Cerulean Gym

"Cloyster, let's go!"

The massive shellfish Pokémon, a large armored creature colored blue-gray with multiple spikes, crashed onto Daisy's side of the field as the Pokédex went to work.

"Cloyster, the Bivalve Pokémon. Cloyster's armor, when in good condition, can withstand most modern armed explosives. When poorly kept, say by a certain trio of former Toddlers with Tiara stars, a simple Focus Punch is enough to shatter it."

"Hey!" Daisy yelled at Ash's pocket where the Pokédex was still making its snide commentary. "No giving him hints, that's cheating"

"Pot, meet kettle. Plus, it is within my job subscription to help my motivated yet somewhat odd trainer with battle advice and witty commentary," the Pokédex continued as Ash shook his head.

Honestly, even when the Pokédex was on his side, it still had to have the last word.

Cloyster though...as best as Ash could recall he had battled only battled this species of Pokémon twice. The first was Pete Pebbleman's during the Indigo League: he had defeated that Cloyster with Kingler's Crab Hammer attack.

The second was Lorelei's Cloyster...which beat Pikachu rather easily.

However, he could probably assume this Cloyster was weaker than either of the ones he'd battled before.

A Water/Ice-type left him with a few options, but the part about Focus Punching it gave Ash an idea.

"Aipom, you're up!"

In a burst of light, his purple monkey Pokémon appeared mid-air, before doing a series of flips finishing by landing dead center of a floating platform on her large gloved tail and posing, displaying her signature toothy grin.

"Ai!" 'Still got it!' She grinned at her contest style entrance as the battle began.

"Alright Cloyster, time for Spike Cannon!" The various protruding spikes on Cloyster began to glow white as Ash made his own call.

"Aipom, counter it with Swift!"

"AI-POM!" The cry didn't need a translation to really articulate any sort of meaning from (it was simply a 'yahh, ragh, ya' sort of sound) as Aipom swung its glowing tail, releasing a mass of glowing golden stars that collided with the dozens of glowing spikes from Cloyster.

Despite starting last, Aipom's attack was faster, and the attacks collided roughly two thirds of the distance from Aipom to Cloyster, creating an explosion that was followed by several swift stars impacting themselves into Cloyster's shell and a couple of the discarded spikes clattering all over the place, either onto platforms or into the water.

"Alright!/Huh!?" Ash cheered and Daisy gasped in shock.

"Pokémon are living, breathing creatures. It's not like you can simply turn them into computer data and store them for ages and not expect any sort of atrophy in their abilities," Dexter summed it up best. "Even a few days-time traveling between Pokémon regions, perhaps by a method such as a boat, can be enough to atrophy a Pokémon's skill level to some extent if they cannot practice. Why do you think most trainer either do not catch more than six Pokémon, have a dedicated rotation system or have something set up so their Pokémon can keep in shape on their own initiative, such as my creator's expansive estate. How often do you even let that Cloyster out to practice?"

Daisy seethed in anger at the fact she was being called out as a poor trainer by an electronic device resulted in her pointing at the still upright Aipom "Take that monkey down with Water Gun!"

Cloyster let loose the water blast attack from its central dark core, though one that lacked a certain amount of luster and speed.

"Aipom, dodge and use Swift!" Ash called out reflexively

Aipom easily outpaced the attack, launching her star barrage right at Cloyster.

"Use Withdraw to hold out!" Daisy commanded as Cloyster closed itself, as a sheen formed across the shell, raising defensive power.

Ash was going to point out that Withdraw boosted defense instead of special defense (as Swift inflicted damage against that), but he distinctively remembered using similar tactics with Corphish and Torkoal in the same type of situations.

However the effect of Swift impacting into Cloyster was the same as if he had done such a technique with his own Pokémon, surprising Ash.

He thought that trick would be something that had changed in this new timeline?

"The use of Harden and moves similar to it are known for their permanent increase of the defensive power of the Pokémon using it," the Pokédex chimed in on Ash's unspoken question "However, it is able to provide increased defense temporary for any attack hitting it at the time of use".

Ash absently stored that bit of information away for later use, before pointing right at Cloyster "If ranged attacks aren't going to do it, let's get up close. Aipom, get in close and use Power-Up Punch!"

Aipom's tail glowed orange as it charged forward, Ash saw Daisy smirk.

"A physical attack can't harm Cloyster you little rookie! Withdraw even more!"

A second sheen formed across Cloyster as Aipom's attack struck, to no visible effect.

As Daisy grinned, two concurrent memories went through Ash's mind.

The first was his understanding of how Power-Up Punch worked during his training with Aipom.

The second, was his battle with Pete Pebbleman's Cloyster, and how Kingler had taken it down.

"Aipom, keep it up! Use Power-Up Punch, again and again!" Ash shouted as Aipom frowned, but still complied with his command.

"Pom!" 'How repetitive. This would lose me a battle in a contest, but I see what you're aiming for!'

With a furious storm of glowing fists, Aipom struck Cloyster again and again as Lily and Violet both laughed from the sidelines.

"Well, that Charmander was certainly a fluke on your part!" Violet laughed "I don't know if you understand this little boy, but you can't simply win by attacking again and again with the same attack. That's like, the first rule of battling."

"No, the first rule of battle is that each trainer fights the other fairly." Ash recalled that question from a test at Professor Oak's camp "You might want to also check about that 'same attack' thing too."

"What!? But you're just using the same move again and again!? It's the same attack!" Lily attempted to sound smart as Ash and Pikachu just grinned.

"Yeah, but it's an attack called 'Power-Up Punch'," Ash emphasized. "Each punch hits harder than the last..."

And with that point, Cloyster's shell cracked.

"Impossible!" Daisy shouted in horror as Ash smirked.

"That's my middle name!"

"...You have no middle name," the Pokédex deadpanned.

"Pikapi..." '.....And what mother would name their kid that?'

Ash's mother didn't have the naming skill of N's family, after all.

Cloyster, not even paying attention to what was said, just fell over in defeat as Aipom hopped back, now panting in exhausting.

"Aipom/Cloyster return!" both Pokémon were returned: one to be used later, the other out of the match as Daisy clutched the second Pokéball in fury.

Why couldn't the boy just be defeated already!?

"Poliwrath, turn this around for me!"

With a crash the large blue frog warrior stood before Ash on one of the wrecked platforms, though the mighty warrior didn't seem to have the same level of...mass as the Poliwrath Tad and Chuck had used against him in the past.

If anything, this battle was making Ash feel better about not always calling on his old Pokémon. Even after not being called on for active duty for a few...er, adventures (Ash still wasn't sure the exact amount of time he had traveled the world), Pokémon like Noctowl and Cyndaquil hadn't looked this bad at all.

If anything, they looked even healthier.

But, self-reassurance aside, he had a battle to win.

"Poliwrath, the Tadpole Pokémon. One of two evolutions for Poliwhirl..."

“It is?” Daisy sounded surprised at hearing that.

"A fit Poliwrath is said to be able to swim across entire oceans. Yours...really shouldn't attempt that."

As Daisy again looked ready to throttle his snarky machine, Ash knew just who he was going to use.

He did owe her a gym battle, after all.

"Pidgeotto, it's your turn!"

Daisy grimaced as an actually evolved Pokémon appeared on Ash's side of the field. It was bad enough he was using unevolved ones before...

"Let's win this quickly Poliwrath, use Water Gun!" flexing its muscles, a burst of water flew out of the center of the swirl on its stomach right at Pidgeotto.

"Block it with Gust!" Ash didn't miss a beat as his first flying type easily deflected the water attack with a powerful burst of wind, leaving the two foes staring each other down.

"Alright, try and block this! Poliwrath, use Rock Smash!" with a glowing orange first Poliwrath leapt into the air right at Pidgeotto.

"Let's try that move you were hoping to learn in a real battle, time for an Aerial Ace!"

Pidgeotto vanished just before Poliwrath reached her, she reappearing behind it and slamming right into the center of Poliwrath's spine.

"Poli!" the frog warrior called out as it crashed onto one of the floating platforms as Pidgeotto fluttered above.

"Caw!" 'Okay, new favorite move!' she decided.

Poliwrath managed to get back up as Ash decided to nip this one on the bud.

"Let's do it once more Pidgeotto, Aerial Ace!" Ash called as his fine feathered friend was more than happy to oblige, sweeping downwards and flying close to the water's surface towards Poliwrath.

"Don't think I'm going to let you do that again you little twerp!" Daisy shouted as a trio of thieves felt like someone had just stolen something from them. "Poliwrath, stop Pidgeotto in its tracks with your Bubble!"

Poliwrath breathed in deeply, before releasing a huge wall of bubbles from his chest that formed a foamy wall between it and the oncoming Pidgeotto.

Ash had to admit it was a decent plan. Trap Pidgeotto in bubbles to stop it from moving, then hammer it into the water with a Rock Smash. Once wet, Pidgeotto would be unable to fly and its options will be greatly limited.

Ash himself had used a similar strategy against Mandi's Seadra once upon a time.

However, Aerial Ace had a little trick behind it that a simple agility based charge did not.

Namely, as Daisy and Poliwrath both stared at in horror, the ability to move so fast the Pokémon vanished from view, before striking at Poliwrath from a completely different side than the bubble wall.

The blow from the left sent Poliwrath tumbling into the water, which caused Daisy to change her face from horror to a confident smirk.

"I can't believe I didn't think of that before! Poliwrath, go underwater and throw the platform at that damn bird!" Daisy commanded as Ash's side had various looks of horror on their faces.

"What!?" Ash called out in shock.

"...That Poliwrath can use Strength to move large boulders and similar sized things?" The Pokédex sounded surprised.

"Pi?" 'It took her this long to think about attacking from underwater with a Water-type Pokémon?'

As the platform below Pidgeotto was tossed right at her, Ash quickly formulated a simple counter tactic.

"Pidgeotto, blow it back!" Ash declared as his eyes once again flashed brownish-orange, as did Pidgeotto's.

"CAW!" A similar yowl for yowl's sake flew from Pidgeotto's beak as a massive gust was formed by the bird Pokémon, slamming right into the oncoming platform and stopping it right in its tracks, before causing it to crash back down into the water below.

The resulting wave managed to throw Poliwrath into the air as Pidgeotto and Ash's eyes returned to normal.

Pikachu frowned at seeing that eye thing again.

"Poliwrath!" Daisy shouted in concern as Ash made the final call.

"Now, end this with Aerial Ace!"

Pidgeotto flew at the flying frog, this time with white streaks surrounding her, before crashing right into its stomach.

A quite knocked out frog fell into the water after that as a comparatively un-winded Pidgeotto (at least compared to Charmander and Aipom, who had taken hits), fluttered back down.

"How...how the hell do you keep doing that!? You're a freakin' rookie!" Daisy demanded as she returned Poliwrath.

"I wouldn't call myself a complete rookie. I did go to a pre-trainer camp, so I assume that counts as some sort of experience," Ash pointed out, seeing as he couldn't say it was his second time doing this.

"No, no, no, no!" Daisy stomped her foot petulantly into the ground a couple of times like a whining brat "You can study all you want, but that doesn't make you a good trainer! You can read every damn book or article you want, that doesn't make you a good trainer!"

Meanwhile in Hoenn, the young son of Norman sneezed as he watched a rerun of Cynthia's last few official battles.

"I have also been traveling and getting practical experience," Ash offered as Daisy glared at him.

"You're doing something, aren't you?! You must have enhanced your Charmander and Pidgeotto before you came here!"

"Objection! This trainer may make idiotic calls, but even he isn't dumb enough to willingly use a Charmander in anything less than a full battle against a water gym!" the Pokédex blared as Ash, Pidgeotto and Pikachu looked absolutely offended at Daisy, and somewhat annoyed at the Pokédex.

"Hey, just because I'm winning after you three put me into a clearly illegal-“

“It's not illegal, merely morally questionable!”

“-match does not mean I'm cheating!" Ash protested, his temper raising at the accusation.

"Plus, Pokésteroids are fast acting and wear off quickly. If my trainer had dosed Pidgeotto, it would have had to occur during the battle between Charmander and Kingdra at the earliest to have any positive effect," The Pokédex chimed in. "He would have also had to dose Charmander the moment he entered the gym."

"Pi..." 'Why am I not surprised it knows the exact times' Pikachu shook his head at the Pokédex and its random assortment of facts.

"This'll prove you're up to no good, go Tentacruel!"

As Daisy reached for her next Pokéball, Ash returned Pidgeotto and once more set out a fresh battler that had some sort of upper hand here.

"You're up, Butterfree!"

And thus the fourth round began with the large blue form of Tentacruel, with two large, red crystalline like structures on its forehead, vs Butterfree.

"Tentacruel, the Jellyfish Pokémon. Tentacruel use poison to immobilize their prey. Tentacruel and its pre-evolved form Tentacool are incredibly common in the waters of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Kalos and are known to react violently to disruptions to their natural habitat. They are thus known as a pest species."

Recalling the first time he ran into them, Ash immediately decided to add that 'adventure' to his list of incidents he had no plan on repeating if possible, along with the St. Anne, Maiden's Peak, Pokémopolis, the king of Pokélantis, getting stuck in that cave during the blizzard, all incidents of cross dressing along with any and all incidents involving his temporary death (of which he had a few), considering he doubted they would be temporary this time.

He'd have Pikachu help him brainstorm an official list later.

"Let's win this quickly Tentacruel, use Poison Sting now!" Daisy interrupted his thoughts as the Tentacruel let loose a dozen purple barbs towards Butterfree.

"Block it with Gust!" Ash didn't miss a beat as Butterfree blew the attack away, causing the stingers to fall harmlessly into the water. "Now, use Confusion!"

Butterfree's eyes glowed, as the now perfected attack caused Tentacruel to glow blue and be pulled out of the water, even as it struggled.

And... it stayed that way.

"Confusion and Psychic work by immobilizing the foe and slowly incurring damage. While one could simply toss the foe to inflict more damage quickly, the watery environment and the nature of Tentacruel would make that a horribly idiotic move if you did not simply smash it against the wall, which goes against what I have observed of your nature," the Pokédex noted as Ash removed it and frowned.

"That hardly seems fair." It sounded like Confusion would be like a worse Fire Spin or Toxic if he didn't even let Tentacruel free (and allow it to counter attack), or acted against his morality.

"Why do you think Psychic-types were originally banned until people in Kanto discovered more Dark and Ghost-type moves to counter it? They were as broken as Wrap was, it just happens to have enough counters it has since been taken off Kanto's ban list, unlike Wrap. Even now, the Psychic-type is rather broken in its two standard moves. If you don't like restraining Psychic-type moves, I would suggest learning Psybeam in its place," the Pokédex snarked back as Ash thought about it a bit.

He did recall a few Butterfree being able to use the move, including Drew's. If Drew could teach a Butterfree such a move (assuming said Butterfree didn't have it when Drew caught it), Ash certainly could.

But, contestverse Gary aside, he had a Tentacruel to take down.

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Meanwhile in the city

"...I'm starting to remember how much this city sucks," Misty complained as the trio of herself, Don George and Inspector Joy found their path once again blocked by construction.

Misty absently recalled shortly before she left this damn city that an election for city mayor was ongoing, with the opponent of the incumbent claiming that the budget for road and sidewalk repair had been utterly plundered in order to balance the budgets. Perhaps he had a point.

Then again, what would Misty know? She never cared for politics.

"This is why I think our city needs a subway, or skytrain, or something. It's a nightmare to get around in!" Don complained as Misty frowned.

"Then how did Ash somehow manage to get to the gym without running into all this construction?" it was a legitimate question.

"Well, Ash always did have the most wondrous luck. If I time to gamble, and if his mother had allowed it, I probably would have made a killing over in Celadon by letting him tag along with me as a child."

The joking voice, one Misty had heard several times recently on video phones in Pokémon centers during Ash's calls back home and George and Joy on several education radio shows and televised news interviews, came from the man who had appeared behind them.

The man with a long box under one arm, the sort of thing one might carry a baseball bat in and a backpack swung over his shoulders.

"So, I'm taking you three are trying to get to the gym too? I'm taking that's where Ash is at the moment," Professor Oak inquired good-naturally as the group frowned.

"Well, yes..."

Professor Oak caught their unease and looked at them in confusion.

"Why the long faces? Ash is in his natural element when it comes to Pokémon battles. It's not like he's taking a written exam or something."

"Unfortunately, he is taking an exam of sorts," Inspector Joy noted. At the Professor's confused look, she held up her smart phone, which currently showed Ash having all six Pokémon left, and Butterfree currently active, vs the Tentacruel the sisters had sent out as their fourth Pokémon with the blaring title of Non-Traveling Trainer Protocols being active still on.

"Wha!” the professor exclaimed in shock. "Why would...Ash has no idea what that even is! The boy may be rash, but there is no way he'd be that crazy!"

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"It is possible he was tricked into it, the Cerulean Gym leaders are under a lot of pressure to get at least one win under their belt soon." Joy suggested "Though you have to see he is doing rather well. Even for how pathetic they are, you really would think an eighth badge level team, theoretically at least, would actually be able to defeat at least one Pokémon of a trainer challenging for his second badge."

"You know, what exactly is this Non-Traveling thing anyway?" Misty asked the big question as the Professor frowned, though they took to walking and talking as they continued their search for an unblocked route.

"It's a rule that allows for a trainer who cannot move around a lot to challenge a gym and gain a badge that would allow you to go straight to the Pokémon League if you can defeat the gym leader's best team. You essentially are able to skip the first seven badges and go directly to the qualifying battle, which is why you also see it used a bit by more experienced trainers: it allows them to go into a new league, defeat a gym leader and not have to go and re-escalate their challenge and spend the rest of their time training for the league. Many Kanto trainers who want a change of pace after several Indigo League competitions, for example, will go over to Johto, fight Falkner under this rule, and then focus all their efforts at preparing for a fresh start, sort of speak, at the Silver Conference. It allows for Falkner to test the trainer in question with his best: Pokémon like his Dodrio, Pidgeot and Honchkrow, as oppose to fighting off Kanto trainer's ace Pokémon with a Hoothoot, Pidgey or Pidgeotto like a common Johto rookie," Oak began to lecture as Misty felt a yawn coming along, despite the seriousness, and absently wondered how Ash managed to deal with this guy's lectures all the time.

"However, early on when the rule was set up, there were a lot of trainers who, overestimating their skills, attempted to abuse the rules, only to get constantly getting beaten. It was a near constant was a serious problem, and it really got on the gym leaders last nerves. The Cinnabar gym leader even briefly relocated to a cave to stop every idiot with a fishing rod harassing him. The gym leader union got involved soon after...and the gyms were closed down until a settlement was reached. The rule stayed, but a new condition was put into place to prevent the rules abuse by...I believe the term is noobs," Oak pronounced the last word awkwardly, "who think they can win the league with only a Rattata, top percentage or not".

"With the rules, trainers who challenge a gym with this rule, and lose, are banned from competing in any other gym challenges for an entire year."

It took a few minutes for that to sink in for Misty.

"Wait, what!?"

If Ash lost, he would have to wait an entire year to battle ANY gym leader again?!

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The gym battle Ash is unknowingly risking his dreams over.

Tentacruel floated belly up, defeated by a constant (and cheap in Ash's opinion) psychic onslaught as both Pokémon were returned with Ash 4-0 win wise.

"This is getting ridiculous, you should not be doing this well, but it's about time your lucky streak ends. Go, Seaking!"

The larger evolution of Goldeen, the red, white and black Seaking splashed into the water as the Pokédex did its work.

"Seaking, the Goldfish Pokémon and the evolved form of Goldeen. They spawn in rivers, forming nests with their horns. Seaking, despite their name, are not anadromous."

"Ana what?" Ash and the Sensational Sisters asked at the same time (Jinx, you have to give up!)

"That means they do not reproduce in fresh water, but generally live in the sea," the Pokédex replied tersely as Ash picked up his last unused ball.

He'd save Pikachu for last. In theory, that would be their strongest Pokémon after all.

"Bulbasaur, you're up buddy!"

"Bulba!" the grass starter yelled as it landed on a platform with a bump. 'Finally, I actually get used in a gym battle with type advantage'.

"Ha, we've got this, use Peck Seaking!" With a glowing horn, the mighty fish burst out of the water and down towards the quadruped Grass-type.

"Grab it with Vine Whip!" Ash was quick on the beat as vines emerged from Bulbasaur's bulb and wrapped around the horn, throwing the momentum off balance and causing Seaking to stop in its tracks.

"Gr..." Daisy snarled under her breath. "Alright, use Supersonic!"

"Throw it back!" Ash quickly responded as the sound waves began to flow out of Seaking's horn, though it was too late as the water type was sent flying and missed its target and failed to cause confusion in Bulbasaur's senses.

With a splash Seaking fell back into the water as Daisy came up with an idea.

"Alright, use Whirlpool!"

With a brief glow to its body, a spiral of water began to form over Seaking's horn, which quickly engulfed the entire field into a massive whirlpool that caused all the platforms, Bulbasaur's included, to descending into a spiraling vortex.

"Bulbasaur!/Pikachu-Pika!" both trainer and starter yelled out as the grass type found himself trapped into the vortex as Daisy grinned.

"Yes, finally something's working! Now Seaking, use Peck!"

From the vortex of water's base, the Fish Pokémon surged from below with a glowing horn right towards Bulbasaur.

"Use Sleep Powder to stop it!" Ash screamed as loud as he could as Bulbasaur more than heard him.

"Bulba!" The burst of powder from Bulbasaur's bulb spread out right into Seaking's path. The fish had no time to avoid it and quickly was lost to sleep as it fell right in front of Bulbasaur on its platform as the whirlpool around them began to die down.

"HEY! Wake up you carp! This is a gym battle, not nap time! You've had months to sleep since your last battle, so wake up!"

All non-sisters around sweat dropped at the implications this was Seaking's first time out in ages.

"Well, let's make this quick then, Bulbasaur use Razor Leaf!"

"Bulba!" A storm of sharp leaves flew from Bulbasaur, striking into Seaking's sides as it continued to sleep.

"Now, Vine Whip!"

“Hey, let it wake up first!”

The vines whipped the sleeping Pokémon to similar ill affect to its nap.

"Now, finish it with Tackle!"

Bulbasaur charged head first into the fish, sending it flying into the air before landing right next to the startled Daisy, KO'd.

The fish was returned without a word, as was Bulbasaur.

"...This cannot be happening. Some rookie...you were supposed to take the damn fall so we could keep this gym." Daisy spoke in a tone of anger that, while sounding like the tone of a pissed off Misty that Ash was familiar with, sounded far more like something that would come out of Hunter J's mouth (read, murderous).

"Well, sorry for not wanting to lose," Ash replied in a sarcastic voice as Daisy continued to suffer a bit of a breakdown.

"It would have all worked out for all of us: we'd keep our gym, and you'd get to resume your gym hunt in a year (Wait, what!?). But you had to be selfish..."

"Pika," 'Their morality seems a little off, don't you think?' Pikachu sardonically observed

"Now, just lose like you're supposed to! Go, Dewgong!"

The Dewgong that Ash recalled them having in the previous timeline appeared once again, not looking all that different.

As a pet in the last timeline, perhaps it just got more chance for self-exercise than the 5 water types that came before it. Whatever the reason, there was only one option.

"Let's finish this Pikachu" his starter responded with a nod and so the final battle began.

"Pikachu, let's end this quickly, use Thundershock on the water!"

"Pika-Chu!" With a yowl, Pikachu let loose an electric attack right into the water below. As the yellow tendrils of electricity struck the water, the intense energies quickly struck everything the water touched, leading to an electrocuted water type.

"Dew!" The dual Ice and Water-type cried out in pain as the electricity surged through its long body.

"Freeze the water!" Daisy's furious gaze continued to burn into Ash as she ordered Dewgong to counter with a massive burst of blue energy from its mouth, Ash recognized the move as an Ice Beam.

The beam struck the water's surface in front of Dewgong, which rapidly began to solidify until the entire water's surface was replaced with a layer of ice that insulated Dewgong from the electrified water, and Pikachu's electricity from the water.

Daisy had a dark grin at the sight of Ash's plan being foiled. "Now, Headbutt!"

Using its front flippers, Dewgong propelled itself towards Pikachu like a missile, pointed horn first for a rather nasty attack combination of speed, power and piercing ability.

"Block with Iron Tail!" Ash didn't miss a beat calling out his counter, Pikachu's tail gained metallic properties as he leapt and struck the oncoming Dewgong horn to tail.

The result caused some damage to Dewgong through direct feedback from the strike, and caused Pikachu to roll off the attack and appear behind Dewgong with a skidding motion as more distance was formed between the two.

"Pi." 'Damn, my power is still shot. Should have been far more in my favor strength wise. Feels like that damn Zekrom all over again.'

Ash mentally prepared himself for the additional training sessions Pikachu would want after this, and how Charmander would have a rival for intensity "Let's finish this, Pikachu use Electro Ball!"

As the electricity began to form around Pikachu's tail, Ash and Pikachu both felt a sense of unease. They were still working on re-learning this love: as it didn't have to be a continuous stream like Thunderbolt, it would be easily to relearn, but Pikachu had been having some difficulties setting the move back up, despite remembering how.

"Dewgong, spin around and use Encore!" Daisy commanded as a glowing gold ball of light formed over Dewgong's horn.

Mentally recalling Dawn's battle with Ursula's Plusle and Minun, Ash knew exactly what he had to be worried about. "Dodge it!"

As the golden light blast fired from Dewgong, Pikachu used the ice to slide itself forward after flattening itself to the ground, avoiding the blast of the forced repetition attack just by the hairs on Pikachu's tail tip, leaping back up into the air.

However, the disturbance caused by encore's blast ended up causing the electricity of the proto Electro Ball to shift, going around and eventually to the bottom of Pikachu's tail. From there, it continued to move forward along Pikachu's and gain mass from Pikachu's additional ambient electrical energies that made up its Static ability.

The result, when Pikachu formed the electric ball attack and fired it at Dewgong, the blast looked somewhat darker than Electro Ball, was heavier and slower, and struck Dewgong right in the center.

But, as a high level Pokémon Dewgong was not so easily defeated by a weakened Pikachu and skidded along the ice, before recovering and standing up, only for the electrical static of paralysis to cover it.

"What!?" Daisy exclaimed in shock.

"Odd, Electro Ball never did that before..." Ash said what Pikachu was thinking.

"Electro Ball cannot cause paralysis...no you two geniuses seem to have accidentally used Zap Cannon. Somehow, you managed to reverse engineer that move from trying to use Electro Ball...you truly astound me sometimes." The Pokédex supplied them with that knowledge as the two longtime friends exchanged surprised looks.

Huh...well it wouldn't be the first time they had learned a new move during a gym battle.

But, they could think of that later. Zap Cannon always caused paralysis, and now Dewgong wouldn't be able to move as fast, or at all after a while. It was time to strike.

"Pikachu, grab onto Dewgong and use Thundershock!"

Charging forward to the struggling Dewgong, Pikachu jumped and latched itself around Dewgong's neck, before unleashing a constant stream of electricity on Dewgong.

"Gong!"

"Shake it off!" Daisy commanded as Dewgong attempted to do so, but the paralysis was acting up, so it wasn't able to move as the damage continued.

At a few points, the Thundershock thickened, to a point one could almost think it was a Thunderbolt. With more training, it would be of course, but it was not an even consistency yet.

"Dewgong, please, use Waterfall and get that thing off of you!" Daisy pleaded as Dewgong yowled in something more than pain, as water began to form around itself for a ramming attack...only for it to collapse in defeat as the attacking electrical stream took its toll.

Pikachu hopped off, as the officially defeated Dewgong lay at its feet.

"Impossible..." Daisy trailed off in horror.

"It can't be..." Violet was at a loss for words.

"We should have just slept with him in exchange for him losing!" Lily pouted out loud as Ash blushed, though he couldn't quite recall what about that made him blush.

Some of his hazy memories did include some sort of 'Sex Ed' at Oak's summer camp after all.

It was weird.

"So...I guess I get the badge, right?" Ash probably should not have asked that question as the sisters looked ready to all but murder him.

However, before they could get to that, the door burst open to the battlefield as a Nurse Joy burst in, a badge in hand.

"Pokémon Inspection Agency! Daisy, Lily and Violet Waterflower, stand down! You're in violation of several codes of conduct, and you just lost the last of your last three chances, you're coming with me!"

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An arrest later, outside the Cerulean Gym

"I told you Ash Ketchum, I. Never. Wanted. To. Be. Back. In. This. City. Ever. Again!" Misty emphasized her annoyance at him with one word per step and raising her voice at the same time. By the end of her starting tirade, she was face to face with a now rather nervous and slightly scared Ash, screaming in his face.

"What was I supposed to do, let you die?" Ash replied weakly making Misty grimaced. She knew he'd done what he had to for her own safety even going against her express wishes but that didn't change the fact that she never wanted to set foot in Cerulean City again.

"I'd almost rather die than be here again," she said in a distant voice as her eyes gazed at the gym's front taking in every detail with a look that seemed, almost haunted as if the ghosts of her past floated before her eyes. "I know that you went to the extreme to save my life Ash and I appreciate it, I really do. I can't think of anyone else who'd get a Gyarados to obey them just to save my life. I just want you to know how much I am thankful to you for saving me. However, I have no happy memories of this place now Ash, none whatsoever, as any happy memories that I might've had of this place were ruined by my sisters a long time ago. That badge you won here Ash, the badge that Inspector Joy gave you as they took my sisters away, while you truly did earn it, used to be a great challenge, one that few managed to complete. It was what I had hoped to one day be the master of, it was one of my two dreams in life. But, the name of the Cerulean Gym was tarnished by my sister's laziness and stupidity, now that dream is gone for good." A tear formed in the corner of Misty's eye as the realization that one of her dreams would never come true finally hit her. (*)

"Well, technically it's not gone, more like locked. A gym, once its leaders have been stripped away, can be obtained by another, but the amount of paperwork is shocking. You could travel through the two regions on a Pokémon journey, and still have time to visit the Orange Islands before the paperwork cleared."

The two teenagers turned to the intrigued looking Professor, who was studying something on an I-Pad in one hand while holding some sort of long box under the other, like a baseball bat or something and a backpack, presumably to hold the I-Pad and whatever else he had on him.

"Professor!? What are you doing here?" Ash questioned as the old man smirked.

"Oh, I was actually looking for you Ash, and what a way to find you. Winning a battle that could let you go straight to the Pokémon League itself. Though I must ask, what is it you plan to do from here my boy?"

Ash looked contemplative for a moment as Pikachu chimed in.

"Pika-Pikachu" 'We could just train on top of a mountain until the Indigo League starts up? Charmander might like it.'

Ash shook his head, not catching the impressed look on the professor's face "The thing is, I don't feel as though this badge really earned me a spot in the Pokémon League. It felt more like a really challenging second gym battle. I still feel as though I have more to learn and more gyms to challenge. I mean, I still can right? You can earn more than eight badges in a region, right?"

After all, Gary did win ten in Kanto, and people did compete in individual leagues more than once, particularly in Indigo if he recalled correctly.

"Most don't, but yes. Once you earn eight badges, you can challenge a Pokémon League in the region in question as many times as you want, and are still allowed to challenge the other gyms in the region for official gym matches. Some trainers believe that battling more than eight gyms makes them more prepared for potential threats in the league, which is arguably true, though normally I feel as though they just do it because they get big headed and arrogant." Ash and Pikachu mentally chuckled at the Professor unintentionally dissing Gary. "If you don't feel that you truly earned your spot as a competitor in the League Ash, then you can still work your way around the gyms of Kanto. Vermilion, Celadon, Fuchsia, Cinnabar, Viridian, you could easily learn more by going to those gyms. You wouldn't be the first self-conscious victor of such a battle to want to check their skills out on the way to the League."

Ash caught that Oak had omitted Saffron. That could mean either there was no Saffron Gym, or that Sabrina was worse this timeline.

"Of course Ash, I have some other things to discuss with you. First of all..." reaching into his bag, the Professor removed a box, which he opened to pull out a metallic glove and presented it to Ash.

"Here you go Ash, your very own Handheld Operative Pokémon Expediter glove."

"My very own what?" Ash asked in confusion as he slipped the glove on, idly noticing it had a Pokéball shaped depression in it and fit his hand unnervingly well without stretching.

"H.O.P.E gloves for short, this is the tool of the future my boy. With this Ash, trainers can one day have their teams rotated from anywhere at any time. As it is, however, I am still testing them out, so you and Gary can help me find any kinks or flaws in them before I properly introduce them to the world."

Ash held the glove closer to his face in amazement, even though the Professor had somehow gotten Clemont's bad naming bug as Pikachu sniffed the glove curiously "Wait, are you saying that I could switch my team at will with this thing!?"

"Well, no. If I or one of my unpaid interns from one of the universities was to be busy at the moment, there might be a delay of a moment or two, and I would prefer you not try it at midnight. But yes, that is what the gloves do for everyone. Of course, it's what your glove can do specifically I want to ask you about."

Ash blinked at the change of pace as the professor continued. "You see Ash, I have always been aware you are special, and listening to the furious and half insane screams of the Sensational Sisters revealed that your friend is similarly interesting." Misty's eye went wide with horror as the Professor laughed. "Oh, don't worry. A Joy and a Don George aren't going to do something stupid. When you deal with bloodline hysteria, being from a family that looks all but identical means you aren't all that different to some people, and they are empathetic to others who are in the same boat."

"I want to know more Ash. I want to know how your abilities are activated, what causes them, and why. The glove Ash, has the ability to record data, and in doing so could reveal important details about bloodliners no one knew existed. It is an opportunity that doesn't come along very often."

"So, you want to use Ash as some sort of test Aipom!?" Misty accused the professor, who looked genuinely hurt at the accusation.

"I'm not suggesting anything like that, not at all. But you must understand, little to nothing is known about bloodliners. Why do they have the power they do? Why are they mostly female? Why have so many more appeared recently? Why did Ash, after only showing off his innate abilities once as a child, suddenly have them reappear now?"

"Wait, I did?" Ash didn't remember that.

"...I'll have to tell you about that one day, won't I?" Oak admitted "Though I don't have the time for that story, or the alcohol. But never mind that for now. Ash, what this data could discover may be able stop people from doing something utterly horrible to a bloodliner out of fear. It could be my second world changing piece of work, one that advances our world just as much as I did when I helped end the conflicts between man and Pokémon."

Ash closed his eyes, thinking about it for a moment, before coming to a decision "If you think it's that important Professor, I'd do it. Just tell me what I'd have to do?"

"Oh, just be you Ash" The Professor assured him "Right now I want to first find the data on the biggest question about bloodliners: is their power controllable or not, and what are its limits. I believe you might have uncovered such a mystery during your gym battle my boy" the professor noted before showing Ash and Misty the I-Pad, currently displaying a series of graphs on it with two notable spikes on it.

"Wait, what do you...sure I can hear what Pikachu and the others are saying, but why only two..." Ash questioned, not sure about the way the graph had turned out.

"Pika, Pikachu" 'Ash, during the battles with Kingdra and Poliwrath, just before Charmander and Pidgeotto would have been in outright mortal peril, either by drowning or being crushed, your eyes flashed a brown-orange color and they suddenly got a power boost a la Victini.' Pikachu informed his trainer as he looked mortified.

"Wait, what!? What do you mean Pikachu...how is that possible!? My powers, as far as I can tell, do not include being able to boost my Pokémon's power!?"

At the confused looks Misty and the Professor were giving him, Ash filled in exactly what Pikachu said.

"...I swear Ash, the longer I'm around you, the more of what I thought I knew about being a bloodliner changes." Misty shook her head in amazement that Ash kept breaking the rules of the world as the Professor looked intrigued.

"Fascinating. This warrants further investigation of the data your H.O.P.E glove will send me. And to think they always told me I'd stop finding interesting things in the world after a while. Now, speaking of interesting things, I have a request to make of your friend Ash."

"You mean me, Professor?" Misty questioned as he nodded.

"You see, the H.O.P.E glove is also able to analyze and collect data on any and all other bloodliners within a certain area, roughly a twenty to thirty foot radius around itself. As a lot of observation would be done on yourself due to your current traveling companionships, I would feel bad if I didn't offer you something in exchange. Now, I was told by Inspector Joy and Don George that your dream is to capture every water type Pokémon in the world, correct?" Misty nodded to confirm what the Professor had said making the elderly man grin. "What I offer you, in exchange for your data, is the use of my lab to watch over your additional Pokémon. I have so few members of fully aquatic Pokémon, like Seaking or Kingdra. So few trainers that don't specialize in Water-type Pokémon want to catch them because of their limited use in the Pokémon Leagues outside of water battle fields, as I am sure you all are aware. So, in exchange for your willing consent to using data gathered from yourself in my research on bloodliners, allow me to hold onto your Pokémon for you, like I might Ash's."

The professor apparently was not yet aware Ash had obtained Krabby and Squirtle.

A huge grin grew on Misty's face at the offer causing an even a wider one to form on the Professor's, even Ash found himself grinning along with them. Misty nodded her head, eagerly accepting Professor Oak's offer.

"Splendid! I now have all the new research I could possibly want! I feel as though I could skip all the way home. Sadly, my doctor would get on my case for it, so I must be going before I do start skipping." Ash and Misty laughed at the old man's antics "But, before I do so, I have something for you Ash..." The professor presented Ash the large box he had on him the entire time "I have no idea what this is, but it's from Rota. Maybe that means something to you. Well, got to run." As the old man ambled off, in such good spirits that it was kind of creepy, the two overwhelmed bloodliners noted the box that Ash had gotten with some surprise.

"So...wonder what Ilene sent us?" Misty wondered as Ash began tearing open the box.

There was something about the box's size that made Ash feel it to be...familiar somehow.

But why?

As the box fell apart before them, Ash and Pikachu did a double take as they saw exactly what they had been sent, as Misty cocked her head at the antique inside.

"Hey, isn't that the staff Ilene pointed at you before she declared you 'an heir of Sir Aaron'?" Misty asked as Ash found himself holding that very staff, a staff that, as Ash touched it, he felt something inside it. Something he'd felt before in the previous timeline during the Hero of the Year festival that led to the events of the Tree of Beginning.

A familiar and dormant aura, of the first aura user Ash ever met.

Lucario was inside the staff, and now Ash had it.

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Omake

CROSSOVERPAIRINGLOVER: ...I'll let you decide if this is canon or not, but this will tease some actual facts about what I plan to do in Johto

Ketchumverse

It had all started one day in Johto.

Things had been going well. He had recently recaptured his Noctowl, and dealt with Molly again (who had gone through a power upgrade that made that whole mess...somehow worse than last time. Charizard was still recovering from his rematch with Entei).

Though the recent and unexpected arrival of a fourth traveling companion had made his life somewhat...tricky.

It was enough to warrant a walk to clear his head.

"...You know, if I ever told myself that I would somehow have three girlfriends..."

"Pi." 'Four eventually' his faithful buddy suggested as Ash shook his head.

"...look Pikachu, I still don't understand how I have three girlfriends, I'm not going to expect a fourth. That just seems...pig headed and sexist somehow..." Ash seemed unsure of how to vent out what he was feeling. "You know, it probably would be simpler if I didn't have to think about changes to reality, relationships and who knows what else. I would only have to figure out how to deal with Whitney's Miltank right now."

Pikachu shivered as he remembered that...pink monstrosity.

"Pokémon Gym Leader Whitney, a member of a farming family who has raised unusually deadly Miltank since the feudal era," the Pokédex reminded the two of them about what they faced when they reached Goldenrod. "Their use in Johto's medieval wars was declared a war crime following the legendary massacre of Charicific Valley. The eight Miltank she uses are all known for having the highest win percentages among the Johto gym leaders Pokémon, and make her, statistically speaking, the fifth strongest gym leader in the regions. Most Johto trainers who have heard of her either skip her entirely or fight her for their eighth badge with teams specifically trained, generally consisting of Fighting, Steel, Rock and/or Ghost type Pokémon. Even then, they generally loose."

Ash repressed a shudder as the reminder of what he was about to face next (considering he had no idea where to find other gyms in Johto and didn't want to get lost, or more lost as it was Johto, and possibly miss getting to Sinnoh at the right time to stop Cyrus)

However, before the nightmare in pink bovine form could continue to dominate their thoughts, something crashed to earth in the distance.

"Alert, alert, unknown object has impacted into the earth from the sky!"

"Pika!" 'We knew that already!' Pikachu snapped at the device.

"This device would like to point out it cannot speak Pokémon," the Pokédex shrewdly reminded Pikachu as trainer and starter decided, after a moment or two of contemplation, to check out what had just crashed.

If it was a Deoxys, Ash would prefer to find out if they were horrific abominations now, as oppose to LaRousse City.

...

Oh, if it only was that simple.

The crater that had formed from the massive impact had two objects of Ash and Pikachu's concerns: and how worrying was that the minor issue of the crater was the fact it was mostly occupied by the massive white form of Reshiram, the white dragon of truth.

The other occupant of said crater being N, though with black hair, who was face down on Reshiram looking like he had just went five rounds with a Machamp.

One thought went through both Ash and Pikachu at the sight of the two friends of theirs from Unova.

'Team Plasma...that's all we need.'

Team Rocket was all the duo needed to deal with right now: they did not need Team Rocket and Team Plasma fighting. That sounded like something that would destroy a city in the process.

However, as N stirred and began to push himself up, any thoughts of Goldenrod City being torn apart by battling evil teams was lost to both of them as a new sort of confusion quickly took hold.

"Oh, an Ash and Pikachu." N, or rather, N with Ash's face and hair color, noted the two of them with some level of curiosity in a rather fast pattern. "Tell me something...you two aren't evil by any chance are you?"

Ash and Pikachu had no idea how to respond to N-Ash's question. It was just...odd.

Who asked people out of the blue if they were evil!?

"Pikapi Pika!" 'We are most certainly not evil! I mean, sure, the Pokédex might be, but other than that...and who do you think you are asking us that!? That is not how you start a conversation!'

"Oh, it isn't?" N-Ash heard every word Pikachu said, and seemed genuinely confused in finding out that you shouldn't randomly ask people if they are evil. "Maybe that's why Guardian always has Don handle the diplomatic stuff. Oh, where are my manners, I never did introduce myself. My name is A Harmonia Gropius, A-4 of the League of Ash's Elite Six. Considering your shock at seeing me, as oppose to murderous intent, I would assume you haven't contacted by the Ashes of Darkness either."

"The league of Ashes?" the Ash not in the know asked in confusion.

"PikaPi!?" 'The Ashes of Darkness!?' Pikachu repeated in shock, and confusion as to why they would choose that name.

"A Harmonia Gropius...who the hell names their child that?" the Pokédex questioned in horror as A began speaking again.

"My partner Reshiram and I were leading a battle to try and prevent the Ashes of Darkness from capturing the last free Coma world, but we failed and were knocked across several worlds by Ash Flare's Mega Houndoom. See, the League of Ashes and the Ashes of Darkness are at war over a sizeable chunk of the multiverse, which in itself part of a much larger war for the greater multiverse between the multiverses greatest heroes, and their dark counterparts," A continued "We Ashes are somewhat lucky that the leader of the Ashes of Darkness is merely a version of us that was never freed from the King of Pokélantis, as he only conquers worlds and subjugates them. The leaders of the evil Harry Potters and Naruto Uzumakis strip and devastate their conquered worlds, and that's not even going into what the enemies of the allied Yu's..."

"Wait...Harry Potter and Naruto Uzumaki are fictional characters!?" Ash pointed out as A smiled.

"Oh, but what is ideal fiction in one world can easily be truth in another. Now, I suppose it would be prudent that I signal for my retrieval, though before I do, I would highly suggest you come with me. We need every Ash on deck...and we could use some Brocks and Cilans as well. We all eat a lot and find the quirkiness of a Cilan to be refreshing after a long day defending the multiverse."

A looked confused at the depressed look at the mention of Cilan's name. "Oh, you know of Cilan? How odd, you shouldn't until your journey into Unova."

"It's a long story."

"Oh, do tell, I have time," A inquired sincerely. "It can take a while to find pathways across the multiverse that do not cause minor damage like the old fool Taisune did, or major damage like that idiotic Harry Potter who used a faulty time machine to change the past but instead caused an unstable world that ripped dozens of worlds and crudely combined them. I'm sure you'd never be that foolish as to recklessly time travel and randomly scramble the status of your reality."

Ash laughed nervously at that last one. "Funny story there, see there was this thing with Cyrus and reality..."