The room's atmosphere seemed tense as Paul stared at Ash, his eyes narrowing the more he looked at him.
Well, except for Ash. Ash just gave him a smile and a wave, "Hey, Paul. Good to see ya, bud. How have you been?"
Paul didn't answer right away. He was just looking at him, like he was trying to analyze Ash. After all, in Paul's opinion, Ash was the current biggest obstacle he needed to overcome to eventually be the best.
Meanwhile, Rowan cleared his throat, "Ah, hello, Paul. It's good to see you too. You've grown up over these past few years. Of course, I have your Pokédex ready," Rowan said, reaching into his pocket, pulling out a purple Pokédex, and handing it to him.
Paul snapped out of his trance and politely took it, giving Professor Rowan a respectful bow, "Thank you, Professor."
Rowan gave a respectful nod, "Are you in need of a new Starter?"
But Paul shook his head, "There is no need, but thank you for the offer," he said. Then he looked over at Ash again, "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. You always did have a habit of doing things differently."
Ash smiled, "And you always had a habit of being unnecessarily serious."
Paul's eye twitched slightly, but he took a breath. Just then, Barry got behind him and put an arm around Paul's shoulder, "Hey, Paul, buddy! Long time no see! Miss us?"
Dawn also smiled, "How's your journey been? You just kinda left one day, and we saw you participating in other Leagues."
Surprising Ash, Paul didn't slap Barry's hand away. He just took a step away, letting Barry's hand drop. Then he looked over at Dawn and actually had to stop to think for a moment, "Dawn… right?"
Dawn's smile was slightly forced, and the sound of broken glass came from behind her as her smile twitched slightly, "Excuse me, Your Rudeness. We only went to school together for a few years. Surely that's not enough for you to actually remember my name."
Paul looked away and cleared his throat, "I apologize. I just find it hard to remember people I don't see as remarkable." He tried to apologize, but it just came out wrong.
Dawn's smile twitched again as her smile quickly turned into annoyance, so much so that her eyes turned red with anger. But Verity quickly got behind her and grabbed her as Dawn yelled, "You think you're funny, don't you?!" she said as she thrashed her legs like that would get her closer to him.
Worst part is, Ash could genuinely tell that Paul wasn't trying to be rude with that one, which was strange. Wasn't Paul supposed to be a jerk? As he thought about it, back when they were in school, nothing really big happened that would have made him change his personality like it did with Silver.
Which means there must have been something that happened in the two years that they haven't seen each other. He wondered what it could have been.
What Ash didn't know was just the horrors Paul had to face dealing with Goh for two years, day and night. When he woke up at night to run away, he would find him. When he wanted to go catch Pokémon, he was there. When he wanted to just sleep, he was there too. Compared to that, Barry didn't seem so bad. Back when they were in school together, Paul avoided Barry at any chance. Now, he was manageable.
But anyway, Paul had other things to do, so he looked at Ash, "I assume you're planning on challenging the Sinnoh League."
Ash nodded, "Of course."
Paul's expression became more serious, "Then we'll meet again."
He gave another polite bow to the professor, "I will be going, and Ash, the next time we meet, let's have a battle."
Ash smiled and put his hands behind his head casually, "Why don't we have one now?"
Paul just shook his head, "No, I am not ready to challenge you just yet," he said, meaning it more like a sign of respect, but again, just the way he said it.
Ash shrugged, "Sure, sure. Whatever you say."
Paul gave him one last look before turning toward the door.
Barry immediately called after him, "Hey! Paul!"
Paul stopped and looked back, "What?"
Barry grinned, "Good luck!"
Paul stared at him for a moment, seemingly unsure how to respond to that. Then he simply nodded and left.
Barry smiled, "See? That wasn't so hard."
"Oh, so he can be polite, huh?" Dawn was still being held back by Verity, though she had stopped struggling, "Can I go now?"
Verity slowly released her, "Are you done trying to attack him?"
Dawn crossed her arms, "Yes."
Verity stared at her.
Dawn sighed, "...Probably."
Ash chuckled, "I think you scared him."
Dawn immediately pointed at him, "Don't encourage me!"
Ash raised his hands in surrender, but he still had that smile on his face, making Dawn grumble in the corner.
Ash chuckled as he looked back at Professor Rowan, "Then, I suppose that's it for us. We can decide what to do from here."
Rowan gave a nod, "It's quite alright. I trust in your judgment, and I hope you have fun on your journey here in Sinnoh. The climate may be a bit different than what you are used to, however, so keep something warm on you."
"Don't worry," Ash said, raising his jacket, "I always have a spare on me."
"That is good." Rowan nodded again, then he looked over at Lucas again and gave him a nod.
Meanwhile, Mr. Berlitz was giving Dawn another smothering hug, "Dawn, do you have everything you need? If not, I can wire you some extra pocket money. How about an extra million?"
As he said that again, everyone other than Ash nearly fell over from just how much he was talking about. How does a researcher have that much money?
But Dawn just smiled, "Come on, you don't need to do that. Besides, Mom gave me plenty, so I'll be fine."
Mr. Berlitz looked at her for a moment before sighing, "Alright, alright. If you're sure."
Dawn nodded, "I'm sure."
"Good," Mr. Berlitz said before looking over at Ash, his expression suddenly becoming much more serious.
Ash noticed the change and raised an eyebrow, "Uh... everything okay?"
Mr. Berlitz walked over to Ash, then placed both hands on his shoulders.
Ash blinked.
Mr. Berlitz looked him directly in the eyes, "Ash."
"...Yes?"
"I need to ask you something very important."
Ash glanced toward Dawn, then back at him, "Okay?"
Mr. Berlitz took a deep breath, "Please take care of Dawn."
Ash paused, and Verity slowly turned toward Dawn. Barry looked between them, completely oblivious to how that sounded.
Ash scratched the back of his head, "I mean... yeah? I was already planning on doing that."
Mr. Berlitz's expression immediately brightened, "Excellent! I knew I could trust you."
Dawn's face was beginning to turn red, "Uncle..."
Mr. Berlitz continued, completely unaware of what everyone else was thinking, "I've heard quite a bit about you from Dawn, and after looking into your history myself, I have to say I'm impressed."
Ash raised an eyebrow, "You looked into me?"
"Of course," Mr. Berlitz said casually, "You're the winner of three different Pokémon Leagues, you've apparently defeated some rather dangerous opponents, and from what I've gathered, you have quite the reputation."
Ash shrugged, "I mean, I've had some interesting adventures."
"Exactly! Which is why I feel much better knowing Dawn will have someone like you around."
Dawn covered her face with one hand.
Verity leaned slightly toward her and whispered, "Your uncle knows how that sounds, right?"
Dawn whispered back, "No. Absolutely not."
Barry scratched his head, "How does it sound?"
Both girls looked at him, making him feel self-conscious like he was missing something.
Mr. Berlitz continued, "Of course, I don't expect you to do this for free."
Ash immediately shook his head, "Oh, no, that's not necessary."
Mr. Berlitz waved his hand dismissively, "Nonsense. Just say a number and it's yours."
"Really, it's fine," Ash said again, waving his hands, "I don't need money. I have plenty of that. Really, I was gonna take care of Dawn and everyone anyway."
"Really? But I must give you something, at least enough for some supplies."
"Uncle, he already said it's fine," Dawn quickly said, but then she clapped her hands together, "But, if you think that then..." She quickly got on her tiptoes, leaned into his ear, and started whispering something.
Mr. Berlitz nodded a few times, "Okay, very well. If you insist, Ash, I'll respect your wishes."
"Wait, no, if you're offering then-" Barry was going to say, but Ash quickly started pushing everyone out of the door.
"That's enough of that. Come on, we've got to get on the road if we want to get to Jubilife City before the sun goes down."
Before they left, however, Selene walked up to Ash and cleared her throat, "Well, if you're off, while I would have liked to continue our conversation, I'd be glad to hear your thoughts some other time." She held out her phone.
Ash smiled and quickly tapped his phone against hers, exchanging numbers. Meanwhile, the gang just watched.
"I feel like we missed something," Verity said.
"Yeah, Dr. Moon barely talks to anyone that casually," Lucas added.
Selene smiled as she put her phone away, "Well, I suppose we'll have to continue that conversation another time. I'm actually quite curious about some of your methods."
As Ash and Selene were talking, Dawn rubbed her head, "Oh, great. Now you two are going to start bragging."
Ash stopped and looked over at her, "Bragging?"
Selene placed a hand against her chest, "Us?"
The two looked at each other.
Ash smiled.
Selene smiled back.
Dawn immediately groaned, "Oh no."
Ash crossed his arms, "I don't think we're bragging."
Selene nodded, "We're simply acknowledging our accomplishments."
Ash nodded, "Exactly."
Selene looked toward Dawn, "Besides, it's not our fault that neither of us had a doctorate at our age."
Ash sighed dramatically, "Tragic, really."
Selene nodded sympathetically, "Absolutely devastating."
Lucas, Rowan, Berlitz, and every researcher looked shocked and horrified, "Wait, Dr. Moon is actually… playing around?!"
As far as any of them knew, Selene was only ever serious with everything. Ever since she became a pharmacist, she hardly did anything if it wasn't for research. They don't actually think they've seen her smile once, and now here she was joking around.
"Please stop. I don't know if my head can take much more of this…" Professor Rowan said, rubbing his head. He was worried that if he left these two in the same room, something bad would happen. He knew how smart they both were.
Ash sighed, "Alright, fine. We do really need to get going. You guys took a while getting those starters back."
"Hey, in my defense, we had a very important comedy show to perform," Barry said defensively as Ash pushed him out of the door.
Ash pushed Barry out of the laboratory, "Yeah, yeah, your very important comedy show. Come on, we're leaving."
Barry laughed as he stumbled forward, "Hey, it was a good show! Chimchar loved it!"
"Chim!" Chimchar happily nodded from Barry's shoulder.
Lucas walked behind them, with Turtwig sitting comfortably on top of his head, "It was... certainly something," he admitted.
Barry turned around, "See! Lucas liked it!"
Lucas paused, "Ehhhhh, we didn't really get a lot of time to practice."
Barry's smile dropped, "...You could have just let me have that one."
Lucas shrugged, "I was being honest."
Dawn laughed as she walked alongside Verity, "You two really did make them watch that entire thing, didn't you?"
Lucas nodded, "Munchlax was actually a pretty good audience."
Barry nodded proudly, "Exactly! He understood the art."
Munchlax followed behind them, carrying what appeared to be another donut in his hands.
Ash looked down at him, "Where did you even get that?"
Munchlax simply shoved the donut into his mouth and shrugged.
Ash stared at him for a moment, "...Never mind."
The group continued walking down the road, leaving Professor Rowan's laboratory behind them.
Dawn took a deep breath and stretched her arms above her head, "Finally! We're actually starting our journey!"
Barry immediately pumped his fist into the air, "YES! The Sinnoh League has no idea what's coming!"
Lucas smiled slightly, "You haven't even made it to the first city yet."
"Details!"
Verity looked ahead at the road, "So, Jubilife City, right?"
Ash nodded, "Yep. That's our first stop."
Dawn smiled, "And then we can figure out where we're going from there."
Barry grinned, "And I'll be the first one to get a Gym Badge!"
Dawn looked at him, "You don't even know what the first Gym is."
"Also, we kinda need to find out how we're doing things, if we're gonna all go together or split up," Ash added.
"We can figure that out later!" Barry said, "It's time for adventure!" he said, leading the way and marching forward.
"I guess we're doing this," Lucas said as he quickly ran after him.
"I don't mind. After all, I've been looking forward to it for a while," Dawn said, walking up next to Ash.
Then Verity jumped up and put her arm around Ash's neck, "And you better not be planning on leaving me behind like last time, Mr. Rainbow Hero~. I still see that ring on your finger."
"Rainbow Hero?" Dawn asked as she looked down and finally noticed that, oh yeah, Ash did have a ring. It looked really nice, "Ohh, where did you get that?" Just looking at it, she immediately wanted one for herself.
"Oh, that's easy. You just have to get c-" Verity tried to say, but Ash quickly covered her mouth, stopping her.
"That's not for here. Let's wait a little before we say that. Let's just say, um, I'm sure I can find a jeweler to make one for you," Ash said as he pulled them both along, "Anyway, let's go."
Together, the gang started moving together into Route 202.
—
{Meanwhile with Ashtwo}
D finally arrived in Sinnoh. He actually got here a bit ago, but because he came with Matori and the Matori Matrix to set up base here, considering his situation, he had to stay sitting in a room for a few days. But hey, he got to eat some warm cookies.
And hey, getting some extra training with Helena helped, and he got better with it. He can start using it in some missions, and he will need it for what he is doing.
Because as he got here, he quickly got to work tracking down Team Meteor and Galactic and seeing what happened with their little war. He hasn't even heard anything about them, and that's the problem. He knows Taka sent him a message begging for help, but why, he has no idea.
But thanks to the Porygon project, yes, that's what he decided to call it, when the Porygon got sent to Sinnoh to be sold, just like he thought would happen, Team Galactic couldn't resist the offer and got all of them. And since they were all connected to his Porygon-Z, he had access to the plans they had. However, it seems like the computers that the Porygon were in were not the main ones because he couldn't get anything provable about the admins or Cyrus.
Speaking of which, it's a shame that Ash didn't find him at the lake, because if he did, screw all repercussions, Ash would have drop-kicked him and broken both his legs. He ain't risking a guy that wants to destroy the universe.
Anyway, from what he did find, however, it seems like Team Meteor was able to get some leeway, destroying some of their bases, and actually started making ground here in Sinnoh. But not long ago, the Boss and Admins stopped in, and yes, that's how the documents introduced them as: 'the Boss and Admins.'
According to this, when they got involved, Meteor got pushed back, and the Boss even went and fought the Boss of Team Meteor in a 'one on one.' But of course, he didn't play fair and brought the admins. With all of them together, they pushed the Boss of Meteor back and took back their territory. Now they were stuck in their last bit of territory they had left
But after that, it seems to cut off. Nothing else seems to show up. But that is if he looks at it from here. If he changes his angle and searches up the name Lin, he found something else. Turns out, a young girl named Lin approached the Boss and allegedly made a deal that the Boss accepted. She leaked Meteor's plan of attacks, causing them to lose their advantage, and that led them to where they ended up getting pushed back into.
With that, D had his general area. He also understood why Taka messaged him asking for help. 'That' was about to happen, and that means Taka is in danger. The rest of Team Meteor he doesn't care about, but him and Taka, they're homies, and he has his uses.
So the second that he was able to be let out, he took off, saying he was gonna search for some Pokémon. He wanted to make his team stronger since he wasn't enough, and he left before anyone could stop him.
He didn't have much time. He only joined the Matori Matrix because they came here by an airship first, but the next wave of Team Rocket would arrive in two days, so he needed to move fast to find them.
But he had a general area, so he activated his hover shoes and took off.
—
Solaris was standing at the edge of a cliff, looking off the mountain. This was it. He lost too many resources, and because of these things, he knows that a lot of members from Team Meteor lost faith in him and its original goal, and he knows exactly who to blame.
It was Lin. Before, when she joined, everything seemed normal. Then the plan started, and things changed. He noticed the small things first, when she would say those strange things, when she would leave for long periods of time and not give any explanation when she came back.
When it happened, he never pushed because he thought she was just a young girl. He even knew that she liked someone about her age and was much younger than she said she was.
Even Taka warned him, but he didn't listen. And that was the start of his mistakes, and that's where it led him here, standing at this cliff. All his Pokémon, they were taken from him. Lin stole them from him after Cyrus beat him, and he couldn't even stop her. He tried to have his Garchomp use the last of its strength to attack her, but it was no use.
Then they had to retreat, and that's where he got here, standing on the edge of the mountain. As he stood there, he heard the sounds of footsteps. He didn't even need to look back to know who it was.
Solaris slowly closed his eyes as the footsteps got closer, "You know, I always wondered how this would end," he said calmly, "I suppose I always knew it would be like this."
Lin stood there silently, looking at the back of Solaris's head.
Solaris finally opened his eyes, but he still didn't turn around, "You don't have to pretend, Lin. I know why you're here."
Lin tilted her head slightly, "Oh? And why would I be here?" she said playfully, even though they both knew why she was here.
Solaris stared at her. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Solaris sighed, "I'm not going to fight you."
Lin raised an eyebrow, "You're not?"
"No."
Solaris turned back toward the cliff, "There's no point. Even if I somehow defeated you, what would I accomplish? Meteor is finished. My Pokémon are gone. My people have lost faith in me. And whatever future I once imagined is already dead."
Lin watched him carefully.
"So instead," Solaris continued, "I have three questions."
Lin smiled, "Three?"
"Yes."
Solaris looked back at her, "I would like some answers before I meet my inevitable fate."
Lin folded her arms, "Alright. Ask."
Solaris stared directly into her eyes, "First... was this planned from the beginning?"
Lin didn't immediately answer.
Instead, she looked up at the sky, "Things rarely happen exactly as planned."
Solaris frowned, "That's not an answer."
"It is an answer," Lin replied, "Just not the one you wanted."
Solaris sighed, "Of course."
He looked at her for a moment longer before asking his second question, "Then tell me this. What kind of world are you trying to create?"
Lin's expression became strangely thoughtful, "A better one."
Solaris narrowed his eyes, "Better how?"
"Better than this one."
"That's still not an answer."
Lin smiled, "Maybe because there isn't a simple answer."
Solaris stared at her, trying to understand what was going through her head, "You're hiding something."
"Maybe."
"And whatever it is, you believe it's worth doing all of this."
Lin didn't answer him. She just kept her smile
Solaris looked at her for several seconds, then he nodded slowly, "I see."
He turned back toward the cliff, "Then I have one last question."
Lin's eyes narrowed slightly.
Solaris opened his mouth, but Lin didn't give him that luxury. Lin moved and kicked him in the back while he wasn't looking.
Solaris stumbled, his foot catching on the edge of the cliff. His eyes widened as he turned back. Lin stood where he had been standing only moments ago.
And there was nothing beneath his foot, "Wait-"
But it was too late. Solaris lost his balance completely. Solaris fell backward down the cliff with no Pokémon, no one to catch him, and the last thing he saw was Lin's face getting smaller and smaller as finally there was a crack, and everything went dark.