Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any other characters that you will recognize in this story.

Have given up on NaNoWriMo, but I will continue this story. I really want to see where it will go.

Chapter 2: Motou

"Pallet Town"

Ash felt like his cheeks hurt as the smile stretch across his face. His Unova journey may not be the first year long trip he has taken in the six years since he first left Pallet Town, but it was the first time he had been halfway across the world, immersed in a different culture and surroundings. Near the end, homesickness had become a familiar feeling.

"I guess Brock would say it's all a matter of perception."

"Pikachu?"

Glancing down at the confused Pokèmon, Ash realized that to Pikachu, the comment must have been a surprise as his long time partner probably had no idea of his thought pattern, or what Brock had to do with them.

"Nothing Pikachu, just thinking that this trip seemed longer than all the others."

"Pikachu"

Pikachu chirped in understanding as the both of them began walking down a well known path to a familiar house. Wherever the journey may take a person or Pokèmon, one fact will never change. It will always be, good to be home.

…

"Mom! I'm home!"

"Mime mime mime"

"Hey Mr. Mime, guess mom's out huh?"

"Mime"

Home. Ash allowed the familiar sights and scents to wrap him in an aura of comfort and acceptance.

All that was missing was his mother, and it would be as if he never left. Walking into the kitchen, Ash watched his oldest Pokémon go into throes of ecstasy over the Pikachu's favourite food. Distracted by the humorous sight, he didn't notice the sound of the door opening and closing, but not distracted enough to hear a much missed voice.

"You're home; oh it has been so long"

Smiling as he turned to the sound of the familiar voice, Ash was left blinking as a pink and brown blur darted past him to hug his partner in a very nostalgic move.

"I missed you so much Pikachu"

"Same old mom" Ash grinned at the familiar scene, too used to his mothers' eccentricities to be bothered over the fact she was ignoring her only son in favour of his Pokémon by now. Deciding that Pikachu had enough cuddles for the time being, he decided to remind his mother of the other presence in the house, "Mom, I'm here too, you know?" "Oh hi Ash, how was your trip."

"It was fine, but I've got to go see Professor Oak first, he said it was urgent and I can't keep him waiting," Ash replied as he turned to leave, gesturing to the Pokèmon wriggling out of his mothers arms as he grabbed his backpack, only to be stopped by his mother's next comment, "Oh, so soon? Well, I'll make my chilli pot pies to celebrate your return."

All thoughts of rushing left Ash's mind as he reverted to an excited eleven year old about to eat his mothers best dish for the first time in over a year, the usual response leaving his lips as he turned back to the cooking goddess as he made his plea, "With extra pepperoni?"

The reply of, "and capsicum" excited, the distracted trainer to the point he failed to notice the electric mouse Pokémon tugging at his pants leg, pointing to the door, but he could not fail to notice his mothers' next comment, "And be sure to invite Gary and Professor Oak over."

"Whaaa?!"

Stumbling as he turned, Ash felt excitement and surprise rise up in him as he heard the familiar name, "Gary's here?"

"Oh, yes, he came over on some sort of urgent business for the Professor…"

"Ack, Professor Oak! I'm late!" Reminded of the Professor's urgent business for him, Ash dashed towards the door, only scooping up Pikachu out of habit then as a product of conscious memory. Running from the house, he barely remembered to shout over his shoulder, "See ya mom, great seeing you Mr Mime"

"Bye Ash"

"Mime mime mime"

Running towards the lab, absently returning the greetings of the familiar folk of Pallet Town as they called out to the familiar trainer, Ash allowed his mind to focus on information his mother had inadvertently dropped while his body raced down the familiar path,

Gary is here.

He had been so used to meeting the young researcher on his journeys, sometimes helping out with whatever Pokémon troubles that would inevitably happen, that this past year, he had constantly been looking over his shoulder, half expecting his oldest friend and first rival to appear. Now he wondered, if both he and Gary were called on urgent business, if his new journey, he might …

No, don't get your hopes up.

Still, it was a nice idea.

Screeching to a stop in front of the door, Ash gave a sheepish smile to the now glaring Pikachu in his arms, as the Pokèmon struggling to breathe through the crushing grip of his trainer in Ash's rush to the lab. The young teen barely had time to thank Palkia and Dialga that the electric type no longer had the habit of shocking him when annoyed before the door was opened by none other than Gary Oak.

How many masculinity points would he sacrifice if he launched himself at the much missed presence and bawled his eyes out, crying how much he missed him? Probably all of them and then some, darn it all. Although he probably should stop staring like a loon at the aforementioned teen or he might start collecting idiot points, or at least more idiot points then when he usually collected in Gary's presence.

They probably would have kept staring at each other for Celebi knows how long had they not been interrupted by one Professor Samuel Oak.

"Gary, whose at the… ah, Ash, about time. Now stop standing there like a statue and come on in."

Jolted out of their stare down, Ash and Gary hurried after the Professor, giving the other teen curious looks out of the corner of their eyes. Any banter was forestalled by the Professor , long used to rushing them before they were distracted by each other, he hurried them to the Pokèmon enclosure at the back of the lab.

"Now Ash, before we get down to business, I'm just going to let you know that all your Unova Pokémon were sent by Professor Juniper and arrived safe and sound."

"That's great Professor."

Smile on his face, Ash was about to step out when he remembered his experience earlier that day,

"Oh, and guess who came back? Come out, PIDGEOT"

Throwing the Pokéball, Ash watched as the familiar red light formed into the bird Pokémon that had returned to him just earlier that day. As such, he almost missed the delighted surprise on Professor Oaks face and the mirroring smile on his grandson, but the warm joy in the old man's voice was clear as he greeted the flying type, "Well now, I see that you have finally been reunited with Pidgeot. Welcome back Pidgeot, you were missed in your absence."

Pidgeot nodded back in to the Professor in greeting, even as a comment from the boy behind him rang out, "Huh, so that's what got you so excited, same old Ash, only Pokémon on the brain."

Too elated to be brought down by Gary, especially as familiarity allowing him to catch the light teasing tone under the put upon sneer, Ash merely shot back, "As if you are any different Gary, where's Umbreon?"

Before the other boy could reply, he was cut short by his grandfather, "Umbreon is sleeping off the spoiling my grandson gave him…" "Grandpa!"

"And now, you should go say hello to all your Pokémon. Your Unova Pokémon have settled in very well since they arrived, but they all miss you very much."

Ash barely allowed the Professor to finish his sentence as he raced into the Pokèmon's home ground, calling out to his Pokèmon just before he was ambushed, "Hey everybody, I'm baack! Muk!"

"Muk…"

As Ash struggled out from under his very enthusiastic Muk, a fragrant scent warned him to brace himself as, "Bayleaf, bay!", he was tackled by an equally enthusiastic Bayleaf.

"Hey I missed you too Bayleaf"

"Bayleaf, bay"

"Dewott"

Oh, no.

Experience with over amorous Pokémon had Ash wisely backing away as his Bayleaf and Dewott squared off. Even as he snuck away from the mini battle breaking out, another reunion was taking place.

"Bulba bulba bulbasaur"

"Pidgeot"

Enjoying the sight of the two old friends meeting up once again, Ash walked on, waving a greeting to his Kingler as it went to join his Bulbasaur in greeting Pidgeot. Suddenly, the ground started shaking, recognizing the signs, the trainer spun around until he saw his Tauros herd (coughstampedecough) running nearby, his favourite bull breaking off to run to a stop in front of him. Petting the large Pokémon, Ash laughed as he greeted, "Hey Tauros, still as active as ever I see."

Tauros snorted, head pressing against the petting hand as his tails flicked towards a large, green… wall… "Oh, hi Snorlax"

"Snooorlaax…."

The giant sleeping Pokémon turned to wave at its trainer, putting the effort to smile and look pleased before it rolled over and continued sleeping. Ash didn't have time to remark on this as screeches from over head captured his attention, his remaining bird Pokémon flying in to great him,

"Noctowl, Pidove, Swellow, Staraptor!"

The birds banked in greeting before screeching in annoyance as a dark shape cut through them to bowl Ash over, the young trainer laughing as he fended off the bug Pokémon chewing at his hair,

"Heracross! I missed you too buddy."

As he wrestled the bug type off, Ash could see his Sceptile leaning against a tree in the distance, his Snivy resting in the shade of the same tree, both grass type Pokémon were holding an apple each, obviously getting along over a midday meal. They acknowledged their trainer with a lazy wave and a smile before going back to enjoying each others company. Glad that the two grass types were getting along like a tree in the sun, Ash turned in time to call out in alarm, "Gibble!"

Ash had turned to the sight of his soaked Gibble racing towards the safety represented by the young trainer, chased by a furious Corphish, Totodile, Kingler, Palpitoad and Glalie, ice shards hang off the aforementioned water Pokémon. Stepping forward while the panicked dragon type ducked behind the safety of his trainer, Ash raised both hands in a calming gesture he perfected trying to apologize to angry Pokémon (although the trainer hoped that these Pokèmon would be more inclined to listen to him), "Now now you guys, calm down, I'm sure Gibble didn't mean to do whatever he did."

"Gibble…."

"See he's really sorry. Anyway, don't you guys want to give me a proper greeting?"

"Corphish"

"Totodile"

"Kingler"

"Palpitoad"

"Ugh… you guys! You're getting me all wet."

The four Pokémon ignored the good natured complaint, picking up on the laughter in their trainers voice as they all jumped on the teen. Hearing the fifth and only ice type of the group call out, three of them quickly retreated, bringing Palpitoad with them as Glalie greeted Ash in his usual manner, that is, with an ice beam, "Ack! Cold!",

Frowning as the ice broke, Ash stuttered out through chattering teeth,

"N… ni… nice… t… to… see… y… you … too…. G… Glalie…. Brrrr"

"Glalie"

"Torterra!"

Attention caught by the call of another of his Pokémon (and by now Ash was starting to feel dizzy from all the attention shifts, when did he get this many Pokémon?), the, now slightly overwhelmed but extremely happy, teen looked towards the call, only to blink in surprise at the sight.

His Swadloon was on Torterras' back, picking through leaves Ash assumed was from Torterras' tree. Under the same tree, his Scraggy was napping while in front of Torterra sat Buizel and Inferape, the three Sinnoh Pokémon obviously chatting, oblivious to or just ignoring the presence of the two Unova Pokémon.

As one, all the Pokémon looked at him, calling out their own names in greeting (aside from the still asleep Scraggy), every one of them obviously happy to see him. Running over, Ash grinned at how his various Pokémon were getting along. Without the common goal of causing dire pain and maiming any of the other Pokémon here

Feeling a sheepish smile plaster on his face as he remembered his other water and ice types bonding over their anger at his sole dragon Pokémon, Ash pushed the thought back, allowing a genuine smile to cross his face as he greeted the Pokémon in front of him,

"Buizel, Inferape, Torterra! Its great seeing you guys again. You're looking after Swadloon and Scraggy?"

As the four called out their names again, Ash couldn't help but allow his smile to grow at the welcome sight, his Pokémon, his friends, all getting along. Doing a mental check in his head, he realized that there were still Pokémon missing. A glance towards the remaining part of the fields revealed flares from who he hoped were his fire Pokémon. Running over to the flares, noting that Pikachu had joining him from chatting with Bulbasaur, he was brought up short at the sight of his remaining Pokémon gathered together in a … game?

At least I think it's a game?

Donphan was rolling towards Pignite and Quilava, obviously trying to hit them, while the fire Pokémon would jump aside and attempt to touch the moving Pokémon, flaring their flames every time they succeeded. Roggenrola was at the side, calling out every time there was contact between Pokémon, occasionally running into the middle of it all, forcing Donphan to swerve to avoid hitting him. It was crazy and chaotic and exactly what one would expect from Pokèmon raised by Ash. Before Ash could continue his thought, Donphan spotted his trainer and alerted the others to him with an excited, "Donphan"

In the next moment, Ash was buried beneath another Poképile, with four different Pokémon trying to nuzzle into or cuddle him the same time,

"Oh, hey guys, missed you too, but do you think you could let me up?"

"Pikachu…"

At the side, Pikachu could only sweatdrop at the sight of his trainer being buried by over affectionate Pokémon, glad that he wasn't the recipient (if only because the little mouse would be crushed by three of the four Pokémon, let alone all).

"Oh come on you guys, hey, guys!"

Struggling to get up and out of the cuddlefest, Ash barely noticed Professor Oak and Gary approaching, one chuckling away while the other had an amused (or bemused) smile on his face,

"Your Pokémon missed you Ash"

"Yeah Ash, surprising considering how little time you spend with some of them"

"Glad to amuse you, now help me get up!"

Before either Oak could act or make a sarcastic reply, the four cuddling Pokémon were sent scuttling away from Ash by a burst of flame. Before the trainer could process this, an extremely familiar roar that accompanied the flame shocked him up right, to come face to belly with another very old friend he had not expected to see, "Charizard? What are you doing here?"

"Pikachu?"

It was Professor Oak who responded to the stunned trainer and partner staring at the orange Pokémon's' grinning visage,

"Actually, that is in part why I called you here, or should I say, Charizard being here is due to the reason I called you. Now, if the both of you would step into my lab Ash, Gary, we have much to talk about."

…

"Now boys, before I explain what I called you here for, I believe I should give you a few background details in regards to the matter. Gary, pay attention, I called you here because this will be of interest to you and I believe you will be in a better position than I to advice Ash about his upcoming journey."

Professor Oak looked at the two boys sitting on the couch across from him, taking in Ash's confused expression and Gary's interested one. On Ash's lap sat Pikachu, one ear cocked as the yellow mouse focused on the renowned Professor in confused curiosity while Gary's Umbreon merely twitched an ear, the only reaction from the calm moonlight Pokémon as it concentrated on the Professors' words.

Marvelling at the spectrum of personalities that could arise from people and Pokémon and their interactions with each other, the Professor brutally shoved his inner researcher into a corner of his mind so he could focus on the task at hand,

"First you have to understand how the Pokédex system works. As you know, every Professor has access to the Pokédex technology, and a Pokédex is given to every young trainer to help them identify the Pokémon they meet on their journey. At the same time, the Pokédex records the progress of the Pokémon in the trainers care, noting details and sending them to a main information server for our use and to help further our research.

"The point is; any and all new information is used to update Dexter, which is why the both of you will find a new version of the Pokédex is available in an almost yearly basis. What you do not know is that all the information from every Pokédex must be analysed and the general information picked out before Dexter is updated. We need to know which information is specific to the individual Pokémon and which is applies in general to the entire species, as well as the information in between, such as information specific for the region or town for a certain species of Pokémon.

"The Professor who handles this information is Professor Crystal from the Motou region, my old apprentice and the person who populated the original Pokédex for the first 150 Pokémon, by catching them all."

Professor Oak watched as both young men seated before him reacted to the news, Ash intrigued by the idea of someone catching all of the first 150 identified Pokémon, while his grandson….

A knowing smile crossed the Professors' face as Gary jerked in recognition of the name, his eyes wide as the suspicion of what he was here to do began to unfurl in his mind.

"Wow, so she actually captured all 150 Pokémon? How did that happen? And, no offense Professor, but what does it have to do with us?"

Turning to focus his full attention on the squirming trainer, Professor Oak resumed his explanation,

"I'm getting there Ash, but to answer your first two questions, Professor Crystal did indeed capture almost all of the original 150 Pokémon, along with many more of the Pokémon that is recognized by the Pokédex, although she had help with accumulating the information from the original Pokédex holders, but back to how it relates to you.

"Firstly, you must understand that Professor Crystal analyses additional information sent by the various Pokédex's around the world by calling up the Pokémon and the new information relating to the Pokémon. The problem with that is that for the rarer Pokémon, the updates come less frequently as she believes that there would be little to no updates on said Pokémon, for example, she would not check for updates on, say… Ho – oh unless a certain Professor happened to mention that a trainer under his care had seen the very rare, one of a kind Pokémon on his journey."

At this, the Professor levelled a telling gaze at the squirming trainer, waiting for realization to dawn but cutting him off before he could speak,

"Now, I realize that my disbelief when you told me you saw a legendary thought to be nothing but myth and legend would deter you from telling me of your other encounters Ash, but imagine my surprise when upon checking your Pokédex information, Crystal saw fit to inform me that you've encountered every legendary from every region you have ever entered with Raikou being the sole exception!"

Catching a breath at his out of character outburst, the Professor's pause after his bombshell allowed the teens time to speak, with Gary jumping up in disbelief as he pointed at the other boy, directing his question to his grandfather,

"Wait, so he saw Ho – oh?"

"Three times according to the Pokédex, the first being registered as an unknown Pokémon so the information was lost, the flaw in the system has since being fixed."

"But... but… the three legendary birds?"

"Witnessed it myself on the Orange Islands, along with Lugia, although there were other records of Ash running into Articuno and Zapdos"

"Jirachi?"

"The Pokédex information was backed by May's Pokédex and confirmed by a magician named Butler."

"Palkia and Dialga?!"

"Yes, yes, and so was Arceus and all the other legendaries you can name before you ask, Professor Crystal and I have already gone through the list with a fine toothed comb and the only Pokémon unaccounted for was Raikou. We even got confirmation through some of our…. contacts. You should know who I am talking about Gary."

Seeing his grandson subside at his rebuke, the Professor turned his attention to the very sheepish Pikachu trainer, fixing the young man with a stern glare,

"Now, because of this information, Crystal wants to meet you in person, along with some of your best Pokémon. Since she is currently the leading expert on legendaries and is a good friend of mine, I told her that I would inform you of her interest. I also took the liberty of calling your Charizard back as I was informed that you had used him to battle multiple legendaries before. You will need him if you are to go to Motou…"

"Wait, you're sending Ash to Motou Region? Crazy Region?"

Oak transferred his glare from Ash to his grandson, the look in his eyes advising the boy to sit back down,

"Gary Oak, watch your mouth young man, I did not raise you to speak badly of…."

"I'm not speaking badly of the region grandpa, just the truth, the trainers there are strong, crazily strong, but there is a reason the Pokémon Association almost pulled themselves bald trying to deal with them."

"If this has anything to do with Lance not going there anymore..."

"That is a whole different thing and I'm not going to touch that matter with a ten foot pole and a Calm Bell!"

"Uh…. Excuse me…"

Both Oaks jerked in surprise at the timid voice as they turned from their respective positions to look at the third human in the room. The voice Ash used was hesitant, as if reluctant to call attention to himself while the two Oaks were… debating… , "What's so bad about Motou and what does this have to do with Gary?"

Heaving twin sighs, the two researchers settled back into their respective couches, the elder Oak motioning to his grandson to explain,

"Look Ash, Motou isn't bad, per say, but…"

At this, Oak the younger glared at his grandfather, daring him to refute the next few words,

"The people in the region are extremely weird, especially the Elite Four and Champion of the region. I should know, I grew up knowing them."

At this, the older Oak took up the narrative,

"Unfortunately, what Gary says is true, aside from this the region has its own battling style which you would be distinctly unfamiliar with. The reason why I called Gary here is because he is familiar with the region, having visited many times in his youth. He is much more up to date with the region at this point as he had been keeping in touch with our contacts there. This is why I called him here, to guide you on your journey to the region and meeting Professor Crystal. Hence, I need him to know your purpose for going and the following conditions as Crystal may be ill-equipped to sufficiently anticipate the explanations needed for someone from your background…"

"What gramps means is that the good Professor is so used to the insanity that goes on in the region, she might not be able or know to explain things in a way you can understand."

"Yes… quite… thank you Gary."

"Just saying it like it is gramps."

As the explanations slowed to a stop, Professor Oak gestured to the third human in the room, encouraging the trainer to ask any questions on his mind, which Ash did hesitantly, "So, instead of calling Professor Oak with my questions, I would be calling Gary? Or will he be travelling with me?"

There was a thread of hope in the trainer's voice as he asked his question, one the older Professor regretted crushing, knowing how close the two had become over the years. Fortunately for him, Gary took it on himself to explain his situation,

"I wish Ash, no really, I wish I could go but I have too many research projects that I need to look after. I'll be doing most of them from grandpa's lab, so you can get in touch with me fairly easily, but I am a fairly new researcher in the eyes of the public and I need to be able to travel for my research. So I'll shift my base here and gramps can forward your calls to me if I'm not around when you call, but I really can't join you at this point in time."

Professor Oak couldn't help feeling regretful as the two boys he had helped raise sigh in disappointment, even as Ash changed the subject to something less disappointing, "Well, sorry I didn't tell you about all the legendaries Professor."

"Its no problem Ash, now, first thing is first, you need to know how to enter Motou. I already have your flight ticket ready and…"

The Professor was interrupted by a soft growl. Bemused, both researchers, and the two silent Pokémon, looked at the very embarrassed trainer as he scratched the back of his head, "Uh… maybe you can explain over dinner? Mom's making her famous pot pies!"