Saffron City Gym - 1245 hours local time - Day 33 of Ash Ketchum's Journey
Pikachu stared at his fellow Pokemon. As Ash had essentially become the legal guardian for Sabrina (who was now starting to act closer to her actual age) that meant he could use the gym as he wished.
He was still comatose, so his Pokemon took the gym over.
"Pikachu." 'I have come to the realization that we are out of shape. All of us,' Pikachu said. "Pikapi." 'We're not in the shape we were before we went back. Ash paid for that. That changes NOW.'
The worst part was, Pikachu was wearing a hat. Not Ash's, but a hat belonging to a military man.
"Noc." 'You got that from Surge, didn't you?' Noctowl asked before tilting his head as if hearing something.
"Pikachu." 'Damn straight. And I will use it to whip you all back into the shape you were in the Ever Grande Conference. I am no exception.' Pikachu said.
Vun-vun.
"Char?" 'Anyone else hear that?' Charmeleon asked.
"Cynda." 'I think I did.' Cyndaquil said as she looked around.
"Pika!" 'Focus, damn it! We need to be ready!' Pikachu snapped. "Pikapi-kachu." 'We're going to start training TODAY. There will be no second-'
Vun-vun.
"Pika?!" 'What the hell was that?!' Pikachu said before the ground rumbled and exploded under his feet.
And he suddenly felt something latch onto him.
A familiar something.
CHOMP!
"Gible!" 'Pikachu! I knew I sensed your electrical field!' cried the Gible as he warbled attached to the mouse.
"Pika?" 'Who the… wait. Gible? Our Gible?' Pikachu asked, Gible eyesmiling.
"Gib!' 'Not that many Gibles with a Turtwig, Gligar and Starly, right?' Gible answered.
"Chim…" 'You need… to learn… to slow down…' said a familiar Chimchar as he climbed out of the hole, out of breath and exhausted.
"Turt…" 'If I wasn't a Turtwig, I'd never catch up…' said a Turtwig.
And Pikachu knew them from his journey in Sinnoh.
"Pika-chu?" 'Torterra? Infernape?' Pikachu asked as Gible let go of him, doing a little dance happily.
"Star." 'And the rest.' Starly said as he hopped out of the hole. "Ly." 'Can't fly in those tunnels.'
"Treecko." 'Can't get into the building unless you do so.' said a Treecko with a twig in his mouth. Pikachu blinked at Snorunt, Gligar, Taillow, Corphish and a Mudkip of all 'mons pushing Torkoal out of the hole, panting.
"Tail." 'Lose. Weight.' Taillow demanded as she regained her breath.
"Tor." 'I'm as light as I can get. It's the shell.' Torkoal replied as he started walking. "Koal." 'Pikachu. Where's Ash?'
Pikachu scowled at the reminder of who was supposed to be there but wasn't. "Pikapi." 'Ash is in the hospital,' he said tersely.
"Tree." 'Why?' Treecko asked.
The answer to that came from Natu, who was nesting on Bulbasaur's head.
"Natu." 'He was shot.' she said.
Anabel and Misty approached the gym, Anabel having to be dragged along due to VERY bad memories of the place.
"Anabel, you need to pick up the information left there. Your trainer ID, Pokeballs, everything!" Misty said, snarling out WHY they had to go for the umpteenth time.
"I am NOT going back in there without Ash!" Anabel snapped back. Misty would have taken this badly, but given Ash was basically a bane to psychics, human and otherwise, she only got part of the way to the angry tsundere she was known to be in the other timeline.
"Good thing he's Rotan royalty and polygamy's legal for them: we're never going to be rid of her at this rate," Astral Misty groused as she 'leaned' on the building, Misty blushing up a storm from that.
Then they heard angry screams of rage and a Draco Meteor of all things shooting out of the roof, heading west-ward.
"Ash doesn't have a Pokemon that knows Draco Meteor." Misty said as both girls watched the orb of death follow the path of the sun.
"Well, he has a Gible. Cute little thing: I only wish he was a water-type." Misty's projection said. "He likes to chomp on things."
Misty opened the door to find a Mudkip running out, making her more confused. "A Mudkip?" she said before the Mudkip stopped and looked at her, Psyduck taking this chance to do what he did best and come out of his ball at the most inopportune moments.
"Psy?" he asked, not using his telepathy for once.
"Mud?" replied the Mudkip.
"Psy-ay-ay…" replied the duck before yoinking one of Misty's Pokeballs.
"What are you doing, duck?!" Misty snapped before Mudkip smacked the ball, entering the ball willingly before Psyduck turned back to Misty with smiling duck eyes.
"Psyduck!" he said, offering her the ball.
"Do not question it. Just take the Mudkip." Astral Misty said, the real one hesitantly taking the ball.
Vun-vun.
"What the hell was-" she started before something shot towards her head.
CHOMP!
"Gible!" cried the offending chomper.
Saffron Hospital - 1402 hours local time
Ash groaned as someone adjusted his IV.
"He's healing a hell of a lot faster than one would think. It takes months to recover from a gunshot wound." one of the nurses said. "Him? A week and the damaged tissue is already healed."
"It's that Aura thing." the doctor said dismissively. "All Pokemon have it and it contributes to their fast healing rate. And before you ask, no, it doesn't mean he has a Lucario in the family tree or something. It's just a random quirk of genetics, like psychics."
"No need to be an ass." the nurse retorted as she changed his IV bottle. "I didn't even ask about that."
"You were going to: every nurse in the building keeps asking me the same damn question." the doctor said as he ran his hand through his goatee. "I had to get the royal family tree sent to me just to clear it up. And believe me, these people like to make damn sure who's who in the line."
Then the trainer under their care slowly opened his eyes. "Ow." he said for the first time since he was shot, sounding hoarse. "What happened?"
"You were shot during Team Rocket's raid on Silph Co." the doctor answered. "I would ask how you feel, but I already know: I've handled gunshot victims before. As for the Silph thing, your Pokemon were RELENTLESS. The only people that got away were anyone near the rear exits and that Admin. Everyone else…" he threw his hands into the air. "Take your pick. Electrocuted, burned, drowned, you name it, those grunts died from it."
Ash wanted to be shocked and surprised. But Bulbasaur's little declaration before he got shot ruined that. The only surprise was how many actually kicked the bucket. "Are they in trouble?" he asked.
"No. Legally, they were well within their right to do what they did. Self-defense by Pokemon kills more people than you think." the nurse said. "You would be surprised how many idiots pull out a gun on a trainer and get incinerated for it."
Ash groaned. "I hate this timeline." he muttered incoherently. The medical professionals didn't notice what he said.
"You hear that?" the nurse asked as she put the IV bottle away.
"Hear-"
Vun-vun.
"...What was that?" the doctor asked as he looked outside, opening a window.
Something shot past him, flying into the room. And homing in on Ash.
'This feels-' Ash thought before he felt it.
CHOMP!
"Gible!" 'ASH! You're ok!' cried what could only be his Gible as he nommed on his head in worry.
"Gible? What… never mind." Ash said before he rubbed Gible's side. "I know how you dig."
"Gib!" 'I brought friends! They're at the gym!' Gible cried, the medical people just leaving. Apparently, this was a thing. "Gible…" 'But you can't understand me.'
"I can understand you just fine, Gible." Ash said, wincing at the IV stuck in his arm. "But I can't go to the gym right now."
Gible's eyes widened. "Gible?" 'You… you can understand?' he said before eyesmiling. "Gible!" 'Yay! Now we can talk to you properly!'
Ash chuckled, pulling Gible off his head and putting him on his lap. "But how'd you get here?" he asked.
"Gible, Gib-Gible." 'I dug! Got Turtwig, Chimchar and Buzel! Forgot about Gligar, but he's almost never around anyways. We kinda forget he exists sometimes.' Gible answered. "Gible-Gib." 'Got to Hoenn. Picked those guys up, too.'
"Treecko and the others are at the gym, too?" Ash asked. "That's… great!" For once, things were looking up! He just needed to get the Tauros and he'd get everyone in Kanto back together!
…Dawn was going to miss Aipom, though. Where WAS she, anyways? He caught her near Viridian City and she wasn't near there. That was one of the reasons he went into Viridian Forest without Misty three or four weeks ago. Find Pidgeotto, Caterpie and maybe Aipom.
…He wasn't counting the hospital time yet.
"So, just missing Aipom and the Tauros." he said as he carefully pulled the IV out, wincing as he did before getting those pads off his chest.
About two minutes later, the doctors rushed in panicking. Apparently, the machines those things were wired up to said he was flatlining.
En route to Saffron Gym - 1518 Hours local time
No one questioned why Gible was attached to Ash's head and his own hat was on Gible's fin as he walked down the streets.
Gible only let go of him when he got dressed. As soon as Ash was in his outfit, Gible latched on with a mighty chomp and was unwilling to let go.
"Gible." 'I like your outfit. Better than the one you wore in Sinnoh.' Gible said, warbling on his head.
"Well, Sinnoh was colder than Kanto. Kanto's pretty warm, so I didn't bother with anything but this last time." Ash said, Gible eyesmiling.
"Gible!" 'Keep it!' Gible said.
"Not going to be worthwhile in Sinnoh." his trainer countered. "I mean, I like the outfit, but it's cold in Sinnoh." He then looked up at the land shark. "How come you weren't cold in Sinnoh? You're a dragon."
"Gible." 'I slept in warm caves until I met you! Then you caught me.' Gible answered as they got to the gym, where Misty and Anabel were waiting, Misty petting a Mudkip and talking to Anabel.
"Hey, guys." he said, breaking their concentration, Anabel getting to her feet first and latching onto him with a death grip.
"Thank Arceus you're here!" she cried, not noticing what was on his head.
"Giiiiiiiiiiiiibbbbbbbbbbbbbb…" Gible warbled warningly, glaring at Anabel, who finally noticed the Gible.
"I think you guys met Gible," Ash said as the land shark continued to glare at Anabel.
"Yeah, we did." Misty said, holding her Mudkip in her arms. "Latched onto my head, then homed in on the hospital. He's yours?"
"Yup." Ash said, Gible eyesmiling and warbling. "Caught him in Sinnoh about four years from now. First thing he did was chomp on my head."
"Well, everyone else is in the gym. I DID bring your stuff here." Misty said, somewhat proudly, which confused Ash for a second. "Your bag is HEAVY. How do you carry that thing around?"
That explained everything. "It's not that heavy." he said.
"Ash, Misty was sagging the entire time and had to have my Abra help her." Anabel said, Gible resuming his glare. "He weighed it. It's almost 90 pounds. That's half her weight."
"Yeah-HEY!" Misty snapped.
"Yeah, I'm going to see my Sinnoh and Hoenn teams." Ash said quickly, getting away from the catfight in the brewing.
"Treecko." 'Well, you weren't joking.' Treecko said as Ash actually had a conversation with Gligar on how he seemed to isolate himself from the rest of the family and how that was a bad thing, with the conversation being a conversation instead of Ash guessing what Gligar said and replying.
"Pika." 'I hope this is the last time we have to do this talk.' Pikachu said before glancing at Treecko. "Pika-ka?" 'And why aren't you running?'
"Tree." 'Charmeleon is only intimidating when he's actually trying to kill you. He's not a Charizard yet.' Treecko replied, referring to the fact almost everyone was fleeing from Charmeleon and his remastered flamethrower. The only ones not were flying-types and they had… other fears.
Tailow had learned her electrical immunity did not carry over into this timeline, for example. Pikachu had forced her to evade often. It had results, though. Her reaction time was better.
That being said…
"Pikachu." 'Get back to work.' he said.
"Tree-cko." 'Fucking make me.' the gecko replied as Pikachu began sparking. The grass-type ran towards Phanpy, latching on as Pikachu unleashed a Thunderbolt at him. Grounding did not help him.
RMS Aquitania - 200 nautical miles from Unova - 1701 hours local time - Day 34
"Grub." 'Stupid bird. WAKE UP!' said Grubbin as he prodded Rowlet, who woke up sleepily.
"Rowl?" 'What time is it?' has asked with a tilted head.
"Grub!" 'Time to feed me, you Arceus-forsaken grass-type! It's been two days!' the Grubbin yelled.
Rowlet yawned before taking to the air. "Rowlet!" 'Sorry. Having a sun-high. I'll be back!' he cried before Grubbin hid in the shadows again.
Rowlet did not mean to sleep so much. He was a grass-type: the sun was his food, mixed with the occasional bit of water. But regardless, he needed to get the food Grubbin needed. Fortunately, Rockruff, Meowth and Litten were handling that.
He flew to the wheelhouse, where a covered basket was waiting with an annoyed Litten guarding it. "Lit." 'You're late.' he snapped.
"Rowl?" 'Sorry. You know me.' Rowlet said as he landed.
"Litten." 'Well, try staying awake. The crew's onto us and they're actively hunting us.' Litten snapped. "Ten." 'We can't afford to stay up here for too long.'
"Let." 'Sorry. Didn't know. I'll try to stay up.' Rowlet said as he grabbed onto the basket with his talons.
"Litt." 'You better. I'm heading back to the cargo hold. Just wish we didn't leave Stoutland behind.' Litten said, sounding sad at the last few words.
"Rowlet." 'You know he wouldn't've made it to Kanto.' the bird replied as Litten got up.
"Litten, ten." 'I know that. But knowing and wanting are two different things. I wanted him to come. I know he couldn't.' the fire cat said. "It." 'At least he's in a good home.' With that, he hopped to the deck and quickly made his way to the decks below, just as the ship suddenly began turning.
"Rowlet?!" 'What the hell?' he said as the ship turned hard to port and increased speed.
RMS Germanic - 9 hours earlier
Fletchling could not sleep. Nor could Froakie.
Something was coming.
See, being one of Ash's Pokemon put them in tune with their surroundings and the environment itself. They could sense danger coming, to protect their trainer when he was too blind to see the danger.
Froakie was more on edge then anyone and Fletchling was a light sleeper anyways.
"Froak." 'Something is coming. It's fast and coming from the south.' Froakie said, his senses, while not honed to the point of a Greninja, were screaming to prepare for battle.
"Fletch." 'You wake everyone. I'll check what it is.' Fletching said, taking off through the same window that Serena fired that bolt out of yesterday.
Her eyes were not completely focused, not to the point of a Talonflame, but she could see something. Something… blurry.
'What is blurry? I know Pikachu and the others mentioned something once? A Lati? No, Latis aren't that…' Fletchling nearly stopped flapping her wings as she realized what it was. 'FUCK.'
She then flew back in just as energy bolts slammed into the liner's reinforced hull, startling all of Ash's team awake as well as Sylveon.
"GOO?!" 'WHAT THE FUCK?!' Goomy yelled as the ship rocked side to side like a sailboat in a storm.
"Fletch!" 'Wake up! We're in trouble!' Fletchling cried.
"Noi?" 'What's going on?' Noibat asked as he sat up.
"Froakie-fro." 'An old nemesis returns.' Froakie said as the source of the attack appeared: a flying blocky warship. One that they had not fought.
But one Pikachu and the Sinnoh crew had fought too many times for comfort. They were going to run into the bitch eventually.
But none of them thought they were ready for Hunter J.
J's ship - same time
The Pokemon Hunter that simply referred to herself as J scowled as she looked at the RMS Germanic from the bridge of her modified Unovan Defiance-Class aerial cruiser. The last thing she wanted to do was sink the damn thing by accident: being wanted by the Leagues for Pokemon poaching was one thing. Sinking an ocean liner filled with people would have her hunted by governments.
Poaching was one thing. Terrorism was another.
One pissed off the Leagues with their holier-than-thou bullshit. The other pissed off governments and eventually got you killed. And while she might sell Pokemon to less-than-savory people in the governments of many regions, even they would gladly cut ties with her if that ship sank.
"Damage report." she snapped.
"Minor hull damage in frames 15 and 18, no buckling of structural plating. Damage to her screw shafts." one of her operators reported. "She'll stay afloat, but she's not going anywhere for a long time."
"As long as it doesn't sink. Prepare boarding parties. And make damn sure they don't pack explosives." J ordered as she went to the door leading out of the bridge. "The last thing we need is to have the Unovan government pissed off at us for sinking Pernon's fucking ship." Damaging it, they'd be annoyed. Sinking it would cost them money they wouldn't be paying her.
"Yes, ma'am." said one of the officers as he relayed the orders.
RMS Germanic - Pernon's Reactor Office - 30 seconds after the initial attack
"Oh, great," Kyril groaned as he headed over to the mounting zone for his armor, getting into the armor's primary undersuit. "What've we got, Rin?"
"One contact, bearing 179," Rin replied. "It's an airship. Defiance-Class, from the look of things. And only one person has the technical know-how on her payroll to use one of those outside the Unovan military these days."
Kyril scowled, even as he finished donning the undersuit and stepped into the rig that would fit the armor to him. "Yeah. Hunter J," he said, spitting out the name. "She's a bloody menace. As bad as the Teams, even if she isn't on the payroll of any one Team. Unfortunately for her, she picked the wrong ship to raid."
He was right, of course, but not for the reason he surmised. He thought that he was going to put the Fear of Marauder into the bitch, maybe put a few holes in her ship thanks to his armor's heavier weapons.
But he wasn't the only one getting ready to fight.
"Hawlucha." 'There is no way in hell we are going to fight her and win.' the luchador bird said as they watched the ship begin dropping ropes to allow the crew to board the Germanic.
"Goo." 'Not directly. But J doesn't play directly. Pikachu said she likes to be sneaky so she doesn't hurt her targets'. Goomy said, remembering what Pikachu said about the bitch. "Goomy." 'Let's use her greed against her.'
"Fenn." 'I have no idea what you're on about, but I want in.' Fennekin said as Grace and Serena were forced to some safe area in the ship, Serena spitting curses like a sailor.
"Noi!" 'No way in hell: we know the risks, you don't!' Noibat said, looking at the fox Pokemon.
"Pancham." 'They want Pokemon. We make them run, they don't come back.' Pancham said, pounding his paws together.
"..Goo." 'They're not wrong. And we have two of them that bitch might want.' Goomy said, his antennae waggling like eyebrows.
"Froak." 'Absolutely not.' Froakie said, knowing instantly. "Kie." 'I am the better choice.'
"Goo." 'I'm not going alone.' Goomy said, looking at Sylveon, who nodded in understanding. They were the bait.
"Fletch?!" 'Are you two insane? There's no way either of you can fight her Salamence, type advantage or not!' Fletchling cried.
"Fennekin." 'Lure her into the ship. I'll make sure she can't see.' Fenniken said.
"Noi…" 'We're doomed.' Noibat said.
J's boots clacked on the decking as she landed, her petrification gun armed and ready as she prepared to find something worth selling.
The ship was outbound from Kalos, so anything like a Goomy would sell well. Goodra were popular outside Kalos, but too cost prohibitive. Goomy were easier to get.
Her glasses found nothing on thermals until she arrived at the aft expansion joint, where she heard a cry.
"Goomy?"
She snapped to the right, firing on the target in question, which was a Goomy… riding a Slyveon? …that dodged her shot.
'Two for one. ' she thought, smacking her lips. The fairy eeveelutions were always popular.
She followed, the Eeveelution and the Soft Tissue Pokemon riding it just barely staying out of her line of fire as they ventured into B-Deck.
A voice in the back of her head screamed this was a trap. Her conscious and exceedingly greedy part of her scoffed. A trap? What could a happy-go-lucky fairy-type and the weakest dragon do to her?
She followed them until they reached a straight corridor, but they weren't there. "Hiding will not help you…" she said as she put on her glasses, thermal imaging being displayed. There was one problem as she entered the room, which was the old Second Class dining room: everything was on fire and the heat was fucking with her IR.
'Well, I was asking for it.' J thought as she prepared to leave, only for a water pulse to slam into the cannon, cracking it before a Froakie stabbed it with a water knife, destroying vital internal parts.
She reached for her Salamance's Pokeball, no longer giving a shit about damage to the ship before a Fennekin bit the hand hard enough to make it bleed and break bone, making her drop the ball in its' inactive state as she screamed.
Then the Goomy jumped on her and fired a thunderbolt into her arm cannon before he charged again and fired it into her imaging glasses, destroying them and blinding her long enough for a Hawlucha to High Jump Kick her in the side, which broke several ribs.
She opened her eyes long enough to find a FUCKING FLETCHLING flying at her, the clawed feet cutting into her face before the Sylveon tripped her, forcing her to fall onto the broken ribs, which only made it worse with a Pancham pounding her leg.
They knew how she worked. They knew how she worked and used her greed against her. She knew it was too easy, but the money was too hard to ignore. And they fucked her with it.
And then she heard the sound of heavy footsteps. Heavy mechanized footsteps.
She'd heard the stories. The armored vigilante who ravaged Teams across the world, often causing collateral damage because of course Teams tried to hide in cities. It was rumored he'd had a connection to Pernon Industries.
And when she saw the massive armored figure of Marauder tromp into the room, and then deploy fire suppression equipment, she somehow knew those rumors were true.
And for the first time since her early days as a Pokemon Hunter… J felt fear.
"Huh," said the armored warrior, voice scrambled as always as he hefted an assault rifle. "Was not expecting Hunter J to be taken down by Pokemon. Mostly unevolved Pokemon no less."
J quickly assessed the situation. She was too wounded to fight and the Goomy had her Salamence's Pokeball in his mouth. No enhanced vision visor, no petrification weapon.
There was only one option. Run. The Pokemon were distracted and the Germanic's layout was almost the same as the Olympic, so she could get the fuck out of there.
She quickly got to her feet, scrambling for the door on the other end of the dining room. From there, she would get to the aft grand staircase and get to the boat deck.
That didn't mean getting out of the room would be EASY.
As soon as he had a clear angle that didn't risk the Pokemon, Marauder let loose with his assault rifle, filling the room with lead spraying in her direction. She barely managed to get out of there in one piece, though she was still clipped in her left leg, right arm, and left flank. And that wasn't counting all the Pokemon attacks being leveled her way - mostly ranged attacks.
An ember hit her back, a thunderbolt grazed the side of her face. They did not stop her.
She reached the staircase, limping up before the massive 12.7mm rounds slammed into the stairs and the panelling, wood splintering into her face and chest.
She was never going to live this down.
"And that's 200 year old artwork you just ruined," Rin said over the comm. "There's no puttying over those bullet holes."
Kyril sighed. "Maybe," he admitted. "Still, didn't want to just let her get away without at least an attempt at stopping her. And the Pokemon did a fair bit of damage, too, setting things on fire to set what had to be a trap."
"The dining room wasn't important: any idiot can scrape the paint off the walls and recarpet! Besides, they nearly had her until you showed up." Rin said. "X-rays show they broke ribs and fractured her left tibia. If you hadn't shown up, they'd've finished the job."
And he wasn't hitting her. He'd have to recalibrate the armor later: weeks of inactivity would do that.
"Right," he said with another sigh. "Well, on that note, anything you can tell me on those Pokemon?"
"Only that they're the ones that came on the ship with Duchess Gabena and her daughter Serena," Rin informed. "The Fennekin, Sylveon, and Pancham are registered to her, but the others don't have any Trainer ID registries at all."
"Wild? What are wild-" he started before a thunderbolt hit his suit.
"Apparently they took offense." Rin said dryly. "That cruiser is getting ready to get the hell out of here. If you want to make her humiliation complete, I would suggest getting to the boat deck ASAP."
J fumbled for the ascension line as blood dripped into her eyes. She got screwed and she knew it.
If she saw them ever again, she wouldn't bother being nice about it. Her old battle rifle would be a good choice for them.
Loud cracks sounded behind her as that armored asshole shot at her blindly, but she managed to get the damn thing to pull her up into the ship.
Then he just started firing rockets at her, slamming into her ship, which wasn't designed to be hit with rockets.
Defiance-Class cruisers were meant to hit hard and get the hell out, not hang in a firefight for the long haul. It's why so many of them remained: the Unovans built tens of thousands of them.
J knew this was going to be costly. VERY costly.
But as the line swayed, the ship began moving quickly away, the stench of smoke in the air, she knew she would survive this.
That was the important thing at the moment. Getting her money back? Well, she did have a few other clients.
Kyril stopped firing as the ship exited the range of his suit's weapons, trailing smoke.
"Well, she's going to be living on the edge for a while. If you didn't decide to be dramatic…" Rin said over the comm, trailing off.
"Yeah, yeah, rub it in, right don't you." he groused before getting serious. "How bad?"
"Well, the port prop shaft is basically gone and there's warping in several structural ribs. Survivable, but only if we put the ship out of service for a few months." Rin said as the damage control crews fed the information to the captain - and unwittingly, her. "We're stuck on the inner prop, so we need to get towed back." She paused, groaning in annoyance. "Great."
"What?" he asked as he made his way to Funnel 3, which had a hidden passage to store the suit.
"The radio's out, same with the radar. We are blind, deaf and half-crippled." Rin replied. "Fucking GREAT! If the bitch decides to come back after putting out those fires you started, we're not going to see her until she's on top of us."
"Doubt it. With that many holes, her stealth tech is useless." Kyril said as he got the suit stowed away, exiting it with difficulty. "Just get the radio fixed and contact the nearest ship."
"Which is the Aquitania. She departed Alola sometime ago and should be in radio range… once we get it fixed." Rin said before closing the link.
Froakie was glad to get out of the fires as the sprinkler system kicked in, putting out the flames.
"Gooooooooooooo…" 'Sweet water…' said Goomy, more happy to be showered in water, soaking it into his blobby body.
"Fletch!" 'We almost had her!' Fletchling chirped angrily. "Ling-ling!" 'If that armored asshole didn't-'
"Froak." 'Death or retreat, it does not matter. Victory is ours,' Froakie interrupted, ending the discussion. "Froakie." 'Now we have a story to tell once we are reunited with Ash.'
And that was more important than anything. They could brag all they wanted once they got home.
"Goooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyy…" Goomy went, snoring. He was on a water-high.
"Haw." 'I'll need a hand with him,' Hawlucha half-asked. Water-logged Goomys were not a fun thing to deal with.
Saffron Gym - 0645 hours local time - Day 35
Pikachu was slowly killing them. That was the opinion of all involved.
The slow death had results, as Starly could attest to.
"Staravvvvvviiaaaa…" 'Oooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwww…' said the newly evolved Pokemon as he laid on the ground, sparking.
"Pika!" 'You're all improving! I can hold a thunderbolt longer, run longer and hold an Iron Tail longer now. We're getting back to normal,' Pikachu said as he adjusted his cap with his tiny paws.
"Char!" 'More! MORE!' Charmeleon screamed, hungry for more punishment as long as it led to him being a Charizard once more.
"Gible?" 'Was he always this nuts?' Gible asked, thankfully immune to being shocked into unconsciousness. That didn't stop Pikachu from trying.
"Pika?" 'That Draco Meteor of yours needs work. Dawn's Piplup hasn't hatched: stop aiming for him,' Pikachu said, Gible's maw opening for a Gible laugh.
"Gib-Gib-Gib-Gible!" 'I wasn't aiming for Piplup!' he said, confusing all present.
"Noct?" 'Then who in the bloody hell WERE you aiming at?' Noctowl asked.
Viridian City Gym - 1402 Hours Local Time - Day 34
Giovanni looked up to see an orange ball descending towards him. He would have questioned WHY a Draco Meteor of all things was heading for him, but instead, he ducked inside.
Instead, the ball followed him in and exploded on his back, sending him flying into a wall.
Present Time - Saffron Gym
"Gible!" 'Whoever's the Team Rocket Boss!' Gible said with a cheer.
Squirtle could not help himself. He laughed. He laughed hard.
All of them knew Giovanni was the Rocket Boss. Everyone except Gible, seemingly. And yet Gible fired at the son of a bitch and, knowing Gible, hit him.
He was followed by everyone there, save Charmeleon, who finally fell on his face, exhausted.
"Char…" 'More… Must… be… Charizard…' he moaned.
"Pika." 'Bulbasaur better not have the same problems with Treecko,' Pikachu muttered.
Pallet Town - Oak Ranch - 1604 Hours local time
"Tran...quill…" 'About...damn...time…' the newly evolved Wild Pigeon Pokémon moaned as she was dragged to a 'safe recovery zone'. Translation: the hell away from the Snorlax that just Mega Punched her in the beak.
"Snor!" 'Next! Gotta get ready!' Snorlax cried out, noticeably more… active then usual.
Ash getting shot changed him from 'lazy as sin' to 'angry and motivated'. He was turning into the ultimate punching bag that occasionally punched back.
"La." 'Try not to hit ME, damn it,' said a surprise to all once he was let out from his ball: Ash's Lapras.
Apparently, the timeline changed a LOT: his herd was no longer wild, but safely cared for at the Kanto Safari Zone for the sake of getting their species back to sustainable numbers. He was at Silph Co to test a new treatment when the Rockets attacked and was technically one of the company's Pokemon.
He didn't know he was gifted back to Ash until he was let out in Pallet and… well, flying-types were learning that his aim with Ice Beam was deadly. He was still in the large pond made for water-types like himself and everything else was giving him a WIDE berth for the same reasons Snorlax was more up and about.
Five years apart changed nothing: Ash was his trainer and NO ONE hurt his trainer.
"Pidgeot!" 'Speak for yourself!' cried the largest avian there. At long last, Pidgeotto had evolved and was slowly getting herself back into fighting shape as she was prior to the resetting of the timeline. After, of course, Cyndaquil thawed the ice on her wings caused by Snorunt.
After she recovered from Phanpy Mud Slapping her a few times. In general, ALL of them were going through hellish training due to recent events.
"Bayleef." 'Progress is progress,' said the recently evolved Bayleef as she used Aromatherapy on herself and others to patch up the others while they were also given Oran and Sitrus berries by the Pidgeys of Pidgeot's flock to recover their strength.
"Bulba." 'That's enough. Tomorrow, we're working on conditioning. This is supposed to be the LESS extreme place,' Bulbasaur said as he hauled a blue-furred form towards the group, which unfurled to reveal a familiar face.
"Qui…" 'Why does mud hurt so much…' asked the now-evolved Quilava as she laid face down in the dirt.
Team Rocket Headquarters - Kanto/Johto border - 2315 Hours Local Time - Day 35
Darkness fell on the imposing Rocket base, boldly baring the Rocket 'R' on the entrance.
Inside, Giovanni had called the only people he could trust outside of his now-dead wife (who was Ariana's sister) Matori and his Persian.
It was a sad day when the most trustworthy people he had were those idiots, Jessie, James and their Meowth.
"It has come to my attention that you are the only operatives I can actually trust to do your damned jobs and not require handholding," Giovanni said as he downed a glass of cheap Orrean bourbon. "It is a sad day for Team Rocket that it has come to this."
"Thank you, Boss!" all three said, not noticing the last sentence.
"I'm not finished. I'm also changing your assignment." Giovanni said as he poured another glass, which clearly unnerved the three. To their knowledge, he used those things as set pieces, never drinking from them.
"Sir?" James asked, Giovanni putting the cap back on the bottle as he did.
"What?" Givanni demanded as he put the bottle down.
"Why are you changing our assignment?" Jessie asked, taking over for her less assertive partner. "We're tailing the boy as you asked-" their commander raised his hand to silence her, which did its' job.
"The boy is Ash Ketchum," he said. "You may not be aware of this, but he is the son of Delia Ketchum."
THAT got a reaction out of them, as they knew who Delia was: a champion-grade Elite Four member.
"So, we were tailin' him because you didn't want the Ketchum lady against the Team?" Meowth asked, Giovanni continually surprised the cat learned to talk. Regardless, he was not wrong.
"Delia's maiden name is Sakai," the Boss said. And that was enough to floor them. "The boy is my nephew. I wanted him protected not just to keep Delia from going against the Team, but because he is family. Now thanks to the stupidity of one of Ariana's riflemen, Delia has given me two weeks to settle affairs and return to the Gym… and leave the Team."
That got them out of their stupor. "You can't leave the Team!" James cried.
"That's right!" Meowth said. "The team needs the Boss!"
Giovanni almost smiled at their loyalty.
Almost.
"My sister is the most dangerous Pokemon trainer on the planet outside of Professor Samuel Oak and the Champions of Kanto, Sinnoh and Unova." he said, sounding pained at that admission. "Her Pokemon are kept away from the Oak Ranch for the safety of everything else in a 50 kilometer radius. The Team is doomed. But it will endure in a way." With that, he sat back in his chair, fixing them with a stare. "Shadow Ash. You are his protectors in the shadows. Anyone tries to hurt him, Team Rocket remnants, government agents or anything else, you take them out. If Ash Ketchum dies, the Team dies. Understood?"
All three stood straight and gave him what could only be called a Wobbuffet salute. "Yes, Boss!" they said as one.
The Boss got up, his Persian following suit. "Come with me." he ordered, the three following him out of the room.
"The Boss has a sister. And the twerp we've been tailing is his nephew?" Jessie asked, still disbelieving.
"Well, they do have the same hair." James said, finger on his chin in pondering. "If we didn't know the Boss had a kid, we'd think it was his son."
"Scary." Meowth said as they entered a massive vault filled with Pokeballs.
"Normally, you would be restricted to only those you could catch, but your assignment demands firepower." Giovanni said to them. "One of you knows some of the Pokemon you will be given."
James perked up at that as they came to a tray with clear labels on the indents holding them in place.
"Weepinbell. Chimecho. Mime Jr. Carnivine. Inkay," he named one by one. "I caught these Pokemon and brought them here."
"You're getting them back, along with a few others," Giovanni said as James picked up a particularly scuffed Pokeball and released an old friend.
"Growl!" barked a Growlithe before it happily tackled James.
Jessie huffed before picking up a Luxury ball and a modified Great Ball. "Great." she muttered before Giovanni saw the Luxury Ball and had the look of fear on his face.
"Do not-" he said before Jessie did the stupid and released it.
The form was familiar. They'd seen one with the twerp.
"Mi," said the Mimikyu, making Meowth jump in shock as he hid behind James.
"Holy crap! You kiss your mother with that meowth?!" Meowth said, not resisting the urge for a pun.
"Aw, he's cute!" Jessie said, picking up the Disguise Pokemon. "Kinda like the one with the twerp."
The Mimikyu seemingly stared at her. Then jumped on her shoulder. "Mimikyu," he said.
"Keep that thing away from my nephew's starter." Giovanni ordered. "He has killed Pikachu in the past."
The ghost perked up at the mention of Pikachu… but not for the right reasons.
"Mi?!" he said.
"Who the hell do you think you are, Asmodai?!" Meowth screamed at the Mimikyu in horror.
"…Keep the damn thing under control. You have two poison-types." Giovanni said before noticing the Seviper and the Marianie Pokeballs. "…Four. If that Pikachu dies-"
"WE die. We understand." James said as Jessie returned Mimikyu to his ball… and the great ball opened.
"WOOOOOOOOOOBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBUUUUUUUUFFFFFFFFFFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!" cried the Patient Pokémon as he materialized and made his salute.
Giovanni groaned in annoyance. "Get the fuck out of here before I shoot that damn thing." he said, leaving to avoid dealing with the damn psychic-type.
Saffron Gym - 0817 hours local time - Day 36
Ash was still in no shape to go anywhere (enforced bed care by his two 'nurses') so Pikachu continued tortur-er, training his teammates.
"Turt." 'This is not going to work.' Turtwig said as he looked at the Pokedex using a training program to show a Torterra using Energy Ball, among other attacks. "Wig." 'I know Ash had ideas-'
"Pika." 'Ideas he shared with me. I might not be our overly-risk-taking trainer, but I know what to do.' Pikachu said. "Pikapi." 'Ash can refine it once you show him.'
"Turtwig-tur." 'I don't want to evolve. I'm willing to fight, but I'm not willing to lose my mobility again! That sucked!' Turtwig retorted. Pikachu could understand that.
"Pika." 'Good point. That being said, Trick Room.' Pikachu said.
"Turtwig!" 'I can't learn Trick Room! My SPECIES can't learn-' Turtwig yelled before-
"Natu." 'I can.' said the Natu that just appeared on his back.
"...Turtwig?" 'Since when did Ash have a Natu?' Turtwig asked.
"Natu." 'Since Arceus spat out your ancestor.' she said, unblinkingly. "Natu-Natu." 'But you have problems moving when fully evolved. I resolve those problems.'
"Tur-." 'You have no idea-'
"Natu." 'You're from the future. We know. I asked Ash about it and I skimmed his mind to understand. Good thing it was on the surface, or I'd end up like that Hypno.' Natu interrupted, starting to make a nest on his back.
"Pika." 'He snapped his neck. Apparently, he saw something no one should see.' Pikachu deadpanned.
"Gible!" 'Hi!' CHOMP!
Natu was suddenly engulfed by the maw of the land shark, who warbled happily.
"Natu." 'Let. Go. Of. Me.' she said, her eye twitching.
"Gib!" 'Friend!' said Gible as he fell off Turtwig, Natu's twitching reaching crisis point.
"Pika?"So… energy ball and the like?' the starter suggested.
"Turt…" 'Sure… anything to avoid-'
"NATU!" cried Natu as she used Psychic in an explosive way.
Needless to say, the psychic explosion did not kill Gible, but it left him dazed and confused for a while.