Chapter 5 - chapter 5

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.