Ron the True Fan: Last time, Ash was pointing a gun at Mars' head. He's STILL pointing a gun at her head.
Rustboro City, Hoenn Region - 1422 hours local time - Day 801 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey
Mars had a gun to her head. The man she grew to love from her ancestor's diary, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, Crown Prince of Rota, Conqueror of Orre and Chosen of Arceus, was holding that gun to her head and looked all too eager to pull the trigger.
"I take it you know her?" asked Serena Yvonne Gabana, future Queen of Rota, her voice making him take his finger immediately off the trigger, but still too close for safety.
"Mars." he spat, all the answer he gave. And all they needed.
"A Team Galactic Admin." Misty said, whipping out a massive light machine gun and joining Ash in threatening her life. "Give us ONE good reason not to shoot you."
Mars chuckled nervously. "Arezu?" she said questioningly. Her answer got a response out of Ash.
"GOD. FUCKING! DAMN IT!" he snapped. "What did she do? I told her to TAKE IT TO HER GRAVE, not WRITE IT DOWN!"
Mars reached for her bag carefully, retrieving a leather bound diary. Ash's rage was BEYOND description as he started GLOWING BLUE.
For the safety of all involved, we will NOT be repeating what Ash had to say as repeating it would summon dark gods and likely force many people to crusade against them. Just know he's very mad and leave it at that.
"…I thought you went back AFTER we met." Mars said dumbly after Ash finished.
"Your ancestor CLEARLY misunderstood what I said!" Ash snapped. "If she wasn't already DEAD-" He paused. "Leave. Go back to Sinnoh and tell Cyrus to give up on his plans because otherwise I will take his head and MOUNT IT ON A PIKE ON MOUNT CORONET'S SUMMIT!"
All this was said while Ash had a gun to her head. I believe we mentioned that. He was planning on shooting her in the back of the head and removing a vital commander from Cyrus' forces.
"Such righteous fury." Mars commented thoughtfully. "The need to defend everyone and everything from the dangers of the world. Why oh why would I leave?"
Ash's eyes narrowed.
"Besides, I kinda-sorta instigated a civil war with Team Galactic by asking them what you would think about doing something that crazy guy, whatever his name was, did." she added, Ash's face replacing fury with confusion. "So, if the choice is leave or stick around, I'll stick around. Besides…" her smile turned lustful. "You're EVERYTHING I expected…"
"Oh, GOD, there's TWO of them." exclaimed Kyoji Akamura, who sounded more amused than anything.
"Two?" Mars asked, before Serena grabbed her.
"You and I need to have a discussion about your place in the pecking order." the Kalosian growled.
"Arceus have mercy on her soul-" Max started before his sister started screaming. "Oh. It finally happened."
"And at last, his collection is COMPLETE." Kyoji said before Ash punched him in the face. It was worth it.
May was understandably scared. A semi transparent version of herself was floating next to her.
'Well, at least we can get it over with.' said the ghost. 'Hello, me, I'm you from another timeline and we need to have a talk. First thing's first, though, would you STOP SCREAMING?'
May was about to yell before the ghost gave her a look. 'THINK what you want to say, don't make it verbal. The others have been through this shtick already.'
'What others?!' May mentally yelled. '…You don't mean-'
'Yup, Misty, Iris, Dawn - Hikari in this timeline, but Dawn's easier - and Serena all have 'ghosts' of their own.' Astral May explained. 'LONG story, I'll tell you later. Ash can help.'
There was a hint of… LOVE with Ash's name. '…He didn't,' she said in slight horror.
'Relax. Ash's seductions are always accidental.' Astral May started. 'Seriously, Misty took a year or so, everyone else took six months, other than Iris and Serena. Iris was in denial for a while while Serena NEVER stopped loving him. Helps that he didn't change much from their first meeting, outside of being traumatized by being the Chosen of Arceus.'
May rose a confused eyebrow as Ash yelled at Kyoji about making light about that. 'He's the Chosen of Arceus? THAT I can get, but… trauma?' she asked.
'He's died and been revived too many times to be healthy for the soul and mind.' Astral May answered worryingly. 'Not great. Plus there's that stupid oath he made. No romance. Thank FUCK Serena broke it at Greenfield.' At that, May's face said it all. 'I have all of Ash's memories as well as yours from the last timeline. He's not happy with Mars' ancestor Arezu, in case you want context. Bitch wrote everything down and turned her descendant into a freaking yandere.'
'You hate her without meeting her?' May asked. 'That's not exactly smart.'
Astral May barked out a laugh. 'I DID meet her, through Ash!' she exclaimed. 'I've got all his memories. ALL of them.'
May stared at the ghost with apprehension. She knew Ash inside and out and… what, was encouraging her to stick with him? 'Would he… touch me like that?' she asked, blushing at the idea and shuddering at the memory of the Magma grunt.
'Only if YOU want him to. He's not going to initiate anything.' Astral May replied. 'Hell, he might REJECT it because of what happened to you. Big on choices.'
The IDEA that someone WOULDN'T be interested never occurred to her. She assumed even Ash would look at her and think she was…well, a good lay.
Apparently not.
The image of Ash doing to her what that bastard nearly did, but a LOT more gently and FAR more willingly, stayed in her head. 'YOU PERVERT!' the girl snapped at her astral projection.
'I'm not taking any blame for what's going on in your imagination. That's on YOU.' Astral May snarked back. Then she smiled. 'Having INTERESTING thoughts?'
SHE DID NOT NEED THIS!
The next day - just outside Rustbero
Ash kept an eye on Mars, though she made it easier by doing the whole seductive thing. Mars, of course, was not Serena, so he wasn't amused.
"Didn't I teach you the pecking order?" Serena asked sweetly. Mars paled. Ash did not want to know what Serena did to inspire that.
"Pikapi." 'Ash…' Pikachu said, getting his attention and focusing him on a familiar form. Green hair and green eyes, wearing a grey coat and light green pants with a Ralts by his side.
Wally. The boy Ash let die through his own ignorance.
His Ralts looked to Ash, stepping forward awkwardly to protect his trainer from a threat. At that point, wally noticed the group. "Oh, hello." he said somewhat weakly before recognizing Ash. "Oh! You're Ash Ketchum!"
"Your reputation precedes you." Misty said dryly.
Kyoji's Gible sniffed. "Gible…" 'He doesn't smell good.' he whined.
"Gible, that's rude." Kyoji said, picking him up. "He doesn't look dirty."
"Don't mind them." Wally said, attempting to wave it off. "I've been sick for a long time and-"
"If by sick you mean 'I have terminal cancer', you're certainly right." Ash retorted, making Wally's eyes widen. "I've… met people who suffered from it." And he wasn't going to let Wally die again. "When was the last time you had your treatments?"
"I stopped taking them." Wally said defensively. "They make me feel weak and drowsy. Now I feel like I can run for miles!"
"And it's going to kill you." Ash snapped, making the group look at him with extreme concern. "That weakness you felt was the medicine doing what it was meant to do and slow the cancer down."
Wally glared right back at Ash, a war of wills. "I am not going to sit in my room for months and months while I waste away when I could be seeing the world!" he snapped, before coughing, covering his mouth. But blood was seen on his palm, even when he turned it away from them.
"Kiddo, you need to go home." Kyoji said more diplomatically. "Cancer's insidious-"
"And inoperable!" Wally cut off. "I'm not going to die in my bed. I'll be on my feet, LIVING before Arceus takes me."
Ash looked at Wally and saw himself. A younger, more eager version of himself. This is why it felt terrible.
Mars then stepped forward. "Why not come with us?" she asked eagerly, as if trying to please Ash by suggesting it. "You can travel and take your meds. We'll take good care of you and Ash is a WONDERFUL teacher."
"…Did you have to make it sound creepy?" Ash asked the redhead, who beamed at his attention.
Max sighed. "Look, uh…" "Wally." the greenette supplied. "Wally, Ash doesn't want you to just drop dead in the woods." he said as bluntly as necessary. "You might just not wake up one day and your family would never know where you were. He's the caring sort, but events have made him more… rough around the edges."
That was a massive understatement. Greenfield, Ilex, Hisui… Altomere… he was more broken then usual.
Wally then looked at Ash, seeing his gaze. There was a strange recognition in Wally's eyes.
"…Fine. I'll go with you." he relented. "…You remind me of my dad before he died, too."
Serena smirked. "Thinking of adopting?" she 'suggested', making Ash look at his wife-to-be with shock. "Seriously, love, why do you doubt yourself when you clearly make WONDERFUL father material?"
"Sabrina turned out pretty well." Kyoji added, smiling when Ash turned his glare on him.
"DIBS ON THE FIRST!" Mars exclaimed.
"PECKING ORDER, YOU BITCH!" Serena snarled.
Ron the True Fan: There is a word and it is short. But that was the point: had to set the stage for later. Ash only tolerates Mars because he's used to her anime depiction. This Mars is different. VERY different.
Takeshi Yamato: Indeed. The Mirai Nikki Protagonist had his work cut out for him dealing with just ONE Yuno Gasai. Between Serena and Mars… well, I think Nute Gunray said it best.
Recorded Footage: "This is getting out of hand. Now there are TWO of them!"
Ron the True Fan: (Groans) And Wally. Yes. He died in the original timeline. Cancer's a bitch. Don't like it, not my problem: he never showed up in the anime, there's my reason for why he never showed up.
Takeshi Yamato: Of course, this time Ash is going to figure out a way to keep him alive, or at least let him live longer. As Ron said, cancer's a bitch, and not really survivable, especially at young ages. I think that at least one of my grandparents died to cancer - don't remember the exact details. They might not have - but I do know other people who have lost family to cancer.
Ron the True Fan: Ash is a sad Gible. …Too much experience with sad sharks.
(Sad sharks)
Ron the True Fan: …I'm going to bleed petting them so much…
Ja Ne!