Ash's Just Reward Chapter 3
"Entire sentence." = Normal talking.
"Entire sentence." = Psychic talking.
"Entire sentence." = Powerful being talking.
'Entire sentence.' = Person's thoughts.
"Can you believe how many Pokémon Ash actually has? I know he's said he had caught more Pokémon from other regions, but I weren't expecting so many…" Mallow questioned offhandedly, simply conversation to the others, who were nodding along.
Mallow, Lillie and the others were currently making their way to Professor Kukui to go and see Ash and give him a hand with all of his Pokémon. The day before had been manic for him, as he spent most of the day discovering that various Pokémon of his had been appearing across Melemele Island and causing trouble.
As it turned out, a lot of Ash's Pokémon were just as bizarre as he was.
While he hadn't been able to contact Professor Oak, the man who was apparently supposed to be watching his vast collection of Pokémon, he had managed to collect all the ones that had appeared in Alola (or at least, all of the ones that they knew about). When Ash had decided to call it a day, he had asked if they were capable of helping him, which they gladly agreed to.
It was a Saturday today, and as was common in Alola, the weather was sublime. And everyone was looking forward to getting to know Ash's Pokémon better, as he had Pokémon from all across the Pokémon World. And while they knew it was much too early for Ash to be up yet, they had decided to go early.
However, as they approached Professor Kukui's beach house, they were in for a few surprises.
One, the amount of Pokémon that were there that clearly weren't Professor Kukui's had nearly doubled, making the normally quiet and relaxing part of the beach a warzone.
Two, Ash was actually up and active, going around giving the correct types of food to the correct Pokémon, with Pikachu and some small Grass type helping him out.
As they approached, they were caught off guard as a random water type suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stuck its arms out to the sides as it attempted to prevent them from entering the populated area.
"Bui, bui-bui!" He yelped, clearly not impressed with these intruders.
Hearing this, Ash looked up from what he was doing and saw what was happening, and jumped to intervene.
"Buizel, wait! They're my friends, its ok!" He shouted, clearly trying to stop Buizel from doing something he'll regret.
When Buizel heard this, he dropped his arms, looked over the Alolan crew, and then nodded his approval, before walking off in a confident manner, satisfied that he had done his self-appointed job.
Ash quickly ran over, glad to see his friends but wanting to apologize.
"Sorry about that, Buizel means well but he can be a bit standoffish with people he doesn't know." Ash explained, somewhat embarrassed by the ordeal.
The others could only nod along dumbly, as they were still in amazement of the vast array of Pokémon.
There were SO many.
All across the small property were Pokémon of many shapes and sizes, and all of them were incredibly different from one another. In the ocean there were a few water types racing each other, trying to determine which of them was the fastest. There was a small blue turtle, a little blue crocodile, two different species of bright red crabs, and, to their surprise, a Lapras (weren't they really hard to catch? That's why they had to rent out Ride Lapras to use afterall).
Under the shade of a palm tree were a few Pokémon who were simply lazing about, yet seemed to exert pure, controlled power. There was a large grass type Pokémon that had a twig in its mouth, leaning against the tree as it relaxed. Next to him was a Snorlax, doing what Snorlax do best, which was sleep. On top of his belly, was a blue frog like Pokémon with its tongue wrapped around its neck like a scarf, which seemed to be meditating. There was a large green turtle with a tree sticking out of its back, who was simply relaxing and watching some of the smaller Pokémon race about fondly. And finally, they spotted a Charizard, but this one was different. While all Charizard were strong, this one seemed to radiate power, making them feel somewhat nervous around the sleeping powerhouse. They also noticed that Buizel had made his way over to this tree, before plopping down and closing his eyes in relaxation.
On the roof of the building there were several flying types, who seemed to be interacting with one another animatedly. There was a large bat like Pokémon, who despite its size seemed to be rather nervous around the other Pokémon, which suggested that it was very young and inexperienced, despite its natural power. There was a bird Pokémon which seemed to be moving its wings like it was punching, the red streak of feathers in front of its face waving about wildly. There was also a much smaller Pokémon which looked somewhat like a luchador, who seemed to be assessing the punching movements and nodding along, as if it were assessing the attack. There were also several other flying types, one of which was shiny, who seemed to be acquainting themselves with Rowlet, the small bird gladly soaking up the attention.
Running in circles around the house was a group of highly energetic Pokémon, one of which was Lycanroc, who seemed to be playing a high-speed game of tag. There was one Pokémon which was rolled up into a ball, the only discernible feature being the tusks pointing out of its side. There was another bat like Pokémon who seemed to be bouncing along on its tail, only to occasionally spring up and glide a couple of meters when whatever Pokémon was tagged got close. There was an ape Pokémon who was sprinting quickly, keeping up with the others despite only using one pair of limbs, who also seemed to be on fire (which none of them seemed surprised by, giving that a lot of Pokémon were like that). They were all being chased by a rolling ball of fire, which right now was the only noticeable feature.
And there were still more Pokémon!
Noticing that their gazes were on his Pokémon, Ash couldn't help but feel pride swell up in his chest.
"These are my Pokémon, they're great, aren't they?" He asked excitedly, eager to hear their opinions on his make-shift family.
"Ash. Where did they come from? There wasn't this many here yesterday?" Mallow questioned, struggling to believe that Ash had this many Pokémon. There must have been at least sixty, maybe even seventy Pokémon here.
At this, Ash deflated somewhat, a little annoyed that that was what they focused on.
"Honestly, I don't know. Just before I went to sleep the rest had appeared at the door. I'm just glad that the Professor had gotten enough food, these lot are a very difficult bunch when they're hungry."
"But what about Professor Kukui, what does he think about this?" Lana questioned.
"Well he was surprised at first, just like I was, but he seemed happy to see so many Pokémon. When a few of them began showing off their moves he got really happy. The main one I'm concerned about is Rotom Dex. I haven't seen him all morning, as he seemed obsessed with documenting all of my Pokémon." Ash reflected, somehow at peace with the strange situation.
Just then, the little grass type Pokémon walked up and grabbed Ash's arm with a vine, motioning back towards the bags of food.
Remembering what he was doing, Ash began to panic, the idea of several hungry (and powerful) Pokémon rampaging plaguing his mind.
"Right! Breakfast! On it. Hey, can you guys give me a hand, I've got a lot of Pokémon to feed." Ash implored, the idea of extra help being very welcome.
Nodding gladly, they all walked with Ash to the various bags of Pokémon food, pouring it out into several bowls for the several different types of Pokémon. With the extra help, Ash, Pikachu, and the others managed to get all the food ready rather quickly.
Satisfied with this, Ash told everyone to stand back, before cupping his hands around his mouth.
"BREAKFAST IS READY!"
And just like that, several dozen Pokémon stampeded towards them, all of them rushing to get their food. And once they descended on it like a horde of angry barbarians, they began devouring it, not unlike how Ash eat.
It was true what they said, like trainer like Pokémon.
Happy with their work, Kiawe decided to ask something that had been on his mind ever since Bayleef's appearance yesterday.
"So Ash, what regions have you been to? I know you're from Kanto, but I don't think you've ever mentioned what other regions you've been to."
Curious to see where he had been, the others turned to Ash, who seemed to be mulling it over in his head.
"Well let's see, I've been to quite a few places, so give me a sec." He said, thinking through all the places he had been. It was surprisingly hard when so much had happened to him in the past five years.
"Well, I've travelled across Kanto twice, once for a league, once for the Battle Frontier. I travelled the Orange Islands while on an errand for Professor Oak. I then went to Johto, followed by Hoenn, and then Sinnoh. After Sinnoh I went to Unova and also travelled through the Decolore Islands. And finally, before coming here I was in Kalos. I think that's everything." Ash listed off, eyes facing upwards as he focused on remembering where exactly he had been, despite not going into specifics.
The others just stared at him in shock. How the hell had he managed to travel across so many regions? Wasn't he the same age as them? And he started at ten? That meant he had travelled across all those regions in just five years? That was ridiculous.
Before they could question him further, an explosion happened in the distance, drawing the attention of everyone.
And to their annoyance (especially all of Ash's Pokémon, who had somewhat forgotten about this part of travelling with their trainer), it was Team Rocket.
"Prepare for Trouble!"
"And make it Double!"
"Can you shut it!" Ash shouted, deciding that it was way too early for their nonsense.
"Humph, now that's just rude twerp, this is practically routine by now." Jessie complained, not appreciating the interruption.
"Yeah, we show up, give the intro, and then steal your Pokémon. That's how it goes!" James shouted, backing up his partner in crime.
"Oh, screw it, it's early and I'm hungry so I'll allow the break of routine. Let's do this." Meowth said, thinking similar to Ash.
Reluctantly agreeing, Jessie started out the fight by letting Mimikyu out of its ball, sending it to potentially kill Pikachu.
Answering the challenge, Ash let Pikachu go, starting off the fight with a powerful thunderbolt.
Not being caught off guard that easily, Mimikyu responded with a shadow ball, before lunging in with a shadow claw. Spinning in mid-air, Pikachu responded with an iron tail, causing a large explosion from the clash of attacks, drawing the attention from the several Pokémon gathered.
Not wanting to give Ash an opportunity to let another Pokémon out of their ball (having somehow not noticed the large horde not twenty meters behind the Alolan crew), James sent out Mareanie, planning on backing up Jessie and overwhelming Ash. But before she could intervene in the battle, Mimikyu lunged again at Ash, only to be batted away by a surprise Leaf Blade.
"What?" Jessie screeched, not expecting the random attack. Who dared attack her Pokémon like that.
Surprise then turned to shock, which then evolved into fear when they saw Ash's, very powerful, Sceptile standing beside Pikachu, intending the back the little mouse up against the tricky opponent.
A few seconds later, more of Ash's Pokémon had taken arms and were now backing Pikachu, most notably being Ash's powerhouses such as Charizard, Snorlax, Heracross, Infernape, Primeape, Krookodile, Goodra, and Greninja. But nearly all of Ash's Pokémon were now starring down Team Rocket, clearing very angry at the fact that their breakfast had been rudely interrupted.
Pikachu, glad for the support and now feeling very confident, squeaked out a challenge to the Mimikyu, taking on a 'come get me if you dare' approach.
And Team Rocket were shaking in their boots. They hadn't foreseen this.
"I thought the twerp only had his Alolan Pokémon." Jessie muttered, her gaze nervously shifting from Pokémon to Pokémon, struggling to comprehend why Ash had all of his Pokémon.
"I thought so too, its so weird." James agreed, looking up at the small flock of flying types who were just waiting for the order to attack so they could dive down.
"Maybe it was for all the fans who wanted to see his old Pokémon?" Meowth speculated, the fourth wall break going over the head of most of the people present.
Apparently not bothered by the small army of powerful Pokémon, Mimikyu lunged at Pikachu again, only to be met with several dozen attacks, of varying types and effects. The resulting explosion was so great, that everyone was knocked off their feet, and Team Rocket were sent soaring into the air.
"Oh well, at least this time the odds were against us. We have an excuse!"
"Yeah, there's no way the boss will be angry at us for this."
"One thing's for sure tho."
"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"
But before they could, Bewear suddenly caught them and landed in front of the large horde of Pokémon, but before it could jump away, the Pokémon simply blasted it as well, sending it, and Team Rocket, flying into the distance.
Getting up onto their feet, the Alolan crew were still trying to process the fact that Ash's Pokémon had just rushed Team Rocket and crushed them with ease.
Why didn't they do that before?
But as they were dusting themselves off, a figure appeared from the path to Professor Kukui's house, walking towards them in search of something, or someone.
They then spotted the dust from the recent blasts in the distance, and began walking over, a smile plastered onto their face.
They had found who they were looking for. And they broke into a sprint.
Ash was chucking to himself over how his Pokémon had gone so overboard (not that he minded, since he was probably going to order them to do that anyway, he just found it amusing), but as soon as he got back on his feet, he was tackled from the side and knocked back to the floor.
Surprised by this, many of Ash's Pokémon took a defensive stance, except for Pikachu, who recognised who this was and was simply in shock. What were they doing here?
The Alolan crew soon noticed this and were soon wondering who this person who attacked Ash was.
Lillie was the one who asked the question everyone was wondering.
"Ash, who is she? Is she a friend?"
Currently on top of Ash, and nuzzling him in a similar manner to a Pokémon, was a girl wearing a green top, with a brown skirt, which clearly wasn't made with this region's climate in mind. She had brown hair, which had two parts which stuck up in a backwards fashion, kind of like some kind of wings. And as she noticed that there were other people beside Pokémon there, she suddenly became very nervous, getting up and hiding behind the group of Pokémon (who were still mostly trying to figure out who this person was).
Ash got up for the second time, and after looking left and right to make sure nothing was going to knock him down again, he looked straight at her, trying to figure out who she is.
"I'm not completely sure, give me a sec."
Despite the other's shock and confusion at this (cos how can you now be sure if you know someone?), Ash began starring at her, waiting for some clue as to which individual was in front.
Deciding to gamble, he ventured a guess.
"Bianca?"
Smiling at the fact that she had tricked him, she simply shook her head.
This caused Ash's eyes to widen, as realisation sunk in.
"Latias!?" He shouted, causing everyone to jump.
Tapping her nose, she then began searching for Pikachu, and when she found him, she picked him up and began nuzzling him. Knowing full well who this was, and remembering the fun they had together, he began nuzzling back, glad to see an old friend.
Sophocles seemed confused by this name, and decided to question it.
"Latias? Isn't that a Pokémon name? I'm sure I've heard about it somewhere."
This caused both Ash and Latias to stop in their tracks, mild panic setting in. Do they tell them? Or do they lie?
On a similar wavelength, they both went for lying. Naturally.
"NO, NONO! Latias is just a common name in Johto, it was weird when I first heard it as well, ha-ha." Ash lied, sweat rolling down his head.
Latias nodded along, not really having much choice.
Yet somehow, they believed this, with Lillie being the first to react.
"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Lillie, I'm a friend of Ash. I take it you met him in Johto?" She politely asked, while sticking out her hand for a handshake.
Nodding in response to her question, she took the hand and shook it, always eager to meet new people. She didn't get the chance to meet new people.
And as she shook Lillie's hand, Ash and Pikachu began minorly freaking, just now realising the implications of that action. Which without the context, just made them look ridiculous.
After a moment of freaking out, Ash regained his composure and turned to the others.
"Hey, I need to catch up with Latias quick, can you lot do me a massive favour and put away the Pokémon food?"
Happily agreeing, and all internally agreeing to overlook the freak out as Ash being Ash, they turned and began taking the various bags of food back inside.
As soon as they were out of sight, Ash turned back to Latias and began questioning her.
"What are you doing here? Did something happen in Altomare? Are Lorenzo and Bianca alright?" Ash blurted out quickly, immensely worried at why a legendary like Latias had apparently sought him out.
Double checking the area quickly, Latias dropped her disguise, turning back into her normal form. In place of the girl that was there, a slender red and white dragon was present, with two wide jet-like wings, and a long neck, which was perfect for nuzzling, which was what she began doing.
After a moment of nuzzling, with a background of shocked Pokémon who were in awe at the fact that they were dealing with another legendary, Latias drew back.
"Nothing is wrong Ash, I'm simply here to thank you." Latias mentally said, causing Ash to jump back a couple of feet.
"Woah, since when could you talk?" Ash asked, shocked at how she had spoken to him, something she couldn't do last time.
Giggling, she simply responded with, "Bianca taught me." Which was enough for Ash.
"Ok, but what do you mean: here to thank me? For what?"
Shaking her head in mild confusion, Latias just went, "For saving me and Altomare. While my brother may not have made it, I, as well as the whole town, would have perished as well. I owe you so much, so I'm here to thank you."
"Oh ok, that's not really necessary. I would always be happy to help someone in need. There's no need to thank me." Ash muttered to himself, clearly embarrassed by the whole thing.
"Well, it was still really brave. So for that, I've already gotten your reward ready." Latias said, starting to get a little bit excited.
"Ok, I'm kinda excited now, what is it?" Ash said, his immaturity beginning to take over.
"First, do you have an empty Pokéball?" Latias questioned, which somehow didn't tip Ash off.
"Erm, yeah. I always carry an empty Pokéball. There's always Pokémon to catch." Ash said, mostly to himself, as he plucked out an empty Pokéball.
Before he could react, and to the surprise of everyone gathered, Latias touched the Pokéball and let it suck her in. As Ash stared at the ball in complete shock, Latias popped out and began shaking herself off.
"Wow, that felt really weird. I can see why Pikachu doesn't like it. But yeah, that's your reward." She added weakly, not really sure how Ash was going to respond.
All he could do is stare in shock. He had just caught a Legendary. An actual Legendary. After five years of meeting and saving Legendaries, one had joined his team. He couldn't believe it.
As the excitement began to bubble up, the only response he could really have was to pass out. Much to everyone's surprise.
Hey everyone, how you all doing? Normally I don't do this, cos it breaks the flow of the story, but I need to ask a favour from all of you. I'm struggling to think of good ideas for what rewards the Legendaries can give Ash, and I've got maybe 2 or 3 more ideas, and that's with the help of a couple of people who've already given me ideas. So can you give me some ideas please. Whether it'd be by review or PM, please drop me some ideas. I'd really appreciate the help. Thanks in advance.