It's the chapter we've all been waiting for! No seriously, by the end of this chapter I won't have to deal with annoying time zones anymore. I'd like to apologise for leaving you all hanging for so long as I got carried away reading other fan fictions as well as various side projects. It's rather late but I'll be releasing the character profiles I mentioned last chapter to celebrate reaching 100 reviews, favourites and follows.
UPDATE: It will now be listed as a forum on this site and has been fully updated so take a look if you feel like it. The link will be on my profile soon but you can look it up directly by searching Character Profiles for As Arceus Decrees It.

I would also like to officially appoint Ron the True Fan as the Beta for this story, assuming they're still interested. It has been awhile and I wouldn't be the slightest bit offended if they found something better to do in the interim. Anyway, congratulations if you accept but please remember that I can't send you anything until you set up a beta profile. Also Ron the True Fan had offered to do an Omake, which I would like to attach to the end of the next chapter. It won't be canon but it should give all of you a laugh. I've read some of his work so I can also assure any worried readers that it will be good quality.

Last thing of minor concern, these last few months someone with nothing better to do with their time has decided to harass me with mildly vulgar reviews. I don't really mind if people want to criticise my work but I draw the line at people setting up a bot to do it for them. I'll give it an A for ingenuity but D for effort and communication skills. Not only did I not understand the abbreviations they used but it's just downright disrespectful, petty and a waste of my time. In fact the only reason why I bothered to go about deleting the 50 or so reviews I got each day was because it wouldn't be fair to the other writers out there who are desperately trying to climb up to the coveted most reviews, favourites and follows pages. It would be nice if people had a bit more common sense and realised that spamming reviews will make the story look better and more popular thereby drawing more readers.

Anyway, I'm not sure whether it was me specifically or certain stories in general but I turned on the moderate reviews option to help me mitigate the problem. The admin seams to have caught on after all these months and blocked the reviews but it only works if I leave the setting on. So the crux of it and the only thing you really need to take away from this is not to panic if your anonymous review doesn't show up immediately. I still prefer an open door policy so if I notice a review waiting then good or bad I'll approve it so long as it's not a bot or highly vulgar. Now on to the chapter.

I do not own pokémon as it belongs to The Pokémon Company, Game Freak and Nintendo. Long may they reign!

: :

: :

Chapter 8: Landfall

Kanto

Bzzzzzt Bzzzzzt

Lance, the Champion of both the Kanto and Johto regions stirred from sleep and automatically reached for his phone on the bedside table. Rousing himself with the training and professionalism that came with countless G-man missions, the Champion answered the phone with the standard greeting that wouldn't alert telemarketers to his identity, "Hello."

"LANCE YOU ASSHOLE!" blared the phone with a feminine Kalosian accent, "How could you have known about Ash being the CHOSEN ONE for at least FIVE YEARS and not have had the courtesy to tell me my region was going to turn into a potential WAR ZONE."

"Good morning Diantha, it's nice to hear from you too," Lance deadpanned with the humble opinion that it was way too early in the morning for him to be dealing with this crap.

"DON'T you DARE try to brush this off as if this isn't your problem!" yelled Diantha.

"Do you have any idea what time it is in Japan," Lance groaned, "You called at four o'clock in the morning. Even Bruno doesn't get up this early."

"Serves you right, now answer my question on why you ignored the full disclosure agreement between champions," Diantha snapped.

The Kanto Champion shrugged, "Does Cynthia tell us every time she digs up a tablet foretelling an apocalypse. This is the same kind of thing so it's on a need to know basis."

"The capital city of my region suffered over a billion dollars worth of damage, I think I needed to know," replied Diantha hotly.

"Not the worst damage I've seen, it's also not as serious as that incident where Hoopa nearly wiped one of your cities from existence," Lance responded.

"WHAT Hoopa incident! Why are you only telling me about this now!" Diantha said in a borderline frenzy.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose in annoyance, Lance ignored her query, "Look, how'd you even find out about Ash's status, it's highly classified."

"Ash's former traveling companion Serena told me," answered Diantha.

"But she doesn't- of course, Anabel must have told her," muttered Lance under his breath, "The number of times I've told that girl to stand down; stubborn irrational teenagers."

He heard Diantha take a deep breath on the other side of the phone to calm herself, "Putting aside how livid I am about you putting countless lives in danger by withholding information, what are we going to do about Ash's situation."

"Honestly . . . absolutely nothing," Lance replied.

"WHAT!" screeched the Kalosian woman, "The boy's a hero; some vendors have even started selling Ash action figures over here. We can't just leave him in a situation were he'll never be able to find love!"

Lance shook his head in exasperation. Women. Even worse was the fact that she came from Kalos, the region famous for art, food, fashion and most annoyingly in this case: romance. Of course she'd miss the big picture. He should have lied and told her a rescue op was under way like he had with Anabel.

"Diantha, please be reasonable," Lance began, "The boy is perfectly happy wandering from region to region and sticking his nose in every problem, anomaly and crime syndicate he comes across. He'd still do it even without a psychic pokémon there ready to heal him if he takes a bullet."

"Oh my Arceus," Diantha interrupted, "You knowingly let him go to America where they still have active gun lobbyists."

"Be that as it may," resumed the Kanto champion, "The benefits still vastly out way the tampered feelings of a few teenage girls. Did you know that in every region that Ash has gone to, cruelty to pokémon has gone down by at LEAST twenty percent. Even IF I wanted to stop Ash from SAVING the WORLD as if it were some crime to do so, I wouldn't be stupid enough to pick an unwinnable fight with the divine pantheon responsible for every aspect of our ecosystem.

Now if you want to be in the know regarding the boy, I am more then happy to send you the files providing you keep this under wraps. This is obviously a very sensitive matter and people acting rashly will only cause problems. I'll even pay for a therapist to help Serena get over her dream boyfriend since historical precedents has demonstrated that Mewtwo won't act unless she actively pursues her feelings. How does that sound? Can we work towards an understanding?"

There was a few moments silence before Diantha replied, "SCREW YOU, I'm going to tell all the other champions what you've done. I can't believe you'd do something this deplorable."

CLICK

Well that could have gone better. Lance switched off the after hours function on his phone and glared out his bedroom window at the predawn rays of sun before getting out of bed. It was going to be a long day today so he might as well get started. His opinion was only confirmed when he arrived at the office to have his receptionist tell him that an irate Wallace was on the phone. Obviously Diantha had told him about Mewtwo. Wonderful, that man always monologued for hours.

: :

: :

An hour or so after Tapu Bulu dropped Ash in the hot spring
Ula'ula Island, Alola

Ash and Mallow's heads snapped up to the sound of barking. They waited with baited breath, hoping that it was a search team before the head of an Arcanine poked over the rocky ridge surrounding the hot spring.

"Oh thank Arceus," Mallow gasped in relief before asking the fire type, "Do you belong to officer Jenny? Are you part of the search team?"

The dog jostled slightly as someone hopped off it and then much to their surprise Lana came into view.

"Hey!" shouted Ash in greeting, "I didn't know you had an Arcanine?"

"Borrowed it," Lana deadpanned as she started to glare Mallow.

"Yes that's, uh, great," fidgeted the greenette, "Now that you're here we can finally get out of this hot spring without freezing to death. You've got rescue blankets or something right?"

"You're not wearing anything," accused Lana coldly.

"I-It's not my fault," Mallow yelled back flustered, "Tapu Bulu stole all my clothes and then stole Ash's shirt and jacket."

"Do you really expect me to believe that," Lana deadpanned again.

"That's what happened I swear," shouted Mallow.

"Jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii,"
(A/N: For those of you that don't know, Japanese Manga etc. use this 'sound' to indicate staring/glaring. It's weird but kind of funny once you get used to it.)

"Will you stop that!" Mallow squealed.

"We had an agreement. Lillie and I already told you that storing subways in your cleavage was pushing the envelope but this is too far," replied Lana sternly.

Then Lana took of her jacket and began stripping down to her underwear. Ash immediately turned around red faced while the Arcanine, seeing as the three didn't seem to be leaving, yawned and lay down for a nap.

"LANA! What do you think you're DOING!" Mallow gawked loudly.

"Making things fair," answered Lana mischievously as she did a few stretches, "Since you had quality alone time with Ash, now it's my turn. You can get out and use my clothes if you want. We could use the privacy."

Mallow sputtered while Lana dived in and swam right up to Ash with a Cheshire grin, "Well Ash, any ideas on what to do with a girl in a secluded hot spring?"

Ash leaned back a bit due to how close she was getting, "Well J did insist that everyone wore at least three layers so I guess that would means at least one shirt or jacket for each of us."

The Bluenette pouted, "You know, sometimes I really hate how dense you are."

Five minutes later when everyone was decent again, the Arcanine led them through the howling blizzard with both girls riding while Ash walked. It was cold even with the heat constantly permeating off the dog and Lana's shoes were far too small on his feet. Ash's actual shoes were drying on the fire types back. Thankfully they could see the vague outline of a pokémon centre complete with neon poké ball along and Kiawe's Turtonator out front.

"Hey! Guys, are you alright!" Kiawe shouted as he waved at them, "We've been searching all over for you."

"I'm freezing," Mallow chattered, "Please tell me Nurse Joy has something warm to drink inside."

"She's got hot Cocoa along with your clothes. Would you mind explaining that by the way," shrugged Kiawe.

Mallow just growled and darted into the pokémon centre as quickly as the snow would allow her.

"Is everyone else alright? I hope Tapu Bulu didn't pull anymore pranks," asked Ash.

Kiawe waved Ash's concerns aside, "Their fine. After you got carried off and everyone made it to the top we split up with fire pokémon. Sophocles and I paired up but he tired quickly so we came back early. Have you used the flute yet?"

"Uh, no?" Ash replied lamely.

"Well go on. We came all this way so you might as well get it over with before we go inside," coaxed Kiawe.

Ash pulled out the flute and stared at it tentatively before placing it to his lips and blowing gently. No sound came out but Pikachu covered its' ears and the Arcanine gave an annoyed snort so he guessed it worked. They proceeded inside the pokémon centre and made a beeline for the couches around a heating unit where the young genius was waiting for them.

"Your back! I've got some great news," Sophocles exclaimed, "I managed to get in contact with Lillie to update her on the situation. She's coming to pick us up in a helicopter so we won't have to climb down the mountain, isn't that great!"

"Really, that's great Sophocles. Can you get in contact with her again so we can tell her that Mallow and I are alright," chuckled Ash.

Sophocles stammered something about Lillie not coming with a chopper if she knew Ash was alright and not wanting to climb down the mountain again but ultimately folded under Ash's cluelessly optimistic gaze. He pulled out his tablet and hooked up the satellite connection while the others crowded around.

The transmission flickered briefly before Lillie's face appeared and immediately lit up, "Ash! Thank goodness, I was so worried!"

He laughed, completely missing the light dusting of pink on her cheeks, "This was nothing, just another day on the road for me. You should have seen some of the stuff that happened to me back in Kanto."

Lana leaned forward, "Mallow took Ash skinny-dipping in one of the hot springs."

"WHHAAAT!" Lillie shrieked loud enough to cause a painful feedback loop on the speakers.

"She's fibbing, as usual," Sophocles assured while extracting his fingers from his ears.

"What does skinny-dipping mean?" asked Ash.

"It means to swim without clothes," Kiawe sighed with his hands ready to cover his ears again.

"Oh, in that case she's telling the truth since Tapu Bulu stole her clothes and then stole my shirt and jacket," Ash nodded, "Or would that be three quarters of the truth since I still had my pants?"

Both guys stared at him with their mouths open, "That's the part your concerned about!"

"Where is she?" said Lillie in a sickly sweet voice that would have reminded some of her mother when truly angered. However they'd never seen that side of Lusamine so they were all doomed.

"I think she went to get changed. I'll go retrieve her," Kiawe shrugged.

"Sophocles, why don't you give Lana the tablet and take Ash to go talk to Nurse Joy about the local Drampa. I'm sure he'd like that," Lillie smiled.

The young genius squirmed, "But it's my tablet."

"Now Sophocles!" Lillie ordered.

"But-"
"Hey guys, I see everyone's ba- yikes, déjà vu, I'm just going to go and feed my Arcanine," said J before he hurried off.

The blonde gave a sigh of defeat and took Ash away just as Mallow returned fully dressed.

Lillie's smile disappeared, "Lana told me what you've been up to. We had an agreement."

Mallow bristled, "Hey, none of this was my fault. I was abducted."

Lillie stuck her nose in the air like the rich girl she was, "Three girls having a crush on the same guy is difficult enough. We came up with the agreement so that we wouldn't ruin our friendship and also so that no one would take advantage of his innocence."

"It's true, Ash is completely defenceless," nodded Lana sagely.

"Hey, I heard that! I can totally defend myself from wild pokémon." Ash called back.

"The defence rests their case," Lana stated.

"Then in accordance with the agreement, we'll be taking Ash to the beach tomorrow and your grounded for the day. It will be a group activity so the others will probably come along. I think that's fair, don't you," announced Lillie imperiously.

"Fine," Mallow ground out, "Can we just stop talking about it, I've already found the day humiliating enough."

Lillie turned her head to something said on her end before turning back, "The pilot says we'll be there in five minutes. I'm looking forward to telling you all about dad. He's got amnesia and mum got really mad that he ate nothing but poké beans and got really overweight but I'm really happy he's back."

: :

: :

Pallet Town, Kanto

When you're put to sleep by sing, you wake up feeling refreshed and relaxed. When you're put to sleep by sleep powder, you wake up feeling woozy and in need of a good coffee. All the girls had slept till around midday and stared bleary eyed at Prof. Oak as he explained what advancements and arrangements they were able to make that morning.

"So that raps up the atomic structure of the crystal and with a few more hours we will have applied the protective coating to the remaining 37 pendants bringing the total up to 50. I seem to have misplaced one of the completed pendants somewhere but that's still more than enough for everyone," rambled Prof. Oak, "We've booked the plane flights for tonight although we had to go through several different companies to do so. It's an eight hour flight and a four hour change in time zones so we'll arrive in Alola on the following morning. Serena's group should be arriving at about the same time, as was Norman's last time I spoke to him.

It's paramount that we link up with them as quickly as possible to hand over the pendants and then locate Ash who should be in the vicinity of my cousin's trainer school. The pendants should provide us a blind spot in Mewtwo's sensor range but it is still likely that he may show up. I must emphasise on the lot of you that any combat must be for the purpose of getting away and escorting Ash to the hospital. I've called the head of the psychic treatment ward so they will be expecting Ash but most of the hospital staff are unaware so as not to tip Mewtwo off in advance.

In the mean time you will need to occupy yourselves without getting in the way of our work. You are free to explore the grounds and Delia has invited all of you over if you would like but otherwise there's not much to do in a small town like Pallet."

Leaf banged her head on the table, "I forgot how long his sermons went for."

"At least we had had breakfast to eat while we listened," Anabel conceded.

"Your that Salon Maiden right? Can you remind me why two of your colleagues are here?" yawned Rosa.

"Oh, well Noland is here for his technical expertise and I think Lucy is just using this turn of events as an excuse to see Brock," shrugged Anabel.

Misty got up and stretched, "Well I'm going down to see Ash's pokémon. I take it you'll all be joining me?"

Leading the way down to where Ash's pokémon were gathered, Misty went through a quick introduction for those who hadn't met before they all broke off to interact and reconnect with those they were familiar with.

Leaf immediately glomped Ash's Snorlax, mumbling something about how they made the best pillows.

Oshawott exuberantly ran up to Hilda and Rosa who crouched, "You remember us, don't you Oshawott."

Anabel and Angie went over to soothe Bayleef who looked resentfully grumpy.

"I heard Ash trained some dragon type pokémon. Look at how beautiful you are," Iris gushed at Noivern while Axew went to say hello to Ash's Gible who promptly clamped down on Axew's head.

After a about an hour of making new friends and cheering up the pokémon that weren't going to go with them to Alola, the group made their way back through the lab and on towards Ash's house.

"Do you think we'll find anything in his room," suggested Leaf, moving her eyebrows suggestively.

"Ash isn't like that," Misty said stone-faced.

"You don't know, it has been several years after all," replied Leaf in a singsong voice, "After all, he is a guy and, as I've been told on numerous occasions, they do have needs."

"Ash isn't like that," Anabel reiterated.

"Oh poo, you two are no fun. Does anyone know if he still has that bunk bed?" Leaf asked.

The question went unanswered as they arrived and were greeted by Delia who insisted they all have lunch despite their late breakfast.

"So Hilda, your mother tells me you're quite the champion," said Delia conversationally.

"Yes, well, Alder was looking to retire and once I sent Zekrom out he kind of finished things," mumbled Hilda with a nervous blush.

"And what about you Bianca," Delia enquired, "Your parents said you and Hilda are childhood friends yet I recall Ash saying you were just starting out."

"Dad didn't let me start for two years. He thought it was too dangerous especially with Team Plasma around," Bianca explained tentatively.

Delia nodded, "I've heard about them, especially after last night. You have no idea how glad I am that they were shut down before Ash had a chance to run into them."

Iris and Rosa started to fidget while Anabel coughed into her fist.

"Now Angie, your family runs a day care in Sinnoh right? You must have a great deal on experience with a wide variety of pokémon," complimented Delia.

Angie nodded, "I do but to be honest I'm not entirely sure if it's what I want to do with my life. Or at least I'm not sure if I want to do it full time."

"Oh, that's alright. You've got you whole life ahead of you so there's no need to rush into just one lifestyle," Delia chuckled.

Once they'd eaten as much as they were able and helped with the dishes, everyone went up to finally see Ash's room.

"You know, you can come in," said Misty as she dusted off a few of the books on Ash's shelf.

Rosa rocked back and forth on her heals in the doorway, "I'm not sure if I'm ready yet."

"I was expecting it to be messier," Dawn noted.

"Well he's not here that often anymore. What were you expecting?" asked Leaf as she lifted up Ash's mattress to check underneath.

"A pigsty like Barry's room back in my hometown," shrugged Dawn noncommittally.

"Rosa, Yancy, come on in already," Hilda beckoned, "look, I found a photo album."

"I've never been inside a boys room before okay. This is a really big deal for me," Rosa flushed, "Besides, how are you and Bianca so blasé about this."

Bianca put her finger to her chin in thought, "Well I suppose it was because we got used to it when we were little. I mean there was Cheren and-"

"LEAF! I am not letting you rifle through Ash's underwear draw to search for dirty magazines. For goodness sake have some respect Ash's privacy!" yelled Anabel as she forcibly pulled the whining brunette away from said area.

"Maybe we should step in on the count of three," Yancy suggested to Rosa who nodded nervously, "1 . . . 2 . . . 3!"

They stepped through together and let out a sigh. Yancy proceeded over to where Hilda and Bianca were while a gold glimmer caught Rosa's eye. Moving over to where Iris stood, Rosa looked down at Ash's numerous badges and awards out on display.

"I always called him 'such a kid'," remarked Iris idly, "Yet even before we met, he'd already achieved so much more than me even now. He never really mentioned any of this. He always argued that he wasn't a little kid but he never tried to big note himself by bragging about all his badges and awards."

"I guess it just goes to show that the more you see, the more you know that there will always be someone out that that's stronger than you," Rosa said as she traced her fingers over the different badges and symbols. She giggled when her fingers touched the rainbow badge.

"Hey Misty, who drew this sketch," asked Angie as she indicated.

Misty's eyebrow twitched as she looked over, "Someone in Altomare drew that as a thankyou. Don't worry about it, I'm sure it won't come up again."

: :

: :

That night,
Viridian airport, Kanto

"Does everyone have their pendants and their tickets," asked Prof. Oak to the group at large.

"Yes," chimed everyone in a bored monotone.

"Good, than I'll go over the plan one last time," nodded the Professor before going into lecture mode, "We will arrive at the international airport on Akala Island and meet up with May and Serena's groups to hand over the pendants. Than we will catch a ferry over to Melemele Island and proceed to the trainer school where Delia and myself and no one else, will directly approach Ash and ask him to come to the hospital. If all of you converge at once than you will create a panic. If Mewtwo intervenes than you all have permission to converge on our position and we will all assist each other in getting Ash to the hospital. Are there any questions?"

Dawn raised her hand, "Anabel hasn't come back from the bathroom yet."

Lucy coughed awkwardly, "Actually, she couldn't wait to see Ash so as soon as she received her pendant, she excused herself and used her authority as an International Police Officer to get a high speed private jet to Alola. It will arrive in Alola an hour or two before ours, depending on the weather."

"That Bitch!" shouted Leaf.

Prof. Oak pinched his brows and sighed as the group of young women before him promptly descended into anarchy.

: :

: :

Melemele Island, Alola

One seven hour flight and a ferry ride later found Anabel strolling down the sunlit streets of Hau'oli City with a hum on her lips and a skip in her step. She'd slept and showered on the plane and had changed into an outfit identical to the one she had met Ash in (sadly the original had not survived her trip through ultra space intact). Some might call such lengths unnecessary but she wanted to maximise the odds of Ash recognising her. That and her current attire was a good deal cooler than a suit. Anabel hadn't been unwilling to cut her ponytail though. If he noticed, she'd ask him which hairstyle he preferred but she was quite certain Ash would just tell her both looked nice.

Prof. Oak (the tanned one) had cheerily informed her that Ash and his classmates (bar one girl for some odd reason) had gone to the beach for the day. Why the school had such a lax and flexible schedule confused her a little but it suited her purposes since everyone was amicable and willing to divulge the information she wanted without the slightest concern for security. That was something she might need to look into if they planned to stay here for a while but for now she'd just enjoy the unusual amount of greenery Hau'oli city had compared to other cities.

Turning the corner and finally seeing the beach up ahead, Anabel's eyes were drawn to the sight of Ash buying some ice creams from a mobile vendor set up just before the grass met sand.

"Ash!" she called, breaking into a run and waving, "Ash!"

"Hmm? Anabel, what are you doing here?!" Ash exclaimed when he looked up.

Her heart leapt to her throat. He remembered her! After all this time he still recognised her instantly.

"Oh Ash," Anabel smiled, taking his hands in hers as soon as she reached him (and unintentionally preventing him from taking the tray of ice creams), "You have no idea how good it is to see you again."

He opened his mouth to reply but his eyes widened at something over her shoulder and his jaw dropped open. Feeling a malevolent pressure behind her, Anabel turned around (keeping one of Ash's hands in hers) and saw Mewtwo floating just ten feet in front of her.

'Why hello Anabel,' projected Mewtwo tersely, 'I was under the impression you had already been dealt with.'

Ash stammered at the sight of the purple legendary while the Frontier Brain tensed.

"You know, I've been waiting a long time for this," Anabel smirked, "Raikou, sic 'im."

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed, 'You don't have a-' CRACK

One moment he has there, the next something large, gold and oh so very electrified had ploughed him through a row of trees. An interesting thing to note about Raikou and the move wild charge was that Raikou was more of a special attack specialist. Statistically, wild charge, while one of the best physical moves, was not something that a Raikou should use in comparison to something like discharge or thunder. However one shouldn't forget that Raikou is a very large pokémon, being six feet tall and weighing roughly three times that of a human. Then if you take into account that Raikou embodies the speed of lightning, it can go at, well, the speed of lightning. So if someone were to ever teach Raikou that move, one could safely assume that being hit by wild charge from a Raikou would roughly feel like being hit by an electrified truck. Sadly, Mewtwo no longer had the presence of mind to debate such interesting pieces of trivia.

"MEWTWO! Anabel, why did you attack Mewtwo?" shouted Ash in shock.

"Ash, I need you to listen to me" said Anabel as she look Ash straight in the eye, "Things might be very confusing at the moment but Mewtwo hasn't been as kind to you as you may think."

"But-"

"Do you trust me!" Anabel interjected.

"Of course," replied Ash instantly.

A roar of psychically projected rage interrupted them as Raikou flew, bounced and then skidded before flipping back onto all fours in front of them. Its' battered psychic adversary floating back into view within an orb of power.

'I'm impressed,' heaved Mewtwo, 'but did you really think that's all it would take to stop me!'

Anabel made no reply. Mewtwo's head snapped up at the sound of a high pitched whistle. He tried to dodge. He really did, but it's hard to dodge a Latios flying at you at top speed.

"We have to go. My pokémon will only be able to hold him off for so long," Anabel instructed.

She pulled on Ash's arm to leave only to snag when he didn't move.

"Wait, Pikachu and the others are still at the beach," said Ash.

Anabel bit her lip. She could hardly expect Ash to just leave his pokémon so she nodded and let Ash lead the way praying that it wouldn't take long.

Weaving in and out of various beach goers, Ash quickly led Anabel to his Alolan friends. There were two girls, Prof. Kukui, three guys and several small pokémon dancing on a large and elaborately constructed sandcastle constructed on top of a- No.

Her brain froze. NO! Her legs and arms seized up as her breathing became erratic. It just wasn't possible! The sounds around Anabel became a congealed blur as her heart hammered in her chest. HOW could that THING be here! She didn't register Ash tugging on her arm or his pleas for her to answer. Her eyes glazed yet fixed on the titanic black mass half buried in the sand. NO!

"Anabel! Anabel! What's wrong, answer me," cried Ash frantically.

"Ash, what took so long . . ." called Lillie before she trailed off.

Kiawe jogged up to Ash and his new companion, "What's the matter?"

"I don't know. One second she was fine, the next she was like this," Ash explained with growing distress.

"Lie her down," ordered Prof. Kukui as he walked over, "It looks like a panic attack but she seems to young to be suffering from something like PTSD."

Ash tried to ease Anabel down but her legs were rigid even though she was now shaking.

"Something the matter? Surely getting ice cream isn't that complicated," said J as he looked over his shoulder while cleaning his Guzzlord's upper teeth with a large metal brush.

J looked at Anabel. Then he looked at Guzzlord. Then he looked back at Anabel. Then J swore loudly.

"Do you know what's wrong with Anabel," Ash asked with hopeful desperation as J darted around to the side of his pokémon.

"Get off! Shoo! Go on! Scram!" J commanded briskly as he gestured at Popplio and the other pokémon, going so far as to sweep Litten off the back of his dragon.

"Hey, don't do that to someone else's pokémon," shouted Lana indignantly.

The jumper ignored her as he shooed the last pokémon of Guzzlord's back before slamming a blue ball into its' black hide. This immediately caused the sand castle to collapse and fall a good four metres as the dark dragon was recalled.

Anabel's hand flexed in Ash's and immediately recaptured his attention. Managing with some difficulty to lie her down, he and Prof. Kukui managed to calm Anabel down after several minutes.

"Is it gone?" asked Anabel in a husky whisper.

"You're safe Anabel," Ash comforted, "I don't know what made you react like that but your safe now. I'll protect you."

She rubbed his thumb in her hand, "The black creature."

"You mean J's Guzzlord," blurted Ash, not understanding.

Anabel tensed momentarily but forced herself to relax. She sat up slowly and looked at Ash's friends, all crowded around her with concern. Her gaze than fixed on the one person standing back, scowling at the sand. She noted two blue beast balls on one of the straps hanging from his belt. That was two far too many than what she was comfortable with someone having.

Taking a deep breath and pulling herself to her feet with Ash's offered hand, Anabel stumbled before steadying herself and storming forward and grabbing the mystery trainer's shirt.

"WHY do you have that . . . that monster?" Anabel yelled.

He looked her in the eyes and where as before there had been some guilt, now there was just stubborn defiance, "Look, I'm sorry about the ultra beast. I didn't think anybody here would recognise it so I thought it would be safe to let it out to feed it and do some grooming."

"Safe, Safe! What part of that creature looks safe to you?" shouted Anabel, "They EAT EVERYTHING! Rocks, trees, pokémon, people, houses, mountains. They just don't stop and they're vicious and scary and . . . and . . . "

She was crying now, though she wasn't sure whether they were tears of anger or trauma.

The trainer sighed, "I know they have a bad reputation and you are far from the first person in my travels to freak out upon seeing one. I'm sorry. The tragic thing is, they're actually pretty docile once you feed them the correct food."

She punched him. He probably didn't deserve it but it made her feel better and he didn't look that perturbed by it.

"Ash, grab your pokémon, we're leaving," Anabel announced.

Ash looked confused but quickly recalled his pokémon and called Pikachu over. He glanced at J to see if he was alright but J just shrugged and jerked his head at Anabel.

"You're coming too," ordered Anabel as she flicked her international police badge out, "I want answers as to why you have a UB Glutton."

The other teenagers looked like they were going to intervene but Prof. Kukui shook his head.

J shrugged again and murmured, "Sure, why not," before following Ash an Anabel at a more sedate pace.

They had to push through a small crowd when they got to the edge of the beach. The large stretch of grass and adjacent road had become a blistered and scorched warzone on which the three legendary pokémon sparred. Anabel's pokémon didn't look too battered while Mewtwo had clearly taken multiple direct high speed hits.

Mewtwo's eyes fixed on Anabel and Ash as they came through the crowd of onlookers. 'This isn't over!' he snarled before teleporting away.

"Don't gawk, come on, let's go," said Anabel as she recalled Raikou and gestured for Latios to remain on guard.

: :

: :

Making it to the hospital's shielded psychic treatment ward was a huge relief to Anabel. Her strategy for overcoming Mewtwo had relied on the fact that while Mewtwo couldn't be overpowered, he could be outpaced. Latios and Raikou were among the fastest pokémon alive which was why she had specifically sought them out to catch. Latios had also run enough psychic interference to prevent Mewtwo from brain controlling Ash into attacking her.

Leaning back in her seat within the empty waiting room of the psychic treatment ward, Anabel wished again that she were considered 'family' and thus able to stay with Ash as the specialists explained what had happened to him and what they wanted to do to treat it. She opened her eyes to look at J, the only other person currently present in the room, as he twiddled his thumbs. Anabel's first impression was that she didn't like him. The young man had been cooperative when she questioned him, so long as she carefully worded her questions to make sure he couldn't get away with one word answers.

Apparently he was a 'jumper' who had been caught red handed and decided that pretending this was a perfectly normal everyday occurrence was the best way to not cause a scene. Anabel had felt guilty when he informed her that he had been the one to initially report Ash's condition. Guilt had then given way to fury when he encountered Mewtwo and basically abandoned Ash to his fate, stating: 'As nice as he is; I'm not willing to risk my life for someone I've just met.' Moving on from what had happened, she'd asked more about his jumper background to which he gave some very general rules and information like 'not getting involved in local affairs' and 'don't hand out perpetual energy reactors' as well as the fact that he had a D-Rank jumpers licence (which he had refused to show her).

A loud chime interrupted her thoughts as an announcement came over the hospital loud speaker.

"Attention all staff, patients and guests. The Alolan government has issued a severe weather warning and requests that everyone stay indoors. The legendary pokémon Zapdos is passing over the city and has caused a large electrical storm that has already resulted in a citywide blackout. I repeat, it is extremely dangerous outside and the Alolan government requests that everyone stay indoors. Our backup generators are already online so all services and procedures will continue uninterrupted. Thankyou for choosing Hau'oli City hospital and have a nice day."

'So Mewtwo had sent for backup. It was a bit late now,' thought Anabel

"You do realise that psychic pokémon by law can't conduct a DPRS without being monitored by electrical equipment. If Zapdos finds and fries that backup generators, Ash's procedure will be cancelled for a bare minimum of 48 hours. That's not even including the time it will take for the machines to be recalibrated," noted J as if it were just minor trivia.

Eyes wide, Anabel shot to her feet as if she had been burned and raced towards the exit.

"Hey, What gives!" J yelped as Anabel grabbed his wrist and pulled him along.

She didn't dignify him with an answer until they were outside the hospital main doors. Wind howled and battered against their bodies. What had been a perfect sunny sky was now an ominous black cloud as multiple bolts of lightning descended upon the city every few seconds. The deafening booms of thunder brought no rain and circling above the metropolis soared the source. Zapdos, illuminated in golden white, showered lightning down with every screech. Worse yet, it was almost upon them.

"You are going to help me deal with Zapdos," instructed Anabel.

"No," replied J flatly.

"Yes you are!" Anabel snapped indignantly.

"Why," J deadpanned.

"Because you're a good person," said Anabel.

"Really?" replied J in surprise.

"Aargh!" screamed Anabel in frustration, "I don't have time for another round of your mind games J. You have a Solgaleo and a UB Glutton so you are going to help me protect Ash and that's final."

"Make me," J glared.

*Click*

"Did you just . . . handcuff me to your wrist?" gaped J incredulously.

Anabel gave his right arm a firm yank with her left, "You are going to be in the firing line whether you like it or not so you might as well help because one way or another, I'm going to stop Zapdos."

J huffed, grabbing a poké ball from his belt, "Fine. Go, Raticate!"

"Really," Anabel deadpanned, "A raticate. We are about to go toe to toe with one of the three LEGENDARY birds and you send out a Raticate!"

"Rat is plenty useful," J exclaimed in mock defence, "Look I'll prove it to you, Rat use hyper fang on the handcuffs."

Anabel had to yank the handcuffs upwards as the raticate took a flying leap at the chain, "Fine, if that's the way you want to play it then go Metagross. Use psychic to give our landlocked teammate a hand and fling Raticate at Zapdos."

Picking up the brown fur ball in its' psychic grasp, Metagross carefully took aim and lobbed the wide eyed raticate at Zapdos like a spinning cannonball. The bird of thunder saw the harmlessly miniscule projectile and screeched imperiously at it. Rat, being a small skittish mammal being hurled at something a dozen times its' size, did what any sensible rodent in its' position would do: it used super fang. Fangs glowing red, the raticate struck the right wing and bounced over it in a spray of red. Zapdos screeched in agony as exactly half its' health was inflicted in a line across its' wing and broke the bone. As the rodent landed awkwardly on some apartment's clothesline, the great yellow bird careened into and empty office building.

"Well that was unexpected," said Anabel.

J winced, "I think that counts as a technicality."

: :

: :

In the skies surrounding Alola, Dawn stared bored out her plane window at the endless sea. Her attention was drawn to a large bird that dipped below the clouds. It was an unusual pokémon, one she didn't recognise yet vaguely thought she should. Yellow feathers with a plume of fire upon its' head and it had wings and a tail that seamed almost made of flame. Dawn debated whether she should wake Leaf up next to her to look at the rare sight. As the bird flew closer to the plane she decided it was best to share experiences and jostled the Kanto girl gently on the shoulder.

"Leaf, wake up. There's a rare pokémon out the window," coaxed Dawn softly.

"Mmh, wha?" Leaf responded sleepily.

"There's a rare bird pokémon outside the window," Dawn repeated.

"Dawn, I know they're not in Sinnoh but I don't want to be woken up to see a Pidgeot flying intercontinental. I've got one already; they're pretty common," grumbled Leaf as she tried to go back to sleep.

"No Leaf, wake up. This bird had fire on its' wings," badgered Dawn as the flaming pokémon drew alongside the plane.

Leaf snapped wide awake and all but shoved Dawn aside to look out the window, "Oh Arceus! This is bad. This is very, very bad!"

"What are you talking about," Dawn complained as she pushed back so she could see out the window.

Just in time to see the bird, which had moved itself behind the wing and garnered the attention of a number of other passengers, rear its' head back and shoot a jet of flame directly into one of the engines. The bluenette stared in morbid horror as several other people screamed and the whole plane jerked. A ping alerted her to the fasten seatbelts light and a flight attendant ran stricken down the aisle to inform the pilots what had happened.

"That's Moltres, one of the three legendary birds of Kanto," explained Leaf with shaking terror, "If it's doing what I'm sure it's doing then we're all going to die and there is nothing we can do about it."

Dawn watched with silent tears as Moltres realigned itself with the plane wing. She was too young to die. She hadn't confessed to Ash yet, hadn't won a grand festival, hadn't done anything. Moltres reared its' head back again and . . . and . . .

Something black wreathed in green shot through her field of vision and Moltres disappeared from view. It happened so fast that Dawn barely processed it and wondered whether it was her imagination. The loud sonic boom that rocked the plane a moment later proved otherwise.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you haven't already, please fasten your seatbelts. We have arrived in Alola and are about to be making an emergency landing at Akala Island airport," announced the pilot over the speakers.

: :

: :

Deep in a dark forest, far from any route that trainers travelled, a man in a dark red cloak sat on a severed tree stump. There was no one else present or for miles around, save for the shifting shadow that circled relentlessly around the tree stump.

Suddenly a phone rang. It seamed utterly unnatural in such an eerie desolate place. The man answered it without a word.

The voice on the other end was a reverberating and glitchy overlap of synthesised words, "We have a situation."

: :

: :

Canon Omake: What happens when J visits a universe outside his neighbourhood that doesn't try to kill him.

"So let me get this straight. You have these things called gate cards and these little metallic orbs that turn into giant monsters," said J, "And whenever you activate these things time freezes."

"That's right," nodded the white haired girl.

"And you've never taken advantage of this feature too, I don't know, get extra time on an exam of something?" J asked incredulously.

"Uh,"

: :

"You there, hand over all your money or face the wrath of my Beyblade," shouted some street punk.

"A what?" asked J.

"Let it rip!" the street punk yelled.

"Is that a spinning top? Are you seriously threatening me with a spinning top?" J gaped.

"A beyblade isn't JUST a spinning top dude. Have you been living under a rock or something. Now hand over all your money or I'll treat you to a whirlwind of despair," replied the teen hotly.

The jumper gave him a flat expression before tossing a great ball, "Go Aggron, use stomp."

ROAR
WOMP
SCREECH
CRUNCH

"My . . . my beyblade," gaped the street punk

"Now since you asked for all my money, is there some kind of rule where I get all of yours if I win," J questioned in an exacting fashion.

The kid ran off screaming.

: :

"Hey Tea," asked J, "How does it feel knowing your boyfriend has a solid hologram generating deck full of girls that are arguably more attractive than you?"

: :

"Hey Gwen, the next time your cousin uses that fancy watch of his, do you want to try catching him with a poké ball?" J suggested.

: :

: :

A/N: Thankyou everyone for reading and I'll actually be doing another chapter of this story before going back to my fire emblem fic. The downside of that is that I want to do a whole string of fire emblem chapters so that I don't lose any of the elements I've planned while switching stories.