Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise; you know the drill
Feedback: Always appreciated
AN: This one's a relatively short one, but I felt it was important for both the past and future groups to establish what Pokemon they have at this time in a low-stakes environment; if all goes according to plan, things will start to escalate in the next chapter…
Temporal War
As they reached the small airport with the blimp that would take them to the Moomoo Ranch just outside Ecruteak City, Ash smiled as another piece of the impromptu plan fell into place.
Just like he'd hoped, with this blimp ride they could get to the city easily enough, and from there it would just be a simple matter of him and his friends finding somewhere they could meet a Celebi while his past self, Misty and Brock continued on their journey.
OK, maybe it'll turn out that the nearest place to find one is that forest we met Sam, but at least this way we'll know for sure…
He felt a little bad that he'd stopped his past self from calling Professor Oak, but right now he felt that it would be best to take Brock and Clemont's concerns about changing history into account so that nobody learned that he, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie were in this time who might ask more awkward questions about it. So far anyone looking at him seemed to be assuming that he was his past self's older brother or some kind of other relative, so at least he didn't have to worry about too many potentially awkward questions while he was here. Carter- the man who owned the milk-cans- had picked up their tickets easily enough, but he'd just told them that they had more than an hour to wait until the blimp was going to take off.
"So… since we've got the tickets, what do we do now?" Bonnie asked.
"We eat?" Ash suggested, as he and his younger self took out their Poke Balls.
"You can't-" Brock began.
"Brock, I get where you're coming from, but I can't just leave my team in their balls as long as we're here just because you think it's risky," Ash apologised to his old friend. "They need to get out and eat, and it's not like I'm going to give… him… a full list of where and when I caught them; I might not even remember more than the basics when the time comes for him to meet them."
"He's right," Misty put in, smiling teasingly at the younger Ash. "I mean, this is the guy who sent a Caterpie against a Pidgeotto on his third day as a trainer; he tends to be very 'in-the-moment'."
"…Should I be offended?" past-Ash looked at his future self.
"It's Misty; she means well," Ash smiled, before he tossed his Poke Balls into the air. "OK then, everyone; time to eat!"
Past-Ash basically copied his future self as he tossed his Poke Balls into the air, the rest of the group did the same as the area around the airport became filled with Pokemon. Taking in the sight of Greninja, Talonflame, Hawlucha, Goodra and Noivern standing alongside Bulbasaur, Bayleef, Cyndaquil, Totodile and Noctowl, with the Pikachus on their respective shoulders, Ash couldn't stop himself from smiling as his old friends stared in confusion between him and his past self.
"Hey guys," he said, walking forwards to crouch down in front of the five smaller Pokemon that comprised his past self's current team. "I get that this is really weird, but… well, I'm from the future."
"Pikapi Pik Pikachu ChuPik," Pikeachu added, running forwards to stand in front of Ash, looking reassuringly at the teammates he hadn't fought alongside for so many months, the electric mouse soon joined by his own past self, who offered a few awkward assurances to the rest of the team.
"Bulba?" Bulbasaur said, looking uncertainly between the two Pikachus for a moment before he turned to Ash. "Saur Bulba?"
"That's me," Ash grinned at his old friend. "Good to see you, Bulbasaur."
He might understand that Professor Oak's lab needed Bulbasaur as an ambassador more than he needed the Grass-type on his team, but that didn't mean that he didn't miss this particular old friend.
In a strange way, that was probably the reason he'd suggested that they feed their Pokemon out here right now. With his own Pokemon too large to fit inside the airport building, his past self wouldn't be inspired to call Professor Oak about his latest win, which would mean there was no reason for Oak to ask him to send Bulbasaur to the lab.
A part of Ash felt guilty at the thought that Professor Oak would have to deal with the Pokemon conflict for a couple more days, but it wasn't like a group of arguing Pokemon were going to cause any serious damage to the lab because Bulbasaur didn't get there on schedule…
"Wow!" Misty said, her voice drawing Ash's attention away from his original Grass-type to look at her as she stared in awe at Greninja. "Who's this?"
"Oh, that's Greninja," Ash smiled. "He was my first catch in Kalos."
"Water-type, right?" Misty smiled as Greninja looked at the young redhead with a pleased smile in his eyes.
"Yeah," Ash nodded. "He's… well, I've had a lot of water-types since now, but I like to think I learned a lot from you about how to train them to their full potential."
"Really?" Misty looked at Ash with a tentative smile, as though unsure how she should feel at that news.
"Tal?" Talonflame squawked, reminding Ash that he hadn't explained everything to his Kalos team yet either.
"Oh yeah," Ash smiled at the flaming bird as he turned to address his modern team. "Guys, this is a bit strange, but… well, we're in the past, and this is my younger self; Pikachu can introduce you to everyone."
As the two Pikachus leapt down to talk to their respective teams, Ash turned to smile at his original travelling companions. "Misty, Brock, these are my new Pokemon; Greninja, Talonflame, Hawlucha, Noivern, and Goodra."
"Lot of birds in this team, aren't there?" Brock looked at the five Pokemon with a smile.
"Things just worked out that way," Ash shrugged, even as he appreciated Brock's point; three Flying-types at once was an unexpected emphasis. "I'd tell you more, but… well, future knowledge; you said so yourself."
"Right," Brock nodded, looking uncertainly at the gathering for a moment before he finally smiled and tossed out three of his own Poke Balls, releasing Geodude, Crobat, and Pineco (As Ash recalled, Brock had often avoided releasing Onix unless they were in a more isolated area or facing a particularly big battle). Taking that as a cue, Misty, Serena and Clemont tossed out their own Poke Balls, revealing Staryu, Goldeen, Psyduck, Poliwhirl, Corsola, Braixen, Panchum, Sylveon, Bunnelby, Chespin and Luxray, Dedenne scampering from Bonnie's bag to join the others as Togepi chirped enthusiastically in Misty's arms.
"Wow!" Serena looked at the assembled Pokemon with a grin.
"They're so cute!" Bonnie said, running over to enthusiastically hug Psyduck as it stared blankly back at her.
"Just… don't do anything to Pineco," Brock looked uncertainly at the little girl, even as he began to lay out the food for the various Pokemon. "He… has a tendency to explode."
"Oh, we deal with that with every one of my brother's inventions," Bonnie said dismissively.
"Inventions?" Misty looked at Clemont with a smile. "You're an inventor?"
"I'm… I do what I can," Clemont said, blushing slightly as he looked at Misty.
"He just needs to get some better ideas for names and stop everything exploding the first time he uses it," Bonnie observed with a resigned grin.
"In Clemont's defence, everything he makes does do what he created it to do; it just doesn't always stay intact for long once it's done its job," Ash pointed out with a brief smile.
"Uh… thanks?" Clemont nodded at Ash before he glanced around "I'll… just wait with the Pokemon."
As Clemont walked over to crouch down beside Bunnelby, Chespin and Luxray as they began to eat, Ash wondered what had prompted Clemont's sudden reticence; his friend was normally fairly comfortable discussing his inventions…
"Pikachu… looks a bit more comfortable with Togepi," Misty interrupted Ash's train of thought. Following his old friend's gaze, Ash smiled as he saw the small egg Pokemon, now on the ground with the others, playing with the older Pikachu and Hawlucha, Noivern looking on at its smaller 'parent' Pokemon with an affectionate smile from nearby.
"Well… let's just say I've owned my own Pokemon eggs since we travelled together," Ash shrugged, glancing over to be sure that his past self wasn't near enough to hear this before he looked at Misty again. "Actually, Noivern was the most recent one; I found his egg a few months ago just before he hatched as a Noibat, and he basically became part of the team even before I actually caught him."
"Huh," Misty looked at the large bat in surprise before shooting a brief smile at Ash. "So you've become a parent yourself, huh?"
"I… don't think about it that much," Ash admitted, shrugging slightly. "I mean, I get why you keep Togepi safe, but my eggs… well, they were always more eager to start battling than Togepi was."
"You always seem to get the challenging ones, don't you?" Misty looked at Ash with a smile. "Squirtle, Primeape, Muk, Lapras, Chikorita…"
"It shows they have spirit," Ash grinned back at her. "They challenge me to grow as a trainer just as I help them grow in turn."
"Good approach," Brock nodded at him.
"And… no repeats of Charizard?" past-Ash asked his future self.
"No," Ash affirmed.
"Ash," Brock looked at the older trainer.
"I'm not saying any of them were perfect, but I'm just confirming that none of my future Pokemon are going to try to burn me every time I send them out," Ash affirmed.
"One of your Pokemon tried to attack you?" Bonnie looked at Ash in shock.
"Charizard… had some problems after he evolved from Charmander," Ash shrugged at the little girl. "He got over it a few months ago in this time, but it… well, it's not something I'd want to repeat."
"Good to know," past-Ash smiled at his future self. "I mean, that I won't have to go through that again, anyway…"
"Anyway," Ash clapped his hands together and looked around at his friends, "let's just chow down and get on that blimp; the sooner we get to Ecruteak City, the better."
And the sooner I can get to a private environment where I'll be less inclined to accidentally slip up and say more than I should…