As Arceus Decrees It

by J the Stickybeak

Ash is the chosen one. It's his job to save the world. Over and over and over again. He's not allowed to stop his journey by becoming champion or because he fell in love and Arceus has assigned Mewtwo to ensure the later. All things considered Mewtwo thinks he's done a fine job. Until some random trainer shows up on a Solgaleo and ruins everything. minor OC. Ash/Harem

5. Chapter 5: No Rage like a Dragon's Rage

Extra long chapter this time because I wanted the first and last scenes to be in the same chapter for the title. Time zones made it inefficient to ignore all the groups in between so enjoy the chapter because the next shouldn't be anything like this long.

Also, I know I just gave you an official harem list last chapter but I watched the 'I choose you' movie recently and thought of a neat way to include Verity. Since I already gave an official I thought it would be rude to just change things so I'm going to put up a poll and let all of you decide. If I did implement this plot method, it would have nothing to do with Mewtwo because Ash has never met Verity in this universe but it should be clever. Cynthia's age won't change regardless of the result but introducing Verity will get both of them involved in the fight against Arceus.

The poll will have three options: 1) Introduce Verity as a harem member, 2) Just have her as a side character (In which case she won't get much screen time), 3) Do not use Verity because she should not exist in this universe.

I was originally intending to have a different first poll but too many ideas I came up with hinged on one of the results so you get this one instead.

I do not own pokémon as it belongs to The Pokémon Company, Game Freak and Nintendo. Long may they reign!

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Chapter 5: No Rage like a Dragon's Rage

30 Seconds Earlier

Hilda White strutted out the front doors of the Striaton Gym and found a nice garden spot to send out her legendary pokémon. After all she didn't want to freak anyone out by releasing Zekrom in broad daylight.

With a flash of light from her ultra ball Zekrom looked around for an opponent, saw none and then did a half bow, "What can I do for my champion, the hero of ideals?"

"Really, I've owned you for a little over three years and you still always greet me with that overly formal stuff, just call me by my name already," grumbled Hilda, "Look, turns out the free breakfast was a con job. To think I actually got my first badge from that loser. Anyway I need you to tell me about the Sword of Vale. Cilan thinks that we visited that place and I supposedly fell head over heals for someone named Ash. Ridiculous I know but I said I'd ask you about it so that's what I'm doing."

"Hmm, yes," Zekrom mused telepathically, "The Sword of Vale is an important artefact with great spiritual significance to us ancient dragons. If I recall we were supposed to go on a pilgrimage to visit it about two years . . . THAT CHEATING OVERGROWN PURPLE WEASEL!"

With a great crackle of blue lightning, Zekrom shot off into the forest surrounding Striaton City and began mowing down trees with reckless abandon.

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Present time

CRACKBOOM

"Well Hilda, when you lose control of a pokémon you certainly don't do it with half measures. Half the forest is already on fire," smirked Rosa.

"Oh shut up," snarked Hilda, "I just don't understand. Zekrom's always listened to me before. He's my strongest pokémon so we're going to have to work together to restrain him."

"Go Stoutland," called Bianca, "Try to hit Zekrom with take down!"

"You don't seriously think you can hit a flying dragon with a melee attack do you," said Rosa flatly.

CRACK. YIIIIP.

All five people then had to duck as a lightning bolt sent Stoutland sailing through where their heads had been located.

"At least she's helping!" screamed Hilda as she released Samurott and Golurk, the former to put out the fires and the later to combat her own pokémon.

"I don't know what to do. I only brought Spinda with me and if I sent her at that pokémon, she'll DIE," squeaked Yancy.

"Don't worry, we can handle this," soothed Cilan, "Go Stunfisk and Maractus. Stunfisk you help Samurott put out the fires. Maractus use mega drain on Zekrom."

"I just wanted a free buffet breakfast," sighed Rosa, "No one said I'd have to deal with a legendary pokémon. Think Rosa think, what could bring down a legendary. Lets try . . . Zoroark I need you!"

With a shrill cry a Serperior burst forth from Rosa's dusk ball much to Cilan, Bianca and Yancy's temporary confusion.

"Get his attention with night daze to bring him closer then restrain Zekrom with illusionary vines," Rosa commanded.

As the group began to bring the thrashing Zekrom to the ground, Chili ran up behind Cilan and caught his attention, "What the blazes is going on! We agreed that you could invite a few guests for a free breakfast not set the surrounding forest alight."

BOOM

"Just a little trouble with one of Hilda's pokémon, that's all. Once we calm Zekrom down, we can put this fire out in a jiffy," excused Cilan.

Chili did a double take at Hilda then grabbed Cilan by the shoulders to catch his full attention, "YOU INVITED THE CHAMPION TO OUR RESTAURANT AND DIDN'T TELL US FIRST!"

"What? Alder is the current champion," Cilan flummoxed.

"NO he isn't. If you'd listened to me talking about the match you'd know this. While you were in Kalos on your fishing trip, Hilda beat Alder with just four pokémon. The media made a huge hullabaloo about it," exclaimed Chili.

"Guys we have more important things to worry about then who does or doesn't know about my champion status. Cilan, Zekrom knocked out both your pokémon so you need to recall them," Hilda interrupted.

Chili nearly fainted when he saw the two girls next to Hilda and Bianca, "YOU INVITED MOVIE STARS AS WELL!"

"Chili, I think your missing the major issue here," Cilan sweat dropped as Zoroark went flying over their heads with another deafening crack of thunder.

Chili turned and released his Simisear to help out but continued pushing the topic, "I get that there's a rampaging pokémon but your sense of what is and isn't normal in everyday life has been completely messed up ever since you travelled with Ash."

"So Rosa and Yancy are part time and full time TV actors respectively. I don't see what the big deal is?" replied Cilan.

"That IT! When we get back I'm going to force you to sit down and watch something other than the cooking channel!" yelled Chili as both Simisear and Cilan's newly sent out Ferroseed were clobbered by fusion bolt.

"Zekrom please calm down before you hurt someone!" screamed Hilda in tears.

"HOW CAN I CALM DOWN WHEN I FAILED TO PROTECT YOUR GREATEST WISH," came Zekrom's booming projection, so loud and so clear that everyone could swear that it was spoken instead of telepathic.

"What are you talking about? My greatest wish was to become champion of the Unova region. We've already done that!" cried Hilda as Zekrom turned and cut down another dozen trees with a blade like dragon claw.

"YOU HAD A SECOND WISH THAT WAS EXTINGUISHED ALMOST AS SOON AS IT WAS REALISED. AN IDEAL THAT BURNED AS BRIGHTLY AND AS PASSIONATELY AS THE VERY SUN. WHEN I FIND THAT SORRY EXCUSE FOR A LEGENDARY, I'LL RIP HIM APART FOR THIS TREACHERY," answered Zekrom with a deafening roar.

"Are-are you saying that Cilan's story is true! That I really did meet and fall for this Ash person?" Hilda questioned in shock.

"GRASSHEAD'S STORY? YOU THERE, GRASSHEAD, WHERE IS THE CHOSEN ONE? I MUST REUNITE HIM WITH MY APPOINTED CHAMPION OF IDEALS" projected Zekrom as he paused in his rampage of mass destruction.

"I see you remember me but must you use such a demeaning nickname," cried Cilan in depression, "Ash is currently fine in Alola but someone tipped off the local professor about Ash's situation. The professor contacted Ash's mom Delia to get permission for a psychic scan and by some fluke Delia's written note wasn't discovered by Mewtwo when he wiped everyone's memories. She's been madly trying to get in contact with people to help Ash ever since."

Zekrom's crackling lightning died down as he landed in front of Hilda, "In that case I must thank you for your dedication grasshead. Unfortunately it is probably too late to save the poor soul who made the initial discovery but now that I am on your side, nothing will stop us from defeating the chosen one's chaperone and reuniting the chosen one with my champion."

"That's great but it doesn't prove whether the rest of us are involved," interrupted Rosa, "Hurry up and return him so we can put out the forest fire he started. Everything else can be sorted out later."

"Ah, yes. Allow me to remedy the results of me blowing off steam," chuckled Zekrom as he sent a single bolt of lightning into the air.

Dark clouds spontaneously began to appear and a torrential downpour soon started.

"Now that the fire is sorted, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me exactly what happened Zekrom," Hilda demanded with a stomp of her foot, "And none of this ye old chosen one stuff. If I've really forgotten something important just tell me."

"What is there to say," shrugged the dragon, "We went to pay our respects at the Sword of Vale and during our trip my eternal enemy Reshiram tried to take the swords power for it's own. You tried to make sure no one was hurt during my valiant attempt to stop Reshiram. Over the several days in which our battle took place you met and fell in love with the chosen one known as Ash.

After Ash teamed up with Victini to defeat Reshiram's wicked scheme, the boy's chaperone showed up and wiped the entire incident from the boy's memory. When you and I confronted the weasel about his actions, he got the better of both of us and stole your precious bond. I also believe these subconscious memories explain your current obsession with finding and catching Victini since without the distraction of becoming champion that pokémon has been all you've been able to think about for the last year."

"Um, I don't want to upset big, black and cranky here but I've visited that place during my travels and I think that account of things is just a tinsy bit one sided," Rosa interjected.

Hilda sighed, "Zekrom is the dragon of ideals. His recollection of events is always biased by definition. What it does prove is that if What's his name-"

"Purple weasel," Zekrom suggested.

"Mewtwo actually," corrected Cilan.

"If Mewtwo got the better of me when I had a legendary pokémon to protect me then we should all go to the hospital and get checked out," finished Hilda in defeat.

"Fine, fine you win. I'm sorry for accusing you of sniffing Pansage. But I want a free lunch as compensation for getting us all drenched in this storm," Rosa demanded.

"My boss is going to be so mad at me if I take time off for this, what am I going to do?" asked Yancy.

"You ask your family for help while I tell your boss to stuff it. Yancy that movie director slash pop idol manager works you to the bone. You have two months of accrued sick leave and this sounds like exactly the time to use it to help out this mystery guy," answered Rosa.

"I, err, still remember Ash. Does that mean I'm not affected," asked Bianca hopefully.

"No," Cilan sighed, "Iris still remembered Ash too but her feelings were simply erased. You definitely had a crush on Ash considering you kept 'accidently' pushing him into water fountains to see him take his shirt off."

"Really Bianca," exclaimed Hilda, "There are better ways of showing that you like someone then doing that."

"Those things just happened because I was clumsy, there is no way I'd keep doing something that embarrassing over and over on purpose," Bianca exclaimed in a flustered manner.

"You started drooling while his back was turned," Cilan deadpanned.

Chili clapped his hands together, "Alright then, you four come inside, get dry and finish your five star breakfast before we escort you to the hospital while I drag my brother out back and force him to tell me and Cress everything he conveniently FORGOT to tell us. Come on, I hate being wet."

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Lumiose City, Kalos

"Hey Clemont, thanks for letting us use the shower," called Serena as she came down the stairs into the main dining area of Clemont's house.

After her group had managed to find Goodra, they had come to the Lumiose Gym to rest and have some much deserved food courtesy of Meyer. At the dining table Clemont didn't hear her as he made the finishing touches to his latest invention.

"The future is now, thanks to science," the inventor cried out as he raised his hand high and pushed the big red button with gusto.

"No Clemont, don't jinx it!" Serena shouted as she ran to stop the gadget blowing up in everyone's faces.

However luck was on their sides that afternoon and the handheld device lit up and started to emit regular pinging noises.

"May I present the Ash-Greninja detector 9000," said Clemont smugly, "Due to Greninja's unique signature, which I analysed while we were learning about the bond phenomenon, I was able to re-input the data and create a region wide sensor that will home in on our buddy. All the after effects of Lysandre's actions have been dealt with already so Greninja should be more than happy to become Ash's pokémon full time again."

Serena sat down at the table to get some food, "Well that's great news, you're a life saver when your inventions actually work. What's Bonnie up to on that laptop?"

"Oh, after dad took us to the hospital, we found out that the mystery pokémon, which we have since found out is called a Mewtwo by the way, only altered our memories to make us forget about you kissing Ash," explained Clemont, "Bonnie assumed the same would have happened to Ash's former traveling companions so she's been madly looking up everything about them so she can support you."

"Aw, that's really sweet Bonnie but I already got Ash to show me pictures of all his former traveling companions," Serena said, "I'm not particularly concerned about the competition since I know that Ash and me are meant to be together."

Across the table next to Bonnie, Miette leaned sideways to look at the laptop screen, "Serena, are you sure you don't want some early information because I'm not sure we can compete with these girls on looks or credentials?"

"Come on Miette, don't be such a jealous person," chided Serena, "Besides, we're Kalosian, everyone knows that Kalos is the world leader in fashion, food and art."

Bonnie looked up at Serena and grinned like a gengar, "Clemont and I saw those pictures too. Most of them were taken before those girls hit puberty. This May girl is at least two if not three bra sizes bigger than you from her current pictures which should be expected from a girl who needed to wear a bra at age ten."

"GIVE ME THAT LAPTOP," growled Serena in a demonic manner.

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Striaton City Hospital, Unova (several hours after the 'mysterious' forest fire incident)

The four Unova girls sat in separate hospital beds in their shared room in various states of shock. Unlike certain esteemed and overprotective gym leaders, they didn't have or weren't willing to fork over the money for private recovery rooms. So since they had all come in at once and were treated for the same condition the hospital had stuck them together while staff got in contact with their parents. All four of them were either over eighteen or otherwise allowed to sign their own legal documentation for work purposes so the hospital hadn't needed permission from parents to conduct the DPRS. However unions were strong in America and the Parents Supervision Society had sued enough people that the government had made laws so that hospitals had to inform parents when their children had treatment for psychic tampering.

Rosa, who had curled up into a ball, was the first to break the silence, "You know, when I was little, Mum always told me the kind of qualities I should look for in a husband. She said that any guy who thought you were attractive would sing your praises and claim that they would be willing to die for you. That some of them would actually be capable of tricking themselves into risking their lives for you because they would think they are in love. How most of these smooth guys would dump you the moment you got pregnant or a more attractive girl came along and that those that stayed would drop the wonder act as soon as you got married.

Mum told me that if I truly wanted to be happy then I would need to find someone that was brave, honest to a fault, diligent and kind to not just me but everybody. That they wouldn't rescue me just because they said I was special and wanted to keep up appearances but rather they would risk their life to save even a total stranger because to them that was the most obvious course of action that anyone in their place would have also taken. Only someone with that kind of personality would stick with me through thick and thin and be a wonderful father to any children I might have. I just – I just never expected I'd find someone who would fit that criteria so literally."

"That's really nice," Hilda deadpanned as she stared up at the roof, "Did she tell you any negatives or just positives."

Rosa chuckled and pulled her legs closer, "She also said that a guy like that would also be high maintenance because they would probably be clueless about girls and I'd have to stop them from getting into all kinds of trouble."

The other girls giggled in agreement before Bianca spoke up, "So we all really do have feeling for Ash after all huh."

Yancy sniffled into her pillow, "When he visited the studio, Ash noticed I was working too hard and fought with my manager until he got me a better contract. All the other guys I've ever met either think I'm to boring to bother with or know my stage name and just ask for autographs, locks of my hair or private concerts. I've never met another guy who was just genuinely worried about my health and not my fame. Unfortunately, after my memories got wiped my manager noticed and changed my contract back without telling me."

"That son of a," Rosa cried out, "That's it Yancy, whether you like it or not I'm changing you to the director I work for as soon as we get back to the studio."

"But we can't do that!" Yancy cried out, "Even if he's really strict, he's not a bad person and I'm only this successful in my carrier because he's the number one person at Pokéstar Studios."

"Argh, who cares about any of that stuff," shouted Hilda as she thumped her arm down on the bed, "We've all had our cry and our parents are going to be here within the hour to try and drag us back home. According to Cilan, Ash is in an even worse predicament then we were without realising it and I still haven't figured out how to beat a pokémon that doesn't even have to battle to win and send us right back to square one."

"Oh Arceus, what am I going to tell dad," Bianca panicked, "Not only is he going to try and revoke my trainer licence when he finds out a psychic type messed with my head but he's going to ground me when he find out I like a boy. Then he'll drive Ash to the other side of the earth so I never see him again."

"Oh please," Rosa replied sarcastically, "If Ash didn't bat an eye to staring down Ghetsis and getting shot in the process to protect me then I doubt he'll even realise your father is threatening him."

"YOU LET ASH GET SHOT!" screamed Hilda as she sat bolt upright, "What were you thinking, letting Ash near the biggest psycho in the region!"

"How was I supposed to know the guy's walking stick would turn into a Gatling gun?!" Rosa yelled back in self defence.

"IT'S GHETSIS! He always has a secret way of killing everyone around him! How else do you think he eluded capture for a full three years after I dissolved team Plasma!?" Hilda shouted back.

A nurse stormed into the room and barked, "If you girls start causing any problems, I'm fully authorised to sedate the lot of you."

With that statement the four teenagers promptly shut up and waited mutely for their families to arrive.

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Hau' oli City Pokémon Centre, Alola

The morning after Faba attempted to steal Nebby, Ash knocked on the door to the room J was staying in.

"The people from the Aether foundation are here to talk about the boat," called Ash.

"Ah Ash come in, I'll be ready to go out and meet them in just a minute," came J's voice through the door, "I'm just doing a bit of inventory."

Our young hero entered the room to see J crouched on the floor with a multitude of items splayed out in front of his open bag in neat rows.

"You have a lot of stuff. Isn't it heavy to carry around everywhere?" asked Ash as he sat down next to J.

J laughed, "In most gamma universes some inventor took the blue prints of the poké ball and invented the item capsule. From that we got bags that have sown in hammer space chambers. I can't imagine how trainers like you can lug around camping supplies, food, medicine, clothes and poké balls without it. Anyway I called you in here because I have a gift for you."

Ash looked down in surprise as he was handed a long cream coloured wooden flute, "Er, thanks but I don't really play music."

"Neither do I. But after traveling through enough worlds I picked up some basic item crafting skills and making flutes is pretty easy. The design's based of my eon flute. Cheap knock off in comparison I know but it should do the job," mused J as he went back to marking off lava cookies on the handheld he had pulled out when they first met.

"Do what job and why are you giving me a gift out of the blue?" asked Ash.

"Oh I always give out mementos whenever I make friends. Proof that we met and all that," J smiled, "As for what it does, you did have a pidgeot right?"

"Yeah I had one," sighed Ash in depression, "Unfortunately the whole flock they were in charge of migrated and I haven't seen them since."

"Well that's good news. Terrible when I make a mistake and give a useless gift," J noted, "You see that flute works just like an eon flute does for Latias and Latios. Doesn't have the near unlimited range of one but the frequency should cover at least a region. The flute is designed to make a high pitch sound that we can't hear. Pidgeot in particular will notice that ones noise so don't blow it to often or you will drive the local population nuts.

Anyway the sound carries very well through the upper atmosphere and goes further when you blow it at higher altitudes. If you are the one to blow it then the sound will have slight pitch fluctuations that will match your tone of voice and should be recognised by your pidgeot. If the bird is nearby then it might come back to you. I don't think you'll find your pokémon without several years of travel but some chance is better than no chance right?"

Ash looked down at the plain looking object with sparkles in his eyes. Placing the mouthpiece to his lips, he blew down as hard as he could. The result was an ear splitting shriek that made J wince and shattered the mirror in the room.

"Your right, you can't play instruments. Next time blow gently or it won't work," J cringed as he quickly started packing things back into his bag, "You can go now, I'll be down in a minute."

A little while later J met back up with Ash and his worried friends as they stood in front of the pokémon centre before Lusamine, Wicke and a still tied up Faba (Wicke hadn't been able to remove all the ropes J and Gladion had used to restrain him).

"So, you're the mystery trainer that everyone has been talking about. Mind telling me why you thought it was necessary to destroy one of my boats and not have the courtesy to apologise or even look remotely guilty," asked Lusamine in irritation.

"Oh, it's you again," said J flatly.

"Excuse me?" cried Lusamine indignantly, "I don't think you realise just how much trouble your in young man. Now I have been generous and haven't pressed any charges yet because you've befriended my daughter but I won't be so lenient if you keep acting like this."

"Uhuh," replied J in boredom as he completely ignored the three Aether Foundation members in favour of pulling something out of his bag.

"I told you he was a conceited brat but nooo, no one ever listens to the great Faba about someone's character," Faba complained.

J found what he was looking for, pulled out a grey mechanical bracelet and held it out to Lusamine, "Would you be willing to take an immediate blood test by putting this around your wrist?"

The Aether foundation president just gawked at him, "Lillie, I don't think I want you interacting with this boy any longer. He is clearly some kind of unstable delinquent."

"What the hell are you thinking asking someone you just met to take a medical test," gaped Mallow.

"Yeah J, you're being very rude," Ash added.

"It's some tech I picked up from a future world. Completely harmless, it won't even pierce the skin," J continued as if they hadn't interrupted. His cold dead gaze didn't waver from Lusamine's indignant glare, "I won't cooperate with you until you take the test. I can't explain until afterwards as doing so is too much of a risk to my personal safety."

Lusamine glared at him for a minute before snatching the mechanical bracelet and examining it, "So you'll be polite if I put this on my wrist?"

"As long as it returns negative I'll even give you a hand written apology," J answered.

Lusamine looked at him shrewdly before replying, "I'm only doing this because Lillie told me you were from another world and would have grown up with different customs. I want you to understand that what your asking is highly offensive in this world so I don't want to hear you doing this again."

With that she clicked the bracelet open and put it on her wrist with the small rectangular screen facing upwards for everyone to see. The device immediately snapped shut with a distinct sound of a locking mechanism. The inner surface lit up as internal mechanics began to spin. 'Testing' appeared on the screen for about ten seconds before it flashed 'NEGATIVE' in big green letters and the device released itself from her wrist.

"Now do you mind telling me what this was all about," inquired Lusamine tersely.

J smiled and pulled out a prewritten letter of apology from his bag and handed it to Lusamine, "I needed to make sure you hadn't been exposed to Nihilego venom and turned into a raving lunatic. Too many of your counterparts have tried to kill me for me to afford to be polite about it."

"I – WHAT? How do you even know what a Nihilego is? Why would I be a raving lunatic?" sputtered Lusamine as she pulled back and refused to hand over the testing bracelet.

J just shrugged and pulled his hand back before turning to Lillie and patting her on the head, "I want you to know that you are a very lucky girl. Your mother in most universes is a ruthless, obsessive control freak that drove your brother out of home. You should try to resolve whatever problems you might have with her and just be grateful that she cares about you so much."

Lillie looked back in timid confusion before her mother reached forward and pulled her into a protective hug. She glared back at J in a way that only a protective parent could and replied, "I don't know what you've seen out there but rest assured I would never mistreat my daughter or son. I may be very busy with work but they mean the world to me. Now I'm going to keep this trinket of yours for a while and you are going to tell me exactly what happened to my counterparts. Is that clear?"

"It's all in the letter. There might be no cure yet for the damage a nihilego does to the body but there is a treatment to prevent further damage and allow the victim to recover somewhat. Now about the boat, I am a traveling trainer and obviously can't afford to replace it but I might just have a few bits of information that can make you overlook this incident."

"I appreciate the research material that's apparently in this letter but that boat cost millions of dollars. I can't just write it off for a few pieces of information," Lusamine countered.

J smirked, "Since you're not infected by nihilego venom I think you should find this piece of information enough. Are you aware that the hobo that runs the poké pelago just north east of here is a blonde amnesiac named Mohn?"

Lusamine's eyes widened and Lillie's head snapped around so fast that her hair smacked Faba in the face.

"Who's Mohn?" asked Ash.

"Mohn is Lusamine's missing husband and Gladion and Lillie's father," explained Wicke, "He disappeared many years ago while conducting research on ultra space."

"I have to go," Lusamine announced as she turned to leave, taking Lillie with her.

"What! Miss Lusamine, surely you don't believe this brat. Even if the information is true, it is not enough to overlook the costs of what he did," shrieked Faba.

Lusamine whirled around, "Shut up Faba. I'm already furious with you for using a Hypno on my son. If Mohn really is alive then I don't really care how many vehicles this traveller destroyed. I just want my husband back."

With that the two blonde women left leaving an awkward silence in their wake.

"Well . . . this is extremely awkward," said Wicke, "why don't we just call this a day and put all this mess behind us. I'm sure the president won't want to think about the debacle after she's reunited with her husband so I think we'll just let you kids off the hook. Just, uh, don't do anything like this again."

Before Ash or anyone else could respond, Faba managed to finally break lose of the last of his ropes and pointed a finger at J, "HOLD IT right there. I'm still going to press charges for assault boy. You're finished!"

J yawned comically while Ash and the others leapt to his defence, "Oh yeah, well if you do that then we'll just tell officer Jenny that you kidnapped Silvally and Nebby. How's that."

Faba grinned savagely, "Type: Null is actually my pokémon because I created it. Gladion is the one who stole it from my lab. Cosmog is also a wild pokémon so I haven't done anything wrong."

"That's easy enough to fix," interjected J as he plucked an empty poké ball off Ash's belt, unzipped Ash's bag and tapped it against Nebby's sleeping face.

Everyone gasped and Lana called out, "You can't just catch a pokémon while it's taking a nap. It's just unfair."

J shrugged as the poké ball pinged and handed it back to Ash, "It solves the problem doesn't it? Honestly, from my perspective, not catching a legendary under your care is just downright irresponsible."

"What do you mean legendary," gasped Wicke.

J looked back at her in confusion, "You mean the Aether Foundation wasn't already aware? Cosmog evolves into Cosmoem and male Cosmoem evolve into Solgaleo. Females evolve into Lunala. Congratulations Ash, you now officially have a legendary pokémon."

Ash looked down at the poké ball in his hands as J's words were slowly processed in his head. Then when they clicked he promptly fainted from shock.

"Ash," both Mallow and Lana cried out as they moved to support his limp body.

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Hearthome City Airport, Sinnoh

The early morning bustle of travellers coming and going via the airport terminal was an every occurrence. Once such group had come down from Solaceon Town.

"Mum, I'm going to be fine," grumbled Angie, "It's just a short flight to Kanto to link up with some people who know Ash, that's all."

"But sweetie, I know your quite fond of Ash but isn't this just a little bit too much?" her mother replied.

"Now, now honey, Angie is a grown girl. Where lucky she stayed home as long as she did," chided her father.

"I'm just worried about you Angie. When ever you wrote love letters to Ash, you always got back those creepy responses," said her mother.

"MUM! Not here," Angie whined, "Besides, we already checked into that. For some reason my letters kept being sent to Lavender Town and some ghost pokémon kept writing back responses as a practical joke."

"We know and we met the lad so I'm sure it's not his fault," grinned her father, "Just remember when you do get your dream guy to make sure we get grandkids."

"D-DAD!" Angie yelped, "You shouldn't being saying such things in public and especially not to your teenage daughter. Now everyone on the plane is going to be giving me weird looks."

Her mother sighed and yanked her husbands ear, "I think we better go before we embarrass her too much and she never speaks to us again. Have a safe trip Angie, we love you!"

"Bye mum, bye dad. I'll be sure to call you when I arrive in Pallet Town," waved Angie before she turned to board the plane.

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Lilycove City, Hoenn

The plane tickets to Fallarbor Town that Norman had bought were scheduled for the early afternoon so May and Lisia had decided to fill in time by going shopping at the seaside markets of Lilycove. Her father was keeping a very close eye on her, which was comforting considering the circumstances, but he was distracted on his mobile with intermittent phone calls from her mother. Apparently Norman had told Mum about Zinnia and her intention to see her and after interrogating Max, (who had also been taken to have his memories checked) Caroline had been periodically calling to talk them out of it. Norman had told May very explicitly that, while he most certainly did not approve of interacting with terrorists, he would rather be present to protect her rather than say no and have her run off and do it anyway.

Overall, May liked the frequent phone calls (partly because she had never managed to save up enough money to buy a phone of any sort so her mother couldn't scold her directly) because it meant that Norman payed just enough attention to make her feel safe but wasn't able to pay attention to any of the beachwear and accessories that she and Lisia were picking out for Alola. Wallace had also called Norman several times. It had been very upsetting to know that one of the people she looked up to had prevented Lisia from getting back in touch with her. She could understand why but it had hurt to find out that Wallace knew she was a likely victim of psychic tampering and hadn't done anything (visible) about it. At her and (primarily) Lisia's frantic gesturing, Norman had lied to Wallace and said that he hadn't seen Lisia at all and had innocently questioned the champion as to why his niece would approach them in the first place.

"May, May is that you?"

Hearing the familiar voice, she turned from the stand up mirror where she had been examining the deep blue Kyogre patterned bikini Lisia had recommended she try on to see Drew approaching.

"Oh hey Drew. What can I do for you?" May greeted as she noticed his eyes briefly slide down and snap back up with a blush.

"You missed this mornings contest. What happened? We might both be ahead of the curve but we can't afford to slack off," Drew enquired.

May shifted awkwardly, she didn't exactly want to admit that she had had a DPRS. It was humiliating and scary enough already without her rivals finding out about it. So she decided to pretend nothing was wrong and get rid of him quickly before he asked to many questions, "Something came up and I just decided not to go, that's all."

"Something came up?" Drew raised an eyebrow sceptically, "May, this is your carrier. I don't want to see you throw it away by frivolously deciding to go on a shopping spree."

May frowned. Ash would have asked her what was important enough to miss a contest and if she needed help with it. Well, at least Drew was trying to help in his own way. Taking a subtle breath to calm her nerves, she looked at Drew with a strong determined expression, "Look Drew, I know what this might look like but I can assure you that I didn't skip the contest just to go shopping. Something important has happened and I'm going to need to leave the contest circuit for a little while. I don't really want to get you involved because it's none of your business."

"LEAVE THE CIRCUIT! What do you mean? Did someone die? What could possibly justify you needing to take that long off," Drew cried out.

"I uh well, Drew this is kind off personal," squirmed May, crossing her arms to try and display more confidence. A coordinator couldn't show weakness on stage or off stage after all. Unfortunately it gave her strength in the form of irritation as her change in posture caused Drew to glance down at her bust again. In the periphery of her vision she noticed her father start glaring at Drew while on the phone.

It was at that moment that Lisia decided to bound out of the makeshift change room, completely ignore Drew, and give a graceful twirl to show off the glitzy turquoise swimwear she had picked out, "Well May, what do you think?"

"Y-you two know each other personally," Drew stammered, completely thrown off by this turn of events.

"Tee hee, we're old friends," Lisia giggled, "I haven't seen you in a while Drew. I can tell by that floral scent that you're still using that $200 dollar shampoo brand. You should be careful with how much off that stuff you use or some people might get the wrong idea again."

May promptly had to cover her mouth to refrain from laughter as Drew went bright red, "For your information Lisia, you're the only person who has ever jumped to that conclusion. I've told you before and I'll say it again. I am NOT gay."

Lisia giggled again, "That's probably because I'm the only person you've met who could afford to spend that much on shampoo. I'm sorry I assumed you were gay when my parents set me up on a blind date with you but in hindsight it's really funny."

May snapped out of her sniggering fit, "Wait, are you saying that you two have dated?"

"Just the once. Mum and dad set it up since I'd defeated him a few times during his first run through Hoenn," explained Lisia, "My parents set me up on lots of dates with posh snobby people. It's one of the downsides of being rich. They're determined to make me give up on Ash."

Drew's face returned to normal and his eyebrow twitched at the name drop, "Why would you mention Ash now of all people. He has nothing to do with the topic which is May taking time off contests."

"Ash has everything to do with the topic. Since he's in trouble, May and I are going to Alola with some of Ash's friends to go rescue him!" Lisia exclaimed with a fist pump.

Drew looked bewildered then he turned to May indignantly, "You're leaving the contest circuit to help ASH of all people. He's a battler, I'm sure he doesn't need any help. Even if he does I'm sure he can get help from his battler friends. What you need to focus on is the next Grand Festival. I've already won one so this year is your year to shine."

May fidgeted uncomfortably again, "Drew, while the last part was very sweet, the rest of what you said was pretty offensive. You know I don't buy into that battler and coordinators shouldn't mix stuff. Besides, Ash really needs our help even if he is completely unaware of it so I'm going and nothing is going to stop me."

"But May, I thought you'd finally gotten over Ash and realised he was holding you back. All those detours for gym battles, private battle facilities and practice battles with him took precious time away that could have been better spent practicing for contests," Drew exclaimed.

Lisia gasped and May looked like she had been punched in the face and then slapped for good measure. The effect was made all the worse because Lisia had told her last night that while her skill had improved to the point were she should have been able to win a grand festival, she hadn't been able to do so because she had lost that spark of inspiration that she had had when she was traveling with Ash.

"Take that back," May growled.

"I won't because it's true," Drew said emphatically, "The first year I can excuse because it would have been a bad idea for you to travel alone while your pokémon were weak but after that he was only holding you back. Ash has been through what, six leagues now. Most people would have realised that they're just not up to it by that point. Even at battling he can't succeed and a loser like that shouldn't be dragging you down with him. I'm not saying he's a bad person but he's not good enough for you!"

"What do you mean 'not good enough for me!'? How dare you accuse Ash of holding me back!" May exploded, "I'll have you know that Ash has helped me in more ways than you will ever realise. So what if he's never managed to win a league. He's still an integral part of my life and I won't stand for you badmouthing him."

Drew sighed in exasperation, "Look May, I'm really sorry if I've offended you but I'm just thinking about what's best for you. I know that you and Ash were really close but that was back then. You haven't spoken to each other in years and he's never shown the slightest trace of returning your feelings. He's travelled with multiple girls since and I'm sure he's forgotten about you. He will never care about you the way . . . the way I do!"

May hung her head, "I'm sorry Drew. I know you like me . . . and I've known for a long time but I've just never felt that way about you. My heart belongs to Ash."

"WHY!?" Drew burst out, on the verge of tears, "Why is it that even after you seemed to give up on Ash, nothing I do seems to catch your attention? What does he have that I don't? When has he ever shown that he cared about you more than I do?"

Drew looked her up and down again, "You are the most beautiful girl I've ever met. On stage you are graceful, elegant and breathtaking. How Ash could never see it is beyond me. Why would you choose him? You're from two completely different worlds. You should be with me!"

"That's the thing Drew," said May quietly without looking up, "You think I'm pretty and talented but that's it. You have never asked me about anything unrelated about coordinating. You like the idea of me but not the person underneath all that. You always ignored Max and get so fixated on winning. If you had to choose between me and coordinating, I know that you'd choose coordinating. I'm not saying that you should abandon your dream but I want more from a relationship than being married to someone who's so busy I never get to spend time with them.

Ash might not have returned my feelings yet but I know that if I needed him, he would drop everything, even the league final, to come and help me. The most important thing to him are the bonds he forges with those around him and he will stop at nothing to protect those connections. I know that if I'm with Ash, I'll get to spend lots of time with him and that he will support me no matter where I want to go or what I want to achieve next. If I decided that I wanted to be a world renowned chef, it would be over between you and me but not with Ash."

Drew was quiet after she finished but then he murmured, "If Ash is so wonderful then why did you follow me to Johto instead of going with him to Sinnoh?"

May's head snapped up and she took a panicked step back. Before she had to answer though, a heavy hand descended on Drew's shoulder.

"I think that's enough harassing these girls lad," said Norman sternly.

Drew turned to see who was behind him and made a snap judgement based on the way Norman stood and the way he held his hand over his poké balls, "Stay out of this Battler, this is a matter between Coordinators."

"Oh?" Norman smiled in a way that promised doom on boyfriends the world over, "That's peculiar. When my daughter mentioned you in phone calls, she didn't mention just how arrogant you are."

"D-daughter," stammered Drew as he began to sweat bullets, "Your h-her father?"

"Yes," said Norman with that increasingly intimidating smile, "May's father, the gym leader. Of course if you have the guts to confess to my daughter then you would've known that, wouldn't you. After all, knowing about the girl you claim to be in love with is relationships 101 isn't it."

"I-I," Drew stuttered.

"Now let me tell you how I see things," Norman smiled, "Just from one man to another so that you know what not to do next time. I fly across Hoenn to see my daughter because she has been admitted to hospital for psychic tampering. My daughter is very upset but is cheered up when she is reunited with her long lost friend. Then after she is discharged from hospital that friend suggests that they go shopping to make her feel better. During that time, a rival of hers shows up to check on her condition. Fair enough, I think but then he starts to berate her and harass her. While she's trying on some very provocative clothes that she knows her parents wouldn't approve of her wearing in public. Then he continues to yammer on about a lot of stuff I couldn't really care less about because he keeps eyeing my daughter up and down right in front of me like she's something for sale. My innocent, exposed, currently distressed and conveniently cornered daughter that's only just come out of the psychic treatment ward. Now tell me Mr Drew, what do you think my next course of action will be?"

"T-to shake m-my hand and tell me s-some ground rules for dating your daughter," Drew stammered in a pleading fashion.

"Not quite" Norman smiled as he raised a poké ball.

(One under arm Slaking focus punch later)

"Dad, do I need to be worried about Ash's safety," trembled May.

Norman wrapped an arm comfortably around his daughter, "Now May, one of the reasons why I liked Ash so much was because he never gave you lecherous looks. I know that once you get to Alola, you're probably going to try to make him look at you but I know the difference between an accidental glance and deliberate ogling. I knew exactly what was going through his head when he looked at you that third time. Ash would be too flustered and those ideas wouldn't even occur to him. He'd be too busy trying to think of what he's supposed to do while most guys his age are thinking about what they want to do. Now be a good girl and get back into your normal clothes before I have to get rid of another boy that thinks he's the next superstar in the making."

"You don't think he'd be just a little bit happy to see me in this," asked May with tentative hope.

"Have his eyes ever dropped below your chin while you were wearing any of the other skimpy swimsuits that you think your mother and I don't know about?" Norman questioned.

"No," May grumbled as she stalked off to the change room, "He was more concerned about making sure I was having fun at the beach."

"AND that's why I like him," Norman grinned, "Any guy that prizes your smile more than the rest of your body is a keeper in my books."

: :

: :

Kanto

A days travel through the forest north of Mulberry City, Dawn ran into an unexpected friend along the road.

"Brock! What are you doing here?" she greeted with a smile, "I thought I wouldn't see you until I stopped by Pewter City."

"Well to be honest Dawn, I was hoping to intercept you," Brock explained with his arms crossed.

Dawn's smile slid into an expression of concern, "Is something wrong? It must be pretty serious if you'd leave your studies just to see me a little sooner."

"Well that depends," Brock shrugged, "Dawn, do you still have feelings for Ash?"

"Huh?" Dawn deadpanned. That question had been completely left field.

"Look Brock, if you need dating advice you can just ask me directly. There's no need to make things up to cover your insecurities," Dawn replied.

"I see, so you don't remember," Brock affirmed.

"Don't remember? Wait a minute, have you been speaking with my Mum," accused Dawn.

"Dawn, I think I should take you to the hospital," said Brock firmly.

"I don't believe this! I'm really sorry Brock but my mum's waisted your time. I'm perfectly fine," Dawn exclaimed.

"Please Dawn, Ash is the primary victim and anyone who's travelled is likely to have been affected as well," Brock replied, gesturing his arms down in a placating manner.

"Ash is – No I'm not getting pulled into this. I'm not amused by this practical joke. You're taking things too far. My memory is fine. My pokémon would have battled a psychic type before it got to me and I would have had to treat any injuries afterwards. I'm more then happy to help if Ash is in trouble but I don't need to go to the hospital," snapped Dawn.

"Ok Dawn calm down. There is a simple way to settle this. Do you still have your diary? The one you had back in Sinnoh," asked Brock.

"Of course I do! I keep all my old diaries with me because they are full of concept sketches for various clothing designs," Dawn exclaimed.

"And when was the last time you looked at one of your older ones," Brock prodded.

"Just last . . . last . . . I . . . don't seem to . . . remember," Dawn trailed off.

Panic rising in her, she dropped her bag and began madly rifling through it to find her diaries.

"Dawn, I never read your diaries but I do know that you developed a huge crush on Ash. Your diary should probably mention it somewhere so if you find it, please come with me to the hospital," said Brock.

"Th-that's just silly. No need to worry, this is all just a huge misunderstanding," Dawn muttered in borderline hysteria as she fumbled with the padlock to one of her diaries, "Just because you travel with someone doesn't mean you'll develop feelings for them. L-love is really important to a girl, there's no way I'd forget about falling in love."

Unfortunately the very first page the book opened up on disagreed with her.

Wedding dress design no. 32

If Ash and I get married in the winter, this design will look beautiful in the snow. The fluffy rims will help keep me warm while the elegant snowflake pattern will highlight . . .

She flicked to a much earlier entry

Mrs Dawn Ketchum, Oh I love how that sounds. If only I could figure out how to make him pay more attention to me.

She flicked through the pages again.

I had another steamy dream about Ash last night. It was so embarrassing trying to clean my sleeping bag in the nearby river without anybody noticing.

Dawn began to hyperventilate as she flicked to later entries. Perhaps it was just a passing crush that she had forgotten about. Just something to do with her being a new trainer and Ash being her senpai. Yes that had to be it.

Who is this May girl? She and Ash seem quite close but it seems to be platonic. She's really nice and I'm sure we could become great friends but she showed up so suddenly. Does Ash have other girls that he's travelled with? Oh, this is going to keep me up all night worrying. I don't want someone to just show up and whisk away my Ash.

She flicked through the pages again, desperately trying to find something that would contradict the horrible truth that was settling over her. A fight, another guy, something, anything that would make this dizzying feeling go away.

Lyra asked me if I was dating Ash today. Why, why, why can't I pluck up the courage to just tell him I like him already? What if he rejects me, what if I ruin what we already have? What if I keep hesitating and someone like Lyra takes him from me? Argh, why do I have to be so nervous about saying three simple words? Three stupid syllables, that's all. Maybe I should ask Brock for some advice. Wait did I really just consider getting advice from Brock the total dating failure. What is wrong with me?

"H-how?" Dawn choked as her eyes began to water, "When did this change?"

"Try the end of the book or your trip to Unova," answered Brock sympathetically as he began to rub her back.

She found the entries pretty quickly. A full twenty pages worth of rehearsed and refined confessions all leading up to the day before she would be reunited with Ash and finally confess. That days diary entry however just talked about the wonderful weather and how excited she was to be going on a trip with Cynthia. Only a single line at the end mentioned Ash. Bile rose in her throat. A single line mentioned as an afterthought just for formalities sake.

Oh, and Ash showed up today. I was really surprised to see him.

It was right next to the page with the finalised confession. How could she have not noticed when they were right next to each other? What else did she not remember? How many other lies had she been fed from unseen foes? Why hadn't her pokémon defended her? Why, why, why . . .

Brock moved to support the hyperventilating coordinator as she passed out from shock. Sighing, he put her things back in her bag and sent out Steelix. At least he wouldn't have to carry her the several miles it would take to get back to civilisation.

: :

: :

Goldenrod City, Johto

In one of the more upper class cafés of the business capital of Johto, Lyra sat having some afternoon tea with an annoying uninvited guest. As was the going trend in Johto, she had several pokémon out to keep her company including her Marill on her lap and the two pichus she owned sitting on the table staring up at her with big innocently adorable eyes while they nibbled macaroons. It was these two pokémon that were unintentionally responsible for her uninvited guest, one of those late 20s to early 30s overweight pokémon collectors with big round glasses that hid his eyes with the sheen alone.

"Ms Lyra, I think your being unreasonable. I've offered you money, I've offered you connections, and I've offered twenty assorted pichu, pikachu and raichu. I know you're attached to your pokémon but I simply must add a shiny pichu and the legendary spiky-eared pichu to my collection," the man sputtered.

"I said no when you first sat down and I'll say it again. N. O. No. Now leave me alone," Lyra replied dryly.

"What about a car! A nice red shiny sports car," the man protested.

"If you stay any longer, I'm going to call the cops," groaned Lyra, "I know what you people are like. I will not sentence my pokémon to spend the rest of their lives in one of those glass display cases just because they have a different coat of fur!"

"JUST a different coat of fur! Now Ms, this pichu is a shiny and the other one is even rarer than that. Spiky-eared pichu have been recorded throughout history for being involved in pivotal world events but a collector has never been able to get a hold of one. For someone as reckless as you to use such a valuable specimen in something as dangerous as the lamp jump event is unacceptable. What if it falls or worse, loses the spiky fur on its ear!" the collector ranted.

"I've tried shaving its' ear just so I don't get pestered by people like you. The fur just grows right back to full length in less than a week," Lyra deadpanned, "Now see my pokégear here. I'm dialling the local officer Jenny so scram."

Fortunately the man gave up and left, allowing her to slump on the table. To think that before she had caught these two she had never even heard of a shiny. All she had been thinking about when she had seen the pikachu coloured pichu in Ilex Forest was that she had wanted a pikachu like the one Ash had. Two weeks of pursuing the little escape artist later and she had the spiky-eared Pichu bawling its' eyes out in front of her because she had caught its' brother. So she had reluctantly caught the second one so as not to separate the family only to find out after the fact that both of them were too stubborn to evolve.

Still . . . it was hard to argue with how cute they were. When she had found her calling at the Pokéathlon, they had made her an instant crowd favourite. She still competed in the leagues of course but the Pokéathlon was much more frequent and gave her a more stable income.

"You know, it's your fault these people keep bothering me," she grumbled. She didn't blame them of course but these frequent collectors were a nuisance. The shiny one just tilted its' head while the spiky-eared pichu leaned forward, picked up a macaroon off the plate and offered it to her while continuing to nibble its' own with the other paw. The effect was too cute for her to stay mad at them and she had to restrain herself from picking them up and rubbing them against her cheek like a plushy. She had learned the hard way that they didn't appreciate the same affectionate gestures she could do with her Marill. So she gratefully accepted the macaroon and let her thoughts drift to vaguely wondering whether Ash got shocked by his pikachu if he rubbed its' cheek.

Straitening up, she slapped her cheeks. "Now, now Lyra you mustn't think about Ash. You already ruined your last relationship by starting to frequently compare your boyfriend to him," she self scolded.

It was a curious thing about her, one that hours of contemplating and even talking to her parents and closest friends hadn't been able to solve. After that trip to Sinnoh, the more she thought about Ash, the stronger her feelings for Khoury became. The more she thought about Khoury . . . well, she felt like a terrible person for thinking this but the more she thought about him the more dull and boring he seemed and she quickly felt her feelings dwindle. The paradox drove her crazy and the constant seesaw of emotions and Khoury's very reasonable dislike of being unintentionally compared to a trainer who already had three leagues and the battle frontier under his belt had ultimately ruined the relationship and their friendship. Life with Khoury would have been just . . . normal. She wanted excitement, the thrill of adventure. As much as she adored her grandparents, she didn't want the life of a pokémon breeder.

Pichu's spiky ear twitched and it dropped its' fresh macaroon to look out the café entrance. Then without warning, it jumped off the table and darted out of the establishment.

"Pichu wait, you can't just run off like that," Lyra called as she frantically scooped up the other Pichu and her Marill and ran after her mischievous pokémon.

Through the busy street and roads they dashed, headless of their surroundings. Worry continued to build up in Lyra as the risk of someone like those collectors trying to steal her Pichu again steadily rose. Up, down, left, left, right. Pichu seemed to be tracking something but she had no idea what. Just when Lyra began to reach the end of her admittedly impressive stamina, Pichu turned into a derelict ally and she rounded the corner only to stop dead in her tracks.

Right in front of her was Celebi. THE Celebi. Even more shockingly was that Celebi was handing her Pichu a bulky envelope. HER Pichu was receiving something directly from a mythical pokémon. Before she could process how to react to the scene before her, Celebi waved goodbye to Pichu and disappeared in a brilliant flash of light that sounded like bell chimes echoing. Pichu nonchalantly bounded up to her and presented the envelope.

"I – er – thankyou, WAIT WHAT?" Lyra burst out, "Pichu, what's going on, was that Celebi? How do you two know each other?"

Pichu and her sibling snickered and gestured for her to open the envelope. Complying with their request, she carefully pried it open to find a black crystal pendant, a hospital receipt, a plane ticket to somewhere called Alola and a photo of her and Ash in beach attire at some tropical location. What the hell? Didn't these situations usually involve some kind of letter to ones self or something? It seemed that Ash looked better than ever . . . and there went her strange emotional complex again. What was wrong with her weird feelings? Maybe the receipt would be more helpful. It was dated for today in . . . FOUR hours! What was a DPRS? Okay so apparently Pichu and Celebi wanted her to go to the hospital and then maybe use the plane ticket to go to Alola? What was the jewellery for? Oh darn, she didn't have time to think about all this. She would have to go to the hospital right now if she wanted this appointment because the waiting line would take forever even if no one else needed that particular procedure. She'd just have to figure the rest out later.

: :

: :

Meteor Falls, Hoenn

May had absolutely no idea whether it was light or dark outside by now because it was pitch dark inside the cave network. If it weren't for Blaziken then she, Lisia and Norman would be in total darkness. The trip here was pretty uneventful: arrive in town, take a tourist bus and then rent some hiking equipment. Still, wasn't the Draconid Tribe supposed to be here somewhere? This is where Zinnia had said she lived. But then again that was years ago. What if the tribe was nomadic? Maybe there really was nothing down here but solrock, lunatone and an insanely large population of golbat.

The sudden illumination of large red eyes ahead made the three travellers (plus Blaziken) freeze. More red circles of light began to light up around them, swaying up and down. A deep ancient growl chilled their blood.

"Turn back traveller. We have you completely surrounded so don't try anything funny," came a voice from under the red eyes.

"Zinnia, is that you?" May called out in relief.

"Oh? Have you come here to arrest me specifically? How adorably stupid," came Zinnia's amused reply.

Okay, not the response she wanted. In the dull light from Blaziken and the red spots, she could see that they were indeed surrounded by at least fifty people. How had they gotten so close without anyone noticing?

"May, think fast," said Norman as he sent out Slaking.

"We're not here to fight. I'm May, you and I have met before, you just don't remember it. Someone important to both of us has been suffering for a long time and I've only just recently been made aware of it," May explained quickly, "If we can just go to the hospital so you can remember-"

The red eyed pokémon hissed and Zinnia started laughing, "Did you really think you could trick me into going to a place where people will just sedate me. Would you like to try again with your back up cover story or should I dispose of you now. You were even kind enough to bring a gym leader right into our den."

"Zinnia, I know we've never met but I can assure you that trickery is the last thing on my daughter's mind," Norman announced firmly.

The red eyed pokémon hissed again and slowly, oh so terrifyingly slowly, long luminous yellow streamers began to glow, stretching from its head and snaking along its black body. It didn't take long for Norman, May and Lisia to realise what the black pokémon coiled in the air around them actually was. Lisia's legs gave out from under her in fear and Slaking immediately rushed forward to protect its' family.

"I take it you recognise Rayquaza even if this one isn't green," said Zinnia smugly, now visible beneath the dragon's head.

Slaking reached the ridge of rocks she was standing on and raised its' fist. Rayquaza answered with a single hyper beam that sent Slaking skidding along the ground, passed Norman and then crashing into another ridge of rocks behind them. Slaking didn't get up after the attack was finished.

"Now, why are you really here? Did the international police send you?" Zinnia barked.

"I'm telling the truth, I swear," May cried out, "We came to help you remember Ash. A powerful psychic pokémon has been making people he's encountered forget about him. Please Zinnia, don't do something you'll regret. We're friends and the same thing happened to me so I know I'd want someone to reach out and help me if I had forgotten someone really important!"

"Hmph," Zinnia responded confidently, "While there is no harm in getting my memory checked, there are people in the tribe who can do that so your trap's still a bust."

"That's great, the sooner you remember the better," smiled May.

Whatever confidence Zinnia had promptly slid off her face and was replaced with a frown. She looked to her right and jerked her head to indicate that someone unseen should move to the dark expanse behind her. Turning around to leave, Zinnia gave one last backward glance before she walked into the darkness, "Your either very brave or completely insane. Either way you're stupid. Rayquaza . . . play with them until I get back."

May and Lisia only had a second to comprehend what Zinnia's parting statement would mean before the black mega Rayquaza shot forward and ploughed right into Blaziken. May watched in agonizingly slow motion as Blaziken's body folded in the middle over the black snout and Blaziken immediately vomited its' stomach contents before they were gone from her field of vision and the half dissolved lunch splatted on the ground without having made contact with Rayquaza's body.

"Go Ali," yelled Lisia in panic.

Her Altaria came out with an elegant cry but Lisia was already hitting her mega tiara much to her pokémon's alarm. May looked around frantically for her starter as she fumbled with her belt to send out another pokémon. Norman sent out another Slaking and his Vigoroth before Blaziken's limp body came flying out of the darkness to hit Ali mid evolution, sending them tumbling across the dirt.

"Blaziken!"
"Ali!"

A hyper beam came from a different direction and hit both pokémon to finish them off.

"Now Slaking, use fling to hurl Vigoroth at Rayquaza, Vigoroth use slash."

Lisia and May rushed to recall their fallen pokémon while Vigoroth was launched with a primal howl at the golden streamers in the darkness. Rayquaza however had other ideas and zipped to the side and began to streak overhead in complicated patterns. Now that Blaziken had been returned, the shifting golden streaks above them were the only source of light.

"What are we going to do? That thing is going to kill us!" Lisia yelled as she began to tear up.

"Don't panic, Ash and I used to deal with events like this all the time. Well, we didn't normally fight the legendary directly but with Dad here I'm sure we can last until Zinnia get back," May soothed.

They heard Vigoroth come back and Slaking hurl it up at Rayquaza while Norman got close enough to recall his first unconscious Slaking.

"I'm having serious second thoughts about letting this girl near Ash," Lisia grumbled as she steeled her nerves.

"I'm-I'm sure she'll apologize," May gulped as she sent out Glaceon.

A flash of light let the girls know that Norman had sent out an exploud and then ordered it to start using ice beam. Glaceon joined in and Slaking used fling to send Vigoroth into the air a third time. None of the attack seemed to land but they did drop quite a few stalactites. Then Rayquaza paused and glowed brilliant green. Shooting vertically down, it smashed Slaking into the floor and then turned, grinding through the stone as it did so. Both Exploud and Glaceon scored several direct hits with ice attacks before Rayquaza turned its head and fire a dragon pulse into Exploud.

"This isn't working," complained Lisia, "I don't have another pokémon I can send out without risking it getting killed."

"Dad, any ideas," shouted May.

"Get your pokémon to form a barricade!" Norman hollered back, "This Rayquaza keeps taking out what it considers to be the biggest threat so if you stick to defence it should ignore you!"

Taking advantage of the dragon's stationary position, Vigoroth dropped out of the darkness above onto Rayquaza's head and started slashing the crap out of it. Unfortunately, as valiant and epic as Vigoroth looked, Rayquaza's scales seemed to be tougher so it ignored it in favour of repeatedly blasting Exploud with dragon pulse.

"All right Glaceon, build a wall with ice shard then get ready with mirror coat," May commanded.

Before the ice wall blocked the fight from view, May saw Rayquaza's tail lazily flick forward and the yellow strips on the end coiled around Vigoroth's arms. The tail snapped back and hurled Vigoroth back into the darkness.

"Please be alright Dad," prayed May.

The relative safety beneath the giant ice cone had an eerie silence with flashes of light outside illuminating the darkness. It lasted all of two minutes before an unconscious sawsbuck smashed through the ice wall and landed on Glaceon.

"DAD," May screamed.

"May stay back. That was my last pokémon," cried Norman as the mega Rayquaza loomed over him as if it had just found a mouse to chew on.

"No, stay away from him!" shouted May as she completely forgot about using a pokémon or anything else in her mad dash to reach her father.

Rayquaza's head shot down and somehow managed to snatch Norman by the ankle before hoisting him into the air.

"No you stupid girl, I told you to stay back," Norman yelled as Rayquaza dangled him over his daughter like one would dangle string over a cat.

May jumped futilely as Rayquaza swayed Norman back and forth, its' red eyes fixed unblinkingly on the girl that was its' unwilling playmate. Then Glaceon ran out to its' masters side and Rayquaza's tail cracked forward like a whip. Glaceon was instantly knocked out with a loud smack and May momentarily panicked and moved to check that her pokémon hadn't been killed or received any broken bones. The diversion annoyed the black dragon because the game was no longer being played.

So Rayquaza nonchalantly dropped the man and picked up the brunette girl by the ankle instead to see if the man would give a better reaction. To its' delight the man reacted wonderfully, waving his fist and yelling abuse at it before breaking into a run when it swung its' head in a way that made it look like it would throw the girl. Of course it had no intentions of doing so since its' owner had strictly said 'play' not 'hunt'. Most humans were intimidated by dragons and were easily distracted by mundane things like burning buildings. So Rayquaza had simply taken its' time enjoying a little light sparring to remove the distractions before giving the humans some incentive to play properly.

Said dangling human however did NOT enjoy the dragon's idea of play. All the blood rushed to May's head as she swung back and forth trying desperately not to vomit. The end of Rayquaza's tongue had wrapped itself around her ankle, allowing for the rest of her hang helplessly while it made terrifying motions to toss her. Was she going to be eaten? The tongue gave her leg enough leeway to ensure it didn't snap but it didn't make the nausea any easier.

Something extremely fluffy, soft and warm slammed into her and forcefully pulled her from Rayquaza's grip. That was a plus but the realisation that her sock and shoe had been ripped off in the process was not.

"May, are you okay? I used a revive on Ali so he's all right again," said Lisia from somewhere on the other side of the wall of fluffy white.

May just groaned as Lisia's hand grabbed her own and pulled her off Ali's tail and onto it's back. The black serpent eyed them indignantly as they soared through the air. It opened its' mouth and prepared to fire hyper beam.

"Not this time! I won't let you get a cheap shot on Ali," Lisa cried, "Let's show this pokémon what a mega Altaria can do Ali!"

With a vengeful chirp, Ali swerved out of the hyper beams way and began too duck and weave to avoid it. While normally evolution and mega evolution radiated enough energy to make approaching a pokémon impossible, having a mega evolution interrupted by say, a fully evolved projectile pokémon, hurt like hell. Ali might not be a battler but any dragon would want payback after being blindsided like that.

"Okay Ali, use tailwind then dazzling gleam," Lisia commanded.

"Um, should I send out another pokémon," asked May once she got her bearings back.

Lisia giggled, "Ali mega evolves into a fairy type and I have it train with uncle Wall's pokémon so he's actually really strong. We should have this in the bag."

Unfortunately Rayquaza then did what legendary pokémon do best and promptly screwed over whatever chance they had of winning. With a deafening roar, waves of turbulent wind began to ripple from its' body and knocked away all the stones launched by dazzling gleam. The air became erratic and Ali got pulled in one direction, then another. Rayquaza slithered effortlessly forward through the turbulent wind currents and then grabbed the Altaria with both arms.

"NO! Let go of my pokémon you big meanie," Lisia cried as she started to kick Rayquaza's scaly hand.

Rayquaza then dived and levelled out just above the ground, dragging Ali and his two now screaming riders along the stone ground at ferocious speeds. Ali squawked and writhed in agony but it couldn't escape the larger dragons grip. When Rayquaza finally did let go, their inertia sent them rolling and tumbling at full speed into a stone wall. By luck or protective instinct, the mega altaria shielded May and Lisia with its' fluffy tail and wings but the impact was too much for it.

"Ali, Ali, wake up Ali," pleaded Lisia as she began to cry.

"I've never seen such a brutal battling style," shuddered May.

Rayquaza hissed and watched intently as the annoying bird reverted back to its' less threatening form. It didn't like needing deal with the same problem twice.

"Rayquaza stop! No more! Don't hurt them," came Zinnia's frantic echoing cry.

A light became visible and as it approached, May and Lisia could make out Zinnia desperately running towards them with a lantern. Coming to a stop in front of them and dropping the electric light source, Zinnia put her hands on her knees to support herself as she caught her breath.

"So . . . does that mean you remember me," May asked tentatively.

Zinnia straightened up, grabbed the brunette by the shoulders and began shaking her, "May, what the hell were you thinking! You can't just waltz into draconid territory like that. I was really going to kill you for threatening my home. DON'T you ever do something that STUPID again."

"Okay, okay just stop shaking me before I throw up. Your Rayquaza really did a number on me," replied May dizzily.

Zinnia let out an exhausted sigh, then abruptly pulled May into a crushing hug, "Thankyou. Despite how stupid it was and make no mistake, I never want you to do that again, I really appreciate you coming all the way out here. There aren't a lot of people out there who are that loyal to their friends, especially to someone like me."

May patted Zinnia on the back, "Well, I know you had feelings for Ash even if you went to a lot of effort to hide them and since we were both victims of the same psychic pokémon I thought it would be unfair if I got my memories back and you didn't."

"That is one of the lamest reasons I've ever heard. Sweet but lame. Now why don't you tell me why a psychic pokémon is trying to keep girls away from Ash? He didn't catch a gardevoir of something like that did he?" Zinnia asked.

"This all started when someone I don't know about found that Ash was under the influence of psychic tampering and told the professor in the Alola region. They rang Ash's mum who wrote a note, which survived the psychic pokémon's cover up attempt. Then she rang my parents and a whole bunch of other people and things kind of just rolled on from there," explained May.

Zinnia stepped back to look May in the eye, "But why is a psychic type tracking Ash in the first place? Do you not know yet?"

"Well, um, dad's been on the phone all day to different people involved and one of them mentioned it having something to do with Ash being the chosen one or something," May shrugged.

"HE'S WHAT!" Zinnia screeched, "Why didn't you start with that? Even without my memories I would have payed attention to that. Hell, my Rayquaza would have payed attention to it even if I didn't know what it was."

"Does this chosen one stuff actually mean something to you?" asked May in surprise.

"YES it does May! Being the chosen one is a BLOODY DEATH sentence!" Zinnia yelled.

"What do you mean death sentence," yelped May and Lisia in unison.

"I don't have time to explain all the reasons," said Zinnia as she turned around, "Let's just say that it's a miracle that Ash is still alive. He's probably ONLY still alive because they have no one to replace him with. A chosen one is put through lots of suicidal events so it's not unusual for them to fail and die in the process. Legendary pokémon are more then capable of arranging for someone who just died to be revived but they won't bother if they have another person to fill the same roll. They'd also send him on a lot more missions with much higher risks if they didn't have to manage him so carefully. You have no idea how many messed up people and doomsday devices are out there."

May and Lisia followed Zinnia as she picked up her lantern and marched back toward Norman who was searching for his remaining pokémon with a torchlight.

"I wanted to free Ash from the psychic pokémon that's been manipulating him but are you saying he's actually going to be killed," exclaimed May.

"Well . . . no. They don't deliberately kill off chosen ones and Arceus devotes a lot of major resources to manage them but trainers just don't compare to the warriors of old. Immortals might be happy to fine tune the system an infinite number of times but they don't like overhauling anything," Zinnia elaborated, "I give full credit to Ash for surviving for this long but back in the days when the system was invented they picked people with actual combat training like Sir Aaron. Kids just don't learn those kinds of survival skills anymore. Both you and I have both seen what lengths Ash is willing to go to so I'm sure he meets all their expectations but legendary pokémon have expectations of human capability that society just can't match anymore.

Add on to that the extremely rapid advancements in science, not for the everyday person but for those with real money behind them. The legendary pokémon keep drastically underestimating this technology when they set systems up because they're just not used to rapid changes. So when the powers that be arrange for someone whose capabilities they've probably overestimated to go up against a villain who they most certainly have underestimated then it leads to death scenarios pretty quickly. Tell me May, have you ever heard of team plasma?"

"Uh, no?" May replied as she recalled her Glaceon and her father started giving her a look over to see if she was all right.

Zinnia gestured for them to follow her back to her village and continued her explanation, "Well this psycho appeared in Unova a while back and tried to create this revolution through the fairly peaceful means of convincing stupid people that they would be better off without pokémon in their lives. The whole thing blew up in his face when Zekrom appointed a champion and basically curb stomped his forces and revealed him to be a massive fraud. Anyway, he got away while most of his minions took the fall. Then two years later his group shows up again completely rebranded. Only this time they're back with guns."

May and Lisia gasped in horror while Norman grumbled that he would have to explain to Max why he would NEVER be allowed to go to America in terms Max would accept.

"The international police cracked down on them real hard so the whole organization was dead and buried in six months but can you imagine what it would be like for a person with normal pokémon to go up against that? Legendary pokémon don't really understand because half of them are bullet proof and preside over rocks and stuff but the rest of society and the wildlife are just massacred. That's why I think being the chosen one is a death sentence. I've already lost Aster to this world order crap and I don't want to lose Ash too," Zinnia finished.

"How exactly do you plan on doing that," said Norman with clear dislike. No, he certainly wasn't holding a grudge against the black dragon that was hovering over their heads, not at all.

"Once your pokémon are treated at the village we're going straight to where Ash is. I don't care what your friends have planned to rescue him, the sooner I can personally guarantee his safety with my Rayquaza and Salamence the better," replied Zinnia, "We'll beat the crap out of this psychic chaperone and then interrogate it to find out what the future agenda is. If it doesn't know, well . . . I guess it outlived its' usefulness then. Worse comes to worst, Rayquaza will allow us to take Ash out of the region so he won't be in any danger."

Lisia piped up, "I think that maybe we should meet up with the main group first or immediately after getting there. This psychic pokémon doesn't exactly need to be in line of sight to wipe our memory. I do not want to forget about Ash and May again."

"I'll ask the elders about shielding techniques but one way or another, Rayquaza will be taking us to Ash," said Zinnia with finality.