It was beyond weird, being in a world where cultivating with Pokémon was possible. Misty, once she got over the natural shock of having her entire world view up ended, recovered quickly enough and was already working with Staryu. Ash, naturally, had Pikachu in his lap and was already half-way past the soul wandering stage and heading swiftly into the Nascent stage of cultivating.
His body had always been rather durable, but now it was even more so. While he had found it confusing and maybe a little annoying that the entire world had shifted on it's axis, he wouldn't deny that being able to pick up a large boulder and lifting it over his head was pretty damn awesome.
From what he could recall of his memories, his other self had trained like crazy to match what little memories he had of his father and to some extent, an uncle he had only met once when he was very young. In this world, his mother had a younger sister who died in childbirth, and they had only gone to visit shortly after the funeral which is where he met him and his baby cousin.
The thing that bugged him the most was the way he felt like he had known his uncle and cousin in another life. His uncle was not a very nice man, and had been hiding the grief over his wife's death stoically. Perhaps too much so. His mom always worried over her nephew when Ash wasn't listening, as she almost never got to saw him. What little his memories did tell him was that his baby cousin lived in Viridian city and this father was a very important man there.
Ash had to shake his head from the stray thought. There was no way his cousin was him and that his uncle was that man, right?
Deep down he would sigh in exasperation because he really should have seen that twist coming. After all, he was the chosen one of Arceus himself. The reincarnation of Sir Aaron and the cousin of Riley who was practically the man's double. A literal magnet for Legendary Pokémon and strange adventures alike.
First things first though... he needed to have a 'chat' with a certain pair of adults who kept following him.
The expression on Jessie and James' faces was rather hilarious once the migraine dissipated.
"Twerp...why does this always happen around you?" said James tiredly.
"I wish I knew and for once it's not actually my fault," said Ash. He eyed them both, and an idea came to him. "Look, why don't you come after me later once the memory dump has settled and we'll come up with a plan. Something tells me your personal circumstances have changed somewhat and maybe this time you'll actually be competent."
James eyed the younger boy and came to an impromptu decision.
"Deal, so long as you come up with a way to permanently deal with Jessebelle."
"Fair enough, so long as I make it clear I am not killing her."
"So long as she finally leaves me alone and I don't have to deal with her shadow behind me, I'll live with it," said James.
Ash looked to Jesse.
"Look twerp, if you can find a way to make it so I can finally be a registered nurse or doctor, I'll be willing to listen," said Jesse.
"Actually considering this is a cultivator's world now, I can probably help with that a bit. Do you know what an alchemist is?"
"Alchemist training costs money and influence, which I don't have," said Jesse. "I was barely able to get into nursing school."
"Yes, but have you ever considered the fact that you look like an almost carbon copy of Jessebelle?" said Ash patiently. Spending time with Riley had forced him to finally mature in some ways. "Considering the world has changed it's possible there's an actual connection with you two that we can now exploit."
He'd bet cash money that Jesse was the illegitimate sister or possibly even a lost cousin of Jessebelle in this world. There was no way she looked that much like that crazy woman for it to be a coincidence, and even some of their mannerisms were the same. Which meant that if this world really did follow the usual tropes, then Jesse had a chance to inherit over Jessebelle if given the right training and opportunity.
And considering the resources Jessebelle had, if things went the same as they did before, that meant she was likely the heiress of a powerful, influential family.
And there was nothing an influential family liked more than someone who could show off some major potential to bring them to greater heights, especially if they were bloodline. And that went double if they had strong connections to someone they already considered a valuable match.
Jessebelle had utterly wrecked any chance of James liking her after the way she treated him growing up. Jesse on the other hand was his valued partner which had gone through hell with him and they were still together, even if the idea of dating apparently hadn't occurred to them.
If Jesse could defeat Jessebelle in an official match in which they had no choice but to recognize her as family, and then reveal that James already favored her over Jessebelle to the point he would rather marry her over the harpy, then it was likely Jesse would replace Jessebelle as the heiress and give her everything she needed to become an alchemist.
And, if he was really lucky, Jesse would end up pregnant and thus give both of them a reason to leave him alone for once. While they were good frenemies, that didn't mean Ash appreciated the fact they had quite literally stalked him across entire continents. Besides, they deserved some happiness too.
With Team Rocket dealt with, Ash decided to check the Viridian city gym, even though he knew it was likely locked.
He was not expecting one of the men inside to take one look at him and then immediately bring him inside.
Misty's confusion was understandable. Last time the doors were locked until they went to challenge Giovanni for the last badge.
So what had changed?
With Giovanni
The Earth gym leader was intimidating as hell, and it didn't help that Ash knew for a fact Giovanni was the boss of Team Rocket. He had found that out by accident, though it did explain why Jesse and James had been allowed to run the gym however temporarily.
"So. You're Dahlia's son," said Giovanni.
Ash blinked, took three seconds to realize what was really going on and wanted to groan.
Of course his mystery uncle was the Boss of Team Rocket and the Viridian City Gym leader. His luck was that chaotic.
"If this was about accidentally electrocuting Jesse, James and Meowth last night, I am not apologizing. They woke me up," said Ash flatly.
Giovanni blinked, then his own mind processed what Ash was not saying and realized the boy had more depth than he originally calculated. This would make things easier.
"I'll be brief. I want you to take my son Silver with you on your journey."
"My cousin? Why?" asked Ash.
Giovanni was all business, but there was a hint of fatherly concern in his voice.
"I'm guessing you're already aware of how...chaotic...things are under the surface. Things are not as peaceful as everyone believes," said Giovanni carefully.
"You mean like Team Aqua and Team Magma, among others," said Ash.
Giovanni's estimation went up a bit more of his nephew.
"Some of the other groups have been targeting ours," admitted Giovanni. "And while I could pay a team of trained cultivators to protect my son, it would also paint a large target on his back. Not to mention such teams are expensive and too costly for long term."
Ash understood what he was really asking. He didn't want Silver involved with Team Rocket or to be used as a hostage. Ash was well known as a serious cultivator in the family, though he had only started his journey. And trained guards of his level only got more expensive the higher their realm was.
"You want Silver to journey with me because while a group of trained guards are expensive and unreliable at best, no one is really going to be looking for a pair of cousins on a training journey," said Ash guessing the request.
"You clearly inherited your father's intelligence. Silver is a strong cultivator, but his growth has stagnated and I refuse to bring him into our operations. You have a knack for the art, and you have your father's gift as well."
Ash immediately knew he was talking about Aura, and kept silent. Having one more person with him wasn't going to change much and Giovanni wasn't afraid to play the 'protect the family' card.
Silver would be much safer traveling with Ash than being in a set area with armed guards.
"I'll take Silver with me. It would be fun spending time with my baby cousin anyway," said Ash.
Giovanni tossed a spacial ring to his nephew.
"Consider this a down payment. I'll give you the rest when you return here for your Mastery Mark," said Giovanni.
Ash blinked, and his mind immediately filtered that to "Earth Badge" from his old world.
Silver was waiting for him at the Pokémon center. He shared a lot of similar characteristics of Dahlia, Ash's mother. But his eyes and intellect were pure Giovanni. Ash never knew his aunt, so he could only guess that he had inherited most of his mother's looks.
"Are you Ash?"
"Hello Silver," said Ash. "You look a lot like my mom."
Apparently that was the right thing to say because Silver's tension relaxed slightly. Clearly Giovanni was just as bad at connecting with his son as he had been in Ash's other life.
"Wait...this is your cousin?" said Misty.
"His dad asked me to take him with me. Apparently his tutors can't keep up, and he felt a little real world training would work better. That and he wanted to see how much Silver could grow without his father's shadow over him," said Ash.
Silver had been neutral on the idea, but he was starting to like his cousin.
"Who's his father?" asked Misty.
Rather than say it out loud, Ash pulled out a well thumbed book. Inside it were the Mastery Marks (which were just badges under a new name), and he easily found the page in question. Misty took a few minutes to get the hint, and her eyes widened.
"Don't bring up his dad, and he won't bring up your sisters. Deal?" said Ash.
"Yeah," said Misty, and the matter was dropped.
"So...what did he give you in exchange for taking me with you?" asked Silver.
Ash skimmed the ring's contents.
"A large sum of starting cash, the basic three evolution stones, and some cultivation programs. He said if I managed to return with the other seven Marks to challenge him properly and beat him he'd give me a Pokémon egg from a ground type," said Ash after a moment.
"Tch...he thinks he can solve everything with money," said Silver in annoyance.
Ash snorted at that.
"Do you have any Pokémon on you?"
Silver held up his lone pokeball, and let out his Pokémon. Inside was a happy Totodile. It was clearly loved and well cared for.
"We'll see how strong your bond is before I put you through any work outs. Since Misty is a water-type cultivator, she can probably show you a few tricks for your partner."
"Why is she traveling with you anyway?" asked Silver. Because he couldn't understand why a Gym leader candidate like Misty Waterflower was anywhere near Ash.
Ash coughed with some embarrassment.
"I may have blown up her bike, and made an agreement to help her catch stronger Pokémon," said Ash.
"Can't you just pay her off? I mean he did give you cash."
Ash shook his head.
"I'd rather keep that for supplies later. Besides, she's not that bad to be around."
Silver decided to reserve judgment. To be fair, he had always heard the youngest sister of the Waterflower siblings was a snide, unfriendly brat to be around.
Any doubts of his cousin being 'weak' disappeared after seeing him take a fairly impressive bolt of electricity from his Pikachu and come out unscathed. That sort of attack was something only someone close to the Nascent level could endure, and Ash was barely ten.
Most kids their age were lucky to reach the gold core realm, and even Silver was just barely near the soul wandering stage. Perhaps Ash could help him surpass the barrier that was preventing him from ascending to another level.