Professor Oak's ranch, around the time of last chapter

Professor Oak had seen some interesting things in his time.

He had seen the change of the world culture, legendary wars so terrifying Oak hoped to the ends of time and space that he never see them return, the birth of his child and grandchild, and had become mildly famous and important.

He'd also once witnessed several of the Kanto Elite Four drunk. That terrified him more than the wars. A drunk Agatha was just so, so...wrong. The Professor shuddered from a particularly disturbing memory of the last time he'd seen her.

However, a Heal Ball suddenly teleporting into his laboratory from a few thousand feet above sea level in a flat forested area was a new one to him.

Picking the sphere up, Oak felt a sense of unease come over him.

"Please let this be a Flying-type that Ash somehow managed to catch mid-air despite not having a Pidgeot or Charizard..." he muttered to himself as he clicked the sphere open, releasing a burst of light that formed...

"Goomy?"

Into a purple slime dragon native to Kalosian swamps, and not the Kanto sky.

Professor Oak looked at the weakest of the Dragon-types, as said weakest of dragons trembled on the desk it had landed on.

"...Do I want to know?" the Professor questioned the Pokémon.

The Dragon-type rapidly shook its head...body...mass.

"Would whatever happened make Ash's mother go grey at thirty-three?"

"Goo?" Wait, why did he ask a Pokémon without body hair about ageing hair color?

Oh Arceus, he was getting old.

"Never mind...I'm just going to pretend that you were obtained normally and not ask how you got in the sky, nor how Ash got in the same part of the sky to capture you. Nope, zilch, nada, not going to happen."

Carrying said slime dragon in his arms as he entered his sitting room (enjoying its oddly pleasant squishy feeling), the Professor blinked in surprise as he saw that he and the Goomy were not alone.

And it wasn't because Ash's Bulbasaur was sitting on his couch. No, it was the person who was petting Bulbasaur who had caught him off guard.

"Good morning Professor!" Delia Ketchum said cheerfully.

"Delia, how nice to see you..." the Professor said in surprise. "Um...what are you doing in my laboratory?"

"You left the door open."

The Professor muttered something about bad habits, before taking a seat and placing Goomy on the table between his two couches. Bulbasaur looked up from his spot on the couch to eye the new arrival with confusion.

"Bulba?"

"Goo."

"Bulba!?"

"Well, I assume since you didn't come here for my tofu you want to hear about how Ash is doing. Well my dear, he just caught this Goomy and..."

"Oh, this little thing?" Delia looked down at the little dragon, which caused it to jump a little; it seemed quite nervous at being looked at by the woman. "What is it, exactly? Sort of looks like a Grimer."

"Actually, it's a Dragon-type native to the Kalos region. I'm not sure how Ash got it, but they can evolve into a powerful Pokémon known as Goodra. Anyway, I hope Ash doesn't catch a Grimer, or worse a Muk: they smell horrible and can be extremely clingy."

"A dragon huh?" Delia idly poked Goomy in curiosity, seemingly unnerved by its gelatinous form. (Goo!) "It doesn't look anything like a Dragon-type to me."

"I could the say the same about a Dratini, but I assure you both are Dragon-types. Anyway..."

"Excuse me Professor Oak? I hope you don't mind me coming in, but your door was open..."

A professional looking person in a business suit had appeared in his sitting room, a briefcase in hand.

"Oh for..." The Professor cut himself off before he said something rude. (He really needed to stop leaving his front door open. Honestly, anyone could just enter his place these days and ask him random questions!) "You're not from the government are you?"

The businessman looked offended. "Do I look like a tax collector to you?!"

"Well, yes actually," Delia admitted.

"Bulba." The Seed Pokémon nodded.

"Goo?" Goomy seemed to be blissfully unaware of what a tax collector was. Oh, you enviable gelatinous creature.

"Well, I'm not. I'm a television executive from Pokémon T.V..."

"Well, that's worse."

The T.V exec lost his footing at Delia's quip.

"Oh, the network that obtained exclusive rights to cover all Pokémon tournaments, contests, festivals, performances, and assorted other events." Oak said as he recalled the companies exact business contracts. Business contracts that somehow survived government overview despite many complaints and immense anger from the other television networks like Vulpix News and the Sports Channel.

Many conspiracy theories surrounded the group. Many, many theories, hardly any of them good.

"Yes, the very same." The man readjusted himself as if his collapse never happened. "Anyway, I represent my company in its express desire to acquire film of up and coming League challengers ahead of the curve. I'm told that you are the guardians of Gary Oak and Ash Ketchum, respectively." He noted Oak and Delia as he said this.

"Yes..." Delia began nervously as Oak frowned and nodded slowly. He could see where this was going.

"Both are making remarkable progress in their league challenges; Gary Oak has obtained his fourth badge recently in record time, while Ash got a glowing recommendation to us from none other than Lt. Surge himself. We see a bright future in store for the both of them, and we want the whole world to see them shine. To put it simply, we wish for legal permission, from the two of you as their guardians, to put the two of them on our Gym Battle review program and to have the full information experience during their league and tournament challenges!"

The room was quiet for a few moments. Guardians and Seed Pokémon alike seemed to be sizing him up; Goomy was just watching the whole thing in confusion.

"I see...you just want to shore up things in case one of them becomes champion so you can create another documentary program for massive ratings, like you did with Cynthia," Oak surmised as the executive looked dismayed.

"The way you say it makes me sound like a villain," the exec said sounding slightly offended.

"Well, you are basically buying up hundreds of exclusive contracts in the goal of finding that one golden ticket."

"Exactly. It's hardly illegal, it's only blatantly capitalist!" the executive pointed out. "And what boy's dream isn't it to end up on the biggest network, placed just before the prime-time. Hell, with the League currently scheduled in between the Ever Grande and Lily of the Valley tournaments, they could even make the prime-time itself!"

The Leagues operated on a rotating schedule with some breathing room in between. The Indigo, Silver, Ever Grande, Lily of the Valley, and the rest of the tournaments were all arranged so as to not clash with each other or other major events like Grand Festivals and Showcase Master Class tournaments. This allowed trainers a chance to rest up, and either start working towards the next tournament round or register for the next one if they were approved to do so.

It was effective, if a little overabundant. But good luck trying to tell a Pokémon League to shut itself down to make the entire year less packed. Nationalism could get nasty sometimes.

"I don't know..." Delia seemed torn over the comment on a boy's dreams, having known what Ash's was for years. However, the Professor was not so easily convinced.

He had resistance against corporate attacks!

"Did I mention the generous monetary compensation? The trainer and legal guardian of said trainer each earns 1% of all monies generated by how much money his time on screen produces."

1% of screen-time revenue from even one battle in a semi-major tournament...

Curse his limited government funding!

Monetary attacks: super effective against him. Well, within reason. He wasn't going to sell off anything living, or anything that was attached or part of something still living.

Grr...

"Very well," he agreed. Well, at least Gary wouldn't exactly mind getting a television deal to earn himself great amounts of money and attention, there was however the downside that it would fuel Gary's already inflated ego.

As to Ash though, he noted as Delia followed suit agreeing to the deal, would he even notice?

The next day

Waking up in her secret base 'tent' that was formerly a tree, Misty idly stretched the morning fatigue away, all the while recalling how weird yesterday had gotten...particularly after Ash had fallen out of the sky.

And the fact she found out she had somehow managed to bypass the Rock Tunnel while fleeing like mad from that giant Beedrill swarm was only the tip of that iceberg.

While they had managed to get their stuff back once more, they probably could have marked the trail they took to do so and made a fortune marking a bypass to Rock Tunnel. Oh well, maybe the Pokédex did it on its own accord, it was quirky that way.

Anyway, the strangeness all seemed to be centered around the girl who had tried to kill her the moment said girl had spotted her after her great running away from the Beedrill.

Her name was Iris. And she was...

"Who are you!? How did you escape from that Hunter J creep!? Where is my family!" She shook him by his collar in anger. "And why don't I want to beat an answer out of you?!"

Aggressive. Then again, nearly getting your face ripped off by said girl probably was a good hint to that.

Afterwards, the story had eventually came out. Apparently Ash had been kidnapped by a Pokémon poacher called J, because apparently Jessie, Jenny, and Janice were not cool sounding enough, who had previously taken the Dragonite who had raised Iris. Ash had apparently attempted to free the Dragonite but only rescued something called a Goomy instead, then got blasted out of J's flying fortress.

Iris took that well...

Actually, she didn't. Not at all.

…

Narrowing her eyes in the direction that Misty, as far as she could tell, Hunter J's ship had went, Iris promptly began walking that way…

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Ash, at this point having reobtained his Pokédex, flinched as Iris turned around rapidly and glared at the now debunked 'tree spirit'. She seemed somewhat unnerved by it. Then again, what would a girl raised by flying dragons know about Pokédexes and the fact they have snarky personalities?

Come to think of it, why could Iris speak the human tongue? That was a question for another time though given the circumstances.

"And why not, you talking piece of flashy metal!" the purple haired girl bit back.

"Flashy metal? I do have a tutoring program in insults, if you are interested in trying to mock me later." Misty honestly couldn't tell if the Pokédex was kidding or not, and all the while Ash was getting more unnerved as the wild girl and the artificial intelligence continued to hold a glare off. Well, they would if the Pokédex had eyes to glare with. "However, based on my trainer's commentary, I can see the scenarios that would result in you chasing down this Hunter J. They come in two distinct brands: either you fail to find her and wander alone and miserable, or you find her, get beaten horribly, and killed, brutalized, brutalized and then killed, or killed and then brutalized."

"I would not!" Iris snarled as green energy started to swirl around her hands.

"Axew!" Her 'little brother' chirped in agreement. Misty would later find out that Axew was in fact hatched from a female Dragonite whom had looked after Iris (the father was apparently a Haxorus), and then the Pokédex commented something about lax sexual norms about Dragonite in what could be described as under it's none existent breath, which Misty had no need to know about. Her Excadrill and now revived Emolga nodded in agreement with her.

"Pokémon Hunter J did not earn her infamy because she is a pushover like a certain annoying trio. She possesses advanced technologies and her Salamence is tough enough to fight in Elite Four level battles, and her Drapion and Ariados could defeat even the best teams of Gym Leaders, particularly ones like Erika and Valerie. You cannot beat her."

"Well unlike some average human, I have a few tricks they don't!" She manifested the glowing green Dragon Claws for good measure.

"Prove me wrong then: defeat Ash's Charmeleon with your Excadrill. If you can do that, then maybe you could stand a sliver of a chance."

"Hey! Can I please not get involved in this?!" Ash begged as the Pokédex sighed.

"Outside of releasing said Charmeleon, you don't have to. I will battle the girl!"

"You can't just..." Ash began indignantly at his Pokédex for trying to commandeer his Pokémon.

"Very well you man-made crime against nature, I accept!"

…

The Pokédex could do damn whatever it wanted, it seemed.

And so it promptly somehow got Ash's Charmeleon to obey it and fought Iris's Excadrill.

Fun fact: Excadrill is part Steel.

Fire is Super-Effective against it.

…

Charmeleon was panting heavily by the end of the fight, but Excadrill lay defeated.

Iris looked furious, and heartbroken all at the same time.

"Like I said," the Pokédex told her bluntly, "you, are not strong enough. Even if you could deal with the Salamence, that does not factor in the Ariados, the Drapion, the technology you and most normal people would be baffled by, and the sheer difficulty of tracking down an invisible, flying, warship."

"I can...I have to...you don't know anyt...th..." Her voice hitched and cracked as her eyes glistened with forming tears.

Now, the girl was just crying incoherently, her legs failing her as she hit the ground. Her Axew and Emolga quickly darted over to comfort her. Iris' whole body shook as she wailed in anguish, she wanted her family back but from what had just happened all her hope seemed to leave her. Only a shell of the once confident girl remained kneeling on the ground with tears leaving trails down her cheeks.

Misty felt very bad about watching the girl break down at the realization that she, in fact, was not ready, or able, to save the ones she cared about.

It was also a somewhat self-realizing moment when Misty realized that the emotions that this girl, Iris, was feeling...she couldn't even comprehend.

She had never gotten along with her family. She probably, no definitely, wouldn't be feeling this way if something like this happened to them. She might even have felt...happy, if they had been taken away by an evil supervillain, leaving her alone and free.

She'd even have gotten the Gym, which would have been a dream come true.

The fact that if she had been Iris's situation she wouldn't be crying, but cheering...

The whole revelation made Misty very uneasy, even as she felt immensely bad for the poor girl who never even an hour ago had been trying to claw her face off or fry her with an electric rodent.

However, then Ash intervened.

Ash.

The trainer from Pallet had been mostly silent until this point, outside of arguing against his Pokédex. He had clearly been just as bothered by Iris's breakdown as she had been, but seemingly in more a 'this girl is crying because of a horrible situation and I can't do anything to change it' sort of way than a 'damn, I would actually probably have killed to be in the scenario this girl is in right now, and that just makes me feel horrible', sort of way. There also seemed to be what Misty could only describe as a hidden center of joy to Ash at seeing this girl alive.

Did he just value life so much that the girl having survived was a big positive to him? Did falling from the sky just make one appreciate life more? It was an interesting train of thought.

Anyway, he eventually began to talk to the still broken girl.

"You know, if you aren't strong enough now, there is always time to become stronger."

The girl stopped audibly crying when he said this, but as she looked at Ash, her eyes were still quite laden with tears, her shoulders still shaking and her breath catching.

"I'm a trainer who’s aiming to enter the Pokémon League and win it all. Of course, to get to that point, I need to earn gym badges, to prove that I am ready to do so." He flashed his inner jacket, revealing his three badges. "Right now, J has me completely outclassed, but if I can prove myself and win eight badges, then on paper at least, my Pokémon are strong enough to fight J's Poison-Types. And if I can do well enough in the league, they'll be tough enough to fight her Salamence."

Misty noted he was omitting the fact he technically had ten badges at the moment. It was probably for the best anyway.

"To get there though, my Pokémon and I will need to do a lot of training. We need to get stronger and stronger, and the best way to do that is with sparring buddies."

He extended his hand to Iris at this point, who was looking at him with wide eyes and unshed tears shining in them.

"If you come with us Iris, and train with us, you'll get stronger. Eventually, you'll get strong enough to defeat Hunter J, and to save your family. So what do you say Iris, do you want to get stronger together?"

She eyed his hand for a few moments, still looking quite devastated, before taking it with a strong grip.

…

And with that, their party size became three.

Misty honestly wondered if she should be annoyed at Ash for springing on such an invite without asking her permission first. After all, many people didn't like having to travel with people who had, in the past, attempted to remove ones limbs.

However, it was such an honest, kind-hearted, noble deed of his that Misty just couldn't feel mad at him.

Who knows, maybe she could find some common ground with Iris give enough time.

Having dressed as she reflected over yesterday's events Misty stepped out of her little shelter, to the sight of Iris.

The girl yawned, stretching a bit as if she had just woken up. She stared at Misty, as if unsure as to why she was staring right back. "Morning Misty."

"Iris..." Misty questioned very, very uneasily. "Why, aren't you wearing any clothes?"

Iris looked at her like she just asked why one would cover one's nose in a dump. "Because it's going to be warm today. What's the point in wearing clothes if it's not going to get cold? I was only wearing them the other day because I was flying up in the sky, which is rather cold."

She said the last part as if it was common knowledge (it was), and that asking a question about made one want to call the questioner a little kid (which Misty did not appreciate).

A distant, rational part of Misty's mind wondered why she was getting so suddenly rattled by the idea of Ash seeing another girl without clothes on, but it was drowned out by the part of her that didn't want Ash to see a girl without clothes on.

Psyduck would make a snide add-on of the 'except me' variety, but Misty ignored him during the ensuing argument about the logic of clothing.

Team Rocket HQ

"So, our official recommendation is that Team Rocket gets involved with neither the Kaz nor the Yaz gangs: both groups are incredibly incompetent thugs whose only purpose would be as cannon fodder. Cassidy thought it would be best to keep some level of contact with both gangs, to potentially allow for the bolstering of our grunt forces in case of a conflict with a rival group such as Team Galactic or Team Dim Sun."

The blue and blonde duo of Butch and Cassidy gave him the report in person, all the while looking like they hadn't slept in weeks, been hit in the back of the head with at least a few blunt objects, and really needed a good shower.

Given they were at work in Dark City recently with the local gangs as feeler agents, that was very likely the case.

While their failure during the Hop-Hop-Hop operation, punishing them by forcing them to deal with those violent fools for an entire week was most...enjoyable.

"Very well, you two are dismissed. Now go take a shower, you reek of low-quality body spray, sake, and..." The nose of the boss of Team Rocket seemed to be rather unnerved. "Stale and unorthodox ketchup?"

"Don't ask," Butch muttered, looking away from both his partner and his boss. Giovanni decided not to press further on anything involving ketchup.

"Well, ensure you don't smell like it again when you are called back for your next assignment." With that remark, the boss found himself alone in his office, bar his Persian of course.

He shuffled through a few miscellaneous details obtained from the overall successful operation, as his holographic images changed before him.

A report of a recent spotting of the infamous Pokémon Hunter J.

The recent closing of the Cerulean Gym.

The vanishing of the former Cerulean Gym Leaders.

A picture taken during the Hop-Hop-Hop operation.

The last one particularly kept Giovanni's attention, as it showed a mother and child. The woman was your typical, run of the mill auburn haired woman in the mid-thirties, but the boy...

Well, he appeared to be about twelve or so, and looked a lot like the boy Jessie, James, and Meowth were following.

Most, interesting...

Later, South of Rock Tunnel

Ash was happy.

Why was Ash happy one may ask? After all, he did just get kidnapped and escaped through only dumb luck.

Why, it was quite simple really.

One of his friends, one he believed to have died because reality wasn't restored right, was shown to be alive.

Who cares if she sort of smells like she has never heard of deodorant, she was alive and that was simply wonderful!

In fact, he decided to go do some special training in celebration!

That, and when he had gotten up today he had heard Iris and Misty argue about clothes off in the distance and wanted some space. Happy or not, he did not want to get in between an argument between the two female traveling companions of his who were most...hot-headed and forceful.

Odd though, Iris really wasn't the type for fashion, in either timeline.

"Okay guys, come on out!"

In a burst of four Pokéballs, his Pikachu was joined by Butterfree, Squirtle, Aipom, and Pidgeotto.

Now, one may be wondering, why there were only four Pokéballs? Well, the answer was quite simple.

He had sent Charmeleon to Professor Oak's on break: well maybe not break. He was probably juggling some hapless Geodude or something right about now.

It was more a call to train a few of his other Pokémon personally for a bit, particularly his brand new one.

For the fifth Pokéball in hand, was not even a Pokéball at all.

"Go, Goomy!"

The Heal Ball released a burst of light, revealing the purple blob creature he had saved during his free-fall.

"Goo!" it greeted. Ash realized that he wasn't able to understand it. Obviously he needed time for Pokémon he had not caught previously.

"Okay Pokédex, give me the scoop" Ash pointed the device at Goomy, which beeped a little.

"Goomy, the Soft Tissue Pokémon. A dragon-type native to the Kalos region, Goomy is native to swampy wetlands. It's considered the weakest of dragon types, though many argue that fellow Kalos dragon-type Noibat is weaker. This Goomy is male, knows the moves Bide and Rain Dance, has the Hydration ability, and is ranked 1 star out of 3 via the DexNav evaluation feature."

Ash, having no idea what the last part was, merely dwelled on the bits he could understand.

A Pokémon from the Kalos region? For a moment, Ash wondered if he may have, had Cyrus not botched up things, have met this Goomy? What would that have been like?

Bide and Rain Dance though...

Now, Ash was willing to work with any Pokémon: having trained turtles and blobs, birds and shellfish, monkeys and bugs aplenty. However he was in heart an 'attack first to defend' type of person, and no attacking moves was something that just...boggled him.

That would have to be the first thing he worked on. For even Muk, his most defensive orientated Pokémon, could attack. While Bide would inflict damage, he did not want to make that his entire strategy.

"Hey Goomy, don't faint and get continuously hit by Blaine's Magmar and then blast it with Bide" was not the kind of strategy he wanted to be known for.

"Okay, what moves can Goomy learn then?" He had a TM from Brock that described how to teach moves. Might as well make use of it. So he consulted the Pokédex once more.

"Goomy can learn Absorb, Bubble, Thunderbolt, Dragon Breath, Dragon Pulse, Thunder, Sludge Wave, Sludge Bomb, Rock Slide, Infestation, Secret Power, Iron Tail, Poison Tail, Shock Wave, and Water Pulse, among others."

That was...an interesting assortment.

Hmmm...

Let the training begin!

Training Montage Begins

(Blowing through his mouth like he had a bubble wand in front of him, and Squirtle as if he was actually using the move, the two practiced with the Goomy.)

To some people, the idea of training for a new move should be simple and easy.

("Pika pika" 'Okay, so tense all your muscles at once, releasing the kinetic energy throughout your body,' Pikachu lectured to Goomy about how one created electricity from one's body.)

It wasn't. It was something one had to teach oneself and one's Pokémon.

(After Pidgeotto flew off, grabbed, and dropped Psyduck off, the duck was pointed at Goomy and told to use Secret Power. The duck tilted his head, not in confusion but just to be difficult. Clearly bothering Misty was not enough these days.)

Trying to train a Pokémon to learn a move intentionally, as oppose to inspiration or desperation, can take many days. So Ash wasn't quite expecting an instant learning experience.

(Making a sound like he was trying to hork up some phlegm, Ash promptly spit some of it out, demonstrating what the TM said was the basis of Sludge Bomb. Each time Goomy and Ash went for another attempt at it, Butterfree blew more pollen at Ash with his wings as to ensure he'd be able to continue doing so without complications).

Also some Pokémon just didn't pick up certain moves. You could teach a Froakie Quick Attack all day, but you'd just get out Double Team if the Pokémon just simply understood the concept of that move better than it did Quick Attack.

(Picking up Goomy with her tail, Aipom began dropping Goomy by the tail towards a thin stick on the ground, all with the explicit suggestion of trying to put power into his tail.)

And, if nothing else, there was always tomorrow.

Training Montage Ends, elsewhere nearby

"So that's why people are always wearing clothes? They just deal with hot temperatures and water by wearing different types of clothing, and generally less of it?"

"Yes," Misty reply tersely. This entire conversation had been rather...well, one she'd never want to do again. She had only gotten a break when Ash's Pidgeotto had randomly grabbed Psyduck and flew off with said duck. The two girls had just stared after the birds for a few moments, before Iris promptly asked about the purpose of socks.

Iris, meanwhile, sounded like she finally had figured out a long standing mystery. Good for her.

Well, at least she was clothed now. Sure, Misty had to give the girl some of her socks, but now Ash would not see this girl naked.

The part of her mind that was asking her why that bothered her so much still kept nagging her though.

"Slow..." 'Yawn.'

However, that loud yawning sound promptly made the two girls realize that A, they were by a stream, and B, that there was a large pink mass lying on its side, apparently asleep.

A Slowpoke.

As the two girls looked at it, the creature, slowly, rose its head, then turned its gaze towards them just as slowly.

"Slow?" 'People.'

Oh boy...this was where her goal came to haunt her.

But, she set out to do something, and she would do it.

Tossing a Pokéball at the Slowpoke rather casually, the ball promptly energized the Slowpoke and sucked it inside.

A Slowpoke's reaction time was approximately 5 seconds, however by that time...

Click.

The Pokéball was sealed.

Slowpoke was hers now. Yay...

And with that, she had her tenth Pokémon, out of her eventual goal of one hundred and thirteen last time she checked.

Urgh, that number sounded daunting when she thought about it.

"That was, random," Iris noted bluntly, staring at the Pokéball Misty had just thrown.

"Just as you and Ash..." And why did that phrase bother the Water-type trainer so much to say? "...have goals, I have one was well. I'm not aiming to get stronger in particular, or to conquer the Pokémon League. My goal is to capture one of every Water-type in the world."

"There are a lot of those in the world," Iris replied bluntly, which Misty was starting to realize the girl did a lot.

"Well, I guess I know what I'm going to be doing for quite a while." Misty smirked as she noticed the Pokéball teleport away, off to Oak's lab and thus to be the Professor's problem.

She couldn't do anything about Psyduck being a constant in her life (he was her only Secret Power user and she wasn't sure they'd have time to teach another Pokémon), but she'd be damned if she had to deal with two Pokémon with the same mental capacity at once!

She idly noticed Iris looking terrified, staring at the vanished Pokéball like someone had just broken the laws of reality before her.

Oh...

They hadn't told her about Professor Oak, had they?

Guess she'd be in for another talk with the wild girl, but this time about advanced technology Misty really didn't understand herself.

Fun. Hopefully for her sanity the girl would not do a Wynaut impression.

Lavender Town

"Prepare for Trouble!"

"Make it Double!"

"Um, who are you?"

The little girl's question caused the duo (dressed very similarly to how they normally do but with their R's missing) to realize that A, the kid didn't travel around with some little blonde girl, and B...

Well, the kid may look like Ash Ketchum, but there were some noticeable differences.

His shoulder Pikachu, for one, seemed a little less cheerful, the kid's hair was a few shades darker and messier and a bit longer. He had a paler skin tone, and lacked the kid's lightning marks on his face (the little blond girl with the hat did have them though). His hat resembled that of Ash, but without the green Pokémon League mark on it, and his jacket and shirt combo colors were red, white, and black, as oppose to blue, white, and black. The sleeves were also short sleeved.

His eyes were like Ash's as well, but they seemed fierier, as if fires glowed behind them. It was...somewhat odd.

"He's Red, and I'm Yellow!" the little girl spoke for the two of them. Meowth, who had yet to speak, merely observed the two from his spot between the two humans on his team with some level of curiosity "Why did you two just start talking like you were Power Rangers?"

Jessie and James were floored at that statement.

"Power Rangers!" Jessie snapped as if morally offended by such a statement.

"Now now, calm down Jessie." James tried to get the girl to relax a bit as he extended his hand in friendship, though he noted the boy didn't seem eager to receive it "My name's James, I'm a traveler of sorts. I follow where the fires of my destiny guide me, led by the trail of ashes in my wake."

“No need to be poetic James.”

"I'm here to compete in the battle dome tournament that's coming up."

"Same here! Red's going to win it all!" Yellow chirped. Apparently Red didn't need to speak when the little girl was around. How convenient.

He did at least extend his hand to give a decent handshake though after a few moments, meeting James's still outstretched hand. James raised an eyebrow at his body temperature, which seemed a little warm to him.

How odd. It seemed a lot of things about this kid were...unusual to say the least.

Well, that was that. As the handshake ended, the two groups turned around and walked away from one another, though the little girl threw in a youthful quip about Red beating them tomorrow as they left.

"Hey James, think we should have tried to steal their..." Jessie offered the idea as James frowned.

"We have our stalking target Jessie, and not only is that kid not him, we also happen to be in a heavily populated area with surveillance cameras and 911 hotlines. No need to risk running afoul of Officer Jenny any more than we have to merely by being members of Team Rocket in disguise. Do you really want to share a jail cell with a criminal from this crazy town?!"

Recalling all of the horror stories about oddly behaving criminals who went into Pokémon Tower and started shouting about blood, Jessie paled and rapidly shook her head.

"Speak for yourselves," Meowth quipped. "I'm immune to ghosts."

"To Shadow Balls, maybe. Not to crazy people shouting about blood who can strangle you."

North of Lavender Town, Route 10

Iris eyed the structure the group was approaching with immense unease.

The fact that the doors to it opened on their own to let people enter and leave it, as if wind suddenly started from the very small space between the doors blew outwards was quite unsettling. It defied logic!

"Do we really have to do this?" she questioned Ash, who smiled kindly and began explaining.

"You and I both want to become stronger, and to do that we both need plenty of practice. Battle Clubs are good places to get practice in against trainers and help make you stronger."

Stronger...

Yes, she needed to get stronger. She needed to be ready to make Hunter J pay.

Nothing would stop her in her goal.

As said trio walked through the oddly self-opening doors, Iris willed herself not to be unnerved by the self-opening doors.

She'd just ask how they worked later.

...

"Ah dammit! Freakin' snake just got up and left! Stupid Unovan piece of shit, it so wasn't worth my Butterfree..."

Having been placed in an indoor battle arena by the male owner of this facility, Iris found herself to fight some kid in armor with a large gash on the left forearm, who was using a lot of harsh words Iris wasn't sure the exact meaning of.

Sure, she knew what Unovan meant: according to her parents she came from Unova. But why did he mention excrements after it?

He stopped his word onslaught as he turned to glare at her. "So, you're my opponent?"

Iris nodded.

"How many badges you got?" He spoke. Somehow Iris felt he said that sentence in a way that would elicit a response from Ash's Poké...duck?

Pokéduck? Pokéduel? Pokéduce? Something like that.

"Badges?" Oh, those things Ash collected as marks to show how strong he was? Huh, humans mustn't really do scars anymore.

"What?! You're a Pokémon Trainer and you're not trying for the Pokémon League!?" the kid stated in a harsh, disbelieving tone. "Don't tell me you are one of those coordinator types?!"

Iris shook her head, having no idea what the heck a coordinator was.

"Oh great, I got matched up with a freakin' casual!" he shouted in annoyance. "Great, now how the hell am I supposed to get my workout done!?"

Freakin' casual? Humans had strange word choices.

"Very well, prepare to face the power of a proud owner of a Cascade and Boulder Badge!" the armored kid stated loudly, and in order. "Go, Beedrill!"

"Go, Excadrill!"

The bee and the mole found themselves staring each other down, as the armored kid stared at her Pokémon in confusion.

"What the heck is that thing!?"

"It's an Excadrill. I shouted its name out when I released it," Iris explained bluntly, wondering what happened next.

Before they had come to this Battle Club, Misty had told her not to attack any trainers during battle like what had happened with the two of them. But this guy had armor and a sword, so did that make it okay in this situation?

Maybe if he attacked first...

"Begin!" some guy on the side shouted. Apparently humans had people tell you when you could start, and stop, attacking something.

Interesting, strange but interesting.

"Go Beedrill, use Poison Jab!"

As the bee's stingers glowed purple, Iris just stared.

Did he really just...

And the Beedrill hit Excadrill...to absolutely no effect.

As the Beedrill continued hitting Excadrill again and again to no real effect, her opponent got madder and madder.

"What the...why isn't that working!" the kid shouted in frustration as Iris once again bluntly stated the facts.

"Excadrill is part-Steel, Poison attacks don't work. Now Excadrill, use Drill Run! Eat this, you freakin' casual."

Iris idly wondered if she was using that phrase correctly.

...

"Go, Gyarados and Staryu!"

Misty really didn't technically need to be here. Her goals weren't exactly power based after all.

But, if one was aiming to capture one of every water-type in the world, some training was always useful.

Plus, after that Emolga fight, Misty had been thinking of ways to counter future run ins with such Pokémon (and Chinchou/Lanturn for that matter), and she had come up with a little idea of her own.

True, it was inspiration based, and she'd probably have to credit Ash for it, but that wasn't really relevant at this point.

Thankfully her opponent has a Voltorb and Fearow out, and would be all too happy to provide her with all necessary electric attacks to test it out.

"Begin!"

...

"Vulpix, Zubat, I choose you!"

A sudden wave of Brock nostalgia flooded Ash as the two Pokémon found themselves up against him.

One Pokémon, a reddish fox with several split tails, the other a blue bat. All once owned by Brock himself, and good traveling companions and buddies across the Kanto and Johto regions.

"Vulpix, the Fox Pokémon. When Vulpix is within its egg, it only has a single tail. When it hatches, several tails are present. It possesses Fire-abilities."

"Zubat, the Bat Pokémon. Zubat live in large numbers in caves. Cave travellers, dwellers, and explorers have long found Zubat to be immense nuisances. Grass-types cannot beat Zubat easily with only their type of attacks."

The Pokédex got to say it's two bits on the subject, and now could send some data to Professor Oak and whoever else for research. Good for them.

Pikachu and Goomy sat off to the side: Goomy having been let out to get some visual experience as to what Pokémon battles were like.

It was a proven tactic for helping train and inspire Pokémon. He had done much the same with Scraggy after all.

"Okay, Squirtle, Pidgeotto I choose you!"

In bursts of light his turtle and bird Pokémon appeared on the field.

"Squirt!" 'Say, this isn't a gym, is it?' He questioned.

"Caw." 'Nope.'

"Tle...' 'Bummer, I'd like to actually fight and win at one of those this time around in Kanto.'

You did help win the Earth-badge Squirtle...though given that Team Rocket was leading that battle did it even really count?

Ash made sure to remind himself to use Squirtle in any gym battle that made any logical sense to use him in. So while Erika was out, maybe Koga would use a Nidoking or Queen?

And Blaine, certainly him. Assuming it went better this time around...

"Begin!"

And there went his musing times.

"Okay, Zubat use Wing Attack, Vulpix use Quick Attack!" His opponent called as the two Pokémon sped right at him.

"Counter with Return and Quick Attack!"

A white glowing fist in hand, Squirtle struck Zubat right between its wings just as it got closer. Meanwhile a white speeding Pidgeotto slammed right into Vulpix's attack, causing both to be pushed back as Zubat hit the ground for a moment before taking off once more.

"Grr..." his opponent growled "Okay then try this: Vulpix use Ember and Zubat use Bite!"

As the Bat Pokémon flew once more towards Pidgeotto and Vulpix began spewing sparks, Ash was quick on the uptake.

"Pidgeotto Aerial Ace, and Squirtle use Water Gun!"

Breathing in deeply, Squirtle let loose his water blast. The attack quickly doused the ember sparks and blasted Vulpix into the wall.

Meanwhile, Pidgeotto vanished moments before Zubat bit it, before reappearing and slamming into Zubat and sending it spinning back down.

"Zubat and Vulpix, are unable to battle! The winners are Squirtle and Pidgeotto!" the referee shouted.

...

"Pinsir is unable to battle, the winner is Excadrill!"

"Damn it!" The armored boy snapped, his fist clenching the hilt of his sword.

...

"Voltorb and Fearow are unable to battle, the winners are Gyarados and Staryu!"

"Yes! It worked!"

"Yeah...it did work. Wish I had thought of that..." her opponent muttered to himself. "Then maybe I could have beaten Lt. Surge..."

...

"Psyduck is unable to battle, the winner is Emolga!"

"Emol!"

"Yeah, that was rather therapeutic!"

...

"Nidoran and Nidoran are both unable to battle: the winners are Aipom and Squirtle!"

...

"Mankey is unable to battle, the winner is Psyduck!"

"How the heck did that duck..."

"If I only knew," Misty muttered to herself.

...

"Oddish and Poliwag are unable to battle! The winners are Butterfree and Pidgeotto!"

As his last opponent for the day returned his Pokémon and left along with the referee, Ash stretched triumphantly.

"Man, that was a good workout." Nothing like a few Pokémon battles to help really hammer in your training.

"It was. I also obtained some useful data," the Pokédex noted. "Your Pokémon encounter rate is increasing by a good amount. Perhaps you may one day surpass Gary Oak in that regard."

Hey!

"You've lost your snarking privileges for that one," Ash told the device in response to its attitude.

"You have no control over my snark."

"Sni!"

Ash and his four released Pokémon (Butterfree, Pidgeotto, Goomy, and Pikachu) turned their heads sharply to the ceiling, where that sound originated.

"Wait, was that a..." Ash began as the air vent (and it was always an air vent) flew to the ground and a green snake like Pokémon landed in front of them.

"Snivy!"

"Whoa, is that..."

"Yes, it is a Snivy," the Pokédex snarked. "Snivy is a grass-type starter Pokémon given out to trainers in the Unova region. It is known for its attitude, and its immense pride. A trainer it feels it is not worthy of it will get attacked by a Snivy, who will go and strike out on its own. Though how it got all the way to Kanto is anyone's guess."

"Pikapi…." 'Ash...that is Snivy. Our Snivy...' Pikachu seemed shocked to see it here. Ash was too, of course.

"Sni!" She gave Ash a 'bring it on' motion with her hands.

"Goo!" Goomy promptly hid behind Pikachu, afraid of Snivy.

"The Snivy appears to want to battle you," the Pokédex noted. "I'd suggest using your Quick Ball to quickly obtain it. This Snivy has Contrary!"

"Um, has Contrary?" Ash didn't get what the Pokédex meant. "And wouldn't using a Quick ball make it more likely to see me as unworthy and thus likely to attack me?"

"Oh...by the maker you are right. I am suddenly concerned." The last line was said as if it were a sign of the apocalypse.

Ash really needed to get that thing an attitude change.

"Alright, go Pidgeotto!"

Pointing, he sent his first Flying-type out to battle. In his mind's eye though, this confrontation was two-layered.

On one layer was this battle, but on a second was the first time he captured Snivy: a battle where Pidove was his secret weapon.

A female Pokémon, immune to...

"Sni...vy!"

The barrage of attract hearts that Pidgeotto was now being blasted by.

Attract.

"Ignore them and use Quick Attack!"

Glowing white, Pidgeotto flew and shattered all of Snivy's hearts before slamming right into Snivy. Snivy was sent spinning into the air, but quickly righted herself.

"Sni-Vy!" And promptly through a giant barrage of leaves at Pidgeotto.

"Leaf Storm! At that level!? Be wary Ash! Contrary!"

Ash still had no idea what the Pokédex meant. "Dodge!"

Pidgeotto tried to, but was hit by the leaves and blown back a bit. But it wasn't very effective, so Pidgeotto still was good.

Pidgeotto breathed a little heavily after that hit. 'Not bad' she admitted.

"Sni..." Snivy's tail now glowed green.

"Leaf Blade too!?" the Pokédex shouted. "What kind of Snivy is this!?"

'My Snivy.' Ash thought proudly, but first he had to beat his Snivy. "Block with Steel Wing!"

With glowing white wings, wings and tail collided in a fury of strikes, seemingly even.

"Now, Gust!"

"Caw!" 'Let's see how you like being hit by a windstorm for a change!'

With a final clash of attacks pushing the two apart, Pidgeotto began blowing the wind attack right at Snivy.

Snivy responded with a Leaf Storm, which as it was the second Leaf Storm should logically be weaker than the first one...

The Leaf Storm blew apart Gust and smashed into Pidgeotto, sending her back even further than before.

"Wait, what?!" What...what about logic?! Wasn't that a thing?!

"Contrary is a Pokémon ability that enables a status drop to be reversed. For example, using Overheat would make one's next Overheat more powerful into infinitude," the Pokédex explained in an exasperated tone.

"What?! I thought Snivy had Overgrow!?" Wasn't that the starter ability for Grass-types?

"Most do, but a few do not."

And apparently his Snivy was one of them...

As Pidgeotto regained flight, Snivy charged up another Leaf Storm.

"Caw!" 'I don't think I can take another one of those...'

And if she kept getting stronger with every Leaf Storm...stopping her could become a real issue.

He had to end this, and quickly.

"Pidgeotto, use Aerial Ace to dodge!"

With a resounding call, his first bird flew right at the leaf storm, before vanishing.

Snivy's eyes went wide, looking around for where Pidgeotto could have possibly gotten off to.

They went wider when she got her answer.

Aerial Ace struck Snivy from behind, sending Snivy flying right at him.

Reaching into his ball collection, Ash grabbed a Pokéball. He noted he had snagged one of his Great Balls.

'A stronger Pokéball...Snivy did take a few Pokéballs the first time around...let's skip that step,' Ash decided as he threw his ball.

"Go, Great Ball!"

And so the blue ball flew right into Snivy's path, as the ball opened and Snivy was engulfed in red energy.

It went in...shook...and shook...and shook...

"Goo..."

And ticked successfully.

Quickly grabbing it before it teleported away, Ash promptly posed with it.

"I caught, a Snivy!" 'My Snivy'

"Pi-Pikachu!"

"Caw!"

The ball quickly vanished as his pose ended. And it was only as it did end that he noticed he had watchers.

"Ash..." Misty said incredulously in the aftermath of that fight "You...are really, really lucky."

"I guess..." (*)

That night

A day away from Lavender town (Fun times...fun times. Chandeliers were fun to have fall on you long before they could shoot fire at you in response), Ash found himself grinning.

Snivy was back with him, and had been filled in. Her response to this entire thing had been to basically sigh, and agree to work with him again to save the world.

She seemed to be interesting in seeing his first adventures for herself, having heard about them at Oak's lab while Ash was in Kalos.

She was particularly interested in finding out what a 'more idiotic version of her idiot was like', and he let that one slide, mostly because she said it affectionately and not snidely.

He was not that big of an idiot, either when he started or in Unova. Sure, he made some rookie errors but everyone did that, right?

It had worked out in his favor though: as apparently Bulbasaur had started to get caught up in his previous role with Professor Oak and thus would not be readily available to him. That meant he now had a grass-type on hand when needed.

Pidgeotto had been sent back to Professor Oak's: she was trying to track down the flock she had taken command of in the old timeline and move them onto the Oak Ranch. Free food, good water, no trainers...so far she hadn't been able to find them but she was confident in her sales pitch.

Hopefully Professor Oak wouldn't notice the increased food bill. But who was Ash to deny Pidgeotto a few favors and omissions now and again?

Of course, that did lend itself to a good question...

Where the heck were Pikachu, Aipom, and Snivy anyway?

Meanwhile in her Secret Base hideaway, Iris wondered why Emolga had asked to go off on her own for the night.

...

Next morning however found Ash, Pikachu, Iris, and Misty on the road to Lavender town, with that question still burning on Ash's mind.

"Hey Pikachu, where were you last night?" Ash asked his long-time partner as Pikachu made a smirk that Ash wished he could never see on Pikachu's face ever again.

It looked...more fitting on Brock or Alder than anything.

"Pika Pika Pi." 'Well you see Ash, as the most powerful Pokémon you own…'

Back on Oak's ranch, Charmeleon felt a challenge and an argument ensuing, so he promptly did Slowpoke ups double time.

'I am quite popular with many lady Pokémon...'

"If a Pichu doesn't result from whatever you were up to last night, please stop now." Ash begged. Meanwhile Misty chuckled at his expense while Iris seemed amused by the whole thing.

"Pi..." 'Well, I never did find out who was the father of that Azurill Misty had, it would be either myself or Misty's Corsola..., and there was that Taillow, Starly, Hoothoot, and Pidove at Oak's lab the last time the two of us were there...'

The resulting thoughts caused Ash to trip, sending Pikachu off his perch and onto the ground.

"Do I even want to know?" Misty questioned as Ash rapidly shook his head. Pikachu promptly laughed at the whole thing.

With that...out of the way for no better way to put it, they continued moving. Pikachu, perhaps sensing Ash's unease, walked on Ash's side and not on his shoulder.

And eventually...

"Welcome to Lavender Town, home of the Battle Dome and the world's best morticians?" Misty read the last part of the 'welcome to' sign with great confusion.

Ash agreed, why would one advertise that?!

Plus, Battle Dome? It was up this early?

"Hey, what's a mortician?" Iris asked, genuinely curious. Ash was about to answer that question when...

"Out of way, out of the way, I can't stop...!"

A little blond hair girl crashed into him, knocking him over.

"Ow..." Great, was Bianca here on vacation for some mind-numbing reason?

Oh wait, he wasn't soaking wet, so no, it was not Bianca.

Somewhat uneasily, Ash helped the little girl up, revealing a blond girl with a ponytail who appeared to be about his age from the original timeline, she even had the same marks on his face as he did then (and now).

Odd...was he as short as this girl back then? Huh, food for thought.

"Sorry..." The girl mumbled, before looking up at him and looking rather surprised.

"Oh...you look like..."

"Yellow." A single word was uttered, causing the girl to turn back towards town, and caused all their attentions to shift away from the girl, to the town as well.

To the boy standing there, a Pikachu of his own with him.

To a boy...that looked very much like Ash.

Omake

Ambiguously Canon

Ketchumverse Part 3

"...Well, Earth 062297 is officially unnerving." Ash Ketchum of the story, aka Bloodliner Ash as he was hence forth dubbed, shivered as he recalled that universe.

"Yes, yes it is," Don Ash stated as he looked over the official report. "I had heard some talk about it from Vulgar Ash, but I had no idea the severity of it. It's hard to...understand him at times".

Ash and Pikachu winced at that one. Vulgar Ash, the Ash of Earth 111115, was a version of him who had Venonat as his Pikachu. And for some reason, he only spoke in immense vulgarities.

Like really, that Ash's every other word was a swear word. Some of them were not even native to his Earth! He could introduce #* $zookums to his world's thesaurus if he really felt like it. He wouldn't though, #* $zookums was incredibly offensive, especially when said to someone like Roark.

Apparently his universe was all like him. It was thus rather low on Ash's vacation destination list on the Multiverse, up with the likes of Earth 081009 and 081708.

"...Pallet Town, or should I say Masara Village, never produces any trainers of quality, being itself named for its best trainer Masara Oak who ranked 921/10,000...how ponderous? Does that mean it may one day be named As...Satoshi Village?"

"Maybe?" Ash really hoped not. Pallet Town did not need to be called Ash Town, or Ashville, or Ashton. Or Ashburg.

"...the Ash, or Satoshi as it appears, was bulled in school, but was a star pitcher on the baseball team" the Don idly noted his Magikarp baseball team mug at that comment, as if considering recruiting that Ash. "And after going off on his journey at age 10, he could thenceforth be arrested, have to pay taxes, and get married..." he trailed off that last bit as if mildly horrified.

"Aren't tax filings like, math homework for old people?" Ash wondered as Don, his Pikachu, and the pocketed 'dex all shivered in horror.

"No, worse," Don darkly stated as he continued reading the report "If a Gym Leader loses three consecutive times, the job is forfeit...harsh. You misspelled consecutive, by the way" Don eyed him like he had committed a mortal sin "It does not have two t's in it".

"Really?"

"Really," Don said without any sense of humor. In fact, he seemed quite serious about it. "I cannot have people giving me misspelled reports. It is unacceptable. For that...you are to go to remedial classes held by Ashton vi Unova."

That last line made Ash and Pikachu simultaneously think of ominous fire and evil laughter.

"Can I do...anything else in penance for not using spellcheck?" Ash weakly asked as Don gave him a wicked smile.

"Well, you could always go and try and bring in the Ash of Earth 080711 for questioning".

Earth 080711? Didn't seem that threatening of a number...

...

One curb-stomp later we find our hero, Pikachu, Charizard, Ambipom, Goodra, and Kingler lying in hospital beds covered in bandages, with an Ash dressed like a male Nurse Joy and his partner Chansey tending them.

"So, was it the Squirtle or the..." Nurse Ash questioned conversationally.

"Pikapika." 'The Squirtle,' Pikachu groaned out.

"It's always that one who stops Don's attempts to arrest that Ash," Nurse Ash mused in annoyance, either at Don or at the Squirtle in question.