It was soon sundown. Vincent dug a hole for the flower.
"That should be deep enough, Vincent." Max said.
"I think so too, but we'll know once we get the flower in there." Vincent replied.
"Now to put the flower in." Akito said.
Ash took the flower and once he did, it had glowed.
"That's weird." May whimpered.
The flower then opened up and showed them Akito flying up the cliff to get the flower before closing up again.
"What just happened?" Estelle asked.
"You've picked a time flower." Kidd observed.
"What is a time flower?" Yuko asked.
"The legend says, Sir Aaron could look into the past, using a time flower like this one, but I didn't think it was true." Kidd explained.
"Wow." Emi smiled.
"How does it work?" Bruce asked.
"If the legend is accurate, it responded because Ash and Aaron's aura is the same." Kidd replied.
"Goodness!" Bonsly gasped.
"I don't know about you guys, but I could really go for a cup of tea with honey." Giselle told the others.
"Me too." Eloise said.
"I'll put some on the kettle." Giselle decided as she soon decided to make some tea.
"WOBUFFET!" A certain blue Pokemon came out.
Jessie and James groaned in annoyance.
"I'm actually starting to miss Meowth." Jessie whispered to James.
"Me too," James admitted. "Though, of course, not as much as Growlie."
"I'm starting to miss Meowth too." Wobuffet said.
"Almost as much as you miss Pikachu." Jessie told the Ketchum siblings.
"How'd you guys even meet Meowth?" Estelle asked. "If you don't mind us asking."
"Should we tell them?" Jessie asked James.
"We might as well." James said.
"All right," Jessie sighed before looking to the kids. "Well, it was pretty basic... It was just me and James, and then Giovanni assigned Meowth to us to be our partner. He used to live in Hollywood actually and lived on the streets with other cat-like Pokemon such as Persian, and he spoke fondly of a female named Meowzie."
"Aw!" Estelle smiled.
"We then had to go after Ash and his Pikachu, and, well, you can kinda guess what went on from there." James continued the story.
"You quit after the Unknown thing?" Eloise guessed.
"Yeah, I guess we'd come to like you guys." Jessie replied while James agreed with a smile.
"And how long have you known Pikachu?" Jessie asked.
"Ash overslept when it was time for him to get a Starter Pokemon." Emi teased.
"How did he oversleep?" Akito asked.
"Well... That's an interesting story..." Emi said as she began to trail off into her and Ash's memories.
Flashback
We are shown the Ketchum household one night as Ash was getting dressed since he was now ten-years-old and that meant that he could now get his very own Pokemon license, and he was very excited. He looked to a poster which had a Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur on it which would be a Pokemon he would choose from Professor Oak, the town's Pokemon Expert.
"ASH! GET TO BED!" Delia told her son as she caught a Pokeball-like alarm clock in her hand since he threw it. "It's 11:00 and you should be asleep!"
"Mom's right, Ash." Emi groaned as she tried to sleep.
"But tomorrow I begin my Pokemon Journey," Ash pouted. "I can't sleep."
"Well, if you can't sleep, then you should at least get ready for tomorrow, here watch this," Delia told Ash as she picked up his TV Remote and changed the channel to a Professor Oak informational channel about Starter Pokemon. "Go to bed when this is done."
"All right, I'm going." Ash told her.
"And change into your pajamas, okay?" Delia said before shutting the door behind her before coming back. "Oh, by the way, I'll be a bit busy tomorrow, so you'll have to take your little sister with you tomorrow."
"Okay." Ash said.
Delia then went off to get to sleep herself since it was late for anyone to be awake this time of night. Of course, Ash dreamed about having his own Pokemon and was excited about tomorrow, the siblings slept through the night, but Emi woke up before her brother did, already getting dressed and ready to go. He was dreaming about what it would be like to have a Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle, and where he used his alarm clock as a Pokeball while sleeping. Because of this, it shattered in his sleep until he then woke up.
"Oh, no!" Ash gasped before looking out the window to see the sun. "What time is it?!"
"I'm not sure because the alarm clock is broke." Emi said as she pointed to the shattered clock.
Ash grinned sheepishly before running out the house.
"Wait for me!" Emi pouted since she went with him. "Mom said I have to go with you!"
"Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Charmander, any one's fine, just save one for me!" Ash panted as he ran.
"Ash! Wait!" Emi called out.
"Gary, Gary, he's our man, if he can't do it, no one can~" A trio of cheerleaders sang until Ash bumped against them to get through the huge crowd.
"Sorry! Excuse me!" Ash cried out before he was suddenly shoved to the ground.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" A boy glared down at Ash. "Well, hey, you must be Ash. Better late than never, but at least you get the chance to meet me~"
Emi soon arrived next to Ash, looking out of breath. "Ash, are you okay?" She asked her older brother.
"I-I'm fine..." Ash panted before looking at the boy. "Gary?"
"That's Mr. Gary to you!" Gary smirked before looking to Emi. "Hey, you're too young to get a Pokemon License!"
Emi simply glared at him.
"Well, Ash, ya snooze ya lose, and you're way behind from the start!" Gary smirked. "I got a Pokemon, and you don't."
"You got your first Pokemon?" Ash asked.
"That's right, loser, and it's right inside this Pokeball!" Gary smirked as he spun the Pokeball on his fingertip like a basketball.
"Which Pokemon did you choose?" Emi asked.
"None of your business!" Gary smirked. "If your brother'd shown up on time, he'd see I got the best Pokemon from Professor Oak! It's good to have a grandfather in the Pokemon Business, isn't it?"
Emi snarled as steam snorted out her ears since Gary was such a cocky boy. "Come on, Ash, let's get inside so you can choose your Pokemon." She said before she started to drag her older brother up to a building.
"Ow, ow, hey, not so hard!" Ash cried out.
Professor Oak welcomed the Ketchum siblings into his lab and showed three Pokeballs on display.
"I'm guessing one of those is already empty?" Emi guessed.
"I'm afraid so, my dear," Professor Oak told her. "Most of these Pokemon have already been taken by someone who was on time."
Ash opened all of the Pokeballs only for them all to be empty, much to his dismay and embarrassment.
"The early bird gets the worm, or in this case, the Pokemon." Professor Oak advised.
"Isn't there one Pokemon that you do have?" Emi asked the older man.
"Well, there is still one left, but I-" Professor Oak replied.
"Professor, I'll take it!" Ash begged.
Another Pokeball soon appeared.
"I think I should warn you," Professor Oak said as he took the Pokeball. "There is a problem with this last one."
"I have to have a Pokemon!" Ash begged.
"Well, in that case..." Professor Oak handed him the Pokeball which opened up in a bolt of thunder and lightning, and where out came Pikachu, meeting Ash and Emi for the very first time.
"Hi, there~" The yellow electric mouse Pokemon smiled and blinked.
"Huh?" Emi asked. "Did you just talk to me?"
"Did you say something, Sis?" Ash asked.
"This... This Pokemon..." Emi muttered.
"It's name is Pikachu." Professor Oak told the Ketchum siblings.
"Oh, it's so cute!" Ash smiled. "It's the best of all!"
"You'll see." Professor Oak warned.
"Oh, hi, Pikachu!" Ash smiled and hugged the Pokemon.
"Don't touch me." Pikachu growled before shocking him.
"Whoa!" Emi yelped.
"It's also known as Electric Mouse," Professor Oak informed. "It's usually shy, but can sometimes have an electrifying personality."
"I see what you mean." Ash muttered.
"And I can tell that they don't like being touched by humans they don't trust." Emi said.
"That's right!" Pikachu nodded firmly.
"Okay, you guys heard that, right?" Emi asked.
"Hear what?" Professor Oak and Ash asked her.
"That Pikachu talked to me!" Emi replied.
"Pikachu talked to you?" Ash asked out of confusion.
"Yes, he did, I swear!" Emi yelped.
"Take these, your Pokedex and Pokeballs." Professor Oak told Ash.
"Uh, hello...?" Emi asked. "Did you not just HEAR WHAT I SAID?!"
"You must be hearing things, little girl." Professor Oak told her.
"I know that Pikachu talked!" Emi replied. "Pikachu, talk!"
Pikachu blinked before shrugging. "Uh, hello..."
"SEE?!" Emi pointed. "He just said hello!"
"Um, Sis, are you feeling okay?" Ash asked.
"Can't you hear him talking?" Emi frowned.
Ash and Professor Oak just shrugged to her.
"You can understand me?" Pikachu asked her.
"You mean humans don't usually talk to Pokemon?" Emi asked back.
"They usually don't understand us." Pikachu said.
"I guess I can..." Emi said in surprise.
"We didn't know it at the time, but Emi could talk to and understand Pokemon, and that's how we first met Pikachu." Ash narrated.
"Ooh." The group smiled.
End of Flashback
"So, when did things change for you and Pikachu?" Kidd asked Ash and Emi.
"Yeah, guys." May added.
"How did you get to be best friends if Pikachu didn't want to have anything to do with ya?" Max asked.
"I guess it all started when that flock of Spearow attacked." Emi replied.
"Why did they attack?" Eloise asked.
"I think we were bothering them." Emi frowned.
"Though it didn't help that I had to throw a rock at one of them, thinking that it was a Pidgey." Ash smiled bashfully.
"I told you not to do that..." Emi replied.
"I should've listened..." Ash smiled sheepishly to the others.
"So, was it hard to run from them?" Vincent asked.
"Yeah," Ash admitted. "There was so many of them, I thought we were finished!"
"But then, Pikachu rushed to our rescue." Emi added.
"Cool!" The Fudo siblings smiled.
"Yes, is cool." Felicity added.
"We knew then we could count on Pikachu, and he felt the same way about us." Ash smiled back.
"Wow!" Max beamed.
"That's a great story, guys." May added.
"Mm-hmm." Estelle smiled in agreement.
"There were always a lot of close calls on our Pokemon Journeys, but we always pulled through," Emi smiled back. "Also, since Pikachu felt comfortable with me, Ash decided to let me come on journeys with him. Not too long after that, we soon met Misty and Brock for the first time."
"Even though the first time we met Misty wasn't a happy one." Ash smiled bashfully.
"Do I wanna know?" Akito asked.
"She kinda fished us..." Emi smiled sheepishly.
"If that's slang, I don't get it." Felicity replied.
"No, Felicity, like, we were in the water and she reeled us out of the water." Ash smiled nervously.
"She fished you out of the water?" Akito chuckled.
Ash and Emi looked embarrassed, though, they could laugh about the story now.
"It was kinda funny..." Ash admitted.
"I guess it wasn't too bad," Emi agreed with a giggle. "Except when we accidentally burned her bike when Pikachu used Thunder Shock."
The others gasped to that.
"Like I said, first time meeting Misty wasn't the best time." Ash smiled nervously.
Lucario looked over before thinking yet again of Sir Aaron. Emi soon had her first vision of the past.
"Huh?" Emi asked. "W-What?"
Sir Aaron was blindfolded as he was avoiding obstacles while Lucario watched him.
"What the heck?!" Emi yelped.
"It's your turn, Lucario," Sir Aaron said as he undid the blindfold with a smile to his Pokemon companion. "You can do it; I know."
"Hmm..." Lucario hummed in thought as he then took the blindfold to take his turn.
"What is happening?" Emi asked.
"Can I go next after Lucario?" Ami asked with a smile.
"Of course, Ami, if you think you're up for it." Sir Aaron smiled back.
Emi soon did a double take as Ami looked just like her only younger. Lucario took his turn at dodging the obstacles which was just as good as Sir Aaron. Some were even inches away from him, but they never touched him.
"Good," Sir Aaron told Lucario. "That's enough."
Lucario bowed before undoing the blindfold and handing it to Ami. Ami soon blindfolded herself.
"That girl kinda looks like me..." Emi muttered, she looked to herself and to Ami which reminded her of when it was implied that she wasn't a biological Ketchum in the last Pokemon adventure with Felicity and the Fudo siblings.
Ami bowed her head and then got ready while Sir Aaron and Lucario would watch. She was able to walk through the obstecales without getting hurt.
"What an impressive girl." Lucario commented.
"You said it." Sir Aaron agreed.
Ami soon made it back to them.
"Wow, Ami, that was really good," Sir Aaron smiled. "You've done this before?"
"No, but I have seen things with my eyes closed when not sleeping." Ami said.
"With your eyes closed?" Lucario asked.
"You sound mystical..." Sir Aaron said to Ami. "Where do you even come from?"
"I'm not sure myself, but I do know that I can talk to the magical creatures." Ami said.
"Like me?" Lucario asked.
"You could say that." Ami said to him with a small smile.
Lucario smiled back to the mysterious girl.
Emi looked curious before she blinked and was suddenly back with the others. "Huh?" she asked herself while looking around. "Did I just see the past?"
"You humans are all alike!" Lucario growled before storming off suddenly.
"Lucario? Hey, wait a second!" Ash replied as he went after Lucario.
"Emi, are you okay?" Molly asked.
"I swear, I just saw the past." Emi frowned.
"You must have had a vision of the past." Akito said.
"You say that like it's normal," Emi muttered. "Who has visions of the past that aren't flashbacks from the person who had them?"
Akito and Estelle soon raised their hands as their answer.
"Uh...?" Emi asked them.
"It's a method that Aunt Sunset and Uncle Flash taught them." Vincent told her.
"What... How... Huh...?" Emi asked. "I'm so confused right now."
"Equestrian Magic can be confusing." Vincent said.
"Oh... That kind of magic..." Emi replied. "I remember hearing your stories from your parents about Equestria and Canterlot High School. I like the one with the two Twilights, though that had to be strange."
"It must have been." Felicity said.
"I'm worried about Lucario though." Emi said as she watched her brother talk with the Pokemon.
"Should we go see how it's going?" Eloise asked.
"I guess so, but I don't like the sound of it." Molly frowned.
"Oh, it's okay, Molly..." Jessie soothed as she hugged the girl, almost maternally.
Akito soon used his super-hearing to hear what was going on.
"Are you saying you don't trust me?" Ash asked.
"You would leave Pikachu without hesitating if you had to." Lucario replied.
'He really doesn't trust other humans.' Akito thought to himself.
"No way Emi or I would ever run out on Pikachu!" Ash glared to the Pokemon.
"Your word means nothing." Lucario huffed before walking away from Ash.
"How do we know Sir Aaron betrayed the Queen like you said?!" Ash glared. "Why don't you tell us the real story, Lucario? You deserted Sir Aaron and the Queen, didn't you?!"
Emi decided to get in between them so they wouldn't fight.
"What did you say?" Lucario snarled to Ash.
"Ash, Lucario, break it up," Emi told the Pokemon and her brother. "Now, what is going on?" She then asked them.
"What makes you think Pikachu didn't run off and desert you both?" Lucario glared at the Ketchum siblings. "Because it didn't want you for its masters!"
"TAKE THAT BACK!" Ash growled as he got out of Emi's hold and chased Lucario.
"Ash, calm down." Emi said.
"Not until he takes that back!" Ash glared as he soon tackled Lucario and the two rolled down the small hill and ended up in the water.
"ASH!" Emi cried out for her brother.
"Stop, Ash!" May added.
"Ash, Lucario, please stop!" Estelle cried.
"Knock it off!" Brock cried out.
Lucario threw Ash over the water and he almost splashed Pupitar and Bonsly, but luckily missed them.
"That is enough, Ash!" Emi scolded her brother.
Lucario then jumped high onto the hill before walking off.
"Ash, you know that was kind of uncalled for, what you did." Akito said.
Ash glared before he then sniffled and let out an involuntary sneeze.
"Come on, we better get you out of this water before you catch cold." Felicity said.
Ash sniffled and came out on top of the hill with her and the others.
Later on, Emi went to talk to Lucario as Max went to bring it chocolate. Lucario stared out at the night sky before looking to the two.
"I brought ya a present to help cheer ya up," Max smiled to Lucario, bringing out the chocolate and broke off a piece for him. "Here. Ya ever tasted chocolate?"
Lucario soon accepted the piece of chocolate.
"You're gonna love it," Max smiled to Lucario before he ate some himself. "Not only does it make you feel better, but it tastes yummy too."
Lucario soon sniffed his piece of chocolate before eating it. Of course he seemed to like it. After all, who could hate chocolate?
"See?" Max chuckled. "Isn't it great?"
Emi saw that Lucario was calm now. Lucario even seemed to smile.
"I want to talk to you." Emi said to Lucario.
"What about?" Lucario asked Emi.
"I want to know what happened in the past that made you not trust humans now." Emi said.
"Why do I have to tell you?" Lucario asked.
"Lucario, please, can't you see my brother and I both miss Pikachu?" Emi asked with tears in her eyes.
Lucario could tell how honest Emi was and where her eyes were familiar to him. She seemed to sniffle while having puppy dog-like eyes.
"You remind me of Ami." Lucario told her.
"I do?" Emi asked as she wiped her tears.
"Yes..." Lucario replied. "She was very close to the Pokemon... Almost as if they had raised her."
"Really?" Emi asked.
"She did say that she lived with the Pokemon." Lucario replied.
"What was she like?" Emi asked.
"Unlike many girls her age," Lucario replied. "She also had very strong instincts... It was like she was a Pokemon herself... In fact, now that I think about it, you kind of look like her."
"By any chance, did she curtsy?" Emi asked.
"But of course," Lucario replied. "A very elegant and proper girl. Almost like a princess."
"I think she might have been the first Pokemon Princess." Emi said.
"Ah, you are familiar with the Pokemon Princess title, huh?" Lucario asked her.
"Yes, I am." Emi nodded.
"I didn't think that was still a thing." Lucario said to her.
"Well, I'm destined to be the next one," Emi replied. "That's why I wanna talk with you. It's about Sir Aaron and why you were mean to my brother about our Pikachu."
"I just know that he would turn and run and abandon Pikachu." Lucario said.
"Why would you think that?" Emi asked. "Did something happen to you and Sir Aaron to make you think that?"
"Sir Aaron left me for dead before the war." Lucario told Emi.
"Um, d-do you mind if I look into your memories to see what happened?" Emi asked.
Lucario glanced at her.
"You can trust me..." Emi told him.
"Can I?" Lucario glared slightly.
"Look at my eyes; do I look like a person that would trick you or betray you?" Emi asked.
Lucario took a long look into her eyes before bowing his head. "No, I suppose you don't."
"So, may I?" Emi asked.
"All right..." Lucario told her. "Just no back stabbing."
"I promise." Emi said.
Lucario nodded to her. Emi nodded back and she soon reminisced with the Pokemon. Once her hands were with his hands, she soon had a glimpse of the past.
Emi opened her eyes and looked around as she was in the past.
Lucario was seen in front of Sir Aaron's staff as they were on top of an edge of a mountain.
"Whoa." Emi muttered.
They were near the Tree of Beginning. Sir Aaron appeared to be running with Lucario behind him.
Emi soon followed after them.
"Why?" Present Lucario snarled. "Why did he do it?"
Sir Aaron looked back at Past Lucario and threw his staff toward the Pokemon.
"S-Sir Aaron!" Past Lucario cried out as the staff glowed before being transported inside of the staff.
Emi couldn't believe her eyes as she saw what happened.
A giant bird Pokemon flew toward Sir Aaron and he climbed onto it and it took him away once Lucario was stowed away. The staff then shook as an army of wild Pokemon charged like wildebeest in Pride Rock.
"Whoa!" Emi yelped.
"Stop, please!" Ami cried out.
"Ami..." Present Lucario whispered.
The charging Pokemon came toward the staff.
"Wait... STOP!" Ami told the charging Pokemon.
The Pokemon kept charging.
"I ORDER YOU TO STOP!" Ami exclaimed.
The Pokemon soon stopped and looked to her as she gave them all a death and commanding stare.
"You are all acting barbaric!" Ami glared.
The Pokemon whimpered and backed up slightly.
"Bad Pokemon!" Ami scolded. "Bad!"
Present Lucario snarled and tried to fight the stampeding Pokemon, but he couldn't, because this was a vision from the past. Emi soon saw something happening with the crystals.
"So you see, Sir Aaron did desert me." Present Lucario bowed his head.
Emi soon opened her eyes, ending the flashback. "I'm so sorry that he deserted you." She frowned.
"It's okay..." Lucario frowned back. "I only wish I could've seen Ami again... I felt like she was the only human I could fully trust."
"You poor thing." Emi cooed as she hugged Lucario to comfort him.
Lucario soon hugged her back. The others then came to see Emi and Lucario.
"Guys, I saw the past," Emi told Akito and Estelle. "His past."
"That's amazing." Akito and Estelle smiled.
"It was sad..." Emi frowned. "Sir Aaron did abandon him after all."
"We need to tell everyone the truth then." Vincent said.
Everyone nodded in agreement to this.
"Ash!" Emi called out to her brother.
Ash soon heard her and came over to her.
"Ash, Lucario was abandoned by Sir Aaron." Emi told her brother.
"You think so?" Ash asked.
"Yes, I saw it, I saw the past with him." Emi told him.
"You did?" Ash asked.
"Uh-huh," Emi replied. "I think it's one of my Pokemon Princess powers unlocking."
"Whoa... Two in one day..." Ash said.
"I guess it's coming closer," Emi replied in wonder. "I wonder when they will all be complete?"
"Maybe sooner than we think," Ash smiled. "Maybe by our next adventure?"
"Maybe." Emi shrugged.
"I'm happy for you though." Ash said.
"Thanks, Ash." Emi smiled back as she hugged him.
"Oh, and, Lucario?" Ash then said to the Pokemon. "I'm sorry I said all that stuff last night. It wasn't right. Sorry..." he then shook slightly before tears came from his eyes as he bowed his head.
Emi was proud of her brother for apologizing to Lucario.
"Ash... Promise me you won't ever desert Pikachu or your sister." Lucario said to the young Pokemon trainer.
Ash soon wiped his tears with a small smile. "I promise!"
"Now, let's get Pikachu back." Emi said.
"Right!" Ash agreed.
Lucario soon closed his eyes and ran toward one direction.
"Lucario!" Ash and Emi called out.
"Where's he going now?" Samson wondered as he seemed to be holding hands with Giselle.