TEEN: - Complete From X to Y

[Mia Blaze]

From X to Y is an idea stemmed from what may have happened if Lysandre in the anime had gained control of both Zygarde and used them to create a beautiful world, only to destroy the entire universe. It has some anime hints but mostly follows the game structure of X and Y, with references to other games and regions thrown in.

PG 13- due to future violence and swearing.

Be warned, there is slight genderbending so if you don't like reading that sort of thing, then this story isn't really for you.

Perfection, Then Nothing

“Finally, I have the power I need,” A voice, one full of malevolence cackled. “Z-1, Z-2… Land’s Wrath!”

“NO!!!”

Footsteps, pounding at a fast pace. A hand reaching out for the one who had ordered the attack. Too late, it was too late.

Light, lots of it…

Screaming, lots of it…

Death, lots of it…


“NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Mew cried as she watched an entire universe explode in a bright light, tears welling up in her normally cheerful aqua eyes. She looked up at the Creator with despair and sadness. “Papa, you have to do something, all those people…”

“There is nothing I can do,” Arceus replied apologetically, just as upset about the situation as she was. “Even if I did remake and give that universe life again, everything would change and the many souls that have died would not return; it won’t start from the way it was before the end.”

“But, Papa…” Mew realised there was nothing that could be done when she was silenced by a shake of the head. With a loud sigh, she looked down at the ground of the Hall of Origins, her heart heavy with a crack growing as time went on.

“I am sorry, Mew. There were many there of which I also cared about.” The Multi-type pokémon turned to leave, to announce the end of a certain universe, Mew following behind sadly when a quadrupled pokémon entered, huffing and gasping as if they had run a marathon.

“Father, another universe is in danger!” Xerneas yelled; her tone refined even though she was yelling at him. “A counterpart to the one that just caused total devastation is about to go down the same path!”

“You know about the big boom?” Mew asked before being given a reprehending glare.

“Of course, we all saw it,” The pure fairy type snapped back. “Latias and Meloetta are in bits over there whilst Mewtwo, the male one, wants to rip apart every single Lysandre ever created.”

“I see...” Arceus knew what would be able to beat and change the future for Universe GX but, would it really be alright forcing two souls from one universe to live alone in another? It was a choice that had to be made, extremely easily. No pokémon should die due to the actions of a selfish human, no human should die that way either. They were needed right now, they hadn’t moved on yet and were the only hope for GX. “Have the lost souls of the AO Universe moved to the afterlife yet?”

“No. Some have made their way to other universes as ghost types, the horrible ones, that is. All the others are still there but we don’t have much time,” Xerneas replied, before looking happily at her creator. “Would you like me to extract their souls for you?”

“If you could, that would be extremely helpful. Thank you, Xerneas.” The fairy type galloped off towards the void whilst Arceus remained behind with Mew, who was looking up at the beast with both fear and admiration.

“Will it work, Papa? Bringing them two back, I mean?” She inquired, noting the determined expression she was bearing witness to.

“I believe so. They will succeed this time, I am sure about it. That power of theirs is no laughing matter, especially to someone who wants to destroy the world to make it in his own image, which causes the explosion of an entire universe,” Arceus had a glint in those red eyes which spoke leaps and abounds about the atmosphere of the current situation. “If they had only mastered it earlier, then stopping this from happening would have worked, no one would have died in vain.”

“No one should have died at all.” Mew said with a heavy heart, still not completely over the end of billions of lives from one universe that her father created. The history, the future was gone, another universe would take its place one day, but those who lived on the old one wouldn’t get a chance to return.

“Father, I found them.” Xerneas had entered again, looking extremely proud of herself. Around her legs, two white figures stayed, floating in the air. They were both humanoid in shape, with the taller one having the shape of a specific pokémon. The smaller one was shaking; black streams of tears ran from their eyes with white, pinprick pupils, the other trying to comfort them.

“It’s okay!” Mew flew over and hugged the human soul, rubbing their head with her paw. “Everything is gonna be okay, right papa?”

“Yes, It is. We need the both of you right now, another universe is about to go through the same thing that your one has just been through,” The Alpha pokémon looked at the two white figures with a total lack of emotion, showing the severity of what was about to come. “This universe needs you to stop their Lysandre from making the same mistake again. No one else can but you, with your unique power.” The two souls looked back in the direction of the void, causing Xerneas to shake her head softly.

“They’ve moved on,” She explained with a hint of sadness to her voice. “Once I had taken you two out of the void, the afterlife became their home. The void does not like our interference; it only keeps its guests for as long as it wants to keep them.”

“Please!” Mew cried; tears flowing from her own eyes now as everyone’s attention was drawn to her. “We can’t let something like this happen again. More people will die all because of one selfish man. You will have a new life, both of you. Please just say yes…” She continued to cry, face hidden behind her paws. A small amount of time passed before she felt a light weight on her shoulders, looking up she saw the souls nodding, almost smiling at her with no mouths. “Oh thank you, thank you!” Mew picked them up in a sweeping hug, twirling round and round causing extreme dizziness to those watching, and those involved in the hug. “Hear that papa, they’ll do it!”

“I knew they would, they are pure hearted souls,” Arceus’ expression turned back to serious in a blink of an eye. “Right, we have no time to waste. I will send you to Universe GX at once. There may be some… differences to what you were used to back on your own universe but, I believe you should get used to it over time.” The two souls were enveloped in a glowing gold light. “Good luck, I fare thee well!”

“See ya soon!” Mew waved as the two began to disappear.

“I will see you down there, I will help you!” Xerneas added, yelling as loudly as she could. “Do not worry, everything will be fine!” As she finished speaking, the souls were gone and the three legendries were left alone in Arceus’ Private Viewing room. Mew looked up at the alpha being with a curious expression on her face.

“Papa, do you really think this will work?” She asked again, noting the sudden downcast look on Arceus’ face.

“I believe so, but we really have no other choice,” The creator looked into the viewing pool for Universe GX and sighed. “Let us hope we made the right decision.”


Screams… pain… lots of pain

Crying… Yelling…

Death… and light… lots of light

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” A human was jolted from their sleep, a nightmarish sleep as they relived the pain of death for the second time. Their breathing was laboured, heavy and sweat poured down their face like rainwater. It took a few moments to regain bearings but, after that came a more serious issue.

‘Okay, do I remember who I am… yes, my name is Ash and I swear to Arceus I died… but then why am I alive… and if so, where are the others? Whose room am I in and why do I feel so weird…?’ It was an unusual thought process but when you’ve died yet wake in a room you’ve never seen before is weird enough as it is. Ash sighed as he pulled back the covers and got onto his feet; wobbling slightly due to the unusual feeling it graced him with, almost as if this body wasn’t his.

The room he was in was pink in colour, surprisingly, although the floor was made with a dark brown wood. A large circular fluffy rug, dark pink of course, was covered by the bed, a gaming device of some kind, a bed side cabinet with a lamp on top, a lone white pillow and a desk with storage and a laptop. At the far end of the sideways L shaped room was a set of drawers and a pole to hang clothing off of that was currently empty for some reason. Behind the bed was a couple of shelves containing books, a picture of two people and a plant, the same type of shelves hung over the desk, jammed full of different coloured books. However, what caught his attention was the mirror leaning against the wall next to the wardrobe like piece of furniture. Wondering why he felt so weird, he walked over to the mirror and looked at it, jaw dropping at what he saw.

Staring back at him was a girl with large sienna orbs and a tanned complexion. Her hair was long but scruffy; possibly due to the tossing and turning during the nightmare, and also raven black in colour. She was wearing a short sleeved, blue t-shirt and navy shorts as some kind of pyjama set. He blinked, the girl blinked back. He touched his face, the girl touched hers. Even though some would call him mentally challenged, Ash immediately knew what was going on, paled, and screamed loudly.

“What’s going on up there?” He froze as a female voice called up the stairs leading to his room; it got even worse as footsteps followed. Slowly, a woman appeared in his doorway, staring at him sceptically with her arms folded. “Hair disaster? That’s not like you. You wouldn’t scream over something like that.”

The woman had paler skin than his with bright sky blue eyes and peach lipstick covering her lips. Her dark brown, short, hair roughly styled whilst her fringe was clipped back with a yellow, triangular hair clip. She wore a greenish grey racing suit, the top half tied around her waist revealing a dark blue to, the pockets of which were the same red colour as her slip on pumps. He knew the woman as Serena’s mother, Grace, however… that meant he was in Serena’s room, but due to the way he was being spoken to, it was almost as if he was her daughter.

“Uh…umm…”

“Stuttering? That certainly is not my Ash,” Grace placed both her hands on her hips and shook her head. “What’s gotten into you sweetie?” At least the name was the same. Thinking about it, trying to tell this woman about the whole end of another universe and now being a girl thing wasn’t the best idea. By the looks of things, nothing was going to change anytime soon so he’d just have to accept that he was now a she. As for the question…

“Oh, I had a nightmare! A really weird one!” Ash winced slightly at her new voice but continued anyway. “Two pokémon were using a move for this really bad guy and they destroyed the world! Boom! Gone!” She watched as Grace simply nodded with a smile growing at every passing second.

“I see your wild imagination at work. Glad to know it’s nothing serious then,” The older woman chuckled slightly before walking over to give her daughter a hug. “Look if you really want then mummy will tell you everything’s alright and sing you a lullaby.”

“Mum! No, just no!” In the back of her mind, Ash wondered if Serena had to deal with this constantly as she was growing up and pity was instantly sympathised.

“Yes, I’d forgotten you’ve grown up. Just last week you were telling me ‘I’m fourteen, not four! Give me some space.’ such a pity, I really wanted to sing...” The grin Grace had on her face was nothing short of cheeky yet terrifying at the same time.

“I didn’t want you to.” The male turned female replied with a look of annoyance, causing her mother to burst out laughing.

“You are just like him in so many ways. Too bad your father had to stay back in Kanto before we moved...” Grace looked towards the wardrobe. “It was nice of him to get you some new clothing, oh and Grandpa’s gloves should be in there too. I know how much you loved them as a kid. Once you’re changed, get down for breakfast, okay?”

“Okay mum.” However, the realisation that getting changed meant, strip off to nakedness and put some other things on would mean that the change in body may be a bit of a problem.


“I’ve gotta get used to that.” She said her thoughts out loud as she brushed her hair, now Ash was glad that she had travelled with at least one girl through each region. Because of that, the knowledge of styling hair was implanted but never used, until today. Although she had managed to achieve something like her old style, the excess long hair hung down her back, easily reaching the top of her legs. With one last brush, she reached for the pink fedora with a black band around the middle and placed it atop of her head, missing the feeling of a good old cap. Apparently, what Grace meant by outfit was a red pleated skirt with a dark grey sleeveless top that had a black collar. Oh, and grey OTK socks with black high tops that had a pink Poké Ball design on them.

So far the gloves hadn’t been found, that was until a check of the bedside cabinet revealed a pair of long, white, middle finger looped gloves with red cross threads around the wrists for tightening, just in case. Finally, a red messenger back was pulled out and placed on the bed, just in case there was any need of it. And with that, it was downstairs for breakfast.

“There you are,” Grace smiled as she put down a plate of toast for her daughter. “I thought you’d gone back to sleep again. Nice do, new style?”

“I thought I’d try something different...” Ash took a bite and looked up. “Is that okay with you?”

“It’s perfectly fine with me,” The older of the two grabbed her own plate and sat opposite the other. “Just noting it, Ash. I said it was nice. Anyway, glad to see you found the old man’s gloves. Where were they anyway? I couldn’t find them in your wardrobe.”

“Bedside cabinet.”

“Ah, somewhere safe, gotcha kiddo...” Grace took a sip of her coffee before placing it down on the table. “So how are you settling in? I haven’t had a chance to ask you that yet.”

“Room’s a bit too pink.” Although she was trying to grumble under her breath, Ash was a bit louder than she was supposed to be.

“I knew you wouldn’t like that part,” Grace chuckled as her daughter dropped her piece of toast with a gaping, shocked mouth. “I’m sorry we brought the place fully furnished but we can repaint your room to blue if you want.”

“It’s okay mum,” The girl picked up her toast and took another bite. “But thanks for offering. I’ll get used to it… maybe.” Grace simply rolled her eyes whilst shaking her head.

“So that’s a yes then. I’m glad you’re normal now, that scream really scared me earlier,” She took another sip of her coffee before continuing. “I thought you actually cared about your hair for once after sleeping.”

“Ha ha, very funny. My sides are splitting,” Ash laughed sarcastically. “When will I ever care about my hair after sleep, or for that matter, wear skirts?”

“Your father wanted you to get in touch with your missing feminine side.” Grace replied, simply smirking at her daughter’s sass.

“Oh did he now? I will destroy him when I next see him.” Considering that she had just been magically thrown into another world, Ash was surprised how much this girl, the one whose place she was taking, was like he was back in his own world. By the way Grace was reacting to all of the weird moments and how seemingly calm she was showed that the mother daughter relationship was a solid one, one that couldn’t really be replicated but yet, it was almost as if this girl and him were the same person, just slightly different in their own unique ways. It was extraordinary, but chilling at the same time.

“Yep, I know you will. I warned him about your future punishment against him but no, he wouldn’t listen to me,” Grace picked up her now empty plate and mug into the sink and turned the tap on to rinse them off. “You are exactly like him in that remark but I am glad to say you’ve inherited your sarcasm off of me.”

“What an amazing thing to be proud of.” Ash said snarkily whilst twirling half of her toast around with one finger.

“It is, isn’t it?” The mother paused mid scrub of her plate and gasped. “Oh shoot, I forgot.”

“Forgot what mum?” The sudden change of tone caused worry, as it should do when someone you’ve only really known for an hour or so but have supposed to have known for your entire life does something drastically different.

“The neighbours’ kids are coming over today to meet you. They should be here at any moment actually…” Now there were two reactions to this announcement that Ash could have taken. One was to be calm and sensible about the subject, the other was to go on a full out panic mode. Guess which one she chose.

“WHAT?! NOW?! I’M NOT READY!” She wolfed down the rest of her toast and went bounding up the stairs to the bathroom to make sure that her teeth were brushed and her face clean. Grace shook her head yet again.

“That’s my girl, yet… I’m sure they won’t arrive for another half an hour yet but they may still be early after all...” She remembered her daughter’s reaction and began grinning. “I love being a mother.”


After making sure there was nothing on her face, her hair was slightly tidy and that there was nothing on her teeth, Ash rushed back downstairs, this time with her bag, almost falling on the last step. Of course, her new mother simply laughed before telling her to get up and brush herself down as she had obtained worse injuries from falling off a Rhyhorn when she was younger, much different from the way Delia reacted whenever she tripped over.

Inside, she missed everyone and couldn’t help but wonder if she was the only one left after what happened with Team Flare. Maybe someone else survived, or at the very least was brought back to life. Maybe… Pikachu? It felt weird without the small yellow mouse sitting upon her shoulder, heart wrenching at the very least. A part of her knew that he was gone forever and that they would never see each other again. Out of Grace’s line of sight, she shed a tear at the loss, hoping that he was gifted with all the ketchup his little heart could ever desire. A sudden ringing of the doorbell brought her out of her thoughts as she looked up from where she sat.

“Could be those kids, why don’t you go and answer it?” Grace suggested, still slightly worried about her daughter’s silent moment earlier.

“Sure.” Ash stood up and walked over to the door, taking a deep breath before opening it. Standing outside were two people, one male and one female.

The male had midnight black hair that reached the top of his neck and deep grey eyes. He wore a blue turtle neck jacket with a silver zip running down the middle and white strips down the sides of the clothing item. Tight greyish blue trousers disappeared behind grey boots with blue lases that were buckled down with a strap to stop them from coming undone. Across his shoulder was a black and blue messenger bag, similar to her own red one.

The female had a more tanned look to her with cheery green eyes and brown locks which curled over the top of her medium sized pigtails. Her t-shirt was pink with three black bows as a decoration and black bands around the ends of the sleeves. Black ruffles, similar to the one around her right wrist, were sown into the bottom of her denim shorts, pink strappy shoes contained high heels to add to the colour coordinated outfit. Her shoulder bag was smaller than expected, with a black bow on the front and a pink Holo Caster hanging off of the side.

“Hi there! You must be our new neighbour!” The girl, who Ash identified as being the spitting image of Shauna from the past world, grinned happily. “I’m Shauna, nice to meet you… and this is…”

The boy stepped forwards, went down on one knee, grabbed Ash’s hand and planted a light kiss upon it. “Calem is my name, M’lady. I am privileged to make your acquaintance.” He stood up and smiled at her. Noticing the frozen look of their new friend, Shauna budged in front slightly, only to make things more comfortable.

“Calem’s a gentleman, he does that kind of thing all the time, don’t worry,” She then turned to him and frowned. “Dude, she’s from Kanto… they don’t do that kind of thing there, they bow!”

“Well I am introducing her to our Kalosian customs,” Calem replied elegantly. “Now, M’lady, what might your name be?”

“I’m Ash, nice to meet you,” The ravenette answered, tipping her head slightly. “So you two are the ones my mum told me about.”

“Exactly!” Shauna grinned happily. “And guess what? We’re all going to get ourselves a starter pokémon today, you included, at the request of Professor Sycamore!”

“Professor Sycamore…” Ash had a feeling this professor and the one she knew weren’t going to be the same guy, of course. However, a more pressing thought voiced its opinion. “Wait, starter pokémon?! But my mum hasn’t given me permission to go!”

“Go wherever you want sweetie,” Grace called from the living room, engrossed in a movie that was playing on the big TV screen. “Just don’t go off with any strange men, common street sense is needed.”

“Okay! I won’t follow any perverts!” She couldn’t help but giggle at the faces both Shauna and Calem were making as she turned back to them. “Alright, I can go. So where are we going to get our starter’s from?”

“Two people are bringing them to Aquacorde Town; they have received pokémon from Professor Sycamore as well,” Calem answered back to her question. “It’s not too far from Vaniville so there is no need to worry about bumping into wild pokémon off the bat.”

“And they should be there waiting for us right now!” Shauna grinned with excitement written all over her face. “So let’s go and meet out new pokémon partners!” She pushed forwards and grabbed her new friend by the wrist and began pulling her out of the doorway towards the gate leading to Aquacorde Town.

Rhyhorn lazily opened one eye, watching as his master’s daughter was dragged away from the house stuttering and making weird noises, like normal, the girl doing the dragging looked extremely naïve and innocent. Ah, humans. No wonder all pokémon considered them the weirdest things on this planet. As the boy ran after them, all after shutting the door, he sighed and snuggled back down into a sweet sleep under the spring sun. One day he would understand humans but, until then, he would chuckle at their antics like they did to cat pokémon videos on the interweb… or whatever it was called.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Hello - just wanted to welcome you to the Workshop!

I had a quick read of your story, and the concept of a rebooted universe, scheming gods and the gender-swapped/confused Ash/Serena is an interesting and intriguing mix: I look forward to seeing more of it in the future! One note though: when writing dialogue, it is pretty to put a comma instead of a full-stop with sentences such as "Hey there," said Bob."

Also, we require authors to label their stories with either Everyone, Teen or Mature using the prefix options when making a thread. That rule is listed here in our Welcome Hub, which has links to all the different stuff we do on the forums. Welcome again and enjoy your time here!

 

[Mia Blaze]

Thank you and I will take what you said into thought and will edit the chapter accordingly.

About the prefix options, I have no idea how to change it now but have stated that this is a Teen story for those reading as I had no idea. I'm sorry and It won't happen again.

Once again, thank you for reading and the next chapter should be out some time next week.

Edit: Figured it out and the Teen Prefix is up.

 

[Mia Blaze]

I know I said a week but I got this chapter finished early, so enjoy.

Reunion in Changes


Shauna was a fast runner, to say the least. After ten minutes of consistent, fast paced exercise, the three teenagers had arrived in Aquacorde Town with its quaint terrace cafes and small business shops. There weren’t many people around but those who were either interacted with each other or the pokémon beside them. It was completely different from Vaniville, but at the same time not too different that it was a city or at the very least a busy, bustling town.

“Come on, this way!” Shauna chirped with enough energy to power Lumiose City for more than a week. “We’re meeting them on the seating area overlooking the entire town.”

“Sure but can you please let go of my arm?!” The pleas of release were not heard by the young girl as the trio continued through the tightly packed streets of Aquacorde until everything opened out into a courtyard like area filled with tables and chairs. By then, the group had slowed down somewhat, looking around for the people who would give them their first pokémon. With the few groups of three or so dotted around everywhere, it was hard to tell until a boy, around their age, stood up and waved at them to come over.

He was tall but also pudgy, with black hair piled into a three point, circular basin at the top of his head, the colour of which matched his raisin shaped eyes. A blue, orange and white Vanilite stencil was plastered on the middle of his t-shirt that covered the top of his knee lengthed orange shorts. His yellow bag was strapped across his chest, from the right shoulder to under the left arm and his shoes looked like the ones used in dance, with black, yellow and white. His Holo Caster was clipped onto a band that was attached around his wrist.

Sat next to him was another male, shorter in stature with a large head of carrot orange hair which swept to the left side of his face and curled up into his cheeks. His green backpack was the same light and bright colour as his shoes, the top of which were covered by dark grey trousers. A black length of fabric kept his Holo Caster around his neck hanging over his greyish green top with white sleeves and a white collar.

“Yo! You three!” The first male called out whilst still waving at them. “Over here!” Shauna noticed this and continued to drag her unwilling acquaintance over to the table. Calem followed suit, after shaking his head at his friend’s actions.

“Hi! You must be Tierno and Trevor.” She looked at each male in turn before smiling wide, revealing her shiny teeth that were usually hidden beneath her lips. “Nice to meet you, I’m Shauna. So you’re the ones who will be giving us our starter Pokémon?”

“That’s us!” Tierno, the taller of the two males, replied. “Nice to meetcha too!” He turned to face the other two unintroduced teenagers, one of whom had collapsed on the table with a red face that had sweat running down it in streams. “Who are you guys?”

“My name is Calem, it’s an honour,” Calem noticed his new neighbour may have been unable to speak at that moment in time, and as the gentleman he was; he decided to introduce them himself. “And this is…”

“Ash… Just… give me a… sec…” The ravenette panted for a few moments before glaring at Shauna with a burning anger that made the surroundings turn icy cold. “Next time warn me before you drag my ass over a mile to the next town with your boundless energy!”

“Sorry… I was just so excited, you know?” Shauna looked deeply apologetic, not even meeting the eyes of anyone else around the table. A part of Ash’s mind was yelling at her greatly for her outburst, reminding her that she, herself had felt the exact same way as Shauna was now, even if that event was now erased from time and space thanks to Team Flare.

“It’s okay… I understand,” She smiled kindly at the other female, who seemed to be cheering up slightly now. “I mean, this is a really big event in our lives.”

“Thanks!” Shauna went to hug, but restrained herself with reminders that many enjoy their own personal space and invading it could make tensions worse. Trevor, who hadn’t said anything yet, looked over at the three empty chairs opposite them, as a way to indicate that the new arrivals could take a seat, which they did.

“Alright, introductions over and now we move onto something important!” Tierno began grinning even wider than Shauna had earlier. “As a crew, we’d be closer if we gave each other nicknames! Ladies first, alphabetically.” He turned to Ash who shivered slightly at the thought of what he would come up with, remembering the Tierno from her past world. “Can I call you, Lady A?” His wink made her realise that he wasn’t entirely different from the other Tierno, in fact, they were exactly the same.

“WHAT?!” Shauna’s shout made everyone jump a foot out of their seats as she slammed the table with both hands. “NO WAY! She’s a Li’l A for sure!” Her eyes latched onto the silent Trevor, determined to make him speak his opinion. “Trevor, what do you think?!”

“You really want me to nickname someone I’ve just met?” He asked cautiously, his tone quiet yet with an edge of immense knowledge to it. “How… how about something a little low key… like A-kins?”

“Guys… seriously…?” Ash sweat dropped, only to realise that she wasn’t being heard which caused her to slam her head on the table with a loud groan. “Arceus save me.”

“May I suggest something?” Calem inquired, ignoring the death glare he was being given from the person to the left of his seat. “She is a Kanto region native so how about A-Chan?”

“Yeah, that sounds cool!”

“Okay, that’s settled!”

“Great, we’ll deal with everyone else’s nicknames later.”

Once again, Ash slammed her head onto the table, wondering why Arceus decided to bring her back into the world of the living. Was it to make up for all the mistakes she had ever made because at that very moment, she felt as if she was atoning for every single league failure that she had ever caused. Trust the creator of the multiverse to do this to her.

“Anyway, can we see the Pokémon now?” Shauna asked as she began to bounce up and down in her chair. “I really want to meet my new partner soon!”

“I know right?” Tierno simply chuckled at her enthusiasm. “Trevs and I felt the same way when we met our first Pokémon. Hope it’s the same for you three.” He reached into his bag, pulling out a purple and gold cylinder with three Poké Balls sat comfortably inside it. “Alright, here they are, the Kalos starters. You have a choice of…”

Suddenly, one of the Poké Balls opened, with the blue frog like Pokémon inside popping out. It looked around, examining all of the humans around it until it caught eyes with one of them, then proceeding to hop directly onto their face.

“A-Chan! Are you okay?!” Shauna asked with worry, especially when the only noise made from that entire event was a deep sigh.

“I’m fine… honest.” Somehow, deep inside, Ash could feel some sort of connection to the Pokémon that was currently clutching onto her face. Even after trying to pull it off, the water type still clung on with the will to never let go. It was almost as if a bond between them had already been established prior to the meeting just now. Could it be? Maybe, but now really wasn’t the time to make everyone believe she was crazy at that very moment.

“It looks like Froakie chose you, A-Chan,” Tierno chuckled loudly. “You’re pretty lucky.”

“Then, in that case, I pick Fennekin! We are way too cute together!” Shauna’s voice carried to her ears, even if her eyes were blocked by a certain Froakie on her face. An adorable yap followed with the sound of smothering bringing up the rear.

“I choose Chespin,” Calem took the last one left, patting it on the head gently. “Because of you, I can become a Trainer, and I thank you for that.”

“Umm… A-Chan?” Trevor nervously spoke up, turning the attention back to the fourteen year old with a Froakie on her face. “Can you get your starter off?”

“Nope, already tried.” Ash replied with another sigh, accepting the possibility of traveling blind for the remainder of her days.

“He must really like you,” Trevor added, slowly becoming more confident with the passing seconds he was spending with the group. “Professor Sycamore said that Froakie hated anyone that came near it. Speaking of the professor, I have something for all of you from him, a Pokédex.” Surprisingly, Froakie let go of Ash’s face so she could see as a red device with curved edges and a light blue screen was handed over to each of the new trainers, however he then decided to latch onto her arm, refusing to let go. “The Pokédex is a high tech device made to record the Pokémon you encounter automatically! It’s amazing!”

“The professor wants us to go on a journey,” Tierno continued. “Oh, by the way A-Chan. He gave me this letter for you to give to your mother.” He handed over the letter which was contained in a white envelope that had swirly, neat handwriting on the front. She took it from him and placed it into her bag for safe keeping. “Alright, we’ve completed our errand. I guess Trevs and I will go looking for Pokémon. See ya!” He got up, and walked away leaving Trevor to nervously follow after him, running simply to catch up.

“I guess you’ve gotta deliver that letter first,” Shauna stood up and smiled at her new friends. “Well, before that I’d like to have a battle with you, A-Chan!”

“Where? I don’t see a battlefield and we’re in a crowded area.” The brunette’s face dropped at Ash’s words whilst Calem started looking around until his eyes landed on an area near the town’s exit back to Vaniville that was free of any surrounding objects.

“Over there. There shouldn’t be anything to damage over in that space, especially since our starters aren’t that strong yet.” He suggested which Shauna grinned and clapped her hands at.

“Thanks C-Dawg!” She ran over to the area and waved at Ash to come over. “Come on! I wanna battle!”

“Yes, thank you C-Dawg,” Ash laughed as she ran over to Shauna, noting the annoyed expression that covered Calem’s face. That was what he got for giving her a nickname. The last person to do that was Gary and she soundly beat his ass in Johto with a Charizard against a Blastoise. As she took her place opposite the jumpy trainer, she felt a familiar feeling. The blood rushed through her veins, a sense of excitement filled her body. “Alright, ready when you are!” Froakie let go of her arm and jumped in front of her, looking ready to take down anything.

“Fennekin, let’s go!” The cream fire fox jumped elegantly out of its Poké Ball before smiling cutely at the opposition, building on the suspicions that this Fennekin was a female. “Okay… use Scratch!” The gears in a certain someone’s brain whirled into action. This time around, she wouldn’t make the same mistakes as she did back on the other world. This time she would be stronger, and not an idiot… hopefully.

“Froakie, dodge and use Bubble!” As the fire fox dash towards Froakie, the water type jumped up into the air, drawing a huge breath of air before a stream of bubbles flew towards the unsuspecting Fennekin. Fennekin cried out under the super effective onslaught, causing Shauna to cry out in worry.

“No! Fennekin! Scratch once again!” She ordered. Fennekin shook itself down and jumped towards Froakie, paw turning white with the claws extending for the attack. However, what Shauna hadn’t planned for was a counter strategy.

“Use your frubbles to block!” Froakie immediately responded to his trainer’s orders, not even question how she knew how to use the frubbles affectively, or that she even knew what the frubbles were. A wall, similar to how the move Cotton Guard worked, was formed in front of the now ground stable water type, causing Fennekin to bounce harmlessly off of it.

“That’s not fair,” Shauna complained, pouting whilst throwing a mini tantrum. “That wasn’t even an attack!”

“Being able to understand a Pokémon’s skill set and how to use it effectively is a part of being a trainer,” Ash responded calmly and sensibly whilst trying to help her new friend in the process. “Froakie’s frubbles are a part of his skill set which he would use even in the wild. Knowing that and how to use it with Froakie’s speed and ninja like skills help win battles.”

“M’lady is right. Abilities and additional Pokémon skills are vital for a trainer to know when it comes to battle,” Calem added, looking extremely impressed by his neighbour’s knowledge. “I’ve taken this advantage to check our Pokémon’s abilities and it looks like we all have Hidden Ability starters.”

“Hidden Ability?” Shauna gave him a puzzled look, which acted for the trigger for a short explanation.

“As well as the usual two or one abilities a Pokémon can have, there is also a rare chance a Pokémon can have its Hidden Ability,” Calem began talking like a university professor, walking whilst talking with over exaggerated hand movements. “For Fennekin, it’s Magician, the ability to take items when attacking. It’s helpful when your opponent is using a tricky item that is causing you trouble. Chespin has Bulletproof. That ability protects Chespin for bomb, bullet and some cannon like attacks. Finally, Froakie is equipped with Protean. An ability that turns Froakie into the type of the move it is about to perform for consistent STAB boosts. It is also useful against types that are super effective by out-speeding them and using a move to change types to a more resistant one.”

“I think I get it…” Shauna replied. She took a deep breath and turned to face her opponent. “Sorry about that A-Chan, I didn’t know you could do that. Anyway, we have a battle to finish! Fennekin, once more… Scratch!”

“Let’s end this Froakie! Bubble!” The two starters began performing their attacks, Fennekin with claws outstretched and Froakie drawing in a breath for a stream of bubbles, this was a test of speed, one of which Froakie won. The bubbles blew Fennekin back, causing it to collapse on the ground, unconscious.

“Aww… I lost,” Shauna returned her starter back into her Poké Ball before walking over for a hand shake. “That was amazing A-Chan, thanks for battling me!”

“No problem, Shauna,” Ash began grinning nervously, rubbing her finger under her nose like she used to back in the other world. “To be honest, I really enjoyed myself.”

“Well, I’d better get my Lil’ Fennekin healed up! See you around!” The two girls shook hands before Shauna dashed off happily into Aquacorde Town to find a healing place of some kind. Calem strolled over to his neighbour and whistled.

“Froakie is really strong, isn’t it?” Froakie’s harsh glare instantly told the teenaged male that being called an ‘it’ wasn’t something the water type liked a lot.

“He, and yes, he is,” Ash knelt down and rubbed her starter on the head, which he really seemed to like. “You really seem to know a lot about Pokémon.”

“My parents were good trainers in their youth,” He quickly turned the conversation to another topic. “What I was impressed about was that you knew about the frubbles. Considering you are from Kanto and that you didn’t use your Pokédex once during that battle.”

“Oh! Well…” Trying to find an explanation wasn’t something that easily came to mind for Ash, even considering that her IQ had improved somewhat since waking up in this world compared to what could have been called an idiotic mentality that many knew her for in the old universe. “I read a book about Kalos Pokémon before coming here, it said about Froakie’s frubbles and how it uses them in the wild so I just thought the same thing could be applied to a battle!”

“I… see…” Although he didn’t seem too convinced, Calem took the explanation and smiled down at her. “It looks like I have a good neighbour. Maybe even good enough to be my rival.”

“Ha, your rival?” Ash stood up and looked at him snarkily. “You haven’t even battled yet, so wait until we face each other, okay?” His eyes widened at the way she reacted to his cocky statement. She wasn’t angry, yelling at him about it but, instead, she just rose above it, taking it in her stride. “I have a letter to deliver so, see you around. Come on, Froakie.” Froakie hopped onto his trainer’s shoulder as she ran towards the path to Vaniville with an emotionless expression, not sure how to react to that little two way conversation. Calem just watched them disappear and put a hand on his hip with a knowledgeable smile.

“She’s destined for great things, I can tell,” He sighed and shook his head. “Maybe, maybe we could be rivals, if I’m good enough for her.”


The walk back to Vaniville was quiet at first; that was until both trainer and Pokémon were far enough from civilisation that no one would be around to hear them. A sudden stop from his new trainer made Froakie look up, only to notice her hat was covering her eyes.

“Froakie, answer me truthfully…” She paused after talking, before looking straight into his eyes. “We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

“Froak?” Froakie was surprised to say the least, so she had noticed it as well. For some reason, he felt a deep connection to this ‘A-Chan’ person, one of which he had shared with only one person. His old trainer, Ash Ketchum. Their Bond Phenomenon had allowed them to understand each other on a different level to many other trainers. Just like Ash, he had chosen this girl as he had felt that very same connection, only slightly weaker which was possibly due to his now pre-evolved status.

“Froakie… no… Greninja… is that you?” His trainer asked, making him realise at that very moment that this girl, this newbie was in fact Ash. Deep down, the bond grew stronger with realisation, connecting them to a level that they had held before. What Froakie wasn’t expecting was to be pulled into an embrace followed by the feeling of tears falling onto his head. “I… I thought I’d lost everybody! You, Pikachu, everybody! But… but…”

She was surprised as he reached up to wipe away her tears, as well as the fact she slightly understood what he said afterwards. “I’m here. Don’t worry.”

“I… I won’t,” Ash regained her composure and smiled once again, releasing her starter from a gripping, bone crushing hug. “So it looks like we were both brought here. I just don’t understand why, and why us?”

“Fro ki kie,” The water type shrugged his shoulders before asking a very pressing question since the reveal. “Froakie ki kie froak, kie?”

“Why am I a girl? I’d like to ask Arceus that…” Froakie paled as Ash’s hand clenched into a fist, her expression nothing short of pissed off. “And give it a knuckle duster to go with my inquiry!”

“Fro kie Froakie!” A sweat drop appeared on his head as he tried to calm down his trainer.

“Fine, I’m calm. I’m calm…” She took a deep breath before turning her head to Froakie. “I… I wonder if it would be okay if you could stay outside the Poké Ball with me. With Pikachu gone… I’m not used to being alone and…” A sudden weight on her shoulder with a nuzzle to her cheek told Ash her answer as she slowly began walking again. “Thanks Froakie.”


Grace looked up when she heard the door go, turning around to find her daughter walking in casually with a Froakie sitting smugly on her shoulder.

“Okay, should I be afraid or…?” She inquired, turning away from the TV.

“Nah, just got my first Pokémon... and had my first battle,” Ash coughed and took a more snobbish, rich butler approach to her delivery of the next sentence. “For you, madam.”

“Why thank you kindly,” Grace replied, sounding like a rich woman. She took the letter from her daughter’s hands and began looking at it curiously. “What’s this… a love letter?” Both trainer and Pokémon burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter, falling to the ground in the process. Grace looked down at them with an annoyed look plastered all over her face. “Seriously you two, can’t a famous woman obtain a love letter?”

“Mum, you’re married.” Ash replied, still chuckling her head off.

“So?”

“Wouldn’t your crazy fanbase have realised that by now? You know, have backed off?” Grace raised an eyebrow and shook her head honestly.

“Nope, some people are still crazy about me,” She struck a silly pose, causing the two on the floor to burst into another session of laughter. “Anyway, let’s see what this says.” As she read, her daughter and her starter began recomposing themselves, brushing themselves down and getting up off the ground.

“So, what did the professor have to say to you?” Ash asked inquisitively.

“Oh, just asking me permission about a journey and everything,” Grace answered, turning to face her daughter with a proud look on her face. “We’ve only just moved in and exciting things are already happening. Are you already to go?”

“I packed my bag before I left earlier and yes, I know how to use the Town Map,” The new, in this world’s sense, trainer answered, before hugging her mother. “No need to worry, I’ll be fine.”

“Go for broke and enjoy yourself,” Grace hugged back with a proud smile. “I want to hear great things about your journey whenever you reach a Pokémon Center, okay?”

“Okay, got it.”

“And say goodbye to Rhyhorn before you leave,” The mother looked out of the window noting that her Pokémon was now fully awake and staring at the door hesitantly. “He’s known you since birth after all; he’ll want to give you a proper send off.”

“Of course! I’ll talk to you as soon as I reach Santalune,” Ash promised as Froakie jumped back onto her shoulder. “Bye mum, love you.”

“I love you too my little muffin top!” Grace let go of her daughter and grinned. “I know you’ll do great. Bye and good luck.”

“Bye!” She watched as the fourteen year old opened the door and waved as she closed it. A sigh escaped her lips as she walked to the window, smiling as the scene of a joyful goodbye played outside. Her daughter finished hugging Rhyhorn and ran off towards Aquacorde, with the rock type falling back to sleep instantly. Grace had never felt so proud, yet at the same time, sadness gripped at her inside. She never really wanted to let her little girl go but she knew the day was coming at some point. Oh well, at least it won’t be long until she gets a call. The only issue Grace had now was men and she would be down like a tonne of bricks on any male her Ash would introduce to her, friend or not.


“So, the plan is to get another Pokémon before heading into Santalune Forest,” Froakie was starting to get used to the sudden moments were Ash would seemingly talk to herself, not caring that the people around them were giving her funny looks. “A flying type would be nice knowing the future grass and bug type gyms.”

He gave her a ‘Why are you talking to yourself out loud and making yourself look like an idiot’ sort of expression which she ignored. However, thankfully, she decided to shut up then as she passed a hiker who began blabbering nonsense about future dangers and the sort, almost like he was preaching the end of the world as he knew it. Jogging away from him over the bridge to Route 1 was a sensible option, even if it ended up with the two knees deep in the tall grass.

“There has to be a flying type around here… keep a look out, okay?” Froakie saluted his trainer, before hopping down from her shoulder to search. Just as he moved one place, the grass in front of him rustled and a Pokémon popped out, sending the water type flying backwards. “Froakie! Are you okay?” Ash knelt down next to him, only ceasing her worry when Froakie pointed to the wild attacker.

It was a brown bird with a cream coloured face, underside, and flight feathers. On top of its head was a short crest of three tufts, the centre crest feathers were brown and the outer two tufts were cream. Just under its crest were its narrow, brown eyes. Angular black markings extended from behind its eyes down its cheeks. Both its beak and feet were a grayish-pink and it had a short, brown tail made of three feathers.

“A Pidgey, huh? Haven’t seen one of them in a long time,” The trainer looked down at her starter with a grin. “Up for catching it?”

“Froakie!” Froakie jumped forwards, glaring at the normal and flying type across from him, who seemed un-wavered by his facial expression.

“Weaken then capture… Let’s try Bubble!” Ash instructed which Froakie immediately responded to, sending the stream of bubbles towards Pidgey, who tried to dodge but was slower and was hit, crying out slightly from the onslaught. “Okay, that should be enough with the level gap,” She reached into her bag, glad that her mother had pre-packed five Poké Balls before leaving home. Pulling one out, she aimed at the Pidgey and threw it, watching as it was pulled into the device and it landed on the ground. One shake, two shakes, three shakes. Click, the Pidgey had been caught.

Back in the old world, Ash knew she would have picked up the ball and posed, however it wouldn’t be the same without Pikachu and it would hurt her greatly inside at the memory. Instead, she just picked it up and smiled gently.

“Thanks Froakie,” She pulled out her Pokédex and scanned her newest team member.

Pidgey LV3
Gender: Female
Ability: Keen Eye
Moves: Tackle. Uproar and Pursuit are unlocked egg moves.

“Egg moves, so I guess her father had a couple of moves to pass down,” Ash looked over at Froakie and turned the Pokédex onto him. “Okay, let’s just be sure.”

Froakie LV7
Gender: Male
Ability: Protean
Moves: Pound, Growl, Bubble.

“First you know about the frubbles, then you know how to capture a Pokémon without any instructions,” A sudden voice from behind her made Ash jump. “You really are something else.” She turned around to see Calem standing casually, not even caring that he sort of scared her.

“So what?!” She yelled defensively. “Even little kids know how to catch a Pokémon! What makes you think that I was never told how by Professor Oak in Kanto, huh?!”

“Woah, whoa, easy Emboar,” Calem waved his hands in a sign of surrender, laughing nervously at the same time. “I was just commenting on how easy it was for you. Even beginners have a hard time catching their first.”

“Oh really?” Ash raised an eyebrow, however she sighed and put her hands on her hips, Poké Ball still clasped in her left hand. “Well, I need to heal up my new team member so, I will see you around.”

“Yeah, see ya… I have a newbie to teach.” He watched as she walked off back to Aquacorde, Froakie hopping afterwards, not before he made a watching you sign at the male trainer. “She’s something different alright, all I have to do now is wait for Shauna and the lesson will begin.”


“Thank you!” The lady behind the counter smiled at the trainer in front of her, who seemed very concerned about her newest Pokémon and her starter as well, begging for a check-up of the both of them.

“You’re welcome, young lady,” She replied. “Make sure to keep your Pokémon healthy, the shop next to us sells Potions for on the go healthcare.”

“I’ll do that now, thanks!” With that, Ash left the makeshift Pokémon Center with both Pidgey and Froakie on her shoulders. Grace had given her three thousand PokéYen to spend on essential items, as well as packing some food for human and Pokémon consumption. This time, she was well prepared for the journey ahead. “Okay, first off we’ll get some Potions and then, training. We need to get you up to Froakie’s level, Pidgey.”

Pidgey nodded, already comfortable with the feeling of sitting of her new trainer’s shoulder. Her family had warned her about getting caught and the horrors that some Pokémon go through with nasty, evil trainers, however this one seemed pretty nice. She was immediately healed and given something to eat which tasted pretty decent, in her opinion. Pidgey also noticed the bond between Froakie and their trainer, one of which seemed unbreakable even though they had only been together for a day. It was puzzling, in a good way. Maybe this trainer could make her stronger than the rest of her family. Being the runt of the pack was hard, especially since everyone was leaps and bounds ahead of you.

“This is it you two, together we will become stronger, and achieve what we may have not been able to before,” Determination flashed in her eyes as the three of them made a silent promise to each other, to be the very best. “And we will do this as a team, alright?”

“Froakie!”

“Pidg Pidge!”

Happy cries of agreement followed before they continued on with their journey.

 

[Mia Blaze]

Through Santalune Forest

If one were to be enjoying a sunny picnic on Route 1, one would be surprised to see a girl with dirty clothing, which was covered in as much mud as the rest of her body was, and two tired yet extremely proud Pokémon, both of whom were sitting on her shoulders, walk past without a care in the world.

For her second day as a new trainer in a new world, Ash was pretty happy. The rest of the afternoon was spent training on Route 1, with herself getting involved heavily during the event. Finding a room in a nearby B&B wasn’t too hard, especially since it was empty, allowing the team to crash for the night and get clean. All that changed the next morning however, as training continued. Now, both Pokémon had been elevated up to level 11, perfectly ready for the Santalune Gym with a bit of leverage for future battles and captures.

She surprisingly learnt that, in this world, Pokémon don’t forget their attacks, and the four move barrier from before had been destroyed. However, many trainers used the four moves only to make it easier to remember. As a challenge, Ash vowed to herself that she would not limit her team’s move sets, and would quickly check in the Pokédex if needed. Having more moves could create a variety of new combos which their opponents would not be ready for.

Walking down the route was quite peaceful in nature. No loud noises, just the wild Pokémon’s voices creating a melody which was gentle on the ears. A light breeze made the grass and the leaves on the trees wave to and fro, the sunlight’s reflection made the river sparkle with light. Nothing could bring her out of her calm mood, nothing…

“HEY! YOU THERE!”

…At all. Ash turned around, ready to give the person a piece of her mind but, unfortunately, was interrupted before she could even voice her opinions.

“You’re a trainer right?” A young boy wearing a blue hoodie with grey shorts asked her, throwing a Poké Ball up and down without a care in the world. “When trainer’s eyes meet, a battle begins!”

“I know that but could you at least think twice before you yell out,” She scolded slightly, not in the mood to deal with this happy-go-lucky kid at that moment in time. “The wild Pokémon aren’t gonna like you if you scare them like that.”

“Oh sorry,” Even though he had replied, the boy didn’t look the slightest bit apologetic at all. “Still, let’s battle!” Deciding that she really didn’t have the time or the patience to deal with this boy, she gave Froakie a look, of which he returned with a grin.

“Alright. You’re on!”


“That was easy; his Zigzagoon hadn’t even been trained properly.” It had taken Froakie only one Bubble to knock out his opponent. Even Pidgey, who hadn’t participated in the battle, was extremely disappointed. She had even bet that her puny self before capture could have knocked that normal type out within one or two hits. The reaction of the boy after losing was something to happily place onto YouTube for views and the laughter of others. It was easy to say that he was a sore loser, something Ash had vowed to never do in front of her opponents, no matter how crushing the loss was.

Soon, an arched tree entrance to a large forest greeted the team, a wooden plaque beside it welcoming them to Santalune Forest, a long winding path that was up ahead. It also had a warning about the bug, fire and electric types in the forest that could poison, burn and paralyse Pokémon and to make sure that trainers had the necessary healing items, just in case. Just as she was about to take her first steps into the forest, a call from behind her made Ash turn around.

“Hey! A-Chan!” Shauna stopped running, placing her hands on her knees as she tried to regain her breath. “There you are. When Calem told me you had already caught a Pokémon, I really wanted to congratulate you.”

“Sorry Shauna,” Ash rubbed the back of her head nervously, Pidgey perched on the top of her hat looking down at the new human with eyes full of venom. “What’s wrong?” Shauna’s fearful expression worried her slightly, until she realised the origin of the problem. “Pidgey, Shauna’s a friend. Friend, not food. Stop it.” Pidgey rolled her eyes but nodded, turning to preening her trainer’s hair affectionately.

“Wow, you two are already close and you’ve only recently caught it!” Her friend’s eyes began sparkling in admiration. “You really are something, A-Chan.”

“I just have that way with Pokémon… I guess,” Ash watched her flying type for a moment before looking inquisitively back at Shauna. “So, were you headed for Santalune Forest too?”

The smaller female nodded. “Yep! And… I was wondering…” She began pressing her two index fingers together whilst looking down at the ground. “If we could go through it together?”

“Huh? Why’s that?” Ash inquired, only to have Shauna’s face up close and personal with hers.

“I really wanna learn from you, A-Chan!” Shauna replied, smiling happily. “When Calem told me about what he had noticed from you, I knew that you must be a really good beginner! I don’t know what to do as a trainer, but the least I can do is learn from others, including my new friend.” She took a step back and looked at the wooden sign. “I can also heal your Pokémon up for you whenever you want me to!”

Shauna was unique in many aspects, but she also reminded Ash about many things of her old world. Her enthusiasm for everything was a spirit lifter at times, her smile brought joy to others around her. Shauna seemed to be a really nice person, a good friend.

“Sure, but I’m not going to be the only one battling wilds in there,” Ash began walking towards the entrance, before turning and grinning at Shauna with a wink. “You need to work on getting stronger yourself!”

It took a moment but the joy on the brunette’s face told Ash she had made the right choice. “Right! We will work together! Lil’ Fennekin, Froakie, Pidgey, A-Chan and me!” Shauna made a fist and tapped it against her chest. “Let’s get through this forest!”


“I hate this place!” Half an hour later and Shauna had already been jump-scared by falling Caterpie, Weedle, Kakuna and Metapod. She was currently clinging to Ash’s right arm, the owner of whom was trying to reassure the shorter that everything was going to be okay. “Why can’t they stay in the trees?! This isn’t a horror game!”

“I think you need to calm down a bit,” Ash said, Froakie and Pidgey giving each other annoyed looks from the grass covered, forest floor. “They aren’t hurting you and you’re in their territory. You need to respect the fact this is their home and they can do whatever they want here. Plus, none of them are attacking us so there is no need to panic.”

“You’re right,” Shauna let go, took a few deep breaths in and regained her composure. “Okay! Let’s get out of here as soon as possible!”

“What’s the rush?” Ash questioned as the two began walking, Froakie and Pidgey taking their places on her shoulders. “You have somewhere to be tonight?”

“No, Calem and the others went on ahead,” The brunette explained, keeping up with her neighbour and friend easily due to their slow walking pace. “I want to get out of here as soon as possible so we can talk to them before heading to Santalune. It’s just… oh!” Shauna’s gasp of surprise was because she had been walking in the tall grass, and a Pokémon had decided to jump out at her.

The Pokémon was covered in yellow fur, standing on its back legs with ease whilst its three fingered front paws hung down to its underbelly. It had pointed, black tipped, rabbit shaped ears; rosy red cheeks, three brown stripes running horizontally down its back and a lightning bolt shaped tail. The Pokémon’s round eyes stared at Shauna with intense interest as it squeaked cutely.

“Wow, a Pikachu! Those are extremely rare to find,” Shauna gushed over the electric type, patting it on the head which the wild really seemed to enjoy, which was a rare sight in itself due to how vicious the wilds could be towards humans. “Aren’t we lucky A-Chan…?” She turned to her friend only to notice a pale face, quivering lips and shaking hands, things that made her worry. “Umm… Ash. Are you okay?”

Ash couldn’t hear her, her own eyes focused on the Pikachu in front of her. Instead of a cute creature, she saw a poor animal with missing limbs, blood dripping from cuts and gashes. One of its ears had been ripped off forcefully, its eyes dull without even a spark of life. It was speaking to her, saying words that made tears well up in her eyes.

“Why couldn’t you stop this?”

“You were supposed to be the saviour.”

“Why did you let me die, Pika pi?”

She grasped her head, tears already falling faster than she could feel them. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry!” Shauna looked at her friend, grasping her arm just like she had earlier.

“A-Chan! Ash! What’s wrong?! Tell me!” She was shocked when she was pushed backwards as Ash ripped her arm free of her hands. The two girls stood in silence for a brief moment before Ash ran off deeper into the forest, sobbing loudly as she disappeared. “I messed up, didn’t I?”

Froakie and Pidgey ignored her, nodding to each other as one took to the skies in search whilst the other began pulling at Shauna’s leg to get her to follow them. She looked down at Froakie who was trying to drag her in the direction that Pidgey had flown off to.

“Froak kie kie.” He said stubbornly, pulling with all of his might trying to get his point across to the naïve human.

“You want me to go after her?” Shauna quickly guessed, realising she was right when he nodded and began leaping off deeper into the forest. “Hey! Wait up for me!”


It was the harsh sobbing that told Shauna that she was getting closer, that and the circling Pidgey overhead who was cooing as loud as she possibly could. In the final stint, she ran as fast as she could, Froakie already way ahead, possibly trying to reassure his trainer as she came nearer to the location. Her run slowed into a light jog as her eyes laid witness to something she wasn’t really ready for.

Ash was sat curled on a rock, head on her knees, arms wrapped around her legs as her back moved with each heart-wrenching sob. Pidgey flew down and landed in front of the rock, chirping softly up at her trainer only to get no response other than harsher cries of sadness. Froakie had already positioned himself on her right shoulder, rubbing her back as a form of comfort in a sad time, but it wasn’t helping that much.

“Ash… are you alright?” Shauna realised nicknames weren’t the best thing to use at a time like this, so took a more formal approach. “Was it the Pikachu? I’m sorry if I upset you or anything and…”

“No,” The ravenette sniffled, pulling the brim of her hat down as she lifted her head up slightly so that it covered her eyes. “It… it wasn’t… your fault.” She felt a presence sit beside her as Shauna sat next to her on the rock. Even though she couldn’t see her new friend’s face, Ash knew she was worried which was slightly surprising for someone she had only known for a day.

“Well, I made it worse by stroking the damn thing!” Shauna’s sudden swearing made Ash jump as it wasn’t something she would expect from the happy-go-lucky girl’s mouth. “Ash, I should have realised that it was making you uncomfortable...”

“No, you shouldn’t,” By now, the tears had all but faded as a civil conversation had begun, almost in an attempt to tear her mind off of the horrible image that she had seen earlier. “You weren’t in the wrong Shauna… I…” She was silenced by a hug as Shauna’s arms wrapped around her, providing warmth and care, a calming experience that told her that everything was going to be okay.

“Come on, let it all out…” The brunette had almost turned into a sort of counsellor, working to solve an issue and make everyone feel better about their fears, worries and issues.

Slowly, Ash’s defences fell; she sunk into the hug and began crying once more, letting all of her sadness out for the world to gaze at, however she was not alone. Shauna, Froakie and Pidgey were there for her. They were there to get her through this. And, for that, she was grateful. This new world originally felt lonely, now at least she had a few people to depend on. A few who could help her through a new experience that once held fears down the path she would take. It took her a while, but Ash managed to regain herself, sitting up straight whilst drying away her tears.

“Thanks…” Somehow her brain thought it would be a great time to confirm their friendship through something that had been forced upon her only a day earlier. “… Shaunie.” Shauna’s eyes widened before her grin stretched to the corners of her face.

“Shaunie… A-Chan I love it!” She excitably hugged her friend, who had seemed to calm down now. “Does that mean we really are besties?!”

“If you want…” apparently, Shauna did want that to be the case as she squealed in delight before jumping up and down out of pure joy.

“A-Chan and Shaunie! We will take the world by storm!” She realised she was skipping a couple of steps and looked concerned for a moment. “Are you alright?”

“I am now,” Ash tried to smile, still looking a bit forced with her actions. She turned to Froakie and Pidgey, stroking their heads with an honoured expression. “Thank you. However, if it’s okay with you two, can I have a moment alone with Shauna? I’ll let you out as soon as we reach Santalune or I come across trouble.” Whilst the two Pokémon were extremely concerned about their trainer’s wellbeing, they respected her wishes and returned to their Poké Balls after hugging her themselves, showing their love for their trainer.

“Your Pokémon really care about you A-Chan,” Shauna said, happy that it was the case that the bonds between trainer and Pokémon were already strong after only a day. It was rare to see that, but Ash really seemed like that sort of person that Pokémon loved upon sight. “I really want my Lil’ Fennekin to have a bond like that with me someday.”

“You will.” Ash responded, noticing Shauna’s worried tone with a chance to try and help her back. “I bet the more time you spend with Fennekin, the more your bond together grows, as will your bonds with all of your Pokémon.”

“I see…” Shauna stood up, taking a deep breath in and out. “In that case I have no need to worry! I can’t wait to be close to my Pokémon! We will be the best of friends, just you wait and see!”

“Oh, I will,” Ash followed suit, a determined expression covered her face. “And the same will happen here! We will be closer and stronger than anyone ever was before!”

“Stronger and closer!” Shauna nodded in agreement. “I like the sound of that, A-Chan.” Suddenly, an awkward silence fell over the two. One of which that was only cleared up by a sudden scream of horror from the brunette. “What time is it?!”
“Umm, dunno. Around 2 or something,” Ash looked at her inquisitively as to why she was so worried about the time. “Why do you ask?”

“Because we have a meeting with Calem, Tierno and Trevor, who already went on ahead,” She began hopping nervously from one foot to the other. “If we wait any longer than we could leave them out there waiting around like idiots for us to show up!” Shauna began looking around nervously, as if the boys had sent spies to watch their every move. “We need to get a move on!”

“Alright,” The ravenette grabbed her friend’s hand and began dragging her into a run towards the exit of the forest. “Then let’s go and meet them, right Shaunie?”

“Right! Let’s hurry!” Shauna sped up, so the two were running side by side as, up ahead, a sudden burst of light appeared through the trees, signalling the exit to the forest, which they slowed down to walk out of.


“There you two are!” Tierno grinned as Ash and Shauna came into view from the exit. “We’ve been waiting forever.”

“I’m so sorry for you three poor, tired souls,” Ash mockingly apologised, making Shauna burst into fits of giggles. “Forever is such a long time to wait isn’t it? I’m surprised you’re even alive if you’ve waited that long.”

“Well… umm…” Trevor flashed the girls a knowledgeable smile before looking emotionlessly at his fellow males.

“Ash was being sarcastic to your hyperbole,” He explained to them with a refined manner about his tone of voice, as not to insult everyone. “You know, having a sense of humour? Joking about the exaggerated?”

“The what…?” Tierno raised an eyebrow, not entirely understanding what was going on.

“I see, well played M’lady,” Calem clapped at his neighbour’s witty comeback and smiled graciously. “Well played indeed.”

“So, with that forest out of the way,” Shauna returned to conversation to the point at hand, one only she and Calem knew anything about. “What did you want to see us all for, Calem?”

“I have something to give everyone that will help them on their journeys,” He replied, pulling out four books from his bag, all of which looked exactly the same with their brown covers and golden writing on the fronts. “These are just some Adventure Rules which I comprised with my parents to help you out if you need them. Just take them even if you don’t.” Each person took one and either held them in their hands or placed them in their bags for safe keeping. “Santalune is just down this hill, there you can battle the Gym to show your strength as a trainer,” Calem turned to Ash with a smile. “I’m assuming that’s what you’re going to be doing, A-Chan.”

He faltered as the trainer in question shook her head. “I’m planning on catching another teammate first; Froakie and Pidgey need help in the future, even if the new Pokémon isn’t going to be a fighter in the Gym.” She moved past them, turning around only to wave goodbye. “See ya Shaunie! I’ll meet with you at Lumiose after my Gym battle!”

“See ya, A-Chan!” Shauna waved back, smiling happily. “I’ll make sure these guys behave themselves whilst you’re gone!” She watched as her new bestie left before noticing the guys’ expression and chortling. “Ash needs some time alone and away from you three. As a fellow girl, I can understand how she may be feeling, guys are just clueless.”

“Aww, I wanted to tell her about my dream dance team.” Tierno sulked, bottom lipping it as his shoulders slackened and he hunched over.

“It’s okay; you can do that another time.” Trevor tried to reassure him, but it didn’t seem to be working all that well as he sunk further into a self-depressed state.

“Ash really is something.” Calem muttered out loud, causing the others to look at him sceptically.

“Well no shit Sherlock.” Shauna sighed, shaking her head from side to side. “We all know that, idiot.”

“No, I mean she’s a mystery,” He replied, noting the confused expressions that were waiting for him to judge. “For a beginner, she knows things only experts can. She reacts differently than she should do in certain situations. Have any of you noticed anything else weird?”

“Apart from her fear of Pikachu, nothing of interest.” The only female answered his question with a raised eyebrow.

“Fear of Pikachu?” Trevor inquired; Tierno also looking interested having finally finished sulking.

“She freaked out and ran away when we met one in Santalune Forest.” Shauna explained, staring down at the ground in sadness. “It must have been something really traumatic to have her want warmth and comfort like a hug in the middle of a bug filled maze.”

“Pikachu are very rare, aren’t they?” Tierno asked, with the others agreeing with him through a nod. “Then how could she have met one to gain a fear?”

“She’s from Kanto, remember? Kanto is the region of origin for Pikachu meaning that they are more common over there than in places like Kalos.” Calem replied, striking a thoughtful pose with one hand clutching his chin gently. “Maybe something happened in her childhood to cause it. She could have lived near Viridian Forest, where you can find Pikachu easily.”

“Maybe, poor A-Chan…” Shauna began eyeing the boys up with a death glare. “If any of you have a Pikachu on your teams, speak up now and I will save you from a battering.”

Trevor shakily raised his hand. “I have one but I plan on finding a Thunderstone and evolving it as soon as possible.”

“Good, and if you dare release that thing near her, I will not stop until you’re six feet under…” Tierno, Trevor and Calem shivered at the cold air that suddenly fell on the group, which cleared seconds later as Shauna regained her cheery persona. “Great! Now we have that settled we can…”

A loud scream, followed by an explosion interrupted her, dust flying around Route 2 as fire began to rage as a result of the explosion. The four covered their faces to protect themselves from the debris only to quickly uncover them as they realised they had heard that voice before, multiple times.

Shauna ran to the edge of the hill, eyes widening at the carnage below them. A vehicle lay on its side on fire, which was quickly spreading to the grass much to the dismay of a trainer and their Panpour who were trying to put it out with the help of the wild Marill. The smoke had mostly cleared but what was noticeably visible, even through the smoke, was a trial of blood that lead deeper into the route. Putting two and two together, Shauna immediately paled.

“A-CHAN!” She cried out, hoping her friend could hear her. “A-CHAN!!!” However, there was no reply. Nobody answered, nobody came forwards.

“ASH!” Calem joined in, looking extremely worried to the point of shaking. Tierno and Trevor gave each other shaky glances, trembling at the fought of what had just happened down there. With no response, they had no idea if their friend was okay, or even alive. That afternoon, one more worried cry rose up, piercing the sky with its shrillness and emotion as tears followed shortly after.

“A-CHAAANNN!”

 

[Mia Blaze]

Fighting for Aura

Every inch of her body hurt, her vision blurred as she slowly winced her eyes open, millimetre by millimetre. A distinctive smell of blood filled her nostrils, making her gag slightly from the metallic stench that refused to fade away in the air. As she began to regain her senses, she began to become distinctively aware of another being standing over her prone form. Since movement seemed to be out of the question and her vision was blurry, there was no way of identifying them at that moment in time. That was, until, something unusual happened.

The world around her turned black, but she hadn’t fallen back into unconsciousness. Instead, the entire world had a blue outline to everything, she could see what was around her and her attention was instantly drawn to the being beside her with a large, rippling outline. Pulling herself out of the state of vision, she realised her sight had cleared up properly now as she could clearly see the worried face of the Pokémon standing over her.

It was bipedal, almost human shaped to a degree, covered from head to knees in blue fur however its torso and legs had black fur. A blue tail started to wag at the signs of her awakening, its paws clapping together revealing the white pads on the back of its hands. A black mask surrounded its crimson irises, matching the teardrop shaped appendages attached to its head below its pointy ears. Around its neck was a yellow collar, it was a Riolu.

The Riolu began yapping excitedly, making her headache worse than before. It noticed the change of emotion in her aura and stopped, looking at her worriedly at the burns littering her arms and legs.

“I’ll… be… okay…” She grunted her words out forcefully, cringing in pain with each and every movement she made.

“You don’t look okay, Lady… Are you sure?” A childlike, male voice filled her mind as she gasped at the fighting type. True, she had heard Pokémon use telepathy, hell; a Lucario even used it through its aura but, this Riolu having the same power? That seemed highly unlikely unless it had something to do with that wacky vision status from earlier.

“You can… I mean,” She coughed a little, possibly from carbon dioxide but she couldn’t really be sure. “I’ll be fine… I’ve died before and I’m still alive, aren’t I?” A chuckle managed to escape her lips as she lay there, to be honest she wasn’t too sure that was the case.

“I’m sorry Lady,” Riolu apologised, looking down at the floor guiltily. “I caused that explosion that hurt you and sent you flying. I just brought you to this area to get you away from the bad guys…”

“Bad… guys? Let me guess, the people driving that truck had… kidnapped you?” Memories of a certain Aura Sphere using Riolu flashed through her mind at that moment.

“That’s right! Lady is also smart as well as pretty!” Riolu’s innocent smile just seemed to melt her heart, he was adorable. “So… what is your name?”

“Ash… it’s Ash,” She noticed his raised eyebrow and sighed. “Look, I didn’t name myself, Okay?! Blame my mother… urgh…” In that slight outburst, she had managed to make her situation worse for herself.

“You’re still hurt! I’ll get some berries!” Riolu exclaimed in worry as he turned to run; only looking backwards at the human before he disappeared into the foliage. “Just stay there!”

“It’s not like I can really go anywhere…” Ash muttered to herself, groaning from the pain that rushed up her arms from moving them by an inch. Sure, lying on the ground whilst being slightly curled up wasn’t the most comfy of positions to be in but, right now, it was the only one she could stay in without being in total agony. It made her wonder about what she had hit to cause such damage. Even being flung full force into a tree had never felt this bad before; a rock, maybe, but there weren’t any around for miles.

It took a long while, but soon Riolu had returned with lots of berries, each of them different with their own unique purposes. He gently put them down beside her, still looking extremely concerned.

“I have some stuff for those burns, and some to give you back some energy so you could maybe move somehow,” He spoke, picking up a Rawst Berry before holding it up to her mouth so she could easily take a bite without hurting herself further. “Here, it should help.”

“Thanks.” A single mouthful was enough to reduce the burning sensation to a pin prick at the best of times; the markings on her body shrank in size. They didn’t completely vanish but at least now it didn’t look like she had taken a Blast Burn head on.

“And to boost energy, plus reduce pain…” Riolu repeated the process with an Oran Berry, only this time it was easier for Ash to eat it due to the lack of burning across her body. The instant the berry slid down her throat, the ache in her limbs began to ebb slowly away as she started to move them, cursing from the pins and needles she now possessed. “How do you feel now?”

“A lot better, thanks,” Ash replied, pushing herself up into a sitting position, legs outstretched to get the blood following to them. She realised that Riolu hadn’t left yet, even though he had practically finished with his job. “So what are you gonna do now?”

“Go home,” Riolu answered cheerily, eyes closed and mouth opened into a large grin. “After I make sure you head to a Pokémon Center right away!”

“I don’t need to be babied, I can get there myself,” The fourteen year old crossed her arms and pouted childishly, which made the fighting type stifle a laugh behind his paws. “Just you watch, I can easily get there myself.” She stood up to prove a point, only to have to hold onto a nearby tree as a wave of dizziness rushed through her mind. “Ooo… and I need to remember to never stand up that quickly however…”

“Are you sure?” He turned to the dirt covered path that lead to Santalune with a concerned look. “It shouldn’t take too long to get there but you are still hurt…”

“I’ve dealt with worse than a couple of scratches and burns,” Ash replied honestly. “Thank you for worrying but I should be fine.”

Riolu hesitated for a moment, but the unwavering expression on the trainer’s face reassured him that finding home was the top of his list at that moment. “Okay, I believe you,” He smiled one last time before turning to leave “I’ll see you around Ms Ash! Stop by if you have the chance, I live near Santalune in Route22!” With that, Riolu dashed off in the direction of the aforementioned route, avoiding the human path as much as possible. As she watched him leave, Ash couldn’t shake off a sense of foreboding danger up ahead, not for her but for that kind Riolu that had helped her even though her injuries were partially due to his escape, and then another thought it her mind. What about that people that abducted him in the first place? Were they still alive and were they still after him. In a split second, her mind was made up. She raced after Riolu, realising the danger he was about to place himself in thanks to her insistence.


“Shauna, it’s been two hours. You need to get some rest.” The brunette ignored Calem’s words, staring down the Pokémon Center doors with a passion, a determination to not leave her space no matter what happened.

“No, not until Ash walks through them alive, or her body is dragged in dead.” She replied stoically which, in turn, sent shivers up the males’ spines.

“But, we don’t know what happened yet,” Trevor gently placed a hand on her shoulder, shivering as he did so out of fear of how Shauna could react. “The police are searching for her as we speak.”

Shauna batted his hand away, using her own to prop up her head from her chin. “They are useless. If anything, it’ll be Ash who finds us first, not the police finding her. Route 2 is long and wild, there are thousands of acres of woodland to search,” She sighed harshly but her resolve never faltered for one second. “But I have a feeling she’s alive and out there somewhere. And until I know if she’s okay, I am not moving from this spot and nothing that any of you say or do will stop me.”

The trio of males gave each other worried glances. True, Ash and Shauna seemed to have bonded together really well over the past two days but still, even though the former was missing, the latter shouldn’t have been reacting like this, not this early on into their friendship. Did something happen in Santalune Forest that Shauna hadn’t told them about?

“Is she alright?” They turned as a woman approached them, her cerulean blue eyes glowed with concern. Her pink hair was tied up in two side loops that disappeared under her white hat with a Poké Ball like symbol on the front. White tights were worn under a pink dress with a white collar and a sleeveless white apron that had a badge, with a sandy green outside with a white middle, pinned to it. Her feet, covered by pale pink and white shoes with a strap to keep them on, moved nervously whilst she stood in place.

“Shauna will be okay,” Calem answered politely, knowing that the woman’s intentions of speaking to them were completely out of the concern for the petite trainer that was staring at the entrance doors intensely. “Thank you for worrying Nurse Joy.”

“It’s my job to be concerned about the wellbeing and health of both trainer and Pokémon,” Joy said with a gentle smile which instantly faded away when she laid her eyes on Shauna once more. “If Jenny calls me about your missing friend, I’ll let you all know as soon as possible.”

“Thanks once again.” Tierno spoke for the first time in ages, having been hit hard with the reality the world had. He was raised in relative safety and comfort, not knowing about the dangers the world held underneath its sugar coated imagery. He was worried, heck, they all were but never before had he seen something like that. The rising smoke, the burning vehicle, the trail of blood that was tested to be Ash’s. It shook him up, made him realise he had to be stronger to prevent things like this happening. He may have just been one trainer, but one could always make the difference between life and death. A shiver ran down his spine as thunder clouds began rolling in, signalling something brewing up ahead.

Whatever it was couldn’t have been good.


Ash panted as she ran, eyes darting left to right in search of the Riolu that had saved her life. If the kidnappers were still searching like she believed, then they already could have caught up with the fighting type, he already could be…

NO!

She felt something deep inside telling her this was not the case, she was close and she could feel it somehow. Every step, every time her feet pounded against the mud made path, she could feel as if she was getting closer yet closer still to Riolu. A feeling that reminded her of back in Sinnoh with that Aura Sphere using Riolu she had encountered. Thinking about it, the two situations felt slightly similar in the fact both Pokémon were Riolu and they were both abducted from their original homes.

Ash pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind as voices suddenly began to float into her ears, they were human and they sounded crooked even from afar. As she got closer, her eyes latched onto a scene of which she felt as if she could have easily predicted. Riolu was there, the same one from before, and he was surrounded by two men dressed in orange with sunglasses covering their eyes.

For a second she froze.

Team Flare

Memories of Lysandre, the Mega Evolution energy trying to control her, the end of her world came flooding back, causing pain of which she refused to give into. She forced the memories away for now, knowing that saving Riolu was her main priority at that moment in time.

“Leave me alone!” Riolu cried, unable to back away from the humans who had trapped him.

“Aw look, it’s scared.” One of the men chuckled before smirking at the fighting type evilly. “A Pokémon like you would be prefect under the control of the fabulous Team Flare.”

“And it’s not like we’re going giving you a choice in the matter either,” The other added, throwing a Poké Ball up into the air and catching it again multiple times with one hand. “You will be a part of our team.” With that, he threw the device towards Riolu, who had nowhere to run. The fighting type just closed his eyes and crossed his arms above his head in a form of failing defence as it came closer and closer…

But it never hit.

He opened his eyes to see a person holding the Poké Ball in their hands with a snarky grin on their face and he immediately knew who it was. “Didn’t your mother tell you it was impolite to throw one of these at a defenceless creature?”

“Ms Ash!” He cried with happiness, grateful that the trainer had decided to return the favour and save him from the likes of these horrendous minions.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” One of the grunts snarled.

“Your worst nightmare.” She replied, punching him in the face before turning into a kick that hit him in the stomach, sending him flying into a tree which rendered the Flare minion unconscious. Only his cohort remained.

“You can’t stop us! That Riolu will join under the name of Team Flare!” The remaining grunt was shivering, scared to death of the teenager that was glaring down at him, even though he was taller than she was. “Houndour, Kill her!” He released the black and red dark type, that growled with anger at its opponent.

Ash scowled, before pulling a Poké Ball out from out of her skirt pocket. “Froakie, Kimi ni Kimete!” It had been a while since she had said those words, which was funny as it was confusing as hell for her opponents. She was glad that she grew up in the past world as one of the rare Kantonese speakers, learning the international language which was called English along the way. Of course, that said international language originated from the Angloeic Region which was near Kalos, but she had never been there before. Maybe for shits and giggles she would visit the region and make everyone look at her as she spoke Kantonese and make them really mad. However, now was not the time to think about angering people, it was the time to fight.

As Froakie appeared, he instantly assessed the situation. A Riolu was hiding behind his badly beaten and bruised trainer’s legs whilst a man was unconscious under a tree and he was fighting a Houndour belonging to a Team Flare grunt. What the hell had happened since Ash returned him in Santalune Forest? That was quickly overturned due to the fact that Team Flare was the opposition. Froakie despised them, more than ever after the last memories of their past universe that had died thanks to Lysandre’s selfish goals. He would save questions about Ash’s injuries for later, he had a dog to destroy.

“Houndour, Smog!” The Flare grunt commanded, planning on poisoning both trainer and Pokémon before leaving them to die.

“Dodge, then Double Team into Bubble!” Ash didn’t want to take any chances and jumped out of the way of the purple cloud the same time her partner did. Instantly, the water type made identical copies of itself, all of which blew a stream of bubbles towards the fire type, landing a super effective and critical hit.

“You don’t know who you are dealing with!” The grunt yelled at her, Houndour only managing to stay standing on its last legs even after one attack. The air around them turned cold as a thunder storm began to role in, the sky darkening as jet black clouds obscured the light from above, even on a cloudy day like that day was. As he turned from the sky to his opponent, he gasped to see her eyes glowing a crimson red, just like her Froakie’s were.

“Oh… do I now?” Her words were slow and harshly punctuated, she make her stance more balanced by spreading out her feet, her starter mirroring her every move. “I know exactly who I’m dealing with!” A bolt of lightning crackled across the sky in the distance, the wind picking up in speed and ferocity almost as if it was matching their mood. “However, it should be you who is questioning who you are dealing with…”

Ash could feel it, the same connection from the bond phenomenon of the other universe was resonating between them for some reason, even though Froakie wasn’t a Greninja yet. The harsh winds whipped her face, sending her hair flying everywhere yet she couldn’t feel it at all, all she could focus on was the growing ties between herself and Froakie.

The water type turned back to face her, which in return made her nod. Ash could feel them synchronising, their heartbeats, their thoughts, their feelings, she was really becoming one with Froakie. So much so that she didn’t even notice the glow that was surrounding them both

“Motto motto tsuyoku! Ikouze!” She roared, watching as, from inside the glow, Froakie was changing and growing into the familiar shape of a Greninja, when the glow died down, only then did she realise that was the case. The Bonnie dubbed Ash-Greninja was standing in front of her, with the only differences being the now pink marks of her hat where there were red, the lack of lightning bolt marks and the now cream markings that matched her shirt’s collar. Other than that, everything was the same.

Riolu stared in awe whilst the grunt and his Houndour cowered in fear. None of them had seen anything like it, nor would they ever again in the future. After all, Bond Phenomenon never existed in this world, until now that was. They watched as trainer and Pokémon moved in sync, both of them reaching for their backs with only Greninja grasping a real object, Ash mimicking his actions.

“WATER SHURIKEN!” She yelled as the two threw their arms forwards, Greninja releasing the massive back shuriken which flew towards the Houndour, knocking it back yelping into its trainer upon impact. Both of the opponents, human and Pokémon were unconscious in the aftermath with Ash and Greninja just staring for a moment as the storm overhead disappeared. A water veil surrounded Greninja as the two of them collapsed to the floor, reverting the Pokémon back into its original pre-evolved form.

Ash looked as Froakie as she gasped for air from exhaustion. Did… did Froakie just temporarily evolve to make the form they had already mastered in another life? Was that even possible? Either way, as soon as she could, she picked herself up and ran over to her starter, picking him up in her arms whilst smiling down at him.

“You were amazing Froakie,” She grinned, Froakie looking up tiredly at her with a smile on his face as well. “Take a nice long rest.” She pulled out his Poké Ball and returned him, standing still for a moment as she caught her breath. If that form could return now and still be that powerful, what would it be like when Froakie had officially fully evolved? A clap from behind made her turn to face Riolu, whose eyes were sparkling in excitement.

“That was amazing! How did you even do that?” The fighting type inquired, rushing up to her energetically. “I know you’re Aura Sensitive but that was nothing to do with it…”

“Woah, woah. Hold up a second,” Ash looked at him questioningly. “Aura Sensitive?”

“Duh. How else would you be able to hear me?” Riolu stared at her as if she had gone insane. “As a Riolu, I’m not strong enough to broadcast to everyone that I meet. I can only communicate with fellow aura users/Aura Sensitives.”

“That explains the photo negative lights earlier…” She muttered with a sweat drop. Great, that power had followed her here to this universe as well. She was going to get into so much trouble with it. Noticing Riolu’s confused expression, she shook her head and smiled. “That, Riolu, was a little secret of mine. You must not tell anyone, okay?”

“I won’t have to,” He replied with a proud voice before looking at her with an adorable, yet pleading face. “Because I want to go with you!”

“Wait… what?”

“I’ve actually been looking for a trainer, a strong one who can make me into a powerful Lucario someday,” Riolu began tracing circles in the ground in the ground with his foot, only glancing up when he noticed the realisation growing in her aura. “Lucario evolve with friendship, and I want to be friends with my trainer who can understand me and treat me like an actual living being and not a tool or weapon like those guys.” To make his point, he looked back at the two unconscious Flare grunts who were still not back in the world of the living. “Please Ms Ash! Let me be on your team! I will train really hard and…”

“Okay, okay!” The teenager laughed and waved her hands in a sign of acknowledgement. “I get it. I understand and of course you can join us, I only have two Pokémon on me as of now.”

“So, you mean it? You really mean it?!” Riolu’s enthusiasm made Ash chuckle to herself before she responded with a nod.

“I’m not the type to lift people’s hopes up with false promises.” She answered, smiling proudly at the blue furred Pokémon. From her bag, she pulled out an empty Poké Ball and held it in front of him. “This is your last chance; do you really want to go with me?”

He didn’t even answer; he simply taped the white sphere and was sucked in. It shook three times before dinging to signal that the capture was complete. She pulled out her Pokédex and aimed it at her newest team members Poké Ball.

Riolu LV 9
Gender: Male
Ability: Inner Focus
Moves: Foresight, Quick Attack, Endure, Counter. Blaze Kick and Sky Uppercut are unlocked egg moves.

Ash didn’t say anything, the exhaustion of the day’s events finally having caught up with her. She put the sphere in her pocket and looked on ahead, the distant lights of Santalune shining to show her she wasn’t too far from her goal and that she would be in a nice, snug bed by the end of the night. Without a word, she dragged her feet down the path towards Santalune, with only one thought running through her mind as she did so.


It was getting late, not that Shauna cared one bit about the time. Although she wasn’t watching the door like a hawk, she was still at the curved seating area, listening out for the opening of those automatic doors. The others had booked rooms for the night, going upstairs to try and get some sleep for a search party in the morning. Due to the sudden thunder storm, the police search had been called off for the day but Jenny had asked that the station was called if anyone found any leads or if the trainer in question appeared herself. Even Nurse Joy had gone into the room behind her counter for forty winks, since no trainers had appeared since earlier in the evening.

Shauna yawned violently, not bothering to put a hand to her mouth due to the lack of company. True, she was tired, but she wasn’t going to move until Ash appeared in some way, shape or form. True, it had only been a day or two since they had met but she cared about the other female trainer, the bonds formed between them in Santalune Forest could stand testament to that. The others didn’t know Ash like she did; they hadn’t seen her cry or be scared. They hadn’t been given a nickname by her, minus the C-Dawg both girls promised to use when in a mood to annoy Calem.

Her eyes began to shut against her will, she fought to keep them open but they wouldn’t listen, until she smacked herself on the face. “NO! Don’t fall asleep,” She told herself harshly, smacking the other side just to make sure her mind got the picture. “You can’t until you know A-Chan is okay!” In the back of her mind, a sneering voice jeered at her hope, telling her what if she wasn’t okay? What if she was dead? Doubt began to settle in, edging away at the determination that was slowly wasting away. What if… what if…?

The sudden sound of automatic doors opening made her look up and over at the doorway, a small gasp followed by tears of joy was the result of the person who entered. Although she looked extremely tired and was covered in small burns, bruises and scars; Ash was standing there very much alive.

“A-CHAN!!” Shauna cried out, jumping out of her seat and hugging her best friend with all of her might, surprising the fellow teenager with her actions.

“Shaunie? What are you doing here?” Ash began to ask until a sudden realisation hit her. “You… you saw the explosion… didn’t you?”

“Of course I did!” The brunette sniffled, trying to hold back her tears but was failing drastically. “We all did! We heard your scream, and the fire… and the blood… oh, A-Chan! I’m so glad you’re okay!”

“It would have been worse if it weren’t for this guy,” Ash pulled out Riolu’s Poké Ball with a tired grin on her face. “He saved my life and… I guess I saved his in return.”

“A new teammate? What is he?” Shauna inquired curiously.

“He’s a Riolu,” Was her immediate reply before the two released each other from their hug. “He and Froakie need to have a check-up.”

“A Riolu huh?” Another voice spoke up, causing the girls to jump and turn around. “They’re pretty rare and their evolved form Lucario are quite strong. You scored lucky with that capture, Milady.” Calem was standing in the hallway, decked out in pale blue pyjamas, looking extremely relieved at a certain someone’s appearance.

“I scored lucky that he saved my life,” Ash replied sternly, folding her arms over her chest before smiling with a slight sigh. “But seriously, C-Dawg? Baby blue? I thought you had grown up by now… I guess not.” Shauna sniggered whilst Calem rolled his eyes; he really wasn’t one for arguments especially when it was a childish one.

“A-Chan!” One minute she was laughing with Shauna, the next Ash was being strangled by a large force that had lifted her off her feet into a bone crushing hug. “My A-Chan is okay!”

“Tierno, you’re killing her,” Trevor said quietly as he followed his friend into the seating area, but he spoke loud enough to be heard which made Tierno let go as the ravenette gasped for precious air. “I’m so glad you’re alright. What happened?”

“A… lot…” Ash replied between wheezes, actually really glad to see everyone around her. “Look, I’m really tired and…”

“What’s going on out here?” Nurse Joy yawned as she came out from the room behind the counter, only to look surprised at the sudden guest. “Oh, I’m assuming you must be Ash. I’m so glad you’re alright. Everyone has been worried sick about you.”

“I am sorry that I caused such a fuss,” The fourteen year old apologised with a half bow before walking over to the head of the Pokémon Center. “I hate to be rude but can you look at two of my Pokémon, please?”

“Of course, it is my job,” Joy replied with her usual happy smile. “But first I need to call Officer Jenny up. If you leave your Pokémon with me I’ll have them healed and fully energised by the morning, okay?”

“Sure,” Ash pulled out her three Poké Balls from her pocket and handed them over to the nurse. “Can I also have a room for the night?”

“No need for that!” Shauna butted in, grinning enthusiastically at her friend and Joy. “I booked a room with two single beds, just in case you turned up! The boys are sharing a room as well; it’ll be like a proper sleepover!”

“Great, thanks Shaunie!” Now she felt more relaxed than ever, finally in the comfort of a warm building with no aches or pains with a bed promised for her to sleep on. And tomorrow? Why, her Gym Battle of course!


Simon looked worriedly at his co-worker as the two of them were being grilled by their superior and their boss.

“What do you mean you didn’t capture it?!” The orange haired female yelled with gritted teeth. Her red gloves grasping at the sleeves of her similarly coloured, tutu like dress. The right leg, covered from the knee down with orange stockings and red boots with large soles, was crossed over the left one as she leaned against the desk angrily. “That was the first Riolu seen in Route 22 in yonks and you failed?!”

“Well, yeah…” Stuart gulped, shivering in his shiny black shoes as he spoke. “Firstly the thing broke out of the truck and Killed Jan, and then some trainer had to come along and save it, knocking us out in the process!”

“Trainer?” Aliana growled, her grip on her sleeves tightening with each passing second. “Around there the trainers are weak! How can a measly trainer beat you two?!”

“She didn’t actually beat Stuart…” Simon answered, giving his partner a look of dissatisfaction. “She punched him and then kicked him into a tree, knocking him out. It was me she beat. Her Froakie knocked out my Houndour.”

“A Froakie,” The Scientist’s anger was building with each excuse she was being given, her boss not saying a word, sat behind the desk she was leaning on. “A starter beat your Houndour?! Houndour is level twenty, that thing couldn’t be higher than level ten if it was still a Froakie!”

“But, you don’t get it!” Simon cried, shivering from recollection of the fight. “It fully evolved and changed form during the battle and knocked Houndour out!” This piqued the superiors’ interest.

“Fully evolved into a Greninja… and changed form?” The Pyroar mane haired man finally spoke, the sleeves of his black jacket with a white fur collar rested on his desk as he held his head up with his hands, elbows propping him upright. “What do you mean by that?”

“The Greninja looked like the trainer!” The grunt answered, realising he may not get as harsher punishment as he had originally imagined. “Black hair, pink hat, white collar and all! It also had a large water shuriken on its back! The two moved as if they were one!”

“You are dismissed,” Their boss said suddenly, surprising Aliana who was about to punish them for their incompetence. “Aliana will figure out the best way to deal with you two later.” Immediately, the two ran out of the office, glad to have made it out of there alive, for now.

“Do you really believe them, Lysandre?” Aliana asked sceptically. “I mean, how could something like that happen?”

“Oh it has before,” He smirked, turning to her with an emotionless expression. “I need some alone time right now.”

“Alright,” She got up from leaning on the desk and saluted him. “I will be at the Power Plant if you need me.” Lysandre nodded and watched as she left the room. A few minutes later, he turned around on his chair to face the large window that was behind his desk.


“Father! Father!” Arceus was shocked to hear Xerneas’ shouts of urgency as she burst into his private room, panting due to the speed of which she had rushed over.

“Child,” He began, worried about her sudden need to see him. “What seems to be the matter?”

“Some… some more souls escaped the Void…” She took deep breaths between broken sentences. “Ash and Greninja aren’t alone!”

“WHAT?!” The loud roar told Xerneas that her father was as shocked as she was when she had found out. “Explain!”

“Instead of two missing souls, the Void was missing five souls! Two human and three Pokémon!” She explained quickly to Arceus’ demanding tone. Arceus felt a sense of dread wash over his body, realising that this could mean trouble for the chosen duo. “I’m sorry father; they must have escaped when I wasn’t looking. It’s all my fault.”

“What is done is done,” The creator of the multiverse replied, trying to calm one of the Alpha legendries down before anything else happened. “But tell me; are the three other missing souls on the side of the chosen duo?”

“I have no idea, father.” Xerneas looked down at the floor with overwhelming guilt.

“So, we will just have to see then.” He muttered; looking down into the GX Universe’s viewing pool, smiling as he saw the chosen human smile, then laugh at something her new friend had told her on the way to their room in the Pokémon Center. He turned away, noticing the pure fairy type’s trembling with worry. “My Child, what are you worrying about?”

“The other human soul,” She answered, focusing her gaze anywhere but her father’s eyes. “I am sure of it, they are evil. The soul, it must be him.”

“The one planning to end everything?”

“Yes, the one who will bring destruction not only to the AO Universe but to the GX Universe as well if left alone.”

“We must prepare for this,” Arceus turned to Xerneas with a knowledgeable expression. “Head down to the GX Universe and help them as much as you can, we do not have much time.”

“Of course, father.” With that, she left Arceus’ private viewing room, determined to fulfil her mission and save a universe from the same destruction that another one faced before it. Arceus looked out towards the wall in front of his viewing pool, sighing in slight frustration over the entire event. Even though one evil soul had escaped, he had a feeling the two Pokémon ones would be of great help in the future, one more sooner than the other. Being the almighty creator of space, time and matter, Arceus knew that he could trust his gut feeling as some kind of clairvoyance. It mattered not why he felt it but if he felt it, like he could now, that was when it made all the difference.

“Good luck, my chosen.”


“So I wasn’t the only one who made it here, hmm?” His Pyroar slinked over from his space on a rug nearby, having enjoyed listening to Aliana’s anger filled words moments earlier. “It seems Pyroar that Ash and Greninja have decided to join us in our new world. Too bad this one is as worse as the other.” Pyroar had no idea what his trainer was talking about, but enjoyed the stroking that his head was being given and purred into the touch.

“This time, I will control their Bond Phenomenon, and there is nothing they can do about it.”

 

[kintsugi]

HI THERE. Forewarning, I only had time to read the first chapter, and my knowledge of the XY anime amounts to what I read on Bulbapedia, so if anything I said here is just blatantly wrong, feel free to call me out on it.

Overall, I like the concept a lot. It's, well, interesting to see the bad guys win, and I think this was a good point in canon to try testing that out in.

I like your style in the first few lines! It's very action-y and caught my attention. The short sentences like "Footsteps, pounding at a fast pace. A hand reaching out for the one who had ordered the attack. Too late, it was too late" really highlight how quickly these things are happening, and it was a good way at building tension. Some of your lines are a little odd, though.

Light, lots of it…

Screaming, lots of it…

Death, lots of it…

I think that this is a little too short of a sentence. The repetition of "lots of it..." feels very weird. If there's lots of light, then there's lots of Land's Wrath, which of course implies lots of screaming and death, and overall it underscores the fact that you totally just blew up a planet here.

Quick notes on dialogue:

“Finally, I have the power I need,” A voice

Punctuating dialogue is a total pain. Sorry. But this 'A' shouldn't be capitalized, because it's part of the sentence--my rule of thumb is that you wouldn't have a sentence with a comma, And then capitalize the letter in the middle.

“Finally, I have the power I need,” a voice

yaaaay

quadrupled

"quadrupled" means multiplied by four. I think the word you're looking for is "quadruped", which means four legs.

I like your portrayal of the legendary pantheon! They all have cool characters, and their reactions to watching the world blow up was... interesting, I guess. It's kinda weird that these all-powerful creatures are watching things that they say they care about die without really caring. Why would they need to hinge their hopes on GX when they could've just stopped this universe from imploding in the first place? From what I remember, Lysandre's rise to power was a looooong way coming, and when your team is the Pokemon that created all Pokemon, the Pokemon that created the world, and the Pokemon that has power over all life, it seems silly to have them twiddling their thumbs in the face of one dude and his Zygarde.

Anyway! There's a lot of description in the rest of the chapter--maybe a little bit too much. Lots of focus on clothing and who's wearing what color bow, and as a result it was hard to keep track of the plot through that. Just something to keep in mind: what someone is wearing is almost always less important than what they're doing.

Overall, the second half starts dragging a lot in the middle. I think it's because of how action-packed your first half was: there's a world exploding and boom all these legendaries are around, and it's hard to go from that to Ash waking up and talking to people in the same chapter. This chapter was already pretty long to begin with, so it might be best to condense some stuff or split it up.

 

[Mia Blaze]

Thanks for reviewing kintsugi! I don't get much feedback so what I do get really helps.

My first chapter was not my best, I'll admit that. I should have split it up into two and I will work on the dialogue as suggested in future chapters. I'm glad you like the concept and yes, the legendaries do seem to do nothing but that will be explained, there is a reason as to why none of them were trying to stop Lysandre and it may be a future story arc.

As for descriptions, I am really over descriptive and will be toning it down in the future, I promise.

Thanks for the constructive criticism and thanks for reviewing, and I've said that twice now, sorry.

 

[Mia Blaze]

It's been ages since I last updated and that's due to a little something called Author's Block... stupid thing. However, before we begin, I'd like to clarify something first.

Ash will not be using Aura in this story. It's mentioned she has the ability too but won't use it as I really don't want this story to turn out that way. Aura sensitive beings aren't totally uncommon in this universe, one in a thousand are, and you can tell as they either have a member of the Togekiss, Mienshao, Lucario or any other Aura Sphere learning line in their team. Sure, Riolu is overused but Lucario's Mega Evolution and the Mega Ring/becoming a Successor is part of a future plot.

With that over with, hope you enjoy!

Fantastic Flashes

The next day was greeted with an overcast of clouds, but as long as it wasn’t raining then going outside to train early would still go on ahead. After all, the newest member of the team needed to be brought up to speed on the expectations needed of him. At first, Riolu was extremely excited and totally energetic but, a few hours later; he wanted to head right back into bed. For now, his trainer was happy knowing that he was now at the same level as the others were, and that all of them were around level 16 now. Next thing to do would be to challenge the Gym Leader.

Not all that surprisingly, the others had wanted to view this battle; Shauna personally wanted to escort her friend to the Gym, still worried about her condition from the day before hand. Although Nurse Joy had officially released Ash from medical care, the brunette had a feeling that her friend would push herself too much in the battle against Viola later on.

“Look, A-Chan,” she gulped as she feared the outburst that may follow from the hot headed trainer beside her. “You can’t do this, Nurse Joy said to rest for a while!”

“Shaunie, I know my own recovery rate better than Joy does,” Ash sighed, tilting her head upwards to the cloudy sky to gaze upon it. “It took me less time to recover from dying…” Of course she had said that last part quietly but Shauna still heard something.

“What was that?”

“I said nothing!” With that, Ash began running through the streets, ignoring Shauna’s shouts of worry from behind her as she and Froakie headed deeper into Santalune. Her thoughts turned to yesterday and the encounter with the Flare grunts. She hadn’t killed them, meaning they may have blabbered to their higher ups. Ash cursed herself silently in the revelation that she had stupidly gained the attention of the people she wanted to stay away from. Although, if she was careful, she could possibly stay away from them, avoid the organisation she was sent here to take down, that was until it was utterly necessary for her to do so.

Quickly, she shook the thoughts from out of her mind. Today was her first gym battle since her rebirth and she was going to destroy Viola. Of course, this universe’s Viola may have a different strategy type to the one she battled but the same principles applied. Ash bet that her two Pokémon would be Surskit and Vivillon; her gut had told her so and practically everyone went with their gut feeling. Luckily enough, Santalune City looked exactly the same as the one from her past life, meaning she instantly found the Gym by retracing the path from the Pokémon Center there.

What she wasn’t accounting for, however, was a girl in roller-skates blocking her way.

“You wanna challenge the Gym, huh?” The girl grinned, pulling a compressed Poké Ball out from her right short pocket. “If you’re strong enough to defeat me, then you’ll be okay against Miss Viola!”

“Sure,” Ash returned the gesture, throwing Riolu’s Poké Ball up in the air gently before catching it one handed each time. “Ready when you are.”

Shauna appeared on the scene as the roller skater had released her Zigzagoon; Riolu having already been let out and already had positioned himself defensively.

“Zigzagoon, Tackle!!” She commanded loudly as her normal type followed her orders, rushing from the left to the right up to the fighting type.

“Riolu, get ready to Counter!” Thanks to the phrasing of her sentence, everyone except Ash and Riolu thought they were going to use another move to block the Tackle attack, not for Riolu to tank it like a boss and to deliver a fist of fighting type fury right back into Zigzagoon’s face.

It was easy to say that hurt…

… A lot.

Zigzagoon was flying through the air until it hit one of the Gym’s statues with a loud thud; the swirls in its eyes instantly told the battlers that it was in no fit state to continue fighting.

“Let me take back what I said,” the girl chuckled nervously after she had recalled her Zigzagoon back into the safety of its Poké Ball. “I think Miss Viola is gonna have to be careful around you, even if you do use your Riolu.”

“Sorry about the overkill,” Ash apologised, glancing nervously at her opponent. “I’ve heard a lot about the strength of the Santalune Gym and prepared in advance for it. Will you Zigzagoon be okay?”

“Yeah, Ziggy will be fine,” the roller skater replied, grinning wildly. “In fact, you’re our first defeat of the week. I’m glad someone decided to prepare beforehand. Even if you had lost I would have let you in but…” Her eyes trailed down to the feet of the victor and she gasped. “You don’t have skates? What the actual hell are you doing without them?! Tell you what, instead of money I’ll give you a pair of skates to get around in. And don’t worry about price, they cost as much as I would have paid you for winning.”

“Honestly, I can’t take them…”

“Either just the skates or the money and the skates, and I’m not taking no for an answer. As the future skating champ of Kalos, it’s on the house curtesy of Lucia!” The girl, now known to be called Lucia pulled a pair of black, detachable stakes out of her bag the same black colour as Ash’s shoes. “Just put them on and click them together at the heels once like you’re in Wizard of Oz or something to retract or extract the wheels and off you go.”

“Thank you ever so much,” immediately Ash felt guilty about the situation, stuff like it had never happened to her before really. “I only wish I had some way to repay you…”

“How about another awesome battle when we next meet, ‘kay?” Lucia smiled, closing her eyes with teeth visibly shown. Before she even got an answer, she clicked her heels and her own pair of skates were functional. “‘Kay! See ya next time!” With that, Lucia skated in the direction of the Pokémon Center, leaving the other two girls behind.

“Did she even ask you for your name, A-Chan?” Shauna inquired, frowning slightly as the tiny figure of Lucia slowly disappeared from view.

“No, the battle was too quick,” Ash crossed her arms and frowned herself. “Why would she think a one hit knockout was an awesome battle?”

The brunette shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe she was bored of winning and the loss made her strive to get stronger?”

“Shaunie… that is literally the most sensible answer you could have given me.” A chuckle escaped the ravenette’s lips. “How did I guess you were smarter than most of the guys?”

“Trevor’s the only sensible one,” Shauna smirked thinking about the idiocy of Tierno and the slight idiocy of Calem. “Girls fall head over heels for Calem but when he gets his mind set on something, he’ll ignore everything else around him… he breaks a lot of hearts that way and Tierno… he’s just creepy at times.” The two friends shared a quick chuckle together before Ash thanked Riolu and returned him to his Poké Ball.

“Alright, time to give Viola a visit.”


Walking through the doors into what seemed to be a room from any Art Deco gallery, the two girls and Froakie noted that there seemed to be nobody around. Pictures of multiple bug types, professionally captured and breath taking to look at, hung from plain white walls and, apart from that, there was nothing in there. Okay, now this was a new one for Ash. All of the Gyms she had faced in the past had simple passageways towards the battlefield with a few exceptions here and there; she remembered climbing Grant’s walls fondly, that was one of the best ways to prepare yourself for the challenger the Gym Leaders threw at you.

“So… what do we do?” Shauna began tapping lightly on the walls, trying to hear if any were hollow with secret passages behind them. “This is the Gym, right?”

“It should be,” Ash walked to the centre of the square room, trying to figure out what on earth the puzzle behind this was. “Maybe the leader is testing challengers by…” All of a sudden, there was nothing holding her up and she fell down through a shoot, screaming in shock all the way down until she landed with a bounce on some kind of ground that felt sticky to the touch. “By trying to kill them, I should have guessed with my luck.” Froakie, upside down in her lap groaned in agreement, his lunch almost regurgitating on him.

“A-Chan!” Shauna called from up above. “Are you okay?!”

“Yeah, I’m fine!” She shouted back in a reply. “There’s something down here to catch you!” There was a few minutes of silence before the two could hear a cheer and, a moment after that, felt someone land next to them whooping loudly with excitement.

“That was so cool!” Shauna was already on her feet, stumbling on the material that was keeping them from falling further. “I wanna do it again.”

“I’d rather not,” Ash muttered to herself, checking that Froakie was okay as she managed to stand up. Taking a look around, she realised they were on a giant spider’s web, quite fitting for the bug type theme, which branched out into some kind of maze. By the long observation she was getting, it seemed as if the goal was to reach the closed tent. “Are you any good with two dimensional mazes?”

The brunette nodded with a grin. “Puzzles are my specialty! Don’t worry A-Chan, even with your rubbish sense of direction; we’ll get to where we wanna go, no doubt!”

“I’ll ignore what you said about sense of direction,” as Froakie pointed at her laughing, Ash narrowed her eyes and pouted. She wasn’t that bad with directions, after all it only took her ten times of getting lost in the woods surrounding Pallet to find a suitable place to play with the wild Pokémon whilst also knowing that home wasn’t too far away. “But thanks a lot.”

Shauna lead the way as the group of three, two humans and one Pokémon, made their way around, trying to avoid the dead ends as much as possible. To be honest, it wasn’t really that hard. Water droplets made to look like dew drops showed the correct path, something Shauna had pointed out ten seconds into their journey to the tent. As the final drop fell, they were climbing up the last thread to be greeted by a woman who had exited the closed flaps with a smile of confidence on her face and a camera hanging from her neck.

“Challengers, huh? Welcome.” Viola pulled up her camera and took a few shots of the two girls and the stoic Froakie who was clinging to the taller’s shoulder comfortably. “I’m Santalune’s Gym Leader and photographer Viola. So, who’s the one going first?”

“I’m not challenging!” Shauna hastily spoke up, shaking her head sadly. “A-Chan here is. I’m still figuring out what to do yet.”

“Don’t worry about your future yet. Have a look around and think about whether it’s the right thing for you before you choose to do something with full commitment,” Viola gave the brunette a nice smile with closed eyes with a small, gentle parting of her lips. She then turned to her challenger with her confident grin returning. “Just you taking me on today? Well I’m ready when you are… umm?”

“I’m Ash, and I am ready!”


Just beyond the tent was a familiar looking battlefield. In fact, the only difference Ash could notice was the types of flowers planted around the outside. Shauna had taken her place at the side and, whilst looking over there, Ash was certain she saw the faces of Serena, Clemont, Bonnie and Alexa over there with her. It only lasted for a second before Shauna was alone again and guilt was welling up inside. It was her fault they were all dead, if only she hadn’t of let herself be captured, if only she had reached Lysandre in time.

Now was not the time to think about that, she had a battle to win. The veteran trainer side of her brain began whirring into gear, the last time she faced Viola playing again in her mind. Maybe this time her team would be different, or have a new moveset. Either way, a quick plan and changing strategies as soon as possible was going to be vital to win this.

“My camera is posed and set for the perfect snapshot,” Viola gently rested the said camera against her chest, reaching for her Poké Ball containing her first partner. “Either I’m going to picture your stunning victory or crumpling defeat. Once more, are you ready?”

“I am!” Ash answered, hand clasped around the sphere from which her first choice would come from. She knew that Riolu wouldn’t do much in this one. Fighting types weren’t that good against bug types and Vivillon was part flying as well and, as such, could cause trouble later on down the line. Sure, Pikachu would have be good to have on hand right now but she was sure that both Froakie and Pidgey could win this for the team. That and Pikachu was no longer with her on the living plane.

“This is a two on two match with no substitutions from either side,” Viola studied her challenger for any sign of shock but noted there was nothing, just unwavering determination. She could tell this battle was going to be a good one. “And, I have the choice whether or not to use more than the four move restriction that Gym Leaders may or may not follow according to the rules. Also, you get the first move. Got it?”

“Got it!”

“Alright, let’s begin!” She flung her first Poké Ball towards the centre of the field. “Surskit, close up!” The blue, four legged water skater formed, swaying gently from left to right.

“Pidgey, Kimi ni Kimete!” Immediately from being released, the normal/flying type took to the skies, taking a quick lap around the field, surveying her environment before returning to a more conventional position in front of her trainer.

“Type advantage doesn’t always mean victory.” Viola smirked, only to be surprised when a confident grin was returned her way.

“I know that! Pidgey, Sand Attack!” Pidgey dived towards the dirt covered battlefield, twisting so the clouds of dust rose up from where her wing scraped the ground. Quickly and efficiently, she had circled the Surskit, covering it in dirt, stopping it from seeing. Instead of worrying Viola immediately continued onwards.

“Surskit, stationary and spin, Ice Beam and Sticky Web barrage!” This was new and surprising, but Viola was a Gym Leader and Ash was sure she wasn’t the first person to have challenged her with a Pidgey on the team.

“Dodge!” For now, that’s all Pidgey could do until Surskit wore itself down, which would take a while due to it being a Gym Leader’s Pokémon. The flying type sharply swerved, rolled and looped over beams of ice and webs of a gooey material, seemingly doing well until one Sticky Web hit. Pidgey plummeted to the floor, trapped inside the net of goo which had stuck her in a standing position with the edges of her wings stuck to the ground as well so she couldn’t fly.

“Looks like your advantage has just lost its advantage,” Viola smirked whilst the teenagers groaned internally at her horribly phrased statement. “What are you, as the trainer, gonna do about it?” Thousands of solutions spread through her mind until one stuck. Ash remembered how a bug type move had destroyed a psychic type set up, her Hawlucha’s X-Scissor to Valerie’s Trick Room. Maybe the same thing would apply to this situation.

“Pidgey, use Gust…” Pidgey gave her a ‘Are you seriously that dumb’ expression until she shook her head. “Not on Surskit, but on yourself!” Viola raised an eyebrow only to realise what the challenger was doing when it was too late. Pidgey had managed to flap her wings enough to create a gust surrounding herself which had dried out the web, making it brittle and easy to break just by movement. With a proud cry, she broke herself out of the trap and flew back up into the air, ignoring the cracking pieces of dried Sticky Web that still clung to her feathers.

“Interesting, fantastic even,” The bug type photographer couldn’t help but applaud her opponent. “Using type effectiveness in such a manner, only experienced trainers properly know about its usefulness. I am impressed Ash, very impressed. Surskit, Water Pulse on yourself.” Surskit fired a Water Pulse upwards with a lack of force for the sphere to quickly fall back down and drench the bug, cleaning the dirt from the Sand Attack out of its eyes. Now the playing field was even again. “Now, spinning Signal Beam!”

Before the opposition could react, Surskit spun quickly in circles, using Signal Beam to stir up the dust once again but, this time; it was the Gym Leader who was in control of the cover. Soon enough, the water/bug type was hidden from view. “Be careful Pidgey,” Ash warned, staring at the cover of dust and dirt intently. “Use your speed to confuse them!”

“Oh no you don’t!” Viola snapped her fingers together and grinned. “Ice beam!” Out of nowhere, a beam of frozen hydrogen zoomed towards the bird Pokémon, hitting her at her feet, causing Pidgey to cry out in pain and fall a few feet. However, she managed to regain her posture and return high up in the air. “How?”

“You missed the wings,” It was Ash’s turn to smirk, she knew exactly how she was going to knock the Surskit out whilst, hopefully, keeping Pidgey out of the way of its Ice Beam. “Now girl, remember from training, Gust circling, Ikouze!” Pidgey nodded and flew overhead, circling around the now revealed Surskit, thanks to the power exerted from the ice type move, and flung down powerful gusts which merged together to make a Gust tornado.

Surskit was being flung around inside, crying out in pain whilst Pidgey was watching above with what seemed like an evil grin on her features. Viola knew she had only one chance to get that bird out of the way, a last ditch chance to end it. “Come on Surskit, one more Ice Beam!” As she called out, Surskit opened its eyes and fired the beam of ice upwards, hitting Pidgey dead on in the chest. The Gust trap died down as its creator fell to the ground, with both Pokémon hitting the ground with a thud. However only one of them got up.

Pidgey managed to stand up again and cry out with dignity and pride whilst Surskit remained on the ground, eyes represented by swirls signifying its fainted condition. Viola recalled her partner and turned to her challenger.

“That Pidgey of yours is something alright,” she praised, switching her Poké Balls so she could release the second and final member of her team. “Or is it only because of your calm head and unorthodox strategies?”

“A mixture of both,” Ash answered honestly. “We are a team and work together, the trainer can’t be praised for the work that the Pokémon has performed and vice versa.” Pidgey nodded whilst, in the stands, Shauna was taking notes from the battle. She had seen battles on TV but none of them had ever been like this except the Elite Four or Championship ones. Calem was right, A-Chan didn’t act anything like a beginner but, then again, there was nothing to be suspicious about. They knew nothing about her life before moving to Kalos. Her father could have been an amazing Kanto trainer for all she knew.

“Well said, trainers and Pokémon must work together to bring out each other’s potential,” Viola shook her head suddenly and began grinning again. “Enough talk, we have a battle to finish. Vivillon, long shot!” The pink butterfly formed across from Pidgey in the air, now Ash no longer had the aerial advantage. Pidgey was also exhausted and, thanks to the no substitution rule, she couldn’t last another hit, especially not from a fully evolved form. Hopefully, she had enough speed to get her move out of the way first before anything happened.

“Quickly, Pidgey! Uproar!”

“Vivillon! Tackle!”

Luck was on Ash’s side as the first of Pidgey’s egg moves had activated first; thanks to unlocking it during the training that morning with Riolu. The poor thing kept falling asleep from exhaustion and Pidgey was getting extremely pissed off with him for doing so and, as such, unlocked her first egg move. To be honest, Pidgey did have a passion for fighting and strength, maybe seeing a teammate laze off during a session for getting stronger caused her anger to reach sky rocket levels resulting in the unlocking of the move but, then again, this had never happened before and, possibly may happen again in the future.

Pidgey had just finished setting up when Vivillon slammed into her, knocking her out and sending her plummeting once again to the ground, this time she would not get up. Immediately, Ash returned her flying type and thanked her graciously for fighting so diligently. Her fall hadn’t been in vain. Reading about Uproar on the Pokédex, Ash had found out that if the Pokémon using Uproar fainted on the turn it used it, then the Uproar would last for the rest of the next Pokémon’s battle, meaning Viola couldn’t put Froakie to sleep, rendering Sleep Powder useless and the Gym Leader knew this.

“You’re a sneaky one, aren’t you? It’s almost as if you knew my plans before you challenged me,” the teenager almost began sweeting under the scrutinising look she was being given by Viola, knowing that Viola wasn’t too far from the truth. “Never mind, send out your final Pokémon.”

“With pleasure! Froakie, Kimi ni Kimete!” Her starter/ex Kalos team powerhouse hopped down from her shoulder, looking over Vivillon judgementally. True, Ash hadn’t used him in the battle against Viola in their old universe but, this time was different. Pikachu wasn’t here and neither was Fletchling. It was all up to him now, and he wasn’t going to let Ash down again. “Alright, jump up and grab Vivillon, and don’t let go!”

Froakie followed his instructions, using his lower leg strength to fly upwards into the air, grabbing into the butterfly Pokémon’s torso. Vivillon tried its hardest to shake him off but he refused to let go, with the two just flailing around in the air.

“Vivillon, get Froakie off now with Psychic!”

“Use Lick quickly!” Before the blue glow could immobilise him, Froakie managed to lick his tongue over Vivillon’s face, pulling a face at its yucky taste. Sparks danced across the bug/flying type’s body as it threw its target at a downwards angle, with Froakie using his quick thinking to use his Bubble move to slow down his descent. Without injury, Froakie landed gently, only to be hit in the back of the legs by a sneaky Solar Beam from Vivillon.

“This shouldn’t be too…” Whatever Viola was going to say died on her lips as she gasped in shock. “How is Froakie still standing?!” In fact, the Solar Beam hadn’t really seemed to have done all that much accept anger the water type starter.

“Not a direct hit, does a bit of damage but not enough to hurt him badly,” the next course of action formed within her head, it was time to use Froakie’s speed to confuse that bug type. “Double Team, then Quick Attack!” In a flash, multiple Froakie were littering the battlefield before all of them went after Vivillon using the priority move. No matter where Vivillon went to try and avoid the move, it would just fall into the direct path of another one. It didn’t help that the multiple Quick Attacks caused a blinding white light meaning that it couldn’t see anything and Viola couldn’t see it.

“Vivillon! Stay still!” Viola instructed, panicking slightly. “Once you’ve done that, spin and use Solar Beam to destroy all the copies and hit Froakie!” The bug nodded, stilled itself before focusing and spun on a pivot, firing the beam of light energy out into the mass of water type copies, which dispersed upon impact. Unfortunately, Froakie couldn’t dodge in time and was hit head on, making him lose all momentum from the Quick Attack and thus fall back to the ground.

By now, it was obvious that both sides had taken considerable damage, Froakie with being hit by two Solar Beams, one of which was whilst he was a water type, and Vivillon having being attacked from all sides by multiple Quick Attacks, the next hit was going to be the most crucial.

“Water Pulse!”

“Vivillon, use gust to keep Froakie from hitting you!” By flapping its wings quickly, Vivillon had manged to use a concentrated Gust, with Froakie using his strength to stop himself from being forced to the ground. Right now, there was nothing the starter could do but conserve energy for the next attack. Vivillon was moving too much; hopefully the side effect from Lick earlier would be coming into play right about…

Now

Vivillon froze, unable to continue the Gust as paralysis set into its system, rendering it useless. Viola just stared, and smiled, she knew how this battle would now end. Froakie continued out his earlier order, forming a sphere of water between his hands before throwing it at Vivillon. The sphere and its face connected, knocking the part flying type to the ground, were it remained, eyes swirled.

Even though Froakie had won, it had been a close one. He was panting heavily, only just able to remain standing. If the paralysis hadn’t stopped Vivillon when it had, Froakie would have been blown across the Gym and knocked out. As Viola recalled her Pokémon, with Shauna cheering in the background, Ash picked up Froakie and smiled proudly at him.

“You were amazing, you and Pidgey both were,” she pulled out his Poké Ball and returned him to it. “Have a nice rest and I‘ll heal you up at the Pokémon Center soon.”

“Way to go A-Chan! That was amazing!” Shauna had rushed down the stairs behind the Challenger’s box and was now pulling her friend into a congratulatory hug. “Froakie and Pidgey really worked hard for that win!”

“They did, didn’t they…?” Ash looked at the Poké Ball in her hand with a soft smile.

“You need to take some of the credit as well,” the brunette added, eyes sparkling. “Your strategies worked like a charm out there!”

“She’s right you know,” Viola walked up to them, clapping her hands together with each step she took. “That was exceptional, fantastic; I haven’t had a battle like that in ages. For a beginner, you are either extremely talented or have been taught by someone before your journey about advanced battle tactics to be really good. No matter what, I can see great potential in you.”

“Thank you.” What Ash failed to mention was that she knew advanced tactics because she had been a trainer before, in an exploded universe, as a boy. Yeah, that may not go down extremely well with the Gym Leader to be honest and Shauna may flip. Better save that ne for another time.

“Anyways, I better give you proof of your fantastic victory here today,” Viola reached into her camera case and pulled out a bug shaped badge. “For you, Ash. The Bug Badge which shows the world you beat me fair and square.”

“Thanks…” Before anything else could happen, a loud shout stopped them as three particular boys entered the field in three varied forms of ‘out of breath-ness’.

“Wait,” Calem, the most in shape of the group, managed to regain the ability to speak first. “Before you fight… we wanna watch.

“You guys are idiots.” Shauna shook her head from side to side.

“What do you mean?” Tierno yelled back angrily, offended by the name calling. “We said we’d be here to cheer A-Chan on and…”

“The battle’s over, she won.” Shauna deadpanned.

“WE MISSED IT!?!” Ash burst into laughter with Shauna whilst Viola just stared at the newcomers with confusion. Were they all just here to watch one person compete?

“Are any of you challengers?” She inquired, nodding when Calem put his hand up. “Alright, I’ll heal my team after I give Ash her badge and take you on next. You two ladies are welcomed to watch it if you want.”

“If we do,” Ash sent a pleading look to her friend. “Can I be beside you on the opposite side to Tierno? I really don’t wanna deal with any… advances today.”

“Sure,” Shauna winked as Tierno sulked in the background with Trevor patting his back gently whilst also telling him that he had brought it upon himself. “I don’t want you injuring yourself again running away from his hugs of love!”

In Viola’s eyes, it was totally official. These kids were either professional actors or genuinely crazy as hell. “As I was saying earlier, your Bug Badge.” Ash took it gracefully, not even thinking to strike a pose like she used too, probably because it would cause her to cry thinking about the lost allies she had accumulated over her past journeys. “Also, here’s TM 83, also known as Infestation. It’s a bug type move that traps your opponent on the field whilst also dealing damage every turn for five turns. It may turn out useful in the future.” Viola handed over a disc within a case before heading back towards her side of the field. “I’ll be back in a bit, Surskit and Vivillon need to be healed first if I’m battling again.”

Not long later, four friends were watching Calem fight for his own Bug Badge, using his Litleo and Chespin to beat Viola’s Pokémon. Pidgey and Froakie had been healed by Shauna and were now out of their Poké Ball with Riolu watching. Riolu was excited, jumping up and down whilst Pidgey seemed to be yelling out insults to Calem’s Pokémon to get them riled up. Froakie, however, was sat on his trainer’s shoulder, staring with her at the badge they battled so hard to get.

True, re-battling for all of the Kalos Gym Badges was gonna be tough, but having prior knowledge to their strategies and knowing how to counter them was the key. Ash placed her badge in her other skirt pocket, mentally reminding herself to obtain a Badge Case in Lumiose City from one of the Pokémon Centers as soon as she got there. And, as she watched Calem fight, for once she felt relieved of the stresses of what came with the reincarnation. Deep down she felt that somehow, she could get used to being a part of this universe, as long as she had Shauna and her Pokémon, plus Calem, Tierno and Trevor, by her side helping her along.

Today’s victory wasn’t just the victory of herself and her Pokémon, but it was Shauna’s victory too, along with those who helped her win in the past universe, especially Serena, Pikachu and Fletchling. It was a joint victory that she would remember for as long as she lived.