Past, Present and Future Collide

Zach, Dawn and Chloe walked through the vast Asado Desert in search of the next Titan Pokémon. The desert was primarily habited by Phanpy and Donphan, who could be seen rolling around the desert sand. Sandile and Hippopotas could be seen chilling in the sand while Rufflet flew through the sky above. A small tumbleweed Pokémon blew past them at one point causing Chloe to pull out her Rotom Phone.

"Bramblin the Tumbleweed Pokémon, tot even Bramblin knows where it is headed as it tumbles across the wilderness, blown by the wind. It loathes getting wet."

A larger tumbleweed that appeared to have a sinister smile rolled past them a few seconds after Bramblin had passed.

"Brambleghast the Tumbleweed Pokémon, Brambleghast wanders around arid regions. On rare occasions, mass outbreaks of these Pokémon will bury an entire town."

"I'm not seeing anything out of the ordinary." Zach commented while glancing around them. "I've seen all of these Pokémon before."

"Even that one?" Dawn questioned while pointing towards a large Pokémon that resembled one of Stonehenge's rocks.

"Nah that's Stonjourner, they're in Galar." Zach stated while Dawn scanned the rocky Pokémon.

"Stonjourner the Big Rock Pokémon, the elemental composition of the rocks that form its body were found to match the bedrock of a land far away from this Pokémon's habitat."

"Maybe it's further into the desert?" Chloe suggested. "There's still a large chunk of land to go."

"Hopefully we don't walk across the entire desert before we find it." Zach sighed while stretching out his arms.

As they continued into the desert they saw an Orthworm burrow itself beneath the ground while a group of small Bug type Pokémon rolled around balls of mud.

"Rellor the Rolling Pokémon, this Pokémon creates a mud ball by mixing sand and dirt with psychic energy. It treasures its mud ball more than its own life."

"They're ugly." Chloe commented.

Zach laughed out, he agreed though he'd never vocally say that. The Rellor glared at her, one even reacted by throwing mud at her face causing her to cry out in disgust.

"Gross!"

"What the heck was that thing?!"

"I don't know but it was a weird looking Donphan, let's get out of here!" A pair of younger trainers ran past in a hurry, clearly running from something based on the panic in their eyes.

"A strange looking Donphan? You don't think?" Dawn looked to Zach.

"Donphan are supposed to just be regular Donphan, it's worth a look." Zach nodded. They didn't have to move though as vibrations sounded off on the ground, something was definitely following the other trainers. Zach and the girls stood at the ready as what appeared to be a Donphan curled up came rolling over the hill beyond them, it wasn't no ordinary Donphan though as it appeared to have red spikes along its armor. And as it got closer, they'd notice it towered over them.

"Carrrr!" Lucario fired off an Aura Sphere, blasting the strange Donphan off track. The Donphan uncurled itself and uttered out a violent cry. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to look prehistoric much like Koraidon as it had insanely large tusks resembling the tusks seen in ancient fossils while red-pink fur could be seen around the bottom of its legs.

"What the heck is that thing?!" Zach shouted out.

"Great Tusk." The futuristic trainer spoke. "It's a Ground/Fighting type and what Donphan looked like in ancient times."

"Well then it looks like a job for Tinkaton!" Zach exclaimed while tossing the ball into the air.

"Piplup, we need your help too!" Dawn shouted out.

"Piplup!"

"Great job, those should-What's going on?!" Another vibration shook the ground around them as a robotic form of Donphan rolled towards the group, slamming into the futuristic trainer and sending him flying across the desert. A crack could be heard as he landed face first into a sandpile. "That wasn't normal... only... supposed to be one... why is... Iron Treads here...?"

"Iron Treads?" Zach looked the robotic Donphan over as it uncurled. "You have to be Steel type and possibly Ground since Great Tusk is." The futuristic trainer raised his hand and did a thumbs up before falling unconscious.

"Drizzile, let's go!"

"You help out too, Eevee!" Chloe shouted out.

"Eevoi!"

"Tinkaton use Play Rough, Drizzile use Water Pulse!"

"Piplup use Whirlpool!" Dawn shouted out.

"Sizzly Slide!" Chloe ordered.

"Tink!" Tinkaton leaped towards Great Tusk as a cloud of dust covered the pair, cartoonish fighting sounds could be heard within the dust before Great Tusk got sent flying out.

"Phan!" Great Tusk landed upon his back and was immediately swept up by a whirlpool that battered him about before dropping him to the ground after the attack evaporated.

"Drizz." Drizzile sighed out before blasting Iron Treads with a water geyser, pushing him back as Eevee slid towards her opponent before crashing her fiery body against him.

"Phan!" Iron Treads uttered out a robotic cry.

"Is that supposed to be what Donphan looks like in the future?" Zach narrowed his eyes while wondering how that was even possible. "How could a Pokémon possibly evolve into a robot?!"

Great Tusk raised his hooves into the air before crashing them against the ground causing all of the Pokémon apart from him to shake violently as the ground stirred beneath them. Iron Treads uttered out a grunt of displeasure, his head shined bright silver as he charged at Great Tusk. Great Tusk grunted out as Iron Treads slammed into him and countered by slamming his trunk down against him repeatedly.

"They're attacking each other!" Chloe exclaimed.

"It makes sense, they probably see the other as a threat as they're just unfamiliar with each other as we are with them." Zach commented. "If they actually are from the past and future anyway. Let's not stand around and wait for a winner though, let's finish them off. Drizzile use Water Pulse! Tinkaton use Gigaton Hammer!"

"Drizzile!" Drizzile fired off another water geyser at Iron Treads, soaking his body while Tinkaton rapidly swung her hammer before crashing it down upon Great Tusk.

"Phan..." The robotic Donphan slowly stood back up as Chloe shouted out.

"Sizzly Slide!"

"Eevoi!" Flames covered Eevee's body as she slid across the sand before crashing into Iron Treads, knocking the futuristic Pokémon onto its side.

"Whirlpool!" Dawn shouted out.

"Piplup!" The massive whirlpool formed above Piplup and swept across the field, sweeping up Great Tusk and violently throwing him about the powerful current before throwing him out.

"Phan." Great Tusk groaned out as swirls formed within his eyes. Iron Treads groaned out a few feet away as exclamations points appeared on his screens, indicating that he was defeated as well.

"Tink!"

"Evoi!"

"Piplup!"

"Drizz." The four Pokémon cheered while a bright light consumed Drizzile's body, he grew larger until he stood eye to eye with Lucario and Cinderace though his head fin stretched well above both Pokémon and the trainers. His lower portion turned a black color, his feet resembled a reptile's while his hands started looking more humanoid as he held them out like a kid aiming a finger gun. "Leon, Inteleon." The newly evolved Pokémon cried out.

"Inteleon the Secret Agent Pokémon, its nictitating membranes let it pick out foes' weak points so it can precisely blast them with water that shoots from its fingertips at Mach 3."

"Way to go, Inteleon! You evolved!" Zach excitedly hugged Inteleon who uttered out an enthusiastic cry, hugging his trainer back while both Titans began shrinking in size. Great Tusk quickly kicked up sand, revealing a yellow colored Herba Mystica. The prehistoric Donphan looked towards them before scampering off. The robotic Donphan quickly attempted the same.

"Oh no you don't!" Zach fished in his bag and grabbed a pair of Fast Balls, he pulled back his arm and hurled the Pokeballs towards both Donphan. He may have left the other Titans go but he didn't like the idea of just leaving those two running around in an ecosystem where Pokémon weren't used to them and vice versa. They could stay at the lab until they figured out a proper home for them. The two Fast Balls opened up and absorbed the two Paradox Pokémon in a beam of red light before hitting the sand, both Pokeballs shook for what felt like an eternity before chiming out to signal the capture.

"Error. Unknown Pokémon captured." The Rotom Phone read out.

"Makes sense, they're probably not in the database." Chloe commented.

"Right, these are probably the only ones in existence." Dawn stated while Zach looked towards the futuristic trainer before slowly making his approach upon noticing fragments of some material laying down upon the ground. He reached out and slowly flipped him over before uttering out a cry of shock.

"Ash?!" He never would have guessed as he didn't have a Pikachu. "What-?! How?!"

The alternate Ash groaned as he sat up, only a singular ball was present upon his belt as he looked up. "What's up?" He felt at his face, shock quickly kicked in upon realizing his mask wasn't on. "Uh oh."

"But that doesn't make sense, why don't you have Pikachu?" Chloe asked.

"He's not around anymore." Ash spoke with a saddened tone.

"Why? What happened?" Dawn asked.

"I suppose it won't affect anything since our universes are clearly different, doubt I'm spoiling your future but basically Lysandre broke out of jail and found the Ultimate Weapon shortly after everything went down here. He then activated and well... this Pokémon is the only survivor and why I'm alive." Ash tapped the Pokeball causing a bright purple robotic dragon that greatly resembled Koraidon to appear before them.

"This is Miraidon, my partner." Ash continued. "It's from my universe's future, one where Pokémon died off and were replaced by machines to fill the void they left."

"Well that's not going to happen here, Lysandre died in this universe." Zach stated.

"I'd say you're onto something there, there's... something that caused a rift in space-time. In my universe, it was just time hence Miraidon. But one day I found myself pulled here, at first I thought it was the past and that I had a chance to fix things but then I saw you were the one to get Koraidon, no Miraidon. No Arven either. It's clear that your universe is different yet the same in some ways. You all have a bright future ahead if you can end the space-time rift."

"What's causing the rift?" Zach asked.

"I can't answer that just yet, but you'll be ready once I-the other me battles Geeta." Ash spoke while looking towards Lucario as he prepared a sandwich for Koraidon. "That'll let him glide through the air. By the way, the next Titan awaits in Casseroya Lake. I'll explain more after you beat it, just make sure you don't bring Ash with you. I'm not sure what will happen if the two of us meet."

"That's pretty far north." Zach commented while looking at Pokemaps. "But we can just ride on Flygon."

"Don't mention me to him either." The other Ash warned. "If you heard there was an alternate you running around what would you do?"

"I'd want to track him down and make sure he wasn't trying to fool my friends." Zach commented.

"Same, though he'll probably want to challenge me to a battle." Ash chuckled while raising his hand. "See ya!"

"Korai!" Koraidon burst out and wrapped his tongue around the sandwich that Lucario had prepped, swallowing it whole before giving his trainer an affectionate lick as a white glow surrounded the dragon.

"You think he was telling the truth?" Dawn asked.

"Of course, it does explain why we met a futuristic Donphan." Zach explained.

"Well at least Pokémon aren't in danger of getting wiped out in our universe." Chloe breathed a sigh of relief. "I don't know what I'd do without Eevee."

"Same with me and Piplup." There was still the mystery of the rift in space-time they were supposed to close but they'd figure it out and deal with it when the time came.