Ron the True Fan: Johto. Pain.
117Jorn: Come on, it can't be THAT bad. You can do it, yes you can!
Blackthorn City - 1209 hours - Day 734 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey
"What happened?" Gaffery asked as Ash sat on the couch. "I hate to point this out, but if you don't talk to me, one of my less-trained fellows will take over and decide to just have you drugged to the gills."
Ash sighed. "That a threat?" he asked his shrink, who shook his head.
"No, and it's not my call. The Hoenn and Kanto/Johto champions will if you won't talk." he answered truthfully. "They're asking questions about your mental state. Not to mention everyone knows about your extremely stressful events: New Island, Orre as a whole, Shamouti and I don't even need to start on Greenfield. And Kyoji reported you watched Patel blow his head off in front of you. It's no wonder the public wants to know if you did everything you could or you broke under pressure."
"I doubt Wallace would be THAT mean," Ash replied, Gaffery looking at him curiously.
"I'll leave that off the record, assuming that's a timeline thing," the psychologist said.
"Who's the champion of Hoenn, then? Is it still… what was the name…" Ash trailed off, racking his brain for the name. "Steven Stone?"
Gaffery sighed. "Timeline change," he said, taking his glasses off to clean them. "The champion's name is Stephanie Stone."
Ash closed his eyes. "I'd like to scream," he said. "You know, to just let out the frustration."
Gaffery snorted. "Your visit to Hisui, I presume." he said without assuming much, having learned about Ash's… visit to Hisui. He was amazed at how little the timeline had changed.
Dialga and Arceus at work, he supposed.
"Yeah," Ash answered. "I'd like to vent. I'm not a happy camper."
"As much as I'd like to let you just to relieve the stress you're under…" Gaffery paused as he turned on a tape recorder. "What happened? From the beginning."
"…I don't want to talk about it." Ash said simply.
Gaffery hmmed… then walked over to the cabinet and removed two glasses as well as a decanter filled with alcohol.
"Alcohol loosens your lips.: he reminded, pouring a glass. Ash nodded, taking it before Gaffery poured himself one. Once Gaffery's was poured, the two saluted with a raised glass before both sipped, Ash gagging slightly from inexperience. But then again, the last time he was boozed up was well over a year prior.
"From the beginning." Ash said. "It was my birthday."
Day 730 - Altomere - 0831 hours local time
"I kinda thought there would be cake." Ruby said pouting. Her pout almost rivaled the guilt trips Gibles could produce.
"His birthday's just another day for us, unfortunately." Red said apologetically. Ash, on the other hand, was scanning the air for distortions.
The Latis were good at cloaking. There was no arguing about that. But there was no stealth field that was perfect. He tracked Latios at the hidden pool with air movement, after all and they DID have a sort of warping on the move.
But first, Misty had to get her little trophy. He was a good sport. What mattered to him was making sure everyone had a good, clean race.
And shooting the Rocket whores in the face the first chance he got.
"Pretty place." Kyoji said to Ash, getting his attention. "Lots of water. Humidity must be murder, though."
"Would be a pretty place if I didn't have history." Ash replied, adjusting his backpack, which was FILLED with Pokeballs.
Kyoji rose an eyebrow at what appeared to be ALL of Ash's Pokemon. "…That's a little bit overkill, isn't it?" he asked, before Ash turned to look at him with a smile so horrifying, even the King of Pokelantis would be unnerved.
(and he kinda WAS)
"I'm not taking ANY chances," Ash said faux-cheerfully before walking away to go sign up for the water-type race.
"He IS justifiably paranoid," Kyoji did not jump to his credit at the sound of Sabrina's voice, his girlfriend walking up behind him, wearing a violet tanktop and VERY tight jeans. She wasn't hiding ANYTHING with that get up.
"Well, this is his greatest failure, so he says." Kyoji said before kissing her on the cheek. "Should we be worried?"
"There's a reason I'm here, other than visiting you." she said teasingly.
Kyoji looked at Ash as he signed up for the race, including his race Pokemon, Totodile. "They're getting worse," he said.
"Perfect chance to banish his nightmares." Sabrina said simply.
"Can we skip the race?" Ash asked. "I'm sure Misty told you everything."
"She won." Gaffery said dryly. "Did Latias pick up Totodile?"
Ash chuckled. "Yeah." he said, almost thinking of a good memory. "She did."
Ryo Kanetsugu looked at the prince of Ransei. "SOP, so let's consider this a debriefing." the major said, tapping a clipboard. "What happened when you got to Altomere?"
"Well, there was a race," Kyoji started.
Totodile was lifted into the air, Ash picking up speed.
"Latias." Serena growled, Kyoji not wanting to know why she was jealous of the local legendary.
…Wasn't Lastias a girl-OH. She was jealous.
Of a POKEMON? Sure, there were some sickos that got off on Gardevoir, but humans and Pokemon were CALLED humans and Pokemon, separately, for a reason.
Genetics were a bitch like that, even if they DID have a common ancestor.
Kyoji's musings were cut off as he saw two women, a blonde with twin-drills and a silverette, out of the corner of his eye approach a speed boat.
Accompanied by an Espeon and an Ariados.
Annie and Oakley. Two Rocket spies, now freelance with Patel's death.
Number two on Ash's kill list. Which was really short: The Iron-Masked SOB, Hunter J, those two and Cyrus.
He was more forgiving to the rest, though he DID want Ghetsis to suffer.
"Looks like His Majesty was planning for an overwhelming assault." Ryo said, as Ash was now just as much Ranseian royalty as Rotan.
"Yeah, and he was the one going to launch it." Kyoji replied.
"From what I've heard, they weren't THAT much of a threat." the Major replied. "And according to the autopsies-"
"Ash considered them a threat due to their tech and their stealth skills." Kyoji cut off. "He was planning on ending them as soon as he saw them."
"But according to the report, he gave them a chance to walk away." Ryo continued.
Kyoji chuckled. "Fair play to the last. But once they refused, he was going to kill them." he replied.
The Major looked at the clipboard again. "According to the autopsy reports, he ultimately DID." he said bluntly.
Ash, Pikachu and Totodile made their way up the dock in the main plaza, his rocket-made pistol on full display, kids looking at him with fear. The fact the water washed the concealer off his face and revealed the purple bags under his eyes did not help.
He looked REALLY scary. But he didn't want that to stick.
"Don't be scared." he said gently, making them stop. "I know I look scary, but that's just because I don't sleep much. Your moms and dads probably look like this in the morning, just not as bad, right?"
The kids looked at each other, actually pondering this. "Y-yeah, you kinda do." said one girl.
"Well, don't you worry." Ash said. "I'm on a mission, actually. I'm here to protect the Latis from some very bad people." He closed his left eye conspiratorially. "But don't tell anyone."
The kids all nodded, then ran off to play somewhere else.
"Dude." came the voice of Kyoji as he, Sabrina and Neesha walked up to him. "You wonder if you're dad material WHY with stunts like that?"
"You lied like a pro." Neesha added.
Ash stood up. "Absolutely nothing I said was a lie." he retorted before seeing a brunette girl wearing a green shirt with a white skirt and beret with a sort of winged hair style.
"Now, if you excuse me, I have a mission to get to." Ash said before Natu ported in with his backpack.
"You didn't lie," Gaffery said. "You got lucky with those kids."
Ash shrugged. "The TRio gave me lessons," he said before looking at the ceiling. "I wonder what happened to those kids. Did they die because of what I did?"
"Focus." Gaffery said sternly. "There's no point wondering about that."
"Plenty of points." Ash replied quietly.
"What about the gunfight? Tell me what happened." Gaffery asked.
Ron the True Fan: LOTS of flashbacks.
Takeshi Yamato: Yeah. Movie 5 is going to be told ENTIRELY in the flashback style. Because OF COURSE it was bad enough that Ash needs a therapy session, and BIG enough that Kyoji needs to give an AAR.
Ron the True Fan: It's short. But remember… Johto. Pain. I want this over with and I don't care how. Hoenn awaits, damn it.
Takeshi Yamato: And I am staying on Beta duty until after Sinnoh at least. After that… I might take an active role again.
Ron the True Fan: And now to tell you how many chapters remain. Five. 52 chapters in total. (Picks up Gible plushy) Get me through this, little land shark. (Hugs)
Ja Ne!