"How?"

Once Misty's sisters were able to walk, and sit, a little better, they'd presented him with a gym badge for 'enduring their challenge'.

"I have no luck and he has four fall in his lap...and numbers!"

Now the group was en route to Vermillion City, and remembering to make a few essential stops along the way.

"So unfair…!"

Misty sighed. "Brock, maybe if you'd try something besides over enthusiastic - not to mention slightly lame - pick up lines, then you might have better luck."

"I can't help it!" Brock tried to keep the whine out of his voice. "I see a gorgeous lady and I blurt out the first compliment that pops up!"

"Speaking of luck…" Ash looked around. "This area seem familiar to anyone else?" Cerulean was already a couple hours behind them, and they were in the rocky desert section they'd passed through the last time they were heading to Vermilion.

"Not...really." Misty squinted. "There's a Sandshrew over that way, but…" She blinked, seeing a familiar guy with it. "Oh."

"Ok, I'm definitely missing something here." Skorch spoke up.

Pikachu tapped his knee. "Remember when I told you about that AJ guy with the crazy training method he had for his Pokemon?"

"Ah." He looked at Ash. "Gonna challenge him again?"

"Nah." Ash shook his head. "That was mainly from thinking he was abusing them. Still think it's a little much, though. However, I AM curious about why he's got a blue one."

"Huh?" They all looked, and sure enough, a bluish-white Sandshrew peeked its head out from behind the boy. AJ's original gestured at it.

"Maybe he found a shiny." Misty said.

"Maybe, except shiny Sandshrews are green." Mew-owth replied.

Brock scratched his head a little. "Only one way to find out."

33333333

"Still not feeling well?" The young man asked, looking at the Pokemon. It just gave him a less than enthusiastic whine.

"Um, excuse me?" He looked to the small group that was heading his way, idly wondering why some of their Pokemon were out of their pokeballs but shrugged it off. "We were passing by and couldn't help but notice your unusually colored Sandshrew."

"Oh, it's not mine. I found it a couple of days ago wandering out by some Diglett territory and saw it looked kind of sick. So I've been looking after it, but I'm not sure why it's this color, or why it can't seem to curl up like they normally can."

"Maybe we can help with that." Ash said, looking at his Pokemon. "Guys?"

Pikachu and Butterfree were quickly voted to talk to him, with Mew-owth translating for the others. A contemplative frown crossed his face as he listened in. "That explains it. He's from the Alola Islands."

"Alolan?" Ash looked at him.

"Right, you haven't been there yet. The Alola region is far out west of Kanto. It's a somewhat isolated set of islands were some Pokemon, like Sandshrew, have adapted differently from their regular types."

Brock facepalmed. "THAT'S WHY! No wonder; Alolan Sandshrews are Ice/Steel types from living up in the region's snowy mountains. The plates on their backs are so heavy they're physically incapable of rolling up."

AJ then chimed in. "Which would probably explain why it's not doing so good. A dry, arid place like this isn't really the healthiest climate for Ice types."

"But, if that's the case…" Ash looked at the Alolan Pokemon. "How'd you even get out here?"

"I'd like to know that myself." Arceus muttered, promptly sending out a mental summons. " Dialga, Palkia, Giratina. My Realm, now." He tapped a hoof, slightly impatiently, as the Creation Trio manifested themselves in front of him.

"Boss?" Dialga looked at him in confusion.

"Could one of you explain why there are Alolan variants...in Kanto?" He stared at them. "Have you three been trying to play 9D Hyperspace Pong with the space-time continuum again?"

"No! ….not lately, anyway." Palkia replied. "It's just...um…"

Giratina scuffed a foot on the cosmos. "Meshing two different universes together and do a chronological reset at the same time is harder than it looks. Some of the timeframes weren't labeled all that well."

"That aaaand...a couple of each realities' canonicities got crossed, so a few individuals are a little older than they were the last time...and a few Pokemon kinda popped up in regions they aren't normally seen...like that Sandshrew." Dialga added

Arceus sighed. "And trying to make adjustments wouldn't help, I take it."

"Not without having to redo the reset, and do second by second to catch any change."

"No thank you!" The Alpha Pokemon yelped, shaking his head. "Nopenopenope! No way!"

Giratina looked at him. "Sooo...just roll with it?"

"YEP! Oh look, a thing's happening."

Giovanni stared at the trio after they'd arrived with their, albeit small, bounty. While he would have preferred a more substantial number, he wasn't going to turn his nose at four Clefairy and a bag of moon stones.

The way they managed to acquire it all, though… "One more time." He said, giving them a look. "You asked the Mount Moon Pokemon if any of them wanted to battle for capturing...on the advice of a trainer."

James chuckled nervously. "Well, in all fairness, he did have a ten-foot tall Charizard with him." He quickly shut up when the man and his Persian both pinned him with a stare.

"Yes, you mentioned that." Giovanni gestured to the Clefairy currently sitting on his desk. "So you managed to acquire these three, and the one who came willingly. And these stones to boot."

"Pretty much." Meowth answered. "In hindsight, it's kinda a good 'ting we listened ta' Ketchum and didn't keep our old plan."

"Ketchum?" Their boss's voice cut through like a razor leaf. That and the stony expression he had made them all freeze up.

"Uh, y-yessir…!" Jessie gulped. "You-you know him?"

Giovanni was silent for an unnerving amount of time. Even Persian nudged him to be sure he was ok. Finally he let out an exhale. "Nothing for you to concern yourselves with."

"Yes, sir." They said, taking that as their dismissal.

"Jessie." She eeped and stood at attention. "Have you officially captured this particular Clefairy yet?" He asked, gesturing to the one in question.

"N-no, sir." She replied. "We figured we'd let you decide what to do with her."

With a brief nod, he gestured to the Pokemon. "And take a moon stone with you. Never hurts to be prepared for when a Pokemon's ready to evolve."

After a surprised, and decidedly happy, bout of 'thank you's, Jessie had her own fairy-type. She gave out several more as James and Meowth hauled her out of his office.

Once they were gone, he sat back, absentmindedly scratching Persian's head. Only for him to mutter dourly, "Ketchum…"