"Ho-oh, I think you need some sleep" Rick said as the large flying Pokémon flew sleepily over Mount Silver as they headed back to Kanto. The sky was red from the rising sun and the air was cool.

Ho-oh shook it's head. "No, we have to find Ash"

"Well we won't be able to if you're not rested" Misty said as Ho-oh yet again began to slow down. "We all need sleep, and because your connected to Ash your the only one who can tell if he's nearby"

"Misty right" Rick agreed. "And your powers need restoring, you won't be able to find Ash if your falling asleep every few seconds"

Ho-oh sighed, but stopped flapping it's wings, gliding down to the dried up lake at the top of the mountain. It folded it's wings and sat silent with it's eyes closed and it's head lowered.

The other got off and Rick patted Ho-oh's beak. "Don't worry, we'll find him, and Ash is a tough kid, he can take care of himself"

Ho-oh nodded, but still felt worried. Dark Ho-oh had ways of confusing people, of making them obey it. Ho-oh just hoped Ash was smart enough not to believe it.

Dark Ho-oh walked loudly around the large cave, it feathers brushing off the damp wall as it walked over to a wall opposite Ash, who had fallen asleep the night before by the ice cold lake. Dark Ho-oh settled itself by the wall. "Ditto, is the plan working?"

Dark Ditto, who had been keeping an eye on Ash all night, was sitting a short distance away from Dark Ho-oh. He sighed and turned to the giant bird. "I don't think he believes us fully yet, but I sense that he's having his doubts. If we can make him think that the others have abandoned him, we may be able to convince him to join us. With him on our side nothing can stop us"

Dark Ho-oh nodded but turned his head sharply as he heard some rustling. It turned out it was just Ash, who had turned away from them in his sleep. "Where are the others now?"

Ditto closed his eyes and was silent for a moment, then he spoke up. "They are heading to Kanto. They may be after reaching us by tomorrow, but I don't think they're strong enough to defeat us without their friend here" He said glancing over at Ash for a second then looking back at Dark Ho-oh.

Dark Ho-oh nodded and turned to the tunnel behind it. "Keep an eye on the boy"

Ditto nodded to Dark Ho-oh as it walked off into the darkness of the tunnel. He heard something and noticed that Ash had sat up and now looked like he was in deep thought. "Hey, you alive over there?" Ditto called.

Ash shook his head and looked over. "Huh? Oh, well, I've been thinkin' about what you said, and I...I think you right. It has been over a week, and there's still no sign of them. Guess they really didn't care" He looked at the ground.

Ditto grinned but shook his head and put on a sad expression. "I know it's hard, but except the truth" He closed his eyes and thought for a while. "Why not join our side? After all, we'd never leave you. What do you say?"

It looked like Ash was thinking it over. He sighed after a while and nodded. "Ok..."

"Ash no!" Ho-oh yelled. Even in it's sleep it kept searching for Ash. It had used it's ancient powers so it was able to travel in it's mind around some of Kanto. Eventually it had found Ash, only to come in as he agreed to join Dark Ho-oh and Ditto.

"Ash you idiot! They're just trying to trick you! I thought you were smarter than that! He yelled angrily. Of course Ho-oh knew that, in this form, Ash could neither see nor hear it.

Or could he?

As soon as Ditto had left Ash looked beside him, so he was looking straight into Ho-oh's eyes. He smiled and gave Ho-oh a thumbs up, but quickly hid his hand as Ditto returned telling him that Ho-oh and the others were spotted and they needed to plan an attack. Ash glanced back at Ho-oh one more time before getting up and following Ditto.

"Ash?"

Ash sat quietly to the side as Dark Ho-oh and Ditto began to plan strategies.

"We could attack from one of the more well hidden caves, surprised them" Dark Ho-oh said.

"Oh, a sneak attack? I like it" Ditto said grinning.

Ash looked from one to the other. "But...wouldn't they expect a sneak attack?" He was silent for a second as the others looked over at him. "I mean, isn't that how you always do it?"

Ditto turned to Dark Ho-oh. "The kid has a point"

"So you think we should have an open and direct attack?" Dark Ho-oh asked.

Ash nodded. "Sure, they wouldn't suspect a direct attack if they were suspecting a sneak attack, would they?"

Dark Ho-oh and Ditto exchanged confused glances but shrugged. "If you say so" Dark Ho-oh said. "Now, in formation, I think Ditto should battle them first. Ash, you would move in after and I would move in last"

"Sounds good to me" Ditto said.

"But...um...Ditto's stronger than me, shouldn't I go first?" Ash stuttered.

Ditto looked at Ho-oh. "No shortage of good points today"

"Hmm" Dark Ho-oh thought for a while. "Do you want to go first?"

"Ya, I wanna show them what happens when they mess with me" Ash said clenching his fist.

Dark Ho-oh smiled. "I like your attitude kid, alright then. You can be first to fight them. I'll put a spell so you don't feel any of that flying turkeys pain"

Ash smiled but his smile faded as the others turned there attention away from him. He sighed and looked up. It was hard trying to hide that he wasn't really on their side, to mess up Dark Ho-oh's battle strategies and to remember them at the same time, at least for him. "Please stay away from here Ho-oh..." He thought.

Ho-oh landed as awoke all of a sudden and looked around. It was about noon now, so the others were still resting up until they headed off again.

Ho-oh turned and saw that Misty was giving some Pokéfood to Raichu.

"Ho-oh, are you sure your not hungry?" Misty asked.

"No, what would make you think that?" Ho-oh's stomach suddenly grumbled and he grinned sheepishly. "Well, maybe a little hungry"

"I don't think we have enough food to feed a Ho-oh" Misty said looking into her bag.

Ho-oh perked up. "How about a raid a Pokémart? Do you think they'd notice the roof missing?"

Misty turned sharply around. "What?!"

Ho-oh tilted his head. "What? Is there something wrong?"

"You bet there's something wrong!" Misty yelled. "You can't just go up to a Pokémart and smash it down. Firstly its wrong, and secondly someone might see you"

Ho-oh grumbled. "Party pooper..." He mumbled. "Well I gotta eat something!" It said stamping it's foot on the ground impatiently.

"Crying like a newly hatched won't get you anywhere" Rick said grinning.

"I am not crying like a newly hatched! I'm moaning like a hungry Ho-oh!" Ho-oh said.

Rick looked at Ho-oh. "And the difference between those two is...?"

Ho-oh growled. "Do you want to serve yourself a replacement? If not them keep your mouth shut"

"I thought you said you were only a little hungry" Misty said smiling.

"Less talk, more food!" Ho-oh said grabbing Raichu's bowl of Pokéfood and swallowing it, bowl and all.

"Rai!" Raichu yelled angrily. [That was mine!] He said standing up and glaring at Ho-oh.

"You wanna make somethin' of it?" Ho-oh said standing over Raichu and glaring at it.

"Ok you two" Misty said stepping forward. "Break it up. There's no need to fight"

[That overgrown chicken stood my dinner!] Raichu said pointing at Ho-oh.

Ho-oh growled. "Who do you think your calling and overgrown chicken?!"

[You, you overgrown chicken!] Raichu yelled.

"That's big talk for such a little rat!" Ho-oh yelled back.

[Rat?!] Raichu yelled stepping forward towards.

"Uh, little help?" Misty said looking back at Rick.

Rick was sitting with his arms and legs crossed. He looked up at Misty. "Why? This is entertaining" He said grinning, but frowned when Misty glared at him. He sighed. "All right" He said standing up and walking over to Raichu. "Come on you" He said picking Raichu up. "You know better than to call Ho-oh a chicken"

"Thank you" Ho-oh said still glaring at Raichu.

Rick grinned. "Ya, everyone knows your more of a turkey than a chicken"

"Huh? Hey!" Ho-oh glared at Rick, who just grinned and laughed somewhat nervously.

Misty stepped forward. "That's it! I want you three to shut up and stop fighting right now! Got it?!"

Rick, Ho-oh and Raichu straightened up quickly and looked at her. "Yes ma'am" They said in unison.

"That's better" Misty said smiling before turning to feed the laughing Pikachu.

"She's scary" Rick whispered to Ho-oh and Raichu.

Raichu and Ho-oh laughed and nodded in agreement.

"But I'm still hungry" Ho-oh moaned.

Rick sighed and shook his head. "Well we don't have enough food, so you'll have to do without" He walked back over to Misty.

Ho-oh groaned and looked down the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, the whole area around was covered in a forest. One path lay, leading up to the mountain. Then Ho-oh noticed something. A giant Pokéball? No, it was just the top of the Pokémon Center. Wait a second...Pokémon Center?!

Ho-oh looked at the others and when it noticed that they were distracted, it began to side-step away from them, trying to sneak off. Miraculously, they didn't noticed and soon Ho-oh was down in the thick forest and walking very quietly. Soon the Pokémon Center came into sight and Ho-oh grinned.

"I don't see why I'm the one who has to bring all the Pokémon to the Pokémon Center. Misty was down earlier, why didn't she bring them all?" Rick moaned as he and Raichu finished climbing down the mountain and towards the Pokémon Center at the edge of the forest. "I have to do everything"

[Like?] Raichu asked.

Rick thought. "Well, I, um, feed the Pokémon" Raichu shook it's head. "Buy the food?" Raichu shook it's head again. "Carry most of the stuff?" Raichu grinned but shook it's head. Rick groaned. "Ok, so I don't do everything, but I let her use my Pokémon, does that count?"

Raichu thought for a while. [I don't think so]

"Your making me sound lazy!" Rick said.

[That's coz you are]

"Hey! And as if your not!" Rick answered back.

[I am not lazy!] Raichu yelled.

"Oh ya? What do you do?" Rick asked crossing his arms.

[Uh...Look! There's the Pokémon Center] Raichu said running towards the Pokémon Center in the distance.

Rick grinned and ran after the electric Pokémon. He returned Raichu when they reached there and, along with all the other Pokémon, handed in the Pokéballs. He sighed and sat down on one of the benches. After a few minutes Nurse Joy returned with the Pokémon and he was about to head off when he noticed that there's was a pile of rocks in the doorway of one of the rooms. Curious as to what was going on, he walked over and looked in. By the looks of it, it had been a storage room, but now there was a large hole in the wall leading outside and there was hardly a scrape of food left. "Nurse Joy, what happened in here?" He called out to the nurse at the counter.

Nurse Joy looked up and sighed. "We don't know. It happened about an hour ago. There was a large explosion-like noise and I saw flames in the room. By the time I got a chance to look in, whatever caused it was gone"

Rick thought for a second and then it clicked. "Ho-oh..." He thought.

"Ho-oh!" Rick yelled as he reached the ledge half-way up the mountain were the group was resting. He looked around and noticed the bird sitting, with a proud grin of it's face, not to fair away. He stormed over to it. "Ho-oh, did you still that food from the Pokémon Center?!"

Ho-oh jumped a little and looked at him. "How dare you! You accuse me without any proof?!" Just then Ho-oh coughed up a candy bar wrapper. He looked at Rick and grinned.

"You didn't even bother to take the wrapper off?" Rick asked.

"Hey, I was hungry"

"Well, just don't let Misty find out. She's got a glare to make Dark Ho-oh cower" Rick said grinning.

"Who's got a glare to make Dark Ho-oh cower?"

"Uh oh" Rick turned and saw Misty with Pikachu of her shoulder. He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Um..."

"Where'd that candy wrapper come from?" Misty asked.

"Uh..." Ho-oh looked at the wrapper and stepped on it. "What wrapper?"

Misty gave Ho-oh a strange look. She looked to the side and caught sight of the Pokémon Center. When she had been down earlier, she had seen the storage room. "Wait a second....Ho-oh! Were you the one who broke into the Pokémon Center?!"

Ho-oh and Rick looked at each other. "Um..." "Well..."

"You were in one this?!" Misty said glaring at Rick.

Rick backed up a little. "You're just like Delia when I lost her wedding ring and tried to replace it with a plastic one"

Misty's eyes widened. "You did what?!"

"I bought her a new one!" Rick argued back.

Misty shook her head. "Ash really does take after you"

When Misty said that, Rick and Ho-oh looked at each other and grinned.

"So if your like Delia..." Rick said.

"And Ash is like Rick..." Ho-oh continued.

Rick grinned. "Then it's obvious you two are gonna get together"

"What?!" Misty yelled turning slightly red. She raised her fist.

"To Victory Road!" Ho-oh called out

"Sanctuary!" Rick said taking out three Pokéballs. He released Charizard and Pidgeot before returning Ho-oh. He jumped onto Charizards back and they took off, Pidgeot waiting for Misty.

"What the? Get back here!" Misty said jumping onto Pidgeot. Pikachu held on tight to her shoulder as Pidgeot took off after his master.