The Omega Omnisphere's Mightiest Pokemon Master | By : Omniarch-1024 Category: Pokemon > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 7542 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon nor do I make any profit off this whatsoever. All content is the property of their respective owners. |
Disclaimers: I own nothing except any OCs and the AU plot lines. I gain no profit from this story whatsoever, and write it purely for fun.
Dedicated to my good friend and fellow Fanfiction reader Shadowlord1295, hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.
Chapter rated for violence, epic battles, and a severely injured Froakie
Chapter One: The Much Anticipated Arrival
Dreams were often incredibly informative and a means to remembering that which one has long forgotten or buried in their subconscious. It was the mind's way of replaying everything it had learned or thought about during the day, and so much more than that to certain individuals. The nature of dreams often varied from universe to universe, from person to person, and could sometimes prophesize potential omens or immanent threats of disaster, like in the Percy Jackson universe, where demigods in it actually had very few regular dreams throughout their lives and often dreamt of potential futuristic disasters involving them in some way.
Due to his mind's link with all things in the Omega Omnisphere, all of the above mentioned possibilities and countless others often haunted the dreams of Ash Ketchum One Million. He could dream of any past or future event in any alternate timeline or universe at random, or even dream of entities about to threaten the totality of existence just in time to put a stop to it. He could even expand his dream self to encompass the entire Omega Omnisphere and attain temporary omnipresence and observe everything from a third person perspective while he slept. He also had countless sex dreams involving him and Serena, just to keep things semi normal in his completely abnormal teenage life.
Given the fact he had no idea what she even looked like nowadays, his infinitely intelligent and imaginative mind filled in the gaps for him, creating a futuristic version of Serena's whose beauty far surpassed that of any mortal woman and could even put the Greek Goddess Aphrodite to shame, this bodacious, drop dead gorgeous, adult version of Serena making love to him in his dreams. In his mind she had grown up to be flawless in appearance, with long honey colored hair, cerulean orbs as beautiful as he remembered and glazed over with pure love and lust, double d-cup breasts, perfect curves, full pink lips, a slim, strong, sexy waist, a perfect ass, etc, and somehow he wouldn't be too surprised if the real deal turned out to be just as attractive.
He conceded that he was creating this perfect looking image of her because of how highly he thought of her, and how perfectly cute she had been when they were kids, both in terms of her appearance and her shy, easily embarrassed personality. Since she had always been the cutest girl he'd ever known, now it seemed his mind was imagining her adult form as the most attractive, most beautiful woman in the entire Omega Omnisphere, and somehow whether she turned out to be as attractive as in his sleep or not, he had the feeling he'd always think of her as the center of his universe, the apple of his eye, or however people preferred putting it. Perhaps he was getting a little carried away, perhaps he presumed too much; and like that old saying went; beauty was in the eye of the beholder. He understood that while he may think the world of her, there were others who would not share his opinion or who may feel someone else was better looking. That was truly a fascinating aspect of humanity, even though they were interconnected spiritually and via the emotional spectrum, there was enough diversity between their mostly isolated minds to make each and every person unique.
Despite being prone to all these kinds of dreams and more, this time Ash's mind simply replayed events from last night and thought over all the many problems he was dealing with in this universe. His memories of the past had replayed themselves over and over in his head like a broken recording video. He remembered all the legendary Pokemon he had ever encountered, and the people who had been witness to those legendary battles and situations. He remembered all the names and faces of the people he befriended during those times; including Melody, Molly Hale, Lady Eileen, Kidd, the people of the water, Tonio, Alice, Kevin, Sheena, and all the other people who had bared witness to Ash's many legendary encounters.
The solution to one of his problems came to him in his dreams at least, and he realized those people would probably be able to handle the legendary Pokemon they had seen Ash battle or helped save the world with. Melody wasn't much of a Pokemon trainer, but Molly Hale was 15 years old now, having been 9 years old when Ash was 12 and visiting Greenfield. She had been almost old enough to start her journey, but the prospect of losing her father and mother was too much for the lonely girl to handle at the time.
Befriending the Unown and by extension Entei had given her something she desperately needed following her father's disappearance, friends to play with and someone to be there for her. Now though, she was on her Pokemon journey and last time Ash had thought to check on her she was doing quite well in the battling circuit. She was an elite level trainer and had captured every Pokemon she dreamed up during that incident six years ago now, with the exception of one of course. Entei was the only Pokemon she had yet to capture from that time, her Mantine, Kingdra, Ursurang, mega Ampharos, and Donphan were her five most commonly used Pokemon, yet despite her best efforts in Johto the legendary fire type continued to elude her.
A solution to his legendary problem literally came to him in a dream, and with his powers and the resources he now had, he would have more than what was required to reach her and other people he wished to contact and give legendary Pokemon eggs to. He had little doubt Molly would accept an Entei egg, which was laid by the shiny Entei Ash caught during the incident with Zoroark and Zorua. He could probably persuade her to accept the other two legendary dogs and maybe even a couple of other legendary Pokemon eggs he needed to part with.
The Mewtwo egg in his packsack he intended to give to Serena when he found her, along with the Mewtwonite he created for it. His dream self had given the matter a lot of thought while he slept, and he had the feeling that Serena would be the perfect trainer for this Hexa perfect, unnerve, shiny Mewtwo. A lot of the problems he was dealing with seemed to regard his best childhood friend, and Serena was the only person he knew on earth who he couldn't sense completely and perfectly, and virtually every power he used to track her current whereabouts failed him.
For all his attempts to track her down, she eluded his every attempt, his aura, psychic, and countless other abilities not availing him in the slightest. She threw him off with her complete lack of spiritual, emotional, and mental presence, it was almost like she existed outside of the Omega Omnisphere itself and was immune to all his nigh-omnipotent and even some of his omnipotent powers. Knowing what he knew about Serena and about the whole concept of Arceus's Chosen Champions, Ash wouldn't be too surprised if Serena actually did have the power to exist outside of everything. The best he could do was get a general location, but that was only enough for him to confirm she was still in Kalos which left a lot of ground to cover, but still, with all his powers, covering infinite amounts of ground was a piece of cake, and he'd do anything to see her again.
He wanted to reunite with her more than anything, but he was still unnerved by the prospect of doing so, and no matter how he may have solved his legendary Pokemon egg problem, he still had plenty on his plate to contend with. 'Arceus was right though, so long as I relax and just stay focused on my journey and try not to overwork myself, I can deal with all these problems at a healthy rate. My supreme deification should aid in my ability to contend with these mighty tasks. So relax Ash Ketchum, and let your endless optimism flow through you once more,' Ash told himself inwardly as he finally awoke to see a beautiful sunrise peering through the window to his right.
Almost everyone else was still asleep, but Ash knew there was at least half a dozen people using the bathrooms, twenty or so people feigning sleep in an effort to fall asleep for real, forty or so Pokemon simply lazing on their seats, on the floors, or in their trainer's laps, and one of the pilots and flight attendants were wide awake as well. The jumbo jet could carry several hundred people if it had to, and just as many Pokemon, though super heavy Pokemon like Snorlax were ill advised by the flight attendants to be let loose from their Pokeballs aboard the plane.
In his lap Raichu was just beginning to stir, as if it sensed that its trainer was awake and following suit. Brock was snoring to his right, and Ash tuned out the images of Brock's sex dream flashing through his mind and focused on Alexa. He noticed that she was actually wide awake and quietly scribbling in her notebook. Well quietly for her or any normal human, but Ash wasn't exactly human anymore. If he focused on her and her only, he could hear the constant scratching of her pen on paper loudly enough to give any mortal man a sensory overload, but to him it was just a mild irritant.
As Arceus explained, Ash's brain was hardwired in a such a way so as to handle an infinite amount of information, even if that information was uploaded into his mind in an instant, he could process it all at once. He could hear, see, taste, smell, and psychically sense almost everything and anything in totality, and was constantly aware of everything too, but even with all that information, he somehow managed to remain half sane most of the time.
Deciding to get a proper feel of the city they'd be arriving in and of Kalos itself, Ash closed his eyes and willed his infinitely vast consciousness to grant him access to the city of lights and see it without eyes. His mind expanded outside of his body and he saw himself sitting there on the plane like some out of body experience, his expanded mind encompassing the entire plane and moving beyond that. Ash's astral form was moving so fast towards Lumiose city and beyond the plane that it didn't localize, and existed in countless different places at once. He was now the space between, above, and all around every living thing on that plane, the cells on their skin and inside their bodies, and he was one with the air, the sea, and the land.
It was truly an amazing feeling, being one with the people of the world; every individual being was still deeply connected in more incorporeal ways. He was one with the entire world's emotional spectrum, able to tap into the thoughts and feelings of every person on the planet, he was aware of how every individual felt at this moment in time, how they typically felt around the people they knew or were close to, who they loved and hated most, and other such things.
Everyone in Lumiose city became as familiar to him in this state as his own best friends, their lives, experiences, and emotions melding with his own, yet not enough for him to lose his sense of self, which luckily, he never did. He could feel the psychic powers of every Espurr in every dark Alleyway; knew every person in Lumiose city by name and was aware of what each person looked like, what their intentions were, and every aspect of their individual lives, all of which were actually interconnected on a spiritual and emotional level, and right now Ash was one with that connection, he was the supreme force that bound them all together, the unlimited deity who controlled all of the Omega Omnisphere and was one with every being in it. Being all-powerful was amazing, but being able to control the emotional spectrum on an infinite level like he did was perhaps one of his favorite super powers, it afforded him with literally limitless emotional capacity, and though that sometimes hurt way beyond measure it was also what made him so deeply human in spite of all his non human attributes. There truly was no feeling like it, no way for him to accurately describe the intense experiences involved with tapping into all the positive feelings throughout eternity.
Satisfied with what he saw, heard, and felt, Ash was tempted to go further and become one with the entire planet and maybe even the entire Omega Omnisphere, but he had done all that before, countless times in his sleep, and though it was a truly indescribable experience, he didn't want to become hooked on it lest he lose the desire for a body altogether. He wanted to be in a single place and time, to live in the moment, and though that was a severely limited form of existence, Ash wasn't ready to give up the kinds of pleasures and joys only a corporeal body could provide.
His eyes snapped open as he returned to his own, nigh-omnipotent body, his infinite awareness deadening somewhat inside his mind but nevertheless always present, like a seductive temptress waiting to beckon him to a life beyond the confines of a single, human form. He no longer recalled the faces and names of the people he fused with quite as fondly, but the knowledge he gained was still as in depth as it was while he was outside his body tapping into the world, just a little more cold and intellectual.
Nobody except he and his Pokemon knew of his supreme apotheosis, and just as few people knew that his virtually omnipotent body was merely his avatar, an embodiment of infinite power. Even in the extremely unlikely and even logically impossible event that Ash's body was destroyed, he would instantly regenerate from the essence of his existence, which was an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent entity that encompassed the entire Omega Omnisphere and was a non religious analogue of its creator. Ash's true self was exactly as Arceus put it, he was pretty much indistinguishable from the Creator of the heavens and the earth and everything in between, much the same way Arceus itself was, or how Omninoir was a representation of Totality's Ultimate Anti-God.
Looking to his right at Alexa once more, Ash smiled as she put her notebook down and finally decided to check on him and Brock, her Helioptile still fast asleep in her lap as Raichu greeted its trainer with a happy 'cha.' Scratching his starter behind the head, Ash spoke aloud for the first time that morning, "hey buddy, hey Alexa, how'd you sleep? I slept wonderfully, gave my mind lots of time to work out some problems I was faced with during the night. Say did you ever hear of John Steinbeck, no of course you haven't, he's not exactly from around here. Anyways, he once said that 'it is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it,'" Ash quoted, causing the brown haired, green eyed beauty to eye him like he had grown a second head, and Ash merely sighed inwardly in disappointment.
'Man, people in the one millionth Pokemon universe have no poetry it seems, at least not the inter-dimensional variety I've become accustomed to. I suppose it makes sense though, I mean I'm the only person on the planet who is aware of the existence of other worlds, other universes, and other seemingly fictional realities. Hell I'm even aware of my own seemingly fictional existence and the fact that my story is featured in some fanfiction in a distant world, but I digress. The point is, my world needs to get a taste of some cross-dimensional awesomeness, like I did that fateful day when I met Arceus,' Ash mused as Alexa merely stared at him, wondering to herself if she'd ever figure the Pallet town prodigy out.
Every once in a while he seemed almost normal, but most of the time he seemed half mad and sometimes he even seemed totally Zubat shit insane. Traveling with him through the Decolore islands had been a very interesting experience for many reasons, one of them being his ability to attract danger and excitement to him like Venomoths to the flame, and his complete disregard for his own safety when helping out the various Pokemon native to the islands. Iris and Cilan had told her the story of what happened with them and Ash when they came face to face with five Genesect and a Mewtwo that could change its form, a phenomena Ash had called mega evolution. It was also then that Ash revealed that this wasn't the first time he'd seen a Mewtwo despite the fact it was a legendary Pokemon and few people ever saw it once, never mind twice.
In the time she had travelled with Ash he always had something truly fascinating to say, and he saw the world around him in a very unique way, quoting or citing things and people she had never even heard of or read about, a modern day miracle considering the amount of books she had read in her childhood. She had spent the better part of six months trying to riddle out the enigma of Ash Ketchum, and she still wasn't any closer than she had been when they first met.
His Pokemon all loved and adored him to pieces, but in battle they were truly terrifying to behold and made utter fools out of the type matchup system. Ash's training regimens seemed brutal and militant at the very least, in fact some people might have considered it a form of abuse if Ash wasn't so good to them and they weren't so committed to their trainer's particular brand of training. No matter how hard he was on them during their training, Ash never forced his Pokemon to do more than they were willing; nor did he fail to reward them for their effort. In fact, in the months Alexa had traveled with or happened across him, it seemed he and his Pokemon were connected on some other level.
Ash constantly displayed the uncanny ability to follow his Pokemon's thoughts and feelings, such was his ability to read them that Alexa could almost swear he was actually able to communicate with and completely understand what they were trying to say. When she asked him how he always somehow knew what they were saying, he merely shrugged and said he always had a way with Pokemon, ever since he could remember in fact, and then proceeded to tell her about his psychic and spiritual powers, abilities he inherited from his father, the all-powerful world champ. It was several months later when she discovered his ever growing arsenal of legendary Pokemon, something Iris and Cilan were already used to seeing given his penchant for capturing them. They had seen his legends many times throughout their travels and conveyed to her all the times he had seen and captured various legends of the Unova region.
Alexa had been astounded by Ash's captures to say the least, but she didn't get a clear idea of just how great a trainer he was until she visited Oak's lab in Pallet town and interviewed the esteemed professor himself. The man was exuberant in praise about his star pupil, the most famous trainer in all of Pallet town, and upon seeing his Pokemon at Oak's ranch and seeing some of his less common legends, Alexa could understand why the man was so ecstatic. If nothing else, Ash Ketchum was the most powerful Pokemon trainer she'd ever seen, with more legendary Pokemon on his roster than most people see in their lifetimes. On top of all that, he had saved the world dozens of times and all of the legendary Pokemon he captured admitted that he was the only trainer worthy of them. Alexa had offered countless times to tell Ash's story to Kalos, to let everyone know what a great trainer he was, and he finally accepted her offer, just before they boarded this plane.
Being a reporter of her reputation meant she had to get all the facts straight, and she had spent hours grilling all the details she could from Ash, creating a timeline and mapping out almost his entire journey from beginning to end. In the wake of learning all that she had, Alexa realized she had stumbled upon the front page story of a lifetime, the likes of which most reporters could only dream of. Ash was putting a lot of trust in her to tell the world about his gifts, wondering what ulterior motives he had for getting his powers, Pokemon, and image all around the world, but nevertheless she was eternally grateful to him for trusting her above all others in her field.
She wasn't going to let him down, she was going to make him out to be the true hero he deserved to be seen as, and nothing was going to stop her from getting the full scoop one of these days. Who knows, if she made a good enough image of Ash throughout Kalos maybe he'd consider leaking some more details of his life and journey to her, not that she didn't already know a ton, she probably knew a hell of a lot more than her brain could properly register right now.
Ash couldn't help smiling as he tried to tune out what Alexa was thinking at this very moment, stroking Raichu's tail and earning an extremely happy 'cha' from the Pokemon in an effort to distract himself from the infinite vastness of his own awareness. Alexa was going over the interview he and professor Oak gave her back at the Oak Pokemon laboratory, and he knew he was probably taking a huge leap of faith here letting her tell the world of his many accomplishments over the years, even some of the ones that weren't well known. Ash Ketchum was known all over the world, his fame second to none and equalled only by a select few, and once this story made it out to the Kalos newspapers he'd probably be the most well known person on this entire earth. He knew how important it was for him to get his image across the world, since there was a storm coming and when it hit, people were going to need a beacon of hope to help inspire them to take up the fight against Omninoir.
For all his powers, Ash knew he couldn't fight this upcoming war with Omninoir all by himself. People were going to need someone to look up to, to guide them into the light, but they also needed to know that Ash couldn't do everything for them, so letting them know exactly what he was capable of and what his self imposed limits were was the only way for them to know what he couldn't do by himself. He knew he was bending the truth a little, letting people think his powers had limits, but he had his reasons for not revealing the full scope of his abilities. If people knew what he was truly capable of they might not have the capacity to fight their own battles and would rely on him to do everything for them.
His ultimate godhood was kept secret for a reason, and he planned on making his so called boundaries and constraints very clear in the following weeks, months, and maybe even years, depending on how long he stuck around in Kalos. Alexa seemed to understand the need for discretion on some things, she even suspected Ash was still holding some stuff back in spite of all he told her but didn't press the issue, she knew about his psychic and aura powers, his legendary Pokemon, his father, and even the limitless power levels of the two abilities he had that she knew about, but promised to be vague in the details of his powers, only planning to say his aura and psychic powers were both a hereditary trait he inherited from his father at birth. Aura masters and psychics were accepted even today in modern society, albeit with slight apprehension, but beings who were bestowed with ultimate godhood and all the powers in the Omega Omnisphere... not so much, and he was glad Alexa understood that, her thoughts as open to him as any book he ever read.
He had gone over the moral philosophy of using his awareness to always know what people were thinking and feeling, and had ultimately decided to not suppress his sensory or awareness powers. He often wondered if he had the right to have almost total knowledge of what the people around him thought and felt, to basically invade their privacy.
Then again, if he lessened this ability he might not have seen Team Plasma coming the numerous times they attacked him and his friends, or sensed the impending calamity Giovanni planned to unleash by controlling Landorus, Thundurus, and Tornadus. He also might not have been aware of a great deal of other things that saved his friends' lives countless times over and many other things, so in this case his infinite awareness and perception were justified, even if it meant there was virtually nothing his friends and family could hide from him. There were too many horrific events that could unfurl or befall his loved ones for him to hold anything back in that sense, especially with Omninoir gunning for him now, so his nigh-omniscience, infinite perception, and cosmic senses remained fully intact. He knew they were almost in Lumiose city now, and was aware of the fact that they were now flying over dry land instead of ocean water. "Say Alexa, what do you say we wake up sleepy head between us in an unconventional manner," Ash grinned quasi-maniacally, and Alexa's answering grin was just as feral.
"Hey Raichu," Ash whispered, getting the attention of the one Pokemon he relied on as much as his Alakazam. 'That's my name, don't wear it out, what do you want Ash?' Raichu wondered, though to Alexa it only sounded like the Pokemon was talking in its usual language. "Do you think you can wake up mister pervert beside us? I don't like to imagine what he must be dreaming about and cock-blocking him has become a rather fun habit of mine. I can see why Misty, Max, and Brock's Toxicroak got such a kick out of it," Ash chortled, and Raichu nodded eagerly with a grin only the Cheshire cat could love while Alexa burst out laughing at Ash's statement, the orange mouse sparking his cheeks with small jolts of blue electricity in preparation.
"Remember to take it easy on him Raichu, I don't want you stopping his heart now," Ash reminded his starter, though if he was being honest with himself his suggestion wasn't even necessary. Raichu was so well trained at precisely controlling its infinite electrical power it could alternate continuously between using power no greater than a level 1 individual of its species to firing off thunderbolts capable of destroying cities, eviscerating entire armies of regular Pokemon, increasing the atmosphere's electron voltage to absolute levels, and even creating thunderstorms capable of destroying the planet. As a fully trained individual of its species, there was no limit to the pure energy within it that it could use to empower its attacks, and Raichu actually had a very versatile move pool on top of that.
Grinning gregariously as Raichu fired a boundlessly underpowered version of its thunder shock attack to wake up Brock, startling several of the other passengers as Brock sat up with a start and shouted aloud with some very colorful swear words, Ash couldn't contain himself and burst out laughing. Nobody else really noticed the electric attack because Raichu was talented enough to keep it low key, but Brock's swearing sure got everyone's attention. Said Pokemon doctor was now glaring in Ash and Raichu's direction once everyone returned to whatever they were doing before, Alexa giggling behind him and Ash and the lightning mouse stared back at their oldest travel companion, completely unabashed.
"Why in the hell did you wake me up like that, I was having the most pleasant dream," Brock sighed dreamily, crying Anime tears as Ash chuckled at the cartoonish physics this universe sometimes allowed for, but also at Brock's reaction. "No doubt you were dreaming about women," Alexa smirked under her breath, causing Brock to shift uncomfortably in his seat. "Honestly, why does the universe hate me? Nobody ever said desiring women was a crime, when did it become a violation against nature to pursue members of the opposite sex? Last I checked, it was required for the cycle of life to continue," Brock complained, and Ash rolled his eyes.
He had long since gotten accustomed to Brock's seemingly endless horniness and his desire to sleep with every good looking female he happened across. He had actually been given a temporary suspension from the Pokemon Doctor's school for hitting on the pretty nurses studying there, which was the only reason he was traveling with Ash once again. Apparently he was forbidden from ever attending the school again unless he got his... urges under control and learned to treat the women working there with respect. It would have been extremely unprofessional of him to behave that way in any hospital, particularly in the Pokemon centers while working with Nurse Joy, and nearly every nurse Joy agreed with this sentiment, having been subject to Brock's declarations of love in the past.
"Honestly Brock, you really need to learn the proper way to treat women. The way you go about asking them out is just plain... creepy, know what I'm saying?" Alexa said warmly, clearly sympathetic of Brock's situation despite the fact the guy had hit on her the instant he met her. Ash laughed as he recalled how Helioptile had shocked the former gym leader in response to him trying to woo its trainer, the memory still fresh in his mind since it only happened yesterday before they boarded the plane.
Brock gazed at Alexa with hearts in his eyes until Ash elbowed him in the ribs, jarring him back to his senses. "Dude, what did she just say? Look, I've put up with a lot since you and I first started traveling together back in Kanto, but the way you treat women is quite frankly disgusting. Take my advice my friend, your method of attracting women screams desperation, so why not try actually befriending a girl you can grow to deeply, truly love. Trust me when I say the results may be quite different, you've got to stop treating girls like a means to alleviating your sexual desires and more like people, you know? Think about your relationship with your sisters or even with girls who are younger than you, the way you treat them is way better than how you treat each woman you supposedly love, what does that tell you? You need to change your approach man, because what you're doing right now is obviously not getting you the results you desire."
"You should start by being more like how you were to people like Dawn or May, show people what a kind, compassionate, family oriented guy you can be, trust me, there are a lot of girls who like nice guys. Take it from someone whom both May and Dawn developed feelings for, simply declaring your undying love for a girl in such an overzealous way is not an act of true love at all, you need to show her, yes Brock, the one girl you're destined to be with, not multiple nurse Joys or officer Jenny's, let your actions speak for you. Sensitivity, kindness, mutual understanding, passion, deep trust, and a lot of other elements are elements of true love, and Brock my man, I know you have the capacity to find someone wonderful to spend the rest of your life with, you just got to change it up a bit, change how you go about chasing women," Ash advised the Pokemon doctor in training in a lengthy, but helpful statement.
Brock scratched his chin, evidently in deep thought over Ash's words which clearly had a big impact on him. "So you're saying I should treat women I am attracted to the same way I treat the girls I consider family or friends, I was always told that romantic love was different though, it sure as hell feels different," he mused thoughtfully, and Ash's eyebrow quirked. He hadn't forgotten that Brock had basically grown up and raised his entire family without his father's support, and in that time he probably never had any male role model to teach him the proper decorum when interacting with the opposite sex, everything he knew about women was probably from raising his sisters or self taught to him when he reached puberty. Realizing he and Brock probably should have had this talk years ago, Ash could barely hold back a chuckle as he realized Brock was actually quite clueless about the nature of a romantic relationship.
"It is different from familial love and unconditional love Brock. Romantic love is the most powerful form of love, but it is also the least stable and potentially the most dangerous, so you need to be careful how you go about expressing it. That being said, whether the woman you're interacting with is just a friend or someone you want to be something more with, you need to treat her like an actual human being regardless of the kind of love you harbor for her. Can romantic love drive you to act like a lovesick psycho, hell yeah man, and believe me it can be very obsessive; I know that better than most. The point is you need to try to rein it in until you actually get the girl, otherwise it could consume you and it will consume you if you let it. Once you have a girlfriend and the two of you are completely, utterly enamored with one another, then you can act like a lovesick pup all you want and she would never get sick of you, though you still need to treat her with respect and one more thing Brock, never ever take any girl you may end up dating for granted, and don't expect the first girl you manage to date to necessarily be the one you wish to spend the rest of your life with. Sometimes you have to go through a ton of relationships that don't work out before you finally find the right girl for you," Ash replied, and Brock nodded in understanding while Alexa beamed at Ash for the delivery of his heartfelt speech.
"I'm glad we had this chat Ash, and maybe you're right man. I could definitely do no more harm than I've been doing by changing my approach. Honestly ever since the Pokemon Doctor training school suspended me I've really been contemplating how I treat the women I crush on, and I think I am ready to start seriously looking for a nice girl that I can actually, genuinely fall in love with, so I'll try things your way and see how it works out," Brock smiled, and Ash nodded with proud satisfaction while Raichu gave the older man a thumbs up and Alexa kissed him on the cheek as a reward for all the progress he made in such a short amount of time. Ash knew he normally wouldn't have had much luck getting through to Brock where love was concerned, the man was pretty set in his ways and the Pallet town trainer had never been able to get through to him before, but with Brock's dream of being a Pokemon doctor depending on his change in approach, maybe Ash would have far better luck at helping him change for the better than he ever did before.
Brock was just about to go love crazy again upon receiving the kiss but somehow managed to control himself, albeit barely. Ash's chortles and snickers were interrupted by the pilot's voice echoing on the speakers throughout the plane. "Attention passengers, we will now begin our descent into Lumiose city, please fasten your seatbelts and return your Pokemon to their Pokeballs, and thank you for flying with the Kanto airline," the man boomed, his voice reverberating through the entire plane as Ash leaned forward in his seat in eager anticipation. The plane shook as people returned their Pokemon with all due haste and Raichu clung to Ash's pants with its tiny claws and toes, its godlike strength enabling it to cling to him and yet not hurting its trainer in the slightest. Ash supposed that rule wasn't really enforced as he let Raichu stay out, knowing how much it hated to be confined to a Pokeball, that it would rather be caught in the plane's turbulence. Besides getting tossed around in a plane wasn't exactly going to hurt a fully trained Pokemon, it would take a hell of a lot more than that to damage his starter even in the slightest. Even falling out of the plane at this altitude and falling tens of thousands of feet below wouldn't hurt it, but nevertheless Ash allowed it to cling to him and snuggled it to his chest.
Ash was excited and terrified at the same time, excited at the prospect of a new journey and new Pokemon and especially meeting Serena again, who he knew was somewhere in Kalos thanks to his infinite perceptive powers. Even though he couldn't pinpoint her exact location, he was able to get a general idea of where she was located though that idea spanned the entire Kalos region, plus he had used his powers to comb through every region he had been to and all the people who had come and gone to those regions in the past 8 years since his journey started, and saw no sign of her. He had spent his entire journey scanning the faces in every crowd at every major battle and contest he competed in, every new city he arrived in he looked for any sign of her dazzling smile or her gorgeous cerulean eyes, but came up empty handed every time. Still, Ash Ketchum One Million had never been a quitter, and considering his and Serena's catchphrase from when they were kids, he knew he could never give up until the end.
He now knew Serena was still in Kalos, thanks to his powers and thanks to sources of Intel he utilized as the co-leader of the Pokemon G-men, it was just one of the many favors he asked Lance, and thanks to the former Kanto and Johto league champ, Ash was able to at least verify that the daughter of the famous Rhyhorn racer Grace Yvonne was still in the Kalos region. It was strange, his powers were virtually useless at tracking her but with Satellite imaging and all the other technological and human methods for tracking people down, her image actually came up on the screen of the Pokemon G-Men's mainframe computer.
Plus it had become pretty obvious where she was because of how thoroughly he looked for her elsewhere, and though he had known all along that she moved back to the Kalos region, he didn't think she would stay there all this time. He was terrified by the prospect of seeing her again. Did she remember him at all and if she did, did she remember him as fondly as he would like? No matter what the case though, he wouldn't let his nerves keep him from seeing her again, no force in the Omega Omnisphere could stop their inevitable reunion now, and he determined right here and now that even if she didn't remember him, even if she had fallen in love with someone else, he would always love her unconditionally. But if she was still single and just didn't remember him, he was confident he could remind her of what the two of them had meant to each other once upon a time or even reforge that connection from scratch if need be.
He had allowed his uncertainty and fear to keep him from traveling the Kalos region back when he first started his journey, but back then he didn't have any of his power nor anywhere near the number of fully trained Pokemon he had now, thus his ability to handle himself in difficult and dangerous situations was limited. His mom would not have wanted him so far away from home in the first stretch of his journey, so no matter how much his heart ached to see her, Ash stayed away from Kalos and stuck to Kanto. He secretly hoped she'd come find him in Kanto instead and they'd travel together like they always planned, but it was wishful thinking, she never showed up, which only strengthened the notion that she had forgotten about him. Even now, Ash was still afraid she wouldn't remember him, but he was done letting fear stop him from reuniting with her, nothing could stop him from finding out what she had been up to this past decade and more importantly, if she remembered him.
If she did, he would be happy beyond measure, but it would also beg the question as to why she never came back for him while he was stuck traveling in Kanto or traveling any of the other regions. He wasn't exactly quiet about the fact that she was his best friend forever, and every time he had been on the air or his battles had been televised throughout his journey he took the opportunity to acknowledge her, so why? Why hadn't she come to find him yet, why did she not send him some kind of message or sign? This question above all others was the one he dreaded the answer to most, but even that would not stop him. He was done being afraid, he was done with being on his journey without her, and he was done with not knowing where she was, how she was doing, or if she felt the same way he did all these years. No matter what happened though, he knew that one way or another, he would make her his, as he should've done so long ago.
The situation with Serena was just one of his many problems though, and he was also afraid of this impending doom and gloom situation with Omninoir, a Pokemon that was literally evil in its purest, most eternal form and perfectly capable of making the omniverse itself its bitch. Nevertheless though, he wasn't about to let some Omnimalevolent primal void keep him from living life to its fullest, reuniting with Serena, and continuing his journey to become not only the world champ, but also the greatest Pokemon master the Omega Omnisphere has ever known. He was ready, ready to begin preparations for his eventual showdown with the very essence of ultimate darkness, and no matter how difficult the struggle, he would continue to insist that he could save the world, defeat the villain without killing him, and get the girl, all in time for him to conquer the Pokemon world championship and defeat his all-powerful father, the current Pokemon master Fredrick Ketchum.
He became aware of Arceus's presence reacting to his thoughts, its all-powerful voice of sublimity and perfection echoing in his head. 'Ash, keep in mind that Omninoir will have all of your powers and none of your inhibitions. It's going to take everything you have to beat him, assuming that he can even be beaten,' it advised him warningly, and Ash responded by sending a pulse of pure determination and unyielding refusal to give in through the power of aura. "I don't care how powerful it is, I'll take it on like I have everything else," he said resolutely, his voice barely above a whisper but laced with limitless power. The plane was now beginning to descend rapidly as Raichu and all of Ash's Pokemon regarded their trainer with renewed respect and admiration. 'And don't forget we're here as well Ash.' Raichu declared while still hugging itself to Ash's chest, the rest of his Pokemon adding their support to his starter's from inside their Pokeballs. With his team of fully trained monsters strapped to his belt, and every omnipotent power in the Omega Omnisphere coursing through him, Ash knew he had all he needed to walk the long and inexorable path laid out ahead of him.
He may require additional help however, if what Arceus said to him about two more Chosen Ones over a year ago was true, but just for now he was willing to leave tomorrow until tomorrow and forgo his dark premonitions, content to awaiting his arrival in a new region and continuing his journey. "Because after all, it's not the destination that's important it's the journey getting there. Once I become world champ that's the end of the road, but so long as the journey towards Pokemon mastery is ongoing; then I can continue to learn, grow, travel, and train, make new friends, and so on and so forth," Ash stated out loud, earning some very confused stares from Brock and Alexa as they wondered what exactly the Pallet town trainer had been musing about the last few minutes. Both of them shrugged however and returned to their own thoughts and longing anticipation for their arrival, blissfully unaware of what the world was about to face or that it's only hope for survival was sitting right next to them...
XXXXX
"Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you all to the elegant splendor and grandeur of the Pokemon master class performance. I am Monsieur Pierre, guide to your dream of love. Here in Lumiose city we have gathered once more for the competition that can only conclude with someone basking in the glory of being Kalos queen. We have some amazing contestants competing here, but only one will emerge the victor. Now please, let us all give a very warm welcome to the current Kalos queen, the one who will defend her title to the brink of her abilities, SERENA YVONNE!" the host of every Tripokalon announced at the top of his lungs, his voice drowned out by the level of applause echoing throughout the vast master class arena.
Upon hearing her name called from above, Serena waited underneath the stage with her starter Delphox ever by her side, the overpowering surreality of this place and the fact that she actually had yet to start her journey in the real world telling her this was undoubtedly a dream, but she knew better than to work against it and just decided to roll with it, promising herself she'd make this dream a reality one day.
Despite knowing that none of this was really happening, Serena still felt immeasurably nervous, excited, and terrified all at once, vowing to do her best here in this dream world so that she could apply any skills she gained here outside the realm created by her current state of sleep. She held her breath as the platform beneath her began to rise, ascending her and the Delphox she had always wanted ever since watching Aria's performances on TV to the stage above, taking her to her dreams.
Finally the platform stopped moving and she and the dreamed up Delphox took a bow with seemingly divine grace as they came face to face with the enormous, nerve wracking crowds, crowds that were now cheering and screaming her name at the top of her lungs. The sheer deafening volume of their cheers were drowned out by one particular voice, the voice of a person she had known since childhood and could pick out even now in this crowd of thousands, no tens of thousands of people. Despite his voice deepening or the fact that he had grown from a small, athletic looking 8 year old boy to the most gorgeous, attractive young man she had ever laid eyes on, Serena felt an overpowering sense of recognition, knowing who he was immediately.
Ash was in the very front row, cheering her on the loudest alongside her friends Calem, Tierno and Trevor. She knew the dream was probably pitting her friend Shauna against her in this fantasy tournament, but simply reveled in the fact that Ash was in this dream to. He was cheering his heart out for her, a Raichu on his shoulders for some inexplicable reason. Seeing him give her a positive thumb up as the crowd calmed down and mouthing their childhood catchphrase gave her the courage to proceed with her opening act, one she had never rehearsed before in real life but somehow knew here, in this place where all her dreams came true.
She locked eyes with her dream Delphox, and both of them began the routine without having to say so much as a single word to one another. Twirling her flaming stick in her hand like a baton, Delphox fired off rings of fire straight towards Serena, who didn't even hesitate before jumping through them one by one, performing various acrobatic stunts she didn't even know were humanly feasible, including cartwheels in midair, double front flips, and triple back flips. Eventually their ongoing rhythmic and perfectly synchronized dance changed pace as Delphox elegantly threw her fiery wand towards her trainer with unerring, precise accuracy, and Serena caught it in one hand with all the skill of the most accomplished baton pass Pokemon.
Twirling it repeatedly in hand while dancing with angelic grace on the stage, Serena and Delphox repeatedly played catch with the fire fox's stick, catching it and throwing it to one another while performing various stunts. One time Serena even caught it in midair while doing a triple back flip, landing flawlessly on her feet with the wand in hand while flashing a dazzling smile to the ear splitting roars of the crowd.
Finally for their big finish, Serena tossed Delphox's stick back at it and told it to fire multiple shadow balls while controlling them with psychic, and then use a dazzling gleam on them to shower the crowd in multicolored glitters of light. Delphox executed the move perfectly, and within seconds the entire arena was filled with the sounds of cheering as the psychic Pokemon controlled the hundreds of shadow balls it fired off in rapid succession, commanding them to move in sporadic, randomized dance-like motions before finishing up with a blinding dazzling gleam infused with so much raw power and beauty Serena knew her Delphox was likely a fully trained, level 100 Pokemon in this dream. A shower of black, pink, white, and all manner of other colors rained down in a seemingly infinite number of tiny fireworks in the entire arena. The crowd went absolutely ballistic as the Kalos queen and her ridiculously overpowered and inexhaustible Delphox took a bow for the entire world to see, Ash and her Kalos friends cheering for her louder than anyone else.
Even with all this not being real, it was hard for Serena not to get caught up in the heat of the moment as she rushed from the stage and rejoined Ash in the crowd, her Kalos queen outfit seemingly changing itself to her normal attire as she and Ash hugged, her euphoria overtaking her as Ash pulled away and stared down into her sapphire eyes, at least a foot taller than her in this realm and perfectly toned and muscular, with amber eyes as gorgeous and filled with raw intelligence as she remembered. He looked handsomer and more appealing than ever, and her dream self quickly blushed as he flashed his trademarked goofy grin. She quickly became lost in his hypnotic, inhumanly flawless gaze, every molecule in her body screaming at her to kiss him like she had never kissed anyone before.
"You did absolutely amazing Serena, you've come so far since the day we met, and your Delphox is so strong now. It's astonishing how quickly you fully trained it; I guess all my teachings paid off huh?" Ash chuckled, and Serena briefly wondered what Ash had to do with her success or the fact that her Delphox was trained to the highest possible level a Pokemon could achieve, but in the end she just decided to go with it, knowing that dreams often had inexplicable situations and could create scenarios that came at you from out of nowhere. Her desire to kiss him was intensifying with every passing second, and she knew it was only a matter of time before this dream became totally x-rated. Here she could accept that she loved Ash as more than just a friend, here she didn't have to worry about losing him again. In her dreams, he was the one good, constant thing in her life, and she wanted so badly for all this to be more than just a figment of her imagination.
"This is not just a dream young child, nor your innermost fantasies, but a premonition," a voice suddenly sounded throughout the arena, completely drowning out the cheers of the crowds and every other sound currently echoing in her head, and just like that the dream changed almost instantaneously. Serena was now standing on a green hill overlooking an endless field of beautiful white flowers, truly a romantic setting as she wished for Ash to be sitting here with her, though he had vanished with the rest of the crowd in the arena, along with the arena itself to be replaced with this and that strange voice.
"Who said that?" she asked in wonderment, feeling an unfathomably mighty force penetrating her dream from the outside world. She could feel the ungodly, otherworldly powers it literally radiated from a vast distance, somehow materializing itself inside her inner world and making her perfectly, totally aware of the fact that this was no ordinary dream.
"I have been called many names throughout the myriad paths of infinity, but your people call me Arceus," the voice responded after several moments of agonizing silence. Serena's heart started beating rapidly in her chest as excitement, astonishment, and awed incredulity coursed through her all at once, unable to conceive any world where she would ever get an audience with the all-powerful creator of everything in the universe.
"This can't be real," she finally managed with a stammer, and the voice chuckled. "You'd be astounded by what's real my child, but let us dispense with the skepticism just for now, believe me I didn't penetrate your defences with any amount of effortlessness on my part. Sure I may be omnipotent but that doesn't mean as much as you may think, not against other beings with omnipotent powers, but I digress," it replied in a lengthy statement, causing Serena to stare ahead in utter befuddlement, still not even entirely sure she was just dreaming or if her imagination was finally getting carried away.
"You lost me there," she finally said, all the while thinking, 'great, I'm having a weird conversation with a disembodied voice while I'm sleeping, and I can't even follow what it is saying.' The voice that claimed to be Arceus chuckled once again, "I suppose I could have chosen a better time to try and speak to you, but the fact is your immunity to everything is only semi vulnerable when you're asleep, which is when any person is at their most vulnerable, but the situation with you is extraordinary. You possess abilities most other humans can only dream of," Arceus started, but Serena interrupted him, unable to keep her skepticism in check any longer.
"I'm sorry, but I just can't believe what you're saying, I'm nothing special. I can't do much of anything out there in the real world; I'm nearly 18 years old and have nothing to show for it. I haven't even had the guts to go against my mother's wishes and start my journey until now, when I'm too old for her to do anything to stop me. I'm a coward Arceus, and a failure as a friend to the most important person in my life, and I'm just barely holding it all together," she sighed frustratingly, nearly on the verge of tears now as her emotions got carried away during her difficult admission.
She felt a stab of sympathy wash over her from the divine presence now making itself at home in her subconscious, and she supposed she should have felt annoyed that it was basically invading her privacy, but she just couldn't. "My dear child, you have suffered greatly in your childhood, your mother has acted selfishly and because of that your relationship with her has suffered deeply. You even think you have lost the closest friend you've ever had, but none of these things are gone for good. For all you have suffered, for all you will inevitably suffer in the future, what you gain will eventually make up for all the losses, and the good will one day far surpass the bad, even if you refuse to believe it right now. For all you will face on your journey tomorrow, you will gain abilities no other human before you has ever possessed in the history of mankind," Arceus informed her.
"What do you mean, and why have you appeared to me in the first place? I thought Arceus only appeared to Pokemon trainers destined to become the greatest Pokemon masters of their time. I seriously doubt I fit any sort of category where Pokemon mastery is concerned, so I'll ask you again, why the hell are you here?!" Serena demanded with emphatic incredulity.
"An excellent question Serena, I'll keep my answer as straightforward and comprehensible as possible. Your destiny was written long ago, by me and other equally powerful entities, you are one of three Pokemon trainers I have selected from this point in time to wield omnipotent powers as Pokemon masters and to become the zeniths of your species. You and my other two chosen champions, through countless trials, losses, and battles, will become the greatest and most powerful Pokemon masters the world has ever or will ever know. A prophecy as old as time itself refers to you three by a title now known across the multiverse, the Omega Omnisphere's Mightiest Pokemon Masters, this essentially means that you'll become the strongest not only in this world, but perhaps in all worlds," Arceus explained with excruciating simplicity, yet Serena was somehow able to understand everything he said, and was growing more disbelieving and uncomprehending with every word he spoke.
"This... isn't possible... I don't believe you," she stammered in a stupor, numb with overpowering shock and dismay. If even a fraction of what Arceus said was true, her imprisonment in Vaniville town was probably preferable to what she may be faced with tomorrow when her journey began. She was petrified with uncertainty and a fear of the unknown, unsure what tomorrow would bring and if she had what it took to really live up to what Arceus expected her to be?
"Why me, I mean, why pick me of all people?!" she finally added once she recovered from her shock, still uncertain about why an all-powerful being from another dimension would ever think her as worthy of such a grand destiny. "I don't think I'm worthy of this Arceus, worthy of being whatever it is you expect me to be, you've chosen the wrong person, how can I even begin to live up to this?!" she continued, now on a roll as Arceus's voice overshot her, and she immediately shut up.
"The fact you do not know whether or not you are worthy of possessing the powers I will help you unlock only proves that you are. Throughout history, those who have strived for power have often become corrupted by it, drunk on the strength it gives them. In my own personal opinion, I like to believe those most worthy of having power are typically the ones who do not strive for it, who wear the mantle because they must, and find to their surprise that they wear it well. That is why I find you worthy, so Serena Yvonne, will you accept your destiny, and will you accept everything I believe you can be? I have to warn you though; if you choose to walk this path, there is no turning back. Eternity itself will stretch ahead of you, so weigh your options carefully," Arceus warned her with a dark, cryptic undertone, causing the honey blonde girl to shudder uncontrollably.
Even if she could wrap her head around the immense absurdity of this whole situation, she had no way of knowing how to go about weighing her options. How did she compare the life she was accustomed to with one she could never understand in a million years, what were the pros and cons of living the kind of life Arceus wished for her to lead. How was she even going to live up to what it expected from her if she made the choice for it to practically deify her?
"UGH, I DON'T KNOW!" she shouted at the top of her lungs in complete frustration, unable to decide anything in her current state of mind. Arceus sighed, apparently disappointed with her ineptitude at making a decision, "what if I told you that you'd pretty much be God. You already have the power to do all this within you, you have since birth Serena, but whether or not you tap into this power will depend entirely on you. I'm here to help you with that, but I'm pressed for time. Only hours remain until you awaken, and then it'll be impossible to penetrate your otherwise impenetrably defensive mind," it said gently and patiently as Serena merely gawked at her dreamy surroundings with slacken jaws, the surrounding flowers showering her subconsciously created surroundings with petals.
"You mean to tell me I've had these powers all along?!" she exclaimed questioningly, and Arceus merely chuckled once again, seeming to find her amazed confusion amusing. "I designed your powers to remain dormant within you until such a time when you needed them and came to accept everything you are. Your powers were created to self manifest whenever your life was in danger, but other than that I wanted you to live a semi normal life until such a time you desired something more, that time is now my child," Arceus said in response, and Serena nodded in accord, knowing Arceus was right about that.
Finally, she only really had one more major question. She was now informed of her capacity to become one of history's three greatest Pokemon masters, and that she herself would possess powers far exceeding those of mortal men, the only question that remained was what exactly those powers were. As if reading her mind, Arceus answered her unasked question before she could say it aloud. "You will possess a near infinite arsenal of powers, including every nigh omnipotent power and nigh omnipotent physiology in the Omega Omnisphere, along with every super power at infinite levels. You will possess ultimate physical capabilities, control infinite possibilities via limitless probability manipulation, wield infinite amounts of every spiritual and emotional power, and possess limitless teleportation powers enabling you to instantly transport absolutely anything to any point in the Omega Omnisphere, past present, or future, and a virtually limitless number of other powers. On top of all that, you will possess the most absolute form of immortality, making it a conceptual impossibility to kill you by any and all means. You will be flawlessly indestructible, meaning you cannot be hurt or destroyed no matter how powerful your opponent is; only an omnipotent being can have the slightest hope of hurting or killing you. You'll also be infinitely skilled in any and all fields, possessing absolute levels of natural talent and thus will have a completely unfair advantage against any other Pokemon trainer in any and all fields of Pokemon mastery."
"By far your most powerful ability however, is your ability to exist outside of absolutely everything and anything, including causation, duality, time, space, life, death, nothingness, and even the Omega Omnisphere itself. Your existence will be a conceptual impossibility and as a result will be completely illogical by its fundamental nature. With this power, you will be completely immutable and immune to everything, including temporal paradoxes and even the influence of other nigh omnipotent and even omnipotent beings sometimes, yet somehow you yourself will be able to control every aspect of your existence on a boundless level. A self-contradiction like this is truly a mind boggling concept to contemplate, yet one cannot deny that contradictions exist in the world, even in every day phenomena. Since this ability will be illogical, it will create inexplicable weaknesses for you from time to time, but rest assured you will be one of the most powerful beings in the totality of existence," Arceus finished, and Serena listened with rapt attention, drinking in everything it said with an insatiable thirst.
She still couldn't fully believe or understand any of this, but if she woke up with the power to make all her dreams and aspirations come true, to reunite with Ash and travel with him like they always planned, and to help other people fulfill their lifelong dreams or just help in general, shouldn't she accept Arceus's offer? Did she even have an actual choice here though? She honestly didn't know, and even though it assured her that her powers wouldn't manifest until she fully embraced them, just yesterday she had still considered herself a normal person, and now this?! This was just too much, just too big for her to fathom, and she wasn't sure if she was able to give Arceus a straight answer tonight. She didn't think she had much choice though and knew she had to decide quickly, dawn was approaching and her mom would be waking her up soon, causing Arceus to lose its window of opportunity.
"I'm sorry Arceus, I'm just not sure I can give you an answer right now, your offer sounds extremely tempting, but if what you said is even remotely true, then my powers will manifest when I accept them anyways right?" Serena wondered, remembering what it said about her strongest power being illogical and wondering if it was counterproductive to try and reason any of this out in a logical fashion. Arceus sighed in disappointment, "I wish it were that simple Serena, unfortunately things rarely are that simple I'm afraid. There is an impending calamity about to befall this world and only the Chosen Three have power enough to put an end to it. I'm afraid I can't afford any delays in my timetable Serena. I need an answer to whether or not you're willing to try and embrace your destiny before the sun rises over the fences surrounding Vaniville town, you don't have to give me any answer for certain, you don't even have to say yes or no, I just need to know you're willing to try and learn how to master your powers and more importantly master yourself," it whispered fearfully, the calamity it described enough to make Serena's skin crawl.
Whatever this doom was, it was enough to make the most powerful being in the universe feel fear, which made it very clear to her that she ought to be just as afraid as it was, if not more so. "So if I don't accept here and now, I could potentially put the safety of the world at risk?" she finally asked, trying to wrap her head around that fact, knowing her decision was already made if it said yes. The bodiless voice seemed crushed by its own penitence, "unfortunately, that does appear to be the case Serena. I wish I could say that the situation wasn't as dire as all that but it is. An entity of unfathomable power and destructive capability is aiming to conquer our universe and every other, and I've been working on a contingency to possibly counter its plans for multiversal conquest, but I can't do it alone. This is a foe I can only stalemate with at best, my powers and its own on an equal level, I need more than just my own limitless powers to take this creature down, and I'm going to need your help to set my plan in motion," Arceus explained to her guiltily.
"Even the most meticulous plans can sometimes fail Arceus," Serena murmured with a wisdom she did not know she possessed. Arceus nodded in agreement, "indeed, this upcoming battle with that entity will be a war to end all wars, and in wars things can sometimes not go according to even the most well laid plans, but like myself and my other Chosen Champions you're going to have to choose between what is right and what is easy," it said sagely, and Serena's mind was made up.
Stepping forward despite not knowing where in her dream Arceus was positioned, Serena gave it her answer at long last. "I'll do it, I'll accept your offer Arceus, if everything you've said is true and my decision to become everything you believe I can be is tied to the fate of the world, then I don't really have much of a choice. If there is even the slightest chance my acceptance can save lives and the lives of the people closest to me, then who the hell am I to refuse," she announced, her determination to stop this entity from hurting her friends outweighing her fear and the enormity of everything she had learned from this very strange and life altering dream. Still, she couldn't help but wonder if she had just sold her soul, and if these powers she'd tap into would come at too high a price? There was nothing she could do it about it now though, she made her bed, and no matter how impossible this whole situation was for her to comprehend, she had to sleep in that bed.
She could sense a wave of relief emanating from Arceus, and she felt like she had made the right decision, even if she didn't understand half of what it said, what she did understand she knew she just had to do. Ash always told her to open her mind to insane possibilities; it would help keep her sane during any unexplainable events in her life. It had been just one of the many insightful things he said, and she knew she would never give up no matter what, whatever this dream was, whatever it entailed, she knew she would never be able to forgive herself if she simply walked away from it all and left the world to its fate.
"Very good child, your nigh omnipotent deification will begin the moment Ash arrives in Kalos later this very day, and will gradually manifest during your Kalos journey. When you wake up though, your memory of this conversation and your willingness to accept my offer will deaden almost completely. I do not wish for this dream, this single moment in time to have too big an impact on every decision you make from here on out, so even though you will awaken as a changed woman, you will not even believe it at first and your memory of this dream will eventually fade away entirely. You are far better off starting your journey without the knowledge of what just occurred here and now, at least until you are ready to accept everything. As the humans say, ignorance is bliss, and the truth about your existence will become your new reality, your new world only when you are truly ready to accept all that you are. Always remember Serena, though I have governed your destiny to an extent your life does not belong to me or any other being, you are free to decide who you let into your life, who you are, and who you become," it promised her, and Serena nodded numbly in understanding, feeling strangely detached from this dream already and the powers now flowing into her from Arceus's overwhelming presence.
"Will I still be allowed to pursue my dream to become the Kalos queen?" Serena wondered, her dream career still just as important to her as it ever was, even with all she had learned tonight she was glad to know her priorities or her ultimate goal hadn't shifted or changed. Arceus chuckled at her question, "of course you will still be allowed to pursue your dream, one of the personal rules I abide by as an all-powerful being is my being forbidden from interfering with free will, so I cannot keep you from pursuing your dreams. All I am permitted to do is suggest that you do not abuse the powers you will amass in any endeavour you undertake, rest assured you will know how to use all your powers properly when the time comes, including how to limit them and control every aspect of your existence. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear, or so the old saying goes," Arceus explained reassuringly, and Serena sighed in relief as her dream began fading and Arceus's presence retreated from her mind.
"Serena, time to get up!" her mom shouted upstairs, and Serena groaned in response, now only half asleep as she barely registered her mom calling up to her. Arceus had retreated from her mind fully, her natural defences evidently too strong for it to easily penetrate anymore, and like it said she could already feel her memory of the dream beginning to fade away. She became aware of her pink comforters failing to cover her bare feet, leaving them slightly chilled as she tried to recall the dream, her efforts to do so becoming increasingly more difficult.
She was just about to try and fall back asleep and hope that dream invading entity would visit her again when... peck. Serena screamed as she sat up rigidly in her bed, the sting of Fletchling's peck attack still fresh on her face as she glared down at the tiny robin Pokemon sitting perched on the foot of her bed. Anger surged through her at the annoyingly adorable sight before her, Fletchling's cuteness not appealing to her incurred wrath in the slightest.
"I told you a thousand times not to wake me up at that!" she shouted angrily before lunging for Fletchling as fast as her body would allow. Fletchling easily dodged her futile attempt, flying just out of her reach as though mocking her inability to fly and landing on her head as she sat back up. Sighing in exasperation, Serena felt her anger abating in favor of mild annoyance, unable to stay mad at the adorable and nimble creature.
"You're just lucky you're so cute and that I don't have my powers yet," Serena grumbled, causing Fletchling to take to the air once again and stare at her in confusion while flapping its wings. Serena rolled her eyes, "it's nothing Fletchling, just had a really strange dream," Serena muttered as her mom yelled up at her again to hurry up and get ready.
"Coming mom," Serena shouted back while grumbling inaudibly under her breath; Fletchling retreating from her room, its task now complete as it went back downstairs. "Ugh, not again," Serena added while scrambling in her messy room to get ready, clothes strewn all over the floor and half the contents of her stocked up closet spilled out onto the pinkish carpet.
Changing out of her pink pajamas, Serena stripped down to her bra and underwear while going into her dresser to withdraw her every day attire and her training outfit, her double d-cup breasts straining in her undersized bra as she thought about the dream from last night, no longer as certain whether or not it was even real.
She could remember feeling like it was real while she slept, but right now as she stood in her room wide awake, the memory of the dream was fading just like the so called Arceus said it would, and she was glad to know she still loved Pokemon performing as much now as she ever did. The entity claiming to be Arceus was right about one thing, if nothing else she and her mom had a very strained relationship. She didn't even like Rhyhorn racing, yet her mom insisted she could be one; such was Grace Yvonne's selfishness that she didn't even consider her daughter's feelings or opinion when deciding what she thought was best for her.
Gritting her teeth in an effort to keep a decade's worth of frustration and anger in check, Serena focused on the positives, like the fact that she only had one more day until her journey began, before she turned 18 and would be considered a legal adult anywhere in Kalos. She had made it abundantly clear to her mother that come her 18th birthday she was leaving on her journey whether she wanted her to or not, and Grace grudgingly accepted that, though she seemed to push Serena harder than ever during her training with Rhyhorn since Serena told her that, much to the honey blonde girl's endless frustration. Secretly, Serena had been planning to run away for the past several years, a plan only her best female friend Shauna knew about, and if it wasn't for the loud, headstrong girl talking her down when she was getting worked up over her mother, Serena would have left a lot sooner. Her mom didn't know this of course, but that didn't stop her from taking Serena's training to unbearable levels.
In complete honesty, she'd rather spend her last day here hanging out with Shauna and Calem; but Grace booked every Friday for the two of them to train for hours on end. Quickly sliding into her skin tight black top and hoisting her skirt up over her panties, Serena found a clean pair of her black over the knee socks and sat back down on her bed to put them on, her Rhyhorn racing suit ready to go on the foot of her bed for after breakfast when her mom would drill her at practice.
"Just one more day, one more day until I'm done here, you've got this Serena, you can get through one more day without blowing up, then you can leave this place forever," Serena told herself repeatedly after she finished fixing her waist length honey blonde hair the way she liked it, found her pink felt hat with a black bow, and placed it on her head before looking over to her desk.
Her most precious belonging sat there on her desk where it always sat while she was in bed, and she picked it up and gazed at it in admiration. Many people would consider Serena strange for her unusual fondness of such an unremarkable object as a blue handkerchief, but to her, it was almost as precious as the friendship it represented. Smiling was a rare thing for her nowadays, even with Shauna and Calem refusing to begin their respective journeys until she could as well, Serena only smiled like she was now when thinking of Ash.
It wasn't that she didn't love Shauna and Calem, she truly did, and in fact she and Calem even tried dating once, but neither one of them could ever replace Ash, nobody could if she was being completely honest. Having to leave him the day she moved away at 8 years of age was the hardest day of her life, and even Ash's parting words were barely enough to keep her going. 'True friendship never dies,' he had said with a degree of wisdom no 8 year old child should have, but Ash had never been a normal boy as long as she had known him. His uniqueness was part of what endeared him so much to her, and every guy she had dated since moving back to Vaniville town, she compared to him, all of them falling short of the most important person in her life.
Ash was truly one of a kind, one in a million, and Serena had never been able to let go of him, even after 10 years, she still couldn't. The thought of him one day reuniting with her was the only thing that kept her going, and she vowed that as soon as she left on her journey tomorrow, she'd track him down and travel with him like they always planned when they were children. She didn't want to be an imposition to him during his travels, especially if he was anything like his father and already a champion level trainer, but she could no longer bear the thought of going on in this world without him by her side. She couldn't stand not knowing what he'd been up to these past years, hating the fact that Kalos was so far off the beaten path, completely out of touch with the other regions even today.
Quickly tying her blue handkerchief from Ash around her wrist like a makeshift bracelet, Serena deemed herself ready to face the day as she left her room, in no hurry to begin her Rhyhorn racing training and trying to rein in her endless frustration with her mom. She and Grace had suffered a strain on their relationship ever since her mom arbitrarily decided to move them both back to Kalos without even asking for her opinion, leaving behind Pallet town and Ash, along with the life she had come to love living. She had never really forgiven her mom for it since, and the two of them acted as if nothing was wrong while the tension between them was quite obvious to anyone else, particularly Shauna and Calem when they came for a visit. Either Grace left to hang out with some friends of hers in the neighbourhood when Calem and Shauna came to visit Serena, or the three Vaniville town friends would go hang out somewhere else, usually in the next town for a milkshake or dinner.
She was lost in thought as she made her way down the stairs to the kitchen, the smell of Oran berry pancakes wafting throughout the house as she was only somewhat aware of it, despite the fact it was her favorite breakfast. She was thinking about the dream among other things, but right now some other things in her life had taken the spot as her number one priority. She and Grace hadn't had a proper mother-daughter talk in years, and if she didn't resolve at least some of the issues she had with her mom, Serena wasn't sure she'd be able to come back here once her journey began.
She wasn't even entirely sure she and her mom could come to some kind of understanding anymore, but she had to try, she would never be able to forgive herself if she didn't at least try to patch things up. If she truly couldn't however, she was old enough to strike out on her own come tomorrow, she'd be able to leave this place and never look back, and Pallet town was only on the other side of the entire world. She arrived in the dining room just as Grace was serving her breakfast, a plate of three Oran berry crepes with four strips of bacon, two fried eggs, a slice of toast with melted butter, and a healthy dosage of maple syrup poured over the bacon and crepes.
"Eat your breakfast quickly Serena, I want our last day of training to be productive before your journey begins," Grace instructed her as Serena felt her temper beginning to flare, knowing she had to come clean with her mom about everything, lest she lose this relationship forever. Taking her breakfast to the dining room table, Serena sat down in her usual seat while Grace sat across from her, pushing her food around on her plate instead of eating.
Grace watched her daughter play with her food with a misty expression in her eyes, having rarely seen her so lost in thought before. While it wasn't uncommon to see Serena in a pensive mood, this time she was taking her quiet musing to new heights, and the expression on her face tore at Grace's heart. In spite of what Serena may have thought about her, Grace did actually love her daughter, and since retiring as a Rhyhorn racer she had a lot of time to mull over her own shortcomings where Serena's upbringing was concerned.
She knew she hadn't been the perfect mother and had made some selfish decisions in years past, and she knew Serena had never quite forgiven her for making her move from their home in Pallet town. Grace had tried to justify it by saying she was the grownup and that Serena would learn to appreciate it someday, but she never did, all she had ever wanted was to travel with that sweet boy who had stolen her heart, even if she would never admit it to anyone including herself. She was done trying to justify it, and with Serena's determination to leave on her journey tomorrow, she knew she was going to have to force herself into a very uncomfortable conversation with her daughter, not even sure if she'd ever see Serena again once she walked out that door.
"Serena," Grace stated hesitantly, and said girl turned to her with a slight jerk of her head, unable to look at her mom without scowling for some reason. Fighting to control her emotions, Serena managed to lose the scowl and acknowledge her mother properly, surprised by how hard bringing up this topic was. "Yes mom," she replied, her voice barely above a whisper, the tension between them thick enough to cut through with a knife. Fletchling flew around the living room, minding its own business, but Serena could hear the constant flapping of its wings and was aware of her own heavy breathing as well as her mom's.
"I think we need to talk sweet heart," Grace finally managed with genuine sincerity, causing Serena to resume her scowl. Now she wanted to talk, when it was probably already too late for her to make amends, Serena couldn't help feeling somewhat angered by that. "Honestly mom, I think it may be too late by now," she bit out harshly, causing Grace to flinch back slightly, yet despite the harshness of her statement, there was a small part of Serena that still wanted to be able to make amends with her only parent.
"Still, I have to try before you leave me for good when your journey begins tomorrow," Grace sniffed, seeming on the verge of tears as Serena stared at her in shock. Her mom had known all along she was planning to leave and never come back when her journey began, she had been planning it for years now, but wanted to try and mend fences one last time, something she initially thought would be all for naught.
Grace merely gave a watery chuckle at Serena's gobsmacked expression, "oh don't look so surprised, I've known about your 'secret' plan to run away for a long time now, as far as I'm concerned I more than deserve it, given how much of a failure I've been as a mother in recent years," she cried as tears began rolling down her cheeks. Frankly Grace was surprised Serena had stuck around as long as she did, but knew she only did so because she wanted to wait until she was 18 and there was truly nothing she could do to stop her daughter from leaving her, like her husband had left her, all because of her selfish love for her career.
"The truth is Serena, I've been dreading this day for a long while now, and since my retirement I've had a lot of time to reflect and ponder on my failures where your upbringing was concerned," Grace admitted, causing Serena's frown to deepen, though Grace was glad to note she was still listening. "If you knew you were wrong and that you acted selfishly without even considering my opinion, then why not apologise to me, why not apologise instead of dragging this out?" Serena demanded, more curious than she was angry for some reason, wanting to know why more than she wanted to hold onto this grudge, feeling tears prickle her eyes for the first time since this difficult conversation had begun.
In all honesty, Serena half expected she'd have to argue and fight with her mom tooth and nail before finally snapping and saying she was leaving and never coming back home tomorrow, she did not expect for her mother to ever admit she was wrong and the fact that she was threw the 17 year old girl for a loop. "Because I didn't think merely saying I was sorry was going to make a difference at this point, it wouldn't take away the pain I caused you or make things alright between us," Grace finally said, and Serena nodded in partial understanding, it actually made sense for her to think like that.
"Still, you could have saved us both a lot of unnecessary stress mom. I may not have accepted your apology right away, but you could have at least tried to earn my forgiveness, at least sooner than the day before my journey began. Instead you wait, you drag out this tension between us and both of us suffer as a result. To be honest mom, there is still a part of me that wants us to be able to make amends, I hope when I leave I'll still have a home here and a real mother to come back home to, but that all depends on you right now," Serena murmured, her emotions pouring out from her so much it seemed to distort the air around them. Both she and her mom were so wrapped up in their conversation and in their emotions that neither of them noticed the house's lights flickering in response to Serena's emotions or the fact that her blue eyes were glowing with an unnaturally bright light.
"Serena, of course you will always have a home here. If you could just learn not to hate me, I suppose that is enough for now, but don't think for a second you will ever be unwelcome here," Grace informed her, her eyes red from crying as Serena nodded, waiting for the apology she knew was coming. "Serena, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything; I'm sorry I acted selfishly and forced you to leave your true home and Ash behind, I'm sorry for abruptly ending your relationship with the closest friend you've ever had, I'm sorry for not apologizing or acknowledging my own faults sooner, and most of all I'm sorry I failed you as a mother, I can only pray to Arceus that is not too late for me to earn back your trust," Grace sobbed with true sincerity, and Serena nodded again, silent tears trekking down her face the entire time she listened to her mom's heartfelt, profound apology, unable to stay mad at her anymore. No matter her faults, she did love Serena, and she was still her mother; the honey blonde trainer knew now that she had made the right call by trying to reach out to her mom one last time, instead of stalking out like she originally planned; she had followed Shauna's advice, and it had paid off in the end.
"Of course I forgive you mom, how could I not after an apology like that? While it will certainly take a while to fully re-earn my trust, I'd never be able to live with myself if I threw away my only familial bond over a grudge I held from my childhood. If you really want to re-earn my trust, you can start by actually listening to what I have to say, think you can do that," Serena sniffed, glad to see her mother was beaming with positive radiance. Grace was smiling despite all the tears in her eyes, and it was a true smile, the likes of which Serena hadn't seen since her father Richard had still been around, and she had to admit it was nice to see.
"Serena, thank you, thank you so much, I promise you won't regret it! I guess I could start paying attention by asking you one thing," she whisper-shouted with pure, over-saturated euphoria, relief flooding her veins like a Kyogre's surf attack as she realized she had a chance to start over with her only daughter. Serena quirked an eyebrow, her eyes quite dry now as she came to the realization that the hard part of this conversation was over.
"Oh yeah, what question is that?" Serena wondered, a brilliant smile gracing her flawless facial features. "Do you really wish to take up Rhyhorn racing, because in all the time I've coached you I never once asked your opinion on it and listened to what you had to say? Believe me, if you wished to pursue something else I'd completely understand," Grace reassured her, and Serena blurted out her answer before her mom even fully finished her sentence. "Yes, holy Arceus, I can't stand Rhyhorn racing mom! I know it's your thing, and I like Rhyhorn well enough as a Pokemon and as our family pet, but not racing on it! To be honest I hadn't really decided what I wanted to do in life until I was 15, but now I'm sure I want to be a Pokemon performer, to compete in Pokemon Showcases and hopefully one day become Kalos queen," Serena squealed excitedly, unable to believe she and her mom were finally having this conversation. First the bizarre dream she could barely remember happened and now this, would wonders never cease?!
Grace was initially surprised by her daughter having an actual goal established for herself, having never known Serena to be overly committed to any specific path. It wasn't that Serena didn't have her share of talents; she had lots of things she was really good at; singing, dancing, writing, baking, cooking, and many other things she seemed to have almost unnatural levels of talent at. Grace didn't know where her daughter learned to cook as well as she did but the select few times she had let Serena handle the making of breakfast or their other meals, they were absolutely flawless in every detail, and Grace had been reluctant to admit her own daughter could cook better than she could. She had worried she'd be out of the job so kept Serena out of the kitchen most of the time unless she was feeling particularly worn out.
That being said, even though Serena had a lot of Arceus given talents she hadn't really considered any one of them as an actual career path and mostly just did them for fun. Grace had been initially surprised by Serena's revelation that she had been serious about performing since she was fifteen, but it made sense now that she thought about it. Serena was always into fashion and clothes, making her appearance utterly perfect, and watching the Pokemon Showcase channel every time Aria, the current Kalos queen appeared on TV. Grace had always been paying more attention than Serena gave her credit for, she just never seriously considered Serena's wishes or desires all that much, and for that she felt horrible. Now though, she felt so much better, the guilt was still there, but hopefully that would fade away in time since she was going to spend the rest of her life making it up to Serena if she had to. Her daughter was well worth the effort to her, she was worth everything to Grace.
"Well Serena, if performing is what you're going for, I'd say you're already sufficiently trained and have nothing to learn that I can teach you. I was going to try and practice with you one last time, but now that I know you don't care for Rhyhorn racing, I'm not even going to bother. You're free to spend the morning and the rest of your last day however you see fit, hang out with Shauna and Calem, have a blast, and maybe even have a party before you guys leave tomorrow. In the meantime I'll give professor Sycamore a call later today and ask him to send over the three Kalos starters for you to choose from, who knows, maybe he still has that cute Fennekin you used to play with whenever we took a trip to Lumiose city to visit him at his lab," Grace finally said, and Serena was so happy she felt like she could burst. Quickly getting up from her seat at the dining room table, Serena practically galloped the distance between her mother and her and threw her arms around Grace in the most enthusiastic hug she'd ever given her.
"Thank you mom, thank you so much, you have no idea how much all this means to me!" Serena squealed, unable to contain her giddiness and excitement at the prospect of having the whole day off her training. If she was lucky, her mom would never ask her to train with Rhyhorn ever again, and she couldn't believe she would be getting her starter Pokemon tomorrow. This all just seemed too good to be true yet somehow Serena knew this was all real.
"Just promise me one thing when you leave Serena," Grace started, and Serena nodded once she pulled away. "Anything," she said simply, and her mother beamed at her, the both of them unable to contain their joy, knowing that they could finally start to have a proper mother-daughter relationship now. "Promise me you'll call from time to time, that you'll visit, also be careful on your journey, and if you find your father, go easy on him, he had his reasons for leaving. I don't know who's reason or what that reason is, all he could tell me was that he was protecting us, though from what I have no idea, just promise me that okay," Grace pleaded imploringly, and Serena giggled cutely while sticking her tongue out at her mom like an overgrown child.
"That's actually four things, but yeah sure no problem. I can't promise I won't want to kick his ass for leaving us, no matter how good his intentions, but I'll try to refrain from doing so if I should run into him, though I'm not holding my breath," Serena promised, and Grace nodded in approval. "Good, now go have fun Serena, the day is young, and I bet Shauna would love to know you're free to spend the day with her, and Calem to. For an ex boyfriend, you two are actually handling your breakup very maturely and the fact that you remain best friends in spite of what happened means you two will truly be friends forever, don't let him or Shauna go Serena, friends like them are hard to come by in today's day and age," Grace advised her, and Serena nodded in understanding, clearing her dishes to the sink, slipping on her outdoor shoes, and closing the outside door behind her with a quiet snap.
Grace watched her go with a sigh of relief, unable to believe how this morning started, how she just somehow knew her daughter and she needed to talk about everything, before it was too late. She offered up a silent thank you to Arceus for giving her a second chance, not expecting a response, but to her astonishment she received one. "You are most welcome my child, no daughter as special as yours deserves to have both her parents ripped away from her, though her father may be returning to your lives sooner than you think," an almighty voice echoed, sounding like it was coming from inside her head. Grace merely stared around the room in shock, unable to believe what she just heard, yet given all the things her husband and that friend of his Red got up to, she wouldn't be surprised if Arceus was watching over all of them.
"Wherever you are now Richard, please keep an eye on our daughter, keep her safe, and keep it in your pants. I know what you were like before you met me and even though you pretty much dumped me, I still think of you as my husband all the time," Grace prayed silently, not sure if her wayward husband could hear her but wanting her worries and concerned to be voiced aloud, so that if any gods were listening they could potentially answer her prayers. Serena was already gone off to Shauna's house no doubt, which gave Grace plenty of time to call up professor Sycamore and chat, right before she got down to business regarding Serena's long overdue journey. Truth be told, Grace felt awful, she felt like she was only holding her daughter back, and making her wait here 8 years to start her journey was going to leave Serena very far behind most trainers her age, most of whom started their journeys at the standard age of ten. Quickly heading to her video phone to place a call, Grace got caught up in her emotions again and reflected on all the times she had failed Serena as a parent, realizing that addressing all of her issues was the only way to accept them and move on...
XXXXX
Ash was temporarily interrupted from his meditations by the voice of Arceus telepathically pervading his thought process. 'Hey Ash, just wanted to inform you that I managed to get through to Serena, she's still living with her mom in Vaniville town, but is about to start her journey tomorrow,' it informed him, and Ash's gratuitous grin widened with every word the alpha Pokemon spoke. 'Her 18th birthday is tomorrow, I might actually be able to time this in such a way that I give her that shiny Mewtwo in time for it to be an actual birthday present. Though I am somewhat dejected she'll be 8 years behind me in our respective journeys, she wouldn't be the first novice trainer I've shown the ropes, and so help me, once I see her I'm not ever letting her go again,' Ash said mentally in response.
He was somewhat saddened that Serena had been unable to start her journey at the designated age of 10 years, but knew what Grace was like and how strained her relationship with her daughter had been, up until only a few moments ago. The plane itself was very close to the airport now, and the aircraft was rocking and quaking as the turbulence caused Ash and everyone else to jerk in their seats. He had been keeping tabs on Grace for the past few minutes, just after the plane began its descent towards Lumiose, but Serena's presence was like a blank slate in his infinitely vast mental presence.
Despite his semi limited ability to view images of her in his mind, Arceus had managed to enter her dreams while she slept this morning, when her complete mental invulnerability and immutability was nullified to nigh limitless levels. It managed to convince her to accept its offer of an eternal, virtually omnipotent existence, just like it convinced Ash to. The Pallet town prodigy couldn't help appreciating how Arceus went about deifying Serena, since it was different to how Ash himself was immortalized. Ash himself had the right mindset and had seen enough impossible things during his journey to accept Arceus's offer right off the Crobat, but Serena's situation was different. Even though she was technically the same age as Ash, she lacked his wisdom and maturity gained from 8 years of traveling, from seeing and accomplishing the impossible.
Ash had cheated death and saved the world over a dozen times, even before his supreme apotheosis was first initiated, even before his aura and psychic powers were awakened and mastered. The incident on New Island with Mew and Mewtwo predated the mastery of any of his abilities, as did the incident on Shamouti Island with Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno, and Lugia. In fact, numerous major incidents in his life involving legendary Pokemon happened long before he realized that the reaper could swing its sickle at him all it wanted, before he realized he was far beyond death's stroke.
His maturity had always vastly outstripped other individuals his age, including Serena's, and he knew his travels and the knowledge and wisdom he amassed gave him certain advantages Serena never had during their respective deifications. The plane gave another unexpected massive jerk, startling Brock, Alexa, and several nearby passengers while Ash merely laughed. The Pallet town trainer had never been on a plane before but had plenty of experience flying on his Charizard, Lugia, Mega Pidgeot, and countless other flying types. Compared to that, to that feeling of wind and power rushing past his face while dozens of miles above solid ground and flying countless times the speed of sound, flying on a plane was nothing, the wind turbulences didn't unnerve him in the slightest.
He was the most excited he'd been in a long time arriving in a new region, for many different reasons. For one thing, Serena was confirmed to be in this region, and he was longing to see her again, a million different possible scenarios of their eventual reunion running through his mind. Secondly, he was planning to go all the way in a Pokemon league for the first time since the Johto Championship League finals against Lance, which he barely managed to win. Since Kalos was the last region in all of Pokeearth, he was planning to take it by storm like he had his home region and Johto, and from what he heard Diantha and the Kalos Elite Four were incredibly strong, all with teams of fully trained Pokemon and several mega evolutions in each.
Then there was his love for traveling and for seeing new places; and Kalos was as beautiful as they came, as well as the most romantic region in the entire world. Among these things were just so many other, little reasons that had Ash leaning forward in his seat, longingly anticipating his arrival in the place he knew would not only be the last stretch of his Pokemon journey but also the last region he'd need to conquer before backtracking, beating Unova, Sinnoh, and Hoenn's Pokemon leagues and finally fulfilling his dream by taking down his father in the ultimate world championship battle between father and son. He hadn't forgotten the war with Omninoir, but right now he didn't dwell on it, refusing to become an instrument of it or a puppet of fate in any way that could rain on the parade he was having now.
Another turbulence; and Ash nearly shouted aloud in ecstasy as the Pilot's voice echoed throughout the speakers on the plane. "Ladies, gentlemen, and Pokemon, we are just now landing in the Lumiose city airport, please do not forget your belongings or your Pokemon and thank you for flying with the Kanto Airline 757," the young man's voice reverberated throughout the plane as one final jerk and the unmistakable lurch of the plane touching solid ground threw everyone around in their seats.
Raichu was currently snuggled against Ash's chest, not wanting to get tossed about on the plane and get Ash in trouble for not returning it or worse, enforcing that rule and making him return it. Staring at his trainer gratefully, Raichu realized how truly lucky it was to have a trainer like Ash, recalling memories of their journey together with fondness and adoration. It had been bred from Red's Raichu, and longed to surpass its legendary father in power, fame, and fighting prowess, a feat it was paving admirably at so far.
The feeling of a plane's wheels gliding over the airstrip was similar to a car driving across the road only so much smoother, faster, and more exhilarating, in short Ash was having a blast, having always been a man of speed. No longer needing to cling to Ash like its life depended on it, Raichu returned to its spot in Ash's lap, its actions mirroring its trainer's as it stood forward sharply, its tail and head erect and looking straight ahead at the seats in front of them, its ears perked back, evidently finding the freedom of flight to be as joyous as Ash himself did.
The plane slowly grinded to a stop over the course of five or so minutes, though to Ash it felt as if every moment was lasting excruciatingly long, once again reminded of how relativity could be a bitch sometimes. Finally the plane came to its final halt and Ash unbuckled his seat belt with all due haste, Brock and Alexa smiling at his childlike enthusiasm with fondness, the both of them unable to contain their own joy. Alexa was just glad to be home after months away, and she couldn't wait to get started on the gigantic story she planned to write about Ash's journey so far, already hashing out the details and planning to describe every legendary capture he made in full detail.
Brock was just excited to be on another journey with Ash, and he was determined to prove himself to the Pokemon doctor community that he had what it took to restrain himself when in the proximity of an attractive female. Still though, all the potential nurse Joys and Officer Jennies just waiting to be courted by him, it was exceedingly difficult to keep his sexual desires in check, and even harder to resist the urge to give his usual perverted chortle at the thought of having sex with either one of them or possibly both, because after all, there was no such thing as too many women to have in a harem.
He was getting off topic though, and his heart shaped eyes returned to normal upon glimpsing Ash impatiently trying to bud ahead as everyone slowly got out of their seats. The usual pandemonium of getting off a massively crowded vehicle applied in this situation as much as it would on a bus, a passenger train, or a cruise ship, all of which Ash has taken. Brock couldn't help seeing Ash as the same enthusiastic kid he met almost 8 years ago, even now after all the crap they'd been through together, the Pallet town trainer, his little brother in everything but blood, still had some childlike tendencies and wonder left in him, and that brought another smile to Brock's face.
Finally the crowd was starting to disperse, giving them enough room to follow Ash and Raichu, who pretty much flew out of their seats, throwing all caution to the wind in their haste to take their first step onto Kalosian ground. Raichu climbed up onto its favorite perch of Ash's shoulders now that he was standing up for the first time in over 12 hours, standing at his full height of 6 and a half feet, the lightning mouse determined to avoid the footfalls of the teeming masses of people and Pokemon alike.
Finally it was their turn to exit the plane and Ash's excitement bubbled under his skin, building without any end to a virtually infinitely intense crescendo as he stepped out onto the giant stepladder to take his first breath of fresh air in the Kalos region. So much was riding on his victory over Omninoir in the upcoming, all-encompassing war and his foiling of its plans for becoming the Omniarch, but right now Ash's first priority was pretty much everything but that.
The grand metropolitan scenery that greeted him upon exiting the plane was one of true majesty, the Lumiose city airstrip offering a perfect view of the massive surrounding city that was known all over the world as the largest in all of Pokeearth, as well as one of the most beautiful. Skyscrapers dotted the horizon, seeming to pierce the sky as their names suggested and basking in the newly risen sun, the air was warm but blustery enough to keep one from sweating, the tall buildings offering shade from the ball of golden fire now illuminating the city of lights.
"Helllloooooooo Kalos, Ash Ketchum from Pallet town has arrived!" Ash exclaimed with all the maturity of a regular ten year old kid, earning him several stares from several passengers having already exited the plane as well as Brock and Alexa coming up behind him. In spite of him channeling his inner child, Ash glided down the stairway with flawless grace and astounding agility a person as tall as him should not possess.
This feat was a tribute to all the hard work he put in training alongside his Pokemon prior to gaining his powers plus the superhuman skill level in all fields he now possessed. He was currently limiting this power, keeping it from reaching its full, limitless capacity due to his righteous sense of fair play; however he designed these power limiters to instantly lift in any event that could spell doom for his entire world and by extension the entire Omega Omnisphere.
His ability to handle any and all situations and matters flawlessly and to always find a way out was not anywhere near as limited, in fact aside from his skill levels being limited, Ash's ability to always have the needed knowledge, skill, power, etc to deal with any situation no matter how precarious was unlimited. Nothing was truly unwinnable to him, or impossible, infeasible, unstoppable, etc; his skill level was limited now but his boundless intuitions told him to ensure those limitations were lifted immediately in any situation he couldn't handle otherwise.
He had gotten pretty good at channeling his inner child, especially since Unova when he started downplaying his skills in an effort to fool Iris and Cilan into believing he wasn't some all-powerful, Anti-God smiting entity that made the omniverse itself his bitch. Iris bought it and even called him a kid from time to time, though she did that less and less as their journey progressed and eventually ceased altogether once it became clear just how great a trainer Ash was. In the end he had the last laugh, and Iris was forced to admit that his maturity vastly outstripped her own, and she hugged him goodbye with strictly platonic intentions, Cilan adding his own commentary prior to Ash's departure from Unova.
Iris's relationship with Ash was purely one of friendship, there wasn't any strings attached and for that he was grateful. It was definitely more than he could say about Dawn or May, both of whom had gigantic crushes on Ash even to this day. In Serena's memory he had broken a lot of hearts over the years, and whether or not she displayed the same loyalty and conviction to what they had so long ago, he promised himself years ago to always love her.
He had a lot of time to think about his previous companions back in Kanto and had to force his mind back to the present, drinking in the sights as he and Raichu ran towards the airport terminal, certain customs applying here due to the number of people who smuggled illegal items into Kalos. Getting his passport ready from inside one of the smaller pouches in his Packsack, which contained a pocket dimension of near infinite capacity; containing his keepsakes, Pokedex, an infinite supply of provisions, berries, his tent with similar enchantments to his backpack, a transcendent, supercomputing laptop that had infinite amounts of free space and memory on its hard drive and could process equally limitless amounts of information, and permanent cooling charmed bottles of water for an endless supply of sustenance.
The main zipped up pouch on his Packsack contained his most infinitely spacious pocket dimension, which housed an infinite number of all his nigh omnipotent and omnipotent artefacts, weapons, and items from across the Omega Omnisphere. He had wands and staffs infused with almighty magic, swords that could cut through virtually anything and slay anything, even immortals short of omnipotent deities, light-sabers that never lost power and erected lasers as hot as the Planck temperature, almighty examples of DC's Nth metal weapons infused with infinitely powerful anti-magical properties, capable of rendering even almighty magic users crippled beyond repair, supreme versions of every weapon in every fictional reality; including millennium items infused with infinite amounts of shadow magic from the Yu-Gi-Oh universe, an almighty master emerald and seven chaos emeralds that could control the power of Chaos Energy on an infinite level, all the infinity stones and the infinity gauntlet, all of DC's power rings capable of controlling the emotional spectrum on an infinite level, all the different kinds of Kryptonite that could affect any and all versions of Kryptonian villains and heroes gone rogue in the Multiverse, and almighty versions of every other weapon, item, and artefact of every character in fictional history. In short, Ash Ketchum One Million was perfectly equipped to take down any and all possible threats and was prepared for any strategy, any situation, and any and every enemy he could possibly face, or at least as far as he could tell. He wasn't arrogant enough to think himself unbeatable in any sense, and anybody with all of his powers and none of his inhibitions would be truly terrifying to behold.
Naturally, all of these weapons were concealed in his backpack and no eye mortal or otherwise except him could see them. The secret contents of his backpack were completely, immutably, irrevocably untraceable by any and all means in totality, be it x-rays, satellites, infrared, advanced alien technology, magical means, psychic dowsing, and every other possible way the security buffs at this terminal could nab Ash and fine him for packing heat of any kind. Only all-seeing eyes, infinitely perceptive and aware beings like him, and nigh omniscient or omniscient beings could trace this stuff, and Ash's own powers would instantly go into red alert mode the moment any beings with such powers set their sights on him or the contents of his backpack.
Given that none of his warning bells were going off Ash deemed it safe to entrust his packsack to the head of security at the Kalos air terminal, holding out his passport for her to see as she took it from him with quirked eyebrows, recognizing his Pokemon rangers jacket and evidently wondering if he was old enough to even qualify. Ash merely replied with a kind, genuine smile while Raichu sighed in annoyance on his shoulder and the both of them waited for Alexa and Brock to catch up.
Evidently the electric mouse Pokemon was tired of waiting in line, and even though it and Ash were already at the front of it, this was already taking longer than either it or its trainer liked. After verifying Ash's passport and his credentials as a top agent of the Pokemon G-men, an official Pokemon ranger, and Champion level trainer, all of which were added to Ash's trainer card and Pokedex recently, the lady proceeded to speak up for the first time.
"I welcome you to the Kalos region Ash Ketchum, is your backpack all you have with you?" the woman asked in a strictly business tone, and Ash nodded calmly, not intimidated in the slightest by her no nonsense disposition as she quirked an eyebrow. "I like to travel light, not that I'm opposed to heavy duty training of course," Ash replied with a charming smile, not wanting to hold up the crowd any longer than he had to but knowing that it could take a while to verify all his credentials.
The lady nodded meekly and asked for his Pokedex if he had one, explaining that it could make this whole transaction a lot quicker, and Ash nodded quickly before reaching into his backpack and summoning his Pokedex into his hand from the infinitely vast pocket dimension. After handing her the Pokedex Ash watched her with rapt attention as she placed it on the touch screen scanner that inputted Ash's data into the computer, confirming everything his trainer card and passport said about him in seconds flat. The lady's eyes widened momentarily upon glimpsing Ash's past records, but quickly recovered like the professional she was and handed him back his Pokedex.
"Now sir, if you'll just place your backpack on that conveyer belt over there, you'll be free to go once the x-ray machine confirms your pack is safe, it is standard procedure of course, and once done you'll find the exit three doors down the adjacent hall to my desk," the lady informed him, and Ash nodded while resisting the urge to grin mischievously. He didn't like making a habit of using his powers to cheat the system, but some of the weapons in his backpack may become a necessity in the near future, and even if he had to get rid of them in some future date he could just conjure infinite more, such were his unlimited powers of creation.
"Of course," Ash smiled enthusiastically, waiting on baited breath as his backpack checked out in the x-ray machine, completely fooling the computers and everyone present about what it contained, Raichu grumbling impatiently on his shoulder, clearly eager to get their journey started. "Just relax buddy, we can't leave without Brock and Alexa anyways so we still have to wait a little longer," Ash informed his partner, causing the mouse to cry anime tears of frustration. 'Damn it Ash, first we sit on that plane for 12 hours and now this, I want to kick some ass,' Raichu whined in Pokespeech, causing Ash to chuckle as the lady called for the next person, two security guards flanking her desk in any event of misbehaviour or violence. One of them passed Ash his packsack after thoroughly scanning the contents with his own two eyes, not realizing that the pocket dimension was only accessible to him and that anyone else going through his stuff would only see his Pokedex, tent, sleeping bag, some food and water, and his keepsakes, including the unremarkable pink ribbon he wore around his wrist in every major battle he fought, his most precious item.
Deciding to sit in the waiting area until Brock and Alexa caught up, Ash saw a vending machine along one of the walls in the massive terminal, the view of the city majestic but the sight of food making his stomach growl in content. Ash had grown far beyond the very human need for sustenance, the provisions in his backpack mostly for his friends and for him in case he wanted to eat. For him, eating and drinking were only a want and not a need, his body no longer required sustenance and yet he still loved food as much as he ever did, if not more so.
The best part was, he could eat as much as he wanted now and never get fat, he could even conjure unlimited amounts of food and eat it all, and he wouldn't gain a pound. The only reason he still ate at all was due to sheer habit and pure joy and delight, for the taste and the indescribable pleasure it brought to his infinitely acute cosmic senses, and to keep up appearances, but other than that, eating and drinking were no longer a necessity for him.
Paying for a couple of chocolate bars and a Pepsi with his Pokedollar bank card, which contained infinite funds, Ash put his wallet back into his ranger jacket's zipper pocket and watched his oh so coveted items fall with a dull plunk towards the bottom of the machine. Quickly pulling them out and peeling open a chocolate bar wrapper, Ash's senses threatened to overwhelm his mind as pleasure beyond that of human capacity filled his taste buds, the chocolate bar bringing him more joy than it could any mere mortal as he became aware of Brock and Alexa's presence in the crowd, sensing them before he saw them making their way towards the end of the line where that intimating lady was situated.
Another few minutes passed him and Raichu by as Ash munched on his Crunchie bars, his starter taking a bite every now and again as the rest of his Pokemon relished the thought of being able to stretch their legs soon, their eagerness radiating from within the 30 Pokeballs and master balls attached to his champion team belt. Finally after what felt like hours, but was probably only ten minutes or so, most of the people from the Kanto airliner had come and gone, leaving only Alexa, Brock, and a few others, the both of them somehow the last people in line.
Ash quickly caught Alexa's eye and waved at her as she talked with the lady, the two of them obviously familiar with one another and the fact that Alexa was a Kalos native since the esteemed reporter took far less time to have her identity and passport verified than Ash himself did. Nevertheless, Ash was considered a guest here, and in spite of all his impressive ranks, titles, and occupations, that only meant it took longer to verify him and he figured he should have just handed her his Pokedex right off the bat.
Brock took longer than Alexa but shorter than Ash to verify, and within moments they were all set to hit the road and see the sights Lumiose city had to offer. Raichu sighed in relief as Alexa and Brock approached him and Ash at a leisurely pace. "Man Ash, you sure are a hard man to keep up with, we were almost at the back of the plane and yet you managed to fight your way almost to the front," Alexa grinned at him, causing Ash and Raichu as well to rub the back of their heads sheepishly.
"Yeah sorry about that, I guess I got a little overexcited," Ash chuckled in embarrassment, Raichu mimicking his actions to a T causing Alexa and Brock to laugh at the shared similarities between the two of them. "Anyways Ash, I bet you're excited to be here now aren't you?" Alexa asked as the three of them plus Raichu started making their way out of the terminal. Ash merely stared at her as though wondering if she even had to ask that question, and Alexa smiled. For all of his abilities as a trainer and all of his maturity, intelligence, and incredible knowledge base, it was nice for her to see that in some ways Ash still retained some of that charming childlike wonder and enthusiasm. He seemed to constantly radiate positive energy, and lots of it, to the point where it was almost impossible for her or anyone else around him to feel down and depressed. Ash had such an uplifting vibe to him it was intoxicating, and his optimism was as infinite as his powers as a Pokemon trainer. She couldn't help but wonder if there was truly anything out there that could bring him down a notch or two, but she was beginning to seriously doubt it.
"You even have to ask, what's more exciting to a Pokemon trainer than a new regional Pokemon league to conquer and new Pokemon to catch? I did tons of research on Kalos lore and all the known native Pokemon around here, and I must say I'm very impressed with it all. The number of Kalos native Pokemon is small, but all of them are unbelievably impressive in the battling circuit and from what I've read, I've got to get my hands on a Gooey Goodra, a Gale wings Talonflame, and a Protean Greninja, all of these being perhaps the only Pokemon with those abilities. The only other Pokemon aside from Greninja that can get Protean as an ability is Kecleon if I remember correctly, and from what professor Oak described, Kalos is truly a region where lack of numbers is made up for by incredible type diversity, truly one of a kind Pokemon species, and other perks I plan on utilizing in time for the Kalos league," Ash finally replied as they were exiting the terminal and seeing the humungous city before them for the first time.
Ash and Brock, who had never been to Lumiose city before, had vastly different reactions from Alexa, who merely smiled at both of them. Brock merely gazed at the massive skyscrapers, 20 story hotels, and countless different cafes, five star restaurants, and various stores leading up and down the winding junction of city streets with slacken jaws. It put every other city they'd ever seen to shame, and even Ash, who had already scanned this place with his infinite awareness and perception, couldn't help whistling appreciatively upon witnessing this place first hand, with his own two, all-seeing eyes. "Wow, this sure beats Saffron city back home eh Brock?" Ash finally asked, and Brock nodded in accord.
"And every other humungous city we've ever been too, whether it was Goldenrod, Mauville, or Sunnyshore, this place blows them all away! What about Castelia city Ash, how does it compare?!" Brock inquired, having never actually been to Unova or its biggest city but knowledgeable enough to have a general idea how big it is. Ash took a moment to consider his answer, and then proceeded to shake his head, him and Raichu exchanging glances as if coming to some unspoken agreement. "Castelia city doesn't even come close you guys. It's official, Lumiose is now the biggest, most impressive city I've ever been to," Ash finally admitted, stunned into awed silence upon tapping into his infinitely vast consciousness and using it to scan the city from side to side, getting a proper feel of it, its total population, and attaining all the information tourists would want to know.
"That's right Ash, Lumiose is revered as the largest city in all of Pokeearth, in all six of the main regions, it is home to..." Alexa started, but Ash interrupted her, coming out of his omnipresent trance. "Over 4 million people and Pokemon, including another few thousand Espurrs or so in the alleyways alone, trumping Castelia city by at least a million," Ash finished for her, not only knowing exactly what she was going to say the instant her mind told her what to say, but also knowing the statistics himself thanks to his momentary perfect mental awareness of the entire city. Alexa nodded at him, numb with shock, causing Ash to chuckle in spite of himself, "I read the post cards, the brochures, and did all of my research on the Kalos region before coming here, remember? That includes any tourist information, all the sites I could visit, and everything like that experienced travelers love seeing," Ash reminded her, and she had the good grace to look sheepish, eyes widening and cheeks flushing at her own forgetfulness, looking quite adorable if he was being totally honest.
They continued walking down what Ash knew was the Centrico Plaza, the place where Lumiose tower and the Lumiose city gym was located. He did plan on challenging the gym leader there when all was said and done, but first he had some errands to run, like registering for the Pokemon league, but also visiting professor Sycamore and having his national Pokedex upgraded yet again to include the Kalos region Pokemon. It was both irritating and enjoyable to know that every time he was close to catching every Pokemon registered in the national Pokedex, news of another far away region would reach his ears and he'd have yet another Pokemon league to conquer and more Pokemon to catch.
Professor Oak was privy to all the information and the full version of the national Pokedex long before Ash's time, and Ash himself had been prepared for his entire journey since long before he even turned ten, learning everything he could in every field since the day he could walk and talk, such as learning how to cook from his mom and amassing all the knowledge professor Oak was capable of teaching him. The aged professor actually admitted to teaching Ash everything he knew at the time, his astonishment with Ash's brainpower and his ability to learn new things knowing no bounds in the years that followed. So Ash knew all along that Kalos would be the last region, the last upgrade to his national Pokedex, the last stretch of his Pokemon journey. Still, it was nice of people to tell him about these things, these places he pretended to never hear about before, even in spite of the fact that he'd been planning to go to these places all along, something his mom always seemed to understand.
During each interval between regions, Ash would take the time to visit his mom and all his Pokemon at Oak's lab, sometimes for weeks at a time, but he always had a plan for the next region for him to conquer, and even had the foresight to go in order from Kanto to the region furthest away from it, the one all the way on the other side of the world, the infamous Kalos region. All of this he had already known from a very early age, known that there were actually 721 Pokemon species altogether in the national Pokedex, yet every time he played the dumb, clueless kid flawlessly. He felt great joy from messing with people for some reason, for making them believe him to be some run of the mill kid with a bit of brains and no idea where his future was headed, but Ash knew that his destiny was set in stone, that his induction into the World Championship tournament and his epic final battle with his all-powerful father was only a matter of time.
People always laughed at him or tried to humor him when he said he'd become the new Pokemon Master, that he'd defeat Red and become the new world champ, they thought he was just some kid with a pipe dream, but none of them knew the real Ash. Even those who knew who his father was though still didn't think he'd ever beat his old man, but like in Greek mythology where Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon managed to overthrow Kronos, the son would one day surpass the father in this world too, though at least Fredrick Ketchum wasn't some evil Titan lord of time. Ash had been planning all of this since he could talk, since he first discovered how smart and unique he was compared to Leaf, Gary, and the select few other kids he grew up with in Pallet town.
Now here in Lumiose city, Ash would receive the final upgrade to his national Pokedex, each region's Professor controlling a certain portion of the national Pokedex's data, all the information that corresponded with that region and all its native Pokemon, and updating that data as new information came along. Professor Sycamore and all the other professors seemed as fascinated by Ash as professor Oak himself was. Even though the Kanto professor had gotten used to some of Ash's more fascinating captures, the Pallet town trainer couldn't count on two hands the number of times he'd almost given Oak a heart attack upon realizing that his sponsored student had caught yet another giant or legendary Pokemon. Yet in spite of all the shock the aged professor endured at the hands of Ash, he was still as young at heart and as healthy as ever, even now at past fifty years of age.
Upon visiting Oak's laboratory after his journey in Unova Ash and professor Oak had discussed the possibility of Ash taking all several hundred of his Pokemon with him on his journey, and Ash had promised to think about it. Truth was, his Pokemon all missed him constantly and wished to accompany him indefinitely, and in all honesty he missed them as well. He was more than capable of properly caring for and training them all; and not being able to do so was the only reason most trainers were only allowed to carry 6 Pokemon.
Some champion level trainers were permitted to build teams of as many Pokemon as they want and to carry all of their Pokemon with them. Ash himself had every fully evolved and legendary non Kalos Pokemon, with the exception of Ho-Oh; he would need a humungous bag to carry that many Pokeballs, even when shrunken down to their miniaturized forms and rendered light as a feather, but once again he was lucky enough to own a backpack with infinite space on the inside. He would need time to weigh all his options, but professor Oak reassured him he was done actively researching Ash's Pokemon.
So Ash had a decision to make about whether or not he wanted all 300 or so of his total number of Pokemon, more than two thirds of them being fully trained level 100 Pokemon now and all of them at level 100 regardless. In spite of filling the national Pokedex several times over, nearly all of Ash's Pokemon were now fully evolved, with the exception of his Mega Slowbro, which like his Slowking was actually infinitely fast due to being fully trained. So his total number of Pokemon obtained actually didn't match the number of species registered in the entire Pokedex. For now though, he was just content carrying his current champion level team and adding his new Kalos region Pokemon to it, having already gotten Lance's permission to carry all his Pokemon with him. Ash could now carry more than the standard 30 Pokemon permitted for a champion level trainer to have on his roster at any given time. As a matter of fact he could now carry as many as he wanted; such was the immense clout of the Pokemon G-men, whose leader pulled some strings for his top agent. He knew it was only a matter of time before he decided to carry all of his Pokemon at Oak's lab with him to, to continue their training and prepare all of them for the inevitable showdown with the most dangerous creature in the omniverse.
"So Ash, do you know where to go from here to find professor Sycamore's lab, I still need to return to the Lumiose press building and publish your story," Alexa informed him, jarring Ash out of his reverie as his cosmic awareness informed him of the fact that they were now standing outside the Centrico Plaza Pokemon Center. "Yeah, Brock and I should be okay, eh Brocko?" Ash replied with his trademarked goofy grin that flashed all of his perfect teeth while Brock nodded in agreement. Yet another benefit of Ash's new powers, always looking like a Greek god, supernaturally attractive on a near flawless level, recently Ash had learned to appreciate this power more and more even despite toning it down, already contemplating the many possible applications of being able to look more annoyingly gorgeous than Adonis, the most attractive man in all of Greek Mythology, or be some kind of male version of Aphrodite.
Alexa blushed just as he knew she would, and she would probably be doing a whole lot more than merely blushing if Ash used the full extent of this ability. With just his mere presence, Ash was capable of rendering every woman in the world without free will. If he wasn't constantly consciously aware of this power and didn't take certain steps to tone it down, he could enslave every member of the opposite sex and completely entrance them with his boundless allure. Luckily for them though Ash was only interested in pursuing one woman; and he knew that in order for it to be true love it would be unforgivable for him to resort to tricks and use his abilities to turn Serena into a helplessly lovesick zombie, even if committing such an atrocity was more than within his capabilities.
'God, what is wrong with me, just watching Alexa blush at my grin caused my mind to envision all that junk? I swear, if Serena falls in love with me like I've always hoped it won't be through any power of mine, in order for it to be real she needs to do so of her own free will, and no matter how much her possible rejection may hurt me I would never resort to committing such an atrocity, since it violates the no stripping people of free will clause, but mainly because it would be wrong on so many levels,' Ash thought as he watched Alexa part from their group and walk a little further down the avenue, disappearing up an alleyway that Ash knew was a shortcut to where she worked. Ash couldn't help smiling at her eagerness to tell his story to the world, he had given her the story of the century with that article about him and as far as reporters went she was at least clean. Some of those vultures he heard about, read about, or seen in movies came to mind when thinking of reporters and newspaper writers but Alexa wasn't what one would call a stereotypical reporter and interviewing media worker.
He knew he wouldn't regret his decision to trust her with his story, he just hoped it was as well received by the people as he and Alexa hoped when she let him look over her notes and the rough draft of the paper on him she intended to publish. It was one thing to tell the world of his insane, mind boggling accomplishments, it was another to gauge the potential reaction of the world population before that story was ever read, and frankly Ash was still a little nervous. He had been using his infinite awareness to get an idea of how the general population may potentially react to someone like him but he had no way of knowing how most of those people would react to such a situation if they had never been in a similar one before, and a lot of them haven't been, not yet. In simpler terms, for all he was capable of perceiving and despite being tapped into the goings on throughout all of eternity, Ash was still limited by what he knew and understood, and even with his impressive knowledge base there was still a lot he didn't know.
He knew he was taking a huge leap of faith letting the whole world know just what Ash Ketchum had been up to since the age of ten, and despite all his powers he still wasn't completely sure this was the right move, but Arceus and all his other Pokemon supported his decision, so surely it wouldn't be too bad, would it? Not wanting to tempt fate by dwelling on this question, Ash focused on what was going on outside his internal mind, his awareness of everything taking a back seat in favor of his eyes, ears, and his other primary senses, Raichu grumbling anxiously on his shoulder as Brock was just getting around to looking at him oddly. The Pallet town trainer quickly realized his brain was probably processing thoughts millions of times faster than any human, because he thought so many things in such a small amount of time.
"You coming Ash, I can't wait to see Nurse Joy," Brock proclaimed with hearts in his eyes, and Ash shook his head morosely while Raichu merely snickered. The both of them followed Brock through the automatic doors leading to the all too familiar settings only slightly less homey to Ash than his own home in Pallet town. Honestly the number of nights he'd spent in Pokemon centers were too numerous for him to even bother trying to count, and even with his eidetic memory perfectly placing every night he slept in these places he wasn't even sure there was a calculable number for it anymore.
The layout of this Pokemon center was much the same as the ones in Unova, a small motel full of rooms, attached to the main building and snaking down a hallway adjacent to Nurse Joy's desk at the back of the main lobby; the Pokemon treatment rooms behind the door nearest her desk, the Pokemon healing machine flanking its other side, a fancy machine that could fully heal any low level Pokemon of any and all minor injuries. The cafe and sitting rooms were near the doorway and gave a view of the street through the windows at the front of the building, and the kitchen directly across the center from the cafeteria that served three meals a day.
"Welcome to the Pokemon center you two, do either one of you need your Pokemon checked up?" Nurse Joy greeted them in her usual warm manner. Brock immediately went into a lovesick frenzy, leaving a trail of dust in his wake and covering the distance between himself and the shocked nurse at borderline superhuman speeds. Ash and Raichu watched in earnest as the old pervert did his usual confessions of undying love and his level 100 Toxicroak appeared out of its Pokeball, poison jabbed Brock up the arse, and dragged him away with one hand.
Ash rolled his eyes while Raichu snickered once more, Nurse Joy gazing at Brock in concern, evidently wondering if he was okay. "Yeah, he'll be okay in a few minutes, Brock's pretty used to it by now," Ash reassured her, answering her unasked question as the pretty, pink haired nurse nodded understandingly. "Anyways Nurse Joy, I don't need my team checked over as of yet. I actually have quite a bit of faith in their ability to self heal and their immunity to any and all sicknesses and diseases, due to them being fully trained and all," Ash informed her with proud satisfaction, unable to keep himself from getting boastful over all the hard work his Pokemon put in their training.
Nurse Joy nodded once more, eyes widening a fraction of a centimeter upon seeing the 30 Pokeballs and master balls securely fastened to his champion level belt. "I am actually here to register for the Kalos league Mademoiselle," Ash added in perfect Kalosian French, and Nurse Joy bolted with shock upon realizing an obvious non Kalos native could speak its first language so fluently. "Right away sir, if you would be so kind as to hand over your Pokedex," Joy instructed in equally clear French, blushing slightly as the young man flashed her an inhumanly perfect, dazzling smile, his amber eyes shining with an unnaturally bright light while passing over his soon to be updated national Pokedex, once he paid Sycamore a visit that is.
Joy took his Pokedex with her usual kind smile, placing it on the high tech touch screen sitting on her desk, the both of them as well as Raichu and Brock watching as Ash's information was displayed on the giant screen monitor behind her desk, his picture appearing on it and a mechanical, robotic voice informing them that Ash Ketchum from Pallet town was now registered for the Kalos league, number of Kalos badges standing at exactly zero.
"There you are mister Ketchum, you're all set for the Pokemon league challenge, please take this customary badge case and just know there are only 8 official Pokemon gyms in the Kalos region," Joy informed him while a Wigglytuff brought him his badge case. "Wiggly, Wiggly, Wigglytuff," it greeted him happily, and Ash nodded in response to its greeting without thinking, though luckily for him Joy didn't notice he was speaking with Wigglytuff and just assumed he was nodding at her statement.
"Understood nurse Joy, say, I've been meaning to ask you or one of your family members this for a while now. Do you ever have difficulty finding a semblance of diversity and individuality in your life, what with every one of your cousins running the same job and looking almost identical to you and every other nurse Joy in the world?" Ash wondered in a conversational manner after accepting the Kalos badge case from Wigglytuff, while also wondering to himself why there were only the standard 8 Pokemon gyms in this region.
Nurse Joy beamed at his query, evidently having never really been asked that question before and pleased to be able to answer it. "Yeah, it almost always feels like I'm part of a matching set, and I'm sure my cousins feel the same way sometimes, which is just another one of our many similarities I suppose," she replied sweetly, and Ash gave a wild, almost maniacal grin. "Ah, quite the conundrum if I do say so myself, trying to find some way to separate yourself from the rest of your kin in even the simplest, most surreptitious manner while part of you embraces the common bonds that ties you and your family members together, such conflicting emotions are mutually self contradicting, yet one cannot deny that contradictions exist in our world," Ash reflected with maddening wisdom, causing Joy to stare at him in apparent fascination, before she recovered and mentioned that she should probably get back to work.
Ash smiled at her again before joining Brock at the cafeteria by the windows, he had a hankering for French toast with maple syrup, the French romantic atmosphere of the Kalos region seeping into his cosmic scaled senses and his infinitely perceptive mind. It was amazing how such abstract notions could be considered an atmosphere, yet thanks to his mastery of aura on an infinite level Ash knew there were forms of energy most humans were not acutely aware of yet could sense on a subconscious, almost extrasensory level. Examples of this included when people could somehow sense they were being watched, or sneezing when someone was gossiping about you behind your back, or how people believed that you could dream of anyone who was thinking about you at that exact moment during your sleep. The human mind was far more powerful and tapped into various energies than most people were even consciously aware of, in fact Ash would go so far as to say that everyone had a certain level of psychic potential, but whether or not they tapped into that potential at any point in their lives would depend entirely on how open minded they were.
He was jarred out of his silent musing by a waiter coming to take his and Brock's order, the man taking Brock's order before turning to Ash and Raichu, both of whom waited eagerly in their booth. "And what for you monsieur?" the man asked in a thick French accent, which Ash understood perfectly due to his Omni-Linguality. "I'll take three XXXL orders of fries and four full pound cheeseburgers, oh and a bottle of ketchup for Raichu," Ash requested while the waiter's jaw dropped and Brock merely chuckled, having had years to grow accustomed to Ash's insatiable appetite and knowing his psychic and spiritual powers enhanced his metabolism to superhuman levels. What he didn't know was that Ash's body no longer required sustenance of any kind, though secretly the Pallet town trainer still saw himself as a human in a lot of ways, still not completely used to the fact that he didn't need to eat or breathe oxygen like humans and still doing both out of sheer habit, much like his Raichu or any of his other 200 or so fully trained Pokemon, all of whom ate food only for pleasure and not out of necessity.
"Of course monsieur, your order will be ready in ze next half hour or so," the man informed him with uncertainty, clearly unsure as to whether or not any human was capable of eating that much food in one sitting and for all intents and purposes, he was probably right to assume that it wasn't, but once again Ash had to remind himself that he wasn't really human anymore. "Merci monsieur, Pardonnez-moi de vous choquer avec les profondeurs incompréhensibles de mon appétit. Thank you mister, I'm sorry to shock you with the incomprehensible depths of my appetite. Rai, Raichu, Rai, cha, Rai Raichu," Ash replied in English, French, and Raichu's Pokespeech simultaneously; Brock, the French waiter, and his electric type starter able to hear him speaking in all of their first languages simultaneously. None of them were aware that Ash was speaking a universal language understandable by all sentient beings at once, regardless of their ethnicity, cultures, customs, etc.
Ash thought all of this in the time it took for the waiter to finish taking their order and return to the kitchen to inform the chefs of his order, the Pallet town trainer ordering enough food to practically feed a third world country. He hated to admit it, but compared to people like Totality's Mightiest Heroes he was still a rank amateur at using these powers of his, and from what he had heard, some of them had been at it for infinite amounts of time, a literal eternity of saving the Omega Omnisphere, of being among the greatest heroes ever conceptualized or imagined by any mind. If he ever got a chance to meet them, he'd love to know how they achieved some of the impossible feats they did, and maybe get some advice on how to deal with his current situation with Omninoir, and his moral dilemma regarding any minor misuse of his powers to get what he wanted in life without actually stripping people or his Pokemon of free will or the opportunity to better themselves. In fact, there were all kinds of questions he wanted to ask them, so many things he still had to learn, and TMH could probably give him many of the answers he sought for the past year.
It wasn't that Arceus or Mew weren't good at giving him some much needed council, but in spite of being gods they were never human at any point in their lives; they were Pokemon, and they didn't always understand the complex emotions of humanity. Totality's Mightiest Heroes on the other hand, were all capable of utilizing human forms and some of them were even nigh omnipotent demigods with a certain amount of human blood in their veins, enhanced to infinite levels by the godly side of their parentage but still somewhat human. Ash had a feeling if he were ever given the honor of meeting them; they'd be able to give him some sound advice regarding most of his current issues and the apparent pointlessness of his kind of existence.
"You alright man, you seem like you've got a lot on your mind?" Brock asked him, jarring Ash out of his reverie for the second time since he entered this Pokemon center. "Yeah I'm alright Brock, just thinking about a lot, all the Pokemon I'm planning on catching, about Serena, and about going all the way in a Pokemon league for the first time since Johto," Ash replied airily, and Brock nodded mutely, giving Ash a chance to gather his thoughts.
"I honestly don't even really know why I bother anymore Brock, it's bad enough over 200 of my total number of Pokemon are fully trained to level infinity, but Mew and Arceus alone are omnipotent in every sense of the word when fully trained, and powerful enough to take a shit on every other trainer's Pokemon in the totality of existence. Is there really any trainer on this earth who can really battle me at my best, or compete with the literal gods I've assembled on my current champion level team?" Ash continued in a pensive manner, not boosting but instead genuinely curious if there was any point in pursuing his dream.
"Sounds to me like you're getting ahead of yourself Ash; you're not exactly world champion yet are you?" Brock said, not really asking a question as Ash furrowed his eyebrows. "I may not be my father's successor yet but I might as well be, honestly being able to use Pokemon who are naturally obscenely powerful whenever I want to completely own the competition makes me feel like achieving my goal is ultimately meaningless. What's the point in all of this training if I could just use my Arceus, Mew, Mega Mewtwo, Mega Rayquaza, Primal Groudon and Kyogre, Kyurem, and my other most powerful legendary Pokemon to stamp out all my opponents as easily and effortlessly as squishing an ant with a boot? I guess that's what has me so reflective lately Brock, I just don't know what to do anymore, I don't know if there are any more suitable challenges for me to overcome as I am now," Ash admitted truthfully, having used Arceus and Mew's well known omnipotence as a discrete means to voicing fears and concerns that concerned him as well as his most powerful Pokemon. Hopefully Brock was able to give him some older brotherly advice without reading between the lines and realizing Ash was talking about himself as much as he was his Pokemon.
In truthfulness, listening to Ash admit all this caused Brock to ponder a lot of things he'd never even considered before. Ash always seemed so positively radiant and filled with endless optimism that he didn't stop to think how the young adult might have been secretly worried or that even Ash Ketchum was prone to doubting himself. It would make sense for Ash to be worried about his ultimate goal being meaningless now that he had Pokemon who could, by their fundamental nature, boundlessly achieve absolutely anything and everything in an instant. Against powers like those of a high level Mew or Arceus, what chance did any other trainer on this earth have? He knew that Ash's Arceus had gone to great lengths to demote itself and its powers in the eyes of the entire human race, hell its descendent from the Jewel of Life incident was young enough and lacking enough in experience to demote the powers of its kind all by itself. What most people didn't realize is that there was more than one Arceus, more than one of each and every legendary Pokemon, and the Arceus that Ash captured was the original one, the one who forged the universe from out of nothing, who created the original powers and all the Pokemon in existence, including the first Mew and all other members of its kind. Due to being the original Arceus, Ash's was fully trained and thus was omnipotent, but only a handful of people knew any of this, and Ash was planning on making its supposed boundaries very clear.
It was an elaborate plan, and Brock still didn't fully understand why Ash was going to such lengths to get his image, his Pokemon, and his powers around Kalos and by extension the entire world, but had learned long ago to trust Ash's judgement. When Ash was ready to tell him the full story, about what was really going on, he would when he was ready, on his terms not on Brock's or anyone else's. For now though, Brock vowed to give Ash some much needed backup and to cover for him should he disappear to do whatever it is he needed to do without fear of scrutiny. It was the true test of whether or not he trusted Ash completely, knowing that he was keeping the full, unabridged version of the truth from him, for whatever reason, but still being able to look him in the eye and trust him completely. It was truly a testimony to Ash and Brock's unbreakable brotherly bond.
"Look Ash, I can't imagine what it must be like to live your life, but there is one thing I can relate to and that's feeling like everything in life is ultimately pointless. Sometimes when I was raising my younger siblings without my parents I felt like it was pointless to keep wishing for my dad to come back, like everything was for naught and I'd be stuck raising my entire family by myself. The thing is, you got to keep pursuing happiness, and remember that nothing in life is truly pointless, not if you learn something from it. You once told me that, remember, you may be the most powerful Pokemon trainer ever to walk this earth, but that doesn't mean you're unbeatable, and I'm sure that somewhere out there, is someone with strength enough perhaps to challenge even you. Nothing is impossible Ash you taught me that, so don't think for a second that you being beaten by anyone is an absolute impossibility, because that would be completely arrogant and a very bold claim!" Brock exclaimed with all the wisdom of an ancient sage, for which Ash was very grateful. Once again, old Brocko came to the rescue, and knew exactly what to say to make Ash feel better. Whether he knew it or not, he helped Ash to better deal with his own existence, and the Pallet town trainer knew he could always count on the older man to lend him a helping hand when needed. For all his abilities, even Ash sometimes needed a little help, and he needed to remind himself that in spite of his supreme godhood, his humanity was his real power and what made these powers of his worth having in the end.
"Thanks Brock, man, when did you get so smart," Ash chuckled while Brock looked bashful, Raichu snickered beside him, and the waiter brought them their orders all in the same timeframe. Ash's order was so ridiculously huge that they had to slide two tables end to end in order to fit it all in one place, and without any further preamble Ash and Raichu began tucking in with all the table manners and subtleties of a ravenous group of Snorlax.
Brock alternated between eating his own dish and watching Ash and Raichu in amusement while they competed in yet another of their famous eating contests. Despite the difference in size, Raichu's metabolism was as infinitely fast and strong as Ash's own, never burning through its limitless energy levels but enhancing its capacity for food intake to infinite levels. Sustenance may no longer be a requirement, but Ash and Raichu's limitless powers ensured they could still eat as much as they want without ever having to worry about feeling too full or even getting fat, while at the same time never truly feeling hungry. They were permanently, immutably satisfied, standing somewhere between hungry and stuffed like a turkey for the rest of their lives, never one or the other, just right. For them, food was not a necessity, but rather a pleasure, and best part was, it would never, ever be a guilty pleasure, no matter what they ate or how much they ate.
Long story short, Raichu fared every bit as well as his trainer as he literally dove into one of the bags of French fries, which were practically the size of garbage bags and filled to the rim with golden brown, deep fried pieces of heaven. Brock had stopped asking himself where Ash and Raichu put all their food a long time ago, but he couldn't help but wonder, given Ash's strict militant diet for all his Pokemon as well as himself, why he was veering off his usual nutrition plans by stuffing himself full of cheese burgers and deep fried French fries.
As if somehow knowing what was troubling Brock, Ash paused between bites and swallowed before speaking, perfectly well mannered despite the fact that he had ordered enough food to feed a third world country, his table manners and etiquette as sophisticated as the fanciest of elderly couples or whatever the stereotype for that was now. "Truth is Brock, once they're fully trained like Raichu right there, I honestly don't give a damn anymore. Fully trained Pokemon have an infinite metabolic rate and are able to metabolize infinite amounts of energy, no matter what kind of energy it may be. Due to also having infinite HP they're infinitely healthy, can never get sick, and are immune to any and all sicknesses, diseases, poisons aside from infinitely toxic poison type attacks, and any and all other afflictions regardless of what they ingest or how much. It's not just Raichu I extend this courtesy to either Brock, any Pokemon I fully train is welcome to eat whatever they want and as much as they want, and the best part is they'll never gain a pound nor suffer from food poisoning. I guess you could call it a perk of being the supreme paragon of any Pokemon species," Ash explained knowledgeably, and Brock nodded, still not completely sure as to why Ash himself was veering from his usual diet but smart enough to understand the gist of what the Pallet town trainer had explained to him.
"That still doesn't explain why you're pigging out right beside him," Brock mentioned casually, ignoring the offended 'cha' from Raichu and observing the fact that Ash was rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Well I... I burn a lot of calories Brocko; even without my absolute willpower, psychic abilities, and spiritual energies putting a strain on my physical form I still need to eat enough to sustain me through my Pokemon's training. Right now, I've got a lot on my to do list and I just don't really have the time or the patience to cook something moderately healthy for me," Ash lied convincingly, and Brock nodded in understanding, though he was surprised by how much more laid back Ash was about his brutal training regimes lately. Truth be told, Ash just no longer cared what he put in his body, knowing deep down that it no longer mattered what he ate or how much, not anymore. Such were his powers that most of the bare necessities of life needed for any human to survive were no longer at all necessary in his case.
Lunch beyond that point was an uneventful affair, and Ash finished his meal in half the time that Brock finished his, despite the latter's meal being less than half the size. Raichu had long since squirted an entire bottle of ketchup down his throat, smacking his lips and giving a contented 'chaa,' mimicking his trainer's actions and taking only a few seconds to digest everything before they were ready to go, Brock merely following after them in a stupor, unable to believe how quickly their bodies had metabolized the amount of food they consumed. He merely shrugged however and decided not to dwell on it, frankly there were most likely things about Ash that would never properly add up.
"So where to Ash," Brock inquired, wanting to focus on continuing his journey with his oldest travel buddy and not dwell on questions he couldn't answer. Ash considered Brock's query with a longing sigh, knowing exactly what the older man was thinking and wanting so badly to just sit him down and tell him everything, but it wasn't that simple. Arceus warned him that the attention one gets from being considered an analogue of capital-G God could be extremely overwhelming.
He and Alexa knew Ash was bending the truth about Arceus and Mew's full capabilities and understood his reasoning for doing so, but would they still understand if Ash admitted to being in the same boat himself. They knew his willpower, spiritual energies, and psychic powers were all infinite in both depth in magnitude, but while this may afford him with various absolute super powers, they did not in fact gain him total omnipotence, at least not all by themselves. Ultimate power was actually a highly abstract notion, and could vary in definition from universe to universe, from person to person. Ash himself had every form, every possible and impossible variant alike of ultimate, absolute, or unlimited power, and was all-powerful in every sense and aspect, so he understood better than anyone how abstract the term itself could be and how many countless limitless powers there were, out there in the whole stinking Omega Omnisphere. He had explained this to Brock and Alexa, and both seemed to get the gist of what he was trying to convey, but Ash had the feeling there were things about him, about what he could do that they'd never fully understand.
Quickly reminding himself that Brock was asking them where they should be heading, Ash's gaze shifted towards Prism tower, which was barely over a kilometer from where they now stood in the Centrico Plaza Pokemon Center, perfectly visible even above the neighboring skyscrapers that looked down on the entire neighborhood from countless different spots. "I say we go check out the Lumiose city gym right now, then pay a visit to professor Sycamore after, what do you say Brock?" Ash wondered excitedly, and Brock flashed him a toothy grin, clearly in full support of that idea and eager to see how Ash's battling may have improved since last they traveled together.
Without any further preamble Ash and Raichu were off, leaving Brock behind in a trail of dust as the Pewter city trainer hurried off to try and keep up with his friends, not realizing that both of them were already at Prism tower over a kilometer away. In the very heart of Lumiose city, Ash and Raichu both let out a low whistle, quite impressed with the vastness and majesty of the gigantic, thousand foot white tower standing before them, the sunlight glancing off it and giving it a yellowish sheen, the first 50 stories or so made up of pane glass windows, which one could use to see inside the many tourist shops and attractions indoors, the Lumiose city gym actually just one of the many owners of this amazing piece of architecture. All around them the Centrico Plaza was made up of white marble tiles, the sidewalks or roads or whatever they were casting a blinding glare as the sun hit them just right.
There were people and Pokemon everywhere, and to Ash's all seeing eyes he saw indoors and scanned the entire interior of the vast tower before him as well as the sites and scenery around him and his trusty partners. "You guys gotta see this!" Ash exclaimed in a loud, emphatic voice, speaking to all of the 29 Pokemon tucked away in Pokeballs and master balls attached to his belt. 'Yeah, it's pretty impressive, that's all I can say, maybe Ash will let us stretch our legs in time for the gym match,' Raichu announced in Pokespeech, also addressing his fellow team members, knowing that thanks to the all-powerful telepathic link Ash maintained between him and all of them, not a single thing said or thought by any of them would be hidden from the others unless they wanted them to be.
Inside his Pokeballs, Ash could feel each and every one of his Pokemon trying to plead their case on why they should get to battle instead of the others. Arceus and his shiny, fully trained Mew kept a tight lid on their excitement, but Ash could sense they were as excited to see the sunshine and the daylight as the rest of his team, and Ash momentarily felt a little guilty for not letting them out sooner, but then realized that was silly, because after all this was probably the one place in the entire city where all of his Pokemon could be let out in broad daylight and still be comfortable, especially since his giant Dragonite, Primal Groudon, Kyogre, Mega Rayquaza, and many other humungous Pokemon were on his current roster.
'So Ash, what type of Pokemon does this gym specialize in?' Ash's giant Dragonite wondered conversationally, speaking up for the first time since they all arrived in Kalos, all of his Pokemon evidently sensing he was going to be choosing some of them for the up and coming gym battle at the top of Lumiose tower. "Electric if I remember my studies correctly," Ash answered, no doubt in his mind he was recalling correctly as Raichu rolled its eyes at its trainer's false humility.
Anyone who knew Ash Ketchum One Million at all knew he had total recall about every detail of his life, no matter how small or minute, his mind was absolute in willpower, his memory completely eidetic, and on top of all that his intellect and psychic powers were equally flawless and infinite. So why did he act like his mind wasn't as perfect as it was, simple, because playing dumb was oftentimes a very strategic ploy, and would give any opponent who didn't know him like his friends knew him a disadvantage when they found out the hard way that they'd seriously underestimated the unlimited powers of his brain, and the absolute intellect of the young man standing before them. So yeah, he'd gotten pretty accustomed to playing down himself and his vast, omnipotent talents, and did a pretty good job at it to, at least until it was too late for any opponent in the battle field to realize how stupid they'd been to consider him weak by any means.
'So electric types huh, let me at em Ash, I'll stomp em real good,' Groudon reassured him, and Ash contemplated the idea of using any of his fully trained Pokemon in any run of the mill gym battle, wondering if that was even at all fair or if he was taking far too much advantage of all the experience he'd gathered as a champion level trainer? Ultimately he was only here to check the gym out for now, and maybe challenge it later with some new Pokemon he'd caught in Kalos, in all honesty winning gym matches would be far too easy with even just one of the Pokemon on his current team, never mind 3 or however many were permitted by this gym's rules of engagement.
"Don't worry guys, I'll let you all out for some fresh air soon enough, but if I use any one of you in a gym battle the end result would be meaningless, I mean there wouldn't be any challenge in it for you or for me. I'll tell you what, if all goes well when I beat the first gym in Kalos, I'll start hunting for some potential champion level trainers for us to mow down, but until then, I wanna use the gyms to train any new Kalos Pokemon I catch, and I want you guys on board in case things go sour or just be there to help my new Pokemon train," Ash explained guiltily, hating the fact that he was restricting his current team's opportunities for battles but also wanting to give his new catches a chance to shine. Lord knows his Mew, Arceus, or two Mewtwo in either their Mega Y or Mega X forms could curb stomp pretty much any competition, but add to that his Kyurem, Mega Rayquaza, Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, Giant Dragonite, and his other mega evolved, legendary, or giant Pokemon and he had what could be considered a supreme Pantheon of deities or something, a collection of gods capable of controlling the various forces of nature or even reality on an almighty level. Hell his Arceus and Mew were so powerful that they shat on pretty much everything and anything else in totality.
'Oh man, I was kinda hoping this gym leader would be strong enough to handle me, if only just a tiny bit,' Groudon whined like an overgrown prehistoric child. "I'm sorry Groudon, and I'm sorry guys, but you're all just too fucking strong for just any gym leader, and I won't take the easy way out by using Pokemon that are naturally obscenely powerful. I'm sorry, but that includes you as well Raichu. I don't think it would be fair to any new Pokemon I catch for all of you to take the spotlight and shine when you've all done so before, but don't worry; I always pull through for you guys in the end, don't I?" Ash promised them, his infinite awareness telling him that two people were approaching the entrance to the tower where he stood but he just stood there, ignoring it while he was wrapped up in his own head.
'Ash it's okay, we understand how you feel about using us against weaker opponents. I think I can speak for all of us when I say we understand what it feels like to walk as gods among men, or as the Zeniths of an entire species or race,' Arceus wisely advised him, and all of his Pokemon agreed, albeit some of them did so grudgingly, but all of them understood Ash's position and his reasoning. "Thanks for understanding you guys," Ash whispered with a grateful smile, his attention being drawn from Raichu and his other Pokemon as a loud, childlike voice spoke up, very clearly and abruptly addressing him and his orange starter.
"Oh it's so cute, quick Clement, come look at this little Raichu," the voice said as the little girl it belonged to came around the corner into the sheltering, shady entryway, appearing in full view for the first time since she spoke up only seconds ago, having noticed Raichu and Ash before they noticed her, or so she thought. She was a small child, probably no more than 9 years old and bobbing up and down on her feet in anticipation and excitement, gazing at Raichu with adoring, sparkling light blue eyes that reminded Ash fondly of Serena, her yellow blonde hair short and sticking to the side with a darker yellow pin holding it aloft at the scalp. Her choice in clothing was quite stylish, but then again everything in Kalos was true to its stylish stereotyping. A brown tea shirt with a simple black ribbon attached to the collar line, a yellow satchel strapped to her shoulder, a white puffed out skirt of sorts, most likely flannel or some similar material, and brown shorts that stopped just above her knees, her pink dress shoes completing the ensemble. She was short as well, barely coming up past Ash's waist, but she radiated enough positive energy and enthusiasm to nearly send Ash's aura off in reactive waves, her energy so easily shared with other people it was hard not to feel elated when she was around.
"Hi there, that Raichu there is mine," Ash informed her, causing the girl to look up from Raichu to its trainer for the first time, making her blush in embarrassment as she realized she hadn't even properly introduced herself. "Oh I'm so sorry mister, the name is Bonnie, nice to meet you," quickly introduced, clearly ashamed of her lack of manners as she held out her hand for Ash to shake in the usual fashion. Instead, Ash greeted her in the typical Kalosian way, by planting a quick kiss on her knuckles, realizing that it was quite often custom to kiss both cheeks but not wanting to make the young girl too uncomfortable.
Instead, the girl merely smiled gaily at him as though she didn't have a care in the world, a light blush adorning her cheeks but little more than that to indicate she was even slightly uncomfortable with the greeting Ash extended to her. "And you as well my dear, the name is Ash, Ash Ketchum from Pallet town. That one down there, as I'm sure you already know, is my starter Pokemon Raichu, say hi buddy," Ash greeted in response, surprised by how much maturity he could sense coming off the girl as Raichu jumped on his shoulder and introduced itself.
"Raichu, Rai," it grinned toothily, causing Bonnie to squeal in excitement. "Oh my gosh, it's so cute, I can't stand it, I'm gonna die," she cried out in childlike awe and wonderment, causing Ash to chuckle at her overactive enthusiasm as he offered for her to pet and even hold his Raichu, quickly informing her that his starter loved being pat on the tail and that it was no stranger to cuddles or even new people holding it.
Bonnie got so excited she literally jumped for joy on the spot, opening up her arms big and wide as Raichu jumped into them, sighing in content as Bonnie started petting it down its back, almost tipping over from the weight of Ash's starter as another voice sounded from in front of them. "Bonnie, how many times have I told you not to pester people like that, it's not polite," the voice of a teenage boy called out to them, causing Bonnie to spin around with Raichu in her arms, holding it to her chest with her small arms, unable to even fit them all the way around Raichu's midsection.
"Relax big brother, he doesn't seem all that bothered by it, and besides, he's probably here to challenge your gym anyways," Bonnie replied, sticking her tongue out as the boy joined the two of them underneath the tunnel-like entryway, which seemed to bore into the base of the tower itself. A bespectacled boy ran up towards them, huffing and puffing, evidently trying and failing to keep up with his little sister, as was often the norm in Ash's opinion. He could see now that the boy resembled Bonnie in appearance, with the same yellow blonde hair and light blue eyes, but that was where the similarities ended. For one thing, the boy was wearing a blue jumpsuit which completely contrasted the style his sister was sporting, and on top of that he was carrying a huge, clunky packsack on his back that Ash ventured could carry a good amount of odds and ends inside of it, though of course it would never compare to the tricked out one Ash himself prized, the one he wore on his own back at this very moment.
"I'm terribly sorry about my sister mister, she gets like this every time she sees a new Pokemon," the boy apologized while Bonnie pouted at him for thinking her behaviour reprehensible, but Ash merely waved off his apologies. "Hey, no harm done, I was just waiting for a friend before I checked this place out anyways, and as you can see, Raichu is good with kids," Ash responded quickly, glad he was able to rescue Bonnie from reprehension while indicating Raichu who was currently snuggling against Bonnie's chest as she pat him, climbing up onto her shoulder and jumping from her back onto Ash in one fell swoop once it became clear she was done.
"I'm Clement by the way, and you've already met Bonnie," Clement announced formally, taking Ash's hand in a firm shake, the Pallet town trainer feeling a strange sort of kinship with the two already, in spite of the fact that it had only been a few minutes. "Ash Ketchum from Pallet town, nice to meet you guys, also Bonnie, I'm not necessarily here to battle the gym leader per say. Truth is, none of the Pokemon I have on me right now are fit to participate in a gym battle, at least not one of this magnitude," Ash admitted, remembering his promise to let his Pokemon out for some fresh air soon, his infinite awareness telling him that Brock was five or ten minutes away tops.
"Why, do you not think you're ready to handle a gym leader yet or something Ash?" Clement wondered; giving Ash a calculating glance as the Pallet town trainer chose carefully how to word his response, realizing he was actually speaking to the gym leader right now and not wanting to offend him or his battling skills. If what Bonnie said was true then Clement was Lumiose city's very own gym leader, and frankly she didn't have the aura of a person who could lie, or at least not one who could lie well, and even if she could, he'd know right away if she wasn't telling the truth.
"Ugh, that's not actually what I meant Clement," Ash answered somewhat hesitantly, the rest of his response drowned out by Bonnie's voice overshooting him. "Clement, look at his Pokeball belt, he's carrying over a dozen, no twenty Pokemon with him and none of them seem to be disappearing. Why is that, I thought a trainer could only carry six Pokemon with them at any given time?" Bonnie inquired curiously as Clement's eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch, evidently impressed.
"Impressive, a champion level trainer so near my gym, you don't see that every day," Clement stated, and Ash chortled sheepishly. "Hehe, guilty as charged," Ash chuckled as Raichu snorted and Bonnie cast the dozen or so master balls on Ash's belt a wry glance, looking like a person who couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Ash, can I see the rest of your Pokemon pretty please?" she pleaded, contemplating whether or not she should get on her knees and beg while Ash looked over at Clement and sighed.
"I suppose I could let my Pokemon out for some fresh air, what are your gym's rules of engagement Clement?" Ash wondered in defeat, unable to refuse Bonnie when she was looking at him with those Lillypup eyes and pouting at him as cutely as she could muster. He really was a sucker when it came to little kids, especially ones like her who were not only cute but knew it too, those kinds killed him every time.
Clement decided to respond with a question of his own, "Well before we get started, how about you show me how many Kalos gym badges you currently have?" he queried in response, and Ash flashed him a big zero sign, sighing in disappointment for he knew where this was headed. "Then I'm afraid I can't battle you as the gym leader, I'm sorry. Only trainers who have gathered four Kalos badges are permitted to challenge the Lumiose city gym and champion trainer or not, I don't make exceptions," Clement stated matter-of-factly and Ash nodded understandingly, much to Bonnie's disappointment. In all fairness, Ash should have seen this coming, what with the number of people in this city who would most likely challenge gyms, Clement would hardly get a moment's peace if he didn't restrict the challengers in some way, and he probably wouldn't get much of a challenge from most rookie trainers anyways.
Ash was reminded vaguely of Norman and how he had refused to battle Ash as the gym leader to, but then decided to battle him just for fun, a battle Ash and Raichu easily won, much to his and his Vigoroth's surprise. "Oh, come on Clement, can't you make an exception just this one time?" Bonnie whimpered imploringly, playing her cuteness to an almost unbearable level, and Ash couldn't believe he was falling for it despite his infinite awareness telling him how good she was at playing this up. He actually felt sad, guilty, dejected, and all that jazz for being unable to show her the many fully trained Pokemon he had on his roster, but quickly thought up a solution once he remembered Norman.
"Say Clement, I know you're not permitted to battle any such trainer as the gym leader, but why not battle me for fun, honestly, my Pokemon are getting kind of restless and I'm not exactly pressed for time or anything, what do you say?" Ash suggested, watching Bonnie as her eyes began to sparkle while she gazed at Clement with her big blue peepers, giving Ash the distinct impression this was her ultimate weapon of choice to getting what she wanted from people. Clement smiled at the loophole Ash was exploiting for his little sister, glad he was correct in his initial assumption that Ash was a kind hearted trainer, willing to go to great lengths so Bonnie could see his Pokemon in battle. He knew he wasn't supposed to battle any trainer if they didn't have any gym badges, but like Ash pointed out, that rule only applied when he was battling as the gym leader, and it just so happened there was a battle field not too far from where they stood.
"You know, there are a few battle fields about ten blocks or so from here, on South Boulevard, I daresay we could use one of them for an exhibition match or something. Plus I'm not supposed to be opening the gym for another couple of hours anyways, so I've got time to kill to, you're on Ash," Clement challenged him, and Bonnie started jumping for joy. "Hooray, my big brother and Ash are going to battle, I can't wait to see all of your awesome Pokemon Ash!" Bonnie shouted in exclamation, running laps up and down the sidewalk, passing Clement and Ash by several times over and causing Raichu to get excited as it too jumped down and joined Bonnie in her pacing.
Clement and Ash walked at a much more leisurely pace, but beneath their calm exteriors both trainers were eager the gauge the other ones strength, and Clement knew just by looking at Ash that he would be in for a grueling match, one he probably wouldn't even win. He was just going over what Pokemon he was going to use when a gruff voice called out to Ash. "Hey Ash, there you are man, wait for me," Brock called out from behind him, and Ash slowed his pace to a crawl, allowing his oldest travel companion to catch up as Brock finally made his entrance, huffing and puffing but still managing to walk beside Ash.
"Who're they?" Brock immediately asked upon seeing Clement and Bonnie leading them away from Prism tower. "Brock man, you really gotta keep up, this is Clement and Bonnie, Clement's the Lumiose city gym leader and Bonnie is his little sister," Ash pointed out as if it were obvious, wanting to ruffle Brock's feathers a little bit as the older boy huffed indignantly. "Well excuse me, not everyone is as fast or as quick on the updates as the grand Ash Ketchum," Brock replied sardonically, and Ash snickered in response while Clement and Bonnie merely listened in interest.
"Sorry you guys, this is my old friend Brock, aspiring Pokemon doctor and former Pokemon breeder, knows lots about Pokemon and really knows how to cook," Ash said, introducing his friend as Clement and Bonnie walked up to meet him. "Nice to meet you Brock, I'm Bonnie, I'm 9 years old, only one year away from getting my first Pokemon," Bonnie giggled, shaking Brock's hand as the older man smiled down at her. "Nice to meet ya, and don't worry Bonnie, it'll happen before you know it. I think I actually once said that to someone before, uh, who was it again Ash?" Brock wondered, and Ash smirked, knowing that Brock had never been able to win in any argument that challenged the Pallet town trainer's memory.
"It was Max Maple you clown, man am I the only one around here who remembers the little details?" Ash guffawed, and Bonnie giggled alongside him, already taking a liking to poking fun at Brock. Ash couldn't stop smiling for some reason, and he knew that Bonnie would fit in their little group just fine. "So Ash, come on man, I need some details here. What's going on, when did you guys meet? Why are we heading away from Prism tower? I thought you were going to check out the gym, maybe challenge it if you deemed it strong enough to give your Pokemon a run for their money," Brock said, bombarding Ash with questions as the Pallet town trainer focused on answering them while keeping an eye on Clement and Bonnie. Raichu was currently running circles around the little girl, sticking his tongue out at her and engaging in a quick game of cat and mouse, and clearly the mouse was winning, not for lack of trying on the cat's part, because Bonnie was obviously a very persistent little girl.
"I only just met them a couple of minutes ago? Turns out Clement doesn't accept battles from challengers with less than four Kalos gym badges, so I offered to battle him just for fun and he took it. Bonnie really likes Pokemon from what I can tell, and I've already taken a shine to her, she seems like a really sweet kid, kinda reminds me a little of Max honestly. Anyways, I know it's only been about a quarter of an hour or so but I feel like I already know them, does that seem weird?" Ash asked. Brock merely shook his head at Ash, unable to believe how quickly he had acquainted himself with two complete strangers. "Ash, honestly man, you're the only person I know who could make such fast friends with two completely new people and frankly it's impressive, it's almost like you have this... sixth sense about people, like you know whether or not they can be trusted," Brock snickered, giving Ash that knowing look while pointing out his powers in a not so subtle way.
"Ash, what does he mean by sixth sense, and why did he emphasize only those two words," Bonnie inquired curiously, practically materializing on Ash's other side as the Pallet town trainer looked down at her, mouthing the words 'tell you later' to her. She nodded and resumed chasing Raichu, unaware that they were already at their destination, a rather large sports park with about half a dozen or so Pokemon battle fields, none of them being used at the moment.
"Well, as I'm sure you can all see, we're quite capable of doing battle in peace and quiet right now," Ash pointed out, ever the one to state the obvious as Brock nodded and Bonnie gleefully anticipated what Pokemon Ash was going to use, already knowing her brother's team off by heart. He had a level 100 Heliolisk, which he evolved from Helioptile just recently, a level 100 Magnezone, a level 100 Ampharos, and a level 38 Bunnelby, his newest capture. Her brother had also befriended a Shinx when he was still a kid and even helped design the Kalos Power Plant grids, so all and all he was quite the accomplished trainer and person in general. Still, she was curious as to which Pokemon he was going to use, Bunnelby was too untrained to have even a prayer of defeating one of Ash's Pokemon, assuming what he said was true. So that left Magnezone, Ampharos, and Heliolisk as his best options, the question was which one would he use and more importantly, how would Ash counter him? She was dying to find out.
Ash smirked upon sensing where Bonnie's thoughts were headed, having gleamed the information of Clement's team from her mind and already knowing who he was going with. Quite frankly Raichu was the only Pokemon he planned on revealing in battle to them, wanting the two siblings to have time to get over the inevitable shock they'd endure upon glimpsing the rest of Ash's Pokemon and not wanting Clement to be intimidated during the match.
"Hey Brock, you wanna referee for old time's sake?" Ash called out to his friend who was already taking his designated spot to the side of center field, Bonnie sitting on the bench beside him with longing anticipation, unable to stand the wait anymore as Raichu ran to Ash's side on his end of the battle field, Clement taking the spot opposite him, both of them staring each other down.
"Alright Ash, what are the rules of engagement?" Brock called out to him, Ash testing the wind while he responded; wanting to get a feel for the field of sand he was battling on. "One on one, no substitutes, no time limit, sound good to you Clement," Ash replied briskly, and Clement nodded before selecting his one and only choice, wanting to take this opportunity to train his newest capture up.
"Alright Ash, let me introduce you to my newest catch, come on out Bunnelby," Clement shouted while tossing the signature red and white Pokeball into the air. Upon hitting the ground, the ball snapped open in a flash of white light, revealing the silhouette of a small Pokemon as the light faded and the ball flew back into Clement's hand, fully closed up again, leaving a small brownish grey rabbit like Pokemon in place of the white light.
"Bunnel...by," it cried, pausing to take a look around as Clement called out to it. "Bunnelby, I know this is our first battle together but try to bear with me okay?" Clement said confidently, reaching out to his newest catch as Bunnelby gave an affirmative nod and assumed a battling stance, watching Ash from their side of the field as Raichu ran out onto it without even having to talk with Ash.
"Raichu versus Bunnelby, battle begin," Brock declared, waving his hands to signal for the match to start. Using the power of telepathy, Ash instructed Raichu to suppress its infinite powers and only use the offensive powers of a level 50 individual of its species, to make it a close match and to give Bunnelby the opportunity to train itself up. "Alright Raichu; let's start this off with a thunderbolt," Ash instructed aloud, waiting on baited breath as Raichu delivered an infinitely underpowered thunderbolt, at least compared to their usual standards.
Despite holding back, the air was still crackling with static electricity as Raichu leaped twenty feet straight up into the air, its whole body glowing neon blue as it launched a five foot wide arc of blue lightning, sending it sailing towards Bunnelby at breakneck speeds. Bonnie's heartfelt cheers for her brother and Ash were drowned out by the rush of battle surging through both trainers and Pokemon, as well as the deafening clap of thunder that accompanied Raichu's thunderbolt upon closing the distance between itself and Clement's newest capture.
"Bunnelby quick, use your ears to kick up the sand and intercept the attack," Clement quickly retaliated, and Bunnelby immediately obliged, its ears working overtime as they punched the ground repeatedly like two miniaturized fists, a wall of sand erupting from the ground and intercepting Raichu's attack, just like it was supposed to. Unfortunately for Bunnelby and Clement, Ash had already switched tactics and ordered a quick attack before they could even properly react, the lightning mouse covering the distance between itself and Bunnelby in the blink of an eye, its body flashing a blinding white as it slammed into the rabbit Pokemon, creating a shock wave that cratered the earth while sending Bunnelby sailing at Clement's feet, struggling to get back up.
'Only one underpowered move and I'm already losing, man Ash is strong, and by battling him this way I understand him and Raichu better, but I'm not about to give up,' Clement thought determinedly, doing his best to motivate Bunnelby to get back up and grateful beyond measure when it did. "Alright Bunnelby, now use Double Slap on Raichu," Clement commanded quickly, wanting to get on the offensive and end this quickly before Raichu could recover.
Bonnie sat on the park bench watching the match with wide eyes filled with awe and fascination, Brock sitting beside her and grinning at her obvious enthusiasm. "I would've thought a champion level trainer would be a lot stronger than this Brock. I mean, Ash and Raichu should have KO Bunnelby the moment they hit it, at least if what I've heard about champion level trainers is true," Bonnie stated questioningly, already strongly suspecting that Ash and Raichu were holding back, the question was, how much were they holding back?
Brock chuckled at this, perfectly understanding Bonnie's skepticism and wanting to clear it up for her. "Ash and Raichu are toying with them Bonnie, trust me, that little ball of fur there, I've seen it defeat champion Lance's strongest Pokemon, twice, and it has emerged victorious over a number of both legendary Pokemon and the signature Pokemon of Elite Four Members, including Agatha's mega Gengar and even Drake's mega Salamance, which was fully trained and one of the only Pokemon Ash ever faced that managed to tie with his Raichu. The point is, compared to all that, this barely qualifies as a warm-up, and don't think for a second that Ash and Raichu aren't severely restricting their powers and pulling their punches in this match," Brock explained to her, having already picked up on how intelligent she was and glad he was able to clear all this up for her.
"Are they really that strong," Bonnie asked dreamily, and Brock actually laughed at that point. "Bonnie, I can say without a doubt that they're stronger than you can possibly imagine," he answered, unable to stop laughing for some reason, he found the very idea of Ash being weak a ludicrous one, it was like imagining a non violent tempered Misty or a non beautiful Nurse Joy, it just didn't make any sense to think like that. Well, maybe in some distant world or reality, somewhere Brock would never want to be if he was being completely honest.
Bonnie continued watching the battle with renewed faith in Ash and Raichu, knowing that they weren't using anywhere near their full strength, hell she wasn't even sure if there was an actual upper limit to the strength of a fully trained Pokemon. Well, there was only one way to find out, and with that thought in mind, Bonnie continued cheering her heart out for Ash and Clement, wanting to be the judge of whether or not Brock's opinion of Ash was truly true.
Ash watched in earnest as Bunnelby repeatedly slapped Raichu with its long ears, which worked just like arms and even had their own miniaturized fists, truly a fascinating physiology. Raichu merely stood there and took the blows head on, the double slaps not even phasing it as Bunnelby drew back and prepared to launch it again, but Clement had different plans.
"Use mud shot Bunnelby," he instructed, and Bunnelby immediately complied, summoning several gobs of mud above its ears as it hopped up and volleyed them towards the lightning mouse, causing both the Pallet town trainer and Raichu to grin before the mouse Pokemon dodged them with practiced ease. "This was fun Clement, I gotta say it was quite fun, but the time has come for Raichu and I to end this battle. Use Meteor Mash buddy, and follow up with an instantaneous Iron Tail in the event that Bunnelby manages to dodge," Ash ordered enthusiastically, causing both Bonnie and Clement to gasp outright as Raichu moved so fast a small sonic boom was left in its wake, the shockwave knocking Brock and Bonnie off their seats in the bench as Bunnelby was left unconscious in a smoking crater faster than any normal human brain could process it.
"Bunnelby, are you alright?" Clement asked as Brock got up and declared the match over and Ash and Raichu the victors, all of them sweat dropping as they realized the entire battle field was one big pit of dirt, rocks, and earth, there was nothing left standing in the vicinity after that whopper of an attack. The entire park had been leveled, but at least the city was accustomed to this sort of thing happening around here and had a team of construction Pokemon ready to fix it right up again just in case.
Ash and Raichu smiled at each other before walking over to Clement and his fallen Pokemon, "hehe, sorry about that Clement, I guess we got a little carried away," Ash chuckled, going into his backpack quickly and pulling out a full restore. "Here, take this, it'll fully restore any Pokemon almost instantly. It's a very powerful and expensive medicine but I think in this case you more than deserve it, you and Bunnelby did amazing Clement, don't think for a second that you don't deserve to be gym leader," he added, and Clement nodded upon accepting the full restore, surprisingly he was smiling.
"Hahaha, not bad Ash, not bad at all, that last attack really threw us for a loop, but I've seen attacks from my Heliolisk, Magnezone, and Ampharos that were just as good," he chuckled, spraying the medicine all over Bunnelby's body and watching in amazement as it opened its eyes, its cuts and bruises all healing and knitting themselves in a fraction of a second as it jumped to its feet, clearly wondering how the hell it had been knocked out so quickly.
Brock and Bonnie came over to them, Bonnie laughing and giggling euphorically along the way as she pranced right up to Ash, "you and Raichu were awesome, I bet that wasn't even a fraction of your full power was it Ash?" she wondered, and Ash grinned as he got down on one knee, now at her eye level as Raichu jumped down and congratulated Bunnelby, all of them having thoroughly enjoyed watching the match or participating in it.
"Bonnie, let me tell you something about fully trained Pokemon, Raichu here, was absolutely holding back its full power, and considering that even casual blows from my buddy here are more often than not measured in megatons of force, that's probably a good thing. Fully trained Pokemon have absolute, planet busting strength, all of their capabilities are enhanced to infinite levels, including Raichu's electrical energy, its physical capabilities including its strength and speed, which enable it to move at literally infinite velocities, physics and the G-force be damned."
"On top of all of that, Raichu's special ability is lightning rod, and that is likewise enhanced, rendering it completely immune to any and all electric type attacks and enabling to absorb and contain infinite amounts of electricity in its body, so yes, we were holding back, a lot. Raichu was using only a finite amount of its full energy, which is essentially limitless by its fundamental nature; do you understand now why I was hesitant to use any of my current team in an actual gym battle?" Ash explained intelligently, and Bonnie nodded dumbly, stupefied as she processed the enormity of the older boy's statement.
Clement got up and dusted himself off before returning Bunnelby to its Pokeball, deciding to add his own two cents worth. "I'd heard rumors that fully trained Pokemon had incredible powers but I'd never really thought much about it until my own Pokemon reached level 100. Is it true that while all fully trained Pokemon are level 100 not all level 100 Pokemon are fully trained, because I know my Pokemon can still get stronger, there has to be a way," Clement asked, wanting to clarify if his own high level Pokemon still had the capacity to grow some more.
Ash grinned at him, "well, yeah of course they can get stronger Clement. Fully trained Pokemon are actually technically level infinity, but for simplicity's sake the level value is capped at a maximum of 100. I guess it makes it easier for the stat calculation systems if not every value rose infinitely, too much information to process I suppose," Ash replied, and Clement nodded in understanding, happy his Pokemon were still not truly at their best and that there was still a ways for him to go.
Clement was just in the middle of offering to show Ash and Brock around Lumiose city and introduce them to his and Bonnie's father Meyer when Ash's infinite awareness started going off in his head like a bunch of warning bells. Quickly scanning the vicinity, Ash became aware of three hostiles rapidly approaching them, all of them having ill intents for their group. He barely had time to register all this before they appeared, and an intimidating male voice spoke out to them. "You there, with the Raichu, relinquish all your Pokemon to us at once, or feel the wrath of the newly resurrected, new and improved Team Flare."
Author's Notes: Omniarch-1024 is signing off now, be seeing you guys around though. Read, rate, and review my friends, and hopefully you enjoy my rather one-of-a-kind stories.While AFF and its agents attempt to remove all illegal works from the site as quickly and thoroughly as possible, there is always the possibility that some submissions may be overlooked or dismissed in error. The AFF system includes a rigorous and complex abuse control system in order to prevent improper use of the AFF service, and we hope that its deployment indicates a good-faith effort to eliminate any illegal material on the site in a fair and unbiased manner. This abuse control system is run in accordance with the strict guidelines specified above.
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