Note: Not gonna lie, I got the response that I wanted from a couple of ya'll from last weeks chapter. I won't say how it will all go down, you'll just have to find out.

There is something I wanted to clarify to some viewers though, and I think this is a fairly important lesson for anyone writing their own works, fanfiction and otherwise.

I've gotten a few folks stating how the first chapter of this fic might 'confuse' some viewers since Ash has a somewhat personal talk with Dawn. Some might have taken that as a 'hint' for pearlshipping.

But something I want ya'll to understand is this: Intimacy can exist between friends and not be romantically inclined, and a characters friendships should not be placed on the backburner just cause they might be romantically involved with another character. These relationships are just as important.

Anyhow, enjoy the new chapter.


Hoenn Chapter 1: Nip it in the Budew!

At least the run got her back to camp sooner, and having an extra pair of hands picking up the firewood didn't hurt either.

With their hands full, May and Sapphire entered the clearing, finding the place undisturbed. However, it was still an odd sight, with a pair of trainers lying on their backs, their legs hung over the log that was meant to be sat on and their eyes facing the stars in complete silence.

"Hey guys…"

"Oh? Hi May." Ash responded, not moving an inch.

"Why are you on the floor..?"

"Well, you see… we can see the stars a lot better from here. And the ground is just so…" Serena patted the rock hard, uncomfortable dirt. "Soft."

"Riiiiight…"

"Feels like we're interuptin' somethin'"

"Whose that?," Ash asked, right before Sapphire was right above him and Serena, down on all fours like a Froakie, eyes darting between the two.

"Well you certainly look like Red… sound like 'im too."

"So I guess your Mays look-alike."

"That-I-am! Nice ta meet ya… ummmm…."

"Names Ash."

Sapphire stuck out her hand for the handshake. Ash attempted to reciprocate, though just barely considering the positions they were in.

"Hey Serena."

"Hi Saph."

It didn't take a lot for Sapphire to realize that Serena was not exactly all there right now, and Ash was in the same trance. Outside of pleasantries, it's clear that they weren't in the mood for talking right now.

And considering how we found em, im guessin' that they've probably said all they needed to for the night.

Sapphire hopped over to one of the logs, deciding to leave the pair to their current mood. May finished tossing in the rest of the wood into the campfire before taking a seat herself. The rustling of the bushes to their backs alerted her and May. They soon realized it was just Yellow, strolling into camp with a handful of twigs and branches.

"Oh, hey senior Yellow!"

"Sapphire! Long time. Is Ruby with you?"

"He's back in town. I wanted to take a midnight stroll. That's when I ran inta May out there all alone."

"Yep… ran into…" May murmured, taking a seat herself.

"Hey, where's Ash and…" Yellow noticed the trainer's legs poking over the log that they left them on as she sat down herself.

"Oh. I see they're… um…"

"Yeah just… yeah." Ash could hardly speak. The three sitting trainers looked at each other, the pieces falling into place.

"We're okay, just… yeah…" Serena intervened, trying to put on a minor façade of dignity. It didn't work.

"Well we have extra tents. You can stay here for the night if you want."

"Thank but I'll be alright. Sleepin' in the trees has its charms. Let's ya see the stars better."

"Shoulda figured." Yellow shrugged.

"Speakin' of which, it's getting lil' late."

"Guess it's time to get some shuteye." May got up and stretched. "Ash? Serena? You sleeping on the floor there or…"

"No, no… we'll hit the tents in a bit." Serena waved her hand lazily in the air.

"Whatever you say."


As the warm sunlight washed over his face, Ash wondered if he had kept the tent door open by mistake last night. He also wondered why his sleeping bag was so rough and cold and windy and…

He wasn't in his sleeping bag, nor was he in his tent. He had been sleeping right on the ground where he and Serena had been all night, awkwardly stargazing as their brains ceased to function. Groggily turning his head, he found Serena, sound asleep.

She still likes me… the events of last night slowly returned to him, piece by piece.

So… what happens now? He never expected to get this far. Even as he said the fated words, he fully expected a lukewarm rejection. Sorry Ash, but I've moved on. I hope we can still stay friends. Sure the initial sting was something that no one could truly prepare for, but he would never think less of her. People change, it was simply a fact of life.

And then she said she likes me too. His world flipped upside down. He shifted his legs off the log, sitting cross legged on the floor, rubbing his eyes. Looking around it seemed that no one else was up yet. Just himself, sitting beside a dead campfire, Serena still knocked out cold next to him. Or so he thought.

"Hmm. Guess we forgot to get back in the tents last night, huh?" Her voice made him jump. He guessed that the shock was quite clear on his face, considering how she started to giggle. She sat up, stretching her arms with a smile on her face.

"Get some good sleep?" She asked.

"Kinda. You look well rested."

"That's what happens when you have some pleasant dreams."

"Pleasant dreams huh? What did you dream about?"

"A couple of things really. In one I was in a field of Wooloos. They let me hug them all, getting all cozy in their soft wool."

"Sounds a lot comfier than the middle of a forest."

"But there's more! Then I was flying with a flock of Swellow! I was so high up! Soaring freely above the clouds."

Her arms outstretched, her baggy eyes closed and her disheveled hair swaying in the forest breeze. Yet with her grin spanning ear to ear, he couldn't help but think that she looked cute.

"And then… well…" Her hand went behind her ear. "I had one more dream. There was a boy. Someone I've had a crush on since I was a teenager. He confessed to me right in the middle of the woods. Crazy, right?"

"Yeah… crazy…"

"And then I admitted that I still liked him after all this time. Even crazier."

"You have no idea…"

"Oh Ash…" she shuffled over towards him, now hanging mere inches away. "So… what happens now?"

"Well… I… umm… well…" he averted his gaze as his mind raced. He didn't actually know what he was supposed to do.

Well, when you like someone you take them out on a date, right? But right now?! We have to stop Giratina first and there's no time and I wasn't ready for this and why'd I have to open my big mouth and…

A sudden weight on his shoulder caught him off guard. It was her head. On his shoulder.

"We don't have to rush things you know."

"I just… I just want do things right."

"You don't need to get this right, you know. You just need to be you."

"Really? Cause recently I… haven't really been feeling like myself."

"You're always you, Ash. Nothings ever gonna change that."

"But… what if I'm not me anymore?"

"Then who would you be?"

Silence.

"Ash, remember that day in the snowbell forest?"

"How could I forget?" Their first fight. Not exactly the fondest memory. "You nailed me good with those snowballs."

"Maybe that was a bit much…"

"No. I deserved it. I wasn't myself that day."

"But you came back, right?"

"Only thanks to you."

"You would have, sooner or later. There's gonna be plenty of times when you feel like somethings wrong. Like you're just not who you used to be. But in the end, you'll always be Ash."

Considering where he found himself right now, he guessed being Ash wasn't all too bad.

"So… should we get up or…"

"Up to ya'll really. But we're in a bit of a rush so maybe we should get things a'goin" Sapphires voice descended for the treetops above. Ash nearly jumped we he looked up, realizing that Sapphire was wide awake, perfectly balanced sitting on a tree branch.

"Sapphire!? How long have you been up there?" Ash yelled.

"All night."

"And… how much did you…"

"Everythin'. I've been up for hours."

"But… I…"

"Didn't look up."

"Or at the tents again once Serena got up," They all heard the other Hoenn girl from one of the tents. May was lying on her belly, her upper body poking out of the tent entrance and head perfectly balanced in her hands.

"So you both have been…"

"Yep. Ya know, me and May are quite different and all that…"

"But we both love a good show."

"Pika!"

"You too Pikachu…" He didn't even realize his small companion had been standing a few feet away from them.

Ash lowered his hat over his eyes, hoping the slight shadow would cover his bright red face. It may have for Saph and May, but there was little to hide from Serena while she was in such close proximity. Granted, she was equally flustered.

"Maybe now it's time we got up."

"Oh, come on! It was even better than the airport!"


Camp cleanup never took long, especially with so many hands-on deck. With the sunrise high over the forest the trainers made their way to Littleroot in only a few hours. With a population of roughly 10,000, Littleroot sat on the smaller end of townships, though it wasn't exactly an outlier in the sub-tropical Hoenn region.

"Home sweet home!" Sapphire took a deep breath of the humid Littleroot air.

"So, we need to get to Professor Birches lab, right?" Ash asked.

"Yes. He's got somethin' special to show y'all."

"Guess we shouldn't waste any time."

The lab was near the outskirts of the town. It had clearly been renovated, now sporting a greenhouse sitting on the side of the building. The large enclosure housed many exotic plants of various blue and purple hues that none of the trainers recognized.

The trainers walked into the laboratory. It was quite similar to Professor Oaks in its mix of both modern and outdated pieces of equipment dotting cluttered tables and overflowing shelves. Among the ensemble however were various potted plants of all kinds scattered throughout the area, with grass type Pokémon wandering freely throughout the building. Yellow almost tripped over a small, flower-like Budew meandering in front of the group, paying the trainers almost no thought. Also present in the room were various scientists and researchers, sporting lab coats and protective goggles as they tinkered with the various plant life and odd gadgets. Among them was a young man, sporting a zipped up red jacket and an odd, pointy white hat. He looked over at the trainers, his red eyes intensifying as they met Sapphires.

"Hey Ruby!" Sapphire called to him. Ruby raced up towards the group, nearly ignoring everyone else entirely.

"Oh Sapphire, you didn't go out into the forest again, did you?"

"What? I'm just takin' a stroll through the woods!"

"You're sleeping in trees Saph. Don't you think you're a bit to old to be acting like a Pokémon?"

"Too old?! Well you're a bit young to be actin' like my mother, ain't yah."

"Mother or not you're we've got a big day tomorrow. We gotta keep ourselves presentable for the big festival!"

"Big festival?" Ash looked to May and Serena, who both shrugged in turn. No one had told them about any festival.

"Oh good. Looks like everyone here." Ruby finally turned his attention to the other trainers standing near the door. "Huh…" he eyed Ash from top to bottom.

"You got the basics down to a T. Though…" Ruby's hand went to his chin. "Those brown eyes just don't 'pop' as much. And the hair… Reds spikes gave him that certain edge, you know? Yours just look so…unkempt…"

"Uum? Excuse me?!"

"And the wardrobe, I get the style, but Blue? Red often went for… well red. A bit cliché perhaps, but it worked…"

"It was a gift from my mom."

"Won't you just lay off him for a sec' Ruby. How bout' you introduce yourself first." Sapphire stepped in.

"Fine, fine. The name's Ruby. Nice to finally meet you, Ash. Of course, you've already met my fellow contester, Sapphire."

"Fellow contester? You can tell 'im I'm your girlfriend instead yah know."

"Well… that is also true…"

"And also, there's no need to get all up in his face 'bout what he's wearin' or his hair!"

"You're right…" Ruby said with a sigh. "I'm sorry. Things are a bit tense here so we're all going a little insane."

"You know the rest of us are trying to WORK over here so can you two just pipe down for a bit!?"

Another voice rang from the other side of the laboratory. The trainers looked to see another lab member who seemed to be… short. Very short. With his long blond hair and miniaturized lab coat, he stuck out even more than Ruby did.

"Hey Emerald!" Sapphire waved. "We were just makin' our way inside."

"Just get inside. I bet the others would like to meet Red-2 over there."

The trainers shuffled through the foliage, gizmos and other lab personnel until they reached the backroom that Emerald disappeared into. On the other side was a much smaller room. Computer desks and cabinets lined the white walls, and various wires and other oddities were strewn about. Every device led to the middle of the room, conglomerating into a large, circular machine. It resembled a giant pokeball, the bottom half of plated metal mesh and gears contrasting with a glass, transparent upper half. Standing over the device were two more laboratory members.

"No, we have to plug in the blue wire into node 1 first!" The figure on the right said, sporting a set of thick glasses and bolted blond hair.

"Here? Wait no! that's node 2?! Or node 3?!" The other figure said, his green eyes matching his messy green hair.

"Clemont?" Serena called out to the blond.

"Oh? Serena? And Ash?!" Clemont turned around, ecstatic to see his old traveling partners. "It's great to see you guys!"

"So, what are you doing here?"

"Professor Sycamore, well, our professor Sycamore, asked me to come help out professor Birch with some experiments after the merge. I just arrived last night."

"Both of them anyhow, though I don't blame him for thinking otherwise. Kinda rare to find two look-alikes who are identical in both appearance and personality. Doubt you'll see either of them here for a while. Anyhow, Clemont here has already been a great help," Emerald said. "Nice to have someone else here who knows what they're doing… most of the time."

"Hey! I'm helping too!" the green haired man exclaimed.

"He's… trying…"

"You're doing great Wally! Keep up the good work." Ruby shouted.

"And now you're encouraging him. Great…" Emerald took a moment, eyeing Ash from head to toe. "I'm sure you get the 'oh he looks like Red but in some ways he looks different from Red' so I'll spare ya. But it's good that you're finally here." He stuck out his hand. "Now that pleasantries are out of the way, hand it over."

"Hand what over?"

"The keys to Steven Stone's chest of precious minerals. What do you think?! The white crystal!"

"The lil' guys really got a chip on his shoulder, doesn't he?" May said as Ash reluctantly handed over the crystal to Emerald.

"You try keeping it together when you're trying to help save the world from horrible freaks of nature while these two can't keep their flirting to themselves." Emerald gestured to Ruby and Sapphire before stepping over to the machine, opening the lid and carefully placing the crystal inside. "And make sure that Pikachu doesn't mess anything up. We already got enough pokémon wandering around the lab. Can't you put that thing back in its pokeball?"

"Pikaaa?"

"No can do," Ash said.

"Great. Anyway, I guess the professors didn't tell you what exactly you're doing here."

"Not really…" Ash admitted. So far it seems like he was just here to be taken for a ride.

"Well, everyone's heard about your experience with the distorted trainers." Clemont said, pressing several buttons on a computer screen next to the machine. "It's likely that they might start popping up all over the place."

"That's when the professor Oaks mentioned the crystal you found. The professor Birches had an idea," Wally said.

"It seems like your crystal can repel those creatures, and destroy the hives that they come from, so we're trying to synthesize it and create more of them."

"So, if we find any more of these 'hives' then other trainers can be sent out to deal with them. Most likely my fellow dexholders and some select help." Emerald finished before the three trainers huddled around the machine, each gripping a lever

"Who made this thing?" Serena asked.

"It was me actually! Took no time at all!" Clemont exclaimed enthusiastically. Ash and Serena took a quick glimpse at each other.

Uh oh.

"Alright. On 3, 2… 1!"