Hello Nuggies! Here it is! The awaited sequel to 'A Different Start' is here! As usual with my fics this is a SLASH fic, and there will be more slash in this fic than its predecessor. I hope y'all are ready! This one is gonna be a long one! I hope y'all are as excited to be here as I am!

Main Pairing: AshxPaul (Comashipping)

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to the Pokémon Franchise. It belongs to its rightful owner(s) and I make no profit writing this. This is just for entertainment purposes only.

Chapter Warning(s): Brief mention of suicide

Enjoy!

Ash let out a deep sigh as he leaned back against the headboard of his bed. A week had passed since he had woken up from his eight day coma and he had finally been released to go home the day before. His mother had taken him to the hotel room she had been staying in for the night of his release and the next day Oak was there to take them home in his car. His doctor had told them that teleporting would have made his head injury worse or they would have done that to get home quicker.

When he got home, after taking a small nap, went out to the pastures to see his pokémon. He had asked after them when he had woken up and while he believed what Oak had told him, Ash just needed to see them with his own eyes. The majority of his pokémon were fully healed and well rested, but were the few that he had been extremely worried about. Persian, Luxray, and Ninetails were all perfectly healthy, much like the ones that didn't fight such as Rockruff, Snom, and Leafeon. Noivern had a torn wing and Aegislash had a few scratches on her blade that needed to heal. Charizard's tail is still healing from being broken and Zoroark had a broken paw and two broken ribs that were fully healed. Krookodile came out of the fight with bruised scales and a concussion while Slither Wing only had a few gashes. Lucario had broken his leg and Tyrantrum, thank Arceus, only had the large gash on his side that was already healed up and a few broken teeth. Gardevoir and Pikachu were both exhausted from over-extending themselves. Pikachu had depleted and overused his electricity sack almost to the point that he would have crippled himself and would not have been able to use electric attacks ever again.

And Nidoking.

Ash isn't afraid to say that he had, and still has, nightmares almost every night about what happened to him. He remembered it as clear as crystal. The bloodied dark paw punching through Nidokings' chest only several inches from his face. Warm blood splattering his skin, the stench of it in the air, and him shattering.

He doesn't remember what happened after that, but whatever happened was truly a miracle. Nidoking was fully healed and the only mark on him was the scar on his chest where he had been impaled. When Ash first saw Nidoking he clung onto the reptile as he cried in relief. He was afraid that he would have had to bury his partner, one of the pack.

The injuries he had himself were minor in comparison. Bruising, a small concussion, exhaustion, a few cuts here and there were all he had. Ash considered himself lucky.

Very lucky.

There was also the thing about the gold orbs. Ash wasn't sure what they were, but they did at least feel comforting just like his Aura did. Like they weren't a bad thing. But since he had woken up, he hadn't been able to use any of his Aura. He had messaged Riley about it, but so far Riley hasn't answered him back. Ash could only assume that the man was out of signal range and had not even gotten his message yet. All of the books he had didn't say anything about it and he was hesitant to return to Rota to speak with the Queen about it. Especially after receiving the missive from Her Majesty when he woke up.

Apparently the Knights had managed to actually capture one of the Corrupted Aura Users, but before they could do anything the woman killed herself. She had a fake molar that had been filled with a fast acting poison and there was nothing on her person that showed what she was up to. So it was still up in the air where the main headquarters of these Corrupted Users were and what their plans were.

On a different note while he had been in his coma Oak had to 'release' a couple of his pokémon for their breeding seasons. If it wasn't against the law to keep them from their breeding season then Ash would have been able to see them after he woke up. That law had been put into effect over four decades ago when several species of pokémon were close to going extinct. Now everyone that had captured those few listed pokémon had to 'release' them for their seasons to help bring the populations back up. Of course his pokémon were still his, he still had their pokéballs and they were still registered under his name, and when they were finished they would come back.

Kingdra had been sent out into the ocean south of Pallet Town where he would travel deep down in the waters to find a partner. From what Ash knew about the seahorses' season is that after Kingdra found a partner then the two would travel to warmer waters where the two would spend their season together. If successful then his Kingdra would return carrying the young fry like all male Kingdra did when successful.

The other pokémon that had left for the breeding season was, to Ashs' surprise, Zoroark. Oak had to transfer Zoroark to Juniper, who promised to take care of the ball and to send Zoroark back as soon as the illusionist returned. Ash didn't know much about Zoroarks' breeding cycle, only that it didn't last as long as Kingdras' breeding cycle. If Zoroark had any luck then the illusionist would be back before Ash had to leave for Alola.

Saying that, Ash only had three weeks until then. He had already sorted his new things, that his mother had bought him, to be washed and had started to make a list of things he would need to bring. Ash had decided that right after the month in Alola he would head straight to Sinnoh to settle before he got too busy. He had the Conference to do, meet his boyfriends' older brother, and figure out the riddle.

"-seek out the town of old."

The words rattled inside his head, making no sense, and when he tried to look up anything regarding it, nothing popped up. Ash would just have to wait until he actually went to Sinnoh to figure out anything about it, it seemed, and even then he might not find anything out at all. He would just have to hope for the best, but until then, he had his stint in Alola to do.

Oak had sent him an email about it when everything had been agreed upon on both his end and the associations' end that needed Charizard's services. Thankfully Charizard should be fully healed by the time they would need to leave in three weeks. Oak had a house in Alola near a beach that he had given Ash permission to use as long as they left it in the same condition it was in when they got there. They being, himself and Paul, as his boyfriend declared that Ash wasn't going to leave his line of sight for a while.

"Every time I turn around or leave you to your own devices, things like this happen," Paul had told him a few hours after he had woken up. And to be fair, Paul was right. Things always happen when Paul isn't around. It was like he was a magnet for trouble or something. Ash didn't mind though, he always wanted Paul around. And the fact that they were going to be in a house, on an island, a bit secluded from others, and by themselves, well his mother and teachers always did say he had a wild imagination.

The sound of his door opening brought Ash out of his thoughts and looking up from his dex he spotted Paul walking into his room. The tray he carried had food on it which smelled wonderful and his belly let out a loud growling sound. He turned his head and saw that more time had passed than he had thought since he came upstairs.

"Your mom made grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch," Paul said as he walked over to place the tray on the side table.

"Thanks," Ash replied as he put his things away.

"Still no reply?" Paul asked as he sat down on the bed beside Ash, his own bowl of soup was cradled in his hands. Ash placed the plate with the grilled cheese on the bed between them before grabbing his own bowl.

"No," Ash said with a sigh. He had come clean to Paul about his Aura and what had happened to land him in a coma since he didn't want any secrets between them. He felt as though Paul should know what he was getting into with being with him. Ash told him about not being able to use his Aura and the dream he had before he woke up. Paul sadly didn't know anything about any old towns in Sinnoh and he was from there. It didn't bode well in trying to find the town.

"Maybe Reggie knows something, or knows someone who does," Paul said, "We'll have to wait to ask though. He is deep in something else at the moment and doesn't have the time to answer back."

"Who's watching his facility?" Ash asked after swallowing his food.

"His fiancé, Alain," Paul answered, "There isn't anything there at the moment that the man can't handle. My brother just has a few eggs and a breeding pair other than our own pokémon there." Ash nodded leaving the two to finish their food in a comfortable silence. A soft sound of something moving caught Ashs' ear and turned to see Jangmo-os' egg wiggling. His egg, having been at the pastures with the others instead of the battlefield, was healthy and had been moving more often. Oak told him that the egg should be hatching any day now.

"I can't wait to meet him," Ash said softly as he put his empty bowl on the tray and leaned back against the headboard again. He reached over to grab the egg and placed the warm incubator in his lap. Ash carefully opened it up and took the egg out to cradle in his arms. It had been a while since the egg had any contact with him and Ash hoped that it didn't hurt the, almost fully developed, Jangmo-o inside.

"With your track record, do you think this one will be a normal Jangmo-o? I'm betting on it being special." Paul asked as he placed his empty bowl inside Ashs' empty bowl and pushed the tray to the side.

"No clue. I suppose anything could happen," Ash said with a soft chuckle and a shake of his head, "I suppose I just attract these ones because of the whole 'Arceus' Chosen One' thing. It could have been a coincidence that I met them, or fate. Who knows?"

Ash let out a groan as he stretched and relished in the warm rays of the sun, Pikachu let out a soft chitter as the mouse stretched out by his feet before climbing up to his shoulder. Four days had passed and his mother finally let him leave the house, even if it was just to go to the pastures. It was also the first day that Ash felt good. No soreness, his head didn't hurt, and he felt fully rested. Paul was already at the pastures taking care of their pokémon as he had left earlier in the morning and Ash, feeling as good as he was, was determined to give everyone a good grooming and pampering day. He even groomed Silvers' Eevee with his cousins' permission and showed Silver how to help make sure the small kits' fur stay shiny, fluffy, and healthy. Ash even told Silver to contact him after Gardevoirs' egg hatched so he could help his cousin with the Ralts' grooming.

His mother had restocked his grooming supplies, sharpened his scissors, and had even bought new perfumes and colognes for his partners. On top of that she also made sure he had everything for a new baby, but at least he got to pick those out online as she had them sent to the house with Delibird Delivery. After looking up pictures of Jangmo-o he decided to order a gray and yellow blanket for when Jangmo-o hatched along with other gray or yellow items to keep a baby entertained. With his research he learned that Jangmo-o tend to be loud, along with the rest of their line, and that they essentially had their own language and used how they clanged their scales to communicate. There wasn't much known about how Jangmo-o are after they hatched as the female Kommo-o tend to sequester their young into their dens until they were at least three months old and could defend themselves from most things around them. The male Kommo-o usually leaves, from what researchers have found, only to come back later to watch over the young Jangmo-o from afar.

Ash hoped to learn more about the Jangmo-o line when he and Paul went to Alola within a couple of weeks time.

"Good morning, Ash!"

Hearing Oak greeting him so suddenly, outside of the Lab and pastures that is, shook Ash from his thoughts, an action he seemed to partake in lately, and upon turning around he spotted the Professor by one of his neighbors, Mr. Utaka. Ash walked over and greeted the two and reassured Mr. Utaka that, yes he was fine, and no he didn't sneak out to get away from his mother.

"Heading to the pastures?" Oak asked after Mr. Utaka thanked Oak for the tub of ointment in his hand for his aging Golem. The old retired Golem had been having trouble with her joints for a while now so Mr. Utaka asked Oak if he had anything for her as he couldn't take the trip to the nearest Center. His own joints and aging body wasn't able to carry him that far.

"Yeah. I owe my pokémon a serious pampering day," Ash replied as the two started to walk towards the Lab. Pikachu let out a squeak and let his cheek pouches spark at the thought. The mouse didn't like baths as much as some of the others in the pack.

"And how is the egg?" Oak asked as he waved to one of the other elderly residents of Pallet Town.

"Good! Been moving more today than it did yesterday," Ash said, "I think it'll hatch today or tomorrow with how much it moves. I also started hearing a soft tapping sound coming from it like it's trying to use its egg tooth to break the shell or is trying to claw up the inside to escape."

"If you wouldn't mind, I would like to take another look at it when we get into to the lab. The closer the baby inside is to hatching, the easier it is to determine when it will hatch. I've also been given the notes about the egg and its parentage from Lances' secretary upon my request. I have a theory and wonder if it'll come through with Jangmo-o," Oak said as the two started the journey up the hill to the lab. Ash agreed and wondered what the theory was as Oak didn't say anything more about it. He supposed that the old man would tell him after Jangmo-o hatched for now he would go and pamper his pokémon.

After getting into the lab Ash carefully placed his bag on the table to get the egg out from inside of it. After a few words to the egg and shouldering his bag he and Pikachu made the journey outside and into the pastures. Most of his pokémon tend to stay around the tree line while the larger reptiles preferred to stay out in the open fields where their was nothing blocking the sun. Ash looked around when he stepped outside, blinking a few times to get his eyes used to the sunlight from his small jaunt inside, and spotted Tyrantrum laying in the middle of the field. He could just see Krookodile beside him, surprising Ash a little as he knew Krookodile always took the chance to bury himself in the sand.

Ash stopped walking as he heard barking and the sounds of something running. Turning his head Ash spotted Rockruff running towards him, Persian just behind the small pup. The melanistic feline had taken the pup under her paw since Zoroark was gone for the time being. Ash braced himself to catch the pup as it jumped up into his arms in greeting and couldn't help but laugh as Rockruff began to lick his cheek in greeting. Persian, who finally caught up to Rockruff, let out a loud purr before she began to rub herself against Ashs' legs.

The commotion caused his other pokémon to notice him and soon enough he was being surrounded by the pack. Chuffs, growls, wet noses, warm scales, and furry tails greeted him as if they hadn't seen him in forever. Ash greeted each pokémon with smiles and soft words as Paul and his own pokémon joined them. He turned and grinned at his boyfriend, finally feeling at peace being surrounded by the people and beings he loved, only made better if his family were also there.

Ash led his pokémon to a large building that Oak had built on the property for trainers, or his pasture hands, to groom the many pokémon that stayed at the pastures. There were large tubs, showers, dryers, and many other things that were to be used for grooming pokémon. He started with the smaller pokémon, washing, drying, and brushing furs, picked off dried scales, cleaned teeth, trimmed claws and so on before moving onto the larger pack members. Paul, who had decided to join him to help, groomed his own pokémon and helped with his own when he was finished since Ash had more partners than his boyfriend did. But thankfully soon enough everyone was washed, groomed, fed, and were now enjoying the outdoors once more. Those that had injuries, Ash made sure to dry the injuries thoroughly and re-apply any ointments and wrappings they may need and gave out berries and potions as needed.

The rest of the late morning to early afternoon was spent out in the pastures with the pack and Paul, who thoughtfully made a picnic for their lunch. Ash didn't know if Paul counted this as a date, but he sure did. The thought of a picnic was so sweet and thoughtful. He did spend a bit of the time they were outside meditating to see if he was able to figure out what was going on with his Aura, while Paul read or trained his pokémon. But sadly there was nothing. Where his Aura Core laid within his being was gone. No hint of the 'glass ball' he remembered he had when he got sick with Corruption, no small orbs fluttering around, just a large vastness of darkness.

There was nothing in the few books he had, Riley still hadn't gotten back to him, and he was on the verge of freaking out about it. He clung onto the hope that his Core just needed some time to heal and that he would be able to use it once more. For now he supposed that he would have to get used to the emptiness he felt and the looks of concern Lucario sent his way.

Ash just couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen.

Ash took a deep breath as he stared at his bag. It was tattered, covered in ash and scorched in places, there was dried blood on the straps and along the zipper. There were rips on the sides and one of the straps had been cut leaving it useless. He hadn't touched his bag since he brought it home from the hospital, Ash hadn't wanted to remember the battle even if his nightmares made him remember it, the knowledge that his pack was still here and whole gave him the courage to clean out the bag.

Taking another deep breath Ash upturned the bag so all the contents fell onto his bed. Paul was silent as the contents settled on the bed, and Ash appreciated his calm, silent nature, grounding him to the present so his mind didn't get stuck in the past. Ash started separating the items. Clothing and such items to be cleaned, medicinal items to be combined with the new items he had, the Prism Scale was unscathed as well as his TM case. The extra pair of shoes he had were unfortunately burned to a point there was a hole on the side of them making them unusable. The jacket his mother made him from his ancestors' cloak needed some repair, but otherwise it was fine. His water bottle had been crushed, the case holding his pokéballs was scuffed but fine, and the book he had been carrying with him was a bit damaged with water, but was still readable.

The last item in the bag had made his breath hitch and a flash of a dark paw fill his head. Ash carefully picked up the purple ball, enlarged instead of shrunken like the other unused pokéballs he had indicating that there was something occupying it. He remembered the very last memory he had of the battle, of the ball flying out of his hand and the soft sound of a ding ringing in his ears. The only pokémon that was close to him at the time that he hadn't already captured was the Black Mewtwo. Ash gripped the ball in his hand until his fingers and knuckles turned white and he was sure he would have broken it if a larger warm hand hadn't covered his hand.

Looking up and blinking away the tears he hadn't noticed gathering, Ash saw Paul standing beside him. Ash loosened his grip on the ball and turned into Paul, burying his head into the larger chest. He felt arms wrap around him and felt comfort in the hold.

"Leave it be for now," Paul said as he held the ball in his hand, "Until you're ready to face it again."

"I can't just leave him in the ball," Ash said softly, his voice was surprisingly calm despite what he felt towards the being, "That's inhumane."

"Give him to Mewtwo then," Paul replied, "Let Them and the others watch over him until you're ready to face him again. If this one causes any trouble your Mewtwo can always return him to his ball to keep him from causing trouble. But until you can give him to Mewtwo, leave it be."

"Oka-" Ash began to say, to agree with Paul, when the sounds of something breaking sounded throughout the room. Noticing that it didn't sound like glass and knowing that his egg was supposed to hatch soon, Ashs' first inclination was to look at it. Sitting on a pillow on the floor, with Persian and Luxray curled up around it, was his egg with a large crack down the middle. Pulling away from Paul, Ash quickly gathered a few things he may need for a new hatchling, along with a bottle of berry based formula for its first feed, before kneeling in front of the egg. Persian and Luxray moved away from the egg, to give it room to hatch and for the baby to only see Ash as it hatched so it would imprint on the human.

Ash saw Paul from the corner of his eye and saw that his boyfriend was holding his phone either taking pictures or video taping the occasion. Ash knew he would be appreciative for it later, sad that he didn't get videos or pictures of the others hatching. The large crack widened more, as more cracks began to appear and soon enough a chunk of egg shell fell to the ground leaving an eye-sized hole. Instead of the red colored eye Ash was expecting, a large black colored eye peered out of the egg. Ash saw a hint of white as the eye disappeared only for the egg to 'explode' with a loud thud.

The Jangmo-o had used its large head scale to bash open the egg from the inside, sending bits of egg shell flying. Ash gaped as he looked at the hatchling once the egg shell was off the baby. Bright white scales, covered in the albumen fluid from the egg, shown in the sunlight coming in from the window. Large black eyes looked up at Ash as the small dragon let out a chirp and started to clumsily walk towards Ash. The Jangmo-o tripped over the blanket Ash had been holding over his legs and fell into his lap.

"For the record," Paul said softly, a smirk on his lips as Ash turned to look at him, "I called it." Ash couldn't help the laughter that came out of him as realization came crashing down. No matter if it was fate, or just coincidence that these special pokémon keep coming into his possession, he would cherish each one. Ash relished in the joyous occasion of a new baby in the pack, ignoring the daunting feelings of the Master Ball sitting innocently behind him on the bed and the emptiness he felt inside.