Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise; you know the drill

Feedback: Always appreciated

Temporal War

Ash never knew who had given the cue to restart the battle, but even without a spoken cue, it seemed as though both the newly-arrived Champions and Team Galactic charged each other at the same time, Pokemon clashing all over the clearing while some of the humans actually started their own fights. Ash still vividly remembered how Bruno had managed to stay ahead of the attacks of that giant Onix back when they'd first met, but it was still impressive to see him actually launching a few blows against the Houndoom and Toxicroak that tried to go after him, even if most of the newly-arrived Elite Four members and Champions focused on evading potential attacks rather than doing any fighting themselves. For a moment Ash felt a sudden churning in his stomach as he looked at the mass of Pokemon around the battlefield, but forced that down as he quickly moved to avoid a charging Weavil that took a Flamethrower to the face from Cyndaquil; if he was hungry, he'd eat later.

Once sure he was out of any immediate danger, Ash glanced up and allowed himself a brief smile when he confirmed that he couldn't see the plane that had brought them here above them. Bonnie would probably be safe that high up, but he hated to picture the girl watching whatever she could see of this fight from above without knowing if Clemont was safe or not-

A new sense of nausea suddenly struck Ash, but even as he bent over he felt something fly over his back, looking up to see a Honchkrow get punched in the beak by Geodude. Nodding in brief thanks at one of Brock's oldest Pokemon, Ash took another look around the battlefield, smiling in approval when he saw that his own allies had split up. The newly-arrived Champions had apparently swiftly scattered around the forest once the battle had started, with many of their Pokemon taking on multiple opponents at once with relative ease even if the scale of numbers against them was still a problem. From what Ash could see, the Pokemon belonging to him and his friends were using more 'hit-and-run' tactics (as much as Onix could use such a strategy, anyway) to wear their enemies down, either hitting them with full power assaults or striking multiple opponents with more general attacks.

It's bigger than anything I've done before, Ash mused to himself as he saw the two Pikachus facing a Camerupt, one dodging to the side to avoid a Flamethrower while the other struck their opponent with an Iron Tail, but we're still holding the line; if I can just find Cyrus…

"Ash!" Brock called over to his friend, the time-traveller looking up to see his old friend running anxiously towards him, ducking around a Flamethrower from another Camerupt. "How did you manage… I mean, I know you said you were talking to the Sinnoh Champion, but-?"

"Let's just say I get to know a few people in the future who gave me a few good ideas about how to get help," Ash smiled at his original travelling mentor, the squirming in his stomach forgotten in the face of the unique opportunity to truly surprise Brock. "Come on, I couldn't remain a stupid kid forever, right?"

"I never thought that-" Brock began, before he ducked under another attack from a Honchkrow. "Seriously, how is this guy-?"

"If I knew that, we'd have already dealt with Cyrus; trust me, he couldn't do this back when I last saw him!" Ash said, indicating where another pair of Weavile were charging into the battle before Snorlax took them both out with a Body Slam (and why did his queasiness feel better whenever one of Cyrus's Pokemon got knocked out?). "And where is-?"

His plan to search for either version of Cyrus was abruptly cut off when he saw a sparking Electrode rolling towards Misty, who was momentarily distracted by recalling Psyduck (the duck's Psychic attacks might be useful, but this battle was too chaotic for them to rely on Psyduck getting to that state and using its powers safely on only their enemies). Without even thinking about it, Ash ran towards Misty to push her to safety, only to be beaten to the punch when his younger self crashed into the Water-type trainer from the other side. Ash came to such a sharp halt to avoid hitting Misty and himself that he almost ran into the Electrode, but Heracross dived down to toss it into the air before Ash embarrassed himself even further by vomiting. The two Ashes and Misty looked up to see Hawlucha kick the Electrode into a Honchkrow and Crobat flying towards the three trainers, triggering the Electrode's Self-Destruct and sending the two enemy Flying Pokemon crashing to the ground.

"Nice," Ash's younger self nodded in approval.

"That's our Pokemon for you," Ash grinned at his past self (either he was better at hiding things than he thought or his other self wasn't feeling that strange discomfort in his guts as Ash was). "They always work well together even if they just started; you'll be amazed when you see how quickly Pignite and Charizard started working as a team in Unova."

"Pignite?" Misty asked, before her eyes narrowed. "And should you really be-?"

"I think we already ended any idea that we can get through this mess without changing my history at all the moment I saw Cyrus," Ash pointed out to his original travelling companion, before he indicated the battle waging around them, proud of himself for ignoring the growing twisting in his stomach to focus on projecting a sense of confidence. "Let's get this over with; keep everyone busy while I find Cyrus!"

"Cyrus?" Misty and his younger self asked.

"You're focusing on him?" the younger Ash asked, incredulously indicating their surroundings as Staryu's Water Gun took a Houndoom out of the fight.

"He's the reason for all this," Ash responded. "You can all deal with Team Galactic's other members, but the older Cyrus is only here because of me-"

"You can't know that, and even if it's true it's not like you brought him here on purpose-!" Misty began to protest.

"But I didn't stop him properly the first time," Ash clarified, looking firmly at her as he fought down the urge to be ill. "I'm not going to make that mistake again; this ends now."

"…We'll do what we can out here," Misty nodded, giving Ash a brief smile as she took in the intensity of his gaze. "Good luck."

"Yeah," Ash's younger self said, looking between him and Misty with a more solemn stare that Ash wasn't sure how to interpret.

Actually… now that Ash thought about it, even if emotions weren't exactly his strong point… the way he was looking at himself whenever he was close to Misty…

Could his younger self really be jealous of him?

Deciding not to analyse this issue in greater depth, Ash dived back into action, weaving through the fighting Pokemon as he tried to keep an eye out for Cyrus and ignore the occasional spike of that strange discomfort. At one point, the sound of a loud hiss prompted Ash to look over in time to see a Toxicroak that looked like it had been making for him being wrapped up by an Arbok while a Weezing delivered a few surprisingly strong Tackles to a group of Fortress. Ash was briefly surprised at the sight, but swiftly reminded himself that Team Rocket still had their original Pokemon at this time (come to that, what had happened to Arbok and Weezing after he started travelling through Hoenn?) and used the brief break to take a new assessment of the wider battle. Team Rocket's Mecha-Wobbufett could provide a useful brief refuge for the trainers opposing Team Galactic's members, and the thing still looked like it could take a further beating if it had to, but Ash wasn't going to rely on that thing holding up for the whole battle when they had this many enemies to deal with-

Ash's thoughts were interrupted when something struck him in the side of the face, sending him to the ground. As he clutched at his cheek, he rolled over to see one of the Team Galactic members standing over him, glaring at Ash in exasperation.

"You can't seriously be doing this!" his attacker said, looking at Ash as though he was questioning Ash's mental state. "You honestly think that you're helping anyone by opposing us?"

"We're trying to stop your boss ending the world; how are you even OK with that?" Ash protested indignantly as he scrambled back to his feet, Pikachu yelling out in agreement of Ash's words as he ran up to join his trainer. "Do you people even understand that you'll be destroyed with everyone else?"

"Where is the point in staying in this life?" the Team Galactic member protested. "This world has nothing to offer us-!"

"And what gives you the right to decide that applies to everyone?" Ash cut him off, glaring at the man before he sighed and punched the man in the face, the sending back to the ground before the other man could do more than open his mouth in response.

I know I don't do that very often, but some people just really need to be hit…

"Ash!" Serena looked over at him in shock as Pancham sent an Electrode rolling into a pair of Weavile just before it exploded. "Did you have to-?"

"Hey, if someone wants to end the world I don't think we're exactly qualified to talk him out of it!" Ash countered as Pikachu scampered back onto his shoulder. "Just keep taking these guys down!"

"On it!" Misty and Ash's past self yelled simultaneously from further down the field, as Heracross and Poliwhirl each knocked out a Skuntank and a Weavile with double punches.

"We've got this!" Brock yelled, Geodude diving through a pack of Houndoom close by his trainer as Serena directed Braxien to fire a Flamethrower at a few Forteress in another area.

"Impressive."

"Wha- Prima?" Ash spun around defensively, only slightly dropping his guard when he realised it was the Ice Master of the Elite Four. "What did you-?"

"Your swift command of the situation and the way your friends defer to you."

"I don't make them do any-!"

"I recognise that," Prima smiled reassuringly at him, as though acknowledging what had prompted his immediate reaction. "Regardless of your hot-headedness in our last meeting, you have come a long way since then; it takes a great deal of personal strength to earn that kind of respect without demanding it."

"Well, it's been even longer for me than it was for you…" Ash shrugged, before he glanced behind her and his eyes widened. "Get down!"

He grabbed Prima's arm and pulled her down just as a Weavile's claws tore through the air, the dark Pokemon nearly taking a chunk out of Prima's neck even as Ash kicked out at the black creature the moment it passed over them.

"Good timing," Prima noted, as the two got back to their feet.

"Thanks," Ash nodded. "I mean, I obviously wouldn't do that in a real battle-"

"Circumstances like this require exceptional responses," Prima nodded in understanding, before she glanced over at the still-unfolding struggle. "And we need to take them down fast."

As Prima returned to the battle, Ash tried not to wince when he saw a group of Camerupt get caught in a Blizzard from Prima's Cloister and Jynx; he might agree that they had to finish this fight fast, but freezing was a personal nightmare of his ever since that close call on that mountain…

Taking advantage of this brief moment of peace, Ash looked around the battlefield and wasn't sure if he should feel comforted by the fact that the conflict seemed to be about even. On the one hand, Team Galactic had a lot of Pokemon available to them, but on the other hand, the Team were a bunch of crooks up against two regional Champions and three members of three different Elite Fours. He appreciated that Jessie and James didn't represent the best of Team Rocket, and he'd had trouble facing Giovanni in Unova, but if Misty and Brock could hold off some of Team Rocket's elite during that mess with Mewtwo and the various clones, the Sinnoh equivalent couldn't be that much better than Team Rocket…

A sudden churning in his gut forced him to bend over just as something passed above his head. Glancing up, Ash realised that he'd just missed being struck by a Gyarados that could have literally bitten his head off, but before he had time to do more than duck and roll out of its path, there was a sudden burst of ice that sent the massive sea serpent off to one side.

"Thanks," Ash said as he stood up, glancing over to see Cynthia standing at one side with her Glaceon beside her. "Good aim."

"You seemed like you needed the help," the Sinnoh champion smiled before she studied him in a more thoughtful manner. "We met in the future?"

"You gave me some useful advice, we worked together to fight Team Galactic's plans when they did this the first time around, I stayed in your holiday home out in Undella Town for a few days… it was an interesting time," Ash shrugged. "I mean, I'm not sure if any of that's going to happen now…"

"Believe that it will and we can worry about that once this is over," Cynthia nodded at him. "New lives begin every day, Ash; the fact that this new life precedes the life you're familiar with just makes it more unconventional."

"Thanks… I think," Ash nodded tentatively. "I mean, you have to be clear, I'm not going to expect any special treatment for my past self once this is-"

"Ash!" a voice called out urgently.

"Clemont?" Ash glanced in the direction of the voice to see his jumpsuit-clad friend hurrying towards him, waving something around in his hands that looked like a radio dish. "Hold on; is that the… Super-Sensitive Tracker thing?"

"I adapted it from the remains, but it's not the same thing," Clemont explained, looking urgently at Ash. "What matters right now is that I realised that Team Galactic's main advantage right now is their numbers, so I put together the Pokemon Energy Scanner in case I could work out where the excess Pokemon were coming from…"

"And?" Ash asked.

"Like I thought, they're showing the same energy traces I detected when I analysed the two Ashes with this," Clemont continued, taking out a series of blue ovals that Ash recognised as fragments of the Binacle Finder Clemont had developed a couple of months ago.

"You scanned the two Ashes for particular energy traces?" Cynthia looked curiously at Clemont. "What made you think of that?"

"I was just curious about if there was some kind of energy involved in travelling through time that would be on the Ash from the future that wasn't on the Ash who already exists in this time-"

"Look, I think Cyrus already made it pretty clear he's the one creating these things, but I don't think he's dragging them back from the future-!"

"Maybe we already suspected that, but it's still important to confirm that Cyrus is the source of all of these new Pokemon," Clemont cut Ash off. "I can't be sure if he's creating them or taking them from somewhere else, of course, but now that I've confirmed where these other Pokemon came from, I think that if we can take the older Cyrus out of the picture, we might be able to get rid of Team Galactic's numerical advantage and overpower the rest of them!"

"May be a long shot, but I can work with that," Ash nodded, glancing around the battlefield for a moment before he saw Cyrus, the older version easily distinguished from the present one by his more tattered clothing, running from the battlefield. "There!"

"Cyrus?" Cynthia glanced in the direction Ash had indicated. "Why would he-?"

"I'll find out," Ash cut the champion off, as he looked around at his allies, hoping that Cynthia wouldn't object to him giving orders. "You make sure everyone else does their best to keep the rest of Team Galactic busy; I might be able to take Cyrus if he's committing most of his attention to keeping you all busy here."

"You're sure you can do this?" Cynthia looked inquiringly at him.

"I'm sure I want to try," Ash responded firmly.

"Go."

Accepting Cynthia's nod, Ash dived back into the battlefield and ran in the direction that he'd just seen Cyrus depart, pausing at the edge to turn back towards the raging conflict.

"Pikachu, Greninja, Charizard!" he yelled, waiting for a moment until the three Pokemon he'd called for had responded. "You're all with me; we have to get Cyrus!"

Based on what he'd seen of Cyrus's power so far, he wasn't entirely sure if any of his Pokemon would be powerful enough if Cyrus chose to really let rip with whatever he could do, but he had faith that those three would be able to do at least some damage no matter what Cyrus tried to use against him. The younger version of Pikachu had already rejoined Ash's younger self, but as far as Ash was concerned that just ensured that the battlefield would still have one of his heavier hitters even if he had to take the older Pikachu with him.

With the dragon flying overhead, Pikachu on his shoulder and Greninja running alongside him, Ash charged after his enemy. On one level he appreciated that going after someone capable of what Cyrus had shown so far on his own might be dangerous, but when he'd survived such moments as his confrontation with that Unown-enhanced Entei, it wasn't that much crazier.

Besides, if Ash was right, Cyrus was only here because of him, which made it Ash's responsibility to make sure that the older version of Team Galactic's leader had no chance to complete his plans…

When the thick forests finally gave way to an open clearing, Ash quickly came to a halt as he found himself facing Cyrus, who was standing alongside a stone alter that Ash vaguely recognised from Sammy's stories. It consisted of a few small steps leading up to a structure that put Ash in mind of a miniature tower, but even covered in moss in a manner that suggested nobody had used it for a while, Ash definitely didn't like the implications of Cyrus being here.

"You really think you can stop me, boy?" Cyrus looked mockingly at him.

"Do you think I'm going to let you get away with this?" Ash asked, as Charizard landed behind him while Greninja took up a defensive pose in front of him, Pikachu perched on his head and ready to fight.

"You hardly have a choice," Cyrus retorted, the time-displaced criminal mastermind looking at Ash with a disturbingly cool manner, as though Ash was just something he had to scrap off his school. "All I require is to summon Celebi-"

"And let me guess, you'll go back to some point when you can summon Dialga and Palkia and try to destroy the universe all over again?" Ash cut him off. "You're so predictable, you know that?"

"And you aren't?" Cyrus asked with the closest thing to emotion Ash had heard this man express since he revealed his true agenda to the young trainer. "You chased me here, alone and virtually unarmed save for a few-"

"Pikachu, Charizard and Greninja aren't weapons, they're my friends-!"

"And you came here with only a few of your 'friends' to face me?" Cyrus smirked mockingly at Ash. "You truly have no idea what I'm capable of…"

Spreading his arms, Cyrus grinned as he spread his hands, and two large figures appeared behind him. They were slightly shorter and paler than the real versions that Ash had encountered on his original trip through Sinnoh, but the blue-and-silver shielded form of Dialga and the armoured white-and-purple Palkia were unmistakable no matter how they were changed.

"These are not as powerful as the originals, naturally, or I would not be bothering with attempting to harness the power of Celebi from this shrine, but they should suffice for the current purpose," Cyrus smirked as he glared at Ash. "If you think that you can stop me… well, first you have to get past them."

Ash's eyes narrowed in cold resolution.

"Bring it," he said simply.

The odds might not be great, but he and Charizard had held their own against Entei during that mess with the Unown, so he was certain they could do the same now…