Author's Note:
For those of you who do managed to recognize me through my metamorphasis on deviantART, I hope that those of you who I have shunned childishly will be willing to open up your hearts to review my work once again. (I promise not to be a brat this time.) And for those of you who have JUST met me now, then I hope you enjoy my first work on in a LONG while. (in a long while, I mean almost a year and a half)
Yes, this is a multi-crossover. So, that means, I don't own any characters from Pokemon, and any other media that might pop up in future pages. Just saying that now. As much as I would love it if I did, I know for a fact that I don't. I'm merely a fan. (But, the character, Dinah is my OC.) Also, if you don't like multi-crossovers, then you can choose to either give this one a shot and let me know what you think of it - in a kind and civilized manner, like saying what is wrong with my writing - or you can just walk away and keep browsing for something to read in this vast library. You're in control.
In this story, the universe of Pokemon is featured - at first - on the anime series. About 8 years after the series, to be exact, considering that Ash doesn't age in the show. -.-
I promise I will be uploading the prequel to this soon, but either way, you'll be learning about the Egg (you'll know what I mean when you read it) and its history with Ash's "last mission" and how it ties in with our current story later on in the fic. But, if you guys just want to see something more indepth, I'll be sure to finish the "final" draft of the first chapter at least. (I say "final" because I know for sure that it probably won't be.)
Anyway, enough with me blabbering! Enjoy the show, and please review!
Sincerely,
[at]vALoN (AvALoN93)
Chapter One:
Ash took one last look at the gold, metal egg – adorned with multi-colored stoned switches with golden handles and a gold crown-shaped key on the top of the oval-shaped sphere – before he put it back into his messenger bag. The bag also carried a first-aid kit, a canteen, a bento box from his mother (Even at the age of 18, he was still living with his mother.), a can of PokeFood and his Pikachu's food bowl, as well as a Polaroid camera and a journal with a silver ball-point pen.
One of the gold angel wings attached to the sides of the egg got snagged to the side of the bag, causing Ash to let out an exasperated sigh as he tucked the wing off of the blue fabric and back into the bag completely. He closed the top before slinging the bag over his shoulder. He then realized that his childhood Pokemon companion, Pikachu – a yellow electric mouse with pointy ears with black tips and a lightning bolt shaped tale – was hiding behind the bag on Ash's bed, watching his trainer packing for his latest mission as a Pokemon Ranger.
"Come on, Pikachu, stop thinking about that dream already." Ash frowned as he sat on his bed beside the furry little Pokemon.
Pikachu continued to pout and furrow at Ash stubbornly. The night before, Pikachu had woken up in a cold sweat at one in the morning because of a nightmare that he had claimed was a foretelling of the future.
"I don't think even a Pokemon can tell if and how somebody is going to die." Ash had reassured groggily that night before going back to sleep.
"Pika pikachu!" Pikachu protested.
"This mission will be fine!" Ash reassured again as he stood back up and offered his shoulder to his companian with an equally reassuring smile. Reluctantly, Pikachu heaved a sigh and jumped onto Ash's shoulder. He gave him a look that said "Don't say I didn't told you so."
***
"Mom, I'm heading out!" Ash called from the edge of the rice paddies to where his mother, Delia, was working with the other women of Pallet Town.
Delia looked up from her work and saw her son waving at her from the distance. "Oh, you going already?" she called.
"It's going to take a while to get to Fiore." Ash replied. "I have to take a ferry there from Viridian City."
"Oh, okay, sweetie!" Delia answered as Ash gave one final wave to his mother before walking towards the urban area of Pallet Town. Delia straightened her back and called after Ash, "Eat on the ferry if you can, okay?!"
Ash stopped walking for a moment to turn and face his mother again. "I will!"
As Ash spun around and began walking again, Delia called out one more time, "And don't forget-!"
"To wear clean underwear, I know!" Ash called back, this time, not bother to face Delia to hide his embarrassment.
"Actually listen to me this time!" Delia yelled over the distance between her and her son. "As a boy your age, who knows what might cause you to-!"
"Mom!" Ash exclaimed, stopping dead in his tracks and whirling around to face his mother, his face flushing red.
"Okay! Bye, honey!" Delia called hurriedly, realizing that she had gone a little too far. She waved one last time as she called out, "Be careful!"
Ash sighed in embarrassment as he turned around to face the urban area of Pallet Town again, the women working in the rice paddies beginning to giggle. "I will, mom! Love you!"
"Love you, too!" Delia called as her son disappeared from her view. She sighed and looked up at the sky. The perfect blue canvas had a sliced tear in its fabric, the loose ends fluttering in the atmosphere. The cut revealed a surreal backdrop of a dark blue watery sky with sparkling stars and cosmos. It seemed like only yesterday that Delia saw the golden light release from the middle of the ocean and leave the fluttering wound in the sky. What worried Delia the most, was that the light had been emitted from the gold egg-like mechanism that her son had recovered from Team Rocket and Team Aqua's co-joined underwater headquarters.
Delia closed her eyes and prayed silently, "Please watch over our son, Harold." - she opened her eyes and looked up wistfully at the fluffy white clouds in the distance - "I can't bear to lose you both."
***
"Hey, Dinah!" Ash greeted with a grin to the Pokemon Ranger HQ's receptionist. "How you been?"
"Oh, I've been doing great!" Dinah responded with a smile. Ash could have sworn that he heard a tinge of uneasiness in the young woman's voice, but he brushed the thought aside, despite the fact that he knew that her reply was a tad bit rushed...
"You know anything about the new mission?" Ash asked as Dinah handed Ash the sign-in clipboard.
Dinah shook her head vigorously as Ash signed in. "All I know is that it's top secret. They wouldn't even let me in on it."
More uneasiness. But, again, Ash let it slide.
"Top secret?" Ash turned to face Pikachu. "Sounds pretty cool, don'tcha think?"
"Piiikaaa... (I don't know...)" Pikachu answered uneasily.
"Lighten up!" Ash frowned. He turned back to face Dinah with a smile. He waved as he walked towards the main headquarters room. "Thanks, Dinah! See ya!"
"No problem!" Dinah called after Ash, returning the wave. Once she saw that Ash was out of view and earshot, Dinah's smile faded into a worried expression. At that moment, a tall blond-haired man with broad shoulders and sea-blue eyes dressed in the Rangers uniform - a black t-shirt with dark grey capris with the signature Ranger red and yellow half-jacket and belt and sneakers - was passing the receptionist desk. Dinah reached over the desk and grabbed his arm, stopping the man in his tracks.
"Jack, I need your help." Dinah whispered desperately.
The man named Jack Walker stopped dead in his tracks mid-step. He joined Dinah at the receptionist desk and made it seem like they were having a casual conversation.
"Did you find out who it is?" Jack asked in a low voice.
"Yeah, but you're not going to like it." Dinah replied. She took the sign-in clipboard and pointed at the last name to sign in. Jack's expression turned into alarm and began running towards the direction that Ash had went.
As he nudged past fellow Rangers and researchers, Jack rushed through the tunnel-style hallway to the one place that was only authorized to the new administration.
From the beginning, Jack always thought that the new administration was a little suspicious. Once the Gold Egg was developed, his suspicions began to grow, up to the point where he is running towards the one room where the non-admins were restricted from.
Now, here he was, casually walking through the industrial-style metal door that held a sign that said "Authorized Personnel Only." The sight of the room surprised Jack, as well as scared him. The walls were a bright white. Everybody wore white lab coats and sunglasses, rushing around confirming all of the final programming. In the center of the room was a floating platform in the shape of a clock's face with roman numerals and two rapidly spinning hands. On top of the suspended, glowing platform was Ash in a kneeling position and holding Pikachu tightly in his arms.
Frantically, Jack snatched a white lab coat from the coat hanger by the door as well as a pair of sunglasses. He took brisk steps to the platform while he spoke into a hidden microphone that was attached to his shirt. "Code yellow, Jeremie. Did you come into contact with Dialga and Palkia yet?"
"Yeah, we did." the voice of Jeremie replied. "We're ready whenever you are."
"Great." Jack nodded.
"Still, Jack." Jeremie reminded gravely. "Just try to get him off of the platform at all costs. XANA can't get his hands on him, am I clear?"
Jack looked up at the young man and his childhood companion, both focused on their supposed goal with their eyes shut closed, the platform releasing gusts of wind upwards. "Crystal." Jack paused for a moment. "By the way... do you know how to use a Poke'ball?"
Jack could hear Jeremie shrugging on the other end. "Well, it's not that hard..."
***
Dinah jumped when the red-haired woman slammed her hands down on the receptionist's table, her blue eyes burning with anger.
"What do you mean I can't see him?! I just made an appointment with you guys so that I can see him privately!" the woman snapped.
"I-I'm sorry, Ms. Waterflower, but he's... unavailable at the moment." Dinah stuttered nervously. She wished she could tell her, she really did! But the circumstances at this moment where just too risky.
"Well, where is he then?" the woman huffed. "If you guys aren't going to bring him out here, I'm going to go after him myself!"
"Ah, that's not necessary!" Dinah exclaimed, jumping out of her seat, startling the woman. "Please, just wait until he's done and then he will be right with you!"
Come on, Jack, what the hell is taking you so long?! Dina snapped at the senior Pokemon Ranger in her head.
"You honestly don't expect me to wait for him, do you?!" the woman continued her angry stampede of one. "I've already waited for who-knows-how-long just to see his face!"
"Look, Ms. Waterflower, I understand that you're quite excited about seeing Mr. Ketchum, but I'm afraid that you'll just have to - eep!"
Dinah was cut short when a picnic basket was slammed down onto the counter. "See this basket? It's full of food that I prepared for the two of us so that we could have a picnic today in this beautiful weather..." - her face was now uncomfortably close to Dinah's, causing the timid receptionist to shrink even more - "Don't tell me that I've wasted four laborous hours for nothing!!"
Jack, you wouldn't fail me now, would you? Dinah thought worriedly as she yelped, loosing her balance and falling out of her spinny chair.
As Dinah climbed back onto her feet, she said, "Ms. Waterflower, please, I beg you to-!" Dinah stopped when she realized that both the picnic basket and the woman had disappeared. Panicked, Dinah whirled her head towards the hallway that Jack had just went down to see a flash of red hair and red high-top sneakers running.
"Ah!" Dinah squeaked as she scrambled out of her receptionist station, chasing after the troublesome woman. "Ms. Waterflower, please wait!"
***
"Psst! Ash!"
Ash slowly opened his eyes, fighting against the strong gusts of the platform below him. His vision was blurred at first, but then focused to reveal a researcher with blonde hair.
"Huh?" Ash blinked away the murkiness in his brain before he managed to recognize who was hiding behind the sunglasses and white lab coat.
"Jack?!" Ash exclaimed.
"Shh!" Jack hissed. He then replied with a grin, "Yup, it's me, kiddo!" Then his grin faded and his expression turned serious. Even behind the sunglasses, Ash could tell that his eyes had followed suit to his face. "Listen, you know what's going on?"
"Yeah, I'm being transported to another dimension for the mission." Ash replied with a proud smile. Then his smile faded. "Why, is something wrong?"
"When you're about to have your soul destroyed by a viral shadow, I'd say that's something wrong." Jack answered.
"Hey, get out of the way!" the head researcher called from the control panel, where the researchers have all gathered. "Transportation commencing now!"
At that moment, the door burst open to reveal Dinah frantically chasing after a young woman roughly around Ash's age with short, red hair and aquamarine blue eyes, wearing a blue button-up tank top with an exposed mid-section and a matching mini skirt and yellow Converse sneakers. She held a picnic basket in her hand. Their eyes widened with shock.
"No!" the red-haired woman cried, rushing towards the glowing platform. Her picnic basket dropped, spilling the contents of sandwiches, a meticulously decorated cake, pastries and homemade beverages, staining the white floor with their scattered remains. "Ash!"
Ash's eyes widened as Pikachu's eyes flew open when he realized what was happening. The moment froze for an instant when Ash saw the woman running towards him. Years had passed, but he knew those eyes anywhere.
Then, everything came rushing back into reality.
"Ash, get off, you fucking idiot!" Misty screamed as she ran towards the whirring and glowing platform.
Ash shot to his feet with Pikachu still in his arms and struggled against the wind to jump off the platform but failed to.
"Code green, code green! Begin Dimensional Time Stream Reversal, now!" Jack cried into his microphone as the researchers began charging towards the group of rebels.
The platform glowed brightly, blinding Ash and Pikachu. The air was pushed out of Ash's lungs and he began to feel light-headed. Through the hazy lights, Ash saw Misty's hands fight through the forceful lights and wind. Ash reached his hand out to grab them.
The moment seemed to move in slow motion. Neither could hear anything, neither could see anything. All they heard were their own rapid heartbeats and all they saw where each other and their outstretched hands. In the brief moment his fingers met her's, a nearly heart-stopping shock ran up his arms and his spine.
Just as he skimmed his fingers against hers, he was thrown into the air like a ragdoll in a tornado. Beyond the roof of the headquarters, the tear in the sky began illuminating the world.
The room was filled with a riot of scrambling researchers to remove the glitch in the system and contain the rebels.
As Misty struggled to escape from the grasp of two security guards that had apparently barged through the metal doors when nobody was looking, a pillar of white light shot through the roof of the labratory, debris falling rapidly to the ground, staining the white room and destroying the systems, causing the little hold the lab had on the transportation mechanism to be completely destroyed. The platform spat blue sparks as the mechanism became completely spiritual, causing the white light to turn into a marbling pink and beige. As the light faded, all eyes followed the pillar of light to where the tear in the sky was, the seams threatening to be torn even further as the tear spilled the light onto the surface of the Earth.
"Transfer connection successful!" Jeremie's voice called over the earpiece. "Beginning ritual, now!"
Misty bit one security guard's arm, causing him to let her go, screaming in pain. Once she was free, Misty kicked the other security guard in the crotch, causing him to fall to the ground in immense pain. Misty rushed to the shining pillar just as the light was beginning to blind the room again.
"Ash!" Misty called until she felt like her vocal box was bleeding.
The light blinded the room, and the region of Fiore for an instant. When the light faded, Misty lowered the arms that she raised to shade her eyes and saw that the platform, pillar and light were gone... and they took Ash with them.
"No..." Misty whispered.
"Dimensional Time Stream Reversal complete..." Jeremie reported as Jack recovered from the light.
Misty sank to her knees as her eyes began to water, her knees slamming into the destroyed cake that she slaved two hours over, making it just for her and him. She didn't care that they were leaking into the crevices of her knees. Dinah ran to her side as Misty began crying.
"He should be landing in our dimension pretty soon."
"No!" Misty screamed, tears flying from her eyes. "No, this isn't happening!"
With a heaving sob, Misty threw her head to the skies, her eyes shut closed and her fists clenched tightly in her lap, screaming to the tear in the sky that stole him away from her, "This isn't happening!"
Inez watched as Matt jumped into the driver's seat of the Cybercoupe beside her, their friends watching them about to take off into the vortex in the middle of Cyberspace just beyond the garage.
"We'll be back as soon as we can, okay?" Matt told Jackie, Slider and Digit.
Slider nodded. "Take your time. You might need it."
"We'll take care of things here while you guys are gone." Digit reassured.
Jackie took the time to walk over to Inez's side of the Cybercoupe and talk to her quietly. "Hey, are you going to be alright with just him and you?"
Inez jumped a little from being snapped out of her daze. She faced her friend with a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine. But, hey, at least I'll know he'll protect me, right?"
Jackie patted her friend on the back gently. The pink marble embedded onto Inez's neck sparkled in the flourescent lights. "Just don't overdo it, okay?"
Inez replied with a thumbs-up. "Will do, Jacks."
And with that, the dome-like window of the coupe closed the distance between the two passengers and their friends as they waved good-bye.
Matt glanced over at Inez. "You ready... Nezzie?"
Inez glared at Matt. "Don't call me Nezzie, Matthew." - then she smiled - "But, yes. I'm ready."
"How long will we be gone for?" Holly asked the tiny imp warlock named No.1. This was the first time that the imp was doing such an endeavor as time travel without the assistance of an older warlock. This made the elf proud, but at the same time, worried.
"Well, the time stream is weak at the moment, so it will be a little more easier for me to somehow tame it for you guys to fly through with no problems." No.1 explained. "So, probably five minutes max. So, that would be about five days for you, give or take."
"Well, that's reassuring." Mishi frowned.
Her cousin, Artemis glared at her. "And why exactly are you coming along again?"
Mishi jerked a thumb towards the tall red-headed male beside her. "Because Brian's going, and wherever he goes, I go!" - she winked - "Think of it as just us happening to go the same way as you guys."
Brian laughed at Artemis' peeved expression which made even Artemis' bodyguard, Butler chuckle.
Artemis leaned over to Holly and muttered to her, "Remind me to push her off a cliff upon our arrival."
Holly nudged Artemis a bit too painfully, causing him to yelp in pain. "Artemis..." she snapped warningly.
"Okay!" No.1 said as he cracked his knuckles and wiggled his fingers. "Are you folks ready?"
The party of four turned to face the tiny imp. "Ready." they replied simultaneously.
As No.1 began the ritual, Artemis turned to face Butler. "Take care of my mother while I'm gone, Butler."
Butler nodded with a smile. "Will do, Artemis."
"Kim, I should warn you that the transport pad isn't guaranteed to work..." Wade explained warningly as Kim and Ron stepped onto the glowing platform. This was one of those rare occasions where a mission was being carried out with Wade physically present rather than over the Kimmunicator device he created. The reason for this was because he had to be physically there to control the Interdimensional Travel Device.
"The Time Stream weakened, so it should be fine, right?" Kim reasoned as her boyfriend and his pet naked mole rat, Rufus joined her. Despite the fact that this was being treated as a mission, neither of them wore their uniform black turtlenecks, cargo pants and black shoes.
"Yeah, but still..." Wade replied warily.
"Don't worry so much, Wade." Ron replied with a smile and a wave of his hand. "It's all good! I mean, we've been through worse before, right?"
Wade sighed. "Fine, suit yourselves. But, don't blame me if you end up landing in the first dimension instead of the third."
"Agreed." Kim and Ron replied with a simultaneous nod.
"Okay!" Rufus squeaked with a tiny thumbs-up.
"Alright..." Wade sighed, cracking his knuckles. "Here goes!"
Jeremie watched the blinking dot move across the digital mainframe of the Time Stream on his computer screen. He was coming... in a matter of minutes, he would be falling from the sky and into the third dimension.
He continued to watch three other blinking dots - all different coloured - move from different points of the Time Stream towards a common destination: the third dimension. They all moved at different paces, based on their distance in the Universe as well as their starting times. The first dot was still the fastest and the one that was in first place.
"Like bees to honey..." Jeremie sighed exasperately. "Well, we'll be needing their help. Whether I'd like to admit it or not, all I've done is try to kill myself by taking this on by myself. Seeing as I'm talking to myself, I surely must be going insane." - he looked at the movements of the blinking dots again, his expression darkening as a fifth, black dot joined in the race. But, despite his late start, he was much more faster than the others. This one was close behind the first dot - "You'd better get ready, XANA... Because we're not alone this time..."
