(Guest:

That's fine I like it so far since you haven't given Ash any legendary Pokémon hope Ash gets a lot stronger.)

I actually haven't considered having Ash catch any legendary pokémon, but I'll keep it in mind for later. Thanks for the input.


They couldn't believe their luck, they had just arrived in the Stralia Region and had already met the local Pokémon Professor, the one person who could prove Ash's innocence and grant them asylum. He seemed willing to give them asylum, but only if they could prove Ash's innocence. Ash just hoped Professor Gidyea was a man they could trust.

"Professor Gidyea, I swear to you I never drugged or abused my pokémon and I can prove it," said Ash, removing his backpack and revealing the pokéballs inside. "These are the pokémon I've caught throughout my travels. If you could just do some tests on them, you'll be able to see Professor Oak was lying."

"Woah, woah kid, ya gettin ahead of yourself. I'm happy to do some tests on ya pokémon and I'll be happy to give ya asylum if the tests prove your innocent. Unfortunately, your gonna have to go with the police first," said Professor Gidyea.

"What?" asked Dawn.

"I know that might seem unfair, because you've come here seeking asylum and ya have nowhere else to go, but sadly the laws the law and you've all technically entered this region illegally. But I promise if I find no evidence of foul play, you'll be released and free to explore the region. Your situations already been discussed and we're just gonna need to place you in holding cells for a day or two while I run the tests," said Professor Gidyea.

They realised they didn't have any other option at the moment, but this didn't seem too bad, given their situation.

"Also, I'm gonna need everyone's pokémon," said Professor Gidyea. "I know that seems unfair, but I promise I won't harm them and if you've got nothing to hide, we shouldn't have any problems."

The group still didn't like the thought of having to surrender their pokémon, but at the same time Professor Gidyea made a valid point. They had nothing to hide, so they surrendered their pokemon to Professor Gidyea. Even Pickachu who disliked being inside his pokéball agreed to return to it.

"Professor Gidyea wait. I want you to take this as well," said Ash removing Professor Sycamore's letter from his pocket. "This letter came from Professor Sycamore in the Kalos Region. He's already done tests on some of my pokémon and he claims he saw no evidence of drugging. I hope this helps convince you I'm innocent."

"Alright, I'll look it over, but I'd still like to make my own judgement," said Professor Gidyea taking the letter.

The group were driven to the police station and after they were processed, they were all put into holding cells with two beds each. They were also informed that the boys and girls would have to be separated for the time being. Clemont didn't like this.

"But Bonnie's my sister, surely she can share a cell with me," reasoned Clemont.

"I'm sorry son, but rules are rules and we have to separate you," said a police officer.

"Can't you make an exception just this once. I'm the only family she has now," said Clemont.

"That may be, but as far as we're concerned, you're in our custody, so ya have to follow our rules," said the officer.

"But that's not right," said Clemont angrily.

Dawn decided to intervene.

"Clemont stop. We should consider ourselves lucky that they haven't put us on the first boat back to Kanto and we won't improve our situation by arguing with them. I'll watch over Bonnie until they release us. I promise."

"Alright," said Clemont calming down. "Be good for Dawn Bonnie."

"I will Clemont I promise," said Bonnie.

They were all transferred to their cells. Ash and Brock were in one. Clemont and Gary were in another, with the final one holding Dawn and Bonnie. One would think they would have trouble sleeping that night given their situation, but after three weeks of travelling they were all exhausted and fell asleep within the next hour.

Meanwhile Professor Gidyea returned to his lab. He was going to conduct the majority of the tests the next day, but wanted to get one or two pokémon tested before he retired for the night. Not only was he determined to discover the truth about Ash, but he was also excited to study some new pokémon. Having never left the Stralia Region, he now had the chance to study pokémon he'd never seen before. There were a few among Ash's collection he was familiar with, but even then, the climate of the Stralia Region had caused them to evolve differently.

"I think I'll start with his Pikachu," said Professor Gidyea, admiring the pokéball that had a small lightning bolt painted on its top half. "Oh, we have plenty of you around here, but if they saw what you evolved into, I bet they'd be shocked. Wow that was a bad pun."

Professor Gidyea put Pikachu's pokéball inside a large machine that would allow him to study the pokémon inside.

"Hmm, interesting. I can see why it evolved differently down here. Now I wish I could study an Alolan Pikachu. But more to the point, absolutely no sign of performance enhancing drugs," thought Professor Gidyea out loud. "I'd almost be willing to set him free on that alone. This is the pokémon he uses the most, meaning it's the one he'd most likely drug to make stronger. But it's clean, absolutely clean. I don't think I've ever seen a cleaner pikachu."

Nevertheless, Professor Gidyea knew he couldn't make sound judgement on a single test. He'd have to test all of Ash's pokémon. He felt he'd need to test the other pokémon just to be sure none of the asylum seekers were guilty of cheating and pokémon abuse. The next pokémon he tested was Ash's Charizard.

"Ah, the Kanto fire starter. What a beauty. Almost puts our fire starter to shame," said Professor Gidyea, putting Charizard's pokéball into the machine.

At first Professor Gidyea was able to just enjoy the complexities of a foreign pokémon, but then he noticed something rather peculiar. He had to adjust his glasses and look a second time, just to be sure he'd read the test right.

"Struth, this changes everything," said Professor Gidyea.

Ash and his friends spent most of the next day waiting for news of what would happen. They'd been provided with food throughout the day, which they were grateful for. Even though they were eating prison food, having been traveling for three weeks straight, they hadn't had a decent meal in what felt like forever. The guards were also nice enough to give them some books so they wouldn't get bored. They used this time to read up on the Stralia Region. The more Ash read the more eager he got about exploring. There were plenty of pokémon he'd never seen before, some of which looked extremely powerful. There was a flying-fighting type known as Cassawar, that looked like it could put most other fighting types to shame. He also discovered that some of the pokémon the Stralia Region shared with other regions had evolved differently and were different types. He discovered the sandile evolutionary line were water-ground types, as opposed to their usual ground-dark type. Ash was about to read up about the pickachu's of the Stralia Region, when the door to his and Brock's cell opened.

"Ketchum, the professor wants to see ya," said the guard.

Ash and Brock exchanged a look.

"Maybe he's ready to grant us asylum," suggested Ash.

"Maybe, but be careful Ash, we have no idea what this guy's decided," said Brock.

Ash got up and went with the guard. As they were walking to Professor Gidyea's lab, Ash again noticed the large dark reddish-brown Kangaskhan he'd seen the night before. There were so many of them. Back in the Kanto Region they were very rare and could only be found in the Safari Zone, but in the Stralia Region, it looked as if they were widespread.

"Are those Kangaskhan?" asked Ash.

"Oh yeah, don't worry about them though. It ya don't bother them they won't hurt ya," said the guard.

"Are they common in this part of the world?" asked Ash.

"Bloody oath they are. They're about the most common pokémon in this region. They're basically a symbol of the entire Stralia Region," said the guard.

"What type are they? They're normal types in the Kanto Region," stated Ash.

The guard laughed.

"They've evolved as fighten types down here. The harsh climate made them incredibly strong. I have a feeling they'd wipe the floor with the Kangaskhan in your region."

"No argument here. I just hope I can get the chance to catch one," said Ash.

"Well, if the professor believes ya innocent you might just get ya chance," said the guard as they approached a semi-large building. "Here we are. Good luck kid. I'll wait out here."

Ash walked inside hoping he had proven his innocence by letting Professor Gidyea test his pokémon. As Ash was searching for Professor Gidyea's office, he noticed a large in-door pokémon habitat like the ones he'd seen in other regions. A part of him wanted to stay and admire all the new pokemon, but he also knew he shouldn't keep Professor Gidyea waiting. He eventually found the professor's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in," said Professor Gidyea.

Ash entered.

"You wanted to see me Professor?" asked Ash.

Professor Gidyea let out a sigh.

"Sit down Ash," he said calmly.

Ash took a seat in front of Professor Gidyea's desk.

"So, what have you discovered about my pokémon?" asked Ash.

"All in good time Ash, but first I think this little guy wants to get out of his ball," said Professor Gidyea holding up the pokéball with a small lightning bolt. He threw it and Pikachu appeared.

"Pikachu," said Ash.

"Pika pi," said Pikachu happily jumping into his trainer's arms.

"Real fine pikachu you have there son. A true powerhouse and shows zero signs of drugging or other forms of abuse," stated Professor Gidyea.

Ash looked at Professor Gidyea hopefully.

"So you believe me? The tests show I've never drugged my pokemon?" asked Ash.

Professor Gidyea's expression got very serious.

"Ash, I need to show ya something," said Professor Gidyea.

"Um, ok," said Ash confused.

Professor Gidyea pulled out a remote. He pressed a button and a projector screen appeared to the side of them. He pressed another button switching it to a screen which showed all the pokémon Ash caught during his Kalos journey, along with his lapras, primeape, pigeot and pikachu.

"All these pokémon tested negative. There is absolutely no evidence of you using performance enhancing drugs on them," said Professor Gidyea.

"And that proves I'm innocent, doesn't it?" asked Ash.

"Sadly, no," said Professor Gidyea.

He pressed the remote again switching to a slide showing the remainder of Ash's pokémon.

"These pokemon all tested positive for performance enhancing drugs," said Professor Gidyea.

Ash felt the blood drain from his face. He didn't know how or why, but somehow his pokémon had been drugged. It was over. Ash had now lost his one chance to prove his innocence. No matter where he went, he'd be guilty of drugging his pokémon. It wouldn't matter that a few of his pokémon had tested negative, they would see those that were positive as proof that Ash had in fact cheated, even though this wasn't true.

"Professor Gidyea I swear to you I have no idea how those drugs were given to my pokémon," begged Ash desperately. "But I swear on Arceus himself that I didn't drug them."

"Calm down kid I wasn't finished," said Professor Gidyea. "I don't believe it was you who drugged ya pokémon."

Ash felt the colour return to his face.

"You don't?"

"No and I'll tell you why," said Professor Gidyea. "Ya Pikachu was the first of ya pokémon I tested. And he's clean, completely clean. But then I tested ya Charizard and he came back positive. Right there I knew somethin wasn't right."

"You did? What?" asked Ash hopefully.

"How is it, that a pokémon you haven't used much lately comes back positive for performance enhancing drugs, but one you use constantly doesn't?" asked Professor Gidyea. "Ya see that doesn't make sense to me. Because you rely on ya pikachu to win so many of ya battles, he should logically be one of the pokémon you drug the most. But to repeat what I said before, he's clean."

"What does that mean? How did some of my pokémon get drugged while others are clean?" asked Ash.

"I can't say for certain, but I'll tell you what I think," said Professor Gidyea, before switching back to the slide with the pokémon that came back clean. "Tell me Ash, what do you see?"

"The pokémon you told me weren't drugged," said Ash who was unsure where this was going.

"Right, but what else? What is it about these pokémon that make me believe it wasn't you that drugged ya pokémon?" asked Professor Gidyea.

Ash took a real good look at the pokémon on the screen. He saw no reason as to why Lapras, Pigeot and Primeape would be drugged, as he released them years ago. Then he remembered what Professor Gidyea said. Professor Gidyea believed that Pikachu was the most likely to be drugged as he went with Ash everywhere, but was clean. The remaining pokémon on the slide, were Ash's most recent catches and were the ones he had most recently used.

"Most of the pokémon that are clean are ones that have most recently been in my possession," said Ash.

"Exactly," said Professor Gidyea. "I found it odd then that these were among the few that came back clean. As your newest catches you'd have the most incentive to toughen them up with performance enhancing drugs. If that was what you were actually doing, as everyone seems to be claiming."

"Then how did the rest of my pokémon get drugged?" asked Ash.

Professor Gidyea switched back to the slide of the pokémon that had tested positive.

"Am I correct in assuming that most of these pokémon were in Professor Oak's possession while you were travelling through the Kalos Region?" asked Professor Gidyea.

"Yeah, I could only carry six pokémon at a time. I sent them to Professor Oak's lab so he could look after them. Which I'm starting to think was a bad idea," stated Ash.

"I also think it was a bad idea, because I believe it was Professor Oak who drugged ya pokémon," said Professor Gidyea.

"What?" asked Ash who couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"It's only a theory, but I've got some evidence to back it up," said Professor Gidyea. "All the pokémon that came back positive were in the care of Professor Oak while you were travelling. Most of them haven't been used in any of ya recent battles and yet all of them came back positive. And these tests indicate they were all drugged about a month ago."

"A month ago?" asked Ash. "I was accused about a month ago."

"Correct. Which leads me to believe he drugged them just before ya got home, which would give him all the evidence he needed to have ya banned from Pokémon Leagues and maybe even convicted for pokémon abuse," said Professor Gidyea. "I actually think it's for the best Professor Sycamore didn't reveal his findings. He was only able to test five of ya pokémon, only two of which have recently been in your possession, and I could tell the other three had been released long ago. It wouldn't have been enough to clear your name."

"Do you think your findings will be enough to clear my name?" asked Ash.

"In this region perhaps, but not in the others. They'll probably see the positive results as all the evidence they need to convict ya," said Professor Gidyea.

"I was fearing that when you told me many of my pokémon had come back positive," said Ash.

"Something tells me that they won't even stop to consider how unlikely it is that you could even get a hold of the drugs used," said Professor Gidyea.

"What do you mean?" asked Ash.

"The drugs used on ya pokémon are extremely hard to come by. So, unless you or ya mum have a history as Pokémon Professors, I can't see any feasible way you could've obtained these drugs. Unless of course you're a full-fledged criminal, but I see no evidence of that," said Professor Gidyea.

"So, what happens now?" asked Ash.

"Well, it may take me a week or two, but I should be able to get you and ya friends some passports for this region," said Professor Gidyea.

"You're granting us asylum?" asked Ash hopefully.

"The facts tell me ya innocent, ya have no where else to go and I couldn't in good conscious send an innocent bloke back to a place that'll convict him the moment he sets foot on their land," said Professor Gidyea. "So yeah, I'll do everything I can to ensure you and ya friends get asylum in the Stralia Region."

"Thank you Professor Gidyea. Thank you for believing me," said Ash happily.

"No worries mate, but until I can get ya asylum granted, ya gonna have to abide by some conditions," stated Professor Gidyea.

"What kind of conditions?" asked Ash.

"I'll have you all released from holding and you can stay in the local Pokémon Centre, but you are forbidden to leave town until the asylum is granted. You set one foot out of this town, and I'll be sending you right back to the Kanto Region," said Professor Gidyea.

"That seems fair. You've granted me asylum and I'll do my best to not ruin that," said Ash.

"Good. And as a sign of good faith and trust, I'll even give you and ya friends ya pokémon back," said Professor Gidyea.

He got up from his desk, walked over to a nearby table, retrieved a bag from the table and plopped it on his desk. Ash looked inside to see that it contained all their pokéballs.

"Thankyou," said Ash picking up the bag.

"One more thing," said Professor Gidyea, using the remote to switch to another slide. The slide showed Clemont's bunnelby and Dawn's buneary. "I tested ya friends pokémon as well. Don't worry they're clean, but you and your friends are gonna have to keep a close eye on these two."

"Why?" asked Ash confused.

"Bunnelby's and buneary's were introduced to this region back when it was first being settled. They started breeding at an insane rate and before long they had spread across the entire region. To make matters worse, the harsh landscape turned them into dark types. They're considered pests in this region. Your friends can have them back, but for the love of Arceus make sure they don't run off," requested Professor Gidyea.

"Don't worry I'm sure Dawn and Clemont will be happy to oblige," said Ash.

"Good, now run along. I'll tell them to let you and ya friends go and to escort you to the Pokémon Centre," said Professor Gidyea.

"Thank you Professor Gidyea and I promise I'll make the most of this opportunity," said Ash.

Ash ran off so he could tell his friends the good news.


And thus ends another chapter. Please let me know what you think in the reviews. The feedback I've received has been extremely helpful and I greatly appreciate it. I particularly hope I succeeded at more showing as opposed to telling. More is to come.