Chapter Text
Ash, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie were packing up their things in the pokemon centre at Anistar city. Serena had earned her second princess key so they were about to visit the local gym for Ash's seventh badge.
Ash ran out of the pokemon centre in excitement, turning around a corner and-
"Ow, ow, ow! That hurts"
"Ow, ow, ow! That hurts"
"Eh?" "Eh?"
As Ash stopped clutching his head and looked up, the boy who ran into him did the same.
"Ritchie?" Ash asked looking at him and Sparky with wonder. Ritchie was the last person he had expected to run into quite literally.
"Ash? I was actually trying to contact you!" Ritchie exclaimed. Sparky and Pikachu had already climbed down to the ground, greeting each other at the same time the trainers shook hands.
"Ash, there you are! Don't run off like that, okay?" Clemont interrupted them unintentionally, panting slightly from the jog.
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Ritchie had wanted to warn Ash as soon as possible but he hadn't expected to run into him at Anistar city. He already had guessed that Ash would be at Kalos but it was still a pleasant surprise....
Ritchie glanced over at the blond boy and the girls who had joined them.
'Oh, the others I saw there...of course, they are together'
"Hello, I am Ritchie and the pikachu over there is my partner Sparky!" He introduced himself as Sparky waved.
"Hello my name is Bonnie and this is my friend, Dedenne" the younger girl twirled around and pointed to the small pokemon who had clambered onto her head.
"I am Clemont, nice to meet you" the boy in the jumpsuit introduced himself next and Ritchie correctly assumed them to be siblings as they looked alike.
'He must be the Lumiose City gym leader. The robot is named as Clembot and they look alike too'
"Hello, I am Serena" the other girl introduced herself, waving slightly at both of them in greeting.
'The girl who won yesterday's showcase. Ash is traveling with awesome people as always'
"Ash, is he your friend?" she added curiously.
"Ritchie here is one of my rivals from Kanto and he beat me at the Indigo league! We also had some exciting adventures together. We are really good friends!!!" Ash replied, sounding super happy.
As much as Ritchie wanted to catch up with Ash, he had other things to do.
"Speaking of adventures, I have something to tell you, Ash." He said seriously.
Noticing his tone, Serena suggested they discuss things at the pokemon centre.
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Jessie, James and Meowth were plotting yet another plan to capture Pikachu and-
"We are not stealing Pikachu today!" James declared.
"We need to steal him as soon as possible for our boss" Meowth insisted. "Imagine, our boss carrying on his business as usual and the the power goes out. Pikachu can power up all the electric appliances infinitely-"
"You are exaggerating-" Jessie began, but Meowth cut her off. "Pikachu flattened legendaries before" he pointed out. "Fair point" Jessie agreed.
"As I was saying, Pikachu will power up the entire place and the boss will be happy. And, he can help him out with battles too, I guess. The boss will shower me...uh, us with gifts and we will be promoted!!!! The glasses can't annoy us then." Meowth concluded.
"As much as you are right, Meowth, we don't have funds!!! We only have money for one giant robot!!!" James explained. "So, we are gonna steal something very valuable, sell it and then worry about Pikachu."
"What are we stealing, Jimmy-boy?" Meowth asked, a glint in his eyes.
"Do we have to masquerade? Run around rooftops in the darkness? I am a marvelous actress who will be the Kalos queen, so I can take care of that" Jessie hair-flipped dramatically.
"Drama queen.." Meowth muttered, earning a glare from Jessie.
"Nah, we are just gonna use grapplers to steal the sundial" James said, shaking his head at Jessie's elaborate suggestions.
"The what?" Jessie and Meowth asked at the same time.
"The sundial at Anistar city. It is a crystal structure worth a lot of money. The twerp will probably be doing his gym challenge so he won't bother us. We will swoop in with our balloon and snatch the sundial right under their noses." James said and started doing a ppt presentation to explain the monetary value of the sundial.
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"Another prophecy, oh man this is gonna be tough" Ash sighed and resumed sipping his drink.
"Ash, I know you were involved in the Sharmouti prophecy but this is more serious" Ritchie insisted.
"Why? Ash asked, genuinely curious.
"Because that crisis is over and this is not!" Ritchie replied as if it was obvious.
"Isn't Sharmouti a weather hotspot? In the Orange archipelago?" Clemont asked. "There were rumours about the legendary bird trio having a battle during the unusual weather patterns a few years ago." He added, adjusting his glasses.
"I remember the weird weather. Our Rhyhorn shed almost blew away because of the crazy strong wind" Serena shuddered a bit, remembering how she and her mother had run around, making sure their pokemon were all right.
"I wanna know about the prophecy Ash was in. I bet it sounds cool!" Bonnie exclaimed excitedly.
"You guys aren't surprised by Ash potentially meeting legendaries?" Ritchie asked dubiously.
"Ash's Talonflame evolved by battling a Moltres in an active volcano." Bonnie pointed out.
"Not to mention how we went on a quest with Diancie to save the diamond domain and got caught up in a battle between Xerneas and Yveltal." Serena added.
"When we were at Dahara city, Hoopa summoned a bunch of legendaries and they all started battling each other. And Arceus was there. When did our lives become weird again?" Clemont sighed.
"Wow Ash, you seem to have had a lot of adventures with your new friends. No wonder Misty called you a legendary magnet." Ritchie exclaimed.
"Well, I always seem to be in the right place in the right time" Ash muttered.
"It's more like being in the wrong place in the wrong time" Serena commented. "But we will be traveling together no matter what. I don't care even if Zygarde battles us or something, Ash" She finished talking, with a soft smile.
"It is true, I had so much fun traveling together and made lots of friends like Dedenne." Bonnie said.
"I have become a lot stronger and learnt a lot of new stuff because of you, Ash. Besides, having someone appreciate my inventions is always a plus" Clemont grinned.
"I-Thanks, guys! That means a lot to me" Ash's voice cracked a bit.
"As much as I think this should end in a group hug, I was here to talk about the prophecy." Ritchie reminded them.
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"Olympia shared a vision of us and the regional professor. Yes, all of you guys were in that vision. Apparently the professor is going to 'lead the way' and we will be involved somehow in the crisis. Any questions?" Ritchie asked.
"What were you doing in the Anistar gym, Ritchie? Are you participating in the Kalos league too?" Ash asked excitedly.
"I was not there for the gym match, Ash" Ash dulled a bit. "It's because I have already finished collecting all eight badges" Ash brightened up.
"Then what were you doing in the gym, Ritchie?" Serena asked.
"I am one of Olympia's psychic apprentices. Sabrina recommended me here" Ritchie explained, psychically moving some of the liquid from his untouched drink to demonstrate.
"Wow!!" Both Bonnie and Clemont exclaimed.
"We are more similar than I thought!" Ash commented offhandedly.
"You are a psychic too, Ash?" Ritchie asked.
"No, but watch this" Ash said as he let blueish aura flare around his right hand.
"You are an Aura adept!!! So. Cool. I have always liked Sir Aaron" Ritchie exclaimed.
"Actually I sort of have the same aura as him." Ash stated as a matter-of-fact. "His lucario told me that himself and it's a really long story"
"Tell me the details later, Ash. By the way, he prophecy is not in written format. Olympia can predict the future. That's why I am training under her, to see if I have any potential in that field." Ritchie changed the topic smoothly, sensing that Ash didn't want to talk about his aura powers.
"So what were you doing before deciding to participate in the Kalos league, Ritchie?" Ash asked. "Were you researching legends as usual?"
"I wanna hear about it. Legends and myths on pokemon are always cool!!" Bonnie gushed.
"Well, after the whole silver wing fiasco, I went to Fiore for a break. Battled an Entei there. Then, I met a Moltres at Mt Magma when S.S Anne was docking there." Ash shuddered a bit remembering St.Anne where he had almost drowned. " After participating in the Johto league, I visited Oblivia which had countless ruins to explore. I had lots of fun there. Then, I participated in the Sinnoh league and visited the ruins in Michiana."
Ash and Pikachu visibly gulped. Ritchie noticed, remembering about the carving of a boy presenting the jewel of life to Arceus with a pikachu at his side. Pokeballs depicted in ruins over a 1000 years old was a local mystery there. There were rumours about Dialga involved....
"So, it was you!! 'The children of the future'!! The ones who saved Arceus!!" Ritchie exclaimed. "Here I thought I was the only time traveller around!"
"Wow, Ash, you had told us about how you saved Arceus after we saw Him at Dahara but entire ruins dedicated to you is super cool!!" Bonnie said enthusiastically.
Ash just smiled sheepishly at that as he didn't give them much details. It was still a sore topic to him as they had all almost stopped existing that time.
"You are really impressive! Only Sheena and Kevin could read Damos' message for us." Ash complimented Ritchie. "I have met celebi a few times though I have never time travelled then." He mused.
"I study ruins as a hobby, Ash! Of course, I learnt a bunch of languages to understand them wholly." Ritchie tried to wave it off as normal, though his blush and a smile said otherwise.
"I am more surprised that you guys are actually believing me. No one usually does." He continued, with a sad smile.
"No offence Ritchie, but your encounters with legendaries are pale in comparison to what Ash considers as normal" Serena said and Clemont nodded in complete agreement. She chuckled as Ritchie pouted a bit, all sadness forgotten.
"Well, I have met other legendaries too, you know? So, Bonnie, wanna hear about it?" Ritchie asked, smirking a bit.
"Hey, what about us?" Ash asked.
"Well, you guys were being mean..." Ritchie started, pretending to be annoyed but changed his mind after being bribed with Serena's pokepuffs.
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"The Anistar sundial is a famous tourist attraction. There are rumours about how it is connected to mega evolution. Professor Sycamore, our expert in mega-evolution research will be researching the sundial soon."
Professor Sycamore watched Malwa's report from the TV in the news-crew's van and stepped out of it. He hadn't expected the details of his trip to end up there.
His assistants started setting up their equipment and the professor took a deep breath, hoping to get a lead on his research which was starting to get a bit stagnant.
They didn't notice a pair of angry eyes glaring daggers at them from a distance.
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After telling about how he saved a town's old pokemon centre from being demolished through time travel of all things, Ritchie narrated about how he along with Ash and his Kantonian friends had rescued a Lugia and her child from Team Rocket.
("Jessie, James and Meowth actually managed to capture a legendary?"
"No, Bonnie, the ones who did it were the more competent Team Rocket. Though they blast off at the end too."
"They are still following you. Why am I not surprised?"
"They have been bothering you since Kanto???")
Suddenly a loud boom was heard outside. Everyone rushed to the nearby window and saw some smoke coming up from-
"The sundial!! Something is wrong there, come on, lets go, Ash" Ritchie shouted and both of them rushed out in sync, their pikachu jumping onto their shoulders.
Ash started running in the wrong direction as usual and Ritchie started dragging him in the right path, chuckling. Bonnie and Serena grinned at each other seeing the typical Ash who gets lost all the time and started running towards the sundial too.
"Wait up, guys!!" Clemont jogged after them, his legs already starting to cramp.