Tournament, Fuchsia City Stadium
Tossing a Pokéball in hand, Gary eyed the opponents he and his partner were facing now in the moderately-sized stadium the tournament was taking place in (standard build, nothing remarkable about it).
Right off the bat, no warm up, first round, first battle. This was a trial by fire, adapt or lose, there could be no middle ground.
Gary would say something about life being unfair and all, but he saw that Ash was after him so he didn't exactly have it much easier.
At least his opponents didn't look too tough, a spindly-looking nerd with glasses even his grandfather would find ugly and some muscle bound idiot. He didn't quite catch their names.
"Begin!" The announcer declared.
"Go Voltorb!" The nerd shouted in a nasally voice, releasing the explosive prone Pokéball.
"Growlithe, go!" Gary countered by throwing his Pokéball and releasing his chosen fire Pokémon.
"Machoke, I choose you!" The muscle bound idiot released a Machoke. That left only his partner to choose a Pokémon.
"Hypno, stand by for battle!"
The four Pokémon were now in play, and the battle would now begin.
"Data analysis ongoing," his Pokédex stated to no importance.
"Swift attack!" the nerd declared in an almost threatening manner. Voltorb flashed in acknowledgement, before firing a barrage of stars.
"Ember!" Gary countered. Growlithe barked an acknowledgement, before billowing forth dozens of sparks. The sparks and stars collided, cancelling each other out.
"Rock Smash!" The muscled one declared as Machoke roared and leapt forward with a glowing orange fist. Growlithe growled in response.
"Use Flame Wheel!" Gary countered. Growlithe engulfed himself in flames, ready to meet the Rock Smash head on.
"Don't bother. Hypno, use Psybeam!"
His partner's Hypno fired a beam of glowing light from his pendulum faster than Gary had ever seen. The Psybeam hit Machoke before Rock Smash and Flame Wheel even connected. The Psybeam pushed Machoke back right into Voltorb, and both Pokémon were sent flying into the arena walls.
Both fell from the impact, defeated. Gary and Growlithe could only stare, even as the crowd murmured in surprise.
"Voltorb and Machoke, both are unable to battle! The winners are the team of Gary and Paul!"
As the crowds broke into cheers that hid the tears of their opponents, Gary turned to his teammate in shock.
"That's some power you have. Are you sure you only have four badges?"
Paul smirked at that question. Gary couldn't help but feel a chill descend his spine when he saw it.
"You mistake quantity for quality. No, every Gym Badge I earned came from a Gym with real power and prestige behind it. I push all my Pokémon past mere limitations. That's how I win my battles."
As the purple haired Trainer returned his Hypno and walked away Gary took a look at Growlithe, who was sitting at his side and looking at Paul's leaving form with what seemed to be a frown.
How did they get that powerful?
"I am just wondering, what is a Pokémon Master to you?" A memory flashed in his mind of a conversation he had not too long ago.
"A great Trainer, isn't that obvious?" had been his reply.
"Yes, but what makes a Trainer great?"
"Stupid novelist," Gary muttered to himself. Why did his words keep coming up, was it some sort of wicked sorcery that writers used to ensure people quoted them?
…Perhaps that explained some of his Grandfather's odder friends.
"Data analysis interrupted before completion. Please restart data collection process," the Pokédex complained.
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Meanwhile at Saffron Gym
Dan had never expected the last image he'd see in life would be a crazy yet rather attractive woman in a beam war with his Typhlosion and Mega-Evolved Ampharos grinning like she was having the time of her life.
He had always assumed the last thing he'd see would be a ceiling.
But no, he just happened to go to the Kanto Gym run by a monster, and for the last three hours he had been on the brink of death being attacked by the lady and what seemed like an army of equally crazy Psychic types.
The entire Gym was strewn with defeated Pokémon, his and hers (the only consolation being that he had checked and they were all alive and back in their balls). He was down to only his two most trusted.
Sabrina had many more, and had simply decided to finish it herself.
Grinning as her mental power collided with a combined Flamethrower and Dragon Pulse, she began to push the attack back. Seeing this, both his trusted partners tried to push even more power out to counter it, but Typhlosion was already running on Blaze.
They had given it all they could give. His death was now approaching him slowly but surely. He could run, but that wouldn't delay his death by much, and he didn't want to have his last act be abandoning his best friends
"Well, ya' chances right now are like a screw. Pity how our time together flew." His Pokédex sounded as sad about his impending demise as the rapping it does was, well sad.
In that moment, Sabrina overwhelmed his two top Pokémon, his two best friends. The world then exploded.
"As you just saw, a scissor can cut rock if it's sharp enough!" As memories of his life flashed through his eyes, he remembered the words of wisdom he had taken to heart during his first Gym battle he lost.
"Ha ha ha ha...well what do you know kid, you really did learn something. This Badge is yours, hope it's worth the wait." And his eventual return to challenge the same man and earn the badge he wasn't ready for the first time around.
He saw his Typhlosion standing, barely holding himself up. But a grin was mirrored between them, as they had accomplished what many believed to be impossible. A defeated Goldenrod brand Miltank.
He, Arbok, Golem, and Jumpluff cheering after clearing the final battle of their first Silver League Semi-Final round robin.
His bright idea to take his first year's tournament cash prize and go visit the Goldenrod Game Corner with it.
Three years ago him deciding that it would be much smarter to use his money to invest in stock markets. The market slumped the next day when a spike in piracy messed up the markets.
Last Silver League he had an intense match in the Top 16 against a rookie Trainer named Cleff. A dark-haired Trainer with red eyes and odd marks on his face, Cleff had performed shockingly well for a rookie, having traveled around Johto with several traveling companions. Their match had been the closest Dan ever fought in his entire life, with his Ampharos using their Mega Stone to turn a 2-5 battle into one final battle between the sole remaining Pokémon. In the end however, Cleff managed to defeat Ampharos and lost to an eventual semifinalist named Jon Dickson the next round.
He had heard a rumor that Cleff bought several acres of land east of Violet City after the match (Land was cheap in Johto as long as you weren't within spitting distance of Goldenrod City or the coast). Apparently Cleff was better at resisting the urge for risky money gaining schemes than he was.
However as this was a recent memory he'd never get to find out if the rumor was true however. For now the world was black as death.
"Death? You really think you are dead? Silly boy, you proved yourself too strong to die". He could have sworn he heard that crazy woman speak as the memories finally stopped and he slipped into unconsciousness.
----------------------------------------
Tournament Round 2 Battlefield.
Red's thoughts were not interrupted, even after the announcer gave the names of his opponents, Al and Sasha he believed.
Victory Odds: ???
The interference to his internal calculations were not coming from his opponents. It was from his partner, who was looking contemplative.
He had been that way since he had seen the first fight, where Gary teamed up with that purple-haired Trainer. Perhaps he was familiar with him. He didn't exactly know what Ash got up to when he wasn't around, perhaps they had fought at some point and Ash recognized him as a potential threat.
Not exactly wrong. Red had glanced at a number of contestants and the purple-haired one did seem like one of the strongest here, with the possible exception of Lilo given he knew she had some sort of secret weapon involving a bracelet and stone.
He had done some further research, his stone was something called a Keystone which was tied to Mega Evolution. However he didn't see a Keystone on that bracelet, was there something else in the world that wasn't Mega Evolution?
He had tried to look up Alola, but the first thing he got was a tourism shop. Adding in 'bracelet' only brought in more tourism, and something about an ancient king and rumors about him traveling to another dimension. Also malasada ads. Those just made Red hungry, which had only benefited a local deli and not his search for answers.
Neither Trainer they were facing looked as much of a threat as Lilo or the purple haired Trainer that Ash seemed to be worried about, but he couldn't exactly go easy on them.
After all without his Victory Sight he felt like he was battling naked. It was odd, not knowing the chance of winning. Was this how it was like for normal people?
Yellow had said that he and Ash teaming up was 'the greatest team up ever' quote unquote. It was a strong team up to be sure, he didn't doubt Ash's power nor his own and it was unlikely Ash hadn't improved since, but adding Ash into his battling style was going to take getting used to.
"Begin!" the announcer declared as Ash, after a moment's thought, had a Pokéball ready.
"Yanma, I choose you!" Ash called as he threw a Park Ball out. The ball exploded, releasing a buzzing dragonfly.
Yanma. One of the fastest Bug-types in the area. If you weren't in Hoenn, Scyther was the only faster bug you didn't have to go far to find. An interesting choice.
He himself had caught a Butterfree at a Park Contest at his first time at one. It was how he had gotten his Leaf Stone he used...
"Go Rhydon!" one of their opponents, a blue fedora wearing Trainer with a Magby on his shoulder yelled as he threw out an Ultra Ball, which burst and revealed the giant Rock-Ground type.
"Rhydon, the Drill Pokémon and the evolved form of Rhyhorn," a voice rang out from somewhere Red couldn't figure out the exact origin of.
"Rhydon evolve when Rhyhorn realize they need to develop greater intelligence to solve problems other than charging at them. Rhydon are immensely strong and can rival dynamite in their efficiency in creating tunnels. Rhydon can be trained to withstand both pools of magma and pools of water, with the latter being surprisingly harder to accomplish."
A Rhydon. The guy had something that strong to counter Yanma? He had to find the right counter to it, but without his victory odds to rely on he'd have to wing it. He was thinking Victreebel, but the raw strength of Rhydon plus issues with speed and possible shared fire...
Damn it! He would not be sure if this was the best move at this juncture. He'd have to be impulsive with it.
"Go, Poliwrath!" Red decided in the heat of the moment. His second Park contest-originating evolution (thank you Beedrill), came forth with a muscle flex.
"Poli."
The final enemy Trainer, a girl with long black hair with red streaks in it, smirked.
"Go, Bellossom!"
In a burst of light the pure grass branched evolution of Gloom appeared. Perhaps she too had gone to a bug-catching contest and won a stone.
Regardless, he had a battle to win. A somewhat naked battle sure, but a battle nonetheless.
And one he appeared to have made a less than optimal starting choice.
"Poliwrath, Water Pulse on Rhydon!" At his command Poliwrath began to charge up the giant blue sphere in between his hands.
"Yanma, go!" Ash ordered. Red didn't see what Yanma could possibly be going to, but he heard the bug speed into the air with loud wing vibrations.
"I don't think so! Rhydon Rock Blast!" Rhydon's horn began to glow white, Rhydon entering a wide stance. Rhydon then began to fire burst of white solid energy towards Poliwrath, who finished Water Pulse and fired it.
The two attacks collided, cancelling each other out in a burst of smoke.
"Now Mega Drain on both of them!"
Green energy stream shout out from the smoke, one wrapping itself around Poliwrath's arm. The second stream shot into open space. Yanma had avoided it easily it seems.
"Now Yanma!" Ash ordered. Now what, Red wondered, when he saw where Yanma was. Yanma landed on Bellossom, knocking the grass type onto the ground and restraining its movement. This cancelled out the Mega Drain.
Yanma, for lack of a better term Red could think of, used Body Slam on Bellossom. A move that Yanma could not learn.
"What! What are you doing!?" Bellossom's Trainer demanded. "That's not a move! This isn't a wrestling match! Show this loser a real move, Bellossom; blow it off with Stun Spore!"
Orange powder began to leak out of Bellossom's petals, but Yanma vibrated its wings and blew the dust away like it was nothing. The wind shredded a few leaves on Bellossom, but Red got the distinct feeling they were specifically reduced to only tear a few petals.
"Wow! Yanma has completely pinned down Bellossom. I have no idea what Ash was thinking at the time, but it came through with clear results!'
What on earth was Ash thinking anyway? Red thought echoing the announcer, he couldn't see where such an idea could possibly have originated from.
"The average Yanma weights over seven times more than the average Bellossom." The odd voice declared, apparently to explain what Ash had been thinking.
"As such, Yanma can easily pin down a Bellossom, even if this would never happen in the wild for a variety of reasons. Yanma's wings can also be used to disable most of Bellossom's potential escape maneuvers."
The Magby shoulder Trainer wasn't having any of it.
"Interesting but futile! Rhydon, knock that bug off with Hammer Arm!" Rhydon roared as it charged at Yanma, glowing arms ready to smack that bug off.
"Brick Break!" Red countered, having no idea if this would be strong enough to counter it without the numbers.
As Rhydon moved towards Yanma like an incoming train Poliwrath appeared before it and struck Rhydon's center armor with the fighting attack.
Rhydon yowled in pain from the impact, stumbling back a bit. Apparently it would be sufficient.
"Hey, a little help here!" Bellossom's Trainer complained.
"Okay Yanma, now toss!"
"What!?" Said Trainer echoed Red's own sentiments. Yanma couldn't use any move with 'toss' in its name.
Yanma flew up into the air, Bellossom bound in its limbs. Red had no idea where that idea had come from, but as he could see it he had a vague idea what Ash was at least intending to do.
"Blast that thing down with Rock B..."
"Don't you dare, you idiot! You'll hit my..."
"Poliwrath, Water Pulse!" Red interrupted the two theoretical partner's arguments as Poliwrath formed a water blast and sent it flying. It struck the attack charging Rhydon and knocked it down even as Yanma flew down from above at intense speeds. Seconds and feet from hitting the ground Yanma released Bellossom for impact and flew back up.
A few moments were spent in silence before the ref made a call.
"Rhydon is unable to battle!" the Ref declared as Bellossom stood up, shakily. Her Trainer was grimacing.
"Just wow...that was pathetic. Rhydon beaten that easily, guess I have to do everything here. Bellossom use Magical..."
"Quick Attack!" Ash countered. A green and white blur flew by Bellossom at an amazing speed, slowing down to reveal Yanma who landed on the ground with a distinct wing pose. Bellossom then fell, Quick Attack with a Speed Boost enhancement was too much for the Flower Pokémon too take.
"Bellossom is unable to battle! The winners are Ash and Red!"
"You saw it here folks! Another amazing battle, and this one was filled with surprises!" the announcer declared.
Red couldn't help but agree. He couldn't predict what Ash did here on his own, and he doubted Victory Sight could either.
Yet for all the oddities of his plans, it was plain to see with, or without, victory sight that Ash was strong. Quite strong, and clever.
----------------------------------------
Back at Saffron City Gym
Floating over the defeated Johto-bound Trainer and his two remaining Pokémon, Sabrina shook her head.
"Why do they always assume that I mean 'if you lose you die'? Here I thought I was being quite clear that you just had to prove that you weren't pathetic, that you weren't a waste of life. Well, even if the boy isn't very good with word comprehension, holding out against me for as long as you have, as well as you have, shows you are something special. You will live."
The last part wasn't simply her speaking aloud. No, this statement had a target. One who had only just arrived, his feet in perfect kicking distance for the defeated boy's head.
"Again? You let another human live? Really, he isn't even on the list," the Emissary of the pain that was the Bloodline King snarked.
"I could care less about your list," Sabrina reminded him as she floated over to stare down at the cloaked figure with a good few inches of elevation for intimidation purposes.
"A pity you don't, My Lord spent many years researching it. It is quite accurate."
Sabrina rolled her eyes at that.
"I've noticed. Those idiots up in Cerulean got hauled off by that brother of yours. Executioner I believe you call him. I can only imagine what he's done with them since."
"You can read minds, you don't need to imagine it."
That line did not warrant a response. After a moment the Emissary left the kicking range of the boy's skull, and was looking more at her than anything else.
"My Lord once again extends his invitation to you. The position of Bloodline Queen is still open and you'd be quite perfect to fill it."
Sabrina's response to that idea had not changed, only gained strength with new information.
"I have no desire to be married to that cretin. Plus I don't need to read your mind to know he has an heir."
"Your vision and his vision are not so different that they are irreconcilable. Plus there are benefits to being the Queen other than providing the one who'll rule the world his entire life, which you are quite correct in that it is a position already filled."
Sabrina crossed her arms, shaking her head.
"Oh yes, I am well aware of his reputation. His abilities certainly do help with that. However I have no desire for carnal pleasures, and if I was desperate for a child I could drag any random man from the streets in here with my power and do it at my leisure. I prefer to stay as I am, and your Lord is hardly the kind of person to just let people stay as they are. Of course if the King was really so desiring of me he'd have come himself. I suspect you have some other reason then?"
"Yes in fact. Recently the King has grown to question if one of the possible candidates should be terminated. He was previously tested and seemed salvageable, but losing to not only another candidate, but then being outmaneuvered by that strange byproduct over in Gringy City...we request you test..."
"I'm not J, I have no desire for money and I have better things to do than your bidding," Sabrina said frankly.
"I'm not blind; my Psychic Heart allows me to see a lot more than most anything else alive, and it grows stronger every year. How else have I recently started to amuse myself with the riddles that old man in Cinnabar comes up with for his granddaughter? I know who you're talking about; Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town. I hardly see your problem with him, if he was human and came barging in here shouting about a Gym Badge I'd probably find him worthy to live. Also it seems like he is well on his way to meeting that odd little goal your master has for Dual Bloodliners just like your 'byproduct' did; and unlike the one who beat him, bar the part about fighting to the death of course. The boy has some odd thoughts, but I sincerely doubt he's a killer at heart."
"Then again, from what I see in your mind the King's pretty disappointed about the general lack of killing, isn't he? How many like Ash and the 'byproduct' are willing to kill each other like in the King's bloodthirsty fantasies went so far? Four, five, maybe six? Not even one percent that. Even the more aggressive ones like that 'byproduct' don't aim their lethal intent where he wants it. Figuring out they are the same actually made Belladonna not want to kill him."
"Your defiance will not be appreciated," the Emissary threatened as Sabrina laughed.
"You act as if I'm expected to want his appreciation. Do give him this message however, if he thinks the world needs to change he should work to change it himself..."
"My Lord has already changed the world." The Emissary gave a final quip before leaving. As the creep left, Sabrina's gaze turned inquisitive.
"Yes, he does have some odd thoughts. Why does Ash Ketchum associate me with a doll? Hmm… I'll have to look deeper into that tonight. Still, I do have to return this Johto boy sometime, survivors are the best bait. When a good trainer lives, twenty poor ones think they have a chance."
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Back to the Tournament
"It's two to one now folks! Can our visitor from Alola take down these two young women with six badges to both their names?"
Ash found himself looking at a battle that was familiar, yet not. It was a good distraction from thinking too much about how Paul was here, teamed up with Gary.
Trainers he had seen before, briefly at Indigo, battled someone who he'd had never seen before. A someone who Red did seem to know, if his intense look at her was any indication.
Finding out about it would at least keep him from thinking too much about the what-if of Paul and Gary winning. Mostly Paul.
"That's Lilo," Yellow, who was standing between the two of them, piped up. "She's a Trainer from far away. She uses some weird Pokémon and battled Red a while back, but they didn't get to finish."
"Yeah, I'm still surprised that Lurantis isn't a Bug-type," Ash admitted as he witnessed the bug-like (yet actually just Grass) Pokémon avoid a Silver Wind from Assunta's Venomoth and a Rolling Kick from Melissa's Hitmonlee. "I wonder if Sudowoodo and Lurantis are related then."
"You haven't seen anything yet. Trust me, you should see her Exeggutor, it's really cool!" Yellow exclaimed.
"Is it golden?"
"Nope!"
Ash didn't a chance to pry any further into the question of what Lilo's Exeggutor before Lilo pointed at the two opposing Pokémon. Ash noticed that she had a strange armband of sorts on, but he couldn't tell what it was exactly.
"This is it! Lurantis use Solar Blade!"
Lurantis held both of its scythe-like arms into the air. Both glowed bright with the powers of the sun, before Lurantis lunged right at the two.
The attack connected with great force, sending both opponents flying. Clearly the earlier damage had taken its toll, for even Venomoth was down.
"Venomoth and Hitmonlee are both unable to battle! The winner is Lurantis! Victory goes to the team of…"
"…That wasn't even her going all out," Red spoke up. Turning to him, Ash could feel both Red and his Pikachu boring into him with serious looks.
"She is the most powerful opponent here."
"I'll take your word for it." Ash wasn't ready to declare that to be the case yet, but somehow he doubted arguing with Red would really get him anywhere. Plus Paul seemed to have gotten stronger since he last battled him, so Ash had no idea just how strong he was at the moment. Same with Gary, who Ash had no grasp of exactly how tough the guy was at the moment.
Red resumed his preferred state of silence, as Anabel chimed in to him.
'While I cannot say if she is indeed the strongest, she does out power her partner considerably. She would be a tough opponent to defeat, if only because none of us are familiar with the Pokémon she uses.'
Ash nodded in agreement, though he could take some solace in the fact that said unknown opponent was not fighting Misty and Iris.
They were up next.
….
"Paul and Gary Oak, Ash Ketchum and Red, Mike and Tim Mortis, Lilo and…"
The sound of a shouting baby obscured the partner's name.
"…We've seen many strong battles today folks, and we won't be letting off now! The teams of Rachel and Hugo and Misty and Iris are next! So let's give them a big round of applause.
"Now go!" the shaved bald yet bushy mustached muscular fellow, most likely Hugo, declared as he threw a Great Ball. It burst open to reveal a Nidoqueen.
"Staryu, I choose you!" Misty shouted, releasing her brown battler, who landed with a flourished spin.
She'd have used Gyarados, but he was resting at Professor Oak's at the moment after the four of them had ended up tied up in a giant festival outside of town. They had come for the food, but then Ash somehow got roped into riding for an injured Ponyta jockey and then she joined in with Gyarados…it was fun but nothing really important beyond warranting her letting Gyarados take it easy for a few days. (*)
"Go!" the one named Rachael, given she was the well-dressed girl of the two, shouted as her Pokémon was released.
Misty was not happy to see what came out.
"Chh…" the Pinsir hissed, pincers clashing together.
A bug, specifically one with bone shattering pincers and a gaping mouth. Joyful.
"Excadrill!" Iris declared as she sent out her giant mole, who flexed his steel claws at the Pinsir.
"Begin!"
"Nidoqueen, use Sludge Bomb!" The Nidoqueen leaned back, sounding like she was horking something up.
"Excadrill!" Iris called. As the sludge was spat out towards Staryu, Excadrill jumped in the way. The sludge struck Excadrill, which dissolved away without any lasting effect.
"Huh?"
"And right out of the gate, we see an excellent display of teamwork. I admit I have no idea how that worked, but I think that was suggesting that Excadrill is a Steel-type. Steel- types ladies and gentlemen are immune to poison attacks!"
"But not fighting attacks! Pinsir, Brick Break!"
Brick Break caused Pinsir's right arm to glow white. Pinsir jumped into the air, falling towards Excadrill with the Brick Break ready for the impact.
"Rapid Spin!"
Staryu shot forward, spinning round and round at faster and faster speeds. The attack collided with the Brick Break, stopping Pinsir's momentum and knocking the bug away.
Staryu landed in front of Excadrill as the two Pokémon exchanged nods. Iris turned to Misty and grinned.
Misty couldn't help but grin back.
It was interesting. At one point she found Iris worrying from a 'will she stab me in my sleep' way.
Then she had worries of a 'will she woo Ash with feminine wiles' (though Misty wasn't quite sure what a feminine wile was, or if Iris would even think of anything like that).
Yet here they were in their second battle together, and they were actually working rather well together.
"Strength!" Nidoqueen's Trainer shouted, as the massive Pokémon roared with glowing orange arms.
"Cool it off with Water Gun!" Staryu fired the water blast, striking Nidoqueen right in the chin. The attack pushed the beast back.
"Knock it off! Double Hit on Staryu!" Pinsir's horns glowed purple as it charged forward towards Staryu, pinching them like a deranged pair of scissors.
"Fury Swipes!"
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Excadrill intercepted, one glowing claw striking the first horn.
Both lost their luster, as the second pair of sharp instruments collided.
As Pinsir's two strikes were done with, both of Excadrill's claws shone once more, and Excadrill swiped once.
Then twice.
With four hits Pinsir was knocked down.
"Shadow Claw!" Nidoqueen was done being blasted by water, and ignited her left hand with shadow. The shadow hand flew forward, striking Excadrill.
The mole was pushed back by the impact, even as Pinsir got back up. Slowly, and in a manner that was creepier than it needed to be.
"Strength!"
"Brick Break!"
Coming from the left and right Nidoqueen and Pinsir had Excadrill surrounded. There was no escape.
"Staryu blast that bug with Wat…" Misty was interrupted by Iris's raised hand. The wild girl didn't look concerned.
In fact she was grinning.
"Excadrill, use Metal Claw!"
Very quickly after the command Excadrill's claws shone metallic silver, before the claws struck both Pokémon. Both attacks leaving marks, the two Pokémon were sent flying.
"I heard you always wanted to do that. Hope it was just what you wanted," Iris stated to her Pokémon.
"Drill!" Excadrill sounded like he agreed.
However Misty caught something in the corner of her eye. Pinsir twitched, just as Nidoqueen began to right herself in midair.
They weren't done yet.
"Use Bubblebeam on both of them!" Misty shouted before they could counter. Staryu fired the bubble spray the two had recently perfected at a fast pace.
The bubbles struck Nidoqueen first, then Pinsir. Both however, were equally affected by the attack.
"No!"
"Pinsir!"
The two mons crashed back on the ground.
"Thanks." Iris stated with immense honesty.
"It was nothing."
"It was something, a Bubblebeam," Iris stated the obvious as Misty resisted the urge to explain to Iris what that phrasing meant.
"Pinsir and Nidoqueen are unable to battle! The winners are Misty and Iris!"
…
"They're stronger."
Red's statement was short, and took Ash and Anabel's attention off the cheering crowds.
"Well, of course they are. I practice with them all the time and they work on themselves on their own as well." Ash noted. At Red's confused look Ash explained.
"When you travel with friends, you're able to train with them. It helps both, and it's better than training by yourself. It helps everyone, me, Anabel, Misty, and Iris. We all may have different goals, but together we help each other prepare for them."
Red nodded.
"Yes. I guess that does make sense. Doing things together also is probably where your two friends gained their ability to work together as well as they have. We should try and match them."
"Sure….what do you have in mind?" Ash hoped Red wasn't going to suggest traveling together across Kanto to build up team ability. He had been in enough time bending before reality had reset itself, he didn't need any more Baltoy time machines, Celebi time paradoxes, and Gothitelle time illusions.
"Dinner!" Yellow suggested as Red nodded.
"Yes. That will do. We shall eat together tonight. The Pokémon Center is as good a place to do it as any."
"Uh, sure." Ash wasn't sure what else there was to say. At the very least Anabel didn't seem to be glaring at him, so that was a good sign at the very least.
Then again, he wasn't sure he had seen Anabel, either version, glare. Not even at Team Rocket, and they were quite glarable. Was that even a word?
Red nodded.
"How's five sound?"
…
"….Did I jump onto the dinner idea too fast?"
At Red's honest question as the two walked back from the Pokémart before dinner was to be had, Yellow mmmed before replying with an honest tone.
"Nope."
Yellow did seem to believe that, so Red would take that opinion and stick with it. Social interactions had never been his forte beyond polite sportsmanship, and the little girl was always better at them than he was.
But he supposed he did have to start somewhere, and his partner in a tag tournament was probably better to do so with than, say, a lawyer.
Even without Victory Sight to direct his conversation (unlike for supply shopping for the best deals), he had the perfect topic in mind, battle combinations. They didn't have a chance to do so today, but tomorrow would warrant it. They'd have to figure out what six Pokémon to have active and all effective combinations…
"Since we are eating with Ash, we probably need something to say. I should be fine, but you need something to say. What are you going to talk about all dinner, battle combinations?"
"Yes."
Yellow stopped walking and shook her head at it. Red was unsure of why.
Was it a faux pas? He thought it was just 'don't mention politics', or was it sports? Maybe some third thing…
"Red, you can't just talk about that. I mean, not only will two of your possible future opponents from the Battle Dome but your opponents for this next battle will also be at dinner. Dinner conversations are supposed to be light and cheerful, battle combinations aren't that. I mean, I guess you probably could talk about them, but not at the start."
"Then, what else is there to talk about?"
Yellow hmmmed thoughtfully for a moment.
"You should ask Ash about himself. Where he's from, what Pokémon he started with, stuff like that. I'm sure you could relate."
"He's from Pallet Town…but I have never been there so could I change it to what's Pallet Town like? Would that work just as sufficiently?"
"Yup!" Yellow exclaimed, just before an odd sound ripped through the air.
Both companions twirled around to a side street, around where the sound seemed to have originated. The side street didn't look that odd, beyond a store that apparently was called 'Profuenster Family Back, Hip, Jet, All sorts of packs' that Red might visit later if the tear he'd been noticing in his bag wasn't able to be fixed by the needle and thread he picked up today.
There were a few pedestrians of note, the most noteworthy one being a brown haired woman sitting on a bench, still wearing a large red bag. No sign of what that odd sound was.
With no further information available the two resumed their way back to the Pokémon center.
----------------------------------------
Five o clock
One thing Anabel had noticed since in the days since she joined Ash and his friends was just how easy it was to talk among people her age.
She and her uncle talked a lot, and she was at perfectly at ease with him, but it didn't take even a week for her to feel quite comfortable talking with them. She could have never imagined that with her old classmates.
There was also just something, euphoric, about being able to talk to people. To have people know what you are saying, and even if they couldn't say something back they could still nod and acknowledge her mental words.
It was unfortunate then, that such a system broke down if they were under scrutiny. Or in close company in any case.
With Red and Yellow at their table, alternating between talking with and eating, it would get messy if she tried. That was why she had requested that she'd avoid talking this meal, and they agreed to it, after a good few minutes of trying to find another way.
It was oddly pleasing that they disagreed with her so vehemently.
"….And other than that Pallet Town is kind of small. I could have sworn it was bigger when I was 10." Ash finished explaining as he took a sip of his drink. Red nodded, Anabel assumed he was processing the information.
Red didn't seem quite in his element here. That could explain why his approach to Ash about it was a bit awkward.
It wasn't something Ash could have said no too without causing trouble tomorrow, so she wasn't annoyed with at all.
"…I know! I swore that Cerulean City was a lot bigger when I was there the last time." Yellow piped up, before looking at Ash for a moment.
"I was wondering, whose your first Pokémon? Red started with his Pikachu back when it was a Pichu."
Pikachu let out an approving sound at that revelation as Ash gestured to his shoulder riding partner.
"I started with Pikachu here."
"Really? I was under the impression that you would have had a Bulbasaur or Charmander." Red stated as Ash shrugged.
"It's a long story involving a pair of twins."
"Elwood and Aideen aren't their names by any chance?"
Ash squinted, as if trying to access a memory buried deep in his mind, before his eyes lit up.
"Oh yeah, them. I feel kind of bad they had slipped my mind, but it probably was them. Wait, you know them Red?"
"He does. We met them at a Battle Club, they aren't half bad," Yellow elaborated. As Ash caught up on refreshing that lapsed memory Anabel half listened, the rest of her focus going out into the Pokémon center on what else was being discussed around them, her mind picking up a few straight thoughts.
"During a trip to Johto, I heard of an ancient craft involving the creation of Pokéballs from Apricorns. You know, those unpleasant tasting nut trees you find around sometimes? They actually have a use. I did some research and have been doing some dabbling to see if I can make Pokéballs myself. I'm sure it will be handy in case of an economic crash, I just have to figure out a few kinks. The hinges are murder, but I think I figured out the rest of it including a little theory I heard on how to alter their properties, though the artistic finesse for them is going to require help. Any chance you are skilled with approved Pokéball paints?"
"Sorry I can't pay for a nicer meal sis. I love my work at the Aether Foundation, there isn't anything like seeing an Oricorio fly again after someone tried out an illegal gun, but they don't have the best vacation hours and I don't exactly roll around in my pay. Also Faba is a jerk, though Wicke is a delight to work with. No, not like that sis, stop grinning!"
She could feel a flash of a memory of a smiling woman in white and pink. She could see why the young man might consider her a delight.
"Did you see some of those rookie Trainers on T.V these days? That Ash Ketchum is something else. He actually got that SJW off her high-Ponyta. That Red's pretty tough too, did you see his last battle? Good thing I retired from trying to fight the league circuit, I'd probably get stuck with one of those two monsters in the first round, I always got the tough rookies."
"You retired because you sucked at it, Greg."
"….No I didn't."
The third table continued in their conversation, the entire time neither Ash nor Red heard it.
They either didn't care for their growing fame, or just didn't hear it. Anabel wasn't sure which it was, and she wasn't going to check.
"…Tajiri." Red gave as an answer. Anabel's attention was brought back in, where Red was looking at her with a frown.
"That's my last name."
Oh.
She could feel her face form an embarrassed grin as she idly reached for a French fry.
Red finished off a sandwich before reaching across the table and picking up Ash's Pokédex.
"Unauthorized user detected, even if you do sort of look like my assigned human. Also your hands are rather hot, please don't cause me to overheat, and do wipe your hands before touching my buttons. My human's wiping skills are not sufficient in my opinion."
Red rose an eyebrow at that comment but said nothing more as he began pressing buttons inside the sentient machine, though he did wipe his hands on a napkin first.
The machine's comments made Anabel think though.
Ash had mentioned that he encountered a girl who looked a lot like him and thought they were related. Similarly the Pokédex was right in that Red and Ash looked a lot alike.
There were differences true, Red was paler and had darker black hair than Ash did, he also had red eyes while Ash had brown ones and marks on his cheeks, but in height and build there were very similar, if not identical.
Did Ash notice that? She could see Misty's face on Red as he fiddled with Ash's Pokédex, and she had a face that reminded her of her uncle after he realized something about that movie that really made it clearer once he did.
Her most external thoughts pretty much screamed that same feeling, so she couldn't really ignore them. Iris didn't have the same look, but she did seem to notice the similarity rather strongly.
Really the difference between the two wasn't Red's paler skin tone or Ash having marks on his cheeks that Anabel wasn't sure the origin of (and when she had asked the other day Ash wasn't sure what they were either).
No, it was something in the way they just, behaved. Ash radiated a cheerfulness and determination to himself that was rather charming, like someone out of one of those long running animated shows.
He was capable of feeling other emotions than those of course, his cheerfulness didn't get to a point he had only one setting to himself, but outside of the immediate source of stress (like the Gringy City incident), he seemed to simply find life itself enjoyable.
She rather liked that. People who didn't dwell on everything bad in the world, and enjoyed the world around him while helping people who needed it whenever he could.
Like that farm girl they had met a few days before the tournament who needed help with an upcoming Pokémon race and festival. She had heard Misty comment that this wasn't the first time he had done something like that.
Red, didn't feel like that. Without even reading his mind it seemed like he saw the world as just… less wonderful than she did. He had decided at some point that the world wasn't a nice place, and never could be, and behaved in a subdued manner to it ever since.
He wasn't incapable of being happy, but he generally wasn't. Often by choice.
He and Ash had the same height and the same body type. Both were skilled Trainers, and she'd hesitate to judge which one was technically a better one at the moment. They had their physical differences true, but it was their mental differences that, in her mind, gave Ash an edge over Red.
She could only hope Red would learn to be a bit happier. It wouldn't do him any good in the long run to be constantly melancholy at best.
"Your Yanma," Red asked Ash, Anabel turned to look back at Red with a thoughtful look while masking her own thoughts about the two trainers in question.
"Yeah, what about it?" Ash replied.
"This Pokédex, never thought I'd ever get to touch one (and you should feel honored to do so, the device commented), says that Yanma are generally special attackers, especially when they evolve."
"It evolves?" Misty sounded horrified, and she was in fact so. Her mind was radiating fear like a fire did heat.
"Yanmega," Ash and Red said at once, causing Yellow to chuckle.
Misty mouthed the word, as if saying it too loud would summon a swarm of them to fly off with her.
"Your Yanma only used physical techniques. Why is that?"
Ash shrugged as he responded.
"Simple, Yanma doesn't like doing special attacks."
Red stared at him blankly, as if Ash had just said that the Moon was going to kill them all while grinning.
"What?"
"I noticed when I was training Yanma that Yanma really liked doing physical attacks, and gave them 120%, but whenever I tried to practice Silver Wind or Sonic Boom the passion wasn't there. So I decided that I'd work with what Yanma liked to do."
Red still looked at Ash like he had just said something in a foreign language, and sounded completely incomprehensible in doing so. Anabel could understand why of course, Red was not incorrect in that Yanma wasn't working with the strength of its species.
"If you do that, Yanma isn't working to its strengths. Trainers are supposed to bring out the best in their Pokémon, and that means training them to their strengths. Yanma evolves because of a special move."
"I am though; I'm just doing it with one Yanma, my Yanma, not Yanma as a whole. If Yanma really wants to evolve one day we'll learn Ancient Power, but if not I'll simply help Yanma be the strongest Yanma it can be."
Red pursed his lips, but didn't say anything. Even if Anabel was rather sure that Red still found Ash's decision as odd, he at least now had a logical reason for why Ash was doing it.
"I believe in working with a Pokémon's strong points. That's how you make them stronger. Working with them, not trying to push them into being something they aren't," Ash said with conviction. Red didn't argue the point
"…If you want to make Chimchar stronger, you've got to work on improving its strong points." Anabel wasn't sure whose thoughts she heard, but one thought was overwhelming. She couldn't recognize the voice who was saying it though, though oddly enough it seemed to be coming from Ash, and even odder it felt familiar somehow.
"Oh please," the thought continued with a huff, "spending a second improving a Pokémon's strong points, is like babying a spoiled brat and a complete waste of my time see."
The voice was different this time, but similarly familiar, as if she had heard the same person before, just talking differently. Like a different voice actor.
Perhaps this was something from a moral forming television program Ash once watched.
"I suppose I'm the same. I just use the plural Pokémon, while you use the singular. Getting off that topic though… battle combinations?"
Anabel wondered why she heard Yellow face palm after Red say that. She could feel Iris's confusion for the action from here.
----------------------------------------
HopHopHop Town, the same time
She tried to ignore it. She really did.
She wasn't here to do anything humans would call wrong. She was going to do things legally.
Buy a book with money that was gotten mostly legally, go back to their place of occupancy at the moment (a penthouse that was not entered legally in any sense of the word), and see if that would cheer up Aurora. She hadn't been quite herself lately, even considering the mixed feeling she should have with her damn father dead and suffering in hell, and it was starting to worry her.
Trying to prompt it out of her wasn't going anywhere, and she was not going to use her Truth power to get her to talk. That would be a massive slap in the face to their relationship, Belladonna was pretty sure she'd do less damage by cheating.
Aurora, she had noticed, rather liked it when she got things for her legally. She understood that doing such wasn't always doable, but it made her happier on birthdays and holidays.
But she was starting to really, really want to accelerate the death of the man five feet from her to now.
It was hard to find that author Aurora liked when some idiot was smoking outside the open air book shop, the city winds wafting the damn smell into her nostrils.
Tobacco smoke, the one smell so horrible Grimer couldn't reproduce it. A smoker, one of the most obnoxious forms of humanity for spreading the damn smell everywhere, couldn't seem to get the damn hint. Was her tense form, pinched nose, and not so subtle death glaring not obvious enough?
She could already feel her mind shift into blind rage, when the cigarette briefly glowed black before slipping out of his mouth and into the sewer drain where it belonged.
The idiot reached for his demise futilely, even as the case of demise he had also was black as shadow for a moment before falling into the sewer drain.
Just as rapidly as murderous rage came, it was replaced with an overwhelming relief (if she got the book illegally because she had to run away from the scene it wouldn't be as effective at cheering Aurora up) as Vedia tapped her shoulder.
The book she was looking for in hand.
"It was organized by publisher alphabetically, not author's last name alphabetically," Vedia informed her.
So that's what was going wrong? Huh, odd she failed at catching that.
An exchange of coin later and the two were walking down the HopHopHop streets, bag in her hand.
"You're a lifesaver Vedia." Belladonna praised as Vedia had a hint of a smile on her face.
"That fool's life in any case." She replied.
"You know what I mean. Honestly, it never ceased to amaze me how stressful shopping is. There is always some idiot killing himself expensively at the front, and half the time cashiers or machines are on the fritz. I swear I'd go gray early if you and Evanna liked legal things."
"Monetary exchanges and the retention of money doesn't bring happiness," Vedia stated solemnly.
"My sweet; you'd know that better than the rest of us." Belladonna declared as they took a turn and crossed through the crosswalk.
The two passed a group of three as they went to the other side of YoYoYo street. A reddish-haired woman, a little girl who was probably twelve or so who didn't really look like her, and a boy with dark hair…
Familiar dark hair, and the seconds she got of his face quickly burned into her mind as the two absently finished crossing the street.
"Wrong way Arnold," she heard the mother call, followed by quick scurrying. The sound of a child accidentally going up a street instead of down, but that wasn't important in even the short term.
What was however, was what she had just seen. Another boy who looked like her, another boy who looked like Ash.
Another brother, and this one had a mother with him. Perhaps she knew something about their father…
A poke to the stomach brought her thoughts back to external stimuli as Vedia gestured towards the departing trio.
"The boy does look like Ash, as well as that Red guy he's currently battling with." One benefit of completely non-legit housing, free HD/4K/some sort of abbreviation television and broadcasts of tournaments. Aurora had found that one trying to figure out what channel had a documentary on the Golden Age of Crime she had heard about a while back, and it had been a quite helpful in fully convincing Evanna and Vedia that she wasn't seeing things that weren't there.
Red helped matters. There was a saying about one being chance, twice coincidence, third times a pattern after all.
Fourth time made you wonder if your father had an off switch.
"Of course, it won't do for you to chase them down now. Let me find where they live and I'll take you there later when they aren't in public. You have a book to deliver first, and I am much less noticeable than you are."
----------------------------------------
That night, Fuchsia City
When Ash found himself falling asleep, he was pretty sure it wasn't in a room that was stark white even in the unlit light.
Nor in a room filled with giant frozen blocks of ice with Pokémon inside of them. A Pikachu, a Magmar, a Starmie and Slowpoke, and some sort of black and purple round thing with bumps on it.
Ash couldn't help but wish the Pokédex was here to identify the thing. Sadly he was rather sure it didn't sleep or dream, not even of robotic Mareep, and as he was pretty sure he was dreaming this. Plus the Pokédex would have said something if he wasn't by this point.
Pikachu hopped off his shoulder and sniffed the Pikachu in the ice block, before recoiling a bit chittering nervously.
Said chittering translated into 'Ash, something is wrong with this Pikachu'.
"It's frozen," Ash pointed out as Pikachu sniffed the Slowpoke. Pikachu then muttered a response as he darted over and began smelling the Magmar.
'I am rather aware of that. No, it's something else. That Pikachu, and this Slowpoke, they smell sick, and this Magmar…it honestly smells like blood.'
At Pikachu's comment Ash did approach the cube and examined it closer. The Magmar did seem rather redder than normal in the rib area…
"Great, you are already doing detective work. Just let the scene play out a bit, would ya?"
Both Trainer and Pikachu turned, to reveal MissingNo wearing a pixelated form of a version of himself in a blue and white striped shirt with red and black shorts and no gloves, sitting on top a frozen block like it was a throne.
"Yeah, you got away from me last time. This is payback." He grinned wickedly as the sound of a door opening with a bit of resistance.
The dark room was suddenly awash with light, heralded by a creaking sound of a door in great disuse giving way to force, as a metallic form walked in, light glowing from its shoulders. It was humanoid, but covered in blue and yellow metal plates, a suit of some sorts. A stamp that read CG-82 was imprinted into the left breast side of the shape.
The metallic shape tapped the side of his head, causing a scanning light to shoot out of the suit's eyes and sweep across the room. When it went over a block of ice it beeped, though the fact it didn't when it went through him, Pikachu, and MissingNo told Ash that this was one of those 'you aren't really there' things.
"Scan complete. We seem to have about one hundred Pokémon here, so we should be able to finally pull off Operation Adama… oh for crying out loud!" The metallic suit shouted, in a voice that was unsettlingly familiar.
"Pi…" 'Ash, did that sound a bit like…'
"Clemont? Yeah, it did…."
"Spoilers, it is Clemont in that suit," MissingNo sang out in amusement. "But, in 'a' future. Not 'the' future, but it could be if you really want it to be. In fact, it 'was' the definite, can't argue with it, future not much longer than a week ago if I'm counting right, maybe two."
Ash didn't ask what that was supposed to mean. He figured MissingNo wouldn't give him a straight answer. He'd probably just lie if he pressed any further.
Iron-Clemont was followed by three people after MissingNo was done trilling. The first was the only one Ash recognized, and only vaguely. After all he only met so many caped figures in his time, and only one female one.
However Latoya Parker, also known as Gligirl, was a lot older than he remembered her. Her Gligar themed costume looked more armored and bulkier, like a suit of armor vs the spandex of the Gli-family of heroes tended to wear. She also seemed to be scowling in a manner that made him wonder is she was related to Paul, or just taught him the art of the scowl.
He didn't recognize the other two. She was dressed in brown, and while female had muscles like he had never seen on a girl before. She honestly looked like she lifted the same weights as Lt. Surge, and looked like she could punch out one of his Tauros at full charge. She wore dusty brown clothing with a purple belt with several pouches on the side. A ring that looked like the one he saw on Lilo's wrist was on her arm, a plus shaped emblem on her left breast with a brown coloring on the top.
The other was a lot young, probably closer to his age than the Clemont wearing a Clembot, Gligirl, and She-surge were. He was wearing a long blue coat, and had gray hair despite the statement about his younger status.
"Somethin' wrong, I mean more wrong than this place normally is?" the muscled lady asked as Clemont walked forward a step before turning.
"You were a part of the initial Ultra Beast incident, correct?" he asked the muscled woman.
"Yeah, I was right in the middle of that kerfuffle. Before the Nihilego swarms hit Alola and the continents, and all the other horrors that followed the things into our world at large of course, I ended up involved in finding out just how deranged the leader of the Aether Foundation actually was. I got ordained as a Kahuna during the midst of it, the last Kahuna matter of fact."
"The first known person to be infected by a Nihilego was the Aether President herself as I recall." Clemont spoke words Ash had no idea the meaning of. What was a Nihilego? Who was the Aether Foundation? What was a Kahuna?
"An' to my dismay, not the victim who got the most warped by one of the things. Not even in good old Alola."
"Sadly I can vouch for that first hand." Clemont agreed with her on whatever they were talking about. Ash and Pikachu turned to MissingNo, who was grinning. Clearly he still wouldn't explain what was going on.
"Is there a point to reminding ourselves what those monsters did to the world? I don't have to remind you that the Nihilego weren't the worst of it." Gligirl stated in a sour tone.
"As you are no doubt aware, the person who filled this room was not only the first person who got their system filled with Nihilego venom and went mad. Had her madness was uncovered by two sets of siblings who sadly were the first four to die when the world really went to hell, Frax and Velvet Lono …"
At the moment the two's names were mentioned the conversation suddenly froze as MissingNo snapped his fingers. With another, different finger snap two kids about his current age appeared. Both had the same skin tone as Lilo, with similar black hair and singular bracelets like Lilo had. However after that they differed beyond simple age.
One was a boy, dressed a lot like how MissingNo was dressed, with the addition of blue shoes, a red hat, and a black and blue backpack. His eyes were gray, though the marks under his face were just as telling a sign of recent tendencies as eyes were. He was just a bit shorter than he was, but still rather tall.
The other was a girl, an inch or two shorter, but between the red eyes, dark hair, marks on her face, and in physique she probably would be able to raid Belladonna's closet in a year. Belladonna was one thing, but Ashley and now this third girl (Velvet), Ash was starting to suspect a pattern with girls who looked like him. She had flower earrings that looked like the sort of flowers that one sees in the tropics, red shoes, light green shorts, and a white tank top.
"Huh?" The girl spoke.
"What's going on?"
They promptly stared at Ash and MissingNo in Ash's form, and looked freaked out.
"Why do you look like us?" The girl demanded, reaching for a Pokéball. The girl's face morphed into shock as her hand went through the Pokéballs on her belt as if they weren't even there.
"Oops, did this too well it seems." MissingNo declared, looking genuinely surprised they were more than simple images.
They vanished at another finger snap, and time resumed. Ash could only wonder what they'd be thinking when they woke up.
"…and Lillie and Gladion…"
"Frax and Velvet, aren't they the same as Ketchum, Tyrian, Tajiri…." Latoya interrupted before the other two siblings could be given a surname.
"If you happen to remember your history, the history that both you and I lived in and later helped chronicle with the Clembots, you'll know that they didn't start it. They were the good guys in the Bloodline War, which didn't start nor climax the End of the World." Clemont snapped at Latoya, who scowled back at him.
While part of Ash was glad to see Clemont defend him from Latoya's disdain, another part of him was unnerved. Not just by Latoya talking about him like he was some sort of abomination, but the very term 'Bloodline War'. Also by the fact that Tyrian most likely meant Belladonna, assuming that her mother didn't escape from jail and decided to give him a hand for some reason.
What sort of thing would be called a 'Bloodline War', and what would warrant him actually wanting and or keeping Belladonna's help?
And 'end of the world' was bad in all contexts.
"I know that some of the words they are using are a bit hard to context in your puny little minds." MissingNo quipped as a transparent blank painting frame appeared between them and the four from the/a/was/something future.
A bit less transparent image formed between the frames. With a few quick sketches from a pencil that wasn't present a version of himself who was a few years older and in a version of his garb from Hoenn appeared on the left side of the image, posed and looking ready to attack someone.
More sketching and he was joined by Pikachu, Charizard, Pidgeot, Donphan, Torkoal , and several other Pokémon of his he had now and would (hopefully) get in the future. The only good thing he could say about the image was the fact that three of his Tauros were there with him, and Ash was going to be positive and assume the other 27 were left out for simplicity's sake.
The pencil resumed sketching, sketching in older versions of Misty, Iris, and Anabel with several of their Pokémon including Excadrill, Gyarados, Alakazam, and Psyduck. Psyduck was hiding behind Torkoal.
Others were on the side of the image, constantly being sketched into it. He recognized a few of them, Red and Yellow, Belladonna and her entourage, Ritchie, and many others who Ash didn't recognize, though many disturbingly resembled himself, Red, and Belladonna. One was standing atop a Steelix, another reminded him of the final Orange Island Gym Leader, a third dressed like a ninja with several other ninja following him with a lot of Froakie and what looked like evolutions of Froakie, a fourth was unusually short with a red scarf alongside a girl who eerily resembled Dawn. He however could tell that the girl only resembled his friend, she was not her. Not even from the differences in time or age, but someone else entirely.
A muscled, scary faced older fellow was also drawn. His hair was pink, and on his head was a scarf eerily similar to what was on Cameron. He was followed by more drawings of people Ash either vaguely or failed to recognize, including A.J and the Bellsprout girl for some reason.
After a few moments of what seemed like consideration Team Rocket's Balloon was sketched in on the same side as himself, with Weezing, Inkay, Dustox, and Carnivine spilling out of said balloon before the sketching began on the other side.
It drew dozens of others around his age in the drawing, many resembling him. The side also had ninjas, mirroring the ones on 'his' side. The sketching of them changed to a drawing of three identical figures garbed in black, then directly opposite his sketched self a much older figure was drawn, a crown on his head obscuring most of his face bar his glowing red eyes. Ash wasn't sure where, but he could swear he had seen this person somewhere before.
A few more sketches drew his attention however, as he saw something truly frightening in the hands of this man with a crown, clenched and crumpled in his hands were a pink hat with a black ribbon, and a red bandana with a white Pokéball on it.
He was quite familiar with both, and he didn't like the implications of it. Ash's fists clenched tightly, so tightly in fact that had this not been a dream world blood would've been drawn from where his fingernails gouged into his palms.
A quick series of sketches then appeared in the background, featuring Groudon and Kyogre with odd colors that Ash was rather sure wasn't their Shiny coloration, some sort of pale blue Pokémon that looked like a jellyfish wearing a hat and a black cable like Pokémon with white hair sparking with electricity, an oddly pale looking Zekrom and Darkrai that reminded Ash far too much of the Mirage Incident, and a purplish-black Lugia. They looked like they were both attacking each other, and attacking the foreground.
However even as he was seeing this image of a supposed future (though in all honesty it looked more like a poster or comic book cover that Ash had no idea the meaning of), he could still heard Clemont and company.
"The problem is all those present here at the Aether Foundation died before they could properly examine this…..collection…." Clemont sounded angrier than Ash had ever heard him when he spoke of it "…of Pokémon. They didn't know that all these Pokémon were dying before they were frozen. It's only being frozen that keeps them alive, and from what my tech can glimpse from what remains of the Aether servers they were like that before they came into Lusamine's possession. The moment we even try and get a drop of Infinity Energy from them they'd die."
"So what are you gettin' at? That Lusamine did so because that was the only way to sneak her delusions past the good men and women who worked here, and Faba, or that that the fact they'd die under current conditions if anything else was done to them was the only way she could rationalize it to herself to freeze living things into art pieces in her delirium?" Muscle woman offered as Latoya had a response.
"Does it matter, they don't have enough Infinite Energy to save the world either way and we're back to square one."
And with that sentence the dream was over and Ash was back in his room, Pikachu looking at him with a worried expression.
"So, I take it neither of us hallucinated that?" Ash hoped Pikachu would prove him wrong.
Pikachu's shaking head promptly disproved this hope.
…
Meanwhile in Alola two twin siblings woke up in the nurse's office of their school in Melemele Island, having passed out in the middle of class without warning.
Most unfortunately the brother had actually been feeling good about the test he had been going through at the time.
…..
"Black Pokémon with white top," Ash repeated to the Pokédex for the third time today.
The image showed the image of a Darkrai, which was not one of the Pokémon Ash was looking for.
"Darkrai, the Pitch-Black Pokémon. Darkrai spreads nightmares just by being in the area. Darkrai is the first Legendary Pokémon known to be used in a professional tournament…"
"Got any others?" Ash pressed.
"A Black Pokémon? Certainly. Though given your irritation I suspect you might want to narrow it down?" The Pokédex inquired as Ash frowned.
"The Pokémon I'm looking for, I'm pretty sure it's an Electric Type."
"A Black Electric Pokémon? Hmm….who's that Pokémon? Why, it's Zebstrika, the Thunderbolt Pokémon!"
"That's not it."
"Hmm….I have a hypothesis then, based on your illogical searches. You were hallucinating from a biological imbalance from a questionable food ingestion the previous meal. A simple mishap of your fleshy biology, as unavoidable for you as patch updates to my software are for me."
"I doubt it."
"Regardless you have a battle to win, so brush your teeth and consume biofuel."
….
If this tournament had been an English assignment, Ash was rather sure he'd have to explain foreshadowing in his essay today.
Because his life seemed to have been employing it.
"Ash? Ash Ketchum?" The blond girl challenging him, Aideen, gaped in surprise.
"Um, yeah?" He scratched the back of his head, rather embarrassed. The idea that they had slipped his mind entirely until Red brought them up was rather embarrassing.
He didn't really forget people that much. He was forgetful at times, even when Cyrus was minding his own business, but not that bad.
The blond boy next to her, Elwood as Ash was now recalling, shook his head.
"Same old Ash. Well, hard to believe we're meeting here of all places. But it is a match after all, let the best of us win."
"Yeah." Ash declared
"Begin!"
"Nidorina, go!" Aideen declared as she threw a Great Ball out. It burst open, revealing the blue Poison-type.
"Nidorina, the Poison Pin Pokémon. Female Nidoran evolve into this Pokémon. When this Pokémon is not relaxed, it is covered in poison thorns. Do not touch."
"Do not touch huh, so I need to keep a distance and be able to avoid….I choose you!" Ash declared.
"I am not a Porygon, I cannot fight this battle!"
The Pokédex said this moments before Ambipom landed on the field tail first, before spinning around and posing.
"…I was wrong….sometimes I forget you aren't a mad fool."
"Huh…don't see that every day." Elwood noted before throwing his own Pokéball out.
The Pokéball manifested into that of a Hitmonlee, who stretched his legs in prep for a lot of kicking.
"A Poison type and a Fighting type…" Red observed before releasing a Victreebel. The plant shrieked loudly, even as Ash could imagine James shrieking in fear.
Where were they today anyway, or yesterday for that matter? He could ask that question later when they eventually showed up to harass him.
"Poison Sting!" Nidorina opened her jaws wide as Elwood waved his hand.
"Helping Hand!" Hitmonlee closed his eyes as he began to glow yellow. The aura wafted over to Nidorina, whose jaw flashed yellow before a storm of massive sting attacks flew out towards Ambipom and Victreebel like a storm.
"Ambipom, Counter Shield!"
'Got it!' She jumped into the air and began spinning, even as Swift flew out. The stars collided into the poison stings, cancelling them out in a display that Ash felt with confidence could get him some points in a contest.
"Wow! What move combination was that?!"
"No really, what was that?" Aideen echoed the MC.
"Something called a Counter Shield based on what he just shouted. We can talk about what it is exactly after we win. Jump Kick Hitmonlee!"
"Block it!"
Ambipom wasn't at a point to dodge it, and she knew it just as he did. She instead pushed her tails out like a shield to take the jumping attack.
As such, Ambipom was only knocked to the ground, and not into a wall.
"Aerial Ace!" Aideen ordered in support of her brother. As Hitmonlee landed Nidorina charged past the fighting type, limb glowing with white aerial energy.
"Vine Whip."
Victreebel's whip, one Ash had seen many times aimed at him, sped from Victreebel and wrapped itself around Nidorina's Aerial Ace hand.
"Now Slam!"
Nidorina was sent into the air by a rapid tug from Red's Pokémon, before being slammed into the ground.
Ash could feel the strength from that whack. He did not envy Nidorina.
"Nidorina!" Aideen exclaimed as Elwood continued the battle.
"This is why one doesn't just rush in sister. Hitmonlee, help Nidorina out with Rolling Kick!"
"Block with Double Hit!" Ash countered as Ambipom hopped into the air.
With glowing purple tails she landed between Hitmonlee and Nidorina before swinging them.
Hitmonlee countered with a glowing foot, and the moves collided once.
Then twice.
Then Hitmonlee struck Ambipom with his head. Ash wasn't sure of that was a Headbutt, but it did its job and knocked Ambipom back.
"You okay/Pi!?"
"Am…" 'Sort of..."'
Before Hitmonlee could advance Nidorina was flung into him, sending both Pokémon tumbling back.
"Leaf Storm!"
Jumping in front of Ambipom, Victreebel's maw was a glow with a storm of leaves. The leaves were promptly blasted ahead, striking into Hitmonlee and Nidorina.
Nidorina growled, and Ash could see her stick claws into the ground to keep in place. Hitmonlee however was blown back and crashed into the wall next to his Trainer.
"Hitmonlee…" Elwood asked as the ref raised a flag.
"Hitmonlee is defeated."
"And with that, this is a two on one battle! Only Lilo managed to come back from this sort of fight yesterday folks, can this young lady mimic that comeback?"
"I can and I will." Aideen glared at Red. Ash was rather glad it wasn't being aimed at him.
"For my brother! Nidorina, Horn Drill!" Nidorina acknowledged the command as her front horn glowed white and elongated.
Victreebel tensed as the instant win move came right at it.
"Use Sweet Scent!" Victreebel spilled out a cloud of red smoke that filled the field in front of it like a fog machine.
Nidorina yowled before her energy horn began to spin. The Sweet Scent was blown away, and Ash could see Red's face form into shock.
"I have a Bellossom, I know how to counter that trick. Now, let's make this one on one!"
"Ambipom, throw Victreebel into the air!"
"Ai!" 'Got it!' Ambipom shot her tails right under the grass type, before throwing up the bane of James's shirt budget.
The grass type flew, and Nidorina charged through the empty air. Ambipom hopped out of the way, as the Poison type stopped only after both Ambipom and Victreebel were behind her.
"Oh crap," Aideen declared.
"Victreebel/Ambipom, use Vine Whip/Power-Up Punch!"
Before Nidorina could move a glowing orange fist and a yellow vine shot forth and smacked her simultaneously. Nidorina was slammed into the ground with an oomph and a groan.
After five seconds the ref had a call.
"Nidorina is unable to battle, the winners are Red and Ash!"
----------------------------------------
Meanwhile back in Saffron City
The doll in white, with a large matching hat with a pink bow. The doll had blue hair, with a letter written out, ready to be sealed and sent.
It read 'Thank you for the Future'.
Sabrina eyed the doll with a frown, before waving her hand and sending the toy tumbling away.
"No, that would be just creepy, and it would probably cause the future boy to come here and try to stop me. Why make fixing the world harder than it needs to be anyway?" Without moving a muscle Sabrina spun around to look down upon the terrified Trainer she had obtained just a few moments ago with a teleporting Abra.
"It's people like you that do need to disappear."
"What on earth are you talking about you freak of nat…" The ponytailed ranch hand snarled before he shut up, a side effect of telekinetic force forcing his jaw shut.
"The world is being filled with the inadequate, the dull, and the lazy. Even as the remarkable do prove themselves, your kind crowds them out. No one can see the good artists from the average, the excellent cooks from the boring, the remarkable artist from the one who simply copies…I have felt their frustrations as sure as I have felt them myself."
"You are a prime example of what your kind does to the truly talented Dario. You had no remarkable skill at anything, you're driven on to produce inferior results, where better talented people could have easily been obtained if you weren't given your cushion of family blood. You couldn't even bother trying to fix yourself; you instead looked at actual talent around you, like Lara Laramie, and tried to bring her down to your level with trickery and sabotage. In trying to make yourself, a waste of space with no talent, look good, you made so many with actual skill and brains look bad. You cost them business, reputation, self-esteem, and caused actual injuries to themselves and the Pokémon they put more time into than you ever did yours. Yet, you can't even manage that, you failed and made yourself so exposed that no one will be surprised when they find your dead body in the water tomorrow. You were so pathetic you reacted the same in two timelines."
"What crazy are you talking!?" Dario forced out before he was silenced again.
"The world doesn't need your kind filling it like trash. I'll admit I am new at this, as I am used to testing Trainers to see if they are truly worthy of survival. But you are not Trainer, and I have two sources that show that you aren't worthy. But you are the first, so perhaps I'll improve my technique in time."
With that note Sabrina snapped his neck with her power, causing the dead ranch hand to fall dead on the ground.
"…Well, that's one down, but plenty more still to go." Sabrina closed her eyes as she concentrated, reaching out with her telepathy. Like always her Pokémon added into her psychic field, extending it with their own until it reached to the mind of Ash Ketchum, the man of two lifetimes.
He was battling, and would not notice her taking another stroll through the memories of his first timeline.
It was filled with many unworthy souls.
"Hmm…..a so called magician? Well this will be satisfying to kill more of his ilk, even if he is one of the most pathetic I've ever seen…now let's find this Melvin and clean up his act. Permanently." (**)