The Masked Man said nothing at first. As his body finished reforming back to its normal look, he pointed forward, "Take them down."

"Nope," Ash called out as he grabbed a Poké Ball from his waist and threw it. Meganium and Arcanine burst forth.

The Masked Man's Pokémon responded instantly. The two Houndour dashed forward with snarls, spreading out to flank. Gastly hovered above, grinning menacingly as it pulsed with shadowy energy. And Delibird, oddly calm, reached into its bag… then flung a glowing black present into the air, before vanishing in a puff of mist.

Ash narrowed his eyes. As he looked around, trying to find where Delibird had disappeared to, just in case someone hadn't noticed yet, these weren't the Masked Man's main Pokémon, like the ones he used with him, Yellow, Brock, and Misty. So either he was holding back, or he didn't have his main team on him.

Kurt stood to the side with Kleavor, breathing heavily but nodding at Ash. "I'll handle the left, take care of the rest!"

"Leave it to me," Ash said, as Pikachu and Vee also jumped down, ready to join in.

The battle began.

On the left, one Houndour lunged at Kleavor, embers spewing from its mouth, "[Stone Axe]!" Kurt commanded.

Kleavor twisted, slammed a glowing axe-hand into the ground, and sent shards of rock flying in an arc. They carved up the earth and blasted the Houndour back, chunks of stone embedding in the ground and forming obstacles between it and Kurt.

On the right, the second Houndour went for Arcanine, fangs glowing with [Fire Fang], "[Flare Blitz]!" Ash shouted.

Arcanine roared and charged forward, covered in flame, smashing into the Houndour. The two collided, but Arcanine was stronger, she pushed through and slammed the Houndour back.

Above, Gastly opened its mouth wide and let out a [Shadow Ball], aiming for Pikachu, "Pikachu, take care of it!"

Pikachu flipped sideways and landed with a skid, then fired a bolt of lightning into the air. It struck Gastly mid-hover.

With a swirl of its gaseous form, Gastly dispersed the lightning and darted backward into the shadows, then reappeared behind Pikachu, launching another [Shadow Ball] at point-blank range, "[Quick Attack] to dodge, then [Electro Ball]!"

Pikachu zipped to the side in a blur, the [Shadow Ball] crashing into a nearby stone outcrop and exploding in a plume of black smoke. In the same motion, Pikachu spun and launched a crackling [Electro Ball] into the smoke cloud, which exploded with a sizzle of electric sparks.

Ash's eyes snapped toward where Delibird had disappeared, "Meganium, [Reflect], now!"

A shimmering aura wrapped around Ash's team just as a chilling whump echoed from behind. Delibird had reappeared, right behind Kurt. As it tried to strike, the [Reflect] screen shimmered to life and blocked the attack.

Kurt turned, sweat on his brow. "Ash! He's targeting me!"

But as he said that, the Masked Man also rushed up, raising a large arm as he seemed to grow even bigger. "Not just that, give me what I want!" he said, as he tried to slam down. But Kleavor dashed in front and blocked him with its axe hands.

Kurt grit his teeth as he looked and saw Delibird, who had just run back. He noticed that it had something extra in that bag, making Kurt's eyes widen. "No, Ash!"

"I know!" Ash growled, eyes narrowing as he threw another Poké Ball. "Leave it to me!"

In a flash of light, Blastoise emerged, and Ash pointed at Delibird. "Blastoise, [Hydro Pump]!"

Twin torrents of water blasted from Blastoise's cannons, shooting directly into Delibird's chest, sending the bird flying and slamming against a tree. As its tail bag opened, out from it came the familiar gold and silver Poké Ball, the GS Ball.

Kurt slid under the Masked Man's legs and ran, grabbing the GS Ball. But the Masked Man narrowed his eyes upon seeing it. "Hand it over!"

The Masked Man's eyes glowed a deep, icy blue as he took a heavy step forward, his presence growing more monstrous with every breath. "Hand it over, now!"

Kurt clutched the GS Ball tightly to his chest. "No."

With a roar, the Masked Man surged toward him, both arms raised, energy crackling from his fists. But Kleavor came in from the side, spinning with a fierce [X-Scissor] that forced the Masked Man to block. Sparks flew from the collision of blade and body.

Ash's voice rang out. "Blastoise, [Rapid Spin], now!"

Blastoise retracted into his shell and spun like a drill, barreling through the battlefield. He slammed into the Gastly, disrupting its next attack and sending it tumbling through the air. Pikachu leapt into the opening, tail glowing.

"[Iron Tail]!"

A metallic crack echoed as Pikachu hit Gastly midair, sending it spiraling into the dirt.

Meganium, vines whipping out around her, tangled up the two Houndour just before they could leap at Arcanine.

"[Petal Dance]!" Ash commanded. "Vee, [Buzzy Buzz]!"

A swirl of razor-sharp petals exploded from Meganium, flinging the Houndour off their feet and into the shattered rocks Kleavor had left behind. Vee jumped up and shot down a [Buzzy Buzz] directly onto the pile, shocking them even more.

Back over with Kurt, he was running as the Masked Man tried following him, but Kleavor was blocking his path. Still, he never got a good shot at destroying that mask.

"I won't let you take this!" Kurt shouted.

Delibird darted forward, wings glowing as it prepared an [Ice Punch], but Kleavor turned and slammed the ground again, [Stone Axe]. Shards burst upward, intercepting Delibird mid-flight and sending it crashing down hard.

Ash sprinted across the battlefield, dodging a blast of shadow energy from the recovering Gastly. "Kurt, now's your chance, do it!"

Kurt didn't hesitate. He skidded to a stop on a slope of broken rocks. The Masked Man roared and surged forward again, ice trailing behind him, arms elongating unnaturally, reaching for the ball.

"No!" he howled, his voice warping. "That Poké Ball is mine!"

Kleavor jumped between them, crossing its axe arms and pushing the Masked Man back again with raw physical force. The Masked Man staggered, snarling.

Kurt turned the GS Ball in his hands. His fingers trembled. "I don't know what you want with this," he muttered, eyes locked with the Masked Man's, "but whatever you want can't be good. So this is the only way!"

The Poké Ball was supposedly indestructible, at least that's what Professor Ivy had found. That's the whole reason she couldn't open it, not with hammers, lasers, or anything else.

But Kurt, while studying it, had discovered a flaw: the outside was indestructible... but the inside wasn't.

He pressed the sides, opening the Poké Ball the way he'd learned to, just like he'd said, it was empty. But then he raised it over his head and smashed the inside of the gold part down onto a rock, shattering the special net attached to it. The ball began to short-circuit like a computer dipped in water.

"NO!" the Masked Man yelled, dashing forward and shoving Kurt away, sending him flying against a tree. He dove for the GS Ball, trying to salvage it, but as he touched it, the ball began to glow... then exploded.

And it wasn't a small explosion.

It was massive, so violent it nearly blew everyone off their feet.

When the smoke settled, Ash and Kurt looked through the haze. Kurt, breathing heavily, whispered, "Did we...?"

But the answer came fast.

From the smoke, a half-melted hand shot out and grabbed Kurt by the arm, and the Masked Man stomped out of the smoke. His body was misshapen, half-melted, and his mask was nearly destroyed... but not gone, "I've had enough!"

Kurt struggled, gripping the Masked Man's arm as he fought to free himself. In the background, Ash was being held back by the rest of the Masked Man's Pokémon. He tried to reach for another Poké Ball, but Gastly hovered in front of his belt, refusing to let him reach it. These Pokémon might not have been the Masked Man's main team, but they were still Gym Leader-level at minimum.

Meanwhile, Kurt's Kleavor was being stalled again by Delibird, who was around Elite Four level. Kleavor had no defense. The only reason they'd held their own before was because the enemy wasn't trying to win, only to delay.

Kurt looked at the Masked Man and scoffed, "So what? You lost," he said with a smug smile. "What are you going to do, kill me? I've lived a good, long life. Do your worst."

The Masked Man's eyes narrowed, then suddenly widened. A cruel smile crept across his face.

"Oh, I see. Then if I can't have the real thing... I suppose I'll make my own."

He reached out and grabbed the sash Kurt wore across his chest, yanking it off and ripping Kurt's shirt along with it. Then he tossed Kurt aside like trash.

Kurt quickly scrambled up. "What are you doing?! That's all my Poké Ball designs! Give those back, that's my life's work!"

"Hoh~ of course," the Masked Man said mockingly. "It's only natural a Poké Ball expert would have a log."

He opened the scroll and flipped to the very end, then smiled, "Of course. After you found the secrets, you recorded them here. How kind of you to give me a step-by-step guide."

He tore off the final portion of the scroll and tossed the rest to the ground, keeping only that one page.

And on that page... was the design for the GS Ball.

"I'll just have to make my own, then," he said with a wicked grin. "So thank you for doing the hard part."

Kurt grit his teeth and rose to his feet, "So what? You don't have the materials to make the net. Without the net, it's just a glorified Poké Ball."

The Masked Man chuckled darkly as his Pokémon regrouped around him. He handed the paper to Delibird, who tucked it neatly into his bag, "Oh, but I do. The material is made from the wings of the two legendaries, isn't it? Well... I have those. And in spades."

The Masked Man's words sent a chill down Kurt's spine.

The Rainbow Wing... and the Silver Feather. That was what the GS Ball's net was made from.

If the Masked Man had those, then he really could make another GS Ball.

"Y-You... I won't let you get away with this!"

"It's too late now," the Masked Man sneered. "I've won. And what are you going to do? You're just a washed-up Poké Ball maker."

But then, a familiar voice rang out.

"Hey! You forgetting something?!"

The Masked Man turned, Just in time to see Pikachu right in front of him, tail glowing.

"[Iron Tail]!"

The blow landed square on the side of the Masked Man's mask, slamming him into the ground. As he looked up, dazed, he saw the rest of the Poké Ball squad he'd sent to deal with Ash, every last one of them, knocked out.

"Kid, this is my final warning to you," the Masked Man said, glaring up at Ash. "Stand aside, or you will face the consequences. I am being very nice, don't push me."

Ash just rolled his eyes and made a mocking gesture with his hands, "Yap yap yap. I've had enough of you. Maybe I should give you a reminder of last time," Ash said as he snapped his fingers.

Behind the Masked Man, Abby appeared, looking down at him. When he turned around, it was already too late, Abby charged up her fist and shot down a [Fire Punch] that began forming another dome of fire around the point of impact.

Now, I think it's time we finally address the problem here. Why was Abby using [Fire Punch] instead of a special attacking move? Her physical attack is pathetic... right?

Well, yes. Ash was also confused when Abby taught herself the punching moves, and yes, Abby taught herself. But the answer came when Abby evolved and revealed her mutation.

–

Alakazam [Abby] (F)

Grand Master - Ancient Techniques [Uses Gen 1 mechanics for everything]

–

For those of you who don't know: Gen 1 was held together with spit and hope. There was no physical/special split based on move type, just one split based on type. That means [Fire Punch] was a Fire-type move, so it counted as special.

But there was something else. Since there was no special stat split, that meant Special Attack and Special Defense were the same stat, just called 'Special.' So back then, Alakazam was a monster, high offense and high defense.

And finally, critical hits were calculated based on Speed. The faster you were, the more crits you got. Which means Abby gets a lot of crits. Consistently.

Needless to say, all of this together made Abby very destructive.

And she showed it now, by slamming her fist down and leaving a flaming crater where the Masked Man once stood.

Looks like this one was just another clone. Not the real one.

But... Delibird got away. So all of this meant little more than an effort to annoy the real Masked Man.

Once it was over, Kurt had to sit down, and Ash helped him up, "Hey, Kurt, are you okay? You got thrown pretty hard there…"

Kurt chuckled weakly, wincing as he sat down on a broken slab of stone, "I've had worse," he muttered, holding his ribs. "Though… that did feel like getting hit by a Golem's Body Slam."

Ash sat beside him, watching the smoke still rise from the crater Abby left. Pikachu hopped onto his shoulder, eyes narrowing as it scanned the area for any sign of the real Masked Man.

"He got away," Ash muttered, frustration creeping into his voice.

"Yeah," Kurt said. "But he didn't get the real GS Ball. Just the design."

Ash's eyes narrowed. "That design's bad enough. You sure he can actually make it?"

Kurt shook his head. "Not easily. Even if he's got the Rainbow Wing and Silver Feather… replicating the binding net is a whole other matter. The chance is low, but the fact that it's not zero is a problem."

Vee trotted over, picking up the pieces of the broken GS Ball and placing them gently in Ash's hands. Ash looked at them quietly, "And if he does get it... what should we do?"

Kurt looked down and started thinking. "Then we do what we can. I may not be as strong as I used to be, but there is one thing I can do."

"Really? What's that?" Ash asked, crossing his arms.

Kurt took a breath and looked Ash in the eye, "I need to make a countermeasure. And I think I know what to make. But you're going to be the one who has to use it."

Ash nodded, "Right then. We need to make contingency plans. Alright. Let's do this. We've got plenty of prep time."

—

{In the Team Rocket Base}

The Masked Man was walking down the halls. That made one more Mask destroyed, but no matter. He was so close, he could taste it. Soon, he'd have what he wanted.

By now, his Delibird had returned and handed him the plans. He smiled as he made his way to the lab. Inside, he saw the progress, there were already small Ho-Ohtwos and Lugiatwos. Colress turned to see him.

"Sir, I see you came to check on us. Well, how does it look?" Colress asked, doing his best to sound genuine.

"Looking above expectations," the Masked Man said, walking up and pulling out the plans, holding them out to Colress. "But I need something else. Make this for me."

Colress blinked as he looked over the plans. "With all due respect, sir, I'm not a Poké Ball specialist."

The Masked Man stared at Colress. "I don't care about the rest. I need you to make me the net. I'll take care of putting it in a Poké Ball. And don't disappoint me."

He turned and walked out.

Colress's easy smile fell into a frown. "Yes… quite…" he muttered, starting to get annoyed. This constant work on impossible projects… He was lucky he couldn't do anything without risking his cover.

But thankfully, he knew what to do here.

When he first examined the feathers, he noticed they were fake, almost immediately, in fact. He didn't know who had taken the real ones, but he didn't care. It gave him the excuse he needed.

He took some of the cloned feathers and handed them to a few other scientists. "The Boss wants this. Make it." He left it at that, not giving them any room to argue. Not that they would, Colress was the head scientist, after all. What he said, goes.

Colress walked out, smiling smugly. He looked forward to seeing how this game would play out. What did he care, as long as he could continue his research? He didn't care about anything else.

Though speaking of which… He still needed to look into that strange phenomenon.

The one where this so-called "power of friendship" had seemed to actually work, during his battle with that yellow-haired girl. Surely there was a scientific explanation. And perhaps… he could harness it.

—

{Elsewhere}

Jay, Enid, Helena, Domino, Sayoko, and Owari had been suddenly sent on more missions over the past week. They didn't even have time to see anyone else, others were also constantly being deployed, like Aman and his squad.

It had been kinda rough. For once, Enid hadn't been talking, like she no longer had anything to say. Jay tried to stay positive and make everyone smile like he usually did, but it was hard, ever since the confrontation with D.

They hadn't seen him around. Even when Sayoko or Owari made requests, they were denied, told that D no longer had time for "inconveniences" like them.

It made Sayoko especially angry. Not being able to see D had her on edge more than usual.

But Owari… after everything he went through with D, he couldn't help but feel like things weren't adding up.

Then there was poor Helena. To her, D was her first friend. He was the whole reason she'd even joined, well, even if not by choice, he had still helped her, supported her, even trusted her with something.

So why was he acting so differently?

It didn't make sense.

Domino sighed, slouching in her seat as she looked at everyone. For some reason, they had all been going on a lot of missions together lately, which didn't seem like a coincidence. If it was just them, sure, maybe they were seen as a team. But with Sayoko and Owari? No way.

Sayoko and Owari were both admins; they could do their own work. Even if an admin was needed, unless it was a special case, they'd usually only send one. Not every mission they've been forced to go on together.

"Everything is a mess..." Domino muttered. "We haven't gotten a break, the missions suck, and D probably hates us."

Jay let out a breath and dropped his head back against the wall. He looked around at the others again. Helena was hugging her knees, Enid stared straight ahead, her hands clenched in her lap. Sayoko hadn't stopped pacing in the last ten minutes. Owari stood against the far wall, arms crossed like he was thinking.

Jay's voice broke the silence first. "Okay, real talk, does anyone else feel like we're being kept busy on purpose? Like… not 'we're elite' busy, more like 'we're dangerous if left alone' busy."

Sayoko froze mid-step. Helena's head perked up slightly, eyes still dull. Owari didn't move, but his brow tensed. Enid blinked, once, slowly.

Domino tilted her head back, groaning. "Jay, you're literally two days late to that conclusion."

"Better late than never," he said with a weak grin, though it fell quickly. "I miss him too, you know."

No one replied. The air felt thicker for a second. Enid looked down but still didn't speak. Her fingers tightened again in her lap. Jay glanced at her, then Helena, and frowned.

"I said something I shouldn't have," Enid mumbled suddenly, her voice barely above a whisper. "I said so much I shouldn't have... I wish... I could take it all back…"

No one stopped her. And maybe Enid didn't want them to tell her it wasn't her fault, even though part of them thought that was the whole story.

"No," Helena finally spoke, her voice sudden. "That's not it. Something's wrong."

Jay blinked and looked at her like she'd just said something absurd. "Yeah, you think? He ghosted us."

"No, really wrong." Helena's voice dropped to an almost whisper. "D doesn't call us 'inconveniences.' He doesn't just vanish and act like a robot... He remembered Domino's birthday and gave Enid that poetry book she said she hated, but we saw her read it."

Enid flinched. "I—uh…" She didn't have a comeback. The truth was, she had kept that book.

"The point is... D says he doesn't care, and he wants to not care, but he does. He does care. This isn't him. Something is wrong, ever since we left that day, and worst of all, all he does is put on that stupid mask!"

They stayed silent for a moment after Helena's outburst. Then Jay was the first to break it.

"I know… and I know that mask is cool and all… but… why does it feel like it changed him?"

"I don't know…" Owari finally said. "If only we could get some answers. But the Masked Man won't give them to anyone, and he locked D's personal file."

"Wait, he did what now?" Jay asked. It was clearly the first time he'd heard this. Judging by everyone else's faces, they didn't know either.

"Yeah, I thought it was obvious what the first step should be. Didn't you think of it?" Owari sighed. "Well, basically, I looked into D's account. I didn't feel good about his sudden change, so I wanted answers. But his account was blocked."

"Great... just great..." Domino mumbled. "Sure, answers would be nice, but how are we supposed to get in? D was the hacker. All of us are hopeless with programming, or anything like that."

For a moment, nobody wanted to say anything. Then, they heard the sound of someone entering the cafeteria. They looked over and saw two girls stumbling in, sighing, it was Annie and Oakley.

At first, no one paid attention. They had bigger problems. But then they overheard the girls talking as they stretched.

"I swear, everything's been a pain. How's your little programming thing going?"

Oakley rolled her eyes. "It isn't just a programming thing. It's a very complicated encryption."

At the other table, everyone blinked in unison. Jay stood up and smiled, and before anyone could stop him, he rushed over to Annie and Oakley's table and practically yelled, "Hey! So you're good with computers, right? Great, then we need your help!"