Professor Oak's lab

It was early morning when he finally returned to his lab and the Professor felt great.

It was amazing what a minor surgery could do for your quality of life. He honestly felt at least seven years younger.

He might even live another seven years too, always a good thing.

A skip in his step, the old man opened the door and whistled his way into the kitchen, where he did what all did upon an early morning return where sleep wasn't a priority.

Begin the coffee process. He did have work to make up for, papers and poetry did not write themselves after all.

He reached for a packet of coffee, but found the box empty of anything good.

It was all the stuff the interns liked. Bah, new age coffee.

He was an old age coffee guy as much as he was an old age guy. Of course, he was not unaware of the possibility of that happening, so he had bought additional boxes of good coffee. It was now just a matter of getting…

"Kook."

Or having a friendly crustacean claw it over to him.

"Oh, why thank you Krabby, you are very handy to have around, more so than Gary's own…" The Professor stopped his words mid-sentence when he realized the claw that handed him a box of coffee was not in fact Krabby-sized.

It was instead Kingler-sized, coming from a Kingler that had not been that way before his surgery.

"Kooky," the Kingler greeted as the Professor smiled.

"Why, glad to see that all the training you've been doing has finally paid off. You and Ash must have had a good training session while I was under anesthetic."

Kingler seemed to bubble gurgle a response that seemed to be suggesting he didn't know the half of it, and given the fact that Ash had sent him slimy dragons without wings from in-air elevations perhaps he didn't know even half of what had occurred.

It may also be better that he did not know.

"So…any other evolutions that happened while I was gone?"

…

In the early morning light, Bulbasaur stared at the end result of the madness that had been yesterday.

"Bul." 'Well, you seem happy'.

The recently re-evolved Pokémon flexed her regained limbs in interest.

"Bo!" Boldore declared. 'Well of course I am. I missed having these things. You never realize how great arms are until you don't have them anymore.'

Bulbasaur used Vine Whip to point towards his front limbs as the evolved Rock Pokémon gave an apologetic look and grunt.

"Boldore. Dore." 'I meant front limbs in general, not just arms. Not sure I could ever go back to just feet again.'

Boldore then lifted her front right limb and jabbed it in the air, before putting it back down in confusion.

"Dore?" 'Shouldn't I be doing Rock Smash now?'

Bulbasaur shook his head.

The grass behind them rustled, drawing their attention as a Pokémon that was not at the ranch in the old timeline slithered out.

However, it was not a Pokémon they were unfamiliar with, nor a stranger.

"Ser." 'Well, this wasn't how I expected to wake up today,' Serperior declared.

Krabby, Roggenrola, and now Servine had all evolved in the aftermath of the Sabrina battle.

"Bul." 'Well if it helps you look great, and powerful too.'

"Ser." 'I no longer have arms.'

Serperior's blunt statement made Boldore back away a bit. She clearly was aware of the potential issue of starting up the 'getting more limbs is great' discussion.

Bulbasaur wasn't entirely sure what to say in response to it.

"Bul…" 'Well, it could be worse…'

At Serperior's long glare Bulbasaur quickly elaborated.

"Saur." 'I mean, Torterra apparently used to rely on his speed all the time, then he evolved and couldn't use it. Not sure the guy ever recovered from the loss of his agility. You didn't really use your hands for anything, did you?'

Serperior continued to glare at him.

"Ser." 'I. Liked. Having. Hands.'

Bulbasaur briefly considered also bringing up Sliggoo's blindness, but evolving again had fixed that.

Unless there was a Mega Serperior who grew arms again, he doubted that would be an option.

So Bulbasaur took the safer option than try and help the miffed Unovan Pokémon deal with her evolution based loss.

"Bul!" 'Hey, I think I hear a Wooper arguing with a Hoppip. Gotta go deal with it, talk to you later!'

He promptly ran for the other end of the compound, running even faster when he heard Serperior snap at him about the idea of either species arguing about anything.

As his mind stirred from slumber, Ash honestly felt totally recharged.

He couldn't imagine the last time he slept as well as he did, and that was even counting the few days he had so far with a bed in his secret base. Even going back to his own room he had never felt so refreshed.

Maybe it was just the feeling of rest after yesterday, but he could've slept like this forever.

His eyes slowly opened, Ash found himself staring at the secret base ceiling, still feeling fully recharged and at peace.

When had any bed of his ever felt so comfortable?

A slow series of breaths that weren't his or Pikachu's slowly registered, and Ash felt his rejuvenated haze rapidly fade as he realized the source of why his bed felt so comfortable.

Namely the two warm bodies lying on either side of him.

To his left lay Misty, her mouth slightly open as she continued to sleep, while on his right side Iris had curled herself against him.

Each feeling was different, Misty had a minuscule gap between them, though he still felt her body heat clearly. Iris meanwhile, he could feel the muscles of her legs against his, her nose rubbing against his ear, and her breasts pressing against the side of his pinned right arm.

His left arm was also pinned, though under Misty's neck as he felt a mess of something soft against his hand.

He raised his head and looked over Misty, trying not to linger too much on how her chest rose and fell with each small breath she took or the fact that the shirt she had borrowed from him didn't cover everything and he could see her underwear (if this had been the old timeline, he suspected such a sight would mark him for death by Gyarados if she was merciful, and her personal fury if she wasn't), and saw Anabel fast asleep up against his arm.

She looked as content as the others, though part of him did wish there was a way for her to not be so far away from him.

Another part of him immediately yelled at that part and told it that this was not going to be a thing going forward and thinking of how to better manage access to his body was not necessary.

The part of him that wondered about how to better manage closeness seemed oddly more enthusiastic about its job though. Said part of him promptly also wished that Misty was lying on her side too and pressing into him like Iris was, and that perhaps Anabel could then be closer to him, either lying against his legs or even on top of him…

Surprisingly the part of him that yelled at that other part of him about that idea did not sound like Misty or his mother.

Still the fact they were all like this on his bed, sleeping alongside him, was an odd mixture of comforting and awkward, and Ash wasn't entirely sure of what to do next.

Did he just lay here until they woke up?

Could he even do that? The part of him that was thinking about his bodily access to the girls was all for it but he wasn't one for just laying around. Even at his lazier points he didn't sit around on the couch all day. He went off and starred in questionably tiered movies and got involved with old surfers instead. His loafing around was a quite active loafing.

Though still, compared to his own bed back then, perhaps he could almost manage…

Ash's thoughts of proper bedmate waking etiquette was interrupted by a second point that had come up last night he vaguely recalled.

It had been mentioned after Anabel, Iris, and Misty's declaration of wanting to make sure he stayed in one place this night that there would be pancakes, and the smell of pancakes was now wafting into the Secret Base.

He had also not eaten in what was possibly twenty-four hours, and he wasn't sure when they had last eaten either.

Thankfully the smell of pancakes caused the girl's eyes to snap open before his stomach gave a long, loud growl demanding it be given pancakes.

…

Cooking was a skill that was not quite with her yet.

It was something she and her sweet Vedia were both learning when they had the chance, a process that was somewhat held up by interruptions and the fact that their lovely teachers also had to teach other.

Her Dear and her Sweetie both knew how to cook, but in different ways. Aurora knew how to make the tastiest and sweetest treats, while Evanna could make you something that kept you going for a surprisingly long period of time without any unnecessary calories. Evanna's cooking had been put to good use a few times and resulted in some very enjoyable nights as well as a couple of afternoons.

The two were still struggling to find a balance between taste and efficiency. It wasn't as important for her as for others, as it seemed like she could eat anything and all it would do to her was make her breasts bigger.

After the extra calories had helped her get a bit of healthy flesh back on her of course, though if they ate only what Aurora could bake her sweet Vedia would start to feel like cookie dough.

She was sweet, but she'd rather not have her become a sweet.

She would've loved to joke with Aurora that her cakes were solely responsible for the difficulties she had shopping for bras, but she wasn't entirely sure how Aurora would take that. So, it was sadly a joke she kept to herself.

It wasn't fully accurate either, seeing as her Sweetie's food had done quite a lot at fixing the damage her mother and poverty had done to it.

Still, food memories aside, pancakes were something they had long found a happy medium on, a batter composition that satisfied both of their viewpoints.

And she was well qualified in the ability to flip them, even if creating the batter was still a coin flip.

A batter of which they were now fully out of, as the last of it was now the latest pancake on a full plate of the stuff, which Vedia picked up and took to the picnic table.

Said table having been found in the woods nearby, a remnant of some old woodcutter's boredom or something. After a bit of sanding, it was perfectly safe and fine.

The batter materials, the spatula, the portable grills, the table cloth on the table, the plates, the silverware, the butter, the juice, the Pokémon food in the corner, and all other elements of a proper breakfast were also found by them. They found it in a store that wasn't open yet.

"Gastly has released the restraint on the scent. They should awaken rapidly in…"

Vedia's statement was interrupted by a scrabble from within the Secret Base that her brother or one of his lovelies had been clever enough to come up with.

It was a neat idea, though she wasn't sure she could ever really make much use of it. While they could do so if need be, Aurora and Vedia deserved proper beds whenever possible. She and Evanna could rough it, but they always needed a mattress.

Or herself. She was basically a set of pillows that breathed after all. As such camping out was more something they did only when necessary, and thus had the supplies for it.

And yet despite what they had rustled up suiting them much more than it did themselves, she suspected they'd be holding onto the stove and such after this. Her brother seemed the stubborn type about things that were not 'properly' gotten, and why create more strife than there had to be.

The scrabble within her brother's hideaway came outside as the four darted out and without a second thought took to consuming the pancakes like they hadn't eaten anything in days.

They hadn't in quite possibly a day in fact, particularly with her brother. The thought made her emotions darken.

If she ever saw that Gym Leader again, she would die, though she didn't have time to dwell on the thought before a shadow tendril put a fork of buttered pancake into her mouth.

Proper conversation would not begin until all the pancakes were gone, and thus she could observe the little things she noticed.

Her brother seemed a bit fitter since she last saw him. His shirt seemed to be a slightly tighter fit then the last time they'd met and there was some faint definition on his forearms of lithe muscle. Not that he wasn't before, but it seemed like he had been doing more physical work on himself. Iris's doing perhaps? It certainly was good for her that Evanna had them work out on a schedule.

Anabel had longer hair since Vedia had last described her. It looked good on her.

Misty likely had given her brother a few shots of her panty-clad rear, last night and quite possibly this morning too. Interesting, she didn't think they were quite at that step yet. They were still at that phase where they were struggling with the artificial concept of strict monogamy after all, and there didn't seem to be self-harming competition going on for her brother at the moment.

Eventually the pancakes were all consumed, and with it the attention of her brother and his lovelies were now able to go elsewhere.

"How exactly did you guys end up on the 'get me away from the crazy person' mission, exactly?"

For example, asking a question he'd likely have asked yesterday if he hadn't been dead exhausted.

From that question began an explanation from Misty, Iris, and Anabel about their side of their story, a story she had already heard but Ash wasn't familiar with.

An odyssey that kept plopping them in and around her and Ash's siblings, a list that seemed so large Belladonna honestly couldn't have believed it if she hadn't started looking around herself.

From young siblings to ones closer to her age, to one who Belladonna had to hope she'd never need to deal with. It had ended with them running into each other, and with their help knowing where to go directly instead of trying to get lucky.

What was missing from that was what had exactly happened with Ash in the meantime. He seemed to need a few moments to collect himself, before he began his own side of the story.

A side that was a near endless battle through a crazy nutcase's lair and her endless horde of Psychic Pokémon. It was a tale of his own stubbornness and determination to not give in, his Pokémon's desire to stand their ground, and his sentient machine's gambit to even the score.

It was a story of creation too, not only of some sort of crystal like the one that had been used against him by that Alolan Trainer, but also of his own origins.

"Oh, you caught that, time for elaboration then. Ever wonder exactly why Bloodliners are much more common these days, and why so many are female? Here's the thing, it's because of you, and Ash, and all your other siblings. If you all had never been born, I'd be as boring a human as my sister, who runs some talent agency in Unova and now is tasked with making sure some League winner remembers to feed himself. But thanks to you, and your many hundreds of brothers and sisters found from Sinnoh's snowy tundra to Alola's tropical shores, I am more than human. Your little lovelies in there are more than human. Foongus Hair and the rest of my Prince's lovelies are more than human. Your line being born, perhaps not even as massively as they were but the range of how many were needed was utterly massive, met the conditions, and now we sit on a transitioning world. The world that you, Ash, and every one of your siblings who shares a unique take on what power means to them, from sea to shining sea, are all responsible for!"

And those of herself.

It was the second time that sort of thing had been brought up by her, and what were the odds that two people were crazy in the same way.

"…The woman was nuts Ash, don't pay her any mind." Misty's reassuring words to him didn't seem to reach him, and she couldn't really blame him.

It was hard to really say for certain that a telepath was lying when she said that someone felt that way. She could agree for certain with the idea that her mother would have aborted her if she mentally could have.

She could feel Evanna's gaze lingering her way. She was aware that this wasn't the first time they had heard a narrative in the same sort of crazy vein.

Hopefully Evanna would not throw that onto this potential fire. She certainly wasn't going to.

"I had been looking into our father, and from what little I did find out, it doesn't contradict that bitch's comments." Her admittance drew the attention of the others, who looked at her as if she had a grand tale to tell.

As she had even less of an idea how implying that Ash was responsible for how their lives turned out than she did Aurora, she cut the idea of her having something to say off before it could go anywhere near that.

"Why did you come for me? You could have just told Anabel and the others where to go."

She honestly felt a tad hurt by Ash's question, but perhaps that was just how things started. She didn't earn the love of her three angels in a few meetings; perhaps that was the same with the bond of brother and sister.

She simply had to keep moving with the idea, step by step.

"I said it before, didn't I? You and I are siblings, even if we are that way because our father took Playboy as a personal challenge and has low approval ratings with mad psychics because he is apparently worse than they are. I said I'd help you out, and I mean what I say."

She couldn't help but feel rather happy as her statement made a bit of the apprehension Ash seemed to have toward her fade away.

Was there still more work to do with their relationship? Certainly, and she suspected she would not like the outcome of asking him right up if they could travel with them to work on it.

She wasn't ready to make that call without asking the others first anyway.

But perhaps this could be a start to a point where they could travel together a bit, and he could stop being uneasy around her.

Then he could call her sis, and they could do whatever it was siblings did.

She'd have to figure out what that involved beyond giving him tips with his relationships.

…

Ash was able to get off on his own after breakfast and the conversations after a reminder of his lack of shower since his battle with Sabrina, and like before he had found a waterfall that was neither too cold nor too hot to stand under.

However, he had learned from last time. Not only did he have shampoo and soap this time (100% bio-safe, bio-degradable material that independent research not tied to the corporate world had verified the status of), but he also had Pikachu watching to make sure Iris would not join him under the water again.

Or at least warn him she was going to do it. He didn't expect Pikachu to shock her to stop her from doing it again, and as awkward as the last time had been, electrocuting her away seemed overkill.

Digging his fingers into his hair and really pushing the conditioner into his scalp, Ash had something he had to let out.

"What's happened to my life?"

Pikachu turned his head slightly his way while giving the impression that, if Pikachu had eyebrows, he'd be raising one of them.

"Pika." 'Puberty.'

"What does it say about my life when puberty is usually an afterthought?" Ash had to say on Pikachu's joke response. Pikachu was, after all, aware that many of the oddities of his life were not connected to the fact that he was now growing far more hair than he had any real need for.

Though that did raise the question of why he had never noticed Brock or Cilan show a need to shave. Was the mystery of Brock's hairless lip to join the G.S Ball and his age as one of the great unanswered questions?

"Yes, your existence does seem to be one surrounded by odd events and circumstances. An overly complicated family history, the duality of a person's nurtured morality and the morality brought on by nature, a former enemy saving your life and you having to acknowledge that along with your negative opinion on her past actions, and amazing powers that you can barely figure out without discovering some new facet on them. Compared to all of that, the mysteries of the maturing human form are nothing if borderline inconsequential."

The Pokédex's snark originated from his jacket, which hung from a tree. It hadn't required immediate stain control surprisingly, and thus only needed airing out like the rest of his clothes.

Still the Pokédex's comment did remind him of something, a question that had been in the back of his mind ever since a bit into the giant fight.

The Pokédex…what exactly did it think about time travel and alternate worlds? He tended to forget about it when he talked about it, and the Pokédex had heard another speak of it with Sabrina.

Did it think he was insane, or did he fully believe that he had in fact traveled across time and space?

He'd ask it, but the Pokédex spoke of another topic.

"Regarding your battle with the Mad Gym Leader of Kanto, are you aware that during the battle Squirtle obtained a Marsh Badge? At some point he even slipped it into this very pocket."

Vaguely, but why bring that up? He was pretty sure you couldn't just grab them without the Gym Leader's permission and use them freely. At least here there seemed to be things in place that could catch that, like computers.

"It's also been registered to your name. Congratulations, the Marsh Badge is all yours!"

"Pi-Pikachu?" Pikachu trailed off the traditional cheer with a confused tone of voice.

Ash, who had stopped soaping his body mid-arm, had the same question Pikachu did about that.

"Why would she do that?" She didn't seem in the mood for letting the badge count when they left her.

"As I said, Mad Gym Leader of Kanto. I suspect that will be her first and last badge, but that is merely my hope after I did the Good Samaritan routine. Though I suspect that this will be a mixed bag for you in the long run. Tell me, are you familiar with how the Indigo League differs from other leagues?"

Wishing he had a loafer or something for that part of his back he couldn't reach (and adding an empathetic no to the idea of asking for some help doing it. Doing that would only summon Iris again), Ash gave his response, though he had to wonder about the Pokédex's words.

It sounded like the Pokédex had called in that Sabrina might be tired after his kidnapping and subsequent battle to the people who'd be in place to arrest her.

"I think a few more floats and later full battles."

"Certainly, later than the Ever Grande conference brings them in, that's for certain. However, that was not what I was specifically referring to. It was how Trainer data is given."

Trainer data…Ash could actually sort of see what the Pokédex was referring to. In Indigo no one had ever given a hint that there was any data on who your opponent was beyond their name and face. Meanwhile Silver had entire pages of data devoted to Macy and Gary, the former's letting him catch her surprise Electabuzz.

Ever Grande had some data, but he didn't think it was as in depth, at least on things that mattered. Katie's diet did him little good, while Lily of the Valley had data, but only Paul seemed to understand what it all meant.

"Indigo data is gathered over time and only shows what the Trainer him or herself has shown beyond a few cursory facts. In the case of the former, Pikachu would quickly be public knowledge on your Indigo data page because he doesn't go in a Pokéball, though any data on what sort of skills Pikachu had would not be available prior to them being displayed. Meanwhile if in your first round battle you were to use Ambipom, Butterfree, and Primeape they would appear on your profile with all observations on them listed.”

"In related facts, attempting to access information like recorded tournaments prior or smuggling in written or data notes used to be an expulsion worthy offense though the rule was rarely enforced and even then, only when actual spying was used to get the data. It was a holdover from older times where without League-provided data or even just media, espionage was used to gather information on opponents and written notes were the easiest way of proving it. The rule has since been repealed and replaced with a new rule forbidding actual spying attempts or other invasions of privacy."

Okay? That was an interesting history lesson, but...

"Not sure what any of that has to do with the Marsh Badge registered to me."

"Among the default data available on Trainers is what badges they won to gain entry into the competition, and especially early on those badges are how people make guesses on what their opponent may do. For example, possessing the Soul Badge suggests the opponent may have measures to fight against Poison Pokémon, while a lack of a Volcano Badge may suggest unfamiliarity with Fire-type Pokémon. Having a Marsh Badge…well that will make people realize that you are capable of battling against someone that powerful, and that may lead to overestimating you. From that, you will likely have to be concerned with the use of big guns earlier than planned to ensure you are beatable."

So, like if Cameron had used Hydreigon in the first round?

Holding his left foot against his right knee as he scrubbed the bottom of it, Ash had a rebuttal to the idea of having secret weapons thrown at him first round.

"If that's the case, then I'll just beat the secret weapons in the first round instead of the fourth or fifth rounds."

"I'd expect nothing less from you at this point. You do have a knack for surprising me."

With that the Pokédex was quiet for the rest of the shower.

…

When Ash had come back from the shower, she had noted a slight bit of surprise on his end.

He had apparently suspected that Iris would pop under the waterfall with him again, and seemed amazed to see that she didn't.

What was honestly more surprising, at least in Anabel's personal view, was that she hadn't tried to do so. Was it because she had that talk with another one of Ash's sisters and realized that doing so was not appropriate behavior?

She didn't think so. She had only gotten a slight bit of what the two had talked about, given she didn't pry deep into people's minds, but it didn't feel like that was the case.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Anabel let the water of the waterfall wash over her, removing the soap from her body along with the dirt and sweat of the last day.

They were in no rush, even after they all slept surprisingly well they weren't jumping at the idea of going on the move again.

With that lax mood she could take her time. Which she'd need because the now longer hair of hers were being a little difficult.

No matter what she did, she didn't seem to get it feeling as soaped as she had when it was short.

She ran her hands through it, feeling the uneven shampoo application with a dissatisfied frown.

"You need to dig it in with your fingers."

Her eyes shot open as she found Iris staring at her from the dry side of the waterfall. A ripple of light shock and wonder ran through her mind; how did Iris manage to approach without her noticing?

Iris ran her own fingers through her mane of hair, as if by demonstration.

Anabel reached for the shampoo with her mind and applied what she did, while also talking.

'Is this going to be a thing you do?'

Iris looked at her in confusion, so as she dug the soap into her scalp (and it did in fact solve the problem she had been feeling) and elaborated.

'Walking in us while we shower under waterfalls?' Would it even extend to actual showers?

"If I want to talk about something and you are showering, sure," Iris declared as she began removing her own clothes.

Compared to the memories she had seen of Ash's reaction, Anabel could say her reaction was a lot less flustered.

It was awkward sure, but she had the benefit of not finding Iris removing her clothes physically appealing the way Ash did (and would if she or Misty did the same in front of him).

'You could also talk to me clothed,' Anabel pointed out as she, perhaps counterproductively to her point, telekinetically moved Iris's shirt onto a branch to dry, followed by the rest of her clothing.

"Yeah, but doing this saves time for both myself and Misty when she comes down for a shower." Iris explained as she stepped under the waterfall next to her.

A decent point, Anabel had to admit.

"Though I think we could probably fit Misty under here pretty easily, and Ash too if we…"

'Let's not.' Anabel was tempted to say 'maybe next time', but that had the scary potential of Iris actually doing it the next time Ash found an inexplicably functional waterfall for showering.

Iris thankfully dropped the idea, and Anabel handed her the soap while her face remained heated from the thought of Iris somehow getting Ash under the waterfall with them. As Iris began rubbing her arms the conversation continued.

"You like Ash, right."

Iris's words were a statement, not a question. Her blush returning, Anabel looked anywhere but Iris and sputtered out a reply.

'I…I guess you could say that. He's always been nice, and that's only been shown more as we travel…Plus he is rather good looking, even before you went nuts about it.'

"Nuts?" Iris spoke the word in context-based confusion.

'Never mind.'

Iris looked at her for the use of a term she didn't explain nor would elaborate on, but continued even as she soaped up her stomach.

"Not sure why everyone sidesteps saying that."

Anabel felt the urge to point out that Iris didn't exactly go up to Ash and say 'Ash I find you physically attractive and I like you', but somehow if she did that Anabel figured that she'd do that, plus asking Ash to have sex with her or something, so she kept it to herself.

"Though I guess I do not exactly go right up and say it either, come to think of it."

Oh, she recognized her own bit of hypocrisy.

"I had actually told Misty that I would give her time to get Ash's attention alone. It was actually a bit before we met you," Iris informed her. "However, I think that time is about up."

Anabel looked at Iris from the corner of her eye as Iris began washing the back of her neck. That was going to be fun.

Misty was going to have a Tauros…

"And I would like your help with it."

Iris's statement interrupted Anabel's mind imagining the ramifications of Iris actively working to start a relationship with Ash.

Help? Help with what exactly? She wasn't exactly a romance guru.

'Not sure what I could do that would be of any help to you.'

"Simple, that anger problem that Ash apparently got from his father is something I want to see worked on. Also, with all the things that Sabrina told him about him, and Belladonna had found out, I think Ash would really benefit from something more positive."

She couldn't help but agree that from what she had been told about Ash's anger spells (against Paul, Joshua, and Sabrina), were disturbingly uncharacteristic of Ash and something that should be worked on, and trying to not have him dwell on the fact his father was probably the definition of human scum was also good.

But she failed to see what that had to do with her helping enter an actual relationship with Ash, be it emotional, physical, or both.

'Let me see if I'm following. Not only are you attracted to Ash, but you are worried about his paternal inherited issues, plus the problems that come from realizing your father is some sort of psychotic megalomaniac who has probably committed every crime under the sun. Your idea is having you and I work together to help him deal with those issues, plus anything else that comes up and our general mutual pleasure, ourselves and Ash.'

"Misty too, but I have not talked to her about it yet," Iris clarified.

'…Sure. Okay, let's follow that. Let's say that in the midst of some random angst spell, Misty or I break him out of it with a kiss to the lips and a heartfelt confession. You don't see the problem with that?'

"There is a problem? I mean, between you and Misty I thought you would get it better," Iris responded in genuine confusion.

And 'get it better'?'

'What is that supposed to mean?'

Iris put her washed left leg back down as she explained what in fact she meant.

"Well, think about it. You can read people's minds and emotions. You know when people mean it, and when they do not. You saw the minds of Belladonna and her lovers; do they seem jealous of each other?"

She hadn't exactly pried deep into them, but she didn't exactly sense it. However, she couldn't exactly say that applied.

They were all in a relationship with each other, while Anabel had no attraction to Iris or Misty, and she'd bet money that the same applied to all three of them.

If she looked into Ash's mind images like Misty in swimsuits (or her panties this morning), Iris in the shower next to him, and her partially stripped form would probably be fairly embedded in there. Iris was highly unlikely to do the same with her showering here, or mid change Misty. Same with Misty and mid change her or Iris.

She suspected Iris was aware of the difference, but didn't really pick up on what that difference really entailed.

"You can look into Ash's mind and see it. You could see that, in the end when you, Misty, myself, and anyone else…" Uh…what? Who? Why? How? "…are together with Ash. You can see his thoughts and go 'yes, he does care and love me as much as everyone else.'"

Iris didn't seem to understand jealousy. Sure, she could, in Iris's weird idea of the future where Ash decided his father was at fault for merely 'daycaring' with hundreds of women instead of being more permanent with a fraction of the number, look into Ash's mind and find equal, or similarly sized, affection, love, and all other emotions for her as Iris, Misty, and whatever other girls Iris seemed to think Ash would just randomly run into and magnetically attract.

Okay there was Serena, but the way Iris was talking she'd think Ash might attract enough partners to form his own Pokémon League with Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and himself as the Champion.

That didn't mean she'd not feel jealousy, that anyone else would not feel jealousy.

Iris was not incorrect in saying that she would be able to tell herself in such a scenario that Ash loved her as much, or even about as much, as everyone else.

She simply underestimated the difference between telling yourself that, and actually feeling that way.

Anabel would not ignore Iris's suggestion they work on helping Ash deal with any issues from his father, be it the anger or any 'I am related to a monster' moments. That was something they could and should work on as soon as possible, though it would only be Iris who thought that would lead them to some end result like Belladonna's family.

A Misty shower of little eventfulness later

"You know, this is actually a nice waterfall. Wish we could find ones like it that wouldn't kill us."

Before they left their separate ways, Ash had offered them to use the waterfall he had stumbled upon, and his companions had used.

It beat a late day shower in any case, and it had a nice temperature. Also, less attention grabbing.

The only problem was that it not exactly big enough. Sure, all four of them could stand under it, but it would not be the most conductive for washing.

It was easier two at a time, with her and Aurora under it at the moment, while Evanna and Vedia waited for their own turn. She had her hands in Aurora's soft hair, getting the soap in, while Evanna had stuck her own legs under it earlier and was currently running a razor along them.

Vedia was just patiently waiting.

"Sadly, it seems to be a talent I can only presume came from his mother," she answered Evanna's quip as she removed her hands from her dear's hair, letting it fully rinse as she took a bar of soap to her own forearms.

"You know, it really was nice. Do you think we can do more of this?" Aurora's question stopped her mid arm, and Evanna mid-leg.

"When it comes to sharing showers, we are not adverse of doing that in this and other activities in showers."

Aurora shook her head at Vedia's point.

"No, not about showers. I meant helping people."

She'd quip about not wanting more of her siblings kidnapped, but she held her tongue. Hard to say how Aurora would take that.

She turned around to look at her right up in the eye, her blue eyes clearer than the water.

It really was interesting, a lot of what she had noticed in Aurora since her father was put down seemed to have vanished since they went after Sabrina. It was a new spark to her, something that, if she had to be completely honest, had always been missing.

"Acquiring sufficient spandex would be highly improbable. Also, I would look horrible in spandex."

Hardly true, Vedia, though she suspected that wasn't what Aurora meant.

Though she was hardly opposed to the idea of helping more people, even if she had to admit 'people' would have to be replaced with a much narrower term.

Like she had said to Hilda, there were only so many she really cared for in the world.

Still, there had been something nice about saving Ash beyond the feeling of simply saving her brother. A nice feeling from doing good, that she couldn't recall feeling after finding out Tokiomi had croaked.

Did just doing good in general feel better than getting justice?

"Helping people huh…not sure how we'd do that, but I'm all for it."

In a move that was rare for Aurora to initiate herself, she bounced on the tips of her feet and left a quick kiss on her lips. She didn't quite land well on the rocks, but she caught Aurora before she hit her head.

When she had regained her footing again, Aurora gave her three more kisses, and only one of them felt like it was a 'thank you for saving me' kiss."

"I am in favor of considering Aurora's idea too, though I would suggest watching the naked kissing. I doubt your relationship with your brother has progressed enough he is quite prepared to hear the evolution of you two kissing through the trees."

Despite Vedia's dry point, even she had a bit of a smile on her face. It would seem her sweet also felt that feeling about their recent action being different from before.

Later that day, post Belladonna and Co.’s departure

Ash stared at Primeape.

Primeape stared at Ash.

That exchange was going on in a quiet clearing, with five of his other Pokémon on standby.

Pikachu, the recently evolved Boldore and Serperior (both of whom were greatly congratulated, even if it did get followed by Serperior trying to use Glare on him), Ambipom, and Squirtle.

Should Sabrina come back, they'd react, and would if this went badly.

"So…do you remember me?" Ash asked the fighting Pokémon.

Said Pokémon stared at him for a moment, then two, then three…before quickly swiping his hat and jumping up and down playfully.

A grin came over Ash's face, even as Primeape stopped bouncing and looked at him in confusion.

"Yeah, a lot happened since we last met. I matured, in theory."

Maybe. Sure, he didn't act up as much when Ambipom stole his hat, but he wasn't sure how long of a difference in time that had been.

For all he knew, it had just been the Tuesday after Primeape.

"Primeape is male, and knows the moves Mega Kick, Cross Chop, Seismic Toss, and Thrash."

The Pokédex's info dump made Ash's grin widen even more.

Cross Chop?! He never had a Pokémon know that move.

"Cool, can you show me?"

Ash's question caused Primeape to give him a smile that made him a tad uneasy, a feeling that got even more intense when Primeape grabbed him above both his elbows and jumped.

He meant Cross Chop, not Seismic Toss. And he certainly did not mean on him!

Also, ow.

After that, painful learning experience, Ash promptly took a training sample with all of his Pokémon who were in active battle rotation, many of which were kind enough to not do so at him without any sort of warning.

Pikachu, Butterfree, Pidgeot, Ambipom, Charizard, Squirtle, Serperior, Goodra, Yanma, Muk, Tauros, and Boldore, and now joined by Kingler and Primeape.

All seemed stronger than before the massive battle, and from what he had heard it wasn't just with them.

All the Pokémon who participated were showing signs of being stronger.

And come to think of it…he did too.

He wasn't sure how to test it though.

His own strength aside though, his mind drifted back to the Pokémon who weren't in active battle rotation.

One species in particular, particularly after that last statement one had made the other day.

"You know, do you think any of the Exeggutor would be interested in being used in battle?"

Ash's question caused the Pokémon currently with him after the recent swapping of Pokémon (Pikachu, Butterfree, Serperior, Charizard, Goodra, and Yanma), to look at one another in uncertainty.

"Ser." 'I can't say for certain, I never spent much time with them. But it is worth asking.'

"The Exeggutor, like the Tauros, each have their own set of moves. For example, you have one that knows Confusion, Teleport, Barrage, and Stun Spore, another that knows Confusion, Teleport, Dream Eater, and Sleep Powder, and a third that knows Confusion, Teleport, Trick Room, and Flash."

"If any of them want to battle, then I'll work with them, no matter the move."

Ash's declaration was met with a mechanical sigh that suggested the machine was resigned to what would happen.

"You at least know not to use Trick Room with Yanma, right?"

If that was the Pokédex asking if he knew that the move reversed speed, then yes, Ash knew about it. He fought through it.

He was also well aware of the horrible things he could do with that move and Torterra or Snorlax.

But other than that, he looked at his arms where both his Keystone and his Z-Crystal shimmered in the light.

"You know, let's see if I can do that again."

"You'd have to be more specific," the Pokédex pointed out as Ash pointed at Pikachu.

"Let's make another Z-Crystal!" Ash declared as Charizard stepped forward in interest.

"Alright, Charizard use Flamethrower into the sky! That should be enough."

Charizard nodded before bellowing a pillar of fire, which Ash pointed his hand towards and concentrated every ounce of willpower he had.

An hour later however and nothing happened. Charizard shut the flame off and coughed a bit as one might after a lengthy period of singing.

"There appears to be additional factors not at play here required in your stone creation abilities."

The Pokédex's observation was obvious.

"It's not time, I was definitely battling Lilo, Elwood, and Aideen a lot shorter than that. Can't be how many, I was getting brown dust from just that Mudsdale."

"That might have been because said Mudsdale used a Z-Move. However, I doubt that would be much help unless you want to make dozens of Psychium-Z crystals."

"That's not a bad idea. I mean, if Anabel had her own Z-ring..."

It couldn't be so unlikely she'd randomly get mailed one.

"The odds of that happening again are slim. Before you ask, I have no idea what a Z-ring is made of. I have data that suggests a specific type of stone is used in the construction, but I doubt that is the only part of it. The stone has no description beyond 'sparkling stone', and I couldn't tell you if it was quartz or diamonds or some sort of meteorite. Frankly it could be Vibranium for all I know."

"Pretty sure that isn't a real thing."

The Pokédex let out a mechanical noise that suggested the previous statement was sarcasm.

"Ser." 'Well, if you did see dust forming when you were battling those twins, quantity is likely a place to start. I'm not sure if you just need to be in a place with a ton of Grass-type Pokémon, or if it does need to be saturated with it like Sabrina's Gym.'

"Translation?" The Pokédex's request was quickly given, and so he was able to add his own comment.

"An unknown quandary. Perhaps it would be wise to take the local ferry to Cinnabar and stop at the Seafoam Islands. The interior of the islands are known for a large concentration of Ice-type Pokémon, and you may manage the feat again there if it does require saturation. I'd recommend it over trying in the Cinnabar Volcano in any case."

Charizard growled under his breath something about they'd probably be at the volcano anyway, so they could try then.

"Translation?" The Pokédex's request was this time not given.

Still, Seafoam wasn't a bad idea. With how many Ice-types in Kanto were also Water, he was sure Misty would be happy with a detour there.

Ash supposed he could see if the Mysterious Garden would work too, but Bulbasaur had been adamant he was not getting kidnapped again and was going to be staying in Pallet Town for the duration.

In fact, his exact plan was to have the Professor bring him to Johto for a radio show for the entire duration, and from what he understood it was working.

So, Seafoam would be the place to test the idea out. Then Cinnabar, assuming he could explain to Blaine why he was making strange poses over lava.

(Misty was in fact very happy with the idea when he asked her later, just before he gave Iris the possibly dangerous idea of seeing if he had gotten notably stronger too, which was promptly followed by Misty and Anabel looking at him like he was crazy. It would take him about half a minute to realize why and he promptly cursed himself for bringing it up).

Elsewhere, around the same time

As luck would have it, she had been in Saffron City during the entire incident with the Psychic Heart user and Ash Ketchum, and with some difficulty she had observed it.

Being noticed would not have ended well for her, but leave it to Ash to keep the woman's attention focused on him.

Well Ash and that machine in his pocket, but semantics.

"And then he somehow creates a Z-Crystal. I don't know how you do that, but he does and actually figures out how to use it! I mean does he do those poses in his spare time or something, who gets them functioning on improv!?"

Hilda's exclamation of disbelief was acknowledged by her Prince, who stood silent staring into the moonlit sky for a moment before giving his piece.

"Clearly it appears that I will have to pay more attention to the history of Alola. I had thought the culture of Alola would be merely something to take note of for approaching something better, a starting point for the new world to be created, but it would seem that the history of those islands may have something more to them than a first step to the better society. Perhaps I would not be the first Bloodliner ruler of a land, I will have to see what he did right and wrong so I may follow his successes and avoid his failings."

"A meticulous analysis of history then?" she quipped as a slight smile formed on his lips.

"Indeed."

She didn't just give him unbiased information that wasn't filtered through the King; she also helped him see the culture that humans had created.

For all their failings as a species, they did have some achievements worthy of note. A pity the film and literature industry would likely collapse in their new world, but they were already making considerations for what to save for a reborn one somewhere down the line.

She had also taken to bringing him more philosophies, histories, and theories than what he had been provided himself. He expressed interest in creating the best possible new world where this one continued to fail, and wanted as many sources to inform his decisions as possible. Though she never did understand how he could comprehend half of the things she brought him.

"I take it with this Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town is now looking like the one?" Hilda asked as the prince turned around from his moon gazing to stare right at her, giving her a nice view of his naked body.

Like nearly all of his siblings, of which he was the firstborn, his form was tall and pleasing, befitting the children of a man who declared himself king and his children princes and princesses.

He towered over her, six foot six of marble like skin. His body was smooth and slim, a thinner frame than Belladonna or Ash. His beautiful face was unmarred by the marks that rested upon many of his siblings, which was important for more than cosmetic reasons.

"The exact point in which 'one marked with evil fights one who embraces it' must fight to create a clear path for the future of the world isn't defined, so I won't simply believe that he must be it. However, he certainly is the best candidate so far, though I must admit I find the 'embraces evil' connotation to be disconcerting."

She could certainly understand why. Her Prince was many things, but evil was not one of them.

That was his father's hat.

However, she wanted to see him reach his goals, and him worrying he'd take on his father's behavior was not something any of them would want him to dwell on.

So, she raised a counterpoint to those concerns.

"Evil is relative and dependent on the culture in question. Rangers think Trainers are evil and Trainers think Rangers are evil. The ancient people who wrote down prophecies had their own culture, and every culture has odd foibles. I'm pretty sure there were at least three ancient cultures who thought left handedness of all things was evil."

To emphasize the point she waved her left hand around, ooing sinisterly as she did so.

"No need to be fixated on what others would call you. Those who would call you evil are those who are ruining the world, or would hate you simply for being a Bloodliner. When we are done fixing the world, they will be the ones being called evil for opposing it, not you. Now come, stop thinking of what people who don't matter might call you."

She beckoned him with a gesture and a raised leg, bare as his own from the bed she had been reclining on the entire time.

"Now, let's leave this talk behind. We do need to relax after all, and discussions of morality are hardly relaxing."

The Prince, as always, was more than eager to help her in that.

Back with the heroes

Ash woke up the next morning, alone in his bed.

It was how it was supposed to be, how things were always before. It was normal. Most people, including his mother, would probably call it proper.

He couldn't help but feel that it was mildly depressing to wake up normally.

He rose his torso up slowly, leading Pikachu to stir from the end of the bed as the Pokédex chimed in.

"Good morning. It's before sunrise and you have woken up early."

Yeah, he noticed.

Pikachu looked at him with an uneasy face, and he tried to reassure his buddy.

"It's nothing buddy."

"You look like a Johto political elite when they woke up and found out that Rock Peregrine won the mayorship, like something is just wrong with everything about the morning," the Pokédex snarked.

Why did he leave the Pokédex out of his pocket last night so he could actually see his face? Also, who?

He voiced his question, and the Pokédex elaborated.

"New mayor who is atypically progressive yet typically rough and blunt for a Johto politician. His main campaign promise, besides the standard rhetoric of progressives, was to help Johto's rural folk by instituting major reforms to his city's farming industry which according to him, was in need of a serious technological uplift, and he's very much adamant that his reforms will work. He hopes to become a regional governor after his run as mayor, and doesn't really make for an easy ally on either side of the political spectrum."

Ash felt that was good. He was worried Johto would be a lot worse than he remembered when back in the original timeline, they were easily the most open to him keeping Pikachu out of his Pokéball with Kalos a close second.

"I'd have said you look like a Johto political elite after he realized that the mayor meant everything he said and either went about implementing it or making quite clear what was holding back his policies for the common folk to see, but you don't look like you've seen Articuno flapping cold wind over your pumpkin patch while singing a song of war, so the comparison was what was given."

Interesting…metaphor? Was that the right word for that image, a metaphor? Vocabulary skills aside, they weren't wrong.

"I guess….something is bugging me."

Actually, it was a few things.

"Pikapi?" 'I take it isn't just the fact you woke up alone?'

It being multiple things was handy to step around that conversation.

"Er, I'm more just finally feeling everything that came up."

"Pika?" 'Do you mean about your father, or…'

"More of what you said when you thought Sabrina wanted to do…er…"

"Pi." 'Jessebelle you?'

"Yeah".

Yeah, that, for lack of a better word. Even if in hindsight this was probably not the best way to avoid talking about how off it felt waking up alone again.

Hopefully this conversation would not randomly have the Pokédex reveal he had a sibling into that sort of thing. The odds were probably not in his favor that such a sibling did not exist.

"Pikachu-Pi." 'So, the bit about your ability to attract females regardless of species, probably in context with Misty, Iris, and Anabel.'

Ash nodded, and posed the question.

"Do they really…"

Pikachu gave him a flat look that was a blunt 'yeah, they do.'

Ash took a long breath and a minute to get his thoughts in order before continuing.

"Any idea how to handle it if they actually do like me like that?"

"You are really asking the advice for a machine without lust or love in my circuits, and a creature whose solution to your dilemma would most likely involve you stripping your clothes off and going into each of their secret bases?"

The Pokédex's sardonic point was not helped by Pikachu giving a rebuttal that wasn't so much a refute as declaring there were more steps to it than that.

"So, none of you are much help."

"I have an Oak recording about what to do on a date, but that's more about how you dress for it than anything. I also have one for how to handle being late to a date, how to cancel a date, and how to break up a relationship, none of which would benefit you. Still, if it helps I feel quite sure in declaring they are just as lost on how to approach it as you are."

As lost as he was? That was hard to believe, except maybe in regards to Iris. He could sort of see her being as clueless as he was.

That shower was certainly not her flirting with him.

"You know, and keep this just to you two and not the others…"

"All three are deep asleep, as are any Pokémon."

"…if you can. They are all wonderful and beautiful, but I don't know how I'd even go about a relationship. I mean, let's pretend that I figure out that I really, really like one of them in particular..."

Pikachu coughed something that sounded suspiciously like 'Belladonna and Cleff'. He ignored the point.

"…How would I even know how to get there? Like I said, I don't have a clue how being a boyfriend would even work. How do you get to that point? None of us do."

"Then it would be best for you all to simply move forward and see what happens. Perhaps you will all find a way to sort it all out, or perhaps you won't and it will just flicker away. Such things do happen."

The Pokédex went silent after that, so Ash looked at Pikachu for the second part.

"So I'm attractive to more than just them?"

"Pikapika." 'Why do you think Misty always got jealous?'

Ash was at a loss for words. Misty jealous, over him? Especially pre-Cyrus.

"Pikachu." 'Oh, come on. She always got angry whenever another girl liked you, but she'd probably cuddle with a bunch of Weedle before admitting that out loud. Though I think she'd probably have bragging rights for giving you your first kiss on the mouth."

"When did that happen?" No really, when did that happen?

"Pika Pikachu." 'Well, I think it's that thing humans call CPR, but when you and Lugia fell into the sea that time, Misty volunteered to do it."

"And why didn't you tell me?!"

"Pika!" 'Because I couldn't! Besides, she told Tracey she would murder him if he ever told you about it.'

Ash was again at a loss for words. Misty had saved him that time, but he never actually considered it. Someone would have had to get him to expel the water he swallowed, and… give him mouth-to-mouth. Did Misty really keep that to herself all that time, however long it had been?

"So… Misty and many others find me attractive."

Pikachu nodded.

"Pikaka." 'Yeah, that's right. Even before all of this Bloodliner stuff you made girls from Anabel to Angie to Macy look at you longingly. I've always sort of half-wondered about Blonde Bianca's insistence on knocking you into water myself, though if she did that in this timeline I'd say that she would in fact be doing it on purpose. Same with all the girls you traveled with, though Serena had it before you started traveling together, and I suspect it is the same in this timeline. Should Dawn be alive the way Iris was, she'd probably find you just as attractive, and May too probably.'

"Huh. I always sort of thought May and Dawn had something with Drew and Kenn…"

Pikachu promptly made a sound that sounded like he was about to cough up a hairball of disgust. Odd, sure Kenny could be a tad tough to deal with and Drew was Gary with James's old rose gimmick, but they weren't that bad.

"I'd ask but I'm afraid to find out something weird, like you telling me Drew is addicted to licking stamps or something. Back on topic though, what did you exactly mean by species though?"

Pikachu had a blunt response to his question.

"Pikapi." 'Ash, it was Latias, not brunette Bianca'.…

Oh….okay. For one small piece of information, it was a lot to process and Ash wasn't entirely sure how to react to that, so he moved to the bit he could at least process.

"It was multiple genders and species, right? So, there are guys who find me attractive?"

Later that day

Ash had encountered a variety of odd groups and people on his travels, from schools of ninja to hidden prehistoric paradises.

He had dealt with martial arts studios, and towns interested in Pokémon Sumo competitions, though Iris had found something that was very much a related, if very different sort.

Namely a wrestling dojo, where dozens of youth around his age were clashing with each other in the open sunlight.

Not sumo youth, but other sorts of wrestling.

He turned towards Iris, who was observing them with an inquisitive eye.

"So, did you bring me here to learn from them?"

It didn't seem like she brought him here to join her in watching sweat coated, muscle bound youth straining themselves. That seemed more of the thing she'd bring Misty and Anabel for.

Even if Pikachu and the Pokédex were right and they were attracted to him, that didn't mean they couldn't appreciate sweaty muscle men grabbling with each other.

"Actually, it is more for you to get an idea of what I want you to do today."

With that Iris removed her shirt and tossed it to the side, standing in front of him in just a bra and entering what looked like a fighting stance. Ash forced his eyes to stay focused on hers as he fought to stop them travelling south and to keep his cheeks from reddening.

"We are going to practice hand-to-hand combat like they are. We can use Bloodliner powers later, when you have the basics down."

Many questions promptly ran through his head, first among them wondering why this was what Iris came up with after he mentioned to her wanting to see if he had gotten stronger.

Second was if this had anything to do with the earlier mentioned Pikachu and Pokédex talk. Did Iris remove her shirt, expect him to remove his own, and tell him to try and throw her to the ground for any reason related to being attracted to him, or was this just as platonically meant as the shower?

With Iris, that was actually a question.

Third, would this be better done by seeking help of actual wrestlers in training, or was that academy private property?

Still, he did (sort of) ask for it, so he removed his own shirt and jacket (less dramatically than Iris did due to having more of it), and entered what he thought might count as a fighting ready stance.

Mentally preparing himself for the repeated bouts of pain and awkwardness that was likely bound to happen.

At least the Pokémon (both his and Iris's) weren't here to watch the following awkwardness or pain. Misty had decided to train with her own custom-made melee training, and Anabel was hanging around to play ref and egg protector for the entire thing.

…

She wondered if Ash was confused why she did not get someone more familiar with trained combat to work with him instead of herself.

True, she did have some idea of how to fight (the fact she slammed Ash into the ground for the second time with a new explanation of where he was putting his weight incorrectly was proof of that), but she was not ashamed to admit there were those who knew more than she did.

However, they were not interested in helping a random set of strangers. Also, the director seemed to think her being around his young charges would lead their libidos to distract them.

An odd statement given what she had generally seen of human libido at their age. If anything, it would be Misty who would be distracting, not her.

Really, some of the youth she had seen wrestling looked strange compared to Ash, and she couldn't say she really liked it.

Their muscles were unusually defined. Ash was hardly without muscle, but their muscle stuck out in a manner that seemed unnatural to her.

Ash's muscle felt like it was part of his overall body to her, while their muscle almost seemed like it was taking over their body.

There was also the matter of their hairlessness.

Unlike Ash, their forms seemed devoid of any hair other than on their head. Not on their arms, or their legs, or their chests.

She had no idea about elsewhere.

From what she had been told, they apparently waxed it off. After she asked the machine what that was, she was just baffled.

That was painful, and it seemed odd.

If you were grabbing hair to throw people around, the head seemed a much more logical place to grab. Ash had hair on his body, and she wasn't grabbing that to throw him down.

That was what his wrist was for, though he caught himself before she slammed him into the ground this time. She congratulated him on pulling that off, before their training resumed and her thoughts continued.

Was that what Misty and Anabel prefer him to do, cover himself in the semi-melted form of candles and remove his hair? That would just make him look naked.

And not in the way she'd prefer.

Grabbing his right arm, she moved to swing him down, but he caught himself with his left foot against her own foot and unbalanced her footing.

Regaining it she tried to grab his shoulders for a full push. He ducked, allowing her hands to go right over them, and he grabbed her below the shoulders and forced her to the ground, his bent knee over her thigh.

It was an area she had noted he was trying not to grab earlier, though as their grappling continued he seemed less hesitant about it. A battle rush she suspected adrenaline and instinct overriding his reluctance to grab at particular areas of her body.

Still as he panted over her, his face slowly flushing with embarrassment, she grinned up at him.

"Good, do that a few more times and we will start using attacks."

Meliae had mentioned that a man pinning down a woman, or a woman a man, could be considered a sexual act, and it was likely why she hadn't noticed him trying to grab her by the upper chest or hips until he got too sucked into the battle rush to think about those things.

And Iris had to admit, without the overt force of a fight pushing her down, she could certainly see why. As she stood back up for another round, she could not help but feel a rush.

A rush that she honestly had never felt before, though it did match a bit of what Meliae had mentioned in similar regards to starting sexual acts.

Though her explanation had little to do with the sort of wrestling she and Ash were doing. Though the basic idea of doing a bit to relax Ash from being tense around her unclothed form was going as planned.

Perhaps if she did this for a while, she could start joining him in the shower for not exclusively practical reasons, Meliae had suggested that be a later step. Perhaps by then Misty or Anabel would stop being weird about her suggestions and finally see that her way of thinking was a viable solution to the situation they had found themselves in.

It also gave her some additional observations about Ash and his paternal originating anger. It did not seem to flare up when she threw him to the ground, sometimes more harshly than she meant it.

Did it just need someone like Joshua or Sabrina to trigger? Like the machine would say, she'd probably need more data.

The thought about the anger was knocked out of her, with the air in her lungs it seemed, when Ash elbowed her in the stomach and used momentum to force her to the ground.

The next day

It was just after they finished breakfast that the egg began glowing like a star.

All present from Trainer to Pokémon stopped what they were doing and looked at the egg as it continued to glow brighter and brighter.

Ash couldn't help but be a bit concerned. Togepi's egg didn't glow like that the last time. It cracked.

Sure, all the other eggs he had seen glowed, but Togepi's was different. Was this a sign that something had gone horribly wrong!?

Or did Cyrus mess that up too?

Regardless of the exact nature of egg differences, the glow of the egg illuminated them all in one final massive burst of light, before the light receded and Ash found a blinking Togepi looking right at him in mild confusion, just as Ash remembered Togepi looking.

Round and spiky headed, wearing an egg around itself with a pair of stubby arms and rounded feet. Rather adorable looking too.

Togepi (what was Togepi's gender? Ash could not recall if he ever knew), was also looking at Misty, Iris, and Anabel because of where their heads were.

They had all leaned in to take a look at the hatching Togepi, and Ash wasn't entirely sure of what having four heads visible when hatching would exactly do.

Togepi's confusion soon ebbed away into the cheerful demeanor he always remembered Togepi having, and the Pokémon promptly trilled joyfully.

Something about the resulting 'awww' from Misty made him feel lighter in the heart.

"Togepi, the Spike Ball Pokémon, as I had previously noted. This Togepi is male, and knows the moves Charm, Growl, Metronome, and Extrasensory."

So, Togepi was a boy. Glad he finally knew that.

"Toge!"

The happy cheer of Togepi made a smile form on his own face, which grew even more so as Pikachu darted up to the rounded baby and shook the little Pokémon's hand.

"PiPiPi!" 'Hello, I'm Pikachu.'

The more things were different in this new timeline, the more things he could see, from time to time, was just the same.

"You know, it is cuter than the image provided earlier. I actually rather like it more than I'd thought."

Iris's point was followed by the Pokédex in his pocket muttering about her offending the pride of 2D enthusiasts.

'I'd make sure Togepi is fully captured to you quickly. Team Rocket's not around yet, but I'd rather not have them swoop in and grab him before he's fully registered.'

Anabel's point raised a few memories of Team Rocket antics he'd rather not see repeated, and if they were actually not around for a change it was best to use the window.

He turned to his Pokémon with a simple question.

"Any volunteers to go to Oak's so I can keep Togepi on hand?"

…

The day may have begun with a hatching, but that didn't mean the common things weren't performed.

Walking, talking, blasting Team Rocket off when they popped up, and such normalities.

He had a feeling like Misty, Iris, and Anabel were being a bit harsher in blasting them off recently, though he wasn't exactly sure how it was they were being more so.

It wasn't anything he could pin down; just a feeling he got overall that was the case.

After that came some personal training, which was another bout of wrestling slash hand to hand combat with Iris.

Then after even more walking, it was time for some training of another sort.

Serperior's tail glowed bright blue before clashing with Charizard's glowing claws. It was interesting to watch, since evolving Serperior used Aerial Ace differently, as well as Leaf Blade from what he had seen earlier.

The attack required less spinning and jumping, and reminded Ash more of sword jabs and slashes instead.

It was worth noting for later battles, though it might not be a bad idea to see if Serperior could still attack with jumps and flips the same as before.

Charizard's Metal Claw was effectively stopping the attack from landing, but it did clearly require effort.

Charizard blocked a final, harsh jab just as a pair of grass blades formed up around his feet. Charizard growled before igniting into a Flame Charge to burn them away.

'You could do better than that, and will have to do better if you really want to make it as a battler.'

Charizard's growl was aimed at the Exeggutor who had been found to be most interested in further battle focused training.

Confusion, Teleport, Grass Knot, and Sludge Bomb were his moveset, and his response to put down was to stomp the ground and glare with multiple faces at Charizard.

Charizard was not intimidated by this. Perhaps it was because Exeggutor apparently could not use Scary Face?

With Pikachu off doing starting training with Togepi (was more akin to playing at this stage, given that Togepi didn't have the same aggressive streak that Scraggy had), that left him and Butterfree.

They had more things to test out.

"Shattered Psyche!"

Like the Z-Move for example.

He had adjusted his posing a bit, and he felt a lot less of that energy loss he had felt the first time. It didn't feel perfect yet, but the fact the rock he and Butterfree had targeted was bounced four times before exploding suggested that they were on the right track.

It still left both of them exhausted though.

"Free." 'You know, the power that gives…it's incredible. But I could do without the….'

"Exhaustion?"

He finished the sentence as the two tried to regain feeling in their bodies.

"Well, we are getting better at it. This doesn't feel as rough as the last few times."

Still he'd like to find a way to not have as much exhaustion before using it in another large battle, and that still had the question of if every new crystal would have the problem, or just the first use of one by a Pokémon.

He was trying to still trying to figure out how to cause a new one to form for him after all. Psychic moves were not exactly well spread among his team in both current or potential use, and there was the additional fact that it only seemed to work with Butterfree.

He had tried with Exeggutor and Togepi earlier today, and it hadn't sparked when he tried with either. All it did was leave Exeggutor confused and Togepi amused.

So far after Charizard his attempts had involved a five-way Tauros brawl, dipping his hand in the water while Misty did some fishing in a high-water Pokémon density area, had Butterfree, Vivillon, and the Spewpa cover his hand in String Shot and keep applying it for a good while before walking through a rather buggy forest, and similar failed ideas.

Misty had not appreciated the minor Beedrill swarm that chased him out of said buggy forest, even if she did want to work her abilities more.

Continued puzzles upon continued puzzles.

As Togepi and Pikachu returned to the spot he was resting on the ground with the former woozily tuckering to a stop as the little Pokémon reached him, the Pokédex spoke up.

"While you continue to struggle with replication, I have additional data. Would you like to know about a newly discovered half sibling?"

Togepi retracted his head inside his shell sleepily against his leg as Ash took the device out of his pocket.

"Sure, what's the worst he could…"

Ash stopped himself mid-sentence when he remembered that (insert word that was more extreme than creep that Ash could not think up right now that felt appropriate) Misty ran into.

Just thinking of him honestly made his blood boil.

"This sibling does not match the description given by her, so if your current raised levels of agitation are related to the half-brother of yours closest in reported behavior to your father you can relax. This sibling is not human scum. However, he is…fascinating."

Ash did not like how the Pokédex paused before choosing that word.

"He isn't addicted to licking stamps, is he?"

"No, that is a strange thing you think someone named Drew has a problem with."

Actually, no, he didn't think Drew had that as an issue. It was something random and strange he randomly came up with.

The Pokédex was displaying an image, with scale, of a tall fellow who looked around Belladonna or Cleff's age instead of his or Red's. Similarly, unlike him or Red he had a lither body type.

He had long brown hair that went down beyond his neck, though it looked kempt. He had marks on his face like his, though his eyes were yellow instead of red. He was dressed in a white suit of all things, which was probably not what had warranted the title 'fascinating'.

"His name is Fender, and as you can probably guess from his eye color he's actually native to Unova. His mother was a lawyer representing a cross-region business operation, though they ended up in Johto permanently when the Unova end of the business cut their losses with them after a case went bad. One of the other businessmen got caught in a lie, though he was irremovable so a scapegoat was needed you see. After that she functions to this day as a small-town lawyer."

That was a way to catch yourself, but Ash was still waiting for the fascinating part that wasn't related to his choice attire.

"Now, what gets real interesting is a twofold case. The first is what happened after he left home. Not because he wanted to be a Trainer, I have it on record that he's 'more into long-term strategy games than action ones. More Meirer than Kitase'. As you have no idea what that idiom means, basically he is more a fan of the sort of games that involve long term planning without the constant factors of action, which one would see in both a fighting game or a Pokémon battle. No, his departure was more due to not feeling like living in a small town forever. Like he was meant for greater things."

That sounded unnerving, and it didn't sound like how he felt about himself. He couldn't recall really feeling like that about Pallet Town.

"That greater thing, based on what Gardevoir and company have reported, is becoming a rising star in the Johto smuggling underworld."

Ash, Pikachu, and Butterfree stared in stunned silence at the machine, unable to process what was just said.

What?

"Not even two years running, and he's the head of the major supplier of many of northern Johto's illicit goods and information, as well as an emerging provider of off the book products that aren't strictly illegal but are still dodgy in origin."

What?

"Though as best as they could find, it seems to be only mostly moral illegal products. He isn't involved in drugs or guns or living creatures, seemingly based on moral choice."

"Good for him, still can't believe I have a criminal brother of that magnitude."

Ash's quip was still in disbelief. Given recent events he could take a deep breath and say that Belladonna was not the most horrible person in his family. Even without her assistance in saving him, what had come up about his father and that brother Psyduck punched outstripped her, and he was able to say that she wasn't dangerous without provocation.

Then she was utterly dangerous to all in her way.

But a junior crime boss? How did that happen exactly?

Did he get recruited and join up with some two-bit gang he eventually took over? Did he just start his own criminal business?

How did you even do that? He couldn't even ask Team Rocket, who were probably nearby and had some familiarity with the underworld. They didn't start Team Rocket, and were probably not in charge of recruiting people.

"Oh, don't worry, Gardevoir also sent some information that is much more familiar to your family than crime profits."

He didn't like the way the Pokédex said that.

"Free." 'It's going to say that this Fender is another sibling who has…'

"You see, Fender has many people who work with him as part of his operations. All of them are female, and have the same relationship with him that you see with fellow sixteen-year-old siblings Belladonna and Cleff!"

'…And I was right.'

There was a saying about one is chance, twice is coincidence, third times a pattern. Fourth time made you wonder…

Fourth time…

"What the, again!? How?! Why!?"

Seriously, what was going on!? Three siblings doing the same thing, and that wasn't including Meliae.

That wasn't including Midori, who had multiple female friends who were traveling with him.

It wasn't including himself, who he had to admit sort of qualified like Midori. In fact, a bit more given he knew that Misty, Iris, and Anabel did, for some reason, find him attractive. For all he knew Midori's friends didn't and kept him around for platonic reasons.

This didn't make any sense. Sure, they shared DNA and looked a bit alike, but this was honestly bizarre and probably at the peak of the illogical.

Was he going to next run into Red and find him in a relationship with multiple girls? Was Yellow going to walk up to him and wave hello next time with a half dozen girls her age?

Or boys. That hadn't happened yet, and with his luck some sibling of his probably got a hold of whatever catalogue Nastina ordered her speedo clad boy-toys from.

"Why do we keep finding people like this?!"

"Ashley and several siblings your companions reported were lacking the trait currently giving you stress, but that is inconsequential. There are two notable differences between Fender's lovers and those of your other older siblings. The first is that his paramours number more than three, as I hinted earlier. It's an oddly large group, as including him they are nine of them in total. The second is that at least one of them I can say for certainty is not a Bloodliner."

The screen image on the Pokédex changed from Fender to that of frizzy haired girl with bleached color hair and a pair of glasses. She was a bit gangly looking.

"This is Tesal, a self-professed 'mad scientist' formerly attending the future geniuses' school in Ecruteak City before being expelled for building a mostly safe 'Azoth Reactor' against school and city ordinances, as well as general scientific achievement possibility. There is extensive information on her before her admission I have access to, and there is no evidence of any Bloodliner abilities. She is as human as the old man who made me, and yet I could easily provide video data of her mutually flirting, romancing, and more your elder brother. Have you reconsidered the benefits of such recordings for sleep purposes?"

"….No."

Ash's blunt response was not factored into what the Pokédex said next.

"Very well, but you'd be interested to know she has managed to independently match the recent achievement of the Professor's associate with item capsule storage recently, an achievement that led your brother to pick her up, spin her around, and kiss her in that manner than caused her spine to bend over and her back to lean parallel to the floor. She apparently is currently working on creating wormholes next.”

“Others in his organization include Bloodliners Sam, Asi, and Secra, who appear to be Technique Bloodliners for Strength, Discharge, and Secret Power who provide related services for their little organization. Sam has super strength; Asi provides electrical charge to Tesal's super-batteries for their base, while Secra is able to continue to expand their hideout with her abilities as needed, along with creating side bases. Gardevoir and co are still gathering more information on them for the data base, so they will be monitoring for a while. It may take a while to get useful information however, as things there are currently weird."

Ash looked at Pikachu and Butterfree uneasily before looking back at the Pokédex.

"I'm going to regret asking, but what is 'weird' exactly."

The Pokédex promptly gave him an answer, by playing a recording that was apparently being given live.

It sounded a bit altered and amplified for clarity, but he could hear the voice of someone with a slight Unovan tint to their voice. Most likely Fender.

"…The wonderful thing about girls, is girls a wonderful thing. Their tops are made of springs, their bottoms are made up of blubber!

They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! But the most wonderful thing about girls is...there are so many!"

Lithe and slick, wonderfully curved hourglasses, charmingly round and soft, and everything in between, it is nearly impossible to find a truly ugly girl!"

Who was currently singing in a manner Ash could not tell if it was due to drugs, tiredness, or drinking unhealthy levels of coffee mixed energy drinks, possibly a mixture of all three for all he knew.

It sounded like a song from his childhood, and it had awoken Togepi, who was currently trying to trill to the tune of it in a manner that was both cute and somewhat strange.

Well, that was it for the day. He couldn't really muster up anything more after hearing that.

No, not whatsoever. If Iris was still training Misty and Anabel like she had been recently, they'd probably be just as tired and they could all go to bed and be done with today.

Then he could wake up tomorrow, and hopefully find a normal sibling for a change.

A few days later

Perhaps it was because they had recently met that photographer that her dream was filled with photos stuck to walls all around her.

As for knowing it was a dream, her last memory was putting her head down on her pillow and idly noting that it still felt oddly vacant.

She noted what was in the pictures, and couldn't help but note that all of them seemed to be her when she was younger, perhaps ten or twelve or something around that point in life.

Or whatever age she had liked suspenders as a fashion statement.

Despite her younger age in them, she seemed to be a Pokémon Trainer in them, as all of the photos featured her with some Pokémon or another.

In one image she was holding a Poliwhirl who had apparently been beaten in a battle along a river. She didn't see her opponent, but she could see a look of disappointment on the Poliwhirl, and a look of sad pride on her own face.

In another she was standing with a Psyduck, one that looked a lot like her own, in front of a set of well-made dolls.

A third had her standing on top of a Gyarados who again looked a lot like her own, looking rather confident.

A fourth had her in the water somewhere, it looked like a canal if she had to guess, hugging a pink Pokémon that looked like a Corsola, and was in fact probably a Corsola. A photo right next to it had her holding a fancy medal/medallion in her hand that featured two stylized winged Pokémon of some species.

They were all like that, and there were far more than those. A number of them had her holding Ash's Togepi, and in doing so there was a different air about her. It stirred something in her that she couldn't figure out, it felt vaguely familiar but in truth she couldn't really say what it was.

"You know, you were like always better at that stuff than we were. All we had was beauty."

An unfortunately familiar voice rang through her dream, and she found her body shifting to face the back of someone who was looking over another wall of photos with the pose of a museum goer.

The familiar voice was paired with an unfortunately familiar fashion sense and head of blonde hair, who turned around to look at her.

"The Sensational Sisters of Cerulean City and the runt, but look at you now. We can't call you that now."

Daisy was smiling at her, which was a weird thing to see happening. It never happened, ever.

There had to be something else, a catch. She was wearing shades; she was probably hiding her leering gaze behind them.

Yeah, that was what was going on.

"You're just as sensational as the three of us."

Misty could only stare at the shades wearing shade in apprehension. What was this about, a trap? A trick? A cruel bait and switch?

"Yeah, the sensational it. The unwanted one. The Bloodliner."

Her bitter tone seemed to confuse Daisy.

"What's a Bloodliner?"

Who did she think she was kidding?

"I mean, I don't know a lot of things. I'll freely admit I'm not smart, and I'm not even a hundred percent of me. I'm just a Dream figure talking to you a person who's dreaming, and I'd have to, like, go really meta here, but I'm not just a thing in your dream. I'm the memory of Daisy as seen by someone outside of the four of us incompletely being played by your subconscious, or perhaps, like, your subconscious’ subconscious."

That didn't make any sense.

"Hey, don't ask me, I'm just a memory of a memory, but if you'd let me be honest…"

Daisy, or whatever she was, lifted her shades, though she couldn't really describe her eyes. It was as if they had no detail, though she got the unsettling implication that her eyes were matching her mouth.

Being that both of them were giving her a feeling of being happy, true, and sad in same and equal amounts.

"You're beautiful Mist, and that isn't all you have. You may have been the last of us, but you were, and are, truly the best."

And with that statement, delivered in a way she had never heard any of her sister's say, Misty awoke in her bed. She jerked upright, throwing her covers off in the process and looking around only to find darkness and an empty Secret Base. Misty sighed and fell back onto her bed and stared at the ceiling as she thought about what she'd just dreamt.

Utterly confused, and feeling a strange mixture of emotions. Confusion, pride, sadness, a feeling of something having been lost but not really remembering that you ever had it to begin with, a whole giant mess. She just lay in her bed, not moving to get up yet. It was still early, and maybe by the time everyone else was up she'd be able to make heads or tails of it all.

Seafoam Islands

Ash had never paid much attention to the Seafoam Islands before. Other than a ferry stop, he had never really visited them.

He had spent some time on the unofficial member of the chain, Binnes the Seafoam Island, but not much on the actual Seafoam islands.

They had gotten the express ferry service to Cinnabar originally, while this time they had taken the local service that stopped at all of the islands. While they had skipped over the first island in the duo due to how crowded the exit was (Anabel having commented it appeared to be a major tourist spot and thus something they should avoid), it had looked enough like the second one they were currently on for Ash to comment on both in the same breath.

The islands were divided in three parts, two outer bands and a center area.

The outer bands were beach areas, areas coated in sand and stone lapped at the edge by the waves of the sea. They were what drew people here, and he suspected they were serious business to the people in Seafoam.

The 'litter and pay this ludicrous fine' signs at every entrance to the beach was only the most obvious way they made that point clear.

Pikachu had taken one step on the sand, winced loudly at how hot it was, and had taken residence on his shoulder for transport across it.

The inner band was a line of buildings and houses that circled the island around. It was where the people of the island lived and operated, and went into the island about as far as it could, though it had seemingly run into the limit possible for doing so.

For the inner part of the island was a steep and severe rocky mountain, within which was a series of icy caves. No one was sure why they were icy exactly, there weren't any cold currents nearby to generate the cold water, yet somehow it was.

The Pokédex had offered a theory that it was because of the large colony of Ice-type Pokémon who lived in the cave. However, Ash had a question about that.

Where had the Ice-type Pokémon come from? How did they all end up on an island, particularly the Jynx population?

Did they teleport there? If so, again why would they choose to do so?

The caves in the center of the island were something he could concern himself with later. The main reason they were stopping there was to see if the concentrated amount of single type energy there would let him create another Z-Crystal.

Secondary reason was for Misty to try and find more Water-types.

A far less important reason was for the Pokédex to scan the local Zubat population, which apparently had more hair on them than regular Zubat populations.

How anyone could tell that was beyond him, or did the Zubat on this island resemble Woobat more than Zubat?

The Ice-types were apparently more active at night, when everything overall was a bit colder, so they had decided to wait the time out in the only way one could really spend their time in Seafoam.

"Hey Ash!"

In swimsuits on the beach.

Misty was waving to him at the water's edge, dressed in the yellow and blue bikini she had looked quite good in back during the Princess shopping madness. Distantly behind her, he could see the forms of Iris and Anabel swimming, which he suspected was Iris's training of Anabel today.

"Come on in, the water's fine!"

Given he was in his swim trunks from the same shopping spree, he was quick to oblige, slowing only to avoid a kid's sandcastle.

…

In what had been aired out since Sabrina to everyone but seemingly himself and the three of them face to face, Ash noted at several points where the attraction they had to him, and his towards them, flared up.

When they were swimming, Ash had noticed his eyes drift to certain parts of their bodies. Be it Misty's breasts held up by a strapless bikini top, the ruffled white covering Anabel's black clad rump, or the way Iris's swimsuit stuck to her athletic body, those were just some of the places he had noticed his eyes wander to.

He wasn't sure if they noticed him doing it, though he thought he had noticed them looking at him a few times the way he felt he had been looking at them, though he wasn't entirely sure what they were exactly looking at.

He wasn't entirely sure where girl's eyes wandered in such situations, and he wasn't sure if it would be worse to ask them about it, the Pokédex, or his mom.

That last one could really hurt. 'Hey Mom, what parts of my body would a girl ogle' was not the conversation he wanted to have with his mom over the phone, or in person frankly.

Out of the water there had been a few clearer signals, when they had gotten some ice cream a pair of young women more in the age range of whatever age Team Rocket was (and if he didn't know how old he was back in the day he sure wasn't going to know how old they were) had come over and flirted with him.

At least he was pretty sure that was why they were complimenting him while bending over in a way that was good for showing off their bikini clad chests.

That had led to an annoyed Misty and Anabel glaring at them, who were joined by Iris only after they made a disparaging comment about Anabel's swimsuit. He had quickly followed in getting them to go away after that.

He had felt similarly annoyed at a pair of muscular bodybuilders walked over and started flirting with Misty and Iris (apparently, they could appreciate her body more than most other guys who tried flirting, who focused more on Misty and Anabel).

They didn't end up leaving the same way as the girls who had been flirting with him, mostly because they didn't insult him the same way the girls had insulted Anabel. Was it because Iris had been drilling muscle into him and thus they didn't have ground to call him scrawny or something?

Regardless they eventually, thankfully, did leave at some point, though they did offer him a suggestion on a good place to get wax.

Even had Iris not quickly told him not to get any, and Anabel and Misty saying it was his choice (even if he did get the feeling they were just over the fence on the waxing side), Ash honestly had no idea when he'd even have the time to wax himself.

He had a fairly busy schedule as it is with all sorts of training, and even outside of all the swimming and diving Iris had him do that day his Pokémon bar Pikachu were all training at the lab right now, and even that was such a hectic thing to arrange Ash couldn't see himself doing that every so often just to try and wax himself.

"Hey, it's Ash! I can't believe it, he's here too!"

Such thoughts were thankfully interrupted by a familiar group of five, Midori and his four female friends (as far as he could tell). It took him a moment to remember their names. Hoshi was the one in the pink one-piece swimsuit with a white star near the left waist, and Monet was the one in a white bikini with a transparent black sarong. Rana was the name of the girl in a blue bikini a white skirt if he recalled correctly, while it was Kusa in a green strapless one-piece swimsuit with a palm motif.

Midori was in a pair of green and black swim trunks alongside them, though something about him seemed off somehow.

Nervousness, unease, or some sort of emotion like that seemed to waft off him a bit.

"You guys taking a day off too? We're here celebrating the fact I somehow won the contest here the other day, but are you guys celebrating something too?"

"More a day off than celebrating."

Misty answered Hoshi's question, and thus some small chatter started up. It was more from the Stone Town group than Misty and Iris, given that they hadn't really interacted much.

They knew who they were, but there was ice needing to be broken.

So as the ice continued to get steadily broken Ash found himself slowly edging towards Midori, who continued to be as uneasy as Ash had noticed him.

With talk having slowly edged to talking about the Seafoam Caves they were planning on looking at later in the day ("Ice-type Pokémon are cool, but I don't know if they are worth it that much"), it would be just them.

"What's bugging you?"

Ash's question caused Midori to flinch, who looked around nervously before answering.

"It's that obvious?"

Ash nodded to his pretty much confirmed bar an actual DNA test half-brother, while Pikachu muttered something about wondering why his friends had missed it.

To that Ash could very well argue the amount of things that he kept to himself, but that was hardly for here. That would just make him sound deranged.

"Well…do you ever feel inadequate?"

"I hope you are talking about losing and not something else."

Ash was spared having to put his feeling of defeat at the hands of people like Ritchie, Harrison, Tyson, Tobias, or Cameron into a workable context when Midori shook his head.

"It's not that. Really it is more…"

Midori waved his hand over his chest, seemingly unable to put it into words.

Ash wasn't entirely sure what the issue was. Midori's chest didn't seem to have anything wrong with it. It wasn't covered in boils or sunken in with some sort of ailment. It was lightly muscled and looked rather healthy.

It only looked bad compared to the bodies of people who body built for a living, or that martial artist a bit older than them who had talked him up earlier rather curious if he'd be in Seafoam for a while and if he wanted to know about a good bar (he wasn't of age for that yet, though he wasn't sure why Anabel was blushing by the time he left. He hadn't noticed her checking him out at all, and she had made an odd sound when the guy asked if he had a place for the night yet), or possibly his own chest…

Ash avoided face palming when it came together.

There were a lot of body building types on the beach, even beyond the two that flirted with Iris and Misty. That could get at anyone if they thought about it too much.

"You know that how much muscle you have isn't everything, right?"

His point to Midori was met with looking away.

"You mean you don't feel like you are…"

"That I don't spend all of my time lifting twice my body weight? Look, the both of us are Pokémon Trainers, and how much muscle we have isn't important. We get it by traveling around and training with our Pokémon, but it's a side effect."

Ash would have said something about the only important muscle for Trainers being the brain, but that would sound sort of sappy, and hypocritically sappy at that, coming from him.

Pikachu would likely then snark at him about it, or slap him in the face with his tail.

Midori looked at him more closely, or at least at his torso.

"That's all from training?"

"No, it's from Iris deciding that I should be able to outrun my Tauros because of a ninja."

"Pikapi." 'You mean Kunoichi.'

Same thing.

"You mean the Fuchsia Gym Leader?"

Midori's question seemed to be layered with an additional bit of confusion, perhaps at the Tauros part.

Most likely at the Tauros part, if Ash had to guess.

"Yep. Honestly you won't look like me, and definitely not them, unless you start doing something crazy or nuts, or you only do that thing. You're fine as you are, and if you keep traveling you will only get better."

"What does she have you do?"

Ash's attempt at reassurance wasn't very effective, as Midori still seemed interested in going through the same training as he had.

As someone who had done so, Ash felt a duty to tell him not to do so. Plus, that was probably the big brotherly thing to do.

Beyond that, warning him was the good and moral thing to do. He was not ready to start calling people his brothers and sisters, but he was always ready to prevent people from hurting themselves.

"I joke and all, but Iris has some idea what she's doing. She pushes all of us only as far as it doesn't hurt us, and I couldn't tell you where the line for that really starts. I don't think you could really tell either. Unless one of your friends has that knowledge, or you meet someone who has it, it isn't safe."

"What if I'm tougher than I look?"

Midori still didn't seem convinced, and so Ash did a bit of thinking to try and keep Midori from worrying about himself so much he decides to wrestle a Nidoking.

Even if he was 99.999999% likely to be a Bloodliner, that was still horribly dangerous. Also, he needed to work on his vague phrasing, but that might just be because Ash was aware that Midori shared a father with him and that because of him they were all 'tougher than they looked'.

He did have an idea of how to prevent him from bothering royal purple Pokémon though.

"Do they mind?"

Ash's pointed at Midori's friends, a gesture Midori followed and blushed a bit, before shaking his head.

"Then remember that. They don't think you need to change, and would be horrified if you hurt yourself trying to. Iris doesn't have us all train because she thinks it makes us look better. She does so because she doesn't want a ninja to get us."

Ash specifically said the last part as seriously as possible, and it got Midori chuckling a bit. Ash felt a smile form.

Mission accomplished.

Nighttime, the Seafoam Caves

"Vee!"

As the last Zubat in the air was knocked down by a Quick Attack, Ash had a free moment to reflect.

The Seafoam caves were as he was told they would be.

The walls were caked in a blue sheen from the icy cold, and that cold was quite tangible. Cold was something he could handle, as they did obtain winter gear at some point during the shopping madness.

When exactly eluded him, but beyond the cold the trip hadn't managed the results he was hoping to find.

That being getting a Z-Crystal to form again. However, it wasn't without the other desired outcomes, and more.

For example, the massive amount of Zubat and Golbat in the cave that seemed to react to their unexpected arrival in their inner sanctum with a massive swarming attack was good for training.

Not just for their Pokémon, not only did Pikachu, Boldore, Squirtle, Exeggutor, Ambipom, Goodra, Kadabra, Eevee, Excadrill, Gible, Emolga, Axew, Psyduck, Staryu, Poliwrath, Slowbro, Wooper and the Seel Misty had caught while they were here get a lot of training out of battling the swarm, but so had their own Bloodliner abilities.

Also, the Pokédex got a lot of data on the local population of Zubat, which were apparently hairier than usual.

"Seel!"

As Misty's new Seel clapped in the aftermath of their great victory, he noticed Iris had a proud look on her face. As best as Ash could guess, it was directed at Anabel, who hadn't fallen onto her knees in exhaustion after all of the fighting.

Squirtle stepped over a Zubat and looked at him with a curious look.

"Squirt." 'So, no crystal out of nothing. That's a bummer.'

It was. Not even some dust that seemed Zubatty, given that most of the Pokémon they saw were Zubat and Golbat swarms.

He honestly probably could have gotten more use out of a Zubat generated crystal than one created because they discovered a colony of dancing Jynx.

Perhaps not as much a Poison Z-Crystal, but Flying….he could make a lot of use of a Flying one.

He'd have to figure out how he'd even make that work, given he didn't see a vision in his head of how to do the move.

"They'll be alright, right?"

Misty's question was directed at the Zubat and Golbat, all of whom were lying unmoving on the icy floor around them.

"With their additional fur, that is a fairly likely outcome. Most of their potential predators are aquatic, and none of them fell in the water," the Pokédex's point did not stand for long though.

'That might be the case now, but it may not remain that way. Am I the only who has noticed the water's gotten higher since we got down here?'

Anabel's point, upon translation for the Pokédex was quickly scrutinized.

First by them looking at the water's edge, which was a subjective measure and by no means conclusive.

"Hmm, it would appear that the tide was low when we came in, and it is in fact rising. Can't say if they would have time to recover before the flood comes in, nor that there are even enough predators to prevent them from just decaying in the water on mass. The results of that, in case you are not aware, would be quite negative."

Ash eyed the Zubat and Golbat that had just tried to bite them all (Misty having translated from Seel that they were primarily blood feeders on surfaced Seel and other such species earlier, though at the point about the effect they'd have if they all drowned she was now looking a bit green) while also trying to drive them out, then at the water where the white fins of a Gyarados were breaking the surface, then back at the Zubat and Golbat.

It wasn't a hard decision to make, and he had missed out all the way back in Mount Moon. He'd finally be able to make up for it.

Make up for it, and then some.

"Can you guys make some room; I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen."

Everyone obliged, either by being returned or moving to the bat-less edges, even as he reached for the H.O.P.E glove and the enhanced duplication feature/glitch.

It took about five minutes, but in the end of it there would be no mass dying in the caves starting at high tide.

"Registration complete. You are now the proud owner of forty-one Zubat and fourteen Golbat, and ecological damage has been avoided."

"Ecological damage that we would have been responsible for."

"Only as far as being something above their weight they tried to attack."

Iris countered his point with her own, which was not inaccurate. They didn't enter the cave with a plan to cause water pollution via Zubat, but what was done was done.

They had taken steps to control the possible damage, and now all that was left was to continue exploring the cave as long as they could manage.

With that Gyarados he, and most likely the others as well, had spotted they'd need a different fishing spot for Misty…

"Vro."

A distant sound rang through the cave, coming from the depths of the cave where he suspected the water was already well risen.

'What was that?'

"I do not know. I have never heard that call."

Iris's uneasy point was met by a second call from the same Pokémon.

"Vroooo."

This one louder, and closer.

One that wracked his brain with familiarity. He couldn't help but feel he had heard it somewhere before.

"Vrooooooo!"

It was much closer, and now he could figure out the direction it was coming from.

Misty too, as she was pointing in that very direction.

"Look!"

A blur shape was now coming towards them, a blue shape that Ash had seen before.

A shape that he had battled before.

A shape that was among the rarest in the world, a Pokémon he had seen four times originally.

Once in the Orange Islands, once in Johto, once at the command of a powerful opponent, and once as a mirage.

"Articuno."

He breathed out the Pokémon's name as the legendary bird flew over their heads, seemingly not noticing them. A trail of frosty air flowed behind the powerful bird, chilling him to the bone.

All of their bodies turned around to watch the Legendary Pokémon, which flew out of sight and through the cave towards the entrance of the cave.

"Vrooo."

Leaving only the distant sound of its rare call behind as a reminder it was ever there to begin with.

"Pi?" 'What's Articuno doing in a cave?'

Pikachu's question was not answered as the Pokédex made a sound that sounded like a slot machine that had just hit the jackpot.

"Data obtained. Let's do Zapdos next!"

The Pokédex's request was as ignored as Pikachu's question, as Anabel had her own statement.

'We just saw a legendary Pokémon. I can't believe it…'

"We did see that Mew, but even so to see another one…"

Misty's disbelief made it two for two. Would Iris make for three?

However, she was staring in the trail of the Pokémon in shock, so Ash wasn't sure if that counted.

"Pikapi!" 'Ash, your hand! Look at it.'

Pikachu's shout drew him to look at his hand, which he rose up in front of his face and found it covered in a thick layer of that Z-Crystal dust.

Icy-blue dust at that.

He looked back at the trail of fading freezing air Articuno had left, then back at his hand.

The dust didn't manifest any more of itself.

"Well, that would be progress. I just hope you obtaining more does not require you to battle Legendary Pokémon."

Iris's concerned tone at the implication of a failed Z-Crystal formation only now was appreciated.

"It's winning two battles with one attack, I say go for it. You can probably survive the wrath of an angry Legendary Pokémon and I would not melt unless an Entei swallowed me in theory."

The Pokédex's was not.

The next day, on Kanto proper

His doorbell rang.

The door opened after a moment, revealing a familiar face to the homeowner.

"Oh, Gary isn't it? Welcome back to my home!" Casey Snagem, novelist without a distinguished novelist mustache, greeted warmly to the young Trainer he had once discussed the nature of Pokémon Mastery with, before taking in the returning young man's appearance more closely.

More specifically, into his eyes.

"You lost, didn't you?"

And not just lost. The look in his eye suggested that the boy had not only lost, but lost badly. Lost badly to someone he despised.

Gary stared right into the retired Trainer's eyes, his body almost trembling in frustration and desperation, before kneeling at his feet.

Casey just stared at the act in surprise, a surprise that grew when the boy spoke.

"Please, train me. I'll do anything you want and everything you tell me, but I need to get better. I need to figure out what I'm missing."

Casey stared further at the youth kowtowing at his feet and begging for his knowledge before turning his neck around and shouting into his home.

"Honey, remember that youth I gave unsolicited advice to a while ago? He's begging at my feet for training for the league and to avenge a likely soul crushing defeat. That's no problem with you, is it?"

"Only as long as I get a crack at him too."

Surprised for a moment at his wife's request, though fine with the application of it should this go through, he nonetheless turned back to the young man looked him right in the back of the head (as he was still kowtowing and could not see his eyes).

"Very well, we will train you and see that you get what badges you still need for the league. I suspect you will find the one who defeated you there, that is how this tends to work when it plays out both in the written and real worlds. However, I will warn you now, you will train intensely, you and your Pokémon both. My wife's Avalugg will likely be involved in training somehow. Are you unaware of what Avalugg training is?" It was cold.

"Like I said, I'll do anything," Gary murmured.

"If you say that around my daughters you will be made to clean their bathroom instead of them all as it is supposed to be, but if you are willing to endure that and our training, we will do it and you will grow for it. Pray that you survive."

The last part was for dramatic effect, he'd live. Worst Avalugg training could do was freeze off his buttocks or some other organ.

Still, the boy would likely come to regret his request, even as it helped as intended.

OMAKE CANON: TOGEPI TRAINING BEGINS!

Charizard grinned as his arms grabbed each limb of the now quite scared Boldore.

Evolution was a way for a Pokémon to gain many new things. Typings, moves, power, strength, all good things.

But it also introduced new weaknesses. It was after all, much easier to grab a Boldore than a Roggenrola.

With a flap of his wings he flew into the air, spinning Boldore a few times before throwing her into the ground with an audible thump and a grass shaking shockwave of force.

He landed with a forceful wing flap, even as the Chansey Ash somehow managed to catch ran to the hurt Boldore and began healing her.

A cheer went off at his side, leading him to turn around and see Togepi, jumping cheerfully. He was at the ranch with them while Ash had a day mostly off as to better avoid getting rusty in their Pokéballs all day.

Still cheering, Togepi picked up a stick and jumped in the air with it in hand. He dropped it at about the peak of the jump, cheering some more when the stick clattered to the ground.

It was cute, it was like Togepi was trying to use Seismic Toss…

The thought made Charizard pause for a moment.

Could Togepi learn Seismic Toss?

He had no idea, but it wasn't a bad question.

Charizard felt a smile form, and it only got larger and larger as he started thinking about it more.

Even if Togepi couldn't learn Seismic Toss, could he learn Flamethrower? Perhaps another move he had familiarity with, or even a move that one of the others knew.

Maybe Pikachu could offer up some sort of electric attack if he could remember that Togepi could be just like that Scraggy instead of Misty's weight carrying exercise.

Even if he didn't, the face he could see Pikachu making at seeing Togepi breathing fire made his smile grow so large he wasn't sure if he hadn't accidentally learned Scary Face by mistake.

Charizard growled as kindly as he could to the little Pokémon, such wondrous plans in mind.

'Hey Togepi, do you want to learn how to do all the best things I'm able to do?'

Meanwhile in the shallows of the Seafoam Island beach he was partially submerged in, Pikachu felt a horrible disturbance in the force of all things pure and innocent.

OMAKE (NON CANON): THE AUTHOR TALKING CORNER

The chainsaw ceasing cutting at the chapter for the moment, the edit changing the ending of the scene per the suggestion of Viroro.

He put the chainsaw down for a moment as he took a breath and put his time into a time sink that was the bane of men and mon alike.

Also known as T.V Tropes, and in particular something from the depths of internet madness.

"Ebony appears in dozens of fics to mock, the Conversion Bureau spawned a genre, and four deconstructions or remakes by others of a single Mykan fic. Why do they spread everywhere?" The author wondered aloud as he looked upon the entry.

"Because the worst of the internet will always exist, stand out, and spread beyond."

Standing above him, upon a mound of solid black obsidian, stood a dark armored figure, colored black and blood red.

His name was Darkern Edgier, a dark armor figure who had once tried to 'improve' Earth 083116.

He had since somehow escaped being a statue to a Princess of Friendship and now was active on the meta fringes of Earth 121913, the world of Reset Bloodlines.

It had been via the 040118 side door.

"Have you not seen? Characters bound to a single universe, a single author, those of One Creator, or O.C, are only the ones that are good or mediocre. It is the bad ones that spread and are used by others freely as an actual canon character!"

The guy actually seemed bummed about that fact.

"That sucks. I mean, I love what people can do with the Bureau like the great Fluffy, but what is there to do with Ebony? You can't improve her the way you can Ash, Harry, or Naruto."

Given what Darkern considered improving those three, the Author had to feel relieved for Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way being safe from harm, which was a thought he'd never thought he had.

"I'd clarify what Fluffy you are talking about. There's another Fluffy in my works, very different from the one on Spacebattles."

Darkern ignored the quip, though he continued.

"Sadness for the immortality of them aside, I was thinking it is about time I improve this fanfic. You've got the perfect set up for the world hating Ash, and if you do another shower scene you can confirm that Ash is a true man."

Darkern then declared a measurement that would in fact make Ash 'a true man'.

"…Have you seen a Caterpie?"

Darkern looked at the author in confusion.

"Sadly yes."

"A Kricketot."

"Also, sadly yes."

"A Pichu?"

"Do you have a point?"

"Your declaration was with the intent of me going away from my point in Chapter 29 about not talking about the size of Ash Ketchum's genitalia. You also gave me a measurement of what it should be, which is commonly given by your kind to other characters. I am merely giving some of the many Pokémon that are in fact that tall, including Froakie, Shellder, Jirachi, and Eevee. True Reset does not have the 'they must be that exact height' rule, but it is a mere statement of the ridiculousness of your point."

"Ash Ketchum having an Eevee length…I like that."

Darkern's declaration made the author just stare at the armored figure in disbelief, before he raised the writing chainsaw into the air and began slicing.

He sliced six times, and before him appeared six creatures in two groups of three.

A green bear with yellow eyebrows and chest marking, a red and white horse, and a blue animated coral creature, paired with a green haired lemur with a tail holding a berry, a red and white rabbit with a black smoke collar, and a blue platypus.

"Fake leak mons, Triple Finish!"

The set of Pokémon created in the build up to the next Pokémon game glared at Darkern as they began charging up their elemental attacks, before unleashing them in two combined beams.

They struck Darkern before he could react, blasting him into the sky with a black shadowy twinkle as the Author looked at the six mons sadly.

"It's a pity really; I actually like most of you."

Sadly, they weren't prep-hating goths or insistent on only having a single character trait. Then they might live forever and everywhere.

Instead this may just be their last appearance in anything that was vaguely relevant. What would they do with it?

Seven flicks of a reality altering chainsaw later and the answer would be juice box.