Thank you everyone for your patience with my stories! I've finally gotten back into the swing of writing again recently and am so excited to share this with you!

You'll probably notice that this chapter and future chapters are shorter. This is because I'm trying to keep in the vein of writing that's more realistic to novels (I may or may not be working on something original, shhhh). So chapters going forward with all my work will likely be between 3k and 5k words. They say it's easier to keep focused and read in one sitting.

If you like my stories, please reblog, retweet, and share my posts on my social media below! Also included is my ko-fi! I hadn't realized Tumblr's tagging system had shadowbanned my posts for including links to the story. Smh….

And as always, thanks for reading! Find my socials here! This chapter was beta read by user sykilik101!

"Jolteon, use Shadow Ball!"

"Nidorina, Poison Tail!"

Ash's leg bounced in his seat to the point where Pikachu had long since moved to Misty's lap. He swallowed as he looked on, hands clenching his pants.

Misty inhaled and reached up to touch his shoulder when Ash's Xtransceiver started ringing.

He looked down to glance at it and stood when he saw who it was. He looked over to Misty who'd already retracted her hand. "It's Iris, I gotta take this," he said as he shouldered his bag and headed for the door.

Serena watched him go then looked to Misty as she caught the way the older girl lingered on the doors. "Misty, is he okay?"

Misty chewed her lip for a moment while Serena scooted closer on the bench behind her. "He'll be alright. He's just nervous for her. This was a really intense battle for him; it landed Pikachu in the Pokemon Center with some serious damage." Pikachu whimpered a bit, so Misty stroked his head as he smiled up at her. "He considered evolving him back then, but Pikachu never wanted it."

"I think I've heard about that actually," Serena said, digging into the recesses of her memory.

"Plus, with everything that's happening to all of his friends, I think he blames himself," she said followed by a sigh.

Serena made a face. "That's Ash for you. Always thinking about others before himself." She sighed as well. "It's one of his best and worst qualities." She allowed herself a fond smile.

Misty caught that. "You know him pretty well, don't you?"

Serena blinked at her before flushing a bit and moving some hair behind her ear. It almost reached her shoulders again. "You could say that."

It was plain as day that Serena was harboring something for Ash. But Misty was older, smarter, and a hell of a lot calmer than she'd been when she'd traveled with Ash. So, she took a breath, thought for a moment, and pushed the thought down to get the information out of Serena that she really wanted… needed.

She turned to fully face Serena, the sounds of battle fading in her mind. "Serena, can I ask you something?" she asked quietly.

Serena's eyes widened as her throat felt a little tighter. "Y-Yeah! What's up?"

"What… happened… in Kalos? Why won't Ash talk about it?"

Serena's face flashed through several emotions before a somber one settled. "Oh. He umm…. Ash went through a lot right before he came home." She sighed, a little defeated. "He seemed to bounce back before he left, but… I'd suspected he was putting on a brave face for all of us."

A particularly loud blast from the battlefield drew their attention away for a moment. Misty stood up and looked over the railing to see that Nidorina had gone down, but Jolteon seemed the worse for wear. Looking back to Serena, the other girl looked concerned.

"I think Nick has a good shot at bringing down Jolteon soon, anyway," Misty assured her, sitting back down.

Serena took a breath and nodded. "Nick's battling style reminds me a lot of Ash's. She thinks outside the box."

Misty scoffed. "She's only been watching him battle for her whole life."

Serena blinked a few times. "Right…."

"So… what happened? Was it the Lumiose Conference?"

Misty's words shock Serena out of her thoughts on Nick. "I think it was part of it… but it was a small part," she admitted.

"What was the big one?" Misty asked pointedly.

Serena winced. "Ash… had a lot of really strong Pokemon in Kalos. But one of them was Greninja. They were really close."

Misty leaned in a little closer as Serena grew quieter.

Serena put hands together in her lap, staring down at them. "I know you know what Mega Evolution is. Greninja and Ash achieved something… more. The professor there, Professor Sycamore, called it the Bond Phenomenon. Greninja would transform like a Mega Evolution into something that looked more like Ash. And Ash…."

Misty bit her lip, anticipating what came next.

Serena sighed heavily. "Ash would nearly become Greninja. He could feel him and his moves and everything he did on the battlefield. But… that included the pain."

Misty's breath inaudibly caught in her throat as Serena continued.

"It took a long time for them to master it. Ash would… be in a lot of pain…. He fainted a lot. But he insisted on pushing through it. I think he felt like he owed Greninja something, some kind of more intense training because Greninja… well… Greninja lived to battle. And I think that was a lot on Ash."

Misty covered her face with one hand, shaking her head. "Ash… what have you done?"

Serena paused, waiting for Misty to catch up, but MIsty waved for her to continue. "Once they did, they were unstoppable. It was unbelievable that Ash lost in the Lumiose Conference. But right after that, Lysandre - the leader of Team Flare, guised as a League sponsor for Alain - kidnapped Ash and his Pokemon." She paused to glance down at Pikachu, giving him a sympathetic smile and ruffled the fur on his head. "He… sapped their energy or something. They were all in a lot of pain. But… Pokemon are used to that kind of thing-to an extent. But not Ash…. He's only human…." Serena's voice cracked a bit, and she swallowed when she looked back up at Misty. She swiped a tear away from her eye, and didn't notice the way Clemont eyed her across the bench.

"It was hard to watch. A lot of it was aired on T.V; reruns played on the news. I saw it a lot in Pokemon Centers until I left the region. It didn't exactly keep me there," she said with a small scoff.

"I know why it happened," Misty said quietly. She looked back up at Serena, her gaze steely. "It's because of the Aura Guardian powers."

Serena's eyes widened at the realization before a somber look crossed her features. "You're probably right. It could have been because his powers were dormant, or because he couldn't control them from hiding it for so long…."

"It could have been a number of reasons," Misty conceded with a sigh. "Mew, I wish I was there. I wish I just… knew."

Then it was Serena's turn to touch Misty's shoulder gently. "It's okay. He's alright. He just… he doesn't want to burden you with his pain. He didn't want to hurt his friends more than what happened had already caused us… and the region."

Misty inclined her head. "The region?"

Serena swallowed again. "Kalos was in chaos. No one knew what was happening other than we needed to fight Team Flare. The citizens mostly ran out of the city, but those with Pokemon tried to fight back. There was this… monster energy that was supposed to be used by Lysandre with Ash and Greninja's help, but it was mostly destroyed when Ash was freed. Pikachu helped with that," she said, petting him again as he let out a little noise of pride. "After that, Ash set Greninja free because he wanted to help repair the region with Zygarde, while Ash wanted to continue his journey. And then…."

"And then he remembered all of that," Misty answered for her. Both of them fell silent, taking in the reality of Ash's situation as they watched the battle rage on before them.

After a few moments, Misty turned back to Serena. "Thank you. I wasn't there for him during a lot of his journey. I wanted to be, but he insisted I followed my dreams too. But… I think part of my dream - somewhere along the way - became to train to become a Water-type Master alongside him." She looked out over the arena, a smile making its way onto her face. "I want to be by his side now. I learned a lot by becoming a Gym Leader. But I need to train and explore to know the world and all types of Water-type Pokemon."

When Serena saw the expression that Misty wore, she inhaled sharply. She hadn't thought about Ash in a long time, not like that. To be here now, watching another girl talk about him the way she once did - and why she started her journey to boot - it made her a little nostalgic but also a little nervous. She squinted, wondering what exactly this conversation meant for her.

Misty seemed none-the-wiser.

One ring. Two. Three….

"H-Hello?" came a sharp question on the other end of the Xtransceiver.

"Gary? It's Nick. You okay?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Papers strewn around him, a desk lamp the only light revealing the bags under his red eyes. "Yeah, yeah…. Sorry, I must've dozed off," he said as he struggled to shuffle his papers together, using the video phone on his computer as opposed to his own Xtransceiver.

"That's… not very reassuring," she said carefully. When he didn't really answer, she continued, trying to redirect the conversation. "I just wanted to touch base with you! I beat Lieutenant Surge today!"

Gary finally looked up at the monitor and smiled. "That's great, Nick. First time, I bet, right? Did you stick that one to Ashy-boy?"

She smirked in response. "That's not very nice, you know."

"I do," he said, matter of fact. He crossed his arms. "What else you got for me?"

She rolled her eyes for an instant before she leveled her gaze at the watch. "A lot, actually. I figured I'd start with the lighter one."

Gary leaned back in the chair, lacing his fingers together. "Hit me."

She pinched the bridge of her nose for a second. "Alright, well… First we met up with Serena, a friend of Ash's from Kalos."

Gary nodded. "He mentioned her in passing, I think. We apparently went to camp with her when she lived in Kanto."

"Well, when we first saw her, we immediately got ambushed by Team Rocket."

Gary sat forward a bit. "That wasn't exactly how I expected them to find you."

"Me either. Butch and Cassidy were there, offering us a deal if we gave them Ash."

"That part doesn't surprise me."

"Ash's trainer class changed."

Gary tilted his head and eyebrows furrowed. "To what?"

"Aura Guardian."

"Shit. That's not good."

"I know," she said, shaking her head. "That knowledge can be really easily accessed, especially if there's something wrong with the server's memory, like we've already experienced."

"I'm already on it," he said, starting to type on his keyboard. "I don't think I can access a trainer's profile with that much detail, but class should be something I can find. I'll make a note of it to look at later."

"There's more, Gary. Much more."

His hands hovered over the keys.

"We got in touch with the Sinnoh group. They're gonna meet us soon, but they were attacked too."

"Shit!" he hissed again, running a hand through his hair. "They're alright?"

"Yeah, they're fine. May reassured Ash with the whole 'Three Top Coordinators and a soon-to-be Champion can handle themselves just fine.' It's more about who."

Gary lifted an eyebrow.

"Hunter J."

"You're kidding." he said, his tone struggling to stay even. "Mew, Nick… do you have any idea how dangerous she is?"

"I know, Gary, trust me."

He pressed his lips into a thin line at that, but didn't push her further. "Alright…." He sighed, running his hands through his hair again and pulled off his glasses. "Nick, that really concerns me. Are you guys alright out there?"

"We'll be fine, really." she said, trying to keep her tone even. But if all of these enemies were working together and converging on them….

Gary seemed to have a similar line of thought, but just sighed. "What else is there?"

"Ash got back in touch with the Unova group, and Trip seems to be way ahead of us in what happened to the game."

Gary scoffed. "I find that hard to believe."

"He has the exact date and time that the entire server froze for about two minutes when all hell broke loose."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

He huffed out. "Fine, send his contact info this way, I'll be in touch with him." He leaned over and jotted something down on paper.

"Hey… Gary?" she asked, licking her lip.

"Hmm?" he asked, clearly typing as he was half-listening.

"Are you alright? You seem… off."

"What?" he asked, looking back up at her. The expression on her face made him pause. "Sorry, sorry," he said, rubbing a hand down his face. "I've just been really stressed over this. I've honestly felt kind of useless here."

"You're doing everything you can while we travel," she said softly. "You're doing what we all can't right now. Thank you."

"I…." He looked away, then back. "I guess." He shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "I just want to help more."

"You are," she said with a small smile. "I just have to be sure to report back to the research team leader!" She gave him a small salute.

He chuckled lightly, saluting her back. "At ease, soldier. I'll get in touch with Trip and find out what I can about Team Rocket and J. Just… please be careful."

She forced a smile. "I will be."

"Alright, here's the plan," Ash sat loudly as he put his napkin over his plate.

The rest of the group - now consisting of Nick, Misty, Clemont, and Serena - looked up.

"Let's hear it," Misty said, sporting a wide smile. The rest either nodded or smiled with her.

Ash returned the expressions and leveled his tone. "I spoke with Iris, Cilan, and Trip yesterday during the match." He glanced over at Nick. "I'm really sorry I missed half of it."

She waved him off. "Lieutenant Surge was a lot more challenging for you because Raichu had a direct advantage against Pikachu. He was tough, but nothing we couldn't handle." Riku chirped in agreement from her lap.

"I saw you struggling a bit with his Jolteon though," Clemont pointed out. "It certainly wasn't an easy battle."

"Gee, thanks for the support, Clemont," Nick mumbled.

Serena raised an eyebrow at the exchange, but Misty waved for Ash to continue.

"When I spoke with them, they had some surprising information. Trip managed to figure out that all of the weird stuff started to happen at the exact same time. Nick put Gary in contact with him to share their research."

She nodded. "Hopefully the two of them will be able to help each other somehow."

"That leads to my next point. On their way here, the group coming from Sinnoh - Dawn, May, Paul, and Drew - encountered their own problems."

"What happened? Are they alright?" Misty asked warily.

Ash nodded. "They're okay. I told Nick about it before she called Gary last night, but some of us were already asleep so I couldn't tell you the details just yet. You guys don't know her - thankfully - but a Pokemon Hunter, J, has apparently teamed up with Team Rocket. She grabbed Dawn in an attempt to get to me."

"Which is probably because she knew her from when you two traveled together," Nick elaborated. "That was when they encountered her."

He nodded. "She's extremely dangerous compared to Team Rocket. She sells Pokemon that are usually taken from trainers. She set a forest on fire just to get rid of me once."

The others audibly gasped.

"That's horrible!" Serena breathed. "And she attacked your friends?"

He nodded. "They're all strong trainers, so they handled themselves fine. But…." He looked away for a moment, pulling his hat a little further down. "This means the rest of you are at risk now… because of me."

"Ash," Misty said gently as she reached across the table to cover his hand with hers. He glanced up at her. "You're not alone. This is not your fault. We were going to come with you on this journey whether you were in danger or not. Let us be here for you. We can do this together." She smiled.

Everyone made small noises of agreement as he looked to all of them. He chewed his bottom lip before finally nodding. "Thank you guys."

"It's going to be okay," Serena encouraged.

"You can count on us!" Clemont added.

Nick smirked. "If anyone is going to beat Team Rocket and J, it's us."

Ash's gaze settled back onto Misty. She squeezed his hand. "We're with you."

He nodded again. "Okay. Then our next stop is Fuchsia City. We'll be catching up with the others there."

"Pikaka!" Pikachu squeaked, his ears twitching.

Nick smiled and pet him across the table. "Yep! Dawn is with May, Drew and Paul!"

The other's turned their heads to her.

"What?"

"So what's it like, then?" Serena asked, bouncing on her heels as they continued toward Fuchsia City. "Your home, I mean!"

Nick blinked at Serena before looking up at the sky. "It's… different. A lot more ordinary than this. There's no Pokemon."

"What?" she asked. "How? What do people do without Pokemon?"

Nick chuckled a little. "Nothing good, honestly. Your world is a lot more peaceful than mine," she said quietly.

"You call this peaceful?" Misty asked with a scoff.

"By comparison… yeah."

"That's really sad," Clemont said. "Why is that?"

Nick sighed. "Well, in some ways, we're more technologically advanced. In others, we're not, but we have a lot more… regions - as you would call them - and they're all not as friendly with each other. You can't travel as easily as you all do, and we don't have Pokemon to use as our curses either."

"What do you have then?" Clemont asked.

"Uh… bullshit?" She shrugged.

Misty and Ash laughed while the other two just still seemed more curious than anything.

"Honestly, don't worry about it," Nick said. "I'm really glad I'm here."

"Don't you miss home?" Serena said.

"Not… really."

Clemont and Serena exchanged glances, so Ash cut in. "We're trying to figure out how to get her back when she wants to go, but so far we haven't found anything. Gary's got his work cut out for him."

"Geez," Clemont said with a whistle. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Until we find out what caused it, we don't need a gadget to fix it, unfortunately," Misty conceded.

"When we do, we'll let you know," Nick put a hand on Clemont's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Least I can do after how much you've helped out our group already! You got us all back together."

"And you saved my life!"

Clemont snorted a bit at that when Nick chuckled. The whole exchange was watched carefully by Serena, then she glanced back at Ash and Misty, walking side by side.

"What's the new twerp talkin' about?" Meowth said as he looked through the binoculars.

"It's not important," Jessie hissed. "Wherever she's from has nothing to do with what the boss wants. All that matters is beating that… that… stupid Hunter J!

"Right! We just need to know where we can get our hands on the Sinnoh twerpette and then we'll have her, the new twerp and the twerp." James said.

"But they're all twerps," Meowth pointed out. "Which one is the twerp?"

"The one we're always following!" Jessie shot back. "The twerp with the pikachu!"

"Well you could have just said that," James said.

"You're the one who called him that in the first place!"

"Sir, the package has arrived today." was heard over the intercom.

The man at the desk pressed a button. "Send it in."

He sat back in his chair, his fingers tapping together in a rhythmic wave as a grunt stepped forward with a box, placing it on the desk in front him, bowing, and walking out.

Once the door closed behind him, the man leaned forward and opened the box. Most of it contained paperwork. But there were also three phials with an indistinguishable mixture inside, each labeled with a different letter.

He skimmed through the paperwork quickly, searching for what he needed. And at the bottom of the final paper was written in green lettering, twice: match.