A/N: Alright so here come some answers and some more questions. Mostly more questions what am I saying. Anyway hopefully this will be wrapped up sometime within the next year or three.
So again sorry for the delay, as I've said in A Really Nice Shot!, I was delayed by some excitingly terrible developments with my now former supervisor. I did just want to thank my fans again for sticking it out. I know this story has been going on forever and a day. So please read and review! Enjoy!
Ever Grande City: Natural Cure:
-Ever Grande City-
"Wallace you lazy lay about, get up!" Phoebe yelled as she threw Wallace's door open to his chambers. It didn't surprise the young elite four member in the least that Wallace was lying on his bed with his hat pulled down over his face.
Her eyebrow twitched when her yell didn't elicit a response. She started to walk over to her supervisor...and she used that term loosely to rouse him from his nap. It was times like this she yearned for the days that Steven was still the champion. The man at least could run the league without shoving his work off to his underlings.
"Wallace! Wake up!" She raised her voice once more as she looked for an object to pelt him with.
"Come on Phoebe, leave me alone, I'll do it later I promise." Wallace muttered in annoyance at the interruption to his nap. Why was it always Phoebe...actually why was it always Phoebe in her official capacity. A lecherous grin crossed his face, he wouldn't mind seeing her off hours in her "uniform" it only lasted a second before a book connected with his face that snapped his head to the right.
He sat up stock straight as he rubbed his face. He glanced over at Phoebe with a hurt expression as he rubbed his face. "Oww...Phoebe why do you wound me so?"
"You were thinking pervy thoughts again." Phoebe responded in a dry tone as she hefted her pokeball. "Now would you get up already, you're needed."
"Alright I'm up, I'm up." Wallace raised his hands in surrender, not ever attempting to correct Phoebe's assessment of his thought process a moment ago.
"So what cruel fate do you have in store for me today?"
"Other than your job?" Phoebe queried with a withering glare.
"Also that." Wallace grinned as he stretched his arms over his head in an attempt to remove the kinks from his neck. After a moment of luxuriating in the sunshine coming in through his window he finally got himself out of bed with a yawn.
"We have the dignitaries coming in from the Kanto and Johto region. It'd be nice if we could have our Champion greet them." Phoebe reminded her commander.
"Well, if I must." Wallace let out an undignified huff.
"Yes, you must." Phoebe responded as if talking to a small child.
"No need to get in a huff my darling little Phi-Phi." Wallace waved off her reprimanding with a grin.
"Lech." Phoebe ended the conversation before it fell into more sexual innuendo and the use of that horrid nick name he seemed to love to use because it got under her skin. "They'll be arriving in an hour. Please make yourself suitable. I'd hate to have to call Steven again to fill in."
"Don't run from my love my darling Phi-Phi!" Wallace called after her with an appreciative eye for her swaying hips as she retreated.
The lecherous smile fell off his face the moment Phoebe made it out the door. Replaced by a contemplative look. Sometimes it felt like he had been Champion forever. It had been at Steven's request that he took over as Champion. Steven felt he would be better as a researcher than a leader in these tough times. While Steven was excellent at what he did and was rather popular by name alone he didn't have the personality the people needed. Someone with unfounded confidence that they could defeat Team Aqua Rocket, or at least someone that could fake it.
If the people really knew how desperate they were...he had even repelled the declaration that certain people like Gary Oak were no longer welcomed in Hoenn. Although it had been a hard sell, he needed all the help he could get. Gary Oak was one of the premier scientists in the world.
Steven was amazing in his own right but he was focused more on research and technology. Professor Birch was lost when Little Root fell. From their intelligent sources the man was still alive but probably being pumped for all the information he knew regarding the legendary pokemon Kyogre.
A frown overtook his face at the thought of Aqua Rocket discovering where the Cave of Origins was located. It was their best guess as to where the orb of power was located to summon Kyogre. It was well defended in the Cave of Origins, not even he could penetrate the barrier.
They had set up a guard anyway headed by Roxanne and Flannery. The two were forced to flee their hometowns as Aqua Rocket would have killed them whether they capitulated or not.
It would only be a matter of time of course. Aqua Rocket ruled the seas.
While they managed to keep the other islands connected and supplied with the use of their large air force. Aqua Rocket had sunk most of their fleet. The little remaining fleet they had was all that kept Lily Cove City afloat with supplies from Johto. That and Watson's affinity for electric types.
He supposed he should get ready to meet the reinforcements or as he told the people of Hoenn, consultants that would assist Hoenn in retaking their home from terrorists. It always helped to make the people think that it would be the Rangers of Hoenn that would retake their homeland and that there would be little involvement from outside political parties.
While Johto, Kanto, and Sinnoh had been quite forgiving in the price to rent out their people. Unova had requested trade deals that bordered on extortion not that Wallace had any choice in the matter. Of course if they didn't win then they wouldn't have to pay Unova anything. A small smirk came to his face. It'd serve the bastards right for their complete disregard.
And knowing his luck Unova would only send some low level Rangers and a couple of their gym leaders as support. Still war was not won by super soldiers but every day people doing the grunt work.
Wallace shook his head. No use getting in a huff about the entire agreement, he was fairly sure he could sweet talk the Dragon Princess of Unova into a better deal later on. Besides with Kanto and Johto backing him, even with their weakened status they still held a lot of sway over the other regions due to Red and Blue being in command. Their power was legendary and while Unova may hold delusions of grandeur even they weren't stupid...at least he hoped.
He was just about ready to head down and get ready for another public meet and greet when the klaxon went off. It took him by surprise, an attack on the League seat? They dared? With a growl of annoyance he took off down the hall and took the stairs two by two.
It was only a moment later that he ran into Sidney. The rough looking man shot a smile at his commander. "Looks like we're gonna get some action, yeah?"
"Don't look so excited." Wallace reprimanded without any real bite in his voice.
"Sorry Chiefy but I've been itchin' to wipe some Rocket scum from the land. Last one to the battle field's a rotten egg!" The rough looking man overtook his commanding officer and headed out towards the outer walls.
Wallace shook his head in amusement as he watched his subordinate rush off to battle. Hiding behind walls wasn't Sidney's style so it didn't surprise him that the Dark type Master would head out to start an offensive attack on the invaders to the Island. He made his way to the great hall where all trainers started their challenge to the Elite Four. It was likely where the others would meet.
He was not disappointed. Phi-Phi was there of course already looking anxious, she was probably concerned about the incoming parties from the other regions if he knew her. Glacia looked cool as ever and appeared to be unconcerned with the attack. She was confident in her ability to repel anything Aqua brought to bear against them. Finally Drake was there as well, sharing Glacia's cool look.
"Your orders?" Drake half asked and half commanded the moment the two made eye contact.
"Sidney's already gone ahead. Drake, you and I will head out to support him. Phoebe, use your ghosts to keep our citizens safe. Glacia you'll stay here to guard the city with the remaining Rangers." Wallace quickly decided on the best way to use the resources he had.
Luckily Steven was in Sootopolis City with Wallace's former mentor Juan along with Norman so they should be able to protect the city if Aqua was attacking the nearby island as well. Liza and Tate would have to hold Moss Deep alone if it came under attack. Unfortunately he had no further time to consider such issues.
"Do you think they've found the Cave?" Drake asked as he quickly caught up to Wallace. The stern looking man's severe face almost made him look angry.
"Let's hope not but if we send anyone to check on the guard they'll surely follow and discover it if they don't know already. We'll have to trust that Flannery and Roxanne to keep the entrance from being discovered." Wallace replied with a rare frown crossing his face.
"Hn…" Drake muttered non-committedly. The moment the two cleared the door to the outside the older man was already throwing forth a pokeball. A moment later his Salamence appeared in a blast of red light.
"I'm going to catch up to that idiot before he gets himself killed." Drake commented in a tone that brooked no argument.
Wallace was left to watch the older man take off atop his Salamence. He swore it was just to show off but the old man just stood on the back of his dragon without any hand holds with his arms shoved in his jacket pockets.
He shook his head in amusement before he also called forth his own pokemon, Gyarados. The giant water dragon rose off the ground before roaring out a challenge to anyone that dared. Wallace gracefully leaped upon his pokemon's back and guided it out towards the port. He could see the giant ship from here. How it had gotten past their scouts...well he had a feeling that the scouts wouldn't be reporting in any time soon.
- Hoenn Region - Ever Grande City -
Two men dashed through the forest while jumping over rocks and fallen trees. The older one pushed ahead of the younger one and soon had gotten a comfortable lead on the younger man.
The sound of the buzzing ahead only made him push himself harder in his attempt to make it before the gate closed...again. It had been years since he had gotten this close. Every other time he had missed it or it was going to a time line too far in the future or the past. Finally after getting help from Gary Oak's great great grandson Stanford...and that was a head trip to think about. He had narrowed down Celebi's next appearance to a small area in the Hoenn region near Ever Grande City...which was amazingly hard to get into when you were still considered an enemy of the state even nearly three hundred and fifty years later.
He clenched his gloved hand in excitement, he was getting closer. He could feel it through his Aura. He sent the small tendrils out ahead to pinpoint the tear in time. "I don't see why we couldn't have just found Dialga rather than playing tag with Celebi!"
"You want to go find a Legendary pokemon and attempt to convince it to let you off in the past?" The younger man let out a huff as he drew in a ragged breath from running and talking.
"Hey I used to have a Legendary pokemon that was a friend, I'm sure I could have pulled it off." Ash responded lightly as he dodged around a tree that was in his way.
"Well why didn't you call on that friend to help you out in the past few years?" Stan called back in an annoyed tone. Not to mention it would have been great to see a Legendary pokemon up close and personal.
"Never thought of it!" Ash called back with a grin.
"Idiot." Stan muttered under his breath as he followed the man that just showed up at his lab one night five years ago. No explanation other than declaring that he knew Gary Oak and he had a standing offer to crash at the lab at any time. At first he was doubtful but the man knew his way around the lab and had even shown him a few secret rooms he didn't know about. The personal journals from Gary Oak had been quite enlightening.
"Besides for all I know he may be dead, he wasn't exactly a normal Legendary, i'm assuming if he was alive he would have found me!" Ash called back.
Or he didn't want to get tied up in the insanity that was Ash Ketchum again. That was what was more likely as far as Stan was concerned if the pokemon was still alive.
It had been a pain keeping Ash away from any history from his time or any mention of it for the past five years. He had reasoned that if Ash changed it in any way he may change something just enough so he didn't exist. He liked existing thank you very much.
Ash had changed in the past five years. He no longer wore a hat to cover his spiky hair. Instead he just let it free. Gone were the aura suppressing crystals and now instead of two gloves he only wore the one on his right hand. On that glove, twelve crystals of different colors. The signature vest was also gone. While he could have replaced it, he just couldn't get into the styles of this century. Instead he opted for his traditional jeans and black shirt. Perhaps if he made it this time he could actually replace his vest.
A small smile crossed his face at the thought. The chance to be back with friends pushed him on faster. It was much easier than he expected. After all these years of chasing Celebi he was expecting a grand entrance or perhaps a last minute dive into the entrance to the past. Instead he burst out into the small field to find the portal wide open.
This was it, the Celebi traveling back to his time...or at least as close as he'd ever get. He turned back to face the path he had just come from to see Stanford bursting out of the tree line. The young man shared much of Gary Oak's features but instead of brown hair he had blue hair. It was a little weird but after working with him for the past five years he had gotten used to it.
"Last chance if you wanna come to the past, you could be a genius in your field." Ash said with a grin.
"I'm already a genius in my field." Stan responded sourly as he eyed the portal with interest. He was just itching to measure the power output and cursed himself internally for not bringing his field gear with him.
Ash waved off Stan's reply with his hand. "Yeah but you could make up a new name, maybe something better than Oak."
Stan let out a half strangled sigh of annoyance as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Contrary to your belief, I'm actually proud of the Oak name."
"You're so uptight." Ash chuckled in response.
"And you're an idiot." Stan replied dryly.
"I'm just pointing out you could bring all your future knowledge to the past and rule us Neanderthals with your sky magic." Ash grinned in jest.
"And you don't think it'd be a little odd if you came back from the future...since I highly doubt you could keep your mouth shut about it and a genius prodigy arrived at the very same time?" Stan queried.
"You're really no fun." Ash practically pouted in annoyance.
"And besides if I'm correct, I wouldn't survive the journey and I enjoy existing."
"You'll never know if you don't try." Ash pointed out with a small grin.
"I think I'd prefer not to know rather than be dragged along to what will surely be my death by some overzealous idiot." Stan bit back with a hint of superiority in his tone.
"Typical Gary, even managed to pass along his snobbery to his descendants." Ash muttered more to himself than Stan.
Stan rolled his eyes at Ash's childness before gesturing to the portal that was starting to shrink in size. "Shouldn't you be going?"
"Don't want to be stuck with me for another nine years?" Ash shot back.
"Honestly, no."
"We could always hunt down Dialga together." Ash offered with a wink as he started to walk backwards towards the portal.
"I already said no...besides did you forget our ill-fated hunt for Mew?" Stan responded with a shooing motion as if it would get Ash to go faster.
"I said I was sorry." Ash whined.
"Your portal is closing." Stan pointed out dryly as he made a motion to the purple vortex that had started to close in on itself.
"Well in that case good luck Stan, it was nice meeting you." Ash called out before he dove through the swirling purple and black time vortex that Celebi had generated with its power.
"Don't let my great great grandfather die! I prefer to exist!" Stan called out at the last moment.
It was a strange sensation, being sucked in felt like a slow drain on his powers. It was probably his Aura automatically activating to shield him from the temporal distortion. Only someone with either psychic or aura power could survive a passage through time as Stan had theorized. It was why he believed you didn't see people popping out left and right all over time. If anyone could survive it, more than just Ash would have stumbled across Celebi's open portals. Then again who other than Ash would really advertise where they were from?
It had been his Aura that opened a gate to a new time back in Slateport. The release of that much Aura energy had created a rip and sucked him in right as the explosion of his power was released. It had been a close thing, there was no way he would have survived the blast that originated from his Aura if he hadn't been sucked in at the last moment.
Ash took one last look at the future...or at least a possibility of a future. It had been all rather confusing and he had gotten to the point he stopped asking for an explanation. It hurt his head just a little too much. Stanford was still standing there in the clearing watching as the vortex slowly collapsed in on itself. He watched as the swirling portal behind him finally closed itself off, sealing any chance of going back. Which sealed his chance of getting back to killing that snarky professor if he was wrong about where this Celebi was going.
Ash took a deep breath as he started to get pushed out the other side. This was it, he'd be stuck here on the other side one way or another. The chances of being able to track down Celebi again and figure out where it'd be jumping to next would be next to nil. It all happened too quickly. One second he was standing on solid ground the next moment he was in the air.
Oh shit he was in the air. This had never been in Stanford's calculations...then again the kid did seem a bit spotty when it came to where he'd be coming in and continuously asked him if he could fly. Ash instinctively attempted to turn back to go after that little jerk but found that the portal had snapped shut behind him. It brought his attention back to his current predicament. He was falling at a rather high rate of speed.
He could barely keep his eyes open from the force of the air rushing up at him. Struggling against the pull of gravity Ash managed to bring his left hand up to the glove on his right hand and depress the white crystal. A beam of white light shot forth in the air before it transformed into a giant bird. Ash's Pidgeot to be exact. The large bird gracefully pulled itself underneath it's trainer without an order having to be issued.
Ash let out a sigh of relief as he grabbed onto the giant bird's back and felt himself slow from the free fall as Pidgeot circled down towards the ground. It was different after being in the future for so long. The sun subjectively felt brighter and the air fresher. Of course most of that could have been where he was so far above the ground. It was only as he started to come in closer to the ground that he became aware of an all-out battle occurring below him.
"Thanks Pidgeot." Ash commented as he leaned over his pokemon in an attempt to get a better visual of what was occurring below. After a few frustrating moments he gave up and decided the only way he could find out what was going on would be coming down lower for a visual. He'd have to rely on his luck and patented Ash Ketchum back up plan, that being blast anything that attacked him first.
"Alright Pidgeot, let's see what's going on. Remember try to stick to the edges of the battle." Ash felt a rush of air as the giant bird glided down lower to the ground. As they got closer and closer to the ground and the battle he realized where he was at least. He was above Ever Grande City. It was under attack and as he came closer he identified the instigators. Team Aqua's battleship Draken sat there proudly in the bay. Pokemon seemed to be coming out from the boat in droves as they clashed with League forces.
Well on the plus side he was back in the correct era...he hoped. It looked like he was about to be pulled into the battle whether he was in the right time one way or another. He wasn't keen on letting Aqua have something it wanted. As he got closer he realized it was an all-out attack on the League seat of Hoenn. Had things really gone this far South while he had been in the future? Ash filed it under things to worry about later. The only way he'd get those answers was if he helped repel the assault.
He decided the most expedient way was to get said answers was a clear and decisive victory. It appeared his first examples had arrived. A group of Team Aqua members had spotted him below and were using their electric types to send lightning bolts into the sky. With a tap of his finger a fire red crystal on his glove was depressed and Charizard formed into existence. The giant fire dragon let out a challenging roar to the entire area.
"Now why don't we try out that new power." Ash let out a wild laugh as he depressed the crystal a second time. Team Aqua may have been dabbling with it but in the future it had been perfected.
"Fire dragon roar, fire dragon slash, Charizard!" Ash called out as de depressed the red crystal a second time. A beam of energy shot out and connected with Charizard, enveloping the dragon in a cocoon of energy.
A moment later Charizard X burst out of the cocoon, now a blue and black dragon unlike anything that had ever been seen in Hoenn. The Burning Nightmare had returned to Hoenn and he would mete out punishment and destruction on Team Aqua.
The men and their pokemon below didn't get a chance to respond as Charizard slammed into the ground below performing an earth quake attack that rattled the enemy pokemon to their core and sent Team Aqua members flying in the air. It was followed by a flame thrower attack that incinerated any survivors.
"Gotta finish this quick." Ash muttered before directing Charizard to the next group of enemy combatants. Screams rent the air as Charizard plowed through another group of Team Aqua grunts and their pokemon while enveloped in a Flame Charge.
-Ever Grande City – Forest region
Gary gritted his teeth as he threw himself against a tree to avoid a random blast from a Flamethrower attack. The air stank of burnt ozone that caused him to wrinkle his nose in disgust. A quick glance over to Dawn confirmed she was still among the living. They had picked a hell of a time to arrive and ran right into a Rocket assault on Ever Grande City. At the moment they were fighting their way through to the walls and hopefully safety if they didn't get blasted by an overzealous Ranger first.
"Electivire use thunderbolt!" Gary commanded as he trusted his pokemon to pick his target. They currently were engaging with a small group of Rocket pokemon and their trainers. He used the distraction of Electivire's thunderbolt to close the gap to the tree Dawn was currently using as cover.
"You ok?"
Dawn simply raised her eyebrow at his question.
"Alright stupid question but we've got to get moving before they surround us." Gary pointed out.
Dawn nodded in agreement to that statement. They had been forced further into the forest and they were coming up on a clearing. If they didn't get out of here they'd be completely cut off from the city. She glanced up into the sky with a frown. Even through the trees she could see that flying back out wasn't an option. They had just barely made it onto the island and now Aqua Rocket's aerial force seemed to be dominating the sky. They'd be shot down in a moment.
"Any chance you can get that Mewtwo to help you?" Dawn queried as she directed Mamoswine to cover the entire area to the side of them with an ice beam attack. She hoped it would discourage anyone from flanking them. She winced slightly at the retaliatory strikes that Mamoswine endured for his trouble.
"He isn't exactly a Golden Retriever." Gary quipped in a dry tone.
"So what's the point of having a connection with a Legendary pokemon again?" Dawn responded sarcastically.
"I used to ask Ash the same question, I still haven't come up with a good answer, now you ready to get out of here?"
"You finally come up with a plan that doesn't involve either one of us losing a hand?" Dawn wiggled the fingers on her right hand as Gary directed Electivire to prepare a Flash attack.
"Close your eyes, we'll make a run across the field while they're distracted." Gary commanded, completely ignoring the fact that Dawn was making fun of him. Mostly because she did this all the time. Only his wife would find his amputation funny.
Dawn nodded before quickly recalling Mamoswine. They'd have to make a run for it and hope to lose them past the field and unfortunately Mamoswine wasn't exactly inconspicuous. With a flash of red light her pokemon disappeared back into the pokeball. She then threw her hand up in front of her face as a bright light lit up the entire forest.
Gary held his hand up in front of his closed eyes. The screams confirmed that he had hit his mark. In one fluid movement he recalled Electivire and snapped the pokeball back into his belt. "Time to go!"
The pair made a break from their hiding place and made a dash across the long expanse of the field. If they could make it across to the other side they could probably make it to the city before the Rocket team recovered.
Unfortunately the pair were shaken off their feet before they could reach the edge of the woods and slip into the trees. A rumbling sound came from underneath the pair a moment later. Gary and Dawn rolled away from the ground as a giant Steelix erupted from the ground in between the pair before diving back into the ground causing the earth around them to shudder.
"Where the hell did that thing come from?" Gary cried out as he finally got to his feet again. A wary look around didn't reveal anyone or any signs of the Steelix.
"Maybe it was wild." Dawn suggested as she too looked around as she drifted back towards Gary, a pokeball in her hand.
"We're not that lucky." Gary responded tiredly as he too withdrew a new pokeball. He had been hoping to avoid any further battling. He was tired of fighting but it seemed the fighting wasn't done with him quite yet.
"So the rumors were true, Professor Oak, a pleasure." A young woman finally stepped out from under a tree she had been standing under while directing her Steelix. She had to hand it to the pair they would have gotten away if not for the fact she was waiting for them. Ever since they landed she had been tracking them.
"I'm sure." Gary quipped back dryly. He studied the young woman with a critical eye, he was trying to place her. She wore a pair of blue bellbottom pants with matching blue boots. Her midriff was exposed but she wore a blue long sleeve shirt that had loose sleeves. Long black hair with dark blue highlights and bright blue eyes that contrasted against her dark olive complexion. It didn't take a genius to link her to Team Aqua. She must have made the cut during Koga's purge.
"I've been instructed to offer you and your wife a position with Team Aqua Rocket." Shelly stated completely brushing off Gary's response.
"And if I refuse?" Gary asked even though he probably already knew the answer.
"I kill your wife and drag you back to our lab. We use you like we use Professor Birch." Shelly commented with a shrug as if to say it didn't bother her which option was chosen by the two.
"Well, never tell anyone that Rocket doesn't offer options." Dawn quipped before she released her pokeball. Her Lopunny appeared in a flash of red light. The tall rabbit pokemon surveying the field as its giant ears perked up slightly.
"Too bad I always find myself wanting a third." Gary responded to his wife with a grin as he released his Blastoise to assist against Shelly. Unfortunately the group in the woods had partially recovered and soon a Magmar and Politoed emerged from the edge of the woods they had just come from.
"Very well, Professor Oak." Shelly didn't bat an eye at the responses. It hadn't been a surprise really. With a flick of her hand she pulled a crystal from her wide armed sleeve.
"Steelix, Mega Evolve." She called out as Steelix burst out of the ground a beam of light left the crystal she held in her hand and struck the giant iron snake. A moment later it started to glow, quickly growing in length. Giant slabs of steel grew out of its head while the churning spikes lengthened and turned to hardened diamond. Finally the pokemon let out a roar of challenge.
"This isn't good." Gary muttered as he realized the predicament they were in. Three on two wasn't good to begin with but now they had to deal with one of Rocket's science experiments. He had run into a mega pokemon during the Succession wars. Agatha had gotten a hold of a way to mega evolve her Ganger. It had taken over ten fully evolved pokemon to finally take it down and with it Agatha.
"So joining Aqua Rocket still on the table?" Dawn shot back with a grin.
"I'm thinking no." Gary responded as Shelly directed Steelix to dive underground again. The giant steel snake dove through the ground causing Gary and Dawn to almost fall down again. Now that it had mega evolved it was able to cause tremors across the entire area.
"Lopunny, use your ears to detect it!" Dawn ordered.
"Blastoise, keep the pressure up on those other two with Hydro Cannon!" Gary ordered as well.
The giant turtle pokemon leveled it's cannons at the other two pokemon on the field and let loose a pressurized blast of water at Magmar and Politoed. Unsurprisingly the toad pokemon jumped in front of Magmar and took the blast of water for the fire type.
Just as Blastoise was recovering from the attack it just launched the ground beneath it started to rumble.
"Blastoise!" The giant sea turtle cried out in surprise as Mega Steelix erupted from underneath the turtle sending Blastoise sailing into the air.
"Now...Steelix. Iron tail." Shelly commanded calmly as she watched the fight with barely veiled contempt. It wasn't hard with Steelix's ability magnified by the mega evolution. The steel snake's tail flashed in the light of the sun as it flew through the air before connecting with Blastoise's hard shell.
The attack sent Blastoise spinning towards the ground at high velocity.
"Withdraw Blastoise!" Gary cried out in an attempt to save his pokemon. Luckily Blastoise had enough wherewithal to follow Gary's command not that it didn't stop the blow from knocking the pokemon out and cracking its shell.
Gary winced before recalling his pokemon and clicking the stasis button. It wouldn't heal the turtle but it would hopefully keep him alive long for him to make it to Ever Grande City, although he had a feeling that chance was slipping away.
"Lopunny!" Dawn cried out as her pokemon took a double punishment of a flame thrower and water gun attack. The bunny pokemon cried out as it used its ears to block the attack but at the cost of exposing itself to Steelix.
With a roar the giant steel snake brought its tail down on both Dawn and Lopunny. A rush of sand caused the entire area to become obscured in dust.
"Dawn!" Gary cried out in desperation even though he knew on some level it was pointless. It was happening all over again. Lily had died because he wasn't strong enough. He couldn't save another person. Tears started to stream down his eyes as he rushed towards the Steelix. He came to a stop as he stared down at the crater that the tail had created. The steel snake hadn't moved his tail from where it had landed on Dawn and her Lopunny.
Gary fell to his knees, tears running down his face as he stared into the crater and the giant pokemon's tail. He caught sight of blood on the ground. There was a splattering of it in a line out from under Mega Steelix and ran up the wall of the crater. It wasn't a lot but it was enough for him to confirm that Dawn nor Lopunny had made it.
"Are you ready now Professor?" Shelly called out over the battlefield. Just as she thought, killing his wife would break his ability to resist.
"Fuck you!" Gary growled back as he just stared down at where a moment ago Dawn and Lopunny had been. It wasn't possible. How could he fail his second chance at love? Why did he fail everyone he loved? Lily, AJ, Ash, Gramps, and now Dawn. Everyone around him died and he wasn't strong enough to stop it.
"That can be arranged if you will come with us quietly." Shelly responded dispassionately.
"You people are monsters. Don't you give a shit about what you're doing?" Gary responded with a roar.
"Everyone is the hero in their own eyes, Professor." Shelly responded with a small smile. "To us you are the evil enemy trying to stop our just cause. To you we are evil. We are simply just products of our choices doing what we believe it right."
"Don't try to rationalize your murders because I certainly acknowledge that I will kill you all in the name of vengeance." Gary roared out in anger before withdrawing three more pokeballs. He would avenge Dawn even if it killed him. This time he wouldn't run away. He stood up with tears still streaming down his face before turning to face Shelly and the two other grunts that had moved around to stand by her.
"Professor Oak, I will only ask one more time." Shelly stated in a dispassionate tone her eyes showed little emotion regarding the fact she had just killed a human.
"I'll murder every last one of you." Gary responded as he enlarged the pokeballs. The odd didn't matter anymore.
"I somehow doubt that Professor." Shelly responded matter of factly as she gave a nod to the two grunts.
"Take him alive."
Gary was about to respond when Steelix roared in surprise. The giant steel snake was launched into the air by a powerful blast of Aura. The blue light slowly disappeared as the giant steel snake came crashing down to the surface with a roar of pain at the surprise landing.
"Well that was close." Ash chuckled as he slowly released the Aura shield that had encased Dawn, Lopunny, Lucario, and himself. The ex-Ranger shook his head and slowly worked out the quirk in his arm by spinning it. With a grin he jumped out of the crater that Steelix had created.
"Long time no see Gary...hey...need a hand?" Ash queried as he wiggled the fingers on his right hand while making a motion towards Gary's metal hand.
Gary just stared at Ash in surprise as he turned his eyes to see Dawn and Lopunny still alive and unhurt minus a small cut across Dawn's face. He was in shock and unable to process what was going on. His right arm went slack, his hand barely able to keep a hold on his pokeballs.
"Right, probably should have prefaced that with a hello, how are you? Oh and your great great grandson's grandmother is fine...finally found out where that blue hair came from." Ash raised his free hand to his head and scratched his head a little with an awkward grin.
The reunion was broken by Shelly commanded Steelix to attack once more. The Aqua Rocket commander had no time to deal with whoever this new player was. He looked familiar...like she had seen him somewhere before but she couldn't place him. Perhaps it was one of Kanto's Gym Leaders sent as protection? That was her best guess.
"Steelix, once more Iron Tail. Smash them to pieces!" Shelly commanded with the first hint of emotion she had let slip the entire battle. It worried her that the man's Lucario had blocked Steelix's attack even though Lucario was a fully evolved pokemon it shouldn't have been able to block a Mega's attack all by itself.
"Lucario block it with Bone Rush!" Ash commanded. He watched with pride as Lucario managed to match the attack from Steelix with his bone staff and hold the glowing iron tail attack back. The pressure of Steelix's weight slowly started to push Lucario into the ground.
"You may as well give up. Nothing can stand up against our Mega Evolution pokemon. Their power is too great for even your Lucario to withstand the attacks for long." Shelly growled in annoyance. This was unacceptable, how was a regular pokemon standing up to her Mega Evolved Steelix. This shouldn't be possible. Of course clearly her Steelix would win eventually, it was all Lucario could do to hold Steelix off but still…
"Is that a fact?" Ash responded with a grin.
"Of course, Mega Evolutions are superior to every way to normal pokemon. As strong as your Lucario is, it will fall." Shelly stated with false bravado leaking into her voice.
"You've convinced me." Ash stated with a nod as he raised his glove up to Lucario as if to recall his pokemon.
"Then recall your pokemon and place your hands behind your back." Shelly ordered with relief.
"Oh, no, I meant to up the ante." Ash responded with a grin as he clicked Lucario's steel crystal a second time.
"Steel jackal sneer, steel jackal howl, Lucario!" Ash cried as a greyish red beam of light hit Lucario and enveloped him in a cocoon of light. With a burst of power Lucario grew another foot taller and the spikes appeared on his legs. Spikes that were on his hands grew larger and a second pair appeared as well. The appendages on his head grew longer and his tail also grew longer.
"Impossible." Shelly uttered out as she watched this man counter her Mega Evolved pokemon with his own. Only Team Aqua Rocket had this technology, was this man a traitor?
"I demand to know your name!" Shelly needed to know. Master Ketchum would need to be informed that there was a traitor that had the power of mega evolution. It would swing favor back to the Hoenn Rangers if he was any good.
"Ash Ketchum, Ex-Elite Ranger but you may know me by my nickname, The Burning Nightmare of Cinnabar." Ash added helpfully as he watched the color drain from the girl's face and the grunts looked like they'd just peed themselves.
"But you're dead." Shelly responded dumbly.
"Nu uh!" Ash responded childishly before directing his attention back to Lucario.
"Now Lucario, finish this up with Aura Sphere!" Ash ordered. He grinned as Lucario now in his mega form formed an Aura Sphere and disappeared from sight he was moving so fast.
The next thing the Aqua Rocket grunts saw was the mega evolution fading back into view behind their pokemon. The two pokemon were still close together and it took only one sphere to send Politoed and Magmar flying into the air.
"Steelix get up!" Shelly cried out in a panic. This was unimaginable. If she was defeated they'd be cut down like wheat by a scythe during a harvest. When they deployed the team she was the strongest member of the strike force. Everyone else was just a diversion for her to reach her target before he got to the safety of the city.
The giant steel snake finally managed to pull itself together. The coils slowly running across the ground as it's fins tore up the dirt creating a sand storm to increase it's speed. It was Shelly's only hope to counter Lucario's speed. Although it worried the Admin that the pokemon took it upon itself to create it without an order. That meant even Steelix was concerned.
"Speed up all you want, you'll never be able to counter Lucario in his mega form." Ash waved off the move with his hand. It was pointless, with his Aura sense he could pinpoint exactly where every single person and pokemon stood and if he could that meant Lucario could as well.
"We're not through yet!" Shelly growled as she lost her cool. She would not be knocked down by anyone be it the Burning Nightmare or not. It had to be a trick the man was dead. If he had been alive he would have showed up well before now.
"Now Steelix, finish it with Fire Fang!" Shelly cried out.
The giant steel snake lunged forward his mouth wide open with two fiery fangs glowing with power as the sand storm aided the snake in his movement. It moved way faster than it had previously and came up on Lucario quickly.
Ash stood there never uttering a command which only bolstered Shelly's confidence. The man clearly hadn't expected her pokemon to know Fire Fang. This should finish the Lucario in one blow.
She squinted to see the blow through the sand storm but a moment later she had to move her arm up to shield her face. The sand suddenly blew back towards her with amazing speed. The pieces of sand pelting her like a million tiny bee stings. She cried out in pain and almost fell to her knees.
The moment the grains of sand ceased to hit her, Shelly cautiously opened her eyes. What she saw made her gasp. There on top of Steelix's head stood Lucario. The mega evolution had used close combat at the last moment. Pieces of steel were slowly crumbling away from Steelix's body as the damage of the attack became apparant to Shelly.
With a scream of frustration she recalled her Steelix and made to order her two grunts to cover her only to find them knocked out on the ground. Without any further hesitation she called out her Abra.
"Teleport!" Shelly called out unconcerned where Abra took her as long as it was away from here.
Ash let out a sigh of relief as soon as the woman disappeared. Thankfully the woman didn't have any other mega evolutions or else they may have had a problem. Just at that moment Lucario fell to his knees before the mega evolution shattered in a blast of white light leaving the pokemon on the edge of exhaustion and almost ready to pass out.
"Good work Lucario, return." Ash called out before depressing a clear crystal separate from the other colored crystals. It recalled Lucario back as the pokemon disappeared instantly from the battlefield.
"Gary!" Dawn finally managed to scrabble up the side of the crater since she didn't have Aura powers thank you very much. She managed to get her arms around Gary and shook him out of his stupor.
"You're alive!" Gary cried out as he grasped onto her as if she was the only thing keeping him alive. The young Professor curled his hands around the back of her shirt as he buried his head into her shoulder.
"I'm here. Gary, I'm still here." Dawn attempted to comfort the young man with a soft smile crossing her face. She knew what he had been through before and she was the last line of support he still had.
It took a moment for Gary to compose himself but he finally withdrew himself from Dawn's shoulder before leaning in to kiss her. "Never do that again."
"You mean follow another one of your plans? Noted." Dawn quipped with a small smirk on her face.
"Don't joke about this Dawn, I'm serious." Gary responded with a disapproving frown. He hated how cavalier she was about almost dying sometimes.
"I promise I won't ever almost die again because I followed one of your plans and you almost got us killed before Ash Ketchum who you said was dead comes out of the sky and saves our collective asses." Dawn pledged with her hand raised as if she was in court.
"You're incorrigible." Gary muttered with a shake of his head.
"I like her." Ash interjected.
Gary turned around to see his friend standing there as if he had never left. The idiot still had that same idiot grin on his face as if nothing was wrong. Wait...he had that same idiot grin on his face that had been missing since Leaf had died. Where the hell had he been and what happened to his friend.
"Is it really you?" Gary asked as if he didn't quite believe his eyes even after it clearly was Ash based on the huge amounts of destruction that he generated.
"Yep." Ash answered without any further information. "Cynthia here on the island or do I have to go find her?"
"Care to extrapolate on that?" Gary responded dryly. "Perhaps how you survived...maybe where you were for the past five years or perhaps how the hell you have pokemon that can Mega Evolve? Answers to any of those questions would be great."
"Hmm...I was in the future." Ash responded. "Now Cynthia?"
"She's fine…and she is going to hold it over my head forever that her theory about what happened to you was correct." In fact Gary was now feeling a little...or a lot guilty about not believing her. He pushed the thought off for the moment because he had other questions to ask.
"Now quit playing coy and answer the damn question." Gary demanded his eyebrow twitching.
Ash nodded in understanding. It seemed he would get no further information about Cynthia until Gary's scientific hard on was satisfied.
"I still can't say I know the specifics but basically my Aura created a rip in the time vortex...or something and I got sucked through. Long story short your great great Grandson let me stay at his place while we tracked down an opening created by Celebi close to the present time." Ash shook his head in annoyance. It was all above his interest level and he couldn't say he really cared.
Gary sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "So you've influenced my great great grandson...delightful."
"Don't worry Gary he is just as much of a stick in the mud as you are." Ash shot back which caused Dawn to giggle at the assessment.
"Traitor." Gary muttered to Dawn.
"Yes how dare he spread such slanderous slanderous truth." Dawn quipped with a wink.
Gary decided to follow up on the Mega Evolution issue. He turned his attention back to Ash although he kept a close eye on Dawn as if to assure himself that she was still there after the near loss.
"So where'd you get the Mega Evolved pokemon." Gary queried with a raised eyebrow.
"Little gift from the future. Also you'll note, no more Aura suppressing gloves." Ash waved his hands up in front of Gary with a grin.
"So you've finally learned to control it." Gary's eyebrows raised in interest at the revelation. It had been all Blaine and Mewtwo could do to keep it suppressed let alone help Ash control it.
"Not really." Ash rubbed the back of his head with a nervous grin. "Actually I just learned how to feed it into my pokemon through the mega evolution."
Ash's eyes lit up as he started the explanation of how it had all come about. "See they've perfected the Mega Evolution in the future. Essentially the pokemon uses its own energy to maintain the form, once their energy runs out they lose the ability to keep the form. With my Aura constantly flowing into all of my pokemon it disperses enough of it to keep me from going insane and gives them the ability to keep their mega evolved form longer."
"Huh…" Gary commented unintelligibly as he took in the explanation. "So how does that differ from what Aqua Rocket are doing?"
"Aqua Rocket?" Ash asked in confusion.
"I'll explain later." Gary waved away the question. "Now answer the question. We've never had the chance to study a Mega Evolved pokemon when it wasn't trying to kill us."
"Right!" Ash started up again. "So from what I found out and believe me your great great grandson wouldn't tell me much about the past, when mega evolution was first developed the pokemon could keep the form almost indefinitely. Only it didn't drain the energy but actually drained the pokemon's life force."
"So ultimate power at the cost of the pokemon's life." Gary summed it up with a grim frown. So that was why they almost seemed unstoppable up until the point they died. They were literally draining their life force away to keep their form. It was why Agatha's Ganger simply faded into nothingness after enough attacks from the Rangers, Lance, Dawn, Clair, and Gary.
"Exactly, most mega evolutions can only be held for ten to twenty minutes." Ash informed Gary with a nod.
"And yours?" Gary asked with a hint of interest.
"Depends how I divert my Aura power...right now Charizard is going on almost an hour but he'll be tapped out soon." Ash responded.
"Dare I ask?"
"Ripping up Team Aqua's battleship last I checked." Ash answered happily.
"Fabulous." Gary shuddered at the thought of a mega evolved Charizard running rampat without Ash to curtail the dragon's need for destruction. Hoenn Rangers were probably shitting their pants if they had caught sight and realized it was a mega evolved pokemon...and he also was willing to bet some idiot would try it catch it to.
"Do you really need to call out those phrases to activate the mega evolution?" Gary asked with interest as he inspected the glove that Ash was wearing.
"Nah, it just sounds way cooler than just depressing the button and activating the mega evolution." Ash responded with a chuckle.
"And you've created phrases for all of your pokemon that can Mega Evolve." Gary queried dryly an unimpressed look coming across his face at his friend's childish antics.
"Uh huh." Ash confirmed as he rotated the glove around so Gary could inspect it from every angle.
"I keep forgetting that I'm dealing with a man-child." Gary responded with a roll of his eyes.
"That's what your great great grandson said until it caught on." Ash grinned in excitement as he pointed towards his chest with his other hand. "I created a fad."
"Congratulations on poisoning the impressionable youth of the future. I'm glad you can now claim spreading a stupid fad in the present and the future." Gary quipped.
After a moment of thought Gary eyed Ash warily. "Please tell me you didn't get my great great Grandson killed."
"Man you two really are related." Ash shook his head in amusement. "Dick was a real stick in the mud as well."
"Dick Oak?" Gary responded with a quirked eyebrow.
"Umm hmm." Ash hummed a confirmation while trying to keep in a giggle. That would serve that over pompous dick Stanford, no one would take someone named Dick Oak seriously.
"There is no way any great great Grandchild of mine would be named what is essentially a walking talking penis joke." Gary responded with a shake of his head. There was just no way.
"Are you sure it wouldn't be something a little more like Stanford or David?" Gary asked in hope that his descendants didn't name his great great grandchild such a terrible name.
"Nope it was Dick." Ash confirmed once more with a serious look on his face.
"I don't believe it. Now can we please get going before Charizard burns the entire port down. If I remember correctly your dragon is quite overzealous." Gary noted the disappointed look on Ash's face that he refused to take the bait.
"Fine...but then we're finding Cynthia. I kinda owe her a huge apology." Ash shuddered to think what the girl would do to him if she found out he was alive second hand from someone else or through the grape vine...in fact he knew exactly what would happen. It'd be bad.
A/N: Hey I answered more than I thought I would. I should give myself a pat on the back. Also hope you enjoyed Wallace. I'm going to be having fun with him. Anyway hope this answered some questions. I'll explain more…eventually…one day.
Ky111: Thank you for the comments. It is my largest project so trying to keep it tied together but keep enough mystery is kinda hard. I did get that chapter issue fixed so that should explain what occurred to Ash.
Unafraid: Glad you're happy, they'll show up soon.
HP-DG Etc: Glad you kept with me until this point. Thanks again for all the reviews and support!
Ace of Spies: I think I covered most of this in PM so thank you once more for the full featured review. I appreciate each one I get.
SSJ3: Yes he did but now he is suave Brock. And you'll see him soon!