Team Plasma

Ash could see Cheren and Bianca further up ahead with his two rivals appearing to be in the process of capturing some wild Pokemon as Trip's Oshawott and Bianca's Tepig were charging at some brown chipmunk Pokemon.

"What are those?" Ash asked as he pulled out his Pokedex.

"Patrat the Scout Pokemon, using food stored in cheek pouches they can keep watch for days. They use their tails to communicate with others!"

"Must be Unova's version of Rattata and Sentret, eh Pikachu?"

"Pika." Pikachu nodded in agreement with his trainer as the two kept their eyes open for potential additions to their team.

Hilda's eyes gazed around the forested area before her eyes rested upon a deer fawn Pokemon. It's upper half was a pink coloring while it's lower half was peach, her ears twitched about as she remained on alert while munching on a nearby berry bush.

"A Deerling!" Hilda squealed out as she grasped at an empty Pokeball. "I've always wanted one of those cuties, go Pokeball!"

"No wait-!" Ash quickly turned around to try and warn his newest friend and traveling companion only to be too late as she'd already thrown the ball, the Pokeball flew through the air and Deerling was quick to sense it, kicking out with her back feet and sending it flying back before pelting Hilda in the face!

"Oooh!" Ash and Pikachu both flinched as a loud smack was heard followed by a large red marking on Hilda's face from where the ball had struck before landing on the ground before her. "I remember how that feels..."

"Ow! I-I don't understand, why didn't it work?" Hilda asked with a puzzled expression.

"You've got to weaken it first then you can throw the Pokeball," Ash explained. "You can't just go throwing Pokeballs about and expect Pokemon to allow themselves to be caught, you've got to earn their respect via battle or become their friend!"

Just then the bushes rustled nearby as another Snivy showed itself at first Ash thought it might be Hilda's but upon closer inspection he could tell that this one was a female! Ash looked around to ensure that another trainer wasn't nearby, wild starters weren't unheard of but he didn't want to risk being accused of being a thief! Upon coming to the conclusion that this Snivy was indeed wild he grabbed a hold of Oshawott's ball and threw it forward to release his newest Pokemon.

"Oshawott I choose you!"

"Oshawott!" Oshawott burst out, placing his hands on his hips as he gave Snivy a smirk. "Oshawott wott wott, Oshawott!"

"Use Tail Whip!"

"Oshawott!" Oshawott turned his back to Snivy and began wagging his tail at her, an aggravated look appeared on Snivy's face as she quickly spun around and began spinning about as her tail began glowing bright green, Ash and Pikachu couldn't help but stare in amazement as Snivy appeared to be using a move they'd never seen before! A tornado with circles of green spinning around within appeared at the tip of Snivy's tail as she let out a fierce cry before launching out the attack with a swing of her tail, the leaf tornado flew across the field and proceeded to violently slam Oshawott about as he cried out before launching him into the sky!

"Oshawott!" Ash quickly leaped out to catch Oshawott, breaking his fall before turning his head to lock his gaze upon Snivy's body. "What was that?"

"Leaf Tornado, fascinating. Snivy must be quite experienced to have learned that attack!" Cheren explained as he stood watching on Ash's left, closely examining the Pokemon. "I can only assume that she abandoned her previous trainer, she doesn't appear to be showing signs of abandonment herself."

"Well Snivy sounds like quite the catch then, Oshawott use Tackle!" Ash shouted with an excited expression.

"Sni!" Snivy posed in what appeared to be a seductive stance while giving Oshawott a wink resulting in Oshawott quickly halting in place as hearts filled his eyes.

"Oshawott!" Oshawott began drooling as Snivy cast Ash a smirk.

"Attract! Looks like my theory is correct, no wild Pokemon could possibly learn that move on their own!" Cheren exclaimed.

"Oshawott snap out of it and use Tackle!" Ash shouted out only for Oshawott to be too entranced to move, continuing to drool heavily as his eyes rested upon Snivy. Ash let out a frustrated growl as Snivy cast off another smirk before using vines to launch herself into the air and send herself flying at Oshawott like a missile! Oshawott was sent flying back into Ash's arms as swirls filled his eyes, the otter groaning out in defeat while Snivy raised her head with a disappointed expression before disappearing back into the bushes.

"Hey wait!" Ash called out but Snivy had already disappeared through the bushes. Ash stared after her before clenching his fists with a determined expression. "I'm not leaving until I catch that Snivy!"

Cheren raised his eyebrow before shrugging. "Well suit yourself but Bianca and I are moving on, I want to get to Striaton Gym before a crowd forms."

"Good luck you two," Hilda spoke up.

"Thanks and good luck finding a goal, hope you find one that suits you." Cheren gave her a light smile before turning around to go fetch Bianca.

"I don't think Oshawott is the right one for the job, no offense. You could borrow my Snivy if you want, should make catching Snivy easier for you." Hilda offered only for Ash to shake his head.

"It wouldn't feel like I earned it, I think I'll go find a female Pokemon to catch first that way Snivy can't use Attract and perhaps the Pokemon can be either quick enough to dodge Leaf Tornado or resistant enough to withstand a few blows!"

"Well Brock's still cooking from the look of things," Hilda noted as she glanced back towards where their companion stood over a camp fire, preparing some lunch for the three of them while Croagunk stood hunched next to him, croaking out in his usual manner. "So I think you've got enough time, I'll help you find something."

The two then began searching the nearby area, stumbling across Snivy once again but the grass snake merely raised her head upon spotting them and quickly turned to leave. A Pidove sat perched on a bush up ahead and the two focused their attention upon it before Ash eventually spoke up.

"I think you should catch this one,"

"M-Me?! But you need-"

"Forget about me for a second, Pidove are basically your region's Pidgey right? Well Pidgeotto, the evolution of Pidgey was one of my first Pokemon and a faithful Pokemon and friend. I think Pidove would make for a great first capture!" Pikachu raised his fists in agreement with his trainer as the two gave Hilda an assuring smile.

Hilda turned her focus to Pidove before giving them another glance as she gave a light nod. "O-Okay, Snivy use Tackle!"

Her Snivy burst from his Pokeball and quickly leaped at the Pidove before pinning it against the ground as it squawked out in surprise!

"Alright Pidove looks damaged enough, you can choose to defeat it entirely or throw a Pokeball at it. You'll have to make your decision fast as some Pokemon can decide to flee rather than let themselves be caught or beaten!" Ash explained.

Hilda looked thoughtful for a quick second before grabbing onto a spare Pokeball and throwing it at the pigeon Pokemon. Pidove let out a surprised squawk before disappearing in a flash of red light, the ball landed on the ground and began to rapidly shake about before chiming to announce the capture complete!

"Alright, you did it!" Ash cheered.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu flicked his tail as he gave her a congratulatory smile.

Hilda stared at the ball in disbelief for a moment before quickly bending over to grab it. "A-Awesome, we caught a Pidove!"

"Snivy!" Snivy raised his head with a cocky smirk.

"Foo!"

"Huh?" Ash and Pikachu turned their heads and noticed what appeared to be a yellow Fighting type Pokemon of some sort based on it's current stance as it locked eyes with the group and waved them on with her hand as if to say 'fight me!'.

"Mienfoo the Martial Arts Pokemon, she takes pride in the speed at which she can use moves. What she loses in power, she makes up for in quantity!"

"A female!" Ash exclaimed as both he and Pikachu cast off excited expressions. "Catching Snivy will be much easier with her on our side, Oshawott I choose you!"

Oshawott burst from his ball and cast off a confident smirk as he locked eyes with Mienfoo. "Oshawott, wott wott!"

"Tail Whip then follow up with Tackle!" Oshawott turned his back to Mienfoo and waved his tail in a cute manner before quickly turning around and tackling Mienfoo to the ground! Mienfoo let out a growl before pounding him with her legs as she shot straight up, a burst of orange energy appeared around her body before she lashed out and struck Oshawott, sending him flying away from her with Reversal!

Oshawott landed with a thud before slowly getting back up and looking quite bruised, he wasn't ready to give up though as he wanted to prove himself to his trainer by winning!

"If Reversal hit that hard then we've got to be close to winning this!" Ash clenched his fists before throwing out his arm. "Oshawott use Water Gun!"

Oshawott opened his mouth and began spraying Mienfoo with a spiral of water, the attack proved to be enough to finish the job as Mienfoo collapsed to her side with swirls now visible in her eyes as Ash let out a shout.

"Alright Oshawott!"

"Oshawott!" Oshawott blushed at his trainer's praise before watching as he threw a Pokeball towards the downed Fighting type, Mienfoo was engulfed by the familiar beam of red light as the ball hit the ground and began shaking about, after what felt like an eternity to Ash and his Pokemon the ball chimed to announce the capture a success!

"Alright we just caught a Mienfoo!"

"Pi Pikachu!"

"Oshawott!" Pikachu and Oshawott posed alongside Ash as Hilda couldn't help but sweat drop at the sight.

After giving both Oshawott and Mienfoo a quick treatment via Oran berries and potions, Ash began looking for Snivy in order to challenge her to a rematch. Hilda walked alongside him as she offered him her assistance, having returned her own Snivy to avoid any possible confusion as the two looked too similar to each other. After a good while of looking Ash decided to take a break as Brock was likely done cooking and his stomach was rumbling rather loudly.

"Come on, I think we should-"

"Snivy!" Snivy suddenly appeared in front of him, her eyes rested upon the newly caught Mienfoo who was currently walking alongside of him.

"Snivy! We were looking for you, we'd like to challenge you to a rematch!"

"Sni..." Snivy narrowed her eyes at Mienfoo before raising her head with a light huff, not seeming to be impressed but she did give a light nod in acceptance.

"Fury Swipes!" Ash felt rather odd uttering the command seeing how it was the signature attack of Meowth, it was the first time that any of his own Pokemon knew the attack!

"Mienfoo!" Mienfoo dashed towards Snivy and began repeatedly slashing at her, Snivy uttered out a light groan before casting off a glare as she threw herself back using Vine Whip.

"Snivy!" Snivy's tail then began to glow as she prepared to utilize Leaf Tornado!

"Fake Out!"

Mienfoo's hands glowed brightly as she clapped them together, sending off a light shockwave that destroyed the leaf tornado as Snivy stood there in shock for a moment before an impressed smirk crossed her face.

"Snivy." Snivy began doing her seductive pose once more as she cast off a wink however much to her surprise Mienfoo didn't react at all! "Sni?!"

Ash smirked as he threw out his arm. "Pound!" Mienfoo raced across the field before performing a swift kick against Snivy's face, knocking the grass type onto her back while Ash reached for an empty Pokeball.

"Welcome to the team Snivy!" He shouted as Snivy began slowly standing back up, the grass type cast off another smirk before lowering her head in acceptance as she let the ball meet her body. Snivy disappeared in a flash of red light as the ball began shaking about, Ash and Hilda watched with anticipation as it shook, it felt like the ball shook a million times before it finally uttered out a chime of success!

"Alright, we just caught Snivy!"

"Pi Pikachu!"

"Foo!" Mienfoo crossed her arms and smirked up at her trainer.

"Sounds like you two had a lot of fun," Brock stated with a light laugh as they exited the forest, the next town was within sight as it laid straight ahead of them! "I wish I could have found a Pokemon but none of the ones I saw really interested me."

"There's always next time, Brock!" Ash exclaimed as he pumped his fists. "I'm already looking forward to getting back on the road and capturing even more!" There were still a few key types that he'd yet to capture at all during previous adventures that he aimed to capture this time!

"We should rest here for the night though," Hilda spoke up. "I'd rather not leave just to walk for another hour and camp out, I mean traveling's nice and all but it isn't every night you get the chance to sleep in a nice bed!"

Brock nodded in agreement. "Sorry Ash but I have to take Hilda's side here, it'd do us some good to relax in an actual bed. Who knows how long it'll be until we can do so again!"

Ash let out a sigh before nodding in understanding, personally he preferred camping but if his friends wanted to enjoy a cozy bed then he wasn't going to stop them. They wouldn't be making too much progress anyways as it was already late in the afternoon so they'd be stopping within a few hours or so, depending on when they left.

"This is Accumula Town," Hilda introduced. "There's not much here to be honest, it's only slightly bigger than Nuvema. We usually come here to buy food and supplies as the general store doesn't offer much variety." Some of the buildings were also noticeably bigger as there appeared to be apartment buildings spread about instead of just small homes, there was also the usual Pokemart and Pokemon Center that Nuvema Town had been lacking.

Ash and his friends were about to head for the Pokemon Center in order to get a check up when they noticed what appeared to be a large crowd gathered up ahead of them. "What is the champion in town or something?" Ash couldn't help but ask as he stood on his toes to try and get a good view of what they were all staring at.

"Doubtful aside from his hometown of Floccesy Town, Alder rarely ever ventures off to areas such as this." Hilda shook her head before copying Ash's action. "Though I don't see why else there would be a crowd." She added on.

"Well it won't hurt to check it out," Brock gave the two of them a light grin. "Let's give it a look shall we?"

Ash and Hilda nodded in agreement before the three walked across the street to join the crowd, Ash and Hilda excusing themselves as they pushed through in order to properly see. Once they got through they could see what appeared to be quite the oddly dressed up individuals at first Ash thought it was a cult of some kind as all the people dressed in the white and gray medieval attire had the same orange colored hair! On the center of the stage was a man with long graying green hair wearing quite the colorful robe while to his left stood a sight that made Ash tense up, it was the black knight from his dream! But that was impossible right? It was just a dream and eons again at that, it had to be a coincidence!

Hilda's eyes were also focused on the knight, she couldn't see any identifying features but she couldn't help but feel a familiar aura coming off of him which was strange as she really only knew people from their small town.

Ash's eyes then turned to the black scaled Haxorus standing beside the knight, tilting his head lightly from curiosity before scanning the Pokemon.

"Haxorus the Axe Jaw Pokemon, while usually kindhearted it can be terrifying if angered. Tusks that can slice through steel beams are how Haxorus deals with its adversaries!" Ash noticed the image on his Pokedex showcased a yellow-green colored variant meaning that most he'd see would likely be the same color as the Pokedex rather than black.

The green haired man suddenly raised up his hand to speak. "Greetings Accumula Town, my name is Ghetsis and I'm here representing Team Plasma! Today ladies and gentlemen I would like to talk to you about Pokemon liberation!"

"What?!"

"What the hell is this maniac talking about?" Cheren asked with an unamused expression.

"I'm sure that most of you believe that we humans and Pokemon are partners that have come to live together because we want or need each other but is that really the truth? Have you ever assumed that we humans believe it to be true?" Ash and Pikachu couldn't help but grit their teeth in anger at the man's words as he continued. "Pokemon are subject to the selfish commands of trainers, they get pushed around when they are our "partners" at work. Can anyone with confidence say that there is no truth in what I am saying?"

"Yes, I can say that!" Ash stepped forward as Pikachu flicked his tail angrily from upon his trainer's shoulder. "You're just talking out of your ass, sure there are some trainers out there who treat Pokemon like tools but most of us treat Pokemon as our friends and family, hell Pikachu's closer to me than any human is!"

"Pika pi!" Pikachu raised his paws in agreement as the crowd appeared to be taking Ash's side.

"Yeah this guy's full of it, my Herdier is my best friend!"

"Hey doesn't that guy have a Haxorus? You look like hypocrites!" The knight drew a sword from his back and pointed it at the individual causing them to immediately silence themselves.

"Haxorus is a necessary evil to defend ourselves," Ghetsis waved it off. "You think there aren't madmen who would attack us for telling the truth? May I remind you all that two regions even went to war and utilized Pokemon as weapons! Kalos and Galar have never seen eye to eye since that event, even thousands of years later there is still a rivalry and hatred shared amongst the two regions! And of course there were the Pokemon armies in Kanto as well. We've simply evolved to utilizing Pokemon in combat to prove our superiority over one another, how's that different from fighting a war?! Pokemon are nothing but our slaves and we must liberate them so that we can finally be seen as equals!"

Some of the crowd laughed at his words while others seemed to be taking it rather seriously.

"I end my discussion today imploring you to consider the relationship between Pokemon and humans and the correct way to proceed. We appreciate your attent-"

"Oh Arceus, what's that?!" The crowd began gasping out in terror as what appeared to be a ufo flew into the town and hovered above the crowd, however Ash and Brock recognized it as a gigantic Magnezone mech with the familiar red R painted across the bottom. A laughter could be heard from within which didn't sound familiar at all as the top opened up to showcase a tall muscular individual with a dark skin tone, he was currently shirtless with the red R that adorned most Rocket uniforms tattooed onto his chest, thankfully he was at least wearing pants. His partner had a light skin tone along with short blonde hair and a pair of ice blue eyes, he was wearing the entire uniform along with a black cap similar to the various Rocket grunts that Ash had met.

"Pleasure to meet ya Unova, my name is Marcus and this is my partner Johnathan today we-"

"Why the heck did you say our names?!" The blonde growled out before hitting his partner with his cap. "We're supposed to be keeping a low profile, that's why we're hitting a small town and not Castelia City!"

"Oh right!" Marcus rubbed the back of his neck before continuing. "Anyways your Pokemon are now forfeit and will become property of Team Rocket!" He hit a button on the remote he was holding as Pokeballs began flying right off of the trainer's belts, Ash and his friends tried to grab on only for the balls to slip right through their grasp and into the air! Ash wasn't exactly paying attention but he could swear a good chunk of pokeballs just flew from the direction of the stage and Team Plasma!

"Tepig nooo!" Bianca cried out in terror.

"Give us back our Pokemon you cowards!" Cheren waved his fist while comfort holding Bianca with his other hand.

"Enough of this, Pikachu use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu's cheeks sparked up before sending a blast of electricity flying straight up at the Magnezone mech only for it to absorb the electricity, intensifying the power of the magnet as the Plasma goons along with everything else nearby made of metal became flying straight up as it became super charged!

"Gah, turn it off! Turn it off!" Johnathan shouted frantically as a semi truck began flying straight for them!

"Yeah no, we're leaving!" Marcus smirked, activating the engines as the mech began flying away. The semi truck soon slammed into the back and knocked them right off, resulting in the two hanging on the edge for dear life as there was a rather lethal drop below them.

Ghetsis turned to face the black knight before giving him a nod.

"Incinerate!"

"Huh? Haxorus don't usually know that move!" Cheren quickly wiped his glasses to make sure that he was seeing things correctly as Haxorus shot a beam of orange, red, yellow and black fire from his mouth, aiming it directly at the mech resulting in it glowing a bright red color before exploding! The Pokeballs were sent flying to the ground below while Marcus and Johnathan were sent careening off into the distance.

"You idiot, Pierce is gonna kill us!" Johnathan slapped his partner upside the head with his cap.

"There's no evidence that it was us!" Marcus laughed. "The mech blow up!"

Johnathan shook his head with a heavy sigh before they disappeared into the distance.

"Ow!" The Plasma grunts' fall was broken thanks to their armor, their fall easily allowing them to recollect their Pokemon without gathering attention.

"You see?!" Ghetsis shouted as the trainers gathered up their Pokeballs. "Those Team Rocket goons tried to steal your Pokemon in order to further their own selfish agenda! If you liberate Pokemon then you won't ever have to worry about people like that running amok, us humans will instead live in peace and harmony with Pokemon as the fighting will come to an end!" He certainly wasn't planning on the Kanto organization confirming their existence here, they'd be dealt with in time as they were too dangerous to his agenda to be allowed free reign. The world was his not theirs! The organization would surely scatter or surrender themselves to his cause as soon as their beloved leader laid dead beneath his feet! But their presence today was a blessing as it helped persuade the crowd, some doubters even started seeing sense!

"You're right, Team Rocket has been a thorn in Kanto and Johto's side for decades and now they're even within Hoenn and Sinnoh!" A crowd member growled out. "I'd like to join you!"

"As will I!" Others chimed in as Ghetsis smirked.

Cheren eyed the knight while stroking his chin lightly, something about the attack was familiar but he had a hard time placing it.

"Unbelievable, I can't believe they're buying into this crap!" Ash growled out.

"Pika pi!"

"Pardon me," A green haired individual appeared in the crowd, his appearance resulted in a light blush forming across Hilda's face while N's gaze briefly remained on her for a moment.

'She looks familiar...' N cast a quick glance towards the knight before shaking his head as he turned to face Ash. "I could hear your Pikachu speak, you two definitely have quite the impressive bond."

"Pika pi?!"

"Yes Pikachu, I can understand you." N smiled before turning his attention back to Hilda as he briefly removed his hat and bowed respectfully. "Oh where are my manners, hello m'lady!"

Hilda's blush darkened further as she shyly waved in response. "H-Hello there..."

Brock glanced between the two and couldn't help but smirk upon seeing the admiration the two seemed to have for one another.

"The name's N, I too am a Pokemon trainer however unlike the three of you I don't confine my Pokemon to Pokeballs and allow them to instead roam freely!"

"I-I'm Hilda, hi!"

"The name's Ash, pleasure to meet ya!"

"And I'm Brock!"

"So you actually understand Pikachu?" Ash asked with a tilt of his head. He didn't have a full understanding of what Pikachu said but he had the gist of it most the time but that was due to them being partners for seven straight years, N just appeared out of nowhere and seemingly claimed to have a full comprehension of Pikachu's words. "Pikachu tell him how the two of us met!"

"Pika pi pika... Pikachu pi pi pika Pikachu pika pika pi! Pikachu pi pika pika pi pi Pikachu!" Pikachu waved his arms about while his face mimicked that of a Spearow.

"Ah so you two started off with Pikachu hating you before you ended up risking your own life to protect Pikachu from some Spearow, earning Pikachu's eternal respect and admiration as he unleashed a thunder attack on them! You also burnt some poor girl named Misty's bike to a crip and saw a rather colorful bird named Ho-oh flying in the sky above!" N revealed as both Ash and Brock's jaws dropped as N revealed what happened perfectly and with every detail that Pikachu had spoken.

"Wait that all actually happened?" Hilda asked as the two lightly nodded in confirmation.

"Pi... Pikachu..."

"Now now there's no need to curse," N waved his finger at Pikachu. "I can talk to your other Pokemon if you wish." He turned to face the three trainers, his gaze lingering on Hilda longer than he did with Brock and Ash.

Ash and Brock shared a brief glance before releasing Oshawott and Croagunk while Hilda sent out her Snivy.

"Croa..."

"Fascinating, this Croagunk appears to have an even greater admiration for you than Ash does with Pikachu!" N exclaimed as Brock couldn't help but sweat drop, recalling that technology they had used in Sinnoh said precisely the same thing!

"Osha, Oshawott wott Oshawott!"

"And Oshawott appears to have a great deal of respect towards you Ash despite only meeting you yesterday he has an immense admiration of you almost equal to Pikachu's." Oshawott rubbed the back of his neck as a light blush crossed his cheek.

"Snivy." Snivy growled out, giving N a harsh look before raising his snout in disapproval.

"What did Snivy say?" Ash asked while N blushed lightly before tapping his fingers against each other in a nervous manner.

"He er... he says Hilda's too good for me." N didn't like lying but that didn't mean he was comfortable openly speaking about that. Hilda's face shot bright red as she cast Snivy a light glare.

"Snivy that wasn't very nice of you!"

"Snivy!"

"He uh... doesn't care." N nervously sweated before deciding to change the subject. "I'd like to see how you and Pikachu speak through battling, Ash can I have the honor of facing you in battle?"

"Um sorry but Pikachu and I are probably out of your league, you can battle Oshawott though if you like!" Ash was quick to offer while Oshawott tapped his chest and nodded with a confident expression.

"Oshawott!"

"You don't need to be afraid, Zorua and I have been friends for a long time!" N whistled as a Zorua came charging through the crowd before landing upon N's shoulder.

"Zora!"

"A Zorua!" Ash's eyes lit up upon seeing the wolf pup.

"It's so cute!" Hilda gushed out while placing her hands on her cheeks, gazing at the wolf with adoring eyes.

"Ah so you're familiar with Zorua's species?"

"Pi Pikachu pika pi!"

"I see," N nodded lightly before giving Zorua a glance. "My friend will you fight beside me today?"

"Zora!" Zorua barked out while casting off a light smirk at Pikachu.

"Great, Zorua's willing to battle you!"

"Awesome, let's go-"

"Ash don't you think we should separate from the crowd first?" Brock asked causing Ash to pause before nodding in agreement with his friend.

"Brock's right, let's go over there." N pointed to a clear spot on the road before he and Ash headed towards it and began getting into battling positions as Brock stood on the side, raising up his arms as he shouted out.

"The battle between Ash and N will now begin!"

"You can have the first move," N offered with a smile. Ash found that a bit odd but didn't question it.

"Alright Pikachu, let's use Quick Attack!"

"Pi pi!" Pikachu quickly zigzagged through the street before striking his body against Zorua! The wolf pup let out a yelp as he was knocked back but N remained calm.

"Night Daze!" Zorua's eyes shined a bright blue as a crimson aura surrounded his body, the wolf pup raised up his front legs before slamming them against the ground! A crimson and pink forcefield surrounded Zorua before quickly expanding outwards across the battlefield and striking Pikachu, doing a surprising amount of damage as Pikachu was pushed back!

"Pikachu?!" Ash called out in concern.

"Pika?!" Pikachu looked more shocked than hurt however, surprised by how much of a punch that Zorua was packing!

"Volt Tackle!" Ash shouted out.

"Pika pika pika!" Pikachu began charging across the field as his body became surrounded in the electrical glow of energy while he quickly blasted across the field, knocking Zorua into the air like a bowling pin before the pup collapsed in front of N with a groan. Zorua didn't appear to be close to defeat but N walked out and picked the wolf pup up before giving Ash a congratulatory smile.

"You and that Pikachu sure are incredible, I wouldn't mind facing off again some other time!"

"Wait-but you didn't even finish this battle?" Hilda looked visibly confused as N lightly shook his head.

"A true trainer can see when he's been beat, there's no way that Zorua and I can take Pikachu. Not yet..." N stroked Zorua behind the ears as he gave Hilda a light smile. "I do hope that my eyes can set upon you soon though, I'm looking forward to that more than the battle!"

Hilda blushed as the two stared into each other's eyes for a moment, Brock gave off a proud smirk in Hilda's direction while Ash raised his eyebrow in confusion and looked between the two.

"What's up-" Brock nudged his arm to silence him while Snivy gave N a murderous glare.

"Shhh!" He knew Ash didn't care for romance but he was sure that would change someday, Ash just hadn't met the right girl yet.

"Until next we meet, m'lady." N bowed before turning around to face Ash. "And good luck with the Unova League, Ash. I'll be seeing you around."

"Thanks I-Wait did you tell him?" Ash turned to Pikachu who shrugged before looking at Oshawott who quickly raised up his hands while shaking his head back and forth. "H-How did he know?" Ash asked as he watched the mysterious male walking away from them, hopefully their next encounter would open up some clues as to what his story was.

"My lord, did you find out what you wanted?" Zach asked as N approached him and Ghetsis outside the town's boundaries.

"Yes, I have no doubt that he's the one prophesized to be Reshiram's chosen. His bond with Pikachu is quite exceptional!"

"Fascinating but we'll find out for sure when he reaches Nacrene City." Ghetsis stated. "He could be a threat to your dream, my son. Try and not fall for his tricks, he may act friendly but he only wants to use you to further his goals of world domination!"

"He seemed so nice though," N commented as he glanced back. "And that Hilda girl is quite beautiful..."

"H-Hilda?" Zach held onto his head with a light groan, something about that name was triggering something inside of him. Ghetsis glanced at him but let it be, thinking nothing of it.

"Remember how Team Magma and Aqua terrorized Hoenn a few years back and how Team Galactic terrorized Sinnoh before they both were taken out? It was that very boy back there, why do you think he'd do something like that? To further his own goal of world domination, with the villainous organizations out of the way nobody will stop him! Trust me, you are not his friend."

N glanced back with an unsure expression before nodding his head silently. "Yes father..."

"Come, let's get back to the castle." Ghetsis turned and lead the way, N quickly following his father while Zach stood there for a moment and gazed back towards town before climbing onto Haxorus' back as he rode after the two of them.

Alright so Ash's first non-canon capture happened, 'but why are you giving him the Unova starters' you may ask. Honestly other than the starter aces, they're my favorite of his starters personality wise. Snivy was so bad ass she ditched a weak trainer, Tepig and Seamus had potential to be a great arc imagine Emboar single handedly knocking Seamus out of the League and utterly humiliate him! And Oshawott had they actually gone through with evolving him could have been a memorable ace! Whenever he reaches Kalos, he's just getting Froakie.

And yes, classic love at first sight but unlike Serena it's actually mutual from the get go! It won't be that easy though as well I assume that it's obvious she won't take kindly to the words 'I'm the leader of Team Plasma' after learning what happened to her big bro.

Next time, Iris the Dragon Master!