Hello readers and welcome to my new chapter. So, I'm glad that you guys enjoyed the first chapter of this fic. Your positive feedback gives me a bit of confidence that I can write a decent Pokemon fic.

Before we begin, a few things I would like to say. First, this will be strictly Post-Kalos Ash. There will be elements from Sun & Moon (As seen with the Ultra Beasts), as well as possibly Journeys, but Ash won't gain any memories from Alola or Galarian. The pokemon he catches there, probably, but no memories.

And second, this is gonna be a harem fic. It'll mainly be with the girls that he has travelled with, possibly a few other girls who gained feelings for him (Such as Anabel). Anyone else, we'll have to see as the story continues on, though he won't be with anyone much older than him (Or any pokemon, just in case any of you got any funny ideas). Hope you guys won't have a problem with this; I like the harem genre, as well as the various pairings between Ash and the poke-girls.

That'll be all. Now, onto the second chapter, where Ash will get back Pikachu and restart his journey once more. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Pokemon series.

Chapter 2: A Restart of a Trainer's Journey

The night of rest turned out to be more effective than Ash thought. Once he woke up, the memories of this alternate timeline had become as clear as the ones in the original. He now remembers much of his childhood up to this point, and it doesn't feel that jarring now.

From all the training he did to effectively use aura, to when he and his mom adopted Red and Yellow, there wasn't anything missing from his memories. Things that should've shocked him doesn't, in thanks to the merging of his two minds. Because of that, he won't have to stumble too much while living in this new world. Keyword "too much", cause despite committing to waking up early…

"Crap, crap, crap, crap! I'm gonna be late, I'm gonna be late, I'M GONNA BE LATE!"

He ended up waking late anyways, leading to the trainer (Or rather soon-to-be-trainer) frantically getting himself ready. Granted, it wasn't as bad as last time, where he woke up to a point where he was gonna be late no matter what; but if he doesn't hurry, he'll be late once again anyways.

So Ash quickly put on his kanto outfit, burst out of his room, and ran out of the house; ignoring the giggles from his siblings, as well as the exasperated smiles from his mom and Mimey (whom, Ash noted, is already owned by his mother). He then ran full speed ahead to Professor Oak's laboratory, hoping to get there on time through running.

Unfortunately, that plan was momentarily stopped by someone crashing right into him, causing both to crash onto the ground. "Ow…" Ash groaned in pain, lifting his upper body up. Hearing the groan of pain beside him, he turned to see who crashed into him. He was met with a familiar face; a familiar one in this timeline, anyways. "Leaf?"

Rubbing her hat-covered head, the young brunette girl turned towards black haired boy. "Ash?" She blinked a few times, before a sympathetic smile entered her face. "You woke up late too?"

That brought a sheepish chuckle from Ash. "Yeah…"

"Same here. Mom had to shake me out of my bed in order to get there in time." Quickly, the girl stood up, pumping her fists in determination. "We should be there on time if we're fast enough!"

"Right!" Quickly hopping back up on his feet, both Ash and Leaf started running once more to Oak's lab at full speed.

In this timeline, Gary wasn't his only childhood friend. Here, he made friends with two other kids at Pallet Town; one of those friends being Leaf, a pretty brunette who often wore a sleeveless blue shirt, red skirt, and a white hat (With red linings shaped similarly to a pokeball). And she was his closest friend out of the three, due to their similar traits of optimism and determination.

They also shared the trait of being very clumsy at life; which led to their current situation.

Thankfully, they were able to get to the lab on time, with both aspiring trainers bursting through the doorway. The two then stopped on their feet, taking heavy breathers and leaning on their knees for support.

"Made it in the nick of time Ashy-boy. Leafy."

"And here we thought the two of you were gonna be late."

Ash and Leaf looked up to give the two boys in front of them dirty glares. The response they got were merely cocky smirks from the two offenders, Gary Oak and Crash.

Crash was the other friend he made at Pallet, a dark redheaded boy who's always wearing a green shirt, a black jacket, and black jeans. The redhead is often a wise-cracker, always finding time to tease him and Leaf, with Gary joining in most of the time. He also has a bit of cocky streak, though not as bad as Gary, with the aim of catching the toughest pokemon he can find.

While Ash could do without the teasing, he got along with Crash as well as he does Gary (When he's not being a cocky butt). The two often trained together, both having taken up self-defense, though the redhead was the better fighter of the two.

"I'm glad the two of you were able to make it on time." Spoke none other than Professor Oak, who was standing in front of all four teenagers. He was staring at the two tired teens with exasperated amusement. "Gary and Crash were sure that both of you will be late…"

"Sorry professor…" Ash and Leaf muttered, blushes on both their faces.

"Do remember you two, that it's important to be punctual for any event." Oak lectured as he walked towards the storage container filled with three pokeballs. "Now, let's get started, shall we? Allow me to hand you all your first pokemon."

"Hey, Gramps," Gary spoke up, raising up a hand. "I don't know if you notice, but there's only three pokeballs, and four of us. How's that gonna work?"

"Oh, no need to worry about that; I already have that problem solved." Oak assured his grandson. He then grabbed a pokeball from the container before handing it to Gary. "Now then, for you Gary."

Smirking, Gary received the pokeball given to him before tossing it upward, releasing the pokemon inside. As Ash suspected, it was Squirtle; Gary's future Blastoise. "Squirtle, Squirt."

"So I got a Squirtle, huh?" Gary said, bending down towards his pokemon. He grinned. "I can already tell I got the best pokemon here."

"You bet!" Ash heard Squirtle say confidently.

Letting out a small chuckle, Oak then handed the next pokeball to Leaf. "For you, Leaf."

"Woo-hoo!" Letting out a small cheer, the hat-wearing brunette eagerly let out her pokemon. The pokemon in question was revealed to be a Bulbasaur. "So I got a Bulbasaur! Aren't you the cutest thing?"

"Thank you." The seed pokemon preened under the praise. Leaf then bent over to hug the little guy, something that the Bulbasaur happily accepted.

Next up, was Crash. "For you, Crash." Silently taking the offered pokeball, Crash nonchalantly tossed the pokeball in the air, releasing a Charmander.

"So I got a Charmander, huh?" Getting on one knee, Crash stared down the fire lizard. After a moment of staring, the redhead smirked, an eager gleam entering his dark amber eyes. "Under my care, you're gonna be the most powerful Charizard out there."

"Oh yeah!" The lizard pokemon looked excited about that statement.

As everyone got acquainted with their pokemon, Ash waited patiently for his, with an eager smile on his face. He wasn't at all concerned that he was the last one without a pokeball. He already knew that his best friend, Pikachu, is gonna be his starter once again.

And it's not just because of his memories from the original timeline, or the fact the three original starters were given to the others. It's also because this pokemon was promised to him years ago by the professor…

"As for you, Ash…" The professor then walked to a separate container, where a single pokeball with a lightning bolt at the top was held. Taking the ball from it's container, he continued speaking. "I believe you already know which pokemon is here."

The cap wearing trainer nodded rapidly as Oak approached him. "You bet I do, Professor!" Taking it out of the professor's hand, Ash quickly released Pikachu out of his ball, knowing that his buddy is probably anxious to get out. A burst of energy then hit the ground before solidifying into the chubby, yellow mouse. Pikachu then shook off the residue energy that came from the ball, before focusing on its surroundings; and more importantly, on the one who released him.

"ASH!" With a joyful squeal, the mouse pokemon leaped up and clung onto his trainer as tightly as he could. Tears nearly gathered in his eyes as Pikachu processed the last moment of the original timeline. "Dear Arceus, I thought I almost lost you! You're not gonna leave my sight again, you hear me?!"

In response, Ash laughed just as joyfully and hugged his starter pokemon back. "It's good to see you too, Pikachu!" It was definitely good to have his best buddy again!

The three other beginning trainers looked at the duo in surprise. "Um, the two of you already met, Ashy Boy?" Gary inquired curiously.

"Yep!" Ash nodded in confirmation, as Pikachu climbed on his shoulder. "We met a few years ago, when I was twelve, I think. He was a Pichu back then, and was… was hurt. So I took him to Professor Oak to get him some help."

It was yet another change in this new world, one that gives him mixed feelings. On one hand, it was nice that he was able to meet Pikachu so early on, and was guaranteed to get him back as his starter once again.

However, the circumstances of that meeting were not the happiest. Just remembering Pikachu's injured state back as a Pichu, as well as the reasons for those injuries, made his blood boil…

"Ash is correct." Oak confirmed with his own nod, breaking Ash out of his thoughts. "Pikachu back then was extremely exhausted, bruised, and feverish at the time, so I kept him in the lab to nurse him. Ash came in to help often, and even played with him, which resulted in a bond between the two. One I hope the rest of you manage with your own pokemon."

That resulted in two cocky smirks from Gary and Crash, while Leaf pumped her fist in determination. "No need to worry, Gramps." Gary told him. "I'm sure that me and Squirtle are gonna be a better team than Ashy Boy and his Pikachu."

"You wish, Gary." Ash snorted right back, with Pikachu nodding in firm agreement. "You'll be eating our dust in any league we go in."

"Don't forget about me, you guys!" Leaf spoke up, raising her clenched fist. "My Bulbasaur and I are gonna be the best team out of the four of us! No way I'm letting any of you get past me!"

"You can all keep dreaming; me and Charmander are gonna be number one." Crash then added his own two cents. "We're gonna win it all, and take all of you down while we're at it."

Before anymore could be said between the four, Professor Oak cleared his throat loudly, gaining their attention. "While I'm glad the four of you are so heated up for your journeys, I suggest taking time to get to know your pokemon before making such declarations. The bonds of pokemon and their trainers are what makes good teams."

*Ketchum Household*

Once the four of them received their pokedexes, as well as a few more instructions, the four went their separate ways; either immediately heading out to their journeys, or going back home to get their gear and to show off their pokemon.

The latter of which Ash is doing now; though it was less an introduction, and more of a meet up for Pikachu and his family.

"It's good to see you again, Pikachu!" Delia cooed, scratching the pokemon beneath his chin. Yellow was right beside Delia, rubbing Pikachu's back, while Red was leaning on the wall and watching from afar. "You really have grown since we last saw you, huh?"

"Cha." Pikachu cooed back, clearly enjoying the attention.

Ash chuckled as his mother and sister smothered Pikachu with affection, before turning to his brother. "Hey Red, don't you want to join in and pet Pikachu?"

"I'm fine." Red declined, turning his head slightly. "Yellow and mom seem to be giving him plenty of affection, anyways."

That got a sigh and eye roll from the older brother. Three years since he and Yellow started living with them, and Red still insists on acting so aloof. Can't he act more comfortable around all of them more often?

Pushing the thought away for now, Ash asked about the other reason he came back home. "Hey mom, do you mind if I borrow Pikachu back real quick? I promised Serena I would show her who my starter pokemon is once I get them."

Yet another difference in the timeline; rather than Serena having to leave that pokemon summer camp early, thus taking the chance for them to be closer, his kalosian friend was able to stay at the camp full time. Thanks to that, the two were able to become friends much earlier, and close friends at that.

It's why mom got a pokemon booth in their relatively modest house; so he and Serena could talk to each other more often. It's also so that mom and his siblings can contact each other more easily in the future.

"Of course, sweetie." Delia agreed easily, standing up from her bent position. "I wouldn't want to keep Serena waiting for you."

"Aww." Yellow pouted as Pikachu scampered back to Ash. "I wanted to pet Pikachu more."

That brought at chuckle from Ash, as well as a giggle from their mom. "I'll let you do that before we go, okay Yellow?"

Ash then headed to the living room, where the phone booth was located. After sitting down, and dialing in Serena's address, he waited for her to pick up. It only takes about a minute for the screen to show the familiar face of his kalosian friend. "Ash!" Serena exclaimed, looking slightly surprised yet really happy to hear from him. "I didn't expect to get a call from you so soon."

"I promised that I'd show you who my starter is, didn't I?" Ash replied back. He then tilted his head towards Pikachu with a smile, the yellow mouse waving in response. "Well, here he is."

Again, Serena was taken by surprise. "A Pikachu?" She said, frowning in confusion. "Aren't starter pokemon supposed to be water, grass, and fire types? At least, that's what I remember."

"Usually, yeah." Ash confirmed. "For Kanto, the choice is either a Bulbasaur, a Charmander, or a Squirtle. But Pikachu is a special case here."

"You didn't end up late again, did you?"

Serena's blunt question earned an embarrassed blush from the trainer. "N-No! I managed to make it on time!" Barely, Ash noted in his mind. But it was still on time. Ignoring the snickering from Pikachu, as well as the giggles from Serena, Ash continued on. "Pikachu and I met a few years back, before the summer camp. Professor Oak promised that he would be my first pokemon; that's why I didn't get any of the usual starters."

"You know, I didn't think that I would have memories of an earlier meeting between us once we went back in time." Pikachu commented casually. "Nor did I expect you to have a brother and a sister. You're gonna have to explain all of this once we head out."

Ash ignored Pikachu for the time being, focusing on Serena, who took the time to process what she's been told. "So you and Pikachu met before?" A pout then formed on her face. "How come you never told me that? You haven't brought Pikachu up even once."

"Um… you never ask?" Was Ash's sheepish reply. At the deepening pout, the Kanto trainer quickly explained himself further. "Like I said, it was a special case. Professor Oak didn't want to tell a lot of people about Pikachu, so only my family knew about him. And like I said, there was never a reason to bring him up, so I didn't."

For a moment, Serena maintained an angry pout. After that moment, she relented and stopped pouting. "Well, since the professor didn't want you spreading it around, I'll let this go…" She sighed, before putting on a stern look (Though it looked more cute than stern, Ash absently noted). "But don't try to keep anything else from me, mister! Understand?!"

That brought a chuckle from Ash. "Yeah, yeah, understood." He replied back casually. "Now, I have to go now. I've got pokemon to catch and badges to win, now!"

Serena looked disappointed to be ending the call so soon, but accepted it. "Alright. But don't take too long to call back. I want to hear about all your adventures as soon as possible."

"Don't worry. Whenever I get the chance, I'll make sure to tell everything I've experienced." Ash promised. "Later, Serena."

"Bye, Ash." With that, the call ended, leaving the trainer with his pokemon. As he stood up from his seat, he heard giggles coming from the living room. Frowning, Ash turned his head towards the source of the giggles, to see his mother and sister peeking at him from the entrance of the corner of the wall.

"Can you two not spy on me whenever I'm talking to Serena?" Ash whined in complaint, which only earned impish smiles from both females. "And you better not be listening in behind that wall, Red!"

"I-I'm not!" Was the startled reply of the younger boy. However, considering Red sounded like he was right behind their mother and Yellow, Ash has doubts about that.

The little event pushed aside, Ash was now outside of his home, with Pikachu on one shoulder and his backpack on the shoulder. Standing in front of him was his mom and Red, who were standing right at the front door. Yellow, however, was hugging Ash by the waist, tears forming in the little girl's eyes.

"Don't worry, Yellow; I won't be gone forever." Smiling softly, Ash bent down and wrapped his arms around her. "I'll be visiting as often as I can, and calling you guys whenever possible."

"You promise?" Yellow asked, clinging on to him tightly.

"Promise." Ash stated firmly. The fourteen year old then stared at his brother, who looked to be trying to remain composed. Ash was having none of that. "C'mon Red, I know you want a goodbye hug too."

For a moment, Red looked hesitant on taking up the offer. But seeing his older brother hold an arm out with a supportive smile, along with his mom giving him an encouraging push, Red pushed back his hesitancy and quickly took the offer and hugged. Tears that he was trying to fight off, started forming in the corner of his eyes. "You better keep that promise to Yellow. I don't want her to be sad because you forget to call us."

That brought a chuckle from Ash. "Don't worry, I won't." He assured him.

As the three siblings continued hugging one another, Delia looked on with a soft smile on her face. Red and Yellow had been such a good influence on Ash, as much as he was to them. Thanks to those two, Ash became a more responsible young boy, as well as brought out his more caring side to the forefront.

Much of his immaturity was already taken away during the month of his aura training. Once she and her son took Red and Yellow into their home, any remaining juvenile tendencies were pushed back once it occurred to Ash that he was now an older brother. While Delia had treated Red and Yellow like her own, her fourteen year old boy was the one who took the reins of caring for them; playing with them, teaching them about the world, and becoming a role model those two desperately needed.

Now, a more mature version of her boy is about to head out into the world; to catch and befriend various types of pokemon, as well as challenge the leagues and various trainers. And while she couldn't help but be worried for him, she knew that Ash is gonna make a splendid start on his journey; which will lead to a great path as a pokemon trainer.

And she'll be cheering for him throughout it all.

XXXX

"So, you already know that we travelled back in time." Ash said to Pikachu as he walked on the path of Route 1. "And as you can probably guess from your memories alone, we're in an alternate timeline."

"Yeah. Had time to process them while inside my pokeball." Pikachu stated, with a small shudder. "Never thought I would end up back inside those things again."

Scratching his buddy's ears in sympathy, Ash continued. "As for how it all happened, Celebi explained everything to me yesterday. While she was transferring all of us to the past, Cyrus attempted to stop her."

"Cyrus?!" Pikachu exclaimed incredulously. "You're telling me that he was still alive?!"

"Apparently." Ash answered with a small grimace. "He was trying to gain enough space and time to continue his new universe plan, but he wasn't very successful. Still, he managed to gain enough control to help coordinate the attack with those pokemon. Ultra beasts, is what Celebi called them."

Again, the mouse pokemon could only stare at his trainer in shock, before that shock morphed into fury. "That bastard helped trying to kill you?" He hissed, his cheeks sparking in fury. "He was the one who sent all those pokemon at us?"

"Afraid so, buddy." Ash said sadly, looking down. "He also helped the ultra beasts attack every single region out there. The attack was so bad that going back in time was the only way to save the world."

That caused Pikachu's anger to rise, though sorrow started mixing with that anger. He already knew that civilization got decimated; the Lake Trio told him so, after all. But it is still difficult to hear that the world they knew is gone. Especially when this current world is so different.

"We're gonna stop Cyrus and the ultra beasts from ever doing that." Pikachu declared firmly. "And when I get the chance, I'm gonna shock them to death!"

That caused Ash to look at his buddy in surprise at how vicious he sounds. Thinking about it, however, he couldn't blame Pikachu for his anger; he was just as furious last night when he was told this, so he couldn't hold it against him.

"Anyways…" Ash spoke back up, going back to the original topic. "Having us travel to the past takes a lot of focus for Celebi. When Cyrus tried to stop her, history got altered. To the point that the two of us met earlier, I ended up with adopted siblings, I had aura training, and me and Serena stayed in contact with each other. Oh, and apparently, I need to bring a gun with me during my travels."

"In other words? There's no telling what we're going to be facing." Pikachu sighed. "Saving an altered world is gonna be tough…"

"Hey, it's nothing we can't handle buddy." Ash assured him, rubbing his head. "We've dealt with worse odds than this. I'm certain there isn't anything new that can take us down."

"Here's hoping that wasn't a jinx." Pikachu remarked a tad dryly. A sly look then entered the mouse's face. "Changing the subject a bit… you and Serena kept in contact with each other?"

That caused a blush to form Ash's face. "Please don't start, Pikachu."

"Makes me wonder how long it will be until she decides to kiss you." Pikachu teased his friend. "Will it be sooner or later? Or will she start with a confession instead?"

"Pikachuuuu!"

While Ash is, admittedly, slow on the topic of romance, he isn't blind either. When Serena kissed him right before she left, it was clear that she liked him as more than a friend. For how long, he doesn't know, but it was clear.

He didn't know how to deal with it then, and he doesn't know now. And with them in an altered past now, he rather not think on it further, especially since he's unsure whether this current Serena has a crush on him or not.

That won't stop his best friend from teasing him about it though.

However, that moment of levity was brought down, when a familiar caw entered their ears. One that caused chills both the trainer's and the pokemon's spines. "Spearows." Pikachu hissed, ready to defend his trainer.

Thankfully, it wasn't the angry flock that they had to deal with in the last timeline. It was merely three Spearows, all of which still looked rather murderous, flying at different angles to attack Ash and Pikachu.

Thankfully, Ash's combat training kicked in, prompting him to duck and roll under the three-pronged attack. Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder in the meantime, and landed on the ground. Both turned towards the three Spearows, tensed and ready to fight. "Pikachu, think you can use thunderbolt on all three of them?"

Sadly, the mouse pokemon shook his head. "I don't have enough strength to do that, Ash." Pikachu explained to him. "I remember how to do it, along with my other moves. But my power level isn't like it was before."

Ash grimaced at that. "Guess we just have to make do with what we got." He narrowed his eyes at the three birds, who looked ready to lunge once again. "Use thundershock!"

Pikachu used the more spread out, yet weaker electric attack, striking all three Spearows before they could get close. All three were then promptly knocked out.

"...Alright. So the first order of business will be to train back up to your previous level." Ash sighed. A confused look then hit his face. "Or is it future level now? Kinda confusing, since we won't be able to travel back to our time."

"Well either way, we're gonna need to train, and train hard." Pikachu stated, a determined look on his face. "I want to be able to use a proper thunderbolt and volt tackle way before the league!"

"You'll get no disagreement from me." Ash stated. A smile then entered his face. "On the bright side, once you get strong enough, you won't have to figure out how to do those moves. You'll be able to do them immediately."

And thinking about it, this probably goes for all of his other pokemon as well. Once he finds them, he'll have to retrain many of them from the ground up in order for them to do their moves once again, not to mention evolve. He's already imagining the crazy amount of training Charizard will do in order to evolve again…

The sound of several bird calls caused Ash and Pikachu to freeze. Slowly, they looked up… to see around a dozen more Spearows, looking very pissed.

"...Crap." Was all Ash could say. Then, he turned to his partner. "Looks like we'll have to run and fight, buddy."

"At least we're fighting." Pikachu stated, his cheeks sparking up once more. Once the Spearows started flying at them, the duo began running away, with the mouse pokemon throwing thundershocks at any bird that got too close.

Hopefully, this encounter with the Spearows will end up somewhat better than their last one.

And that's the end. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. As you've read, I've added another character from the game, as well as an original character. Hope they've made good impressions, as I plan for them to be rivals for Ash, like Gary is. I also hope you liked the changes in the timeline so far.

Next up, a continuation of Ash and Pikachu fighting off the Spearows, as well as the duo encountering Misty in this timeline. Review, favorite, and follow and I will see you guys later.