…..The space between the universe and beyond shook violently, the resulting explosions not the result of celebrations for the battle just won, but the end of the world. Arceus was a lot calmer about it than he was, as calm as it had been explaining the fact that yes, the world was in fact disintegrating, it was Cyrus’s fault, and the random bits of reality re-playing around them weren't evidence of Cyrus being responsible for various odd things in time by deliberate action. They were becoming distorted and changing constantly because reality was currently coming apart and remaking itself, Cyrus flashing in them was not him actively targeting those points in time. Seeing five of his battles (against Alain, Tyson, Harrison, Paul at Lake Acuity, and his first battle with Trip) fluctuate was not because they were specifically altered but because everything was becoming unstable.

"So, now that we've gotten that sorted out, I shall send you back to the past to the day you first became a trainer."

At Ash's questioning gaze, Arceus gave him a stare before explaining, "I do this because the world cannot afford a second disruption of all time and space, thus requiring you to prepare as much as possible for Cyrus's scheme as possible, though I do recognize sending you back to the day of your birth could possibly ruin your sanity. I admit I am not sure just how much time you’ll have, I am quite sure that if you were to travel as you had previously, you will find yourself facing Cyrus at the same point you did the first time, but I cannot tell you how long that will take. Also, as I realize that as a Pokémon Trainer, you understand the need, importance, and power of teamwork, thus I shall grant you the ability to restore the memories of..."

BOOM BOOM BOOM

A much more powerful explosion shook the palace of the Pokémon creator, as Arceus stared at Ash in quite evident alarm, more so than when he had believed himself betrayed by Damos.

"...There isn't enough time to do this nearly as complete as I'd like it to." Arceus focused on Ash as an orange glow surrounded Ash while the entire palace shook more and more violently. "Unlike Dialga, I need more focus to send someone cleanly through time like you experienced before. You will be able to restore memories, but not as perfectly and evenly as I'd had hoped to grant you, and not as flexibly, and the distortions to the original timeline may have unpredictable consequences, but it's the best chance we all have. Whatever happens won’t be completely alien, you will meet your friends and loved ones again, though nothing will remain exactly the same as you remember..."

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

The shaking got worse as Ash's orange glow stopped in a manner similar to a blacked out video game, with a similar feeling of being incomplete as a somewhat shaky blue orb formed around Ash.

"Best of luck to you, hopefully you won't wake up to find yourself of the opposite gender or a Pokémon or something else offsetting to you, and don't expect me to remember anything in the new timeline, so I may try to kill you next time we meet. Or maybe I will, I cannot say for sure. So please do not take it personally if I do try to kill you."

Before Ash could voice his confusion and horror at such a scenario, the blue orb burst into light as Ash vanished, just seconds before the entire palace imploded out of existence, with Arceus in it.

And it was at the end of this memory, in the form of a dream, that Ash woke up in a new world.

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

…

Ash opened his eyes to find himself in a dark place, with no lights, yet oddly enough it felt familiar to him, despite the lack of visibility. Part of Ash briefly panicked about possibly being somewhere that was nowhere, or however you described nothingness, he burst up from his resting position, and noticed that, for one, he was in a resting position. In Ash’s very limited experience in places that didn’t really exist, like how he understood voids of nothing, you didn’t rest in them like you were falling asleep. Also a blanket slid off of him, which meant he was in a place with something. And as his eyes were wide awake, he was starting to see things more clearly. What Arceus had done had worked, this was reality, things had gone back to how they had been at the start all those….wait, how long ago was it? He remembered a similar confusion…

“You should be aware that the effects of Cyrus were present in reality for a while, though in subtle ways. Time and Space were not stable, and as a result time flowed differently. Your brother Lei was born but you didn’t age, cities changed but no time passed. These were not intentional on Cyrus’s part, but byproducts of his studious mind experimenting with reality itself as one might tinker with a robot’s circuitry.” Ash remembered Arceus saying. Basically like somehow Cyrus working to remake reality from the space between space and time he got stuck in made it so he was always ten or something. Though that was….was past the right way of putting it, and he had an adventure to start on soon and people and Pokemon to meet again on it. Though before he could begin that, he had some amount of hours before it began and it would be a bit too early for breakfast in Ash’s gut opinion, and on breakfast matters you should trust your gut, so Ash looked around to see his room, his eyes mostly adjusted to the low light provided by the moonlight coming in from his room.

The first thing he noticed was that the table that he would keep the various mementos of his journey didn’t have said mementoes on it. The distinct shape of things like May's carved Teddiursa, his trophy from the Manalo Conference, and the Masked Royal statue were hard to miss, and the absence of all of them did make Ash feel a bit upset. Those were all the results of hard work by himself, his Pokemon, and his friends. Beyond that, they also represented something more than just victory. They were symbols of their bonds.with each other. The Teddiursa carving and the half of the Terracotta Ribbon showed that his friendship with May was there, strong and true. Those two being gone was a reminder that he was before that, and that he’d need to meet and befriend May all over again.

But them being missing also gave him a strange sense of excitement, though that was definitely not the right word. He wasn’t excited that his bonds had to be remade again, with everyone, unless that thing Arceus said made it really easy or something. However, that meant he had adventures ahead. Adventures to earn his badges again. Adventures to show the world and themselves what he and his friends could do together. He’d see his friends again, he’d make new friends, he’d see old places anew and find new places to explore and discoveries to find. Like discovering what was on the desk of absent mementos that looked like a Clefairy Doll….

Ash stared at said desk, squinting at it. It really did look like Lillie’s doll. But, it couldn’t be. He just put his old Clefairy Bank somewhere weird, right in front of him, instead of in its usual place outside of his direct line of sight. But when did that bank look so…well used? And kind of droopy, and not a solid object like a Clefairy Bank. Ash briefly glanced at the side of his bed where the clock was, finding a different clock (with digital numbers instead of hands) that said it was three in the morning. Five hours, and his mom was probably going to be sound asleep.

Ash, very carefully, slipped out of bed, slowing his descent to the ground from his high bunk to avoid making a crashing sound like he would if he was missing breakfast, and, walking to avoid making any creaks or other noises, reached for the light and flipped it on. The room lit up, and now he could see his room fully clearly. It was still clearly his room, he saw everything from the globe by his bed to his Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur poster. But what he was staring at directly was the desk where, before Cyrus destroyed everything, he had trophies and a Clefairy Doll gifted from a friend. There were no trophies, certificates, badges, prizes, or other evidence of a journey there, but there was a Clefairy Doll.

Ash stared at the stuffed toy in astonishment. Why was it here? It…it didn’t make any sense to be here, though as shocked as it was, he smiled. Something from his friends was still with him. Sure, it didn’t make any sense as the doll was given to him well after he started his first journey, but sense didn’t matter sometimes. Friendship and bonds were just that powerful and important. And it was Lillie’s doll. He picked it up and looked at its foot. In neat stitches written in golden letters was the name ‘Lillie’, and it had the same stain under the right arm that he had seen on it countless times. It was the very same doll. Did it somehow travel back too? That seemed a sensible answer, and if it did that was great. He was sure he had seen some time travel show or movie from a friend that said that if he had something like this, a version of an object that already existed. After all, if he had a doll and Lillie had the same doll with the same tear and name stitched to it, what other explanation could there be? Maybe he’d be able to meet Lillie sooner and help her…

Before Ash could attempt to figure out the logistics of that, he suddenly remembered something. A memory that Ash didn’t remember having, but also did remember having.

...

They were in the fields that surrounded Pallet Town, and the air felt like fall. It was a bit cold, crisp was the proper word for it, and the sun was starting to set.

Ash remembered having been given something soft, and as the memory cleared a bit he remembered being given the very same doll he was holding now. Lillie, blushing a bit, had a smile that was both kind, and a bit sad, as if this was a departure or something. She was wearing something a lot like she was wearing when she found her father, though instead of blue boots she was wearing her white sneakers and white stockings.

“It’s not much, but it’s one of two things I can give you as thanks. Thanks for everything.” Lillie told him, and her voice sounded different. It was clearly Lillie, but her voice seemed different. Almost like she was older.

“Ah, you don’t have to do that. It was nothing.” Ash remembered telling her, and it might have just been him, but his voice also sounded different. “And you did plenty for me. The test next week is going to be easy thanks to you.”

“No Ash, that was easy. You just needed the right way to learn everything you need to to become a trainer with everything you deserve. You deserve a lot too, because you did so much for us, and me. I never thought I’d be able to overcome my fear, but you made it seem almost trivial. I thought I’d get laughed at, the girl at a special summer camp for Pokemon Training who freezes up if they touch her. But you helped me so, so much. Ash I…I can’t even thank you enough for that, and I’ve been thanking you for months. And you all, especially you, didn’t even stop there.”

Ash remembered now that the entire time, Lillie had been holding Snowy’s egg.

“I mean why not? You really seemed enthralled by that egg, and unlike me and Serena, Alola doesn’t have a Starter Pokemon program. You should have a Pokemon partner, just like us.” Ash reminded her in the memory, and by extension himself now, about an activity at the Summer Camp, which he now also remembered was a thing. That while he could get his Pokemon Trainer License pretty easily, there was a bit more to getting his Pokedex. To get that, and a Starter Pokemon from Professor Oak now, he needed to participate in a special summer camp. Pallet Town residents could enter free, and at the end there was a big test to pass to secure yourself. And now as he remembered that, he remembered that he passed! The best test score that he had ever gotten! The last test he’d ever have to take, and he got a high enough to win it all! Okay no, Gary actually got a better score than him, but he was the second best in the Kanto group! That was worth celebrating.

Just like it was worth celebrating when they all competed in a team activity for a set of prizes that includes various Pokemon eggs. Professor Oak had high standards to give Pokedexes, and he could only give them to Kanto-based trainers (it was on the others elsewhere, like Professor Elm or Sycamore, to do for others), but he could give the others something to help them beyond raw knowledge and experience. And one such egg had caught Lillie’s eye and heart, and they were all determined to win it for her. And so, in fierce competition, they did.

The faintest memory of someone, skin unusually pale and his eyes red, furious at Ash and the rest of them as they celebrated the victory with Lillie embracing the egg, but the main memory blocked that memory from fully being remembered right now.

“Plus, we’re friends. Why wouldn’t a friend help a friend?” Ash asked Lillie, finishing the sentence interrupted by memory. Lilllie blushed again.

“Not just a friend. You’ll help anyone, even complete strangers, it’s rather noble of you. And quite sweet. And…oh I don’t have the time to say everything I want to.”

Lillie looked like she had so much more she wanted to say, but like she had little time. Oh yeah, she had to get to a flight back to Alola. She was nearly at the last minute as is, as Ash somehow knew. She made a face as if she was very scared about doing something, before steeling her nerves and doing something. And that something, was running right at him and kissing him.

Ash, both in memory and dream, flinched in surprise as Lillie suddenly locked her lips to his, kissing him deeply. Ash wasn’t sure how long it lasted, but it was Lillie who broke it off. Lillie, her face more red than he had ever seen it, frantically bowed to him.

“ThanksyouforeverytihngAshIIIIIIloveyouandhopewecanmeetagainandmaybehaveadateespeciallyifmotherneverfindsoutandthuswillnotatalltrytohelpmeinsomehorridwaybye!”

And then Lillie, still blushing away, scrambled up a hill to where her ride was waiting, while the Ash in the memory was frozen in disbelief and shock, his red also incredibly red.

As was the face of Ash in the present as the memory was fully remembered.

When Ash felt like he had stopped remembering, Ash was confused on quite a few things. For one thing, what was that memory? He didn’t meet Lillie like that, but it wasn’t fake either. Did Arceus say…oh wait, he did say something about things changing? Was that one of the changes? That he had met Lillie before he went to Alola, and that is why he had her Clefairy Doll?

Also…the kiss thing…um…..huh…..and did she actually say…

Ash’s face was still beat red, as a minute ticked away on the clock (3:17), and he really, really didn’t know how to process that. He was still processing Serena kissing him two journeys and a timeline ago, and now Lillie…he had questions he didn’t know if anyone could answer. He felt confused, unsure, yet also…happy? Like Lillie kissing him was not something he remembered and didn’t like or anything, far from it. But he wasn’t sure how to explain it…

Ash looked around the room for anything that might either help him process a memory that was real but he didn’t remember experiencing, yet also did remember experiencing at the same time, or something, when a series of picture frames the desk with Lillie’s doll caught his attention. They were new. He looked at them, first the one that looked oldest. It featured him as a little baby, his mom, and a woman who was older….his grandmother, he remembered. He only had seen pictures of her, passed before his time, but here she was present with him as a baby. A quick glance down the photos, to a version of him that was older but not yet ten, lacked her, so she was probably dead now, but she had known him in person. That thought was also something he wasn’t sure how to process. Things were changing, but this…this was for the better. It could be better, his grandmother could still be alive, but she had lived longer. That was a good thing.

There were three picture frames following the first two, but before Ash could look at them he was drawn to the one at the very end past the three he noted just now. Because it had Lillie in it, and not just Lillie. Serena was there too, which yeah, now that he remembered, her name was in the memory. She didn’t get replaced by Lillie or something. But he, Serena, and Lillie weren’t the only ones in the picture.

For one example, Lana was present. It was odd that Mallow wasn’t present, but it made sense when he remembered Lana mentioned that Mallow had been invited but gave her spot to Lillie, who ‘wanted to get out of her shell by doing something really different and to also have some physical distance from her mother’. And remembering that as he wondered it was a weird feeling. Was he really just going to ‘remember’ stuff about things once they came to mind or sight? Um, something that was less heavy to think about. Oh yeah, Lana looked rather different, and it wasn’t just that. It wasn’t just one of his friends who looked differently. Lillie and Serena, the former who also had looked older in his memory, did in fact look older in photographic form as well.

Lillie, while wearing something very different from that one picture he’d seen of a much younger version of her mother (back when Faba looked cool and Wicke didn’t look more like the a member of the Pallet Town Mothers Club than his mom did), and Lillie, as Rotomdex had once said, looked a lot like her. He could see some differences, her eye color was her mothers, but the shape of the eyes were more like Mohn, and her face was a bit less sharp than Lusamine’s. In the photo she was wearing something like her outfit for saving her mother and the Pokemon League, but with white leggings and a new, smaller white hat Serena had sewn for her to go with the outfit. Snowy’s egg was not present, so this took place before…and Ash was blushing now. Time to move onto Lana.

Lana, like Lillie, looked a fair bit like her mother, though more different from her mother than Lillie did. She certainly looked, and Ash remembered seeing them together was in fact, shorter. Lana and her mother insisted that their family just hit puberty late, and hit it hard. And now that Ash remembered her saying that, he remembered the events of the Lana growth spurt shock. That had been rather chaotic, and Lana had said, no Ash remembered she had boasted, that that growth spurt would not be the last. Lana also had more muscles on her arm than Ash remembered. She had always been pretty strong, but she looked more like she was strong at a glance now. That muscle she had proudly claimed came from her papa, Ash remembered. Lana was wearing more or less what she typically wore, though her pants were of a shorter variety, her top’s sleeveless looked more ripped as a design choice versus her white top having once had sleeves that had been removed, and she didn’t have a Z-ring. Oh yeah, Serena had made her that top as a result of the growth spurt shock. Speaking of whom…

Unlike Lana and Lillie, who Ash could compare to their mothers as an easy way of describing what they looked like now, that did not work with Serena. Grace and Serena did not look alike at all when Serena was younger, and that didn’t change when Serena got older. While Serena had Grace’s eyes and face, Serena had her long honey-blonde hair and a physical appearance that was more elegant to Grace’s strong and sturdy, despite Grace’s best efforts to the contrary. Serena was not any more inclined to ride a Rhyhorn as a young teenager as she was at a younger age. Yet she had also been the one to repair the air conditioner…which she had admitted to being a result of Grace making her learn to use tools and repair things.

Serena was in a pink shirt, with a darker pink center section to light pink top sections, with brown pants and a blue belt with a…some sort of ribbon, a sash Ash thought it was called. A sash worn around her waist. On her head was the hat she wore before she cut her hair. She was the only Kalosian there, he remembered, because she was present due to her mother’s personal request and need and not for anything grander in scale.

It wasn’t just him and the three of them though, there were others. three of them Ash recognized and one of them he did not.

Acerola was the third Alolan present, though there were not two other Kalosians. Serena, he now remembered as he wondered that, was here because of her mom, not because of anything else. The three kahunas had picked who went, with two of them choosing people who were his friends, oh hey he knew Mallow as a friend already too and now he remembered that, (suddenly remembering things like that was never going to be something Ash would be used to), one of whom offered to send a different friend instead (though before the camp he remembered knowing Lillie less than he did Lana and Mallow). Nanu had chosen Acerola instead, and if Acerola was right it was so he could ‘dillydally’ in peace. Still, he remembered Acerola enjoying her time away from Alola and had a lot of fun. Though he felt like Acerola was bit more playful and cheeky than he remembered, and a part of him (that sounded like Mallow) wondered if having her and Lana in close contact constantly was a good idea. And it wasn’t that bad for him at least…he was pretty sure. Though maybe he’d remember some horrible instance that would prove Mallow to be completely correct.

…no such memory came, so he noted Acerola’s appearance before he looked at the other three present. He didn’t see Mimikins, or her patchwork dress. He remembered she did have several of those, but Serena had made it her mission to replace them with nicer dresses and other clothes, even before members of the Vermillion and Frodomar Cabins had teased her about it. Acerola hadn’t cared, but Serena took it to double her efforts. One of her efforts was present: a blouse that had a similar idea to Acerola’s old dress in multiple blue shades with with a more natural transition from light blue around Acerola’s neck to darker blue at the hem than one made of stitched together fragments of other articles of clothing and a purple skirt and leggings. While Acerola still had a very similar hairstyle and Meowth-like smile, she also looked older than he remembered.

One of them was Hop, Leon’s younger brother, who looked a lot like a shorter, lankier version of Galar’s favorite son. He looked otherwise a lot as Ash remembered him in the old timeline, Ash didn’t seen anything that looked obviously different, as he wasn’t wearing anything Serena had made for him like the others were, and Hop was at the camp because Galar had a chance to send three young prospective trainers and Leon got to choose one, and he naturally chose his kid brother who was both thrilled with the idea of being given a chance to get a start on his goal of surpassing his brother, and rather nervous about the prospect in private. Ash had remembered seeing Hop when he was alone, after a rough day, and Hop beat himself up for not being good enough worse than Gary did in private when he thought he, or Daisy, weren’t looking. Ash didn’t see Wooloo, though he did see a different Pokemon in the photo. Two actually, though he focused on one immediately. .

Morpeko was in the arms of Marnie, who was the Gym Leader’s collective choice to send. Apparently it was down to her or a daughter of a gym leader named Melony who Ash didn’t know personally. Since he did know that her older brother was Galar’s Dark-type Gym Leader, it made sense. Piers had caught Morpeko for her, he’d been told, and no, he did not eat more than Morpeko. They proved that with science! Though that entire episode had caused the reserved girl to smile without the use of her fingers, so he counted that as a win. And that was far from the only time they could tell she was having fun, even if she also had the best poker face and had won so much stuff at the one and only cabin poker night that he wasn’t sure how it fit on the plane even after she gave them all some of her winnings. And he didn’t care how much Yeardley from the Vermillion Cabin called him a weepy wimpod, he was not going to bet his official league hat trying to get the rest of the stuff he lost that night back, especially when Marnie volunteered to get his (and everyone else’s) stuff back, and saying that his hat was worth more than his mother’s house was both very mean and probably (hopefully) inaccurate. Which was a good thing, that poker night had kind of gone a little crazy….

The first in a list of things to never talk to his mom about, ever, that hopefully never got too large aside, Marnie looked pretty similar to how he remembered her too, just, like everyone else, older. The main difference was a dark red (crimson?) and black choker replacing the black one she wore, which Serena had made for her.

The third he didn’t recognize, and the one with the other Pokemon present with them, was a pale man with platinum blond hair that kind of reminded Ash of a curly bush, with purple eyes and was wearing a large purple coat that was not practical for the weather, though the white shorts were a bit better at keeping him alive in the warm camp months. On his left wrist was a large golden that was too big for him, clearly on display as he bent his arm to let a Pokemon, a Hattena, sit comfortably and in clear view of the photo. His expression was very Gary-like, which made sense as Ash remembered who this guy was. He was Bede, and he was their team’s Gary. Naturally the Gary from the ‘Pallet Cabin’ did not like the rival Gary, and the two frequently butted heads .There was a particularly nasty scuffle between the two about who was more important in a league, a topic both took seriously. Gary was the grandson of the world’s most famous Pokemon Professor, great-great Grandson of the legendary Pokemon Master Pallet Oak, and younger brother of a Top Coordinator Daisy Oak, while Bede declared frequently how much ‘he owed Chairman Rose’.

Serena had guessed that Hattena, his jacket, and the watch were presents from the Chairman of Macro Cosmos, who had also been the one to volunteer him as part of the international program as one of Galar’s three representative children. Serena had also told them, confidentially, that she thought there was a problem with the gifts. The jacket and watch were way too large for Bede, and the former showed age like Bede had been using it for a long time. Serena had offered to adjust it for his size, but Bede had snarled at her for wanting to change it. Lillie had admitted to worrying about Hattena, who were known to be violent when too much emotion was around them, but that had proven a needless worry. It had been a lesson about Pokedex entry stereotypes and how information was rarely ever complete or in full. Still, two out of three gifts had raised suspicions among their little group. Which did have a name.

Said name was above the photo, naming them as the ‘Oak Summer Camp International Co-Operation Cabin’. It wasn’t quite obvious what that meant, as Ash was not international, except now that he remembered that he had dual Alolan-Kantonian citizenship and was fluent in Alolan and had quite good Kalosian and Galarian among other languages, so he’d been asked by Professor Oak to be with them so he could help them communicate easier while helping the rest of them become more fluent in different tongues. Which was a good reason, Ash guessed from the memory, wondering why he was good at languages, but what wasn’t obvious was the dual Alolan-Kantonian citizenship. Why would he have that?

What was obvious though and it hadn’t quite registered fully by him the first time how obvious it was because he was remembering random details about them as he was looking at them and didn’t quite have a chance to focus on them, was that Lillie didn’t just look older in the memory. She also looked older in this photo. Same with Serena, same with Lana, same with Hop and Marnie, his mom looked the same just like Professor Oak….

And that was when Ash looked into the mirror for the first time, realizing that it wasn’t just in the photo that he looked older. He was older, and the first thing that Ash thought when he did was ‘how did he not notice?’

Arceus had said something about him possibly changing species or gender, and that wasn’t it. He was still a guy, still a human, and he still had black hair and brown eyes and stuff. But he, like his friends, was definitely not ten anymore.

Before, he barely reached the center of the mirror, but now, he had to lean down a bit to see his full face, which implied a notable growth spurt. His shoulders were also broader than he recalled. Last but not least, and just to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, he touched his cheeks and chin, feeling the small facial hair that started to peek out.

So...it would seem he was older...the question was how older...

All he could really tell was that he was likely in his teens, so looking on the bright side he was not waking up to find himself as old as Professor Oak. Also he suddenly wanted to shave, as if he had a personal preference to keep clean shaven now he wouldn’t have as a ten year old, who did not have to think about shaving.

Speaking of Professor Oak, he and his mom weren’t the only adults present. There was also Professor Kukui, Professor Burnet, Sonia from Galar, who he remembered came along with the Galarian participants as part of an international goodwill and friendship initiative, as well as her grandmother getting her out of the house to do things. That was also part of the reason Professor Kukui and Burnet came along too.

After a few moments of trying to think, he found his mind to be in a state of chaos...it seemed as if any attempt by himself to get a grasp of what was different was virtually impossible. The whole "going back in time with all your memories into an altered timeline with its own memories" was a way to have issues with accessing either memory in great detail.

Though it seemed to be slowly righting itself; Ash found in a few moments that he had regained a momentarily useful memory from this timeline about learning how to shave off the off-putting facial fuzz.

With that minute annoyance dealt with, or knowing how to do it later when he wouldn’t wake anyone, he was starting to have a clearer head and could actually recall a bit more.

"Okay...I still live in Pallet Town, though I spend half the year in Alola…wait why do I do that?”

Speaking aloud didn’t make him any less confused. Okay, so why was that? Ash looked first at the clock (3: 46), and then at the photos on his table.

The middle one was taken a bit closer to age 10, hard to say if it was older or younger than that, and was set during a Professor’s conference at Professor Oak’s lab. It wasn’t a family photo but a photo of all sorts of professors eating at his mom’s restaurant together. He saw Professor Ivy, Professor Rowan, Professor Westwood, Professor Cerise, Professor Juniper’s father, even Professor Kukui and Burnet. They were sitting at the table with him and his mom for the camera, which was really nice to see. Professor Kukui was like a father to him, and he couldn’t really remember much about his actual father. Honestly if he had to describe his father, it would probably be Professor Kukui. It just wasn’t official, as that would involve a wedding and an upset Professor Burnet which would be bad too. He wasn’t quite as close to her, sure, as his own mom or Professor Kukui, but she was important too and he’d hate to see her upset just to have Professor Kukui actually become his father. Her and Professor Kukui were just too happy together with Lei. In fact Lei was in the next photo in his arms at Kukui and Burnet’s wedding and…..wait…..why was his mom in the photo too in a wedding dress?

Ash was sure he was mistaken, as he was not up to fashion and probably couldn’t tell a wedding dress from something that…wasn’t a wedding dress but looked one one if you squinted at it. It was very likely that was the case, there was surely some other reason for his mother to be in all white in a wedding photo center stage with Professor Kukui and Burnet. It was also surely just him misreading the reason for him and Lei to be in the place that Ash was pretty sure you put the guy who gave the ring in the midst of a wedding and….

And then Ash remembered that it was a wedding. His mother’s to Professor Kukui and Burnet. Or the wedding of his mom with his dad and ma. And it was a thought that Ash had to just dwell on for a minute. That fact, that memory, it was just….Ash wasn’t sure how to describe it. Big…no. Heavy….not quite. Deep? Maybe…Ash honestly needed a thesaurus, or maybe the Rotomdex. Lillie could do in a pinch. For one thing she could tell him if a thesaurus was the right book.

On the wedding he was seeing…Ash wasn’t sure what he was feeling. Nothing about it felt wrong or anything. Professor Kukui was like a father to him, so why not have him be his dad, like, legally? His mom was often alone when he wasn’t around, it had to be lonely without Mimey, so her not being alone was a good thing. At least during half of the year, as he and his mom split the year between living with dad and ma and Lei in Alola and half running the family restaurant and inn, (well his mom spent that time doing that, but he helped with other things), but that was better than when he was out on his journeys. And living like that, even if it did sound kind of confusing and a bit tricky to manage, sounded like a dream come true. Alola was like a second home to him, there was a ton to do in a single island in Alola in an area that was not much larger than all the stuff around Pallet Town that was technically called ‘around Pallet Town’ and not around Viridian City. Sure he still had to do some school stuff in Alola, the boring school stuff not Pokemon School stuff, but it was still better than the school in Pallet Town. The text books didn’t look like something Team Rocket would have resorted to using after they had to sell James’s bottlecaps and pogs for food for the seventh time that month.

James was remarkably good at finding more of those things that were, apparently, worth collecting, just as good as Jessie was at selling them behind his back.

There was a part of Ash, however, that couldn’t help but feel like this was an intrusion. He and his mom were always together before he went on the journey, and it was odd to think of that changing. His friends might stay with her, she might feed Professor Oak on occasion, but it was always just them. Another person, other people, in that space for a long period of time, not just a visit for a month, just made him feel…uneasy. And even remembering his tra…er….attempts training before the Indigo League, he was probably getting a little annoyed at Misty and Brock being around him and his mom’s place by the end of it. But that wasn’t fair to them, and he didn’t mind Mimey at all. So why did he feel that way? And honestly, if he had to think about a bit more, it felt like the Ash who was bothered by it was the Ash that remembered things how they used to be, not the Ash who was at that wedding. It was….a lot of think about, honestly, especially if he started dividing himself up like that. Ash had no idea if it was a good idea to start thinking like that. But whatever it was….if he needed to think on it more, it was something he could do on the road. He’d have plenty of time to think on that question and why it bothered like…half of him then. He hadn’t even thought about the fact that three people were married…honestly because Ash couldn’t think about if that was actually something to think about. All sorts of people married, and he couldn’t think of anyone really complaining.

“Heeyyyy! Heyyyyy! Dellliaaaaaaa! Oh come onnnnnn, why did you hawe to go and start (Ash wasn’t going to remember a guy saying that word in regards to his mom) some islander without a sshhhhhhhhirtt! We not good anoufh faar ya!?”

Except some drunk guys at the restaurant, who didn’t count. Because they got so drunk they started whining to the person who could kick them out of the town’s only restaurant and only bar if they got too annoying. It was not a good idea to do that, which is why no one talked like that sober.

“Boy! Boy! Boooyyyyyyyyyy! My daughter she….urg…….you know…….Boy! Get back here!! Get back here!”

“I like this Alolan…whatever it is. I cann…I cannn pronounce it, but I want more of it. Put it…put it….on my….you know….the thing….ANOTHER!”

Ash had seen plenty of that drunken stupidity when he helped with cleanup on the biggest nights at the restaurant's night shift, which was when the fresh beer shipments came in. It honestly was a bit annoying and he had no idea how his mom had withstood all of that, or his grandmother, or the manager while they were in Alola. Hopefully Lei, Nanala, Ray, or Hana were more inclined to cooking and running a business than he was, though it was probably not going to be Lei. This thought led him to another question. Who were Nanala, Ray, and Hana?

Ash looked at the last photo, wondering if there was an answer there. And the answer was there…oh it was there.

It looked to be around the same time as the camp photo, though Ash thought (and then remembered) it was after the camp photo was taken. It was in Alola, on a familiar beach that Ash knew by heart. Ash, his mom, dad, and ma were there, as was Lei. Lei looked older, approaching the age of Bonnie, Max, or Parker. Somewhere in that range. Lei actually looked a lot like that boy with the Litten he and Torracat had met that one time, just with a different hair color that was brown instead of black hair, which was kind of surprising. But there were three others with them who were younger than Lei. Nanala, Ray, and Hana, his and Lei’s younger siblings.

Nanala and Ray were about the same age, Nanala having his ma’s hair color and dad’s skin color. She could appreciate a hat, and was wearing a cap he had bought for her with a rainbow on it. Ray didn’t get what a hat could do for you, his head of hair that was his mom’s color lacking such essential headwear. In his mom’s arms was Hana, who reminded Ash of Lei when they’d first met.

The photo, and the memories it brought to the front, was clearl. Ash had a step brother, two half sisters, and a half brother. That was….awesome! Siblings were fun, and him telling Bonnie he wished he had some was as true at the end of time as it was at the start of it. Lei was cool and great, and now there were more like him. That was great, and it would always be great to see them again after every journey or came back home, or was it homes? Whatever was right, it wasn’t righter than how great it had to be to have a bunch of siblings. Sure there was that voice in his head, that sounded a bit like Misty, that said they were only great when you were away from them, but that was just more proof about how they were awesome because even Misty and her sisters, no matter how much they argued, got along really well. And he’d have tons of space even if Misty was right. Honestly Ash almost wished he had more of them because more siblings had to be even better, but Ash was aware that it was more complicated than that. Plus however much older he was than the photo at the wedding, it wasn’t that long. Though how long was it from that picture?

After trying to ponder that question again, Ash gave up. It was, for whatever reason, still a mess for him to recall from either timeline and he had other things to consider.

Like why was he still at home; if he was the age he was... whatever age it was people started to grow facial hair.

With the light on, he did manage to spy something potentially useful, a video tape with a Pokeball on it, which he remembered to be from Professor Oak. It sat among a whole bunch of other things, presents. Presents from his fifteenth birthday. Oh hey, that was how old he and everyone else probably was. Good to know. And there were a lot of them too, and he remembered he’d already opened a bunch from his family so these were all from friends.

The fishing rod that could collapse and fit in his backpack was from Lana. A set of materials featuring Leon found only in Galar were from Hop and based on some stuff he’d asked Hop about his big brother. Marnie had gotten him a large selection of Piers’s music to listen to. Acerola had sent him this packet of information about his maternal ancestry, as no one knew his biological one in this timeline apparently, that she (and probably Nanu, if he was somehow motivated to) had looked up. It was interesting, he wondered if he’d always had some ancestors from Rota or if that was just a this timeline thing. Mallow had put together a cookbook ‘that even he could use’ for traveling around on his Pokemon Journey. Lillie had sent him a pocket watch that kept the time in both Pallet Town and Melemele Island, which had been a concern Ash had mentioned keeping track of once to Lillie. The watch looked custom made, and it looked like it was really expensive. Gary’s sister Daisy had given him a trainer badge case, while the titular Gary, who was obliged to give him something because Ash had brought him back a book from Alola that the Pallet Town Bede had wanted the previous year, had given him a large box of Pokeballs, and Serena…

Well Serena had made a jacket for him that he had promised to wear on his journey, which lacked a good badge pinning interior lining like his good old first journey jacket so it made Daisy’s badge case quite helpful. And it wasn’t even that it was a burden to do so, it was a nice jacket and he had worn enough blue jackets to tell it was made of good quality material. It felt good for a lot of weather conditions and it was even apparently machine washable. He was told that was really important, though Ash had no idea what. It even had good pockets, which was something that some of his past outfits had lacked. You never realized how much you missed a good jacket pocket until you were deep in Sinnoh or Kalos, and sure you could get new jackets with pockets mid-journey, but he’d never really done that before and it just felt like it would be bad luck. He rather liked the shade of blue she used, and the white was rather nice on the hems around his arms, legs, and neck. The one touch he wasn’t sure about was….well it wasn’t a cape, but it looked a lot like it.

Daisy had called it a mantle, specifically a ‘half mantle’. It was some sort of cape or something, just that it was only over one shoulder and attached to the outfit. Rather interestingly it was the one that Pikachu would favor if…when…he found his friend again, despite how no one should know that. It was probably just a lucky chance. And its colors did match the rest of the outfit. It was still some sort of cloak/cape/fancy thing that Serena had clearly made with immense care, but Ash just knew someone was going to make fun of at some point. He’d been in school too long, longer than someone should, he knew that firsthand. Yet he did promise Serena, and he knew that the version of his first journey jacket no longer properly fit him, so it was his best and only option. Still, why did Serena make him something with a cape? Maybe if he stared at the jacket he’d trigger some memory or something. So he did. He stared at the jacket. He stared at the jacket more. He resisted the urge to look at the clock to stare at the jacket more. So when he actually did remember something, he had no idea if it took half a minute or five minutes

“I didn’t think I’d have nearly as much fun as I did.”

Serena confessed this to him at the end of the camp, Ash couldn’t remember if this was before or after Lillie’s goodbye. Serena was in something like what she’d worn when they’d met again in Kalos, and looked almost embarassed to admit it.

“My mother dragged me out here on something she wanted to do. That’s always how it goes with her; she wants me to learn to ride Rhyhorn, she wants me to know how to fix a car, she wants me to be more bold….always like her. I honestly thought this was going to be like all of the other times, just in Kanto this time, but it wasn’t. It was a lot of fun, and I feel…fulfilled, I think that’s the right word? Yeah, it is.”

“Fulfilled?” Ash asked as Serena nodded.

“It’s hard to explain, but I feel like this entire adventure’s put a lot of things about me into context. Until now I just felt like a bunch of stuff just thrown together at random. I can make clothes, I can cook and make sweets, I can fix mechanical things, I can get Rhyhorn to listen to me….”

“You even rode one like a champ!” Ash added, remembering one moment in particular. Serena chuckled a little bitterly at the memory.

“That was better than I ever did when my mother made me, but don’t ask me to compare what I pulled off to what she’d have done. It’s not comparable, and I don’t want to compare myself to her. Yet it’s because of all the things she made me learn, and the stuff I know in spite of her, and I don’t even know how much of calling it spite is literally spite or just the phrase, that I was able to be so….so….”

“Cool.” Ash offered up as Serena blushed.

“Cool…yeah, I guess I can…kind of be called that.”

“You did all sorts of great stuff Serena. Without you, we’d never have done as well as we did. You, me, and the rest of us. Though I’ve got to be honest, not sure what I really did except translate for everyone, and even then Lillie..”

Serena immediately interrupted.

“No Ash, you were the most important, and not just because you were the translator. You were the reason Lana and Acerola talked to anyone. You were the reason that Bede became…well just less of a jerk but still I think you actually made him a better human being somehow, sort of…as better as Bede can be I guess. I was sure I had just sacrified my time here saving you guys all from that trick from that red-eyed jerk, but you managed to keep me from being expelled. If I’m ‘cool’, you are so much more than that. You’re a hero, you’re a awesome, amazing, heartfelt and earnest person like I’ve never known before. You make everyone around you better, happier, and the only people who ever know you that come off worse for it are complete….”

The phrase Serena used, which was in Kalosian as she started talking faster and faster and had slipped into her native tongue as her words came out faster and faster, was one never to be used around his mom or siblings. They might ask what it meant, and the only appropriate answer was ‘the taste of soap would be in your mouth if you said it.’

“...cool, no you are so much more than that Ash. You’re hot and….”

“That word means ‘hot’, I’m not as good with turns of phrase in other languages but at least in this one that kind of applies someone is attractive.” Ash informed Serena as she blinked slowly. “But don’t worry about it, that sort of thing happens when you learn a new language,” for some reason Serena was walking towards him slowly, almost as if by instinct, “like this one time I found an Orrean language dictionary I didn’t realize that what I was saying actually was…wait um Serena are you ok…”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

And Serena immediately kissed him before quickly breaking it off, blushing furiously.

“OhthatisactuallywhatImeantbutIcantbelieveIactuallysaiditbutactuallyAshyouareactuallyveryhotandsweetandniceandIcantbelievethatIjustohkillmenowmompleaserunmeoverwithRhyhornImreadytodieohdearohdearohdear….”

And then Serena suddenly stopped herself from panicking, steeling herself through sheer intenrnal force of will.

“No…I won’t panic. I won’t babble. I won’t run away, I won’t give up. I…I will stick to something for once. My mother thinks I can’t stick to anything I do, either because of her or in spite of her, but not anymore. I’m going to pass my test back in Kalos, and I’ll be back. I’ll find out what I want to be, who I am going to be, who I am, I won’t be too worried about what might go wrong. You are fearless, and I’ll work on my fear until it never stops me again. Your a great person, I’ll be a great person. You have a natural charm I admire so much, and I’ll be a charming woman when we next see each other. And we will see you again, that is what I will stick to second. I will pass my test just you, and then I’ll see you again. That I promise you Ash.”

Ash had no idea how long he was staring after that last memory. His first coherant thought was again?! And Ash had no idea if he meant that Serena kissed him twice in two different timelines, or twice in one timeline between Serena and Lillie. How…how did that happen twice?! Was it just twice?! Was it going to happen more often!? How….how did he even react to that sort of thing?!

…and who could he talk to about it? The answer came to him after a bit, and he nodded to himself. Yes, he was the best choice to talk about it with. They needed to meet again, and how tha would happen would be known to him soon. He’d either find out or remember once he put the tape on his desk in and watched its contents.

Ash moved to put the tape in, hoping it would give him something to think about beyond questioning what those kisses meant, before recalling the time in the original timeline he had the sound on (low volume) at night; his mom was many things but a heavy sleeper she was not.

This also seemed to be similarly true in this timeline, as he remembered. Some of the incidents not even involving him when he was small, cute, and much less punishable for the sin of disturbing his slumbering mother.

Grimacing at the possible premature end of his Pokemon journey if he was to do that now, he finally managed to spy a pair of headphones and the jack for them on his television.

Ah, technology is so amazing.

Ash picked up the large headphones, big enough to fit even Pikachu's ears, ready to put them over his ears.

“All of these presents and a tape I actually only got today. Wonder what’s on it, well let’s just plug in these headphones and find out…also does my voice sound different?” It did. Well, it would be a bit weird if he still sounded like he always did, so he’d get used to it. Now for the tape, which seemed really old fashioned but he had a VCR so it was fine.

...A tape plop later

"Greetings Trainer, I am Professor Oak. If you have received this Video Tape, you have passed the Pokemon Trainer Test and are soon to become a Pokemon Trainer."

The screen showed the world renowned Pokemon Professor in his laboratory, who just like in the photos didn't seem to have changed either. Of course the presentation was on an older form of media, which Ash only just remembered was because Professor Oak was missing a few more modern forms of information delivery so apologized to his mom and gave her an old VHS tape that said the same thing but was far from the highest quality. So Professor Oak actually just looked like he did now as he did for a while. ‘An Oak grows up hard but once it’s old it stands firm and unchanging for decades’, was a saying about Professor Oak and Gary’s family that Ash only now just remembered, so it was probably a thing in this new timeline. But a new memory bit later, information on the present now.

"This test can be taken in many ways, but to receive a starter Pokemon from me you would have had to complete my Pokemon Summer Camp and complete the test at the end of it, after passing it at a 90 percent or higher. You also have to be 15, but seeing as the Camp is only open to 14 year olds and the 151 question test takes far too long to grade, I believe you should all be 15 by now."

Despite Ash’s own distrust of grades and classwork and stuff and a preference to be far away from them as much as possible, Ash had to guess it wasn’t just that. Professor Oak was probably just too busy doing Pokemon research and put it off, which took longer unless Tracey was around to help him out. And Ash did not remember Tracey being here early, so that was a very plausible theory. Ash didn’t hold that against Professor Oak of course, he learned a lot working for Professor Cerise and one of those was that going over papers was even worse than doing them as a student.

He suddenly flinched in pain as he recalled the 151 question test, the memory of the test that he both studied the most for, and suffered the greatest nerves and fears when taking, hit him all at once. It was not a fun memory to suddenly get all at once. He was pretty sure he got question 137 wrong (Porygon could not learn Safeguard). That memory just kept flashing in his head as the thought that test, like he stubbed his toe or something. His mental toe about Porygon movesets.

"Any trainer starting from my Laboratory can begin with either Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle." Professor Oak continued from the VHS recording, unaware of the lingering trauma of the test this tape had been heralded from. To emphasize this, the professor released the specifically named one from a pair of Pokeballs on the table. "As trainers, you will grow with your Pokemon, becoming stronger together and learning more about yourself and the world at large. Now, while you can start out with any Pokemon, as do many famous and skilled trainers, only those who pass my Summer Camp can start with the Kanto Starter Pokemon, which are extremely rare in the wild."

Ash remembered something about how those from other regions present would take a test for their own regions that would qualify them for a starter of their respective region. Marnie could get the privilege of starting with a Grookey, just as Gary would get the right to start with Squirtle. Though Ash couldn’t remember if that was the case with the Alolans, or was it? He..honestly wasn’t sure if it came up, which might even mean something in of itself.

"Now, all trainers must arrive at a participating Pokemon Laboratory at exactly 8:00. Any trainer who fails to show up will not receive a starter."

Ash had never heard the professor sound that serious, and that brought up a really, really worrying question.

If he couldn't be late; that means that he would have to choose one of the starters (and not Pikachu).

What happened if he couldn't go about it with his best buddy? Or would his Pikachu be a Charmander this time around? Then what would happen with his Charmander/Charizard?

"...Now, allow me to remind you about the legal obligations you agreed to upon taking the Pokemon Trainer Test and start from an approved Laboratory..."

Said legalse which Ash promptly ignored by removing the headphones, allowing Professor Oak’s recording to speak to a audience that would never hear him..It let Ash dwell on the topic of starters. If he was late, he wouldn’t start. But if he was on time, he wouldn’t get his buddy and would certainly not get his Squirtle, his Bulbasaur, or his Charizard instead. Pikachu was irreplaceable, but so were they.

It was 4:14 now, and it took ten minutes of thinking for Ash to come up with a solution that sounded good and more likely than ‘hey, if he had Alolan citizenship, maybe he could ask about starting with a Popplio instead so he didn’t replace any of his friends’. He’d heard stories of the kid who wanted to start with a Blaziken and would hate to sound like that. Nothing stopped him from starting with a Squirtle, Charmander, or Bulbasaur and still catching his friends. If Goh or Ursula or Virgil or Gary could do it, he could do it too. No two Pokemon were the same after all. It was honestly a very obvious solution that he probably didn’t need ten minutes to take, though if he could start with Pikachu or, heck, a Popplio he’d go with that instead. Though what was next…well that was hours later and…Ash yawned. He could get another hour of sleep, and would get an hour of sleep. He was sure of it as he got back under the covers and felt around with his hand. The alarm clock was way out of his reach, and he could see two more hidden even more out of reach. It was probably overkill…but it would work.

7:55 AM; just downhill from Professor Oak's Laboratory

Ash made it.

Somehow Ash had made it through what remained of the night without breaking the alarms. It did in fact work, even if his alarms were set earlier to give him time to get all of them down and quieted. He ate the breakfast his mother cooked for him (which was just as good as in the old timeline, oddly enough she already had Mimey who spared him clean up duty today, and his mom, Ray, and Hana were all estatic for his big day, as well as a bit sad) and got to the lab with 5 minutes to spare.

Sure, there were people who would be a lot more prompt than that, but given his own records with getting to the lab on time he liked to think he achieved something grand. One of his great achievements: winning the Orange and Alola Leagues. Conquering the Battle Frontier. Not sleeping in at home on important days. No one was going to rib him about it this time! Except for all of the other times he slept in….but this one time did not repeat it.

“Wait, he actually got up on time?!”

Gary was at the lab, because if he passed a test then Gary certainly did. Honestly Ash was more surprised that there weren’t more people here. Sure people in other cabins would have other places to get their starter Pokemon: Professor Cerise would be the one to give starters to the Vermillion Cabin, but Pallet Town had a cabin too, so why was it just him and Gary? Or why were they the only two from Pallet Town here, to be more accurate.

The two were blonde twins, one guy and one girl. The two, the green-wearing Elwood and the red wearing Aideen, were the children of a prominent politician who attended camp. While Ash remembered some people saying they’d get what they wanted because of who their father was, Ash remembered them being hard working, studious, and nice people. Honestly Ash was sure they gotten here by their own hard work, and not anything like bribery. If they didn’t look guilty, and Professor Oak looked happy to have them, then there was no reason to think there was anything wrong.

Meanwhile Gary, who Ash knew for a fact did not get in via bribery (the guy got a higher score than him), had gotten over his astonishment at seeing him around on time to return to a default part of his personality regardless of time or maturity. Making fun of him, in good or ill faith.

“Ash is that…is that really a cape?” Gary asked incredulously.

“I think it’s called a mantle, and it’s a birthday present.” Ash defended, having suspected Gary would make fun of it.

“Oh I know that. I know it was made from the heart and stuff, putting Joshua down before gramps made sure he’s just out…doesn’t mean I’m not going to make fun of it.” Gary admitted with a strange mix of understanding and amusement at his misery. Aideen looked at the garment for a moment with a thoughtful look.

“Those normally detach when you don’t want to have it on. Did you check if yours does?”

No, no he had not, so Ash did…and promptly got laughed at by Gary again when it came off quite smoothly. It even looked like it would come back on easily and did when he tested it twice, unlike those pants he had once that could zip off to become shorts. He never got those pant legs back on afterwards.

Elwood shook his head in amusement. Aideen smiled.

“Well I guess you did heroically stand up to some of those real assholes, guess it makes sense that you get a cape for your troubles. Half a cape because Joshua, Yeardley, and Sara are not, like, a supervillain or something.”

“Nah, that was Zacharias who wanted to take over.” Gary snarked to the twins' confusion.

“Who?”

“An inside joke.” Professor Oak shook his head, looking like the thought of the older boy made him worry. No one had heard from him in months after all. “Which I could explain to you if you wanted to know the history of this little town of ours, but I’m sure you’d much rather get going on your Pokemon Journeys. Though I’m sure you’ve seen the obvious conundrum.”

“Obvious?” Ash repeated as Gary looked over at the twins.

“Ash, you do remember those two don’t live here, right?”

Sure, but that shouldn’t be a problem. He didn’t remember Elwood and Aideen the last time, so if they were here that meant the two people who had started with Gary and him but didn’t ‘cut it’ as Gary put it were still around too, so that was six. That didn’t help with his worries about his friends being replaced, honestly thinking about it a bit more at worst it wasn’t too hard to have two Charmanders or something, he did have thirty Tauros he all knew individually, but it was still an easy solution.

“Yeah, but that isn’t a problem.” Ash spoke as Gary stared at him like Gary thought he was an idiot. It wasn’t that different from how Gary often looked at him, to be honest.

“Ash, did you forget your head when you remembered to not sleep in for once?”

“He’s probably just being nice and doesn’t see anything to be suspicious about.” Elwood pointed out, a statement that, somewhat ironically, made Ash actually wonder what there was to be suspcious about.

“Nice and a little dim, certainly explains a lot.” Aideen said in a teasing voice much like Gary, just in a nicer tone. Sort of like how Misty would tease him in Johto and other times later on in their friendship when she teased him less like Gary with suspenders and more like she was having fun with him and not at him. Though Ash wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, and Elwood seemed to share his confusion, so Aideen mouthed something. Ash only caught ‘llie’, and ‘ena’, but it made Elwood nodd in understanding.

“Ash is not suspicious by nature, which is a good trait to have, except when it is not. But unless you run into telemarkers, investors, or determined members of Team Rocket or Zenith or such groups, it is not a terrible character quirk to have. Anyway, to clarify what is at stake, usually Starter Pokemon are handed out only by designated individuals. Pokemon like Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle are rare, and who can give them out to people is a limited group. Myself in Pallet Town and Professor Cerise in Vermillion City are two of a select few in all of Kanto, and that list can and will shrink if problems arise. There was one such…unfortunate incident that rendered how Elwood and Aideen’s determination and hard work would be rewarded, so they have come here by default. And that, alas, has a bit of a plight.”

Ash would ask what was going on, but Professor Oak’s expression about the unfortunate incident in question was not that of someone who wanted to delve into it. If he did, Ash could tell that the elder who was the heart of Pallet Town would be quite upset. Whatever had happened, it was not good or fun to recount.

“Basically gramps only gets three at a time. A Squirtle, a Bulbasaur, and a Charmander. He doesn’t get more than that because you don’t really see groups of more than three at a time. Doesn’t really happen anywhere, not in Pallet, not in Sandgem, not in Lumiose, not anywhere. So with four of us here…one of us is an odd Psyduck out.”

Oh….well that actually was kind of convenient. If Pikachu was here, this was a pretty good way to find him and solve that problem. Problems really didn’t seem as bad as they actually were after a while sometimes.

“Could one of us start with a different Pokemon?” Ash offered. At the confused looks of Gary and the twins, Ash elaborated. “There might be other Pokemon here that might be good partners. It’s worth checking before we, I don’t know, draw straws.”

“That idea is better than in order of getting here.” Gary agreed. At the surprised looks from Ash and the twins about Gary being on Ash’s side here, Gary rolled his eyes. “What, he’s Pallet Town too. I can’t just disqualify him like that. You don’t do that in small towns, especially when his mom makes good Pizza Pot Pie.”

“And it is a family recipe shared only with one other, and only by necessity. Best not to alientate her.” Professor Oak agreed, his eyes having an interesting light to them that Ash couldn’t place. Like if his answer caught the Professor’s interest like an answer to a question, though Ash had no idea what it was. Surely if Professor Oak, who could be a bit of an…er….eccentric old person, suddenly remembered time travel, he’d react more openly. Maybe it was something else, Ash might be misreading the situation. “But yes, that might be an option. Yes, let’s Poke-round a bit, shall we?”

The twins both winced at that pun. He and Gary were immune to such minor puns at this point, though the time Professor Oak started making song references was a time both of them would rather not re-experience.

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

8:00; Oak Pokeball storage room 25.

"...See my boy,....er, everyone, my bad I am rather old, this laboratory is the home away from the pokeball for all the trainers who started out from here. Pallet Town has had many trainers start from her peaceful fields, though few are truly known. Quite a few of them took different paths in their journeys than fame, I remember hearing of a few young lads from Daisy’s year discovering they were quite good at art, transitioning from clashing to creating. They are actually quite good, I have some of their work in my lab right now in fact. Though I am getting away from the point. Part of the reason I give out starter Pokemon to trainers, on top of the responsibility that all Professors such as myself have, is the agreement for them to keep their additional Pokemon here, allowing me to study the Human-Pokemon dynamic in greater detail," Oak continued to explain to Ash, Gary, and the twins, unaware of the fact Ash had gotten a version of this talk when he came back to Pallet after his eight badge was won the first time. Professor Oak was probably aware he’d given this talk to at least Gary before, but Professor Oak liked to educate, and education was repetitive. Apparently for a good reason, so Ash had been told, though it was something Ash would only assume being true that people he trusted said so. "While this is beneficial in many ways, it does cause the food bill to be astronomical, though it does have one, somewhat interesting side effect."

They were in a storage room lined with several dozen Pokeballs, no photos or names to identify who they belonged to. The room that one day would house his and Gary’s friends and comrades from across the world had been passed, waiting to be filled by the two of them once again.

"I have often found myself with Pokemon eggs, which I hatch and keep around the research facility, as I am unable to send them to trainers in far away lands safely. I keep a few around the lab in case a well meaning, non camp student needs a leg up for their Pokemon journey if they have the right stuff. Sometimes some of Pallet Town’s trainers have friends who they give sterling recomendations to, sometimes the egg speaks to them in a matter of speaking, a few times someone in Pallet Town has a fascinating adventure with an egg and finds their life changed. Ash and Gary I’m sure remember what happened with Larrence a few years ago, he’s actually done quite well for himself as a actor. Heard from his mother he got a role in that upcoming sniper film,” the Twins looked at him and Gary. Ash shrugged, having heard what happened while he was in Alola and not really following movies. Gary told the twins it was a ‘long and crazy story’, which it was. “While you will be given a Pokedex as part of passing the starter requirements, you will have to begin with one of these Pokemon."

“..um Gramps, that’s a bit of a outdated statement. Everyone has a Pokedex these days. I know it’s hard to remember because you can count the amount of Rotomphones in Pallet Town on one hand.” Gary reminded his grandfather as he shook his head.

“I can’t keep up with terminology, well allow me to clarify. Rotomphones are indeed rather remarkable technology, and the Pokedex being spread far and wide is nothing but a good thing in the end. However Rotomphones are not the end-all-be-all. The Pokedexes they carry aren’t able to self-upgrade. Rotomphones are only so much more durable than the average phone, and if you break them the Rotom escapes and you just have a phone that doesn’t levitate anymore and lacks such features as independent intelligence, infinite battery life as long as you are in an area with ambient electrical energies like cities or any area with Electric-type Pokemon nearby, or certain atmospherical marvels. Of course even if you manage the amazing feat of not dropping your phone, Rotom also escape on their own. Rotom are tricksters and mischief makers by nature, and they are happy to feed in symbiosis with the Rotom Phone, but they can and will fly off when they have the chance to as they might choose to stay put.”

“Also they probably cost too much.” Elwood added as Professor Oak nodded in agreement.

“Oh they certainly do. It’s cheaper to have your own Rotom to upgrade your phone instead of buying one. Quite a lot cheaper in fact. Rotom are, however, not so common that it is an easy market to get into commercially or privately, and they are not easy to keep track of if you do. Alkanet has a default monopoly at the moment, and I’m sure I only have to explain to Ash why that is bad.”

“Really?” Ash grumbled as Aideen put a comforting hand on his shoulders.

“Look Ash…don’t pretend you understand economics and economic law. You don’t, and you are honest about it. So you are better than most politicians at least.”

“Oh, no need to mock good old Alabaster like that. He knows quite a lot about economics, which is why he never runs for re-election in Pallet Town on economics. I’d make a joke about my brother here, but it’s time to start testing the Pokeballs to see if any of them might connect with one of you.”

Ash gulped, hoping to Arceus in whatever timeline his buddy was in one of these Pokeballs,"...So, do we take the first one picked or..."

"Oh no, you can have a look at as many as you need to until you find the right fit," Oak announced and then smiled as Ash took the first Pokeball on the row and called out.

"Pokemon, I choose you."

The ball released a burst of light that began to form into a shape of a yellow mouse Pokemon that everyone knew on sight. Pikachu, and it was more than that. It was his buddy. Ash recognized him on sight, no matter the timeline. It was a skill learned amidst the many Pikachu swarms he’d encountered. If he hadn’t, his buddy would never have forgiven him.

“Oh yes, Pikachu, the Electric Mouse Pokemon. Funny you picked this one, he’s actually not a Pokemon that hatched here. There’s a story about how…” Professor Oak stopped as Pikachu’s cheeks sparked aggressively. "Er, that one is a little...irritable, you may want to try another one..."

“I mean I’m sure there is a Bagon or Dratini in here somewhere….” Gary joked, sounding like he might be interested in such a thing but still had a starter Pokemon he specifically wanted. Ash hoped that there wasn’t, beyond Gary and Blastoise being the best of friends and hard working together Ash didn’t even want to imagine what Gary would be like strutting around Kanto with a Dragonite or Salamance. That just seemed like a disaster waiting to happen, and Ash didn’t want to see if it was even scienticially possible for Gary to become even more arrogant than he had been the first time around.

“I have no Bagons in this room.” Professor Oak clarified for his grandson. “And while I will neither admit or not admit to a Dratini being in one of these Pokeballs,” Aideen raised an eyebrow, catching that it was Professor Oak saying there was one , “I don’t think that will be necessary.”

Pikachu continued to threatenly glare at Ash and everyone else.

“...I have to disagree with you on that one Professor.” Elwood seemed to take the Professor’s words as expecting one of them to partner with Pikachu, who looked more like he wanted to microwave them like popcorn instead of be buddy buddy with them. Ash smiled a smile Oak couldn't see as he reached his hand out towards the mouse Pokemon, even as Aideen hissed something about ‘wait for the Dratini or, I don’t know, a Nidoran that isn’t glaring at you you idiot!’. Ash might have misheard some parts of it, but he knew what he was doing. No matter how much Gary was also hissing to ‘not die you idiot!’ at him.

Pikachu sparked his cheeks again, trying to scare him off, before Ash's hand touched Pikachu on the head and it suddenly stopped looking ready to fry Ash. In fact, with a surprised look in his eyes, Pikachu ran over to Ash’s leg and let Ash pick him up as Gary and the Twins stared in shock.

“Um….what….” Aideen simply asked in disbelief.

“....” Elwood couldn’t even muster words he was so surprised by the turn around.

“Ash, I want you to be serious for a second and tell me that I didn’t get shocked.” Gary asked in all seriousness, as if expecting what was going on to be some sort of hallucination, as if he had been blasted with ten thousand volts of electricity and was now in a hospital hallucinating. Gary’s protestful yelp as Aideen pinched him answered that question for him. “Ow! I was asking him, not you!”

Professor Oak smiled, and again Ash felt like Professor Oak was thinking about something else beyond happiness at seeing a new partnership form.

"Well, that was impressive. That Pikachu has a nasty habit of trying to kill anyone who tries to interact with it that doesn't bribe it with ketchup. So, I'm taking it you want to start with an electric type?" The professor inquired, hoping so because he had just run out of ketchup and didn't have any more room in the budget for it.

Ash nodded, Pikachu squirming out of his arms and retook its old place on his shoulder. No answer was needed for either of them beyond that.

"Well, all I can say is good luck to you my boy, now allow me to get all of your Pokedexes, starter pokemon, and complimentary pokeballs before you all head out."

…

Said Pokedexes were like Rotomphones in that they floated and had the same color scheme, but there were no eyes or faces on them. They honestly reminded Ash of his old Pokedex, the first he ever had, if it was able to float on its own accord. Professor Oak smiled as he had the four of them take a Pokedex, each as he directed them to. Each was made for them after all.

“A true Pokedex is more than just a Rotomphone. A Rotomphone can give you information, but a Pokedex can add new information. Their artificial intelligences are among the world’s most advanced, and they are much more durable. I actually got a Snorlax to break dance on one, no mean feet I assure you, and the Pokedex was fine afterward. Not a scratch on it.”

Before Aideen could dobut the story, her Pokedex lit up to show a video that did in fact show a Snorlax doing a strange dance routine that Ash would assume was break dancing. It looked rather energetic. The Pokedex was clearly visible under it, and after it a younger Professor Elm ran out to check it, making excited noises as he inspected it for any damage. Though given his lack of labcoat, was this the student Professor Elm who would rant about his old teacher and the grades he gave back sometimes? Hard to ask that without being weird about it.

The Professor was talking about metallic structures and how they had upgraded the A.I to not try to dominate the user by controlling them via their pacemakers anymore, and Ash briefly tuned out as Pikachu gave him a quick poke on his shoulder. His best friend’s expression was that of confusion, aware that they should not be here. Ash mouthed he’d tell his buddy when they were out, and Pikachu accepted that, seemingly getting that it was a long story. Because time travel was never so simple. They knew it well at this point, they’d done it a few times. Just not to this extent. Ash probably should be listening to the part about the Pokedex ‘can’t actually hurt you, but the personality matrixes can sometimes be aquired tastes’, but his attention kept wanering away. The Pokedex was the Pokedex, not something evil or anything. It was probably just some legal thing. Ash’s attention instead was drawn to a drawing on the wall, and one that he remembered well. It was Sam’s drawing of Pikachu and Celebi, framed on the wall. Ash wondered where Professor Oak got that drawing. Maybe Sam became a famous Pokemon Watcher who inspired Tracey as much as Professor Oak, and Professor Oak had obtained the sketch in his many years as a treasured art piece. That made sense, so much that Ash couldn’t think of another explanation. Sam did time travel after all, so those drawings had a long time to circulate and become known and eventually obtained by Professor Oak.

“....anyway, now to introduce to you Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. Now hopefully you have all made a decision on who partners with which Pokemon so you don’t immediately start squabbling like children…” Professor Oak spoke up, regaining Ash’s attention.

…

"Oh, it's so cute!"

His mother was all over the Pikachu that rested on his shoulder, once more gathered with a large crowd of people eager to wish him the best of luck. Most of them were currently talking to Gary, and a few were talking to him. Most of the ones talking to Gary, Ash noticed, were older, while a lot of people around him and wishing him luck were younger. Ash guessed, and then remembered that his guess was correct, was that this was because Gary was a bit more of an arrogant jerk than Ash was. And by a bit, Ash meant ‘a lot more’, while he was more liked.

The attention of everyone as he was about to leave on his journey had given his mom time to do something nice, as with a knowing wink she gave him a bit of time to say goodbye to everyone else as she went over to the Twins, who had no one to see them off, and wish them luck. The Twins, Ash could tell, appreciated it, and left Pallet Town on their journey having said goodbye to him, Gary, and Professor Oak already, and happy to be sent off by someone. Someone who Ash had noticed had given the both of them some cookies for the road.

As his mother cooed over Pikachu, Ash saw Gary, very reluctantly, give some money to a smiling Daisy, who winked Ash’s way while giving Gary some cookies just like the twins. And that wink made Ash blush. Pikachu missed the blush as his mom’s attention returned to him.

"So, you're letting it stay out of the Pokeball? I guess that’s your second home speaking to you. Good thing it’s been a while, or some people might find it odd. If anyone ever does call you odd though," His mom advised she gave him one last hug, and Ash tried to ignore the slight teary-eyed look in his mom’s eye. It kind of hurt to think about that one. "Don’t let it get to you. It’s your journey and your life, do it however you want. Just make sure you never forget your dear old mom."

“I’ll never do that mom, not ever.” Ash promised her as the two hugged, the two breaking apart as he readied to go on the first steps to finding all his friends and stopping Cyrus.

“Good, but before you do get going, I do have one last surprise for you. A present I didn’t give you from your dad and ma. They couldn’t be here to see you off, but they wanted to make sure you had something important from them to start your journey with.”

His mom reached into her bag and pulled out a box that, aside from its Alola carving designs, didn’t really give its exact identity away. Ash almost wanted to shake it to listen to it, but with a crowd it felt a bit silly, so he just opened it.

“Pikapi….” Pikachu’s surprise spoke for him as he realized just what it was. The dark band with its central markings was unmistakable, even before noting the yellow crystal in the center. Amazed to see it here, Ash took the Z-Ring out of the box, seeing nothing else but the ring and the Electrium-Z crystal within it, and attached it to his wrist. Even with an older arm and a larger wrist, it still fit as well as it did originally.

“Tapu Koko brought you this?” The Kahuna of Melemele Island, Hala, asked Ash a year ago, several months before he met Acerola, Serena, and the trio from Galar. He nodded, handing the older man back the Z-Ring in his home in Iki Town. Ash felt a little embarrassed.

“Yeah, but according to my dad, Tapu Koko likes stealing stuff from you. So if this was stolen…”

Hala chuckled, any worry from Ash that he would be accused of stealing washed away by the old man’s merry laugh.

“Oh our guardian is fickle and loves to commit mischief. At some point in all of our years as Kahuna and Island Guardian, Tapu Koko decided that three joys exist for Melemele’s guardian to revel in. Battle, stealing my root beer, and messing with my things. So often it was just scaring my poor grandson, but stealing Z-Rings happens from time to time. Quite often in fact with visitors from beyond our islands, but not always….” Hala pondered aloud, and even Ash could tell that the man was thinking of things he wouldn’t mention to him. Eventually the man smiled. “You are the first to return it to me, but I suppose that’s rather obvious. On this island, where my own Z-Rings are taken by Tapu Koko, it seems to go mostly to tourists and visitors. Across the waters to Akala, my departed colleague found one of his own Z-Rings delivered to a girl who entered his tutelage. Like you, she also knew who it was the ring came from and returned it. Now Koa gave the Z-Ring right back to young Iolani, as she was older than you. You are a little young to have a Z-Ring yet, and I’m glad you know that.”

“Actually, I just didn’t want to be seen as a thief.” Ash admitted via repetition, wondering if that was the right answer. Hala’s chuckle suggested it was.

“Doing the right thing for a different right reason than expected is still doing the right thing. Your fifteenth birthday is coming up soon, isn’t it? Tell you what, you can have this Z-Ring when that time comes.”

“Really! So I can come back after I win my eight gym badges?!” Ash said enthusiastically, happily imagining the scene in his mind. It would be the greatest trip to Alola he’d ever had, and he’d had a lot of those. The Kahuna chuckled mirthfully.

“Oh, that could be the reason, or it could be another. Tapu Koko doesn’t steal Z-Rings to give to just anyone, this delivery was simply premature, not mistaken. Rest assured though, you will see this Z-Ring again. And I’m sure that you will use it to show the world that you are a true son of Alola.”

The memory faded from his active thoughts, another piece of the new past he was more actively aware of as he clipped the ring in place, snug on his arm once more.

“What’s that, some sort of watch?” Someone in the crowd asked. “Doesn’t Professor Kukui have a similar one?”

“Oh, hey does.” His mom said knowingly, as she gave him one more hug.

“Bye, Ash.” Ray also said goodbye. Ash smiled, Pikachu’s expression being confused at the sight of Ray.

“See you real soon.” Ash assured his little brother. Hana, who was in his Mimey’s arms, giggled a goodbye of her own, or at least Ash would call it that. Hana was a little young to know what ‘goodbye’ was.

“How soon?” Ray insistently asked.

“....Er, soon?” Ash didn’t want to lie, but he didn’t know. Like it took him….huh, Ash couldn’t remember how long it took to get back with eight badges in Kanto. The math was escaping him in his memories. That was probably just him being bad at math, maybe if he thought about it for a bit it would make sense.

“When’s that?” Ray insisted in a way that only young kids could.

“Oh, you’ll find out. It’s a surprise.” his mom intervened, sparing him from having to try and give a definitive answer that was not definitive.

“What if he comes back when we’re with dad and ma?”

“Well that’s why I put a house key in his backpack when he wasn’t looking.” His mom said with amusement as she gave him one last, hasty hug. A hug with the knowledge he had to go at some point, and it would have to be now.

She let him go as Ash waved goodbye and started walking towards Route 1.

"I will."

"Don't push yourself or Pikachu too hard" (Mime Mime!)

"Don't worry, I won't."

“I slipped some cookies in your backpack just now. Hope you enjoy them!”

“I will!”

“Give some to Pikachu!”

“Pika!”

"Be sure to change your..."

"Got it, Mom!" Ash flinched, nearly out of sight and sound from everyone, as he found out she'd still do that to him as a teenager. Though there was something about that request that sounded almost jesting. After this, he was completely out of the sights of his loving, if somewhat overprotective mother, who Ash didn’t even need to look back to to know she was sad to see her eldest child leaving home.

Route 1

After being along the route for long enough, Pikachu jumped off his shoulder and stared at him in confusion and plain deja vu as Ash stopped in front of his old friend.

"Pika, Pika chu?!"

Ash shrugged, "It's complicated. See, do you remember reality sort of, imploding?"

Pikachu shook his head, his expression quite alarmed. It was a natural reaction to the statement of ‘reality imploding’. It was a dangerous thing for that to happen, like swiping May’s food from in front of her. Perhaps just as lethal.

"Oh, then what do you remember last then?"

Pikachu mimiced Leon’s Charizard’s final blast of fire as Ash started walking with Pikachu jogging alongside him as the semi-one sided conversation continued, Ash knowing Pikachu wasn’t missing anything. "So, shortly after that incident, Cyrus...you remember him right?"

Pikachu mimicked a face of emotionless loathing.

"Oh, you do then, good. Anyway, he figured out how to destroy reality as we knew it, and Arceus managed to pluck me out of the impending destruction to send me back with the mission to stop Cyrus. However, because of some issues reality didn't exactly come out the same way as before".

Pikachu stopped to look at him as if that was very obvious. And it was. Ray and Hana were kind of very obvious differences, and Ash was quite sure that Elwood and Aideen were not the original other two trainers. Though Ash couldn’t remember who they were…

"Yes, me being older is one of them, my mom is married to Professor Kukui and Burnet, I have siblings, the old Pokedex floats…”

Pikachu let out a worried hiss as Ash, looking down, slowly saw the Pokedex emerge from his jacket pocket like some emerging Ekans from a hole in the ground. It was kind of creepy, if Ash had to be honest, so onto a sillier topic.

"And I'm apparently smarter than a vast majority of people my age in Kanto when it comes to Pokemon."

Pikachu at that one stopped and just stared at him.

"Yeah, it's sort of hard to believe, but I apparently had to pass a 151 question test with a 90 or better to have started with Professor Oak and get a Pokedex, and that's about..." Ash began to try and figure out how many questions he had to get correct, (A/N, about 136) "and other than myself, Gary was the only other one to do so in Pallet Town, and a lot of other people too, so I guess that makes me smart."

Pikachu sighed and shook his head, in a similar way to an old person going on about how young people were going to doom the world.

“Hey, don’t give me that look. Sure I don’t know what movies are currently popular, or what a logmorithim is, or if I said that word right but it is this math thing, or why planes stay in the air, or what goes into artificial protein plants, or what that even is except that it is a bad job to have, or why I don’t remember my biological father ever being around this time or any pictures of him, or how I passed my classes, but I think it was because of language classes, so that makes me wonder how I passed classes before them, or what fingernails are made of, or why Moomoo Milk gives you strong bones, or why Joshua thought I looked like Ritchie…but I know stuff that’s important like how to talk to people in other languages, how to be a great trainer, and what plants you can eat in the wilderness without having unspeakable side effects. And now I have a test result to say so.”

However, before Pikachu could mock the notion of an intelligent Ash further…

"Chirp!"

Ash and Pikachu were suddenly being swooped upon by a pair of Pidgey, who seemed to be determined to grab at the both of them with their extended and painful looking talons. The both of them got out of the way of them, Ash and Pikachu stirring up a slight cloud of dust from the earthen path as the two Flying-types came back at them.

"What's that about, we didn't even attack them?!" Ash questioned as Pikachu let loose sparks in its cheeks again as the Pidgey swooped at him again.

"Okay Pikachu, use Electro Webl!"

Pikachu nodded and began to gather electricity into his tail, which fizzled out to both of their shock as both birds tackled them in the chest, knocking them both to the ground as they flew up for another air raid and began coming back down. Wait, what just happened!? Was it Zekrom again!? Well, in that case Ash knew what to do this time.

"Try Iron Tail to block them!"

Pikachu nodded as he leapt up, also remembering how to avoid the mistakes that they made the last time that Pikachu’s electricity was acting up, sending energy into his tail, which didn't glow at all and thus had him get smacked in the face twice by the Pidgey and knocked to the ground as they flew around for a third attack.

"..." Ash was trying to figure out what was going on, before he had a crazy thought "Pikachu, Thundershock now!"

Pikachu stared at him like he just suggested to a human they crawl like a baby, but relented and let loose the weak electric attack, which actually worked unlike Electro Web and Iron Tail, flying into the Pidgey in a weak, but steady stream.

The two birds were hit, and after the shock promptly flew away as the two old friends dropped to their knees in shock. The last steam of invigoration from the battle gave the both of them an awareness of what was going on. Pikachu was too horrified to say it aloud, but Ash was ready to say it aloud.

"...Going back in time may have brought back our memories, but all our moves are gone. We're back to where we started move wise."

Pikachu wailed into the sky about the loss of his hard work and promptly began to cry. Ash was also surprised, but there was a certain thrill in the idea of putting in the hard work all over again. One he would keep to himself, as Pikachu did not share an enthusiasm for the idea.

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

A devastating realization later

A thundershock struck the similarly aggressive Rattata to the earlier Pidgey, which fled as the two old friends staked out a tree. Ash had noticed that Pikachu was getting a good hang on Thundershock, having had time to get the feel for it again after so long with Thunderbolt. Ash felt like he should know how long it had been since they had actually used Thundershock, but for the life of him the exact time escaped him. It was sometime in Johto which was….how long ago? Again the question escaped him, but there were more important things to do than try to remember that.

"Man, my head's still a mess so I can't figure out why the wild Pokemon are more aggressive this time around," Ash complained about something more pressing as he noted the dead and hollow tree in front of them, "but I guess it's good for training at least, and I had just thought of something. Pikachu, just because you can't use your old attacks anymore..."

Ash stopped as he saw Pikachu hang his head in shame "...it doesn't mean we can't train to use them again. We learned to use Iron Tail once, and we can do so again"

He pointed at the dead tree

"So lets start practicing!"

They stayed there for a few hours, oddly not encountering any more aggressive Pokemon, to which Ash got a mental answer as to the cause of it. At some point he just remembered it, Ash couldn’t explain why that one very angry Caterpie attack did it, but it did. It wasn’t even that scary, a very angry Caterpie was only terrifying if you were Misty, but for some reason it was what had him remember.

The territorial instincts of Pokemon were stronger in this timeline, and thus were prone to attack people who entered their territories if wild or tamed (And dealing with unfamiliar people as guard Pokemon).

Mildly unsettling, but not too bad...at least until they ran into Wild Rhydon or Hydreigon, then it would suck a lot. But there were no Pokemon like that here.

He also discovered the Pokedex constantly emitted a scanning signal that would take notes on any Pokemon a trainer was to come across. So, even though Ash did not need to have the Pokedex scan the attacking Rattata, Pidgey, or Caterpie, it would still say on its own: "This trainer has encountered Rattata, Caterpie, and Pidgey along with Pikachu, Bulbasur, Charmander, Squirtle, and Mr. Mime."

It was interesting, but Ash always caught it slowly emerging from his pocket, as if it was watching things from in there. It might have just been him, though it always seemed to happen more when he and Pikachu were talking for some reason, and Ash couldn’t help but imagine it was eavesdropping. But it was probably just him.

At one point, as the two took a break somewhere on Route One amidst their train and walk, Ash had a very important question for Pikachu.

“So um buddy….this is going to be a very wierd question but you are currently the only one who can really answer this. So um….you know how Serena kissed me back in the original timeline?” Pikachu nodded. “Um…well….Lillie kind of kissed me in this one, and Serena did so again too. Do you…know where that came from? Like with Lillie, it was just a ‘this’ timeline thing? Was a thing back before reality reset itself? And with Serena, do you think she really, you know….?”

Ash wasn’t sure about what the Pokedex was doing, but he could read Pikachu easily. Pikachu had the expression of someone who had a lot to say on the subject, was eager to speak about it, and had been waiting a long time to talk about it.

“Pikapi…”

Though before Pikachu could speak of the topic, the underbrush suddenly started shaking violently. Both he and Pikachu watched it warily.

“Pikachu, if that’s a Spearow, we walk away quietly.” Ash told his best buddy.

“Pika.” Pikachu nodded in agreement. If the Caterpie could attempt to attack you, Ash wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with the Spearow flock again if he could help it. Sure, he and Pikachu became friends because of them, but there were many better ways to become friends with someone than a flock of murderous Spearow.

The bush began to shake even more violently, the bush’s violence spreading to other bushes as something more than just a single Spearow was in there. The sound of the earth cracking came from the bushes too.

“...Can Spearows learn Earthquake?” Ash asked nervously as he and Pikachu slowly started to step away from the bushes. Not so fast as to provoke them, but ready to run for it if they were in that bush and already in the mood to attack.

“Obviously not.” The Pokedex spoke up from his pocket. Before Ash could ask if it was Bulldoze the bushes exploded, as two shapes burst from it. One was a brown shape, and another purple. Both that Ash recognized, even as he and Pikachu had to avoid the sudden Fire Blast from one of those Pokemon.

“A Nidoking!” Ash said aloud of the Pokemon, whose tail was thrashing wildly, and ripping apart bushes near it, as blasted another Fire Blast at the other Pokemon, who barely avoided it. “And a Kangaskhan!”

“Correct.” The Pokedex in his pocket declared as the two continued to fight, or more accurately the Nidoking continued to attack the Kangaskhan and the Kangaskhan avoided Nidoking. “Nidoking, the Horn Pokemon. A Poison and Ground-type final evolution of Nidoran. When it goes on a rampage, it's impossible to control by all but the most veteran of trainers. But in the presence of a Nidoqueen it's lived with for a long time, or a trainer it truly respects. Nidoking calms down.There is no Nidoqueen here, and you are certainly not such a trainer.” Ash let that slide because he and Pikachu had the bodies of trainers starting on their journeys. “Kangaskhan, the Parent Pokemon. A Normal-type who cares for its young inside of its pouch after they hatch, which is earlier than in most Pokemon species. The Kangaskhan mother is so devoted to protecting their child from any harm that mothers sleep standing upright. This individual Kangaskhan will not do that as she lacks any young in her pouch.” The Pokedex was right about that, Ash saw the pouch briefly and it was empty. “Both of these Pokemon are rare Pokemon not usually seen around here. You should catch them both, though I’d suggest leaving the Nidoking with Professor Oak so you don’t get your back broken.”

“I’ve got to help Kangaskhan, this isn’t a fair fight!” Ash declared instead. It was obvious that Nidoking was just being a bully.

“....And then catch them. Might I suggest the Quick Ball that Gary Oak gave you for your birthday for Nidoking. You might be able to capture Kangaskhan with a traditional capture.” The Pokedex sounded almost irritated that Ash was not immediately gunning for a capture, but that was not his style.

“Pikachu, use Quick Attack on Nidoking!”

Ash almost thought he heard the Pokedex groan in his pocket as Pikachu, just as ready to jump in as he was, flew at Nidoking at breakneck speed. It wasn’t as fast as his buddy had against Leon, that was at another level beyond what this Quick Attack would call another level, but it still hit Nidoking, who saw it coming and was content to ignore it before it struck him on the side of the head. Nidoking was then surprised to see itself stumble from the blow as Pikachu jumped back away from a counter attack towards the Kangaskhan, who looked at Pikachu in thanks for the assistance before the two seemed to recognize each other.

“Pi?”

“Ka?”

That was a surprise, they didn’t really know any Kangaskhans. Had Pikachu met this Kangaskhan somewhere else?

“Do!”

He’d ask for details later when Nidoking wasn’t using Earth Power. All three of them avoided the blow that cracked the earth in their wake like a tectonic disaster before the Nidoking swung his tail at Kangaskhan, who had come at the side with a Comet Punch.

“Pikachu, let’s see if Iron Tail is working!”

“Chuuu-Pi-Ka!”

Pikachu did, jumping between the tail and Kangaskhan and striking Nidoking’s tail with his own. The tail was in fact Iron Tail, for a few seconds. But by the time it wore off Kangaskhan had moved in with Comet Punch, punching at Nidoking with rapid punches. They didn’t seem to do as much as Quick Attack, but they did let Pikachu disengage from the Nidoking safely.

“You should have used the Quick Ball when you had the chance.” The Pokedex was pessimistic about how this was going to go as the Nidoking used Sludge Wave.

“Pikachu, use Thundershock!”

Pikachu blasted at the sludge that flew off Nidoking like a tidal wave, the two attacks meeting mid-way and, surprisingly, exploding. The blow blew Pikachu back to him, Ash catching his buddy in his arms as both were blown back. Nidoking was slammed into a tree while Kangaskhan was blown back, but not as far as Pikachu or into a tree like Nidoking.

“Catch it now, catch it now!” The Pokedex demanded incessantly. “You are a new trainer, you should be throwing Pokeballs more! But if you are one of those trainers who are just ‘catching what you want to’ instead of completing the Pokedex, perhaps you should ask yourself if you can actually beat that thing!? You can’t use Gigavolt Havoc on it to any effect but tiring you both out to make your deaths easier!”

The Nidoking got back up and started to pick up the fallen tree, as if about to throw it. Pikachu sparked his cheeks warily.

“Pikapi.” ‘Ash, I know you don’t usually default to catching Pokemon as the first resort, or the second, or honestly if they don’t want to join with you on their own you don’t really try to catch them, but that might need to be amended. I don’t think we can outrun him.’

Pikachu saying it made it more agreeable to Ash, as unfair to the Pokedex as that probably was. He reached into his bag, grabbing the first Pokeball he saw. It was one of the ones Gary had gotten him for his birthday, an Ultra Ball.

“Go, Ultra Ball!”

“Pika-chuuuu!”

Ash was fast with a Pokeball, but Pikachu’s Thundershock, even without being Thunderbolt, was faster. Nidoking had thrown the tree at them, but Pikachu’s attack blew it up, letting the Ultra Ball through and having it strike Nidoking. The ball sucked him in, and to his surprise Kangaskhan ran up to it, moving faster than usual. She had a bit of a black aura around her, as if using a Dark-type attack, and quickly grabbed the ball, holding it tight as the ball shook. A lot, and quite violently. Kangaskhan struggled to hold the ball shut, and Ash felt like it took an hour for it to stop shaking. It was actually just five minutes, which was a lot longer than it should be. It was the equivalent of an hour for a Pokemon capture, but in the end the Ultra Ball did click shut.

When it did, all three of them fell over in relief.

“Nidoking is registered to your Pokedex, but if you let it out the Nidoking will immediately try to kill you. This Nidoking is obviously a male and knows Sludge Wave, Earth Power, Fire Blast, and Ice Beam. It’s rather peculiar…” The Pokedex wondered aloud before it seemed to get back on track. “I would not send it out but immediately send it back to Professor Oak. And don’t try to return it until you have much stronger Pokemon for your own safety.”

The dire warning was on Ash’s mind as he picked up the Ultra Ball, seeing Pikachu go over to Kangaskhan and eagerly talk, like long separated friends. So they did know each other. Huh, you learn something new about your best friend every day, that made sense. Friends always surprise you in a good way after all. It even was like he could understand Pikachu just earlier, though maybe that was just the heat of the moment. They always understood each other, but that was different than usual. Ash was still pondering that when Pikachu came over with Kangaskhan.

“Pikapi, Pikaka. Pikaka, Pikapi. Pika Pikachu.” Pikachu introduced Kangaskhan as Ash nodded.

“Oh, so you guys know each other from before.” Ash got the basic idea, though not ideas like exact time or place, as Kangaskhan’s expression was that of someone surprised to see that he could understand Pikachu. “And…she knows about the time travel and stuff?”

Pikachu nodded, and Ash was a bit surprised. He felt like that was something that could be a bit more of a secret, but if Pikachu was open to talking about it…maybe it was something to consider being more open about. Though the Pokedex probably had heard him….

The Pokedex didn’t speak up, so Ash hoped it meant it didn’t hear them.

Kangaskhan grunted as Pikachu’s ears perked up. With a ‘Pikaka’ in curiosity, and Kangaskhan nodding, Pikachu darted over to Ash and jumped up, knocking off an empty Pokeball Ash had on his belt for ease of access. Pikachu then batted it up to him, letting him catch the ball as he looked at Kangaskhan.

“You want to come with me?” Ash asked as Kangkahan nodded. Ash got the feeling she wanted to travel with Pikachu again in particular, but he wasn’t going to say no to a reason like that. With a grin, it was time to do something that was always a blast to say.

“Go, Pokeball!”

And with a tap on the head Kangaskhan was sucked in, the ball only shaking twice before sealing up. Ash picked the ball up as the Pokedex spoke up.

“Kangaskhan is registered to your Pokedex, and she will not be a danger to you in both power level and personality. Kangaskhan is obviously female and knows the moves Comet Punch, Sucker Punch, and Tail Whip.”

Ash nodded as he threw the ball up, calling for Kangaskhan to come out. When she did, he smiled at her.

“Welcome to the team Kangaskhan! It’s not much yet, but I have some great friends you are going to love to meet. Some of them might even come earlier than they did the first time. And there is another friend that I met on this route before. Her name’s Misty and..say Pikachu about that earlier conversation we were having before all this,” Ash asked as the three started to walk along the Route 1 path amidst a setting sun, “So I just want to be sure about this but, if Lillie kissed me in this timeline, and Serena kissed me in both timelines, you don’t think Misty will kiss me too, do you? I mean, Misty can’t possibly like me or anything in any timeline, right?”

Misty teased him and stuff, that couldn’t be the same thing. But why was Pikachu grinning at him like that?

…

Meanwhile a bit up ahead, a girl was fishing with Psyduck, having just caught a Goldeen and unaware of a conversation going on about her in the very same stretch of wilderness, when she heard a sound that made her and Psyduck immediately fearful.

“Spear!”