So author notes at the bottom of this chapter will be explaining my absence so read if you want to know were i've been


"(Yeah, you won; I'll give you that information. So you wanted to know where you can find the Lucario's island right?)" Scizor started, gaining all their attentions. They all turned to him, even Gabite and Fraxure turning serious again.

"So you know how we can find this island, you know where it is?" Ichigo asked hopefully, you could practically feel the anticipation from the team as they waited for a reply. The Scizor nodded as he struggled to his feet.

"(Yeah we know where it is, the Beedrill and Butterfree fly there sometimes to gather new berries or fly past it when it's their breeding season, picking up the other Butterfree and Beedrill along the way.)" Scizor explained, he now stood at his full height with some strength returning to him.

"Here let me help you, it should help you heal faster, I just spray it on your wounds." Ichigo said remembering he had some potions in his bag, he dug through and true to his memory a hand full of super potions were in a small sack at the bottom of his bag, picking one out he walked to the injured Pokémon and began spraying the singe marks and cuts on the Scizor. Each time he sprayed on a wound the Scizor winced at the stinging pain it caused but soon felt the relief of the pain leaving his body making him sigh in relief.

Two pairs of eyes watched from a distance, looking through the shrubby with interest. "(Do you think we should find a trainer? Scizor was the strongest on the island and they beat him without getting hit.)" One female voice asked the other.

"(And they look well fed, do you think all humans take Pokémon under their wing and feed them?)" The other male voice replied making the first sigh in annoyance. "(Why is food the first thing on your mind all the time Minun! We should attack them, and if they can beat us together then they must be strong, imagine how strong we could become under their guidance!)" The first voice scolded.

"(Getting strong is good and all but can you imagine not having to run around every day for food! It'd be a dream come true, Minun!)" The Plusle protested. Again the Minun sighed heavily. "(Then we need to convince him to take us with him, we'll have to prove that we're powerful enough to fight so we need to attack him and show him our power!)" Minun concluded.

"(But those Pokémon took out Scizor, and he's the strongest on the island.)" Plusle argued not too confident with the plan. "(Don't worry, they just evolved, he'll probably use another Pokémon to give them chance to grow.)" Minun retorted confidently, making Plusle nod determinedly.

"(Right then let's go!)" With that they both sprinted towards the trainer, one determined to get work free food and the other determined to get training. "(Right let's show him our thunder bolt!)" Minun shouted shooting one hand out to grasp her partners, electric crackled around their joined hands before they fired of a powerful thunderbolt and the boy's feet creating a small explosion.

Ichigo was thrown back by the explosion, it cut off Scizor who was telling him about this next island they'd be going to and caused Ichigo's Pokémon to instantly surround the floored Ichigo to protect him. Celebi flew above him Manaphy ran to see if he was okay and his other Pokémon created a wall in the direction the attack came from.

Brushing of the dirt from his clothes Ichigo stood up and gave the worried Manaphy a reassuring smile. "Don't worry I'm fine it didn't hit me, it only hit the ground in front of me." Ichigo said soothingly to stop her worrying, but to be honest, he had a harsh fall which would likely lead to some noticeable bruising.

"(You okay Ichigo?)" Gabite asked as he looked other his shoulder to check on his master, Ichigo waved him off. The dust from the explosion cleared revealing the two small electric Pokémon, they stood back to back with their arms pointed forward in a dramatic for of point at the team, Ichigo couldn't stop his eye twitching in annoyance as they stood there.

"It seems they want to fight, or want to put on a play." Ichigo stated annoyed with the dramatics. Aron stepped forward confidently to face them. "(I'll fight this time, I haven't been in a serious fight yet.)" Aron said.

To be honest, Aron was feeling jealous of his other teammates; they'd both evolved before him and after having less time training under Ichigo. Sure it may only be a few days difference but it annoyed Aron that the rest of the Pokémon were ahead of him. This was his chance to prove that he was still at their level.

"If that's what you want Aron then lets fight them." Ichigo said stepping in front of his Pokémon try to suppress a limp. Ichigo looked at the Minun and Plusle with a rose eyebrow when he noticed they still hadn't changed position, he could see them struggling to continue to hold still. Finally when Ichigo and Aron were ready they broke formation and got ready to battle.

"So from what I'm guessing you two want to fight, right?" Ichigo asked making sure since they didn't seem to confident now that they were in front of him. They shakily nodded and grabbed each others hands sharing each others powers so that they can fight at a higher level. Ichigo noticed it to and knew that it would make their ranged attacks a lot more powerful.

"Aron start this with Harden, then quickly add an iron defense on top of it!" Ichigo commanded, and Aron followed as his shell like armor began to look more reflective and shiny thanks to its temporary buffs. "Hold still and don't move until I say, I have an idea on how to deal with their attacks." Ichigo said making to Aron nod slightly trusting his trainer.

"(Thunder bolt!)" Plusle and Minun shouted in unison send a massive bolt a shared electric at Aron who wait patiently for his trainers command.

Ichigo waited until the bolt was about a second from hitting before ushering his command. "Aron tilt your head up and reflect that bolt!" he shouted quickly, and luckily Aron had been listening and reacted just in time, slightly tilting his head causing the bolt to reflect off his now hardened armor like a mirror.

"Now charge at them with a headbutt!" Aron ran under the remainder of the bolt and began dashing towards his targets, whom both where looking shocked that their attack was reflected so easily. They had to get over their shock as they both jumped away from each other to avoid the headbutt.

"(Cover me Minun! I'm charging up.)" Plusle shouted jumping back to get some distance as she charged for her next attack. Aron was not bothered in her though. "Aron aim for Minun and use an iron head." Ichigo ordered wanting to stop them using helping hand on each other.

Aron charged at full speed hitting the Minun with his glowing head plate knocking him unconscious before he hit the ground. Ichigo nodded, without helping hand or the ability that Minun had Plusle would be severely weaker even with charge.

"Aron Iron claw quickly!" Aron listened, he was feeling proud that Ichigo had confidence in him and he was proud that he was finally able to show his strength. His claw glowed white as he charged forward and leaped at the stationary Plusle, but just before he could hit she shouted in protest. "(Discharge!)" And with that a massive wave of electric hit Aron sending him flying back landing in front of Ichigo.

"Are you okay Aron, do you need to be switched out?" Ichigo asked worriedly. With a pained grunt, Aron got to his feet. "(I can fight don't worry Ichigo.)" Aron said determined to win this. Ichigo nodded respecting his choice. "Well then let's not let Plusle recover, Iron head!" Aron took off ignoring the pain he was feeling.

Plusle was too tired to dodge, she'd put the last of her power into that discharge and now watch helplessly as the Aron charged at her... her plan failed, she wanted to prove herself so the trainer took an interest in them, yet they lose on a two on one fight. She fell to her knees accepting to defeat.

"Aron stop!" Ichigo shouted noticing the Plusle had seemingly given up. Aron had just enough time to stop inches away from hitting her, much to her surprise. Ichigo walked over to where the Minun was laid unconscious and picked him up bringing him to the Plusle. He laid the Minun down next to her and grabbed another potion from the bag, much to his annoyance... he'd used more potions on his opponents then he had on his own Pokémon.

"So why did you attack us?" Ichigo asked as he sprayed the potion on Minun. Plusle looked away, she wasn't going to admit wanting to be trained, she wanted to be captured not questioned. Aron stood ready to protect Ichigo at a moment's notice. Ichigo's other Pokémon came over to make sure everything was okay. Celebi flew around Plusle touching her wounds and healing them quickly.

"Hey I didn't know you could do that! Have I just been wasting all my potions for nothing?" Ichigo complained seeing Celebi's healing powers, she giggled innocently. "(Want do you mean Ichigo? Would you rather I use all of my energy so that I cannot fight?)" She asked sweetly making Ichigo mutter something under his breath.

Plusle looked on with interest at the groups interactions before she noticed Minun start moving, she quickly moved to his side to check he was okay. "(Minun, are you alright?)" She asked worriedly to her oldest friend. He opened one eye to peek at what was happening, before quickly shutting it again and sticking out his tongue trying to play dead.

Plusle didn't hesitate to smack him on the head making him sit up instantly holding his head in pain. "(Always so mean, you're supposed to kiss the sleeping prince to wake him!)" He whined much to the amusement to everyone else.

"(Idiot! You're no prince and you got the story wrong, it's a princesses you have to kiss to wake her idiot!)" Plusle retorted angrily. Minun smirked. "(But you're not asleep to begin with? Shall I wait till the morning to wake you with a kiss then?)" He teased instantly making her blush deeply, and without a second hesitation she smacked the top of his head a second time causing him to fall back onto the ground.

"(When you two love birds are done, would you mind explaining why you attacked Papa!)" Manaphy asked angrily. Ichigo calmed her down instantly by picking her up and giving her a warm smile. The Minun looked around.

"(So was we captured then?)" He asked groggily wiping his eyes; again he was hit with an angry whack to the head by Plusle. "(Shut up!)" She shouted at the downed figure of Minun. The team looked at each other before sighing.

"(You want to be captured, don't you?)" Celebi asked teasingly with a smirk. Plusle puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms, instantly denying the accusations. "Well I was going to capture you, but seeing how you don't want that, I guess I'll leave you alone the." Ichigo said shrugging. He smirked when he saw their shocked reactions, they were just too proud to admit they wanted to be captured.

"(No Plusle wants to be captured; the whole plan was to show are strength so that you'd take an interest and capture us.)" Minun blabbed, this time being prepared to dodge the incoming attack to his head. Ichigo smirked at how they acted like a couple.

"I don't get it, why do Pokémon like being captured, can you please explain it to me, I can't bring myself to capture wild Pokémon but most Pokémon seem to enjoy be captured and battling." Ichigo asked the two Pokémon effectively stopping an argument breaking out between them.

"(What's not to like? Free food, Boost in power if we have a good trainer, and most Pokémon enjoy battling and everyone knows that trainers get into the best battles.)" Minun said, and Plusle reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"Well I'll be your trainer if you want then, when I capture you, you'll be transported to a different island where you can run free and train to your heart's content, I'll probably switch you into the team at some point before my next visit to the island so either way it won't be long till we next see each other okay?" Ichigo said, happy that he finally knew more about why Pokémon and their reasons for following trainers, he placed two pokeballs on the ground in front of them.

Plusle and Minun looked at each other before nodding and connecting their tails creating sparks of electric in celebration, quickly giving each other a high five they tapped the button on the pokeball allowing themselves to be caught and teleported away.

"Well that's two more members of the family." Ichigo muttered before wincing as he got up, still trying to suppress a limp. This time however, Celebi noticed and flew tapped on his injuries from the blast causing them to heal almost instantly. "Thanks Bi, that's a really good power you have." Ichigo complimented making Celebi smile in reply.

"(Huh, now that the battling is all over shall I continue?)" The voice of Scizor asked from behind them causing all of them to turn to see him stood with his arms crossed in an impatient manner. Ichigo scratched the back of his head awkwardly before nodding.

"(If you allow me to see your map I can point you to the three islands that it could be.)" Scizor said causing Ichigo to frown but complied. "One of three islands, I thought you knew which it was?" Ichigo asked curiously.

"(According to the Butterfree they change islands often in search of a perfect habitat for them, as of a few weeks ago, they were on this island.)" Scizor pointed to an island that was quiet a distance from them. "(But they may not have stayed on that island but they would have at least stayed there for some time to gather food for their next trip meaning they could have moved to either of these. I believe that they'll check all three of these islands before changing again so you probably have around two months to get to the island and search it.)" Scizor briefed.

"How do you know all this?" Ichigo asked fairly shocked on how deeply Scizor read into the Lucario's movements. He chuckled in reply. "(I'm one of the older Pokémon on this island, and I'm the oldest meaning it's my job to keep the Pokémon of this island safe which also means I need to know about the inhabitants of the other islands and their motives.)" Scizor stated not even trying to hide the pride in his voice. Ichigo smiled at him.

"Then this island is truly lucky to have such a dedicated protector." Ichigo replied. For the next few days Ichigo spent his time either looking around the island and speaking to Pokémon or training with his own Pokémon. Fraxure and Gabite had not ceased their rivalry meaning they spent most of their time fight each other. Aron finally evolved in one of his sparring matches making him a Lairon much to his happiness.

When the time came to leave Ichigo thought it's be best to switch out Pokémon so that he can have time training the others as well and keep them all at about the same level of strength. His team was now Metang, Pawniard, Lairon, Gyarados, Celebi and of course Manaphy.

Scizor and the rest of the forest Pokémon waved Ichigo off as he surfed away to the next island on the way to the Lucario's home. Ichigo had kept his diaries up to date with his evolved Pokémon and also his captured Pokémon, he was happy with the progress his diary was making as the pages had already begun to fill up. That's when he noticed he only had two pokeballs left from the ones he started with meaning he'd have to visit Kisuke soon to collect more.

Gyarados took Ichigo, underwater for this next trip, wanting Ichigo to get used to the underwater for when they travel to the sea temple. Celebi and Manaphy swam fluently next to Gyarados hopping on him whenever they needed a break. By the time they surfaced several hours later they were at the shore of the next island, Ichigo was glad for his waterproof bag protecting all the food and his diaries for when he went underwater, his clothes weren't so lucky.

The first thing Ichigo did when he got onto shore was grab fire wood from one of the small clump of trees on the island. The island itself was mostly a rocky mountain but it did harbour some trees around the base of the mountain. With the help of Gyarados' flamethrower he had a campfire set up in no time to help dry his clothes.

He looked around as he dried off but spotted no Pokémon, that didn't surprise him too much with so little vegetation here it would be hard for Pokémon to live without starving to death. The team sat around the campfire with the exception of Gyarados who wanted to spend a bit more time in the water.

"Do you think we'll find any clues on this island?" Ichigo asked his friends but they all seemed doubtful. "(It would be hard to gather information when there's no Pokémon to pass along the information.)" Pawniard replied causing Ichigo to nod.

"I still think we should check out this mountain while we're here, it's a good vantage point and would make for a good view of the island on a whole." Ichigo said. "(I could just fly you up there Ichigo.)" Celebi stated making Ichigo frown.

"But that'd be taking the fun out of it." he retorted stubbornly making the others chuckle. Ichigo checked his pokedex going over the many Pokémon he'd seen, he'd seen over forty by this point, including evolutions. But that's when he saw the date on the small digital watch at the top of his pokedex... July 14. Tomorrow would be his birthday.

"I'm going to sleep you guys, see you in the morning." Ichigo called as he brought out his sleeping bag from his waterproof bag and laid it close to the fire. "The last one up should put out the fire." Was the last thing Ichigo said before retiring for the night, Manaphy soon join him in his sleeping bag and Celebi right next to him.

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Early morning Kisuke woke up slowly, not in any particular rush. He had plans for today which included setting sail towards the island Ichigo currently resided on. Lazily waking through the lab with a coffee he was greeted by the excited faces of Ichigo's family and some of his friends that had stayed the night.

"Good morning Kisuke." Isshin said from the table he was sat at with the rest of his family. "Good morning, morning to you as well Chad, Orihime and Tatsuki. Are you all ready for setting sail later today?" Kisuke asked politely.

Orihime was sat at the table playing with Plusle and Minun; the trio had become quick friends with their overactive nature. The two electric Pokémon ran riot through Kisuke's lab at all hours of the day playing chase with each other or breaking his equipment and running off before he could catch them.

"Yes, I'm all packed, I can't wait to see Ichigo again it's been weeks since he left and it's been over a month since we spoke properly since he spent most of his time before the trip training with his Pokémon." Orihime replied eagerly.

Tatsuki looked a bit miffed about being up in the morning but nodded to Kisuke in reply, same with Chad the ever silent boy barely spoke but always replied normally with a thumbs up or a simple nod of his head.

"How many Pokémon has Ichigo caught now?" Yuzu asked from her seat in between Mine Jr. And Karin. Kisuke put a figure to his chin in a thinking manner, even though he already knew the answer.

"Well, my star trainer has captured a whole of... ten Pokémon so far, including two legendary Pokémon. They grow up so fast, it makes me proud." Kisuke stated dramatically. Isshin however didn't miss what he said.

"Two legendaries? I knew he had Manaphy but when did he meet, let along capture another legendary?" Isshin asked having been the first time he'd heard about this, the rest of the room looked either shocked or interested as well.

"Ah did I not show you the pictures he'd been sending over? I'm sure I have, oh well. Yes he has another legendary on his team, she's a Celebi and Ichigo had never met her when she joined his team. You see Celebi has the ability to time travel and in the future Ichigo saved her so she came back and became his Pokémon." Kisuke bragged again, leaving out the parts when Ichigo was fatally wounded.

Kisuke dug into his pocket and pulled out a handful of printed out pictures that he'd printed from the ones Ichigo had sent through his pokedex. All the people gathered passed them around looking at all the amazing thing Ichigo had been able to see so far from the underground cavern on his first island visit to his underwater dives with Gyarados, Manaphy and Celebi all playing underwater with some water Pokémon.

Kisuke walked away with a smile remembering how much fun he had when he explored the islands. "We'll be leaving in an hour and we should arrive sometime in the afternoon." Kisuke informed before heading of deep into his lab to grab some custom pokeballs to restock Ichigo's.

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Early morning they woke up, Ichigo had finished the morning training routine quickly so that he could start his climb of the mountain. Most of the team had retreated back into their pokeballs so they didn't have to walk, Metang followed closely and Celebi and Manaphy sat comfortably on his head as he hovered.

Ichigo walked along the side of the mountain on a path that seemed naturally carved into the mountain and seemed to keep spiraling to the top, or at least close to the top. As he walked he listened to Manaphy and Celebi chatter happily, he was glad that they could open up so much to each other and that they both had found themselves good friends within each other.

He kept walking without complaint and it took until around noon until he could finally see the peak of the mountain, much to his annoyance though it doesn't seem he'd easily be able to reach the very top, but just a bit further down from the top was enough an open enough area of flattened land where they could rest temporarily.

"(I'll offer you the same deal again, I could just fly us to the top.)" Celebi offered as she watched Ichigo drink from his canister before screwing the lid back on and giving a confident smirk. "Just because it's not going to be easy, doesn't mean I'm not going to try." Ichigo replied stubbornly making Celebi sigh and Manaphy giggle at her Papa's stubbornness.

With those ideals in mind Ichigo began to look for the best route to scale to the peak, and it didn't take him long to find a not so steep path with lots of large rocks he could grab onto. He began scaling by getting a good foothold on a large boulder sized rock and slowly beginning to start moving up from there by moving between rocks. Progress was slow since he was being careful, even if he had to psychic Pokémon that could catch him if he fell he still didn't like the idea of falling.

Within half an hour he'd reached the top and triumphantly gave an out of breath laugh of accomplishment. Only to see Celebi and Manaphy still riding Metang as he hovered to the peak with little effort, much to Ichigo's annoyance.

"Show offs." Ichigo muttered making them laugh. He held out his wrist and took pictures of the surrounding area and islands that he could see in the distance from this height. He didn't want to stay here too long since the air was a lot thinner and he was already out of breath from climbing.

"This view is amazing, it's so high it's like looking down from a bird's eye view." Ichigo said in wonder as he watched the tides sparkle in the sunlight, but as he looked out to sea he saw something that shouldn't be there, a boat.

"Since when did the boats come this far out, there's nothing for them on the other islands and they've never sailed out here before." Ichigo stated, the boat looked like it was heading to this island, but again that made no sense, why would it come here? Quickly snapping a picture of it in the distance he began to make his way back down.

Grabbing onto one of the nearby rocks that led down he leaned against it for support before getting ready to move to the other, but as he jumped down to the lower rock he didn't notice the cracked ground around it, so when he weight was added to the rocks and the surrounding ground it proved too much for the floor to hold as it collapsed into the mountain.

"(Ichigo!)" his three Pokémon shouted and rushed to help him, in the place that he landed was a gaping hole leading into the mountain. "(A cave? There's a cave in this mountain?)" Manaphy asked before they all rushed in after Ichigo to make sure he was okay.

It was all pitch black, the only light being that from the new skylight in the ceiling. "(Ichigo?)" Celebi called worriedly as she flew around, Manaphy made her antenna's glow to help light up the area. "I'm okay don't worry." Ichigo said pushing of some of the smaller rocks that had fell on top of him with a wince.

"I didn't realize that this mountain had a cave in it, it must have just not had an entrance so I doubt no one has been here before, not even Professor Urahara." Ichigo said squinting to look into the darkness, he dug around in his bag and pulled out a flash light to help him look around.

With the new source of light he could see to the far corners of the small cave, it seemed to only be one room and not a very large one, with natural stone pillars holding up the ceiling and scattered rocks along the floor... it was most defiantly empty.

"(Are you okay Papa, are you hurt?)" Manaphy asked as she and Metang came over to him and Celebi. All of them looked concerned making him smile at their concern. "Don't worry, the big rocks missed me luckily only some small debris hit me." Ichigo reassured.

"Damn how unlucky must I be to fall into a random cave on a mountain the size of this one." Ichigo complained getting a laugh from his team mates. That was until Celebi spotted something. "(Or maybe, how lucky must you be.)" She said as she flew off into the darkness. Ichigo quickly turned the light to the direction she headed in.

Celebi was hovering in front of a stone wall, or at least in seemed to be stone; as the group got closer they spotted outlines in the stones some looked like seashells and others looked like bones. "(Fossils, I recognize a few of the species, Sam was researching pictures of some similar looking fossils back at his lab a few months ago.)" Celebi informed before pointing to a specific fossil.

"(That's named a dome fossil, belonging to a Pokémon named Kabuto and Kabutops)" Celebi stated pointing to said fossil, she'd only ever seen this one, it was the only fossil that Samuel was studying at the time. "(Should we take them? I'm sure Mr Urahara would love to study them, I bet he'd be grateful.)" Celebi replied. Ichigo hesitated for a second but nodded.

"Let me picture the wall first, he may need to know the way it was found as well." Ichigo said shining his light to the wall with one hand and aiming the camera on his pokedex at it with the other hand snapping a picture of the many fossils on the wall. Just as the pokedex took the picture, Celebi popped her head into the shot and pulled her cheeks out and stuck out her tongue pulling a funny face to the camera.

"Okay now let's get these out shall we?" Ichigo asked ignoring Celebi's actions making her stifle a laugh. Ichigo summoned Pawniard to help excavate the fossils along with Celebi and Metang using their psychic attacks to help gently pull them out. Ichigo filled his bag with many different types of fossils but mainly the dome fossils since there was a lot more of them than any other type of fossil.

Grunting at the new weight of his bag Ichigo climbed out of the cave making sure to mark the area by moving rocks into a line so it stood out to the rest of the mountain. Pawniard returned since he didn't feel like falling down a mountain. It took a lot less time getting to the bottom of the mountain then it did to get to the top making it around four o'clock by the time he reached the old campsite.

"Celebi, how did the fossils get there? Groudon didn't make the islands that long ago so how did the fossils get to there?" Ichigo asked curiously since there definitely wasn't enough time for a dead Pokémon to become fossilized, not to mention Kabuto and Kabutops lived 300,000 years ago. Celebi seemed to ponder it for a moment before responding.

"(If I were to guess, they came from the sea floor, Groudon don't just magically create land, they raise it. It was likely that Groudon simply rose the land from the seafloor creating the island, and in return also bringing all the fossils from the seafloor to the surface as well.)" Celebi theorized, and it sounded likely so Ichigo just nodded before sitting down around the put out fire that kept them warm last night. Then Ichigo remembered something, the boat he saw.

Standing up again he ran to the beach, confusing his other Pokémon, but they followed him nonetheless. Ichigo stood at the edge of the shore and just as he remembered from the top of the mountain, a boat was on its way, it seemed to be going at a leisurely pace but was definitely headed for this island. At the pace it was going and from its distance he guessed it would be about half an hour till it arrived.

"Gyarados!" Ichigo called releasing his friend into the water. Gyarados appeared with a roar before looking towards Ichigo for instructions. "Can you swim up beside that boat and check if it's anyone from Karakura town, if so can you guide them here, to make sure they hit shore here?" Ichigo asked wondering if people from his town, or maybe people from outside of the region were taking an interest in these other islands. Gyarados nodded before diving underwater and swimming over to the boat.

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"We'll be there in less than half an hour, according to his pokedex he's still on the island." Kisuke said as he sat on the deck of the ship in a lounge chair on his heavily upgraded laptop with a camera attached to its side for recording experiments.

Orihime and Tatsuki were in their swimwear wanting to swim in the ocean when they arrived at the island. Plusle and Minun were running circles around Fraxure and Gabite as the two dragons continued to try and capture the small rodents.

The Kurosaki family, minus Ichigo were also lounging on the deck as they headed to see their other member of the family. They had all gathered to meet Ichigo for his birthday so that he could celebrate; even the ever so silent Chad had gone out his way to meet Ichigo.

"What other Pokémon are on these islands that Ichigo may capture professor Kisuke?" Orihime asked curiously wondering what she should expect when Ichigo comes back after visiting all the island.

"There are nearly two hundred different species of Pokémon on these islands and so far Ichigo has only seen forty, it would be hard to guess what he would capture since he's been unpredictable so far, but I'm sure he'll have a few more surprises by the end of his journey." Kisuke mused.

Orihime was about to ask another question but no words left her mouth when she saw a Gyarados burst out the water beside the boat causing the ship the shake a bit, the Gyarados looked over them all before it's gaze landed on Kisuke, as if asking a question. Kisuke sighed and closed his laptop, standing up to face the familiar Gyarados.

"Hello Gyarados, Ichigo send you to check this ship?" Kisuke asked already knowing the answer. Gyarados nodded causing the other occupants to sigh in relief knowing it was Ichigo's. "Well then, would you like to leads us to where he is on the island, he must have already seen us to send you so the surprise is half ruined." Kisuke asked calmly knowing this Gyarados was tame. Again Gyarados nodded and swam beside them slightly nudging the ship towards a specific point on the island.

"I guess you didn't know it was Ichigo's birthday today did you?" Kisuke asked since the Gyarados seemed confused at the groups appearance. Gyarados' eyes widened and he turned to Kisuke to check if he was serious, after all, why would his trainer not inform him?

"From your reaction I'd take that as he hasn't told his Pokémon." Kisuke guessed making the Gyarados nod. Isshin chuckled. "Sounds about right, he never was one for celebrating, he's normally the most gloomy on his birthday and on any other occasions, that's just who he is."

Gyarados made a note to ask Ichigo when he got back, but for now he'd just lead the ship to him.

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Ichigo had all his Pokémon out waiting for Gyarados to return with whoever is on the ship. He laid out the fossils in front of him, he'd managed to bag a good amount of them and he was positive that Professor Kisuke would love to study them. He remembers reading in one of his books about people wanting to try and bring the fossils back to life... was it possible, if so, could Kisuke do it?

"(Should we take these to Kisuke before we start on our way to the next island, it would be hard for you to continue to carry them around all day every day. Or we could hide them somewhere on the island and pick them up on our way back for a food run.)" Metang asked wondering where their next destination was.

"We'll deicide once Gyarados returns, he shouldn't be much longer, he looks only around ten minutes away. It wouldn't be fair to make a choice without the whole team here." Ichigo replied, he wouldn't mind too much if he had to carry them, it would just be an extension to his training. He took another picture of all the fossils laid out since it was out in the light now and was clearer then the dark cave.

They waited patiently, Celebi and Manaphy still playing on top of Metangs head as he hovered as their personal chariot. Pawniard and Lairon just lounged near the fire that had been relit, both waiting for instructions.

The ship finally docked on the beach leaving only half of the boat in the water. Gyarados stayed in the water as a familiar face popped up on the deck of the ship smiling widely. Kisuke... before Ichigo could process what was going on there was several audible pops as small party popper shot confetti into the air and more people emerged on the deck of the ship.

"Happy birthday Ichigo!" shouted Kisuke and his family and friends making him go wide eyed at their appearance. "(Birthday?)" Manaphy asked, and Celebi looked confused as well, was it really his birthday?

"Erm, well yeah I guess it is... must have forgotten." Ichigo lied awkwardly to his Pokémon, who didn't look like they believed him, but they didn't much time to question it as Ichigo was quickly tackled by four happy Pokémon that had accompanied the ship.

Plusle and Minun climbed up his arms resting on his shoulders, and Gabite and Fraxure stopped just short of running into him. "(Ichigo, you never told us your birthday was coming up!)" The electric twins complained. He laughed nervously.

By now the rest of the occupants of the boat had also made their way to him all smiling widely, none more so then his sisters who gave him a firm hug which he returned gladly.

"When will you start enjoying yourself when you have reason to?" Isshin complained dramatically, but was promptly ignored by everyone as Masaki walked forward handing over a small wrapped box to Ichigo.

"This is from Me, Karin and Yuzu; we hope you'll enjoy it." Masaki said causing Isshin's eyes to widen. "But I'm the one who paid for it!" He shouted but his complaints fell on deaf ears as Ichigo thanked his mother and two sisters.

"(What is it Papa?)" Manaphy asked from her seated position on Metang. "Do you want to open it for me?" Ichigo asked knowing that she'd enjoy the surprise much more then he would. She nodded vigorously making them all chuckle lightly. As soon as he placed the box in front of her she went to work tearing apart the wrapping like a kid on Christmas, once the wrapping was removed all that remained was a smooth black box.

"Well what's inside Mana?" Ichigo asked curiously as she opened the box. She pulled out a long silver rope like item with charms daggling of it. It took Ichigo a second to realise it was a necklace, but he couldn't tell what was with the charms.

"Those are holders for pokeballs, we figured that you wouldn't want Pokémon like Manaphy to leave your side so you can put her pokeball onto that and free up a space on your belt for other Pokémon." Masaki explained.

"We also got it small enough so that when the pokeball is shrunken you won't be able to see it under your shirt so it will be good for hiding Manaphy and Celebi from prying eyes." Karin said, trying to sound older then she was. Ichigo smiled and clipped on Celebi's and Manaphy's pokeballs to the necklace and tied it around his neck.

"Thank you very much; this should be good for when we go to Kanto. But is it allowed?" Ichigo asked Kisuke who shrugged.

"I don't see why not, you've proven responsible and it's up to the professor that sponsors you who decides how many Pokémon you can carry, carrying a few extra won't hurt as long as you only use six of them in battle." Kisuke said nonchalantly, it's not like he was known for following the rules when it came to his decisions.

Orihime, Tatsuki and Chad came forward to greet him. "What made you guys come, I mean it's a long trip here." Ichigo asked, but the question seemed to piss Tatsuki off. "What do you mean 'What made us come'! Of course we came just because you don't get excited for your birthday doesn't mean you should spend it alone!" she exclaimed unhappily.

"I didn't mean it like that!... but thanks I guess, it's good to see you all." Tatsuki was about to retort again but Orihime ran forward excitedly. "Kurosaki-kun can we see you Pokémon?" She asked, her eye sparkling in excitement. Ichigo just nodded not noticing her excitement being oblivious as he is.

"Guys! Gather round I'll introduce you all!" Ichigo shouted and his Pokémon didn't hesitate to follow commands. Lairon and Pawniard who were near the fire ran to his side to join Metang who was still acting as a bench for Celebi and Manaphy. Gyarados came on to the land and joined them as well, as Plusle and Minun stayed seated on his shoulders.

"Okay, Guys these are my friends and family from Karakura town. That's my mother and my two sisters Yuzu and Karin, these are my best friends Chad, Orihime and Tatsuki. Lastly as you all know is Professor Urahara." Ichigo said pointing to each of the people named, yet completely forgetting his father. Isshin looked like he was about to speak up about being neglected but Ichigo spoke first.

"Professor! Before I forget, we found some fossils on this island, we got them for you to study since Celebi said you might like them." Ichigo replied leading the group of friends over to the laid out fossils over near the fire.

No one noticed Isshin falling to his knees with tears streaming from his eyes. "My family, they're so cruel." He sobbed to himself since no one else acknowledged him.

Ichigo sat down next to his fossils and Gyarados returned himself since he didn't like the land as much as he did the sea. Kisuke quickly lost his amused mask as he went to work inspecting the fossils intently.

"They've been persevered with amazing quality meaning that you didn't find them in the water or on the surface of an outer rock face over wise they would have corroded more, so where did you find these?" Kisuke asked as he held a Dome fossil.

"Well, we climbed the mountain today and when we reached the peak we looked around and spotted you, but as we made our way back down I didn't notice the unstable ground and I ended up falling into a cave which I found them in with no exit other exits meaning it had been sealed off for a long time explaining the lack of corrosion." Ichigo started. Then pointed to a certain point of the mountain near the top.

"There's a lot more up there, like a whole wall full of them we only picked up as many as we could carry and Celebi told me some information on the dome fossil since it was the only one she knew about. I lined up some boulders up near the entrance so that I can find the place again if needed I can show you if you like." Ichigo said as he scrolled through pictures on his pokedex until he found the ones he took of the wall showing them to Kisuke.

"I'm impressed Ichigo, you and you Pokémon made an amazing discovery with these. I haven't found any fossils in such good shape around these islands and you find a cave full of perfect ones. I must ask, how's your search for the Groudon going?" Kisuke asked placing the fossil back down. Ichigo smirked widely.

"We're following a lead now, A Scizor on another island told us about how a group of Lucario gathered Pokémon to fight past two Regirocks so they could check to see if the Groudon was okay. Unfortunately he has no information past that point but he told us were the Lucario will be so we're heading to them since they actually made it past to Regirocks unlike everyone else." Ichigo stated proudly. And now Kisuke was impressed, since he couldn't speak to Pokémon he couldn't get any way near as much information as Ichigo has.

"You are doing very well Ichigo; you've exceeded my expectations greatly. It took me months to find that much information, you ability is truly amazing and more helpful then I imagined. Perhaps you should become a researcher instead of a trainer?" Kisuke asked with a smirk when he saw Ichigo frown slightly.

"I would prefer to be a trainer, but I'd love to study alongside that as long as it doesn't come in the way of me becoming a great trainer." Ichigo replied, he truly like documenting all of his progress and information on his Pokémon and he'd continue to do so but he would always want to be a trainer first and a researcher second.

After all of the business was out the way, Ichigo was dragged into enjoying his birthday. Kisuke brought a grill form on the ship and started a BBQ with the help of the other two adults. While Manaphy and Gyarados took charge and dived into the water Celebi following closely behind, Yuzu and Karin also joined them in the water with Orihime and Tatsuki taking care of them.

Ichigo was in just his swimming gear as he waited on the shore with Chad who seemed to get on well with Lairon since they both didn't talk much. Gabite and Fraxure who still had yet to prove who was the strongest between the two, Pawniard happily played referee for them.

Metang, being his loyal self stuck close to Ichigo and kept an eye on Celebi and Manaphy from a distance, almost as if acting as their older brother role and being just as protective. Every now and again one of his Pokémon in the water would try splashing him to provoke him into another water fight but he just had Metang form a light screen in front of him protecting him from the water.

After the sparring match both Gabite and Fraxure, both still not excepting that the other was stronger, had tried the BBQ food and instantly chowed down on the grilled meat, they ate enough that Kisuke had to stop the grill so they'd have some food for the trip back.

Speaking of Kisuke, after his duties as chef ended he came and stood next to Ichigo setting form as Isshin ran into the water to entertain his daughters, and also play target for everyone's water attacks.

"Ichigo, I managed to contact some other professors on my laptop, I informed them of the fossils you found and showed them pictures of their quality. Most the professors specialised in fossils so it was good research material for them." Kisuke informed with his hand stuffed in his pockets, Ichigo nodded.

"So what other types of fossils are there?" Ichigo asked. Kisuke smirked down at him. "Many, some of the ones you found had only been found in certain regions before. As you already know there is the Kabuto and Kabutops, also Omanyte and Omastar. Which are also from Kanto natively though that's not all, things like Lileep, Anorith were among the gathered and who knows there may be more in the cave." Kisuke stated.

"Many of the professors wanted to buy the fossils off us in order to try and reanimate then, but I had a better idea." Kisuke started causing Ichigo to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "I will reanimate them myself, with the help of some of the other professors who were more than happy to jump in and offer to help me, and then create different habitats among my island for them to live in." He finished with a sly smirk leaning Ichigo to believe there were other reasons for this, but he was more bothered by the fact that he could reanimate them, sure he had his hopes but he didn't believe it.

"You really think you'll be capable of bringing them back to life? And how do you intend to build the habitats?" Ichigo asked. "Well as for the building of the habitats me, Tessai and Dragonite can handle that, and as for the reanimation it has been done before by other professors so I don't see why I can't with their help." Kisuke shrugged.

"And what do you intend to do once you bring them to life?" Ichigo asked with slightly narrowed eyes, which Kisuke didn't seem to notice as he was looking out at the playing Pokémon. "Well, I'll house them on the island making it a preserve of sorts which they can share with your Pokémon. Then I'll conduct research and sell the findings to earn some money to pay for their food and my other experiments." Kisuke replied nonchalantly making Ichigo groan, but as long as the Pokémon were taken care of he wouldn't mind.

Soon night had fallen and everyone sat around the campfire telling stories, Kisuke told a few about legends from other regions like Reshiram and Zekrom. Orihime was the most excited listening to the stories intently; Manaphy came a close second in excitement though. Ichigo translated stories from Celebi about her old forest. And Ichigo spoke of his travels so far telling them all about how Manaphy defeated an Aggron and how Gabite and Fraxure evolved after fighting a Scizor.

"It's good to see you had lots of fun with you Pokémon Kurosaki-kun, but when do you think you'll be coming back to town for awhile?" Orihime asked, she was happy that he was enjoying himself but was also missing him. Ichigo didn't seem to notice her conflicting emotions and answered truthfully.

"Well I think I'll be checking over all these islands until I find Groudon, and maybe even after that so I can see what's on all of them and to get some training done so maybe a few more months here... then after that I'll be going to check out this temple I read about in a book which could take a up to a full month to get to and then spend some time there and another trip home which of course could be up to a month. So overall I'd say six months on ward till I get back to town leaving me with another six months until I head to Kanto." Ichigo recited having been over this with his Pokémon many times. Everyone with the exception of his Pokémon and Kisuke looked at him with wide eyes, or in Chad's case slightly wider than usual.

"What?" Ichigo asked at the stares he was getting. "Since when did you start thinking ahead?" Tatsuki asked making Ichigo's eye involuntary in annoyance. "You'll be gone for that long?" Orihime asked looking down on the matter, along with his sisters.

"It's not like I won't still be in contact with you all, wherever I go I have my pokedex which I can send or receive video calls from." Ichigo reassured nervously not wanting to make any of them worry. "And when I'm not too far away I'll stop by in town!" he promised quickly.

"You better! We worry about you when we don't hear from you frequently!" Masaki scolded her son causing him to chuckle nervously. Kisuke took this time to save Ichigo from anymore questions by coughing to draw the attention to him.

"Ichigo, I hope you've enjoyed our visit, and I wish the rest of your birthday is just as happy, but we need to be heading back now before night sets that way we'll be back early morning tomorrow." Kisuke informed making Ichigo silently sigh in relief and nod to his professor.

"If you get any more news on the other professors about the fossils let me know. I want to be there to watch the first one be brought back to life." Ichigo said Kisuke just nodded before heading off towards the ship, his friends and family said their goodbyes making demands that he keep in touch before also heading to the ship.

Ichigo waved as the ship set sail again along with his Pokémon that had also enjoyed the day. "We'll leave tomorrow, we've still got a lot of land to cover before we reach the Lucarios." Ichigo said as he sat back down and began writing in his diary recording the day's events.

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The days past relatively uneventful, as they grew closer to the Lucarios islands. they passed many islands some empty some not, both small ones which could get as small as dunes of sand with a single tree on it to massive up to twice the size of Karakura town.

On one island they ran into a flock of Pidgeot who had ran into the Lucario a few weeks prior ranging the Lucarios numbers somewhere in the thirties and also confirmed the locations given by Scizor. Ichigo had managed to make good progress through the islands since his birthday.

It had been a month since his birthday and he'd made several visits to Kisuke's islands for food supplies. He spent most of the time training himself and his Pokémon, it had gotten to the point where the training was starting to pay off and he could see the improvement in his Pokémon.

He rotated his Pokémon regularly to keep them all up to around the same level with the others. He'd started carrying around eight Pokémon. Celebi and Manaphy's pokeballs on his necklace he got of his family for his birthday and the other six in his belt. Right now his belt was carrying Gyarados, Metang, Plusle, Minun, Fraxure and Pawniard, Leaving Lairon and Gabite to train together for a while.

As of right now they were all walking along a new island they had just got to, so far only a few Pokémon had been seen and they were Pokémon like Croagunks and Poliwags leading Ichigo to believe there was a nearby river or pond since those Pokémon can't normally be found in sea water and are more common in ponds and rivers.

Ichigo with his Metang holding Manaphy and Celebi floating just behind him followed a Poliwag, with its consent of course. And it lead them to a wide open hot springs, surrounding the hot springs was thick trees and foliage on every side meaning you wouldn't be able to spot it unless you knew it was there.

As he stepped into the open area, all the Pokémon looked at him curiously some being too shy or feeling to threatened, swam under the water to hide. The whole spring its self was completely natural but still had deeper sections separated with walls of rocks, which also dubbed as chairs for the Pokémon in the spring.

Ichigo quickly and discreetly raised his forearm to chest level scanning all the Pokémon. He spotted many different types of Pokémon like Dratini and Dragonair, Croagunks, Marill and even Pokémon like Lotad in the steaming water. He stood still for a second, not used to having so much attention just on him before awkwardly waving with a half assed 'hi'.

Luckily Celebi and Manaphy came to the rescues by diving into the water and instantly began speaking and greeting the other Pokémon. Ichigo sighed in relief when the attention was diverted from him. He summoned his Pokémon to his side, with the exception of Gyarados who was to big to fit in such a crowded hot spring.

Plusle and Minun were the first to jump into the shallow end of the springs and starting splash war between the two. Fraxure and Pawniard calm sat on the edge of the water kicking their legs back and forth in the water.

Ichigo sat down next to Pawniard and Metang still hovered behind him. "This place is nice, it seems to be connected to an underground geyser, or something like that, nonetheless the Pokémon seem to like it here." Ichigo mused aloud to his Pokémon.

"(It does seem peaceful here, I wonder if Professor Urahara's Dragonite came from this place?)" Fraxure replied idly. Ichigo took some pictures of the area and Pokémon as he kept his eye on Manaphy and Celebi to make sure they didn't get into trouble. Eventually some of the Pokémon started to come to him, most likely after speaking to Manaphy or Celebi. A Dragonair was the first to swim towards him.

"(Hello, human. If you don't mind me asking, I'd like to know why you're here on this island.)" The dragon asked sternly, Pawniard and Fraxure both looked like they wanted to say some to the dragon but Ichigo spoke first.

"I'm not here for any one reason, I'm here to rest for the day before heading off tomorrow to check another island, I'm also here to see about finding any information about the history of the islands, more accurately I'm looking for what happened to the Groudon who made the islands." Ichigo replied instantly already having rehearsed it in his head in case the Pokémon started to get territorial.

"(Well from what her ladyship Celebi says about the information you have already gathered, you had more than we did, and unfortunately we have none to add to what you have gathered.)" Dragonair said speaking with respect when she spoke of Celebi. 'Huh I guess most Pokémon respect legendries even if they act like kids.' Ichigo mused to himself.

"That's no problem, we're heading toward some Pokémon who may know more about it anyway, me and my team intend to check every one of the islands so we'll find out what happened sooner or later." Ichigo said still speaking calmly not wanting the Dragonair to get angry. The Dragonair said nothing more as it turned and swam away from him.

It was peaceful just sitting back and watching the Pokémon enjoy themselves, he'd glance over to Plusle and Minun only to find Minun flirting with Plusle earning him a smack on the head, or he'd turn to see lots of Pokémon enjoying the spring with Celebi and Manaphy as they both were swimming around happily in the warm water.

As his eyes roamed he spotted lots of other happy Pokémon playing together or just relaxing, and then he spotted a sight which wasn't as happy. Sat atop a rock a distance from the water slumped in obvious saddens was a long Croagunk hidden in the shadows looking from a far as the other Pokémon play.

Ichigo frowned at the scene, he looked around trying to find the reason why the Croagunk was alone and sad, Ichigo could see lots of other Croagunks playing in the water, some even walked past him pretending not to see him, which just made Ichigo frown deepen. As he continued to watch he saw what looked like some of the other Croagunks discreetly pointing at the sad one while snickering.

'So the little guy's being bullied... I should see if I can help.' Ichigo decided as he stood up and walked around the edge of the hot springs with a firm glare aimed at the group of Croagunks that seemed to be talking behind the sad ones back. Some other Pokémon in the springs noticed what was happening and began to slowly drift away from the group of Croagunks in case a fight broke out.

The lonely Croagunk finally noticed Ichigo's approaching figure and got ready to run away, he had enough problems as it was, he didn't need more, just as he was about to get up and run the human spoke up to him.

"Hey are you okay? My names Ichigo Kurosaki, wana tell me why you're all alone?" Ichigo asked sitting down next to the rock that Croagunk sat on. Croagunk felt compelled to answer him, this was the first person to actually seek out speaking to him to check if he was okay.

"(Y-yes, I'm fine, you shouldn't concern yourself about it.)" He croaked out trying to sound confident but failed. Ichigo snorted. "I'm not an idiot, I can see the way those other Croagunk are treating you, don't just let it happen, not when I can help you deal with it." Ichigo retorted as he sent another glare to the group of Croagunk.

'Help, he wants to help me? Why? Who can he help?' Croagunk silently thought to himself. His thoughts were cut off when the group of arrogant looking Croagunks left the spring and walked up to Ichigo and him.

Ichigo stepped in front of the silently scared Croagunk no wanting these bullies to make him feel any worse. "(Step aside human, we have no qualms about poisoning you to get you out the way.)" the head of Croagunk gang spat at him.

"And I have no intention of letting you do anymore to him." Ichigo retorted, he spotted Metang Fraxure and Pawniard approaching from the left out the corner of his eye, he also noticed Plusle and Minun coming from the right all of them to help him if he needed it. Which apparently he did since in the next second he had four different Croagunks jumping at him with their arms raised and with their middle fingers glowing purple. 'Poison jabs!' Ichigo realised, not that he had enough time to dodge as he felt one of the attacks strike his stomach.

"Damn it..." Ichigo groaned as he reacted a little too late, he could already feel the toxins start to spread across his body, like a burning sensation across his whole body. He fell to a knee as he clutched his stomach, his vision began to blur, and the last thing he heard was a shout of. "(Psycho cutter!)" And a series of wails of pain following it.

"(Ichigo! Can you hear me?)" "(Papa?!)" "(Ichigo!)" Numerous shouts from around him but he didn't have the strength to respond as he fell face first into the dirt and was consumed by darkness.


So yeah, been almost two years... yes that long, jeez. So i left this story a long time ago along with a few others, at the time i was so full of ideas that i couldn't stop writing new stories and well the more a wrote on one story the more i lost intrest in another so i stopped uploading the stories i've been writing, it wasn't fair leading people on only to let them down so i'm going to try my best to continue this story and not the others at this time, once this is done i'll move onto others.

In the two years away i've wrote nearly 30 stories, mostly crossovers with bleach and each of them have at least 50k words so it's not that i haven't been writing, just not uploading since i've yet to finish any of them. I know intend to fix this by working on this story and this alone.

I just want to say thanks to those who stuck around and sorry for the wait, i'll try my best and i'll read any feed back you have.

Cya in the next chapter!