Between Time and Space

Chapter Three – A Sign

They left the stone houses of the town behind, traveling down the cobblestone road as more and more trees surrounded them until they reached a winding, stone staircase that made it easy for travellers to make it down the steep, grassy hill. With the sun shining brightly, the air warmed with a light breeze, it was an absolutely perfect day.

"It's beautiful here," May said in awe, looking around at the stairs and the view of the Space-Time Towers from where they were standing at the bottom. Her sapphire eyes lit up happily, and she tossed a pokeball up into the air. "Eevee, come look!'

"Ve?" the little brown pokemon tilted her head curiously, closing her eyes and breathing in the air. Eevee thrilled happily at the environment before turning to look at the other pokemon that were there curiously. Almost mirroring May's expression, her eyes lit up when she spotted Pikachu and Ria, bounding over to them with excitement.

"Come out, Azurill!" Misty tossed up her pokeball, and the small, blue pokemon appeared, bouncing on her large, round tail happily. She greeted Eevee with an air of familiarity, they were traveling together after all, and squeaked happily when she saw Pikachu and Ria. The pokemon all chattered to themselves, no doubt introducing Dawn's Piplup and Alice's Chimchar.

"It is beautiful," Alice agreed with May's earlier statement. "This has to be my favourite place in Alamos Town." She motioned to a stone-lined, manmade rivers. It was so quiet there that it was easy to hear a few of the running fountains, as opposed to the hustle and bustle of the town. It was easy to see why Alice liked it so much.

Chimchar, Pikachu, Ria, Piplup, Eevee and Azurill all rushed down in front of their trainers to look at the water. All of the pokemon seemed completely fascinated by something there.

"Pika pika, pikachupi!" Pikachu called out to Misty.

She looked at him curiously before glancing over at Ash. He laughed and let go of her hand. "He wants you to go and look at something."

While Misty understood her pokemon fairly well, she never understood how Ash was basically able to translate everything Pikachu said without hesitation, especially since he wasn't just making it up by guessing, he was legitimately right about it. She shook her head, not wanting to think about that because trying to figure out how Ash Ketchum's mind worked would only lead to headaches.

Walking over to the water, she looked down and instantly her eyes went wide with excitement. "Oh wow! Those pokemon are beautiful! What are they?"

"Finneon and Lumineon," Alice told her without even looking. "We have a whole school that lives here because it's illegal to capture pokemon within the town walls. They're usually found in salt water, but these ones have adapted. Pokemon are truly amazing."

"They are," Misty agreed with an almost wistful tone as she knelt down beside the water, reaching in and smiling as one of the pokemon brushed against her hand.

Ash observed her silently before he smiled. One thing that they agreed on was that he'd tell her all about the water pokemon that he saw, catch them if he could since all of his were actually staying with her at her gym now so that she could study and take care of them. His water-types were almost like shared pokemon, minus the fact that she couldn't actually use them in official Gym Battles. Misty wouldn't have the chance to explore to find one, but he would, and Ash was going to catch a Finneon for her. He already decided on it, and when he got an idea in his head, it was very hard to make him change his mind.

Once they pried her away from the water, Alice led them along the cobblestone sidewalk, surrounded by rows of trees. The blond tour guide smiled at them and said, "You know, this whole place was designed by Godey."

"Really?" Brock asked as he started digging through his bag for his tour guide again.

"Who's Godey?" May asked him.

"Only one of the most celebrated architects of his time," Brock answered her before even finding the page. "My grandfather's design for the Pewter Gym was actually inspired by him. I'm not sure how, it's not nearly as impressive as any of this, not even close, but still, I grew up hearing stories about his impressive Space-Time Towers." Finally, he got to the page he was looking for and started reading. "The design theme for brilliant architect Godey's garden is the balance between humans and pokemon."

If Brock had more to read, he never got the chance. Misty let out a scream, startling all of them as she hid behind Ash, holding onto the back of his black and yellow vest tightly. When they were younger, she would still hide behind him at times, even if she had been quite a bit taller, but now that they were the same height, and he was a bit broader than her, she had no problem using him as a human shield.

"What's wrong?" Dawn asked with alarm while the pokemon were instantly on high alert.

Ash sighed and looked out at the manmade river before looking at Brock. Brock followed his gaze, looked back and sighed. Then, both of them looked at the redhead with pointedly, identical expressions that could only be translated as 'really?' on their faces. May suddenly burst into laughter as she caught on. "Misty, it's just a Beautifly!"

"No it's not! I can deal with a Beautifly! But those...things..." She shuddered as she glared at the Yanma and Yanmega was flew close to them, as well as a few of the Combee.

Dawn blinked, looking at them all with confusion before saying, "That's just a Combee. They're kinda cute." Misty glared at her from over Ash's shoulder. "Okay, they're not?" Dawn was a bright girl, and she could instantly pick up on what Ash, Brock and everyone else had learned over the years: hell hath no fury like Misty when bug pokemon are around.

"She doesn't like bug pokemon," May explained with a giggle. "It's not just the Combee." She smiled broadly at Misty, who just glared back.

"Hey," Ash glanced back at her, a mischievous grin appearing on his face. "Remember that time when we were younger, and you thought Brock said something about bug pokemon being around, and you jumped onto my back?"

"Shut up." She squeezed his arm tightly, and silently vowed revenge on Brock as he laughed loudly at the memory.

Alice regarded them all for a moment before saying, "There are less bug-types this way. Come on."

The cobblestone trailed off to a worn path within the garden, slabs of stone lining the way so people wouldn't get lost in the paths of ledges, flowers and stonework.

They were all startled as a Shinx and Luxio ran out of the bushes, running around Alice's legs. An Azurill, a Marill and an Azumarill bounced out, all crowding around the blond until the little Azurill caught sight of Misty's. It bounced over and greeted the other one cheerfully.

Shinx jumped in front of Pikachu, bowing down it's upper body and wriggling it's behind. Pikachu immediately jumped on all fours, a playful smile on his face as the Shinx started running and he ran after it. The other pokemon took their queue from those two, and soon, Ria, Azurill, Eevee, Piplup and Chimchar were playing with the pokemon that lived in the garden.

Ash took a step forward when he saw the little Riolu trip, but the Luxio came to a stop and helped her up again before they both started running. That still didn't stop him from being worried. Sure, he had Ria the Riolu for a few months now, but she was forced to hatched before she was meant to, and was smaller than most Riolu at that age. He cared about every single one of his pokemon, but he couldn't help but be a bit overprotective of her.

May nudged his side and said, "Look at you, acting all worried. Almost like a grown-up."

"Hey," he laughed and tugged at her light brown hair, not bothered at all as she slapped his hand away, "I am grown-up compared to you."

May raised an eyebrow at him, sending him a disbelieving look. Ash could admit that there were times when her maturity seemed to greatly surpass his own, hell, there were times when Dawn could do the same and she was four years younger than him, but he looked at both girls as younger sisters, and it was his job to help them and guide them, just like Brock and Misty (though she had just left home too when he met her) had helped him.

"All of the pokemon here are really tame," Alice assured them. "Riolu will be okay. I've been coming to this garden since I was little, and all the pokemon here are my friends."

Ash contemplated that for a moment before his expression brightened. "Alright!" He took out three other pokeballs and tossed them into the air, revealing Staravia, Turtwig and Aipom. "You guys can come out an enjoy the nice day too."

Dawn perked up, pulling her pokeballs out of her bag. "That's a great idea! Come on out!"

"I'm in too!" Brock agreed.

"Me too!" May added.

Misty nodded her head, then paused and said, "Well, almost everyone."

Pokeballs flew high into the air, followed by streams of light. Dawn released the three other pokemon she had with her: Buizel, Pachirisu and Buneary. Brock released Sudowoodo, Croagunk and his Happiny.

May released Ivysaur, Beautifly, Wartortle and Munchlax, leaving her Blaziken in his pokeball. It wasn't that she didn't want him to come out, but before meeting up with Ash earlier, she and Misty had a battle to pass the time, and Blaziken could still use the rest.

Likewise, Misty released Psyduck, Politoed and Corsola. Staryu was still tired from the battle, and there's no way Gyarados could play around there with everyone else.

The pokemon all took off running down the stone paths, going through an opening where a large fountain-like, manmade stream was. The water types all happily jumped in to swim while the others ran around the edges.

Instead of following the pokemon directly, they all walked down a path and through different parts of the gardens. They went through decorated archways, staring in awe at the flowers and vines that surrounded them.

Suddenly, a small pokemon appeared in front of them. Ash came to a startled stop, but then laughed as it popped back up into the plants above them. "A Burmy!"

"It must be their way of welcoming us," Brock noted cheerfully as they they continued to pop up in front of them then go back up into the plants.

Misty recoiled, her nails digging into Ash's arm painfully. He let out an annoyed sound. "Those are grass-types."

"No, those are bugs," her voice wavered and she stared at him as if he was insane.

"Mist, just think they're grass."

"Don't lie to me Ash Ketchum!"

"Fine, " he threw his free arm up into the air with exasperation, "ignore the fact that I'm trying to help."

"I think they're adorable," May said as she tickled one, laughing as it laughed back at her.

"Come on, there are probably lots of bugs here, don't let it bother you! Just look at how beautiful this place is! Besides, if they get too close, we can help!" Dawn gave Misty a thumbs up. "No need to worry!"

Misty regarded the cheerful girl for a moment before sighing and then smiling at her. "Alright. Lets catch up with those pokemon before they get in all kinds of trouble!"

The five of them hurried after Alice, who kept going and was waiting on the edge of a balcony that overlooked the lake all the small streams went out into. The whole area was surrounded by tall mountains with icy peaks, and with the blue sky, the bright vegetation and the sparkling blue water, it was an amazing sight to behold.

"Okay, maybe this place isn't so bad," Misty finally agreed, holding onto the back of Ash's vest as he leaned dangerously far over the ledge where Brock had pointed something out.

"Even with the bug pokemon?" May teased her, moving closer to Dawn as she mimicked Ash's movements, though because of her smaller frame, she had to lean over even more. Dawn was short and thin, so May would have no issues yanking her back over in case she leaned too far.

"Well..." she shrugged. "I guess."

Without warning, there was a sudden blast of blue electricity, and spurts of water, ice and fire. They all jerked back, looking around at the pokemon who had been playing peacefully on the little playground there.

Ash's first instinct was that Team Rocket was there, and it was really too nice of a day to deal with them (he didn't need his aura to tell him that they were probably lurking somewhere nearby). Instead, almost all of the pokemon were facing each other, glaring. The older pokemon all just watched on with confusion, while Pikachu and Chimchar seemed to be trying to calm everyone down.

Pachirisu just ran in confusing circles.

"Knock it off!" Ash yelled at his pokemon angrily, hurrying down the stairs. He projected the anger through his aura, like how he was working on silently sending his thoughts to his partners during a battle. It must have worked, because Turtwig, Aipom and Staravia were quick to back away from the angry group of pokemon. Pikachu was still trying to calm them down though, while Ria just watched on with confusion.

"Stop fighting!" Dawn ordered her pokemon, though they didn't even give her a second glance. She puffed her cheeks out angrily as she hurried after Ash, yelling again since it really only seemed to be her pokemon and the ones from the garden now.

The sound of a leaf whistle broke through the chaos, and almost immediately, the pokemon all stopped fighting and glaring at one another, turning to the source of the music instead.

"Huh?" Ash looked at them all with a bit of confusion, because it wasn't just that they stopped fighting, they seemed to become incredibly peaceful and relaxed all together.

"How can a leaf whistle do this?" May asked, tilting her head curiously.

"I'm more curious about how you play a leaf," Misty admitted. While she heard of it before, she had never actually seen anyone play one before. The last time an instrument confused her so much was back in the Orange Islands when she met Melody, who played an ocarina.

The first time that Alice showed them that she could play the leaf whistle, Ash had noticed how a group of Pidgey really seemed to like the song, but how that he was just standing on solid ground, he could feel something strange. Moments before, he could feel negativity coming from the pokemon, but it was almost like the music itself was changing the energy around them into something much more positive.

"What a beautiful song," Dawn spoke up as Alice finished, dropping the leaf and letting it flutter down the water.

"My grandmother taught it to me," Alice replied with a happy laugh.

"It was so moving!" Brock cried out as he clapped his hands together, staring at her with hearts in his eyes.

"That's saying something," Ash mumbled as Alice grinned at them happily. "Oof." He glared at Misty, rubbing the side that she nudged roughly.

"Oh!" Alice laughed suddenly. "I just thought of something! Wait here, I'll be right back." She hurried away down a different set of stairs.

"Wonder what that was about," May asked curiously, sapphire eyes watching the young woman retreat.

"Who knows," Dawn shrugged as she turned to face her. "What do you think of Alamos Town so far?"

"It's really nice!" The brunette replied happily. "Sinnoh seems like a nice place anyway on the flight over, but it's really nice here. I can't wait for the contest!"

"It's going to be so much fun!" Dawn agreed.

"Spirited, isn't she?" Misty asked Brock as the two, young Coordinators started rambling on about different techniques.

"Dawn? That's one way to describe her," Brock said with a laugh.

"Gal! Gallade!" They turned around as a tall pokemon landed not far from them, looking around them with confusion. It sighed and looked at them. "Gal!"

Ash concentrated, trying to feel what the pokemon wanted. At first, all he got was an anxious feeling, but then there was a little bit of intent. Something was very, very wrong and it was looking for help. "Something's wrong."

The Gallade perked up at having been understood. It took a few steps away from them but then looked back expectantly.

"Gotta go guys!" Ash called out to his pokemon, calling all of them except for Pikachu into their pokeballs, including Ria. Whatever was going on had to be bad to worry such an obviously powerful pokemon, and he didn't want the baby pokemon exposed to that, choosing to take her anger instead.

Everyone else followed suit, but Brock stopped to look at the confused Chimchar. "You guys go! I'll wait for Alice to come back!"

Gallade jumped up all the stairs in one go, and they hurried after him. None of them were really sure where they were going or what they were looking for, but when Gallade came to a stop and pointed at something, it was obvious.

Neither Ash, Dawn, May nor Misty were from Alamos Town, but all of them were positive that polished, stone columns weren't supposed to be twisted and melted. One was even twisted almost upside down. Ash knelt down in front of them, reaching out to touch it. When he did, he felt a spark or something shoot up his arm. The energy, the aura around it felt really, really strange. He had come across his fair share of strangeness before, but since he unlocked his ability to be able to actually feel these things himself, he had never come across something like this before.

"What could have done that?" May wondered.

"If it was broken, I'd say a pokemon but..." Dawn shrugged before looking at Misty. "Could a fire-type have done it?"

"No. It would have eventually shattered it. The rock wouldn't have done this. It's like something picked up the stone and twisted it like it was putty," the redhead noted with a furrowed brown.

"So, what could have done this?" May repeated her earlier question, sapphire eyes scanning the area around her as if the answer would just walk out of the bushes.

"It was Darkrai."

The deep voice startled all four of them, and Ash instantly scrambled to his feet, moving himself in front of Dawn and May instinctively. He wasn't the only one though, Misty did the exact same thing, like a couple of overprotective parents. Ash wanted to shove Misty behind him too,but he had little doubt that if something came at them, she could easily defend herself. May and Dawn weren't completely helpless either, but they were both younger than him and if he could protect them, he would.

A man walked out of a tunnel surrounded by shrubs. He was wearing a strange red shirt with golden tassels and sashes, tight white pants and white riding boots. His salmon hair was slicked up and back, and though Ash could actually feel the arrogance seeping off of him, he really didn't need to feel it to know that it was there.

"Darkrai?" Dawn repeated slowly as she peered around Misty's shoulder.

"Yes. It appears there have been recent sightings in town."

Clearly this person didn't realize that they weren't from town. No one was really quite sure what to say to this pompous man, and no one did say anything until May sharply poked Ash's back.

"Uh, excuse me?" Ash asked slowly. "Who's Darkrai?" The name didn't ring a bell to him at all. He figured that either it was a person with a weird name, or a more likely, a pokemon, but he didn't know a thing about it.

The man didn't even look at them as he put his foot on top of the bent column and said, "The pokemon that wreaked this havoc."

The four of them exchanged confused looks because that didn't answer their question in the least.

The sound of rushed footsteps drew their attention, and all four looked around to see Brock and Alice running towards them. They both came to a stop and Alice gasped at the twisted stone. "Alberto, what happened?"

"As I was just telling these peasants –."

"Peasants?" Misty burst out, but was completely ignored.

"– The pokemon, Darkrai, is responsible for this mess."

It wasn't Alice, but Brock that reacted to the name. "I've heard of Darkrai before."

"You have?"

Brock nodded his head, a solemn look on his face. "Darkrai is a legendary pokemon said to come from Sinnoh, but a lot of people still know the stories everywhere. I'm not surprised that your parents didn't tell you about it though. I think it's supposed to represent the New Moon or something like that - "

"Oh! And Cresselia represents the full moon!" Dawn exclaimed excitedly before blushing. "Sorry, I've just heard a lot of good things about Cresselia. How she brings good dreams."

Brock nodded his head. "That's okay, because it furthers my point. Darkrai is said to make a person have nightmares. Most cases, people are trapped in their nightmares for only a short amount of time, but it varies. In the worst cases that were said to because by him, the victim is trapped in their nightmares and it ends up killing them. Parents often use it as a cautionary story, saying if good kids don't listen, Darkrai will visit them in their sleep."

"That's horrible," Misty said to him. "What was wrong with your parents."

"Actually, my Uncle Brim used to tell me that."

"So your whole family is messed up?"

Ash shook his head at them and was about to ask a question when he felt another person coming towards them. Well, sort of. This person was traveling very slowly through the woods, but he didn't get the sense that there was any ill intention from him though. There was also a Drifblim following him closely, and Ash could easily feel the connection between them. That was one of the things he was pretty good at.

As this person started rustling the bushes near them, Alberto turned around and threw a pokeball in the air. "It's Darkrai! Lickilicky, use Hyper Beam!"

"Wait!" Ash cried out, a second too late as the pokemon launched the overly powerful attack at the man that he knew was in the bushes. Ash winced, feeling the pain coming from the person when he reached out, but he was still alive, so that was a good thing.

A tall, skinny man with round glasses, and lavender hair stumbled up from the bushes and muttered, "Why would you do that?" He stumbled into a tree, trying to hold onto his equipment. The Drifblim that Ash sensed earlier descended beside the man, staring at him with worry.

"Tonio!" Alice cried in horror and rushed over to him. She helped him straighten himself up, holding onto him to make sure that he could walk straight. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said with a contrasting shake of his head. "Not the first time something's blown up around me."

Alice let out a small sigh and rolled her blue eyes before looking back at them with a slight smile. "This is my friend, Tonio. He's a scientist."

"Scientist?"

"Yeah, that's when really smart people –."

"I know what a scientist is, Misty," Ash deadpanned, flicking her bangs. She made a face back at him, but a couple sparks from Pikachu's cheeks kept them from starting a yelling war with one another. Pikachu let out a happy sound from Ash's shoulder, nuzzling his cheek against his head for getting the message.

"I think the easiest way to describe what Tonio does is that he studies physics," Alice told them.

"Physics?" May repeated in the same tone as Ash had used for his earlier inquiry about Tonio being a scientist. "That's with speed and things like that, right?"

"Yeah, when you get to your high school learning modules, you have to take a bit of it," Brock explained. "Well, in Kanto, you do. I'm not sure about Hoenn or Sinnoh."

Ash shuddered at the thought of it. Every traveling trainer was still required to do the school work that those who chose to stay in actual school did. That was one of the negatives many cited for becoming a traveling trainer when they were only ten, because they had no teachers around if they needed immediate help, needing to wait until someone in the league could get back to their emails and messages, and they had to learn how to divide their time up. They could learn at almost any pace they wanted, but there were still semester deadlines that many ended up forgetting about. With Brock there, neither he nor Misty ever forgot about that, and he passed that habit onto May, Max and Dawn.

Max had been a special exception. He actually ended up skipping a few years, so he could take some time off of school work when he was traveling with them, often helping May with her own work.

The course work could be uploaded to pokedexes, pokenavs, phones, laptops or anything like that, but the vast majority of trainers used the computer labs that were set up in every Pokemon Center for them. While Ash himself was a slow studier, so he tended to do it slowly over a long period of time on his pokedex, Brock and Misty always just took some time at every Pokemon Center they came across (emergencies aside) to catch up. It was mandatory, because no one wanted a large amount of children to be illiterate, or not knowing basic mathematics, amongst other things.

"Physics is putting it broadly," Tonio spoke up, breaking Ash from his musings. " I was investigating the space-time abnormality that I had detected." He shoved his laptop into Alice's hands, and knelt down in front of the melted pillars, studying them carefully and curiously. He must have been used to getting blasted by attacks, because he didn't seem worse for wear at all, almost like how Ash could shrug off Pikachu's thunderbolts. "It can't be," he muttered to himself.

Without warning, a chunk of the stone fell off, slamming into his head and making them all wince at the bloody gash that formed. Alice gasped with surprise and knelt down next to him. "Tonio!"

"I'm fine, really," he winced as he touched his head and looked at the blood on his hand.

"Alice," Alberto spoke up, "you don't have to be so nice to him."

"Excuse me?" she asked, standing up and facing him with a raised eyebrow.

"After all, my dear," Alberto completely ignored her, putting his arm around her and dragging her closer, "you are to be my wife, remember?"

Brock made a sound that could only be described as another overly-dramatic heartbreaking moment. Dawn gasped in surprise and said, "No way!"

"But he's a jerk," May whispered so that only they could hear. "And I know my fair share of jerks."

Alice scowled at him, elbowing Alberto roughly in the stomach. He backed off, arm in front of his stomach but not willing to show any another sign of pain. "I already told you no!" She turned away from him. "Come on, I'm too young to think about marriage."

"I've decided I like her," Misty said gleefully. There was something sweet about seeing such a nice young lady completely tell off an obvious jerk, in her mind. She heard Brock sigh in relief behind her, and looked back at him to raise an eyebrow. "You DO know that you don't have a shot, right?"

"You don't know that."

"Of course, of course," Alberto said with an exaggerated wink that showed he clearly didn't get the message. "Now that that is settled, why don't you come over to my place for a little dinner, and after we can – "

"She said no!" None of them had even seen Dawn move, but somehow, the ten-year-old managed to get around to where the two young adults were, pushing Alberto off of Alice. She scowled at him and said, "Alice is so not interested!"

"Chi chi chimchar!" Alice's pokemon apparently agreed with dawn, scowling up at him.

"I like Dawn too," Misty noted with a nod of her head.

Ash just groaned and muttered something that sounded like 'insane girls' under his breath as he hurried over to where Dawn was.

"Young lady," Alberto loomed over Dawn with a dark look. "If you know what's good for you, you'll butt out!"

"What's your problem?" Ash snapped at him, putting himself between Dawn and the man. "She's ten and you're like, what?25? 30? Leave her alone!"

"I'll have you know that I'm only 22, and you should keep a leash on your little girlfriend."

Ash made a face at him that actually made Misty, May and Brock snort with amusement. It was a rare sight to see on him, a look that a teacher would normally reserve for a student that they were fed up with (Ash himself was very familiar with being on the receiving end of this look). "Did you not hear me just say she was ten? My girlfriend is over there." He pointed at Misty. "And I'm nice compared to her, especially when jerks are picking on people that she likes." Misty could take this Alberto guy any day of the week in Ash's mind. What would he do, sick a pokemon on her? He knew any one wouldn't stand a chance against her Gyarados, or even her Psyduck.

Brock made his way over to Tonio, and was checking his head. "That had to hurt. You'll probably need to get someone to actually check it." He took a water bottle and a rag out of his pack, splashing some of the water on it and handing it to the young man. "Keep pressure on it for now. It's not bad, but head injuries always seem worse than they are because they bleed a lot more."

"Thanks," Tonio nodded his head, but winced as he stood up.

"So," May asked sauntered up to his side, staring up at Tonio with innocent, sapphire eyes, "Who's the jerk?" She pointed at the salmon-haired man.

"That's Baron Alberto."

"Of course Ash would pick a fight with a Baron," Misty sighed with exasperation, shaking her head.

"Dawn did too," May pointed out, sounding more amused than anything else.

"Yeah, and I'm already starting to think that she and Ash are long-lost siblings," the redhead deadpanned.

Ash could already tell that Baron Alberto was done dealing with him and Dawn. This guy wasn't bad, but he wasn't a ray of sunshine by any means. Ash knew that he could be egotistical at times, his friends were never shy to point it out, but this man took it to a whole new level.

"Alice, how about we leave these silly children?" He reached out for her, but the blond woman was quick to dart away from him, even though she had Tonio's clunky laptop in her hands. She ran over to the injured man and suddenly held onto his arm. "You see, Tonio's the one I like."

Misty completely ignored the sounds of Brock's 'heartbreak' once again, raising an eyebrow at the scene. She looked over at Ash and Dawn as they joined them again. She leaned onto Ash's arm and asked, "Aren't they cute together?" She made sure that Brock could hear them.

"Uh..." Ash stared at her, brown eyes clearly unsure of what was an acceptable answer in this situation. "I...is this a trick question?" May and Dawn both snorted with amusement, and he had to wonder if this was some secret girl question that he didn't understand. Why would he find Alice liking Tonio cute? Good on them, but it was really none of his business.

Alberto suddenly burst into laughter and said, "You have a sense of humour, Alice. I do like that."

"A joke?" Tonio suddenly laughed too. "Jeez, let me in on the joke next time." Alice stared at him with unreadable eyes before pulling away from him and staring pointedly in the opposite direction. Tonio let out a sigh, looking downhearted for a moment before he managed to hide that.

"Boys are ridiculous," May commented.

"I thought they got better when they got older," Dawn asked.

"They do, but they always stay hopeless in one way or another."

"I'm right here," Ash said dryly. He just knew that she was referring to him. Misty just grinned at him.

"We need to get your head looked at," Alice said, her voice a little stiff. "Come on, we're going to the clinic to get that patched up." She shoved his laptop into his hands. "Will you guys be alright on your own?"

"Actually, it's getting close to lunch," Brock said. "We should get to the Pokemon Center and get things sorted out." They all knew that tone of voice, the one Brock used when he claimed his heart was broken and he threw himself into work and organization, which almost always included ogling a Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny.

"Alright, just keep going down this path and you'll get there." Alice motioned to the one in front of them before dragging Tonio off in another direction, mumbling under her breath.

"Well, people here are certainly interesting," May spoke up with a peppy voice.

"That's one way to put it," Dawn agreed as the group started walking away.

Pikachu's ears suddenly twitched as he looked around on Ash's shoulder. Ash himself tensed up a bit when he would have swore that he felt something. He spun around to look at the bushes, but there was nothing there.

"Ash?" Misty called out to him.

"Coming!" He yelled back, hesitating for a moment. He couldn't feel anything there though, so he turned and ran after his friends, deciding not to really think too much on it. Everything felt so weird and strange by the destroyed pillars, so it was probably just getting to him.

Though every other time he thought that in the past, he had been wrong.

...

Note

Someone was wondering about this, so I thought I'd be clear: I will not be writing another version of Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea. I'm actually picking and choosing which movies I rewrite and which ones I don't very specifically.

Another thing, Ash does end up meeting Riley, training with him, during his travels through Sinnoh. However, I probably won't be writing that anytime soon. I'd rather keep some of Ash's more unique abilities secret

Thank you to everyone who read, favourite-ed, and followed this story! And a huge thanks goes out to all of my awesome reviews, including: ultimateCCC, cook563, Wraith Five, thedarkpokemaster, Great, pokelover102, and Norad2.

Never hesitate to send critiques, though it's a little hard to judge a story too much when it's already been done, I get that. Just let me know what you think! And if you have any theories or suggestions or you just wanna talk about pokemon or pokeshipping or anything, don't hesitate to send a review or a PM!

Also, if anyone's wondering, Alice and Tonio are both an important part of the story, but because this is really focused on Ash and his development over time, as well as that of his friends, it doesn't really follow them. It's kind of the same role that Kidd and Professor Oak had.

Sky