Helpless

by Epoxy-Resin

The disabled population is the world's largest minority of which anyone can become a part of at any time. "Peekaboo," said misfortune and jumped the already weakened boy. Ash wouldn't be Ash if he didn't try to get up again, though he's going to have to face he won't be able to do it on his own.

41. No, I Don't Need A Cure For Me

Mewtwo seems to like the croissants too and with his incubator in between his legs, Ash listens intently to how it tries to explain how the blocking ability would work. The reason why the pokémon believes it will be somewhat easier for him, is because the ability needs to be supported on pure hatred and the teen is still very angry and Kalos has given his anger a different platform to grow off. The first part of the lesson is focussing his anger on one, specific point which bothers him but all his attempts fail because Mewtwo lets him test it out on his pokémon and there isn't a part of them he dislikes enough to block it, in fact, he loves them all so dearly that Mewtwo is honestly bothered by it, if only it didn't include the pokémon all the same.

So Ash finds himself in the cafeteria of the pokémon centre, hidden in a small corner seat, behind the menu and he's pretending to be fiddling with his phone. No one has been bothering him or anyone else so far but he's got the chance to try out his ability when a squabbling couple makes a little too much noise, he 'helps' the woman by making her unable to speak… which gives her the time to hear what her partner is saying and realises she misunderstood the situation entirely. He's not following the conversation any longer but it seems they're making up already but he's lost interest since Mewtwo keeps giving him new targets to block the speech off. Next up is movement but it takes a while, though there's a very intolerant person entering the cafeteria and Ash stops him from swinging his fist at the lady behind the serving counter.

'This is going very well already. Very well done, friend,' Mewtwo all but purrs. 'I was right to assume you would be a natural in this. Oh, how I would like you to block the powerful woman who is a Gym leader here, her abilities would be useless.'

He nods and slides out of his chair, nodding once to the lady behind the counter but she just seemed shocked to see him as she likely hadn't spotted him. It's got no use sitting on ideas, his hunger has been sated with all those croissants and Ash doesn't know if he can avoid Olympia forever so he might as well just go and meet her. There is something off about today still, he's not sure if it's stemming from the buzzing of his phone -it's Diantha and he still sees no reason why he should answer, in fact, he might as well put his phone on airplane mode because the less she knows about him, the less she can pass on to Lyssandre- or from the fact he can't spot Clemont or Serena anywhere near but when he's suddenly pulled into his Aura by Dialga, Ash figures that the one he's been trying to avoid was here.

"Hi," he says as he looks up and the pokémon gently bumps its head against his shoulder. "Was that Lyssandre around the corner?"

"Along with the professor you wished to avoid," the pokémon says and it's so jarring to hear it speak like a human, without any of the special noises that all pokémon who speak to him have… but then again, Ash wants nothing more than for people and pokémon to be equal so it would only make sense if his Aura world is the only place where it is already the case.

"Right, seems like I might as well make use of this opportunity to give you the orbs I was given, huh?"

"I certainly would wish to display my true self before you, Ash," Dialga answers.

"Then let's go. I don't suppose Palkia is here?"

"We are all here, Ash," the pokémon in front of him says and the teen tries not to be too impressed but sort of fails because that means an awful lot of legendary pokémon are out there.

"… All of you?"

"All of us."

"Wow. Okay, that's a bit much to take in. How… is living here treating you?"

"I have not felt safe until I came here."

He takes that as a good sign, pokémon are practical like that, they don't do happy or sad, either they are mad or calm, safe or unsafe. That's it, no in between but Ash can appreciate the clearness of their words. Psychic-type pokémon work a little differently, though, just like Dark and Fairy-type pokémon but all the other ones are just fine the way they are already, there's no need to make everything so complicated. Now if he could stop making his own life so complicated, that would be great but it appears like he can't trust a lot of people in Kalos, especially not Lyssandre who seems to be following him. First Shalour City, now Anistar? What's he doing here? And why was he with professor Sycamore? Maybe Ash got the professor wrong too, maybe he has always been that asshole from the beginning and that he trusted the wrong person.

His backpack is a little heavy still because of the incubator and it's funny how many curious noses of legendary pokémon are aimed at the egg safely contained. It must seem odd for pokémon who can't have any offspring to see an egg, maybe this is the first time for some to see it but when Ash looks up and sees a Suicune that's walking on its hind legs… he blinks.

"Oh, I've never seen you before," he says and the creature watches him for a while before coming closer.

It comes close enough to put its smaller forearms on his knee and while the pokémon has no whiskers, it has very bushy manes and it's sniffing vigorously at him, which is pretty funny from his perspective. Ash feels safe here too, safe enough to let Pikachu roam around free. Mew comes floating straight into his arms, nestling up in the crook of his elbows and from the distance, he sees a few Genesect race each other… oh, was that a Latios too? He's not sure, the pokémon seemed to be flying really far away from him but his Aura went and created this perfectly fine biome for everyone, even for pokémon who he has never met before, like the Suicune-like creature. Ash doesn't mind, though, it's docile and nice to him and its fur is much longer but heavenly soft all over so he's more than happy to sit down with it and have a bit of a snuggle.

"… It's not going to matter if I fall asleep here, right?" he asks Dialga, who seems very pleased with being the sole owner of its orb.

"Hm? Why would it?"

"I mean, it's not going to stop this world from existing, right?"

"This world cannot be destroyed."

"But what if someone finds an entryway?"

"Look deeply within yourself and answer me who you trust enough to even allow inside of this world, Ash," the pokémon says and goes to lay down next to him."

"… My uncle?"

"Perfect. But does that man have any similar talents to yours?"

"Not really no," Ash answers, considering that he knows it was his father's mother who passed on the right genes to have an Aura user and Lance has a different mother than Red.

"Then how would you expect him to create a gateway to enter a place you feel so safe at because there is no one to judge you here?"

"Oh. But you can still leave, yeah?"

"If I wish so, yes."

Well, that's alright then. The pokémon he's currently leaning on is very soft and fluffy, though. And warm. He sees Pikachu dart away from Mew's playful swatting tail and he smiles, happy that his buddy gets a break too. Maybe it won't hurt having a bit of a lay-down, he needs some time to think about what he's going to want to do from now on, anyways. Diantha doesn't seem too happy with his talents and despite all his best intentions, she's too relaxed to understand what's going so horribly wrong. If there's no helping it, then it might just end up with him pulling out his hands from now on, he can't invest into a situation that'll affect him any worse than this, he promised Lance he'd stay safe and he can't uphold that promise if Lyssandre keeps getting ahead of him.

"Sleep," Dialga says and Ash finds it reasonably simple to follow the demand. "A different world will be waiting for you when you wake up."

And with that, his eyes close and he sinks as deep as he possibly can into the soft and furry pokémon right next to him.

---

For the past few minutes, Lance has been fighting the urge to grab his phone and call his boy. But he doesn't because he's not sure if he wants to damage the small bond of trust they've created by demanding an explanation of where Ash went and what he had been doing because they lost his coordinates for a few hours… especially not because the answer will bring him to a territory of uncanny and also, the word' normal' isn't rightfully associated with any sort of situation Ash is involved in. If it wasn't for the security of the bracelet contacting him, he would have never known but they did let him know when the bracelet Ash has around his wrist places him firmly into Anistar City again so it's fine. He also doesn't want to be the one breathing into the boy's neck either since he knows that Kalos is already taking a toll on him. And with Cynthia having returned all upset because of her pregnancy, Lance feels protective of whatever happiness still left in that boy since Ash apparently told Cynthia she was pregnant in the first place. His mood darkens just thinking about how she would've reacted to this news, she better apologised to Ash but he knows she's not a miscreant and likely felt guilty if she did say something inappropriate to him. But when he catches Will chuckling to himself in the hallway on his way to the scheduled meeting, Lance frowns as the young elite trainer approaches him.

"Let me know when Ash is coming back to Johto, I want to meet him again and shake his hand," Will says, still with this big smile on his face.

"Sure. Why, though? And he's still in Kalos, it could take a while."

"Go have a chat with Lucian about what Ash said to Cynthia, you'll understand. And I'm surprised you haven't heard, it'll be top-tier content in this meeting."

"Top tier?" Lance repeats dryly. "Didn't know we were into entertainment in meetings?"

"We are right now, I'm pretty sure you're going to be pleased by the end of this."

Lance isn't so sure of that, his future has been looking a little too bleak recently, especially when proven Red's disabilities just getting worse as time passes. He swore the doctor he would take care of the man but he's just not sure how long he can uphold that promise… the diagnosis of dementia has ripped his plans to shreds, especially since the man can't even remember his wife. To Lance, this is nothing but a blessing but this might mean Red might forget about him and Ash too. Not in the near future because he wants to keep Red near to him, to make memories but eventually, it might still be the case. To think that this might be the end of it all, with Red being even less than the shadow of the brother he once met but never knew… No, Lance has never known his brother too well and the following years might be the only chances he will ever get to get to know him at all and he's actually so scared of telling Ash this news too-

"Whoa, whoa, what's the matter, I thought you'd be happier than this," Will says but Lance just looks up surprised, momentarily forgetting that this trainer has special abilities too and that he actually didn't pull a face. "Talk to me, you can't keep all this inside of you, that's one of your worst habits so speak up, man. Let me help you."

"I'm scared to tell Ash his biological father is sick."

"Yo, you better tell him before he figures it out on his own. If you knew what I do, you wouldn't be saying that, he called Cynthia out on her Tauros crap straight away while she thought that the comment she made went over his head and honestly, I'm here for you now if you need some moral support to tell him but I'm not going to be there when he confronts you and asks why you didn't tell him earlier because I don't want to hear it coming from your mouth that Ash scares you, okay?"

"I'm not scared of him, I just don't want to hurt him and I'm scared that the news will do exactly that."

"Not any worse than it'll hurt him to find out later, though. Man up, Lance, I got you. We all got you, lean on us for a bit of support, yeah?"

"Mm," the man sighs and shakes his head. "I guess I'm just worried."

"So was my old man before I grew over his head but you tell me if I grew up alright."

"You did."

"Well, there you go. You're not going to stand here telling me that his mother raised Ash, right?"

"No, right. I'm sorry, I guess I'm still not feeling like myself."

"It takes more courage to admit weakness than to hide it, Lance. So don't be ashamed, you're not made out of steel either so don't worry so much."

"Funny that this is coming from you, I sat with you through your headaches because you couldn't stop thinking of all the bad things that were going to happen."

"Yeah, and I let you because you were the only one who could keep their mouth shut and not make the headaches worse."

"I still helped, though."

"That's why I'm returning the favour, Lance. Now hurry up, or we'll both be late to this meeting."

Another thing that's bothering Lance a lot, he used to be so punctual and recently, time has just been flowing through his fingers and no matter how tightly he clenches his fists, he can't get a grip and thus, needs to rely on others far too often -or at least, to his liking- in order for him not to be late. It's just another worry of his that he can add to the pile he's already carrying around, Lance doesn't know what else to do but to systematically confess everything to his therapist and while it does help, it's a terribly slow process. How Ash ended up being so bouncy to get back to being a trainer is beyond him, it's so hard to admit weakness, especially to him but then again, Ash isn't very proud either. Of others, sure but of himself?

"You're being broody again, Lance," Will comments and he sighs in response. "Think happy thoughts, surely there's something you can look forward to?"

"… His return home?"

"Might be sooner than you think to, so keep that in mind. After all, at some point, you'll understand that you can't trust your own thoughts either."

"What?"

"Like I said. Thoughts are just that and more than often, irrational. That's why you need to get out more so that you're not locked up with yourself for too long. And honestly, take the kid for a holiday somewhere, Arceus knows the both of you could use a bit of rest."

"Not the worst idea I've heard so far," Lance murmurs. "Don't know where I can get Ash not to worry about some sort of hidden pokémon."

"Yeah, well, most regions have their pokémon out in the open, you know? If they're hidden, then it's just pokémon that don't want to be found and he's not going to be bothered about that, right?"

"Of course not, it's just… Kalos, man. It can't continue like this, can it?"

"Nope," Will chuckles. "And that's why we need to hurry up or else we'll miss it."

'Miss what?' Lance thinks but stops himself from voicing it because Will stops every time he speaks so that's not making their trip faster.

Once there, though, the mood inside of the room is weird, he feels as if something is about to happen but then again, it's the big room this time, which means it's important news Will is so excited about. Lance hasn't been keeping an eye out for information, other than news about Ash and he really doesn't care unless it involves the boy. Oh, and he's right, a lot of people follow them inside, every single, important elite trainer is here, meaning that the big four along with their Champions are there, as well as the Chairmen Mr. Goodshow appointed himself. Lance doesn't like Chairman Rose, though, the only reason why Galar even needs one is because Leon is an irresponsible Champion. And well, Paldea doesn't even have a Champion so it's Ms. Geeta sitting very woodenly at the table and Alola is being represented by professor Kukui and his very visibly pregnant wife, professor Brunet. It's a colourful bunch of people but now Lance feels antsy because Will likes Ash too and if this news has anything to do with his boy, everyone will be hearing about it here.

However, as Mr. Goodshow stomps into the room, his expression thunderous as he slams a file onto his desk, Lance thinks he's going to need to ask Will about his sense of humour because it doesn't look like the news the president is going to bring will be anywhere near positive. However, Mr. Goodshow turns to him as soon as he's sat down.

"How are you doing, Lance?" he asks and now the man feels compelled to be honest, if only to explain why he's so confused about this meeting as he really has been keeping track of what has been happening in the pokémon league.

"I'm trying," the man answers, though struggles to find more words to answer. "I've… hit some sort of limit and I… don't know what to do in order for this… situation to become better?"

"Take your time. Let me know if there's something I can do for you."

Lance just nods because he doesn't trust himself to answer that, there's way too much history between the two of them for him to just believe that this has anything other to do than with pity for his situation. Which is cruel because Goodshow damn well knows that he doesn't like being pitied at all so to do it publicly…? This is just a test and oh, he hates the man for it. Still, no, he won't give him the satisfaction of responding to something other people would see as innocent sympathy because he'll only come out as the crazy one, the one with no sense of sanity any longer. But if it's not clear that Mr. Goodshow is out for blood and that he just asked him these questions to give him a reason to be annoyed, he hones into Cynthia's issues straight away. Turning to Will, to be ensured this isn't going to turn into the largest argument, all he sees is the young man's serious expression which he decides to copy, just because he doesn't want to admit to being any weaker than he already is.

"So, about the question you wanted to ask me earlier, please repeat it to the rest of the pokémon league," the man says and Cynthia nods.

"I wish to start rebuilding the Spear Pillar," she answers and while most of the people inside the room are surprised, Lance's mood becomes frosty and dark as he realised that this is why she followed him to Kalos, only to get upset when the boy told her she was pregnant.

There's a bit of back and forwards with Mr. Goodshow wanting to know the credibility of the source to which Cynthia obtusely replies that her source has no reason to lie to her and that highly trained and professional restorers have already determined that the authenticity of the drawing she received from her source is indeed a perfect match to what is still remaining of the Spear Pillar today. She makes no move to make the name of her source known either, which, to her credit, is a very kind thing to do, especially since Lance knows that the source is Ash and that the teen will become very upset at her… and will likely not stop the powerful Psychic-type pokémon that travels along with him if it suddenly decides to make everyone forget about it. Maybe that has already happened, he can't be sure but at least Cynthia is spooked enough by what her prospect on life would look like if Ash discovered she name-dropped him. And he would know because Lance would snitch on her in a heartbeat if only to keep his boy safe. But she doesn't budge and really, the good news Will was talking about?

"Why do you want to appoint a Chairperson, Diantha?" Mr. Goodshow asks and his voice betrays something equal to distrust.

"Because he's a good person-"

"Mr. Goodshow asked 'why', not a whole description of who the person you clearly are enamoured with," Chairman Rose chuckles.

"I do not enamour him."

"If that is not the case, then I see no reason why you would want to waste any time appointing a Chairperson while you are still busy getting the construction of the league building under control," Chairwoman Geeta says and since Lance has a good view on her, he can't help but wonder if she's got a metal pole hidden under her jacket, she's sitting ramrod straight. "Is the event still planned for next week, Mr. Goodshow? Because if it is, I can predict failure for the completion of the build just by looking at how slow the construction is going."

"I had issues getting the building permits," Diantha argues. "And it's not at all a hassle to me to appoint a Chairperson."

"But it is to me," Mr. Goodshow says and holds up his hand because he doesn't want to argue with the Champion, or at least, not today. "I have nothing else to say to you but the following. I'm not at all pleased that you performed a faulty investigation without contacting me, you weren't able to be contacted for a whole day which is absolutely not done, especially not without as much as a small mention of your possible absence to me. And as such, I issue a punishment. Please stand up."

Oof, this is much worse than what Lance imagined would happen. From the looks of it, everyone is surprised that when an officer of the G-men comes in to put her under house arrest, she needs to leave all her personal belongings behind and thus, is cut off from communicating with anyone. When this happens -as rare as this situation is- Mr. Goodshow takes control of the Kalos league. He issues an investigation of his own because he needs to be absolutely sure that there isn't a leak, or any other sort of shady business happening there. And when he calls out for an investigation, the worst people inside of the pokémon league will be travelling to Kalos, in a private jet and they'll issue the entire league personnel in that area to stop working. This also means that the Gym leaders won't be active but Lance doubts whether Mr. Goodshow would be happy to find that he told Ash that, in fact, it's highly likely he'll forbid communication about this so it's got no use talking to his boy. He'll likely notice something will be amiss the moment he spots the Gym leader's offices closed anyway so what good would it do to warn him and risk getting punished for it, huh?

"You need to check out your sense of humour," he says to Will as the meeting ends and everyone starts to leave the room.

"Something must have happened," the young trainer answers and shakes his head. "Can I stay with you for the week, Lance? I don't feel like I'll do well on my own after this."

"You're more than welcome to stay over, you know I enjoy your coffee."

"It's not as good as Ash makes it, though."

"If I ever tell him that, he'll end up shipping it to me by Wingull post whenever he's not near to make it for me. And don't sell yourself short, I like yours too."

"Well, in that case, I'll make sure you're well supplied. But would he really send coffee over?"

"He's very practical in his signs of appreciation, I suppose. Did you know he cleaned up my dragon den? And managed to get Steven and Wallace the help him?"

"For real?"

"Got all my pokémon pillows and everything. I've not gotten a single growl out of them either, so be ready for the dragon tornado when you come in."

"Wha-? Dragon tornado?"

"Like Karen's Liepard, it's a way of welcoming you inside, I suppose. At least they won't shed all over you as the Liepard does," Lance says, smiling at the memory of his lumpy Salamence attempting to make a turn in the far too narrow hallway and then giving up halfway and generally getting stuck altogether -though he will not complain, he would rather stand in his hallway for half an hour being circled by his pokémon than risk getting nipped at as soon as he reaches out a hand to feed them.

"Huh, I didn't know Dragon-type pokémon did that, you know? Did Ash know that they would do that?"

"I'm not sure but I wouldn't be surprised if he did. Either way, he's been nothing but a godsend, you'll see the difference it has made right away. Just make sure to pause, Liepard isn't nearly as heavy as my pokémon so you're going to trip if you keep walking."

"Oh, well at least I recognise the adamant behaviour from them still then. Would they let me step over them?"

"You can try but I don't think you can lift your leg high enough to step over them. Also, Gible is very talented in vertical biting and he's bouncy enough to jump about as tall as your hips."

"… Does he go for soft tissue?" Will asks as his expression slowly turns into some sort of horrified understanding.

"I've never given him the opportunity to find out if he does but you're more than welcome to give it a try."

"No thanks. I'll uh… just follow you and see what happens," the young man answers a little too quickly. "They're not going to circle around me every time I come into the house, right?"

"Mm? No, not always, though there's usually one lurking around. It doesn't take long, patience has never been their forte either."

"Oh good, that's alright then. Will you be calling Lucian to find out what Ash said?"

"You know what, I don't care what he's done or what Cynthia said to him, I'll hear all about it if it really bothered Ash that much but I'm not going to bother."

"When did you get this chill?"

"Because I trust that child to give him space to breathe and a chance to talk to me whenever he needs it."

"… So… How many times has he called you since Kalos?"

"Three times. Why?"

"Oh."

Lance decides it's not worth the argument to start looking too deeply into what Will is trying to imply. He's not dumb either, by now, he's seen that drawing of the Spear Pillar and while his boy can draw pretty well, he didn't draw that picture. And it's old so if Ash did give her that drawing, even after she said something that Will thinks will bother him, well… That Dialga everyone thought was a stuffed toy might just prove to be real and now he's just stuck feeling really awkward having manhandled the 'toy' when Ash was in the hospital and basically using it as a weight so that the boy's well-wishes in the form of very flimsy cards wouldn't fly out of the door with the slight breeze coming from the windows. But he really does trust Ash to alert him of trouble so when he finally does get a message from the teen, while he's in his car, he throws his phone towards Will and asks if he can read what the message said.

"That's a funny-"

"I didn't ask for your opinion, I want to know what he read."

"He said that he's sorry, that he fell asleep somewhere."

"Oh."

"Wait, you know what he understands? Is this like code or something?" Will asks, completely dumbstruck but he still has that same stupid expression on his face when Lance shakes his head. "What does it mean, then?"

"We lost him for a few hours, that's all."

"What do you mean, you lost him for a few hours? The heck does that have to do with him having fallen asleep somewhere? Doesn't he have that bracelet on him that tracks him?"

"See, you're already answering your own questions, Will. Now dial back to the T-shirt you gave Ash a while ago."

"… The one that said 'Did someone say weird? That's my time to shine!'?"

"Yes, that one."

"Oh."

Lance rolls his eyes and holds out his hand to get his phone back. Maybe he's better off not letting anyone see the messages Ash sends him since it only ends up confusing people. Now, he's not going to deny that the message didn't confuse him but the fact that Ash reached out to him is enough. He'll ask him later why the boy somehow disappears off the face of the earth when he takes a nap but for now, all Lance wants to see is how Will is going to react to the close contact with his pokémon who are desperately looking for the same acceptance that Ash gives them. In fact, he can't wait for the boy to come back home and see the habit his pokémon have picked up on. Maybe, if Will agrees to it, he'll take a video and send it to his boy, and see what he makes of the situation. Yes, that sounds like a good idea.

---

The nurse Joy has been having a lively day. Not only did her bicycle end up stolen, she met a critically hurt pokémon on her way to work and then, was met with the odd situation inside of the pokémon centre. She won't be able to scrub the scent coming from the Muk out of her little workplace for the next few days, though it seemed to have lessened a great deal already. Still, it was the nose-hair curling kind and now she knew who that helpless looking boy with the far too sharp eyes really is. And suddenly, she didn't mind the smell any longer, she loves the way he went about with Valerie, who has been trapped inside of her own fantasies for a tad too long, or so Olympia said. Now, the Gym leader has some choice words for other the Gym leader who is sitting in the cubicle she told him to wait at but he looks a bit too forlorn for her to pass on the message. Besides, she feels like that boy is a bit too young to be a Gym leader, especially to face someone as jaded as the trainer they're both waiting for. As if it wasn't bad enough that she lost visual of him, she also needed to deal with Lyssandre and why did the Lumiose Gym leader seem so desperate to find him after the annoying busybody of a researcher left the pokémon centre, finally deterred by her attitude towards him?

"Oh, wow," she hears the boy on her right say and when she looks up, she sees the owner of the stinky Muk enter the pokémon centre… but there's something different about him.

And then she spots it, while his eyes look kind, the whole left side of both his eyes is a vivid, glowing red and he looks absolutely unbothered about it too. Looking down at the teen in the cubicle, she can kind of get what he meant with the comment but also, it's a little dangerous to walk out in the open with an ability out on display like that. So the nurse, who wants to protect this child, goes to look for a pair of sunglasses but looks up when she hears a phone ringing. She's just in time to see the boy pick up his phone to answer it but once he has, a shrill, angry voice calls out that she 'hopes he's happy now' but that trainer isn't the slightest bit deterred and ends the call then and there, with the most casual expression on his face. The young Gym leader jumps up and goes towards him and suddenly, the boy is all smiles.

"I'm just going to block her," he says and Clemont seems confused. "Diantha's off her tether and I'm not entertaining that sort of crap."

"I'm pretty sure you can contact someone in the pokémon league that she was mean to you."

"I don't give a hoot if she was mean, I didn't even listen to what she was saying, it's just, she's been calling me non-stop. I don't know what her issue is with me."

"… Yes, you should definitely put in a complaint about her behaviour, then," Clemont says and shakes his head as the phone starts ringing again, this time a different, unknown number showing up instead. "She will always be able to reach you, Ash."

"Psh, unbelievable. I didn't know that was a thing, people inside the pokémon are always such a pain to contact but of course, they would have every resource to contact us at any given time, huh?"

"Don't let her mess with your head, Ash, I was here the whole time, you wouldn't have been able to do anything to warrant such a reaction."

"Like I said, she's off her tether, it's not normal. I bet it's got something to do with Lyssandre, I saw him lurk around here again and I can't shake the feeling that he was totally looking for me. First Shalour City, now Anistar City? As if it's not bad enough that professor Sycamore is here too."

"He is? Hasn't he apologised yet?"

"Please, save me from that, the people in Kalos have weird ways of showing gratitude," Ash says as he shakes his head. "Don't think about going to look for him either, I'm not going along."

"I won't, it's not as if he's someone I'm looking up to either."

"He'd fit nicely with Diantha, you know?"

"Been there, done that, I'm afraid," the nurse Joy says and clarifies when the two teenagers look at her. "It's not widely known but she and the professor had some sort of relationship but it ended up going sour near the end of Diantha's pregnancy. Can't say it would be the professor's fault either, she was a hellish pregnant lady at the time and she did eventually lose custody of her son and while professor Sycamore tried his best, there's only so little he could have done to get the ghosts Diantha passed onto the boy out of his head."

"Huh, good to know," Ash says, sounding a little too amused to the nurse's liking.

"I don't suppose you know their son's name?" Clemont asks, clearly more interested than the trainer next to him.

"Yes, I do, his name is Alain. I've been told he sort of looks like his parents but I can't verify, I've unfortunately not met the boy."

"Dunno if you should add fortunate into a meeting mixture of two unreasonable people, I hope for his sake that this Alain is a better person than his parents instead of being their combined toxic traits but knowing this region, I'm not willing to bet on it. In fact, it'd be a rightful hoot if the kid somehow got involved with Lyssandre and that Diantha is just trying to get on his good side to get back into contact with her son. But I think she lost sight of her original idea and fell straight into a trap. Whatever that might be, I don't know but what I do know, is that either I really needed that nap just now or that the reason she's suddenly so mad at me is somehow linked with the relief I'm feeling all of a sudden. I would totally hate that I somehow made her upset for no good reason, also not even slightly aware of what I did to make her upset but I need you to understand, I hate Lumiose for a good reason and I'm filled with dread when I think about Kalos as a whole but that's… gone. And as you may notice, it's got nothing to do with my senses having gone awry so to think that she's so upset because something happened that prevented the horror I foresaw… I'm sorry but I don't feel the same way as she does, I think that she's just mad she got it wrong or something but that gives her no right to work it out on me, in fact, I think she crossed a line by missing the balls to say what she wanted to say to my face, instead choosing to use one of my friends as her personal messenger while she clearly has my number and could do it herself."

"She did cross a line," the nurse agrees, slightly happy with the long but clear message as this shows she was right to suspect there's more to this trainer than just a keen eye -especially since this will please Olympia as she will be able to speak to this boy as an equal, the nurse did hear him use the word 'foresaw' pretty clearly. "Let me give you the right number to put in your complaint, okay?"

"Thank you."

They go through the process together, in the end, it's not a number but a link and considering she was a witness to the harassment and saw the boy's phone depicting the multiple calls he's already gotten from the Champion, the nurse could add to the severity of the complaint and thus, make it sound more serious. She just didn't count on the fact that Mr. Goodshow would contact the boy as soon as she filed the complaint and the boy casually put the call on speaker.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Goodshow. I take it you saw the complaint?" Ash asks and the nurse has even more respect now for the boy to be able to speak to such an important, if not imposing man like this.

"I did, I find it most unfair, which is why I want to tell you that you are not to blame. And I've given the order to confiscate her phone."

"Oh, you can do that?"

"I most certainly can," the man answers, deadly serious. "I want to ask you something, Ash, if that's alright?"

"Of course, sir, go ahead."

"Your claims of there being a pokémon underground of the capital of Lumiose, how serious can I take them?"

"Extremely serious, I hear it trying to talk to me but I can't answer it due to it not being a Psychic-type. And it kills me to know that this ensures my safety because I've been told by my pokémon that it's being held under close vigil."

"Do you know of a certain direction you can hear the voice the best at?"

"I could hear it in the airport but it totally torments me when I'm in the pokémon centre of the North Boulevard."

"Alright, thank you. If there's anything else I can do for you, don't hesitate to contact me. I do value your warnings."

The nurse stares at the boy as he thanks Mr. Goodshow for his trust and ends the call.

"What on earth did you do in order for him to heed your words?"

"Mm? Called out an attack on the pokémon league the day he thought it was a good idea to host a tournament in the name of the end of the war of Orre when he didn't get the confirmation that the war was over. Come to think of it, I wonder where that Shadow Lugia is at right now…"

She watches the boy warily as the Gym leader asks him if that wasn't the same Lugia as the one from Coumarine City.

"Oh no, I have that one, that Lugia only came to Coumarine because it is a friend of mine, see? The other one, I feel like it's a totally different one, one that came originally from Orre," Ash answers. "I also think it won't be easy to make nice like Smog was, I got lucky with that one since it knew me."

"You got lucky? The whole of Courmarine got lucky, more rather," Clemont sighs and shakes his head. "I bet Ramos was impressed."

"If he was, it certainly didn't take long for him to change his mind. Anyways, is there a post office nearby?"

"Post office?" the nurse repeats. "For mail or a package?"

"Is there a difference? It's for a big package, I bought a gift for someone and now I'm wondering if I can send it to her."

"There is a Wingull shipping company across the street," she says, still trying to be helpful as there's little else for her to do and she's still impressed by this strange trainer in front of her. "Do you know how the pokémon looks?"

"I do, yes."

"Well, there is a big sign depicting that pokémon so I don't think you can miss it."

"Alright, thank you, nurse Joy."

The boy seems happy and the nurse is honestly impressed. Olympia told her a little while ago that the special trainer would be in a state of… well, not sadness but also not optimal mental health and judging from how Diantha treated him, she felt like the pokémon league didn't take much heed to how special this boy really is. But then she heard how respectful Mr. Goodshow was and then it hit her that this was the same trainer who protected Coumarine… The warning Olympia gave her wasn't correct either, she told her to look out for the boy but the nurse now feels like they should look after the boy instead since he's not being treated very well, by many people, even important ones who could screw up his entire career as a trainer. How unfair would that be, huh? So seeing the boy pass by with his package -it looks like a bag from the expensive clothes store not too far from here meaning it's a very nice gift too- her hand automatically goes to her phone. No one needs her help right now, the lobby is pretty empty safe from some people who are using the videophone at the far left and the Gym leader doesn't hurt pokémon too badly so her job has been made a lot easier. And that's why she wants to repay that kindness by telling her she was wrong about this boy, in the hopes she might not make the same mistake as the other Gym leaders.

She just didn't expect the call to be denied… especially since Olympia entered the pokémon centre approximately three minutes after she tried to contact her.

"I feel like this conversation should not be held on a phone," the Gym leader says and the nurse shivers at the mere idea of her calls being overheard -a lot of sensitive information is being passed on to it, after all- by someone with nefarious ideas. "How are you doing, dear child?"

"Worried. The trainer you spoke to me is fragile but not in the way you told me to expect it, Gym leader Olympia."

"… It is not often I'm proven wrong."

"It's his happiness we need to protect, not protect ourselves from his anger. I provided care for him and he was reasonable with his simple requests, I don't feel like he was angry at all and he shared information about his extraordinary talents, as if he knew I wouldn't get upset."

"Hm. I will keep it in mind, if just listening to him is enough, I suppose I can uphold the promise not to upset him. But it remains to see if his requests will remain simple."

"I don't think we, as people, can give him anything he needs other than simple things," she says darkly, knowing how easily he brushed off Diantha's misbehaviour, if she hadn't pushed the matter, he would likely have forgotten it… which means that he finds his comfort somewhere else. "Also, if you made that promise to the Champion, Gym leader Olympia, you may want to take a seat for she attempted to upset him and as a witness, I urged him to file a complaint against her."

"I suspected something would happen, she has changed greatly ever since meeting that man."

"Ash doesn't like Lyssandre very much."

"Ah, then at least we have something in common," the Gym leader says. "I may or may not have predicted his imminent passing when I found him lurking in the bushes. I feel like he was looking for the boy too because it was the shrubs right next to the pokémon centre."

The nurse bites her lips, something inside her tells her to keep this child safe but as a simple nurse Joy, there isn't much she can do when someone like Lyssandre, a highly respectable researcher, would be her opponent. And no, it wouldn't be a pokémon battle at all.

"Fret not, dear child, whether you tried to contact me or not, I would have come to see you anyway and for now, I feel like this will be joyful news for you. As it appears that Diantha has been placed under house arrest and that Lyssandre and his posse were arrested shortly after, all actions of the Kalos Pokémon league have come to a standstill until further notice. So since I cannot have any challengers, I would like you to inform the trainers arriving here, until we can resume our actions."

"Oh-"

"I would also like you to extend an invitation towards the boy, I do very much want to meet him and since I have never had this much time on my hands, this is a perfect opportunity for a nice, lengthy talk," she continues.

If it wasn't for the shown kindness, nurse Joy would have been peeved as she was cut off rather rudely but now, with a nicely decorated card being extended to her, to hand over to the special trainer, she will let it slide.

"I will hand it over to him as soon as I see him. And if I get off my shift, I'll alert my colleague. Thank you for understanding my concern, Gym leader Olympia," the nurse says and bows her head a little since she's slightly uncomfortable looking straight into her eyes. "I do feel for the boy."

"Will my promise to make sure he will be alright make you feel a little better?"

"It shouldn't be a promise, it should be your duty. Please, I have heard so many complaints recently, not due to your behaviour but it's getting a little much."

"I understand and I too have heard the complaints," Olympia sighs and crosses her arms in front of her chest. "I would like to hear the boy's story first hand too, I feel like he is representative of a group of people who don't often become trainers for the issues he faces continuously."

"You would know."

"I was told he was different than me."

"Different but the same," the nurse answers persistently. "You'll notice."

"I'll be looking forward to it. Please take care of yourself, dear, you seem a little tired."

She nods, figuring she should heed the advice. But the card is burning a hole in her pocket and she's not sure if she will be able to convince her colleague to take the Gym leader's request seriously, mostly because she hasn't seen the boy yet. Ah… maybe she's worrying needlessly, the trainer might wander in any time now. How long would it take to ship a package, right?

---

"She wasn't kidding when she said it was a big sign," Ash says as he looks up at the massive sign of this really happy-looking Wingull plastered to pretty much the entire front of this post office, the wings kinda stick out from the sides too, that big it is but hey, he likes it and can't keep the smile off his face. "Kinda wish the warning signs near the Gym leaders were this big but really, do you think they took a picture of one of their Wingull?"

"Stop being so casual about serious things, I've never needed to appear in so many meetings this past year. And your complaints really have some weight to them, you know?"

"Good, I'm not the most sensitive of people either so imagine someone honestly careful and a little scared walking in with the best intentions only to be treated like me? No wonder the amount of kids unwilling to be trainers is dropping so steadily here in Kalos."

"You're making too much sense. I never thought my robot would have that effect on people."

"Really? You hate being a Gym leader so much that you made a robot out of hatred and now you're confused people don't like it? Please, Clemont, you aren't making sense at all, you have no right being angry at being called smart and then being told to grow up because you are smart on an entirely different level but emotionally. And I'm not blaming anyone, I'm not perfect either but there were like a million different things you could have done to get help, however, I'm not calling you dumb because the emotional maturity comes from experience and you were really young and insecure. So please, just learn from your mistakes and move on. Especially since you weren't actually a problem to anyone, whatever things anyone complained about are just in your head."

"Or so you keep saying."

"Did your referee come to defend your opponents and keep them safe, even passing out the Gym badges?"

"Well, no but the robot was an issue."

"You knew that before, or was that not clear from the moment it attacked you?"

Clemont lowers his head and shrugs.

"The make-your-own pokémon kit you gave me all those months ago is sort of working out fine, though. I don't know what went wrong with Clembot, I really don't."

"Then figure it out. Because, honestly, smart people tend to hold little value to feelings but it made a difference, all the insults the robot had ready for me sounded like all the shitty things even shittier trainers said to me. But to me, it doesn't mean anything, no one can say anything to me that I haven't heard already and opinions are overrated. But that being said, I grew up knowing that, while you're only at the brink of realising that."

"At the brink? I feel like I've never been further away from the truth."

"That's how it usually feels like. But if you don't know the difference between why you tried your best to finish the kit I gave to you as a thank-you for my birthday party and the robot you built out of malice, then I'm not sure if I can help you at all."

"So you do want to help me?"

"Of course," the boy chirps happily. "I understand how you feel but at the same time, I understand how pokémon feel and I think you owe it to your pokémon to give them a robot who can also give care and knows when to quit. Also, as interesting as it is to have a robot answering to jabs, I feel it would be a lot funnier to have the robot not answering to abuse at all. Kids get upset at being ignored too and that'll make them prone to making mistakes but your referee will be able to support the video footage with the innocence of the robot, instead of needing to find excuses for its behaviour that all stems from… well, your issues, Clemont."

"Oh."

"Think about it, it'll inspire Bonnie too since she looks up to you. And if you make this a kind robot, just not giving a damn about what anyone says, she'll be happier to watch the Gym battles."

"I will think about it. And if you really want to help me, please give me ideas of what Clembot should really say."

"Are you really giving me the ability to piss off as many kids as that?"

"Yes."

"Great, sounds like fun. Now, let me just snap a picture of this huge Wingull sign and then I'll go in to post my package."

Clemont doesn't object to it, in fact, he seems to have fallen silent but Ash is still pleased by the large sign, his phone captures it wonderfully and when the inside of the office is filled with Wingull, he takes a picture of the Wingull and then posts both photographs on the group chat, making it a little game as he asks his friends if they can spot the one who stood model for the sign. Naturally, the responses he gets are very predictable but Max at least makes an attempt and for the heck of it, since Ash isn't even sure whether he did get that Wingull who stood as model for the sign on frame, he tells the boy his guess was correct and that he did a good job. The teen doesn't bother to look at all the other responses as it's his turn to send his package. It's a smooth process, while he's got to buy a box to make sure his gift gets to its destination safely, he also gets the option to buy the Wingull who will be performing the shipping some food and of course, he agrees with that option all too quickly. The happy chirping of the Wingull is more than enough as a thank-you and it only makes sense to him to care for the pokémon.

"You're a really good person, you know that?"

"Sometimes, I don't feel like it but in the end, I think so, yeah. But I also think you really like me and that it's clouding your view of me a little," Ash says and grins happily when the teen splutters in response. "Don't worry about it, though."

"Y-yeah, well, I still think that, even if I didn't like you, I still would think you're a good person."

"Because I feed pokémon?"

"Yes."

"Huh, well, keep hanging around, if it makes you happy to see me feed pokémon, I can attract a couple of strays to get a smile on your face."

"I wish it was so easy for you too, I too would do it in a heartbeat."

"But it is easy but isn't it usually the case that people consider something hard until they figure it out? So show me how smart you are, buddy, I promise you that it's really not hard."

"I will, I will," Clemont says as he follows the teen, despite Ash not knowing where he's going. "Man, my father is right, I'm actually a sucker for you."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"When it's you it's not."

"I'm glad to hear it," Ash chuckles. "Now, where are we going?"

"Do you need anything or would you be up to getting squeezed by Serena because she's really happy with her dress?"

"You know what, I don't mind the squeezing. Let's go, lead the way."

"Alright, follow me. Maybe you can tell me why your eyes glowed earlier too."

"Oh, did they?"

"In the pokémon centre, the nurse Joy saw it as well, you can ask her if you don't believe me."

"Oh, I believe you. Things like these… well, I might not be a Jedi but it's close. And while it's not the force, it's a force and it does things to me that I don't necessarily notice… but I think it showed up due to me having had a close connection to my Aura and for once, I was satisfied too, I liked the experience," Ash says as he holds out his hand. "Do you want to see it?"

"What would I be seeing?" the other teen answers, yet lays his hand on Ash's already.

"Life. Please close your eyes."

The teen himself doesn't necessarily need to close his eyes to show Clemont what he means and this time, he looks at how the boy's face changes. He hasn't forgotten Steven's reaction but even as his friend opens his eyes again, Clemont seems to have fallen silent and pretty unwilling to let go of his hand. Ash doesn't care, the boy does let go when they get to the house Meyer is at but he isn't oblivious, just unsure how to react… because Serena clearly likes him as well. Ash can't believe Tierno nearly successfully hurt him because of that since he never really realised it until recently. It's a hot potato, this whole situation but something is still making him uncomfortable and Meyer, the eagle-eyed man he is, takes him to the side, for a chat.

"I hope you're not upset at my son, Ash. I'm only slightly aware of what has happened but there's no reason to hold it against him."

"Huh? Absolutely not, I'm not upset in the slightest. Why would I be, what's happened then?" Ash asks, a little confused since all he was doing was trying to listen to Serena and not getting squeezed too hard by the girl's death grip since she was really thankful for the support.

Oh, and trying not to trip over Bonnie because the little girl has the habit of standing super close to his left leg and Ash knows he would feel so horribly guilty if he accidentally hit her with his prosthesis, especially since all he would feel would merely be a bit of resistance. However, as soon as the man opens his mouth to say something, Mewtwo speaks up and the doorbell rings at the same time.

'Incoming.'

Ash couldn't get to the door quickly enough, if his feelings are correct, the person at the door is there for him and he doesn't want to miss it. Maybe it's rude to just walk away from Meyer but if he's not mistaken, the person at the door has the pokémon he's been longing to speak to. This means that something is going on in the pokémon league, which would explain why Diantha would be acting out to him like that.

"Are you Ash Satoshi Ketchum?" the person at the threshold asks, seeing Clemont has already gone and opened the door.

"I am, yes," Ash answers and the serious man reaches out a pokéball to him.

"I was told to deposit this pokémon with you, on order of the president of the pokémon league. Can I please see your trainer card to verify your identity, Mr. Ketchum?"

The teen fumbles a bit as he's taken aback by the seriousness of the situation. He hadn't expected Mr. Goodshow to suddenly see him as the perfect person to care for a pokémon that has been experimented on, like, he'll care for his pokémon but-

'Stop thinking. Has the professor of Alola not told you plenty of times how much of a diamond of a trainer you are to have been able to cure a pokémon from the Shadows forcefully introduced to it?'

Ash is too busy to find his trainer card to answer, he eventually does find it since it slid through the inside of his jacket -these damn holes appear at the worst of times- but he got it out and showed it to the man at the door, who also has the patience of a Saint.

"Thank you," the man then says and hands him the pokémon. "Please take care, Mr. Ketchum."

And with that, the stranger leaves and Ash stands there, a little befuddled, until Clemont jabs his elbow against his side.

"That was an independent investigator from the pokémon league," the teen whispers hoarsely, as if Serena, Bonnie and Meyer, who followed him, weren't right behind him and saw the man with their own eyes.

"Ouch," is all Ash says and reaches out to the sore spot in his side.

"I'm sorry but what the actual heck did you do?"

"Nothing! I just took a nap somewhere, Clemont, I wasn't even here when something happened that got Diantha all upset. All I know is that I'm feeling super relieved and that the feeling of doom that I've started to associate with Kalos as a region is gone."

"… That just means your abilities are on point, Ash," Meyer chuckles and motions his son to calm down. "Don't give him such a hard time, it's not easy being him."

"I know that," the boy right next to Ash whines. "But it's so confusing, I don't understand."

"Well, neither do I, all I know is that the people of Kalos don't know criminals for crap since all I got told what that I had a lively imagination when I asked if this place had criminals. I just didn't think they'd be so easy to get rid of, or more rather, that the issue they'd cause that would affect me got solved so quickly," the teen answers and holds up his hands. "I'm not all-knowing either, I don't get to decide what my feelings and abilities tell me either. It's hard enough paying attention to the real world as it is."

"Yes, and I got played, by at least two people you were right about from the get-go," Clemont retorts.

"I will probably have said so from the start but I'm still not the boss of you, the road you're on is your own ass fault so don't get annoyed at me."

"I'm not even annoyed at you, I'm absolutely not smart, that's all I'm upset about."

"Still think it's pretty cool you built that robot, I've told you more than once I admire your abilities to create through technology. I mean, I gave you that super difficult Porygon project for a reason, I knew you would be able to do it when you set your mind to it."

"You would be able to build too and dammit, stop reminding me, I haven't been able to finish it."

"There's two in that box, right? If you think you're not doing alright, I'll show just how long it will take someone like me to get somewhere with a project of that level since I'm not anywhere near good with technology, those kinds of things start to have a life on their own as soon as I touch it and while I'm aware that it likely is something I'm doing wrong to make machinery misbehave but let that be a testament of what a terrible technician I am, okay?"

"Ash, you don't have to do that."

"But you don't believe what I'm saying so I'm going to have to show you what I mean instead."

Clemont leaves to go and get the project but it's clear he's reluctant to do it. As if he believes Ash will be able to make that Porygon, he's well aware of his capacities but following instructions isn't his style. Worse, Ash can't even read tiny letters, they start moving as soon as he needs to know the information for something important and that's just the start of things. Sometimes, the letters change colour and there's nothing funny about seeing bright yellow letters on a white background, though it's worse if the yellow letters stay yellow when the background goes as dark as the night. That's a headache, right there but if he'll go through this to prove that he's an idiot where Clemont is like, very superior to him when it comes to technology.

"Ash, you're not going to prove a point by making a mess out of this."

"Mm? Who says I'm going to make a mess?"

"How long did you go to school?"

"Hah, did I fool you? I didn't go to school at all, mom learned me how to read and write and then I followed some classes with professor Oak but I got kicked out so often because either I couldn't sit still long enough to not bother the professor, or Gary couldn't stand the look of my face that day, which happened way too often and the professor is still sort of a sucker with his grandson so yeah."

"… Ash, that's not going to change his mind. That project isn't even worth much, it'll just be something sitting in his room, collecting dust."

"Still, I want him to finish it and see that it's not going to be anything out to murder anyone like that robot… what did he call it again? Clembot?"

"Yes, it was modelled after him."

"Oh, really?" Ash chuckles as he gently slides the pokéball he just received into his pocket. "That's the most fascinating game of spotting the twelve differences I've ever been faced with, since Clemont isn't even a trainer so not even that matches with the robot as much as I hate it that something without feelings is in charge of a pokémon."

"Must be why you destroyed the robot and want to destroy yourself for Clemont instead."

"What do you know that I don't? What part do you think I'm going to destroy today?"

"I know something about Aura users, you're not going to give up wanting to complete that pokémon despite it not being able to be alive, it's just your love of pokémon that's going to force you to create it. And I don't want this for you while I know it's not going to make a difference in Clemont's attitude."

The teen is more than ready to laugh that statement away but he's met with several voices taking major offence to what Meyer just said, to him, especially.

"We will guide you," Kozzy then says and with Mewtwo readily agreeing with him, stating that his abilities are indeed on point like the man mentioned earlier and that it should be no issue for him to control his Aura.

Ash is thankful for the assistance, though unsure what his Aura is going to have to do with the 'dust collecting' Porygon but he's not going to make a point of argument over this, especially not with Meyer.

"Whatever you think is happening with your son, isn't attitude. You've been repeating well-rehearsed lines to him that have been lies, that's what's happened. And now he's seeing more of the world, he's seen whatever is between good and bad and now he doesn't know where he belongs. And I'm not going to repeat what you've been saying to him so yes, that confuses him and that's my responsibility because you're going to keep lying to him because you're not man enough to confess lying to him because you know it'll make him upset knowing you lied to him so your own feelings lure you into keeping to lie to him, just to keep him happy. But that's not what Clemont needs and not upsetting him with the truth is going to make him delusional and just confused. And I've grown up with a woman who that happened to so you can't tell me that what I'm saying isn't true. And frankly, I'm doing you a favour, I'm doing it so that you don't need to but if possible, can you keep your misplaced comments to yourself? Because I'm not just an Aura user, I'm a boy from a different time than all the other Aura users and I know what feelings are. And when it comes to life, I have a high respect for it but I too am alive so you're not going to find me destroying any part of myself willingly."

"… Don't make promises you can't keep, that's all I'm saying."

"No, you're not, you think you're being subtle, trying to change my mind, telling me that I'm basically wrong, that character is set in stone and that it's just the weather or something? I dunno what you mean with attitude, all I know is that you call it that because you don't like it."

"He's upset, Ash."

"I know everything about being upset. And getting validation for worries is the best thing you can do, whether it's about needing to be prepared for the cause of the worries, or just the idea that it was worrying over nothing. But it needs attention and sure, he won't be feeling great but it's… well, call it a canon-event. It hasn't been too long since I sat down and realised that everything said about me was a lie, that I lost nearly all of my friends over how much I changed but hey, that was their problem, not mine. People aren't static and if you can't handle change, I'm sorry but that's a 'you' problem and you shouldn't burden Clemont with your feelings either. In fact, why don't you go and make Bonnie some pancakes instead? Do something productive instead of worrying someone far too young who has no clue what is happening, to me, you or her pubescent brother. Please."

"You and Olympia are two sides of a coin, she practically said the same damn thing," the man sighs but Ash feels like he's going to need to thank the Gym leader, maybe her word has even more weight to it and combined, make him do something instead of letting familiarity swallow that brilliant teen Clemont really is.

"Then why aren't you doing something? Didn't you get custody over them because you swore to protect them? Keeping them static isn't protecting them, that's a form of abuse. Subtle, like your comments but abuse all the same."

"Alright, alright. Do I make you some pancakes too?"

"Sure, thank you for thinking about me," Ash says and Meyer is about to say something to him but the teen can see his eyes look at something happening behind him which means Clemont -who has been taking his sweet time getting that project downstairs- has come back into the room.

"Right, pancakes it is, then," the man says instead. "Fancy some too, Clemont?"

"Ah yes, thank you," the teen just answers, his focus is clearly not there, though and Meyer sighs.

"Don't worry," Ash says as he gently puts his hand on the confused and likely worried man's arm. "I'll eat the ones he doesn't finish."

"I bet you do."

'At least he smiled,' the boy thinks as he goes towards the table. 'It's probably not easy being a father.'

'A good one, yes,' Mewtwo supplies.

'Oh come on, he means well.'

'Perhaps so but then I want you to find a word for someone like that when you keep calling yourself helpless.'

'It's that kind of day today, is it?' Ash thinks. 'Are you mad at me too for giving someone to opportunity to make me look like a fool?'

'A fool you will never be, less talented in that man-made science maybe. But may I remind you that the world existed with pokémon and people co-existing rather peacefully without science?'

"Yeah, it's that kind of day, alright. Don't think too hard, Mewtwo, I'm just doing what I feel is best.'

'I want that for you as well.'

Yes well, if that's the case then everyone needs to let him do this because he's not that bad at crafting either and he never said he would do it alone, right? There's a ten out of ten chance that this is what actually bothers Clemont the most but if anyone thinks he thinks he's too good to just slide in the seat right next to him and ask him what to do, well, he proved them wrong by doing just that and at least that gets a small smile on the boy's face. Anything is always more fun when you're doing it with a friend and Ash is just happy that Clemont tells him it doesn't involve science, just mechanisms and as luck would have it, Mewtwo comes in very handy because the pokémon has been surrounded by scientists but everything those people needed was made by mechanics and with the never-ending curiosity, Mewtwo is the best pokémon to have around and honestly, his mother's hard-learned lessons -because he got the occasional swat at his head for 'abusing' the far too expensive and hard to find Kantonese tissue paper she liked to use- came in handy because the project has this super soft but thin as heck silicon sort of material they need to pry in-between the frame they painstakingly built, which was a veritable pain but Ash understood because the single huge Porygon he had met, had seamless texture. He's sort of intrigued when the material ends up feeling like a real pokémon, the strange skin was pulled so tight that it felt like a smooth plastic instead of the funny eraser type he never enjoyed having his hands on.

It's also funny to him that Meyer, who has likely forgotten his pancakes or is just letting the mixture of the pancakes rest, is watching them with this pleased-looking face but Ash has the best time when it becomes clear that Clemont has this tiny gear left over, which he remembers having used inside of the last step from the inside, all while they just finished wrapping his project.

"You're kidding me," the teen sighs.

"… Well, you know what panel went on the easiest."

"Not the butt…" Clemont whines.

"Well, I didn't buy it from IKEA so it's probably important. And hey, it's not actually a pokémon so it's not going to feel it."

"But the skin…"

"I'll help you, come on."

Clemont's dubious expression makes it harder to keep serious that the harmful innuendo of needing to put the gear in through the back end of the pokémon. Honestly, it belongs there too and Ash will scream if they need to pop the head off and no, don't laugh, try prying this thin but still too thick material between a space barely big enough to push a hair through at this awkward angle which is nearly impossible. Still, they get it together already and while Ash is honestly intrigued why his is more blue than pink while Clemont's is looking more pink than blue, he's still proud that they did it, in less than two hours even! Although, it's getting a little dark outside so that felt a little weird since he vividly remembered it being noon. But no, he was mistaken, it was already way in the afternoon when Mewtwo learned him how to block speech and movement so it sort of makes sense since he did have that fabulous nap.

"Well, we did it," Clemont says but he's smiling from ear to ear. "Have you ever seen a Porygon in real life?"

"I have, it's a really good replica too, it feels just as smooth and nice as a real one."

But as Ash is explaining how trippy going into the internet with the pokémon was, Meyer can't help but see how the boy is moving the Porygon's limbs and already feeling guilty that he said it would just be collecting dust inside of their rooms. No matter how special that boy is, Ash is still just a child too and he was right about wanting to persist because Clemont is so much happier and they did it together… Even when he goes to make the pancakes, he can still hear these kids giggling when Ash says that there's no way he'll willingly enter the internet from today as happily as he did in the past. Meyer wasn't kidding, this boy and Olympia, they are very much the same but different enough to still get along, he can already imagine the unbearable woman smiling deviously at him when Ash agrees with something she says, man, he doesn't want to be there when these two meet. Instead, he has something else he needs to tell the kids, it's been on the news just now but considering that they were all pretty busy with those two Porygon projects that indeed came out way better than he would have ever imagined, they didn't pay attention to their phones and while Bonnie wasn't always as focussed on what Ash and Clemont were doing, she doesn't have a phone and likely isn't interested in the news either. But his trained poker face has nothing on the boy's watchful gaze, while Ash is decent enough not to say anything, being looked at in question by him is pretty uncomfortable.

"Has Lance sent you a message or something?"

"No," Ash answers simply. "Should he?"

"I'm not sure, there's something going on in the pokémon league."

"I doubt whether he's allowed to say anything to me about that but that didn't stop Diantha from trying," the teen chuckles. "If I were to guess, Mr. Goodshow wasn't so happy with her supposed investigation she did when I told her about the pokémon and that feeling of dread but I'm not even sure what he could have done, except punish her."

"He did punish her," Meyer sighs, since Ash may not know everything, he's still bang on the subject again. "Mr. Goodshow put her into house arrest."

"Oh, so that's what he meant when he said he could take her phone away from her."

"He called you?"

"Yeah, nurse Joy and Clemont were witness to me being harassed by Diantha, she called me like, what, eighty times that past hour or so? Anyway, Mr. Goodshow took major offence to it and called me to assure me she would be taken care of."

"… That does call for immediate action, but all the same, Ash, the Kalos pokémon league is now under the control of Mr. Goodshow and non-operational."

"So that means no challengers, huh? Well, it's nice to know you felt bad about telling me that but really, I'm feeling pretty fine in this city now that all the doom and gloom seems like a bad dream," the teen chuckles. "And yeah, that's nothing Lance will be happily telling me, either he'll wait for me to figure it out or ask him straight away, I can't help but feel like Mr. Goodshow ended up really upset and gave a lot of people a hard time in that meeting where he made the decision not to trust the Kalos league."

"Oh, did they take the elite four in house arrest too?" Clemont asks.

"Just Malva," Meyer says, grateful that no one is ending up upset at this news. "The rest are having a well-earned holiday, as far as I know, Siebold is the only one still staying at Kalos, Drasna and Wikstrom have gone on a holiday to Galar on Chairman Rose's invitation."

"I guess I'm really going to have a lot of time rehearsing," Serena sighs. "How sad, I wished Diantha listened to Ash from the beginning, then all of this could have been avoided."

"It's never that easy," Ash says as he shrugs and coming from someone like him, Meyer accepts that answer.

"You think there's more to this?" he asks.

"I don't know how long it'll take for the Kalos pokémon league to be released but what I know is that there's no time whatsoever to get that stadium built, there's no way that'll happen this year, so either they're going to need to move it to someplace else, which is such a disgrace for a Champion, or else the date of the tournament needs to be moved onto next year, which screws up the starter trainers' time, giving them less time to complete their badge run. And then nurse Joy mentioned that professor Sycamore and Diantha have a kid together so yeah, there's definitely more to whatever happened."

Oh, yes, he knows a lot more than he's letting on to, Meyer should not be underestimating that boy again, even if he likes playing with toys like that Porygon project.

"They can do that?" Clemont asks. "Would they really move the entire tournament to a different region?"

"Yeah, I remember that Team Rocket was such a menace to Kanto that they moved that year's tournament to Sinnoh instead since it was still safe there and it worked out okay but I was like, six years old? I was just obsessed with anything pokémon related so I do remember it sort of but it always struck me as odd but having experienced a bad situation first-hand, I can understand why they moved it too," Ash answers and smiles. "Man, it would be such a hoot if they would move it to the Indigo League."

"Would it?"

"Absolutely, if there wasn't a mountain in the way, I could see it from the house I live in," the teen says all cheerful. "It would mean I'd be going home sooner too."

He can't be mad at the boy for thinking that way, but the truth is, it's very likely that the tournament will be moved somewhere Mr. Goodshow has good control over the pokémon league and as luck would have it, the elderly man enjoys hanging around Kanto and Johto. And it's endearing to see how much Ash likes Lance, he couldn't be happier to know that the feeling goes both ways since Ash was the only reason why Lance didn't pound him into the ground, mentally and physically. The boy's uncle is a mean one but it's good to see not everyone thinks about the man the same way, it's also good to know that Lance isn't always so guarded, that he's chill at home.

"That's way cool," Serena pipes up. "Can we go with you to see you at the tournament, then? I would love to visit Johto too, maybe you can show us around."

"I'd love to but it still remains to be seen where the tournament is going, if it's going anywhere in the first place. And I'm not worried about it either, it'll be in good hands if Mr. Goodshow is taking care of it. Or at least, I can trust him to do good when it comes to organising tournaments, since he was the one who has been doing it for somewhere around forty years or so and so far, he hasn't messed up anything where Diantha failed so that says something about him rather than it does about her."

Meyer can feel a headache growing, he will likely be coming along as Clemont bobbed his head so enthusiastically when Serena posed that question to Ash and well… they'll be near Ash a lot and near Ash, will be Lance so around too, likely in protective papa bear modus. And doesn't he understand the feeling? As good as it is that Ash knows how to make Clemont happy, the two aren't going to be around each other forever either.

"Don't look so troubled, dad," Clemont mutters.

"Do I?"

"Yes, you do."

Right… Well…

"So, Ash, are you staying the night?" he asks instead.

"Depends, how do you like being greeted by larger-than-life pokémon wanting to say 'hi' in the dead of night?"

"… Right, you can go to the pokémon centre, if you like. I bet you like the bathroom better there anyway."

"Of course, I-"

The boy rudely stops speaking and perks up, as if something got his attention. Clemont beats him to asking what's going on but Ash gently shushes him as if he's listening to something. He stands up all of a sudden too, though hesitantly opens the door.

"Hello?" he asks, a little softer and honestly, it sounds as if the boy's a little scared but as soon as he sees whatever, his face lights up. "Clemont!"

"What?!"

"They're alive," the teen says as he then disappears behind the door but Clemont is quick to follow him.

"Who are?"

There's no answer but Meyer doesn't believe his eyes. Trust Ash to make him eat his words, even if the kid didn't have anything to do with the Porygon coming alive, it's super unlikely that either of the two are going to collect dust anywhere when they're alive. Clemont is ecstatic but while the other teen isn't any better off, Ash hasn't picked up the pokémon, he's letting it approach on its own volition but with the widest smile possible on his face. Now, he doesn't know whether the project wasn't meant to do that, Porygon were an experiment to try and understand how pokémon were made but the researchers weren't any wiser as the Porygon they made all came to life on their own. But with Ash involved, he can't be sure of it but heck, they're so happy and yes, Bonnie pouts when Ash goes to sleep at the pokémon centre -he can't blame her, there was never a boring moment when the kid was around- but he doesn't stop the boy, he can't always guarantee that he can give Bonnie everything she wants and really, he thinks he trusts Ash on the larger than life pokémon mention, he's not going to want to wake up to see an Yveltal sit at the end of his bed. In fact, hasn't the boy proven to be trusted in practically anything?

"I wanted him to see the pokémon I found," she pouts.

"You found a pokémon? When?"

"Last week," she says and turns away. "When no one was looking at me."

"Why don't you show it to me?"

"You don't like pokémon as much as Ash does. You just like Blaziken."

"But I've never been mean to one?"

Bonnie isn't there to listen to his excuses either, her comment of how 'no one was looking at her' stings because Meyer has heard it too often that he's too controlling of her and honestly, he did try to let go of her and trust Clemont to take care of her. But hearing with what a small band of miscreants his son ended up travelling with, that he stood there helplessly when the younger but bigger boy started bothering Serena and that the other girl in the group started harassing her… maybe he's better off letting Ash teach them how to show their teeth, Arceus knows that the boy doesn't take verbal abuse willingly, or at least, not without putting his five pokédollars in too.

'It's not easy being me,' the man decides as he retires for the night too. 'I hope tomorrow will be a bit different.'

---

Ash has a bit of a scare when the nurse Joy comes flying past her desk to hand him a card but he's feeling a little too tired to mind it. Not too tired to give Porygon its first groom, nor does he pass up on giving the egg some care but afterwards, he does cut a few corners when it comes to his personal care but he'll make that up in the morning when he's feeling a bit more like himself. As odd as it is, it's apparently possible to miss bad feelings, Ash has this empty feeling ever since it became clear that he has nothing to worry about and so far, nothing he has done has helped so far, not even grooming Pikachu helps. The small pokémon who appears out of the pokéball he was handing earlier today -by that super-secret pokémon league detective that instantly set off Clemont's mood to thunder- does nothing to help him either.

"Are you alright?" he asks, in lieu of not passing his personal issue onto a creature who really doesn't deserve to be treated like that.

'Yes, thanks to you. They came and looked for me, one of the men cursed when they found me and said they did not believe you were right but I feel infinitely happy to be out of there and now, to be with you.'

"Would you like to live somewhere else than a pokéball?" Ash offers, figuring that it might be like being near other pokémon might help it but to his surprise, the pokémon doesn't take this offer.

'I feel safe near you,' it says and as he gently picks the small creature up, the boy sort of understands.

It's very small, it fits perfectly in the palm of his hands and it looks so innocent. Something in the way it looks so helpless makes him calm but at the same time, his dire need to make sure this pokémon is safe and cared for clashes with his anger at the idea that someone could be so ugly inside to be able to hurt something this innocent. Sure, it's likely legendary but that gives no one the right to lay a hand on it. What was Lyssandre planning on doing with this little one, anyway? Why haven't people learned not to meddle with pokémon? What good could have come from hurting them, or was that just a side-effect to the actual horrible thing that monster was planning on doing? Actually, scratch that, Ash doesn't want to know what Lyssandre was planning on doing, it's not worth the effort trying to understand how dumb some people are.

"Do you have a name?" he asks instead.

'No.'

Ash bites his lip, he can't help but be reminded of nurses of Celadon central, who always tried to initiate some playtime with 'squishable' toys that bounced right off the floor and the ceiling. He likes the nurse who enjoyed that time much more than he did, she always went 'punipuni' as the toy bounced away from her… it doesn't help that this pokémon very much reminded him of that bouncy toy but… but…

'Do you want to give me one?'

"Can I… think about it?"

And the pokémon smiles, all while Ash feels like an asshole because he can't give a mighty-sounding name to this wonderful creature, other than only being able to think about its appearance instead. But then again, that's not the point, it is? It doesn't need to be mighty, it just… He just wants to be its friend.

'That is okay, I will wait. Your name is Ash, right?'

"Yes, it is. Though, where I live, they might call me Satoshi but you can call me Ash."

'You have two names?'

"Mmh, Kanto and Johto are regions which are aware people have a hard time adapting to the language. A lot of children get two names to avoid odd nicknames."

"That is nice."

Yes, well, if everyone in those two regions was as considerate, he would've had fewer issues but then again, he's okay now. Maybe one day, he might let go of the feelings he's gotten from Kanto but today is not that day and really, Kalos isn't a forgiving place either, Ash will be happy to get out of here, the sooner the better… even if that means leaving friends behind as well. He blinks, it's not as if they don't have means of communication, do they? If his other friends can bother him from all the way from where they live, why would Clemont and Serena not be able to do so? It's not going to be the same but then again, he's not an essential person to have in life or else his phone wouldn't be so dead but also, he's not entirely sure what he would be saying to someone he hasn't seen in a while.

'Try not to think too deeply about this, you merely have a grateful being in your hands,' Mewtwo says but Ash is in one of these moods again that even he can't fix.

"But I'm just so confused right now. What is all this about, I mean, I'm not ungrateful that they would give me the pokémon but I would have loved the context for it too, you know? No, Meyer is the one to tell me the pokémon league here is closed, that I'm basically stuck in this city for as long as it takes Mr. Goodshow to fix whatever went wrong or something. Why wasn't it broadcasted on the news, or on the battle profiles? It's not like trainers are absolutely just free as a bird to go wherever they want, so the pokémon league knows damn well where their licensed trainers are so why wasn't I told something? They can't assume that I know everything, right?"

'I think you are overestimating how efficient the pokémon league is, friend. I suggest going to sleep instead of worrying about things you cannot possibly help.'

"That's odd too, the heck did I sleep so long earlier today for me to be sleepy and moody again?"

'You rested, friend, your Aura did not make you sleep, it merely solved your inner conundrum. See it as taking a breather but you have already stated that you often do not feel the need to sleep due to your abundant Aura so explain to me why you would assume you would be able to sleep when you are inside of your Aura?'

"I didn't know it works that way and Dialga told me to go to sleep so I just assumed I slept."

'You are young, friend, but Aura is a force possibly older than time. What you did couldn't be further away from sleeping but you did rest. While you do not know how to perform the resting period you needed, your Aura did and Dialga assumed the force would understand what it meant. And it did, the fact that you feel free of worry is common, as well as the emptiness you are feeling at the moment, if you feel brave enough to breach the subject to someone who will likely be able to tell you more, please contact the Aura Master, he will support my explanation too.'

"But, if I didn't sleep… then what did I do?"

'You cleansed yourself. You knew change was coming and that you needed to adapt. Perhaps you were unaware of this at the time but the fact you did not question the change is proof that you were always aware anyway.'

"… The book," Ash then says, remembering Gurkinn told him to read it but then again, so much has happened and his days are already too short. "Do you think the book about Aura might have some details about this 'cleansing'?"

'Unlikely, the ability to have an Aura world is not common, the Aura users powerful enough to enter it even less. You are very special, friend, the only one who will know everything about you will be future you. As lonely as it may sound, you are truly one of a kind.'

That doesn't sound lonely, just like the typical luck he would have but honestly, Ash is perfectly fine with the idea that he would be the expert on himself because people these days like the sound of their voice too much, they're usually full of bark and no bite and honestly, what are good intentions without incentive, huh? But then again, the Forty did end up blessing him, didn't they?

"I figure not a lot of the Aura users got blessed by other Aura users either, huh?"

'The thing is… you went and changed the future of the Forty, they blessed you accordingly but understand that they would not have survived without you which unfortunately means that it is not known what will happen to someone after their blessing because they never got the chance to bless anyone before. You are special, friend, you pulled the heartstrings of the keepers of time and space and you made them care about the Forty because of the link these people have with you, which ensured the survival of this special group of people. They were right to be thankful and while this event also changed the entire world's future, it is merely for the better… but understand that not even Arceus knows what the blessing means, just that it makes you even more unique.'

"Well, once upon a time, I could have used all the help I could possibly get so a blessing is nothing short of what I actually needed, I suppose," Ash shrugs as he struggles a little to get his prosthesis off. "If only they understood that protecting each other isn't something I needed compensation for."

'Blessings usually are the compensation for someone who does not hold much merit to beg gifted materialistically, like you.'

"No, but like, they didn't need to bless me either. Caring for each other should be normal."

'The chances of encountering a time-traveller who is so determined to ensure the safety of strangers is microscopically small, friend. The Forty just got lucky that the time-traveller they encountered was you.'

"I suppose so," he mumbles. "I still don't understand how people wouldn't help, I mean, Gurkinn did give me nightmares with the stories he told me so there's no way I could've forgotten but if they didn't open up to me either, nothing would've come from the whole thing. So I suppose they helped save themselves too, by trusting me. But you're not going to catch me regretting doing it, Mewmew, everyone deserves a life to live. Just like Porygon, I don't know what happened or how it ended up becoming alive, I couldn't be happier that it's now a real pokémon that I can hug, spoil and train."

'Porygon are odd creatures, you are likely the best person to have ever made one. Perhaps you can make it feel like it belongs here just like you helped me realise that I have always been meant to be here.'

"Of course, I'm gonna train it the champion way too, I'm not playing around any longer."

'You have my full support in that. I wish you a good night, so that you will be ready for the better world awaiting you.'

Oh really, a better world, huh? Well, Ash can't wait to wake up in it, though he knows better than to go to sleep without a few pokémon to keep him company. While Meep's gained a bit of weight and growth thanks to her evolution, he still has plenty of room left in his bed for his recently evolved Gabite, which the pokémon evades without a care in the world. And Ash wouldn't want to have it another way, he's not sure if Porygon has the same instinct as all the other pokémon he's encountered to just, come and lay on him whenever they feel like it but sure enough, it doesn't take long before the Porygon slowly comes over to settle right behind his back, just far enough the teen doesn't have to bump into it when he turns off the light. As far as he's considered, Ash already feels like he's in a better world, while he's confused about not being worried any longer, he's also relieved that he doesn't have to fear for his safety. It's fitting, to be in the city of Anistar, don't they call it the 'Starry city marking the time' because of the sundial he's been wanting to visit but preferable without professor Sycamore camping in front of it? Well, this starry city really ended up becoming a wish from a starry sky instead, Ash hasn't felt this free in a good while, there was also this looming idea of needing to be ready to intercept or fight something all of a sudden and he doesn't want that for him or his pokémon any longer. Maybe he'll go and see the Gym leader tomorrow, see if she's up for a social visit and you know, not start hating him because he's got a pokémon on him that she doesn't like or something. Meyer may have told him that Olympia is a lot like him but the man's people knowledge has almost let him down today, Clemont acted exactly like what Ash imagined him to do and while it was a bonus that both their Porygon came to life, the man tried to stop him from helping Clemont at all, calling it a bad idea even.

It's far behind him, though, Meyer is a good man, no matter how blind he is to the needs of his children but Ash would like to think he made a difference today.

'You most certainly did, if only for the life you managed to create. Go to sleep, friend and rest. You will need it.'

And with all the trust he has for Mewtwo, Ash easily obeys his legendary friend's words… and falls asleep.

---

End of chapter forty-one.