"PIKA!" Pikachu flicked his tail into Ash's face and slapped him with hit. Ash recoiled back and then came back to Earth, looking down at his friend.

"Pikachu?" Ash asked, tears rolling down his face. He looked around, his vision blurred from the tears. "Where did she go?"

"Your Mom took off a moment ago" Bonnie's shaky voice replied. She looked absolutely terrified. 

"Bonnie?" Ash looked at her face and she suddenly broke into tears, crashing into him.

"Is this what my brother has become?" she asked between sobs and sniffles. 

"I..." Ash hesitated, looking around awkwardly. He wiped the tears from his face, realizing he needed to be strong. He remembered his own words, knowing he shouldn't give up at all. "I think so" he decided to reply.

Bonnie stepped back and looked up at Ash, while wiping away her own tears as fresh ones continued to fall. "We need to stop this"

"How did everything suddenly come to this?" Ash dropped to his knees, Pikachu watching on quietly. "We was all happy in the tournament. We knew trouble would be lurking. If only I knew it would be this bad and happen so fast, I could've stopped it"

"Don't blame yourself. That's stupid" Bonnie straightened up and knelt down next to Pikachu. "We'll do anything to stop this, right?"

"Pika!" Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder, looking at his best friend.

"You guys?" Ash looked up and stopped moping. "Lets do our best then"

Ash took a deep breath and then started to focus, trying to keep his physical and mental states in check. 

"Lets head into my house for now. We need to keep our energy up and like you said, I need to rest" Ash suggested to Bonnie, who seemed to have no complaints, so they headed inside and sat around the kitchen table.

"There is only so much we can do when Hawlucha is doing a search" Bonnie began to tap the table, Pikachu and Ash dozing off at the opposite end almost instantly, leaving Bonnie in the silence. 

Bonnie looked around, suddenly feeling very uneasy. She had a sudden urge to stand up, heading upstairs into Ash's room. She pushed the curtain and peeked outside, seeing nothing but leaves flying around in the wind. Bonnie almost jumped through the roof when a loud bang came ringing through the house, then the door smashing against the floor. Bonnie felt scared after hearing these noses, stepping into Ash's wardrobe and closing it without even thinking. 

Meanwhile, downstairs, Ash was still sleeping with Pikachu. Pikachu slowly opened his eyes and stretched, looking up to see Parker with his Umbreon, a wide smirk on his face.

"Change of plans" He said to Pikachu, before ordering Umbreon to use hypnosis, causing Ash and Pikachu to sleep. 

Once Bonnie stopped hearing noses, she looked outside again and saw Parker and another person she couldn't recognize carrying Ash to a car, before driving off quickly. 

"What the-?" Bonnie rushed down the stairs and looked outside, wondering what she could do now, when Hawlucha arrived.

"Lucha?" Hawlucha looked at Bonnie's worried face, with his determined expression printed on his face.

"Someone just took Ash, did you find what we was looking for?" Bonnie waited and Hawlucha nodded, but then he turned to follow her gaze, looking at the way Ash had gone. Hawlucha instinctively began to head that way, Bonnie deciding to follow.

Meanwhile, the car had made it to its final destination. 

Ash had already awoken when he was taken out of the car, ropes keeping his hands together, tightly knotted around his wrists. 

"Parker" Ash almost made his name sound like an insult, anger showing all over his face. Ash tried to free his hands, but ended up squirming around aimlessly. 

"It's no use Ash, I already told you, remember? We could take you at any time" Parker grinned, spinning his chair around and sitting down, facing Ash. 

"Why do you continue to do this? Haven't you succeeded yet?" Ash gritted his teeth.

"Actually, there are still a few people running amok, so we are trying to clean them up, like your friend, Diantha?" Parker kept his grin firmly planted on his face. 

"What have you done to her?" Ash continued to squirm around, tensing his arms, hands, anything. But it was no use.

"Oh, just given her the ol' gas is all" he said like it was all a game, like everything was a joke. "She won't be listening to you any time soon"

"H-"

"Speaking of people that won't listen to you" Parker cut Ash off, his grin changing to an evil smirk, making Ash's blood boil. What he saw next made his blood go cold, he almost fainted. 

Parker threw the sheet behind him on the floor, revealing a glass pane. On the other side, his Mom and Serena were both laying down on beds, with lots of various experimental tools around them. 

"I'll let you choose, but of course, I will be the one to tell them to press that button there" Parker decided to sit right next to Ash. 

"Choose, for what? Why?" Ash shouted out, looking away from Parker in disgust.

"It's simple really" Parker shrugged nonchalantly. "You are choosing who you want us to completely control. They will have their will back, but the evil side of them will be brought to the surface"

"Evil side?" Ash asked, looking confused, angry and he also felt like crying waterfalls.

"We all have an evil side Ash, like the angel on one should, the devil on the other shoulder. Each person has good inside them, but beneath the surface, hiding in their conscience, is a persons evil intentions and personality. Their whole thought process changes and their personality is never the same, if this evil side is opened of course"

Ash took his time to fathom the information he had just been given. He didn't know how to react, he didn't know who to save. 

His Mom is his Mom, the person who brought him to this world, the person who supported him for so long. The person who let him become who he is today, who cared for him at the start of every adventure, the person who made the clothes he was wearing with all of their love, the person who was always there no matter what.

Serena, his first love and current love. Someone who he felt he needed to protect and cherish at all costs, a feeling that was foreign to Ash, since he had never felt it before. Serena was the person who loved him back, the thread that held their love together strong, but now it was breaking ever so slightly.

Ash felt like the floor beneath him was empty, falling into the abyss. Was this even possible? Surely it's just mind games?

Ash's head began to hurt with the large amounts of information and thinking, he felt nauseated and wanted to just throw up, but managed to hold it in. 

"This isn't real" Ash murmured, closing his eyes. He felt his sanity falling away, like it was at the other end of an ever-stretching corridor, something he could never reach again. 

"Not even your Mom loves you" Serena's cold voice rang in Ash's head. 

"Why don't you come home?" his Mom's voice repeated in his head. 

"What even is home anymore?" Ash began speaking to himself, Parker raising an eyebrow, intrigued by this turn of events. "I can't live a life without either of them"

"Life sure is tough" Parker snickered, making Ash feel even more annoyed. Ash threw his head back, smashing it against the wall in anger.

"I CHOOSE MYSELF. JUST DO IT TO ME AND LET EVERYONE GO, PLEASE, I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS....THIS CRAP!" Ash completely lost it, he smashed his head against the wall in anger once more, showing he was serious. "DO IT!"

"Pika?" Pikachu's voice came ever so quietly, Ash realized Pikachu was waking up right next to him.

"I am sorry Ash, but that's not part of your options" Parker replied like a doctor giving bad news.

"Why..." tears streamed down Ash's face as he struggled to comprehend Parker's response. 

"Pika?" Pikachu asked again, making Ash feel uneasy once more. 

The voices echoed.

"SHUT UP YOU PIKACHU. YOU'RE SO USELESS!" Ash's eyes flashed red as he spoke, before he came back to Earth, realizing what he said in the heat of the moment. "Pikachu.."

Pikachu understood, but just like Ash with Serena, it hurt him inside. Pikachu stared blankly at Ash, blinking every so often. 

"Now, now, we don't want you to go crazy, that would spoil the fun" Parker done a mock pout and then knelt down next to Pikachu, who wasn't tied up at all. "You know he doesn't mean it, right?"

Pikachu had felt the impact of Ash's words and didn't have the strength to move. 

"Pika" he replied slowly, seeming to agree.

Ash looked down, feeling ashamed of himself. 

"How did everything come to this. My whole journey..." he continued to murmur. "Serena...Mom..."

"Come on Ash, the clock is ticking" Parker waited for a response, but Ash continued to murmur to himself. "If you don't pick, I will just do it to both of them"

"Do it" Ash's voice became cold, threatening. "See what happens to you. I will make sure you never train a Pokemon ever again"

"Is this a challenge? You don't look like you could do anything in your current situation" Parker almost burst out laughing. "Well, guess your choice has been made"

Parker started to head towards the glass door that separated the two rooms, but Pikachu suddenly leapt up, against his own will. He flicked his tail, now coated in iron and smashed it against the glass, breaking it all over Parker, who put an arm up to stop glass from hitting his face, the shards sticking in his arms instead.

"Feisty" Parker grinned, looking down at an angry Pikachu, who looked ready to burst out with all of his power.

Ash looked up, blinded by a curtain of fresh tears and a tonne of emotions, feeling completely overwhelmed and exhausted.

"Pika...Pika..." electricity sparked around Pikachu, growing and growing. "Pikaaaaaa"

"Huh?" Parker began to pull out a pokeball, but it was too late.

"PIKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-CHUUUUUUUUUUU!" Pikachu unleashed the biggest thunderbolt he had ever done in his life. The thunderbolt caused all of the equipment to blow up and everyone in the room was shocked. Ash collapsed onto the floor, Parker continued to stand and the two girls screamed out in pain, finally replying to something, before slumping down on their beds that they was tied to. 

Pikachu knew enough was enough. He was now sick of seeing Ash cry so much, though he had rarely cried throughout the time they shared together. Pikachu knew now how much Ash loved both Serena and his Mom and was willing to protect them both with his life, whether Ash wanted him to or not.

Pikachu panted, completely out of breath, staring with eyes like sharp knives at Parker, who was still feeling the effects of the thunderbolt. 

"That was quite a shocker" Parker retorted, another grin forming on his face.

Pikachu's thunderbolt wasn't enough.

The darkness came and replied with more force.