Ron the True Fan: Yeah, I'm in a bit of a mood. I kinda just want to get this over with at this point, take a two week nap, cuddle with my new Gible plushy and plan Hoenn.

Takeshi Yamato: And I want to get this over with so I can get back to my games. Both video games and Tabletop RPGs.

Over the Whirl Islands, 5 kilometers from Cianwood City - 1312 hours - Day 468 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey

Without Butch and Cassedy or the TRio trying to kidnap Silver, the Whirl Islands were a lot safer. Sadly, that meant he wouldn't be seeing Ritchie again. That was probably for the best: let him have his own adventures and his own life instead of being caught up in Ash's wake.

Max would have to do the same thing, even if he was currently latched onto him for dear life. Literally.

"WHY DON'T YOU HAVE A SADDLE OR SOMETHING?!" Max yelled over the sound of the wind.

"NOT EXACTLY A GREAT IDEA FOR A BATTLE POKEMON!" Ash yelled back, Kyoji's charizard flying at a more languid pace behind them as they flew over the islands.

He was taking in the sights.

The flight didn't last long, though, as the beachside town of Cianwood, with a massive number of stakes in the sandy beach, loomed, showing that they at least took defending their home from the water-type Shadow Pokemon somewhat seriously.

But other then that, the houses seemed to be simple affairs: huts, more like. Even the gym was more of a simple rock-and-mud plaster construction. But in Johto, simple never meant weak. If it broke, it was easy to fix.

The only buildings made of concrete were the local store and Pokemon Center, but even then they looked more like seaside forts as they were covered in reddish-brown rocks.

Regardless, Ash was here to pick up the medicine and deal with Chuck, then he'd go back to Olivine.

Judging by the weather, though, they were in for a storm, so he had to make this quick.

"Ash Ketchum, I presume!" It appeared Chuck had the same thought, as the powerlifter departed his gym, a smile on his face as Ash landed Pidgeot before returning her to her ball. "My turn on the chopping block, I assume?"

Ash scowled. "Reluctantly." he said, still not happy about the whole thing.

Chuck snorted. "Kid, I'm more than happy to let you take this off my hands." the gym leader said. "I'm not one for politics."

"Neither am I." Ash retorted before Chuck gestured for the three to follow him into the gym, which was just as barebones as the exterior, though there were also weight sets near the walls, Chuck going to the other end before retrieving a belt. "So! My eight-badge team awaits you! I hope I provide a challenge!"

"Same here." Ash said, sounding depressed. Thanks to his team constantly training up, they turned everything short of the Elite Four into a joke and their unconventional attacks combined with Ash trusting them to fight without his direct intervention unless necessary.

Overpreparation to deal with legendaries and massive threats turned regular fights into cakewalks. Catch-22 at its' finest: be strong enough to save the world but leave no fun for anyone else or enjoy the battles with regular trainers, but have the world potentially in danger.

Chuck was doomed. But because he wanted the stress of running the territory off his hands, he didn't care. He just wanted to enjoy himself.

Was Ash looking at his own future?

"No flying or ghost-types if you don't mind: I think we both want a nice clean fight!" the leader said, pulling out a ball. "Am I right?"

Ash smiled. "You are. I like a fair fight." he replied, Chuck noticing how defeated Ash was. Not at the odds of losing - Chuck wasn't stupid, he just preferred a simple life - but that he would never have a true fair fight against any trainer outside of champions or the Elite Four ever again.

Olivine City - 1402 hours local

It was a simple three-story building with five bedrooms, a kitchen and two bathrooms, a good place for a large group to stay for a while.

And they were. Why?

"Winters are hell here in Johto." Jasmine said bluntly. "Hurricane-force winds for two weeks followed by freezing rain and snow for another three to four months. You're not going anywhere, not on foot and not by flying-type."

"Slumber party." Yang said, smirking. Weiss glared at her.

"We have two big Pernon liners stopping by, dropping off the necessities for winter." Jasmine continued before looking at them. "You're going to be here for at least four or five months. Six is an average for how long winter is in Johto and it gets cold."

Anabel smiled. "Good thing we have Natus." she said, her parrot nesting on her head smugly.

"We have teleport dampeners. For some inexplicable reason, people like trying to bomb my city." Jasmine retorted dryly. "I'm requesting help from Rota to deal with the problem, but we get attempts once a month. Someone doesn't want the shipyard up and running again. And occasionally bombing clinics, stores and for some reason a windmill barely in city limits."

"...A windmill?" Iris asked.

"A literal windmill." the gym leader said, unamused. "Someone has a sick and twisted mind. You get set up, I'll check on Amphy." with that, the gym leader left them in the condo.

"...Why four rooms?" Serena asked.

"Because men and women shouldn't sleep in the same room unless they're family or married." Misty deadpanned. "Jasmine, apparently, has an old-fashioned line of thinking."

"She'll be singing a different tune in her 40s when she's alone and too desperate for companionship to give a damn." Yang spat, getting a look from Weiss and Serena, one of admonishment, one of approval.

"Wise girl." Serena said, Weiss shifting her glare to her before noticing two missing. "Where are the red ones?"

Charmeleons at play were very aggressive. But the entire line became aggressive once they made the first step.

But their trainers were there like attentive parents.

"They're cute when they do that." Ruby said as the two rolled on the grass.

Red nodded before sighing. "I've had a lot of thought about this." he said, making her snap her head to look at him. "Not us. I meant…going with Ash. He gets into a lot of danger without even trying. I'm thinking…I'm going back to Kanto once he gets to the Silver Conference."

"You sure?" Ruby asked. "He's nonstep excitement-"

"Too nonstop. He practically runs into the gunfire. Eventually, he's going to get someone shot." Red cut off. "I love him, but I'm not going to ask you to put yourselves at risk. Plenty of excitement in Kanto."

Ruby pouted…but didn't argue. She knew he was just trying to protect them from the danger of…well, Ash running into gunfire. Not unfair. As for why they couldn't leave NOW?

To meet the bare minimum requirements for a mentorship, they had to stay with their mentor, Ash, until the local League was over for that year. So they had to wait until the Silver League to head to Kanto.

"Adventure awaits in Kanto!" Ruby declared.

"No wonder you two got together so easily." both turned to see Serena, smirking. "Ruby's basically like Ash, only a girl! And it's a good thing he's a guy, otherwise-"

Red and Ruby tossed two Pokeballs at her, which she easily dodged.

Teasing her brother-in-law was fun.

Meanwhile

Ash's laughter was not of joy, nor pleasure, it was of general insanity.

Chuck was losing, that was obvious. But it was the METHOD of the defeats that was wearing Ash down.

Hitmontop? Drill Ran out of bounds.

Poliwrath? Boldore fired a Rock Blast that unintentionally blinded him (Ash apologized) and ran out of bounds trying to Mega Punch her.

Hitmonlee? High Jump Kicked out of bounds.

"This is a shitshow." Kyoji deadpanned.

Chuck glared at him, offended "Look, I don't get too many high-level challengers! Most of them hadn't gotten the 'bigger is always better' idea out of their heads!" he defended as the score was now 3-0. "He is the exact opposite!"

Ash rose an eyebrow. "Favoring small, fast hitting Pokemon with a few giants?" he summed up.

"Exactly!" Chuck exclaimed.

"Pika." 'You were NEVER into the idea of bigger is better.' he drawled. 'More about adaptation then about small Pokemon.'

Ash shrugged, still a little…insane. "Do you want to call it?" he asked, offering mercy for them both as Chuck knew he was doomed and Ash didn't want to be cruel. This was little better then bullying. And Ash hated bullying more than he hated handouts.

"There's a storm on the way, so yeah, I will." Chuck said, coinciding the match and giving Ash the victory without… ell, being cheap or making it a handout, grabbing a badge from the box and walking over to hand it to him. "Not your best challenge?"

Ash shook his head. "You losing was a lot more graceful then Whitney's." he replied, Chuck snorting. "I had a hand in that."

"She used Attract on a mated Pokemon." Chuck retorted dryly. "She brought it on herself and she got what was coming to her. Not sorry about the lesson, plenty sorry about the cow. You did nothing wrong."

Max coughed, getting their attention. "Uh, I don't want to break up this touching scene, but there's a mini-hurricane coming in and no one wants to fly in that." he said. "We don't have winter coats."

Kyoji cringed at the idea. So did Ash. "Thanks for the battle, good luck with reunification and all that, say hello to your wife." Ash said quickly before they ran outside.

"At least you didn't use flying-types!" Chuck called out…before he felt a familiar nesting sensation.

"Natu." said the parrot, before jumping off and hopping after the trainers.

Chuck proceeded to lay on the floor until his wife came, who immediately knew WHY from the fact her husband was saying 'Natu' repeatedly.

Olivine City - 1823 hours local

The girls glared at Hikari and Serena. They had been having a game of rock-paper-scissors to find out who was on Ash-nightmare duty and…well, those two kicked their asses. Only Mei wasn't as…angry.

"You two keep getting the same damn thing again and again." Iris said, thoroughly tired of this. "Please. Enough."

Serena shrugged. "Ash should be here soon. Pidgeot's a speedy birdy." she said. "So, threesome!" everyone except Hikari gave her a look. "…in the cuddling way. The more happy heartbeats between him and his subconscious, the better."

The door opened, Max leading the way as Kyoji and Ash followed.

"Seriously, that's a hell of a storm." Kyoji said to Ash. "Going out in that is suicide."

"I know that, Kyoji." Ash said simply. "We'll hunker down for the winter and-" he cut himself off with a yawn. "Wait for spring. I hate being tired."

"Well, you haven't been sleeping well for two years, so no kidding you're tired." Kyoji said. "Don't worry, you're going to be getting PLENTY of rest."

Ash looked at the girls, Serena waving at him before she all but abducted him, dragging him to the room designated as his.

Hikari followed her, Max sighing.

"And my sister's going to get involved in this?" he deadpanned.

"Well, who would YOU trust with her?" Kyoji asked pointedly.

This left Max deep in thought for a few moments. "Now that you mention it, yeah, Ash literally IS the best option." he admitted.

Ron the True Fan: No shit. He's always the best option. (Pets baby Gible) Drew is a terrible fit, Harley's an asshole. The only good option is Ash.

Takeshi Yamato: True enough. I'm glad that for Sinnoh they (A) made Dawn's main Rival a girl, and (B) gave her better chemistry with Dawn. Allows for Les Yay for the single-pair shippers and the Harem shippers have a better chance to work with or around Zoey.

Ron the True Fan: …You're going to make me make this a package deal, aren't you?

Takeshi Yamato: Yep. I LIKED the Zoey/Dawn chemistry, so if you're working Dawn into the Harem, Zoey's joining through her.

Ron the True Fan: …This is his revenge. I just know it. (Take cackles in my suffering)

Takeshi Yamato: Obligatory plug for the Tethys Shipyards here. …Dang, that's become one of my longest projects.

Ron the True Fan: And with the new Trek Clone Wars campaign, it's only going to get longer. …Seriously, if anyone is actually USING the boats, put it up on YT and if you want more, sub. More subs, more chapters.

Ja Ne!