And here's the third Ash in Paldea one-shot, now that the games are out and I got plenty of context, you can expect more of these.
"Hello! Hello! Hola, como estan? Gamers, friends and fans! Iono here doing a special late night live stream!" She exclaimed talking to her floating Rotom Phone while recording herself. "Oh what? You were expecting Penny to do the introduction again? Too bad! It's my turn, besides, the rest of the group is a little busy, look here." Iono pointed to the left and her Rotom Phone moved to show Ash, Penny and Nemona next to a large scarlet lizard Pokemon, who was knocked out and laying down in a beach. "Now, you might be wondering how did this happen, well, let's do our usual flashback, shall we?"
10 minutes earlier.
"We'll be camping here tonight!" Nemona said sitting down in a grassy field next to a lighthouse. "Glad we passed Poco Path again just when it was my turn to choose our campsite."
"Is this really the best spot you could pick?" Penny asked. "Like, we're really sleeping outside when we could get inside the lighthouse?"
"Well, yes. I used to sleep in this exact place a lot when I was younger." Nemona answered. "And why are you suddenly complaining? We sleep outside all the time."
"It's not me, but Plusle and Minun don't seem comfortable with the place." Penny pointed at the two Pokemon in her head and both of them seemed rather worried.
"Pfft, relax, if something comes up we'll fight it together, like we always do." Nemona said.
"Hey, at least we got quite the atmosphere with that lighthouse over there." Iono said. "Time for some selfies! Come with me, Ash!"
"Sure, I'm going." Ash answered following her while his Pikachu jumped out of his shoulder and landed in Penny's, taking a closer look to Plusle and Minun.
"Pi?" He asked and both Pokemon shook their heads. "Chu..."
"Something odd is happening here." Penny insisted.
"You're just being paranoid. As always." Nemona replied. "And it's because of that that you're Pokemon started acting like that as well. Please, Penny, it's a lovely night, just stare at all the stars, look, there's even a falling star over there."
"It's called shooting star." Penny replied taking a glance at the sky. "It does look pretty though, bright red, quite unusual."
"Now you're getting it." Nemona smiled. "Wow, it looks bigger and bigger."
"Yeah... it almost looks like it's falling towards our direction." Penny added.
"..."
"..."
"...It's coming right to us, isn't it?" Nemona asked.
"Just an average day." Penny sighed.
"ASH!" The two girls shouted running towards where Iono was taking selfies with him.
"And that's the good stuff!" Iono smiled once they finished. "Thanks a lot for joining me in all my sessions, Ash."
"It's fine, I know it's important for you and everything." Ash answered.
"Hey, Ash..." Iono put down her Rotom Phone down for a moment. "Now that we're alone... can I ask you something?"
"Uh, I guess."
"Can we kiss?" Iono bluntly asked.
"...That's definitely not what I was expecting." Ash replied.
"S-S-Sorry, I know that just came out of nowhere." She answered hiding her blushing face with the arms of her jacket. "But my fans have kinda been asking for it, and you know, you said it yourself that this is very important to me, so, maybe we could, uh, practice...kinda?"
"So you only want to kiss me for the fans?" Ash asked.
"N-N-No! Of course not! It's just..." Iono simply kept blushing unable to look at Ash face to face. "I-I-I won't be using my teeth if that's what worries you."
"What worries me if that I feel like you're letting you fans decide for you and that's not good." Ash said booping her nose. "As much as you value their views, comments and all that, your life is yours and yours alone, you have to ask yourself if that's what you truly want."
"T-T-That's not fair! You look too sexy while doing inspirational speeches!" Iono shouted to then grab Ash's cheeks. "T-There's something I need to tell you! Before Penny and Nemona tell you as well!"
"And what's that?" Ash asked with a small smile.
"I... I... t-t-t-thank you so much for being a real friend." She said to then hug him. "For being someone who doesn't care about me only because I'm famous."
"...No need to thank." Ash hugged her as well and then softly kissed her forehead. "There, will that please your fans?" He asked while Iono blushed profusely after processing that, while the pupils of the Magnemites in her head turned into hearts.
"Uh... I-I mean... I wasn't recording that so..."
"ASH!" Penny and Nemona called him and both Ash and Iono looked at them.
"Uh? What's the matter?" Ash asked.
"That is the matter!" Nemona shouted pointing up.
"Is that a meteor?!" Ash asked.
"Wait, what were you two doing?" Penny asked.
"Uh, w-we have more important p-p-problems in hand, do-do-don't you think?" Iono asked.
"I think I got an idea." Ash said looking for a Poke Ball. "Frigibax! Draco Meteor!" Ash released the small lizard who roared to the skies summoning a blue meteor that fell from the stars and crashed against the red meteor changing its direction, causing it to fall in a nearby beach.
"GYAOH!" A loud cry was heard from the beach after the landing.
"Uh, we all heard that, right?" Iono asked.
"That meteor could have injured a Pokemon!" Nemona shouted.
"Or maybe that wasn't a meteor." Ash replied. "We have to get down there."
"Why am I not surprised that you just said that?" Penny asked.
"So that's more or less the introduction." Iono said. "It took us a while to get down here since we don't have any flying Pokemon besides my Kilowattrel, but we're here now, let's see what the team thinks." Iono left her Rotom Phone floating while recording as she approached the group.
"How's the big guy?" Iono asked them.
"Still pretty weak." Nemona answered. "And we're already out of potions."
"My Nacli is doing his best to help him with his salt, but it doesn't seem to be working either." Penny added. "Looks like the Draco Meteor damaged him a lot besides the fall itself."
"Sorry, but I really thought we were all in danger, I had to think fast." Ash answered. "I can't afford any of you getting harmed."
"Aww, our white knight protecting us as always." Iono said hugging his arm. "What do you think of that, fans?"
"Still, what even is this thing?" Penny asked. "None of our Pokedex were able of recognizing it."
"It kinda looks like a Cyclizar, but... I've never seen one like this before." Nemona said.
"Hmm... you're kinda right." Penny said placing both hands on the dragon's skin. "It could be some kind of relative... but he's way too cold... I think got an idea. Ash, we need your Crocalor and Armarouge, let's help him heat up."
"Got it." Ash answered releasing both Pokemon. "We need a Sunny Day, Crocalor, can you help us?" The croc nodded and tossed up his hat, which then started to float and spin in the air illuminating the whole place as it simulated a sun, the light showered them and the mysterious Pokemon suddenly opened his eyes, it then tried to stand up, but fell down shortly afterwards. "It seems like it's working, Armor Cannon." Armarouge nodded as well and took a step forward to then move both of the pauldrons on his shoulder to its hands, putting his arms together to form a cannon and shoot a stream of fire that covered the Pokemon, which finally stood up in his back legs, showcasing several plumes in his head, the group took some steps back and the dragon took Crocalor's hat in his hand, absorbing its heat and then handing it over to the croc.
"Great thinking, Penny!" Nemona cheered on her.
"Heh, it's nothing." Penny smiled to then look at the Pokemon. "You okay?" She asked recieving a nod in response.
"Sorry about that Draco Meteor by the way." Ash said.
"Wow, that thing looks even bigger now!" Iono exclaimed. "Well, what should we do with him?"
"Some questions, I guess." Penny said. "Why exactly was this guy randomly falling from the sky?"
"I guess I can answer that." Someone called from above a cliff and the group looked up.
"Professor Sada?" They all asked.
"Good to see you again, children." She answered. "And I see you already met Koraidon."
"Koraidon? That's your name?" Ash looked at the dragon who was growling at Sada.
"It is; and he belongs to me, in fact." Sada said showing a Master Ball. "Sorry if he was bothering you, I'll take him now." Sada activated the ball to recall him, but Koraidon jumped back and avoided the ray to then stand behind Ash. "Hmm... I see." Sada smiled, but the moment was interrupted by rumbling thunder as the clouds began turning purple
"What's going on now?" Penny asked while her Plusle and Minun pulled up her hoodie to hide inside of it.
"Grr..." Koraidon suddenly took Ash, Nemona, Penny, Iono and their Pokemon in his arms to then jump high and land in front of Sada on top of the cliff. "...Run..." He said to them.
"He can talk?!" The group shouted.
"Hmmp, that's new actually." Sada said.
"So here you are." An echoed voice called from the clouds, a purple thunder then fell from the sky and struck the land in front of the group, teleporting a violet serpentine Pokemon similar to Koraidon, who was also being accompanied by what appeared to be robotic versions of a Gallade, a Volcarona, a Hariyama, a Tyranitar, a Hydreigon and a Delibird.
"How many times will you test this, humans?" The purple dragon asked. "Why don't you ever learn? There's things you shouldn't mess with."
"Miraidon..." Koraidon trailed off.
"Que carajos está pasando aquí?!" Nemona shouted.
"My viewers are going crazy!" Iono said.
"Is that what you guys were so worried about?" Penny asked and her Pokemon nodded.
"Professor Sada, what is all this?" Ash asked.
"Don't worry kid, I got it covered." Sada said to then talk to her Rotom Phone. "Whenever you're ready."
"I'm almost there." A voice in her phone answered.
"Come with us peacefully, brother." Miraidon talked again. "We will find the rest of your people and return you where you belong to."
"...Stay..." Koraidon answered.
"We can NOT." Miraidon answered. "Our mere presence here threatens to cause unfixable damage in this world's timeline... if you refuse to understand, we'll take you by force." After Miraidon said this, the robotic Pokemon with him started walking towards Ash and co.
"Looks like they're done being friendly." Nemona said releasing her Pawmo, male Oinkologne, Doliv and Quaxwell.
"Be as it may." Penny sighed calling out a Sprigatito who joined with her Nacli, Plusle and Minun.
"Let's shock them up!" Iono exclaimed releasing a Kilowattrel, a Mismagius and Bellibolt.
Ash's Pikachu, Armarouge and Fuecoco also prepared themselves to fight since they were already outside, but Ash himself didn't call out the rest of his Pokemon.
"Everyone, wait a second!" Ash shouted and then looked at Miraidon. "Why are you doing this and what do you mean with going back where you belong?"
"I have nothing to explain to your kind." Miraidon answered. The robotic Hydreigon then rushed towards the group, but a giant pincer suddenly rose from the ground and caught him.
"Just in time." Sada smiled, the pincer then kept rising and showed itself to be giant Klawf, with a man in a purple suit and a lab coat riding on top of it.
"Ladies and Gentleman." He smiled to the group before tossing six Master Balls to the robotic Pokemon and catching them all except for Miraidon.
"No!" Miraidon shouted descending towards the Master Balls.
"Protect!" The man shouted and Klawf crossed his pincers, summoning a shielding dome that protected him and locked him with the Master Balls inside. "Rock Slide." While Miraidon was trying to force his way in, Klawf's eyes illuminated and several giant rocks fell from the sky, most of them hit Miraidon directly, but he smacked some of the rocks away with his tail.
"Everyone back down!" Sada shouted as Ash and co. recalled their Pokemon, the girls then ran away towards the lighthouse as they avoided the falling rocks, but Ash stayed next to Koraidon.
"Ash Ketchum, what do you think you're doing?!" Penny shouted.
"His usual stuff, I guess." Nemona said.
"Wait! Don't play hero!" Iono shouted to then adjust her Rotom Phone camera to record Ash better. "Ok! You can play hero now!"
"Go away, child! This is far too dangerous!" The man on top of the Klawf told him. "Give it up, Miraidon! I still have more Master Balls for you and the rest."
"Argh! Very well, brother, stay here if you want, but I can't allow these creatures to use your power for their benefit." Miraidon opened his mouth took a deep breath. Pikachu, Plusle, Minun and the rest of the Electric Pokemon who were inside of their Poke Balls were all drained from their energy as Miraidon absorbed it to charge himself and started to illuminate with pink light as his body glistened.
"He terastalized to Fairy!" Penny shouted.
"So he can use other Pokemon to power himself up..." Sada said under her breath.
"Not...fight...you..." Koraidon said.
"In that case... Please, forgive me." Miraidon answered.
"Miraidon, stop!" Ash shouted in front of Koraidon.
"Out of the way, human! You don't understand what's going on here!"
"I'm not going anywhere!" Ash shouted.
"Your choice." Miraidon curled up himself into a glowing electric wheel and rushed towards them.
"Ash!" His three partners shouted running towards him, Ash quickly took his weakened Pikachu and tossed him to the girls, with Penny being the one who caught him in her arms, seeing this, Koraidon quickly grabbed Ash and tossed him in the same direction, with Nemona and Iono catching him together, Koraidon then put his claws in front of him and tried to stop Miraidon's attack, but the latter kept going and impacted Koraidon on his chest, creating a massive explosion with a shock wave that knocked back the group, Koraidon was then forced down to his limited build form and Miraidon elevated himself again.
"That should keep you down for the moment." Miraidon said to then look at the still protected Klawf. "I'll return for them... for all of you." He glared at the two professors to then fly away and disappear in the sky.
"Huff... everyone okay?" Ash asked.
"What exactly were you thinking?!" Penny shouted grabbing him by his collar. "Did you just see that explosion?! If Koraidon had not pushed you away you'd be burned to crisp!"
"Heh, I honestly wasn't worried." Nemona said patting Ash in the back. "Ash has gotten out of worse."
"Did you get all that, Rotom?" Iono asked to her phone.
"I did, Miss." He answered.
"Great, but honestly... I got really scared for a second." Iono admitted hugging Ash again. "I love it when you do hero stuff, but please be careful."
"You bunch of idiots." Penny sighed before hugging the two as well, while Nemona looked at them in silence for a moment.
"I WANT A HUG TOO!" She suddenly shouted joining them and tried to hold back her tears. "T-T-Tenia tanto miedo! Los quiero mucho, los quiero a todos!"
"We all like you too, Nemona." Ash answered.
"Glad to see none of you are injured." The man said still on top of the giant Klawf.
"Kids, I suppose I haven't introduced you to my husband." Sada said.
"My name is Turo, is a pleasure to meet you all." He talked getting off the Klawf and then returning it to a Heavy Ball.
"Why is that Klawf so big?" Iono asked.
"I believe is one of the Titans that Arven mentioned." Ash said.
"Guess that makes sense, since these two are Arven's parents." Nemona replied surprising the other three.
"Those two statements are true." Turo answered. "I burrowed this Pokemon from my son to help us with this situation."
"And what exactly is this situation?" Ash asked approaching the injured Koraidon. "What's up with all those robotic Pokemon?"
"Hmmp, well, after all you saw I guess it's fair to give you an explanation." Sada replied. "For now, come with us."
Some time later inside of the lighthouse.
"Regional variants?" Ash asked.
"Correct, although not in the usual sense of the word." Sada answered handing Pikachu back to Ash once all the Pokemon were healed.
"They come from a remote island which can only be accessed from some rivers in the center of Paldea." Turo added. "We call it Genzai island. Sada and I arrived in that island by accident some months ago, we captured all the Pokemon you saw, back in the island they seemed to live in two groups, one led by Koraidon in the south and the other led by Miraidon in the north."
"Yesterday, Miraidon broke free from his Poke Ball." Sada continued. "He set free both groups and destroyed their Poke Balls, with the exception of Koraidon's, who I had outside with me running some tests at the moment."
"I did my best to stop them, but I was unable to do anything." Turo sighed. "Most of Miraidon's group followed him while he ran away, while Koraidon's group and a single member of Miraidon's scattered around the region in different directions."
"I imagine Koraidon felt something odd was happening so he decided to escape as well and go after his crew. Isn't that right, buddy?" Sada asked at the lizard who was now hiding behind Ash, still in his low-powered form.
"Grr..." Koraidon kept growling at her.
"Do you think Miraidon left to find the rest of them?" Iono asked.
"And if that's the case, could he lead them in some kind of attack against us?" Penny asked.
"It's honestly hard to say." Sada answered. "Miraidon's intelligence is definitely above average so it'll be hard to predict whatever he's about to do."
"Okay, but how did you even arrive just in time to where they were?" Penny asked.
"We've been tracking them." Turo answered. "Each of these regional variants emits a curious signal, which grew stronger since they were in group, but now that we separated Miraidon from his pack, it'll be much harder to find his location."
"Still, there's no need for you to worry." Sada said. "We already informed the authorities and they'll help us find Miraidon and the rest of those Pokemon."
"Nevertheless, it seems like Koraidon has been way too weakened from Miraidon's attack." Turo said. "Looks like he can't even access his full form anymore."
"Speaking of that, professors, what were all those things Miraidon was talking about?" Ash asked. "All that about things you shouldn't mess with and not letting you use his power for your benefit?"
"We know just as much as you." Turo said. "As we mentioned, we do not fully understand Miraidon and his motives."
"Come on, guys, chill out with the questions." Nemona said. "Listen, I've known the professors for a long time, you can trust them, they know what they're talking about."
"You know what, Ash? With Koraidon in that state, we won't be able of making the studies we were planning." Sada said. "So since he seems to have taken a liking of you, would you like to take him with you for the moment?"
"Are you sure?" Ash asked.
"Completely." Sada nodded to then softly toss him the Koraidon's Master Ball, which Ash caught. "I know you have quite the experience in the field so I'm sure I can trust you with this, still, please don't use him for battles and inform me when he seems fully recovered."
"Hmm... fine then, I'll do as you say, professor." Ash answered. "What do you think, Koraidon?" He asked him and the dragon simply nodded.
"That's just fine, children." Turo said. "It's already late night, so make yourselves comfortable, there's some rooms here in the lighthouse that you can share. Sada and I will be returning to our lab." Turo and Sada looked at Koraidon for a moment and then bid their farewells to Ash's group before leaving the lighthouse.
"...You think they believed us?" Sada asked.
"I doubt it." Turo replied. "You should keep an eye on them, for safety."
"Guess I should." Sada replied.
Back inside the lighthouse.
"Nemona, are you totally sure they were telling the truth?" Penny asked her as the four were setting their sleeping bags in an empty room.
"Of course I am!" Nemona answered. "Why would they even lie to us?"
"I'm not saying they're lying, but it feels more like they didn't tell us the full story." Penny answered. "What do you think, Ash?"
"I'm not totally sure." He answered while looking at Koraidon sleeping. "They didn't seem like bad people, but Koraidon didn't seem exactly happy around them either and what Miraidon said was still suspicious... we should keep our guards up, just in case, but let's all sleep for now."
"You guys are all getting paranoid now." Nemona said. "See, Penny? This is what you cause."
"Whatever." Penny replied putting her glasses aside and hiding herself inside her sleeping bag.
"Well, double lo que sea for you." Nemona answered hiding inside her sleeping bag as well.
"Oh, well..." Ash sighed looking at the two and then looked at Iono who was next to the window with her Rotom Phone in hand. "All ok, Iono?"
"Sure, I'll just finish today's editing and I'll join you, guys." She answered replaying the videos, but once she was done she stumbled on a picture of the moment when Ash kissed her forehead. "Uh... I-I-I thought it wasn't recording when that happened." Iono said blushing.
"I did it on my own." The Rotom Phone answered. "Please forgive me, but I supposed you'd like to have the picture at least, do you wish to upload it to your social media?"
"Nah... I'm not gonna upload this." Iono smiled while looking at Ash. "This moment is mine and mine alone."
And that's it!
As you probably noticed, this will be pretty much a series of one-shots and not exactly a successive story like Fighting Dreamers or Heavenly Clouds, but I'll try to make this as 'story-ish' as possible, we'll still explore Paldea and Ash's relationship with these girls, we'll also get more flashbacks and perhaps full versions of events that have been mentioned in other chapters (Say Ash meeting Iono and his battle against her), also, Dendra will be joining the fray later on and possibly Rika too, either way, only Paldea girls will be love interests here, there could be some cameos of girls from other regions (Dendra calling Bea to ask her about Ash comes to mind) but that'll be about it. I don't want to overdo this story too.
As always, the list of references cause why not? I'll most likely be doing this every chapter.
The title of this chapter "The Time Fugitives" is taken from the title of first episode of Mirai Sentai Timeranger.
"Gamers, friends and fans." - JT Music's outro quote.
"How many times will you test this, humans? Why don't you ever learn? There's things you shouldn't mess with." - Lyrics from 'Life finds a way' by Nerdout.
"Wait! Don't play hero!" Iono shouted to then adjust her Rotom Phone camera to record Ash better. "Ok! You can play hero now!" - Asdfmovie10
"Did you get all that, Rotom?" "I did, Miss." - Eternals.
And the English translation:
"Hola, como estan?" - "Hello, how are you?"
"Que carajos está pasando aquí?!" - "What the heck is going on here?!"
"T-T-Tenia tanto miedo! Los quiero mucho, los quiero a todos!" - "I was so scared! I like you a lot, I like you all!"
"lo que sea" - "Whatever."
Finally, Genzai is present in japanese.
Next short will either be Dendra or Team Star.
Holdonlupin is out.
