Chapter Text
Thump. [ Thump.]
Thump. [ Thump.]
He walked to school. [ he moved between the trees, he sensed a vine, he tore it apart.]
He faced Team Rocket. [ he leapt through the air, Zygarde moved in tandem.]
That was how it had been for the longest time. If he shut his eyes, he could feel the Kalos breeze, he could feel the cool sensation of Water Shuriken, he could feel the sweet juice of berries on his tongue. It was so natural for him. Ash would do it, sometimes zoning out to listen to what Greninja was up to, or to relax at night, sometimes he’d even speak with the Pokemon, in a sense of things.
Then he went to the Ultra Deep Sea to save Lusamine Aether without a second thought.
snap.
He didn’t notice, between the sensation of adrenaline flooding him and the exhaustion of using the Z-Move with Pikachu, until they landed in the Alter of the Sunne. His eyes closed, while he basked in the moment, all his friends are safe, Lusamine is safe, Lillie is safe, they watched Nebby fly away.
Ash felt a wave of discomfort. He listened out, for the rustle of leaves, perhaps the rush of a lake, the cry of Greninja.
Silence was uncomfortable. There was always some noise, ever since he parted ways with Greninja, ever since they left that little string between them, that connection that kept the flow between them going. Like a small tributary in the stream, that never quite left, the aura that Ash suspected helped him tap into the energy of Z-Moves so quickly.
He felt empty without it, like the aura he had given to Greninja was now overflowing a glass with a hole in it, with nowhere to go, leaking into nothingness. Kukui was checking Lusamine’s temperature, moving her to sit down, while she fought to remember things. His friends were smiling, chatting, Lillie and Gladion were having a heartfelt conversation.
Ash only felt the snap between him and Greninja. Pikachu shook him gently, poking him on the cheek, with a soft ‘ Pikapi?’
“Sorry, buddy. Thinking about our friend in Kalos.”
Pikachu’s eyes widened. Ash always forgot to give enough credit to his partner for his intelligence, sometimes, seeing as it only took a vague sentence for Pikachu to fully understand what had happened. His partner gave him a reassuring nuzzle, before jolting and jumping off his shoulder.
Ash tried to figure out why, when he realised how dizzy he was. And overheated. And how poorly he felt. Right. Z-Moves. Exerting a lot of effort into the last few like he did - Nebby’s one really took it out of himself, and not having Greninja to regulate how that aura flowed around him, even subtly, brought it all into his head, where it would be completely overwhelming him.
Aura wasn’t exactly the kindest force to its user, seeing as it was the push and pull of the world itself. Pokemon lived to control it, Lucario breathed it in, and Ash had not nearly enough training for what he did with it.
The world spun around him, blue dots filling his vision, before he was caught by Kiawe, and went out cold.
-
Kiawe lifted Ash up so he was resting against his shoulder. He had been chatting to Lana, about how terrifying that entire experience was, while Sophocles inspected his rock. Ash was weirdly quiet, before, in the corner of his eye, wobbling and passing out. Kiawe practically ran to catch him, so he wouldn’t hit the ground.
“Ash?”
Professor Kukui looked up quickly, mouth pursing in worry, from where he ran medical checks on Lusamine. Pikachu tugged on his pant leg, trying to get him to go over. Lusamine blinked, like she just registered she wasn’t the only person there. “Go, go on. I’ll be okay with Burnet. He’s probably tired.”
Pikachu zapped Lusamine.
She coughed out smoke, shivering, while Professor Kukui stared at Pikachu. Lusamine’s hair was poofed up from the static electricity. Lillie turned from her conversation with Gladion and crouched in front of the yellow mouse.
“That was very bold, Pikachu! Apologise to Mother.”
Pikachu huffed, and looked away. Kiawe had never seen Pikachu outright disobey any of them, and he realised that Ash was extremely warm in his arms. He had only noticed once his brain made the sensible connection that Ash shouldn’t feel the same temperature as Turtonator or Charizard, who he was used to being around. Professor Kukui took Ash from him, tapping him gently on the shoulder a few times.
“He’s completely out. I wonder if using the Z-Move did that?” Professor Kukui mused out loud. He turned to where Pikachu was beside his feet, and Kiawe felt slightly intimidated by the resident on-guard mouse. “We don’t actually know if Nebby’s Z-Move is safe for somebody to use.”
Pikachu used his paw to give a maybe gesture, something that was lost on Professor Kukui as he sat Ash down against the altar. Kiawe opened his mouth to comment, but that was interrupted by Lana, Mallow, Sophocles, Lillie and Gladion all realising what was going on. Professor Kukui checked Ash’s temperature, before moving his hand back.
“Tapu, that’s not good.”
Lana and Mallow crouched down beside Ash, with Lana staring at him. “Professor, is he okay? Did he pass out?”
“He looked fine while on Nebby.” Mallow frowned. Pikachu huffed in frustration, before smacking Kiawe with his tail.
Kiawe sighed. “You want to tell me something?”
Pikachu placed a paw on his forehead. Kiawe nodded. “Sick. Okay.”
The little mouse ran around. Then, stopped, and placed a paw again.
“Sick, then you run around, but you're sick again when you stop.” Kiawe repeated. Pikachu nodded vigorously. Professor Kukui turned to the mouse, scratching his head in thought.
“I think Pikachu is trying to tell us that the adrenaline rush kept Ash from realising he wasn’t well.”
Pikachu clapped. Lillie gasped in worry, moving beside Ash without a moment to wait. “Why did he go and help us if he was sick? ”
The little mouse looked horrifically frustrated, launching a terrifying Thunderbolt into the sky. Kiawe could feel the energy off it, and by Kukui’s alarmed expression, he could too. Sophocles and Mallow exchanged unnerved expressions, while Lusamine raised an eyebrow. Professor Burnet chuckled under his breath.
“If I were to guess, I think Pikachu is annoyed.”
Mallow folded her arms. “We’re going to get him better, you don’t need to worry!”
“You know, this would be easier if Team Rocket were here. Meowth could’ve told us Pikachu’s frantic explaining.” Sophocles commented, and Kiawe couldn’t agree more. Although, he also felt like this was a massive distraction from the real concern.
“We need to get Lusamine and Ash to Professor Kukui’s house.”
“Or the Aether Foundation,” Lusamine suggested, before immediately going quiet when Pikachu hissed. Kiawe tossed Charizard’s Pokeball out, and Professor Kukui released his Braviary.
Pikachu approached his Charizard. At a rather impressive speed, Pikachu chattered at Charizard, gesturing vaguely at Ash a few times. Kiawe watched in mild horror as his Charizard went to excited to see what is going on to the most concern he’d ever seen on that Pokemon’s face.
Pikachu leapt onto Charizard’s head, and his partner picked up Ash.
“I was going to ask who was bringing Ash.” Professor Kukui commented quietly. “Problem solved.”
-
Ash was laid down on Professor Kukui’s couch. After much decision-making, aided by Pikachu actively threatening Lusamine, it was decided the Aethers and Burnet were to return to the Aether Foundation. Kiawe had insisted on staying with Ash, since he had never seen his Charizard so worried. Mallow and Lana stayed too, but Sophocles wanted to return to his brother. According to Sophocles, his brother had pretty much blown up his messages in worry after the chaotic events of the day, and he didn’t really want to be vague about it to Molayne without good reason.
Pikachu was sat on the table by the couch, like an angry guard Growlithe, that would bite at anything that came near Ash. Which was, pretty much anything.
“Pikachu, please? It’ll help.” Professor Kukui held a wet towel awkwardly, while Pikachu shook his head and slammed it out of the Professor’s hand every time he attempted to place it on Ash’s head.
Mallow huffed. “We can’t do anything for him. Pikachu is being so insistent we do nothing!”
“Doesn’t he get we’re trying to help Ash?” Lana added.
Kiawe recalled how Pikachu conveyed to him that Ash had only become sick after because the adrenaline rush ended. Pokemon could be smart, Kiawe knew that well, and especially with how emotionally intelligent some of Ash’s Pokemon had proven to be, maybe it was a consistent trait of his team. He paused.
Charizard’s expression. That wasn’t a simple sickness, he knew how Charizard usually got for those. He was concerned, but not that concerned.
“Pikachu, this isn’t a fever, is it?”
Lana and Mallow snapped to look at Kiawe. Pikachu nodded.
“How did you figure that out?” Professor Kukui asked, and, yeah, Kiawe supposed it came out of nowhere.
“Charizard looked too worried for that, after Pikachu explained it. Also, Pikachu is really worked up.”
Lana hummed. “I guess Charizard did look unusually scared.”
-
Ash’s eyes opened.
Blue. Indigo.
Within his stomach, he felt empty, lifeless, his heart didn’t beat, his fingers didn’t move. The rivers in his mind poured into a lake, and the lake overflooded, and his body shivered. A sharp stabbing attacked his head. Shadows moved around him, glaring at him. Sounds filled his vision, and blue entered his hearing.
He tried to breathe, but he couldn’t, and the surrounding shadows choked him out, and each part of him tensed as pain filled him.
A taller shadow tried to move to him, so he frantically tried to wave the hand away, as the sharp stabbing grew heavier and heavier, and it just hurt, and his blood pumped loudly in his ear. He clung onto lucidity, trying to find something familiar.
Pikachu. He saw Pikachu, then a shadow, then Pikachu, then the shadow approached, and he had to try to push it away. Maybe he could pull that indigo into his hands, he could use it, he could move it, and the shadows would go away.
His head screamed as the shadows grew closer.
He scrambled back, feeling his vision blur and shift despite all he was able to see being bright, dangerous blue, pulsing blue.
A white blur passed him.
“Latios?”
No. Not white. The blur must have been blue, too. “Lucario?”
Was it Sir Aaron’s?
Did he die?
Was he seeing ghosts?
A shadow moved, and he felt the air displace as it reached for his shoulder, but the shadow was tall, it glared, it was black against blue. He grabbed the shadow, throwing it as far as he could. The shadow grunted, but didn’t get up, while two other shadows made noises that echoed and screamed against him.
A bright flash of white, and an overwhelming, full body pain, and his eyes fell shut.
-
Professor Kukui had been relieved when Ash opened his eyes, but immediately concerned when his ward’s eyes snapped open, like something startled him. He tensed immediately, and Pikachu didn’t move to him. His breath caught, and he sat up, struggling to breathe yet breathing fine.
“Ash?” Lana asked, moreso than exclaimed, while Mallow bit her lip.
“Are you okay?”
Kukui reached out to him, but as if Ash was a cornered Litten, he slapped his hand away. Lana and Mallow stepped forward, while Kiawe gaped. Even Kukui was alarmed as he brought his hand back quickly. “Ash? Are you okay?”
Ash’s eyes narrowed, and he grabbed his head, gasping as if it was giving him pain. He murmured names - Latios, and Lucario, while Pikachu whined softly. It repeated the same phrase, over and over.
Pikapi?
As calmly as Pikachu could manage, he slowly stepped forward. Kukui almost hoped that it would be fine, but Ash’s momentary recognition vanished as he pushed Pikachu away. Mallow frowned.
“Ash, are you okay?”
Professor Kukui reached for Ash’s shoulder, but Ash grabbed him and threw him off. He landed against the wall with a thud, and he always forgot how strong the kid was. Kiawe spun to check on him. Mallow and Lana immediately started freaking out, which only worked up Ash more.
Pikachu sighed, and launched a Thunderbolt attack against Ash, which knocked him out again. Professor Kukui sat up, rubbing his head. “Ow.”
“Professor Kukui!” Mallow helped him up, her voice wavering in nervousness. Lana glanced at where Ash was out cold, again.
“Why did he do that? He even pushed Pikachu away.”
Kukui didn’t know. “The only thing he said was Latios and Lucario.”
Pikachu looked crushed.
“What are they, Kukui?”
He wasn’t actually that familiar with those two Pokemon. He knew Lucario was the aura Pokemon, and he knew Latios was a Legendary Pokemon, one of the Eon Duo, but he didn’t really know how they were relevant here. Pikachu did, from the little mouse’s expression, and Kiawe had already gathered that before. “Not sure enough.”
Mallow sighed. “Maybe Pikachu didn’t want us to wake Ash up, knowing he’d act like that?”
Pikachu nodded.
“That’s weird. I’ve never seen Ash hurt anybody like that.” Lana murmured.
Kukui hadn’t seen that before either. He had thrown him, which, was pretty impressive, given his whole, Masked Royal thing.
He wrestled. Ash did not.
Or, at least, Kukui hoped he didn’t. And something about his hand felt too warm, felt too overheated. His temperature was scarily high, and the only reason Kukui wasn’t seriously considering putting Ash into hospital care was because he was also fairly certain that Pikachu would hurt him if he tried.
“Why don’t we leave for a bit, and take a break? Today’s been stressful, kids.”
Kukui had to be the adult here, and that meant looking after Mallow, Lana and Kiawe as much as Ash. Pikachu nodded, and Kukui made a mental note to stop underestimating the Pokemon. He was just like Ash.
Walking out to the beach to clear his head had helped more than he’d realised, and he kept Incineroar behind, with Ash’s Lycanroc, so Pikachu could follow. The little mouse was really stressed.
Kukui took a long, relaxed breath, while Mallow and Lana did too. Kiawe folded his arms, looking more contemplative than usual. Pikachu gazed listlessly over to the sea. Kukui sat down beside the little mouse.
“Are you okay?”
Pikachu looked at him, and shook his head, pointing out to the water. Kukui frowned. “Are you waiting for somebody?”
Nod.
Strange.
Their nice break had to be interrupted, and he heard the clearing throats of the two annoying stalkers Ash had, and their Meowth companion. “Prepare for trouble-”
“Not now. ” Mallow snapped.
James pouted. Pikachu snapped to look at them, excited to see them, and ran over before they could get another word out. He turned to Meowth, chittering at him. Meowth frowned a little, opened his mouth, before nodding slowly, before swallowing. “Pikachu wants to tell me something.”
Surprisingly, the other two didn’t argue as Pikachu and Meowth went a little away to continue their quick conversation. Mallow snapped her fingers. “Of course! You’d know what he was saying. When Ash woke up-”
“Woke up?” James echoed, sounding weirdly concerned.
“He said something about two Pokemon! Latios and Lucario.”
James and Jessie exchanged looks.
“Latios. And Lucario?” Jessie repeated, much quieter. Mallow and Lana nodded vigorously, while Kiawe glanced over his shoulder. Jessie shifted in her spot. “Is he sick?”
Kiawe nodded slowly, along with Mallow and Lana. James breathed out slowly, while Lana frowned. “How did you know?”
“Kid. The Latios Ash knew died. He knew a Lucario who died. ”
Lana’s mouth fell open. Mallow swallowed, looking more uncomfortable than usual. Kukui thought he handled Stoutland a little too well, but loss is something everyone learns. Ash apparently learned it a few too many times. James glanced back at the house. “No wonder Pikachu lost his patience. We had followed after that Thunderbolt attack at the Altar.”
“How did they die?” Kukui asked.
Jessie shook her head. “We were there for Latios, kind of? Something to do with keeping a town from flooding. Lucario we weren’t.”
“That still keeps me up at night.” James chimed in.
Meowth ran back over, Pikachu in tow.
“Pikachu wants me to tell you his theory. Sit down.”
A circle was made around Pikachu and Meowth, with Jessie and James joining, because apparently they cared about Ash, (despite always trying to take his Pikachu, which Kukui found mildly confusing.) Meowth breathed out. “OK. Pikachu, want to start with the metaphor?”
Metaphor?
Pikachu nodded.
“Right. So. Imagine you're Pikachu, and you get overcharged with electricity. You have all dat power in yah. It makes you really angry, and you can’t think straight, so you just shock everything around you, and stay away, because everything is super fuzzy.”
“Right.” Kiawe chimed in.
“Now imagine dat you have your electric sacs, and you have a normal baseline, you know. You don’t practice any of your stuff, and you don’t really get super used to tapping into that electricity. But one day, you find a battery, and you charge it. But it is a circuit, and charges you back.”
Lana blinked. “Pikachu is really good at metaphors.”
“Shush. Anyway. Imagine you break that circuit, but you’ve got all this extra electricity, and now you are overcharged. You don’t know what to do with dat, and you are so used to the circuit, you can’t function correctly. You pour some of the energy into some attacks, but dats not enough, so now you are over-filled on energy.”
Professor Kukui thought about the metaphor Pikachu had given. Partly because of how well it explained the situation, and partly because he started to understand why Ash was such a good trainer. His Pikachu was - by standards of others of its kind, very good at explaining concepts beyond its supposed comprehension level. Jessie and James seemed to have already figured Pikachu’s metaphor out. Kukui folded his arms. “So why are we used an Electric type to describe a person?”
“Dats simple. Aura. ”
James shifted in his spot, while the Alolan kids - and even Professor Kukui, looked politely confused. Kukui sighed. “Isn’t that what Lucario uses?”
“People can use it too. Oh, oh!” James facepalmed. Kukui always underestimated how clever Team Rocket were when they put their heads to good use. James cleared his throat, and Pikachu placed a paw over Meowth’s mouth to let James continue the explanation. “This is about Greninja!”
“...huh?”
Pikachu nodded.
“Greninja had a special form that was like Mega Evolution, but it wasn’t. It was maintained as a connection. Going through the Ultra Wormhole must have snapped the connection.”
“Like the circuit disconnecting.” Mallow replied. Her eyebrows furrowed. “That sounds terrifying.”
Meowth listened to Pikachu say something. He cleared his throat. “Pika says that he expects dat Greninja and Squishy will come over. So we should wait here.”
“I’m checking on Ash.” Kukui argued. “Kiawe, stay with Team Rocket.”
Lana brushed a hand through her hair, shaking her head as she sat back and frowned. “Hold on, there’s something I don’t get.”
“And that’s?”
“Who is Greninja, anyway?”
James frowned at that question, as if he forgot Ash’s Alolan friends wouldn’t know that answer off the top of their heads. Kukui was already back in the cabin. The Team Rocket member gave a long look out to the sea, similar to how Pikachu had before. “A Pokemon. Final stage Kalos one. It had a special bond with Ash. It was, I mean, I don’t know how to describe it.”
“Why are you so worried about Ash anyway?” Mallow huffed. She folded her arms, eyes narrowed at James. “You want his ace Pokemon.”
None of them had an answer for that.
-
Ash blearily woke up again, and everything still burned. This time, at least, he was lucid enough to make out shapes properly, and distinguish noise. He was at Professor Kukui’s house, and Lycanroc was at guard beside him. Lycanroc barked.
“Coming, Lycanroc.” Professor Kukui jogged in. Ash’s vision still blurred shades of blue, and he could only really see the vague outline of the man among the other vague outlines of objects. His head pounded from a fever that didn’t feel completely correct, and his fingertips buzzed with energy that couldn’t quite make it’s way out.
The professor didn’t come close. He crouched down, keeping an eye on Ash’s eyes. “You doing good?”
Ash opened his mouth to reply, but his throat felt too dry. The professor didn’t expect an answer, luckily, and just smiled and nodded. He had a tablet out, and was typing away, before fishing out a forehead thermometer out of one of his pockets. He held it to Ash’s head, it beeped, and he made a small noise of distress.
At least, Ash thought that is what it was, from how he could feel the worry from Kukui in bouts of worry-fear-worry that radiated off the man. Normally he could switch off that subtle empathy he had for everyone, that had started up ever since he tangled with Sir Aaron’s Lucario, but right now, everything around him was dialled up to eleven.
He dimly recalled freaking out before, but his brain was too much of a fuzz to distinguish that properly. The professor lifted his hands up, and pressed it onto an orb. It tingled, a little, before another wave of nausea hit him, and he promptly fell asleep again.
-
Professor Kukui hated the fact he was running tests right now, but, the wider Pokemon scientific community needed this kind of data. So he had gathered an hour’s worth of temperature readings, and energy output, thought Ash had been conscious for one of the reports. It didn’t seem to change much, though, and it simply had been steadily dropping over the last hour, but not by a lot.
He logged it in a confidential file, and considered who he could call. The energy reader marked it as a form of aura, so maybe Professor Rowan, who specialised in evolution, had some idea of those specifics, but Kukui was unsure. He was just as much of an expert in those move energies, and he knew it was too different to what Rowan mentioned.
Greninja was a Kalos Pokemon, and Team Rocket said it was sort of Mega Evolution. Maybe his Kalosian colleagues would have something to say about it? Kukui didn’t completely know, but it was the best lead he had.
Unfortunately, it was almost four in the morning for Kalos. There was very little chance he was getting any kind of response at that time. Professor Kukui banged his head against a wall, wondering how he’d get through without any priority channels.
“You good?”
Jessie and James had not left yet, even though Mallow and Lana had eventually gone home, alongside Kiawe. They were too exhausted to stick around after the Lusamine business, and Kukui had not so politely forced them out. He couldn’t exactly tell that to the grown adults, though, so he was stuck having them perch up on Ash’s bunk. He sighed. “I need to call colleagues in Kalos. None of them will respond to me, I’m not on a priority channel like a Champion.”
“Phone Steven.” Jessie suggested. Professor Kukui blinked, before she elaborated. “Most Champions love that kid, and he’s definitely on the channel for immediate response. Plus he has Mega Evolution knowledge, plus he’s a hot guy, plus he’s aware of Ash-Greninja.”
By how she said it, Kukui was fairly certain she cared mostly about the middle point, but her other points were what convinced him. He dialled the Hoenn League number.
“Hello! Hoenn League here. Who can we patch you through to?”
Kukui sighed. “Steven Stone?”
The receptionist pressed a button. A voice that was not Steven’s answered. “Sidney ‘ere. If it ain’t urgent, we don’t take fan-mail. Make a damn appointment.”
“I don’t think it’s like, urgent, as in people are in direct danger, but I think Steven would be interested in hearing this out. Professor Kukui, here. Regional professor of Alola.”
He didn’t exactly love using his credentials to push things forward, but if it worked, then it worked. Sidney groaned, and passed the phone over, muttering something about not having a great excuse not to. The bright, cheery voice of Steven replied. “I’m just about to enter a conference about something, so if it’s important and I need to cancel, let me know now.”
“Can you phone Sycamore for me? I have an important Mega Evolution… Greninja, related question.” Kukui requested. Steven yelled for Sidney to cancel the conference.
Oh.
Steven cleared his throat. “I’m putting you on a call with me and him now.”
Sure enough, the phone beeped and the automatic connection for his television pinged, and Kukui was left desperately tilting the screen towards his kitchen counter. Was it a horrible, awkward looking angle? Yup. Did he have a choice? Not really.
If Ash woke up and threw him across a room again, he didn’t really want to do that in front of the leading expert on Mega Evolution. Sycamore answered, looking very tired, and clutching a cup of coffee. Steven looked bright. “You said Greninja, which is why I’m sticking around.”
Right, that was probably a concern for them. Jessie and James, who were out of frame, shrugged apologetically.
“Yeah. I was wondering how long does it usually take for Ash to, like, recover, from using that?”
Steven hummed, while Professor Sycamore snapped to attention and shuffled through files. “Depends, really. Usually a few hours. Why?”
Professor Kukui wished his lights were dimmer to make his visible cringe less obvious. A few hours? Then Ash was nowhere near close to recovery time. Steven decided to chip in. “Using something like Mega Evolution for, maybe like, four hours, will make you physically ill. The Pokemon usually experiences side effects, but with the Bond, it seems to be mostly trainer-end issues.”
“What’s been the worst?”
Kukui couldn’t help but ask. Sycamore sighed. “I mean, after the Kalos Crisis, Ash was in a coma for a week. Exhaustion, excess Mega Evolution energy, extended use of bond phenomenon, it was a massive stress on his body.”
A coma. They got lucky.
“In a hypothetical situation where Ash remained connected to Greninja, and was forcibly disconnected, how long would you estimate recovery?”
The question was met with pale faces. Sycamore shrugged helplessly at that. “I don’t know. He might never. That kind of thing, you’d need an intervention of a more powerful being. No human is supposed to give that much or have that much energy in their body. Ash only got out of the coma because Steven and Diantha worked together.”
“Is there any progress?”
Kukui realised his hypothetical had been quickly noted as real in his acquaintances heads. Lovely. “His temperature is dropping? He didn’t completely freak out the second time he woke up.”
“We thought that too, but it goes up after a while.” Sycamore grimaced.
Kukui was fully ready to panic.
Lycanroc barked. Lycanroc went nuts barking, and Pikachu nodded. Steven blinked in bafflement while Lycanroc barked right in front of the screen.
What were they thinking?
“Lycanroc, buddy, calm down-”
Lycanroc did not calm down. It barked. Pikachu made a vague gesture that Steven seemed to recognise.
“Pikachu wants you to get his Charizard.”
Kukui blinked. He could probably get that Charizard sent over. He fidgeted with Ash’s Pokedex- not Rotomdex, Pokedex, and the ball did indeed get transported into his hand. Steven paused. “Release that Charizard outside. It will burn down your home.”
“Okay?” Kukui passed the Pokeball to Pikachu. “I guess I’ll leave them to it.”
Sycamore nodded. “Keep me updated on his condition. Leave the call on, we’ll just keep doing our work for a bit. Are the trio there?”
Jessie and James stumbled on frame. Meowth climbed ontop of their heads to squeal. “ Lycanroc was yapping about Tapu Lele or whatever they are called!”
“What?!” Kukui ran outside, but it was way too late. Pikachu and Charizard were gone.
Steven and Sycamore politely cleared their throats in a request for actual context. Kukui groaned. “Tapu Lele is a legendary Pokemon. Are they actually going to threaten a god into healing their trainer?”
“That Pikachu tag-teamed with Groudon to challenge Kyogre in reports. Absolutely. ” Steven muttered.
Sycamore blinked. “I was going to mention the fact Pikachu had a reputation but-”
Jessie decided to chime in as well.
“Charizard beat an Articuno and held off an Entei! He’ll win.”
Kukui was starting to wonder if Ash was overqualified for Pokemon School.
-
Squishy panted, completely out of breath from the impromptu trip to Alola, while Greninja seemed unbothered. Both Pokemon had been massively panicked when the connection Greninja had with Ash suddenly broke, and they were just here to investigate (and maybe murder whoever caused it).
Squishy was greeted by Pikachu and a massive Charizard that was apparently Ash’s. Well, compared to his 10% form, the Charizard was big. It was bigger than Alain’s, and much stronger, even if it hadn’t Mega Evolved once in its existence.
The Order Pokemon made a mental note to keep the Charizard the hell away from a Mega Stone. He didn’t know if he’d win against it if it had one of those. Pikachu looked up at him, sighing in relief. “ Ash is alive. He went to another dimension, but we need to threaten Tapu Lele.”
“I’m threatening.” Charizard added, as if Zygarde needed to be reminded of that. Greninja seemed mildly unconvinced of Charizard’s threat level, but at least relaxed, hearing his trainer was actually alive.
Zygarde sighed. “ I need to return to Kalos. Greninja, come when you are ready.”
Greninja didn’t mind that, and joined Pikachu on Charizard’s back. The duo flew off on the back of Ash’s powerful fire type, and stopped after Pikachu’s navigation lead them to a different island.
Pikachu started yelling.
“ Come on, you half-wit pink idiot! Heal our trainer, or we’ll burn your damn island.”
Greninja thought that was a little harsh. A different Pokemon answered the call - some electric type feeling thing, with a mohawk. It flew in front of Charizard. “ I can call her. She may not be co-operative.”
“We’ll make her.” Charizard growled. The mohawk Pokemon flew off, somewhat amused by Charizard’s conviction. In it’s place, he was replaced with a Pokemon who had a sort of egg like body, antennae, and was pink.
Pikachu huffed. “ Heal our trainer, Tapu Lele. If you don’t, Charizard is incinerating you.”
“Hehe. You can’t win against me, I’m an Island Guardian. I’m unimagi-”
Charizard launched a massive Flamethrower, and Greninja took that as his cue to land two swift Water Shuriken attacks. The Tapu weaved out of the wave, causing the fire attack to completely incinerate a tree.
This wasn’t going to be totally easy, but Greninja took to training with Zygarde, and Charizard faced Legendaries and won.
Also, Pikachu was mad. There wasn’t a world where Tapu Lele, and mohawk ‘mon, who was fighting by her side, won.
-
Olivia woke up to screaming and realised she was now evacuating half of Akala Island to the other side. Some kind of battle - too dim in the light to actually make out properly, was raging above their heads.
Kiawe breathlessly arrived on the scene. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. There’s-” Olivia gestured to the bright, flashes lights in the sky. A green Pokemon showed up next. It had four legs, a long snout, and barked as it jerked its head. It glared at the Pokemon in the sky.
“ Imbecile Charizard! Try not incinerate people. Also, Tapu Lele, is this really necessary.”
Olivia gaped at the telepathic Pokemon. Kiawe quickly tried to figure out what the hell he was talking to. “Who-”
“ I am Zygarde. I was supposed to return to Kalos, but Charizard started burning trees.”
A blade of water sliced a tree cleanly in half, and Zygarde barked out another command for them to calm down before they hurt a human. The concern inside Kiawe only grew when it appeared to not dissuade the Pokemon currently antagonising Tapu Lele.
And by the yellow and orange movements, Tapu Koko.
“Are they going to hurt us?” Olivia asked.
Zygarde shook its head. “ No. They are just idiots who normally have better direction on their attacks, and they are all very tense. Their trainer is- well, probably going to die, if Lele doesn’t help.”
Kiawe only knew one trainer with an insane track record and tense Pokemon.
A flash of thunder answered his theory.
“Are they going to win?”
Zygarde snorted at Kiawe. “ Pikachu could take both guardians.”
Olivia frowned in concern, while Tapu Koko slammed into the ground at high speed. The Charizard laughed and launched a massive Flamethrower at the Island Guardian. It barely couldn’t move out of the way in time, and struggled to fly up after. Zygarde barked.
“ Idiot, stand down! Let Tapu Lele lose.”
A crash of thunder was interrupted by an Iron Tail attack. Pikachu wasn’t attacking much, though, Kiawe noticed.
The attacks were more controlled.
“Is Pikachu giving them commands?” Olivia gasped, sounding utterly fascinating. Zygarde nodded.
Kiawe decided that he had a new fear.
Pikachu.
Tapu Lele was thrown into the same spot as Tapu Koko was, and began frantically crying out. The trio of Pokemon stopped their assault, and Zygarde, satisfied, ran off. Kiawe and Olivia watched as Tapu Lele flew off towards Melemele.
A hand behind them raised. “Is it safe to go home?”
Olivia processed.
“Kiawe, tell Ash that his Charizard and ninja Pokemon are not allowed to battle here.”
-
Kukui shouldn’t have been surprised when a slightly scorched Tapu Lele flew inside his house, alongside Pikachu. In fact, he probably should have been grateful, but the implication that Pikachu, alongside the blue Pokemon that Steven informed him was Greninja, tag-teamed Tapu Lele into submission was still terrifying.
Tapu Lele sighed, and Ash was surrounded in a warm pink glow.
Kukui was so relieved when Ash opened his eyes, and asked what Greninja was doing in his living room.
-