Ho-oh Special

Mimikyu hissed as she lunged through the crowded Goldenrod City, her ghostly mind focused on a singular individual. She blasted through the crowd like a homing missile upon she made contact with her goal, uttering out a ghastly shriek as she knocked the electric mouse right off it's trainer's shoulders!

"P-Pika..." Pikachu grunted as he hit the ground, taken completely by surprise before crying out as a thick cloud of dust covered them as Mimikyu immediately started beating him up!

"P-Pikachuuuu!" A large bolt of electricity fired through the dust cloud as a shriek of pain could be heard from within.

"Mimikyu!" Zach hastily pushed his way through the crowd as he heard his Pokemon's pained cry. He didn't even stop to process Pikachu as he dropped to his knees and carefully scooped up his scorched Pokemon while adjusting the cloth to make sure it didn't fall off and wind up killing some poor soul. Mimikyu let out a light cough causing her trainer to let out a sigh of relief. "Thank Arceus you're okay..." He returned Mimikyu to her ball before looking up as he heard a gasp.

"Zach!" Verity squealed as she threw her arms around her cousin. "I had no idea you were even in Johto!"

"Empo!" Empoleon cried in greeting as he was thrilled to see his trainer's cousin.

"Verity! I wasn't expecting to even see you!" And for good reason, although her boyfriend was the Kanto and Johto Champion that was a lot of ground to cover so he hadn't really expected to cross paths with them. Especially as the two primarily hanged about the Kanto area.

"Yeah well we're meeting some friends here," Verity laughed as she glanced towards her boyfriend before pulling away from Zach. Her eyes then flickered about as she scanned the area.

"Sorry about Mimikyu by the way, she hates Pikachu for some reason." Zach lightly bowed as he apologized to Ash.

"Don't worry about it, I had a bit of difficulty raising my Tyranitar back in the day." Ash laughed it off as he gave off a light wave. Although he was dating Zach's cousin the two weren't really that close, the only times he'd really met Ash prior to that were a few Christmas parties and Verity's birthdays.

"So uh where's Dawn and Riolu?" Verity asked, not seeing them at first but she'd soon see Lucario pushing his way through the crowd, Scorbunny within his arm's grasp.

"Car!" Lucario let out a cry as he eagerly rushed forward to greet Verity!

"Oh my Arceus, that is Riolu?!" Verity gasped with an excited look, her eyes quickly looking the jackal over before turning her attention towards Scorbunny. "And whose this cutie?"

"That's Scorbunny, she was the first Pokemon I captured on adventure. Well actually that's not the whole truth, she is the first Pokemon I obtained but she stowed away in a berry crate and formed a bond with me so I tried capturing her only to discover that she had an owner. Put in a call to the Galar region and the Professor's assistant was kind enough to let me keep her after discovering how close the two of us had become." Zach explained. The actual first capture followed but he didn't feel it worth mentioning, the only good to come of him capturing Morpeko was being introduced to May!

"Well she sure is cute!" Verity gushed as she stroked Scorbunny below the chin. Scorbunny let out a content cry as a blush crossed her face.

"Scor..."

"She sure is, I never go anywhere without her or Lucario!"

"Sounds just like me, Pikachu and Charizard!" Ash laughed.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu flicked his tail in agreement though Charizard often remained inside his ball due to his size, Ash still took him wherever he went ever since he was captured!

"There you are, Zach!" May pushed through the crowd and wrapped her arm around his as a loving expression crossed her face. Verity's eyes widened as she always assumed that Zach and Dawn would end up together however she was in for an even bigger shock when Dawn shortly joined them, an equally love filled expression on her face as her arm wrapped around Zach's free arm, her head leaning against his before taking note of Verity. "Our plane leaves in ten minutes, we've got to hurry!"

"Verity, hi!" Dawn waved at Verity who could only stare off with a shocked expression, her jaw dropped as she tried processing what was right in front of her eyes. She'd seen some rather surprising things while traveling around with Ash but two girls willingly sharing a guy? That was new!

"You must be Zach's cousin, Verity!" May exclaimed as she noticed their similarities in appearance. "I'm May, Zach's girlfriend!"

"H-Hi Dawn, pleasure to meet you May. S-so are you both...?" Verity asked.

Zach offered her a shy smile as he quietly nodded.

"Yep, we're both dating him!" Dawn excitedly exclaimed as her grip on his arm tightened.

May gave a light nod as she pecked Zach's cheek before Dawn followed in her example. Zach placed an arm around their waists before sweating nervously as Verity began scowling.

"So you both love him equally?" She questioned. She knew they had to get going but she was still worried about her cousin and didn't want to see him hurt, she trusted Dawn but May was more worrisome as she didn't know her like Zach and Dawn did.

"Of course!" Both girls piped up.

"And I love both of them and treat them equally, I don't have a favorite." Zach responded as he kept his arms around them both.

Verity gave Lucario a look before calming as Lucario gave her a nod of confirmation. Lucario's aura would give away if anything was wrong. She didn't necessarily approve of her cousin dating two girls but Sinnoh's laws did allow for both of them to marry him if they desired so it wasn't like somebody would get screwed over in the end. And if all of them were happy then who was she to deny them that?

"Well I'm happy for you all, congratulations!" Verity exclaimed with a sincere smile before tilting her head. "You sure that you can't stay for at least one more day? I'm sure my mother will be happy to front you some cash for another ticket."

"Thanks but no thanks, I don't want to feel in her debt and if I'm to escape her shadow then I certainly can't borrow money from her. I'd rather use money that I earn myself!"

"An honorable statement," Ash gave his girlfriend's cousin a bow of respect. "Well I wish you luck on your adventure, you'll certainly need it if you go up against Cynthia."

"Oh I know," Zach smirked lightly. "Good luck with... whatever you're doing?" Zach questioned as Verity didn't tell him what they were doing exactly.

"Oh, Ash is going to Mount Tensei to battle against Ho-oh!" Verity piped up. A statement that didn't get much of a reaction from the other three as they didn't know what Ho-oh was, the bird was practically a myth in it's own regions so it was natural for people outside of it to not know if people within the region didn't.

"Oh! That rainbow bird you were telling me about?" It suddenly came to Zach as his eyes widened in realization. "Well good luck with that, hope you beat it this time!"

"Oh I plan on it, becoming World Champion was only a step towards my dream of becoming a Pokemon Master! Ho-oh is all that's standing between me and my dream now!"

Dawn's Rotom Phone began vibrating cause her to leap up as the alarm went off. "Oh my gosh, we've got to get moving! I-It was great seeing you again Verity!" The three of them waved before racing through the Goldenrod Airport's doors, their Pokemon hot on their heels.

Verity chuckled as she watched after them however it wasn't long after they left that a familiar orange haired individual stepped through, Midnight Lycanroc hot on his heels as his hands rested in his pocket. Cross gave his former rival a respectful smirk as he reached out to shake his hand. "Congratulations Ketchum, I'm honored that you invited me to see you and Ho-oh face off. I wouldn't have blamed you had you simply ignored me after all I did."

"Well you did redeem yourself after you helped take down Team Flare," Ash stated with a light smirk as he took his hand. "The past is the past!"

Cross smirked before jerking his head as Sorrel stepped out wearing a lab coat.

"Greetings Ash, thanks again for hooking me up with Professor Elm. Working with him has helped greatly with my own efforts towards becoming a Pokemon Professor!"

"Don't mention it Sorrel, anything to help out a friend!" Ash stated with a fairly large grin.

Finally the door opened one more time as Risa stepped out. A bright smile crossed her face as her eyes made contact with Ash, the blonde quickly sprang forward and threw her arms around him as she pulled him in for a quick hug before shortly stepping away as she flashed Verity an icy look. Verity scowled lightly at her but the two didn't address their issues verbally in front of Ash.

"Great to see you again, Risa!"

"It's great to see you too, Ash." Risa gave him a warm smile before diverting her gaze. "I've never been to this Mount Tensei, where exactly in the region is it?"

"Oh it's quite far from here." Ash casually addressed causing Risa to quickly go pale.

"W-We're not walking are we?!"

"Arceus no, we'll take the Magnet Train and walk from the closest station!" Ash laughed.

It took a fair few days of walking as even from the closest Magnet Train station the mountain range was quite some distance away but eventually the group reached the mountaintop. Ash retrieved a Rainbow Wing from his pocket and placed it upon the altar before calling Ho-oh out.

"Ho-oh! I know that it's been years since we last battled each other but I've finally returned and I'm ready for our rematch!"

Silence filled the area. Cross' eyes darted about before shaking his head. "I knew it was a mistake inviting m-"

"Ho-oh!" The screech could be heard before Ho-oh swooped on down from the sky above, a loud thud could be heard as his talons made impact with the ground. Ho-oh's gaze lingered towards Cross but he didn't appear to be angry with him as he looked away without a change of emotion before turning his attention to Ash. "Ho-oh!" The bird screeched as he stretched out his wings, seeming to accept Ash's challenge!

"Whoa, it sure is majestic!" Risa couldn't help but gush as she stared up at the bird, admiration shining brightly within her eyes.

"Powerful too, don't let it's look fool you." Cross stated as he and the others backed off to allow Ash and Ho-oh plenty of room for their battle.

"Good luck Ash!" Verity cried out as they all took a considerably safe distance, standing further away than one would from most Pokemon battles.

Ash flashed her an appreciative look before flashing Ho-oh a smirk as the two locked eyes with one another.

"Ho-oh!" Ho-oh cried out, appearing to signal the start of the battle as Ash grabbed at a Pokeball seconds afterwards.

"Tyranitar I choose you!"

"Tyra!" A Tyranitar burst out with a loud roar as he gazed up at Ho-oh with an intimidating expression before a fierce sandstorm whipped out, covering the entire area and obscuring view of the battlefield. Although most Pokemon would have difficulty seeing through the sandstorm, Ash had a good feeling Ho-oh wasn't blinded.

"Tyranitar let's start off with Stone Edge!"

Tyranitar let out a cry as he slammed his foot against the ground causing several rock pillars to come bursting out and fly across the field towards Ho-oh! The bird screeched in pain as the attack made contact with him before shaking it off as his gaze flicked back to the Rock type.

"Ho-oh!" He stretched his wings as a fierce storm of fire came firing out of his wings, flying straight through the sandstorm before striking Tyranitar! Despite Tyranitar's power and type advantage it appeared to have dealt a significant amount of damage!

"Hyper Beam!" Ash shouted with a throw of his arm.

"Tyra!" Tyranitar's mouth opened as he fired off the familiar orange-yellow beam of energy which exploded upon making contact with Ho-oh. The bird shook it off before stretching out his wings as the sandstorm suddenly faded, the sun now shined heavily down upon the field while a yellow beam of energy formed within Ho-oh's mouth shortly before he fired it off!

"Solar Beam!" Sorrel exclaimed before quickly scribbling it into his notes as he was surprised Ho-oh even knew the attack!

"Ty!" Tyranitar was blasted off his feet and a loud thud was heard before the ground around them lightly shook. Tyranitar groaned lightly, his eyes had been reduced to swirls. Ho-oh was definitely no pushover as he was giving the World Champion a run for his money!

"Tyranitar return," Ash returned Tyranitar and took a minute to think things over. Far as he knew Ho-oh shouldn't be immune to Fire attacks and if Ho-oh wanted to heat things up with Sunny Day then he'd simply fight fire with fire! "Charizard I choose you!"

"Char!" Charizard burst out with a loud roar, firing a stream of fire into the air while Ash held up his arm and activated his Mega Ring.

"Alright Charizard, let's show Ho-oh just how strong our bond is with Mega Evolution!"

"Char!" A bright pink light surrounded Charizard's body as he began taking the form of Mega Charizard Y! The Mega Evolution uttered out another loud roar as he locked eyes with Ho-oh, flames flew from his nostril as he prepared to fight!

"Flare Blitz!" Charizard Y's body became cloaked in flame as he swooped through the sky before slamming his body against Ho-oh, knocking the phoenix out of the sky! Ho-oh crashed against the ground and quickly stood up.

"Ho-oh!" He raised his wings as a bright blue glow surrounded him, a few feathers fell loose and quickly regrew while he appeared to be regaining his health!

"Roost..." Cross gritted his teeth.

"That sure makes things more challenging..." Ash commented before quickly shouting out. "Thunder Punch!"

Charizard's fist started to spark as electricity covered it, he uttered out a loud roar and swooped towards his opponent while pulling back his fist before delivering a powerful electrified punch!

"Ho-oh!" Ho-oh screeched as electricity surged through his body. He then retaliated by firing off a ball of silver energy that quickly made contact with Charizard causing the fire lizard to cry out in pain as his wings lightly twitched.

"What was that?" Risa blinked.

"Ancient Power." Verity spoke up.

"Charizard return for now," Ash returned Charizard for the time being. Ho-oh was just too unpredictable and strong as Charizard, Ho-oh was even stronger! He couldn't tank too many Rock type attacks but he did have a Pokemon who'd be both effective and fast enough to potentially avoid super effective moves Ho-oh retaliated with.

"Greninja I choose you!"

"Gre!"

"Hold up, I thought Ash never adventured outside of Kanto and Johto. How does he have a Greninja?" Risa asked with a curious blink.

"He traveled to Kalos in order to unlock the secrets of Mega Evolution about a few years ago, I just happened to be traveling through the region and helped him in stopping the threat of Team Flare."

"Oh right, I heard about how villainous organizations have been slowly appearing in other regions." Risa recalled. It was good at least one of them was gone but Team Rocket and who knows how many other organizations was still out there!

"I'm not sure exactly how they met but what I can tell you is that you're definitely in for a treat!" Cross smirked.

Risa tilted her head as visible confusion was present across her face.

"You'll see, I promise."

"Greninja, it's time."

"Gre!" The two closed their eyes while Sorrel and Risa tilted their heads in confusion, Verity and Cross smirked as a bright orange light engulfed Greninja's body before fading away to reveal quite the strange form. Greninja had taken on quite a few changes in appearance that made him look remarkably similar to Ash!

Risa's jaw dropped with Sorrel stuttered. "H-How is that even scientifically possible?!"

"Water Shuriken!" Greninja whipped out a large orange colored shuriken composed entirely of water and hurled it at Ho-oh, the shuriken exploded and showered Ho-oh with water droplets upon making contact with him. The phoenix shook his feathers and gave Greninja an impressed look as he stretched out his wings and screeched, a bright glow surrounded him as he began recharging his health once more before quickly following it by firing off another Solar Beam!

"Dodge it!"

The energy blasted exploded right behind Greninja as he nimbly avoided it.

"Now use Rain Dance!" Greninja waved his arm as a fierce rainstorm poured down upon the mountaintop, Ho-oh didn't appear to like that as he stretched out his wings and cried out causing a bright sunlight to bask down upon the field again.

"Rain Dance!"

"Ho-oh!"

"Rain Dance!"

"Ho-oh!" The weather constantly flickered back and forth as a smirk flashed across Ash's face. Once he ordered up another Rain Dance he waited for Ho-oh to begin to screech once more before shouting.

"Water Shuriken!" Greninja whipped out a massive orange water shuriken, this one far larger than before due to the fierce rainstorm, and quickly hurled it towards Ho-oh as the phoenix still had his wings stretched out! The shuriken struck against Ho-oh's chest and exploded, showering him with water droplets as he dropped to his knees. His breath began to grow heavy and Ash knew that he'd be using Roost to regain his health at any moment!

"Greninja come back," Ash returned Greninja to his ball and gave Pikachu a quick nod. "Let's end this, Thunder!"

"Pikachuuuuu!" Pikachu's cheeks sparked with electricity as he shoot a blast of electricity off into the sky above, the electrical blast soon came down hard as it homed in on Ho-oh due to the effect's of the Rainstorm. Ho-oh screeched out in pain as he didn't have time to recover with Roost before the attack made contact with his body, the bird's eyes began rolling up into his head before he collapsed face first against the dirt of the mountaintop, tongue lolled out of his mouth as he laid there in defeat.

"Alright Ash!" Verity and Risa cried out. Cross smirked and gave a nod of approval while Sorrel stared in disbelief.

"Wow..."

"We did it Pikachu, we beat Ho-oh!"

"Pi Pikachu!" The two shared an excited look before looking towards the downed bird. They then shared a questioning look before nodding at the other, Ash pulled out a Pokeball and Pikachu climbed down to grab hold of it.

"Ready?"

"Pi Pikachu!"

"Go Pokeball!"

"Pika pi!" The two released their grip on the ball at the same time, their eyes focused upon it as it flew through the mountain air while making it's way to Ho-oh. The ball opened up as a bright red light began engulfing Ho-oh's body before sucking him into the Pokeball. Cross, Verity, Sorrel, Risa, Ash and Pikachu all watched in anticipation as the ball started shaking back and forth, every passing second felt like hours as they counted the shakes which felt like they just dragged on and on!

Chime! The ball rang out before disappearing in a flash of bright white light as Ash couldn't help but chuckle as he pictured various reactions Professor Oak would have upon opening the ball and seeing the capture he'd just made.

Cross slowly clapped for him while Verity sprang up to pull Ash into a hug while Risa and Sorrel cheered for him with Risa scowling lightly at the hug.

"You did it, I knew you could!" Verity cried as she pressed her lips up against Ash's. Ash wrapped his arms around her body as he embraced her before pulling away after a few moment's.

"There's something that I've wanted to ask you, once Pikachu and I finished with this last bit of business." Ash spoke as he fished into the pocket of his jacket. Verity tilted her head before going wide eyed as Ash pulled out a small box and dropped to a knee. "Verity would you... would you marry me?"

"Yes! Of course I'll marry you!" Verity squealed as she excitedly placed the ring upon her finger, gazing fondly at it before pulling Ash in for another kiss.

"Roc."

"You said it." Cross smirked.

Sorrel clapped his hands while Risa slowly clapped although her eyes showed a clear mixture of jealousy and disappointment within them.

"Empo!"

"Pika!" The two Pokemon beamed brightly at their trainer's loving embrace, excited for the future ahead of them!

Originally it was going to be a full six against Ho-oh, I wanted to fully show off how powerful Ho-oh was but then thought 'No, that'd make Ash look weak if I have Pokemon dropping like flies' and having Ho-oh constantly using Roost for six battles just needlessly dragged it on. I thought this way allowed a better showing of Ho-oh's strength along with properly showing why Ash is a World Champion in this universe. Him and Pikachu both throwing the ball that caught Ho-oh felt like it needed to be done.

Yeah, I got rid of Team Flare. I don't plan on using Kalos in the future so I thought it'd be a great way to help explain Greninja's presence on the team. Team Magma/Aqua, Plasma and Skull are in the process of starting up or not formed yet. Giving me access to them in the future if I desire.

It's back to Sinnoh in the next chapter as our heroes begin the journey to Veilstone City! What Pokemon and surprises await as their journey continues?

Let me know what you all think and if there's anything that you'd like to see :)

Also holy-I was about to upload this and noticed it's close to 40 favorites and sitting at 43 followers? Honestly never expected it to get that many nor really cared as I write for fun and not views but hey, I appreciate it! I started this fic as a way to grow more experienced with Pokemon Contests and also help fuel my hype for the upcoming Sinnoh games and it gradually became a fun fic and one of my favorites to write. Hope you've all enjoyed this so far~