fossil.

The small black-and-blue turtle-like Pokémon appeared to be asleep or otherwise unconscious. Its most noticeable feature was its large black shell, which had six round indents on the back. After a minute or two, it slowly opened its eyes and began looking around sleepily.

One of the Aqua grunts grabbed it and roughly pulled it out of the cylinder, scaring it and causing it to attack with a Hydro Pump attack which knocked over the grunt holding it. It then leapt from his arms and attempted to flee.

"Quit screwing around! Get up and catch it!" the other grunt barked.

"You catch it, asshole!" his partner snapped back.

Meanwhile, Ash and the gang continued to watch, unsure of what to do.

"Well, one thing's for sure: we can't just stand here and do nothing," Ash whispered.

"Agreed," May replied. "Whatever they're up to, I don't like it."

Quickly exchanging nods of agreement, the group rushed out from their hiding place and put themselves between the Team Aqua members and the turtle-like Pokémon they were chasing, which dove behind Ash's legs and retreated into its shell.

"Who the... where the hell did you come from?" one of the grunts demanded. "Get out of the way!"

None of the four trainers moved an inch. Instead, each produced a Pokéball and released its occupant. The two Team Aqua grunts quickly found themselves face-to-face with an Excadrill, a Crustle, a Blaziken, and a Krokorok.

The grunts backed away before each taking out two Pokéballs to match the four Pokémon they were now faced with.

"Alright, if that's the way you want to play it," one of the grunts said, before throwing his Pokéballs. "Absol! Mightyena! Come on out!"

The two Dark-Type Pokémon appeared, ready for battle as the second grunt threw his own Pokéballs.

"Muk! Carvanha! Get ready!"

The Poison and Water-Types emerged from their Pokéballs and stood at attention.

For a moment the two groups stared each other down, neither making the first move. Then the moment passed, and all hell broke loose.

"Blaziken, use Blaze Kick!"

"Absol, use Night Slash!"

"Crustle, use Rock Wrecker!"

"Muk, use Gunk Shot!"

Attacks flew left and right, with neither side prepared to back down. Soon, however, it became clear that the two Aqua grunts were outmatched.

"Krokorok, use Dig on Mightyena!" Ash commanded, as his Desert Croc Pokémon burrowed into the ground and headed towards the opposing Bite Pokémon.

"Dodge it, Mightyena, and counter with Crunch!"

As Mightyena went on the defensive, May caught him off-guard with Blaziken's Sky Uppercut, which weakened him enough that Krokorok's Dig attack was sufficient to bring him down.

"Shit!" the Aqua grunt snarled. "Absol, use Slash on Krokorok!"

"Carvanha, use Aqua Jet on Blaziken!" the other grunt ordered.

The two Pokémon carried out their respective orders, with Absol managing to land a hit on Krokorok and successfully dodge a counterattack by Excadrill. Carvanha also managed to hit its target, but was knocked out a moment later by Crustle's X-Scissor.

"Absol, use-" But before the grunt could finish issuing his command, a glowing ball of energy struck his Dark-Type Disaster Pokémon, knocking it out. It took everyone a minute to realize that the attack had come from the turtle-like fossil Pokémon from earlier, which now stood in front of Ash's group and glared defiantly at the men who had tried to capture it.

With all of their Pokémon out cold, the two Team Aqua members had no choice but to retreat.

"Oh, you brats are gonna pay for this, you'll pay!" one of the grunts shouted as he and his partner took off towards the other end of the cave.

"Should we go after them?" Iris asked.

"No need. Whatever they were doing, we've put a stop to it for now," May replied. "Still, I wonder what they wanted this Pokémon for," she added looking at the blue turtle-shelled creature.

"Me too. I'm still not even sure which Pokémon this is," Ash responded, taking out his Pokédex and aiming it at the Pokémon.

*Tirtouga, the Prototurtle Pokémon. Tirtouga can dive underwater to half-mile depths, and can also attack onshore.*

When Ash put the Pokédex away and looked back at the Pokémon, it was looking up at him with an expression of gratitude. It slowly crawled over to him and gently nudged his leg with its head.

"I think it wants to come with you," Cilan commented.

Ash smiled at the small Pokémon and knelt down to stroke its head.

"Is that what you want? To come with me?"

The Pokémon happily nodded its head, smiling back at the young trainer.

Ash wasted no time in breaking out a Pokéball and tapping the prehistoric Pokémon on the head with it. Tirtouga went right in and, after two shakes, the ball sounded the telltale click confirming that the Prototurtle Pokémon was caught.

"Yes! I caught a Tirtouga!" Ash cheered, doing a fist pump.

"Pi-ka-chu!" Pikachu also cheered.

"Ma-naaa-phi!" Manaphy exclaimed excitedly, happy to have a new playmate.

"Talk about lucky," Cilan said. "You've got a Pokémon that doesn't even exist anymore, except from fossils."

"Any chance I could talk you into letting me use it in a contest or two?" May asked hopefully.

"With a bit of convincing, I'm sure that could be arranged," Ash smirked.

"That shouldn't be difficult. I can be very... persuasive," May responded suggestively, wrapping her arms around Ash's neck.

"You certainly can be," Ash replied with a sly smile.

"Ugh... come on, guys. Either get a room or start walking," Iris huffed, annoyed.

And so, the group set off with one more Pokémon added to the team. But as they left Twist Mountain, Ash thought back to his dream the night before, and made a worrying realization.

The strange, vaguely familiar symbol he had seen was Team Aqua's symbol.

Which meant that, whatever his future held, Team Aqua would be a part of it.

Surprise, surprise, this story isn't dead yet!

Sorry I kept you guys waiting for so long. A LOT has been happening with me since the last update, between work and college I just haven't had the time or motivation to write. I know that's not a good excuse to take more than a YEAR to get a single chapter written. I'll try not to make you guys wait, just don't expect me to update as frequently as I used to.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! As always, please leave reviews (good or bad), and I'll see you next chapter! :)