Hey, guys

Sorry about the unannounced hiatus, the autumn's been tough for me and I haven't been feeling my best. I do think my focus is back for now, but all I can say is, if I disappear like this again, I'm gonna come back. I have plans, and the story must continue.

Thank you for your support, it really means a lot. I hope you're all doing alright!

The kid didn't stay asleep for long.

He woke up to the smells and sounds of Burnet's cooking, and sat up with a big yawn and a careful glance around the room.

"Sleep well?" asked Kukui from the other end of the sofa, where he'd totally been reading the newspaper and not sitting there anxiously, glancing at Ash every two minutes, waiting for him to wake up. He folded the paper and set it on the table, tilting his head.

"Uhuh", said Ash, arms tightening around Lycanroc. He looked at Pikachu, and Pikachu looked at him, and the silence around them was heavy. Unnatural, to Kukui.

"I'm still here", said Ash then. A statement, and not exactly a happy one.

"You're still here", agreed Kukui, and he could feel the smile stuck on his face, glued on and stiff. "Professor Burnet's making us lunch right now. It'll be worth the wait. She makes a mean lo mein when she really tries."

"Great, I'm pretty hungry", said Ash, slowly relaxing and melting back into the pillows and sleepy pokemon around him. He rubbed at his eyes hard, leaving red spots on his cheekbones. "Y'know, Professor, about earlier…"

He glanced at Kukui from under his brow, mouth tilting unhappily. "'M sorry. Lucario's just someone I knew, before, and… I guess got kinda upset about it. But I'm fine now, I promise."

"Hey, hey now", spluttered Kukui, startled. "Don't apologize! Something clearly strange happened there, and you have every right to defend your view about it. It is your life, after all, and those are your memories and your feelings. There's nothing wrong with that."

Ash was quiet for moment, while Pikachu crawled from the sofa back down onto his lap. Ash's hand settled on its back, like a bee settles on a flower, softly, and on instinct.

"What was up with that Z-move?" he asked then. "Why did the crystal break? Why didn't it work?"

"Ah", said Kukui, scratching the side of his neck. "You see, sometimes… When a person isn't ready for the power and the responsibility the Z-crystal grants them, their Z-move can fail. It doesn't happen often since usually the person using a Z-move has to take part in the island trials first, they are motivated by the task and they know very well what they're getting into."

He waited for a moment, made sure Ash was still listening.

"You, however, you were thrown right in the middle of it all. Having no concept of the Alolan traditions, the true meaning of the Z-moves, or the Island Guardians… With a crystal you didn't know how to use and a recent trauma in your mind…" Kukui sighed, shrugged. "It's no wonder it didn't work. But Ash, it's not your fault in any way. It's mine, really. I should've realized that it was way too soon for you."

"So I… wasn't strong enough?" asked Ash, and of course that was wat he took from Kukui's words.

"It's not about strength, Ash, not really", said Kukui, with emphasis. "It's about… focus, and intention, and will, and you just didn't have that, not at that moment. And that's completely understandable."

"Well, I wanna try it again", said Ash, sitting up straighter, and there was an intense look in his eyes. "Can I, Professor? I'm focused now – I'm sure I'll get it right this time!"

Kukui winced internally and shuffled closer to Ash on the sofa.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." Ash opened his mouth to argue, but Kukui threw up his hand, stopping him. "Wait, let me- Not before you tell me what happened to you right before you got here. It is clearly that moment, Ash, that threw you so badly off balance that it almost made you sick during the Z-move. Before… Before you've faced that memory, I can't risk letting you hurt yourself with another move."

"Man, c'mon Professor", sighed Ash. "That won't happen again, I promise! I'm totally over it."

Kukui levelled a look at him. "What you promised earlier was that you'd tell me. Right? About Lucario."

Ash glanced around the room, looking for an escape. Lycanroc buried its head tighter against his side, one paw curling on his knee. Incineroar's arm was around his shoulders, big and heavy, as it snored in its sleep. And Pikachu was still watching him, ears down and alert.

"Um, I guess", said Ash finally, resigned. "It's just… I dunno, a lot of stuff was happening there, Professor. I dunno where to start."

"I read a bit about Rota's history while you slept", said Kukui. "Rota Kingdom, it used to be called. A beautiful city watched over by the magical Tree of Beginning. And the site of what could have been the biggest battlefield of the century.

"That's where you were, right?"

Ash nodded.

"Me and Max and May and Brock, we visited the Palace since it was on our way to the Battle Frontier. There was this 'Hero of the Year' tournament thing going on, so of course I took part in it."

"Of course", said Kukui, and smiled.

"And I won", continued Ash. "The whole thing was for celebrating this uh, Aura guardian, Sir Aaron, who saved the kingdom like, a thousand years ago. They still had his staff there, and they made me sit around forever an' hold the staff and look proper and stuff. But then later, when I kinda held the staff like Sir Aaron did in a picture, it started glowing and Lucario came out of the staff."

Kukui had been nodding along encouragingly, but that made him stop abruptly, eyes widening.

"Ho- hold on- Lucario came out of the staff? Sir Aaron's lucario, the lucario that had disappeared along with him during the battle?"

"Uhuh", said Ash, nodding like Kukui had asked him if he liked chocolate ice cream. "At first Lucario thought I was Sir Aaron, 'cause my Aura was similar to him, and we had to explain to it that it had skipped thousand years into the future. That didn't go over so well… Anyway, things kinda got crazy after that…"

His hand brushed over Pikachu's back, over and over again. Kukui wondered how much crazier the story was possibly going to get.

"So, then Max comes and tells us that Mew – the Mew that lives in the Tree of Beginning – had disappeared with Pikachu", Ash went on. "So we had to go there to get it back from the Tree. A lot of stuff happened on the way, but eventually we made it. But the thing was, the Tree didn't like us being there, so all these regirock, registeel, and regice attacked us trying to protect it. We were running around like crazy and I was trying to find Pikachu at the same time, but then these red, um… red blobs that were also protecting the Three kinda… ate us, I guess."

Kukui blinked, mouth halfway open to say something, but nothing came out. Ash waved his hand around vaguely and shrugged.

"I think Mew did something then, talked with the Tree and told it that we weren't enemies to it, and the Tree let us go. But Mew got sick afterwards. That's when me an' Lucario realized we could use our Aura to save it, although Lucario didn't want me to do it cos it was probably gonna kill us. But I had Sir Aaron's gloves there and-"

"Wait a second", interrupted Kukui, head spinning. "What did you say? Your Aura?"

"Oh yeah", said Ash, rubbing the back of his neck. "So uh, we also found out that I can use Aura? At least, like, the time flowers and stuff, and when I had Sir Aaron's gloves on, it was pretty easy to channel my Aura into Mew. But… Lucario didn't want me to get hurt so it pushed me away, just as we were gonna give the last of our Aura to Mew. I fell over and… that's when I opened my eyes and I was here."

"That's um…" said Kukui helplessly. "That sounds intense, and dangerous, and…"

"I dunno what happened to Lucario after that", said Ash, eyes lowering. "Pikachu says it died, and I guess, since I wasn't there to help it, it probably did. Like Sir Aaron... It sacrificed itself for Mew and the Tree and died."

"Pikaa…" said Pikachu, the first thing it had said since Ash woke up. "Pikachu Pikapi."

"It's alright", said Ash. "I get it now. And maybe Mew sent me here because it didn't want me to see that, or it knew I might've died too or… something."

"Ash", said Kukui, voice hoarse and weak. "I'm sure you did everything you could. And Lucario… it knew what it was doing. Whatever happened, it's not your fault."

"I really wanted to help Mew", said Ash quietly, and his eyes were shining, brimming with tears. "Mew and the Tree belonged together… if Mew would've died, so would've the Tree, and all the pokemon that lived in it. I really wanted to help all of them. But I didn't want Lucario to… to…"

He hiccupped, a strangled sort of noise, and wrapped his arms around himself. He leaned forward, breathing audibly.

"If I had been stronger… Maybe I could've-"

"Hey, hey", said Kukui hurriedly, sliding even closer to him on the sofa. "Don't even think like that. And besides, as you said, you don't really know what happened after that last moment! Maybe Mew did do something. Something that changed everything. We just cannot know."

He turned to look at Pikachu, and Pikachu nodded silently.

"Pikachu's memory about it is hazy, right? And so was Brock's. Clearly, something vital, something about that moment in time, got messed up in a big way and it affected everyone involved. Right?"

Ash raised his head, jaw working.

"Um, yeah… maybe."

"We just need to look into it a bit, see if there's any news from that time period that could explain what went down. Let's not lose hope yet, hm?"

Ash nodded to himself, some color returning to his face.

"Yeah." He took Pikachu between his palms, held it up to his face. Pikachu smiled and cooed softly, ears pointed to the sky. Ash smiled, too. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Professor!"

Kukui wasn't sure he deserved the thanks – he very much didn't feel like he'd done anything besides giving out meaningless words full of empty hope – but he would relish whatever meager comfort he'd given Ash. He'd just have to hope the things he'd said wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass later, when they found out what truly happened at the Tree of Beginning that day.

"You boys ready for lunch?" asked Burnet then, walking towards the sofa with a tray full of steaming bowls of food. She was smiling brightly, but Kukui could see the strain, the worry, in the lines around her eyes. Ash nodded eagerly, yelling a thank you and getting up to fetch the bowls for his pokemon.

Burnet set the tray on the table and locked her eyes with Kukui's.

"How much did you hear?" asked Kukui softly.

"Most of it" she replied. She set the table and crouched next to it, speaking quietly. "Arceus, the things he's been through. But what he said about his Aura…" She glanced over her shoulder, made sure Ash was still busy feeding his team. "We've been kinda suspecting it. It fits with… everything that is Ash. All the things he can do. All the things that just happen to him, while everyone else goes years – or a lifetime! – without experiencing anything close to what he does. It means we were right!"

Kukui frowned deeply, leaned closer to her. "We? Who are you talking about, exactly?"

"Lusamine and I", Burnet said, and the look in her eyes was grave. "After Nebby… Well, we thought, that is something really special. Unusual. And the way the Tapu just gravitate around him. How the Z-moves work with him. It's not normal. Him having a powerful Aura, well, it just makes a lot of sense."

"You've been discussing Ash with Lusamine?" hissed Kukui, and he was still too stunned with the revelations to really know if he was actually angry or just plain shocked and confused. "And you didn't think to tell me about this?"

"It was purely out of professional interest in Aura in general", Burnet argued in low voice. "The way it might be related to everything in the world, possibly even to the ultra dimensions. We were never going to-"

She bit her lip and pulled a smile back onto her face. Ash was standing next to her, bringing a jug of water for them to the table, Pikachu stuck on his shoulder like a second head. Burnet stood up, levelling a warm look at him.

"Ready to eat now?" she asked brightly, and they sat around the table and ate in silence, everyone stuck deep in their own thoughts.

.

.

Kukui was almost done carrying the plates back to the kitchen when the doorbell rang.

He walked to the door, already expecting another group of reporters, or the kids from his class asking after Ash, or even just Manu, out and about, ready to stir some shit.

But it was none of those people.

"Excuse me", said the tall, strange man from before. "May I speak with Ash? It's quite urgent."

Kukui stared at him, a frown settling deep into his face. He planted his arm to the doorframe, blocking all entry.

"Who are you?" he demanded. "What do you want with Ash? You do realize I saw you earlier with the other reporters, and I do not want any of you near him, or our home."

"My name is Tobias", the man said impatiently. "I mean it, I really do need to talk to Ash. It's about what happened in Sinnoh a few years back."

He wasn't looking at Kukui anymore, but somewhere past him. Behind him. Kukui turned around and saw Ash standing there, staring up at the man with a purely confused look on his face.

"Hello, Ash", said Tobias. "Remember me?"

.

.

"Hey. Try to keep still."

Abigail's hands were firm on his shoulder and chest as she guided Ash to lean against the sofa. Chansey padded around her, bringing a fuzzy blanket in its paws, humming softly.

Ash, tired but restless, nodded, sat still for five seconds before fidgeting, and tried to reach forward to touch Chansey. Abigail sighed, long suffering, and just pressed back harder.

"I mean it. You need to stay absolutely calm for this, Ash."

"Yeah, Ash. You ever heard of relaxing?" said Kellyn from the side chair. He snickered to himself while Abigail shot a mean glare in his direction.

"Oh, don't even start", she said, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "You certainly don't know anything about that, Kellyn. I seem to be remembering a time when… how was it – when you secretly worked for two weeks with a cracked rib and only came to me when you could barely breathe through the pain – you remember that time, maybe, Kellyn?"

Even Ash winced at her biting tone, but Kellyn just crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back nonchalantly. "C'mon. That was different. I couldn't just drop that mission, you know? It was rather important. Life or death, yeah? Big stakes, way bigger than few measly ribs."

Ash nodded along, understanding the point the ranger was making very well, before something clicked in his brain and he sat up with sudden indignant vigor. "Hey, this is important too!" he yelped, and Abigail's arms tensed as she fought to keep him in place. "J's still got Mew, and we shouldn't just be sitting around doing this stuff while something could be happening to it right now!"

"This 'stuff'", said Abigail pointedly as she guided Chansey to Ash's side, "will help you heal faster. And when you heal faster, you can do things faster, right? Like helping Mew, for example."

Ash gnawed on his lip, thinking.

"Sure, but…"

"Now", said Abigail sweetly. "Sit back, relax, and close your eyes. Chansey's gonna give you a half an hour healing therapy, and after that you should feel a whole lot better. This is something you got as first aid yesterday, too, and without it you probably wouldn't be walking around like you are now." She brushed a gentle hand along Chansey's head, and the pokemon cooed softly. "Chansey's incredible. We've been working on improving its healing skills to cover people too, and the progress has been great. A couple of more days of these sessions, Ash, and you'll only have a faint set of scars as a memory."

Ash shut his mouth, looked at Chansey. Chansey gazed back at him, smiling kindly. Suddenly, Ash felt terrible for whining.

"Oh, um… I didn't know… I didn't remember that you healed me", he said quietly. "Thanks, Chansey."

"Chans-y chans!"

Ash, finally giving up, relaxed against the sofa back and let his eyes fall shut. He was exhausted, but he knew that if he stopped moving, he would fall into deep sleep and miss a lot of time. A lot of important time. And that thought scared him more than he was willing to admit.

But he also knew he needed this, and Chansey was willing to work hard for him, so it was time for him to stop fighting. Even for a one, short moment.

He took a deep breath, felt for Lucario's familiar warmth from the other side of the room, and nodded.

"Okay, let's do this then."

Chansey leaned forward, placed its hand on his chest and… Ash melted.

The sensation flowed into him, encapsulating, overwhelming. He was wrapped in the softest pillows, in the warmest blanket, tingling from head to toe and flying to the sky, light, light. The clouds carried him away, and he was out like light, sunken deep into a blissful, undisturbed sleep.

.

.

Soft voices, familiar voices, dragged him slowly back towards awareness.

"He looks… just terrible. What happened?"

Was that Brock?

"We're not exactly sure. He's healing fast, though. Nurse Joy said to give it a couple of days."

That was Kellyn, for sure.

"Hey, Lucario. You okay? I'm glad Ash got you away from Hunter J."

May. That sounded like May.

Ash, reluctantly, cracked his eyes open and got his vision full of Max's curious face.

"Nice hoodie, Ash", Max said. "I like the uhh… the pink color and the uhh… yeah. Looking real good there."

Ash stared at him, dumbly, blinking the haze of sleep away. Max grinned.

"I'm only kidding. I'm glad you're okay, dude."

Ash pushed himself into a better position, clearing his scratchy throat. "Thanks, um. Hey, guys."

He looked around the room, at the people who had gathered there. May, sitting by Lucario's side, Brock, conversing with Kellyn, his brow tight with worry, and Lance, leaning against the back wall with a thoughtful, grim look on his face, arms crossed in front of him.

All eyes were on him the second he spoke.

"Ash!" said May into the sudden silence, leaning closer and elbowing Max's arm not so kindly. "How are you?"

Ash shrugged gingerly, waving his arm. "Um… Y'know…"

"Glad to see you", said Brock, stepping closer. He wasn't smiling, exactly, but there was comforting softness to his voice that instantly made Ash feel more relaxed. Safer. Brock continued, "Hey, are you up to talking a bit about what's going on? I… I'm sorry to push this on you right away like this, but we don't have that much time."

Ash shook his head, yawned so wide and hard it made his eyes scrunch shut for a second, and shook his head again. Brock's eyebrow rose, ever so slightly, and Ash coughed awkwardly.

"No, yeah, I'm totally fine. Let's just-"

His eyes caught something then, something small and unmoving, almost innocent in its plainness. Grey, and still, and as hard as rock. It was laid carefully in one of the plushy chairs in the room, partly covered with a worn banket.

Ash felt his mouth dry, and his heart lurch painfully in his chest like someone had just closed their fist around it and was trying to yank it straight out through his bruised ribs.

It was Pikachu.

Ash almost forgot to breathe, for a moment. His arms tensed, aches and pains forgotten, ready to launch himself to his partner. But his legs were no better than limp noodles, and his brain had screeched to a halt, and moving was suddenly impossible.

"Ash?" asked Brock after a second. He stepped in front of Ash, blocking his view to Pikachu. "You alright?"

Ash strained his neck to see around him, licked his cracked lips and mouthed, silently, desperately, Pikachu.

It was Lance who figured it out first. He stepped next to the chair, smiling at Ash.

"Oh, hey, you're worrying about your little buddy here, right? Let me tell you, Ash, we have a plan for fixing this. That regigigas you mentioned to Brock yesterday? Well, I think I know who you're talking about. Few calls and a short flight later your Pikachu's gonna be as good as new!"

Ash inhaled sharply, life returning to him in bouts. His leg bounced, suddenly restless, and he sat up straight.

"No way, Lance, I gotta… uhh. I have a thing. A- a plan. A thing ready, y'know? I-"

Everyone was staring at him, and he shut his mouth with a click.

Explaining it would be too hard, he decided. Would take way too long, and would involve way too many questions he didn't want to answer to, right then.

So, instead of doing all that unpleasant boring stuff, he planted his feet onto the carpet and stood up. May and Max and Brock staggered backwards, surprised and alarmed, before Brock leaped back towards him, eyes wide.

"Whoa, Ash, maybe you shouldn't-"

"I'm fine", said Ash, dodging his friend's helpfully extended arm and backed away towards the door. "I really gotta go get this thing, though. So…"

His hand reached the handle and he yanked the door open.

You cannot even move it on your own, Ash.

The telepathy cut through every other thought in the room. Ash halted, grimacing. Lucario stared at him from across the room, red eyes shaded and serious.

"Sure I can", said Ash and he sounded petulant even to his own ears. "I can move it, I'm better now, I was just tired the last time-"

But he knew Lucario was right. The platform, the base or whatever that thing was that J used to capture and petrify her prey – it was extremely heavy, solid steel and rough-edged. Ash didn't quite get how it worked, anyways. It had come out of a small machine and expanded to fit Lucario on top of it, but after Lucario was out… It hadn't shrunk. And Ash, while he knew that at times he possessed strength way beyond what was probably normal, wasn't feeling exactly up to any weightlifting, right then.

So, it might turn out to be a problem, after all.

"What's Lucario talking about?" asked Brock, while simultaneously inching closer to Ash, closer to the wide-open doorway behind him. "What is it you need to move?"

"Yeah, can we like… help you with it?" asked Max with a wide-eyed look, pushing up his glasses.

"Uh", said Ash, and his eyes caught Pikachu again. His exhausted brain finally put two and two together and suddenly he grinned. "Actually guys, I just got a way better idea."

Ignoring the group again, he marched across the room, scooped up the dead-still bundle of Pikachu, fluffy blankets and all, and walked back to the door.

"Ash!" May called after him, but he was already out, running like his life depended on it.

The platform had been haphazardly tucked behind the trash cans at the back of the center, some fallen leaves thrown over to mask the blood-stained gleam of the metal, but in the bright daylight the whole deal looked way more suspicious than what Ash recalled from the previous night.

Not that he recalled much, from that night.

"Alright, Pikachu", he muttered, setting his buddy on a patch of grass next to the trash cans. "Won't take long now, I promise."

He kneeled on the ground and wiped the leaves off the thing, heart pounding, head still swimming from the healing sleep. His hands were shaking, from what or for why he wasn't totally sure, but he ignored it either way and sat back on his heels, taking a deep breath.

"Right. Here we go…"

He lifted Pikachu and set it on top of the platform. For a second nothing happened, and the fist that was holding Ash's heart squeezed itself tighter, making it hard to draw a breath.

And then a light clicked on, the tiniest led dot on top of a button on the edge of the disc, and Ash's finger was pressing it before his brain was even half-way caught up. A glass dome rose and sealed Pikachu in, and more lights turned on all over the platform.

The slider was familiar, and like on autopilot Ash pushed it down, the stone faded away and just like that Pikachu was out.

Pikachu was out.

Pikachu was in his arms, licking his face, tiny paws all over him, calling his name, crying – and he was crying and laughing and holding Pikachu, and for a moment there was nothing else in the world but the two of them.

He buried his face in Pikachu's fur, trembling fingers digging into its soft sides, and just felt.

Felt Pikachu's heart beating rapidly against his cheek and the slight tingle of electricity covering its fur that was so, so familiar. Felt the quiet way Pikachu whispered "Pikapi" into his shoulder, over and over again. Felt its nails pulling desperately on his hoodie, like it couldn't get close enough to him.

"Well, would you look at that", said someone behind him. "He actually did have a plan."

.

.

Sometime later, when things had calmed down a bit, and everyone had made sure everyone else was alright, they were sitting in the back room again, but this time Pikachu was curled tightly on Ash lap and May and Max were sitting on both sides of him, shoulder to shoulder, and Brock was smiling at Abby and Kellyn was joking around with Lance like they were brothers.

It was good. Very good.

Ash trailed the tips of his fingers along Pikachu's spine, and let out a huff of breath, almost a laugh.

Lucario reached out to him with its Aura, and sent, You are happy.

"Of course I am", said Ash, grinning. "We're all back together!"

May and Max grinned at him. Lucario nodded sagely.

You are so much stronger when you are like this, Ash. Your Aura… I know it now. You draw power from other people. Now, you burn bright, like the sun. Like Aaron did, when-

It stopped speaking abruptly. Ash's smile froze, hands pausing on Pikachu. Kellyn and Lance had fallen quiet, their lips forming thin lines as their eyes flicked from Ash to Lucario and back.

"Lucario?" asked Ash, suddenly uncomfortable with all the attention directed at him.

Ah, I apologize..., Lucario continued slowly. When Aaron died…That was when he was at his strongest. Aaron was always a solitary person. He enjoyed learning and training more than anything the city or the townspeople could offer him. But he always trained for other people. It was his dream, to protect the kingdom. That is what he spent his whole life training for. And that is what he gave Mew and the Tree of Beginning, that faithful day. Everything he had, and more.

Lucario lowered its head, and Ash could feel the grief washing over it, over him, paralyzing in its magnitude. It reminded Ash all over again – that for Lucario, it had barely been days since it lost everything it ever knew, and even less since it found out Sir Aaron had died so it, and everyone else, could live.

"Oh man, Lucario", he whispered, "I'm so sorry. For- for…"

It's all right. Lucario raised its head, and its eyes were clear, stricken with sorrow but focused. Aaron wanted me to go on. And it cannot be a coincidence that I ended up with you, Ash. You are so like him, yet so different. I think I can still learn a lot from you.

"Well…" mumbled Ash. "I dunno if I'm really the person to learn from. I'm kinda…" He waved his hand around vaguely. "I'm not like… like Professor Kukui, right? I dunno how to teach anything if it's not pokemon battling or something like that."

"Hm, Professor Kukui? Who's that?" asked May and suddenly Ash remembered.

Right, he was in the past.

Had he actually told anyone about that?

Lucario knew, at least. And he had talked about it with Kidd. Kidd had probably told the others, right?

"Hold on, guys… Did Kidd tell you I'm from the future?" Ash asked abruptly.

"Oh, she did", said Brock, but he didn't sound happy about it. "About that, Ash…"

"Are you sure that is what happened to you?" asked Lance, leaning closer. "Absolutely certain?"

Ash gnawed on his lip and nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I can't remember any of this current stuff happening to me, but I remember the Tree of Beginning from before to some extent. But the thing is, a lot of things happened to me after that, too, that I can remember very well."

"Like what?" asked Max. "Like… the Battle Frontier?"

"Oh, for sure!" Ash grinned. "I won over Brandon eventually, actually, and then me an' May tied in a pokemon contest and then uhh… I traveled to Sinnoh – that's where I met Kellyn for the first time – and then I went to Unova, and then Kalos, and right now, before coming here, I was in Alola."

He folded his hands on his lap and let the confusion in the room wash over him in waves. Pikachu was staring up at him, dark eyes sleepy but calculating. Did it notice something different in him? Had it already realized that he wasn't the same person, not totally, than who he'd been just yesterday?

"You have been to Sinnoh, and Unova, and Kalos?" asked Brock slowly, his shoulders dropping in disbelief.

"And Alola", added Ash with a firm nod.

"…And Alola."

"Woah, wait, that's so awesome!" said Max excitedly. "Did we get to go with you?"

"Max", May hissed, elbowing him sharply.

"Sorry Max", said Ash, shrugging lopsidedly. "You both had your own things to do after the last contest. I went alone. Just me and Pikachu and Aipom."

"Man…" sighed Max.

"So you really are from the future", Kellyn said. He stared at Ash, gaze searching. "That's why you recognized me, before. But you didn't tell me-" He rubbed at his chin, thinking. "How… How did we meet, in Sinnoh?"

"Well, you see, there was this Riolu-", began Ash, before halting. "Wait… Should I be telling you these things? What if it messes with the… the time stuff or something?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure the 'time stuff' is already pretty messed up", said Lance, smiling slightly. "But either way, this shouldn't be the thing we discuss right now, be it however interesting and frankly, quite groundbreaking as it is." He took a deep breath, brushed a hand through his hair. "Ash. Let's talk about what you just went through.

"Let's talk about Hunter J, and the people who are after Mew."