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Chapter Text

Ron the True Fan: Disclaimers are pointless. Now I said it a few times to reviewers: I was not entirely happy with the prologue. It served its' purpose. Now that SOT's finished, which you'll see in about, oh, ten chapters or so, we're going back to the past… to rewrite the prologue that sucked-(WHACK!)

Takeshi Yamato: Just get to it, Ron!

Thor: (Mjolnir returns to hand and he starts spinning it again, ready to release again)

Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice or lightning, lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash.

Though the water's great guardian shall arise to quell the fighting, alone its song will fail, lest the earth shall turn to Ash. O Chosen One, into thine hands bring together all three.

Their treasures combined tame the Beast of the Sea.

The Prophecy of Shamouti Island did not just refer to the Legendary Birds, but the Creation Trio of Dialga, Palkia and Giratina. Cyrus Akagi of Team Galactic has destroyed the balance. Now the consequences of his folly will be seen by all… but most of all, by Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town.

Pokemon School - Melemele Island - 1314 hours local time - Year 7, day 63 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey

Ash Ketchum sighed. Professor Kukui was great and all… but he knew the type chart backwards, forwards and upside down.

He might not look it, but he had been competing in leagues since before these kids could properly toss a Pokeball. And he was bored.

'Better bored then confronting another evil team.' Ash thought to himself as Kukui pointed at a gray rectangle on the chart.

"Now, we know about the Steel-type's weakness to fire, but can anyone tell me what its' strengths are?" the professor/teacher asked his class, Lillie raising her hand. "Yes, Lillie?"

The rich girl stood up, raising a hand. "The steel-type is known for its great defense, being most effective against ice and rock-types." she said, her Alolan Vulpix Snowy mewling at being told he was weak to steel. Thankfully, his trainer noticed. "I'm sorry, Snowy…"

"Correct!" Kukui said, Pikachu just giving Ash a look that said 'can we PLEASE leave?' Ash could not blame him.

He didn't like sitting still: his idea of a lazy day was running around and training his Pokemon. It was half the reason he didn't settle down with any of his companions.

Misty… Oh, Misty. Ash wasn't dumb. It took him a while to notice these things, but he wasn't dumb. Misty's mermaid water show was basically her confessing to him.

But after Latios died… he was pretty sure it was Latias who pecked him on the cheek the day he left Altomere. And he didn't feel he deserved it. Deserved… love.

Which was half the reason he went to Hoenn alone. The other half being his father just leaving and not coming back. He figured he could handle going alone. Cue running into May. He gladly tutored her until she could become a good trainer, accepting and even encouraging her career as a coordinator.

He noticed her falling for him right around the time he beat her father for the Balance Badge. It was pretty much solidified when they went to Kanto and he nearly drowned saving Samiya from sinking. He was happy to see her follow her dream, away from him, going to Johto while he went to Sinnoh.

Sinnoh… he had no fond memories of that place. Sure, Dawn was a nice enough girl (and after accidentally peeking at her diary and seeing 'Mrs Dawn Ketchum' in there after Lake Acuity, he actually considered abandoning Sinnoh and going home for a bit, but he had a League to compete in) but that was the only good thing.

Paul was an ass, Ash would not deny that. It took him beating the crap out of Paul at the League for him to soften up even slightly. Humiliation at a public venue, it seemed, was the only solution. And then there was Cyrus.

Arceus, he hated Cyrus. He wanted to 'remake reality', whatever that meant. Ash wasn't an expert. He just hoped Cyrus got what he deserved for hurting the Lake Trio.

And then there was Tobias. Which was bullshit. He learned his lesson at Shamouti: never catch a legendary. It's a bad idea in the end. Yet Tobias went and got at least two, the Latios especially mocking him for his failure to stop Annie and Oakly at Altomare.

"Togedemaru's perfect against poison-types!" said Sophocles, drawing Ash out of his thoughts. He must've spaced out thinking.

Really, he joined this school because he thought it would be all practical learning. The theory was nice and all, but once you're out of the class, you need to think on your feet.

Which he somehow forgot in Unova. He didn't even know what happened to him when he started that journey. Zekrom zapping him in the head, leftover Tobias funk, something that was actually, literally, in the air?

He didn't know. He didn't care: he didn't like what happened there. And that made his meeting Iris worse. She was a lot like Misty, but for dragons and… wilder. He REALLY got sick and tired of her 'kid' comments, especially when she was a year YOUNGER then he was.

Of course, he befriended her - and by Mistralton, she had a not-so-well-hidden crush on him, making him question HOW this kept happening - and she lightened up. Somewhat. She was more of a… tsundere? Was that accurate? Ash didn't care as Kiawe answered a question about dragon-types.

Of course, that ended with him losing at the League (what was WRONG with him in Unova? It was like someone had it against him there) he had to deal with Team Plasma AND Giovanni. He had to put the pieces together that he was the Viridian City Gym Leader after that second time with Mewtwo. You don't get a badge from Team Rocket unless their boss WAS the leader.

Then Kalos happened. He wanted to go back and tell himself NOT to go there. Alexia got him to meet Serena again. And he had to lie a LOT to her. He remembered all too well who she was.

His first crush. Then again, she had that adorable accent-

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!' Ash mentally screamed, trying to not break his vow to not go after her.

He had to thank that guitarist nut. Greninja was demanding he 'mate' with her once the Battle Bond was solidified. Often. And that time he got sick, he nearly gave into that demand. THAT would have been awkward.

After the Kalos League (Alain's Mega Evolution thing was bullshit. He didn't rely on gimmicks to win, the Ash-Greninja thing being something they couldn't exactly control from happening) and dealing with Team Flare (he REALLY hoped Lysandre was dead. Son of a bitch deserved it) he was ready to go home. Then Serena kissed him.

His first actual kiss. He wanted nothing more then to go with her to Hoenn right then and there. But his self-control was stronger then his lust and she left while he just stood there, dumbfounded.

After that, he went home. Then Mimey won the contest to go to Alola. Which brought him to now.

At least he was confident that none of the girls here would fall for him. Mallow and Lana were 13, Lillie was 12. He was 17, even if he didn't look it. He'd love to be nothing more then their big brother figure. A crush they'd grow out of, he could live with.

He glanced at Torracat as he lounged in the sun. He should really thank Professor Kukui later.

Again, Ash wasn't an idiot. He learned a long time ago how to figure out disguises. Actually, he figured it out in Celadon thanks to Jessie and James. (He HATED crossdressing and that time Cilan dressed up as Elesa, he wanted to SCREAM) Most of the time, he figured out where Team Rocket was, he just waited for them to pull their nonsense, hoping THIS time, they'd go 'we give up! Want to be friends?'. He could hope they'd resign from the Team and become actual trainers.

So, yes, he knew Professor Kukui was the Masked Royale. Kinda hard not to figure it out with that skin and the voice, not to mention the height, physique… yeah. It was easy to figure out.

He just played stupid for the sake of the kids. He didn't want to ruin their fun. He wasn't Paul. He was pretty sure Paul had no idea how to HAVE fun.

Unfortunately, their fun was going to be ruined by another source.

A flash of light was followed by a green missile smashing into the railing, smashing it before barreling through Lillie's desk, finally smacking into the blackboard.

"Lillie, are you ok?!" Sophocles asked as Mallow checked on the girl, finding her forehead and left leg cut by the desk's metal parts, blood freely flowing onto the ground.

Ash paid less attention to Lillie, knowing they would make sure she was ok and focused on what caused her injury.

It was very familiar, with a green body, pixie wings, an onion-shaped head-

"Oh, hell." Ash muttered, loudly enough that he got the attention of his classmates, who double-taked at Ash actually cursing.

He tried not to most of the time, but this warranted it, even as Rotom Dex hovered towards the Time Travel Pokemon to identify it.

Ash, having run into Celebi four times now - once in the Ilex forest, once in Kanto when he was with May and once in Sinnoh, specifically in Crown City - was less interested in seeing Celebi and knowing why the Mythical Pokemon was even here to begin with. Mainly because EVERY TIME one showed up, everything went to hell in a handbasket in a matter of minutes.

And with the exception of dealing with the occasional Ultra Beast, he was expecting a vacation from this shit.

"This is a Pokemon that isn't native to Alola!" Rotom Dex said, Ash rolling his eyes. 'No shit.' he mentally snarked as Rotom scanned the Pokemon in question.

"Celebi, the Time Travel Pokemon: This Pokémon wanders across time. Grass and trees flourish in the forests in which it has appeared." Rotom said before suddenly going INSANE. "LEGENDARY! NOT ONLY LEGENDARY, MYTHICAL! THIS IS A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME EVENT!"

Ash snorted. "Then I'm lucky, seeing as I've met Celebi three times before." he snarked, getting the attention of all of the students and Rotom Dex.

"Nonsense!" the possessed machine said. "If you had met-" Ash then pulled out one of his older Pokedex models: the Unovan one, actually. Professor Oak spent months fixing it after Torterra stepped on it and he picked it up when they went to Kanto, as Ash wanted to look at the entries he had without making the Rotom freak out like he was now..

"What?! I thought I was your first Pokedex!" screamed the indignant machine.

"I'm from Kanto, Rotom Dex: we don't start out at 14 like you do in Alola." Ash explained. "We start at TEN."

"Oh, right." Lana said in mild understanding. "That explains why Misty looked so young for a gym leader..."

Lillie blinked away her pain, focusing on Ash. "I… saw you on the news…" she slurred. "At...Greenfield?"

Ash didn't want to discuss it.

Meanwhile, Pikachu was explaining everything to Rowlet, Torracat and Lycanroc, the rock-type especially fearful of the legendary grass-type. Rowlet was extremely excited.

Mallow looked at the Pokedex in question. "That's from Unova. When did you go to Unova?" she asked.

"Two years ago." Ash said, even as Rotom went insane from seeing all the entries on Legendaries, including Arceus. "What I'm more interested in right now is…" he looked at Celebi. "What are YOU doing here?"

The onion-headed Pokemon groaned as she awoke, rubbing her head. "Bii…" 'I hate my job sometimes.' she said, Ash showing mild surprise when he heard her in his mind. "Bi?" 'Ash? Oh, thank Arceus, I'm not too late.'

This was not good. Celebi was looking for him.

"She talks?!" Kiawe demanded, Ash giving him an unamused look over his shoulder.

"All Pokemon talk. We just can't understand them most of the time." he said before looking at Celebi. "Do I want to know why you're here?"

"Celebi…" 'You're about to figure it out.' Celebi said before the ground began to shake and everything started to just feel… wrong.

"…what the hell was that?" Kiawe asked, blanching a bit. "I… I don't feel… right…"

"Cele." 'Cyrus happened.' Celebi said as the skies started turning unnatural colors of purple, gold and teal, the ground continuing to shake.

"Cyrus?!" Ash demanded. "I thought he died!"

Celebi's usually bell-like laugh sounded harsh and mirthless. "Bi." 'He did. But he had control of Dialga and Palkia until he finally lost his mind and killed himself.' Celebi said as lightning struck the ocean, literally unmaking the water.

"That… can't be good." Sophocles said before Mallow began vomiting up what looked like black blood, coughing before beginning to puke up more.

"Bi." 'We're all dead,' Celebi answered. "Celebi." 'Without a controlling presence, Dialga and Palkia went berserk and killed Giratina. Arceus is doing what he can to keep the universe from completely collapsing, but even the Creator knows there's no saving it.' the Time Travel Pokemon said before Lana's hand started randomly twitching, the nails starting to peel off her hand of their own accord.

"There's got to be something we can do!" Ash said, ignoring any odd feelings he had and focusing on Celebi.

Kukui held his head as blood poured out of his ears, screaming as he fell on the floor.

"Bi!" 'I have to send you back to the start!' Celebi said, even as Kiawe and Sophocles collapsed, the former crying literal tears of blood.

"You honestly think going back in time's going to solve this?!" Ash asked as the Pokemon started showing signs of injury, Snowy's fur starting to turn a deep red as blood oozed out of his pores and Togedemaru's metal spines beginning to rust and fall off.

"Celebi!" 'Do we have a choice?! They're dying! And you'll be next if we don't get a move on!' the onion-headed Pokemon said before Mallow looked up, her eyes starting to turn green before they completely turned black.

"Ash…" Mallow said, before screaming in pain and terror. That made up Ash's mind.

"I can't do this alone." he said, almost pathetically before he felt blood leak from his nose.

'You will not be alone.' came a voice Ash...knew? It sounded familiar. Very...

"Azelf?" he asked, getting a feeling of confirmation. It had been a long time since he'd seen them.

'My sisters and I will send back the minds of your Pokemon. They cannot physically go with you.' the Willpower Pokemon explained, even as Professor Kukui had a puddle of blood form under him, the older man hacking and coughing as he laid on the floor. 'You will need them.'

Ash coughed, flecks of blood escaping his mouth as he felt his head seemingly shrink, being ten times too small for his brain.

"Bi!" 'We need to go NOW!' Celebi said, Pikachu bounding towards him before a psionic bubble formed around the two, the Electric Mouse bonking off the shield. "Celebi!" 'The second YOU start showing signs of degradation, we're out of time!'

Ash held his head, groaning before Celebi started moving them forward. "Pika… chu…" he moaned.

"Celebi." 'You'll see him again,' she said before propelling them forward, trying to find a stable place to send them back in time. After a moment, she growled. "Bi." 'Fine. Going to have to do this the hard way.'

Ash looked at Celebi in confusion. "The… hard way?" he asked, even as he saw parts of the island start floating into the air.

"Bi." 'You've been to Unova.' the Time Travel Pokemon said before smirking. "Celebri." 'And I've always wanted to say this… but when this bubble hits eighty-eight miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit.'

Then the bubble shot forward, Ash's eyes being forced to stay open as they shot through whatever reality was now. It was beyond real description, with unnatural reds, golds, blues and purples making patterns Ash couldn't put into words as Celebi shot them through time, Ash screaming as he couldn't close his eyes.

A sort of ringed tunnel formed before they entered it, winding in twists, turns and loops before Ash finally blacked out from the mental strain.

His nightmare had only just begun.

Ron the True Fan: And you all wonder why this has a 'horror' tag. Last time, it was just quick, simple, to get the ball rolling and spare you the real horrors of reality unmaking itself. Now? Well, how does the FUCKING EYE OF TERROR sound?!

Takeshi Yamato: Yeesh. And yes, we still did the Back to the Future ref. It's fun.

117Jorn: …didn't do all that much in the remade Prologue tbh - not a fan of legit psychological horror.

Ron the True Fan: And besides, the best horror is IMPLIED horror. Which no one seems to GET nowadays. Then there's the unofficial 40K prequel. (Jorn: Event Horizon's not a 40K prequel, Ron! Ron: Everyone else seems to disagree with you!)

Takeshi Yamato: Yeah, honestly, Zombie Horror is way too overdone.

Ron the True Fan: ...Neither of you have actually WATCHED Event Horizon, have you? Enjoy the fic.

Ja Ne!

(New AO3 note)

Ron the True Fan: I am NOT pleased. This was prompted by the most recent stupidity with FFN, so I have, reluctantly, decided to just port everything over. I am not happy. But I suppose it was going to happen eventually. Regardless...you know how this ends. I'll be updating it here once a day until Kanto is done. Ja Ne. (Angry scream)

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(New AO3 note)

Ron the True Fan: Was it fast, is it unchanged? Better yet, does it matter if you're enjoying the read? Again, the faster i have this on AO3, the more you can enjoy it. When I get to the Director's Cut – which will be when Johto is done so I can focus on Kanto and Orre without people SCREAMING at me for more chapters – THEN the added content comes in. Ja ne!

Chapter Text

Ron the True Fan: And welcome back, readers. Prepare for the events of episode one of the original series, albeit changed. The butterfly effect hit hard for a few reasons, but the big one is mostly the fact that Dialga and Palkia distorted time. The timeline Ash and the family are from just… doesn't exist anymore.

On an unrelated note, please check out my YouTube channel for playthoughs of games like Star Trek Online and other (mostly PC) titles. (Can't get my DS, Switch or any of my consoles to be recorded. Yet...)

Pallet Town, Kanto Region - 0654 hours local time

Ash awoke as the sun began to rise, his rest being filled with nothing but nightmares. Still, he wouldn't have any more after today. Pikachu would make sure of that. Still, he had a problem at the moment. That being something was holding him down. There were two people, one of them being Belladonna, holding onto him. She really wanted to make sure he was ok.

Still, the second one was a young man, about three years younger then Ash, with dark brown hair, almost black, looking much like him, only without the marks on his face. The headaches came a moment later, along with knowledge of the boy's identity: Red. His little brother. Apparently, Ash and Belladonna were his heroes, Belladonna being the first to go through two leagues while Ash served as a moral inspiration for him, showing him how to care for Pokemon and trying to make sure he was a kind trainer.

But why were they here? Ash shifted a little, with little Red latching onto him. "Don't go." the 11-year old all-but-demanded. Ash could understand: he was the big brother, the rock for the family. Red and Yellow needed him and Belladonna because their father… wasn't there. Oh, if he ever found that bastard this time, he was going to make him go home: one doesn't start a family and just leave. Even he knew that: it was why he was never going to do what he did. Even if it broke his heart, he would never subject the women he had grown to love to that torture.

But that was beside the point as he hugged his little brother back. "I have to go." Ash said to Red, even as he rubbed his little brother's back comfortingly. 'The world apparently needs me to mop up its' messes.' he thought sardonically. Red started to cry, clinging tighter before another pair of arms wrapped around Red. "There, there, little brother." soothed Belladonna as she pried her youngest brother from his vice grip on Ash, allowing him to get out. "I'll pack up your stuff. Go to the lab, Ash."

Ash didn't need to be prompted any further. He had been away from Pikachu far too long already. He needed to grab his starter and find the rest of the family and make sure they were safe. Which explained why Ash didn't bother looking back, much to the confusion of his siblings.

Oak Laboratory - 0704 hours local time

Samuel Oak knew this was going to happen, so he hid all but one starter pokeball. THe last one, he handed over to his grandson. "Gramps, I gotta ask…" Gary Oak started as his grandfather hid the filled Pokeballs and replaced them with empty ones. "Why are you hiding the other starters?" The elder Oak looked at his grandson sternly, scaring the younger man. Perhaps this was to be expected: after all, while Gary was his grandson, Ash was the more favored of his pupils, mostly because while knowledge was important, bonding with Pokemon was infinitely more so, especially in these trying times.

"Gary, I want you to listen very closely." the famed professor said as Gary collapsed the ball into its' storage state and clipped it to his belt. "If you see Ash, tell him that he woke up late and all of the normal starters are gone." "But… why?" Gary asked, confused. Why would he have to lie, especially to Ash? Sure, Gary was an arrogant ass at times and he knew it, but he thought of Ash as a friend first and rival second. When he didn't have his ego inflated, but a visit to Aunt Delia often popped those like a Jigglypuff getting hit with an crossbow bolt. She was a really nice lady… when you didn't make her mad.

Then she became a rampaging monster and your options boiled down to 'run, do not walk, in the opposite direction' and 'stand, fight, die/be completely humiliated'. Metaphorically speaking, of course: Delia didn't kill people as far as Gary knew. She just made them wish for it without even hurting them. His grandfather called it the 'Garek Effect' for some reason. But back to the point at hand as Samuel gripped his shoulders, the older man's eyes boring into his soul. "Do. Not. Tell. Him. Do I make myself clear?" Oak all but demanded before Gary nodded as if he were a bobblehead.

The older Oak let him go before grabbing his grandson's Pokedex and handing it to him. "Try not to catch everything that you see." the scientist all but begged. "Just because I have Pokemon that can use Grassy Terrain and have small animals I can give the more carnivorous ones to feed on doesn't mean my resources are infinite." He had to import thousands of mice and rabbits to feed Pokemon like Charmander and Ekans. Fortunately for him, there were places in the world that wanted them gone. Still didn't mean he could afford thousands of new Pokemon in the ranch. A few dozen, maybe.

Gary gave his cocky grin. "I'll try not to, but I make no promises." he said as he prepared to leave the lab. "I mean it, Gary." Oak warned. "Any extra feeding expenses will come from your pocket until I can get more food plants and actually set up a breeding program for the rabbits and mice." With that warning, Gary paled and ran outside. Oak realized he really did need to set up a mini-farm. Good thing hydroponics was a thing.

Still, at least Ash would get Pikachu. …Maybe he should've called that girl's parents to drag her in, but she liked to sleep in. At least she'd take the Bulbasaur.

Outside, Ash prepared for his first day as a trainer. From the spearow flock from hell to meeting Pikachu, he was ready for anything. He was fully prepared for Misty not to be there, too: who knows what had changed? Thankfully, some things weren't so different, as Gary was there first, looking cocky as always. "Hey, Ash! Sleep in, did we?" Gary asked mockingly. Or not so mockingly: Ash could hear a slight waver in his voice. Was that fear? "You're late! Everyone came and took the starter Pokemon!" Ash knew this was a lie. There was one in there, waiting for him. He hoped. And that uncertainty showed on his face. What if Pikachu wasn't there?

"Looks like you're staying here, Ashy-boy!" Gary mocked, though he really didn't have the heart for it. Was their relationship different here? At any rate, Gary walked off, though there was no car and no cheerleaders this time around. But Ash didn't care about that. He cared about his starter and the rest of the family. So while Gary walked away, he walked inside.

Waiting for him inside a really messed up lab was Professor Oak, putting on a new lab coat, who noticed him a few seconds after the young man entered the room. "Ah, Ash." he greeted cheerfully before narrowing his eyes. "You're late. Being a second late for a train is life changing, Ash. All of the starters were taken by trainers that were on time." Ash knew for a fact that was a complete and total lie. A stronger word came to mind, but he didn't pay attention to it. "There's got to be another choice, isn't there?" Ash all but begged. 'Please… Pikachu, be here!' he thought in desperation. Oak then sighed, producing a pokeball with a lightning bolt on it from his own belt. "There is one, but…" Oak said before he paused to gesture at the depression on the release button, which had a black ring. "There is a problem with this one."

Ash did not care. Pikachu was Pikachu. "I'll take it!" he cried impulsively, taking the ball out of Oak's hands before he pressed the button with his middle finger, releasing the pokemon within. The energy soon formed a slightly chubby yellow mouse with a lightning bolt tail, red cheeks and dark eyes. Ash smiled, ignoring Pikachu's sparking before just hugging the little thing, all the sparks ending as Pikachu calmed down. "Pikapi!" 'Ash!' the little mouse cried as he jumped onto Ash's right arm and took his customary place on his trainer's shoulder. "Piiiiii~ka!" 'I am never leaving your side again, do you hear me, you idiot?!' Pikachu said as he tried not to cry. 'Never! Again!'

Oak watched this curiously. "Well, you seem to have… bonded." he said dryly before producing another Pokeball. "But as you are very well aware, that Pikachu is a Shadow Pokemon. And while he's calm… for now…" Pikachu stopped rubbing his cheeks against Ash's to glare at the old man for suggesting he be taken away. That happened three times - Mewtwo was going to suffer the next time they met, Groudon and Kyogre were going to get chopped and electrocuted and that Mew was going to have to avoid his rage - and was not happening again. Oak ignored him, handing the other ball to Ash. "I don't need it." the young trainer said, trying to keep his voice even. While he wouldn't mind expanding the family, he had to find the rest first. Butterfree, Charizard, Bulbasaur, Quilava, Heracross, Swellow, Chimchar, Gible, Pignite, Snivy, Greninja, Goodra, Rowlet, Lycanroc: they came first. Catching anyone new would have to wait until the rest were safe, if he caught anyone at all.

But Oak did not know this. "I insist." Oak stressed. "Ash, that Pikachu is a Shadow Pokemon and likely to disobey you—" "Chu." 'After the Spearows? Not likely.' Pikachu retorted, but Oak took this as proof. "Besides, the League has strict regulations on this sort of thing." the professor said. "If I have to give you a Shadow Pokemon as a starter, I have to give you a powerful non-starter just so you can survive. The rules are the rules. Besides, you may like this one." He tapped the ball, opening it. The energy surged out, forming something that looked like a Pikachu, but… not one. It was a Pokemon Ash and Pikachu were all too familiar with.

After all, one tried to kill them on a regular basis in Alola. "Professor Kukui in Alola sent me this Mimikyu for study, but every time I let her out, she refuses to do anything." Oak explained, gesturing to the Mimikyu in question. "Acute depression, mostly. The only thing I can do is give her to a trainer. And you're the best and only choice." The Mimikyu perked up before looking at Ash. "Mi?" 'Are you… my friend?' the Mimikyu asked, sounding like a young girl, kinda like Lana's little sisters, only a bit more distorted.

And Ash was not going to deny anyone a chance for friendship. "Hi. I'm Ash." he said, extending his hand to the little ghost/fairy-type.

"Mi… Mimi… KYUUUU!" 'F… Frie… FRIEND!' The little Pokemon shouted, leaping on Ash's unoccupied shoulder and cuddling with his face happily purring.

"I'm not surprised you would try to make a friend, in spite of Mimikyu's… reputation." Oak said as Mimikyu acted more like a cat then a… well, Pikachu. "Just try not to look under the rag; people have died doing that." Ash nodded, knowing all too well about that thanks to Team Rocket's Mimikyu. And about the power of this little rag-covered Pokemon: he had lost count of the number of times a Shadow Ball nearly killed his starter back in Alola. Having a Mimikyu himself would allow him to know what that monster back in Alola could do so he could make Team Rocket's life very difficult. Enough to make them go away, hopefully.

"Well, good luck, Ash." the professor said with a smile. "Try to avoid your mother: I would rather not hear about your undergarments and how infrequently they are changed." On that, Ash could not agree more.

Kalos Region - 1947 hours local time

He risked his life today, only to anger a massive flock of quick-tempered and dangerous Pokemon, but for good reason. He had a family member to recover.

Hawlucha knew of time travel from the rest of the family: Celebi and Dialga were commonly cursed names by Bayleaf and Infernape, though Pikachu had to fill in the blanks during Ash's trip back to Kanto with his Alolan friends. Still, he wasn't complaining about that: with everything that happened, time travel was new.

It was having to risk his live to save an egg that if it wasn't there he wouldn't even bother that he had right to complain about. The luchador Pokemon had to check the local Noivern flock for the egg, finding that it was laid now. Unlike most eggs, those of dragon-types were… impossible to eat by Ekans and Arbok. One Dragonite pair had an egg, an Arbok tried to eat it, the arbok got sick and nearly died. Not to mention eggs nearly lasted forever. For all he knew, Noibat was born now and his egg simply waited for six years for the events of his hatching last time.

He didn't care at this point. He just had to protect the egg and get back to the ranch. "Fletchling!" 'Hawlucha, you overly theatrical bastard!' a familiar voice chirped before a Fletchling appeared in front of him. "Ling!" 'Do you remember me?'

"Haw?" '…Talonflame?' Hawlucha asked in confusion. "Hawlucha!" 'You're a Fletchling? When did Ash catch you?'

The robin landed on the ground. "Ling!" 'I was Ash's first catch, not counting Froakie.' Fletchling proudly chirped. "Fletch…" 'Well, his first Kalos catch… I think a bug-type was his first.'

Rain began to fall before a certain snail appeared, moving slowly. "Goomy." 'I hate being a Goomy…' said Ash's second Kalosian powerhouse as he slowly slithered on the dampened ground. "Goo?" 'Hawlucha? I thought you were miles away.'

The wrestling bird wasn't pleased with that reaction. "Hawlucha." 'I was. I might not look like it, but I am a flying type, snail dragon.' Hawlucha said with a bit of bite.

"Goomy." 'Don't remind me.' said snail dragon retorted. "Goo." 'I want to be a big powerful Goodra again.'

"Fletch!" 'At least the gang's all together!' Fletchling chirped before realizing the mistake in her statement. "Fletchling." 'Not counting Froakie, but he's lab-born, so he's Arceus knows where.'

A water sphere shot overhead, all three Pokemon preparing for combat, mostly hiding behind the only one of them with Hydration, using Goomy's slimy body as a shield. But the threat was non-existent.

"Froak." 'You are quite mistaken, bird.' said a light blue, bubble-covered frog as he appeared before them, using his skills he had mastered in the last timeline. "Froakie." 'I may be lab-born, but I am not an idiot.'

Hawlucha narrowed his eyes. "Haw-lu." 'Don't do that again.' he all but threatened. "Cha." 'I have Noibat's egg and am not going to tolerate that around him.'

"Fro." 'That was just to get your attention.' retorted Froakie. "Froakie-Froak." 'Now, what happened? Why am I a Froakie again and which legendary do I have to beat for making me break out of the lab and spend a full day without rest to find you?'

"Hawlucha." 'Now, you would know the story.' the fighting-type said, resisting the urge to smirk before continuing to mock Froakie. "Lucha." 'If you hadn't decided to stay here last time.'

"Froak." 'I stayed here because Ash told me to stay and help Zygarde!' the frog roared back. "Froakie!" 'And what do you know that I don't?!'

Goomy groaned before having enough with the two. His answer to this was type advantage. While he never learned in Ash's care, he did know the basics from Pikachu. And so, the two arguing morons got an electrocution via a weak Thunderbolt each, knocking Froakie on his rear and Hawlucha to collapse on his back. "Goo, Goomy, Goo, Goo, Goo!" 'Shut the hell up, both of you!' the weakest dragon demanded. 'Ash left me here as well, per my own request, to protect my home. And fighting like this will only distract us from getting to Serena.'

Froakie groaned as he got back to his feet. "Froak?" 'Serena?' he asked. "Fro." 'We should be heading to Kanto, not Vanille Town.'

"Fletch!" 'Because Serena knows Ash!' the robin cried. "Fletch-ling!" 'That's a universal constant! Serena always knows Ash, no matter the timeline! She's our best chance to get to Kanto!'

Froakie was a stubborn Pokemon, much like Ash, but… there was logic in this. "Froakie." 'I am bound to Ash.' he said solemnly. "Froak." 'He is my liege-lord. His will is my own. Should he need me to return to Kalos, I will. But he requires me now. And Serena is the fastest option to return to his side.' The ninja frog gestured with his left arm. "Froak." 'Lead on, Fletchling.'

The fire robin took to the air. "Ling!" 'Follow me!' she chirped.

"Goo." 'Would someone bother carrying me?' asked the dragon-type. Froakie obliged, grabbing his fellow powerhouse and carrying him.

Kanto Region, Route 1 - 0844 hours local time

Ash had reclaimed his backpack and equipment from Belladonna and was now enroute to Viridian City. With an extra companion from another region. "So… are you going to be a problem, Mimikyu?" he asked the Disguise Pokemon.

"Mimimimimikyuuuu!" 'Nononono! I'll never be a problem to you! I'll do whatever you want! I Just wanna be your friend!' Mimikyu shouted in a panic, looking at Pikachu. "Kyuuu…" 'D-Did I do something wrong?'

"Pikapi-Pikachu." 'It's a long story.' he explained gently. "Pikapi." 'We've had run-ins with another Mimikyu. He was a murderous freak that consistently tried to kill me.'

"And I never understood why." Ash continued for his starter, attempting to scratch his head. "I thought Mimikyus mimicked Pikachus because they wanted to be loved, but that thing…"

"Mimi! Mimikyu!"'I-I would never do that!' The Mimikyu said hurriedly. 'I-I just want friends and… and…' the Pokemon paused before looking at Ash. "Mimi… kyu?" 'Wait… you can… understand us?'Ash nodded. "Another long story." the trainer said. "But if you're willing to listen when we get to Viridian Forest, I'll explain everything."

Before Mimikyu could reply, a caw was heard in the air, making Pikachu jump off his shoulder and spark violently. "Pi." 'Spearows.' he all but snarled.

But he was wrong. At least about the plural, as a single Spearow dropped from the sky, looking battered. "Sp… ear…" 'Run. run…' the bird said.

Ash leaned down, picking up the bird. "What's going on?" Ash asked the bird. "What did this to you?"

"Spea… row. Spear…" 'Run, human. My flock… they've gone insane." the tiny bird said. 'They ate something. They went crazy a few days ago!'

Ash looked at Pikachu. "Can you use thunderbolt?" he asked his starter, who shook his head. "Pika." 'I don't have the power for that, Ash.' he replied sadly. 'I know how to do it, but… I don't have the power.' Ash wanted to curse Celebi for that, but it wasn't as though Celebi had a choice in the matter. She was right: it would take a legendary to get them back to that level of power.

More caws were heard from above. The Spearow death flock at arrived. But Ash had no intention of leaving anyone to die. He bundled up Spearow, looking at Mimikyu. "Sorry, Mimikyu, but I don't think you can run and fight at the same time!" Mimikyu didn't argue as Ash returned her, placing her ball on his belt as the pair began to run. "Spear?!" 'What are you doing, human?!' screamed the bird. "Row…" 'Oh, why do I bother: you can't understand me.' "I'm saving your life, Spearow!" retorted Ash, much to Spearow's surprise. "Pikachu, use whatever electric attacks you can do right now! We'll have to make this a fighting retreat!"

"Pika!" 'At least we're fighting!' cried Pikachu, as he took aim at the approaching birds, firing off what appeared to be black lightning at the flock. "…Pi?!" 'That's new!'

"Keep it up, Pikachu!" Ash yelled as they began to run down the route to Viridian.

Route 1 - Tajiri River - around the same time

A bobber hit the water, connected to a lure and a fishing rod held by a young red haired woman, wearing a yellow top with jean shorts held up by suspenders, all covered by a raincoat made from Mareep wool, Ekans and Dratini skins (all shed, of course) and shed Quilava fur.

Sitting beside her was a yellow Pokemon with a large bill, holding his head. "Duck." went the Psyduck. Of course, she couldn't understand what he said. "I know, Psyduck." the girl said to the waterfowl before the bobber suddenly went under the water. Her eyes suddenly lit up before tugging back on the reel, struggling with the hooked fish. But anyone that knew Misty Waterflower knew that she did not simply give up. As she brought up the Magikarp, she sadly realized that was a very low number.

Caws were heard as Misty balled the fish. "Huh?" Misty questioned as her eyes turned skyward. A massive flock of Spearow and Fearow were in the air, heading her way. And they looked… diseased. She hoped they weren't infected with prions, which, in a post-Cipher War world, was a very real and dangerous problem. It was rare now, thanks to the efforts of men like Professor Oak and the diseases were slowly dying, with the exception of the Pokeris, but it was a serious and real danger.

"Duck?" her Psyduck quacked before noticing the horde. "Psy!" "We need to get to cover." Misty stated, grabbing her bag, which included her sidearm. In a world with Shadow Pokemon, the league pretty much demanded trainers to have a gun in case their Pokemon was hurt. Or if they ran into Shadow Pokemon at all. Unarmed trainers tended to never come home. And there was nowhere to run as the crazed Spearows dove on her. The first Spearow rushed at her, hacking claws into her arm, before hundreds of birds attempted to peck and claw her to death.

Psyduck fought back, using confusion when they pecked him, but that did nothing. "Psy!" 'Someone electric, help!' quacked the duck.

Nearby

"Chhhhhhuuuuuuuuu!" 'Die, you murderous birds!' Pikachu yelled as he fired off another Shadow thunderbolt at the flock, but they continued to circle and attempt to claw at Ash and the other spearow.

"They just keep coming!" Ash said as he continued to shield Spearow. "What's their problem?!" Even as Ash wondered, Pikachu decided he didn't care as he heard a familiar scream. A familiar quacking scream he identified as Psyduck. Misty's Psyduck. That water bird might've been a serious pain in the ass for Misty, but if he wanted to leave, he would have a long time ago: he cared for Misty enough to be a pain in her ass.

So as rain began to fall, Pikachu looked to Ash. "Pikapi!" 'Ash, I can hear Psyduck!' he said. 'Misty's Psyduck!'

Ash, in pain, but still able to move, glanced at his starter. "Psyduck?" he asked the mouse. "What's he doing here?"

"Pika!" 'Should we care?!' Pikachu retorted. "Pipipi!" 'Psyduck's in danger and we need to help him!' Ash knew that Psyduck was in that district of Celedon, Hop-Hop-Hop Town, as ridiculous as it was called, back in the other timeline, so he was right to question how he could be near Pallet. On the other hand, Pikachu knew Misty's Psyduck's voice very well and was not likely to mistake him for another Psyduck.

So he gave Pikachu the benefit of the doubt as he gave Pikachu a wordless command to lead on and followed him, firing arcs at the sky as they came to that river from before, only it was much bigger and deeper. But some things did not change at all. And while she was older, more womanly and had longer red hair… he would recognize Misty anywhere. And while she would kill him later, he would gladly die to make sure she was safe. Ash jumped the river, smacking any Spearow that got too close to him as he got to Misty's side, putting the friendly Spearow in his bag and picked her up in a bridal carry, rushing down the riverbank. "Duck?!" 'Where the hell are you going with my trainer?!' cried the familiar yellow duck Ash once mocked Misty for catching a long time ago.

"I'm saving her life!" Ash yelled back, surprising the duck as he ran, carrying one of the many women he had travelled with and fallen in love with in his long journey from Kanto to Alola. Ash grit his teeth as he pushed those thoughts to the wayside, reminding himself that he may have loved her in the other timeline, but he friend-zoned her and every single girl he met from day one, refusing to be his womanizing bastard of a father. That said, he would not let her die. He would die first before letting that happen! He had died making sure that never happened!

"You Arceus-damned birds…" Ash growled as he ran towards Viridian. "Will not…" He headbutted a Spearow, pretty sure that broke its' neck, but not really caring so long as Misty was safe, allowing the other Spearows to claw and peck him while protecting her. "TOUCH HER!"

Lightning began to strike the ground before Pikachu had enough. "PIKA…" 'All of you…' the mouse growled dangerously as electrical power welled within him. "CHU!" 'SUFFER AND DIE!' Pikachu's form fired out black and yellow lightning, striking every hostile Spearow and even the Fearows, arcing and striking every bird in the flock, using the storm itself to boost the power of the bolts. This had one drawback, as Pikachu discovered.

It completely drained him, as he fell on his face. That being said, the flock of death was done for, being reduced to a twitching mass of feathers and pain. But as drained and hurt as he was, Pikachu grinned. "Pi…" 'I… win…' he said before the skies began to clear.

Misty felt nothing but pain, but she was alive, regaining consciousness. And she took sight of why she was still alive. A young man, almost her age, if a bit younger, with tanned skin, strange lightning-bolt marks on his cheeks, brownish-red eyes and black hair with a Pokemon League cap on his head, wearing a blue and white jacket with a black T-shirt. She couldn't see much else.

But she didn't know him. Why would he save her? "Duck!" Psyduck, pecked and in pain, cried as he waddled over to his trainer, still in her saviour's arms as the rain came to a stop and the sun began to shine. And shine brightly. Very brightly. And while Psyduck had Cloud Nine, it couldn't do that. Her saviour's eyes turned skyward, catching sight of something as they widened. She followed them. And she was sure he had a good reason to be amazed when she saw what he saw.

Fire-red feathers with a golden glow, a slightly hooked beak, the tail feathers arranged like a merrygold's pedals when viewed from the rear and a crest of feathers atop its' head. The Storm's End. The Master of the Beasts. The Bird of the Tin Tower. It had many titles. Many legends. Many stories.

But it only had one name: Ho-Oh. Misty was looking at the legendary bird Pokemon Ho-Oh.

Ash looked at the Bird of the Tin Tower as it flew overhead like it did last time. There was one exception, though. Last time, it flew on straight ahead. This time, it looked at him, not moving its' head, but he could see the eye look at him with what appeared to be sorrow and regret. Ash barely got his Pokedex out to record the image, struggling with Misty. "Ho-Oh, the Rainbow Pokémon." the machine stated, much to Ash's hidden glee. Now no one could deny it: he saw Ho-Oh! "Ho-Oh's feathers glow in seven colors depending on the angle at which they are struck by light. These feathers are said to bring happiness to the bearers. This Pokémon is said to live at the foot of a rainbow."

Speaking of feathers, one fell from the sky, landing on the Pokedex. He saw Misty looking at Ho-Oh, just like him, but she couldn't stay awake, slumping over. "Duck…" 'Holy crap.' Psyduck said. "Psy-aye-aye…" 'I just saw freaking Ho-Oh, the most rare legendary of them all…' Ash closed the Pokedex, putting it back in his jacket before continuing his run, heading for Viridian City. Bragging about Ho-Oh could wait: Misty's life was in the balance.

Johto Region - 1048 hours local time

While many Pokemon were playful, none were as powerfully playful as something that had mastered the art of battle dancing. And a blue bipedal crocodile had long since mastered the art. Still, even knowing and being involved with the Celebi incident and Ash going back in time, which he was not there for, Totodile was not happy with this. At all. One, Ash was in danger. Two, he wasn't in Kanto. Three, he was back in Johto. He hated Johto! This region was nothing but trouble and he was born here! The Unown and Celebi were incidents he hated for a good reason and he couldn't do a damn thing about Altomare!

So, immature as he could be, he wasn't a child. He needed to find the others and get to Kanto. So he rushed into the grasslands and forests, avoiding any trainer that wasn't his own… until a pair of vines grabbed him. "Chi." 'Hello, Totodile.' said the grass-type that snared him. Which just so happened to have a pear-shaped body, a leaf on her head and four limbs. A grass-type Totodile knew every well.

"To?!" 'Chikorita?!' cried the croc. "Dile?" 'When—' "Chika." 'Last night. I rushed to find you and Cyndaquil.' she answered. "Rita." 'She should be somewhere close by. We find her, we find the others, we go to Ash.' She let the young water croc down, allowing him to get his bearings. "Chi." 'We're safer together.' she said, using a vine line a human would a hand to gesture Totodile to follow her. "Ri." 'Come on, let's find our honey badger.'

Totodile blinked before following Chikorita. Finding the rest of the gang would be a lot easier together. Plus they could tackle any trainer that tried to catch them.

Kanto Region, very outskirts of Viridian City - 1312 hours local time

Misty was light, but carrying her around was becoming a chore, especially with her very torn and… exposing clothing. If it weren't for the situation they were in, not to mention Ash's personal vow to not treat her as anything but a friend and to never get involved romantically, he would be having very impure thoughts right now. Why did she have to be so beautiful?

'Get your head out of the gutter, Ketchum.' Ash mentally chided, trying not to give in to temptation. By the time he went to Alola, he had five very beautiful girls as travelling companions and after turning 13 in Altomare, almost five years of self-trained restraint. It didn't help that Brock's antics were not only amusing, they helped remind him of how not to act.

That being said, he had been 12 when he made that vow and had a long time suppressing it. Now he was 14 and he wasn't prepared for… well, Misty. Fortunately, he had someone to keep him from doing something stupid. "Duck." wordlessly quacked Psyduck, who noticed Ash was trying - and often failing - not to look at his trainer's very attractive form. But the quack wasn't an objection, but more a 'look later; she needs help'. Ash took the latter and ignored the former, as he picked up the pace, entering Viridian City's limits.

"Hold it!" Ash barely paid attention to the Jenny's yelling before she just grabbed his shoulder, stopping him and forcing him to face her. "Where do you think you're going?" the police officer demanded. "The Pokemon Center, where else?!" Ash retorted, holding Misty in his arms. "She has Pokemon that need help, she needs medical attention and I have no time for this!" The cop looked at him, then noticed the claw marks and heard Spearow in his backpack. She torn it open, finding him as clawed and injured as the girl, if barely any better because he was a Pokemon.

"That damned Spearow flock finally went insane." she snarled before grabbing her motorcycle. "Get in the sidecar: you won't make it to the center in time on foot!" Ash got into the sidecar with a groan, holding onto Misty before Psyduck returned himself to his ball, right before the bike rode off, probably breaking a few speed limits. Not that Ash cared.

10 minutes later - Viridian City Pokemon Center

Ash actually felt sorry for the local Nurse Joy. The tire marks were going to be a pain to remove. "How many times do I have to tell you, don't do that!" And speak of the devil, here came the local Joy, who looked outright pissed off. Apparently, the Jenny did this a lot more than he assumed last time. "You can wash the floors later!" the cop retorted as Ash got out, carrying Misty. "The girl needs medical attention: that Spearow flock finally went hostile and attacked her!" The Joy's rage went away, but did not disappear: the floor could wait. She had a job to do.

"Nurse Joy?" Ash asked before pulling the unconscious bird out of his bag. "This Spearow was attacked by the rest of the flock and needs help, too." "Did you catch Spearow?" asked the nurse before Ash shook his head. "No, I haven't; I was going to wait until he recovered before letting him go." he answered. The Pokemon medic grinned a little. "We never see trainers that just help wild Pokemon anymore." she said before gesturing for another stretcher for the bird. "We'll tell you when Spearow's alright. In the meantime, we'll set up a room for you and your girlfriend." the nurse said, smiling obviously. Ash growled at being called Misty's boyfriend. He had vowed to be forever single, never to repeat his father's mistakes with his mother.

Even if he wanted to be with her - and he did; contrary to popular belief, he did love Misty, May, Dawn, Serena, even Iris for all her flaws - he would never be his father. But the Joy didn't notice. And Ash was too concerned about Misty to bother ask for another room.

Three hours later

The bird's eye opened as he woke up, groaning. "Hey." Spearow turned his head to look at the human, who seemed happy to see him. "How do you feel?" asked the trainer. "Spear." 'Alive.' he said. "Spearow." 'So… I'm caught. I suppose I'm going to be fighting for you.' "No." the bird looked at the trainer, who Pikachu called Ash, in shock. He… wasn't going to be fighting?

"I haven't caught you. I wanted you to be ok before I let you go." the human explained. It wasn't an insult; Spearow were hot-blooded, not stupid. Ash was clearly honorable. The bird was wounded and vulnerable, yet Ash did not force him into a ball. "Spe?" 'Let me go?' Spearow asked. "Spear." 'Because I'm not a Pidgey? Or because you don't want to catch me?' "Because I want it to be your choice." Ash said seriously. "If you want to stay or go, it's up to you. Not me."

Spearow wasn't all that old. For a Pokemon, at least: most of them lived for 150 years or longer, depending on species. Spearow himself was 65 years old and had lived through the Cipher War and the beginning of the age of Shadow, the end of selfless trainers. He thought he would spend the next century and a half watching the world continue to get worse.

Perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps this was the beginning of the return of the Golden Age. It was much to think about. Or was it? The young man saved his life, risking his own skin for no reward. He looked at the backpack, trying to find a pokeball. Upon finding the first red-and-white ball he immediately tapped it twice, willingly and instantaneously capturing himself.

Ash didn't expect this. If anything, he expected a thank you before Spearow flew off, plus he wanted to save his pokeballs for Pidgeotto and Caterpie. Still, he was going to have to get more balls if this kept happening. While he didn't want to throw pokeballs at everything in sight, he was going to have to stock up on more if this kept happening. He then grabbed the ball and let Spearow out.

"You know, you don't have to stay." he said to the bird. "Spear." 'I know. But I am. I have seen many humans in my life, but you are the most honorable and selfless.' the bird retorted. "Row." 'I am going with you. Like it or not.' Ash would have kept arguing had the door not opened, with the center's two Chanseys bringing Misty in, followed in tow by the local Joy. "Chan." 'She's all fixed up!' cried the Lucky Pokemon as they put the girl on the bed and removed the stretcher from under her.

"She lost a fair bit of blood from those damned Spearow - no offense." she said before Spearow shrugged as best a bird could. "Spea." 'None taken.' he replied. "Clawing and pecking at her. Thankfully, she wasn't infected by anything they were carrying. Thank Arceus, too: prions are impossible to get rid of." the Joy finished.

"When will she get up?" asked Ash. "Not for a bit." replied the medic. "But there's something you—" before she could finish, the sound of smashing glass got their attention. "What was that?!" the doctor claimed as she ran out of the room, heading for the lobby. Ash, though… he knew damn well who that was. "And here I was hoping those three would never rear their heads ever again." he groaned as he looked at Pikachu, who, while not at 100% like last time, at least wasn't nearly dead. "Ready to deal with them?"

"Pika?" 'Do we have to?' he moaned. "Chhhhhhuu." 'I'm tired of having to deal with them.' "Who's going to drive them off if not us? Misty's in no shape to do anything." Ash retorted as he opened the door, Pikachu dutifully following before Spearow came to join them.

PMC lobby

It was them, alright: red-haired Jessie with her far-too-short for Ash's taste shorts and top, bluenette James with those roses he always had before they went to Johto and of course, the talking Meowth.

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie cried, making Ash roll his eyes. Six years. Six Arceus-damned years he had to endure that annoying motto and their rhymes.

"And make it double!" James followed up as Ash continued to try and ignore it. If it weren't for the fact that they could actually make passable trainers and when they weren't trying to steal Pikachu they were quite helpful and friendly, not to mention he wanted them to give up of their own accord, he'd've had Pikachu zap them into a coma and handed them to the Elite Four at the Indigo Conference!

"To protect the world from devastation!" Ash was pretty sure that was his job now. "To unite all peoples in our nation!" Under Team Rocket's thumb? Over his rotting corpse. Or theirs. Preferably theirs: he was getting really tired of these three and their thieving. And with that, he tuned out the rest of the motto.

"Meowth, that's right!" with the exception of Meowth speaking up. Now it was time to get to get to business and send these three flying into Mount Moon. "This Pokemon Center is now under the control of Team rocket!" James cried, waving his blue rose around like a wand. "Now, no one mo—" "Pikachu, thundershock!" ash commanded, with Pikachu jumping into the air and firing a weak lightning bolt at the Rockets, forcing them to seek cover.

"How rude!" Jessie cried. "Didn't your mother teach you manners?" "She did. She also taught me not to put up with members of a villainous team!" Ash retorted before Pikachu fired another discharge of electrical power at the Rockets, only managing to nail Meowth. "Dat ain't playin' fair…" said the scratch cat as he fell over, right before the other two sent out their original mainstays: Ekans and Koffing, who would evolve into Arbok and Weezing later on. Ash had an idea where they went - there was a Pokemon thief of much greater skill in Hoenn, where the two disappeared and contrary to popular belief, he wasn't stupid - but he did miss the days where they were generally incompetent. Oh, well, at least he could use them for training.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on that Koffing!" Pikachu jumped into the air, glowing a faint black. The three Pokemon and two Rocket trainers promptly needed a change of pants as Koffing was hit with black lightning, knocking it out and on the ground. "That thing's a shadow Pokemon!" cried James as he returned Koffing. "We need to get the hell out of here!" "And piss off the Boss?!" demanded Jessie, though she returned her own poison-type as well. "You know the regs, Jessie: do not engage a Shadow Pokemon!" retorted the bluenette, right before his rear end caught on fire thanks to an Ember hitting him as another window broke open.

"Char!" 'Surprise, assholes!' cried a familiar and angry fire lizard as he fired more bursts of flaming oil at the Rockets. Ash didn't waste any time, even if he wanted to confirm it was who he thought it was. "Pikachu, hit them with everything you got!" he ordered. "Pika…" Pikachu built up power wordlessly. "CCCCCCCHUUUUUUUUU!" Then discharged it as a Shadow bolt, causing the roof to be blown off and the Rockets sent flying as the ground exploded under them.

At least those three were gone now. "Charm." 'Hello, Ash.' said the lizard as he walked up to Ash, hugging his leg. "Char…" 'I screwed up. I'm sorry for not listening.' Ash kneeled to hug the Kanto fire starter, trying to hold back his own tears. "It's ok. It's ok." he choked out. Then he heard a scream. "Char?!" 'Was that misty?!' demanded Charmander before Ash let him go, rushing down back to the room he and Misty were staying, throwing the door open.

The girl was sitting up in the bed, panting uncontrollably, looking around before her eyes locked onto Ash and she began to calm down. Before she launched herself at him, babbling. "I-I… I thought I was alone." she said, sobbing as she latched onto the young man. "Don't… please don—" "Uh… please let go of me." Ash asked. Misty ignored him and latched on tighter.

"That's enough, Misty." said the local Nurse Joy, who held a needle in her hands before Misty attempted to use Ash as a shield. "No! No!" she cried. "I need him! I need—" Joy shoved them onto the ground, laying on Ash's back before putting the needle into Misty's neck, injecting her with the contents. "No…" Misty moaned out before she fell unconscious, the pink-clad nurse getting off of Ash, who was blushing. "Sorry about that." she said as Ash rolled off of Misty, attempting to get himself under control. "Young Misty here has… problems." That got Ash's attention off of his old friend's… loveliness as he sat up. "Problems?" he asked.

"A lack of human contact in her life. Her sisters couldn't spend all that much time with her." the nurse explained as Ash unreasonably saw red. "Not that they wanted to abandon her, but seeing as they were gym leaders, not to mention the only real trainers in Cerulean, they had to stay out constantly to keep those damned Shadow Pokemon out of the population centers. Especially after their parents died."

With that, Ash's blood cooled. So they didn't really have a choice and if shadow Pokemon were so insanely dangerous - who was he kidding: Team Rocket fled when they had the chance when Pikachu used that Shadow Thunderbolt - taking Misty with them would only result in her getting hurt. Or killed. "So… who took care of her?" he asked the Joy, who sat on his bed as she let out a breath.

"The Gym's Pokemon took care of her. Hell, the Starmie helped school her." she said with an almost amused huff. "Her sisters, when they were there, did teach her how to talk, but she has difficulties with people. She's terrified of being alone. My cousin in Cerulean told every Joy in Kanto to watch out for her. And you saved her life from the birds." Ash didn't know what this meant and it showed on his face. The nurse groaned as she saw it. "She's going to be following you around because no other trainer would. Too concerned with saving their own skins." she stated with a huff of disdain. "Those birds only made her complex worse."

Ash facepalmed. "At least you'll have a girlfriend." Joy said before Ash glared at her. "Does it look like I want a girlfriend?" he demanded.

Team Rocket local headquarters - Viridian Gym

Holographic screens in front of Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket, displayed everything going on. A ring caught the black-haired man's attention, even as his Persian's ears twitched. It was… those three.

They were referred to as The Team Rocket Trio by the press. The most well-known and generally incompetent team he had, but they occasionally got lucky with rare Pokemon: once, they brought him a Zorua and Zoroark. Not often, but when they succeeded, they succeeded in a big way. Probably calling him about another failure. So he pushed the button and answered the call.

"What?" he demanded as the two humans and their Meowth appeared. "Uh, sir, remember that attack on the Viridian Pokemon Center?" James half-questioned. "I know you failed, if you're not carrying a bag full of Pokeballs." Giovanni snarked at them. Jessie laughed sheepishly. "Well, you see… we have an excuse this time." she said. Giovanni's eyebrow raised before a video appeared, showing a Pikachu charging up for an electric attack. "And?" he stated, right before the lightning fired turned out to be not gold-white, but black. A Shadow Pikachu.

"Well, at least your excuse works this time." said the rocket boss before the image shifted slightly to the trainer. He wore jeans, running shoes, a black undershirt and a jacket… with black hair covered by an official League hat and brown eyes. "Oh, shit." he said as he studied the image. His statement of 'oh, shit' turned out to be an understatement.

"That trainer." he said, brining the three morons back up. "I have new orders for you. You are to shadow the boy. Fight him as often as possible." "To… steal his Pokemon?" asked the redhead in confusion. "Yes. Do not screw this up. Am I understood?" stressed the Rocket Boss.

The TRio saluted, looking scared out of their minds. He couldn't blame them. That being said, he enjoyed it when they were scared. It was more fun that way. And he enjoyed people suffering from their own mistakes. So he lied. He made them think that he wanted them to steal that Pikachu, but their duties were to essentially train the boy.

He would rather not anger his mother.

Entry 2: Misty Waterflower

Born in AS48 (After Shadow Pokemon) to the leaders of the Cerulean City Gym, Misty Waterflower is the youngest of the Sensational Sisters and currently 14 years old. When her parents were killed in AS51, her sisters took over the running of the gym to give Misty a home and a life, but their duties forced them out of the building for days, weeks and even months, forcing Misty to rely heavily on the Pokemon at the Gym to teach her everything, to the point of a Starmie serving as a teacher. While her sisters taught her how to talk during the few times she was there, Misty began to develop a psychological problem that stemmed from her lack of human contact: panic attacks out of the feeling that she is alone. She will latch onto anything that stops them, usually her Pokemon, but she does desire human contact. To that end, she left the Cerulean Gym to find more Pokemon as well as someone to befriend her.

Recently, she has been sighted at the side of Ash Ketchum, a new trainer from Pallet Town. Orders to all Rocket Grunts: DO NOT ENGAGE. While she would make a bargaining chip in any dealings with the Cerulean leaders, Ash Ketchum has a Shadow Pikachu that, while seemingly purified, still retains its' Shadow moves and Ketchum will not hesitate to use them in her defense.

Entry 3: Charmander

The fourth Pokemon in the Kanto Pokedex, Charmander are rare in the wild, though not impossible to find. A pure fire-type until they evolve into Charizard, Charmander are cheerful and eager to please. When they evolve into Charmeleon, however, they become hard to handle, often disobeying their trainers. Only after a trainer proves they care for a Pokemon of this line without caring for their power do they gain their trust and obedience. It is commonly believed that a Charmander, or a member of the evolutionary line, will die if their tail flame is put out. Team Rocket scientists have disproven that statement, discovering instead that it is simply an indicator of their health and can be put out in water, only to relight after a brief drying period.

Ash Ketchum has been confirmed with a Charmander that knows a number of advanced, if underpowered, attacks, including Metal Claw and Iron Tail. As with all Ketchum Pokemon, do not engage, as this Charmander shows aggression levels only seen in Charizards and will gladly kill your team in order to get to you to protect his trainer. Only Ketchum's direct and express commands for him to not do this have kept us from sustaining more casualties. Arceus knows how dangerous this thing will be when it evolves into Charizard.

Ron the True Fan: I think we know how dangerous that Charizard is going to be. And before you spam 'Giovanni's his father?' reviews, allow me to just say that Giovanni knows Delia and would rather not risk enraging her. Until a later point, that's all you get in regards to Ash's relationship with the Rocket Boss.

Takeshi Yamato: Yeah - now, called in some more help to keep this guy in line. *Waves in the 'help'* Have fun!

Zaraki: This guy better put up a good fight.

Ron the True Fan: Son of a Protestant whore. Well, as I want to keep my head… (looks behind him before pointing at Zaraki) HE DID IT! (Hides before chained blades hit Zaraki's sword, turning out to be...)

Kratos: (Rage of Sparta plays) It was you? You were the one that attempted to kill me? YOU WILL NOT LIVE TO SEE THE END OF THIS DAY!

*Zaraki grins, before leaping at Kratos, sword drawn.*

Takeshi Yamato: Welp. This is going to be destructive. See you all next time, Readers!

(AO3 note)

Ron the True Fan: I lied. I'll just be updating whenever the hell I want. Not that anyone on AO3's going to complain about fast updates! Ja Ne!

Chapter Text

Ron the True Fan: Time for the next chapter. Now, time to be very clear about this: Ash's Pokemon will be making an attempt to get to him. Some will get there sooner: all of his Kanto Pokemon are in the same region he is when he starts in, so all they have to do, really, is wait. Others will take time in getting there. But before Ash gets to Indigo, they will be reunited with their trainer. When? Well, that's for us to know.

As a bit of shameless plugging, as it were, there is a link to my YouTube account in my profile. If it doesn't work (And with FF, that's more then just a possibility) search for 'Housecoat Gaming'. Enjoy!

Viridian Forest, Kanto Region - 0748 hours local time - Day 3 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey

Ash felt guilty leaving Misty back at the Pokemon Center. Really, he did. But he didn't want her getting freaked out by the massive number of bugs in the forest, especially when it came to finding Caterpie. Yes, he released him to find love. Yes, he knew he would never see him again if he did that again. He did not care: Butterfree was part of his family. And he would not abandon them.

And while he was looking, Spearow and Mimikyu were being brought up to speed on Ash's… situation. "Spear?" 'So… our trainer has gone back through time three times, saved the world at least four times and because the world came to an end, you and all of the Pokemon he had caught before were sent back in time to stop this from happening?' asked the bird.

"Pika." 'More or less. I've been there from the beginning, so you're not getting the entire story. But then again, it took six years to get to now. You want the entire tale? It'll take a long time to tell.'

Pikachu said seriously as Ash looked around for a single caterpillar. 'Ash?' asked a young-sounding voice before, out of the tall grass, came a Caterpie.

'Ash, is that you?' "Caterpie?" Ash asked in confusion. He didn't even hear a cry. …On the other hand, he never heard Caterpie say anything until he evolved to Metapod.

"How come I didn't hear you?" he asked.

'Our cries are too low to be heard, plus we normally communicate with pheromones.' Caterpie said before the tone turned dangerous. 'So what the hell happened.'

Ash nervously chuckled before Pikachu stepped in. "Pika." 'Look, a lot happened after you left, Caterpie.' Pikachu started before there was a small explosion in the woods, followed by screaming.

"Oh, great." Ash said before looking at Caterpie, running towards the source. "We can explain after we deal with this!" 'Fine! But this better be good!' Caterpie said as he looked at Spearow. 'Try to eat me, I will hurt you.' "Spear." 'Hey, you're one of his. I have no reason to try.' Spearow retorted before grabbing Caterpie in his claws and flying after Ash, who listened to the yelling.

'Traitor! I'll dispose of you forth-with!' yelled an aristocratic male voice. 'Don't even try, owl! And is that even your real accent?!' retorted a pissed-off sounding female. 'I'll take you down with ease, what!' the male said before the wind picked up. Ash knew a Whirlwind when he felt it, ducking and holding onto the ground before a Pokemon was sent out. It was tall and strong, though a bit smaller than the ones Ash knew. It was a Noctowl.

A Shiny Noctowl. His Shiny Noctowl. …What in the name of hell was Noctowl doing in Kanto?! And who was he fighting? 'Cur! A Whirlwind will not stop me! I'll see you fall!' the male voice said, which was rather close, so Ash assumed it was Noctowl. 'Really? Taste this!' more air hit the bird before another, faster bird shot out of the trees.

It was thinner, more streamlined, with white and brown feathers covering its' body. The only exception was the massive reddish-pink crest that came from the top of its' head and the red and yellow tail feathers. A Pidgeotto. And not any Pidgeotto. His third Pokemon. The one he let go and… never saw again. He would recognize it anywhere. 'Stay still!' the female cried, which Ash knew had to be Pidgeotto.

'Never! You abandoned your trainer!' 'He let me go!'

"Noctowl?" Ash started. The two birds stopped screeching before looking in his direction. "Pidgeot?" Ash was on the verge of tears at seeing his first bird. Five years he waited to see her again. Now… he was glad he went back.

"Otto!/Noc!" 'Ash!' both birds cried as they rushed at him, wrapping their wings around him in a form of hug. A sentiment Ash returned as he started to cry.

"I'm sorry." he said. "I didn't come back."

"Geotto." 'I never came back because the flock needed me.' Pidgeotto said, her beak touching his cheek. "Pidg." 'They flew further and further away from Pallet Town and… I couldn't get them back there.'

"Owl." 'You left him.' Noctowl accused.

"Geot!" 'I tried to get them back there! But after that… bastard that tried to capture the Shamouti Legendary Birds screwed with the weather, they flew further away.' she yelled back.

Lawrence the Third. Ash only learned his name after Altomare, but now he had a reason to want to hurt him: because of that greedy obsessive bastard of a man, he not only forced the weather to go screwy, nearly killed him and Lugia, but because of him, Pidgeot never came back. "I was there." Ash quietly said. But the bird picked it up. "Otto?" 'What?' she asked. "I was there. I stopped him at Shamouti. He nearly killed me because of his obsession with Lugia." the trainer choked out. "And because of him, I never saw you again!" Ash's repressed emotions in regards to that - anger at Lawrence's continued attempts to catch Lugia, rage at the fact that he nearly drowned, despair at Pidgeot never coming back - all came out in choked sobs.

Watching was Caterpie. '…He dies.' the worm-like Pokemon stated. 'He tried to kill Ash. He nearly killed the entire world. He dies.'

"Spear?" 'That's rather bloodthirsty, don't you think?' Spearow asked the bug-type.

'Ash let me go so I could find a mate in the… other past.' Caterpie retorted. 'For all his flaws and there are many, he is too kind and did not deserve anyone trying to kill him because of their own personal greed.'

"Pika." 'Want me to tell you the story while Ash is bonding with the birds?' Pikachu asked as he approached, knowing that Ash needed this. Caterpie nodded. He wanted to know what happened after he left.

As Pikachu explained, Ash tried to keep his first two birds from killing each other, though they kept fighting. While he was distracted, something made its' way to him. It was brown, wormlike, had a spike on its' head and had a large pink nose. And to try and get Ash's attention, it said its' name without saying anything. "Weedle." Ash looked down to see the little bug/poison-type on his leg. The two birds stopped arguing when they saw the bug, ignoring the other to attack the bug, knowing how dangerous the bug could be, remembering what happened when a young girl got a poison needle fired from a Weedle. So, they reacted as Pokemon that saw a threat to their trainer would.

Violently, as Pidgeotto fired a Gust at the Weedle, sending it flying while Noctowl prepared to use Air Slash to… get rid of it. Ash, who felt guilty, decided to go against his vow of avoiding catching any Pokemon not part of the family, tossing a ball at the Weedle, turning it to energy before Noctowl fired, the compressed air impacting the ball, only leaving a couple of scratches. "You guys didn't have to do that!" Ash chided as he grabbed the ball. "That Weedle wasn't hurting me!"

"Geotto!" 'But it could have!' Pidgeotto retorted before Noctowl scoffed.

"Owl." 'Like you care.' the refined shiny said.

Before all-out war could break out among the birds, Pikachu began to spark dangerously. "Pika!" 'Enough!' cried the mouse. Both birds stopped and looked at the young electric-type and their technical leader, if only by the fact that he, not they, was Ash's starter. "Chu." 'Let's find out what the Weedle wants before biting his head off, shall we?' the electric-type said before he looked at Ash.

The trainer got the idea, releasing the Weedle, who rematerialized in front of them. "Weed!" 'I'm caught! I'm safe!' the little brown caterpillar cried. "Weedle!" 'Finally, I'm safe from that insane nutcase!'

Ash blinked at the Weedle's happy cries. "Uh…" Ash started as Weedle looked at him. "What nutcase?" With that comment, the Weedle's eyes widened as far as they could. An understandable reaction to a human understanding Poke-speech.

Viridian Forest edge - roughly at the same time

This was a bad idea, Psyduck had decided the second they came here. At least, that was what Misty felt from the duck Pokemon's expression. But she needed to be here. She needed to find… him. The boy that saved her from those Spearow.

He didn't save her because he wanted something from her, he saved her because he wanted to save her, because it was the right thing to do. And Misty felt… like he could be her friend. Her first, real human friend. She hadn't had too many people around when she grew up: there weren't enough children close to her age in Cerulean and her sisters were scared for her safety. So she was homeschooled by her sisters, when they were there, which was… not often and their Pokemon, which was almost all the time.

She had a lot of Pokemon back at the Gym, but she only brought Staryu, Starmie and Psyduck with her on her journey. Her sisters had objected, but she was 14: old enough to go out on her journey. They couldn't and wouldn't stop her. She didn't journey out to face the gyms, though: enough people did that.

Misty wanted to find a friend. And the boy… Ash… was a friend. He even left a note for her back at the Pokemon Center: 'Sorry I left, but I had to go to Viridian Forest to find a few Pokemon. I'll be back as soon as I can' it said. But Misty could not wait: she was hyperventilating and panicking from the minute she snuck out of the Pokemon Center.

"Duck." quacked her yellow, annoying but protective Psyduck, keeping her rooted down. It would delay the panic attacks she had. When she was around Ash, she felt calm, collected and… safe. She only felt that way around her sisters!

The duck paused, looking around. "Psy…" he quacked. Psyduck knew something was wrong. Misty didn't even come through Viridian Forest when she went to Pallet Town's outskirts: she went past Route 2. There were tales of a madman in the forest…

"Hello… girl." said a male voice from behind her. Misty looked behind her, seeing a young man a bit older then her wearing tattered samurai armor and unsheathing a sword from his belt. "What are you doing in my forest?" Misty did the smart thing and ran. At least until one of her feet was snagged on a rope. "Uh-uh-uh, little girl." the crazy maniac said as he licked his lips looking at her. "You're not going anywhere." Misty decided to do the only sensible thing.

She screamed.

Ash's head snapped in the direction of the scream. "Why didn't she wait?" he groaned as he ran towards the source of the scream, only to be grabbed in the claws of a flying-type.

"Geot!" 'You'll get there faster if I carry you!' Pidgeotto cried. Ash could not argue with that: Pidgeotto knew Misty and liked her.

"Owl!" 'Put him down, parliamentary traitor!' cried Noctowl as he flew after her and Ash, who got a minor headache from a little bit of information.

A parliament was a Noctowl's family, always together until they moved away by choice, only to return with a mate. They did not split apart unless one of them was caught by a trainer, as Ash had done. They didn't hold it against the trainer as it allowed the Noctowls to experience more. Besides, the owl Pokemon often outlived their trainers: they would return to their parliaments eventually, bringing back tales of their trainers.

Ash groaned as his nose began to bleed. Having the cultural knowledge of over 40 Pokemon species in his head thanks to Celebi was a pain in his ass. Still, it came in handy when it didn't threaten to split his head open. Fortunately, Misty's screams banished the headache as they arrived, Pidgeotto dropping Ash to the ground, nearly on his face. After picking himself up, not to mention checking on his hat, he saw Misty on the ground, rolling as what appeared to be the Samurai from the other timeline tried to hack at her with his sword.

Now, Ash wanted to order Pidgeotto to blow him away, but that would just put Misty in more danger. Then he remembered that he had… another option. His least favorite one. The handgun that was still in his backpack. He didn't want to touch the thing: he hated guns. In fact, the only reason he didn't throw it away was the suspicion that he would actually need it. It seemed that time had come.

So he got his left arm out of one of the straps, swinging it around to his front, quickly looking through it to find the L-shaped weapon before getting his hands on it, quickly racking the slide and pointing it at the Samurai. "Hold it!" the trainer cried as he took aim at the sword-happy nut, who stopped in his tracks just as he was about to swing the long sword again. "Let her go." The bug-type trainer from the other timeline was… a bit arrogant and insulting, but not harmful. This guy… he looked like the Samurai, but he looked unhinged.

Like Cyrus and Ghetsis. "You intrude in my forest." the Samurai said. "This is my forest. No one comes in… no one comes out!" He moved to swing at Misty, but the trainer from Pallet had a hand as lightning shot at the Samurai, connecting with the sword and electrocuting the one holding it. "Pika!" 'Get away from her!' cried Pikachu as Noctowl flew overhead, having dropped him from his claws to zap the nut trying to kill Misty.

Now, the nervous system of the human body can take a fair bit of punishment, but there are just some things it can't handle. For example, a human can survive ten thousand volts so long as the amperage is perfectly calibrated to allow the person to survive, as Pikachu has always done in the past. Even at his worst, meaning when he met Ash, he shocked enough to irritate, not kill. But even then, it took a bit for a normal human (Ash having some subconscious Aura control, enough to shrug it off or at least endure it better) to recover from that. So the Samurai was stunned and unable to move. But that was the good news.

The bad news was that they made a lot of noise and forest Pokemon don't like the noise of anything that isn't caused by them, which is rather quiet, really. So the reactions of the forest Pokemon to this were… predictable. "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" wordlessly cried a large, 12 foot bee-like Pokemon with massive needles for arms with an equally big stinger. A giant Beedrill, probably a queen of a hive and she was pissed. Apparently, she decided to deal with this herself. "Drill!" 'You! You were never welcome in this forest!' cried the Beedrill. "Drrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllllll!" 'Now you will leave! Or you will die!'

The Samurai finally recovered from the zapping before facing the Beedrill, drawing the other sword on his belt as he did. "This is my forest! I rule here!" he cried before the Beedrill attacked, taking him into the air. As he went skyward, the Samurai dropped both of his swords.

Ash, being the very frugal boy he was, took one of the swords and took careful aim with it, swinging and freeing Misty from the rope. As he had less of a problem with swords, he didn't mind picking the other one up. After all, Misty would need something to defend herself as they made their way to Pewter, because there was no way they were going back to Viridian.

Sometime later - deeper in the forest

While she knew next to nothing about how to actually interact with people that weren't her sisters, Misty did know a few things. Mostly that hugging someone while they or you carried a sword was a good way to get hurt. So she waited until Ash wrapped the two weapons up in a spare canvas tarp to keep them from hurting people before giving him a big hug. This was twice that Ash saved her life.

"You could've stayed at the Pokemon Center." he said, much to Misty's shock. "You should've stayed at the Pokemon Center. I was going to come back after I was done anyways." Misty let him go, looking at him in shock. "But… But…" Misty began to babble and ramble unintelligibly before holding him again. Ash sighed, hugging her back.

As Ash hugged Misty, Pikachu glanced at the recent captures, grabbing them as he pulled them away. "Pika Pi, Chu." 'Okay, while Ash is taking care of her, we gotta take care of you.' He said.

"Weed?" 'Huh?'

'Spear?' 'What do you mean?'

"Pika," 'Ash has a very specific fighting style - fast and hard.' Pikachu said, "Chu, Pika." 'So, while we're killing time… might as well get the process of getting you two… up to spec.' Pikachu had a rather odd and dangerous glint to his eye, which caused both Pokemon to gulp nervously.

Off to the side, Psyduck was watching and trying to back away. "Char." 'Where do you think you're going?' asked the fire starter of Kanto as Psyduck backed into him. The toothy grin on his face made Psyduck want to scream for his mommy.

Or for Misty. But Misty was in no state to do ANYTHING, as she was still bawling her eyes out. This was going to be painful.

18 hours later

Pikachu felt rather smug. Apparently, threat of electrocution actually worked, especially for the caterpillars, who ran almost as fast as he could. Well, not that they could run NOW.

Cocoons couldn't exactly move very far.

Yes, in less then a day, Pikachu (and to a lesser extent, Charmander) had forced the two bugs to evolve. They weren't given much choice: it was learn Harden or suffer. It was for their own good, though: Pikachu knew Ash didn't care about evolving his Pokemon - he was the big example, after all - but sometimes, it was absolutely necessary. Especially for the bugs.

Sure they were strong to an extent, but Weedle and Caterpie were still very… soft targets, and soft doesn't really fit into Ash's battle strategy. He needs hard hitters who can strike hard and fast, exactly what Butterfree and Beedrill were born for. While that evolution would take time, at least for now they'd be safer in their Cocoon-like forms than in their wormy forms.

Butterfree was very much the more special-attack of the two: Confusion and Psybeam were big ones that Ash's particular one never learned under his care, but he had the basics thanks to his mate. Which he was not happy to not have: he loved that pink thing to death. But they'd find one another again, he knew it.

"Psyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy…" 'Get that crazy lizard away from us!' moaned out Psyduck as Charmander tried to drag him back in like some insane monster. Pikachu couldn't blame Psyduck. He also didn't care.

"Pika, Pika-chuuuuuu." 'You have type advantage, can't you do it your…" Pikachu said as he fully faced Misty's Pokemon.

The Mystical Pokemon were seriously beat up and Psyduck was trying to flee for the safety of Misty and her Pokeballs. "Ka?" 'What the…' Pikachu said as he stared at the sight.

"Char!" 'MORE!" Charmander cried. "Mander! Char!" 'I will not be the tiny flame lizard!'

"Pod." 'And I thought I had issues.' said the now-Metapod to his Kakuna counterpart.

"Kuna?" 'What issues? You don't seem to have issues.'

Charmander then began attacking everything with fire. That turned into dragonfire in a few minutes as charmander learned Dragonbreath.

"Metapod, Meta." 'Oh, you'll figure it out sooner or later.' said the 11th Pokemon of the National Pokedex as the fourth madly attacked the water-types with purple fire.

Sinnoh region - near Oreburgh City - 0530 hours local time

Movement is something taken for granted by most. Some just don't care.

But for a small grass turtle, he loved to run and jump and have that ability again. Sure, Turtwig enjoyed his time as Torterra, virtually being a giant biological tank had its own set of pro's to it… but by the gods it felt so good to have mobility again. To be back as the small, agile little Turtwig was like a breath of fresh air. Upon waking up, the little Pokemon couldn't help but run his own little marathon around the forest in joy.

Old Clara was concerned when he ran into her and almost broke her shin, but that only confirmed it for him that he was in the past. After all, he was there during the whole Arceus incident. Meeting what was effectively God was an experience and a half, but… well.

He never wanted to go back. He wanted to be small, to be fast. He didn't hold the evolution thing against Ash, but he was not evolving into Torterra again.

"Char?" 'Torterra?' cried out a voice the grass-type knew too well. Then the form of a monkey with a burning tail appeared out of the woods, a heat mirage over his body, indicating that he was using his body heat to burn off spores and such. "Chim!" 'There you are!'

"Tur?" 'Wait… Infernape?' The Turtwig asked, realization settling in. "Twig!" 'Holy Arceus! What… what happened?'

"Chim. Char-chim chim." 'I'm not sure.' admitted Ash's Sinnohan fire-type as he stratched his head. 'Last thing I remember is fighting Noivern, then everything went dark. Next thing I know, I'm back in Sinnoh.' the fire monkey shuddered. "Chaaaaaaaaar…" 'I almost thought I was having a nightmare that I was back with that bastard Paul!' he said.

Turtwig could understand. Paul was the biggest asshole they had ever met, only getting better after Ash defeated him with their aid.

"Tur, Turtwig" 'Well, glad you managed to get away from the jackass before he balled you. So what are you doing next?'

Chimchar tilted his head in confusion "Chim? Char?" 'Huh? Isn't is obvious? We gotta find Ash now! He must still be in Kanto if this really is us going back in time, we gotta find him and the others!'

Turtwig looked at his fire-type starter counterpart. Go back?

Well, normally, Turtwig would be the first to suggest it: Ash was always trying to make them feel right at home. But that brought a problem to the turtle. What if Ash forced him to re-evolve to Torterra again?

"Turt." 'No. We're fine.' said the grass-type. "Tur-wig." 'If we're really meant to be with him, he'll come to us.'

"Char!" 'He's in Kanto! He can't drop everything and pick us up!' retorted the fire monkey. "Him." 'We have to go to him.'

"Tur! Turtwig!" 'If he really cared for us, he would put it all aside and-'

Du-dun.

Turtwig blinked for a moment. "Tur?" 'Did you hear that?'

"Char-" 'Hear what-'

Du-dun.

Chimchar stopped to listen. "Chim…" 'Now I do…' he said as he looked around for what was causing it. There was… nothing.

Du-dun. Du-dun.

"Turt." 'This reminds me of that movie Mrs. Ketchum watched last week.' Turtwig said. "Wi." 'Before the whole… time travel thing.'

"Char!" 'I know what you mean!' Chimchar said giving the grass-type a glare.

Du-dun. Du-dun. Du-dun. Du-dun.

The sounds stopped. Then repeated. Rapidly.

Du-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-

"GIB!" 'HI!' *CHOMP*

"TWIIIIIIGGG!" 'GIIIBLEEE!' Turtwig shouted as he started running around, with a certain land shark grappled to his back in a friendly CHOMP.

"Chim?" 'Gible?' Asked Chimchar, "Char?" 'Is that you?'

The dragon-type let go of Turtwig before opening his maw, orange-red energy gathering in a rather… worrying attack. One both Sinnohan Pokemon knew all too well. After all, one of Dawn's Pokemon was a frequent victim of it.

And then Gible used Draco Meteor, the fireball shooting into the sky and flying somewhere to the west. They assumed that's where Piplup was, anyways: those things were Piplup-seeking missiles.

"Gible!" 'Who else, fire-monkey?!' cried the land shark… before his teeth sank into Chimchar with a CHOMP!

Chimchar winced slightly, but smiled as he petted Gible. "Chim, Chimchar…" 'It's… good to see you too, Gible…' he said. 'Looks like you've made progress… how did you find us?'

Gible just smiled with his massive mouth and his eyes. "Gib!" 'I'm a land shark!' cried the… land shark as he let go of the monkey. "Gible-Gib-Gi." 'And sharks have a very good sense of smell and direction! I smelled you guys from miles away!'

"Turt." 'I don't think it works that way.' said Turtwig as he nursed the bite marks. Gible was a friendly Pokemon, but he had VERY sharp teeth.

"Gible." 'Then how did I find you?' asked the finned pokemon as he leaned to one side like a confused human would their head. They had no answer, but if a Sharpedo could find someone in the water, a Gible could certainly do it on land.

"Chim, Chimchar!" 'Well, glad to see you Gible - now we can probably find Ash a lot quicker now!' Chimchar exclaimed, "Char?" 'You… can dig under oceans, right?'

"Gib!" 'Totally!' Gible smiled with a thumbs up.

"Turtwig…" 'Waste of time…' Turtwig grumbled, "Twig…" 'We're better off on our own…'

Chimchar was fully prepared to beat some sense into his type-disadvantaged friend… but he didn't need to.

"Giiiiiiiii…" went Gible as he gathered power into his maw. Turtwig didn't have any reason to worry: it wouldn't hit him.

"BLE!" It was then released into a Draco Meteor… that hit Turtwig in the face and exploded with enough force to make a small crater. Turtwig, though, was still alive, if very bruised. "Turt?!" 'What the hell was that for?!' cried the little grass turtle as he finally recovered. Gible said nothing, only drawing in more power for another Draco Meteor. And Turtwig knew that last one was low-powered: if this one hit, he'd need medical attention.

"Twig, Twig! Twig!" 'Whoa, Whoa, WHOA!' The Turtwig shouted, ducking behind a tree "Turtwig! Twig!" 'Gible! The fuck is wrong with you?!'

"Gible!" 'YOU are my problem!' said Gible. "Gible, Gib! Gib, ble le!" 'Ash did what he could to help you when you evolved! And you obeyed him afterwards because you trusted his judgement! So, why in the name of Arceus' ringed ass aren't you trusting him NOW?!'

Turtwig wanted to scream at Gible. Rage and vent. But Gible had a point. Most of this wasn't even pointed at Ash: it was all because he was unable to run, jump and be the fast little attacker like Ash usually was. It wasn't hate of Ash. It was hate of what he would and did evolve into.

Chimchar sighed as he stepped up next to Gible "Chim… char?" 'Turtwig… what about the others?' He asked, "Char, Char!" 'All our friends, all of Ash's friends! Your teammates! Do you just want to turn your back to them too?'

Damn it. Turtwig had his problems, but he could get over it. If he evolved, he evolved. "Turt." 'Fine. We make our way to Ash.' he said. "Turtwig, wig." 'What about the others? They were caught all over Sinnoh.'

Gible stopped looking angry and eyesmiled like normal. "Gible!" 'Leave it to me!' said the dragon-type as he sniffed the air. Much like sharks and Sharpedo, Gibles had very good senses of smell. "Gib!" 'I smell Staraptor! He's this way!' Gible then jumped into the ground, making a VERY impressive tunnel.

And the mysterious music returned.

Du-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun…

"Char." 'I'm not going to ask how that works.' Chimchar said as he jumped into the hole, Turtwig following moments later, bidding farewell to Sinnoh. At least for now.

Turtwig knew damn well they'd be back to deal with Cyrus. And hopefully crush his head this time.

Hoenn Region - 1145 Hours Local Time - Route 106

It was never a good thing to be rare, Treecko mused as many trainers watched a massive convoy of Treecko and Taillow move on the shoreline. Some even pulled out Pokeballs or, strangely, firearms. However those with firearms seemed to just let them be, while those with Pokeballs just had their balls smacked away. This convoy of theirs was making it to Kanto, one way or another - and no trainer aside from Ash was going to stop them.

"Tree." 'I KNOW that damned shellfish is around here somewhere.' said Treecko. "Cko." 'Silly bastard.' Corphish was a comedian. He liked making his fellow Pokemon laugh. In fact, he turned down a lot of opportunities to evolve into Crawdaunt just for the sake of being funny.

The 'convoy' was not hard to protect, though the humans were likely going 'the hell's going on?'. The Treecko clan were asking that themselves: their tree was dying, then their most promising guardian and a Tallow say they can lead them somewhere where trainers will never attempt to capture them.

"Tree?" 'You see anything yet?' Treecko asked.

"Tail… Taillow? Taillow!" 'No, not… wait, huh? Aha! I see Corphish!'

"Tree!" 'Really, where?' The Grass-type looked over… and saw a whole lot of Corphish on the beaches below.

"Taillow…" 'A lot…'

"Treecko." 'I thought you saw OUR Corphish.'

"Tail, Taillow!" 'When I said Corphish, I meant a lot of Corphish! …that is the way you pronounce a group of them, right? Not Corphishes? '

Treecko's right eye twitched in annoyance. "Treee…" 'I don't care how you say it-'

"Pish!" 'Hey, guys!' said one of the red crawfish as he walked out of the water and approached them, claws open and with a joking expression on his face. "Corphish!" 'I was wondering what happened! So… Celebi or Dialga?'

"Tail!" 'No idea, red crab!' said Hoenn's local normal/flying-type. "Low, Tailow, Tail!" 'But we're heading to Kanto! Gotta find Ash!'

"Cor! Corphish, phish!" 'Sweet! One sec, gotta pack my things!' The crab-like Pokemon said, before returning to the horde.

"…Tree?" 'Things?'

A few minutes passed before Corphish returned… dragging a large burlap sack behind him, with what looked like a rubber chicken head poking out of it.

"…Tail?" 'Uh… what's with the… bag?'

"Cor! Corphish, Phish Cor!" 'Oh, its all my props!' The water-type explained, digging into the bag, pulling out a series of odd devices from within. "Phish!" 'Think fast!'

Treeko blinked as something was sent flying to him, as he caught…

…a severed human hand.

"TREE!" 'SWEET ARCEUS!' He shouted, tossing it away… only as Corphish laughed.

"Cor! Corcorcorcor!" 'Hahahahahaha!' The crab laughed, "Corphish, Cor!" 'Relax buddy, its fake!'

"Tail… Taillow…" 'I see you're even more of a joker here, Corphish…' The flying-type sighed.

"Cor, Corphish!" 'That ain't nothing, check out my ventriloquist act!' Corphish said, as he dug into his sack again, pulling out what looked like a small, but fake, human skeleton.

"Taillow." 'Corphish, you can't speak human, you don't have fingers, you can't-'

"SILENCE, I KILL YOU!" The puppet shouted out, causing both Pokemon to jump in surprise.

"…T-Treeko…" 'H-How the fuck did you do that?' Treeko asked.

Corphish simply smirked. "Corphish, Cor." 'An artist never reveals their secrets, Treeko.' the crayfish Pokemon said as he put the skeleton away.

Taillow landed beside the defeater of Drakrai. "Tail, tail, looooow." 'Well, at least they'll be entertained by the crab.' she said.

"Tree." 'He's a crayfish.' retorted the tree gecko Pokemon. "Tail!" 'Same freaking thing!' replied the bird as she took to the air.

At least this would be an interesting journey as they searched for Torkoal and Snorunt. As soon as they had all five, they'd make their way to their home away from Ash: the Oak Ranch. If this weird world didn't kill them first…

Unova Region - Desert Resort - 0551 hours Local time

Ash came here thanks to those idiots from Team Rocket, but it was sunnier then, mused the grass snake as her feet roasted on hot sand.

The Desert Resort was a misnamed location in Unova. It was torturous and painful, the only things surviving here without assistance being ghosts and ground-types as well as the occasional grass or rock-type.

So why in the name of Arceus' ringed rear end and her three pain in the ass children did Sandile's scent lead them HERE?!

"Sni… Snivy…" 'I hate sand…' The Pokemon groaned, "Sni, Sni, Snivy, Sniv…" 'Rough, coarse, irritating… and it gets everywhere… '

"Tepig." 'Do not quote that movie.' said the fire-type. "Tepig-pig." 'Other then the awesome action scenes, it sucked.'

"Sni, Snivy!" 'Yeah, like this ARCEUS-DAMNED DESERT!' Snivy snapped back. "SNIVY!" 'SANDILE, GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE, I'M SICK AND TIRED OF THIS SHITTY SAND!'

"Dove." 'I can carry you if you want, your highness.' Pidove suggested half-mockingly before Snivy glared at her. "Sni!" 'Oh, don't you-' she started to say before she noticed something.

She was sinking.

Into very, VERY hot sand. Anyone in the desert knows this is a bad thing.

"SNI-VY!" 'FUCK! THE! DESERT!' Snivy shouted as she slowly began to sink into quicksand.

The other two just laughed at her misfortune. "SNIVY, SNI!" 'When I get out of this, I will MURDER YOU!' she screeched as she was finally swallowed by the desert like so many other things.

"Tep." 'She deserved it,' said the fire pig. Pidove just nodded her head.

Meanwhile, Snivy was sinking through the sand. Contrary to popular belief, grass-types DO need air and the sand was crushing her body. She wouldn't last much longer if there wasn't an exit or something. Fortunately, there was.

She finally dropped out of the sand. And landed back-first on a rock.

Sucks to be her.

"Ro!" 'Ow! Hey, watch it you stupid…' "Ro?" 'Wait… Snivy?'

Snivy groaned before glancing down from the rock she had landed on… only for it to not be a rock, but rather a familiar rock-type pokemon.

"Sni… vy…" 'Oh… Roggenrola… Hi…' Snivy groaned, rubbing her head. "Snivy?" 'You wouldn't happen to have seen Sandile around here, would you?'

"Rol." 'I'm not sure.' said the mantle Pokemon as she (as a rock-type, Roggenrola were technically gender neutral but for their personalities) bobbed her only real sensory organ. Snivy facepalmed as she cursed her own stupidity. She was so used to Roggenrola being a Boldore she forgot that they only had one real sense: hearing. No sense of touch or sight until they evolved those crystals. "Sni." 'I'm an idiot.'

"Rog." 'Hey, I miss having my front legs. No big deal,' replied the little rock-type. "Roggen." 'But we can check. For all we know, he's in here.'

"Sni." 'I doubt we're that lucky…' Snivy groaned, "Sni, Snivy." 'Anyways, Teipig and Pidove should be right above us… doesn't the quick sand bother you by the way?'

"Rog." 'Rock-type, why would it?'

"…Sni." 'Point.'

The two continued to walk through the relic castle before Roggenrola made a wincing sound. Snivy didn't notice anything except that the ground was cooler. Much cooler. And more… welcoming. It was at that point she looked down at the sand, which was no longer the brown she was unfortunately used to.

It was almost black. And moist. Like water was… poured on it. She then looked up ahead to see a large mass with what looked like a pair of bumps on its' back. A water-type. An armless water-type.

One she knew and not from her days in the wild. "Snivy!" 'Palpitoad, is that you?' she cried out before the Pokemon in question turned to face her.

"Pal?" 'Snivy? What are you doing here?' The amphibian pokemon questioned.

"Sniv, Sniv." 'Looking for Sandile… ran into Roggenrola though, and you, so… we're on the kinda-right path I guess…'

"Palp!" 'Yeah, I woke up in my old pond with my gang of Timpole. I didn't mind seeing them again, but…' Palpitoad said, drawing out the last part. Snivy got it, though: it wasn't Oak's ranch and it wasn't with Ash. It didn't feel like home anymore. He didn't even need to say how he got here: probably looking for Sandile in the first place that was normally associated with the sand crocs.

"Rol." 'Aren't you a water-type?' asked Roggenrola. "Rog." 'I think you can swim.'

Palpitoad didn't hold it against the rock-type: easy to make that mistake. After all, they heard the tales of Misty's Psyduck. Arceus, wasn't that duck a disgrace to the type. "Toad, Palpi." 'I can't swim across an ocean, Roggenrola; I can barely make it across a small lake as I am now.' he said to the mantle Pokemon. "Palp." 'I can survive the oceans, I just won't make it far until I get chomped by something that ISN'T Gible.'

"Sni." 'Fair enough.' Snivy nodded, "Sni, Snivy." 'Come on, Teipig and Pidove should be nearby, together we should be able to find Sandile… hopefully…'

"Palp!" 'I know, I been following his scent!' cried the water/ground-type before he looked at them both, who didn't believe him. "To." 'Yes, I CAN smell things. I just prefer not to.'

"Snivy." 'Evidence to the contrary…' muttered Snivy before she marched ahead of the two type-disadvantaged Pokemon. It was certainly true about what Palpitoad said: he was a lake Pokemon. The only thing that could cross an ocean from Unova to the Decolor Isles was a Basculin. And those bastards were terrified of Magikarp.

Not only were those scales hard enough to break their teeth, Magikarp had long memories. And they remembered whoever pissed them off when they eventually evolved into Gyarados. And only electric-types fucked with Gyarados and lived.

Meanwhile, Tepig and Pidove had entered the ruins. And Tepig was immediately locked in the jaws of something that wasn't Gible.

He knew what Gible jaws felt like: that land shark LOVED to bite. No, these were long and narrow with cone-shaped teeth. Attached to a head with black, beady eyes and protected by dark scales. And it vaguely looked like one of those crocodiles from the Ranger Union states, only tan and a Pokemon.

"Sand!" 'Tepig! I knew I smelt something familiar!' The little Crocodile cheered.

"Te, Tepig Te." 'Good, there ya are Sandile. We were looking all over for you.'

"Sandile! Dile!" 'Great! So… time travel I guess?' said the sand croc as he released Tepig from his jaws.

"Pidove." 'We're all in our younger bodies, we're not at the ranch… kinda obvious.' stated the bird as she settled on the sandy floor before jumping at the hot temperature of the grains. "DOVE!" 'Good Arceus, that burns!'

"Sand." 'I wouldn't know. Seems perfect.' said Sandile. "Dile…" 'Though I'm a reptile: I like it hot…'

"Pig." 'Can we find Snivy and leave? I think we all hate deserts by now.' said Tepig as he tried to shake the grains of sand from his hooves.

"Sand!" 'If someone can hold onto this.' said sandile as he reached into the sand and produced… an egg.

Both of the Pokemon blinked as they looked at the Egg, blinking. "…Dove…?" 'Sandie… where did you get that egg?'

"Tei…" 'Don't tell me you're a…'

"Sandile! Sand! Sand!" 'Wha? Nononono!' The Reptile pokemon shook his head. "Sandile!" 'Its Scraggy's egg!'

…Ok, that made a surprising amount of sense. Scraggy as a whole were native to the Desert Resort.

That aside, they needed to find the others and get home. "Tep." 'Think you can find-'

"SNI!" 'FUCKING SAND!' cried a familiar voice. Tepig sighed before he looked down a sandy slope, finding Snivy… with friends. "Tepig?" 'Where did you find those two?' asked the fire pig as he stared at Palpitoad and Roggenrola, with Snivy climbing on the water-type.

"Sni, Sni." 'In the ground, now that we've found everyone, can we PLEASE get out of here?!' She exclaimed.

"Rog, Rogge." 'Question, exactly how are we going to get to Kanto?' Roggenrola asked.

Everyone turned to Sandile. His… stalking of Pikachu was almost legendary. As were the tunnels he made to follow Ash and his starter.

Roggenrola got the idea, but still sighed in her own way. It sounded odd, like a low whistle. "Roggen." 'I'll reinforce the tunnels as best I can.' she said. "Rol." 'Just… TRY to keep us away from deep water, please.'

"Sni." 'We're not done yet.' Snivy stated bluntly. "Snivy, vy, Sni." 'Oshawott and Leavanny, remember?' The grass snake then thought about it. "Vy." 'I suppose "Swaddle" is more accurate at the moment, isn't it?' she half-stated, half-questioned.

"Rog… Rogge!" 'Whatever, let's just get moving… the sooner we find them, the sooner we can get to Ash!'

"Palpitoad!" 'Agreed!' The frog-like Pokemon agreed.

Johto Region - the town of Eggster - 701 hours local time

Eggster was the egg capital of Johto: if there was a better place to breed and raise Pokemon, it was probably in the Alola region.

Which was why everyone was shitting bricks as something smashed into a daycare and stole an egg. But the behavior of this Pokemon didn't make sense, as it was not an egg-eater nor a kleptomaniac. If that was the case, the building would've been more reinforced.

But there was a reason this Pokemon stole an egg.

To the Heracross, it was family. He woke up on a tree, in Johto, FAR from his preferred home in Kanto. And he wasn't a happy bug-type. Thankfully, he decided to search for whoever he could. Which brought him to Eggster. And to the flying-types trying to down him.

He would be tempted to roll his eyes if it were possible as he darted from the trees, avoiding the flock of Pidgeys and Pidgeottos. The bug-type would admit they were good, but after his sparring matches with Ash's own vast array of flying types, they were pushovers compared to them as he weaved through the trees to find a place to hunker down and wait for them to miss him over.

Seriously, Noctowl and Swellow were dangerous as hell, Staraptor was all about the brawling, Unfezant was agile as a kite and Talonflame was a Arceusdamned flying/fire-type! What would a bunch of tiny birds and half-evolved birds of prey do to someone that fought League-worthy monsters like them on a regular basis?

The only bird he was actually scared of was Ash's former Pidgeot. Still, he had few problems getting away.

But those few were all trees with exposed sap. Heracross was like another person with a problem. But unlike everyone's favorite bald badass XO, he never really tried to break the habit. He wanted to clamp down on a tree and suck that sap out until he was gorged. Then he remembered the egg.

Phanpy's egg. His little brother, waiting to hatch and be the little rock elephant he was until Hoenn.

Eventually Heracross gained a lot of distance from the flock of birds, as he finally spared a moment to take a short break - finding cover in a hollowed out tree trunk. Hiding inside, he sighed in relief, setting the egg down for a moment - but then he heard something approaching from outside, and his eyes narrowed as he prepared for a possible fight…

"Cyn?" 'Heracross? Is that you?'

Heracross blinked. No, that couldn't be… "…Cross?" 'Cyndaquil?'

With those almost always-closed eyes, a cream-colored belly and blue fur on her back, with short limbs, it was none other then the adorable and dangerous Cyndaquil. Or as Heracross knew her, Ash's Quilava. Ash never really got a feel for most of his Pokemons' genders, assuming, unless there was something clear and obvious, that they were male.

On the other hand, the Cyndaquil line weren't exactly dimorphic to begin with: you could only tell males and females apart by scent!

"Cross." 'Nice to see you, Cyndaquil.' said the fighting bug as he carefully held Phanpy's egg. "Her." 'Where are the others?'

"Cynda." 'Not too far; I think they were looking for me.' said the fire honey badger. "Quuuuil." 'Once we find them and Noctowl, we can head for Kanto: I want to be as far from Johto as a wild Pokemon as possible.' Heracross didn't blame her: that Koji person he was told about was obsessed with catching her and she was only safe with Ash.

"Her, Hera!" 'Sounds good, well you best lead the way.' He nodded. 'I'll look after Phanpy.'

"Cyn! Cyndaquil!" 'Ah! I was about to ask about that.' she said as she looked around. "Cyn." 'Have you seen Noctowl?'

Heracross thought about it. He'd seen a few, but no shinies. Shame, because Heracross could see where Quilava, or rather Cyndaquil at the moment, was going with this.

Totodile and Bayleef, or Chikorita as she was now, were light and easy to carry, but Heracross couldn't carry them, Cyndaquil AND Phanpy's egg. Split the load and they could fly straight to the ranch, get information from one of Ash's captures or something and rejoin the family.

"Hera, Cross." 'No, plenty of non-shinies, but not our Noctowl. Our best bet may be to find Totodile or Chikorita.'

"Cyn, Cynda! Qui." 'About a good as plan as any, so let's get moving!' Cyndaquil said before sniffing out their teammates. They were a few miles off, but they did have a flying bug, so she gestured Heracross to take off, which he did before latching onto his leg.

"Quil!" 'That way!' she cried, pointing with her snout before firing off an ember. The ember Heracross saw and followed. It was time to reunite.

Kalos Region - Santalune Forest - 0207 hours local time

"Frok." 'You are incredibly heavy, did you know that?' Froakie said to Goomy as the soft tissue Pokemon narrowed his beady little eyes.

"Goo." 'I'm 91% water, ninja boy.' retorted the slug-like dragon. "Goomy." 'Water is rather heavy. I thought you knew that, being a water-type.'

"Frokie." 'I am, but at least I'm not made of water. I need to be mobile otherwise I'd be a very poor ninja' he retorted.

"Fletch." 'Would you two shut up?' demanded Fletchling as she flew overhead, keeping an eye out for trainers. During their trek, they had run into a few… odd… discoveries. One, Kalos was in bad shape, at least from a human standpoint. The light from Prism Tower wasn't lit and the few human towns they couldn't avoid on their path either didn't exist or were in ruins.

This was not a good sign. "Goo." 'Are we… sure Vaniville Town even exists?' asked Goomy. "Goomy, omy." 'That ranch with the Gogoats you told me about wasn't there when we reached where it was supposed to be.'

"Frok." 'I… don't know…' Froakie admitted, "Ki, Fro, Frok." 'So much is the same, but so much else is different… something happened to the world, or is still happening… and I don't like it…'

"Goo." 'Yeah… I'm starting to notice that too…' Goomy mused.

"Haw." 'We need to be ready.' the fighting/flying type said as he carefully held Noibat's egg. "Lucha." 'And I don't mean for battle.'

"Fro." 'Explain.' demanded the ninja frog.

"Hawlucha." 'What if Ash is dead? Or doesn't even exist?' Hawlucha said rather darkly.

"Froak." 'No, he exists.' Froakie said firmly.

"Goo." 'How do you know?'

"Froak, Froakie." 'Battle Bond is something unique between me and Ash. While I can't transform into my greater form as a Froakie, that bond cannot be broken. I can feel Ash, he is alive in this world. We just need to find him.'

"…Haw, Haw." 'Oh… well, that takes a load off my back.'

"Froakie-froak." 'Considering all that's happened, you were right to assume the worst.' Froakie stated without malice or scorn. If it weren't for the distance and his pre-evolved state, he would be able to clearly tell Ash they were on their way. For now, this would do.

"Goo." 'Ok, Fletchling, find us a path free of people.' stated the pre-evolved pseudo-legendary. "Goo-my." 'We're going to get to Ash's mate today.'

"…Froak?" 'Which one?' Froakie asked. "Froakie." 'Pikachu told me he's had multiple travel companions that could be counted as 'mates'. Like that Misty girl.'

"Goo." 'I mean Serena.' Goomy said before trying to grin evilly. From the look on Hawlucha's face, he succeeded. "Gooooooooooomyyyy…" 'But I don't mind the other girls trying to get with him, too…'

With that creepy moment, they decided to just stay silent and wait for Fletchling to come back.

Entry 4: Snivy and Snivy family structures: The term 'smug snake' did not come from snakes such as the black mamba or the cobra, but Snivy. The seemingly-always-half-closed eyes are, in fact, as wide as they can get. This is due to the structure of a Snivy's skull, which, like most snakes, also contains heat pits.

Snivy as a whole are a prideful Pokemon, being one of only two snake-like Pokemon with limbs, those including its' evolved form, Servine. They are also picky about their trainers, outright abandoning them if they do not match their high standards. However, if they are caught and the trainer meets or exceeds those standards, Snivy adopt the trainer into their family group. Ash Ketchum's Snivy abandoned her Unovan trainer and joined the boy for reasons unknown to Team Rocket, but clearly the boy meets her expectations and then some. Pokemon translators have said she calls him 'my stupid brother' at times.

As with all Ketchum's Pokemon, DO NOT ENGAGE. Snivy is one of the more dangerous low-evolved Pokemon he has and has no qualms over killing our grunts. Only his reluctance to allow it has kept them from getting strangled.

Entry 5: Gible 'bite' customs: Gibles are small, friendly Pokemon for the most part, with large teeth and a general form that made early Sinnohans call them 'land sharks', as, much like Sharpedo and the non-Pokemon Carcharodon carcharias, the species has a large dorsal fin.

While Gible has fully articulating hands, the arms they are attached to are short and useless for anything but guiding food into the massive maw of the Gible. Instead, Gibles have adopted another way to express themselves: using their bites.

Most inexperienced handlers in Team Rocket will be very familiar with the hard, blood-drawing and sometimes hand-removing bites of the few times we have ever had a Gible here, but for the most part, Gibles do not draw blood. If displeased, they bite, but only hard enough to hurt, not inflict injury. If pleased and affectionate, the Gible will often bite on the person's head, only hard enough to stay latched on. Licking is also common, but only if the Land Shark Pokemon cannot bite.

Gibles are the only members of the Garchomp line of Pokemon to bite: the jaw muscle control of Gabite and Garchomp is rather weak, meaning they only have one 'setting' as it were: hard. Team Rocket recommends to keep Gibles contained in plastic cells: they eat metal.

Ron the True Fan: Goomy's an Amourshipper. That's not unexpected. Also, remind me to bill Take for siccing ZARAKI of all people on me: the fight between him and Kratos destroyed an entire world!

Takeshi: I wasn't expecting you to counter him with Kratos!

Ron the True Fan: Take, unless there was another option to counteract the Red Hulk with a Meat Cleaver, Kratos WAS the only option. Plus side, at least you won't be siccing anyone ELSE on me.

Takeshi: No, but we do still have the hammerloli and Ikkaku.

Ikkaku: ORAORAORA!

Vita: GIGANTE CRUSHER!

Ron the True Fan: Know what, I've had enough of this shit. (Snaps fingers and they disappear) It was amusing the first time and the second. After the god-match, it got annoying. Anyway, time for some basic Q&A for our readers. Might as well get the obvious out of the way.

Question 1: Will your OCs show up?

Ron the True Fan: The short answer? HELL no. Others, yes, but not them. Jorn, mind taking the field for the long one?

117Jorn: What long one?

Ron the True Fan: The long answer to whether or not the usual suspects (Jaden Takeo, etc) show up in this fic.

117Jorn: Ah, well while Jaden Takeo and our usual OC's will not appear, we HAVE prepared a new cast of characters we plan to unveil later on in the story - you won't have to wait long mind you, but please be patient.

Ron the True Fan: Also, note that all of the girls in Ash's harem are VERY broken in some way or form. And Jorn's still pissed about Dawn. (hears racking of shotgun) …And line was crossed.

Ja Ne! (BANG!)

(AO3 Note)
Ron the True Fan: Helps that I don't have to rewrite. It would be NICE if I could just import from FFN in one shot! Ja Ne!

Chapter Text

Ron the True Fan: …Did he HAVE to load that thing with phosphorus buck? Also, disclaimer's pointless. On with the—(BANG!) OH, COME ON, JORN!

117Jorn: I can tolerate Dawn being with Ash for this fic, but you adding salt on the wound CROSSES A FUCKING LINE!

Takeshi Yamato: In case you can't tell viewers, Jorn likes to pair his OC's up with Dawn in Pokemon fics. But since this is gonna be a primarily Ash fic… yeah, there is some conflict in interest here.

Viridian Forest, Kanto Region - 2105 hours local time - Day 3 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey

She was beautiful. Ash never really took the time to notice it before: when they first met on Route 1 in this timeline, he was more focused on saving her life and the next time, he was trying to keep her from melting down into madness.

Now, though, as she slept, he could notice her… well, womanly curves. But even Ash had to admit, he was not prepared for it.

'Focus, Ketchum.' he thought to himself. 'Don't be a pervert. Or worse, Brock. You have a job to do and it does not involve indulging in your fantasies involving your travelling companions!' With that, he finally looked away from Misty's sleeping form and got to his feet, pacing.

"What could've changed history so badly?" he asked aloud, quietly so Misty wouldn't wake up. "It had to be really bad."

"Cele, bi bi…" 'You can blame Orre and Cipher for that…' Ash's head rose up, as the familiar form of a very, very tired Celebi landed before him.

"Celebi?" Ash questioned. "What are you talking about?"

"Celebi, Bi, Cele." 'In the original timeline, there was a group called Cipher that used a process on Pokemon that caused the doors to their hearts to shut artificially. However back then, it never grew out of control and the situation was contained in Orre… but here? It didn't… it spread all across the world, infecting Pokemon like Pikachu. Cipher wanted an army… instead they created a plague that's been tormenting humans and Pokemon alike.' said the pixie Pokemon. At that moment, Ash remembered something very, very important.

That bastard from Johto, the Iron-Masked Marauder. His pokemon looked dead inside. "Bi." 'Sadly, yes, you've run into them.' said Celebi, bringing Ash out of his thoughts. "Cele." 'And I was turned into one.' Well, that confirmed it. And only made Ash want to actually kill him now. Before, he was content with breaking his legs and leaving him for the courts. Now he wanted to kill the bastard.

"I'm not giving him the chance." Ash stated with finality. Pikachu nodded in full agreement.

"Bi." 'Ash, I was purified.' she stated, knowing where Ash was going. "Brrrrri." 'And once a Shadow Pokemon goes back to normal, you can't turn it back into a Shadow. Even if he hits me with one of those torture balls again, all it will do is just hurt a lot.'

To Ash, that changed nothing. The bastard still died. No exceptions.

"Still, he's going to pay for what he did to you last time." Ash said before getting confused. "Or… this time. What's the proper way of saying it?"

"Celebi." 'Don't bother. Time tenses for me are too complex for a human mind to really comprehend.' she said. "Bi." 'Just use past tense: it was your past and what'll happen in Johto won't be the same thing.'

"Well then… I'm gonna have to go to Orre eventually…" Ash mused. "There has to be something I can do…"

"Be, Celi." 'I'll help where I can, but as you can guess there is only so much me and the other legendaries can do.' The time traveling Pokemon informed. "Celi." 'One Legendary as a Shadow pokemon is enough, I don't want to know what more will do.'

"A Legendary got corrupted?" Ash questioned, looking shocked. "Which one?"

"Celebi…" 'Lugia - don't worry, not that Lugia, but a Lugia nonetheless.'

That was nightmarish. A Lugia was one of the most powerful legendaries: a Trio Master had to be, in order to control three other legendaries.

A Shadow Lugia? He didn't want to think about it.

The next day - edge of Viridian Forest - 0854 hours local time

"Pid." 'I want to hate you, you goddamn mouse from hell.' said Pidgeotto as she recovered from a rather powerful thundershock that sent her into the ground. It was day two of the training from hell as Pikachu, abusing his status as the starter, shocked his comrades into action, attempting to get them to dodge.

As he was an electric-type, that was hard. Only another electric-type would be as fast as he was. Sucked to be them.

"Pika." 'You want to be a Pidgeot again?' asked the electric mouse as he charged up for another shot.

"Pid. ge…" 'Yeah… but I need to LIVE in order to do that!' Pidgeotto retorted with a groan.

"Spear, Spear!" 'That mouse is fucking mad I tell you…' Spearow said to Kakuna.

"Kaku, ka." 'I've never been so happy to be an immobile cocoon…' said the cocoon.

"Mi." 'Hiiiiiiiii.' said someone that, until then, was silent. Mostly due to being shy.

The Alolan 'Pikachu clone'. Well, one of the two, at least. But Mimikyu had one advantage over Togedemaru in that way.

She scared the life out of all of them.

"SPEAR!" "KAKU!" 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!' screamed the two Pokemon as they tried to run away from her… or Roll in Kakuna's case, before hitting a branch, bouncing once, as a crack formed… a crack that began to glow brightly. The others all watched as emerging from the cracks of the cocoon, was a new Pokemon, one that they were all very familiar with…

…and was now flying away… "BEE! BEE! DRILL!" 'GETAWAYGETAWAYGETAWAY!'

"Mi! MI!" 'Don't go, Beedrill!' cried the little disguise Pokemon as she went after the bee Pokemon. "KYYYYYU!" 'I want to be your friend!'

Noctowl watched the whole thing and shuddered, Beedrill not even seeming to notice that he'd evolved into his final form. "Noc." 'And she doesn't even know she's dangerous to even LOOK at?' he muttered as he looked at Ash, who was trying to talk to Misty without her going into crazy blubbering.

So far, it seemed to be working. Noctowl was even trying to get Ash to sit closer to Misty.

Like all of Ash's Kanto/Johto Pokemon, even lazy-as-hell Snorlax, he wanted Ash and Misty to get together. His Hoenn team, though, wanted him and that May girl. That was never going to happen on his watch.

Though Pikachu didn't seem to really care - made sense, given he'd been with Ash for every region and had gotten to know all his companions, but still, when Noctowl asked him about that, Pikachu just said, 'I just want Ashlings to play with in my old age.'

So while he was trying, listening to their conversation.

"So… why were you near Pallet Town?" Ash asked the young woman as she drank some water from a bottle, unintentionally spilling some water out of her mouth and running down her shirt. Ash's self-control should be admired, as Ash very successfully kept his eyes well above her chin. Misty apparently didn't notice, Ash putting that off as her being far too used to being soaked.

Or trying to give him a show.

Mentally, Ash smacked himself to attempt to keep his stupidity in check.

"I, uh… was looking for Pokemon." Misty stuttered out-and boy did Ash hate that, Misty was NOT shy-as she finally noticed the water and where Ash was looking. She would have called him a pervert if he wasn't looking her straight in the eye.

She knew he saw, he was just being polite and not a pervert. She'd seen people look at her when that happened, but her Pokemon usually did something bad to them. Yet Ash was untouched.

"Really?" Ash asked, not believing her. Misty could only catch Magikarp in that little river. He knew that. EVERYONE knew that.

So why was she actually there?

She blushed slightly at his question.

"W-well… sometimes you get lucky and find something… bigger than a Magikarp," She said, "I… heard rumors that sometimes a Gyarados could evolve from a Magikarp in the river, so… ya know… who knows?"

Ash understood that. But he wanted to know why Misty was so… not-misty. He was used to the passive-and-not-so-passive-agressive tomboy, not this… shy girl.

"I hoped I'd… find a friend, too." she finally admitted. "I don't have too many." Ash could believe that, at least until she sighed. "Actually, I don't have any at all."

The older-then-he-looked teen blinked in confusion. Misty, not having any friends? She had to know someone in Cerulean! "…what do you mean by that?" He questioned, "I mean… don't you have friends? Family?"

She seemed to sigh at the mention of her family "No… no friends…" she said, shaking her head. "Unless we count my Pokemon, of course… but, aside from them… no human friends…"

"But why?" Ash asked in confusion. It didn't make sense. But Misty was about to give him his answer.

"There weren't too many children my age in Cerulean City." she said, bringing her knees up to her face and trying to hide away. "Actually… I don't think there were any children my age there."

'Oh, boy.' Ash thought. This world was getting worse and worse. Misty's shyness was having no human friends at school? What about her sisters?

"I was always alone." Misty said, trying to not sob. "No one was ever in my classes, so my sisters homeschooled me. Whenever they were there, at least…"

"They… neglected you?" Ash asked, sounding worried.

"N-no! No, not that, just…" Misty said, before she sighed sadly. "I… I know my sisters love me, but… they never spend much time with me… I-I no its not their fault, with all the Shadow Pokemon around, they get called away to handle water-types that get corrupted… l-leaving me alone… t-they try, but… but…"

Ash got it immediately and wanted to know who the hell started this Shadow Pokemon crap, that way he could introduce him to the barrel of that—

'Calm. Down.' Ash thought sternly. 'You need to think rationally, not like an emotional ten-year-old.' Perhaps hypocritical, but it was true. Misty needed him to be understanding, compassionate, helpful, not going off half-cocked like some idiot going out to get revenge.

He was getting angry over something he didn't understand. So, he just sighed. "I'm sorry." Ash said. "I didn't… I didn't know."

Misty waved it off, smiling nervously. "It's ok!" she said. "I had a good teacher!" The young woman turned her head towards Starmie, who was… running from Charmander. Well, ROLLING from Charmander, Ash hearing 'get back here and BURN!' from the fire-type.

Misty just heard 'Char! CHAR!' like a cute fire-lizard. "Its nice to see them getting along…" She smiled at the sight.

"…Yeah, getting along…" Ash nodded, watching as Starmie continued to roll around away from Charmander.

"KYA! KYA!" 'For fuck's sake, LEAVE ME ALONE!'

"Char!" 'BUUUURN!'

It was darkly hilarious. Misty thought it was play, yet in reality, it was Starmie running from a battle-happy Charmander. And only he knew the truth.

With that thought, Ash grew somewhat depressed. He was the only one that understood Pokespeech here. Maybe the only one ever.

Ash was getting used to 'only' achievements. Ash-Greninja, the Orange League, the Battle Frontier: he was the only one to get any progress in those.

And yet he never won a league, usually due to poor choices and not knowing what his Pokemon could do. That was going to change. He would do his damnedest to win, but most importantly, he had to keep the idiots, mostly Archie, Maxie and Cyrus, from killing everyone.

He was never going to have a normal life.

Two hours later

A recall to Charmander and to Misty's Pokemon brought them to the near-edge of the forest with only four Pokemon out of their balls: Pikachu, Psyduck (who clearly had a bigger headache then usual) Mimikyu (who was the reason for Psyduck's headache, as she was sitting on his bill) and finally, Ash's Noctowl.

His red and gold shiny Noctowl. His ONLY shiny, actually.

"Your Noctowl looks so pretty..." Misty said, looking at the owl-like Pokemon that flew above them. "I've only seen a few Shinny's in the past… "

"Noc, Towl." 'Hm, yeah, I put effort in my work,' The Pokemon retorted with a smug smirk. "Towl." 'Unlike that traitor pigeon...'

Suddenly Ash's pokeball opened up, spitting Pidgeotto out "PIDG!" 'I HEARD THAT!' It cried out as it flew up to intercept the owl.

Ash didn't know all that much about what Pidgeotto was like (he remembered that non-Pokemon were actually a thing) but pigeon-like, Pidgeotto was not. She was a raptor, a bird-of-prey. And she was pissed at being compared to a songbird.

Ash would know: his Unfezant was known to sing and she was no match for Pidgeotto. "Noct." 'I know, that's why I said it.' the owl hoo'ed out. "Owl, noc." 'What will you do about it?'

Ash expected more gusts and whirlwinds like last time. Maybe an Air Slash or two.

He wasn't expecting Pidgeotto to fire off a stream of white energy that Noctowl was hard-pressed to avoid.

'When did Pidgeotto learn how to use HYPER BEAM?!' Ash screamed mentally as the first bird recovered from being recoiled back. 'Can Pidgeotto even LEARN Hyper Beam?!'

"Whoa, I thought Pidgeotto couldn't learn Hyper Beam until they evolved!" exclaimed Misty. At least it explained how Pidgeotto knew the attack: she learned it as a Pidgeot and retained it.

But as Pidgeotto took in very deep breaths, it showed why the second form couldn't use it properly: not enough mass, not enough stamina.

"Pid. Ge. OT!" 'I. Am no. TRAITOR!' she screamed at Noctowl.

Noctowl didn't got another reply in before she started flying closer, another ball of energy forming in her beak. She wanted to fire at point-blank range.

"Pika?!" 'Is she INSANE?!' Pikachu screamed out. "Chu, Pi!" 'She doesn't have the energy for Hyper Beam yet! She fires that a few more times, she'll kill herself!'

The moment Ash heard that, his eyes widened before he looked up at Pidgeotto "Pidgeotto! Stop NOW!"

That caught the bird's attention, dispelling the charge long enough for Noctowl to use Air Slash, firing blades of air pressure at Ash's first flying-type. One hit her, smacking into her head with a snapping sound.

The rest, which missed, impacted the forest floor, hitting trees and in some cases, cutting them down.

"Mi." 'Good thing Beedrill's in his ball.' said Mimikyu as she saw the Noctowl-induced logging fest. "Mi." 'He would've gotten hurt!' "Psy-aye-aye..." 'Get off my bill, you Arceus-damned Ghost.' quacked Psyduck, trying to not look under the life-preserving rag.

Pikachu just sighed, facepalming as the two birds began to duke it out yet again with one another. "Pika Pi..." 'This is starting to get annoying...' he muttered. "Chuu..." 'I've had it up to here with their dogfights...'

"Mi? Kyu..." 'Dogfights? But they're flying types...' The Ghostly-looking pokemon questioned in confusion.

Pikachu was tempted to explain (he'd watched some show about humans and how stupidly inventive they could be when they wanted to kill each other when Ash was sleeping once in Unova) but more waves of pressurized air nearly hit them and blew Mimikyu off Psyduck's bill.

"MIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" 'HELP!' screamed the ghost-type as she was sent flying. Pikachu was torn between getting revenge by proxy on the murderous Mimikyu and helping this...child.

Oh, who was he kidding? This little ghost was family now. The electric-type jumped to catch the ghost before ash sent out Charmander to help deal with the birds. Pikachu would've done it himself, but Ash saw him jump and frankly, Charmander would use this as some excuse to get stronger somehow.

Mimikyu tumbled, screaming as she was sent flying. "MI!" 'HELP!' she screamed, trying to stay under her protective rag. Pikachu used a brief burst of Quick Attack to catch up to the fairy/ghost, snatching her from getting hurt. "Mi?" 'Pikachu?' she asked as she was set down.

"Pika." 'I'm Ash's fastest Pokemon and you needed help.' he explained to the ghost before petting her on her 'head'. "Pi." 'Stay out of that fight.'

"Mimi!" 'Oh, I'll be fine! I have Disguise!' she said cheerfully. Pikachu blinked. "Ka?" 'What?'

"Kyu!" 'It's my ability! I can take one hit in any fight and not take any damage!' she said, eyesmiling.

"...Pika" '...damn I wish I could do that...' The electric mouse muttered. "Chuu?" 'Is it, like… any attack? Or is there some sort of limit?'

"Mim." 'I...don't know.' she said. "Kyyyyuuuuu..." 'That crazy professor in Alola wanted to try using everything from Tackle to Hyper Beam to...I think he said something about Arceus.' Pikachu paled. He knew Kukui could be a bit eccentric, but somehow getting his hands on Arceus and forcing the God Pokemon to use Judgement on a Mimikyu?!

The only Mimikyu he'd want that to happen to would be the insane one Jessie caught!

"Pika. Chu." 'Well… let's hope you don't have to test that.' He assured, patting the mimicking ghost on the head.

The Disguise Pokemon purred before another explosion happened. "Pika." 'Oh, sweet Arceus...' he muttered.

Meanwhile, Ash was having ENOUGH of the birds. Noctowl seemingly got it into his head that Pidgeotto just up and left him for no good reason. And Pidgeotto...well, Noctowl WAS being an arrogant ass. But if they kept this up, they'd destroy a good part of the forest.

"ENOUGH!" yelled Ash over the cries of the birds of prey. "If you two keep this up, you'll get yourselves killed! And for what?! You're BOTH my Pokemon and that means you two are family! So STOP FIGHTING!"

"Noct! Noct!" 'How are you defending her?!' Noctowl shouted, glaring at the bird. "Owl! Noct!" 'She left your family! Never to return! Why do you keep acting like this is okay?!'

Ash looked at Misty briefly, noticing she was tending to Psyduck, who was quacking his ass off. "Because I let her go!" he yelled at the owl. "I let her go! Now get down here!" The unspoken 'I don't want to imply we're from the future in front of Misty' was understood by both birds, so they began to descend, though not without glaring at one another.

THe two birds of prey landed a few dozen feet from their trainer before they started glaring at each other, before Ash walked over and smacked them both on the beak.

"Geotto!/Owl!" 'OW!' they cried. "You both deserved it." Ash ground out. "I let Pidgeotto go to defend a flock that could not defend themselves. I let her go. Do you get that?" Ash turned his attention to Pidgeotto. "You aren't blameless, either, Pidgeotto. You know I can understand you and this could have waited until later! Instead, you blew down Arceus knows how many trees and probably pissed off half the flying bugs in this forest!"

Both of the birds had shut up completely, looking up at Ash rather intimidated by his aggression - even to the side, Pikachu and Mimikyu looked on in surprise at what had just happened.

Ash closed his eyes and smacked his head. "I don't know what is wrong with me." he said. "I don't DO this. I don't vent and rage at my Pokemon. I… This isn't me." And that scared Ash. Who WAS he in this timeline?

"Pika." 'Maybe it's just the effect of being two people at once.' Pikachu said. "Chu, Pikipi." 'I mean, your other self in this universe is still in there, Ash.' It made sense. "Maybe, Pikachu, but this is not me. Only people like Paul do this." Ash said, anger rising again at the mention of Paul's name, especially at the thought of what he did to Chimchar. He took in a deep breath, trying to calm down. "You two will have to learn to live with one another. No more fighting. You two are flock. Parlement. Am I clear?"

Buzzing was heard behind Misty, who slowly turned to see a massive swarm of pissed off Beedrill.

"B-B-B-B-B-Bu-Bu-Buuuu!" She began to sputter incoherantly, backing up towards Ash.

"Misty, what-" he began to say, before he noticed the horde of Beedrill arising over the horizon. "…oh…"

"Pika." 'Running time?'

"Kyu." 'RUNNING TIME!'

The group began to flee, chased by the most formidable of all non-legendary poison-type Pokemon. There was a reason Beedrill was feared and it wasn't just Mega Beedrill.

Four hours of constant running led them to the foothills of Pewter City, home of a large tin, copper and silver mine that gave the city its' name, a museum and more importantly, at least to Ash, a Pokemon League Gym.

Now, in the last timeline, a badge was merely bragging rights and a way to enter the League. Now… well, most trainers were region-locked, as it was called, unless they did well enough in their league to prove they were strong enough to leave and face the unknown.

Meaning, unless Ash fought in the League and did well enough, he would never leave Kanto. This would suit some, but Ash had something he needed to deal with in Sinnoh in a few years, meaning if he wanted to end Cyrus' threat, he had to enter the league.

And the journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step after all. And that first step was, without a doubt, Brock… assuming he was the Gym leader in this reality as well. Given how much Misty has changed, he was prepared for anything really.

Bur first, he had to take stock of his team, even as Misty and the Pokemon, as well as he, took in deep breaths to recover from the flight from the Beedrill swarm.

He had Pikachu, his starter and arguably most powerful Pokemon, who knew Iron Tail, which Onyx would be fearful of.

Butterfree, who evolved during the fleeing session, who, somehow, learned psychic-type attacks which could be used to confuse Geodude or Onyx.

Charmander, his as-of-then adorable fire lizard, who would likely try to evolve here, knew a number of attacks that were neutral or effective against ground/rock-types.

Noctowl and Pidgeotto, who were...not a good matchup due to being flying-types. Still, if they learned Steel Wing from Pikachu demonstrating Iron Tail a few times, they'd have a chance.

Beedrill...Beedrill was not facing Brock. He needed to go back to the ranch with Spearow.

And finally, Mimikyu. He wasn't sure what the little 'Pikachu clone', as they were sometimes called, knew beyond Charm.

"Otto!" 'I am NOT training with that arrogant son of a bitch!' cried his first bird as Pikachu told them out of earshot what they would be doing.

"Look, I know you two hate each other, but like it or not, he's the best our of our line up for you to train with," Ash sighed, "You're both flying types, and you can learn from one another's own abilities."

"Pidgeot!" 'He-'

"I KNOW WHAT HE'S SAYING!" Ash yelled before taking a breath to calm down. "Just...Put it aside for now. Ok? We'll solve this later." His first bird reluctantly nodded, though both of the birds glared at one another.

"You...can understand them?" Misty asked as she walked over. "You're not joking, right?"

"I can understand them like I can understand you." Ash replied. "I don't know how-" 'I can't tell you.' he thought to himself "but I can understand exactly what they say. And Noctowl doesn't like Pidgeotto for some reason."

"That's… wow..." Misty muttered, "Talking to pokemon… I can only talk to Psyduck, but that's since he's… well, psychic."

"Duck." 'She can barely understand me half the time.' quacked the duck in question before Ash looked at the yellow cause of many of Misty's headaches in the other timeline.

"Well, I can understand every word you say." Ash said before looking at his team. "We'd better head to the Pokemon Center. After everything that happened in that forest, I think we all need a rest."

Pewter Pokemon Center - 45 minutes later

In the past timeline, Ash was confused as hell as to why the Joys of the Pokemon Centers all looked alike.

It took going to Unova to figure out that the Joy clan, as it were, was MASSIVE and predominantly pink-haired with a tendency to join Pokemon Centers as chief medical professionals. Now, though, he was used to it.

"Oh, my. I didn't know there was a shiny Noctowl in Viridian Forest." said the Pewter Joy as she looked over the shiny owl. "Why did you even go through that place? There's a serial killer stalking the woods!"

"Was he wearing a suit of Samurai armor?" Ash asked, making the nurse look at him in shock. "Oh! Did you come across-"

"Yeah, he won't be trouble for you anymore." he said, not wanting to go any further. Misty, though...

"He tried to kill me! But Ash saved me and the noise brought so many Beedrill-" she started to ramble, but Ash put his hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. It also gave the local Joy the wrong idea.

"So brave, saving your girlfriend from that crazy man." she cooed. "She's not my girlfriend." Ash all but ground out.

"Noc." 'Yet.' said the shiny owl, who would have smirked had he had the capability.

Ash remembered his vow NEVER to get romantically involved. 'Love them all you want, you know they deserve better' being the exact phrasing. And yet Noctowl (and probably his other Pokemon) wanted to 'ship' him with the girls he travelled with.

That being said, he had more important matters to deal with. "Can you please check on my other Pokemon?" he asked, holding several Pokeballs containing the rest of his captures, sans Pikachu.

"Of course, I'm sorry." the Joy apologized as she took the pokeballs. "I see you have seven pokemon. Teleportation system's on the fritz again; do you want me to send them to Professor Oak's lab?" Ash would ask how she knew, but the Pokedex was only granted to people that got their starters from the regional professor.

That particular bit of knowledge came from his 'other' self and nearly resulted in another nosebleed.

"My Spearow and Beedrill, please." Ash answered before preparing to deal with… another problem.

Hoenn Region - 0847 hours local time

Fire and ice didn't mix well. Common knowledge that two Pokemon of the aforementioned types just didn't care about, apparently. Though they did have one problem.

"Tor." 'Can you please stop plugging my vent?" asked the fire tortoise known as Torkoal, even as he eyeballed the Pokemon plugging said vent.

"Snor." 'Sorry. These things happen when you fall from great heights.' said the cone-shaped ice-type Snorunt as he got out of the vent. "Runt?" 'Wait, Torkoal? Well, I got lucky, didn't I?'

"...Tor." '...Oh, Snorunt!' The fire-type exclaimed in surprise. "Koal!" 'Well… fancy running into you here of all places… and as a… well, Snorunt… did we time travel or something?'

"Runt." 'Probably. You know Ash.' Snorunt stated shrugging as best he could. And they did know Ash: the Celebi incident was legendary and no one wanted to talk about the Michina debacle with Arceus. Time travel was something they were used to. Same with alternate universes: they heard about the Reflection Cave thing. And didn't want to think about it.

"Koal." 'So...find the others?' Torkoal suggested. "Run." 'That was my plan. And I found you! So it's working!' Snorunt declared.

"Tork." 'We still have to find Sceptile and the others. Which won't be easy,' Torkoal said.

"Runt!" 'Just find Taillow and it's smooth skating to Kanto!' Snorunt cried.

"Torkoal, Tork." 'Then let's get moving,' The lava turtle said, as he started marching on ahead, "Tork?" 'Any idea where we start?'

"Sno!" 'Find Talliow!' cried the ice-type. Well, easier said than done.

Kanto Region - Pewter City Pokemon Center - Training Area - 1512 hours local time

"Pika, Kachu-pi." 'You gather energy like I am for my tail. See?' Pikachu said as he demonstrated his use of Iron Tail. "Pika." 'Try to think of metal, iron, steel, whatever you want, when you think of it. After that, it's subconscious and you don't even think about it.'

"Noc." 'And why are you teaching us how to use Iron Tail?' Noctowl asked, glancing at Pidgeotto before Pikachu sparked, getting their attention.

"Ka-pi-chu." 'Because showing you Iron Tail might give you an idea for Steel Wing. We're facing a rock-type gym leader, bird-people.' the mouse said. "Chu." 'And you are both at a serious type-disadvantage. Geodude, sure, you two can handle, but Onix if he hasn't evolved into Steelix? Unless Brock evolved him, Charmander's going to have a hell of a time fighting the big rock snake of doom.'

Both birds remembered Onix/Steelix all too well. And while Pikachu had a point, why did they BOTH have to learn it together?!

"Pidge-" 'We won last time without steel-type attacks. We don-' Pidgeotto started, but Pikachu sparked and sparked darkly. That shut the bird up.

"Pi-Ka-Chu." 'Let me make this clear. Until Ash gets back from working with that ghost-type and says neither of you need to learn Steel Wing, you WILL learn it.' Pikachu ground out. "Chu-pi." 'You are both normal/flying-type Pokemon. That means nothing you have will do a good enough job at hurting Onix. So either learn the damn attack or SIT THE MATCH OUT!'

Both raptor Pokemon backed off slightly until Pikachu stopped sparking. "Pi." 'Sorry. Ash restoring my memories didn't completely purge my being a Shadow Pokemon. But you get the idea, I hope.'

"Noct… Noct." 'Right… we get it.' Noctowl sigh. "Owl." 'We'll learn it.'

"Pidg." 'We knew it before, we'll learn it again.' Pidgeotto nodded.

Meanwhile, Ash was trying to figure out Mimikyu.

Ash had never had a ghost-type before and Haunter did not count. So while he had some ideas what Mimikyu could do from that murderous rag back in Alola, he knew next to nothing about this little Mimikyu.

"Mimi?" 'So what are we gonna do?' she asked as she looked up at him through her little eyeholes. "Well, Mimikyu, what kind of moves do you know?" Ash asked. "I'm usually the kind of trainer that goes for fast and hard-hitting Pokemon, though I'll take anyone that wants to come along. I just need to get a handle on them first."

"Kyu… Mimi, Mimikyu." 'Well… I can use disguise!' She exclaimed, "Kyu!" 'It makes me immune from attack for one hit.'

"...any attack?"

"Mi." 'As far as I know, yeah.'

Well, that explained Jessie's demonic Mimikyu surviving just about EVERYTHING thrown at him. "Does… every Mimikyu have this ability?" he asked, curious about the Pikachu-mimics as a whole.

"Kyu!" 'Yup!' she said, giving the impression of a cheery smile. "Mimi..." 'But I don't know what I can learn… I mean, I can do this…"

Mimikyu turned around, then spun really fast, spooking Ash and causing him to fall to the ground. Mimikyu knew Astonish, a ghost-type attack. "Kyu!" 'And I can do this!' she said as green energy surrounded her wooden tail prop, right before she slammed it into the ground. "Mi." 'Kinda hurts when I do it, though...'

"...that would be wood hammer." Ash nodded. "Not bad, not bad… anything else?"

"...Kyu..." '...not really...' the small ghost muttered, its body drooping down. "Mi." 'That's… all I know...'

Ash patted the little ghost-type on her 'head', making her look up at him. "Hey, that just means you can improve!" he said cheerfully. This was something he enjoyed after Johto: learning what a Pokemon could do and training them to be the best they could be. "We can try a lot of things: you're a ghost-type, so you can learn a lot of ghost-type attacks and moves."

"Mimi… kyu?" 'I can?' she asked, almost in awe of her own capabilities. "Sure you can! Come on, let's try things out!" Ash said, almost back to his normal self from before the time-warp thing.

"Kyu!" 'Okay!' The little Pokemon cheered, jumping up into his chest happily. "Mimi! Mimi!" 'What do we do? What do we do?'

"Settle down, Mimikyu." Ash said as he put Mimikyu down and thought about attacks the Demon-Kyu, as he privately nicknamed that thing, used. One move Mimikyu used: Wood Hammer. If she could dodge, she would be his ace in the hole, but still, he had to focus on Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball.

"Try to concentrate your type energy into your..." Ash trailed off. "Arm? Hand? I don't want to sound offensive, but how are you holding onto that wooden tail?" Mimikyu looked at the tail copy in question, something every Mimikyu had. "Mi." 'I'm just… holding it.' she said.

"Ok, that's something for later. Just channel the power into your… hand, arm, whatever it is." Ash said. "Then lash out at something. Not me, but something."

"Mi… Kyu." 'Umm… okay...' The ghost-type muttered, as it looked at a nearby tree. It started charging at the tree at a rapid speed, jumping up… and in a small spinning motion, Ash couldn't see it, but something came from underneith the rag of Mimikyu, and left a sizable scratch into the side of the tree.

"Mimi! Mimi?" 'I did it! What did I do?' Mimikyu questioned, hopping up and down.

"That… " Ash mused, looking at the damage. "...looked like you just learned Scratch!"

"...Mi?" 'That… that's it?' Mimikyu asked, its body seeming to droop down, disappointed.

"Hey, hey..." ash said leaning down and patting Mimikyu on the 'head'. "It's not the end of the world. If we train harder, Scratch might change into something else. It's not like you get it right the first time." Ash knew that from experience: Pikachu took weeks to learn Thunderbolt and it took quite a few times to learn Iron Tail and Electroball, for example. Charizard took almost a year to learn to trust and obey him in battle...the list goes on.

"Mi...mi?" 'Really?' she asked, hope in her hidden eyes. Ash seriously began to question whether or not Jessie's was even of the same species at her cuteness. "Really. Just ask Pikachu or Charmander. They didn't get everything down their first time." he said, smiling at her with his eyes closed.

"...KYUUUUUU!" 'YAAAAAY!' Mimikyu jumped up into Ash's shoulder, purring as she rubbed into him.

Ash laughed, even as Mimikyu did her thing.

Sinnoh Region - near Twinleaf Town - 1748 hours local time

Turtwig had to admit, when the land shark did his thing, he was good at it.

The tunnel, while not fancy, was big enough to allow them to walk through it with ease side by side. "Char." 'I knew Gible could dig, but this is INSANE.' Chimchar said as he looked down the seemingly-endless tunnel.

"Tur." 'Well, he is a land shark.' Turtwig retorted before coming to a stop. "Twig?" 'Why would Arceus make it so something like Gible could exist to begin with?'

"Chim." 'Well… hmmm...' The fire monkey mused, "Char." 'You'd have to ask Arceus that...'

"Twig." 'Its just so strange...' The turtle-like pokemon muttered. "Tur, twig." 'Why must there be a shark for the land?'

"Chi-char." 'Why must there be a fire-monkey? Why must there be a turtle with a tree on his back?' Chimchar retorted with a shrug. "Cha." 'Maybe Arceus thought there were enough sharks in the sea, so why not on land? I don't know.'

A loud 'GIBLE!' followed by a sound of teeth chomping on something caught their attention as they ran down the tunnel.

"Star! Arly!" 'Let go of me, you damned land shark!' chirped the 'victim' of Gible's infamous, if friendly, bite. "Starly!" 'I am not a chew toy!'

"Gib!" 'Hi, Staraptor!' replied the eyesmiling land shark as the two starters caught up, finding a Starly in Gible's massive maw. It was Ash's future Staraptor, who was...not happy about being chomped on by the land shark.

"Tur." 'Well, nice to see the entire family's here.' Turtwig said, watching Gible 'play' with the starling Pokemon. And by 'play', we mean 'chew on him hard enough to feel, but not enough to hurt'.

"Chim, Chim." 'Well, that's one down.' Chimchar sighed, "Char!" 'Come on Gible, give him some space.'

Gible let the bird go before grinning in his land shark way. "Gib!" 'Now we're just missing Buizel and we can head straight to Kanto!' Gible cried.

"Sta." 'Buizel's probably napping.' Starly chirped. "Ly." 'Anyone know what the date is? I'd like to know if we actually have to go to Kanto.'

Chimchar and Turtwig looked at one another before looking at the starling pokemon. "Chim." 'We're not evolved, you MORON. We obviously have to head for Kanto.' Chimchar stated.

"Gi." 'Be right back!' Gible said before surfacing.

Starly sighed before looking back at them. "Star." 'So… how have you two been?' He asked as they exited the tunnel Gible had made. "Ly." 'Because I still have a migraine just thinking about what happened… whatever it was...'

Du-dun.

Starly hid behind Chimchar "Star!" 'Keep him away from me!'

Chimchar sighed, knowing nothing can hide from the Gible as he listened to its theme music play, as he came closer and closer.

Du-dun. Du-dundun, dundun, dundun…

"Get back here!"

The Pokemon all perked up at that human voice, sounding very familiar yet… different. They spotted the fin of the land shark, digging through the ground before it popped back up… only carrying what looked like a belt with pokeballs and a pokedex upon it.

"...Tur..." '...Gible… where did you get that…?'

"I said get back… here?" The pokemon all turned around, and blinked at the sight of a blue-haired girl that looked rather familiar.

"Chim...char?" 'Is that… Dawn?' Chimchar questioned.

"Twig." 'No, she's too tall… and older… and bigger around that area that Ash would get slapped by if he mentioned it to his girls.'

The Dawn look-a-like blinked as she looked at the assorted Pokemon. From a distance she did look a lot like Dawn, even wearing the same hat and hairstyle - but her eyes were different, with a gold-silver hue to them, and was wearing a white scarf, a bright red coat with matching boots. While still in her age group, she was clearly older than Dawn.

"Uhh… okay..." she said, looking at the Pokemon before her. "...Hi?"

"Gible!" 'She smells like Dawn!' Gible said before opening the Pokedex. "Giiiiiiiib..." 'Ok, how do we read human dates?'

Chimchar groaned. The things he did when he WASN'T training: learn to read the human languages. At least they were based off the Unown, so he pressed the right buttons to get a date on the damn thing.

It read 'April 26th, AS62'. Well, that didn't make any sense. While the Unovans and Kalosians used something called 'Anno Domini', the four neighboring regions used something more tied to legendary Pokemon. So he pushed buttons to try and convert it to something more familiar.

"H-Hey! Leave that alone!" The Dawn-lookalike said, as she tried to grab it…

*CHOMP* "Gib!" 'Hi!'

"Gah! Stop that! Get off me!"

"Gible!" 'Nope!'

Chimchar sighed as he continued to find the converter, while Gible distracted the girl - whose name appears to be Platinum according to the Dex. After a bit of searching, he finally found the switch function, and finally learned the date was 1996 AD. So… several years in the past, long before Ash meets Dawn.

Chimchar looked up at Platinum, before using the Dex to type in a message - one of the benefits of learning how to read? He knew how to write thanks to it. "Chim!" 'Gible, get off her please.'

"Gib." 'K.' He hopped off Platinum's head, as she groaned - rubbing it.

"Ow… okay, glad to find a Gible but-" she began to say, before looking at the Chimchar, who had her dex in hand. Which had a message written on it.

'We're trying to find our trainer, Ash Ketchum - he lives in Kanto, from a place called Pallet Town. Can you help us please? - Chimchar'

The girl blinked. "Ok...Well, I could just catch-" she started before Gible started charging up a Draco Meteor. Line was crossed.

'We'd rather be re-caught by Ash.' Chimchar typed in quickly. 'We lost the indicator that marks us as caught, so we need to find him soon. Its very important we return to him - he must be worried sick about us.'

"Okay, okay… fair enough." Platinum nodded, waving her hand at the Gible, who immediately cooled down its Draco Meteor, and smiled. "Well… I guess you must really care about this guy… "

'He saved me from an abusive Trainer,' Chimchar answered. 'We just want to go home with him.'

"...a Chimchar who can read and write..." Platinum muttered, "I would've loved to have you in my team, but… " she smiled a bit "I'm not gonna break up loyalty like that… c'mon, I'm sure we can find a plane or a boat to Kanto. Just stick close and… at least act like you're part of my team, so no one thinks of balling you."

To that, Gible decided to do the usual thing.

CHOMP!

Gibles loved to bite things.

While Platinum was distracted, a flash signalled the arrival of a newcomer: Celebi. With Buizel, who was still sleeping. "Bi." 'Lazy son of a bitch was still at his waterfall.' she groused before noticing Platinum. "Bi." '...Ok, what the hell: Dawn shouldn't be THAT old. She's barely 11, if I'm right.'

"Turt." 'That's not Dawn.' Turtwig said. "Wig." 'It's her sister.' Chimchar and Starly looked at him while Platinum continued to try and pry Gible off her head.

"Cha." 'What.' he asked. "Turt." 'I know you can't smell it, but I can. She's kin to Dawn, but not Dawn.' Turtwig retorted. "Wii." 'That means she's her older sister. Somehow.'

"Okay, thanks for not being so… tight..." Platinum said, turning around… and seeing a legendary right there. "...Celebi, Celebi is right in front of me, what the fuck..."

"Bi." 'Son of a Helixian whore.' Celebi cursed before kicking Buizel awake, who had a minor panic attack. "Cele..." 'I don't have time to mindwipe her. Use whatever excuse you want.' Then she teleported away.

"...what the fuck is your trainer into to have Celebi hang out around you..." Platinum gawked.

Chimchar thought of something quick, as he typed into the Pokedex. 'Celebi is Ash's.'

…

…

…

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Pewter City, Kanto Region, same time

While the birds were not exactly READY, Ash figured Charmander and Pikachu could handle it. After all, both of them knew Metal Claw and Iron Tail.

And rocks were never a match for the riddle of steel.

...Ash really needed to stop watching those Unovan action movies whenever he wasn't training or dealing with those idiots from Team Rocket. He liked the TRio, he just hated it when they tried to steal Pikachu. Or any Pokemon: they were decent people off their clocks. Anyway, time to face Brock.

Pikachu and Charmander were ready for war, the rest of his team weren't going to fight if he was right about it being two-on-two.

He opened the doors, Misty and Mimikyu following him into the darkened gym.

Then the floodlights kicked on.

"Who goes there?"

Ash smiled for a brief moment, before straightening his face as he turned to face one of his oldest, and most trusted friends. There sat Brock, cross-legged in the spotlight, just like before.

"I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town." He said, "And you must be Brock Slate, Gym Leader of Pewter City.."

"Indeed I am. You must be here to challenge me for the Boulder Badge." Brock said, standing up. "Very well. This is your first badge, yes?"

Ash nodded. "Then I will use only two Pokemon." Brock said. "You may use your entire party." Wait a second, what? Six on two? That didn't seem fair.

"That… doesn't sound very fair…" Ash informed, but Brock just smirked.

"You'd think that…" he retorted, as he started walking to the other side of the Gym. "But you'll be facing off against two of my strongest Pokemon! You had best be ready for a fight, Ash Ketchum!"

(BGM: Kanto Gym Leader Remix by DJ-Fishhead)

Brock tossed a single Pokeball, releasing a familiar form of Brock's Geodude, who formed thick plates over his fists before punching them together, trying to intimidate Ash.

Instead, a random fact entered his mind: Geodudes used magnetic fields to 'hover', like a maglev train. He shook it off, though blood did run from his nose before Ash sent out Pidgeotto, tossing her ball out before she was sent onto the field. "Geot!" 'I'm going to kick your ass!' cried the bird.

"Dude." 'lady, you're a flying-type. You're screwed.' retorted the rock-type. "I would say this was a bad choice, Ash." Brock said. "Evolved or not, you have a type disadvantage."

Ash just smirked "Type advantage alone doesn't win battles," He said.

Brock rose his eyebrow slightly, but smirked "Indeed it doesn't." He mused, "Well them, you'd best prove you've got what it takes to defy expectations!"

With that, the match was set to begin. "Geodude, Gyroball!" Brock commanded, beginning the battle proper. "Dude!" cried the rock pokemon as he spun toward the raptoral Pokemon.

"Steel Wing!" Ash called out, his first bird cawing before her wings glowed a bright white with a hint of silver and she rushed at Geodude, the avian version of a grin present. But before her wing made contact, the glowing started to fade slightly, meaning when Geodude made contact, rock was chipped away, but not as much as Pidgeotto would have liked before she shot past, her feathers brushing past the rock-type as the technique failed.

She hadn't perfected it yet. "I would say you weren't ready, but clearly, you did have some idea how to beat me." Brock said. "Still, your Pidgeotto doesn't seem to have Steel Wing down."

Ash knew why. "She and Noctowl don't like each other for some reason." he deadpanned. "And while I tried to get them to learn together..." Ash didn't need to finish it, as Brock nodded understandingly.

"Sometimes Pokemon don't get along," He said, "But the fact that you've come so far, despite having recently begun your journey speaks volumes… but let us see if it's enough. Rock Smash, go!"

"Geod!" wordlessly grunted Geodude as he rushed toward the bird raised his fist and aimed for Pidgeotto's left shoulder. "Use Steel Wing!" Ash cried, Pidgeotto, confused as hell but trusting her trainer, obeying. The effect was quick, but not fast enough, as Pidgeotto cried out in pain as her shoulder was broken and torn out of her socket.

But it could have been worse. And Brock winced at Pidgeotto's cries. Still, while Geodude came out the winner, he did not come out unscarred, as the rock making up his left hand was cracked from the impact with the hardened wing.

And from the look on his face, it hurt like a bitch.

Brock sighed. "I'll pay for Pidgeotto's recovery: Geodude's still working on trying NOT to cripple anyone he uses that on for life." he said, his seemingly-eternally closed eyes giving a glare to Geodude, who was trying to fix his hand. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine… it's a pokemon battle…" Ash sighed, as he recalled Pidgeotto. "You rest up buddy…" he then pulled out his next pokeball. "But we're not done just yet!"

Ash tossed it, releasing a fire lizard. "Char!" 'Time to evolve! Charmeleon, here I come!' cried Charmander.

"GEo-dude." 'Oh, that's rich. A fire-type? This should take five seconds.' Geodude said smugly. Sadly, he did not know that Charmander had…

Anger issues.

"CHAAAAR!" 'DON'T YOU BELITTLE ME YOU OVERGROWN ROCKY TURD!' The Charmander screamed - its tail flame erupting in a blast of flame that rivaled that of a Charizard before the little pokemon unleashed a torrent of flame upon Geodude.

Now, Geodude weathered this attack as best a rock/ground-type could, but he FELT the rock in his body start to overheat and crack. Were it not for the regenerative abilities and resistance to fire rock-types have, the thermal shock would've cracked him in half long ago.

Brock would have blinked, but that would have been somewhat redundant for him. "Your Charmander has…" he started before Ash picked up for him. "Anger problems. We're going on it." Ash said, hoping Charmander would evolve in this fight. And straight to Charizard, too.

Sadly, it didn't work that way: Charmander only evolved to Charmeleon after a certain point where his body just couldn't handle his raw power any longer. That caused a major imbalance in his brain chemistry, which, along with Ash's not-so-minor screwups, caused Charmeleon not to obey him.

After he evolved to Charizard, it just became ingrained habit until shortly before Shamouti.

"CHAR!" 'STOP RUNNING SO I CAN MELT YOUR SORRY ASS!' Charmander roared as it continued to chase after Geodude, firing a near continuous flame at the rock-type.

NOW, though, he was just taking it out on everything else that could take it. Geodude have a four-times resistance to fire. He could take a burn or two, even as he levitated away using his magnetic core.

All Geodudes were magnetic: Alolan Geodudes were just electric-typed.

"Geodude, use Mud sport!" ordered Brock, geodude pulling a hard 180, then creating raw dirt and mixing it with ambient moisture in the air, creating mud. While he was weak to water-attacks, those had no small amount of pressure behind them. This was like taking a dip in a pool of water: completely harmless.

He chucked the mud at Charmander, who just ramped up the proto-Flamethrower to as high as he could get as he charged at Geodude, drying the mud on contact like sun-baked mud bricks in that weird country with a desert, rivers and pyramids.

Liza watched a lot of weird documentaries. One of them even had a weird Lucario in them.

Back to the fight, Charmander had enough. All he needed was the order to use the attack. He was sure Ash would just shrug and let him do it anyways (he was VERY in-tune with Pokemon he captured) but still.

"Charmander, use Metal Claw!" Ash cried. Charmander's claws turned silver white before the torrent of flame came to and end - yet enough was still scorching the earth so when Geodude turned around, he beheld the awesome sight of Charmander charged through the fire and the flames of his own attack - claws glowing brightly, looking as if he were breaching from the very fires of hell to grapple with him.

"GEEEOOOO!" 'FUUUUUUCKKKK!' Geodude shouted as Charmander hit him square in its jaw, sending the rock-type flying backwards - crashing into a wall, causing a sizable crater to be formed in his wake.

"Geodude is unable to battle! Challenger Ketchum wins Round 1!" cried an automated voice that sounded dangerously like Clem-Bot. If Ash had to deal with a Kanto version of that Arceus-damned thing, he swore to all the Creation Trio that Clemont was going to be put through literal hell. He could tolerate his exploding inventions (Clemont was 12 or 13: hardly a professional or experienced engineer) but that was bullshit of the HIGHEST degree!

"Well, I see you did train your starter very well." Brock complimented, returning Geodude before a black bolt of lightning nearly hit him, Pikachu sparking in anger. "...A Shadow Pikachu?"

"Relax Pikachu," Ash sighed, as Pikachu in turn relaxed as well. "Charmander isn't my starter… Pikachu is my starter, and he's very… defensive about that title."

"Pika!" 'Damn right!' Pikachu exclaimed, hopping into the air for a moment.

"Sometimes, I wonder whether or not Professor Oak's finally gone senile…" Brock muttered before ANOTHER bolt came closer to his face.

Clearly, Pikachu wasn't a fan of anyone badmouthing Oak.

Yes, he was old and getting iffy in his judgement. He didn't pick wrong with him and Ash, time paradoxes or not.

And yes, they knew. Ash may have looked and pretended otherwise, but he was not an idiot and was far, FAR more observant then he looked. Pikachu just asked Oak's former team.

"Ok, I crossed a line." Brock said before getting back to business. "You defeated Geodude. Now, you face one of my best!" He drew a Pokeball and tossed it out. "Go, Onix!" The ball opened, releasing the rock snake Ash knew more as a Steelix.

Charmander scoffed. "Mander." 'I beat you, I evolve. Simple as that.' he declared. Yes, Charmander had evolution obsessions.

He spent most of his life as a Charizard. You can't blame him. "Char." 'and Ash gets his badge. I have a lot of making up to do for him.' he said. And no small amount of guilt for his Charmeleon and pre-Shamouti days.

Still, it was time for war.

The rock snake let out another shattering roar as it charge at Charmander, as Brock called out to him to use Bind to grapple the Fire-type.

"Dodge it, Charmander!" Ash called, Charmander being quick on his feet, jumping to the left, almost smirking. "Cha!" 'Learn to aim!' he taunted before Onix landed, not having wrapped around his target.

"Metal Claw!" Ash called, Brock briefly going 'WHAT' before Charmander's claws turned silver-white and he charged. "Char!" 'I have you now!' he cried as he jumped at the rock snake pokemon.

"Iron Tail!"

Suddenly Onyx's tail began to glow just like Charmander's claws - and swung down hard. Their attacks clashing with one another as sparks flew between their strikes. "Char!" I! WILL NOT! LOSE!' the fire-lizard cried as he fought hard against the move.

"Onix, Slam!" Brock ordered. And as Onix weighed over half a ton to Charmander's nine kilos, gravity did the rest as Onix lifted into the air… and crashed on Charmander.

Cracks were heard, indicating broken bones, but Ash returned Charmander quickly to prevent further injury.

"Sorry, Ash. But Shadow Pokemon will show no mercy." Brock said, not looking happy about Charmander's injuries. "You did well, though."

"We're not done yet!" Ash proclaimed, sending out a Pokeball. "Go, Noctowl!"

"NOCTOWL!" 'FINALLY!' Noctowl shouted as the shiny Pokemon soared up towards the ceiling. "Noct!" 'I'm gonna enjoy kicking that stone snake's ass!'

"Another flying-type?" Brock said exasperatedly. "Even if your Noctowl is shiny, it won't do much difference!"

"I just consider the type chart another challenge!" Ash said with a grin before turning his hat around.

Brock huffed in amusement. "I like the way you think, but it might not be enough." he said, clearly liking his attitude, but not his chances.

"We'll see about that," Ash nodded, "Notcowl! Steel Wing!"

"On." 'Oh for the love of-' Onix groaned before Noctowl swooped in, its wings glowing before crashing into the giant snake's side, as it grunted in pain. Before he could properly get back up, the small owl was already banking around and struck Onix again in the head.

"Oooowwwwwlll!" Victory is ours!' hooted the owl as his wings turned silver-white… then faded to their normal colors. "No-" 'Son of a bit-'

"Onix, Stone Edge!" Brock commanded, spears of rock flying out of the ground at Onix's command.

Noctowl banked and jinked, but one hit him in the head, cracking his beak before another smacked into his side, breaking ribs. Ash couldn't take it.

"Noctowl, return!" he cried as he fired the red beam at the owl, returning him to his ball.

"Sorry about that. Onix is still too used to dealing with flying-type shadow Pokemon. Only took the job a few years ago." Brock said. "Old habits are hard to break."

"Its fine… I get it." Ash nodded, before he glanced at his last Pokemon. The electric mouse grinned. "But now you'd best get ready… Pikachu, go!

"Pika pika!" 'About damn time!' The small mouse shouted as it leaped atop a large stone, and stared up at Onix. "Chu!" 'Let's do this!'

Brock palmed his face. And started laughing. "Kid, Pikachu is an ELECTRIC-type. You won't be able to thundershock your way out of-"

"Pikachu, Iron Tail!" Ash cried before Brock could finish, knowing damn well every time electrocuting a ground-type only worked was because they were wet somehow. But Onix wasn't just a ground-type: he was a rock-type. And rocks were no match for steel.

"Oh shit-Iron Tail back Onix!" Onix roared as his tail glowed once more as he swung it at the little Pikachu. He hit the ground where Pikachu was… key word being was as the quick and nimble mouse had jumped into the air, and spun around as he slapped his glowing tail up into Onix's chin - sending him sprawling into the wall with a resounding CRASH.

Brock swore under his breath. Pikachus weren't just electric: for their typing, they were rather versatile. They could even use Dig, a move they were weak to, for Palkia's sake!

"Mud Slap!" Brock ordered. Onix roared before attacking, but Pikachu had an edge over Onix.

He knew the rock snake all too well: he had his tells. And he took full advantage as he dodged the attack. "Quick Iron!" ash commanded.

"Quick-?" Brock began to ask, before Pikachu's tail glowed once more as if doing an Iron Tail… but then he began speeding towards Onix as if he were using Quick Attack.

Iron Tail was dangerous to begin with. But add that atop of the raw speed brought by a Quick Attack?

That was a recipe for some major damage.

"Onix, dodge!" Brock begged, but Onix was simply too big and heavy to dodge it completely and Pikachu was too fast to not hit the rock snake, slamming his tail, now coated in steel, into Onix's side, tearing up the rocky skin and making him scream in pain.

"Pika!" 'I'm not done!' Pikachu cried as he began striking faster and faster before Brock got his head back in the game.

"BIDE!" he yelled, Onix obeying as he charged up the move, one Ash knew too well from having to deal with it with Goomy.

Fortunately, he knew a good counter to it, but first, Pikachu had to back off. "Get back!" Ash commanded, but Onix's mouth was already glowing.

"Deflect it!" Ash yelled at Pikachu, who looked at him like he was insane. Then he charged up his tail.

"You can't deflect it, Ash: recall Pikachu and forfeit." Brock said, in both amusement that he could think that and concern for Pikachu's health. "You can try again-"

"Countershield!" Ash said, interrupting Brock.

"Chu!" 'Forgot about that!' Pikachu squeaked before getting on his back and spinning, using Thundershock to generate a cage of electricity. Brock knew the end result. "Onix, NO!"

Too late, Onix fired. Funny thing, Bide: it's an energy attack. And Ash knew how to counter it, using Countershield, something he completely forgot about in Unova and Kalos.

He blamed Cyrus: the bastard was spiteful enough to try, even if he was going insane.

The 'cage' caught the energy stream, spinning it around before shooting it back in Onix's face.

And because it was normal-type energy, not electric, while it wasn't as effective as steel, it was enough to smack Onix in the face and send him flying to the ground, unconscious.

Ash winced. On the plus side, none of Brock's family were around or at risk of getting hurt.

"Onix!" On the other hand, Brock was probably going to be pissed, even as he checked the rock snake's body. "We'll get you to the Pokemon center." the leader said as he returned Onix to his Pokeball, before turning towards Ash. "Ash, that was reckless and dangerous. You could have gotten Pikachu killed!"

"Pikachu could handle it." Ash said with confidence. "I had faith."

"That was insane. But… well, with all the dangers out there, I suppose you had to try." the gym leader replied before sticking his hand in his pocket and removing a boulder badge. "You earned it. Let's get to the Pokemon Center and have them checked up."

Ash smiled as he nodded "Yeah, after a fight like that - I think they're all gonna want more than just a break."

Brock chuckled slightly, patting Ash's back as the two began to walk out of the Gym. "You're one crazy kid, Ash." He said, "You are gonna go far."

"You're… not mad over what happened with Onix?" Ash asked.

"It was a fight and Onix is still used to fighting Shadow Pokemon. Takes more than a few years for that style of thinking to fade away for a rock-type." Brock said, waving it off. "It's just the way the world is, you gotta be tough as nails and hard as a rock to survive."

"Yeah…" Ash frowned. "Tough as nails…"

Upon arriving at the Pokemon center, Ash was the first to step in - and not even three steps inside, he heard the loud sound of "ASH!" before he was tackled down to the ground and grappled tightly by the familiar form of Misty.

He barely understood half of what she was saying, something about 'sleep' and 'you weren't there'.

"Free." 'I had to knock her out.' Butterfree said as he flew out, wings flapping. "Butterfree." 'We saw how screwed up she is.'

"Oh, boy." Brock muttered. "The youngest of the Waterflowers. Ash, while Nurse Joy takes care of our Pokemon, mind… talking with me?" Misty held on tighter. "You can come along, Misty: he deserves to know the details..." With that, Brock went towards an office, giving a brief word to the local Joy.

And not making a pass at her.

"Pika?" 'Ok, what the hell? Brock NOT flirting with a Joy?!' Pikachu said. "Ka-chu." 'This world is WRONG...'

"Well… maybe he just knows this one better?" Ash shrugged, whispering to Pikachu to Misty couldn't overhear. "She IS the Nurse Joy he'd probably see the most being in Pewter City."

All Pikachu could do was shrug, just as clueless as the others.

Brock returned to the group, as he sat down. When he did Ash felt this surge of nostalgia… there they were, the original A-Team. Him, Brock and Misty together. For them it was the first time they've been together, but for Ash… it had been a long time since they've been together like this.

But it was also a bitter-sweet sensation… since Ash knew, deep down… neither of them remembered him, or all the adventures they had been on in the past. And that stung him the most.

Brock sat down behind a desk, sighing. "I take it you're… familiar with Misty's quirks?" he asked.

"She was homeschooled, mostly by Pokemon." Ash answered. "No kids her age."

"That's bad enough, but she was also… well, there's no other way to say it." Brock groaned. "Misty was mentally attacked by two particularly vindictive Shadow Pokemon. One of them a Slowbro, the other a Venomoth. And… well, I think Misty got off lucky."

Ash's blood boiled. Misty, who should have been a pretty tomboy with anger problems, was needy because she was mind-raped by two Shadow Pokemon?! If he EVER found those two-

"They're dead." Brock said, seeing Ash's reaction. "Her sisters were not exactly merciful, either… but as you can see…"

Misty looked shameful, her head bowing down a bit. "...like I've said before, it's not your fault." Brock told the water-type expert assuringly. "And now… looks like you've made a very good friend." He smiled slightly as he glanced at Ash. "Right?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah. She's my friend. I'll do anything to help her." he said. Misty's eyes brightened before Brock coughed into his hand. "Misty, would you mind waiting outside for a few moments? I'd like to talk to Ash alone." the rock-type leader asked, Misty looking slightly horrified. "It won't take too long. After that, I'll see you off."

Misty looked troubled, but a confident nod from Ash caused her to sigh, before she nodded as she stepped away. "So… Ash," Brock began, facing him. "...what are your feelings for Misty right now?"

"She's my friend." Ash answered, trying to school his face to not betray his actual thoughts.

Brock wasn't fooled. "You're attracted to her." he all but stated. Ash wanted to jump and rage and deny, but all he did was sigh before Brock continued. "You know Misty somehow, but you won't tell her. Fine, that's not my business. But I can tell you have feelings for her."

"And you flirt with every woman you see that isn't wearing a wedding ring." Ash retorted coldly. Brock, taken aback, leaned back in his chair. "I see you've heard of that." he said with a hint of shame. "I have been trying to grow out of that: I have a new girlfriend, you see. She's from the Orange Islands."

It took a lot of effort from Ash to not widen his eyes and drop his jaw - Pikachu however did have that reaction, but thankfully Brock didn't seem to notice. "Oh… news to me…"

"I'm lucky enough to be with Ivy, the fact that she put up with my flirting with other women back in the day was amazing," Brock chuckled, "Still, kid… it's obvious there is something between you two - Misty trusts you more than I've ever seen her trust another person, and you clearly care for her. All I can really suggest to you is… don't waste it," He then pointed his finger at him. "And break her heart, and you won't just answer to me - you'd answer to her sisters."

"I have no intention of breaking her heart." Ash stated, anger entering his voice slowly. "I also have ZERO intention of becoming my father." Ash stood up from his chair, looking all the more enraged. "That son of a bitch left my mother and never came back. Would you want me to do THAT, Mr. Slate? WOULD YOU?!" the future pride of Pallet slammed his hands on the desk, staring into Brock's eyes, closed or not.

"You're Delia Ketchum's son." Brock said, surprising Ash. "Your mother has a reputation, one she doesn't like to advertise to the newer generation. While I don't know who your father is, I'm sure that leaving your mother was the worst choice he made and he deserves a punch to the face for it. She also has quite a temper, one you've inherited, it seems, so I'm not holding that outburst against you. Just do right by her."

Ash sighed "Sorry…" he apologized, "Its… been a hell of a week and-"

"Relax kid," Brock smiled, "I get it, just getting started on your big journey, and you've already got a whole lot of shit thrown at you. I'd be pissed, too."

Ash took in a breath and tried to calm down, closing his eyes briefly. When he opened them, he looked at Brock. "I will not break her heart. I'll find someone better than me for her. That's the only way. It will break MY heart, but as long as Misty is happy, I can live with it." he vowed.

Brock facepalmed. "That's not healthy, Ash." he said. "Maybe not. But at least I know she's better off with someone else." Ash said, his voice breaking.

"Don't lie to yourself, Ash. Besides, I doubt anyone's going to pique her interest." the rocky gym leader said. "Misty's case might be uncommon, but it's not unique. And every time it happened, it was always the person that they picked as an anchor they fell in love with."

"Misty has a schoolgirl crush on me because I saved her from that death flock. Nothing. More." Brock just gave up arguing. Ash would have smirked had it not been an argument with Brock of all people.

Still, Brock should have known better: Ash did not give up when he set his mind on something.

"Well Kid, either way, just look after her if she's joining you to your next Gym," Brock said, as he stood up. "All I can do is wish you the best of luck… I have a feeling you're gonna go far in this world, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town.

He extended a hand, which Ash shook. Pikachu, however, was still processing that Brock had a steady girlfriend.

"Piiiiiiiiiiikaaaaaaaa..." 'Brock, girlfriend, not normal, does not compute…' he said before Ash scooped him up.

"You'll get over it, Pikachu." Ash said.

"Why do I get the feeling you know exactly what Pikachu said?" Brock muttered as he picked up a stack of papers.

Apparently, as the gym was not exactly paperwork (or ANYTHING) safe, he used this as his office.

So, Ash left him behind, wincing. He let Brock go once to follow his medical career. But now he didn't even have a chance to make a friend a second time.

But at least this time… he knew for certain that Brock was pretty well off. Girlfriend, his own Gym, and seemed pretty wise, and hopefully - maybe better off with his family.

Now… he had a Misty to take care of.

The door opened, misty looking like she had a mild panic attack, but was now calming down seeing Ash.

This was just wrong: Misty, panicky and scared? It wasn't her. Misty was an outgoing tsundere tomboy, not a shy wallflower.

Ash shifted the blame to Cyrus, as usual. It wasn't like he could blame anyone else.

Celebi? She barely had a link to all his Pokemon: getting a number of humans was out of the question and he knew it.

The space and time Pokemon? They were insane and not in control of their own actions.

The only other one Ash could blame was himself for not being strong enough to stop the crazy bastard.

"Hey, Misty." Ash said before Misty stopped looking like she'd go mad. "So...nearest gym is Cerulean. Are you looking forward to seeing your sisters?" Ash knew he would regret asking that.

"Not really. They'll just...force me to stay at the gym." she said, dispondantly. "I don't want to stay there! Sure, most of my Pokemon are there, but I can't grow unless I travel!"

Ash WAS tempted to say that she was staying, but that would make him even more of a hypocrite then he already was. He could understand the need to travel and grow: he couldn't stop moving to begin with!

Though before they got too close to Mount Moon, he was going to have a talk with his birds. Pidgeotto and Noctowl needed their heads checked and they needed it NOW.

Giovanni, the founder of Team Rocket, had few fears.

He owned the single, largest criminal enterprise in the world, with dozens of smaller 'copy-cat' groups that cooperated with them. He was possibly the single, most richest man in the world.

But Giovanni was only human and humans did fear, despite his ability to suppress it. And news from those three idiots (Jessie, James and their uncaptured, talking Meowth, which could talk) indicated that Ash Ketchum had defeated Brock of Pewter.

No small feat, no-badge fight or not: Brock was one of the top eight in the region, with himself on top, though he did not count the Elite Four. Only an idiot would think he was better then the Elites; it was why he was building his little army of thugs. Cannon fodder had its' uses, after all.

But Ash beat Brock. Not easily, but unlike every other trainer that took three to four matches just to knock out his Geodude, Ash won in his first match, even defeating Onix.

And to think, there was an easier option on the side-road to Pewter that bypassed Viridian Forest. Though he dealt with that psychopathic samurai in the forest, as well. But that did not worry him.

No, the fact Ash was heading for Mount Moon worried him and greatly. Giovanni feared little, after all. But his greatest fear was Delia Ketchum, the boy's mother. If one hair on her boy's head was ruffled out of place, she would rain hellfire on them all.

He knew he had to do damage control in advance, to ensure that nothing - and he meant nothing happened to the boy when he visited that place. Hence why he was on the line, calling his agent already on-site. Archer needed to know who was coming, and to do nothing to the boy or his friends or Pokemon.

But all he was getting was silence.

Then he remembered what he ordered Archer to do.

Pewter City was a near-literal stone's throw from Mount Moon. Any radio signals could be intercepted, therefore, Giovanni ordered strict radio silence, using runners only as necessary. Fossils would get him good money, but Delia was not a woman to be crossed. No amount of money was worth having her after his organization.

"Damn it." he muttered, his Persian opening a single eye to regard his trainer's curse. After all, Giovanni did not swear often. Only when he was in deep shit did he do so. Fortunately, those three idiots were outside the detection range of Pewter's radio tower, so he activated the transmitter to their frequency, hoping to use them as a relay.

He had one specially set for them, that way they wouldn't clog the airwaves with their stupidity and he could ignore them if he so wished.

"Archer," He spoke, "Pick up the damn phone you idiot…"

The relay didn't last too long, Giovanni giving up after two minutes. Archer probably shut the damn thing off, as per his orders. Either that, or Mount Moon's thick rocky exterior prevented the signal from getting through.

"To hell with it." he muttered, getting the three idiots on the horn instead. He needed to get the message through.

The image of Jessie, James and Meowth appeared on the monitor. "Boss! We were just about to-" James started, but Giovanni's stern glare shut them all up.

"I don't care whatever it was you were working on beforehand," He stated, "Because right now, the mission I am about to give you is imperative to Team Rocket's survival."

The idiots stood at attention. A good thing to go when Giovanni was not in the mood to entertain idiocy. "Get to Mount Moon." he ordered. "Warn Archer to get out of there and for the love of Arceus, DO NOT ENGAGE THE BOY."

"But...you told us-" Jessie started, but Giovanni cut her off. "That mission is suspended until your current one is complete. As soon as you are done, report back." he ordered before shutting off the radio and pulling out a large bottle of fine whiskey from Orre, one of the few things that desert hellhole actually did well.

Persian gave him a look. "I need this." the crime lord told the cat before pulling out a shot glass. "And you would do the same in my position."

Persian considered it...then was forced to agree.

Two kilometers from Mount Moon - 0955 hours local time - the following day

This was long overdue, Ash mused as he glared at his birds.

Pidgeotto, the loyal raptor who had to pick between her flock and her trainer when they could not defend themselves.

Noctowl, his only shiny, who was hard to catch, but turned into a league-worthy fighter by Hoenn.

And they needed to have their heads checked NOW.

"Okay… let me just go ahead and address the Donphan in the room," Ash began as he looked between the two birds, who looked exceptionally nervous. "This 'rivalry' you two have? This needs to stop. Now."

"Ow-" "Geotto-" 'Ash-' both birds started, but Ash fixed them with a glare reminding them more of an angry Misty or Delia then their trainer.

"You both nearly got KILLED. If it weren't for you being tougher then regular birds, you would be dead now!" Ash yelled, rage beginning to enter his voice. "You didn't want to learn Steel Wing together, meaning Pikachu had to waste time teaching you separately, meaning neither of you got it down and both of you got hurt! Just because I let her go in the last timeline!"

Both birds recoiled at the bile in Ash's tone. He was PISSED. And this was the first time they had SEEN him pissed. "So, for all our sakes, put this behind you or I will make Pikachu force you to put it behind you with Thunderbolts raining on you twenty-four-seven!" he yelled, panting as he ran out of breath.

Then he fell on his ass, holding his head. "What in Arceus' name is WRONG with me?" he muttered. "I don't...DO that. That's not...me."

The two birds barely noticed as they were just so startled by his declaration, as the two looked at one another. "Pidg… Pidge…" 'Look...Noctowl…' she said, "Ot." 'I get why you're angry at me… but what would you have done? How do you choose from the flock you were born from, and the flock that raised you? They were being attacked by those Spearrows… what should I have done?'

Noctowl blinked owlishly. "Owl?" 'They were your birth-flock?" he asked. "Geot." 'I landed for a meal. Ash caught me. End of story.' she summed up.

Now Noctowl felt like an idiot. A REALLY big idiot. Then again, he made assumptions and judged without knowing the facts. If he could, he would facepalm. But he couldn't.

"Owl." 'I'm an idiot.' he said. "Pidgeotto." 'You didn't have all the facts, Ash didn't know anything beyond they were my species and then that asshole that captured the birds at Shamouti screwed EVERYTHING up and made them migrate so far from Pallet Town, I couldn't find my way back!' the first of Ash's birds cawed. "Otto." 'At least whatever brought us back in time brought us back NOW.'

She then looked at Ash, who was still looking ashamed of himself. "Pidge-ot-to." 'Right now, our trainer NEEDS us. He might've been angry, but he was right: we need to stop fighting. Otherwise, what happened before could happen again. And NO ONE wants a repeat." she stated with finality.

The two flying-type Pokemon nodded, as they looked at Ash - they stepped up next to him, drawing his attention as both nodded in unison in agreement.

"...well, that's a positive sign…" Ash chuckled dryly.

He gave both of his birds a brief hug, lingering on Pidgeotto a bit longer partly out of guilt, before returning them. Mount Moon awaited them and so did Misty, who was feeding her own water-types while Ash dealt with the birds. Last thing he needed was Misty freaking out and giving him a marshmallow-induced death.

Unova Region - Somewhere near the western coast - 2354 hours local time

'When the croc digs, the croc DIGS.' mused Snivy as their tunnel to ash was being formed by the digging ground-type crocodile and reinforced by Roggenrola. There was enough dirt and rock above them to kill them all if done improperly, so while Sandile rested, Roggenrola reinforced the tunnel.

So far, she was VERY happy that Tepig didn't have an open flame. Pokemon still needed to breathe. "Sni." 'So, how far are we?' she asked. "Ni." 'Do I have to start acting like a plant?'

"Sand." 'I can dig a hole up if you need one,' Sandile said, "Dile." 'We're still under the Unovan mainland, so we can still go up if you want.'

"Sni." 'We could use some air before you get tunneling.' the grass snake said, looking forward to soaking up some sunlight before the long, dark trek to Kanto.

So Sandile got digging upwards, making a small airhole for them. Coming face to face with a young girl around Ash's age as she was laying belly-first in a small grove.

The girl blinked in surprise as she was almost nose-to-nose with the Sandile, and the little Crocodile-like Pokemon also blinked in surprise. "..San?" 'Uh… hi?' He said, startled.

She had a very Ash-like hat on, but her little sundress was anything but Ash-like (unless you asked Pikachu, who had a tale about Celadon) and she didn't look related to Ash in any way. She DID have really dark black hair, though, set in a little ponytail.

She was also scared out of her mind at seeing Sandile, jumping, screaming and backing away.

Sandile sighed. "Dile..." 'Why must dark-types have a bad reputation?' he asked himself.

"Sni?" 'What are you talking about? Just-' Snivy began to say as she poked her own head out of the dirt, and blinked at the sight of the young girl who looked at them with confusion and fear. "Vy." 'Oh, uh… this is kinda awkward…' The grass-type awkwardly waved at the girl "Snivy?" 'Uh, hello?'

"Helda?" said an older woman as she walked into the clearing, clearly the older girl's mother with a small number of Pokeballs on her belt. "Why did you..." she trailed as she saw Sandile. At this point, worry turned to fury.

"Sni." 'I hate dark-type rep.' said Snivy. "Sand." 'What exactly did we do to deserve it?' asked the sand croc before the woman sent out a Mienfoo, which did not bode well for Sandile. Or for Roggenrola for that matter.

"...Sni." 'Should we run?'

"SAND!" 'YES!' Sandile was already tunneling back into the earth as quickly as he could.

"FOO!" cried the fighting type as he kicked the ground, punching a hole in the freshly made tunnel. "Sand!" 'Damn it!' shouted the sand croc as he continued to dig and get them as far away as possible.

"MIEN!" another foot that nearly collided with Sandile's head at lethal speed slammed through the tunnel roof. "Dove!" 'Piss off!' yelled Pidove, firing a low-powered Gust at the leg. Sandile had only one solution: dig deeper.

And dig he did, nearly running into a Diglett at one point before the ground shook from another kick before the Mienfoo screamed in pain.

"Tep." 'Ember does wonders.' said Tepig. "Pig?" 'I presume we rely on Snivy for fresh air until we get to Kanto?'

"Pid…" 'Yes…' Pidove sighed, "Dove." 'I remember back when things were more… ya know… PG?'

"Snivy-vy." 'Something screwy's happened with the universe as a whole.' Snivy stated. "Ni." 'I remember Torterra telling me about some insane man named Cyrus, who tried to remake the world in his own image.'

"Rol." 'You think he did this?' Roggenrola asked. "Rola." 'Reset the universe?'

"Tep." 'Remind me to incinerate him if we ever meet him.' Tepig said. "Pig." 'He ruined EVERYTHING. I mean, some of us were evolved-'

"Palpi." 'I blame him for Ash's behaviour in Unova.' Palpitoad said. "Toad." 'The others said he was a lot smarter in Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. And where did he go after fighting Cyrus? Unova.'

"Dove." 'Gonna peck his eyes out if I see him…' Pedove growled. "Pe!"'Like that movie we saw at the Professors! When all the non-Pokemon birds attacked the humans!'

"Sni." 'We can all torture the bastard when we run into him.' Snivy said, musing on all the ways a grass-type could brutalize someone privately. "Snivy." 'So, Decolore? It is the best route to Kanto.'

"Sand!" 'And there's literally two miles of ocean above the tunnel I have to dig! You know how much pressure two miles of water has?!'

"Tepig." 'Enough to crush anything that isn't a Wailord or a Dewgong. We've all watched that documentary on subs going to that shipwreck.' Tepig said, remembering someone saying the pressure was enough to equal 5000 pounds per square inch, which most deep-diving water-types could handle. And the only water-type there, Palpitoad, was by no means a deep-diver.

"Sni…" '...I wish we had a boat…' Snivy sighed, as Sandile continued digging.

No one wanted to think of the millions of metric tons of water soon to be over their heads.

Kalos Region - Outside Vanille Town - 0729 Hours Local Time

"Goo." 'This is not going to work.' said Goomy as he and the others stealthy (as possible for a group like them, anyways) made their way to the town proper.

"Fro." 'Do you have any better ideas?' asked Froakie. "Kie." 'If you do, now's the time, snail dragon.'

"Fletch-ling." 'Will you stop it? We don't have any options, unless you can force me to evolve to a Talonflame and put yourselves in Pokeballs.' Fletchling stated.

"Hawlucha?!" 'Are you INSANE?!' asked the fighting bird. "Cha-lu!" 'You DO remember what Bayleef said about the Lake of Rage, right?!'

"Goo?" 'The lake of what now?' Goomy asked, looking very confused.

"Fletch." 'Bayleef told us of a story when Ash and his Johto team came across some lake, called the Lake of Rage." Fletch explained, "Ling." 'Team Rocket caused a Magikarp to force itself to evolve into a Shiny Gyarados that had an overly aggressive temper even by normal Gyarados standards.' Fletchling shook her head. "Fletchling." 'I get your caution, but there is a difference between me becoming a Talonflame, and a Magikarp turning into a freaking Gyarados. Plus, I've BEEN a Talonflame before, remember?'

"Ha." 'Do we know how that machine works?' Hawlucha retorted. "Cha." 'Maybe it affects every pokemon violently.'

"Fletch!" 'Look, I'm not talking about using a freaking machine!' The flying-type exclaimed. "Ling! Fletch!" 'There's gotta be natural, but faster ways to evolve, ya know?'

"Fro." 'Training with a trainer is the fastest way. And we're trying to get to our trainer.' Froakie said. "Froakie-fro." 'Unless you want to hijack a ship or a plane, this is our only option.'

"Goo-my." 'Doesn't mean it's going to work. The timeline's already screwed up as it is.' Goomy said as he deflated, emotionally and literally. "My." 'For all we know, Ash's mate doesn't know him.'

"Fletchling!" 'She knows him! It's a universal constant!' she chirped back.

"Ha." 'We'll find out, won't we? Come. Let's go.' Hawlucha said, choosing their only real course of action.

"Fletch, fletch.." 'Yeah, yeah…' Fletchling sighed, shaking her head. "Ling." '...dumb question: how are we going to convince her to take us to Ash?'

"Froakie." 'We'll swim across that river when we get to it.' the ninja frog said. Goomy had to translate that into the human phrase 'we'll cross that bridge when we get to it'.

They approached Vanille Town, but noticed something...off.

There was a large, stone wall, about 15 feet high, surrounding the town with a single heavily reinforced gate blocking access with a Houndoom and Sylveon napping at the gate, which mystified them.

"Goo?" 'What in the name of Arceus' holy ass is this?' the snail dragon asked, which was heard by the Houndoom, who got up and howled at them.

"Doom!" 'Explain your approach, wildlings, or prepare to fight! And if any shadow Pokemon are among you, prepare to die!' the fire hound barked, willing to back it up with his bite.

"Fro." 'Okay, first: rude.' Froakie pointed out, "Kie." 'Second, we need to get into town to find a girl named Serena - she is a friend of our trainer, Ash Ketchum. We got separated from him, and we're trying to get back to him. She is our only way to reach him in Kanto.'

The firehound looked shocked at Serena's mention before barking as a pair of Natu and a Xatu poked their heads out, then using their psychic powers to open the gate.

"Hound." 'Proceed. You will be watched.' Houndoom stated before Sylveon gestured them to move along.

"Goo." 'I have a bad feeling about this.' Goomy said as they entered Vannile Town. But could it be called such if half the buildings looked like they were built over 600 years ago, made of rough stone held together by mortar?

"Fro." 'Everything is so different…' He mused.

"Ha." 'Where do we even start to look for her?' Hawlucha asked. "Cha." 'Her house may not even be the same…'

"Fletch!" 'I'll start looking for Grace's Fletchling!' chirped the tiny robin before flying off, Goomy sighing.

"Goo?" 'Can we make sure Ash actually mates with Serena this time?' asked the snail dragon.

"Froakie." 'He took a vow never to take a mate. Something about his father.' Froakie said as Fletchling flew back, trying to act like a hummingbird.

"Fletch!" 'Found Grace's Fletchling, but...you're going to want to see this.' said the bird.

"Goo." 'What? Is something wrong?' Goomy asked as they followed the Fletchling to the destination…

...and everyone's eyes widened.

It looked like a small castle, with some concessions to modern building methods, like a Battle Chateau or something, only someone actually lived here.

And had a Rhyhorn that was sleeping in the front yard. Probably Grace's.

"Ha." 'What in Arceus' flaming asscheeks is this.' Hawlucha stated rather then asked.

"Goo." 'A serious malformation of the timeline, like with that freaky eyeball guy from that old game.' Goomy said with some snark.

"Froak." '...well… we're not getting anywhere just standing here.' Froaky said as he hopped towards the castle.

"Goo!" 'Wait! How are we going to tell them we belong to Ash?' Goomy asked.

"Fletch?" 'Wait, did you say Ash?' Everyone glanced up in surprise as none other than Grace's Fletchling flew down towards them. 'You mean… Ash Ketchum?'

Everyone blinked in surprise, but it was Froaky who stepped up "Fro, Foraky." 'Uh, yes… we belong to Ash Ketchum, but we got separated from him… we remember him saying that he was a friend of Serena's… could you help us out please?'

"Fletch, ling, ling-Fletch." 'Horseshit. Ash is almost the same age as Serena and Kalos and Kanto share the same age for starting out at 14.' Grace's tiny robin retorted. "Fletch." 'Get the hell off my lawn.'

"Goomy." 'A flying/normal-type against a flying/fighting, another Fletchling, a water-type and a dragon. You're clearly insane.'

"Fletch." 'I can take you.' retorted the Kalosian bird.

"Froakie." 'Look, we're just trying to get back to Ash. He knows Serena and we knew to come here.' Froakie said.

"Fletch!" 'Yeah, plus how the hell else would we know about Ash unless he was our trainer!' Ash's Fletchling exclaimed. "Ling!" 'And how would we know he knows Serena as a friend, unless we knew him!'

Fletchling prepared to Screech before the door opened, revealing a slightly...older Grace. "Fletchling, what are you..." she started before looking at the collection of Pokemon, plus the egg. "Well, this is interesting. What are a bunch of wildlings doing here?"

"Fro-aky." 'We're. Not. Wildlings.' Froakie stated firmly, growling a bit, but being careful not to growl threateningly. The others… also expressed their displeasure of being mistaken as wild pokemon as well.

"Hm…" Grace mued, scratching her chin. "You don't act like wild Pokemon… have you lost your Trainer, little ones?"

"Fletch! Fletch!" 'See, SHE gets it!' Ash's future Talonflame chirped.

"Fletch." 'She's also a Rhyhorn rider that often rides WITHOUT A HELMET. Her judgement is more then slightly impaired.' Grace's bird retorted.

"Goo." 'Really.' Goomy stated before a slight crash was heard from inside. "Ow! Damn it!" cried a welcome voice.

Serena was near.

"Fro." Thank Arceus. Now we can-' Froakie said before Serena came into view. But she was not wearing the normal travel clothes they knew were her's… instead she had a very, very elaborate pink dress, looking very Victorian in appearance with the oversized skirt and all - which she was currently struggling with as she worked her way outside.

"Mom, WHY do I have do wear this abomination?!" Serena demanded, the broach on the dress shifting as she struggled with the dress.

"Sadly, because you need to learn to deal with being at court." Grace retorted.

"Goooomy?" 'Serena's a princess?! What the hell happened to the freaking timeline?! I miss it making sense!' Goomy cried, much to Grace's Fletchling's confusion.

Entry 6: Politics of Kalos

While most regions use a system of government more akin to a federal republic, Orre and Kalos are major exceptions to the rule, with the latter being a partial feudal/constitutional monarchy, with noble families controlling many of the settlements in the region after the Cipher War. Vanille Town, for example, is run by the Gabena-Yeonne family, who are well-respected by the locals, if a minor noble family.

Politics in Kalos are just as cutthroat in Kalos as in Orre, but more suited around marriages and alliances, preventing total unification. However, assassinations are not uncommon. Team rocket has yet to gain any footholds here due to this.

Entry 7: Noctowl family structures

Much like normal owls, a group of Noctowl, normally families, are called parlements, usually comprised of up to 100 Hoot-Hoot and Noctowl, usually led by an elder Noctowl called a 'minister'. Noctowl often leave their parlements when captured by trainers, but they do not complain, as they often learn more then they do in the wild and often tell tales of their journeys.

Team Rocket has confirmed that Ash Ketchum's Noctowl is from a parlement from Johto, but made an overnight flight to Kanto for unknown reasons before being caught.

Ron the True Fan: Well, this took a buggeringly long time to finish. Still, things happened. And no one saw Serena's twist coming-(BANG) FUCK, Jorn!

Takeshi Yamato: Umm… Look, Jorn, just calm down. We can do a you/Dawn fic some other time.

117Jorn: YOU KEEP SAYING THAT BUT IT NEVER FUCKING HAPPENS!

Ron the True Fan: Stop shooting at me! Anyway, next chapter, we'll have two bonuses for you-(BANG) If Jorn doesn't kill me first! (117Jorn: GET BACK HERE!)

Takeshi Yamato: See you all next time, readers!

Ja ne!

(AO3 Note)

Ron the True Fan: I. Hate. How. Slow. This. Is. A quick port with a confirmation email from both parties would make this less of a pain in the ass. Thus is life, sadly.

Ja Ne!

Chapter Text

Ron the True Fan: Still alive! (117Jorn: Barely...) Jorn ran out of ammo, so I am not dead yet! That and we sated his rage with another fic.

Takeshi Yamato: So, now we head to the next chapter, as Ash's Pokemon continue their attempts to get to him, and Ash himself heads for Mount Moon.

117Jorn: Yeah yeah, sure. *talks on the phone* You sure? Thanks man, I owe ya one. *closes phone*.

Ron the True Fan: I have a bad feeling about this...

200 meters from the entrance to Mount Moon, Kanto Region - 0805 hours local time - Day 5 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey

"Pidge." 'Ash, I need to go.' Pidgeotto said before they came up to the summit of the hill, where the entrance to Mount Moon beckoned.

"Go?" Ash asked. "...You don't mean-"

"Pid!" 'No, not THAT! It's...well, it's my flock.' the raptor said. "Pidgeoootto!" 'If that damned Fearow gets ideas-'

"Spear." 'Doubt it. If that flock was mine, they're long gone now.' Spearow said, having been swapped back in for minor training with Ash while Charmander… terrorized the ranchers. "Row." 'Those insane bastards haven't been seen in a week now, I think.'

"Noct." 'I'm… sure your flock will be fine,' Noctowl stated calmly. "Owl." 'If… they are anything like you, they can handle themselves…'

Pidgeotto cooed at the unintended complement, but sadly, Ash knew otherwise. "Pige." 'They're not exactly good at fighting.' she said. 'I'll guide them to the ranch and come right back.'

Noctowl wanted to protest, but Ash spoke up first. "Go ahead." he said, smiling sadly. "Bring them to the ranch and stay there for a bit." Ash then felt wind on his hair for the first time in a week as his hat suddenly disappeared.

"Man!" 'HA! Got your hat!' cried a small monkey-like Pokemon that put the hat on his head as he jumped down, dancing.

"Hey! You little-" Ash was about to protest, before he noticed what exactly what stole his hat… a Mankey. But not just any Mankey… but one he hadn't seen in a very, very long time. "...no way… Primeape?"

"Man! Mankey!" 'Hehehehe! I knew I'd run into you if I stuck around here!' One of Ash's more… troublesome Pokemon exclaimed, jumping up and down.

Guilt struck Ash, as he had not returned to Primeape back in the other timeline. He completely forgot.

The little monkey Pokemon stopped jumping, noticing Ash looking down. "Man." 'Hey, what's wrong?' the fighting-type asked as he hopped over. "Key?" 'You look like-'

"I forgot about you. I forgot." Ash said, choking. "I-"

SLAP!

Pikachu's tail smacked Ash in the back of the head. "Pika." 'You have 50 Pokemon. You can't possibly be expected to keep all of them on your mind at all times.' Pikachu reasoned. "Chu." 'You are not perfect.'

"Man-key!" 'Hey, it worked out for the best! You'll love the results!' Mankey cried, jumping and putting Ash's first hat back on his noggin. "Man." 'Though I'll have to evolve AGAIN for it to work. Mind explaining what the hell caused THIS?'

"Pika Pi." 'Remember Team Rocket?' Pikachu said, as Mankey nodded. "Pika." 'Turns out there were other groups like them all around the world - and one group, called Team Galactic, tried to literally end the world to create some 'perfect world.' Ended up resetting the timeline, but Celebi was able to help send us back in that timeline to try and fix it… so that meant we all had to go back to our… pre-evolved states.'

Mankey paused as that processed… before cracking his knuckles. "Man-Key." 'Just give me the word Ash,' He said, "Key!" 'I am ready to crack some fucking skulls open! I mean… I know you don't actually understand-"

"You'll probably crack a lot of skulls open, Primeape…" Ash said, with a small smile as Mankey blinked.

"...Man?" 'Holy shit, did he understand me?'

"Spear." 'It's how you old guard were brought back.' Spearow said as he hopped on ash's other shoulder. "Spearow-spear." 'Apparently, Celebi tied your minds to Ash's and sent you back in time. ALL of you, from Pikachu to Noctowl and Arceus knows who else he caught. I never got told who: there was never time.'

"Man?" 'He didn't catch you?' The fighting-type asked, confused.

"Spearow." 'New catch in this timeline, apparently. Not regretting it, though.' the bird confirmed. "Row." 'I'll give you a bloody history lesson when we go back to the ranch, unless Ash wants type-advantage in that damned cavern.'

"Up to you, Primea-Mankey. Could get a early start on that skull smashing."

"Mankey!" 'I like the sound of that!'

"Alright."

The group finally emerged from the treeline, sizing up Mount Moon as is towered over them. The very first time Ash came here, he helped Seymour protect the Clefairy that called the mountain home from Team Rocket. Speaking of the bespectacled scientist, where was he?

Misty, who was tending to Starmie, noticed him and Ash was prepared for the uncomfortably affectionate hug. Instead, she was just confused, thinking he was just behind her the entire time.

That was a really bad thing, Ash noted: she needed to heal, but she couldn't stay near him. He was a danger magnet and with the new rules of reality, she was more likely to get killed.

"A new capture?" she asked, a minor tremor in her hand from realizing Ash wasn't within arm's reach for a while.

"Yeah..." Ash half-lied. Primeape, or rather Mankey at the moment, was an old-timer he...forgot. He was half-tempted to take that handmade abomination in his pack and shoot himself in the foot for that. "Let's go to the Pokemon Center up there: I'll send Spearow back to the ranch, we can rest our teams and go through the caves."

"Man!" 'Awesome! I've missed Brock's cooking!"

"Pika pi…" 'We have a lot ot fill you in on…'

Dust and the click-clack of pickaxes filled the caverns of Mount Moon. Team Rocket grunts carefully uncovered fossils, packing them into containers and bringing them over to a Rocket paleontologist to identify and categorize.

A man in a white version of the Rocket uniform, mixed with a suit much like Giovanni's, smirked as his grunts dug and gathered money from the rocks, his green hair standing out among the rabble.

"Administrator!" cried a grunt, almost in terror as she ran up to him, panting before saluting. "Sir, we have received a messenger from the boss, demanding to meet with you!"

"Calm down. I'm sure it's something mundane." Giovanni had ordered radio silence on this op to try and prevent Brock from detecting their intrusion into the mountain, which meant that he had to send runners. Still, the Boss sending a messenger to him meant something was up.

At least, he thought that, until he saw WHO had been sent.

The long red hair and the close-cropped blue of those...IDIOTS that just would. Not. DIE.

They had been shot at in Hoenn with bazookas (as in actual Super Bazookas!) and were still alive. They once stepped on a land mine from the Cipher Wars and were not dead.

They poked Whitney's Miltank and even after the pink terror used Rollout on them AND Whitney tried to kill them with high explosives, bullets and her cast-iron bat, they DID NOT DIE.

So why the hell were Giovanni's official bullet sponges - Giovanni literally called them that during a meeting of the admins five years prior - HERE and not pissing off the Leagues somewhere else?!

"What the hell are you three doing here?!"

"Archer!" Jessie yelled. "We've been sent by the Boss! He told us to tell you to stop everything and pull out! Boss' orders!"

"Yes, I heard you the first time." Archer rolled his eyes. "Did he tell you why?"

"Not really." James said. "He just told us to tell you."

"He kinda sounded nervous!" Their talking Meowth stated.

The greenette groaned. The TRio, as the media referred to them as, were known for two things: their inability to just DIE and being slightly crazy. For all he knew, this was them suffering another session of their collective insanity and if he took their 'message' as truth, Giovanni would contact him in a week and ask why he wasn't doing his job.

So, he erred on the side of reason and for lack of better term, basically gave them the finger.

"Jessie, James, I am not in the mood for your antics." Archer declared, his voice having a slight edge to it now. "So, I suggest you either pick up a tool and get to work or you can annoy someone else!"

Meowth scowled. "Hey! If the Boss finds out you disobeyed orders, he's gonna be pissed!"

Archer waved a dismissive hand. "I said bother someone else."

The TRio looked at each other. "The Boss said no Team Rocket should be in the Mountain right?"

"Right…"

"And we're Team Rocket, right?"

"Right..."

They quickly got the hell out of dodge.

Archer huffed. Like Giovanni would order them to leave when they had an almost literal goldmine to harvest.

Mount Moon Entrance - 0845 hours Local Time

There were Geodude EVERYWHERE.

There was also a huge amount of Zubat, far more than Ash had ever seen, roosting on the ceiling.

"Mi..." 'New friends?' asked Mimikyu as she looked at the massive colony of bats on the cave roof.

"Pika." 'No. There's too many to catch and Ash doesn't want to catch any more Pokemon if he can avoid it.' Pikachu explained, hoping Mimikyu didn't get depressed.

Thankfully, she wasn't. "Mi!" 'So it's a members-only club!' she cried cheerfully.

Pikachu blushed at the cuteness. "Pika." 'Sure, let's go with that.''

Ash shook his head at the banter that only he and other Pokemon could understand. There were some, albeit minor, benefits to this entire situation. He allowed himself a small smile as he looked around, looking for the pink fairies that inhabited the mountain-

"Clefairy!" ' 'ello there!'

A pink form looked at him from behind a rock, smiling as the fairy-type looked at him and seeing if he was 'evil'. Clefairies were sensitive to emotions, after all. Not to the degree of the Togepi line, mind you, but sensitive enough.

Eventually, the fairy-type decided he wasn't truly evil, though judging by the frown, the Clefairy noticed that he had certainly been TOUCHED by it on a number of occasions. Ash winced at remembering his brief 'contact' with the King of Pokelantis and his own stupid choice to release him from that Pokeball prison.

In his defense, he thought a Ho-oh was trapped inside, but he knew better now.

"Oh, a Clefairy!" Misty exclaimed, noticing the pink ball herself.

"Clef!" 'Follow me good ones!'

Ash shot his pokemon a look. "Let's see where it's going."

"Pika!" 'On it!' Pikachu darted forward, with Mimikyu following closely.

"Mi!" 'Are we getting new members?' she asked almost childishly. That brought up a question, though.

"Pi?" 'How...old are you?' asked Pikachu.

"Mi?" 'I don't know. A few years? I never counted.' Mimikyu answered as she hopped along.

Ash paid little mind to the discussion, instead following the Clefairy through small grags in the rock, Mimikyu hopping from rock to rock, following Pikachu.

Ash's nose began to bleed from the overflow of knowledge in his skull again, this bit coming from Boldore, Celebi apparently not having done a good enough job to keep it from effecting him physically.

He cursed under his breath, pinching the flow closed. Ash watched as the Clefairy came to a stop amid a group of Clefairy, and the giant Moon Stone.

He heard Misty come to a stop beside him. "Whoa… What is that?"

"It's a Moon stone." Ash answered without really thinking. "A giant one, too."

"Pika!" 'Ash!'

The trainer turned to his starter to see the electric mouse and his dark imitator beside a group of fairies, some of which looked… injured.

Some looked like they were hit with rocks, others...with bullets.

This reminded Ash of why he hated guns. All they did was hurt people and Pokemon. But who did this? Hunter J was a big one, but unless she changed drastically, she didn't unduly injure money-making Pokemon.

"Clef-ary." 'They've been hunting for us and the Moon Stone for weeks. The black people with red Rs don't respect the will of the Creators.' One of the Clefairy said, tugging on Pikachu's arms. "Clef." 'We can't hold them back forever. Please, thunder mouse, convince your trainer to help us drive them out of our home!'

Pikachu shot Ash a look. "Pika…." 'Ash… I don't think this is just the idiots.' He growled dangerously.

"Yeah…" Ash didn't have a lot of experiences with Team Rocket outside the idiots, but he knew that they were… marginally smarter. And with this new universe and and how things were, the actual Team Rocket was probably much more dangerous.

"Where are they?" Ash asked the Clefairy. "Cle?" 'Can he...understand?' the fairy-type asked.

"Pika, Pika-pi." 'It's a long story, but he understands every word you just said. What do you need us to do?' Pikachu asked.

Pewter City - 915 hours local time

Brock put down his pen, sighing as he rolled his shoulders to work out the kinks. He was no paperpusher, but the League's politics demanded paperwork be done by all gym leaders within the alliance. Kanto was on the cusp of unification once more and Brock knew it, but until there was a centralized and unified government, Brock was more or less the military and political leader in Pewter.

Not a good combination for most. Sabrina was noticeably...unhinged, but loyal enough to the League.

But that meant that he, alongside volunteers and Officer Jennys, were the only ones to protect and patrol the area. The only reason he hadn't nabbed that murderous ronin in the forest was because he was sneaky, he knew when to pick his fights, and as Brock went in with a full team of Rock-types, nothing the ronin had could touch him.

But now the murderer was gone, done in by the very forest he claimed as his own. The Gym Leader also patrolled the caves of Mount Moon. Sadly, due to the new league season opening, he couldn't do it as often as he liked.

Paperwork for Pokemon injuries, damage to the gym, complaints about noise, gym licence renewals...it did not END.

That, fortunately, was about to be put aside, not that he knew it.

"Sir!" said a Jenny as she walked into his office, before going into a salute, albeit begrudgingly. Brock HAD hit on this one before and the Jennys did not forgive nor forget.

That being said, they were police. There were rumors they were all clones, grown in tubes under Indigo Plateau, waiting to be awoken and unleashed like an army of clones.

In reality, they all looked alike due to a genetic defect. They only started looking different when they got to their late 50s.

"What is it Jenny?" Brock asked, waving off the salute, grateful for the interruption from the accursed paper.

"One of our volunteers just radioed in. He spotted two Team Rocket members leaving Mount Moon."

Brock sat up straight. "Team Rocket? Did he have a description?"

"Yeah, and, well, it's them."

"Oh great. The TRio. Did they have anything?"

"Well, that's the thing. They rushed in, stayed for thirty minutes, then rushed out." she said, confused but attentive.

"That doesn't make any sense. Usually those idiots are used by the Rockets to stir up insane amounts of chaos and cause nothing but trouble." Brock said before thinking about it.

Those three were relatively high-ranking grunts. Not admins like that asshole Archer or that bitch Ariana, but generally when they had more Rockets working with them, they were in charge. But they were still grunts and that meant they were used for everything from making his life hell to...

Acting as couriers.

"Get the militia ready." Brock said, referring to the citizens of Pewter that would usually join the police in dealing with Rockets. While the ancient cities of Pokelantis and Pokemopolis were more famous, there was a more powerful nation that operated in Kalos called Rhōm, which wasn't exactly Pokemon-savvy, but they had the most dangerous citizen-armies that ever existed. The early kings and queens of Kalos wiped them off the face of the earth after they gained the loyalty of Pokemon, but the model of their legions existed to this day and was used, loosely, in much smaller number and with concessions to a modern world, by the militias of Kanto. This included Pewter.

"I think we have a Rocket operation running right under our noses. We're gonna evict them."

Jenny nodded, turning to leave, before seemingly remembering something. "Oh, and the volunteer said that he spotted two trainers entering the mountain."

Brock blinked. "Oh no."

Ash and Misty. They had, unknowingly, walked into a warzone. 'Damn the League and their paperwork! I should be out there, making sure Pewter and all the trails leading out of it are safe, not tied to a desk!' he thought as he got up and retrieved his pokeball belt.

There was no time to lose.

Mount Moon - Roughly the same time

"Get them, RattaTA!" The Rocket grunt yelled as he was hit by Pikachu's Thunderbolt, sending him and his Pokemon sprawling.

"Charmander, destroy the equipment! Mankey, cover him!"

"Char!" 'Yes! Destroy everything!'

"Mankey!" 'Come on ya idiots! Let me smash your heads in!"

It had been a session of sneaking in for the trainer pair, as unlike the Clefairy clan, they could move around faster and with their Pokeballs could carry a small army without getting spotted. That came to an end when a Grunt spotted them and raised an alarm.

"Pika?" 'Well now what are we going to do?

"They're all about profit right? Then we make it unprofitable for them. Destroy the gear and anything they can make money off of." Ash said, releasing his entire team to cause all kinds of hell.

It made sense: if this world was screwed up in so many ways, Giovanni would not be happy losing his money-making operation but even more angry that his equipment was destroyed as it was not easy to replace in any way.

It would help the police take down the Rockets and might make life easier in the long run if their operations were hamstringed. It might also want Giovanni to kill him, but to be honest, Ash was beginning not to care about Giovanni's rage: he had faced the bosses of four other groups and came out with his skin attached, Cyrus having technically 'won', but when the man went insane and died soon after, it was no victory.

"Pika!" 'You heard him! Wreak havoc!'

"Charmander!" 'That's what I want to hear!' The small fire dragon let out an Ember as his claws took on a metalic sheen and grew, charging at a small hoard of Rattata, sending purple bodies flying.

"Mankey!" 'Save some for me!" The Fighting-type shouted, hopping in alongside his fellow Fire-type, taking out Machop, Sandslash, Koffing, anything that came close.

"Owl!"'Stop running ahead you idiots!" Noctowl covered them from any flying types, his Steel Wing carving through air and enemy Pokemon.

A small explosion made Archer's eye twitch in annoyance. 'The LAST thing I need right now.' he mentally groused before a screaming Grunt smacked into the ground at his feet.

While he and Giovanni were not… friends, they did share a similar vice. They enjoyed it when people suffered a painful fate.

Except the TRio, because they were basically impossible to kill.

And while he would have enjoyed the grunt's suffering another time, things were blowing up. His things. His very important, very expensive things.

They were compromised. But all was not lost. They still had a good amount of fossils.

"Pull out! You all, grab as many fossils as you can, you, hold off the intruders as best as you can. We're salvaging everything we can." the admin ordered before more things began exploding.

Of course, he knew who to blame for this one: the local Clefairy, who had been giving him nothing but headaches for weeks. If it wasn't Brock being a pain in the rear, preventing him from continuous operations in fear of having Brock's infamous rock-types sicced on him, it was those annoying fairy-types and their annoying moral code that was as fickle as Giovanni's cat the first time Archer tried to rebel against the Rocket Boss.

His first Houndour did not survive the encounter.

That said, he had to cover their escape. To be honest, there was really only so much a grunt could do. He did have a lot of mining explosives.

"You three! Grab the mining explosives, and lay them along our escape path!"

A shadow bolt slammed into one of the Zubat, followed by the one that caused it, a Pikachu, to Iron Tail a Koffing with a Quick Attack boost. At this moment, Archer figured out WHY the TRio 'ordered' him to GTFO of Mount Moon.

Standing orders for all Rocket personnel: stay the hell away from Shadow Pokemon. "Pikachu, look out!" cried a young man with a League cap on his head, who was commanding the Pokemon attacking the Grunts.

'A Shadow Pikachu commanded by a trainer. This is either bad or VERY bad.' thought Archer as a beam of cold nearly hit him in the face, cast by a Clefairy using Metronome as the pink Pikachu lookalikes attacked his troops from gaps in the rockface.

"Houndoom, Faint Attack on that Pikachu!" Acher called, sending out one of his Pokemon, and the large Dark/Fire type raced forward, weaving through the chaos to hit the former Shadow Pokemon.

"Pikachu! Mimikyu, use Scratch!"

Archer was astonished to see an Alolan pokemon, the infamous Disguise pokemon, no less, slap his Houndoom, causing it to flinch away.

"Mimi!" cried the ghost-type, causing a minor cut near the dark pup's left eye, right before he was smacked by a pin fired by a Beedrill, buzzing up above and giving aid to the ghost-type.

"Burn the Beedrill down!" Houndoom complied, letting loose a Flamethrower.

"Beedrill, dodge! Noctowl, Steel Wing!"

The Bug-type darted away and a Flying-type replaced it, cutting into the canine's flank, causing it to howl in pain.

Archer swore. "Houndoom, use Smog to cover the area!"

His pokemon complied, using the poison move as a makeshift Smokescreen.

"Fall back!" Archer ran, passing the explosives and accepting a detonator from one of the grunts that set them up.

The admin flipped the detonator switch open, arming the explosives. "NOCTOWL, STOP HIM!" cried a girl that had escaped his notice. A girl that-

'Shit, the Waterflower brat!' Archer thought, right before air slammed into him, almost knocking him off his feet and nearly making him lose the detonator. Which, at this point, would be a good thing, as pissing off Brock Slate AND Daisy Waterflower was a very Bad Idea, as Daisy wasn't as stupid as she often pretended to look and was still dangerous enough to be a threat to most of the grunts AND to an Admin. Having two gym leaders on his ass - and by consequence, Team Rocket's - was not a good thing.

Too little, too late, though, as his thumb pressed the switch down, setting off the explosives.

Brock looked up as a fireball erupted from the side of Mount Moon.

"Oh no…" He slammed on the hood of the truck he rode in. "Double time!"

Ash coughed, looking down at Misty as rocks bounced off of his back. "You okay, Misty?"

Misty groaned, a small cut on her forehead bleeding and soaking her hair. "I-I'm ok." she said before hugging him, her...assets not doing Ash any favors. But like a certain meme, he crushed it with ease, looking back at Mount Moon. "The Clefairy!" he yelled before looking back to see nothing but collapsed rocks and - creeply and horrifyingly to Ash - the occasional hand or leg from a Rocket Grunt.

He killed them. He killed so many people. 'OhArceus,please,no-' Ash thought before getting the usual Pikachu tail smack. "Pika!" 'You didn't kill them! That green haired asshole did!' he practically roared.

Even with his starter slapping some sense into him, Ash couldn't help but stare at the rubble in shock. Which was why he saw the rubble shift, and a small pink hand stick out.

"A survivor!" Ash shouted, scrambling forward, grabbing rocks and shoving them out of the way, uncovering a bruised, dirty young Cleffa.

"Cle-cleff..." 'Mama? Papa?' asked the young fairy-type. Ash winced and really felt depressed. He just orphaned a Pokemon, something he never wanted to do and wanted to just-

SMACK! "Pikapi!" 'Ash, stop it! You are not responsible for this! The Clefairys knew what might happen and accepted it!' Pikachu reasoned.

Ash sighed. "You're right." He looked back to the little Cleffa in his arms, giving out another world-weary sigh. "I'm sorry, little one, your mom and dad aren't… aren't here anymore."

"Cleff-a?" "Oh… are they coming back?"

Ash's heart seized up. "No… they're not. I'm sorry."

The baby fairy didn't seem to understand until she looked at the rocks. And promptly began screaming in terror. Something Ash could relate to.

He wanted to do the same thing.

Boots hitting the rocks caught the attention of the humans, Ash nearly reaching for the handmade gun before seeing it was just Brock, carrying a rifle of some kind before he, too, relaxed. "Oh, thank Arceus you two are alright." Brock muttered before seeing the rocks and the dead grunts. "Good lord. What happened here?!"

"Team Rocket was here. They were digging something up and attacking a Clefairy colony." Misty said, Ash redoubling his efforts to calm the Cleffa down. "We offered to help the Clefairy, but..." The rubble was self-explanatory.

Brock sighed. "Did you see who was leading them?"

Misty shot Ash a sympathetic look. "He had green hair, a white uniform, and had a Houndoom."

Brock growled. "Sounds like Archer. He's been a plague for years." he said, confusing Ash as the Cleffa had wailed herself to sleep. Brock noticed. "Right, you're from Pallet. Archer's been raiding the roads for years. Lack of air travel makes commerce a pain."

Ash did not want to know how screwed up this world was and left it at that.

"The road through Mount Moon is blocked thanks to those bastards." the Gym Leader stated, knowing the roads through the mountains better than anyone. "And no one's stupid enough to go OVER Mount Moon without the right gear, so...you'll have to go through Rota if you want to get to Western Kanto."

A chill washed over Ash and he began hyperventilating. Rota. He had died there, and had no wish to go back to that damned tree. If that Mew forced his hand, there'd be hell to pay.

He jumped as Brock laid a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, you alright Ash?"

Ash took a deep breath and gave a shaky nod as Pikachu climbed up on his shoulder. "I'm fine. Everything's just… catching up to me."

Brock sighed, writing Ash's reaction off as stress. 'Today's going to haunt him for the rest of his life." He thought. "I should contact one of the League psychiatrists."

He was going to have a LONG day...

Viridian City - Gym

"I ordered you to get out of that damned mountain!" Giovanni yelled at Archer after the man got past the Pewter teleport dampeners, which prevented him from just teleporting out with the fossils.

Which he lost ANYWAYS.

"I was following orders." Archer retorted.

"The TRio was sent to tell you to pack up, and what did you do? You told them to fuck off! Now we've lost valuable, irreplaceable equipment, and at least ten percent of our grunts are dead, trapped, or left in the 'care' of the Clefairies. What do I have to do? Appoint those idiots as my personal messengers!?"

In all fairness, Archer had a point: those three were known for their collective insanity, so Rocket Admins tended to ignore them. That being said, pissing off Delia Ketchum was a BAD IDEA. Archer was worried about the Waterflowers, but they had NOTHING on the boy's mother.

Archer should have known that.

"Look, from now on, if the TRio tells you to do something, you do not question it, you do it. Pass that on to the other Admins as well. Also, tell them, direct from me, to not engage Ash Ketchum if at all possible. Pass that on to everyone."

Archer rolled his eyes. "Yes sir."

"Do not disobey me, Archer. Team Rocket has many enemies." Giovanni leaned forward slightly as he finished. "Ash Ketchum's mother is one I would rather not face."

Archer internally scoffed. He feared the brat's mother? No wonder he wasn't getting anywhere. 'I will have your head, boy. You and your girlfriend.' Archer thought as he saluted Giovanni. 'Well...your head. Your girlfriend, though...' With that thought, Archer turned and left.

Vanille Town, Kalos Region - 1109 hours local time

"Goomy!" 'I demand to know WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL IS GOING ON!' Goomy cried as he looked at the fancy-dressed Serena.

"Huh. Mom, why do we have a bunch of wildings on our lawn?"

Being called wilds snapped the group of of their shock. "Froakie!" 'We are not wildings! We just want to get to our trainer!' Froakie cried out.

"Someone's uppidy." Grace said, looking at the motley assembly of Pokemon. Fletchlings could be caught anywhere, but Goomy were native to swamps alone. Hawlucha were normally forest-dwellers and finally Noibats lived in caves. All of which were too far for them to just meet up at random and nowhere near Vanille.

Serena kneeled and picked up Froakie. She did not look...ok. There was a slight twitch in her right eye which happened at random and there were slightly dark circles under her eyes, which was more a sign of makeup hiding how bad it was. "Maybe we can send them to Ash." she said, thoughtfully yet impulsively, like there was some ulterior motive behind it.

"Froo-kieee." 'Uhhhh, I think something's up with Serena guys." Froakie said cautously.

"Haw?" 'How so?' the fighting hawk asked.

"Froak." 'She's got bags under her eyes like she's not sleeping well and she's… twitching.' the ninja replied, with a well-timed twitch, which only unnerved him more.

"Well, if you want to give them to him, just chuck a ball-" Grace started before Goomy torched her with a weak Dragonbreath.

She was fine, before you start wondering. It was enough to get a point across, not injure.

Serena blinked before coming to a conclusion. "They know Ash!" she said cheerfully. A bit TOO cheerfully, if you asked Froakie: it was actually scaring him. "And they clearly want to be only caught by him." she then added more coldly, which made Goomy shudder slightly.

"Gooooo…" 'This is scary…."

"Froakie!" 'You're telling me: I'm being held by her!"

Grace brushed off some ash from the Dragonbreath. "Well, that poses a bit of a problem. The next passenger ship to Kanto doesn't arrive for another two weeks, and even then, it's a five month trip."

"Oh I don't mind." Serena smiled, readjusting her hold on Froakie to hold him like a teddy bear, much to his discomfort.

That made no sense to them. Ash and Pikachu arrived her by jetliner the last time. "Flet?" 'Can't they fly?' asked Ash's tiny robin. "Fletch." 'Do I look like a Talonflame to you? There's no way I can fly them to Kanto.' Grace's bird retorted.

"Goo?" 'What about airplanes?' asked the dragon.

The seemingly royal Fletchling chirped in annoyance. "Flech." 'There haven't been operational airlines in almost 70 years! Not since those assholes from Orre unleashed their FUCKING plague on the rest of the world!' replied the bird. "Flechling!" 'Don't you already know that?!'

Hawlucha was not in the mood. "Haw." 'Pretend we don't.' the hawk retorted.

"Flletch...ling..." 'How can you all be so...oh, never mind. Just get inside.' Grace's bird chirped before flying in. "Supposed that answers that." Grace said. "If Fletchling says you're good, you can come on in!"

"Froak." 'She DOES have brain damage." Froakie deadpanned.

"Well Serena," Grace continued as they led the pokemon into the very pretty home. "If we are going all the way to Kanto, perhaps you could start your journey there."

"Mom!" Serena shouted semi-indignantly, although the Kalos 'mons could see that see was chomping at the bit to spend more time with Ash.

"There is the option of staying here-" Grace started before Serena glared at her, nearly snarling at the very IDEA of staying in Kalos rather then going to Kanto and to Ash.

While they were happy to see Serena wasn't in the mood to stay and wait, her aggression towards her mother, which in the other timeline was mere annoyance, was shocking to Ash's Kalosian team.

What in the name of the Creation Dragons and their Lord Father Arceus happened to Serena? Ash's mate was seemingly more bi-polar than a Malamar and almost as angry as a Primeape.

Grace led them out to a courtyard, where they were greeted by a…

"Vui!" 'Hi!'

A brown fluffball with legs, a playful panda, and a fiery fox.

All faces Ash's team knew well. This was Serena's team.

"Goo-my..." "Why… are they here already? This… doesn't make… sense." The poor slime dragon sounded confused and mentally defeated, what with all the brain-fuckery that was going on.

"Hawlucha." 'It actually does.' the fighting/flying-type said. "Lucha-hawlucha." 'For some screwy reason, Serena is some sort of noble. It makes sense that a noblewoman have her team with her. Even if Serena being a noblewoman makes no damned sense to US.'

It was ironic, but it made sense. They didn't have any idea what the hell was going on, but the facts they did have fit perfectly.

The world was, for lack of a better term, beyond fucked, therefore, more extreme measures of self-defense were required. Thus, Serena had her team with her before she even left Vanille. How Serena was a noble made no damned sense, but hey, in this world, what DID?

"You know," Grace said as Ash's pokemon said hello to Serena's "With how these four act whenever we mention Ash, I can't help but think they have some sort of destiny bond with the boy."

While she wasn't wrong, as they were meant to be together, in this case, they just wanted to go home. And Kalos was not home.

Serena smiled. "We're going to Kanto! And I can finally ask Ash to..." she trailed off before just smiling.

"You're not marrying him. He's below your station, Serena." her mother retorted.

Grace actually got a more powerful Dragonbreath for THAT comment, setting her shirt arm on fire. Serena couldn't help but giggle. "Really defensive about Ash are you?"

"GOO. MY!" 'Higher than you, bitch!" retorted the snail before firing off a burst that actually HURT.

Near Ecruteak City - Johto Region - 1749 hours local time

The egg was surrounded by rocks and dirt to keep the forest from lighting on fire and basically ruining everyone's day.

Seriously, forest fires suck.

This idea was Cyndaquil's brainchild, as hauling around an egg would only slow them down. Her idea was basically 'hatch Phanpy' so he could run himself instead of needing to be carried.

"Toto?" 'You sure this will work?' asked Totodile, who watched as Cyndaquil grabbed the egg from Heracross and with difficulty placed it in the makeshift firepit.

"Quil!" 'Of course it will!' retorted the fire badger.

Heracross shook his head and turned his attention to the trees. Now that he finally had time for a break, he could indulge himself for a bit. However, was a bit too zealous in his mission to get to the sap and ran headfirst into a tree.

"Dile!" 'Arceus, Heracross, control yourself!"

"Hera…" 'Sorry.' "Hera-" *PLOINK*

Heracross blinked as something bounced off his carapace, and turned to see a very large pine cone lying next to him. That had eyes.

"Pineco." said the cone, which was more of a pained groan. Until they evolved into Forretress, they weren't the most durable of Pokemon.

Even if that durability came at the expense of being insanely easy to set on fire. Steel was the WORSE combination typing a bug could ask for. Just ask Tracy's Scyther: he wanted nothing to do with a Steel Coat.

"Pine..." 'Ok, that hurt...' the Pineco said before looking around and seeing the others, including Pokemon that were not native to his part of the forest. Totodile knew what the bug-type was thinking: they were trainer Pokemon.

"CO!" 'A trainer! THANK ARCEUS! CATCH ME!' cried the pinecone, much to the confusion of all. Most Pokemon ran or fought. This...was not usual.

"Cyndaquil?" 'Uh, we don't have a trainer?'

"Todo." 'Yet,'

"Pineco…." 'Oh… damn. I was really hoping there would be a trainer.'

"Hera-cross." "Why do you want to be caught?'

The large pine cone shook itself. "Pineco." 'Hey, the world's pretty shitty.' "Pineco-pine." 'A trainer would care for me, protect me and all that stuff!'

Chikorita would have raised an eyebrow in the style of that sci-fi guy if she had eyebrows. "Chic?" 'That makes no sense. You want to be caught? While we're making our way to our trainer, we put up a fight when he tried to catch us!' she retorted, coming up with an excuse for why they were together on the spot.

"Pine." 'Shadow Pokemon are EVERYWHERE, especially here in Johto. Don't you all know that?' asked the Pineco.

More mysteries. They had no idea what was going on and their objective was 'get to Ash', not 'learn the history of the world'. They didn't even know what a shadow Pokemon WAS. Was it the shadow of a Pokemon or something?

Everyone froze as a roar tore across the forest. They all knew that roar: it belonged to a Tyranitar, but it sounded different. Dark. Evil. Corrupted.

"Pine-co." 'That. That's a Shadow Pokemon."

"Chic?" 'So what do we do?'

Another roar sounded, this time much closer.

"Pine." 'Run.'

A hyper beam tore through the forest, Heracross barely getting Phampy's egg in time before they began fleeing as trees fell apart, followed by a fast moving, PISSED OFF looking Tyranitar.

There would be Godzilla/Gojira jokes being thrown left and right by the Ashmons, but at the moment, they were running for their lives.

"QUILLL!" 'I'm having flashbacks to Ilex Forest and that PSYCHOPATH Rocket here!' Cyndaquil screamed. "CYN!" 'Starting to think we ran into Shadow Pokemon before!'

"Chika!" 'No shit! That Scizor was just like this!' Chikorita replied, making them realize that the world was VERY screwed up if these things were EVERYWHERE.

Another hyper beam set several trees on fire, preventing the majority of the group from escaping forward, which was their only option, as turning...well, the Tyranitar would catch up and then their lives would not be very happy for long.

"CHIKA!" 'I am not dying here!'

The Tyranitar locked onto them like that robot from that sci-fi movie and opened its mouth to charge another Hyper Beam-

Only to get a faceful of someone else's Hyper Beam.

The group jumped and looked up to see the serpentine form of a Dragonair snake across the sky above.

"That's enough of that!" They heard a voice call out.

Riding the serpentine dragon was a woman with a cape and wearing what would normally be considered a rather scandalous jumpsuit, with light blue hair. Some of them recognized her, as they had fought her in the past.

Clair Wataru, cousin of Lance, Dragon-type gym leader of Blackthorn City. "I would suggest leaving." she said, addressing Ash's team. "I will deal with the Tyranitar."

The Shadow Pokemon charged up another attack, this one being pitch black in color as it glared at the Dragon-type pseudo-legendary.

"Dragonbreath!" Clair called out, and Dragonair opened its mouth and let loose a powerful stream of purple flames.

The Shadow Tyranitar let loose a pitch black beam that looked like a Hyper Beam. The two attacks slammed into each other, but the black beam punched through. Dragonair saw it coming and easily dodged out of the way.

"Dragon Tail!" Clair commanded as she hopped off her ride. The pseudo-legendary darted forward, its tail glowing with power and slammed it into the rampaging dark-type's side. It roared, bringing it's head around as chilled air escaped from it's maw.

"Crap, Ice Fang! Get out of there Dragonair!" Clair commanded. Meanwhile, Heracross was trying to lift all of them out of there and fly off.

Sadly, the rules of insect flight hit him like a truck and he could only get a few dozen feet away before having to drop them.

"Hera..." 'I hate being me.' Heracross stated.

"Pine." You and me both!' Pineco said as they got a bit further before watching the fight, Dragonair's tail turning silver with an Iron Tail, smacking the rock-type in the face. Clair, now on the ground, pulled out some form of weapon. It was big and long, with Clair pumping some kind of action before shouldering the weapon and firing with a 'THUMP', which hit the Tyranitar after a moment, causing an explosion that hurt the insane quasi-legendary. Sadly, it was a rock-type.

And rock-types don't injure easy.

But she wasn't done. As her dragon let out another Hyper Beam, she worked the action and fired again, hitting the Tyranitar on the head, sending it stumbling into the Beam. She did it again, hitting the monster's arm. As the smoke cleared, it roared.

A ball of dragonic energy slammed into the Shadow Pokemon's face, making it rear back before Clair racked the weapon and fired again.

"Cynda." 'We need to leave.' declared the fire mouse as the battle continued. As they were, they had no chance in facing the Shadow Pokemon and they would be of no help to Clair.

"Her." 'I hate to run from a fight… but you're right.' Heracross nodded, "Cross." 'Plus… it looks like Clair's dealt with these… things before…'

"Pine." 'Not here. Must be visiting that jackass in Goldenrod with the Miltanks.' the Pineco added. While they did not agree that Whitney was a 'jackass', the Miltank certainly WAS.

Thick Fat was just unfair in a Pokemon that already had insanely high defensive abilities and weighed half a metric ton.

"Chika!" 'Let's just find Noctowl and get the hell out of here before that monster finds us AGAIN!' Chikorita yelled as the fight continued, a final explosion being heard as they fled the scene.

Pewter City Gym - Slate Residence - 1921 Hours local time

At least Brock's siblings were still alive. Ash could comfort himself with that thought, as Brock's father wasn't there and he never knew what happened to Mrs. Slate.

"You have so many Pokemon!"

"Usually shadows are scary, but your Pikachu's really cool!"

"Aww, this little Mimikyu's so cuuute!"

Ash smiled slightly as the young ones gathered around his Pokemon who were, for the most part, rather complacent about being around kids - to be expected given how they've had to put up with him for so long.

He wasn't exactly the best when it came to everything. It was why he kept up the journey.

It was also why...

"Is she your girlfriend?"

He would never get romantically involved.

"Sorry. Misty's just my friend." Ash said, stressing the just ever so slightly. He was very, VERY good at lying when it came to romance in any form. Well, at least with children.

"Alright, everyone, leave him alone." Brock said, gently guiding them away from Ash. "Why don't you say hi to his Charmander? You don't see too many of those around Pewter."

"Yeah, because you're a rock-type gym leader." Forrest said as he gave Mimikyu a brief petting. "No one in their right mind would bring a Charmander here." Ash felt mildly insulted by that comment, but let it slide as Brock got him away from the crowd of what Ash privately called 'Brocklings'.

"You want to be more than just her friend, don't you?" Brock suddenly asked once they were out of earshot of the kids.

"I told you I'm not-"

"You want to, but you keep telling yourself something along the lines of 'She deserves better' or 'Why would she want me to begin with'" Brock interrupted, shaking his head. "Yeah, I've heard that line before, Ash… went through a similar phase when I was getting with Philena. Trust me when I say its not healthy to keep those kind of things bottled up inside you… you don't want to plague yourself with 'what if's' and 'what could be's."

"And is it healthy to basically abandon them because you can't keep STILL?" Ash retorted, somewhat angered. "I cannot STOP moving for more than a couple of days. I think that's called 'a terminal case of wanderlust'!" Ash winced, more enraged at himself for his lack of emotional control then at Brock's attempts to 'ship' him and Misty. His argument against could be visually pictured as a submarine firing a torpedo at a cargo ship or something like that.

"Well, I can't argue too much with that." Brock said. "You'll settle down eventually, though."

"Ask my mother about that. She always said I could never sit still and I made it halfway to Viridian when I was a kid." the Pallet trainer said, remembering his 'local' past and as a result his nose having a small blob of blood just barely being held in by his nose hairs.

"Sounds almost like you're one of the legendary beasts!" Brock joked, not noticing Ash plugging his nose to stem the flow.

Nearby, at the treeline, a chill passed through the air as a padded foot stepped onto the earth, bringing a dampness to the air.

A dull heat and a charge in the air joined it, the three forms giving off a sense of legendary power.

The three Legendary Beasts stood together, watching the young Pokemon trainer that had grabbed their attention.

They had been watching him, on and off, for years. Suicune, mostly, saying he was pure of heart, even for a child. A sign he would retain his core innocence until his dying breath. Then that day happened.

So far, Entei was surprised the boy was out of Pallet Town to begin with. They thought he'd never leave after what happened.

'It has begun.' Entei declared. 'Though he seems more... worldweary than before. As though he had somehow gone further then even we have.'

'Ha! Impossible!' Raikou said, looking at the boy as he spoke to the Pewter gym leader almost as an equal, like a grand sage of old. Before the Shadow… 'Something happened.'

'Indeed, brothers. He has… changed. And not for the better.' Suicune stated as she looked at the man in a child's body. He was always more aware than most children of the world around him. He had even noticed Suicune and her brothers more than once.

Then Ash Ketchum's eyes turned to the treeline. And he saw them.

And his expression turned from confusion and slight awe to hate. Raw, undisguised hate. Suicune wondered what had happened before she noticed the gaze wasn't directed at all of them.

It was solely directed at Entei.

The Fire Beast blinked at the sheer animosity directed at him. Ash stared him down for a moment longer, then blinked and shook his head, moving out of sight to join his host.

'He… seemed like he knew you, Entei.' Raikou noted.

'Impossible. I've never been seen by the boy before, let alone done anything to deserve such a look of hate.'

'We shall find out sooner or later.' Suicune declared before thinking about how it was more like Entei's form inspired his loathing. There was only one Entei in the Johto/Kanto area… wasn't there?

Was there a Shadow Entei that stumbled into his life and did something without their knowing?

Ash tried to shake out the thoughts of Molly's Entei and what it did. Kidnapping his mother, attempting to kill him, Bayleef, Totodile and Quilava, shoving him to his certain death with Pikachu and nearly breaking Charizard's neck: of course he didn't like it. And while he tried not to blame Molly for it, he was only human.

And she DID bring that thing into existence in the first place with help from the Unown, so Ash did have a bit of a grudge. But no one noticed.

The young man sighed, rubbing his eyes and forehead, resting his tired eyes. Brock noticed this.

"Still thinking about Mt. Moon?"

Well, not at that moment, but all those deaths still weighed heavily, so he rolled with it. "Yeah… You know, when I left Pallet, I didn't expect to run into a murderous psychopath and a Rocket army."

"60 years of struggle and pain. But the world's getting better. Professor Oak says by the time I have grandchildren, new trainers won't need guns to save them from Shadow Pokemon." Brock said, sighing. "I only wish it was sooner. A century of paranoia, not knowing who or what you could trust...It's disgusting that we live in such times."

'It's disgusting that it happened because of me.' Ash thought, blaming himself for the timeline and the state of the world in general. If it weren't for Celebi sending him back, time wouldn't be a mess. 'Forgetting someone?' a part of his mind whispered. 'You wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't for Cyrus~'

Ash growled for a moment, before blinking and giving his forehead a small smack. Where did that come from? Nevermind.

"Wait, did you say psychopath? Did you-you went through the Viridian Forest?!" Brock said after fully processing what Ash said.

"Yeah. To be honest, I didn't know about the Samurai." the young trainer answered, half-lying. He did expect to see the Samurai at some point, just not...insane and murderous.

"...You are INSANE. Either that, or living under a rock." Brock stated ironically. "That crazy son of a bitch has been there for almost 10 years. We had to make a new route just because of him chopping people up!"

Ash winced. "Well, he got unlucky with the Beedrills this time. They… well." Ash didn't finish. Beedrills were known for short tempers and their massive stingers.

Mostly the stingers.

"Say no more." Brock said, knowing just what most likely happened to the sword-using nut. "You took his swords, though."

"Misty got caught in a rope trap and I used them to cut her free." Ash explained. "After the Beedrills showed up, I just forgot to drop them."

"Well, at least I can show these to the League and reopen the path through the Forest. Mind if I borrow those?" Brock asked.

"Keep them. I don't know how to use them anyway and I'm carrying enough as it is." Ash said, wanting nothing to do with them.

"They belong to you now, Ash. They might make you less of a target for anyone stupid enough to attack you if they know you killed the Samurai." Brock said, Ash ready to object. "I know you said the Beedrills killed him. I believe you. But if you have a reputation for taking down a serial killer who plagued Viridian Forest for years before you even fought your first gym battle, they'll think twice before attacking you."

Sadly, it made sense. Ash didn't like it, but it made sense.

"I'll borrow them, show them to the local scouts and give them back." Brock said as he gathered the two blades. "Besides, you might need them if you want to make any headway in Rota."

Ash furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't remember any swords in Rota. "What, is someone going to challenge me to a sword fight?"

"No, but the fact that you've got his swords will tell them that you've beaten him. Even in Rota, that's bound to impress them."

Ash sighed. He really didn't want to go to Rota, see as he had actually died last time he went there, if it wasn't for that damn Mew.

He had no problems with the species in general. Hell, they were possibly the mother of all Pokemon that weren't the Creation Trio or Arceus, so without Mew, Pikachu and the others wouldn't exist. But that little bitch of a Mew kidnapped Pikachu for no good reason beyond a playmate, which Pikachu didn't want.

That led to all four of them DYING, plus the TRio, before Mew brought them back. All for nothing, though, as Lucario gave his life to restore life to the Tree of Beginning.

That entire debacle was Mew's fault. The only bright spot in it was that he was reunited with Sir Aaron, which wasn't much of one.

With Mt. Moon's tunnel network collapsed, there really was no way to get to the other side and to Cerulean. Still, if that Mew popped up, he was going to shoot first and ask questions later.

"Well," Brock began, standing up. "It's getting late. You two are welcome to stay here for the night. Getting to Cerulean via Rota will take a while."

Misty stiffened at Cerulean. Brock, knowing the story behind that, gave her a clap on the shoulder and a comforting smile.

Ash sighed. "I'll see how my Pokemon are doing. Then..." he trailed off. "I just hope you have separate rooms for me and Misty..."

Brock struggled to keep a straight face.

Entry 6: Brock Slate

Gym leader of Pewter City and one of the top eight Gym Leaders in Kanto, Brock is a hardy young man and one of the youngest Gym Leaders in recent history. Despite the disappearance of his parents shortly after his 14th birthday, Brock became noteworthy for training under Bruno of the Kanto/Johto Elite Four and winning the AS54 Indigo Conference shortly afterward. After reopening the Pewter Gym, he slowly rose into the top 8.

Ash Ketchum recently won his first badge from Brock, which is no easy feat, as while Brock is only in the top eight, it does mean Ketchum is more then a match for the four-badge teams of the bottom ten. By now, it should be clear that engaging the boy is suicide.

Entry 7: The Legendary Beasts

The Volcano Beast. The Thunder Bringer. The Master of the North Wind. These fanciful titles for the Legendary Pokemon known as Entei, Raikou and Suicune are not entirely exaggerated. Entei is known to increase the ambient temperature of a given area just being there and Raikou is known to cause thunderstorms wherever it goes. Suicune is often seen purifying corrupted bodies of water, even known to remove the most base corruptions from it, even chlorine from swimming pools.

However, not even the Legendary Beasts are immune to Shadow corruption, as 90 years ago, Cipher's first attempt to take over and break free of the Orre region included the capture of their local Legendary Beasts and the Ho-oh of Orre. while the former were captured by a local mercenary named Wes and purified, the latter disappeared into the ether.

Long term surveillance of Pallet Town has revealed the shocking presence of long-term visitations by the local Legendary Beasts, Suicune in particular having the longest of any visitation. While it is unclear if this has anything to do with rising trainer Ash Ketchum, it is not unlikely that the local Ho-oh has some plan for the child

Team Rocket cannot afford to anger the League AND the legendaries. Avoid engaging them and Ketchum. (PS: This means you, Vicious.)

Takeshi Yamato: Another chapter down. And Ash is going to need to make a detour.

Ron the True Fan: In all honesty, this entire FIC is a detour. Seriously, when we started this, Ash just evolved Torracat. By now, he should have gotten somewhere closer to Sword and Shield .

Takeshi Yamato: Yes. Well, that's the thing with setting up backlogs. By the time we're done with this, readers, you should be able to get a chapter a week, barring any major snafus.

Ron the True Fan: Depending on RL delays. In the meantime...enjoy an omake.

(Omake: Never Leaving Well Enough Alone)

Ash's day had been horrible. Guilt over the Clefairy colony and adopting that Cleffa because her parents were gone wasn't helping.

Maybe it would be better if he just faded away.

"Excuse me?" a man asked as he came to a stop in front of Ash. He wore a very weird outfit, which was a lot even by Ash's low standards of normality. In fact, the outfit was the oddest thing about him. He looked very nondescript. "I'm looking for an Ash Ketchum. ...Such a weird name."

"I'm Ash." he replied. The man sighed. "Thank god. I've been looking for you for weeks." he said. "My name is Daniels. I'm here to fix a problem."

"A...problem." Ash repeated. "Yes. I'm what's called a 'temporal agent'. My job is to preserve history and...well, your timeline isn't supposed to exist." Daniels said, showing some piece of technology that showed a massive tangled mess Ash assumed was the flow of time. "Now, normally, my superiors would just want the timeline in question purged, simply because it's easier that way, but my co-workers discovered you were here."

Ash decided to humor 'Daniels'. "And why?" he asked, not particularly caring.

"Well, I figured I would recruit you as a temporal agent, seeing as this timeline's about to be erased. I can't bring anyone else, but you would make a valued member of the-"

All of a sudden, a giant bolt of electricity slammed into 'Daniels'.

"PIKA!" 'LIKE HELL YOU WILL!' screamed Pikachu as Daniels was electrocuted.

And that was just the first wave of pain. And let it be known the Authors enjoyed every second of it. (WHACK!)

"Free!" 'You are NOT taking him away from Misty!' Butterfree cried as he was released form his ball by Pikachu, then he fired off a cloud of spores, coating the man in them before kicking the man in the face.

"Pidg!" 'DIE!" Pidgeotto screeched as she blew a Gust into Daniels, sending him flying into a building.

Daniels landed on his face...then looked up to see a cute rag-covered being. "Mi. Mi. KYU!" 'NEW FRIEND!' cried Mimikyu.

"What in the hell happened to you?" asked David Richardson, one of the TIC's more...competent agents.

He and his team were called 'Daniels' Clean-Up Crew' because while Daniels got jobs done, they were sloppy and left loose ends.

No one liked loose ends.

"I don't remember. But it HURT..." Daniels said as he fell onto the floor, groaning in agony.

Ron the True Fan: He'll be back to try again. Whether the omake is canon or not is up to you. Me, I just want Daniels to suffer .

Takeshi Yamato: Yeah, don't really like the guy - Time Travel shenanigans don't really work unless they're done well (Fire Emblem Awakening being a good example of 'done well'), but even without that, Daniels doesn't really seem… well… to be the sharpest tool in the shed.

Ron the True Fan: FEA breaks the time-travel rulebook. Repeatedly . But let's put it this way: all the problems in Trek ? Probably his fault. Hell, for all we know, HE caused Cyrus to go nuts with the whole 'reset the universe' thing. Game Freak'll never confirm it due to legal issues, but it makes terrifying sense.

Takeshi Yamato: Yeah… yeah it does. Well, nothing else, at least we'll get to see him getting beat up repeatedly.

Ron the True Fan: Not EVERY chapter. Once in a moon, though. And Ash's team will not be the only ones getting revenge by proxy...Well, this has gone on long enough.

Ja Ne!

(AO3 Note)

Ron the True Fan: ...Have I mentioned porting this shit is slow? Anyway, remember: the more subs I get on YouTube (link is in my profile) the more vids I can make and the more time I have to write the fics. Because nowadays, I'm kinda on my own for this outside of the planning stages. Is this bribery? I'm not denying it is, but I do kinda require some incentive to quickly make vids to give me time to write. Spread the word, please!

Ja Ne!

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Ron the True Fan: To be clear: Ash might LEGALLY have the ability to marry multiple women, but he does not WANT to marry anyone. There is a difference between being allowed and doing . Ash refuses to marry, does not want to be king and only has two real goals: stopping Cyrus and continuing his journey.

Takeshi Yamato: Yeah, good luck with that, Ashy-boy. I will quote everyone's favorite cyber-zombies here - Resistance is Futile.

Ron the True Fan: SO tempted to do things with that statement now… But I won't. Bonus at the bottom of this chapter. Read on to learn more!

Western Kingdom of Rota/Kanto Border - 720 hours local time - Day 8 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey

"Why are you so glum, Ash?" Misty asked as they circled past one of the roots of the Tree of Beginning. "Most people would be happy about this! I know I would…"

Ash was not a happy camper. The reason was the Thunderstone that was given to him to evolve Pikachu, which he held in his hand, Pikachu safely AWAY from it..

"I will NOT evolve Pikachu unless he WANTS me to evolve him." Ash said before looking at a pool of water. AS far as he knew, no water-types used a thunderstone to evolve.

"Are you kidding?!" Misty asked, horrified by Ash's clear train of thought. "Thunderstones aren't easy to get your hands on! What if Pikachu wants to evolve one day?"

"Pika-chu-pi." 'Not. Fucking. Happening. I LIKE being a Pikachu.' the mouse said, not happy at all about the Surge stupidity. At least Ash respected his Pokemon enough to let them be what they wanted to be. Charmander wanted and wants to be a Charizard again, Ash will let it happen. Bulbasaur and Squirtle want to stay as they are, Ash doesn't mind.

So, when Ash thought of tossing the stone, Pikachu was not against it.

"If my Pokemon want to evolve, they'll let me know or they'll just do it." Ash said. "I don't see Pikachu reaching for the Thunderstone."

Misty shrugged, conceding the point, not noticing the new royalty was still griping. Ash wanted nothing to do with the Thunderstone, Rota, or lots of other things in his travels. But he couldn't help it! Lots of Poke-prophecies seemed to revolve around him, and he wanted nothing to do with them.

Ash tossed it into the water, moving on before some Magikarp tossed it back, Ash going back to byronic brooding.

WHACK! At least until two feathered Pokemon smacked him in the head. "Noc." 'Stop brooding. It's not your style.' Noctowl said, hanging onto Ash's left shoulder while Pidgeotto stood beside him, still barely coming up to his shoulder. "Otto." 'Yeah, you're not the brooding and angsty type. Unless people you know randomly do things that make no sense like say you're worthless for no reason.'

Yeah, that wasn't likely. Misty wasn't going to randomly steal all his water-types and Brock wasn't going to say he was a worthless sack of stupidity or something like that. Unless it was some weird-ass mirror universe where good and evil suddenly flipped and he was the only constant.

Reflection Cave didn't count, as that was just a very… tsundere Serena and shy Ash. But he didn't have all the facts there, so it didn't matter either way.

No, the only changes here were Shadow Pokemon being a plague and people having to be paranoid around wild ones. So far as he knew.

Ash grinned. "Heh. Thanks for that. Both of you." He brooded too much. Having his friends there to slap him out of it made getting through this bearable. Ash smiled again as both birds preened under the praise, only to realize he mentioned both of them, and they started glaring again.

Unknown location

Trilling and cooing filled the air as light filtered through the canopies. It wasn't as much as he would like, but… the sounds were familiar.

He opened his eyes and saw birds. Tiny birds, one that pecked a tree and one with a giant bill.

Toucannon and its' preevolutions. This was his nest.

"Rooooooowl." 'I'm… tired. I need sun. And why aren't I with Ash?' the bird cooed before remembering what happened.

The Mythical grass-type. The end of the world.

…those things Ash's Pokemon back at the Oak ranch were real?! The little grass owl shook his tiredness away, noticing pieces of egg.

HIS egg. "Let?" '…Did I just hatch?' Rowlet cooed, confused. He hatched two years ago, his mother, a Dartrix… having a night with one of the Trumbeaks.

She didn't want his egg, he did not care to know her. But this had a problem. If he really went back in time, he was sure Ash wasn't in Alola.

"Trumbeak." 'Welcome to the world, little one.'

Rowlet looked up. A Trumbeak looked down at him fondly.

"Rowl?" 'Um. Hi?' The little grass/flying type took several deep breaths, trying to clamp down on his panic. Before Ash came to Ahola, Rowlet was relatively lazy, sleeping off most of the day and not doing much. Ash changed that. Somewhat: he still slept a lot, but he learned how to fight. Before, he was a weak glider that just knew Leafage. Now he knew so many attacks and was learning more from Ash before the...incident.

"Beak." `'I know you're confused. We're all different from you.' the Trumbeak said, Rowlet wanting to doze off already. He'd heard this before. But while he wanted to nap, he had to find the others: Lycanroc and Litten were probably just as confused.

The bird made a quick look around before trilling and taking flight. He couldn't waste time napping: his friends were Arceus-knew-where.

He flew over the forest floor, gliding expertly despite his tiredness. He regretted setting off after just hatching, feeling tired due to just taking off but if he started sleeping now, he wouldn't stop for days. And he had to find Lycanroc and Torracat NOW.

Once he cleared the forest treeline, something pounced on him, forcing him to the ground.

"Mrow." 'You know your gliding doesn't keep you from being seen, right?' said his attacker, whose claws were extended, but not touching his feathers. "Li." 'You're lucky I can smell you.'

Rowlet turned his head to find a young black and red cat with hints of orange here and there, his yellow eyes staring into his own. "Rowl?" 'Torracat?' the bird asked.

"Mreow." 'Litten, at the moment.' the cat replied before letting him go. "Mer." 'You're one of the Alolan starters. You can't just fly off and not get caught.'

"Rowlet." 'I got away with it before.' the grass owl said, smoothing out his feathers. "Litten." 'Things have changed. I've seen trainers eye me for a second, then decide I'm not worth it. Remember that grass-type legendary?' the fire cat asked.

Rowlet trilled happily. "Lit." 'We got sent back in time, but everything's screwed up.' the cat explained. "Mrow." 'I've seen that officer Jenny woman with a gun. I mean, she hasn't used it as far as I know, but… something is wrong.'

Rowlet knew about guns and how violent they were from those late night history shows Pikachu watched on occasion, but hadn't seen a real one. There hadn't been a real need in Alola for… a long time. Rowlet didn't really know.

The balance was gone. "Rowl." 'We need to get to Ash.' the first catch the trainer had in Alola declared. "Et!" 'He'll know how to fix it!'

The fire cat gave the grass owl a glare. "Litte." 'One, Ash doesn't know anything about fixing the universe. I've met some of his older captures: he's weird, but not superhuman. Two, I… I'm not sure we need to. Ash gets here eventually. Why risk it?'

"Rowlet." 'Is this about Stoutland?' the bird bluntly asked, Litten wincing. "Rowwwwwwwlll." 'I know you don't want to abandon him, but--'

"Mrowl." 'You're far too perceptive for a lazy grass bird.' the fire-type stated, mildly annoyed. "Lit." 'Yes, I don't want to leave Stoutland. He's old, but I have to stay! He practically raised me!'

"Rowletttt." 'I get that. It's why I stayed with the Trumbeak colony.' "Lit." 'Didn't you stay there out of pure laziness?' Rowlet glared at the fire cat. "Row." 'Just because I'm sleepy, doesn't mean I'm blind.' the owl retorted. "Et." 'One of my parents was a Trumbeak, remember? They're family.'

Litten let the subject die. "Lit." 'Still have to find-' he started before getting bowled over by a dog with dogs on his neck and being licked as dogs were wont to do. "Rock!" 'Hi, guys!' cried the dog.

And there was the… unique Rockruff/Lycanroc. Now the whole gang was there.

"Mrow." 'Lycanroc.' Litten deadpanned before glaring at the dog pinning him down. "En." 'GET OFF ME.'

The dog got off the cat, who was… moderately annoyed. He was young: it was somewhat excusable.

"Ruff!" 'Where's Ash? Why am I a puppy again?' Rockruff barked, mainly due to being a dog.

"Rowlet!" 'Time travel, weird things, end of the world… you know.' the owl said. "Owl." 'Noctowl told me everything during our trip to Kanto.'

"Rock." 'There's a joke in there, but I don't know it.' the puppy stated. "Ock?" 'So… do we wait for Ash or--'

"Rowl!" 'If we wait, it'll take forever! We're going to him!' the owl declared with a hoot.

"Lit." 'Care to explain HOW, grass owl?' the fire cat snarked. "Ten." 'From what I've been able to tell, there aren't any airplanes this go around!'

"Let!" 'We'll take a boat! Come on!' Rowlet took off, heading towards where it remembered the docks were, and Litten and Rockruff soon followed.

"Row! Let!" 'See, I told you there'd be a boat!' Rowlet cheered.

'Boat' was… not the way to describe this thing.

It was a HUGE ship, with four massive stacks, colored black, white, with red under the water, two large masts and… it was really REALLY big. Bigger than any plane or boat in Alola, for sure, with, in gold, the name of the ship: AQUITANIA.

"…Lit." 'OK, I can see your point now,' Litten remarked. "Ten-lit." 'Still, how are we getting on that thing?'

"Rowlet…" 'I can fly into the stacks…' Rowlet mused.

"Rock." 'Rowlet, you're a grass-type. You might be able to survive the smoke coming out of that thing, but we can't!' Rockruff shouted.

Grass-types, by their very nature, were either part-or-fully plant and thus, capable of surviving almost solely on sun, water and carbon dioxide. Litten and Rockruff, on the other hand, had no such aid.

So how?

Johto Region - Route 27 - 1458 hours local time

Navigating the forests was not difficult, seeing as most of them were forest dwellers at one point or another.

Avoiding the trainers, gyms and Arceus knew who else that wanted to catch them like that Cyndaquil-obsessed trainer, easier: they used the evil Pokemon to their advantage. Shadow Pokemon, for some reason, were like trainer-seeking missiles.

They felt mildly guilty over the possible deaths, but hey, they were taken.

That left… one problem. Route 27 was mostly… water. Totodile could swim, the rest of them… well, fire and water don't mix, plus Chikorita wasn't a strong swimmer. As a Bayleef, sure. As she was now? Not happening.

"Cynda?" 'So uhhh… how are we going to manage this?"

"Toto." 'We could Dig there?' The water-type suggested.

"Phanpy." 'But we don't know Dig.' the elephant said with a twitching eye. It was a ground-type move and he should be able to learn it, damn it!

"Cynda?" 'Besides Bulbasaur, Gible and Krookodile, none of whom are here." the fire badger said before the ground shook slightly.

"Cross…" 'If that's a Shadow Pokemon, I am punching it until it makes a tunnel to Kanto for us." the fighting/bug-type declared as the ground began to crumble...

…And a brown head with dark eye patches poked out, the crocodilian skull yawning slightly with a wordless 'Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaand...'

"Chi." 'Convenient. That you, Krookodile?' asked the walking pear as she glared at the ground/dark-type.

"Sand?" 'Huh?' The croc crawled out as his eyes widened. "Dile!" 'Chikorita! Guys, you have to see this!'

And out of the tunnel burst forth all of Ash's Unova pokemon. Pidove, Oshawott, Tepig, Snivy, Sewaddle, Roggenrola and Scraggy.

Cyndaquil smiled, and looked up. "Cyndaquil." 'Arceus, if you did this, thanks.'

(In Sinnoh, the god llama felt appreciated for once)

"Osha." 'I thought we were heading for the Decolores!' Oshawott shouted in confusion.

"Sand…" 'I followed Pidove's directions. Blame her.' the croc said as he took a brief nap.

"Dov!" 'I don't navigate underground, damn it! I'm a bird!' the songbird shouted before something metal crawled out of the tunnel, looking around and then resting far from the fire-types.

"Tep?" 'Where'd the Durant come from?' Tepig asked, IDing the Pokemon as the bug/steel-type ant.

"Snivy." 'Remember that cave we broke into a while back before nearly getting killed by that Sawk?' Snivy said, shuddering at remembering that nightmare fighting-type.

"Ant." 'Must make nest. Place not safe." the ant said almost robotically. Then again, Durants weren't known for communicating with sounds, using pheromones 99% of the time with speech to deal with non-bugs.

"Cynda?" 'Shadow Pokemon?'

"Ant." 'Corrupted one. Destroyed. Ran. Must build.'

"Sand…" 'She can help us get to Pallet.' the croc said. It was a girl? Cyndaquil didn't notice: the voice was odd.

Right, Pokemon that never left their region. They could ID pokemon gender more easily.

"Sand." 'We're going to have to dig just to the other side and AROUND Mount Silver.' Sandile stated.

"Sni?" 'Can't dig through rock?' Snivy mocked.

"Sand!" 'You try digging through granite and dolerite!' Sandile shot back. Granite was hard enough and considered the best and hardest building material on the planet. Parts of that pyramid in that weird desert country were made of granite.

Dolerite was even HARDER than granite. Only Tyranitar could break through that, mainly because that was their main food item, constantly generated by Geodudes and the like on the mountain. It was said the mountain was always building up and the only thing keeping it from getting any bigger were the Tyranitar line.

"Sni." 'Shit. I didn't know that. Arceus above, don't shout.' the grass snake said wincing as she eyed the pain in the rear that was the second-tallest mountain in the Kanto-Johto-Hoenn-Sinnoh area, Mount Coronet taking that particular honor for itself.

Explained why Arceus made her home up there. But right now, they had a giant obstacle to get around.

Hoenn region - Route 118

A Shadow Swellow landed on the ground, twitching violently as it tapped the surface furiously. It knew it heard something in the ground, but he couldn't quite make it out.

Du-dun.

There it was again! The Swellow put its head closer to the ground, trying to get a better grasp of the noise.

Du-dun. Du-dun. Du-dun. Du-dun.

The earth erupted as something leapt from below.

CHOMP!

And clamped onto its' wing, biting hard enough to nearly break the bones. It was a native of Sinnoh, uncommon in Hoenn.

"Gib!" 'Hi!' said the land shark, smiling with his eyes before the Shadow Pokemon dislodged the Gible and flew off, getting angry.

"Gible!" 'Come back!' cried the land shark.

"Tail!" 'Gible? Where'd you come from?' cried a Tailow that sounded… familiar to the Gible before landing on the land shark's fin, allowing Gible to inhale her scent. "Gible!" 'Swellow!' cried Ash's land shark...before attempting to bite her.

"Tail! Tail! Low!" 'Wait, wait wait! My head's not big enough Gible!'

Too late.

CHOMP.

"…Tail" '…Missed you too, Gible…' Tailow muttered, sounding muffled as her head was engulfed in Gible's maw.

"Tre." 'Great. Him.' stated a Treecko as he came over a rise along with many more of his kind, along with a Corphish. "Ko." 'Mind if you take a bite for me?' Ash's future Sceptile asked the crawfish.

"Cor!" 'He's just going to bite us anyways!' Corphish declared before Gible let Tailow go…

CHOMP!

And Corphish got Gibled.

"Cor." 'This is why I'm glad I have a hard exoskeleton,' The Crab-like Pokemon said, as Gible warbled as he bit down from his spot. "Phish." 'Good to see you too, you little land shark.'

"Gible~!" 'Friends! So many of Ash's friends!' Gible declared before a fire monkey got out of the tunnel Gible had made. "Chim…" 'I hate being underground…' said the Chimchar before looking at the collection of Pokemon. "Cha." 'We're in Hoenn, aren't we?"

"Tail." 'What gave you that impression?' Taillow deadpanned before Turtwig got out of the hole. "Turt." 'At last, sunlight.' said the turtle before someone surprised them. "Gli… " 'No more tunnel…' moaned the bat-like Gligar that just barely caught up with them with Gible's… Gibling.

They barely remembered Gligar before leaving Sinnoh, to which the bat was… unhappy. They still sported bruises.

"SWELL!" cried the Shadow Pokemon as it returned.

"Gib!" 'Excuse me!' Gible hopped off Corphish as he opened his maw… as a familiar ball of energy began building up within his mouth.

"Sno…!" 'Wait a minute, isn't that the Piplup-seeker?!' Snorunt cried in horror as Gible released it… and it hit the Shadow Swellow like it would Piplup, exploding on contact and smacking the bird into a rock.

"Gible!" 'Bye-bye!' said the land shark.

"Koal?" 'I thought that only hit Piplup?' Torkoal asked, as everyone had told him it only hit Dawn's starter, the Piplup with a minor Napoleon Complex.

"Treecko." 'You weren't at the Sinnoh League. Gible actually used it perfectly. But I have one problem with that…' the gecko pokemon stated.

"Gib?" 'What's your problem?' Gible asked.

"Tre." 'That homed in like it was going for Piplup, not turning into self-forging explosives. Did you forget how to do it?' Treecko asked.

Gible just smiled happily. "Gib!" 'Nope! But if I used that one, I'd hurt everyone here!' he said.

Treeko had to give him that. A proper Draco Meteor was very widespread in it's damage.

"Tork." 'Well, thanks for coming along when you did. That Swellow would have caused some problems.'

"Gible." 'You're welcome.' Gible replied.

Treecko had let his guard down. This was a mistake he realized only too late as he saw Gible fly towards him. By the time he tried to react-

CHOMP!

He was already in the land shark's maw, enduring the Gible greeting. "Gible!" 'Friend!' cried the land shark.

"Tree!" 'Let go of me, you damned land shark! You know I hate it when you do that!'

Gible let go, smiling with his eyes. "Gib!" 'But you like kicking things in the face!' warbled the dragon. Treecko sighed. That was one reason to get to Kanto: Ash always had someone he could fight. Charizard and he had that much in common, at least.

They both sought strong opponents.

"Ko?" 'How would you know this, young dragon?' asked the Treecko elder, who had been listening in without their knowing.

Ash's three starters looked at each other. The elder had them there. Gible were rare in Hoenn and Sinnoh starters don't go near Hoenn.

"Chim. Char." "Well… it's a long story involving Celibi and a trainer. Gible, why don't you play with that Swellow? This is going to take some time.'

"Gib." 'He doesn't seem friendly.' Gible said.

"Tur." 'Just means you can be as rough as you like.' Turtwig deadpanned.

Gible looked at the Swellow, which was getting back up and screaming unintelligibly. "Gible!" 'I'll bite him until he becomes a friend!' Gible cried as he ran towards the swallowtail pokemon.

"Cor." 'Gibles are an odd species.' Corphish declared as Gible bit on the Shadow Swellow's wing, warbling the whole time. They'd put up with his biting habits because they didn't have much choice.

Gibles were a social lot, but they had hands that were useless for anything but guiding food. So they communicated with bites. They learned that the hard way.

So did Professor Sycamore, according to Ash. The Gible that became the Professor's Garchomp wasn't fond of being touched and the human scientist had Gible toothmark-shaped scars to prove it.

'Back to the topic at hand, Sceptile.' thought the gecko, getting sidetracked by Gible chomping on everything he could just to make a friend.

"Tree." 'So, this all centers around a human trainer named Ash. To make a very long story shorter, he ended up stopping a human from controlling Palkia and Dialga, but the two ended up going insane and destroyed all of reality, and Celibi sent Ash back in time to save the two.'

Naturally, they didn't believe him. They all gave him the looks of disbelief, doubt and the like.

"Cor." 'He likes to fight. A lot. Against anything and everything. Even things he's got a type disadvantage against!' Corphish said, trying to prove his story by saying something about the grass-type no one else knew.

"Tre." 'You live here in Hoenn, crab.' said one of the wild geckos, the unsaid 'you would have known somehow' hanging in the air.

"Turt." 'He never goes anywhere without a twig in his mouth.' Turtwig said, just to get it over with. Turtwigs were never seen in Hoenn outside foreign trainers and they would have smelled him if he got close.

This Turtwig was wild and uncaught. He would have had no opportunity to know their twig-chewing self-proclaimed protector. And none of the flying-types here were long-distance flyers, nor big enough to carry any of them.

They dug here, with a Gible that just so happened to be from Sinnoh, just like them.

"Swell!" 'Get away from me you walking mouth!'

"Gible!" 'Friend! FRIEND!'

And the fact they had a Gible with them. Tallow and their evolutions didn't leave Hoenn, though they heard some lived in Kalos, whose ancestors were caught, but released. And this one clearly knew how the chomper behaved.

"Cko…" 'I don't want to believe it. It's insane.' the elder said.

"Char." 'Want Celebi to prove it?' Chimchar asked. It was said with confidence, like they knew the mythical grass-type.

"Tree…" 'What is it you plan on doing?' one of the Treecko asked.

"Chimchar." 'Well, meeting up with Ash again.' the fire monkey said. "Him." 'He's a good man. A bit idealistic and foolish at times, but not stupid. Though...a bit forgetful.'

"Turt." 'While I do like remembering, I think we should move on.' Turtwig suggested. "Wig?" 'Where's the closest port to Kanto?'

Tailow hmmed before chirping. "Low!" 'Lilycove City! But that's a long way off. We're gonna have to go through the desert.' the bird said.

"Corphish." 'We could dig under it."

"Turtwig." 'That's a lot of us to move underground.'

"Tree." 'We'll figure that on the way. Let's get moving.'

RMS Germanic - Kalos Region - 1348 hours local time

The limiting factor, as always, was Goomy.

As a Goodra, he was dangerous, powerful, almost impossible to take down, rivaled in staying power only by Snorlax and Torterra, truly one of Ash's greatest battlers.

He could also walk.

"Goo." 'Damn it, I HATE being a Goomy!' gooed the snail dragon. "My!" 'Slow, weak, PATHETIC.'

"Hawk." 'You have problems.' the luchador bird said, still guarding Noibat's egg.

"Goo!" 'Of course I do! I went from badass back to this again!'

"Eve." 'Looking to evolve too?'

Goomy blinked, turning to see Serena's Eevee pad up to them. "Goom." 'Yeah. Being a Goomy sucks.'

"Vee." 'Yeah. I've been trying to evolve into a Sylveon myself.' the brown normal-type said.

Goomy resisted the urge to shudder. He got over this long after evolving. He did not fear fairy-types. Not anymore.

But this could help. Fairy-types were immune to dragon-type attacks. He could blast a fairy with all his draconic might and not do a thing. The perfect practice dummy, in theory. The problem was getting Eevee TO evolve into Sylveon. The non-stone evolutions were always tricky, according to a number of wild Eevee he had met in the swamps prior to meeting Ash. Mossy Rocks, Ice Rocks, those were less of a pain. But the other three? A pain to deal with.

"Goom." 'Say, you want to try and train together? See if we could get closer to evolving?'

"Eev… ee." 'That… doesn't sound like a bad idea.'

And because they were both small and weak, they didn't have to worry about hurting or damaging the ship.

"Haw." 'I'll keep an eye out and help you two out as needed.' The fighting bird declared.

They would need someone to force them apart.

"Hey, look!" came a voice Goomy hoped he would NEVER hear again as he 'saw' using his antennae.

PAINFULLY yellow hair was the big identifying mark for the most annoying girl he had ever known: Bonnie Cetron, sister of near-failure-of-an-engineer-and-gym-leader Clemont, wearing some kind of fashionable dress he had no idea what it was called and all too shrill.

Not to mention her insults towards him when he was introduced to Ash. He wasn't putting up with it: no, this time she would be scared of him for being him, not just being a Sliggoo that could melt her. As that amusing as that was.

"Goomy." 'Hawlucha, if she comes at me and starts insulting me, don't stop me.' The little dragon growled.

"Haw." 'Okay.'

"Eve?" 'What are you two on about?'

"Goo." 'Just stay away from the little blond one. You might get burned.'

"An Eevee!" cried Bonnie as she approached, not noticing Goomy until he fired off a burst of dragon fire. This was going to be a pain.

Elsewhere in Kalos

Team Flare. One of the nastier 'Teams', given their goal wasn't so much world domination as it was a global reset, using an ancient superweapon to attempt to kill everyone on Earth that wasn't Team Flare. They were tough. They were determined.

And they were getting their heads handed to them.

The base was one of their smaller ones, and out in the outskirts of civilization, but that wasn't really helping, as an armored figure tore through the base, firing off missiles down every side corridor and laying into the mooks that tried to stop him with an assault rifle. Any return fire, even Pokemon attacks, just bounced off the dark blue armor.

While they would eventually get through, the figure was not giving them the chance, continuing to fire and decimate the Team Flare idiots. Time was not on their side and they knew it. But they continued to fight this invader.

The helmet visor of the intruder was displaying various information to them, such as directions of incoming attacks, what lay down each branching path, and other data they were taking advantage of. Eventually, they reached one spot where the base opened into a large chamber. The visor quickly located key structural supports, also recording all data the suit's onboard computers could collect about what was in the chamber.

The remaining Flare operatives gathered and fired, attempting to end this intruder, managing to do some damage with their own rockets, but all that seemed to do to the one in the suit was just piss it off as it returned fire, unleashing guided missiles on the poor bastards.

"Did you have to kill all of them? I mean, they can give you more information if you let them live."

"The people in a smaller base like this are all grunts or zealots, Rin," the man in the armor replied over his comms, and while the external speakers would distort his voice if he spoke, within the voice was that of Kyril Pernon. "The grunts don't know enough to bother, and the zealots will never say anything aside from the party line."

"Just sayin', your life would be easier if you left a couple of them alive." his… companion, for lack of a better term (they weren't married, they were together; it was complicated) retorted. "The government's branded your alter ego, as it were, a menace and the Royal Family's put a bounty on your head. What was Princess Diantha's words about you?" She paused, seeming to think. "Ah, right, 'this 'Marauder' is as much a threat to the stability of Kalos as Team Flare is'!"

He let out a groan, even as he finished recording all the data, and began running to get out of the base, even as one of his shoulder-mounted missile launchers turned around and fired some missiles at the marked supports. Hidden thrusters ignited, increasing his forward speed as he actually stopped running and started flying like a human rocket - he couldn't maintain thrust output for too long, but it was usually enough to get out of one of these bases when it started crumbling. "Yeah, I know where she's coming from, but she doesn't know the full picture - and honestly, it's better that way."

Given that the full picture was that one of his closest friends and supporters in his early years had sold Pernon Group weaponry to the Teams, and one of them had actually used those same weapons to try and kill him, but when he was barely clinging to life they'd captured him instead and tried to force him to make weapons for them, it was probably a good thing that most of the public didn't know the full story. The first version of the Marauder Armor had been made to effect his escape, and ever since he'd been on something of a one-man war against the Teams, the armor improving with every new clash as he learned and adapted, though Rin becoming his partner and finding out led to him having a vital assistant in that war.

Team Rocket was the most annoying, outside Team Galactic, whose goals were shadowy, even from him.

And their leader… it was almost like Galactic didn't even HAVE a leader. But all of them had leaders. Aqua had Archie, Magma had Maxie, Plasma… that kid, N, was just a pawn. There was no way he was the 'king' of Plasma.

Team Skull of Alola wasn't even worth the title. Guzma wasn't leading a team, he was leading a gang of punks.

Flare, too, had a leader. But that son of a Helixian whore went to insane trouble to hide himself.

All he could do was cleave through the grunts and zealots, denying Flare resources and troops, and getting what data he could from the bases he trashed - hopefully he'd find a lead on Flare's boss, or at least one of their Admins.

"By the way, the Germanic's going to be leaving in 4 hours, so, you know, would you MIND getting back to the ship?" Rin half-asked/all-demanded. "You said you wanted to go to Kanto and begin cracking down on Team Rocket. And as there's no airplanes and won't be until someone's stupid enough to invade Orre…"

"Right, right," Kyril replied as he made it out of the base, setting back down on his feet and turning to face the base he'd left as it all just collapsed into a crater. He then turned back towards where the port was, activating his thrusters again, but this time as jump jets to get incredible jumping height and distance. He'd head for a specific building near Brest, get out of the armor and get it loaded into trucks for transport, then have it ferried the rest of the way to the ship. Though, as he traveled, part of him wondered if there was a way to make the Teams even more scared of him… maybe blaring hard rock over inbuilt speakers such that it eventually triggered a fear response in the Pavlovian fashion?

But that was for the future. First thing's first: get to the boat without getting seen or shot at with anti-tank weapons. Because with that plague from Orre, anti-tank weaponry was a thing: there was a gym leader in Johto that commonly carried a freaking grenade launcher to deal with tough shadow Pokemon. But he was getting off topic. At least he could fuel his quest for revenge and justice with his company. At least the shipping business was his and his alone and no one was trying to sink his ships.

Hau'oli City, Melemele Island, Alola Region - 1645 hours local time

Supplies were required for everyone not Rowlet. He could survive on sun, they couldn't. And stealing the food and such on the ship was a dumb idea: if that Jenny with a gun was any indication, this world was infinitely more violent.

They didn't like it. But that was outside their control. So, yeah, they had to get what they needed right now.

So they were grabbing as much food and berries for the trip before they snuck their way aboard one of the ships. But they did notice that they were being watched.

"Rowl." Their eyes in the sky saw them first. 'Guys, we've got visitors.'

Rockruff got ready for a fight, then noticed what they were. One of them was a Grubbin, a bug-type they were somewhat familiar with, as Ash had tried to catch one prior to the… Murder-kyu incident.

The other was… a Meowth. Blue-gray, kinda fat compared to the talking one they were used to, but still a Meowth. A native of Alola, just like them.

"Meow?" 'What are you lot doing?' asked the Alolan Meowth.

"Ruff." 'Getting ready for a trip. What do you two want?'

"Meowth." 'Just wondering what a whole bunch of wildlings are doing working together.'

"Lit." 'We are not wild.' The firecat stuck his nose up in disdainfully, much like a cat. "Ten." 'We've just been separated from our trainer.'

"Gru-b." 'You don't smell like it.' the grub asked.

Rockruff growled. 'Don't start. We're trying to get to Kanto.' the puppy retorted.

"Mrow." 'The Aquitania's going to Kanto tomorrow...' the Alolan Meowth mused.

"Rowl." 'Well, at least we have a ship.' The bird quipped.

"Meow." 'I don't believe that you're going all the way to Kanto just for a trainer. But if you're going to Kanto, I want to come with. I've always wanted to see more than the islands.'

"Ru-b." 'So have I, to be honest.' The bug admitted.

"Rock." 'Well, there goes plan A. We'll have to be sneaky when he comes to getting food on the ship: stick to cargo areas, unoccupied rooms and stuff like that. At night… well, unless there's big parties, we can go out on deck.' the puppy said, making all of them look at him.

"Rowlet?" 'That's… complex. Something I thought Ash would come up with.' Rowlet said.

"Rock?" 'We spent almost five months together, out of our pokeballs most of the time… and you DON'T expect to pick anything up from your trainer?' Rockruff asked indignantly.

"Litt." 'True.' the cat said, looking at the massive ship, designed to run the gauntlet against the storms that he heard formed on the oceans before looking at the Alolan Meowth. "Ten." 'You want to come along, come on. Just don't slow us down.'

"Meow." 'I could also hunt Rattata. Make it look like I'm employed by the crew." The cat suggested as they all started their way towards the docks.

"Rock." 'We'll figure that out on the boat. We first have to get aboard.'

Mount Silver, Johto/Kanto border - 0245 hours local time

The big dig was going strong, with two diggers speeding everything up. The problem was that they couldn't dig under the mountain due the superhard materials and they couldn't go through it for the same reason. It would take steel tools, not a steel-type, to get through it.

So they didn't bother and had to go around the mountain. But that required visualising their path, so they decided to take a break to let the group rest up and have something to eat. Having traveled multiple regions over the past few days, the Unova group's internal clocks were a bit messed up.

"Saaaaaaaaaaaand." The sand croc yawned, resting lazily against a tree. 'All this digging is making me tired.'

"Phant." 'Keeping up with you is tiring enough.' the mini-elephant retorted, his own legs having given out as they got out of the tunnel. The steel ant was fruitlessly trying to continue digging, but a quick biting from Totodile was enough to halt that and force the Durant to sleep.

For fifteen minutes. After that, she continued digging.

"Cyn." 'That ant is relentless.' the fire badger said as she watched the bug-type dig.

"Tep." 'Durants take short naps all the time before going right back to it.' Tepig stated, resting his legs. "Pig?" 'So, we should be back in Kanto tomorrow?'

"Cynda." 'Should be. Problem is deciding where to go first. Should we stop by the ranch first, or see if we can intercept Ash?"

"Turtwig." 'Let's see if we can run into him. If I remember correctly, he should be on his way towards Cerulean City for the Gym.'

"Sand." 'That's right.' The croc yawned again, picking dirt out his teeth. "Diiiile." 'Didn't Ash travel with that Gym Leader?'

"Cynda!" 'Misty! She was pretty, but… well, she pretended not to like Ash.' Cyndaquil exclaimed. "Quil." 'Hopefully, they'll get together this time.'

"Osha." 'Not happening. He's going to get together with Iris.' Oshawott said proudly.

"Chik." 'That stupid girl with the Dragonite that wouldn't listen?' Chikorita asked rhetorically. "Rita." 'Please. She's not his type.'

"Sni." 'And what is our idiot's 'type'?' Snivy asked, somewhat with a bite. All of the regional pokemon preferred their girl to be with Ash. Charizard was noncaring, as he met most of them and Pikachu didn't care, either.

"Tep." 'She's got dark skin, she likes to travel-' Tepig started.

"Todo." 'And wants to be a gym leader or champion. Misty's already got that and is happy with it.' Tododile said, laying back. "Dile." 'What's Iris got? Nothing.'

"Dove!" 'At least Iris can stay with him unlike your Poke-gym leader!' Pidove shouted.

"Cynda!" 'And yours can only see things in black and white!' Cyndaquil shouted.

And thus the argument began.

'Poke!'

'Negai!'

'Poke!'

'Negai!'

Sandile didn't join in and buried his head in the dirt. Arguing about who Ash would get together with was pointless, as Ash would never do it. The croc could feel it: Ash didn't want to 'get together' with anyone.

"Hera-CROSS!." 'Would you all shut up?!' At his yell, the argument quieted down. 'I'd rather not attract another shadow Pokemon with an argument about Ash's mate! Play matchmaker when we find him."

That shut them down real quick.

"Phan." 'I'm more worried about how Ash is going to handle all of us." The little elephant started quietly. "Hasn't he always run six pokeballs?'

That was true. No matter what, outside that arrogant ass that Ash crushed with Pikachu and the Kanto crew back before the Indigo League, no one used more than six balls. They never understood why.

"Pine." 'What are y'all talking about?' the Pineco asked, coming back from getting berries for Sandile.

"Cynda." 'The six-ball limit for trainers.' Cyndaquil answered.

"Pine..." 'Right, that. I think there was a rule about that.' Pineco stated. "Co." 'It was made during the formation of this League thing I hear humans talk about during their trips. Prevented trainers from cheating during some big fight.'

Gym battles and conferences, no doubt.

"Cyndaquil." 'Fuck that rule.' the fire-type declared. 'Ash doesn't like cheating, directly or indirectly. Pikachu told us about that gym battle where Pikachu got supercharged and Ash still feel like he hadn't earned that badge because of it.'

"Sand." 'The less said about Unova, the better. From what everyone's said, Ash was off his game there.' Sandile declared.

"Hera." 'Well what about food?' The bug asked, causing most of them to blink. "Cross." 'I'm fine, but you don't want to drain all of Ash's money on food, do you?'

"Chikorita." 'Well, I can learn Grassy Terrain and-' Chikorita started, but Sandile spoke up.

"Dile." 'Some of us can't deal with pure vegetation. Charizard and I need some form of protein and contrary to what everyone seems to think, tofu won't cut it.' the croc said.

"Tododil." 'Let's not think about it. Oak's lab is only a few days away and we can get food there before going to Ash's next gym.' Tododile said before laying down to go to sleep. The water gator was right: they'd never reach Cerulean in time.

They'd worry about that tomorrow. For now… rest.

Entry 10: Goomy psychology

The weakest dragon-type is Goomy, though researchers would argue the flying/dragon-type Noibat shares this title as well and is more deserving, as Goomy is a pure dragon while Noibat has the inclusion of the flying-type.

Goomys, for the most part, are simple, gentle creatures, feeding mainly on foliage, soaking up water to maintain their form. A Goomy's main defense is its' soft body, covered in a mucus that deflects most bodyblows. But a Goomy knows they are not powerful enough to fight, thus they either form social groups with other Pokemon or they seek to evolve into Sliggoo. This is usually timed with a rainstorm to force their evolution to Goodra at the same time, as a Sliggoo cannot use eyesight, but must rely on sonar-like navigation and Sliggoo dislike being unable to see and unwittingly injuring their family members.

One Goomy is an anomaly, having the aggression levels of a Charizard and has recently been seen with Ash Ketchum. As always, avoid Ketchum's Pokemon at all costs: once that Goomy evolves into a Sliggoo, your lives WILL be in danger, as a universal trait of all of them is to protect their trainer with lethal force.

Entry 11: The Six-Ball Limit

While trainers can, in theory, carry as many Pokemon on their person as they like, for the most part, the League has installed a limiting system into each and every Pokeball, allowing only six to be active at all times, the others being put in a kind of stasis.

However, it is fairly easy to bypass the limiter, if one has the electrical knowledge to do so. While the League frowns on this, it is not illegal to have bypassed pokeballs on your person, only to use more in a regulated match.

While Team Rocket operates outside the law, we usually impose the same limit for practical reasons: caring for more then two is difficult and why only certain agents carry more than three. The only grunts known to do so are the agents known as Jessie and James, with almost all of their Pokemon kept at HQ.

Ron the True Fan: (holds napping Rowlet) Aww, he's cute. And the only appearance of Ash has been at the beginning! That's a first. And while all of them are en route, some will get there faster. Sandile happens to be closer, mainly due to the fact that he HAS been shown to be the digging machine from hell.

Takeshi Yamato: Yep - and yes, Kyril Pernon is basically Iron Man with Batman's rep. Given what he's been through, though, it does kinda make sense.

Ron the True Fan: And now for the thing that was promised. See, Take and I had a talk when Detective Pikachu came out (yes, this is THAT old, get over it) about the voices of Ash's team. And thus, the result: the list of voice actors and actresses that are Ash's Team! (We might do the rest later)

Pikachu: Ryan Reynolds
Charmander: Johnny Yong Bosch
Riolu: Mark Hamill
Pidgeot: Wendee Lee
Mimikyu: Chantal Strand

Beedrill: Richard Ian Cox

Butterfree: Chris Patton

Spearow: Sean Connery

Tauros Army: Temuera Morrison

Snorlax: Tom Gibis

Bulbasaur: Matt Mercer

Squirtle: Kyle Hebert

Primeape: Doug Erholtz

Noctowl: Pierce Brosnan

Bayleef: Tabitha St. Germain

Totodile: Jason David Frank

Quilava: Alaina Burnett

Donphan: Alex Zahara

Heracross: Michael Hogan

Sceptile: David Lodge

Swellow: Lindsay Jones

Torkoal: Vic Mignogna

Snorunt: Andrew Francis

Corphish: William Shatner

Torterra: Brian Bloom

Chimchar: Brad Swaile

Buizel: DeForrest Kelly

Staraptor: Harrison Ford

Gible: Rebecca Forstadt

Pidove: Arryn Zech

Oshawott: Levar Burton

Snivy: Nana Visitor

Tepig: Avery Brooks

Roggenrola: Anna Cummer

Palpitoad: Lyssa Browne

Krookodile: Mark Ruffalo

Noivern: Denis Lawson

Goodra: Michael Dorn

Hawlucha: Patrick Stewart

Talonflame: Vanessa Morley

Greninja: Brad Swaile

Torracat: Yuri Lowenthal

Rowlet: Dave Wittenberg

Rockruff: Kirby Morrow

Alolan Meowth: Armin Shimerman

Ron the True Fan: More will come as they are added. And as new captures happen. While I know Ash has a Meltan by now, this was made PRIOR to Ash catching it. But it'll show up. When it's right for it to.

Redemption's Avenger: I AM HERE. Not much more to say. Just here to help out.

Ja Ne!

(AO3 Note)

Ron the True Fan: Remember what I said about hate? It holds. I am not a happy Gible.

Ja Ne!

Chapter Text

Ron the True Fan: And we have returned. Ash will return to greater prominence than last time, but there are always consequences. Always a cause and effect. …I should not have watched the Matrix before writing this note.

Takeshi Yamato: So, now that Ash is on his way from Rota towards Cerulean, what will happen next?

Ron the True Fan: Nothing good. Also, in case anyone is wondering why Ash isn't getting lost...Pidgeotto's guiding them around. Aerial navigation is almost as good as GPS in a world without it and Ash does NOT want to get lost this time. He's on the clock.

10 kilometers from Cerulean City Northern Entrance - 0723 hours local time - Day 11 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey

The last time he was here, it was a trap. It was no different this time. But it would have a different outcome. That Ash knew for certain.

For at the roots of the mountain range that made up northern Kanto was a school for so-called 'elite trainers'.

Ash proved they weren't so elite back then and he was a rookie. Pokemon Tech was no match for someone that went through six leagues and the island challenges of Alola, lack of proof not withstanding. That and… well, it was here that Ash discovered he had a bit of a type.

"Pika?" 'Thinking about that prissy girl with the Cubone?' Pikachu asked, a teasing tone in his voice.

"Don't start." Ash retorted. While he had a minor schoolboy crush on Giselle the first time, that was… prior to meeting her in person. To be honest, she was a bitch. And that was a turn RIGHT the hell off. But while her personal interactions with Ash were minimal, lasting a day, her long term effect was showing Ash's type.

He liked girls with long hair. As long as it was past their shoulders, he found it attractive. Jessie was older then him and with James, even if she denied it, but Dawn was a big one. Misty, too, once he figured out how long that side-ponytail was when it wasn't tied. May's bandana hid the length easily, but he was not dumb and she DID let it out once in a while.

Iris was a no brainer. Serena cut her hair, which partially helped him keep her off his mind. Until she kissed him, that is.

'Get your head in the game, Ketchum.' Ash thought at himself, forcing his thoughts away from the women in his life (who would be platonic, if he had any conscious say in it) and onto Pokemon Tech. If he remembered, they sent out the trainer that was the worst against him in some kind of hazing.

Joe, the young man Ash had firstly encountered being quizzed about Pidgey… on a treadmill. Joe had tried to say that it was part of the teaching, but Ash knew that was bullshit, back then, and right now.

This time, Joe had been sent out to fight him, and they both knew that he stood no chance. But Ash was not a jerk. He wouldn't fight anyone that didn't have a chance in hell unless he was training them. Beating the crap out of people wasn't his thing.

"S-Stop!" Joe stammered out, holding his single Pokeball containing a Weepingbel, he thought he had last time. "I-I'm one of the elite students at Pokemon Tech! You're not allowed here!"

Ash sighed. "Look, uh..." he said, giving him an opening to introduce himself.

"J-Joe." his would-be opponent answered.

"Joe, I think we both know you don't have a chance against my team. I don't want to fight you if I don't have to." Ash said gently. "Besides, it looks like you're out here against your will. You don't even want to fight."

"No!" Joe protested. "It's my duty to fight-"

"No it's not." Ash retaliated, putting force behind his voice. "And forcing someone to do something doesn't speak much of your character." Ash called out, looking to the forest.

As expected, some students came out of clever hideaways. Ash was not impressed. Top on his list of things he hated were bullies, outside thieves and Cyrus. (Cyrus trumping EVERYTHING until either the omnicidal bastard was locked up or dead) And these 'elites' were going to learn not to screw with someone with Ash's moral compass.

30 minutes later

"Ok, now I just feel bad." Ash said, having taken down Pokemon ranging from a Geodude to a Xatu with only one Pokemon.

"Noc." 'These guys don't even get a workout, what!' the shiny declared, having kicked the asses of 23 pokemon from six different trainers. On his own.

Ash usually allowed all of his Pokemon out to train, sometimes with his supervision, sometimes off on their own. But he always let them out to get some air.

Were they kept in stasis the entire time or something? Sweet freaking Arceus, he was NEVER this bad! Even at his worst, he tried to care for them the best he could.

And get fried by Charmeleon/Charizard a lot, but the point stands.

"You all suck." Misty declared. "Almost all of you had direct type advantage or moves with it and Ash STILL kicked your asses!" Ash was not comfortable with the almost cheerleader-like tone his tomboy of a friend (and would-be lover, if his Pokemon had any say in it) adopted with that statement. It was like she was back to normal, only...not a tsundere.

"None of you have experience." Ash declared. "You've all been taught, but you've fought very little. And you were all fawning over Noctowl? So what if he's shiny? Pay attention to the fight!"

Out of all of this pile of crap, that pissed him off the most. They were far more interested in the look of his friend than what he was capable of.

That, the lack of training and their elitist attitudes pissed him off. So he was VERY happy to knock them off their high horses.

"A shiny Noctowl?" came the dulcet tones of the girl that showed him the girl he liked, holding a Pokeball in her hand as she walked towards them. "Impressive. Not many people use a Noctowl in competitive battling: too generic, too underpowered."

"Your arrogance astounds me." Ash deadpanned, now VERY tired of this and his true mixed mental age showing. "You use statistics instead of actually training. How often do you even let your Pokemon out of their balls?!"

"Regulated training every day, trained in the right movesets." the prep schoolgirl answered back. "But it's not all of that. Skill is required. And they just proved they lack enough to stop you."

Ash could have used a number of inventive curses to insult her. Kalosian was one of the many languages he was fluent in other then his native one. But he decided to humiliate her.

"Prove it." Ash challenged, wanting to shut her the hell up.

The brat smirked. "Take him down Cubone!" she declared, sending out the skull-clad ground-type.

"Let's bring her down a few pegs, Pika-"

There was a loud chuff, a whoosh of noise, and then a loud BOOM!

The group ducked instinctively as dirt rained down on them.

"What was that?!" Giselle shouted.

Ash mentally groaned as he released the rest of his team. There was only one group of people that would use their namesake to attack a college dedicated to the training of pokemon. Team Rocket was launching a raid, and he was caught in the middle of it.

One day, he was going to tear Giovanni's head off. Literally or figuratively, he didn't care, as long as Team Rocket stopped being a pain in the ass.

Nearby

Proton found it ironic that they were using rockets to wreck the school. Most of the time, the Team preferred Pokemon or firearms. But there was a reason for this.

Pokemon Tech had a massive collection of rare, powerful Pokemon and fossils, as well as other materials, in a vault under the school itself, reserved for either highly skilled trainers or the regional professor. And Oak had no interest.

Attacking Oak was suicide and everyone knew it. The man was old, but his team… thinking about those things was nightmarish enough.

But Oak was not here.

"Sir, forward recon's got something." one of the grunts reported from a station in the little command truck Proton was using. He would prefer to just lead from the front, but he had a sprained ankle.

"What is it?" he demanded before the image of a young man with black hair and a League cap was displayed.

He knew who it was. No one in the former United Regions didn't. Ash Ketchum, descendant of the Rotan Royal Family.

Someone that the Kingdom would pay a literal king's ransom to have safely returned to them.

"Change of plans." Proton declared. "I want him alive. I don't care about the rest."

More rockets hit the buildings, the students fleeing into them to seek cover. Ash and Misty wisely sought cover with them, not wanting to get hit with explosives.

Ash had far too much experience dying in numerous ways and he did not want to know what getting blown up was like.

"What the fuck is Team Rocket doing here?!" Giselle shouted, ducking down as another RPG blew a hole into the side of the building.

"They want your Pokemon." Ash answered.

"Oh really? Over my dead body." Giselle growled. "Everyone, follow me!"

Giselle darted into the building, followed by Ash and the rest of the trainers.

More explosions hit the grounds, while Pikachu fired off lightning and picked a few Rockets off.

"Oh, shit!" came the familiar voices of Ash's least favorite trio, who were up above in their trademark balloon.

And Ash's rage boiled over, what little grip he had on it slipping.

Pikachu noticed and decided to deal with them, firing a thunderbolt at the balloon, which was sent flying towards the attackers. The only reason they weren't dead was their inability to be killed and the mouse knew it.

Of course, not that he would care. Ash would, but Ash was the forgiving type.

The group finally reached the main building, just as another rocket slammed into the building. "We need to take the fight to them." Giselle stated. "Come on."

Giselle ran up to a door with a keypad, quickly input a code, and rushed inside, revealing a sizable armory. Ash blinked at the sight, then remembered that Shadow Pokemon were a thing and weapons like this were needed to handle them. But as Giselle picked out an M14, slammed home a mag and racked the charging handle, he realized what she was proposing.

"Wait a second, we can't just go out and kill them." Ash said, stopping her from going further.

"And why not?" the top student asked. "They're trying to kill us."

"If you do that, you're no better then they are." Ash retorted, fighting her for the weapon. "Killing is a LAST resort, a resort no one wants to take! We need to drive them away, not kill them!"

"Well I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let these assholes take what they want!" The student growled as she grabbed a belt of grenades.

"I'm not suggesting we do! Look, let's see if we can do it my way. If that doesn't work, then we can do it your way. I've fought the Rockets before, I know how they work. We can be better than them without falling to their level."

Giselle bored into Ash's eyes. And she found herself wanting, letting go of the rifle. "You've fought them?" she asked.

'For nearly a decade, plus their regional counterparts.' Ash thought to himself. "I've fought a few of their grunts, once at Viridian, once at Mount Moon." he replied. 'And wasn't that a disaster, hmm, Ashy-boy?' said that dark voice in his head, which Ash attributed to his guilt. He promptly ignored it. "We can attack them with Pokemon, non-lethally. Can any of yours use Dig?"

"I have one!" A student called out by a rack of rifles.

"Good. The plan's simple, we make the Rockets think that there's a massive group of trainers here, using our Pokemon to confuse them."

Giselle looked around at the students, then back to Ash. "Alright. We'll do it your way." she said.

"Trust me." Misty said smiling, voicing her opinion of the situation for the first time. "This will work."

Proton was not a happy man. Rocket after rocket and STILL the building stood.

"What am I going to need to bring this thing down, artillery?!" he screamed, before remembering Team Rocket didn't HAVE artillery. Those were safely locked up.

At Indigo Plateau. With Bruno having the key. And that Onix of his more than willing to kill anyone trying to get in without permission.

So his options were limited. And with old anti-tank rockets going up against a building designed to endure everything up to a flight of pissed off Shadow Dragonite, it was slow going.

"Sir, our forward teams are encountering resistance." One of Proton's lieutenants called out.

"Well then, what's the problem? Kill them."

"That's the problem, sir. They've been ambushed. I've lost contact with three squads."

Proton blinked. His infamous temper was peaking now. 'Calm your ass. Figure out who's...Oh, shit.' he thought, figuring out who was doing this.

The students would fight back with guns and Pokemon, not Pokemon alone, as he was guessing.

And while Brock's one-badge team wasn't exactly THE most impressive, it was tough enough to handle a trainer who had a month and a half of experience under his belt. Ash Ketchum, on the other hand, beat him on his first week. First try.

Ketchum was a good strategist. The only flaws in his tactics were his team's lack of raw power and his flying-types not getting Steel Wing down. But he knew what he was doing, otherwise their operation in Mount Moon would not have been COMPLETELY FUCKING WRECKED.

Archer was livid about that. Now Proton was sharing the same opinion. Ketchum was a menace.

"RPG teams, saturation fire around the grounds. Flush them out!" Proton waited a moment but heard nothing. "RPG teams?"

"Sir, the rocket teams- they were taken down, ambushed, by a- oh no… stay away, STAY AWAY- AHHHHHH!" The man was cut off by a loud whoosh of what sounded like… water?

"Squirtle!" came the call from over the radio.

Intel didn't say anything about Ketchum having a Squirtle! A hyper-aggressive Charmander, yes, but not a Squirtle! Waterflower didn't have one, either.

'If the intel department is being lax again, I'll rip their eyes out and skull-' Proton never finished that thought as his command vehicle rocked side to side. "Evacuate now! Fall back!"

Screw the academy. Not getting caught was more important.

Damn that Rotan bastard-prince. Ketchum would DIE for this. Proton swore it.

The students cheered, their Pokemon safely coming back to them.

"I don't get it. Why'd they run?" Misty asked. "They had more people, more weapons. Why run when you've got us on the ropes?"

Ash had to admit, Misty was right. Those Pokemon did a hell of a job, but there were a LOT of Rockets out there. They couldn't get them all. So how and why?

"Squirtle!" Ash heard a familiar call. 'Those assholes stood no chance against my power!'

A small blue water turtle rolled onto the scene, popping up and posing proudly.

"Pikachu!" 'Holy Arceus, is that you, Squirtle!?'

"Squir!" 'In the shell! I heard the explosions, saw some Rockets, and messed them up! Nobody expects the Squirtle inquisition!' declared Ash's first water-starter.

No one expected Squirtle, indeed. Ash met him shortly before going into Vermillion City, not on the road or after.

"Squirt." 'So, back to the first league, huh? Shame Ash can't--'

"Pikachu." 'He can understand every word we're saying. Side-effect of how Celebi sent us back through time.' the electric-type replied. The water turtle looked at Pikachu incredulously. "Tle." 'Really?'

"Pikapi." 'Ash figured it would be mental travel, so he only asked for us to come back. Stress of having a dozen humans crammed inside his own mind would drive him insane. Pokemon are...easier.' Pikachu stated.

Ash scratched Pikachu behind the ears. "Later." He said quietly, turning back to Giselle.

"I'm amazed this worked!" The lead student exclaimed. "I'm pretty sure no one died!"

Ash smiled. "Some people may deserve to die, but many more deserve to live." He said, his mind drifting to Lucario and Latios. "We are not the ones to make that judgment."

Ash clapped a hand on Giselle's shoulder, giving her a kind smile. "I hope you learn that."

With that, he looked to his old Squirtle. No words needed to be exchanged, as Squirtle jumped towards a Pokeball and caught himself.

"Squirt!" 'Boss!' came the cries of another Squirtle as she ran towards Ash. 'He must've brought the entire Squirtle Squad with him.' Ash thought to himself. He couldn't abandon them or Ash.

The League might take a few of them in. But not all of them.

Team Rocket Headquarters - 1258 hours the next day

"I am not a happy man, Proton." Giovanni declared from his seat. Proton stood several feet from his desk, bruised and bloody and all of it caused by Giovanni's wunderkind nephew.

Giovanni was torn between pride in his blood or annoyance that he seemed to have a nose for destroying his operations. He settled for being pretty pissed at Proton for trying to kill Ash. The students, he could care less. Waterflower, moderately concerned for the warpath her sisters would carve through Kanto.

But if Ash had died during that skirmish, Delia Ketchum nee-Sakai would burn it to the ground like Kalos did to the Galar region over three centuries ago.

"With all due respect, the operation was still workable. One trainer-"

"Ash Ketchum is clearly a skilled commander of Pokemon and trainers if he was able to outmaneuver you, Proton. He took down Brock on his first try. Mostly with type-disadvantage, and destroyed our Mt. Moon op." Giovanni growled, resting his head in his right hand. "Alright. Standing orders for everyone. Avoid Ketchum at all costs. You see him, run. Do not engage. We'll lose less money abandoning an operation, than letting him destroy it all. Am I clear?"

Proton bit his tongue. Flee-on-sight? The last person to have that applied to them was that bitch Cynthia and she had to earn that through a LOT of blood in Johto!

Ketchum destroys two operations, one minor and one not so minor, and suddenly the boss considers him the bane of Team Rocket?! What the hell?!

"Yes, sir." Proton ground out, very simply.

"Good. Do not try anything." Giovanni warned. "I will know. Dismissed."

Proton growled in his throat, but knew better than to argue, turning on his heel and leaving the room.

"I'm surrounded by idiots…" Giovannni muttered.

Route 25 - 1434 hours local time

Ash and Misty were back on the road again, heading towards Cerulean. Squirtle filled in Ash, telling him that he had led the Squirtle squad to the League, getting them set up as a firefighting team after another incident with Team Rocket. He had assured them that he was not abandoning them when he went out after Ash, assuring them that he would find them a worthy trainer. Well, one of them followed Squirtle, which is how Misty ended up with a new capture.

"Squirt." 'So, we gotta stop this psycho guy. What was his name?' Squirtle asked as he decided to stick around.

"Pika." 'Cyrus. Creepy emo bastard really screwed everything up in Sinnoh.' Pikachu replied. "Chuuuu?" 'And I think he screwed up a lot in Unova. I mean, Ash was WAY too dumb there, making rookie mistakes and all that.'

"Please don't remind me." Ash deadpanned. "That was embarrassing." Unova was just insulting. If Cyrus did that, for a supposedly emotionless man, he was petty as all hell.

"What are you and your Pokemon talking about?" Misty asked, getting in too close for Ash's comfort. Part of him wanted her closer-

'STOP IT!' Ash mentally yelled, smashing his lesser urges into the metaphorical dust. 'You are BETTER then this!' But that dark part of his mind refused to let up. He needed a psychic-type: those could put in blocks to prevent him from turning into Brock. Or worse.

"Just how many times Team Rocket's nearly killed us." Ash lied, not very smoothly.

"Hm." Misty hmmmed as something red scuttled across their path. "Oh look, a Krabby."

A very familiar Krabby, to Ash and the two Pokemon on his shoulders. "Squir!" 'Hey, Kingler, is that you?"

"Krab." "In the smaller shell. About time I found you guys."

"That's a very small Krabby." Misty noted, much to the displeasure of the crab.

Ash shrugged. "It's not the size that matters." Ash replied, pulling out a pokeball.

"Kook!" 'Thank you, Ash!' The crustacean cheered. "By!" 'Now ball me!' He demanded, clapping his claws rapidly.

"Pika." 'He can understand you, you know.' the electric mouse deadpanned.

"Kooky!" 'Oh, that's great. Now he can hear me bitch about being a Arceus-damned Krabby!' the crab said mock-cheerfully before Ash just chucked the ball at him. And thus, he teleported away to Oak's lab.

"You know, I've noticed something odd..." Misty mused, looking at where Krabby once was. Ash was not going to like this.

"Noticed what?" he asked, hoping she wouldn't think he was from the future or something. In his defense, he had dealt with much, much, MUCH weirder things then time travel. He had jumped universes once.

"Pokemon basically come up to you and ask to be caught. Why is that a thing with you?"

Ash shrugged. "I guess this one wanted someone who saw more than just his size. But as for the others, I don't know." Ash lied again. He'd come clean with her sometime… eventually.

Hoenn Region - Route 111

After breaking the news to everyone, the combined Hoenn-Sinnoh group were discussing how they were going to get through to this...hellhole. Digging was an option, but would be a bit difficult with a massive tribe of Treeko. Even if it would be cooler: the desert sun would cook them all. Except...maybe one.

"Gib..." 'So...WARM...' the land shark warbled very happily as he soaked up the rays and the warm sand.

"Cor." 'This...is new.' Corphish said from his little pool, made from a pit of sand filled with water that he Hydro Pumped into the hole for cooling. He was a water-type crab: he needed to get in water to avoid being on the menu. Helping the others was a side benefit.

"Tree." 'Gibles usually sleep in warm caves. For him, this is probably paradise.' the future Sceptile said.

"Gil." 'I'm just waiting for him to start doing the sand shark thing and start chomping.' Giligar said, waiting for the dragon to do just that.

"Tree…" 'Wait a second… If Gible's there, then what's that-'

The sand burst up as a form darted out and rocks rained around Treeko, trapping him in place.

Jaws of a much smaller sort clamped around his foot, making the reptile grimace with pain before seeing his attacker.

With small, beady eyes, massive jaws for his body size and a squat body, the creature was a Pokemon, a ground-type. One that, rather fittingly, was the same type as Gible. Or it would be.

"Inch!" 'Gotcha!' tried the Ant Pit Pokémon before Treecko kicked him in the face. "Trap!" Oi! No meal kicks me in the face!'

"Tree-cko!" I! AM! NOT! YOUR! MEAL!' the geecko shouted as he kicked the Trapinch in the face with each word before the antlion let him go.

"Trap." 'That hurt.' said the not-bug before looking at Treecko. "In." 'Oh, you're a Pokemon. Sorry bout that: was hunting for animals, not anything sentient.'

"Tree." 'It's.. okay.' The grass-type groaned. "Ko." 'Just… get these rocks off me.'

"Trap." 'Sorry.' The ground-type muttered again, gripping the big rock pinning Treecko with his mouth and crushing it in his powerful jaws.

"Char!" 'Treekco, are you alright?!' The fire-type called out, rolling up to the scene.

"Tree." 'Yeah..' He muttered, brushing off the rock pieces. "Tree-ko." 'Just a misunderstanding with a Trapnich.'

"Tra." 'Was hunting for non-pokemon. Even ambush hunters make mistakes.' the antlion said, blinking his beady eyes.

"Turt?" 'Non-Pokemon? Is that even a...' Turtwig trailed off as he felt something land on his back. 'Thing?' It was like a Beautifly, but...smaller. A lot smaller with just compound eyes. And it wasn't talking or anything.

"Trap." 'Like one of those. Humans call it a butterfly.' He nudged the bug with his nose, causing it to fly off. "Nich." They're apparently rarer than Pokemon, but I have heard that humans have massive farms of creatures that look like Tauros and Miltank but aren't pokemon."

The group looked between each other, processing the new information. "Tree." 'Interesting. Well, thanks for your time, but we need to get going.'

"Inch." 'Wait, what are a group of wildlings doing out here?' the not-bug asked.

Da-dun.

"Ra?" 'What's that-' He never finished.

CHOMP!

The tables had turned as the antlion ended up in the jaws of the shark. "Gib!" 'We're not wild!' Gible said happily, chomping on the ground-type. "Ble-gib-gi!" 'We're caught! And we're on our way to get to our trainer!'

"Trap…" 'Okay, okay. Could you put me down now?"

"Gib." 'Sure thing." He gave the Trapnich one last chomp, then released it.

"Inch." 'Thank you. Well, if you aren't wild then where's your trainer?'

Turtwig looked to the others. "Twig." 'Do you think we should just come clean and tell him?"

"Char." 'Might as well.' Chimchar said. "Chim-cha-char." 'What do you know about the Time Travel Pokemon?'

"Inch." 'I've seen Celebi once when I was near Regirock's Cavern.' the Ant Lion said, much to the shock of the caught Pokemon. "Trapin." 'What? Surprised I know where a legendary is? It's local knowledge. Regirock's in a cave just up north. Anyway, why mention Celebi? Does she have anything to do with this?'

"Chimmmm…" 'Well… you see… we're kinda from an alternate future.' The fire ape scratched the back of his head. "Char." 'We got sent back after a universe ending apocalypse involving the creation trio, alongside our trainer.'

"Tirt." 'Our trainer's kind of important to the gods. Don't ask me why, that's another story. But Arceus had Celebi send him and us back in time to stop the apocalypse.'

"Treek." 'We ended up where we started in life, but we're not going to sit around a wait for him to come to us, so we're traveling to Kanto to meet up with him."

The Trapinch blinked his beady eyes. "In..." 'This is hard to believe...' he said.

"Gible." 'Everything's all messed up. Like those angry evil Pokemon." he said before they heard an angry buzzing. Angry...and dragonic.

"Inch!" 'Oh, swett Arceus no!' the antlion cried before they came face to face with a massive dragon-type. Not only a dragon, but a ground-type dragon.

"Gible!" 'Like that!' he said, pointing at the corrupted Flygon. "Inch!" 'RUN, DAMN IT!' the not-bug cried as he dug into the ground. But the land shark would have none of that.

"Giiiii..." Gible wordlessly growled as he gathered energy into his massive maw. Flygon was a dragon. And dragons were easily hurt by dragons. And Gible knew the best way to hurt the Shadow Flygon. "BLE!" With a ball of dragon energy that usually found its mark on Piplup's head.

"Fly!?" 'What the f-' The ball of draconic energy slammed the Flygon in the face, sending it crashing to the sand, missing an ear.

"Gib!" 'Come here you big meanie!' The little dragon shouted, charging into the dirt.

"Gon!" 'No, no, stay away, stay away!" The Flygon picked itself up and started flapping its wings, but too little, too late.

Gible burst from the sand, another Draco Meteor flying from his mouth to slam against it's back, sending the dragon/ground to the sand yet again, giving Gible plenty of time to do what Gibles did best.

CHOMP!

Gible's mouth closed on the Flygon's wing, biting harder then he would normally, for this was not a friend. This was a mindless killing machine, corrupted beyond hope, not that Gible knew this. All he cared about was that this Flygon was a threat to his family. And all threats had to be eliminated.

And with one disabled wing, the Flygon wasn't flying far, going into a shallow dive. Straight into a rock.

Gible let go, using his 'horns' like jet engines, steering him to soft sand. The Flygon, though...

THUD

Wasn't getting back up.

Gible dove into the sand, going deep enough to hide even his fin. At least until he started moving, the fin cutting through the hot sand like water.

"Trapinch!" 'Holy shit! Gible just wrecked that Flygon!"

Da-nun.

The ground-type realized what was coming. But like his corrupted evolution, he was too late.

CHOMP!

But unlike his evolution, Gible was far nicer. "Gib." 'That was fun.'

FUN?! He nearly killed a Shadow Pokemon and...well, Gible WAS one of Ash's team. They were all a little warped in the head.

"Inch. Trap-Inch." 'Can I join you guys? Your trainer must be something else, and I want to become a Flygon too.'

"Chim." 'Well, we've already picked up a few more. Ash certainly won't say no to anyone." The starter smiled. "Char." 'Welcome aboard.'

"Trap." 'Cool.' The not-bug blinked. "Inch." 'Now can you put me down?'

Gible released the future dragon from his maw. "Gib!" 'We need to get to Kanto. That's where Ash is!' he said.

"Inch." 'Digging there is out of the question. Even though Kanto's close, there's an ocean between us and there.' the antlion said. "Tra." 'And we don't have a rock-type to reinforce the tunnel if we did. Getting crushed by an ocean's worth of water pressure isn't on my to-do list.'

Sinnoh was close enough to tunnel to. Kanto was too far.

"Cha." 'We're heading for Lilycove. But the desert will cook most of us alive before we get there.' the monkey said.

"Inch." 'Lucky for you, I know the desert's secrets. I'll get you to Lilycove.'

RMS Germanic - 48 minutes out of Brest, Kalos - 0905 hours Local Time

Eevee darted out of the way of a weak Dragonbreath and charged back in, her body glowing as her speed accelerated into a Quick Attack, and bounced into Goomy's side, not doing any real damage to the dragon.

"Goom!" 'Nice hit!' Goomy praised, even as he let off another pair of Dragonbreath, trying to pin down the faster pokemon.

"Eve!" 'Thanks!' The Evolution pokemon accepted the praise even as she used another Quick Attack to dodge the attacks. "Vee!" 'This is fun!'

Goomy was the ultimate punching bag. He accepted it. But he was not a passive punching bag. He fired back, taking the hits Eevee dealt out and returning them with dragonfire. All to make sure Eevee evolved.

That being said, there was a complication.

"Oh, it's you again!" came the very unwelcome voice of Bonnie Cetron as she sighted them and ran over. Eevee might not have been a true battle Pokemon, but being forcibly cuddled all the time by a young girl? Screw that: Serena at least gave her space when she prompted.

"Bonnie! Damn it, I told you not to do that to other people's Pokemon!" cried her older, more sensible-but incredibly prone to blowing his ass up-brother as he struggled to catch up with her. "That Goomy nearly burned you last-" he trailed off as he noticed aforementioned Goomy, looking INSANELY pissed. Which is not a look you want from a Pokemon known to be super-friendly.

Goomy had a grudge: sue him. He thought Pikachu was weird at first and didn't say a thing, reserving judgement until he knew him better. More than he could say for the lemon-head.

"What's going on?" asked Eevee's trainer and - if the Kalos crew had their way - Ash's mate as she came up from below.

"Eve!" 'Oh thank Arceus!' The brown normal type sighed as she saw her trainer. "Vee!" 'Serena, a little help here!'

"Oh there you are Eevee." Serena smiled, hearing her Pokemon's cries, and the girl harassing her. "Hello there. Could you give my Eevee back?"

"Oh, this is your Eevee?" Bonnie said somewhat sheepishly before Goomy prepared for Bonnie's annoying question. "I hope you evolve it to Jolteon-" "Goomy." 'Here this stupid brat goes...' the dragon moaned. "When you marry my brother!"

Silence reigned. And Goomy could see Serena's eyes, which were friendly, suddenly turn into something so...ENRAGED. Like asking that question was heresy or something. To the Kalosian crew, it kinda WAS, but Serena looked halfway ready to throttle Bonnie.

Goomy half-hoped she would. He had a grudge.

"Bonnie!" Clemont snapped, glaring at his younger sister. He sighed, turing back to Serena. "I'm sorry for my sister. She has a tendency to go about and ask perfect strangers to 'look after me.' "

Serena blinked, and the murderous look was gone and the smile was back. Goomy sighed. It looked like Bonnie would survive the day.

Bonnie's bag twitched, and the flap opened to reveal her perpetual companion. "Deden." 'Oh great, is she harassing girls again?' the Kalosian 'Pikachu clone' asked.

"Come on, brother, she's perfect!" Bonnie exclaimed. "She's even got an Eevee she can evolve into Jolteon!"

"Young lady." Serena said, cold and on the knife's edge of grabbing her and throwing her overboard. "I am not only not interested in your brother, I am also betrothed to the new Crown Prince of Rota." Every word that came out of her mouth got more and more angry. "I also do not want to evolve my Eevee to a Jolteon. She's shown me she wants to be a Sylveon."

"But...Come on! This Prince guy can't-" Bonnie tried to convince Serena, but dragonfire burned her leg, followed by an electrical shock. Goomy had zero patience with her. "Goo." 'Leave my trainer's mate alone.' he warned.

Clemont coughed into his hand. "Bonnie, when Pokemon that don't know you are telling you to stop, I think you should stop."

The girl blinked, then nodded, backing away from the older girl and Goomy glaring her down.

"I'm sorry, I keep trying to get her to stop, but she doesn't listen." Suddenly, the light hit his glasses, giving him an inventive gleam. "In fact, I might have an idea for that."

Goomy had a bad feeling about this.

20 minutes later, he was right.

He was affixed to the back of Bonnie, gently held in a harness that pointed him directly at her. And it served the purpose of directing his attacks on her.

While he couldn't kill her (not only would Ash hate him, Bonnie was not worth it) it WOULD hurt. A lot.

"I call it the Pavolian Goominator!" Clemont declared with a raised hand.

"Goo." '...Really? Really.' Goomy deadpanned.

Serena had a conflicted, neutral expression on her face. "I'm… not sure how to feel about this. On one hand, that Goomy's meant for my betrothed, but at the same time…"

"Not to worry, this is only a temporary measure!" Clemont assured them. "But for now, your Goomy will do, seeing how much he dislikes Bonnie. If she asks any girl to marry me, Dragonbreath."

"Can't you just… pull her away?" Serena asked.

"You don't think I've been DOING that?" Clemont retorted, resignation sounding off. "She won't get it! I even made a mechanical arm to pull her away, but still she tries! So, I'm going for the Pavlov method!"

"Fro." 'Pavlov? Wasn't he some psychologist from Albmia Ash read about to find ways to condition himself?' Froakie asked, knowing Ash liked to find new ways to avoid getting together with his mate. With extreme success, no less.

"Uh..." Serena started.

"Oh, he was a psychologist. Ring a bell, the Rockruff comes for food, that sort of thing." Clemont said, waving it off. "In this case, I'm associating her asking someone to marry me with pain." Clemont seemed to be enjoying this a tad bit too much. But after countless people being asked, not to mention those people yelling at Clemont, he was bound to enjoy his sister suffering a bit.

"Clemont…" Bonnie whined. "Do you have to do this?"

The future Gym Leader sighed. "Bonnie, I love you, but you're starting to annoy me, and you already annoy everyone we meet by asking the girls to marry me… when I repeatedly tell you I am not interested. This is the last straw. If this doesn't get you to stop, I don't know what will!"

"Goom." 'Well, I have to admit, the idea does make sense.' He growled, wriggling in the harness. "Goo-my!" 'Doesn't mean I have to like it! Get me out of this thing!'.

Bonnie held up her bag. "I can use Dedenne as a shield! Goomy's a dragon-"

"A dragon that knows electrical attacks and potentially poison." Clemont said, much to Bonnie's horror. Dedenne was a fairy-type. The only fairies immune to poison had a secondary steel-typing. Which wouldn't do them any good anyway if they knew something like Brick Break or Flamethrower.

"Goo." 'Oh, but I DO know poison.' Goomy said almost evilly. Sludge Wave was a pain to learn, but it was worth learning. After all, only Mawile and Klefki had steel-typing and again, weak to fighting and fire. And Goomy, as Goodra, could learn it. And he had the basics down: he just needed someone to demonstrate it. Like that Charizard he heard so much about.

"So what's up with the Dedenne?" Serena asked. "Why can't you use him?"

"Well, he's technically mine, but he doesn't listen to me." Clemont leaned in close. "Between you and me, I've been thinking about getting a Voltorb. That knows Self Destruct."

Serena grinned. "You're evil."

"My sister's been a source of headaches since I turned 13." Clemont said, the unsaid 'and old enough to marry' not going unnoticed.

Eevee told him that Kalosian law allowed marriage at 13 years, a holdover from the first Kingdom of Kalos that no one bothered getting rid of. Which explained why Serena was engaged to Ash now.

"I do apologize to your bethrothed's Pokemon, my lady." Clemont said, honestly ashamed.

Goomy didn't care, blasting Clemont in the face with dragon fire.

Kanto Route 24, just north of 'Nugget Bridge' - 2035 hours local time

Ash could tell Misty was getting nervous with each step towards Cerulean He knew she had problems with the city and her crippling loneliness. That and the fact that two Ghost-types raped her mind. The city brought back unpleasant memories.

And they were coming up on the Nugget Bridge, which would lead into Cerulean. By the time they got to the Bridge, Misty would be a nervous wreck.

"You OK?" Ash asked, knowing he was probably fueling her attraction to him. In the last timeline, he saw it was his zeal, his seemingly unlimited energy, unstoppable will and boundless kindness that started to attract her to him. Sadly, he couldn't stop being himself. And now it was happening again. Good thing he knew how to stop himself.

"I...I don't want to go to Cerulean." Misty admitted. "My sisters...they'll make me stay. I CAN'T stay. I need to keep going."

'If I had my way, you'd stay in Cerulean and take over that gym.' Ash thought selfishly. But he knew better. "Well, there's another badge down in Vermillion." he reasoned.

"Pfft. Surge has a three badge limit." she spat. "Tired of facing new trainers thinking they can beat him with a Pidgey. And the closest gym other then Cerulean with a no-badge limit is Celedon."

Ash figured. "But if you don't want to-" he started before Misty shook her head. "No, I'll go. I'll have to fight to stay, but I'll go." she said.

Ash knew that it was because of him, but couldn't bring himself to mention it. And he wasn't the only one to notice.

"Kya." 'That girl is head over heels for that boy.' Starmie noticed. "Kya." 'He just speaks to her and she calms down.' If she could smile, she would. "Kyakya." 'Hey, brother. Think we could get them together?'

"Hup!" 'She's acting like her old self again. If getting them together fixes her, I am all for it.' Staryu replied. "Hu." 'But he's resistant. He wants to, but...doesn't.'

"Hya." 'Yes. I can feel it.' the water/psychic replied. 'We'll work on it. It will be slow going, but we will help our trainer.'

Whether the male trainer liked it or not, Misty's pokemon plotted against him.

Entry 12: Animals

While Pokemon are common and numerically the dominant type of species on our world, there are a number of non-sentient species commonly referred to as 'animals'.

While somewhat resembling Pokemon, they cannot be stored in a pokeball, have instinctual intelligence only and in some cases, do not lay eggs.

Scientists have asked for centuries why creatures like these exist, but religious figures simply chalk it up to Arceus' will. Regardless of how they came to be, they are rare and in many cases endangered. Cattle are protected for meat production, as eating Pokemon dishes is considered akin to cannibalism. Most terrestrial animals are extinct due to Pokemon and human actions, save those of the insect superfamily and rodents.

Animals are more common in the oceans, with fish being seen in massive numbers offshore. The most dangerous of these is Carcharodon carcharias, also known as the great white shark, which is known to attack Wailmer. The great white also lends its name to Sharpedo and to a lesser extent the Garchomp evolutionary line, notably Gible and Gabite, which have the title 'land sharks' for their dorsal fins, much like the great white shark.

Entry 13: the Fall of the United Region of Nihon

The regions of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh were once one unified country known as 'Nihon', with its' capital in Ecruteak City in Johto Province. Nihon was unified only twice before the modern era, falling into feudalism and warlord rule for centuries at a time prior to the invention of the Pokeball in Johto's Azalea Town, though depictions of the Pokeball have been around since the Damos Era, the first being in the Sinnoh region.

With the Pokeball, Johto slowly conquered the rest of the area, founding the Nihon Empire which only lasted 300 years before the rise of the United Region. But the URN only had 200 years of life before the Cipher War began. Shadow Pokemon were used in massive numbers to ruin lines of communication, destroy government facilities and bring the nation to its knees. The shadow Pokemon rebellion saved the people of Nihon, but not their country. Without a central government, most nearly returned to feudalism until Samuel Oak destroyed a number of would-be warlords with the aid of his mentor. But the regions were divided, still.

Lance Wataru of Blackthorn finished Oak's work of unifying most of Kanto, in spite of interference from Team Rocket and local government. His goal is the reunification of Nihon. But with Teams Aqua and Magma raising hell in Hoenn and Galactic searching for something in Sinnoh, it is not likely to succeed without aid.

Ron the True Fan: Well, that explains a lot. And Ash is resisting. Not entirely succeeding, but he's resisting. The big problem with the harem genre is how to deal with the male protagonist: most treat them like leches and perverts or simply obvious. Ash is neither, yet both: well aware of his attraction, but trying to push it aside and be a nice guy. Sadly, he's only dumping fuel on the fire.

Redemption's Avenger: Thing is, he's been pushing down on it for two lifetimes. Well, one and a half, but that means that he's got a lot of repressed sexual tension. It ain't gonna end well.

Takeshi Yamato: Then again, it is understandable, given that he doesn't want to be a deadbeat Dad. Not realizing that ALL of his potential girls would willingly join him in his travels and follow him in a charge on the gates of hell if need be.

Ron the True Fan: As they make their way to heaven, through Galactic lines-(WHACK!) Oh, come on, it's Sabaton!

Takeshi Yamato: Still getting whacked, dragging me along on this! (Turns to a side) Remember, don't kill him, but feel free to rough him up a bit.

Thor: A reasonable arrangement, mortal.

Ron the True Fan: Aww, f-(MJOL-WHACK!)

(AO3 note)

Ron the True Fan: Slower. Then. Frozen. Molasses. ...Hmm...molasses cookies...

Ja Ne!

Chapter Text

Ron the True Fan: Second badge time. …I hate valley girl talk. It grates on my ears and makes me…well, type 'black templars TTS' into YouTube's search and you'll find the answer. Fortunately, my loathing of such things can be sated easily by making the 'valley girl' NOT stereotypically stupid .

Takeshi: As such, we will be making the valley girl act of Misty's older sisters just that. An act. (Turns to Thor) thanks again for helping keep this guy in line.

Thor: Do not worry about it, Mortal.

Ron the True Fan: At least he can't KILL me. Otherwise, a lot of fics would never get done.

Cerulean City Northern Entrance - 2058 hours local time - Day 12 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey

While Ash would have liked to go straight to the gym, it was very late in the day. His Pokemon had exhausted themselves with training earlier and while Pokemon recovered very quickly (Pokeballs helped, for the most part) they needed to rest before the big day tomorrow.

Last time, the TRio made a nuisance of themselves, forcing Ash to deal with them to earn the badge. While he did not complain at the time, looking back, it stung at his pride. Logically, he knew he shouldn't care, that he was a new trainer at the time. But logic meant nothing to pride. Just ask Charizard and Sceptile.

But, contrary to popular belief, Ash was not stupid. Thus, his Pokemon were going to sleep. And so was he. And… so was Misty. In the same room as him.

Wearing barely anything, though enough to keep herself somewhat decent. And unintentionally tormenting Ash.

'Do not look, do not think, just GO TO SLEEP, Ketchum!' Ash ranted at himself, laying facedown on a pillow to prevent looking at her, even if she was…on the bed above him. It took everything Ash had to not slam his head into the nearest wall as hard as he could. Or to look at the very beautiful young woman on the bunk-

With that, Ash decided to just scream into the pillow.

No, by that point, it'd be perving. And he would not be doing that. Ever. Even if she did look good-

He started to interrupt his thoughts again when a sleepy Pikachu interrupted his interruption. "Pika." 'Stop it. I can hear you thinking over here, and I'm trying to sleep. Agonise over your lack of a love life later. I'll help you out after I get some sleep.'

Ash sighed. Of all his team members, Pikachu would give him crap for trying not to look for a 'mate'.

And seek to… recitify the situation. Multiple times over, if he had his way. With that, Ash just slammed his head into the wall to knock himself out

RMS Germanic - 58 hours, 21 minutes into Kalos-Kanto journey - 1028 hours local time

Goomy did not like being on Bonnie's back. But he decided to make the most of it.

After all, it was good practice for converting the weak electrical jolts into a pure Thunderbolt AND Bonnie got what was coming to her for all the marriage requests.

No one said he couldn't take full advantage of the situation.

Goomy could tell it was getting to the point where Bonnie could take no more. She was beginning to flinch even as she went up to ask someone, and sometimes she would stop mid-sentence and look back at Goomy fearfully, who'd just look back and crackle menacingly with electricity.

Yes, they'd get looks and even questions, but Bonnie was too nervous and embarrassed to answer them and Goomy would do his best approximation of a shrug.

"And how are you doing today?" asked the one responsible for this entire situation, both Bonnie and Goomy sharing a dislike of Clemont at the moment.

"I'm getting electrocuted now." Bonnie said dourly. "First it was dragonfire, now I'm getting zapped!"

"Well, until you stop asking people to marry me, Goomy's staying there until Lady Serena leaves the ship. And she's going to Kanto, same as us, so…" Clemont trailed off.

"But… You NEED someone to take care of you! I've seen you in your workshop, working and working and working! No sleep, no food, nothing!" Bonnie retorted.

"Goo." 'Fair point, but your brother's not as stupid as we like to think he is.' Goomy said, knowing he couldn't be heard and mocking Clemont for his… large amount of failures with machinery.

Just because he was improving did not mean they wanted to be near him when everything inevitably exploded in his face. It also didn't mean he constantly worked on his 'inventions'.

Honestly, they'd just rather stay away from the pair.

"Bonnie, I don't need someone to look after me, you do. I can't always be looking after you, and having you near my work is dangerous." Clemont sighed. "I will find a girlfriend on my own time. I don't need my nine year old sister playing matchmaker."

Goomy took a small amount of pleasure from Clemont FINALLY putting his sister in her place. "But… you keep working-" she tried to say before Clemont glared at her.

"I keep working on my robotics projects so I can have more time later to help dad and spend more time with you." Clemont said, not happy at all. "So, while I am happy you care, I need you to stop bothering people who will be asking me why my sister is asking them to 'take care of me'. You have no idea how many times Dad's had to explain that to avoid lawsuits being charged against us!"

THAT finally shut Bonnie up. Goomy decided to rub it in by zapping her once more.

Most people would expect someone 'playing superhero' to have their secret headquarters in a cave, or an underwater fortress, or even some kind of grand tower.

And while Kyril was certainly wealthy enough to have a grand tower built, he didn't really have a location in mind in which to build it, yet - most of the Regions already had giant towers.

Kanto had the Silph building in Saffron, and the Pokemon Tower in Lavender. Johto had that lighthouse in Olivine and the Radio Tower in Goldenrod.

Hoenn was more water than land, meaning he couldn't do anything there without it sinking, (grand size meant weight and weight in a region dominated by swampland, beachfront and plain old water was bad for buildings) no one in their right mind wanted to try and make anything close to the grandeur of Spire Pillar in Sinnoh, Unova was still a mess, making it impossible for anything big to get done and Kalos had Lumiose Tower.

Alola, he had no presence at all, embargos being what they were and Galar was old-style for almost everything.

But Pernon decided that, in lieu of big towers, being mobile was good enough. And he did have five ocean liners. So, he had a lead-lined room built into the reactors of every ship to serve as his mobile base on the water. No one besides the reactor techs went anywhere near the rooms and they assumed it was just water reclamation for the reactors.

Instead, they served as labs, the reactors powering all sorts of machines to allow him to work on upgrades for the Marauder Armor, as well as communications equipment to keep him in touch with all his contacts.

And right now, it was about time he put the fear of his alter ego back into the Rockets, and so he was catching up on the latest info on what was essentially a militarized yakuza.

"Huh." he said, sipping on some wine (a necessary evil, given both the ship and the massive pile of uranium he was only three inches of lead away from sitting on) as he read a police report on an operation inside Mount Moon being destroyed by two trainers and the local Clefairy population. "That's damaging."

"For who, your reputation or Team Rocket?" Rin asked as she organized more reports. "You were planning on obliterating that one, right?"

"Well, yeah," he admitted with a sigh. "Still, I guess if some of the local trainers are doing their own anti-Rocket ops, it makes my job a bit easier. Just means I can save my firepower for the harder targets."

"There was a freaking Admin there, according to these!" she retorted.

"If we could fly, then I would have ended that Admin for good." Kyril said with a sigh.

Aviation had… suffered since the War. Most of the companies were absorbed into his corporation, but with no production and maintenance facilities, a lack of oil for aviation fuel (and a lack of anyone wanting to use alternative sources for 'biofuel') and the ruin of just about everything, it was safe to say air travel was dead, save by flying-type.

What made everything worse was the existence of such facilities that were intact. There was just one problem.

They weren't in the former Unified Region of Nihon, but in the hellish Orre region, surrounded by deserts and Shadow Pokemon. And no one on the planet that lived outside that damned region would be stupid enough to go there.

But if someone DID go, he'd be on their coattails, ready to take those airplanes and put them to work. The world was slowly going back to normal, Kanto was unified, Johto was soon to follow, Hoenn and Sinnoh were still fractured but healing. Once Nihon was reunified, Unova and Kalos could fully repair the damage done to them by the War.

And Pernon's new airlines would aid in this. Because while cargo ships were never going to be replaced, planes were the fastest way to travel.

And if Pernon earned a pretty penny while saving the world, he wasn't going to complain.

Cerulean City Gym - 1059 hours the next day

Ash had mostly decided on using fire against fire for this match. Krabby had been working out at the Ranch and via an Oak call, asked to be brought in. Apparently, he knew Metal Claw, likely from Pikachu's demos during the brief visits back to Pallet.

Charmander also wanted in and he was not taking no for an answer, type or not. Ash had mentioned it.

He nearly got torched for his troubles. The little guy wanted to evolve and nothing, not even a water gym, was going to stop him.

From what he understood, the Gym Leader would be using three Pokemon, while he could use a full team, which again, he didn't understand that rule, but he'd play it honestly. If Charmander didn't wipe the rest of the Leader's team, he'd send in Pikachu.

And now, he was meeting Misty's sisters for the first time for the second time.

The eldest sister (he was judging by height, which wasn't exactly the most accurate way) stopped talking to the others, looking at Ash before their eyes landed on Misty.

"Misty! Damn it, where have you been?" the older(?) sister said as she ran along the sides of the pool before crushing Misty with a hug.

"Love you too, Daisy." Misty croaked out. That answered that question, at least, as Daisy Waterflower let go of Misty. "You worried us." she said, resisting the urge to cry. "We heard what happened near Pallet Town: we don't even know how you got out of there!"

"Uh, that's…my doing." Ash said, Daisy looking at the black-haired young man from Pallet. And looking none too happy.

'Oh, good, a way to get Misty to stay HERE and not have her follow me into the mouth of hell for the next two years.' he thought to himself. If Daisy thought he was being ungentlemanly, she'd force Misty to stay at the gym. It was a weak plan and even Ash knew it, but he WAS trying.

Daisy gave Ash a once over. Being an elder sibling, she could see that both Ash and Misty had some sort of attachment that went a bit beyond friendship, he was attracted to her, but judging by the fact he was trying to distance himself, he was wary of getting too close.

He wasn't succeeding, but he was trying to respect her decision, maybe even find her someone that wasn't him to fall for.

"And you are?" Daisy asked.

"Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town." he said, rubbing the back of his head. "I came here for a badge. And… well, if Misty wants to stay-" Misty glared at him for saying that. THAT was new. She hadn't done anything like that since… the incident.

Daisy raised an eyebrow at the both of them. From the way Misty was acting, she wasn't going anywhere except this boy's side, but he didn't want her there. Strange.

"Well, if you came for a battle, I can give you one. Follow me." Daisy turned, leading the two towards the gym battleground. "You'll have to tell me how you met Ash, Misty."

"Well, it involved Spearows…" Ash said sheepishly as Pikachu grinned. Ah, dealing with the in-laws.

After a few minutes, Misty had taken a seat, but not before letting her Pokemon out to meet the others in the gym.

This also gave them an excuse to do something: pick up Misty's Pokemon she left here. While she only took Staryu and Starmie with her, Psyduck being caught after she left, she had a rather…large number. A Poliwag that was training to be a Politoed whenever Misty got a Rock Crown, a Gyarados she raised from a Magikarp, a Corsola, a Goldeen… You've seen the anime, you know what she has. (WHACK!)

Misty had wanted a Marill and when she was a baby, a Togepi, but neither were ever available. No one wanted to part with them and they were rare in Kanto. Johto and Hoenn, their somewhat native regions were another story, being more common, though Togepi was still a rare sight.

Regardless, it was time to bring them along. They deserved to meet Misty's mate, Gyarados especially. If the Atrocious Pokémon approved of him, that would be the end of it.

Around this time of day, the Waterflower sisters let out Misty's Pokémon in one of the Gym's massive pools to play and do some of their own training, which was the perfect time to talk to them and convince them to come along.

"Raaaaar!" 'Well look who's back!' Gyarados noticed them first, breaching the surface and sending water everywhere.

They appreciated the water splash. Except for Psyduck, who was dragged into the pool.

"PSY!" 'HELP! I CAN'T SWIM!' the duck quacked.

Another Psyduck and a Golduck, who could swim and actually were, facepalmed. Or facepalmed to the best of their ability in the case of the yellow duck.

"Gol." 'What an embarrassment.' the Golduck said before swimming off.

"Hya." 'Ignoring the embarrassment to all water-types for five minutes…' Staryu said, returning to the subject. 'Misty now has a mate.'

Everyone perked up at that news, especially Gyarados. "Radoooos!" 'Hohohoho? Our little waterflower went out and managed to find someone? Well well well.' The massive dragon/water type gave a dangerous chuckle. "Gyarrrr." 'He better be a good one.'

"Golduck." 'I might think so, for Misty to latch onto someone like that.' The evolved water duck commented.

"Psy." 'Then again, she has needed some human contact in her life.'

"PSY!" 'HELP!' cried Misty's duck, Gyarados rolling his eyes before smacking the duck out of the pool… and into a wall. At the very least, it shut him up.

"Hors?" 'So… why tell us?' Horsea asked, the little one actually curious as to why. If Misty's mate wanted to meet them, he would come in.

"Hiya!" 'He's going to the other gyms. And for some reason, he's trying not to get attached.' Starmie said. 'Doesn't make sense: any other male would do anything to get close to her.' Their experience, sadly, was watching other human couples and soap operas when they were at the gym. Not exactly accurate.

"Hyup!" 'So grab your Pokeballs: we'll carry you to them!' Staryu said. Gyarados grinned. "Gya!" 'Save me for last. I want to… take his measure.'

"The match between Gym Leader Daisy Waterflower and challenger Ash Ketchum shall begin!" The ref, Misty's somewhat older sister Violet, declared "The Gym leader shall use her two badge team of three Pokemon, while the challenger may use six. Are you ready?"

"Good to go." Daisy smirked, palming a ball.

"Ready!" Ash smiled.

"Begin!"

"Spheal, you're up!"

"Spheal! Spheal!" 'About time!' the round seel pokemon

"Krabby, let's go!" Ash declared, releasing his trusty crustaton water-type.

"Kook." 'I am here to kick your round ass.' the crab said. The ball seel took exception to that.

"Spheal!" 'You little red-' "Spheal, Body Slam!" Daisy ordered, Spheal grinning before executing a brief Rollout to speed up and jump into the air.

"Krabby, evasive action!" Ash ordered as Krabby used his legs to maximum effect to jump to another platform in the pool, avoiding Spheal's blow. "Kooky." 'Learn to aim.' Krabby taunted.

Spheal roared and began repeating the same thing, only for Krabby to jump and make what Ash assumed were rude gestures with his claws. Spheal certainly acted like they were.

"…How long have you had that Krabby?" Daisy asked as Krabby continued evading and… really, Ash had no idea what the clacking claws meant. "Uh… I caught him outside Cerulean." Ash answered honestly.

"That makes no sense!" Daisy yelled. "That's a trained Krabby! I've, like, well, done the same thing with some of the Krabbys here at the gym and that took months if not years to pull off!"

"Kook." 'You could say that.' Krabby said with another clack-clack of the pincers.

"Pheal!" 'Stay still!'

"Spheal, get him with Aurora Beam!" Daisy shouted, getting fed up with the Krabby's obviously cocky attitude.

"Dodge and hit him with Metal Claw!" Ash commanded, Krabby jumping into the air to dodge before smacking the water/ice-type with a metal-covered pincer, leaving a nasty mark.

"Rollout!" Daisy ordered, Whitney's signature move (and overused, in Ash's opinion, because it wasn't fair to a challenger with only male Pokemon and the bloody thing knew Attract) spinning up just as Krabby was jumping away, unable to change directions.

And while it was a rock-type move used by a water-type on another water-type, really, that wasn't the deciding factor. Krabby was light. Spheal was not, which resulted in a crab slamming into the poolside, cracking it and knocking him out.

"Krabby is unable to battle!" Violet declared.

Ash smiled, returning Krabby to his ball. "You did good."

Daisy sighed. "I'll admit that Krabby was very good for a recent capture, but you got lucky there."

Ash couldn't help but smirk. "Let's prove her wrong, Charmander!" He replied, releasing his first fire-type.

Who was very excited to be out, releasing an happy(?) cackle at the sight of the water-type. "Char-mander." 'I am going to enjoy this.' He declared, his eyes taking on an evil glint that sent shivers down Daisy and her Pokemon's spines.

With that, recommend playing Sabaton's Firestorm as this is not going to be fun for the water-types. (WHACK!)

Charmander quickly used Metal Claw and charged at the ball-like pokemon, slashing wildly as the water-type went into the pool.

That was not stopping Charmander, who dove in after him, much to the horror of all. They all knew the tales: Charmanders and their tailfires MUST remain lit or they die.

Instead, Spheal tried escaping the pool… with Charmander still attached to his hide, snarling and biting.

"What the hell?! I thought-" Daisy said as Charmander the seemingly invincible lizard tossed the seal pokemon into a far wall, making a large crater. "Well, that's GREAT. Good thing we have a water/rock-type or two…"

Ash finally noticed something wrong about Daisy. Maybe it was the changes in the timeline, but… she wasn't talking like one of those 'valley girls' he once saw on TV with his mom.

"Uh, just noticed. You're not saying 'like' every other word." Ash said to take her mind off it and answer why she seemed so… off.

"Oh, yeah, forgot to do that act." she said, facepalming and laughing. "Yeah, I'm not that ditzy. I put up that act for the more dumb trainers. You're better than them."

'Once, apparently, I wasn't.' Ash thought bitterly, scowling. His first Kanto journey was becoming more and more disappointing by the moment.

"Well, let's see how your little fire maniac will handle this. Poliwrath, go!" the eldest sister said, tossing out a pokeball that released the blue fighting toad.

"Wrath!" 'You want to go, little lizard?'

"Charmander!" 'Bring it on!' Charmander looked back to Ash, grinning fiercely. "Mander!" 'Let me handle this, Ash.'

Ash couldn't help a smile. "Go nuts."

"Char-MANDER!" "HahahaAHAHA!" The lizard's claws shone with another Metal Claw even as he opened his mouth to let loose a nearly-perfected Flamethrower into the water section of the field, throwing up a massive steam smokescreen. There were sounds of combat, mostly Charmander using his teeth and claws to make Poliwrath scream in pain, but they couldn't see a damn thing.

"One of these days, I'll invest in better ventilation for this!" Daisy yelled, unable to see the fight before Poliwraith jumped into the air, looking like Charmander was trying to claw his eyes out, before firing off a Hydro Pump into the cloud, a perfected flamethrower meeting it head on as more steam was generated.

Ash was getting tired of this. "Mind if I let out my Pidgeotto to clear the air?"

"As long as you don't provide assistance!" Violet said, allowing it.

Before Ash could, Charmander jumped at the water/fighting-type, but…

A single long horn, larger body and red scales. Charmander evolved. And was PISSED. "CHAR!" 'I'M TAKING YOU DOWN!' the newly evolved Charmeleon roared.

Poliwrath, despite looking a little worse for wear, was chomping at the bit, like any self respecting fighting type would. "Poliwrath!" 'Bring it on!' He shouted, hand glowing with a Brick Break.

Charmeleon roared, claws glowing again, this time not with a metallic sheen, but with draconic energy, Dragon claw meeting the rock breaking move head on, striking with such force that it blew away the rest of the steam.

The fire type let loose a wordless roar as his tail took on a metallic sheen, spinning around to sweep out Poliwrath's legs, tripping him up and immediately following up with another Dragon Claw, aiming to pin the water type to the ground, only tear up the plastic and metal platform as the Pokemon rolled out of the way.

Charmeleon was going to win. That evolution would tire him out for now, but the infinity energy left over from his transformation would defeat the fighting toad, who was too battered. In fact, Poliwraith was only standing because his foot was caught in a hole.

"Poliwraith is in no shape for battle!" Ash said, noticing the fact he was dead on his feet. "Look at him!"

"I'm not Giovanni, Ash." Daisy said, shuddering at that name.

Being better than Giovanni was an easy thing to do. You just had to not be the leader of Team Rocket and treat your pokemon like comrades, not tools to abuse. Seriously, was that Persian the only thing he cared about?

"That's enough, Poliwrath." Daisy called out, raising his pokeball. "Return!"

"Poli." 'Thank Arceus.' The fighting/water type muttered, starting to fall forward, only for the return beam to catch him and pull him to safety.

"Poliwrath has been returned! The round goes to Charmeleon and Ash Ketchum!"

The fire-type roared his victory, sending out another Flamethrower into the air.

"You good to keep going Charmeleon?" Ash asked, smiling at his fire-type's antics.

The second evolution looked back and grinned at Ash, sending a playful scattering of flames his trainer's way.

"Your Charmeleon's not obeying you." Daisy noted. Charmeleon glared at her and fired something more dangerous at her. The elder Waterflower dodged the torrent of flames, which actually torched her hair, some strands turning a nice charred black.

"You ruined my hair." she growled. "Seadra!" she tossed out the pokeball containing the seahorse, who glared at Charmeleon.

"Charmeleon!" 'Bring it, sea dragon!' The fire lizard roared, tail thumping against the floor in challenge.

"Dra…" 'You asked for it.'

"Hydro Pump, Seadra!" Daisy called out, and the evolved seahorse let loose a deadly torrent of water.

"Block it!" Ash called.

Chameleon grinned as his claws glowed with the power of a Dragon Claw. Reaching out, he met the Hydro Pump head on, angling his claws so the water split around him, even as it steadily pushed him back towards Ash.

While the dragon-type energy was dulling it, Charmeleon wasn't a dragon. Yet: mega evolution was a thing. But for now, Charmeleon had to deal with defeat, but he was defiant, throwing fire at the second evolutionary stage of Horsea. The stream of fire hit, but the flaming lizard left the pool, nearly hitting Ash and definitely hitting the wall.

"Charmeleon is out of bounds!" Violet called. "Charmeleon is disqualified! The round goes to Daisy!"

"Char!" 'Bullshit!' He snorted, smoke and embers billowing from his nostrils. "Meleon!" 'Damn it! Sorry Ash.'

Ash smiled again and gave his fire starter a pat on the shoulder. "You did good. Take a rest."

Charmeleon huffed, shooting a glare in Daisy's direction as Ash returned him. Holstering the ball, Ash looked as his closest partner. "You ready to go?"

"Pika!" 'You know it.'

"Let's finish this, Pikachu!" Ash then commanded, Pikachu jumping onto the platform, making Daisy sigh. "I was hoping you wouldn't send out your Pikachu." she said. "But I can't get up, even if I know you'll just shock Seadra into submission."

"You're giving up?" Ash asked, eyeing Seadra.

"No, I'll just hit you with everything until either Pikachu knocks him out or the other way around." she replied. "Sometimes, it's the other way around. Seadra, Smokescreen!"

The seahorse let loose black cloud of smoke that billowed forth to envelop the pool, covering Seadra's approach.

"Hydro Pump!" Daisy called out. While the water-type attack was weak against electric types, there was a significant amount of force behind it, and Pikachu weighed less than Charmeleon did. If Seadra managed to hold it on the electric mouse, he would be blown out of bounds, like Charmeleon was.

Ash, however, had no intention of letting that happen. "Counter Shield!"

"Pika!" 'Right, that!' Pikachu fell onto his back and began to spin, letting loose a constant Thunderbolt, creating an electrical shield around himself. When Seadra's attack did come, it crashed against the wall of electricity, cancelling it out.

"What the hell?" Daisy muttered, having never seen that.

"Thunderbolt!" Ash commanded as Daisy was unfocused, Pikachu leaping into the air, black energy surrounding him. For a moment, it was yellow, but then it turned back to black and fired towards Seadra.

"The fuck?!" Daisy shouted as the dark bolt slammed into her water-type, yellow and black electricity coursing through it, the Shadow-enhanced electric attack being extra super-effective. Once the attack dissipated, Seadra collapsed, twitching as residual electricity fired off a nerve or two.

"Seadra… is unable to battle!" Violet called out, shocked. She hadn't seen an electric type take down her sister's Pokemon like that before. "The match goes to the challenger, Ash Ketchum!"

Daisy looked at the Pikachu, seeing tell-tale signs of it being a Shadow Pokemon. But… Shadow Pokemon couldn't be truly tamed, only controlled. After all, they were barely sentient compared to their counterparts. This Pikachu was in control. Purified.

Which was IMPOSSIBLE, as Agate Village was subjected to a severe case of nuclear explosion over 70 years ago and all of Crane's research was gone.

"How did you manage to purify a Shadow Pokemon?"

Ash smiled as Pikachu hopped back on his shoulder, grinning back as he did so. "Well, Professor Oak helped out a bit. I just trusted, cared for, and loved Pikachu like family." He scratched his starter behind his ears. "I guess you could say the rest is history." He muttered quietly.

Daisy sighed and started to cross the battlefield, returning Seadra as she did so. "Well, if he's not going to go around killing people, I don't have a problem with that. That was an interesting match, Ash Ketchum. Thank you."

"What you did with Krabby was reckless, Ash!" Misty said as she stalked over, her Pokemon now following her. "What if Spheal used all his weight on him?! He'd be crushed!"

Daisy watched as Misty argued with Ash, almost like she was six years old again, before… it happened. And Ash was… avoiding looking at anything below her chin. Misty would be fine with Ash.

Daisy smirked. "It's fine Misty." She assured her sister. "Here." She tossed the Cascade Badge towards Ash and turned around, adopting a traditional 'bratty' walk, stalking back towards the other side without a word, to the shock of all three of her sisters.

"Daisy, what are you doing?" Violet asked as she ran up to the elder sister. "Aren't you going to keep Misty here?"

'No." the eldest sister said as she looked at the two. Misty was almost normal, if… clingy towards Ash. Understandable, given the nature of the incident and her lack of friends in Cerulean.

"She's in safe hands." Daisy said, smiling as the two left the gym, Misty's bag filled with her pokeballs. "Safer hands then ours, apparently."

Cerulean City Pokemon Center - Later that night

Ash kept his head covered by a pillow to avoid looking at Misty.

He really should have got two rooms instead of a bunk. Didn't help that he was thinking bad thoughts like the heretic he was.

She was trying to get his attention, he knew it, which was why she was in what accounted as her underclothes. Which was basically a bikini. And Arceus-damn it, he was trying his best not to stare. But like any healthy young man, he couldn't help but peek.

'I need. A shock collar.' he thought to himself. Yes, any lecherous thoughts would be expunged by high voltage.

Then he began thinking about it. 'I've been shocked by Pikachu enough times that it would be a mild annoyance at best.' he thought depressingly.

"Pika." 'Just. Mate. With. Her.' Pikachu dragged out from his perch on the table. "Chuu." 'She wants you, you want her and this is unnecessary dancing.'

"We both know why I won't." Ash replied, facing the wall.

"Pikapi." 'Ash, for the love of Arceus and all her creations, please, JUST MATE WITH HER.' Pikachu said annoyedly. "Pi-chu-pi." 'There's a pool going on with the others on who you take and when and I am losing it.'

Ash slowly uncovered his head to glare at Pikachu. "You've got a BET." he all but screamed.

"Pika." 'Yup.' He smiled smugly, looking for the world like Snivy. "Pika-pi." 'It's not just us. Some of Misty's Pokemon have tossed in on when.'

Ash just groaned in defeat, forcefully smacking the pillow across his face.

"You okay Ash?" Misty asked, hearing his groan and the smack of the pillow.

He glanced over and immediately felt his face light up like a beacon. Misty's bikini top was of her shoulders, and she was keeping the cups of the swimwear barely up, exposing more of her-

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA' He did not know which one of the many, MANY deities he'd pissed off over the years was doing this to him, but he would get revenge and he would not be shy about it.

Because this was getting ridiculous. In fact, he was damn sure someone was doing this for their own sick entertainment.

"Ash?" Misty asked again.

"Misty… please cover up." he pathetically moaned before Misty redid her ties, shrugging as she climbed onto the top bunk. Ash resorted to banging his head on the bedframe to put himself to sleep.

The next day - 0759 hours local time

Ash was simply not in the mood.

While Misty's Gyarados was attempting to intimidate him, he had faced the damn thing when it was mega evolved. Honestly, he had seen far, far, FAR more impressive Pokemon then the final evolution of Magikarp. In all honesty?

He was bored. Very, very, VERY bored.

"Gyara." 'I don't know what the big deal is. You don't even look like you care.'

"Look, Gyarados, I'm sorry, but I'm not in the mood. I've seen things far more intimidating than you, so if you're trying to scare me, it's not going to work." Ash deadpanned.

"Rados!" 'Oh really! Not everyday you see someone who isn't quaking in their boots at the sight of me. But I'm not done yet. Fight me.'

The serpent got in Ash's face. Ash, not being in the mood for any further distractions, just smacked Gyarados in the nose, making the water/flying-type flinch. "I don't have time for this." Ash said, adjusting his hat and walking away, heading down for the route that would lead to Vermillion and Bulbasaur. His ambassadorial grass/poison-type was no doubt wondering what in the hell was going on.

Speaking of what was going on, Gyarados blinked once. Then twice. Abruptly he let out a massive laugh that shook the trees around him. "RARARARARA!" 'HAHAHAHAHA! That boy has guts to smack me without blinking! He will be an excellent mate for Misty!' The dragon exclaimed, following along. Things would be very interesting with the boy around.

Ash groaned, rubbing the bridge of his brow. What was it going to take to get them to understand that he wasn't interested?!

Misty only wearing a bikini top instead of her usual yellow- 'what.' Ash thought, double taking on Misty, who was, indeed, only wearing her bikini top with her shorts instead of her more concealing (and Ash's sanity and self-control preserving) yellow tanktop while playing with her Squirtle while waiting for Gyarados to stop being Gyarados.

Ash's mental screaming could be heard by telepaths in Hoenn, that's how loud it was. Starmie actually whined.

"Misty?" he barely got out, getting the redhead's attention as she looked at him. "Yes?" she asked.

"Could you please put your top on?" he said, attempting not to stare anywhere below her chin. Attempt being the key word, as he was not entirely succeeding. Mostly because of Pikachu trying to force his head downwards.

Misty blushed and smiled shyly as Ash shoved Pikachu off his head and glared at him, which, thankfully, distracted him from Misty.

"Stop it." Ash ground out quietly. "I don't need you playing matchmaker!"

"Pikaaaa!" 'Just do it!'

"Look, I know Pokemon society is different and all that, but human society isn't just mating with someone you like! " Ash whisper-yelled. "It's a bit more complicated than that!"

"Pika!" 'She wants you, you want her, even if you're fighting it.' Pikachu retorted. "Pipi." 'Give in already and take her out on one of those 'dates' I keep hearing about!'

"That is not happening." Ash said. "And you know why."

"Sorry about the top, Ash." Misty said, now wearing the top he knew her best by. "It's a hot day. I have no idea how you can stand wearing that jacket."

True, Ash was wearing his usual full outfit, complete with his blue jacket, jeans and black shirt, the hat being off his head at the moment thanks to Pikachu, while Misty…was wearing less than usual. Her shorts were shorter than he'd like, for example. A dark part of his brain would like them gone entirely, but he crushed those thoughts as easily as he had been doing for the past 5 years.

Abruptly gunshots rang out in the distance, causing all of them to duck down instinctively.

"Pika?" 'The hell?'

More gunshots sounded off, so much so that it sounded like people were exchanging fire. "Pika-pi!" 'Someone's being attacked!'

"We need to help!" Ash shouted back.

One of many things about Ash that would not change: a willingness to dive into danger.

10 minutes later - Emerald Forest depths

The so-called 'Emerald Forest' was called such by locals for the sheer numbers of trees and greenery, laying between Cerulean and Vermillion City, fed by dozens of streams and a few rivers.

It was also the sight of a massive fight between one blue-haired girl and a bunch of thugs in white outfits, the former protecting a large collection of young Pokemon while trying to guide them out of there.

Ash was confused as to why that girl from the hidden Pokemon village (what was her name? Millie?) was using a gun, but he was more confused by the thugs in white, as he knew who they were.

The outfits were different then what he knew, but the emblem was clearly that of the Unovan 'Team Rocket clone', Team Plasma.

Milly or whatever her name was, her being her was clear: she was the human caretaker for the young, the abandoned and in Bulbasaur's case, the very, very stubborn guardian of the village. Team Plasma was…he had no idea.

He could figure out why later; right now, they were attacking civilians.

"Charmeleon, take them down!" Ash called out.

"Char!" 'These idiots are in the wrong region!' The eager lizard shouted, claws shining with draconic energy.

They noticed him far too late, and by the time they did their weapons had been cut in half and two of their Pokemon were knocked out by viscous Iron Tails and Claws.

Pikachu followed up, striking the grunts with a Thunderbolt, electrifying and knocking them out cold. Charmeleon took down the last Plasma Pokemon, a Panpour, with an Iron Tail.

The Plasma grunts then attempted to pull out backup weapons, but Pikachu charged up and fired a chain-Thundershock to fry them into going unconscious. The last thing they needed were annoying, awake members of Team Plasma. One of them tried to stay up, glaring defiantly.

Ash dealt with him with a shift kick to the head, as he had anger issues. And issues with Team Plasma in general.

Having a legendary fire dragon try to kill him was not something he was forgiving ANY time soon. He could forgive Team Rocket's many, MANY crimes for their sheer lack of competence and the times he helped them, but the others? Not so much.

"Well, at least they aren't those Rocket ripoffs." came the voice of the blue-haired caretaker of the village as she looked at them, her weapon lowered so she wouldn't shoot them by accident. "Thanks for the help."

Ash mentally smacked his head for a name (Melanie! That was it!) before looking at the incapasiated and in some cases, dead, Plasma grunts.

Ash sighed as Melanie replaced the magazine of her short rifle, but didn't comment on the bodies. Unlike the last time he had faced Team Rocket, he hadn't had the chance to do this non-lethally. Besides, Melanie was on her own.

"No problem." Ash smiled. "We were just passing through when we heard gunfire."

"They just came out of nowhere, attacking the village in the forest, saying something about 'Pokemon liberation'." Melanie said, looking at the grunts. "If it weren't for our little guardian, they might have killed me. Or hurt him."

That made everyone perk up. That fit Bulbasaur's bill. The little grass starter was a diplomat and a protector.

"Bulba!" 'Well look who it is!' cried the saurian grass-type, emerging from the crowd. He looked as Ash remembered, if somewhat covered in dirt. At least, that's what Ash thought he was looking at. "Bulba-saur-bulb." 'So. anyone care to explain what's going on? Last thing I remember was stopping Herracross from being sap-happy and the next thing I know, I'm back with Melanie!'

"Char." 'Long story.' Charmeleon said. "Mele." 'Also, Ash can understand us now.'

Bulbasaur clearly did not believe that, judging by the look on his face. "Saur." 'Really. Can he now.' he said sarcastically.

Ash winked at Bulbasaur, smiling knowingly.

Melanie smiled at the interaction between the pokemon. "Well, he seems to get along with your Pokemon just fine. It's funny. Just recently, he was looking after the younger Pokemon and trainers, and I think he broke up a few fights. I was just thinking he would do best with a trainer."

Ash could hardly believe she was willing to just hand over Bulbasaur. And Bulbasaur fought him last time.

"Bulb." 'If you can understand me, Ash, you WILL escort them to the nearest town.' Bulbasaur said, his guardian traits showing quite prominently. "Bul." 'Though I know you'll do that anyways.'

"Yeah, Bulbasaur, I know. Maybe Lieutenant Surge will take them in." Ash said, referring to the gym leader that mocked Pikachu and him so long ago. And the vow that led to him letting Pikachu make the choice.

"I would prefer to take them to Celadon…" Melanie said, trailing off. "But Vermillion is closer."

"Bulba!" 'Good! Now ball me!'

Despite Bulbasaur's cries, he looked to Melanie for permission. "Can I?"

She smiled. "He's already chosen you. Go ahead."

Ash retrieved a ball from his bag and prepared to toss it, only for the grass starter to beat him to the punch by headbutting the activation switch, catching himself before the ball even left Ash's hand.

"Someone was eager." the caretaker mused before gesturing down the trail. "Vermillion City's that way. It would take a few hours, but-"

"The Pokemon are going to slow it down a little." Ash said, knowing that a large crowd WOULD be slow to get going. Bulbasaur's ball teleported off, Ash trying to put a few things off his mind.

Mainly the fact that Team Plasma was here… and that death was a constant for no reason.

Pallet Town - Oak Ranch/Lab - 1148 hours local time

The Pokedex.

Samuel Oak's magnum opus (when it came to technology, at least: his Pokemon research and poetry was another story) was constantly evolving. The Johto model was designed to handle Pokemon egg identification as well as the standard information dumps that were standard on all of them, the Kanto model being the most absolute basic. The other regions had not received their prototype Pokedex models, but Birch was looking into adding more data for the Hoenn version, Rowan was thinking of adding alternate entries… every regional professor had ideas. Even that move-obsessed newbie, Kukui, wanted to have a model that supported a Rotom.

Oak was against that: he hated Rotoms.

However as he thought of the Rotom, a thought crossed his head as he was reminded of another largely ignored species: Porygon. One of, if not the only form of a 'Cyber' Pokemon which exists almost exclusively within cyberspace… and in essence was also a sapient A.I. The more he pondered on the thought, the more appealings it grew to him as Oak smirked a bit.

"Yes… that could work…" he muttered, before he picked up the phone as he began to make a call to a colleague of his.

He would have to design an upgrade for the Pokedex, but it was certainly good enough to connect to a Porygon memory module. Old game consoles did it all the time. Not that Oak would have experience with THAT: Cypher ruined any chance for a gaming industry to flower.

Before Oak could ponder how he would like to see how companies would wage war on each other with the customer ultimately the victor, the call was connected. "Akihabara Labor-" a bespectacled man in a lab coat began to say before the video image stabilized and he saw who was calling. "Ah, Professor Oak! And what would Kanto's most famous professor want with a small-timer like me?" Dr. Akihabara asked, his tone betraying his greeting.

'Someone's bitter.' Samuel thought to himself. Oak was just around longer: Akihabara was 24, he was 81. Recognition took TIME. "Hello Professor Akihabara - and please, drop the title, I'm not very fond of it… anyways, I find myself in a bit of a conundrum and I believe your research may be able to help me with that, if you are so willing to help me."

The man perked up at this. "Oh?" he asked. "How so?"

"I am planning an upgrade to the Pokedex, one for the use of an AI." Oak explained. "I thought you may be interested."

"Doesn't that Kukui man have plans for a Rotom for the Pokedex?" Akihabaka asked rhetorically, as he and Oak were well aware of Kukui's intentions.

"Rotoms are notoriously chaotic. The last thing I want is it randomly erasing the data in the EPROM." Oak replied. Getting new-old stock equipment for his Pokedexes was a pain, as the last computer manufacturer closed its' doors before the end of the Cypher War. There were no new parts to be made: everything had to be sourced from existing stocks and technology.

"Fair… so I assume you wish to experiment with Porygons then?" Akihabara asked, to which Oak nodded.

"Porygons are far more tame and controllable, as they are essentially advanced A.I Constructs." He said, "Having one installed within a Pokedex may prove far more beneficial than a Rotom would be - in theory at least." At least they wouldn't erase anything they weren't supposed to.

Besides, Oak had tried it with his son's Rotom once upon a time with a modified prototype. It ended with the prototype exploding and his daughter in law's Gible being sent after it.

"If you wouldn't mind sending me the specifications of your Pokedex-" Akihabara started before Oak pushed a button on his keyboard, sending the specifications and circuit board schematics to him, the KBM Model M making a nice 'click' before the younger man looked at the file.

"…huh… alright," he mused as he looked them over. "…yeah, we might be able to pull this off… still gonna need a substantial amount of R&D though to finalize the concept."

"I can send over some parts over the translink. I've been working on concepts like this for a while, but a lack of Porygon…well, I tried with a Rotom. It ended poorly." Oak said, remembering that sound Gible made when she was in the ground, all shark-like.

"For how many?" the Porygon researcher inquired. Parts were very much a prized thing. After all, there was no way to make more until those Pernon people did something about it.

"Two prototypes. I trust you can do something with them." Oak said as he prepared to use the transregional transport link. A similar concept was used for the Pokemon Trade Link network that, despite everything from rogue Gibles and Diglett to nuclear bombs, still worked for transferring Pokemon, only for non-pokemon objects.

Bill tried it for people once. He ended up looking like a Clefairy for three days. Needless to say the project was… put on a shelf.

"Yeah, I can do something." He nodded, "Give me say… a few weeks, maybe a month and I can have them ready. I hope you have some people in mind to give them for their test runs."

"I have a pair of trainers in mind. Just have a pair of Porygon ready." Oak said before sending them through the translink, disappearing in rings of light.

Route 6 - 10 kilometers from Vermillion City - 1512 Hours Local Time

Ash knew Misty was glaring at Melanie.

He began cursing out the Pokemon that screwed with her mind enough to make her attach herself to him within hours of meeting and making her more jealous then he remembered.

He noticed, in hindsight. Any girl that got too close and she turned into a Houndoom.

"Is… your friend alright?" Melanie asked, looking at the openly-glaring Misty. "I hope I didn't do anything that offended her…"

"Its fine, she's just…" Ash began, glancing at Misty "…very distrusting of strangers… "

"Pika." 'And Competition,' Pikachu chimed in.

Ash wanted to throttle Pikachu. She was more of a love interest for Brock then him! Besides, he only reacted ONCE to a girl and he instantly regretted it because she was a haughty bitch.

Still, at least he didn't have his two flyers to deal with. Noctowl and Pidgeotto were…dogfighting. Apparently they weren't getting along as well as expected. From what he could hear, it was less loyalty this time and more their style of flying. Granted they weren't actively trying to kill one another now, which was an improvement… at least not intentionally…

Look, an improvement was still an improvement - no matter how small it may seem.

"Owl!" 'Try moving slower! You're not as impressive if you're darting about!' the owl said as Pidgeotto attempted to ram him. "Noc-" 'Seriously, rushing headlong into a fight-'

"Otto!" 'Not an owl! So shut up!' she replied before attempting to Brave Bird Noctowl.

"Your Pidgeotto seems to be well-trained. Brave Bird isn't an easy move to pull off." Melanie said. "Well, easy to pull off, not so easy to avoid hurting themselves."

'Yes, Talonflame had a distinct lack of care regarding that.' Ash deadpanned mentally, as he remembered his flame bird that liked Brave Birding. Often.

Not a mood he was entirely happy with.

He was about to call them down to have them chill out, before he heard a very familiar sound - that of police sirens. 'Huh?' he narrowed his eyes, looking ahead as he saw what looked to be several smaller off-road police vehicles approaching them. They slowly came to a stop in front of them, and emerging from some of the cars were several Officer Jennys.

'It took me three regions to get used to them being identical.' Ash mused. Still, three? Usually there was one per major town or city.

"Hold it!" one of them yelled, right hand on a revolver in its holster. "We have a birdkeeper that claims saw a large group of pokemon en route to Vermillion. Seeing as that's true…what happened?"

Ash looked at Melanie. "I think you're the one to explain this." he said before she stepped forward, sighing. "The village in the forest I was caring for was attacked by members of Team Plasma." she summed up, much to the confusion of the officers.

"Plasma?" the lead Jenny asked. "They're usually not seen outside Unova. You sure it was them?"

"As a licensed Pokemon League doctor and breeder, I do keep up to date on the so-called 'teams'." Melenie said, surprising Ash. So she was employed by the league in this timeline? "A shield with a P on it is their emblem and their grunts usually dress like some ancient Kalosian or Galaran knight. Hard to mistake that."

"Damn… we've already got issues with Rocket, now we gotta deal with another copy-cat team?" The Jenny groaned. "Well… thanks for the info though… we can escort you people back to town in case any more of those gangsters are around."

"That would be nice. Thank you, officers." Melanie said with a slight bow.

Nearby, a trio of less than intellectually inclined people (or two humans and a Meowth) saw the massive group they were tailing link up with the cops.

While Jessie, James and Meowth were not exactly the sharpest Honedge in the Kanto Region, they were not completely stupid. They knew attacking this group was a mistake.

"So…many…" Jessie said drooling at the large number of Pokemon.

We never said they wouldn't think about it. Just that they knew it was a bad idea.

"Are you nuts?!" Meowth asked after clubbing her upside the head. "One, we're here to stalk the kid, not steal Pokemon for da Boss. Two, ARMED COPS! They'd shoot us on sight!"

"I know…but we can dream?" James asked.

"No dreaming! Keep on the job!" Meowth said before they resumed watching him with some of the most ridiculous spy equipment you can imagine.

Sad part was, Ash noticed them, he just did nothing because they hadn't attempted their usual MO of 'motto, attempt to steal Pikachu, fail'.

Acting like a fool was one thing. Being one was another.

Lilycove City - Ports - 2314 hours local time

"Gib! Gible! Gib!" 'Come on, I'm not that bad!'

"Ko. Tree, Treeko." 'You're a metalivore, and what are ships generally made of?'

While not completely true, Gibles did eat large amounts of iron, nickel and chromium, to maintain a nice, healthy coat of scales. Before he was caught by Ash, Gible ate an entire Team Rocket mech. His only response was a burp.

And because Gible couldn't make a large, reinforced tunnel, they needed to go by ship.

"Gib! GIB!" 'I won't eat the whole ship!' Gible cried out.

"Chim." 'Notice he said 'the whole ship'." Chimchar deadpanned.

"Gil." 'We need the WHOLE ship, Gible.' Giligar said, not exactly impressed with Gible's complaints. "Gar." 'If you eat ANY part of it, we're in trouble. And there's no way our flyers can get us to Kanto unless they turn into Fearows.'

Taillow and Starly glared at the bat-like Pokemon, who simply shrugged as best he could.

Gible grumbled. "Gib." 'You're no fun…' he pouted.

"Ko." 'We gotta get to Ash, in one piece and preferably on a boat that still floats.' Treeko sighed.

It was a good thing no one noticed them, otherwise balls would be flying everywhere. It was hard enough to sneak in, with Gible wanting to do the whole land shark thing, but Torkoal was not exactly fast or stealthy, plus the Treeko clan was rather conspicuous.

Still, they needed to figure out what ship was going where.

"Turt." 'Well, Chimchar, we're going to need you on this one.' the grass turtle said, remembering Chimchar being the only one that could read the human language.

"Char, char." 'Right, right…' Chimchar said before hopping off to find anything indicating where the ship was heading.

"Tail…" '…I need to learn to read…' Tailow muttered, "Low." 'I have the best eyesight, so I could read things from a hundred kilometers away…'

"Sno." 'And learn how to avoid Pikachu's near-legendary levels of shocking power.' Snorunt added. "…Snorunt?" 'How DID you avoid being easily shocked in those early days?'

Tailow shrugged. Not even she knew how.

"Sta." 'I am somewhat jealous.' Starly said before Gible began eating a piece of metal.

"Sno?" 'Should we… stop him?' Snowrunt asked.

"Tail." 'He's just eating scrap metal, it'll be fine.' Tailow said, "Low." 'Plus, best he fill up now rather than on the boat.'

Chimchar came back, nervous as hell. "Char…" 'I nearly got noticed. Come on." he said, shakily. "Chi." 'Follow me.' He then noticed Gible, nomming. "…Ar." 'Please tell me he's full.'

"Tree?" 'Gible? Are you full?' Treeko asked.

Gible finished eating its slab of metal, before letting out a content burp before eye-smiling.

"Treeko." 'Let's go.' he said, sighing, as Chimchar led them to a ship with a mast, cargo cranes and a large cargo hatch with a ramp leading up to it. One crowded with crates, allowing them to get on board with ease.

"Sno." 'Well, that was nice and discrete.' Snorunt said.

Creaaaaaak

Everyone turned around, watching as the warehouse - the one they were staying in - suddenly collapsed in on itself… followed by Gible letting out another contentful burp.

Tailow and Turtwig looked at Gible. "Turt." 'Really?' the turtle asked. "Tail!" 'What do you have to say for yourself?!' she demanded.

Gible looked at the warehouse as humans and Pokemon examined the ruins. "Gible!" 'I regret nothing!' he exclaimed, making all facepalm as the ramp was removed and the doors closed.

No Codex entry: login privileges revoked

Ron the True Fan: …Why must he be CUTE?

Takeshi Yamato: Because Gible. Obviously.

117Jorn: He is one of our many mascot-like entities. Alongside Peacock Spiders and Ysalamiri.

Ron the True Fan: And Pikachu and Eevee and Natu and Riolu. Because excluding Pikachu is heresy of the highest degree. But Gible is best. For he is land shark.

117Jorn: Eh, I always saw Pikachu as Pokemon's mascot as a whole, Gible is our own personal mascot :D

Ron the True Fan: True enough.

Ja Ne!

(AO3 note)

Ron the True Fan: UGH....The only thing keeping me from going insane is the adorable sight of Gible...being Gible. Long live the land shark.

Ja Ne!

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Ron the True Fan: Take us to sea, boys.

RMS Olympic - 1352 hours local time - Day 21 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey

Three weeks isn't a long time. Ash spent nearly 7 years on the move. But for Ash, looking back, it was like he wanted to just stop.

Hiding his secret from Misty wasn't easy, but now that she knew… well, she was still asleep.

And he had been kicked out of the infirmary more than once for visiting her. He was worried, but the doctors booted him out for one reason: she would wake up when she woke up.

Ash was forced to wander the ship and was drawn into more than one battle.

While he was out… Misty woke up.

'He tricked me.' was her first thought. True, Ash had been evasive, and had not talked about much.

"He might not have said anything, but he didn't manipulate you into anything you didn't want to do." came… her own voice?

Misty sat up to see… herself, leaning against a wall, wearing a yellow jacket with her usual outfit on. "Who…" she started before the 'other' Misty raised her hand.

"I'm not really here. I'm in your head." she 'said'. "Ash has met a LOT of people that left a psychic imprint on him. Side-effect of Mewtwo's…" she paused. "Right, you haven't been there yet."

"Mew-who?" Misty asked before groaning and laying back on the bed.

"Long story: Ash has the details. Take my advice and rest." the mental projection said. "As for Ash… well, the only worry about his intentions is that they're too honorable for your liking. He wants to be your friend. That's it." With that, she huffed. "Damned Latios. You had to make him make that oath."

Misty looked at the remnant of her other self from the last timeline. "You…"

"I loved him. Just as you're going to," the mental projection admitted. "He's just too nice for his own good. And if I didn't know better, dense as Brock's Geodude. Being in his head helped." She shrugged. "I'll tell you what we were up to. Got nothing better to do."

RMS Germanic - near the Oblivia Region - 0754 Hours Local time

Obvilia was one of the three Ranger Union regions. Trainers were never from here: always passing through. Here, people used capture stylers to bond with wild Pokemon.

Shadow Pokemon took poorly to that and the Rangers were put to the sword, as it were, by the corrupted creatures.

This was lost on Goomy and Sylveon as the former fired dragon attacks at her, doing nothing, but that was kinda the point. Goomy could wale on her without risk of injury and invent new ways of using the attacks he had access to.

"Let." 'You take this too seriously.' Grace's robin said as she nested on a towel.

"Sylveon!" 'Let Goomy train! He wants to be a Goodra!' the Eeveelution said as Goomy fired off a burst of dragon embers, looking pleased with himself.

"Goo." 'Weakness breeds creativity.' he said. Ash certainly knew that: he encouraged it in his matches, which kept him in top form.

Some would consider this idiotic. But flexibility was key: relying solely on power made you slow and predictable.

"Attention all hands: this is your captain." came a call over the room's intercom. "We will be docking at Dolce Island within the hour. Relief personnel, you are requested to be ready to depart. All other passengers, for your own safety, do NOT leave the ship: there is a level 4 infestation on Dolce Island."

"FLETCH!" 'HIDE YOUR WIVES AND DAUGHTERS!' Grace's robin screeched as it ducked under a bed. Whatever this 'level 4' was, it was bad.

"Froak." 'I will investigate. I shouldn't be too long.' Froakie said, everyone looking at him...only for him not to be there.

"Goomy." 'Goddamn ninja.' the snail said. "Omy." 'No one leaves this ship until we get to Kanto. That or Ash randomly appears out of nowhere.'

"Pan." 'Well, it won't take too long to fix any of the damage the ship took during the trip.' Pancham said as he chewed on his stick. "Cham." 'Then we can finally meet Serena's mate!'

"Goomy." 'I prefer Ash's mates, personally.' Goomy said knowingly.

Out of all the Pokemon from Kalos, Goomy was not the one to strongly support Serena. Instead, he supported having Misty, Serena and all of Ash's other female 'friends' being part of his family.

Goomys were polygamious. And anyone that had a Goomy line Pokemon was bound to endure their 'tastes'. It was why anyone that had a Goomy had to either train it out of them or put up with it.

Or they were Ash and focused more on learning the region's quirks.

Smoke dominated the skylines of the region. Shadow Salamances were sadly common, burning everything in sight.

And thanks to the cultural bias against the Pokeball, which was literally the only way to deal with a Shadow Pokemon, the region was basically set to burn.

Two larger ships were also docked, offloading cargo and what looked like weapons. This was going to end badly.

Froakie noticed they all had the same flag flying from their masts. The same as the flag from the Germanic's.

Someone was trying to clean up the mess. Valiant. But foolish. The violence of man would only make the Shadow worse.

Froakie didn't need all of his memories to come to that conclusion. These things seemed to thrive off death and violence.

"Go back, little one."

Froakie jumped at the gentle voice of a young woman, who stood behind him, with pale skin, a white sundress and sunhat covering white hair and green eyes. "Go back to your friends. It's not safe here." she said, sounding rather drained and sad.

But drained as she sounded, her voice was not a plea. It was a command. Almost as though it came from Ash himself. Roars from outside of the city forced him to head back regardless.

He couldn't get back if his ship sank.

Kanto Region - near coastline between Prima Vista and Vermillion City - 1417 hours Local Time

Team Rocket was formed over 50 years ago. Madam Boss, as she was referred to, took a bunch of thugs and reforged them into an organization whose end goal was the conquest of Kanto. Her children, Giovanni and Delia, were the heirs to this, but Delia was not only not interested in the family business, she was actively opposed to the conquest of the region.

But while the URN was long dead, Lance and Cynthia were working on bringing it back. The only way to secure Kanto was to isolate it from the other three regions. By the time they could get someone to the closest area, Johto, they could have total control of the region and have solidified their hold to repel an attack of that scale.

But they had to isolate the Ranger regions (easy, as they couldn't even help themselves) as well as Unova, Kalos and Galar. Even now, while they were still recovering from the Cipher War, they could still take down a Rocket-controlled Kanto. The Team wasn't strong enough to repulse them.

But the first step to that was making sure no one got to Kanto they didn't want to. That and crippling the only competitor in the shipping business, Pernon, would give the Team room to expand. And eventually, the ability to take over the rest of Nihon.

At least, that was the plan. Archer's plan. Giovanni was content with control of business in Kanto, terrified that his sister would get involved and destroy them. Pfft. Delia hadn't seen battle in 20 years. What threat was she?

"Sir, the guns are ready." a grunt reported as he stood before Archer looked at the tugboats they had turned into gunboats with recoilless guns and anti-tank missiles mounted to them. It wasn't GREAT, but as all the proper surplus not in use by the Kanto League Navy were in Hoenn, it would have to do.

"Ready the grunts." Archer ordered. "We're putting Pernon's pride on the bottom.'' With that, he stared at the flagship of the Pernon Line in the distance: the RMS Olympic.

It could take them time to get in range, but when there was a nice big hole in the ship...Well, Archer took too much pleasure in killing up-close.

RMS Olympic - same time

"Misty hates me." Ash said as he stared out to sea. Once more, he had been kicked out of the infirmary and told to explore the ship and have Pokemon battles. Charmeleon agreed.

Ash wasn't in the heart for it. He just let them do as they wished for training. The trainers seemed to understand, though how Ash's were able to fight like veterans of the Leagues confused them.

"Pikapi." 'It sounds like you actually want it, Ash.' Pikachu said as he sat beside his trainer. "Pi." 'And I wonder why.' Pikachu constantly teased Ash behind his back for his vow of celibacy, but he worried for his trainer.

After all, the guy was putting himself through enough stress BEFORE the time reset. A girlfriend would help with reducing his stress to something manageable, someone to confide in and...destress with.

Ash, of course, was refusing to do all the healthy things. Pikachu blamed Brock. He set all the wrong examples. He was too aggressive, too flirty and too stupid to get a hint to stop. Misty, Max and Croagunk stopped him from being too much of an idiot. While Ash was not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to romantic hints, he wasn't so stupid that it took a kiss to do it either.

It usually took him about three to four months to pick up the cues. Serena was instantaneous: he knew her, but pretended to forget about her. BIG mistake, as the kiss showed.

"Well… she'd be safer if she went home." Ash said. "Have you seen what we run into every week?"

"Pika!" 'Apply that logic to us!' Pikachu cried. "Chu-pi!" 'You're going to be dragging US into fighting Mewtwo, that iron-masked bastard, Altomere and everything else!'

"If not us, then who?" Ash retorted. "Who's going to keep the world from getting worse?"

It sounded so pretentious, so arrogant. But the sad part was… he wasn't being arrogant or prideful. Who WAS going to do it? Who would save the world from Lawrance III's greed and ignorance? Who would stop the Marauder from doing damage to the past and future? Who would stop the thieves from killing Latios?

Who would stop Cyrus' madness again?

"Pika…" 'Point taken. But why not have Misty and the others help?' the yellow starter asked.

"I've put enough people in danger over the last 6 years. She's better off finding someone to love." Ash said. "Someone better than me."

Pikachu scowled and smacked Ash with his tail, hardened by iron for good measure. His trainer was too noble and too stupid sometimes! "Pikapi!" 'She doesn't want someone better! She wants YOU. The idiot stupid enough to blunder into her life and take her on a whirlwind tour of the world.'

Ash bowed his head. "Maybe she does. But I don't deserve her." he finally admitted.

Before Pikachu could try and smack sense into him, a hatch in the teak decking opened with a large gun mount coming out about five feet from them, it's barrel spinning and whirling like…

"COVER YOUR EARS!" Ash said before doing so, Pikachu following just as the whirring gun fired, a long and loud burst of fire echoing across the deck. The trainer glanced out to sea, finding a trail of light arcing towards something coming at the ship. An explosion thundered in the distance as the object was hit.

That was a rocket. Someone was attacking the ship.

"For one FUCKING day…" Ash spat, FINALLY having enough to use a far heavier curse (his Pokemon swore like sailors; it was a wonder he didn't) "Can I have some FUCKING PEACE FOR ONE FUCKING DAY?!"

Clearly, whoever was shooting at the ship disagreed, firing more missiles at the ship.

"Pika." 'Well, no rest for the wicked.' Pikachu said, waiting for the inevitable boarding action as the deck guns spun up again.

Ash sighed. The universe saw fit to have him solve every problem, didn't it?

RMS Olympic - C-Deck

While the TRio sucked at many things most of the time, disguises were not their worse talent. In fact, if Ash hadn't had the near decade of experience in seeing through their many outfits, he wouldn't be able to recognize them on sight.

But they were VERY good at what they did, so they evaded detection with ease, disguised as stewards and Meowth as a Rattata hunter.

There WAS a reason Alola hunted the little bastards down, now, only letting a controlled population exist due to their uniqueness.

Back on topic, the Trio heard the hard anti-missile countermeasures going off and wondered what was going on. They told the Boss about the twirp's victory over Surge and his subsequent cruise ticket gift, so he cancelled the attack. For some reason.

They didn't ask. As stupid as they could be (and they could be VERY stupid) once the Boss gave an order, it was to be OBEYED.

"Got eyes on two tugboats." Meowth said quietly as he looked out a porthole, his Unovan accent barely audible as he looked at the two boats in question, which moved a bit too fast for your normal towing vessel. That meant modifications. "Q-boats."

"Armed boats? Well, that screams Team Rocket." Jessie said hauntily, proud of the organization she was a part of and how it would eventually conquer Kanto. "But I thought the Boss cancelled the attack. Because of the brat and all?"

"Rogues! Oooh, I hate it when that happens!" James said, the bluenette remembering the last time someone betrayed Team Rocket to try and take control.

It ended poorly, as Giovanni still controlled the mob.

"I see blue. It's Admin Archer. He's on one of the boats." Meowth reported as he dropped to the deck, James pondering.

"What do we do? Archer's our superior!" he bemoaned as another explosion rocked the ship/

"But we answer to THE Boss now! And he ordered us to keep tabs on the kid!" Jessie snapped. "We're not getting involved."

"You's got a point, Jessie: don't want to piss off the Boss." Meowth said, agreeing. Pissing off Giovanni was a bad idea. The pain never ends.

All three nodded, deciding to leave Archer to twist in the wind. They did not want to test the man in charge of the Team. Testing Giovanni was a good way to get yourself killed.

RMS Olympic Infirmary

"Give Ash credit. At least his life is never going to be boring," Astral Misty (for lack of a better term) said as the sound of muted gunfire entered the little medical area. "A lot different from my timeline, that's for sure."

Misty groaned as she got out of bed, using a wall to steady herself. Ash might have tricked her, but he wasn't some evil mastermind. Just a confused and hurt young man.

"And where are you going?" her imprinted self asked from her position leaning near the door.

"Out. Ash needs my help." she said. "And if he's half as selfless as you say he is, he's going to get himself hurt saving this ship."

"Oh, he's far from completely selfless. Him pushing you away was him trying not to be like his father." the projection said. "But… when it comes to helping others, he'll do what he can to save the day."

Mt. Moon, the attack by Team Plasma… Saving her from the Spearows and that crazy swordsman… yes, he did tend to do that.

"Go. He needs you," the fragment said before disappearing, Misty looking around for her bag. She had a war to fight.

Team Rocket gunboat - same time

Optically guided missiles were impossible to jam when using trailing wires. The only way to get rid of them was to actively destroy them.

The Olympic's anti-piracy countermeasures included 18 radar-guided revolver cannons, which was making Archer's life suck at the moment because they were doing just that: blowing up his missiles.

It was infuriating! They had deck guns, but few shells and his people weren't sure if they wouldn't just blow off their makeshift mounts.

"Damned army-surplus bullshit." Archer said as he snarled, motioning to the deck crew. "To hell with this. Load the gun!"

"Sir, we might sink the ship firing this thing!" one of his peons said. Archer just shot him in the head for speaking up instead of obeying.

"LOAD THE GUN!" he barked, knowing the active defenses wouldn't stop a 105mm shell. And the hull was not durable enough to handle heavy cannon shells. It wasn't a warship.

Terrified into obeying, they began loading the gun.

Ash did not like this timeline.

He started to dislike it the moment he had to deal with guns being a thing, then everything started piling up on him, from Misty's condition, to Shadow Pokemon, to his ancestry to Mt Moon. In the end, he decided he HATED this timeline.

"Couldn't stop the timeline from changing, could you? Oh NO, everything had to go straight to hell!" Ash spat as he crouched and got past the midship defense guns, the loud gunfire being somewhat cancelled out between the two turrets. "I just want to go home."

Pikachu glared at his trainer. "Pikapi?!" 'Is there a reason you're complaining, Ash?' he asked.

"Yes! I want to go back to our timeline, back home!" his trainer retorted. "Back to Alola, even if it was boring as hell, in a timeline we know!"

Ash wanted familiarity. Pikachu couldn't blame him. This timeline DID suck.

"Pika." 'Well, we got to live with it. Maybe we can get it changing for the better.' Pikachu suggested to lift his trainer's spirits. Ash snorted out a laugh.

"Maybe," he said. "But we gotta survive-"

He never finished that sentence as the ship lurched, hit by something. "Pi!" 'The hell was that?!'

"Something those guns couldn't stop." Ash said as the ship lurched again, hit by another… whatever it was from the other side. "Oh, that's GREAT."

Proton was not an idiot. He read between the lines: an operation cancelled on either sinking or seizing the Olympic? Ash fucking Ketchum, son of that bitch Delia (and he was STILL smarting at that kick between the legs and it had been 20 Arceusdamned years!) was on that ship. So when Archer decided to go through with the op, he went along to help.

Or rather 'kill Delia's spawn because he knew better then to go after the bitch herself'. While Archer thought Delia was out of the game, she was NOT. Her Pokemon were still well-trained and fit for combat and she… well, no one wanted to remember THAT incident from 8 years ago.

"Put that out of your head, Proton," the admin said to himself. "Just keep shooting."

They had already punched through two compartments. Four more and the ship would be doomed. 'Ah, five.' Proton thought, reminded that this was not the Olympic's ill-fated sister. 'They made it harder to sink.'

And while she was sinking, they would loot the saferooms and passengers. Proton, of course, was more interested in killing the boy.

The gun fired again, but the mount snapped, the rusting metal not able to handle the recoil, the cannon falling to the deck, making the converted tugboat begin to tip over.

"Get to the boats! We're boarding that ship!" Proton ordered as the grunts ran for the assault rafts, fearing for their lives.

Ketchum would die and his parents' legacy would die with him.

RMS Olympic - Bridge - 1421 hours Local Time

Captain Hiroshi Sakurai was an old hand in the Pernon Line, used to fending off would-be pirate lords on the seas.

Team Rocket was new to him. Well, new in the sense that they were after Pernon's big ships.

"Report!" he demanded as the ship started to go down by the bow, holed in six places by anti-tank guns.

"Flooding is pretty bad, Captain," his XO said as he ran back into the wheelhouse. "We've got water up to E-Deck. We're evacuating everyone to the safe areas, but bulletproof armor won't do them any good if we sink!"

"I know, damn it," Hiroshi said before the radio operator came in, practically screaming bloody murder.

"Sir! Sir!" she sputtered as she came in, smacking into the telegraph base, hurting herself. The captain got her to her feet as she held her side.

"What is it?" he asked sternly. He wasn't in the mood for surprises.

"Call… radio…" she muttered before he put her on the decking, going to the radio room, mindless of the increasing angle of the deck. While the old Morse Code transmitter was long gone, the Marconi Room was still home to the ship's telecommunications, including a refurbished army-surplus radio.

Working for the top tech man in the world had its pluses.

"Hello? Hey, lady! Where are you?!" came a voice from the radio speakers, making Hiroshi scowl. He knew that voice.

Archie Aogiri. It was bad enough the bastard was the leader of Team Aqua, Hoenn's aquatic ecoterrorists. What made it worse was that he was from Orre. No one trusted anyone from there. Even people with their blood were scorned.

But more importantly, the bastard wanted the Olympic as his aquatic base.

…Well, that was one way to get help, as Hiroshi picked up the mic. "This is Captain Hiroshi Sakurai. What do you want, Archie?"

"Ah, the man in charge! Good!" came the voice of the Aqua Boss. "You seem to have a Rocket problem, Captain!"

"What are you doing here, Aogiri? You're a long way from Hoenn." Sakurai demanded.

"You know I want that ship. Perfect place to live out Lord Kyogre's enlarging of the seas. And I can't have it if it sinks," Archie replied. "Refloating it isn't as easy as teleporting it out of a desert."

"You want the ship? You'll have to take it from Team Rocket first," the captain replied.

"That's the idea, Captain…"

Team Aqua submarine U-2003 - same time

"That's the idea," Archie finished as he looked at his crew, eager to claim what was theirs as the sub surfaced, speeding towards the ocean liner.

"We're taking that ship! For Lord Kyogre!" he cried.

"FOR LORD KYOGRE!" came the reply.

Entry 16: Team Aqua

Founded by Archie Aogiri in AS35, the ecoterrorist organization known as Team Aqua (a moniker given to them by visitors from Kanto due to their similarities to Team Rocket, but entirely unrelated) has but one goal: expansion of the seas to make room for more water-type Pokemon.

Rocket psychologists have tied this to Archie being born in the desert region of Orre, where water is exceedingly rare outside of oases and the Pacific Ocean coastline, but without confirmation from Archie himself, we will not know. Rocket operatives are ordered to stop all Aqua operations when possible. Their self-destructive goals are not in the best interest of Team Rocket.

Entry 17: The Ranger Union

In the distant past, the Ranger Union was once the enemy of the Trainer nations due to their hate of the Pokeball, but the regions of Fiore, Almia and Obiliva were the first and easiest targets of Cipher during the Shadow War, taking advantage of their lack of trainers and Pokeballs, which were the only things to contain the Shadow Pokemon.

The Ranger way is all but extinct, as Shadow Pokemon cannot have their emotional states soothed. In fact, the styler effect only makes them angrier, which is saying something, as they are murderous monsters. The Pernon Corporation, in conjunction with the Kingdom of Rota, have attempted to reclaim the regions by force, but to date, only a small foothold has been made in each region. The locations have been declared off-limits except to relief personnel due to the sheer amount of Shadow Pokemon.

Ron the True Fan: Shorter than I'd like, but honestly, this chapter was made for one reason: filler. …Which is kinda what I think of the entire SS Anne thing in the anime as well, when I think about it.

Takeshi Yamato: Yeah, the SS Anne arc WAS filler, honestly. I mean, yeah, it was action-packed filler, but it was still filler. Then again, the Gen 1 games were rather lackluster in terms of plot.

Ron the True Fan: It was a Game Boy cart. Those only fit so much shit in them. It took VERY clever programming on Iwata-sama's part (ETERNAL RESPECT) for Gold and Silver to be so big.

Takeshi Yamato: True enough, but when they made the anime, obviously they needed to expand it. Hence, all those different filler arcs and all the times when Ash and co. got lost. Newer games have more plot, yes, but still not quite enough for an anime. We can have fewer filler arcs now, but Ash and co. still get lost quite a bit. And, of course, Alola's a smaller region, so less game plot, which means more filler. I can only wonder how they'll handle Galar in the anime.

Ron the True Fan: Hopefully not as poorly as the fans received intel of the game on launch.

Ja Ne!

(Ao3 Note)

Ron the True Fan: ...Slow. And. Annoying.

Ja Ne!

Chapter Text

Ron the True Fan: Team Aqua's in Kanto. The least evil teams, if only because they have good intentions. You know the line: road to hell's paved with them.

Takeshi Yamato: True enough. Let's get going.

RMS Olympic - 1428 hours local time - Day 21 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey

Ash adjusted his footing as the guns stopped firing and the deck angle went downward, towards the bow.

"Not again. This is why I didn't want to go on the ship!" he said as he gathered Pikachu up in his arms.

"Pika." 'I know. But we're here, so we should save the day.' his starter said as he got onto Ash's shoulder. "Pikapi?" 'Right, Ash?'

Ash let out a weary sigh. "I hate this timeline." he said before a hook shot past him, clattering to the deck before reeling back, securing itself on the railing. "Oh, crap."

Ash rushed to the hook, trying to dislodge it before coming face to face moments later with a Rocket Grunt, who stared at him for a second before she seemed to recognize him… then a look of terror and fear appeared on her face before she pushed back on the line, screaming in terror as she fell to the ocean below. Other grunts that got up the deck also saw him and bolted, one smacking into a lifeboat davit and falling to the ocean. Head first.

"Ka?" 'What the actual f-'

"Wish I knew." Ash said, grabbing onto and dislodging the grappling hook with difficulty, twisting the thing through the railing bars. Two grunts screamed as they fell into the waters, which explained why it was so hard to move. "We need to get off this deck. Come on!"

RMS Olympic - Bridge

"Tell our security people to focus on keeping the areas to the bridge and engine room secure." ordered Hiroshi as he tried to formulate a plan. "We're not letting those Rockets sink this ship and sure as hell not giving it to the Aquas."

"No, sir. So… let them deal with the Rockets and we deal with the survivors?" his XO asked, as another 'bang' resulted in another hole in the hull. "We're gonna need to deal with those guns, sir."

"One problem at a time. Maybe the Aquas'll deal with them, too." Hiroshi said. Suddenly, the lights dimmed. "They cut the power."

"No power, no pumps. We'll have to seal off more areas of the ship."

"Just fucking great." he spat.

RMS Olympic - A Deck, port side promenade - 1440 Hours Local Time

"You know the boss is going to kill us, right?" asked one grunt as he made his way inside, gun held out in front of him.

"Don't know," said his partner. "All I know is Archer ordered us to search the ship, find the passengers, loot them and shoot them." It was the plan. Take what could be taken, kill the passengers, sink the ship, leave no survivors.

"This'll make us rich, right?" the first grunt asked, opening a door, walking into a suite before the door slammed into him, with a trainer coming out and tackling the grunt, slamming him into the glass windows keeping them from the outside, knocking out the poor bastard.

The grunt glared at the trainer, ready to fire, before noticing something about the attacker. Black hair, reddish-brown eyes…

'Shit! It's Ketchum!' he thought, knowing the Boss wanted him alive for some reason. If he killed the Ketchum kid, the punishment would be… extreme.

That hesitation cost him the initiative, Ketchum tackling him, grappling for the gun in his hands. The grunt let go with his left hand, punching the kid in the face, but Ash pulled on the right, dragging him down to the deck as the two fought for the gun.

The Rocket grunt got away, still holding the gun, but he was hit with a bolt of lightning that stunned him, briefly seeing a yellow rat as he struggled to stay upright.

Ketchum's Shadow Pikachu. Who looked like he wanted him dead.

Ketchum tackled him, pinning his gun arm to his chest. It was the last thing he knew as the finger involuntarily squeezed the trigger.

BANG!

Ash stared dumbly, not feeling any pain from the bullet. Then he saw where the gun was pointing.

At the grunt's chin.

Blood leaked from the wound onto the Rocket uniform, more bled from the top of his head, making his beret smell like iron and copper. Ash backed away, horrified.

"I… I… I-" he muttered before Pikachu whacked the back of his head with his tail.

"Pikapi!" 'Ash, get your head together! You did not kill him!' his starter stated. "Ka." 'Even if you did, he was trying to kill you. You had-'

"I don't kill." Ash snapped, before realizing his tone. "Sorry."

"Pika." 'Ash, you've had this problem since we got here. I'm not offended.' Pikachu said back. "Chu." 'But still, even if you did kill him, it was self-defense.' Pikachu sighed, jumping back to the deck. "Pi." 'And if you didn't, I would have.'

"What?!" Ash cried out, staring at Pikachu. "Pikachu, you can't-"

"Pika!" 'Can and will. You are more important to me and the others than any mindless grunt employed by Giovanni, Ghetsis or Lysandre. If we have to kill to keep you safe, so be it.' Pikachu said and vowed, every word being as serious as Ash's vow to make the women in his life happy without being their significant other.

"…I still don't like it. Killing is just… wrong." Ash whispered. But Pikachu heard it.

"Pikapi…" 'Ash, I know. I don't like it either, but to defend you is the only reason I will. If I can take them out without ending them, I'll do it. But when push comes to shove…' Pikachu trailed off, Ash getting his meaning.

"We can't stay here." Ash finally said. "We have to kick them off this ship and keep it from sinking."

"Pika?" 'Bad memories of the Anne?' Pikachu asked rhetorically.

"Very." Ash said as they left the body of the grunt and his unconscious partner.

RMS Olympic - C-Deck dining saloon - 1442 hours local time

The security people were giving all they had, but the rockets outnumbered them six to one.

So someone decided to help out.

A grunt slammed into a wall, hit by high-pressure water from a brown starfish with a jewel, Misty poking her head out from her cover. "Nice one, Staryu!" she complimented, the tired starfish sagging, but unbroken.

They had been fighting since the Rockets started to board, delaying them as much as possible so the security teams could regroup and get ready to fight back.

She would have shot them, after all, self-defense and all, but…

"Nice. Ash and I did that a lot to Jessie and James back in the old days." her astral counterpart said. She was the only reason none of these murderers got what was coming to them.

She nearly pulled out her big gun, which she hadn't used since she met Ash, but her mental self frowned on it, so she didn't. Since then, the Pokemon were knocking them out of the fight.

But they were tiring. She would have to give them potions and ethers (the homemade kind made from berries, as the professional-grade stuff was… expensive) before going on the attack again. At least they could be applied while they were in the Pokeballs.

So Misty returned Staryu to her ball, joining everyone but Psyduck… who was hiding under a table.

"Psy-ay-ay…" 'Leave me alone! I already need to change my feathers: what more do you want?!' the duck quacked.

"Still a pain, my timeline or yours." Astral Misty said, shaking her head. Then gunfire tore into the room, hitting the beautiful panelling and grazing Misty's left shoulder before she ducked behind a broken oak table.

"Well, well…" said a man wearing a modified black Rocket uniform, with teal hair and eyes, holding the machine pistol version of the Rocket's usual sidearm with its' stock and extended detachable magazine. "Misty fucking Waterflower. Your sisters are always such a pain in the ass."

"And who the hell are you?!" Misty barked back, the usual fire Ash was used to back in full force. Her astral self whooped, not that the Rocket noticed.

"Archer Apollo, Administrator of Team Rocket." the man, Archer, said almost politely. "The Boss wanted to cancel this attack, like he was content with the League's scraps. But now that I know you're here, I know damn well why." He fired again, the oak table stopping the rounds from reaching Misty, but she couldn't stay here.

"The Ketchum brat! His father was enough of a problem, but he's dead now thanks to that overgrown Shadow bird." Archer ranted, his gun clicking empty before he snarled, yanking the magazine out. "But he's still scared of dear old Delia. Well, I'm not!" He slammed another one in, pulling the trigger.

Nothing happened. Archer forgot to chamber a round.

"Damn it!" he snapped, all of his attention on the weapon while Misty snuck to another table, one with a cloth covering it for extra protection.

Misty knew fighting Archer would be a tall, annoying order, not to mention potentially dangerous.

"You can't hide! I will find you, you little bitch!" Archer spat before releasing three Pokemon, one barking, another howling.

The other was silent, but the smell… two dogs and a Koffing, if the sulfurous stench was right.

"You're not leaving this room alive! Houndour, Houndoom, find her!" he ordered, giving Misty the names of the dog Pokemon.

Well, that made things harder and easier. They were both dark-types, meaning Starmie would have a hard time with them using Bite or Dark Pulse.

But they were also fire-types...and she had a lot of water-types. Even if they were trained like an Elite Four's, she had a chance.

Elite level or not, fire could still be put out by water.

RMS Olympic - B-Deck - Reading Room

Ash ducked into the reading room, Pikachu jumping down from his shoulder.

"Pika." 'This is a horrible spot for a fight.' Pikachu deadpanned.

"We're passing through: just to get to the other side of the ship." Ash retorted. "We gotta get those boats away from the ship before we try and save it."

Ash's plan was to sink those gunboats, but first he had to get to one of the gangway hatches to get a better shot at rather, for Pikachu to get a better shot at them. Shadow Bolt would sink them and the rockets would be stuck on the water.

And the only way to the gangways was through the reading room according to the map he had and Pikachu was reading from. His early years in Kanto, Johto and Hoenn forced him to learn how to read a map.

If he ever got his hands on one, which was...rare.

"Let's get-" ash said before he was interrupted by the sound of rapid bangs, with him and Pikachu taking cover behind a bookshelf, which thankfully kept them from getting shot.

"Ketchum!" snapped an angry man with green hair as he reloaded the machine pistol. "You're going to pay for what your mother did to me, you little bastard!" He continued firing, right before it jammed. Ash broke cover and lunged at the man, knocking the gun out of his hands as they fell to the floor, Ash delivering a right hook into his jaw.

He forced Ash off, punching the young man in the gut before grabbing him and slamming his knee into Ash's face. "Mistake, boy." he spat, blood leaking from his mouth. "You're no hero. You're dead. And after I kill you, your mother's next."

"And-" Ash coughed out, getting air back into his lungs. "Who are you?"

The man scoffed. "Well, might as well entertain your question. Admin Proton Milas of Team Rocket." he said. "Now-"

He never finished his sentence as Pikachu thunderbolted him, forcing him to fall into a leather chair, which tipped over and made him fall ass over head.

"PIKA!" 'LIKE HELL YOU'RE TOUCHING MY BROTHER!' Pikachu roared as Proton shook off the electrocution, though not as well as Ash.

"Fucking rat!" he pulled out a pokeball, but Pikachu shocked him again before he could release anything. "Fine! I'll fucking kill you with a knife if I have to!"

Ash then remembered he still had the swords he took from the Samurai way back in Viridian Forest. Pikachu zapped Proton once more while Ash dropped his bag, finding the two weapons easily before drawing the shorter one.

Proton finally got up, snarling before seeing Ash holding the long, metal weapon in his hands, held with shaking hands and arms. And all he did was laugh.

"Stupid brat. You don't even know how to use that damn thin-" Proton said before Ash swung wildly, cutting Proton's left arm, making the man cry out in surprise before attempting to knife Ash back with some old bayonet, but Ash was smaller and faster, dodging the swipes, if barely.

"The only way you're going to stop me is to kill me and you don't have the stomach for it!" Proton raved as he overcommitted a downward stab that missed before Ash charged.

And ran him through.

Proton gasped as he felt the blade go through his back, missing his spine, but hurting nevertheless.

Ash then drew the blade out and clubbed him over the head with the pommel, knocking him out.

"Pikapi?" 'Is he dead?' Pikachu asked as Ash walked back to the backpack he dropped and put the sword away, sighing.

"No. I won't kill him. But he's not going anywhere. Not like this. Besides, he'll survive." he said, putting the back over his shoulders. "I won't kill. But they're not going to come out of it smelling like roses."

"Pika!" 'THAT we can agree on!' Pikachu cried as Ash took Proton's gun, Pokeball belt and knife. If he was getting up, he wasn't going to do any damage.

Pallet Town - Kanto Region - 1443 hours local time

Delia Ketchum hummed as she kneaded dough for a rather large loaf of bread to go with the stew that was boiling on the stovetop when she heard the vidphone ring.

And not the usual cheerful tone. It was the other one. The one her brother liked to play when they were younger.

Delia stopped her work, then wiped her hands clean before answering it. "What in the hell do YOU want, Giovanni?" she snapped, not happy to see her elder brother's face.

"Nice to see you, too, Delia." Giovanni said somewhat meekly. Delia was always the more terrifying of the two siblings and that had not completely faded.

After all, Giovanni was just a gym leader. Highest rated one in Kanto, but still a gym leader.

Delia could still kick his ass.

Being ex-Elite Four allowed that to happen.

"Answer my question, Giovanni. You never call unless some Rocket nonsense is passing through Pallet Town and you want me to not turn your grunts into mulch for Oak's gardens." Delia replied. "I told you to stay away from me and my family."

"That's the thing, little sister…" Giovanni said, making Delia's face turn from a mere frown to an all-out scowl. He never called her 'little sister' except to drop some kind of bomb on her.

"Giovanni, you have 30 seconds to start talking before I have Mimey teleport me to Indigo Plateau and I tell Lance everything you've been up to." Delia threatened.

"Proton and Archer attacked the RMS Olympic." Giovanni said very quickly, much to Delia's confusion.

"Ball-less and Scaredy?" Delia said, referring to her nicknames for Proton and Archer respectively. "What about-"

"Ash is on the Olympic!" Giovanni cried, looking terrified out of his mind. For good reason.

Delia was a force of nature. A family curse: a terrible temper. Giovanni had it, she had it, even Belladonna and Ash had it. Motherhood only focused her rage towards that which would harm her children.

Bell and Ash just hadn't found the right method to focus it yet and Red and Yellow hadn't had their first 'anger moment'. But that was beside the point. Because now she was pissed. And whatever pissed her off was GOING TO DIE.

"…Your men." Delia ground out. "Are trying… to kill… MY SON?!"

"I ordered them to break off the attack the moment his name was added to the passenger list!" Giovanni snapped, his own temper showing. "I knew this would be your reaction! I am many things, but I will never kill family, either with my own hands or by proxy."

"Right now, I DON'T CARE, brother." Delia all but snarled. "If Ash has even one STRATCH on him, your little mafia dies. Do you understand me?!"

Giovanni's form on the screen sagged in defeat. "I pray to Arceus that they fail." he finally said.

"Damn well better." Delia said before ending the call.

"Who was that, mom?" came the unexpected voice of Yellow, making her jump and look to see her daughter, dressed in her usual outfit, including her sunhat and holding a Rowlet doll.

"Oh, no one, sweety." Delia lied. "Just a friend."

Yellow stared at her blankly, then left the kitchen after grabbing a cherry tomato from the fridge.

RMS Olympic - C-Deck Dining Saloon

Houndour sniffed around, trying to find the scent of the human female his master wanted. He didn't ask questions. He obeyed.

Then he was grabbed by a yellow pair of hands, which kept him from barking.

"Psy." 'First and last warning.' the Psyduck said, the usual dopy as hell look vanishing in favor of PURE HATE. "Duck." 'Stay. Away. From. My. Trainer.'

Fun thing about dark-types. They're immune to direct psychic attacks. Psybeam and the like does nothing.

That being said, nothing protects them against psychically held items like the large knife that just started floating towards his-

Houndour promptly fainted in terror.

Houndoom snorted out fire as he searched the room, his master demanding results. The girl would either die or warm his master's bed. He didn't care which.

He then heard something under one of the burning tables. The horned dog then went under, finding nothing but a squawking Wingull, flapping wings in place.

The water-bird then began hopping away, Houndoom snarling as he followed, only for the table to collapse on top of him, pinning him.

"Hya." 'Surprise.' said a Staryu before Rapid Spinning into his skull with a sickening CRACK.

Archer let Koffing patrol around him, the dopy Pokemon preparing to emit poisonous gas at any moment.

"Where the hell is that little bitch?" he spat before a bullet shot past his head, grazing his ear before he focused on the shooter, a massive man wearing a Team Aqua uniform.

If a Team Aqua tattoo, blue pants and gloves could be called a uniform, with an old anti-material rifle as his weapon of choice.

The round was a full inch from his head and it STILL hurt Archer, such as he couldn't hear from his right ear.

"Archer!" yelled the massive man. "I thought I lost you back in Lilycove two years ago!"

"Go to hell, Ushio!" Archer yelled as he took cover before firing the machine pistol wildly to get his opponent into cover himself.

"That's right! Matt Ushio's the name and I'm going to kick your ass for what you did to my Sharpedo, you son of a bitch!" the Aqua Admin yelled as he fired the rifle again.

"Nothing personal! Hoenn Pokemon are big money in Johto and Kanto!" Archer retorted as he reloaded, the table cracking as the round spot straight through. Archer winced as he got up and ran as the angry man tried to hit him again.

Seriously, the guy took it too seriously. The Rocket then tripped, smacking into the half-open door and hitting his head on the bulkhead wall.

A Staryu then span into Matt's head, stunning him, but not knocking him out of the fight before the little bitch Archer was looking for knocked the big man into a burning table, breaking a wine bottle in the process.

The Aqua Admin then caught fire, but Archer didn't see anything else as a Starmie used confusion, slamming him into the wall before he lost consciousness.

RMS Olympic - D-Deck - Aft Grand Staircase

This attack wasn't supposed to be happening. The Boss called it off over a week ago.

And she knew why: it wasn't common knowledge outside the admins, but Delia Ketchum being the Boss' sister and Ash Ketchum being his eldest nephew explained much.

But Archer and Proton did not like Ash. Archer had the Mt Moon thing, which he was pissed over. Proton was still pissed over the Pokemon Tech attack being foiled by Ash and had issues with Delia, but wasn't stupid enough to attack her.

Agent Domino ducked behind a column, looking for the boy in question. She had to protect him from Proton and Archer or else Giovanni would kill her. The blonde spy peeked around the pillar, mindful of the ship's slow downward pitch. The ship was sinking now. She had to get Ash off this ship before it did.

A loud crack interrupted her thoughts as a bullet slammed into the column, norrowly stopped by the thick oak it was made of from going through and killing her.

"Well, well. A Rocket spy." said a woman with black hair wearing a… revealing version of the Team Aqua uniform as Domino pulled out her own sidearm. "This is the second time your team's interfered in our operations. Matt's still not over his lost Sharpedo."

"I had nothing to do with that!" Domino snapped. "Look, I'm here to get an asset off this ship! You can deal with Archer and Proton if you want, just leave me be, Shelly!"

The Aqua Admin, Shelly, scoffed. "And why would I do that?" she asked. "Whatever is good for you is better served by Team Aqua."

"One, your plan is stupid, two, if he dies, Team Rocket dies!" Domino retorted, blind firing the weapon at Shelly, he took cover behind the staircase itself, bullets narrowly missing the Aqua admin.

"And why should I care about that?!" Shelly yelled as she fired back, Domino breaking cover and heading up a floor, Shelly following her while shooting.

"You want Delia Ketchum trying to kill you?! It's her son I'm trying to rescue, idiot!" the Rocket spy said, knowing every trainer that was around prior to Belladonna Ketchum's birth knew Delia's history as an Elite Four member.

Shelly froze, the threat of Delia Ketchum going after Team Aqua for preventing her son's escape from the sinking ship enough to make her freeze. Then flee, likely to inform her boss that Ash was there and to leave before Delia decided to utterly annihilate all of them to the tune of Here Comes the Bride.

Delia hid it well, but she had a twisted sense of humor.

Domino sighed in relief before the ship lurched forward and downward, making her fall on her ass.

Outside the RMS Olympic

Archer awoke to the sharp, stinging sensation of impacting the sea, dumped overboard by persons unknown.

…Correction: he knew damn well who dumped him out that hatch.

"WATERFLOWER, YOU FUCKING BITCH!" he screamed before he saw Matt fall out, still on fire, screaming, jumping out of the ship.

On top of him.

Archer yelped as he was pushed under, seawater burning his eyes as Matt struggled to get afloat, likely in searing pain from being burned. Archer barely got away from the Aqua Admin, who roared in pain as he surfaced.

The Rocket Admin didn't particularly care, swimming for shore. It would take a while. But the attack was a failure: Team Aqua was sinking the gunboats with their old submarine's gun, putting holes in the gunboats on the port side. Eventually, they would dive, go to the starboard side and sink the rest.

Archer seethed with rage, going for shore. He'd get revenge for this.

RMS Olympic - E-Deck, Compartment 10

Ash got to the gangway just in time to see some old sub start sinking everything, so he decided to go below decks to see if there was some way to stop the ship from sinking.

"Pikapi?" 'Ash, you know this is insane, right?' Pikachu asked as starter and trainer got closer to the hole in the hull.

"I'm not letting this ship sink. There's got to be a way to seal the holes and stop the water." Ash said as they entered the hold where the water was coming from, with what looked like steel patches and rivets near the hatchway. Someone tried to patch the holes and gave up.

Ash was not in the habit of giving up. He would seal that hole and thus retrieved a Pokeball from his belt.

"Butterfree, I choose you!" he called, releasing the butterfly Pokemon from his ball.

"Free!" 'What's going on, Ash?' he asked.

"We need to stop this ship from sinking. There's a lot of holes and we need to patch them." Ash said as he began lifting one of the patches, struggling with it.

Butterfree used his psychic might to begin lifting the plate. "Butterfree." 'You secure them, I'll lift them.' the butterfly said as Pikachu jumped on what looked like some kind of air pump.

"Pika!" 'An arc welder! I can power it and Ash can weld the plates in place!' Pikachu exclaimed, Ash getting a brief migraine as he remembered that he knew how to solder, which was pretty close to welding.

Butterfree pushed the plate against the hole with his mind, struggling against the water flowing in, but it strained the bug-type, as his psychic might was barely enough.

"Free…" 'Ash… hurry…' he begged as Ash grabbed a pair of welding goggles, putting them over his eyes before taking in a breath and going underwater, firing up the welding torch as Pikachu charged it, running the welder over the edges of the plate, fusing the two pieces of metal together, leaving no gaps he could see.

But the hole was too big for one plate. He was only slowing it down.

Welding these would take time.

RMS Olympic - Bridge

"Pumps are back online and those Team bastards are leaving." the XO reported as the board in the back of the wheelhouse lit up, showing where the ship was holed.

Hiroshi looked at the damage, seeing nine out of the ship's sixteen compartments having suffered damage. "Those pumps will only delay our sinking. Get ready to evacuate the passengers: we-"

The board then changed lights as Compartment 9's status changed as the light turned green, showing the damage repaired.

Someone was fixing the damage.

"Who in the hell?" he asked.

"Captain, the security chief is reporting one of the passengers opening a sealed hatch and heading for Compartment 8…" the comms officer said, confusion on her face. "With an arc welder?"

"He closed that hatch with the emergency patching equipment." Hiroshi said with some amount of awe. "How many Electric/Water types and Psychics are in the security roster?"

"One Chinchou for emergency welding operations and two Kadabra for putting the plating in place and reducing the water flow." his XO reported.

"Get them to Compartment 8! I want that hole sealed! Pump the water out of compartment 9, NOW!" the captain roared. "We might just be able to save this ship after all."

RMS Olympic - Compartment 8, D-Deck, above former Boiler Room 4, now Cargo Hold 8

The water came up to his waist and was cold, but Ash wasn't letting that slow him down. He was unwilling to let this ship go to the bottom.

"Pikapi…" 'You're insane, you know that?' Pikachu asked once more as water hit his back paws.

"Right now, sanity is overrated." Ash retorted. "Besides, after nearly seven years of legendary after legendary, team after team, you think we're still completely sane?"

"…Pi." 'Good point.' Pikachu admitted as they went through another hatch, seeing their way below completely filled with water. "Chu." '…Crap.'

"How long can you hold your breath?" Ash asked mock-cheerfully as he sighed. "We still need to patch the hole."

"Pika." 'I won't last down there any longer then you will and Butterfree-' Pikachu said before Ash took a breath and dived through the flooded hatch. "Pikapi!" 'Arceusdamn it, Ash!'

Water.

One of the things life needs most. But what gives life can take it. Ash knew this all too well.

Ash could hold his breath for six minutes. It took him a long time to master how to conserve air. May and Manaphy extended that with Life Transfer, but he had six minutes to seal that breach. Because he couldn't breathe underwater.

Pikachu could hold it longer, for fifteen, due to his nature as a Pokemon.

If they couldn't seal the hole, they were dead.

Butterfree was waiting above, using Pikachu and Ash as his eyes to guide the plating into position. There was just one problem: the damage to the hull in this section meant the plating would have to be welded on from the outside.

If Ash failed, he would drown. If he succeeded, he would be trapped outside the ship.

The Chosen One got to work as he began welding the plate to the hull.

RMS Olympic - B-Deck Port Promenade Deck

Misty had a hard time finding Ash.

"Where, oh where did our idiot go?" her astral self said as Misty ran through the promenade, noticing something off about the pitch of the ship. The stern was no longer going up. It was like the ship was stabilizing.

"The ship's taken too many holes. How is it righting…" Misty muttered before realizing it. "Ash!"

"Did he adopt a martyr complex since he left Kanto for Alola?" Astral Misty asked before her real self pulled out Archer's machine pistol, still loaded and shot out the window, glass falling to the seas below.

"Are you fucking CRAZY?!" her past self asked before Misty looked out of the window and saw flashes just below the waterline fifty feet aft. Ash was welding plates to the hull, keeping the ship from sinking by patching the holes so the pumps could get it out.

He was also going to drown doing it.

"Is he crazy?!" her projection snapped before Misty pulled out a Pokeball.

"If he is… we need him." Misty said before jumping into the sea.

The hole was closed, but Ash could barely see it. His vision was blurred, his lungs were burning, he could barely think.

It was over. Ash was dying.

And his only regret was watching the world die and not being able to stop it again.

Maybe Pikachu and the others… could…

The last thing Ash saw was something blue moving towards him from the deep before blacking out.

Gyarados roared as he surfaced, Misty exhaling as she held Ash in her arms, seemingly lifeless.

"This is familiar." her astral self said as she looked at Ash. "I had to give him CPR after the Shamouti thing."

She turned Ash onto his stomach, with her… boyfriend? …coughing up water, spitting it out of his lungs.

His coughing stopped, water still in his lungs. Misty would not have that.

She leaned forward to put her mouth on his, but water was pulled out of his lungs by psychic power, his mouth having a column of seawater erupt from it before being shoved into the sea.

"Free…" said a surprising voice, Misty looking up to see Ash's Butterfly barely aloft, visibly tired. The butterfly then dropped onto Gyarados' head. Ash then began coughing properly, wheezing for air.

"Damn it. I thought you'd take his first kiss by saving his life." her astral self groused before Misty blushed heavily.

RMS Olympic - En Route to Porta Visa, former Nihon Naval Shipyard - 1614 hours local time

The Olympic, thanks to the heroic efforts of the Prince of Rota and in no small part to the serious redesign of the ship after her younger sister's sinking, was safely afloat once more.

Four of the breached compartments were still open to the sea and there was serious fire damage to the upper decks, but the ship was still sailing.

Even if every member of the crew was staring at the forecastle and how dangerously close the prow and anchor winch were to touching the water.

Right now, Ash just wanted to rest. This was very close to adding another tally to the number of times he died and he still felt half-dead.

"Pika." 'That was horrible.' Pikachu said, his fur still wet from the time in the ocean. He had to climb up Gyarados to escape. "Pikapi…" 'And Misty was so close to giving you a kiss…'

"Pikachu… Misty deserves SO much better." Ash retorted.

"Pika." 'Like who, that crossdressing freak from the Orange Islands?' Pikachu retorted.

Ash shuddered. That 'gym leader' (Orange Islands, so technically, it didn't count) creeped the living hell out of him when he started doing that. "I hate to admit it, but even I'm a better choice then he is." he said.

The door opened, Misty walked in, a previously unknown member of her little Poke-family sitting on her shoulder as a Wingull looked at him. "Hi." she said, hands behind her back.

Ash was really tired of Misty being shy. She was supposed to be angry, yelling, all that sort of thing. "…Hey." he answered back.

"So… I know what you've been through-" she started before Ash coughed. "It's complicated-"

"Can't be more complicated than me being from an alternate timeline, trying to save the universe from some genocidal madman." Ash said, almost amused.

"Mewtwo."

Ash froze at Misty saying that name. And immediately, his mind returned to that damned day on New Island.

(Two beings of insane power, one created by some scientist somewhere, one the origin-mother of all Pokemon, prepared to erupt pure power at one another. Ash couldn't stand it and ran between the energy blasts. "BOTH OF YOU STOP!" he cried. His last words as they impacted him, resulting in his death)

"…How do you know that name?" Ash asked, his voice distant and haunted. Remembering how you died did that to you.

"You won't believe it, but… when you… died on New Island, Mewtwo and Mew made you… well, there's no way to say it." Misty said. "You had a psychic imprint of me from your timeline. And she's stuck to me."

…That was not the weirdest thing Ash had run into. Rather mundane, actually, when compared to alternate universes, time travel and whatever Sabrina did after the first time he lost against her.

Not something he wanted to relive.

"Yeah… I can believe it, sadly." he finally admitted after a moment. "Believe me, psychic nonsense is something I had to deal with in every region at least once."

Misty stared blankly before blinking, as if she heard some glib comment from someone only she could hear. "Sabrina." she said.

"Yeah, that was weird. And you don't want to know about the other regions." Ash said.

"Actually, she… told me everything. She WAS around you the entire time." Misty said, Ash's face going white as a sheet.

Well, that was going to make an interesting conversation later.

Oblivia Region - Roughly the same time

Shadow Pokemon were all on the ground, either wounded, dead or dying from their rampage against the humans and normal Pokemon of the region, what few of them were left.

"Goom." 'That sucked.' Goomy said as he used Rain Dance to make himself feel better.

While the battle was brief, mainly once those human military people got involved, it was brutal.

Hawlucha had the bright idea to join the fight. He called it training for the Kanto League. Now he was nursing about a dozen broken bones and the headache from hell. They were lucky to get out of that with their lives.

Serena even used some crazy crossbow against a Shadow Gyarados. It… did not end well for the Gyarados, especially as she was screaming something about the species 'ruining everything for her'.

They did not want to know.

"Froak." 'We have bigger problems.' Froakie then said, making the group jump.

"LING!" 'Sweet fucking Palkia, DON'T DO THAT!' Fletchling chirped. "Flet!" 'We didn't even know you were there!'

"Froak." 'I recognize my faults and will correct them.' Froakie retorted sarcastically. "Kie." 'But has anyone checked on Noibat?'

"Goomy." 'Still sulking about being a Noibat again and not a Noivern.' Goomy said, gaining a look from all present. "Goo." 'What? I'm not sulking. I'm working on getting back to being a Goodra.'

No one believed him.

"Froakie." 'Back on topic, I ran into something before I-' Froakie started before they heard an enraged scream.

"Goo?" 'NOW what?'

Kanto Region Coast - 1702 Hours Local Time

Archer crawled ashore, sputtering and coughing. He was alive. He was free.

"Hello, Archer."

…He was dead. Archer looked up to see Giovanni, dressed in his black trench coat and fedora, a Shelder under the crook of his left arm. One of the few that knew Teleport, because everyone forgot how to teach them the move and who would suspect a Shelder?

"I told you not to attack the Olympic." the Boss growled. "I don't care what your personal hate of the boy is, Archer. I will not risk Team Rocket by making my sister angry enough to kill us all."

"You know damn well what he did to us at Mount Moon! I barely got out of there!" Archer snapped back before a hammer was cocked back.

Giovanni aimed the handgun in his right hand at Archer's head, looking cold and angry. "You had promise." he said, seemingly sad. "But sadly, you made it personal. And when you go attack my nephew…"

"Please, Boss, NO!" Archer begged as he tried to get to his knees.

"That is an attack on ME." Giovanni finished before pulling the trigger. BANG!

Nearby, a group of teenagers all looked at the Olympic, smoke rising from her superstructure in some places as fires were put out.

"Didn't think Team Rocket had the balls to attack a Pernon Line ship, let alone the flagship." one of them said as the Olympic, low in the water at the bow, steamed towards Porta Vista.

"Think he was on board?" another asked as a pretty girl lowered a pair of binoculars, a Cubone watching the ship with her.

"He saved us, Joe." she said, staring at the ship as she limped for repairs. "No doubt he saved the Olympic, too. Alright, people, you know what to do: any Rockets get to shore, round them up! If they resist, shoot them as a last resort. We want them alive."

"Cu." said the Cubone.

"And yes, he would disapprove." Giselle said as her team got to work. Rocket hunting was such a pain.

Entry 18: Team Rocket Policy

Lapses in operational discipline force us to reissue policy orders.

1: Obey the orders of the Boss, no matter what

2: All Pokemon are to be given to the Boss' safekeeping until further notice.

3: Do not attack Delia Ketchum or her family. Pallet Town is off limits unless ordered. (See: REDACTED - clearance level Admin required)

Standing orders with the failures of Mount Moon, Pokemon Tech and the unauthorized attack on the RMS Olympic now include orders to avoid Ash Ketchum, Pokemon Trainer and Crown Prince of Rota, on sight. All persons he interacts with are to be unsullied. Admin Archer died and Admin Proton is in prison because of the Boss' orders on this matter.

Proton is to rot in prison until such time as the Boss dains to free him. - Adjutant Matori, Team Rocket

Entry 19: Anti-Rocket Attack Force/'Technicals'

Recent reports indicate that the survivors of Pokemon Tech have formed an attack group against Team Rocket. Already they have hit two major bases in Kanto, including the Game Corner. Survivors of the failed Olympic attack were recently rounded up by these people, which grunt forces have begun to call 'Technicals' as they were former Pokemon Tech students.

They are armed, but mostly use their Pokemon to subdue their targets, likely in emulation of Ash Ketchum.

Orders are: capture if possible. Kill if unable. There must be no threat to the Team.

Ron the True Fan: Well, the secret's out for both of them. Misty and Ash can keep it better together. As for why I skipped over the battle in Oblivia, honestly, the only thing you need to know is the crew got a bit of a workout, Hawlucha was an idiot and Serena doesn't like Gyarados. Most of Kalos doesn't like Gyarados, actually. Giant angry sea snakes that fire Hyper Beams aren't exactly well-liked anywhere with a large coastline. You'll get more details when we get to Kalos.

Takeshi Yamato: Yep. And yeah, now Ash and Misty have a better grip on everything - and Misty has a voice in her head to add to the shipping!

Ron the True Fan: Yes, she does. Remember, Ash got hit with energy from the two second-most powerful Psychic-Type Pokemon (Arceus takes top spot, for obvious reasons) in existence in Movie 1. That and him coming back to life doesn't happen without some sort of consequence. Those he has a great bond with have left imprints of themselves on Ash, like… ghosts of a sort. It just takes a while for said ghosts to transfer from Ash, who doesn't even know they're there, to someone like Misty or Brock, which is why Brock isn't 'seeing himself', as it were. He hasn't spent much time with his mother over the last decade, so no Ghost Delia. But Ghost Max, May and Iris are VERY much on the table.

Ja Ne!

(AO3 note)

Ron the True Fan: You know the drill. Slow. Annoying. Also...I could use a tiny bit of motivaion. A sub or two for my YT channel – updated link in my profile – goes a VERY long way. Lets me know that you care.

Ja Ne!

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