Kanto 19: Essence

"One last thing!" shouted JR, "under no circumstances is anybody here ever permitted to speak about the aerodactyl or what you are about to see inside of the lab! It could compromise the safety of Kanto!"

He paused as his expression intensified, "if any information leaks, the person responsible will be charged with treason!"

"You heard the man!" howled Cinnabar's Officer Jenny with urgency as she pointed towards the north side of the lab, "Pokemon Capture Unit — take as many custody balls with you as you can! Criminal Detainment Unit — grab all of the energy cuffs and get moving! The rest of you, block off the perimeter! No one will be sleeping tonight unless we move fast!"

Dozens of officers belonging to the Cinnabar Police Department — dressed in blue and black tactical uniforms — took off in a frenzy as soon as their beautiful, no-nonsense chief finished issuing orders.

"Liam, contact the Cinnabar Fire Department. We're going to try and salvage the building, but at the very least, we need to recover as much of what's inside as possible," instructed Jenny, focusing her attention on a tall, blonde, fresh-faced policeman that stood rigidly by her side, "while you're at it, give the Cinnabar News a call. Tell them to put out a public address statement declaring that all citizens are to remain in their homes until morning."

"Consider it done, ma'am!" replied the young deputy, hastily walking a short distance away from his blue-haired superior as he spoke into the blue and black pokegear on his wrist.

"I'm assuming that this one's going with you guys," said Jenny, peering down at Archer's limp body.

Bloody and swollen, Archer's wrists had been bounded with two steel cuffs that were linked together by a red beam of tactile energy. Every breath that the unconscious executive took was accompanied by a harsh, grating wheeze that made Ash's skin crawl.

"Yeah, we'll be taking him back to the Indigo Plateau for questioning, "replied JR as he adjusted his backwards cap, "but, can you hold him in a cell until we leave? It's going to take us a while to gather all of our pokemon, and we'd like to help clean up as much of this mess as possible."

He paused as he glanced over at Ash with eager eyes, "besides, I'm thinking it's best that we stick around for a bit tomorrow."

The young trainer gulped.

He had a feeling an avalanche of questions would be coming his way in the very near future.

"That's fine," answered Jenny, zeroing in on Ash, Growlithe and Bill while furrowing her thin brow, "you know…I hate to question the decision making abilities of two first-class ACE trainers and a member of the Elite Four, but why would you bring a kid and a famous pokemon researcher on a mission like this?"

"That's classified information," said Kent sternly, placing a hand on Ash's shoulder, "but I can assure you, he is not an ordinary child."

"Damn straight!" blurted Andrew with fire in his eyes, "he's the—"

Thump.

"Owwww! What the hell, old man!?" shouted the long-haired ACE trainer after being jabbed in the shin by Blaine's cane.

JR, Kent and Bill all shot Andrew a quick glare before all three of them gave Blaine a nod of approval.

"Screw you guys!" chided Andrew as he rubbed his shin, "I was just going to say that Ash's the one that made this mission happen in the first place!"

"Forgive me for being cautious," apologized Blaine with tired eyes, "but ever since you were a kid you've been loose-lipped. I was just making sure—"

"People change! I'm a first-class ACE trainer now! I know how to keep a damn secret!"

"What about that one time you compromised our identities during the undercover mission in Cerulean?" questioned Kent, folding his arms.

"That wasn't my fau—"

"Didn't you ruin Maxim's surprise retirement party?" interrupted JR while raising an eyebrow.

"I didn't know it was a sup—"

"Just a couple of weeks ago you—"

"Okay, okay! I get it!" interjected Andrew — red in the face from a combination of anger and embarrassment.

He shook his head, grumbling as he began to walk in the direction of the lab, "you guys are always bringing up the past. I don't need to take this shit from you assholes."

"Where are you going?" asked Kent with an amused smile on his face.

"I need to go get Eon before it does something to an officer," groaned Andrew, turning around as he squinted his eyes in an irritated manner.

His facial expression went back to normal as he pivoted his attention towards Ash, "don't listen to them, kid. Trust me, I won't say shit."

The dark-haired boy nodded before watching Andrew make his way over to the south side of the building where the entrance was.

For some reason, despite everything that Kent and JR had just said, Ash wasn't concerned. Not too long after he was handed back the reins to his body by his other self, the young trainer had a strange, overwhelming sense of peace wash over him. It felt like destiny was reassuring him that they were always supposed to know.

"I'm not even going to attempt to try and figure out what all of that was about…" said Jenny in a confused manner.

She focused her eyes on the elderly gym leader, "I should have known something was up when they started charging people to access the East Wing. Ugh, this is awful. Dr. Fuji is going to be a wreck when he finds out what's happened here while he was on leave."

Ash got a terrible feeling in his gut as he processed the distraught looks on Blaine and Bill's faces. Kent and JR both took deep breaths before shaking their heads.

"I'm sure he'll rush back to Cinnabar soon," said Jenny, turning her back to them before staring at the ravaged lab, "this place means everything to him…"

"Nathaniel—" started Blaine before he abruptly leaned over to the side.

"Blaaaaagggghhhh!"

Splashing outward after it hit the gravelly ground, Blaine's vomit formed a vile puddle of partially digested food and gastric acid.

"Old man…are you okay?" asked Kent in a caring manner as he gently slung Blaine's right arm up and over his left shoulder in order to help support him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ash noticed the gym leader's red and yellow coated bipedal fox and Grimm peal away from the large encirclement of pokemon that were keeping an eye on the giant, unconscious aerodactyl. With anxious, concerned countenances, they moved in the direction of their trainer.

"Ash, Bill — maybe you should take the old man back to the inn," suggested JR with a slight hint of worry in his typically placid eyes.

"That might not be a bad ide—" started Bill, looking sick himself.

"N-no way!" bellowed Blaine in-between coughs, "I-I helped build this place! Th-there's no way I'm going to sit around and do nothing while Nathaniel's legacy is in j-jeopardy!"

"You can leave it to us," assured the yellow eyed ACE trainer, "we'll save as much of it as we can. I promise."

As the foreign fox and Grimm neared Blaine and Kent wearing perturbed expressions, Officer Jenny shifted her attention over to where her blonde deputy was still making phone calls.

"Liam, did you get ahold of the fire department!?"

"Yes, ma'am!" responded the tall officer while saluting, "they are on their way!"

She nodded in his direction before turning to the old man, "Blaine, I've got my best out here, and more help will be coming soon. You should listen to them and go get some rest. Clearly you're not feeling well."

Despite the apparent solicitude displayed on her face, it was evident to Ash that Officer Jenny had yet to pick up on the reason why Blaine was feeling sick.

For now, maybe it was for the best.

Eventually, the League would have to disclose to the public at least some information in regard to what happened here. Even if all of the officers did as they were told and stayed quiet about what was inside of the lab, the battle against the ancient beast with the king's nature took place in the southwestern skies of Cinnabar. Many of the townsfolk had to have seen what happened, and it would be unreasonable to expect them not to ask questions.

Be that as it may, there were only a handful of people that were privy to Dr. Fuji's involvement and even less that knew about his death. Ash had no idea how Lance was going to handle all of the specifics, but he was certain that he wouldn't share anything that pertained to the abomination. After all, no matter what the circumstances were, Dr. Fuji and the abomination would forever be tied together by a non severable knot of regrettable fate. If the Champion wanted to keep the public in the dark about Mewtwo — which was something he had done up to this point — it would be counterproductive to break any news that related to Nathaniel Fuji.

For the time being, people would likely be led to believe that Dr. Fuji was still on a leave of absence.

Obviously, It wouldn't be enough to quench the citizens' curiosity.

Just like when 'the doc' had sequestered himself within the lab after his daughter's death, the townsfolk would talk and rumors would circulate.

However, in Ash's opinion, it could be worse…

The truth was hard enough to stomach with context. If the public found out about Dr. Fuji's actions without it, their collective response would be ruthless.

If that happened…

Outside of maybe Dr. Fuji's wife, nobody would be tormented more than Blaine…

"I-I'm not going anywhere!" yelled the gym leader at the top of his lungs, wriggling his arm off of Kent's shoulder before dropping his cane and grabbing onto the base of his charizard's neck, "Grimm, help me up!"

The black, shiny charizard laid its long, muscular tail on the ground, allowing its elderly trainer to step up onto it before raising him onto its back. Thrusting down its wings, Grimm lifted itself up off of the ground. Subsequently, the bipedal fox leaped into the air, somehow grabbing onto Blaine's charizard's right leg with its small, free hand before they flew up towards the massive opening in the wall on the third floor.

"Blaine!" bellowed Officer Jenny frustratedly.

"Let him go," said JR with a smirk on his face, "the old man is stubborn as hell. Once he sets his mind on something, there's no way you're going to stop him."

"That's for sure…" muttered Kent, "honestly, it's a good sign."

"Ugh, I guess you're right…" groaned Jenny as she watched Blaine land on the third floor where several of the Cinnabar trio's pokemon were still keeping watch.

As a multitude of officers hurried past them towards the south side of the building, the blue-haired police chief unclipped a pokeball from her trainer belt before once again turning her attention towards her deputy.

"Liam, throw this bastard in the back of my car!" ordered Officer Jenny as she pointed at Archer, "make sure to lock it just in case he wakes up."

The moment that she finished her sentence, the deputy sprinted over. Grabbing ahold of the executive from underneath of his armpits, he started to drag him towards a nearby blue and black SUV.

"Don't worry, he won't be waking up anytime soon," informed Ash, speaking for the first time since the Cinnabar Police Department arrived at the scene, "Haunter made sure of it."

His apparition catapulted himself out of his shadow. While sticking his tongue out as far as he could, Haunter announced his presence with a ghoulish guffaw

"Ahhhhh!" screamed Liam, accidentally dropping the upper half of Archer's body on the gravel after being frightened by the ghost-type's sudden appearance.

Thump.

"Kyuuuhh!" wheezed the unconscious executive when he hit the ground.

While scrambling to pick Archer back up, the deputy's face was as red as the top half of a pokeball as he endured a raucous, collective outburst of laughter.

"Oh, god that was great!" roared Jenny, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes with her free hand, "I wish you could have seen your face, Liam!"

"M-ma'am, p-please!" stammered Liam as he neared the vehicle with Archer in tow.

"You weren't kidding, kid!" hollered Jenny in-between laughter, "that bastard is zonked-out!"

After getting a much needed laugh, Ash turned towards the blue-haired officer, "Haunter's Hypnosis is really potent. I have him use it on me when I'm having a tough time falling asleep. Archer will be out cold until morning."

"Well, that's certainly an interesting way to ensure that you get a good night's rest," replied Jenny with a skeptical countenance.

"Don't knock it until you've tried it," inserted JR, "a trustworthy ghost-type is the best way to avoid sleepless nights, especially if you're prone to nightmares. Once you see what's going on in the lab, you're going to wish you had one."

Ash couldn't agree more. It wasn't often that he relied upon Hypnosis to fall asleep, but if it weren't for Haunter's ability to wipe away his bad dreams, the young trainer knew for a fact that he would be dealing with severe sleep deprivation on a regular basis.

"Since I'm going to be traveling with you guys for a while, I might need you to eat my dreams at night, too, Haunter," said Bill with tired eyes, "tonight was a lot."

The specter's eyes widened before be bobbed his body up and down.

JR raised an eyebrow. Something about what Bill had just said intrigued the Elite Four member.

"Is it really that bad in there?" asked Jenny.

"It's bad…" said Kent in a drawn out manner, "and I can't imagine it's any better after the battles that we just had."

Jenny took a deep breath, "I guess I better prepare myself then."

As Liam locked the door to the SUV after lugging Archer into the backseat enclosure, Jenny lofted the pokeball that she had been holding onto into the air. Unsurprisingly, when the white light from the release faded, a mature arcanine stood in front of its trainer.

The impressive specimen immediately looked down at Growlithe with affectionate eyes.

Wagging his tail, Ash's pup approached the evolved member of his species.

That makes three today…

Good for Growlithe.

After giving the two canines a brief moment to introduce themselves by means of circling and sniffing one another, Jenny put her right thumb and pointer finger in her mouth before whistling loudly. Sitting up on its haunches as it waited for its trainer's command, the arcanine centered its eyes on Officer Jenny.

"Summer, we've got some work to do," said Jenny as she pointed towards the gravel, "I'm hopping on."

Lowering its body to the ground, Summer waited for Jenny to embark.

As she climbed on top of her arcanine, the police chief directed her attention towards JR and Kent, "I know it's out cold, but please take care of that beast as soon as possible. It's making me nervous."

She shifted her gaze towards Ash and Bill, "whatever the circumstances are, you two should get out of here. No offense, but you look like you've been put through the wringer."

After compounding tonight's events with the laborious training that he and his friends had done over the past couple of days in order to prepare for his gym battle against Blaine, the toll was indisputable.

Ash was tired.

He could push through it, but when he took a moment to thoroughly examine Bill's haggard and emotionally exhausted appearance, it was evident what the right thing to do was.

"Liam, stay out here and watch the car just to be safe," ordered Jenny, "obviously, he's not going anywhere on his own. But, you never know. There could be a Rocket lurking around waiting for an opportunity to spring him loose."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"See you two inside," said the beautiful police chief, briefly redirecting her focus back on JR and Kent before leaning forward and grabbing ahold of Summer's mane.

"Let's go, girl!"

Stirring up a swift, powerful rush of wind, the female arcanine rocketed towards the lab using Extreme Speed with Cinnabar's Officer Jenny riding on her broad back.

Growlithe let out a soft whine as he watched the arcanine take off.

"I like that Jenny," said JR with a small smile on his face, "she's competent, straight to the point, and doesn't ask too many questions."

"Yeah, she's a good one. I think I remember my dad telling me that she took over for her aunt a couple of years ago."

"Aren't you guys from here?" asked Bill with bloodshot eyes, "I'm surprised you haven't met her before."

"I can't speak for JR," said Kent, "but I only come back home to visit my family. This was the first time anything serious has ever happened here while I've been an ACE trainer. As a matter of fact, when we go pick up that bastard tomorrow to take him to headquarters, it'll be the first time I've ever stepped foot in the Cinnabar Police Station."

"I've only been back to Cinnabar a few times since I left on my journey to come see my gramps and Blaine," answered JR, "I'm pretty out of the loop when it comes to the current state of the island."

"I see…" said Bill, blinking his eyes in a tired manner.

All of a sudden, JR tapped the button on his depository belt with his index finger as he cuffed his other hand next to the opposite side of the wearable device, "custody ball."

Before Ash could blink, a blue and white capture-device appeared in JR's grasp.

"How do those work?" asked Ash, pointing at the custody ball.

"They're used to temporarily hold pokemon that have already been captured by overriding their ownership," explained the Elite Four member, "you can keep a confiscated pokemon in one of these for up to seventy-two hours before deactivation occurs. In most cases, it gives us enough time to get them into one of the League's rehabilitation centers."

Growlithe tilted his head, trying to follow along.

"Interesting…" said Ash, raising both of his eyebrows.

"Anyways, we are going to be here for a while," said Kent, glancing in JR's direction for a moment before looking at Ash and Bill with a soft expression, "you guys handled yourselves well in there. I'm going to ask Vera to take you back to the inn, so you can get some sleep."

"I don't think I can—" started Bill.

Abruptly, a bright burst of white energy belonging to Vera's Teleport appeared right in front of them. It seemed as though Andrew's psychic fairy had been paying attention to their conversation from over by the giant, inert aerodactyl that Ash guessed JR was about to confine within the custody ball in his hand.

"Eavesdropping — Vera?" queried Kent with a smirk.

"I apologize. Ash's presence has led me to act out of character today," broadcasted the beautiful gardevoir.

"I can understand why," said JR, folding his arms as he darted his brown, amused eyes back and forth between Vera and Ash, "the interaction you two had before the mission makes a little more sense now."

Vera smiled as her gown flowed with the light island breeze.

The dark-haired boy sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "Sorry for lying. This is all still really new to me, so the idea of three more people knowing about it kind of freaked me out."

His pup nudged up against his leg, sensing his trainer's guilt.

"Don't worry about it," replied JR placidly, "I'd like to sit down and have a conversation before we leave tomorrow, though. Is that okay?"

The young trainer was nervous about what types of questions he was going to be asked, but he had no intention of refusing.

"We're taking off tomorrow, too," said the dark-haired boy while nodding his head, "but, yeah, we'll stick around until we've had a chance to talk."

JR gave Ash a widened smile, "Good. We'll head over to the inn around noon. I'd like to get at least a little bit of sleep."

"Okay," said Ash with a smile, "I'm good with that. I was planning on doing some training in the morning, and I need to take Growlithe and Scyther to the pokemon center anyways."

"Training?" questioned Kent, "after a night like this?"

"Yeah," replied the young trainer matter-of-factly, "if anything, what I saw tonight is extra motivation. How am I supposed to catch up to you guys if I'm skipping training sessions?"

Growlithe gazed up at Ash with an eager expression. It was apparent that he agreed with his best friend.

Both JR and Kent looked at each other for a brief moment before each of them showed Ash another smirk.

"Well, you better get going then. You don't want to be sluggish in the morning," said JR, using his head to gesture towards Vera.

The psychic fairy's irises began to light up.

"Wait a second! Wait a second!" shouted Bill, waving his hands frantically at the gorgeous, foreign specimen.

Her eyes suddenly ceased glowing.

"I bloody can't. I'm still feeling sick from the last time," said the pokemon researcher before pivoting his pleading eyes towards Ash, "for the love of God, can I please borrow Pidgeot, my friend?"

"No problem," said Ash, unclipping Pidgeot's pokeball from his belt before lofting it a short-distance out in front of them.

When the white light from the release dispersed, his ten-foot avian let out an unpleasant, discordant squawk before momentarily focusing his eyes on Vera. After sizing her up, he suddenly shifted his attention towards Blaine and the Cinnabar trio's powerful pokemon that were watching over the fallen aerodactyl.

"So, this is the king you were talking about, Kent?" queried JR with excitement in his voice.

"Yeah, he's going to grow into one hell of a pidgeot someday…"

"What a specimen…" said the Elite Four member in a drawn out manner, "and that saddle is awesome."

"I've got to get myself one of those…" stated Kent with amazement in his tone.

"Those kind of look like dragonite scales," mulled JR aloud, "but the size and color…"

"I think the seat's made of mamoswine fur," added Kent.

While listening to JR and Kent's exchange behind him, Ash sighed on account of his flying-type's persistently nasty attitude as of late.

"I didn't let you out to battle any of those pokemon," elucidated the dark-haired boy while peering up at Pidgeot, "I need you to give Bill a ride back to the inn. I'll meet you there."

The raptor-like avian squatted down before divulging another obnoxious squawk.

"It seems it's not only his frame that's big," said JR in an amused manner, "he's got quite the personality."

"You can say that again," replied the young trainer, turning his head around to look at JR, "but he's been acting like even more of a jerk than normal ever since he lost against Koga's crobat. It also doesn't help that I've been holding him out of training for more than a week to help him recover."

Pidgeot shot his trainer an ornery look.

Ash glared back, causing Pidgeot to avert his aggravated gaze as Growlithe barked at the avian in an exasperated manner.

"Koga's crobat?" queried JR, raising an eyebrow, "did he use Echo against you?"

"He did," answered Ash with a nod.

"But, I heard that you were the first trainer to beat Koga this year," inserted Kent, "don't tell me you managed to—"

Bill tiredly stumbled as he made his way over to Pidgeot.

"Never mind, we can talk about this later," said the yellow eyed ACE trainer, shaking his head, "Bill, do you need help getting on?"

"I c-can do it by m-myself!" shouted Bill like a toddler as he exhaustedly swung his leg over the side of Pidgeot after using the saddle's horn as leverage to hoist himself onto the seat.

As his eyelids twitched, the burned out pokemon researcher looked down at JR and Kent before showing them a sudden wry smile, "by the way, I made this masterpiece of a saddle. If either of you are actually serious about wanting one, we can discuss business tomorrow. Just know ahead of time, it's going to be bloody expensive."

Ash mentally cringed.

Jeez, 'tired' Bill is a savage.

"Um, okay…" muttered Kent furrowing his brow.

"I didn't think it would be cheap," replied JR straightforwardly.

"Alright, Pidgeot get going," commanded Ash, "I'll see you guys there."

Likely out of frustration, Pidgeot took off, roughly beating his wings down in a flurry. Holding on for dear life, Bill rattled atop the avian's back.

"Easy! Easy!" bellowed the pokemon researcher as they rapidly ascended.

"I was going to let you train tomorrow!" shouted Ash at the top of his lungs, "but you can forget it if you are going to fly like that!"

Clearly hearing his trainer, the avian instantly changed the demeanor in which he flew, leveling out before gracefully climbing through the night sky.

Ash breathed out a sigh of relief.

Growlithe groaned.

Ugh, he's so petty…

JR and Kent burst out into laughter.

"Your pidgeot is a trip," said the Elite Four member after quelling his laughter, "you handle him well for your age, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering who you are. Personality wise, he reminds me of my jolteon."

He paused as he watched the avian fly northeast towards the inn until he was no longer visible, "I don't think there is anything you can do as a trainer that's more rewarding than figuring out how to get through to a pokemon with a challenging temperament."

"If you find Pidgeot challenging," said Ash as he adjusted his cap, "then you should meet my gyarados."

The Elite Four member and the ACE trainer looked at each other with astounded expressions.

"How long have you been on your journey for?" asked JR with intent filled eyes.

"About four and a half months," answered Ash with a straight face.

"Does your gyarados listen to you?" queried Kent curiously.

"It took a couple confrontations," explained the dark-haired boy, "but, yeah, she listens to me."

"After what I witnessed at the end of the interrogation, it's not like I had any doubts, but, damn…" said JR, "you've been a trainer for less than five months, and you've already tamed a gyarados?"

"Well, when you put at that way…"

"Vera, can you please—" started the yellow eyed ACE trainer before glancing over at Liam, who had decided to keep an eye on Archer from the front passenger seat of the blue and black SUV.

Kent lowered his voice before continuing, "Vera, can you please take the Chosen One to the inn?"

"It would be my pleasure," broadcasted Vera as her eyes illuminated.

"Kent, please just call me A—"

After his newly discovered mental barrier abruptly expanded, he instinctually thought about his canine before a lustrous white light swallowed them, sending the boy and his pup to their desired destination.

XXX

Leaning forward — with his forehead pressed up against the back of Pidgeot's neck — the pokemon researcher had somehow managed to fall asleep during the short flight from the lab to the Big Riddle Inn.

Oh, god, he could have fallen off.

"Bill!" whispered Ash harshly, attempting to wake up his friend while being mindful of the inn's sleeping guests.

Entirely unresponsive, Bill continued to snore.

"Bill!"

Growlithe added a quiet bark.

Still nothing.

Ash could tell by the way that Pidgeot's entire body had started to twitch that his avian was beginning to lose the little bit of patience that he had.

"Bill, wake up!"

His pup raised his voice slightly as he let out another yap.

"Don't!" shouted Bill in his sleep before a small amount of drool began to leak out of his mouth onto one of Pidgeot's feathers.

Uh-oh.

"Pidgeot, you better no—"

Jerkily tilting his body to the side, the avian unsympathetically dumped Bill off of his back.

Thud.

After hitting the ground, Bill jolted up into a sitting position, groaning as he grabbed at his side, "Owwww! That bloody hurt! What just happened!?"

"Are you okay!?" asked Ash, lowering his hand in order to help his friend up as he guiltily glanced over at the long row of shoji doors that led to several of the inn's rooms.

As his eyes rapidly blinked, he looked up at Ash before grabbing ahold of the boy's hand in order to be helped to his feet, "d-did I just nod off while—"

"You did," interrupted Ash, lifting the billionaire up off of the ground, "you're lucky you stayed on. You'd be in way worse shape if Pidgeot would have had to snatch you out of the sky with his talons."

Bill winced as he brushed himself off before shuddering when he looked down at the avian's feet, "those bloody things are sharp. I'd probably be just as much of a goner if I was grabbed by those than I would be if I hit the ground."

Ash grimaced at the thought prior to glaring up at his avian with an angry expression, "what the hell, Pidgeot? It was just a little drool! Did you have to throw him off like that!?"

The avian looked at his trainer with an irked countenance before preening his feathers.

"I drooled on a king that belongs to the chos—" Bill started to shout in a mortified manner before Ash lunged forward, covering the pokemon researcher's mouth with one of his hands.

Raising the pointer finger of his other hand to his lips, Ash emphatically shushed Bill.

"Shhhhhhhhhh!"

Suddenly, the dark-haired boy heard the unmistakable sound of shoji doors sliding open. Hesitantly turning his head in the direction of the inn, he saw that the lights to a handful of the rooms had been turned on, and a couple of the guests had poked their heads out to see what was going on.

"Shut the hell up!" bellowed what sounded like a middle-aged man.

"What happened to common courtesy!" yelled an elderly woman.

"Screw you asshol— h-holy shit that p-pidgeot is gigantic!" stammered a male teenager.

Red in the face, Ash turned towards the disgruntled guests before bowing several times in an apologetic manner. Once he was done, and they went back inside of their rooms, the young trainer unclipped Pidgeot's pokeball and hastily pressed the return button.

As Pidgeot was enveloped in a coverlet of ruby red energy, the dark-haired boy looked him in the eye before speaking quietly, "I'm over this. Your attitude needs to change if you want to train tomorrow morning."

The raptor-like avian's eyes widened, and he gave Ash a slight affirmative gesture of the head right before he was sucked into his capture-device.

The young trainer took a deep breath as he clipped his flying-type's pokeball back to his belt.

"I'm sorry, Bill," said Ash, shaking his head as they begun to walk towards their rooms, "he's been such a pain in the ass lately."

Growlithe barked softly, nodding in agreement.

"I mean…I did bloody drool on him," said Bill with a shrug while favoring his side, "Pidgeot may be a little more rough around the edges than the average member of his species, but the pidgey line is very particular about the cleanliness of their feathers."

"I know, but still…"

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine," said Bill, being sure to lower his voice down even more as they walked past a couple of the rooms belonging to the guests that they had disturbed, "thanks for letting me borrow him. Believe me when I say this, I'll take a couple of bruises over teleportation any day of the bloody week."

Bill momentarily paused, letting out a yawn before continuing to speak, "by the way, how did you manage to build up a tolerance for teleportation so quickly, my friend? If my memory is correct, you had a tough time with it when Sabrina teleported us in Saffron?"

"Vera told me that it's because of my mental byyaaarrrrier," answered Ash, catching Bill's yawn.

Growlithe looked up at his trainer with curious eyes as Bill raised one of his hands up to his chin.

"Since when have you had a mental barrier? queried Bill, "didn't you and the witch just come up with a whole plan for her to help you put one up before the confrontation with the abomination?"

"I don't know. I noticed it for the first time when Andrew let Vera out before the raid. Apparently, it's a really strong one, too. I'm assuming that it has something to do with my other self."

"Fascinating…" said Bill in an elongated manner as they neared their rooms, "I wonder what else your other self can do? Did you know that your eyes turn silver and glow when it comes out?"

"Like my pokemon?" asked Ash, "I've noticed that their eyes change when it happens, but obviously I can't see myself…"

"Yup, your eyes looked just like Growlithe's. It was bloody wild. That's why everyone got out of the way when it happened."

"I see…" said Ash, trying to wrap his mind around it, "that must have been strange to witness. I had no idea."

"Strange?" replied Bill, raising both of his eyebrows, "more like awesome. You looked like a bloody manga character."

Ash scratched the back of his head, "I mean, now that I think about it that is kind of cool."

"Your voice changed, too," explained Bill as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a keycard.

The young trainer also took out a keycard before pressing it up against the black, electronic reader in the center of the sliding doors that led into the room adjacent to Bill's, "My voice changed? But, It's not like I can't hear myself when it happens. It sounded the same as always to me…"

"It's hard to explain," said Bill, turning to look at Ash as he slid open the door to his room, "technically, it sounded the same, but there was an authoritative feeling that came from it. It's very interesting…The book mentions the eyes, but I don't remember reading anything about the voice.

"The prophecy talks about my other persona?"

His pup became even more focused on the conversation.

With a tired disposition, Bill shook his head, "how many times do I have to tell you, Ash? Once you read the book, you'll understand way more of what's going on. Most of it's vague, so it doesn't always make sense right away. But, the book is about your life, not mine, and I've been able to pick up on some of what is going on. My guess is that once you commit to reading it, you will get several of the answers that you are looking for."

"I understand that…" said Ash in a prolonged manner while rubbing his eyes, "like I said before, I'm going to read as much of it as I can while we're in Pallet. Right now, I just want to get some sleep. Tonight was crazy, and we've got a busy day tomorrow."

Bill let out a quiet, exhausted chuckle, "believe me, I wasn't expecting you to pick it up tonight. However, I am going to keep bugging you about it until you do."

"Fair enough," answered Ash, taking a step into his room as Growlithe trotted by him before finding a spot to lay down next to the Kanto-style futon, "we can talk about this more later. I'll have Haunter go back and forth between our rooms tonight to make sure we both get some decent sleep."

The apparition slowly emerged from Ash's shadow with a giant grin on his face.

He was more than ready for his two course meal.

"I get it. Thanks for sharing Haunter, and I appreciate you looking out for me during the r-raid," replied Bill as his voice grew heavier.

"You don't have to thank me. We're friends," reassured Ash, "good night."

"G-good night, Ash," said the pokemon researcher, taking a deep breath as he took a couple of steps into the room.

The boy could sense the sorrow in his friend's voice. It wouldn't allow him to go to bed without saying one last thing.

"Bill, I'm really sorry about Dr. Fuji," said Ash gently, "no matter what happened, I know he was a good person."

"I wish you could have met him, my friend," replied Bill with a trembling voice, "y-you two would have gotten along."

After a very long night, Ash, Growlithe and Bill went to bed, leaving Haunter with an abundance of nightmares to eat up.

XXX

The elegant serpent's white underbelly pulsated with glowing, purple energy for a short moment before the power rapidly started to travel down the posterior half of his body.

"Good, buddy. Keep pushing it."

Growlithe divulged a bark of encouragement.

Without wavering, the draconian energy made it all the way to the tip of his tail prior to bouncing slightly upwards.

"Stop it from going up, and send it back down," directed Ash calmly, trying to stay even-keeled in order to ensure that Dratini didn't get overexcited.

With a jovial look on his face, the dragon let out a strained coo as he willfully wrangled the potent energy back under control. It settled halfway between the tip of his tail and the middle of his body for about a half a second before slinging back in the right direction like a yo-yo.

"Nice recovery," said the young trainer, anxiously digging his feet into the sand, "now trap it."

After uttering another tense murmur, the power within Dratini's tail oscillated as it made a deep-toned, resonate sound.

Ash crossed his fingers, "almost there. Focus and hold it."

His pup let out another supportive yap as his tail wagged with anticipation.

The draconic energy continued to quiver while remaining in the correct position as Dratini loosely coiled his body. Suddenly, his gleeful eyes intensified for a sliver of a moment before the sound of the surging energy lowered, and the vacillation ceased. While showing Ash and Growlithe a frolicsome countenance, Dratini maintained a stabilized Dragon Tail.

"You've got it!" cheered Ash, relinquishing the placid demeanor that he had exhibited throughout the duration of his training session with Dratini.

Growlithe howled in celebration, making it known to the dragon-type that his efforts were acknowledged.

Bouncing the front half of his serpentine body up and down, the dragon-type happily squealed before looking at his trainer for direction.

"You've held it long enough. You can let go of it, Dratini," said the dark-haired boy with a smile on his face.

The purple energy in the serpent's tail waned as he quickly sidewinded through the northern beach's sand, moving towards his trainer.

"That was great!" praised Ash.

Dratini closed the distance in-between the two of them faster than Ash anticipated.

"Woah, there slowd—"

Ooomph.

Ash fell backwards into the sand with the top half of Dratini's limbless body plopped on top of his chest. As the brown eyed boy looked up at Cinnabar's bright orange sunrise, the serpent let out an affectionate coo.

"Good thing you don't weigh very much, Dratini," said Ash in-between laughter, "just try not to make this a habit. Once you evolve, you'll be a lot heavier."

Raising his head off of his trainer's chest, Dratini looked into Ash's eyes with a puzzled expression before divulging yet another affable murmur.

Watching the scene, Growlithe howled in an amused manner.

"Now that you've learned how to hold and stabilize your Dragon Tail," said Ash to his dragon, "how about we see how strong it is?"

The draconic serpent nuzzled his round white snout into the boy's chest before raising his head in order to nod. Humming as he slithered off of his trainer, Dratini jounced up and down as he waited for Ash to get back up. After taking off his hat and shaking his head in order to get the many loose grains of sand out of his hair, the young trainer looked down just as his dragon-type had reached out with his tail in order to pet the tuft of fur on top of Growlithe's head.

With a smile on his face, Ash scanned the shoreline in search of a large stone that didn't have any of the beach's many krabby scurrying in close proximity. Settling on a tall, jagged boulder that's base was being gently splashed by the early morning tide, he sauntered towards it.

Looking back, Ash used his hand to gesture for the elegant serpent to follow him, "come on, Dratini, let's go see what you've got."

Pulling his tail away from the top of Growlithe's head, Dratini's eyes brightened as he begun to slither in a straight line, following Ash across the wet sand.

XXX

"Seriously?" queried Ash to his saurian grass-type as he glanced down at his pokedex, "you have three other moves that you can still learn as an ivysaur. I know you could benefit from another physical attack, but the recoil is brutal…"

Ivysaur nodded with determination in his eyes.

Ugh, first it was Eevee…

Now Ivysaur's hellbent on learning Double-Edge?

What is it that is so enticing about this move?

"Okay, fine…" said Ash after letting out a deep sigh, "but you're going to have to follow the same rules as Eevee. Don't use it unless you're desperate, and we're going to practice it safely."

The young trainer paused, wagging his pointer finger as he furrowed his brow, "Also, I don't want to ever see you use it in a spar. Do you understand?"

Ivysaur grunted affirmatively while nodding once again.

"Alright," said Ash, folding his arms, "just like when Eevee first began working on Double-Edge, we're going to start off by practicing on air."

Ivysaur looked up at his trainer with intent filled eyes. He was ready to get to work.

Before they got started, the dark-haired boy took a moment to look over to the right at Growlithe, who was presently leaving after-images all over the beach as he practiced Agility. He had considered holding his pup out of today's training session after the intense battle that occurred at the lab, but when he took a good look at how well the canine's body had responded to the super potion that he treated him with before bed last night, Ash decided against it.

Simply put, Growlithe was in good enough shape to train without any restrictions.

Besides, he had yet to talk to his pup about his reckless decision to chase after Kent's arcanine during the battle on the third floor of the lab, which was causing some subtle tension between the two of them. The last thing that Ash wanted was for his friend to get confused and think that the reason why he was being prohibited from training was because of some sort of punishment.

Ivysaur grumbled in a way that portrayed irritation, snapping Ash out of his rumination.

"Sorry, Ivysaur, I didn't mean to get distracted," said Ash, scratching the back of his head as he looked down at his saurian with apologetic eyes.

Ash proceeded to walk along the beach as Ivysaur trailed behind him, "let's put some distance in-between ourselves and Growlithe. I trust your instincts, but I'd rather err on the side of caution and not risk a collision."

Ivysaur remained silent as he waited for his trainer to settle on a spot to begin working on Double-Edge.

"This should do…" said the dark-haired boy after trudging far enough to where he could just barely see Growlithe dashing across the beach.

He adjusted his cap in order to shield his eyes from the steadily rising sun, "I know you got to see Eevee work on it a few times, but let me explain a couple of things to you before we get going."

The grass-type let out a soft murmur as he focused on Ash.

"Double-Edge is a lot like Tackle and Take Down in the sense that you are trying to forcefully use your body to inflict damage on your opponent," explained Ash, "but there's a big difference. When it comes to Tackle and Take Down, the goal is to bring your target to the ground. When done the right way, both cause damage. But, the former is more of a setup move, while the latter can be used in any situation. Because of Take Down's effectiveness and controllable recoil, it can act as a physical tone setter as well as a finishing move."

He took a deep breath before continuing, "some trainer's would argue that Double-Edge is just a stronger version of Take Down, but I don't agree with that. When you use Take Down, you're trying to throw your bodyweight on top of your opponent, right?"

Ivysaur gave Ash a confirmatory gesture of the head.

"Well, Double-Edge calls for you to launch your body through the pokemon you are battling at full speed," orated Ash as he pounded his right fist into his open left hand as a visual representation, "there is no way to limit the recoil of the technique, and the outcome is totally unpredictable. More often than not, you're going to end up doing a lot more damage to your target than yourself; but, if you botch it, or your opponent counters just right, it's not outside of the realm of possibility that you could end up knocking yourself out."

Comprehending his trainer, Ivysaur snorted.

"With that explanation out of the way," said Ash as he pointed in the opposite direction of where Growlithe was, "to start, I want you to sprint as fast as you can in that direction, and hurl your body like a weapon."

The saurian took off.

"Hold on," demanded Ash, causing Ivysaur to stop dead in his tracks and look back at his trainer with a puzzled expression.

"One more thing," said the boy, using his pointer finger to tap on the top of his head — just above his forehead, "lead with the crown of your head. It's the thickest part of your skull. It'll lessen the odds of you getting a concussion, and it will do the most damage."

Without making a sound, Ivysaur momentarily gazed at Ash with eyes that displayed understanding before facing forward and bolting out of his stationary stance.

Kicking up sand as he picked up a full head of steam, the saurian sprinted a fair distance before leaping forward. He shot through the air — just above the ground — taking on the form of a streaking javelin. His momentum carried him quite a ways before he started to slowdown, and his feet hit the uneven sand. Unable to land while keeping his balance, Ivysaur involuntarily rolled across the beach like a headlong bowling ball.

The dark-haired boy ran across the sand as fast as he could until he saw the saurian quickly bounce up onto his feet the moment that his uncontrollable, breakneck somersault came to a sudden halt. Throttling down to a light jog, Ash huffed as he neared Ivysaur.

"Jeez, you definitely took the full speed part to heart…" said Ash, shaking his head in an incredulous manner, "are you okay?"

Ivysaur dizzily nodded as he shook off the tumble that he just took.

"Are you sure?"

This time, the grass-type emitted an emphatic grunt.

"Well, good job then," complimented Ash with a small smile, "I'm definitely not an expert when it comes to Double-Edge, but I think that was pretty close to perfect."

His reptilian friend responded by looking up at him enthusiastically.

"We can keep practicing it until you feel confident," said Ash, crouching down to Ivysaur's level, "but, honestly, I don't think we need to spend too much time on Double-Edge. Like I told Eevee, it's pretty straight forward."

The young trainer paused as a smirk appeared on his face, "and from what I just saw, you've already got the gist."

Ivysaur murmured before extending one of his vines, holding it out in front of the boy.

Ash grinned while reaching out his hand, allowing the saurian to tap the end of his vine against his palm — which was their version of a high five.

"Are you ready to go again?"

With an assured smile on his face, Ivysaur faced forward, anticipating his next rep.

XXX

She's so talented. So, why does it feel like we're scratching and clawing every time we start working on a new move?

Is it something I'm doing wrong?

Or, is Clefairy's natural moveset that difficult?

Training a fairy is hard…

With both of her arms lifted towards the heavens as she murmured a strange mantra, Clefairy gazed up at the clear blue sky. While wishing he could do more than just watch, Ash prayed under his breath to an unknown higher power that his fairy-type's incantation would garner some results this time around.

Ash hadn't expected Clefairy to get it right away, but he never would have anticipated that after a week's worth of work on Lucky Chant, they would have nothing to show for it.

Before they got started, the young trainer was well aware that there was very little that he could do to help. Lucky Chant was a vague and mysterious normal-type technique that only two species in all of Kanto could naturally learn: the clefairy line and the oddish line. Once activated, it sharply enhanced the user's ability to evade while simultaneously disrupting any nearby pokemons' depth perception and overall accuracy. According to his pokedex, researchers believed that it consisted of a unique, inherent power that some pokemon in the world were able to tap into by speaking a peculiar incantation in their native tongues to an unknown energy source that was located somewhere in the sky.

There were quite a few theories regarding what exactly that source was.

A vast majority of people believed it was the moon.

Others thought that it had something to do with the sun.

And there were even some researchers that believed that Lucky Chant's power came from a deity.

Ash had no way of knowing which theory was true, and quite frankly, he didn't really care. All that mattered to him was that Clefairy hadn't figured out how to tap into the aforementioned energy source, and he wasn't even sure if the chant that she was doing was correct.

He was able to find both an audio clip and a video of a vileplume performing Lucky Chant on his pokedex. However, unsurprisingly, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find any content that conveyed what the technique sounded and looked like when it was a clefairy utilizing it. Thus, Clefairy had translated what she thought the vileplume was saying into her own native language while imitating its posture. About midway through the vileplume's incantation — in both the audio clip and the more detailed video — its voice started to resonate before it was temporarily enshrouded in a swirling vortex of blue and pink star-shaped energy.

Up to this point, Clefairy's voice had yet to reverberate at all, and not even a hint of external energy had been conjured. It was obvious that either something was off, or they were missing an element of the move altogether.

"Should we ask your sister?" queried the dark-haired boy, succumbing to frustration, "she would definitely—"

Stopping mid chant, Clefairy obstinately shook her head.

"Why not?" asked Ash, raising an eyebrow.

The fairy pokemon looked at Ash with determination in her eyes as she pressed her right hand up against her chest. She then proceeded to let out an emphatic grunt before briefly pointing one of her fingers at Ash.

"I see…" said Ash in a drawn out manner, "you want us to keep trying to figure this out on our own?"

Clefairy nodded with a small smile on her face.

"Alright then," said the young trainer, reciprocating his friend's expression, "I understand. No short cuts."

He paused, taking out his pokedex as he looked up at the still sky, "start your chant back up. I'll do my best to try and figure out what we're missing."

Clefairy eagerly raised her hands back in the air and began to speak the same incantation that she had previously while Ash listened.

XXX

"After seeing the way that you moved and battled at the lab last night, it doesn't make sense for me to keep you out of training anymore," said Ash to his apparition as he overheard Clefairy alter the pitch of her Lucky Chant a short distance behind them, "what do you think? Are you ready to start working on a new move, Haunter?"

While surveying the beach to see that Growlithe, Dratini, Ivysaur and Clefairy were all hard at work, Haunter bobbed his body up and down as he emitted a cheerful, ghoulish guffaw.

"That's what I thought," said Ash with a smile, "now the next move that we're going to work on shouldn't be that hard for you to grasp, but I'm having a tough time figuring out how we're going to practice it."

The ghoul goofily crossed his eyes as he waited for his trainer to explain.

Regaining his composure after letting out a brief burst of laughter in response to Haunter's hijinks, Ash looked his ghost-type in the eye, "I'm assuming you're already familiar with it since you were around so many other members of your kind when you lived inside of the Pokemon Tower, but the technique I want you to learn is called Dream Eater."

Haunter's eyes momentarily widened in a way that portrayed malignant eagerness before he scrunched his face, seemingly fighting off an instinctual urge that Ash suspected came from the ghost-type's other self.

"Umm…are you okay?" asked Ash after seeing the apparition's primal reaction.

Haunter immediately rattled his levitating body while grunting, attempting to express that he had everything under control.

"Okay…" muttered Ash in a prolonged manner, "but your other personality hasn't come out for a while. If this becomes a trigger, we're going to have to hold off on it."

With distinguishable comprehension evident in his eyes, Haunter divulged a light chuckle.

Ash gave Haunter a slight nod while raising his hand to his chin, "alright then, now how are we going to practice it?"

Haunter glanced over at the cast of krabby by the shoreline.

"I see where your head's at," said Ash before shaking his head, "but, no, that doesn't sit well with me. They haven't given us any trouble while we've been training here over the past week."

Haunter's expression drooped in a way that portrayed guilt.

"It's okay," reassured Ash with a soft smile, "you were just trying to come up with a solution since using it on our friends isn't an opt—"

All of a sudden, the dark-haired boy felt the strange sensation of his mental barrier expanding within his consciousness.

There's no way…

You've got to be freaking kidding me…

Is my other self suggesting that I—

Yes…it is the best option.

But—

His mental barrier extended even further, giving him a sense of cognitive security that he'd never experienced before.

It-it's Dream Eater, though…

There was a bizarre, low-toned, reverberating sound that echoed from somewhere deep within his consciousness as he experienced his psychological barrier fortify itself to the nth degree.

Alright…I get it…

The young trainer looked at his ghost-type with a nervous expression, "I guess you're just going to have to practice it on me."

Haunter raucously burst out into laughter, interpreting Ash's remark as a joke.

Ash sighed before an awkward smile formed on his face, "Haunter, I'm being serious…"

The apparition's amusement ended abruptly before he repetitively blinked at his trainer with a bewildered expression.

"My new mental barrier is really strong," said Ash with a straight face, trying to suppress his anxiousness.

Haunter remained dumbfounded for a few more seconds before emphatically protesting by shaking his body horizontally and emitting several noncompliant grunts.

"Trust me…" said Ash as he noticed Clefairy and Growlithe stop their training before making their way over to them with concerned looks on their faces, "it'll be fine."

The apparition continued to refuse, unwilling to accept Ash's idea.

The dark-haired boy furrowed his brow before beginning to speak in a sterner tone of voice, "listen to me. I'm telling you it'll be fine. Once you use Hypnosis, you are going to eat my dreams like you usually do. However, this time, you're going to latch onto them with psychic energy. If you do it right, it'll steal some of my stamina, and give it to you."

Placing his disembodied hands on top of his own head, the ghoul's eyes widened, and his typical smile turned upside down.

Haunter was mortified.

Ash took a deep breath.

He understood why his friend had gotten himself worked up. His decision seemed reckless, and Haunter was clearly worried that he would hurt him. But, at the same time, Ash would prefer for his ghost-type to show confidence in his judgement.

His mental barrier was formidable, and his other persona wouldn't have suggested it as an option if it would be detrimental to his health.

Besides, now that Haunter had shown a glimpse of his other self, this was also a protective measure. Every time the ghoul's twisted alter-ego had surfaced, it had happened out of concern for Ash's safety. As long as he himself was the test dummy, the young trainer had zero fear in regard to the possibility of his ghoul losing control.

While holding his head, Haunter continued to shake his head in refusal.

"Haunter, this is the only option that I'm okay with."

Having made her way over at the same time as Growlithe, Clefairy gazed at her trainer intensely as she too shook her head.

His pup let out a soft howl as he looked up at Ash with reflective eyes.

"Don't worry. I'll be okay."

Beyond their position, Ivysaur had started to tiredly trot in their direction, while Ash could see Dratini in his peripherals, slithering towards them from the shore.

Once again, he let out a deep sigh.

At this point, all of his nerves had been replaced by frustration.

Jeez, they're making a huge deal about this…

While folding his arms and tapping his foot in the sand, he waited for Ivysaur and Dratini to get close enough so that he could address them all at once.

"Look, I get that you guys are concerned, but can all of you please just let me do this? My mental barrier can handle it. I can handle it."

Ivysaur glanced over at Clefairy confusedly, looking for an explanation.

Dratini slithered up alongside Growlithe before gazing up at Ash with curious eyes.

As Clefairy clarified the situation to the saurian, Ash smiled at Dratini in a way that portrayed that everything was okay before focusing his attention back on Haunter.

"Haunter, I'm going to say it again, just trust me. You and I both know that learning Dream Eater is an absolute necessity for you to one day become the strongest gengar that you can possibly be."

Taking his shadowy hands off of his corporeal head, Haunter looked at Ash hesitantly. Although he was no longer outright refusing, it was clear that he was still undecided.

"Trust me."

Haunter still appeared to be indecisive.

As Ivysaur stepped in front of Haunter, firmly grunting while vigorously shaking his head, Ash noticed Growlithe abruptly nod out of the corner of his eye. His pup proceeded to step in front of him, facing his teammates before letting out a series of stern, astringent barks.

In subsequence, Clefairy and Ivysaur stepped back with contrite countenances, Dratini bounced up and down elatedly per usual, and Haunter suddenly changed his tune.

Responding to Growlithe by bobbing his body up and down, the ghoul showed Ash a decisive look of determination.

This time, Ash's sigh was one of relief.

I wonder what Growlithe said…?

"Alright, now that we got that straightened out, the rest of you guys can get back to your training," said Ash as he gestured with his hand for them to get going.

None of them moved.

"What are you guys waiting for?"

Without taking a step, they all focused their eyes on Ash and Haunter.

"So…are you all just going to stand here and watch then?"

Growlithe, Clefairy, Ivysaur and Dratini nodded while Haunter awkwardly surveyed his friends.

"Okay then…" said Ash, prolonging his words as he raised both of his eyebrows and slowly nodded his head, "so be it."

He refocused his attention on Haunter, "if I don't wake up after you use Dream Eater, don't let me keep sleeping. I still have to work with Pidgeot this morning."

Haunter let out an affirmative guffaw.

Ash pivoted his line of sight to Clefairy, "if he needs help waking me up just use a really soft Wake-Up Slap on me. That should do the trick."

The fairy-type gave him a surprised look that lasted a moment before she emitted an understanding murmur.

"Alright…" said Ash before taking a deep breath, "Haunter, let's do this. Use Hypnosis."

While wearing an expression on his face that was both guilty and staunch, the apparition raised both of his disembodied hands before emitting a lazy wave of psionic energy that blanketed the upper half of Ash's body. In response, the dark-haired boy felt his mental barrier subside for a brief moment — which allowed the Hypnosis to take effect — before everything went black.

XXX

"A-alright, so do you r-remember the move that Koga's crobat used to increase its s-speed with its t-tail?" asked Ash, involuntarily swaying back and forth while repeatedly blinking his eyes.

Although the effects of Hypnosis and Dream Eater hadn't been as painful as he was expecting, Ash didn't feel good.

He was abnormally groggy.

He had a headache.

He was nauseated.

His speech was sloppy.

His balance was unstable.

And he was sweating profusely.

Pidgeot briefly cringed after Ash mentioned Echo before letting out an affirmative squawk. He then proceeded to tilt his head while looking at his trainer in a confused manner. Clearly the boy's current physical state had caught the avian's attention.

"Ignore my c-condition," said Ash with a fake smile, "I'll be fine. R-right now, I just want you to focus on what I-I'm saying."

The giant flying-type momentarily stared at Ash with intense eyes before he let out a confirmatory high-pitched trill.

As expected, he's in a much better mood now that he can train again.

"G-good. The move that Koga's c-crobat used against us is called Tailwind. It's what we're g-going to learn next."

The avian kept his keen eyes focused on Ash as he listened.

Flattening out his hand in order to convey to Pidgeot that he wanted him to stay put, the young trainer stumbled as he moved towards his avian's side while pointing at his tail feathers.

"L-learning how to use Tailwind is actually pretty straight f-forward," stated the dark-haired boy, "all you n-need to do is figure out how to create a focused W-Whirlwind with your tail. The s-surge from the wind will l-launch you forward, increasing your speed significantly. Due to your s-size and p-power, once you l-learn how to p-pair Tailwind with A-agility, y-you will be a f-force of nature."

Pidgeot's eyes gleamed as he processed Ash's words.

"T-to start, show m-me how much wind you c-can stir up with your tail," commanded Ash, widening his stance in order to maintain his balance.

After letting out a loud, discordant squawk, the avian's body tensed up before his tail feathers began to flap up and down. Ash gave Pidgeot some time to build up momentum before he scrupulously inspected the rate at which the flying-type's tail moved, in addition to the moderate gust of wind that it produced.

"That's pretty g-good considering the fact that we've n-never really worked out your tail," complimented Ash, "for now, I w-want you to keep flapping it in order to build muscle while you stay grounded. A-as soon as you are able to lift y-yourself into the air without using your wings, we will move on t-to the next step."

Pidgeot nodded as his eyes intensified even more. He focused all of his attention on his tail, moving it up and down as fast as he could. The surge of manipulated wind increased in strength and scope, blowing sand in the direction of the calm, blue sea.

"G-good, just keep doing th-that," said Ash while wiping the clammy sweat from his forehead, "I-I need to go see what kind of sh-shape everyone that b-battled against Blaine is i-in. I haven't l-let any o-of them out since they g-got treated at the p-pokemon center."

Pidgeot was too engrossed in his new training to respond as Ash exhaustedly wobbled his way to a part of the beach that was unoccupied by any of his other pokemon that were hard at work. Along the way, he caught a glimpse of Growlithe staring at him in-between Agility reps with a worried expression on his face, and he felt an odd, external sense of guilt coming from the ghoul that dwelled in his shadow.

XXX

"Damn, kid, you look terrible," said Andrew with bloodshot eyes, resting the side of his face in one of his palms while he sat kitty-corner to Ash.

"You're looking pretty rough, too," replied Ash, using his fingertips to rub his temples as Growlithe laid down next to him.

"We didn't sleep last night," inserted JR, widening his brown eyes in-between blinks in attempt to stave off his tiredness, "it took a lot longer to clean things up than we expected, and after seeing some of the officers reactions to what was on the third floor of the lab, we decided that it was best to have them all sign NDAs."

"I see…" said Ash in a drawn out manner.

"Wyyyeere you not able to sleep at all either, Ash?" asked Kent after catching JR's yawn, "you left before midnight, and you look even worse than us."

"I slept fine," said Ash matter-of-factly, "I'm just feeling a little bit under the weather."

"You should tell them the bloody reason that you're feeling like shit," chided a puffy eyed Bill with an evident amount of irritation in his tone of voice.

Ash turned to his right and glared at Bill for a short moment before retorting, "I told you, it was the best option. I didn't want any of my friends to get hurt. I already have four pokemon that can't train right now because of my battle against Blaine, and that's not counting Scyther, who I'm still not sure about."

Bill rolled his eyes as he picked a small, traditional Kanto-style teacup up off of the floor table and brought it up to his lips. Prior to taking a sip, the pokemon researcher groaned, "there's no way that could have been the best option. You're lucky to be awake right now. A whim as daft as that one could have put you into a bloody coma."

"A coma?" queried Kent, who was sitting at the left end of the floor table, "Ash, what the hell did you do?"

Ignoring Kent's question for the time being, Ash kept his eyes glued on Bill, "I already explained it to you, it was my other self's idea. It strengthened my mental barrier to the point where I knew that it would be fine. I wouldn't have done it if I was worried that it would do any serious damage. I'm not an idiot."

Ash could practically feel the overwhelming sense of curiosity and confusion radiating from the Cinnabar trio.

Bill huffed as he shook his head, "I'm not calling you an idiot. It just worries me that you would voluntarily subject yourself to a technique like Dream Eater. I understand that you didn't want to have Haunter use it on any of your other pokemon, and I find it noble that you wouldn't try it out on any of the wild pokemon on the beach, but you could have come up with something better than having him practice it on your bloody self."

"Drea—"

"Mental—"

"Othe—"

The pokemon researcher waved off Andrew, Kent and JR before any of them could get a word in, "hold on, I'm not done!"

Refocusing his eyes on the dark-haired boy, Bill softened his expression, "look, Ash, this is your journey, and you're free to make your own decisions. But, as your friend, I'm going to tell you when I think you are being reckless, and in my opinion, this was one of those moments. Even if you knew that the repercussions wouldn't be horrendous because of your mental barrier, you're still in bloody awful shape right now."

Ash started to rub his temples again as he listened.

Bill took a deep breath before placing a hand on Ash's shoulder, "Even if it's a suggestion from your other persona, choosing to hurt yourself shouldn't be an option."

I should have never said anything.

"Okay, okay, I get it," answered Ash, shaking his head, "I won't do it again."

Despite the fact that the young trainer stood by his decision, he was well aware of the fact that Bill wasn't going to let it go unless he heard what he wanted to hear. Besides, technically he wasn't lying. There was no reason for him to have Haunter practice Dream Eater in such a manner again. The ghoul had managed to steal some of his stamina the first time around, which meant that he had already grasped the fundamental nature of the technique. From this point forward, he would only have Haunter use it in live battles. Granted, taking into consideration the fact that his apparition had figured it out on the first try, he probably could have used that approach from the beginning and avoided this conversation all together. But, for whatever reason, things unfolded the way that they did.

"You actually had Haunter use Dream Eater on yourself…" groaned Kent, shaking his head as he placed one of his hands on his forehead, "are you crazy?"

"A mental barrier, eh?" queried Andrew with a smirk on his face.

"What do you mean by another persona?" questioned JR, looking Ash in the eye from straight across the floor table.

"Sorry, but can you guys please ask your questions one at a time?" pleaded Ash, wincing as his headache momentarily sharpened, "I'm having a tough time focusing."

Growlithe whined as he worriedly looked up at his trainer.

"I'm alright," reassured Ash with a gentle expression before scratching behind his pup's ears, "my head just hurts. It'll be better soon."

The canine gave the young trainer a slight nod before moving closer to him and resting his head in his lap.

After the three elite trainers eagerly glanced at one another in a way that portrayed inquisitiveness, Kent was the first one to speak.

"First off, are you really okay?" asked the yellow eyed ACE trainer, "Dream Eater is a really powerful technique. Bill was putting it lightly when he mentioned that you could have succumbed to a coma. An ordinary kid your age could have been killed."

"I'm fine," muttered Ash, placing his hand on his forehead while resting his elbow on the floor table, "unfortunately, I'm not an ordinary kid."

Kent let out a deep sigh, "I know that now, but still…even after listening to your conversation with Bill, I'm having a tough time understanding why you would put yourself in harms way like that. It doesn't make sense. It's common knowledge that there are some techniques that you can't practice normally. You could have had Haunter put an opponent to sleep during a live battle and worked on Dream Eater then. You're a smart kid. Why force the issue? I know it's inconvenient to search for a trainer to battle when you're not on the road, but aren't there other moves you could have worked on in the meantime?"

"Sure, I guess we could have worked on something else," answered Ash as the sharpness from his headache slightly dulled, "but when I went over the moves that Haunter still had to learn from his natural moveset, I got a feeling that the next one had to be Dream Eater."

"A feeling?" queried Kent, raising an eyebrow.

"When you say a feeling…" said JR, folding his hands together as he displayed a placid demeanor, "can you go into detail about what you mean by that?"

Ash tilted his head slightly, "Um…I don't know how else to describe it. I guess I just kind of felt like Haunter was supposed to learn Dream Eater at the time. Even though our method was unusual, It didn't feel right to teach him any other move while we were on the beach."

"Are you implying that your other persona was pushing you towards teaching Haunter Dream Eater even before it spoke to you?" asked Bill, inserting himself back into the conversation.

Ash took a deep breath, "honestly, Bill, I don't even know anymore. All I'm sure of is that I felt like I had to find a way to start teaching Haunter Dream Eater this morning, and when I was having a tough time coming up with a solution, my other self intervened."

"Does this sort of thing happen frequently?" asked JR while leaning forward.

"Yeah, I think so," responded the dark-haired boy as he continued to scratch behind growlithe's ear, "I didn't notice it until recently, though. Like you said before the raid, destiny has a way of placing me in specific places at critical moments. I used to think I was just unlucky, but on top of finding out who I am, there's been some things that have happened recently that have given me a better idea of what's going on."

"I see…" muttered JR, while slowly nodding his head.

"Okay…I'm sorry if it feels like I'm making you repeat yourself, but let me get this straight…" said Kent, scrunching his forehead and scratching the side of his face in a way that conveyed that he was trying to process what Ash had just said, "so, you're basically saying that you felt compelled by this other persona to teach Haunter Dream Eater, right?"

"Yeah."

"And due to the fact that this other persona suggested that the best plan of action was to have Haunter use it on yourself instead of a pokemon, you not only went through with it, but you also felt confident that you weren't going to be seriously hurt, right?"

"Yup."

"And somehow this persona is related to destiny?"

"It is."

"Woah…" drawled Kent, "no offense, but if it weren't for what I saw when you confronted Archer, I'd think you were insane."

"No offense taken," laughed Ash, "believe me, I know how crazy it sounds."

"So, kid, the reason you were able to handle your haunter's Dream Eater without it causing any major issues was because of a mental barrier?" asked Andrew while he moved his hand from the side of his face to underneath his chin, "it's unusual for a kid your age to have one. I didn't start forming my mental barrier until I was in my teens, and most trainers never build one unless they are connected to the League or spend a lot of time around psychic-types."

The long-haired ACE trainer paused as he gave Ash a subtle smile, "is this something you've been working on because of your friendship with that beauty from Saffron? Or, maybe you started forming one because of your awareness of the abomination?"

"Neither of those is right," replied Ash with a shrug after taking a sip of tea, "although, Sabrina and I decided recently that I needed to build a strong mental barrier before the confrontation with the abomination in a little over five months."

Andrew, Kent and JR's eyes all simultaneously widened on account of what Ash had just said.

"We can discuss your mental barrier later," said JR with fascination evident in his voice, "how do you know about the Champion's estimated target date to takedown the abomination? Only a handful of people know about that. Did Sabrina share it with you?"

"Huh?" queried Ash, momentarily confused.

Oh, yeah, they must be in the dark about most of this stuff…

"The Champion's estimated target date…?" questioned Bill with a sardonic smirk while raising his pointer finger like a know-it-all, "At the very least, Lance must have told you part of the reason why he wants to wait another five or so months to confront the abomination, right?"

"Well, yeah, he said that he came to the conclusion after hearing some information that he got from Sabrina," said Kent with a look of confusion on his face.

"That's partially true," replied Bill, squinting his eyes as he used his pinkie finger to pick one of his ears, "but where do you think Sabrina got that information from?"

"I don't know," muttered Kent, "once Lance said it came from Sabrina, I didn't really question it."

"I just assumed she must have had one of her famous visions or something along those lines," added Andrew.

Bill shrugged, "well, technically, she did get it from a vision…"

"Then what are you getting a—"

"The vision wasn't hers," interrupted Bill while shaking his head.

It was clear by the contorted expressions on all of their faces that the Cinnabar trio was collectively puzzled.

"Then whose vision was it?" asked Kent.

Andrew leaned forward with anticipation.

All of a sudden, JR's eyes enlarged as a look of realization struck his countenance, "knowing Lance's obsession with destiny, I wasn't shocked that his decision had been swayed by Sabrina. But, I did find it a little odd that he was so absolute about it. I've seen him seek consultation from her before, but this was the first time I've ever seen him act like her words were divine instruction."

The Elite Four member zeroed in on Ash before continuing, "the vision came from you, didn't it, Ash?"

With shocked demeanors, Kent and Andrew both focused their attention on the young trainer.

Bill smirked as he casually leaned back, supporting himself by pressing his hands against the tatami floor.

Ash wiped the clammy sweat from his forehead before letting out a sigh, "yeah…I'm the one that told Sabrina how long the League needed to wait, but Bill's slightly off base."

"What do you mean he's off base?"

Bill confusedly tilted his head before there was a momentary hint of recognition on his face. He proceeded to roll his eyes, "oh come on…that's such a minor technicality. Did you have to bloody call me out, my friend? It's not like there wasn't a vision."

"It's important, though," said Ash, taking another sip of tea in order to help with his nausea, "first of all, there were multiple visions — not just one. Secondly, the time to strike wasn't one of the visions. That part was just straight up told to me."

"Multiple vis—"

"Are you a psyc—"

"Wait, what do you mean you were told?" queried JR, using his hand to gesture to Kent and Andrew to keep their questions to themselves for the time being, "whose words could possibly hold enough weight to dictate the actions of the Chosen One, the greatest human psychic in the world, the heir of Silph Co. and the Champion of Kanto?"

Ash scratched the back of his head sheepishly as Bill tried not to blurt the answer out himself.

"Mew."

With dumbfounded looks on their faces, Andrew and Kent were silent.

JR took a deep breath as he struggled to keep his composure.

Ash set his teacup back on the surface of the floor table and began to rub his temples once again as he and Bill gave them a moment to process the news.

"W-what is going on?" muttered Kent in disbelief.

"Things sure are getting interesting…" said Andrew with a smirk.

"Can you please tell me how you came into contact with M-Mew?" questioned JR, stammering when he spoke the S-ranked legendary's name.

For the first time since he met him, the Elite Four member looked genuinely flustered.

All of a sudden, his other self wafted through his consciousness.

Their support is predestined. Now is the time to tell them everything.

I was already planning on it.

"Which time?" asked the dark-haired boy.

"Mew's spoken to you more than—"

Bill's attention sharply shifted to Ash, "are you sure about this?"

Growlithe lifted his head out of Ash's lap before looking at his trainer with a bewildered expression.

"Yeah," said Ash with a nod, "I know I told you I wanted to keep it close to my chest, but they're supposed to know."

Bill hesitated before responding, "okay, if you say so…"

His starter divulged a soft, understanding bark.

Ash could feel that each member of the Cinnabar trio's anticipation and focus had heightened as they waited to hear what he had to say.

For the next several minutes, the dark-haired boy proceeded to explain his encounter with Willow while he was traveling to Celadon and what had happened in the dragon lair that he and Growlithe had discovered in Area Three of the Safari Zone. Kent, Andrew and JR remained quiet for quite some time, waiting until Ash was about to transition to his second moment of telepathic contact with Mew on the Seafoam Islands to speak up.

"So, technically, the League's current actions were initiated when this incredibly powerful ninetales — acting as Mew's convoy — made contact with you well over a month ago," said Kent as he processed Ash's words, "Obviously, at that point, we were operating under the impression that the abomination was under the control of Team Rocket. I'm assuming that is why Lance was hesitant at the time to try and hunt down the rest of those terrorists after what happened in Saffron."

"That would make sense," replied Ash, closing his eyes as he talked in order to soothe his headache, "Like I said, Willow made it very clear that Kanto would be doomed if a move was made against the abomination before her friend was ready. Back then, Sabrina and I talked about the fact that her friend could be Mew, but there was no way to know for sure."

Kent acknowledged Ash's response with a nod as his yellow eyes gleamed with curiosity.

"Damn, kid, as much as I'd love to talk about the fact that you were the first trainer to catch a member of the dratini line in the Safari Zone since JR and I did it, I've got to ask…what's the deal with those visions?" questioned Andrew while running his fingers through his long hair.

Ash proceeded to elucidate what he and Sabrina had deduced about each of the visions.

He disclosed that the scraping of the DNA and the meeting in the cave had already occurred at the time of his first interaction with Mew; whereas, they were unsure about the meaning of the ominous structure on a small island. The boy shared that the clash between two orbs of energy was an inevitable showdown between Mew and the abomination that would take place on the promised day and that the vague, collective vision of destruction and salvation contained two possibilities in which the outcome would more than likely be determined by Ash's actions.

"W-woah…that's a lot to take in," said Kent after a short moment of silence, "so Mew and the abomination have already met once and are destined to battle in five months?"

"Yeah," replied Ash with a sigh.

"Man…an S-ranked legendary and a potential SS-ranked legendary are going to duke it out…" muttered Andrew worriedly, "I know that Mew's involvement improves our chances to defeat the abomination, but the fallout could be—"

"Catastrophic," inserted Bill, finishing the long-haired ACE trainer's sentence, "which is the most pressing reason why what we did last night was so important. Could you imagine if there were more than one bloody abomination involved? We already know that we have this face-off between almighty beings to worry about. This situation has already reached uncharted territory. It cannot be allowed to be exacerbated any further."

Andrew and Kent gulped as JR appeared to be in deep thought.

"Well, good thing we don't have to worry about that anymore now that the lab has been taken care of and Archer has been arrested," responded Andrew while hastily pouring himself a cup of tea.

Kent folded his arms as his disposition became uneasy, "I don't think it's wise for us to let our guards down."

"I never said anything about letting our guards down, bro" replied Andrew, rolling his eyes, "I'm just saying that we took care of the guy that was running these experiments and shutdown his base of operation. We shouldn't have to worry about them making another abomination now."

"Unfortunately, Andrew, Kent's bloody right," said Bill with a serious expression before addressing all three of them, "I'm sure you guys must have found all kinds of concerning things when you and the Cinnabar Police Department cleaned up the lab last night. If I was in my right state of mind last night, I would have stuck around to help make sure, but I can bloody guarantee that you didn't find any original fragments of Mew's DNA."

"I'm not so sure about that," said Kent, raising his hand to his chin, "we found several freezers full of DNA on the second and third floor."

"Was there anything hidden?" asked Bill skeptically, "did your arcanine catch a whiff of something that stood out from everything else?"

"Hmmm…he was rather perturbed by the fetuses, and was intrigued by the DNA belonging to the kabuto, omanyte and aerodactyl lines, but he didn't really point out anything else…"

Bill shifted his attention to Ash's pup, "what about you Growlithe? When Mew spoke to Ash in the dragon lair and in the articuno's roost did you smell anything special?"

"Artic—"

"Shhhhhhh!"

After momentarily swiveling his gaze away from Growlithe to shush Andrew while JR and Kent's eyes magnified once more, Bill focused back on the canine.

Growlithe lifted his head out of his trainer's lap before nodding.

"Did you pick up anything similar in the lab?"

As expected, his pup shook his head.

"An articuno?" queried JR as he looked Ash in the eye.

The dark-haired boy simply nodded.

The Elite Four member shook his head while wearing a smile that conveyed perplexity.

"He'll tell you what happened on the Seafoam Islands soon," said Bill, shaking his head, "but first, I need to get my point across."

"I think you've already made your point pretty clear," replied Kent before taking a deep breath, "you're implying that none of Mew's DNA was at the lab when we raided it."

Bill gave an affirmative gesture of the head before responding, "yes, but what I'm trying to make clear is what that means."

The Cinnabar trio honed in on Bill.

"I'm pretty sure I already know what you're getting at," said Kent while leaning forward, "but you might as well elaborate."

"First off, just in case any of you aren't convinced, I want to clarify that if Growlithe was able to recognize a divine scent from a distance during these occurrences that involved Mew, then he would have definitely picked up on the existence of DNA that belonged to the same being if it was present in the lab," explained Bill, "if you also take into consideration that Kent's arcanine didn't notice anything, it only emphasizes my point."

He paused as he intentionally focused his attention on JR, "If Team Rocket has anything left of Mew's DNA, I'm pretty confident that it's in the possession of executive Proton or the Boss. Unless the League can get the information from Archer, we won't know for sure until both of them have been captured and interrogated."

"The League is working around the clock to uncover their identities and track them down as we speak," replied JR, "we'll find them. It's just a matter of time. When we do, we'll be sure to confiscate the DNA in order to ensure that something like this doesn't happen again."

He took a deep breath before articulating the rest of his thought, "in my opinion, although I do agree that we shouldn't let our guards down completely, I do think that taking down the lab and Archer was a major blow to their overall operation. Also, I'm not overly concerned about the possibility of another abomination being created in the near future."

Bill tilted his head while furrowing his brow, "I know what happened last night was bloody pivotal, but how can we rest easy if Team Rocket still has some of Mew's DNA?"

"Did you get a good look at the abomination fetuses on the third floor?" questioned JR.

Ash and Bill leaned forward in preparation to listen to what the dark-haired man had to say.

"Kind of," replied Bill, placing a hand on his chin, "by the time we got up there, the place was a mess, and the lights were flickering. As far as I could tell, though, several of them were about as big as each of the fetuses in the jars."

"You're right about their sizes," said JR placidly, "but that's beside my point."

Ash and Bill both looked at him quizzically.

"Did you see their features?"

"I think I can speak for at least Ash and I when I say that we were a little too preoccupied and disgusted to truly examine them," replied Bill before turning to the young trainer to confirm.

Ash nodded before stretching his stiff neck from side to side, "yeah, I was focused on the battle. I didn't get a detailed look at any of them."

"I got a good look when we were cleaning up and collecting our pokemon last night," said Kent, "but I guess it didn't really register to me."

"I didn't really look," said Andrew.

JR pivoted his attention between Ash, Bill, Kent and Andrew, "well, I did. The fetuses were similar in shape and color to the ones in the jars. However, their facial features were deformed and undefined. They kind of looked like ditto transformations."

"Intriguing…" said Bill in a drawn out manner while squinting his eyes in deep thought, "Archer did mention that they would have already made another one if it weren't for the doc's de—"

Bill choked up for a moment before taking a deep breath.

"You don't have to say it," comforted JR with a gentle smile, "we know what you mean."

"W-well, anyways because of what b-bloody happened," stammered the pokemon researcher, "I figured that they were working at a much slower rate, but maybe they had to start over from scratch."

"Archer mentioned that it wasn't just Dr. Fuji," said Ash, turning towards Bill, "he also said that all of the other scientists that created it were killed as well."

"You guys didn't mention that part," said JR, sharply glancing over at Kent and Andrew.

"We haven't had a chance to talk about everything," replied Kent.

Andrew shrugged as he used his head to gesture towards Kent, "what he said."

JR sighed, "that's important information. If what Archer said is true, and all of the scientists that created it were killed, then I think we're okay for the time being, especially if you take into consideration that we just arrested most of the scientists at the Cinnabar Lab. Even if the Boss or Proton still has some of Mew's DNA, they can't do anything with it unless they have control over people that are capable of bringing their twisted vision to life. Now, there's always a chance that they could have another lab filled with geniuses out there somewhere, but I find that possibility unlikely."

"What do you mean most of the scientists?" queried Ash.

"What makes you so sure they don't have another bloody lab somewhere?" asked Bill, "the doc's journal entries state that the abomination was born on an unknown island, so we can presume that there at least used to be one other lab at a secret location."

Electing to answer Ash's question first, JR looked the young trainer in the eye, "don't worry. We got all of the scientists that were in the lab at the time of the raid. I said most of them because the Cinnabar Police Department has just now started tracking down the ones that had either already left by the time we got there or weren't scheduled to work yesterday. By the end of the day, they should all be under custody."

The dark-haired boy nodded.

The Elite Four member turned his head towards Bill, "the reason I think it's unlikely that there is another lab is because no matter how powerful Team Rocket's boss is, it's not like he has unlimited resources. You're a researcher, Bill. You know how much money it costs to run a facility like the Cinnabar Lab. Obviously, they needed Dr. Fuji's intelligence to pull off the creation of the abomination, but they also benefitted from his funding and connections in order to make it happen. That's got to be one of the primary reasons why this whole farce was necessary."

He sighed, "If they could afford a secret lab, why would they risk being compromised by continuing to work out of the Cinnabar lab after Dr. Fuji's death. It wouldn't have been that hard to relocate the lab's employees, and nobody from the League would have asked questions about a bunch of no name scientists leaving Cinnabar after Dr. Fuji decided to take a leave of absence."

"Hmmm…you make some good points," muttered Bill, scratching the back of his head as he turned towards Ash, "what do you think, my friend?"

Ash took a moment to come to a conclusion of his own before answering, "I think he's right. Besides, it's not like finding the Boss and Proton aren't a priority. Unless I'm misunderstanding something, it doesn't seem as though our feelings about the situation make much of a difference."

The young trainer sighed as he focused his attention on JR, "the League's already working as fast as they can to find them, right?"

"Yeah," replied the Elite Four member with a definitive nod.

"That's what I thought," said Ash before shifting his tired eyes back over to Bill, "I'm going to trust JR, and try not to worry too much about Team Rocket creating another abomination right now. I've already got enough on my plate. Besides, Mew told me that the best thing for me to do is to focus on my journey. At this point, I just have to believe that destiny will take me to the right places if I'm needed."

Bill smiled softly at Ash, "I understand, my friend. I won't be able to rest easy until those bloody bastards are behind bars, but I think it's healthy not to dwell too much on what's outside of our control."

The dark-haired boy nodded at Bill as JR cleared his throat in order to get their attention.

"Now, Ash, can you please tell me about what happened on the Seafoam Islands?" asked JR while clasping his hands in anticipation.

"Yeah, kid, we're dying to know," said Andrew, leaning forward while resting both of his elbows on the floor table.

As he sat cross legged, Kent folded his arms while involuntarily tapping the side of his foot on the tatami floor, "the twin islands are a mysterious place. Start from the beginning."

Bill anxiously bit his fingernails as he waited for his friend to share what had happened during his second interaction with Mew. Even though the pokemon researcher had been the one to unveil that the boy had come into contact with an articuno, he had only done so after the young trainer had already stated that he was willing to speak about his experience on the Seafoam Islands.

"Bill, don't worry," said Ash with a confident expression despite his aching condition, "trust me, they're supposed to know."

The pokemon researcher sighed as he slowly fell backwards with his hands behind his head into a lying position while preparing to listen to Ash tell a story that involved one of the most groundbreaking revelations in the history of Kanto.

It took quite some time for Ash to disclose the different twists and turns that occurred while he, Growlithe and Charmeleon explored the Seafoam Islands' subterranean cave system. He mentioned his pup's strange behavior due to the unique scent that he kept sporadically picking up as well as his own unnatural drive to continue to go deeper despite not having a practical motive to justify the risk of his actions. The young trainer described the frigid, swirling draft of potent wind that came from deep within the cave system until it mysteriously came to an inexplicable stop, and he talked about the many large groups of pokemon that he and his friends had to carefully bypass. Ash recounted the massive wall of ice that blocked off the cavernous staircase that descended to an unfathomable depth underneath the earth's surface as well as the sheer, burning cold that he felt when he reached the primordial vault that destiny had led him to.

"So, your other self and Growlithe led you to an undiscovered chamber?" asked Kent.

"Yeah," replied Ash, "I got an overwhelming feeling that I was the first person to ever step foot in there."

"Is this where the articuno was, kid?" questioned Andrew with excitement evident in his expression.

Ash nodded as he registered JR's eyes gleaming with anticipation.

"The first thing I noticed in the cave was that the walls and ground were made of a strange crystal-like ice. The coldness that came from the ice was different. The only way I can explain it was that it felt old and suffocating."

"That's interesting," said Kent while curiously scratching the side of his face, "the ice actually gave off that kind of sensation. Are you sure you weren't feeling the pressure of the articuno's presence?"

"I'm positive," replied Ash with certainty in his eyes, "At that point, I may have already sensed that something incredibly strong was in the cave with us, but it was pretty clear to me that the ice was infused with something unique, and it had been there for a long time."

"When did you first see it?" queried Andrew, seemingly uninterested in the minor details.

"I actually heard it first," said Ash, "the cave felt gigantic, so after seeing the ice on the walls and the ground, I pointed my flashlight up to see how tall the ceiling was. It was so dark that I couldn't see anything, but I knew something was wrong when Growlithe and Charmeleon started to go on the defensive. They were brave, but their bodies were trembling. A few seconds later, I heard a really low clicking sound coming from above followed by a squawk that was so loud it forced me to cover my ears. Growlithe and Charmeleon fired some flames up in the air to try and protect us, but they were extinguished immediately by a sharp gust of wind. The next thing I knew, a massive, freezing beam hit the ground before we were encircled in a tall boundary of the same strange ice that covered the walls and the ground."

"Holy shit…" said Kent in a prolonged manner, "I'm surprised you didn't try to run away."

"We did," replied Ash as he let out a light burst of disconcerted laughter, "like I said, we were completely surrounded by ice before we even had time to react. There was nowhere to go."

Growlithe quietly whined while reliving the events in his head of what happened in the frozen, cavernous vault.

"What happened next?" asked JR with big eyes, completely enthralled by Ash's story.

"We were hit with a heavy downburst of wind and forced to the ground. The pressure was intense, and the moment that I felt it, I knew that it was the same wind that filled the caves throughout most of our time on the Seafoam Islands. This was when I realized exactly what it was that we were dealing with. When the wind suddenly stopped, and I looked up to see its dark red eyes and the shadowy shape of the crest on its head, I thought we were going to die."

Ash paused momentarily, expecting that someone would ask a question, but was surprised to find that all three members of the Cinnabar trio and Bill were completely silent as they waited for him to continue to recount what had happened.

"At first, a lot of regrets passed through my head. At that moment, I hated myself. I couldn't help but think that by following this feeling that I couldn't explain, I was about to get my friends killed. There was no point in trying to battle it. Even if I let out every single one of my pokemon, it wouldn't have mattered. That much was obvious."

He surveyed each of the three elite trainers, "I don't know, maybe you guys could have done something with all of your powerful pokemon and those stones, but that wasn't the case for me. I knew my friends and I were powerless. It was a frightening feeling to know that everything could come to an end depending on what this overwhelming being decided to do."

JR nodded with an intense expression.

Andrew leaned even further forward than before.

Kent continued to anxiously tap his foot on the tatami floor.

Growlithe lifted his head out of his trainer's lap, looking up at him with comforting eyes.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Bill had eagerly started to sit up, likely with the intention of asking the Cinnabar trio about the mega stones that Ash had just mentioned, but the pokemon researcher respectfully decided to lay back down and let his friend finish his story.

While scratching behind his pup's ear, Ash continued, "but then something crossed my mind. If the articuno wanted to kill us, why didn't it do so the moment that we stepped into the cave? Why did it carefully extinguish Growlithe and Charmeleon's flames? Why did it encircle us? Why did the wind in the cave system stop? Why did I feel like I had to go down there?"

He took a sip of tea before taking a deep breath, "and then it happened."

"What happened?" asked JR eagerly as Kent and Andrew fidgeted with anticipation.

"The same thing that you guys saw when Archer claimed that Team Rocket's boss was the Chosen One," replied Ash with a slight frown, "my other self took over."

"The silver eyes?"

"The commanding voice?"

"The indomitable presence?"

"Yeah…" replied Ash, placing his teacup down on the floor table before sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

"Was this the first time?" questioned JR with a curious expression.

He shook his head, "No. It also happened a few days before when I let my gyarados out of her safari ball for the first time."

"Interesting…" said JR, drawing out his voice as he held his hand up against his chin, "I'd like to circle back to that at some point, but for now, please continue."

Ash gave the Elite Four member a slight nod as he tried his best to recall in detail exactly what happened while his other persona was in control, "as my other self stood up, it felt like I was being pulled into the passenger seat of a car. I could see, hear and feel everything that was happening, but it was outside of my control. Growlithe and Charmeleon's eyes were glowing, and my body was saying things that I didn't understand."

While he was scratching behind Growlithe's ears, they perked up. It was clear to Ash that his friend was listening intently.

"It was weird. Even though the cavern was pitch dark — while my other self was in control — I could see everything as clear as day. The articuno was as beautiful as it was frightening. It was humongous, its wings were made of pure ice, its talons were as sharp as blades and its long, dark blue tail was breathtaking. My other self stared straight at it before saying, 'Articuno, the prophecy is in motion. It begins in Kanto. The first trial is imminent. You know why I have come.'"

"The prophecy is in motion…" stated Kent, "It must have been talking about The Legend of the Chosen One…"

"It begins in Kanto…" recited Andrew, running his fingers through his hair.

"The first trial is imminent…" muttered JR as he looked Ash in the eye, "your other self was talking about the abomination…?"

"Exactly," said Ash with resolve.

"You know why I have come…" repeated JR, "what does that mean? What happened next?"

"The articuno looked at me like it knew exactly what my other self was talking about and nodded. The next thing I knew, an extremely vivid image of Mew popped into my head. It was even clearer than the one that I saw while I was in the dragon lair. The image of Mew said, 'what speaks is you. What watches is you. Witness the essence of who you are.'"

"Hmm…so, essentially, Mew was telling you that both your other self and your regular self are one and the same," said Kent, rubbing his chin.

"Like two sides of the same coin…" muttered Andrew.

"Witness the essence of who you are…" drawled JR, "I have a feeling that there is a lot of meaning behind those words."

"There is…" said Bill in a prolonged manner while laying on the floor, "but the only person that's going to be able to figure out what those words mean is Ash, which is why he needs to read the—"

"How many times do I have to tell you, Bill?" chided Ash, wincing as his headache suddenly sharpened, "I'm going to read more of the prophecy while we're in Pallet."

"And didn't I tell you that I wasn't going to stop giving you a hard time about it until I see you put your money where your bloody mouth is, my friend," responded Bill with a playful smirk.

"Ugh, you did, but—"

"Ash, Bill — save this for later," interrupted Kent.

"Yeah, you guys can bicker as much as you want after Ash's done telling us this banger of a story," added Andrew.

JR nodded as he folded his arms.

Bill chuckled, "I'll bloody zip it."

"Sorry," said Ash while pressing his pointer fingers against his temples, "anyways, as soon as Mew was done speaking to me, my other self stared at the articuno and said, 'as promised by destiny, bring me my egg."

Kent jolted up.

Andrew tilted his head.

And JR's eyes widened.

"While it flew up towards its nest, Growlithe and Charmeleon looked up at me. Their eyes were still glowing as they pressed the buttons on their pokeballs and returned themselves. In that moment, I no longer felt cold. A few seconds later, the articuno landed in front of me. It stood on one leg as it let out a satisfied trill before opening up its talon and giving me its egg."

Kent's lower jaw was practically touching the floor.

"What!?" shouted Andrew — dumbfounded.

JR's eyes were nearly bulging out of his head.

Ash shook his head in an amused manner, "with the egg in my hands, my other self smiled before saying, 'you have fulfilled your task appointed to you by destiny, the Original One watches with pride.' Then the articuno looked up at the cavern's ceiling and let out a loud, triumphant squawk before my other self spoke again and said, 'I shall raise him to be valorous. Your son shall help me keep the world in balance.'"

Maintaining their same astonished facial expressions, Kent and Andrew were utterly speechless.

"The 'Original One'…" muttered JR under his breath while looking at Ash in a way that portrayed that he was contemplating saying something.

Ash gazed at the Elite Four member, using his eyes to invite him to ask a question.

"No, that's okay…" replied JR, "I have a feeling I shouldn't say anything. Go ahead and continue."

"Good call," inserted Bill, "he can find out when he reads the prophecy."

"Um…okay," drawled Ash, slightly annoyed "anyways, there was a moment of understanding between my other self and the articuno before Mew suddenly popped into my head again and said, 'this will be the last time that I intervene before the promised day. The condition of your body has left me no choice. Until Willow shows herself, keep your eyes focused on your journey'. Right after Mew was done speaking, the entire cavern was filled with a bright pink light before my other self handed me back control of my body. I blacked out immediately afterwards. When I woke up, I was on Cinnabar Island's northern beach. Growlithe and Charmeleon were outside of their pokeballs keeping me warm, and the egg was in my arms. My instincts took over, and I had my wartortle freeze it before I put it in one of my depository cases. The next morning, I called Bill and told him about the egg because I wasn't sure how to incubate it. That's why he's here and will be traveling with me for the foreseeable future."

Unsurprisingly, the room was quiet for quite some time as Ash and Bill gave the Cinnabar trio an opportunity to process everything that they had just heard.

"N-no way…." stammered Kent in disbelief.

"Th-this is unbelievable…" muttered Andrew, holding his hands up against both sides of his face.

"C-can you sh-show it to us?" asked JR shakily.

It was clear that the Elite Four member and the two first-class ACE trainers had been significantly affected by the tail end of Ash's story.

"Yeah, I can—"

"Wait!" blurted Bill as he jerked his body up into a sitting position, "if you want Ash to show you the egg, then you blokes are going to have to do something for us in return."

After hearing the pokemon researcher's words, JR, Andrew and Kent looked at him perplexedly.

With a similarly quizzical expression, Ash turned his head towards Bill, "huh? What are you saying? The egg is mine. I'm free to—"

"Just trust me, my friend," interrupted Bill while leaning forward, "you've shared a ton of vital information during this conversation. It's only fair that they return the favor."

"Urg…okay, but what—" started Ash before he realized what Bill was getting at.

…He must want information about the stones.

During the raid — right before Kent flew off to battle the aerodactyl on the back of his charizard — the yellow eyed ACE trainer had told Bill that they would talk more about the stones later, so the dark-haired boy had no reason to believe that the Cinnabar trio would refrain from disclosing the information that Bill was looking for. However, Ash couldn't blame his friend for using the egg as an additional incentive to ensure that they learned more about the phenomenon of mega evolution that they had just witnessed firsthand.

Clever as usual, Bill...

"What do you want, Bill?" asked JR as his eager eyes shifted back and forth between the pokemon researcher and Ash.

While Andrew and Kent anxiously reached for their tea cups, Bill replied, "Ash shared groundbreaking information with the three of you, so I'm asking that you do the same. Tell us about the mega stones. Where did you get them, and how were you able to activate them?"

He paused as he looked Kent in the eye, "you mentioned last night that Professor Oak and Steven Stone were the ones that figured it out. When did this happen? It's rare that my father and I aren't in the loop when it comes to a matter as bloody monumental as something like this."

"Fair enough," replied JR with a nod as he glanced back and forth between Ash and Bill, "it's classified information, but considering who the two of you are and what you've disclosed to us, I don't have any problem sharing with you what we know about the stones."

The Elite Four member pivoted his attention to Andrew and Kent, "any objections?"

"None," said Kent, shaking his head.

"As much as I want to see the egg, I'm not saying shit," said Andrew with a shrug and a snide facial expression, "you two can say whatever you want, but I don't want to add to my reputation of being a blabber mouth."

JR quietly laughed.

Kent rolled his yellow eyes.

Ash and Bill amusedly smirked after listening to the Cinnabar trio come to a decision.

JR took a deep breath, "A little less than a year ago, Lance gave some mega stones to a handful of Kanto's strongest trainers. At the time, he made it clear what the stones were while informing us that Professor Oak and Steven Stone had been working with a of couple researchers from the Kalos region that had made an unprecedented discovery that would soon be revealed to us."

"I'm assuming that the unprecedented discovery you are talking about involves the activation devices that the three of you were wearing on your wrists during the battle against the aerodactyl?" questioned Bill, folding his arms while raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly," said JR.

The Elite Four member pulled up his red sleeve, revealing a thick, silver bangle that was fastened around his right forearm. He used his left hand to slide it down to his wrist before turning it to show that there was a small, mesmerizing, multi-colored stone with a black swirl that looked like an uneven, striped raindrop fixed into the center of it.

"It's amazing…" said Ash in-between blinks.

Bill's eyes widened, "bloody hell…"

"This is a key stone," explained JR with a smirk, "I don't know all of of the details, but I do know that a couple of archeologists dug up several of them during an expedition to some ancient ruins in Kalos. After delivering them to some skilled researchers in Kalos, those researchers identified what the stones were before attempting to restore them. After hitting a wall, the researchers contacted Steven Stone — who, with the help of Professor Oak — was able to figure out how to revitalize them and get them to trigger a reaction with the mega stones."

"Ahhh, so the key stones themselves are the activators. No wonder we've never been able to figure out how to trigger the mega stones. We were missing an entire piece to the puzzle. It was smart of them to reach out to Steven," said Bill with a massive grin on his face, "when it comes to geoscience, there is no one in the world that is more adept. Do you know what kind of condition the stones were in when they were found?"

"I don't," replied JR, shaking his head "like I said, I don't know all of the details."

"Who's Steven Stone?" queried Ash. He'd been curious since the moment that his name was mentioned during the raid, but until now he had yet to ask.

It was quiet for a moment as all four of them looked at Ash with nonplused looks on their faces.

"You don't know who—"

"Wallace has never talked to you about Steven?" questioned Bill while simultaneously interrupting JR.

"No," replied Ash with a look of confusion, "last night was the first time I've ever heard his name. Is he friends with Wallace or something?"

The Elite Four member raised both of his eyebrows in a curious manner before he subtly nodded his head, "oh, yeah, I almost forgot that you have a relationship with the Champion of Hoenn."

"They met on the SS. Anne," said Kent to JR before redirecting his attention to Ash, "you guys seemed pretty close in Saffron. Steven Stone has never come up in conversation?"

"Never," answered Ash — slightly irritated, "can you guys just tell me who he is?"

"He's Wallace's predecessor," responded JR with a look that portrayed reverence, "Steven Stone is one of the strongest trainers in the world."

Ash's eyes widened, "he was the Champion of Hoenn?"

JR nodded.

"And as I mentioned earlier, he's also the greatest geoscientist in the world," reiterated Bill, nodding while haughtily folding his arms and closing his eyes, "one of the few young researchers that's brilliance rivals my own."

Unbeknownst to Bill, Ash and the Cinnabar trio rolled their eyes in response to the pokemon researcher's self-aggrandizing comment.

"Steven stepped down from his duties as Champion less than a year ago in order to focus on his research," explained Bill, "he appointed Wallace — who at the time was the Sootopolis City gym leader and a world renowned pokemon coordinator — as his successor after coming to the conclusion that he was better suited for the role than any of Hoenn's Elite Four. It was quite the controversial decision at the time, although Wallace ended up proving Steven right when he handily defeated all four members of the region's Elite Four on national television within the span of a bloody week."

"Woah…" said Ash in a prolonged manner, "I had no idea."

I wonder why Wallace has never talked to me about any of this…

It's not like he's shy when it comes to talking about himself…

Well…technically it's public knowledge…so, maybe he thought I already knew.

Still…it's kind of odd.

"Maybe it just never came up," said Kent with a shrug, "anyways, now that Ash knows who Steven Stone is, do you guys have any more questions about the stones?"

"What's the professor's role in all of this?" asked Ash.

JR let out a sigh as he scratched the back of his head, "as I understand it, Steven was responsible for restoring the key stones, while Professor Oak is the one that figured out the conditions necessary in order to get a reaction to occur between the key stones and the mega stones."

"What are the conditions?" asked Bill, leaning forward with attentive eyes.

"Well…until last night, we thought that a key stone worn by a trainer sharing a strong bond with a pokemon in possession of a mega stone that uniquely corresponds with its species' fully mature form was the only way to trigger mega evolution," said JR, rubbing his chin with his thumb, "but, now, I'm not entirely sure."

Having a tough time comprehending what JR had just said, Ash blinked in confusion before taking a deep breath in response to an uncomfortable wave of nausea caused by Haunter's Dream Eater.

Similarly befuddled, Growlithe let out a soft, baffled howl.

"I see…" muttered Bill, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples, "so the theory that each mega stone is only compatible with a particular species is correct…how peculiar."

"Exactly," stated Kent.

Putting pressure on the floor table with both of his elbows the pokemon researcher continued to verbally ruminate, "a key stone has to be worn by the trainer, while a mega stone has to be held by the pokemon…I'm sure proximity also has something to do with it. A strong bond—"

Breaking up his own audible thought, Bill had a moment of realization, "I see where your skepticism is coming from. It doesn't make sense that the relationship between humans and pokemon could have anything to do with mega evolution when Archer was able to get a demented being like that aerodactyl to achieve such a form?"

The Cinnabar trio traded glances before JR hesitantly responded, "that's certainly a part of it, but there's another factor."

Bill raised an eyebrow.

Ash patiently waited for JR to elaborate.

"Archer didn't have a key stone on him," said the Elite Four member.

The pokemon researcher's eyes widened while Ash furrowed his brow and tilted his head.

"Are you sure he didn't get rid of it once the mega evolution took place?" asked Bill while straightening his posture.

JR nodded, "it crossed my mind initially, but in hindsight there was no visible reaction on Archer's person at the time of evolution. You guys saw the three releases of energy that occurred when our key stones and the mega stones resonated, right?"

"Yeah," said Ash.

"We did," replied Bill.

"Okay," answered JR with certainty in his eyes, "then I shouldn't have to explain to you that the activation sequence isn't exactly something you can hide. When the aerodactyl mega evolved, the only visible reaction came from the massive mega stone that was strapped to its chest."

"Now that you mention it," said Bill, "that mega stone was way bigger than any of the ones that I've ever seen. I wonder if that has anything to do with it…"

"It's definitely a possibility," replied JR, unconsciously grabbing his depository belt, "I didn't take the time to closely examine the stone when I captured the aerodactyl, so maybe there's more to it than just its size. Either way, after last night, it's clear that there is more to mega evolution than what we currently understand. As you mentioned earlier — even if there was a key stone hidden somewhere — it doesn't explain the fact that there is no way that the aerodactyl had any sort of bond with Archer or anyone else for that matter. Its mind was completely corrupted, and I don't even know where to begin when it comes to the ominous aura that it was giving off. That was far from natural. The League has a lot to examine when it comes to the state of that pokemon."

"There's certainly a lot to unpack," said Bill with a sigh, "ugh, it's just one more thing I'm going to have to follow up with. Life sure has gotten bloody wild lately."

"That barely describes it," muttered Ash, wiping the sweat off of his forehead as he tried to make sense of everything that they had just talked about.

After twisting his waist from side to side in order to stretch, Kent pivoted his attention between Ash and Bill, "does the information that JR has shared suffice?"

Ash nodded before looking over at Bill. Honestly, he wasn't even sure if he could process anything else. The conversation had been complex and lengthy, and his current condition didn't exactly help.

"I guess that's good enough for now," said Bill, placing his chin in his palm as he leaned up against the table, "Ash and I are headed to Pallet as soon as we're done here anyways. I'll save the rest of my questions for Professor Oak."

"Good," replied JR, "the professor will be able to tell you way more than us."

He shifted his placid eyes in the direction of Ash, "now can—"

"Let's see the egg!" blurted Andrew, inserting himself back into the conversation in an enthusiastic manner.

JR shook his head exasperatedly after being interrupted before focusing his serene eyes on Ash.

An eager smile formed on Kent's face as he zeroed in on the dark-haired boy with a look that conveyed anticipation.

Bill let out an amused chuckle as he watched Growlithe lift himself off of Ash's lap so that the young trainer could grab ahold of his nearby backpack. After dragging it closer to himself, the young trainer unzipped his bag before pulling out the depository case that he stored the egg in.

"I'll go get some towels," said Bill, quickly hopping up and scurrying over to the bathroom.

"Thanks, Bill," said Ash as he tapped at the screen on the depository case, "I don't plan on keeping the egg out long enough for it to start to melt, but it's better to be safe. I'd feel terrible if the floor was damaged. I don't want to cause any problems for Blaine."

Despite the Cinnabar trio's anticipation, Ash could feel a little bit of the energy leave the room when the dark-haired boy mentioned the gym leader's name. It was evident that they were all worried about him.

"How's the old man doing?" asked Bill with a frown after shuffling his way back over to Ash's side and laying out two white towels on the tatami floor.

"He worked hard last night to help us save as much of the lab as possible," said Kent with a sigh, "once we finished up, he went with Officer Jenny to ensure that they were able to securely transport Archer as well as all of the other Rockets and corrupt scientists to the Cinnabar Police Station. Just like the three of us, I doubt he's slept."

"Bloody hell…" muttered Bill, shaking his head, "after seeing his condition last night, should the old man really be pushing himself like that?"

"Obviously not," sighed JR, "but just like when we tried to get him to head back to the inn, there was no way we could stop him."

"Stubborn old bastard…" groaned Bill, "anyways, we'll have to talk more about Blaine in a little bit."

The pokemon researcher turned to Ash, "go ahead, my friend. Show it to them."

With a noticeable frown on his face caused by the brief discussion about Blaine, Ash pointed the depository case towards the towels that Bill had laid out before pressing the withdraw option. A ray of blue light emanated from the storage device, covering the small area above the towels. As it dispersed, a block of ice containing an entrancing, translucent, oval-shaped object that enshrouded a pulsating pink and black embryo became visible to them.

The moment it was unveiled, the Cinnabar trio let out a collection of astonished gasps.

A beaming grin formed on Bill's face, "Bloody magnificent, isn't it?"

Ash couldn't help but smile. No matter how many times he saw it, his amazement remained the same.

Kent and Andrew were once again speechless.

With widened eyes, JR impulsively leaned forward, nearly knocking the tea kettle off of the floor table. After reflexively grabbing ahold of the ceramic piece before it hit the tatami floor, the Elite Four member hastily scooted around to Ash and Bill's side of the table to get a closer look.

With all four of his limbs planted on the tatami floor, he gazed down at the egg made of living hailstone that was lodged within the block of ice.

His expression conveyed pure wonderment.

While he closely stared at it, Kent and Andrew both made their way over with similar countenances. After what felt like quite some time, JR lifted his hands up off of the floor and turned to face Ash.

"Destiny sure can be beautiful."

A small smile formed on Ash's face as his headache and nausea waned, "when it feels like it."

Growlithe let out a quiet, amused bark.

XXX

"You have all of our contacts!" bellowed JR over the loud, whirring sound of the helicopter's blades, "if you need anything, let us know!"

"Will do!" replied Ash, holding onto his hat in order to ensure that the harsh burst of wind coming from Bill's sleek, silver rotorcraft didn't blow it away.

As Growlithe sat eagerly by his side, Ash peaked over at Clefairy and her sister, who were standing by the shoreline, saying their goodbyes with mixed emotions. It was obvious that they cherished the little bit of time that they got to have together after their unexpected introduction; however, it was also clear that their separation was only temporary. Ash and JR had made sure to explain to them that they would be seeing each other again soon.

Destiny had made that apparent.

"You sure you don't want to ride with me, my friend!?" howled Bill through the open door that led to his helicopter's cockpit.

"I'm positive!" shouted Ash, shaking his head, "there's no way I'm getting in that thing! Besides, Pidgeot and I could both benefit from some one-on-one time!"

"Suit yourself!" answered Bill with a shrug before shifting his line of sight over to JR as he simultaneously flipped several of the helicopter's complicated looking switches, "tell the old man I said farewell and that he better not bloody croak before I see him again!"

JR laughed before responding, "I'll make sure to pass along your message!"

The Elite Four member paused as he looked at Bill with a serious expression, "I better not have to wait forever for you to send me my saddle! Don't forget that I paid half upfront!"

"Pssht! I'm a Montgomery! You'll get what you paid for!" retorted Bill with a smirk, "I've got enough scales and mamoswine fur on hand to make one! I'll send it to you in about a month! Let the other two know that they're going to have to wait until I get a chance to go back to my lighthouse, though! If they complain, tell them that they can bloody bite me and that I would have made it more of a priority if they would have paid for half upfront like you did!"

The percussion-like sound of the helicopter got even louder as the pokemon researcher prepared to take off.

"I'll tell them!" shouted JR, wrapping his hands around both sides of his mouth like a flesh-made megaphone in order to make sure that he was heard.

Bill nodded and lowered the black sunglasses that he wore on his head down to his eyes before placing one of his hands firmly on the controls and the other on a lever to his left.

"I'm taking off! I'm sure we'll be running into each other again soon, Tanner!" bellowed Bill before shifting his line of sight over to Ash, "see you at the southern edge of Pallet, my friend!"

"Later, Bill!" hollered JR with placid eyes and a friendly wave.

"I'll be right behind you!" exclaimed Ash.

The young trainer and the Elite Four member watched as the slick, private rotorcraft's metal blades steadily accelerated before it lifted up off of the northern beach's sand. As it slowly ascended, the rush of wind from the force of its propellor caused Ash and JR to cover their faces with the inside of their arms.

"I can't believe that guy's a pilot," said JR as the helicopter reached a height in which the sound that it made no longer required them to raise their voices to be heard.

"You should never put anything past Bill," laughed Ash.

Growlithe let out a soft bark, agreeing with his trainer.

"I'm starting to get that impression," replied JR with an amused smile as he looked down at Growlithe with acknowledging eyes.

After watching the helicopter soar away over the ocean, Ash looked over at the two fairy-types, who were holding hands as the tide repetitively splashed up against both of their feet.

He hated that he had to ruin such a heartwarming moment, but it was time to go.

"Clefairy, we're about to leave!"

"Clefable, come over here!"

Ash watched as both of the fairies ears twitched before they began to skip back over to them with small frowns on their faces.

"I haven't seen Clefable look that disappointed in a long time," stated JR with a frown of his own as he grasped her pokeball, "this meant a lot to her."

"Yeah…" said Ash with a sigh, "Clefairy is pretty upset, too."

JR placed a hand on the dark-haired boy's shoulder, keeping his placid eyes glued to Clefairy and Clefable as they approached, "for their sake, maybe we can meet up a few times before we confront the abomination."

Ash turned his head and looked up at the Elite Four member that he had gained so much respect for in such a short period of time, "I would like that."

"Care to shake on it, Chosen One," said JR with a smirk as he faced Ash and held out his hand.

For a brief second, the dark-haired boy felt compelled to tell JR that he preferred to be called Ash, but for some reason, he let it go and reached out his hand.

While they shook hands, Ash smiled, "it was nice of you to see us off. You didn't have to do that. I know you've still got a lot of things to take care of today."

"No worries," said JR, letting go of their handshake, "Kent and Andrew can handle things at the station without me for a little bit, and it was important that Clefairy and Clefable got an opportunity to say goodbye to each other."

The brown eyed man turned to his fully-evolved fairy pokemon the moment that she and Clefairy reached their position, "you should give your little sister one last hug before I return you."

With a gentle smile, Ash nodded when Clefairy made eye contact with him, encouraging his friend to enjoy one more special moment with her sister for the time being.

Taking her trainer's suggestion to heart, Clefable turned to face Clefairy, looking down at her with affectionate eyes. Clefairy gazed up at her older sister, reciprocating her expression as Clefable lifted her up off the ground and held her in a snug embrace. Just like when they first realized that they were sisters, the two fairies hummed a beautiful, harmonious tone as a gentle wave of thaumaturgic energy emanated from their forms. The moment lasted for about a minute before Clefable reluctantly put Clefairy back down on the sand. The two fairies turned to face their trainers, understanding that their time was up.

While raising Clefable's pokeball, JR smiled, "don't be sad. I know you overheard Ash and I, you two will be seeing each other again soon."

The fully-evolved fairy pokemon shook off her melancholic look before nodding at her trainer.

As he pointed his friend's capture-device in her direction, Ash spoke with intent, "we will make sure to reunite you the two of you soon, Clefairy. I promise."

She let out a soft, affirmative murmur, trusting that her trainer would keep his word.

Both trainers pressed the return buttons on their pokeballs, enveloping the fairies in a ray of glistening, red energy. Just before they were brought back into their capture-devices, Clefairy and Clefable turned to face each other before fondly smiling in a way that perfectly encapsulated their mutual sisterly love.

The moment that they were returned, Growlithe divulged a low, solemn howl.

"You can say that again, buddy," sighed Ash with a hint of guilt in his voice, "that was hard."

"They'll be alright," assured JR as he pressed the button on the left side of his depository belt while holding Clefable's pokeball up against the right side, "deposit."

Clefable's pokeball vanished after being enshrouded in a burst of white light.

"I know," replied Ash after shrinking and placing Clefairy's pokeball in its designated slot on his belt, "I just hate seeing her sad."

"I get it," said JR with earnest eyes, "it's never fun to disappoint them, which is why we need to make sure that we allow them to spend plenty of time with each other going forward."

"You're right," answered Ash with a smile and a nod.

The young trainer dropped his line of sight down to his canine as he detached a pokeball from his belt.

"Alright, buddy, I've got to return you for a bit," said the dark-haired boy, "when I let you out, we'll be home."

Growlithe's tail rapidly began to wag back and forth as he let out a jovial yip. It was the most thrilled Ash had ever seen him when it came to being returned, and it was obvious where the excitement was coming from.

The pup couldn't wait to see his mother.

"It was nice meeting you, Growlithe," said JR, crouching down to the fire-type's level and softly patting the tuft of fur on top of his head, "see you soon. Take care of Ash in the meantime."

Growlithe shedded his elated expression before raising his posture and showing JR a look of resolve.

The Elite Four member chuckled as he stood back up, "I like your attitude."

He turned to Ash, "you've got yourself a valiant starter."

"Most definitely," responded Ash while smiling at Growlithe.

Once we get to Pallet, I need to talk to Growlithe about what happened on the third floor of the lab last night.

We need to clear the air.

After pressing the button on the capture-device, a red beam of energy enshrouded Growlithe before returning him to sequester. In subsequence, Ash proceeded to place his best friend's capture-device back on his belt before reaching for Pidgeot's pokeball.

"Before you go, there's something that I wanted to talk to you about," said JR in a serious tone of voice as Ash unclipped Pidgeot's pokeball from his belt.

"What is it?" asked Ash curiously while grasping Pidgeot's pokeball.

"It's about the egg," said JR.

The dark-haired man's countenance had become more rigid and tense.

"What about it?"

JR folded his arms, "what's your plan when it hatches?"

"My plan?" queried Ash as he scratched the back of his head.

To be honest, he'd been so focused on figuring out how to incubate the egg that he hadn't really gotten that far.

What is my plan?

"Umm…I don't really know," muttered Ash, "honestly, all of my focus has been on the incubation process. I guess I haven't really had a chance to give it too much thought."

"I see…" said JR in a drawn out manner, "that's understandable."

He placed a hand on Ash's shoulder as he looked at him with placid eyes, "I don't mean to overstep, but can I share my thoughts on it?"

"Of course," replied Ash, wanting to know what JR was getting at.

"Obviously, destiny's intention is for you to raise it. It's why you were driven to descend down to the depths of the Seafoam Islands. Your reception of the egg was blessed by Mew and the articuno in the cavern, and your other self was well aware of this fact long before it happened."

The Elite Four member took a deep breath while removing his hand from Ash's shoulder, "Bill was right when he said that the egg was groundbreaking, but contrary to belief, you won't be the first trainer in the world to train a legendary."

Ash's eyes widened, "there are others?"

"There are a few that I've met during my travels," replied JR, "and they all have two things in common."

Ash's grasp tightened on Pidgeot's pokeball as he waited for the brown eyed man to continue.

"They keep them a secret from the public," stated JR, "which also means that they do not use them in competition. It's why nearly nobody knows about them."

I see…

"That makes sense…" replied Ash, bringing a hand up to his chin.

"Why do you think that each one of those trainers came to that conclusion?" asked JR, raising an eyebrow.

"Well…" muttered Ash, "after witnessing the articuno first hand, going up against something like that in a battle wouldn't be fair. In most cases, it would be over before it even began."

"That's definitely a factor," replied JR, "but there's an even more important reason, especially when it comes to you."

Ash tilted his head in response.

"The main reason is unwanted attention," explained JR as he intensely peered into Ash's eyes, "if the public found out that a trainer had a legendary, all eyes would be on them. Some of those eyes would look at them with admiration and deference, while others would look at them with jealousy and evil intentions."

He paused as he pointed at Ash's chest, "if word gets out to the public that a ten-year-old kid has an articuno, you will become a target of a lot of terrible people. That is dangerous for any trainer, but at your age and current ability, it's a death sentence. Under no circumstances, can you let that happen. The only people that can know about the articuno are those that you trust without a sliver of a doubt. Do you understand?"

The young trainer gulped.

"I understand," replied Ash with a nod.

"Good," said JR with a pleasant smile.

The Elite Four member adjusted his backwards cap as his intensity ceased.

Ash took a deep breath as something crossed his mind, "how am I supposed to raise it to be strong if I can't use it in battles?"

JR smirked, "I never said you can't use it in battles."

The young trainer repetitively blinked in confusion, "um…but you did."

"No I didn't," said JR, shaking his head with his arms folded, "I said competition. There's definitely other situations in which you can use it in battle."

After taking off his cap, Ash scratched the top of his head in a bewildered manner, "what kind of situations?"

"Oh, come on, Ash," laughed JR, "you're smarter than that. Think of all the trustworthy friends that you have that would be chomping at the bit at the opportunity to go up against a legendary. I know of at least three off of the top of my head that can't wait until they get that chance."

A small smile formed on his face as he realized what JR was talking about, "really!?"

"Of course," replied JR, disheveling Ash's hair before he got a chance to put his hat back on, "and that's not all…"

After he put his hat back on, Ash looked up at JR quizzically, "what do you mean by that?"

"'It begins in Kanto. The first trail is imminent. You know why I have come,'" stated JR, reciting the words that Ash had shared with him and the rest of the Cinnabar trio during their conversation at the inn.

The same words that came out of his mouth, but were uttered by his other self…

"The trials of the Chosen One," said JR with a smirk, "the real reason why you were given that egg."

"The trials of the Chosen One?" parroted Ash.

"You'll learn more about them when you read the prophecy," explained JR, casually placing his hands on his hips, "but after hearing your story, they are without a doubt directly related to the reason that you were given the egg. The prophecy is cryptic, but I'm guessing that the abomination is the first of many legendary adversaries that will cross your path during your journey. You've been tasked with keeping the world in balance after all, and the last time checked, the world encompasses a whole lot more than just Kanto."

He paused before patting Ash on the shoulder a couple of times, "I would imagine that it would be awfully difficult for you to deal with all of those legendaries without at least one of your own."

Once again, Ash gulped.

It seemed like the more and more he learned about himself the more anxious he became.

JR examined Ash with a calm expression and calm eyes, "don't worry too much, though. You'll have plenty of help along the way. Remember what I said, you have all of our contacts. You can get ahold of me, Andrew and Kent whenever you need something. We'll be there, and so will many others. For the time being, just listen to Mew and focus on your journey. Continue to be Ash, and let destiny dictate the path of the Chosen One."

He let out a sight of relief as he processed JR's words.

Creator, Original One — whatever your name is, thank you for giving me such incredible friends…

I'd be a mess without them.

"Thanks, JR," replied Ash with a look of gratitude, "that means a lot."

"Don't worry about it, Ash," said JR, smiling as he looked down at the pokeball in the boy's hand, "it's what friends are for. Now, I think it's about time you head out. If you don't hurry, Bill's going to whine about it."

"Yeah, you're right," snickered the young trainer, "I'd rather not have to deal with that."

Turning to the side, Ash lofted Pidgeot's pokeball out over the sand. When it snapped open, a large, white burst of energy was unleashed. Per usual, the moment that the surge of light faded, the humongous avian let out a loud, obnoxious squawk.

"We're leaving the island," said Ash as he used his hand to gesture for Pidgeot to lower himself so that he could climb on top, "our destination isn't too far. Are you ready?"

After divulging a confirmatory trill, Pidgeot squatted down, allowing Ash to grab ahold of the saddle's horn before hoisting himself up onto the seat. He proceeded to take a tight grip of the hand straps before looking down at JR.

"Man, I can't wait until Bill sends me one of those," uttered JR, admiring the expertly handcrafted saddle that the pokemon researcher had created.

"You're going to love it," answered Ash with a wide grin, "anyways, it was nice to meet you, JR. Thanks for everything."

"No, thank you, Ash," said the Elite Four member with a wave, "if it weren't for you, Kanto would be in trouble."

The dark-haired boy scratched the back of his head in reaction to the praise.

…He didn't know what to say.

"See you soon," said JR, breaking the short moment of silence, "fly safe."

"I'll give you a call if anything interesting happens," replied Ash with a nod, "see you later, JR."

"Pidgeot, let's go!" commanded the young trainer as he pointed towards the boundless ocean in front of them, "we're heading north!"

Emitting another loud squawk, the massive avian beat down both of his wings, immediately lifting them up off the sand. With another consecutive thrust, they took off. Ash squinted his eyes in order to stave off the cutting wind as they hastily ascended through the late afternoon sky. As the thought occurred to him to look back in order to take one last good look at JR and Cinnabar Island, he heard the sound of a faint, raspy, old voice.

"Say hello to Samuel for me, Ash Ketchum!"

When he looked down at the beach, he spotted the tiny form of a bald old man, using his cane to support himself beside JR.

How did he get there?

With an amused smile, Ash shook his head.

It doesn't matter.

"Will do!" yelled the young trainer at the top of his lungs, "bye, Blaine! See you again someday!"

As Pidgeot continued to soar north in the direction of Pallet, Ash could just barely make out the old man's words.

"Farewell, Chosen One!"

XXX

Growlithe's wagging tail repetitively smacked up against his leg as Ash took a deep breath.

"Why are you acting so nervous?" asked Bill, who was standing directly behind him, "this is your house. If you're afraid of spooking your mom by using your key, just ring the bloody doorbell."

"Because I should have told her I was coming," muttered Ash guiltily, "I realized during the flight over here that I haven't talked to her since I was in Fuchsia. What if she's pissed?"

"You haven't talked to your mom since Fuchsia!?" exclaimed Bill, "but that was a couple of weeks ago!"

"Exactly!" retorted Ash, "oh, god…what was I thinking? I got so caught up in all of the Chosen One stuff I forgot to call my mom! Maybe we should go to the lab first—"

All of a sudden, the door swung open.

"What's the big idea!? Stop flapping you gums out here, you're ruining the best part of the mo—"

She abruptly gasped, covering her mouth with her fair, dainty hand. Harshly blinking as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing, she looked down at Ash.

"Hi, Mom," said the young trainer as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "I was close by, so I thought—"

Before he knew it, he couldn't breathe as she wrapped him up in the tightest hug he'd ever experienced.

"A-Ash, honey, I c-can't believe it. Y-You're home," she said — tears dripping down from her face to his.

Likely sensing that he was gasping for breath, she loosened her embrace before smothering his forehead and cheeks with motherly kisses.

After catching his breath, a knot formed in his throat as the person that he had missed more than anyone else in the world held him in her arms.

Growlithe looked up with a gleeful expression.

Unsurprisingly, tears flowed down Bill's face as he watched.

"I missed y-you s-so much!" cried Delia as she refused to let go.

"I missed you, too, M-Mom," replied the dark-haired boy, smiling as tears of his own welled up in his eyes.

It's good to be home.

XXX

To be continued…

XXX

A/N: Welp, this one was a lot different than the most recent chapters. I know there was very little action, and a lot of dialogue, but I hope you liked it. I'm also sorry about the wait. The last few months have been pretty busy. I don't intend on making you guys wait that long for a new chapter on a regular basis. Anyways, don't forget to check my bio if you're wondering how the next chapter is coming along. Please review if it's not too much trouble. I always enjoy hearing your thoughts.

Thanks for reading!

Much love, vincentgrey21