10 kilometers from Cerulean City Northern Entrance - 0723 hours local time - Day 11 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey
The last time he was here, it was a trap. It was no different this time. But it would have a different outcome. That Ash knew for certain.
For at the roots of the mountain range that made up northern Kanto was a school for so-called 'elite trainers'.
Ash proved they weren't so elite back then and he was a rookie. Pokemon Tech was no match for someone that went through six leagues and the island challenges of Alola, lack of proof not withstanding. That and… well, it was here that Ash discovered he had a bit of a type.
"Pika?" 'Thinking about that prissy girl with the Cubone?' Pikachu asked, a teasing tone in his voice.
"Don't start." Ash retorted. While he had a minor schoolboy crush on Giselle the first time, that was… prior to meeting her in person. To be honest, she was a bitch. And that was a turn RIGHT the hell off. But while her personal interactions with Ash were minimal, lasting a day, her long term effect was showing Ash's type.
He liked girls with long hair. As long as it was past their shoulders, he found it attractive. Jessie was older then him and with James, even if she denied it, but Dawn was a big one. Misty, too, once he figured out how long that side-ponytail was when it wasn't tied. May's bandana hid the length easily, but he was not dumb and she DID let it out once in a while.
Iris was a no brainer. Serena cut her hair, which partially helped him keep her off his mind. Until she kissed him, that is.
'Get your head in the game, Ketchum.' Ash thought at himself, forcing his thoughts away from the women in his life (who would be platonic, if he had any conscious say in it) and onto Pokemon Tech. If he remembered, they sent out the trainer that was the worst against him in some kind of hazing.
Joe, the young man Ash had firstly encountered being quizzed about Pidgey… on a treadmill. Joe had tried to say that it was part of the teaching, but Ash knew that was bullshit, back then, and right now.
This time, Joe had been sent out to fight him, and they both knew that he stood no chance. But Ash was not a jerk. He wouldn't fight anyone that didn't have a chance in hell unless he was training them. Beating the crap out of people wasn't his thing.
"S-Stop!" Joe stammered out, holding his single Pokeball containing a Weepingbel, he thought he had last time. "I-I'm one of the elite students at Pokemon Tech! You're not allowed here!"
Ash sighed. "Look, uh..." he said, giving him an opening to introduce himself.
"J-Joe." his would-be opponent answered.
"Joe, I think we both know you don't have a chance against my team. I don't want to fight you if I don't have to." Ash said gently. "Besides, it looks like you're out here against your will. You don't even want to fight."
"No!" Joe protested. "It's my duty to fight-"
"No it's not." Ash retaliated, putting force behind his voice. "And forcing someone to do something doesn't speak much of your character." Ash called out, looking to the forest.
As expected, some students came out of clever hideaways. Ash was not impressed. Top on his list of things he hated were bullies, outside thieves and Cyrus. (Cyrus trumping EVERYTHING until either the omnicidal bastard was locked up or dead) And these 'elites' were going to learn not to screw with someone with Ash's moral compass.
30 minutes later
"Ok, now I just feel bad." Ash said, having taken down Pokemon ranging from a Geodude to a Xatu with only one Pokemon.
"Noc." 'These guys don't even get a workout, what!' the shiny declared, having kicked the asses of 23 pokemon from six different trainers. On his own.
Ash usually allowed all of his Pokemon out to train, sometimes with his supervision, sometimes off on their own. But he always let them out to get some air.
Were they kept in stasis the entire time or something? Sweet freaking Arceus, he was NEVER this bad! Even at his worst, he tried to care for them the best he could.
And get fried by Charmeleon/Charizard a lot, but the point stands.
"You all suck." Misty declared. "Almost all of you had direct type advantage or moves with it and Ash STILL kicked your asses!" Ash was not comfortable with the almost cheerleader-like tone his tomboy of a friend (and would-be lover, if his Pokemon had any say in it) adopted with that statement. It was like she was back to normal, only...not a tsundere.
"None of you have experience." Ash declared. "You've all been taught, but you've fought very little. And you were all fawning over Noctowl? So what if he's shiny? Pay attention to the fight!"
Out of all of this pile of crap, that pissed him off the most. They were far more interested in the look of his friend than what he was capable of.
That, the lack of training and their elitist attitudes pissed him off. So he was VERY happy to knock them off their high horses.
"A shiny Noctowl?" came the dulcet tones of the girl that showed him the girl he liked, holding a Pokeball in her hand as she walked towards them. "Impressive. Not many people use a Noctowl in competitive battling: too generic, too underpowered."
"Your arrogance astounds me." Ash deadpanned, now VERY tired of this and his true mixed mental age showing. "You use statistics instead of actually training. How often do you even let your Pokemon out of their balls?!"
"Regulated training every day, trained in the right movesets." the prep schoolgirl answered back. "But it's not all of that. Skill is required. And they just proved they lack enough to stop you."
Ash could have used a number of inventive curses to insult her. Kalosian was one of the many languages he was fluent in other then his native one. But he decided to humiliate her.
"Prove it." Ash challenged, wanting to shut her the hell up.
The brat smirked. "Take him down Cubone!" she declared, sending out the skull-clad ground-type.
"Let's bring her down a few pegs, Pika-"
There was a loud chuff, a whoosh of noise, and then a loud BOOM!
The group ducked instinctively as dirt rained down on them.
"What was that?!" Giselle shouted.
Ash mentally groaned as he released the rest of his team. There was only one group of people that would use their namesake to attack a college dedicated to the training of pokemon. Team Rocket was launching a raid, and he was caught in the middle of it.
One day, he was going to tear Giovanni's head off. Literally or figuratively, he didn't care, as long as Team Rocket stopped being a pain in the ass.
Nearby
Proton found it ironic that they were using rockets to wreck the school. Most of the time, the Team preferred Pokemon or firearms. But there was a reason for this.
Pokemon Tech had a massive collection of rare, powerful Pokemon and fossils, as well as other materials, in a vault under the school itself, reserved for either highly skilled trainers or the regional professor. And Oak had no interest.
Attacking Oak was suicide and everyone knew it. The man was old, but his team… thinking about those things was nightmarish enough.
But Oak was not here.
"Sir, forward recon's got something." one of the grunts reported from a station in the little command truck Proton was using. He would prefer to just lead from the front, but he had a sprained ankle.
"What is it?" he demanded before the image of a young man with black hair and a League cap was displayed.
He knew who it was. No one in the former United Regions didn't. Ash Ketchum, descendant of the Rotan Royal Family.
Someone that the Kingdom would pay a literal king's ransom to have safely returned to them.
"Change of plans." Proton declared. "I want him alive. I don't care about the rest."
More rockets hit the buildings, the students fleeing into them to seek cover. Ash and Misty wisely sought cover with them, not wanting to get hit with explosives.
Ash had far too much experience dying in numerous ways and he did not want to know what getting blown up was like.
"What the fuck is Team Rocket doing here?!" Giselle shouted, ducking down as another RPG blew a hole into the side of the building.
"They want your Pokemon." Ash answered.
"Oh really? Over my dead body." Giselle growled. "Everyone, follow me!"
Giselle darted into the building, followed by Ash and the rest of the trainers.
More explosions hit the grounds, while Pikachu fired off lightning and picked a few Rockets off.
"Oh, shit!" came the familiar voices of Ash's least favorite trio, who were up above in their trademark balloon.
And Ash's rage boiled over, what little grip he had on it slipping.
Pikachu noticed and decided to deal with them, firing a thunderbolt at the balloon, which was sent flying towards the attackers. The only reason they weren't dead was their inability to be killed and the mouse knew it.
Of course, not that he would care. Ash would, but Ash was the forgiving type.
The group finally reached the main building, just as another rocket slammed into the building. "We need to take the fight to them." Giselle stated. "Come on."
Giselle ran up to a door with a keypad, quickly input a code, and rushed inside, revealing a sizable armory. Ash blinked at the sight, then remembered that Shadow Pokemon were a thing and weapons like this were needed to handle them. But as Giselle picked out an M14, slammed home a mag and racked the charging handle, he realized what she was proposing.
"Wait a second, we can't just go out and kill them." Ash said, stopping her from going further.
"And why not?" the top student asked. "They're trying to kill us."
"If you do that, you're no better then they are." Ash retorted, fighting her for the weapon. "Killing is a LAST resort, a resort no one wants to take! We need to drive them away, not kill them!"
"Well I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let these assholes take what they want!" The student growled as she grabbed a belt of grenades.
"I'm not suggesting we do! Look, let's see if we can do it my way. If that doesn't work, then we can do it your way. I've fought the Rockets before, I know how they work. We can be better than them without falling to their level."
Giselle bored into Ash's eyes. And she found herself wanting, letting go of the rifle. "You've fought them?" she asked.
'For nearly a decade, plus their regional counterparts.' Ash thought to himself. "I've fought a few of their grunts, once at Viridian, once at Mount Moon." he replied. 'And wasn't that a disaster, hmm, Ashy-boy?' said that dark voice in his head, which Ash attributed to his guilt. He promptly ignored it. "We can attack them with Pokemon, non-lethally. Can any of yours use Dig?"
"I have one!" A student called out by a rack of rifles.
"Good. The plan's simple, we make the Rockets think that there's a massive group of trainers here, using our Pokemon to confuse them."
Giselle looked around at the students, then back to Ash. "Alright. We'll do it your way." she said.
"Trust me." Misty said smiling, voicing her opinion of the situation for the first time. "This will work."
Proton was not a happy man. Rocket after rocket and STILL the building stood.
"What am I going to need to bring this thing down, artillery?!" he screamed, before remembering Team Rocket didn't HAVE artillery. Those were safely locked up.
At Indigo Plateau. With Bruno having the key. And that Onix of his more than willing to kill anyone trying to get in without permission.
So his options were limited. And with old anti-tank rockets going up against a building designed to endure everything up to a flight of pissed off Shadow Dragonite, it was slow going.
"Sir, our forward teams are encountering resistance." One of Proton's lieutenants called out.
"Well then, what's the problem? Kill them."
"That's the problem, sir. They've been ambushed. I've lost contact with three squads."
Proton blinked. His infamous temper was peaking now. 'Calm your ass. Figure out who's...Oh, shit.' he thought, figuring out who was doing this.
The students would fight back with guns and Pokemon, not Pokemon alone, as he was guessing.
And while Brock's one-badge team wasn't exactly THE most impressive, it was tough enough to handle a trainer who had a month and a half of experience under his belt. Ash Ketchum, on the other hand, beat him on his first week. First try.
Ketchum was a good strategist. The only flaws in his tactics were his team's lack of raw power and his flying-types not getting Steel Wing down. But he knew what he was doing, otherwise their operation in Mount Moon would not have been COMPLETELY FUCKING WRECKED.
Archer was livid about that. Now Proton was sharing the same opinion. Ketchum was a menace.
"RPG teams, saturation fire around the grounds. Flush them out!" Proton waited a moment but heard nothing. "RPG teams?"
"Sir, the rocket teams- they were taken down, ambushed, by a- oh no… stay away, STAY AWAY- AHHHHHH!" The man was cut off by a loud whoosh of what sounded like… water?
"Squirtle!" came the call from over the radio.
Intel didn't say anything about Ketchum having a Squirtle! A hyper-aggressive Charmander, yes, but not a Squirtle! Waterflower didn't have one, either.
'If the intel department is being lax again, I'll rip their eyes out and skull-' Proton never finished that thought as his command vehicle rocked side to side. "Evacuate now! Fall back!"
Screw the academy. Not getting caught was more important.
Damn that Rotan bastard-prince. Ketchum would DIE for this. Proton swore it.
The students cheered, their Pokemon safely coming back to them.
"I don't get it. Why'd they run?" Misty asked. "They had more people, more weapons. Why run when you've got us on the ropes?"
Ash had to admit, Misty was right. Those Pokemon did a hell of a job, but there were a LOT of Rockets out there. They couldn't get them all. So how and why?
"Squirtle!" Ash heard a familiar call. 'Those assholes stood no chance against my power!'
A small blue water turtle rolled onto the scene, popping up and posing proudly.
"Pikachu!" 'Holy Arceus, is that you, Squirtle!?'
"Squir!" 'In the shell! I heard the explosions, saw some Rockets, and messed them up! Nobody expects the Squirtle inquisition!' declared Ash's first water-starter.
No one expected Squirtle, indeed. Ash met him shortly before going into Vermillion City, not on the road or after.
"Squirt." 'So, back to the first league, huh? Shame Ash can't--'
"Pikachu." 'He can understand every word we're saying. Side-effect of how Celebi sent us back through time.' the electric-type replied. The water turtle looked at Pikachu incredulously. "Tle." 'Really?'
"Pikapi." 'Ash figured it would be mental travel, so he only asked for us to come back. Stress of having a dozen humans crammed inside his own mind would drive him insane. Pokemon are...easier.' Pikachu stated.
Ash scratched Pikachu behind the ears. "Later." He said quietly, turning back to Giselle.
"I'm amazed this worked!" The lead student exclaimed. "I'm pretty sure no one died!"
Ash smiled. "Some people may deserve to die, but many more deserve to live." He said, his mind drifting to Lucario and Latios. "We are not the ones to make that judgment."
Ash clapped a hand on Giselle's shoulder, giving her a kind smile. "I hope you learn that."
With that, he looked to his old Squirtle. No words needed to be exchanged, as Squirtle jumped towards a Pokeball and caught himself.
"Squirt!" 'Boss!' came the cries of another Squirtle as she ran towards Ash. 'He must've brought the entire Squirtle Squad with him.' Ash thought to himself. He couldn't abandon them or Ash.
The League might take a few of them in. But not all of them.
Team Rocket Headquarters - 1258 hours the next day
"I am not a happy man, Proton." Giovanni declared from his seat. Proton stood several feet from his desk, bruised and bloody and all of it caused by Giovanni's wunderkind nephew.
Giovanni was torn between pride in his blood or annoyance that he seemed to have a nose for destroying his operations. He settled for being pretty pissed at Proton for trying to kill Ash. The students, he could care less. Waterflower, moderately concerned for the warpath her sisters would carve through Kanto.
But if Ash had died during that skirmish, Delia Ketchum nee-Sakai would burn it to the ground like Kalos did to the Galar region over three centuries ago.
"With all due respect, the operation was still workable. One trainer-"
"Ash Ketchum is clearly a skilled commander of Pokemon and trainers if he was able to outmaneuver you, Proton. He took down Brock on his first try. Mostly with type-disadvantage, and destroyed our Mt. Moon op." Giovanni growled, resting his head in his right hand. "Alright. Standing orders for everyone. Avoid Ketchum at all costs. You see him, run. Do not engage. We'll lose less money abandoning an operation, than letting him destroy it all. Am I clear?"
Proton bit his tongue. Flee-on-sight? The last person to have that applied to them was that bitch Cynthia and she had to earn that through a LOT of blood in Johto!
Ketchum destroys two operations, one minor and one not so minor, and suddenly the boss considers him the bane of Team Rocket?! What the hell?!
"Yes, sir." Proton ground out, very simply.
"Good. Do not try anything." Giovanni warned. "I will know. Dismissed."
Proton growled in his throat, but knew better than to argue, turning on his heel and leaving the room.
"I'm surrounded by idiots…" Giovannni muttered.
Route 25 - 1434 hours local time
Ash and Misty were back on the road again, heading towards Cerulean. Squirtle filled in Ash, telling him that he had led the Squirtle squad to the League, getting them set up as a firefighting team after another incident with Team Rocket. He had assured them that he was not abandoning them when he went out after Ash, assuring them that he would find them a worthy trainer. Well, one of them followed Squirtle, which is how Misty ended up with a new capture.
"Squirt." 'So, we gotta stop this psycho guy. What was his name?' Squirtle asked as he decided to stick around.
"Pika." 'Cyrus. Creepy emo bastard really screwed everything up in Sinnoh.' Pikachu replied. "Chuuuu?" 'And I think he screwed up a lot in Unova. I mean, Ash was WAY too dumb there, making rookie mistakes and all that.'
"Please don't remind me." Ash deadpanned. "That was embarrassing." Unova was just insulting. If Cyrus did that, for a supposedly emotionless man, he was petty as all hell.
"What are you and your Pokemon talking about?" Misty asked, getting in too close for Ash's comfort. Part of him wanted her closer-
'STOP IT!' Ash mentally yelled, smashing his lesser urges into the metaphorical dust. 'You are BETTER then this!' But that dark part of his mind refused to let up. He needed a psychic-type: those could put in blocks to prevent him from turning into Brock. Or worse.
"Just how many times Team Rocket's nearly killed us." Ash lied, not very smoothly.
"Hm." Misty hmmmed as something red scuttled across their path. "Oh look, a Krabby."
A very familiar Krabby, to Ash and the two Pokemon on his shoulders. "Squir!" 'Hey, Kingler, is that you?"
"Krab." "In the smaller shell. About time I found you guys."
"That's a very small Krabby." Misty noted, much to the displeasure of the crab.
Ash shrugged. "It's not the size that matters." Ash replied, pulling out a pokeball.
"Kook!" 'Thank you, Ash!' The crustacean cheered. "By!" 'Now ball me!' He demanded, clapping his claws rapidly.
"Pika." 'He can understand you, you know.' the electric mouse deadpanned.
"Kooky!" 'Oh, that's great. Now he can hear me bitch about being a Arceus-damned Krabby!' the crab said mock-cheerfully before Ash just chucked the ball at him. And thus, he teleported away to Oak's lab.
"You know, I've noticed something odd..." Misty mused, looking at where Krabby once was. Ash was not going to like this.
"Noticed what?" he asked, hoping she wouldn't think he was from the future or something. In his defense, he had dealt with much, much, MUCH weirder things then time travel. He had jumped universes once.
"Pokemon basically come up to you and ask to be caught. Why is that a thing with you?"
Ash shrugged. "I guess this one wanted someone who saw more than just his size. But as for the others, I don't know." Ash lied again. He'd come clean with her sometime… eventually.
Hoenn Region - Route 111
After breaking the news to everyone, the combined Hoenn-Sinnoh group were discussing how they were going to get through to this...hellhole. Digging was an option, but would be a bit difficult with a massive tribe of Treeko. Even if it would be cooler: the desert sun would cook them all. Except...maybe one.
"Gib..." 'So...WARM...' the land shark warbled very happily as he soaked up the rays and the warm sand.
"Cor." 'This...is new.' Corphish said from his little pool, made from a pit of sand filled with water that he Hydro Pumped into the hole for cooling. He was a water-type crab: he needed to get in water to avoid being on the menu. Helping the others was a side benefit.
"Tree." 'Gibles usually sleep in warm caves. For him, this is probably paradise.' the future Sceptile said.
"Gil." 'I'm just waiting for him to start doing the sand shark thing and start chomping.' Giligar said, waiting for the dragon to do just that.
"Tree…" 'Wait a second… If Gible's there, then what's that-'
The sand burst up as a form darted out and rocks rained around Treeko, trapping him in place.
Jaws of a much smaller sort clamped around his foot, making the reptile grimace with pain before seeing his attacker.
With small, beady eyes, massive jaws for his body size and a squat body, the creature was a Pokemon, a ground-type. One that, rather fittingly, was the same type as Gible. Or it would be.
"Inch!" 'Gotcha!' tried the Ant Pit Pokémon before Treecko kicked him in the face. "Trap!" Oi! No meal kicks me in the face!'
"Tree-cko!" I! AM! NOT! YOUR! MEAL!' the geecko shouted as he kicked the Trapinch in the face with each word before the antlion let him go.
"Trap." 'That hurt.' said the not-bug before looking at Treecko. "In." 'Oh, you're a Pokemon. Sorry bout that: was hunting for animals, not anything sentient.'
"Tree." 'It's.. okay.' The grass-type groaned. "Ko." 'Just… get these rocks off me.'
"Trap." 'Sorry.' The ground-type muttered again, gripping the big rock pinning Treecko with his mouth and crushing it in his powerful jaws.
"Char!" 'Treekco, are you alright?!' The fire-type called out, rolling up to the scene.
"Tree." 'Yeah..' He muttered, brushing off the rock pieces. "Tree-ko." 'Just a misunderstanding with a Trapnich.'
"Tra." 'Was hunting for non-pokemon. Even ambush hunters make mistakes.' the antlion said, blinking his beady eyes.
"Turt?" 'Non-Pokemon? Is that even a...' Turtwig trailed off as he felt something land on his back. 'Thing?' It was like a Beautifly, but...smaller. A lot smaller with just compound eyes. And it wasn't talking or anything.
"Trap." 'Like one of those. Humans call it a butterfly.' He nudged the bug with his nose, causing it to fly off. "Nich." They're apparently rarer than Pokemon, but I have heard that humans have massive farms of creatures that look like Tauros and Miltank but aren't pokemon."
The group looked between each other, processing the new information. "Tree." 'Interesting. Well, thanks for your time, but we need to get going.'
"Inch." 'Wait, what are a group of wildlings doing out here?' the not-bug asked.
Da-dun.
"Ra?" 'What's that-' He never finished.
CHOMP!
The tables had turned as the antlion ended up in the jaws of the shark. "Gib!" 'We're not wild!' Gible said happily, chomping on the ground-type. "Ble-gib-gi!" 'We're caught! And we're on our way to get to our trainer!'
"Trap…" 'Okay, okay. Could you put me down now?"
"Gib." 'Sure thing." He gave the Trapnich one last chomp, then released it.
"Inch." 'Thank you. Well, if you aren't wild then where's your trainer?'
Turtwig looked to the others. "Twig." 'Do you think we should just come clean and tell him?"
"Char." 'Might as well.' Chimchar said. "Chim-cha-char." 'What do you know about the Time Travel Pokemon?'
"Inch." 'I've seen Celebi once when I was near Regirock's Cavern.' the Ant Lion said, much to the shock of the caught Pokemon. "Trapin." 'What? Surprised I know where a legendary is? It's local knowledge. Regirock's in a cave just up north. Anyway, why mention Celebi? Does she have anything to do with this?'
"Chimmmm…" 'Well… you see… we're kinda from an alternate future.' The fire ape scratched the back of his head. "Char." 'We got sent back after a universe ending apocalypse involving the creation trio, alongside our trainer.'
"Tirt." 'Our trainer's kind of important to the gods. Don't ask me why, that's another story. But Arceus had Celebi send him and us back in time to stop the apocalypse.'
"Treek." 'We ended up where we started in life, but we're not going to sit around a wait for him to come to us, so we're traveling to Kanto to meet up with him."
The Trapinch blinked his beady eyes. "In..." 'This is hard to believe...' he said.
"Gible." 'Everything's all messed up. Like those angry evil Pokemon." he said before they heard an angry buzzing. Angry...and dragonic.
"Inch!" 'Oh, swett Arceus no!' the antlion cried before they came face to face with a massive dragon-type. Not only a dragon, but a ground-type dragon.
"Gible!" 'Like that!' he said, pointing at the corrupted Flygon. "Inch!" 'RUN, DAMN IT!' the not-bug cried as he dug into the ground. But the land shark would have none of that.
"Giiiii..." Gible wordlessly growled as he gathered energy into his massive maw. Flygon was a dragon. And dragons were easily hurt by dragons. And Gible knew the best way to hurt the Shadow Flygon. "BLE!" With a ball of dragon energy that usually found its mark on Piplup's head.
"Fly!?" 'What the f-' The ball of draconic energy slammed the Flygon in the face, sending it crashing to the sand, missing an ear.
"Gib!" 'Come here you big meanie!' The little dragon shouted, charging into the dirt.
"Gon!" 'No, no, stay away, stay away!" The Flygon picked itself up and started flapping its wings, but too little, too late.
Gible burst from the sand, another Draco Meteor flying from his mouth to slam against it's back, sending the dragon/ground to the sand yet again, giving Gible plenty of time to do what Gibles did best.
CHOMP!
Gible's mouth closed on the Flygon's wing, biting harder then he would normally, for this was not a friend. This was a mindless killing machine, corrupted beyond hope, not that Gible knew this. All he cared about was that this Flygon was a threat to his family. And all threats had to be eliminated.
And with one disabled wing, the Flygon wasn't flying far, going into a shallow dive. Straight into a rock.
Gible let go, using his 'horns' like jet engines, steering him to soft sand. The Flygon, though...
THUD
Wasn't getting back up.
Gible dove into the sand, going deep enough to hide even his fin. At least until he started moving, the fin cutting through the hot sand like water.
"Trapinch!" 'Holy shit! Gible just wrecked that Flygon!"
Da-nun.
The ground-type realized what was coming. But like his corrupted evolution, he was too late.
CHOMP!
But unlike his evolution, Gible was far nicer. "Gib." 'That was fun.'
FUN?! He nearly killed a Shadow Pokemon and...well, Gible WAS one of Ash's team. They were all a little warped in the head.
"Inch. Trap-Inch." 'Can I join you guys? Your trainer must be something else, and I want to become a Flygon too.'
"Chim." 'Well, we've already picked up a few more. Ash certainly won't say no to anyone." The starter smiled. "Char." 'Welcome aboard.'
"Trap." 'Cool.' The not-bug blinked. "Inch." 'Now can you put me down?'
Gible released the future dragon from his maw. "Gib!" 'We need to get to Kanto. That's where Ash is!' he said.
"Inch." 'Digging there is out of the question. Even though Kanto's close, there's an ocean between us and there.' the antlion said. "Tra." 'And we don't have a rock-type to reinforce the tunnel if we did. Getting crushed by an ocean's worth of water pressure isn't on my to-do list.'
Sinnoh was close enough to tunnel to. Kanto was too far.
"Cha." 'We're heading for Lilycove. But the desert will cook most of us alive before we get there.' the monkey said.
"Inch." 'Lucky for you, I know the desert's secrets. I'll get you to Lilycove.'
RMS Germanic - 48 minutes out of Brest, Kalos - 0905 hours Local Time
Eevee darted out of the way of a weak Dragonbreath and charged back in, her body glowing as her speed accelerated into a Quick Attack, and bounced into Goomy's side, not doing any real damage to the dragon.
"Goom!" 'Nice hit!' Goomy praised, even as he let off another pair of Dragonbreath, trying to pin down the faster pokemon.
"Eve!" 'Thanks!' The Evolution pokemon accepted the praise even as she used another Quick Attack to dodge the attacks. "Vee!" 'This is fun!'
Goomy was the ultimate punching bag. He accepted it. But he was not a passive punching bag. He fired back, taking the hits Eevee dealt out and returning them with dragonfire. All to make sure Eevee evolved.
That being said, there was a complication.
"Oh, it's you again!" came the very unwelcome voice of Bonnie Cetron as she sighted them and ran over. Eevee might not have been a true battle Pokemon, but being forcibly cuddled all the time by a young girl? Screw that: Serena at least gave her space when she prompted.
"Bonnie! Damn it, I told you not to do that to other people's Pokemon!" cried her older, more sensible-but incredibly prone to blowing his ass up-brother as he struggled to catch up with her. "That Goomy nearly burned you last-" he trailed off as he noticed aforementioned Goomy, looking INSANELY pissed. Which is not a look you want from a Pokemon known to be super-friendly.
Goomy had a grudge: sue him. He thought Pikachu was weird at first and didn't say a thing, reserving judgement until he knew him better. More than he could say for the lemon-head.
"What's going on?" asked Eevee's trainer and - if the Kalos crew had their way - Ash's mate as she came up from below.
"Eve!" 'Oh thank Arceus!' The brown normal type sighed as she saw her trainer. "Vee!" 'Serena, a little help here!'
"Oh there you are Eevee." Serena smiled, hearing her Pokemon's cries, and the girl harassing her. "Hello there. Could you give my Eevee back?"
"Oh, this is your Eevee?" Bonnie said somewhat sheepishly before Goomy prepared for Bonnie's annoying question. "I hope you evolve it to Jolteon-" "Goomy." 'Here this stupid brat goes...' the dragon moaned. "When you marry my brother!"
Silence reigned. And Goomy could see Serena's eyes, which were friendly, suddenly turn into something so...ENRAGED. Like asking that question was heresy or something. To the Kalosian crew, it kinda WAS, but Serena looked halfway ready to throttle Bonnie.
Goomy half-hoped she would. He had a grudge.
"Bonnie!" Clemont snapped, glaring at his younger sister. He sighed, turing back to Serena. "I'm sorry for my sister. She has a tendency to go about and ask perfect strangers to 'look after me.' "
Serena blinked, and the murderous look was gone and the smile was back. Goomy sighed. It looked like Bonnie would survive the day.
Bonnie's bag twitched, and the flap opened to reveal her perpetual companion. "Deden." 'Oh great, is she harassing girls again?' the Kalosian 'Pikachu clone' asked.
"Come on, brother, she's perfect!" Bonnie exclaimed. "She's even got an Eevee she can evolve into Jolteon!"
"Young lady." Serena said, cold and on the knife's edge of grabbing her and throwing her overboard. "I am not only not interested in your brother, I am also betrothed to the new Crown Prince of Rota." Every word that came out of her mouth got more and more angry. "I also do not want to evolve my Eevee to a Jolteon. She's shown me she wants to be a Sylveon."
"But...Come on! This Prince guy can't-" Bonnie tried to convince Serena, but dragonfire burned her leg, followed by an electrical shock. Goomy had zero patience with her. "Goo." 'Leave my trainer's mate alone.' he warned.
Clemont coughed into his hand. "Bonnie, when Pokemon that don't know you are telling you to stop, I think you should stop."
The girl blinked, then nodded, backing away from the older girl and Goomy glaring her down.
"I'm sorry, I keep trying to get her to stop, but she doesn't listen." Suddenly, the light hit his glasses, giving him an inventive gleam. "In fact, I might have an idea for that."
Goomy had a bad feeling about this.
20 minutes later, he was right.
He was affixed to the back of Bonnie, gently held in a harness that pointed him directly at her. And it served the purpose of directing his attacks on her.
While he couldn't kill her (not only would Ash hate him, Bonnie was not worth it) it WOULD hurt. A lot.
"I call it the Pavolian Goominator!" Clemont declared with a raised hand.
"Goo." '...Really? Really.' Goomy deadpanned.
Serena had a conflicted, neutral expression on her face. "I'm… not sure how to feel about this. On one hand, that Goomy's meant for my betrothed, but at the same time…"
"Not to worry, this is only a temporary measure!" Clemont assured them. "But for now, your Goomy will do, seeing how much he dislikes Bonnie. If she asks any girl to marry me, Dragonbreath."
"Can't you just… pull her away?" Serena asked.
"You don't think I've been DOING that?" Clemont retorted, resignation sounding off. "She won't get it! I even made a mechanical arm to pull her away, but still she tries! So, I'm going for the Pavlov method!"
"Fro." 'Pavlov? Wasn't he some psychologist from Albmia Ash read about to find ways to condition himself?' Froakie asked, knowing Ash liked to find new ways to avoid getting together with his mate. With extreme success, no less.
"Uh..." Serena started.
"Oh, he was a psychologist. Ring a bell, the Rockruff comes for food, that sort of thing." Clemont said, waving it off. "In this case, I'm associating her asking someone to marry me with pain." Clemont seemed to be enjoying this a tad bit too much. But after countless people being asked, not to mention those people yelling at Clemont, he was bound to enjoy his sister suffering a bit.
"Clemont…" Bonnie whined. "Do you have to do this?"
The future Gym Leader sighed. "Bonnie, I love you, but you're starting to annoy me, and you already annoy everyone we meet by asking the girls to marry me… when I repeatedly tell you I am not interested. This is the last straw. If this doesn't get you to stop, I don't know what will!"
"Goom." 'Well, I have to admit, the idea does make sense.' He growled, wriggling in the harness. "Goo-my!" 'Doesn't mean I have to like it! Get me out of this thing!'.
Bonnie held up her bag. "I can use Dedenne as a shield! Goomy's a dragon-"
"A dragon that knows electrical attacks and potentially poison." Clemont said, much to Bonnie's horror. Dedenne was a fairy-type. The only fairies immune to poison had a secondary steel-typing. Which wouldn't do them any good anyway if they knew something like Brick Break or Flamethrower.
"Goo." 'Oh, but I DO know poison.' Goomy said almost evilly. Sludge Wave was a pain to learn, but it was worth learning. After all, only Mawile and Klefki had steel-typing and again, weak to fighting and fire. And Goomy, as Goodra, could learn it. And he had the basics down: he just needed someone to demonstrate it. Like that Charizard he heard so much about.
"So what's up with the Dedenne?" Serena asked. "Why can't you use him?"
"Well, he's technically mine, but he doesn't listen to me." Clemont leaned in close. "Between you and me, I've been thinking about getting a Voltorb. That knows Self Destruct."
Serena grinned. "You're evil."
"My sister's been a source of headaches since I turned 13." Clemont said, the unsaid 'and old enough to marry' not going unnoticed.
Eevee told him that Kalosian law allowed marriage at 13 years, a holdover from the first Kingdom of Kalos that no one bothered getting rid of. Which explained why Serena was engaged to Ash now.
"I do apologize to your bethrothed's Pokemon, my lady." Clemont said, honestly ashamed.
Goomy didn't care, blasting Clemont in the face with dragon fire.
Kanto Route 24, just north of 'Nugget Bridge' - 2035 hours local time
Ash could tell Misty was getting nervous with each step towards Cerulean He knew she had problems with the city and her crippling loneliness. That and the fact that two Ghost-types raped her mind. The city brought back unpleasant memories.
And they were coming up on the Nugget Bridge, which would lead into Cerulean. By the time they got to the Bridge, Misty would be a nervous wreck.
"You OK?" Ash asked, knowing he was probably fueling her attraction to him. In the last timeline, he saw it was his zeal, his seemingly unlimited energy, unstoppable will and boundless kindness that started to attract her to him. Sadly, he couldn't stop being himself. And now it was happening again. Good thing he knew how to stop himself.
"I...I don't want to go to Cerulean." Misty admitted. "My sisters...they'll make me stay. I CAN'T stay. I need to keep going."
'If I had my way, you'd stay in Cerulean and take over that gym.' Ash thought selfishly. But he knew better. "Well, there's another badge down in Vermillion." he reasoned.
"Pfft. Surge has a three badge limit." she spat. "Tired of facing new trainers thinking they can beat him with a Pidgey. And the closest gym other then Cerulean with a no-badge limit is Celedon."
Ash figured. "But if you don't want to-" he started before Misty shook her head. "No, I'll go. I'll have to fight to stay, but I'll go." she said.
Ash knew that it was because of him, but couldn't bring himself to mention it. And he wasn't the only one to notice.
"Kya." 'That girl is head over heels for that boy.' Starmie noticed. "Kya." 'He just speaks to her and she calms down.' If she could smile, she would. "Kyakya." 'Hey, brother. Think we could get them together?'
"Hup!" 'She's acting like her old self again. If getting them together fixes her, I am all for it.' Staryu replied. "Hu." 'But he's resistant. He wants to, but...doesn't.'
"Hya." 'Yes. I can feel it.' the water/psychic replied. 'We'll work on it. It will be slow going, but we will help our trainer.'
Whether the male trainer liked it or not, Misty's pokemon plotted against him.