Hey guys, so it has been a long time, hasn't it? I know I am a terrible person for making you wait that long. I don't really have a good excuse except for being absorbed in other anime. I kinda became full-on weeb that doesn't only like Pokémon. That is the reason why I kinda grew out of my fanfiction obsession. Don't worry, that doesn't mean I'm gonna quit writing this story. I did make a promise to finish this story. Moreover, I've finally found my direction for the relationship between Sawyer, Ash and Leaf so look forward to that.

During these two years of my absence, I've taken my English lessons seriously so hopefully, you can see my growth in writing stories…

Anyways, let's jump straight into it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon

Walking out of the Pokemon Centre, the squad headed out for another day of adventure. After the battle and intense training session that Ash had with their pokemon yesterday, the boy and his best bud, Pikachu, were feeling extra tired. They were dragging themselves across town.

"Couldn't we have gotten more sleep?" Ash grumbled, with his eyes still shut.

"Pika, pika" replied his tired pokemon as he walked on his own feet since he didn't want Ash to have to carry him.

"C'mon Ash, stop complaining like a kid and get a move on! You will never become a pokemon master at this stage," sighed Leaf. In contrast, the girl was full of energy, walking around Ash like a satellite. Sawyer, on the side, just laughed nervously as the scene unfolded in front of his eyes.

They were strolling themselves to the way out of town when they suddenly heard a loud scream coming out of a house flowed by sounds of glasses shattering.

Without hesitation, Ash and Pikachu ran towards the source of all those noises and busted down that front door that was preventing him from understanding the situation that happened. Inside the house, he saw two Team Rocket grunts, in their black uniform holding … a blue crystal? Running towards the grunts, he tackled them alone and tried pushing them to the floor as Pikachu cried after his master. His plan was almost gonna succeed but he had one miscalculation. The grunts knew martial arts. They sidestepped, dodged Ash's attack and elbowed him in the neck with much force as he passed through them.

Ash landed on his tummy, falling unconscious. Pikachu quickly tried running to his side but a growlithe immediately used flamethrower on him, blowing the electric mouse to the other side of the room, breaking a few more furniture along the way. The other Rocket grunt stepped on Ash's face and said to him, laughing, "What are you doing punk, you have a death wish or something? One little advice; don't always rush forward when you see a problem," In that exact moment, two pokeballs came flying out of nowhere and hit them in the head.

"Go Marowak!"

"Go Espeon!"

The grunts grunted (great choice of words) and quickly dashed out of the house through the broken windows, leaving Ash lying on the floor. Leaf and Sawyer quickly rushed to their friend's side and picking him up, helping him on to one of the broken sofas in the room, recalling their pokemon at the same time. Pikachu slowly made his way to his master and nudged Ash's cheeks but had no response.

With Leaf and Pikachu taking care of Ash, Sawyer adverted his attention to the woman, crying on the floor. He gently put his hand on her shoulder and asked, "Are you okay, miss?"

"Thank you for chasing away Team Rocket," the woman answered, still crying, "They stole an important piece relic that my grandfather left for me… I was supposed to… look after it with my life… but now it's gone!"

Sorrow was basically radiating from the woman now. Sawyer felt incredibly bad for her, he felt helpless in these situations, not knowing what to do… He turned to his two other friends who are still by the sofa.

Looking back at the woman, he said, "Let me help, let us help. We will bring back what they have stolen. What is it actually anyways?"

"Well, it's a flute…"

"A flute?"

"Yes, a powerful flute. It is said to be able to calm the seas and the skies. I don't know if that's actually true, but I was told by my late father to always keep it safe. It has an Ultra ball attached to the end of the flute. Please, if you can actually help, get back my flute."

"Hmmm, I will do my best," Sawyer responded, this seems too surreal, how can a flute calm the earth itself. Anyhow, if Team Rocket wants it, they will be up to no good.

"I'll do anything to stop them," said Ash as he recovers from his injury, "I WILL do anything I can to stop them. I have quite a lot of experience with Team Rocket and I am sure they are trying to develop new technology that can allow them to rule the world. Those bastards, they never allow me to take a break, do they!"

Leaf butted in, "take it easy Ash, chasing them will take quite some time. I have been fighting Team Rocket from time to time as well since I base in Kanto. Recently, they developed new technology on their waist which allows them to teleport immediately to their base. They need around three seconds to fully activate their device and teleport and I heard it is based on the Pokémon move teleport. Pokémon testing… They sure do stick to their character."

"So our best take is to lure out a grunt, steal their gadget and teleport?" asked Sawyer.

"I don't know, but we can try?" Leaf answered.

"Let's get going then," Ash said as he immediately leapt off the sofa he was on and charged out the exit that Team Rocket made.

"Wait up!" Leaf shouted, turned to the woman, and said to her, "We might take a few days, wait for us, OK?" After that sentence, she and Sawyer followed Ash out of the house.

Short one I know. Hopefully, I have set the tone for the rest of the story. Team Rocket will be the antagonist and the Indigo league will be at the very end of the story. Btw, I've been watching Pokemon Sword and Shield. It is such a bog set up from Sun and Moon. Sun and Moon were childish, bad eng dub (don't even get me started on Lily's voice). I also like how Team Rocket is more powerful now with the Team Rockets pokeballs.

Don't worry, I'll be updating every now and then now. My break has ended and with the anime being good. My love for Pokemon has returned.