Celadon City – Night after Gym Victory

"The distance between the immediate area of Saffron City, in this case Celadon City, and the immediate area of Lumiose City, in this case Vaniville Town, is approximately 9706 kilometers. For additional forms of distance measurement, please press 1."

Ash, his newly evolved Pidgeot, Pikachu, and his pencil and paper did not press 1. The Pokédex thus continued without delay.

"Mach 2 is roughly 2700 miles per hour. Assuming perfect conditions, Pidgeot would arrive in Vaniville Town in about four hours, though I doubt such conditions would occur. I also doubt you expect her to fly without stopping at least once, and do be aware you are not allowed to create sonic booms over urban areas per the rule of law."

"I don't. I mean, I want you to get to Serena as soon as you can, but I don't want you to kill yourself doing so." Ash told his Pidgeot firmly, quite aware that his Pokémon might very well push themselves too far trying to meet his wishes.

"Caw." 'Understood. I won't stop at every bird feeder, not sure I could even fit on most of them anyway, but I won't ignore everything that looks appealing if I need to take a break.'

"Many trainers have their Pidgeot go on long distance flights for their training: the Johto Gym Leader Falkner wrote a very influential book on the matter after his famous battle with the Elite Four Member Bruno. His ace Pidgeot single handily defeated the Elite Four member's Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Hitmontop, and Machamp before being defeated by Bruno's famous Giant Onix, who promptly wiped out the rest of Falkner's Pokémon. Falkner referenced training flights from Johto to Kalos, Alola, Unova, and other regions, and since then many trainers have followed in his footsteps. You will not appear out of the ordinary."

The Pokédex's comment of training Pidgeot was noted, but Ash wasn't quite sure he wanted to tell Pidgeot to train all the time by going off to exotic locales. Maybe it was just doing what Falkner suggested, given that he was a bit of a jerk last time around.

Falkner did know the hypocrisy of complaining about people seeing Flying-types as sitting Ducklett to Electric-types, but then calling Chikorita a sitting duck to his Hoothoot, right?

Of course, that left the trickiest part of this entire plan.

Dear Serena,

A demonic entity told me you are going to suffer…..

Ash held the sheet above the Pokédex, as if expecting it to be burnt away.

"I am a Pokédex, not a laser emitter."

The Pokédex apparently didn't do lasers.

Ash briefly considered getting Charmeleon out to burn the paper, but his concerns were dealt with when Pikachu grabbed the paper and tore it apart into little bits.

He tried again:

Dear Serena,

How are you? I'm fine. Have you noticed anything that looks like it will cause you suffering….

Pikachu immediately grabbed that paper from him and tore it up.

"Pikapi…" Pikachu deadpanned, 'Ash, that could mean anything from a blood test to a summer sidewalk sale to an ugly sweater.'

"Oh, good point," Ash admitted, before he tried again.

Dear Serena,

How are you? I'm doing well. I recently won my fourth Gym badge, it was pretty cool. The Pidgeot who is giving you this message won it for me. She's amazing. I recently heard something that suggests you might be in grave danger….."

Pikachu tore his paper up, though Ash thought he was getting close to something good.

Dear Serena,

How are you? Since our last letter, I've been doing well. I'm currently out on my Pokémon Journey, and have earned 4 badges so far. This Pidgeot evolved to win me my last badge: isn't she cool? I have caught a lot of really great Pokémon, whom I'm sure would love to meet you if you can ever come back to Kanto. Or maybe I might end up traveling to Kalos, would that be cool?

I think there are a few Gyms near where you live, right? A Bug-type and an Electric-type Gym, right? Or I am I thinking of somewhere else?

Recently, I encountered a crazy person. This person was rather mad, but he said some odd things I just can't get out of my mind. He said something about my friends being hurt, and that means you among others. Now, he was probably just on something, but do you mind being careful? I want to sleep better at night.

I know you and I were worried we would fall out of contact due to me traveling all the time and you not wanting our moms to peak into our mail, but maybe Pidgeot would make it work? What do you think?

Your friend, Ash.

Looking it over a few times, he felt like it worked. He got the message across, but did it in a way that made his sanity look good.

Pikachu didn't tear it up into confetti, so it was probably okay.

Now the only thing left to do was to tie it onto Pidgeot securely. That would be easy compared to writing it, right?

Fuchsia Gym, the next day

"Use Psybeam now!"

At his command, the yellow hypnotist Pokémon Hypno's pendant glowed, before firing a massive beam of light.

The Venomoth fluttering in the air tensed, but was overwhelmed before it could muster a counter. The bug-type fell to the ground, powder falling from its wings as it hit the ground, defeated.

"The Gym Leader's Venomoth is unable to battle, Hypno is the winner! The winner is the challenger, Paul!"

Said trainer smirked, looking quite pleased at his victory.

It was nice to see his Hypno pull its weight again. Clearly the threat of punishment gave it all the motivation it needed after it lost to Ketchum's monkey.

Returning his Psychic-type, he strolled over to the defeated Gym Leader, who was holding a badge for him.

"You appear pleased with yourself." Janine, the rookie daughter of Koga observed as a smirk dominated his face.

"Of course I am, I am merely taking the badge that I should have gotten in our last battle. We both know that if your Arbok had not gotten those two critical hits..."

She held up a finger to his face, as if to shush him.

"The Seventh Rule of the Ninja, and the wise words of a Unovan Elite Four Member I met some time ago, say that accomplishing your mission is all that matters, not how you do it. A win is a win even if it is won by luck or with dirty tactics. While you are quite correct in saying that if I had not gotten those critical hits you'd have won, the fact of the matter is you did not, and thus I won that battle."

'Rule of the Ninja' or no 'Rule of the Ninja', that still didn't count. Unless you were using Super Luck or a move with enhanced critical hit chances, critical hit based wins were not a show of skill but dumb luck.

"Say, I noticed you used a Nidoking and a Raichu this time. What happened to that Mr. Mime and Onix you used last time?" She sounded genuinely curious.

Turning away from the girl, he didn't bother to answer her question.

What about them, anyway? They weren't his problem anymore.

Even with the critical hits, they both performed terribly.

Heck, even Raichu didn't perform all that well this time around. She'd better shape up, or she'd be joining those good for nothing...

Something whizzed by his ear, sticking into the wall. He stopped as he noticed it was a shuriken.

He looked over his shoulder to see the Gym Leader looking his way, looking rather cross.

"Truly, I wonder why I'm going to even mention this, but I made a promise to the warden that I'd pass this on, and you are here."

"Go on?" He prompted.

"In a few weeks’ time, Fuchsia will be hosting a Tag-tournament..."

"Pass."

She continued as if he had not even spoken.

"...for the right to be one of the first two trainers, and any guests they may bring, to enter the Safari Zone for the first time in forty years for an entire day, with a limitless ball count."

Perhaps he had passed on it too soon.

Kanto's Safari Zone. A region designated a protected area centuries ago, guarded ferociously by the government for decades. A region depleted on its Pokémon during the Ranger Wars, and sealed off ever since from public access.

All day in one of the richest Pokémon areas in all of Kanto, home to some of the rarest species of Pokémon in the region in large numbers. It was also said that several regions had arranged for their own rare Pokémon to be transported there to breed in safety from poachers and habitat loss.

Access to that, with no limit. With a single day's work, his Pokémon Team could grow massively very quickly.

"You've got my attention," Paul smirked at the ninja girl, "Now tell me, where do I sign up?"

"I don't know, you just said you'd pass so you obviously don't want to know." The smirk on Paul's face slipped back into his usual scowl.

"Where do I sign up?" he said roughly, not liking the way Janine was messing with him.

"I'll tell you, on one condition."

"And that condition is?" Paul had a feeling he'd regret this question as soon as it left his mouth.

"Apologies for not answering me before and I'll tell you what you want to know." Paul gritted his teeth and clenched his fists at his sides, it had been years since he'd had to apologize to anyone and this girl was forcing him to do so.

"I…I…I apologize," he forced out.

"For…?"

"For not answering you earlier." He was going to find some way to make this girl pay for this. Janine smirked at him and let a shuriken spin on her finger.

"I accept your apology."

"Now, where do I sign up?"

Route 17

Four living beings, and a sentient mechanical apparatus, sat at the edge of land, where the sea wafted a few feet below them in its endless blue.

The largest of these beings reached her arms back, and threw a line into the sea water, a lure floating up from the rippling impact point.

Another just stuck her pink tail into the water absently.

"Activating DexNav program," the Pokédex declared out loud as Misty absently listened to it. Apparently it had been nagging Ash to try the feature out for the last few days, having been distracted from doing so earlier by the 'falling from the sky' incident and only remembering about it after Celadon, and he had asked her to let it do so for her.

Mostly because she would actually have use for it.

"DexNav program operation, commencing scanning for local Pokémon life forms. Current fleshy human fishing, so I will sort out the land based Pokémon for now. Pokémon in water detected, identifying species. Species identified as Tentacool, Magikarp, Tentacruel, Shellder, Staryu, Horsea, and Seadra. Would you like to know about the various land based Pokémon located behind you?"

"No." Misty had a pretty good idea that if she said yes, the thing would start with Bug-Pokémon. Next to her, her new Wooper nuzzled into her side affectionately, her Slowpoke absently did some of her own fishing, and Psyduck grumbled something about why he was on 'knock out Tentacool' duty.

The water around Slowpoke's tail bubbled a bit, and Slowpoke let out a long, slow declaration of surprise as she lifted the tail out of the water, revealing a sucking red Magikarp.

"A wild Magikarp appeared!" the Pokédex stated the obvious.

"I see that." Misty grumbled as Slowpoke lowered her tail back into the water as the startled fish swam off.

"You know, it would probably speed things up if you just went into the water and grabbed one of the Pokémon you are after, which I assume to be Tentacool, Tentacruel, Shellder, and Seadra, or possibly just use the abilities I know you possess to make them come to you. Fishing is incredibly taxing and time inefficient." The Pokédex offered some unwarranted advice even as Slowpoke lifted her tail up to reveal a second Magikarp.

"Fishing is relaxing, that is not relaxing." Misty growled tersely as Wooper and Slowpoke failed to read the mood. Psyduck however, was more familiar with it.

"Psy." 'Let me guess, you are either reacting over nothing as if it were the end of the world, or you had a bad dream last night. If it were the later, I'm told humans say that the best way to get rid of bad dreams is...'

"That is none of your business!" Misty snapped at him, startling Wooper. She quickly removed one hand from her currently inactive rod to nudge the little Pokémon back to her side and calm him down, even as Slowpoke's face finally morphed into a 'oh crud, my trainer just yelled loudly' as she pulled up a Horsea sucking on her tail.

"Additional Horsea Data Analysis complete, sending data back to central database," the Pokédex stated, ignoring the drama. Then again, as it could not understand Pokémon, it really couldn't if the thing even wanted to.

Psyduck leaned in towards Misty, looking at her with the best form of intense gazing possible for it.

"...Fine..." Misty sighed in an exasperated tone, "I had a bad dream, and before you ask, no it was not related in any way to Ash or Iris." While that certainly did worry her, that was not the dominant part of her mind, subconscious or otherwise.

She took a deep breath, even as Slowpoke pulled up a third Magikarp.

"It was about my sisters. The dream...it was about them coming back and finding me. I know that them actually bothering to do that is extremely unlikely, and even in the dream I sort of knew that. But they did...and they tied me up and threw Weedle on me: slimy, sticky, buggy Weedle. Then they stuffed me in a Vileplume..." Already shaking as she started talking about the Weedle, she shivered again about going through another Vileplume toxin incident. "Everything got real trippy after that: Violet grew a copy of my mother's head on her arm, and Daisy suddenly had giant hoop earrings made of clouds...but thankfully I woke up after that before it got any weirder."

She was gripping the fishing pole tightly causing it to vibrate slightly, though as she got it off her chest her shoulders seem to relax a bit. The shaking lure didn't seem to attract any more takers though.

"Duck." 'Well...I can't help you there with my limitless wisdom, I don't really do nightmares, that's more of a you thing than a me thing.'

She leveled a glare at the duck for that comment. As usual, it had no effect.

"Ignoring your emotional issues," the Pokédex spoke up, a beep going off from it as it scanned the next Magikarp Slowpoke pulled from the water, "there is the more pressing question of why you have not reeled in anything yet. My algorithms state you should have obtained a Tentacool by this point, based upon your casting range and Tentacool behavioral studies."

"Well, my experience with fishing says that it takes time, a lot more time than any algorithms you may have," Misty snarked back at the machine, even as she heard Slowpoke's telltale signs of catching something again.

"The data does not lie; something is very...that Magikarp is of an unusual color!" The Pokédex was suddenly shouting as the attention of all around shifted over to Slowpoke, who was holding a golden-colored Magikarp up in the air. Even she looked rather surprised.

"Oh yes, it is unusually colored," Misty stated without much enthusiasm.

"That is all you have to say?! That is incredibly rare, even among Magikarp! Unusually colored Pokémon are supposed to ignite feelings of awe and eagerness in trainers, as they immediately try and capture it for bragging rights and, more importantly, so I can get extensive data! This is not a Magikarp merely to be scanned, no I must deeply analyze it! Why aren't you capturing it so I may do so!?"

"Honestly, I don't really care about its colors," Misty admitted to a stunned Pokédex.

"I want to capture all of the world's Water Pokémon, and I already have a Magikarp. Capturing a second one just for its colors doesn't make any real sense for me, particularly as I already have a Gyarados. So, I really don't see the reason..."

"Reason? Reason!? What is wrong with you?!" the Pokédex exclaimed in shock and horror as Slowpoke began to lower her tail. "And don't you even dare let that fish go you dim-witted mammal!"

Professor Oak's Lab

"…..And so, after breaking through the lines surrounding the forces of Lt. Surge at the end of the Decolore Island Campaign, former Gym Leader turned Commando Muramasa and his Scizor Masamune retired from his position as both Commando Leader and Gym Leader. Most say it is due to injury, but some believe it was in response to what he saw and did during the War. He now runs a Trainer Academy in Johto to this very day….."

The End

Credits rolled down as the television documentary ended.

"…..They certainly white-washed that, though not as badly as they used to." Oak muttered.

"Bulba." Bulbasaur seemed interested in what was going on.

"Scatta." One of Ash's Scatterbugs agreed before jumping off and wandering off.

Yes, the Scatterbug. He wondered how Ash had obtained them, but after what happened with the Goomy did he really want to know?

For all he knew, Ash stole them from an organized crime syndicate. His heart couldn't take that sort of stress.

And he did not want to be the one to tell his mother Ash had gotten killed saving Pokémon from criminals.

He could only be thankful his grandson didn't get up to such craziness…..

RING-RING-RING, RING-RING-RING, PHONE CALL….

The phone at his side started going crazy, as if someone had used Teeter Dance on it. He immediately reached for it.

"Hello, Professor Oak speaking."

"Come quickly! It's amazing! I've done it, I've finally done it!" The excited voice at the other end of the line exclaimed joyfully, before hanging up just as suddenly.

"Bul?" Bulbasaur inquired as Professor Oak stood up and went towards his closet.

"Oh, that was an old friend of mine from college who lives down the road, his name is Kim Monocles Boxer. An unusual name I know, but his family is kooky that way. He's an inventor of moderate success and a great tendency to cause accidental harm."

He emerged from the closet, an oxygen tank and mask, a fire extinguisher, gas mask, metal club, and a Pokéball studded belt.

"I have urgent business in town that has just come up! You wanted hands on experience Rirtson, you're going to have to give the Gyarados pond their annual flossing for me!"

The intern Rirtson Rojo didn't have a chance to respond before Oak was out of the door.

….

A quick jog the streets that did not garner as many odd looks as one should get when dressed like you had a desire to gas people and then smack them upside the head with a bat afterwards.

Professor Oak rounded the corner to the Boxer residence, and dropped all of his equipment in shock.

Not the belt of course, he had pants to keep up after all.

"I've done it, I've finally done it! Three years of hard work has finally manifested my crowning achievement!" The graying mustached scientist shouted, dancing in front of a vacant lot like he had just won a Pokémon League with a Sunkern, Rattata, and a Magikarp.

"…What….what on earth have you done?! Don't tell me you rebuilt that ray gun, I had that thing crushed by an Onix for a reason!"

"No, no, no, nothing like that! Look, look, look!" Doctor Boxer pointed at his vacant lot, where his house had once been.

"Yes, I see your home is missing. I also see that you still have those Mr. Mime themed gnomes in your vegetable garden….." Professor Oak's planned statement on how ugly those things were, and how they had given his grandson nightmares three times in the past, were quieted when he noticed what was in the center of the missing homestead.

A single cube.

"My word…." Professor Oak declared as he approached the cube, apprehensive as one might be approaching an egg that was unidentifiable.

"Yes, yes, touch it! I know you want too!" His more eccentric fellow grinned as the Professor picked the cube up and held down a single, round button.

The Pokémon Professor darted away as the cube unleashed a massive burst of energy, much like a Pokéball. However, instead of taking on the shape of a Pokémon and solidifying, it took on the shape of something much larger.

Doctor Boxer was grinning proudly.

"I have cracked the code no one has ever been able to crack. I have found a way to isolate the unique Pokémon attribute that allows Pokéballs to absorb them, and applied it to other forms of matter. Now, I still have some kinks I'd like to work out: I've already patented the process with the proper authorities, but I'd like to set up some insurances against accidental activation first, but after that I am putting this idea out to market! My dear Samuel, I present to you my greatest invention ever, the invention that will truly change the world of every person on the planet…the Item Capsule!"

And also presenting, with no visible damages, the Boxer Home.

Crimson City Battle Club

"Char, char, char!" Charmeleon gloated, standing on top of a Weepinbell and Drowzee like a king. 'More, yes, bring me more! Bring me more punching bags!'

Squirtle slowly backed away from the gloating lizard, even as his opposing trainer returned his Pokémon and walked away.

"You know, that's the fifth Weepinbell today, and that's not counting the ten Bellsprout and that Victreebel…." Ash noted to the referee, who was willing to explain.

"This city was once the seat of a powerful clan known as the Fisher Family, at least before they moved to being economic powers instead of war powers. They won many battles with the Bellsprout family, and the evolved Victreebel were the primary manner the Lords used to punish deserters, traitors, and spies."

Good to know…..

Perhaps that was why Jeanette's Bellsprout was so powerful back in Indigo. It was some sort of ultra-breed Bellsprout bred over the course of centuries for the sole purpose of judo flipping Groudon.

….That was an interesting mental image, and he wondered if he'd ever get to see it.

Well, he had probably been here long enough. Misty and Iris were probably done, so he'd go and…..

"Hey Ash!"

Ash froze as he reached for his Pokéballs, as he found a new challenger waiting for him.

"A.J?"

His opponent from before Vermillion, and from the Battle Dome grinned, before holding out two Pokéballs.

"Hey Ash! Been a while hasn't it? Anyway, I hope you don't mind, but I want to get some training in before I get to the next Gym. Did you hear that Erika's actually opening her Gym up now?!"

Yes, actually he did hear about it.

"I want to earn my third badge there, want to help me out?"

Yes, but he felt sort of awkward about it. He didn't want to keep Misty and Iris waiting because he wanted to fight some more.

Pikachu gestured at his shoulder, causing him to turn over behind the viewing glass, where he saw Misty and Iris standing. Iris nodded, and Misty shrugged.

Ash was 90% sure that meant 'go ahead'.

"Okay, let's do it then. Squirtle, take a rest." He returned his turtle, who nodded in acknowledgement.

"Okay Snivy, you're up!" He sent out his Grass-type from Unova, who had rested up from her earlier bouts.

He'd return Charmeleon, but Charmeleon was still upset about not getting to battle Erika. So if he tired himself out, he only had himself to blame.

"Okay, time to meet my anti-Grass aces!" A.J threw his Pokéballs into the air, revealing a Butterfree and Beedrill.

Ash saw a Rain Dance in his future. He also saw Misty flinch and back away a few steps and nearly back into a scary biker dude.

He briefly saw the Biker snarl at Misty, and for some reason that made his blood boil. However, she quickly glared at him and made him leave, and his blood cooled off just as quickly.

"Begin!" The ref shouted, ignorant of boiling blood as A.J pointed his way.

"Okay Butterfree, use Gust!" Butterfree began to flap its wings, sending a good looking wind storm at Ash.

He figured his Butterfree would have had a similarly strong Gust back when he still knew Gust. A.J was clearly doing a good job training his Pokémon.

"Block it with Leaf Storm Snivy!" Ash called. Snivy grinned, before sending the Grass-type Overheat (with reversed effects) at the storm.

The two attacks collided, cancelling each other out.

"Beedrill, use X-Scissor quickly!" A.J ordered as Beedrill flew ahead with glowing blue stingers.

"Block it with Metal Claw!" Ash responded as Charmeleon's claws glowed gray and the fire lizard charged.

The two attacks collided in the middle of the battle field, X-Scissor was held at bay.

"Now Snivy!" Ash's command was quickly met by Snivy jumping into the air and towards Charmeleon, "Use Leaf Blade!"

The grass-attack smashed down on Beedrill, the green tail knocking Beedrill onto the dirt with a satisfying thump.

"No, Beedrill!" A.J shouted in concern.

"I know about Erika, in fact I actually battled her a while back," Ash informed a stunned A.J as he revealed his Rainbow Badge in his jacket.

"Whoa….."

"She's tough, and she knows how to counter bugs. She has combos that can stop them from flying."

"She can what!?" A.J exclaimed in shock, before steeling himself and noticing his Beedrill stand up. His Butterfree fluttered over to the downed Bug, ready to aid if need be.

"Well in that case, I'll train my Beedrill to fight on the ground as good as he can in the air! And my Sandslash doesn't have wings! Thanks Ash for the warning, but I'm feeling pretty good about it."

"If you say so…." Ash returned his focus to the battle, "Charmeleon, Flame Charge!"

Charmeleon stomped his feet, igniting before charging right at the grounded Beedrill.

"Use Electroweb Butterfree!"

"Use what?" Ash repeated as Butterfree shot out electrified string, which formed around Flame Charge and snagged Charmeleon, causing him to crash and skid across the ground.

"Yeah! It took about a hundred dollars’ worth of batteries to teach her to do that, but it was so worth it! Pity the Cerulean Gym isn't still open, that'll be killer there. But enough about that, Beedrill use Brick Break on Snivy, on the ground!"

With a glowing stinger, Beedrill sped across the field on his legs, moving only a bit awkwardly.

Snivy tensed, ready to respond.

"Use Leaf Blade, then Leaf Storm!"

Snivy grinned, before energizing her tail. She clashed with the Brick Break, equaling it before getting above Beedrill, and letting her Leaf Storm rip.

The leaves impacted into Beedrill, pushing the bug into a crater and defeating it.

"Beedrill!"

"Beedrill is unable to battle," the ref declared as Snivy grinned.

"Sni." 'Well, that was easy.'

And as Murphy once said, never jinx things.

"Aerial Ace Butterfree!"

Butterfree slammed into Snivy, sending the Grass-type spinning. She eventually righted herself, but was shaken.

"…Vy…." 'I am getting sick and tired of that move. One of these days, I am going to hit someone with it!'

Could Snivy use Aerial Ace? Ash wasn't sure, but he didn't have time to ask because…

"Char!"

Charmeleon had managed to break out of the Electroweb. And he wasn't happy.

"Char!" 'How dare you tie me up like I'm some Tauros?! Do I look like some Tackle happy ground dweller?!'

Butterfree made a mewing sound that Ash suspected translated to 'Yes, yes you do.'

Charmeleon roared in response, fire building in his mouth. The fire became a raging inferno, which released upon Butterfree.

Charmeleon had used Flamethrower.

Butterfree fell to the ground, charred and defeated.

"Butterfree is unable to battle! The victor is Ash!" the ref declared as Butterfree was returned.

"….Good job, you all deserve a good rest." A.J told his bugs as he grinned to Ash.

"Well, I guess the three of us have some more training to do. Thanks for the heads up about Erika though, I want to see if I can get Beedrill really up to the tops on the ground before I face her. Say, how many Pokémon did she fight you with?"

"Four," Ash informed the Sandslash trainer as Charmeleon was oddly silent, he had been grinning since he got Flamethrower working properly and it was now starting to get creepy.

Snivy was just looking like she wanted to start imitating Charmeleon and make Aerial Ace work, which was going to be weird he just knew it.

"Four huh….." A.J looked thoughtful as he debated this information, "I left my Rattata back home with my Pa for company, and my Geodude and Tentacool wouldn't really be good for that Gym. It might be a good idea to see if I can catch a new Bug at the Bug Catching Contest….yes that's exactly what I'll do!"

"A Bug Catching Contest?" Ash questioned. Ash was fairly certain this was not Johto, it would have taken them at least one more week to get that lost.

"Yep, it's one of the International Bug Surveyors projects, they host 'em all over every few months or so. It's later today, and even if you don't win you can keep a Bug. If I can catch a Venonat or Paras….." He left on those words, but not before telling Ash where the park was.

Now, all that remained was figuring out if it was worth asking Misty if she'd tolerate him going to one.

…

"What, more bugs!?"

The mental images of crawling Weedle all around her, of swarming Beedrill and menacing Scyther flashed through her mind, no matter how fast she shook her head no.

"Thought I'd ask…" Ash sounded properly apologetic. That was nice, she really did not want to deal with an Ash who was dead set on….

"A contest? Is it merely to capture the most Bug-type Pokémon?" Iris asked Ash, sounding curious.

No, no, no…..No. No bugs for you! No bugs for anyone…..

Except Butterfree, he was already here. And the Scatterbug Ash had someone found in Celadon, defying all logic.

"It's a contest to capture the best Bug-Pokémon you can at the local park. Each trainer is given two special Park Balls: if you find a better Bug Pokémon than the one you find first you can use the second one to catch it, and release the first one. You get to keep the Pokémon you catch, and if you win you get an evolution stone of your choice from the Stone Town Mining Company, who are one of the sponsors. A lot of trainers get Leaf Stones here, so they can evolve Weepinbell into Victreebel. If you catch a really rare Pokémon, you'll even get a photo on the wall of the park office and a bit on you in the local news."

The young voice who explained it came from behind her, turning around Misty found a dark haired boy sitting on a bench, stroking a Caterpie that was on his lap.

The hair was a distinct shade from the dark hair color Ash and Red had, and he had blue eyes. He seemed a tad sad somehow.

He was still touching the bug though so…

Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew…..

"Oh, I see…" Iris had lost her interest. Good.

"I caught my Caterpie in the last contest, I lost to a guy who caught a Beedrill but I don't really mind. A lot of people capture Pokémon there as their starter Pokémon."

The boy continued to ramble, and looking over her shoulder she saw a spark of something light up in Ash's eyes.

Great, now Ash had a reason.

"Excellent: enter the contest," Ash's Pokédex spoke up, adding more fuel to this bug-filled fire.

"The data from the local park is desirable. As I was not able to obtain the data I desired from fishing, I demand compensation!"

Really, it was just a golden Magikarp. Give it up already.

"I saw you win all those battles, you're really good." The kid addressed Ash, still sounding pitiful.

"I try to train my Caterpie, but the trainers around here never go easy on me. All the other kids my age have stronger Pokémon, and they really hurt Caterpie. How did you get so strong?"

"Training, that's how." Ash told the little boy as he reached for a Pokéball he hadn't used today and released it.

She took a step back as the black Kalos bug Scatterbug appeared.

"You train the best together, and I think my Scatterbug is just at the right level to train with your Caterpie, what do you think?"

Ash smiled at the boy, whose eyes lit up, fires of joy evaporating away the clouds of depression. Soon, Tackle met Tackle as the two Pokémon trained.

It was spontaneous, something that wasn't planned or even really discussed. Misty never heard the boy's name mentioned at all, he never gave it and Ash never gave his.

The entire thing was just Ash deciding out of nowhere to help a little boy get stronger. Right there, right then.

Where did anyone get such kindness? She'd never seen anyone do anything like this without having an ulterior motive. There had to be something, some point in his past that made Ash like this, maybe a head injury or something that's made him act so selflessly.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Iris also watching the spectacle. There was a certain, evaluating and most unsettling, approving look in the eye that rubbed Misty the wrong way.

It wasn't malicious, or evil, or anything that made Iris look like the bad guy in some action movie. No, it was another sort of unsetting all together.

One that brought up a whole bucket of insecurities that had been lingering for quite a while. Misty forced her eyes to focus on something else other than the strange glint in Iris' eyes. Choosing not to look at the bugs Misty instead studied Ash's face, an excited fire in his eyes and a grin on his lips; even though this was a training battle for a boy they'd only just met. Seeing him like this gave Misty a fluttering feeling in her chest which she quickly pushed aside to be dealt with later when she was alone.

With a final tackle, the two Pokémon disengaged, both looking quite exhausted, before they both began to glow.

Ash grinned, and the little boy's eyes went wide, as Caterpie turned into its solid cocoon form, while Scatterbug became rounded and white.

"Metapod and Spewpa, Both are Cocoon Pokémon. They naturally evolve in a short time after taking form, which can be accelerated with training in this stage," the Pokédex spoke as the boy grabbed hold of his Metapod and hugged it.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he exclaimed again and again, tears of joy in his eyes. Ash grinned as he knelt down and petted his own new Pokémon.

"No problem!"

Entrance to Crimson City Park

The building he had been directed to for the contest rules was a log built structure at the edge of the park. Normally it was just a hub for maps, guides, and other little necessities.

Here though, he was among about two dozen trainers (or young aspiring ones here to capture a Pokémon that was mostly safe) including A.J and the boy he had just been helping, present with their Pokémon (Pikachu for him, Sandslash for A.J, and Metapod for the boy).

About a dozen portraits of remarkable catches hung on the wall: he saw Jeanette Fisher in one of them with her Scyther and Bellsprout. Who knew she had once had such dorky braces?

The other most catching photo was one of a trainer who had a Caterpie of a golden color. That would probably be an instant win if Ash ever saw one.

That didn't matter though, he had a mission and he would achieve it.

"Scanning, scanning….Pokémon data analysis of gathered Pokémon initiating…."

And it was not the Pokédex's mission.

"You have one hour to capture the best Bug Pokémon you can find. Each trainer is given two Park Balls, and you can only keep one Pokémon in the balls at any given time. You can keep the best one, and the winner can choose from one of several stones!" A warden dressed man declared, sweeping his arm over a display of evolution stones: Fire, Water, Thunder, Leaf, Moon, Sun, Shiny and Dusk, with the Dawn Stone not being present.

"Now, begin!" he declared, as everyone ran out at once

….

"Activating DexNav program. Scanning Park for all present Pokémon species; Scanning, scanning…would you like me to play loading music or make one of those aggravating buffering icons?"

"No," Ash told the device he was holding in front of him as if he was using some sort of waking based A.R phone app on the go, Pikachu trotting along at his side as they walked through the park.

"Very well. Pokémon species identified: Rattata, Pidgey, Bellsprout, Caterpie, Metapod, Butterfree, Paras, Parasect, Weedle, Kakuna, Beedrill, Venonat, Venomoth, Ledyba, Spinarak, Oddish, Yanma, Shuckle, Poliwag, Magikarp, Ekans, Hoothoot, and Pineco. Our location in Western Kanto is the reason for the primarily Johto residential Pokémon, though we are near the generally accepted extent of their range in Kanto. No Scyther or Pinsir, statistically known as 'instant win Pokémon' detected in this park. You currently only have caught the Caterpie line, and my scans on these species is not sufficient."

"So, who’s the closet?" Ash cut to the chase as the Pokédex calculated a response.

"A Shuckle is located ten steps in front of you."

Ash looked up from the device, only to see a rock. It wasn't even a red one with holes in it.

It was just a regular rock, albeit one with a lot of cracks in it.

"I just see a rock." Ash stated bluntly.

"Try breaking it," the Pokédex suggested just as bluntly.

"Pika…." 'Iron Tail should work,' Pikachu suggested. At Ash's nod, Pikachu leapt into the air and charged the metallic power of Iron into his tail.

The resulting Iron Tail slammed into the rock, causing it to explode into multiple parts and spill out….

"Shuckle!" A round, red stone with multiple holes and a pair of yellow tentacles. Or, as the Pokémon stated its identity as, a Shuckle.

"Shuckle, the Mold Pokémon. The berries that end up within Shuckle ferment into a healing juice that is quite popular among hippies. Shuckle do have the potential to win Bug-catching contests, and also the potential to have you thrown out for catching a unfair Pokémon as they are not generally found in tall grass and the forests like other Bug-types."

So, it was all depending on the judge huh? Well, it still had a good shot….

Of course, that required him to weaken Shuckle first to capture it, but with the defenses Shuckle had that really only left one choice.

"Pikachu, use Zap Cannon!" Ash called. Pikachu nodded, as the heavy electric ball began to spiral in Pikachu's hands.

Pikachu lunged at the Shuckle, who glowed with a Withdraw attack with a loud shout of "Shuckle!"

The Zap Cannon struck, causing Shuckle to collapse amidst paralysis.

"Go, Park Ball!" Ash yelled as he threw his ball at the Shuckle, said bug being energized and sealed in the ball.

It wiggled a few times, before stopping without a solid click.

"Huh…." Ash noted the lack of that finalizing click.

"Data registration beginning, and yes that is normal for Park Balls. It will make the more common 'You got X Pokémon', sound upon the end of the contest." The Pokédex informed him. "If you let it out, it will no longer be captured and will run away. Park Balls were upgraded with Heal Ball tech a few years ago after years of incessant prompting by the Scyther Society, so Shuckle will no longer be paralyzed."

Ash picked his now Shuckle carrying ball up, before holding it to Pikachu.

"So what do you think buddy, think this Shuckle would be a good friend?"

Pikachu rapidly shook his head no, so fast you'd think Ash had asked him 'do you think Misty would appreciate me breaking into her secret base at two in the morning in a Pinsir suit while Yodeling off-key about the Electabuzz like he was related to Casey?'

Given that Shuckle only had about two lines of dialogue between being found, and being captured that made Ash sort of curious as to what Shuckle exactly said.

Or was he better off not knowing?

….

"Weedle."

The pointed bug type crawled past Ash and Pikachu, sounding bereft of emotion and totally ignoring them. It didn't tense, or attack, or anything. It just, squirmed past them. It was quite abnormal behavior, to say the least.

"Weedle." A second Weedle crawled past the exact same way, doing the exact same ignoring of them.

"Weedle."

"Weedle."

"Weedle."

"Weedle, a Bug-type Pokémon that is part Poison. Weedle is not acting as it normally does, and I have yet to detect any data that suggests the reason why," the Pokédex stated the obvious as a parade of Weedle continued to move in a single direction in a straight line.

"Oddish." The straight parade of monotone Weedle were broken up by an Oddish marching in tow with them, similarly behaving oddly.

"Oddish, the Weed Pokémon. A species found in Kanto and Johto, and an introduced species in Hoenn that has spread rapidly, Oddish are said to have the odd behavior of digging themselves into the soil during the day to absorb nutrients. This is less odd than what that Oddish is currently doing." The Pokédex continued to state the obvious.

"Pi! Pika!" Pikachu darted in front of the vacant Oddish, 'What on earth are you doing!'

"Oddish."

Pikachu was walked into by the Oddish, who knocked him over onto the ground. Pikachu was promptly walked on by an Oddish, several Weedle, and a Venonat that wasn't skipping as it normally did.

As a Spinarak followed, Pikachu unleashed an electric burst, paralyzing it before pushing off the ground and knocking the somewhat singed spider on its back.

Ash threw the second Park Ball at it, which promptly absorbed the bug and shook a few times. After it stopped, the center button of both it and the other Park Ball began to flash.

Ash reached for the first one, and hit the button. The Park Ball released the Shuckle, who muttered something before dragging itself away from them.

Pikachu sparked his cheeks, hissing something back at the Shuckle that Ash would not want to say on the same continent as his mother. Just what on Earth did that Shuckle say to make Pikachu that angry?!

"Spinarak, the String Spit Pokémon. Spinarak captures its prey in web nets and is most active at night. Spinarak's data inside the Pokéball quickly changed from an unidentified oddity of the mind to normal in about .167 seconds, suggesting that something is causing the odd behavior in three different Pokémon species. All of these species share the Poison-type, suggesting a common link."

"Poison-type huh…" Ash pondered, before his eyes narrowed, "like Ekans and Koffing! This must be a Team Rocket scheme to capture Pokémon!"

"Oh, it's not us!" Out of nowhere Jessie, James, and Meowth all poked their heads out of a nearby tree, startling both Ash and Pikachu.

"Prepare for Trouble, but this is not our doing!"

"Make it double, you are just fooling!"

Oh great, they were doing their motto thing.

"To protect our target from silly delusions!"

"To unite you with proper conclusions!"

"To denounce the virtues of assumptions and guesses!"

"To extend reality and wash away ignorant messes!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, informs the uninformed at the speed of light!"

"Accept the truth now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth that's right!"

"Wobbuffet!" Out of nowhere, their Wobbuffet had joined in. Since when did they get him?!

"If we had the technology to control Pokémon like that, you'd be aware of it," Jessie told him bluntly, as if they had not just done a hammy motto that got old sometime after he got hit with a chandelier.

"And even then, what good would that do us? We're stalking you until we are to do otherwise; we aren't on active Pokémon snatching duty and won't be until we are told to resume it. Sure, we did take all of a guy's Pokémon the other day, but he was asking for it and he was a complete douche bag." James continued, before he looked confused, "Though come to think of it, what does that even mean? No one's ever told me what douche bag even means, perhaps I need to consult the internet?"

"So, yeah…don't blame us for whatever creepy stuff is going on here. We're just as odded out by it as you are, but good luck on this contest of yours kid! We're rooting for ya!" Meowth finished for the trio and the silent Wobbufett as they slunk back into the leaves as if they weren't ever there.

Still in the dark as they had been before Ash had his perfectly reasonable theory about the cause of all of this, and now very creeped out: Ash and Pikachu quickly made a beeline for the other end of the park in the exact opposite direction from Team Rocket.

….

"The Pokémon are acting really weird, right?"

"Yeah, I know. I've only been able to get a Paras this time: the Venonat won't battle even when they have Ember sent at them. I really want one of them, but they are acting nuttier than my bag of peanuts and I keep hitting trees trying to get the possessed little things."

"Yeah it's totally freaky. It's like some Bloodliner crap or something. Do you think one of them is cheating?"

"Well, if they are, I'm going to introduce them to my Growlithe's teeth!"

"Not if my Doduo gets to first!"

Ash listened in on the conversation between two trainers: one with a Doduo and another with a Growlithe, with unease.

Was that what was going on?

"Do you think that's what's up buddy?" he asked Pikachu, who frowned and looked contemplative on the question.

"I cannot say. While I have access to a lot of the data from Rota's Library on Bloodliners, I cannot use it to determine if what is occurring is a control phenomenon. I could if I had field data to work with, but the data Rota has is not up to my standards. Perhaps if you were to ask Misty to provide some I could determine if this is in fact a Bloodliner’s doing."

Ash pinched his lips as they continued to move through the challenge, not liking the implications much at all.

Of someone abusing their powers to win, or how much anger that seemed to inspire in others.

It made him worry, though not for himself. He knew it was dangerous for him, but for some reason when he heard those trainers threatening to attack the possible Bloodliner cheater, it made him think about them going after Misty and Iris, and that made him worried.

It also made him want to go up to them and have Pikachu fry their Pokémon so they wouldn't be able to do it. The idea of either of them being hurt made him feel…..angry.

He didn't quite know why though: was it because he had thought he had lost Iris already and was lucky enough to get her back? Or because he knew Misty had been through enough bad things in her life?

Or was it something else.

"Yanma…."

Ash and Pikachu stopped in their tracks as they approached a babbling brook, along which several Poliwag waggled on shore and a Magikarp leaped out of the water.

Among them was a singular red and green bug Pokémon, with four clear wings with orange stripes on them.

"Yanma, the Clear Wing Pokémon. Yanma are able to use their wings powerful force to shatter windows. As such, many ancient nobles wished to eradicate them. Today, Yanma are a rare Pokémon found in small numbers mostly in Johto, Sinnoh, and Kalos."

"Yanma's rare?" Ash checked what the Pokédex said.

"Yes, Yanma is rare. Did I not imply that strongly enough?"

So, Team Rocket actually caught a rare Pokémon in the old timeline? Well good for them.

And if it was rare…then he'd get what he was after.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash called. Pikachu nodded, before jumping into the air and sending the electric bolt flying.

Yanma's eyes flashed green, and ducked under them.

"Detect detected" the Pokédex stated.

"I know…." Ash knew what Detect looked like.

Yanma turned around and flew at the now landing Pikachu with glowing wings.

"Okay Pikachu, I think that's Wing Attack, Dodge it!"

"Pi!" 'Don't have to tell me twice.' Pikachu ducked as the Wing Attack flew over him.

Yanma turned around and flew back, this time glowing green.

"Yanma's ability, Speed Boost, is active. Speed Boost Yanma were a favorite of the legendary biker Yugo: famous for his stunts and his complete lack of coolness when off his bike…."

"Pikachu, meet Yanma head on with a Counter-Shield!" Ash ignored his Pokédex's rambling as Pikachu jumped into the air and began spinning.

Wing Attack collided with the shield, stopped and leaving a shaken Yanma.

Pikachu landed on the ground as Yanma fell, appearing paralyzed.

"Go, Park Ball!" Ash threw the ball formerly belonging to the foul mouthed (?) Shuckle. Said ball quickly absorbed Yanma.

As the ball began to shake with no sign of escape, Ash grinned widely. This would be it.

He'd be able to get what he entered this competition for.

…

While Ash was away doing…bug things, she and Iris were left to their own devices.

Which in this case meant sitting on a restaurant patio with food and drink that Ash had bought for them using the money on his Pokédex. Once he knew that they were settled into their seats he'd dashed off to catch some bugs.

A shiver ran through her as she thought about the slimy critters, she did appreciate the fact Ash had thought about her….and Iris first though. A subtle warmth gently pulsed in her chest as she thought about it.

Taking a bite of her sandwich, Misty noted that there was only one other person outside eating today: a pale girl with dark hair done up in a pair of ponytails with ice-colored eyes wearing a long sleeved red shirt and long black skirt. She was nervously alternating between picking at an order of nachos and spinning a glass of water that had lost a lot of ice, as if expecting something to come out and attack her.

Did this place have a gang problem along with a bug problem?

Or worse, a problem with gangs who use Bug-Pokémon?

Taking a sip of her glass of water, she was soon to regret this action.

"So, what is your relationship with Ash exactly?" Iris asked out of nowhere.

Misty spat out her drink and coughed harshly at the unexpected query causing the nervous looking nacho girl to jump in her seat.

Recovering from her coughing fit misty wiped her mouth with a napkin and turned to a perplexed looking Iris. The dragon girl had probably never seen a spit-take before.

"Wh…wha….what…." Misty managed to stutter out as Iris continued her line of question.

"I am curious. My parents taught me that it is considered polite to ask."

Polite? Polite to ask what exactly?

Why could she feel a sense of foreboding, a feeling that she would greatly regret this conversation at some point in the not too distant future? At least the shy girl would be too shy to listen to their soon to be very private conversation.

"Well….I do happen to like Ash a lot," Misty said lowering her voice to make sure she wasn't overheard. Talking about her feelings wasn't her strong suit so being quiet about it was for the best. "He's been a very good friend and travelling companion to me. His kindness is probably the best part about him, it's rare to see someone do the things he does without wanting something in return. But if you're asking how I feel about him in a romantic sense…" Misty paused, hoping that Iris would drop the subject but one look at the dragon girl's face told her that there was no indication of that happening. With a small sigh Misty continued, "…I do find him attractive and not just because he's good looking, I'm not shallow like that, his personality makes him attractive too. The way he's so selfless and caring it's just…"

She stopped talking when she saw Iris nod. Good, any more and she'd have gone as red as a Pokéball. The blush she was already wearing was bad enough, she was just glad that Psyduck had stayed in his ball for once and not come out to comment on her admission. Her hand hovered over the duck's ball just in case he decided to make an appearance.

"I see….so you are interested in Ash, but are not currently actively courting him."

And you wanted to know that, why?

She asked Iris that, though after taking a few moments to phrase it more diplomatically.

"I don't know how humans teach it, but I was taught that when you are thinking of courting someone, you should ask anyone whom they are with first."

Something about that sentence did not click with Misty.

She had seen plenty of shows about old-fashioned marriage proposals where the parents bargained their children off. She had also seen plenty of somewhat less old-fashioned, but still old, shows where it was considered necessary to ask the permission of the parent of your future girlfriend (boyfriend only applying if the boy was raised by a single mother for some reason) first.

But the way Iris was phrasing it, sounded more like you were asking the person's current wife or girlfriend, for permission to date their husband or boyfriend (or husband or boyfriend to date their wife or girlfriend for more modern gender equality).

She couldn't have understood that properly, it had to have been misspoken.

"In the time I have known Ash, he has shown himself to be strong, with the promise of getting even stronger." Iris began with a bit of a blush on her face. Misty had the oddest feeling that her comments about his looks and Iris's about his strength were closer to being the same comment than it sounded up front. "And his personality is quite nice too. I have an older brother, you see, he is quite powerful. However, he is a jerk, and because of that while he did sire a lot of offspring, he never had a permanent mate."

"Uh…." Misty wasn't sure where Iris was going with this.

"I probably do need to figure out how humans court one another, given that none of the methods I know would work. Neither Ash nor I have wings and would not be able to court each other by grabbing one another and freefalling in sync, or by building a nest to show off to him. When I do know, I do plan to initiate courting."

Yes, Ash would find you building a nest to show off to him to be quite weird…..

"Well." Misty had had enough of this embarrassing conversation and decided to end it before it got weirder than it already was. "I hope you figure it all out, and seeing as we're both interested in Ash. We'll just have to see how it goes. I hope things don't get unpleasant between us over who wins." Like fighting to the death, Misty would prefer that things didn't get anywhere near that stage.

Iris once again looked confused at Misty's response, which given how this conversation had been going so far it couldn't be a good sign.

"Sure, but the way you are talking makes it sound like if one of us ends up as Ash's mate, that means the other one cannot be as well?"

It was Misty's turn to look confused this time, what was Iris talking about now? Exes?

"I don't know how humans deal with things like this, but as we are not exactly humans does it really matter how they do it?

Misty was debating if her nerves would survive asking Iris if she meant what she thought she meant, but she was spared that by a sudden arrival.

"Misty! Iris! Hey!"

Ash was back.

He greeted them with Pikachu on his shoulder, with something clenched in his hands. Probably some Bug-type ball or something.

Slipping in behind him was a short girl with short cropped brown hair and round glasses, dressed in a purple shirt and gray shorts. She made her way over to shy girl's table, where they began to talk about something over nachos and water that looked a lot colder than when she had seen it last: ice refill perhaps?

…She only noticed that as she tried to not focus on the imminent arrival of a Pinsir or a Beedrill or some other nasty thing.

"Guess what? I won!" Ash declared.

"That is great Ash!" Iris complimented him.

"So, what do you get if you win anyway: a complimentary Weedle?" Misty forgot what the little kid had said about prizes, and doubted it was worth thinking about bugs any more.

"No, actually the Weedle were behaving oddly. It was rather weird…. the prize for first place is an evolutionary stone of my choice." He unclenched his hands, revealing a blue stone with bubble patterns inside it which he held out to her.

Her eyes widened as she saw what it was.

"You want to capture all the Water-Pokémon of the word, right? Well, it would be hard to do that without this. Now if you can't find a Cloyster, you can catch two Shellder instead. Or if you ever find an Eevee, you can have a Vaporeon," Ash explained, smiling the entire time. "I mean, I'm not evolving Pikachu anytime soon, so to me this would just be a paperweight."

Ash entered a bug contest, just to help her out?

Her face flushed, even as she reached for the stone in his hand.

She tried to ignore the look on Iris's face as she did so. A look that was not jealousy.

But approval. Somehow, that was more unsettling than if Iris had been glaring daggers at her.

Gringey City

Um, Gringey City?

Ash read the sign at the front of the city, the one that gleefully stated that this was the city he had visited in the last timeline, a dirty and polluted mess of a place with jerks and his very not a jerk Muk.

However the city he found himself staring at was shiny and clean, with no smog, no sludge, and it did not smell like his shoes before he had them replaced during Hoenn.

"Pika…." Pikachu shared his confusion, muttering something about why he wasn't currently being assaulted by the local pathogens.

"Well this city is certainly badly named," Misty thirded their shared confusion, even if she did not have the experience of seeing Gringey City when it was in fact a gringey city.

"It is?" Iris didn't get it.

"Gringey generally means dirty or ugly. This place is incredibly clean." Misty explained.

"Oh, it once was quite bad…" The three turned, finding themselves facing an older woman, who was riding a bicycle and looked quite healthy for her age.

"Ah yes kiddies, I remember it like it wasn't ten years ago. Yep, this city used to live up to its name quite well, if we didn't have beer we'd probably have died of thirst before the smog got us. It was a city of the poor and the destitute. But, one day a man who escaped this place came back with the dream to make it worth living in. Arceus bless Tokiomi Borealis….." She pedaled off, apparently done with being a chatty old lady and returned to the city proper.

"….Aw, I wanted to give exposition," the Pokédex grumbled from Ash's pocket.

"Well, we can't walk around this place, and we should be able to get through it with a few hours before nightfall," Misty declared as he began walking into the clean city, followed by Iris.

Ash went forward as well, though he was deep in thought with a frown on his face.

If Gringey City was clean, where did that leave Muk?

Pikachu picked up on his mood, and addressed it.

"Chu…" 'Ash, remember what happened with Krabby? We ended up going off course from meeting him, but fate had us cross paths regardless. Muk'll be the same way, I'm sure of it. We just need to find a dump or a hugging convention and I'm sure he'll come hugging.'

Ash's frown gave way to a smile with that in mind.

Even if Muk wasn't at the exact spot as before, that did not mean that Muk was gone forever.

Plus, it was actually nice to see something in this world be inarguably better than the old one. Hopefully, more places would be like that. Perhaps Cinnabar Island wasn't turned into a decadent tourist trap, and maybe Volkner never lost his enthusiasm for battling.

Or maybe Maiden's Peak didn't get haunted by a super-powerful Gastly that defied the rules of Pokémon and reality as a whole and was actually a nice place to live.

….Perhaps he should have checked.

Outside Gringey City

"Deli!"

The Delibird that had appeared before them was laughing even as Jessie, James, and Meowth were sipping emergency hot chocolate and nursing a few bruises.

"…..No one told me that bird knew Kung Fu," Jessie muttered.

"I had no idea it could use Brick Break…." James whimpered.

Trying their luck at capturing it had not been a good idea.

"What do you expect; it's the official Team Rocket Delibird." Meowth gulped the rest of his hot-chocolate down and cautiously approached the bird.

No longer interested in beating them up, Delibird reached into its satchel and pulled out a letter with a large R on the side.

Meowth took the paper in hand, careful to ensure he did not anger the Delibird by doing it wrong.

Delibird nodded, accepting his method of paper handling before flying away. As soon as Delibird was gone, Meowth opened the letter.

"WAHH!"

And let out a startled yowl, freezing in place.

"Meowth!" Ignoring their chills and bruises, Jessie and James ran over to their partner and took the paper from him, wondering what horrible news it contained.

They dropped their mugs as they took in exactly what it said.

The capture of Felgrand for me was beyond any expectations I had for you.

I have been looking for one of the infamous Orre criminal brothers for some time now, and now I have one.

Your pay has been doubled, and promotion is possible for you three in the near future depending of future developments.

Giovanni

They stared at the paper for several minutes without speaking, before they simultaneously, and without prompting jumped high into the air, shouting at the tops of their voices in joy.

"This is wonderful! The boss is thanking us, and we got more money!" Jessie beamed.

"Tons of cash isn't really big to me, but a promotion…I've always wanted my own jet!" James grinned.

"Yeah, as long as we keep an eye on the kid everything's going to be smooth sailing for us! Now, if he'd only leave a town with a top notch police force and all of those pesky security cameras."

"Well, they can't stay on them forever, so once they leave we'll stick to them like stink to a Stunky." James declared. At the 'what's a Stunky' looks coming from his teammates, he shrugged.

"It's a saying in Sinnoh."

"Sure…." Jessie and Meowth did not seem to believe him.

"Your lack of culture aside, let us celebrate our increase in money and respect in the way that only sophisticated individuals as ourselves are capable of." James declared as his fellow Rockets processed the statement for a bit.

"Improv dance party?"

"Correct!" James declared as the trio's energy began to rise in preparation for the sudden onslaught of dancing to begin.

Thankfully they were interrupted before they could do so.

"Yeah, you are not dancing here," a teenage girl's voice declared. Turning, their dance levels falling rapidly as they went from party mode to serious mode, the trio found themselves confronted by a single ponytailed blond with blue eyes dressed in orange shorts and crop top, flanked by three Tyrogue.

"Huh, it's one of those battle girls." James observed.

"With a trio of rare pre-evolved Pokémon who evolve into rare and valuable Fighting Pokémon," Jessie continued James's train of thought.

"This is great then! Not only did we get a pay raise from the boss, we might be able to cinch that promotion up the Team Rockets ranks with them!" Meowth unsheathed his claws as the Tyrogue trio tensed.

"Leave, or else," the battle girl repeated as James threw a Pokéball at her, releasing Inkay in a burst of light.

"Yeah, we're going to choose 'or else'. We are on too much of a roll to give up now! Inkay, use Psybeam!"

As the floating squid charged the psychic attack, the girl's first glowed orange.

"Boost," she declared, before lunging at Inkay and punching the Kalos Pokémon with her glowing fist.

James was sent flying when he caught Inkay with his body.

"Oh…..well that was unexpected…." Meowth deadpanned as the girl turned a harsh gaze towards him, which he narrowly avoided flinching over. He idly heard the sound of Jessie being attacked by the Tyrogue.

"So, by no chance you aren't some lost or future companion of the Bloodliner kid we're stalking over yonder, are ya? If so, if we point you towards the boy will you go quietly and forget that we wanted to take your rare and valuable Tyrogue?" Meowth asked as she held out her once glowing arm at him, which once again glowed with a move he was pretty sure was Power-up Punch.

"Boost. I don't travel with a boy," she declared before going at Meowth with her punch.

It was a pretty well trained punch, not merely thrown like most would. She clearly had trained with someone at some point in how to throw punches.

However Meowth had spied on his fair share of martial arts classes, particularly after a time he gained a deathly fear of Machop after reading a fraudulent fortune cookie.

So he knew just when to dodge the punch, and when to counter attack.

Opening up wide, Meowth bit the girl on the arm right behind her glowing fist.

The fist stopped with the power upping, though the girl's face did not seem to be registering a pained expression.

Her faced was hard to read as her non-empowered hand grabbed Meowth by the scruff and threw him into the air.

"…..Your bite….." she declared as her face became more readable, in what could only be described as disappointment. "Felt like nothing. I barely felt it at all…how unsatisfying. Boost."

With a third enhanced punch and a statement that probably would sound weirder to Meowth if he thought about it a bit more, she punched Meowth.

The cat was sent flying through the air, towards the recovering James and the bruised Jessie, even as the Tyrogue got out the way for the resulting collision.

The result was the three primary members, and Inkay, being sent flying into the air.

"Team Rocket is blasting off in a way that is starting to become a pattern!" They screamed as they flew into the sky.

"Inkay!"

*TWINKLE*

A rustling in the bushes caused the blond to prepare to lunge at it, but she relaxed when she saw who it was.

"Wha…what was that?" the nervous dark haired girl asked. "Why did I hear screaming?"

"The twinkling sound effect was also rather bizarre." The short girl adjusted her glasses as she looked up, as if looking for a resulting star.

"Nothing, it was just some members of Team Rocket. They were nothing….though the Meowth was odd, and I have no idea where they got that floating psychic squid." She seemed generally ponderous on the matter.

"Regardless of their presence, you have removed them. As we have fulfilled our own assignments, our operation can now begin." The short girl declared as more nearby bushes rustled.

"So, all the preparations are in place I take it? Excellent, you three never disappoint me."

The three girls immediately turned towards the approaching voice, a female voice lower in pitch than their own voices.

"Y….yes, everything is r..r…ready…" the pale girl stuttered in a nervous tone, even as the arrival walked up to her and placed her hands on the back of her head.

She then pulled the head in close, and captured the nervous girl’s lips with her own for a good long while. When she retracted her lips, the pale girl was blushing a red that would be considered quite fetching among Slugma.

"I'm sure it's wonderful Aurora, you really need to stop doubting yourself. Confidence looks much better on your cute little face than nervousness, dear." Turning to the bespectacled girl, the apparently leading woman continued her question.

"The power to the backup generators have been cut. Upon the city-wide shutdown, they will not be able to continue powering themselves."

"Excellent." The fourth girl approached the glasses wearing girl and bent over, turning her head sideways as to not bump into her glasses before kissing her as well.

Pulling out, the taller girl continued.

"You always do a wonderful job, my sweet Vedia. He'll be dead before nightfall now. Of course, my only regret is that I don't get to kill him with my bare hands, but this will be much more practical, and much safer for you three. No point in revenge if you lose the ones you love getting it; am I right?"

She moved on to the athletic girl, who was grinning like mad.

"So, when do we get to start busting heads?! Those Team Rocket punks were nothing!"

"Team Rocket?" The new girl looked confused as to what they'd be doing here.

"Oh, a duo of them and their talking Meowth were skulking about. I took care of them, though for some reason they ended up being blasted into the sky instead of pummeled. It was weird. …."

"Well, as long as they are gone they aren't a concern. But, for clearing out some potential threats…." And the gathered girls were three for three when it came to getting long, passionate kisses from our fourth girl.

As the two pulled out for air, the fighter looked eager for more.

"Oh come on Belladonna, why don't you give me a nice Poison Fang? You know I love those."

The now identified Belladonna shook her head as she walked past her towards the Gringey City Harbor.

"Evanna, you know that you won't be useful after I do that."

"Oh come on, you know I can handle plenty of those before passing out. 4 in one night if I recall my current record…" Evanna said in a tone that was more fitting for discussing hickeys than Poison Fangs.

"I am well aware that you are quite durable sweetie, I am also aware that after one of my bites you only have one thing on your mind, and this is not the time for it. Maybe after we're done here I'll give you a nip, but this is not the time for a roll in the hay."

Evanna sulked a bit at the lack of poisonous bites, but Belladonna continued to the edge of the cliff, and down towards the beach below.

Where her army had gathered.

All in a daze they stood, enthralled by her power over all Poison. Tentacool and Tentacruel, Grimer and Muk, Beedrill and Arbok and Golbat and many more, all waiting for her command.

'Tentacool and Tentacruel, form a bridge straight to that power plant!" She pointed across the bay opposite from where she stood, "Ensure you are wide enough together that no Pokémon falls in. We are here to kill humans, not to drown Oddish. Once you are there, shut the plant down and keep it that way until you are told otherwise! Do not let anyone get in your way! Kill any humans, but don't harm any Pokémon unless you have to. If any Pokémon are going to die today, it would be the disgusting Grimer and Muk among you, not some guard Growlithe!"

They all responded in affirmative, monotone declarations of 'yes mistress', even the Grimer and Muk she had declared loathing for, before the Tentacruel began to form the pontoon bridge flanked by their unevolved counterparts.

Grinning, she turned around, presenting herself to her three gathered partners in all senses of the word.

She was a tall teenage girl, looking in appearance towards the end of her teenage years. Her dark black hair went down to the small of her back, with the tips of the hair on her forehead died green. Her torso covered by a black blouse with a central yellow streak that was quite good at showing she was quite noticeably more busty than her partners. Her legs were covered with blue jeans, her feet by purple and black boots.

Her face was sharp looking, with her ears protruding from the side of her head like little horns through her hair. Her eyes were as red as a Tentacool's body crystals, and below her eyes hung a pair of thin, zigzag marks.

"My dear Aurora, my sweet Vedia, Evanna sweetie….let's go. "

OMAKE

AMBGIOUSLY CANON

KETCHUMVERSE PART 5

EARTH 081516

The skies cracked in the rainy town.

The winds howled, ripping apart houses.

Gas prices at the nearby gas station began changing every second, going from five cents a gallon to twenty dollars a gallon to an orange a gallon in reckless abandon.

Ash, and an Ash in a ranger uniform stared at the ongoing events of the universe in question.

"What's going on?! We just got here, and everything is going mad! Is Shamouti happening?!" Ash asked his more experienced Ranger counterpart, who shook his head and held up a scanning device.

"No...that portal we took put us out of the Pokémon multiverse. We are in some other universe..."

"You mean, like that world with the talking red puppet and his goldfish?"

Pikachu huffed at the reminder of that world. He had business with that Ernie fellow.

"Yes...though this isn't that universe. In fact..." Ranger Ash made a face of disgust as he read the scanner's result, "Oh...well that explains it."

"What does!?" Ash questioned, even as a bolt of lightning seared the ground between them. Only an indefinite amount of time with Pikachu in the old timeline, and over a year with him in the new one, kept Ash's nerves calm.

"This is the universe of Bella Swan." The ranger said it as if he was saying 'this is Cyrus's pet Shellder, Bobo'.

"Bella Swan?" Ash repeated the name, not sure who that was. He'd as if it was a Swanna, but that was not the time for it.

"This universe apparently has the rule that everything must revolve around her. As we do not worship the ground she walks on and cannot be punished by the laws of this universe, the universe is falling apart as a result of a reality breaking paradox."

"Wha?!"

What kind of messed up universe was this?

"Don't worry...I'm calling up a portal now. When we leave, the universe should right itself. Hopefully we can get out of here before a shape shifting native imprints on us."

"Um, what?" He didn't like the sound of that.

"Hello, Earth 081616!" Ranger Ash shouted as he ran through a portal, quickly followed by Bloodliner Ash, "Finally, we should be in an entirely normal..."

"Oh come one!"

"Another me! This is complete overkill!"

Both Ashes paused as they found themselves being glared at by hundreds of Ashes: each with a Pikachu and five other Pokémon. He noticed versions of him dressed as he did in Kanto/Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos with his regional teams there (Cool, he got a Noivern!), and others with different Pokémon. There were even versions of him with Alolan Pokémon.

"...Um..." Ash wanted to try and de-escalate this.

He promptly failed horribly, as both he and his Ranger counterpart got pulled into an Ash for all.

Ketchumverse 5.5

Earth 082616

The Ash in charge of recruiting new members rubbed his head as he tried to figure out how this universe worked.

"All right. So apparently, your world’s version of us reincarnates several times. You're all technically the same person yet still managed to retain some sense of self-identity apart from the others. And then the timeline splits into three sections to make everything more confusing! Am I getting this right?"

The Ash in front of him nodded, as well as the ones to that Ash's left and right. Each was wearing a blue tunic and hat as well as brown leggings and leather boots. To complete the medieval ensemble was a sword and shield strapped to their backs.

"And how do we differentiate between all of you?"

The first one caused three boxes to appear with text saying "Appearance", "Differences in equipment and companions", and "Figure that out yourself, moron" before highlighting the middle box.

The second one held an Ocarina up before shouting, "Hyah! Hup! Kyaa!"

The third one just reached into his pouch, grabbed a stone, and promptly transformed into a Mightyena.

"Fair enough. Would you like any help freeing Laramie Ranch from-" Ash broke down snickering, "-Garydorf?"