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 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.