Chapter 33:

"Ash, it's that time again." Butterfree floated in front of him, beads of tear streaming out of his large eyes.

"I'm going to miss you, buddy." Ash replied and wiped off his own tears. "But don't worry. Remember the little device Dr. Akihabara gave us a week ago?"

"It's called a Digipad." Dexter interrupted.

"Okay, fine. Digipad." Ash held up the blue dotted device. "It basically works as a telepad for Pokémon by converting them into digital information and transporting."

"Dexter already has the motherboard attached to him. If you put your branched device somewhere safe with your Pokéball on top, you can come to us when you want, or when we need you." Ash said and handed the Digipad over, along with Butterfree's Pokéball.

"Thanks, Ash." Butterfree looked at the device and grinned. "Is it just me, or are you a lot mature and considerate this time?"

"It's just you." Pikachu remarked.

Ash ignored that statement and smiled at Butterfree. "Last time, I have a lot of Pokémon who decided to left me to train on their own, or just left for other good reasons."

"They still want to help me, but need to continue a life on their own, so Akihabara and I came up with this to summon them when I need them, which is probably frequent in this 'harder' world, but not to prevent to achieve their lives and dreams away from me."

Butterfree nodded and turned away to look over the cliff at the diminishing sun, releasing its last rays of sunlight in the dusk as it sunk below the ocean. He looked back at his trainer, behind whom an arc of the bright moon shone, its light beating on his face.

"I'll miss you, Ash. You're a great friend, great trainer, and great hero. Goodbye, Ash."

"Me too, Butterfree." Ash couldn't stop the stream of tears, even though he knew he could see Butterfree often this time with the Digipad.

With that, the Bug Type zoomed into the sky, beating his powerful wings and joining the flock overhead, maneuvering himself to the front of the group with his skill and agility and landing beside a pink, shiny Butterfree.

It's the process of seeing his Pokémon grow, and continue on a life of his own that saddens him in a positive way, like seeing your own children grow up to continue lives of their own.

"This isn't goodbye, Butterfree, we'll still see each other." Ash ran to the side of the cliff and waved, crying. "I'll always remember you!"

Butterfree turned around and chirped, before turning around and leading the group into the dusk light, attempting to soar after the fireball.

Ash stared after them, as they disappeared in the distance, to a small dot that he couldn't see anymore, and sighed.

Domino came up to him and held his side. "Pokémon grow up. It's not uncommon to leave. What's important is that the bonds still live on."

Ash turned around and gave her a smile. "I know. It's still sad though."
"I know. Without sadness, there will never be happiness." She breathed softly. "But I'll always be here, remember that."

Ash nodded and brought her tighter against him. "And so will I."

"Promise me?"

Ash winked at her. "Of course I promise."

"Can we divert a visit to the Pokémon amusement park really quick?" Misty requested.

"Sure thing." Domino coated them in pink energy.

"But no breaking anything this time." She demanded. "Or at least not of my design."
Ash laughed nervously, and the group reappeared at the island of machinery moments later. The island was on a break today, so it was all closed down and without children.

"What do you need here, Mist?" Lucario asked. "If I remember correctly from Dexter's summary from last time, nothing interesting happened here."

"There was a Slowpoke here last time." Misty said and casted an envious look at the Rocket Elite. "After seeing what Domino can do, I REALLY want a Water/Psychic Type."
"Plus, Lily has one too."

"You're really diversifying really soon, Misty. Last time, you waited until Johto." Ash commented. "Are you sure this won't mess with the timeline?"

The group gave him a universal eye roll. The orange-haired girl remarked sarcastically. "Really!? Coming from THE Ash Ketchum?"

Ash laughed and closed his eyes, using Aura Sight in search of psychic life forces. A while later, he opened his eyes and pointed in a direction. "That way!"

At the same time, Domino pulled back her psychic senses. "Confirmed."
"Then let's get there!"

Misty led them in walking toward the Dopey Pokémon, her eyes shining. "Hmm, I guess it already evolved into a Slowbro?"

The evolved Pokémon was sleeping on a rock four times its size, snoring. Misty was debating on what to do: Whether to wake him and battle appropriately or just capture him.

Suddenly, a flash of pink light appeared in front of her and a Slowking materialized in front of the sleeping Slowbro. The Royal Pokémon blinked as he caught side of them, and the group returned the same momentary confusion.

Ash was about to speak when the Slowking suddenly bowed. "Greetings, Chosen, Queen, Princess and Knight."

The four paused, and Misty and Brock fell down. Misty coughed. "What did you call me?"

The Slowking gave her an innocent look. "I said, greetings, Princess of the Ocean."

Misty's jaw hung slightly open. "Yeah, what do you mean by that!?"

"You're fused with the same energy Kyogre, and legend said such a human is the Princess of the Ocean…" Slowking looked at her confused. "Wait, you didn't know?"

"Hold on, what did you call ME!?" Brock got up and shouted.

"Aren't you the Legendary Knight of Foundation?" Slowking bowed. "The one whom, according to legend, will one day forge the foundation for the Third Bountiful Empire of Pokéland? You possess the same energy as Groudon."

"And of course, there is no denying your majesty to be the Queen. I can feel Mew's residue on you. And the Chosen, I can feel a quaking from the soul of Arceus's leftover energy."

The four humans stared at the Slowking, who was becoming more and more talkative.

A cough interrupted the Royal Pokémon's rant as Slowbro woke up and shot a not-at-all oblivious look at the group. "Sorry for my dad. Uncle Lugia always says that the ancient books that dad reads get into his head too much."

"So you're that Slowking in Shamouti?" Ash gave the old Pokémon a look.

"Indeed, Chosen." Slowking said slowly. "We have a prophet in Shamouti, in fact, that one day this world will come to shambles, and we will turn to Ash."

Domino burst out laughing, while Ash collapsed from a minor stroke. "Please don't remind me of the prophet that HAS A PUN WITH MY NAME!"

On the other side of the beach, Misty was facing Slowbro as he considered her offer. "Okay, I would like to get stronger, and no doubt the Princess of the Ocean will provide me with some quality training."

Misty shook her head quickly while waving her hands. "No, no, no. I'm not the Princess of the Ocean. Please don't call me that. It's pitiful."

"At least you're not the 'Knight of Foundation.'" Brock said bitterly. "Can't the prophet come up with a better name than that!?"

"Anyways," Slowbro turned to Misty. "I will let you capture me under one condition, and that is we conduct the ancient rituals of battling, and you must beat me with one Pokémon."

Misty smirked and considered her choices. "Deal!"

"Hello." Mewtwo looked at the unannounced visitor in his psychic domain. "How may I help you?"

"HIIII!" Mew bounced around Mewtwo's mental world, its surroundings now had changed from the lab to a the island James had described growing up. "So you're my clone? That's so cool!"

Mew did a back flip and landed in front of Mewtwo. "Why are you purple?"

Mewtwo coughed on the coconut water he was sipping. "What kind of question is that?"

Mew shrugged and circled the Genetic Pokémon. "I heard from my sister that you are training with her old methods."

Mewtwo nodded. "Indeed I am. I presume your sister is the Mew of the Tree?"

"Yippee!" Mew giggled. "Let's have a battle. It's been so long since I had a good battle!"

"Why must we battle?" Mewtwo asked and placed down the 'Quantum Gravity Theory' he was reading. "Let's just have tranquility."

Mew rolled her eyes. "C'mon, it'll be fun. It's like that time I rode on Primal Kyogre when she was wrestling Primal Groudon."

"The waves were like roller coasters!"

Mewtwo stood up then. "Okay, then let's try battling. You have to go easy though. It's my first time actually battling."

"Okay!" Mew agreed cheerfully, before she was hammered into the side of the world by a Psybeam. "No fair! I didn't say start yet! Eat Prismatic Laser!"

Arbok did a flip and swung the Iron Tail like a uppercut into Erika's Gloom.

The Weed Pokémon was launched back and cracked a hole on the side of the Celadon Gym. The referee blew the whistle and signaled the win to the challengers.

Erika growled and threw the Rainbow Badge to James, before going to pry Gloom off the burnt wall, as a result of a previous Flamethrower from Growlie.

James caught the flying badge and handed over the Meowth, who deposited in a silver lining box. "How many do we have?"

"Five!" Meowth answered, "Countin' dis one."

James and Jessie traded a smirk. "Three more to go."

"We're definitely avoiding Saffron. Who knows if Sabrina's still bonkers…"

A phone rang, and Jessie pulled it out. She listened and shut it off when the message was finished, and groaned.

"Fuji is calling us back AGAIN." She complained. "Arceus! He's even more demanding than Boss."

James sighed and released Exeggutor. "At least he gave us a Pokémon to travel around with."

"Actually, that's kind of weird." Jessie pointed out. "We have more Pokémon when we are not actively trying to steal them."

"Dat's 'cause we're away from Ash!" Meowth hypothesized. "He's a walking disaster, remember? He is so big of a disaster Arceus made another timeline just to contain him."

The Coconut Pokémon rubbed his head on James, who sighed. "I know I feel good to Grass Types, but we really should go now."

"You're NOT going ANYWHERE until you paid for my gym!" Erika placed her hands on her hips and glared at them.

Meowth shot out a bundle of Rocket 'business fares' with Pay Day.

The trio was surrounded with a Grassy Pink, and off they went.

Professor Oak looked in shock at their creation in front of him. An ice tunnel ran underneath the entire water park, stretching from one side of Pallet to another. Giant slides ran across the seaworld, supported by pillars reaching deep into the ocean depth.

Stations were connected by large, stone bridges, formed from hundreds of Stone Edges. There were modeled ships and islands, serving as resting places and being overall part of the scene and adding to the atmosphere.

Underneath was a natural aquarium, where viewers could get to with a transparent opal/glass/ice-like material. Huge rooms of the same material were connected to the previously-mentioned tunnel.

Around these rooms were a fanciful underwater view. Schools of Chinchou were floating around, lightning up the marine environment with their natural lightbulbs. Goldeen formed large, unidentified creatures when flocked together.

Clamperls lined the ocean floor, opening and closing their shell, putting their pearls on full display. Corsola were dodging between coral reefs, playing their constant game of hide-n-seek.

It was an amazing, never-seen-before ocean amusement park.

Oak stared at the giant Dragonite, Tentacruel, Alakazam, Jigglypuff and Gengar, whom Gary decided to send back and became quick friends with the other giants, despite ancient conflicts with Alakazam and Jigglypuff. "How in the world did you five do this?"

Dragonite shrugged and spoke for the rest. "We were bored. The Pallet sea has nothing to play with, so we created one instead."

Oak held his head. "Never mind, I forgot all of you are crazy."

"Go, Carvanha!" Misty threw out a Pokéball with a requested fin-picture on the front. The Savage Pokémon landed in the water and swam away, daring Slowbro to come closer.

Slowbro trudged after her, his tail dragging Shellder not affecting his speed at all.

As he was approaching, Carvanha turned around and fired a short Dark Pulse at him, and Slowbro evaded by Diving into the water. He then emerged and threw a Future Sight at the Dark Type, achieving no effect.

He blinked. Using the moment of hesitation, Carvanha countered with a Snarl, the soundwave launching the Psychic back.

Slowbro cried out pitifully. "No fair! Type advantage!"

Ash walked over by this point, along with Slowking and Domino. He muttered. "Type advantage doesn't mean jack."

The two Pokémon began to circle each other. Both were still at maximum concentration. They waited like hunters for the exact moment to pounce out and tear their prey to pieces.

Being the younger of the duo, the Savage Pokémon lost her patience first, and launched herself forward for a close ranged Crunch.

Slowbro solidified a Light Screen in front of him. The Dark Type attack broke through within a second, with which Slowbro used to launched himself into midair with a Psychic.

Then he released a Thunder Wave down, conducting the entire area of water of electricity. Carvanha sunk below the surface, shaking.

Slowbro smirked and floated down, charging a Hyper Beam to end the battle. Suddenly, in his seconds of immobilization, the water surface broke open, and Carvanha hit him with a double powered Payback, before slapping her tail at him with a Disable. "No more electrocuting for you, mister!"

Oopening her mouth, she followed with a point-ranged Shadow Ball.

The super-effective attack hit critically, and Slowbro was thrown back, completely losing his aim and shooting the orange beam into the heavens above.

"How can you not get paralyzed by that!?" Slowbro yelled, rubbing his sore side. "This place is filled with dissolved ions from the chemicals used to build the park! This is way more conductive than normal water!"

Carvanha chuckled. "You get used to electricity after sparring with Magnemite all the time. The guy is practically using Pikachu's ways to train."

Pikachu cracked half an eyelid open. "Did someone say she got used to electricity?"

Carvanha returned herself without another word, trying desperately to avoid the immense amount of physical pain that might follow.

Slowbro sighed. "I guess that was a victory for her anyways. I would've definitely lost. I couldn't use any of my psychic, and water doesn't do anything to her either."
Misty pat his back. "No worries. This is what I'm here for, to train you against Pokémon who can resist you and diversify your moves."
She took out a Pokéball. "Would you like to join my team, Slowbro?"

"My pleasure." Slowbro stuck his head forward to press the button.

After a few shakes, lights flashed on in front of the little device, and a signature ding sounded in recognition of the capture.

On the other hand, Slowking wiped a tear off his face. "My little boy is finally growing up…"

Slowbro released himself again and deadpanned. "Dad, I left Shamouti five years ago. You just noticed?"

"Sir, our Pokémon Island is shown to be outdone in visitors and revenue by another park, after our glorious five years." An officer reported politely.

Giovanni shot him a look. "Get with the usual. Mess up their schedules, supplies and replenishment. Collapse the place, and then buy it over."

"Yes, sir. On it." The officer bowed and turned to exit.

"Hold on. Where is this place? I haven't heard about any recent major construction."

The officer looked down at his report from the finance branch. "It's at Pallet Town."

The Rocket Boss blinked.

"Stand down the orders. Offer them an alliance in tourism from the Abra Assets. Do NOT mess this up."

A pink Moltres was soaring across the ocean peacefully when a Hyper Beam zoomed by her head from below.

She yelped and looked below. "What the heck is going on!?"

"Lugia! Guess who I saw today!?" Slowking yelled at the underwater current in front of his island.

The current shot out a beam of water and corrected. "Whom I saw today."

Slowking stopped waving his hands. "Who did YOU see today?"

"No, I'm saying it's whom I say today." The psychic voice rang out.

"Exactly! Who did you see today?"

Zapdos held his head as he perched on Lightning Island. "This could get confusing quickly."

Then the Electric bird roared. "Arti! Get out of my island!"

The sound of blue feathers flapping on the other side of his island answered him as Articuno soared to the sky. Zapdos fired out a tracking Thunder using ion residue that flew after her.

Moltres laughed as he rose out of Fire Island. "You can literally feel the sexual tension between you two!"

He was blasted a Ice Beam and a Thunderbolt.

"SHUT UP!"

Pretty soon, a powerful psychic energy swept over the three islands, and all three were pinned down to their respective islands.

"Which one of you started it this time?"

"Moltres!" The Electric and Ice legendary said at the same time.

The Flame Pokémon made a poo-poo face. "Of course you two are teaming up against me."

"Tribe of Pikachu, huh." Ash looked down at Dexter, and glanced up at Pikachu. "So I guess this is goodbye."

Pikachu nodded sadly. "I guess this is."

He glanced up with tears. "We had a great run, Ash. We have had so much fun together…"

"I know buddy." Ash hugged his starter one last time. "See you around, I guess… I know Professor Oak caught you against your will."
"Thank you, thank you Ash for releasing me." Pikachu took his Pokéball with a lightning shaped symbol over. "You're the greatest trainer I've ever had, you know that."

"Goodbye, Pikachu."

"Goodbye, Ash." With that, Pikachu leapt away toward the group of Electric Types, leaving Misty and Brock rolling on the ground from laughter, and a very puzzled Domino.

Ash buried his head in the Elite's blonde curls and whispered. "Now it's just us."

"Ash Ketchum! What the heck is going on!?" Domino demanded and held his face in front of hers. "Why did you just give Pikachu his Pokéball back!?"

The Pallet boy shrugged. "Pikachu wanted to leave. You can see that."

Domino stared at him, and not from affection either.

"What are you doing with those rocks and ice?" Mew asked the two Regi's in front of her, carrying loads of materials from who-knows-where.

Regice turned to her and beeped.

Mew blinked. "You want to build another Hall?"

Regirock beeped some more, which translated to a very firm affirmative.

Gary looked down at the envelopes he held, sent over his Pokédex from Professor Oak and printed out.

He looked up at Giselle. "I think we found a solution to your fossil problem."

"Hmm?" She looked away from helping Violet assess her dress. "What?"

"Apparently, Grandpa Canyon is opening up early this year. Visitors are invited to go there and dig for some fossils."
"Nice!" The female researcher remarked and tossed another shopping bag over to Gary. "But that's only a small problem. The real problem is this!"

She dragged two dresses over, one orange and one red. "Which one looks better?"

Gary sweatdropped and pointed at the red. Giselle shot a look at him, and tossed the red one off to the side.

"Hey!" Gary remarked, slightly offended. "What was that?"

"Boys your age have terrible sense of fashion."

"You are well-aware that I am beyond that age!"

"Prove it!" Violet looked over at him teasingly. Gary snatched her and pushed her against a wall.

"Feisty, huh. Just the way I like oooff…" She was stopped from talking as Gary took up her offer.

Giselle rolled her eyes as she placed the red ones back on the shelf as she counted "Twenty-seven."

"What do you mean someone is stealing my blueprint!?" Arceus raged as he chomped down on a meteorite cookie.

Sir Aaron carefully placed the picture of the mini-Hall of Origins in front of him.

The Alpha yelled. "But I came up with the design! It was copyrighted!"

The Knight of Honor and Creation Trio slowly backed away from the raging God Pokémon.

"I need a bath!" Arceus declared, then growled. "Giratina! Under my command, you shall return to the normal timeline and bring the three Regi's to trial."

"And charge them for what?"The Renegade Pokémon responded sarcastically. "Plagiarism?"

"No! Third degree murder of my precious plans!"

Arceus screamed and jumped out of the hot tub as he entered. "Dialga! I thought you said you froze the hot tub at the perfect temporal condition! Why is it cold?"

"That's because you were so angry you activated your Fire Plate."Dialga deadpanned. "The water is still perfect at 22.5 Celsius."

"PIKACHU!"Ash yelled and held up his arms. "I thought you left!"

"Of course not!"Pikachu ran at him and leapt into his grasp. "I'll never leave you for the world."

Ash laughed and held his starter up, spinning him around. "You're back, Pikachu. I'm so glad you're back!"

Domino opened her mouth. Misty and Brock were again dying on the ground.

"What the hell is all of this?" Domino yelled.

"A very bad soap opera."Lucario answered, looking at Dexter's summary of the last timeline. "He said something about bad writers for Satoshi Tajeri."

"Eeveelution party?" Ash pointed at the sign.

"Yes!" Sparky said. "Today, us three,"

He gestured at himself, Rainer and Pyro. "Are evolving our eevees. See? We even dyed our hair for the occasion."

Sparky had a orange haircut that stuck up at least a foot, resembling the same hair as Jolteon. Rainer had on a flat, blue haircut after Vaporeon. Pyro had a red, flame-shaped hair, after Flareon.

Ash whispered to Brock and Misty. "I thought it was their brother last time?"

"We're early, remember?" Brock reminded him.

"May we join the party?" Domino asked politely, a glint in her eyes daring them to say no.

"Of course! The more the merrier!" Sparky welcomed them in. "In fact, as my gift, you can each take an evolutionary stone."

"This little guy looks like he needs a boost." He looked at the Pikachu on Ash's shoulder and grabbed an Electric Stone. "How about evolve him to a Raichu."

Pikachu looked at the stone and took it over with his bare hands, before gulping it down in three bites.

He shrugged. "Quite a nice refreshment."

Sparky's jaw dropped open and pointed at the mouse. "Wha… What…"

Pikachu looked at him. "Don't you know it's rude to stare?"

"Ha… How did I understand you?" Sparky could barely talk anymore.

"Aura." Pikachu dismissed the topic. "If you encounters something weird, blame aura, psychic or Cratormaster."

Ash pet his starter and tried to explain. "Pikachu's kind of… special."

"No doubt!" A slightly high-pitched voice rang out from his side. "I have never seen a talking Pokémon!"

They turned around and saw a boy ran over, carrying an egg. Sparky waved at him. "Hey Mikey! Have you decided on which of the three eeveelutions you are going to choose for Eevee?"

Mikey pouted. "Stop pounding me with the questions. He's not even born yet!"

"It could be a 'she'." Rainer interrupted.

"Nah. I can guarantee a 'he'."Ash said.

Domino poked him on the side. "Never say guarantee. Watch the eevee become a female."

Dexter materialized next to them. "Correction on your information pool. There are seven types of eeveelutions."

He formed a hologram of the seven types in midair, his abilities getting a lot smoother after his upgrade of Porygon2.

"Woah!"Mikey stared at the pictures. "This is so cool!I want the dark one!"

"That's Umbreon. That will be a really strong Pokémon. Dark Type, which is really rare in Kanto." Domino remarked. "But the thing is, you should ask your Eevee's opinion before you force to evolve. Always take your Pokémon's feelings into consideration before you force evolution."

Misty tapped Ash on the side and whispered. "Wow, you've really changed her a lot."

Ash smirked, looking at the blonde beauty in front of him. "All for the better. She's changed me too."

Brock snickered. "Yes she did. Now at least you can say that you had been intimate with a girl once."

"We are not intimate!"Ash growled lightly. "Plus, at least better than your case."

"Touché," Brock backed down, sulking.

Misty and Ash laughed, and Domino stood up. She asked teasingly, "Are you proud of me, Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes?"

"Always, Princess."

"Hey Gerri!" Mew shouted after the shadow that had befallen in his tree. Giratina phased into reality.

"Hello Mew."Giratina nodded back.

"What are you doing here? I thought you're with Arceus, rebuilding the Hall of Origins?"

"Yeah, that's kind of the problem…" The Ghost Dragon coughed. "Your robots are 'plagerizing' Arceus's floor plans, and he wants me to charge them for…"

He paused. "Third degree murder."

Mew rolled her eyes. "Is he on his period again?"

"I don't think that's how that works…"

"Wait! Do Gods even have periods?"

A/N: I'm planning to do a big Christmas chapter. Give me some ideas, and I'll make them come true!

Also, I haven't realized the amount of influence the Rocket Trio has on the plot developments. Almost every single episode, the conflict is their messing up something, and then Ash had to go fix it. In the eevee episode, there is barely anything to write about with Team Rocket's interference.