Serena's POV

"I'm going to miss this place," I say, muffled by the bed sheets.

The sun has been peeking into our Pokemon Center room for a bit now but neither of us have gotten up. 

I move closer to Ash and manage to get an arm around him. His body heat soothes my soul.

He's a little tense but doesn't push me away.

I can't expect him to immediately become an affectionate person so it's a start. If we keep staying in private ocean view hotel rooms then it won't take too long to move further past just being friends.

"Me too," Ash agrees. "We had a lot of fun in the Bug District."

"I wonder what the other districts are like?" I think out loud.

"We're not done with this one yet," Ash smiles down at me.

"True," I laugh. "At least we shouldn't be too far behind Gold and Green."

"We could fly there and catch up to them today," Ash suggests.

A whole day of holding onto Ash, count me in.

"Good idea," I smile. 

"I better go get Charizard then," Ash throws the sheets away and gets up.

I admire the boy until he disappears into the bathroom.

Hopefully Caventree is as nice as Wimpod Cove.

Gold's POV

"Scizor break open the door!"

The red bipedal bug type uses his metallic claws to crash through the wooden barricade. Splinters fly forward, revealing the base of Caventree.

"Wow," I catch my breath as we run into Caventree.

Just like Green described, it's essentially the inside of a giant tree. Aged wood lines the walls, extending crazy high above us. There's warm strings of lights all the way up the tree but with all the different platforms and stairs around the outside, it's hard to identify anything from the bottom. 

In the middle, there's what looks like a pipe going up. It has the same orange colour as the sap and seems to be moving. I guess that's the tree's artery, keeping it alive.

Quickly my aweing over the village is ended by the situation.

There's holes I can see that presumably lead to the branches of the tree where there's rooms and stuff. 

I'm going to assume they're not supposed to be on fire.

Flames poke out into the main atrium through the smoke.

A lot of smoke.

Villagers run around with their bug types. A lot of them are wearing homemade silk clothing, mostly white with some colourful flares.

"How can we help?" Green grabs the arm of a younger man.

The guy takes a double take, realizing that we are not from here.

"We need to get water up there!" He points to a lower branch with tons of smoke pouring into the atrium. "Come with me!"

"Okay!" We yell in unison him and follow him across the atrium.

"How did the fire start?" I ask while we follow him.

"An attack," He says bluntly. "There's buckets over there, go quick we need to save the tree!"

Green and I share a worried look. 

I have a feeling we know who's attacking.

We get to a crystal clear watering hole, just a little bit into one of the root tunnels. There's people filling up buckets as fast as they can.

"Everyone out!" I throw all five pokeballs in my posession.

Green does the same.

"Swablu, Scizor, Crustle you all take buckets," I say and they immediately go to grab one from the people filling them up. "Zorua see if you can use your ghostly powers to help fill buckets."

All of Green's Pokemon are too small to carry buckets but I'm sure they'll find a way. Beautifly is able to fill buckets while Whismur, Litleo, Larvesta, and Starly take empty buckets as people return.

"Eevee you're with me," The Pokemon, still in her bug type form, jumps on my shoulder. "I'm going to go find Hunter J."

"Gold I'm sure they have their best battlers defending the tree," The brunette says with two buckets of water in her arms. "We need to stop the fire."

"Ash said she uses an invisible ship," I explain. "If they don't know that, they can't stop more people from attacking."

Her mouth opens but no words come. Green nods and I notice her watery eyes.

"You stop that fire," I smile and run off.

I run up the grand staircase that wraps around the inside of the tree. While passing the branch with the most smoke pouring out, I can see blazing flames. Someone's house was probably down that branch.

If these are Pokemon hunters then what do they gain from all this destruction?

I continue climbing, hoping that there's an exit at the top of the tree somewhere.

"Help!" A woman's scream echoes down the atrium.

A Weavile towers over her, its shiny metal claws fully extended. Behind the Weavile is a man dressed in black, sitting comfortably on a Staraptor.

"Pin Missile!"

Eevee's lime green body glows before shooting out missiles into the back of Weavile. The impact shoves the dark and ice type into the wall.

Unfortunately it gets back up with a gleam in its eyes.

"I'm sick of bug types," The hunter grunt orders his Staraptor to fly down to our level with a kick in the side.

"And your Staraptor is sick of you kicking it," I retort. 

"You know what," The hunter steps onto the platform we're all on, a small break in the staircase. "Weavile handle the bug, I'll handle the boy."

I gulp.

The hunter is a solid 6'2" with really big arms. This is not a battle I'm going to win.

"Eevee use Quick Attack, don't let it touch you."

The bug type form Eevee zips towards Weavile with unmatched speed and I look back towards my battle opponent.

His fist is curled and is getting closer with each step.

I put my shaky fists in front of my face and into a defensive position. 

He gets closer and BAM.

I kick his knee in as hard as I can, making him crumble to the floor. Older people always have bad knees.

"I'm sorry," He cries, rolling around while holding his knee in pain.

I ignore him and step towards the Staraptor keeping itself airborne just in front of us. "Would you be willing to give me a ride outside?"

Staraptor's red tuff of feathers bobs with each flaps of its wings. But then I noticed a more profound nod.

"Thank you," I smile and it lets me on its back. "Come on Eevee!"

Us Sinnoh folk have a connection I guess.

Green's POV

"Good job all of you," I encourage mine and Gold's Pokemon as we catch our breath.

My clothes are sticky and I swear I'm sweating everywhere. Between the stairs, fire, and humidity of the tree, it's quite the cleanse. Hopefully there's some water left to drink after we're done all this firefighting.

If you can call it firefighting.

I don't think we've actually made a dent in the fire.

An awful tearing sound causes everyone to crouch to the ground, covering their ears. It sounds like someone is ripping apart Earth itself.

But it's so much worse.

"Noo!" A young girl screams while trying to break free of the person carrying her. Not a hunter grunt thankfully since they're dressed in the silk outfits common here.

Some other man that came through the smoke and down the stairs right before the whole tree branch broke off. They probably escaped just in time.

"Mom!" The girl cries as a group of people try to comfort her.

But not everyone did.

I'm sure that branch crashed to the ground in a burst of flames. 

This isn't just a Pokemon stealing operation anymore.

A hole to the open sky remains where the branch fell. It's still smoky around there but people have turned their firefighting efforts towards a different fire.

"Litleo," I feel its soft head brush against my legs.

I try to look down but the tears cloud my view. This isn't what my first Pokemon journey was supposed to be.

A young brunette boy around my age comes running down the stairs. "We need help!"

Don't we all?

"It's Buzzwole! Anyone with remaining Pokemon who can battle we need you."

Gold and I's crowd of Pokemon circle around me. They may be inexperienced but we have strength in numbers if anything.

Gold's POV

"Good job Eevee!" I cheer from Staraptor's back.

The bug type eeveelution is making good use of the wings on her back. Her lime green scales flicker under the string lights as we battle our way up the tree. Her bug eyes scope out another Weavile that is quickly taken care of by a Pin Missile - Quick Attack combo.

The grunts are never ending. They must be flying in from the top of the tree, keeping anyone from getting outside.

They're trying to turn the tree into a giant coffin at this rate.

There aren't any fires up here but it is really smoky. My lungs are starting to wheeze and even my eyes are stinging. And it's only gotten worse as we've climbed the tree.

"Oh man," I mutter and Staraptor takes a moment to perch on the stairs.

In front of us there's five Caventree villagers trying to battle their way through. But an equal amount of Hunter J grunts battle back with Houndooms.

The fire and dark type dog Pokemon mow down the bug types with their flames. Their long sleek black bodies dart around the bug types, smashes their long curved horns into any Pokemon that get too close.

I'm assuming that past these grunts is the exit to the the tree's canopy.

I glance over the stair railing and can confirm that we are quite high. I can make out specks of people at the bottom but that's it.

"Staraptor thanks for getting us this far," I pet its feathers. "But I have one last favour."

Without specifying, Staraptor takes flight. The entire tree atrium is underneath us while we do a wide turn in the air.

 Staraptor picks up speed and I can feel its feathers heating up. A blue light covers us as we close in on the battlign group of people.

The air starts to rush by faster and I close my eyes. We're gonna hit something, I just hope it's the bad guys.

A grunt yelps and I feel Staraptor recoil when we crash into Hunter J's grunts.

"Ugh!" A stray arm catches my head and pulls me off Staraptor. 

I tumble onto a wooden platform, stray splinters digging into my cheek. I wouldn't be surprised if my pants are now ripped too.

I push myself onto my hands and knees and read the situation.

I don't know what Staraptor did but it's gotten a lot more smoky. Our collision has put a temporary pause in the battle because no one knows where their opponents are.

If I wasn't already crying from the smoke, I am definitely now while trying to pull splinters out of my face. This is not pleasant.

The stinging sensation doesn't leave so it's no use worrying about them now. There's a more important piece of wood, aka a whole tree, to worry about right now.

"Vee," My starter Pokemon bumps into me and I make out the Pokemon through the haze.

"Can you see through this?" I ask and she nods.

Her evolved bug eyes are coming in handy.

"Let's get out of here."

The bug type eeveelution leads us through the smoke and up what I hope is a final set of stairs. We rise out of the smoke expecting another army of grunts but...

It's empty.

A matrix of branches and bright green leaves form a huge room, that is relatively empty except for a few large support branches rising through. There's enough room for a battlefield and 10,000 spectators if they wanted to.

What's weird is that there's no fires started up here. The only thing out of place is a large hole in the otherwise dense canopy.

A trail of broken branches and fallen leaves lead to that hole. That's how they're getting in.

Or got something out.

Thankfully, the floor is relatively even so i don't have to branch hop my way through the canopy. Looks like I'll have to do that at the edge though.

There's no easy pathway through so I carefully climb my way up and out of the tree. My fingernails and shoes dig into the tree, trying to keep myself from falling.

After a few minutes of climbing my way up, I get my first breath of fresh air in awhile. Between the root tunnels and the tree on fire, my lungs needed this.

I cough a few times and take a few deep breaths before getting the courage to look up into the sky.

Instead of smoke taking my breath away, the view does.

An orange backdrop and sea of trees surrounds Caventree. I'm sure if I looked straight down there would be flames and chaos.

But above that is a picture perfect sunset and peaceful untouched forest.

There's also a giant cage rising into the sky.

Four Hunter J grunts have hold of a corner, using their Staraptor's to life the cage into the sky. Most likely towards the invisible airship.

I don't see any Caventree villagers up here so they're easily rising high into the sky and out of reach.

Inside the cage is a Pokemon I don't recognize but it's huge. If it wasn't tied up with metal restraints and laying down, I'm sure it would tower over any other Pokemon I've seen.

The Pokemon is mostly red, with some black as well. It's body is grossly muscular, almost alien like. A long needle nose and antennae stick out of the cage, probably searching for an escape.

But there is none.

We're its only hope.

Which is unfortunate for it.

"Star!" My favourite bird Pokemon returns.

"Glad you're okay," I smile. "You got one last flight in ya?"

Staraptor gives a confident nod and I climb on.

It doesn't take long for them to notice us approaching but Eevee picked up a new skill from all the fighting alongside bug types.

Stun spore.

It's really effective when used on Pokemon in flight.

The Eeveelution's speed is unmatched and it creates clouds of the paralysis dust for the grunts to fly into with their flying types. They drop like flies into the tree's canopy below.

Hopefully the Pokemon are okay.

"Get me on the cage," I order Staraptor who listens immediately.

We land and I step off the Pokemon.

I lock eyes with one of the grunts who continues to fly his Staraptor up to the airship. I'm sure the other three are watching just as closely.

"See if you can free the Pokemon," I say to Eevee who disappears below and hopefully through the metal bars.

"How's the ride?" A feminine voice catches my attention.

An image of the airship blinks into existence and a new character enters the conversation. On top of a Pokemon I do recognize, a teal dragon type with sharp red wings known as Salamence, a woman flies down to my level.

She has a sleek black outfit on with a visor across her face. Her silver bob cut moves with Salamence's movements. 

"Hunter J," I take a guess.

"Glad to know my reputation gets around," She smirks, closing in so her Salamence hovers only a few metres away.

"Not a good one," I growl.

"Down boy," Hunter J crosses her arms. "I don't like to hurt children."

"Then you'll just let me freely let this Pokemon loose?" I pretend to ask.

"You don't know what you're getting into," She warns, a scowl replacing her smirk.

"I think I do," I step onto the edge of the cage. "Staraptor."

Eevee I hope you have those locks free.

"Slash those ropes!"

Staraptor uses an Air Cutter attack to throw sharp blades of air towards all four corners.

A split second after the ropes are cut, the cage hangs in the air.

Just long enough to watch Hunter J's eyes widen.

I fall to my knees as the cage enters a free fall.

Now if you've ever been in a free fall you'd know that it's hard to do anything but y'know fall. It's hard to move anything without feeling like I'll just fly off.

Even keeping my eyes open is hard and my ears are popping too much to actually hear anything.

But I feel the cage crumble beneath me and that's actually a good thing.

Eevee flies out first but then the giant Pokemon follows. It has small bug wings like Eevee but doesn't seem to have enough energy to fly around. 

It falls faster than the cage, crashing back through the canopy. Not ideal but I'm sure it can take the hit.

Staraptor catches up to the cage and I waste no time jumping on.

"Woo!" I yell, holding Eevee in my arms who has been amazing but is clearly exhausted.

We all are.

Green's POV

No more stairs ever. 

I am only taking elevators from now on.

Every muscle in my legs is aching and I feel like we just climbed up Mount Silver. All we did was climb an oversized tree.

My small army of Pokemon have battled all the way up here alongside some of the villagers. At least there weren't many to face, just a few stragglers.

At the top there are many more here but slouched against the walls with defeated Pokemon at their sides. "You beat them?" Someone from our group asks.

"Not exactly," an older man laughs. "A boy kamikazi'd his way through."

"Was he navy haired with a weird yellow hat?" I ask and the man nods.

"Gold," I say and run past them into Caventree's canopy.

"Buzzwole!" The man yells from behind me.

The beast of a Pokemon lays there motionless. It's wings do briefly flicker to at least let us know it's alive.

"Where's Gold?" I ask out loud.

"There!" 

Through the broken canopy, I make out a boy cheering from on top of a Staraptor. Probably thinks he's a hero or something.

"Gold!" I yell and the Staraptor turns him my direction.

They head this way but then a large blue blur takes them out of sight.

"Gold!" I yell and run towards a smaller hole in the canopy I can climb through.

"Wait miss it's not safe!"

I ignore him and push through the leaves and branches. I use the cleared path to quickly make it above the tree canopy.

A green speck falls into the tree right behind me that causes me to turn around.

"Eevee!" I yell but then another screech pulls my attention away.

The grey and white bird Pokemon falls through the sky crashing into one of the higher branches of the tree. But there was no trainer on top.

That trainer is now on top of a different Pokemon. 

With a woman holding onto him tightly by the back of his maroon sweater. I can't make out her image from this far away but it's presumably Hunter J and probably her Salamence they're on.

She orders them high into the air.

Wait the airship.

If she kidnaps him and finds out who he is...

The famous invisible airship becomes visible, the huge hunk of metal blending in with the darkening sky. Huge propellers suddenly fill the sky with noise as they keep the ship in the air.

Floodlights illuminate an entrance to the back of the ship, opening for the approaching Salamence. Their figures become shadows against the harsh light.

But then one of those figures is pushed off.