"There he is!" Molly exclaimed, seeing Pryce flying through the temporal pathway, racing off in the distance.
"How many times must I kill you three before it sticks!" Pryce complained, shooting a blast from his staff, knocking Ash, Pikachu, Suicune, and Meowth into another temporal portal.
"Ash!" Casey said, redirecting Raikou to go after them. "We can't leave him behind!"
"I'm coming, I know that, we just need to be quick!" Molly said, following through the portal to the other side. "Woah."
The world around them was far different than the world they knew, with no signs of civilization in sight, large trees and vast rivers spanning the area.
"When do you think we landed?" Casey asked.
"Either so far forward that nature has reclaimed the planet, or so far back that humanity hasn't even left their mark." Molly said in amazement.
"First problem we need to find Ash." Casey said, realizing wherever he had landed, it wasn't near where they came out.
"Searching for him, we've got." Molly said. "Teddiursa, Phanpy come out!"
The two Pokemon came out of their Pokeballs looking around in confusion as to where they are.
"Alright, I need you two to sniff out Ash, I know we don't have something with his scent, I just need you two to try and use your combined smelling powers to find him, alright?" Molly asked.
"Teddi!" Teddiursa said with confidence.
"Phan Phan!" Phanpy agreed, before curling up and rolling off.
"Phanpy that wasn't what I asked!" Molly said, scooping up Teddiursa and running after her ground type.
"Molly, we can't keep! Gah!" Casey said, chasing after her.
Elsewhere
"I'm not sure who the four of you are, or where you came from, but I haven't seen anyone like you ever since I got here." A woman said, making sure Ash was resting carefully.
"Yowza, that hurt worse than a zap from Pikachu." Meowth groaned, sitting up to see the strange lab like cave they were in.
"You're awake! And you can talk! Is that normal when you're from?" The woman asked.
"Okay, who are you, and how do you know we's time travelers?" Meowth asked curiously.
Back with the girls
"Phanpy wait!" Molly paused, seeing strange creatures that looked similar to Donphan's roaming about in front of her.
"Molly, there you areâ and what are those things?" Casey asked, pulling out her Pokedex.
'Pokemon Species, unknown.' The Pokedex said.
"How does it not know what these are, isn't the Pokedex supposed to know every Pokemon?" Casey asked.
"I don't know, you find anything that's happened to us today that makes sense, and then we can discuss why Phanpy is just fine around the Pokemon and yet the Pokedex says nothing about them." Molly said.
"Mollyâ" Casey said cautiously.
"What is it now?" Molly asked.
"Just come towards me and don't turn around." Casey said, seeing a creature with a long neck looking down at them from a cliff above.
"RAI!" Raikou roared, sending electricity at the creature.
"Raikou what are you doing!" Casey said in a panic, grabbing Molly and running off as the other Pokemon leapt at Raikou, sending electricity back at him.
The two traded electricity back and forth for a bit, neither seeming to be hurting from the damage, but neither relenting.
"Wait, look, I think they're not fighting, look at them." Molly said.
"Yes, they're both powerful and electrically charged!" Casey said still panicking.
"No, look at the other one, it looks like Raikou a bit." Molly said.
"But how, I mean Raikou is, well it's Raikou!" Casey countered.
"Yes, but think about it, Raikou, along with Entei and Suicune, these aren't their original forms, their original forms perished when the original bell tower burned down and then these bodies were created by Ho oh." Molly reminded.
"So what you think this raging bolt monster is Raikou's true form?!" Casey asked.
"It's possible. Maybe Raikou is asking if they know where Ash and Suicune are." Molly said.
Back at the cave with Ash and the mysterious lady
"Fascinating, so you taught yourself the human language and how to walk on your hind legs for love." The woman said thoroughly impressed.
"Yes, my dear sweet Meowzie, she broke my heart that day." Meowth sighed.
"And this boy, is he your trainer, are those still a thing?" The woman asked.
"The twerp, nah we're just traveling together for safety right now." Meowth admitted. "What about you though, you certainly know a lot about our time considerin we ain't there right now."
"Yes, well my name is Professor Sada. I was investigating the strange occurrences going on in Area Zero in my home region of Paldea, and to further my research I created a machine to send me back in time so I could learn about Pokemon from the ancient past." Sada said.
"And I'm guessing you never had a plan for how you were going to return once this was all said and done, did you?" Meowth asked.
"It was an unfortunate side effect of my research, but not one I hadn't prepared for. I created a robotic doppelgÃnger to take my place for my son since I couldn't return." Sada said.
"You know, I bet once the twerp wakes up, if you help him find his friends, they'd be more than happy to give you a lift back to the present day." Meowth said.
"What happened, where are we?" Ash groaned, waking up on cue.
"Ahh you're awake." Sada said, walking over. "How are you feeling?"
"Like a madman has tried to kill me no less than four times in the past 24 hours." Ash groaned, sitting up. "What happened?"
"We got separated from the girls." Meowth said. "Looks like ol Suicune took the brunt of the hit though."
Ash looked over to see crystals growing on Suicune.
"No." Ash said in shock. "No no no no no! What do we do, we need Suicune in order to catch the Masked Man!"
"Twerp breath, Suicune broke out of those before." Meowth said.
"No Suicune broke us out of those before, I don't know if she can do it herself!" Ash said panicking. "Wait I've got an idea!" Ash said sitting down next to Suicune.
"What is he doing?" Sada asked.
"Back in the less past past, when I contacted Suicune I sensed two of her, the one from then, and this one." Ash said, reaching out to touch the crystals. "Maybe I can call Suicune from now to break her free."
"Makes about as much sense as anything else today." Meowth admitted.
"This keeps getting more and more interesting." Sada said.
Back with the girls
"Okay, so I'll admit this is pretty interesting, we're probably the first humans to have ever encountered Raikou's original form, but do you think that means the others are here?" Casey asked as Raikou bound and leapt across the landscape with it's ancient self. Molly with her Pokemon wer nearby on Entei, keeping up with them.
"What do you mean the others?" Molly asked.
"Well you said it yourself. All three were killed in that fire, so shouldn't there be an ancient Suicune and an ancient Entei around here somewhere too?" Casey asked.
"Yeah, I guess that would make sense." Molly said, as all three beasts stopped suddenly. "Casey, I don't like that they all!"
Molly was unable to finish as a creature that looked like Entei had scooped up Molly in a quick movement. It had a large crown on its head and more pronounced claws.
"I WILL ALWAYS PROTECT MOLLY!" The creature roared, leaping towards the mountains.
"SERIOUSLY! WE'RE DOING THIS AGAIN!" Casey shouted, before noticing a blue and purple creature running by towards the same mountains.
"After that thing!" Casey said, hoping it was what she thought it was.
Back in the cave
"I've done what I can, but I, I don't know if they got my message, I couldn't seem to track down Suicune." Ash admitted.
"It's possible that like many of the Pokemon here, Suicune also changed so much over time, that the Pokemon you're looking for doesn't even exist yet." Sada said, helping Ash up. "What exactly is that gift of yours?"
"Oh yeah, my aura, it let's me communicate with powerful Pokemon in close proximity." Ash said.
"Marvelous." Sada said, as the sound of footsteps at a rapid pace neared. "It seems we have a visitor."
Ash, Pikachu and Meowth turned towards the entrance of the cave to see a blue bipedal Pokemon with a purple mane and two tails.
"It, it looks a lot like Suicune." Meowth said in astonishment.
"Maybe it is Suicune, or who Suicune was." Ash said, as the creature walked over. "Miss, do you know who this is?"
"I've been calling them Walking Wake, though your theory of them being an old Suicune might ring true." Sada said, as Walking Wake shattered the crystals, freeing Suicune as the water types health was quickly restored.
"Great, now all we need to do is find Molly and Casey and then we can get going again." Ash said, turning to see more figures at the cave entrance.
"Today sure is lively." Sada said.
"Lady, you don't know the half of it." Meowth remarked as Casey, Raikou, and Entei entered the cave.
"ASH!" Casey said, rushing over and hugging him.
"Casey, I'm glad you're alright, but where's Molly?" Ash asked.
"I think the Entei the Unown summoned back in Greenfield, is from here." Casey said with a worried look on her face. "She was taken by it."