It was approximately thirty two hours after Ash arrived in Alola that he was called back to the Hoopa League.
He had a challenger.
When Ash got the call, he was in the middle of a fun day at the beach with his team. Blastoise was repeatedly launching a very happy Pikachu high into the air with Hydro Pumps, Krokodile, Steelix, and Sandslash were digging a network of trenches for the other Pokemon to play games in, and Ash was waist-deep in water with the other fifteen Pokemon he had on him at the moment.
Carrying limit didn't mean much to him.
However, Ash didn't feel much like taking on the challenger.
And so he turned to his trusty Ditto, who was currently masquerading as a Wailord, much to the amusement of Ash and his other Pokemon.
"Hey, Ditto? Can I ask a favor?" Ash called over. Ditto turned his massive head towards him before shrinking down into a Surskit and gliding across the water towards him. When Ditto was close enough, Ash continued.
"Well, the Hoopa League has a challenger - not sure who - but I really don't feel like taking the challenge because we just got to Alola yesterday and I kinda want to stay here for a bit. So is there any way that you could transform into me and use a few of the Pokemon that are back home to take him on?"
Ditto looked him oddly for a moment before smiling widely, an expression that looked extremely out of place on a Surskit, before nodding quickly.
"Thanks, buddy, you're the greatest," Ash praised before sending a mental request to Mewtwo to teleport Ditto back to the League.
Are you sure about that? Mewtwo asked carefully.
'Yeah, sure!' Ash thought back, 'Its not like he can do anything that bad.'
If you say so... Mewtwo conceded.
A second later, Ditto disappeared, and Ash went back to playing with his Pokemon.
"Holy shit," Ash gasped. He had been using his Lanturn to battle what his Pokedex called a Wishiwashi - a tiny little blue and white fish-like Pokemon. Only, Wishiwashi wasn't so tiny any more. In the blink of an eye, Ash found himself staring into the massive maw of a giant white-on-blue version of the tiny Pokemon.
"Well, Lanturn," Ash started, "This just got a bit more interesting."
'Oh Arceus,' Mewtwo thought in awe, 'Ash's Ditto is worse than Ash is!'
The challenger - who turned out to the Black, a former champion of Unova - looked like he was on his last nerve with "Ash". It was pretty understandable, too, as to why the young man looked so royally pissed.
Black had released Musharna.
Ditto had released Hypno.
Black had sent out Braviary.
...So had Ditto. May Arceus help Black.
Black had unleashed Emboar.
Ditto had unleashed Charizard.
Black had released Galvantula.
Ditto had released Beedrill.
Black had released Carracosta.
Ditto had released Archeops.
And, finally, Black played his trump card.
Black released Reshiram.
And Ditto, who had evidently spent way too much time with his trainer, released Zekrom.
Mewtwo very much felt like slamming his head onto something hard repeatedly.
"Okay, I think I got it, but just to be clear: there are no Gym Leaders here, but there are people like you, called Kahunas?" Ash asked the large man.
The large man grinned.
"Correct! Though, I would equate us Kahunas to the Elite Four, and the Trial Captains are more like your Gym Leaders," The man explained, then grabbed a Pokeball off of his belt.
"So, are you ready to battle me?" The man challenged.
"I'm always up for a battle!" Ash retorted.
The man laughed jovially.
"I'm glad to hear it! Then I, Kahuna Hala, accept your challenge!"
Hala paused for a moment.
"Normally, I'd have you complete Illima's trial first, but I think I'll make an exception here. I'm coming at you with everything I've got! Go, Hariyama!"
"Primarina, I choose you!"
The two Pokemon emerged from their Pokeballs. Hariyama slapped its large hands together loudly while Primarina let out a melodious cry.
"Fake Out!" Hala shouted, beginning the battle.
"Reflect!" Ash countered. Hariyama darted forward with startling speed, but the physical barrier that Reflect provided proved to be too much for Hariyama's attack.
"Now blast him away with Dazzling Gleam!" The super-effective move smashed into Hariyama, sending him flying across the raised platform they were fighting on.
Hala grit his teeth. "Hariyama, return! Bewear, Hammer Arm!"
In the place of Hariyama came a large, fluffy Pokemon.
The large, fluffy Pokemon proceeded to send Primarina flying into the woods with one attack.
Ash watched his new water-type fly across the sky in awe.
'Wow. I really need one of those,' He thought to himself.
Ash ran over to where Primarina had landed, unconscious.
"Primarina, you did great! Return now, and get some rest."
After returning to the battlefield, Ash grabbed his second Pokeball.
"Bisharp, I choose you!" Ash proclaimed, "Use Slash!" Bisharp lunged across the platform, scythes gleaming before smashing them into the fighting-type.
"Hammer Arm again!" Hala yelled, thrusting a fist towards Bisharp. Bewear recovered from the dual Slash attack quickly and swung at Bisharp with a large arm, but Bisharp was quicker.
"Dodge it!" Ash commanded, and Bisharp rolled deftly to the left before leaping up again to avoid Beware's secondary swing at its deft opponent.
"Retaliate with Aeiral A-" Ash stopped.
"What is that?!" He demanded, staring wide-eyed at the portal that had just opened behind Hala.
"What is - no!" Hala turned around, confused; that is until he saw what had captured Ash's attention.
"I didn't think those existed!" Hala shouted in disbelief.
"Stop playing the pronoun game! What exactly am I looking at?" Ash demanded, grabbing another Pokeball from his belt and priming it.
"That's a -"
And Hala was gone, leaving a rather bewildered Ash and a frantic Bewear. Bisharp just stood there waiting for Bewear to attack again.
Suddenly, the air flickered around where the portal was still open, and what Ash could quite safely call the weirdest Pokemon he had ever seen took Hala's place.
A large, red Pokemon that looked to be a cross between a Machoke and a mosquito was flexing in the space where Hala had previously stood.
Without hesitation, Ash whipped out Dexter to obtain information about the new Pokemon that had quite potentially kidnapped Hala.
Dexter, though, proved to be no help when he chimed:
"Pokemon unknown. No data available!"
Thanks, Dexter.
Sighing, Ash slipped the Pokedex back into his pocket and signalled for Bisharp to get ready to attack.
"I'm going to take a wild guess and call that a Bug/Fighting type," Ash said, mostly to himself.
"So Bisharp, use Aerial Ace!"
His valiant steel-type surged forward, rearing his scythes back for the super-effective attack, and swung with all his might.
And was promptly smashed through the wooden platform for his efforts.
Ash's jaw dropped as he recalled his clearly knocked-out Pokemon.
He looked down at his belt to grab another Pokeball and so was caught completely unaware when he was suddenly hoisted into the air by the neck. Ash looked down at his attacker - which turned out to be the strange Pokemon - before meeting the same fate as his steel type.
Ash managed to stay conscious long enough to witness two things. Firstly, the Pokemon grabbed Beware and flung it through the portal.
Secondly, the monster reached into his backpack, grabbed his wallet, and extracted a thousand Poke before turning around and disappearing, the portal vanishing with it.
When Ash came to, he was met with a two concerned faces staring down at him. The first was the boy he had met earlier - Sun - and the other was his Celebi.
"Oh, thank Arceus - you're awake!" Sun sighed, clearly relieved, "I saw the whole battle, and the hit you took. I didn't know if you were gonna make it... though, to be honest, when your Celebi came out of its ball I relaxed a bit. She's a powerful healer." Sun explained, before glancing over his shoulder.
"Hal, he's awake!"
Suddenly, Ash found himself being interrogated by a kid Sun's age with green hair.
"Are you okay?"
"Where is grandpa?"
"What was that Pokemon that came from the portal - I've never seen anything like it!"
"Where did you capture a Celebi?"
Ash held up a hand to slow down the onslaught, a tactic that worked on a now-sheepish Hal.
"Sorry... I don't understand what I just saw." Hal explained.
Ash smiled at the trainer before putting his hand down and taking a breath.
"Alright. So, yes, I am completely fine - Celebi here saw to that. I am not sure where your grandpa is, but am I right in assuming that your grandpa is Kahuna Hala?" Ash started.
When Hal nodded his confirmation, he continued.
"Gotcha. Anyway, I have no clue what Pokemon that was, but I'm assuming it was some kind of Legendary. And as for Celebi, I captured her on Meadow Island, back in my League."
Hal focused in on the last part of Ash's explaination.
"You have your own league?" He asked in awe.
Ash nodded.
"Yeah, its called the Hoopa League! Its a challenge unlike any you'll find in any other region."
"I'm gonna beat it someday!" Hal proclaimed, Sun nodding his approval in the background.
Ash laughed.
"You'll have to train really hard then! We've taken down some serious trainers," Ash told the duo.
"Like who?" Sun asked, curious to know the level that Ash was on.
"All the champions, the Dex-Holders, and some other miscelaneous trainers."
"...You're not serious."
Ash smiled.
"I promise I'm not lying," Ash assured Sun, "Have you ever heard of the Hoopa League?"
Sun scoffed.
"Who hasn't? Its the biggest news since the Unovan Battle Frontier got approved," Sun retorted.
"I'm the champion," Ash informed the boy.
"Well shit." Sun gaped.
No one said anything for a while, but eventually it was Hal that broke the silence.
"So, if your pokemon really took down Arceus, why couldn't they take down that weird Pokemon?" Hal asked, confused.
Ash shrugged.
"I'm not entirely sure what went wrong, but to be fair, it took the vast majority of my legendary Pokemon plus Pikachu to take him down," Ash explained.
Hal nodded.
"So what if that Pokemon comes back? It abducted Hala after all; what if it comes back for you?" Sun queried.
Ash laughed just a little bit.
"Well, then I guess I'd better make a few transfers."
Half an hour saw Ash walk out from a Pokemon center with a necklace half-full of Ultra and Masterballs. If another one of those weird Pokemon attacked him, they were going to be in for quite a shock when a few legendaries were there to retaliate.
Roar of Time could be quite convincing when it wanted to be.
After Hal had actually realized that, oh wait, his grandfather had actually been kidnapped by a strange Pokemon, he dashed out the hut with Sun, Hal proclaiming his desire to get his family back and Sun shouting something about becoming stronger.
Besides the dozen-ish legendary Pokemon Ash had called over from the islands, he had also sent back his recent Alolan captures to train with the rest of his team and made a few other miscellaneous switches to his team before setting out towards the nearest Route.
"Pikachu, what in the world is that?" Ash asked, flabbergasted at the sight before him.
"Pikaa" His starter drawled, just as confused as his trainer.
The Pokemon in front of them looked as if someone had hastily constructed a Pikachu costume out of a sheet before draping it over an actual Pikachu.
Needless to say, it was a fairly unnerving sight for Ash to come across, especially at dusk.
"I think that's a Pokemon," Ash said to Pikachu, "Give it a weak Thundershock to catch its attention."
Pikachu complied and discharged a short burst of electricity from his cheeks. The weak attack hit the strange Pokemon...
And the top half of the costume fell over, useless.
Ash's eyes widened.
"Well, that was terrifying."
And then a dark, hand-like construct emerged from below the sheet and back-handed Pikachu off of Ash's shoulder.
"...And I think I spoke too soon. Pikachu, Thunder!"
The attack was ripped apart by the Hyper Beam that followed.
"Holy..." Ash trailed off, "What is this thing? Volt Tail Pikachu! Hit it while it's recharging!"
Pikachu surged forwards in the combo attack, electricity rippling from his Iron Tail attack as he smashed it into the immobile Pokemon, knocking the rag off of its body.
No one moved, including the... creature that Pikachu's attack unveiled.
"What the fuck?!"
Two hours later, Ash decided to scan his newest capture.
Mimikyu, the Disguise Pokemon
Its actual appearance is unknown. A scholar who saw what was under its rag was overwhelmed by terror and died from the shock. It is a lonely Pokemon; concealing its terrifying appearance beneath an old rag so that it can get closer to people and other Pokemon. Mimikyu's unique Disguise ability allows it to take a hit safely without being harmed; though, it becomes sad that after all of its hard work in putting together its costume, it was destroyed. It spends its nights rebuilding its costume.
Ash felt a pang of sadness for his new teammate. After all, Mimikyu had a fairly depressing Pokedex entry. However, Ash was determined to make Mimikyu comfortable with its appearance outside of the rag it wore.
And so as Ash curled up in his sleeping bag next to Pikachu, he released Mimikyu as well. The confused Pokemon looked around for an opponent before realizing that Ash was patting the sleeping bag next to Pikachu. It hesitated for a moment before happily throwing itself into its indicated spot and promptly fell asleep.
Ash didn't last much longer after that.
Dang it, that was a short one. Don't worry, I have a good reason for it. Aannnnd, if you guys are looking for something else to read, go check out Pokextinction b RNOVACORP. While there is only one chapter, it looks very promising! Go drop some love on those two writers :)
Heyo! Well, this was a longer wait than I had expected for you guys to have to endure, but, well, this chapter fought hard with me, and some sections really didn't come to me at all. For example, I really wanted to include a battle between Professor Kukui and Ash, but I just couldn't fit it in. It'll happen eventually, though, I promise! But, yeah, this chapter was a butt to type.
Oh, and there's the fact that I lost a finger a few days after Christmas.
That kinda hampered my ability to type.
...A lot.
But anywho, I finally did it, and I'm slowly learning to type with the impediment.
It sucks.
Anyway, reviews!
idotpart1: Oh haha yeah! I had a ton of fun writing that whole section. I've always thought of what Pikachu would say if he could speak English...
TheSuperMario: Whoa, I'm talking to a celebrity here! Anyways, that sucks man. I personally have both games and they are so fun. I'm still exploring everything. And haha thanks for the praise! I appreciate that. However, as much as I hate to say it, I think I'm going to stick with THL for a while simply because writing even one story has become difficult for me. (Finger)
The Creator: Holy Balls, I did! 1) AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
2) Shiver me timbers
3) Guzma is going to be a bit different from the chill dude he is in game.
4) Yeah she is!
5/6) Oh, just you wait. Just you wait.
7) Thanks, yeah! You just have to keep an upbeat tone, yeah, and throw in ", yeah" every once in a while, yeah? Kukui is easy, yeah.
8) Okay, if you insist I guess I'll make Ash more OP.
9) Raped* She's long done with that by now. She is just chillin around the islands right now. We'll check in them sometime soon, yeah?
10) Naw man my Decidueye would like to disagree with that.
11) I'm happy to be back, thanks!
Well, that's about it. See you guys next time!