Warming Hearts

A/N: Let's get on with Chapter 21! Roll it!

Chapter 21

Hunt for the Beast

Ash felt the cool spring air rapidly turning colder as Talonflame continued to head up north. Changing back into his normal clothes, or at least getting his winter coat, had slipped his mind when he and Pikachu had rushed out of the castle. But he couldn't turn back just to change clothes. His mother needed him.

Just hang on, Mom. He thought to himself, his eyes gleaming with determination and coursing through his veins. I'm on my way.

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Meanwhile, Delia was struggling fiercely against the strong grips of Meowstic's Psychic, along with Mr. Mime. Team Rocket had led everyone outside to another one of their machines that held a containment unit inside of it. Miette smirked as she turned to Delia as the unit opened.

"It doesn't have to be this way, Mrs. Ketchum." She said to her. "Just help me convince your son to date me and I'll send these bozos flying."

Delia narrowed her eyes at the periwinkle-haired girl. "Never." She hissed. "My Ash deserves someone much better than you."

Miette gritted her teeth and then she snapped her fingers. Meowstic used his Psychic to throw Delia and her Mr. Mime into the containment unit. With a push of a button, it closed, trapping them inside.

"She's all yours!" Miette called over to Team Rocket.

The evil gang of Pokémon thieves laughed as they quickly got into their machine. They powered it up and began to walk away with their hostages.

Suddenly, a blast of fiery power appeared from the sky, narrowly missing the machine, but it was enough to make it fall onto its side. "Stop!" A voice shouted down.

Everyone looked up to see Ash riding on Talonflame, all dressed up nicely like he was someone's hero in a storybook. The Fire and Flying type landed on the ground and Ash, along with Pikachu, ran over to the containment unit, while Talonflame kept guard, making sure that no one tried anything.

"Mom!" He exclaimed, filled with pure relief and joy to see his mother again, with her knowing for sure that he was alright. The current circumstances they were in didn't matter for a moment as he gave her an elated smile.

"Ash!" Delia exclaimed happily. "My boy! You're all right!" She had never felt so happy and relieved to see her beloved child again, seeing that he wasn't hurt.

Then, Ash got right down to business. "Hang on, Mom! I'll get you outta there!" He said before looking around for a button or a switch.

"Not so fast, Twerp!" Jessie called down to him. James took her left side while Meowth jumped over them to get in the middle.

Ash looked up to face his long-time enemies with a purely hateful glare while Pikachu's cheeks sparked dangerously. "Don't even bother saying your stupid motto!" He shouted at them. "This time, you guys went too far!"

And then, he turned over to Miette, who had been admiring his current physique, making his blood boil. "And you! I knew that you were crazy, but this is ridiculous! You and Serena both competed for my affection in Kalos, but now I see that neither of you had my best interests at heart!"

Miette blanched for a second. "C-Come on, Ash." She said nervously, trying to save face. "I was trying to help her..."

Ash glared fiercely at her. "Yeah, right!" He scoffed. "I saw you ordering your Meowstic to throw my mom in there!"

"Please, Ash." Miette continued her desperate attempt. "You know perfectly well that Pokémon have minds of their own."

"There's no such thing as a bad or evil Pokémon." Ash said. "There are only bad Trainers who use their Pokémon for evil, and they have no choice but to obey."

He then looked up at Meowth. "And you don't count, Meowth! You're like an evil human inside a Pokémon's body!"

"Hey! That's below the belt, Twerp!" Meowth replied angrily, obviously offended by Ash's snarky comment.

"Besides, we were only trying to help your mommy." James said. "She had been saying some pretty unlikely things."

"Yes, about a beast living in a castle near the lake." Jessie added, while rolling her eyes. "Puh-leeze! The very idea!"

Ash narrowed his eyes at them. "I just came from that castle and there IS a beast there!" He said.

Miette scoffed, throwing away her idea of acting innocent, since Ash didn't believe it. "Come on, you'd say anything to make them let her go."

Ash turned his fiery gaze toward his unwanted stalker. "You want proof? I'll give you proof!" He held up the mirror that Dawn gave him and looked into its crystal reflection. "Show me the beast!" He commanded.

The crystal-like glass magically rippled in the circular frame of the mirror, showing a heartbroken Dawn on her balcony. Ash then showed the image to his enemies. They all gasped in fright and jumped back when they saw the monster in the reflection.

"There's your proof!" He sniped back.

"What is that monstrosity?!" Jessie exclaimed.

"And what's with the magic trick?!" Meowth asked.

Miette grabbed the mirror to get a better look. "Magic, Ash?" She asked him, not believing a thing or word she saw or heard.

Ash tried to pull it away from her grip. "There's a lot of things that you don't know." He answered snarkily.

"I'm more surprised that that... thing didn't hurt you, Ash." Miette said. Delia focused on her son and his harasser when she heard those words.

"Dawn would never hurt me!" Ash said, making everyone stop suddenly and stare at the Kantonian boy with shock and confusion.

"Is that her name?" Miette asked in disbelief.

"Irony, much?" James added, muttering under his breath.

Ash glared hatefully at his enemies as he finally got the mirror away from Miette. "Dawn wouldn't hurt anyone! I know she looks scary, but honestly, she's the nicest, sweetest, funniest, most amazing person I've ever met!" He stared down at the image of her. "She's my friend."

Team Rocket looked at each other like Ash had finally lost his marbles. Delia herself was also confused as to why her son would think so fondly of his captor. Miette, however, was seeing red as jealousy burned inside of her at the way Ash was softly looking at the image of that beast.

What does he even see in her? She's the ugliest thing I've ever seen! And yet, the most handsome boy in the world is looking at that creature as if she was the most special thing in the world to him! Well, I won't stand for it! She thought in a rage.

"It seems like that monster has corrupted your mind, Ash." She said, her teeth clenched, pulling Ash's gaze from the mirror. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you even care for her!"

Ash growled and shouted back, "She's not a monster, Miette! YOU ARE! All of you are!" He looked over at Miette, and then up at Team Rocket.

Miette had had enough and she swiped the mirror away harshly from Ash's hands. "Well, if this is who my competition is, then I guess I'll have to eliminate her!" She shouted.

She then looked up at Team Rocket. "And you three nitwits are going to help me, whether or not you agree." She added.

"No!" Ash yelled. "I won't let you hurt her! And there never was any stupid competition, even back in Kalos."

Miette just turned to her Meowstic, trying to keep herself from growling in pure jealousy. "Psychic." She coldy commanded. The Psychic type's eyes began glowing cyan blue again and Ash and his Pokémon were suddenly lifted into the air.

"Put us down!" Ash ordered, struggling around while suspended in the air. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" He commanded his number one partner.

Pikachu began charging up electricity around his body and then he fired a wicked bolt of power at their enemies. But then Team Rocket's Wobbuffet appeared, his own body glowing with all of the colors of the rainbow, deflecting the Electric attack with his Mirror Coat, sending it out in all other directions, protecting Miette and her Meowstic.

"Nice try, Twerp." Jessie teased, making Ash glare at his enemies hatefully with an audible growl, his teeth clenched. The containment unit opened up again and Ash and his Pokémon were roughly tossed inside, and Delia ran over to check if her son was injured.

"You guys won't get away with this!" He shouted to them before the unit closed again. Ash ran to it and started banging on the thick glass with his fists, demanding them to release him and his mom. But it was obvious that they won't hear a thing from the other side.

"So it seems that the lady wasn't talking crazy after all." Meowth said.

"But it seems that we can easily make a fortune if we gave that little monster to a science lab." James suggested, the thought of it sounding enticing.

"Ooh, I like the sound of that." Jessie agreed, greedily rubbing her hands together and imagining all of the money they would get.

Miette glared at them. "Well, I don't." She said bitterly. "It's obvious that Ash has a soft spot for that ugly thing! I want her out of my way for good!"

"How about this?" Meowth asked her. "If the Twerp seems to have the hots for that animal, then it's possible that she does, too."

The Kalos native girl glared at the Scratch Cat Pokémon when he said that. "Hang on! Let me finish!" He quickly added while holding his paws up to make her stop before continuing. "If she does feel that way towards the Twerp, and it's oddly most likely, then we can get her to come along quietly with the promise of releasing them. If not, then she's all yours."

Miette thought about this compromise for a few seconds, a finger lightly tapping on her chin. "I can see where this is heading." She said, her lips slowly curling up into a dastardly smirk, a deadly gleam in her eyes. "And I like it."

Both Jessie and James leapt for joy, cheering. "And after your conditions are met, we'll have Pikachu and the rest of the Twerp's Pokémon!" James said.

"And whatever Pokémon might live in that castle!" Jessie added.

Miette's smirk grew. "Deal." Then she looked down at the mirror in her hand to see that the image of Dawn had vanished, showing her her own reflection. "Show me the castle." She said.

The crystal-like glass rippled again to show an image of the castle in all of its abandoned glory. Miette's smirk grew. "They said that it's near the lake. So it shouldn't be that hard to find." She said.

Team Rocket laughed loudly as they got their Meowth balloon ready and then took off in it along with Miette. Ash watched in anger and horror from behind the glass of the containment unit as they flew away. He had to get back there and warn Dawn! He just had to!

*********************************

Back in the castle, all of the servants were savoring their last moments of having their human minds in one of the many rooms of the castle. "At least she has finally learned to love." Leona said, cuddled near the cool window. "And I think she made a fine choice of who."

Kenny nodded from his place by the hearth, but then a sad look came onto his face, along with a tiny little scowl. "A lot of luck that does if he doesn't love her back." He muttered.

Zoey shook her head from where she was, sitting on a worn plush sofa. "No, I just know that Ash will come back in time." She said. "Somehow, deep inside of me, I just know that he will!"

"Zoey!" MJ came into the room, looking a little panicked. "I saw a hot air balloon coming this way! It looks like a giant Meowth's head!"

Everyone turned rigid. Remembering Ash's stories about his adventures from all over the world, they knew who that balloon belonged to.

"It sounds like Team Rocket." Zoey said. "Those idiot Pokémon thieves that have been trailing Ash for the longest time."

"And if they're coming here, then we're in trouble!" Leona said.

"Not for long." Kenny said. "Everyone, get all of the Pokémon who are willing to defend the castle. I need to speak with the mistress and let her know what's happening."

"Aye-aye!" The others exclaimed. Then, they all went to get all of the local Pokémon while Kenny headed towards the west wing to warn Dawn about the intruders.

A/N: I think maybe three or four more chapters, and this story will finally be complete! The battle for the castle will be in the next chapter, so hold your horses, everyone.

Until then, I'll see y'all! Please leave a comment about what you think!

Got to fly! ;)