Hello again my good readers! Once more we delve into the world of the Time Crossed Heroes! Last time, the Guardians met their other selves from another time, the timeline of the anime. As the Guardian Leader meets the Goofy Trainer, fear settles on the trainers. Now, let us begin!

Route 5

Silence reigned in the route as the Sacred Guardians were locked in a stare down against their other selves. The Guardians regarded them with curiosity, wondering just how different could these versions of themselves be. The Trainers, however, were staring in fear, seeing as how their counterparts had obviously been serious about their roles. Mind was still glaring at May, relishing the idea of taking her out again. Sensing the tension, Dragon spoke, his deep voice echoing through the area.

"I believe it to be a good idea for each of us to tell his story, Trainer." He said, obviously addressing Ash, spitting the word trainer as if it was poison. Dragon explained to the Trainers how he abandoned training after Hoenn and began to train his Aura (And the simple thought of abandoning training nearly made Ash pass out), and Ash explained all that he had done ever since that day (Which was the point in which the timelines diverged). The Trainers were awed as they listened to the exploits of their other selves, and not a little horrified about some of their actions against the Hunters. Max, however, was skeptical about one thing.

"Wait a minute, the Berserker and Paladin? Do you seriously expect us to believe Ash and I are descendants from a myth? Please, I mean, not only is the War of Aura a myth, it's physically impossible for anyone to have two minds in them!" Max's know-it-all attitude surfaced as he spoke, not noticing how Mind's glare turned colder by the minute. "How can we know you're not lying?" Just as he said that, a bunch of team Plasma Grunts appeared, ready for a fight. As they began to spout something about freeing Pokemon, Mind began to grin sadistically.

"You wanna see, eh?" He asked, his grin growing scarier. "Hey Dragon, can I?"

"Go right ahead. Just don't kill them. We don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves." With a nod, Mind closed his eyes. Green aura began to bubble around him. A powerful armor began to form… "Oh, stop trying to make it so dramatic, you show-off!" Mind slumped when Dragon scolded him, and instantly finished forming the Armor and unleashed an earth-shaking roar. The Trainers stared in absolute horror as the armored being started to pound the Grunts to the floor. The sound of bones breaking and skin being pierced filled the air. 2 minutes later, all of the grunts were down, heavily injured. "Mind…"

"They'll live, don't worry…" Mind said nonchalantly as he stepped over a grunt (His armor already dissolved, though) "Gotta say, I rather hoped these guys would be able to give me more of a fight. Hell, even the Hunter Grunts made better opponents." He crouched down and ripped off the Plasma insignia. "Huh, look. It's Team Plasma."

"Looks like these guys are still around in this timeline…" Flame said as she looked over the unconscious grunts. "Hadn't we gotten rid of them?"

"That we did…" Steel answered her. "If I remember correctly, we got 'em by having Mind collapse their castle over them."

"Hehe, yeah, I remember that day. Man, was that FUN!" Mind reformed his Berserker armor at the last word, scaring the hell out of the Trainer group. Luckily, Dragon gave him a powerful bop on the head that forced the armor to disappear. "Aw… c'mon, man, just let me have some fun."

"I will when your fun doesn't involve scaring the wits out of some brats." Dragon said in a monotone voice. "Now, we must focus on what truly matters, and that is…"

"To become a Pokemon Master! Right!?" Ash interrupted Dragon, who simply sighed in annoyance.

"That isn't even in my list of priorities. Now shut up." The leader of the Guardians scolded his other self, who stood in shock at the words he had just heard. Becoming a Pokemon Master wasn't a priority? How could his other self say that!? "Now, as I was saying. We need to find a way back to our own timeline. We have two choices: Communicate with Palkia and Dialga and have them send us back, or find Celebi." He explained as he used his sword to draw some maps on the dirt. "All things considered, Palkia and Dialga are our fastest choice. Right now, Celebi could be anywhere… or anytime. Since we are in Unova right now, finding the Legendaries of Sinnoh might be a bit hard…"

"Hmm… Maybe the Giratina of this timeline can help us?" Flame suggested. "If I remember correctly, the Distortion World should make locating them easier."

The guardians continued brainstorming on how to find the Legends, while the Trainers kept watching them. May and Dawn were shocked by how different this Ash… er, Dragon was. May, however, was even more shocked by how the other Max, the other version of her brother had, apparently, killed her. Repeatedly. After a few minutes, Ash approached the Guardians.

"H-hey. I was thinking…"

"That would be a first for you…" Dragon muttered.

"… Maybe you guys could travel with us while you find a way back?" Ash said mareepishly. The Guardians stopped for a second, and, after a short debate, they agreed. "That's great! Maybe I'll be able to get you back into the trainer business!"

"Don't press your luck, brat. All it takes to end your lives is a single word from me." Dragon said coldly, rattling the Trainers. Through the Aura Link the Guardians had, though…

'ha HA! Did you see the looks on their faces?' Mind aura-said, laughing the whole time.

''All it takes to end your lives is a single word from me'. Man, Dragon, that was hilarious!' Steel had used a very good imitation of Dragon's voice for this.

"Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week." The leader managed to say through his mirth. "I have the feeling we are going to have some fun torturing… I mean, spending time with these versions of ourselves"

One hour later

The group was forced to stop their travel 5 minutes after starting again when Ash's stomach began to complain. Dragon couldn't believe his old self was so much of a whiner. They stopped and, while they waited for Cilan to finish his cooking, the Guardians left to a nearby clearing, leaving the trainers to themselves. Once they left, May freaked out.

"ASH! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?" May all but shrieked. "ONE OF THOSE GUYS NEARLY KILLS ME AND YOU INVITE THEM TO TRAVEL WITH US!?" Ash held his ears in pain. Who knew she could scream that loud?

"I'm sorry, May. But I just couldn't leave them to travel alone…" Ash said. His compassion had always been one of his greatest qualities… or, in the eyes of the Guardian of Altomare, also known simply as Dragon, it was sometimes a weakness. Said Guardian was watching from a nearby tree.

"Hmph… that compassion is going to get him killed." Dragon muttered before settling back into his meditation stance. Right now, the only thing on his mind was his family. He was worried how Latias, Ritias and Ritios were faring back home. "Damn you, Celebi… when I find you I'll make you wish you never messed with the Guardians…"

"Hey, Ash?" Cilan began. "Could you go fetch the other you? Food's almost ready. If he's still anything like you he'll come running." The young trainer nodded and, with Pikachu on his shoulder, he ran in the direction he had seen the Guardians leave. He then noticed Dragon sitting on a tree branch, meditating.

"Hey, other me! Come on down! Chow is ready!" You could hear the excitement in the kid's voice at the simple mention of food. Ash began to drool when the scent of the cooking reached him and…

"Not hungry." Dragon said nonchalantly, shocking Ash even more.

"W-wha!?" He could not believe what he had heard. "Not hungry? B-but how can I-, I mean, you not be hungry!" Dragon opened one eye and gave his other self a glare.

"I have spent up to 5 weeks without a taste of food or water. To control Aura, you must learn to control yourself." Dragon was using his sage-like voice for this explanation. "Something I doubt you would be able to do."

"B-but that didn't answer my question! How can you not be hungry if you're me?!" Dragon simply snickered at the question, before looking down at his counterpart.

"Simple, really. 10 years ago, I stopped being the whiner you are." This got the expected reaction from the young Trainer.

"HEY! I AM NOT A WHINER!" Ash, ironically, whined. When he realized that he had, he felt the urge to smack his head against a tree.

"I make my case. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to meditate." Dragon told him as he settled back in his thoughts, feeling the Aura around him.

"Hey! Don't go leaving me like that! Come on!" The Guardian didn't even react, despite his counterpart's pestering. Getting fed up, Ash picked up a nearby rock, took aim… "Stop ignoring me!" He threw the stone as hard as he could, years of throwing pokeballs giving him the accuracy of a master sniper. The rock flew swiftly towards its target… who simply rose his hand and caught it, without even opening his eyes for a second.

"Sloppy, predictable… Oh how glad I am I changed." Dragon muttered, and closed his fist around the rock. With seemingly no effort, the rock crushed in his hand. "Now, as I said, I am meditating. So leave me alone." If looks could kill, Dragon would've been dead thrice over. Ash glared at his counterpart with as much rage as he could muster, and only muttered four words.

"What happened to you?" Dragon released a heavy sigh at the question, having been one he had heard many times now. He could still hear it on the back of his head, in the voices of the people that had once uttered it, such as the Queen of Cameron when he first arrived, or Team Rocket when their lives were ended.

"Very well, I shall tell you." Dragon said as he jumped off the tree branch, landing deafly on the ground. With a look as cold and hard as steel, he met his other self's glare. "After my loss at the Hoenn League, I began to think. I thought about my adventures, the time I spent as a trainer, of all the things I had accomplished and realized… I came to one conclusion: I had done nothing." He raised his hand to stop Ash, who was about to retort. "All of my life, ever since I had been 10, I had simply traveled around the regions, capturing pokemon, fighting and losing in every league. The Orange league, my one and only actual accomplishment, was nowhere as challenging as a main region league. Realization dawned on me: I had been wasting years of my life pursuing a selfish, arrogant ambition that would only feed my own pride if I succeeded. I had taken countless creatures from their homes and families in order to try to achieve it, and while many of them eventually came to care for me just as I cared about them, how many parents did I leave without their children? How many families did I shatter when I captured them? After realizing this, I felt hollow. I felt as if all sense in my life had been taken away. And with this feeling, I felt another one, deep inside me. I started to explore this feeling, and immediately identified it as nostalgia. But what was I missing? Or rather, who?"

"Did you ever think it may have been your mother? Or your friends? Maybe what you missed was simply the thrill of a pokemon battle!" Ash yelled, drawing the attention of both his friends and the other Guardians. They all approached the Ketchums as they continued to glare at each other.

"For a second, I thought it to be so…" Dragon admitted heavily "But then, I suddenly remembered one of my most memorable adventures: Altomare. I remembered that beautiful island, the museum, the events that happened there… but most importantly, I remembered her…" Dragon took out the pictures he had in his pocket, and his gaze softened as he paid attention to the one of his wedding and the one of Ritias and himself, and realized he needed one with Ritios in it. His gaze hardened again when he turned his attention back to Ash. "When I left to train with my aura, it was partly for me to think some more about what I wanted to do. And the more I meditated, the more I noticed one thing: I wanted… no, needed to go back to Altomare. I needed to be with Latias. And until I was reunited with her, the void I felt was not filled. The day we got married, that void was gone completely. The day my beloved daughter, Ritias, was born, I felt such happiness… happiness I knew I never would've achieved as a Trainer. And even now, if anyone or anything were to pose a threat to either my beautiful Altomare, or my cherished wife and children, I will put an end to their miserable lives with pleasure. And I believe my fellow Guardians all feel the same." The others, with their eyes steeled and burning with pride and passion, nodded. Most of the Trainer group was staring in awe and silence at how mature Dragon was, but Ash had his own steel-hard flaming glare clashing with Dragon's.

Meanwhile, in the Guardian Poke-verse

Celebi was taking a leisurely stroll around the Garden of the Lati, thinking of his brilliant scheme. No doubt it had worked perfectly, and he was sure that no one would ever pin the blame on him…

"FIRE BLAST!" His thoughts were taken out of his head when a star-shaped blast of fire nearly ripped it off. Slowly, the Time Travel Pokemon turned around and saw several very, very pissed off Guardians and their Pokemon mates. The mates of the Guardians he had sent to the other timeline, he noticed, were even angrier, and he had a theory at who that anger was directed to.

"Oh, uh… hey guys!" The little sprite said mareepishly. His answer, though, was a powerful Psychic attack to pin him to a nearby tree, and an absolutely furious Latias facing him with blue glowing eyes. "I, uh… OH, LOOK AT THE TIME! GOTTA GO!" The psychic hold suddenly strengthened, and Celebi could feel the anger-filled glares directed right at him. Latias, Kirlia, Lucario, Weavile, Amphy, Typhlosion and Venomoth had all approached him, and they all had their own attacks ready, ranging from Poison Sting by Venomoth to a full blown Hyper Beam charging up in Typhlosion's mouth. Latias menacingly approached Celebi and uttered a few words… a few words so cold and harsh Celebi panicked when he heard her.

"Celebi… Where. Is. My. Husband?" Celebi was seriously panicking right now, and was sure that this practical joke of his might be more trouble than it's worth.

"I-I'm not sure what you're talking about… why would I know where Ash is?" Celebi then released a very manly squeal of fear when hundreds of purple needles imbedded themselves around his head, making a perfect impression of it. "GYAAAAH! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" The little sprite's (And everyone's for that matter) attention was then redirected to a white-glowing silhouette. A small figure was gradually growing in height. The ballet tutu elongated in a long ball gown, and the spikes on her head moved to her chest, and her left fist was covered in white-hot flames. Had he been able to, Celebi would've been shaking like a Groudon-level earthquake at the sight. The spot above his head was obliterated by an incredibly powerful Fire Punch, and the trees behind him were all set ablaze by the intense heat…

"Answer the question, you little bastard, or I won't miss" The freshly evolved Gardevoir with a cold voice, just as cold as her husband's when he was in his Berserker form. An Everstone laid crushed at her feet, with nothing to indicate it had once been a palm sized stone. Panic overrode all of Celebi's nervous system, and, just before he was absorbed by the sheer terror he was feeling, he managed to say:

"THEY'RE IN ANOTHER TIMELINE! I SENT THEM TO ANOTHER TIMELIIIIINE!" With a sinister smile, Latias nodded at Weavile, and then said.

"There, that wasn't so hard, was it?" The green pokemon relaxed when he heard how calm Latias sounded… until he realized he had now been frozen into the tree by Weavile "Sadly, you have two choices: You can either bring them back, or stay in that tree. When you have decided to bring them back, just start shaking your head." Celebi would've gulped loudly when he heard his choices. How was he going to tell them he could not perform an inter-timeline travel to bring them back unless certain conditions were met?

Andd that's a wrap! HOLY GUACAMOLE! SO MANY REVIEWS ON THE FIRST CHAPTER! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I SWEAR I'LL WORK MY HARDEST ON THIS FIC! THIS IS BLADEOFTHEPOET LOGGIN OUT!