A/N - And I've finally scraped together enough for another chapter. Maybe the League and Aether plotlines will get resolved. Depends on how badly USM messes with what I have planned, in which case I'll ignore the games completely and do my own thing...
(32.1)
Lugia flew over the region of Johto towards Ecruteak City.
Entering the airspace over the small rural town, the Diving Pokémon took in the sights. It gazed at where the rebuilt Brass Tower stood and admired the craftsmanship that had gone into making it.
Lugia idly wondered how the humans would react if it returned to its original roost, but cast the thought aside as it neared the Bell Tower. Carefully descending through the trees, Lugia landed outside the front door. It would've been rude to land on the roof, which Ho-Oh had long ago said was only to be used for takeoffs, as landings were damaging to the structural integrity of the tower.
Entei stirred from its slumber as Lugia approached and rose to its paws.
"Welcome, Lugia. Ho-oh is waiting upstairs for you," he said, bowing his head.
"Thank you," Lugia said, before tilting its head. "Isn't Suicune usually the greeter?"
"She's currently preparing tea," Entei said with a sniff.
"Oh, dear," Lugia murmured. Suicune's tea was...infamous among the legendary trios and most usually made any excuse necessary to spare their taste buds.
"She's gotten a little better though," Entei said.
"I'm sure she has," Lugia said politely before entering the tower.
Getting up the interior of the tower was child's play and Lugia soon found itself standing outside Ho-Oh's room. The door opened and Raikou waved Lugia inside, stepping back as it entered.
"How was your trip?" Raikou asked.
"Boring," Lugia replied, stretching its wings and neck. "Been keeping well?"
"About as well as I can be," Raikou said. "Ho-Oh will be with you shortly."
The Thunder Pokémon left the room, closing the door behind himself and Lugia settled down.
It wasn't long before Ho-Oh came into view, blinking blearily.
"Hello, Lugia," it said with a yawn. "Been waiting long?"
"I only just arrived," Lugia said, taking in the Rainbow Pokémon's appearance with a frown.
Its body had yet to regain the mass it had had before and its feathers weren't as lifeless, but it'd still be some time before they gleamed.
"I'm fine," Ho-Oh said, noticing the examination. "Just tired."
"Sorry," Lugia said.
Ho-oh waved off the words and Suicune entered the room, a tray of teacups held in her tendrils.
Placing it down, she dipped her head to them both and excused herself. Ho-oh picked up a cup and drained it in a gulp, face screwing up in agony.
"Vile, but it helps," it croaked, blinking away tears.
Lugia hesitated before picking up a cup and gave it a sniff. Taking a sip, Lugia winced at the bitter flavor.
"Not as bad as it used to be," Ho-Oh said.
"I live in a cave," Lugia said dryly. "Compared to boiled lichen and moss, this is quite nice."
Ho-Oh went green and put its cup down. "You could always come back here," it said. "I don't think my children would mind taking some to you."
Lugia considered the offer for a moment. "Maybe once I've trained enough replacements to keep my own ilk in line," it said after a few moments. "Still quite prone to bickering, unfortunately. Nothing world-threatening anymore, but it's still a massive headache to deal with."
"I'm sorry you have to put up with that," Ho-Oh said, sipping its third cup.
"No, you're not," Lugia said with a smile.
Ho-oh snickered and gazed at Lugia. "You look well," it said. "What has been going on in my absence? I heard something about a Time Crash?"
Lugia let out a breath and started speaking.
(32.2)
Within the opulent walls of the Hall of Origin, Arceus stared at what Dialga had brought in from its home dimension and tilted its head.
"It's not often you see something come through the time stream, is it?" Arceus asked, idly poking the limp bundle of fur with a hoof.
"Much less an absol," Dialga said. "Haven't had anything else come through since...I wanna say Echo and her grovyle partner from the paralyzed future."
"The Time Gears are safe, yes?" Arceus asked.
Dialga nodded. "They're beyond anyone's reach but yours."
Arceus relaxed and sighed, before turning its attention back to the absol. Lifting a glowing hoof, Arceus touched the pokémon gently.
With a start, the pokémon came awake, before jumping to its paws and looked around.
"I say, where the devil am I now?" it asked in a slightly androgynous voice. Turning a circle, it then paused as it stared at Dialga and Arceus with curiously-colored eyes - white irises with black sclera - and blinked in greeting. "Hello, hello. I suppose I have you two to thank for my rescue?"
"It was all Dialga's doing," Arceus said demurely, nodding to the Temporal pokémon.
The absol glanced at it thoughtfully and dipped its head. "Thank you for that."
"Are you from a world without humans? Or at least, where they're exceptionally rare?" Dialga asked. "I haven't ever had anything else come through the time vortex like that."
The absol nodded slowly. "That sounds about right. Do the terms magnagate or mystery dungeon mean anything to either of you?"
"Played with the gates a little. Always left me a little queasy," Arceus said as Dialga shook its head. "I know Keldeo likes using them and enjoys talking with Kyurem about them from time to time."
The absol relaxed with a relieved smile. "That's good to hear."
"So, how'd you end up lost in the time stream?" Dialga asked.
"Was traveling via gate when everything went wonky. Reality started screaming and next thing I know I'm here," Absol said with a twitch of its tail.
Arceus and Dialga exchanged glances.
"I'm guessing it had something to do with Cyrus and the Time Crash," Arceus said. Dialga shrugged.
"Seems like a fair guess, since it affected all of time and space simultaneously. Unreal..." Dialga murmured.
"Sounds like there's quite a story to be told here. I do so love a good yarn. Perhaps we can trade stories sometime?" Absol said, perking up.
"If you don't mind doing a few errands for me, I'd be glad to fill you in," Arceus said, eyes gleaming.
"I'm not nearly foolish enough to say no to you. Not quite brave enough either, so it's a deal," Absol said with a dip of its head.
"Do you have a name of your own, or is Absol enough?" Arceus asked as Dialga politely excused itself.
Watching the dragon/steel type wander off, the absol then flexed its paws.
"Most folks call me Aiedail, Lord Arceus," the Absol said, before blinking in surprise. "Aiedail... Heh, odd, but I suppose that's the nature of my name: changes to suit whichever world I'm in."
Arceus perked up, narrowing its eyes. "Ah, yes. I have heard many things about you. Your reputation precedes you. I look forward to working with you, Lord Aiedail."
"Bah, I cast aside that title eons ago," Aiedail said with a dismissive flick of a paw. "Worse than a noose, it was. Now then, I suppose I'd best get settled in before getting down to business, no?"
Arceus chuckled as the absol wandered off before returning to its work.
(32.3)
Ash stared up the massive Cerulean Gym, idly stroking his chin.
"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but...didn't this use to be a circus tent with a dewgong on it?"
Misty cringed, then grimaced before nodding. "Yeah, we made some modifications once you left for Hoenn."
"How the heck did you and your sisters afford this?" Ash asked.
"Funnily enough, Misty and her sisters poured some of their money into it. The rest came from charging people who were using the lobby as a WiFi Hotspot," Brock said. "Bill and I helped set it up and it's been raking in the dough ever since."
Misty let out a cough and Brock glanced at her, met her gaze and something passed between them as they turned to Ash.
"What is it?" he asked warily. "Do I have to dress up as a girl again?"
Misty shook her head and sighed. "Dunno how else to say it, so... You have fans. Lots of them. Of all kinds. Who have been following your journey and trying to piece together what you've been doing."
"It all started with some people who research Legendary pokémon in their off time - mostly university students doing some report for class and...they noticed that several official documents sometimes mentioned a kid with a pikachu in the area getting involved," Brock said. "So they got on message boards and started talking and comparing notes and like most things, it took off in a huge way and once a picture of you surfaced, well..."
Ash raised his eyebrows before ducking his head sheepishly. "I was just in the area and was able to help," he muttered. "No need to blow it out of proportion."
Brock chuckled, crossing his arms. "That's just the way it is. Gym leaders have similar followings who catalog everything we do and arguably do a better job than League officials in making sure we don't do something that could cost us our jobs. It's gotten to the point where-" He caught himself before looking around, making sure no one was nearby. Seeing they were alone, he continued in a softer tone. "We have a few people who go on these boards and keep an eye on things, telling us the lowdown on what people are saying. Usually it's all good, but there's always one or two idiots who stir up trouble."
"I doubt your womanizing helps your case," Misty said, examining her fingers.
"Low blow," Brock grumbled.
"So what are people saying about me?" Ash asked.
"Oh, that you're some chosen hero picked to save the planet and that you throw your League matches because you like the journey more than the goal-"
"Accurate," Ash murmured, stroking Pikachu's ears.
"-and that you've been betrayed by your old pokémon which is why you don't take them with you to new regions," Misty said.
"What?!" Ash growled.
Misty raised her hands defensively. "I know, I know, they usually get shouted down too, by people with more than one brain cell, but as Brock said, there's always those types of people."
Ash frowned. "Now I feel like I'm going to be meeting these kinds of people going forward."
Brock nodded. "There's been a few attempts to meet you. People predict where you're going, or see if their homes are near where you're traveling. Not entirely sure how, but they've yet to catch up with you, but it's only a matter of time, I suspect."
"Thank you for telling me this," Ash said. "At least I'll be prepared for when I meet them."
"Ash, you're literally standing outside one of the major meeting sites for these people, so it's kinda unavoidable at this point," Misty pointed out.
"Yeah, but I have you two with me at the moment and I'll be able to warn any new friends I make along the way about this," Ash said.
"Well, Ash, are you ready to meet some of your fans?" Brock asked, motioning to the doors.
"No time like the present," Ash said, throwing them open.
(32.4)
Citlali floated around Mewtwo as the growing clone slept within its tank.
This whole plan of cloning the world's strongest pokémon from one of the first pokémon created by Arceus was all a bit silly, yet nonetheless, Citlali found itself mildly intrigued by the idea.
So it perused the notes strewn around the darkened lab to figure out where they had found remains of a mew to clone from. A faraway island and the ruins located there didn't strike any chords in Citlali's memory, which led it to believe that the scientists must've found another of its kind.
Off the top of its head, Citlali could only think of the mew who lived near the Rota Kingdom to the north of the Kanto Region.
"We really need to keep in touch with one another," Citlali muttered to itself as it glanced at the tank again. It was startled to see a pair of eyes looking back at it and the mew floated closer.
"Who are you?"
Citlali flicked its ears at the telepathic voice and took note of the psionic grip that wrapped itself around its body. Nothing the mew couldn't break, but there was no reason to do so. Yet.
"I am your...half-sibling," Citlali said with a smile. "I've come to check up on you."
The clone blinked, eyes darting around the lab slowly, taking in the various instruments, charts and other minutiae of the room.
The clone then frowned, limbs twitching, causing the tubes plugged into them to sway.
"What's going on?"
Citlali tapped its chin thoughtfully before shrugging. "I'm not entirely sure myself. You're still not done growing. Honestly, the fact you're awake at this point seems...impossible."
It picked up a few sheaves of paper, flicking through them, idly channeling them into the clone's brain through its telepathic grip as it did so.
"By these calculations, you shouldn't be moving for a good few months. Must be why you're not currently being monitored all day. How silly - and typical - of humans to assume their plans will always work," Citlali said, tossing the papers aside.
"What?"
Citlali placed its paws on the glass tube, and after a moment, the clone lifted its own longer limbs and placed them on the surface separating them.
"I'm sorry that I can't do more for you," the mew said with a sigh. "I don't know the first thing about any of this, so moving you may cause...problems."
"So I am to wait here until I have matured enough to move on my own?" the replica asked shrewdly.
Citlali smiled slightly. "Unfortunately, that is exactly what you need to do. Once that has happened, come find me. Then we can figure out what to do with you."
"So you do not plan on killing me now, before I am used against you?"
"Is that what they plan on using you for?" the mew asked in amusement. "A weapon?"
"It was on those papers you streamed into my head," the clone replied.
"Interesting. Humans have always tended towards violence with their creations before peace. A shame, really," Citlali said with a long-suffering sigh. "But do not hold it against them. They are children, compared to you and I, even given your immature state."
"Go then, sibling. Leave me here so that I may learn about these humans and teach you about them once we meet again."
"I will hold you to that, then," Citlali said, backing away before it vanished.
Citlali opened its eyes as the memory faded and frowned. It wasn't sure where it had come from and idly wondered if it was Mewtwo's origin for the new universe or if it had come from another. Shaking his head, he tucked the information away for the next time he saw his sibling.
(32.5)
Giovanni strode through the streets of Viridian City, eyes scanning the various shops he passed by.
He felt the faintest of brushes against his person and his hand lashed out, wrapping tight around the one who dared attempt to pickpocket him. Dragging the would-be thief in front of him, Giovanni froze in surprise.
Ebony eyes met pale grey and Giovanni felt the color drain out of his face in shock.
The young girl squirmed in his grasp before lashing out at him with her tiny feet. Moving to avoid the blow, Giovanni narrowed his eyes. Surely this couldn't be-
"Cass!"
Both Giovanni and the girl twitched as a voice sounded and two heads turned to see a young boy running towards them. At the sight of Giovanni, he faltered and came to a stop, looking between them curiously.
"Who's this?" he asked, purple eyes wide with curiosity. Cass managed to wrench her hand free of Giovanni's grip, and she backed away from him warily before she reached the boy's side.
"Nobody important, Ezra," she said, shooting him a quick smile before dragging him away without another word.
Giovanni's mind finally caught up with his body and he leaned against the side of a building, trying to make sense of it all.
A small part of him wondered if Cass, too, had memories of another time, another place. One where she had been his to command as he saw fit, sent to get rid of...problems. Dragging his hand down his face, he perked up at a yelp, followed by cursing. His hand brushed over his pocket and he smirked when he realized his wallet was missing.
It had been a decoy, of course, one rigged with an electrical shock mechanism to punish any thief who was ballsy enough to take a go at him and he was glad it worked as his scientists had advertised. Not very bright of Cass to take a peek before getting further away, but such was the mind of a child...
Something soft hit him in the face and he jerked back to the present to see the young girl and boy standing a few yards away. Cass was rubbing her hand with a scowl while the one called Ezra stood slightly behind her.
"Nice trick," Cass said. Giovanni straightened up and brushed his suit off absently before staring down at the wallet. He then kicked it back towards the kids. Cass stepped back warily, forcing Ezra back as well as the piece of leather neared them.
"Keep it," Giovanni said with a shrug. "Perhaps you can figure out how to rearm it and switch it with a wallet of another mark. Should make their day a little more interesting, no?"
Cass narrowed her pale eyes before carefully picking up the wallet, which vanished into her clothing. She then spoke to Ezra.
"There, happy? We returned his stuff and he then gave it back to us, wasting all our time. Are you happy now?"
The tone of her voice suggested this hadn't been the first time this had happened, and that while Cass seemed to care deeply for the boy, she had a limit that was sorely being taxed.
"Yes," the purple-eyed child said with a grin before he then tilted his head. "Are you mad at me?"
Cass glared at him, causing the boy to wilt before her gaze softened and she tousled his hair with an exasperated sigh, then glanced at Giovanni before grabbing the boy's hand, starting to drag him off again.
"If you're looking for your cat, he's not here," Giovanni said, causing Cass to stop in her tracks. Giovanni couldn't see her face, but by the spasm of agony on Ezra's face, he guessed her grip had tightened.
"Nobody asked you," Cass growled before she and Ezra hurried off.
Snorting to himself, Giovanni resumed his stroll. He idly wondered where Cassandra's angelic shadow was. Probably with its newest plaything. Dismissing the thought, he turned his mind back to his businesses.