Quickly Bonnie and Max ran to the poor girl. Max started untying her legs while Bonnie removed her gag. "Thank you!" She coughed, her voice hoarse and croaky from all the shouting. "Who are you?" Bonnie asked her, moving to untie her wrists.

"I'm Lillie," the girl replied. "Lillie?! You're the girl Ash was talking about!" Max remembered. "You know Ash?! He's here?!" Lillie asked quickly. "Yeah, we're all here to save you!" Bonnie nodded. "Well, we're also here to save Ash's Greninja... and all the Pokémon who are trapped here... and Serena... but also you guys!"

"Serena's here, too?!" Lillie was clearly worried. "Is she alright?!"
"We don't know, but Ash went looking for her," Max replied, finishing untying Lillie's bottom half. "We've got a little rescue team. We can get you out of here."

"Thank you," Lillie smiled slightly. "But who are you?"

"I'm Bonnie, this is Max!" Bonnie grinned. "We've also got Ash, Max's sister May, my brother Clemont, then... uh, let's see if I remember the names... Maple, Lila, Kiwi and Sofa-Trees!"

"You mean Mallow, Lana, Kiawe and Sophocles," Max deadpanned,  helping Bonnie finish up untying Lillie's top half. "They're all here?!" Lillie asked. "Yeah, now help us untie the others!" Bonnie nodded, helping Lillie stand up.

~•~

May, Mallow and Lana were stuck together after Kiawe and Sophocles split away from them. Not that they minded much, of course. They kept searching for Greninja or any other Pokémon that were in need of their freedom.

"Do you think we'll find Greninja?" Mallow asked worriedly. "Of course we will!" May nodded. "We have to find him! Besides, Ash won't stop looking until we get him back, so we'll find him somehow!"

"True," Mallow nodded, glad for May's vote of confidence. To be honest, May wasn't feeling it too much herself, but it was the least she could do to keep the others calm.

"So how do you know Serena?" Mallow changed the subject. "Well, I'm a Pokémon Coordinator in the Hoenn region," May explained. "And Serena came to Hoenn a year or so back to become a Pokémon Coordinator so she could get more ideas for her Pokémon Performances. I showed her the ropes and we ended up travelling together for a while. We became pretty good friends."

"That's so cool!" Mallow grinned. "You're so lucky that you got to help her out with her work! I'd kill to do that! I'm a huge fan of hers!"

"I've heard," May chuckled. "She's shown me some of your messages to her. You spam a lot."

"Yeah, I guess I do," Mallow chuckled.

It was only then that they realised Lana had stopped a short while back.

"Lana? What's up?" Mallow asked as she and May came over. Lana was looking at a door. "Greninja's in here," the quiet girl said. "I can feel it."

"What? How do you know?" May asked. "Lana's got a sort of sixth sense when it comes to Water types," Mallow chuckled. "Ok, let's check it out, Lana. You're up."

Lana nodded and opened the door, then the three girls gasped at what they saw.

Greninja was indeed there, but with several machines attached to him. He was barely conscious and clearly in pain. Nearby was two scientists examining charts and going over test results. It was obviously Ash's Greninja.

"I'll hold off the scientists, you guys find a way to get Greninja out of there!" May told Mallow and Lana, hurrying in there. "Hey, you jerks! Over here!"

It didn't take long for May to be trapped in a battle against the two scientists which captured their full attention. Mallow and Lana snuck in and looked around, trying to find a way to free Ash's Greninja.

Lana was the first to spot the way to do it.

"Look! Greninja's Pokéball!" She grabbed it and returned the Ninja Pokémon, much to his apparent relief. Thankfully, May was already finishing up with the scientists. Mallow and Lana slipped out just as the last Pokémon went down.

May left a moment or two later. "Did you get him?!" "He's in his Pokéball!" Lana nodded, holding it up. "Great!" May grinned. "Let's get back to the boat!"

~•~

Everyone met up at the boat, all with some sort of salvaged life form. Ash with the unconscious Serena, Max and Bonnie with Lillie and the newly awake Gladion and Lusamine, Mallow, May and Lana with Greninja in his Pokéball, Sophocles and Kiawe with the rescued Pokémon of Lillie's family and even Clemont with the three Pokémon Ash had left to battle the three men.

"Are we all ready to go?" Ash asked. After confirmation from everyone, Lana's Lapras swam away, the flying Pokémon following suit.

The rescue mission was even more of a success than they'd hoped it would be.

~•~

When they reached Melemele Island again, they first went to a Pokémon Centre. Nurse Joy was shocked to see them all in the several conditions they'd acquired, but she worked quickly and efficiently like always, taking all the Pokémon to be healed and giving them rooms to stay the night in so they could rest up.

Those rescued spent the day resting up. The rescuers all stayed with them to make sure they were alright. At one point, Clemont left to report to Officer Jenny all that had happened, though he left everyone strict instructions to keep a good watch over Bonnie.

Lillie was able to tell everyone what happened to her and her family before she fell asleep. Apparently she and Gladion had come to visit their mother and have fun as a family for once when Faba stormed in and teleported them all away with an Alakazam. They were held down by Aether employees that Faba had convinced to turn on Lusamine and work on his side, then they were tied up and locked somewhere they would 'hopefully' never be found.

"We'd never have been able to escape if it wasn't for Max and Bonnie," she'd said.

"Don't thank us!" Bonnie had grinned, holding up a little green blob.

"Thank Squishy!"