SZ: Welp...Remix Hearts got a TV Tropes page...that's two stories of ours that got TV tropes pages!

GT: Well, more of a recommendation on the Pokemon Crossover/Fanfic Recs page. Though fingers crossed on us getting an actual page like GSE does.

SZ: Here's hoping...well screw it. Let's get to the story! We own jack shite aside from original content, so...someone start us off!

GT: Okay, I…*hot breath hits me from behind* …*looks behind to see Z0 on an Entei* ...Bugger.

Z0: Speak boy!

Entei: ARF!

*KABOOM!*

Z0: Good boy~!

Entry 047: H-Hello. I'm Noel Vermillion, here to help you catch up on what's happened recently. While we were waiting for a way to get to Cinnabar, we attended the Pokemon Princess Festival that was happening..and Misty was really excited about it. And how could she not? Especially when we learned that the whole city was giving discounts to all girls! We even got to eat free at a buffet! And Makoto had to keep to a limit for once in a buffet! Oh, I missed not ending up banned after the first trip to a buffet with her...And then the shopping! Oh, there was so much to see and buy and I am so glad we've been saving up so much! *muffled voice goes off* O-Oh, right! Focus on what happened and not just on the shopping...still shocked Mai didn't want to look at more clothes with us...a-anyway, during it all, it turns out Misty encountered Jessie over this dress, not sure what dress exactly since I never noticed either of them, and then the announcement for a contest for the festival went off and people all left!

After everyone but us and Team Rocket left, we learned that-through meeting Edison-san again-that Takeru and La were there as well...and that Edison was offering Misty and Jessie a Pokemon Egg depending on who got furthest in the contest. Tsubaki and I joined the contest to help Misty and then we learned that it doubled as a Pokemon Tournament! And while we got to keep the cute kimono and robes we were given for the first portion, it's the main prize that, well...I just wanted to win so bad~! *a muffled shout went off before Noel yelped before getting muffled* Ahem. Sorry, Tsubaki Yayoi replacing Noel for the rest of this as Makoto is letting her cry into her tail. Misty, due to having only Water-Types, asked for the help of the others since the rules stated she couldn't have more than one Type for each Pokemon she used for the tournament. Her team for it consisted of Starmie, Pikachu, Terra, and Takeru's Scorbunny Pele. Misty and I were in one block while Jessie and Noel were in the other, all four of us eventually ending up in the semi-finals.

I went up against Misty and...well, while Luca and I were doing a good job...we ended up losing to Misty's Psyduck through him getting a migraine when Luca tried to just knock him out and ended up knocking the both of us out literally! I came to during Noel's battle against Jessie, managing to see her take on three of Jessie's Pokemon...until she sent out a new Pokemon called Lickitung. It kept paralyzing and beating Noel's Pokemon with Lick...until Nymph came out. I...I'm still confused by it all. Lickitung's Lick wouldn't work on Nymph...because it's a Ghost-Type Move on a Normal-Type. But how does that even work? Lick shouldn't be a Ghost-Type Move, should it? *muffled voices were heard* Ah right...sorry. Even still, Jessie's Lickitung was still a powerful Pokemon and nearly beat Noel and Nymph….until she hit two of her nerves...she not only ruthlessly critique her new poem….but also claimed she knew love better than her...right before claiming she'd take better care of her Pokemon than her….Regardless, it set Noel off, and through determination...Nymph evolved into a Sylveon...which let Lickitung's Lick finally hit her.

At first, we were all worried Noel would lose because of that, but instead, she broke the Paralysis and beat Lickitung and knocking Jessie out of the running. ...Apparently, she was able to do that because of the PokeBeans Noel kept feeding her Pokemon. ...Beans here can cure status conditions...who knew? I'm a bit ashamed to admit, but because of Luca and Terra's battle, Terra couldn't continue on in the tournament and had to be substituted with...a Duraludon belonging to Takeru. A Dragon/Steel-Type. After that, the final battle began.

It started with Noel and Misty sending out with Yuki and Pikachu respectively. Despite the great showing of how far Yuki's come since she hatched in Pewter, Pikachu still got the victory. After that was Psyduck against Mary, who could bounce around by fluffing up her fur to the point she could effectively hide in it. It seems that Takeru giving Psyduck a Technical Record for Calm Mind did wonder for the duck Pokemon, showing that he's quite the battler, even if it was a draw due to the two knocking each other out with Mary's newly learned Charge Beam. After that was Pele and Nymph, where Nymph put Pele under infatuation before he could use U-Turn and knocked him out, leading to Misty sending out Dinadan the Duraludon. *giggles* I just love that the Pokemon Takeru caught in Galar all have Arthurian names aside from Pele. It's so nice to meet a fellow fan of the tales. Still, Dinadan quickly dealt with Nymph...before turning coward when Umi came out and causing Misty to forfeit using Dinadan and end up with it being Pikachu and Umi fighting for the win.

The battle was intense, neither side really giving the other full openings to attack until the very end. In the end, Misty was able to beat Umi just barely and won the prize: the Pokemon Princess Doll collection. Due to how fragile it was, Misty sent it back to her home in Cerulean, but kept the egg Edison gave her. I wonder what will hatch from it? And that citizen's arrest so I couldn't have the chocolate that a Pokemon literally made of sweets was uncalled for, girls! *Tsubaki yelps as a muffled fight went off*

Everything was quiet in the Pokemon Center. At the early morning they were in, everyone should have been sound asleep. Keyword being 'should.' The reason for that was one Ash Ketchum, unable to fall asleep despite wanting to. All he could do was stare up at the ceiling, unable to let his mind rest after the adventure on the way back to where the old man and his Abra were resting until tomorrow to teleport them to Cinnabar Island.

'Bulbasaur didn't want to evolve…' Ash thought, his eyes glancing over at where Bulbasaur's Pokeball was on his hung up belt, 'Is he worried he'll act like Charmander when he became a Charmeleon? What about the others?' a soft knock went off at the door, "?" he got out of bed and walked over to open the door, revealing a tired Luca, "Luca?"

"Koko woke me up to get you to go to bed. She's sleep-reading your thoughts and they keep waking her up," Luca explained.

"Oh…" Ash noted with a whisper.

"And from what she told me...you're thinking about why Bulbasaur doesn't want to evolve, correct?"

"...Yeah," Ash replied, "I mean, is he worried about acting like Charizard when he was a Charmeleon? Or is it something else? A-And do the others not want to evolve either?"

"We could always buy an Everstone," Luca offered.

"Not really...The Princess Festival nearly drained us dry," Ash reminded before rubbing his chin, "...Maybe Professor Oak knows?"

"Could be," Luca replied.

=Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call~! Phone call~!=

"I swear one of these days, I'm changing that ringtone…" Oak yawned, putting his labcoat over his pajamas while sitting at the desk and answering it, the screen changing to show Ash, "Ash?"

=Hi, professor. Sorry...did I wake you?=

"No, I just got done feeding the nocturnal Pokemon," Oak replied, "Is something up?"

=Um...Professor, is there a way to keep my Pokemon from evolving if they don't want to?= Ash asked.

"Hm? Preventing evolution? Well there's an Everstone."

=We don't have the money to buy one, let alone enough for everyone who hasn't evolved yet=

"Hmm...Then why haven't you used your Pokedex?"

"My Pokedex?" Ash repeated, pulling Dexter out.

=Yes, each Pokedex has a small piece of Everstone in it that you can use to let out a signal that prevents Pokemon from evolving in a small radius around you= Oak explained =It only works on Pokemon that have a Pokeball since the signal resonates with those to produce a soundless signal that discreetly startles a Pokemon, causing them to not evolve. Though, this radius will also affect your friends' Pokemon if they're not out of range and there's a side effect when you keep it active long enough=

"Side effect?"

=Basically, the moment the signal cuts out after enough time passes, any Pokemon affected by this signal that doesn't have an Everstone, needs a specific item, or doesn't meet certain requirements will evolve= Oak warned.

"So if I sent Bulbasaur to you after enough time passed, he'd evolve into Ivysaur?" Ash asked.

=No. The signal continues to come from the Pokeballs already affected until you turn it off= Oak assured =But what's brought all this up now?=

"Well, earlier tonight, Bulbasaur went off to this place with a lot of other Bulbasaur and a huge Venusaur," Ash explained, "His bulb was glowing and so were the other Bulbasaur. And then they all started to evolve except for my Bulbasaur who didn't want to. Luca had to run interference and we barely managed to convince Venusaur from having the Ivysaur battle Bulbasaur until he evolved."

=I see...Well, Ash, if you do activate the Evolution Cancel feature, just follow the instruction on your Pokedex's help menu= Oak explained =But make sure to talk with everyone before you do that so they won't be surprised when their Pokemon try to evolve but won't=

"Understood, professor," Ash nodded.

=Good. Now we should both be off to sleep= Oak said before yawning =Good night, now=

"Night," Ash spoke before they hung up.

"Alright, off to bed now. Like the professor said," Luca encouraged, "We can talk about it once we get to Cinnabar, okay?"

"...Yeah," Ash nodded.

"Oh wow~!" Makoto awed the next day, "It's like a big ol' tourist trap!"

The group were currently upon a moderately-sized island with the center of it sporting a large volcano. All around them at the docks, however, were numerous stalls, colorful decorations, and tourists...lots and lots of tourists.

"Guess we should have expected that given this is an island," Brock noted.

"Must be a pain for the guys at that lab we heard about in Grandpa Canyon to get to work," Mai noted.

"Oh, yeah! This is where they have the big machine that revives fossils, right?" Makoto recalled as she looked down at Rumble's Pokeball on her belt.

"A wonder of science...and it's here on a tourist trap," Kajun muttered, "Well...I suppose that is an easy way of funding their building."

"I'm hoping to find the Gym first," Ash noted, "Either that or the Pokemon Center."

"Pfft! Please...you're just wasting your time, Ashy-Boy."

"...Gary," Ash muttered in annoyance as he looked over, seeing his rival dressed in a pink Hawaiian shirt with blue markings on it.

"Aw great. The answer's still no," Makoto snarked.

"Hey, relax, I'm just here on a mini vacation before training for the League," Gary assured, "But yeah...there's not even a Gym here, Ashy-Boy."

"Gary knows it all!" His cheerleaders added with a wave of their hands.

"And the cheer squad, too…" Makoto muttered.

"Huh? No Gym!?" Ash gawked, "But Red said there was one here and he won a Badge from it."

"Huh? Red said that?" Gary pondered before frowning, "...Oh, that jerk! I am so gonna get him into a fining problem with Green if there really is one still active here!"

"Still active?" Mai repeated.

"Yeah," Gary replied before pointing down the street, "The Gym is supposed to be all the way over there, but when I looked, it was closed shut and abandoned. Same with this mansion nearby." he smirked, "Managed to catch a few Pokemon in that place."

"Mansion?" the group repeated.

"Yup. It's supposed to be this old research lab or something, but it was filled with tons of Fire and Poison Type Pokemon," Gary explained, "And you better find a hotel that has rooms available. The Pokemon Center's booked solid for the next month."

"...Well…" Kajun began, reaching into her bag as she pulled out some tickets, "It's a good thing I still have these after that little adventure with the Digletts."

"Oh, I forgot about those!" Ash gawked.

"We've dealt with a lot, so it's fine to have forgotten," Kajun assured, "While we missed the cruise part, the inn part is still valid. The Big Riddle Inn. Hmm...Seems to be located at the base of the volcano not too far from where the Gym and the abandoned mansion are."

"Aww lucky~!" Gary's Cheerleaders complained.

"That's the one with the all natural hot springs!" one of them whined.

"They say it's supposed to do wonders for your skin!" another added.

'Why are we always finding hot springs?!' Mai thought in shock.

"Anyway…" Gary spoke up as he turned from the group, "I gotta get back to my room at the inn and relax...Don't want you and your sucker squad to infect me with your loserdom."

"I'm sorry, what?" Makoto asked, pretending to hold a phone in her hand, "I was in the middle of a call with 'I don't care'." her ear was then tugged at, "Gah!"

"Come on, you," Tsubaki scowled, pulling Makoto away, "Let's check in first and then start trying to find if there's still a Gym here."

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" Makoto whined.

"Don't make me call out Soren," Tsubaki warned.

"I'll be good!" Makoto yelped.

"Chi/Mol!" the duo in her tail agreed, popping out with terrified expressions.

"...Don't even try it," Misty spoke, reaching out and grabbing's Brock's ear before he could chase after some girls, her other arm currently holding Togepi.

"Togepriii~!" Togepi chirped, clapping its tiny hands together.

'Great...If Red says there is a Gym here then that means he probably already found it,' Gary thought, heading for his inn, 'Ugh...This is gonna bother me the whole trip, isn't it? Red...I am siccing Green on you to get the answer!'

Red sneezed before quickly panicking and barely grabbed onto the ledge once more of the small part of the Raizen Mountain Range he was currently scaling, Pika sighing in relief at not falling. Why does her Trainer like to climb so many tall places?!

"Ah, here we are," Kajun noted as they approached a decent-sized inn that was mostly white with a red roof.

"Oh, what a neat clock they've got," Misty noted, looking at the clock on top of the roof, "The hands look like they're made of steam."

"Why thank you. Took a while to make them."

The group turned to see an older man approach, wearing a red long-sleeved shirt, red pants, and a pair of orange flip flops. His eyes were covered in circular sunglasses while he sported long wavy blond/brown hair and a bushy mustache. In his arms were a few bags of groceries.

"Are you the owner of the Big Riddle Inn?" Ash asked.

"Indeed I am. Just call me 'Mr. Riddle,'" the man chuckled before momentarily tensing upon spotting Noel, who was distracted by Yuki as the Alolan Vulpix was trying to paw at the blonde's nose, 'Impossible…' he tripped a little, "Ah! Whoa now...Heh-heh. Sorry 'bout that. Bit of a tripster, if you know what I mean."

"..." Makoto giggled, "Tripster...Hilarious."

'Oh god…' Mai and Tsubaki mentally groaned as Kajun pulled out the tickets once more.

"We're here to trade these tickets in for the rooms," Kajun informed.

"Hm? Ah, I remember these. Gave them to a construction guy who needed an offering for some Trainer help. Heard his dam's changed into a nature preserve lookout," Mr. Riddle noted as he accepted them, "Guess you missed the cruise since it's going to leave tomorrow and came earlier this week."

"We were really busy, sir," Brock answered.

"Fair, I suppose…and good thinking of writing your names on these, too," he nodded before looking at Noel and a ticket, "...Excuse me, little lady."

"Hmm?" Noel blinked before looking over at him, "Yes?"

"I have a bit of a riddle for you," Mr. Riddle stated, "'I am sly during both day and night, and my tail can encite both joy and flight. What am I?'"

"...Oh! A fox!" Noel answered.

"Bingo!" Mr. Riddle beamed, putting his bags down for a moment as he reached for something, "As such, you win a little prize!" with that, he pulled out a small solid red Pokeball with black detailing, "A little gift, courtesy of the Kalos Region."

"E-Eh?" Noel pondered as she accepted the Pokeball before enlarging it.

The Pokeball opened and the Pokemon within was released. In a moment, the Pokemon was revealed to be a tiny yellow fox with a white muzzle. The tip of its tail was a brilliant red with red fluffy fur coming out of its ears. It opened its eyes to reveal them to be the color of fire before it stretched with a yawn.

"Oh/Vul~!" Trainer and Starter awed at the new Pokemon before Ash took Dexter out.

=Fennekin, the Fox Pokemon. Once known as 'Fokko,' Fennekin are natives to the Kalos Region. Hot air is vented from Fennekin's ears, reaching temperatures of over 390 degrees Fahrenheit, which it uses to intimidate its opponents. Fennekin chews on twigs, which fill it with energy. It can be temperamental, but it tries to do its best for its Trainer= Dexter informed as the fox just scratched itself, not paying much attention to anyone.

"Wow. Two of the same kinda animal. How neat can that be?" Makoto whispered to Tsubaki.

"Says the one with two squirrels in her tail," Tsubaki quietly replied in a deadpan tone.

"...Touche."

"It does seem a bit early for you all to come straight here," Mr. Riddle admitted.

"We wanted to get checked in before we did any searching," Ash replied.

"Oh? Looking for some homemade goods to send home?" Mr. Riddle asked.

"No. I'm hoping to find a lead to the Pokemon Gym here," Ash replied.

"Ahh...That's a bit of a sad tale," Mr. Riddle noted, shaking his head somberly, "You see...years ago, Cinnabar wasn't all that much. Just a few homes for the scientists at the lab and the Gym led by Blaine, who worked at the research lab during the off-season. But then, a Trainer with a Swinub came and discovered some hot springs. Folks started coming when they learned from the Trainer about them and what was a small village grew to a town of tourism and having to relocate the lab to the other side of the island." a frown grew on his face, "Trainers started to come less for the Gym and more for the hot springs and tacky souvenirs. Blaine grew disgusted by it all. One day, he just up and shut down the place, locking it up and throwing away the key into the abandoned mansion, declaring he would never battle unless someone proves they're here for more than just those blasted springs and knicknacks." he shook his head, "Tourists! They've ruined the island!"

"Well, I'm no tourist!" Ash argued, "I came here to battle Blaine, not do sightseeing!"

"Ahh...well sadly he hasn't been seen for a long while now. Last anyone heard, he said he was going to be in 'a place where firefighters cannot win,'" Mr. Riddle replied.

"A place where firefighters cannot win?" Ash repeated.

Mr. Riddle nodded, "Well, let's get your rooms set up and you guys can be on your way."

"Oh, she's so soft," Noel noted, petting her new Fennekin as the group looked around with Ash focused on finding the answer to the riddle.

"Fenni~"

"Vul," Yuki mewled, nuzzling against the Fennekin as well.

"I swear Noellie is rubbing off on Yuki," Makoto shook her head.

"Hmm….A place firefighters cannot win…" Tsubaki pondered to herself as they came upon an abandoned structure with the windows covered in metal and a large lock on the double doors.

"Hey, this must be the Gym," Ash noted, recalling what Mr. Riddle had said, "...Oh! Kajun, can Hikari or Koko Teleport Soren in there?"

"Soren?" Tsubaki asked.

"Yeah! If no one's been in there since Blaine locked it up, maybe his scent's still in there!" Ash beamed.

"Oh...clever idea, Ash," Tsubaki noted as she brought out her Rockruff.

"Ruff!" Soren yipped, panting happily as his tail wagged.

"Okay, Soren, we have a big job for you," Ash noted as he pointed at the building, "There's a scent in there of a guy we need your help finding."

"Awoo!" Soren barked.

"Aw, that's great! Good to he…" Ash began, reaching down to pet.

*CHOMP!*

"!?" Ash froze while everyone looked at the Soren connected to the hand by his fangs, "...EEYOW!"

"S-Soren!?" Tsubaki gawked as the Rockruff released Ash's hand and ran off, "Ah! Soren, wait!" she quickly ran off after the puppy, "Soren, come back!" she almost reached him when he entered a crowd of people, getting through with his tiny size between their legs, "Soren!" by the time she managed to get through, apologizing and excusing herself several times over, the Rockruff was long gone, "Oh...Soren…"

"What was that about!?" Misty gawked once Tsubaki came back to them, Aqua using a low-powered Ice Punch on Ash's hand.

"I...I don't know," Tsubaki replied, shaking her head as she had a troubled look on her face.

"Let's split up," Brock suggested, "We can do a sweep over the place to try to find Soren."

"Good thinking," Ash agreed.

"Not focused on finding Blaine?" Misty asked.

"We can find him later. Soren's more important right now," Ash replied, earning a small smile from Kajun.

"Ah~ Zis is ze life," Fifi sighed in content, her arms wrapped around one of Dulse's as the two walked along one of the outer streets where there were less people, "If not for ze mission we are on, I'd love to just stay here for ze next several months."

"Yes, but as you mentioned, we are still on a mission," Tager reminded, sitting on the other side of a bamboo wall that kept the two sides apart.

"Yeah. Finding that Ultra Beast and those girls," Zossie added, sitting on Tager's shoulder...while nibbling on cotton candy on a stick, "We know that they're with a Pokemon Trainer, so they should be coming here to battle the Gym here."

"But the Gym here looks to be closed," Dulse noted.

"Don't ya remember when we talked to that Red guy in that one world? This is probably like that world where the Trainers have to go into a creepy place for the key," Zossie argued.

"Maybe," Dulse admitted before a device in his pants began to beep, "!" he dug out a white and silver handheld device and opened it, "There are readings nearby. Not enough for an Ultra Wormhole, but enough for a Faller...maybe more."

"Hmm...do you think it is them?" Tager offered.

"It may be," Dulse replied with a nod before pointing down the street, "It seems to be in this direction."

"Perfect! Then let's be off!" Zossie declared as she pointed forward, "Onward, Golden Tager X!"

"...Kokonoe told you that name, didn't she?" Tager deadpanned.

"Yep!" Zossie beamed.

"Great…" Tager sighed, bringing a massive hand to his face.

"Soren!" Ash called out as he, Misty, and Brock walked along the beach and looking around.

"Pika~!" Pikachu called, standing on Ash's shoulder and facing the opposite direction Ash's head was facing.

"Mmm…" Brock frowned, rubbing his chin.

"Brock, what's up?" Misty asked.

"Something about this sounds familiar," Brock admitted, scrunching up his face a little in thought, "A Pokemon that was once extremely friendly before suddenly running away like Soren did…"

"It does?" Misty raised a brow before looking ahead, "Ah! Isn't that Gary?"

"Gary?" Ash blinked as he looked ahead, seeing his rival standing not too far from them, looking at a small blue device.

"Okay...so his name was Blaine and he's a scientist in the off-season," Gary muttered.

"Hey, Gary!"

"Gh!" Gary tensed before spinning around to see the three with Ash in the front.

"Hey, have you seen Soren?" Ash asked.

"Who?" Gary asked.

"Tsubaki's Rockruff. He's run off," Ash explained.

"Oh...no I haven't," Gary replied, making Ash blink a bit, "...what?"

"You didn't try to insult me or anything."

"So?"

"You normally make fun of Ash whenever we see each other," Misty added.

"Well…" Gary began…

*riiiing~*

...before everyone heard a soft ring that seemed to cut through all the noise. Gary's brow rose when a glow started to shine in Ash's jacket's breast pocket. It looked to him like it was in the shape of...a feather?

"Wh…" Gary began.

"Cuuune~"

"?!" the four humans and one Pikachu tensed.

"Toge?" Togepi tilted its head before water splashing made them look to the sea...as Suicune jumped off the water and over them, landing a few kilometers away.

"?! S...Suicune," Misty whispered in awe.

"What's it doing all the way out here?" Brock pondered.

"Did you forget what that guy riding Suicune in the race said?" Gary asked as Suicune looked at Ash, "It's here to battle Ash."

"Battle? A-Already?" Ash blinked in surprise, Suicune giving a light nod in response, 'Sorry, Tsubaki…' he quickly readied a Pokeball as Suicune tensed up, 'I'm going to be held up for a bit…' "Pikachu...you ready?"

"...Pika," Pikachu nodded, hopping down from Ash's shoulder as he stood ready, cheeks sparking.

For a moment, all was still. Then, the air erupted with a barrage of bubbles slamming into bolts of lightning that let out a sound akin to thunder.

"Any luck?" Makoto asked as Cherry flew over to her, Noel, and Tsubaki.

"Emol!" Cherry pointed down a street.

"Attagirl, Cherry!" Makoto beamed before turning to Tsubaki, "Cherry thinks he went this way."

"Then have her lead the way," Tsubaki stated, a bit of worry in her voice.

"Alrighty, Cherry! Lead the way!" Makoto cheered.

"Emol!" Cherry beamed, taking off into the air once more as the three girls began to follow the flying electric squirrel.

"Hopefully Soren's alright," Noel whispered in worry.

"Don't worry. I'm sure h-" Makoto began as the two turned the corner as they followed Cherry...to a large...abandoned looking...scary looking...dilapidated...faded...mansion, "..."

"..." Noel began to give a squeak of fear as Yuki and her new Fennekin began to lower their ears in nervous fear.

"Why, Cherry, why~?" Makoto whimpered out.

"Mol?" Cherry tilted her head.

"You're sure he went in there?" Tsubaki asked.

"Em!" Cherry nodded.

"Then in we go," Tsubaki stated.

"Is it even unlocked?" Makoto asked.

"If not...you can always knock in your way," Tsubaki countered.

"I don't know if I like this new you...or hate it...given where you want me to break in…" Makoto admitted.

"Emo!" Cherry called as she shot into Makoto's tail before flying out with Berry, dressed in a pink Hawaiian shirt, "Ga-emol-mol."

"Pachiri?" Berry tilted her head.

"Emolga."

"Chipa!" Berry nodded before the two squirrels flew over to the barricaded doors and Cherry threw Berry at it, "Pachi…" her tail glowed before she slammed her Iron Tail on the barricade, breaking it, "RISU!" she landed in front of the forced open doorway and pumped a tiny fist at the girls, "Chipa!"

"...Nevermind. Your Pokemon did it for you," Tsubaki stated with a small smile.

"...Not sure if it's the worry for your pupper or what," Makoto muttered as her two Pokemon ran back into her tail...before Noel hugged it as both Yuki and her new Fenniken jumped in, "...and saw that coming."

"Mmmm~" Noel whimpered a bit

"I swear if this wasn't for something really important...I'd suggest burning this place down," Makoto spoke up, "What are the ironic chances it's actually full of Fire-Types?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if there are," Tsubaki replied, "But lucky for us…You and Noel have a Water-Type to protect us from Fire-Types."

"Mmm...Why do ya gotta be so smart?" Makoto grumbled.

"Think of this as a way to see what Rumble can do outside of training," Tsubaki replied before walking to the doorway, "Now come on! We need to find Soren!"

"Ugh...Luca just had to go searching with Mai and Kajun for the little guy…" Makoto sighed as she followed with Noel still holding her tail, "We coulda had him here looking with that Aura stuff so we wouldn't have to."

"Mmmm…" Noel whimpered.

"...Well, maybe it won't be as scary as we thought i-" Makoto began as they stepped inside...and saw how empty and decrepit it was...and the foul stench in the air, "...I was wrong. I was so wrong." she quickly let out Rumble, "Rumble, if you spot a Pokemon, blast 'em with Water Gun."

"Tir!" Rumble nodded.

"Let's start on the first floor," Tsubaki ordered, "We'll sweep through it before making our way up to the second."

"Got it," Makoto replied with a thumbs up.

"H-hai," Noel nervously replied as the three girls and their Pokemon began to search the area.

"Seriously...why is there something so creepy on an island like Cinnabar?" Makoto asked.

"It could be there was an incident years ago," Tsubaki guessed as they looked around, noticing pieces of wood scattered about as they passed a room, "Hmm?"

"S-something wrong?" Noel asked, poking out from behind Makoto as Tsubaki walked into the room, seeing it was filled with various notes and burnt books.

"Are these….research notes?" Tsubaki whispered, looking at a few of the scattered notes and picked one up, "'July 5, During a storm, our ship was sent off course and ended up upon an unknown island. With Blaine's Growlithe, we were able to venture onto the land with the sense of safety to stock up on necessary supplies. During our excursion, we found signs of a Pokemon neither of us had ever seen. Based on the depth of the claw marks on trees, it should be no bigger than 0.4 meters, yet the varying heights of the marks suggest it is capable of flight. We've returned to the boat and plan to stay for a few days to see if we can learn more about this mysterious Pokemon.' ...Blaine? As in the Gym Leader?"

"Mr. Riddle said that he worked as a scientist," Noel recalled.

Tsubaki picked up another, "'July 7, We've managed to confirm that there are no other Pokemon on this island except for the mysterious Pokemon. Something we believe to be so small being capable of forcing all other Pokemon off of one island is rather intimidating. '"

"Hey, we all know that being tiny ain't that bad," Makoto noted as her two electric squirrels poked out of her tail, "Like Pikachu and his zapping Legendaries back at the mountains."

"True...hmm…" Tsubaki pondered as she continued to read the notes, "'July 10, We finally discovered the mysterious Pokemon. It just popped into existence before us as if it had used Teleport. Based on how used it was to our ship, it seems to have been watching us these last five days and is highly curious. I feel sorry for Blaine after this new Pokemon spilled the coffee on his lap after trying to copy him. Seems to dislike bitter things and prefers sweets like my hot chocolate. After examining this mysterious new Pokemon...we decided to give it a name. Mew...'"

"Mew? Ain't that one of those Mythical Legendaries like Marshadow?" Makoto asked.

"I believe so...oh! I think I found a photo!" Tsubaki gasped, moving some of the notes as she found a surprisingly well preserved photo, showing a small, light pink-ish white cat-like Pokemon with a long tail...and a pair of large baby blue eyes.

"...Baby~" Noel whispered with a slight squeal, her two foxes peeking out of the tail on hearing that and squealing as well on seeing the photo.

"...What...timing you say that, Noel," Tsubaki whispered, noticing another set of notes behind the photo, "'August 1, We return back to Cinnabar. Mew seems to enjoy being around me and when we left, she snuck aboard with her invisibility. When I introduced Mew to my wife and daughter, Amber was quick in befriending Mew. Though, I wish she didn't do so with offering some candy. We now have another rule to add to our rules when it comes to Mew: DON'T GIVE MEW CANDY! But other than that, Amber and Mew just seem to adore one another.'"

"Oh, I'm getting a bad feeling about this," Makoto noted, looking around the ruined mansion.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Noel asked as Tsubaki looked at a more damaged paper.

"'October 31, There was an accident. Amber was on her way home and…' Some of the sections are smudged. I'll need to skip them. 'She's gone. I can't accept it. She can't be gone. She has so much to live for! She's too young to be gone!'"

"Called it," Makoto noted, her ears drooping a little as Tsubaki looked at more.

"November 19, I can bring her back! With our current research, I was able to revive her consciousness. Even if it's just that, I can bring Amber back! My wife doesn't think it, but I know she's as hopeful as I am! I just know it! I need to just improve the technology! Mew seems to be acting strange lately. I hope she's not coming down with something. Reviving Amber is proving difficult enough, I can't let her get sick either,'" Tsubaki read one before looking at another, "'December 29, I've met a man who's lost his own daughter yesterday. He's willing to provide me the needed funding to bring Amber back! But he asks that I do the same with his own daughter. Her name is Mu and she has three sisters and a little brother.' 'December 31, Mew left. I went to check on her after not seeing her since my new companion in my research came. All that was left was a bit of fur. I don't know when she left, but...but I believe she'll come back once Amber has returned! I just know she will and she and Amber can keep playing again like they used to!'"

"Oh god...He snapped," Makoto paled.

"That poor man…" Noel whispered.

"'January 16, Attempts at cloning Mew are failing. They don't last past the formation of the consciousness for more than a day. When I spoke to Blaine today about the problem, he suggested that with how strong Mew was shown to be, it may be that she can't be cloned because of her power. We're going to alter her DNA for the next clone. Blaine's offered his own DNA to be used with it and see if adding it to Mew's DNA will make something that will be stable enough,'" Tsubaki continued to read, "'February 6, the cloning was a success! Using Blaine's DNA was just what we needed! We've decided to name this altered clone of Mew 'Mewtwo.' He's been taken to the Stabilization Chamber where Amber, Mu, and the clones we've named 'BulbaTwo,' 'CharTwo,' and 'SquirtTwo' are currently in. Even in his state, the brainwave patterns we're getting is simply amazing! My team is theorizing he'll be capable of using Telepathy once he awakes!'"

"They made a clone of Mew?" Makoto blinked.

"Clone…" Noel whispered, 'Why does that feel...familiar to me…?'

"...I can't seem to find anything else on Mewtwo or the clone Pokemon," Tsubaki whispered as she looked through the remaining notes, "...Just what went on in here?"

"No clue, but can we please leave? I'm getting the heebie-jeebies," Makoto shuddered.

"H-Hai! I…" Noel began as she took a step back before a cracking noise went off, "E-Eh?" she looked down to see the part of the floor she was on sinking, "E…" she fell through the floor as it broke under her, "EEEEK!"

"NOEL!" Makoto and Tsubaki exclaimed.

"I can't sense Soren's Aura here," Luca shook his head, opening his eyes as he, Mai, and Kajun stood in an empty alleyway, "He must have doubled back."

"I had a feeling," Kajun muttered as they walked out of the alleyway.

"Seriously, what could've gotten into Soren?" Mai pondered, "He was a good pup this morning then suddenly he bites Ash and runs off on his own!"

"I'm not sure," Luca replied before pausing and looking out towards the end of it, "We're being watched."

"!?" the two tensed up.

"You see? I told you zat Lucario cannot be sneaked up upon," a voice at the end scolded.

"Fifi…" another sighed.

"Uhm...hi?" Mai blinked, "We kinda know you're there...so you can come out if you want."

"Or stay and I can come to you," Luca warned.

"We're coming, darlings," Fifi replied, "We're just relishing the fact zese two did not think zis through on trying to be mysterious entrances with a Lucario in ze area." Fifi emerged and Luca blinked a few times, "Bonjour."

"...Why does your Aura say 'Furfrou' yet you look human?" Luca questioned.

"Perhaps you vill learn," Fifi replied as Dulse stepped out beside her, "We mean no harm. You two are Mai Natsume and Kajun Faycott, oui?"

"Um...That's us," Mai replied, a hand going down to Aqua's Pokeball.

"Ah! Magnifique! You look just as Monsiuer Tager said you vould!" Fifi beamed.

"Tager?" Kajun repeated, her eyes widening in recognition before the large red-skinned man walked around the corner.

"!?" Mai gawked, "He's huge!"

"That's what she said," Zossie noted before blinking a few times at the shocked looks she was getting from Dulse and Fifi, "...What? Kokonoe said to say that when someone says 'He's huge.'"

"...So glad that the month delay between contacts happens…" Tager muttered.

"Kokonoe?" Kajun whispered.

"...Kajun...what's going on?" Mai asked, slowly looking at her friend, "How do you know this guy?"

"..."

"Oh please...don't let this be a big secret you haven't wanted to tell us type deal…" Mai sighed, earning silence from her, "Oh it is…"

"Explain, or I'll get Ash on your case," Luca frowned.

"...ahh," Kajun sighed in defeat, knowing she wouldn't be able to lie or hide anything from Luca, "...Mai, what do you know of Sector Seven?"

"Aside from them going against the NOL, not much else," Mai answered before blinking, "...wait. You're a member?!"

"Correct," Kajun nodded, "I was sent to the Academy as an undercover agent, sent by Kokonoe so she could obtain the Red Grimoire."

"That thing!?"

"A book? You were an undercover agent...after a book? Why am I not shocked you'd be an undercover agent looking for a book of all things?"

"Trust me, Luca. The books from where we're from...are a lot more complicated than you think," Kajun explained.

"Some not even taking the forms of books so to speak," Mai added, "Still...What the hell?! You're a secret agent!?"

"I am…" Kajun sighed, "Just...please don't tell the others about this. I...don't wish to cause any trouble."

"Any trouble?! You're a secret agent!"

"Do you have to keep saying it so loud?"

"I'm sorry, what reaction would you like me to have while freaking out?!" Mai snapped.

"I was not aware of this happening," Tager whispered.

"You stay out of this!" Mai snapped at him, making him flinch a bit.

"This...is getting awkward…" Tager muttered, "Maybe...we should continue this talk later…" he began backing away slowly.

"Stay," Luca spoke, now occupying his free shoulder, "You caused this, so you are going to deal with some questions. For one...Why do all of you have that same kind of altered Aura the girls have?"

"...Better add a note that our Auras get changed when we go through Ultra Wormholes," Fifi noted to Dulse.

"Oh, we're the Ultra Recon Squad and we're here to help Tager find these girls to get them home," Zossie explained.

"...What?" Luca raised a brow as Kajun began running around in a circle with Mai chasing her while spouting question after question.

Geodude raised Gengar's arm and pulled it down, causing the knocked out Ghost-Type to spray out a spout of water. The beach was a complete wreck with several angled craters from several strong attacks reshaping it from areas that looked as if high pressured bursts of water, glassed areas from lightning strikes, and even a stray rake or two. Ash was shaking a bit as Suicune seemed to be barely sweating despite a few injuries on its form...and a banana peel on her crest that she was shaking off.

"(Really shouldn't have made it a coconut cream pie)," Geodude noted as he pumped Gengar's arm once more.

"(Worth-blrbbrbrbrbr!-it for-blrblrblbr!-usin' Knock Off…)" Gengar groaned out.

'This is insane…' Gary thought, 'Even though Ashy's used just three Pokemon, he's managing to hold his own against Suicune!' he glanced at Brock, who was treating Pikachu and Bulbasaur, 'What kinda training has he been getting from travelling with a Gym Leader?'

"Okay...Let's go for this! Charizard, I choose you!" Ash called, letting loose his Fire/Flying-Type.

Charizard let loose a roar before looking at his opponent and narrowed his eyes.

"Ash, are you crazy?!" Misty shouted, "Charizard's a Fire-Type...and you saw what Suicune did to your other Pokemon!"

"We've got this," Ash replied as he held up his Mega Glove, 'I wanted to surprise Gary with this later, but if I don't give it my all against Suicune, it'll be like she gave me the Clear Bell for nothing…' "Ready, buddy?"

Charizard nodded before giving a roar. Ash brought two fingers to his Key Stone and Charizard's Charizardite X lit up alongside the Key Stone. The energy erupted off the two stones and collided.

"Okay, Charizard! Let's do this! Evolution beyond Evolution! Mega Evolve!" Ash shouted as he brought his Mega Glove all the way up in the air.

"Evolution beyond Evolution?" Gary repeated as the energy raced into Charizard and transformed him into Mega Charizard X, "!? What is that?!"

"Mega Evolution," Brock explained, "Ash and Makoto got an item called a Key Stone on them. When a Pokemon they have has the right Mega Stone and they have a strong enough bond, the Pokemon can achieve a new form called Mega Evolution."

'...Seriously, what kind of training has Ash gone through?!' Gary mentally exclaimed, 'This...This isn't even the same Ash I know. He's...he's gone past me…'

"Alright buddy, let's go!" Ash called out as Mega Charizard X roared out and glared at Suicune.

"Sui…" Suicune growled before roaring out as well, "CUNE!"

"Dragon Claw!" Ash called out.

Mega Charizard X swung his arms out, letting them be engulfed in the amplified Dragon-Type energy and shape into the energy claws. He shot off like a rocket at Suicune, who retaliated with one of her 'tassels' sharpening at the tip and she swung it, letting the claw meet sharpened 'tassel' and making an explosion. Another 'tassel' erupted from the smoke, a glistening metallic glint to it, as Mega Charizard X's tail shined with Iron Tail and slammed into the 'tassel,' creating a small shockwave from the stalemate that dispersed the smoke.

"Flamethrower!"

Suicune unleashed a Water Gun at the same time Mega Charizard X let loose a blast of blue flames at the Legendary Dog. The two attacks collided, letting out an explosion of steam from the collision. Suicune kept a close eye on the area, eyes narrowed as she prepared for whatever Ash's Pokemon would have in store. As she did, her eyes faintly glowed.

"...What's she up to?" Ash whispered as he carefully looked around the battlefield, "Charizard, be ready!"

The Mega Evolved Charizard nodded as the steam began to settle. A faint glow caught his attention as he looked ahead, tensing up as he saw Suicune unleash a massive Water Gun at him, the sheer mass of it almost rivalin the size of Hydro Pump.

"Gh?! Charizard dodge!" Ash quickly ordered.

Mega Charizard X quickly took flight, barely avoiding the attack that ripped up more of the beach.

"Whoa! Did Suicune use Hydro Pump?" Brock asked.

"No. That was a Water Gun," Misty noted.

"How can you tell?" Gary asked.

"The way she fired it," Misty replied, "I grew up surrounded by Water-Types. I know how a Water Gun and a Hydro Pump differ. The only way I could guess about the sudden boost is..." her eyes widened, "Suicune knows Calm Mind and was using it the entire time that steam was up!"

"Meaning now all of Suicune's Special Attacks...are even stronger," Gary added.

'This is getting harder than I thought…' Ash thought, gritting his teeth.

A ringing echoed in Noel's ears mixing in with muffled noises was what she awoke to. She quickly looked around for the source, unsure of where or even what it was. It didn't help that it was so dark, she couldn't even see anything. The last thing she could recall was falling through the floor and then...nothing.

'What is this place?' Noel pondered, seeing nothing but darkness all around her.

"...am I?"

'Eh?'

"Where...I…"

'Where?'

"Where am I?"

"Hello?"

"Who am I? What am I?"

"You don't know?" Noel asked, squinting her eyes as she looked around, "Hello? Are you out there?" she pursed her lips, 'It sounds like a little kid is lost here, too.'

"I sense others near me...but what are those strange sounds they make…?"

"I'm talking! Just like you are!" Noel replied.

"Those are words. They're talking!"

"A little girl now?" Noel pondered before a bright light shined, causing her to cover her eyes at the sudden warmth that followed, "Mmm!"

"!" Noel's eyes shot open as she sat up with a gasp, "Ah!"

"Vul/Fen!"

"E-Eh?" Noel blinked before looking around, "Wh-What?" a feeler bopped her forehead, "Eh?" she looked up to see Umi's face, "Umi?"

"Milo~" Umi smiled, nuzzling the top of her head.

"Pix~!" Yuki cried, jumping into her lap to earn her attention as the tiny fox nuzzled into her with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Yuki!" Noel gasped, giving the Alolan Vulpix a hug, "Oh, there, there, sweetie." she looked around, seeing all her Pokemon out and surrounding her, "Minna?" she looked past them to see a strange site; old lab equipment scattered about amongst seven large pods, plates on them long since ruined by the weather and what seemed to be marks from Pokemon, "Are we...in a lab?"

"Fenni~" Noel's Fenniken whimpered as she hid behind Noel's legs, shaking a bit as her ears were drooped downward.

"It is kinda spooky," Noel agreed before hissing as Umi's feeler brushed on the back of her head, "Ite…"

"Tic?!" Umi panicked, giving a whimper in apology.

"It...It's okay, Umi," Noel assured, reaching up to pet her shiny Milotic's head.

"Saur…"

"Eh?"

"Burn?"

"Burna!"

"Nasaur!"

Noel looked to the broken door leading into the lab to see what looked to be a trio of Bulbasaur. But unlike other Bulbasaur, the trio appeared to have reddish-orange skin with charcoal-like spots. Their bulbs were also replaced with actual flames. The middle one nudged the one of the right, who quickly scurried behind the third who snorted. The middle one groaned before moving to behind the frame and began to grunt, pulling in a tarp with a few Berries on it over to them.

"Are those...Bulbasaur?" Noel pondered, "Mmm...I wonder if I can ask Professor Oak for a Pokedex…"

"Burnasaur," the one that dragged the tarp over spoke, nuding a berry over to her direction, "Burn. Burnasaur-saur."

"...for me?" Noel asked.

"Saur."

"Fen!" the Fennekin chirped, nuzzling the strange Bulbasaur as the other two came over, the one still hiding behind the other much to the leading one's exasperation.

'...Wait. Were they…' Noel began mnetally as she looked around the ruined lab, 'Created here?' "Um...Did you three come from those?"

"Burn?" the one that had given her the berry pondered, looking at the pods before shaking its head, "Saur." the strange Bulbasaur pointed to the broken doorway, "Burnasaur, burn-burn!"

"Milo~" Umi nodded before moving around Noel and pointed her tail at the Burnasaur trio, "Milo~" she then pointed to Yuki, "Tic!"

"...They came from eggs like Yuki?" Noel asked.

"Mar!" her Mareep beamed.

"Oh, I-I see…" Noel blinked twice, "Um...Do you know how to get out of here? I was separated from my friends."

"Burn?" the leader of the three tilted its head.

"Um…" Noel looked up, seeing the hole in the ceiling, "I fell from up there."

"Saur!" the strange Bulbasaur nodded as it walked off to the doorway, "Burn! Burna!"

"S-S-S-Saur?!" the shy one exclaimed.

"Burnasaur," the exasperated one sighed before following after the leader.

"Burna?!" the shy one yelped before running after them, "Burnasaur~!"

"Sylve?" Nymph blinked a bit.

"Do they want us to follow?" Noel asked.

"Fen," her new Fennekin confirmed, following after the three.

"Okay. They probably know this place better than I do," Noel replied, returning everyone but Yuki and Fennekin and followed the three while carrying both her tiny Pokemon, 'I hope the others aren't too worried…'

"Ah geez. Ah geez. Ah geez…" Makoto whispered in worry as she paced around the room, "I could've grabbed her right there...but I didn't react in time!"

"Calm down, Makoto!" Tsubaki spoke, "We have Pokemon that can go down there and help find her."

"Ugh~! We just had to let Luca go off on his own!" Makoto groaned in frustration.

"...Cherry, please?" Tsubaki asked.

*CLANG~!*

"Thank you," Tsubaki thanked as Makoto rubbed the large bump on her head from the Iron Tail, "Makoto, we can send Cherry and Izayoi down to find where she is and how to get to her."

"...oh! Good idea!" Makoto quickly nodded, "Cherry?"

"Emol!" Cherry saluted as Tsubaki let out her Honedge.

"Go with Cherry and find Noel down that hole. When you do, find us a path to get to her," Tsubaki ordered.

"Hone~!" Izayoi saluted before she and Cherry went into the hole.

"And now we wait," Tsubaki spoke.

"I hate waiting," Makoto groaned, "This day just keeps weirder and weirder…"

"Agreed...but lets focus on getting Noel back, then dealing with the rest of this day," Tsubaki sighed.

"Hopefully, the others are doing okay…"

"So to recap…" Luca spoke before pointing to Tager, "You are from the same world as Lady Tsubaki and her friends outside of Ash, Misty, and Brock." he pointed at the two blue-skinned humans, "You two are members of an multiverse-scale elite team that deals with otherworldly creatures that have properties that could let them be considered Pokemon that are labeled as 'Ultra Beasts' and met Mr. Tager while tracking down an Ultra Beast that ultimately is on this island at best guess." he then pointed to Fifi, "And you are from a world where Pokemon are all female and all females are Pokemon that can change between a Beastkin form and a full Pokemon form where he…" he pointed to Dulse, "...unknowingly proposed to you when he was learning how Pokemon Battling works."

"That's correct/precisely/oui," They all nodded a bit in response.

"Hmm...neat…" Luca muttered, shocked that it was accurate and not just total misunderstood nonsense based on many stories being told at once.

"You've been watching those videos on Kajun's tablet Makoto snuck into it before we went on break from our school, haven't you?" Mai deadpanned.

"No. More like Berry, Needles, and Cherry reenacting scenes from it they found hilarious," Luca replied.

"Of course…"

"And finally you…" Luca began as he pointed at Kajun, "Are, in truth, a member of a secret organization intent on defying your world's world government because it is full of corruption..."

"That is correct…" Kajun muttered.

"And the reason you joined the school Tsubaki, Mai, Makoto, and Noel are in is because you were searching for something known as an Azure Grimoire?"

"...It was either us or the NOL," Kajun muttered as she looked away.

"...This is almost as strange as when I first learned about you all coming from another world back when the Gyarados attacked during a swimsuit contest," Luca admitted.

"You angered a Gyarados?!" Fifi gasped.

"Not fully correct...A trio of idiots known as 'Team Rocket' force-evolved a Magikarp by feeding it multiple Rare Candies," Kajun explained.

"Huh? What's wrong with Rare Candies?" Zossie asked, tilting her head.

"The ones here were discontinued because they caused negative side-effects in Pokemon such as forced evolution, increased rage, and several other things," Kajun explained.

"And what happened to that Gyarados...it was nightmare inducing," Mai added with a shudder.

"Oh come now. There is n-" Fifi began before Kajun pulled out a notepad and showed a page, "AHHH!"

"Told you," the two human girls deadpanned.

"Still...I am relieved to finally come into contact with you girls," Tager noted, adjusting his glasses, "I've been trying to find you for a few months now here and a few days back home."

"Huh?" Mai blinked twice.

"...Temporal dilation?" Kajun guessed.

"That's what we are assuming, yes," Tager nodded, "When I contacted Kokonoe after a month here when she said she'd contact me in a day was when we realized that a single day back home is a month here. In total, you've barely been gone for half of your break from school."

"S-Seriously?!" Mai gawked.

"That is correct."

"I guess that is good to know," Kajun muttered, "But it raises more questions as well...what would happen once we go home?"

"That I am unsure," Tager admitted.

"...So that's it...we're going home…" Mai whispered as she let the information finally process.

"Do we have to right now?" Kajun pondered, "If the time dilation factor is true...we are in no actual rush…"

"Hm?" Tager raised a brow.

"Plus, I think that Kajun has something she's really invested in that's going to happen in a few months," Mai went on.

"This is true. So how about we work out something that works for everyone?" Kajun offered, "We get to stay a while longer and see some important things through. Then...we go home...possibly...maybe...if I want to..."

"Y-wait, what?" Mai blinked at that last part.

"What?" Kajun asked with a smile.

"I was afraid this would be difficult…" Tager groaned.

"Well, it's not like I have much reason to go home...the only reason I would have are my friends...and they are here…" Kajun noted, "I also have more keeping me here than home…" she went on, "So...you aren't really selling me on wanting to leave. Of course, for my friends, I won't ruin a chance such as this since they have reasons to return home. Such as family."

"...She makes a point…" most everyone but Tager noted.

"There is also the fact that you seem to be as intrigued as myself, Tager," Kajun added as she gestured to Loew, who was being bench-pressed by Terra.

"...I will admit, I have…" Tager admitted, "...Kokonoe especially…"

"Didn't she wanna call Loew 'Subject 01?'" Zossie asked.

"She did…" Tager sighed.

"...Darling," Fifi whispered, moving a bit closer to Dulse, "Is this not like with that young man and his special circumstance and our own, no?"

"A little," Dulse quietly replied, "When we make our report later today, I'll request approval for one."

"Merci ma chérie," Fifi giggled, pecking his cheek, "Oh, that reminds me. We did say we'd visit mama and papa when this case was done."

"Ulp…" Dulse gulped.

"And we may as well get back to our search," Kajun spoke as she and Mai stood up, "A friend of ours is missing her Pokemon and another is currently looking for the Pokemon Gym here."

"I still haven't found his Aura," Luca sighed, "That was really out of character for Soren."

"Soren?" Zossie repeated.

"A Rockruff," Luca replied before Fifi, Zossie, and Dulse shared looks, "...You know something?"

"Well...in the world I am from, when a Rockruff suddenly runs away it means that they will soon evolve," Fifi explained.

"Evolve?" Mai and Kajun repeated...with the latter already having out a notebook with a Rockruff on the front.

"Oui. Your friend Soren will come back to his Trainer the moment he evolves into a Lycanroc," Fifi assured before looking to Luca, "Monsieur Luca, have you noticed anything about the Aura of your follow Pokemon that have evolved?"

"..." Luca rubbed his chin with a paw, "Come to think of it, when Charmander evolved into Charmeleon, his Aura shifted just a bit, growing and changing with his evolution." he frowned, "Which means I won't be able to look for Soren based on his regular Aura signature since it would have likely transformed."

"That is most likely the case," Fifi nodded, "Just give this 'Soren' time and patience. Why, if he has already become a Lycanroc, he is more than likely heading towards his Trainer as we speak." she rubbed her chin, "Unless he evolves at night. In which case, do not be surprised by them screaming in the middle of the night in fright."

"Well, I guess the search is a bust then," Mai sighed before looking to Luca, "Any chance you can tell where Ash and the others are?"

"Just a moment," Luca replied, closing his eyes before snapping them open and looking towards the beach, "Ash and Mega Charizard X are battling Suicune."

"WHAT/QUOI!?" everyone but Tager exclaimed, Fifi's ears and tail sticking straight up in shock.

Mega Charizard panted as he stood with his back to Ash and his red eyes glaring at Suicune, the beach between them coated in craters, muddy sand trenches and several spots where the sand had become glass from the flames. The Legendary Dog cringed a little as small bursts of flame came off her for a moment, the burn from a Flamethrower that caught her hind leg acting up.

"We…we're...doing...great...buddy," Ash heavily panted, sweat coming off him as he looked at the Mega Evolved Pokemon, causing the Fire/Dragon-Type to glance over his shoulder to nod in agreement.

"Kajun is gonna be so upset she's missed this," Brock noted, "I think he's actually got Suicune on the ropes thanks to that Burn."

"But he and Charizard are just as tired," Misty noted, seeing the fatigue building up in both Ash and Charizard's eyes.

"You think you got enough for one last shot?" Ash asked, earning a growl from Mega Charizard.

"Here it comes," Brock spoke, crossing his arms over his chest as Gary tensed upon hearing Misty gasp.

"Ash! I think Suicune's going for Hydro Pump!" Misty warned, watching the Legendary Dog's posture tensing up as if something was swelling up within the Pokemon.

"If she's using her best shot, then we'll return the favor. Charizard, Blast Burn!" Ash called.

Mega Charizard's eyes dilated upon that command. He swung his wings out as he let loose a roar before an ominous blue light started to shine within his jaws. Suicune tensed before she let loose a powerful blast of water at the same time as Mega Charizard unleashing a small blue sphere of light at her in return. The two attacks soared at one another before colliding in the center. For a moment, the two seemed to just...freeze. Then...the sphere of light gave way to an explosion of intense blue flames and heat washed over everyone as the world went deaf from the explosion of the two attacks colliding and going off together.

*BOOM!*

"WOAH!" Makoto yelped in surprise, "The heck was that?!"

"I...I'm not sure," Tsubaki replied before Izayoi phased through the floor, "Did you find her?"

"Hone," Izayoi replied, giving a thumbs up with her tassel.

"Oh thank the lord," Tsubaki sighed in relief, "Can you lead us to where she is?"

"Hone," Izayoi replied as she floated off.

"After that sword!" Tsubaki ordered.

"Right! And then we find out what blew up!" Makoto declared, "Because it better not have been the volcano!"

"There'd still be tremors and we'd feel the heat from the lava by now," Tsubaki pointed out.

"True. Plus, there'd probably be sirens like the eruption drills at the academy," Makoto agreed as they ran after Izayoi.

"...Wait...volcano…" Tsubaki whispered to herself, '...What if…' she shook her head, 'Think of it later. Find Noel first and Soren second.'

"Ah! Wh-What was that?!" Noel asked, holding a shivering, wide-eyed Yuki closer while looking rapidly around as her Fenniken was already in its Pokeball for safety.

"B-b-b-burn?" the shy one asked, looking at the leader and exasperated ones.

"Saur," the leader shook their head as the exasperated one pushed the shy one away from him with his hind leg before a small crash went off ahead of them, "Saur?"

"Wh-What was that?" Noel asked, quickly taking out Umi's Pokeball and moving ahead of the three to peek around the corner...to see an upside-down urn moving around, muffled shouting going off from in it...with a familiar tail and feet to Noel poking out of it, "Eh? Cherry?"

"Mmm?" the muffled shout of the Flying/Electric-Type questioned as Noel ran over and began to help pull the urn off her, "Mmm!" with a strong tug, Noel pulled it off, letting Cherry breathe in deeply, "Emol~!"

"Oh I'm so relieved to see you!" Noel sighed in pure relief, "...wait...if you're here, then that means...Makoto and the others must be nearby!"

"Ga!" Cherry nodded before seeing the three 'Bulbasaur,' "Emo?"

"B-Burn!" the shy one yelped, scrambling behind the exasperated one once more only to be pushed back out.

"Burnasaur," the leader rolled his eyes.

"I don't really get it myself, but I think they're Regional variants like Yuki is," Noel explained, "They were helping me find a way back upstairs."

"Emol?"

"SAUR!"

"Ah! Wh-What was that?! Why is everything making such loud noises now!?" Noel yelped as Yuki resumed shivering like a leaf once more and trying to hide behind her paws.

"Burnasaur!" the leader called as he ran ahead.

"Burn?!" the exasperated one yelped as he ran after the leader...before running back and began to push the shy one towards the direction the leader ran off in.

"Ah! W-Wait up!" Noel called as she ran after them, Cherry on her head.

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WERE TAKING US TO NOELLIE!" Makoto snapped as she, Tsubaki, and Izayoi were behind a pair of pillars that were taking the full brunt of a stream of flames.

The owner of the flames was what at first appeared to be a Venusaur, but there were several major differences. For one, its body was orange with charcoal-like splotches instead of green with dark-green splotches. Another was instead of a fully grown tree on its back, there was a full blown volcano surrounded by intense flames.

"VULCASAUR!" the 'Venusaur' bellowed as the flames on its back shifted into a pair of whips that lashed out harshly at the pillars, leaving gouges in them.

"Ahh!" the two yelped.

"Not so close!" Makoto snapped, "You nearly singed the fur on my tail!"

"SAUR!"

"Eep!" Makoto yelped, barely pulling her tail behind the pillar to avoid another flamethrower from the volcano on its back, "Where's Ash and his Pokedex when you need them!?"

"We're going to have to fight it," Tsubaki frowned, "And considering how it looks and the moves it's already used, it must be a Fire-type variant of a Venusaur."

"Meaning our best bets are probably Rock and Water-Types, right?" Makoto asked, "Good thing I've got Rumble then!"

"And I don't have Soren on me…" Tsubaki whispered, 'Luca's with Mai and Kajun and all I have on me are Astrea, Izayoi, and Vale…'

"Tsubaki, if you have a plan, I'd love to hear it!" Makoto called out.

"I only have Izayoi and Astrea since Vale is still too young to battle," Tsubaki replied, "I'll pull off distractions with them while Rumble goes for the super-effective attacks."

"Ah...gotcha!" Makoto nodded as she released Rumble, "You got this, Tsubaki!"

"Right. Izayoi, we'll need stealth for this. Go underground and start using Swords Dance. Once you've fully powered up, start attacking with Shadow Ball and Night Slash while phasing through things to avoid the attacks," Tsubaki ordered while letting out her Eevee, "Astrea, you made sure to practice the same moves Eevee taught Nymph, right?"

"Vui!" Astrea nodded.

"Good. Use Dig and make some tunnels under that Fire-Type Venusaur. Once you have enough tunnels, use Quick Attack and Shadow Ball to chip away at its health."

"Vulcasaur," Makoto corrected.

"Say what?" Tsubaki looked at the Beastkin.

"What? It's roaring out 'Vulcasaur,' so that's its name," Makoto replied.

Tsubaki, Izayoi, and Astrea gave her deadpanned looks before the Eevee decided to just get away from the strange tailed human by using Dig. The possessed sword followed the tiny ball of fluff's lead and phased through the floor while it started swaying as if performing a dance of sorts. As for Tsubaki, she quickly moved out from behind the pillar she was on and whistled sharply while waving at the newly named 'Vulcasaur.'

"SAUR!" Vulcasaur roared as it sent out a Flamethrower at Tsubaki, who quickly rolled out of the way while making sure the Fire-Type Pokemon kept its focus on her.

"Huh...Ya know, if that were water and not fire, it'd almost look kinda fun to do," Makoto noted.

"Tir?" Rumble pondered.

"We can think of ways to do that later. For now, we gotta start laying out some big ol' Rock and Water damage on that walking volcano," Makoto ordered, "Let's start off with some Ancient Powers, see if we can't get that big ol' boost. You've been practicing Aqua Jet with Aqua, right?"

"Ga!" Rumble nodded.

"Great!" Makoto beamed, "Okay, use Aqua Jet to move about between Ancient Powers. You're our ace in the hole for this, so don't get knocked out."

"Tir!" Rumble nodded before slapping his fins on the ground, causing a pulse to go out in it.

Vulcasaur bellowed as it kept its Flamethrower following Tsubaki before a barrage of fossils in stone slammed into it from the side, making it shout out and turn to glare at Rumble, who quickly shot off in an Aqua Jet to avoid the Flamethrower.

"Atta boy, Rumble! Keep it up with the Aqua Jet! And don't forget the Ancient Power!"

"Tirtou!"

"Vul!" Vulcasaur roared, turning to follow Rumble only for Astrea to poke out of the ground and hit it in the face with a Shadow Ball, "SAUR!" it turned to see Tsubaki run by and proceeded to roar at her, "VULCA!"

'So far so good…' Tsubaki thought, quickly rolling out of the way of another Flamethrower as the Vulcasaur was hit with another Ancient Power, making it focus on Rumble again before Izayoi shot out of the ground, her blade unsheathed and glowing with a dark energy that she used to strike at the larger Pokemon, making it roar at her and release a Fire Blast at the sword, who quickly dove through the wall and letting it get struck by the attack and make a hole in it via the heat melting where it hit, 'So long as we stick it this pattern, we might be able to tire it out enough for us to make our escape...and hopefully find Noel before something happens.'

"Rrr! Vulca…" Vulcasaur grunted before its volcano began to glow.

"...Oh chestnuts. It's about to erupt!" Makoto exclaimed in realization.

"SAUR!" Vulcasaur confirmed as its volcano erupted, letting loose a barrage of magma and obsidian chunks all around it.

"AHH!" Tsubaki yelped in surprise, narrowly avoiding a chunk of Magma

"What the heck is this move!?" Makoto panicked, barely jumping out of the way of one of the balls of lava that destroyed her previously safe pillar.

"I think it's called Eruption!" Tsubaki replied as Astrea barely got out of one of her holes in time to avoid the magma ball that landed in it.

"Oh, so that's what that move looks like! I thought it was just a temper tantrum!" Makoto noted before sniffing the air, "Huh? What's cooking?"

"Chipa!" Berry yelped, rapidly blowing at the end of Makoto's tail while dressed as a firefighter...with Makoto's tail tip on fire.

"Oh, it's me," Makoto blinked twice before it registered a moment later, "EEYOW! IT'S ME! I'M ON FIRE! I'M ON FIRE!"

"Tir!?" Rumble yelped as he started to try to follow after her, spraying Water Gun and missing each time.

"Oh you have to be kidding me…" Tsubaki groaned before she felt something hit her head, "?" she looked up to see the ceiling/upstairs floor of the room cracking from the eruption's explosive force, "!? The ceiling's ca..." a large chunk proceeded to fall at her, "!?"

"Eevui!" Astrea yelped as Tsubaki closed her eyes tight, bracing for the hit…

"AWOO~!"

...Only for a glowing light-brown blur to tear through the rocks. Tsubaki's eyes snapped open as the blur shot around before slamming into Vulcasaur, knocking it away and into a wall. It skidded to a halt, its back to Tsubaki to reveal a Midday Lycanroc, growling at the strange Venusaur-like Pokemon.

"A Lycanroc?" Tsubaki pondered.

"Whoa! Big wolf!" Makoto yelped, skidding to a halt before Rumble's Water Gun finally hit...but right in her face instead of her tail, "..." she rapidly shook her head as Berry finally put out the tiny fire on her Trainer's tail, "Thanks, guys…"

"...Soren?" Tsubaki asked, causing Lycanroc to look over its shoulder at her before nodding at her, "You evolved!"

"SAUR!" Vulcasaur roared as it got back up, glaring at the Rock-Type canine that snarled at it in return.

"?! Right, right. Be excited later, fight off the angry volcano version of a Venusaur now," Tsubaki tensed as Soren growled at Vulcasaur.

Vulcasaur's volcano began to glow before Soren glowed and shot off as a blur once more that rammed into it and knocked to Pokemon back into the wall. It got back up and belted out a Flamethrower at the blur that was Soren, who was easily keep out of its way to deliver another hit to Vulcasaur.

"I remember this move from La's Lycanroc. I think she called it Accelerock," Tsubaki recalled, "Keep it up, Soren! Knock Vulcasaur over then use Rock Throw to knock it fully over!"

"ROC!" Soren barked as he dodged another Flamethrower from Volcasaur.

He jumped into the air before the glow appeared once more. He shot down quickly at Vulcasaur, managing to force it onto its hind legs from the impact. Soren's tail glowed before a ring of rocks formed around it. With a howl, Soren swung its tail and the rocks shot out like a barrage from a machine gun, fully knocking the Vulcasaur over.

"Vul?! Vulca!" Vulcasaur grunted, trying to get onto its legs but could only kick its feet in the air.

"...wow. Go Soren," Makoto blinked before some crumbling rocks caught their attention.

"Is...is this the spot?" Noel cautiously asked, following the Burnasaur with the newly made hole in the wall as Cherry rode on her shoulder.

"Burn!"

"Oh ph-" Noel began before she yelped, seeing the Vulcasaur dangling its feet in the air, "Ahh!"

"Emol!" Cherry yelped.

"Noel/Noellie!"

"Eh? M-makoto? Tsubaki?" Noel blinked, "What's happening?" she motioned to the Vulcasaur.

"Burn?!" The lead Burnasaur gawked as the trio ran over to the bigger Pokemon.

"...is that a fire-type Bulbasaur?" Makoto blinked as she caught Cherry when she flew over to her.

"...wait…" Tsubaki whispered, looking on at the little Burnasaur looking on at the Vulcasaur in worry, "...oh dear…."

"?"

"I think…we just fought a mother defending her nest."

"Well we were kind of in a panic!" Makoto declared, "Things just sort of happened! We'll say sorry when we've calmed things down!"

"Hai, but…" Noel paused as she looked at the Vulcasaur, "...we need to help her up."

"...beg pardon?" Makoto blinked.

"Her children helped lead me to you girls," Noel stated, "We can't just leave her defenseless like this."

"She's right." Tsubaki nodded.

"Okay, but let's go about this carefully…so we don't burn our hands off." Makoto sighed with a nod, knowing it was the right thing to do, but the rush of the moment still was not wearing off.

"Hai," Noel nodded as she quickly brought out Umi, "Umi, I need you to help lift this Pokemon off her back."

"Milo~" the Shiny Miltoc nodded as she began to push against the overturned Vulcasaur.

"Soren can you help out as well?" Tsubaki asked.

"Arf!" Soren barked, rushing over as he began to help Umi get the Vulcasaur up.

"...Tank?" Makoto spoke up to her Tirtouga, "Mind giving them a hand, buddy?"

"Touga!" Tank cheered, going over and nudging.

"Vul…ca…!" Vulcasaur grunted out, confused as to why those who invaded her nest...were helping her back up.

It was then she noticed the small Burnasaur trio looking on at her in worry, making her fierce gaze soften up. Once more push from all three of the girls' Pokemon managed to turn her on her side, letting the larger Pokemon onto her feet as the area rumbled a bit.

"There we go," Noel smiled a bit as the little Burnasaurs ran up to their mother and nuzzled against her leg, "Aw…They're happy to be with mama~"

"Alright…look, we're sorry." Makoto spoke up, "We didn't mean to invade your nest…honestly we thought you were just a real cranky…weird Pokemon…but I mean…we're even now…right?" she asked while jumping behind Tsubaki.

"...Saur…" Vulcasaur nodded as she began to walk off.

"Oh phew…" Makoto sighed in relief, "Everyone is happy, we got Noellie…Soren evolved, and we helped a mother and her children…now let's please leave this possibly haunted place."

"H-haunted?" Noel asked as she froze up on the spot, "D-d-d-did…you say…h-h-ha-Haunted?"

"No..she didn't," Tsubaki sighed as she whacked Makoto upside the head with her paperfan, "But yes…let's leave this place and meet up with Ash and the others…"

"B-Burn!" they stopped as the shy Burnasaur ran up to Noel and nudged her leg a few times to make her look down. "Saur~" it put something it had in its mouth down by her feet before looking up with a smile.

"Hmm? For me?" Noel blinked, bending down to pick up a key, "Key?"

"Saur!"

"Oh…th-thank you," Noel smiled, gently patting the Burnasaur's head as she got up, "And thank you again..for helping me find me friends."

"Vul/Ken," Yuki and Noel's new Fenniken agreed from the shy blonde's arms.

"Noellie, come on!" Makoto called out.

"C-coming!" Noel called as she ran off, waving bye to the Burnasaur as she left the room.

Unaware to the leaving trio, a faint light shone from a part of the room. The light caught the attention of the Burnasaur, but…for some reason it felt happy to see the light, like something that filled it with total peace and comfort. A figure appeared from the light as it took a ring shape as a pair of green eyes looked down at the strange Pokemon and its family. Its eyes softened as if to smile at them in a wordless thanks for all its done. It bowed its head to them before turning to see where the three girls from another world left. Once more nodding proudly at their actions here this day.

"Oh…geez…" Ash grunted as he got up, rubbing the back of his head as he began to regain consciousness, "What ha…AHH! Suicune!" he realized as he shot up…and saw no sight of Suicune, "...ahh…"

"Suicune ran after you and Charizard fainted," Misty explained, she and Brock currently finishing bandaging up the sleeping Charizard.

"Charizard?!" Ash panicked as he made his way over to check on his Pokemon.

"He'll be fine," Brock assured, "We had plenty of medical supplies to heal Charizard's wounds, but it's probably best if he gets a night's rest at the Pokemon Center."

"Right," Ash nodded as Pikachu climbed onto his shoulder, "Still…I…"

"Ash!" the trio turned to see Mai, Kajun and Luca running towards them…and skid to a halt when they saw the battlefield...mainly the giant pit of glass.

"...used Mega Charizard X against Suicune?" Kajun guessed, earning a small nod from Ash, "...that's the second time you've faced a Legendary Pokemon, Ashton…"

"He almost won," Brock noted.

"Really?" Mai blinked.

"Yeah. It was…really close too," Misty admitted, "The final attack startled Togepi too…"

"Pikachu had to make some funny faces to calm Togepi down," Brock explained.

'How Pikachu is able to mimic other Pokemon like that still surprises me…' Luca thought.

"That's still pretty amazing." Mai pointed out.

"It is…and honestly kinda cute," Misty giggled a bit as Togepri trilled in agreement, "..oh! Did you have any luck finding Soren by any chance?"

"...We uh….got sidetracked," Kajun muttered, looking away from Mai when she shot her a bit of a stink eye.

"Ah…uh…" Mai muttered, trying to find the right words to say, "Let's just say…we ran into someone that wanted to talk to us."

"Really?" Ash blinked.

"Correct," Kajun nodded a bit, Luca raising a brow slightly at the two, "It's nothing important for you to find out…For now, let us head to the Pokemon Center a-"

"Hey, guys! We're d-WOAH!"

"...What timing," Kajun whispered as she and the others turned to see Makoto, Tsubaki and Noel looking on at the battlefield with wide eyes.

"Wow! Look at that crater! You used Blast Burn and without me?" Makoto gawked, "No fair, Ash! No Hyper Buzzy Beam showing off for you!"

"Do you have to call it that?" Mai groaned as Soren sniffed at the crater.

"Oh! A Lycanroc!" Ash awed.

"That's Soren," Tsubaki explained.

"Gah!" Brock facepalmed, "Of course! Rockruff become disobedient and run off when they're ready to evolve and then immediately return once they do. I thought that was Boldore that do that."

"Yeah...it happened when we were looking for Noelle and dealing with a rather nasty mama Pokemon protecting her nest," Makoto explained.

"You upset a mother protecting her home? Lady Tsubaki…" Luca gasped.

"We…did not know at the time until afterwards," Tsubaki sighed.

"It was a sudden situation and we panicked!" Makoto added, "I'd like to see you react to suddenly getting blasted with fire?" as if by cosmic irony Charizard's tail swished over and passed Luca's lighting the tip on fire, "Like that."

"Wh-AHH!" Luca yelped as he quickly jumped into the water, a few moments passing before he resurfaced and climbed onto shore…his fur dripping wet, "...no one…laugh…"

"What did you run into, anyway?" Ash asked.

"It was a Vulcasaur!" Makoto replied.

"...A what?" Ash, Misty, and Brock repeated.

"That's what I'm calling it," Makoto defended, "It looked like a big ol' Venusaur, but like it chugged so much hot sauce that it turned orange and red and had a volcano replace the tree!" She wiped her forehead, sweating at the memory, "Yeesh! I tell you that if we didn't have Tank with us, we'd have to call firefighters!" She rubbed her chin in thought, "Though it'd probably be a fight they'd never win if they didn't have the right Types…"

"...wait…firefighters…" Ash blinked, recalling the riddle to finding the gym before it dawned on him, "...Ahh! I figured it out!"

"Figured what out?" Mai asked.

"Where the Gym is!" Ash shouted as he pointed at the volcano.

"...wait. Th….the gym…" Makoto began as it began to click, "Is IN the volcano?!"

"I had a feeling," Tsubaki spoke with a slight nod, "A place where firefighters cannot win…a volcano." Ash groaned as he brought a hand to his face, "What's wrong?"

"I should've thought of that sooner," Ash admitted.

"Why?" Brock asked.

"It was Red who told us," Ash replied, "He loves climbing tall things. For all I know, he found the Gym by pure chance because he just wanted to climb the volcano!"

"Ahh…"

"...Oh!" Noel gasped as she pulled out the key she was given, "Maybe that's what this key is for!"

"When did you…?" Tsubaki began.

"That little Burnasaur gave it to me for helping its mother," Noel explained, "Um…They look like Bulbasaur, but replace the bulb for a fire."

"Huh…guess Noel is the only one of us to not totally mess anything up today," Makoto muttered.

"It's not like one tries to…" Tsubaki muttered.

"Well we did royally screw up there in hindsight…" Makoto argued.

"I just had the bad timing of Suicine making her bell ring," Ash sheepishly added before blinking a few times, "Hey…Where's Gary?"

"Huh?" Misty and Brock looked, seeing no sign of the brunette.

"Guess he left after you passed out," Brock noted, frowning.

"Grr…no good brat…" Misty growled a bit.

"Okay…How's that?" Gary asked, putting the emptied Full Restore to the side.

Suicune looked at him with a raised brow, yet stretched a bit. Humans…such a strange race of creatures, yet could make something so small that rivaled several dozen Berries she'd normally eat to heal. She gave the brunette another look, one showing a hint of confusion. Gary snorted at the look.

"I'm not trying to catch you because you'd easily break out once you were healed enough and then beat my ass black and blue," Gary snorted, "I was raised mostly by my Gramps who runs a research lab and ranch for Trainers. He'd tell me a lot of stories about Legendary Pokemon and one thing he'd always say is you guys are called 'Legendary' for a reason." he scratched the back of his head, the Legendary taking note of the expression on his face, 'Still…why him of all Trainers? What does Ash have that others don't?'

"..." Suicune nudged him in the side with her snout, causing him to stumble a bit and drop a white rectangular object that popped open, revealing a pair of screen that lit up, showing a map of Kanto.

"Ah! My Town Map," Gary gasped before one of Suicune's 'ribbons' waved before him, "?!" he followed the tip of the 'ribbon' as it moved down to the Town Map and pointed at a spot on it, "Huh?" he knelt down and looked at it, "Hey, I remember that area. That's the old power plant that my third grade class went to see when it was still running for a field trip." he looked at Suicune, "Do you…want me to go there?"

Suicune nodded, a hint of amusement in her eyes. Even if these beings could not speak the way countless others of this world can, Humans could still understand the gist of things. Before Gary could say anything else, the Legendary Dog took off in a sprint, knocking him over from the wind that got pulled along. She came to a halt on a higher part of the area, hidden amongst bushes and trees not yet removed by human expansion and sat down beside Entei.

"(What are you planning, Sister?)" Entei asked.

"(Our young Rainbow Hero has a history with this one as well as two others. One being the boy you rescued after he nearly fell climbing Mt. Moon,)" Suicune mused, "(I merely gave this one a potential way to be a bit more…challenging…to our young Rainbow Hero is all. And Mother above knows that one has been wanting to participate in these tournaments.)"

"(...Oh, don't tell me you're sending that young one after her?)" Entei groaned.

"(And you didn't point that boy on Mt. Moon in the direction he is nesting at?)"

"(All we need is Raikou to point another to the Twin Islands and we'll have what those Mr. Ryme call a 'Hat Trick.')"

"(Speaking of our wayward brother, where is he? I thought he was following our young Rainbow Hero about.)"

"(They came here by Abra. More than likely…he's lost.)"

"(Oh come now, Brother. Raikou is many things, but I'm quite sure that he's not lost.)"

"(Hello? …Rainbow Hero? Little Pikachu that shocks as strong as Uncle Zekrom?)" Raikou asked, peeking out of some bushes and startling some people into running off, "(...Shoot. A week now and I can't find any signs of them! ...Startin' to think that Abra gave me the wrong directions on purpose…)" he turned around before pausing at seeing Leaf, "..."

"Uh…Hi?"

"(...Hey, you smell like the Rainbow Kiddo,)" Raikou sniffed her before jumping back, "(You know the Rainbow Kiddo! Oh, this is great! Now I can get direction and-and-and you can't understand me and are gonna either flee or send someone out of those little balls, aren't you?)" Saur, now a Venusaur, popped out of his ball that Leaf tossed out, "(Called it! Wait, wait, wait! Before any battling shenanigans happen, you trying to hit me and me making fun of ya while dodging them all before doing a little Spark on you, do ya know where the Rainbow Kiddo is?)"

"(Who?)"

"(Little human with black hair wearing this white and red hat and blue jacket? Has this awesome little Pikachu that zaps strong enough to make me think of Uncle Zekrom using Thunderbolt? Travels with this other human that seems to have Greedent ears and tail?)"

"(...Oh! You mean my Trainer's friend Ash! ...Wait…His Pikachu did what?!)"

"(Any chance you know where is? I was following him and just when I was gonna pounce to challenge him to catch me, he vanishes when I look away when I got distracted by a cute little Arcanin-I mean! An angry Rhydon going on a rampage a-and a school of cranky Gyarados fighting it while it keeps making giant drills from the ground! Y-Yeah. That's totally what I meant,)" Raikou chuckled awkwardly, "(C-Certainly not from a nice Arcanine with a hot rear and…uh…er…n-nevermind! Ju-Just tell me where he is!)"

"(Mmm…I think from the last time I was out in a Pokemon Center and Leaf was talking to Professor Oak, he was on his way to Cinnabar Island.)"

"(Cinnabar?! Oh, finally! A lead! Oh, hey! As thanks, I'll tell ya where an awesome buddy of mine is for your Trainer to fight! She's been wanting to see if there were any Trainers that'd she'd consider worthy enough to catch her! She's over at the Twin Islands or Seafoam Islands that Humans call it!)" Raikou spun around and raced off, "(THANK YOU!)"

"...Saur…What just happened?" Leaf asked, blinking a few times.

"Saur…" Saur sighed as he pulled out Leaf's Town Map and tapped on a spot on it.

"...Did…Did you get directions to something neat and probably super rare from that Raikou in trade of not battling him?" Leaf asked, earning a nod, "..." she beamed and hugged him, "Oh, you are the best Starter ever! Good bartering!"

"Saur!"

"Well, this is pretty good. Now we'll know where they'll be at to take 'em back later," Zossie noted, still on Tager's shoulder as Dulse looked around with a handheld device in hand.

"Shoot," Dulse frowned as something on his device beeped, "It seems the Ultra Beast was caught."

"Oh, could it be ze Aether Foundation of zis world?" Fifi asked, looking at it.

"Possibly," Dulse sighed before tapping something on the device, "This is Dulse reporting in. The Ultra Beast has been captured by a native of this world. I repeat, the Ultra Beast has been captured by a native of this world. Will be following standard Catch Protocols. Over and out." he tapped it again and groaned, "Not again…"

"Catch Protocols?" Tager repeated.

"It means when the Ultra Beast we're looking for gets caught by someone in another world, they have all rights to it," Zossie shrugged, "It got implemented when Agent Murphy swiped one from a Trainer and they gave chase and beat up the entire Ultra Recon Squad in our homeworld. I wasn't a member yet, but Dulse was."

"He had a Palkia Origin Form with him," Dulse shuddered, "I didn't even know that one had an Origin Form! I thought it was just Giratina, but nope!"

"I feel like I am missing some context…" Tager muttered.

"Legendary Pokemon that made Space itself," Fifi explained, "The other one is what made Antimatter and is considered to be the Devil in various religions."

"And don't get me started when one Ultra Beast ended up in that weird world with that organization that called us anomalies and then tried to designate us as a number!" Dulse went on, no longer paying attention as he fell into a rant about the Catch Protocol, "I hope they're still dealing with the Ultra Beast they've labeled 682 and its ridiculous hyper adaptability powers!"

"I still have that magic pizza box that I swiped in our escape," Zossie whispered with a giggle.

"Darling, darling," Fifi snapped her fingers in front of his face, "Zis means we are on vacation until ze Indigo League is done, no?"

"Uh…Yes?"

"Good," Fifi huffed as she pulled her uniform off and exposed a cream sundress and sunglasses, "Zen we are on vacation. In ze morning, I am off to ze beach with Zossie for ze tanning and ze sand castles."

"I swear I am gonna make a big one that won't collapse on Dulse this time!" Zossie declared.

"...A vacation…" Tager noted to himself, a smile growing on his face, "I haven't had one in years."

"Eh? You…haven't been on a vacation in years?" Zossie blinked at that.

"Admittedly true, yes," Tager sighed, "Kokonoe would always send me out on a quest after each recharge cycle…"

"...Right. Vacation for all four of us!" Fifi declared.

"Yay!" Zossie cheered.

"Trust me on this, Dulse," Tager noted, patting the younger man's shoulder as gently as he could, "No man can win an argument against a woman without some form of repercussion, so better to just go along."

"...f-fair I suppose…" Dulse muttered, 'Though…Who caught the Ultra Beast?'

Kajun's Pokemon Corner

"Welcome back, everyone," Kajun greeted as the curtain rose up, "It's been quite some time, hasn't it? For those unaware, this corner is meant to cover a more in depth explanation for Pokemon through myself and my assistants, Koko and Hikari."

"Esp!"

"Kirl…"

"And today's subject is…" the screen above the table turned on, showing a picture of a Fennekin as Noel's snoozed on the table, "Fennekin." Hikari pushed a button on the remote and the screen changed to show a Vulpix beside a Fennekin, "Fennekin shares the classification of the Fox Pokemon with its fellow fox Pokemon, Vulpix."

"Vul!" Yuki yipped as she hopped onto the table, waking up Noel's Fennekin.

"Fen~!" it yawned before the screen changed to show a Fennekin chewing on some twigs, a panel on the screen showing the inside of the Fennekin.

"The power of a Fennekin, like most Fire-Types, comes from a special organ inside of them that creates the chemical mixture needed to produce their flames. To keep it working efficiently, Fennekin will often enjoy a diet of twigs with their other dietary needs, such as meat, Berries, Eggs, mushrooms, Bug-Types such as Caterpie, Wurmple, or Weedle as examples, and several other things," Kajun explained, "It's quite amusing to some people that a Fennekin eats twigs when its evolved forms use sticks and branches for their abilities."

"Fen…?" the Fennekin blinked a bit at that as the screen changed to show a mother Delphox feeding twigs made from a tree branch it had just plucked from a tree.

"Mother Delphoxes tend to keep several tree branches to use as both their weapon of choice or to break up into twigs to feed their hatchlings," Kajun went on before the screen changed to a Fennekin's head with a thermometer in its ear, "Hot air is expelled from a Fennekin's ears, acting as a way to cool down the Fennekin and prevent it from overheating. Often this hot air is dangerous, reaching temperatures of over 390 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Celsius." the screen showed a Scyther backing away from a Fennekin that was sending out bursts of hot air from its ears at it before showing Delphox, several other Fennekin, and a few Braxien pouncing on the startled Scyther, "They often use this for intimidation purposes, keeping their enemies away until its pack arrives in order to ambush the one that attempts to intimidate the Fennekin."

"Vul?" Yuki pondered, looking to Noel's Fennekin, who smirked before shooting some hot air into the air from her ears, "Pix~!"

"Now now…none of that, little one," Kajun softly said to Noel's Fennekin.

"Ken?" it blinked a bit before Koko began to help groom her, "Fenni…"

"When a Fennekin battles, it often fights with a mix of Fire and Psychic Type moves," Kajun continued as the screen changed to show a few images of Fenniken doing a few moves, "The earliest two of course being Ember and Psybeam. They can also provide support with moves such as Light Screen, Magic Room and Sunny Day while using moves that affect the opponent like Will-O-Wisp and Lucky Chant. As for Abilities…much like all Fire Starter Pokemon, they have Blaze, which increases the power of their Fire Type moves by 50% should they be low on health. They also have the ability Magician, which allows them to steal an opponent's held item when they hit them with a move."

"Fen!"

"Kirl?" Hikari pondered before yelping as Noel's Fennekin poked her in the nose.

"Oh what now?" Kajun asked…before seeing the Fennekin had the remote now, "...You have Magician, don't you?"

"Fen-fen-fen," Fennekin giggled before pushing a big red button before running off with Yuki.

"...Did you put a self destruct in the remote?" Kajun asked, looking at Hikari…before the remote exploded, leaving the trio covered in soot, "...You did…"

"Kirl…" Hikari groaned.

"Esp!" Koko coughed out a cloud of smoke before all three fell over.

GT: Been a long time since we did that segment. And apologies for the long wait, folks. Real life has been something busy for us. As well as new ideas.

SZ: Yup…but we are back at it..and we have the latest Pokemon game to thank for it.

GT: Oh, so true. So glad that Legends Arceus came out. I'm also glad I went to Gamestop for my pre-order of it today instead of Sunday. Because 48 hours would've been long passed and I would've lost my Pre-Order!

SZ: Close..and lucky. I still have to wait to get mine next month…but eh. It's close so I can wait.

Z0: *Wall bursts down as a giant bear like figure crawls in* Good boy…who's a good Alpha you are! *pokes head out of the dust cloud* You saw nothing…

GT: We see all. Especially that big ol' Bubba you've got.

Z0: Shh *the bear roared and grabs both GT and SZ in its jaw before dragging them off* He says you don't see anything.

GT: Read and Review, folks. As you do, we will be screaming for our lives. And also, Burnasaur and Vulcasaur are from the ROM Hack Pokemon AlteRed. So check out that ROM Hack for more interesting ideas of what Pokemon would be like if they had different Types.

Z0: Not our idea, its just a fun references!

SZ: Speaking of fun, next chapter will be the 50th chapter of this story, and based on one of the best battles from the first season of the anime.

GT: Eeyup! So please be excited and Read and Review! Now if you'll excuse SZ and I…*hug each other and scream as a cackling Z0 rides off, his bear chewing on us as it drags us off*

Z0: Now…TOO ADVENTURE~! *Jumps into Time-Space Portal taking us go Arceus knows where*