Alolan Danger **ON HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE**

Chapter 35: The Calm Before The Storm

"...Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me. Right. Now?! PIKACHU, STOP THAT ICE BEAM WITH THUNDERBOLT!" Ash hollered at the top of his lungs. An equally furious Pikachu, with his cheeks sparking, jumped off his shoulder towards the multiple beams of light blue energy that were being fired at a stunned Serena and Serenity.

"PIKA-CHUUUUUU!" he shouted as he shot out a bolt of electricity from his body. The Thunderbolt and Ice Beam collided in midair, creating a massive explosion.

"Serena, get out of here! We can handle it!" Ash exclaimed urgently while he and Kevin grabbed a Pokeball from their belt. They pressed on the white buttons to enlarge them.

"Squishy, let's go! 50% Forme!" Bonnie yelled out viciously.

"Champ..." Kevin started.

"Charizard..." Ash said simultaneously.

"I choose you!" they both finished together, throwing their Pokeballs forward. They opened up in front of Serena and Serenity, revealing Charizard and a red Gyarados wearing a blue headband containing a Gyaradosite around his forehead. They let out a massive roar as the Lizard Pokemon fired a Flamethrower up in the air. Squishy jumped out of Bonnie's bag and started to glow green, with streams of green light entering his body. Serenity flinched from seeing Charizard, almost as if she had seen a ghost.

'You...' she growled angrily. After a few seconds of staring down the back of Charizard, Serenity suddenly felt a tap on her head.

"You'll get what you rightfully deserve. Just not now. We should get going." Serena said calmly. Serenity mentally sighed before nodding and flying away from the scene as fast as she could. Before they were out of view, Serena glanced towards Ash with a blush on her face.

"...Thank you...Ash." she muttered quietly. Squishy had just finished transforming into his 50% Forme and was standing next to Charizard. Once the dust cleared, everyone saw a serious Dragonite flying in the air. A tall, thin man sat on his back, glancing down at them with a neutral expression. He had bright scarlet red spiky hair, pale skin, and dark eyes and wore a medieval-looking navy blue tunic with red-orange trim and the cuffs of his long sleeves being black with orange zigzagging trim separating them from the navy blue part, a brown belt around his waist, large black boots with two orange rings around the top of each one, and a long, flowing cape which was black on the outside and red on the inside around his neck.

"...OK, Lance, you seriously need to chill out. No pun intended." Kevin stated sternly. Champ glared viciously at Dragonite, causing him to become nervous for a split second.

"Yeah, the same can be said for basically everyone else who is trying to kill Serena." Ash added, clearly annoyed by this point. Charizard grunted in agreement. At first, Lance didn't respond. With a nod from his trainer, Dragonite flew down and landed on the ground, making it shake a little bit. Lance got off, never taking his eyes away from the group.

After a brief staredown, he calmly said one word: "...Talk." The trio and their Pokemon were completely caught off guard.

"HUH?!" they shouted in unison. Lance and Dragonite couldn't help but smirk.

"Come on, Ash, Kevin. You two, part of an evil organization? Please. I know you better than this. Red would never let his sons become criminals. Plus, you two, combined, have saved the world more times than I'd like to count. And Diantha spoke highly of you and Greninja after the Kalos League. I don't believe what Looker said about you all 'turning your backs on us'. There's got to be a deeper reason for why you are protecting Serena." he replied thoughtfully. Ash, Kevin, and their Pokemon let out a relieved breath that they didn't know they were holding in. Bonnie, Dedenne, Ballerina, and Squishy looked confused, however.