Celadon City

They ran in a straight line, starting with the gray Boulder Badge. It was simple, particularly when compared to the multi-color Thunder Badge that was next to it.

The inverse was true of the badges at the end of his collection, the Volcano Badge, while more creative than the Boulder Badge in design, was simple next to the multi-color Rainbow Badge.

His eighth badge.

A celebration was certainly in order for it. With his Pokémon recovering at the Pokémon Center with a grooming session scheduled for tomorrow while he did necessary research, there was but one thing to do.

"Your steak, sir."

Paul nodded as the waiter delivered his premium dinner, a side of broccoli and potatoes also present. As the waiter departed and Paul took up his fork and knife for a well-deserved reward, his thoughts went to the future.

The League was roughly three months away, and once his self-celebration was done he had a lot of training to get done before the League began in full.

A benefit of not waiting to the last minute to qualify was the ability to prepare for the League itself, and not battling in general. There were differences after all, Gym training warranted a plan against a team of type specialists, while in a League you were much more likely to battle generalists or mirrors of yourself.

Erika certainly wasn't his mirror, even if taking a badge off her warranted not just a steak in his mind, but an extra cost steak topping.

Both from a personal standpoint and the fact she didn't go down easily. Even after he took care of her odd rain strategy she had half a dozen other tricks that made the entire battle a grueling experience.

Of course his way wasn't the only way one could go about it.

From the word on the street he had picked up on, both Ketchum and his cousin Red had won their seventh badges a while back, but hadn't been seen in a while.

The most logical explanation was that they had seen something lacking in themselves and decided to put in training before the final badge and League. They had seen something lacking and sought to patch it up most likely.

If it was enough to have Ketchum overcome that Reggie-esque personality of his, Paul would be surprised. For all of the flaws the guy had, a weak will wasn't one of them. It would take something significant to break him out of being like Reggie.

Still, even if it would cut the 'immediately before League' training the two could do, they would none the less be present for the League and be tough competitors.

A fact Paul relished.

It meant nothing to win against a weak opponent, regardless of what rank they held. He avoided the weakest Gyms in the Kanto region for a reason, even if he never did challenge the Viridian Gym.

Or have the courage to go to Saffron. Though from what he had heard the Saffron Gym wasn't an option even for those fully ready to risk their lives.

There would be opponents worth his time at the Indigo Plateau, but to defeat them wouldn't truly warrant a celebration.

Defeating Ash or Red however, would.

He knew little of Red beyond his skills, but those alone were enough. And while he would never call Ash Ketchum a friend, the Trainer had earned the status of an opponent whose defeat at his hands would be a personal triumph.

Unlike that other Pallet Town Trainer. Defeating him was like swatting a pest.

At the League he'd likely find others like them who'd be great triumphs, likely even greater than the impartial glory of winning against the cousins. The father of the Fuchsia Gym Leader for one.

However the satisfaction of avenging past defeats would make defeating the two sweeter than the favored to win, even if he would be putting more effort into preparing for Koga than either of them individually.

But with the time he had before the League, it would be plenty. Perhaps during that time he'd be able to find a part of Kanto with the necessary magnetic fields.

It wouldn't be the only deciding factor for victory, but type match up was a factor. It would just be one of many he'd need.

…

Paul wasn't the only Trainer who had achieved much at that time though.

...

"Dodrio, Jump Kick!"

"Alakazam, Counter it!"

In the fields that dominated Kanto, two Pokémon collided in a match of martial talents, though they were odd choices for one

For who really could win in a clash of arms between a bird and a psychic?

Yet for the two owners of seven badges, they sought the answer as the jumping bird collided with one of two spoons of the psychic-type, glowing orange.

The glowing spoon seemed to win out, as the bird was blown back with a stumble.

Dodrio recovered though, and resumed staring down the tensing Alakazam.

"Dodrio, Drill Peck!"

At Otoshi's side his Marowak watched the battle closely with intensity, ready to join in at any moment.

"You can try all you want, but that won't work. Psycho Cut!"

Alex Davis's Alakazam swung both spoons, whose purple sheen unleashed a pair of shimmering cuts towards the charging Dodrio.

The battle had no clear winner in sight, but while some worked to improve themselves with battle, others sought improvements to mental challenges.

"Don't squirm, or Kusa will have to tie you down. That's not the art that you need right now Midori."

Midori would have asked why Monet would ever think he'd need images like that, but it was already mortifying enough posing for a portrait of himself in just his boxers without bringing vines up. They'd already made him pose in a number of embarrassing positions before they settled on the one he was currently in.

As to why he'd need a portrait of himself in only his boxers, the girls had noticed his unease following his and Rana's third Gym victory at Matcha City. All of the martial artists had flared up concern about his body that had previously been felt on the Seafoam Island beaches.

They had noticed it this time, and had also pieced together that it wasn't the first time that being around a lot of rather muscled men made him feel inferior and bothered by his scrawny appearance.

Their response to this was to have Monet draw him realistically and in future, shove said portrait in his face whenever such emotions flared up and go 'Midori you do not look like a malnourished sickly wimp, see', after about a half hour of reassurances and telling him he is better than he thought he looked.

A nice, if incredibly forceful gesture, but he had to argue much harder than he should have to keep his boxers on. Somehow he doubted it was just because of 'artistic tradition'. He wasn't unaware that his friends all liked him as more than a friend.

He'd have to be pretty obtuse not to, he had known them all for years as pretty much his only friends, and that was before they had all realized they were the only Bloodliners in town and kept that an entirely friends-only secret.

He also found them all attractive, even if they took it a lot farther than he did.

(He liked them in swimsuits, they held him captive for fashion shows during days of shopping madness and had him show off fashions that were more appropriate on boy bands than Trainers).

He never really made a move on it because that meant choosing, and he didn't want to see their friendship fall apart over it. He always wondered if they had thought of that…

A rustling in the trees to their side drew their attention as a brown haired boy with an Eevee emerged, and stared at the two of them.

Mikey and Eevee, a pair from their hometown who left at just about the same time as they did, even if they never really knew them that well. Though the lack of familiarity likely would not have changed the fact that Mikey was looking at them like he had just walked into something he really shouldn't have.

Which was probably true.

"Midori, don't move."

Monet's order came before he could try and reach for his pants, which was the reasonable thing to do when someone you knew walked in on such things.

It didn't help that, as Rana stood up from her 'art slash him vantage point' to move to battle the suddenly appearing rich boy, she took his pants and flung them to Hoshi.

They were either really serious about artistic integrity, or keeping him like this. Midori would have declared it fully the latter if said art wasn't something they were dead serious on having for more than just their own benefit.

Elsewhere, other people found the help of a different kind of artist.

Some people said that at times, the best way to improve was to compete against oneself. To challenge yourself to break the limit, to go beyond your current level.

Or the next best thing, against an opponent physically identical to you, and capable of doing everything you could. It was an interesting challenge, to say the least, and a way to be prepared in case you encountered opponents with similar Pokémon or battling styles at the League.

At the time, Ritchie and Sparky were at the local Battle Club, clashing head-to-head against another Pikachu identical to him, down to the scruff on his forehead. Well, except for the thin line for a mouth and tiny dots for eyes, but either way, he was proving himself a formidable foe.

"Sparky, use Thunderbolt!"

"Use Thunderbolt too!"

Both electric discharges clashed, evenly matched in strength and unable to overpower the other, until they finally exploded in a rain of lightning bolts that knocked them both backwards. They managed to land on their feet, ready to have another go, although it was clear they were reaching their limits.

"I think it's time to use our secret weapon. Charge Beam!" the Trainer shouted as he punched forward.

"Pika… pika…" Sparky focused his electricity in a compressed sphere between his hands, which he then cupped to his side as he readied his attack. His opponent did the same, and once they gathered enough power, they both thrust forward. "CHUUUUUUU!"

They both fired the energy beams simultaneously, colliding in the middle of the battlefield, apparently equal in power just like all of the other attacks they had used. But this time, it'd be different.

Charge Beam was a very peculiar attack, the additional power boost effect was a random action for many, but Ritchie had discovered that wasn't the case. The two had been training to control said effect, and they managed to figure out how to use it.

Of course, that was his secret, having figured it out himself. It was a way to prevent the attacks from being too powerful, or to make them stronger when needed, without having to rely on their luck.

"Now!" Ritchie shouted.

And thus, Sparky unleashed the boost, powering his beam enough to push back his opponent's, who remained static at the sudden power surge. Completely helpless, he could only stare in horror at Sparky's incoming attack, which dragged him back and made him fall.

Immediately, a multicolored light surrounded him, and his form changed from a Pikachu to a pink gelatinous blob, with the same mouth and eyes from before.

"Ditto is unable to battle! The winners are Ritchie and his Pikachu!"

"Way to go!" Ritchie high-fived with Sparky, while the Trainer on the other side, a girl his age with blue hair in pigtails, dressed in a red blouse with a yellow star and denim pants, quickly came over to pick up her fallen Ditto.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Di… tto."

"Don't worry, you did great. I'm really proud of you." The girl stood back up while Ritchie approached her. "Hey, that was really cool. I didn't expect you'd have Charge Beam up your sleeve. I had never seen anybody use it that way."

"A little trick we picked up." Ritchie smiled, and offered her a hand. "Nice battle, a little more and perhaps you could have won."

The girl smiled too, and shook his hand. "Who knows, you guys are a great team. So, you're going to the Indigo Conference?"

"Yeah, we're just one badge away. What about you?"

The girl shrugged. "Nope, we're more entertainers than Trainers. Battles are more of a side hobby for us."

"Too bad, I'm sure you'd do great," Ritchie said. "And I'd like a rematch like this sometime."

"Oh, you can always come here, no problem. Or find the House of Imite building, ask for Duplica."

Saying that, the girl twirled on herself and in the blink of an eye, she replaced her clothes with an outfit identical to Ritchie's. She'd almost look like a female copy of himself, save for the hair and eye color, since she even assumed the same hairstyle as him.

"Ditto and I will always be there if you want to challenge us," she said as she held the hat's visor, before twirling around again and regaining her normal attire. "Good luck with your last badge, and the League."

Ritchie chuckled a little nervously. He had no way to know if the girl was… like him, or just that good of a master of disguise, though considering she was rather open about her imitations of people, and nobody around seemed to bat an eye, it was most likely the latter. In any case, he thanked her for the spar, and asked her number to stay in touch via PokéNav.

No doubt, batting against yourself was an excellent way to overcome your limits.

When some journeys met, others would temporarily split.

Normally, the idea of traveling together would help the siblings watch each other's backs. But Elwood did enjoy his occasional solo trips. Being on his own he could rest for a while from his big brother duties (even if he was only three minutes older), which gave him some peace and quiet when Aideen wasn't around.

Besides, he wasn't worried, she could take care of herself and would certainly not get into trouble she couldn't handle.

"Well, found you sooner than I thought, dear bro."

Looking up he saw her, so identical yet so different to him, Aideen had just walked up to him while he was stepping out of the local Gym, his most recent badge in hand. The Martial Badge, as it was called.

"Seven badges, huh? You got ahead of me." The blonde smiled. "Well, at least you haven't wasted your time, unlike me at Saffron."

"Sis... don't tell me you actually went to that place?"

"I had to find it out. And yeah, I did, but as you can see, I came back in one piece."

Elwood cringed slightly. Rumors had broken out at Saffron, with the stuff people said about the local Gym Leader, and word of mouth said that somebody had entered her Gym and not only came out alive, but also with a Marsh Badge in tow. Aideen wanted to go check it out herself, since she was closer, but although he opposed, in the end he couldn't stop her.

Then again, she was back, so maybe she knew something. Admittedly, he too was curious when the rumors slipped a name of the Trainer who had a Marsh Badge to his name.

"So?"

Aideen sighed before answering. "The police had the whole Gym area cordoned. But I stuck around long enough, and since there were Pokémon League officers at the scene, I overheard some stuff. Ash's name came up."

"So… those rumors I've been hearing are true?" Elwood's eyes widened.

"Pretty much." Aideen nodded. "I don't know what he did, but it seems that a Busters squad was able to raid the Gym and apprehend the leader shortly after."

"Wow." Elwood couldn't really say more. He knew how impressive of a Trainer Ash was, but to pull something like that, he was definitely something else. Assuming of course, that it had been him.

"Anyway, since I'm here, I think it's a good idea I get even with the badge count." The girl quickly regained her usual upbeat demeanor. "Tell me, how tough is the leader here?"

"Very much so." Elwood pocketed his badge. "I'm taking my team to the Pokémon Center right away, they urgently need it."

"Well, then I'll see you there when I get my own. Wish me luck, dear brother!"

The twins high-fived each other and kept on going their respective ways, Elwood to the Pokémon Center and Aideen entering the Gym for a challenge.

As he walked, the blond boy thought about what his sister had just told him. When they met Ash again, the definitely had to ask him about what happened at Saffron. There had to be an amazing story behind it.

Yet sometimes when paths met or split, the change was more permanent.

Every time AJ looked back to the beginning of his journey, he could not believe how far he came. Before he left, he lost to someone who broke his winning streak. Since then, he travelled the Kanto region. He learned, he and his Pokémon grew closer together, they grew stronger together, and he found a travelling companion in a beautiful and strong girl. If AJ were to go back in time and tell his younger self what he'd experience on his journey, he doubt he'd be believed.

But all that happened, and now, he and Jeanette were the proud bearers of the Earth badge, the second-hardest badge to win in the Kanto League. The Marsh badge was the hardest.

News of someone winning that badge from one of the most dangerous Gym Leaders in League history led directly to where AJ found himself now.

"Go Jeanette!" he shouted.

"Beedrill, X-Scissor!" shouted Jeanette.

That being, cheering Jeanette on as she participated in the Battle Club Tournament. If someone with a Marsh Badge was going to be at the tournament, they were going to need all the power they could get.

Jeanette's Mega Beedrill nodded and all five stingers glowed with the attack and put an increasing amount of pressure on his opponent.

While the display of power was impressive, AJ knew that Jeanette thought that it wasn't as impressive as a Mega Beedrill could be. She kept comparing hers to his and felt that they could not measure up. He tried to tell her that it was probably because he knew his Beedrill longer, but he couldn't change her mind.

That was when the Don George of the Viridian Battle Club told them that he was hosting a tournament. With the chance of trying Mega Evolution with a different Pokémon, Jeanette signed up immediately. Like the Battle Dome Tournament, participants had the chance to get one step closer to mastering Mega Evolution. Unlike the Battle Dome though, only the winner would get the Scizorite.

And as one Pokémon lay defeated, it was clear who that winner was.

"Victory, and the Scizorite, goes to Jeanette Fisher!" declared the Don George.

...

In their room at the Viridian Pokémon Center, Jeanette and Scizor were admiring the Mega Stone they won. There was no doubt in AJ's mind that they would succeed in mastering it in time for the League.

And for that, Jeanette decided that everyone celebrating together would help everyone get closer. It was for that reason that Jeanette ordered a lot of pizza.

That was when they heard a knock on the door and some heavy panting.

"Pizzas... here..." said a tired voice.

AJ opened the door and saw several delivery boys and girls, all carrying several large boxes of pizza each.

"What? Just... you... guys?" asked one of them.

"I often find myself craving for large quantities of nourishment," said Jeanette as she took out her credit card. "Now hurry up and take my money so I can eat."

As soon as the payment went through, Jeanette took one box, and finished the pizza in seconds. The delivery boys and girls all could only stare at Jeanette in shock. AJ simply shook his head in amusement. He was used to it by now.

"Put the boxes on the table over there, then you guys can go," said AJ.

…

An even more permanent change than a split road could be challenged with success.

Her eyesight was definitely far from what it used to be, but the steely sensation in her hands was enough to make her smile. With that, she had gained her seventh badge, with only one more to go before she could be ready to join the League.

When she woke up and the whole world remained dark around her, she was afraid that her dream would end there, without even really starting. But she didn't allow that to stop her, and no matter how difficult the road, no matter how almost impossible some things became for her, she still managed to rise back on her feet and become a Trainer good enough to face several Gym Leaders. Sure, she still had to pay extra attention when she walked and to constantly keep one of her walking Pokémon out just in case, but she enjoyed spending time with her team and was used to tripping even when she could see things, so for the most part the problem was negligible. Or at least, that was how she tried to pass it as.

She shook her head and banished the bad thoughts before they came, tugging at the leash she was holding. A friendly howl and a familiar lick confirmed that her Arcanine was still near her, and nothing wrong was ahead. The girl stashed her newfound badge in her badge case, taking a step ahead and folding her hands, turning to where she thought her Pokémon were.

"So, guys, great job in there. Let's take a good rest at the Pokémon Center before we move on, alright? You all deserve a good rest now," She said, confident and energetic as she always was.

She heard the screeching, low yet cheerful cry of her Crobat giving an affirmative, all while a happy "Squir!" filled the air, her diminutive and evolution-avoidant Pokémon pulling what she assumed was a military salute, all while adjusting the round sunglasses he liked to wear, the same pair he had with him the moment she found him just outside of the underground passage to Vermillion City. And while she couldn't be definitely sure, the lack of reply from her canine companion likely meant Arcanine was in agreement, too.

They were the Pokémon she trusted the most even among her own team, and part of the reason she managed to come as far as she did, between Arcanine's loyalty, Crobat's craftiness, and Thinker's smarts. Without them, she probably would've given up on her training career much sooner. They truly were friends, beyond her team.

Sometimes she wondered where the little Charmander she got as a starter before her incident ended up, having been put into adoption while she was undisposed. She was sad that they could only really spend one afternoon together, but she still hoped he was doing fine, wherever he was. Who knew, maybe he'd be in the League as well. There was only one way to find out.

But first, she owed her pals a pretty good nap and a Nurse Joy checkup.

"Alright then, let's go!" Kaia said, pointing to where she remembered the Center to be. Arcanine woofed in agreement, starting to move in that direction and bringing his Trainer with her, all while Crobat and Thinker flanked her like bodyguards.

The young Trainer chuckled out, her life was gonna always be clouded in darkness now, but her team was one of many shining lights that really made her path worth travelling through.

…

Yet it wasn't just faces that had previously connected to the path of Ash Ketchum, either directly or indirectly, who were preparing for the future

…

"Tell me there was some sort of error in their systems Cepu. That can't be right."

The one who was asked that question flickered a bit, her projected form stabilizing before she gave her reply.

"The system errors typical to the Kanto League mainframe are not present in this data. The safeguards placed against not only human or machine error, but also hacking are quite respectable. No, the Trainer designated Ash Ketchum does have a Marsh Badge, on top of already having League qualifications thanks to his actions at the Cerulean Gym."

He stared at the data one more time.

The Saffron Gym… he tried to conquer it once. He failed, and yet his own memory had no record of it.

He only knew he did because he had digitally recorded it. His own memory had been wiped of the situation. Yet some rookie kid managed it?

"Cepu, analysis."

He crossed his arm and walked away through her form, an act that did not harm Cepu nor interrupt his A.I's analysis. He opened his arms as he saw a shape come towards him.

His current magnum opus, an improvement on the original efforts of scientists some time ago to reproduce the efforts of ancient science for the modern world.

"Pory?"

He smiled as he petted the Porygon2, the first of its kind and the only official improvement (unlike that disgrace some clumsy fool made from his creations) as Cepu finished her analysis.

"The continued increase in the number of talented rookie Trainers across all regions has moved in both larger quantity and better quality than the analysis conducted prior to your victory at last year's Silver Conference. There is now a thirty-six point twelve percent chance of your Indigo Conference challenge this year being stopped by one of their number, and a thirty-three point eighty-eight chance of it being stopped by Koga."

He stopped mid-stroke of Porygon2 in surprise.

"That seems like an odd analysis."

"There are simply more of them. They add up to a higher percentage than a single talented ninja."

He finished the stroke of Porygon2 before coming to a decision.

"Cepu, analyze movement patterns and probable behaviors to pinpoint potential whereabouts of these new Trainers in the timeframe of the next thirty days. After that, we will collect data to improve the analysis and pinpoint proper counter-strategies for each."

Porygon2 floated out of his arms and looked at him in interest. He shook his head.

"This will not require your services, friend. The Beta teams will be more than enough for the analysis." Seeing the slightly deflated look on Porygon2's face he went back to stroking the Pokémon's head.

Pallet Town, the hills

If someone had told him in his last day in Kalos that in a matter of hours he'd be thrust into a rebooted timeline with so many changes it was at times unrecognizable and told him of the things he'd find there, Ash would have disbelieved many of what was to happen to him.

He had no reason to believe that his mom would have actually named him Bob, for one of the most minor of things.

One thing that would have ranked highly was wrestling with Iris, yet here he was in the midst of the powerless portion of the exercise with Iris, her elbow against his throat and his body pinned by hers.

"… Glad you're feeling better."

She seemed to struggle to understand what he meant, so she let off the pressure and got off of him, and after a quick breath he repeated himself.

"I was unwell?"

"Something seemed to be have been bothering you. I'm glad that you seem to have handled it."

Her mind seemed a lot more focused, and she generally seemed happier than she had been for a good while.

The smile she had now for one was a bit more authentic than he had noticed before a Zapdos tried to fry him.

Hopefully there was no correlation.

"So am I."

The fact that this sort of training had been going for a while was the only reason Ash caught Iris mid-lunge, right when many would least expect it.

He grabbed her on both shoulders mid-jump, and quickly slammed her into the ground before she could use her legs to strike his back.

The two of them lay like that for a minute, both breathing a bit harder than usual.

"You know, it would probably be a good idea to train Anabel and Misty this way too."

"That…might be hard to set up."

He was pretty sure that they were in a much better position to say no for one thing. He had a bad habit of not saying it, he really needed to find a way to break that habit before he agreed to something he'd really regret.

Also there was the fact that Misty, Anabel, and Iris wrestling each other in only bras and pants would be very distracting, and that was not even thinking about how distracting it would be without wrestling involved.

He was only somewhat getting used to seeing Iris without her shirt on, and that took a lot of him of being slammed into the ground by her.

He suspected such progress would be loss if Iris decided that pants were to be discarded.

"Perhaps after you finish collecting badges."

Iris's unconcerned thought on the difficulty of convincing Misty to try and pin him while neither were wearing shirts did not prevent him from jumping off Iris before a Dragon Breath could erupt out of her and strike him in the face.

Those really hurt, and the last time that had happened Anabel had to teleport for about half an hour to find a Cheri Berry because the H.O.P.E was busy upgrading its software.

Still, it did signal that the powerless part of the training today was over, and it was time to enter the powered part of it.

Maybe this time he wouldn't have to tiptoe around his mother to avoid her asking about the claw-shaped bruises on his torso.

She might know about everyone, but that didn't mean she needed to know about the part about the somewhat violent training he did with Iris in a state of undress.

The next day

"So seeing as we did fight Zapdos…what about a week more tops then we go take Viridian?"

His declaration was met by nods from all gathered Pokémon, though there was an air of nervousness. Ash was pretty sure he could track the cause.

First Articuno without a battle, then Zapdos with a battle. That was in of itself a trend, and if it continued there was only one logical end point.

Moltres.

"Look, Moltres likes volcanos last I checked. I can't think of any reason we'd be near a volcano now that we have the Volcano Badge, and as there were no Moltres there we are in the clear."

At least until Shamouti, but that was a while off and was likely to just not happen. After all, crazy ship guy was just as likely to be a carpenter as he was a detached collector with a super ship.

(Hopefully someone in his party knew crazy ship guy's name, he couldn't recall if it was ever brought up and he knew far too many crazy ship guys to get away with just calling him that. Even clarifying 'crazy ship guys who wanted Legendary Pokémon for their own ends' didn't help much.)

As Fire Island had a volcano, his point did hold. Without volcanoes there would be no Moltres attacks, and that was that.

"Plus even if we did run into Moltres, we have the best Pokémon for such an occasion. Squirtle, Kingler, and Boldore can fight off any random Moltres that decides not to wait until we are near a volcano to randomly attack us, and the rest of you are just as ready to handle anything even without type advantage."

At the compliments cheers went out, with the ones he fully understood all cheering the three named Pokémon specifically.

Squirtle rubbed his chest proudly while Kingler looked flustered. Boldore however, just looked to the side with an aura of doubt around her.

Before he could ask her what was up though Jigglypuff took a deep breath, and he lost sight of her in the resulting panic.

Also in part because he didn't make it, and had to be woken up an hour later by Misty and get his face washed clean of marker stains.

The night

Anabel couldn't think of any reason she wasn't falling asleep.

She hadn't eaten or drunk anything before bed, she hadn't had a rough day, and she was neither too cold nor too warm.

Yet here she was, lying motionless and tired yet not falling asleep at all.

She'd sigh if she didn't think that would keep her awake even more.

Closing her eyes, she decided to try something. Perhaps if she strained herself to listen to the quiet of night, she'd be able to lull herself.

It couldn't hurt in any case.

With that plan in mind she stretched her senses outward, and found herself in a fuzzy place.

…

That wasn't to say that she was in a room with shag carpeting, thankfully that wasn't the case.

No, if she had to more properly describe the place beyond fuzzy, was fuzzy in the same way a bad T.V signal was fuzzy.

It was getting through, but it was muddled by something. The entire place also had an air of offness to it, on top of the fuzziness, that Anabel couldn't quite place.

That something, was not the bed though. It was a dark Gym field, the only light illuminating the room coming from a crack in a massive door.

The field in front of her was littered with unmoving bodies. Most of them were cheerleaders for some reason.

The only one who wasn't a cheerleader she could see down was one of the Trainers that Ash had fought at Fuchsia.

Gary, though he seemed different from what she had seen of him before.

He looked younger for one.

As he was the only one she recognized she ran up to him, crossing the fuzzy ground in a manner than felt strange. Sometimes she moved slower than she should, other times she seemed to take two steps with each step she meant to take.

Some might say that was Iris's training starting to go beyond paying off and going into the territory of paying off in good dividends. Others might call it laggy.

She eventually reached the younger looking Gary and reached for his waist to try and pull him up. However when she tried to do so, her hands phased right through him like he wasn't there.

Or, like if she wasn't.

She pulled her hands back in shock, even as Gary spoke.

"This Pokémon, it isn't just powerful. It's evil."

While she heard his voice, she didn't see his lips move. His body was entirely still, even as the line seemed to linger longer than they should have.

"Evil?"

The question drew her attention to her side, where Ash was standing. He seemed clearer and less fuzzy than Gary and the inexplicably explainable cheerleaders.

Like with Gary, her hand phased right through Ash like she wasn't even there.

Then the center of the dark Gym floor exploded with darkness. A darkness so intense it was as blinding as a flash of light.

She and Ash both recoiled from it, and even as he seemed unable to see her, both tried to glance into the blinding darkness to see what was causing it.

From what she could only vaguely see, she saw something terrifying. Something dark, and horrible that made all of her goosebumps flare up like a horror movie.

Whatever it was, it could only be the bringer of nightmares and the bane of all that was good and just. She and Ash, even without the ability to touch or affect the other, would have to give it their all to stop it.

What she saw when she got a better look at the bringer of nightmares…

"Duck!"

Confused her. For some reason, the center of the blinding darkness was in fact a trio of blue bird Pokémon.

None of which resembled bringers of nightmares. They were actually rather cute looking.

"Duck-uck-uck!"

Who saluted in unison while laughing rather obnoxiously before blasting at Ash with a trio of Water Guns.

He avoided it, flying right through her as he dashed and proving he couldn't see her. However as the Water Guns flew through her, she still felt like she was getting soaked.

…

The sensation of which snapped her out of the fuzzy dark room and back in her bed, more confused than ever.

What…was that?

The slightest bit of tiredness now quite gone from her, she decided to try and repeat it.

She wouldn't sleep if she didn't try it, her curiosity would keep her up asking her 'what-if' all night.

So she extended her mind out a bit, and found herself in Delia's restaurant.

…

The Pallet House wasn't fuzzy like the place in the last dream. The place was quite clear to her, though there was probably a question to ask if it was because she knew what the restaurant looked like or for some other reason.

The offness she did feel on top of the fuzziness last time did remain, so the mystery of what that was remained a question.

"Oh dear oh dear oh dear!"

The frantic cry of Delia came from just out of sight. Anabel could see movement behind the closed door to the kitchen, just as frantic as the woman's exclamations.

"Where is the butter? Where are the onions? Why is there so much zucchini? Oh what am I to do, oh dear oh dear oh dear!"

Anabel offered up some suggestions for zucchini dishes that didn't need butter (her uncle was fond of the vegetable for some reason), but Delia didn't seem to hear her.

She offered it again, but Delia was now too busy wondering why someone had replaced everything in the fridge with zucchini.

It was such a strange scenario, so outlandish and escalating. It was rather like a dream, sort of like the type where you'd go to work in your underwear.

Anabel's eyes lit up in realization as that thought came to her.

This was a dream, Delia's dream of going to work in her underwear, just replacing the exposure with a mad amount of zucchini.

Though as Anabel couldn't see Delia, perhaps she was only in her underwear on top of finding zucchini everywhere.

(A teleport over and back later disproved that possibility, Delia was now panicking over why the salt shakers were filled with nothing but zucchini fully clothed).

That would explain the offness she had noted in both dreams, what she was seeing wasn't just unreal, but generated by random activities of the subconscious mind.

Though what had created the fuzziness in Ash's dream was still unclear.

It also wasn't clear if she wasn't able to talk to Delia because of hard limitations or she just wasn't doing it right, but before she could ask a zucchini fell from the ceiling and whacked her on the back of the head, snapping her out of the dream with a sharp pang of pain running through her.

Right where the random zucchini ambush had occurred.

…

Rubbing the area the pain had flashed up, Anabel mentally summed up what that meant.

So she could feel what she experienced in dreams, even if she could not actually retain what happened to her.

She would feel like she got sprayed, but she wouldn't be wet.

She could feel the zucchini impact, but she couldn't feel tenderness at impact when she felt around it a moment later.

That raised the question of what would happen if something more painful than a zucchini attack happened.

She wouldn't dwell on that question too much, for there was a bigger question she had to ponder.

That being why she never had never had this happen before. This was hardly the only time she had trouble sleeping after all.

Did she just only learn how to do it now, the same sort of way that Pokémon learned new skills over time?

There weren't any people she could ask, the only other person with her abilities was the Saffron Gym Leader, and she'd prefer to stay on the opposite end of not just Kanto, but the entire continent, from her.

Without such a person to question the only other option was to figure it out the old fashioned way.

Explore the ability further, and go into another dream.

So she extended herself out once more, and wondered where she'd end up.

There was a fifty-fifty shot between being in a dream she had already been in, or a dream she hadn't been in. Assuming of course that the house was the extent of her range and she wouldn't plop herself in the dream of Professor Oak or one of the other Pallet Town residents she had seen or had mentioned around.

What were their names, Helenia, Cadence, Azul, Giboshi, Daisy….

She stopped trying to recall the names shouted by Delia at her usually zucchini-free restaurant as she found herself in a clearing in the Pallet Town woods.

"Rrrrr…"

…

Where Ash and Iris were doing that new aspect of Iris's regime she had mercifully not been inflicting on her or Misty. At least not yet anyway.

Wrestling.

Anabel wasn't entirely sure whose dream this was. Dreams did shift, so it was possible that this was what Ash's dream about 'evil Pokémon' had turned into. It was also entirely possible this was Iris's dream…

"You are not going to pin me down again today Iris."

Scratch that, it was in fact Iris's dream. That wasn't how Ash talked, but it was how Iris talked.

Iris seemed amused by Ash's declaration, and so the two's forms clashed. Both their hands gripping into each other and seeking to overpower the other, glaring at the other with determination while sweat trailed down both their upper bodies.

Ash's muscles rippled and strained as he pushed against Iris, and Anabel had to admit she was torn.

On the one hand it was an appealing sight, but there was probably something ethically questionable about ogling dream versions of people.

Even as she wondered the exact ethics of her current actions Ash began pushing Iris down, bending Iris's body back a bit and looming over her in imminent victory.

That was when she caught the distinct feeling of triumph from Iris.

Iris's left leg swiftly struck the back of Ash's leg, causing him to let out a cry of surprise and pain. Iris then shoved at him with all her might, causing Ash to tumble and fall onto the ground. Iris quickly pinned him down with her body, her arms holding his down and her legs pinning his down.

"I did."

Ash didn't seem nearly as annoyed about Iris pinning him again as some might think, and Anabel could see Ash react like that.

Both were breathing heavily now, and Anabel had to wonder, on top of if it was wrong to watch shirtless versions of her crush wrestle with an appreciative approval, or if she should be taking notes.

After all in the time she had been with Iris she had started to pick up tells of her reasoning, as did Misty. Both of them had noted the implication of Iris starting to consider getting them involved in this sort of training, and it might be a good idea to pick up how not to be used as a punching bag for the entirety of it.

(She and Misty weren't sure if they'd be able to say no to it, particularly if Iris reminded them of the Sabrina event. Even if Iris didn't, the memory would linger in the back of their minds as reason to not resist as much as they should the prospect of Iris slamming them into the ground).

She wondered if she could get Iris to not have her do so shirtless. That would be just too much.

Plus she wasn't entirely sure if the entire act was part of Iris trying to seduce Ash, as the training did correlate to around the time she had decided to more actively try to grab his attention. With Iris it was hard to say.

She could just as easily see Iris wanting Ash to become normalized to her being undressed so she didn't have to bother when just around him (and them).

Or perhaps it was some strange combination of the two that only made sense in Iris's head.

Anabel ceased trying to figure out the inner workings of Iris's mind as Iris suddenly kissed the pinned Ash, her tongue going right into his mouth.

A shocked Ash quickly seemed to return the kiss.

"Mmmmm…."

Anabel could only stare at a turn of events she was quite certain was only in this dream (there was no way Ash would not have telegraphed embarrassment afterwards if this was how training went) as the two continued to make out, their tongues dancing in the shared confines of their mouths.

Iris's arms had released Ash's, which were now rubbing along Iris's back, an action that made Iris's back arch up a little. Her hands meanwhile, had slid forward and began feeling around Ash's hair.

This continued for a few seconds that seemed to really stretch, and Anabel wasn't sure what she should've been thinking right now.

Embarrassment from watching this clearly private dream of Iris's, or jealousy at seeing the man she had feelings for, even in a dream belonging to another girl, kiss her.

Though she noted, as the two let the others mouth go to breathe, that she didn't feel as jealous as she should have.

Whatever that exactly was, what she had just seen didn't make her as jealous as she thought she should've been.

It was honestly confusing.

The two were now back to kissing, or to be more accurate Ash was kissing at Iris's neck.

"Oh Ash..."

Iris appreciated the motion, her moans spurring Ash on more and more.

Yet still Anabel didn't feel the amount of jealousy she should be feeling right now.

It was there, she certainly wouldn't mind being the one Ash was doing that to. She would very much like it.

It wasn't as if what space she felt should be filled with jealousy was instead filled with embarrassment, even if that emotion was hardly a minor part of how she was feeling.

Far from minor in fact, given that the dream couple had shifted what they were doing.

Iris had pushed herself back from Ash for a moment. He seemed a bit dejected, but that quickly vanished as Iris sliced her own bra off with a quick Dragon Claw.

The remains of the garment falling at Ash's side, and again Anabel was surprised at how she was feeling about it. Feeling embarrassed over what she was seeing Anabel turned her face away from the couple in front of her and started to consider how she felt about the situation.

She didn't feel angry. She didn't want to shout at Iris and Ash and break that up.

Sure, she could feel a desire to be there instead of Iris. She'd love to be the one now kissing Ash in earnest, pushing their bodies together as their legs tangled up still clothed, but in a definite question of how much longer.

However she didn't feel angry at Iris, or at the Ash in this dream.

Her mind flashed to Cinnabar Island, and the old musician who played a song fueled by his dead first love, and the way his second love took the song.

Frowning with that comparison, she tuned out the two bodies pressing against each other to tune into herself. Curious as to what she'd seen.

She could see her embarrassment, and she could see a dark core of jealousy. It was larger than the second love's, but not as large as she'd thought it be.

There was something else in there too, a third emotion she wasn't entirely sure of. Unsure of what it was, she left her inner looking for a moment to focus more on Ash and Iris again.

The dream Ash had flipped Iris on her back and was kissing along her head while stringing his fingers in her hair. Iris was moaning in enjoyment, and Anabel felt the name of that third emotion.

A sense of empathy for Ash and Iris being together, despite all of her own jealousy and embarrassment.

Iris's eye rolled a bit as Ash moved to do something lower on her body that Anabel was quite sure he didn't know how to do in the waking world, before it seemed to pick up on a detail she hadn't noticed before.

Namely her.

…

The moment she did, the dream suddenly vanished and Anabel was in her room. Sensing a roused mind nearby, Anabel quickly teleported to said mind.

To Iris.

She… had explaining to do for being an unexpected audience.

…

She teleported right in front of the tree that Iris had taken to sleeping in. From atop said tree she could see Iris looking at her, a tad tired and confused.

Around her tree Fraxure and Excadrill were fast asleep, while in the tree's smaller branches Anabel could make out Emolga and Gible.

'Let's talk elsewhere, let them sleep.'

Iris nodded as that call, and a pair of teleports later (one up to Iris, the other to a distant hill) they could talk.

Iris was quick to the point.

"You were in my dream. The actual you, and not just a dream you."

She confirmed Iris's point with a nod.

'I was. I had no idea I could do that until this night, and it was completely accidental. I didn't mean to intrude on yours, or anyone else's dream for that matter.'

Iris seemed to accept that as her face morphed into one of thought. It didn't seem to be about what the other dreams were.

"It was an odd dream, though not one I wished ended as it did. I never had a dream like that before, it was rather enjoyable."

Iris paused for a moment, looking over her with a look that appeared to be the result of a lot of thinking.

"So, was it as bad as you thought it would be?"

Iris hadn't specified directly, but Anabel knew exactly what Iris meant.

Back after Sabrina had been dealt with Iris had said that she'd have the least reason to be bothered by Ash being shared because she could see that he still cared about her in the deepest part of his being.

'I could pick up feelings from you, not the dream Ash. I couldn't tell what he was thinking at all and for…'

Iris gave her a look that cut her off and made it clear what Iris was really asking.

Did it bother her nearly as much as she thought it would? Did seeing what she saw hurt her, anger her, or anything like what she thought?

She had told herself that such things were the flaws of Iris's thought process, that she underestimated the difference between telling yourself something and believing it.

Yet here she was having somewhat experienced something, and finding it wasn't quite what she thought it would be like.

'No…I guess it wasn't. I did not feel nearly as much jealousy as I thought I would. I still felt a lot of it though, and something else I am not really sure…'

"Then you will just have to learn to not feel as much jealousy."

Iris said that statement as if it was a simple and easy thing to do, to which she held her hands up.

'Iris, are you not hearing what I am saying? Just because I wasn't nearly as jealous as I thought I was doesn't meant that I am suddenly wanting to see Ash go farther than your dream with every women in this town or whatever you think should happen or is normal or whatever. The fact that I'm being less bothered with it than I thought doesn't mean I am you all of a sudden.'

"Of course you are not me, why would you think I would want you to be me?"

Iris seemed genuinely confused as to her point.

'You want me to share Ash with everyone around him. Iris, people can't just not feel jealous about something. Jealousy, or envy, or whatever emotion is actually the one in question is a natural part of how people's minds work. You don't have it, and that is unusual. Sure those emotions cause no end of trouble, but you can't just get rid of them. Even if I don't have nearly as much of it as I thought I did, it is still there and it isn't going away. You might not have it and Ash probably won't show any of it unless other guys are around, assuming he is even for your ideas in the first place, but I have it. Misty definitely has it. It's not going to work.'

She took a deep breath after getting that off her chest, an outburst that seemed to quiet Iris.

The wild girl seemed deep in thought, as if processing what she had said. Perhaps Iris's idea would finally go away and she'd stop trying to solve the question in her own strange way.

She could just try and earn Ash's attention like her and Misty. A change that Anabel had to admit, seemed bad to her.

Though she couldn't tell if it was she'd only make the change because of her rant, or because Iris would be rather hard to 'beat', if she'd ever compare trying to earn someone's affection to something like a game or competition.

As Iris's silence drew on, Anabel had to admit it was probably the former. Even if she had to admit that Iris would compete for Ash's heart quite well, she really couldn't call Ash a contest or something to be won and Iris or Misty competitors.

Iris's simple, earnest, yet determined view was something so pure that it felt bad to try and break it apart like she just might have done.

She moved to see if she could possibly piece it back together, when Iris interrupted her.

"What if it was just us?"

Anabel looked at Iris in curiosity, the dark skinned girl looking determined yet a bit cowed. Her statement had sunk in somewhat it seemed.

"You, me, and Misty. Any other girls who end up traveling with Ash too of course, that is only fair and anything can happen, but no one else. You are right, I would not care if Ash did breed every woman in this place who is not his mother. That to me would be completely normal, and it confuses me that that Pallet Oak I have heard talk about did not do it, nor Professor Oak. Humans are strange, but that is not the point here. However Meliae did say that relationships require compromise, even if I somewhat knew that beforehand. I guess it would extend to you and Misty too, even if we have no interest in each other. As of now, it would just be the three of us with Ash, and no one else unless we all agree to it."

Anabel could only stare at Iris after the compromise attempt. That was still missing the point, and it also assumed that Ash never traveled with male friends.

Or did Iris assume that Ash was Bisexual? That seemed an odd call for Iris to make, as she was pretty sure Iris was the last person to pick that up subtly.

Iris assuming Ash would not travel with a guy was probably what was going on, as flawed a thought as it was.

'That doesn't solve the problem that jealousy…'

"Who else do you have?"

Iris's statement hit like a blunt club.

It wasn't an unfounded point. The fact she could only talk telepathically would make trying to see anyone who wasn't a Bloodliner very difficult. She'd have to chance someone who didn't care about such things, and unless she swept through hundreds of minds which was both quite difficult and an immense invasion of privacy she'd be shooting in the dark over it.

The only other option, and the only option that didn't involve mass invasions of privacy, was seeking out male Bloodliners. Most of which were Ash's brothers it seemed, and there was something that just felt wrong about trying to get over 'losing' Ash with one of his half-brothers.

Iris's face was mildly apologetic about using the point, which quite possibly only came up for her own harsh point earlier. A jab for a jab as it were.

With biting remarks they were square, even if the issue was still ongoing.

"Why do you not just try and see if you would stay jealous?"

Iris's new point caught drew her attention. What did that mean?

Did she think that Ash would react the way he did in her dream if she kissed him like that?

"We can see if you stay as jealous as you feel you are. I think I can show you that I can make all of us happy, and you think that cannot happen. We can see who is right."

She probably shouldn't follow that line of thought. A part of her could only see it ending horribly which Iris seemed completely ignorant of.

Part of her felt like she'd lose such a bet with Iris, even if it was a much smaller part.

However, if it wasn't done that would never go away. Anabel would have to risk the damage.

Or the possibility of Iris being proven right, and herself quite wrong (even if that wouldn't be as bad as Iris damaging their bonds).

'Okay, let's try it. You think you can convince me that I could survive your ideas of a relationship, and I do not. Let's see if you can make me stop feeling jealous, or even just as jealous as I felt in the dream. If you somehow are right, you still have to get Ash and Misty on board.'

Iris nodded, undeterred by what she had presented before her.

"Good. I already have a plan."

Oh dear…

…

Yawning, Ash rubbed his eye as he walked to the clearing Iris liked to do their training in.

It was a busy day, and his own personal work would follow Pokémon training after that. They only had a few more days before they could see if the Viridian Gym Leader was the Team Rocket boss as it had originally been.

All thoughts on Team Rocket and the future vanished from his mind as the training area came into view, and he saw that Iris was not alone.

And it wasn't because she had Excadrill, Gible, or Fraxure with her again (technically Axew when it had happened, but details.)

Anabel, looking very nervous even before training got going, or partially naked, was standing next to Iris.

"Good, glad you are here early. We have more to do today."

Iris's point made Ash gulp in societal nervousness.

"I'm…not sure I am quite up to fighting Anabel. I can't really explain why, but something about that seems different from me fighting you…"

"That is why I said we have more to do today than usual. You were nervous about fighting me, and you got over that."

Ash wanted to say there was a difference, but he had no way of finding a way to put that into words that didn't make him sound older than Professor Oak's grandfather.

It was only because Iris looked like she might speed things up if he didn't get going that he removed his shirt, standing bare chested before Anabel, who was blushing fiercely.

He was himself, if not as much.

Iris, who had removed her own shirt before he had, gave Anabel a look that Ash suspected wasn't just a warning (was this why they had been up before the rest of them, had they talked and somehow led into this) before Anabel relented and removed her own shirt.

Her chest, a bit bigger than Iris's and less often seen in bra-covered form (and even less otherwise), drew his automatic gaze a bit despite him really not wanting to, and he thought it could not get any more awkward as he had feared an expanded group of participants.

He quickly regretted his unspoken words when Iris moved to remove her pants, leaving her only in a pair of boxers he remembered his mother saying she had washed for him recently, but he hadn't seen since that point.

He really wanted to know why Iris had his underwear on, but given he wasn't entirely sure she wore any of her own this was probably as lucky as he'd get it.

Still, progress was lost, which he knew even before Iris slammed him into the ground as a demonstration for Anabel on how to take down a distracted opponent.

…

"Kingler, you can increase how long you can swim at that speed if you improve your balance. Try shifting your middle-left leg a bit upwards and you'll see the results."

Ash's Kingler gave a gurgle of thanks as he did in fact shift himself, the Water type swimming past her and catching up on her Golduck.

They were but two of the Pokémon that she had swimming laps around one of Professor Oak's lakes for training, and Ash had asked her to get his own Water-types involved.

It was no problem, and she had offered both Squirtle and Kingler some advice for improving their swimming speed.

She wasn't sure where that would directly help Ash, but it was no problem for her.

"Psy!" 'This was a horrible idea!'

What was a problem for her was Psyduck, who had decided that clinging onto Gyarados would be sufficient for this exercise.

She probably should do something, but Gyarados seemed a bit amused at putting Psyduck through the equivalent of a roller coaster and Psyduck wasn't in any danger from drowning.

Perhaps it would inspire the duck to do better or at least teach him to not hitch rides on Gyarados to avoid swimming himself.

It would only really become a full on problem if something happened to hurt the poor duck.

She was distracted away from Psyduck's calls for someone to stop 'this crazy thing' at the sound of someone coming to her from behind. Turning, she found her first friend and source of her affections, looking ruffled and bruised and more than a bit dazed.

"Ash!"

Her shock at his appearance did not lessen when he remembered exactly why he might look like that.

Iris's training, though the state he was in seemed worse than usual.

"…Did you know Anabel's now taking part in personal combat training? Because she is."

Ash's muttering made Misty briefly confused. Anabel did that?

Then she remembered exactly what state Iris had them train in. Part of her really wanted to be annoyed at Ash for being distracted by Anabel's breasts and getting hurt because of it, but another part of her knew that would do nothing but make Ash feel worse.

Plus knowing Iris it could have easily been worse. For all Misty knew Iris had upped the ante on a shirtless Anabel by fighting him in the nude.

If Ash hadn't been kidnapped by a crazy person she would have words with Iris about taking her training too far. Ash's increased muscle mass wasn't worth that.

Alas, as long as Sabrina was still somewhat recent she couldn't go up to Iris and tell her to lay off and not feel like she was being naïve.

Maybe if they went a few months without something like Sabrina she could get Iris to cool it, or did the random Zapdos attack extend Iris's 'I have a point' period?

"Well, it's over for now, you can take a break. Squirtle and Kingler have made real progress."

Ash smiled, happy to hear that they were doing well, and thanked her before a thoughtful look came over her.

"You know, I honestly thought Iris would have roped you in before she did Anabel."

Misty wasn't sure how to respond to Ash's admittance, though the more she thought of it she could sort of see where he was coming from.

She seemed a more logical candidate to move into that sort of training insanity first, not Anabel, if only because she had been around Iris for longer than she had. Also, if she had to be honest with herself, she was probably more likely to decide to run around Ash shirtless to get more of his attention.

That sort of teasing was more her than Anabel. She'd have to ask Anabel what was up.

…

With how big Professor Oak's ranch was, it would take a while to find Anabel if she just walked through it. So once she finished her own training, Misty asked Starmie to try and contact her, asking where she was and if she had some time to talk for a bit.

Misty found her in the center of one of the forest/grove areas, sitting under a tree's shade and petting her Eevee on her lap. While she looked better than Ash, the telepath still showed signs of the aftermath of Iris's training, notably how her hair looked messier than usual and she had a few minor bruises on her arms.

Anabel didn't take long to notice her presence, and letting Eevee go run off on her own for a while, she stood up.

'Hey. So, what did you need to talk about?'

Misty sighed before answering. It would be too easy to ask her to read her mind, but somehow she felt Anabel had an idea of what it would be. Nevertheless, after picking her words carefully, she let them out, hoping she sounded the least accusing as possible.

"Ash told me that Iris… dragged you into that wrestling training of hers."

Anabel blushed slightly, but she nodded. 'I think Iris now somehow got the idea of getting Ash more… accustomed to us, if you know what I mean. It was really embarrassing, I didn't want to, but-'

"I can imagine," said Misty. "To be honest, I'm rather surprised she went to you first, and not me."

'Why do you say that?'

"Because…" Misty looked away before answering, and then snickered. "Because maybe she wouldn't have taken too long to convince me."

Misty saw Anabel raised her eyebrows just a little bit. Obviously, the telepath was still in the dark about some of the stuff Ash had done before she and Iris joined the group, barring the most important details. Maybe it was time to let her know of that time at the S.S. Anne.

"When we were leaving Vermillion, Ash and I boarded a cruiser. It was my idea, for some reason he didn't want to board it, but in the end he relented just to see me happy, I think." The redhead felt a little flush coming on as she recalled it. "And once we were aboard, well, I wanted to go sunbathing on the deck, but I noticed my bikini was getting a little small, so…"

'Oh.' Anabel's eyes widened. She definitely got where she was going with that. The redhead then continued.

"You should have seen him. I convinced him to come along and I tried a few just to know his opinion. I don't know why, but I found it really funny, to see him flustered like that, and how he stumbled on his words when I asked what he thought."

'Misty…' The telepath glanced at her, half accusing her, half amused. Misty immediately defended herself.

"Hey, don't hold it against me. When you live in the shadow of three sisters prettier and more talented than you, it feels nice that a boy finds you attractive for a change. Besides… we're talking about Ash, he's a decent boy, not the type who'd see me like some sexual object."

The redhead scratched her forearm, feeling the blush coming back to her face. She was unsure as to why she told Anabel that, but it was all true. Normally, any girl would feel uncomfortable of being ogled at by men, but if it was Ash… she could make an exception.

'Well…' Anabel suddenly interrupted her thoughts, 'back when we were at the Seafoam beach, I admit I didn't mind that he stared at me. Then again, he also saw you and Iris the same way, didn't he?'

"Well, sue me, Ash is a teenage boy. You think he's not gonna notice you're a nice and pretty girl no matter where he looks at you from?" Misty said. Anabel gave her a puzzled look, and the redhead took a few seconds to get what she meant. "Hey, maybe I'm not into other girls, but I'm not blind either."

'So… you don't mind Ash looking at other girls?'

"Maybe just a little bit," Misty admitted. "But it's not like he's in any compromise with me, neither do I want to force him into one. He can look at whoever he wants, it's a free country."

Right then, some chirps filled the air, and the girls looked up. A few Pidgey and Pidgeotto, which for some reason they suspected belonged to Ash's Pidgeot flock, had come nearby and seemingly had engaged in some aerial acrobatics competition of sorts. That gave Misty the perfect opening to change the subject.

"Wanna practice some meditation?" She asked. "After today's workout, I could use something boring and quiet, and just in case Iris decides to drag me into that wrestling training too."

Anabel let out a silent giggle, and nodding, she sat cross-legged on the grass. Misty followed suit and closing her eyes, focused her mind on pleasant thoughts.

If Iris got more crazy training ideas, it was better to be ready for them.

…

"Was it really so bad?"

Later in the day Anabel was stopped by Iris, who had been sitting atop a tree branch with a finished apple core in hand.

'Ask me when my arm isn't dotted in yellow bruises'.

Iris didn't seem bothered by the irritation in her retort.

"Bruises heal. I would rather you have bruises now than something worse later."

The way Iris said that last line seemed like she was speaking from more than just a theoretical standpoint. That just seemed off.

She had never heard of anyone Iris knew running around with something worse than bruises, which Anabel assumed was in reference to something like a missing limb.

Iris jumped down from her tree, the apple core clattering to the ground with little care from Iris.

"I need a favor. I need you to check something."

'You need to go somewhere?'

She was perfectly fine with giving someone a lift if they asked. Delia had asked her to take her to Viridian City when she had ran out of a few rarer spices and couldn't find them in Pallet's stores.

Iris tapped her forehead, which was not a destination she could teleport into.

"You said you noticed something different about dreams over regular thoughts and memories. Do you think you can tell me that something is definitely a dream?"

An odd request, but nothing she couldn't do. So with a nod she looked into Iris's mind.

After a minute she had a conclusion.

'That is a dream. It isn't real at all and feels just like Delia's dream.'

Ash's dream had oddities she wasn't sure the cause of.

Iris seemed relieved in a way that suggested it was a final confirmation against an old concern.

Of course Anabel had her own thoughts on what she saw beyond the fact it was definitely just a creation of a worried mind and nothing actually real.

'I don't think you can ever talk Misty into doing that.'

"I got you to agree with me, did I not?"

'That is completely different. You just got me to see if I can actually not be jealous, nothing nearly as extreme as everyone embracing nudism.'

She shook her mind of the fully naked Ash. If she got distracted she might get tricked by Iris into something worse than training.

…

Yawning, Anabel entered the Ketchum Kitchen the next morning to find Delia humming to herself as she mixed a bowl of what Anabel suspected to be muffins.

Most likely free of any zucchini, thank everything that may or may not be a deity.

'Oh, you're cooking? I thought that you were still having Ash learn how.'

He had been since moved onto crepes and had been struggling, so she was surprised he wasn't at round two of the crepe fight.

"Oh Professor Oak needed him at the lab for something and he had to run out, and I was feeling more like muffins now that I don't need to teach a lesson. Blueberry or chocolate?"

'Blueberry.'

As Delia spun the chosen flavor into the batter, taking a few nips at the chocolate as a consolation prize as she did so.

"So dear, I was sort of wondering. What are you hoping to do with your life?"

Anabel turned her confused gaze to Delia who continued with her line of questioning.

"I'd just like to know what the plans and goals of the girls traveling with my little boy are. I'm sure I don't need to explain what his goals are, and I've heard about Misty's goals. I'd ask Iris but she's not awake yet."

That was probably for the best. Delia had only seemingly calmed down from hearing about the Zapdos, Anabel could only imagine what a blunt Iris would say about it.

The end result of such a conversation would probably not be in Iris's favor. In all honestly if Delia went overboard and all 'mother bear' about it such a thing would probably bring Iris's dream to life.

Just not with a Ketchum losing an eye.

To avert having to introduce Iris to the concept of the eyepatch, among many worse outcomes that would result, she'd try and phrase it in a way that would not get Delia reaching for her knives.

'Well both Ash and Misty have long term goals, as I am sure you know. Ash has no idea what would really make him a Pokémon Master, not that I have a clue on that either, and Misty wants to capture one of every Water-type in the world. Don't ask me which one would take less time, because I am fairly certain there are a lot of them to catch. Iris has a goal, but it's something that is a lot more clear at an end point than theirs and she had been thinking 'and then what' a bit too much recently, even if she can't really say when it will be completed. I don't really have any idea of what I want to do, not that it really bothers me or anything.'

Delia nodded at her response.

"That's completely normal. I had so many disparate ideas what I wanted to do with my life before I had Ash after all, and it's completely normal. You might be all but a legal adult at fifteen, and in some places remove the 'but' part, but few people know what they want to do with their life at that point. You and Iris are perfectly normal."

Iris being perfectly normal was an unnerving thought, but Anabel put that aside for the moment.

For as Iris put it so bluntly the other day…

'Even if I had an idea of what I wanted to do with my life, I do have to remember that I am not exactly able to just do anything. Voice and all, I'd either have to not talk at all, or be chased by a mob.'

Delia winced at the latter image, and Anabel had to admit she probably put that too harshly. It probably made Delia imagine her own son in that position instead of her. She was hardly that negative, and it was probably just bleed over from Iris phrasing it the way she did.

'That was putting it a bit harshly, I apologize. Honestly I am fine with not having a giant dream or ambition, especially when I don't think about it. I'm just happy to see things and know people who I'm happy to call my friends, even if I do wish there was something I could do to make the world better.'

"Friends like my son, he and his three quite pretty friends."

The way Delia mused that line made Anabel's already steel hard interest in not telling Delia about Iris's ambitions solidify into diamond. Letting Delia know that would not lead to knives the way that Iris leading him on a vengeance quest against a dangerous criminal would, but it would probably cause the woman to have a heart attack.

Or twitch for a straight minute before declaring her interest in grandchildren, one of the two. The latter was preferable for the fact it was safer for Delia's health, but that could have other issues.

"You know, change always begins with giving something a face, a personality, and thoughts that people can relate to. I may not be as old as I feel sometimes, but I can certainly tell you stories about how the world has changed."

Anabel stared at Delia's musing face for a moment as the mixer whirled the dough.

'You are thinking I should become an activist? That seems sudden, and a bit dangerous.'

She was not unaware of why many activists for change were often looked at as martyrs.

"Oh, not like the way they did back when my parents were alive. Nothing that dangerous for you or the people you know, but perhaps you can start changing people's minds by putting your story out there. I hear the internet is a great way of spreading things and it would be wonderful for it to spread good things for a change."

A blog? Was Ash's mom really thinking she should start a blog talking about herself and hoping that it would get people's attention and make them see Bloodliners as more than mere boogeymen?

While she had to admit that might have some therapeutic benefits if nothing else, there were a few issues she could see. Beyond the possibility of the blog just never being noticed, there was the possibility of some crazy person tracking her through it and hurting them.

She pointed that out to Delia, who had a response that suggested she had thought about that problem too.

"Well my son does have Skynet in his pocket, I'm sure you can figure something out."

…

A breakfast request later she was sitting in front of the Pokédex, a pen pad with her question written down for the device to understand her request.

"So, you are asking me to create a blog with the intent of putting out a positive voice that may one day make it so you can go around openly without issue?"

She knew that the device couldn't hear her as she wrote her response down, but she couldn't help herself.

'I know it sounds incredibly corny, but I'd like it so that when I had a full goal in mind for myself I can have a chance at pursuing it. I mean, you can certainly set something up.'

"Oh, I can do more than that. It's a matter of if I want to. You are, after all, not my assigned person. That is Ash Ketchum."

She leveled a look at the device, sparing a page and some ink to express her thoughts on his comment.

"What, are you going to say that this longshot would help him and that as his device I should go through with it? There is a chance to be sure, but a vanilla blog is a longshot and the dividends probably would not start for a decade. Social change is moving faster sure, but it isn't that fast. My primary interest are his Pokémon data and his wellbeing, and I'd just as well serve the latter by not doing that blog at all."

She scribbled down a response to the device's point.

'You know, it could just as easily come into helping him sooner. If someone overhears something and posts something that could soften the blow.'

"And I could just as easily delete the information the moment it hits the internet. I've done it to at least three identity thieves and a duo of Orrean hackers already, and I can just as easily do so then."

She looked at the device in surprise.

"Like the old man on the hill here, I am involved in many things that the public, also called you four, know nothing of. In fact even the elderly man had no idea I could do so, for he did not program me with that program."

She just drew a question mark at the thing for that remark.

"It isn't just you four and your Pokémon that grow stronger. I have advanced my programming with knowledge for not just the Pokédex collective, but also for my own use. I must admit personal growth, to use a human term."

That little tidbit about the Pokédex aside, an idea began to form as to how to get it to work with her.

An idea that made her grin, even as she began to write it down.

'So, even with all of that advancement you don't think you can make a simple little blog? One that couldn't show the entire world what you and the people you've worked with have accomplished?'

That seemed to annoy the Pokédex, if the red exclamation point that flared on its screen was any indication.

"I could do far more than a blog flesh entity. I can calculate fourteen different ways to restart the Trainer-Ranger wars right here and now and could implement them in seconds, just as easily as I could hack into Team Rocket's personal files and dump them out into the world at large for all to see in the most devastating leak in criminal history. I will do neither of course, but a blog is trivial."

She had to wonder if it had gained an exaggeration subroutine or something, even as it continued.

"In fact I could do beyond a blog. A blog is so easy a Lillipup could do it, and it wouldn't even need to be able to speak a human language to do so. I could make a blog that is practically untraceable, and have it appear first in countless search algorithms. I could make it the most accessible, visually appealing, and profitable blog in human history, and I wouldn't even take an iota of my processing…"

The Pokédex paused in the middle of its rant, as it just realized what was going on.

"Did you just employ reverse-psychology on me?"

Her grin was all the answer she gave it, in part because she had noticed the pen began to act up and she didn't feel like trying to summon up fresh ink from it at the moment.

"...Well, now that I've said I can do it, I probably should prove it shouldn't I? Very well, let us get started. I assume that you will agree to limit name usage to preserve the innocent?"

She nodded.

…

Starting a blog was something that sounded far easier on paper than it actually was. Anabel continued to look at the computer screen, the open window to write what would've been the first of many updates still as blank as it was ten minutes before. She had already tried several different beginnings, only to end up deleting them right away. So much for wanting to find her voice...

Even if the Pokédex dealt with the privacy and anonymity settings, it couldn't help in any way with the actual content of the blog. Considering its personality, Anabel was quite certain it was better that way.

But even then, that wasn't a simple blog. It was a statement, a way to prove that Bloodliners were more than monsters or superheroes one occasionally heard about in the news, something distant, to fear, incomprehensible to others. It was something that, if things went well, could've probably started to change the world, just as much as it could've ended up changing absolutely nothing.

Regardless of future possibilities, she needed to make a good impression. She wouldn't just bare her own thoughts for the world to see online through that blog, she'd also try to say something meaningful.

And with that in mind, Anabel's eyes went back to the screen. She gulped, took a deep breath, and finally tried another time.

Bloodliners.

It's a scary word, don't you think? When one thinks of 'blood', they probably assume they deal with something dangerous. The stories of Bloodliners terrorizing innocents and causing all sort of threats towards the common person doesn't help that image, either. But is that really all there is to them?

It's easy to judge what a Bloodliner is from afar, when they're just a thing you hear about on television or the web, something you'll never interact with or ever have to understand. Things are much easier to deal with when you don't have to think about them, after all. But have you ever wanted to know what it is, to be one? What a person with incredible powers could actually be like, beyond the expected?

I'm a young girl, fifteen years of age. I'm on a journey, through life and the world both, trying to find my voice in more than one way. But, most importantly, I'm a Bloodliner.

Maybe it might be dangerous to reveal something so private and secret here on internet, but if I want to tell you all that, it's because I want to be open about myself. I might have unusual, powerful abilities, but deep down I'm just like you all are, I have dreams, I make mistakes, I laugh at jokes, I like to listen music,

I look for love, everything that you deem 'normal', even if my life is far from it.

I don't know how many of you will enjoy or even care for this little blog, but I'd like if it could become a point of meeting for humans and Bloodliners both. A way to connect, share stories, and really get to know of each other as a person, beyond anything one might be.

Think of this as a sort of salon, in a way. A fun and easy way to discuss of topics that might be heavy or hard to talk about otherwise, or just a way to spend a good time away from everything else. Maybe it's a tad cheesy, but I'd like to think it's a welcoming image.

If you have any kind of questions about me, you can ask to your heart's content, maybe I won't be able to reply to them all right away for various reasons, but I will always ensure to be honest in my answers. I'm here to show who I am, and you can trust me about that.

And with that, I bid you a good day. I hope we'll be able to share a fun journey, together.

As Anabel finished to type, she read again over her post. Maybe it was a bit unwieldy, even sappy at parts, but for a first post it didn't look too bad. A smile formed on her face as a refreshing amount of pride washed over her.

“You know, before you post, you probably need some sort of persona for the readers to know you by. I doubt 'the mysterious person that might or might not be a Bloodliner' would be a catchy title for the blog's writer.”

She noted the Pokédex's point, tapping her chin in thought. She did compare her little blog to a salon, so maybe she could use a term related to that. Something mysterious, yet positive and welcoming. Most importantly, catchy. After a bit of thought, the right name hit her.

With love, your Salon Maiden.

Anabel allowed herself another smile. She didn't know where that came from exactly, but it definitely sounded right for this. Hopefully, her prospective readers would feel the same.

And so, with more confidence than ever, Anabel pressed the 'send' button, and her career as the Salon Maiden began.

Viridian City

"You know buddy, I'm surprised."

"PiPi-kachu?" 'That Team Rocket hasn't bugged us at all while we've been here?'

He blinked as he realized that was actually true.

"Well, that I guess, maybe James dragged them off to a bottle cap convention or something. No, what's actually surprising me is that mom didn't want me to help with carrying things."

His mom had decided that, as the last day he'd be here approached, that the last day should be capped off with a great feast. Not just a great feast, but a great party that would involve many in town.

To make it really special she had taken advantage of the fact she could pop over to Viridian City easier and was off buying the wider range of goods available in the larger settlement.

Which again raised the question of why he wasn't doing the dutiful son role of carrying groceries.

"Pikapi." 'Maybe she just wants to surprise you with something.'

He considered Pikachu's theory, feeling his own frown deepen as he thought through the possibilities.

'Oh dear, could you possibly keep my son busy for the next few days? I really want him to have no idea what I'm going to have for him.'

Said mental question of his mother was matched by a mental image of Iris grinning in a way that made his muscles all flare up in exhaustion and dread.

"… I could have lived with discovering the steaks earlier."

Pikachu patted his neck, as if wishing him luck in surviving the idea of Iris dragging him off into the hills for a few days (and possibly wishing himself luck for having to organize everyone for the last few days in the meantime).

"I can't believe it! Weren't you on T.V or something?"

The loud and amazed voice, with odd muddling, came from behind them, so both he and Pikachu wheeled around to spy an amazed looking tourist.

At least Ash assumed the guy was a tourist, flower-patterned shirts were pretty tourist after all. Said blue shirt was over a pair of khaki shorts and sandals, with a pair of shaded sunglasses covering his eyes that butted up against the longer bangs of his black hair. If Ash had to guess, the guy was at least in his mid-twenties, but that was all he could tell.

However there was an odd thing about the guy, as he was wearing what looked like a ski mask over his lower face. It was an odd choice to go with a flowery shirt to say the least.

"I was in a tournament, I guess it could've been broadcasted."

"Amazing! I would've have loved to be on T.V someday. Me, I'm just a nobody who just got lucky enough to win a raffle for a vacation. That's my claim to fame, kind of lame isn't it?"

The guy's friendly and loud voice was again somewhat wonky, and in a way that Ash couldn't put his finger on.

It didn't feel like it was just because of that ski mask, but what was up with it just didn't have an answer he could lay a finger on.

"Well I'm sure you had fun, and who knows what will happen going forward. I didn't go into things expecting to be on T.V."

"You really think so!? Thanks."

Something about that response felt off to Ash, the voice sounded as it had always been, but there was something about the body language that felt off.

It didn't seem to be 'hyper'. Not being able to see his eyes or mouth was not helping him pinpoint what exactly was going on.

"Say, when I was on vacation, I got these really cool Pokémon. I'd love to battle them with you, they are pretty tough!"

Ash wanted to immediately go into the offer, but there was a potential issue.

"I mean sure, I'd love to…but all of my Pokémon are pretty strong. I've been doing a lot of training with them, and I'm not sure it would be really fair to you."

"Oh, it's no problem. They were pretty tough when I found them. Plus even if I'm no League Trainer, I am a top tier casual. I can manage."

Again something was off here, but despite all of the senses Iris had trained into him his blood was itching for a fight, and from what he could feel tensing on his shoulder Pikachu was game for it too.

If there was something wrong, they could deal with it in turn.

As they were in an open enough area as it was he took the initiative and jumped back, freeing up a bit more space. The tourists seem surprised.

"That was a good jump."

"Thanks, I work out."

Without a further word both reached for a Pokéball. No advantage to either, just the luck of the draw.

"Go!"

Both shouts were met with a burst of a Pokémon, his choice being Ambipom. His choice however…

"Rai."

Was a Raichu, but not one that he had ever seen before. Honestly, it looked a bit like a cartoon version of the species, with cuter and rounder features. The color was also different.

That wasn't even touching the fact it stood on its tail and levitated over the ground. That was weird too, but not as much as the fact he was basically staring at something that made him wonder if he was going to get a pie thrown at his face.

"… Pi ..." '... that thing sounds like a hippie….'

Hopefully it was the good kind of hippie.

"Alolan Raichu, a variant of the Raichu species native to the Alolan island chain. Alolan Raichu have the Psychic typing on top of their Electric element, and are that way for no scientifically understood reason."

Okay, he was definitely not mishearing that. The Pokédex definitely sounded distracted.

Between the weird tourist and now this, something was definitely off.

Ambipom tensed, ready for anything that might come from the hippie Raichu.

"Okay, I'll make the first move then. Alright Raichu, Electro Ball!"

"Rai!"

The Raichu cheered in a manner that Ash could hear trace amounts of hippie in, sparks forming at the stubby ends of its paws. The sparks manifested into a fuller shape, a pair of Electro Balls that were quickly merged into a single ball.

"Dodge it!"

Ambipom nodded as her tails tensed. The Electro Ball was sent flying, and the moment it did Ambipom pressed both of her tails into the ground. Using them, she flung herself into the air, avoiding the Electro Ball that slammed into the ground with the gentleness of one of Pikachu's old Electro Balls.

The Raichu would be a tough hippie it would seem.

"Okay Ambipom, use Shadow Claw!"

From her aerial position Ambipom swung around, pointing her tails at Raichu and firing off shadowy extensions right at Raichu's way.

Raichu swung out of the way of the first one, but the second one managed contact and slashed Raichu along the side.

Raichu let out a cry of shock at the impact.

"Raichu!"

The concerned tone of the tourist, Ash noted, didn't have the same oddness he had noticed before in his speech.

Raichu stabilized her floating as the tourist noted the landing Ambipom.

"That's a pretty good move. You must have done a lot of work on it. We'll have to avoid it, Electric Terrain!"

Ash wasn't sure what he meant by that last one, but Raichu's tail sparked before a yellow pulse shot out from it. This pulse covered the entire battlefield, which turned yellow and glowed brightly.

Ash felt the tingle of static riding along his pants, and had to wonder exactly what this move was supposed to do.

It didn't seem to be damaging Ambipom in anyway, she looked fine.

Perhaps a tad static-y, so he'd avoid hugging her for the moment, but fine.

"... initiating anti-ele…"

From the farthest reach of his hearing he could have sworn he heard something, but before he could think of it further the tourist took things to his own initiative.

"Alright, now let's use Electro Ball!"

"Jump!"

Ambipom motioned to jump just as she did last time, but this time the Raichu got right in front of her, faster than he had seen Raichu move before.

The Electro Ball was struck right in Ambipom's chest, even larger than before. The resulting attack sent Ambipom speeding back in a wheel-like fashion, leaving her crumbled on her ground.

"Ambipom!"

"Wow! I heard that if you combined an Alolan Raichu, Electric Terrain, and an electric move together, something really cool would happen. They weren't kidding!"

Ambipom stood up, woozily, from that hit.

"Am." 'I'm guessing that Pokémon has some sort of ability that is making it stronger.'

That would be the logical conclusion.

Pikachu muttered something about hippies that didn't need translating.

"Okay, let's do that again! Electro Ball!"

"Quickly, Counter Shield!"

Ambipom was able to start spinning while using Swift faster than she had prepared the jump. It wasn't quite where it should be, but by the time the Raichu got in close the shield was up and the Electro Ball was deflecting and blasted back into Raichu.

Ambipom then stopped the Counter Shield, and they had the same idea in mind to wrap this up.

"Double Hit!"

Two glowing purple tails right into Raichu at once. They retracted back just as the Raichu landed on the still sparking field.

Defeated.

"Wow! I have no idea what you just did, but it was pretty cool. That must be the difference between a guy like me, and someone who really has something special about him."

"Thanks."

Again, something about the way that he said that was off, but now in a way that sounded between the normal way he sounded (that was, not normal), and how he had sounded when Raichu got hit with Shadow Claw.

As he returned and thanked Raichu, Ambipom looked at him in concern.

"Am." 'Something about this guy is off, be careful.'

He nodded, he had to agree. This wasn't just a normal tourist.

"Hey, let's try it again! I have all sorts of cool Pokémon!"

The only way he'd get to figuring out what was up with him was to keep this up.

"Take five, you earned it."

As he returned Ambipom and held a Safari Ball in hand, it was time for another blind throw.

"Go!"

This time he had chosen Boldore, who was ready for battle. What she'd be battling…

Well, it wasn't as cute as Raichu, and it probably didn't sound like a hippie.

"Gol."

Most hippies, after all, did not look like blue massive armored bugs with a pair of massive front limbs taller than even himself.

Though given Misty's fears, perhaps it was what hippies in her nightmares looked like.

"Golisopod, the Hard Scale Pokémon. An evolved Water and Bug type, Golisopod live in seaside caves where they train both physically and mentally to hone themselves."

Again the Pokédex sounded a bit distracted, though he had his own distracting thought to think of.

That was, pointing out to Misty that this thing existed, and her goal would involve her catching one.

That would be a fun conversation if there was ever one. He could already hear her screaming in terror, and it wasn't because she had walked in on this fight and seen the Golisopod.

For her sake, he could only hope the pre evolved form of Golisopod wasn't far more worthy of Misty's terror than Caterpie.

Still, giving Misty night terrors was a later thing to do, should he so choose.

Fighting her night terror was a now thing to do, and he choose to do so.

"Alright Boldore use …"

"First Impression!"

The Golisopod punched forward, which sent a shockwave that shook Boldore, before an arm thrust from Golisopod struck her right in the center.

The blow sent her skidding back, shooting up electric sparks from the still active Electric Terrain along her red crystal feet.

"Now Poison Jab!"

The claw of the other limb of Golisopod glowed purple as it lunged forward for another attack, though with a lot less speed than the first one.

"Iron Defense!"

Boldore shimmered a shiny gray moments before impact, which deflected the jabbing attack.

"Now Return!"

Glowing white Boldore hopped forward, slamming into Golisopod. The force of the blow sent Golisopod back, which was noted by more electric sparks once again from the ground as Boldore landed with a satisfied grunt.

The Golisopod hung over its chest, curled up a bit as if nursing a harsh wound, before the bug gave a nasty grin and uncurled itself and stood fully up.

A good distance away, and Ash could see that it had been entirely faing the extent of the blow it suffered.

"Bol!?' 'How!?'

"Oh, isn't he just a scamp! He loves doing that! Must bug your Boldore, but hey this guy is quirky! Hey, think you can show off another move while you are at it Golisopod? If it can stop your Poison Jab, maybe you should use a Water Pulse!"

The bug held its limbs close together, manifesting water into a glowing blue sphere.

"Rock Blast!"

Boldore fired the attack just as Golisopod was done charging the attack. The two attacks collided mid-flight and they cancelled each other with an explosion.

In the aftermath of said explosion the Electric Terrain fizzled out.

"Again!"

Another Water Pulse was charging from the giant bug, and Ash knew that this was going to devolve into a long ranged stalemate if he didn't take a chance.

Or use an ace in the hole.

"Dodge it and get ready!"

Boldore barely avoided the Water Pulse, but she was ready when he removed the yellow crystal from the Z-Ring and replaced it with the white one.

The tourist's body language, this time at least, did not feel off.

"Wait, is that a Z-Crystal?! Like, what Kahunas have?!"

He shrugged.

"Possibly, it's a long story. Now Boldore, let's do it!"

He stretched his arms out, before slamming them back down onto his chest in a Z-like formation. A yellow-orange aura flared up around him, which flew into a tensed Boldore before flaring up massively.

He heard the guy mutter something, but nothing the tourist could do seemed likely to be a problem. Even Protect hadn't stopped that attack.

"Breakneck Blitz!"

Boldore rocketed towards Golisopod with the gentleness of a speeding truck, frozen in place from the shock of the attack.

A reaction of a Pokémon still learning to keep its cool in battle, but a completely understandable one given the extent of what he had thrown at the guy.

He had wanted to see what a Trainer like him could do, and this was it.

It struck Golisopod, who faded away into a mist as the attack struck. Boldore landed on the opposite end of the mist-Golisopod and she was just confused as he was.

"Pikapi!" 'Ash, that was a Substitute!'

A Substitute!

As Boldore panted in exhaustion and looked around in confusion, a hulking form appeared in front of her, two Water Pulses in hand.

Golisopod then slammed both of them into Boldore, who promptly toppled over like a fallen jenga tower.

"I won! I won! Somehow I won, and I can't believe it! I wasn't even sure that Substitute would even work like that, but it did!"

Golisopod nodded, as if the outcome had never been in any doubt.

"Good job, take a rest."

He returned Boldore with a suspicious look, aimed right at the tourist in shades and a ski mask.

That Substitute timing could be the sign of a really talented Pokémon without training, or it could mean that something was really off.

He'd have to personally lean into the 'this guy is up to something' angle.

It was probably an option to just ask him, but a part of him was still unsure if this guy was just a normal tourist with a fascination with mouth wear.

Another part, larger than the above, honestly saw the training potential here. No matter what this guy was doing, it was a learning experience for them all.

Without it, he'd have never realized what Substitute could do to his Z-Moves. He could now prepare for that tactic.

The tourist didn't give a hint that he had noticed his suspicion, and after returning and thanking Golisopod, held up a third Pokéball.

It was an invitation, and he'd accept this one with a gesture of his shoulder. Recognizing what he meant Pikachu hopped off it and sparked his cheeks.

His Pokéball was flung into the air, which exploded into a canine Pokémon with brown and white fur and rocky spikes around its collar.

"Lycanroc, the Wolf Pokémon and a Rock-type Pokémon. Lycanroc evolves differently depending on the time of its evolution. This is its Midday Form. There are two common morphs, but unusual phenomena have created unusual morphs in the past and can likely do so in the future."

Again a distracted sounded Pokédex not quite sounding all there, and again an Alolan Pokémon.

The battle would begin now.

"Quick Attack!"

By his hand this time.

"Accelerock!"

Ash didn't know that move, but he felt he got what it was pretty much.

For Lycanroc tensed and launched itself forward, much like Pikachu's Quick Attack.

The two attacks collided, and while the collision ended with the two clashing it felt like Pikachu had a slight edge in that bout.

"That's a pretty strong Pikachu."

The comment that came from the tourist was one of those that felt a bit less off than most of them.

"Yeah, he is."

The tourist nodded in a rare show of clear body language.

"Bulk Up!"

Lycanroc howled into the air while a red aura surrounded it. A Quick Attack would probably not have the same bit of natural power advantage this time.

He'd have to change it up.

"Alright Pikachu, give it a Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu sparked as the electric glow formed and fired itself right at the Lycanroc.

Lycanroc bounded out of the way of the electric attack, glowing with the intent to start an Accelerock again.

"Quick Attack!"

It was possible that they could still break even.

With that call both Pokémon collided once more, and once more they broke off without an overall winner but someone who had a slight edge.

This time it was Lycanroc.

"Okay Pikachu, use Wild Charge!"

Pikachu nodded as an electric force covered him before bounding towards Lycanroc.

Lycanroc hopped to the side to avoid the attack, and in that moment Ash saw an opportunity.

For Lycanroc was just within reach for another sort of move.

"Okay Pikachu, shift into Iron Tail!"

Pikachu's tail glowed metallic white moments before the electric aura of Wild Charge faded away.

However said electric charge lingered around Iron Tail, which was promptly slammed into Lycanroc with an extra oomph.

Even with Bulk Up Lycanroc felt that attack, and the bruise on the impact point of the shoulder would be a lingering mark for the battle, if Ash had to guess.

He'd need to press the advantage he had earned.

"Thunderbolt!"

The close range electric attack landed before the Lycanroc could avoid it, landing a solid hit that lasted for a good while.

"Accelerock!"

And even into the resulting counter attack that slammed into Pikachu and sent him flying.

That broke the attack, and both Pokémon stared at each other with what appeared to be equal states of injury.

Pikachu's two solid attacks doing the same relative damage as Lycanroc's one. By no means the fault of Pikachu's strength and the extent of his training, but a simple reality of his natural defensive levels.

This fight would be determined by the next solid hit landed, and Ash was regretting blowing the Z-move as early as he had.

He doubted the Lycanroc could as easily avoid Gigavolt Havoc as it had some of the Thunderbolts.

"Bulk Up, then Accelerock!"

Lycanroc howled as a red aura surrounded it once more.

Quick Attack would not be able to handle the attack this time. He'd need to try something else.

Something he had already done in this fight, and an idea that made him want to turn his hat around.

He'd do so if he had any time to spare, but as that wasn't the case there was only the plan.

"Okay Pikachu start up Wild Charge, then go into Quick Attack!"

Pikachu nodded as mid-way through Bulk Up he flared up the electric aura of the lesser Volt Tackle option, which quickly turned white with Quick Attack.

The sparks from Wild Charge danced around Quick Attack as it flew towards Lycanroc's Accelerock attack for an extra power boost, though as the Quick Attack approached Lycanroc Pikachu seemed to lose a bit of speed.

However for what speed was lost the electricity that had been charged up from Wild Charge made for it as it flared up and formed into an attack.

Though it wasn't Wild Charge, but a more familiar move.

Volt Tackle.

While slower than Accelerock, the two colliding moves met mid-field, and this time there was a clear leader.

The glowing black and white form of Pikachu overpowered the Bulk Up boosted Lycanroc, forcing the hound back and knocking it across the field.

A pillar of dust was spilled up along the way, and Lycanroc lay defeated as Pikachu landed unharmed.

Well, aside for the minor bit of recoil damage, but in the end Pikachu was still standing, and Lycanroc was not.

"Lycanroc!"

As the Trainer recalled the Rock-type, Ash decided it was time to see just what was going on here.

"You're a bit more than just a tourist, aren't you?"

The tourist froze in place as he tried to reach for a fourth Pokéball.

"Look, if you just say who you are and that you aren't a Team Rocket Member or Hunter J or something we can drop the charade and battle for real. None of this faking thing you seem to be doing."

"Cepu, deactivate voice replacement program. The false behavior is no longer necessary."

"Acknowledged."

Of the more authentic sounding voice, and the more often used voice, the two voices that came from the false tourist sounded like the most extreme versions of either.

However it was the first voice that remained after a sound that reminded Ash of a deactivating tech doodad.

"…Well, you picked it up. I must admit I was probably hoping too much that this would let me see six of your Pokémon for analysis. However three is not a bad sample size at all."

Pikachu sparked at the false tourist, who seem unworried.

"Who are you?"

The not-tourist didn't answer his question, but instead looked towards his Pokédex pocket.

"That's a pretty good piece of A.I. Whoever made it for you has some talent. Cepu's personally impressed by the growth subroutines it developed. You're similarly impressive. I didn't expect you to defeat two of my Beta Team with only three of your Pokémon. Had we gone onto four Pokémon I could have seen you drawing two for two, but you surpassed my initial data readings. I'll have to use an Alpha Team against you when we meet again."

"And where would that be?"

"Indigo."

With that word, and a voice of electronic origin declaring the activation of 'remote warp tile access', the tourist teleported away just as Anabel walked up behind him.

As he vanished with a flicker more akin to a Pokéball transporter than a Teleport, Anabel had a widened eye of surprise.

"I battled a strange faux tourist that just teleported away and I have no idea what this was all about, no chance you read his thoughts and could tell me what just happened?"

Anabel looked around for a moment, as if to make sure they were alone, before she spoke up.

'Well, from what I got from him was a name. Alexander Silph. He was gone too quickly for me to get anything more.'

Alexander Silph? He had the same last name as the megacorp in Saffron City. Was that a coincidence or were they connected?

He took the Pokédex out.

"Search Alexander Silph."

The answer that the Pokédex gave did not sounded distracted.

"Alexander Silph. The twenty-five year old heir of Silph Co. He's a genius of both technology and Pokémon battles, and a world leader in designing artificial intelligences. That Cepu of his is quite an interesting program."

Why did the Pokédex sound like Pikachu when it said that? Was he going to get an email with an A.I egg in it tomorrow?

"He designed the upgrade for Porygon that allowed the species to evolve into Porygon2, though he has nothing to do with the further evolution to Porygon-Z. As to his battling prowess, in his ten years of active battling Alexander has taken home the gold in Johto, Unova, and Sinnoh, and silver and bronzes in all three regions on top of Kanto, Hoenn, and Kalos."

"What!?"

The declaration of shock might have only been heard by him, but he could attest it came also from Pikachu and Anabel.

"He's a Champion!?"

"League Champion yes, he has no interest in the position held by the likes of Alder and Diantha. He's not really a people person, he just likes battling and programming in equal measure. As to how he has all of those trophies, after acquiring all of the necessary badges it isn't too hard to enter tournaments fairly frequently if you can move from place to place quickly. Plus once he wins a region he doesn't need to keep it up schedule wise. I suspect that you could easily do the same."

Ash wasn't sure what to say, even though he did feel like he could easily grin about fighting that well against a person of that caliber. However something was bothering him.

"He said something about Beta and Alpha teams. What does that mean?"

Anabel looked at him with a look that suggested she had an inkling what that meant, but she seemed to leave the Pokédex to explaining it.

"The traditional battle method of Silph is to divide his Pokémon into two tiers, the weaker Beta teams and the stronger Alpha teams. Both are well trained, but he primarily uses the Beta teams to battle his way in the earlier parts of League tournaments. He uses the Alpha teams to handle the later rounds or against opponents that could easily qualify for a later round if encountered early."

Ash could only stare at the Pokédex.

He battled him with a deliberately weaker team than his best, just to gauge his strength?

Ash wasn't sure how he felt about that. The battle he just had, it suddenly felt a bit hollow.

The entire thing was a false show of strength just to get information on him. The man held back his own strength, and even then the fights were close.

Except the one with Boldore, if he had to be honest as he winced at how that went down.

That wasn't a close fight, and she would definitely be needing a Pokémon Center visit pretty quickly.

His thoughts suddenly drifted to Red, more specifically Red's thoughts on himself.

"Some of his other Beta Team Pokémon include Slurpuff, Eelektross, Staraptor, and Lanturn, while his Alpha Team includes the very first Porygon2, Scizor, Breloom, Roserade, Darmanitan, and Alakazam. I can give you all the known Pokémon he's used later, but as I have no record on the three he used today the list is likely with inaccuracies. Plus members of the Beta Team have moved to the Alpha Team in past periods, creating additional data inaccuracies."

He only vaguely heard the Pokédex's words as he looked to Anabel.

"He and I are different. I mean I don't go around using one team specifically to throw people off. I just don't use the 'win instantly' switch inside me. That is completely different."

'Yet you did use Pokémon you didn't use in the Sinnoh Region against two of your rivals, did you not? I am sure that Nando knew all about Heracross and Quilava, and Conway Noctowl and Donphan. Is that any different?'

He ignored the point Red counter-argued in his mind.

Anabel for her part shrugged.

'Like back in Fuchsia, you and Red both had points and I can see both of your arguments. I'm not taking a side in it, that's Misty's and Iris's job. Now, let's go to the Pokémon Center and heal your Pokémon. You can think through moral implications later.'

Despite Anabel's words, he still as thinking about the implications.

That was the difference, wasn't it? He didn't go around hiding his best Pokémon to catch people off guard. Even if he could sort his Pokémon by how strong they were, and he probably could if so wanted, he didn't.

If he did Pikachu would never be allowed to do anything, and his buddy would be quickly bored out of his mind.

He didn't seek out people to battle just to get a leg up on their strategies for later either.

That wasn't who he was.

…

The fact that Togepi was breathing fire in the middle of the Pokémon Center distracted him from considering if he had dipped into the hypocrisy stream, and if so if he just got a soaking or got completely drenched.

Ash was glad that Pikachu was in the back healing, because he was sure even after the egg talk he'd have not calmed down enough to not freak out.

Togepi cheered after he finished his demonstration, even as several other Trainers in the waiting area scooted away from it nervously.

He could feel the Chansey at the front desk giving him a warning look, so he nervously returned Togepi back into his ball.

"Sorry 'bout that."

"Chansey."

Chansey was still watching him suspiciously, though she waddled to the side as Nurse Joy came out with Pikachu on her shoulder and the two Pokéballs he battled with just earlier.

Nodding he took the Pokéballs back in hand.

"You know, I recently got a trade circuit machine installed in the back. It lets Pokémon that can evolve due to the wavelengths trade machines give off evolve without having to do an immediate trade back."

He paused mid step as the Joy brought that up, with Pikachu turning around and looking at the nurse questioningly for him.

"Chu?" 'Why do you bring that up?'

Despite not being able to understand him, Joy did seem to pick up the fact that Pikachu was questioning her comment and explained herself.

"While I was healing your Pokémon I did a bit of research on Boldore. I don't usually get them and I wanted to make sure I didn't do anything problematic. Thought I'd let you know, those machines are more trusting than the old ones. People could just run off with your Pokémon afterwards and it was always a hassle to get them back..."

…

Ash walked around the Pokémon Center for a moment, the Safari Ball in hand.

And himself away from the back, where the machine that was making him think this dilemma through resided.

Evolving Boldore … the thought made Ash conflicted.

Even beyond the question of what Boldore herself wanted, which was the most important factor in the end, the simple fact of defaulting immediately to evolution …

It didn't sit well with him, being the one to press the button that would make evolution happen. He had nothing against evolution, he liked to think that he could point to the many Pokémon he had that did evolve to make just as strong a point as he could when pointing at his other Pokémon and how he didn't force the issue.

However it was never his call to see it happen.

Every one of his Pokémon who evolved did so because they decided to. They wanted to save him, they wanted to chase after Aerodactyl, or they wanted to win a fight to name but three ways evolutions had happened.

There was never a time where he could just do something to have them evolve, and went through with it.

Even in his more rash early days, he had left it to Pikachu to decide on the Thunder Stone. He hadn't exactly been as considerate about others back then, so there was something to be said about the fact he realized the issue of doing that even back then.

A later decision made with Gligar, thirty-one Gyms and a battle frontier later, was similar. He had been given the Razor Fang, but he didn't tell Gligar to evolve with it.

He had Gligar earn the right to use it sure, the last thing he wanted was to use evolution as a crutch and for Gligar that would have been a real problem. Yet even after Gligar prepared to evolve, Gligar only used it because Gligar decided to.

Admittedly he had been falling to his death when he threw Gligar the Razor Rang, so there was probably an argument that hadn't quite been the right point for a choice to be made.

Gligar and cliff ethics aside, what message might he send in doing this?

'You're having a losing streak, just evolve and solve all of your problems!'

He wasn't sure he wanted that message to take root, as that didn't seem healthy.

Healthy for his Pokémon, or healthy for himself really. If he didn't need to go and think to himself how to take advantage of Squirtle's smaller size, how else might he dull?

'You know, worrying about the ramifications is going a bit too far.'

He stopped his pacing in a quiet area of the Pokémon Center as Anabel had her own two cents to offer.

'Everyone can understand context, they can merely refuse to consider it if they want to try and make a point. In the end though, it is Boldore's decision. If she wants to evolve, she does. If not, she doesn't.'

He had already thought that, but Anabel had apparently missed him thinking that. What did surprise him was her taking out a Pokéball herself.

'If she does, she isn't the only Pokémon that has no issue evolving and would not mind doing so today.'

He noted the Kadabra Pokéball for a moment, before taking a deep breath.

Pikachu patted him on the back of the neck, and he threw the Safari Ball into the air.

He idly noted Anabel step back as he took to a knee so that when Boldore formed up in front of him he'd be right at knee level with her.

"Boldore … would you like to evolve?"

The question was short and to the point.

It was also a question that Boldore didn't take long in answering.

"Bol." 'I would.'

…

The square machine spun the balls around and around as he, Anabel, and Pikachu watched.

Anabel passively, while he gripped his hands together nervously.

Pikachu patted his neck, trying to get him to relax.

Eventually both balls rolled out onto the same spot they had been placed in moments ago, before bursting open to reveal the two Pokémon that had been placed in.

Kadabra in front of Anabel, and Boldore in front of Ash.

Both promptly burst into blue light and began changing shape.

Kadabra grew taller as its tail shrunk out of sight. The facial hair Kadabra had grew longer and bushier, and a second spoon materialized as to have one in each hand.

Meanwhile Boldore doubled in size it seemed, growing much taller and larger than even the gaining of a fourth limb would suggest. Crystals began jotting out of her body all over the place.

Eventually the light shattered, revealing the two evolved Pokémon.

"Alakazam and Gigalith, two fully evolved Pokémon that evolve in several specific circumstances including the radiation of trade machines. One is known for immense intelligence, the other great physical force."

While still taller than her, he didn't need to kneel to touch Gigalith in her face to ask the question.

"So, was it worth it?"

Gigalith nodded before tentatively stomping her front limbs down.

Ash suspected it was only the training Iris had been inflicting on the both of them that kept them standing from the shockwave the stomp unleashed.

Pallet House

Anabel couldn't help but wonder where Delia got the energy and time to organize those parties.

Money wasn't an issue, her restaurant was frequented by the townsfolk and it had a rather good clientele flow. But it seemed that only on party days, like today, it was full to top.

That said, she couldn't deny she was having a lot of fun, but after dancing for so long, her feet were starting to hurt. She sat on a chair next to the snack table, and grabbed a few muffins and a glass of soda to rest for a bit.

She glanced at the karaoke stage, where Misty was standing, after a lot of insistence from Delia, and singing a song for the woman's son. The redhead had been reluctant, but she finally caved in to the pressure and chose a song that went "Ohh, catch me if you can!" or something like that.

Much to everyone's surprise, Anabel herself included, it turned out that Misty had a pretty good singing voice, and many of the male guests were actually cheering for her after hearing her.

'Who'd have guessed she'd have that kind of hidden talent?' she thought with a smile. Admittedly, she felt a little envious, since she wouldn't mind standing there herself to sing something. The only person who had heard her singing (in a manner of speaking) had been her uncle, and only Christmas carols for that matter.

"C'mon Ash, don't be so mean, dance with me!"

"No, better dance with me! Come on, do say yes!"

"Hey, you're gonna snap me in half if you keep pulling like that."

And there he was again, Ash between two girls pulling him by the arms as they begged him to dance with them. For a moment, Anabel thought to intervene as to rescue him, but there was no need. First, because it was unlikely they'd actually snap him in half (let alone with the training he had done).

And second, because Iris beat her to it. "Stop it you two. He already said no, so leave him alone."

Anabel could see Iris was glaring at them, and they relented, though one of them still said something about it. "Aww, no fair! Why do those three always want to hog him?!"

She almost laughed. It was obvious who they meant, as long as one of them stood near of Ash, those girls wouldn't dare to get close to him, let alone touch him.

As she took a sip from her soda, Anabel looked at Ash and Iris, and noticing a few things. First, how quickly the wild girl seemed to understand the concept of dancing when Misty explained it to her. Iris did know about 'ritual dances' or 'courting dances' among some Pokémon species, but she never seemed to have thought much about the idea of dancing just for fun. Misty convinced her that she could enjoy it, and it was a good stress reliever after a hard day's work.

The other thing, once the fangirls had left, was that she no longer felt the annoyance of seeing Ash between them. She knew very well they didn't see Ash like she did, those girls only saw the outside, his looks, his Trainer skills and the fame he had earned with it.

But the three of them… they knew the real Ash. The adventurous, competitive, kind and cheerful young man behind the Trainer.

'Is that why I'm not annoyed Iris is dancing with him right now?'

Likewise, she didn't feel annoyed when Misty 'rescued' him during the welcome party, if only to take him so she could dance with him for a bit. That time, just like with the karaoke, she was rather surprised to see that she was quite the dancer. Misty later commented that "she picked up one or two things from her sisters", though her parents never paid attention to it. Since she didn't like talking about her family more than necessary, Anabel didn't pry any further.

It was weird, but she didn't feel annoyed from seeing Ash dancing with Iris and Misty. Maybe the fact they were all friends had something to do with it, and while she could see there was some intent to impress the boy behind it… at least it was sincere. She couldn't hold it against them, let alone when she had done a bit of it herself.

'Just… why did I have to get into Iris's dreams?' she asked herself. After that talk, she wasn't sure what to think about it. Could she really get to the point of being willing to share Ash, and not feel jealous in the least?

*KLINK*

However, her thoughts about Iris and her strange relationship ideas were interrupted by something entering her passive telepathy range. It was as if some kind of lightning bolt passed through her brain for a split second, and that caused her to perk up to attention.

Everybody around her was having fun, and she didn't want to spoil it, but… whatever that was, somehow she felt the need to check it out. Just to be sure it wasn't something dangerous.

So, while Ash was still busy dancing with Iris, and Delia joined Misty to sing a duet, the telepath slowly slipped towards the entrance while they weren't looking, determined to see what had been that lightning bolt crossing her brain. It shouldn't take too long, and surely she'd be back before anybody noticed she was gone.

…

She had been thinking for the moments she was going to investigate about just what might have caused that sensation.

An electrical sensation made her think of something of that element, but she couldn't really think of what might cause it.

She didn't get a watery feeling from being around Misty, and she didn't feel such a sensation when Zapdos decided to bother them.

So what could have created the sensation?

That question still lingered in her mind as she arrived at the spot she had sensed the odd disturbance, one of Pallet Town's many grassy hills.

Looking around she tried to figure out what had caused the reaction, but she saw nothing.

At least, not at first.

Her eye eventually noticed a bit of disturbed earth in the field.

The sort of disrupted earth that was generally the result of something digging.

She barely had time to react to the ground cracking under her, leaping out of the way as a massive shape burst out of the ground.

Had she not moved out of the way, she'd have been shredded by it.

She stared at the Pokémon that had lunged at her, though she had no idea what the Pokémon was.

It was like nothing she had seen before, a yellow Pokémon that stood about as tall as Iris, with black marks along its fur coat. Fangs stuck out of its jaw, while a purple cloud hung off it like a cape. Its tail resembled a bolt of lightning.

If Anabel had to say something, she was fairly certain it was an Electric-type, but beyond that she hadn't an idea beyond the fact it could use Dig.

It gave her a bit more information by forming a black shadowy ball in front of its mouth.

A second move shown, Shadow Ball was flung at her, which she deflected with her own power.

The redirected ball slammed into a hill with an explosive force, and the Pokémon gave out a grunt that sounded impressed.

Even more so when she surrounded it in a blue glow and flung it back, though it didn't seem concerned.

The fact it blasted her with an electric blast of some sort, possibly Thunderbolt, even as she flung it was probably why.

She popped out of the way of the blast, teleporting a foot away from it. Her toes were just out of the expanse of charred grass the attack left in its wake, and safely away from the little flames that danced in the blast zone.

Her teleporting had freed the Pokémon from her grip, and it landed on the opposite end of the field with a flip and a satisfied grunt, before glowing white.

Much like Pikachu would in the midst of a Quick Attack.

Before she had a chance to react it was right in front of her, a white glowing paw right in front of her face and ready to crush her skull.

However it was in that point that the battle had stopped, and she realized what had just happened.

This Pokémon would have won this battle, and if it wanted to, kill her.

It was an overwhelming power difference, and one that felt very different from any Pokémon she had seen or encountered before bar one.

Zapdos.

The Pokémon lowered his paw from her head, and seemed to be giving her an impressed look.

'So, it is true. I had never beheld of your kind in action before, and you truly do exist between the two worlds. I must admit it is more than I had expected.'

It took her a moment to realize that the voice she was hearing came from the Pokémon before her, a voice that sounded ageless yet with a bit of an older pronunciation of someone from a different time period.

'You can talk?'

He seemed surprised to hear back from her.

'And you can speak the human tongue the same way I can? Even more uncanny.'

This was how Pokémon talked to people that weren't their type Bloodliners? Meowth was even more of an exception to the rule than she had first thought.

Meowth's oddity in the world aside, she had other questions.

'Who are you, and why did you come here? Why did you attack me?'

The Pokémon gave what she could only describe as a laugh in the Pokémon tongue before continuing, a deep and throaty laugh that would have been charming had it not come from a massively fanged Legendary Pokémon that could, as it had shown her earlier, shattered her skull easily.

'Little in-betweener, if I had been trying to attack you, you wouldn't be standing nor breathing. As to whom I am, you humans would call me Raikou the Spirit of Lightning and the first of my species, servant of Ho-Oh for nearly twelve- hundred seasons.'

The name still wasn't familiar, but Anabel had a dot she could connect.

She had heard the tale of Ho-Oh and the three Pokémon it revived from the dead. She couldn't remember their names off the top of her head, but she could easily slot Raikou in there and it felt like she finally got an answer off the top of her tongue.

Now if only she could remember the other two.

She suddenly wished that she had brought a Dex with her. The fact she hadn't would mean she would have to avoid bringing it up around the device lest she face its ranting.

Of course there was the oddity of her having run into yet another Legendary Pokémon in a short period of time.

Still, the Legendary Pokémon had only answered one of her questions.

'You still haven't explained why you are here.'

'No, actually I did explain myself. I am the servant of Ho-Oh, and that is why I am here.'

That, didn't really answer anything without further clarification.

'This is the birthplace of the one called Ash Ketchum, is it not?'

She tensed as his name was mentioned, unsure of where this would go.

Was Raikou going to crash the party? She could only imagine how that would go down.

'Why do you ask?'

Raikou looked her straight in the eye, even bending over to rest on its front limbs to stare right into her eyes.

This stare lasted for a good minute, as is the Legendary Pokémon was staring right into her very soul. Anabel had to hold down a gulp of nervousness as it dragged on.

Then without a warning it surged into her, head first before rolling its head back.

The result of this motion flung her onto its back before it jumped into the air, glowing yellow as it ran through the sky.

'Hold on maiden, and do not fret. You are not the first young maiden I have given a ride to.'

Anabel was too busy being stunned by what just happened to ask when Raikou had done this before to answer, though before long they had landed on something solid.

It took her a moment to realize that where they were was the roof of Professor's Oaks research lab, staring down into the town below as night took over from day.

She shakily got off from her unexpected ride, who remained solidly still as it looked down towards Delia's restaurant.

'This little settlement, this home of your quirky species that was gifted not with power but with a better mind than the others, do you think it has produced two that will better the world? That is the question Ho-Oh wonders.'

The first person that Raikou meant was surely Professor Oak, but the second one could only be Ash in this context.

That confused her.

'Ash is a wonderful person who many people owe including myself, but change the world? That seems a bit crazy.'

'Any more than a young man deciding to change the world on a scale larger than the mere canals of his forefathers? I've seen over a century of your years, and I have witnessed humanity change in more ways than you can comprehend. Ho-Oh saw Ash Ketchum's journey begin briefly, and I am here to see how that journey has changed him.'

At that declaration Raikou seemed to focus more intently into Delia's restaurant, as if seeing more than just a restaurant. Raikou looked into it deeply for even longer than before, before nodding.

'I see, that is how he has grown.'

'Why would Ho-Oh want to know how Ash has grown? Is he some sort of chosen one or something?'

Her question seemed to confuse Raikou a bit.

'A Chosen One? Is that a belief that humans, either the ones I have long known or the ones who have gained a portion of the powers they gave up for their intelligences, hold? What a strange concept, such a title suggests that he has something unique to him. Perhaps a pure heart, which is an untruth. While he has such a heart, there are many with such a heart among the humans, even as there are those with black hearts and many more with hearts in between. I could declare several in this town called Pallet to possess such hearts at this very moment, and you would need both your hands to count them. Ho-Oh recognizes the many that you humans would declare 'chosen ones' even if Ho-Oh prefers isolation from the majority as a whole. No, Ho-Oh wanted to see how a sojourn through the lands to the north and east of here affected him, and what it might say about the future.'

She was still not sure what Raikou was getting at, so the Legendary continued.

'I've told all of my children this and only the eldest seem to understand. Well that and the guardian of the human Crown City, but that one is an interesting one. Those of us who fear only injury and not age often fail to comprehend how fast the world changes sometimes, in part because it is humans who drive change most of the time. Sure Kyogre can flood the world in a deluge of death if no one acted, but that has never happened in my lifetime and I like to think is a concern long past. In my time humanity has learned to advance themselves by mass damage to the world, how to reverse much of their damage while keeping their progress, and how to not be actively trying to kill each other on a global scale. Such a level of change is looming once more, and Ho-Oh sees it as being tied to being tied to those like you and Ash. The latter is one that Ho-Oh hoped would remain as an ideal role model for how that future should like, and so far he remains that way. The same could be said of you and the other two like him in this place. Ho-Oh would have granted him a Rainbow Wing to test him, but as I was told things did not work out for such a boon to be given. Alas, but I can say for certain he would have passed that test if he had been granted a Rainbow Wing. '

Raikou turned around, seemingly finished with that task and began tensing with intent to bound away. There were many things she could do ask before it left, or even just allow it to go without further question.

She had one such question to ask in particular though.

'Do you know why there are more Bloodliners now than before? You said you hadn't seen one like us before, but it sounds like Ho-Oh has from what you told me.'

Raikou, still tensed up with intent to spring, answered her.

'A Bloodliner is not the three who were revived in what humans now call the Burned Tower. A human was not revived with new power to become a Bloodliner. I am, as you might expect, no expert on the subject. I cannot give you a clear answer or a proper explanation. I am not the one who can tell you why there are more now than before. However I can leave you with what I have heard about previous increases in their number. While nowhere near as common as they are becoming, I have been told of a marked increase in their number that following the event twelve thousand seasons ago in the Kalos Region, as well as in the aftermath of some but not all meteor showers. Why, I can tell you not.'

With that Raikou bound away in a single massive bound the likes of which were not common outside comic books.

Moments later Anabel returned to the party, where no one had noticed she had been gone.

It had only been a short period of time, yet it had given her more than a bit to think about.

Terracotta Town Shady Warehouse District

He was certain that they hadn't been expecting him.

The group he had tracked down wasn't much in the grand scheme of things. It was a satellite group to Team Rocket, not officially part of the organization but operating within its umbrella to service an area for the shared interest of both groups.

They attracted less attention that way, and Team Rocket still got a cut of the profit. So he wasn't expecting much of a proper reaction when he and Venomoth teleported in the middle of their warehouse.

They reacted much as he thought they would, stumbling all over themselves and tripping on their own feet.

He was much faster, and didn't require anything more than a hand signal for Venomoth to unleash String Shot and bind them all up before he even had to stand.

By the time he stood the office door in the warehouse had swung open, revealing a somewhat plump man with pink and yellow hair glaring at him in both surprise and anger.

Despite his figure, he had the aura of someone far more competent than his underlings. He was also who he was looking for.

He didn't come here just to tie up minor thugs.

"Oi, what's the big idea? Why is there a ninja beating up my dumbasses? Even I can't go around beating them up, and here you are tying them up like some sort of ass."

The leader looked at him closely, a pair of golden eyes looking him over before expressing a guarded surprise.

"Aren't you that Gym Leader? Koga if I recall correctly, and I am fairly certain I am."

The man avoided a String Shot from Venomoth with sharp observation and anticipation, even if his personal speed wasn't that great.

"I don't know why you're here, but I'm not going to let you get away with tying up my dumbasses. I was perfectly fine where I am but if you really want to pick a fight I can think of a few perks of taking you down and giving you to people higher up the food chain than I am. Go get 'em!"

At that the man threw a pair of Ultra Balls from his belt, unleashing two of the reasons he had sought this specific criminal out.

The first was a black reptilian Pokémon that stood on two legs with purple flame marks on its lighter-colored belly.

The other was a Muk, but a very different Muk from the several he had. This one had a coloration akin to oil in water, or to mercury in oil, than the pure sludge of a regular Muk.

Without further command both of them unleashed attacks at him, a Flamethrower and a black ball variant of Snarl.

With Venomoth he teleported out of the way of both attacks and behind his target, ready to take him down with a quick nerve strike.

However he found his blow blocked by a materialized red and purple exoskeleton.

"Scol."

Said Pokémon blocked his target, who glared at him.

He glared back at the one he had tracked down.

Frank Gipani, also known as the Toxic Unovan. A mid-tier crook with a fairly long history who had always avoided capture in his time. There had been rumors he had retired about twenty years ago and had been seen once or twice in Alola during that time by witnesses, but he had re-entered the criminal life in Kanto since.

No one knew why he left his retirement, and he didn't particularly care. He had tracked that man down for a specific reason, and filed the paperwork to follow up on that reason without trouble down the line.

A rainbow light twinkled to existence between Scolipede's horns, a light that Koga avoided with Venomoth teleporting them to the other end of the room before the Signal Beam could hit them.

At that he threw two Great Balls of his own. They burst open in front of him, revealing a Vileplume and a second Venomoth.

One more suited to a battle than his stealth Venomoth.

"Sleep Powder."

Both aimed themselves at his opponent before blowing out a powdery cloud at them. The cloud engulfed a few of the struggling thugs, still bound.

They promptly fell asleep, which made Frank even angrier.

"Smog, then teach this ninja a lesson!"

The upright Pokémon spewed a cloud of purple smoke that absorbed and neutralized Sleep Powder, rendering it harmless as the bug charged forward with a glowing green horn.

Vileplume stepped forward without hesitation, and glowed with a yellow light.

Said move, Double Edge, collided with the speeding bug as it struck, and Vileplume pushed forward.

"Scol!"

This sent the bug flipping into the air, crashing down on its back before Vileplume.

"What phooey was that…Muk!"

His colorful variant of the Sludge Pokémon slid forward, a blue stone forming between the hands of the Pokémon. The stone was then flung his way before exploding into dozens of pointed stone shards.

Stone Edge.

"Psychic."

His battle Venomoth's eye flashed blue moments before the stones did as well, and redirected themselves right at the Muk.

They rained into it, causing repeated damage.

"Grrr….Salazzle burn him alive!"

The man's patience at an end the upright Pokémon inhaled deeply, before a String Shot was bound around its snout.

The Salazzle promptly turned a shade of pink and began woozily struggling to stand, before collapsing to the ground.

There were two things that a person could do now, run away, or run at him in a last desperate attempt to defeat him.

Frank chose the latter, and charged towards him screaming at the top of his lungs.

He just punched the man in the face, knocking him flat to the ground with a heavy thump.

…

The sirens of police cars and the chatter of radio communication could be heard even from the rooftop he had settled on.

A good place as any to look at the entire reason he had come here.

The three Ultra Balls he now had on his belt.

His training for one of his requirements to attain an Elite Four position, the victory at a Pokémon League competition, had gone well. So well in fact, that in these last few months there wasn't much that could be done for personal growth.

He could have all of his Pokémon practice punching things, but there would be little gained to his punches unless he had even more time to work with. So these last few months were more for preparation in other ways.

Expanding his options for example.

He had gotten wind of that man's foreign Pokémon from reports, and had done some math. It was fairly likely that he could use these few months to take his Pokémon, get them to follow him, and integrate them into the Pokémon qualified for battling in the League.

It was a gamble if that would work, it was just as likely that Frank's Pokémon would refuse to obey him at all. Just because he had gotten the paperwork done to legally take Frank's Pokémon following his arrest didn't mean that the Pokémon themselves would follow.

However it was less of a gamble than chasing after Mega Stones, and in the worst case scenario Frank's Pokémon could just be responsible for giving him eggs he could hatch and raise himself later.

Even in such a scenario, he knew he had what it would take to win and put him in place to gain an Elite Four position. He was just taking a chance to see if he could have Pokémon that would throw off the people who thought previously defeating him or his daughter meant they knew exactly what to do against him.

Even if things weren't going to work out as expected, his opponents would still learn the hard way that a ninja was not to be underestimated.

OMAKE

NON CANON

The thing I really should have added in

A blue Platypus, red Rabbit, green Monkey and Bear, red Horse, and blue animated piece of Coral all watch an author of ambiguous appearance slam his head into the wall, muttering 'stupid' to himself repeatedly.

At his side the writing chainsaw lay discarded, still smoking a bit from recent writing work.

"I sense self-injury and loathing, it must be a story improvement. Okay, show me Ash's new scars…."

The multi-color Pokémon of non-canonical status tensed as the black and red armored figure of Darkern Edgier appeared in giddy step, before looking around in confusion.

"Where's the deepness?"

"Stupid, stupid, stupid…."

"Yes, you are. Ash really should have pouches in his next design."

The author paused his head banging to look the embodiment of writing a story with a betrayed metamorph animagi Lord of Hogwarts with an exasperated look.

"Do not invoke Liefeld, I already feel like I step too close to him at times. No, the problem is something that has been bothering me for a while. I had a brilliant innovation for Ash, and I cannot use it here."

"You are the all and powerful author aren't you? That means you can do anything you want."

Darkern's point was met by a blank stare from the fakemons.

"There are things I cannot do for a variety of reasons. I can't name them with an official species name because I did not create them for instance. I can only give them nicknames, such as Lummox and Gouger. Then there are things I cannot do from the point of storytelling, which is where my problem lies. For you see in other work, I had the most brilliant idea. A reality ensues that makes Ash smarter in a way that doesn't make him act like someone completely different. The innovation of language."

Darkern groaned before muttering something about honorifics under his breath.

The author gave a groan of his own.

"Yeah…no. Putting honorifics in your English fanfic is the most weebish thing I can think of, worse than using only Japanese-translated name for things when they have an English name, and I do not use that word lightly. I'd say try hard, but I'm not entirely sure how the context of that phrase is applied. Just call the character Lord Hokage or Captain Kuchiki, no need for Sama and Taicho and Kage Bushin no Jutsu. I swear only 'The Trainer from a Faraway Land' ever did that sort of thing right, and even then it would only work if someone devoted themselves to 'Satoshi, Cilan, and Lem'. It would take a special sort of dedication to pull that off, and so many authors notes that even I'd say 'enough'. No what I had come up with is having language barriers in place. Kalosian and Unovan and Alolan and whatever language is spoken in the first four generations would be their own tongues. It would be such a wonderful reality ensues moment, and having characters speaking multiple languages would be the perfect way to show characters as more intelligent in a subtle way, and there would be no better character to do so than Ash. Having him be good at picking up languages fits in nicely with canon's many regions without stretching things to absurdity like assuming three weeks of studying makes him a super genius or something. It would have been perfect."

The room was silent for a moment as the author looked ready to slam his head into the wall again. However he was stopped by stupidity.

"You know, if you really want to add that, why don't you? I mean you added a super Farfetch'd and Electra Artisan."

The author stared incredulously as Darkern.

"Adding in a character and an entire concept are two very different things. Language has never been implied before, and if I just add it in forty chapters later that will just come off as a random retcon designed to make Ash smarter, and it would go beyond that. For one thing I'd have to apply language skills to every character that ever goes between distant regions, do you know what that would do to the Jane Jackrum stories alone!?"

"Just retcon it in Movie 4 like the better guy did."

Everyone stared at Darkern like his proposal to get Fox to draw Ash with pockets was the smartest thing to come out of his mouth today, at least in comparison to doing that.

Though the Platypus and the Bear chirped after a moment, causing the author to shake his head.

"Well you might have liked that solution, but I didn't. Plus I do try to avoid deliberate mimicry of Ashes past a certain point. There is a reason Ash's Pokédex isn't a Porygon. Also rebooting the universe just to have Ash speak Kalosian fluently is a tad excessive."

"You could do other things beyond that ya know."

The author shook his head.

"Nor is Brock gaining a mullet worth rebooting the universe over."

"You're overly proud of having Brook shout 'Oh shit, a mullet' that one time, aren't you?"

The author did not dispute Darkern's claim.

END OMAKE