Ron the True Fan: In case you're wondering, yes, I live. The latter half of January I got the flu, hence the delay. We're plotted out.

Takeshi Yamato: Still think Ron could have used more of a break…

Ron the True Fan: The FLU was my break.

Cameran Castle, 1121 hours local time, Day 248 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey

Ash was very good at running. But sadly he didn't have four years to walk and jog and all that, so…gym.

Human gym, that is, as Ash was working on his leg muscles while holding onto weights, squating up and down under the careful eye of Iris and Taggard.

"Pika." 'You're having a bit of a time, aren't you?" Pikachu asked. "Pikapi." 'I remember you doing more extreme things back in the other timeline.'

"I think…" Ash said, rising in his squat. "That was aura boosted."

"Curse of the royal family." Taggard said, before stopping him. "Leg work is done. Time for the arms. Don't clang the weights."

"Yeah, yeah…" Ash said, moving over to a bench and laying down. "Don't suppose bodybuilders go through this?"

"Worse." Iris said. "I knew a few in Opelucid. They did some pretty extreme things. One died lifting a weight and not from having it fall on him. He just keeled over dead." she shook her head. "Never knew why."

"Because they overworked their bodies for bigger muscles. That puts too much stress on their cardiovascular systems." the guard answered. "Bodybuilders never know when to STOP. Always more bulking up, more muscle, not knowing they're slowly building to their own death."

"Size really doesn't matter." Ash said, lifting the weights, gently guided by Iris' calloused hands. "It's how you use it."

"That's what she said." Taggard replied dryly, Iris blushing at the implied statement.

Ash noticed, then rushed to correct him. "I was talking about what happened back in Blackthorn!" he said.

"I'll go check up on the rest of your women." the guardsman said, dismissing himself. Ash was NOT happy about how he said that. 'Friends' would be more accurate.

"Pikachu." 'I get that he doesn't like most of the girls, but he could be nicer.' Pikachu said. "Pika." 'You're engaged to them.'

"Don't want to talk about that, Pikachu." Ash said as Iris kept an eye on the weights and guided his hands when necessary.

Pikachu scowled. All business. Then again, so much had been done.

The Eeveelution Brothers were still pissed at them, Gible ate all of the equipment needed for the Mirage Pokemon stupidity (praise Arceus for that: of anything they had to go through, THAT was not one of the things they wanted to repeat) and Neon Town.

Oh boy. Jigglypuff was NOT happy about being a glorified sleeping pill to the city that literally could not sleep, but she kept using Sing when…singing. So she dealt with it.

All during the downtime Anabel's stopped heart and recovery at Laramie Ranch.

Speaking of… How WERE the others doing?

Max was on the ground, exhausted after only running three quarters of a kilometer.

His stamina was…a joke. He NEVER had to run from anything because he was the son of a gym leader. He was not going to sugarcoat it: he was coddled.

The only one remotely close to being as bad as him was Serena, who was panting a hundred meters ahead, but she was also heiress to a duchy. And she was pushing through it.

Just ahead of her was Anabel, who was…cheating, generating a psychic field to keep herself from collapsing. That wasn't helping with her stamina, though.

She'd find a way to do that later.

"Ok, we're done." Misty called out, falling to the ground after jogging almost six kilometers. "My legs feel like burning rubber."

"How are you tired?" Robin asked, the tanned Orrean asked. "I've gone further in Orre's deserts."

"I'm a swimmer." Misty retorted. "Not someone from a desert that had to keep moving."

Robin hmmed. "Kanto is cold." she said. "All my life, I lived in the heat of the desert of Orre. You adapted or you died."

"No freaking kidding." the buxom swimmer said before anabel floated over.

"Anyone seen Mei?" she asked, Misty glaring at her for cheating. "Oh, please. You'll be gloating over Robin when you have to teach her how to swim."

The Orrean paled. Misty smiled at the crippling hydrophobic. She'd be merciful.

On a cliff overlooking the Tree of Beginning, Mei Sukone was pondering.

Pokemon Trainers…were type specialists. Ash's mastery of all was an exception. So…what would be her type?

Natu, her new starter, flashed in with a book, containing almost every known Pokemon.

There were always new species being discovered, but some were just minor regional subtypes. She opened the book, skipping over the introduction to look at the types.

As she was a very spiritual woman, her type would have to be akin. As a warrior of Arceus, they would have to be suitable partners in battle.

So what fit?

"I would pray to Arceus for guidance, but I suspect our lord wants me to discover this for myself." she said aloud.

Natu nested on her head, staring at the book before she flipped to fighting-types and sighted two.

Medicham and Hitmontop. Both of which were meditating in their pictures.

Most fighting-types seemed like fight nuts to her. Machamp, Hitmonchan, Primeape certainly, just to name a few. She had no experience with them outside of limited observations in Ransei.

Perhaps she needed to learn more.

Natu would smile if she could. Instead, the parrot stared, proud of her trainer for discovering a way forward.

Spiritual, yet martial.

Oak Ranch - Pallet Town - 1215 hours local time

Starmie joined Staryu embedded in a tree, Infernape having handed them their asses.

And they had dual type advantage over him!

Above, Ash's Dragonair was dueling Iris', the angry one firing a Hyper Beam at Ash's wrap-happy one, which dropped below and rushed at him, firing a Dragonbreath at him, forcing his head upwards and making the beam shoot into the sky before swinging his tail into what could only be called his neck.

Ash's team were proving one thing: constant training was better then occasional reconditioning. And they were ALWAYS at this when not with Ash.

The girls thought this would be a good experience for their Pokemon, to train with Ash's and improve their abilities before going to Johto.

Well, unfortunately, Ash's team didn't get the memo to take it easy on them before going to the usual level.

The Chancey would be busy.

The only ones not kicking the crap out of the girls' Pokemon were the powerhouses. Charizard was too damn powerful for them, Salamence could not be trusted not to revert (he was on enforced meditation to learn how to use his might without…well, brutalizing whoever was fighting him) Sceptile was the bane for any and ALL of the water-types and Greninja was meditating, just to give examples.

But Charizard was NOT idle.

No, he was fighting another dragon. One that preferred to be small.

Because Garchomps were not exactly good at NOT biting their trainer's head off by accident when they want to show they love them.

The Mach Pokemon (who preferred to be a land shark because chomp) dueled the Flame Pokemon in the skies, swinging and blasting at one another with fire and dragonfire.

Unlike the others, this was Charizard going easy on Garchomp. Or Gib-chomp, as some of the younger Pokemon under Ash's care called him. After all, he still hadn't gotten used to being his final state. He preferred being Gible, not that Charizard could blame him.

He didn't like being Charmander. To each their own on the evolutionary stages.

But they need to learn how to fight at their best and even Gible knew that.

Thus, the dogfight.

"Char!" 'You're doing well! Keep your wings forward: aerodynamics are a bitch!' Charizard advised, dodging another charge from Garchomp, who was acting more like… well, a Gible.

"Chomp!" 'I beat the Flygon back in Blackthorn!' the shark said.

Charizard snorted in amusement. The Draco Meteor thing was hilarious. He watched the recording and the look on Lance's face was GLORIOUS. "Zard." 'Only because you confused the hell out of them.' he said. "Zar." 'We can't rely on that.'

A fair observation, even the shark had to admit that. But he resumed the attack, attempting to chomp. It was hard to unlearn a behavior like that.

Charizard knew that all too well.

He stopped flapping his wings, forming a Mega Punch and punching the air shark in the nose before dropping a few hundred meters, gaining speed while Garchomp recovered from the punch.

In the distance, Charizard saw almost all of Iris' Pokemon fighting Primeape and Snorlax, getting their asses handed to them.

Charizard was actually depressed seeing this. They used to be so… respectable. Past timeline, sadly. He would be rectifying that.

Arceus pity their souls. "CHOMP!" 'Prepare for chomp!' cried the air shark, Charizard rolling his eyes at the single-minded need for him to latch onto someone's head.

Then again… how do you communicate without the chomp if you're a Gible line Pokemon?

Regardless, a beat of his wings and he dodged before slamming hard on Garchomp's back with his tail, sending him in a spiral to the ground.

He'd be fine. Though he'd have to STAY a Garchomp to learn how to fight properly.

Charizard dropped down, arresting his fall to find Garchomp head-first in the ground. "Zard." 'You're not supposed to be acting cute.' he said dryly.

Garchomp unburied his head, scratching his head with his little claws. "Chomp." 'You know I just wanted to be friendly.' he complained.

"Char." 'I know you want to show how much you like us, but you have to start acting like a Garchomp.' Charizard said, crossing his arms. "Charrrr." 'Which means not going straight to chomp.'

"Choooooooooooomp." 'But I WANT to chomp.' groused the air shark.

Charizard snorted. "Charizard." 'Look, why don't I tell you what happened when I went to the Valley?'

Garchomp blinked. "Gar?" 'Why? What's that got to do with this?'

"Char." 'A lot, actually.'

Charific Valley - Day 225 - 1041 Hours local time

Charizard was well aware of what was going to happen. The minute he landed, he was going to be under attack.

You had to earn your place in the Valley.

On his approach, he saw a large number of Charizard in the air, some on the ground caring for younger members of the line. It made him happy to see this.

But business before saying hello to the young ones and showing them how it was done, as he gently glided to the ground, not wanting to cause a fuss just yet.

So he landed just outside the territory, walking in the rest of the way.

One Charizard, obviously on sentry duty and younger then most, stepped out from behind the rocks. "Char." 'That's far enough. You want in-' he started before Ash's dragon raised a clawed hand.

"Zar." 'I'm aware. No offense, but if I fight you, you're going to the ground, so let me past so I can face someone more… experienced.' Ash's Charizard replied, evenly and neutrally. Arrogance provoked challenges. Calmness assured the foe that, yes, you WERE the better combatant.

Charizard psychology 101.

And seeing as the bored look on his face and the utterly relaxed stance he had were clear signs that he knew how to judge an opponent… the younger one stepped aside.

There was no shame in doing so. And Ash's fire-type walked into the Valley, only watched by Charmanders and Charmeleons, who were confused by the newcomer, but knew they were outmatched. Flight hath its' advantages.

One Charmander walked up to him, staring, Charizard looking at him before emulating Gible for a moment, eyesmiling before patting the little guy on the head.

"Char." 'Move along, little one.' he said, right before there was a thud on the ground, an ANGRY mother Charizard glaring at him.

"ZAR!" 'Get away from my child!' cried the parent of the Charmander.

The little one looked at his mother, running towards her and giving her a hug. "Char!" 'Mommy! He's nice!' he said.

Ash's chuckled. "Char." 'Your mother is going to be trying to bury me, so move along, little guy.' he said. "Zar." 'I don't want to see you get hurt.'

This well-intended warning did not go over well with the mother dragon, who roared and rushed him, only for the newcomer to duck under her lunge, form a fist and gut punch her, knocking the air out of her lungs before putting the other into her jaw, then using Dragon Tail to knock her into a boulder, which put her out. Fortunately, she would be fine.

The younger Charmander looked at Charizard, who shrugged, effectively saying 'what can you do?' before walking away, right before two more landed near the pool, glaring at him.

"Char." 'Look, I know I have to prove myself, but two on one seems a bit dishonorable.' the foreigner quipped. Legendaries needed groups. THIS was not fighting Legendaries.

This was ALSO the wrong response as they rushed at him.

Two and a half hours later, almost every Charizard in the Valley was combat ineffective, but they'd be fine after a few days rest.

The biggest one was currently fighting Charizard, the newcomer clearly getting annoyed by this. He came here to see if his home away from Pallet was willing to take him back after a few fights, not knock out every Charizard in the Valley!

The big one, however, was worth respecting: after all, he was huge, but was still flexible, only failing to hit because Charizard was smaller, lighter and thus more agile and faster.

Nothing against the big guy's skill - they'd been at this for almost an hour when everyone else was down in a few moments or at the most five minutes - but sometimes being big was counterproductive. Something he learned in his long time with Ash: size isn't what matters. Giratina's ass, he could get his ass kicked by Pikachu. But his size was also what was taking so long: the elder Charizard was COVERED in muscle and his scales were effectively bone armor at this point.

Ash's dragon swiped with Dragon Claw, ducking away from a counter from the elder before kicking his left knee, the joints being th eonly things really weak, for a certain amount of weak, as the damn things were still covered in effectively armor plating.

The elder growled, Ash's jumping back to face him before the elder dragon dropped down and sat crossleged.

"Zar." 'Enough. I'm tired and if this keeps up, I'll start using Blast Burn.' the elder said. "Char." 'And you're kicking my ass. What's that human expression? Death by a thousand cuts?'

Ash's fire lizard blinked. "Char?" 'I thought you were all trying to either kick me out or find my place in the pecking order?' he asked. Confused.

The elder huffed. "Zard." 'You spent almost an hour kicking my scaly rear end. The only one that did the same was the alpha of the Valley.' he explained.

And he WASN'T the alpha? "Cha?" 'And who would that be?' he asked, again neutrally and not arrogantly to show he was not interested in replacing, just knowing who the hell it was.

"Char!" 'That would be me!' exclaimed a familiar, feminine voice as a female Charizard landed just behind him, claws glowing with dragonic energy before swiping at him, fighting instinct taking over as Charizard generated his own Dragon Claws and parried the attack, finding the source to be someone he knew all too well.

Complete with that ridiculous, yet adorable bow, his mate from the other timeline. Charla.

Oh, THIS was going to be awkward…

Liza looked at the valley of Charizard and saw a warzone. SO MANY unconscious dragons and her own was on her knees, exhausted while fighting a stranger Charizard, who was being rather gracious and… well not smacking her with his claws while she was down.

Or making an alpha roar. It appeared he just wanted to let them know that he was NOT at the bottom of the pecking order, but not willing to usurp the rightful leader.

That was downright cordial by Charizard standards.

The stranger then waved at her.

"…I am going to need alcohol for this." she finally said. This was too weird, even for her.

Present time

Garchomp listened, trying to get the point of the whole thing. Charizard noticed he didn't digest it.

"Char." 'I wouldn't've been able to kick their asses if I wasn't totally sure of what I could do and how my body worked.' Charizard summed up. "Zard." 'Imagine if you ran into a colony of Garchomps and wanted to be friendly.'

"Chomp!" 'Then I'd chomp them. It's how our line works.' Garchomp said, eyesmiling.

Charizard facepalmed. Gible line Pokemon were absurdly friendly. "Char." 'Ok, how about if someone tries to kill Ash? You wouldn't be able to defend him as effectively if you don't know how your own body works.' he attempted to explain.

THAT worked as Garchomp's expression turned from eyesmiling to furious. Fighting his own kind? Gibles and their evolutions were friendly to a fault and only pissy if they couldn't give their trainers or friends a friendly chomp. Threats? Threats were universal.

Charizard did not smile. Gible was too nice. But as Ash had learned, sometimes nice didn't work.

Ketchum Residence - 1341 hours

Iris' Gible munched on berries and scrap steel as Delia measured his body.

Apparently, they had gotten an invite from the Ranseian Emperor to visit the long-lost region for a few weeks and it was cold. So cold that some Pokemon that couldn't take it and changed types over time, including Gible.

So she was knitting a hat for the two land sharks. The bowl part was easy.

Accommodating the fin…that was not. At least he'd be warm.

Ash's land shark already had his hat and was enjoying the added warmth… and the attention, as that priestess girl couldn't help but watch him run around with it.

"Why must Gible be cute?" Delia asked herself as she knitted. "You're all sharks. Sharks are very scary biting machines. Yet instead of dreading you, we just want to pet you."

Iris' Gible made a happy "Gible!" at that before continuing to nom.

Meanwhile, another shark was wanting to be pet, too.

Sharpedo damned his passive ability. WHY did his line all have Rough Skin? If they didn't, humans would learn they were actually very friendly when their territories weren't being knowing violated.

Gibles weren't the only Pokemon to show their love with the chomp!

Sharpedo entered his shipwreck home, looking at the weird Pokeball he found in Salen. Well, everything had calmed down. Maybe he could have Kyoji have one of those professors take a look. He gingerly chomped on the ball, heading for the surface, where another shark was waiting at the shoreline, sunbashing.

The Ranseian Gible was fin-deep in the sand, enjoying the heat before he noticed the music, unburying himself with a yawn. "Gible?" 'Sea shark?' he asked, sleepily.

Sharpedo spat out the ball, landing near Gible. "Shar!" 'I wanna find out what this thing is!' he said, the electric shark looking at it before knowing why it took so long.

All the chaos. Gible then picked up the ball in his own mouth, asking if Sharpedo wanted to be there with his eyes.

Sharpedo eyesmiled. Kyoji could just return him and put him in a pool. Or send Gible.

Gible then sharked off, hunting for his trainer, who was laying on the grass with Neesha, just looking at the sky before the soldier sat up at the familar music.

"Gible? What's up, buddy?" he asked, Gible surfacing with the ball in his mouth. "What's that?"

Gible just eyesmiled before gesturing to the coast.

Kyoji brought Sharpedo to the lab, where Oak was examining the ball, Ash coming in to check up on some of his Pokemon before seeing the ball.

He was… NOT happy, judging by the twitching in his eye. That clued the Ranseian into what the ball was before Oak could make any declarations.

"So… I take it that's the GS Ball?" Kyoji mused, looking at the small gold and silver Pokeball.

"That it is," Oak nodded, "There are a half dozen of them around the world and no one's been able to open them… we're afraid if we try to force it open, we might hurt whatever is still inside it…"

"Hmmm… may I?" Kyoji asked, holding a hand out. Oak shrugged, as he stepped aside. Kyoji picked up the Ball, eyeing it up.

"Hmmm… yeah, I guess it looks like something that'd be made in Ransei…" he muttered, looking at the front. "…but it certainly doesn't use any natural materials like other Pokeballs are…"

"From a preliminary scan, we were able to determine small bits of Pokemon DNA off the surface," Oak informed, "What we found out… It was surprisingly to say the least. We uncovered trace amounts of DNA from a Ho-Oh and Lugia."

This caught both Ash and Kyoji's attention, looking at the Professor. "Come again?" Ash asked.

"We believe that… whoever made this ball, used feathers from both of those Legendary Birds to create it," Oak nodded, "It's not impossible, given how durable and unique they are… but to mold them in such a way to make a Pokeball…"

Kyoji's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the ball - specifically at the initials at the front. "G.S…" he muttered, before his eyes widened a bit. "Wait… Greatest… Smith?"

"Hm?" Oak asked, "What was that?"

Kyoji was silent for a minute, looking at the ball. "…there was an old Ranseian legend, about a man known as the Greatest Smith." He began, "He was… considered to be the single greatest metal smith in the entire nation, warriors of all ages would come to him to have mastercraft weapons made by him. Swords, Daggers, Spears, Armor… if it was metal, he could make it. Legend has it… that he created his weapons by using… parts of strong Pokemon, like the horn of a Tauros, the old carapace of a Kabuto… some even say he created a sword of fire out of a tooth from Groudon."

He flipped the Pokeball around a few times "…he never shared his secret of how he made them with anyone…" Kyoji mused, "Not even his own family - who went on to become the royal family, so the legend says… I suppose it would make sense that he would be commissioned to create one of the first Pokeballs in recorded history…"

Kyoji brushed his finger around the central piece of the Pokeball - pushing it in as if he were to activate it like any other Pokeball - not really expecting much… until the rim of the ball began to glow. "…UUUUHHHH GUYS?!"

"W-What did you do?!" Oak shouted, as he and Ash rushed towards him.

"I-I don't know!" Kyoji shouted, as the ball began to glow brighter - on instinct he threw it away… and the ball opened up, firing off a beam of light as something escaped from it. The three just watched in awe as the ball of energy formulated into a form… a somewhat familiar form to all of them, as appearing was…

"…Celebi?" 'Daddy?'

All three looked at the small green Pokemon as it sat on the floor. Its eyes were closed, but slowly opened as it looked up at them. Glancing over Oak and Ash… before zeroing in on Kyoji as it smiled "BiBi!" 'Daddy!' It cried out as it flew towards Kyoji, glomping him into a hug.

"If I knew there was a Celebi in that GS ball the LAST time, I'd've asked her to turn back the clock so I wouldn't've had to drag the damn thing around the Orange Islands." Ash said, as…well, other then Charizard finally getting the trust thing done and Shamouti, the ENTIRE debacle was a waste.

The celebi then hid behind Kyoji, scared of Ash's reaction.

"Ash…" Kyoji said warningly. He got WHY Ash was pissed - 6 months of dragging an easily lost pokeball around, not to mention all the OTHER crap he went through probably didn't make it GREAT to remember - but this was a baby.

Ash sighed. "Sorry. Bad memories." he said. "Not her fault. Not her fault…"

The Celebi looked out from behind him, looking into Kyoji's eyes. "He…had a bad time with one of these." he explained, gesturing to the GS ball.

A flash of light then signalled the arrival of quote-unquote 'Ash's' Celebi. "Bi." 'Ok, I just felt a serious temporal disturbance.' she started. "Ce-" 'Someone want to ex-"

The child-like sprite and the most mentally experienced one locked eyes. And the latter smacked her face.

"Celebi…" 'Shoot me. Shoot me NOW.' she begged.

While this was going on, Max was in the ranch grounds, looking for Pokemon to add to his team. But with all the 'exotic' Pokemon… he really just went for ones from Hoenn.

It was confusing. There was a flock of Rookidee (apparently the children of Delia's Coviknight) all having a staring contest with a flock of wild Natus, two fletchlings that Ash's Talonflame was hyper-protective of and… well, the list went on.

But WHY Hoenn?! If he wanted Hoennic Pokemon, he'd've STAYED in Hoenn. But he had a Shroomish and a Poochiena, which apparently was once owned by a Hoennic Ranger, but she had to put it in a good home and Hoenn, apparently, was not it.

'Well, makes sense. I befriended them in the original timeline.' came…his own voice?

Max spun around. Standing there was… himself? 'Welcome to the temporal shenanigans club.' the… ghost said. 'You might be wondering what's going on.'

"…I'm going insane." Max said. It was the only logical explanation.

'Well, you have to be slightly crazy to hang around Ash.' the ghost replied, chuckling. 'Three years before he met you in the other timeline, he ran into a legendary called Mewtwo. There was a fight and… well, anyone spending time around Ash gets themselves copied because he's a psychic sponge now.'

…He was either inventively crazy or this was real.

'Ok, you got your doubts. Fair enough. None of this makes any logical sense.' Astral Max said. 'How about something you shouldn't know? Like the fact May's going to get a… well, crush is too light a word and Ash wants to reciprocate-'

"WHAT?!" Max roared, before looking at the main building and rushing for it.

Astral Max shrugged. 'Was it something I said?'

Entry 101: GS Ball

The GS Balls are the oldest known Pokeballs to resemble the modern style, in spite of being the same age as rougher Hisuian Pokeballs. Not much is known about them, but it is theorized they are modelled after the legendary balls used by the Master of the Thunder Beast during the Age of Damos.

What little we know indicates they are similar to Master Balls, but far, FAR more advanced, but no one's been able to open one of them for fear of damaging the ancient ball. Only six intact GS balls exist, with 30 damaged and fractured devices used for the development of the modern Pokeball.

Entry 102: The Great Smith

The creator of the many Pokemon-related items that are still in use today, there is not much known about this man, other then he created the first attack-boosting items in history as well as the GS Ball, which has now become the modern template for all Pokeballs.

No one knows his name, but we continue to use the modern versions of his creations to this day.

Ron the True Fan: Vid work, STO grinding, a minor bout of depression and the flu. Combine that with the need to have a LONG list of future chapters and you have the delays to this one. And ironically the best solution to the depression was… well, a game ABOUT depression.

Takeshi Yamato: Yes, Ron picked up Dead Space Remake. And is enjoying it. And a bunch of other games, too. Let's try not to badger him too much about the next chapter, people.

Ron the True Fan: As if they will listen. Besides, I had the flu as my break. I literally couldn't do shit without my head wanting to explode. Including sleep. I've had my break. Now it's back to work. As for the next chapter… blame Jorn.

Ja Ne!