Hey Nuggies! Well I really shouldn't be doing this, but here I am writing another fanfiction since I have writers block on a few of my other ones, and because this won't leave me alone. Here is your warning this will be SLASH! I have decided though that this will not have M!Preg.

Main Pairing: AshxPaul

Side pairing: AshxGary (One sided on Gary's part)

Rating: M (to be safe)

Chapter Warning(s): None

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon it belongs to Game Freak, Nintendo, Creatures, The Pokemon Company, etc, nor do I write this for profit. This is for entertainment use only!

A/N: So I had a comment on A03 and it started making me curious. I am sooo close to making it a reality in this story, but I want to know y'alls opinion on it.

Should Ash discover a new Eevee Evolution? (Not with the Eevee he currently has. She's still going to evolve into a Leafeon).

Also! I have an amazing idea to do with Eevee and I can't wait for y'all to read it. It might be in this chapter, but I might wait for the next chapter as well to do it in. Will most likely be in the next chapter.

To make up for it being a bit over a month (meaning like a month and 3 days) since I've updated this fanfic this chapter will be a smidge longer!

Enjoy!

"Hey mister! Please wait!"

Ash turned back only slightly startled over the fact that someone had called out to him; he knew it was for him seeing as he was the only one on the path besides this person. Persian, who was walking beside him with Vulpix trotting beside her, let out a low growl and hunkered down a bit next to her trainer all the while keeping her intense gold eyes on the newcomer. Ash could hear Pikachu sparking his cheeks from where the mouse was on his shoulder. The person, green hair tied up in a bun and bright blue eyes, came to a stop a few feet in front of them.

"S-Sorry for the sudden call out," she said as she tried to catch her breath from the run over, "But you haven't happen to see a small injured Skitty, have you?"

"No I haven't," Ash replied with a small shake to his head, "I can keep a lookout for it though." He was surprised to see that she didn't even give Persian a second glance or even Vulpix.

Blue eyes widened and a small smile appeared on her face. "You will?!" she asked as she clasped her hands together over her chest before she went to grab her pokédex, "Here let me send you a picture of her and give you my number in case you do see her!"

Ash pulled up his watch and put her number in when she rattled it off and waited to receive the photo. The Skitty was small, looking to be a somewhat new hatchling if the photo was any indication. The background of the photo looked to be a hospital with the Skitty laying on a bed attached to a couple of machines. There was a bandage on one of her back paws and one of her ears was strangely folded and the ear was darker than the rest of her fur.

"Can I have your name?" he asked as he dropped his wrist back down to his side.

"Mira! I'm Mira Reidenborough," she said with a sheepish smile and reached into her pocket to pull out a small white business card, "I'm a wild pokémon veterinarian in training. That's where the Skitty fled from."

Ash took the card and looked it over as Mira spoke. Reidenborough's Wild Pokemon Veterinarian, Sanctuary, and Rehabilitation Center was written on the card. It was a rather lengthy title, but that was fine he had heard longer titles. Underneath the title was an email address, their facility's address, and a phone number to what Ash thought was their main building, as it was a different number to what Mira gave him.

"I'm Ash Ketchum. I'm an On the Field Researcher and Trainer for Professor Oak," Ash said, giving her his own professions' title and held out his hand in a greeting.

"Well," Mira said as she shook his hand and then began to explain what she knew of the pokémon, "I hope one of us can find the poor Skitty. From what we know she's the runt of a litter by a Delcatty and an Umbreon and has a couple of birth defects. Her owners surrendered her over to us despite us being a wild pokémon medical center, but before we could get her transferred to another facility she got spooked by my fathers' Houndoom."

Ash nodded and made a mental note to not let Persian be the pokémon to approach the Skitty if they found her. A smaller pokémon may be preferable to have help seeing as smaller pokémon tend to get intimidated by those who are larger. "I'll be sure to send you a message if I by chance find her," Ash said before he began to turn around.

"Thank you! I'll be sure to do the same if I find her so you won't have to be on the look out any longer," Mira said as she ran back in the direction she came from.

"Let's get going," Ash said to Persian, Vulpix, and Pikachu before continuing on the way he was going before he was stopped. The mountain they were heading to loomed over them in the distance with its peak not visible thanks to the clouds.

Ash had doubled back after Mt. Moon to Pallet to see the others and drop Nidoking off since the newly evolved pokémon wanted to stay. Ash guessed it was a mixture of wanting to train with Tyrantrum, Charizard, and Krookodile now that he was large enough to do so, but as Ash was leaving he did see his Nidoking getting cozy with a Nidoqueen that had been left there. He was counting down the days that he would get a call from Oak saying that he was going to be a 'grandfather.'

While on the path to the mountain Ash was sure to work his pokémon harder as not only were they going after the harder gyms after evolving Eevee and Doublade, he wanted to make sure they were all in tip top shape for any possible job Oak may give them. He had them spar among themselves in a free for all spar, they fought wild pokémon, and the few trainers that Ash had asked to battle with.

He had Eevee working on her speed, maneuverability, and the strength of her hits, but seeing as she was wanting to evolve into a Leafeon most of her training would be held off until afterwards. That way she could focus on working with her new typing and learning new moves to go with said typing.

Kingdra just really wanted to work on his maneuverability on land and how to manipulate the water in the air in case they were near an area that didn't have much water to work with. Working with water came naturally easy to him, but pulling the moisture out of the air was harder for him to do and it would be a great trick under his scales if he was able to do it during Sunny Day or when a pokémon was able to change the status of the field. Kingdra was also working on Ice Beam after watching Vulpix use her Frost Breath and Blizzard together.

He had Vulpix working on her perfecting her ice work along with getting a higher fire based endurance seeing as her egg move was Flame Charge. Ash wanted Vulpix to be able to use it without almost passing out afterwards as she tends to do after using it during training. He did notice that she had started getting colder to a point that her paws were always iced up and her tail had shards of ice among the soft fur. He had to call Oak just to make sure that what he was seeing in her was correct and he was glad to see that all of her hard work is going to pay off soon.

With Doublade, he had shown her videos of different sword styles since she had indicated that she wanted to create her own style of fighting instead of what had been passed down in her family, to keep the more knowledgeable pokémon on edge from knowing how she was going to fight was her reasoning. Most of the pokémon in the Honedge line apparently fought very similarly to each other.

When he asked her what she meant Doublade had shown him a memory of when she was alive, a human, and what sword style she had been taught then. He wasn't able to discern any defining features she had and he supposed it was because of how long ago the memory was. If he had to put a time stamp on the memory it would have been during the founding years of Kanto if the older styled clothing and building were any indication.

Ash had Persian work on her stealth along with her endurance and strength. Persian was naturally silent as she walked and she loved hunting when she was allowed to, but Ash also wanted her to be able to chase down a pokémon that may be faster or stronger than she currently was and be able to keep it in place until backup arrived. He was training Zoroark to work beside her as well and had set up simulation with his other pokémon for them to track, capture, and pin as training for both Persian and Zoroark as well as his other pokémon.

Gardevoir was working with Pikachu on training Riolu and the little pup was making leaps and bounds in his training. On top of Riolu's training with the other two pokémon, Ash was also helping Riolu work with his Aura, as per the memories the ghostly Riolu had given them. The half albino was already able to form a small, slightly unstable, Aura Sphere between his paws and his Aura Sense was getting much better.

Ash also took his own training seriously. He had begun to exercise during the day with his pokémon and in the evening he would do half an hour of yoga before eating dinner. He had practised his own meditation and was finally able to sense the life around him using his own Aura Sense.

The first time he managed to do it was a bit overwhelming, but Gardevoir and Riolu were able to coax him out of the trance-like state he had fallen into. He was now able to coat his hands and feet in the Aura, which he found made him stronger as he gripped things and faster on his feet. Ash was also beginning to sense injuries in a way. He first noticed it when Vulpix tried to keep an injury hidden from him. It was a small sprain and nothing a potion couldn't fix.

The only downside at the moment was the fact that after he used his Aura in any way, shape, or form, he was completely exhausted. He found out the hard way, not to overdo it, after a too long of a use and he passed out for over a day. It was after that incident that he learned that he needed to go slow and steady, and train, whatever it was inside him that allowed him to use Aura, like a muscle so he and his body could withstand all of the Aura that flowed through him. Needless to say he took that warning seriously.

He was, however, filled with gratitude as he managed to sort through the knowledge and memories that the ghostly Riolu had given him. There was no way he would have been able to train his Aura half as well without it. It was thanks to that, and the small bit of training that Ash had done, that he was able to find the Skitty as quickly as he did and managed to get the skittish feline back to Reidenborough. Vulpix did very well calming the Skitty as Ash led her back to the facility.

For now Ash and his team had picked a spot to take a break and Ash was amused to see that Persian immediately picked up Riolu by his scruff to start grooming him. He was about to pull out his journal to write down what had been going on in his journey so far, but the ringing of his watch stopped him.

Incoming call: Bill

"Hello Bill," Ash greeted once he had picked up the call and the older man had popped up onto his screen.

"Good afternoon, Ash!" Bill said with a wide grin on his face, "So I've got exciting news!"

"What is it?" Ash asked as he adjusted himself where he sat as Riolu, who finally got free of Persian, climbed onto his lap.

"So, you know Professor Rowan, right? The Regional Professor in Sinnoh?" Bill asked but continued speaking before Ash could answer, "Well, I got a call from him just a few minutes ago asking me to attend the annual conference of Pokémon Professors and Researchers alike and I am able to bring a plus one! Don't worry I've already spoken to Oak about this and he's going to bring someone else if you say yes to me. It's being held in Sinnoh and I would of course pay for everything since I'll be the one dragging you along, but please tell me you'll say yes!"

Ash blinked a few times as Bill ranted and it took a moment before he could fully comprehend what Bill was asking. "When is this taking place?"

"Not until after the League is over for the season," Bill asked as he swayed side to side in his chair, "The Coordinators are aware that the Professors and most Researchers are busy during this time of year when we are in the middle of League season. This year they are holding the conference in Sinnoh during the winter after the League ends."

"What goes on during these conferences and how long is it?" Ash asked and was beginning to get more intrigued at the idea. It was perfect timing really. It was after the League and he was wanting to go to another Region to explore after Kanto anyway, and with Sinnoh being Pauls' homeland he could spend more time with him than just a few phone calls and texts here and there. It sucked that they were so busy to even see each other in person, but they could get over this hurdle. Ash was sure of it.

"We mostly share information with each other and show off various pokémon ad its about two weeks long. Like last year, it was shared that Eevee could evolve into Glaceon and Leafeon using an Ice Stone and a Leaf Stone, and two years before that it was discovered that the leaves from different berries could be turned into tea. This year, from what Rowan said, we'll actually be having a few Professors and Researchers from Alola, Galar, and Orre coming," Bill said excitedly, "As well as a few other Regions that we've never got visitors from."

Ash nodded as he ran his fingers over the soft warm belly fur on Riolu. The small pup had already fallen asleep in the few minutes he had been in his lap. "And you want me to come because I have the most unusual group of pokémon you have ever seen?" Ash asked with a wry smile on his face.

"That and I think it would be a great experience for you to mingle with other researchers than the old men you encounter all the time," Bill said with a small chuckle, "There will be others your age there and other OFRTs as well."

"It honestly sounds really good," Ash said while nodding once more, "I guess I'll go. I haven't really thought of anything to do after the League was up yet and going to a new Region will be refreshing I think."

"Perfect!" Bill said as he clapped his hands together, "I'll let Rowan know and once I get the email confirming our spots there I'll send a copy to you to look over. When it gets closer to the date of the conference I'll send another email with your plane ticket, and the address of the place we will stay at."

"Great," Ash said before they said their goodbyes and hung up the call. He looked over his pokémon, most were taking a nap, while others groomed each other and let out a deep sigh. He looked down at his watch and pulled up a map of the area and they weren't far from Stone Town, the town that lay at the feet of Evolution Mountain, they were only three to four hours away.

Glancing at the time Ash stood up and began to rouse everyone into moving. By the time they reached the town it would be mid-evening and he wanted to get a room and be settled before it got too late. He recalled those that wanted to be recalled before shouldering his bag and stepping back onto the path.

Eevee trotted beside him with Zoroark, disguised as a Houndour, beside her and Pikachu, as always, was perched on his shoulder with his ears alert. The walk was peaceful and the breeze was nice as it broke the heat every once and a while. The only sounds were of Pidgey calls and the occasional Spearow calls as well as the sound of a young kid calling for someone in the distance.

"Eevee! Come on, where are you?!"

The voice sounded like it had been carried by the wind so Ash kept walking, but now his pokémon were on alert. At Ashs' prompting Zoroark changed his disguise into a Pidgey and flew overhead to either find the child that was calling for Eevee or to find the Eevee themself. Ash had also sent Persian and Gardevoir out to look for this Eevee.

His own Eevee had climbed into his bag seeing as she didn't want to get confused by this child into thinking that she was his. She didn't want to get taken from her own trainer, after all.

Ash kept his attention half the time on the small speck in the sky that was Zoroark, and the other half on his own surroundings. He was once again using his Aura Sense, not that he could extend his sense very far yet, to help himself out and not go the wrong way.

"Eevee! Buddy!"

The childs' voice was closer this time and when Ash followed the curve of the path he encountered the child. He was short, a few years older than Leon, and had brown hair and brown eyes. The kids' clothes were covered in grass stains and dirtied with what looked like a mix of sand and dirt. There was a look of desperation and scared on his face.

"Hey kid," Ash greeted softly as he stopped in front of the kid, "Could hear you down the path. Need help?"

"Please mister! My Eevee, he ran away because of my brothers!" the kid exclaimed as he gripped the bottom hem of his shirt, "They keep putting pressure on us to evolve Eevee, but Eevee doesn't want to evolve! Eevee just wants to stay as Eevee! My brother's pushed too far this time and now Eevee ran away!"

Ash crouched down a bit and took the kids' hands into his own. "Hey," Ash said softly, "It's okay. If Eevee doesn't want to evolve then he doesn't have to. I understand my Pikachu here doesn't want to evolve either."

The kid pulled one of his hands back to rub at the tears from his face and took a deep breath. "Sorry," the kid said, "Eevee is my best friend and now he's gone."

"Not forever," Ash promised, "I have three of my pokémon looking for Eevee right now. How about we head look around a bit while we wait for my pokémon to come back with any information?"

"Okay," the kid said softly, "I'm Mikey by the way."

"It's nice to meet you Mikey. I'm Ash," he said and tried to reassure the kid, "I work as an On the Field Researcher and Trainer. If anyone can find your Eevee it's my pokémon they're trained to do things like this."

Ash led Mikey to a place where it was easily visible from the path and the area above was clear of tree leaves and branches so Zoroark could find them when he got back. The teen knew that it would take his pokémon no time at all to find the missing Eevee so instead of using his Aura to look for Eevee he used it to keep a 'look' out around them to make sure that he and Mikey are safe where they sat. He asked Mikey some questions pertaining to what the kid said earlier about his brothers and gave Mikey some water since it was hot out and he didn't know how long the kid had been looking for Eevee.

Mikey and his older brothers were apparently the grandkids to the Mayor of Stone Town and the three older boys were obsessed with pokémon that need to use stones to evolve. His brothers' Sparky, Pyro, and Rainer were always arguing over which evolution is the best since the three specialize in their respective Eevee evolutions.

"Do they not care about Eevees' other evolutions?" Ash asked after Mikey described the Flareon, Vaporeon, and Jolteon his brothers owned.

"What other evolutions?" Mikey asked in confusion, he had only ever been taught those three evolutions.

Ash let out a sigh as he took out his dex, it having a larger screen than his watch, and opened Eevee's data page. He showed Mikey pictures of Espeon, Umbreon, Glaceon, Leafeon, and Sylveon. "My own Eevee wants to be a Leafeon," Ash added, "That's why our journey brought us here."

"You have an Eevee?" Mikey asked as he looked over each picture in awe. He never knew Eevee had other evolutions. They didn't really have much in the way of getting television in the town or getting other electronic devices to work. Being surrounded by mountains does have its downsides.

Ash nodded and gestured to his bag, which he had placed down beside the log they were sitting on, before letting out a short sharp whistle. Eevee's head stuck out of the opening of his bag before her large ears popped out. She let out a soft bark as she carefully crawled out of the bag, being careful of the egg that held their pack mates in, before walking over to Ash and sitting down in front of him.

"She's so pretty," Mikey said as Ash picked her up and placed her on his lap.

"She is and she knows," the teen said as his Eevee preened at their attention. Before either of them could say another word Zoroark, still in his Pidgey disguise, landed on the ground beside Ash. Zoroark let his disguise go and let out a huff of amusement when Mikey let out a shout.

"Did you find Eevee?" Ash asked as Zoroark ruffled out his fur and settled down where he had landed. The illusionist nodded and gestured towards the path where Ash could now see his Gardevoir and Persian walking their way. He could barely see it, but there was a light brown mass hanging between Persians' teeth. "Is Eevee hurt?" he asked and gained a shake of Zoroarks' head.

"They found him?" Mikey asked softly and when Ash turned to look at him he saw hope written all over Mikeys' face.

"Looks like it," Ash said with a nod, "My Gardevoir and Persian will be here in a moment with him."

For Mikey that moment was the longest he ever had to wait. He only had attention for his Eevee that he didn't notice the different coloration on the two pokémon in front of him. Ash smiled as he watched Mikey hold his Eevee and he saw the pure loving bond the two had. These two would go far if Mikey ever left Stone Town.

After recalling his pokémon, after giving them praises, he followed Mikey into Stone Town to the small Center they had. It had to have been the smallest Center Ash had ever been to, but they thankfully had a room available for him to have for a night or two. He also met with Mikeys' Grandfather, Mayor Jasper Grant, who was pleased to see him after what his youngest grandson had told him.

"I never have liked the attitude those three boys have," Jasper said to him after Mikey had taken Eevee to get something to eat, "it's just gotten worse after the boys evolved their own Eevee partners with the help of the researchers down near the mountain."

"Researchers?" Ash asked as he took a sip of the tea the older man offered after stepping into his home.

Salt and pepper hair moved along with the nod Jasper gave him. "They've been here for about a year now researching the mountain and the natural stones it produces. Supposedly from Unova," he answered, "They should be out of my town come this next spring."

"Speaking of the mountain," Ash said as he placed his cup down onto the saucer Jasper had provided, "I was told by Professor Oak that I would need your, and the Chief of Polices', permission to go in. What do I need to do to be able to get that?"

Ash watched as Jasper ran his fingers over his salt and pepper beard as the old man stared at him. It was a bit uncomfortable, but Ash endured the feeling.

"What is it exactly you are wanting from the mountain?" Jasper finally asked as he placed his hand on his lap.

"I would like to gather the evolution stones I need to evolve a couple of my pokémon," Ash answered truthfully, "I wanted to gather them by hand instead of just buying an overpriced stone from someone. My pokémon have worked hard to get as far as they have come and I want to work just as hard for them so they can take the next step in their own life's journey."

The old man hummed softly as he listened to Ash. It was quite a noble and heartening speech, and from a child at that. It had been too long since he had heard so much conviction from someone so young. "I will give you my permission and will pass it along to Samuel, my Chief of Police, for you to enter the mountain when the sun comes up. You do not need to seek him out as well. If I may ask, what stones are you seeking?"

Ash felt a wave of relief as Jasper gave him permission and that he would pass it along to this Samuel person. "My Eevee wishes to evolve into a Leafeon and to do that I need to gather a Leaf Stone for her. My Doublade needs a Dusk Stone to be able to evolve into an Aegislash," he explained as he took another sip of tea.

"A Leafeon?" Jasper asked and having remembered what Mikey had told him; Ash was quick to explain that Eevee had several other evolutions, and how they were evolved, that had been discovered over the last few years. "Hmm, how peculiar." the older man mumbled.

Ash didn't stay much longer after that, with it being late and he wanted a good night's rest before entering the mountain the next day, so he had left to go back to the Center. The Nurse Joy that had been there just a couple of hours before had been switched out to another nurse, so he gave his greetings before going down the hall to his room.

It was a small simple room that had a full size bed, a dresser, a nightstand, a desk tucked into the corner, and a lamp that had been turned on when he flipped the switch on the wall. On the wall opposite of the bed was a door that led to a small bathroom. He wasn't able to release everyone in here due to the size, but he did release Persian, Eevee, Doublade, and Riolu. The small pup immediately clung to him in a sleepy state.

He sleepily ate the onigiri he had purchased earlier that day and downed it with water before falling back onto his bed. The Aura training he had done to help find the Skitty and to keep an 'eye' out around himself and Mikey was coming back to kick him in his ass. He just managed to cover himself with the sheet and blanket before passing out as his head hit the pillow.