Pokemon Reset Bloodlines

by Crossoverpairinglover

Going back to save the world is tough; it's tougher when the process ends up radically altering reality. When the new world Ash wakes up in differs from the old one in many ways, Ash will have to adapt his battle experience to a new world, and what are these mysterious Bloodlines that everyone fears? AshXHarem-multiship Anime world with some Adventures and Game canon. Mostly beta'd

35. The Sabrina Arc: 4-1 Complete Edition

You know, It's April Fools day, and I have nothing to offer to the group April Fools. Go see that when it's up, Arias is hosting it this time.

But what could I do with my writers block on the idea?

Oh yes, I know!

Coming April Fools Day 2018, it is the Reset Bloodlines versus Sabrina COMPLETE EDITION! Yes this is the entire Sabrina chapter, undivided as originally written.

Is it better divided, or better together? Tell me in the reviews, in between finding additional content marked with (ADDITIONAL). Because Complete Edition.

And it's all canon, if minor, generally meaningless, canon additions. Except when it isn't.

K? K? here ya go! An actual chapter will come later. Right now, I'm just trying to make you all gape at me and ask why I'd do this.

Tis the season to do so after all.

The Crime Scene

She could only stare in shock at the spot Ash had just been as Misty and Iris shared her action, before they immediately exploded, if in different ways.

Neither of which involved chemical reactions.

Misty broke out into fearful, panicked tones interlaced with swear words and frantic looks in every direction, while Iris jumped over to where Ash had been, looking around for anything that seemed like it may hint to where he had been taken.

Footprints, scent trails, a stray hair, even as Iris was probably all to well aware there wasn't anything she could find. Just sheer instinctual want to find anything, anyway, to track him.

The Abra hadn't been there quick enough to really get a read on what it wanted, she hadn't caught it in time. She felt a lead weight of guilt hold her down at the thought, though she tried to keep thinking instead of dwelling on her error.

She had to figure out what she could do to track the Abra.

That was the problem though, she had no clue on how to do it, a state of confusion that was shared by the denizens of a nearby oak tree as well as Iris and Misty.

Before she could decide what to do with the three in the tree, Axew had noticed as well.

"Ax!"

And with a searing Dragon Rage into the tree, it exploded and flung out the white clad criminal trio at their feet, dirtied and bruised.

"Hey, what was that for!"

The complaint of the male one, James, was not followed up as the three found themselves the center of attention. Iris' and Misty's specifically, who were glaring at them with a furious look in their eyes tinted by a sense of successful deduction. They thought they had the guilty party at their feet.

"What the hell did you do to Ash!?" Misty demanded of them, the fury of the worst sea storm in her tone. Her demand backed up by the threat of violence as she cracked the knuckles of one fist into the palm of her other hand.

Iris, while not giving them a verbal snarl like Misty, was giving them a particularly nasty look with fury glimmering in her eyes. The fury of untapped nature ripping into something with savagery not seen in the age of modern civilization. Energy crackled around her hands as Dragon Claw tried to flare into life in response to her anger and fear.

"What? Why on earth are you blaming us? Does James look like the kind of guy who'd have an Abra?" Jessie demanded.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind…"

"None of us have an Abra, we're just as shocked as you all."

The fact that the trio were pleading not guilty meant nothing to Iris, the man she cared for greatly had vanished randomly, and the self titled criminals and thieves were present where it happened. Those who openly said they stalked him, it was hard not to see why her ire was now on them with an unforgiving, furious focus.

There was a distinct possibility that Iris would not let them walk away. If they were guilty of the crime their lives would last only long enough to tell her what, why, and where.

Anabel wanted to find Ash too, but she was trying to not let anger and confusion overpower her and forget things. Things like the fact Ash would not want them chewing into people who were not in fact guilty.

'They're not the ones. They're innocent,' Anabel clarified to Misty and Iris before Iris did something she'd regret later. Mostly in how she'd be hurt by Ash's reaction to her deeds.

"Yeah, listen to the telepath. Our job is to watch everything he does for the boss for some reason; it is not our job to go from stalking to stealing him," Meowth clarified as Misty leveled a new glare at them.

"You know that doesn't make you three any less disturbing." Misty spat.

The implications of the three watching everything Ash did wasn't the funniest thing to imagine.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" James demanded indignantly. He was quite truthful in his disbelief that he was being non-verbally accused of lechery on Ash, though Misty did not notice this and continued to give him a glare. James would've tried to defend himself, but Misty really didn't seem in the mood for talking.

That was when Jessie cleared her throat, and everyone turned back to her and her creepy grin.

"Oh yes, I've watched him, and oh how I watched him! Who wouldn't enjoy some abs like these? And those shoulders! And well, everything else, really! Truly one if the best bodies I've ever seen, you're lucky to hang with him so closely every day. Good job on improving on what's already good, wild girl! You have my approval!" Jessie quipped in a manner that Anabel found quite unpleasant to listen to, even if she did pick up that she was making up quite a bit of it to get Misty off James's back.

Misty seemed to agree with her on the idea of Jessie watching Ash while he showered to be highly unwelcome (Iris didn't seem to care about that point at all, while James and Meowth were staring at Jessie in confusion), made up or not, which led Jessie to quickly add. "But if you want to go and think that's just me suggesting I really did kidnap him and have him locked in my basement for my own personal use, you can rest your little heads that I'm hardly interested in doing that. Definitely not after Jessibelle. Your boy isn't really my type, and it's too friggin soon to do that after that little incident."

Anabel got the memory of what 'Jessibelle' was, and felt sympathy for James, and fought the blush of what the intent of said Jessibelle was. Those weren't fictional inventions of a bad book?

Misty and Iris had no idea what Jessibelle was, and didn't seem to care.

"Then who is responsible? Where did that Abra take him?" Misty demanded of the trio.

"Like I said, we're completely clueless on both questions. Just like you three."

Anabel gave a level look at the cat for the remark, before all three glowed with her psychic powers. Moments later, they were flung into the air.

"Looks like Team Rocket is blasting off only for being insensitive!"

"Hey, I was just speakin' the truth! I do that from time ta time!"

She could only just overhear Meowth complain over Jessie and James's statement as they vanished over the horizon.

She'd have not done that if she was not aware they survived these things. Also it was probably best they be removed before they raise tempers further.

After all with the trio gone, Misty and Iris were no longer being aggressive in their panic. They instead had begun grasping at straws.

"We can use those other devices…."

"They were in Ash's backpack which was on Ash!"

"Oh, well perhaps we can contact Professor Oak and have him….."

"He called Ash and said he was going to be out all day today."

"We could just…."

"As in he'll be unconscious for a minor surgery."

Anabel remembered that call, nothing life threatening, but the best mind in Kanto would be unavailable for most of the day. By the time he'd be back in the lucid world and sharp enough to help; it would be well into the night.

There were interns sure, but none of them knew them and who knows how much time it would take to convince them to help.

A necessary caution perhaps, but one that would not really help them today.

Anabel closed her eyes, extending her senses as far out as she normally could.

Her thoughts quickly washed through Misty and Iris's minds, feeling immense layers of concern and worry as she passed through, before sweeping through the forest.

She eventually felt her reach strain like a rubber band pulled to the maximum, and nothing. Not that it was too much of a surprise.

She couldn't exactly push her mind that far and an Abra could Teleport much farther than she could feel with all her senses.

Though, what with only some of them?

Perhaps if she wasn't trying to look for everything, she could look farther. Though she had never tried it, she hadn't even tried the idea of working with Kadabra to sense things farther away yet by combining their minds.

It required a union of both their minds to a central will; otherwise it would just be two minds looking over the same area, or perhaps her looking one way and Kadabra the other.

She'd probably have better work narrowing her search herself than trying to combine minds with Kadabra. Though she doubted the idea would work.

After all, how far could she see if her thoughts weren't trying to reach for every sense?

'Sometimes to win you've got to go with your gut feeling, even if your brain thinks it doesn't make sense,' She remembered Ash saying once.

It seemed an appropriate time to try that approach. After all, even if she had to question how well this would work, they needed some solution.

So, Anabel extended her thoughts again in a sweeping web, this time without trying to feel the sensation of touch with her thoughts.

Her thoughts swept out again, though this time when they went through Misty and Iris she did not feel a definitive 'you are entering her mind', or 'you are leaving her mind', sense, as her thoughts raced to where she had been overextended before….and kept going.

She kept going and going, though eventually she again reached a mental limit. Still no Ash to be found, even with a wider search area that could still be made wider.

She tried again, this time also removing taste. It only pushed her a bit farther.

Next was without smell, and the resulting mind search felt oddly empty as her thoughts raced out, and out, and out.

Her mental search was pushing even farther than ever before, though she was starting to notice that the people whose mind she briefly ran over were barely registering.

She barely noted a thing about who they were or where they were. Only that they were there, and a brief snippet of mental thought. Though when she felt her mind waft over Fuchsia, she noted that a mind did stand out as somewhat more familiar than the mass of minds across the city.

Janine.

It was shortly after she again found herself at her limit, and so she resolved to even farther.

She'd drop hearing this time, and so she pushed ahead….

Only to find herself in utter nothingness, blacker than night and without light.

Her mind was there, yet she couldn't say anything about it. Where, when, what...who...she knew who she was, but she could say little else.

What was there even to find? Why did she stretch so far? What was there to find in nothingness?

Ash.

Ash Ketchum.

A traveling companion.

A nice Trainer.

A nice person.

A nice man.

A good looking man she enjoyed being with.

A person she did not want to lose.

A person she wanted to find.

That was who she was looking for. In that nothingness, that was the only thing she needed to find.

And so blue light burned like flame in the nothingness. Flames scattered around, many but uncountable despite Anabel being sure she could in fact count them.

Where they were, what was one and what was another of them, if they were alive or a place she couldn't tell. They all felt like Ash, be it place or person.

But which one was actually….

She was shaken out by a concerned looking Misty moments later, her senses flooding back to her in full in a mass rush, along with her fuller mental faculties.

It made her feel dizzy.

"Ax," Axew called in concern as Iris gave her a look of concern.

"Are you well?" Iris asked in concern as Anabel gave a reply to let them know she was in fact well.

'Buttermilk waffles'.

Misty and Iris seemed more concerned after she garbled that out, so she quickly tried again.

'Sorry...mind was a bit scattered. I think I may have an idea though.'

And so she explained what she'd been doing, what she had found, and what was the obvious plan.

She'd Teleport them to those blue lights, and one of them should've been Ash. Eventually….

Iris and Misty still looked at her in concerned though.

"Anabel, you might not know what you look like when you do that...it's not encouraging." Misty struggled with her word choice, she could tell without looking into her thoughts.

"You want to jump in the dark at things you cannot tell the nature of, or if you have already done so. That is not safe." Iris added.

'It's the only lead we have, and we don't have any better options. The only other we have is waiting here if Ash can get back, and that isn't likely. Plus maybe with practice, I can narrow it down.'

Misty and Iris still did not look convinced, even if Iris did reluctantly tell Axew to get ready to move while Misty picked up the egg that Ash had gotten from Grandpa Canyon, before each took a hand in preparation for Teleporting.

She didn't feel the sensation of their touch for a moment before she Teleported them all, all of them landing inside a room of green crystal, with a center crystal within.

Within it floated a Pokémon she had never seen before, which stared at her curiously.

"Mew?" 'You seem lost, I don't think you meant to come here?' It asked in a very cute voice, though one that also sounded oddly old at the same time.

Anabel responded to something along the lines of cumquats, followed by a questioning of if the Pokémon had seen Ash.

First attempt, no Ash. Though the Pokémon, a Mew, did seem to know who Ash was even if he wasn't in fact wherever they were.

Oddly Misty and Iris were just as surprised as to why that was. Was there a story to this?

….

Slowpoke having been defeated, Ash found himself staring at a nearby window, knowing exactly what this situation called for.

"I've fallen out of worse, Roggenrola!" The Rock-type's knob glowed white as Rock Blast fired.

The rocks hit the window, shattering on impact as a shimmering veil covered the window.

"That window has Reflect on it." The Pokédex noted.

"Pika!" 'Well this isn't reflectable!' Pikachu fired a Thunderbolt at the window, which glowed yellow but otherwise did not suffer an effect.

"Light Screen is also in effect." The Pokédex didn't need to know what Pikachu had assumed to add the retort.

Ash walked up to the window and began pushing it up, only for it to shimmer and refuse to budge.

"Reflect also locks things?" Ash exclaimed in frustration as he swung his fist back around.

It caught the Abra that appeared in front of him seconds after it materialized, knocking it down and out even as a Thunderpunch attempted to spark into being on Abra's left arm.

"Rogg." 'Clearly Iris is being proven right.' She noted it in a complementary tone for both his reflexes and Iris's correct assumptions.

Ash nodded, but looked at the downed Abra sadly.

"That doesn't mean I particularly like punching Pokémon."

Sure they were attacking him, but it wasn't something he enjoyed doing.

"Pikapi." 'Stick to punching the Pokémon attacking us, and I think you'll be okay.'

Fairly good advice, even if he'd probably never fully take it to heart.

"So, any ideas for getting out of this place?" Ash asked Pikachu and Roggenrola, though they were not the ones to answer.

"I do have a plan which I am currently in the process of implementing to expedite our escape. However it will take some time to be fully realized, and longer still to extract us." The Pokédex chimed.

"You're going to call a Jenny SWAT team?"

"Negative. That would only open up job openings for young and upcoming Jenny. Plus that is more of an Unovan Jenny thing." The Pokédex's dire declaration of a Jenny based intervention was not followed upon, as a Starmie Teleported in front of them and used a Psychic attack to fling Pikachu down the hall.

Roggenrola charged for a Headbutt, but a Bubblebeam blasted Roggenrola into the wall.

Ash tapped the Great Ball at his belt even as he ran to get Roggenrola.

"Hrp!" The Starmie declared as it sparked, before being sliced by a glowing green tail.

Ash picked up Roggenrola and began channeling Heal Pulse through his only Rock-type as Servine eyed the defeated Starmie in confusion.

"Ser." 'I take it some odd hijinx is at hand.'

Pikachu darted back over and filled her in.

"Pika." 'We got kidnapped by an Abra and need to get out. The windows are locked and Psychic Pokémon keep jumping us.'

Servine eyed the defeated Starmie for a moment before raising a question.

"Vine?" 'Is this Pokémon wild, or is someone ordering it around?'

Ash put Roggenrola down before giving her the answer.

"I'm pretty sure the Gym Leader Sabrina is calling the shots."

"Servine." 'But do you know for sure? We'll all want to smack ourselves if we find out we could have gotten some information out of them by capture.'

He had no answer to Servine's point, and a motion with the Pokédex in hand only invoked an 'I am busy trying to save all of us, I don't have the resources to run that program' from it.

Thus Ash pulled out a Net Ball and tossed it at the Starmie.

A red glow formed around Starmie, but it petered out and the ball returned to him.

Okay, so now they knew.

As if summoned by his attempt to capture a Trainer's Pokémon, a ring of Abra Teleported around them. Each one had a sparking, burning, glowing, or chilly fist of some sort, and lunged at them, quite possibly to punish.

Or just randomly attack him like all the other Abra today, one of the two.

….(**)

The next Teleport took them away from the crystal tree and Mew, a Pokémon she was sure the Pokédex would probably wail about not recording when they found Ash.

Instead the next Teleport put them on a hill, though with a landing that made Misty nearly drop the Togepi egg.

She managed to regain her holding, protecting the egg from falling. The amount of relief she felt when she regained her grip on it was more than she expected to feel.

Like the idea that the egg would be damaged bothered her deeply, deeper than she can could imagine. Or even could explain.

She could hear tumbling in the grass behind her, apparently Iris and Anabel hadn't had as smooth a landing as she had. Given Anabel was muttering something about crepes they'd be here for a bit, at least until Anabel recovered.

"Well, this is a surprise, a girl popping out from nowhere."

The declaration made a shiver coarse through Misty as she felt her legs prepare to run even as her power stirred to defend Anabel if this got ugly and she wasn't in a state to get away, when she saw the source of the call.

She didn't need to look for long to add who she was seeing to Ash's growing list of family members, the young man at the base of the hill looked like Ash with Red's skin tone and eyes. He was dressed in a red tracksuit with a white line running down the center zipper and belt area, and had a Pichu on his shoulder.

He grinned as he walked up the hill towards her, appearing quite friendly as he waved and looked at her.

"And not just a girl, but a pretty one at that," he declared, his red eyes sparkling like rubies.

Misty flushed at the praise. He instead looked at the egg she held with interest.

"A Togepi egg? That's rare, you must be really fortunate to have found one. They may be more common now than forty years ago, but they're still rare."

Yes, she was really fortunate to find it. The pride swelled in her, even as she also felt confusion.

Why was she so sure she had been the one to find it? That felt faintly incorrect.

"I've heard that the Togepi line can sense happiness and hatch faster with happy company, and this Egg seems quite close to hatching." The boy gave a smile full of mirth as he inched closer, grabbing Misty's hands as his grin grew warmer by the second. "You must be a really nice girl, I can tell. Would you like to talk for a bit? I've been alone for a while, and I could use some company."

The enthusiasm was so infectious Misty had to smile.

"Tell me, I could've sworn I saw some others come in with you. One of them must have had an Abra or something I didn't see, maybe a Natu. Are they also nice girls?"

"Oh yes, they are. Iris is a bit rough around the edges, but she really does care and she is toned beyond anything you could imagine. Anabel might not be able to talk, but she's really smart and nice, I'm sure you two would get along." This guy was so nice; there was no harm in telling him. She was sure Anabel wouldn't mind.

"Excellent. I can't wait to see them." He clapped, his smile sparkling with diamonds with the beauty to melt anyone's heart.

It vanished when Psyduck punched him in the stomach with a glowing fist that was probably Mega Punch.

"Psyduck, how dare you strike him like that!" Misty snapped as he was sent rolling down the hill, Pichu letting out pained squeaks as it was thrown off the boy's shoulder.

She felt her anger at Psyduck halve, if not more, though as he found himself splayed at the very bottom of the hill, which was further emphasized when Iris and Anabel finally made it up the hill.

"Psyduck hit who?" Iris questioned.

"Psy!" 'Someone who can affect your emotions and make you do as he wants, and he sounds like the kind of guy who'd invite you for dinner and then chop you off to serve you on the table. Get out of here before she ends up under his control again, and probably you two as well.'

End up under his... what!?

While Anabel and Iris did not know what Psyduck said, they picked up his meaning and grabbed him and Misty as Anabel Teleported them off somewhere else.

The last thing she heard was the same voice that she had thought to be so friendly and nice, swear things about Psyduck that sent chills down her spine.

….

Ash was fairly certain this wasn't going to work, but he probably should've tried.

After all, it was possible that it was only the windows that were being enhanced, and that they could possibly get through the plain walls.

Plus, the amount of time he had been here was now over an hour. It was time to try something more than beating up Psychic Pokémon.

With that he felt the power to increase others strengths flow, and spread to all his Pokémon present.

Pikachu, Roggenrola, Servine, Muk, Tauros, and Squirtle.

They promptly charged at the wall at once, Wild Charge, Headbutt, Leaf Blade, Body Slam, Giga Impact, and Return striking the wall along with his own Power-up Punch.

The power increase, spread out among them all but still potent, struck the shimmering barrier of the Gym with enough force to shake the foundation of the building and everything within it.

The wall remained though.

Picking up Pikachu and healing the Wild Charge recoil, Ash looked at the wall with a thoughtful gaze.

"Think it might work better if we try and attack a single point at once?" Perhaps avoiding dispersing the blow might enhance the damage they were inflicting.

That sounded right enough, and while it might just leave them with a small hole they could work from there.

He noticed Squirtle look over the rest of the Pokémon present as he put a healed Pikachu back on the ground.

"Squirtle Squir." 'If you're looking for that precision, it would just be me and another Pokémon. That first Pokémon would be the one making the initial attack, and I'd match their attack on point. No one else here has that level of accuracy for a ranged attack.'

Servine gave him a pointed look for that remark, though Ash noted Muk, Tauros, and Roggenrola did not share her annoyance at the putdown.

"Tle." 'A bunch of leaves aren't the most accurate thing. Maybe if you knew Solarbeam.'

That would have the issue of sunlight to gather, but Ash was hesitant to bring that up right now. Maybe after they got out of here.

"Alright Pikachu use Thunderbolt! Squirtle, match it with Water Gun at max power!" Ash added the Max Power part as both attacks struck the wall.

Water Gun adding to the pressure Thunderbolt was placing, all the while striking at an angle to reduce electrifying the water stream.

The wall shimmered again, but this time Ash smiled as he started to see what he could only call a crack.

That would work…

"Ka!"

His joy was interrupted by a pair of Kadabra appearing at either side of him armed with glowing pink spoons extended out like lightsabers.

He barely avoided getting cut in half by the two Kadabra, who promptly used said energy spoons to fend off an Aerial Ace and Take Down from Servine and Tauros.

An Exeggutor appeared over Pikachu and Squirtle and landed with a thud, scattering the two and stopping their attacks before firing a wave of Barrage attacks.

Muk stood up to absorb the blow before it hit him as the Kadabra hopped back behind Exeggutor.

"Why does Sabrina have so many Pokémon? And since when does Kadabra have 'Laser Spoon' as an attack?" Ash asked two questions as the Kadabra fired Psybeams and Exeggutor shot volleys of Bullet Seed.

Roggenrola and Squirtle blocked the Psybeams with Rock Blast and Water Gun, while Muk's Sludge Bomb overpowered the Bullet Seeds and struck the Grass-type, knocking it down in defeat.

"She most likely has nothing better to do between murdering people than breeding and training them. As to the 'Laser Spoon', I actually have some data about such a technique being used by a Coordinator at a Saffron Pokémon Contest a few years back." The Pokédex offered up.

"So, she's plagiarizing?"

"Kidnapping, Murdering, and Plagiarizing, yes." The Pokédex agreed as the Kadabra charged forward with their stolen laser spoon techniques.

Only for Tauros and Servine to charge the Kadabra that had blocked them previously.

With the shimmering purple force of Giga Impact, Tauros shattered his opponent's Laser Spoon before sending the spoon's user right into the wall.

"Broo!" 'That is quite enough of that.'

Meanwhile Servine's Leaf Blade powered tail slashed into her Kadabra's Laser Spoon. It held up, but Servine used the force to push herself up into the air, and have Kadabra stumble forward.

She then slashed back down with Leaf Blade, also scoring a defeat of Kadabra.

"Ser!" 'You're done.'

And with that, the latest wave of Psychic Pokémon attacking them was over, though he suspected the Farfetch'd he caught would be very upset he was not here to battle psychic energy spoon users. However the Pokédex had already told him that he was too busy trying to set up their escape plan to use the H.O.P.E gloves, so there was nothing he could do to rectify things for the duck.

"Okay, now that we should have a few minutes to ourselves, let's get back to making ourselves a door. Pikachu, use Thu…."

Ash found his voice promptly muffled by a pale hand covering his mouth from an individual shorter than him.

Though given who that person was exactly, that wasn't much help in the 'do not freak out' category.

"That was clever, I'll give you that. You are the first person to think it might be easier to break my walls than my windows, and I can't forget your Squirtle's suggestion either. That was also quite smart. However, I am going to have to ask you to stop." Sabrina declared in a tone between her pre and post Haunter extremes.

At the sight of her all his Pokémon immediately lunged forward, but a Reflect barrier formed around her and knocked all of them back.

"You know, I probably should have told you the rules of my Gym Battle and how to win it first. Call it a mistake on my part for not mentioning it earlier. Of course, you probably should be aware that what is not a win condition this time is getting me to laugh. Even if Haunter decided to follow you again, he would not save you."

Ash felt all the blood in his body chill at the simple declaration Sabrina made, a chill that he saw mirrored in Pikachu and Squirtle. Not that all of his other Pokémon weren't surprised, but to them what was going on was 'someone knew about time who wasn't them'.

But for himself, Pikachu, and Squirtle, there was something else entirely going on.

Sabrina knew what had happened to time.

"Now…" She declared as all of them blinked out of existence for a moment before being deposited in very much the same Gym arena/throne room as before, before Sabrina removed her hand from his mouth and floated to the foot of her throne before smiling his way.

A smile that was creepier looking than the non-expression she had once worn.

"Let's talk." She said, still smiling as she lowered herself into the throne and crossed one leg over the other before steepling her fingers.

…

They had taken a few more minutes when their Teleport had popped them on top of a roof in a small farm town.

While Anabel had not needed it any more than usual, Misty needed a few minutes to process what had happened in the last Teleport.

Iris had not seen what had happened, but Misty had needed some time to thank Psyduck and wonder what was wrong with the person he had struck.

Iris didn't need time to think about it, there was a simple explanation.

The person was evil.

After Psyduck had been thanked enough and returned, they Teleported away again even as a Mr. Mime came out of the home with a broom to sweep the front, and found themselves atop a cliff.

They landed fairly well, though Anabel had to lean on Misty and was muttering something about lard.

Whatever that was.

She had an odd look in her eyes and didn't really seem to know where they were even in as broad of a sense as 'atop a cliff'.

Finding Ash really did have an additional urgency to it beyond Ash's own well being, pushing herself as she was could not be good for Anabel.

"I see you have conquered the challenge of the Pewter Gym. Tell me, how many badges does that make for you?"

A somewhat familiar voice shouted from the bottom of the cliff, and so Iris poked her head over the side.

What she found below was a strangely dressed young man with a Marowak (oddly wearing one of those tie things that had been part of that shopping madness with a Keystone affixed to it) staring down a female Ash with an Ivysaur at her side.

Iris did not think she was exaggerating, the girl did not have the same body shape as that waitress or what they had been described of Belladonna, having one closer to her own or Anabel's, and with the right clothing she could probably fool people into thinking she was Ash at a distance.

She would probably have to cut her hair down from shoulder level, and while the white dominant and blue jacket and black undershirt were quite Ash-like (though the collar being red and yellow looked kind of weird), the girl would probably be a better Ash impersonator if she was wearing jeans instead of a jean skirt.

"Five." She declared with a confident tone.

"Ax!" Her brother chirped out. 'I think that guy's one of the people Misty fought at that tournament with the evil Clefairy'.

Huh, that would explain why the guy seemed sort of familiar.

"Five huh, you have the same amount as I. However, I seek my sixth badge and you will be an excellent test to see if I am ready."

"Fine with me, but don't think I'm going to be easy. The name's Manna by the way." The now named girl's Ivysaur stepped forward, determination flashing in both their eyes.

"And mine is Otoshi." With that statement Marowak stepped forward with its bone held for battle.

A strange scent wafted up from both of them, Manna and her Ivysaur smelled like odd pollens she had only smelled once in her life. Her grandfather had mentioned something about a ritual of evolution that some Bulbasaur and Ivysaur underwent that involved unique pollens he had observed once, and came back with the scent of the pollen upon him.

Both of them smelled like that. Had they been a part of such a ritual recently?

Otoshi and his Marowak smelled much more like lightning, both where it was brewing and the area struck by it. Had they been chasing storms?

"Alright Ivysaur, let's start with Rock Smash!" Manna declared as Ivysaur sent two vines at Marowak, the tips glowing red.

"Deflect Marowak, and let's go all out!" Otoshi declared as the Marowak deflected both red tipped vines with its bone, before forming a Thunderpunch and punching itself right in the midst of the Keystone holding tie.

The canyon seemed to darken for a moment, even as a golden light spread from the punch site to cover Marowak's upper chest and arms in a sparking golden light. Said light crept half way up the bone as well before stopping.

What was that?

Manna seemed to share her surprise, as she demanded exactly what it was that Otoshi had just done.

"This, when mastered, is how we are going to win the Pokémon League. Now Marowak, Bone Club!"

Marowak charged at the Ivysaur, who glared defiantly at the Marowak colored gold.

As the battle promptly began to move hard in Otoshi's favor, Iris could not help but note that Ash would have loved to see this for the thrill of it.

The Pokédex would want the data.

Though, she had to wonder why they had come there by the Teleport. What was Anabel honing in on?

The house and the Mew didn't have anything in common, but this was the second time a result of Ash's father's successful gene spreading was at the end of a Teleport.

Could that be it, and if so why the house and the crystals and Mew?

Did those have some connection to Ash? It was possible that the house was the one his mother lived in, but what of the crystal home of that Mew…

"Saur!"

Her full attention was taken back to the battle at hand. Marowak had just slashed at Ivysaur with a green glowing bone that was probably Fury Cutter.

Still as gold as before, Marowak had charged again, only to be stopped as the Ivysaur glowed with a massive green aura.

Said green aura causing the cliff walls it touched to spring to life with moss, and had Ivysaur glaring at the Marowak with glowing green eyes.

Overgrow, but more powerful than she had ever seen. She had heard of such things before though.

Rare strains of the ability that had much more power behind them, but at the cost of control. Those inflicted had unimaginable potential and strength when using it, but at the risk of destroying everything around them in mindless rampages.

"Oh no…" She heard Manna whisper in a mixture of dread and worry before the Ivysaur fired a Solarbeam uncommanded.

"Block it!" Otoshi ordered as Marowak flipped the bone it was holding so the golden half would make the impact, before charging at the attack with the intent to have the golden armor that seemed to enhance it match the powered up Solarbeam.

A hand tapped her shoulder and Teleported her and Axew away before she could see the results of such a clash.

…

"I could make a joke about you not earning my badge the first time around, but I sense such jokes are meaningless. That such jabs are either friendly jokes from long held companions, or by the jealous and petty people without even a badge 'out of pity' to their own names. Plus I hardly see a lack of effort in the first time you obtained the Cascade and Rainbow Badges even without a definitive victory. If how a battle went was a factor, you'd think the Dynamo Badge would warrant your teasing." Sabrina observed as Ash and his Pokémon remained tense, ready to strike the moment she tried something.

"I offered to give the badge back, but Wattson was…" Ash stopped his explanation of the Dynamo Badge incident when something occurred to him.

"How do you know that?" He had never seen Sabrina after he won her badge, not even when he returned to Saffron City for May's Contest.

Unless Iris or Cilan had run into Sabrina after they got on the Magnet Train, how could she know that detail?

Heck that wouldn't even explain it, he hadn't mentioned that incident to the two at any point.

"Oh, how do I know about your first andsecond battles with Wattson? How do I know of your two sumo tournament victories, your defeat at the hands of Montgomery's Throh and your triumph over Volt? It's quite simple really, I read your mind. I learn from the deepest depths of it, and reread when I feel the need to double check something."

She read his mind?!

"Yes, and I've been doing it for a while. I know everything." She paused for a moment before adding an addendum to her declaration. "Except how long you actually were traveling. By the best I was able to count you should have been about this age sometime before time broke, either in Unova or Kalos, and yet you were not. I swear it honestly looked like that May girl aged backwards at one point."

May aged backwards?

"But that is a minor quibble compared to the wealth of knowledge you give me. That includes your wealth of Gym Badge experience, so I think you can adapt to my challenge fairly well." She pointed up with a smirk. "If you want the Marsh Badge, you have to fight your way up to the top of my Gym and take one of my badges. They are sitting out on a table, untouched since I put them there. With what power you used to try and break my wall, I'm certain you'd be the first to ever take one. Of course so few people really do try for it, for after about a few minutes they start begging for their life, yet so few actually prove themselves worthy of it by that point. "

"Why would I even want one?" Ash told her bluntly.

"You took one from a crime boss, didn't you?" She reminded him.

"Technically I took it from Jessie and James."

"Are they not working for a crime boss?"

"Not for at least half the time I deal with them from my understanding." Ash quipped.

"And yet a pair of criminals and their Meowth are better than I am?" Sabrina questioned.

"You just admitted to murdering people!" He was pretty sure Team Rocket were too incompetent to kill anyone most of the time, and when they were competent they were sneaking around stealing things.

"It's more akin to weeding than murder, but if you are so insistent on some sort of standard, there is the prize in my basement." She pointed down to the ground as Ash offered his third option.

"I could just walk away and out the door." It was a statement, not a question.

"Where do you think most of the trash was cleaned up?" She replied matter of factly before pointing back down to her basement.

"Pika." 'Sorry lady, but if you want him in your bed there is a line, three people are waiting for that currently, and a very long list of people I'd much rather have him with before you of multiple genders and species.' Pikachu declared bluntly, even if Sabrina could not understand him.

Wait what? Huh? Wah? Ash almost gave himself whiplash as his head snapped round to stare at Pikachu.

"I have no need for your Trainer in such a regard. I have no interest in carnal pleasures nor a child."

Did she read that out of his mind? And what, did they really…

"Yes." Ash redirected his attention to his current problem and let Pikach's statement retreat to the back of his mind.

'Stay out of my head.' Also what question was she answering?

Sabrina responded to his thought with a shrug that communicated the essence of 'no', which also did not clarify what she was talking about.

"No, down there is your missing Pokémon, the one Paul blasted away."

The declaration made Ash take a step back in shock, as Pikachu mirrored his movement. Muk and the others watched Sabrina with renewed surprise instead of unease as she continued.

"Yes, Primeape. I happened upon him before he would have died by a chance of fate and I figured he could be of some use, and what better use than a motivator for you to come challenge my Gym. Make it to the basement and retrieve Primeape. He can be your prize if you refuse my badge. The challenge to get him will be the same, so it works perfectly well for me."

Ash stared at Sabrina for a long moment, a thought entering his mind about what her angle was. Why did she drag him here? What was her game?

However each thought was quickly swamped by a simple determination.

Primeape was here. He had a second chance to save him. He was going to take it.

He moved to turn his hat around to symbolize his resolve, even as he saw Pikachu prepare to make a beeline for the nearest place a staircase down could be. In the corner of his eyes he saw Servine acknowledge this with a nod, Tauros snorted in determination, Squirtle give him a thumbs up, Roggenrola hop in the air energetically, and Muk raise himself up into fullness for the battling that would be upon them soon.

All ready to take on the the next wave of Psychic-types that appeared as Sabrina left.

.…

Anabel had regained her mind, but she still had to lean against a tree to stay up.

Teleporting the way they had to was incredibly draining, and it seemed like each time she did it was even more so.

It took her longer to regain full faculties.

She took a deep breath.

Every Teleport they did would require more time on her end to be ready for her next one. Minutes adding up every time for her to be in full awareness again.

How many more of these did she have until she'd require an hour to be ready to go again?

"Sparky, Zippo, it's the egg! I think it's about to hatch!"

Looking down from yet another cliff she had landed on, she saw one of Ash's brothers again with his own Pikachu and Charmander, staring at a solid green egg with amazement in their eyes.

This was the second time she had seen him, his name was Ritchie she believed. A nice guy who even dressed a lot like Ash.

But he wasn't him, and every time they returned to where he was it would take even longer to find Ash.

The egg was fully covered in glowing light as it began to take a form, a Pokémon with a spike on its head, a conical tail, and a red scaled belly distinct from its overall green form. It looked up at Ash's brother in fresh confusion.

"Lar?"

"Welcome to life little guy. My name's Ritchie and these are my partners Sparky and Zippo (Both Pokémon greeted the newborn Pokémon), what's yours?"

The Pokémon looked at him in confusion, and so Ritchie went into a bit of explanation about what names were and why he liked to give them to Pokémon.

She had known her Kadabra wasn't interested in one, she had asked about it a while ago.

She didn't overly follow his conversation, but focused on the recently hatched Pokémon.

So that was how Pokémon hatched from eggs. She wasn't sure if they broke out of them or evolved out of them, and she wondered how long it would be until the Togepi egg hatched.

Would Ash have the same look of joy and wonder that Ritchie had on his face when his new Pokémon hatched?

The thought reinforced her resolve, and she felt her body force back what remained of her exhaustion from the last Teleport.

She'd be feeling the after effects of it later, but that was, as she noted, later.

There was a need now, and she would find Ash.

They would find Ash.

"Alright, Cruise it is! Welcome to the team buddy!" She heard Ritchie declare happily to his new Pokémon as she walked uneasily to where Misty and Iris were, nibbling on some apples that she didn't have the stomach for at the moment.

…(****)

As they left the way-too-many defeated Psychic-types behind them, Ash and his Pokémon ran to where Primeape was. This was their second chance to save a friend, and they could not waste it.

"Pika!" 'Don't worry Primeape, we're coming!'

As they ran through the halls though, Squirtle kept muttering to himself. He kept glancing at Ash and Pikachu before looking away, and this did not go unnoticed. Eventually, Ash had to ask. "Something wrong Squirtle?"

"Squir." 'There is a certain something I realized, and I'm not sure you want to hear it...'

"Pikachu." 'If it's important, just say it.'

Squirtle took a deep breath.

"Squirtle." 'What if we can't remind Primeape?'

The sheer shock of that question was enough to stop everyone running.

"How can you be sure of that?" Asked Ash, though he wasn't sure he'd like the answer.

"Squirtle." 'You couldn't remind Brock."

Ash cringed at that. He remembered how much that tore him up inside.

"Even if we can't remind him, he wouldn't be that different, right?" Ash really hoped they could end this on a positive note.

"Squirtle." 'I'm worried about him not being different enough. Don't forget, he was a problem Pokémon in the original timeline. He was our friend, yes, but only at the very end. We need to be prepared for the possibility that the Primeape we save is the mon he was before he changed, and if he can't be reminded, we wouldn't be able to skip straight to the part where we're friends.'

Ash and Pikachu could only stare at Squirtle as they slowly absorbed the unpleasant truth.

"What if he isdifferent?" Asked Ash, still grasping at straws. Squirtle only gave him a look.

"Squirtle." 'I was a former gang leader in both timelines. I didn't change that much. Hell, if anything, I became worse. I was hell bent on rampaging before the memory restoration got me."

Ash didn't know what to say for that, but Pikachu spoke up for him.

"Pikachu." 'It's not going to be that bad, will it?"

"Squirtle." 'I only heard it second hand, but it hurt to hear Misty wasn't interested in Togepi's egg. Ash, Pikachu, you were both there. That must have really torn you up, all I'm saying isbe prepared for something like that when we see Primeape again.'

Ash and Pikachu could only stand still as they remained silent. They didn't know what to say. How could they? Squirtle was right. If they couldn't remind Primeape, he could be the same yet different in all the worst ways.

They didn't know how long they were standing there, but it was probably long enough for Sabrina to run out of patience. They were snapped out of their stunned state when a dozen Drowzee Teleported over them and lunged at them with billowing purple gas and glowing fists.

As Ash's Pokémon defended their Trainer, Ash simply stood there. He remembered when he gazed into Primeape's eyes after saving him from his fall. Through his Pokémon's teary eyes, Ash saw all the shame, all the regret, Primeape had for his behaviour before then.

Ash clenched his fist and renewed his resolve. If Primeape couldn't be reminded, then so be it. They'd just redo their relationship all over again, and with the lessons of the original timeline, they won't make the same mistakes.

Ash's fists glowed and he joined the fray with renewed vigour.

...(***)

That had been a rather... wet landing. Literally, as they appeared above a pond, and they fell into it with a loud splash.

She didn't realize until a few seconds later, when she heard Misty yell "Quick, let's get outta here!" and felt all soaked. When she started regaining her other senses, she felt the water on her clothes and hair somehow drifted away from her, slowly but surely, and once she could see again, she saw Misty forming a water sphere in her hands, throwing it to a faraway tree in frustration.

"Great, I manage to do it when I don't need it. Well, at least now we're dry," she complained.

Iris sighed and glanced in her direction. "Are you feeling well?"

'I think so,' Anabel replied. 'But I'll need a bit more time to teleport us again.'

"Time… the only thing we don't have right now," said Misty.

Anabel wanted to say something, but she was too tired to even think. As she glanced at her surroundings, she realized they were in a city park, and fortunately there weren't many people around at the time. They had hidden in a tree grove while Misty used her powers to take the water off of them, and once she felt she could move on her own again, Anabel pointed at where she had managed to pinpoint the signal, and the three went to check it out.

"No, no, Growlithe, no, stop it, hahahaha!"

The hearty laughter came from a little boy, no older than ten or eleven. Save for the clothes he wore and being younger, he could almost pass for a mini-clone of Ash, happily rolling on the grass while a Growlithe jumped on him to lick his face. A girl around his same age was also laughing, grabbing the fire puppy to snuggle it and let the boy get back on his feet.

Anabel couldn't help but wonder if Ash looked that adorable when he was that age. She could easily imagine that boy growing into a fine young man like Ash in a few years.

"Arnold, Laila, it's time to eat!"

A woman carrying a picnic basket and accompanied by an Arcanine called out to them. Boy and girl quickly ran to her, and together they extended a picnic cloth over the grass to sit down and have their meal together. Anabel saw how the Growlithe tried to jump on her to snatch a couple of sandwiches she had pulled out for the children, so she had to keep it at bay until she could take a bag of Pokémon snacks to sate its appetite.

As the group sat to eat, Anabel felt a mix of disappointment and a warm feeling in her chest as some memories came to her mind. She never went on picnics with her parents, but she often did so with her uncle. Especlally when she began discovering her telepathy and she had a hard time controlling it, hearing everyone's thoughts at once, it was almost deafening. Her uncle would always take her to a secluded place where they could eat and relax together, just the two of them. That would always help her feel at ease and forget about her worries and everyone else's for a while.

"Another dead end," said Misty. "How long is this gonna keep up?"

'We'll find him,' said Anabel. 'We can't give up; I know we can find him.'

"Anabel, do not push yourself so hard," said Iris. "You need to rest, this is clearly taking a toll on you."

'I'm fine,' the telepath assured. 'I promised we would find Ash, and no matter what happens, we will.'

Iris and Misty tried to protest again, but she silenced her complains to focus on what mattered at the time. Ash was still out there, and she had to find him. And she would do so no matter the cost. Once she got a lock on their next destination, and making sure nobody was close, she teleported them away again.

She prayed to Arceus that this time it would be Ash.

... (***)

Iris had always considered herself very patient with things, but as the hours went by and their attempts to find Ash only ended in failure, she was finding it harder to keep calm. She knew she couldn't give in to panic, but her worry was growing by the moment.

They had teleported in front of a strange building by the edge of the sea: a high and thin tower. Misty called it a 'lighthouse', a construct whose purpose was to guide ships to the shore safely at night or in foggy days to prevent them from running aground. But that wasn't important right now.

While Anabel rested and Misty stayed watching over her out of sight, Iris went to scout their surroundings. The 'lighthouse' was closed so they couldn't enter to check if Ash was in there. So she walked across the cement floor, until she got to a beach shore…

"Pikapika!"

"That was…" There was no mistaking: that was a Pikachu. She quickly picked up the pace and ran, hopeful…

"Again buddy, send me your best Electro Ball!"

Only to suffer another let down. Yes, it was a Pikachu, and yes, the trainer in front of it looked a lot like Ash. But the obvious diferences, like wearing a blue hat instead of red, and having shorter, light brown hair instead of black, instantly killed her hopes.

She saw the Pikachu charging an Electro Ball on his tail, and leaping to throw it to his trainer. Iris saw the boy radiating a yellow aura as he outstretched a hand, stopping the electric sphere in the air. He moved the hand behind his back, passing it to the other to throw it back at the Pikachu, who in turn sent it back with a tail slap.

The two continued the game for a while until the Electro Ball fizzled out, and then the mouse began throwing Thunderbolts at his trainer, which he easily redirected just by waving his hands around as he emitted the yellow aura. After a while, the Pikachu ran off and happily jumped to his trainer's arms, who laughed heartily. In her mind, Iris couldn't help but overlap Ash's image over that boy's.

As much as the scene touched her, and as much as it made her think of Ash, it didn't change anything: they had failed again. Not wanting to interrup the boy's moment with his Pikachu friend, she left quietly in case they didn't want to be spotted.

Once she returned, Anabel was back on her feet, but didn't look good at all. Misty was so focused on helping her she took a while to notice Iris had returned, so she cleared her throat to get their attention.

"Iris… another dead end?"

"Sadly," the dark-skinned girl replied. Misty quickly took a disheartened expression, so Iris made an effort to keep strong. "But we might be getting closer. This time it was a boy with a Pikachu."

"He wouldn't be the only one we've seen today," Misty reminded her. "I wonder if it's another family trait, some of them seem to like the Pikachu line."

'That might… help… narrow it down… if I can…' Anabel tried to walk on her own, but almost fell again. 'I'm… so sorry… if I just…'

"Easy," Misty said. "Rest a little bit more. As much as we want to find Ash, we don't want you to kill yourself trying, right?"

"Of course." Iris nodded. She was worried about Ash, but she too cared for Anabel's wellbeing, and not just because she was their only means to find him.

As she glanced at the horizon over the sea, Iris clenched her fists. It wasn't just a feeling anymore: she knew Ash was in danger, and facing a very dangerous enemy. She hated that they had to wait, but until Anabel had rested enough, there was nothing else she could do.

Nothing but believe in Ash and his strength. She knew he could overcome any challenge. He would do it, he just had to.

…

The Drowzee attack had been repelled easily, Counter Shield was able to block out the Poison Gas with both Water Gun and Thunderbolt, knocking them back was not difficult.

Rock Blast and Sludge Bomb, Brine and Aerial Ace. The moves all took their share of victims, and he himself had defeated several.

The problem was that after the Drowzee fell, a flock of Natu popped and shot at them with Night Shade from their eyes.

And more Kadabra armed with Laser Spoon techniques with Psycho Cut.

And a troupe of Jynx blowing Lovely Kiss and Blizzard at them.

And more, and more, and more.

It was a numbers game, and they were by far the smaller one.

And they would only lose numbers over time.

The first of them fell after he Quick Attacked into an Exeggutor, pushing the protesting Grass-type away from Roggenrola.

The Mega Drain the Exeggutor was firing missed, and a Sludge Bomb from Muk knocked it out before it could do anything more.

However as the Exeggutor fell down, he only then saw the Natu shooting a bolt of yellow, sparking light.

A Thunder Wave, coming in too fast to avoid.

It would have hit him, had he not been shoved out of the way by a blue blur.

He could only stare in shock as Squirtle gave him a nod, before being struck by the Thunder Wave.

He clattered onto the ground, paralysis static clinging onto him as he struggled to get back up.

He reached for his old friend, his Z-Ring holding hand dripping purple sand for some reason as he did so, but a Natu flew at him with Aerial Ace and he barely blocked it.

The little bird was between his two hands, which he threw to the side as he again tried to run to get Squirtle again, but a Mr. Mime threw up a Barrier in his way before shoving it at him with a Psychic attack.

He was pushed back, though he continued to struggle to get back to Squirtle.

He kept failing to do so, as more of them fell.

Roggenrola headbutted the Mr. Mime's barrier to try and get to Squirtle, but the attack failed to shatter the barrier and Mr. Mime, fists clenched together, smashed Roggenrola with a Fighting-type attack of some sort and sent Roggenrola flying into the wall and falling to the ground face first in defeat.

A Leaf Storm was fired by Servine, the power of the attack powered to the max, right at the line of Jynx. They blew Blizzard to counter the plant growth with ice, but the ice was shattered and the attack moved unimpeded.

Then a trio of Slowpoke Teleported in a trio of Wobbuffet.

They saluted as they all glowed with the reflective power of Mirror Coat, even as the Slowpoke breathed a Heal Pulse on the triple set of blue punching bags.

The reflected power of Leaf Storm blew Servine into Muk, leaving both sludge monster and grass snake defeated on the ground.

It was down to himself, Pikachu, and Tauros now and it quickly became just him and Pikachu as a blue aura surrounded Tauros and sent him rolling back and crashing into a wall.

The perpetrator floated a few inches above the floor as her Pokémon parted around them, leaving an open area for himself, Pikachu, his defeated Pokémon, and Sabrina.

She was giving him a slow, but not mocking, clap.

"Not bad, not bad at all. I think you've set yourself a record for holding out. The previous record holder being a group of Busters and unlike them 'you're not going to die today." She declared as Pikachu sparked at her.

"I'm getting Primeape back." Ash declared as she shrugged.

"You are certainly trying, and you've more than proven that you deserve to keep living. I had no doubt you would, but you've proven beyond expectations. I finally got to use that Heal Pulse-Wobbuffet trick, and I always assumed I'd only get to use that if I got someone really powerful at my door. Congratulations, you warranted something I was saving in case I had Agatha glaring at my door."

He'd accept the compliment, but that did not change anything. She was going to be blasted.

Seconds after he thought it, Pikachu had a Thunderbolt flying at Sabrina.

She blocked it with a glowing blue palm, sending two strands of electricity off into the walls with a loud boom and the sizzle of dust.

"Hmm…." She observed with a frown before continuing.

"You are willing to blast my walls with your full power, but not me or any of my Pokémon? Clearly determination and a goal in mind isn't enough for you. You need something else, perhaps anger."

She…wanted him to attack her with his Bloodline giving Pikachu the power to obliterate an asteroid? He hadn't pegged Sabrina as being that sure of herself, did she really think she could survive such a hit?

"Oh no, I certainly would die if you hit me with that power, and you could probably kill a few of my Pokémon doing that. I'd avoid the attack, not take it on at full power of course, I'm not suicidal." Sabrina answered his thought.

Could she stop doing that?! Again she shrugged with the epitome of 'no' behind her motions.

"It would seem I'm going to have to do something to get you angry, so angry that you stop limiting yourself. Now, how to do that?" Sabrina did an exaggerated thoughtful pose, which he suspected was meant to get him to think about thinking of what she might do.

It was effective, even as Pikachu shouted at him about not overthinking things.

Despite his best buddy's warnings, visions of Sabrina Teleporting in his mother, Misty, Iris, Anabel, or even Brock flashed in his mind.

"Oh Brock, I hadn't thought of using him like that." Sabrina quipped before clapping her hands.

"But no, I don't need him or any of your other friends and family. I can use the latter without them."

A shiver went down Ash's spine as he knew what was coming.

Sabrina was going to be his Aunt, wasn't she? Or his grandmother…

"I'm twenty-two. I'd need to share your knack for flinging yourself through time to be your grandmother." Sabrina told him bluntly before smirking. "Of course, by the time I'm done catching two Pokémon with one Pokéball, you'll wish that I was your Aunt."

His family tree had a polygamist terrorist, a regular polygamist, several people of various degrees of quirks from waitress to admirer of his achievements and a girl who hung out with that Hiker, and Red. In what sort of twisted way would he want Sabrina in it?

Pikachu muttered something he didn't catch, but one of the surrounding Kadabra did and told Sabrina, who shook her head.

"I checked, we aren't related even distantly. Sharing a Heart Bloodline with another lineage is rare but not unheard of. Of course, that isn't true of all Bloodlines. Dominion for example."

She smirked at him as she elaborated on her point.

"What you and your family all share is Power, specifically the Dominion of Power. Like all Dominion Bloodlines, it is the application of a concept as held dearest to the wielder's nature, forming itself as the person's personality forms. Why look at yourself and Red, to you Power is the ability to overcome immense odds with a sudden burst of power from within yourself, while to Red Power is the ability to know exactly what to do to achieve the best result the most efficiently. Then you even have Belladonna, who doesn't care for winning or power but wants a perfect relationship, which are built on being truthful. I'm sure some psychologist could comment on how your different environments and family status influenced you all, but that's all speculative work you can ask for in a few decades or so."

Ash glared at the woman, not really caring about her commentary. What was she getting at? It was hard to lie, even to oneself, that they weren't related to him by blood, and the trivia wasn't bad, but did she have a point? She seemed to be under the impression that this would get him angry or something.

"Now of course you got it from somewhere, didn't you? Given the three of you share a parent, I think you can agree your father is where you all got it from. The education system you experienced in this timeline is advanced enough that you are certainly aware of the basic rules of genetics to agree with me on that. Of course, I know a bit more than that. For you see, I've dealt with your father." Sabrina gave a pause that seemed to be her gathering the right words to say next before continuing.

"He's a monster." Sabrina said simply and bluntly as Ash glared right in the eye when he reminded her that she was no saint.

"You're one to talk."

"Oh believe me, we do have similarities. I'll admit that much. However there are many things he has and will do, that I have no interest in doing, nor any desire to perform. Patricide for one thing, you have no grandparents among the living for more than just the ravages of time."

Sabrina's father was still alive? Was he hanging around as a photographer somewhere?

"Of course your father possesses only one Bloodline, the same one shared by your siblings. However the abilities he gets from it aren't about strengthening others or enforcing virtues upon them. That isn't what power is to him. What he can do, is control others." Sabrina landed at his side, opposite of Pikachu, to continue her rambling right into his ear.

"Not so much like a Heart Bloodliner, nothing so up front and obvious that the person at the end of it all knows something happened. What he does is a bit more insidious, for he does not work with control from the front. He works from behind, messing with the thoughts behind your active ones. He doesn't make you do things; he makes those thoughts that ring in the back of your mind and subtly push you in directions and outcomes, and others of subtle manipulation and control, never direct control. In fact…I just checked the minds of Delia, Atropa, Anna, and Regina. I'd look at Shinku, but she's dead. Do you want to know what all four of them have in common?"

Ash had no idea who the other four mentioned with his mother were, but Sabrina leaned in for the next point even closer to his ear to a point he could feel her breath in his ear canal.

She Teleported out of his incoming Power-up Punch to get her away from his ear, but reappeared there moments later to continue, right where she had been originally.

"All four of the living who were impregnated by your father all had regular periods by that point. They knew what days they could and could not get pregnant. Their children, including yourself, were all conceived on safe days, all by freak irregular fluctuations in their cycles that made that night. Such things accelerated to the exact point he wanted them to. Good thing your father was quite good at keeping the momentum of daycaring going long enough for such things to be where he wanted them, or else you would not exist. Same with most of your siblings, bar the ones who just had sex at the right point in their periods that such effort was unnecessary. Midori for example, I just checked his mother's mind and she simply forgot it was a bad time to be enjoying male companionship."

Ash stared at Sabrina, a trembling going through his body and perhaps as what she said registered as she floated up in front of him.

And what she was implying began sinking in.

"What are you saying!?"

Sabrina shrugged, of all possible responses.

"Depends on what moral theorist you ask. I'm not qualified to say. Your mother didn't require mental tricks to get in bed with your father, a tall attractive man needs not a Bloodline to get many in bed with him, though he is not averse to throwing a few thoughts into the back of their minds to get things moving. However then he did make it so your mother would get pregnant when she normally wouldn't have, and did place thoughts in the back of her head to ensure that your mother wouldn't have you aborted….but he did that with all of them so it was hardly specifically aimed at you. If he hadn't done that, Belladonna certainly wouldn't exist at least. Your grandfather was for that happening by the way, your maternal one specifically, 'I care more about my daughter than the ball of cells some foreign punk left in you.' He said to your mother a bit into the post 'I'm pregnant' conversation after the traditional heartfelt 'I am not angry at you' words he truly meant. Also something about wanting her to live her life before settling down he meant just as much, but you get the point."

The comments about the grandfather he never met and his opinion on him would have registered more to Ash if not for everything else being thrown his way.

Sabrina was trying to get him angry, meaning that if he dwelled on that too long she'd win. He'd have to calm himself down. Perhaps with some rational thoughts, going backwards from the last comment.

His grandfather having preferred him to never have been born. Well his father here wasn't a Trainer, while when he left the first time he was. Thus his words had absolutely no bearing on him whatsoever!

Pikachu's look of 'Ash, thinking is the last thing you should be doing right now' came too late as he realized that his finally taking to heart the complaint many had of him not doing so in the past had came at the worst time.

Because there was a smirking woman trying to ensure he'd try and blast her in anger reading his every thought.

"Nice try, but I am not sure you quite get the full implications. The grandfather who was a Trainer who took more than three days to get to Viridian like his first successor yet unlike yourself, and the grandfather who had a stroke not that long after starting to come around to the idea that you were more than something ruining his only child's life, may in fact be very different people in behavior if not who they were…but the latter has more claim to you right now than the Trainer one does. I'm sorry to say this but I think it is warranted to point out.

"The Ash Ketchum who got Top Sixteen at Indigo because his Charizard disobeyed and obvious sabotage with clear hints of the involvement of a known yakuza gang in the area, the Ash Ketchum who was kissed by either a girl or a Latias, the Ash Ketchum who conquered the Battle Frontier and delivered Tobias the closest to a defeat he seemed to ever have….and you, are not as much as the same as you may prefer to think. Beyond the different flavors your Aura abilities and even my psychokinesis take in this iteration of reality, your body was built with different material. The father you had in the original timeline is no longer your father here. The height you possess and the rage that bubbles out of you is from your new father, not the original father who abandoned your mother."

Pikachu lunged at her, intent to shut her up with a Zap Cannon in his palm. Sabrina simply stopped him mid jump and put him back on his shoulder, before removing the Zap Cannon and having it detonate on the floor between them.

"I'm me. I'm not anyone else, so don't give me that crap. If you want to go declare that I'm not me, I'm going to shut you up before you even get to the not part."

Sabrina looked amused at his threat, which was not good because she wanted him to be angry. Realizing that made her win more, and it was starting to become a cycle.

"If you are worried that I am going to, I don't know, tell your dear mom that you never will be Ash Ketchum, that you aren't Ash Ketchum, and never was Ash Ketchum, you can relax. That would be an untruth. You may be walking about with a different body with a differently built set of tricks, but you are plenty more authentic than that and can avoid overthinking on it. After all, most of your mind and memories are the ones you started with, back when aging had multiple options to it.

"However you are none the less not the same one who had that incident with the Zekrom and the Snivy either, your parts coming from a very different parent. And that father….as I said earlier, is a monster. Who sired you and a truly disturbing amount of others, neither out of love, nor of lust for your mother. She was one of hundreds of people he noted had the potential to have a Bloodliner child on her own, and he simply made that child happen with his genes making those dormant ones activate like someone had just recompleted an electric circuit. You and all your siblings are but parts to him, parts he can and will remove if he finds can't be of any use to him. Turns out that Archer kid he had axed was sterile, for example."

That was a reason to kill someone? Regardless the wanton murder revelation was not helping Sabrina not win.

He'd have to simply not be in the place to let her win. He'd ask Pikachu to disobey him if he told him to attack. It was simple really.

"Pikapi!" 'Shup up! I for one want you to be quiet! My partner does not need to listen to you babble things you can't possibly even know about. You know about the future and have read some science fiction, big deal! We don't have any proof that you have ever met Ash's so called father, be it a deadbeat or some sort of maniacal villain of the sort I'm sure you are well aware we are unnaturally good at running into. So let us go or I will see if I can burn you like Charizard would with ten thousand volts of electricity!'

Or not, it would seem. And so his anger spiked again, fueled in part by the frustration that telling Pikachu to not attack would not work.

He was starting to see red when Sabrina spoke again.

"My Pokémon say you'd like to show my evidence? Then you shall have it."

And so Ash no longer found himself in a room with five of his Pokémon and friends defeated, himself and Pikachu barely avoiding frothing at the mouth, Sabrina looking pleased with herself, and an army of Psychic Pokémon standing around him in a clear message about the futility of running. No, he found himself in another room of the Gym, where another Trainer lay in defeat (the point about her hurting others flaring his anger even more), and a second Sabrina was talking with another who had walked in and tried to kick the other Trainer in the head.

Then the person who was only in this projected memory began talking with Sabrina, and the words that started coming out…

"A pity you don't, My Lord spent many years researching it. It is quite accurate."

"I've noticed. Those idiots up in Cerulean got hauled off by that brother of yours. Executioner I believe you call him. I can only imagine what he's done with them since."

"You can read minds, you don't need to imagine it."

"Yes in fact. Recently the King has grown to question if one of the possible candidates should be terminated. He was previously tested and seemed salvageable, but losing to not only another candidate, but then being outmaneuvered by that strange byproduct over in Gringy City...we request you test..."

"I'm not J, I have no desire for money and I have better things to do than your bidding.

"Then again, from what I see in your mind the King's pretty disappointed about the general lack of killing isn't he. How many like Ash and the 'byproduct' are willing to kill each other like in the King's bloodthirsty fantasies went so far? 4, 5, maybe 6? Not even one percent that. Even the more aggressive ones like that 'byproduct' don't aim their lethal intent where he wants it. Figuring out they are the same actually made Belladonna not want to kill him."

"My Lord has already changed the world."

…Were the final straw.

It went beyond it when the drawing from that MissingNo dream, featuring a man with eyes like Red and Belladonna clenching in his fist Serena's pink hat and May's bandanna.

The memory faded away as Sabrina looked at him with what he could only describe as genuine selfless intent.

"I once killed a know-nothing college professor who bribed his way to a doctorate on foreign cultures who had a collection of dreamcatchers for things like that MissingNo. You can take one with my badge and Primeape after you stop limiting yourself."

The genuine offer was like a bucket of water added to a lake whose dam had just violently cracked.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" He shouted, and he could feel his eyes glowing as if they were on fire, his rage exploding like ten thousand bombs…

Pikachu jumped off his shoulder, electricity already sparking around him…only for a Water Gun to blast Pikachu onto the ground before the attack could be launched.

This was followed by a gelatinous form smothering him, and his cathartic fury, onto the ground as he saw only sludge.

Though he did see faint images of wobbling blue feet dart in front of them, along with a pair of stone and green feet from a gap in Muk's form.

He didn't see hooves, though he did hear Tauros give the response that was frankly warranted for all of them.

A confused and angry questioning of what they thought they were doing.

"Ser." Servine declared, if a bit muffled to his ears thanks to Muk. 'My idiot, any reason you felt like letting her win?'

He didn't get a chance to answer before Squirtle spoke up.

"Squirt." 'Look, I get it. Everything that you saw and heard would make anyone want to destroy her. However she already said that won't do anything, and all you'll be doing is having her win. It won't change the fact that your father is a horrible person who does horrible things to everyone around him. If you have to break her body, break it because of that kid she beat up like she did to us, and who knows who else!'

Muk's body vibrated, what Muk was saying outside not quite audible as 'Muk muk muk', but he got the gist of it. "Professor Oak always said something about 'You teach me, and I'll teach you' when it came to Trainers and their Pokémon. What you or the Professor teach us is obvious, but this is a moment we teach you something. Sometimes you need to not let rage control you. You taught that lesson to Infernape if I recall correctly, now you need to take that lesson to heart."

"A saccharine moral. You are teaching one of those, right when I was about to make a breakthrough on him?" Sabrina sounded incredulous.

He felt the same way…though surprisingly he felt less that every moment. Maybe it was just the purple sludge forcing his eyes shut to see black instead of red.

"Now I'm going to have to start all over again, and be much cruder. Tell me, have you ever seen a George Lucas film turtle?" Sabrina declared in a clear threat of commenting on Squirtle's lack of faith.

"I've pirated all of them." The Pokédex beeped in his pocket.

It was silent for hours, and now it finally spoke up?

"Of course, I could talk with the crazy woman beyond this sludge pile about the themes and failings of them, but I have my primary functions to consider. That includes your well-being. I will now be instigating my plan to ensure it." The Pokédex stated. "Tell me, he whose mad mumblings about time with his Pokémon are a bit more than a concerning psychological quirk, were you aware that your Bulbasaur has above average organizational and leadership qualities? Or that the Exeggutor you obtained can all use Teleport?"

He knew the first one, but what did the second one have to…

Muk got off of him as the ceiling above them shook and cracked, dust falling from the ceiling as Sabrina looked up in concern.

"Also, I had calculated the exact time that a Heart Bloodliner needs to notice and control a Pokémon thanks to your friends. The Exeggutor were in and out before the crazy woman could even notice them, more than enough for the necessary trips."

The ceiling finally shattered, sending pieces of foundation, wood, and steel flying down. Sabrina's Pokémon reflexively shoved the damage to the side before it could hit them.

What that did not allow them to do, however, was stop what was coming down with them.

And it wasn't the half dozen Marsh Badges that were falling, one of which Squirtle picked up and tucked into the same place he kept his shades.

"Bulba!" Bulbasaur, riding the back of Pidgeot with Ambipom, declared as the entire Pidgey and Pidgeotto flock Pidgeot championed followed, several of them carrying Spewpa. 'We're going to get you out of here everyone!'

Charizard roared an agreement to the side of them, where his flight was flanked by Yanma, Butterfree, Vivillion, and the Spearow. 'But first, we are going to have some fun with these kidnappers! This is revenge for the first time you creepy doll collector, this time I am going to smash every Kadabra here so hard they'll wish they hadn't ever woken up!'

Behind all of them was a giant solid water wave, one of his fourteen new Tauros using Surf to ride down from above.

Behind him were two of his old Tauros, using Ice Beam to freeze the wave into a solid mass upon which rode every one of his other Pokémon.

Even Raichu and Jigglypuff.

Every one of them landed around them, the space that Sabrina having left them nowhere near enough as the attacking began immediately.

Or in Chansey's case, the healing of the six of them that had begun this mad battle.

Sabrina stared in an odd mixture of surprise, shock, anger, and an odd look that he could only describe as being impressed, before Charizard shouted about using Fling despite not knowing the move and flinging Krabby right at her.

A Stomp struck Sabrina right in the stomach and knocked her through her own wall, leaving a Sabrina-sized hole in the wall.

(ADDITIONAL *****)

Wind blew through Vulpix's fur as she held onto her father's mane for dear life, her eyes almost shut in fear. This was the first time she had ever been into a proper battle. She may have had practice battles with some of her father's friends and a few of the smaller Pokémon but never like this.

Her father's bellows gave her a small amount of strength, opening her eyelids just a little. She watched in awe as her father sent a Starmie flying with just a Headbutt, allowing the small plant leader to entangle it with his vines. Seeing her, the small creature gave a soft smile as if to tell her it was alright to be afraid before jumping to avoid a Psybeam.

Those two... they were almost unbeatable.

Her father and the Bulbasaur. They would surely have a weakness against the Psychic types, one due to how smart the mental users were said to be and the other due to typing. Yet right here and now, they were slowly dominating the field.

'I-if they can do it, if they can fight with no problems, with no hesitation... can I?'

Opening her eyes, she gave a small yip as flames grew in her mouth. With a cry, she released the small fireball towards an unsuspecting Drowzee. The Incinerate struck its side as it turned towards the small family. It's hands twitched as black energy formed in its hands.

"Vul!"'Papa!' Vulpix called out, another Incinerate blazing to life in her mouth.

A snort was her answer as the Tauros bellowed, his own fireball flaring into existence between his horns. As if on the same wave length, the pair released their attacks, the twin Incinerates merging into one. The flame slammed into the still charging Shadow Ball causing it to discharge and explode, sending the Drowzee flying.

"Bruh!" 'That's my daughter!' Tauros bellowed, before charging off to help one of his herd. Vulpix beamed in pride at his words. She really could do this, couldn't she?

She would prove herself. Not just to her father and her new idol but to herself as well.

She was her father's daughter after all.

(ADDITIONAL)

The Abra popped in front of him, charging a Thunderpunch.

Farfetch'd simply glared at it.

The Abra stopped mid-attack and Farfetch'd walked underneath the stunned Pokemon, idly noting a Pidgey fly into it with a Tackle.

No, he wasn't here to fight such a Pokemon.

He had been quite happy to see Spoonmons here, with a new technique he had never seen among them.

He would defeat them.

Spotting one, he lunged at a two-spoon Alakazam while making the Farfetch'd call of battle.

Or at least his call of battle, he wasn't entirely sure.

Johto

"So, I have siblings. I had always thought that little girl I had met in Len Town looked a bit like me. I had thought it was just coincidence, but apparently it wasn't."

It had been hours since they had begun their search, though it was the first time she had interacted with one of the Ash siblings they kept accidentally warping to instead of Ash.

Misty met an evil one, but that was about it. Mostly seeing them off in the distance battling or hatching Pokémon or doing any number of things, not saying anything to them.

But that was not a thing anymore, and now she found herself sitting in a Secret Base, a table across from the first sibling she'd be talking to.

Her name was Meliae.

Misty was nearby, helping Anabel get a drink of water. While Anabel had been showing signs of dehydration, Misty was making sure she wouldn't fall into Meliae's little lake.

Also something about giving water something called iodine first. She wasn't sure the exact reason for it, it was just something that Ash and everyone seemed to insist on doing.

Regardless of why they always did odd things with water, it was just her and Meliae here.

And she had just finished telling the story of Ash to his half-sister who Iris had to admit, did not look that much like him.

Unlike Red, Manna, and what she had seen of Belladonna via the Pokédex and Ash's own descriptions, she did not have black hair. Her hair instead was more the color of honey from a Combee nest.

Also unlike Ash she had red eyes, and did not have marks on her face. She did have similar looking ears, as well as height.

"So, you want to be with my brother?" Meliae asked for confirmation as Iris nodded.

She had mentioned that in the midst of passing the time until Anabel was able to Teleport them again.

"Do you understand what that means, exactly?"

She didn't understand Meliae's question. What could the confusion be about?

"To be Ash's mate? That means we would be frequently together, and possess a mutual emotional bond. We would reproduce with each other."

Meliae let out a sigh.

"That last one…I feel I have a sisterly duty to work on that one. I don't know if I'm being the concerned older sister or the concerned younger sister here, you didn't give me the day Ash was born."

Ash had mentioned that at some point, but it was escaping her right now.

"Frankly from what you mentioned of yourself the fact that you do see the emotional connection aspect of a permanent relationship surprises me. However, first you do know that humans do not lay eggs, correct?"

"I was told about that a while ago, along with the basics of how reproduction works."

"Well, glad I don't have to give that talk," Meliae sounded relieved about not doing that, "However I suspect you have issues grasping things beyond that."

What was there to grasp? Reproduction was reproduction.

"First off, you are aware that humans, and some Pokémon for that matter, have sex for more than just having kids. If every time I had sex I wanted kids, this place would be filled with them." Meliae told her.

"And no, before you say anything about Bloodliners and humans…" Meliae held up a finger before she could comment, and in fact pinched the finger with two from her other hand.

"Humans and Bloodliners are hardly different when it gets down to it. Look at this finger, it is the same as a regular person's finger on the outside and in the inside. The same blood vessels flow through it, the same skin protects it; the same bones bend in the same way. All that is different about it is that if I scratch this finger and put it in the sun, it patches itself up. Our minds and bodies behave exactly the same, so what applies to one applies to the other."

Meliae sounded a bit forceful on the point for some reason, so Iris would not challenge her on it. However the first statement still warranted a question.

"Why would someone…"

"Because it feels good. I can't say what Pokémon feel when they do it, but at least with humans having sex is very physically pleasing and enjoyable. Not just physically, but also emotionally. I actually recall reading somewhere once that, at least with humans, sex is as pleasurable as it is to encourage more breeding as human females, and thus us as well, do not send off 'I'm fertile right now, please get me pregnant' signals like most Pokémon species."

"But everything can sense …"

"Can you tell when you're fertile?" Meliae cut her off bluntly.

Iris opened her mouth to say yes, but closed it as she thought about it.

She…really couldn't.

"So let's make sure we haven't lost track of anything. Forgive me if I sound patronizing here, I'm basing this on my mom's lectures from her fertility clinic back in Cherrygrove with people who don't have your life story to justify their lack of understanding of human sexuality, and so this may not be the best tone to use. You want to engage in a long term, emotionally significant relationship with my half-brother, whose exact age relative to mine is yet undetermined. You do not care for strict exclusiveness in the relationship, though you yourself do not particularly have any interest in participating in non-monogamy. The main hole you have to figure out is the sexual end of the relationship, not from any lack of understanding of how part A goes into slot B, but the function of it beyond strict reproductive use."

Iris nodded, it was pretty much true.

Meliae looked in the direction of where Misty and Anabel were, her eyes flashing the color Ash or Red's eyes did when their paternal derived Bloodline was activated before turning back her way.

"Your Teleporting friend is pushing her body hard; she'll need at least forty-five minutes before she's at a point she can Teleport again," She had mentioned that her other Bloodline let her look over a person or Pokémon's health at a glance. Handy for spotting something called an STD, she had mentioned. "So, we have some time to kill before then. So, I'll give you a basic rundown on how human sexuality works from initiation to completion, even if you'd probably need a lot more time to get the full set of details. I'll start with the 'time and place' portion of the talk first."

"Is that really so important?" Iris asked as Meliae gave her an amused smile.

"Given you just asked me that, it would seem so. Now, let's start with…"

What followed was a surprisingly informative, yet not lacking in personal experience and opinion, explanation of a topic Iris had once thought immensely simple. Though she did have a few questions she asked during the explanation.

"Why is that considered appealing?" (Because it's pleasurable).

"So showering with him is sexually stimulating?" (Yes, though it is quite possible to do so platonically or logically as you did).

"How much time is too little time?" (It depends, try and gauge it yourself. Seeing how Ash reacts is probably the best thing I can suggest in that regard).

Among others. As Meliae continued to answer her questions, the image of her Dragonite big brother appeared in Iris' mind. While she used to think he had never found himself a permanent mate because he could really be a jerk at times, she recalled that the dragon females did find him appealing on the physical department, and sometimes they would engage in it because 'they felt like it', and not just for the purpose of siring offspring. In fact, her big brother seemed to have a preference for strong females, only those capable of keeping up with him, if not best him in a fight. Iris asked her if human men liked strong women, to what Meliae replied that where she came from, that was usually not the case, but exceptions to the rule always existed and she could not say about anywhere else.

"So… have you ever thought of finding yourself a permanent mate?"

Meliae chuckled. "It's not in my plans. I'm not the type to commit to that kind of compromise, neither would I drag someone else into it. I like being a free agent, and I've seen too many people try to kid themselves that monogamy functions. There is an unhealthy connection people have tried to slap between emotional exclusivity and physical exclusivity that I want nothing to do with."

A free agent? Iris wondered if that was the real reason her big brother never seemed interested in finding himself a permanent mate.

While there were many things that Meliae would have wanted to talk about that they didn't have time to go into, what she did get to say Iris greatly appreciated.

…

Sabrina watched the chaos that was now in play with an odd mixture of emotions bubbling inside of her.

It was chaos really, what other word was there for a Farfetch'd with three leeks battling three Alakazam with their Psycho Spoons (and no she did not plagiarize the technique, she had earned the right to use them from their original creator fair and square. She was hungover for an entire week getting his permission), while a legion of Grimer smother her Wobbuffet with the uncounterable 'hug' attack.

But she was not paying attention to what was going on in front of her, but rather to the many emotions she was feeling.

Annoyance at how close she had been to getting Ash to shed that self-imposed limitation on himself, a sense of begrudging respect for the hours of silent planning Ash's Pokédex had been up to arrange this rescue plan for Ash, indignation from being kicked in the chest by that Krabby (had she been a regular human she'd probably have broken ribs, as it was they were probably bruised), and a sense she had to remind herself she could not take credit for this.

This wasn't like a regular test of hers. Ash had already proved he was worthy of his existence, and him proving it even more with the Pokémon he had trained and even his own abilities wasn't the point of this.

The primary goal was getting Ash to stop playing with his own restrictive rule set, which had not been achieved.

She had achieved a secondary objective, having Ash know that his father was the worst man on the planet, even if she had not directly noted him as his title of the Bloodline King.

Vague details were easier to let his emotions run wilder than the truth ever could. Also the more specific she had been about him, the more likely he'd have assumed she was messing with him.

After all, the two had met in the original timeline back when they were not tied by blood. He had been quite different there (no known ties to Orre for one, even if Ash didn't have the guy's full backstory), and Ash would have very likely assumed she had taken his name out of the proverbial hat.

Given what she had seen of Ash's history with crazy people with delusions of taking over the world, she figured that such knowledge would be a good way of getting rid of the bastard.

That would be easier, of course, if she could try and get Ash back on schedule for learning about the benefits of not handicapping himself.

But there was a problem with doing that now the hours she kept Ash there basically had him running on adrenaline fumes after a while, same with his Pokémon he had on hand.

Those six, now that they no longer were the only ones there, were now taking the opportunity to rest and realize that it was the afternoon already.

Rest, be held down by Butterfree String Shot on Bulbasaur's orders as leader and Chansey as healer, one of the two.

Chansey was still healing the six, and whatever Pokémon of theirs needed it because one of her own got a strong hit in.

Given Ash, it was likely that he'd recover and be making a move on Primeape sooner than he should have, or before Bulbasaur would prefer.

It wasn't a lot of time, but perhaps she could earn herself some more.

With a thought, she summoned the Alakazam who was leading the protection of Primeape.

He looked at the chaos that was going on in disbelief.

"Yes, there were unexpected developments. I am however, able to adapt to them. Let's teach another lesson."

A lesson he might have been meant to learn before time ended, or might not. Regardless, she'd be ensuring he learned it.

With that her hands glowed with psychic powers to call up one bit of what she'd need for this, and Alakazam held up his right spoon.

Under which hung an Alakazite Mega Stone.

…

Ash hadn't realized how tired he was until Bulbasaur had him bound. Only then did he feel the exhaustion rush over him like a tidal wave.

Though just lying on the ground unable to see what was going on in the battle beyond what escaped Chansey's healing haze was driving him crazy.

He could hear explosions and strikes, burst of electricity and fire. He even heard the faint sound of Jiggylpuff singing, just after hearing Charizard shout about 'firing in the hole' and, as best he could tell, throwing Jiggylpuff at a group of enemy Pokémon in the next giant room over.

Ash could only hope that he and the others would be back up and running soon. He still had to rescue Primeape…

"Chansey!" Chansey cried out in alarm. He didn't know what she meant, but he got a fairly good guess of what she was going for when both of his arms stuck out above him with a psychic blue glow.

Before he could yell out for someone to make sure Sabrina couldn't drag him away, he was instead lifted up into the air and held in place by psychic powers by a single one of Sabrina's hands.

The other of which had something small fly into her fingers. A small stone of some sort.

Exactly like the Keystone in his white bracelet, though a quick glance at said bracelet confirmed he still had it.

Sabrina held the stone in-between two of her fingers, out of which shot streams of golden light.

The battle mayhem ceased for a moment as all the Pokémon eyes drifted in the direction of the stream, to which his own eyes followed.

The streams led to Sabrina and an Alakazam with a stone like the Sceptilite dangling from one of its spoons, and as the light entered the Mega Stone the Alakazam began to glow orange.

Ash could only stare in horror as Alakazam began to change form.

Alakazam became thinner, with more black armor hanging upon the body loosely. Alakazam's mustache became a long bushy beard, and a gemstone formed upon its forehead. The two spoons multiplied to five and hung over its head.

The light burst away, revealing Alakazam in a new form floating next to an impressed looking Sabrina.

"Mega Evolution has occurred!" The Pokédex declared loudly from his pocket.

The chaos of the battle resumed in the aftermath of that event, though from his still held position it looked like Sabrina's Pokémon got some momentum back.

It would explain the two Tauros punched over to Chansey's healing circle anyway.

He felt a surge of warmth from his bag for a moment, which vanished immediately after the blue glow around him moved to Butterfree's String Shot and broke it, which led to him falling to the ground.

He stood back up, if uneasily, as he stared at Sabrina and the Mega Evolved Alakazam.

They were just standing there, looking right him.

At least before Sabrina motioned for him to 'bring it'.

Seriously?!

He gripped his palms tightly. She was still trying to teach some sort of lesson?!

Pikachu tried to get up, but collapsed back on his feet. He was still exhausted, so if Sabrina really wanted a fight, she wasn't going to get…

"Goo!"

A purple shape flew over his hand before landing in front him in a loud thump.

Goodra, who stared at the empowered Alakazam with a sense of some determination.

"Alright…" He told Goodra before pointing at Alakazam, if without the snap his dramatic points usually had.

"Dragonbreath!"

Goodra took a deep breath, before unleashing the attack Alakazam's way.

With a bend of the central of five spoons Dragonbreath turned around and flew back at them.

"Bide!" Ash ordered as Goodra glowed red and took the reflected attack on with crossed arms. A white sheen appeared next before Goodra shot a white energy blast back at Alakazam.

The mega-evolved Pokémon reflected Bide right back at them, though a blue shield formed in front of the attack and stopped it.

The two responsible for the defense, a Spewpa and the Pidgey that carried it, were blown back and landed in Chansey's healing area.

At his side Pikachu and Servine weakly stood up next to him as Vivillon and Butterfree fluttered over to him.

Perhaps he needed to try a less direct method.

"Servine, use Attract! Vivillon Stun Spore, and help blow it at the Mega Alakazam with Silver Wind Butterfree!" Ash shouted as Servine winked a storm of hearts towards the Alakazam, while Vivillon flapped a Stun Spore that accelerated past the hearts with a silver glow from Butterfree.

The farthest spoons of Alakazam glowed and moved towards the center, which preceeded a similar glow forming around the Silver Wind-Stun Spore combo. The storm of powders formed a spinning wheel in front of Alakazam, which shattered the Attract before it could get to him.

Ash did notice something though, it took two spoons to stop a combination of attacks. With enough attacks, perhaps they could get through.

With Pikachu, Servine, Vivillon, Goodra, and Butterfree he still needed…

"Sq…." Squirtle forced himself up with a groan, as did Muk.

Perhaps that could do it.

"Alright everyone, attack!" Ash ordered as the seven Pokémon around him charged up.

Pikachu fired Thunderbolt, Servine spun a Leaf Storm, Vivillon shot a green glowing Struggle Bug, Goodra unleashed Dragonbreath, Butterfree blew Silver Wind, Squirtle shot at Alakazam with Brine, and Muk spat Sludge Bomb.

The seven attacks flew at Alakazam, who had all five spoons glow with psychic force.

The Thunderbolt, Dragonbreath, Leaf Storm, Sludge Bomb, and Brine were stopped in their tracks, before they were redirected. The Leaf Storm crashed into the Silver Wind, while the Sludge Bombs were sent into Struggle Bug.

Thunderbolt, Dragonbreath, and Brine were sent flying back at them.

"Rol!" 'I got the Thunderbolt!'

Roggenrola called out as she spat a Sand Attack into the electric force, cancelling the Thunderbolt before it could hit them.

That just left the other two, would Ash need to punch one of them to protect them all?

"Goo!" Goodra declared as a Sludge Wave formed up in front of them, absorbing the attacks and precluding any need to punch energy attacks.

Still, that had not gone well. Were they going to need any more…

"Zam!" The Mega Evolved Psychic-type called out in pain as the sludge wall came down, letting Ash see exactly why it was shouting like that.

Best he could tell, Yanma, who was currently being held in a psychic grip by Sabrina. The speedy bug-type was thrown back his way by her, and he caught Yanma before he'd hit the ground.

The force did push him out of Chansey's healing bubble and had him skid along his ass right up to a Slowbro though, who stared down at him with a mouth that suddenly smelled of fire.

Still holding Yanma, he hopped out of the way of the inferno with Quick Attack, even as an electrical surge covered Slowbro and knocked the dopey Pokémon down.

Hopping over said Slowbro was Raichu, who was looking at him with nervous concern.

Her being here…he had to smile.

"Thanks." He told her with all the empathy he could make clear in his voice, as a sudden idea came to him.

A Natu nearly pecked him in the eye as he was getting the idea while also using Heal Pulse on Yanma with the hand not occupied with his plan, but Krabby blasted it away with Bubblebeam and he took his plan out of his bag and handed it to Raichu.

She stared in surprise at the Timer Ball he had given her.

"Sabrina has a Pokémon captive in the basement. His name is Primeape. I want you to get him for me." He asked her. She stared at him in surprise for a moment, an Abra popping overhead that he swatted away just as quickly as Yanma buzzed out of his arm to fly at a nearby Kadabra in renewed vigor.

She nodded after she gathered her nerves, before she punched the ground and dug through the floor.

With that done Ash turned to stare at where he had been blown from, where Sabrina and Mega Alakazam still stood.

Even once Raichu succeeded, they'd still need to do something about that Mega Alakazam. Yanma had found a hole; he'd just have to figure out how to exploit it again.

(ADDITIONAL)

Returning to where they had been blasted off from, James had only one thing to say.

"So, do we just wait here and hope they come back, or do we go figuring out where they all have gotten off to?"

Jessie and Meowth gave the former upper crust a irate look.

"In case you happened to forget sometime over Stone Town, one of them can teleport."

"Well, then what do you suppose we do: wait until they possibly come back?"

"Well I suppose I could teach you two how to play Skat if we need to pass the time."

Jessie and Meowth stared at their blue haired partner at his suggestion.

It took James a few moments to figure out what they thought he said.

"It's a card game, not an act of Coprophilia!"

"What does being attracted to Officer Jenny have to do with anything?"

…

Anabel Teleported them over a table.

Misty could not tell what sort of table it was, be it age, intended function, or what type of wood it was.

She could say it was hard, and given that all three of them landed on top of it without it breaking it was probably well made.

It also hurt a lot, sending a wave of pain through her like a ripple in a lake from the impact on her butt. She also got a second thump from Anabel's head landing on her lap, which was probably better than her head hitting the table.

Behind her she heard Iris hitting the carpet, and a thought occurred to her.

They probably landed in front of someone, and that someone was probably looking at them in surprise, shock, and probably near ready to throw something.

That thought quickly died when she realized just who they had landed in front of, and she suddenly wished she had landed in front of some person who'd attack them.

For the table was in front of a couch, upon which Misty suspected drinks and magazines were meant to go and not the three of them.

Upon that couch sat three people, with a fourth being held in the arms of the tallest of the three most likely due to the couch not having another space for a fourth.

Said short person was someone that Misty was unfortunately familiar with personally, only knowing the others from Iris, Ash, and the Pokédex's descriptions.

"…This is unexpected." Vedia, Shadow Sneak Bloodliner and attacker of Power Plants, observed from Belladonna's lap, looking more like a child than usual with Belladonna's arm around her like safety straps in a car or roller coaster.

Iris raised her head off the carpet, where she seemed to lock gazes with the girl she had fought before Evanna, who sent her back a grin that Misty was pretty sure meant a combination of 'hello', and 'I want to punch you more' in some fictional species. Misty had no idea what species though, Klangions or something like that.

Iris's look invoked less something that could be called a friendly greeting with mutual desire to punch in a science fiction series, and more one that someone would give to something dangerous. Axew popped out for a moment, but retreated at the first sight of Evanna.

"Succotash." Anabel mumbled mindlessly from Misty's lap.

"Is she…okay?" The girl Misty was sure was Aurora asked in what sounded like genuine concern.

"Nobody asked you." Misty retorted, which seconds later had Vedia be released from Belladonna and stand to the side.

The purpose of this was so Belladonna stand over her and glare at her.

"My Dear asked you a question, no need to be rude." Belladonna told her in a low tone.

Belladonna's eyes bore into her, a red intensity that bore into her like drills. Misty only realized now just how tall Belladonna was.

Ash had commented on it, but it was only now that Misty really got a feel for it.

She hadn't grown much recently, and was pretty sure she'd be sticking at 5'10 for the rest of her days, bar shrinking.

Ash had been about that tall for a while, but had passed that and was starting to approach how tall Iris was. Iris had given her height during the Princess Festival, which the Pokédex had translated to 6'2, so saying Ash was either 6' or 6'1 now was about right. (Anabel was about 5'3 and not the biggest fan of the fact).

Belladonna outstripped Iris by at least a few inches. Ash's murderous terrorist half-sister was either 6'4 or 6'5, and more to the point she just felt bigger than Iris.

Iris's body was fairly thin and lithe, little to it but muscle. Belladonna's body had more on it than Iris's did, which didn't go anywhere near the intimidation loss that a stouter frame could give. It was like comparing a Ninetales to an Arcanine in body shape, while both were dangerous, the latter had the additional danger factor of being larger in pretty much everyway than Ninetales.

And said person was glaring at her with intensity she had rarely seen from Iris at any point (even when Iris was trying to slash her), simply for not answering Aurora's question.

"Also...what are you three even doing here, and without my brother for that matter. Where is Ash?" She questioned in a tone that, while less 'that was a mistake', was forceful just the same.

Before she could manifest an answer, Iris beat her to it and explained what was going on.

That Ash had been taken by an Abra and that since then they had been trying to find him with random Teleporting, which seemed to focus on Ash's siblings by mistake (along with the occasional house and Mew, the house might have been his mother's but the Mew was still a mystery).

During the explanation Belladonna had stopped glaring at her, but she remained unreadable. Aurora gave Anabel a look of concern for her, while Evanna looked ready for the explanation to end.

Vedia used a shadow tendril to pull over a notepad and was taking notes every time Iris mentioned one of the siblings they had encountered.

When Iris had finished her explanation Anabel had recovered a bit, though she was in no shape to get them out of there in a pinch.

A fight could still break out, and it would be difficult. She still had Ash's Togepi egg after all, and protecting both Anabel and the egg would not be easy.

"Well, I guess the rumors must be true then."

Evanna's blunt statement drew both her and Iris's attention.

What rumors?

"Sweetie." Belladonna muttered in a tone that almost sounded reproachful.

"Hey, it's not like we had any evidence they were. Now, you two don't seem to have any idea of what I'm talking about, so let me spell it out for you. Ever heard the rumors of the Saffron Gym Leader?"

Misty nodded, having heard the tale of a crazy person who used Psychic-type Pokémon to harm innocent people. Iris remained confused though.

"Well the rumors say that she's more than just a homicidal maniac. Some people say that she's actually a Bloodliner who can control Psychic Pokémon who wants to find worthy opponents for her power, who she makes battle her with all their Pokémon." Misty made her eyes not move towards Anabel's still recovering form.

"If she did abduct Ash, and the day's nearly half over…" Aurora spoke in horror.

"From what I've seen and been told of the guy, we probably still have a chance before he stops entertaining the crazy lady. He has a lot of Pokémon from what I understand who are all pretty tough, and if he's Belladonna's little brother he should still have some stamina, but time is still wasting."

At her comment about stamina Aurora looked away from Evanna in a 'why did you say that' manner, Belladonna sighed in exasperation, and Vedia just shook her head. Misty wasn't entirely sure what she had meant by that, and Iris seemed just as confused.

"Ehm…well ignoring that irrelevant information, we do still have time to get my brother back. We'll have to leave your friend here, but with My Dear's Shellder, we can get to Saffron Gym quickly."

Ash did mention something about a Teleporter... but that was secondary as Misty went pale. Did she just say 'we'!?'

"We probably can get her all back to normal with some of those Revival Herbs we have!" Aurora shot up and declared, surprising her fellow Power Plant attackers.

The look on her face suggested she had even surprised herself with what she had offered, but she quickly reaffirmed herself.

"They helped the time Evanna burned herself out, and if we also use some of the Mental Herbs the mental exhaustion should be fixed too."

"…That will take a while to get them ready. I'm not against the idea, but I'm a little hesitant to wait half an hour." Belladonna spoke to Aurora in a conflicted tone, but Aurora gave a confident nod back.

"But if we do then it'll be the seven of us plus the Pokémon, and seven are better than six to get your brother back."

Prepare them how, exactly?! And still that we thing…

Aurora darted off somewhere as Vedia answered her first question.

"While Bloodlines are similar to Pokémon, some natural remedies that they can use need a bit more preparation to have an effect of us. This is a combination of being either too potent or under-performing in their natural states."

"That doesn't explain why we wouldn't just leave the moment those herbs heals Anabel in whatever way they do." Misty countered.

"Because seven have a better chance than three in rescuing him." Vedia declared simply.

"You forget that four of those seven attacked a power plant just because you wanted one man in a hospital dead. That's not exactly who you want for a rescue party." Misty told the three present bluntly.

"Calling that thing a man is a tad too much." Belladonna declared with utter disdain pointed squarely at the target of her actions.

"If we wanted someone like you helping us, I'd have asked Team Rocket." Misty retorted.

"You know, I actually met some Team Rocket members right before Gringy. It was weird, one of them was a talking Meo…"

"That would be the same Team Rocket we are talking about." Iris quipped at Evanna's reminiscence.

"Really?"

Misty decided to swerve the conversation back in the old direction before it got off topic.

"That doesn't explain why we should let you all come with us any more than those three."

"I'm his sister." Belladonna said simply.

"There is more to being a sibling than being related." Misty declared, being quite aware that full relation did not mean anything if you didn't act like it.

Just being related to someone didn't mean anything. Her family meant nothing to her beyond a Gym she'd like to have to herself one day. Iris didn't have any reason to care for her blood relatives. Ash's father and the seemingly unending deluge of siblings meant nothing unless he wanted to make something with the latter, and Belladonna was not high on the list he'd be doing that with.

Anabel's relations with her family were bizarrely normal despite them being dead.

"Exactly, and what is the behavior of a sibling other than agreeing to put herself at risk to save them from danger?" Vedia poised.

"That is part of the job." Iris admitted reluctantly.

'Iris, don't encourage them! That would only make avoiding them harder.'

'Belladonna does…. mean it'. She heard Anabel weakly commented in her mind.

'She can mean whatever she wants, that doesn't mean I want to take her along with us.' Misty thought, seeing as speaking aloud wasn't going to get her anything but more glaring by Belladonna.

'This might not really…be a case of what we'd want. While I can get….to Saffron without needing time to….breath, they aren't wrong. Seven is better than three.'

'And of those seven, one froze Ash to a wall, another spent her time holding me to the ground, a third actually seems to have enjoyed the experience of Iris trying to slash her, and then you have Belladonna..'

'I try to be positive, and I like to think I succeed when Iris isn't chasing me while waving a stick. They were hardly the good guys that day, but now they want to be. I think encouraging that can only be a good thing. Plus do you want to have something go wrong and slap yourself for not taking them up on it.'

"Are you two telepathically communicating?" Vedia inquired, interrupting the mental conversation.

"No." Misty lied as Belladonna gave her a look.

"Don't lie, you aren't good at it and frankly should not look to become good at it. I hardly think Ash would appreciate it, lies are among the worst things in relationships."

Misty stared at the giant woman in stunned amazement.

She'd be the first to admit she probably could use a bit of advice on how relationships would function, but was a person Ash had described as 'questionably stable' really the one who thought she had the right to do so?

"In fact, it will probably take at least ten or fifteen more minutes before we can leave, so let us give you some advice on how relationships work in case you have any other bad habits. In fact my sweet…"

A shadow tendril pulled a notepad and pen into Veida's hand, who held the writing set at the ready.

Belladonna beamed a smile at how quick the little thing was to matching her want, before doing that faux cough people would do before speaking.

"Okay, now the first thing you all should know…"

What followed was a quarter hour of Ash's murderous half-sister giving them a crash course on relationships, their do's and don'ts, what were common issues that came up, how to handle jealousy flare ups, and many other such things while Vedia kept taking notes that she'd presumably make them take with them.

Cursive notes it seemed, damn her.

Though Misty had to feel sympathy for poor Iris. This was the second lecture she got from one of Ash's sisters today, and that had to get tiring.

…

It was actually rather useful information. Meliae had said most of her advice should probably happen after the non-sexual parts of it, and that was good advice.

The short girl's writing was weird though, hopefully someone could read it clearly.

...(*****)

After slipping from the battle, Raichu found the door to the basement and went down the stairs. At the bottom, she found a door, and several Natu guarding it. She was expecting more, but perhaps the heavy hitters were called to the battle upstairs? Nevertheless, it was in her favor as a quick Thunder wiped out all of the Natu.

Once that was handled, she opened the door. Well, break down after she learned it was locked really. The way things were going, Raichu was pretty sure that the only person who'd care was that crazy woman.

Inside, chained to the wall, was the Primeape Ash wanted to save. A very familiar Primeape.

"Rai." 'No way...'

Primeape looked up and his face was tinged with recognition as he scowled at her.

"Primeape!?" 'You!? What are you doing here!? Did you always work for that crazy woman!? Is that why you blasted me to near death!?'

Raichu flinched at the reminder of what she did while she was still with Paul. It looked like the good luck from the lack of security was averaging out.

"Chu." 'I… Um… I…"

"Primeape!" 'What do you want!? If you're here to finish the job, then go ahead and do it!'

Primeape shouted that, but right afterwards, he closed his eyes in resignation. Raichu saw tears fall down his face. She wasn't sure what was the best thing to say next, but she needed to say something.

"Raichu." 'What happened after you were blasted away?'

Primeape opened his eyes, and Raichu was shocked by what she saw. In his eyes, Raichu saw someone who was past the point of despair and had given up on hope. She saw that before. She saw that in her own eyes when Paul left her to fend for herself, without even letting her heal properly.

"Primeape." 'I almost died from the crash. An Arbok almost finished the job, but that was when that woman found me. She drove off the Arbok and took me here where she healed my wounds. I thought of her as a saviour, but…'

Primeape spat.

'The moment I was fully healed, she placed me in these chains! She told me I was useful bait for an 'Ash Ketchum' to come challenge her Gym! As if any random human would come save me!'

Was that why Ash was here right now? Was that why Sabrina kidnapped him? If so, then Raichu knew what to say next.

"Rai!" 'He's here! That boy is here!'

"Prime?" 'What?'

"Raichu!" 'Ash Ketchum is here! He told me to rescue you with this!' Raichu held out the Timer Ball. 'You enter this, we can escape!'

Primeape was silent for a long while. Raichu could tell he was hesitant to feel any hope.

"Primeape?" 'Why? Why would a random human brave this fortress to rescue me? Who is this Ash Ketchum and why would he do this?'

"Raichu." 'He is one of the kindest and most understanding humans I know. When my previous Trainer abandoned me without treating my injuries, Ash found me. He offered to catch me and heal me, and told me that he would never force me to fight if I didn't want to.'

"Primeape." 'Even so, to come rescue me was suicidal. Why would he do this?'

Raichu thought about that.

"Rai." 'He might have known you before. I overheard some of the others talking about it. That's why that crazy woman thought you were good bait for him. If you want proof, then here's how he reacted when he saw you blasted away. Ash Ketchum was shocked and angry that it happened at all. He was far more angry than might have been warranted for a wild Pokemon almost dying. I know you only have my word, but please, believe me!'

After Raichu finished, the room was silent for a long while. Primeape looked at her carefully, as if he was trying to find any hint of deceit. Eventually, though it was small, Raichu saw a glimmer of hope in Primeape's eyes.

"Primeape." 'I… I believe you.'

Raichu nodded, and tapped the Timer Ball on Primeape. After Primeape entered the Timer Ball, there was no struggle. The Timer Ball registered the capture immediately.

Raichu noted the Timer Ball teleport away to the Professor's lab and ran back up the stairs to Ash's side. After that talk, she couldn't let Primeape or Ash down.

...(**)

Servine was always eager to toss herself on a new fight, and her time with her idiot definitely provided her with plenty of action in both regions and timelines they had gone through. That said, even for her, a horde of powerful Psychic-types might've been too much to handle, even after her battle in Gringy City.

Keyword being might.

After charming two male Kadabra with Attract and blowing a female one through another room with a Contrary-boosted Leaf Storm, the Unovan starter fell back on the ground with grace, only to immediately be tossed into another skirmish as several Natu surrounded her and attempted to peck at full strength. She made short work of them with carefully-aimed Aerial Aces, and the birds were thus fried by a generous heaping of Flamethrower from above.

She traded a quick thumbs up with Charizard and ducked out of the way of an incoming horde of Exeggutor, just as her idiot's own herd of Tauros stampeded in to help. The Grass-type held a hand over her racing heart and rubbed away the sweat on her face before she gave a cursory glance of the battlefield. It was pure chaos: between that woman's horde of assorted Psychic-types and her idiot's veritable army of Pokémon old and new, every Pokémon was doing their best to gain the advantage, with Flamethrowers, Psychics, Water Guns, Rock Blasts, Zap Cannons, Swifts and all other manner of moves dotting every corner of the Gym.

Servine frowned and took a deep breath, observing her hands. She was strong, and her Contrary ability made her Leaf Storms even stronger, but even she had a limit. She could feel that her moves had gotten less powerful the more the fight went on, and she needed a way to recharge. Easier said than done, when she had to toss an Attract and a few Aerial Aces as some persistent Slowbro attempted to get to her, and a few Xatu had the same idea. The enemies were so numerous that the idea of giving up felt more and more tempting with each attack.

As the desperate fight went on, however, Servine felt even more galvanized instead of fatigued. She couldn't give up just there, not when everyone else was putting their lives at stake for her idiot. She had been loyal to him ever since she was a Snivy, and that wasn't gonna change no matter how many evolutions, regions or timelines they went through. And now, she needed a way to recover her energy while still kicking as much ass as she could.

That was when her eyes fell on one of her idiot's recent captures, that Farfetch'd with three leeks, currently engaged in a frantic duel with two of those weird spoonsaber-wielding Kadabra, twisting, jumping and parrying hits like he was having the time of his life as his opponents barely kept up with his leeksmanship. And then, Servine grinned as a spark of inspiration hit her.

She gave a quick look around, and found a few Kadabra with spoonsabers ready to strike coming her way. Servine beamed and rushed after them, tackling one of them on the ground and sending the psychic 'blade' flying. She quickly caught it and held it in her arms, rather glad to still have them, and swiftly sliced at a couple more. More spoons flew at her as her first one exhausted its psychic energy, and the Grass-type quickly grabbed those with a huge grin. Ahead of her, the Kadabra appeared much less confident of their plans as they backed down. Servine took her chance to leap at them instead.

"Ser!" 'Come on, show me what you've got!'

And thus, going from one psychic blade spoon to another, Servine joined the battle with renewed vigor, energy welling up within her as she recovered her strength little by little.

Though eventually, she did find herself back with Chansey again, just in time for her idiot to execute a new plan.

...(**)

Throughout her life, Roggenrola had wished to be a faster Pokémon more than anything else. And smack dab in the middle of an escalating war, that desire was being even more pressing than usual.

After narrowly dodging a beam clash between Butterfree's Psybeam and a Slowbro's Hydro Pump, the Rock-type took a few seconds to rest, only to be ambushed by a flock of Xatu that tried to use Psychic on her, before a few well-aimed Rock Blasts sent them all sprawling on the ground. She tried to rush somewhere else, only for quite a few Kadabra to try to blast her away with Psywave. She ducked under a hit, and then attempted to Iron Head her opponents before she rushed out of the way. The Xatu came back, as did the Kadabra, before she could leave to safety as they forced the sentient rock on the defensive.

They were too many, they were too fast for her, and everyone else was too busy fighting elsewhere to come to her aid. She was alone against everyone, and she had no time to mount an effective counteroffensive.

Faced with her opposition, however, Roggenrola didn't leave. She was outnumbered and slower, but she was clever and resourceful: she was the one who managed to solve the mystery of her friends' disappearence one timeline before, back when she first met Ash, after all. It didn't matter if those Psychic-types were more numerous or able to make complex calculations in three seconds flat: she would find a way to outsmart them. And as she surveyed the ground underneath her, an idea formed in her mind.

She dodged the latest barrage of hits, focused, and then blasted several Rock Blasts groundward. The floor proved sturdy and didn't break, but the knockback was strong enough to send her skyward, right above a narrow Psywave. The Rock-type would've grinned if she could've, and then started to fire several Rock Blasts at machine gun speed, until she was almost on the ceiling.

The Xatu tried to fly at her, but Roggenrola was already on the move: she twisted around herself and another barrage of Rock Blast ensued, every single piece of stone raining down her opposition: They tried to stop them with Psychic, only for the rocks to grow higher and higher, until they became too quick for them to keep up with, and they were all buried under Roggenrola's assault, falling down unconscious.

Roggenrola landed on the ground right after as the Rock Blast ended, wobbling on her feet before she steadied herself. Her head was spinning and there were still several more enemies to face, but she couldn't help but feel energized by what she managed to do. Who cared if she was slow? She just had to think quick and strike smart, and then there wouldn't be any problem.

And thus, she jumped back on the fray with far more energy than before, ready to help out. And where better to start than with Ash's new plan.

…

"Attack!" Ash ordered again as he took the old attack order from before with a bit more to it.

As before Pikachu fired Thunderbolt, Servine spun a Leaf Storm, Vivillon shot a green glowing Struggle Bug, Goodra unleashed Dragonbreath, Butterfree blew Silver Wind, Squirtle shot at Alakazam with Brine, and Muk spat Sludge Bomb.

In addition though, Pidgeot were flying overhead and fired a glowing Air Slash, while Krabby provided a Bubblebeam.

Mega Alakazam's five spoons glowed, and all the attacks clashed into each other and cancelled each other out.

Sabrina shook her head before holding her palm out opposite of Alakazam. It glowed, freezing the charging Ambipom, Yanma, and Bulbasaur (with Shadow Claw, Quick Attack, and Tackle respectively) in place.

Still holding them there, she looked at him with a 'really' look, as if expecting better out of him that that.

She promptly got to see his better when a flaming form charged into Mega Alakazam, arm around the Mega Evolved Pokémon in a lariat style.

Charizard slammed Mega Alakazam into the wall before flying back and glaring at it.

"Rrr…" 'You know, you feel lighter than the last two regular Alakazam I beat.' Charizard observed, before unleashing a torrential Flamethrower right into the Mega Evolved Pokémon.

However mid-stream the fire glowed purple and turned towards the three Pokémon that Sabrina held immobilized. She floated out of the way of the flames, while still holding them in place for the attack.

"Cover for them!" Ash shouted as Squirtle shot a Water Gun across the Flamethrower's redirected path, wiping it out and leaving only a hot steamy mist in its wake.

Charizard growled and held up a Metal Claw for the next attack, but he himself glowed and was pulled back into the overall battle melee (in which Ash could hear the insane cackling of Farfetch'd and many Tauros bellows).

A few Pidgey and Pidgeotto were blown into the healing circle, followed by Pidgeot flying back into the overall chaos as Sabrina raised an eyebrow before absently tossing Ambipom, Bulbasaur, and Yanma away.

"You need more Pokémon here to fight my Mega Alakazam, yet that would lead to the melee of Pokémon your Pokédex brought in faltering. Yet it would be so easy if you would just fight with everything you have instead of having some silly restriction upon yourself."

"If I do that, you win." Ash reminded her bluntly.

"And is that so bad? I win all the time, I win whenever challengers proves themselves worthy, and I win when they don't. Still, what do you hope to pull out for the win if you are so insistent on not using your paternal ability? Perhaps that Thunder Armor thing?"

Pikachu sparked his cheeks, looking ready to try it with the nearest Swellow-substitute.

Ash gripped his hands together tightly, feeling the same hand covered in a lot of dust and crystal shards as it had before. He gripped even tighter in response as he stared right at Sabrina.

"Maybe I'll do that, or maybe I'll find another way. If you claim to know everything, you should know that I have gotten out of tough battles before."

"Yes, I am aware of what you have accomplished with a combination of quick thinking and those old proverbs of 'Innate, Resolve, and Spirit' people love in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. Though tell me, what do you plan on trying to achieve?"

"We'll all find out I suppose," Ash held out the fist he was gripping a handful of that odd sand out at Sabrina in a gesture of resolve, only for the hand to start glowing in a yellow-orange aura.

"And it would seem we have," Sabrina noted as the yellow-orange aura gained a purple hue, before sucking in purple aura from all over the battlefield. The purple aura began overwhelming the previous color, causing his hand to glow deeply in the color while his arm shook so violently he had to grip his arm with the other hand to have any control of what his arm was doing.

All Pokémon present stared at his hand in shock as the Pokédex had its own thing to say.

"You are generating odd energy readings from your hand! What exactly are you doing?!"

"If I knew, I'd tell you!"

Sabrina observed his still shaking hand in interest, though she made no move to attack him during the process. She was apparently curious as to what he was doing too.

A more light-based glow of bright pink began leaking out between his fingers as the aura flared up one more time before receding away. The light faded moments later, as did the sheer shaking of his hand. Something solid was now in his hand and he pulled his hand back and dropped whatever was in his hand now into his other palm.

What he found was a pink crystal, resting in the center of his palm as if he had not made it out of seemingly nothing.

As all of his Pokémon present stared at the crystal in surprise, the Pokédex spoke up.

"Ash, are you aware of what that is?"

"A violation of at least one law of physics I guess?" At least the remnant of his science classes was shouting that in the back of his mind.

"Possibly, but more than that. The readings of that crystal indicate that it's a Z-Crystal, much like the one that Lilo used. Best I can determine at this time, that crystal was created by some combination of the residual energies given off by Pokémon and the energy you naturally give off as a Bloodliner. Most likely with an additional third element as a catalyst, which I'll hypothesize to be the make-up of a Z-Ring given the seen incidents so far. That crystal itself is a Psychium-Z, used for the Psychic-Z move."

That point made Ash stare at the crystal in his hand.

That time against Lilo, and later against Elwood and Aideen, it wanted to lead to this?

"How interesting. I think I know all your surprises Ash, and you throw a new surprise at me."

Sabrina's observation put the focus back on her from the crystal as the woman continued.

"It is said in Alolan folklore that the first great king of Alola, Kahele, created all the Z-Crystals in a method only he himself knew. If he did so like you did just now, he has become much more interesting to me."

So his creation of a crystal in a manner he had no idea how to do again, was going to get her to watch a documentary?

"Read a book actually."

Oh yeah, the mindreading thing. She was still doing that.

Ash looked at the crystal in his palm for a moment, then at the Z-Ring. After a moment he placed the crystal in the top of the ring.

Step one, placing the crystal. Done.

Step two, activate it. That, he wasn't sure on how to do.

"As I mentioned before, Alolans manifest the power of Z-Moves..." The Pokédex glowed and was yanked into the melee before it could finish explaining by a Kadabra, who promptly Teleported out of the way of Farfetch'd who instead crashed into a Alakazam instead.

While he did need the reminder the Pokédex had mentioned it before, he could probably figure it out.

In fact he actually could remember seeing it performed in that weird vision thing that happened after he got the Z-Ring, and the Keystone too for some reason.

"If you are asking for why that happens, don't ask me. It actually happened with me too and I couldn't tell you why."

Ignoring Sabrina reading his mind again, he didn't need to look behind him to know that Butterfree had flapped over to him to see if this would all work.

"Okay, this will apparently do something because you know a Psychic-type move. Be prepared for anything Butterfree!" Ash declared as Butterfree gave a acknowledging nod.

The first thing was an arm cross, which he did as he felt the crystal and Z-Ring flash. That was probably a good sign.

"Protect." Sabrina simply said as Alakazam formed a glowing orb around himself. However he didn't stop.

After arm cross, he was supposed to poke his temples. He did so, and he felt a further spark of energy course through him as he did so.

It felt a bit weird though, as if some of what he was feeling had been held back.

Next was taking his right hand and holding it out, palm facing out. He did so, and he glowed the same initial color he had seen in the forming of the crystal.

Orange-yellow, which promptly flew at Butterfree and surrounded him, turning a pink color similar to that of the crystal seconds after impact that kept building and building up in higher intensity, moments away from release.

Sabrina simply stepped behind Alakazam. She was apparently quite fine with letting him get off the move, though she seemed quite sure that a Mega-evolved Protect would be sufficient in stopping it.

Perhaps it was, Ash wasn't really sure. However, she had missed something, something he had kept out of his mind as to not to remind her.

However Sabrina promptly was shown what she had missed when a glowing leek was thrown right at the Protect bubble even as the full power of the Z-Move was building up in Butterfree (who was currently buzzing so much he was half wondering if he'd turn into a Beedrill from the power).

Said glowing leek caused the Protect to fade away into nothing, before the Feint powered leek bounced right back into the jaw of the Pokémon who had used it.

"Far." Declared Farfetch'd bluntly as the name of the Z-move came to him.

"Shattered Psyche!" Ash shouted as Mega Alazakam was surrounded in the same sort of aura that was around Butterfree.

The Mega Pokémon was promptly sent flying across the battlefield, knocking over a Girafarig and Exeggutor before hitting an invisible wall. From said invisible wall Mega Alakazam ricocheted over a Slowking and a second wall that sent Mega Alakazam into the air, before the light exploded in a massive burst of power that illuminated the entire field.

On top of that impressive display, each time Mega Alakazam hit one of the walls Ash felt a massive wave of, something. He wasn't sure what it was, it did not feel like heat, wind, or some scent that was wafting through everything. He wasn't the only one feeling it either, given the odd looks Servine, Pikachu, and the others were giving each burst.

He had to catch Butterfree though, who seemed rather exhausted from using the Z-Move.

He did not miss the feeling of a Vine Whip from Bulbasaur slotting the Pokédex back in his jacket pocket while he was catching him however, which was glad to give some clarification.

"Your attack, which I must admit some respect for doing without my guidance, has created three waves of radiation. Before you ask, yes I have built in radiation detection software for all sorts of scenarios. However, I cannot tell you the exact reason for the radiation discharge, only that the radiation was not detected when Lilo used it, my scans detect no adverse harm to any of the Pokémon in this building or to the two Bloodliners present, and that the radiation wave from the final attack did go through part of the nearby city area, though if all present were unharmed I can safely assure you that you will be responsible for no ill effect bar some sync issues in certain electronics."

He did what!?

"Also, Raichu placed the Primeape in the Timer Ball while I was away from you. Congratulations, the ball is now at Professor Oak's with the Exeggutor."

Sabrina just stared at him in a weird mixture of shock, anger, and respect, which was highlighted when a telekinetic pull from another of her Pokémon dropped a defeated Mega Alakazam at her feet.

It flashed orange and returned to normal, even as Raichu popped out of a hole and let out a cry of self-satisfaction at a task well done.

All Pokémon around him other than Pikachu promptly glowed the same color as Sabrina's eyes, before being flung out of the area. Seconds later he found himself surrounded by Psychic Pokémon from Starmie and Exeggutor to Xatu and Alakazam.

"I would really prefer to not have to resort to such measures. However, for you I will make an exception. Stop limiting yourself, use your power liberally, or suffer the consequences."

Sabrina's tone sounded like it was borderline cracking with frustration as the Pokémon around him began charging what appeared to be Psyshock.

"Pikapi!" 'I got the ones of the left, you get the tree.'

Ash nodded and prepared to see how this would all go, when a second Teleport went off.

Ash would have said it spelled their further problem, before he saw who had popped in.

"Get away from him!" Misty's shout was followed seconds after by the Whirlpool that slammed into the Xatu and spun it away.

Iris pretty much snarled as she lunged at a Alakazam, knocking it away with sheer physical force. No Bloodline ability in action, just pure human strength and anger fueling her assault.

Anabel didn't say anything as she stood still and telekinetically swung the Starmie away as she looked for her next target.

"Step away from my brother."

Ash had to look a second time as Belladonna of all people struck the Exeggutor with Poison Jab, while Evanna punched the Hypno in the stomach with Power-up Punch.

Aurora froze the Mr. Mime's hands together while Vedia struck an Abra that had popped in behind him with a shadowy hand.

"…What?" Sabrina all but mouthed as a fresh wave of exhaustion, brought on by the addition question of why Belladonna of all people was here, caused him to drop to his knees. He quickly felt his body held by two pairs of arms, summoning whatever energy he could Ash looked up to see who the arms belonged to.

One pair belonged to Misty, the other were Belladonna's, and both looking at him in relief and concern, which quickly gained a hint of confusion as a fiery explosion that was probably Charizard's doing went off behind them.

"…What is even going on here?" Evanna asked of said loud boom, before absently punching away an Abra.

"You came in the midst of the second escape plan, which had been ongoing for some time before your arrival. I'll admit your arrival, while unexpected, is advantageous."

Belladonna stared at the pocket where the sound had come from in confusion.

"I was quiet when your lover froze him to a wall. I'm an artificial intelligence given to Ash Ketchum by an old man. You can call me the Pokédex, Dexter, Handy, or whatever you please. Regardless of what you wish to call me, there is no use dawdling. Can Vedia restrain someone?"

"I take it you mean the bitch over there?" Belladonna eyed Sabrina darkly.

"Of course. To ensure we can get everyone out, we simply need to ensure she can't try anything bothersome." The Pokédex declared, even as a shadow moved to strike her.

Sabrina simply glared, and Vedia was sent flying into Iris instead. However she didn't have long to enjoy the feat before a stream of icy energy struck her, causing a solid layer of ice to form around Sabrina.

Aurora, whose hands were steaming from the cold she had unleashed, looked different than when she had frozen him. She seemed a tad more enthusiastic about it, as if freezing Sabrina in a solid block of ice was more enjoyable to her than freezing him to a wall.

She quickly began blasting at it again as cracks began forming on it, a concerned look on her face that quickly lessened when a glowing aura formed around her ice and slowed the cracking. Anabel's psychic glow reinforcing the frozen bindings.

Barely a second after Sabrina was in the ice, ten Teleports were heard behind him, then ten Teleports out.

This repeated quickly, in and out rapidly. A Teleport popped in front of him, obscuring his view of Sabrina's icy cube she tried to escape from with the form of an Exeggutor.

The Exeggutor seemed to stare at Sabrina, an emotion wafting off it in a manner Ash could only describe as hatred.

"Tor." Exeggutor seemed to practically spat before Teleporting away.

A thought occurred to Ash, these Exeggutor's original owner, as the Pokédex had theorized. Did Sabrina have something to do with their released status?

The thought was quickly snuffed out by exhaustion though, so when the Pokédex declared everyone (every Pidgey, every Grimer, the Jiggypluff and the crazy Farfetch'd, etc), was at Oak's ranch, even Servine, Muk, Tauros, Squirtle, and Roggenrola, everyone huddled around him and with Anabel as the final touch, they Teleported away.

Just as Sabrina finally broke out of the ice, looking a combination of so many emotions Ash would struggle even at full awakeness to tell if she was furious, utterly impressed, or just wanted to go to bed at this point.

…

They had Teleported back to where this long, long, very long day had begun, and Ash knew just what to do.

With the day finally over, Ash walked right into the very Secret Base after a token nod and a clear, non-verbal recognition from everyone that he was dead exhausted and to talk to him in the morning about it.

He threw the Item Capsule for his bed seconds before he collapsed on it, just wanting to go to bed and be done with today.

Pikachu didn't even get that far, and settled for a corner of the base instead. Given he had dropped his jacket earlier; Pikachu had claimed it for a nest tonight.

He'd find a laundromat for it tomorrow if he needed to after that. He had also dropped his backpack at the foot of the bed, but Pikachu did not claim it for a place to sleep.

Perhaps another Pokémon would sleep in his backpack someday, but today was not the day that would happen.

Right now, he just wanted to sleep.

He turned rapidly as he felt a Teleport pop in about five minutes into trying to fall asleep and not managing, though he didn't actually strike the one coming in.

Anabel was not an enemy after all, he could tell that even when dead exhausted.

Anabel, having used the five or so minutes since he got out of that crazy place to change into her sleep clothes unlike himself, lay next to him with a concerned look on her face.

'I don't want to wake up tomorrow and find you've been Teleported away again.' Anabel told him, her tone leaking with concern.

"I don't think…." Ash tried to reassure her that Sabrina would probably not grab him again, before another body thumped behind him.

"This is not a thinking thing." Iris told him from behind him. He heard Axew off somewhere in the base, probably taking up his own corner. She moved closer to him, and he could feel her body heat. If she went any closer he could probably start feeling her body against his.

Then would he ever get to sleep?

'It's a worry thing. Let us be sure this Sabrina thing is over, at least for tonight.'

Pikachu's comments from earlier rang up in his mind briefly. That wasn't what was happening, right?

Footsteps at the front of the secret base rang out, as he looked up to find Misty looking at them.

He wasn't sure the exact emotion she was displaying right now, it was a look that was both 'really', and 'how nice', and 'why didn't I do that already'.

Those feelings and the rest of the composition of Misty's odd look (that didn't seem aimed at him specifically, at the very least), were replaced by surprise as she was shoved in by a grinning Belladonna.

"Oh stop overthinking. That bed can totally hold you as well. Go make sure my little brother is alright tonight, the more the merrier! Not expecting you to do anything crazy, but do the thirteenth thing. We'll have pancakes tomorrow if you manage it."

Belladonna's tone was giddy, and she left with a wink his way, followed by a thumbs up also meant for him.

Misty stumbled from the push Belladonna had given her, but didn't fall and looked ready to yell at Belladonna with a blush heavy face.

"My Dear can freeze you in there with a wall of ice if you'd prefer," Belladonna both teased and warned her. Misty promptly no longer looked ready to yell at her, though she did mutter something about needing something better to sleep in.

Ash quickly offered her one of his spare shirts in his unclaimed bag, and Anabel dropped a slender arm on his face for Misty's privacy.

"Is that really necessary?" Iris questioned Anabel, his blocked sight not hiding the sounds of Misty's clothes hitting the floor with a plop.

….(***)

Even knowing Ash wasn't staring at her, Misty felt pretty odd at changing clothes in front of him. Not exactly uncomfortable, and since he had already seen her wearing bikinis it wasn't like she had that much left to his imagination. However, that wasn't important right now.

Once she was well covered, Anabel removed her arm from Ash's eyes, and Misty glanced at them.

"Ash, I …"

She stopped there, unsure as to how to follow. It was like the night they left Cerulean; she wanted to apologize for snapping at him and not properly thanking him for saving her life. Then again, that time it was easier, given it had been just the two of them.

As much as she'd love a private moment with Ash, she didn't have the heart to tell Iris and Anabel to leave. She wasn't the only one in there who cared fo Ash, neither the only one who was frightened when he vanished. Anabel and Iris exchanged glances, and without further words they rolled over a bit to make more room for her on the bed, though Iris went back into her earlier place when Misty put herself in front of Ash in Anabel's old spot.

'It's okay. We all feel the same way after today. You don't need to feel embarrassed.'

Misty sighed. Was she making it that obvious? "Alright," She finally said as she sat on the bed and laid next to Ash. Close, but not that close. Though she still had a bit more contact with the others than she was used to.

"Look, you guys don't really have to do this, I…"

"Shhh…" Misty placed a finger on his mouth. "Even if we don't, after today, I want to be close in case something happens. I just… I don't want to lose you."

She had to struggle to let the last five words out. She had been keeping them to herself for a long time, probably since that time she felt jealous of Iris. Admittedly, her fear of losing Ash still lingered, but it wasn't so much as losing him to Iris, or Anabel, at least not in that sense, let alone after the effort they made to find him, and showing they cared for him as much as she did.

No, what she feared was that someone would want to hurt him. She had already gone through that when Hunter J kidnapped him, and after this... she didn't want to take any more chances. Iris was right. She had to become stronger, stronger to protect him. And she couldn't do that alone.

So at least for that night, she wouldn't mind sharing him with the others. They would all keep him safe, together.

(ADDITIONAL)

It had taken Belladonna some time to fall asleep, and she was pretty sure she was using Evanna as a pillow when she eventually did. However when she eventually did she found herself in a place she'd rather not be.

Dreams.

Dreams had always been weird for her. When she wasn't having a peaceful sleep, she was prone to having dreams of just the most random things.

Like this one, where she found herself on a floating island next to a small white house with a red roof.

The house had been nicely sized, when she was ten. Now she doubted if she could even fit in it.

Especially as the door to the little house swung open and a Pokemon darted out of it before staring up at her for a moment, before hissing.

She narrowed her eyes at the Pikachu doing the hissing, though she wasn't sure exactly why she was doing that. The narrowing seemed to be autopilot.

Said Pikachu wasn't Ash's, or Red's for that matter. The Pikachu had an older appearance, with gray-yellow fur around its nose and lines around its eyes similar to what you would see in aged humans.

"A rodent, really?" The words that left her mouth weren't her own. They didn't sound like her at all.

The words were colder and more sensual.

The Pikachu hissed at her more, cheeks sparking as her body continued to move on her own and talk with a voice that wasn't hers.

"You could have done so much better. You are my son, and yet you ended up with that pitiful creature. What is a Pichu worth?"

Her body promptly moved as to glare over the Pikachu, as if at something behind the old Pikachu.

Or someone.

She felt her eyes flash with power, though her own wasn't the one being activated.

"Your not going to sleep for forty-eight hours." The not her own voice came out of her mouth moments before the Pikachu fired an electrical attack.

She woke up before she felt the attack, her eyes jolting await.

It turned out that, in fact, she was using Evanna's toned stomach as a pillow, just as Aurora was using her own the same way.

She didn't move to avoid disturbing either of them, though she wondered how long it would take to fall back asleep.

She might have that dream again.

Unbeknownst to her however, in a region far away an elderly Pikachu also awoke from a bad dream, though a tad less unnerved than her.

For he had done something he had wished he had actually done all those years ago, and electrocute the evil woman who had made his friend and master's life hell.

Belladonna however, wasn't the only one having an odd experience in dreaming.

In a stadium filled with cheers, her very body glowed with the power she and her partner shared via Mega Evolution. She had thought there were no powers equal to it.

She had been proven wrong, and the Chesnaught whose billowing grass aura blew away to reveal a changed appearance was what had shattered her belief in how the world worked.

And yet despite that, the idea of testing herself and her trainer's might against this pair was a thrill she hadn't felt in years.

"Alright Chesnaught, let's win this! Spiky Shield!"

The Chesnaught didn't use the move like a normal one would. A spinning vortex of leaves and green energy formed on it's right forearm, forming into a round shield. The Chesnaught threw the shield, said shield growing spikes as it neared impact with her.

"Iron Head!"

White light surrounded her form as the energy of steel flowed through her, and she countered the imminent impact with her own blow.

The moment her first collided with the shield she felt, something. A burst of energy that wasn't tangible, warm, cold, the blowing of wind, or even having a smell, radiated off the impact like a damage less explosion.

It would be one of many such bursts of energy that battle. Nor the only such incident of it that tournament, for she vaguely recalled it in his battle against young Remo as well.

At the moment of first impact, and the feeling of that radiation stream from the impact the Pokemon's eyes shot wide open, her expression one of unease and concern.

Her partner was woken up by her own waking, and stared at her in concern.

"Mawile, did you have that memory in your dream..."

Her nod led the old woman to sigh in her bed, a sigh of someone who carried a great weight on her shoulder.

"I suppose we can only hope it didn't happen in a stadium this time, or worse."

Thus Mabel's first thoughts this day were one of worry and dread.

CHAPTER END!

Additional fun Reset Fact Time.

One of the few things I ever said to absolutely drop from anime to Reset is Skyla's 'Air Battle'.

Originally Tommy the Bug catcher from Sabrina's oneshot would have appeared at the end of the story, but other writing plans with him made that not work. In the very first version of that scene I had, he'd have either one, or all, of the M16 Genesect with him, but that was taken off for being 'too much'.

Previously I mentioned that at least one of Belladonna's group was Bi, I have since decided who it is. It won't come up unless it becomes relevant. Speaking of which, the designs of Aurora and Vedia were based on Rin Tohsaka and Nagato Yuki, even if they, especially Aurora, are not particularly based on their personalities.

Only Arias knew this was going up, specifically because I wanted to make sure it would not bother his plans too badly.

** Viroro edited or written

*** Fox contributed or written.

**** Partner edited or scripted scene

***** Shadow Ninja Koopa Contributed scene