A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! To answer Guest's questions one by one, first of all Skorupi and Grimer were caught in the Thomdolt arc as Ash wanted a Poison type Pokemon or two. If it isn't written there, well, it was probably in the lost chapter, which means that I'm now closer to figuring out what happened in that missing chapter. Maybe I'll get around to writing a new one to fill in. But yeah, sorry about that. And as for this whole sending Ash back thing, I am beginning to regret it. When I first planned out this fanfic, I didn't even have Ash as the main character, just another normal generic person but I thought Ash would be cool to add at the last minute, and so this part about him going back and forming an army was sort of a spur-of-the-moment thing and I'm just now realizing how bogged down the story is getting because of that. But, I can't exactly go back now so I'm going to try to go through these parts quickly instead of dragging it out.
Ash groggily rubbed his head as he got off the ferry to Kanto. He didn't actually remember much of the journey as he had spent most of his time in his room trying to avoid all contact with the outside world. He had enough on his mind. And so, as he had boarded the ship from Kalos at night, he arrived in Kanto just before the crack of dawn.
And to make it all worse, for the very firs time, he had managed to get seasick. And no, the Badges apparently did nothing to fix that. Mr. Jennings had told Ash about how they only worked for 'major' ailments and so a common cold or seasickness probably wouldn't have counted. And so with all the throwing up he had to do, he had barely gotten any sleep for the night. Yes, this was quickly becoming a pattern for him.
After that, he waited for his escort to arrive from the Pokemon League… only for said escort to end up being delayed by two hours during which he could've very easily flown to Viridian City on his Charizard, where the conference was being held, but he had been specifically told by the Pokemon League of Kanto to wait. The said escort consisted of two Officer Jennnys, who Ash couldn't tell apart but was sure that Brock would've been able to. They said that they had been late due to traffic and there was some sort of riot but Ash had kind of zoned out of everything they were saying by that point.
But still, Cerulean City was nice enough. Ash considered dropping by the gym to visit Misty before he remembered that Misty was back in Galea. After that, his police escort took him on foot up Mt. Moon which took close to forever compared to how quickly they could've moved using his Charizard, but the two officers were under strict orders to move by land because it was 'safer' somehow. And yes, Ash didn't get that at all and questioned them throughout regarding why they were acting very strange, to which they simply said, 'the League orders it' and didn't add anything more so Ash gave up pretty soon.
Ash groaned as his legs felt like pudding after trekking for so long and he collapsed in the bed in the Pokemon Center on the other side of Mt. Moon when they finally reached it at night.
His Charizard mainly just followed them from above, and usually flew away for short periods of time towards the surrounding areas as it got bored. Ash knew that he was definitely getting bored by all of this.
The next day, they set out for Pewter City. The two officers had been changed and two new ones came but if they hadn't told Ash that they were switching officers he wouldn't have been able to tell the difference really.
At Pewter City, Ash considered dropping by the old gym- but then he knew that it would mean facing Flint and all of Brock's siblings and he didn't know what he'd say to them when they asked if Brock was doing okay. Yeah, sure, Ash had left Brock being very okay but given how much time had passed, well, he couldn't say anything and didn't want to leave them worried.
By noon that very day they reached the outskirts of Viridian City where the officers were changed again. These two new ones seemed to be less wary than the others and a bit more cheerful.
One of them, who said that she was tasked especially with guarding the Viridian Forest began singing a catchy tune, perhaps hoping to cheer Ash up.
"I'm on the road, the road to Viridan City, and I'll meet my friends along the waaay-"
Ash nodded to the rhythm. It was a good tune.
But for the record, he didn't get to meet any of his friends on the way. Nope, all of them were far, very far, from him.
When Ash arrived at Viridian City he was greeted by a group of angry-looking League Officials who asked him why he was so late, to which the Officer Jennys decided to chalk up to him waking up late after the trek on Mt. Moon.
"Hey- I could've gotten here way faster if I just flew," Ash snapped at them and at the League Officials. He had had enough of their nonsense. "So when's the conference? I'm a tight schedule here folks!"
It did nothing to endear him to the officers or the League officials, but he was immediately ushered into the Viridian City Gym, where there was a large wooden table in the center around which were gathered a lot of people. Some of them Ash instantly recognized- Lance and Agatha of the Elite Four of Kanto, Drake from Hoenn, most of the gym leaders from Kanto, some from Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, and Professor Oak and Professor Rowan.
Ash anxiously looked around to see if any of his friends- May, Max, Dawn, Paul, Iris, or Serena had made it but was disappointed. Before he could ask where they were though, he was immediately called before a panel which consisted of the President of the Kanto Pokemon League, Lance, Sabrina, Blaine, and Professor Oak.
Now, Ash had already dislike the way he had been interviewed back in Kalos, but this was way worse than this. First of all, rather than being greeted with warm smiles as he had expected, all of the members of the panel with the exception of Lance seemed displeased to see him- even Professor Oak for that matter fell into the category of people who just simply acknowledged Ash's presence.
Ash was made to stand on a pedestal with a microphone where he was visible to everyone else gathered there, while the panel occupied a smaller table to the side, but they were all visible to the rest of the crowd sitting at a much larger table.
"Um, Ash, mind telling us why you're late? We were sort of expecting you around noon," Professor Oak asked.
That was it. There was nothing asking if Ash was well, if he had been alright in all these days that they hadn't seen each other. Yeah, after all this time of being separated, that was the first thing that Professor Oak said to him.
"I would've been here faster if I flew, but I was guarded all the way and it slowed me down," Ash said.
"Those officers were there for your benefit," Blaine said. "And we've already lost enough time as it is, let us begin. So, do tell us, what explanation do you have to give for recent events and for your disappearance?" Something about the way he said it made it odd... as if he was somehow blaming Ash squarely for everything that was going on.
Ash frowned. "It's a long story… didn't you guys see the video that I made? Or the one that Diantha made?"
"We hardly had time for that," Professor Oak said. "And we'd prefer to hear things out from you."
Ash let out an exasperated sigh. If he was going to be asked to reiterate his story all the time, then he would never be done telling it.
Ash was quite fed up with the whole committee at this point and it took a huge amount of self-control for him to not simply walk out of the place. There were people in Galea who were counting on him to come to their aid. "Alright, then, but keep in mind that this is going to be the short version of the story. We can get to the long version later, and right now we need to move fast."
And so Ash told them, in as few words as possible, everything that had happened to him. The whole thing took less than an hour, and within that time Ash was thirsty and hungry. His Pikachu could sense his discomfort and looked up at him, worried.
"And now we need to mobilize, and I have to say that it's all risky, but we need to go quickly. Every moment we delay is a moment that Selena's goons have to terrorize the people of Galea," Ash said.
There was no real applause at this point, and people just looked at him questioningly.
"Um, Ash, first of all, this was a nice story and all," Professor Oak said, "but tell me one thing… how do we believe you?"
Ash was flabbergasted. Of all the people to doubt him- Professor Oak? But then he saw that Professor Oak looked troubled by everything he had heard, and saw this mirrored in the faces of several people in the conference.
And it was then that it hit Ash: they didn't want to believe what Ash was saying. Right now, they had no real idea about the threat that was looming over them, and with the strange portals between Galea and the rest of the world now no longer appearing, they assumed that the worst of it was over. What they didn't want at this point was someone like him telling him that it was all going to get worse. And not just worse- the public of Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, Hoenn, and Unova would all be severely agitated upon learning what he had to say. It would lead to social unrest- and maybe even mass riots- something that everyone there was eager to avoid.
And the funny thing was, that on some level Ash could see where they were all coming from. While Ash had never really embraced his administrative duties as a Gym Leader of Galea very seriously, he had learned quite a bit about ruling and it was what allowed him to immediately realize what people in similar positions of authority would want to do. And that explained why they had sent him 'guards' to be with him all the time- because what they really wanted was to keep an eye on him- not for his protection.
"You want proof?" Ash asked. He then turned to glance at the ceiling and held the Irresolute Badge in his hand and shot a lightning bolt from his fingers.
There were startled cries- and the lightning bolt seemed to have set off the sprinklers and they began pouring down on the audience before Ash used his Badges again to fix them.
That should have well been evidence enough, but Ash knew deep down now that it was unlikely that they would ever act. Because acting would mean acknowledging that there was something wrong, and it would be so much easier for them to merely doubt Ash's story, and say that Clemont's calculations were wrong.
"Be as that may, Ash," Professor Oak said, "your proposal to send people there seems to be a dangerous one."
"It is dangerous," Ash said. "Very dangerous. But we need to get the word out and get people to-"
"But tell me this," the President, Mr. Goodshow said, "are you so sure that Galea must and will collapse? Whose word do we have for this- simply Clemont's- a person who, according the Kalos League, has not had a good track record. Before I'd commit anything to this venture, I would definitely like an independent body of scientists to confirm this. Before we're sure, we can't possibly risk the chances of mass hysteria that will ensue if we broadcast this to the public at large."
There were general murmurs of assent and Ash felt his blood boil. They would all be too late, too late to do anything if it continued on like-
"Gramps, we can't just do that," a voice came from where the spectators were seated and Gary Oak stood up. "Look, it's been obvious that there's something going on and Ash isn't lying here. And I trust Ash, even if this Barrier isn't going to end all of humanity as we know it and if Clemont is wrong- it doesn't change the fact that the people that Ash left behind are suffering. And we're their only hope."
Lance stood up. "I agree. We cannot sit by idle here."
Ash glanced between the two- if Lance was backing Ash, well, that meant that Ash would have substantial support from many people gathered there.
"Now look, these are people that we don't know," Professor Oak said. "And we don't know fully the dangers of going there- and let's say that for a moment, we do agree to send people there, it could take months to authorize an army with all the bureaucratic measures and checklists we'd have to fill-"
"No it won't," Gary said. "All that Ash needs are volunteers. We can get volunteers fast enough, so long as everyone knows what they're doing. And I'm ready to go- my Blastoise hasn't seen much action since the Johto League along with my other Pokemon, but they're still rarin' to go."
"Gary, I'm not letting my only grandson walk into what sounds like an actual minefield except even more dangerous!" Professor Oak snapped.
"Sorry Gramps, but you don't get to tell me what to do anymore," Gary said defiantly. "People need to go there to help whoever's trapped there."
"And I volunteer as well," Lance said.
At this point someone in the audience stood up whom Ash thought he recognized- but wasn't exactly sure from where.
"Uh, just a minute everyone, if you don't mind me interrupting," the man said. "For those of you who don't know me, I am Bill, creator of the Pokemon Storage System. I've been in contact with Clemont for the past few days, and if anyone wants my two cents thrown into the conversation, well, I agree with what Clemont says. He may be a bit of a loose cannon, but he's right in that we're all going down if we don't save Galea. Furthermore, we can have the machine ready to transport any volunteers within two days." It was then that Ash had a vague memory of a Krabby and a huge shadow that looked like a Dragonite near a lighthouse somewhere.
"Two days is good," Ash said. "I think we can all gather in Lumiose City by then. Who else intends to volunteer?"
To Ash's dismay, around twenty people walked out when he said this and he guessed those people didn't want to hear any more of this.
A lot of hands still went up though.
"Okay, no new or inexperienced Trainers," Ash said. "Selena's soldiers aren't very strong compared to normal Trainers elsewhere even if they have been trained more than other people in Galea, but they outnumber us by a large margin. We were expecting around three hundred people since that was the maximum we could send, but if we have Trainers like Lance and Diantha with us, we can definitely do it with less."
There were general murmurs of assent.
"Wait, hold on, you can't do this!" the President said.
"Actually, they can," Lance said. "This, what we're doing now, is a private matter and the Pokemon League can decide to do whatever it wants regarding this matter, but we can certainly continue. And as for keeping this matter a secret, well, there are already so many people who know about this… who knows when the matter could get leaked to the press?"
The President looked infuriated. "Are you threatening me, League Champion?"
Ash wasn't really sure what was going to happen now. Who was really in charge here? The Board of Governors of the Pokemon League, or the Elite Four Champion? It was a question he had never asked himself, and now that he thought about it, Mr. Jennings had been surprised that Ash hadn't been able to answer, 'Well, who runs Kanto? Who runs the government there? Is it a monarchy, a republic, an aristocracy?' when Mr. Jennings had asked it during a lesson he had been giving Ash. Ash had never really thought about who ran Kanto- he just assumed that it got done. Ditto for Johto, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos.
"No, I'm just stating the facts," Lance said. "Facts that you should be able to see as clearly as I can. I didn't mean it as a threat, I just wanted to remind all of you that given how many people know about this, it is going to be nearly impossible for us to keep it secret. And if Diantha wants to make it public in Kalos and not in Kanto- well, the news will leak over somehow. And I think we need to tell people the truth of what's happening. Else all they'll have to believe in is rumors- rumors that may well be worse than the actual truth. And if the truth gets out and it isn't from our mouths, people will think that it's a cover-up. There were already riots near Cerulean City- what are we waiting for?"
It was then that something else hit Ash. "I forgot something, whoever wants to come along with us should bring as much food as they can, and not just for themselves. Food's always been a bit harder to get in Galea compared to other places, and I don't doubt that Selena's minions are burning down food stores wherever they can and stealing what they need. We're going to probably have a famine on our hands once we get there."
"I think we can send a lot of food so long as we don't have that many people," Bill said. "But given that we need to move quickly, the ferry to Kalos leaves tomorrow at noon. If we're going to go, we need to be fast then."
The rest of the night Ash got little sleep yet again given that he had to basically oversee all the preparations being done by himself now, and everyone that had volunteered had tons of questions that he needed to answer.
Amidst all the chaos he was told that other Trainers from Sinnoh and Unova would be joining them directly at Lumiose City. He wanted to thank Gary and Lance for sticking up for him, but both of them seemed almost as busy as he was.
All through the night, Ash couldn't help but think about returning to Pallet Town. It had been so long since he had last been there, and he wanted to see his mother one last time in person in case, well, in case this was the end. But something or the other kept coming up- What type of Pokemon did Selena's soldiers have? Were their any vaccines that they should get before traveling to Galea? What kind of money was used in Galea, and should they bring some?
With all of that, Ash kept pushing the time for meeting his mother for later over and over again, though he was sure that he would find time for it. But as the last of the problems sorted themselves out and the sunrise was only a few hours away, he felt the ground practically spinning underneath him and he collapsed just two feet from his Charizard and didn't get up until he was violently shaken by Gary who said that the ferry was going to leave Cerulean City in just an hour. Everyone else had either booked a hot air balloon or were flying, so Ash groggily climbed on top of his Charizard while Gary got on his Pidgeot.
It seemed that there wouldn't be any time to visit her after all. And with a sad glance towards Pallet Town, he took off.
At Lumiose City, Ash found himself even busier than before. He had managed to get some shuteye on the ferry but that was it. A thousand problems- or it seemed so- had managed to turn up at the last moment, and of course he was practically the only one who could solve them.
One thing that happened was that Squishy had come back. Ash wouldn't have known this if it weren't for Greninja leaving his Poke Ball and then walking outside the city where Ash found Squishy along with Bonnie, and it seemed that Squishy was eager to accompany them as well.
"And I'll come too," Bonnie said.
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you," Ash said. "Bonnie, you're too little and you don't have any actual experience with fighting Pokemon. I'm not even letting adults come if they don't have some conditions fulfilled and really, Bonnie, you'd be safer here."
Bonnie almost started crying. "B-but I want to come!"
"I'm sorry, I know you do," Ash said. "But I can't take that risk. And think about Clemont- he's staying behind too 'cuz he needs to monitor things along with Bill. Don't you need to make sure your brother doesn't get into any trouble? And Squishy will be fine, and once we're done in Galea, he'll be back with you."
Bonnie still looked unhappy, but said, "Okay."
The time to leave had come.
All in all, they had around eighty volunteers. Among them were Lance, Bruno, and Lorelei of the Kanto Elite Four (Agatha had stayed behind as someone needed to, and she was pretty old so they all decided it should be her- though they never said that to her face.) Steven, Cynthia, and Diantha were there along with Drasna. Among the gym leaders, Sabrina, Blaine, Roxanne, Wallace, Flannery, and Koga were there. And of course, there was Gary and other Trainers who Ash didn't know but the others swore to their ability. Sadly, Dawn, Serena, and the others that he had traveled with for a long time seemed to be too far away or no one was able to contact them.
The machine was two cylinders connected by a hollow tube.
Bill cleared his throat. "Uh, well, this is a slight modification of a teleportation device I had made earlier. Now, the first time I had tried it, there had been some, ah, unfortunate complications as a Pokemon had managed to sneak into another one of the doors but let's not get into that. Now, to put things into perspective, we will be sending each of you there one by one. The place you'll end up will be near the ocean. Now, a problem is that given that the Barrier around Galea is constantly shifting slightly apparently, you might be cast in different directions. I expect everyone to land within ten miles of each other though."
"In that case, I should go first," Ash said.
"Uh, actually, we were thinking that you should go last, Ash," Clemont said. "Because of your Badges even if the machine messes up somehow and you land up somewhere else, you'll still get through. That way if there was anyone who went missing on the way, you can help them get through as well. My recommended order would be to send in the Elite Four members here dispersed throughout the eighty people, we can send Lance first, so that in case we send you a bit too far apart, at the very least you'll be next to some strong Trainers in case trouble happens to pop up. But before we send you guys though, we can send the food crates over first."
Bill nodded. "This'll have the dual benefit of testing out the machine on something inanimate first, and the second benefit that we'll be sure our food is there."
A wooden crate about twice as big as Ash was placed inside one of the chambers. The other one was still closed, which made Ash wonder why they had bothered to put it there in the first place.
And then Bill hesitatingly, slightly over-dramatically, pressed the big red button and then the machine… did nothing.
"Huh?" Clemont said and began checking the wires again. "Everything seems to be normal."
Ash tapped his foot impatiently.
Fifteen minutes passed and still Bill and Clemont couldn't come up with a solution.
It was then that Ash's anger was interrupted by… laughter? And out of the air materialized a Pokemon that Ash recognized very well.
"Hoopa!" Ash exclaimed. "Were you the one causing all of this?"
The Pokemon snorted in apparent glee and nodded.
Bill tried again, and the machine worked. Which either meant that the crate was now in Galea, or it had been completely vaporized. Bill glanced at the screen and based on a marker he had attached to the crate, it showed that it was there in Galea, at least for a few seconds before the Barrier resealed itself and stopped anything from transmitting outside again.
"Hoopa! What brings you here?" Ash asked.
"Hoo hoopa hoo!" the Pokemon snickered.
"Oh, so you want to help?" Ash asked and the Pokemon nodded. "That's great!" He then turned to Clemont. "Hey Clemont, I can't take Charizard with me, he wouldn't fit in something so big and I'll be taking Hoopa and Squishy and Pikachu, so I'm gonna have to ask you to take care of this Drapion that I'd caught." Ash then returned Charizard to its Pokeball.
"Alright Ash," Clemont said.
There were a few more food crates and those went in fine, and then Lance stepped up.
"See you on the other side," Lance said.
As far as Bill and Clemont could tell, it had all gone smoothly.
And so it continued. Every ten or so Trainers and Elite Four member would be sent just in case they got a bit too separated from each other.
The whole process took around an hour and then lastly, it was Ash who was left.
"Good luck, Ash," both Clemont and Bonnie said.
"Thanks," Ash said and then took a deep breath as he got into the chamber and the doors closed.
A red light flashed from above, and he saw nothing.
Clemont and Bill, who were monitoring the machine from outside, suddenly started.
"What happened?" Bonnie asked, seeing the expression on Clemont's face.
"There's something wrong," Clemont said, suddenly panicking. "The machine sent Ash over there all right… but it's like he disappeared mid-transit."
"Disappeared?" Bonnie asked.
"Yeah," Bill said. "And we can't detect him." He pointed to the monitor on the control panel. "See? Normally we would've seen him break the Barrier and land close to where the others are. Normally, that is, but it seems that after breaking through the Barrier, he suddenly turned or something and he doesn't seem to be with the others."
"Huh?" Bonnie asked. "But… what happened? Did Ash did something with those magic badges to steer away from where you sent him?"
"Why would he do that?" Clemont asked. "He wouldn't want to go away from the others. It looks like something just snatched him away on his path."
"Could it have been Hoopa playing another trick?" Bill asked. "It seems to be in the nature of that Pokemon…"
"Maybe, but I don't think Hoopa has that kind of power…" Clemont said. "Plus, Hoopa causes mischief, this is something dangerous and it wouldn't prank on us with something like this. No, it was something else. Something else grabbed Ash and moved him from where he was supposed to go."
Ash had felt nothing after the flash of light- he just found himself a few feet above water in an ocean somewhere and let out his Greninja on top of whom he landed lightly.
He looked around and what he saw puzzled him… there was no one else there! How odd. He sent out his Charizard to scout around for a few miles but Charizard came back having found nothing. There was a large landmass to the east of where they were, so that's where Ash decided to go before he saw what was His Majesty's island.
So that's were they were. Alright then, it was all cool, he could still navigate back to the mainland now that he knew where he was and hopefully meet up with the others there.
Oh wait, they hadn't decided where to meet up once they had gotten to Galea- although Ash had discussed moving to Ponyta City, he had never said it explicitly as the place to go to first. However, it was where Brock, Misty, and the others had been last he had went there and it was probably also where Lance and the others would end up going to eventually so Ash asked Greninja to move in that direction.
Wait.
"Huh?' Ash said and looked around. His Pikachu also seemed to be confused, and his Charizard, who was circling above him, hadn't heard anything either. Hoopa seemed unfazed as well. Had Ash imagined it?
Wait.
Ash was sure of the voice now, he had heard it so clearly. But when he mentioned it to Hoopa and Pikachu they looked at him like how people usually looked at psychiatric patients, but Ash was sure of where he heard. He turned his head towards His Majesty's island, yup, that was where the noise had come from. And as he looked at the island, he felt his Badges resonate. Yes, there was something there, something that seemed to be calling to him.
Ash shook his head. He could always return to the island later- like he had told Diantha earlier, it was imperative that he stabilize the situation on the mainland first. Duke Hamnet and Celera had been none too happy at the prospect of foreigners coming in, and so Ash knew that he had to accompany Lance so that there were no… untoward incidents.
Come here… help me…
Ash's head whirled around to face the island again. The voice had spoken to him, and his Badges had resonated with it. As he stared at the island though, he felt himself drawn inwards towards it. As if it was pulling him like a magnet would iron, closer and closer…
It took him several minutes to realize that he wasn't just imagining it- they were actually moving closer to the place and at an alarming rate!
And then Ash felt a void constrict around him… and then he felt nothing.
"I don't see Ash anywhere," Lance said. "What do you think happened?"
Lance had managed to gather everyone who had volunteered for the mission in one spot. Everyone except Ash himself.
"I dunno," Gary said. "Maybe something turned up and he's dealing with something else. But we need to get to land fast though, those crates won't hold the food against the water for long. Once we're on the mainland which Ash described, we can find some of his allies and then have them reconnect with Ash wherever he is."
"I don't like this though," Lance said. "We were supposed to stick together… but the most important member of our party is gone."
Gary shrugged. "Hey, I'm still here. Don't know what you're talking about." Lance glared at Gary.
"This isn't the time for jokes!"
"You're right, this is the time to get going," Gary said. He pointed towards where he could see land. "See? That's the mainland that Ash was probably talking about. And he talked about Ponyta Bay and Ponyta City, right, that might be them. And if it isn't we can always ask around."
"And if those are our enemies?" Steven piped in.
"Well, we'll fight them then," Cynthia said. "But the important thing now to wonder is whether or not we should split up or remain as a single group. Each of them has its own advantages- together we'll be unbeatable but we'll be slow. Separated, we can cover more ground faster but we'll be more vulnerable."
"I say we stick together until we have a bearing on where we are," Diantha said.
After they agreed on this plan, the rather large group of adventurers moved at top speed towards land.
A/N: And so finally, yes, I gave you guys a long chapter after all this wait. And finally, we're back in Galea, the important place. Thanks for reading, and do please review if you liked!
