“Clefairy!” Ivy's new Pokemon chanted as Chansey looked her over.

“Huh. Clefairy can be pretty hard to catch, good job Ivy.”

“I didn’t do anything. I just got lucky. We fell into a pitfall that those Team Rocket people had dug and Clefairy was in there. We helped each other so…”

“Luck is a skill too.” I tease with a grin. “Still cool. Cleafairy are neat, they have a lot of really useful moves.

“Anyway that’s how I met Cleafairy, and then I traveled with Brock, Misty, and Ash.”

“I’m glad you found a good adventure.” I told her with a thumbs up that had her blushing. “Have you seen Kenta?”

“No… I called him though, he is still in Pewter. Apparently he has been training hard with Squirtle, and he caught a Pidgey that he wants to train.”

“Awesome. I’ll have to give him a call.”

“Well?” She asked me, earning a confused look.

“Well what?”

“Ugh. Vicky! How about your adventure! You went off on your own to capture a Pokemon right? What happened?”

“Oh! Right. Well… I traveled to Vermillion, bought some ocean gear and traveled on Milotic for a long time. In the end Milotic got some interest from my newest Pokemon, and they battled it out in a courtship ritual. Then we had a whole thing because she wanted Milotic to stay with her, but I was like no way! And so we had a battle with Arcanine. Arcanine won, and then after we had a talk I told her she could come with us instead! Eventually she agreed so I captured her, and we started her training. She seems happy.”

“Ugh, you're the worst. What Pokemon did you capture!” Ivy called out as she reached over to start poking me earning some giggles as I was ticklish.

“Okay! Okay, I surrender. I was just teasing!” I quickly grab Dragonairs Pokeball. We were in the Pokemon centers rec room, along with Ash and his group, but thankfully it was quiet otherwise. As I swiftly released Dragonair.

“Preee!” She cried out looking around for a moment before her wing ears lowered. Ah right. She was probably thinking Milotic would be out.

“Hey Dragonair. This is my friend Ivy. She will likely be traveling with us a lot. I just wanted to introduce you. Let me go ahead and release Milotic as well, you can spend some time together.” I tell her earning a perked up ear wings as I release my boy, and the two swiftly began swirling around each other.

“Oh!” The loud shout from the other side of the room caught my attention as Misty stood up and rushed over.

“Oh oh oh!” The red head repeated watching as my two Pokemon cuddled. “You have a Dragonair as well!?”

“Yeah we just caught her. She basically fell for my Milotics manly charms. He totally flirted with her and then well. He proved he was strong enough to be her partner.”

“Oh my gosh! They are such a cute couple!” Misty nearly squealed as she looked them over. The Redhead joining Ivy and I on the couch.

“Wow Vicky. You found a Dragonair! That’s… Well actually. That is about normal for the Legendary Trainer I guess.” Ivy said after a bit.

“Buh! Don’t call me that embarrassing name!”

“Legendary Trainer?” Misty asked, although barely tore her eyes away from the cuddling eels.

“Yeah Vicky had Milotic for years now, but she also has an Arcanine. She was the strongest battler in school, AND she had legendary Pokemon, so kids from other classes started calling her the Legendary Trainer.”

“Aww that’s cute.”

“It’s embarrassing!” I hissed but Ivy and Misty both just giggled at me.

“Anyway! I still need to challenge the Cerulean Gym. Have you battled it yet Ivy?”

“Ah.. Um no. The gym is.”

“My sisters are having some trouble handling the influx of trainers.” Misty offered and I nodded.

“Gotcha. So I guess they are pretty backed up then.”

“What nothing? I’m one of the Cerulean sisters, and you say nothing?” Misty asks, and I blink.

“Is it that big a deal? I mean Brock is literally the Pewter Gym leader.”

“Huh. Most people react a lot more strongly once they learn that.”

“Fame is kinda rough huh? Yeah not really my thing. Although I will admit the Mermaid outfits you use in your sets are pretty cool. Are those a custom job or do you buy them somewhere?” Swimming through the ocean as a Mermaid… I mean that just sounds awesome.

“Custom jobs. Sorry.” Misty offered. Ivy laughed at my pout. “Although if you wanted to trade your Milotic…”

“Not a chance.” I cut that off instantly with a Glare. “None of my Milotic are for sale.”

Misty nodded for a moment before blinking and looking shocked. “Wait! You have more than one!?”

“Oh yeah Vickys’ family has a Flock of them at Viridian city. Although all of them are Vickys.”

“You!” Misty looked like she wanted to say something but her voice was gone. I threw up a hand. “You are the Milotic farmer! I’ve been trying to reach out for years! Every call, every letter nothing! My Sisters and I have been going crazy!”

“Sorry. Family secret. And they are under the protection of the Pokemon Association. So we aren’t really looking or willing to trade.”

Misty let out a plaintive groan before seeming to come back to herself. “Fine. I’ll just have to find one myself!”

“I hope you do.” I offer and she grins.

“Alright I’m going to go to Cerulean Gym to try and get a battle date. Come on lovebirds. Time to go.” I call out to Dragonair and Milotic earning Pokemon pouts from both. “Sorry.” but I swiftly returned them and headed out.

“I’ll come with! I want to check my match schedule as well!” Ivy chirped as she jumped to her feet.

“Ah we are going to be heading out towards Vermillion. Ivy, it was nice traveling with you.” Brock called out and Ivy did a little bow towards him in thanks. Ash was still quiet as we left.

Oh well.

We headed over to the Gym and the receptionist outside took my information. Unfortunately they weren’t kidding. Due to the injuries of their Pokemon ready for battle. The Cerulean Gym had a wait list almost a week long.

“Ugh.”

“Yeah.” Ivy muttered her match was scheduled for five days from now.

“This is crazy. The journey period just started! How can they already have a week-long wait?”

“Unfortunately we had a trainer come through that was overly aggressive.” A voice spoke up behind us. “Daisy Cerulean Gym Leader. Nice to meet you.”

“Victoria Ferrous of Viridian city. Nice to meet you. Your pokemon are injured? Can the Pokemon Center not help?”

“Of course. But the Cerulean Center is already understaffed. An unfortunate coincidence. There was a Pokemon Center… Oh it was in Viridian city actually that got blown up. Most of the extra Chanseys in Kanto were transferred to help.”

“That makes sense.” I muttered realizing that Ash had probably blown up the Pokemon center… Nurse Joy had better be okay! I would be super pissed if she was injured…

“I have an idea then.” I offer with a smirk. “I have a Chansey on my team. If we heal your Pokemon, have a battle with me and Ivy, and afterwards Chansey will do her best to heal your team so you won’t have to wait a full week for gym challenges.”

The blonde Gym leader seemed to consider it, Humming to herself as she poked her lips with a finger. “I think that's fair!”

“Good. In that case. Let’s have Ivy go first.”

“Wha? Vicky?”

“It’s okay. She has one badge, so let's heal the Pokemon you would use against that first.”

“Alright! Let me get my sisters!”

—--

“That was… Anticlimactic.” I muttered. I now had a Cascade badge in my badge case. I had battled a Gyarados that the Sisters had with Milotic, but it hadn’t really been a fight.

Gyarados was powerful, angry. But Daisy could barely control him. In the end, it hadn’t taken me long to ice him into a loss, and the Gym leader had surrendered then, Gyarados was their strongest Pokemon.

“Well at least we aren’t stuck here for an entire week.” Ivy offers and I laugh at that. Fair enough!

“Yeah. C’mon I want to get out of here before the sisters try to drag me back in to steal Milotic again.”

“They weren’t trying to steal him… They just wanted you to work at their Gym. And by you. I mean Milotic.” Ivy offers straight faced, before both of us broke into giggles again.

The sisters at the Gym were a little much for me. I was glad it was all over. Badge secured, and Milotic unstolen.

“C’mon Vicky! Maybe if we hurry we can catch up with Misty Brock and Ash!”

“Oh? You want to travel with them?” I asked as I hurried after Ivy.

“They were nice!” Ivy offered with a shrug and I couldn’t help but nod. If she wanted to travel with them that was fine with me… Although Team Rocket… Ugh.

We raced back to the Pokemon center to heal up a bit more, and to confirm that the group had left. Nurse Joy confirming they had left hours ago.

“Vicky! Can we ride Arcanine to catch up?” Ivy asked, turning to me, and well… I couldn’t say no.

“Sure. C’mon help me get her saddle on.”

“Oh you got a Saddle?”

“Yeah I knew I would ride Arcanine enough that I needed one.” I reply as I summon my dog that was already tail wagging at the idea of getting to run some more.

Once the saddle was on, I jumped on and held out my hand. “C’mon Ivy sit in front of me. I don’t want you to slip off.”

“Right! Thank you Arcanine.” Ivy whispered as I pulled her in front of me. By this point we had gotten the beginnings of a crowd. People looking in shock at an Arcanine. But I ignored them, instead once Ivy was on. We were good to go.

“Arcanine! Let’s go!”

“Bark!”

Then we were gone. A blurr that left a few startled screams behind us as Arcanine tore down the road. Passing cars as if they were standing still as we blazed south out of the city.

Ivy squeaked, eyes closed and I grinned from behind my new goggles letting me see where we were going.

Honestly it didn’t take long before we caught up with Ash and the group.

Arcanine came to a stop in front of the three earning startled shocked looks from Ash and Misty, although Brock had of course already seen Arcanine.

“Look!” Ivy called out, pulling out her cascade badge to the group. “I won!”

“O-Oh! Ivy, great job!” Ash offered although he seemed to be fascinated by Arcanine I helped Ivy settle off Arcanine as she ran up and showed her badge.

“You got a battle with my sisters? I thought they were out of action for at least another week?” Misty asked, and Ivy pointed towards me.

“Vicky has a Chansey! It helped recover all of the Cerulean Gym Pokemon and we both had a battle.”

“Your Gyms Gyarados needs more training.” I tell her, earning a startled look from the red head.

“You fought Papas Gyarados!?”

“Yeah?” I offer a shrug. “It didn’t really listen to Daisy. Maybe next time I come through they will have it a bit better trained.”

“Wait, your sisters have a Gyarados? Wow, they must be amazing.” Ash said, causing Misty to glare at him.

“It was my fathers! My sisters don’t even know how to control it! Why they would even use it I don’t know!”

“I asked for their strongest personal team. Like I did with Brock.” I shrug, “I beat it, and Daisy surrendered after.”

“Ugh Daisy!” Misty whined, putting her head in her hands for a moment.

“Anyway, Ivy wanted to travel with you guys. So I helped her catch up.” I say patting Arcanine on her head in thanks for the trip.

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“Of course! Ivy, you can join us!” Ash offered with a thumbs up and Ivy smiled in return. “Your help with training Bulbasaur was so useful!”

“Thanks Ash.” She said flushing a little.

I could practically smell the crush Ivy was currently suffering from, but despite my face curling into a smirk I let it go. Best to not tease her.

“Anyway. I’m going to train for a while. So I’ll probably meet you in Vermillion.” I tell the group, Ivy looking towards me suddenly in surprise.

“W-what? Vicky, you don’t want to travel with us?”

I shake my head and my hands. “Not that! It’s just that Dragonair needs lots of attention right now. I can’t really train her around people. Family secrets.”

“Oh right! I guess that makes sense.” Ivy says weakly, and I smile softly.

“Sor-”

“That’s dumb! How can training be a family secret? It’s training! You must be cheating somehow.” Ash called out interrupting. Earning some irritated looks from his group.

“Ash you idiot, family training techniques are super common! I have some too! Tricks that I wouldn’t train a pokemon with in front of anyone but family. I bet Brock does as well! Stop being stupid!”

“It’s stupid to hide how to train Pokemon!”

“You! How can you be-”

“I actually agree!” I offer with a thumbs up to Ash. “Family Secrets are kinda dumb. Knowledge about Pokemon should be shared. But it is how it is right now.” I tell him with a shrug. “Hey if you don’t like it. Become powerful enough that you can change it.”

“Maybe I will!”

“Hehe!” I laugh at his words. He had no idea what it even meant, but it was funny.

“You’re really going to leave right now? We just met back up.” Ivy asked and I nodded, turning to focus on her.

“Sorry Ivy. I promised Dragonair training that would make her as strong as Milotic. I really do need to work with her. So until next time. Or Vermillion Pokemon Center. I’ll definitely meet you there.”

“R-right! Vicky! Good luck!”

“You too! Bye-bye!” I call out as Arcanine wheels around, and disappears down the road in a blurr.

Time to get some training done!

—-

We ran until we were deep in the mountains. Arcanine ended up finding a good clearing with a river flowing through it and then ran around for a while just to make sure there wasn’t a single human anywhere near.

Once we were sure it was clear, I started training.

Gravity training focused on Dragonair getting her physical ability up. Milotic once again trained his water pressure. Arcanine of course doing a bit of it both. She still loved the physical training, but I needed to get her Counter Shield to the point where it would do something to help her in case she gets pinned or caught.

Although once again Dragonair got my full attention, and once again I was struck at how different training a Dragon was.

Dragonair was proud. She had the will of Arcanine to just keep going, even when I needed her to stop and get some rest to keep her from hurting herself. She compared herself to Milotic, and even Arcanine seeing them walking in the Gravity without issue and grew desperate to catch up.

“Hey! Dragonair it's time to stop… Dragonair!” I grunted, she was ignoring me again which I needed to nip in the bud.

I was once again thankful this was an anime world where ten year olds could lift boulders and trees and throw them around without anyone batting an eye because I once again walked into the Gravity field.

I tried to avoid doing this a lot, although it was inevitable I had stepped into it plenty of times. Needing to walk around inside the gravity field to keep my Pokemon training. *cough* Milotic *cough* it had meant I had grown a lot stronger than a normal ten year old, and that was saying something in this world.

I don’t know if it was an Aura thing. Or just different realities following different rules, but I was thankful for it as I walked up to Dragonair as she was glaring into the air and constantly practicing Dragon tail.

I stopped directly in front of her. Forcing her to stop by literally pushing her head back .

“Dragonair look at me!” I say and she growled at me, her normal harmonic sound obviously angry.

“No! You need to stop. Look at Milotic. Look at Arcanine! They are both taking a break right now. Do you know why?” I demand and point forcing her to notice the other two Pokemon already eating their lunch as Chansey heals them.

“Pree.”

“It's because your body breaks down when you exercise, when you train. That pain in your muscles right now? That is your body saying you need time to recover so that it can grow. Right now you are just breaking breaking breaking! If you break something too much, it can’t be fixed!”

I point her towards the camp outside the Gravity field. “Come with us. Eat, rest, let Chansey look you over and make sure your body can heal the damage you did to it. Cuddle Milotic. When you have had some time to rest you will feel better, be ready for more training and it will do you better than this. Please… Dragonair. Trust me.” I hold out my hand.

She hesitates. Our relationship was different from the rest of my team. Sure Growlithe was a little monster at first. But once she had lost, and I had started training her, she was fully on board. Milotic had loved me from day one. And Chansey was just a sweetheart.

But Dragonair didn’t trust me yet. Didn’t have that faith in me yet.

Slowly she lowered her head until it was close enough for our skin to touch. Her slippery scales were cool against my palm as I bent in letting my forehead touch her own just underneath her horn.

“I know you want to grow strong. But no one gets strong alone. Look at Chansey. None of my team would be as amazing as they are without her. She helps us grow stronger. Milotic is there for you. A partner that he adores, and you love in turn. Arcanine is a Rival someone to battle against to test yourself. And I am here to help. Make sure you grow strong. To make sure you don’t hurt yourself doing it. I’ve seen Pokemon that were trained too hard. Or weren’t given proper rest. They stop being able to battle. Please trust me. I don’t want that for you.”

“Pree.” She trilled slightly as she leaned away but there was something in her eyes… She gently nudged me with her tail as she headed towards the camp.

I smiled widely as we both settled down to eat, Dragonair curled up in Milotics coils, both of them being sweet with each other, as Chansey looked her over.

The fact that after about thirty minutes of rest healing and food she looked and must have felt so much better definitely helped because not long after when I called out for another round of training she trilled in agreement instead of being grumpy or simply doing as I said without acknowledgement.

It was a start.

—--

Two weeks. I spent two weeks so far up in the mountains. Only taking small trips into Vermillion to gather food and call my parents to let them know I was still alive. Papa had been super surprised to hear about Dragonair but had agreed that any story needed to be told in person, and definitely not over a public vidphone.

I honestly hadn’t seen Ivy and the gang again, but I had been checking in and leaving messages. But when I woke up a nice hazy morning curled up with Arcanine while Milotic and Dragonair were a snake pile with Chansey joining me curled next to Arcanine, the fact that Dragonair refused to start training had startled me out of my routine.

“What’s going on Dragonair?” I asked, Milotic was also hovering, acting weird as he refused to move away from her.

“Preee!” She called out seemingly quite pleased, but it wasn’t until she guided me towards a spot on her belly that I noticed it.

“You got a big bulge here. I know you didn’t eat anything big. You aren’t a snake like that so whaaaaaaaa!” I started screaming when I realized what it was. “P-Preggers!” I felt my hand rub along the bulge, along the very obvious egg shaped bulge.

“Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god!” I muttered. Totally forgetting to say Arceus I was so in shock.

“Pree!”

“Yeah no kidding you can’t go into a gravity zone! I don’t know what that would do to an egg… Oh how long until you lay?” The way she shifted and I could feel the egg shift a little reminded me that Pokemon lay eggs pretty much like Chickens. They form and pop out preeeetty quick.

“Right. Okay this isn’t a good place. I want to have an incubator ready. I’m gonna run to a Pokemon center! Dragonair return. Milotic Chansey you too!” I call out putting all my Pokemon in their balls but Arcanine who was looking at me eagerly her tail already bouncing.

“Let’s go!” I call out, barely taking the time to put all my stuff away. I needed to get to Vermillion city Pokemon center. They should have a shop I could buy an incubator there!

—--

As I raced I was pretty sure one of the groups I blurred past was actually Ivy and Ashs gang. Luckily I passed them right outside the city limits so they should be able to catch up soon.

But I didn’t have time for that!

I raced into the Pokemon center gasping for breath despite not having run myself.

“Oh, Vicky? Is everything okay?”

“Nurse Joy! I need help. B-Bbbbbbb Baby emergency!” I cried out in a stuttered gasp.

Poor Nurse Joy looked like she had aged a century in half a second. “D-did, w-was it consensual?” She asked, suddenly moving out from behind her desk as she kneeled next to me. “Are you hurting anywhere?”

“What?” I blinked a few times before my face must have went post nuclear. “NOT ME!” I shouted horrified. It took a second for Nurse Joy to hear that and let out the loudest gasp of relief I had ever heard.

“Thank Arceus.” She muttered and I had to question just how many ten year olds on their journey came into a Pokemon center with such worries… I would maybe ask another time… Or not.

“My pokemon! She has an egg!”

“Oh! How wonderful.” Nurse Joy sounded utterly thankful it wasn’t a child pregnancy as she rose back up and patted my head. “Don’t you worry about a thing come along. Let’s give her a checkup and make sure she is comfortable.”

“Thank you!” I followed after I was led into an interesting room that was a bit warmer and humid than normal. I realized it was probably a pretty common thing… I mean Pokemon centers were there to heal and help Pokemon, and Dragonair wouldn’t be the first Pokemon to end up with a paramour on a journey.

So of course it would need an egg laying room. For concerned trainers with their beloved partners.

“Go ahead and release the mother here.”

“Come on out Dragonair! … And Chansey.” I called out a moment later. Remembering I already had a pokemon that would have known what to do with an egg laying mother… Fuck I totally panicked.

“Oh that’s right you do have a Dragonair… Oh my.. Vicky. Is it alright if I record this and make some notes? I don’t believe many of my sisters had ever had a chance to help a Dragonite line egg laying before.”

“Oh… Umm. Okay? I don’t think that would be a problem. It shouldn’t hit any family secret stuff right?”

“No, not at all. Joy Clan are allowed to bypass most of that in order to better assist Pokemon. This will be a rare treat. I think the last time one of our clan helped with a Dragonite birth was… Oh my it would have been half a century ago! I believe a family in Pallet town perhaps?” She shook her head as her own Chansey entered the room, and I sat back letting the three nurses all go to work. Dragonair settled into a comfortable dip in the floor that was even filled with warm water which she seemed to appreciate.

It was easy enough, certainly not something that required me to freak out. Two Chansey and a Nurse joy was overkill since Dragonair passed the egg in less than an hour of easy motions. It honestly didn’t even sound like it hurt her as she finally laid the egg in the shallow water. A Chansey quickly scooped it up and cleaned it as if it was an everyday thing…

For a Chansey it actually was.

Then the egg was placed in my lap. And Dragonair was cooing over it as I sat beside her on the edge of the dip.

“It’s amazing Dragonair.” I coo to her as I stroked the egg holding it close to keep it warm.

“Pree!”

“Oh let me summon Milotic.”

The release of Milotic was a bit frantic as the expecting father immediately rushed his paramour and checked her over before realizing the egg was already out of her.

I laughed aloud when he literally fainted at the sight of it.

I guess it was just too much for the first time father.

—---

An hour later, and I was in the rec room of the Pokemon center. Chansey had just returned from a store in town to purchase an egg carrier. Unfortunately Nurse Joy had informed me that an actual Poke egg incubator was an expensive piece of equipment, and no one sold them here in Vermillion instead I had been told about egg carriers.

It was basically the top half of a set of overalls that had a pouch to hold the egg in while walking and moving. After being assured that Pokeeggs were incredibly tough. As long as I wasn’t purposefully trying to harm it, the baby would be fine.

So I now had a big old egg resting against my chest as I took a break from earth shattering changes in my life. I was half napping on the couch when voices I recognized came into the Pokemon center.

It wasn’t more than a minute before Ivy came hurrying into the rec room looking for me.

“Vicky!?”

“Here.” I call out tiredly hand waving over the backrest of the couch.

“Vicky! We saw you run past us and you didnnn, OH!” She cried out as she took in the egg settled against my chest. “Oh my gosh! A Pokemon egg!”

“Yep.” I answer. As Ivy settles in next to me, but her cry had been heard .

“A pokemon egg?” Misty asks, coming around the couch looking interested but it was Brock who seemed to rush over.

“Oh! It is. Look at that Luster. It’s recently laid. Looks warm enough.” He says hunkering down and seemingly doing a check on it.

“Yeah. I woke up this morning with Dragonair ready to lay.” I answered the unspoken question. Ivy’s eyes going super wide at the reveal as she looks at the egg.

“That’s a Dratini egg!?”

“Yeah. Milotic is the father.”

“Waaaa!” Ivy gasps at the reveal.

“Wait. Milotic and Dragonair!? They can produce an egg? Are you sure?” Misty asks, but it was Brock who interrupted.

“Of course. Many Pokemon of different species can be bred together. It can often leave the children with the ability to learn some moves they usually don’t learn.”

“Yeah. Milotic and Dragonite are compatible. Really compatible it turns out.” I mutter with a laugh. It hadn’t been long at all since their union to already have an egg. Well I guess it was fast in the games as well.

“Amazing. An incubator would probably be a good idea.” Brock offered and I nodded.

“Yeah I wanted to get one, but no one in Vermillion sells them. I probably need to go to Celadon.”

“Vicky! What are you going to do with Dratini when it hatches? Is it going to join your team?” Ivy interrupts more focused on the Pokemon than the details of its care.

“Probably not. I might end up letting it grow up at home. I guess it depends on Dragonair and Milotic as well.”

“Ooh but it's gonna be so cute! I mean, a real Dratini! Other than the Blackthorne family, I don’t know of anyone that actually has a Dragonite line, and you have two!”

“Yeah. I have to be careful though. Can you imagine how many people will want to try and kidnap Dratini? It's dangerous.” I say with honest fear.

Especially with Team Rocket following this group around.

“Oh no! Who would do such a thing!”

“Team Rocket.” All three of Ashs group answered Ivy instantly, which then she had to nod at, must have had some run-ins with them too.

“Yeah, So I think I’ll probably head out and disappear for a while until they Hatch. Once they are hatched and ready, I can capture them and they will be a lot safer.”

“Good idea.” A new voice suddenly called out and I startled as I sat up to see who now knew about my baby, but to my surprise it was someone I knew.

“Ms. Agatha!”

“Victoria. I see you continue to blow your previous nonsense out of the water every time we meet. Your Grandmother called me about your newest Pokemon… I didn’t expect this.” She pointed towards the egg, and I had to chuckle a little in embarrassment.

“Yeah it was a bit of a surprise to me too.”

“No doubt. I find children rarely think about the outcomes of such couplings.” The old woman laughed then at her own joke earning a nervous look from everyone.

“Right. What are you doing here Ms. Agatha?”

“You have a Dragonair child. Of course the Pokemon Association became very very interested. Worse. Of course now you also have an egg. You have no issues stepping on toes girl. I’ll give you that.”

“Err, am I? I’m just capturing interesting Pokemon.”

“Hah! Capturing interesting Pokemon she says. Girl Johto delegation of the association are already throwing a fit about one of ‘their’ dragons that have been caught by a Kanto trainer.”

“What!? Dragonair isn’t one of their dragons! She was wild!”

“Oh believe me, I know. Everyone in the Association knows. Even the Blackthorne know. But they are causing a ruckus anyways. Budge up girl, I’m not standing any longer than I have to.” She orders suddenly and I jerk aside, letting her join me on the couch. “The rest of you, go on, I’m sure you have your own things to do. Victoria and I need to talk.”

Ivy seemed to hesitate. Even as Ash said he wanted to go fight the Gym. But I shooed them off. “Remember we will keep meeting up and having fun together Ivy, but it's still a separate journey for each of us.”

“R-right. Good luck Vicky.”

I waved at her as she left looking back over and over before she was out of sight.

“So Blackthorne. Do I need to worry about the Champion coming down to try and take my Pokemon?”

“Hah! That brat? Goodness no. It’s politics girl. Politics between Kanto and Johto. The Johtans are clamoring for some additional benefits in our alliance as a Kanto trainer ‘stole’ one of their family Pokemon. The Kanto side is arguing it wasn’t a theft, that no Pokemon breed belongs only to one family. Basically if they lose it, it's on them. All the while the Blackthornes are staying out of it. You aren’t the first trainer to have a member of the Dragonite line.”

“Yeah Nurse Joy said about half a century ago they had a Dratini egg born in Pallet town.” I added and suddenly something that had been niggling at me for a long time started to make sense.

“Oh yes… Sam. He had a Dragonite for a time, when he was on the League circuit…”

“I get the feeling that something happened?” I asked casually. I hadn’t heard anything about Professor Oak since coming to this world. This was the first time I might get an answer!

“He died.” Agatha offered simply but I could tell the depth of her emotion and everything became clear.

Sam. Samuel Oak. Professor Oak. The reason there wasn’t an electronic Pokedex. The reason that Pokemon knowledge was so insular and hidden away still. Why everything about this world was so similar but different.

Professor Oak didn’t exist! He had an Arcanine! He had a Dragonite! That was why no one knew about the Arcanine evolution! He was probably the one who shared it with everyone! Dragonite too! They were nearly myth if not for Blackthorne but Professor Oak had a Dragonite! It was on his League team! So he must have shared a ton of information on them.

He had been a super strong battler too, so his reputation along with the discoveries probably laid the groundwork for people to start sharing more Pokemon information!

My utter mind fuck went unnoticed as Agatha sighed. “Which is why I am here. I don’t believe it was Blackthorne that caused his death. But it certainly could have been. You and I are going on a little trip.”

“Where?” I asked, finally shaking my head clear of all the little hints and things I had noticed. I really wanted to ask Ash about who had given him Pikachu now.

“The Pokemon Association headquarters. They want to confirm that Dragonair was wild caught to shut down the Johto argument immediately. You unfortunately are caught in the middle of this mess… Again.”

“And I suppose I shouldn’t mention the Dratini egg.”

“Definitely not. In fact, don't say anything. I’ll be speaking for you. The scum at the Association will undoubtedly try and get you to talk and spill secrets. Just remember to say nothing, no matter what they try.”

“Okay.” There wasn’t much else I could say about that. Geeze. This world just got complicated.