Ron the True Fan: Been a while. Then again, I DO have work to do that isn't fic work of any kind. Incidentally, I have something waiting for everyone at 450 subs on my YouTube channel. I want everyone to see it, so…anyone here that hasn't subbed, care to give me a hand? You'll love it.
Cameran Castle, Kingdom of Rota, 1403 hours local time, Day 191 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey
Ash just watched Kyoji shake his head in his hands. "I tried warning you for WEEKS…" the Ranseian soldier sobbed, before Ash turned his attention to the kneeling priestesses.
"Uh…" he started. "You can stop that…"
The leader, a silverette with red eyes, wearing what looked like armor under those robes, stood. "My Lord." She intoned. "We are the keepers of the great shrines of Arceus-"
"The psychotic sisterhood from Ransei." came Taggard's voice, cutting her off as he walked out, his omnipresent shovel in hand, sharpened edges catching the light of the sun. "Religious zealots with no reason left in their skulls, unable to stop and think if Arceus actually APPROVES of what they're doing while putting people to the torch for supposed 'heresy'."
The leader turned her attention to the guardsman. "The Royal Guard of Rota." she said, unimpressed. "Your services for the protection of Arceus' Chosen are no longer required. We will take over-"
"Over my rotting, bloated corpse." the old man said. "You will leave Rota now. His Majesty is staying here."
Ash looked between the two, knowing this was his fault in the back of his mind.
"Settle down, both of you!" Kyoji snapped, clearly not in the mood to deal with a pair of zealots - one religious, one duty-bound - fighting to the death. "This is something we can talk about-"
"There is NOTHING to talk about." Taggard said, staring her down. "His Majesty is going nowhere, especially not with a collection of whor-"
The girl got to her feet, drawing what Ash assumed was a short sword, then rushed at the man, who swung his shovel to parry the strike.
"You will regret that." Mei growled as she renewed her assault, swinging the blade again towards his legs, the old man jumping back to avoid it while pulling the shovel upwards to catch the blade and pull it out of her hands.
"Regret what, little girl?" the royal guardsman mocked.
She pressed on, pulling out a knife and screaming in fury.
'Aren't you going to stop this?' asked that voice in his head. 'Stop this before it gets out of hand?'
She pulled out a knife and continued her assault, lunging for his heart-
"STOP IT!" Ash yelled, Taggard's shovel stopping mere fractions of an inch from her throat while her knife was just as, if not even closer, to his heart. Both looked to him, as if awaiting his next order.
"Enough." Ash snapped. "Calm down NOW! I will not have you two killing each other!"
Both stared at him for a moment before slowly, their weapons moved away, both turning to face him in a stance Kyoji called 'parade rest', Taggard's shovel propped up like a rifle.
"I'm going to the Tree." Ash declared, giving them a hard look. "I'm going to do what you want me to do and then I'm going back to Pallet Town." That declared, the prince turned around, Charizard giving them all a glare before beating his wings and taking to the air again.
Kyoji gave the two a look before following Ash, concerned for his emotional state.
"You're pissy." the soldier said. "And not the stressed out 'oh god, the world is about to end' pissy, either. That I can live with."
"I have been stuck here for TWO WEEKS." Ash said, trying hard not to snap. "I don't stay in one place for any longer then a day, maybe two. I can't stay in one place without going crazy and that was BEFORE the timeline went straight to hell!"
"I get that. But you could do with a little bit of chilling out." Kyoji added. "Those two were being idiots, but that wasn't entirely called for."
"I didn't want them killing themselves over me." Ash finally snapped, his voice cracking. "I have enough dead people on my conscience."
Kyoji did not bother asking for clarification: he had a universe of dead on his conscience and even more here.
"And the Tree?" he asked instead.
"I'm the future King of Rota." Ash answered. "I don't have to like it. But I do have to do it. Just like being the Chosen of Arceus.
"You know Mei's going to be following you there." Kyoji said, getting Ash to give him a look of confusion. "I ran into her at Ransei and she helped me deal with the Ferrian government and kept them off your ass."
"Natu." 'I told them you exist.' Kyoji's Natu said atop his trainer's head.
Ash facepalmed. "I'll…ask the others if they want to come with us…" he groaned, attempting to retain SOME control over the situation.
Because where he went, that overprotective bastard would go. He didn't have Cipher to keep him in one place anymore. The girls might just keep him from doing something that would get that Mai girl to try and put a sword through his chest.
Oh, right. The OTHER problem…
Cameran Castle Training Yard - 1420 hours local time
"We hate you." James declared to seemingly no one as he laid on the ground, exhausted. But we all know who he's addressing.
Well, incompetence is not exactly something we enjoy.
"We help Ash more then we screw up." James retorted.
Yes, you do. But the movies only happen once a year and do NOT get me started on the whole 'resetting the movie continuity' thing. That was a bad idea.
"You want bad ideas?" Butch demanded as he leaned on a training spear. "How about getting us out of here and letting us go back to Johto?!"
Do you WANT to die off-screen?
Cassedy gave Butch a glare. "Are you SERIOUSLY pissing the authors off?" she demanded.
Yes, bad idea to make the near-godlike being in charge of your fate mad. Now get back in character.
This was followed by the arrival of Ash Ketchum and Kyoji Akamura.
"Hey, guys." Ash said, honestly trying to be friendly with them, given what they knew of themselves from his timeline - he told them everything he knew - that he knew they were not his friends, but he was trying to make them into friends.
James didn't complain. Butch and Cassidy didn't give a damn.
Jessie was offended. She and Ash were massively contrasting in terms of personality. She was, to be blunt, an alpha bitch: domineering, controlling, abusive. Ash, meanwhile, was less interested in control and more in cooperation and friendship, even with the added stresses of time travel and…Cyrus being the big problem.
When she demanded why, Ash asked if she wanted to return to the way things were: them constantly failing to take his Pokemon, them failing to steal ANYTHING whenever he was around.
And he was ALWAYS around due to their obsession with his Pikachu.
Meowth conceded the point to Ash. They weren't the best apples of the bunch to be sure, but constantly failing due to tunnel visioning on the kid's Pikachu?
Arceus above, they were PATHETIC in that timeline.
Butch and Cassidy were better in that regard, but when Ash was around, they failed just as much.
Kyoji, when Ash all but yelled it at them, said he sounded very bitter. Ash's response?
"I've been wanting to get that off my chest for SIX AND A HALF YEARS. Now's the best time."
So, here they were. Shanghaied into the Royal Guard due to Taggard's desire to rebuild it and given their inability to simply DIE, they were perfect recruits.
"So, your majesty…" Jessie said with biting snark, making it clear she was not Ash's friend. "What's going on?"
Ash sighed, as if disappointed he wasn't turning her from begrudging ally to friend. "I'm going to the Tree of Beginning." he said after a moment. "I want to leave Rota and the only way I can do that is sharing Aura with the Tree and having a designated heir."
"Is one of your girlfriends pregnant?" James asked, almost innocently. He was not a child, but it DID have to be asked.
That was the ONLY reason Ash, despite the look in his eyes, did not angrily snap at him. "No." he said. "I named my big sister heir to the throne until I do." Under his breath, but still able to be heard, he muttered "Which won't be for a very long time if I have my way…"
And if he was going, THEY were going.
Just not right this second. They could rest for a couple of hours.
"So…we're all going to the Tree?" Robin asked as she was FINALLY back in her preferred cargo pants and jacket, a practical outfit for ease of movement.
"Not all of us." Taggard said as he examined the 'royal harem'. Misty was in her old yellow tanktop and denim shorts held up by suspenders, Anabel was wearing a business suit that was rather flattering to her form, Iris wearing the same yellow and pink shirt and pants she also preferred and Serena…it was hard to figure out she was an heiress to a not-so-small Kalosian duchy in her black shirt, red skirt and pink hat.
But it was a practical series of outfits for traveling. He questioned how useful they were in cold weather, but it mattered little.
"And why exactly is that?" Iris asked, her Axew poking out of her hair.
Taggard closed his eyes and smiled. "Tradition." he answered. "Only those of the blood can go to the Tree of Beginning without incident. The guardians would otherwise kill them. Even the Royal Guard do not approach the Tree beyond a certain point."
A brief flash got their attention as they saw the priestess from before, who Kyoji called Mei Sukone, teleported in, a Natu hopping onto her shoulder.
"I don't suppose I can tell you to LEAVE." the old man said dryly as he glanced at her.
The silverette gave him a narrow look. "No." she replied bluntly. "You cannot deny my sacred mandate to see to his protection. Just as I cannot deny yours."
The old man raised an eyebrow. "Oh?." he questioned. "And what is that?"
"You defend the family that put themselves into the natural cycle by exchanging their Aura to save the Tree of Beginning." Mei said. "My duty is to serve the Creator by protecting the Neverborn Legendary, who just so happens to be the Crown Prince."
Neesha, keeping an eye on them both from a safe distance away while waiting for Kyoji and Ash, asked the obvious. "You were trying to kill him a couple of hours ago." she said. "What's with the newfound spirit of cooperation?"
Mei looked away sheepishly. "...I was ordered to by the head of my order." she said quietly.
The water trainer facepalmed before the large wooden doors leading into the castle proper opened, with the two young men making their way out of the castle with the new…recruits.
Ash himself sighed at the sight of Taggard, the girls he had unintentionally become engaged to (the past versions of themselves he had unintentionally dragged along might not have a problem with it, but he DID) the old guardsman and…the girl Kyoji called Mei.
"You two aren't going to be trying to kill one another, are you?" Kyoji asked, eyebrow cocked up curiously.
Mei gave him a level look. "We have come to an understanding." she said flatly.
Ash gave a slightly exaggerated grin. "Good!" he said. "Always nice to try and make friends, right?"
The question remained unanswered. Instead, Taggard asked another. "Is the word given, My Lord?"
Ash blinked before turning to Kyoji, who shrugged. "I think he means are we ready to go." the specops soldier said. "Not sure, honestly."
Ash rubbed the bridge of his nose before looking at the girls. "Are you coming with me?" he asked, more out of concern then anything.
"Where you go, we go." Serena said resolutely, which got everyone else to give her a concerned look. After all, she DID have a few personalities inside her head and this one sounded like the yandere and the 'hime' ones at the same time.
"I'm pretty sure she doesn't speak for all of us…" Iris added. "But she's not wrong."
Ash closed his eyes, sighing. He did a lot of that nowadays. He then opened them up. "Ok." he declared. "Let's go. Is this the path to the Tree?"
"As if you didn't already know…" Kyoji muttered before the old guard gestured to the path.
"Lead on, my lord." he requested.
5 hours later - Near the Tree of Beginning proper
It was starting to look familiar. Ash remembered Regirock trying to kill them in this little canyon.
'Note to self: if Kidd Summers ever appears in Rota, just let the Regis deal with her.' Ash thought somewhat darkly. 'She wants to get to the Tree, she can deal with the consequences.'
There was nothing wrong about wanting adventure. It was another thing when it led to the death of everyone around you. So Ash had a bit of a grudge.
An understandable one.
"Pikapi." 'Do we REALLY have to go any closer to that thing?' Pikachu asked on his shoulder, remembering EXACTLY what happened last time.
"If I don't do this, Pikachu, I can't leave Rota." Ash said morosely. "If I can't leave Rota, I can't stop Maxie and Archie from doing… whatever they were thinking with Groudon and Kyogre, Cyrus from… killing everyone again-"
"Pikachu." 'I GET it. I'm just saying there are a lot of better ways to do this.' his starter said. "Pika." 'We could just fly to Johto and keep Molly from going anywhere near the Unown. Zap those Rocket spies into falling into water and let the Gyarados do the work.'
Ash gave him a look at the latter suggestion. "I do not want to kill if I can avoid it. The best solution for them is just to hand them over to the police after we catch them." he said, stressing the 'catch' part quite heavily. "And what would stop the obsessed guard back there from hunting us down and draging us back here?"
Pikachu gave the old man marching behind them a glance before sighing. Ash was right. This was the path of least resistance. If it meant they had SOME freedom, they would do this.
Then they heard Anabel make a cry of pain, Ash turning to see her having fallen on her back, as if knocked down.
"Did you HAVE to do that?" Kyoji demanded of the guardsman, who was unfazed.
"We can go no further." he said instead as he looked around. "They're coming."
Ash's first instinct was to pull out the Pokeballs for Charizard, Frogadier and Sceptile, having swapped the two of his heaviest hitters in just in case the Regi Trio were outright hostile. And Frogadier was a step away from evolving: a fight with a Regi would help in that regard.
Kyoji, following Ash's lead, pulled out Pokeballs for his own Charizard and Galvantula. "Who's coming?" he asked, right before the cliff face exploded, a spinning form of rock making its' way out.
Ash automatically released Charizard and Sceptile, who materialized and stared down the Legendary Titan as it stopped spinning and landed in front of them, the orange and gray Rock-type landing in front of them.
"Regirock." Ash stated.
A tone emitted from the Rock Peak Pokemon as it stood up, facing them. 'Statement: intruders identified.' it said, Ash's mind translating it clear as day. 'Enemy equipped with Pokemon. Identified as Charizard, Flame Pokemon and Sceptile, Forest Pokemon. Analysis: type advantage against unit. Requesting assistance!'
"A fucking Regi?!" Kyoji demanded. "Seriously?!"
Ash stared it down. "Not one: all three!" he said, getting a look of confusion.
"Three?" Kyoji said before down the path came a floating prism of clear, unmelting ice. "Oh, crap."
"Regice!" 'Request for assistance acknowledged!' cried the Iceberg Pokemon. "Regggggggiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiccccccccccccccceeeeeeeeeeeee!" 'Hostiles include fire-type of enhanced capability! Target vectors: unit Regirock will target Charizard, unit Regice will target Sceptile!'
"Gonk-gonk-gonk." 'Tactical assessment acknowledged. Beginning assault pattern.' Regirock declared.
"Aw, FUCK." Kyoji said before Ash released Frogadier, who stared Regirock down with outright contempt.
"Regice." 'Error! Grass and water-type detected! Targeting pattern must change!' Regice said in a tone that almost sounded like…fear.
It was nice to be feared for once.
"Dun-dun-dun." 'Targeting pattern altered.' came another regi-cry as a massive form of steel unearthed itself. The Iron Pokemon, Registeel.
"Regice!" 'Still at disadvantage! Trainer will vector Pokemon with type-advantage against attackers!' Regice said, stating the obvious. Well, they WERE machines. There was nothing they could do to be subtle.
"Elecki." 'Advantage shift.' came an unknown voice before lightning hit the ground, a literally ball of lightning forming, a series of dots appearing on the 'face' before electrical arms appeared.
"Ok, that's new." Ash said, confused. "Last I heard there were only three Regis."
Down the path, a massive dragonic head flew down the path, roaring. 'Extreme response warranted!' it said, clearly sounding like ANOTHER Regi.
Ash was thoroughly confused. There were FIVE Regis, not counting Regigigas?! He was just expecting to face the three that were here before!
"Regielecki and Regidrago." Taggard said, identifying them for Ash. "It's rare that those two leave the Tree."
And it also told him their typing: electric and dragon. If he knew THAT was a thing, he would've brought Mimikyu and Krookodile, too!
"Any suggestions?" Kyoji asked ash, knowing how screwed they were. None of them had a countermeasure for Regielecki.
"Mighty Titans!" Taggard greeted. "Stand down! The one before you is meant to be here!"
"Regice." 'Statement is unlikely.' the Iceberg said. "Regice-regi-regi." 'Last human of the Rota lineage came to the Tree 92 years, 2 months, four days-'
"If there wasn't a damn war, I think my father and I would've been here sooner!" Ash yelled, cutting Regice off.
"Regice…?" 'Error. Intruder can understand us?' Regice said. Pikachu sent a Thunderbolt at the ice-type to make good on his threat to zap the next Pokemon that asked that question. It didn't do anything, but it made him feel better.
"Elecki-ecki-ecki-ecki-ecki." 'Analysis required. Require all processors in series. Prepare for networking.' Regielecki said, right before the ground started shaking again.
Ash paled. "You have GOT to be shitting me." he said before the ground erupted, a massive arm slamming down from below.
"All SIX?!" Anabel cried in VERY understandable fright. "There's a complete set of Legendary Titans here in Rota?! I thought two of those were only seen in Galar!"
The massive Master of the Golems stood head and shoulders above the other REgis, staring them down.
It groaned, or sounded like it was groaning. 'Partial startup complete. Engaging additional bootup protocols.' it said, examining the group in front of it. 'Startup at 30%.'
"I take it Regigigas has a slow start when it gets up in the morning." Ash said dryly.
"Gonk-gonk." 'Correct. Once active, however, the Coordinator is quite quick.' Registeel said.
"MUST you insult them?" Mei demanded. "These are servants of Arceus-"
"Who tried to kill me once." Ash snapped, cutting her off. "I take that kinda seriously."
A loud groan ended any conversation. 'All systems online. Analysis of target: facial resemblance. Networking online.'
All of them stood still. Then…
Do-do-didi-do-do.
"What the hell?" Kyoji said, even as he released Gible.
Do-do-didi-do-do.
"Gible!" 'Music!' cried the shark.
'Analysis of facial features complete: 87.965% match to Aaron.' Regigigas said. 'Begin DNA analysis.'
Ash's eyes widened. "Oh no, you are NOT drawing blood from me!" he cried, Registeel marching towards him with remarkable speed…
Then stopping, putting a massive digit to his forehead, pressing and rubbing, enough to rub off a number of skin cells.
"Gonk." 'DNA sample acquired.' the Steel-type said. 'Feeding data into the network for detailed analysis.'
The dots on their faces all lit up, flashing in unison.
Do-do-didi-do-do.
Do-do-didi-do-do.
Do-do-didi-dodo-didi-
Iris' right eye twitched at the digital tones. The very musical digital tones. "I have…one question…" she said.
Kyoji looked at Gible, who started dancing along to the beat. "I think we have the same question." he stated dryly before…
"WHY IS IT CATCHY?!" both demanded.
Gible just swayed along to the beat. "Gible!" 'I LOVE IT!' cried the land shark.
Entry 85: Misty Waterflower (updated)
Youngest of the Waterflower Sisters and the most tomboyish in appearance, Misty was forced to go through an encounter with a Shadow Venomoth which psionically tore her mind apart, making her unable to connect with anyone but her Pokemon.
In order to try and overcome this, she decided to take a journey through Kanto, but failed until she encountered Ash Ketchum, resulting in the usual result of victims of these attacks: emotional attachment that eventually turn into romantic interest.
Most of the time, this results in the victim becoming systematically used and abused, but unable to leave, their mind twisted into being unable to live without the 'savior'. Fortunately, Ash Ketchum, while romantically interested in her, is also more interested in helping her recover and live a normal life.
Ron the True Fan: They have a point, you know…
Takeshi Yamato: Yeah, they do. That is incredibly catchy.
Ron the True Fan: Especially the Masters version. Going to take a while again on this one: still plotting. This was just to get the demanding PMs to stop for five minutes.
Takeshi Yamato: Seriously?! They're STILL coming?! COME ON, PEOPLE! GIVE RON A CHANCE TO REST! JORN'S POKE'D OUT, I'M ONLY A BETA AT THIS POINT, AND RON NEEDS TO REST!
Ron the True Fan: They'll only stop if I cancel this. That's not happening.
Takeshi Yamato: If anything, that would only make them worse. But seriously, people, even if you can't stop, please just… put them on hold? For three months, minimum? Let Ron have a damn break for once!
(Demander Natus all stare)
Ron the True Fan: TRY ME, PARROTS! (Gets swarmed) GAH!
Ja Ne! (PECK!)