*Pikatwig sat and watched a clip of the Pokemon anime, showing Greninja's recently battle with Gardevoir, and the scene where the water veil turned into a back-mounted Water Shuriken*
Pikatwig: ...awesome… I'm gonna call it… the Gliding Water Shuriken!
*KKD came rushing in, tossing off a whole bunch of stuff that had apparently laid on top of him for a while*
Pikatwig: ...uh…?
KKD: Sorry, kinda been bogged down with stuff on the side.
Pikatwig: Know the feeling. Uh… sorry about no updates since February, we've been busy with stuff, other projects, real life, not to mention the terrible school year I've had… summer is thankfully almost here, and I hopefully won't need to go to summer school again…
KKD: Only time will tell. Still, I guess we do owe you guys something for the extended wait period again.
Pikatwig: Anyhow… this chapter will get the story moving, and a bunch of other cool things. Some headcanon stuff will be shown, some retcons will be shown, just some stuff aside from the cool things.
KKD: Yea. Last time was mostly prologue from what I can tell, so now let's get to the good stuff.
Pikatwig: Yep. *a Turtwig trotted on over* Oh, hi Grass.
KKD: Wait… Grass? Really?
PIkatwig: I was like, eight when I first got Diamond version, it was the best I could think of and it sort of sticks.
KKD: Fair enough. *Turtwig chomped down on his head* ...Really?
Pikatwig: It does that out of affection, dude.
KKD: Huh… *looks up to see the Turtwig's smile before smiling himself* At least he's not biting hard. *Turtwig jumped off and over to Pikatwig's side.*
Pikatwig: Well… let's begin already.
DISCLAIMERS: Neither Pikatwig nor KKD Silver own anything in this story except for original concepts. All properties belong to their respective owners including Nintendo, Game Freak, the Pokemon Company, etc.
"Is Pikachu upset or something?" Clemont asked as he saw Pikachu walking behind the group, as opposed to on Ash's shoulder.
"Well, I'm not sure," Ash admitted, turning to Pikachu, but Pikachu turned his head away from him, "He hasn't been like this since I first had him, but then again he was even more stubborn back then to the point where I had to drag him along with me at first. Never did like being in a Pokeball."
The group soon arrived at a large building, seeing thousands upon thousands of people have gathered, participants or otherwise.
"Wow, this is huge…" Bonnie gawked.
"Certainly is," Serena added.
Pikachu merely glanced up at this, going up onto Ash's shoulder to try and get a better view. Pikachu then noticed something thanks to the reflective surface, being another Pikachu… one that looked very familiar…
Pikachu quickly jumped down and called out to the other Pikachu, hoping to get its attention.
"Pikachu, what's the matter?" Ash asked, kneeling down to Pikachu's level, the electric mouse pointing to the other Pikachu, who had turned around and revealed a certain scruff on it's head, "Wait a second… isn't that…"
"Sparky, there you are!" a trainer called out, approaching the Pikachu, "Where'd you run off, to? I was getting worried."
"Hey Ritchie!" Ash called out, waving at the Pikachu's trainer.
"Ash? Oh wow, it's you!" Ritchie gawked as he and Sparky ran over to them, "It's been a long time, I haven't seen you in what feels like years."
"Yea…" Ash nodded.
"Hello," Serena waved, getting Ritchie's attention.
"Friends of yours?" Ritchie guessed.
"Yea. Ritchie, these are friends I made while here in Kalos. Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie."
"Nice to meet you," Serena smiled.
"An old friend of Ash's, this is certainly unexpected," Clemont commented.
"Hiya," Bonnie waved, with Dedenne popping out of her satchel to wave as well.
"Whoa, what kind of Pokemon is that?" Ritchie asked as he took out his Pokedex, and scanned Dedenne.
-Dedenne, the Antenna Pokemon. Dedenne communicates long distances with other electric type Pokemon by sending electrical energy through its antenna-like whiskers.-
"Interesting," Ritchie commented as Sparky walked on over to Dedenne and waved, with Dedenne waving back.
"So, who are you?" Serena asked.
"Right, right, my name's Ritchie, and this is my partner, Sparky," Ritchie introduced, with Sparky smiling.
"How'd you two meet?" Clemont curiously asked.
"Well, it was quite a story. We were both in the Indigo Plateau Conference and we met in an elevator, the power stopped and Ritchie had Pikachu use his electricity to make it turn back on," Ash explained.
"Wait, if you were both in the Indigo Conference, doesn't that mean…" Serena began to ask.
"We had to battle," Ash informed.
"...it wasn't exactly the greatest battle in the world, trust me," Ritchie commented.
"So, why are you in Kalos?" Ash asked.
"Same as you I guess, to be in this tournament," Ritchie informed, pointing to the building, "See you soon Ash,"
With that, Ritchie and Sparky walked off.
"Pika pika," Pikachu waved to Sparky, who waved back.
From a distance, Team Rocket had been observing what had just happened, having seen Ritchie walk into the building.
"Have we seen him before?" James asked in uncertainty.
"He does look familiar," Jessie admitted.
"I think I recognize the Pikachu he's with… again, I think," Meowth admitted, with Wobbuffet shrugging in response.
"Hold the phone, look at the west most entrance," Jessie told them, as they saw a male with purple hair, "Jerk twerp alert."
"Oh, not that guy again," Meowth groaned, "What is he even doing here?"
"Participating if I had to guess," James commented as the purple-haired guy walked inside, "As much as I hate to root for the good guys, I hope the twerp beats him again,"
"Yea/Ditto," Jessie and Meowth agreed.
"Wo~buffet!"
Over at Oak's lab, some of Ash's old Pokemon were in the midst of training, all of them preparing for when Ash contacts them again. Notably among them was members of the team Ash had used in Sinnoh, as Infernape was in the middle of dodging practice and Torterra on target practice.
Torterra eyed Staraptor, who had a target tied onto it. He then fired an Energy Ball at the target, but Staraptor evaded it with ease. Torterra tried again, but it missed. The Continent Pokemon growled in frustration as it watched Staraptor fly, to Torterra, he could see a Honchkrow laughing at it mockingly. Torterra narrowed its eyes as it again fired an Energy Ball, just narrowly missing the target. He focused more intently this time before managing to shatter the target, with Staraptor giving a nod and using Roost to recover HP.
Nearby, Infernape was dodging a Water Pulse from Buizel, the powerful Pokemon was skilled enough to punch one Water Pulse orb apart, a smirk on his face. Buizel gave it a thumbs up, and a round of applause came from Pignite, and cheers from both Quilava and Torkoal. Infernape gave a smile at its friends before giving a quick bow, only to get right back.
Torterra trotted over to Infernape, giving a greeting before glancing downwards slightly. Infernape proceeded to ask what was wrong, and Torterra simply turned its head away a bit in shame. After a moment, he turned around and looked up at the sky, Infernape quickly understanding the issue.
Oshawott popped its head out of the water with a smile, before diving back down and swam around through some underwater bubble rings left around by Corphish and managed to pop out and high-five Totodile. The crocodile Pokemon dove down with him and they had a short race with Buizel.
Staraptor headed over and gave a wave of sorts to Noctowl, Swellow and Unfezant, before he noticed somebody flying around just outside the barriers of the lab farm. Staraptor took initiative and headed on over to see what was up, and coming right at them was a tribe of Spearows and Fearows. Staraptor screeched out to the others, alerting them of the incoming Pokemon. The four flyers took point and flew out to attack them, but the Spearows were able to get around them, quickly strike and then fly off, leaving the Pokemon to take some damage. Most of them screamed in pain before Staraptor managed to land a Close Combat at a few of them, but it was left wide open for attack by Fearow to charge right in and use Drill Peck on it.
Swellow headed on up, Wing Attack at the ready, but the Spearows flew in and blocked its view so it couldn't head in for Fearow. Noctowl used it's bright colors to distract some of them and allow Swellow and Unfezant a chance to land some hits before they moved in to try and help Staraptor. However, Fearow readied a Steel Wing and sent all four birds plummeting to the ground.
Luckily for them, the other Pokemon were quick to action with Heracross and Gliscor heading over to act as landing platforms for the four. All four birds had taken a significant amount of damage from the attack and saw Fearow moving in with a powerful Sky Attack-Steel Wing combo, but the birds weren't able to get themselves ready to fly once more, when suddenly…
"PI~DGE~O~T!" a caw cried out, making the other Pokemon look up, and Ash's Kanto Pokemon recognizing it right away as a Pidgeot flew right over and used a Gust attack at the Spearow horde. Pidgeot quickly gave a gesture to several Pidgey and Pidgeottos to move in and strike. They quickly did so, landing several hits and driving most of the flock away, leaving the two leaders to glare at each-other.
"Raptor star?" Staraptor questioned, with Bulbasaur hurrying over and managing to explain that it was an old friend.
Pidgeot glanced a bit at the Fearow of the group, noticing it had some scorch marks that looked to be the result of a lightning attack, this bird needed no introduction, Pidgeot recognizing it from the day it had evolved from a Pidgeotto. The two glared and then Fearow charged forward with Sky Attack, Pidgeot responding by evading and flying downwards.
Bulbasaur merely nodded as it watched this, while Noctowl, Swellow, Staraptor and Unfezant looked concerned, Bulbasaur giving them a vine to assure things would be fine.
Pidgeot then spread its wings as far as it could before screeching as its body seemed to turn into fire, then it flew up and the fire faded and turned into light blue aura and it charged forward at the Fearow, sending it flying.
All of the Pokemon watched in awe at this, with Bulbasaur requesting a lift from one of the birds. Unfezant took the offer and allowed Bulbasaur to climb up onto it as she flew over to Pidgeot. Pidgeot looked over in surprise, before smiling at seeing his old teammate, Pidgeot smiling and cawing a bit to Bulbasaur, who waved with a vine to it. The two smiled and the bird Pokemon landed and Bulbasaur began to catch up with his old friend.
"...is there a problem back there?" a girl asked as Gary guided her into the building.
"Probably nothing more than the Grass and Water types squabbling again, Ash's Bulbasaur can handle it," Gary told her.
"Oh yeah, I remember you've brought that name up before… who is he anyway?" the girl asked.
"Uh…" Gary blinked, scratching the back of his head as he was uncertain of how to refer to his old rival, "...He's an old rival of mine. Back when we first started… but he's more of a friend nowadays. Wish I could've talked to him before he headed off to Kalos,"
The girl simply nodded as she stepped forward, her dark brown hair framing her face to show her green eyes while she wore a white hat with red trim, a light blue and black shirt, a red skirt, and white and red shoes with socks the same color as her shirt, while holding onto a yellow bag.
"So… what is it you want me to do again?" the girl asked.
"Very simple, sis," Gary stated, "Your job is to watch over the Pokemon here until we get back from the tournament,"
"...and how long is that going to take?" she inquired in agitation.
"A few days, at best," he assured her, picking up his bag and setting it around his waist, "I'll be back, I promise."
The girl groaned a bit, a little annoyed that she head to deal with this, since it would mean several hours of needing to care for the various Pokemon. She just sighed a bit before looking out the window again and seeing several of the Pokemon around there.
"...why can't grandpa get one of his brothers to do this?" she wondered aloud as she saw an Arcanine and a Nidoking approach, "...yours, I'm assuming?"
"Yep," Gary nodded, noticing the two Pokemon looking at his sister, "This is my younger sister, Nanami."
"Hi," Nanami waved politely, "...can you at least give me a Pokemon who could help me a little bit?"
"Bulbasaur knows the entire area inside and out, trust me, he's all the help you'll need," Gary assured as he recalled Arcanine and Nidoking, "See you later."
With that, Gary headed out, leaving Nanami there to look at the Pokemon in frustration. She just was annoyed that she never had a Pokemon to help her at all. However, after a bit, she noticed the flock of Spearows flying off with Fearow in tow. Nanami quickly ran out to check on what was going on, seeing Bulbasaur communicating with the other Pokemon of Ash's, as they made sure the area was fine from the damage caused.
"...oh, the issues of being the relative of a Pokemon Professor," Nanami sighed in annoyance.
Ash, Clemont, Serena and Bonnie continued to walk around, exploring the arena the tournament was to take place in, the four trying to find the registration area, when Ash noticed two more familiar faces. One of them, a woman with purple hair, turned around and smiled happily.
"Ash, it's been a while," she smiled as she approached.
"Anabel, good to see you," Ash smiled, shaking hands with her.
"Who's this?" Serena asked as she walked over.
"My name is Anabel, and I'm the Frontier Head of the Battle Tower," Anabel smiled, before her mood changed a bit. She thought for a mere moment and then regained her smile.
"Huh?"
"Is she okay?" Clemont asked.
"I'm able to sense the feelings of those around me, actually," Anabel informed with a soft smile, "I'm an empath, it's something I've always been able to do."
"Wow… empaths sound so cool," Bonnie giggled.
Anabel gave a smile at Bonnie, before Anabel saw her Espeon over by another trainer who both she and Ash recognized.
"Brandon's here too?" Anabel blinked in surprise.
"That's actually kind of surprising," Ash added.
Brandon looked down at the Espeon as it hurried over to Anabel, "Anabel, it's certainly been a while."
"It indeed has," Anabel nodded, before she walked slightly out of the way so Brandon could see Ash, "But take a look at who else is here,"
"Ash?"
"Good to see you Brandon," Ash greeted with a smile.
"It's been less than a year since we last met in Sinnoh," Brandon informed, but he smiled and shook Ash's hand, "But it is nice to see you again."
"I've heard some rumors about the location the final Battle Frontier head runs, they say it's never in the same spot more than twice at best, it's called the Battle Pyramid," Clemont informed.
"Where did you put the Pyramid this time, mind my asking?" Anabel asked with a jokey smile on her face.
"What's she mean by that?" Serena asked.
"The Battle Pyramid can fly," Ash informed in a blunt tone, earning looks from the others, "No really. It can."
Anabel couldn't help but giggle at this, with Serena slightly rolling her eyes, not that anybody noticed.
"Hey Ash, how did things at the Battle Pyramid go for you anyway?" Anabel asked.
"Took three tries, but I managed to get the Brave Symbol," Ash informed.
Anabel's eyes widened in surprise, "Three tries? Okay, I know it took you two tries to beat me, but how did you lose twice?"
"Well the first time…" Ash began, before he went silent and thought for a moment, "...actually, I can't remember my first battle with Brandon, other than I used Sceptile and I lost. Hey Brandon, how did our first battle go?"
"It's probably best you don't remember," Brandon responded.
"Pikachu pika," Pikachu concurred.
"But after his Registeel beat Torkal, we had a four-on-four battle, and thanks to Pikachu, I won," Ash smiled, turning down to Pikachu, who merely nodded his head in response.
"...is there something wrong with Pikachu? Anabel asked.
"Not sure, but he's been acting up ever since yesterday," Ash informed.
Anabel glanced down at Pikachu and closed her eyes, and she understood Pikachu's thoughts and she took a moment to think over how to explain.
"Have you discussed how you began your journey recently?" Anabel asked.
"Yes," Ash nodded.
"And have you ever actually talked about who you were planning to choose if you hadn't been late that day?"
Pikachu growled a bit before it scampered over to a seat and plopped itself down, Ash simply staring at his partner for a moment before he got it.
"Uh… Pikachu, I'm sorry for upsetting you," Ash told him, "I didn't realize that I actually never mentioned that fact,"
The electric type simply sat for a moment, before it jumped down and over to his partner. Pikachu was still slightly upset, but not as much as it had been.
"Well, we're off to register, who knows, maybe we'll see you on the battlefield Ash," Anabel smiled as she and Brandon headed off, leaving Ash with his group again.
"We have a problem," Meowth informed, "I've been tracking who's entered, and you won't believe this. All of the twerps are here, and I do mean all of them,"
"What is this, some sort of twerp-fest or something?" Jessie questioned.
"But this is also a great Pokemon stealing-fest," Meowth added, "Think about it, with this many twerps here, we can get so many different kinds of Pokemon from so many different parts of the world, the boss will love us!"
"But we'd need to get in there inconspicuously," James commented.
"I already thought about that," Meowth informed as a Pokemon's cry got their attention, "So I sent a message to the boss to send some old friends our way,"
A Delibird landed by the three and took out several Pokeballs, James taking one and tossing it up into the air, revealing Mime Jr.
"Mime Jr.! Is it really you?!" he gawked, catching the Pokemon and hugging her tightly, "Oh I missed you so much!"
The two quickly took their Pokeballs, before somebody tossed another one up to James.
"Been a while," a voice commented, making James turn down to see Gardenia, "Cacnea's in there. It was a pleasure to train him for you,"
James looked like a kid on Christmas with this news as he hugged Cacnea's Pokeball in response to this news.
"How about that?" Jessie commented in surprise as Gardenia headed into the tournament building.
"...maybe we should reconsider stealing the Pokemon here," James commented, earning a slap which knocked him out of the tree the three were in, "...ow,"
"Get your head in the game!" Jessie told him as she jumped down.
Unknown to the three, a security camera noticed the symbol on their shirts and sent the information to the person in charge…
"Team Rocket?" the person in charge asked, "What are those washed up oldies doing here?"
"They've apparently been chasing Mr. Ketchum since day one," somebody informed.
"Persistent little buggers, aren't they?"
"What should we do?"
"We wait and we watch…"
Pikatwig: And more plot is set up, and the return of several old characters, along with another fan fav of mine, Cacnea!
KKD: I see. Crazy stuff happening here, and a lot of throwbacks for the fans.
Pikatwig: And we have a small thing that is brought up in conversation, Ash not remembering his first battle with Brandon. ...I hate that episode. That episode is scary, that episode gave me a nightmare that traumatized me, and for a while, made me not acknowledge the existence of the Legendary Golems. Though not their Trio Master, though that was because of Pokemon: The Diamond & Pearl Adventures, but that's besides the point. Point being, I don't like that episode… and what irritates the heck outta me, that episode, as of this being typed, is the last episode with Ho-Oh in it. Seriously!
KKD: Oh… right…
Pikatwig: For the record, I was seven years old when the episode first came out in America. ...just FYI. And for those reading this, please… don't mention the episode in the reviews, otherwise, I won't be very kind to you, and neither will KKD. I am giving you all one warning… one!
KKD: ...k.
Pikatwig: Anyhow… thoughts on the chapter?
KKD: Overall, it was a nice, fun chapter. It got some plot set up, while also giving us some possible answers for the story as of now.
Pikatwig: My favorite part has gotta be when Ritchie showed up, he hasn't been seen since 2004 in Japan, and 2006 in America.
KKD: Right. That was fun, though I liked catching up with Ash's other Pokemon, even if briefly. We got to see some Pokemon we hadn't seen in a while, and even got the return of Ash's Pidgeot. Finally!
Pikatwig: Ash did promise he'd come back someday. ...that someday may be soon, since Pidgeot can Mega Evolve… and now for the Donphan in the room-
KKD: 'The Donphan in the room'?
Pikatwig: I can't say 'the elephant in the room'. Anyway… Gary's sister, who uses the appearance of the female trainer from FireRed/LeafGreen. We included her mainly because it recently occurred to me that with Oak, Gary and Tracey at the tournament, who's gonna be running the lab and sending Pokemon there? Gary's sister. We know she exists in the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga, but she's never been in the anime. So… why not? And we made her name 'Nanami' because her name in the game and in the localization of EToP are names of other characters in the series, and we'd like to avoid confusion if at all possible. For example, I call the Gen V rival with blonde hair 'Bel' to avoid mixing her up with Bianca from Pokemon Heroes.
KKD: I guess that makes sense.
Pikatwig: ...no comment about that last bit from Pokemon Heroes? ...huh, surprising. Alright, time we end this. Just Live More.
KKD: Jaa ne.
Pikatwig: And thus, I'm off to do something. *walks off*
KKD: Uh…
Pikatwig (off-screen): Ask me about the episode that traumatized me, and I will sick my Synchro Evolved Greninja on you!
KKD: Ok...
Pikatwig (off-screen): I just wanna pretend that episode never happened. So I'm off to my safe room to relax a bit.
KKD: Ok.