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Temporal War

The closer they got to their destination, the more Ash found himself fretting over what had happened with Misty.

It wasn't that he was worried that Misty would use her new future knowledge to do something to jeopardise whatever she'd learned about his time so far, but there was still the concern that she'd do something unintentionally that might have some kind of long-term impact. As much as he lo-cared about Misty, he wasn't blind to the fact that she had a temper, and he'd given her a significant amount of information about the future…

And then there's Serena, he grimly reminded himself, glancing over at where his current travelling companion sat on the edge of the plane, putting as much distance between the two of them and Misty as she could while still being in the same area. Bonnie had expressed curiosity about what had happened, but Ash had kept his response brief and Serena had made it clear that she wasn't going to answer the little girl's questions, which left Bonnie to sit on the side with Dedenne and Squishy as she looked anxiously at the group.

Still, even if he recognised the risks and regretted what it had done to a girl he considered a close friend, on another level Ash couldn't make himself feel sorry for anything that he'd just done. Even when he'd been too young to really appreciate how he'd felt, Misty's presence in his life and her later absence had left their own particular impression on him that he'd never been able to forget, and having a chance to tell her just how he felt after so long…

God, his lips still tingled at the memory of their kiss…

When the pilot announced that they were over Ilex Forest, Ash was frankly relieved at the news. They were about to go up against a serious threat that could endanger the entire world if something went wrong, but at least at this point he was basically dealing with the familiar tension of a Pokemon battle rather than worrying about the consequences of him kissing Misty or whatever Brock would say to him about his… moment… with her…

Seriously, why is that such a big deal to me? Ash thought to himself as he checked his Poke Balls one last time before he stood up, glancing over at his friends as they repeated the process. I've faced several different Legendary Pokemon in the middle of major threats when at least whole cities were at stake, I'll probably be heading home once this is over if I can work something out with the Celebi that's down there, and I'm scared at the idea of talking to Brock?

Then again, he supposed that it was the lack of precedent that made it particularly terrifying. He could at least convince himself that any battles with a Legendary Pokemon were just conventional Pokemon battles on a larger scale than what he was used to, but having a conversation with Brock about emotional matters…

What made it harder was that he wasn't even sure what he was going to say about it if Brock tried to confront him about his actions. Putting aside his personal questions about whether Brock could even give good advice considering his history with girls, Brock had been one of the first to bring up the issue of their presence changing history, even if they all knew that any ideas they had on that topic were guesses at best no matter what Clemont theorised…

Frankly, with all of those concerns to deal with, it was almost preferable to focus on the idea that he was about to go up against a man who'd already tried to destroy the world at least once, when he had no idea what kind of back-up Cyrus would have managed to recruit since he arrived in this time. It might be dangerous, but there was something satisfying about facing a threat that he could just order his Pokemon to attack, rather than getting stressed about how his old 'mentor' might have a talk with him about romance.

Ash liked to think that it was the potentially high stakes and the extremely unconventional nature of the whole situation that prompted him to suggest his next course of action, but he was definitely starting to wonder if there was something else behind the mental leaps he'd been making recently…

"And… you're sure this is safe?" Clemont looked uncertainly at Ash as the group of trainers gathered near the door of the plane.

"We've done this before when we were rescuing Volcanion and Magearna-"

"Yes, but we were using a hovercraft then; you didn't expect us all to fly in like-"

"There's nowhere down in the forest for this plane to safely land and Cynthia's back-up won't get here soon enough to make a difference; we need to get down there as fast as possible, and this is the only way we can do that," Ash said firmly. "Snorlax and Onix can take it if we time it right, and Charizard and Noivern can carry some of us down; all the rest of the fliers have to do is make sure we reach the right place and slow us down until we reach the ground."

"And why can't I-?" Bonnie began.

"Because I am not putting you anywhere near someone as twisted and psychotic as Cyrus if I have a choice," Ash cut the little girl off, crouching down to address Bonnie directly. "I understand that you want to help, but you, Dedenne and Squishy can't contribute enough right now; it's easier for all of us if you stay with the plane where it's safe while we deal with him."

"But I-"

"He's right," Clemont nodded resolutely at his little sister. "We have someone we can leave you with who should be able to keep you safe; we have to be able to focus on taking out Cyrus right now."

"…All right," Bonnie said, nodding sulkily at her brother.

"Thanks," Ash smiled at her, privately grateful that he was able to correct his old 'mistake' of getting younger children involved in one of his bigger experiences. He had been able to rationalise letting Bonnie and Max stay with the group when dealing with past problems such as the Hoenn teams trying to capture Groudon and Kygore, Max bonding with Jirachi or that Deoxys, or even Bonnie's current bond with 'Squishy', but right now, when he knew they were facing someone as dangerous as Cyrus and they had the chance to get her to safety, he wasn't going to take Bonnie along when they had a choice.

"Are you sure that we have to get down this way?" Misty asked, uncertainly glancing out of the nearest window at the ground far below them. "I mean, this is putting a lot of faith in our fliers-"

"And I appreciate the risk you're all taking by going along with my plan, but believe me that we have to get down without tipping Cyrus off, and accept that our flyers can do this," Ash affirmed, taking a deep breath as he reached for the door, glancing back at the pilot one last time before he nodded in resolution. "Go!"

With those words, he opened the door and leapt from the plane, Pikachu clutching onto his shoulder as the ground began to grow below them. The plane was as low as the pilot could manage without the engine drawing unwanted attention, and he could see the open area where the Ilex Shrine was located, but right now Ash's priority was making sure his tentative plans to get everyone safely down worked out. Reaching for his belt, he released Noivern, Hawlucha and Talonflame, quickly settling on Noivern's back as he indicated that the other two should head back towards the plane.

Glancing back, he saw his younger self flying on Charizard (as well as noting the dragon's briefly bemused expression at seeing Ash being simultaneously in front of him and on his back) before he registered the rest of the group falling behind the two larger dragons. For a moment Ash panicked, but calmed down as he saw Charizard adjust his flight to catch Misty on his back so that she was sitting just behind his younger self. Assessing the rest of his friends, Ash was relieved to see that Talonflame had taken hold of Serena's shoulders and was rapidly flapping its wings to slow her descent, Crobat repeating the process with Brock further behind her, while Noctowl held onto Clemont's shoulders as something stuck out of the sides of Clemont's backpack that put Ash in mind of basic 'wings'.

"Did we have to do this?" Serena called over to Ash, her voice raised in apprehension as Talonflame's rapid wingbeats slowed her descent.

"It gets us down fast!" Ash responded, eyes shifting to the ground below them as he 'nudged' Noivern towards the open area of the forest below them that indicated the presence of the Ilex Shrine. "We need to get there!"

"There's nobody-!" Clemont began, before a burst of energy that all the trainers recognised as a Hyper Beam suddenly burst from the ground to almost strike the descending trainers, followed by another series of smaller beams from other sources.

"We're under attack!" Ash yelled, glancing back to assure himself that the plane was already pulling away to safety before he reached to his belt for his remaining Poke Balls. "Get back-up down there fast; Greninja, Goodra, go!"

As his two Pokemon leapt from their Poke Balls, they swiftly headed for the ground, Greninja flipping through the air towards a nearby high tree while Goodra adjusted its rate of descent so that it was aiming head first for the ground. A few energy bursts from behind affirmed extra Pokemon being released, and Ash was relieved to see Onix and Snorlax hit the ground while Heracross flew past Noivern towards the ground. He heard a series of roars and impacts as the released Pokemon fell under the trees, but that only increased his resolve as he squeezed Noivern's main body with his knees, urging the bat-dragon onwards towards the ground.

They passed the fragile barrier of the trees just moments after the other Pokemon, Ash leaping off Noivern to hit the ground with a roll as he looked up to see Greninja, Heracross and Goodra already duelling with the opposing Pokemon, which seemed to consist of groups of Weavile, Crobat, and Honchkrow. He briefly registered the rest of his group landing behind him, but kept his gaze focused on the humans gathered in the forest ahead of him, wearing the distinctive black and white outfits of Team Galactic, with two disturbingly familiar figures standing at the back of the group.

"Cyrus," he said, staring coldly at his old adversary, as the man who had nearly destroyed the universe stood alongside his past self.

"Ash Ketchum, I presume?" one Cyrus said, the rest of Team Galactic moving slightly to the side to let their doubled leader address Ash.

"That's me," Ash said, noting how the silent Cyrus was wearing a more weathered version of his distinctive long grey and black coat. "And you'd be the Cyrus I fought at the Spear Pillar in a couple of years?"

"Indeed."

"Right," Ash nodded resolutely. "There's probably no chance of this, but I take it we can't just talk about what you're doing here?"

"You seek to prevent my efforts to find a perfect world," Cyrus affirmed.

"That answers that."

"Hold on; a 'perfect world'?" Misty asked, staring incredulously at Cyrus. "Ash told us you were trying to destroy-"

"I sought to replace our current world with one free of the strife and suffering caused by the weaknesses of the human spirit," Cyrus cut Misty off. "We have spent so much time striving to overcome our limitations, and in the end our efforts constantly amount to nothing; it is a good thing to remove those flaws from our society."

"It was a disappointment to learn that my plans were averted by such an insignificant trio as three children, but I am nothing if not adaptable," the younger Cyrus added. "Once my future self contacted me, it was easy to put our resources together-"

"Hold on; your future self contacted you?" Brock interrupted him, looking at the two in surprise. "How did you do that?"

"Fortunately I had my cellphone on me when I fell outside of time," Cyrus clarified, actually smiling at the simplicity of that explanation. "It was a small thing, but once I established my location, contacting my younger self for extra support was the logical next step."

"And you just… accepted this?" the younger Ash looked at the younger Cyrus in surprise.

"You clearly accepted the presence of your own future self in this time; why should I not do the same?" the younger Cyrus observed.

"I thought you once said that emotions were basically just illusions, but you're sounding pretty emotional about all this to me," Ash said, looking coldly between the two Cyruses.

"This is not emotion; this is conviction," Cyrus said. "The conviction that all will be better once I have remade existence-"

"And you just got everyone here to go along with this?" Misty asked, indicating the rest of Team Galactic incredulously.

"It makes sense," one of the other Team Galactic members said with a sadistic grin.

"'Makes sense'?" Clemont repeated. "You're going to destroy the universe and you honestly think that makes sense?"

"Just because you seek to hold back my efforts does not mean that I have been thwarted completely."

"Hold back your efforts?" Ash looked at Cyrus with a slight smile. "I take it Cynthia managed to pass on my message?"

"Message?" Clemont looked at Ash in surprise.

"Oh, I told her to keep an eye on some of the artefacts Cyrus used to try and trap Dialga and Palkia in my original timeline," Ash shrugged at his friend before looking at Cyrus, allowing himself a satisfied smile. "Must have been a shock to realise that you couldn't just pick up those and summon the Creation Trio all over again?"

"I still managed to retrieve the Spirit Key," Cyrus said, indicating a grey box behind him that was just the right size to hold the Spirit Key in its original cube shape. "Once I have taken Celebi, it will require minimal effort to retrieve the other artefacts-"

"Hold on; you're seriously going to do this all again?" Ash cut Cyrus off with an indignant protest. "You just spent… OK, when you take time travel into account I have no idea how long you've probably been stuck out in…wherever you were left after that last fight, but that's still got to be long enough for you to realise you were an idiot!"

"Hardly," Cyrus responded with a grim tone. "I will remove strife from the world, and nothing you can do would deter me from that goal."

With those words, Cyrus waved his hands and a large group of glowing Pokemon suddenly appeared between Ash's friends and Team Galactic's forces. On top of the sudden 'reinforcements' of Honchkrow, Crobat, and Weavile that had been fighting earlier, this group also included a few Houndoom, Toxicroak, Electrode, Skuntank, and Forteress, and he even thought he saw a few Camerupt hidden further off among the trees.

"What the-?" Brock looked at the newly-appeared Pokemon in shock, even as Ash noticed the faint blue glow that surrounded the new creatures in contrast to the Pokemon the rest of Team Galactic had been using earlier.

"Oh no…" Misty whispered anxiously. "It's Molly Hale all over again…"

Ash could only nod at that observation, remembering how close that little girl had come to defeating Misty and Brock using her Unown-created 'fake' Pokemon even before he fought her and Entei directly. He wasn't sure if the blue glow distinguishing the 'fakes' from the originals made them more dangerous or was just a cosmetic touch Cyrus added for his own amusement, but the fact that a human was capable of something like that in the first place was definitely something to be worried about…

"How did you-?" Serena began even as her own trio of Pokemon gathered anxiously around her.

"Spending time outside the world as you perceive it can have its benefits," Cyrus grinned, his arms glowing as he indicated the glowing Pokemon around him. "I have an understanding of reality surpassing even most legendary Psychic Pokemon, which includes the ability to manipulate it in this manner."

"But you can't-!" the younger Ash protested.

"I can do many things that you would consider impossible," Cyrus looked coolly at Ash's younger self. "My creations have limited independent intelligence, but when all you require is soldiers, that should be enough for my current purposes."

"'Soldiers'," Ash spat disdainfully at his old enemy, recalling how that man he'd fought on Shamouti Island had treated the Legendary Birds like they were just objects to collect. "That's all anyone else is to you, aren't they? Soldiers who can just die for your cause so long as you get what you want…"

"What I want is all that matters, Ash Ketchum," Cyrus returned Ash's disdainful gaze with a cool stare of his own. "I have spent so long outside time, and all I have seen is strife and failure as so many fail to achieve their goals…"

"You're wrong!" Serena yelled. "It's not all like that!"

"And that doesn't give you the right to destroy it all just because you think the world has been a bit rough on you!" Clemont protested. "Sometimes it's not just about… winning or losing; there's so much more out there-"

"That is worthless," Cyrus affirmed, arms folded as he glared at his assembled opponents before his gaze focused on Ash as he stood close to his younger self. "And you have been a thorn in my side for far longer than you should have been…"

Ash barely had time to move before a Gyarados suddenly appeared right in front of him and his younger self, which reeled back as its mouth glowed in a manner that made it clear it was about to launch a Hyper Beam…