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!

Griffin Blackwood, Oh Griffin! I thought I left enough context clues to clue y'all in.

DevonEFuller, I did not forget Koga. He's next.

Sakihinata, you got the context clues!

Roxel, Thank you! If I do a new Eevee evolution I might put up a poll or have y'all vote (in the comments) between a couple of types that I have evolutions in mind for. As for the Hisuian pokémon, as I told Abomination009 in the last chapter, I feel as though I can't put any Hisuian pokémon or their variant in this fanfiction as of yet. I am waiting until I am able to purchase and get Pokémon Legends: Arceus and see what it has in store before thinking about adding any of them. Perhaps afterwards I will add them as Hisuian Zorua/Zoroark has stolen my heart. For all we know the developers have added a new Eevee evolution in the game and just haven't leaked anything about it.

Asmodeus45, It was a good detail to point out, and while yes in the game they are infertile, in this fanfiction they aren't.

A/N: Can anyone guess what is in Ashs' egg? I gave a bit of a hint this chapter. Also! I will add a list to the bottom of Ashs' pokemon to catch everyone up to speed on what he has and where they're all at.

Enjoy!

As he became more aware of the waking world, Ash noticed a weight on his stomach that wasn't there during the night. Said weight was purring and kneading his stomach softly. As far as he knew none of his pokémon do that besides Persian, but the weight on his stomach was too light and the body too small to be her. Ash slowly opened his eyes and peered down only to be met with a sleeping feline face with large ears.

"Shinx?" Ash asked confused as he sat up further. The cub let out a small sound as she opened her golden eyes. When they made eye contact the cub let out a louder purr and stretched out her body. "Um, does anyone know you're gone?" he added after a moment of them just staring at each other.

Shinx tilted her head before shaking her head and let out a chirpy meow. Ash only let out a sigh as he carefully moved the cub off his stomach so he could get up, but ended up staying in the same position for a few moments as he thought about what he needed to do. He would have to take her back to the medical facility before heading out first before doing anything else. He also needed to see about perhaps getting a boat ride to Fuchsia so he could battle Koga, then to do Surge's thing at the school, before heading over to Saffron to go after Sabrina. Then it was to the last gym to fight Giovanni.

He would also need to set up a video conference call so both Oak and Bill could look over the strange Leaf Stone he had found. He could do that while on the boat though since the journey can take a few hours to get from Cinnabar Island to the port outside of the Safari Zone that was next to Fuchsia.

With a too heavy of a sigh for just waking up he got out of the bed and started to get ready for the day. He set out food for everyone before getting in the shower and getting dressed. By the time he had finished getting ready and had gotten back into the main room, Persian had taken Shinx under her paw and was grooming her. The little cub simply closed her eyes and laid there content and happy.

Ash let out a soft sigh as he watched the two felines. He had seen Persian grooming the other smaller pokémon of the group, but he hadn't seen her this happy or content ever. It was as if Persian had already adopted the Shinx and the small cub just went along for the ride.

Ash had to recall his pokémon, but he left Persian and Pikachu out with Shinx before leading them out of the room. The cub let out a meow as she walked under Persian, between her paws, on their way to the facility.

It was a bit of a surprise that there wasn't a large crowd outside, but with how early it was Ash should have known that it wouldn't be so busy around here. He had gotten to the medical facility with no problem, and Shinx was happy to go in with him, but the sounds of the cubs' crying tore his heart along with the sad look Persian gave him.

Between the two Ash caved in.

So with a new family member in hand, or rather in her new ball on his belt, and a happy Persian; Ash went to secure a boat off the island.

"Blaine?" Ash asked as he walked into Cinnabar's boathouse and saw the Gym Leader laughing away with one of the older men there.

"Ash!" Blaine greeted with a wide smile, "Come over here!"

With a noiseless sigh, an action he seemed to be doing a lot this morning, Ash walked over and Blaine slapped his back, not that hard thnkfully, in a greeting. "What brings you here, lad?" Blaine asked as he placed his hand on the counter top between himself and his friend.

"I needed to see about getting onto a boat heading towards Fuchsia," the teen answered as Pikachu hopped onto the counter. The mouse sniffed the air and twitched his ears, but showed no signs of being aggressive.

"My old friend, Captain Ainsley, here can help you with that," Blaine said before he turned to the silent man behind the counter, "Put his journey on my tab. Think of it as thank you for the best battle I've had in ages."

Ash closed his mouth after Blaine had cut him off from protesting about Blaine paying for the boat ride. The teen simply said his thanks as he turned his head to hide the small pout on his face. He still had money that Surge had given him as one of his 'rewards' and from all the battles he won as well as the payments from Oak for being his OFRT. He was just fine on money, thank Arceus very much.

"I got a boat heading that way in a few minutes. It's holding cargo and such, but it's the only boat I have leaving the port today." Ainsley said after looking over the schedule today then added, "There's supposed to be a nasty storm rolling in later in the afternoon that's supposed to last until morning."

"I would like to go one that one please," Ash said as a shiver rolled down his spine after hearing about the storm coming in. He had been having a few nightmares since the S.S. Anne, but they had been lessening.

Ainsley nodded as the old man gave him a piece of paper that he had written on and told him to head through the back door to where the boat was. "You're meeting one of my men, Parker. He'll be the one piloting the boat. Just give him this note and he'll let out on," Ainsley said, "The boat's name is Pearl of the Sea. She's a white vessel with a black lettering on the side and the largest boat we have. Can't miss her."

"Thank you," Ash said once more before bidding the two a goodbye. He walked out of the building and followed the fenced area until it opened up to the docks and sea. There were several boats that he could see by the docks. There was a red one, a blue one, a brown one, and lastly a white one.

"Mr. Parker?" Ash called out as he neared the boat, but didn't see anyone near the boat.

"Who are you? Employee's only back here and there's no one scheduled for a passenger ride," a gruff voice came from behind a stack of boxes. It only took a moment for a body to accompany the voice. Parker had dark suntanned skin and dark colored air. His eyes, a bright purple, were filled with suspicion and a hardiness that told Ash that the man had seen some things.

"Captain Ainsley said I could go with you to the Fuchsia port," Ash explained as he handed over the note. He held back a flinch as the paper was snatched quickly from his hand before the gruff man let out a grunt.

"So be it. I leave in five minutes," Parker said as he crumpled the note and shoved it in his pocket, "if you're not on my boat in that amount of time then I leave without you."

Ash simply nodded before skirting around the man to get on the boat. He had been ready when he got there and so there was no reason to leave when he could just sit on the deck of the boat. He settled down on a cleared spot and pulled his bag off his back.

While sitting there he went through his bag and took out the two stones he managed to find in Evolution Mountain before everything had happened. The Dusk Stone weighed a bit heavy in his palm and was so dark in the center that no light could pass through it while out towards the edges it turned into a light purple. The Leaf Stone on the other hand, instead of the bright green that all the other stones were, this one was a burnt orange color.

Seeing as he had a few minutes Ash decided to call Oak.

"Should I bring Bill into the call?" Ash asked once the older man had his look over the stone.

Oak let out a small hum before answering the question, "No. I don't believe Bill could add anything into the conversation. I do know someone though that could. Give me a moment to send him a message to see if he's free to speak."

Ash nodded as he looked up to see Pikachu sniffing a box only to let out a rather adorable sneeze. Parker was bringing up the last box and announced that they were leaving before walking into the captain's area of the boat where the steering wheel and such were. Ash called for Pikachu and wrapped the mouse up in his arms just in case the take off from the dock was a bit bumpy. He didn't want Pikachu to be sent flying after all.

Once they were on the open waters, and the boat steady and slow, Oak chimed back into the call. "Ash, he said he's free for a bit and willing to see the stone," Oak said as the screen divided itself into the three. It only took a moment, but once the call was accepted another old man appeared. He had spiky white hair with a mustache to match and dark colored eyes.

"Afternoon." the old man said, "The name is Rowan. I'm glad to meet the young man Oak has spoken so highly of."

"Afternoon Professor Rowan," Ash greeted and easily recognized the man once he laid eyes on him.

"Now Oak here tells me that you are in possession of a rather peculiar stone," Rowan said, getting to the point of the call rather quickly, "bring it up to the camera. Let me have a look."

Ash nodded and hit the button that flipped the camera around so it showed the stone. He moved the stone when prompted to and was amused by the hums Rowan let loose.

"And where did you say you found this stone?" Rowan asked as he ran his fingers over his mustache.

"In Evolution Mountain," Ash answered, "there wasn't anything around it that looked like it could have dyed the stone or anything."

"Well, all I can say is that it seems like a perfectly good evolution stone," Rowan said, "Do you perhaps have a pokémon that needs it to evolve?"

"My Eevee," Ash replied, "She wants to be a Leafeon, but I wasn't sure if this stone would have done the job. I couldn't stay in the mountain any longer to look for anymore either."

"Well if you wouldn't mind letting her evolve now," the old man said and sat back in his chair, "I would very much like to see if the coloration changes anything."

Ash bit his lip softly before consenting to the idea. Doublade and Eevee have waited long enough. He set the stone down and grabbed Eevees' ball before releasing her. Eevee shook out her fur and stretched a bit before letting out a soft greeting sound.

"Are you ready Eevee?" Ash asked as he brought up the stone to her eye level. She let out a sharp bark as she saw the stone and ran around in a small circle before settling down. Her tail whipped back and forth happily as Ash set the stone down by her feet and told her to go ahead.

With one more happy bark and an ear twitch Eevee settled one small brown paw onto the stone. She could feel the energy within the stone and it took little prompting to accept it within herself. Eevee closed her eyes as bright evolutionary light enveloped her.

Ash let out a sigh of relief as he saw the evolution take hold. He watched as Eevees' form grew tall and long with the added length to her tail. As the light faded he couldn't help the gasp that left his mouth and he heard the two Professors exclaim through the phone speaker.

The once small Eevee was now a large Leafeon. Her fur instead of the usual green and beige coloring was beige, orange, and brown. Her paws up to her elbows were a deep brown color that faded into the beige color of the rest of her coat. The tips of her long ears, leaf sprouts, and her entire tail was a mix of oranges and reds of various hues. Leafeon eyes, when she opened them, were a bright orange amber.

"Oh Leafeon," Ash said as he reached out to run his fingers over her head just behind the largest plant sprout, "look at yourself sweetheart."

Leafeon let out a soft purring sound, and even her tone of voice changed from the young high pitched tone she once had to a lower mature feminine tone. She purred softly as she turned in a circle to show off her new form before settling back down. She could tell that her trainer was happy and in turn that made her happy.

"Well now we know," Rowan said, catching Ashs' attention, "that the coloration of the stone does in fact change the outcome of the evolution. Is there by chance I can get my hands on the leftover stone?"

"When would you want it?" Ash asked, "I could mail it to you, but I am also going to Sinnoh for the conference."

"You are?!" Rowan exclaimed and it was the first time Ash heard the man with a different tone to his words since he joined the call.

"I am," Ash said as he nodded, "I'm Bill's plus one and I was planning on staying in Sinnoh afterwards for a while. Perhaps join the League challenge while I'm there."

"Ah perfect," Rowan said, "I can wait to get my hands on it until then. If you wouldn't mind, can we present this finding to the others in the conference?"

Ash hummed and bit the inside of his cheek before replying that he would think about it before getting back to the Professor. Without much else to say Ash ended the call after a few goodbyes and thanks. Leafeon, curled up into a ball, looked up at him and waved her tail a bit.

He raised his wrist with his watch so he could scan her while they weren't doing much. He was glad to see that she learned Synthesis and Magical Leaf. Ash had looked up a few grass type moves that had been documented over the years and he wanted her to learn Leaf Sword as well. He would have to ask his Doublade to help her learn how to use the Leaf Sword to her advantage instead of just swinging her tail around.

It wasn't too much longer, the ride having been much shorter than he had thought it would be, before Parker had announced that they would reach the dock in half an hour. He recalled Leafeon, with a promise to get her out later for some training, before gathering the supplies he had taken out of his bag after the phone call.

He checked on his egg for a moment before closing his bag and shouldering it to leave. Just as Pikachu jumped onto his shoulder the boat slowed down significantly before coming to a stop beside the dock. He yelled his thanks to Parker before stepping up and out of the boat and made his way into the wilderness that laid between him and the Safari Zone.

He wanted to pay Baoba a visit and let him know how Tyrantrum was doing and if the old Safari owner needed anything from him before heading onto Fuchsia. It took him about an hour to get to the doors of the Safari Zone, but Baoba wasn't there. Ash thanked the worker anyway before leaving and made his way down a well worn path to Fuchsia.

From what he knew of Koga, the man specializes in poison types, and was training his daughter to take over for him once this season was up. Rumors had it that he got an offer to join the Elite Four, but Ash didn't take much into rumors like that. Koga's family also founded Fuchsia and kept the ninja lifestyle of old still alive. As far as Ash knew, Fuchsia City was the only place in Kanto that still had ninja.

The walk to the city wasn't a long one, even though it felt like it with the sun bearing down on him, and he let out a sigh of relief once he felt the cool air of the town's Center. He booked a room as he usually did and decided to head outside to do some training with his pokémon after sending Tyrantrum back to Oak. He did go by the Mart to pick up a few jugs of water, some food, and a few other items along the way.

Ash took his purchases and went back out towards the Safari Zone, not close enough to be on the property, but close enough in the case of an emergency. He stopped once he found a clearing he liked and released his pokémon. Pikachu, having not been in a ball, quickly took Riolu away to start his daily training before Ash could say anything.

"All right everyone!" Ash called out to get their attention, "Today we're going to be training for Koga's Gym match, but before we get started on that, Doublade can you come here?"

His twin swords floated over to Ash and made an inquisitorial metallic noise. Ash, having put the Dusk Stone in his pocket earlier on the boat, reached into his pocket and pulled it out. "Ready?" he asked as he brought the stone up to her eye level. The twin swords shook in their scabbard before she reached out and touched the stone with one of her ribbons.

Ash closed his eyes as the bright light flared in front of him and when he opened his eyes once more his twin swords were not one large sword and shield. Her main body was a dark gray with red edges while her ribbons faded from gray to gold. Her one eye glowed a bright gold as she calmed down from evolving. Her plaque had changed with her to form her shield, which was gray and gold like her ribbons.

"Let's get to training," Ash said softly as he rested his hand on her shield. Aegislash let out a loud hum in agreement before dashing off to try out her new body. Persian had taken Shinx and Ninetales off to train while Zoroark and Gardevoir sparred together. Gardevoir had brought up the want to spar with Zoroark to train herself in fighting the voids as she calls them. Kingdra and Leafeon dashed off to train together so Leafeon could perfect the new moves she learned when she evolved and Kingdra could improve his accuracy by shooting the fast moving Magical Leaf.

As his pokémon trained and worked hard Ash sat down and brought out his notebook to bring the training documents he had up to date and to add Shinx. She had a pretty good move set, but he wanted to see about adding to it or improving the moves she had. Shinx also had the Psychic Fangs move Blaine's Arcanine knew which Ash was excited about and wanted to see if any of the others could learn it.

Based on the initial scan his pokédex did, as well as the medical records from the Cinnabar Facility, Shinx was looking like she was going to be a fast hitter. Someone that could dash in and out of a fight, a perfect doubles partner for Zoroark or Persian.

What worried him the most was the Marie Antoinette Syndrome she had. Ash didn't want to stress her out anymore than she already had been at the hands of that… human. So he would have to leave her training mostly to the others in the pack for the time being before stepping in. Ash would give whoever was going to be training her a few pointers to lead her into so at least he felt as though he was helping her.

As for Riolu, his other new trainee, was making leaps and bounds with his training, both physically and with his Aura, and Ash was so proud of him. The small pup was able to find his pack mates easily now with his sensing ability and was often seen training with his eyes closed. Pikachu had taught Riolu how to form energy into his paws and ended up teaching the Aura wielder Thunder Punch on top of Copycat.

His egg was showing signs that it was going to hatch any day now. The egg, once white, had taken a blue hue to it and developed a snowflake pattern on top of the gray and red stripes it had. One side of the egg was extremely warm while the other was borderline freezing, but when he brought it up to Oak that man wasn't concerned about it and told him to keep an eye on the monitor just in case.

All in all he felt ready to take on the next gym. Ash had a few pokémon he knew for sure he was using as their typing just made sense. He just hoped that this battle would go as well as Blaines' match. If he wanted to help Surge out at all he didn't have the time to lose, take a few days to weeks to train some more, fight the gym again in hopes to win, and then make it up to Vermilion in time.

He also didn't want to have to double back down, again. There was only a few months left in the League Challenge before the invitations went out to everyone who finished the Challenge to come together at the Indigo Plateau to close out the season with a competition and the right to challenge the Elite Four.

Ash, finished with what he needed to do in his notebook, put his things away and set out to meditate. He ignored the sounds of his pokémon training as he took deep breaths and focused on feeling his surroundings.

The Aura around him was filled with happiness from what he could tell. The grass swayed in the breeze not caring if it got trampled on as it would always grow back. The trees, tall, strong, and filled with life, loved being able to become a home or bear fruit for any pokémon that came by. The flowers seemed to 'giggle' whenever a pokémon came near it to give it a sniff and the water was full of lively energy as it raced through the creek bed.

His own pokémon were filled with excitement, happiness, and determination as they trained. The further out his sense went the weaker his sense got until it tapered into nothing. That was his goal for this training session of his. He wanted to extend his sense far more than his immediate area. Just before he was able to extend it any further all the happiness and glee he felt took a sharp turn into panic, fear, and a bit of sickness.

His eyes shot open and he looked around, but his pokémon were just fine. Persian was grooming Shinx with Ninetales beside them taking a nap. Kingdra and Leafeon were chatting by the water as they watched Pikachu train Riolu. Zoroark and Gardevoir were taking a break from their training and Aegislash was still doing her usual katas.

Ash kept looking around, still feeling the panic, fear and sickness, but not seeing anything. His pokémon hadn't even noticed that he was freaking out. It was so close too. He was close to just getting up and running around to see where the feelings were coming from when he remembered one thing.

He had Mewtwo in his ball around his neck.

His eyes widened as he scrambled to grab the ball and quickly released the creature inside. When Mewtwo appeared from the ball it sent Ash into a bit of a panic. Mewtwo was laying down instead of standing as they usually would have been and having a hard time getting a breath in. Ash could tell they were sweating and when he reached out to touch Mewtwos' head he had to pull back quickly because of how hot Mewtwo was.

"Shit!" Ash cursed as he scrambled to open his bag to get some medicine. He wanted to take Mewtwo to a Center, but he knew how much the creature detested other humans and would freak out if they woke up in a medical facility. Ash managed to grab a super potion and carefully poured it down Mewtwos' throat.

"Gardevoir!" Ash called out to gain her attention, "Help!"

His darling girl dashed over quickly and knelt down across from Ash while the others followed her. Ash told the others to back off a bit and give them room since crowding them wasn't going to help anything. Ash watched as Gardevoir used Hypnosis making the once tense form of Mewtwo to relax a bit before she used Life Dew a few times on them.

"I can't do anything else for Master Mewtwo," Gardevoir said as she used one more Life Dew, "I can't tell what's wrong."

Ash nodded as he looked down at Mewtwo. "That's okay," he said as he grabbed his sleeping bag and his old jacket. He folded up his jacket to place under Mewtwos' head before opening his sleeping bag all the way to cover their body. "We've done what we can for now," Ash said after a quiet moment, "Let's keep our eyes on them and if they get any worse we'll take them to a Center."

Who Ash has on hand-

Pikachu

Shinx

Persian

Gardevoir

Ninetales

Zoroark

Aegislash

Riolu

Leafeon

Kingdra

Krookodile

Mewtwo

Egg (Twins)

With Oak-

Charizard

Tyrantrum

Nidoking