Ash, and other characters are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

Animaniacs and Freakazoid characters are from Warner Brothers

Ultimatrix, and aliens are from Cartoon Network/Man of Action

Chapter 11

Ketchum's conundrum

After feeding the three of them along with the Girlfeathers Ash began to wonder the streets of the Warner Brothers studio. 'Must get home. Must get home.' He thought to himself - thinking that he had spent enough time here and needed to go back.

'The real question is - would you be happy there?' A voice questioned in his mind. This caused the physical body to sit in an ally and think. 'True, you aren't naturally from here, but the question is: did you have this kind of freedom back home?' The voice stated to the other half of the mind.

'Truthfully - no, but my Pokemon Master dream has not come to pass yet. I will come back here AFTER that duty is done.' The responsible side of his mind said back calmly.

'Sure. Sure, but what would happen if you can't get home after going home. How will the girls feel? Or more to the point: how would Rita and Runt fare since you know their background.' The other voice questioned which caused the responsible side to become quiet.

'I-I didn't think how they would react if I was able to go home.' The softer side thought in realization, and could not think of anything else to say. All was silent in the trainer's head as he tried to really decide if he was going to break their hearts or stop his dream, but that thought was cut short when he heard.

"Stay back!" A woman shouted causing the one in the ally to look up and see her falling from a building.

"Not on my watch." The hero from another world said as he ran toward her and slammed down on the armband.

"Humungousaur!" The brown dino shouted as he charged at the building. The nest thing the woman knew she felt leather all around her; it wasn't until the actress looked up that she saw the reason.

'What is this thing doing? This was supposed to be my big death scene.' The woman thought as she stared at her rescuer. The creature then lowered her down to the ground.

"Get to safety. I'll take care of this guy." The beast shouted before slamming the symbol on his chest.

"Spidermonkey!" The blue fuzzy one shouted before scaling up the building, not noticing the hollow thuds as he climbed it, and stopped at the top of the building. Back on the ground someone was watching him.

"Should I stop rolling, sir?" The man with the recorder questioned to his boss since this was not listed on the script.

"No, let's see where this goes." The other said calmly with a dismissal wave. Back on the 'roof' Ash had just now transformed into another form.

"Swampfire!" The green coated one shouted aloud. The man before him was confused since this was not what he read, but before anything could be said or done the redhead before him tossed a few seeds on the ground.

'Hmm?' The man before the hero thought as he stared at the seeds. It was then vines came from the seeds and coiled around him - immobilizing him.

"Now, stay put until the police arrive." The being before the actor shouted out before tapping the symbol on his chest and transformed again:

"Bloodrush!" The creature shouted out and glided away from the building and back where he started. "That's weird. I've never went this guy before." The bat said before sensing something behind him.

"That was incredible. I was only hired to oversee the latest Batman movie, but what you did was just great." The black haired man said to the hero who seemed confused at first.

"Movie?" The teen questioned before looking past the crowd and saw a lot of recording equipment along with a stunt double pillow by the building. This shouwed the hero that the woman would have fine without his help.

"Interested in starring in your own movie?" The man, who Ash realized now was Tim Burton, offered to the out of towner.

"I appreciate that, but I only tried to help because I thought someone was in danger. I'll go now." Ketchum said before activating his device, turned into a blue/black creature and sped away.

"So much for that angle. Looks like we're going to need that retake." The overseer of the movie said to the people around him. As they went back to work the speed creature made it to a different spot of the lot.

"That was kind of embarrassing." Ash said after changing back to his human form and leaned against a tree - grateful that it was real. With a heavy sigh the young man went to looking to see if one of his friends needed his help.

"No need for any help, Ash." Katie stated to the trainer in a calm tone after he went to her home and asked if there was something that she wanted. The blonde was happy that he had taught her to keep her cool, so she rarely, if ever, turned into a monster.

"Thank you for your time." The transformer replied back to her before walking off. He then went to the sewer to see if his leather skinned chum. On his way to the main area a rather large creature stood behind him. "Hey, big guy, is your mistress home?" He asked calmly, not bothered by the beast's appearance.

'That is one thing I like about this human.' The leather skinned one thought before guiding the mortal to the proper place. After going through four different pipes they found themselves in a large opening in the sewer.

"Hello, Ash, it's good to see that you are here to feed my pets." Audrey Manatee stated with a smirk since she liked the effort he put into pleasing his friends. He nodded and decided to feed them without the use of his alien forms.

'She would truly be a great snake trainer…just like Spike Queen Lucy.' Ash thought and stalled for a moment, but quickly went back to pouring the two their snake kibble. "Happy to help, Cobra Queen, but I gotta go." The human said before transforming.

"Goop!" As soon as the transformation was complete he jumped into the water and flowed away - into one of the pipes. He continued on his way until a storm drain passed his line of sight.

'I'm thinking of my own world again.' Ash thought after slithering through the drain and transformed back into his civilian form. 'Why shouldn't I think of my world since I was born there?' The boy thought with a sigh, but was interrupted by three familiar blurs.

"Catch us if you can, Ketchum." Dot shouted at him before joining her fleeing brothers.

'Maybe this will clear my mind.' The trainer told himself before racing after them. He used his basic monkey motions: climbing/leaping from gutters, running on the top of fences, and using any sort of obsicle to aid him for speed.

"This is his best time yet." The eldest said as he pulled a pocket watch out and saw that the new guys speed time was better then the last time they did this. Again another memory flowed into the youth's mind:

'Team Rocket helped me build my stamina due to all of their runaway tactics.' Ketchum thought and felt bad, but only for a moment before transforming again. In a blur of blue and black the three of them were cornered by a speed warrior.

"What do you call this guy, Ash?" The Warners three questioned as they took a good look at the new guy and could tell that it was not XLR8 in the slightest. The transformed man looked at his latest hands and knew that this one was knew.

'Strange, I could have sworn that I dialed up XLR8, but this isn't him.' The hero thought before answering with, "No idea, I guess the Ultimatrix is just wanting to show me some new faces." The triplets could have used a Pokemon referance, but they chose not to do it: for their friend's sake.

"You caught us fair and square so we will be going now." The eldest of the three said to their human friend. As soon as they faced the tower however a bright green light went off behind them.

"Echo Echo." The white skinned creature shouted before looking at the Unknown skin toned ones. "Still, I better follow you." He said and created a Secret Service barrier around them.

"I know! I know!" The glutton shouted in praise since he knew how to handle this. The creatures around him only starred as the devourer of everything spun in place, and when he stopped the hat wearing youth was wearing a suit.

"I get it, too." Dot said with a big smile before spinning as well, and that is what the brains of their team did as well. When the other two were done spinning they too were stylized in Presidential attire.

'Maybe I should have tried another style.' One of the sound manipulators thought before continuing to guide them to the Water Tower. Once there the Warners three used their elevator tactic, jumped over the railing, and went inside.

"I still wish I knew how they do that sort of thing." Ash muttered after reverting back to his human form. As the Pallet Town protector left for a different part he could only think of how knowing that secret would help in a gym battle. 'People would not be expecting a floating Pikachu.' The trainer thought with a smile before shaking it off. "Maybe some sky time will clear my head." Ketchum muttered before activating his device.

"Jetray!" The red scaled alien shouted before heading high into the sky. High above the clouds the hero flew around: taking deep breaths, looking at the scenery down below as a means to calm him down from these conflicting feelings. At first the plan did not work until he came across an ariel view of a familiar dwelling. "Maybe talking to Minerva will help." The alien said before swooping down for a landing.

'Ash, what is he doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see him, but his timing could not be worse.' The white furred beauty thought as she was doing some stretching and saw the glider had landed and transformed to his true self.

"Hey, Minerva…what's wrong?" He started out happy, but changed to worry when he saw her walk funny.

"It's nothing, Ash, I'm fine." The fuzzy one said back to him with a forced smile since the strain was getting the better of her. Naturally she saw that her comment did not change his facial expression.

"You are not fine. It looks like you pulled a muscle." He informed and she seemed surprised that he caught on rather quickly. "Come on, let's go inside. Maybe there's something I could do." He informed in a gentleman fashion as he opened the door for her.

'Keep your hormones in check Minerva, old girl, he's just being polite.' The beautiful woman thought to herself as she was surpressing her primal nature to mark her property. The two went inside and he helped her take a seat at her make-up station's chair.

"Just relax, and I will show you a trick or two I learned when dealing with this sort of thing." The human said to her before using the same massaging steps Suzie taught Brock and himself. In thirty minutes or so most of the minor muscle damage that she took was fading away.

'I feel twenty times better.' The attractive one thought with a sigh of relief as she felt more and more of her body returning to normal.

"How did all of your muscles get so tense?" The monster trainer questioned since he put the safety high on his 'to-do' list. He had his hunch, but he wanted her to say something.

"It was…um…you see…" THat was all she could think of since she did not wish to tell him that she had strainer her muscles from beating the crap out of the perverts around her.

"I get it." The catcher interrupted her before adding, "Rath will have a few words with some of your…admirers." The Mink got a good chuckle out of what he said. After fifteen more minutes of that sort of attention her pain was completely gone.

"Ah, thanks Ash. I feel much better." She said in an honest tone while raising from her chair. The two stared at one another for a moment, but in an instant she gave him a hug out of appreciation.

'This is unexpected.' The monster tamer thought as his body stood frozen over her sign of affection. 'This scent reminds me of the time I badmouthed Erika's perfume…only different.' He thought as he took a whiff of the white furred one's herbal shampoo that rests in her hair.

"Sorry about that. I'm just grateful of having my body back to full health." The blonde woman explained after separating from him. He gave her a kind smile before leaving: letting her know that he did not mind.

'I know it's early, but I think I better just head back to my house.' Ketchum thought as he simply walked back. When Ash made it to his temporary home a thought, the same thought as before came to mind, 'What am I going to do: if I stay I'll be happy, but I will never fulfill my dream. If I go everyone that I've ever made friends here will be devastated - I can't win.' The trainer tried to block that out and take a nap.

'I wish there was something I could do.' Rita and Runt thought as they saw the troubled face of their one and only owner, and wanted to make him happy.