Crossover: Pokemon BtTG vs XY Anime (NOT CANON)

This is a story about the crew of Beyond the Tall Grass (RebootBtTG) meeting Ash Ketchum and his Kalos friends in Couriway town.  With Catia and Yuno working with the Avatars at the time of this crackfic (hence why they’re no where to be seen), Cerise, Decoda, Loka and Jo challenge the young hero from Pallet Town to a battle.  What will come of this encounter?  Will the unstoppable Kalos-champion-wannabe prevail over the Team-hunting group of trainers who’ve got more serious Frillish to fry?  Who knows?  Who cares?  Find out in this adaptation/crossover!

Okay, I know in reality most of us really hate Ash and how the Anime’s been for the past several years, but having watched all of XY/Z (both dub and original Japanese cut), I personally think it’s the best it’s been since Hoenn.  I have my reasons why, but this'll turn into a rant if I start listing them, so instead I'll just leave you to this fic!

WARNING: XYZ SPOILERS ALERT (this takes place after XYZ episode 100) so if you haven't watched the show, but want to, I don't recommend reading this just yet!  DOUBLE WARNING: This fic is noncanon with the BtTG RP, because nobody knows if we'll even get as far as Kalos (in one piece anyway).  Took all the liberties I wanted to, here.

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It was a chilly, yet peaceful morning outside of Couriway Town.  Excited about the next biggest challenge ahead, Ash Ketchum eagerly exited the hotel, swinging his backpack over his shoulders with his best friend Pikachu dashing alongside him.  Almost forgetting to wait for his friends, he turned around and hollered for them to hurry, but didn’t see the dark-skinned and green-garbed boy carrying two large grocery bags in his arms headed in his direction.

“Terminus Cave should be right up the road, so let’s—“ Ash called, skidding to a halt when he heard Pikachu cry out a warning.  Unfortunately, his halt wasn’t quick enough, as he collided with the shopper head on!

Unfortunately, for Cerise Aerie, it seemed that everything he was carrying was spilt all over the sidewalk, including his glasses.  The boy’s Pikachu was kind enough to pick them up first, passing them back to him and scratching the back of its head, seeming to apologize for its trainer’s lack of awareness.

“Th-Thanks,” Cerise sighed, but smiled at the Pokemon’s kind gesture.  He was a bit miffed that he had to pick everything up now and hope that nothing was dirty or broken, but it could have been much worse.  “It was an accident, they happen to everyone!”

“Ah!  I’m so sorry!  I really should pay more attention next time, heh!” Ash exclaimed, hurrying around to scoop up the packages of food, potions and other items.  He and Pikachu quickly began to stuff both bags to fullness once more, surprising Cerise with their speed.  “Would you like some help carrying these?  They look like they could topple over again at any moment!"

“If you don’t mind,” Cerise suggested, picking up only one of the bags and leaving Ash to carry the other.  “I’ll take that as an apology, for sure!  Thank you both!"

It was only now that Ash’s friends, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie were clearing the doors when they saw Ash and another boy walk back inside.  They appeared surprised, seeing as Ash really wanted to go so badly, but here he was, helping someone with their bags.  Did they miss something big?!

“A-Ash, where are you going?” Serena asked, adjusting her pink fedora atop her light brown hair, a little confused.

“I’m helping, of course!” he replied, grinning.  Pikachu mimicked him, carrying a small bag of treats.

“Oh, if you have to get going, don’t worry about it!” Cerise stopped him, steering himself over to a chair and lowering the bag onto its cushion.  “I appreciate you bringing it inside for me, though.  I’ll ask one of my friends to come help me pack it away."

“You’re traveling with friends, too?” Clemont, the blond-haired scientist asked, curiously.

“Sure am,” the Unova-born trainer nodded.  “That’s what all this is for!  Just a bit of resupplying, is all!”

As he clicked away on his Gear, sending a message to Decoda Capella, he heard Ash pipe up again, putting the other bag of goods beside Cerise’s.  “I see a ton of potions in here!  Are you guys Pokemon trainers, too?”  Cerise smirked.

“Yeah, but training Pokemon isn’t my biggest goal.  Though, I hear from my friends my team is pretty tough,” he commented, clicking off his messenger and folding his arms across his chest.  He watched as Ash’s eyes sparkled with excitement.  Clearly, this kid was also a trainer in search of a good fight.

“I’m a trainer, too!  Let’s have a quick battle!” he shouted, pumping his arms with the greatest enthusiasm Cerise had ever seen.

“Looks like you’ve made some new friends, ma Cerise!” a familiar voice called from across the lobby.  When the trainers looked up, a muscular teen with reddish-brown hair and an open black jacket came forward, grinning from ear to ear.  Cerise recognized this guy as Decoda, who’d come down to help him… but would only likely get him in more trouble now that the talk of a battle was in the air!

“That stopped being funny a while ago, Decoda…” Cerise sighed, rolling his eyes a little.  “I’m sure you’ve thought of better wordplay by now; aren’t poets supposed to be good at that kind of thing?"

“But you’ve never worn any pink so I can’t exactly call you Cherubise, now can I?!” the musician pouted, getting a few chuckles out of Bonnie.  He quickly caught this, and headed over to her.  Truth be told, he’d never seen really little kids travel around with older trainers like this, so it was a interesting sight to see.  He then crouched down to her level and held out a fist for her to bump, as he said, “I’m glad you at least have a sense of humor!  What’s your name, sweetie?"

“I’m Bonnie!” she giggled, bumping his fist playfully before reaching into her little yellow bag to introduce her Pokemon.  Poking out of the pockets was a stout little Dedenne and an even smaller green blob with one large eye.  “This is Dedenne and Squishy!"

Decoda beamed, happy to see she was caring for Pokemon too.  “It’s great to meet you three!  Though I’ve gotta say, Squishy’s a… I’ve never seen one like it before!  Do you all have unique Pokemon like that?  I’ve gotta know!"

As he picked himself up, Cerise sighed audibly as Clemont, Serena and Ash all turned their attention to Decoda’s question.  Before any of them could throw out their Pokemon, he made sure to ruffle his bags loudly as he attempted to lift them up from the chair.  Suddenly, Decoda remembered why he was there - whether or not he heard the noise - and helped his friend out first.  While the four trainers waited downstairs for them to put their bags away, Decoda and Cerise conversed.

“They seem like nice kids.  Why not battle them?  We could always use the experience,” Decoda urged, reaching out to open their room’s door.

“You always feel the need to entertain random people you meet.  Not that it’s a bad thing, but they seemed like they wanted to leave, “ the breeder responded, cooly.  “That’s what I gathered from when the black haired kid ran into me and knocked over all this stuff."

“Ahh, so that’s how you met them!” the musician exhaled, holding the door open for his friend to march through.  Sitting in the room were two other trainers, one wearing mostly black clothing and hair pinned up in pigtails, the other dressed in a tank top, loose fitting pants and martial artist gloves.

“Who met who?” Joselina Marku asked, flipping her black and gold cap onto her head.

“Cerise met some kids downstairs after going shopping, and we kinda hyped them up to battle… you guys game?” he returned, closing the door behind him and unpacking some of the goods and splitting the load between the four.

The girl with the eyepatch shot the boys a glare.  “You know as well as Ah do that we got word there’s been some Team Flare happenins' ‘round these parts.  Ain’t got the time to battle all willy-nilly.  ‘Specially ‘f its some group o’ kids."

“Loka, they’ve got a cute little girl with them!  I can’t disappoint that smiley face!  Plus, she’s got a really cool little Pokemon she calls ‘Squishy!’  I’ve never seen it before, but asking Rotom to come out and analyze it might be too much…” the redhead told her, throwing his portion of goods into the secret compartments of his guitar case.

“Geez, Decoda, what are you more interested in, making the little girl happy or —“ Jo started, throwing her stuff into her sack, immediately cut off by Cerise.

“I think you know the answer to that, “ Cerise commented, thinking about what he said earlier, shaking his head as he finished packing his things into his bag.  Decoda never denied wanting to make random strangers happy, now that he thought about it.  Again, he didn’t look at it as a bad thing, but it certainly slowed things down.  Instead of pondering about it further, he decided to support his decision to battle since he did kinda start it.  “Besides, Decoda said ‘we’ for a reason - I kinda-sorta fed their excitement first, by saying how tough I was."

“Psh, you only tough until they meet me,” Loka slyly added, getting up from her seat and throwing her things together.  She received a head-tilt and raised eyebrows from Cerise, challenging her a little as he adjusted his glasses.  She swung her hips to the side and kept staring, her smile broadening, knowing well and good that she went there.

Before things got outta hand, Decoda cut in and began pulling everyone out manually.  “Alright, alright, everybody’s strong, everybody can show a bunch of 12-year-old kids who’s boss, everybody’s skilled, yada yada yada!  Let’s get going and actually get out of the hotel at a reasonable time today, okay?"

Before the crew reached the outside, Ash and his friends were talking about their new encounter.  “Ash, those two looked like very experienced trainers.  Are you sure you’re not worried about losing?” Clemont asked, nervously.

“No way!  I’ve got a lot of experience, too!  After all, I’ll be challenging my last Gym leader soon, so I have to be ready for everything!” the confident boy replied, stretching a little with his Pikachu.

“We’ll be cheering you on, regardless!” Serena encouraged, happy her crush was so confident.  “Do what you do best!"

When the other four trainers walked outside, the younger group began to sweat, a little intimated by their collective exterior.  As the initiator, Cerise led them over to the kids, lighting things up with his warm smile.  Loka tried as hard as possible to stifle her laughter, finding it hilarious how hard these twerps would get throttled, but she was nudged by Jo when it appeared to obvious.

“Good to see you’re still committed,” Cerise commented, holding out an open hand to Ash.  “My name is Cerise Aerie, from Unova.  These are my friends, Decoda Capella, Loka Chicole and Jo Marku.  And you?"

Ash gratefully accepted his hand.  “I’m Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in Kanto!  These are my friends, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie!"

“We’re happy to meet you!  So, what are the term-“ Cerise began, but was suddenly caught off guard by Bonnie’s squeals.

The young girl had taken a knee before Jo and Loka, outstretched her arm and screamed, “You two are so pretty!  I think you’re both keepers!!  Will you please, either of you, take care of my big brother?!"

The sudden pseudo-proposal had Loka nearly in tears from holding back her laughter, but Jo blushed feverishly, having never been asked out by anyone before - let alone someone’s little sister.  Before either of them could either sass a response or formally decline, Clemont withdrew his robotic Aipom arm from his backpack and pulled Bonnie away, embarrassed beyond all belief.  “B-Bonnie, I’ve lost count how many times I’ve had to tell you to stop this!!"

“I’m just trying to help you, but you never want it!!” she wailed, being dragged away from yet, in her eyes, another golden opportunity.  Decoda quickly ran to her side and clasping his hands together, his eyes sparkling with awe.

“You run around asking girls to date your big brother?!  What a sweet thing you are!  I wish I had a little sister to ask girls out for me!” Decoda sighed, finding it really cute and funny that she did this.  Of course, neither Loka nor Jo thought it was THAT funny.

“Trust me, it gets tiresome and really embarrassing, really fast…” Clemont consoled him, putting Bonnie down and shaking his head.

It was then that Loka spat, “What’ll be more embarrassin' is collectin’ yer friend’s tears after we’ve beaten him.  Ya’ll should pick yer fights carefully."

“That’s why I’m challenging Cerise!  He’s already told me he’s strong, so Pikachu and I will be ready for all he’s got!” Ash retorted, looking to his partner for approval.  With a ready nod and a fired up cry from his starter, he looked to Cerise.

“Well, if we’re going by the unspoken rules of the trainer, then I cannot back down from another’s challenge.  3-on-3, Ash?"

And with the lad’s agreement, the two began the battle, finding a large open space in the nearby field to fight.  Decoda, Loka and Jo stood on Cerise’s side of the field, and Serena, Clemont and Bonnie stood beside Ash, both groups standing on the opposite side of the fence to give the fighters some space.

“I’m actually excited to see some Kanto representation, here.  It’s been a while since I’ve seen a Pikachu in play - aside from Misa’s evolved Raichu, anyway.  I wonder who’s on board?” Decoda wondered aloud, grinning as his body hunched forward, leaning on the fence with his forearms.

“I’m gonna laugh if he’s got nothing but other regional Pokemon on his team, then,” Jo snickered, crossing her arms.

Across the field, the others were making idle conversation, though there was more worry than excitement among them.  “I know Ash likes to push himself with his battles, but none of these trainers actually specified who or what they were.  What if they were other Gym Leaders or Champions from other regions?"

“Then I guess…” Serena sighed, shaking her head but clutching her dress nervously.  “We’ll just have to find out!"

“You can do it, Ash!” Bonnie cheered, followed by Dedenne’s own cry from within her bag.  Squishy, however, began to eye up Decoda’s wrist and the broken Pokegear that held Rotom.  Had it really found another Avatar?  It would make sense, seeing as the dark-haired girl was an Ascended human.  As it pondered their visitation to its homeland, Cerise had withdrawn his Chesnaught and Ash, his Talonflame.

!!!

The battle hasn't even started between them but I'm already pumped to see the outcome! Eagerly awaiting what comes next!

[Sidenote, I think the beginning part might have been duplicated -- the first few paragraphs repeat a second time after Decoda's first appearance.]

“From the looks of it, you’re already good with type match ups, but I’ve got my weaknesses covered,” Cerise smiled, putting his hands on his hips, firmly.

“Let’s see if you’re fast enough to cover them!  Let’s go, Talonflame!  Use Flame Charge!” Ash commanded, the bird Pokemon crying out as it lit itself aflame.

As it shot towards Chesnaught, Cerise adjusted his glasses before calmly saying, “Stone Edge.”  The beast then manipulated the ground beneath it and summoned four large pieces of earth to attack the Talonflame.  With a direct hit, the impact made the avian screech in pain, losing its momentum and reeling back into the air.

“What?!  That timing was unreal!  Talonflame are you alright?!” Ash shouted, sweat beginning to drip down his face.  Somehow, the bird managed to make it through, turning back to Ash and weakly responding.  “Using Brave Bird is too risky, so we’ll have to go with Flame Charge again!"

“Chesnaught, brace yourself - and use Spiky Shield,” Cerise ordered, his voice strong, yet not a pitch higher than it was before.  With his Pokemon kept cool by his attitude, Chesnaught waited as its opponent charged up, then went in for the attack.  Just as the heat of its flames was making Chesnaught sweat, it outstretched its arms and connected them, forming the Spiky Shield.

Talonflame was hit by the shield, collapsing to the ground in defeat and leaving the Grass/Fighting type unscathed.  Ash gasped in horror as he tried to call it awake.  “Talonflame!  Talonflame!”  When he realized it was useless, watching the green-garbed trainer smile and praise his approaching Pokemon with a gentle rub on the cheek, Ash grit his teeth and returned his first loss.  He had time to redeem himself.  He just had to think.

“Pika-pi!” the Electric Pokemon called to him.  Turning to look at Pikachu, Ash reluctantly nodded.  If he’d used Hawlucha next, it would end the same way, and Noibat was still too weak to use in a battle like this.  Greninja did know Aerial Ace, but the types wouldn’t match any better.  At least Pikachu would deal average damage.

“Hey, Ash!  I see you’re struggling a lot with your next decision, so let me help you out,” Cerise called from across the field, withdrawing Chesnaught and tossing out another ball.  Inside was Doublade, who twirled around, stretching its tassels as it hovered in air.  “Can you handle this, or shall I choose another?"

“Alright, this’ll work out better!  Pikachu, start out with a Thunderbolt!” Ash demanded, the Pokemon dashing from his side to the field in an instant.  As the little yellow creature booked it forward, charging its cheeks with immense energy, Cerise felt like trying out the new move he taught it.

“Doublade, take this, then use Power Trick!” he told his Pokemon, just before taking the attack in full.  As expected, the Pokemon survived it well.

Ash was dumbfounded by Cerise’s defensive and crafty battling style, not sure what to do next.  As Power Trick activated, the Pokemon withdrew itself from its sheaths and whirled around, intimidating Pikachu slightly.  Seeing this fear in his partner, he impulsively screamed, “Pikachu, use Electro Ball while it’s exposed and vulnerable!"

“Destroy it with Night Slash!” Cerise countered, the double-blade Pokemon racing towards the mouse Pokemon.  As Pikachu leapt into the air to fire the glowing ball of electricity from its tail, Doublade nimbly used one of its swords to vault its other half into the air, daisy-chaining itself together by its tassels.

Pikachu quickly became overwhelmed as it fired the attack at the lower sword, hitting that one directly, but being cut down by the other.  As it fell to the ground, the lower sword slashed at the mouse, sending it flying back across the battlefield towards Ash.  The young trainer cried out his friend’s name in shock, the others standing behind him cupping their hands over their mouths in horror.  Looking over at Cerise, Ash could see him smile and raise his eyebrows, beckoning his next move.

Behind Cerise, Decoda sighed, disappointed in the lack of skill Ash was displaying.  Jo shook her head, yawning quietly without covering her mouth.  Loka wasn’t even paying attention, her back turned to the battle out of bitterness for Ash choosing to fight Cerise rather than her.  She would have enjoyed it much more if she were the one making him cry.

“So Pikachu couldn’t be his starter… right?  Because you can find those things anywhere in the world.  Talk about a lack of variety,” Decoda complained to Jo, who had agreed completely with a nod.

“That’s probably the case.  I at least feel better with Hurry by my side.  You don’t see many Typholsions anymore, so I’m happy to say it’s more unique than a Pikachu,” she added, pursing her lips into a pout.  “Isn’t it weird that he didn’t even evolve his Pokemon?  Raichu can be much more durable than Pikachu, and if he already waited to learn all the good moves, that should benefit him, right?  What’s his strategy with this?"

After a short exchange of glances between it and its trainer, Pikachu decided to stay on the field and fight again, hoping to try again.  “Alright, since it’s still vulnerable, go for a Thunderbolt!” Ash commanded, getting really miffed with Cerise’s constant smiling.  The rodent charged its cheeks and fired a number strikes from a safe distance, forcing Doublade to dodge or take the hit.

“Don’t waste your time dodging anymore - just Power Trick back into defense mode and use Iron Defense to boost!  He can’t use anything but special attacks, anyway!” Cerise ordered, the Pokemon ignoring him the first time, only preforming such stunts when he called its name for a second time.

Ash picked up the disconnect between Cerise and his Pokemon, noticing how it was disobedient towards him and focusing on dodging Pikachu’s attacks instead.  He then took this chance and switched it up, saying to his partner, “Pikachu!  Alternate between Quick Attack and Thunderbolt!  Build up your speed!"

With a loud cry in affirmation, Pikachu took this chance to run circles, zig-zags and diamonds around the confused sword Pokemon.  Even after it had switched into its defensive mode, it wanted to catch Pikachu badly.  Unsheathing its blades one at a time, trying to slice at the electric mouse as best it could, it completely ignored Cerise’s next orders to preform another Iron Defense.  The trainer in green realized that Ash was doing this on purpose, teasing his Pokemon with Pikachu's speed, yet slowly hacking away at its health with every bolt of lightning it took from the mouse.

“Doublade!  You’ve gotta listen to me!  Doublade!” Cerise called out, beginning to panic about this fight.  By the time Doublade finally acknowledged Cerise’s words, Ash had commanded Pikachu to fire another big Electro Ball, directly impacting the sword Pokemon.

When the smoke cleared, everyone gasped, staring at the fainted Doublade with wide eyes.  Pikachu happily jumped into its trainer’s arms, Ash hugging it and praising it with pets.  “You did amazing, buddy!  I knew you could do it, but that was way faster than I expected!  Great job!"

As a droplet of sweat fell from Cerise’s cheek, he withdrew his Pokemon from the field and turned to look at his teammates.  Even Loka had turned her head to check out the scene and shot him a sly smile.  With her egging him on like this, he felt pressured to bring out the big guns - his Goodra.  She had some equally incredible defenses like the others on his team, but much more health to last through the fight.  Selecting her Pokeball from his pocket, he whipped out his Goodra, her massive body shaking the ground a little as it landed.

Ash grit his teeth though his closed lips, recalling his own experiences with this Pokemon.  He’d raised a Goomy himself, and the memory of releasing it so it could live with its friends in the swamps still lingered in his mind.  Pikachu, perched on his shoulder now, tapped his cheek to snap him out of it, squeaking a little to help bring him into focus.

“Right.  Noibat is still much too weak to fight, so I’m going to go with Hawlucha!” he shouted, hurling his Pokeball out towards the battlefield. The colorful fighting bird suddenly appeared, posing as enthusiastically as usual.  As it locked eyes with Cerise’s Pokemon, it remembered a little of Ash’s Goodra, but the two never had a chance to battle.  Hawlucha would have to test this one out, then!

“Hey, he’s got one, too!” Jo exclaimed from Cerise’s side of the field.  Turning away and pouting, she then uttered, “…mine’s better, probably."

Decoda grinned, side-eyeing his companion.  “Looks like you’ll finally start paying attention~"

“I’ve been paying attention, you dork!  It’s just, now I wanna see if Cerise can take this, that’s all!  I mean, I was probably gonna fight him after his team caught up to mine anyway, so I wanna know how he’d handle against a quick fighter like Hawlucha!” Jo retorted, receiving chuckles as a response.

“Goodra, it’s faster than you, so use Muddy Water to slow it down!” Cerise commanded, the slippery Dragon type slowly rearing up and creating a sphere of muddy water in between its dripping hands.

“Hawlucha, don’t wait for it to hit you and use Karate Chop!”  Ash told his Pokemon, the Fighting/Flying type going straight for the Dragon.

Goodra didn’t need to aim well for this attack to work, and just before Hawlucha could get close, Goodra released her ball of muddy water and forced it back several feet.  The bird Pokemon was overwhelmed with the power of the move, but refused to lose this match so early on.  Shaking itself off with a quick spin, it ran for its opponent as Ash yelled for it to use High Jump Kick instead.  By the time Goodra tried to block and use Body Slam, Hawlucha hit her right in the chest, knocking her back.  She then whipped the bird back with her massive sticky tail, slamming the falling Pokemon onto the ground.

“Finish it off with Aqua Tail!” Cerise called, regaining some of his cool after seeing how well his Pokemon was holding up.

“Grab onto its tail, Hawlucha and use X-Scizzor!” Ash yelled louder, hoping his Pokemon would be able to make it through this one last move.

As Goodra swung her tail forward, the weakened Hawlucha leapt up into the air, barely missing the attack and hitching a ride on the end of the dragon’s giant appendage.  Of course it was even more slippery now that it was wet, so Ash’s Pokemon just missed hitting Goodra’s chest with its X-Scizzor and instead, crashed against her neck.  While it still hurt the dragon, she caught Hawlucha on its way down, held it in front of her and Body Slam-bounced it against her stomach.  That sent it flying back to Ash’s side, crash-landing off in a large puddle of mud.  Though it was still conscious, it couldn’t get back up, slipping and sliding around until it admitted defeat.  The black-haired trainer was just glad his Pokemon wasn’t critically injured, rushing over to it and helping it up.

“You did great, Hawlucnha,” Ash confided in his partner, kneeling beside him, disregarding the dirt all over his pants and shoes.  “That was a pretty risky strategy, anyway!"

Meanwhile, Goodra turned to her trainer with a weak smile, her neck looking extremely sore from where the X-Scizzor hit.  She whimpered a little, still smiling, trying to trick her trainer into thinking she was okay, but Cerise knew better.  Hurrying over to her, he lifted his arms up to gently touch her neck until he found the spot that hurt most.  As her head tilted down to lightly nod at him, she looked like she was about to cry with how much pain she was feeling!

“Ssshh, it’ll be alright!  There’s a Pokemon Center in this town, we can get you there as soon as possible!  Just relax, don’t move your neck too much,” he consoled, rubbing her smooth skin to reassure her.  He then turned to his friends, who were hopping over the fence to congratulate him.  “Decoda, I’m gonna need your help; can you help massage Goodra’s upper back and neck area?  She got really hurt during that last move and I don’t know if putting her in the Pokeball will make it worse or better."

“Yeah, no problem!  I’ll go nice and easy!” he told his comrade, hustling to the back of the dragon and slowly kneading her shoulders with his muscular hands.  It hurt at first, but Cerise’s Pokemon seemed to be relaxing just a little bit more.

“Jo, can you do me a favor and run ahead to the Pokemon Center?  Tell them we’ve got a Goodra with an injured neck, and message me when you get an answer of what to do!” he asked of her, getting a nod and a thumbs up as she bolted down the path.  The sound of her calling out her starter was heard soon after; it was much faster than she was, and it would clear a path to the Pokemon Center, easily.  These actions got the attention of the other team of trainers, who also came over to help in any way they could.

“What happened?  Is your Pokemon still really hurt?” Serena asked Cerise, receiving a sigh from the trainer.

“That last attack may have really damaged her neck.  I don’t know if its better for her to be in the Pokeball or walk with us to the Center,” he repeated, surprising Ash.

“Wow, I’m really sorry about that!” the other trainer apologized, going up to Goodra and petting her arm gently.  She looked at him sadly, letting out a light cry in response.  “Don’t worry, your trainer looks like he takes good care of you, so you shouldn’t be so worried!”  He then turned back to Cerise, and shook his head.  “Today must not be my kind of day, I’ve messed things up twice for you, now!  I’m really sorry."

Loka then cut in, her trademark scowl fully present.  “Not sure what kinda strategy you were going for, kid, but ya’ve got real sloppy execution. If yer going fer the League, ya need to learn how ta think ahead rather than just on impulse.  What seems good at the time, might not be so good later on."

Her criticism was harsh, especially the way she seemed to talk down to Ash.  It was then that Clemont stepped forward and tried to defend his friend.  “That’s just how Ash battles!  He’s unpredictable, and every trainer he faces gives him something new to learn, so this time he just didn’t know what to expect, himself!"

“It’s okay, Clemont!  I’m not really upset that I lost,” the kid from Kanto responded, shrugging as he spoke.  Even though he felt bad about what happened, he still didn’t feel that upset by this loss.  It was a formidable match against Pokemon he never really got to challenge.  Clemont was right about that; he didn’t know what to expect, but now he knew better!  “I really hope your Goodra gets better, though.  You battled awesomely!"

After shaking Cerise’s hand again, the younger trainers said goodbye to the older crew, not bothering to offer to help this time; they didn’t seem to want it, anyway.  Shortly after they left for the main path, Jo then messaged Cerise.  He decided to read it aloud to the other two, quoting, “Nurse Joy says to bring the Goodra as is.  Pokeball might stress her out more.  Take your time.  Sending over Lopunny for moral support."

“Lopunny and Goodra are pretty good pals,” Decoda added, finishing his massage as his hands began to tire.  “Though I don’t know if Swampert would be a better fit - she might be able to carry her if she Mega Evolved."

“That’s a waste o' energy, Decoda,” Loka shook her head.  “I know ya just got ‘er that Swampertite, but she ain’t gonna be able ta transform fer a while after.  I’d save it fer somethin' else."

“Loka’s right.  What Goodra needs right now is treatment, emotional and medical.  Though she appreciates the massage, Lopunny can relate to her better than we can,” Cerise agreed with a light shrug.

As the crew moved away from the battle grounds and saw Lopunny bounding their way, the Pokemon’s long floppy ears bouncing in the wind as it ran for them, they could see Goodra visibly become happier.  The two Pokemon embraced, the dragon thanking the bunny for their support, but as Lopunny asked about Goodra’s health, the two became more serious.  With Goodra’s newfound courage, thanks to her trainer’s comforting shoulder to lean on and a good friend to hold her hand, the group began their walk back to the Pokemon Center.  It was in the moment that Decoda turned around for one last look at the muddy battlefield that he saw something on the ground where Ash had stood.

“I’ll meet you there, guys,” he hurriedly told his traveling companions as he jogged over to the fallen object.  “I think the kids dropped something, so I’m gonna try and return it to them.  Good luck, Goodra!"

“Okay, just don’ getcherself in too much hot water!  Ya hear?!” Loka warned, waving him off before he was out of earshot.  She didn’t really want the group to be too far apart from one another anymore, just in case of being ambushed by either rogue trainers, evil gangs or angry Pokemon.  She’d made far too many mistakes like that before and she wasn’t about to let anyone else repeat them in her stead.

fic/anime spoilers:

“Hey, cool!  There’s some Durant out here!” Ash called out to his friends as the group began hiking up a rather steep hill.  Clemont was practically teetering over just to get a good view of the long line of Pokemon going down the same hill, but Bonnie grabbed her older brother’s hand to help him balance.  As Serena went to withdraw her Pokedex to register the Steel/Bug type, she noticed how Ash was already back to his usual self, as if his loss meant next to nothing.

“Ash, are you sure you’re not bothered by that battle, anymore?  You haven’t really lost any fights like that for quite a while,” she asked him in a concerned tone.  “I don’t mean to hark on it, but-"

“Nah, it’s really no big deal!  It’s just another trainer,” he said, cutting her off a little.  “If it was a Gym leader or even a Champion, I might have gotten upset, but it still wouldn’t last long.  Even then, it took me two tries to beat Viola, so losing this is fine!  So, what does the Pokedex say about Durant, this time?"

As he reached for his own Pokedex in his pocket, he started to get a little nervous.  Switching hands and searching in every single pouch he had on him, he still couldn’t find it!  Pikachu even took the opportunity to climb up his back and flip over the hat on his head to look under there, but still no device!  The boy quickly began to look around his feet and the general area, losing his balance and falling into a berry bush and taking Pikachu with him.

“Ash!  Are you alright?  What’s gotten into you?!” Clemont asked, worriedly.

“I’ve lost my Pokedex!” the boy wailed, poking his head out from the shrubbery before lifting his partner out, too.  Pikachu sighed, shaking his head and shrugging.  “That’s way more a big deal to me!  It’s my ticket into the Kalos League!  I can’t show up without it!"

“How could you lose something like that?!” Bonnie exclaimed, starting to join the search with her partner, Dedenne.  “How are you gonna win if you can’t even get in?!"

Serena then held her hands out, hoping to be the voice of reason in this scenario.  “Hang on, let’s stop and think!  Why don’t we retrace our steps?  I know it’s quite a long way from the town, and we’d have to climb all the way back up, but, that’s the only way we’ll find it!"

“I wish I had time to build something for this kind of situation!” Clemont groaned, annoyed he didn’t think of something like this before leaving the hotel.  “I’ll have to make a mental note for next time!"

Just as the crew reached the bottom of the hill, Pikachu picked up a sound coming from the town gate.  As it ran off in that direction, Ash and the others followed, hoping that it found a clue of some kind.  The young trainers were very surprised to meet up with Decoda again, who was panting a bit after sprinting all the way over here.

“Hey, it’s Decoda!” Bonnie shouted, remembering the funny guy’s name.

The redhead chuckled, waving a little as he came closer to them.  “I hate to be a bother to you guys and I’m sure you have a place to be right now, but I thought you might need this!” he said, scratching his head with one arm and pulling out a red device from his pocket.

Immediately, Ash’s eyes lit up, smiling happily as he gratefully accepted his Pokedex.  “You found it!  Thanks so much, Decoda!  We were just looking for it!"

Decoda pat the kid from Kanto on the shoulder, grinning.  “Yeah!  You must’ve dropped it when you were helping your Pokemon up during the fight.  I found it on the edge of the mud, but it looks like it escaped pretty cleanly,” he told him, not exactly eager to get back to the others right away.  Back at the Gym he used to work at, he got to see so many young faces come and go, but never really got to stop and ask them what it was like to start their journeys.  Of course, that was before he started his own, but now that he was on a journey, himself, he wanted to know even more so what other trainers were doing!  “I’m actually glad I got the chance to meet you guys.  For what its worth, Ash, you’re not a bad trainer.  Cerise is just one tough nut to crack, that’s all!"

“Thanks!  Do you battle at all?” Ketchum asked, securing away his Pokedex.

“Sure do!  I used to work for a great Gym Leader in Kanto, but now I’m out trying to get my music career off the ground and train a team of my own on the side!” he nodded, gesturing to the guitar case on his back.  “What about you four?  You must be headed for the League, right?”

“Actually, I’m the Gym Leader of Lumiose City, though my passion is inventing machines!  If you’ve been there, then you might’ve seen my Clembot,” Clemont proudly stated, watching Decoda’s grin grow wider.  “My little sister is too young to be a trainer yet, but she’s starting things out with Dedenne."

“Don’t forget Squishy!  It’s a new addition!” Bonnie cheered, patting the little green Core on the head.  It smiled with its eye, pleased to have gotten well-deserved recognition.

“I’m a Pokemon Performer, and I wanna be just like Aria, the Kalos Queen!” Serena added, adjusting her hat a little as her short hair gently flowed underneath it.

With his blue eyes glowing with adoration for the young dreamers, Decoda felt like he should pal around them for a short while, give them some support, maybe share some battling experiences he’d picked up over the years… but he knew he’d be keeping them from achieving their goals if he stuck around.  Despite how much he wanted to mentor these four, he ultimately decided against it.  “You guys have some amazing goals, and I really wish you the best of luck with all of it."

“Thank you so much!  We’re trying our best!” Serena smiled, happily closing her eyes and clasping her hands together.  “I really wish we had time to hear some of your music, though.  I’m sure it’s great, either way!"

“And I wish I could see your Pokemon, but I guess we’ll save that for a later time!” Ash challenged, getting a thumbs up in response from the other trainer.

“I’ll hold you to it, guys!  Stay safe out there!” Decoda finished, waving them off as he turned around to head back to the town.  As he heard them walking off back towards the hill, the little device on his wrist flickered on.  A digital image of the Avatar Rotom appeared on screen, his expression as mischievous as usual.

“Who were they, Sir Decoda?” he spoke, his robotic voice getting his friend’s attention.

“Good kids, from what I can gather.  I only knew ‘em for a short while, but with aspirations like that, I feel like I know them all too well… reminds me of me, you know?  The girl’s a performer, the loud one’s a battler and the jumpsuit kid is a Gym leader!” he laughed, shaking his head a little.

“And why does the youngest have the Avatar of Zygarde in her possession?” Rotom inquired, causing Decoda to stop dead in his tracks.

Decoda’s eyes widened with fear.  “Wait… Squishy?!” he exclaimed, suddenly turning around to find that they had long since left the area.

“Does this name reflect the Avatar’s pet name?  Or is this a joke?” the Avatar laughed, forcibly ejecting himself from the device and entering his human form.  As his orange jacket covered most of his pale, hunched body, his light blue hair, bright eyes and smile shone like LED lights from under his hood.  “Because it’s not exactly funny, unless you like ultimate disorder and chaos."

Horrified, Decoda didn’t know what to do next.  He froze in shock from what Rotom had just told him, torn between rushing to rescue the kids himself from this monster, or to report back to his comrades and ask for their help.  Rushing into danger had not previously been kind to him, and recalling Loka’s warning from earlier made him think not to worry about the young group… they made it so far, right?  What could this Avatar - whatever a Zygarde was - actually do to them?  Had it done something already, or maybe it was too weak and needed more power to do anything?

“Rotom… I need you to tell me everything you know about Avatar Zygarde!” Capella demanded.

The Pokemon then brushed the hair out of his face, nonchalantly.  “It’s what you might call, ‘a doozy’ so shall we wait for everyone to hear this before I need to use the repeat function on Miss Marley’s device?"

The gentle bell going off in the Pokemon Center let Cerise and the others know that Goodra and his other two Pokemon had come out just fine.  When Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff came out to reveal the healthy Pokemon, the dark-skinned boy rushed to his Pokemon’s side.

“How are you feeling, Goodra?” he asked her, beaming when she flapped her arms around and moving her neck freely.  “I’m so glad you’re better!  You’re such a good sport about everything, though I’m not gonna lie and say I was happy that we won~"

“Gooooo~” she grinned, pumping her arm in the air to show off.  Behind Cerise, Jo, Lopunny, Hurry and Loka were all standing, the other two Pokemon admiring Goodra’s power and endurance with smiles.

“That was a nice and quick recovery,” Jo stated.  “Should we wait for Decoda inside or out?"

“Let’s head out.  That way Ah can see how much time he’s a wastin’ every time I look up at the sun,” Loka grunted, leading the troupe outside the Center.

“What did he want to return, anyway?  I didn’t see what he picked up,” Cerise questioned, curious if Loka saw anything.

She shrugged.  “Part o’ me thinks he was lyin’ just so he could go an’ hang out with somebody different and play ‘big brother’ to those kids.  Either way, Ah just wanna get back to trackin’ down those teams.  Who knows if there’s any activity near by?"

“Loka, remember, you may wanna get back at them for what they did to you and the others, but sometimes I think he’s got the right idea to stop and take it easy,” Cerise suggested, returning his healthy Pokemon to her ball for easier transportation.

Jo mimicked him, returning her two Pokemon as she said, “What usually happens is whenever we’re looking for something, nothing comes up, but when we do sit down and chill, Avatars and bad guys just start dropping by like it was a house party.  Maybe if we go fishing - the most boring thing in the world! - we’ll lure them all in and get everything out of the way!"

Cerise and Loka face palmed in unison as the trio left the Center as Jo shouted from behind them, “I WAS JUST KIDDING, DUH!"

It was a solid half and hour of waiting in the town’s square before Decoda was seen running up over the horizon.  Rotom was outside his residential Pokegear, though hovering by his side as a Pokemon rather than as a human.  The blue-eyed teenager looked quite disheveled by the time he got close enough to his friends, panting and sweating buckets.

“Geez, Decoda, you’re doing more running around than me, today.  Don’t try to compete with a real athlete!  You’ll only get yourself hurt,” Jo teased, mistaking his appearance for over tiredness.

He stopped right in front of her, wiping his dripping face with the edge of his black jacket.  Only then through his voice could anyone detect the root of his upset expression.  “The kids… Ash and the others… They’ve got an Avatar with them, too!"

Everyone gasped, waiting for him to continue, but he could only grasp his collarbone as he struggled to breathe.  It was then that Rotom slipped in front of him and piped up: “He decided to share this information with the rest of you.  I know of Avatar Zygarde, the equivalent to a ‘God of Order’ to the humans who believe we are such beings."

“Ah knew I could feel something was off with them,” Loka snorted, looking pumped for the hunt.  “Ah wonder if they know jus’ what they’re dealin’ with…?"

“Bonnie called it ‘Squishy,’ right?  That’s Zygarde?” Cerise asked as he took out his Pokedex and attempted to search for any data on the monster.  Sadly, he found nothing in relation to the beast, nor did he find any images to confirm any forms it could take.

“Avatar Zygarde is a powerful being of control and order, and has prevented chaos all over Kalos, using its many watchful eyes to detect danger.  If it finds such dangers, it takes different forms to reach it and deal with it.  I, personally, have only seen two forms, until today,” Rotom added, his grin turning upside down the more he discussed this.  “To see it become friendly with the very creatures that cause many of the disasters it prevented… this worries me."

“You mean humans, right?” Jo questioned, raising an eyebrow at the Electric/Ghost.  “If that such a taboo thing, why is it that you chose to hang around this ‘destructive race,’ huh?!  If you don’t like it, don’t support it!"

“I am not a being of divine order.  It’s embarrassing to say, but I am one of the… weaker Avatars…” Rotom exhaled, looking off to the side and sweating a little.  “Zygarde cannot afford bias.  Zygarde is the middle ground, and if it’s Complete Forme is needed, it may lose all traces of bias anyway, but… if I asked a human to remain unbiased on certain situations, and to use logic and reason to decide whether something lives, dies, is reborn, remains the same… the human would not be able to decide without the intervention of their emotions or memories.  You all are examples of this."

Immediately, Jo backed off and Loka’s anger subsided.  Cerise picked his head up from his search and put away his device to speak.  “We understand what you’re saying.  What then, is the right thing to do about this situation?”

“I cannot suddenly decide if Zygarde should be removed from the humans or not,” the speaking Pokemon lightly chuckled.  “I feel that duty belongs to you trainers."

Everyone gagged on his words, their expressions freezing with disappointment and anger, including the recently recovered Decoda.  Furious at Rotom’s outright refusal to help them this time, the redhead then screamed right into his ear, “WHAT DO MEAN OUR DUTY?!  THIS ISN’T GREAT BIG CHESS GAME TO YOU, IS IT?!"

“I’m sorry, but I only joined your squadron because I thought it would be fun and I would like to help you, Sir Decoda,” the Avatar said, shaken up a little from being yelled at.  “My goal is not to meet and collect the other Avatars all over the world."

Moments prior to Decoda raising his voice again, Loka held up her hand to halt him.  “He’s right, but to be honest, we’ve all got different goals right now.  Mah, goal is revenge on these evil teams, and ya’ll’ve got something different than that.  None of them were all about huntin’ Avatars,” she explained, sounding the most rational and logical she’d been in a long time.  “Now, going off of my personal goal, having an Avatar around has always been enough bait for these rogue groups, since they DO want their dirty hands on all that power.  That’s the only thing that worries me about having Zygarde with those kids."

“So, what you’re saying is we should have told them to watch out for groups like Team Plasma and Flare,” Cerise suggested, receiving a confident nod in response.  “Well, shoot.  Should we see if we can catch up to them, and give them that warning or let it go?"

“Well, we don’t have to give them that warning if we take care of it before they even find out!” Decoda beamed, fixing his hat and guitar case strap.

“D-Don’t tell me, you wanna run aaaaallll the way back there just to play 'watchful eye of the guardian' with these little brats,” Jo grumpily groaned.

“Since we all can confirm what Loka said is true - the Avatar behaving just like bait to these teams - at least one of them will be looking for Zygarde, right?  That power sounds like it’s right up Plasma’s or Flare’s alley.  I wouldn’t put it past them to desire to control the order of how the world worked, especially with their ‘human bias’ Rotom mentioned.  If someone’s following them, then they’ve probably already targeted these kids by now and may make their move at any moment!  I say we go stop them before they have a chance to engage them in a fight!”  Decoda declared, feeling really good about what he had said.  The last thing he’d want is for something bad to happen to a group of innocents who had no idea they were traveling with something so dangerous, especially if he could help it.

Cerise sighed, putting a hand to his forehead as he listened to Decoda’s idea.  Ultimately, once he finished, he smiled; that was just like the musician, always wanting to help others out of trouble, but getting overly involved in the process.  Much like his desire to entertain strangers, Cerise couldn’t really fault him for feeling so strongly about this, and while there were still questions left to answer, there may actually be lives at stake.  He didn’t want to take the chance to draw this out any further, and so he flipped his hair lightly, so his glasses wouldn’t fall off his nose and agreed to the plan.

“I’m in!” the brunet approved, getting mixed reactions from the others.  “It wouldn’t be my first choice, but it’s all we can do with the knowledge that we have, and I’m all about sharing knowledge so others can be smarter with the choices they make in life.  That’s what makes this world so interesting right?  All the different ways of thinking there is to encounter with the same information given; Rotom, I promise to use my human bias for the most good I can do."

The Avatar genuinely grinned this time, then turned to Jo, who bit her lower lip thinking about what she wanted to do.  Within a few more seconds, she closed her eyes and slowly nodded.  “I guess I’ll go along with that plan, too.  I’m on the fence, like Cerise, but even if those kids are pretty dumb, they don’t deserve to get hurt just because they don’t understand some things.  Let’s give them the upper hand in the hopes they can accomplish all they came here to do!"

Now all eyes were on the dark haired girl, who hadn’t said much after her initial statement.  Decoda then slid to her side, leaned down a little to match her height and bumped his shoulder up against hers.  “Soooo, what do you think of my plan, Loka?  You gonna go with it, too?"

A pouty frown was spreading across her cheeks, side-eyeing the boy with her single red pupil.  In a low voice, she grumbled, “Oh, Ah’ll go along with it, but if ya’ll don’ git yer shoulder offa mine in no less than a nanosecond, you’d wish you hadn’t even met me."

“Love you too, Lo-Lo~” Decoda playfully teased, but even though he backed off right away, she still managed to swat him in the back of the head on his way off.  The crew knew not to mess with Loka too much, but how much fun would it be to constantly be in fear of one of your best friends?

As the sun began to lower in the sky, the group of younger trainers stopped to take a break from their hiking up hill after hill.  Even though they were almost to Terminus Cave, their next destination, they still had nearly a whole day’s worth of walking before they could reach its entrance.  Squishy was excited to get to its home, but still wanted to rest on a rock and absorb as much sunlight as possible, while Bonnie played with Dedenne, Pikachu, Chespin and Pancham.  Serena took turns brushing Braixen and Eevee, and Clemont was setting up for lunch.  Ash, fueled by his loss, was eager to train his team in case he met those powerful trainers again.

“Okay you guys, we may have lost that time, but we’re going to get stronger so we can get our next badge and surpass all of our rivals!” the kid from Pallet Town exclaimed, getting his other four Pokemon excited to battle.  “Now let’s double battle up so we can use our weaknesses as strengths!  We’ve faced a Chesnaught, a Doublade and a Goodra, all very defensive types.  If we can hit them harder than what they can handle or find a weak spot on their bodies, then we can definitely beat them!"

Ash decided to put Noibat and Greninja on the same team, while Hawlucha and Talonflame shared the second team.  As he commanded the four of them, Serena finished brushing her performance partners and helped Clemont set their collapsable lunch table.  She couldn’t help but comment on her crush’s sudden rebound.  “It’s pretty amazing to see Ash get right back up after a brutal loss.  Don’t you think?"

“Yeah.  It’s really inspiring to watch, which is why I never complain if he just wants to train with his own team rather than fight someone else.  You can actually see him thinking about every move he makes!” Clemont admitted.

Serena set down the last of the plates, full of freshly brewed stew.  “I’ve noticed!  Part of me thinks he probably just wants to fight the rest of that tough-looking group, though!  Especially Decoda, since he seemed so supportive of it.  Though, I wish we could have heard at least one of his songs before we left…"

“Were you thinking you could use his music for your performance?  Having a cool instrument like the guitar playing would be so fitting with all that fire in your routine!” the blonde boy theorized, putting out his cooking fire and letting the pot cool off on the ground.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking!  Maybe I’ll try to work something like that in, anyway!” she exclaimed as she took out a few containers of special food.  Each trainer carried Pokemon food, but since their teams were always growing, they always carried lots of the stuff.  After separating it into containers for her three partners, she then asked Clemont, “Do you think we’ll get to see those four again?"

“Maybe,” he shrugged, spooning out food for his three Pokemon.  “I wasn’t exactly clear on what they were all doing together, but I speculate its just like us with Ash.  They follow each of their dreams while training with their friends, and seeing how much older they were by comparison to us, just goes to show that you’re never too old to go on an adventure with some good companions!"

“That’s a good point.  In that case, I hope I can perform on the same stages as Decoda, whenever that may be!"

“And I hope to be as clever and strong as Cerise was during his battle with Ash!"

After the group gathered for lunch, releasing the remaining Pokemon from their Pokeballs, the youth shared their ideas on what the older teens were doing together.  In the background, Chespin was acting greedy again and attempting to steal from everyone else’ food bowls, getting a bop on the nose from Braixen and a hard push from Luxray.  Regretfully, Hawlucha tried to share his lunch, but Chespin knocked it over while wrestling with Panocha.  It took a good glare from Talonflame and Greninja for the two feisty Pokemon to stop interrupting.

“I have a feeling Decoda’s the Gym Leader he was saying he used to work for.  I mean, I knew lots of Gym Leaders who left their gyms to do things like travel around and start a new career, so I wouldn’t be surprised!” Ash insisted after finishing his drink.

Bonnie laughed, simply not buying into it.  “No way!  Such a goofy guy like him couldn’t run a serious place like a gym!  Then again, my brother’s a leader, too…"

“I-I’m not that immature and ridiculous, am I?!” Clemont stuttered, causing everyone to giggle, finishing their meal on a high note.

As the happy four cleaned up their mess, two cloaked figures observed them from a nearby cliffside, using the shade of the trees to hide their white and gray hooded selves.  Sinking back behind the trunks for the time being, the taller figure grinned to the shorter one.

“Looks like we’ve tracked the wrong cluster of brats, but they’ll do for now,” the deep-voiced, curvy figure snickered.  Some locks of green hair could be seen from under her hood, and her face looked soft and docile, even though her aura radiated aggressiveness.  Something was definitely off about this young woman, but her partner fared no better.

“When should we deploy our smokescreen, then?  Technically, we’ve got enough for a much more experienced squad of losers, so we can kick this off whenever we feel like it,” the shorter girl in the skin-tight black suit proclaimed, twirling her blonde and purple wavy locks around her fingers.  Her eyes were unsettling to look at, although they glowed a beautiful turquoise.

“I suggest we prepare immediately, then.  The sooner their Pokemon are liberated, the better.  Such beautiful creatures, they are…” the taller one sighed, removing her hood to get a better look at the selection of Pokemon helping their trainers pack up.  “I’ve always wanted some of those…"

“Perhaps once we return them to HQ, we’ll keep one or two as a reward,” the short one replied in her soft yet sinister voice.  She then commented as she began to walk away, “Dibs on the Eevee, though…"

“Wasn’t even looking at the Eevee, geez!” the other snapped, following her comrade deeper into the forest.

Just who were these two individuals?!