"Code red, all available water and or psychic trainers, please make your way to B-5, all available water and or psychic trainers to B-5. All other guests, please go to your evacuation stations. Keep calm, and Arceus be with you." The intercom crackled. The message had been repeating over and over for at least five minutes as Ash rushed towards his friends room.

"Ash!" Someone screamed on panic, he wanted to stop, but the people around him were pushing past his smaller frame. He navigated towards the wall, and let out a sigh of relief at the sight of green, purples, and brown. It seemed like Reggie had already found everyone, thank Arceus.

"Whats going on?" He asked, once they had been pushed his way. He noticed that Paul, Gary, and Wally were all in their pajamas, but each one had their bags across their shoulders. None of them had their teams out, which was probably a good thing considering how small most of them were right now.

Reggie's black eyes seemed to darken ans his nose flared in anger. "From what I've heard, someone found a bomb. And half the crew isn't responding, so no one knows whats going on. They called for an emergency battle ready team, so I loaned them a few of my stronger Pokémon. Politoad is with them, so I have to go back down once all of you are gone. All of the more powerful people are working together to-"

The ship rocked, groaning underfoot as the new trainers all held onto the railing for dear life. A series of explosions sounded from below, making the boys hold on tighter. Reggie looked terrified, but seemed to be trying to hold it together for the rest of them.

The lights seemed to flicker before going out completely. Sirens fizzled out, and Ash felt horror flooding his veins as he realized why. The engines had been hit. They were running on a time limit now.

Reggie cursed under his breath and pulled several Pokéballs from his own bag, handing them out to everyone he could reach. Ash and Wally were handed two, while Gary and Paul got one each. "They're water types I've been working with, two are fighting types too, just incase you need the extra power.

Gary, you have a water type, right, so this will work better, I think. Paul, you have Magby, right? Do any of you have a fire type too? Something you can use to light your way? Nevermind, uh, Gary, here, take him." Another pokeball was shoved into the brunettes face. It seemed like Reggie was trying to arm them for war.

Reggie pulled his little brother into a tight hug, whispering something in his ear, before he pushed the kids towards the deck to get away, slipping his bag into Paul's arms. The oldest of them squared his shoulders, before heading towards the problem, silently wishing his brother, and the other kids luck. He paused, just for a moment, before turning back and screaming at them to run, before he was off. Ash tried not to see the look of hopeless determination on the breeders face. Reggie wasn't ready for this, but he didnt have a choice, none of them did. They all had their parts to play, and though Ash wanted to follow the older teen, he knew he'd just get in the way.

Paul seemed shaken, but the four of them started running, each one holding onto the others. They were silent, probably the only silent people as they reached the deck. Most of those around them were screaming and crying, but none of them could make a sound. They gathered together in a single lifeboat with over a dozen other people.

Ash was trying not to see who wasn't there. He knew if he did, he'd break, and none of them had time for that right now. The boat was lowered quickly as the cruise ship rocked with another explosion, splashing and making several of them almost fall out.

Once they were in the ocean, the lifeboats went silent as they all watched. Not even five minutes later as the ship start to sink with another series of explosions. People and Pokémon that hadn't managed to evacuate were thrown from the deck, but they were lucky, even the ones that didn't survive the landing, because only a few moments later, the screams of agony started, like a demented chorus.

The SS Alice sank in five minutes, burning alive those who remained on board, or drowning those who were too close and got sucked under.

Dully, he noted, that it should have taken a lot longer. People were still escaping, but they were starting to trickle to a stop. A few trainers with larger water types that wouldn't have been useful in the ships belly tried to help. He could smell something, barbeque, and felt revolted once he realized what it was.

"This wasn't an accident." He whispered more to himself than his companions, "we were targeted."

Wally pulled his knees to his chest, and nodded. "I thought this was a trainer exclusive cruise. Shouldn't there have been enough people to help? I mean, Norman is strong, he could have..."

Gary and Paul exchanged looks, before Gary's eyes moved to his belt that had been clumsily wrapped around his waist. "We actually... noticed something about that yesterday." He muttered quietly, trying to keep the others on the lifeboat from hearing. "Did either of you notice that... there were a lot of retired trainers? Or trainers that quit? Because, for a battle cruise, I didn't see many active ones."

That was a good point. Ash looked around at the lifeboat. There were twenty people on it, including him and his friends. Of them, eight were elderly, two had battle belts, and the rest were all vendors he'd seen trying to advertise their breeding businesses. That meant only six out of twenty were trainers at the moment. The numbers didn't lie.

"Professor Oak was a target then." Ash mumbled. "Probably Norman and his family too. Do you see..."

None of them saw a single member of Norman's family, though Ash had only interacted with the kids twice, May and Max, with their Torchic and Slakoth respectively. He didn't see the professor anywhere either. Or, he realized with mounting horror, his mom. Fuck. He forgot to get her.

Ash had been spending less and less time with her as he branched out his social interactions with other kids his age. He'd been leaving her with the professor, even though it was his problem to cope with. But now, he realized, he didn't see her anywhere.

Wait, her Mr. Mime. He was a powerful psychic type, and no matter how out of it she was, she would have heeded the call when it came.

Ash ducked his head, feeling numbness overtaking his grief and disbelief. She was probably gone. He'd been too weak to help her. His hand went to his belt with a silent promise that this would be the last time he failed so horribly. He didn't have anyone else to loose. He had to find out who did this, and make them pay.

His hand ghosted over his belt, unhooking his gifts from Reggie. One of them, the one with a water sticker on the red lid, was a water type. If they hadn't been able to get a space on the boats, it could have saved them. The fighting type, on the other hand, would have been perfect for busting through blocked pathways. The fire types both Gary and Paul had would have helped weaken any metal in their way, making their escape easier. They were lucky, in a weird way, that Reggie was a breeder, because most people didn't have the sheer amount of Pokémon that Reggie was able to keep with him. If they hadn't been able to make it to a lifeboat in time, these water types would have saved their lives.

Part of him wanted to keep them, to hold on tightly to the Pokémon, whatever they were, but it wasn't right. They weren't his. He looked at them for a moment, before trying to pass them to Paul.

The purple haired boy looked at them, then looked away. "Keep them. Reggie gave them to you. All of you should hold onto them."

Wally shook his head. "We can't do that! They belong to your brother, Paul, not us."

Paul shrugged. "But he's a breeder, he gives away, and sells, Pokémon all the time. He meant for you to have them. He told me he was going to offer all of you a Poliwag yesterday, so they would have been yours anyway. Except for you, Gary, since you already have a water type."

"Poliwag? Is that what the water types are?" Ash asked.

"Probably. Politoad and Aggron are his starters, so he's always had a few younger ones around."

"Aren't you guys from Sinnoh?" Wally questioned.

"I am. Reggie was born in Hoenn, but our parents moved before I was born. When he became a trainer, he had our uncle import his starter, which was supposed to be Aron, but turned out to be both."

Huh, Ash thought to himself, does this mean...?

"Are you staying in Kanto then?" Gary asked quietly, voice firm even at that volume.

"I will." Wally muttered. "I don't want to go back to Hoenn right now, even if my uncle is worried. I'd rather be here."

Paul bit his lip and looked away. "I... I need to go back, if Reggie... I'll need to settle some things, but I probably won't stay there."

"We should travel together."

All three of them turned immediately towards Ash, who was playing around with the idea. For him, it would be useful to have companions that would take the spotlight off of him. If they were staying in Kanto anyways, all three of them would do the gym challenges. Compared to the other three, he'd be forgettable at best. Plus, if he kept the two Pokémon, he'd have a full team, which meant he could sneak off while the others were working on bulking out theirs.

On a psychological level, all of them would probably benefit from staying close to the other survivors, to remind them that they hadn't lost everything. With four of them, they'd be able to handle each other at their worst. He'd already been around when Gary lost his parents and his sister cut contact, so he knew what to expect.

Though, eventually, he'd have to be honest, which he didn't like, about exactly why he wanted them to work together.

"Why would we do that? Most groups don't have only trainers, you know." Wally asked softly, trying to understand why the dark haired boy thought it was a good idea.

"Well, yeah, but think about it, with all of us, it would mean that we can cover each others weaknesses. Paul and I have more Pokémon, right now, but we are focusing on different things. You and Gary will both find a team you love, and we'll all be stronger for it. Plus, with you, we'll have access to teleportation, once Ralts gets older. Rook will be able to fly at least two of us, so we just need one more to fully have access to anywhere. Between the four of us, I think we can all get what we want out of our journeys."

A large part of him hated the idea, but that was more because of his antisocial natures than logistics. If this was a game of chess, he'd be loosing if he went in alone, but with all three of them, especially the trainers he knew they'd become, he'd finally have a chance to strike back.

To his surprise, Paul seemed to be the most open to the idea. Why, he had no clue, but he was. Maybe it was because Paul could see the same potential in the others that he could. Maybe Paul knew instinctively that both Wally and Gary would be pretty much impossible to beat with some experience under their belts. Maybe Paul just liked the idea of Turtwig beating Rook every day, or staying close to his brothers Pokémon. Whatever the case, Ash was grateful that he was considering it.

Paul leaned in closer, eyes going shrewd. "You're planning on hunting them down. The people who sank the ship."

There wasn't a question in that, it was a statement, as if it was obvious to Paul that Ash was a spiteful little bastard who held a grudge when he wanted to.

"I'm in. I can help." Wally muttered shyly, raising his hand just a bit. Ash glanced over at the green haired boy in surprise. Wally was the kindest of them, with a kind team, yet he too, apparently, wanted revenge.

"You know I'm going after them for hurting gramps." Gary agreed just as softly. "But we're too weak to do anything right now."

Ash ducked his head, a small smirk playing on his lips. It was true, after all, but- "We won't always be. What did Reggie give you, Gary?"

Gary held up the two Pokéballs, one with a fire symbol and one with the flying symbol. Paul peered at them for a moment before nodding.

"Chimchar, I think, is the fire type one. I know Reggie had one left out of the five he brought. And the flying type is probably Starly. I thought he'd sold all of them, already though."

Another flying type, that was a good thing. Starly would evolve into a powerful flyer if Gary raised him right, and Chimchar would be difficult, if not impossible to beat with the future fire/fighting dual type. Reggie had given them the pieces, the Pokémon, that they would need to get their revenge eventually. "What about this one?" He asked, holding up the Pokéball with the fighting symbol.

"Mankey, I think. Sucks to be you, Ash, that ones a nightmare. She's a hybrid Paldean/Kantonian, so shes still too young to know which sides genetics won. And she's got a knife."

Wait. What. "Did you say she has a knife?"

"Yep."

"Oh. Paul, quick question."

"What?"

"Why does she have a knife?"

Paul rolled his eyes. "Because she's a psychotic gremlin that stole it from the kitchen when she was a week old, and won't give it back."

Right, a Mankey with a knife. That sounded like a disaster waiting to happen. But, admittedly, the unexpected was always useful in chess. "Right, I should have known that.

"I got one too. Is mine...?" Wally asked, dread filling his face.

Paul scoffed. "I think you probably got the weird one, I can't imagine Reggie giving you little moss psycho, but, since there were only two left, you got little Mr sunshine. He's an extrovert who loves other Pokémon. Granted, he's got a temper, but mostly, he's very playful. Kinda hates Chimchar, though, so keep those two away from each other." He said with a pointed glance in Gary's direction.

To Ash's surprise, Paul pulled out three more Pokéballs from the bag, one with a normal symbol, one with a steel symbol, and one with a dragon symbol. "If you're serious about this, then we're gonna need these guys. My brothers Pokémon are superior to anyone else's, and these are the last ones that need a trainer. I've got a few from him, so I don't need them, but you guys will."

Wally and Gary looked intrigued, but Ash shook his head. "I already have six, I don't need another one."

"Yes, you do. You don't have to register them as a battle partner if you don't want to, but I have a feeling you might need an ace up your sleeve." Paul argued. "Look, you don't have to, but I'd feel better if you had Porygon with you. Please."

His brain froze, making his mind have to restart. What was that? There's no way he heard that right. "Its a what now?"

Paul sighed and rolled his eyes towards the still dark sky. "With how big of a nerd that you are, you can't make me believe you don't know what a Porygon is. Or that you don't want one."

"I never said I did!" He argued.

"Ashy-boy," Gary said slowly, as if he were stupid, "you spent an hour yesterday telling us about a computer program you've been working on for months. Plus, you have had a Porygon plushy on your bed since you were, like, five."

"You gave it to me!" Ash grouchy, more to himself than to actually disagree.

"Yeah. Because you wouldn't stop going on and on about how cool it was."

"Kid, just take it!" One of the other passengers finally yelled out, exasperated by the children arguing. He was an old man, probably older than the professor, with a bald head and grey eye's hidden behind severe looking glasses. Like most of them, he was also in what looked to be sleepwear, which brought Ash back to reality.

He blushed and ducked his head slightly, feeling ashamed of himself. All of these people had just lost loved ones, and here he was, arguing like a toddler. "Alright." He took the pokeball and hooked it to his belt, putting it in the seventh slot, which usually held empty Pokéballs.

Despite how exhausted he was suddenly, he couldn't help but notice Wally getting the mysterious steel Pokémon, and Gary getting the dragon. He hated to admit it, but Paul was right, if they were going to pull this off, they would need as many strong Pokémon as possible.

Gary now had five, his Squirtle, his two Nidoran, Starly, and the dragon. A fairy type to round out his team would probably be a good idea, if not an electric or grass type. Wally had his Ralts, his Magnemite, the Poliwag and Mankey, plus the steel type. Paul, he realized, also had five. Turtwig, Elekid, Magby, Beldum, and Poliwag. Meanwhile with his new ace, he had seven.

"Are you sure this is fair? I have seven now, and you guys only have five?" He asked carefully. If they wanted to switch things up, he'd be fine with it, since he wasn't really emotionally invested in any of the new ones. If he needed to part with Mankey or Poliwag, he could. Porygon, though, he secretly wanted to keep, if only because Gary was right.

The other three exchanged looks, before, apparently, nominating Gary for something.

"Look, Ashy-boy, we're not stupid. You don't really want to catch anything, and you never have. Even when we were little, you'd talk about what team you wanted, but you've never... really wanted a lot of Pokémon. I have a feeling you would have avoided catching anything until you absolutely had to, so having your full team, one that you can get comfortable with early on, is probably good for you. All of us, on the other hand, want large teams, that we build ourselves. I didn't really want anything from Reggie, but, because we owe him, I'm fine with taking on two more Pokémon right away. That's not gonna stop me from having a lot more though."

Oh. He didn't think it was that obvious. He ducked down further on the floor and pulled his knees up as he tried his best to process what was happening. "Okay." He finally agreed. Gary was right, he did his best when he had all of his pieces in play from the start, and if he was being honest with himself, he didn't want or need any more Pokémon. His team being with him from the beginning, while uncomfortable, would be the best thing for him in the long run.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, and cries from those around him, he found out that Gary had a Gable and Wally was given an Aron.

He bit his lip as he dove into his mind, ignoring his friends as he tried to work them into his mental plan. Did this mean he had to put off finding out what happened to his family? No, he decided after a bit, they could work together, he'd just have a bit of a side... quest? Mission? Game? Either way, with everyone thinking one thing, it would be pitifully easy to use that to his advantage.

That didn't mean he was forgiving the fuckers who killed so many people. No, he was holding that grudge close to his heart, waiting for the opportunity to strike back. Next time, he and his friends would be ready, and nothing was going to stop them.

He wasn't exactly sure how the other three would fit into his game, but he was willing to find out for once.

A knee knocked against his, Wally, and he looked up, meeting the boys steely gaze with his own golden one. "We're gonna be okay." He whispered, gesturing to Paul and Gary. "Are you?"

"I don't know." Ash admitted. He truly didn't. Despite the fact that he'd been planning on leaving,he never actually thought he'd be out of his mothers grasp. He never thought he'd get to see what life truly had to offer. That made him feel worse, though, because, while he didn't know for sure that his mother was dead, something in his mind warned him that he was the last one left.

Wally leaned in slightly, touching their legs together in silent comfort. "Thats okay. We'll help you get there. Promise."

"Even the turtle club?" He asked, letting some humor into his voice.

Wally giggled by his side. "Even them. We've got this."

While he'd never admit it outloud, Ash knew that it wasn't true. None of them were ready for what they would have to face. None of them knew how to be the only ones left. Of the four of them, only Wally had any family left, but considering how much he seemed to dislike them, and how little he spoke about them, he might as well be on his own too.

Ash wasn't sure how long they sat in the lifeboats, or how long it took for the wailing to finally go silent. He did know that the sun was high in the sky by the time they were finally rescued. It took hours from then to reaching land, but thankfully, the authorities seemed fine waiting until they were all finally on solid ground to start questioning different groups.

The four of them had settled into a corner of the marina, watching the flood of people coming and going. A lot of people had been hurt, and yet, Ash couldn't help but notice exactly how few people there were compared to how many he'd seen on that first day. He heard a few of the officers muttering about a there only being just over six hundred survivors.

He swallowed hard at that.

On the first day, he had made a point to ask how many people were on the ship total, and learned that there were over 3000, not including crew. If that number was right...

Well, it was better not to think about exactly what kept so many strong trainers from being able to escape.

Despite the sheer amount of people around him, or maybe because of the people who weren't, Ash had released King and was holding onto his starter gently. Gary, Wally, and Paul had all done the same with no issues, considering how small their Pokémon were. He had noticed several people with older Pokémon trailing after them too, offering silent comfort and companionship to those they worked with.

It didn't feel wrong to rest his chin on King's head, not when his mind was running in so many directions at once. He cuddled his tiny starter closer and took a few carefully measured breaths. Soon, it would be their turn to be spoken too. They would be debriefed as actual trainers, not just questioned as children who didn't know better.

He selfishly did not look for certain people that he'd been seeing since that first day, not wanting to know if they escaped or not. His mind was already struggling enough just trying to make a plan for the rest of the day.

The four of them needed to talk to the police, find accommodations for the night, since none of them had all of their gear. Each one had rescued a single bag, but none of them had everything. Wally had the least, apparently, having unpacked everything but his Pokémon's belongings into the room he stayed in.

After that, all of them had new team members to meet, or, in Paul's case, get to know as his own, instead of his brothers. From there, they needed to figure out what to do about their missing family members, and how to deal with that mess. After that, they needed to sit down together and make a plan of where they should go next.

His head hurt just thinking about it. If he was lucky, he'd make it through the rest of the day without falling to another migraine. He wasn't holding his breath though.

Thankfully, once their turn came, they were allowed to stay together. They answered what they could, and were given hot soup and blankets from the volunteers, who directed them towards where they could spend the night.

According to the woman they were talking to, everyone was assigned a place to stay for at least a day or two if they wanted it. They could either stay at one of the two hotels, the Pokémon center, or the Gym's visitor Wing. In their case, they were allowed to stay together in the Gym, where the rest of the younger trainers would be going.

Ash let the other three go ahead, ignoring the looks of his friends, and wandered off, keeping King carefully in his grasp. He knew Gary well enough to know that he too would break off for some alone time once he put his stuff in their temporary room. But Ash couldn't do that. He was feeling too possessive over his things, not wanting them out of his sight.

He mentally cursed himself for not grabbing his camping gear that he'd left by the door, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

Ash glanced towards the sea, before walking away, keeping it to his back. He wasn't sure how long he walked, only that his legs were starting to hurt by the time he stopped, and the sea was nowhere in sight. Neither was anyone else.

He let himself slowly sink towards the ground, strength finally giving up as he thought about Reggie.

He'd been so confused by what the older teen had been asking, so lost at what he could explain, that he'd wasted a chance to get to spend some time being honest. He knew the man had passed him the two Pokémon, on purpose, both as a just in case. He wondered if Paul had been telling the truth about Reggie planning on gifting them a Pokémon, but dismissed the idea. It didn't matter what should have been, only what was.

With that, he let himself think about the thing he'd been avoiding all day: his mom. He loved her, he always had, but a part of him wondered if, deep down, it was better this way she had been so miserable in life. She'd been mentally not well for so long now, suffering for so long, that a part of him wondered if she was better, now that she knew the answers she needed in death.

Her main team was gone, and so was Delia, but not everything. Death didn't stop time for the living, and that meant it was his responsibility to decide what to do with her assets. He half wanted to leave the mess for his brother to untangle, once he was found, but decided against it.

He wasn't keeping her things, he'd sell them, probably. Not that he really knew anything about real-estate, but he'd try. Did he want any of her Pokémon? She'd caught dozens over her active trainer career, but had basically ignored everything that wasn't her main team.

Maybe he'd take one of the younger Pokémon. After all, he didn't have to register his Pokémon with a professor, he just had to limit himself to six in an official battle. He could, technically, keep as many as he wanted, so long as he followed the Leagues rules when it mattered. But he didn't want a huge team, and with his newest three, he didn't want to deal with that many more. He wasn't even positive he'd use his newest three, though he'd keep them nearby, if only because of Reggie.

Still, his team had an overlap. Both Mankey and Poliwag had the potential to evolve into fighting types. Well, Makey certainly would, Poliwag could, or it could evolve into a pure water type. That meant he had two possible fairies, King, who could be a psychic fairy or a psychic ice, Bishop, who was a dark/fairy, and Poliwag. Plus, if Mankey was from Paldea, it could evolve further into a ghost/fighting type, which meant that it potentially overlapped with Queen's ghost/dragon.

All that aside, did his mom even have anything he wanted or might need? She had caught a lot of psychics, and grass types, which he didn't have yet, but didn't think he'd need. She did have-

Wait.

Every year, Professor Oak ended up releasing some of the new larva Pokémon, since, while his mom only had caught a few, they bred quickly and some of them had an unexpected typing. Didn't she have a Vikavolt? He was positive he'd seen it before, and it always had several Grubbin nearby. That could be a decent one. Grubbin never really required much effort to take care of, they just needed protection from predators, and a few battles before they were ready to evolve.

The Bulbasaur that had been set aside might be a good idea, since he didn't have a poison or a grass type, and he'd already been thinking about how to work it into his team. Maybe he'd talk to Gary about it.

The only other Pokémon that he'd ever liked of hers was one of the last she'd caught, and promptly abandoned in the ranch, of course. It was an old Arctibax. The Pokémon itself wasn't exactly nice, but her only baby Frigibax...

Did he really care about overlapping typing? Sure, he'd be doing some battling, but for the most part, he wanted a team that could keep up with him. The seven he had were more than enough. If he was being honest with himself, the only reason he was considering taking any of his mom's Pokémon at all was because of the major guilt trip he'd get every time he looked at them.

He didn't want to forget the state his mom had been in for all these years. He didn't want to only remember the alright times. He wanted to feel the deep, agony of loosing his mother too soon. He wanted to be as uncomfortable as he could be, because why should he have any comfort when his mom was dead?

Would he really take on a Pokémon just to hurt himself?

He pondered the question for a while. King, being the child of both his parents Pokémon, would leave him guilty for years. With King, he'd never forget. But oh, he hated the idea of loosing everything else that his mother had left behind.

Her main team was gone, and so was she. The Pokémon she'd left behind, like her son, were mostly forgotten about and ignored unless they became useful for a few hours. She rarely, if ever, interacted with the other Pokémon she had captured all those years ago.

He didn't want to be like that. He wantedhis entire team to be by his side until he died. He didn't want to uproot a Pokémon, just to discard it within a few hours or days.

He nibbled on his bottom lip. Realistically, how many Pokémon were too many? While his seven felt too heavy already, he knew he'd never forgive himself if he didn't have at least one more reminder. So, eight? Maybe nine? Ten felt like too many, and made him shiver just thinking about how he'd deal with that many at once.

He wanted Frigibax, he realized. He wanted the baby to grow into the titan it could be, and he wanted to do it because his mom never bothered with hers. That would mean he would have eight. Was that right?

He tried to picture it, but struggled, seeing as he hadn't even met three of the seven he was stuck with. He knew Frigibax, though, and knew the slightly aggressive Pokémon would be a fearsome protector eventually.

It hurt, just thinking about it, but Frigibax was probably the only Pokémon of his mom's he could handle. If only because it was a Pokémon he'd already been around a bit. A bug type, any bug type, would be a bad idea with Rook, so that took a Grubbin out of the picture. As for Bulbasaur, seeing as it wasn't his, or his mothers, he'd have to go without it.

Frigibax, despite being a stupid choice for a teammate with the rest of his Pokémon, could come with him. But that was it. Nothing else. Ever.

That decided, he moved onto his next problem: Reggie's gifts.

He appreciated the thought, of course, but he wasn't entirely certain how well he'd handle Poliwag and Mankey. Especially if Paul had been right, and Mankey was... difficult.

Porygon wasn't really an issue, he was pretty sure, because they were naturally a very calm species. The other two? Well, he wasn't entirely certain.

He glanced around the empty plains, and sighed to himself. With a mental shrug, he released all of his team members, from King to Porygon. His original four, especially his starter, seemed upset, and Queen immediately came and hid her face in his neck while King moved to cuddle closer. Rook and Bishop were both solemn, understanding that something had deeply upset their trainer without knowing, like the other two did.

Porygon floated in place, as cool and calm as could be, just watching with surprisingly intelligent eyes for a man-made Pokémon. It didn't run, nor did it come closer, content to wait.

Poliwag seemed confused, teetering a step closer, before taking a few steps back. It, he, kept glancing at Mankey and Porygon, as if it knew those two, but didn't understand how it got here with them. That was fair.

Mankey, on the other hand, looked mad, pacing and stroking a... kitchen knife of all things. Huh, Paul hadn't been kidding then.

He quietly introduced himself to the three, before filling them, and the rest of his team, in on what had happened. He knew he wasn't helping himself by letting the tears run down his face when he was telling them about the explosion, but he couldnt help it. None of those people deserved to die like that. None of them.

"Reggie wanted us to survive." He said softly, stroking Queen's scales. "And he knew he wouldn't, so he..." It hurt to think about exactly why these Pokémon were with him now, instead of with their breeder. "He wanted all of us to survive, and I'm going to make damn sure that we do. One day, when we're strong enough, I swear that I'm going to find whoever did this, and we are going to make them pay. I swear they will regret it. Will you guys help me?"

Porygon didn't seem to care one way or another about having a new trainer, but Poliwag and Mankey were devastated. Thankfully, though, they both agreed to help him.

Still, Ash knew they would never forget his vow, and they would expect him to live up to it, as soon as they were strong enough.

It was time to work.