Ron the True Fan: Enjoy the fun while it lasts. It's not going to be pretty when Whitney shows up.
Takeshi Yamato: No, no it's not. In fact, it's going to be downright BRUTAL.
HA Anderson: Well, you know what time it is!
Ron the True Fan: He has no fucking idea.
Greenfield - Johto Region- 1358 hours local time - Day 393 of Ash Ketchum's Journey
The miko moved quickly, as a massive event like this demanded their presence. Which was also a benefit for Mei.
Because Jade's negotiations with the Unown were, of course, typical for such a perverted wench.
"Why," she demanded as her armor was resized. Her figure was, to be blunt, flat. Were it not for her feminine face and voice, everyone would mistake her for a boy.
Jade changed that. Now, even in her very simple robes, Mei could see very… VERY… noticeable curves.
Her radical transformation wasn't the only one. Anabel, too, had a booster shot to her figure. Robin's was more… extreme. Every one of Ash's… harem… got a boost in their sex appeal. They looked… older. More eye-catching.
Mei might not have been happy with Serena/Jade's unilateral decision to, in Misty's words, 'stack them up' and 'put more junk in their trunks', but… she wouldn't deny that she felt more like a woman now. She was resigned to look like a long-haired tomboy forever.
Of course, that ALSO meant her power armor had to be modified to deal with the increase to the size of her new assets.
"You need to show off those WONDERFUL assets of yours with better clothes." purred Serena, the perverted personality in full control. Why did her libido also have to be her confidence? "Those baggy pants and shirt aren't going to draw his eyes. You have to expose some skin, girl!"
Mei tried NOT to throttle the one responsible for her new figure. "I am a SHRINE MAIDEN." she retorted. "We are supposed to remain spiritually pure, not some lewd fetish object."
"You've never seen the sexy miko outfits, then." Serena retorted, getting a death glare from Mei. "Look, girl, you're engaged, by your own request, to Ash. You KNOW you're gonna have to do the do eventually. Priests and priestesses DO have families and practice. As long as you keep the sexy stuff for Ash only…"
Mei blinked. Was she kidding? "…I've never heard of that." she said.
"I talked with members of your order. It's a thing." Serena said, before sighing. "You're not committing heresy, alright? Just keep the skimpy miko outfits to the eyes of Ash and the rest of the girls only. And only when he's old enough."
"Because his vow's no longer an option." Mei said, deciding to take a bit of revenge. "Your TRUE self took care of that."
Serena scowled. The ghost, her past self from the other timeline, had more influence on Ash then she did! In ONE conversation, she broke every argument he had.
Of course, he was too busy talking to the goddamn shrink for her happy makeout sessions. SO CLOSE!
Still… as soon as he was done… Everything short of having a surprise in nine months was up for grabs!
And in THREE YEARS, she was getting that last part! Ash would make a WONDERFUL daddy!
Meanwhile
Gaffery reviewed the notes from Ash's story. And he came to a single conclusion.
"You did nothing wrong." the old man said, removing his glasses. "You had a solid plan that was derailed by something unexpected. You didn't think they'd be able to get out. Even Molly's projections were more her mind than anything."
"I have two of them in my head. I should've seen it coming." Ash replied. "If Molly could do it-"
"That was a manifestation of her dreams. Nothing conscious." Gaffery reminded, using Ash's own words. "It took more effort than you expected to get control. You had a plan and it ran over a massive speed bump. You did absolutely NOTHING wrong."
That didn't make Ash feel better. Molly was comatose, thousands of people were homeless or dead and the Pokemon death count was incalculable.
This timeline had it out for him.
"Natu, make sure he gets dropped on his bed." Gaffery said to his parrot. "And YOU don't do anything until you get to Goldenrod. Your ribs might heal faster thanks to Aura, but you're still going to be off your feet for weeks."
The timeline REALLY hated him.
Outside Greenfield - 1432 hours local time
Sympathy, sympathy, sympathy.
Molly sat quietly. After all, she was 'catatonic'. And the sympathy train. FUCKING ARCEUS, the sympathy.
'You didn't mean it'. 'It was the Unown'. 'Your grief colored your thoughts, so it wasn't your fault'.
Good thing Molly Hale was DEAD.
Her eyes flashed again, going through the color spectrum. It was good to be out of Ash's head, even if she had to pretend to be emotionally and physically drained.
"Hey, Molly." came a voice she DIDN'T want to hear. Ketchum's apprentice, Max Maple.
Her heartbeat picked up, her cheeks heated up and she didn't know WHY.
"I know we didn't meet before all this went down, but I hope we do under better circumstances." said the black-haired brat.
'Go away, go away, go away, GO AWAY!' she screamed mentally, wanting to snap his neck.
Max patted her head, smiling at her before leaving.
That left the thing in control to wonder why Max was affecting her so much.
WHY?!
Goldenrod City - 1535 hours - Day 407
Ash loved nature. Loved walking. HATED getting lost.
He had a new thing to add to the list. Mud.
It took him four days last time to get to Goldenrod. Thanks to a rainstorm that came the day after that lasted for a week, the roads turned into ankle-sucking mud.
"Johto's got a LOT of infrastructure work to do to unfuck these roads." Kyoji groused as they FINALLY got onto pavement inside Goldenrod proper.
"Well, with how fractured it is, that'll take a while." Max said, before looking into the wagon's main hold.
He had no idea how, but Serena put in a heart-shaped bed and dropped Ash in it. Max was amused. As was Kyoji.
Ash was not.
A Serena-based miracle killed the vow, but that didn't mean Ash was comfortable with the advances of his soon-to-be queen.
She KNEW she had to tone it the hell down. But that didn't mean she wouldn't be super-cuddly. He DESERVED the love and affection.
No fun stuff, though. Ash was 15. Age of majority was 18.
But Ash was not going anywhere. 'Nurse' Serena's orders. After all, his ribs were still healing.
"There's a massive department store here in Goldenrod if I remember correctly." Neesha said aloud, musing.
Kyoji's face drained of color. No. He thought this was a myth. A thing created by the media.
"We're all going to need a few extra changes of clothes." Iris said, wincing at the idea of her sweater needing a wash and her being cold for a day or so until it dried off.
It was REAL.
SHOPPING MANIA.
Ash was safe. Busted ribs that were almost healed, but not quite. They were not.
"Emergency escape pattern Natu-4!" Kyoji cried, Max latching onto him before the parrot 'ported them away.
Red paled before Ruby poked him.
"Can you help me pick out some new outfits?" the perky redhead asked. "I need to know what looks good."
"Yeah, same here." Yang said,smirking. "You got good taste."
Red wished he had a Natu.
Two and a half hours later
Ash wondered why Red looked like he needed help as he woke up, but Ruby said he was ok. But the wagons stopped in front of the gym, a simple building like in the last timeline.
His sides still ached, but he could handle Whitney.
He still hated those Miltanks, though.
"Don't strain yourself." Serena said, gently getting him out of bed and their home on the road. "You're ALMOST healed. You could break it again."
"I'm ok, Serena." Ash said, seeing that she wasn't being the lewd one, at least not as much. She must've taken it to heart.
"I know I was making you uncomfortable. I'm just WAY too excited for…" she trailed off. "LOTS of romance novels always have those fun parts in them and I want to be one of those female leads that has a family and is happy, you know?"
Ash smiled. Now that she was acting more like what he knew - Jade was only in control so much because she felt confident - he could relax.
"I do. And while I'm pretty sure I don't deserve you…I'll do my best to make you happy." he said, resulting in a glomp from her, avoiding hurting him.
"Hey, lovebirds!" came a familiar voice. "No making out on my doorstep!"
Ash looked away from Serena to find the familiar pink-haired form of Whitney… who looked a lot more womanly.
Visible muscles, almost excessively so with… well, Bell's wife-to-be could rival her for the size of her tracts of land.
"Wait, you're Ash Ketchum." she said, grinning. "Come to try your luck with me, royal boy? I hate to be the one to break your winning streak, but I've never been beat!"
…He sensed Gary and Paul vibes from her. Knocking her down a few pegs would be good for her.
Because given everything, up to and including Greenfield, he REALLY didn't care about a win rate. New Island was a disaster, Shamouti barely qualified as a win and Greenfield was an unmitigated disaster.
But Whitney was overly arrogant here. He'd take some pride in force-feeding her some humility.
And his best option was always eager for war. So he reached into his pocket, cycling in Charizard to his lineup.
Kyoji Natu-ported just outside the gym. He had a bad feeling someone was about to SERIOUSLY fuck up.
He hoped it wasn't Ash. There was so much PROGRESS lately!
Kyoji entered the building, running into Neesha, who shook her head at something inside.
"Dumb bitch, don't do it." she said, Kyoji putting a hand on her shoulder, making her jump. "Damn it, Kyoji!"
"Sorry, but what's going-" he started before seeing Whitney's chosen Pokemon, a Miltank, on the field… facing Charizard.
"Miltank, use Attract!" cried the pinkette.
Kyoji's eyes almost shot out of his head. She was NOT stupid enough to do that to Charizard!
Miltank obeyed, a pink heart shooting out at Charizard, who tried to avoid it to his credit.
But to no avail.
"Sorry, Ash, but you just lost!" Whitney said, waving a finger around. "Miltank! Roll-"
She never finished as Charziard roared, purely enraged.
"YOU STUPID BITCH!" Kyoji yelled, getting Whitney's attention. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
Whitney took offense. "I'm not stupid!" she yelled.
"Charizard's a mated Pokemon, you idiot!" Kyoji clarified. "All you did was drive him into a blind rage!"
Charizard, like almost all dragons, mated for life. And any attempt to break that bond was met with violence.
As in God of War III Kratos-levels of violence. And that basically killed the Greek world, meaning, like the Greek pantheon, Whitney brought this on herself. (WHACK!) As a musical suggestion, I recommend Rage of Sparta. (WHACK!)
"Miltank, Rollout!" Whitney ordered, but Charizard moved too fast, rivaling Pidgeot and nearly Pikachu for speed as he grabbed the cow, lifting her up and sinking his teeth into her chubby neck.
"I have ZERO sympathy for her." Misty said, shaking her head. "Her lack of tactics and spamming Attract brought this on pinky up there."
Miltank cried out in pain, which only got worse as Charizard began leveling Focus Punches into her, punching her in the gut repeatedly before flinging her across the field.
"Miltank!" Whitney cried out in terror before looking at a VERY shocked Ash. "You just forfeited this match, you bastard!"
Max coughed. "Actually, ma'am, under League regulations, which you have to follow to be recognized, the party using Attract on a mated Pokemon is the one who forfeits the match." he said, adjusting his glasses. "And that was you. No matter what, Ash gets the Plain Badge."
"I don't want it like THIS!" Ash cried out, Charizard roaring before rushing at the unrecovered cow, claws turning to steel. "Charizard, stop!"
"He's not going to listen, Ash!" Iris informed. "He's got to exhaust himself for it to wear off!"
"Oh, NOW you tell me!" Whitney complained, before a shoe bounced off her head. "Hey!"
Serena smiled, Ash's Natu teleporting her shoe back into her hands before slipping it back onto her foot. "You brought this on yourself! Reap what you sow!" she called out. "And next time, try not to use the same tactics! Your lack of imagination screwed you!"
Charizard slashed at Miltank, who, to be fair, tried to use Focus Punch to blunt the attacks, but it made almost no difference, the wounded cow only managing to fracture her bones instead of getting her forelimbs cut off.
Then Charizard GLOWED, plasma dripping from his maw.
And to Whitney's credit, she recognized it for what it was. "Miltank, Rollout! Get out of there! That's Blast Burn!" she ordered. "The rock-type energy might protect you!"
The entire group, though with varying emotions, from Max's dryness to Serena and Misty being smug to Iris and Kyoji's resignation to horror of Ruby and Weiss, said "No, it won't."
The red plasma stream left his maw, Charizard increasing the heat with Dragonbreath, turning it blue, which was even hotter then normal.
Then it turned white, meaning it was now a mind - and flesh and bone and pretty much EVERYTHING - nine THOUSAND degrees kelvin.
Miltank should count herself lucky she was not only a Pokemon, but using Rollout, as the plasma stream was cooled… slightly.
Of course, all that really meant was that the use of Rollout left her with fourth-degree burns all over her body instead of being dead.
Charizard stomped towards Miltank, who, by this point, now had a very, VERY healthy fear of fire and of Charizards in general, who was pathetically mooing in terror. One of Whitney's ace trainers had to restrain the farm girl to keep her from returning Miltank.
The rules were clear. The offending Pokemon had to be fainted.
Charizard picked up Miltank, forcing open her mouth.
"CHARIZARD, NO!" Ash cried, before a Flamethrower was dumped into Miltank's mouth, burning her from the inside before Whitney finally returned her Pokemon.
"Send out another one, NOW!" Kyoji demanded. "Otherwise he'll just tear the building apart!"
"Avenge Miltank, Lickitung!" Whitney ordered, sending out the long tongued Pokemon in question.
All it did was give Charizard a new target, Charizard charging at Lickitung, the pink Pokemon screaming in terror before turning tail and RUNNING.
Charizard spread his wings in reply, taking flight to chase him.
Whitney clearly had no idea what to do. Apparently, no one ever got past Miltank. To be fair, it was hard to get past Attract and Rollout.
That was still no excuse for not preparing for it, though.
"Hyper Beam!" Whitney ordered, Licktung stopping and inhaling before spitting out a white beam… which was then hacked through by a FAR more powerful Blast Burn, which actually saved Lickitung's life, as the Hyper Beam absorbed some of the energy and made it just south of lethal.
"I don't think Whitney thought this through." Misty said dumbly. Can't blame her, though: Charizard was now something even a water-type Elite Four would have a hard time facing.
"Blissey, take down that Charizard!" Whitney yelled, tears in her eyes as she sent out the evolution of Chansey, who took the initiative and started using Swift, stars smacking into the back of Charizard's head.
All it did was get his attention.
She screamed a Hyper Voice, Charizard roaring before charging at her. She charged a Thunder Punch in her stubby hand, meeting Charizard head to head, punching him in the face, then socking him in the neck.
Charizard's reply was to grab her and fly high, spinning and tossing her to the ground in a Seismic Toss, then dropping on her like a stone, making a crater in the arena.
But the medical Pokemon would NOT give up. Blissey, in spite of the pain, kept Thunder Punching him in the leg, defiantly refusing to let him win.
Charizard jumped away, inhaling before torching the hole with Flamethrower. As a final coup de grace, he shot a Fire Blast into the hole.
"That thing's a monster." Weiss said, terrified. As an ice-type specialist, one REALLY could not blame her.
Whitney returned Blissey, then sent out one last Pokemon.
"URSARING, TAKE HIM DOWN!" she roared, sending out the bear Pokemon.
Ash just facepalmed as Charizard rushed in and started beating the shit out of him so graphically, even the AUTHOR won't put it to paper because then the story would go STRAIGHT to the R-rating.
"…Holy shit." Kyoji whispered as Charizard made one last roar, going through Whitney's entire team like a white hot knife through butter.
Ash took this chance to return him.
Whitney glared at him. "Get out." she demanded.
"You owe him his badge under-" Max started before Whitney screamed.
"GET OUT!" she snapped.
Ash rose his hands, not bothering to fight it, then turned around and walked to the door. The others followed, all giving Whitney a look.
The girl then started crying as soon as they left.
"That was grossly immature of you."
Whitney's head shot up at hearing the voice of Lance, her husband-to-be.
Whitney might've been the heiress to the Nihon royal family, but she just wanted to work on a farm with her Miltanks. Let Lance govern.
She even caught him his red Gyarados.
"Immature?!" she snapped at him, before he rose an eyebrow, making her realize she was only proving his point. "…He almost killed my starter."
"And to be frank, Whitney, you deserved it!" Lance said, scowling at her. "Did you bother to check the status of his Pokemon, or did you just assume he'd be just like every other new and second-year trainer and the Attract trick would work?"
She didn't answer.
Lance facepalmed. "Whitney… Ash chose his Charizard because you were acting like an arrogant, smug bitch." he said, knowing his fiance when she was on the job and Ash's distaste for arrogant braggards. "You bragged about your undefeated status, he decided to humble you a little."
"And this rule about me giving him the badge no matter what is bullshit!" she whined.
"That rule was put in place because a gym leader got a trainer killed DOING THE SAME THING YOU DID." Lance ground out, making her look at him in shock. "You got LUCKY, Whitney. Charizard could have EASILY killed your entire team. He had enough self-control to leave them injured and not dead."
"But Miltank!" she exclaimed.
"Was the one that caused it and suffered for it. I'm sorry, but the rules reflect nature. At least she's ALIVE." Lance said sternly. "It could've been worse. It could've been a Garchomp."
Images of the air shark Pokemon EATING her Miltank flooded into her brain.
Ash DID go easy on her.
"Besides, now you know how everyone else feels when you ran them over with Miltank after using Attract on them." her bethrothed said. "Not a very good feeling, is it? It's without the smug look, because Ash is a fair sport, but now you know how it feels."
Whitney pouted. "Miltank will never fight again." she muttered.
"And Ash never wanted that." Lance said, putting a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "He wanted you to know how it felt. To lose so utterly. You got this gym from your mother. You didn't earn it. Sure, you have talent. But you did not bleed, sweat and cry to get the gym. It was handed to you."
She knew Lance wasn't doing this to be mean. And he was right. She WAS acting like a child.
"I owe him a badge." she said, sniffing.
"He's not going to hold it against you." Lance said gently. "He probably feels WORSE."
He was right. Ash DID feel worse.
"That was brutal." Max said. "But she brought it on herself, Ash. Anyone who teaches their Pokemon Attract learns the consequences of doing it to a mated Pokemon! She didn't."
"She fucked around. She found out." Kyoji said sagely. "And you're not lording it over her like she would."
"She was a LOT less of a bitch." Ash said. "More peppy than arrogant. Said it before and I'll say it again. I hate-"
"Sore losers?" came the voice of Whitney from behind them, making them all look to find her, red in her eyes.
Ash blinked. "I wasn't going to say that, but you're not entirely wrong." he said, as he did hate sore losers, but he was going to be complaining about the timeline. Which would prompt Becca to ask what was going on.
"Come to whine more?" asked Iris. "Because if you are-"
"I came to give Ash the Plain Badge." Whitney cut off. "I was acting like a child. And I didn't read the manual. Miltank naturally knew Attract and until now I never ran into a mated Pokemon, let alone one so…violent."
"And now one of your Pokemon is crippled for life." Max summed up, not exactly pleased with her laziness and having no sympathy. Granted, he was a bookworm himself, looking up ways to better care for his team.
Just because personal experience was the best way to learn did not mean not reading up wasn't helpful.
"Thank you for reminding me." Whitney ground out.
Ash raised a hand. "Whitney, there are other gyms. If you don't want to-"
"Want to? No," cut off the pinkette before walking towards him. "Have to? Yes. Besides, I was acting like a spoiled brat. Not exactly dignified behavior from a gym leader, is it?"
Misty snorted knowingly.
"So, here." she said, extending a hand and opening it, showing the Plain Badge in her hand. "You destroyed me. Attract or not. You won. I suppose I have some reflecting to do."
"Before you go, can we… discuss business?" Kyoji said, confusing her for a minute. "I've heard you have a LOT of Miltanks."
She nodded, not understanding why. "A lot that need breeding stock… Oh, don't tell me-"
"Ash has thirty of them and we both know how they work." Kyoji said. "It's a good deal. Especially since you'll get a lucrative deal with the Kingdom of Rota."
He had a point. Still… She wasn't happy about what happened with her starter. Yes, most of the blame was on her, she knew that after being forced to think about it for a while, but logic didn't mean a damn to emotions!
…but she needed breeding stock for her Miltanks. And Ash wasn't a dick who did that to her intentionally and if he was any indication, the herd might not be so bad.
"…I'll ask Ash. You'll be in Goldenrod for a while anyways: the roads are…" Whitney gestured to the air, reminding them all of the MUD.
The cities were ok. People lived there and made sure the drainage still worked. The roads were another story.
She then noticed Red talking with Wiess about Pokemon to counter Charizards and fire-types in general. It was cute how they were interacting.
Oh, yeah, they were attracted to one another. They were just being dumb.
Eh, that was their business. Though she DID like the lovey-dovey thing.
Entry 130: Attract
Attract is a move that makes Pokemon of the opposite sex fall madly in love with them and make them unable to attack.
Whitney most famously used it and Rollout to defeat trainer after trainer.
Unfortunately, Attract does not work on mated Pokemon, especially dragon-types and pseudo-dragons like Charizard, as they mate for life and it attempts to break the pheromonal bond between them and their mate. A similar incident, which ended in the death of a trainer whose Pokemon had Attract used on them, made it so the user of the move would be viable.
Whitney learned this first-hand when Ash Ketchum's Charizard came within two steps of killing her starter Miltank.
Ron the True Fan: For all those who got Miltanked, for all those who suffered a bullshit cheap move…this is for you.
Takeshi Yamato: Yep. Though, as an alternative to the God of War soundtrack for the beatdown, you could always play One-Winged Angel and assume it's being played for Whitney. Because while Charizard is displaying Kratos-levels of violence, Whitney was basically facing a Sephiroth encounter. Unprepared.
Ron the True Fan: Greenfield was the psychological terror. THIS was just a slasher movie. That said, we're gonna need to return to the planning doc for a while. This was THE last pre-planned chapter.
Takeshi Yamato: DO NOT expect the next chapter before Christmas. If it comes before then, it comes before then, but DO NOT expect it.
Ron the True Fan: But now we introduce someone. (Picks up a Gible wearing a Bela Lugosi Dracula outfit) This is Count Gibula. He is cute. He is happy. What makes him happier? Support for the fic. How does one support the fic?
Takeshi Yamato: By subscribing to Ron's YouTube Channel, Housecoat Gaming, and watching his videos! And if you are a player of the Tabletop Roleplaying Game Star Trek Adventures, consider leaving feedback on our videos in the Tethys Shipyard Series, where I serve as Yardmaster and he serves as Loremaster (as well as host).
Ron the True Fan: On FFN (if you even fucking NOTICE this got updated on there with FFN being stupid about updates) and AO3, the link is in my profile. And if you're already subbed, spread the word to other SOT fans who don't know. And as for those who want to know where to find me on AO3 because FFN is BREAKING, the TVtropes page has the link.
Ja Ne!