"Mr. Steven? Mr. Steven…"
The voice called out again and again until Steven slowly opened his eyes. The face looking down at him was strange, and yet somehow familiar.
"Ash?!"
Steven sat up sharply, staring at the young boy in front of him.
"Mr. Steven, why are you here?" Ash asked, tilting his head.
He wore nothing but a pair of blue swim trunks, having clearly been enjoying himself before Steven's sudden arrival. Ash turned toward a small pink and gray Pokémon floating nearby and asked, "Hoopa, did you bring Mr. Steven here?"
The Pokémon had a braid atop its head and two horns curving upward, a golden ring dangling from each one. A matching ring pattern marked its forehead, and a pink, V-shaped marking crossed its belly. Its short arms floated apart from its body, and a third golden ring circled its waist. Below that ring, instead of legs, it had only a short gray tail.
"Hoopa?!" Steven sat up straighter, his eyes moving from Ash's face to the small floating Pokémon.
Hoopa, the Mischief Pokémon.
"Nope, Hoopa just found you sleeping here," the little Pokémon said, throwing up its stubby arms as if to prove its innocence. It had only meant to sneak away with a box of donuts, but it had accidentally dragged Ash along with it in the process. "Hoopa only played a little prank, hehe~"
While Steven listened to Hoopa's excuse, he glanced around and noticed Diancie lying nearby, still fast asleep. Circles and crosses had been scribbled all over its face. As Diancie stirred and rubbed its sleepy eyes, Steven pulled out his phone and switched the camera to selfie mode, only to find the very same doodles staring back at him from his own reflection. He let out a tired laugh.
Surely this wasn't something a Jigglypuff had done.
"Diancie?!" Ash had just noticed the small Pokémon beside Steven. "Long time no see, Diancie!"
Diancie blinked at him, clearly confused. "Huh? Do I know you?"
"Ah?" Now it was Ash's turn to freeze in surprise.
Steven stepped in to explain. "We're from a different timeline. That's why Diancie doesn't recognize you."
Understanding dawned on Ash's face, quickly followed by excitement. "Then, Mr. Steven, will you battle me? I want to see just how strong the Mr. Steven from another timeline really is!"
"Sure," Steven said with a light chuckle, "but maybe not right this second."
Ash turned to Hoopa. "Hoopa, could you bring the rest of my friends here too?"
"Easy as pie! Hehe!" Hoopa covered its mouth as it giggled, and a golden ring appeared in the air above its head. The empty space inside the ring shimmered with swirling energy, and before Steven could react, Ash leaned halfway into it. Diancie stared, mouth wide open in astonishment, as Ash pulled his friends through the ring one by one.
While the reunion carried on, Steven sank into his own thoughts. The last thing he remembered clearly was walking back toward Jubilife Village when a rift tore open across the sky without warning. He recalled shouting Dialga's name, and how the pull toward the rift had only grown stronger after that.
This had to have been Dialga's doing.
But something didn't add up. Steven's gaze drifted toward Ash. What had happened to him went beyond a simple shift in time — space itself had been involved as well. Dialga alone couldn't have carried him into a parallel timeline like this one; Palkia's power must have played a part too. Of the two rivals, it seemed he was the one who'd ended up caught in the middle.
Steven sighed and got to his feet, brushing the dust from his clothes. He was still dressed the way he had been back in the Hisui region, save for one thing — his red scarf was missing.
"Mr. Steven, and Diancie?!"
Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie all cried out in surprise at the sight of them. Clemont pushed up his glasses, immediately sensing something was wrong. "This Mr. Steven looks a little too young, doesn't he?"
The Steven of this timeline should have been in his twenties by now — not seventeen, like the one standing before them.
"That's because this Mr. Steven and Diancie are both from another timeline," Ash explained.
Steven offered the group a warm smile. "Hello, everyone."
He released Empoleon from its Poké Ball. "Empoleon, could you spray a little water for me?"
"Awooo!"
Empoleon obliged at once, sending a jet of water straight into Steven's face and soaking his hair along with it. Steven looked down at the handkerchief in his hand, then back at Empoleon, who spread its flippers as if to say it had no idea what it had done wrong.
You could have warned me first, Steven thought. No wonder you seemed so eager — you must have been missing the old days. Piplup used to enjoy spraying water at his face too.
"It's all right, no harm done," Steven said, laughing softly. He used the now-wet handkerchief to wipe the ink from his own face, then had Empoleon rinse it clean so he could do the same for Diancie.
"You know, I could really go for a drink of water right now," Clemont said idly.
Hoopa's eyes lit up at the suggestion. "Leave it to Hoopa! Hehe!"
A ring floated above the group's heads and slowly widened. A moment later, a wave of water crashed down, drenching all four of them from head to toe. Steven glanced down at his own soaked clothing and sighed, wringing out his handkerchief once more to wipe his face dry.
"Thank you, Empoleon," he said, quickly recalling the Pokémon before it could retaliate with a Surf attack of its own, clearly offended on his behalf.
"Hoopa really is something else…"
Steven watched the others groan and shake off the water, a faint smile tugging at his lips. His eyes drifted over Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie before settling on Ash, who was laughing despite being just as drenched as everyone else.
This was the first time Steven had ever actually met him. And yet, in a strange way, he had watched this boy grow up. Even if most of the memories had faded, he had never forgotten Ash's face or his name.
"What's all this?"
A girl dressed in white, a donut in hand, looked at the scene before her in surprise.
"Meray!" Hoopa called out, grinning mischievously.
Meray looked at Hoopa, set one hand on her hip, and sighed. "I really can't leave you alone for a minute."
She led Steven, Ash, and the others back to her home in Dahara City. Later, once Steven had changed into dry clothes and stepped outside with Diancie, he overheard Ash and the others talking about heading to Dahara Tower. It turned out, however, that Hoopa couldn't pass through its own ring on its own.
"Hoopa still can't travel through its rings by itself," Meray said with a wry smile, cradling the small Pokémon in her arms.
"In that case," Ash said brightly, "let's just walk there!"
Steven, who had only just stepped through the doorway, smiled at the sound of that.
Yes — this was exactly the Ash he remembered.
…