Hey all, another new chapter for you all. Thanks to everyone who favorited or followed this story so far, it is much appreciated. To answer your question Ultimate CCC, yes Ash did recapture Pidgeot at the end of Journeys. However, for the time being I want the focus to be on Paldea and its Pokemon, I feel like Journeys really dropped the ball as Ash only got two Galar region Pokemon so I want to give the Paldea Pokemon their chance to shine before bringing back Ash's old Pokemon.

CH 3 Charge Ahead Charcadet

Ash and Arven were currently set up at a picnic table in the first area of the East Province. The pair had been searching for a Charcadet as Ash wanted one for his first gym battle against Cortando's bug type gym. The pair were also following up on various leads regarding Titan Pokemon.

"Has that book been any help?" Ash asked, eyeing the book in Arven's hands.

"Somewhat,"Arven answered with a sigh," this book has been helpful with the physiological aspect of Titan Pokemon but not where to find them."

"They remind me of Alpha Pokemon," Ash mused as he recalled his time in Hisui.

"Alpha Pokemon?"

"Uhh it's a really long story, maybe some other time." Ash wasn't sure if he should go into details so he hoped Arven would leave it alone.

"Well in any case, Paldea is pretty big, we won't get anywhere just wandering around aimlessly looking for them."

"Does Professor Turo have any ideas?"

"He's a bit too busy with other projects to look into it as much as me."

The two finished up their lunch before packing their stuff back up. They were resuming their search for a Charcadet. As the pair walked across the plains, Arven looked towards the sky. There was something unusual approaching from the air. It looked like a hot air balloon shaped like a Meowth.

"Ash, are you seeing that?" Arven asked, pointing towards the sky.

Ash looked at the sky and sighed,"oh you have got to be kidding me."

A mechanical hand appeared and grabbed Pikachu from out of the blue. "Well look what we have here!"

Ash recognized the voice and balloon immediately,"Team Rocket, you're still following me?"

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now or prepare to fight."

"Meowth that's right!"

Arven was taken aback by the newcomers. The talking Meowth was especially unexpected, he had no clue that was possible. Ash meanwhile was frustrated, he had hoped they had given up by now.

"So who are they Ash?"

"Team Rocket, they've been after Pikachu for years now. Though I haven't seen them in a long time now."

"It's been awhile champ, hope you missed us!" Jessie taunted much to Ash's distaste.

"No not really, I had hoped you three had given up by now!"

"Well we kinda did for a while actually because…" James was cut off by Meowth scratching his face.

"Don't tell da twerp that dummy!" Meowth yelled at James.

"Okay sorry sorry!" James cried out holding his now scratched face.

"Uh, are they always like this?" Arven asked Ash bewildered by the trio.

"Pretty much yeah."

"Well we'll be going now, have an awful day!" The trio yelled out as they attempted to fly away.

Ash was about to send out Sprigatito before a blast of fire hit the trio's balloon. Ash and Arven looked to the side to see a Charcadet in the distance. The blast was strong enough to knock Pikachu free who landed on the ground safely. The Charcadet gave a nod to Ash and Arven, though they still had no idea where it came from.

"Pikachu use Thunderbolt!"

"Pika!" Piachu let loose a big blast of electricity that hit the balloon, sending Team Rocket flying.

"We're blasting off again!" The trio yelled out as they disappeared into the sky.

"Uh should we be worried about them?" Arven asked.

Ash shook his head,"no they'll be fine, this is par for the course."

Ash was about to go thank the wild Charcadet but noticed it was now gone. Both he and Arven looked around but it was nowhere to be seen. He wondered if it had just happened to be passing by or if it belonged to a trainer.

"There was something different about that Charcadet," Arven thought out loud.

"Yeah there seemed to be something different, based on how it stepped in."

"There's a small village not far from here, perhaps they know something about it."

Later

True to his words, they came across a small village not far from where they were. It was a small community located in the heart of the first area of the Eastern Province. Ash suspected that there probably weren't even a hundred people in the village, based on how few buildings there were. The two made their way to the center of town and stopped by at an information booth in the town market.

"Hey I was wondering if we could ask you something," Ash said approaching the man behind the booth. He looked to be in his mid fifties, with brown hair, glasses and a button down shirt.

"Oh I haven't seen you two before, my name is Mateo and I help run this village."

"The village seems pretty empty,"Arven observed,"is it only recently established?"

"It was yes, there are a lot of fertile areas here so a bunch of local farmers set up here, we do a lot of trading with the major cities," Mateo explained handing them both brochures about the town.

"We actually came here to ask about a wild Charcadet," Ash explained before sharing his story with Mateo.

"Ohh I know exactly what Charcadet you're talking about young man,"Mateo said with a smile," that Charcadet has been here since the village was founded. He's been a protector of sorts."

"A protector?" Arven asked taking notes.

"Yes, whenever our village is in trouble he shows up, or when travelers get into trouble he shows up to help. He's the local hero, and has a very strong sense of justice."

"Now that's interesting, a wild Pokemon acting like a hero, sounds like something out of a children's book," Arven mused as he continued to take notes.

"If you were looking to thank him, I'm not sure if I can help, we don't actually know where he lives,"Mateo explained apologetically," he just kinda shows up."

"Like some sort of super hero?" Ash asked.

Mateo nodded,"precisely, when the trouble has passed he disappears, never stays around for long."

"Well I guess we could try taking a look around the area, maybe we'll get lucky," Ash suggested.

"I have an idea actually, Mateo, could you maybe draw out a rough estimate of where he's been spotted on my map?" Arven asked pulling a map out.

"Ah I see where you're going with this,"Mateo answered as he began marking locations on the map.

"All the places he's been spotted have been close to here so he must live somewhere close to one of the locations."

"Thank you for the information," Ash thanked as Mateo gave Arven the map back.

"My pleasure, if you do see him tell him I said thanks for everything.

Ash and Arven left town after that, heading back into the wilderness. Armed with their updated map they began their quest to find Charcadet.

"The first place we should check is around the areas where he was sighted more than once,"Arven suggested as he looked over the map,"that would be west of the town."

Ash and Arven headed west into the wilds, hoping to stumble onto Charcadet. Heading through Ash noticed a flock of pink Pokemon ahead of pink bird-like Pokemon were gathered around a nearby lake.

"A flock of Flamigos," Arven said as the stayed a safe distance away,"but something seems wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"They don't usually gather in flocks this large, there must be at least thirty here."

"You think something got them scared?"

Arven nodded,"I wonder if something happened to their nests."

"Should we try and get Pikachu to talk with them?"

"No, far too many here, if they get aggressive we'd be horribly outnumbered."

"Is there anything we can do?"

"Hmm let's try and find the source of the problem," Arven suggested,"if we can get to the root of the problem then the Flamigos should disperse."

Ash and Arven quietly snuck past the Flamigos, fortunately being ignored by them. The duo followed the nearby tracks before coming across another small lake. Ash was first to notice a group of green spider-like Pokemon. Pulling out his Pokedex he identified them as wild Spidops. There were quite a few of them, and they had seemed to have taken over the Flamigos' nesting grounds.

"It seems the Spidops swarm has forced the Flamigos from their homes, perhaps that's why they were all crowded together."

Ash nodded," is there anything we can do?"

"We could try and drive them out but we are outnumbered."

Ash knew he was right, Miraidon couldn't fight so it just left him with Pikachu and Sprigatito. Besides who knew if there were anymore hiding just out of sight. Ash was about to say something when they both noticed a familiar sight. A lone Charcadet had approached what they presumed to be the Spidops leader and began conversing with it.

"That's gotta be the Charcadet we're looking for," Ash said as they watched the interaction," you think it's trying to get the Spidops to leave?"

"After what Mateo said about it that's what I figured too."

"We should go help it and…" Ash was stopped by Arven when he attempted to head over.

"Wait, if we go now it might ruin the negotiations,"Arven cautioned,"if things go south then we'll step in."

Ash relented knowing Arven had a good point. The pair watched on as Charcadet continued talking with the Spidops leader. The conversation went on for another few minutes before they saw the Spidops swarm starting to leave.

"Well what do you know, it actually worked," Arven said as the group of Spidops left the area.

Once the area was clear the two walked over to the Charcadet," that was pretty impressive."

Charcadet looked up at Ash as they approached. Pikachu hopped off his shoulder to chat with it. The two seemed to get along as Pikachu thanked him for helping earlier.

"We actually wanted to thank you for before,"Arven added,"you really helped us out there."

"Pikachu and I are new around here so it's great to know there are Pokemon like you around."

Finishing up the conversation with Pikachu, Charcadet looked up at Ash and pointed at one of the Pokeballs on his belt.

"Ash I think Charcadet is asking if it could tag along."

"Really, you want to join me?" Charcadet nodded in response.

"Well then, welcome aboard!" Ash said as he easily caught Charcadet.

Later:

Ash and Arven had returned to the local village to check in with Mateo again and give him an update.

"Well I'm glad to see Charcadet will be in good hands with you."

"Will the village be okay without Charcadet around?"

Mateo gave Arven a nod,"we'll be fine yes, Charcadet was bound to leave one day, I just wanted to make sure it would be with a good person. Seems I don't need to worry about that."

"Don't worry, Charcadet will be in great hands with me."

"I look forward to seeing Charcadet helping you with the gym challenge, do make sure to stop by again when you can."

"We will," Arven answered," oh before we go I was hoping I could ask you a few more questions." Arven pulled out his notebook to begin writing.

"Of course, I'll answer any questions you have."

The three continued talking for a while, letting Arven get as much info as he wanted. Once he was satisfied, they said their goodbyes and started to head back to Mesagoza. Ash had some classes to teach and he didn't want to be late for his first day.