Pokestar Studios
"Here we are, Virbank City!" Brock exclaimed as their boat arrived in the portside city of Virbank. There weren't many tall buildings within the city and most of the buildings they could see were warehouses. Off in the distance they could see the familiar red roof of the local Pokemon Center but other than that it was hard to make anything out.
"And I'm a step closer to my next Gym battle!"
"Pi Pikachu!" Ash and Pikachu clutched their fists together as excitement flared within their eyes.
"Uh Ash, you mind not doing that right now?" Hilda asked as she gazed towards her brother. They had discarded his black knight armor but he had chosen to remain dressed in black, now wearing a black hoodie, jeans and even his running shoes were entirely black! He was currently leaning over the boat's railing and staring depressingly off into the distance. He'd barely spoken a word since Haxorus sacrificed himself to save them. "I'd like to watch but I want to spend time with my brother and watch over him."
Ash clenched his fists for a brief second before he gave a light nod in response. "Sure go ahead and spend time with your brother!"
Cilan suddenly squealed out with an excited expression. "Ooh then we can visit Pokestar Studios today! Just imagine stumbling across Brycen or Sabrina there, I heard that they're both there filming for a new movie!"
"And just imagine all the cute actresses just dying for me to take their number!" Brock's eyes turned to hearts before Croagunk delivered a Poison Jab to his backside while silently croaking out in laughter.
"Sounds boring to me..." Iris muttered as she crossed her arms.
"It'd be nice to see Sabrina again," Ash smiled lightly before tilting his head in a curious manner. "I wonder if Haunter's still with her?"
Shortly after parting ways with the others Hilda dragged Zach and Lucario off to another restaurant. Apparently Ghetsis never bothered to clean him out or he simply didn't need the money as Zach still had his Unova League winnings along with some other cash stored away in his Pokebank, which was a good thing as Hilda wasn't exactly loaded.
"It's good to have you back bro, Cheren and Bianca will be so excited to see you again!" Their mention got no reaction out of him however as he simply stared at his food before pushing the plate towards Lucario. Hilda was silent for awhile before speaking up once more. "Do you want me to call Skyla? You still like her right..?"
Zach remained silent but sunk lower into his seat as he hanged his head, Hilda's words merely made things worse resulting in her silently cursing at herself as she recalled encountering him in Dream World and remembered how he assumed Skyla hated him! She clenched her fists tightly before looking up to face her brother once more as she placed her hand atop his own.
"I'll always be here for you bro, now that we're together again nothing will bring us apart!" Zach looked up at her with a light smile before staring down at the table once more. Hilda clenched her fists lightly as she realized that she couldn't actually be with him forever as whenever this Team Plasma stuff was finished, she and N would have lots of time to spend together and it wouldn't be right to leave Zach alone if he was still in a depressed state by then, it also wouldn't be fair to N either as she loved the guy and knew that he was her soulmate! Perhaps helping him move on from Skyla and finding another girlfriend would help? Their previous talk involved her suggesting he capture some new Pokemon which he promptly shot down as he was afraid they'd die just like Haxorus and the others, for the foreseeable future Lucario would be his only partner.
"Oh my gosh, look at all these celebrities!" Cilan gushed as his eyes shot all over the studio grounds. He then let out a loud squeal before quickly shooting off like a rocket. "And look at that! That's the walk of fame where the Pokestars leave their footprints!" He darted his head back and forth before eagerly pointing out two sets of pawprints in particular.
"Look those pawprints belong to Brycen's Beartic!"
"Whose Brycen again?" Ash questioned causing Iris to shudder lightly from the thought before she spoke up.
"H-He's the Ice type Gym Leader of the Unova region."
"Ah cool then I can battle him as well!" Ash clenched his fists together as he quickly shot around with an excited look. "Where is he at? Is he here?!"
"Ash you can't just go asking a celebrity to battle you like that! Brycen only accepts challengers at his Gym, you'll have to wait until we get to Icirrus City! I swear you can be such a kid sometimes." Iris shook her head.
"And those footprints belong to Sabrina's Alakazam!" Cilan gushed.
"So Kadabra evolved, eh? Bet it's even stronger than before!"
"Pi Pikachu!"
"Please don't harass her for a battle that'll be so embarrassing!" Iris attempted to plead before some shouting could be heard from a nearby studio.
"Come on Curtis, you can't do this!"
"No, I refuse! You aren't paying me enough to wear that crappy old fashioned attire, it died out for a reason!" An angry blonde celebrity the same age and height as Ash went stomping on by. Iris and Brock stared after him in confusion but Cilan's eyes lit up. "I quit!"
"That was Curtis!" Cilan squealed out.
"Oh no no no, we're running out of time! The movie's supposed to wrap up filming soon but how can I possibly do that without my star around to film his scenes?!" The director then paused as his eyes landed upon the group, his eyes landing on Ash in particular as the man's eyes lit up. "My my, you're perfect son! What's your name kid?!"
"I-It's Ash Ketchum..." Ash sweated lightly as the director smacked his hands together.
"Ash Ketchup? Weird name but I like it! What do you think about me making you a star, Ketchup?! It'll only take a few hours of your time and you'll be performing a Pokemon battle against the Sabrina!"
Ash didn't care for being a star but the last part caught his interest. He turned to look at Pikachu as the two shared a light nod before turning back to face the director with eager looks. "We'll do it!"
"Ash you can't just agree to doing something like this! What if there's an intimate scene?!" Iris exclaimed.
"Don't worry about that, no intimate scenes! This is strictly an action adventure movie!" The director explained before grabbing onto Ash's arm. "Come Ketchup, let's get you to the dressing room!"
Ash emerged from the dressing room a few minutes later and Iris couldn't help but snicker at the sight of him in the outfit he was now wearing. "That old attire looks ridiculous on you, you really do look like a kid right now!"
Ash cast her a light glare.
"It looks great Ash, don't let her teasing get to you!" Cilan placed his hand on Ash's shoulder as he offered him a smile.
"So what do I do?" Ash asked the director. "Just read the script, Ketchup! My assistant will hold up cue cards and you'll read them!"
Suddenly Brock let out an excited shout as a familiar purple haired woman appeared wearing quite the long gothic dress along with a black crown atop her head. The woman's eyes landed on Brock and Ash and she took a brief pause as she began recognizing them.
"Ash..? Brock...?"
"Sabrina!" Brock raced forward and quickly dropped to one knee as he extended his hand to her, despite her turning him into a doll last time he sure had no problem flirting with her! "You're looking even more remarkable than last time, unlike most girls age has been a blessing to you! What do you say we go out after you finish things here? It's fate that brought us back together can't you see we're destined to be?!" Brock then let out a loud shout as Croagunk Poison Jabbed him, the Pokemon doctor fell to the floor as Croagunk croaked out in laughter before dragging him away.
"That was weird..." Sabrina commented.
"Sabrina, hey!" Ash gave her a wave before suddenly leaping back with a surprised shout as Haunter appeared in front of him, the Ghost type stretched out his face while sticking out his tongue and showing that he hadn't changed a bit since Ash last saw him! "And Haunter! How's it going?!"
"Haunter haunt haunt!" Haunter pointed at Ash and laughed at him leaping back in fear before showing a genuine smile and affectionate look as he looked Ash over.
"Haunter's doing great though he's a bit bored lately, he's grown tired of sticking around the Saffron Gym and scaring the celebrities around here hardly works anymore as they've gotten used to his jump scares." Sabrina explained as Haunter nodded in agreement. Ash tilted his head as he wondered if Haunter was perhaps regretting choosing Sabrina over him? He had been looking forward to Haunter joining his team but the Ghost had decided to stay behind with Sabrina for some reason.
"You two know each other?" The director raised an eyebrow before clapping his hands together. "Great, no need for introductions then! Now off to the set both of you, we must begin filming at once!"
Ash now stood before a backdrop of a spooky forest, bare trees were set up around the set to give the actors the impression that they were actually in the forest!
"Alright so the royal prince of the Unova region finds himself lost in a mysterious land when he suddenly finds himself facing off against a mysterious army of knights, servants to the vile mistress of the dark arts, the Enchantress!"
"Huzzah!" Several men clad in black knight armor leaped out from behind the prop trees.
"Thank Arceus Zach and Hilda aren't here to see this." Iris muttered. Had they been there neither would likely be pleased at the sight!
The knights grabbed at their Pokeballs and released a vast array of Pokemon including Watchog, Herdier, Grimer and Muk!
"And now our royal prince must face against these vile servants of the Enchantress so that he can reach her lair and return home to our beloved region!"
Ash stared at the Pokemon before looking towards Pikachu.
"You sure you want me using Pikachu here?"
"Of course, Pikachu will sell plenty of merchandise! Everyone loves Pikachu!" The director shouted.
"Well alright then, Pikachu use Thunderbolt!"
"Pika... chuuuu!" Pikachu unleashed a powerful thunderbolt that struck through the set, cutting tree props in half while also shocking all of the knights and their Pokemon before they all slumped to the ground in defeat! The director's jaw dropped as he looked at the script before quickly ripping a few pages out and tossing them behind him! Sabrina and Haunter stared in amazement at the sheer power that Pikachu had displayed here, Ash and Pikachu had definitely grown quite powerful since they'd last seen him!
"And so after defeating the Enchantress' men, facing off against the dreaded dragon that terrorized a village, and meeting the mythical Pokemon Victini, our fair prince has finally arrived at our vile villain's evil lair and must now face her in battle if he is to free the people of this realm and return home!"
Sabrina put on an evil cackle and Ash had to admit she was quite good at it as he couldn't help but shiver upon hearing it. "You really think that you can beat me?! You're but a child!"
The director's assistant held up a cue card from behind Sabrina as Ash began to speak. "Yeah well I just beat all of your men to get here, there's no way that I'll lose here!"
"Pi Pikachu!"
"Fitting last words, you'll die just like your beloved princess!" Sabrina cackled as Alakazam teleported in front of her. The cue card now simply read 'Fight, give it your all and don't hold back!'.
"Fight, give it your all and-Oh I'm not supposed to read that am I?" Ash nervously chuckled as Iris facepalmed. Pikachu shook his head lightly before leaping off his shoulder with an eager expression.
"Pika!"
"Alright Pikachu use Thunderbolt!"
"Pika!" Pikachu's cheeks sparked before the electrical mouse fired off the powerful blast of electricity, sending it flying straight towards Alakazam!
"Stop it with Psychic." Sabrina smirked while a bright blue glow surrounded the electricity before it burst away leaving Alakazam untouched! "Now teleport behind that rat and use Psycho Cut!"
"Hey don't call Pikachu a rat!" Ash growled out, Pikachu's tail flickered from annoyance at the word. It may just be acting but it still got on their nerves! Alakazam quickly teleported and reappeared behind Pikachu, blades of telekinetic energy appeared within the Psychic type's hands as he began slashing away at Pikachu!
"That wasn't a smart move getting up close like that." Ash calmly spoke before throwing out his arm. "Thunderbolt!"
"Pika... chuuu!" Pikachu's cheeks sparked as a bolt of electricity surged through the Psychic type!
"Ala..." Alakazam began teetering back and forth in a dizzy fashion before quickly shaking his head as he teleported off and reappeared before Sabrina!
"Recover!"
"Ala!" Ash clenched his fists as a glow surrounded Alakazam while his injuries began to disappear!
"I always hated that move..." Ash muttered to himself. "Pikachu use Volt Tackle!"
"Pika!" Pikachu got onto all fours, an electrical glow surrounded his body as he began racing across the field towards Alakazam while chanting out his name!
"Alakazam hold him back with Psychic!" Alakazam's eyes glowed blue as a similar glow surrounded Pikachu's body, Pikachu began running in place for a few seconds before the glow faded as Pikachu continued racing before slamming his body up against Alakazam, knocking the Psychic type right off his feet and sending it flying before crashing against one of the many props within the lair!
Alakazam slowly stood up before glaring towards Pikachu as he held up his spoons in a threatening manner. "Ala!"
"Recover!"
"I don't think so, Thunderbolt!"
"Pika!" Pikachu's cheeks sparked before he unleashed another powerful bolt of electricity, the blast went flying through the air before making contact with the Psychic type. Alakazam's Recover was now in a conflict with Pikachu's electrical attack and unfortunately for Alakazam that was a fight that he could not win! The Psychic type's eyes rolled up before he collapsed in defeat, his eyes now reduced to swirls as the director shot from his chair and began rapidly clapping his hands together.
"Brilliant, brilliant! Excellent job, Ketchup!" The director quickly sat down before coughing into his hand. "And so with the vile Enchantress' Alakazam taken out of commission, she now lays at our heroes mercy!"
Sabrina collapsed to the floor and cast a look towards one of her knights' swords that laid on the floor next to her. "W-Well what are you waiting for? Finish it! Strike me down and your quest will be completed!"
"No, I won't do it." Ash extended his hand towards Sabrina.
"What's this?! Our hero recognizes that the girl is actually the princess who fell under a curse and transformed into the vile Enchantress as a result! Perhaps a kiss will help break the curse..?"
"Huh?" Ash turned to face the director. "S-Sorry but I want my first kiss to be special, I don't want to kiss some random girl!"
"Just kiss her cheek, I'm not asking you to lock lips!" The director shouted.
Ash thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I can't. Sorry!"
The director facepalmed before waving his hand. "J-Just get up close and kiss the air in front of her, I can edit it later." Ash leaned towards Sabrina as the director continued. "And so the curse was broken, the princess is free and the two return home back to the ancient world of our beloved home!"
"That was really bizarre..." Iris commented.
"True but I got to battle Sabrina and I won!" Ash exclaimed with an eager smile.
"Man I'd have loved to taken your place, I'd have loved to kiss the lovely Sabrina..." Brock stated as he stared off towards Sabrina, hearts currently present within the Pokemon doctor's eyes.
"I think it was quite romantic that Ash didn't want to kiss her actually," Cilan spoke up. "Saving your first kiss for your future love is a very smart and romantic decision!"
"But my dream comes first," Ash stated as Pikachu nodded his head in agreement. Neither had an interest in dating until their dream was complete! Or rather they hadn't met the right individual yet to change their mind. "I've been training hard for all these years and I can't afford any distract-"
"Haunt!" Ash let out a shout as Haunter appeared right in front of him, the Ghost type sticking out his tongue while stretching out his face before bursting out in laughter upon seeing the look on his friend's face.
"Haunter what are you even doing here? Shouldn't you be with Sabrina?" Ash questioned. Haunter lowered his head as he glanced towards Sabrina, the Psychic specialist and actress was already preparing to film another movie and Haunter found that rather boring as she was never in horror movies.
"Haunter..."
Sabrina suddenly appeared behind Ash causing him to leap up as she started to speak out. "Actually Ash, I think Haunter wants to go with you. I love Haunter but his place isn't with me, I'm a Psychic specialist and he's well... a Ghost. And he's gotten bored of scaring the same people over and over again, I think his true place is with you!"
Ash turned towards Haunter before looking the Ghost type directly in the eyes. "Is this true Haunter, you want to be my Pokemon?"
"Haunter!" Haunter gave an enthusiastic nod resulting in quite the large smiles crossing both Ash and Pikachu's faces as their long time friend was finally joining them on their adventures!
"Welcome to the team then Haunter-" Ash held out a Pokeball before Sabrina lowered his arm.
"That won't work, here." Sabrina dropped a ball into his hand. "Haunter is yours now, take good care of him!"
"Haunter!" And just like that a blue glow surrounded Haunter's body as he began changing form, his hands were now attached to a pair of arms while a pair of legs had also grown out of his body. His eyes turned a bright red color and he now had quite the spooky grin across his face as he smirked towards his new trainer before sticking out his tongue and stretching out his face to showcase that though he'd changed form he was still very much the same Ghost type!
"Gengar!"
Ash let out a light chuckle before holding out his hand to the Ghost type. "Welcome to the team, Gengar!"
"Gengar!" Gengar grinned while eagerly looking forward to all the new people that he could scare while they were off on their adventure!
"You were actually in a movie?! Lucky!" Hilda exclaimed as she was filled in on what had occurred that day. A loud scream soon followed afterwards as Gengar had taken the opportunity to appear right in front of her in an attempt to scare her!
"Gen gen gen!" Gengar pointed at Hilda as he laughed. His eyes then turned to Zach who was staring off. Gengar tilted his head as he remembered Sabrina acting all moody back when they met and he wondered if perhaps he could fix this too! "Gengar!" Gengar disappeared before reappearing right in front of him, the Ghost type stretched out his eyes while sticking out his tongue but quickly frowned upon getting no reaction out of it.
"Gengar..."
Hilda frowned before turning towards Iris. "Iris would you be willing to go out with my brother?"
"What?! No!" Iris was quick to shout before shaking her head. "Sorry Hilda but he's not my type."
Hilda clenched her fists for a brief second before bowing in understanding. "That's okay, I'll find somebody else."
Nightfall had fallen across the city and two Plasma grunts had a younger trainer cornered. Their outfits were now entirely black and their attire looked a lot more pirate themed than knight themed which wasn't helped by the black bandannas that now covered the lower halves of their face.
"Give us that Snivy and nobody gets hurt, kid!"
"N-No way, I'll never give you Snivy!" The kid sniffled as he shook in fear.
"Then we'll just take it from you!" The two lunged forward before a figure leaped down in front of them.
"Nice to see you're no longer hiding your true selves." The figure spat before rising up to reveal a Lucario shaped cowl on his head. Armor covered up the rest of his body, the armor consisting of the same colors as a Lucario's body, instead of a tail however the man wore a long black cape. The Plasma grunts quickly reached for their Pokeballs before the man swiftly reached out and knocked them both out with a punch!
"T-Thank you mister," The kid quickly ran after afterwards while the Lucario dressed individual tied up one of the grunts to a lamp post, leaving a note behind for the police before grabbing hold of the other grunt and dragging them off.
"W-Where am I...? Holy sh-!" The Team Plasma grunt panicked as he was being held over the ledge of a Castelia City skyscraper.
"Where is the Dark Stone? Where's Zekrom?!"
"I-I don't know anything, I swear to Arceus!"
"Don't swear to Arceus, swear to me!"
"L-Look I really don't know anything, please don't drop me!" The Plasma grunt was practically crying resulting in Lucario Man pulling him back up with a frustrated growl before knocking the man back out. The figure then removed their mask to reveal Hilda as she gazed down at the Team Plasma grunt with sheer hatred. "I won't turn you in, you're going to tell your friends that I won't rest until each and everyone of you has answered for what you've done! You'll regret ever messing with my brother!"
Probably thought it was her brother beneath the mask, huh?