Gringy City

The world was wonderful.

Certainly it wasn't all perfect. There was sadness and misery, some cruelty, and occasionally you lost track of one of those little things you just couldn't live without.

However what was the point of dwelling upon that, when there was so much more to see.

The beaming smile radiating happiness from acts of love from one's knee or lips, the pouring eruption of relief as a parents and child reunited, pride as one's hard work paid off in a work of sweat in manners of physical creation or intellectual achievement, all these feelings were wonderful.

If people could just focus on the hundred good things that happen, and not the single bad thing, the world would be a much better place.

"Emma! Emma!"

"Come back, please!"

The voice of two children rang through the streets, panic and fear radiating off them like heat off a Fire-type.

Looking down from the roof she was sitting on, she looked down and saw a pair of small heads darting about, shouting in frantic tones.

Children in distress? About an Emma?

Person, or Pokémon?

There was only one way to find out.

'Is something wrong?'

Ask bluntly.

The children froze, before their heads darted around as they tried to find her

They didn't look up though, so they wouldn't be able to see her

"Who….who said that?" One of the little children whimpered. She frowned at the distress she was feeling.

'Don't be worried, I mean you no harm I only want to help.'

"You do?" The little girl asked with wonderful, hopeful innocence. The other, a boy, not so much.

"Who are you?"

'A friend.' She told them simply. 'Now, who's this Emma you are looking for?'

….

About half an hour later found the children in a park a few blocks away. With tears in their eyes, they were hugging an old looking Arcanine, who had a balloon string in her jaws with a perfectly intact balloon floating above her head.

This fit the holes in the little children's story. Apparently the girl, Ginny, had accidentally let go of a balloon and cried about it. Emma had taken this tear up more seriously than warranted, and went out chasing after the balloon to make the daughter of her trainer happy again.

"Thank you!" they exclaimed even as Emma looked around curiously, as if unsure who they were thanking.

Perhaps the Arcanine could tell in the country, but even in a clean city sniffing out one single person is a bit of a tall order.

She couldn't help but smile. It was always nice to do good in the world.

'It was no problem at all.' She prepared to take her leave, when the city suddenly dark.

The children began to whimper in fright, clinging Emma in fear of the dark.

"Grrrr…" Emma growled at the sudden darkness that had frightened the little ones.

In the darkness that had once been Gringy City she was left in a great confusion, a feeling echoed across the city interlaced with another emotion.

Fear.

----------------------------------------

Power Plant

Walking towards the control room with an unflinching pace and perfect poise Belladonna was not phased at all by the sight of the two guards pointing guns at her.

For the first six years of her life, she had lived in Gringy City when it lived up to its name in full. For the next five years after that, she hadn't experienced the parts of it that he had cleaned up.

She was quite used to guns. They didn't make her flinch. They were silly toys anyway, weapons of the powerless to try and pretend to be powerful.

If you weren't a Bloodliner, train a Pokémon. A gun didn't make you look like anything but unsightly.

If you wanted to mask how weak you were, wear a paper bag.

"Don't move!" one guard shouted. The other just shot at her.

She didn't obey the first, and the wall of filth that rose up to block the bullet made the other one irrelevant.

Some would call it Sludge Wave, she just called it filth.

"Disgusting," the second guard said of her actions.

True. Virtually everything she could do was disgusting. But he was hardly in a position to say it.

But as the old saying goes, an eye for an eye.

And filth for filth.

Her cheeks filled with… vileness, bulging before she spat it right at him.

His screams were thankfully only brief.

She turned to the other, a gray haired man with yellowing teeth and blue eyes, who dropped his gun and looked at her in terror.

However his fear was not for himself.

"Please don't kill me! I have a family."

She didn't relax, nor did she move.

"The hours suck and my co-worker's an arse, but it pays well! I was able to put my son through college despite his autism, and my daughter would never have been able to get that surgery without it! Please, don't kill me; I don't want to leave either of them alone in the world!"

He was crying in fear. A fear for others, and not himself.

"Mommy…," she heard her younger self whimper in her head. For a moment she was not here in a Power Plant, but at her childhood home.

...

It was a place filled with garbage her mother never through away.

Little her, hastily made pigtails in her hair that clearly lacked adult aide, was at the foot of a garbage strewn bed where a large shape lay, a back to her turned red from sickness, "Mommy….can you please help me…..I'm itchy….it won't stop…."

The shape did not move.

...

Pushing the thoughts away, Belladonna was nonetheless still affected by it.

So she punched the man in the chest.

He folded over in pain, before she hit the back of his head and knocked him out.

She promptly threw the still living guard into a closet and shut the door.

With a glowing purple hand she carved a message into the door: "Living Guard Inside"

She whistled, and at the sound an enthralled Nidoqueen stomped towards her from down the hall.

She pointed at the door and gave a command.

"Guard it. I've decided to spare the human inside of it, ensure he is alive until the time we leave."

Nidoqueen robotically nodded. With that act of mercy done, she moved toward the control room.

They had a point they had to reach, and until it happened this Power Plant would not generate a single watt for the city.

----------------------------------------

The city was black as night.

As dark as Zekrom's body armor.

As devoid of light as the heart of…..well Ash had a mental tie in mind between Hunter J, the Iron Masked Marauder, Kodai, and maybe Ghetsis. If he had some time to think on it, perhaps he could decide who was definitely more evil.

A feeling of dread could be felt growing from every home as the populace tried to return power by rapidly flicking the switches of their devices.

But, a city without light was not the place to do it.

"This is not normal," Iris observed.

"Yeah, no kidding," Misty snarked. Iris looked at her, a puzzled look on her face.

'Power outage…Power Plant…,' Ash thought to himself.

'Muk,' Pikachu offered telepathically, now with 20% less connection trouble.

There was no time to lose, they must get to the Power Plant immediately! Having been in similar situations many times before Ash could feel that there was more to this than just an average blackout, there was a nagging in his gut that screamed trouble.

Ash frowned as he noticed again Misty and Iris, the former explaining to the latter what kidding meant.

Part of Ash, the one who had traveled across regions for a lengthy period of time of 45 Gyms (plus 7 Frontier Brains), wanted to just dart towards the Power Plant, ready and able to get Muk and stop this disaster as soon as possible.

However, that Ash was quite possibly… some age younger than he was, and thus didn't realize that would be somewhat awkward.

So, he had to make sure it would not be in fact, awkward.

"Do you think that something might be going wrong at the Power Plant…?" Ash tested the waters. Misty and Iris considered his words, Misty looked thoughtful while Iris shrugged.

"It is possible, perhaps a swarm of electric Pokémon is at fault," the Pokédex backed him up.

"So, I mean this sucks but none of us know how to turn on a Power Plant," Misty pointed out.

"I do."

"No one asked you." Misty glared at the Pokédex's comment. The Pokédex didn't respond choosing that now wasn't the best time to start an argument with Misty.

"The people who do might be in trouble," Ash pressed. He shook his head.

"Look, if I don't at least check it out, I'm going to worry about it all night. I'd rather be proven wrong and see the situation be on its way to being fixed, than wake up tomorrow and see someone reading a newspaper about hundreds dying from a sudden power outage and an exploding Power Plant. If you don't want to…."

Iris flinched as the sound of something crashing in the distance rang loudly, followed by the sounds of a response siren suggesting that whatever had crashed was being taken care of.

"I do not want to be in this city longer than I have to, even if there was light. At least you do not smell like car exhaust and…" She sniffed the air and looked confused. "Burnt Aspear berries?"

A cart rolled by them through the darkness, being chased by a short man who was shouting something about his roasted Aspear berries. It was an odd event, one they didn't have time to respond to.

"Agreed. If the Power Plant is on fire or those Team Rocket members that keep bugging us are around we'll do something, if someone cut the wrong wire we leave." Misty nodded, and with that decided they were on their way to the Power Plant, hopefully without any more carts rolling on by.

…

First sign that the Power Plant's problem was not normal…..the floating line of Koffing that, as commentary by James suggested, could explode.

Second sign the problem wasn't an average one was that the Koffing seemed off somehow. Like they weren't quite all there, even by the often spacey standards of a Koffing….

No wait, that was a Weezing. Still, the Koffing looked a bit, dull in the eyes.

"Should we attack?" Iris suggested.

"No, that's a bad idea. Koffing explode, and explosions are rather painful," the Pokédex noted.

Misty's eyes widened with realization as she turned to Ash with a serious look on her face as she reached for and handed Ash three of the Pokéballs she had on hand, Wooper, Poliwrath, and Slowpoke.

"Use that glove of yours and send these back to the Professor, and swap in Goldeen, Starmie, and Gyarados. With Wingull, Staryu, and Psyduck I should be ready to handle it."

"Handle what exactly?" Ash questioned as Misty pointed at the Koffing ring.

"I've seen that look before, it's what a Pokémon looks like when a Bloodliner is controlling them. We're dealing with a Poison Heart Bloodliner."

Ash took in that information with a sense of dread even as he pulled out the H.O.P.E glove and began the transfer.

Someone like the three of them, was responsible for this?

"So… this is what it looks like," Iris mused in a sense of horror as she looked at the entranced Koffing. At Misty's odd look she elaborated.

"I know that I can control Dragons, but I have never actually done it." The unspoken 'I would never mind control my family' was hanging in the air.

With a flash the Pokéballs that Misty wanted came through via the H.O.P.E glove, and in a burst of light the three Pokémon were released into the surprisingly clean water.

Gyarados looked ready to deliver the customary 'I am a Gyarados and I will destroy anything that bothers me I see' roar, but with a finger up to her lips Misty prevented not only alerting the Koffing wall (which was really, really bad at listening. The Pokédex later would comment that Koffing are low ranked on Pokémon sound perception), but also making the people in the powerless city have a 'oh why, oh why, is that happening on top of a black out' moment.

For blackouts were bad, Gyarados attack were worse, and Gyarados attacks during blackouts is just kicking a person while they were down and stealing their shoes.

Misty jumped into the water and dived down below with Goldeen following in tow. Iris leaped over the smaller Water-types and held onto Gyarados. Ash, after remembering the H.O.P.E glove was water proof, then remembered that the food stuff in his bag wasn't.

He paused to leave his bag where it was, and let out Sliggoo.

"I'm going to stop a crazy person and save innocent lives, make sure no one swipes my stuff!" Ash told the Dragon as he jumped into the water sans perishable good, followed by Pikachu.

Sliggoo let out a confused sound, but complied none the less as Goldeen sank into the water below, and Starmie and Gyarados swam along the water's top, below the line of the Koffing's sight.

Koffing, bad of hearing and not all that bright.

…

The way the Koffing looked, it brought to her memories of the look that adorned Golduck's face as she used her powers on him, before he too looked like that.

In fact…

"Goldeen… I tested my powers on you when I caught you… what's it like?" Misty asked the fish she was swimming alongside nervously.

Goldeen did not respond, in being silent said more than a thousand words could.

A red light flickered beneath them as Misty was quickly snapped out of dwelling on Goldeen's silence.

"Goldeen, below you!" Misty shouted as a pair of tentacles shot up. Goldeen avoided the Constrict attempt, as a Tentacool with the vacant expression of control swam up to stop them.

Misty briefly considered trying to override the control the Poison-Heart user had on Tentacool, but she briefly glimpsed in Goldeen's nearest eye as she considered this.

The unsaid message was clear: she could not do that again.

Not if she ever wanted Goldeen's respect.

"Goldeen, Horn Attack."

Goldeen seemed to approve of her decision, and so flew at the Tentacool with her horn at the ready.

…

As Starmie hopped out of the water behind him, Ash found himself surrounded by a large swarm of possessed Vileplume.

As they all prepared to let out a burst of deadly spores much like what Misty had gotten in her system back in Cerulean, Ash had only one response.

"Charmeleon! Pikachu!"

His partner leaped into action along with his unleashed first Fire type, and unleashed Flamethrower and Thunderbolt.

The Vileplume were overwhelmed and fell to the ground in defeat, but as they fell the water behind them erupted to reveal a large blue and red Pokémon.

"Tentacruel," the Jellyfish said in a monotone.

"Tentacruel, the Jellyfish Pokémon. Tentacruel tentacles grow back quickly after being severed. The Tentacruel is also quite toxic," the Pokédex noted as Pikachu fried the Tentacruel before the toxicity could become a factor.

Of course a dozen more rose up in response, flanked by dozens of Tentacool. All of whom promptly began firing Poison Stings.

Ash, Pikachu, and Starmie scattered, while Charmeleon ignited with Flame Charge to block the attacks.

For blocking attacks with your flaming body was far more badass than dodging.

"Char!" 'That was weak. Weak! You can't defeat me that easily, you fish! Now, I will boil your ocean and show you real strength!'

"Charmeleon, we do not have time to boil the ocean, also I don't think they are technically fish!" Ash shouted as Charmeleon let loose one warning Flamethrower than sent a Tentacool skidding across the water like a skipping stone, but followed them anyway.

Muttering something about the fact that he could totally boil the ocean once he evolved, Charmeleon followed nonetheless.

…

On the shore of the metallic and odd smelling Power Plant, lay a row of Kakuna lay defeated.

A wall of Gloom were blown back by a swipe of Excadrill's Metal Claw.

A Weezing hovering in the air was knocked down by Emolga's Electro Ball.

As two Weepinbell attempted to grab for a Slam, Iris and Axew knocked both back with Dragon Claw.

A Nidoking down the way was hit by a Dragon Rage from Misty's Gyarados, who had followed them onto land.

Said Gyarados was currently behind them, blasting at a flanking squad of Beedrill.

Running through the corridors of the building was confusing, and Gyarados's battle growing more distant was somewhat worrying…

"Ty!"

Three identical cries rang out as three pink humanoid Pokémon shot out from ahead.

Tyrogue, and they all came at once with attacks.

The first punched Emolga down with a glowing red fist.

The second swept at Excadrill's feet, tripping him.

The third spun right into Axew, knocking her brother into the wall.

"Ax!"

After the attacks her Pokémon managed to get back and were ready to fight their attackers, though the sound of Axew's pained squeak made her furious.

Excadrill and Emolga could handle the other two, that Tyrogue was hers!

She turned to the spinning Tyrogue, a glowing green claw ready to slash, when her claw was struck by a glowing orange fist.

She shifted her attention to the side, revealing a blond haired girl about her age, dressed in orange with a glowing fist that no human could possess.

No words were said, but blows were soon under way as a four way fight quickly broke out in the halls.

…

Skipping across the water, a Tentacool eventually slowed down and came to a stop at the pier she stood on, sinking into the water below.

Looking down, the water bubbled and rippled, just as the water burst and the Tentacool went for her head,

However before the Tentacool could do so, she extended a hand and the Tentacool froze in midair, stopped by psychic powers.

'This isn't natural. This is….control,' she thought with a frown.

...

The home was a nice one, well paid through military pension and shrewd stock investment. She remembered it well back then, though now a days it was lonely.

The living room the two were in was homely one: well lived and decently clean for a home of two where the adult was a male. On the center table lay a book titled "To be the Very Best, like No One ever Was?" by Casey Snagem, since a victim of tomato sauce, a book by E.B White with a Ducklett on it with a trumpet, since given to charity, and a framed photograph with a gray image: an elite unit from the wars known as the Surge Battalion, led by a giant man with a Raichu and two Pokémon she didn't know the names of: a giant spider and a limbed eel.

One of the men in the photograph was also here, though well since aged. He was kneeling before a younger version of herself, who had tears in her eyes.

"What's the matter?" he had asked her.

I didn't answer. I couldn't answer. He sighed a knowing sigh.

"I know it's hard. I know your voice, but no one else does. To everyone else, you are mute. It is hard to lie, but to the world your voice died with your parents."

He was her uncle, who had taken her in after her family had suffered a car accident. Though as she didn't remember her parents, he was more than just an uncle.

But there was the fact that she could never produce the sound to say it, or anything for that matter. The only word her new classmates had for it came from the book they had been reading: mute and dumb. The last one had earned a harsh comment from their teacher to never use that last one, and that it was well covered by the school's bully codes.

There was another word for it though, a word that was the most loathed phrase to her even now. Aphonia: No Sound.

'I hate being silent. I want to say hello to people, I want to tell them what I think. I even want to try and answer math questions…..but I have to pretend I can't.'

Her uncle smiled sadly and took to a knee, before putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I always believed that you need to see the good in the world. I've seen the bad parts of it… I hope to never tell you what I ended up seeing. It's why I am always helping people: be it at the soup kitchen or opening a door for someone. Kind acts make the world a better place in a way hate and anger never can. There is so much wonder in the world, but so few people can see it. Some fear it."

"You have an amazing power. You can do things that no other person can, and you've always have. Even if they never know it, you've saved people. Mrs. Crock and Mr. Swanson would have both gotten seriously hurt on that ice last year if you hadn't used your gifts. However, there are people in the world who can only see darkness. They and I can both watch the news: I can see a moral decision and they will see something evil in the same event. People might not see your abilities as I do…..as blessings that give you the chance to not only help so many people, but also to be able to communicate like everyone else. I don't want to see you hurt…"

The two of them hugged, as he continued.

"The world is always moving to becoming a kinder place. War is growing more distant each time we choose not to do it, and human and Pokémon are growing closer every day. Kindness is winning the world, and one day it will become so kind that everyone will be treated for who they are, not what they are or where they came from."

"And it is the responsibility of everyone, you and I included, to make it kinder one act at a time. No act is too small; one must always fill the world with all the kindness you can."

...

Shaking her head and looking across to the Power Plant with determination in her eyes, she teleported across.

----------------------------------------

Fuchsia City

"You know, why is a badge given by a ninja a heart? Shouldn't it be a kunai or a toad or something?"

Curious as to where the toad part of being a ninja had come from, Red stopped as Yellow turned around and continued her line of questioning.

"What, don't you know Red? Toads and ninja's go together, like snakes and ninjas. And ramen and ninjas!"

Yellow's comments made his heard whirl, he suddenly saw the Gym Leader (whom he planned to challenge soon, but had seen pictures of and her victims running to the Pokémon center screaming for Pecha berries and about having caltrops in their shoes), lying on the back of a giant Politoed with a pipe in its mouth, sipping ramen even as Ekans swarmed around her feet.

It was… an odd image.

Reflections on ninjas with toads, snakes, and ramen were stopped however, when he noticed Yellow having also stopped.

She was looking at a Pokémon ahead of them with the wide, 'Oh my god that is so adorable I just want to hug it' way his mother used to, such as when his Pichu had hatched all those years ago.

Mother…

Shaking the depressing thought from his mind Red looked over the Pokémon that was making Yellow go gaga.

It was a blue… thing, cute but really Red had no idea what it was supposed to be, hugging a log deep in slumber.

"Oh my… that Pokémon is soooo cute…Red can you please catch this Pokémon? Please!" Yellow asked loudly. On his shoulders he felt his former Pichu, long since Pikachu, flinch at the volume.

Oddly enough the Pokémon itself didn't wake up, didn't even twitch at the sound of Yellow's yell. Apparently it was a deep sleeper, a Snorlax relative perhaps?

Looking the Pokémon over once more, Red shook his head. .

"What?! Why not?!" Yellow pouted. He answered by pointing at the creature, a gesture she followed until she came across a hope breaker.

A collar, with a tag on it.

Owned Pokémon

If you see this Pokémon, I will be back shortly. He just gets into fits in stuffy places and sleeps better away from them.

If I don't come back, assume I was eaten by a Palossand or something similarly horrifying and bring him to my home at 626 Pelekai Lane, Melemele Island

"Oh…so he has a trainer…" Yellow moped for a few seconds more before looking back in curiosity.

"Melemele?"

Melemele.

"Is that… part of the Seafoam islands?"

Red thought on it for a moment, though he eventually shook his head.

"Huh… wonder where this guy is from then?"

More importantly, what was a Palossand?

As if reacting to the thought of a Palossand, Pikachu shivered on his shoulder visibly.

"… I suppose I'll be meeting with you after the damn tournament is through…" An old, gravelly voice rumbled from up ahead, just out of sight.

The word 'tournament' caused Red to focus in on it.

"Oh lighten up Kaiser, don't you want to see what your good work in the Safari Zone has accomplished for the Pokémon there? Or just the happy faces of two lucky trainers and their friends as they leave it?" a female voice with an accent Red couldn't quite place questioned as the older voice huffed.

The old man muttered something that made him instinctively cover Yellow's ears.

He heard the woman mutter something about grouchy old men, even as he began to hear steps.

Soon the voice's owner came to view, revealing a brown skinned woman with dark hair that flowed down her back. She was wearing a blue-green blouse and tan pants, with a pair of armbands on each arm that were red with white flower patterns. A hip pouch on her hip had some sort of brown Pokémon on it with the words 'Mudbray Conservation Group' on it. Red immediately began associating the Pokémon on the pouch with the name 'Mudbray'.

The woman's eyes were on the sleeping Pokémon, though she quickly focused in on them.

"Oh, did Stitch here get in your way? Sorry, but meeting with that old warden is stressful enough without the poor little guy being scared by that gun totting nut." She picked up the blue Pokémon, who did seem to relax even more in his slumber as she continued.

"Anyway, perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is Lilo."

"Hello Lilo, my name is Yellow, and this is Red." Yellow spoke for him as she was used to do.

His gaze met with Lilo's, and the air was quiet for a moment. However both knew what was coming.

"I need to unwind after having to talk and do mind numbing paperwork for the last two hours, and you seem like a trainer to me." She reached into the hip pouch and pulled out two Pokéballs, one active and another that was glowing red in the center in inactive mode.

She tapped the active one, causing its activation button to glow red even as she activated the other.

"How's three on three sound?"

Red nodded, even as Pikachu hopped off his shoulder and looked at Lilo in an evaluating way.

"A Pikachu huh… well I think I know just who to call." Replacing the inactive ball, she tossed the active one into the air and let out a blue, purple, and yellow Pokémon that looked like someone had put a Hitmonchan and a Kingler in a blender.

"Crabrawler vs Pikachu!"

Red eyed the Pokémon showing off fisticuffs at him with some wariness.

He had never fought of, nor heard of, this Pokémon. He would not be able to see a path to victory that was really clear until he battled with it a bit.

However the currently unclear path had an obvious starting point, give the likely typing of Crabrawler and its clearly physical leanings.

"Thunderbolt!" He spoke, as Pikachu's cheeks sparked and a surge of lightning shot at Crabrawler.

The attack hit, stunning the boxer, though as the bolt ceased it did not seem to have suffered as much damage as expected.

Did it have Filter?

"Oh I get it: you thought Crabrawler was a Water-type didn't you?!" Lilo stated as Red blinked.

Or… that could be the reason. So it was a Fighting type then, and probably just one given the lack of flames, metal, leaves or any other type indicators.

"Wait, it's a non-aquatic crab?" Yellow, who had taken a seat at the edge of the fight, stated in surprise as Lilo nodded.

"Yep. Now time to show off his Fighting-type moves! Crabrawler, Power-up Punch!"

With glowing orange pincers Crabrawler threw an extended punch right at Pikachu.

"Dodge!" Red ordered. Pikachu ducked to avoid one, jumped to avoid a second, and got hit with a third and was sent rolling across the dirt.

Pikachu got up after the hit though, pretty well after the blow.

"Not bad. Okay Crabrawler, now use Dynamic Punch!" Crabrawler nodded as the crab began to wind up the left pincer with a really powerful punch.

Red was starting to see a path to victory.

Victory Odds 63% and climbing.

"Pikachu, stay low to the ground and use Thunder Punch!"

Reaching across his body, Pikachu covered his right wrist with its left paw and thrusted his right paw down towards the ground. This caused a yellow ball of electricity to form over said right limb. Extending his arm out, the punch sliced the field apart as Pikachu ran at Crabrawler,

Crabrawler shot out his claw, however the attack missed Pikachu: going just micrometers above the fur.

The Thunder Punch then hit Crabrawler right in the chest.

Crabrawler toppled back, before hitting the dirt in defeat.

"No, Crabrawler!" Lilo recalled her defeated Pokémon as Pikachu huffed and returned to his side, looking proud of himself.

"Well, that was pretty good Red," Lilo stated as she reached into her pouch for a second ball. She seemed to be reaching for something else, but decided against grabbing it at the last moment.

"'I've heard that trainers here in Kanto train for competing in Leagues. We don't have that in Alola, and I must admit my curiosity is peaked. If I end up here for too long, I may just try them out myself, I've heard about how some trainers can enter a League with a single badge."

Red did as well, he remembered Ash had done the same. But yet he still fought more Gyms….was it because they were so weak, or did he seek out challenge where it wasn't needed? Either way now wasn't the time to think about that.

"Go, Charmeleon!"

As he threw out his Pokéball, Lilo responded with her own.

"Go, Exeggutor!"

Victory odds quickly flashed as he prepared to battle the Grass type, only for the Pokémon to be revealed as he, Charmeleon, Pikachu, and Yellow looked up.

And up.

And up.

And up.

And up some more.

"Tor!" The really tall, really strange looking…..'Exeggutor' stated.

Yellow, trying to look all the way up, lost her balance and fell over.

"Wha!? That… that can't be an Exeggutor!."

"Oh, it is. The real Exeggutor," Lilo calmly explained to Yellow, who was still trying to grasp how tall it was, and was only able to do it on her back.

If that was the real Exeggutor, Red preferred fictional ones.

Still, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

"Flame Burst!" Red ordered as the fire ball flew from Charmeleon's maw right at the great lummox.

"Block it with Poison Powder!" Lilo declared. Red had trouble figuring out how that worked, even as Exeggutor began to thrash about, as if in a great windstorm.

The purple powders showered down from it in a great torrent of pollen, which took on the Flame Burst and blocked it.

"Whoa!" Yellow exclaimed in shock, and Red had to admit he was similarly impressed.

"Seed Bomb!" Lilo pushed as seeds shot up from Exeggutor and began to fall like bombs.

"Rock Tomb!" Red ordered. Rotating stones formed above Charmeleon, blocking the explosive seeds entirely. "Now, Shadow Claw!"

Darkness encompassed Charmeleon's arm even as his second Pokémon charged right at the giant.

The claw swipe struck Exeggutor, causing the great tree to stumble, though it did not fall.

That….caught him off guard.

'That was supposed to be super-effective, I know Exeggutor and Exeggcute…' Red's mind was reeling, his Victory Sight was going haywire.

"Now, use Draco Meteor while Charmeleon is under you!"

"Draco what!?" Red exclaimed out loud.

Exeggutor's heads glowed orange, and a deluge of death fell from above down on Charmeleon without escape.

Even as the powerful attack raged, Red was actually getting to see things more clearly now.

Clearly, somehow, this Exeggutor had a different typing. Grass-Dragon most likely. That gave him knowledge.

And from there, power.

Victory odds at 40%, let's see if he could get them higher.

As Charmeleon struggled back up, Red knew what to do.

"Now, Dragon Claw!"

Charmeleon nodded, lunging at Exeggutor with glowing green claws.

"Poison Powder!"

Exeggutor danced again, and instead of meteors toxins rained down from it, covering Charmeleon.

The Dragon Claw petered out as his Fire-type crashed to the ground, muscles seizing up in pain.

Victory odds, rapidly falling.

"You win this round." Red declared as he returned his Charmeleon.

Lilo grinned, as she returned her freaky Exeggutor.

"Good job Exeggutor, you deserve a good rest. Now, final round then, and I know just who to use! Go, Mudsdale!"

She threw out a final Pokémon, revealing a massive creature with dreadlocks and brown coloring.

"Whoa, that's big!" Yellow declared, "Are all Alolan Pokémon so big?"

"No actually." Lilo stated as she pulled out a white ring from her bag, which held a brown crystal in the center.

Red looked at the Pokémon for a moment: it looked defensive, and it was probably related in some way to that Mudbray she had on her belt.

That wasn't even factoring into what the woman had just taken out of her bag. He didn't know if it was connected to the mysterious stone had been given by Scott, or if it was something else entirely, but he wasn't going to take any unnecessary chances if he could help it.

The name Mudsdale implied it was a Ground-type, though other typing along with it was possible. Given its form and name, Ground-Water, Ground-Normal, and Ground-Rock were possible.

That left a certain type of Pokémon best suited to fight, Grass Pokémon.

"I choose you!" Red declared as he sent out his third Pokémon.

Victreebel the yellow pitcher predator Pokémon appeared, shrieking for battle.

Lilo grinned, even as Mudsdale stomped in readiness for battle. However before they could start…

"Lilo! There is more damn paperwork that you need to sign, now! Some bureaucrat just faxed it in!" the grumpy old voice of Kaiser shot through the battle, as Lilo looked annoyed.

"Damn… well sorry but I'm going to have to run." She returned Mudsdale to the disappointment of both Yellow and Victreebel.

Noting the looks she grinned, "But don't think this'll be the last time we can battle. There's a Tag Tournament coming up, and I plan on entering it. It'll be fun, and the winner can enter the Safari Zone and actually capture Pokémon there legally. None of my friends back home will believe that Exeggutor can be so tiny unless I capture one here after all, and there are other Pokémon they need to see to believe I want to capture. So, interested?"

He nodded, as Lilo grinned.

"Well here's where you've gotta go..."

----------------------------------------

Gringy Power Plant

Leaning back in the foreman's chair in control room, Belladonna watched as her Golbat, currently hanging from the ceiling, got a message.

More specifically, her Golbat was getting a message from her Nidorino, who was barking after her Oddish picked up the vibrations given off by her Ekans in the earth, who was currently watching that man.

A bit complicated, and really she'd have found it much easier if Ekans, or better her, could have just killed him. Sadly, circumstances made the simple route risky, and these were her Pokémon.

They were not wild ones she was borrowing, or ones who the world was better off without like Grimer or Muk, she did not want them being put down.

Golbat frowned, and screeched a bit.

To a human anyway, or to her wonderful girls. But to her Golbat was speaking, plain as day.

'Sorry, Tokiomi is still alive. Doctors are struggling, but he isn't dead yet'.

"Damn," she swore. How hard could it be for a damn old man to croak from some disease that people only started to live through after doctors realized Golbat blood leeching was not effective?

The door to the control room creaked open, diverting her attention as she saw who had come in. Her gaze melted from 'damn, why wasn't that bastard gone yet' to 'kind' as Aurora entered, looking nervous and rather shy.

"Um…I checked the back as you asked…the entrances opposite the ones we used are frozen solid. We are good…..what should I do now….?" she stuttered as Belladonna stood up.

Belladonna felt a pin of sadness pierce her heart as Aurora flinched, which was followed by a renewed burning hatred of Tokiomi as she walked to her dear and hugged her.

"Evanna and Vedia are all that we need to watch this place, you can stay with me. I mean, if you want to." She wasn't sure if it was quite needed, but she always got the sense she always had to give Aurora a choice. She didn't force Vedia and Evanna to do anything, but she felt like she had to make that as obvious as possible with Aurora.

"I… I'd like that," Aurora murmured as Belladonna began to melt into the shy girl.

Not literally. She could figure out how to use Acid Armor if she really wanted to, but she didn't. No, she merely leaned down onto Aurora, embracing her as much as possible in her loving arms and comforting bosom.

"I'll always be here for you…" She felt Aurora relax a bit as she whispered into her ear. "I love you, my dear Aurora. I love you all so much. I will do anything for you three… anything."

That included punishing those who hurt any of you. Sure, she wouldn't react to some human bumping into them by melting his face off… but with Tokiomi…

He would die. It was what he deserved.

…

The feeling of Belladonna holding her…it was so comforting, the warmth of her arms, the softness of her skin, her scent, her very presence made Aurora feel safe and oh so happy. Aurora she wished she could always be held like this, by her Belladonna..

For a girl who had been hurt so much, for one who was part of something she hated in pollution, she was so loving, so kind.

She could make her so happy, be it on a simple date or somewhere humans couldn't see them. The thought of those activities, with Belladonna, or with Vedia, Evanna, and/or Belladonna made her blush.

Humans….said as if she was talking about some other creature. It was sad to think about.

Not even two years ago she thought she was human. She had everything in the world, money, knowledge, a loving father. The only thing she had been missing was a license for a Pokémon, and a mother, but her father had loved her mother dearly and could never remarry.

Father… what had happened? Was the father she had known for her entire life before she had first frozen something been an illusion?

The cold man that had replaced him after that, and then the hurtful man in both tongue and actions, was he her real father?

The year and a half after the point he had thrown her out of his life, she had never mentioned him to Belladonna. It was painful to talk about, the times she had tried too only brought tears to her eyes. When she had cried, Belladonna and the others had comforted her, but she had seen Belladonna's eyes.

When they were not comforting her, they had a seething, angry rage, a fiery gaze that promised destruction, a desire to make whatever caused her to cry to be ripped apart. She was scared of what would happen if she ever pointed them in the right direction.

Sadly, she had blurted it out after she had accidentally ingested a bottle of liquor they had stolen from a vacant cabin. She had woken up naked, yet surprisingly not smelling of sex, with Belladonna sitting at her bed side with a serious look on her face.

That day she had learned not only of Belladonna's dislike for alcohol (as well as the fact she did not hate her for drinking it by mistake, and the fact she had a stronger view of consent than many), but what a 'you have hurt one of my beloveds, now you die' mode Belladonna was like.

And now they were here…and her father was going to die.

She wasn't sure what she thought about Tokiomi Borealis, but she knew what she thought of the Daddy of Aurora Aoi Borealis.

She didn't want to kill Tokiomi, in case her father was still somewhere inside of him, trying to get out.

'Oh, but what's going to happen if you tell Belladonna no? If you betray her, like you betrayed your father when you turned out to be a Bloodliner?' A dark voice in her head told her whenever she wanted to try and talk Belladonna out of it. 'Do you want to be thrown away again? You aren't worthy of love if you betray the ones you love.'

In the end though, she couldn't stop it. In the end, her father would be dead.

And the blame would all be hers.

As if sensing her discomfort Belladonna began to nuzzle her, as if trying to rub away whatever was bothering her.

----------------------------------------

Meanwhile elsewhere in the plant

A wall of living mire fired a bulleting blaze of sludge right at Ash, who ducked to the side to avoid it with Pikachu, Charmeleon, and Starmie.

"Well, it smells like Muk…" Ash poked his head around the side to see the blasting wall of pollution, and one that was notably larger than the others. "And that Muk looks like our Muk…."

"Pika…" "I'd say it smells like him too, though the Grimer are not helping there so I might be wrong, if some of them would go away I could probably confirm…'

"Grimer, the Sludge Pokémon. Grimer are created by a combination of human pollution and Chi-rays, which look like X-Rays when written but are as different as ice cream and lard, from the moon. Don't ask how that works, but I've heard some Alolan is looking into it at their famous observatory." The Pokédex gave some useless trivia that interrupted Pikachu.

"Think you can try and hit him for me? I can make the shot if you do." Ash held a Pokéball in hand as Pikachu nodded, cheeks sparking.

"Charmeleon, cover him!" Ash requested. Charmeleon nodded, before leaping out and firing a Flamethrower.

The Flamethrower drew the attention of all the Sludge Bombs, causing a concentrated firing that shattered the Flamethrower.

However Thunderbolt was able to fly behind it, moving over the controlled Grimer and striking Muk, who sizzled a bit and slumped over.

He was fine, but paralyzed.

"Okay, go Pokéball!" With a well-pitched curveball that could have earned him Casey's eternal respect if he had chosen a different career path.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The curveball was well on track to hit the paralyzed Muk, when a Grimer rose up to block it.

The Grimer was sucked in to the ball, which promptly shook before vanishing off to Oak's.

"Excellent capture! The Pokéball will neutralize Grimer's toxins and odor, making it perfectly huggable if you so choose," the Pokédex stated as Ash reached for another Pokéball.

That…wasn't supposed to happen, but it was probably just a fluke.

"Okay, let's try that again. Come on home Muk!" Ash threw another excellent curveball if he did so himself.

The ball was once again intercepted by a Grimer, who was also sent to Professor Oak's Lab. Ash was starting to have a flashback of his time in the Safari Zone and how he'd gotten an entire herd of Tauros.

"Muk, the Sludge Pokémon. Muk is the evolved form of the Grimer who keep Mukblocking you. Muk are known to smell horrible in warm weather, more so than usual. Being touched by a non-captured Muk is lethal." The Pokédex stated once more unhelpfully.

Ash pinched between his eyes in frustration, even as Starmie rolled off behind him as if going to get something.

"This isn't working. I'm going to run out of Pokéballs doing this… we need some way to stop those Grimer…"

"Char!" 'I say we charge them!' Charmeleon suggested.

"That actually might work…" Ash admitted. They'd just have to avoid the Sludge Bombs and…

"Gri!" They shouted in monotone, even as a putrid cloud began to spew from their mouths.

….and the Poison Gas. Fun...and potentially lethal given the circumstances.

"Poison Gas isn't lethal and has a small range, but it can poison you. This poison is lethal, and it can explode violently if exposed to electricity and extreme heat," the Pokédex stated as Pikachu looked annoyed at being reminded of that. Charmeleon looked like he was willing to see the explosion idea through.

"So, it is lethal?" Ash stated as the Pokédex replied in the negative.

"No, the gas is fine, it's the poison you get from the gas that can kill you."

"So it's lethal?"

"No it isn't.."

"Yes it ….."

Starmie interrupted the two of them with a cry Ash could not try and describe in writing.

Ash, Pikachu, Charmeleon, and the Pokédex turned to the Water-type, to find it had a glowing, floating box.

IN CASE OF MAGNEMITE INFESTATION

The red words were plastered on the side of it. The top of the box tore open via Starmie's Psychic, revealing dozens of Pokéballs inside.

"Hacking now" The Pokédex simply stated as what had to be done became quite clear.

----------------------------------------

Five minutes later

Ash rubbed his sore arms after five minutes of rapid fire A-grade throwing.

However it was worth it….for the last Pokéball in the box had struck and captured the nearly recovered Muk.

However the thirty Grimer that had still been with Muk before the ball barrage had begun had been very dutiful in protecting their boss.

So now…

----------------------------------------

Meanwhile at Professor Oak's Ranch

Bulbasaur looked up from his sunning rock to see the Professor being chased by Muk, and thirty-two smaller Grimer, with arms outstretched for hugging.

He promptly backed away before any of them noticed him.

----------------------------------------

Back to the Power Plant

….Well, hopefully Professor Oak would be alright. The Pokédex did say that Pokéballs made Grimer and Muk sanitary, right? Wonder if you could eat off one?

But, he couldn't change that now. After about the 10th part of his barrage Pikachu had confirmed that the Muk here was his Muk, and now he was safe and sound and no longer under someone's control.

That was great, and now he had to find the one responsible.

His arm was still sore, so he didn't have the same oomph to his releases this time, but it was private so it would be fine.

Joining Pikachu, Charmeleon, and Starmie were Snivy, Yanma, and Butterfree. With Sliggoo guarding his stuff outside the plant that was all of them.

"Okay, we need to find the person responsible for all of this. Split into teams of two and call us if you find anyone!"

With that order the Pokémon split into three groups: Pikachu and Starmie, Yanma and Butterfree, and Charmeleon and Snivy. Darting either down the hallway away from where the Grimer had been, up towards it, or going back and taking a turn he didn't that left Ash and the Pokédex.

"Pikachu's taking that right, so I'll do the left."

----------------------------------------

Five minutes later found Charmeleon and Snivy in the middle of a rather big scuffle.

They were doing fairly well for themselves though.

"Sni." 'You know, I doubt that is a legal move,' she snarked turning her gaze from Charmeleon as she avoided a Beedrill's jabbing attack before jumping over said Beedrill and smacking it with her tail. It briefly glowed light blue, though the color didn't stick.

Charmeleon, who was sweeping away a platoon of Weedle with an Ekans whip, and occasionally smacking it up the head when it tried to bite him, didn't care.

After swiping away another Weedle attack, he spotted an approaching Nidorino charging his way.

"Char!" 'Charmeleon use Fling!'

The Ekans was flung right into the Nidorino's path, tangling it up and causing both to grind to a halt.

Idly knocking a Bellsprout away with a Leaf Blade, before attempting to hit an Oddish with Aerial Ace and having it fail on her again, Snivy bounced back and landed close to where Charmeleon was.

"Vy." 'One, that was a terrible Ash impression. Your voice is too deep. Two, can you even use Fling?'

Charmeleon chuckled in response, as if laughing at the idea of someone having to research throwing your enemies.

However the chuckles came to an end as a line of Gloom advanced, spewing a giant storm of Stun Spore at them. Meanwhile from the other side several Nidorina started shooting Poison Stings their way.

The two starter Pokémon took stock of the situation, before in unspoken agreement switching places and confronting the respective threats.

Snivy leapt into the looming spore storm, not fazed by it as Leaf Storm began to charge. Charmeleon charged a Flamethrower even as the Poison Stings grew closer.

"Sni!/Mel!" 'Fire!'

And both attacks flew towards their respective targets. Leaf Storm blew away the bulk of the spores before smashing into the Gloom, while Flamethrower burned away the purple barbs and scorched the Nidorina.

Both starter Pokémon and fellow Team Plasma Busters nodded in acknowledgement of one another, even as Charmeleon whacked away the Oddish she had failed to take down earlier.

However the battle soon resumed as a swarm descended from afar.

"Vy…" 'Your region has too many Poison-types'

Charmeleon had no response to that statement as two massive swarms of Zubat came at them from both directions.

Leaves and fire billowed around both as the swarms got close.

As Charmeleon charged them with a flaming body, Leaf Storm flew.

The attacks blew away dozens of the bats, but more kept coming. Several of them flew down low, before speeding at Snivy with speed.

Snivy narrowed her eyes at these bats, using Aerial Ace the same as Pidgeot did, trying to take in as many details as she could.

As they got close, her tail began to glow. It started to turn blue.

Her tail met the first speeding Zubat, knocking it back.

She growled as she felt the power fade, even as the second Zubat slammed into her.

Knocked by this attack, she rolled on the ground before managing to push herself back on her feet, even as the third Zubat flew right her with Aerial Ace.

As Charmeleon roared with delight for his battle, she had to win this one.

One more time, she focused everything she had ever heard about Aerial Ace and how it works into her tail. She felt it grow in power and glow blue.

With that, she charged at the Zubat as fast as she could.

Two forms of Aerial Ace, the tackle and the slice, soon collided as her tail met Zubat's body. They struggled against each other for one second, two seconds, three seconds….

And Zubat was flung back, defeated and laying on the ground.

Snivy smirked at the feeling of a nice, perfected Aerial Ace, even as she began to glow.

…

Elsewhere in the Power Plant a Venomoth was blow down from the sky by Water Gun, while a second was hit by Wing Attack.

The attackers, Staryu and Wingull, continued their barrage even as their trainer and her most faithful Pokémon stared down an approaching line of Arbok.

The controlled snakes fired a barrage of Mud Bomb attacks.

"I've cover you!" Misty shouted as she formed a Whirlpool to block the attacks.

"….Psy…" 'Sigh….fine…' Psyduck struck the ground with a glowing Secret Power. The light traveled through the ground, before shocking the Arbok.

The two ran passed the stunned snakes, even as a few of them began to flake.

Shed Skin was activating.

Feeling a sense of impending 'giant snake is behind you with poison' vibes, Misty shouted back to her other Pokémon.

"Psyduck and I are going ahead, finish these guys off would ya?!"

As the shedding finished two of the Arbok tried to use Bite, but got a Water Pulse and a Water Gun for their trouble and were blown back.

Shouting a quick thanks to the Pokémon behind her Misty rounded a corner, followed by a stumbling Psyduck. It was clear.

They took another corner, and it was also clear.

The third was clear as…

Misty felt a blow to the back of her head, and started to fall.

Slowly.

Psyduck froze mid-run, seeing his trainer falling to the ground.

Either by trip or deliberately, he threw himself between her and the hard ground, his stomach cushioning her fall.

"Du…" He groaned as the weight of her head struck him.

Misty recovered from the fall quickly enough, and noticed the pained duck who had saved her from a potentially bad injury.

"Psyduck…" she stated in a concerned tone, unsure of what had caused her to trip. He muttered something in response, so he seemed to be okay

"Your Psyduck is very loyal," a female voice stated, even as she got back on her feet, followed by Psyduck whom rubbed his now sore belly.

Misty glared down the hall, from where a human form was approaching. A short girl, with brown hair and…

"Wait…" Misty breathed as the girl continued to grow closer. "…I saw you yesterday. You were at that restaurant with nachos."

"Correct," the short girl she had glimpsed briefly stated as she adjusted her glasses.

"So you're the one…"

She was interrupted by the girl shaking her head.

"Negative. I am not. That is Belladonna, I am merely here to assure that our goal is met," the girl stated in a tone that was somewhat emotionless: not fully devoid of it but she was definitely not going to win any emoting contests.

It was cliché, but Misty felt the need to say it.

"What is your goal then?"

"Justice," the girl stated simply.

"Duc…" 'Huh, I could have sworn this Power Plant was pretty ecofriendly…'

Somehow, Misty doubted she was after that kind of justice.

Misty moved to make the girl move, but she found her legs weren't moving. A glance down at them revealed why.

Shadows. A shadow had extended from the girl, and was restraining her legs.

"Have you ever heard of the move Shadow Sneak? It's a technique used, mostly by Ghost Pokémon, to attack an opponent first via a shadow. I can use it as well," the girl explained, "But unlike them, I can use my shadow for more than just hitting something. Of course, my shadow always hits first."

Misty smirked.

"Sure, you do move first, but that just means I can counter it better."

"How? Your Psyduck can't, not with my Gastly using Lick on it."

"Du? 'What Lick!?' A large tongue suddenly washed over the duck, causing him to stiffen.

"Oh, just this…" Misty formed Whirlpool again, and threw it at the surprised shadow girl.

The girl was knocked into a wall, releasing the shadows from around her legs. Psyduck was still paralyzed, so Misty picked him up and looked around for a disembodied tongue.

She saw it moment before it licked her face, allowing her to bend over and avoid it, before a Water Pulse hit it straight on and knocked it away.

Misty smiled as her Staryu and Wingull flew over to her, looking quite well.

"Good, we're all together! Now, let's…" Misty's eyes widened in surprise as a shadowy fist formed behind Wingull, and hit the bird right into the ground.

Like Psyduck with her, Misty ducked to catch it.

As Psyduck began to squirm under her, seemingly recovering a bit from the lick, she put him on the ground, said duck being a tad woozy, and glared down the hallway where the girl was once more standing.

"So, you are like us? How interesting…What is your name? Belladonna can get it from you later, but it would be more polite to avoid having to resort to such measures."

"Misty," she told the girl tersely, not quite sure what the girl was referring to.

"Vedia." She gave her own name, even as Misty suspected she was preparing to attack her with a shadow again.

----------------------------------------

Live Guard Inside

The words were cut into the door Ash found himself walking by, and he paused to open it

Before he could reach the knob however, the Pokédex spoke up.

"I wouldn't do that."

"What, you think it's a trap or something?" Ash retracted his hand a bit from the knob.

"Possibly. It is also possible this is a legit person restraining door, I am detecting life signatures beyond this door. However, removing that person would make him vulnerable to roaming Pokémon, like that Nidoqueen you beat up."

Said Nidoqueen groaned on the floor, defeated. Ash really didn't like leaving the Pokémon like that and would have captured it if it wasn't already captured.

"Huh…..but I could have sworn you said…" Ash questioned in response.

"The Pokémon in question had been inside a Pokéball at the time, had it been out it would still be affected. The casing of a Pokéball negates the control, not being captured in general."

Huh, like Team Plasma's machines. That made sense…

"Perhaps I need to be clearer about what I say…yes I need to double the word count I use. I'll fill you in on all the details I didn't properly elaborate on…" The Pokédex began to mutter as it exposited more "…Gyarados, the Atrocious Pokémon. Gyarados are vicious creatures that have caused the end of entire civilizations in only a single day, and thus went unstudied until an ignorant young man named Jared Kowaski evolved his Magikarp named Mr. Fish and thus gained an unparalleled understanding of Gyarados psychology and dietary needs, though he lacked most every other skill. This knowledge of their mindset is presumably the only reason he has not been mauled, blasted, or eaten yet. Gyarados are easily provoked and were the greatest threat to ancient mariners in all recorded histories, greater than scurvy, syphilis, storms, whirlpools, rocks, alcohol induced directions, and splinters combined. An ancient civilization in the Orange Islands won three separate wars with Pokélantis because Gyarados independently destroyed the invading armadas. Their danger to all around them led to the great Kalosian Gyarados culling and Magikarp poisonings that all but wiped out the species population there, warranting a controversial declaration of conservation that many still find self-destructive. It is illegal to import a Gyarados or Magikarp to Unova on threat of death and massive fines. Gyarados are a predatory species easily capable of eating humans in large numbers, the largest recorded single loss of life from a single Gyarados bite is 24 humans and a Pidgey. They are attracted to splashing water on the edge of the water, which induces a vicious attack instinct. Their stomach acid is capable of dissolving steel with a P.H of…."

"That isn't necessary." Ash managed to quiet the device down before it got too fact heavy. "Just….try and speak clearly, not more."

"Aw…" The device quieted down as Ash found himself at the door to the control room.

One, two….

With a harsh kick at the mental thought on three he burst into the room, ready to end this nonsense once and for all.

Only to get blasted into a wall, his left arm iced to the wall.

Ash struggled, trying to break it apart, but it held firm.

"Odd ice detected. Ice is denser than that found in nature or used by Pokémon, though it is also less cold. Your risk of hypothermia and frostbite is reduced." The Pokédex was quick to comment on his current state of ice imprisonment.

Said ice had come from a girl about his age with black hair, with ponytails and a sweater that seemed odd for this weather. Steam, the sort that came from the cold instead of heat, was wafting from her fingers, which were arranged in a manner much like a gun. Despite the gun like fingers, she looked rather frightened as his approach, as if shocked he had gotten this far and had fired on reflex.

Ice? But it was Ekans and Beedrill and other Poison types doing this, not Ice-types. Were there two of them?

"Well, this is unwelcome," a much deeper female voice growled

Rising from a chair in the back of the control room approached the owner of the voice, a tall teenage girl, even taller than Iris and probably quite a few adults. Her black hair was long, and dyed green at the tips. Her face was sharp looking, and she….

She had the same marks on her face that he did, and had seen on very few others, amongst them Yellow.

However, Ash saw a lot of someone else when he saw her: Red. Her eyes were redder, sure, and her face was a lot sharper, but it had a nagging theory of 'you look vaguely similar'.

And Red in turn looked like someone else: himself.

"How did you get this far?" she demanded, looking him up and down before her face went from 'angry' to 'fury built on worry'.

"Where are Vedia and Evanna? What did you do to them!?"

"Who?" He replied honestly as she narrowed her eyed as him. Her hand began to glow purple, uncannily in a manner that normally was a sign that Brock would get jabbed, before she reeled it in.

So she was the Poison Bloodliner?

"Now, tell me." Before he could speak she growled at him, her eyes glowing an orange-brown. "What did you do to Vedia and Evanna? The two female Bloodliners guarding the Power Plant, what did you do to them?"

"I didn't encounter anyone like that. I encountered plenty of Pokémon, but no one who didn't come in with me" Ash felt the answer slip out of him, as if he couldn't help but not speak. It was…

The glow faded from the girl's eyes, as she looked at him in ire.

"Well that explains it. You must have snuck in while my Sweetie and Sweet take care of your friends. No matter."

He didn't pay much attention to her words, as he was still trying to process what had just happened.

What had just happened to him? It was like he couldn't help but talk, and still be as truthful as he had been earlier. Though why he said anything about Misty and Iris was beyond….

Wait. Was that a Bloodliner's ability, like how he could give his Pokémon more power unconsciously at times? That wasn't a Poison move though….

Was this girl like him, someone who possessed two Bloodlines?

In the corner of his eyes he noticed the other girl with her, the ice one, looking at him in confusion, before her eyes went wide with shock. The other one didn't notice this, as her hand was once again glowing purple like she was going to Poison Jab him.

Unlike Brock though, this probably would not end with him dragged off by a laughing Poison-type.

Was he immune to it though? He had never actually been hit by a Poison-type since coming back in time, so he wasn't sure.

He didn't want to find out, though.

He tried to get a move to start, but Power-up Punch didn't seem to want to activate from where he was bound. Could he try to Quick Attack his lower body to kick her?

The dual bloodliner looked ready to hit him, even as the ice girl looked like she was trying to say something, but couldn't. He wasn't the only one seemed to notice this.

For Poison Jab deactivated, and the taller girl turned to the shorter.

"Aurora, is something the matter?"

Aurora. So, that was the name of the Ice Girl.

The now named Aurora was looking at him with the same look of shock and he had seen earlier.

"I'd tell you that you can leave the room while I kill him, but the body wouldn't really be fixed…."

"No. That's not it. Belladonna….it's just….he looks like you."

The words were spoken out loud, causing Belladonna's face to morph into one of unease. His probably also did, but he had a lot on his mind beyond it so he had no idea what his face was currently set to.

"Well, I guess we both have dark hair…." She bent over to look at him closer, before reaching for and stretching his…earlobe?

"… Our earlobes are both unattached, and we both have these….whatever they are on our cheeks, but that's hardly going to prove anything. I mean, unless he's also a Bloodliner or something."

She looked at him again, her eyes glowing once more, "Now, tell me the truth, you're not a Bloodliner."

"I am a Bloodliner. Not only do I have the ability to do anything a Lucario can, but I also can increase the strength of my Pokémon whenever I need to. It makes my eyes glow, apparently."

Again, the truth slipped out of him as Belladonna took a step backwards, away from him. Her face was now stunned, looking like she had just discovered something she had thought to be impossible.

Aurora gasped, her hands covering her mouth in shock. Though she did look somewhat relieved, as if glad she didn't realize this after the fact.

"…Do you know your father? Were you raised just by your mother…" Belladonna asked him, much quieter. Without her eyes glowing with a Bloodline.

The truth did not burst of him this time, this time the words spoken were those he choose to say.

"I only know my Mom," Ash admitted as Belladonna walked back over to him, before reaching out and touching his face.

Lightly. Curiously. Her red eyes looking into his brown ones, trying to see all she could.

"You look different from me, but what doesn't… it really is there." She turned to Aurora, looking at her in immense gratitude.

"Thank you My Dear….you stopped me from making a horrible mistake."

She turned back to him, a much gentler smile on her face now.

"You stopped me, from killing the Brother I never knew I had."

One word. A word that could never be unsaid.

It was out now, and could never be unspoken.

----------------------------------------

Her fist colliding with the intruder's claws, Evanna's face was split in a maddening grin.

There were few things in life, after all, that could match the rush of a good fight, the exchanging of blows and the meeting of fist to flesh.

Only love could match the intensity of a good fight.

Around them their Pokémon were still fighting, though those battles were winding down. The fights would be over soon, though she suspected that they would soon lead to more fights.

But such thoughts were not for battle, her thoughts must only be on her opponent.

Everything about an opponent's techniques in a fight revealed something slight, you just had to know how to spot it. Once you did, a fight was the purest form of conversation any being in the world could provide.

The girl, whose name wasn't important and she had not offered it, moved with sharp focus when she attacked, though the focus wasn't aiming to a definite end goal, like overpowering, flow control, or disorientation.

Meaning that while she had long had practice in fighting or combat, she was not trained by a human martial artist, or a Fighting-type with a disciplined style of combat. Her fighting style seemed to be something more instinctual, wild but controlled, the way she attacked made Evanna think her opponent had been taught by a clawed Pokémon. The green energy claws around the other girl's hands only provided more proof to her theory.

Hardly a mark against her: such a fighting style may not be as razor focused, but it also meant finding a read on weaknesses was much harder. And that made the fight all the more invigorating.

A slash and a punch both hit, Evanna felt blood begin to drip from her right cheek while her opponent was sent flying into a wall.

No matter for either, like a Pokémon not only could they take more and recover faster, but it was also much harder for them to ever get a scar. Pokémon that respected scars on their species did so because it was much harder to get one than it was for humans. Of course as a result of how a human skin was, heat dissipation via sweat was much more efficient. Pokémon could take more hurt before being permanently harmed, and Humans could withstand the heat of battle for much longer: she could do both of course, and so could her opponent.

Neither heat nor pain would stop this fight.

Another exchange of blows, and Evanna got to see her opponent's eyes.

A glance of only a few moments, but those moments revealed more than a hundred words could.

This girl was an orphan who had lost her family twice.

Just as Evanna herself had lost both her mother, and both her fathers.

How did your birth parents die?

She didn't ask this question; no this wasn't the time for vocalizations.

This was a time to hit the ground without even a casual declaration of Boost (always a fun word to shout with each strengthening punch), while avoiding a blast of Dragon Breath. Debris was a good shield after all.

Was it like what had happened to the family she had no memory of? Victims of a Typhoon like the storm that had left her an orphan (Urobuchi was its name, she looked it up a few years ago out of curiosity), or some other disaster.

Yet, you were taken in by someone afterwards….

Avoiding another slash and punching her, Evanna wondered who had taken her in.

Evanna herself had been taken in by a marital artist named Kyle Narec, who was not a Johto native. He had taught her everything he knew, and had not rejected her when her Bloodliner powers had been discovered.

Was this girl that lucky? Belladonna, Vedia, and Aurora certainly weren't.

Taking a blast of Dragon Breath to the chest, she looked at the girl's eyes and wondered.

How did you get orphaned twice?

The eyes of someone who had lost their family twice was distinct from one had lost it only once.

Both of them had those eyes. The eyes of an orphan who knew they had gotten a second chance, and had it taken away from them.

----------------------------------------

"So brother, what is your name? I feel rather embarrassed I didn't ask for it sooner. You heard mine of course, Belladonna, though if you want to put a last name to it you can call me Belladonna Narec."

One thing Ash had noticed when he had traveled back in time was that Misty was a bit less prone to random bursts of anger.

It might have been because of how her life had went, but as he recalled most older females were somewhat more mellow than Misty had been, or May, or Dawn, or Iris….come to think of it Serena wasn't as prone to mood swings either.

Maybe that was just a thing with females within the range of whatever his age was. Perhaps Serena just happened to be out of the thick of it.

However, with Belladonna having gone so rapidly from wanting to kill him to being friendly maybe it wasn't just an age thing. Though then again it wasn't as if Misty ever found out he was her long lost brother or something so perhaps this was a normal reaction.

She was also somewhat blushing in embarrassment at the admission of her not knowing his name.

"Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town."

Belladonna blinked at his response, which was rather odd. Was it so wrong to always mention his home town?

"Huh, name and home town. Pallet Town…" Belladonna looked confused as she tried to think about it, "Where is that exactly?"

"Pallet Town is found south of Viridian City. It's mostly known as a small country town that is tending liberal in the last few decades more so than other areas south of Viridian, though it is well known for being the home of Professor Oak which likely is a factor to this political tendency." Surprisingly, this did not come out of the Pokédex's speakers, but from Aurora, who covered her mouth and blushed in embarrassment.

Belladonna nodded at Aurora's info dump, while Ash noted the political comments with disinterest. Ash didn't care about politics in the old timeline, and he felt the same way in this one. All he knew about Pallet Town's rep in this timeline is that he collected Trainer cards and was rumored to spend 70% of his government salary buying boxes of them and ordering rare ones online.

"So, my little brother's a country boy." Belladonna grinned at him, Ash wishing she wouldn't call him that.

Just because they had some similar elements to their appearance and history didn't make them siblings, and she embraced the idea a bit too quickly.

Not helped of course, by the fact he was still frozen to the wall. Apparently neither of them had an ice pick on hand.

"Well, I'm from the city myself. This city in fact," she said 'this city' with little affection, "I'm from the Old Cesspit."

Ash wasn't sure how to answer that, an issue quickly filled in by Aurora.

"The Old Cesspit is the bad part of Gringy City, a status it had even back in the bad days when it was even worse than it currently is. It's riddled with crime, drugs, misery, and prostitution, though it is oddly also known for several well respected, hidden gem restaurants." She again blushed and covered her mouth after spontaneously info dumping.

"Yeah, it sucked," Belladonna blandly noted of her birthplace.

"Anyway…what else do we need to know about ourselves now? Oh yes…how old are you? I'm sixteen."

Sixteen? Huh, he'd have guessed older himself. She seemed to pick up what he was thinking.

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

"I'm fifteen." Fifteen going on who knows how much, but he wasn't going to bring that up here, or at any point if he could.

That would just be weird.

"Fifteen….that means you're the same age as my dear Aurora here…" She turned to the ice girl with a wide smile on her face.

The smile was just as kind (as in, not an 'I will hurt you' smile), but it was different somehow.

Turning back to him, Belladonna looked intent on continuing her questioning train.

"So, you and I were both raised by a single mother. Did yours suck?" she said the last part with extreme flatness.

"No!" Not in this or the old timeline. Never.

She seemed taken aback by the volume of his response along with the growl that had rumbled in his throat when he'd answered.

"My bad….I apologize for that. It's just… my mom sucked. Vedia's mom sucked. Aurora and Evanna's moms died before they knew them so I can't really say on them but there is a pattern going so I am not optimistic. Between the four of us, we only had one good parent, and he was a martial artist whose career was spent punching mountain Graveler for training for martial art tournaments. Nicest guy in the world apparently, but he's an extreme minority."

She seemed genuinely regretful for her assumption about his mom, and she did give an explanation.

An odd one given the fact the one good parent among the four (where were the other two? He hoped Misty and Iris were okay) apparently punched living rocks to toughen himself up, but she did seem to want to explain herself.

"I understand… anyway about my mom," Ash talked, given he couldn't do anything else right now but wait until someone found him. "She's the nicest person in the world. I never knew my dad, but she was always there for me. She's a great cook, and she's pretty smart, at least smarter than I am. Not that being smarter than me is hard, but that's not really the point. She's always supported me in everything I do, and I wouldn't be who I am today without. Thinking back," Aka, noting things that happened after he left in timeline one and a few talks with her after that, "She could have been bitter. She's not even 20 years older than me, and she had to raise me by herself. But I think she did a good job of it."

Belladonna was silent for a moment, her lips pinching against each other. She spoke after a moment.

"She sounds… nice. I wish she was my mother… because mine, as previously stated, sucked. A lot." She took a deep breath before continuing.

"Like you, I never knew my father. My mother didn't say much about him either, except he was good looking and had an accent that screamed foreigner. They 'daycared', she never saw him again, and nine months later… I assume it's the same with you?"

Ash wasn't quite sure why she used the term 'daycared', as he was pretty sure a place you put small children was not supposed to be a euphemism.

"I don't know….I never liked asking her about it." He had some tact.

"Try cheap alcohol, it loosens lips," she quipped with all the darkness of a Dark Pulse.

Uh, no. He was not going to get his mom drunk. That had a 50/50 shot of either finding out something about his father he didn't want to know (ranging from angry ranting to something his whatever aged mind from the original timeline was not meant to know), or her dialing random people and telling embarrassing stories about him if he had to guess.

"Well after that….life sucked. The woman was a hoarder who couldn't care to get rid of anything, and cared less about how clean anything was. It attracted Grimer."

"Grimer? Surely it couldn't have been that bad?" Ash was sure she was exaggerating at this point.

He briefly noticed Aurora rapidly shaking her head in response to him, as furiously as Max had that time someone had grabbed a piece of May's pizza.

Unlike that guy though, he didn't get hit in the face and called something rude.

Belladonna just hit the wall ferociously, her hand glowing purple and melting the surrounding concrete. When she spoke she was talking a lot faster and angrier than she had been before.

"It was that bad! The only reason anyone could even move in that damn shack was because they ate enough of the crap that you could actually crawl in there! And they talked as they did so, muttering and singing and gulping all night! I could never sleep through it because I could hear exactly what they were saying, and when I actually could do so I had nightmares! The only time I was ever out of that damn hovel was when I was at school, and those damn freaks of nature, if you can even call a freaking piece of sludge a freak of nature, caused me to have to stay home from it because they literally ate my cloths, sometimes off me, and my backpack, sometimes off me, and my homework, sometimes right in front of me, and Mr. Stuffy, right out of my arms, and…"

She seemed to catch the stunned looks that he and Aurora had been giving her, and she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and also dialed her volume down.

"Sorry…" she apologized as she reopened her eyes, they were calmer now but they still held that burning anger she'd displayed seconds before.

"No problem, I probably should have phrased that statement of mine better…" Ash gently put out there.

"…Anyway, when I was eleven I was finally thrown out after she found out I had been seen kissing a pair of sisters. As it turns out, there is one thing my mom won't hoard." Belladonna's face grew pensive as she recalled this. "You know, I wonder what ever happened to Annie and Oakley after that?"

The fact that Belladonna was attracted to girls registered in Ash's mind, but it didn't really linger.

While Ash had issues with being stuck to a wall, and of Belladonna performing terrorism, he could care less about who she liked.

To him, if both sides were consenting nothing else mattered.

Though his thoughts did linger on the names she mentioned, Annie and Oakley. Weren't those the names of those girls who got Latios killed at Alto Mare? He'd have to ask Pikachu later.

"I'm sorry to hear about that," Ash genuinely told her as she waved him off.

"It's hardly anything to be sorry for. I've been far better since I got away from that woman, and if I had never left I'd have never met My Dear Aurora here, or My Sweet Vedia, or Evanna Sweetie." She was smiling as widely as Aurora was blushing red, and the implications of what Belladonna said began to connect.

"Wait, which one's your girl…."

"All of them," Belladonna said her smile growing wilder as the anger in her eyes changed to an almost giddy happiness.

With two timelines worth of memories, and adventures including, but not limited to saving the world, getting stranded on deserted islands, traveling to alternate dimensions, riding Legendary Pokémon, being part of a featured film, nearly being sucked into the afterlife, dying, the end of time and space itself, meeting various caped crusaders, time travel, space-time travel, and channeling magical ocean power: Ash could say with some certainty that this was a new one.

----------------------------------------

With a fresh grin, Charmeleon's battle partner blew away a Nidorina who had been at her eye level.

She was clearly enjoying her new evolution, and with it her new powers.

"Serv." The Servine formerly known as Snivy grinned, 'Well, I certainly could get used to this.'

Charmeleon rolled his eyes and blasted a swarm of approaching Spinarak with Flamethrower.

Yeah yeah, Evolution is wonderful and we should all do it. Of course, it wasn't like you automatically evolved if you did X, learned Y, or anything so simple.

Except with stones, but they didn't count.

Servine knocked an Ariados back with Aerial Ace behind him, even as a Nidoking charged his way, horn lowered for a horn attack (quite possibly being Horn Attack).

He grabbed the horn, locking the great charger in place.

"Ser….." He thought he heard the sound of limb movement as Servine spoke again. 'Still, I do miss how long my arms were before.'

Slamming the Nidoking to the ground with a hard wallop, Charmeleon turned and leveled a long look at Servine.

"Char." 'Look, sometimes you give something up when you evolve. Mostly you just lose the ability to jump into people's laps and the ability to hide easily. The higher power levels are worth it.'

Servine still looked somewhat bothered by her now smaller arms, and so Charmeleon looked ready to continue, though his attention was briefly torn when he heard something climb over the Nidoking and fire Poison Stings.

He avoided them with a twitch, and didn't even look back to see the possessed Weedle trying to kill him.

He just flicked it away with his tail, not even turning around to look at it, as he began to glow.

Servine blinked in surprise, though it was a tad hard for him to see when his body was glowing, changing, and his eyes were probably going through complicated changes that he couldn't name, Ash definitely could not name, and if one of the lab coated people saw it would warrant a lengthy lecture on eye lids or something.

As the glowing ended, he was frowning.

Giving Servine a long look, the restored Charizard did not bellow the return of his great power, but growled a simple statement.

'That, was officially a Scolipede. No, it was in fact the fearsome Deathropod, legendary scourge of souls. That Weedle was never here, and I did not just evolve after flicking it away.''

Servine rolled her eyes in response to his statement.

----------------------------------------

They were both getting towards the end of their rope. Around them, all six of their Pokémon had already collapsed in defeat, meaning this was now one on one.

Whoever struck most forcefully now, would win it all.

Evanna's fist glowed with power. It glowed with all the power of her bloodline power to use Power-up Punch.

A punch that had charged a lot of power in the course of this fight.

Her opponent narrowed her eyes at her, an energy claw ready to strike her, just as she was planning to strike her opponent.

"Boost," Evanna stated simply as she prepared to strike….

"Yan!"

Only for a light green glowing something to fly between them and smack her in the face.

The blow was hardly a knockout blow, but it did knock her to the ground.

Evanna glared up from her fall, to see a Yanma buzzing between her and her opponent.

How rare…and unexpected. And unwanted.

Her opponent looked somewhat confused at the Yanma, though Evanna could see realization slowly dawn on the girl's face like a sunrise, before she began moving towards the downed Pokémon, in particular the dragon thing, with a look of concern.

So she probably knew where that thing had come from, and trusted it, or who had sent it, to take over for her while she checked on her Pokémon. But that left a question unanswered: who had sent the Yanma.

That meant she wasn't alone… Belladonna, Aurora, and Vedia!

Evanna got back on her feet, a sense of urgency flowing through her like a flood.

This girl wasn't alone. Her family could be in danger.

She'd deal with this pest first, and knock the girl out afterwards. She'd let Belladonna decide what to do with someone like them.

Then, she'd go protect her family. They would not die.

Not for a third time.

Pssssshhhhhhh.

The sound rang through the air, followed milliseconds by her horror.

Seconds after her horror came the String Shot that stuck her main arm to a wall by a Butterfree that had flown in behind the Yanma.

...

Everything that had happened on that day before Azalea town exploded into murder was hazy to her, but the moment the façade of kindness broke she saw what truly lay in their Johto hearts.

It had been an act of concern of her ten-year-old self, an act of unrequested kindness.

A woman had lost her grip on her carriage, sending a screaming infant flying down the streets.

She had been in the way of it, exiting a grocery store ahead of her orange clad father as he went through a tedious check out.

So, she had done what anyone would have done in that situation, though she wondered later on if there was a hidden truth in this rural town, that she was the first to truly act on her morals and ran towards the runway carriage, an infant screaming in panic within it.

She hadn't notice the creature's tail sticking out when she had stood her ground; steeling herself with all the lessons her father had taught her.

She caught the carriage mid-flight, stopping it before it hit traffic. Before the baby was flung onto the unforgiving concrete.

Her torso even caught the child before momentum (or whatever it was called) flung it out.

All around her the civilians looked at her as a hero: smiling that she had managed to save the child.

"Slow…"

The low, pained cry of the creature whose tale she had accidentally stepped on while saving the baby changed their faces however, from admiration to hatred.

It was a fast change, a wicked change. A change that was too fast to have been normal.

Was this the real face of an Azalea town dweller? Of a rural person? Of a Johto native? A mask of kindness, masking an endless hatred that would erupt like a volcano at the moment it could.

She wasn't thinking that then of course, she was wondering why all the kind people were now looking at her like she had just killed the baby she had saved.

Then she was only thinking on defending herself, and not sending the carriage flying, when the bystanders flew at her with fists and screams of hatred for stepping on the Slowpoke.

A brief flicker of hope rang though her when she heard the shouts of the baby's mother, a flicker that was smothered when she felt a purse hit her in the back of the head.

…

"Evanna…Evanna…."

Unlike their voices, this voice was kind.

It was his voice.

Her eyes slowly opened, followed shortly after by a sense of pain from multiple parts of her body.

"It's going to be alright," the muscled man who was standing over her told her gently. He was dressed in an orange fighting gi, with a blue belt and arm bands. His hair was black, and his face bore several scars, an X shaped on his left cheek and a slash above his right eye.

Several bruises covered his body as well, much fresher than the scars on his face. Just as fresh as the ones she could feel on herself.

"Why are they doing this! I was just trying to help…it was an accident!" Evanna cried, as he extended a hand and gently touched her shoulder.

"Yes, you are totally right. It was an accident, you aren't in the wrong. Come, let's get out of here. We can go somewhere else… anywhere else."

"Anywhere?" she whispered, as he nodded.

"Does Kyle Narec ever lie? Now, let's get moving before they find…"

"There she is!"

"Slowpoke assaulter!"

The mob had returned: and they were armed with weapons and Pokémon. Mercy had not returned to their eyes: only a desire for harm remained in them.

"Run." Her father didn't need to tell her twice, and they ran from the mob.

Briefly, momentarily, hopefully, desperately, her mind saw this as how this story ended. Truthfully she didn't remember much of what happened next: just her running, and running, and running.

She did remember a sound though.

Pssssshhhhhhh.

She hadn't thought much of it at the time, mostly because all she could think of at the time was running as far as she could, but when she stopped miles afterwards she had finally realized that her father hadn't kept up with her, and he never returned.

When she heard the same sound from an Ariados as it caught and ate a Pidgey, she knew exactly what had happened to her father.

Shortly after the realization hit she let out an anguished scream.

...

"Not again….not again….." Tears were coming out of her eyes now, blinding her to however the bugs and the dragon girl were looking at her.

----------------------------------------

"…And that's how it all happened."

Belladonna was the only one in the room not blushing after she finished explaining how she had three girlfriends.

Aurora more than Ash in any case, Ash was merely just processing the whole thing. He had the oddest feeling he had to remember it later, particularly as the Pokédex hadn't given any indication it recorded anything.

Really, the thing was being unusually silent. It was starting to unsettle him.

He did have one thing to say about the entire story though.

"Isn't being in a relationship with multiple people illegal though?"

"Silly brother, I have no use for the laws of man," Belladonna stated after she finished laughing. Her face then quickly morphed into one of 'did I really just say that'.

"My bad, I mean the laws of humans. It doesn't matter what any human says is right, none of us are human so we shouldn't be bound by their laws. Plus have you seen the law codes? It's perfectly legal for you to screw someone behind your wedded partner's back, but the moment a wedded couple decides that they want to be just as close to a third person as to each other it's immoral and depraved. Tell me how that's sensible."

"Adultery and Bigamy is actually illegal in Johto still," Aurora blurted out, though she blushed and covered her mouth after it slipped out.

"…Johto makes more sense than the rest of the world? Well lovely, the world must be all fucked up and we're all going to die from a reality crash," Belladonna darkly joked.

'Too late for that, girl who keeps claiming the two of us are related. It already did that.'

But, before he started thinking too much on the end of the old universe, Ash decided to continue the time stall by pressing a question.

"You think you're above the law?"

Thankfully he didn't say it in an Elliot Stabler tone, but more in a questioning way. Belladonna thus was obliged to answer, and not to attack him.

"Yes, we are all above it. You, me, my dear Aurora, we aren't human nor are we Pokémon. We make our own rules just as they make their own."

"Where in those rules does it make it okay to invade a Power Plant?" Ash questioned. Belladonna was quiet for a minute before she responded.

"This Power Plant, is the one that powers the medical equipment that keeps the bastard Tokiomi alive"

Aurora's father? He had come up during Belladonna's story, so Ash did not need to be reminded of why Belladonna hated him.

But all this….

"Okay, so let me get this straight. Tokiomi is in a hospital which gets its primary power from this Power Plant?"

"It gets all of its power from here after Vedia severed the secondary source's cables." Belladonna cleared up a potential hole in her plan before Ash could even point it out.

That additional few seconds of stall time aside, he had other options.

"I take it he's probably hooked up to one of those machines with all the tubes, packets of fluid, and monitors that flat line if you die?"

"I'm sure those things have a name."

Sadly Brock wasn't here to tell them their make and model, and the Pokédex wasn't spurting it out either.

"So you decided to take over a Power Plant and shut it off, so he doesn't have machines helping keep him alive as he has a surgery, putting him and countless other people in danger of dying."

"Only a few people might die at that hospital who isn't him, and most of them are at the hospital because they smoked or drank too much. Believe me brother, I'm not a monster. I waited until he was transferred out of the hospital with the dedicated cancer ward to one specialized with self-inflicted damage from drugs and other poor life choices."

That doesn't make you much better.

"Look, Tokiomi is a horrible guy, I'm not going to argue that. But isn't this a little much?"

Ash's gentle question was again not answered right away, and he noticed that Aurora was looking rather unsure of it herself. Belladonna however, did have a response ready.

"Brother….you've never lost anyone, have you? You've never seen anyone you care about greatly suffering because of the actions of someone else? Your life was a lot easier than mine, and I suppose I can't blame you for that, nor should I. I was always told it was the job of older siblings to protect their younger ones after all. However…"

Belladonna reached her left arm out as far as she could, pointing it at neither him nor Aurora. The arm promptly glowed with Poison Jab as she began to speak with a tone Ash had heard before, though not from her.

"When you do feel that emotion, and I do hope you never do, there is only one answer to it. You must punish the ones responsible, with no holds barred. You must make the one who hurt your loved ones feel every bit of pain they did, with extensive interest. Tokiomi betrayed Aurora in the worst way possible, he hurt her deeper than any flesh wound could. Such a man doesn't deserve to walk this earth. Such a man doesn't deserve to die peacefully. Such a man deserves to die suffocating on his own accumulated tar buildup as his veins seize up like a Saffron traffic jam!"

What Belladonna was talking about, the emotion she was putting into her words….the last time Ash had been near such feelings.

"Primeape in the air, detected. Unknown landing trajectory, exact landing coordinates and survival percentage incalculable with present data. Team Rocket may be consulted to amend data deficiencies.

*Twinkle*

Ash just stood in shock, his mind barely able to process what had just happened.

'Ash, that was Primeape,' Pikachu stated, similarly shocked.

"Not bad Pikachu, not bad. That Primeape did show promise, but if it was blown away that easily it wasn't that good to begin with. Return."

A familiar voice, a very familiar one, was the one talking. Following the sound of a Pokéball returning a Pokémon, Paul walked out of the tall grass that bordered the road, and caught Ash's eye.

"Oh, it's you." The trainer greeted with his usual level of disdain, completely ignoring Misty and Iris, "So, how's it been lately? Cheat you way to the Pokémon League by beating a couple of bimbos recently, no wait you already did that."

Paul. The trainer who had challenged his ideals with strength unlike any he had faced.

The trainer who had brutalized Chimchar, and abandoned who knows how many other Pokémon.

The trainer who had blown his Primeape away.

The trainer, who may have killed his Primeape. Ash's vision was flashing red as his memories of Primeape flew through his mind, even though they didn't get on well to begin with when they separated an unbreakable bond had formed between them and now with what Paul had just done that bond might not happen again. Ash's vision was now fixed a blood red, as was Pikachu's with electricity flaring from his cheeks and a vicious fire burning in his eyes.

Even if Paul could not have known that Primeape's history, that did not sedate Ash's rage. Ash's look of shock turned into a snarl of anger, Paul's usually unmovable sneer of disdain briefly flickered as his eyebrow twitched in surprise at the change in Ash's demeanour.

"If I did cheat my way to the Pokémon League Paul, then why would I still be battling Gym Leaders, and beating them better than you, a trainer who doesn't cheat?" Ash countered, surprising Misty and Iris with the amount of anger in his voice. His fists were clenched tightly and visibly shaking from barely contained anger, Ash could feel his fingernails digging into his palms through his fingerless gloves. The small amount of pain seemed to only fuel his anger even further.

...

Was when he himself felt them, after Paul had sent Primeape into the sky to his possible death.

That same rage, that same rage that Misty was right to point out was not normal for him, in this or any timeline, was in Belladonna too.

Somehow that gave more weight to her theory of their relation more than their earlobes or hair ever did. And that worried him.

Clearly his face reacted to his emotions, given that he heard Aurora give out a concerned gasp and Belladonna, somewhat hesitantly, stepped towards him and placed a hand on his cheek.

"You know what it feels like, don't you?" She asked simply.

Ash didn't react, lost in the emotion of the memory as a single tear rolled down his cheek

"I'm sorry." Belladonna said empathically, wiping the tear away with her thumb. A darkness briefly flickered in her eyes, unseen by anyone else, as she started to think of a way to punish the person who had hurt her newly discovered brother.

----------------------------------------

Misty lay on the ground, struggling to move with a shadowy limb holding her down.

She was alone bar Vedia, who was standing in front of her with a vacant expression that was neither emotional, nor devoid of emotion.

There were no Pokémon still out of their balls, they had all been returned since. It was just the two of them, and she was the one pinned down.

"Why do you oppose our goal?" Vedia questioned.

She didn't reply immediately, so Vedia continued.

"You are just like us, and I do not mean in the mere fact that we possess Bloodliner abilities. I can see it in your eyes; you know what the world sees of us. What humanity sees of us. You've been rejected by your family. How long ago was it you were thrown out? It can't have been that long ago. I used to see those same eyes when I looked into a mirror."

"A mirror huh… well maybe when I was twelve. You're rather short," Misty quipped as Vedia's facial expression morphed briefly into annoyance.

"Belladonna thinks my lack of height, a common trait in my family, is cute." A pout almost forming on the other Bloodliner's face.

Misty was in no place to judge that, she didn't have the eyes for judging the attractiveness of other girls.

"Perhaps at one point, I didn't see myself as Human. I probably still don't. But you know….recently I can't help but see things differently. In a better light."

A light by the name of Ash Ketchum, who seemed to just make everything nicer when he was around. He had a certain joy about him, a kindness and optimism that reflected off everything around him.

"Interesting," Vedia stated in a surprisingly genuine tone.

"I take it you have thus met someone you care about, who cares about you back. You have your own Belladonna then?"

'I do not have a girlfriend.' Misty blushed. Though replace the girl part of that statement with boy….

"Interesting how your Belladonna led you to the conclusion that humanity isn't as bad as you thought, while mine led me to the realization I can exist as something other than humanity. Fascinating, though in the end I feel your conclusion is wrong."

'Wrong? You think that looking to people and believing that they can be good, that they can improve, that they can change for the better, is wrong? I'm sorry little girl, but I cannot allow anyone to use that view to hurt others!'

Misty looked around, not sure what that voice came from. It certainly wasn't her own, and it wasn't Vedia's.

She looked just as confused as Misty about the voice, as if she could hear it herself.

Seconds later someone appeared right between them, as if from nothing. Before Vedia could respond the new arrival held out an outstretched hand, and sent Vedia flying down the hallway into a wall.

The new arrival turned to her even as the shadow holding her down faded, allowing Misty to get up and look the new arrival in the eye, finding her a few inches shorter than her.

The girl had purple hair and eyes (or some shade of it, but what was a scarlet and ruby but red?). She was wearing a white shirt that covered her arms like some sort of dress shirt with bits of yellow highlighting buttons and edges of the garment, followed by purple pants and black shoes.

'So, I take it that the girl I just sent flying is the one who is causing the power outage?' The girls mouth mirrored the motions, but no sound came out of it. But that voice did ring in her head again.

This girl was telepathic.

"One of them anyway, but she's not the one controlling the… wait, how are you…?"

'I can't physically talk, but I am able to use my Bloodline to use telepathy. My name's Anabel.' She stretched out a hand, inviting a handshake.

Misty returned it to her savior.

"Misty."

The sound of footsteps caught both of their attentions, turning rapidly down the hallway where Vedia was back on her feet, looking rather annoyed.

----------------------------------------

Bang

The door to the control room rang a solid smash.

The three in room exchanged looks over it.

"I locked it," Belladonna stated simply as the door was banged again.

The door cracked, and shattered despite the lock, revealing the source of the banging.

Posed with his paws on the earth and his tail raised, Pikachu looked ready to speed forward like the wind.

Behind him stood Starmie, glittering like a star of hope.

To the side of Starmie stood a Servine, arms crossed and looking determined.

Above all of them towered a Charizard, claws menacing and flames billowing from his jaw. The way Charizard was stanched it was clear who broke the door.

Wait a minute, Servine and Charizard? As in…

What did he miss?!

Pikachu glanced in shock at his predicament, then eyed Aurora and Belladonna in fury and began to spark.

"Pikapi!" 'Alright, I don't know what happened here, and why Ash is frozen to a wall, but I am assuming you two are responsible for it. Eat volts!'

Thunderbolt was then fired right at them.

Aurora, appearing quite reflexively, held out her hand in a finger gun manner, before shooting out an Ice Beam from them.

The two attacks collided, cancelling each other out.

Seconds after the attacks launched his other Pokémon were dashing forward: Servine to him with a Leaf Blade attack to slice him out of the ice with a clean chop.

And Charizard, charging at Belladonna with glowing Metal Claws. She blocked the attack with her own hands, glowing with Poison Jab.

She was trembling with trying to not be smashed by Charizard though, and was probably only standing because her legs were currently using the wall to keep her from being crushed.

Now that he was freed, Pikachu was glaring at him, an action mirrored by Servine. Starmie didn't add to the glaring, but the poor thing was probably simply too confused to react to anything after they did that pose entrance.

"Pikapi!" 'Ash Ketchum, what is going on here!? I leave you alone for…minutes, and I find you frozen to a wall by what I can only call a Female Red, or John Archer, or you…'

"It's complicated." Ash would explain it in full later. Now was not the time to explain how he had ended up frozen to a wall by one of his (possibly) sister's girlfriends.

Speaking of said girlfriend, she had hopped on the back of Charizard and looked ready to try and Ice Beam him. Charizard didn't seem threatened by this, and gave a deep, intimidating growl aimed her way.

Seemingly in response to her girlfriend being growled at, Belladonna lunged forward and bit Charizard's left arm. Probably with Poison Fang.

Charizard glared at her for that, and looked ready to Flamethrower her in the face for that. However before he could, or Ash could tell Charizard to not do that (as Ash was not sure that being hit with a Flamethrower in the face would be nearly as harmless in this timeline), a Golbat shrouded in blue hit Charizard in the chest.

This sent Charizard stumbling back, freeing Belladonna. Charizard, shaking off his bitten arm with no visible sign of poison, glared at the Bat.

Aurora fell off her perch on Charizard, and was now standing between Charizard and the rest of them. Pikachu and Servine glared at her, looking ready to introduce her to Thunderbolt or Leaf Storm.

Golbat let out a series of loud screeches that Ash had no idea what that was supposed to mean. A threat to not hurt his/her master (seeing as Ash did not know how to tell a boy Golbat from a girl Golbat and this one didn't seem to be possessed like the others around), a suggestion to run like the dickens (whatever a dickens was), perhaps an offer to trade Pokéblock recipes to let him fly away.

Belladonna grinned as Golbat finished, and Ash had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly what had happened.

"These are your Pokémon, right? They are pretty tough, just as I'd expect from you brother."

At the last word Charizard, Servine, and Pikachu all turned to him with mirrored expressions of confusion and shock.

"Are you aiming to compete in the Leagues? Hmm, I can't help but think that'll just hurt you in the end, but I suppose you have to find that out on your own. Perhaps it's just my pessimism kicking in. Until then, I'll be rooting for you. After all, we don't have any reason to be at odds anymore. He's dead now."

Aurora lowered her head at that revelation. Ash felt his jaw drop at how lax she was about saying that.

"Ser…" 'What on earth is going on here!' Her confusion was shared by Pikachu and Charizard alike.

"Well, now that he's dead we have no reason to stay. Nice to meet you brother, hope to see you again sometime!" With that cheerful tone Belladonna dashed over to Aurora, who had a Shellder in her arms that she must have released at some point.

The moment Belladonna touched Aurora both of them glowed, before flickering out of sight. Unseen, the teleporting duo stopped twice and left as a teleporting quartet, leaving a large swarm of confused Poison Pokémon behind.

"What!?"

"Pi!?" 'Why isn't this making sense?'

"Char?" 'Shellder can Teleport?'

"It's rare, but they can be taught it. Teleporting Shellder were used in warfare for hundreds of years, even during the Trainer-Ranger wars. It has fallen out of practice in the last twenty years," the Pokédex chimed as Ash looked at the thing in annoyance.

"Where were you for the last half hour?"

"Being silent. Family drama is rough even without stunningly intelligent systems like myself involved."

…

Giving a running explanation about what his conversation with Belladonna was with his team kept Ash's mind busy as they ran through the halls, bar the occasional confused Poison Pokémon that either attacked them in confusion (80%), or needed directions out (20%).

"Pikapi?" 'So, is she really your…?' Pikachu asked the big question as Charizard roared threateningly at a Gloom, who promptly ran from him crying.

"To be honest buddy, I don't really know. A lot of what she said, how she looks…maybe she is, maybe she isn't? But if she really is my sister, what does that mean for Red, or John Archer? Heck, might as well put Ritchie in this while I'm at it." Ash frowned as he remembered his friend who was a lot like him back in the day.

Pikachu gave him a look for that statement, and for the term back in the day. Could they even use that phrase?

"Yeah, he has brown hair, but I don't have red eyes. Brown and blacked haired siblings exist, like May and Max." For some reason as Ash said that, he suddenly wanted to spurt out, reflexively, that he was the older sibling.

The sound of fluttering wings caught Ash's attention, and he looked down the hallway. Charizard looked eager to fry something, and looked somewhat disappointed as Iris, Butterfree, and Yanma flew over to them.

Well at least the bugs did, Iris just ran.

"Iris!" Ash yelled in joy for seeing her alive again. Joy that his friend was alright, that his Unovan traveling companion was alright, that his… was alright.

Ash wasn't sure what other word fit in that feeling, and it really wasn't the time to consult a thesaurus or something to find the right word.

Iris grinned as the two were now face to face. Butterfree fluttered back over to him while Yanma sped around the two of them like a really happy airplane.

"Oh good, you are alright. I was busy fighting a girl in orange for a good while." Ash at this point noticed that Iris was looking rather bruised, and a desire to ask Iris if she was okay welled up in him.

"I am fine." She picked up on his concern and stopped him before he could do or say anything on the matter.

"You sure…"

"Yes," she said with finality, though without any annoyance at his insistent concern. She sounded oddly more appreciative of it than he'd assume she'd ever be, at least at whatever age she was when they first met.

(He had always assumed she was his age, but that was not a viable metric)

"Are you okay?" she asked him after a moment. Ash wasn't sure how to answer that.

"Well…" He had some idea of what to say, but a teleporting duo appearing between them stopped him from continuing.

And it was not Belladonna, back to give him a hug or something like that.

It was Misty, and Anabel?

It was the first name that came to mind when he saw the purple haired girl who had teleported Misty over (since he was quite sure Misty could not do so). She did look like her, and she didn't have anything that was obviously a sign that she was not Anabel, like a different skin tone or gender.

But Anabel here? That seemed contrived… sure she wasn't among the Battle Frontier Brains Scott mentioned, but this couldn't really be her, could it?

He wasn't the only one with duplicates after all, he remembered that James fiancé and Jessie looked a lot alike. Come to think of it, was said fiancé still planning to trap James again in that dungeon…

Thankfully before he had to think about said dungeon too much, Misty spoke.

"I should probably introduce you," Misty began, noticing his confused look and Iris's suspicious one.

"This is Anabel, she saved me from a Bloodliner girl who could control shadows." Misty introduced the now confirmed Anabel, said girl smiling at the gesture.

'It was nothing. I was only doing what was right'.

Her voice rang in his head, much like how a legendary Pokémon's voice did (as compared to Meowth's that was vocalized).

Iris seemed confused as why she was hearing a voice, and Anabel continued.

'I used to be able to talk, but I am not able to anymore. However I am able to communicate this way via my Bloodline power. Misty told me that you are also Bloodliners like me, is that really true? I have never met anyone else like me before.'

"Yes, yes we are," Ash stated simply, still somewhat surprised. Anabel looked at him I some confusion.

'Is something the matter? You seem confused about something, surprised as well.'

Anabel's simple statement, nowhere near as blunt as Iris's tone, caught him off guard.

"Wha…?"

She blushed, but continued.

'I can sense the emotions of people around me. Your emotions seem… tense for some reason. They were that way before I showed up, but they seemed to spike when you heard my name. Do you know me somehow?' She asked as Ash tried to think of something, anything to say that would not be weird.

"Oh, I just knew a few Anabels back in school and I hadn't heard that name much since so I was surprised to hear it again…" he offered as an explanation.

Thankfully Iris had something to say before someone could say that Anabel was not a rare name (though as far as he could recall he had in fact only met a single Anabel in his travels).

"So you can read minds?" Iris sounded uneasy about that as Anabel paled.

'No..no….well yes I can but I actually have to focus on doing it, I can't simply walk by someone and know their pin numbers or anything horrible like that.'

"Pin numbers?" Iris inquired, a question that was Ash was a bit interested in as well, seeing as he was pretty sure his Pokédex had muttered something about it at least once.

"Something bankish, I don't really know. Anyway Anabel, do you have any responsibilities here?" Misty asked Anabel in a change of direction that Ash was not sure the reason for.

'Not really: all I really have is my uncle's house. Technically it could have been put into maintenance trust under some legal thing since my uncle was my guardian and a veteran, but I am not sure about leaving. I don't really have anything in mind if I did go on a journey, I can't exactly fight in Leagues without a voice.' The last part was stated with a tone that was sad, but in a matter of fact way more than anything else.

Though why did that last part make him think of Belladonna's words about the League?

"Well then, perhaps you can figure something out later, when you are out with us," Misty stated with finality.

Anabel's eyes went wide with shock, a face that was mirrored by Iris. Ash was pretty sure that his face was the same way.

"What , I can't invite anyone?" Misty questioned with a harshness that was a bit more like the old Misty as Ash shook his head.

"No, it was just unexpected, that's all." No longer looking as aggressive about it Misty turned to Anabel, who looked ready to ask more questions about it before she made a final decision on the matter.

Then the sirens went off, loudly startling Iris and breaking Anabel's chain of thought.

"How far can you teleport?" Misty rapidly asked Anabel, who had a thoughtful look on her face. The question of 'if she'd come with them' would seemingly be solved if in fact she was about to act as their getaway driver, sort of speak.

'Far enough'. With that, they had a new traveling companion, and would not get arrested over it

"Wait, what about Sliggoo!?" Ash shouted as he and Misty returned their other Pokémon before their quick escape.

…

Thankfully one can teleport to your dragon and teleport again quite quickly before the cop who had called for the closest Drowzee unit turned back to see that the dragon and the stuff with said dragon were gone.

----------------------------------------

Team Rocket HQ

Hidden in the mountain range that formed much of the Kanto-Johto border, Team Rocket had a base.

It was a nice base, and fairly well protected. Few knew it was here, and fewer still would have a chance of ever taking it down.

Its security wasn't really what was on Giovanni's mind however. There were two things actually.

One, the recent message he had received from one of the scientists Team Rocket was funding. It was something about cloning, and a success of some sorts. He'd think about it later.

The other however, was much more pressing.

Jessie, James, and Meowth had recently managed to capture the ending of the recent Gringy City Power Plant incident.

The incident was being blamed primarily on the Giva Dam project, the Pokémon that had attacked the Power Plant that were not toxin based were those who were displaced by the construction and were angry, and the toxin based ones were those from Giva City who were angry at the shutting down of the toxin producing plants that had been their habitat.

The fact that Giva City was being blamed for both was kind of amusing, but thanks to Jessie and James he had the truth.

It was nice to see that his Bloodliner had been acting in the way he had hoped he would, but this did open up a new front for him.

After all, someone hadn't been talking properly, but that would soon change.

A pair of guards nodded before stepping aside and placing a pair of keys into identical locks as once. This in turn led to the door they had been guarding to slide open, even as he walked through.

The room itself was dark bar the sliver of light that came from the rapidly closing door, though lights quickly flickered on to reveal his special guest.

Felgrand, now bruised, beaten, and locked away ever since he had been brought here, was before him, and he would give him the answers he sought.

"What do you want?" He was a hard nut to crack, but perhaps it was good he had not gone mad yet.

"Oh just vast wealth and power, same as everyone," Giovanni quipped, before he held up a photo of Ash.

"Yeah, that's the Bloodliner who busted my operation," Felgrand muttered, "What of him? I can't exactly tell you where his mother is if you feel like playing an old fashioned game of hostage and blackmail, or are you more interested in getting your own without having to send one of your honey trap agents…"

In respond, Giovanni took out a second photo, the clearest image of Belladonna that the three had gotten him. Said image was then enhanced by his best computer men.

So it was quite clear, and Felgrand would see all the details.

It shut him up quite quickly. At least on the idea that he'd send one of his honey trap agents to seduce the boy.

"So, the Bloodliner has a sister or something? She's probably just as annoy…" Felgrand went silent as he looked over the image, and quickly grew into a look of fear, an utter fear the likes of which was hard to get without a sense of your own impending, painful doom.

"No…..it can't be…"

"So, you've seen her before?" Giovanni pressed as he rapidly shook her head.

"No one should look like that, not anymore. I killed her! I killed her years ago, me and A, B, C, D, and G! She can't still be alive, cloning is impossible for humans!"

The seven brothers of Orre were seven brothers, born in alphabetical order. Felgrand was the F brother, and the E brother was the one who was not a criminal. Calling themselves by their letters was a shorthand they used.

It was also something they did as some sort of pact to not rat on each other. He was quite… enduring that way.

Honor among thieves was annoying when the honor was not being held among your own thieves.

As to the cloning part, somewhat irrelevant but he had a scientist on his 'I pay you, you help me' roll who was currently trying to prove that saying wrong. But he wasn't a factor so he wouldn't mention it today.

"Who did you kill…" Giovanni pressed as Felgrand continued to look horrified, as if he had seen a monster come back to life.

"They both look like her…no one else had those marks, that hair! He was the only one of us who got away from her, she wasn't human. She had a Bloodline, just like that boy, she could affect people's minds. Ever heard of that old talk about sending good vibrations? She sent evil ones, into our minds!" He shivered in disgust.

"I assume then, that what you are saying is that both these Bloodliners look like her?' Giovanni pressed as Felgrand shivered.

"More than we ever did. I don't know which of my brothers were so stupid as to break our agreement, but it is clear someone couldn't keep it in his damn pants! Our mother lives on in those two! Tell me, who fathered those monsters, I need to know who I need to wring the neck of!" Felgrand snapped as Giovanni shook his head and turned around.

"Talk you damn Kanto bastard, talk!" Felgrand demanded as Giovanni exited the resealed prison room and walked back to the office, noting everything that the Orre native had said.

----------------------------------------

Speaking of Orre

From behind, three things could be said of this man.

One, he was more muscled than most human focused Gyms. He looked like he could shatter a melon with an absent grip of a single one of his hands.

Second, he was wearing a red jacket, black pants, and basically nothing else. His muscles were thus quite visible.

Third, he had a massive mustache that could be seen from behind. It was a thin, terrifying mustache.

Next to him stood a man who looked much more to seed than the muscled man, though given his appearance that merely meant 'could not kill you by pinching you'.

"Boss..." the seedier looking man began, looking at the battle simulation data that was displayed before them, "Where did you find this kid?"

"I told you where I found him." The deep voice of the mustached man was deeper than any Dugtrio burrow.

"Yeah, but I don't believe it." The seedy one saw the screen as a Metagross beat a Salamence with a Sludge Bomb in V.R.

"A kid like this, in the desert? How'd he get there?"

"Don't know, don't care." The muscular man growled.

"This kid's a genius: he's beaten all our simulations. I'm the only other one in our merry band to do it, and he did it on his first try. I took three tries to beat the Salamence, and none of you lot even got that far."

"...Still sir, Agrev told me what happened when you met this kid. He doesn't remember who he is, and he said some strange stuff. I mean, who doesn't know what a Pokémon is? And what in the name of Gloom is a Clembot?"

"I don't keep people around for their personality Wakin: if I did I'd kick the lot of you out." The muscular man grinned as the screen they were watching left virtual reality for reality, revealing a gray haired youth clad in a blue jacket lying on a table, a V.R device covering his face.

The device retracted away, revealing a gray haired youth. The boy's eyes shot open, revealing golden eyes.

"This Wes kid may have the memory of a new calculator, but he's a genius battler. I don't care what he has to say about Clembots and asking if my Skarmory's flesh and blood, with him Team Snagem's going to go places."