Author Notes: After finding Gible & Piplup, Chimchar, and Chikorita. Ash and his companions are ready to move on towards the lighthouse where Ash remembered that he had previously caught Kingler last time. Knowing the high chances that Kingler might be shuffled, Ash holds out a hope that he wouldn't be.
How will he deal trying to find Kingler? How will he continue to deal with Chikorita's trauma?
—
After dealing with Chikorita and her unexpected trauma, Ash knew that he would have to learn to be more patient with her. The trio decided to go towards the lighthouse to see if Ash could find his Kingler-turned-Krabby or someone else before finally heading towards Vermillion City for their gym match.
"Looks like it's about the spot that I've found my Kingler last time." Ash mumbled as the trio arrived at their destination.
"This spot?" Gary blinked as he looked around. "This is where I found my Kingler last time as well."
"Really? That's a coincidence." The Ketchum boy let out a chuckle for a moment before he paused. "Do you think there's a chance that your Pokemon team might be shuffled too?"
"I hope not," the Oak boy mumbled as he rubbed his chin in thought. "I guess there's only one way to find out."
"Yeah. I guess you're right." The dark-haired boy nodded as he looked towards the beach. "I'm not counting on finding Kingler, but I can't help but to wonder if there's an offset chance that he might be there. Surely, something might change if I get shuffled Pokemon three times in a row?"
"I'm not sure, I've never really tapped into the time-travel thing." Gary admitted, letting out a soft nervous laugh. "It might be interesting to find out for sure."
"Maybe." Ash nodded in agreement, as the two rivals soon fell into a silence.
"Have you decided who you will use against Surge?" the brunette asked after a moment as he glanced over at Ash.
"I'm not sure if he will be using only Raichu or not, assuming that he's there," the Ketchum boy admitted softly. "I'm thinking of using Gible for sure, he should have some super effective moves against Raichu." He glanced at his electric starter. "Plus, I'm sure Pikachu wants to be in the battle as well."
"I do." Pikachu chuckled, smirking. "I'm ready to show Raichu that I don't need to be evolved to kick his ass again."
The raven-haired boy chuckled at this before looking over at Gary. "For the third Pokémon, I might go for either Chimchar or Chikorita, but I'm thinking Chimchar because I'm a bit worried about Chikorita."
The young Oak nodded in agreement as he listened to his rival's words before continuing. "I think it's worth talking with Gramps to see if he may have any advice for Pokemon experiencing severe trauma." He frowned. "Are you sure that you're okay after all of this?"
"I'm fine, Gary." Ash sighed, rubbing his forehead. "It's more that I'm worried about my Pokémon, especially since the Paradox Pokémon showed no mercy towards them."
"Ash." The raven-haired boy turned towards Misty, who had spoken up. "I know you're worried about Chikorita, but I think she will be okay. Gary said you just need to be more patient with her."
Ash blinked, not expecting the comment from Misty. The Cerulean City native continued. "Right now, she's still processing all of this and trying to understand that she's no longer in danger… as well as knowing that your Sceptile is alive and well. I think it'd be good to talk with Professor Oak. He can look over her and give you the best tips to help her through this."
"I'll talk with him when I get to Vermillion City." Ash nodded, giving a small smile. "I appreciate you guys' help. I know I've helped some of my Pokemon through trauma before, but this…this is different." He sighed softly. "But I'm sure Professor Oak will give me some good pointers."
"Sounds like a plan to me, Ashy-boy." Gary chuckled as he patted his rival's back gently.
The trio soon approached the lighthouse where they knew they could find Bill and possibly their Krabby. Gary then turned towards Ash before speaking again. "So, what was going on with Bill last time?"
"I think he had a giant Dragonite that he was trying to track down," the dark-haired boy mumbled as he looked over towards Gary. "We can try to find our Kingler, or well, Krabby. You might be able to find yours, but I'm pretty sure mine got switched somewhere else. I'll look in case of an offset chance that he's there." With that being said, Ash and Gary headed towards the beach as the raven-haired boy began searching for their Kingler-turned-Krabby.
It was not long before Ash found a familiar aura via his aura sight, so he was quick to speak up.
"Hey Gary, your Kingler is over there." The raven-haired boy pointed towards a nearby Krabby, which, due to its size, he could see belonged to Gary. This caught the brunette boy's attention.
"Thanks, Ashy-boy." Gary nodded as he walked over to battle the Krabby. 'Just another case of Ashy-boy trying to keep me in his shadow. My large Krabby should have been obvious.'
"You're welcome." Ash nodded over at his rival as he and Pikachu continued to search for his Krabby. There were a lot of Krabby, but none of them had the familiar aura that Gary's Krabby did.
"Still no luck with him?" Pikachu asked after several minutes as he walked alongside his trainer, tilting his head.
"Nope. I'm thinking that he also got shuffled too." The dark-haired boy sighed as he continued to look around. "Let's search in that area, and then we'll return to where we started. Maybe we need to look for someone el–Ow!" His sentence was interrupted by a cry of pain as he tripped over a shell and faceplanted into the sand.
"Hey! Quit kicking my shell!" the shell yelled as Ash fell over it. Still on the ground, the raven-haired boy glanced over towards the source of the voice. He realized this was not a random shell as the turtle poked his head out. This was a Squirtle!
"S…Sorry, I wasn't seeing where I was going," Ash admitted softly as he carefully got up, deciding to go ahead and use his aura sight to see if the Squirtle was familiar. He at least sounded familiar, so it was worth checking. The raven-haired boy was able to confirm that it was his Squirtle! "Wow…I'm surprised I found him here in Kanto…"
"Pikachu, go ahead and…" The Ketchum boy began before one of his Pokeballs opened, revealing his Chikorita. "Chikorita, it's okay… Pikachu and I got him."
"Don't worry, Ash. I got this," Chikorita reassured her trainer as she stood in a battle stance. Ash looked towards Pikachu, unsure how to proceed with this.
Pikachu looked into Chikorita's eyes momentarily before nodding over at his trainer.
"She's fine. If it gets too much, you can recall her, and I can take over," the Electric Mouse answered, glancing over towards Ash, who nodded at this.
"Alright, you gotta promise me you'll tell me when things get too much for you," Ash informed his Johto starter who nodded at this. Ash then returned his attention towards Squirtle who had gotten into a battle stance.
"You gonna come for me or what?" the turtle Pokemon asked, clearly irritated at the momentary pause.
"We are." The dark-haired boy grinned. "I was just making sure that my Chikorita was in a decent mindset to battle as we've been working out some stuff. Let's start out with a Tackle!"
"Okay, Ash!" Chikorita started to run towards the Squirtle, who immediately jumped out of the way.
"Use Razor Leaf while he's in the air!" Ash quickly instructed upon seeing the water-type Pokemon jump out of the way. The Leaf Pokemon immediately responded by swinging her leaf, sending out a Razor Leaf which struck the Tiny Turtle Pokemon. This caused him to crash onto the ground, but as Chikorita turned Squirtle was already getting up.
"Owww! That hurts!" Squirtle whined as he got up, his legs shaking from the super-effective move. He glared towards Chikorita. He then tucked himself into his shell as he spun towards the grass-type Pokemon.
"Chikorita, watch out!" the dark-haired boy's eyes widened as he recognized Squirtle's Rapid Spin. He then quickly followed up with: "Use your vines to stop him!"
Chikorita reacted immediately by extracting her vines from her body as she caught the spinning Squirtle. This sent her skidding backwards a bit from the strength that the Tiny Turtle Pokemon had put into the attack, but she managed to stop the spinning.
"Don't let him escape, use Vine Whip!" Ash called out. The Leaf Pokemon immediately extracted more vines before hitting the turtle Pokemon with the super-effective move. Squirtle tried to get out of her grip, but with his decreasing strength due to Vine Whip, he soon slipped into unconsciousness.
"Thanks, girl." The raven-haired boy chuckled, smiling over at his Chikorita as he patted her head gently before sizing up a Pokeball and pressing it against Squirtle. This sucked him in before the Pokeball started to shake for a few seconds. It did ding eventually before glowing as it vanished into thin air.
"What gives?" Ash blinked before letting out a sigh. "Right, my carry limit," he mumbled upon the realization that he had more than 8 Pokemon on him, so Squirtle was probably with Professor Oak. He turned to Pikachu and Chikorita before adding. "I guess Squirtle took Kingler's place. We're done here, I think?"
Pikachu nodded as he began to sniff for a moment, seeming to confirm whether there was anything more that Ash needed to pay attention to before speaking. "Yeah, I don't smell anything familiar, so it's probably Squirtle that you were meant to catch in place of Kingler," he admitted softly before looking up at Ash. "It does appear that your Pokemon team is randomized based on the past couple of captures."
The raven-haired boy scratched his chin in thought. "Considering that I caught Gible and Piplup instead of Bulbasaur, then Infernape as a Chimchar instead of Charizard, then Bayleef as a Chikorita rather than Squirtle, and now Squirtle rather than Kingler…I had a gut feeling, but this pretty much confirms it. I thought that there might be an offset chance, but I guess not."
"Does this mean that I might be able to see Sceptile sooner?" the Leaf Pokemon asked suddenly as she lightly tapped her heel against the ground.
"T…That's a possibility." Ash mumbled, letting out a long sigh. "Or I could catch him later. I just have no idea when it'll happen. There's no telling of what Pokemon I'm going to catch next, which pretty much throws my plans into a dump."
"Hey, you still have me at least!" Pikachu chuckled, smirking. "I can still take down that Raichu if I have to."
The dark-haired boy just smiled softly at this. "Thanks, buddy. I'm just glad that you're already around…" He was going to say something more when his PokeNav rang. "It's probably Squirtle," he explained as he answered the PokeNav, figuring that his Squirtle, having now regained his memories, might want to know what was happening.
"Hello, Ash." Professor Oak's voice rang out. "I figured I would call you as your Squirtle has woken up from being unconscious and seems to be insistent on speaking with you."
"I figured that he'd want to talk with me, you can bring him on." Ash chuckled, sitting down on the ground as Chikorita moved to lay into his lap to relax for the moment.
"Alright. Here he is," the professor said before the voice changed to Squirtle's.
"Ash, what happened?!" the Tiny Pokemon exclaimed. "How come we're in the past again?"
"Hey Squirtle," Ash answered before proceeding to explain about the events that had occurred before they were sent back into the past.
"Paradox Pokemon?" Squirtle asked for clarification after having listened to Ash's explanation of the situation.
"That's right. They are Pokemon from the past or the future," Ash answered with a long sigh.
"I see, so we're more or less training to save the world again?" The turtle Pokemon chuckled before he continued. "I guess that's nothing new."
"Pretty much, but there's something that we'll need to address, if you will, Pikachu?" The raven-haired boy sighed before looking towards Pikachu, knowing that they'd have to address the evolution situation. Chikorita just tilted her head as she listened into the conversation.
"What is Pikachu addressing?" the Leaf Pokemon asked, raising her eyebrow.
"Whoa, Bayleef is with you? I thought you didn't get her until Johto," Squirtle commented as he overheard Chikorita's voice.
"It's a long story," Pikachu pointed out before continuing. "We'll explain about it later, but what Ash wanted me to address with you was regarding evolution." He paused to let Squirtle and Chikorita object for a minute before he continued. "I know you two are against it. I am too. But the thing is, the legendaries felt like that it was a major factor that held us back from having our full power." He sighed, rubbing his head. "However, they understood that we were against evolution for one reason or another. Which is when we do end up evolving fully, we will be granted a special ability that will let us evolve and de-evolve within our evolution chain without losing progress or the form that we've become comfortable with."
"W… Wait, you mean to tell me that it was possible to do something like that?" the Tiny Turtle Pokemon asked. "Only reason that I was against evolving into a Blastoise is because I've seen how Torterra struggled to battle and I felt like that was just too much change for me. I just like being a Squirtle the way that I was… even though… I evolved into Wartortle before we were sent back into the past." He trailed off.
"Usually not, but Celebi has granted us that ability," the electric mouse answered before blinking in shock. "W… Wait, you evolved?" he asked in surprise. "Why?"
"I was getting hammered as a Squirtle, and when I saw Oshawott getting hurt badly…I had no choice but to evolve into a Wartortle to save him," Squirtle mumbled before adding. "If I have to evolve into a Blastoise to choose what I want to be, I guess I can accept that." He still seemed a bit uncertain.
"If it helps…" Pikachu chuckled before speaking. "…I'm planning on evolving." This shocked Chikorita and Squirtle as the electric mouse continued. "I'm going to be working on a lot of speed-based training before I do that, so it'll be a while before I decide."
"I see," the water-type Pokémon mumbled before continuing. "Well, only because we will get the ability to have our choice of what we want to be in the evolution change… I'm willing to evolve fully." He chuckled softly before adding. "Did you manage to convince Bulbasaur?"
"Well… that's the thing," Ash said once again as he scratched the back of his head. "We went to Hidden Village, where we found Bulbasaur last time. He was not there, and I found Gible and Dawn's Piplup instead."
"Gible and Piplup in the Hidden Village? What were they doing there?" Squirtle asked in confusion.
"It turns out that there have been some Butterfree effects which I haven't gotten the full explanation for yet," the raven-haired boy explained. "Gible and Piplup were working together to protect the Hidden Village for Melanie, and she had no idea who Bulbasaur was at all. I also tried to find Charizard but it turned out that Damian and Paul traded their fire starters." he sighed softly. "So instead of Damian abandoning Charizard as a Charmander like last time, Damian abandoned Chimchar and I ended up picking him up."
"Damn. If there's a thing that hasn't changed, it's Damian," the turtle Pokémon muttered sourly. "You throw him whatever Pokemon and he'll just abandon them like he did with Charizard."
"No doubt about it," Ash scoffed before adding, "I did end up getting him arrested this time, so he shouldn't be able to harm any more Pokémon."
"That's great news." Squirtle commented before adding. "Well, I guess you'll have to convince him when the time comes. He's more stubborn than I am about evolution and may require a complete demonstration of the ability."
"If we find him before I evolve, then I can either ask Pidgeotto or Butterfree to show it off. Otherwise I can show it off, he might be more convinced if it's me," Pikachu said, sighing as he rubbed his cheek. "Did he evolve before we were sent back into the past?"
"He did," the Tiny Turtle Pokemon answered. "Just like me, he had no choice but to evolve into an Ivysaur, though in his case, it was an accident as he used too much power in his Solar Beam. Since Bulbasaur never got an Everstone, he got used to holding back the evolution powers. He was not a happy camper but I'm sure he'll be pleased when he realizes that he's a Bulbasaur again." He chuckled. "Like I said, he doesn't really want to evolve unless he has no other choice, so I think he'll agree to the compromise as long he has a choice."
"Thanks, Squirtle, buddy," Ash responded, letting out a sigh of relief. He then looked down at Chikorita as they wrapped up the phone call. "Just so that you know, you don't have to evolve beyond a Bayleef for right now. We have plenty of time."
"Thanks…" the Leaf Pokemon sighed deeply, looking down. "I'm willing to evolve into a Bayleef as it's what I'm used to, but Meganium… I don't feel ready… especially since I did evolve under horrible circumstances."
"Hey hey, I totally understand," the Ketchum boy reassured his Johto grass starter as he ruffled her head gently. "We'll work through it and we'll also find Sceptile, okay?"
Chikorita could only nod, grateful for her trainer's understanding. It had been really traumatic for her to evolve the first time around, so she was glad that she didn't have to think about it for right now.
There were several moments of silence before a sudden explosion occurred, this immediately caught Ash's attention as he got up and ran back to where Gary and Misty were with his Pikachu and Chikorita following him close behind. It wasn't long before Ash figured out the source of the explosion.
"Prepare for Trouble!" a voice said.
"Make it double!" another voice said.
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!" the pink-haired woman announced, posing with a smirk.
"James!" the blue-haired man called out, posing with his partner with a rose in his mouth.
"Meowth, dat's right!" the third voice shouted before the scratch cat jumped in front of Jessie and James.
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!" Jessie declared as she held out a hand.
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" James announced as the trio Team Rocket grinned towards Ash and his two companions.
"Wait…" Meowth paused as he looked over Ash and his friends. "Was da Gary twerp with da other two twerps da last time?" He then continued as he pointed towards Chikorita. "Did da twerp not get her until Johto?"
"Long story, Meowth." Ash sighed as he placed his hands into his hips. "There were Butterfree effects in terms of my Pokemon team and apparently my gym challenge as well," he began as the scratch cat tilted his head in confusion. "I'm not sure what happened that triggered them but Celebi warned me that it was likely to happen before we time-traveled back into the past." He then pointed at Gary. "I reminded him after our battle and since Brock isn't with us, he offered to travel with me and Misty so he could help me out."
"I…I see…" Meowth mumbled as he nodded in thought. "Interesting." He then cleared his throat. "Anyways, we figured dat we'd try to impress da boss by raiding da lighthouse." He pointed towards Bill's lighthouse with a smirk. "Maybe catch us some huge Dragonite."
"If you're brave enough to stop us, we propose a triple battle." James commented with a chuckle. "Your Pokémon against Ekans, Koffing, and Meowth."
"Hey! I didn't volunteer to battle!" The scratch cat whined.
"Shut up and deal with it." Jessie smacked Meowth, causing him to cry out in pain.
Ash chuckled softly, shaking his head at the Team Rocket trio. "Fine. We can do a triple battle here." He then looked over at Pikachu with a grin. "Are you ready to kick some Rocket butts?"
"You betcha, Ash." The electric mouse smirked as his cheeks began to spark.
"Great." Ash grinned before looking over at Gary and Misty. "I got them."
"Alright, holler at us if you need backup." Misty nodded as she and Gary moved to step away.
The raven-haired boy returned Chikorita before sizing up his two Pokeballs as he turned towards Team Rocket. "I think you will be surprised of who I'm going to send out."
Meowth looked at Jessie and James nervously as the two adults just merely chuckled before sending out Ekans and Koffing respectively.
"Alright, Pikachu, buddy. You take the middle spot." Ash instructed his starter as Pikachu jumped in front of the raven-haired boy. He then proceeded to throw two Pokeballs, shouting. "Riolu, Chimchar, I choose you two!" The two Pokeballs opened with Chimchar taking the spot on Pikachu's left side and Riolu taking the spot on Pikachu's right side. Both Pokemon were in battle stance, ready to tackle the Rockets.
This slightly surprised Team Rocket, but they remembered Ash's explanation so their mouths weren't gaping open for too long from surprise. However, Pikachu, Riolu, and Chimchar were able to defeat Meowth, Ekans, and Koffing with very little effort before the three Pokemon sent Team Rocket flying into the sky once again. They had wanted to put in as quick of a battle so the Rockets could be out of Ash's hair immediately.
Taking a deep breath, Ash turned towards Pikachu, Riolu and Chimchar before grinning at his Pokemon. "Great job, everyone! Let's do some training while we're here before we go down towards Vermillion City and challenge Lt. Surge or whoever takes his place."
So with that being said, Ash spent the next several hours training up his Pokemon team and making some switches to ensure that everyone was receiving some training. After the training was done, the Ketchum boy made his way towards Vermillion City with Misty, Gary, Pikachu, and Riolu who had opted to be out of his Pokeball for the moment being.
"Hey Ash?" The aura Pokemon spoke up as he walked alongside Ash, looking up at the raven-haired boy.
"Yeah? What is it, Riolu?" the Ketchum boy asked with a smile.
"I think I'm about to evolve pretty soon," Riolu muttered in thought as he tapped his foot. "I'm saying that because I feel stronger energy than I had before I evolved into a Lucario. It does feel like maybe I'll be one by the next gym or two."
"That's great." Ash grinned as he got onto his knees to meet Riolu's level before ruffling the aura canine Pokemon's head gently. "That means that we just gotta keep it up, then you should be back as a Lucario in no time."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. I wish we would have gotten our original powers back but I get why it's not possible." The aura Pokemon sighed softly before smiling slightly. "I just miss being a Lucario, that's all."
"I get that. I'm sure if Charmander had his memories, he'd probably be missing being a Charizard," the raven-haired boy chuckled before standing up.
Ash let out a yawn as he stretched his limbs while he looked over his Pokemon team. He then nodded to himself as he spoke up.
"I've decided on the four Pokemon that I'm going to be sending out for the next gym battle." The dark-haired boy grinned. "I'm going to be counting on Pikachu, Riolu, Chimchar, and Gible!"
The four said Pokemon cheered as they were chosen while the other either celebrated or groaned from not being chosen. Ash was quick to reassure the remainder of his team.
"Don't worry if you weren't chosen for the gym battle," Ash began as he offered a smile. "Lt. Surge, if he's there, is just a tough guy. I promise that you will get your turn with gym battles at some point." This seemed to satisfy the rest of his team for now.
With his Pokemon team declared for the upcoming gym, Ash, Misty, and Gary headed towards Vermillion City. The Ketchum boy knew that he needed to talk with Professor Oak before the boys went to challenge the Vermillion Gym, so he excused himself from the group before going towards an available videophone before dialing in the elder Oak's number.
Soon enough, Professor Oak showed up on the screen much to Ash's relief.
"Hello there," the Pokemon Professor greeted, smiling towards the raven-haired boy. "How can I help you today?"
"I actually needed your advice," Ash admitted, scratching his head. "You may have noticed I've caught different Pokemon than Bulbasaur, Charizard, and Squirtle. I will explain it later, but this is about one of my Pokemon, Chikorita… which you know as Bayleef."
"Ah, yes. I vaguely remember seeing Bayleef evolve when I was trying to have my Dragonite help out in the ranch during the attack," the older man mumbled to himself. "Please do continue, though."
"It turns out that she evolved because of anger and grief, which Chimchar explained was because Sceptile was killed," the raven-haired boy exhaled. "Because of this, she has experienced some severe trauma and I'm concerned about how I proceed with her."
"Pokemon trauma is extremely tricky to handle." Professor Oak scratched his chin in thought after several moments of silence. "One possible reason for what you've explained is because your Chikorita as a Bayleef and Sceptile were mates, much similar to how your Butterfree and Pinkie were."
"That would explain the emotional part," Ash agreed, glancing towards Pikachu who nodded at this as well before returning his glance toward the computer screen. "How would you advise that I handle her training moving forward?"
"I think the best thing is to be there for her," Professor Oak explained. "You're her trainer, and she does have a lot of trust in you. Besides, I do know you've had a lot of experiences in terms of dealing with trauma, especially with Chimchar, which you did an excellent job helping him through. Communication would be one of the best methods, but I think it would also help if you found Sceptile. This would help settle the reality that her mate is alive and unharmed."
"That makes sense." The Ketchum boy nodded in agreement. "Thanks a lot, professor! This means a lot to me, I just want to ensure I'm doing the right thing for Chikorita."
"You're welcome, my boy," Professor Oak said with a chuckle, smiling. "Now, have fun with your incoming gym, and don't forget to call me back with occasional updates regarding Chikorita."
"I will make sure of that." Ash nodded as he turned off the videophone, exhaling as he processed the information that he had given.
"Chikorita and Sceptile being mates, huh?" Pikachu commented after a few moments with a snigger.
"I mean, I'm not surprised." The dark-haired boy looked towards his electric starter. "Sceptile did fall in love with a Meganium before, so it would make sense that he'd fall for her since Bayleef was one of the evolutionary lines." He scratched his chin in thought. "Plus, they are compatible to be able to produce an egg if they wanted to."
"Chikorita and Sceptile having an egg, huh," the electric mouse mumbled. "I'd like to see that."
Ash chuckled at this as he got up, glancing towards Pikachu. "Let's get back with Misty and Gary so we can get through the next gym."
"Sounds good." Pikachu nodded in agreement, shifting to make himself more comfortable on his trainer's shoulder.
The dark-haired boy quickly retrieved Misty and Gary. Soon enough, they headed out of the Pokecenter and straight towards Vermillion City Gym. Ash pushed the doors open before scanning his surroundings to determine the situation.
"W…Wattson?" The raven-haired boy blinked in surprise. In Lt. Surge's place, was the one and only Hoenn electric gym leader, Wattson! The old man stood there with a smirk, crossing his arms.