Alolan Danger **ON HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE**

Chapter 52: Surpassing Expectations

Ash, Pikachu, Latias, and Iris froze upon recognizing the voice. Yellow looked as pale as a ghost too. And everybody else was looking either very confused or, in the case of certain aura users, really disturbed.

"Why am I sensing a small group of people out there now when the village was practically empty minutes ago?" Cindy inquired warily as she, Kevin, and Hau placed their hand over a Pokeball. Maria and Spark sparked their cheeks while Snow growled menacingly. Gary and Brendan took that as a cue and had his hand hovering above a Pokeball too. Even Delia and Mimey were ready for action if needed.

The man chuckled lightly and said, "Oh, you mean the Shadow Triad of Team Neo Plasma? You needn't worry over them. They're on your side. As am I. We come in peace." Cindy, Kevin, Delia, their Pokemon, Hau, Gary, and Brendan narrowed their eyes.

"Somehow, I'm not buying that. For all we know, you could be spying for Ghetsis." the girl stated suspiciously. The man grimaced at that. Before he could say anything, Ash and Iris put their hands on Kevin and Cindy's respective shoulders. This action caused almost everyone to glance towards the duo with surprised expressions.

"If you check everybody's auras, you'd see that there are no red ones around here. And I know he wouldn't do that. He hates Ghetsis about as much as I hate Lusamine and Madame Boss. Iris and I can vouch for him, at least." he reassured them with Iris nodding. They then turned to the tall, thin young man. He had fair skin, long chartreuse green hair tied into a low fluffy ponytail with shorter pieces framing his face, and green eyes and was wearing a white and black hat with a black peak, a blue and black pendant on a chain around his neck, a white, mid-sleeved shirt with a black shirt under it, a black and white bracelet on his right wrist, a yellow rectangular tri-bracelet on his left one, beige skinny fit pants with a cube attached to his chain near his left hip, and a pair of cider slip-on shoes.

"Isn't that right...N?" Ash asked, holding out his other hand. N smiled kindly and shook it.

"Yeah. Good to see you again, Ash. And I see Pikachu is as good as ever." he replied, scratching underneath Pikachu's chin.

"Chaaaaaaaa..." he cooed happily.

"Hold on! You know him?" Rosa questioned Iris and Ash quizzically. They both nodded.

"Yeah, we know him. N and I were the ones who stopped Ghetsis's rampage in Unova two years ago, after all." Ash answered. Delia quirked an eye as everybody else calmed down to an extent.

"Right. Sorry for mistrusting you at first, N. It's just that some of us have a bad history with organizations." Kevin concurred apologetically.

"Yeah, not to mention suspicious people with one letter names." Cindy added while Snow and Spark shivered upon thinking of such a person. Ash and Pikachu cocked an eye. But they decided to leave it for the time being since they had more urgent matters to attend to.

"Anyway, N, you were talking about Ghetsis escaping from jail and Team Plasma joining Team Rocket?! How the hell did that happen?!" Ash inquired sternly. N frowned.

"I don't know the exact details myself, but apparently, someone named Palermo bailed him out." he responded angrily. Everyone flinched as a revelation dawned on some of them.

"Oh...crap. MADAME BOSS SET GHETSIS FREE?!" Ash, Latias, Kevin, Gary, and Hau shouted, clearly enraged. Pikachu and Maria's cheeks sparked intensely while all their Pokeballs shook violently. N got caught off guard by the inner voices of the Pokemon sounding so hostile.

"Wait, Palermo is Madame Boss? And why do your Pokemon seem so riled up over this? It's almost like...they want to slaughter her." he stated, a little scared. The entire group's expressions darkened.