Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Legend:

"Someone is talking."
'Someone is thinking.'
"A technique/ability."

Chapter 29:

(Saffron City—Pokémon Center—Room #150)

At the moment, four pre-teen Pokémon Trainers could be found sitting on the bottom bunks. Two of the Pokémon Trainers—Ash Ketchum and Anabel White—sat quietly while they waited for their friends—Willow Black and Harry Cinn to digest what they had told them and respond. It was quite a lot of information, but Ash had wanted to tell his friends what had been going on and Anabel hadn't disagreed. So they told them.

"So... let me get this straight." Harry muttered as he shifted slightly, trying to get more comfortable, looking at the "A.A. Duo" with a somewhat skeptical look. "You guys met on Mt. Moon where Anabel stopped Team Rocket's plan by having her Pokémon teleport lights away? And then you fought them again when they went after a giant Moon Stone, beat them, and were then healed by an older version of Deoxys that asked you to take care of its "friend" before it vanished?"

Ash nodded.

"Professor Oak suggested that Deoxys might have the ability to project their energy over long distances and that, after healing me, it ran out of energy." Anabel answered quietly. "He also said that Deoxys was probably the other one's child even though it called it its "friend"."

When Professor Oak had heard about the news on Mt. Moon he, like everyone else, wanted Ash to tell him more. Naturally, he also asked Anabel—it had been her weird vision-like dream that had led them to try and save the Moon Stone—but she could only tell him so much. She had, after all, been knocked unconscious after being beaten by James. The Pokémon Professor had been initially curious about the vision and the fact that Anabel had been healed by Deoxys, but he couldn't do much about either of those things.

So that just left Ash to, once again, having to explain everything in as much detail as possible.

The Pokémon Professor had speculated that the two Deoxys had come to the planet at one time, inside or on some sort of meteor. That meteor broke apart into one large shard, which formed the Moon Stone, and countless other, smaller shards. The older Deoxys, he theorized, had left some sort of energy clinging to the environment which activated upon the time that Deoxys' Pokémon Egg began to get ready to hatch.

Professor Oak's theory didn't explain how such a thing could have occurred or even how Deoxys' Pokémon Egg had survived countless years inside of the Moon Stone, but that didn't really matter at this point. The Pokémon Professor was busy with his team examining the remains of the Moon Stone (and planning on moving it afterwards so that Team Rocket wouldn't be able to use it) while Ash was busy dealing with the aftermath of the Attack on Saffron City, training his Pokémon Team, and learning to care for baby Deoxys.

"Right..." Harry stretched out the word, slightly disbelieving. "You guys stayed together and went to Cerulean City where you met Willow and Gary, Ash beat Gary and the local Gym Leader, and Anabel caught a Butterfree. And then decided to travel together because Anabel didn't want you to raise a Baby Pokémon by yourself, Ash."

Anabel lowered her head embarrassedly. She had acted pretty bold then, but Ash had been feeling so sad and she didn't want to leave him alone. And, more selfishly, she hadn't wanted to be parted from the first human friend that she had made. "Y-Yes."

"You guys got to Saffron City and were approached in the city by the Gym Leader who sensed something was wrong with you. After some examination she figured out that Anabel's super-hot ability to read emotions had mixed with some "field" that Ash apparently has in order to help Anabel since she had never been trained in how to use her power." Harry paused for a moment and turned to Ash, "Any clue on what that field thing of yours is or what it does yet?"

"Not really." Ash said with a shake of his head, "Sabrina was able to notice its presence but not much else. Anabel was able to sense that it radiates some sort of calm feeling but, except for sensing it during a few rare "pulses" didn't notice it at all. Sabrina also said that it isn't some sort of mental power... So we really don't know what it could be or why its there."

Harry frowned.

"After that, you guys began training here for a while. The attack happened and one of the two Rocket jerks you met came back, busted into the room, use her Pokémon's Sing to disable all of your Pokémon, and begin to take her revenge. You escaped and then Deoxys hatched." Willow asked before she frowned, "Do you know if they caught her?"

"No. No one caught her." Ash sighed.

That had been a sour point amongst everyone that was there. None of them had been concerned about Jessie when they had left Sabrina's office—aside from how hurt they were feeling and how grateful they were to be able to escape—but they had hoped Jessie would've gotten caught. Jessie didn't have anything that would have allowed her to break through Kadabra's Psychic, but Kadabra had been slowly lost his iron-clad psychic grip over the woman as the distance between them increased.

Still, they had hoped that Jessie would have been caught.

It had been a pipe dream—Psychic was a move that required active concentration and close distance the target to maintain—though, in hindsight, they had wished that Kadabra's Psychic had held out long enough for help to arrive. If that had happened, they wouldn't have to worry about Jessie eventually coming back to get her revenge on them. And they had all learned that it wasn't a matter of "if" Jessie would come back.

Jessie was a person that didn't let of things easily and was one to actively plot her revenge on those she believed had wronged her. The reason why she was after Ash and Anabel was because Ash had stopped her and her partner in Viridian City, they had defeated them on Mt. Moon, led to Jessie's team being spilt up, and had escaped when she was trying to get her revenge by killing them. So, Jessie would definitely come back one day.

With that knowledge in mind, training had become a priority. Jessie was a smart, powerful woman with a Pokémon Team that wasn't to be underestimated. In the future, her Pokémon would be much stronger and trained in new ways to try and end them. So, in response, Jonathan and Delia had begun helping Ash and Anabel train their own Pokémon. Jonathan and Delia had wanted them to start taking self-defense classes too—in case their Pokémon couldn't fight for them—but there weren't any self-defense classes up yet due to reconstruction efforts.

And, despite people thinking that they would know some self-defense, Delia and Jonathan didn't know much. Delia had never taken an interest in the subject before the attack and Jonathan hadn't needed to use what is parents had taught him and had forgotten a majority of what he had learned.

So, Pokémon Training it was.

"That sucks." Harry frowned. Personally, he couldn't imagine what it must have felt like to know that there was someone out there that wanted to do you harm. He knew and remembered how Team Rocket had hurt him in the past, but then again Team Rocket had attacked anyone and everyone they could during the Battle of Saffron City. He didn't have someone personally gunning for him. "That really sucks."

"Yeah..."

An awkward silence descended upon the group. No one knew what to say in light of what happened. Willow and Harry could have apologized, but they hadn't done anything wrong. They could have offered to help but Mr. and Mrs. Ketchum along with some other adults were dying their best to help Ash and Anabel. And both of them knew that neither Ash nor Anabel would want them to try and tell them that everything would be alright when it might not be.

The silence was finally broken when something began to cry. Ash quickly got up from his bunk before making his way towards the crib that one of Nurse Joy's Chansey had brought in after Nurse Joy had finished her examination of Deoxys.

Looking inside the crib, Ash saw that Deoxys really was awake and wasn't very happy. Eevee looked up at him with a helpless look while Clefairy—who had begun to look after Deoxys like a mother hen—was trying her best to soothe the Baby Pokémon but could not. The reason for that was pretty clear.

"Deoxys' made a mess again." Ash informed his curious friends with a small sigh. Carefully, he reached down and picked up Deoxys while trying not to breathe through his nose. "Could somebody please go find Nurse Joy and tell her what happened? That we could use some clean sheets and air freshener—?"

"I'll do it!" Harry all-but shouted, face slightly green from the smell, before he raced out of the room. "Be back soon!"

Silence.

"Anabel, do you think you can grab Eevee and Clefairy and take them to the bathroom? I would but my arms are kind of full right now..."

XXXXXX

(Saffron City—Pokémon Center—Cafeteria)

After Deoxys, Eevee, and Clefairy had been cleaned up, Ash had walked back into his room with Deoxys in his arms to find that Nurse Joy's Chansey had come and gone. The crib's sheets had been replaced, the air had lost the foul stench that had begun to take it over, and a package of diapers had been delivered. The sight of that package almost brought Ash to tears—thank heaven that Chansey had been so kind.

So, after putting Deoxys in a diaper, Ash had accompanied his friends and had gone to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. He could be found now feeding a Deoxys from a bottle while his friends ate, having already scarfed his down. His other Pokémon had been released from their PokéBalls and were now eating alongside Anabel, Harry, and Willow's Pokémon.

Conversation between the group had returned and, not wanting to think about some of the stuff they had talked about earlier, they purposefully chose light topics. They were currently talking about what had happened Harry and Willow since they had left Pallet Town to start their Pokémon Journey/left Cerulean City to go to a Pokémon Breeder's Convention.

"I went to Cinnabar Island to fight some scorching Fire-Type Pokémon that live there. I battled a lot of them, caught my hot Magby, and then met Blaine." Harry recounted between large bites of his eggs. "He's the Gym Leader there and specializes in Fire-Type Pokémon. A little crazy with all the riddles and stuff, but a very hot Pokémon Battler. I got tons of new hot ideas but I'll have to wait for my Pokémon to evolve before I try to use them."

This piqued Ash's interest. "What kind of ideas?"

"I'm not telling you so you'll have to see when we battle next." Harry said and then grinned at the look that passed over Ash's face. He paused to eat a little more of his food and take a drink before continuing. "After I left Cinnabar Island, I went to a couple of other hot places. I caught my Growlithe in this one really hot spot before hearing about some of what Ash did. I came here for a battle and got jumped by a couple of Rocket jerks, woke up in the hospital, and escaped as soon as I could."

"What did they do to you?" Ash asked. He didn't really know what had happened to his friend, but to have to be taken to the hospital and then reminded by his mom (who obviously knew something) to "take it easy" meant that something big had happened.

"Nothing much. Just a lot of scratches, a couple of fractured or sprained ribs, and a but-ton of bruises." Harry answered with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders. "I could have beat them if I knew that they were there, but they snuck up on me. Cowards."

Anabel's eyes were wide "They broke some of your ribs?"

That was not something to be so dismissive about. Not only did treating broken ribs take a month or longer to heal, which meant that Harry was still suffering from it, fragments of the rib could have broken off and sunk into the flesh surrounding them. No wonder why Harry had been sent to the hospital! They had probably spent hours trying to make sure that he would be okay and then coming up with a treatment plan that wouldn't negatively affect Harry—as some medication/treatments wouldn't work/help someone his age—and convincing him to follow it.

But, if all of that was "nothing much", then what was "injured" to Harry?

"I didn't feel so hot for the first couple of days, but the doctor gave me some stuff that made the pain stop. Like I said, it's not that big of a deal." Harry replied before he turned towards Willow, "So what we're you up too?"

It was an obvious attempt to change to topic and everyone knew it, but no one said anything about it. It was probably a mixture of not knowing what to say—what could they say?—and the previous uncomfortable and awkward atmosphere beginning to return. None of them wanted that so the issue was dropped as Willow began to speak.

"I went to a Pokémon Breeder convention at Scissors Street. You guys might have had fun challenging Gym Leaders and battling other Pokémon Trainers, but I think I had a great time too. I learned about the different groups that Pokémon Eggs can be in and how to identify them, how to care for Baby Pokémon, and got a lot of really good tips on basic Pokémon Care." Willow began to smile as she talked, remembering what had happened and how much fun she had had. "I wish I had found a Ditto before then, though."

"Why would you want a Ditto?" Harry asked.

Ash looked at him like he was crazy, "Why wouldn't someone want a Ditto? Ditto can morph into any Pokémon they come across and, after they morph, they can then use any move that the Pokémon they based their morph on knows."

"Not to mention the fact that their unique Transform ability makes them capable of breeding with any other Pokémon in the world after they have morphed into it. It's the reason why Pokémon Breeders have become so successful in breeding genderless like Magnemite or single-gender Pokémon like Kangaskhan." Here Willow paused before raising a finger. "Should I remind you that Kangaskhan were a species of Pokémon that almost went extinct before Pokémon Breeders figured out they could use Ditto in Pokémon Breeding?

"I didn't meant to say that Ditto aren't important, but they're so hard to train." Harry said with a small frown. "You have to make sure that it can perfectly replicate the Pokémon it sees or the transformation will be weak and won't last long. And even then you won't use them for real hot battles since they really aren't the Pokémon they transform into and haven't been trained in that form and can be beaten quickly if the other Trainer knows which Pokémon is which."

"That's not always the case. Some Ditto can be as strong as the Pokémon that they transform into." Ash argued.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Yeah. But that only happens if its Trainer has trained a Ditto in its natural form to increase its regular abilities as a Pokémon. Which takes a really un-hot time since a Ditto's body is basically just jello—how is jello supposed to train itself to go faster or be stronger than it is?"

"... I guess that's true." Ash sighed.

"I wouldn't say that Ditto are unable to be trained and used as capable battlers for Pokémon Trainers, but they do have uses in other areas that often overshadow their fighting ability." Jonathan stated as he and his wife approached the table that his son and his son's friends were sitting at. "Not only are they great partners for a Pokémon Breeder, Ditto can be used by archeologists to examine areas where people can't normally get into."

"How does someone train a Ditto to fight?" Harry asked.

"Well, training a Ditto can be difficult due to their unique body, but not that much more than training a regular Pokémon." Jonathan said as he and Delia sat down on the ends of the table. "At birth, Ditto are very sluggish and don't move that often. As they grow, however, Ditto become more capable of controlling their bodies which allows them to move faster, show more strength, and have an easier time morphing into whatever they want to."

Ash looked over, "So you're saying that Ditto naturally grow stronger over time?"

"All Pokémon grow stronger over time, Ash. It's just a matter of if they have to do it on their own in the wild or at the sides of a Pokémon Trainer. Pokémon Trainers naturally push their Pokémon into becoming stronger as fast as they can while Wild Pokémon slowly grow stronger to protect themselves from their predators." Jonathan explained before he paused for a moment. "Ditto don't have any visible muscle mass, but training them to be able to move more quickly, lift increasingly heavy weights with their bodies, and training them in their Transform ability is usually the way to train them."

"Hm..." Harry didn't seem convinced, but the others did.

"Mr. Ketchum, since you seem to know a lot about Ditto... do you know where someone would find one?" Willow asked.

Jonathan scratched his chin, "Ditto are pretty rare Pokémon, Willow. Unlike most Normal-Type Pokémon, they aren't found in the wild that often and, if they are, they usually hide from a Pokémon Trainer by pretending to be another Pokémon. Most of the people I know used the services of a Pokémon Nursery to get one."

"Oh." It made sense considering that Ditto was supposed to be a rare Pokémon, but that didn't make up for the disappointment Willow felt when she heard that. Most other Pokémon Breeders were somehow able to find Ditto to use in their Pokémon Breeding or, if not, afford to buy a Ditto from a Pokémon Nursery. She did not; she had a good amount saved up, but that was for travelling purposes since she didn't get money through Pokémon Battling.

"Don't worry, Willow. I'm sure that you'll get a Ditto." Ash said.

"Especially if you were to perhaps check around Route 13." Jonathan added nonchalantly. He grinned as surprised looks broke out across their faces before he shrugged, "Just because I said that the people I know got them from Pokémon Nurseries doesn't mean I don't know where to find them in the wild."

Willow beamed. "Thank you, Mr. Ketchum."

"No problem, Willow." Jonathan said.

"With what happened recently, though, you shouldn't go off looking for one by yourself." Delia added after a moment. Her thoughts travelled to remembered bits of news all involving increasing numbers of young groups of Pokémon Trainers or lone travelers reported being attacked and robbed of their Pokémon. "You should stay until the president goes through with his press conference and sets some guidelines to make sure you're safe on the road."

"I'll be staying for a little while longer already, Mrs. Ketchum." Willow replied before giving a quick glance at her friends. "I still need to get some supplies for myself and Bulbasaur, give Ash a few more tips on caring for Baby Pokémon, giving someone Anabel to talk to—" Which earned her an offended "Anabel has people to talk too" before Willow continued speaking "—and maybe see about training Bulbasaur for a little while."

"I don't mean to be a bother, but isn't it time we start leaving?" Anabel asked.

This question caused everyone to turn their attention to the cafeteria's clock. Only thirty minutes had passed since the original group of preteens had come and started to eat, but it was getting a bit late. Not late in the sense of it going dark, but late in the sense that they were going to miss something if they didn't leave soon. The "something" in question: Anabel's continuing training with Sabrina at the Saffron City Pokémon Gym.

"It seems you're right Anabel; we should get going." Jonathan said.

"Let's go, then!"

XXXXXX

After everyone had put away their breakfast trays and recalled their Pokémon, the group left the Pokémon Center and began walking towards Saffron City's Pokémon Gym. The trip took a little bit longer than it usually did but, after ten minutes, they finally arrived at their destination. It was quite the sight as, despite everything, Team Rocket hadn't destroyed that much of the Pokémon Gym's exterior.

The interior, however, was a different story. The lobby, three training rooms, eight hallways, numerous supply areas, and Sabrina's office had all been trashed. That was not taking into account how much of the Pokémon Gym's people had fallen in the initial attack. It was lucky that Sabrina had arrived when she did to rally the psychic Pokemon Trainers around her and unleashed the full extent of her mind-based powers or countless more would have died.

As a result of the attack, getting into the Pokémon Gym had been made more difficult. Pokémon Trainers would notice the new guards standing at attention around the lobby, the new security cameras on the upper floors, and the Pokémon Gym's stricter stance on the rules. It didn't stop anyone from going where they wanted to, but things were changing to make sure that everyone would be safe while they were in the Gym.

So, after checking in and writing down where they were headed, the group spilt up. Harry raced off down the hallways towards where Ash and Anabel had told him the main training room was while Willow went off to try and find the small Pokémon Nursery the Pokémon Gym was said to have. Anabel, Ash, and the older Ketchums climbed up a staircase towards the second floor to bring Anabel to Sabrina for her training. It wasn't necessary that all of them go, but after what had happened... sticking together had become a priority.

Jonathan knocked at the door to Sabrina's office seconds before a blue glow surrounded it and the door swung inwards. Sabrina looked up from the paperwork that littered her new desk, nodded once, and handed a small stack of envelopes over to her Kadabra before it teleported away.

"I can understand your concern, but I can assure you that nothing will happen." Sabrina said as she pushed back her chair and stood up. "Even on the off-chance that something would happen, I have made sure so what happened before will not happen again. You may rest assured that everyone in this building, no matter where they are, will be safe."

"Be that as it may, I think it would be better if we came with Anabel today Sabrina." Jonathan replied before thinking, 'The last time they were here, Ash and Anabel were attacked by a member of Team Rocket. I know you have made sure that something like that wouldn't happen again... but I don't believe we should separate them right now.'

Sabrina was silent for a moment before she nodded once. "Very well." She said. "Your presence may actually be a good thing as, depending on Anabel's reaction, we may be able to try to slowly separate her power from Ash's today."

"... What?"

"For the past few weeks, Anabel has learned how to build mental barriers and to separate her conscious mind from the constant stream of emotions that her empathic abilities allow her to sense and feel." Sabrina began to explain. "It was because she lacked this separation that she became overwhelmed by large groups of people in the past—she picked up on their emotions and, as people are always feeling some sort of emotion, she was being "attacked" every moment."

"If she managed to separate her mind from her ability, wouldn't that make it so that she couldn't use it?" Ash asked.

Sabrina shook her head, "Not exactly. Just because Anabel has managed to separate her conscious mind from her gift, it doesn't mean that she can no longer use it. No, it means that Anabel will have to focus on her gift to bring it forward and use it." She paused for a moment, "The mental barriers I had Anabel create are to support that separation while also acting as a defense in situations where she enters an area populated with more people than she is used to until she gets used to it."

"How many people do you think that I can take right now, Ms. Sabrina?" Anabel asked.

Anabel didn't want to admit it, but she was a bit unnerved at what was going on. Ms. Sabrina seemed to think that she was ready to try and separate her powers from Ash's power but she was unsure. Hadn't she almost lost herself to the emotions people were feeling during the attack on the Pokémon Gym? She had barely managed to pull herself out from them. So, how could Ms. Sabrina think that she was ready to do this?

"That depends entirely on you Anabel. Every empath is different, but that is what we are going to test today." Sabrina answered with a reassuring tone. "We will test to see how many people's emotions you feel comfortable feeling at one time by slowly bringing them into the room we train in. If you show yourself capable of handling at least five people, I believe that you will be ready to try separating your power from Ash's power. From there, you will just have to get yourself used to feeling more people."

Ash smiled, "That's great!"

Anabel made sure to keep a small smile on her face when Ash turned to look at her encouragingly so that he wouldn't believe that anything was wrong. Even though she was worrying about all of this, she didn't want Ash to think that and think of her badly. After all, if she passed Ms. Sabrina's test and was able to separate her power from Ash's power... she wouldn't have a reason to stay with Ash anymore.

Would Ash even want her to stay?

Ash's Pokémon Team:

Eevee (Female): Level 29.
Attacks: Tackle (Normal), Sand Attack (Normal), Scratch (Normal), Tail-Whip (Normal), Helping Hand (Normal), Growl (Normal), Bite (Dark), Charm (Normal), Quick Attack (Normal), Covet (Normal), Take Down (Normal), and Quick Swim (Normal).

Pidgeotto (Male): Level 25.
Attacks: Sand Attack (Ground), Tackle (Normal), Gust (Flying), Peck (Flying), Quick Attack (Normal), Whirlwind (Flying), and Twister (Dragon).

Rattata (Male): Level 24.
Attacks: Bite (Dark), Tackle (Normal), Quick Attack (Normal), Crunch (Dark), Hyper Fang (Normal), Scratch (Normal), Pursuit (Dark), Quick Swim (Normal), and Sucker Punch (Dark).

Beedrill (Male): Level 23.
Attacks: String-Shot (Bug), Poison-Sting (Poison), Bug-Bite (Bug), Fury Attack (Normal), Pursuit (Dark,) Twineedle (Bug), and Rage (Normal).

Clefairy (Female): Level 20.
Attacks: Sing (Normal), Pound (Normal), Encore (Normal), Metronome (Normal), DoubleSlap (Normal), Defense Curl (Normal), Follow Me (Normal), and Bestow (Normal).

Paras (Male): Level 22.
Attacks: PoisonPowder (Poison), Stun Spore (Grass), Sleep Powder (Grass), Spore (Grass), Leech Life (Bug), and Fury Cutter (Bug).

Anabel's Pokémon Team:

Kadabra (Male): Level 27.
Attacks: Teleport (Psychic), Psyshock (Psychic), Confusion (Psychic), Psychic (Psychic), Disable (Normal), Miracle Eye (Psychic), and Ally Switch (Psychic).

Butterfree (Female): Level 23.
Attacks: Confusion (Psychic), Poisonpowder (Poison), Stun Spore (Grass), Harden (Bug), Sleep Powder (Grass), String Shot (Bug), Gust (Flying), and Supersonic (Normal).

A/N: Author's Note: Sorry about the length, guys, and how its mostly filler! Please forgive me! And please don't hate on me because of the time I spent to take this out (end of school stuff, graduation, helping at my church, going to camp, moving to a new house—all of that takes time).

Now, to try to make it up to you guys... I think its time to answer some of your questions~!

1. RedRangerBelt: Saffron City has already begun rebuilding itself and several policies and precautions are starting to take form. The general reader will not get much of those that I haven't gone over in previous/future chapters as I've noticed that the story has been drifting a little bit away from the main character. That isn't to say that you won't hear about the policies as Ash hears about them, but... As to your other question, Deoxys could learn how to mentally communicate like other Psychic-Type Pokémon but that would take some time.

2. CDR2Magi: I will be addressing Pikachu's fate sometime soon. You have already learned that Charmander was taken away to be healed from its injuries (physical and mental) while Bulbasaur has been taken by Team Rocket because of its obvious power. Squirtle is still on the loose with the Squirtle Squad, though with how things are changing... How long will the Squirtle Squad be allowed to continue their antics in a state of near-war?

3. Everyone: Team Rocket being spilt up was intentional. I wanted to spilt them up to show that even they could be punished (and why weren't they after wasting so much money and failing so many missions?) and have them have to slowly claw their way back to their former positions. And getting some revenge along the way? After all, Jessie set up Pierce wonderfully. Shows him for trying to assert his authority over her and hurting poor Melanie.

One last thing: I'm going to be setting up a link to a forum on my profile page. This forum will serve to answer any questions that you may have and allow me to put down several ideas that I have for the Pokémon World. By doing this, I can work out the "kinks" to the Pokémon World and make sure that everything makes sense and is as realistic as it can be.

P.S.: The Forum will also serve as a place where you can create your own Pokémon Trainer (Breeder, Battler, Racer, Coordinator, etc.) as, while there are characters for the show, there are not enough characters in the anime and I would like to use different characters for future battles (such as the Pokémon League and movie-esque events)...

Bye~!