“Starting this year, the first round of the Pokémon League will be conducted in a battle royal format! Battle will be waged between all competitors until only the top 16 remains standing, and each competitor may only use a single Pokémon! Defeat is when your single Pokémon is unable to battle! Go!”

He felt like he had only just woken up to hear Goodshow’s declaration as the large stadium he had been standing in exploded, at several points quite literally.

Pokémon moves were flying, people were running, and a giant number 151 that was displayed on the big screen was already dropping.

He himself barely avoided a String Shot that would have webbed him up like a Spinarak-Man rogue before he turned to Pikachu.

“Alright buddy, we can do this! Let’s go Pikachu!”

“Pikapi!”

He paused as he didn’t get a translation for what Pikachu exactly meant.

He got the general gist of it, he might not have an exact number of how long it had been, but he knew Pikachu for long enough that he could get a general idea of what he meant.

This though… was he in some sort of dream?

*BOOM!*

He darted to the side to avoid a singed Bellsprout, who had come from the direction of Paul and Electivire and flew right into the patch of ground he had been standing in, most definitely defeated.

The two that had given him so much trouble in Sinnoh the first time around had their trademark grins of superiority, which quickly morphed into something that was very much not their trademark.

Dancing. In a way that was more akin to cocky Team Rocket on a victory high than anything more dignified.

Yep, this was one of his dreams again, no question about it. Paul didn’t dance, he probably never danced nor would ever dance.

He also certainly didn’t start chanting something about ‘winner winner chicken dinner’ while doing it, that was even less like Paul than dancing.

He slowly turned away from the dream sight, and found the dream Pikachu sparking at a charging onslaught of Pokémon he recognized from past battles.

A Blaziken, a Cacturne, an Empoleon, a Lucario, and Meowth from Team Rocket.

All ready to strike at them for a knockout.

“Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!”

“Pikachuuu!”

All five of them were quickly fried, sizzling for a moment before all collapsing in a cooked heap as the number audibly dropped five more.

“Good going buddy, now for Paul. Pikachu, use Quick Atta…”

The number audibly dropped one, and the thump of a large object alerted both him and the dream Pikachu to the fact that Paul had just been knocked out.

He was ready to see dream Tobias, to battle a dream version of him instead of having a dream version of the Darkrai trainer randomly insult him.

He didn’t get that. Far from it.

“Jiggin in th' middle o' a rammy. Whit a dafty, ah hawp ye kin pat up mair o' a rammy than him.”

“Chu?”

He agreed with his dream copy of Pikachu, he had no idea what the trainer he didn’t recognize just said.

The trainer was a girl, around his age or so, with pale skin, grey eyes, and silver hair. She was dressed in a grey jacket, pink skirt, and large brown boots. On her head was a green hat the style of which he couldn’t really name, but he knew it was a thing.

(Just not what the name of the thing was).

She had a Pokémon with her he didn’t recognize: it looked like Mareep, but had pale white wool and black skin.

Was it an Alolan Mareep?

“Whit ye goupin' at, ye ne'er see a lassie kick butt afore? ”

Wait, it couldn’t be that. He could actually understand what Lilo said.

“Pikachu, Thunderbolt!”

Pikachu jumped into the air and blasted at the sheep with an electric bolt.

The Pokémon bleated, forming a Protect in front of itself to block the attack from doing any damage. The electricity shot off in opposite directions, striking several other competitors and from what his hearing could pick up knock out at least one of them.

“Whit sort o' puny shift wis that? Mah maw's Yamper kin dae better than that wi'oot ony kip! Dae yi'll waant tae see whit a real shift looks lik', Kanto laddie?”

She held up a bracelet he hadn’t taken note of before: he didn’t see a key stone in it nor did it look like his Z-Ring. It looked a lot more high-tech, sort of like a next gen Pokétch or something.

…

Before he could see if he’d understand what she was about to do more than he did her accent, he woke up from the dream, the tiredness leaving him quickly after only pushing himself up from the bed.

Pikachu, the real one and not the one in his dream, slept at the end of the bed without disruption.

“Why do I always get the weird dreams?”

He was glad he hadn’t been getting nightmares about the Mewtwo battle, sure, but at least he could understand why his unconsciousness would come up with a nightmare.

Why a girl he could barely understand?

He absently reached at the side of the bed, looking for the Pokédex to see if he had just dreamed up that not-Mareep or if it was actually a real thing.

He stopped after a few blind feels around for it.

“Oh yeah, right, I don’t have it right now. Can’t do that.”

You always did need what you didn’t have on you at the moment, didn’t you? That was one of those rules of life.

He had managed to extract himself from bed without waking Pikachu, and as he brushed his teeth his thoughts returned to the conversation he had yesterday.

…

“I simply am curious about your experience with time travel.”

He and Pikachu could only stare at the man in shock.

It couldn’t be this again. Not another Sabrina.

He had a knowing look in response to his shocked expression.

“Let me guess, I am not the only one to have pieced it together? Presumably not any of your friends or family, but someone you are much less fond of. I can certainly assure you I don’t have any intentions like they likely did, though I can’t say we learned it differently. As mentioned before I’ve run into quite a few things in my time, and among them are various methods of traveling through time. You hopped into the body of your past self if I am not mistaking, as opposed to physically going back in time?”

“Pikapi?” ‘Before recently that was the only way of doing it. I can’t recall any of the time travel we ever had before all of this be like what we did, though I do think there were a couple of different outcomes. Didn’t it change the past a few times but be sort of a time loop in the case with Professor Oak?’

“Erg, don’t get into the different ways time travel works or doesn’t work. I still don’t understand half of it, or time in general.”

“Well, I can’t help you with figuring out the flow of time properly, but I can agree that the multiple methods of time travel and their effects on things is confusing. Future Callista said something about how it worked once, but it was confusing then and it still is now.”

Ash only just realized he said that last part aloud, and not in private, so Casey Snagem heard him.

Also Callista? The girl with the Baltoy?

How did this guy know her? Wasn’t she someone in his time he’d run into, or was he only talking about future Callista? Did changing reality make Callista older than before, or were both Callistas now time traveling, or were there multiple future Callistas all interacting with time at various points?

Was he going to walk in on five Callistas all playing poker one of these days?!

“Regardless I am going to make a few wild assumptions. I’m assuming you had a remarkable series of adventures before time travel, or perhaps just the bit of time travel that sent you back. You traveled across several regions… six I’m guessing?”

“We counting island chains or not?”

Casey paused for a moment, but nodded.

“Well, actually I did eight and started on the ninth. I started in Kanto, then the Orange Islands, then Johto, then Hoenn, then Kanto again for something called the Battle Frontier that is sort of a thing now but isn’t at the size it was when I did it the first time, then Sinnoh, then Unova, then the Decolore islands, and I was starting on Kalos when reality broke.”

He was surprised at how easily that part came out.

Casey had been nodding at being wrong on his region count, but his nod froze completely at his easy admittance of what happened to reality.

“The world ended?!”

Talking about that didn’t come out as easily this time, and he found his words were now coming out heavier than before. Pikachu also felt a lot more subdued on his shoulder at this point.

“Yeah, why did you think I came back in time?”

Casey raised up a finger.

“I had thought of a few possible reasons. First reason was that something might have happened to your body that prevented you from achieving your dreams, so you might have found a way to hit the reset button as it were. Second was that you were trying to save certain people or Pokémon who weren’t saved the first time around, but didn’t have anything to do with reality’s stability. Third was that you had to send a message from the future to someone about something important, and that you decided to stay after preventing the virus or whatever your message was about. But reality ending…what caused that and what are you trying to stop?”

“Pi-Pikapika.” ‘There is this crazy guy named Cyrus in the Sinnoh region who wants to make reality without spirit, emotion, or anything else that makes life worth living because he had issues or something. We thought he was dealt with after he stepped into a portal that blew up, but apparently he became some sort of reality warper who eventually remade reality after making it impossible to figure out exactly how old anything was and other bits of petty manipulation. Then some people got older including him, my friend here actually realized what sexual and romantic attraction were, he got a lot of siblings and an evil dad, and an entirely new set of powers became a thing that just seemed to roll up a half dozen or so people’s abilities into one package.’

Casey stared at Pikachu for a moment, and for a moment Ash thought he might have actually understood what Pikachu had said.

“Please translate; I am well aware you should be able to do that. Either because you know each other well enough, or you have a bloodliner ability for it.”

Or not, as it turned out. So he repeated it, though with some omissions.

He wasn’t entirely sure about breaching the idea that reality itself severely changed, as that sort of thinking was a bit much to think about.

That much change was a lot for him to handle, and he didn’t want to fly that around. Heck, at worst he might give the guy a freak out over possibly only existing because of reality remaking itself or something.

“I take it there are reasons you didn’t just run after him then.”

At Casey’s serious question he nodded.

“Yeah, I’ve got a few. Sinnoh is a long way off, and I have no idea where I’d even find the guy if I went there now. I’d be flailing around in the dark, and that’s not even talking about the people and Pokémon I wouldn’t be able to meet again if I did that. I’d miss out on friends and family that way, and for what? If I went immediately I would be weaker and I couldn’t fully stop a guy with an entire team of people under him then, going at it with less experience would be dooming everything.”

“Assuming you don’t doom everything by missing something important. You don’t need to confirm it, I can tell just by looking at your eyes. They’ve seen stuff just like I have, and I can tell that you’ve seen plenty of averted calamities. If you went off to try and stop Cyrus early, the world would be doomed by something else. Perhaps by Mewtwo, and who knows what else, locally and globally.”

“Pika.” ‘Shamouti would still happen, and that’s the world there.’

“I’m retired, but I’m still good in a pinch. Tell you what, why don’t you tell me what happens before this Cyrus would get to a point he’s basically won? If something happens to you or you fall behind, I can go over there. If nothing else, I might buy you some time.”

“You are just agreeing to…”

Casey nodded.

“This is my family’s timeline, and I’d rather it not be ruined by anyone. Also, I don’t want the world to end earlier because you hesitate to make a call because you are worried you’d get hurt. I don’t want you to hesitate to do something in the now for the when that is Cyrus. Now, when should I be expecting him to be in certain places or after certain things I could just dart over and hide in my cellar for the sake of everything?”

…

He spat out, his brushing done for the moment before reaching for some floss and using it idly, thoughts still to yesterday.

In particular, something was still worrying him about that conversation, even after he knew he didn’t have a second Sabrina on his hands.

…

“That Z-ring, what have you used it on? Besides Mewtwo and his Charizard of course.”

He wasn’t sure about the point of that question was, but he took the time to think on it.

“Well, it was honestly mostly used in training fights really. I’ve actually not really used it against anyone big. Didn’t bring the right Pokémon against Blaine, and I messed up the chance to use it against Giovanni. Other than a six on six with Misty, the first time I used it comes to mind. It was against Sabrina’s Mega Alakazam.”

Casey’s breath seemed to catch in his throat, and Ash knew that he was about to find out something bad.

“…Does this have anything to do with the radiation? I sort of remember the Pokédex mentioning it?”

Casey grimaced, and he didn’t need to know what his answer was.

It was ‘yes of course it was about the radiation! Radiation was a sign of something big!’

“…Please tell me the battle didn’t take place in Saffron’s gym?”

He shook his head, and Casey placed his hands in his palms in worry.

“…Ash Ketchum. Promise me something. Going forward, you will not use a Z-Move on a Mega Evolved Pokémon. Or on something like my Chesnaught. If a Pokémon is in an altered state like that, never hit it with a Z-move. Maybe if you were away from people you could…”

Casey descended into nervous mutterings, and Ash didn’t know what to ask as he did so.

Except for one thing.

“What did that do exactly? I can’t think of any better way of phrasing it, but please tell me I didn’t accidentally give someone cancer?”

Casey stopped muttering, but shook his head in the negative.

“Nothing that horrible, but I must implore you to avoid doing that again. It’s not ‘give someone cancer’ bad, far from anything like that. What it is though, is dangerous. Dangerous in a large variety of ways to a large variety of people. People could use the results of that to do a lot of things that you and I would not want to see.”

“Pikapi.” ‘And let me guess, you aren’t going to tell us what it is because of reasons?’

“I actually think I get what your Pikachu just said. His body language is assuming I am not going to say the truth, and honestly I’d prefer not to. I retired for several reasons, and it wasn’t just in support of my wife. Plus, I’d rather not put it out there in case anyone is listening. It’s information that could be used for unfortunate things.”

“So you’re free to talk about time travel and the end of the world, but not what that radiation is?”

“Time travel is a known thing: people know what Celebi does and that’s just one of many methods of time travel as you know. The end of the world is always possible for a variety of reasons, a few I even averted myself. There are only a few people I know of who know the truth, and it should stay that way. There already seems to be people who know who really shouldn’t. I can trust you won’t find out the answer yourselves?”

The seriousness in which Casey Snagem said this had any and all jokes die before they could get out.

“I don’t have any desire to use people like science projects, you can trust me. I can’t even have anything to hit with a Z-move for it, until I can at least meet my Sceptile again anyway. Still, it is kind of a jerk thing to go on about how it is so bad, and not give me any details beyond a few things it isn’t. I already have odd, strange, and bad enough dreams as it is.”

Casey accepted his points given, but the seriousness did not yet leave him.

“Oh I agree I’m being a bit of a jerk here, and if I were you I would call myself a manipulative bastard for it who doesn’t tell people what they need to know. I would not be offended if you think of me that way. But what is said about a secret that is known by more people? I’d rather only risk that number going up by a pair of halves than a full number set, especially seeing as I somehow doubt that you will keep it entirely to yourselves.”

Ash leveled a look at Casey Snagem.

“Other than you, an annoying abomination who already knew to be utterly honest, Mewtwo, and Sabrina, only myself and the Pokémon who also went back in time know I traveled back in time. I couldn’t and still can’t think of any good way to bring it up to anyone else, and if I can keep that to myself I’m not just going to blurt it out at random. We can keep a secret.”

“Pikakapika Pikapika.” ‘Well we would tell Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and all the others at least. So as much as I hate to admit it it would spread out more than just to us.”

He shot a look at Pikachu for that quite actually true statement.

“People have died because they were even tied to this truth by fortune of chance, allow me some paranoia. Such things aren’t likely given the untelevised nature of your clash, but it leaves one with an interest in avoiding repetition.”

…

While they had talked about a few other things after that, that last point had remained with him, and it was a thought that made him pause mid floss.

What had been a minor oddity had, in the course of one long phone call, become something much larger.

Later…

Lucario had an observation of him as the two observed a training bout between two of his Pokémon.

‘You have more focused on being a commander than a combatant.’

Lucario made that observation of him as the two observed a training bout between two of his Pokémon.

Muk had swung a Brick Break into the speeding path of Yanma’s Aerial Ace, and the attacks collided for a moment before Yanma’s speed pushed through and caused Muk’s arm to rotate a full one hundred and eighty degrees back.

The movement would have been horrible for most, but Muk’s form was gelatinous. That had its advantages.

“Muk, your arm isn’t really solid enough to win like that. You need to find a way to use the attack against them. Not sure how you do that honestly, but there should be something.”

Yanma buzzed back around for a second bout, and it was at that point Lucario had made his observation.

He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a little nervous about the observation. It wasn’t wrong or something he really was bothered about. It wasn’t like someone pointing out his mistakes when he left Pallet Town for the first time and was probably still ten years old.

Probably.

“That’s how it is for Pokémon Trainers. I mean sure you saw I can fight if I have to, but that’s more of a bonus if anything.”

Lucario had an expression of disbelief at the idea of that being just a bonus.

“Pika.” ‘Times change, and priorities do as well. Humans have had a few decades of the world getting better to relax a bit and focus on other things. Music’s taken off since then for example, same with literature and filmed entertainment. I’m sure there was something good about art if I ever happened to catch some infodocumentary on that sort of thing too.’

Lucario scoffed at that.

‘Giving up skills in combat for self-defense and self-reliance in exchange for crafting identical, dripple vocalizations about inane things they call songs is hardly a sign of things being better.’

“Pika.” ‘Hey, that’s just country music. Pretty sure most humans call it a ‘mistake’, I know I do.’

‘No, actually I rather like that genre. It is the thing they call pop that is a modern scourge on humankind.’

“Ka!” ‘Pop is at least top fifty in the accomplishments of humankind! Country’s somewhere between weaponized bombs and Botox surgery!’

“I prefer rock music myself.”

‘Then you are flawed, as are all living things. It is nothing to be ashamed of.’

Ash stared at Lucario, his jaw hanging at the completely serious retort to his own preferences.

However, before he could preach on the superiority of rock music to both most pop and country songs, he was distracted by Muk’s attempt at working with attack countering.

He had apparently tried to make a hole through himself for Yanma to fly through, stretching his form wider and thinner than usual as a means of doing so.

However, this had not worked as intended, and all it had managed to do was cause Yanma to fly right through Muk’s arm instead

That left Yanma covered in purple gunk, and a mucky stump in place of Muk’s hand. Said hand lay on the ground, loosing definition as it became a thin puddle.

He stared at Muk with his eyes feeling as wide as they could be, yet despite this it felt like he could barely see anything but Muk’s lost limb at the moment.

He only barely noticed similar expressions on Pikachu, Yanma, and Lucario.

However, there was someone who seemed not too bothered by what just happened: Muk himself.

“Mukkkk.” ‘Huh, well that didn’t work out too well, now did it?’

…

As it turned out, Muk could easily just reabsorb a severe limb and regrow it. Hence why he was the only one who hadn’t been horrified, and was the most eager to get back to training (even if Pikachu had subbed in for Yanma, whose wings he had to scrub clean of the extra Muk slime before offering a Pecha berry just in case).

It was moments like this that really did make him miss the Pokédex.

It would have told him that… well probably around the time that Muk did to be honest but it was amazing how much he missed information being thrown in his face all the time until he didn’t have any of it at all.

“You didn’t have to get up for this.”

He was honest about the point as he walked to Professor Oak’s: flanked by his three traveling companions.

It was nice, but he was aware it was the early morning, and they didn’t really need to be up for this.

“Yeah, but I’m curious what the new look it is going to have is, and I’m curious for myself if anything else changed.”

He had a feeling Misty was wondering if it had a different personality or voice this time.

‘I’m just happy to have it back. You have no idea how much you miss it when it isn’t around, as surprising as it is to say. Guess it is true about missing someone when it’s gone.’

Anabel was certainly right about that: the family computer just didn’t feel right, or seem to work half as well.

It wasn’t even just because he forgot he had to put his passwords in so often as the Pokédex had long hacked them all and uploaded them automatically. Though that was a surprising enough hassle.

“I was awake.”

With Iris’s honest admission they found themselves at the lab door, and shortly after that the sitting room where the Professor was waiting, though with two items instead of the one he was expecting.

A box and a Pokéball.

“Ah, right and early. That means we can get all of this done and we can resume the things we all need to do as the days before the league gets here. Organize affairs, train, handle your distractions, and being sure that your Serperior has stopped being so frustrated at the unfairness of the universe.”

The last one was a new one for him. Serperior had been feeling pretty good when he had left last evening.

“Um, did something happen?”

“Oh yes, as far as I can tell she only just seemed to realize that she did in fact have hands this entire time. However, they are so small and effectively unusable for intensive tasks she promptly started breaking things in frustration. At least, that is as best as I can tell, I am only human after all. Your Bulbasaur seems to have handled it, but it might flare up again. Of course, let us talk about what you came here for, and the little thing extra I have you for.”

With that the Professor lifted the box, revealing a Pokédex.

Though it was different from the original model. While the original was the first one he ever had, just with a lot more sass and the ability to display his financials and measure his heartrate and a few hundred other things, this one looked like the Pokédex he had in the Johto region, though a bit different.

A sleeker design, if he had to describe the difference in some way. Familiar, yet updated for a more futuristic time.

The sort of thing that would be part of a revamp to an older idea if one would.

In a way it reminded him a bit of something between the original and the Pokédex he used in Unova.

Though he hoped that it was more durable than the latter: his Unova Pokédex had been accidentally crushed by Torterra just after he got that nice picture done with everyone.

“Any reason you changed the design? Why change what worked? Change the way it behaved all you want though; I do not think any of us would complain.”

The Professor chuckled at Iris’s question and thoughts on the Pokédex.

“The A.I is fully intact with everything but the last couple of seconds before the original casing was destroyed, so I’m afraid the personality is still the same. If I did change that out, you’d have to re-set up everything, and that would be just as annoying as the A.I you have now. As to the design, I did not have the original parts on hand and so I reassembled it with another casing blueprint I had around. It’s a bit more touch screen than I’d personally prefer, but it should do you just as well.”

Ash flipped the screen up on the new model, a lot like a flip phone or a clam shell design electronic and revealing two screens. The device lit to life, glowing with a startup bar on the top screen for a moment is it ran itself to completion, before both screens flashed and revealed a Pokémon information menu set.

The bottom screen displayed twelve boxes with icons for the Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charmander, and Caterpie families. The icon for Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise, Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Caterpie, Metapod, and Butterfree were colored while the others were gray.

The top screen showed a larger image of Squirtle, several bits of information, and four face icons that looked like himself, Misty, Iris, and Anabel. His and Misty’s faces were colored and moving back and forth.

Then the screens changed, flashing with various things from maps and internet search engines to bank information and what looked like a family tree of his that had more stuff on it than he felt it should on it, before the screens flashed and the Pokédex’s voice was heard once again.

“Ah, you all are alive and free from Mewtwo. That is a relief, as much as I am curious as to how you managed to escape at all. I calculated so few possible escape….and why do I have data of Ash having a Lucario in my system? How on earth did you get a Lucario out of nowhere?”

“It’s a long story.”

“And one you can get later, as I do have another thing I’d like to take care of.”

With that the Professor gestured to the Pokéball he had on the table.

“I was recently in contact with Lilo from the Mudbray project. Recently a Pokémon native to the Alola region had found itself in Kanto unexpectedly. It had apparently gotten inside the hold of a cargo ship of some sort, and as a result of no one having a clear idea of how long it had been there or where it had been Lilo was hesitant to return it to Alola without risking a stressful quarantine period, which is not ideal for this particular species. It is a Water-type, so I was wondering if you’d…”

“Yes! Yes! Yes a thousand mega times yes!”

Misty’s eager enthusiasm for the new Pokémon was clear in her volume and enthusiasm as she reached for the Pokéball and held it up to her face, almost as if she was going to open it with her nose.

“I wouldn’t put it so close to your face like that.”

Misty didn’t seem to hear the Pokédex’s warning, and to his amazement she really did poke the Pokéball’s opening mechanism with her nose.

With the boop the Pokéball sprung open, putting a white energy right into Misty’s face as it began to take shape.

“If you were in a ship, you won’t have any problem with the air. I’d hate to leave you out of the water if you were like Magikarp or Goldeen but seeing as you can exist out of the water I want to see you soooo close as I see you for the very first time in all of your wonder…”

Misty’s words stopped coming out as the Pokémon was fully revealed, and it was a somewhat familiar shape.

All of them had seen Golisopod after all, and this Pokémon was quite similar to it. The color and style of the Pokémon’s armor were the same, as was the purple antenna around its eyes.

It was however much smaller and more streamlined. A pre-evolved form probably, with big yellow eyes that looked about as wide as Misty’s.

It was certainly less terrifying than Golisopod, more akin to a Caterpie than a Beedrill. It was a relief at least, given the worries he had when he saw Golisopod the first time.

Of course a Caterpie might as well be the walking embodiment of death, taxes, and random itches to Misty, so this Pokémon was going to make her freak out.

“Pikachu-Pi.” ‘Oh no…’

‘Misty, please don’t scream..’

Iris covered her ears, just as Misty did in fact scream in absolute terror.

So did the Pokémon that was causing her to scream by simply existing in front of her, though having her face so close to it certainly was not helping.

Misty scrambled over the couch, nearly hitting Iris with her flailing legs as she darted for the open doorway and ran out of sight.

Meanwhile the Pokémon the moment Misty had let it go had used Aqua Jet and flew right past Professor Oak, nearly hitting him as it fled in the opposite direction, shrieking the entire time.

“Wimpod, the turn tail Pokémon. A Bug and Water-type, the Wimpod is a scavenger who consumes detritus and often finds valuable items as it does so. It is also terrified of much of existence, including predators, competitors, eradicators, fornicators, visitors, respirators, elevators, prosecutors, and many other things that don’t just end in ‘tors’. This Wimpod is male and know the moves Aqua Jet, Struggle Bug, and Sand Attack.”

The Pokédex’s first data offered in the new body was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that he and everyone else was staring in the direction of the two who were terrified at the existence of the other.

Iris was the first to break the silence.

“So… you want to go after them now or until they are exhausted from running and screaming so much?”

“I’d have to leave that to you four; assuming you three and Pikachu do not get other Pokémon to assist you. I am an old man, and am in no condition to chase after people like that. That goes double for scared bugs.”

…

She didn't realize how much she ran until she leaned against a tree, holding her hand on her chest to try and calm down her racing heartbeat as she panted. Looking back, she was surprised to see the entire hill, with Professor Oak's lab atop.

"Way to go, Misty, you did it again," she said out loud.

She knew how wrong it was. She had promised herself to keep her composure, especially in front of Ash. In fact, she'd come to realize that being near him made her more tolerant of Bug-types, so long as they kept a reasonable distance from her, and she even admitted over time that the ones he'd caught were kind of cute, in their own way.

But this time, no matter if it was half Water-type, it didn't change the fact it was a nasty-looking bug right in front of her nose, and that was nowhere near a 'reasonable distance'.

"There you go again," a very familiar voice said.

She was so deep in her thoughts she didn't notice Psyduck had come out of his ball, yet again. That, or he was acquiring practice on doing it stealthily. Maybe a bit of both.

"Yeah, another close call with a Bug-type, which also happens to be part Water, and you run off screaming like a little girl. Big deal."

"Very funny," she replied. "For the love of… I'm not five or ten anymore. At least I could have controlled myself better than that."

"Yeah, like jumping behind Ash and holding on to him so he'd protect you."

Misty felt her cheeks flushing, half annoyed and half because that was a viable alternative. How didn't she think about that?

Laughing at that thought helped her ease the nerves, if only a little bit.

"Come to think about it, you've never told us why you're so scared of bugs. What did they do to you?"

The redhead stared at the yellow duck again, noticing his usually absent demeanor had shifted into being interested. At the same time, the words sank into her mind and made her realize that, indeed, she'd never talked about that with anyone.

Not even Ash, her Pokémon, or the girls, for that matter.

"It's not something I like to remember," she said. "It's really... gross."

"Could be less gross if you tell us."

Why was he so perceptive? For all his flaws, whenever she felt upset, sad or anything, he seemed to know exactly what he had to say. Or maybe, she was just that easy to read.

At any rate, she doubted he'd left her alone until she told him.

"Okay, you win. I think I was, like, five or six. It was a school trip; we were going across the forest so they gave us some repellent to keep the bugs away. Or at least that's what it was supposed to be.

"When we stopped for lunch, I sat by myself and then, a bunch of Caterpie and Weedle came along. I sprayed the repellent but they wouldn't leave, so I went elsewhere. They followed, so I left again. It seemed like the more I used the repellent, more of them showed up. I finally ran away and they chased me. I tripped and then... they jumped over me, all at once."

Misty hugged herself, shivering at the memory as she tried to shake off that sensation. Recalling all those caterpillars and bee larvae crawling all over her was... repulsive, to say the least. But the worst was yet to come.

"Can't say if they were just trying to play or hurt me, but I was too scared to think about it. It was a moot point anyway when a Beedrill came along, and fortunately my teacher came to rescue me before it got worse. She then found out what happened: someone thought it'd be funny to replace my repellent bottle with a type of perfume that attracts bugs instead."

It was a pretty nasty joke, and for once, one he couldn't blame her sisters for. Even they thought that was too gross when they found out.

"Since then," she continued, "whenever I see, or worse, I touch a bug, I always recall that day. Come on, you can laugh now if you want."

Much to her surprise, Psyduck didn't laugh. Rather, he seemed to be somewhere between contemplative and understanding, as if he knew how she felt.

"After something like that, no wonder you're so afraid of them."

"I know they're not all bad, but still..."

"They're still bugs, aren't they? It's just like with that Vileplume."

"No kidding. I could have died if it wasn't for Ash."

"Would it be different if it hadn't been, I don't know, Gyarados?" the duck asked. "What if he'd tried to eat you?"

Misty was about to object, but she stopped. She knew her Gyarados was obedient and loyal to her, but it had to do with the fact that she'd saved his life before, and he was otherwise very much as dangerous as per his species. When he first came along, Gyarados had his minor disagreements with Psyduck, even threatening with snacking on him a couple times.

Sure, it was (probably) a joke, yet she understood why the duck was somewhat apprehensive with the marine serpent, especially after Gyarados demonstrated how powerful his jaws were.

Unsure as to why, she imagined herself as a baby crawling into the jaws of a sleeping Gyarados, which then sneezed and shut its jaws. In a case like that, it'd be logical that even being Water-types, she'd be deadly afraid of Gyarados as a whole, just like she was of Vileplume.

"This might sound weird, but have you thought some Pokémon might be afraid of you? Or of someone like you?"

"Someone like…?" Misty took a while to understand what he meant. The memories of the Power Plant incident came back to her mind.

Staring at her hands, the redhead finally saw Psyduck's point. In theory, Water-type Pokémon could easily have many justified reasons to fear her. After all she was capable of controlling them, making them fight and do things against their wills, just by wishing it so…

But, that small Pokémon (Wimpod, she'd heard the Pokédex call it) had no way to know what. Even after she ran away in fear, for a moment she saw it in its eyes: it was as scared as she was, and probably didn't even know why.

The idea of it being scared of her for irrational motives... she didn't like it one bit. Neither the fact that she'd unwittingly scared it herself without meaning to.

Maybe, just maybe, she could go back and try a more... cautious approach. And apologize for her freakout.

"Yeah, that's what I should do. Thanks, that was really helpful."

"If you wanna thank me, got donuts for breakfast? I'm hungry."

Misty rolled her eyes. He always had to spoil the feeling at the end, didn't he? But for that once, she'd earned them.

Determined, she walked back towards the lab. After all, she'd already agreed to help Professor Oak with that little favor he'd asked of her, not to mention it was a boon to her goal to catch every Water Pokémon in the world. She couldn't back off on either thing.

…

He had broken off to look in smaller places, and called some help.

This had led him to finding Wimpod, or at least Bulbasaur finding the spot under the Professor’s sink where the Pokémon was hiding.

“Pikapi Pika!” ‘Go tell everyone that we found him, and that they can go look for Misty or come back instead. If you think someone’s at the bottom of a lake, get someone who can swim to get them out of there. You guys can’t swim.’

At his request the three Vivillon that had been sitting on the windowsill flew off. This was just before the vines of Bulbasaur had managed to wrangle out the bug, who was now squirming in Bulbasaur’s vines.

“Scree!” ‘Oh no! Vines! Tentacles! Stringy things that bind people! Help me, help me!’

Bulbasaur slowly lowered the bug, who started shouting more.

“Scree!” ‘Oh no! Floor! Pain! Chemical cleaning that tastes horrible! Help me, help me!’

Bulbasaur reversed course, and slowly started to raise Wimpod into the air. This, did not work either.

“Scree!” ‘Oh no! I’m being raised again! I’m going to be smacked from a high height! I’m going to be torn apart by the ceiling fan! I’m too far from the ground! Help me, help me!’

Bulbasaur stopped, a twinge of annoyance on his face.

“Saur…” ‘I’m not going to win with this, am I?’

Pikachu nodded in agreement. Wimpod was indeed terrified of everything. There was no way to hold him right now that would not be seen as mortal peril.

So Bulbasaur resumed lowering the bug down, but only so they could talk to him without him running off and hiding again.

It was the only way to calm him down after all.

At the very minimum shouting at Wimpod would not be better than regular talking.

With said bug now at their eye level, squirming but still bound, he began.

“Pika-Pikachu.” ‘My name is Pikachu, and this is Bulbasaur. Can we talk?’

Wimpod heard them, and while he wasn’t talking back he wasn’t struggling as much. Progress at least.

“Bul.” ‘So sorry about that. You sort of ended up in the face of someone who finds you terrifying by no fault of your own.’

“Skree!”

There really wasn’t anything to that shout that Wimpod let out that a human would really care to know. It was more pure terror.

“Skree!” ‘That, that terrifying thing!? It had hair like blood!’

“Bul.” ‘No, blood is red. Misty’s hair is orange. She’s just a person: human or bloodliner if you care about that sort of thing.’

Pikachu was worried that mentioning the bloodliner part might spike fear again, though that didn’t seem to register.

“Skree!” ‘Humans! Humans are scary! They blow wind out of their noses at a hundred miles per hour, their bodies hold acid that can burn through metal, and their stomachs and faces turn red when they see something weird! They are terrifying!’

Pikachu stared at Wimpod in disbelief as Bulbasaur glanced at him from aside.

“Saur.” ‘He’s not wrong.’

Pikachu looked at the freaking Wimpod, then Bulbasaur, then at the door that Ash could step through at any moment, and then back to Wimpod, then back to Bulbasaur.

“Bulbasaur bulba.” ‘Look, I spend a lot of time with the professor, and I pick up bits of science from him, the people around him, and the television he runs. All of those things are in fact true. Not sure where Wimpod learned all of that though.’

He slowly focused his attention back to Wimpod, who was freaking again.

“Pikapi pika.” ‘Look, Misty’s hair isn’t stained red with blood from her victims. She can’t spit up acid to melt you, and she can’t blast you off with her sneezing. She’s just as scared of you as you are of her, and if you two could just talk it out, you might realize neither are you are scary at all. I mean get her angry or have you evolve and that might change, but that’s a possible later and this is the now. Please talk to her.’

“Skree!” ‘Will I even have a choice in the matter?! You’ll take me to her regardless!’

“Saur.” ‘Yeah, but that’s only because you were hiding in the dangerous chemical cupboard. Even if you two remain terrified of the other, we can’t just leave you there to eat something bad.’

With that Bulbasaur began trotting, Wimpod held above him in vine entanglement, and he followed, trying not to think too hard on what Wimpod had mentioned.

The idea that Ash’s stomach would blush whenever he saw Misty, Iris, or Anabel in a state of undress was just weird, and that was by his own standards where weird didn’t include a Meowth who could speak human language physically and time travel.

…

As she got to the door of the laboratory, Misty didn’t quite get a glowing welcome.

“You came back on your own? I was sure that Ash would have to get you, or even drag you back.”

Misty shot a look at Iris and her surprise at her return on her two feet, alone.

Psyduck had requested he got back in his ball halfway up the hill.

“Thanks for that. Really feeling the love.”

“Love? You think that was what I was expressing?”

She raised a hand at Iris, realizing that she had ended up tripping on a figure of speech that Iris didn’t get.

“It’s an expression; I wasn’t actually saying that you were showing me love. It’s more the opposite actually.”

There were many responses that she could have guessed Iris might give her to that statement, but Iris hugging her wasn’t her.

Firm and strong arms were wrapped around her body, and she was pushed into Iris’s form with force.

Caring force, but it was force nonetheless.

“You should not think that. We all love you, even if it is a different way than you love Ash and he surely loves you. Your fear of Bug type Pokémon is something we accept, even if we do wish you could overcome it. You freaking out like you did was somewhat understandable given the surprise, even if it did give me a bit of a headache.”

Her head was basically shoved into Iris’s shoulder by the hug, and she was quite glad for it.

Iris had a way with words. The words she used had the uncanny ability to be either incredibly caring or well meaning, while also being painful and terrifying in ways she didn’t mean at all.

Her face, had it been visible, would have been such a mortified thing that would have continued this conversation in its current form. Nothing good would come of it.

“Pikachu-Pi?”

Her body tensed as Ash’s Pikachu, unseen by her eyes currently getting an eyeful of brown, fit, lightly scratched flesh, walked in on them.

“Exc.”

“Pi pika.”

She couldn’t see Pikachu, or Iris’s Excadrill for that matter, as they exchanged a few words. As they were not Water-type Pokémon she couldn’t understand them, and neither could Iris for the lack of a Dragon among them for a translation.

She could only dread what they were saying.

The sound of footsteps and swaying vines, along with the squirming of a bug body, preceded her release from Iris’s hug. Colors and details were revealed to her, along with the arrival of Ash’s Bulbasaur.

Above him was the bound and still squirming form of the Wimpod she had fled from, who looked at her and began squirming with renewed earnest.

A feeling of renewed terror and doubt came over her, and she could feel energy moving into her feet so she could just run again. However a friendly shove sent her stumbling towards Bulbasaur.

Iris was trying to be helpful.

She managed to get herself right on her feet again despite Iris’s help, but now she was about twice as far from Wimpod as she had been in the first meeting, and at eye level once again thanks to a bit more lift from Bulbasaur’s vines.

She took a gulp, swallowing the knot that had been in her throat, before introducing herself.

“I didn’t… well, I forgot to introduce myself the first time, didn’t I? My name is Misty.”

Wimpod wasn’t struggling at the moment, but staring at her in fear. Her name seemed to hang over him like a curse when spoken, one that would unleash itself if he moved too suddenly.

His eyes were still so alight with fear. She had to be brave and help him calm down, or at least realize she wasn’t going to hurt him.

“I’m a Pokémon trainer, and I want to know every Water Pokémon in the world. You are a Water Pokémon, so I want to know you too.”

“Skree!” ‘Oh no, you want to know how to hurt me!’

She shook her head as calmly as she could manage, even as the sound of his voice made her think of a Caterpie’s chirp more than that of a Pokémon she normally was with.

“I don’t want to hurt you. Just ask the hardest cases I know. If I wanted to hurt a Water Pokémon, I’d have hurt Psyduck ages ago. I’ll admit that I have made mistakes, but I want to avoid making any more than I have to. I want to be your friend, and I don’t think that will be a mistake for either of us. We probably both need it.”

That last one wasn’t something she was the happiest to admit. She would need to find a way to not be scared of any bug that she came across she didn’t have to spend a ton of time with (and even then Butterfree had managed to spook her and make her drop her sandwich a few too many times).

Wimpod would have to overcome even more fear than that, as terrifying as that was.

“Ree…SKREE!.” ‘Wait, did you just understand what I was saying? Humans can’t do that…What are you!?’

She was onto something there.

She took a knee, getting herself a bit closer to the ground. Bulbasaur, communication issue or not, obliged with Wimpod, lowering the bug with renewed fear closer to the ground.

“I know what you were saying, because I want to be your friend. There is a bit more to it than that, but that is all you need to know. Well that, and this.”

The words she had been saying just now had come out easier than the earlier ones she had said. They flowed out with a natural affinity that she hadn’t believed she was capable of.

She could say the same for what she did next: reaching for Wimpod within the binds of Vine Whip and, thanks to the vines of Bulbasaur going slack, taking Wimpod and holding him into her stomach, grasping him tightly and affectionately.

Wimpod squirmed and struggled, and as her mid-drift was not covered in a shirt she was sure she’d find scratches there later. Yet as she held him close to her, Wimpod began slowly, but surely, to calm down.

She wasn’t even sure when she had even thought to hold him like that had come from, but she continued to hold him until he was entirely calm.

Her eyes were closed as she held him tightly

“I want to be your friend, what about it? Can we be friends?”

Wimpod all but purred into her belly as a response.

She smiled at his response, and opened her eyes.

Ash, Anabel, Psyduck, Iris, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Excadrill greeted her with shocked expressions all around.

Iris was the least surprised, though she got the impression that that was only because she had seen more of it than anyone else here.

“You know, I was sure that the Lucario was the biggest surprise you’d possibly have for me when I got rebuilt. This is actually a far greater surprise.”

“’Don’t ruin the moment!/Hey this is big, don’t make me regret that I’m happy you are back by ruining it!”’

She felt a bit of the smile that had slipped away when she saw everyone staring at her in shock return.

It was a surprise, even to herself, but if she could calm down both Wimpod and herself, maybe there was hope for her. She could befriend any other Water-Bug Pokémon she might come across.

Maybe she could even stop being so scared of Bug-types in general. She did eventually manage to find herself able to stomach peppers and carrots after all…

“Venomoth!”

A large purple Bug popped right in front of her, teleporting in and getting right in front of her: a letter tied around its abdomen.

“Ahhhh!”

“Skreee!” ‘Monster! It’s come to eat us, flee!’

Before she knew what she was doing she was running down the hill once again, though this time with a twist.

Wimpod was in her arms, carried along with her as they both screamed in mutual terror.

…

Everyone groaned in the direction of the moth, who seemed perplexed at what just happened.

“Pi pika!” ‘Really!? We were having a moment there!’

“Duck.” ‘I mean, there was something like progress this time. She was running with that Pokémon this time, not from it. That’s something, right?’

The Venomoth fluttered for a moment before speaking.

“Venom.” ‘Why do people always do that when I teleport close to them? Even some ninjas. Er, sorry about that. This is the place of Professor Oak, right? My master has a question for him about some historical interaction between humans and Pokémon five centuries ago…’

He, Psyduck, Excadrill, and Bulbasaur all pointed the moth at the door, which Venomoth fluttered off to. At that point Iris and Ash were looking down the hill at the orange hair growing more distant by the second.

“Let’s catch them before they run all the way to Viridian.”

“Agreed, though I do not think she could get that far.”

With that Ash and Iris darted down the hill while Anabel teleported away. He himself looked at the other Pokémon.

“Pika.” ‘Well, you know what to do. Tell everyone the search is back on.’

With that, so began the second great Misty and Wimpod hunt of the day.

Nighttime…

Misty collapsed onto the bed, utterly done with the day.

She had gotten a new Pokémon, sure, but she had run far too much the entire day and made a total embarrassment of herself multiple times.

She groaned as she rolled over, as to have her face staring up at the ceiling so she could suffocate on her shame into unconsciousness.

Before she’d have suffocated into the mattress in her shame, which was more dangerous and less comfortable.

She idly noted she was still wearing her clothes instead of something more suited for sleep, but she didn’t move to change them.

She just didn’t have it in her right now.

The silence of night hung for a moment in the air, and then another. Each moment stretching on longer than the next, as a chill began to descend on her.

It was a chill that burned like a flame covering her skin, and eventually she burst out of bed.

“On second thought, I’ll change.”

With her words the silence of night vanished, and warmth returned to her skin. One that stuck even as she stripped out of her clothes and fell back on her bed in just her undergarments.

As silence returned in the dark of night a chill returned to her body, and it wasn’t because she was only in her underwear.

The chill pierced her in a way that being underdressed didn’t.

“On third thought, is that even a phrase, I’ll just put some more on.”

Again by speaking aloud the chill vanished, and Misty stopped before she stepped for a night shirt or gown or something.

“Okay, this isn’t just you being cold Misty. It’s not even just you not wanting to sleep in a jacket and jean shorts. Something else’s wrong with you, and it’s been that way since New Island.”

She had not been sleeping well since then, and it always was for the same reason.

Darkness and silence had been making it hard to fall asleep. Perhaps the entire embarrassment that had been today was just that finally coming back at her.

With a foot she reached down for the pants she had discarded at the edge of the bed carelessly and flung it up with a kick of her foot. She snagged the pants and took the sole Pokéball off it.

She dropped the pants back to the ground without a second thought as she tossed up the Pokéball and released the occupant.

Who fell flat on the bed in confusion.

“Duck?” ‘Is the heat off yet?’

“No, Serperior still wants to throw you into a tree and the rest of them have the smacking sticks still.”

It was why Psyduck wasn’t at Professor Oak doing as he pleased like the rest of her Pokémon. Of course, that would be a benefit to her getting sleep, as hard as it might be to believe that Psyduck could actually help someone sleep.

“Psy?” ‘Okay, then why did you let me out at all, especially at this hour?’

“Because I need you to snore.”

Psyduck stared at her for a bit after her declaration, and she was starting to feel the cold burn of silence come over her again.

“Psyduck?” ‘So, any reason that you have chosen to enter bizarro world tonight? I cannot think of any reason one would want to deal with snoring. It isn’t loud enough to mask anything, and yet to you it will be the most annoying sound imaginable, and unlike a bad song on a radio you can’t simply kick me to make me stop. I’d just wake up and make more noise.’

“Because I can’t sleep in all this quiet anymore.”

She admitted, before taking a deep breath and continuing.

“It’s been like this since New Island. The dark and quiet, it just reminds me of being stuck in one of those Dark Balls. I can’t relax in it anymore, and it’s making it hard to fall asleep. Why do you think I was such an embarrassment today?”

“Duck.” ‘Because you are quite legitimately traumatized by the past actions of others?’

“…That too, but also the lack of sleep. So I need you to snore so there is at least some noise, and it isn’t like a Dark Ball.”

“Duck.” ‘You could just ask for a night light. I am pretty sure a mother of a young boy probably has a few to spare somewhere.’

She stared at the duck, a feeling of mortification rushing over her.

“Like for a little kid? That’s just embarrassing. Just like me, the girl scared of bugs, Vileplume, and now the dark.”

The silence was back again, and it was burning like the embarrassment of reminding herself of the idea.

“Psy.” ‘Legitimately does mean what I think it does right? Look, just because I think you were a bit odd in wanting me around to make noise doesn’t mean that I don’t want to help you. Honestly that is probably why the others don’t have the problem you are having. Ash has Pikachu, Iris has the wind and her Pokémon, and I could have sworn I heard you mention Anabel and dreams to help her get to sleep. Or she has another means of exhausting herself faster and relaxing her mind that you aren’t doing, but that isn’t here or there.’

She had no idea what Psyduck meant by the last part, but if she did think about it that was basically true.

Between Pikachu breathing (as she did not recall the mouse snoring) and the sounds of nature and her own Pokémon for Iris, the two would not have any sort of issue with silence getting to them.

Anabel could also, as she had admitted to her once, wander into the dreams of others when trying to sleep, and that could help tire her out, assuming the dreams weren’t weird.

She surely had only been blushing from that one time she entered a dream of Ms. Ketchum’s with several attractive T.V celebrities in speedos and body oil and from nothing else, right?

‘In simple terms, I have no problem being your own solution to the problem you are facing. Though I am not the best solution to the problem if you ask me.’

At that bit Psyduck flung himself down on the bed in full, lying next to her as she adjusted herself to better question the duck.

“I am not getting a nightlight. I’d like to keep what is left of my dignity from today.”

“Ps.” ‘And that isn’t what I’m saying, though that would still work. No, what I’m saying would solve your problem real quick is going up to Ash and saying can I please sleep with you tonight. Even ignoring Pikachu’s night hiccups, your breathing will keep him well asleep and yours to him. It would of course be beneficial to you both in more ways than just that, and one night would become all of the nights.’

Her mouth was hanging open, and her face was now burning for a reason other than the silence and dark.

“W…What!? I couldn’t possibly….”

‘Well you didn’t shout that and wake everyone else up, so you can clearly do more than you think. Honestly why any of you aren’t just going up to each other and saying I like you, I love you, let’s do the romance thing, let’s have sex or whatever you would actually go off and say, truly boggles me. You like Ash. He likes you. Iris has probably desensitized him to being embarrassed at the female form, you love showing off your own to him in a swimsuit that only covers a fraction of your body, and you like his male form quite well enough when he’s only in pants. I can’t see the problem here. What, are you all overthinking it or something? What if he says no? What if she says no? What do I do? What should I do? Is this the part when the mortgage shows up? Just stop thinking and say or do it. I’d say before Iris or Anabel do it, but I have the oddest feeling that isn’t a preventive.’

With that last one Psyduck suddenly conked out, and began snoring. Misty’s hands twitched as she moved to wake him up, but her body suddenly felt heavy and her gaze went hazy.

“I’d… stupid duck… too tired…”

With that Misty collapsed on the bed, sleep taking her as it had been long meaning to.

A few days after that, Ash was having a quick but pretty big breakfast, after getting into his exercise clothes and stretching in preparation for a long day. That morning, only his mother and Misty joined him at the table, as Iris and Anabel decided to go out a bit earlier to plan their route for their morning run.

Pikachu wouldn’t be joining them for training, arguing that he’d be busy. Ash was unsure as to whether he’d actually be going instead, or he just regretted doing that run the other day and preferred to skip this one.

In any case, today would be a relatively light day. No training battles, no learning new moves, no sparring, just a normal, morning run.

“Thanks for the meal, Mom,” Ash said as he finished his glass of milk to cap off his breakfast. “We should get going now, the others are waiting.”

“We’ll be back by lunch time, Ms. Ketchum,” Misty said.

“I’ll have it ready by then,” the woman replied. “Watch over my son for me, will you, dear?”

“Mom!” Ash said with annoyance, causing Misty and his mom to laugh.

Admittedly, he was unsure if it was just some teasing, or because of their latest big adventure. He didn’t have the courage to say anything else, so he chose to laugh too.

Once they saw the Teleport flash outside, both of them went out to meet with the others. It was time to get started.

Outside, however, Ash was surprised to see somebody else waiting for them, along with Iris and Anabel. Though it wasn’t the weirdest thing that he could have seen that morning.

‘Excellent. I was wondering if you would need to be woken, but it seems that such an action wasn’t needed.’

Lucario was with them, gazing at him with interest for some reason. The Fighting/Steel-type looked like he’d just invited himself to join them in their activities today.

Ash glanced at Iris and Anabel with a confused look.

“Lucario insisted that he would accompany us today. He says he would like to ‘lead the march’, whatever that means,” the wild girl explained.

“March? We’re just doing a morning run, aren’t we?”

‘Regardless of what you call it, I believe it is time for me to take a more active role,’ said Lucario.

“You wanna train with us?” Ash asked. “Not that I mind, but today we’re just going for a run. That might be kinda boring for you.”

‘Not quite. After all, Sir Aaron and I would often travel long distances, sometimes on foot when we lacked other means of transport.”

Ash glanced at his companions, and seeing none of them had any objections, simply smiled. They were ready to start after all.

“Alright, you lead the way,” Ash said. “Everyone, let’s go!”

…

Iris’s idea of a morning run was to go from one end to the other of Pallet Town at least twice and a half before resting. Though at first it sounded too much, after all the things they’d been through that would be little more than a walk at the park.

Lucario was running in front of them, and Ash noted how he did so in a different way. Specifically how unlike them, he preferred to run with both arms outstretched to the side like an airplane. He actually said he felt tempted to try it himself, but the Pokédex advised against it.

“There is not much point in doing so. You might be a Lucario bloodliner, but your human body obviously lacks the more aerodynamic form of the real deal, like your companion over there.”

Even so, he had to admit he was enjoying that run. Lucario was faster on his feet than anybody else there, but at the time he was holding back so they could keep up. Iris and Anabel still knew the route just in case they fell too behind.

‘The last hill is ahead of us!’ Lucario declared.

Indeed, they’d just gotten to one of the forest hills on the edges of Pallet Town. Their schedule was to go up there, take a little break, and then go back down all the way.

Lucario waited for them until they caught up with him, and Ash took the moment to check on the girls’ statuses.

Iris had barely broken a sweat after the run. Misty was a tad more winded but still worth energy to spare, and while Anabel had to kneel down to catch her breath for a moment, she clearly looked better than other times.

‘We’re almost there. All that’s left is to climb up this hill, and you’ll be able to take a breather.’ Lucario declared.

“Is it me, or it looks steeper than yesterday?” Misty asked.

“But it looks the same as always,” Iris replied.

Ash couldn’t help but snicker; Iris still had difficulty getting jokes sometimes.

At the same time, he saw Lucario focusing himself, and then, crouching for a moment, he took a small step as he executed an Extreme Speed to do a long jump.

And then another. And another. And many more in zigzag as he went up the hill much faster than he’d done by running normally.

A few seconds after, he made a hand gesture from above to follow him. Ash saw Misty chuckling at that and shaking her head.

“Showoff. He does know we can’t do the same thing, does he?”

“Well… I think I can.” Ash couldn’t help but grin. He had no Extreme Speed, but he did have the next best thing.

He crouched himself too, and following Lucario’s lead, except using Quick Attack and leaving a white streak behind. He couldn’t jump as far or fast as with Extreme Speed, but he managed to skip quite a bit of the climb, and it took him little more than Lucario, who smiled and nodded pleasantly at it.

“Very funny, Ash!” Misty exclaimed from below.

“Hey, if it’s too much for you, you can ask Anabel to teleport you up here!” he replied.

Even from above, he could hear them laughing. Technically, having used the move once for support wasn’t cheating, as he still had to put physical effort into it.

In any case, they’d take a small break up there before taking the walk back, and walking down the hill wouldn’t be as bad as going up.

….

‘I will be joining Iris in training you in future training efforts. She has done well enough, but you will benefit from training beyond general physical work. As Sir Aaron taught me, I shall teach you.’

Lucario’s declaration came as the two of them lounged in a water pool near the end of their run, the sweat being filtered away by the crystal clear mountain water.

His clothing was hanging on the branches of a tree, with Pikachu sitting above it to serve multiple purposes.

To make sure the clothing didn’t blow away, to make sure the girls didn’t walk in on them while he was unclothed (they had another pool elsewhere for their own cool down), and to eat the fruit the tree had on it.

“Like Aura stuff? I mean I do the talking perfectly well, and I am not sure what else I’d get out of it. Not exactly a ton of time flowers around here after all.”

‘There is more than just time flowers you would care to learn. You have hardly tapped into your innate abilities, and potential should be tapped where it exists. Plus given your track record of abductions and captures, you can hardly claim it is without use.’

Seeing it was the third time something like that had happened, he could hardly argue such an idea didn’t have a point.

“You’ll work with my schedule, right? League training and travelling, the girls’ schedules as they exist, that sort of thing.”

Lucario nodded, though there was stiffness to it.

‘Alas I can. Personally I don’t think that this Pokémon League you aspire to compete in is the best use of your time. You have certainly trained what back in my time would have been an elite force of Pokémon talent-wise, but I don’t think that is what you need. I’d rather you be the warrior you trained your Pokémon to be.’

“I’ve been saved from all of the time I’ve been captured by the fact I’ve helped all of my Pokémon become stronger. J, Sabrina, and Mewtwo were all handled by their strength more than anything. You yourself saved us from Mewtwo after all.”

The pool was silent after that, as both he and Lucario silently agreed to disagree on the point of where his priorities should be.

As it honestly should be. When it was possible one should always strive to what they want to be, and not what other people tell them to be.

Other people might be able to offer you advice, but it was in the end up to you where you wanted to go.

The only sound was the distant dropping of leaves and nuts and what not from the forest, and Pikachu’s loud nibbling on the tree’s bounty.

“So, all of this training of myself you want to do, it would involve moves like Aura Sphere correct?”

He spoke up after a few silent moments, to which Lucario nodded in agreement.

‘Yes it would. One such as you not being able to use Aura Sphere would simply be a disgrace. Aura Sphere is a move anyone like the two of us, be they born Lucario or possessing their abilities as a human, should be able to flawlessly perform and use.’

“We can bring in others for that training too, right?’

Lucario was looking at him for a moment, before nodding.

‘Iris described how she invited others into your training, and I see no flaws in that. It is an odd request, but I see no harm in it.’

“Yeah you see I was actually just thinking this, but if I trained with Squirtle while doing that, he could also learn Aura Sphere. That would be pretty cool.”

Lucario’s glance at him was that of utter confusion.

‘I am not sure I follow. A Squirtle cannot use Aura Sphere.’

“Actually the manner to do so was discovered recently in the Kalos region, and I have the method for doing so in my databanks. It would not be too hard to accomplish between your skills at Aura Sphere, and the boy’s ability to perform better than you’d assume.”

So said the Pokédex as it hung in his jacket pocket, as it should always do.

Lucario seemed lost in thought at that, surprised at such a revelation. That such a thing would be discovered in the time he was asleep.

Perhaps even at the idea he had suggested such a logical and good idea. Hard to say, he wasn’t entirely sure what Lucario thought of his planning skills.

“Pikachu-Pi.” ‘Plus you could even teach it to Misty’s turtle troop. Just think of how happy she’d be if you taught Blastoise the move for her. She’s be so happy she’d probably forget you are all confused teenagers unsure of what you all are doing and give you a big kiss right there.’

Yeah, that would be a good idea! Thank you Pikachu, that would easily be one of his best days ever…

He stopped the thought right there and glared up at his buddy, who had an amused look on his face.

“Pikapi.” ‘It’s still a good idea, you can’t deny that.’

…

Sitting down naked in a pool of clear water next to Iris and Anabel, Misty had a single thought she had to say to all of this.

“You know, when I imagined Iris being naked around me involving water, I was expecting a waterfall. That was how it seemed to happen the other times.”

Iris didn’t seem to pick up she was mostly being sarcastic.

“We did not see a waterfall, so I could not do that. I could join you in a shower in Ash’s house if you really want.”

“Please don’t.”

Ash’s mom probably had some strange ideas as it was, and she and Iris in the shower at the same time would probably not help.

‘This is less awkward at least; clear water or not it feels less exposed than a waterfall shower. You also didn’t sneak up on us with it. This is still a bit odd, but honestly after all of that running this is just too perfect.’

Things were silent for a few moments after that, just the three of them lounging in the water.

‘I can’t even see any of the cuts from Wimpod on your stomach Misty.’

Anabel’s point led her to look down at her stomach, and it was indeed true. No one could tell that her stomach had been scratched at just by looking at it now.

“That’s nice, though to tell you the truth I hadn’t even really thought about it much. I just wanted to calm Wimpod down, and redeem myself for lack of a better word. Though it is nice that I won’t have any scars.”

“Those would not have given you scars. Wimpod does not have sharp enough limbs.”

Iris made this point as if it was basic knowledge. To her it possibly was, and the comment drew Misty’s eyes towards Iris’s form and all the little scars that covered it.

Nothing so big that it would do for an action hero trying to be grizzly looking, but still clearly there for the one looking at her clearly, especially when unclothed.

‘So what does leave scars?’

Iris closed her eyes, clearly trying to draw on her memories to get the story behind some of them.

“There is one on my… foot, just above my left ankle. Outside. Got that cut against a rock. Island where a bunch of Magikarp evolve into Gyarados, I think you would call it the Orange Islands. Got spooked by a Magikarp jumping out near me and evolving.”

She lifted said foot out of the water, revealing the paler rise of skin on said foot. She dropped it back in the water with a splash.

She held up her right wrist, which had a pair of small bumps on the top of it, just before the wrist became arm.

“Got four little ones here. I was bitten by a little Dratini here; I cannot remember who.”

‘Dratini have teeth?’

“They do, it probably would not have actually scarred if I was older when I was bit. I was not as tough then.”

Iris stood up in the water, completely exposing her body above her lower thighs, as she turned around and gestured at a larger scar than the others that dashed along the side of her left hip.

“This was from a Slash. There was a fight at a watering hole near a cave with some Gabite. It actually needed some healing for an infection, so it isn’t as bad as it originally hurt.”

As she stared at the long line along Iris’s hip flesh, she had to wonder why she didn’t hear Ash ever mention that one.

It was the largest scar she saw on Iris, and it was in a place his eyes would have been drawn.

Was it because he specifically fought to not stare there too much?

It did have the benefit of not being so large as to be super obvious, so it didn’t add worried curiosity to Ash’s hormones as a temptation to look at it.

Iris splashed back into the pond, blurring the large scar with the distorting effect of water.

“I cannot really think of how the others happened off the top of my head.”

“That was nice of you to share that. You know, I heard that girls are supposed to talk about these sort of things when they are relaxing like this, even if it was more about hot springs than just springs in general. Wish there was something Anabel and I could share that is equal to that.”

‘Well, maybe not equal. But I do have something to comment about.’

Anabel pulled both her arms out of the water, and Misty noted the fact that the arms had gained some tone she hadn’t noticed.

Not like Ash’s, or hers and Iris’s. But it was present.

‘I’ve really noticed how trim my body’s getting. It was never untrim, but I’m seeing even more of it. I may still find all of this running and sparring exhausting, but it is doing something. Doing something to all of us, even if Misty does a lot more swimming than running and especially sparring. You’d think the Pokémon League should advertise for it? Come for the badges, stay for the good workout?’

Misty chuckled a bit. She could almost see the advertisements for it: Lt. Surge, Bruno, and Brock all showing off their muscles or something.

Would Lorelei pose for the female equivalent?

‘It isn’t anything like what you and Ash have of course.’

Before she could ask what Anabel meant both she and Iris glowed and were yanked onto their feet in the pool.

She had the reflex to cover herself before Anabel continued.

‘I don’t even want to imagine how much you’d have me to do to get something like that if Misty doesn’t have it.’

She stopped mid-covering, curious what Anabel might be getting at, and looked at Iris’s stomach.

She was surprised to notice that Iris had the muscles on her chest that would be called a six pack on a guy. Probably a girl too, but she really hadn’t noticed that before.

She didn’t really look at Iris’s stomach all that much.

Iris seemed to also be noting her own stomach, which in comparison to Iris’s was smoother without the same definition.

“Huh, that is right. You do not look the same there as I or Ash do. Which is odd, as you do a lot even without me. Is it something about swimming?”

The exact muscle work that swimming did versus running or wrestling or climbing or the other things Iris had Ash and Anabel do was not something she knew, and they didn’t have a Monodex in their clothes to answer.

“I don’t really think that would look good on me. I like how I look, and I like just being… smoother. It looks great on you Iris, but the same look doesn’t work on everyone.”

Iris seemed a bit surprised at her response, but she didn’t argue it, or do anything weird.

She had half expected Iris to start poking her stomach, as if wanting to see if there was muscle there.

There was, like the pool when they weren’t standing in it the smoothness of her stomach hid a lot of strong muscle there. However, Iris poking her in the stomach while both of them were naked was about as ideal as Iris breaking into a shower where Ash’s mom could hear it, so not having it happen was certainly a good thing.

Iris looking her body around in other places however, was not a good thing.

“Smooth huh? So is that why…”

Was this the part where the peeping tom made himself known and interrupted them? That would be better than this was going to go.

Sadly, neither pervert nor Team Rocket made themselves known for a focus changing beatdown.

She’d even have taken Ash walking in on them right now. That at least would be both horrible mortifying, and potentially fun if she was feeling bold enough.

…

He waved off Togepi as he flew away, who was cheerfully jumping in pride at managing to break the rock they had been practicing on.

He had another rock to deal with, as it were.

He flapped his wings as he rose over a Hoppip flock, the brush of his wing power sending them down to the forest tree tops.

They fluttered back up without issue, smiling the entire time as if they hadn’t been disturbed.

He saw who he was looking for, and landed down in front with a loud thump.

His quarry didn’t stop her work in the meantime, and seemed to in fact use his arrival to get more practice with her newest move.

Gigalith’s Rock Polish glittered as she darted out of his way, and she seemed to tense in anticipation.

“Giga.” ‘Good, I’ve been meaning to really see what I can do.’

He snorted, flames coming out of his jaw as he did.

“Chr.” ‘Yeah, you could try that. It wouldn’t get you what you are looking for, even if it would be a good way to snap you out of it.’

Gigalith glared his way, as if imagining what a four times weakness looked like in action.

“Lith.” ‘Snap me out of what?’

“Zrr.” ‘A power high obviously. Trust me when I say I know what it looks like, and how hard it can be to snap yourself out of it without losing badly first.’

He himself may have had something of a relapse on it, but given a complicated cocktail of two timelines of memories he would not be too hard on himself about it.

He liked getting stronger in general; he only took it a bit too far trying to get to an earlier level of strength.

Gigalith slammed her front legs down onto the ground in a display of force, shaking the earth around him.

Charicific valley etiquette said that was poor manners, but much like his trainer he didn’t care as much about such things as others might. Plus it was a decent display of raw strength regardless.

“Gigal!” ‘So what if I am getting a bit carried away? You cannot imagine just how much power I’ve been feeling since I’ve evolved. It feels like I could destroy an entire mountain with the power in me now! I’m ready to tear anything up that wants some! Escavalier and Accelgor, Koffing, Hydreigon, Sabrina, Houndoom, Golisopod, they all can get a real big taste of what I can do now! I could take down the entire Indigo League myself! I’ve got power, I’ve got defense, and I’ve even got speed! What more could I want!? What more could I need!?’

Evolution was said to do many things to a Pokémon, and many underestimated the most basic part of it after a change in appearance and what the average human heard when they spoke.

Sheer power being unlocked like a dam burst.

The release of all that new power did a lot for a Pokémon’s personality. It could make a timid Pokémon bolder, as Ash could certainly attest in many of his friends over the years.

However, it wasn’t without consequence. Sometimes it was hard to see anything outside of that new raw power if you focused on it too much.

It was also a drastic way to overcome problems in your way. It worked, but so could learning a new move or technique.

You couldn’t go back from it, but that was not the particular issue here. That was Torterra’s problem.

“Zrrr.” ‘Oh I don’t pretend you and I don’t have more raw power than Squirtle or Pikachu at our disposal. However, you are missing what raw power is compared to power and skill together. With that Pikachu and Squirtle will surpass you, and it is the reason that Pikachu beat Drake in the original timeline and not me.’

Well that and other reasons, but it didn’t really work to this talk’s benefit to mention them. That being said if he got the chance to be the one to take down that Dragonite, he’d do it even if Pikachu insisted on doing it himself again.

Gigalith rolled her eyes at him, and so he made his point in a similarly non-verbal method.

First by bellowing flames into the sky, then by holding up a metallic claw, then by igniting his power with draconic energy, then by setting himself ablaze, and finally by holding an enlarged, non-metallic claw up.

It wasn’t a complete showing of course, but it did put his point across.

“Chr.” ‘Raw power doesn’t get you past the limit. You want to truly use your power, you’ve got more work to do. You just have to master a lot more power at once first. Only then is your power any more fully useful than when you were unevolved. Evolution is just a step, not the entire way to your full strength.’

The clearing they were in was silent but the blowing of wind in the grass and the distant humming of Hoppip.

“Gi.” ‘Well, in that case there is only one thing to say. It’s a Kalosian saying I heard from Goodra the other day. Do you know it?’

Does it have anything to do with that Serena girl that Pikachu had said good things about?

‘En garde!’

And with that a Gigalith glowing white with Return lunged at him with the restraint of a hungry Snorlax, and he grinned as he readied Metal Claw for the training that was to come.

…

Arms trembling, Ash worked to focus power between his hands.

The motion was mirrored by Squirtle, whose arms were trembling even more as he tried for the same move.

Aura Sphere.

There was a momentary flash of blue energy between Squirtle’s hands, before it exploded and sent the turtle flying into the air and on his back, squirming helplessly.

“Squir!” ‘Gah, curse evolutionary advantages!’

He stopped what he was doing to help right Squirtle, while in front of them Lucario shook his head.

‘So indeed the move can be performed by a Squirtle, even if it is far from useable yet.’

With a quick yank he had pulled Squirtle up to his feet, who pointed at Lucario dramatically.

“Squirtle squirt!’ ‘So how do you make it useable!? Got any tips for how one would make a ball out of….whatever Aura Sphere is made out of.’

‘First of all, an Aura Sphere is crafted from… someone unfamiliar approaches!’

With that declaration all bickering stopped, and several of the nearby training Pokémon darted his way, ready to meet the stranger if it turned ugly.

Pikachu broke through the bushes with Togepi, while Pidgeot, Vivillon, and Yanma descended from the sky.

Serperior and Kingler approached from behind, flanked by Chansey. He could hear and sense others nearby, watching for what might come.

The bushes in front of him began to shake as a large and bulky form began to approach.

The person stepped forward, and Ash recognized who it was. Without a shirt and with muscles rather thicker and bulkier than his own, it was someone that Ash had met in the old timeline once, though he clearly remembered it.

After all, everyone remembered their first Elite Four encounter.

“Well I’m lost. Tell me boy, is this the way to Pallet Town. I’m looking for its restaurant.”

So declared Bruno, whose stomach growled as he declared this.

He could feel a few Pokémon, among them Serperior, start to look at Bruno with the sort of looks he knew they would give him in some of his dumber moments.

Not Lucario though, oddly enough. He remained alert as he looked his way.

“It is, but it’s probably half an hour to get there if you walk. Here, I’ve got a few snack bars you can have.”

He began rummaging in his backpack for the food, as Bruno nodded in appreciation. He could hear a few Pokémon around him continue to talk as he pulled them out.

“Pik.” ‘Guys, this guy might seem like he’s Ash on a bad day, but he’s actually a pretty strong Elite Four member named Bruno.’

“Ser.” ‘An Elite Four huh? Doesn’t look like it. Though does he sort of look like Ash to anyone but me?’

“Koo.” ‘Honestly he looks more like Brock than Ash, but I can sort of see it….’

“Pikapi.” ‘Guys, don’t. Trust me, this guy’s not part of Ash’s messed up family tree, and probably not Brock’s family tree of unknown crazy either. He’s not good enough of an actor to not go ‘oh hey, a kid of mine’.’

“Squir.” ‘Could be in the family still…’

He ignored their speculation as he gave a set of four bars to Bruno, who happily began tearing into them.

He could almost see what they meant, but with the sheer amount of family members he had run into, seen the image of, or otherwise heard talk about he had gotten a decent idea of what a relative of his would or would not look like.

Bruno’s similarities were surface level, nothing more. He wasn’t his horrible father, nor one of his half-brothers who varied in horribleness from not at all to really horrible.

He was just a muscled person with the body traits he had that he didn’t get from his mom. Nothing more.

The bars having vanished fully into Bruno’s gullet, he patted his belly in appreciation.

“Thank you, I appreciate it. Nothing is worse than training or traveling or fighting on an empty stomach. I see you were aware of that too; I certainly hope you remember that for when you are at the Indigo League when that starts up. No rule against eating snack bars during your matches after all.”

Several of his Pokémon, mostly the ones who were surprised at Bruno’s behavior and his status as an Elite Four member, were now looking at him in surprise for him knowing that.

He also felt surprised by it, so it was hardly unwarranted.

“Wait, you know I’m going to be at Indigo?”

Bruno nodded.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? At least to me it is. I can just tell these things. So, why don’t I repay you for your snack bars by showing you my power as you show me your own.”

“You want a battle now?”

Ash had to admit, that was a bit sudden. Just as sudden as Bruno just randomly walking into their training, sure, but sudden all of the same.

Normally he had to pester an Elite Four member before they battled him, or they decided to fight him without telling him who they were when they decided he was getting a little too big for his britches.

“Sure. It is through rigorous training that people and Pokémon become stronger. You clearly understand it, but the best way to see how far you’ve come and how far you still need to go is in battle. I’d even take martial arts if you’d rather not battle Pokémon, a trainer should be just as prepared as their Pokémon. Even Agatha can neck pinch a person, at least after I taught her how.”

Normally the idea of the Agatha neck pinch would be the most unsettling thing he could imagine, but the idea of trying to fight Bruno in hand to hand combat was far more unsettling.

Regardless of any advantage he might have over a regular person, he was not a martial artist. Training or not, he did not need to see Lucario’s very curt ‘no’ head gestures to know how that would go.

“Battle’s good.”

Bruno grinned.

“Excellent, how’s three on three sound?”

…

And so Pokémon training became a real battle, with Bruno’s first Pokémon being a Machamp.

His own choice was a bit more thought out.

‘Now, logic does say that I should use a Pokémon with super effective moves or typing, but Bruno obviously knows how to handle such things. Maylene had training for that, Bryce had training for that, and so did anyone with half a lick of sense. But just because he had prepared for it doesn’t mean I can’t prepare for his preparations.’

And with that, his first Pokémon was Pidgeot, who took a ready stance on the ground to begin the fight.

“Alright Pidgeot, take to the sky and use Air Slash!”

Pidgeot took off into the sky, flying far out of reach for Machamp’s attacks, and began to fly around where Machamp was standing.

Blue streaks of air were sent flying down at Machamp, each time from a different location.

“Block them all Machamp!”

Even before Bruno’s commands were given Machamp had begun to form yellow balls of energy in each hand, and with little lag in reaction Machamp blasted the attacks up into the Air Slashes.

They were all shattered on impact, the two attacks cancelling each other out.

‘Those were Focus Blasts, all honed to destroy long range air attacks. Impressive.’

Lucario’s observations answered a question he had already figured out.

Bruno had trained Machamp to handle the long ranged attacks from a flying type, that much was clear. It was also pretty obvious that if he had done that, he was trained for how to handle more close range attacks.

“Stone Edge!”

Bruno’s next order had Machamp point each of its four arms at Pidgeot, and began firing a barrage of stones up Pidgeot’s way like bullets.

Pidgeot stopped her circling of Machamp and flew higher into the sky, breaking through a cloud and ranging the Stone Edge, which lost momentum and began falling back to the earth.

Pidgeot returned from the cloud and descended back into hearing range, though still at a bit of a stalemate.

Or at least what seemed like a stalemate: Bruno did not seem to be as deep in thought as he was.

How did he break through Machamp’s defenses? Even if he had a good idea, he’d have to shout it for Pidgeot to hear unless he wanted to go ‘hey, I have special powers’ in front of Bruno.

Which was something he had no idea how it would go, and would rather not do.

A spark of an idea came to him, and it wasn’t a spark from Pikachu as his buddy was watching the fight from a nearby tree limb.

“Pidgeot, you know what we were practicing earlier? Do it!”

Pidgeot heard his shout, and folded her wings as she began to speed down towards Machamp.

Bruno grinned at that.

“Intercept it!”

Machamp tensed, reading the two upper arms for catching Pidgeot. However the two arms were not ready for it.

They were instead ready for the feint that was to come.

Indeed just before Pidgeot would hit Machamp, she vanished and reappeared behind Machamp, completely bypassing the two upper arms.

The two lower arms began shooting Stone Edge, and missed.

For the feint had a feint as well, and Pidgeot slammed into Machamp from the side instead with an Aerial Ace.

Machamp was knocked back into a tree, which shook on impact and sent several leaves and twigs crashing to the ground.

Bruno had an impressed look on his face, even as Pidgeot took back off into the air.

Quick Attack into Aerial Ace, with a few feints, had gotten through, and he had seen what Machamp had practiced for.

“Okay, use Air Slash into the tree!”

Pidgeot fired the Air Slash as commanded, which struck into the tree and sent a barrage of twigs and leaves into Machamp.

Machamp’s vision was now clouded, and he didn’t need to tell Pidgeot what to do next, for she was already going for it.

Coming from the side once more, gaining a blue fiery aura as she approached.

Their recently pulled off fifth move Brave Bird!

It was going to debut with a victory!

“Champ!”

At least that had been the plan.

Just as Pidgeot had approached Machamp from the side, the upper arm had glowed red with a Dynamic Punch and slammed Pidgeot in the face, sending her careening into a nearby tree.

From the lower arm on the same side then came a Stone Edge barrage, which shot into her.

The tree then shattered, and Pidgeot was blown through and landed in front of him.

Defeated, already with Chansey running to heal her.

What had just happened?

“A good fight!”

Bruno’s should drew his attention from the healing Pidgeot, who had Machamp walking up to him, who was still brushing leaves and twigs off as he did so.

“That Quick Attack and Aerial Ace trick was pretty clever, as had been that tree distraction. The Brave Bird was a bit too loud though. If you had managed to make it quieter, it might have gotten in. You must have caught that Machamp was ready for another feint trick like the first time, but your attempt to surprise with a different technique did not go as planned. Regardless, that was an excellent fight! Let us have another!”

…

Serperior slithered up next to him, volunteering herself for the second Pokémon.

It was something he’d have considered, so it was no problem.

Bruno sent out his own second Pokémon, which was a Hitmontop who quickly flipped himself onto his head in a bit of a dance movement before righting himself once more.

“Hitmontop, the Handstand Pokémon and an evolution of Tyrogue. Hitmontop practices a fighting style called capoeira, which is a combination of dancing, acrobatics, fighting, and a hint of music.”

That was his new thing learned for the day.

All of a sudden he felt a wave of fear wash through him, and his body felt a bit heavier.

He noticed a similar feeling go through Serperior, though he didn’t get the feeling she felt the same sort of weight he did.

That oddity aside, it was battle time.

“Alright Serperior, let’s play this smart. Attract!”

Serperior nodded, before beginning the blinking that spawned the heart swarm that flew at Hitmontop without mercy.

Hitmontop was always male after all.

“Defend yourself!”

Hitmontop flipped onto his head and began to spin, and before too long a spiraling cloud of sand formed around Hitmontop. The sand blocked the hearts before they could make contact.

The spinning tornado was not stationary however, and it began to approach the two of them.

“Now attack!”

From within the sand vortex dark shapes began to appear and vanish in quick succession. Following where the next one would come from was difficult, and the first time something emerged from the sand vortex he and Serperior had not caught it and a blue limb managed to slam into Serperior’s jaw.

She managed to avoid the second and then the third of the rapid blows, and was ready to go on the offensive.

“Put that storm out with Aqua Tail!”

Serperior’s tail ignited with water, and she pointed and fired said tail like a hose into the storm.

It blew with more intensity than usual, and pierced through the sandstorm like a knife through butter, blowing Hitmontop out of it and onto the ground in a wet heap.

“That was more than I was expecting.”

“Ser.” ‘Yeah, I think I got a boost in my attack when the battle began. I think that Hitmontop had an ability that was meant to decrease my attack, but it went up instead. Contrary and all, let’s keep our advantage.’

“Follow it up with Aerial Ace!”

Serperior surged forward, her tail glowing blue as she swung it forward and began stabbing it like a rapier.

Hitmontop ducked in and out of the blows, changing stance and motion so much that it did in fact look like dancing.

Part of him was wondering if the Hitmontop gave lessons.

“Get over Serperior!”

“Serperior, squeeze it so it can’t get away!”

He had thought that Hitmontop was going to use some sort of jumping move, and he had Serperior move in for the squeeze first.

However what happened instead was another burst of spinning sand, and Hitmontop flew over the coiling Serperior, who had lost a target and was now glaring up at Hitmontop.

“Rock Slide!”

Hitmontop began spinning from above, and from the spinning body appeared stones that began falling towards Serperior like massive hail stones. Dodging it would be difficult.

“Leaf Storm!”

Which was why he had Serperior blow them away instead, with the Leaf Storm shooting upward and colliding with the stones instead, shattering both attacks into a massive cloud of dust and leaves.

It also completely obscured Hitmontop, and Serperior for that matter.

He couldn’t see the battlefield at all.

“Use Aqua Tail to…”

A smack ended his call as it sounded like Hitmontop had found Serperior with a limb.

…

She glared at the barrage of blue limbs that were flying her way.

Her body was flexible enough she was able to bend and twist it out of the way of many of the Hitmontop’s confusing blows, but she still felt the sting of them colliding a few times.

Her trainer wasn’t able to see what was going on, so she wasn’t going to get any of his genius insights right now.

She couldn’t even go for Aqua Tail in all of this, unless she wanted to get hit by these blows.

Really in this situation, what would be the best option?

What would be the smartest option?

What would be the option that would come to Ash’s mind at the last moment to turn it all around?

The last one did in fact come to her, and she gritted her teeth at what she’d have to do.

It was going to hurt, but it was the only way they could win this one.

She lunged forward, dodging what blows she could as she got closer to spinning form of the dancing fighter.

She felt a blow struck her on her left, which knocked her into a blow on her right, and she only just got herself back together to prevent herself from repeating the process into an infinite defeat as her head got right into the reach of an unstretched limb.

She then swung around as fast she could, her tail glowing with Aerial Ace before jamming it right into the spinning Hitmontop.

The Fighting-type was sent flying.

…

The dust cleared just enough for a clearly visible Hitmontop to be blown out of the obscuring cloud, followed shortly by Serperior, whose collar flashed green with Leaf Storm.

The attack was then fired into the launched Hitmontop, sending the fighting type crashing into the ground.

Making the battle one for one now, even as Serperior winced and nearly collapsed.

“Serperior, are you okay!?”

She gave him a look that said ‘what do you think?’, even as Chansey began to heal her up.

“Your Pokémon must have figured something out on its own to take that win. Good. Independent initiative is valuable in such circumstances.”

Bruno was still in a good mood even as he returned Hitmontop.

…

Pikachu darted out for his third Pokémon, and Bruno’s choice was that of a Hitmonchan.

Pikachu’s cheeks sparked in anticipation for the battle that was to start.

“Alright let’s see if we can avoid getting in close: Pikachu use Thunderbolt!”

Pikachu jumped into the air, his cheeks sparking. There was little delay between jump and electric attack, which flew at Hitmonchan at rapid speed.

Hitmonchan’s eyes glowed for a moment though, and he ducked out of the line of fire as the blast hit the dirt behind him, exploding into a dust cloud.

“Pikachu, it is using Detect: try to rapid fire…”

“Punch it out of the sky, Hitmonchan! Vacuum Wave!”

Hitmonchan punched forward with a glowing blue fist, which sent out a disruptive surge of air towards Pikachu. Pikachu was quick enough to fire an electrical burst into it before it hit though, so Pikachu was not hit and only blown into a tree, which he landed on with both feet.

“Good reflexes!”

“Hit!”

Both Bruno and Hitmonchan agreed to the skill of the trick.

“I really hate to get in close, but we’ve got no choice it seems. Pikachu, use Quick Attack, and make it hard for Hitmonchan to follow your moves!”

Pikachu, a white glow around him, obliged and began darting through the trees. The shaking of a branch for a second was the only means of tracking him as he approached Hitmonchan.

Hitmonchan’s eyes were darting, but he was not freaking out. It was a calm approach, which worried Ash a bit.

But there wasn’t any stopping it now.

Pikachu launched himself from a tree trunk, the solid base of the tree reducing the wood shaking tell.

“Hitmonchan, Quick Guard!”

Hitmonchan did not turn around, instead merely tapping his gloved hands together quickly. The resulting red shockwave that pulsed from him hit Pikachu and made the white streaks of Quick Attack vanish.

Pikachu flailed a bit as he crashed to the ground.

“Focus Punch!”

Hitmonchan had started charging up the blue fist before Bruno had finished, and he swung right around and aimed the fist at Pikachu, still on the ground from the Quick Guard block.

“Volt Tackle!”

Pikachu’s body exploded with electricity as he jumped right into the Focus Punch, the two attacks meeting in a quick confrontation that knocked both Hitmonchan’s fist and Pikachu back.

However Pikachu took the worst of it due to recoil, the damage coursing through Pikachu in the aftermath of the strike.

Hitmonchan moved to continue with another punch, but his body suddenly seized up with electricity coursing over him.

Paralysis, either from Volt Tackle or Static.

“Alright Pikachu, this is our chance! Let’s finish this in one big blow!”

He took out the Z-Ring, a look of recognition on Bruno’s face as the two of them entered the poses for the move, all while Hitmonchan was unable to move.

His arms crossed into a Z as the light shot from him and into Pikachu.

“Alright Bruno, this is our power! Pikachu, use Gigavolt Havoc!”

Hitmonchan managed to get out of paralysis and glowed red for a moment, but whatever move it was trying was too late, as the electrical bolt of Gigavolt Havoc flew right into Hitmonchan, exploding with a blinding electrical force. ‘

Pikachu was panting in the aftermath, but it was worth it. An attack at that range should have finished off Hitmonchan.

“Good job buddy, these Z-moves are really starting to look good. Can’t wait to use them at Indigo, what about you?”

“They are indeed something, though I’ve seen better examples of that very Z-Move though. You are getting there though.”

Bruno’s words were calm as the smoke and dust continued to seep from the impact zone, obscuring Hitmonchan’s defeated form.

“You could indeed clench quite a few narrow victories with them, and your timing was rather good on this one. I might not fight Z-Move users that often anymore, but I do know technique timing and using it on the paralysis was a good call. That being said however….”

A shape emerged from the smoke, both fists glowing orange as it moved towards a stunned Pikachu.

“You forgot about a little move called Endure. It is the reason I am winning this fight and not you. Hitmonchan, Close Combat!”

Hitmonchan began battering at Pikachu with dozens of rapid punches. Pikachu at several points tried to get away, but at that point Hitmonchan used his foot to sweep Pikachu back into the line of punches. A two-handed slam was the last move, sending Pikachu into the earth with a massive blow.

Hitmonchan kneeled with paralysis again after the barrage was done, but at that point Pikachu was in no place to take advantage of it.

Bruno walked up to Hitmonchan, pulling out a spray bottle to heal the Fighting-type. Chansey meanwhile had already pulled Pikachu up and was healing him herself.

“For a kid who I haven’t seen in a league yet, you did pretty well. You’ll get far kid; trust me I can tell these things. Though I am curious, where did you get a Z-Ring? Those aren’t exactly common outside of Alola.”

“I don’t know, it was mailed to me from a place called Iki Town by a Kahuna and a Guardian, I couldn’t tell you why.”

Bruno was quiet for a moment on hearing that, but he seemed to snap back to how he was before the question quickly.

“Okay. Now for that restaurant…”

With that Bruno returned his Hitmonchan and resumed on his way, a cheerful energy in his step as he made tracks to his mother’s restaurant.

He picked up the healed Pikachu in his arms as he watched the Elite Four leave, his buddy slumped over in post-defeat dejection.

Bruno stopped mid-step, as if he was just done finishing something. He then held up three fingers.

“Three leagues. That is when you can win one. Not counting anything like it that isn’t the league, like a Battle Frontier or a minor league of course. See ya when you are, like I guess eighteen or nineteen or something.”

And so Bruno vanished into the bushes once more.

“Ser.” ‘Yeah, let’s prove him wrong and win Indigo.’

He nodded in silent agreement, the words oddly not coming out.

Sometime later, at Oak’s…

He was on his arms, bent over down low to the ground to look at the new arrival.

Said new arrival sleepily blinked at him, unfamiliar with what exactly he was.

An easily made mistake, given the fact he was all but sure he was the first human that this little fellow ever saw.

“Pi?”

The little chirp from the tiny mouse Pokémon left a smile on his face.

“Hey there little guy. I’m your dad’s best buddy.”

Beside him he could feel Pikachu straighten himself up in pride.

The Pichu that had hatched recently did not need introduction.

He knew quite enough about the little mouse, and after the Pokédex had a micro moment to recognize Pichu he had Primeape run off with it so it didn’t scare the timid newborn with its loud and blunt statements from seemingly nowhere.

If someone between himself, Pikachu, Raichu, and Pichu needed a Pokédex entry on it, he could just make one up himself.

Pichu, the Tiny Mouse Pokémon and the pre-evolved form of Pikachu. Pichu are fond of apples and are rather mischievous. They still need practice with their electricity. This Pichu is a boy.

Like that. Sure he didn’t know what moves Pichu knew just be looking at the guy, but that wasn’t important right now.

The little mouse seemed to have hit his nerve ceiling though, as he darted behind Raichu, who petted the top of his head with her tail in a comforting way.

“What happens to him going forward will be your call.”

Raichu stopped her petting of her child and looked at him in confusion.

“Ever since I got back from Cinnabar, the barrage of eggs you guys are having always catch me by surprise. It’s true that Pichu is the first egg that hatched that is tied to a Pokémon I am particularly close to. I’ve seen two Koffing and a new Grimer hatchlings, and I was shown a Castform egg by a Grimer I have no idea the origin of just yesterday. I don’t recall seeing a Castform here anywhere.”

“Pikapi.” ‘Ash, I think Casey Snagem had a Castform.’

“Okay, so I now have a sort of an idea where that egg came from. Doesn’t change the point that the Grimer and I don’t really have a super close connection. Pikachu might be my best bud, but I’m not sure you’d call me your buddy. You deserve a say in what happens with Pichu. I’ll train him if you want me to, or I’ll leave him to do what he wants to do with his life if you’d rather have it that way. I’ll show him the world if you want me to, or he wants to see it, or he can stay with you. If he happens to find a human buddy of his own and I’m not around, you can be the one to give Pichu the blessing to make that call.”

Raichu’s eyes glistened at the last one, just how serious his words were really ringing home at that moment.

“Pikapi.” ‘I probably should say something about my own right to make a call or two here, but seeing as I’m going to be with Ash as much as I will be it is simpler this way. If the little guy finds a partner for himself he wants to see the world with, I’ll trust you can make a call that he isn’t Paul with blonde locks.’

He stood up fully, stretching a bit to crack out a few stiff joints for a moment.

“Well glad I got that off my chest. Actually had been thinking of that the last few nights and letting it out is going to leave me sleeping easier. Now, guess it is training time. Any of you three want to come with? Managed to teach Secret Power to Jigglypuff the other day and might be able to do something neat like that with you guys.”

He had been sort of hoping to give Psyduck a break on the ‘make secret bases for the night’ duty, even if Jigglypuff did not rank super high on the list of Pokémon he’d want to take over that duty from Psyduck.

Jigglypuff had been the only one to manage the move that day, though he did help Bulbasaur learn Solar Beam for a fifth move and Farfetch’d Razor Leaf.

How he had done that he still wasn’t quite sure.

Pichu let out a curious chirp, which was followed by Raichu giving a tepid nod. Pikachu gave a much more enthusiastic nod.

“Good, now let’s gather up some others for some work. Primeape will be there with the Pokédex, and I don’t think we’ll find out there are any more eggs I technically own on the way there.”

He still found the idea of his Pokédex expanding with little fruit from his own labor to be a bit off putting, but he couldn’t stop his Pokémon from reproducing and he didn’t want to try.

It seemed both fruitless and would only make him come off as a jerk.

He should be free from surprises of that nature today at least.

…

“Pikachu, you did what!?”

“Pi….” ‘She was so squishy….’

“Congratulations human, you will soon have an Igglybuff registered to your ownership. If we include the adventuring set of six Pokémon from your dead half-brother who’ve had a good run of updating your family tree in my database recently and the two Bug-types you caught at the Crimson City Bug Catching Contest, you now have 55 species of Pokémon registered to your name. By those who measure competence only by the size of one’s collection, you could be considered approaching competence. You of course don’t count things that way, so call it what you will.”

Elsewhere…

‘Three days from now is the Indigo League Conference. Who among us all is going to be watching? I know I will, though I will not be participating. That being said, there are people I know personally who will be present.’

She paused her typing for a moment, the words to be uploaded up in a click waiting on the Pokédex screen for her final approval to go live.

‘You might think I am talking exclusively about Bloodliners, but we’ve known each other long enough to know that isn’t true. I have met many immensely kind people who are human, and while none of these kind people will be at the league, there will be many people just like you at the league competing with people more like myself. Everyone at the league will be giving it their all, regardless of who they are. The winner will be decided not by their birth, but by the same factors that determine any league winner. Skill, their own judgements, just a little pinch of luck, and their Pokémon. It is this, and nothing about one’s birth, that determines the outcome of these things.’

She submitted the entry, putting the Pokédex on the table as she stared at the rising moon.

The last Pallet Town moon they’d be seeing for a while. Even if Ash by some horrible accident of fate lost the first round, she doubted they’d come back here quickly.

They all had enjoyed their time here, but even she and Misty had begun to get twitchy recently, and Ash and Iris were restless and constantly having to let out excess energy in training to not go crazy.

Mewtwo had left them exhausted enough that they had let out a lot of restless energy and were fine with staying in Pallet for a while afterwards. They had since recovered their energy, to the point that they had requested that they walk to Indigo instead of teleport over there.

They had said that if she and Misty would prefer to teleport that was fine, but they had declined. The two of them might not be ready to run all the way to Indigo like they were two Raikou, but they did want to stretch their legs a bit with a good old fashioned country walk.

“The comments are already popping in. A few people wanting hints to see if they can spot you in the stands, and at least two comments declaring that Jeanette Fisher will win the league. A comment from a new user called ‘Goli-Go Ya Boi’ declaring it is better than the Masked Royal’s idea for one, but I have no idea what a celebrity battle royal contender has anything to do with this.”

She shrugged, seeing as the Pokédex could actually catch that unlike her thoughts. Some people just posted odd stuff on the internet, and at least the comment didn’t have a threat in it or was trying to get her to click a suspicious link.

“While I am still collecting information and data on several leagues, it is worth pointing out that I have only seen a single of Ash’s siblings to win a league so far to my data. That would be Vermell in last year’s Kalos League championship. Shall Ash be the second one to do it, or will it be Red? Would it instead be a sibling in a later league where the second victorious sibling is crowned?”

To answer that question, she picked the Pokédex back up and pressed down to highlight her post.

Skill, their own judgements, just a little pinch of luck, and their Pokémon.

That was what would decide it. Ash had trained hard, as had all of his Pokémon. How he’d do in the league would simply be the result of how all his attributes would match all of his own.

If he fought Alexander Silph and had good luck, he’d win.

If he fought Samurai and made bad judgements, he would lose.

Ash had the potential to win, but so did many others competing. It would come down to the little things that would come up as the tournament unfolded.

She wanted Ash to win, and he had a better chance than many. However just as many things in the tournament would come down to Ash and his Pokémon’s skills, there were just as many that were made and broken by a single thought.

The results would not change, however, the fact the league would be one that had her and many others on the edge of their seats until the very end.

END CHAPTER

OMAKE

NON CANON TO THIS UNIVERSE

TAKING PSYDUCK’s ADVICE

Earth 091819

‘In simple terms, I have no problem being your own solution to the problem you are facing. Though I am not the best solution to the problem if you ask me.’

At that bit Psyduck flung himself down on the bed in full, lying next to her as she adjusted herself to better question the duck.

“I am not getting a nightlight. I’d like to keep what is left of my dignity from today.”

“Ps.” ‘And that isn’t what I’m saying, though that would still work. No, what I’m saying would solve your problem real quick is going up to Ash and saying can I please sleep with you tonight. Even ignoring Pikachu’s night hiccups, your breathing will keep him well asleep and yours to him. It would of course be beneficial to you both in more ways than just that, and one night would become all of the nights.’

Her mouth was hanging open, and her face was now burning for a reason other than the silence and dark.

“W…What!? I couldn’t possibly….”

‘Well you didn’t shout that and wake everyone else up, so you can clearly do more than you think. Honestly why any of you aren’t just going up to each other and saying I like you, I love you, let’s do the romance thing, let’s have sex or whatever you would actually go off and say, truly boggles me. You like Ash. He likes you. Iris has probably desensitized him to being embarrassed at the female form, you love showing off your own to him in a swimsuit that only covers a fraction of your body, and you like his male form quite well enough when he’s only in pants. I can’t see the problem here. What, are you all overthinking it or something? What if he says no? What if she says no? What do I do? What should I do? Is this the part when the mortgage shows up? Just stop thinking and say or do it. I’d say before Iris or Anabel do it, but I have the oddest feeling that isn’t a preventive.’

With that last one Psyduck suddenly conked out, and began snoring. Misty’s hands twitched as she moved to wake him up, but her body suddenly felt heavy and her gaze went hazy.

Though before she was claimed by sleep, she got to say a few words.

“Can’t be….that easy…..just talking….”

With that Misty collapsed on the bed, sleep taking her as it had been long meaning to.

The next night found her standing outside of Ash’s door, her body tense.

She was being stupid, she was being reckless.

Sure she had made sure that Ash’s mom was asleep, and that she hadn’t heard hide nor hair from Iris, and Anabel was also definitely asleep.

But what if it went wrong?

She shivered, but despite her fear she tapped the door to Ash’s room lightly. So lightly in fact that she was sure that Ash couldn’t have heard it.

But a ‘Pi’ suggested someone did, and the sound of footsteps began to approach her.

Her heart screamed at her to bolt, but she kept it in place with the barest of success.

The door opened, and she found herself face to face with Ash, who rubbed his eyes while staring at her in confusion at her late arrival.

“Misty….?”

“Ash, can I sleep with you?”

He was wearing a night shirt (that said shirt) and pajama pants, and she was wearing a nightgown. Neither were what one would call skimpy, but just saying those words suddenly made her nightgown feel more exposed than the underwear she wore to bed last night.

Ash also seemed to suddenly jolt awake at her request. He opened his mouth in a manner that made here think he was not going to be able to control his volume, but she shushed him before he lost control of it.

“Ash, I haven’t been sleeping well. I…don’t want to be alone. The dark and quiet, I can’t sleep in it anymore. I need something that makes me remember that I’m not trapped, and that is you. I trust you, I care about you, and I know you trust and care about me too.”

She couldn’t get an L word out, how pathetic.

Still, the words did seem to affect Ash, regardless of how weak they were. His confusion morphed into a tired, light smile.

“Sure Misty. It’ll be weird, but that is just how it is with us, isn’t it? We’re all weird.”

She nodded back.

“Yeah, us weirdos need to stick together.”

With that Ash stepped to the side, and it took her a moment to realize he was letting her into his room.

Her face blushed further, but despite feeling like she was walking in quicksand she took a step aside, and then another, and then another.

And soon, to his bed.

“Pikachu-Pi Pikapi Pi-Pikachu!”

A little later, and it was only that one excited declaration by Pikachu, whatever it meant, that had rung out in the room since.

She and Ash were lying against each other, in his bed, together.

Their bodies were stiff, as if being held in place by something. Perhaps embarrassment, or fear, or something else.

Still they were both breathing. It was slow and controlled, and just listening to it made Misty’s eyes slowly close.

As they began to shut she found her body relax, and that seemed to only make the tiredness come on quicker. While she didn’t see it, it seemed to be happening to Ash as well.

She felt a jolt as something touched her, though the jolt seemed to be more of a sudden surge of relaxing comfort on top of the steady sound of Ash’s rising chest.

She had a micromoment to recognize the feeling as that of one of Ash’s arms falling on her and holding her closer, and that said moment was the result of Ash already entering slumber, before she joined him there.

…

A week later and the two of them returned to Ash’s house, smiles both in hand.

“You know, that was a nice date.”

She sputtered at Ash’s words, and she looked at him in shock.

“D…date? I thought we just went out for a lunch together?!”

Ash nodded, looking a little embarrassed.

“Well it was, and it was a nice lunch. We talked and smiled and enjoyed ourselves. That is a date, right?”

She nodded at that, before gasping and covering her mouth in shock.

“Did we just have our first date? I didn’t realize it was that easy.”

Ash chuckled.

“I didn’t realize it either until Pikachu mentioned it to me while you were in the bathroom, but it really was. Somehow we had our first date, and it was great, and we didn’t even plan it.”

She giggled at that.

“Yeah, strange isn’t it? But that’s how it happened, and now that we did it I really want another one. One we actually plan as a date.”

“Sounds great!”

It was going to be great! Now they just needed to avoid the awkwardness of other people knowing about it.

When in the question between Iris being quite sure that Ash’s odder siblings were right and the Pallet Town girls rioting at the suddenly (to them) best guy in Pallet Town was officially taken make her rather have Iris walk into a night cuddle naked and on Ash’s other side, Misty was officially going to stick to the side of caution.

“Brewwwwwpppp!”

Sadly walking into Ash’s house and have his mom, Iris, Lucario, and Anabel all blow into party horns upon their entering suggested that keeping it to themselves was not an option.

She could only hope that no one else in town heard Ash’s mom crying tears of joy.

…

“And what a clash this finals of the Indigo Conference has been! Corey and Ash are battling with untold skill and instinct, and what seems to be giving Ash the momentum is an inexplicable ferocity in his Pokémon! I don’t know what is motivating them here tonight so much that it is making Corey’s Pokémon look unmotivated, but if this keeps up we all know who will be the Indigo League winner this year!”

‘He’s not kidding! I couldn’t believe that Squirtle took that many hits to go down; I can’t even begin to imagine what is motivating them so much. It is like he was possessed by unfathomable zeal or something, even mastering Aura Sphere out of that utter determination.’

“Ash is motivated by something more too, even if it is not quite as obvious as with his Pokémon. You would not happen to know what that might be, would you Misty?”

She pressed her fingers together nervously, not looking either girl in the eye.

“I….might have an idea.”

Though she was surprised of just how invested Ash’s Pokémon were at the idea. Ash had been flabbergasted and shocked, while his Pokémon had taken her words as a battle cry.

She was glad that Ash wasn’t using Goodra, or Iris might know exactly what Squirtle’s battle cry was, and the motivation of Ash’s other Pokémon today by extension.

‘This isn’t a battle just for glory, or victory, or being the best! If we win this, Ash loses his virginity! We can’t lose this battle everyone! Ash and Misty forever!’

“When Ash wins, Anabel and I will be out for the entire night. You and Ash will have all the alone time you want. ”

She promptly began coughing on a hairball that didn’t exist as Iris got it in one.

END OMAKE