Chapter 5:

Contact

…

"Well?" Pressed Lisa, obviously pleased with her negotiation skills.

Grey pondered for a moment. "Man, I wish you guys existed back at my 'home-town', would've made life so much simpler..."

"So, is that a yes?"

Honestly, most of everything they've said is...Right up my alley...

But...

He frowned at her. "But, we're not in my 'hometown', are we?"

"Err, I guess no—"

"Ginger. Burn down the cabin."

Looking glad at his decision, her eyes gave a savage sheen as she expanded her diaphragm, "With pleasure!"

Lisa recoiled, "Shit...Nate! Sealeo! Move!"

Ginger glowed with red kindling sparks of energy as she cocked her head back, before jerking it forward and opening her mouth to release a flash of fire, illuminating the night as the jet of flame roared past the two Aqua agents and struck the cabin, instantly setting it ablaze.

Lisa whirled around, "Why you—"

"Let's go Ginger!" Grey turned to run.

"What? But—"

"Now!" He insisted as the combusken followed and ran beside him.

"Nate! After them!"

Damn, I hoped they'd stay behind to put out the cabin fire.

Grey dared to look back but noticed the 'Sealeo', as it was called, had stayed back with Lisa to put out the fire with constant gouts of water spraying from its gullet. It was just Nate from a distance, running in pursuit behind them with a pokéball in his hand.

But it's better than facing them both—

"Why are we running?" Asked Ginger as she glanced backward.

"Two reasons, one, we have no idea if there's more of them scattered about in the forest. If they're this close to Oldale and they know of this 'Team Magmas' plan, they must have scouts."

He paused his speech to catch some breath as they reached the pines.

"And the other?"

"Two, if Team Magma is planning some kind of attack at Oldale, then that means 'May' might be in trouble."

"Doesn't she have a mudkip?"

"She can barely command that pokémon without it spitting back in her face, and I kind of have an 'I.O.U' to settle with her."

"Well the other guy is still following us, doesn't look like he'll let us go, now that we know of their plans."

"Once we enter the forest, we'll kick his ass under the cover of the trees."

They broke back into the pine forest, with Ginger slicing up the branches in their way like they were mere cobwebs to allow them passage.

"Oh? So it's gonna' be your 'Guerilla tactics' then?" She asked.

Through labored breaths, he grinned. "You bet your feathery ass."

They entered deep into the forest once again, with no sign of Nate following them. Either they lost him, he was weary of being ambushed, or he decided it wasn't worth his time.

Grey took a few breathers with his heart beating at his throat from the sprint, while Ginger seemed fine like she had only just taken a quick stroll. She smirked at him.

"You alright there Grey? Want me to carry you?"

Huffing, he gave her the stink eye. "Hah...Shut up, bitch. Hah...After getting my ass kicked by 'you', waking up strapped to a bed, interrogated by an old-school shrink, getting gigabytes worth of info crammed into my head, dropping your ass afterward—not without effort—and hiking over forest terrain for hours only to make a hundred-plus meter sprint? I think I'm entitled to be a little tired, don't ya' think? I'm only fuckin' human."

"Now that you mention it, that's actually pretty impressive for a human." She attempted with a small smile.

"Yeah, yeah, save it. Hah...Woo...I think we lost emʼ."

"Well, I can't sense the guy, so he's nowhere near. Yep, we've lost th—"

The ruffling of pine branches above alerted them, snapping their gaze upward.

"What was tha—"

'Thud'

The needled pine ground shook beneath their feet along with a sudden draft from the heavy object that landed right behind them. It let out a heavy exhale; the wicked breeze of it prickled their skin, as the thing's presence blocked out the moonlight.

The duo slowly turned their heads.

Grey almost choked on his breath at the sight, with his blood freezing.

Oh...Shit on a stick.

"Shif—try not to choke on your tongue," it said in an amused deep voice like that of cracking wood.

A branchy arm smashed and sent both of them tumbling into a tree. The force of the blow was so strong that Grey's head and stomach turned from the sheer inertia, along with the landing emptying him of his air.

What the…Fu…

The thing walked into the moonlight, and Grey reeled in fear at the bizarre creature. This thing couldn't be a fucking pokémon, could it!? It looked as though it came straight out of a high fantasy novel instead!

It was a huge, bipedal, and stout pokémon that was just as tall as himself, if not bigger. Its entire thick body was made of wood and bark. A pair of nasty, glowing yellow eyes floating on ink-black sclera peeked out of its silvery mane that shimmered under the moonlight, with its long ears piercing through it. A sharp wooden nose poked out of its hair-masked face with its large barky mouth baring its seething teeth as it raised its twig-like arms, each with crooked branches for fingers, webbed with broad leaves; looking more like feathered fans. Its feet stabbed the ground as it stalked toward them, resembling a type of wooden Japanese footwear that Grey couldn't remember the name of at the moment.

This thing was a fucking 'treant'! Albeit a bit small to be one, but big enough to be a bloody threat.

What's a treant doing in this universe!?

Grey whipped out his pokédex to scan it.

—"Shiftry, the wicked pokémon."—

Wicked!? Yeah, no shit!

—"Shiftry is the third, and final form of the 'Seedot' family.—

Oh great. A fully evolved, third-stage pokémon. Right out the gate and we face the colosseum lions of Rome. Lovely.

—"No other evolutions or variations recorded."—

What? How can it say for certain it's the 'final form' when it's suggesting there's possibly another evolution or variation? Weird, must be a universal format based on a different pokemon's anomaly...

—"Shiftry is the evolved form of 'Nuzleaf', often (but not exclusively) requiring a 'Leaf Stone' to reach this stage. It is a mysterious Pokémon that is said to live atop towering trees dating back over a thousand years. It creates terrific windstorms with the fans it holds."—

Oh, that's just fucking great! The trees that were meant to be our cover, happen to be this thing's freakin' home turf! Karma, you cruel, cruel bitch.

"Tch. That little gizmo makes me out to be an oldie when it couldn't be further from the truth, but the winds? Sounds about right," commented the shiftry with a grin streaking its barked face as it gave a lazy flick of its wrist, buffeting them with a small gust to demonstrate.

Sweat lined Grey's brow as he quickly read the statistics.

—'Grass' & 'Dark-type'.

—Average height-weight: 1.3 mts & 130 lbs.

What!? More like 2 meters tall and at least 200 pounds! I call statistical bullshit!

—Mother Gene ability: Overgrow. Dramatically increases the power of Grass-type moves, as well as the physical growth of gene-holder.

Well, that explains its size...

—Father Gene ability: Chlorophyll. Speed is increased during 'bright sunshine'.

Oh, thank fuck it's night then. As if being bigger than usual wasn't enough!

—Move list: Requires demonstration to gauge individual's current strength from statistics.

That won't be a problem in a minute!

"Ah, Shiftry, I see you've found them, excellent job." Came Nate's voice as he waltzed onto the scene from behind a trunk, standing behind the dark-grass-type who acknowledged him.

Grey pulled himself to his feet by the tree as Ginger got up to stand defensively in front of him, he leaned in to whisper. "Ginger, now's your chance to fight, you've got the type advantage, but watch out. He's at his final form while you're not, which means its base stats are mostly higher than yours, on top of him being a freak of nature...no pun intended."

"Right. It's all good." She said, though with a nervous look in her eyes.

"And if Nate's worth his salt to have this mutant tree, having faced a team with 'Magma' in its name, chances are he's handled fire-types before."

"Sure, no pressure then..." Her voice wavered.

"You've got this."

Nate snorted. "Done with the cheerleading?" he teased with a grin crossing his arms. "Don't think you can pull the same trick as you did with the other two grunts, much less escape Shiftry in this environment. Running in here was a mistake you'll sorely regret."

"Whatever. Ginger, sequence one."

"Roger that."

She took a quick breath and shot out ember sparks at the treant, but with another flick of his wrist, he blew away the little embers like one would a candle, however, Ginger had already leaped high with a twist in the air, cocking a leg back and planted a solid kick into its face, sending Shiftry staggering backward with the resounding whack of a second kick.

"Grh...Not bad." The tree-like pokémon grunted as he stood firm once more. Ginger looked shocked at how well it took the Double-kick head-on.

Wait a minute. Weren't Dark-types weak against Fighting-types? Sure' as hell did nothing but shove it back.

"I can see you're confused, brat. Not all battles are decided by Type-advantages," commented Nate, getting Grey's attention.

"Shiftry, 'Leaf Tornado' into 'Air Cutter', use the trees! Go!"

As soon as the last syllable left Nate's mouth, the ent pokémon launched itself into the trees, bounding from branch to branch, appearing and disappearing from view in rapid succession. Grey and Ginger found it difficult to track its movements in the trees.

Then nothing.

"Eyes and ears open, Ginger."

"Right."

A slight breeze blew from around them, and the Shiftry came flying out of the pine branches in a blur toward Ginger from behind—

Shit—

"Six o'clock! Code orange!"

She spun and sucked in air, right as a storm of whirling pine needles and leaves blew forth, dancing around the approaching Shiftry's body. Ginger fired a Flamethrower, but the Shiftry stopped launching the projectiles and instead waved its fans in a sequence, blowing out sharp gales of air that sent the flame off course and scythed through the cloud of burning leaves, whipping her in several parts of her body and eliciting a screech from her as she was tossed into another tree with a smack.

Grey's heart thrashed in his chest at seeing his only defense getting lugged around by a Grass-type of all things. Oh wait, that's right...Air Cutter was an Air or Flying-type attack, which was super effective against Fighting-types...And a Grass-type used it. Shit. Though it did fit with the pokedex's description. Thankfully, he still had said device out to see the Shiftry in action.

Thing's way too strong, we need to up our anty, let's see…

—"Analysis complete! Displaying subject Shiftry's approximate move-list"—

—Leaf Tornado

—Air Cutter

—Tackle

—Mega Drain

—Synthesis

—Payback

…

That's it!? What!? Even Ginger knows more moves than that. What gives? Maybe it has another evolution? No, the pokédex said it doesn't...Wait a min—

"Oi Grey! Get your nose out of that thing and tell me what to do here!" Yelled out the combusken as she narrowly avoided what seemed like a tackle attack out of the bushes, with the Tree-like creature slapping against a tree trunk before launching itself again at her from another tree, ambushing her at every turn.

"Just stall it with Fire-Type moves, use your instincts and smarts!" he called back.

"Ha! Some trainer you are, and to think Lisa pegged you for someone skilled." Teased Nate from a few meters away.

Ignoring him, Grey continued reading the Grass-type's entry. Then he skimmed the page about its previous form, 'Nuzleaf'...

Leaf stone...Wait, that's it! Hoho shit!

With confidence returning to his stiff spine, Grey stood up straight. "Ginger! Go for it! He's all size but no tact! He's just a little bitch!"

"What!?" Hollered out both Shiftry and its trainer, with Ginger looking equally surprised.

"Switch to sequence 'two'!"

...Mystified at Grey's sudden bravado, she did as commanded and leaped to the side of the treeish brute, barely dodging another Air Cutter, dug her claws into the ground, and flung dirt into her opponent's eyes—

"Argh! Why you—"

"Shiftry! Get away!" Called out Nate—

Ginger dodged a desperate swipe of Shiftry's leaf fan, swerving behind him, sucking in air and ejecting gas from her internal sac, igniting both and blasting Shiftry in the back with a roaring flamethrower.

Shiftry screamed in pain as its combusting wooden body took the full brunt of the attack, crashed to the ground from the force, and slid to a stop, illuminating the night in orange light with its burning body.

Ginger fist-pumped the air.

Yes! Eat that!

She approached the fallen Shiftry casually to inspect her handy work—

"Ginger, wait! Don't go near—"

Huh?

"Now! 'Payback'!"

Her elation was cut short, as in a single swift move, the Shiftry flipped off the ground while a mass of dark energy pooled on its branchy limb and struck Ginger in the gut.

She heaved with spittle flying out. Her vision was a blur as she was launched backward through the air, scraping against the side of one tree before crashing against another with a sickening thud, and slid down, slumped on the tree base.

"Blagh...Hah."

She spat out blood, with her head spinning as her side stung and her abdomen ached like it just got hit by a truck.

So this was what Grey felt. Shit it hurt…She grunted in a mighty attempt at pulling herself up before her muscles gave in and she flopped back onto the tree roots.

Damn it! If only I could just get up!

Regardless of her pain, she'd prove to Grey that she could see things through. She couldn't fail him now, not when his life could be on the line and on top of that, being their very first proper battle, league sanctioned or not...She growled in another attempt to pick herself up...

...Grey was astounded at the power of the move and how it sent Ginger sailing through the forest, despite it being Dark-type and ineffective against Fighting-types, but something seemed off—

"From what Lisa told me before I chased after you...I'd say, that was your only pokémon. Looks like you've lost, kiddo'," said Nate with a sneer that Shiftry mimicked as the treant-like pokémon stood in triumph by his trainer now, weakened and sizzling from a burn.

Gotta' distract him to give Ginger some time to recover...or while I think of something fast. Worst comes to worse…

He felt the two shrunken pokéballs in his pocket he took from the other Aqua grunts.

No, that would never work...Maaaybe the salandit might be convinced?

Though he hoped Ginger would recover before he resorted to such desperate measures. Grey leered in suspicion at Nate. "What the hell...How is Shiftry still standing after taking that Flamethrower straight to the back!? Its combat power shouldn't be that high. As soon as it evolved from a 'Seedot', I'd wager you evolved 'Nuzleaf' into its current form with a 'Leaf stone', considering its tiny move pool, so what gives?"

Nate looked surprised, before grinning. "So you've figured me out...though not a skilled trainer, you are, at least, a critical thinker. As for your inquiry, that's simple,"—he began with an explicative hand gesture—"before becoming an Aqua sergeant, and after squaring off against a few 'Magma' pricks, coming up short with the sole pokémon I was provided with, I changed tactics. Indeed, I used a Leaf Stone—which I had the fortune of finding in an earlier mission—on Seedot straight after it evolved into a Nuzleaf in a rush to boost his base stats significantly. Time is too precious when you're in team Aqua, so I know that his move pool is fairly limited."

More like 'stole' the stone...

"As such," Nate continued—much to Grey's gladness to give Ginger more time—"knowing that I'd be facing numerous fire-types with Shiftry, I equipped him with an 'item' known as an 'Occa berry', I assume from your expression you don't know what that is?" he asked, angling his nose skyward in derision.

Fuck the 'berry', I didn't even know pokémon could 'equip' items that benefitted them directly! Or did I just forget? Though most pokémon have the limbs and means to do so, and they're as smart as humans...Christ, I have waaay too much to learn, ugh…

"Out of the numerous 'fruit', I forgot," Grey lied. "But based on your explanation, I'd say it temporarily reduces Fire-type move effectiveness on consumption, right?"

"Exacta'!" let out Nate, aiming at him with pistol hand impressions.

Where have I heard that expression before? But this is definitely an 'anime', the villain loves to talk.

"And I assume the Dark-type move 'Payback' deals damage back, based on the amount the user received, therefore you took advantage of the amount of super-effective damage the Fire-type move did, right?"

"Correct."

Haha...Now I see, that's incredibly reassuring...

Grey clapped to feign his being impressed.

"I see...I must say, Nate, that's quite a strategy, it fits you."

"Why thank yo–"

Grey raised his hand to stop Nate. "Except for three things…"

Nate cocked his head like a dog that had just been given an equation to solve. "Oh? And what's that?"

Grey smirked as he saw a faint light behind the enemy duo. "One, the Occa berry reduced the damage from Flamethrower, therefore, Payback was also weakened."

Nate went wide-eyed at the statement but shrugged it off. "Even so, it was enough to—"

"Two, a combusken is also a Fighting-type."

Nate raised a thick brow. "Oh. Well, true but—"

"And three—"

Ginger burst out of the forest trees above Shiftry, shimmering with an orange swirling aura—

'And remember, Ginger, after any sequence, if you happen to slip up and get hit by a strong move but manage to stay conscious, remember to use it.'

'Just like when you cut me, yeah?'

'Exactly like that'...

"—You talk too much...Ginger, use—"

Nate whirled around to gasp at the sight, "Oh shit! Shiftry mov—"

"'Counter.'"

Ginger let out a bloodcurdling battle cry as she came thundering down with an outstretched claw, right as Shiftry brought his arms into a crossguard, and collided against him with a booming impact that echoed through the forest, shook the ground, and swayed the branches of the pines while lifting a cloud of dust, dry pine-needles and leaves, obscuring both pokémon and sending both humans staggering back from the sheer force of the blow.

Grey, having shielded his eyes from the dust, lowered his arms and grinned at the sight. Ginger, with her chest heaving, stood tall over Shiftry who was sprawled within a cratered barren area of the ground, covered in burns, ripped-up bark skin, and darkened spots resembling bruises; he was just about to pass out.

"From the look on your face, Nate, I'd say that was 'your' only pokémon too."

"Tch...Shiftry! 'Synthesis' into a 'Low Sweep' and grab the combusken!" commanded Nate in a slur of words.

What? Low Sweep? That wasn't in—

In one deft motion, a swirling ball of green energy formed above Shiftry as he swept Ginger's feet with his legs, knocking her over, and clamped his branchy fingers around Ginger's hand-claws from behind.

"Nnh! Get off!" she demanded as she attempted to push the shiftry away with the back of her foot, but he wouldn't let go.

"Mega drain!"

She yelped in exhaustion as energy was siphoned from her to the shiftry, who was looking healthier and healthier by the second.

Clever prick...He grabbed her from behind so she can't launch any fire moves at him from the front. That Shiftry is freakin' resilient. Then again, this Aqua guy has seen more battles than I have. But...

"Haha! Surprised by the 'Low sweep'? It's a 'T.M move' I taught him, that's why your little device there, I assume, probably didn't know about it. You rely on it far too much."

T.M move? Tch...He's right, I assumed those were Shiftry's only moves, so the pokédex won't detect those because they're outside of the average statistic range...Interesting.

Grey calmed himself with a deep breath, confounding the Aqua sergeant.

"Ginger…'Immolation'."

She stopped struggling and looked at him with uncertainty on her pained face. "Y-You sure? We might get in trouble."

"It's either the forest or us. Do it." He confirmed.

She nodded as flames jetted from her mouth, being redirected along her body much like a Flamecharge, burning Shiftry's fingers and eliciting a howl of pain from the ent. As soon as he let go, she whirled around, becoming a literal flaming twister bathed in a brilliant golden-red fire that set everything ablaze in her proximity, including Shiftry, who screamed in pain clutching himself and rolling over the ground.

Nate's mouth was agape in horror at the sight. "Shiftry! No! How could I…"

"Nate, call your pokémon back. It's over." Declared Grey as he strode toward the man, but the Aqua sergeant made no move to do so. Instead, he watched as the tree-pokémon wailed in agony, helpless under its scorching torment.

"It can't be...I lost...What the fuck is 'Immolation!?' What is hap—"

The static of a radio from Nate's person came to life. "This is 'Aqua beta scout' reporting in, 'Magma group A' has begun an assault on Oldale pokémon center, I repeat 'Magma group A' has begun an assault on Oldale pokémon center, awaiting instructions, over..."

Ah shit...based on what little memory I've got, a pokémon center is where trainers rest up along with their pokémon, and if I were a betting man, May and Ash are there now...Great.

"Nate! Where the hell are you!?" Called out Lisa from deep within the forest to their right, approaching fast with the sea lion's barking voice accompanying hers in their search.

Shit. Ginger's too tired and injured to face another pokémon, and if I remember correctly, that 'Sealeo' is a water-type...Yeah, fuck that.

"Ginger, we have to leave, now."

She looked at him before gazing back at the still shrieking Shiftry. Lifting a claw, and to Grey's amazement, she redirected the flames onto the trees that were already ablaze, leaving the Grass-type free of any fire on it. However, its painful groans from the severe burns and smoldering skin bark still sent guilt pangs down his gut, and Ginger probably felt the same.

"I'm done. Let's go," she affirmed.

Grey gave a curt nod.

Having had enough of team Aqua, the duo dashed away from the crackling inferno of a forest fire they caused, back into the cool, dark shadows of the pine trees.

It was only after trotting far enough for the bushfire to be a small glowing dot in the distance, that Grey's ear registered Ginger's pained groans for him to observe her current state. Her yellow plumage was matted with blotches of blood, with feathers displaced by the cuts and swelling of her side. Her trotting had a limp to it and her breaths were more labored than his.

Time to use it.

"Ginger, wait."

"What is it?"

They stopped at a broad, ancient pine base, with the fowl pokémon giving him a questioning glance.

"Take a break on that root, let me patch you up," he said.

She seemed taken aback. "N-no it's fine I can keep going—"

With a push of his hand on her shoulder, he easily seated the combusken onto the chunky root as she let out a surprised yelp.

"If 'I' can push you over with ease, then you're full of shit. I'm not letting you run around as a half-corpse, now sit still." He said in a stern tone.

She looked away sheepishly as he slung off his pack and rummaged through its contents, identifying the various objects Birch kindly gave him, until he found it.

It was a gold spray bottle, shaped like an 'S' with a red base. On its label, it said 'Super potion'.

Grey pulled out a flashlight and scrutinized the back of the bottle for details:

'Nano-technological transfectant. Best used on open wounds, from minor scratches to muscular tearing or bruising.'

Nano...tech…

...He blinked before doing a double-take—

"Bwah!? I beg your fucking pardon!?"

His exclamation startled Ginger. "What? I didn't say anything," she said, confused at his sudden outburst.

He caught himself and cleared his throat. "Eh, it's nothing…"

Holy mother of—This world has 'nano-technology' in the fucking 'seventies'!? What!? Did the wars back 'home' really screw us over 'that' much!?

Then again, it did make some sort of sense. Back on normal Earth, over a trillion dollars is invested in militaristic endeavors and armaments every year, as well as nuclear empowerment...If that sort of effort and financial investment were focused on something else, in a world of unity instead of wars…

Home...Can I really call a world like that 'home'?

Begging another question, were there even 'guns' in this world? Tranq guns kind of counted...But 'Team Aqua' didn't seem to have them...Then again, Ginger is a hardy, walking flamethrower and Shiftry can generate powerful winds with its hands; and that wasn't considering all the other possible types of pokémon and their attacks...Guns and their bullets would be horribly useless against pokémon, though not against humans. Weren't there a few episodes of the anime where modern weapons appeared? Question for later.

He shook his head from his idle thought and kept reading the potion label.

'Dosage: 1-3 full sprays on lightly affected areas. 3-5 on heavier wounds.

'Warning: Has limited effect on bone fractures, may cause side-effects including skin irritation and muscular spasms. Do not go over indicated dosage, as the agent accelerates the subject's body healing process, putting pressure on the vascular system. If applied on heavy wounds or fractures, the solution cannot be considered as permanent curation, only temporary relief; professional and clinical attention is still strongly recommended soon after application. External use only, do not ingest.'

I see. So it's not entirely a 'miracle cure', but I think it's still good enough to make many of my Earth's inventor scientists groan in their graves from shame...Let's test it.

He inched the spray nozzle closer to her wounds, but she shrunk back, wary of the sloshing solution within. "Don't be a pussy, and stay still," he warned.

"Huh? I'm not a—Yeow!" She hissed, probably from the initial sting.

Antiseptic as well, of course.

He took advantage of her distraction and sprayed her multiple times on her affected areas as indicated, but not without her squirming everywhere like an insect, irritating him immensely. "I swear to God, Ginger, I will knock you unconscious if I have to." He threatened with a growl, stilling her mostly.

"Would like to see you try…" She muttered like a sulk.

He watched how the wounds sealed on their own like magic. Well shit, it actually worked. With portable matter-shrinking tech in the form of pokéballs, and rapid wound healing nano-tech as spray-on potions in this world, and in the seventies no less; the Nobel prize suddenly seemed like a cheap hand out…What was next?

"Don't tempt me. Course' then I'd have to carry your ass to Oldale," he commented.

Again, she seemed surprised at his statement, gazing at him in silence, which struck him as odd and unnerving at the same time. "What?" He asked, looking away from the ridiculous bio-technological wonder happening in front of him.

"Nothing." She gazed downward in evident thought.

Huh?

He shrugged. "How do you feel?"

She moved her arms around and twisted her torso to test her body. "Pretty ok, actually."

"Good." He got up, packing away everything into his pack. "Now we can keep goi—"

"Aren't you going to apply some to yourself? You've got a gash on your forearm." She pointed a claw at the problem area.

It was only then he gazed at said limb and indeed he was bleeding from a small cut. Huh. Must've been all the adrenaline.

"Meh, had much worse, but it's nothing compared to what you had, and I don't think the potion is designed entirely for humans anyway." He let out, only to catch his breath at the slip up—

She narrowed her ruby eyes. "Wait...If you were heading to the forest alone from the start, why did you need to carry medical aid designed for pokémon, when you don't have any?"

'Oh and Grey, take this as well.'

'What is it, professor?'

'A super potion, in case you might need it for 'you know who.'

'Right...That's 'if' she comes along. But I guess it couldn't hurt to not need it and have it than vice versa...'

Oh shit! Think, think—

"Everything, including the back-pack, came as a beginner trainer-starter set, ready for one of Birch's starter trainers in case they need it."

"Really? I didn't see 'May' take one, hers looks a lot smaller than yours," questioned Ginger, eyeing him in suspicion.

Ahhh—

"Like I said, it's in case they need it. May most probably has her own personal items in her backpack, and let's face it, a girl her size would be hard-pressed to carry this thing. Perhaps her parents will finance her or something—now are you going to be grateful that I even had a potion or what?"

Ginger caught herself now, scratching her cheek. "Eh, r-right, s-sorry. And thanks, Grey…" She gave an embarrassed smile.

"Yeah, whatever," he grunted, displaying annoyance on his face. "If you're ok to keep going, we should go."

Phew! Bullet dodged, God am I stupid? Far out and too close, Jesus…

The pair continued and rushed off through the pines and under the guise of night toward Oldale.

Ginger perked her head up in alert. "What's that rumbling sound? Sounds real' close, yet so faint."

"Ah shit, don't tell me it's Aqua aga—"

"No, wait...It's gone now. Must be the cabin exploding or something."

Grey exhaled in relief, for a moment he worried that it was another ambush, he had enough of the goddamned forest for one night. Also, he was famished.

Fuck I'm starving…

...The spicy aroma of the gravy enveloped her as the meat melted on her palate. "Mmm, delicious! The food's first-rate here. You know, these centers are really great, they've got everything you could ever want in one place!" exclaimed May, not having expected a place dedicated to pokémon, of all things, to have fine cuisine.

"Yep, you bet. But remember—mmph—this is where the trainers and their pokémon rest up before battling, heavy training or—Mmph—continuing on their journey," said the fourteen-year-old, Kanto born trainer through a mouthful of his food, eliciting a subtle cringe from May but a cute 'pika' in agreement from the adorably huggable and rare yellow electric mouse next to him, who was engaged with his own treat held in his paws: A bottle of ketchup.

Despite the fact that—although being younger than her—he had far more experience as a trainer, Ash definitely had a one-track mind when it came to pokémon. And it was hard to believe his little pikachu was the ace of his team for all this time, up until it demonstrated its strength against this 'Team Rocket' trio earlier. The sheer power and amount of electricity it could manipulate on its own was incredible. Still, why Ash didn't carry any of his previous team with him from the other two regions? She had no clue, it would've been nice to see them too. Maybe she'd see them at this so-called 'Ever Grande Conference'?

Now there was a scary thought. Did she even want to be a trainer in the first place, and follow in her father's footsteps? Still...If it meant a potential high standard of living…

But a nagging voice at the back of her mind asked: Was that all there was to it? Was it worth...the risks?

She recalled what happened earlier today back at Little Root, when they had brought the man called 'Grey' to the Birch lab's infirmary.

'Oh my gosh, professor, is he gonna' be ok?'

'Though it was a close call with the combusken, with his brain waves being somewhat erratic, his vital signs overall indicate he's in good health.'

'That's a relief…'

That was an extremely close one, and she couldn't do anything with her mudkip even in those dire circumstances...It was nothing short of scary. Nor she or mudkip, a water-type pokémon no less, with some kind of advantage against fire, could so much as move in the presence of that combusken...Yet Grey, despite clearly being frightened as well, fought back wildly, with nothing but a kitchen tool, and somehow turned the tables by convincing it to actually rescue the professor. She couldn't believe the turn of events...And how she never felt more useless in her life...

I wonder if he's ok...I hope he doesn't get trauma, poor guy...I wish I could've done more. Pokémon can sure be dangerous...

Shaking her head of these thoughts, she resumed the topic. "Well, you're getting ready for heavy training, and I'm getting ready for training too, so that makes it ok to be here, right?"

Ash stopped halfway from gobbling up his food and looked at her, puzzled from beneath the visor of his red hat. "Uh, I guess when you put it that way—"

"Well if it isn't the two weary travelers! Glad you made it safely," came a familiar voice to the other side of their table. It was the young professor from the Oldale ruins they had passed earlier, still in his worn, mustard exploration clothes, and holding a tray of food.

Ash gaped before responding. "Oh, hi there professor Alden. Nice to see you, thanks for guiding us here earlier, wanna' join us?"

"Sure thing," he said with a cheery smile before seating himself by the other end. "You two sure were in a hurry for the pokémon center earlier, I hope all is well?"

May resisted the urge to frown from the memory of another of her latest failures. Before having neared Oldale Ruins, not only had she failed miserably to capture an azurill, but the little blue water-mouse also called for backup from its family of two other evolved counterparts and together overpowered her stubborn mudkip into unconsciousness with a bombardment of heavy water attacks. It was only then, during their rush, they passed the ruins and met Alden, who had given them directions to the Oldale pokémon center.

Did her uselessness know no bounds? What would her father say...And Arceus forbid her brat-of-a-brother 'Max' from ever finding out, he'd never let her hear the end of it. At least Nurse Joy confirmed mudkip was okay though, all he needed was a night's rest here in the center.

May gazed at the archeologist. "Mudkip's fine, thanks," she managed in a baritone.

The man's face mellowed, probably on noticing her sour mood. "I see...That's good. Though you two were in a rush, I noticed your intrigued expressions at the ruins. Say, once we finish dinner, why don't you two come to my room here, in this very pokémon center, and I'll show you some of my research? I guarantee it'll be interesting." He offered with a sunny grin.

"Oh wow! Really professor? Totally! That sounds awesome!" exclaimed Ash with a double fist pump to the air, as though he'd just won the lottery.

May was kind of curious too about the professor's findings, and though it was obvious to her that her attempt at hiding her dismay behind an emotional mask had failed—much like everything else today—it was a nice gesture on the archeologist's part to make an attempt at cheering her up. Heck, it already worked some'…

After paying for the inexpensive meal—inexpensive thanks to the Pokémon Association and League recognized trainer discount—the duo trainers made sure to reserve a room for themselves, before heading over to Alden's room.

It was a small and simple room, reserved for guests rather than League-sponsored trainers. The woody scent of old paper permeated the space as they walked to the other end of it, where a table held a stone tablet. Above it on the wall, next to a cartographer's map, was a picture of the same ruins, with the same seven rounded stone pillars surrounding the long-since shattered structure they had passed earlier today.

"Those must be the same ruins we were at earlier," said Ash observing the framed photo. Leave it to him to state the obvious.

"Yes. The pokémon center administration was generous enough to lend me the room to study them while I'm here. Evidence suggests there's a stone chamber hidden within those stone ruins. Legend has it that the chamber itself is a bridge or portal between our world and the world of ancient civilization and pokémon."

May was bewildered at such a possibility, gazing with renewed curiosity at the picture. "Wow..."

"But because of its strange construction, all attempts at entering have, over time, caused the entire structure to erode, so its contents remain unknown."

"Whoa, and what do you mean by ancient pokémon?" asked Ash in wonder, with pikachu squeaking from curiosity too.

"You might be thinking about ancient extinct fossil pokémon like 'Aerodactyl' or 'Kabuto', but no. I speak of ancient pokémon that still live, without changing at all."

"Whoa! Cool!" exclaimed Ash, but it seemed like a bizarre prospect to May...

"Huh? How is that possible?" she questioned. "Don't these pokémon age too?"

"Great question, to which I only have the theory of the 'active' portal within the chamber, that links our current timeline to the past."

"What do you mean?"

Professor Alden's eyes glimmered in excitement. "I mean...The past is existing together with our present, and the portal is the door that separates both timelines, allowing the ancient pokémon to come and go through it. At least that's what the legends suggest, but it's an incomplete theory. Guess it's all that mystery that makes it fascinating."

That's crazy! But...Interesting. There might be more to pokémon than I initially thought…

"I'd sure love to meet an ancient living pokémon," mused Ash as he gazed in wonder back at the picture with pikachu in his arms.

"You just might one day," said a smiling Alden as he picked up the stone tablet, catching the teen's attention. "The correct way to enter the chamber is written on this tablet."

"You're kidding!"

"Pika!"

"No way!"

The professor chuckled. "Not kidding, and yes way. We just need to find the—"

'Click'

The lights went out, startling May.

What the...

The other's expressed their alarm as they were all pitched into momentary darkness, before the emergency fluorescent light came on, barely casting the room in a cold lifeless tone, but it was enough to see each other with clarity.

"What happened to the lights?"

The door burst open, and like flitting shadows, three growling quadruped figures rushed in to block the exit, with the room becoming hotter from their presence.

May's heart jump-started at the sight. They were hound-like pokémon, standing at just over four feet tall, having black fur, accented with red-orange underbellies and snouts that bared their sharp teeth with a frightening snarl. Each one had white bony rib-like grooves on their backs and necks, and a pair of long, white curved horns protruding from their heads. Their brows were wrinkled in their glaring at the group with their hellish eyes burning like hot coals in warning.

Her spine shuddered as the situation eerily reminded her of the encounter with the combusken, only this was literally three times worse. May wanted to take her pokédex out and scan them, but her hands wouldn't move due to sheer trepidation. Once again, she found herself helpless.

Three people, two women and a man dressed in matching outfits marched in and stood by the pokémon. Their uniform consisted primarily of red, lined with black. They sported boots and skin tights under their trousers—trouser shorts in the case of the women—and zippered vests that were emblazoned with a black 'M' insignia resembling a volcanic mountain with two high peaks. Their devilish grinning faces were partially obscured by their black-horned, red hoods, as well as their hotly iridescent shades occulting their eyes.

May had never seen nor heard of these people, who were they?

The lead male stood forth, raising his black-gloved hands in greeting. "Hello, Professor Alden, how's the evening?" He said with a smirk.

"Tch. Who are you to barge in here? What is the meaning of this!?" Demanded the archeologist.

"Straight to the chase, huh? I like that. In short, professor, we would like you to accompany us on a little 'field trip' to the Oldale ruins."

"I will not!"

The man snapped a finger and another red attired criminal came into view at the doorway, holding a whimpering Nurse Joy hostage while looking over her shoulder with a sick smile, and a gleaming knife to her throat. May's heart pounded at the proximity of the blade to the nurse's jugular. The situation was getting more and more frightening by the second. Ash was just as shocked, but if Alden was nervous, he hid it well under his scowl.

"Bastards!"

The leader's smirk widened. "My, this isn't the occasion for flattery, professor...Now, about that 'field trip', I might've misheard your response to my request, care to repeat that?"

The other vandals snickered at his comment, causing the professor to visibly shake in frustration. For a moment May worried he was going to deny them again but—

Alden surrendered with a sigh, "Fine. I'll go with you then. But leave everyone else out of this."

"That's fine, just as long as they don't cause trouble, but I'll be needing your pokéballs and that pikachu to go with them, just for insurance."

"No way!" Exclaimed Ash, but Alden turned to look at the teen and shook his head.

"Ash, it'll be ok. We're talking about a life here, possibly several more since there are injured pokémon here, and she's the lead nurse of the facility. They need her."

The teen was about to argue, but pikachu shuffled in his grip and dropped to the floor.

"Ah! Pikachu!"

Ash reached out, but the electric rodent gave a sad shake of his head. "Pika', Pikachuu'," before nodding in confirmation with a nervous smile, then giving a minor growl at the villain group, again confirming. "Pi'."

"...Ok," exhaled the Kanto-born trainer.

"Good, that's how I like it. Don't worry, we have no need of them for ourselves, we'll just keep you separated for now. We're only interested in the ruins. Now, hand em' over," requested the leader with an outstretched hand.

The trio did as requested, careful not to make any sudden movements less the hound pokémon turn them into cinders. But Ash looked at the leader. "I don't have pikachu's pokéball with me. He always stays outside."

"I see. As long as he doesn't cause trouble. Now come along, professor."

The young researcher did so, with pikachu in tow, escorted by the criminals and their pokémon as they filed out of the room. "Lock the nurse with the brats in here and guard the door." Commanded the leader. The brute of a grunt shoved Nurse Joy into the room, before slamming the door shut, and with a click, locked them in.

Ash lost his composure and went for the door, banging on it in fury. "Let us out! Give back pikachu!" he hollered.

"Ash. It's no use." May finally spoke, gladdened that the room was back to normal temperature. "Mudkip is resting, and Pikachu is the only pokémon you brought here, and they probably have guards outside. We can't get out."

"Chansey is probably with the other pokémon, locked in as well," came the nurse's quivering voice. "The blackout was most likely caused by them, cutting the power to the center, without it, the pokémon we have in intensive care are in danger." She finished, raising a hand to her mouth in worry.

"Damn it, what do those crooks want!?" questioned Ash, red with anger.

"To enter the chamber, of course. But the question is, why?" Mused May, also intensely worried for her mudkip. The little guy might be a stubborn pain in the ass—the reason for which she didn't understand and had wondered about—he was still her first pokémon…

Come to think of it, Mudkip's pig-headed behavior was a bit too adamant...Didn't that 'Grey' fellow talk with the combusken during their confrontation? May could've sworn it looked like a clear dialogue, but maybe she imagined it. Then again, that didn't explain why the combusken had changed its mind…When she asked professor Birch after that incident, he shrugged, denying any knowledge about it...Yet he was watching from the tree the whole time...

Maybe…

Every one of the twenty minutes that had passed was filled with a year's worth of agony in waiting, with Ash banging on the door intermittently, before getting told to 'shut up' by one of the crooks standing guard, hearing the voice of another next to him. So not only were they locked in, they were kept as effective hostages in case Alden didn't comply.

By now they should've arrived at the Ruins, considering they had to avoid the authorities along the way during the night.

Damn it. Isn't there something we can do? There isn't even a proper vent in this room, not that we could fit, maybe Ash could. Pikachu would have definitely fit in, but this criminal organization is fairly careful—

A shout echoed in the hallway outside, causing the three hostages to stare at the door and listen.

One of the grunts yelled, "Hey! Who are—Gah!"

A solid impact resounded on one of the walls.

Another retaliated. "W-what the hell!?"

Ash mouthed to her with a fearful look on his face. 'What's going on'?

May shook her head in response.

Yelling, banging, and smashing echoed in the halls as May's heartbeat quickened once more. The scent of burnt flesh crept from under the door as dissonant shrieks rang in an area closer to them before they stopped, and everything went deathly quiet.

Any more and her heart would leap right out of her mouth, May didn't know if she would have rather seen what happened or not, she debated which was scarier, but it didn't matter since either way she was close to shitting her—

Footsteps came close to the door, a pair of them, though one of them 'clacked' on the tiles, the other seemed human. They came to the door, whispering something before it went quiet again.

May jolted as the door handle was shaking now with their attempt at getting in, before stopping…

Are they gone?

'Schunk!'

May shrieked in fright as a trio of razor-sharp claws, burning like heated steel, punctured the door and cut right through downward like butter, before another trio of claws did the same but crossways, with the paint job burbling from the heat and the wood of the door smoldering.

The claws retracted from the doors, and with a bam, it was smashed down in pieces, with a tall figure obscured in shadow followed by a smaller bladed shadow waltzing in with a single stride—

"Hey-kids-wanna'-see-a-dead-body!?"

The trio screamed and held each other in terror, before the figure cackled and came closer, with his dangerous amber eyes curling in amusement.

"Haha! Chill out, they're not dead...At least I think." Mused the figure, looking back at his companion. "Told you they'd shit their pants, Ginger."

"keenn…" Muttered the familiar ruby-eyed fowl pokémon with a roll of her eyes and facepalming at the joke.

"Oh shut up, that was gold." He snarked back.

"W-W-Who are you!?" Exclaimed Nurse Joy, pale as a ghost in fear—

"Grey!?" Exclaimed May, finally snapping out of her terror, recognizing the man and, much to her nervousness, the combusken. What was she doing here?

He gazed back at her, with a dark brow raised in surprise. "Ah, if it isn't my blue-eyed brunette savior, May Haruka, a pleasure to formally make your acquaintance, lassie." He bowed slightly. "Being conscious this time and all."

"Eh, um, likewise?"

"Oh, and you must be the protagonist?" He asked Ash before catching himself—

"The what?"

"Err, I meant Ash, you must be Ash, right? Professor Birch told me a bit about you two. Though I do believe we're missing an important yellow element here, in his stead we have the famous Nurse Joy."

"Again, who are you? Are you friend or foe?" Insisted the nurse.

"Neither."

"Neither? What does that mean—"

Grey flipped out his trainer ID that gleamed under the dim fluorescent lights. "Foe to assholes and friend to 'science', I'm Grey Wilson, 'Birch labs' assistant and trainer, pleased to meet'cha." He introduced with a grin, before pocketing the card—

"Enough of this! We need to get my pikachu and help professor Alden! He might be in danger!" Exclaimed Ash before attempting to bolt for the door, but Grey held Ash by the shoulder—

"Not so fast baby-dick, there could be more grunts out there and I assume they took your pokéballs to keep you hostage. Right?"

"That's, plot synopsis…" Said May in a low-key, wary of and unable to take her eyes off the wild tall man.

"Thought so. Let's go together, for now, there could be another organization around."

"What? Another bunch of thugs?" Asked Ash.

"I'll explain later."

Nurse Joy started. "First we need to get the power back on for the pokémon in the ICU, and then patch up that arm of yours, you're bleeding and your combusken needs some atten—"

Grey waved it away. "We're fine, for now, you get the power back on and we'll find pikachu and sort this mess out, tend to us later free of charge."

"But—"

"Let's go, no time to waste!" exclaimed Grey with a clap as he marched out of the room, followed by the combusken.

Everyone moved simultaneously, it was like a choreographed dance that made May woozy after a full twenty minutes of nothing. As soon as they got in the hallway, the acrid scent of burnt skin, cloth and carbon assaulted her nose, and then she saw three of the red uniformed men knocked out, one slumped on the cracked and charred wall, with two on the floor sporting burns ranging from first to second degrees, along with bruises and light cuts, and no pokémon to be seen. She winced at the sight.

Whoa...Did they even have pokémon? Or they couldn't get them out on time?

After Nurse Joy handed the master key to Ash and Grey, the two went scouting the corridors for any other trapped pokémon including pikachu, while May and Nurse Joy went for the backup power generator, and then to check on the pokémon, as well as her mudkip.

The little blue mud-fish was safe and sound on his bed, with his vitals very healthy, along with other pokémon in similar conditions scattered about in the care unit.

Before long, Ash and Grey came back with pikachu and chansey in tow, the latter greeting her with a 'Chaan' and immediately began checking each pokémon's status, passing by their beds.

"Well, searched everywhere, there's no other prisoner and the cops are on their way to collect the trash. So who and where is this 'Alden' fella'?" Asked the raven-haired man.

"They're at the ruins, we passed there so we know where it is," said Ash.

"We need to hurry then, there's no telling what the assholes are planning there."

"Right." Mentioned May, but Grey stopped her.

"I can see your mudkip's resting, do you have another pokémon?"

She hesitated, but only let out an 'um' before Grey continued. "Then you can't come, stay with mudkip. Ash, from 'what I hear' is more experienced than you or I,"—said teen flushed at that with a scratch of his nook and a modest mumble—"but the difference is, Ginger here can still fight and we have a good idea on these people's tactics."

"But—"

Grey's eyes narrowed. "What can you do without a pokémon? Who's more important to you right now? Ask yourself those questions before following. I won't obligate you into anything, but I can't take responsibility for your safety, sorry." The brow-scarred man took a step away as he looked at the other teen. "Ash, let's go."

"Right. Grey's got a point May, you stay behind and support Nurse Joy and explain the situation to the cops."

"Ok…"

Man and teen along with their respective companions, left the pokémon center in a rush, leaving May behind.

I guess he's right, I'll just get in the way...But Holy crap he took control of that situation from A-Z, damn, sure doesn't look like he has less experience than Ash. There's no way he's a starter trainer if that combusken, of all pokémon, is following him around now…Also, the way he communicated with her just now…

Arceus I feel useless…

She watched from the automated glass door, as the two disappeared into the night.

No. Maybe I can help in some other way…

...It didn't take long for the duo with their partners to reach the ruins, but it was too late. The blades of a large red-brown chinook helicopter chopped the air as it took off into the sky, with the criminals on board.

Shit.

They increased their pace toward the ruins, which looked way too much like England's 'Stonehenge' for his liking. Despite the pillars being somewhat different, its layout was near identical, complete even with the grassy hilltop where the sun would most likely shine directly at it.

Thankfully, they found the professor sitting on the ground in deep contemplation, before he switched his gaze to them.

"Professor!" exclaimed Ash. "Are you ok!?"

He was surprised to see him out. "Quite, but how did you get out with the crooks guarding the area?" He asked as he got up, dusting his outfit.

"Grey here helped us out, he took down the guards like they were nothin'!"

"They were still dangerous, but Ginger and I took care of them without much hassle, oddly, none of them had pokémon on them, just basic handheld weapons."

"Right, mighty brave of you Grey, and thanks so much. I was worried sick about the kids and center'."

Ash observed the chopper as it disappeared into the distance, with the thundering of their blades fading away. "Just who were those guys anyway?"

"Hey it's team Rocket!" came a youthful voice from below. It was almost ethereal yet childlike in its nature.

Grey craned his gaze downward, knowing full well that it wasn't Ginger, and the only other pokémon that was out...

It was the pikachu.

His breath stopped as he realized...

Holy shit.

Never been a big fan of pokémon, but never would I have imagined being able to hear the mascot himself talk in the human tongue...

Shaking his head from distraction, the infamous trio appeared, with the green-eyed, glittery lilac-haired man, the catty cream-furred, 'meowth'? Was it? And the weird blue punching bag pokémon that came about in the second generation if Grey wasn't mistaken, of course, that's all he ever knew...Then...The woman from his vision, with her long glimmering red hair curling into a small spiral at the end and her sapphire eyes glaring at them.

Thanks to the vision, I had the idea to break the pokéball...But was it my imagination? Or did this happen at some point?

The group of comic-relief villains held four spherical crystal balls.

"Rats, seems like we've been discovered," said the woman, pulling out her pokéball.

Alden stepped forward. "Give those treasures back!"

"Go, Arbok!"

"Go, Weezing!"

"And meowth!" said the cat pokémon. Grey wasn't ignorant to the fact that this particular pokémon actually spoke in the human tongue even in the show.

Two pokéballs snapped open to unleash the materializing energy that converted into a very large and hissing purple cobra with an almost-psychedelic face pattern on its hood, along with the strange tumorous and double-faced floating gas pokémon, its breaths wheezing like a severe, champion chain smoker. These three, Grey was very familiar with from the first and second-gen anime in the past.

The trio were about to attack, and Grey considered helping, but he decided to not interfere, having the opportunity to see what the protagonist and his pikachu were capable of close up. They practically dealt with them on a daily basis, no?

"Pikachu! Quick attack!"

The little mouse pokémon growled as in an instant, a white aura surrounded him, and like lightning, bolted at the trio on its own, bounding off of each opponent like a platform and smashing them away back to their trainers.

Grey gawked at the speed of the little electric runt.

What the shit! The speed on that thing was unreal!

"Thunderbolt em'!" Commanded Ash, as pikachu growled, generating sparking tendrils of electricity before it abruptly turned into a localized mini-storm of thick bolts. The hairs on Grey's nape stood from the sheer impossible amount of electro-static energy produced.

How the fuck was that even physically possible!? The amount of volts needed to break down dry air resistance is in the millions! Three megavolts if he wasn't mistaken, and that was just enough to make the air relatively conductive. To generate even the weakest form of lightning, at least 'ten times' that amount is required as well as reverse polarizing the two points of contact.

Jesus fucking—

The mass of crackling lightning then arched out, and all at once in a grim parody of a jagged maw toward a panicking Team Rocket, striking the ground in front of them at full force with an explosion lifting a cloud of glassy dust from the friction and sending the now screaming trio flying into the forest, as usual like the anime. The crystal balls rolled along the ground, left behind.

But the amount of minimum amperage to generate an electrical current like 'that' would kill anyone! How are they even alive enough to scream!?

Grey could only come to a plausible conclusion...The only one that seemed reasonable within a seemingly unreasonable universe...

Are electric pokémon able to somehow manipulate the air resistance, then? That could explain why pikachu doesn't flat out murder the trio every time...The degree of control and self-restraint needed for something like that...

Also, how do they survive their fucking landings? Either they're lucky to land in the right places, or fate has something planned for those morons to not allow death to take them. And, although not as sky-high as the anime itself, he still sent them flying away a good distance…

Pikachu jumped into Ash's arms.

"Way to go pikachu!"

Grey still found himself gawking at the power of the little mouse. He glanced at Ginger who was just as shocked and speechless.

"As usual, they're nothing we can't handle," chuffed out pikachu with playful confidence.

Grey couldn't help but allow a hint of a smile to curl his lip at the innocence of the little rodent reflecting his trainer's. He definitely hated the idea of facing this plot-armored brat in a battle, especially against that pikachu.

In the corner of his eye, professor Alden was heading to the entrance of the ruins, he and Ginger followed, with Ash and his pikachu tagging along

The place was filled with elaborate drawings of distinct types of ancient pokémon that Grey didn't recognize at first glance. Some were winged, others in shells, and a few had scythe-like claws. But all were accompanied by humans.

They were marveling at the sight, when Ginger pointed at a section in the wall, "What are those?"

Following her claw, at a particular area of the wall, Grey noticed a distinct drawing. It was that of a woman...No, a...White and greenish humanoid creature? holding a baby, which its face and body were wrapped in cloth. Standing next to the woman, was their partner, looking eerily much more human than the woman, gazing at the bundle of cloth. The illustrations were ancient, so they were too eroded to make much out of the few details, perhaps it was discoloration or mineral disfiguration over time. It could have meant anything.

The archeologist placed the crystal balls in the corresponding sockets on the 'Y' shaped panel on the square pillar, and sunlight abruptly appeared on the horizon, surprising Grey. "What the hell?"

"Morning already?" May's unexpected voice came as she entered.

"May? What are you doi—"

There was rumbling, as the stone lining of the entire room shone brilliantly while illuminated in bright sun rays. The rock pillar grinded its way back to reveal a stairway.

The group marvelled at it before the professor entered. "Well, let's take a look," he suggested with a kiddish grin as he walked down.

Were we screwing around for 'that' long? How the hell is it morning already? Go find consistency in the physics of 'this' world...Huh, never been in an ancient ruin before, that's a first.

The group descended and found themselves in a cave path, quickly leading to a large underwater lake, with stalactites shimmering on the ceiling as droplets fell into the bigger body of water.

May gasped. "Wow! It smells so clean."

"So cool!" Marveled Ash.

"It's an enormous underground water supply! I wonder if it leads out to sea…" mused Alden, while Grey examined the area. It certainly was unlike anything he had seen, and like May indicated, the water seemed fresh—

A splash startled them all as a large, multi-finned fish with scars all over its faded scales, launched itself out of the water before diving back in.

"Great scott! The ancient pokémon 'Relicanth'! So it's true..."

"Relicanth?" asked Ash.

Grey was dumbfounded. Not because it was a living ancient-looking pokémon...But because its name and physical aspects very closely resembled the 'Coelacanths', a lobe-finned fish from the deep eastern coasts of Africa from his Earth, thought to have been extinct until the late 1940s or so. Grey couldn't recall that discovery channel episode entirely, but it was interesting enough to remember most of it. Those fish were called 'the fossil fish' because there weren't many physical adaptations from their 80 million-year-old fossils, suggesting they went unchanged for many years and became yet another species that questioned the 'Darwinian evolution' theory. Of course, that was also just theory, disregarding the many internal evolutions with their forms diverting from that of their ancestors…

"Do you think there really is a portal under there, professor?" asked May, intrigued by the sight.

"Portal?" questioned Grey.

"Why yes, it's quite possible these Relicanth exist because according to legend, there may well be a portal that holds open an entrance between our world and the ancient human and pokémon past."

Well shit, that's crazy...Portals huh?

To think that the pokémon world would be susceptible to portals...Might that have been how he got here? He had to admit, it seemed a little more plausible than 'planeswalking'...Food for thought.

A fluid ran from his nostril to his lip, he wiped it on his hand only to see red before a migraine started forming.

"Grey! You're bleeding from the nose!" Exclaimed Ash.

"Yeah, thanks, I notice—Gah!"

Again, his vision went white, with a buzzing in his ear, and a calamitous, Earth-shattering voice painfully erupting into existence—

"All shall either drag thyselves along the ground or be closed in by the skies!"

Argh! Who said that!?

He squeezed his temples in pure mind-rending agony. Who was that!?

The pain in his psyche was too familiar, sending him into an uncontrollable panic.

No...No!

Was he going to die again!? Where would he end up next!? What the fuck was going on!?—

Oh God no...No! Please not back in the kitchen, anywhere but there Goddammit! This is injustice! I'd rather die!

His vision blended back to reality, in the cave, with the two teens, pokémon, and the archaeologist gaping at him in horror, but Grey was too busy to care as he struggled for breath while it returned to him in gradual parts, filling his lungs bit by bit as the salt of his sweat stung his lips.

"Hah...Hah...What?" he asked as they kept staring in silence. He stood straight again with the pain in his head subsiding, much to his immense relief.

But Ginger approached him with profound unease sketched on her expression.

"Grey."

"Yeah? What is it, Ginger?"

"What do you mean 'die again?'"

...Oh, shit.

...