Day 2 – Stars
"What greater thing is there for two human souls, than to feel that they are joined for life?" - George Eliot

The prompt and quote together made me think of two things – wishing on stars (great for Goh, of course) and soulmates.

I don't like soulmate stories, but I can deal with the notion of characters being destined to be together. Now, you may wonder what the distinction is there, right?

Well, read and you'll find out! (mischievous laughter)

"So this is where you ran off to", Ash says as he walks toward Goh.

Goh is lying on top of a small, grassy hill, gazing at the stars. Ash wonders if there's something on his mind.

"Want to join me?" Goh asks him. Without saying another word, Ash races to the hill and lies down next to Goh.

"So what made you come here?"

"I needed somewhere open and quiet to think", Goh told him. "About the future. Our future, like you said."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what are we going to be doing a couple of decades from now? Will you still be here, with me? Will I have caught Mew? What will our relationship be like?"

"Well, what do you want to see happen?" Ash asked him.

Goh thought long and hard about it. "I want to have caught every pokémon under the sun, and become the most famous pokémon researcher of all. I want you to become the world champion and become my loving husband. And I want us to raise two kids together."

"Just two?" Ash questioned light-heartedly. "Why not three? Or six?"

"You're silly if you think I could handle that many", Goh replied. "But honestly… who knows what's really going to happen? We could both end up never getting what we want, or drifting apart, or any number of things…"

"I know of an easy way to make sure things happen like we want them to!" Ash declared.

"Ask Arceus to change reality?" Goh joked.

"No, we just have to wait for a shooting star!" Ash pointed out. "Then we ask the star to make our wish come true!"

"Isn't that just a superstition?"

"Nuh-uh! Mom told me about it, and she never lies!"

Goh sighed and smiled at Ash. "I'm already sitting here doing nothing, I guess it can't hurt to wait and see if a shooting star appears."

"Then I'll stay here and 'do nothing' with you!"

With that, the boys simply lay there in the grass, peacefully, with Grookey and Pikachu each resting on their shoulders, until finally, Ash saw a shooting star darting through the night sky.

"There! There, Goh! Make your wish, before it vanishes!"

Goh almost jumped from where he was resting, but quickly blurted something out really fast. "Uh, I-I want to – to see that my future with Ash will be just as I imagine it to be!"

As soon as Goh had finished saying the last word of his wish, the star vanished into the aether.

"Great! I'm sure your wish will be fulfilled soon!" Ash said to Goh, clapping happily.

"I'm not sure if I worded that correctly", Goh thought aloud. "But, oh well. I don't really believe in that stuff, anyway."

"Didn't you ever try wishing on a star before? You do love loving at them."

"Well… yeah, I did. Several times. But it almost never worked. Once, I wished for my parents to have free time so they could take me to a zoo… you can probably guess what happened."

Ash looked downcast at him. "Awww. Well, I'm sure this time, it's going to work!"

"How can you be so sure?"

"I just have a feeling!" Ash replied, grinning widely.

Goh gave him a softer grin in response, and they both got up. "Well, I hope you're right, then! But in the meantime, let's go back home. We don't want to worry Chrysa or Ren, after all!"

"Haha, right, the last time we left without explanation, they nearly turned the lab upside down…"

The young couple headed off in the direction of the Cerise Research Center, unaware that, though the stars themselves could not have actually heard them…

A small, curious Jirachi most certainly did.

"Chi? Chi!" With its body shining a bright golden color, it lifted its hands in the air, and used its powers to grant Goh's wish as best as it could.

The next day, a young boy with messy hair and a striped shirt was abruptly woken up from a deep sleep by his Shinx licking his face. "Ow, hey! Stop that."

Next to him, a pigtailed girl in a dress was being similarly woken up by her Swirlix. "Huh… what?" She mumbled as she came to. "Hey, when did we get here?"

"Beats me", said the boy, "Last I remember, we were both sleeping in Grandma and Granddad's house in Alola."

"They're our godparents, Howard", the girl chided. "Not our grandparents."

"Eh, we already have 3 grandparents, what's two more?" the boy stated in a relaxed tone. "You don't have to be so literal all the time, Steph."

"If I don't remind you of what the words that come out of your mouth mean, you'd forget half of them", the girl snarked. "But you're right, this looks like… Vermillion?"

They lifted themselves up from the ground and looked in the direction of a familiar building. "That's papa's workplace! But it looks so small…" Steph commented.

"Curiouser and curiouser…" Howard mumbled in a hushed, overly-dramatic tone. "But there's no mistaking it, it's pops' lab alright! We should go there, maybe he'll know what to do!" Without waiting for his sister, he quickly darted away in the direction of Professor Cerise's lab.

"Howard, wait for me!" Steph whined, though Howard couldn't hear her due to being very far away already. Steph pulled up her skirt and started running, carefully, toward the research center.

Inside the lab, Professor Cerise, Chrysa and Ren were hard at work organizing the data from Ash and Goh's latest research assignment.

The keyword being 'were', because they had become so exhausted from pulling an all-nighter that they had all fallen asleep. Chrysa was clutching a large Psyduck plushie with a smile, while Ren had his face covered with a book.

The professor's daughter, Chloe, stared at the scene with aggravation. "Typical", she muttered. "Dad? Dad, wake up."

The professor gave a loud snore in response.

"HEY!"

"HGFSHSGBL-" Startled awake, Professor Cerise uttered a string of complete gibberish before managing to fully regain lucidity. "Chloe? What happened?"

"There's a little boy outside who's begging to see you. Says he wants to talk to 'the foremost authority on Pokémon in Kanto'. I told him Professor Oak didn't work here, but he insists he has the right place."

"Chloe!" The professor wailed with tears filling his eyes. "Why would you say something so mean about your dear old dad?"

"Maybe if you spent less time fretting about when your new pokémon egg will hatch and instead actually tried spending some time with the egg that already hatched, aka your daughter, I might have a better opinion of your research."

Color drained from Professor Cerise's body and he slumped dejectedly into his chair. "My daughter hates me… I'm a failure as a father… my daughter hates me…" he repeated.

Chloe facepalmed at her father's childishness. "I don't hate you, I'm just disappointed in you."

"That's even worse!" The professor squeaked out.

The cherry pink-haired girl sighed and decided maybe it wasn't the right time to discuss her father's presence in her life, or lack thereof. "Anyway, I think you should see him. Whoever this kid is, he seems really intent on talking with you, it might be important."

Meanwhile, in the lobby, Howard and Stephanie sat together and waited. "This is creepy… like we're in a movie set instead of the real thing", Howard commented. "I hope pops gets here and explains everything."

"What did you tell them?"

"Well, I said I wanted to talk to", Howard paused, putting on a deeper voice. "The foremost authority on Pokémon in Kanto! I'm sure they didn't expect a little boy to know a word like 'foremost'. Gotta impress those researcher types."

"And you just didn't even mention you meant our father? They might bring in someone completely different!"

"Well, who else could I have meant besides-"

At that moment, Professor Cerise walked in. "Hello. Are you the little boy who said he wanted to see me?"

Howard took one look at Cerise and turned his head away, pouting. "Nope! Musta been some other kid!"

"But there are no other boys around here", the professor pointed out.

"Well, I said I wanted to talk to the smartest and most famous researcher in the whole Kanto region, and you're clearly not him!"

Professor Cerise looked horrified. "How did my reputation sink so low? What's that Oak guy have that I don't?"

"He's not the one, either! I'm talking about Goh! Goh, Goh, Goh, Goh, Goh!" Howard repeated.

"Told you that you should have just said that from the beginning…" Stephanie snarked at him.

"Goh?" Chloe exclaimed, running into the room upon hearing her friend's name. "Well, this is surprising. I didn't know Goh had admirers!"

She knelt down in front of the two kids. "I'm sorry, but Goh is probably asleep right about now. You can stay here and wait, though! What are your names?"

"I'm Howard, but you can call me Howie!" Howard said, beaming at the attention. "I'm the smartest kid in my class!"

"That's very impressive if so, Howard." Chloe complimented in neutral fashion.

"Did you hear that, she said 'if so'. She's smart enough to know you're lying."

"Hey, that's uncalled for!" Howie complained. "It's not my fault Elan cheated on the last test!"

"And I'm Stephanie", Steph added curtly, ignoring her brother's protestations.

"You can call her Steph!"

"No, you can't."

Instead of adding any information about herself, Stephanie took notice of Chloe's flower-shaped scrunchie. "That's a cute flower you have on your hair, miss."

"Hm? Oh, this? Thank you!" Chloe replied, running her fingers absent-mindedly through her scrunchie. "Yours is cute, too."

Stephanie smiled. "My auntie gave it to me, she's really nice! You look kind of like her, actually."

"Well, I look like lots of people, surprisingly enough. In fact, there's this one girl in Johto…"

While Chloe busied herself entertaining the two mysterious children who had suddenly arrived at the lab, Goh and Ash were struggling to wake up. Grookey diligently bonked Goh's nose over and over, partly to wake him up, but mostly because it was fun.

"Pika-pi! Pika!" Pikachu shouted, trying to rouse its own trainer from his slumber, to no avail. It then proceeded to start slapping him.

"Mmrhgh… just five more minutes…"

Ash rubbed his eyes and slowly got up from his bunk.

Meanwhile, Goh was still sleeping despite Grookey's best efforts. "Mm, yes, Mew, get in the pokéball… that's right…" He mumbled.

"Goh, get up! It's already morning!" Ash shouted.

"Eh?" Much to Grookey's surprise, that immediately woke Goh up. "Can't we just… stay in today? Yesterday we did so much crazy stuff…"

"Well, we have to wake up early to do even more crazy stuff! Come on!" Ash insisted, picking up Goh from his bunk and lifting him out of the bed by force.

"H-Hey, you can't do that! Fine, fine, I'll get up…" Goh grumbled.

After the duo put on their 'work clothes' (aka their regular clothes), they left the bedroom and went to find Professor Cerise, discovering him and Chloe interacting with the kids.

"That girl over there looks kind of like you, Goh! Is she your cousin or something?"

"No, I've never seen her in my life. What about that other kid? He looks similar to you, too."

"If I had a nickel for every time I met another boy who looked exactly like me…" Ash joked. "I'd have three. But it is weird that it happens that often!"

"Hey, Professor!" Goh exclaimed, drawing Professor Cerise and the others' attention. "Who are those children you're chatting with? New research fellows?"

Cerise's expression darkened. "Why would they be? Who would want to work for poor, pathetic Professor Cerise?"

"Wh-"

"Ignore him, he's in one of his moods", Chloe told them.

Howard and Stephanie took one look at Goh and immediately ran towards him. Goh was startled by their sudden closeness. "Huh? What are they doing?"

"Seems like they're fans of yours. They called you… what was it? The smartest and most famous researcher in the Kanto region?" Chloe explained, trying to ignore the amusing sight of two little kids manhandling Goh.

"Would you look at that, Goh? You have a fanclub, too!" Ash commented jovially.

"W-Wow! I didn't think I was that popular! I mean, I've barely done anything, really? But this is alright…"

Stephanie suddenly paused and looked at Goh's face more carefully. "…Did he just say your name is Goh?"

"Uh, yeah. Goh Motion. It's a pleasure to… meet you?" Goh introduced himself, though he trailed off when he noticed the children's startled stares.

"This… this makes no sense", Stephanie whispered to herself.

"Did we travel back in time, somehow?"

"What do you mean?"

Howard and Stephanie fidgeted without looking Goh in the eyes. "Mister Goh, sir…" Howard mumbled, suddenly acting very timid. "Goh Motion was the name of our father before he got married. And his current name is… Goh Ketchum."

The room became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"EEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHH?!"

It took a good two hours for the chaos that revelation caused to die down. Goh thought there had to be some sort of mistake, but Ash took the children at their word, citing the fact that he had time travelled many times before.

Chloe, for her part, was skeptical of the whole time travel theory, but thought it made no sense for two strangers to be aware of 'the torrid romance novel that was Ash and Goh's relationship' (her words), and there had to be something deeper to it than kids throwing a prank.

A quick look at their phones showed several family pictures, confirming that they were telling the truth, though they quickly snatched the phones away once Ash started cooing at their baby photos.

"Well, I guess I did end up getting my wish granted, huh?" Goh mused, still amazed at the whole situation.

The kids became the talk of the research center. Everyone was desperate to find out what their lives would be like in the future. Yamper and Eevee ran happily with Howie's Shinx, while Stephanie's Swirlix floated away from them as fast as it could.

Goh also let them play with his pokémon, which certainly made the siblings feel a lot more at ease. Grookey especially loved Howard's 'super-special head patting family technique'.

"It seems crazy to think Rillaboom used to be so small!" He remarked. "He used to carry us around everywhere! Or… will use to carry us around everywhere? That doesn't seem right…"

"I don't think there's a good way to word that sentence", Steph admitted.

"So Grookey is going to evolve eventually?" Goh asked.

"Yeppers!" Said Howard. "But first, he will go through a rebellious phase as Thwackey! You'll hate it!"

"…I already do", Goh said, cringing.

"What about me? I'm the 'auntie' you mentioned earlier, right? Unless Ash has a sister he never mentioned…" Chloe asked. "Wouldn't put it past him."

"Yes, you're my auntie Chloe!" Stephanie confirmed. "You're my homeroom teacher!"

"Oh, that's nice. I hope I do a good job."

"And you're a spinster!"

Chloe nearly fell over in horror. "I'm a… I'm a WHAT?"

"A spinster! You know… a christmas cake!" Howard added, teasingly.

Goh stifled his laughter as Chloe panicked. "No, no, no!" She shrieked, running around nervously. "What about Dawn? What about Regina?"

"You dated a lot of girls, but it hasn't worked out. I'm sorry, auntie." Stephanie explained. "If it helps, all of the kids in our class love you!"

"So I just become one of those unmarried teachers who treats their class like they're her kids, huh?" Chloe stated dejectedly, and in that moment she reminded them of how her father was acting before. "This sucks… The two dorks over there get two lovely kids and I stay alone forever."

"Speaking of having children", Goh piped up, trying to distract Chloe from her tragic fate. "How did we, uh…" He trailed off. "Same-sex pairings aren't usually able to… you know?"

"What do you mean?" Howard asked. "The Pelipper brought us, obviously!"

"The… the Pelipper", Goh and Chloe intoned in disbelief.

"Awww!" Ash cooed. "Mom always used to tell me about how happy she was when the Pelipper came!"

"I… okay", Goh muttered. "I guess it's not for us to find out, yet. On a more serious note, though, shouldn't we try to find a way to get Howie and Steph-"

"Ahem."

"Sorry, and Stephanie back home? Their parents might be getting worried!"

"I doubt they are. Time only passes in the present, remember?" Chloe pointed out. "They're from the future, so if we do find a way to get them back, we'll be able to take them to the instant they were taken from."

"I don't know", Ash mused. "Maybe the rules are different. 'The clock in Floccesy Town is always running', as they say!"

"The what town?"

"What's a 'parcheesi'?"

Ash shook his head. "My cool references are wasted on you guys. Anyway… if we really have to send them back, we can just find a pokémon that can travel through time! Like Celebi, or Dialga!"

"Come to think of it, one of them might have had something to do with why they were brought here in the first place", Goh pointed out.

"Do we have to go?" Stephanie asked. "It's been kind of fun seeing what everything was like back when our parents were young!"

"But imagine coming back and having to explain to your dad and… other dad?"

"Daddy and pops", Howard helpfully explained.

"Or dad and papa", Steph added.

"Yes. Imagine having to explain to them why you were suddenly three months older!"

"Hm, I guess you do have a point", Steph conceded. "No wonder you're the smartest researcher of all!"

Goh beamed at the praise. "My daughter just called me smart! This is such a novel feeling!"

"…I wish I had a daughter", Chloe whispered sadly. "Or a son. Or a nonbinary child, I'd take anything as long as it meant I wasn't alone for the rest of my life."

Goh looked at the despairing girl with concern. "D-Don't worry, Chloe!" He said awkwardly. "Maybe the future can be changed! The future is whatever we make of it!"

Chloe raised her head to face him, and spent a moment processing his words. "You're right. As soon as I can, I'll ask Dawn out and I'll do whatever it takes to not screw up like my future self did! That future…" She paused and did a dramatic pose. "Is in the palm of my hands! …Yeah?"

Goh gave her a disapproving look. "This is what I get for trying to cheer you up." Chloe chuckled in response.

"I wonder… when we go back, will we remember that this even happened? Because you guys definitely never mentioned this to us!" Howard questioned.

"I don't know, and honestly I wish I could study all of the particulars of how this works", Goh replied. "I've never dealt with time travel before. Ash did, though!"

"I did! Though usually it was me meeting my father figures when they were young, not the other way around."

"I have an idea", Chloe told them. "If they were indeed brought here by a legendary, that legendary might still be around, right? Why don't you have Howard and Stephanie lead you to where you were when you woke up, and see if whoever it was is still around?"

"Good idea, Chloe!" Ash complimented. "Come on, kiddos, lead the way!"

"Got it, dad!"

Chloe waved the foursome goodbye as they ran off. "It feels so nice to hear someone call me dad!" Ash remarked. "I'm going to be the best dad, I just know it!"

"If you don't follow your dad's example and abandon us", Goh joked.

"I would never do that, darling."

"Well, actually, you're-" Howard began to say, but interrupted himself when he noticed their way was suddenly being blocked by Professor Cerise.

"Kids, you've been here all this time and I haven't even asked you a single question!" He stated cordially. Then, his expression reversed and he looked very desperate. "What happens to me in the future?! Does the world remember me? Am I a good researcher? Please tell me!"

"I don't know, you died before we were born!" Steph told him.

"WHAT?!"

"Steph, that's so mean! Don't lie to the poor guy!" Howard protested, with Steph chuckling and pointing at Cerise's face. "She gets her black humor from auntie Chloe… No, you're doing alright. You retired and bought a vacation house in Alola."

"Oh, thank goodness", the Professor sighed in relief.

"And you're a footnote in the history books, only remembered as the one who lead Professor Goh to his path to greatness and nothing else."

Professor Cerise cringed. "…That's it, I'm going back to sleep!" He groused, running back to his office.

"What were you going to say before?" Ash asked Howard.

"Well, uh…" Howard trailed off, attempting to remember. "I forgot."

Stephanie looks at her brother with a mix of exhasperation and resignation. "Howard has trouble remembering things. He's pretty smart otherwise, though. Aside from being way too cocky."

"And you're way too mean!" He shot back.

"Says the one who pulled my pigtails last week?"

"I'm starting to see what personality traits you two inherited from each of us", Ash commented. "I have a hard time remembering stuff that isn't pokémon or food, or related to Goh in some way."

"And I guess Steph inherited her more sensible and less impulsive nature from me!" Goh remarked.

Steph gave her 'papa' a neutral expression. "…No, you're still way too impulsive. But we did both inherit your intelligence in some aspects."

"Auntie told us once that we're what happens when the smartest boy in the world has children with the dumbest boy in the world!" Howard declared.

Goh laughed awkwardly. "Haha… Oh, Chloe. I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it."

Steph nodded. "Yeah, you told us once that that's her way of expressing affection for you two. She knows you'll take it in stride."

As they walked, the siblings took their future parents to a grassy knoll located near the observatory.

Goh recognized the location. It was the same place where he and Ash were stargazing on, the night before. "No way! Then that means my wish really was granted!"

"Hey look, look!" Stephanie tugged on Ash's shirt and pointed at a small pokémon hiding behind some rocks. "Isn't that…"

"Jirachi?" Ash uttered. They all turned around to face the direction where the Wish Pokémon was. "He might have been the one who brought you here! Hey, Jirachi!"

"Chilaaa…" Jirachi whispered, gingerly approaching the group with a soft smile, happy that its fulfilment of Goh's wish had worked out well.

"Don't be scared, we're friends!" Ash encouraged.

"That's a Jirachi, huh…" Goh noted, pulling out his Rotom phone and scanning Jirachi.

"Jirachi, the Wish Pokémon. Steel/Psychic type. Reputed to have the power to grant wishes, Jirachi only awakens for seven days every thousand years."

"Seven days? How the heck is anyone supposed to catch it, then?"

"Maybe you just wish for it to stay longer?" Ash suggested. "No, wait. If that could work, then Max would have done it…"

"Max? Who's that?"

"An old friend from Hoenn! He made friends with a Jirachi."

"Max is a great trainer! He's one of your research fellows back where we come from!" Howard said.

"Really? Well, I'm looking forward to meeting him, then!" Goh declared with a smile.

"That wasn't the last time I met a Jirachi, either. In Unova, we met this girl Gemma, who was obsessed with finding Jirachi, heck, she might have actually been obsessed with Jirachi than you are with Mew, Goh!"

"And did she get her wish? Figuratively speaking."

"Yeah… but then that Jirachi went dormant, too."

Goh turned to face his future children. "…Do I have a Jirachi when I'm older?"

"Of course, daddy! You have every pokémon under the sun! Every regional variant, too!" Howard cheerfully announced.

"That's so cool!" Goh could barely contain his excitement at the news. Briefly, he wondered if this Jirachi who was slowly approaching them would be the one he would have in the future.

…Well, if it was, he would have to catch it now, right?

That's what he was thinking, but he wondered whether that would really work. If this Jirachi was awake, that meant it would fall to sleep again a fews days from now, right?

And besides, it didn't make a lot of sense to catch it out of nowhere before they asked it to send the kids back. So instead, he waited.

Finally, Jirachi was hovering right in front of Ash, looking at him quizzically. "Chi…"

"You're the third Jirachi I've met! You're the one who helped us by making Goh's wish come true, right? We're very grateful for it!" Ash told it. "But now we need your help to take these kids back home! Can you do it?!"

"Chi! Chila-chi!" Jirachi nodded enthusiastically. Glowing once again, it prepared to fulfill this new wish.

"Whoa!" The group shouted as the entire area they were in was bathed in golden light.

With a suddenness that was unreal, all four of them – Ash, Goh, Howard and Stephanie – were now in a place that looked very similar, yet also very different. Hordes of Pokémon walked across the lush plains, and a gigantic research center now loomed in the distance.

"Chila!" Jirachi chirped, floating in its direction and motioning for the others to follow.

Goh gasped in surprise. "It… it brought us to the future?"

"I guess it decided it wasn't done fulfilling your wish yet!" Ash stated. "Come on, let's see what things are like here! Oh man, I'm so excited!"

Taking deep breaths, Goh ran after Ash, with the kids following suit. "Man, I wonder what I'm going to look like? I hope I look cool!"

"You're not going to outrun me!" Ash declared to Howard and Stephanie as they raced toward the lab.

"That's what you think, old man!" Howard taunted.

Goh huffed and panted until they finally reached what he knew would one day be his future lab. "I really need to do more morning jogs."

Ash eagerly opened the door, and they all ran inside.

It was an impressive place, to be sure, far different from the humble research center that existed in the present. Goh could barely count how many stories the building had.

Before he could take in more of the sights, the two siblings noticed familiar faces nearby. "Daddy!" "Pops!"

"Kids! What a surprise!" Ash and Goh stood paralyzed with awe. In front of them were their future selves. They seemed very unfazed at seeing them there, which indicated to Goh that they would end up remembering all of this, once they came back to the past.

The older Ash looked strong and athletic, wearing a largely blue outfit. He looked… stylish. Did his husband pick that outfit for him? Goh's heart skipped a heart as he thought of how handsome Ash would become.

As for Goh, his older self was tall and lithe, wearing a lab coat over a red and gray ensemble. "Goh, you look so pretty!" Ash shouted, unable to contain himself. To Goh's glee, he noticed a tiny pink pokémon resting on his shoulder: Mew!

Neither of them would ever have imagined that Goh's wish to 'see his future with Ash' would have led to this. They were even wearing matching wedding rings.

"And here I thought I left you two with your grandparents!" The adult Ash remarked.

"Godparents, Ash", Older Goh corrected.

"You did! But Jirachi here decided to bring us to the past!" Stephanie explained to them. She and Howie both ran to their parents, happy to be reunited with them (even if, technically, they were with them the whole time).

"Ah yes, I was wondering when this day would arrive", Older Goh mused. "And you two are our younger selves, correct?"

Goh and Ash had sparkles in their eyes. "This is so great", Ash commented, trembling with excitement. "Goh, you look so cool! I look so cool! We're the coolest!"

Older Ash laughed, and Ash took notice of his deeper voice and more mature tone. "I miss being that excitable", he said.

"I'm so glad the future I envisioned came true", Goh whispered, starting to tear up. "Everyone always told me it was impossible, that I was delusional, and so many other things…"

"You were always your own greatest ally, Goh", his future self told him. "You never gave up on yourself. No matter how many times you wanted to. Of course", he turned to face his husband, "it helps if you have a crazy kid who loves you more than anything in the world by your side!"

"Don't sell yourself short, dear", Future Ash replied. "You believed in me just as much as I did you!"

"Ugh", Steph groaned. "Dad and papa are getting mushy again."

Older Ash narrowed his eyes at Older Goh. "You sure she's not Chloe's daughter?"

"For the hundredth and fifth time, yes!" Older Goh shouted, only for both of them to erupt in joyful laughter together.

Steph pouted in response. "This is why I prefer staying at auntie's house!"

"Well, kids, thank you for bringing our children back to us", Adult Ash told his and Goh's younger selves. "You should probably go back home now, as well. Who knows what damage to the timeline you'll cause if you stick around here!"

"Wait, wait", Adult Goh interrupted. "I have the perfect idea."

He motioned for all six of them to stand together, and then pulled out his phone. "Say 'mew', everyone!"

"Mew!"

Click.

After that, Goh and Ash said their goodbyes to the happy family they would one day become. Though they did want to see what all of their friends would be getting up to in the future, they knew sticking around would only cause problems.

Goh looked around for Jirachi after they came back to the present, but it had somehow fled as soon as it brought them back. Goh wished it could properly thank it for what it had given them. But it seemed that it wasn't the Jirachi he was destined to catch, after all.

Speaking of destiny, Goh kept the group picture and printed it out. It was now framed in a portrait inside his and Ash's room, positioned so that they could both stare at it as they went to sleep.

Everyone had some pretty interesting reactions to seeing it, too. Professor Cerise was delighted to see the state of the laboratory in the future, while Chloe took one look at Goh's older self and blurted out "Man, if I wasn't a lesbian, that – I mean… never mind!" Goh laughed pretty hard at that.

Ash could occasionally be heard whispering "I'm gonna look so cool…" to himself for days afterwards, starstruck by his adult self.

"What do you think, Ash?" Goh asked him one day. "Is your future self cooler than Leon?"

Ash became startled and stuttered a lot as he replied. "W-Well, I mean… I don't like this question!" He huffed.

When they came back to their bedroom after a research trip, Goh couldn't help but stare at the portrait in wonderment. He still had so many questions, he really wished they had more time.

How would he catch Mew? When would Grookey evolve? Why did all his starter pokémon get a rebellious phase? (Okay, that last one was a bit less pressing than the others, but he still wanted to know!)

But in a way, just meeting them was a bit of a relief. He could relax now. He didn't have to worry about whether his dream was even possible to begin with, now that he knew he would one day achieve it.

Well, he should really say dreams. His dream of catching Mew, and his dream of marrying Ash. But that second one was quite a ways away, of course.

Goh rested his head on his pillow, and went to sleep with a happy smile, his future husband snoring innocently in the bottom bunk.

His dreams were filled with images of the future, and of the happy moments to come. He had said many times that the future was in the palm of his hand, but now he knew he meant it.

A.N. That's right, it's Howard and Stephanie! They're from my Snowy Solitude fic from way back when! Keep in mind that this doesn't necessarily mean that this fic is canon to that fic, but you can read it like that if you want! I'm not sure if the latter still holds up, though (sweats in imposter syndrome)

I have a few ideas for how the pokémon anime's future should look like, but I tried to focus on the Journeys cast the most in this fic. Don't worry about Chloe, she'll find someone one day…

As for why I used Jirachi and not, say, Celebi, the reason is simply that I would feel guilty about including Celebi in any fic that didn't involve Horace! And plus, it fit the themes of the story better.

And don't ask me where the kids came from, alright? The Pelipper came! The Pelipper came and that's that! /lh

Tomorrow will be Day 3: Memories!