It was a nice day in Celadon City. The skies were clear and the temperature was comfortable, which meant that sitting in the outdoor dining area of a nice little restaurant was a pleasant experience for Ash Ketchum and Pikachu.

The seventeen year old Monarch was relaxing as he sipped his soda and enjoyed what was left of his fries, waiting for his friend Gary Oak to show up, the researcher having asked to meet up with him. He didn't know what the meeting was about, but knowing Gary it was bound to be interesting.

Glancing at the time on his Rotom Phone he saw he had a few more minutes before Gary was set to arrive, so he asked for another soda as he gave Pikachu a few pets, the electric mouse distracted by his own fries and, more importantly, the ketchup, though he did let out a happy sound in response.

As he did so he glanced to the side when a little girl rushed over, eyes and smile wide. "Mister, are you Ash Ketchum? Are you?"

Before he could respond the girl's mother approached. "Melanie, you shouldn't bother him."

"It's fine." He said with a smile. He was still getting used to being approached by fans even five months after winning the Masters Tournament, but he was hardly going to be rude to them. "Yeah, I am."

Melanie jumped excitedly. "I knew it! I saw the Pikachu first, then I noticed you!" She exclaimed, making him laugh and her mother sigh. The girl then turned to look at Pikachu, who had turned to look when she'd approached. "Your fight with Leon's Charizard was so cool!"

"Chaa!" Pikachu exclaimed happily, posing slightly with a grin, making the girl giggle.

Then she turned back to Ash. "Can I have your autograph?"

"Sure thing, Melanie." He said, reaching into the bag he had hanging from the back of his chair and pulling out a pen he'd taken to carrying just in case. "Got anything you want me to write it on?"

Melanie reached into her own bag and pulled a pokemon trading card out, a pikachu card, at that. It made Ash grin, and he carefully wrote his autograph on the back before handing the pen to Pikachu, who happily added a small drawing of himself as a signature.

The girl squealed happily at that, holding the card close. "Thank you so much. I'll treasure it always!"

"Yes, thank you. I think you just made her year." Her mother said with a smile as she took Melanie's hand. "Good luck on your journeys." She said as she began pulling her daughter away while the girl exclaimed that her friends were going to be so jealous.

Ash and Pikachu chuckled before being interrupted by a new voice. "I see you've gotten real popular, Ash." Gary said as he approached with Umbreon at his side, sitting down with a sigh as he set a large backpack on the table.

Ash shrugged with a small smile on his face. "Takes a bit of getting used to." His smile widened as he looked over his once rival. "How you been, Gary? Researching anything interesting?"

"Me and Umbreon have been involved in some research into eeveelutions." He said after he asked the waitress for a drink. "There are theories that eevees are capable of more evolutions than the eight currently known. A few professors have suggested there's an eeveelution for each and every type, some are just either rarer than others or need a special trigger. You know, like an eevee needing to know a Fairy-type move to turn into a sylveon."

Ash's eyebrows rose at the thought. "Huh, interesting. Wonder what a Dragon or Ghost eeveelution would look like."

Gary grinned. "Right? I'm really interested in finding out." Then he turned serious. "Anyway, that's part of why I asked you to meet me." He reached into the bag he'd set out on the table and pulled an egg incubator out, Ash's eyebrows going wide as he saw a brown and cream egg of a type he recognized. "Umbreon met a nice glaceon among the other eeveelutions in the research group." He said, prompting said Dark-type to glance away with a blush on her face. "We discussed it, and we agree we don't trust anyone else more to take care of this Eevee." He said as he pushed the egg in its incubator over to Ash. "Take care of it, or else." He said with a small glare, which was matched by the much more ferocious one Umbreon was giving Ash.

"I… wow… Gary…" Ash stuttered before taking a breath and setting a hand on the incubator as Pikachu studied it. "I promise that I'll raise it to be as healthy and happy as possible, and if it wants to become a battler I'll make sure it becomes one of the strongest ever." He said directly to Umbreon, speaking to her firmly, eyes serious and resolute.

Umbreon considered him gravely for a moment before nodding and giving him a yip in response, letting Ash relax a bit. He turned his gaze back to the egg, studying it. "I'm honored, Gary, really."

Gary waved that off. "Like I said, we couldn't imagine anyone better. It's not like it'll be the first pokemon you've raised from an egg, and the others turned out pretty good, if… quirky." He said with a curl of his lips.

Ash rolled his eyes as he carefully placed the egg and its incubator into his own bag, making sure it was safe and secure. Then he sat back and took a sip of his drink. "Yeah, like your pokemon don't have their quirks."

Gary grinned, shrugging his shoulders. "Maaaybe…" Then he crossed his arms, looking at his old friend. "What about you?"

Ash blinked. "'What about me' what?"

"Any girls or boys finally get through that thick skull of yours?" Gary asked with a chuckle. "I mean, you've made it to Monarch, and as much as you may act it sometimes, you're not ten anymore. Unless you're ace, someone has to have caught your eye at some point by now."

Ash shook his head. "Not ace, but… not really. Closest I've gotten is back when I was leaving Kalos." He said with a slight blush.

Gary leaned forward, grin intensifying. "Oh? I hadn't heard about this. What happened?"

Pikachu giggled lightly at the memory, making Ash give him a playful bonk on the head to get him to stop. "Serena, uh, kissed me as we were parting ways at the airport."

"Really?" Gary asked, eyebrows raised. "Huh. Never got to know her too well, but that's interesting. You considered following it up?"

Ash shrugged. "Dunno. I never really considered romance before, y'know? I mean, I found the occasional girl cute, but nothing really serious."

"Yeah, well, you always were a late bloomer." The researcher teased, making Ash color.

"It's not my fault I didn't hit a growth spurt till just recently!" He cried indignantly, making both Gary and Pikachu laugh gaily. Ash scowled and angrily ripped into one of his few remaining fries. "What about you, then? Is Umbreon the only one finding some romance in your research group?" His eyebrow rose when Umbreon laughed in a very Dark-type way. "Oh?"

Gary sighed, seeming exasperated, though there was a blush on his face. "Two of the other researchers in the project are, uh, kinda fighting over me…"

Both Ash and Pikachu stared as Umbreon continued to laugh. "Pika?" Pikachu asked, clearly as surprised as Ash.

"Yeah, one's a girl with a leafeon, her name's Grace. She's cute, dark skin, freckles, very nice hair…" He said, still blushing and looking away from Ash with his arms crossed. "The other's called Will, and he has a vaporeon. He's one of those guys that looks like dumb muscle but is actually really smart. A head taller than me, red hair and close beard, pretty ripped…" He slumped in his seat. "So… yeah…"

Ash and Pikachu glanced at each other, neither hiding their surprise. "Congrats, I guess. And they're fighting over you?"

Gary groaned and threw an arm across his face to hide it. "Yes! It started small, little things I didn't really notice, and now they're constantly trying to one up each other around me. Not to mention show off their bodies, which I admit are pretty damn nice…" Umbreon laughed at him some more, making him glare at her. "I'm glad I'm amusing you and your fellow eeveelutions so much." He growled, prompting her to grin.

"Don't know if I can give any advice here…" Ash said a bit awkwardly.

Gary waved that away with the hand not currently busy hiding his face. "I know, I know…"

"Kachu?" Pikachu asked, prompting Umbreon to flick her ears and roll her eyes.

"I think Pikachu's asking why you don't go out with both." Ash said.

"Why would he consider that an option? Pikachu are monogamous." Gary asked, moving his arm and tilting his head back forward to squint at them in a remarkably Brocklike way.

"Well, yeah, but not all pokemon are. Hell, not all humans are, nowadays. Poly relationships are a growing thing. Better than a love triangle where everyone ends up hating each other like one of those crappy movies Misty or Dawn used to drag me to." Ash told him. He may not be the most romantic of people, but he still kept up with the news his friends passed around. They were teenagers, after all.

Gary sighed. "Nah. Relationship like that, everyone needs to be into everyone else. Otherwise it's just toxic." A few moments later his lips twitched up. "You realize this is the longest conversation we've had in like a decade that didn't involve training or pokemon in any substantive way?"

Ash blinked before chuckling as he realized that yeah, it was. "Think that means we're 'growing up'?"

The two laughed at the notion, amused by the idea. So, of course, that's when the explosions started.

Ash groaned as he slowly pushed himself up off the ground, the grass underneath him brown in certain spots where he'd bled on it. He coughed a bit before spitting some blood out and onto the grass, all while trying to get his head in order after everything that had happened.

Apparently becoming Monarch had some downsides, as villainous Teams he'd gotten entangled with in the past wanted some revenge on the suddenly much more visible trainer that had helped foil their plans before. Remnants of Teams Galactic, Plasma and Flare had all joined forces to try to rub him out.

He hissed as he shifted, his ribs telling him that wasn't a great idea. He'd gotten injured before, multiple times, but this was one of the worst instances he could remember.

Glancing around as best he could from on his knees he tried to determine where he was. He'd just been in Celadon, dealing with the attack, as well as the odd machine the three Teams had collaborated in creating. Now he was in a forest that he could recognize was nowhere near Kanto. He'd traveled extensively enough to recognize that the trees weren't species generally found anywhere near Celadon, much less Kanto itself.

Finally his mind cleared enough for him to look around for his pokemon. He didn't see Pikachu anywhere, but there were multiple pokeballs scattered about, all of them belonging to the team he'd had on him. He'd been mostly focusing on some of the pokemon that he hadn't given much attention to in a while, which had made things harder when the Teams were attacking, since he didn't have most of his heaviest hitters with him.

Unfortunately it looked like all the pokeballs were currently empty, so he gingerly gathered them while being careful with his battered body. Thankfully he found his backpack soon after, and after checking that Eevee's egg was safe and unharmed he checked his supplies, thankful that he'd just restocked in the Celadon department stores.

He'd just finished all of that and was applying a bit of medicine to himself while trying to determine where to start looking for Pikachu and the others when the sound of something large making its way through the underbrush came, and he turned to face whatever it might be despite the state he was in, wishing he had any of his pokemon with him. He blinked when the entity emerged from behind some trees and stopped before him, studying him.

It was a pretty strange pokemon, from what Ash could tell. Almost entirely human except for several discrepancies, such as the green skin, small tusks jutting up from its lower lip, and sheer size, being over seven feet tall and incredibly muscled, similar to a machoke. It wore what appeared to be leather trousers and boots, its upper body bare and covered in scars. Its black hair was long, and styled in what appeared to be warrior's braids, a close beard on its face, the entire effect that of an ancient warrior. And on its back was a huge two handed war axe that it was beginning to reach for.

Ash raised his hands placatingly as quickly as his injuries allowed. "Wait, I'm not a threat! Promise!"

The pokemon paused in reaching for its axe before speaking, to Ash's astonishment. "Who are you? Are you related to those pulses of magic that just happened?"

Ash simply stared for a moment, flummoxed. "W-what?" He croaked, wondering what kind of insanity he'd found himself entangled in this time.

Lukon, warrior or the Ok'ul clan of orcs, studied the strange human that was kneeling before him, staring up in shock as he asked his questions. He kept his hand near his weapon, just in case, but he doubted it would be needed, considering the state the boy was currently in.

He looked to be in his late teens, and he was definitely wounded enough that Lukon was a bit surprised he was moving as well as he appeared to be. He was dressed very strangely, however, in clothing of a style and material the well traveled adventurer was unfamiliar with, most of it damaged extensively where he was injured. He was holding what appeared to be a similarly strange traveling pack that appeared to be stuffed to the brim, and the belt around his waist held odd red and white orbs clipped to it.

All in all, he did not appear to be anything Lukon was familiar with, and that made the warrior wary. The unknown was always the most dangerous thing to deal with, in his experience.

"I suggest you answer my questions." The thirty seven year old orc said, firmly but not harshly. "If you do, and you're not a threat to me, my apprentice or any of the nearby settlements, I'm willing to see about helping you, considering your state."

The boy stared for several seconds longer, perhaps dazed from whatever left him injured, before he shook his head gingerly and began speaking, appearing to be a bit more stable. "Right. Uh, I'm Ash. Ash Ketchum. I'm a Pokemon Trainer from Pallet Town. And I don't know how I got here. I was in Celadon City, then…" He brought a bruised hand to his slightly bloody head, appearing to be thinking hard. "I was fighting the Teams with my pokemon when they activated their machine, but something went wrong. They were panicking… I think it was because of something Team Rocket did… Then…" He hissed before shaking his head. "I don't remember, but I don't know anything about any magic pulses. I woke up here just now."

Lukon studied the boy, Ash, for a bit longer, trying to make sense of what he'd been told. Several things stood out to him, but unless the teen was an incredible actor, he truly did not appear to have any idea what happened and how he'd wound up in the middle of the Ralomun Woods. If it weren't for the boy's oddities and the odd pulses of magic Alyana had reported sensing, he'd just assume the young man was a traveler that got lost.

After a few moments of silence Lukon let out a breath and relaxed. "Well, for now I will believe you, but I still have questions." He said as he stepped forward to help Ash up, getting the boy upright, though it made him sway slightly, likely due to blood loss induced lightheadedness. He'd need to regroup with Alyana and find a place to make camp so they could see to the human boy's wounds, though he should be able to at least ease his pain a bit. "I am Lukon, of the Ok'ul clan." He said as he dug into his bag of holding, which took the appearance of a well sized traveling pouch at his side. Pulling a common healing potion out he handed it to Ash, who was still looking a bit dazed. "Here. Drink this. It'll ease your wounds enough to let you move a bit more easily. Then we'll seek out my apprentice so we can tend to you fully and get more information." He said simply, being upfront about the interrogation not being over yet.

Ash blinked a few times before taking the small bottle. "Thanks. I need to find my pokemon too, but after that I'll answer all the questions I can." He said as he removed the stopper.

There was that unfamiliar word again, 'pokemon'. He must have some significance, as he said he was a trainer of whatever they were. Simply another question to add to the pile.

Ash was about to drink the potion when the barks of a canine Lukon wasn't familiar with rang out. He began to reach for his axe again before stopping when the animal emerged from the underbrush and rushed eagerly to Ash. Lukon would have instinctively struck out at a seemingly attacking beast if not for the boy's excited shout of "Lycanroc!" as he painfully bent down to pet the canine, which was wagging its tail while keeping what the orc recognized as a wary eye on him, obviously not trusting this unknown around its master. So instead he simply studied the animal in mild bewilderment.

'Lycanroc' was a large, wolflike creature, a bit smaller than the average wolf Lukon was familiar with. Its fur was a mix of white and orange, reminding him of clouds at sunset, though its eyes were a bright green. What was most confusing to him, however, were what appeared to be spikes made of rock emerging from the heavier ruff around the beast's neck, pointing outward. One particularly large one pointed forward over its head, resting between its ears and extending some way forward, obviously meant to be used offensively.

It also appeared to be injured, though to a lesser extent than its master. It moved rather gingerly, and its stance as it basked in Ash's affection showed it favored one of its front legs.

All in all, Lukon had not heard of something like this before, and while he was no ranger or druid he was definitely well traveled. All of this simply added to the mysteries surrounding the young man he'd come across.

"I take it this is one of these 'pokemon' you were worrying about?" Lukon asked, taking a stab in the dark.

Ash nodded, a small smile of relief on his face. "Yeah. There are five others that should be around here." Then he seemed to remember the potion in his hand, which thankfully hadn't spilled while he'd been focused on the canine, and he quickly drank it all down. He blinked, apparently caught off guard by the sensation of it healing him, before he started standing and moving much more easily, though clearly not at his best yet. "Oh wow. Thanks a lot, that's much better."

Lukon nodded in acceptance of the gratitude before speaking again. "We should get moving to find your… pokemon… and my apprentice."

Ash nodded before looking back down at his animal. "Do you think you could lead us to any of the others, Lycanroc?"

Lycanroc barked before lifting its nose and beginning to sniff around. It took several long moments, but eventually it let out another bark and turned back into the underbrush, Ash moving to follow as quickly as he could with Lukon following behind, keeping a wary eye on everything.

The small group walked for a minute or so before Lycanroc stopped by an especially dense patch of grass, barking at it to let Ash know this was their destination. Ash carefully knelt by it before reaching down as Lukon observed. The orc was once again caught off guard, as he'd been expecting an animal more similar to Lycanroc, but instead Ash gingerly pulled what appeared to be an odd snake out.

It was laying on its side, and despite the first impression being serpentine it seemed to have arms and legs to walk bipedally, with what appeared to be three fingers at the ends of its arms. It was grass green with a cream underside and a yellow stripe along its back, and the end of its tail was shaped like a three pronged leaf.

Ash carefully cradled the creature, his face worried and mournful. "Oh Snivy… I'm sorry, girl."

The snake, Snivy, cracked an eye open and let out a small, reassuring sound. Ash caressed it - her - before grabbing one of the small orbs on his belt, which to Lukon's surprise enlarged to several times its original size. "Take it easy, girl. I'm going to find the others and then we'll all rest and recover."

After Snivy let out another sound, this time of assent, Ash aimed what appeared to be a button along the ball's hemisphere at the snake, prompting another shock to the orc that was accompanying him. A red beam of light left the orb, striking Snivy and seemingly turning her into energy before drawing her into the ball itself, which had opened to accept the energy. Then Ash, acting like this was completely normal, got back to his feet.

Lukon opened his mouth to inquire as to what had just happened, but then he shut it with a click. He could just add that to the growing pile of questions he had. It would be best if they found the rest of these 'pokemon', along with Alyana, so they could find somewhere for Ash to recover and tend to them while they questioned him. "That should leave four more, correct?" He asked as calmly as he could.

Ash nodded and adjusted the odd hat on his head, which was stained with some blood from a now closed head wound. "Yeah." He turned to his canine. "Any clue on the others, boy?"

Lycanroc lifted his nose again before giving an affirmative bark and beginning to move off again, the two bipeds following.

The next of Ash's beasts was found hiding in a small cave in the side of a short cliff, likely a burrow for a local animal. There was the faint glow of what appeared to be flames, prompting Lukon to reach for his weapon again, but Ash strode forward confidently and knelt in front of the cave. "Quilava? I'm here, girl. Come on out."

After a second or so the firelight faded, and shortly afterwards what appeared to Lukon to be some sort of odd stoat, with dark fur on its back and five red spots on its body, two on its head and three near its hind quarters, along with a cream underside.

Quilava limped gingerly out of the den she'd found and nuzzled the hand Ash held out, though Lukon noted that she also eyed the orc warily as she did so. "Don't worry, I'll see about getting you back in shape once we find the others. Get some rest for now." He said as he reached for another of the balls at his waist, performing the same actions as he had with Snivy, making Quilava disappear in another flash of red light.

Before the human boy could ask Lycanroc to try to find another one of his 'pokemon' the canine turned his head and barked as a call that sounded like 'Pikapi!' came from behind some bushes, which promptly revealed what Lukon assumed was one of their targets.

It was a large rodent with bright yellow fur, long ears with black tips, red circles on its cheeks, and a very distinctive zig-zagging tail that increased in size the further it got from its body. It was moving slowly, as though exhausted, but it didn't appear to have any obvious injuries.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried, appearing to be more relieved by this finding by far. He quickly scooped the rodent, Pikachu, up, checking it over. "You alright, buddy?"

Pikachu nodded before slowly climbing out of his human's arms to perch on his shoulder, turning his gaze on Lukon. "Kachu?" He vocalized in a questioning tone, his intent easily readable even by Lukon, who'd never seen such a creature before.

"This is Lukon. He helped me when I'd just woken up." Ash said, reaching up to stroke Pikachu's head. "I don't think he'll hurt us if we don't give him a reason to. He's trying to figure out what's going on, same as we are."

Lukon nodded. "Indeed, I have no intention of harming any of you unless in self defense or you prove yourselves dangerous to those that live in this land." He said simply but firmly.

Pikachu eyed him for another moment before giving a tired nod with an equally tired "Chapi." Then he turned to his human, who preempted any further questioning.

"We've found you, Lycanroc, Snivy and Quilava." Ash began. "Now we need to fi-" He was interrupted by the sound of the scream of a young woman which made Lukon's head snap around to the source, recognizing it. The orc promptly charged in the direction the scream came from, Ash calling out as he rushed to catch up.

Soon enough he emerged into a gap in the trees to find Alyana fighting with what appeared to be a large beetle of some kind.

Alyana was a young Eldritch Knight that was currently Lukon's apprentice. The high elf had her long, blonde hair tied back, the tail it made swinging about as she moved, her blue eyes wide with fright. Sturdy leather armor covered her slim body, and she wielded a well crafted rapier in her right hand, ready to cast spells with her left.

Her opponent was, as stated, a large beetle almost as tall as the elf. It was bipedal and covered in an exoskeleton of tough looking bluish chitin, its limbs ending in claws. Despite its bulk it was quick, dodging her strikes and cantrips, though it was moving with what appeared to be obvious fatigue, signs of damage on its shell. Its most distinctive feature was the enormous pronged horn rising from what appeared to be its forehead, almost doubling its height in itself, with what appeared to be two antennae on either side of the horn.

Lukon reacted instantly, charging forward and swinging his axe down to get the creature away from Alyana. He wasn't a fool, however. A strange beast he'd never heard of, in the area Ash had lost his 'pokemon'? It was fairly obvious that this was one of the boy's companions, so the orc only tried to force it back without hurting it, at least till Ash could catch up and stop it.

"Master!" Alyana called gratefully. "This monster almost caught me off guard, but I managed to notice it behind me in time. It must be related to that magic I sensed!"

Well, she likely wasn't wrong, but her explanation made the orc wonder if she'd just attacked the insect the moment she noticed it before determining if it was hostile. The girl was skilled, but her inexperience told on her on occasion.

The beast set its feet and lowered its head, aiming its horn at them, but before anything more could happen Ash's voice came from the direction Lukon had come from. "Stop!" The boy rushed out and stopped in front of the insect, panting but holding his arms out as a barrier to protect it as he faced them. "Don't hurt Heracross!"

Heracross's aggressive stance instantly vanished as it lay a claw on its master's shoulder, Ash turning his head to look at it worriedly. "You alright, buddy?" When it nodded he let out a breath of relief.

"Huh?" Alyana let out, obviously confused, especially when Lukon relaxed his stance and reholstered his axe onto his back. "Master, what's going on?"

"This boy is the creature's master. We were just looking for it when we heard you encounter it." He told her shortly as he watched Ash pat Heracross's head before making it disappear into one of those balls as well, Pikachu still on his shoulder and Lycanroc at his feet.

Glancing back the orc saw his apprentice was rather flabbergasted at everything that was happening, and he let a small smile appear on his face before he became serious once more and approached the odd human. "That would be the fifth one, then?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah. I just have Totodile left to find." He said as he looked at Alyana curiously.

Lukon motioned to the elf. "Ash Ketchum, this is my apprentice, Alyana Luva. Alyana, this is Ash Ketchum. I found him wounded not far from here, and we have been looking for his six 'pokemon' since."

Alyana gave Lukon an odd look. "Is he related to the magical disturbance I sensed?"

"I don't know for sure, but considering his oddities, I expect so." The orc said simply.

"I see…" The girl said thoughtfully before refocusing her attention onto Ash, though her eyes glanced at the other creatures with him relatively often. "It's nice to meet you." She said with a small, tight smile as she sheathed her blade. "I'm Alyana, as Master Lukon said."

"Nice to meet you too." Ash said, untensing slightly now that it appeared the danger was over.

"We can all introduce ourselves further once we've made camp." Lukon said, wanting to do so as soon as possible so they could finally start to try to figure out what was going on. "Can your Lycanroc find the last of your pokemon?"

Ash looked down at Lycanroc, who promptly began to sniff about, wandering around the area before finally picking a direction, the three humanoids following behind. Soon enough they reached the edge of a decently sized lake. Glancing around Lukon determined that a more open area on the lakeside not far from them would make a good campsite.

Lycanroc looked up at his master and barked, Ash nodding back as he reached for his belt. "Thanks Lycanroc. Take a rest, we should hopefully find a place to camp soon." With that the canine disappeared in another flash of red light.

Once that was done the human teenager turned to the lake and brought his hands to his mouth to amplify his voice. "TOTODILE!" He called across the lake. "TOTODILE!" He called again after a few seconds.

Eventually there was a response. Alyana was the first one to notice, pointing out to the shallows of the lake. "There!" When Lukon looked he found a small blue form slowly making its way towards them through the water, till it eventually reached them, emerging sluggishly onto the lakeside and letting Lukon and Alyana get a look at it.

It appeared to be a small sort of crocodilian creature which stood bipedally once it was on dry land. It was light blue with a V shaped marking on its chest that went from arm to arm. Down its back is a row of three red spines with a small, red ridge on either side, along with a single red spine on its tail. Its eyes were red with a ridge above them and black markings around. Most notable was the sizable jaw with quite a few large teeth.

Ash's final 'pokemon' crooned as it reached him, and Ash knelt down to caress it between its eye ridges. "It'll be alright, Totodile. We're all going to just find a place to rest and recover now."

"I think we should camp here." Lukon said as he observed the interaction. He pointed to the lakeside not far from them, which was open and flat, an excellent location to set up in. "That seems appropriate."

Ash nodded and got up with some difficulty, his injuries likely bothering him more now that he didn't have his worry for his 'pokemon' distracting him. "Alright, let's get going."

With that the group began setting up, unaware of what this meeting heralded for both Ash and the lands he now found himself in.

Hello and welcome to my new story.

I've had this in mind for a while, and when Ash was finally retired as the protagonist of the anime it seemed like the perfect time to work it out, since I now had a very definitive point in his story it could work from.

There's not too much to say at this point, really. The setting I've placed Ash down in is one of my own making, the kind of thing I'd likely use if I was to ever DM a D&D campaign, which is unlikely. I like making settings up, but I don't think I have the talent for on the spot improvisation required of a DM.

I considered using an unofficial Pokemon TTRPG system I play with members of my FFXIV FC to make character sheets for both Ash and the pokemon he has with him, but in the end I decided it wasn't exactly compatible enough with 5E to work, built on the stat systems of the games as it is. I will be using the list of moves from it to determine what the 'mons are liable to know, though. I might change my mind on this, but we'll see.

Speaking of Ash's pokemon, I decided on the team I did because I wanted him to have a good spread of types for various situations without being too OP for an early D&D campaign. His current team could handle most threats up under level seven or so, and I might be underestimating them (quite) a bit. Pikachu at the least could handle higher level threats, considering that by the point the anime ends he's basically the acknowledged 'World's Strongest Pikachu'.

And yes, I gave Ash an eevee. I know it's a cliche thing to do, but I thought it would be fun, and it made sense to me that Gary would trust Ash enough to raise it. Still debating what it'll evolve into, though.

A minor thing I thought I should point out is how I'm using pokemon species names. I'm using uppercase when it's referring to a specific pokemon that doesn't have a nickname, while I'm using lowercase when referring to a species in general. Makes things a bit easier to follow, at least on paper. Not that it's liable to come up much.

Can't think of much else to say, so I'll give my usual end of chapter reminders.

As I've stated previously, my best friend and their roommate have a podcast. Yes, I know, everybody and their mother has a podcast these days, but I beg you to hear me out. It's called 'Two Idiots and a Dog', and they talk about pop culture in general with different shows for different topics. So far they've done 'Idiots on Film', talking about classic or important movies, but their main focus is one called 'Idiots Unleashed', where they just take a topic their Discord members vote on and talk/argue/rant about it without a filter. They were recently forced to take a hiatus due to real life issues, but they're back, and their latest episode was on 'The Most Badass Non-Force Users In Star Wars'. So that's 'Two Idiots and a Dog' on all your favorite podcatchers.

Secondly, I am, as always, truly grateful for those of you who are willing to send a buck or two my way out of the kindness of your heart. I relied on all of you when I wasn't working, and it definitely still helps even now that I'm gainfully employed. Thanks to you I have more of a cushion to get things I still need or pay essential bills. Like Final Fantasy XIV. (Speaking of, Ryuma Hyurinmaru on the Coeurl Server, Crystal Datacenter, North America, Astral Prime FC)

I used to have a poll on what to update there to incentivize donations, but I recently realized that part of the reason I have trouble motivating myself to write is that I've been letting others dictate what I write, so that's no longer a thing. I apologize, but as of now, I don't have anything to really reward patrons with other than my gratitude.

If you'd like to send a few cents my way anyway, I'm at Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis. However, if you'd rather donate a one-off amount rather than a monthly sub, I also have a Ko-Fi. That's ko-fi dotcom /athanmortis78653 .

That's all for this chapter. Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed it, and till next time. Bye.