Here is Chapter 6, a day early! Next chapter will not be released until Tuesday 5/21.
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After mourning Misty's fried bicycle, Ash, Pikachu, and Misty were ready to move on so they could get to Viridian City. Both Pidgey and Riolu had opted to go back into their Pokeballs so they could rest and be prepared to help Ash and Misty for backup in case Team Rocket were a handful.
"So, this timeline is already different in some ways?" The red-haired girl asked as she walked beside the Pallet Town native, she was listening to Ash explain what had been happening so far in his journey.
"Yeah. Like for example, I met Pikachu as a Pichu… and then when I reminded Professor Oak after our battle, he showed me Riolu's egg which happened to be my Lucario that I obtained during my time of helping Professor Cerise… and finally, I met Pidgeot as a Pidgey on Route 1 before we caught up to you." Ash muttered as he pinpointed where he had met his Pokemon for the second time. "Not to mention, I already met Riley when I was younger and had already learned aura."
Misty nodded quietly in response as she listened to the raven-haired boy. "I just can't help but to wonder what else will be different." She admitted before letting out a soft sigh. "I'd hope that some things will stay the same like they were last time."
"As much as I hate to admit it, I hope that Team Rocket will be the same." The raven haired boy muttered, shoving his hands into his pocket as he continued to walk. "I don't know what I'd do if they're different like how the alternate universe of Jessie, James, and Meowth were when I was helping to investigate the disappearance of Dawn's Piplup."
"I hated feeling weak as a Pichu and not remembering my moves…" The electric mouse complained, whining. Even though Ash understood him, Misty could only hear "Pika, Pikachu…"
"Pikachu said that when he turned into a Pichu because of the Alternate Universe Team Rocket, he hated that he felt weak and he couldn't remember his moves because time were going backwards." Ash explained when Misty gave a confused look over at Pikachu.
"Time going backwards, that's a really odd concept." The red haired girl blinked before continuing. "What was the cause of that anyways?"
"The Alternate Team Rocket had captured Dialga and Palkia, they were using their powers to turn time back then make the Pokemon into their minions for world dominance." The Pallet Town native rolled his eyes as his electric starter snickered at his response. "We had to rely on Arceus because all of our Pokemon got turned into eggs, and we were turned into toddlers."
"That's annoying." Misty nodded in agreement as the two continued to walk, conversing about Ash's journey from last time as the duo made their way towards Viridian City.
They were fortunate to make it into the entrance of Viridian City before it began raining hard without any further incidents from the Spearows. The raven-haired boy looked up at the sky as the rain continued as he stayed quiet.
"Looking for Ho-Oh?" Pikachu asked curiosity as the Pallet Town native nodded in response to his starter's question.
"Yeah." Ash grinned in response before noticing a familiar bird flying in the sky with a rainbow trailing behind it. "Right there!" He pointed out excitedly. "There's Ho-Oh!"
"At least this is one of the things that stayed the same, which I'm willing to embrace." The electric mouse chuckled in response as he and Ash watched the Ho-Oh fly away, minding its own business.
"Yeah." The raven haired boy nodded before looking over to Misty. "Let's get to the Pokecenter so I can update Professor Oak. I've been wanting to ask him about some stuff. Maybe talk with mom if I get a minute too."
"Sounds good." The red-haired girl nodded as the two trainers and Pikachu walked towards the Pokecenter so Ash could make a call with Professor Oak and his mother.
Ash soon found himself sitting in front of the computer, taking a deep breath before glancing over at Pikachu. "Did you have anything in particular that you'd like to ask the Professor about?"
The electric mouse thought about it before letting out a long sigh. "I know that the legendaries have been pressed about me evolving. But I'm not quite sure if I want to be a regular Raichu, so could you ask Oak if there's such a thing about Alolan Thunderstone? Just so I know what my options are."
"I sure can." Ash grinned, petting his electric starter. "Remember, we have a lot of time. So you don't need to evolve right now." He reminded Pikachu. "Plus, I'd like to train you on speed based moves first so you can be a better Raichu than Lt Surge's Raichu."
The electric mouse laughed softly at Ash's response, nodding. "Yeah, that guy wasn't really speedy." He muttered. "That stupid guy decided that it's better to just give the thunderstone when he caught Raichu as a Pikachu rather than training." He rolled his eyes.
"We'll work hard and show Surge how amazing our training has paid off." The raven haired boy smirked as he turned on the videophone, typing in Professor Oak's number before pressing enter. "Like I said, you have time, and even so, you can choose to be a Pikachu or a Raichu whenever after that."
Pikachu nodded in agreement as he watched the videophone screen pop to life, showing the back of Professor Oak's head.
"Hey there, Ash!" The elder professor exclaimed happily. "I'm glad to see that you've made it into Viridian City without any major issues."
"Professor…" Ash cleared his throat, chuckling. "You're looking at the wrong screen, again…"
"Oh rats! I thought I had the right screen." The Pokemon professor sighed as he turned around, now facing Ash through the screen. "Did you manage to deal with the Spearows okay?"
"Thankfully." The raven haired boy grinned in response. "We found Misty on the way to Viridian City and I was able to remind her. Pikachu on the other hand, he helped me to find Pidgeot so I have Pidgeot now."
"So you have Pidgeot as a Pidgeotto, right?" Oak asked, mumbling to himself as he typed on the computer before blinking. "You found her as a Pidgey?"
"Thanks to Pikachu's sense of scent." Ash chuckled, ruffling the electric starter's head. "I tried my best not to piss off the Spearows but apparently, I did it again unknowingly." He let out a long sigh. "I was going to have Pikachu to deal with them, but Pidgey came out of her Pokeball and pretty much knocked every single Spearow into the tree."
"Judging by the events of the last timeline, you didn't meet Pidgeot or well Pidgey until you and Misty were in Viridian Forest where I recall that you captured her as a Pidgeotto?" The elder professor asked for clarification, to which Ash nodded to this before continuing. "So you should be dealing with Team Rocket shortly." He let out a long sigh.
"Don't worry, Misty is keeping an eye out for them as we speak." The Pallet Town native reassured the elder Oak before continuing. "I told Riolu that he'd have to remain in his Pokeball until we straighten out the Team Rocket and figure out what to do from there."
"Very good, very good." The professor nodded as he continued typing onto the computer. "I am currently working on several things for you." This caught Ash's attention, as he wasn't expecting for the Professor to already do things for him. "First of all, I am sending in a request to the Pokemon League to see whether we can raise your carry limit to be greater than 6. This will help you with your training so you won't have to constantly send your Pokemon back and forth during your journey." He then gave a smile over at the raven-haired boy. "I attested my experiences of time traveling with Celebi, so they should be more understanding about this."
"Wow, Professor." Ash mumbled as he grinned in response. "I really appreciate it more than you know. This will help a lot for my training and that will ensure that no one will fall behind training at any time."
"There's more, kiddo." Oak continued. "I am also working on upgrading your Pokedex at this time so it isn't just the Kanto Pokedex that you normally have. I have contacted Professor Elm, Birch, Rowan, Juniper, Sycamore, and apparently, my cousin is still the Pokemon Professor as of right now over at Alola." He chuckled as he scratched his forehead. "Kukui is still a Professor in training, but Samson says that he should be graduating within the next year or so." Ash blinked, nodding as he processed the information while the Pokemon Professor continued. "I am reaching out to Professor Magnolia but she's out of office until next week, so I am currently trying to find out what's going on with Paldea at the moment."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it." Ash grinned over at Professor Oak, seeming to be happy with how the elder professor had been trying to help him already. "I didn't know you were working on all of that, so that'll help me with my journey for sure. That also answered the questions that I had." He then paused as he glanced over at his electric starter before continuing. "I do have a question on behalf of Pikachu if you don't care?"
"Absolutely, anything that you two may want to ask - I'm up for it." The elder professor smiled at the duo. "How can I help you and Pikachu?"
"When we were talking to Dialga, Palkia, and Celebi." Ash began, perking the professor's interest. "They informed me and Pikachu that every one of my Pokemon didn't reach full power potential last time because they chose not to evolve, so this is something that we have to do this time. Thankfully, they have come to a compromise which should help to keep their choice." He watched Oak's reaction before continuing. "For example, when Pikachu evolves into a Raichu - he would be able to choose whether he wants to be a Pichu, Pikachu, or Raichu at any time because of the special ability that he will gain upon evolving into a Raichu."
"Interesting." Oak mumbled to himself as he typed onto the computer before looking over at Ash. "What was your question though?" He had a feeling that he knew what Ash was going to ask.
"Well, Pikachu has to choose between a Kantoian Raichu or an Alolan Raichu." The raven-haired boy mumbled as he scratched his chin. "He was actually wondering if there was such a thing called an Alolan Thunderstone."
The Pokemon professor spat out his coffee, covering the videophone screen as he began to cough from shock. "P…Pikachu is considering evolution?!" He asked in shock as he wiped the videophone screen so Ash could see the elder professor once again.
"He is." Ash nodded in confirmation. "However, it would be a while before he actually bites the bullet. He would like to stay as a Pikachu as long as possible so we can get through as much speed related training before he actually evolves." He chuckled. "He isn't fully set on the idea of being a Kantoian Raichu, so he was wondering if it was possible to evolve into an Alolan Raichu without being in Alola."
"I see, I see…" Oak nodded as he took a deep breath to calm his nerves, seeming to think about it. "I'm actually not certain whether Alolan has their own thunderstone or whether their thunderstone will evolve Pikachu into an Alolan Raichu here in Kanto." He let out a sigh. "I will talk with Professor Samson Oak about this and see what we can do here, but I can certainly obtain a thunderstone from Alola. It'll be likely a gamble at this point."
The raven haired boy nodded, listening to the explanation before looking over at his electric starter. "Do you still want that Thunderstone, even if you don't end up evolving into the Raichu that you want to be?"
"Yeah, I'm going to have to go for it sooner or later." Pikachu shrugged. "Even if I don't evolve into the form of Raichu I want, I'll just stay as a Pikachu all of the time anyways."
"Yeah, we understand so we will still take the Thunderstone." Ash stated after a moment, giving a smile. "Thank you, professor."
"Not a problem, my boy." The elder Oak chuckled before continuing. "I will meet you over at Pewter Pokecenter as soon as I get your Pokedex upgrade and the thunderstone from Alola ready. Your travel time should give me enough time to get what I need done before I meet up with you."
"Thanks, Oak!" Ash grinned before letting out a groan as a loud explosion noise blasted from the lobby, so much for speaking with his mother. "Team Rocket is here, so I will go and help Misty to deal with them." He told Oak before shutting off the videophone and getting up from his seat. "Ready, Pikachu?"
"Ready to fry some Rocket ass!" The electric mouse grinned as his cheeks sparked.
"Great, let's go!" The raven haired boy ran over to where Misty was in the lobby, where the red-haired girl could be seen seething at Team Rocket as they shouted out their team motto.
"Jessie!" The pink-haired woman sang out as she flipped her long beautiful hair, posing next to the man.
"And James!" The blue-haired man sang out as he bit onto the rose that came out of nowhere, posing next to Jessie.
"And Meowth! That's rig–!" The cat Pokemon flipped from behind Jessie and James, landing in front of the two Team Rocket members, showing off his claws with a grin.
"Great, are you three done?" Ash yawned as he crossed his arms from annoyance, his electric starter chuckling at his trainer's response as he interrupted Meowth.
"WHERE ARE YOUR MANNERS?!" Jessie yelled angrily, not happy about Ash insulting the Team Rocket's grand entrance after they had worked so hard on it.
"Jessie, doesn't matter. Come on out, Koffing!" James called out, tossing his Pokeball which opened and revealed a Koffing who gave out a cry.
"Fine! Ekans, get out of there and show these brats some manners!" The pink-haired woman seethed as she threw out her Pokeball which opened and revealed an Ekans who gave a hissing cry.
"Misty calls out Starmie!" Misty cried out as she threw her Pokeball that opened and revealed the purple star Pokemon that blinked red in response, ready for the battle.
"Pikachu, buddy, I choose you!" Ash called out, pointing towards Team Rocket as his electric starter ran from his shoulder before jumping off of his trainer's arm and landing next to Starmie.
"Koffing, start out with smog!" The blue-haired man commanded as he pointed towards Ash and Misty.
"Ekans, poison sting these twerps with no manners!" Jessie growled as she commanded her poison type. Both poison type Pokémon obeyed their trainers and began to fire their respective Smog and Poison stings towards Starmie and Pikachu.
"Starmie, use Swift to destroy these poison stings, then use Water Gun on Koffing and Ekans!" The red-haired girl called out towards her purple star Pokémon.
"Pikachu, use a thundershock when Starmie finishes wetting these Pokemon with its water gun!" Ash commanded, which Pikachu nodded in agreement as Starmie began firing Swift to destroy the poison string before launching its water gun - getting Ekans and Koffing wet as a result.
"Take this, you Rocket Pokemon!" The electric mouse cried out as he launched a thundershock, frying both Ekans and Koffing which both poison-type Pokemon cried out from pain before dropping onto the ground, fainted.
"Fine, take the fury swipes from yours truly!" Meowth cried out in annoyance as he jumped into the battle, running towards the electric mouse.
"Nasty Plot, buddy." Ash called out, causing Pikachu to smirk as his body began to glow due to the Nasty Plot.
"What is a nasty plot gonna do?" The scratch cat taunted as he struck Pikachu with the claws, except that the electric mouse took a hold of Meowth's claws with an evil grin.
"Bye, bye, Meowth." The electric mouse snickered as he nuzzled against Meowth's claws as his electric sacs began to spark.
"W…what do you mean?" Meowth asked in fear, seemingly bewildered of the cheeks rubbing - especially when the electricity was starting to surround it.
"Nuzzle." The raven-haired boy commanded, grinning at his electric starter.
"Gladly." Pikachu smirked before firing off a Nuzzle which shocked Meowth and fried him due to the overwhelming power of his electricity. The scratch cat cried from pain as he was released before crashing onto the ground - fainted.
"Water gun, let's send those Rockets out of here!" Misty called out as Starmie fired an powerful water gun which sent the shocked Jessie and James, and the dazed Meowth, Ekans, and Koffing out of the PokeCenter's ceiling and into the sky.
"That was great!" Ash exclaimed as he high-fived Misty and gave his electric starter a head rub for the well done.
"Meowth's face was priceless." Misty admitted, giggling as she returned Starmie. "He was really confused as to why Pikachu was just nuzzling up with him."
"He sure was!" The raven-haired boy laughed before turning to Pokemon Nurse Joy, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry about the ceiling."
"Oh don't worry about it, sweetie." The Pokémon nurse giggled as she smiled sweetly at Ash and Misty. "All it matters is that our Pokemon are safe thanks to you two. May I offer a wellness check up and healing of your Pokemon?"
Ash and Misty looked at each other before nodding in agreement. "We would like that so we can continue traveling." Ash grinned. "It'd be appreciated."
"Aye, aye! I'd love to be at full energy." The electric mouse called out even though Ash was the only one who could understand him.
So Ash and Misty spent the night at the Viridian Pokecenter to get rest, and make sure that their Pokemon were in the picture of good health before they set back out the following morning.
"So, it's to Viridian Forest now?" The red-haired girl turned towards Ash, shuddering at the thoughts of going through the forest.
"Yeah, we're going to have to go through that if we want any hopes of capturing Butterfree, or well… Caterpie now" Ash sweatdropped. "Pikachu should be able to find him fairly quickly, then we can get out of there after that."
"Yeah, I should be able to smell him out when we get there." Pikachu nodded in agreement. "I just wonder if we will bump into the Samurai who have been wanting to battle all trainers from Pallet Town."
"We will probably bump into him." The raven-haired boy chuckled, ruffling his electric starter's head gently before looking towards Misty. "After this, we're going to be meeting up with Professor Oak in Pewter Pokecenter, and I'm not sure if I have any questions that were left unanswered." He admitted. "I was going to ask about my Pokedex and my carry limit but the professor has already been working on them for me."
"Oh already?" Misty blinked as she listened to Ash.
"Yeah, I guess he has been doing this ever since I reminded him." Ash muttered before stopping at the entrance of Route 2, looking over at Misty. "Let's take a break and eat lunch, and maybe get a little bit of training in."
"Sounds good to me." The red-haired girl agreed, knowing that the raven-haired boy needed to spend some time training his Pokemon team so they were ready to battle Pewter Gym. True to Ash's words, the two trainers and their Pokemon spent some time eating some lunch before the raven-haired boy moved onto training Pikachu, Riolu, and Pidgey.
Because Ash knew that his team would be facing the rock-type Pokemon, he had Pikachu to work on remastering his Iron Tail while he had Pidgey to learn Steel Wing so she could defend herself against the rock-type Pokemon. As for Riolu, The raven-haired boy decided that the aura Pokemon needed to work on his speed by working with him to learn Quick Attack which Pikachu was happy to be a tutor for.
By the mid-afternoon, Ash was able to accomplish what he wanted done for his Pokemon during the first training session. He was sure that they would be fine facing the rock-type Pokemon, especially since he already had Riolu who was a pure fighting-type. So the raven-haired boy and Misty walked into the forest, with the latter having stocked up some Repel sprays from the Pokemart in order to keep the bug-type Pokemon away from her.
"Alright, Pikachu." Ash finally asked once they got into the Viridian Forest deep enough to begin searching as he glanced up at his electric starter that was currently riding onto his shoulder. Riolu was currently next to Ash, opting to stay out of his Pokeball for the time being so he could get his own training session in. "Can you go ahead and see if you can smell Butterfree?"
"Yeah, I sure can." Pikachu nodded in affirmation. "We should be close enough that I can pick up his scent." He then jumped off Ash's shoulder before beginning to sniff the ground as he walked around the forest floors.
"Ewwww… Get away from me, Weedles!" Misty hissed as she sprayed the Repel bottle towards the direction of the curious Weedles which didn't like the scent and scurried off back into the bushes, causing the raven-haired boy to sigh.
"Can you at least not spray that for Caterpies until I've gotten my Butterfree?" The raven-haired boy asked softly, which Misty nodded in response as she knew that Ash had wanted to find his Butterfree again.
"Ash, I've found him!" The electric mouse called after several minutes, which Ash ran towards where his electric starter was.
"Where is he?!" The raven-haired boy asked excitedly as he caught up to where Pikachu had been, he looked as Pikachu pointed towards the two Caterpies that were bundled up together. One of them looked friendly, but the other one looked grouchy. "Good, can you go ahead and separate them with Thunderwave, buddy?"
"Sure." Pikachu nodded as he used Thunderwave on both Caterpies in an attempt to separate them which the grouchy Caterpie seemed to be pissed about.
"What's the idea of this?!" The grouchy Caterpie hissed, causing the electric mouse's eyes to widen as Ash threw the Pokeball at the friendly Caterpie which sucked him into the Pokeball and shook for a bit before dinging to confirm its capture. He was not paying attention due to his excitement of meeting his old friend again.
"Yes! I got him again!" The raven-haired boy cheered as he held up the Pokeball, grinning in response. He blinked as he looked at Pikachu who stared at him. "What's wrong, buddy?"
"YOU GOT THE WRONG CATERPIE!" The electric mouse shouted in panic as the grouchy Caterpie started to sneak away from the two.
"Wait what…?" Ash blinked, looking at the Pokeball then the escaping Pokemon. "What do you mean?"