Pokemon Reset Bloodlines / Year One

Return to Timeline Index | Before The Main Story | Year One | Year Two

Events that ocurr in the setting of Pokémon Reset Bloodlines, during Ash's journey through Kanto.

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Year One: Ash's Kanto Journey

Main Story - Chapter Two

• The day Ash's consciousness woke up in the reseted timeline after Arceus sent him back.
• Ash realizes things changed:
  • People go on their journey at the age of fifteen, not ten.
  • Ash is himself fifteen.
  • He kept in contact with Serena this time.
  • Mr. Mime is already a member of the family.
  • The Pokedex has more comprehensive data.
• Ash goes to collect his starter and Pokedex, but witnesses a crony forcing Professor Oak to give his boss' children the official Kanto starters or risk his funding getting cut.
• Ash reunites with Pikachu.
• Delia and Professor Oak sees Ash and Pikachu off.
• Ash and Pikachu discover Pikachu remembers everything, but his power and abilities were reseted.
• The Spearow and Fearow flock attempt to kill Ash and Pikachu, just like in the original timeline.
• Misty witnesses this, and attempts to save them.
  • She also already has Psyduck and just caught Goldeen.
• Misty witnesses Ash reflexively use Counter, repelling the entire flock, before he collapses.
• Misty comes into physical contact with Ash as she tries to carry him to the Pokemon Centre, and gains a strong sense of familiarity, but she doesn't remember anything else of the old timeline.

Cipher Interlude

• Shawn leaves for Orre.
• He fights Dakim, and loses everything except Sir Thorn.
• He manages to survive by having Sir Thorn evolve from Snivy to Servine, catching a Mandibuzz, and resorting to thievery.
• Desperate, Shawn ends up joining Team Cipher.

Main Story - Chapter Three

• Misty reflects on Bloodlines while at the Viridian Pokemon Center, and wonders why Ash seems familiar.
  • It turns out people are bigoted against Bloodliners.
  • Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys don't share this bigotry.
  • Bloodliners have heightened metabolisms, resulting in more frequent hunger pangs.
• Jessie, James and Meowth have captured the downed Spearow and Fearow flock for Team Rocket.
• Ash wakes up from his injuries and starts hearing a voice. He also sees Misty.
• Misty demands an explanation on why Ash seems familiar when as far as she's aware, they had never met. Ash is spared from having to explain by Jessie, James and Meowth attacking the Pokemon Center.
• Ash and Misty repel the trio.
• Giovanni sees the trio afterwards and was about to chastise them before seeing who they lost to. He assigns them the long-term mission of tailing Ash and reporting back to him on every detail.

Main Story - Chapter Four

• Misty begins travelling with Ash.
• The voice Ash started hearing turns out to be Pikachu.
• Ash reunites with Butterfree, reverted to a Caterpie. Misty's phobia of Bug-types are still present.
• Misty shows Ash her Wingull.
• Misty talks to Ash about Bloodliners.
• Professors Oak, Ivy, Elm, Birch, Kane, Rowan, Cedric Juniper, Aurea Juniper, and Sycamore hold the 40th annual meeting of the Pokemon Professor Association:
  • They talk about the budget cuts many of them experienced.
  • The money is going towards the Mirage System built by Doctor Yung as an anti-Bloodliner weapon.
  • Professors Ivy and Elm both fall into anti Bloodliner Fantastic Racism.
  • Aurea and Cedric want to know more about Bloodliners, but Rowan advises politicians may cherry pick their findings.
  • Professor Oak enters deep thought.
• Misty demonstrates her Bloodliner powers to Ash.
• She tells Ash he used Counter against the Spearow and Fearow flock. Pikachu confirms it.
• Jessie, James and Meowth encounter Gary, but he leaves before they could steal from him.
• Ash and Pikachu have a talk with Caterpie, who is looking forward to reuniting with his mate, the Pink Butterfree.
• Ash reunites with Pidgeot, reverted to a Pidgeotto.
• Caterpie evolves into Metapod.
• Ash and Misty encounter the Samurai. Ash won the battle they had, sending him flying into the distance.
• Metapod evolves into Butterfree.

Main Story - Chapter Five

• Ash discovers the Battle Clubs common in Unova are now common all over the world, with a Don George heading every one of them.
• The Pewter City Don George gives Ash and other trainers a lecture on what are the requirements for battling Brock, explaining that all Gym Leaders are allowed to set requirements, and that Brock's requirement is merely that challengers show they're prepared by taking part in a tournament hosted by Don George.
• Don George also explains the different badge teams Gym Leaders have.
• Ash discovers Pokedex Holders are generally treated with a lot of respect.
• Ash also discovers different regions have different levels of progressiveness on Pokemon rights, with Johto being the worse.
• Ash and three other trainers passed.
• Misty suggests that they go to Rota for the information they have on Bloodliners, and afterwards take a detour around Cerulean City. The latter suggestion confuses Ash and his Pokemon.
• Ash discovers Flint's and Lola's graves, shocked that the timeline changes resulted in this.
• Ash also discovers Brock has a girlfriend, and is on course to get engaged.
• Ash, Pikachu, Butterfree and Pidgeotto discuss the ramifications of Brock regaining any memories of the old timeline, even imperfectly like with Misty. Butterfree concludes that the best outcome, is that Brock must not remember anything.
• The gym battle starts, but not before Ash and Brock shake hands. Though intellectually, Ash knows it's for the best, he was still devastated Brock couldn't be reminded, at all.
• During the gym battle:
  • Butterfree knocks out Geodude.
  • Onix forces Ash to withdraw Butterfree in defeat.
  • Pikachu defeats Onix, earning Ash the Boulder Badge.
• As an additional prize, Brock gives Ash a TM, containing instructions on how to teach moves to Pokemon they otherwise don't learn.
• On Mt Moon, a male trainer saves a young girl.

Main Story - Chapter Six

• In Orre, at the Realgam Tower, Giovanni trades the Duel Anchor for one million dollars with Ein. As Giovanni leaves, Ein muses that now he has the final component to complete the Snag Machine.
• At the North of Pewter City, Misty muses over the course of her life, and her recent encounter with Ash. They are heading for Rota so they can learn more about bloodliners an their powers.
• Ash and Misty run into the Team Rocket trio, who try to convince them to return to Kanto, as they cannot enter Rota without risking to be arrested an executed. Ash and Misty promptly sends them blasting off and continue their way to Rota.
• A few days later, they're on the verge of running out of food before reaching Rota. Their last rice ball is stolen by Ambipom, who is back as an Aipom. Ash recaptures her and puts her up to speed with the events.
• Hours later, they've almost reached Rota, but they're about to collapse due to the lack of food. Ash passes over the roots of the Tree of the Beginning, causing them to react to his presence.
• In Cameran Palace, the Duchess of Rota, Lady Ilene, sees the crystals in the throne room glowing, and says that "an heir has come".

Charmander Gaiden

• Damian lets Charmander out with the order to keep him warm.
• Charmander encounters Kaia, his original trainer, and learns she was blinded by the Spearow flock. He hears Kaia remember him fondly, but because of her blindness, she can't recognise Charmander as her starter.
• Kaia and Damian battle, and Charmander loses once more.
• Damian tells Charmander to stay at a rock, with the full attention of abandoning him. Several hours later, when it starts raining, Charmander worries for Damian's safety and tries to find him.
• Charmander finds his way to a Pokemon Centre, where he finds Damian, who is not happy to see him.
• Charmander loses consciousness at the Pokemon Centre, and Damian returns him and abandons him, with the Pokeball this time.

Main Story - Chapter Eight

• Gary has a battle with a trainer named Red at the Cerulean Nugget Bridge. He loses, and the battle damages the bridge so badly that it cuts off the north access to Cerulean until repairs are finished.
• Ash and Misty arrive at Rota, and are stopped by Ilene's guards, who demand that they come to the palace. They comply only after they agree to give them food, since they're starving.
• After being fed, Ash and Misty are taken before Ilene, who apologizes for her guards' treatment. She takes them to the Royal Library. She then uses Sir Aaron's staff to determine what kind of bloodliners they are.
• In Agate Village, Giovanni investigates the local library about the infamous Seven Brothers, but other than one who was the White Sheep, he doesn't find any useful information. Jessie and James then phone him to inform him that Ash has entered Rota, and also of their encounter with a trainer named Damian, of whom they stole all his Pokémon and valuables.
• Ilene explains to Ash and Misty about the different types of Bloodlines in the world. Ash is a Lucario Species Bloodliner, while Misty is a Water Heart Bloodliner. They decide to spend a few days in Rota before returning to Kanto and continuing their journey.

Charmander Gaiden

• The next time Charmander comes out of his Pokeball, he sees only Bulbasaur and Melanie, with Damian nowhere in sight.
• Charmander has a nervous breakdown, leading to Bulbasaur and Melanie realising that he has Atrice Syndrome. Charmander then secludes himself in his Pokeball.
• Bulbasaur reflects on Charmander's condition. Knowing the best way to heal him is with a loving trainer, Bulbasaur doubts they'd be able to heal his emotional wounds.
• Bulbasaur then spots Ash and Misty sparring.

Main Story - Chapter Eight

• A few days after leaving Rota, Ash has a sparring match using Aipom against Misty's Wingull. They're interrupted by Ash's Bulbasaur and Melanie.
• Team Rocket attempts to gain access to what seems to be a restricted area. They're chase off by the security system.
• Melanie takes Ash and Misty to her place, and Ash discovers that in this timeline, she's a League-sanctioned Pokémon breeder of Bulbasaur to be used as starters for trainers.
• Pikachu taunts Bulbasaur into attacking him so that Ash can make contact with him. Upon regaining his memories, Bulbasaur convinces Melanie to let him go with Ash. He also brings a second Pokéball in addition to his own. Melanie explains that it's another Pokémon who was abandoned by his trainer.
• After leaving, Ash releases the Pokémon, and turns out that it's Charizard, reverted to Charmander, who is not happy about the situation. They fill him in.
• At night, Ash has a shared dream with his Pokémon, seeing visions of a possible future of the previous timeline in Kalos, and also has his first encounter with MissingNo, who appears before him as a Giratina-Palkia-Dialga amalgam.

Main Story - Chapter Nine

• Professor Oak meets up with Gary at the Cerulean Pokémon Center, presenting him with a prototype H.O.P.E glove to make Pokémon rotation more efficient. Just when Oak is about to leave, Nurse Joy tells him that a package arrived for Ash Ketchum from Rota.
• Ash wakes up and realizes that his previous encounter with MissingNo was not a dream when Pikachu wakes up too and remembers it as well.
• Ash discusses with his Pokémon what they should do now. As things are, most of his friends, bar Serena, are now complete strangers and very unlikely to believe him. While Pidgeotto offers to deliver messages to them, they ultimately decide not too, since she can't fly too long distances with her current form.
• Dexter accesses Ash's Facebook account, and begins looking for information about Ash's friends. While he learns that May, Max, Tracey, Clemont and Bonnie are mostly fine, he finds official records that point that Cilan and Iris might be dead, and no records of Dawn whatsoever. This causes him to enter a Heroic BSoD.
• Dexter then plays a message from Professor Oak, who apparently recorded it in the event that Ash might suffer something so bad that he needed encouragement to move on. This helps him regain his determination, and he vows to become stronger to protect the friends he still has, instead of giving in to despair.
• Ash begins training with his Pokémon to start developing his own bloodliner powers. Misty and Psyduck watch him from a distance.

Giselle Interlude

• Joe and the other students spot Ash and Misty camping near their school. Joe is sent to lure them so the students can show off and humiliate them.

Main Story - Chapter Nine

• Ash and Misty arrive at the Pokémon Tech.

Giselle Interlude

• Ash and Misty give a Curb-Stomp Battle to every student before Giselle is called in.
• Ash battles her.
  • Ash uses Pikachu and Giselle uses Cubone.
  • Cubone throws a Bonemerang. Pikachu dodges.
  • Pikachu flips Cubone's skull around, before biting its tail.
  • Bonemerang returns and hits Cubone.
  • Pikachu uses Quick Attack and Iron Tail, defeating Cubone.
  • Giselle's next Pokemon is Graveler. It uses Rollout.
  • Pikachu dodges and uses Iron Tail.
  • Graveler switches to Rock Throw. Pikachu uses Quick Attack to dodge.
  • Graveler uses Magnitude, causing Pikachu to lose his footing. It tries to press its advantage but Pikachu uses Thundershock at point blank range.
  • The attack temporarily blinds Graveler. Pikachu uses Quick Attack over and over until Graveler gets paralyzed by Pikachu's static.
  • Pikachu claims victory with Iron Tail.
• Giselle is shocked by her defeat.

Main Story - Chapter Nine

• Ash and Misty's battling skills impress Noland, who considered these students the best generation he's had in his career. Scott, who is scouting members for his Battle Frontier, discusses his opinion with him, and offers him a position as a Frontier Brain. Noland accepts.

Giselle Interlude

• For winning, Ash and Misty ask for an all-you-can-eat buffet. They shock students and cooking staff alike by how much they eat.
• Joe talks with Ash while Giselle talks with Misty.
• Giselle tells Misty "[she's] got an interesting boyfriend". Misty denies being in a relationship with Ash, saying that he's only her friend. Trying to change the subject, Misty calls out Giselle on how she treated Joe.

Misty Gaiden

• The night after leaving Pokémon Tech, Misty can't get Giselle's words out of her mind, realizing she doesn't find the thought of Ash being her boyfriend unpleasant at all.
• Ash asks her if there's something on her mind, but she denies it.
• Ash asks if she's still bent on not passing through Cerulean. She says that she is, so Ash asks if something happened over there. Misty notices the concern in Ash's eyes, and feels moved by it, but she's not ready to talk about it yet.
• Ash decides not to press any further, but does note that if she ever wants to talk about it, he's always there, making her smile.

Giselle Interlude

• The next day at Pokémon Tech, in class, Giselle notices Joe's seat is empty before Noland comes in.
• Noland announces he's resigning, shocking the class. He explains that it's not because he's disappointed by their performance the day before, but because Scott offered him a position as Frontier Brain.
• Noland's final lesson is that what Pokemon Tech teaches, while valuable, is not the pinnacle of Pokemon Training. He says that the world is big, and they will have to face it eventually.
• Giselle visits Joe in his room. She sees Joe had packed his belongings and is leaving Pokemon Tech, saying it's not for him. His talk with Ash helped him realise that.
• Joe also says he didn't like his classmates' teaching methods, making Giselle realise what they did was wrong.
• Giselle is sad to see Joe go, but bids him goodbye.
• Giselle, having learned her lesson from battling Ash, declares she will go over everything she did wrong and next time she faces Ash, she will not lose.

Main Story - Chapter Nine

• A few days later, Ash and Misty arrive at the Nugget Bridge, still undergoing repairs. Misty is glad that they won't have to pass through Cerulean. She's starting to feel attracted to Ash, to the point she becomes distracted as she walks and accidentally bumps into a Vileplume.
• Ash is training with his Pokémon, and when they finish, Pikachu suddenly runs off. He follows, and they find Misty covered in spores as a Vileplume flees the scene. Dexter reveals the effects of Vileplume's spores, and Ash realizes that Misty will die if she doesn't get medical attention soon. Determined not to lose her, he decides to take her to the hospital in Cerulean, despite her initial wishes of not going there.
• A Squirtle shows up to threaten Ash, claiming revenge as the Sole Survivor of the Squirtle Squad.

Main Story - Chapter Ten

• Ash reminds Squirtle of the original timeline.
• Squirtle notes that to help Misty, they'd need a large Pokemon and the only one large enough around where they are is Gyarados. Squirtle promptly regrets saying that when Ash decides to ask one for help.
• Dexter tries warning Ash of the dangers Gyarados pose. Ash ignores him for Misty's sake.
• A Gyarados appears, but cuts of its rampage upon seeing Misty hurt. It knows Misty and helps Ash and Co cross the river to the Pokemon Centre.
• Jessie, James and Meowth take a break from tailing Ash to rob a store for supplies, reasoning Ash can't get into too much trouble while they're gone.
• En route to the hospital, Ash reunites with Krabby.
• Red has a nightmare but Yellow wakes him up.
• After arriving at the hospital, Ash catches the Gyarados in Misty's Pokeball and catches Squirtle for himself.
• Doctor Yamato who was treating Misty tells Ash Misty is fine, before ordering him to go battle the Cerulean Gym as a stress reliever.
• Daisy, Lily and Violet are worried they'll lose their gym if they lose against the next challenger. Daisy hatches a plan to tip the odds in their favour.
• Ash is forced to battle under the None-Traveling Trainer League Entrance Protocols rules, which lets Daisy use her full power.
• Charmander wins against Kingdra, due to Ash unconsciously Super-Empowering him.
• Misty wakes up and learns what Doctor Yamato had Ash do. Doctor Yamato isn't worried until Inspector Joy and Don George show up to reveal Ash is battling under the None-Traveling Trainer League Entrance Protocols.

Main Story - Chapter Eleven

• The Gym battle continues.
• Dexter criticises Daisy's ineptitude in properly taking care of her Pokemon and keeping them fit.
• Aipom wins against Cloyster.
• With more unconscious Super-Empowering, Pidgeotto wins against Poliwrath.
• Butterfree defeats Tentacruel easily.
• Misty, Don George, and Inspector Joy try to make their way to the Cerulean Gym, but construction going on around the city slows them down.
• The three encounter Professor Oak.
• Professor Oak is shocked to learn Ash is battling under the Non-Traveling Trainer Protocols.
• Professor Oak explains that any challenger who loses under the protocols are barred from re-challenging a gym for a year.
• Bulbasaur defeats Seaking.
• Pikachu defeats Dewgong, winning Ash the Cerulean Gym badge.
• Inspector Joy and the others finally arrive at the Gym. She and Don George take Daisy, Lily and Violet into custody.
• Misty tells Ash off for bringing her to Cerulean, but understands why he did it.
• Misty despairs at what happened to the reputation of the Cerulean Gym, before Professor Oak tells her it could still be salvaged.
• Ash decides to continue challenging gyms.
• Ash is given the H.O.P.E Glove. Professor Oak tells him that unlike Gary's, his also collects data on Bloodliners.
• Misty agrees to drop spare Pokemon of at Professor Oak's ranch.
• Ash receives a package from Rota Kingdom. It's Sir Aaron's staff, and he realises Sir Aaron's Lucario is inside.

Misty Gaiden

• The night after leaving Cerulean City, Misty can't sleep, so she gets out of her secret base and calls Ash so they can chat for a bit.
• Misty apologizes for yelling at him, telling him she does appreciate that he cares for her.
• Misty tells Ash that she wasn't ready to return to Cerulean yet, but she does want to do it one day, to restore the Cerulean Gym to its former glory, and even make it better than before. Ash says that he hopes to see that day, and offers his support to help her in doing so.
• Misty asks why would he want to help her. Ash shows him the Cascade Badge, saying that it feels empty, and wants to earn one from a true, worthy Gym Leader.
• Misty realizes that he wants to earn a badge from her. The two promise to get stronger to have that battle one day.
• As she goes to sleep, Misty mentally thanks Ash for believing in her.

Sho Interlude

• Sho decides to challenge Volkner for his second badge, but loses badly. He promises to return for a rematch one day.

Main Story - Chapter Twelve

• Iris and her adoptive family of Dragon-types are passing through Vaniville Town in Kalos. She sees Grace and Serena from a distance as they practice Rhyhorn Racing, but she ignores them as they're preparing to leave the region.
• At Team Rocket HQ, Giovanni checks out several news reports from about incidents that have happened since a few years ago up to the present day, trying to connect the dots between them. He receives a call from James, to give their usual report about Ash, and also mentioning that Jessie is planning on entering Pokémon Contest. After mentioning Sootopolis Gym Leader Juan, Giovanni tells him to continue as he sees fit and ends the call.
• On Route 104, Ash has his Pokémon train to learn/relearn the Counter-Shield technique, also recalling that when he tried to teach it to his Unova Pokémon, he didn't have much success.
• Misty's Psyduck uses Secret Power to build a couple of secret bases for her and Ash to sleep in the night. Before going to sleep, she ponders that Ash was very nice in catching Gyarados for her instead of for himself.
• The next morning, shortly after waking up, Misty ponders on the dream she had, and how it relates to the way she imagines her own future.
• While fishing on the stream, she manages to land a wild Poliwrath, which she catches with Gyarados' help.
• At the same time, Ash tries to release Lucario from the staff, with no success.
• After finally giving up with the staff, Ash runs into A.J. who has chosen him as his opponent number 100 for his winning streak before challenging gyms. Ash accepts the challenge, determined to win this time around.
• A.J. chooses his Sandshrew and Ash chooses Squirtle. Despite putting up a good fight, Squirtle manages to defeat Sandshrew with the help of his Counter-Shield, catching them off-guard. A.J. is shocked at being defeated, but Ash acknowledges that he's more than ready to start challenging for Gym badges. The two part on friendly terms.

Elite Four Drake Interlude

• Hoenn Elite Four Drake is sleeping aboard his ship, the Golden Sawsbuck, reminiscing about his time in the war until his grandniece, Michelle, comes to wake him up.
• Michelle tells Drake they will arrive to their destination in a couple hours, and also that he has a videocall from an old friend.
• Drake goes to answer the video call. It turns out to be Moore, the Lavaridge Gym Leader.
• After talking for a bit, Drake ends the call and reminisces of his time in the warm his first battle as a captain, and how he accidentally destroyed an enemy battleship, killing all members of its crew.
• The Golden Sawsbuck arrives in Alto Mare. Drake and Michelle go for a tour in a gondola so Michelle can know the place, and they discuss the upcoming race and Pokémon battle tournament to be held, the latter of which will have Drake as the guest of honor to battle the winner.
• Michelle goes to the museum, while Drake goes to visit his old friend Lorenzo, asking him about his granddaughter Bianca.
• After chatting for a bit, Lorenzo proposes that after the tournament and the race they go for dinner together, and Drake agrees.
• Meanwhile, Hunter J is aboard her ship, researching about her next job. She reads a book about Legendary Pokémon written by Lawrence I, and specifically about the Eon Duo of Alto Mare, Latios and Latias.
• The Alto Mare tournament begins. Michelle reaches the semifinals and battles with her Bagon against a girl named Neesha and her Rapidash. The latter wins.
• Neesha goes on to win the tournament, winning the prize money and a Mystic Water for her efforts. She also earns the honor of battling against Drake.
• The battle begins. While Neesha's Pokémon put up a good fight, ultimately they're no match for Drake and lose.
• Michelle looks at the match with a frown, seemingly disappointed with herself.
• At night, Hunter J and her henchmen raid the local museum.
• As promised, Lorenzo and Drake take their granddaughters for dinner. Michelle brings Neesha along as well, and along with Bianca the three become fast friends.
• Neesha tells them of her previous experience in the Indigo League, while Michelle talks about her Bagon's desire to evolve and eventually fly. Bianca tells them of her wish to travel around the world as an artist, but refuses to give details about a duty she and her family have with the city.
• Neesha takes her leave, and Michelle offers to give her a lift in her granduncle's ship back to Kanto. Neesha accepts.
• Lorenzo and Drake continue their chat, and the latter tells him of how he felt about his time in the war, and how his late brother Francis convinced him to accept a position as an Elite Four member once the war ended.
• Suddenly, Bianca spots a girl who looks like her and runs out of the restaurant. Michelle follows her.
• Michelle finds Bianca along with Latios and Latias, who almost attack her. Fortunately, Bianca stops them before they do, and she explains what's going on.
• Bianca's family has been friends with Latios and Latias for generations and they're tasked with protecting the city. She explains to Michelle that there must be some kind of trouble for them to have come to see her like that. Michelle offers to help.
• The girls follow the Eon Duo back to the museum, and they turn invisible. Finding J's goons outside, Michelle rushes in to fight them, though Bianca isn't sure about it.
• Inside, Michelle tries to confront J herself, but is quickly overpowered by the latter's Pokémon.
• Michelle's Bagon evolves, but J brings out her Salamence to kill them off.
• Drake then shows up, ready to confront J himself. He brings out his Flygon and Haxorus to save the girls, and his own Salamence to fight J's.
• During the battle, when J seems to have the upper hand, the Eon Duo, still invisible, charge in to attack J's Salamence, giving Drake the chance to Mega Evolve his own.
• Finding herself overpowered, J decides to retreat.
• The Eon Duo turns visible again. Drake realizes they were the ones helping him before, and thanks him for their help.
• J returns to her ship, furious that the mission was a failure, though she managed to retrieve some data in a USB drive that she plans to make a profit of later.
• The next morning, Drake and Michelle board the ship along with Neesha, and bide their farewells to Lorenzo and Bianca.
• Drake chides Michelle on her recklessness in trying to stop J by herself. Michelle tries to tell him she was trying to prove herself because she was ashamed of losing in front of him, but agrees it was stupid of her.
• Drake tells her of how he received his Key Stone and Salamencite, the former inherited from his former captain after his untimely death, and the latter from his mother, the last time they saw each other because she died while he was away during the war.
• Drake promises to help Michelle's Bagon evolve and master Mega Evolution, as well as giving her his Key Stone and Mega Stone should he retire or pass away.

Main Story - Chapter Thirteen

• Ash and Misty arrive at the Vermillion Gym. Ash is challenged by the two punks guarding the entrance and their Magnemite before being allowed in. He easily defeats them using Charmander.
• A battle between Lt. Surge and another challenger is currently underway. After the challenger's Dugtrio is defeated and recalled, Ash hears his voice as he calls out his next Pokémon, quickly recognizing who it is.

Butterfree Interlude

• Hunter J is hired by an unknown client who pays her to capture the Butterfree who are being released for their mating season. She succeeds in capturing them all, except for the Pink Butterfree and a new mate she found this time around.

Main Story - Chapter Thirteen

• The challenger in the Vermillion Gym turns out to be Paul. The battle continues while Ash and Misty keep watching:
  • After losing his Dugtrio to Surge's Voltorb, Paul brings in a female Pikachu.
  • Paul's Pikachu defeats Voltorb, but not before the latter manages to hit her with Electroball before fainting.
  • Surge calls in his Magnemite. Paul's Pikachu defeats it using Dig, but not without taking a lot of damage.
  • Surge calls in his Sergeant Raichu, who defeats Paul's Pikachu with ease.
  • Paul calls in his Grotle. After tanking several of Sergeant Raichu's attacks, its ability Overgrowth activates. Paul calls for a Razor Leaf attack.
  • Surge withdraws his Raichu, not wanting to risk him in getting horribly maimed by such an attack at point-blank range, thus losing the round and the match.
• Paul wins, but after the callous attitude he displayed over the course of the match, Surge refuses to give him the badge until after he has battled Ash. He stays in the sidelines to watch the battle, along with Misty.
• The 3 vs 3 battle between Ash and Surge begins:
  • Surge calls in a female Pikachu, named Private Volty. Ash chooses Bulbasaur.
  • Bulbasaur manages to dodge Volty's attacks with ease and defeats her with a Razor Leaf.
  • Surge calls in a Joltik. Ash plans to switch Bulbasaur out, but Surge commands a Spider Web, preventing him from doing so.
  • Joltik defeats Bulbasaur using Bug Buzz and Shockwave.
  • Ash brings in Charmander. He's not amused to be fighting a small bug.
  • Charmander surprises Surge by nullifying Joltik's electric attack using Metal Claw on the ground.
  • Charmander finishes off Joltik with a Flame Charge attack. When the fire dissipates, he's revealed to have evolved to Charmeleon.
  • Surge calls in his final Pokémon, Staff Sergeant Raichu. Ash switches Charmeleon out and sends in Pikachu.
  • The battle is evenly matched, although Staff Sergeant Raichu is able to tank Pikachu's electric attacks thanks to his Assault Vest.
  • Surge calls for a Focus Blast. Ash has Pikachu use his Counter-Shield to send it back.
  • Surge commands a Grass Knot attack to immobilize Pikachu and stop the spinning, and calls for a Mega Punch to end the match.
  • As a last ditch effort, Ash calls for a Zap Cannon. Instead of throwing it, however, Pikachu uses it to hit Raichu at melee range for masive damage. One last Quick Attack and Raichu is down. Pikachu wins the match for Ash.
• Lt. Surge commends Ash for his victory, praising him for his unorthodox yet effective battling style and gives him the Thunder Badge. He also gives Paul his own, telling him to just go away. Paul leaves.
• Just as they exit the Gym, Ash and Misty are intercepted by Jessie and James in disguise, who give them the tickets for the S.S. Anne.

S.S. Anne Interlude

• Excited at the prospect of traveling in a super deluxe cruiser, Misty drags Ash to the Vermillion port. Ash is unable to convince her not to get on that ship, and ultimately relents after he seeing her so happy.

Main Story - Chapter Thirteen

• At the Viridian Gym, Giovanni defeats and sends off a challenger. He receives a call from the trio, who report to him of Ash's victory at the Vermillion Gym. When they report that he's boarding the St. Anne, however, he immediately tells them that the operation aboard the ship is cancelled, orders the trio to tell Butch and Cassidy to attack Hop Hop Hop Town instead, and ends the call.

S.S. Anne Interlude

• Ash and Misty board the S.S. Anne, and become separated after a bit.
• Misty is intercepted by a Magikarp salesman, who tries to sell her one for an outrageous price.
• Misty quickly sees through the scam, but pretends to play along to trick the salesman into lowering the price and revealing his personal information.
• Misty buys the Magikarp, and plans to send the information to Professor Oak to eventually get him arrested. She decides to continue shopping for the time being.

Main Story - Chapter Thirteen

• Ash is dragged off by Burgundy, who in this new timeline is a full-fledged A-Class Connoisseuse, quickly demonstrating it by evaluating the compatibility between Ash and Pikachu. When Ash shows her his Butterfree, she informs him that the Butterfree released for the mating season were stolen by some mysterious criminals.
• Hunter J's ship flies over the East of Cerulean City, fully loaded of the recently captured Butterfree.
• As J tries to find another well-paid job, a mysterious figure teleports into the ship, identifying himself as an "Emissary" of the Bloodliner King.
• The Emissary offers J a hefty sum, forcing her to accept the job on the threat of exposing key elements of her operations. Giving her a photo of Ash, he tells her to test his abilities, either capture and bring him in, or have him escape despite her best efforts. She finally agrees, and the Emissary teleports off the ship.
• J's crewmen detect a large group of long-distance Flying-types coming in close. She then orders everyone to chase and capture them.

Arnold Interlude

• Anna reminds Arnold to keep his Bloodliner powers a secret before he leaves to play with Growlithe.
• Arnold plays catch with his Growlithe in the outskirts of Hop Hop Hop Town.
• He meets Laila, a Detect Bloodliner.
• Arnold buys Laila ice-cream, before inviting her to his house.
• On the way, they meet Anna who was going to the shops.
• Team Rocket, led by Butch and Cassidy, attack Hop Hop Hop Town.
• Arnold and Laila stand up to them, inspiring the rest of Hop Hop Hop Town to fight back.
• Butch and Cassidy cut their losses and orders a retreat.
• After getting their statements, Officer Jenny lets Arnold, Laila, and Anna go home.
• At home, Laila reveals her parents chased her out of their home after they found out she was a Bloodliner several weeks ago.
• Anna and Arnold accept Laila into their household.

S.S. Anne Interlude

• After several rounds of Pokémon battles, Ash and Misty leave their Pokémon at the onboard Pokémon Center, and go to their cabin to rest for a bit.
• Misty takes a shower and after getting dressed, asks Ash to let her borrow the ship's guide to check something.
• Ash gets curious and asks Misty what she's looking for. She replies that she wanted to go sunbathe on deck, but her bikini is getting small for her, so she thinks about buying a new one.
• Noticing that this caught Ash's interest, she offers that they go together. A bit reluctant, Ash accepts.
• At the store, Misty tries out several swimsuits, even asking Ash for his opinion. He admits all of them look nice on her.
• After they're done shopping, they get a call through the speakers to go pick up their Pokémon.
• The next day, Ash and Misty spend the morning at a pool, while their Pokémon relax as well.
• Gyarados is upset that Misty bought a Magikarp, since it reminds him of the days he was a puny fish.
• Psyduck notices Ash and Misty together, and wonders if they're going to "mate" already. Gyarados approves too, since he respects Ash for being willing to fight him.
• Pikachu tries to talk to Butterfree, who has been somewhat distant with the others since they met Burgundy. Butterfree is concerned about his mate, worried that she might have been taken along with the rest of the mating Butterfree.
• Pikachu feels tempted to tell him that Squirtle might also have lost his friends of the Squirtle Squad, but ultimately decides not to.
• On the afternoon, Ash and Misty go to the lower deck to find more Pokémon battles.
• Ash finds the gentleman whom he traded Butterfree with in the original timeline. The man challenges him, and he's forced to accept.
• Ash fights his Raticate with Butterfree like before, only this time he takes the battle to the end. Butterfree wins.
• The gentleman calls a Wartortle, which Ash faces with Squirtle.
• Wartortle mocks Squirtle for being tiny, but Squirtle ultimately defeats him.
• The gentleman congratulates Ash for his skills, and offers to trade Pokémon, even offering a rare Dratini. Ash politely declines.
• That night, on the observation deck, Ash and Butterfree discuss about that trade in the original timeline, and how both felt about it.
• Misty comes up, and asks Ash why he didn't accept that trade. Ash explains that his Pokémon are all unique and irreplaceable to him, so he can't make a trade so lightly.
• Ash goes on to explain that, if he ever makes a trade, he'd be sure to make it with someone he can trust to take good care of his Pokémon and make them happier, and in turn, to be able to do the same for the Pokémon he receives. Pikachu recalls this is how the trade Ash made with Dawn in the original timeline went down.
• Misty asks if he'd be willing to trade with her sometime. Ash admits to himself he probably would, but doesn't say it out loud, only leaving Misty with a "maybe in the future".

Main Story - Chapter Fourteen

• On the skies over Rock Tunnel, Hunter J's ship attacks Iris' family of Dragon-types. She and her Pokémon barely escape capture, but end up plumetting to earth in the process.
• Ash and Misty leave the St. Anne at a port northwest of Lavender Town.
• Before they left, Ash had won a lot of different types of Pokeballs.
• Georgia is undergoing training at a Buster Boot Camp in Unova, reflecting on gym leaders and Elite Four members who had to be removed for committing crimes.
• Georgia holds a moment of silence for the Busters who tried to remove the gym leader of Saffron City.
• Jessie, James and Meowth battle Ash and Misty. Though Ash and Misty repelled them once more, they're worried by how much the trio improved.
• At Lavender Town, Gary encounters Red once more, and loses yet another battle with him.
• At Puerto Blanco, Ash encounters Forge Smith, who offers to make Ash League-sanctioned holders for approved held items after Ash saves the latter from thugs.
• Ash receives a Thunderstone, an Eviolite, and a holder so Pikachu can use the Eviolite in battle from Forge.
• Bulbasaur begins falling into his role as peacekeeper on Professor Oak's ranch.
• While separated from Misty, Hunter J kidnaps Ash. Misty meanwhile is forced to flee from a swarm of Beedrill.
• Unconscious, Ash is visited by MissingNo again, who makes a reference to his Goodra. Ash regains consciousness.
• Ash and his Pokemon are shocked to learn they're on Hunter J's ship.
• Searching for a way out, they find a room full of Dragonite. Ash, Pikachu and Charmeleon are shocked to see Iris' Dragonite among them.
• Misty manages to escape the Beedrill swarm, before encountering an Axew. Iris arrives to save Axew from Misty, not realising Misty is not an enemy. They have a confrontation.

Main Story - Chapter Fifteen

• Team Rocket have landed near a mansion after being blasted off by Ash and Misty. James recognises the place and searches the mansion.
• He finds and is reunited with Growlithe, Carnivine, Yamask and Inkay.
• The trio find a flyer promoting the Battle Dome tournament, and they leave after ransacking the place of everything they could take with them.
• Misty's and Iris' battle continues:
  • Emolga defeats Poliwrath.
  • Psyduck defeats Emolga.
  • Misty brings out Staryu and Gyarados.
• Aipom frees a captive Goomy, triggering the alarms and security systems.
• In Porta Vista, Paul sees a rerun of the Ever Grande Conference, featuring a battle between Tyson and John Archer.
• Ash defeats goon after goon on J's ship, before encounter J herself. Hunter J is far more powerful and Ash has trouble defeating her.
• Goomy uses Bide, causing an explosion that throws Ash and his other Pokemon out of the ship.
• While falling, Ash captures Goomy to save him from death, returns all his Pokemon except Pikachu, Butterfree and Pidgeotto.
• The three Pokemon hold on to Ash as he uses his Super-Empowering to give Butterfree and Pidgeotto the strength needed to give them a safe landing.

Main Story - Chapter Sixteen

• Professor Oak receives Goomy, and is concerned by the unusual circumstances he was caught in, before deciding to pretend to both himself and Delia that Goomy was caught normally.
• Delia comes over for a visit, and so does a representative from Pokemon TV.
• The representative asks for their permission as Ash's and Gary's respective legal guardians to let them film and air footage of them.
• Professor Oak agrees after being told of the royalties. Delia agrees after being reminded of what Ash's dream was.

Main Story - Chapter Fifteen

• Misty and Iris see him. Iris realises Ash was on Hunter J's ship and demands to know where J went. She comes into physical contact with him, and realises Ash seems familiar.

Main Story - Chapter Sixteen

• Iris decides to go after Hunter J herself after talking to Ash.
• Dexter stops her, defeating her in a battle when Iris continues to insist.
• Iris breaks down crying.
• Ash invites Iris into their group.

Main Story - Chapter Fifteen

• The Emissary reports back to the Bloodliner King, saying Ash proved his strength and has encountered Iris, a second Type-Heart Bloodliner.
• The Bloodliner King then orders the Emissary to kidnap Misty's sisters as Breeding Slaves.

Main Story - Chapter Sixteen

• The next day, Misty wakes up, reflecting on the events of the previous day.
• After spending a week in Dark City as feeler agents, Butch and Cassidy recommend that Team Rocket gets involved with neither the Yaz or Kaz gangs.
  • Giovanni had assigned them the job as punishment for their failure in Hop Hop Hop Town.
• Giovanni sees a photo taken during the Hop Hop Hop Town operation, featuring Arnold and Anna. Giovanni notes the resemblance between Arnold and Ash.
• Ash begins training with Goomy.
• Misty catches a Slowpoke.
• In Lavender Town, Jessie, James and Meowth encounter Red and Yellow.

Snivy Interlude

• In Unova, Snivy's current trainer decides that since they can't get along, she'll make a Wonder Trade. Snivy seems fine with it, thinking that she might have a chance to find a better trainer somewhere outside Unova.
• The Samurai Wonder Trades his Butterfree, hoping to receive a rare Unovan Bug-type. Much to his chagrin, he gets Snivy, whom he quickly dismisses as useless upon seeing she's not a Bug-type.
• Deciding to test Snivy, the Samurai sics his Pinsir and Beedrill on her. She quickly makes short work of them.
• Over the course of four days, Snivy gets fed up with the Samurai's bravado attitude and his habit of picking fights with opponents too strong for him, including the twins Elwood and Aideen. She decides that she won't stay with him a second longer than necessary and will find a better trainer as soon as she gets the chance.

Butterfree Interlude

• Ash and company arrive on the cliff where he and Butterfree parted ways in the original timeline. Butterfree reflects on the memories of his past life with the Pink Butterfree.
• Ash and Pikachu approach him so they can keep going, since Misty and Iris must be worried about them.
• Butterfree gets angry since he feels that Ash didn't think of his feelings and just dragged him back to his adventures. He flies off to find his mate on his own.
• After flying off, he finds a rocky island he recognizes from the old timeline, as a relief spot he and the Pink Butterfree used when crossing the sea the first time. He spots another Butterfree being attacked by several Fearow, so he flies in and uses Sleep Powder on them to rescue him.
• The other Butterfree relates him that he was one amongst those who gathered for mating, but they were all captured by a woman, whose description Ash's Butterfree quickly matches with Hunter J. Turns out that only this Butterfree and his mate were able to escape her, the rest were captured.
• They go into a cave to meet up with the other Butterfree's mate so they can tell him the full story of what happened. Much to Ash's Butterfree shock, it's none other than the Pink Butterfree herself.
• Ash's Butterfree is happy to see her safe and sound, but she doesn't recognize him.
• The male Butterfree explains how things went down, and Ash's Butterfree can't help but notice that it happened very similar to his own experience with the Pink Butterfree in the past timeline. When Hunter J attacked, he tried to fight back and save as many as he could, but in the end he could only save her.
• Ash's Butterfree goes out for a bit with the male one and the two begin talking. The latter tries to give Ash's Butterfree some words to move on, but he's still upset at him for "stealing" his mate from him.
• Seeing the Fearow still flying around, Ash's Butterfree realizes that he has a chance to kill his "rival" with no one noticing. He ultimately chooses not to, realising that the Pink Butterfree actually seems a lot happier than when she was with him.
• Ash's Butterfree bids his farewells to the Pink Butterfree and her new mate, wishing them a safe trip. He fights off the returning Fearow to clear the way for them.
• Butterfree returns to the cliff, and is surprised to see that Ash and Pikachu have stayed there the whole time, waiting for him to return.
• Butterfree apologizes to Ash, realising that he never meant to cause him pain, and decides that he will stick around and help him win his badges, to make up for the last time.

Snivy Interlude

• The Samurai enters a Battle Club and his Venonat loses to a Sandslash.
• Snivy manages to get out of her Pokéball in the middle of the battle, and seeing the Sandslash, she decides to fight it before leaving.
• The Samurai attempts to command Snivy, but she refuses to listen, battling on her own accord:
  • Starting with Attract, the Sandslash is revealed to be female.
  • The Samurai calls for Vine Whip. Snivy instead uses Leaf Blade, surprising him.
  • Snivy then uses Leaf Storm, shocking the Samurai even more when she repeats the attack making it stronger instead of weaker thanks to her ability, Contrary.
• After defeating the Sandslash, Snivy is ready to leave. The Samurai, however, is not willing to let her go that easily now.
• When he's about to return her, Snivy snatches the Pokéball, and slices it in half.
• Still trying to get her back, Snivy decides to let him think she's going to let him capture her again, only to attack him with Leaf Blade and leaving him with a nasty cut on his arm.
• Snivy sneaks into an open air vent to get away from the Samurai.

Main Story - Chapter Sixteen

• On Route 10, Ash, Misty and Iris enter the Battle Club.
• Iris encounters the Samurai and defeats him.
• Iris, Misty and Ash proceed to win all their battles at the club.

Snivy Interlude

• Snivy peeks through the vents, watching the trainers battling, including Iris defeating the Samurai. She becomes interested in Ash, and decides he might be the trainer she's looking for, so she decides to challenge him.

Main Story - Chapter Sixteen

• Ash encounters Snivy, and captures her.
• That night, Pikachu, Aipom, Snivy, and Emolga have a pleasurable time together. Ash refuses to learn the specifics.
• Ash, Misty, and Iris arrive in Lavender Town, where they encounter Red and Yellow.

Main Story - Chapter Seventeen

• Ash and Red prepare to battle, but are stopped by Scott. He invites Ash, Misty, and Iris to take part in the Battle Dome Tournament. The three accept.
• At the tournament, all participants are given Key Stones.

Arnold Interlude

• Arnold, Anna and Laila see Ash and Red on television.
• Anna suspects they're Arnold's half-brothers.

Main Story - Chapter Seventeen

• Round One:
  • Red's Charmeleon defeats Alex Davis' Kadabra.
  • Misty's Staryu defeats Otoshi's Cubone.
  • Iris' Emolga defeats Jeanette's Scyther.
  • Ash defeating Cerulean Gym's full power is announced to the world.
  • Ash's Snivy defeats Solidad's Slowbro.
• Winners of Round One are given Berry Kits. Ash sends his, Misty's and Iris' to Professor Oak.
• Round Two:
  • Ash's Squirtle defeats A.J.'s Sandslash.
  • Misty and James won their battles.
  • Red's Clefairy defeats Iris' Axew.
• Winners of Round Two get type-boosting items.
• Round Three:
  • Ash's Butterfree defeats James' Inkay.
  • Red's Pikachu defeats Misty's Gyarados.
• Winners of Round Three get significant winnings. Winning the finals nets even better winnings.
• Final Round:
  • Red's Charmeleon vs Ash's Butterfree.
  • Red assumes it would be a Curb-Stomp Battle in his favour. Not only is he wrong, his Victory Sight ability goes haywire because Ash is too unpredictable.
  • After a close battle, Red's Charmeleon emerges as the winner.

Arnold Interlude

• Laila checks with Anna about whether Arnold having Long Lost Relatives is as unimportant as she thinks.
• Anna reaffirms her belief it is unimportant, but Laila continues to wonder.

Hiker Interlude

• After the Battle Dome Tournament, a long streak of defeats begins for the Hiker.

Main Story - Chapter Seventeen

• Ash and co. leave Lavender Town. Misty and Iris note that Ash is taking his loss against Red rather well.
• Red reflects on his battle with Ash, and notes Ash could have won if he used his Super-Empowering ability.
• Serena is saddened by Ash's loss, and her hair briefly darkens.

Jeanette Interlude

• Disappointed by her loss, Jeanette goes to Celadon City to train further.

Wally Interlude

• Wally begins attending the Rustboro Trainer School.
• Roxanne introduces herself, and specifically tells Wally that because of his asthma, if he needs to take a break, just let his teachers know.
• Sawyer introduces himself to Wally, and asks what Norman the Petalburg Gym Leader is like.
• Wally notes Sawyer's notes.
• Wally and Sawyer make a promise to see who can become the more famous trainer.

Blaine Interlude

• Alish comes to Blaine's laboratory to inform him that there's a trainer coming to challenge him soon. She suggests that he uses his Growlithe, and he agrees.
• Later at the gym, the challenger, named Raymond, arrives to fight Blaine. He seems pretty confident that he can beat him easily.
• Alish, who is acting as the referee, declares it to be a three versus three battle.
• Raymond begins with his Machoke, and Blaine brings out his Growlithe. Growlithe defeats Machoke easily.
• Raymond brings out his Donphan. Despite the type disadvantage, Growlithe defeats him too.
• Raymond gets angry and breaks the rules bringing out his three remaining Pokémon at once: Golem, Venomoth and Pinsir.
• Growlithe handily defeats them all, and Raymond leaves in a huff.
• Blaine decides to have a talk with Alish, thinking it's time for her to receive her starter Pokémon: a recently hatched Eevee, the offspring of his own Flareon.
• Alish goes out to play with Eevee and get to know each other more.
• The next day, Alish comes in excited to show Blaine something: she reveals she spent her savings on a Fire Stone and evolved Eevee into Flareon. Blaine is shocked that she did so.
• Blaine explains that she rushed the evolution and that Eevee needed more training to learn some attacks before evolving.
• Alish realizes she made a huge mistake and runs off to the Pokémon Mansion.
• Flareon comforts Alish, assuring her that it's not entirely her fault, since he too felt curious about evolving.
• Feeling better, Alish decides to return home with Flareon, but then they heard a noise deep in the mansion.
• Alish first thinks it's one of the Pokémon living in there, to which Flareon replies that they have seen none of them since they arrived. Alish admits it's strange so they go to investigate.
• They see it's a Team Rocket grunt trashing about the place, and muttering something about some documents. Flareon comes out of their hideout and attacks him.
• Seeing that Flareon has blown their cover, Alish comes out too. The Rocket grunt brings out a Slowpoke to fight.
• Despite putting up a good fight and managing to learn Ember out of sheer willpower, Flareon is ultimately defeated, due to the type disadvantage and being underleveled compared to his opponent.
• The Rocket grunt, despite already having won, decides to keep hurting Flareon. Alish begs him to stop, but he doesn't listen.
• Alish becomes angry, and this triggers her Overheat, firing it off against Slowpoke and defeating it. However, this causes her to quickly become weakened and fall to the floor.
• The Rocket grunt is ready to give Alish a lesson, but then, Blaine shows up and punches him in the face. He's not happy to see him messing with his granddaughter.
• The grunt recognizes him as the local Gym Leader, but he quickly tries to resume his bravado and brings out a Gengar.
• After checking on Alish, Blaine brings out his Magmortar, who handily overpowers Gengar, and sends him and the grunt blasting through the window. Alish loses consciousness shortly after.
• After waking up, Alish is back in her room. Blaine tells her that, despite the odds, she fought very well, and with proper training, she can still make up for evolving Flareon too soon. He also offers her to train along with his Pokémon to learn other Fire-type attacks to better control her powers.
• The Rocket grunt, despite his humilliating defeat, manages to make it back with his two friends, and reveals that he did get what they were looking for. The trio leaves off to cause trouble in Cinnabar.

Iris Gaiden

• Ash, Misty and Iris spend the night in a Pokémon Center on Route 8.
• The next morning, while eating breakfast, Iris spots a pregnant woman, and becomes confused. Ash and Misty explain she'll soon have a child.
• Iris assumes human females lay eggs just like Pokémon do. Dexter chimes in and begins going on a lengthy explanation about how human reproduction works.
• Ash remarks that Iris probably feels a little weird living among humans, having been raised by Pokémon her entire life. He asks her about how it is, and she begins telling stories about her past:
  • One time, she was attacked by a group of Dratini who shunned her because she wasn't "one of them", even after offering one of them some berries she had gathered. Things got better eventually, even though many members of her adoptive family didn't accept her.
  • Another time, her big brother Dragonite got into a fight with a Noivern that left him seriously injured. While nursing him back to health, she chides him for making her and the others worry about him, making him feel some remorse because he doesn't mean to cause trouble for his family. She then asks him to train her and Axew so they can grow strong to fight him on equal terms one day.
  • Her first encounter with Emolga, and how she played on Axew's infatuation with her to get free food from him, and her habit of using Attract to get other Pokémon to do the same. After saving her from a hostile Scolipede and the revelation that she did that because she was weak, Iris offered Emolga to come with her, promising to get her food and protecting her until she becomes strong enough to get food on her own.
  • Her first encounter with Excadrill, back when he was Drillbur. He had beaten up Axew and kicked him out of his usual berry gathering spot. Iris goes to give him a lesson, and as it turns out, Drillbur had been kicked out of his own home by a gluttonous Simisear. After driving him away together, Drillbur asks her if he can come along with her too.
  • Lastly, at one point Axew went into a cave to fight on his own a swarm of Swoobat, ending up seriously hurt. When Iris chides him for it, he reveals that he wants to evolve one day to become stronger and be able to protect Iris too.
• Iris finishes telling her stories, and the group leaves the Pokémon Center once they finish their breakfast. Back on the road, Iris asks Misty and Ash if they can tell her about their pasts as well, and they accept.

Main Story - Chapter Eighteen

• Paul arrives at the Celadon Gym, and is infuriated to know that Erika is not accepting challenges from male trainers.
• A Sinnoh dojo destroyer named Morana arrives to challenge Erika for her position as Gym Leader. Erika invites Paul to come in and watch the battle.
• Morana challenges Erika to three one on one battles, best two out of three, using her strongest Pokémon. Erika falls asleep while she talks.
• The battle begins:
  • Morana opens up with a Glalie and Erika with an Exeggutor.
  • Glalie attempts a Sheer Cold. Exeggutor replies with Hypnosis, making Glalie fall asleep.
  • Exeggutor then uses Dream Eater until Glalie wakes up again.
  • Glalie attempts an Ice Beam, Exeggutor counters with Leaf Storm, knocking Glalie out.
  • Morana brings in an Abomasnow, with Snow Warning. Erika brings in a Victreebel.
  • Abomasnow tries to use Blizzard, Victreebel uses Sunny Day and Weather Ball, ending the round in a single hit.
• With Morana defeated, Paul leaves the Gym.
• Iris wakes up early, and reflects on some memories of her childhood, mainly with her "Grandfather" Dragonite.
• Iris spots Team Rocket stalking Ash, and believing they're trying to eat him, she chases them off using Dragon Claw.
• Ash discusses with his Pokémon the possibility of evolving or not, as after the Battle Dome tournament, he has realised that they need more offensive power and durability to face stronger opponents.
• Professor Oak finishes setting up the Berry kits sent by Ash and Co. around his ranch.
• Pidgeotto arrives with the flock she protected in the original timeline, bringing them in to stay at Oak's ranch.
• Ash trains with his Pokémon, trying to develop his bloodliner powers as well as spending time with them.
• With Goomy, Ash is unsure as to how he can be trained, since his only moves are Rain Dance and Bide. Iris comes up and offers to help Goomy learn an offensive move.
• Three hours later, Goomy manages to learn Dragon Breath, and evolves into Sliggoo.
• Misty watches them from a distance, and begins to have a strange feeling at seeing Ash and Iris so close to each other.
• Misty encounters a wild Golduck and tries to capture it. Unfortunately, her mind is not in the battle due to her thoughts still focused on seeing Ash and Iris training together, and Golduck easily defeats both Wingull and Poliwrath. Ultimately, Misty decides to use her control abilities to capture Golduck.
• Psyduck's comments make Misty realise that she's starting to feel jealous, and also afraid that Iris might take Ash away from her.
• Ash and co. walk through the scrublands leading to Celadon City, the place where he caught Primeape the first time around.
• An explosion is heard, and something is blasted off into the sky. Dexter identifies it as Primeape, and suggests that he might not survive that.
• Paul comes out, revealed as the one responsible for blasting Primeape away.
• Ash becomes enraged, and challenges Paul to a battle on the spot. Paul suggests a three on three, best two out of three.
• Ash and Paul begin their battle. First round, Charmeleon vs Grotle:
  • Grotle attacks with Razor Leaf. Charmeleon counters with Flame Charge.
  • Grotle attempts Rock Smash, Charmeleon counters with Dragon Tail.
  • Charmeleon attacks Grotle savagely with Metal Claw, actually enjoying to see his trainer going on a full-blown rage.
  • Grotle attacks with Razor Leaf, Charmeleon tanks the attack with no problems.
  • Ash calls for a Fire Pledge to end the round. Paul however, snaps his fingers to command Grotle to set up a Stealth Rock discreetly.
  • Charmeleon defeats Grotle.
• While Ash cheers on Charmeleon for having won the first round, Misty notices something is off, as if Paul had lost that round on purpose.
• Second round. Pikachu vs Nidoking:
  • Just as Pikachu enters the field, he's pelted by Stealth Rock.
  • Pikachu opens up with a Quick Attack. Nidoking counters with Bulldoze.
  • Nidoking uses Double Kick. Pikachu counters with Iron Tail, managing to stumble him back.
  • Pikachu lands a solid Quick Attack on Nidoking's chest.
  • Paul calls for a Venoshock, giving Nidoking time to get back up. Paul comments that Ash's Pikachu is pretty strong, and acknowledges that winning against Surge's Raichu wasn't a fluke.
  • Nidoking uses Bulldoze and knocks Pikachu out.
• Ash takes Pikachu to Misty, who tells him that he's not acting his usual self. She also tells him that he needs to focus if he wants to win against Paul. Ash thanks her, and promptly turns his hat backwards.
• The final round begins: Aipom vs Drowzee.
  • Drowzee begins charging a Psybeam. Aipom lands a Power-Up Punch and makes it lose focus.
  • Drowzee attacks with Poison Gas. Ash calls for a Counter-Shield to block it.
  • Paul calls for Disable, which neutralizes Aipom's Counter-Shield, then presses forward with a Thunder Wave.
  • Aipom manages to dodge the electric attack, and blocks a Psybeam attack with a perfected Double Hit.
  • Aipom evolves to Ambipom.
  • Ambipom lands a Double Hit on Drowzee, knocking it out and winning the match for Ash.
• As Misty and Iris approach to congratulate Ash, Paul returns Drowzee, and walks away angry.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty

• Ash and Co. arrive at the Celadon Pokémon Center. Nurse Joy explains to them that Erika is not taking challenges from male trainers, due to an incident with a Dirty Old Man spying on a wedding.
• As they exit the center, they're caught in the middle of a rush of people running around the city. Ash and Pikachu are separated from Misty and Iris, and become lost.
• Ash and Pikachu arrive to a dark alleyway, with a single locked door. Dexter detects an underground meeting and warns Ash not to go inside. Ash ignores him.
• Ash comes across the P1 from the old timeline, which is now an underground fight club. He sees Anthony, the man who trained Primeape in the old timeline, whose Hitmonchan has just lost to the current champion, the Giant and his Hitmonlee.
• Ash steps ups to the challenge, bringing out Charmeleon. Despite not using his fire attacks, Charmeleon wins with ease.
• Ash gives the grand prize to Anthony, only asking for directions to the Pokémon Center. After getting them, he leaves.
• Meanwhile, Misty and Iris have gotten themselves lost in another part of the city. They come across a city park where a small Tag Battle Tournament is being held, with none other than Lorelei, who announces there are still two empty slots to have an even number, and offering to do any favor she can as the prize for the winner. Misty decides that they should enter.
• Erika is also watching the tournament along with Lorelei.
• Misty and Iris' first opponents are Kim and Kail, two of the Invincible Pokémon Brothers.
• The Brothers bring out their Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee, Misty and Iris send out Poliwrath and Excadrill. The girls win easily.
• Misty and Iris make it to the final, facing a duo of girls named Assunta and Melissa. When they point out to Erika and reveal that she's the local Gym Leader, Misty notices that Iris has gone deep in thought, as if she was up to something.
• Assunta and Melissa bring out a Rhyhorn and a Clefable. Iris flinches at the sight of the evolved form of Clefairy, but Misty offers to handle it for her.
• Misty is about to choose her Pokémon, but Psyduck comes out on his own, much to her chagrin. Iris brings out Axew.
• Assunta and Melissa put up a good fight, but in the end, Misty and Iris manage to win.
• Erika and Lorelei approach to congratulate them all.
• Before Misty can say what she wants for a prize, Lorelei gives her a Wooper. She's so surprised she couldn't even say anything at all.
• Lorelei asks Iris what she wants. Iris surprises everyone (especially Misty) by asking her to convince Erika to allow their friend, Ash, to have a Gym battle with her.
• Lorelei takes Erika aside for a chat. The Elite Four member offers the Gym Leader a swimsuit calendar featuring many female trainers (herself included), also pointing out that after the League hearing, it's unlikely that she'll be able to keep the ban on male trainers much longer.
• Erika agrees to battle Ash, and leaves off to attend some business.
• Lorelei leaves as well, hoping that Ash wins his battle.
• Misty ponders on how Iris went on her own initiative to help Ash, and cannot help but feel guilty with herself for not thinking about it.
• Meanwhile, Ash continues to be lost. He hears a female, telepathic voice calling out the name "John", and decides to investigate.
• Ash comes into a warehouse district, and after dispatching a guard, he runs into several containers full of stolen goods, cages filled with Scatterbug, and a plastic container with six Pokéballs. The man responsible introduces himself as Felgrand, one of the infamous Seven Brothers of Orre.
• Noticing that Ash has a Pokédex, Felgrand decides he'll kill him and take it for himself as well. The voice Ash heard before asks to be freed, it's a Psychic-type Pokémon.
• Felgrand brings out an Onix. Ash sends in Squirtle to fight it, while sending Pikachu to free the Scatterbug from the cages.
• Squirtle defeats Onix with relative ease, so Felgrand sends in a Kangaskhan and a Rhyhorn. Squirtle fights Rhyhorn while Ash decides to fight the Kangaskhan himself.
• Felgrand is shocked to see that Ash was able to defeat his Kangaskhan, and realises that he's a bloodliner. Squirtle defeats Rhyhorn as well.
• Felgrand uses a smoke bomb and escapes, leaving all of his stolen goods behind with Ash.
• After getting away, Felgrand is angry, but ready to start anew. He takes in a caged Wobbufett ready to sell it for profit. Unfortunately, he comes across the Team Rocket Trio, who are not happy to see that there's another thief in their turf, and bring him in.
• Ash wonders what to do with the Scatterbug. Dexter determines that their chances for survival outside of Kalos are rather slim. Pikachu suggests Ash should capture them using the Pokéballs they found in that place, after Dexter hacks them.
• The Scatterbug agree, on the condition of not being forced to fight, except for one.
• Ash then approaches the six Pokéballs inside the plastic container. Dexter determines that they're no longer synced to their owner, either due to death or legal problems.
• One by one, Ash lets out the Pokémon, and they seem to mistake him for someone named "John".
• The last one is a female Gardevoir, whose telepathic voice was the one Ash heard before. She's the only one to notice that he's not this "John" person.
• Gardevoir explains that Ash looks a lot like their trainer, John Archer. Upon hearing this name, Dexter searches and brings up a photo of the aforementioned trainer. Ash is shocked to see that, indeed, John Archer looks a lot like him.
• Dexter brings up the Gym badges John Archer won in Hoenn, also revealing that he ranked Top 32 after he lost to Tyson. Unfortunately, it also reveals a piece of bad news: John Archer was found several months ago, dead.
• According to Dexter, he was smothered in his sleep, and his Pokémon stolen from him by a janitor. The person responsible didn't give a name to the murderer, only that he was referred to as an "Emissary".
• At night, Ash finally returns to the Pokémon Center, very tired with everything that happened that day.
• Misty and Iris reveal that they managed to get him a battle at the Celadon Gym. Despite still being pondering about what happened that day, this helps in lifting up his spirits a little.
• Ash decides to rest for the night, and be ready for his Gym battle the next morning.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty One

• Ash and Misty reflect on the eccentricities of the Gym Leaders they encountered.
• Giovanni is impressed by Solidad's skill in their gym battle, before winning against her.
• Ash, Misty, and Iris arrive at the Celadon Gym for Ash's gym battle.
• Erika tells Ash about how trainers' teams are public knowledge and readily available. Ash replies that either way, he has to be ready and prepared for the unexpected, eliciting a smile out of Erika.
• The first battle is Leafeon versus Butterfree. Butterfree wins, but Leafeon leaves behind a modified Rain Dance that affects his ability to fly. Erika explains that this Rain Dance is her way to hamper all of the Grass-type primary weaknesses.
• Erika's Tangrowth defeats Butterfree.
• Ambipom defeats Tangrowth.
• A Parasect with the ability Dry Skin defeats Ambipom.
• Parasect and Sliggoo are at a stalemate, before Ash orders Sliggoo to use his own Rain Dance to get rid of Erika's. It works, shocking Erika.
• Sliggoo wins against Parasect.
• Erika admits Ash is talented, before bringing out Vileplume.
• Vileplume defeats Sliggoo.
• Ash brings out Pidgeotto.
• Pidgeotto evolves into Pidgeot, and defeats Vileplume, earning Ash the Rainbow Badge.

Solidad Interlude

• After losing to Giovanni, Solidad returns to Pewter City to rest and recover before going back for a rematch. She leaves her team in the Pokémon Center to be healed, and then heads for the Pewter Gym.
• At the gym's entrance Solidad meets Pike Queen Lucy, and the two enter together while Brock is having an ongoing challenge. After he defeats his opponent, he invites them both for lunch.
• After Solidad tells them of her defeat against Giovanni, Brock gets a call from the museum and needs to leave to pick up a recently revived fossil Pokémon.
• Solidad and Lucy talk about Brock, and after a bit Lucy offers to help Solidad train for her rematch against Giovanni.

Hiker Interlude

• The Hiker arrives in Fuchsia City for the upcoming Tag Tournament.
• Paul has just released his Onix and Mr. Mime after losing in the Fuchsia Gym.
• The Hiker challenges Paul to a battle.
• The Hiker's Onix defeats Paul's Raichu, but loses to Paul's Torterra.
• Torterra takes out half the Hiker's team on its own.
• The Hiker calls his Golem, who uses Explosion to take out Torterra.
• Paul uses his Nidoking, who defeats the Hiker's remaining Pokémon.
• The Hiker tries to congratulate Paul for his victory, but Paul replies calling him pathetic and leaves.
• The Hiker becomes depressed at losing, but decides to go back to the mountains for more training.

Solidad Interlude

• Solidad goes back home to rest, and her parents surprise her, having come back earlier from their vacations. After dinner, she goes to bed while laughing at their antics.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Two

• The night after his gym battle, Ash writes a letter to Serena warning her of the possible dangers she may face according to MissingNo.
• Pidgeot promises to deliver the letter as timely as possible.
• The next day, Paul wins his gym battle with Janine.
• Paul had released his Mr. Mime and Onix as weak, while considering releasing Raichu as well.
• He is told by Janine about the Fuschia Tag Team Tournament where winners earn the right to enter the Safari Zone.

Solidad Interlude

• Solidad goes off to train near Mt. Moon with Lucy and Brock. During the rest, Solidad tells Lucy about why she chose this particular path.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Two

• Misty is fishing for Water-type Pokemon. Dexter is suspicious of the lack of Tentacool.
• Professor Oak goes to Doctor Boxer's house after receiving a call and is stunned that he managed to develop a way to get inanimate objects stored into small storage devices.
• At the Crimson City Battle Club, Ash and A.J. meet again and they battle.
• Ash tells A.J. about Erika's counters to Bug-types, and A.J. tells Ash about the Crimson City Bug Catching Contest.
• Before the contest, Ash and a boy battle, with their respective Scatterbug and Caterpie evolving into Spewpa and Metapod.
• During the contest itself, Ash discovers Poison-type Pokémon behaving strangely.
• Ash catches a Yanma, which wins him the contest.
• Misty and Iris are at a restaurant, where Iris asks about Misty's exact relationship with Ash. Misty admits she likes him, to which Iris also admits the same.
• Iris then brings up the possibility of sharing Ash, stunning Misty.
• Ash meets up with them, and gives Misty his prize, a Water Stone.

Solidad Interlude

• Taking a break from training, Solidad stops by her old trainer school. Her former teacher, Mr. Henderson, asks for her help in the upcoming class, and she agrees.
• Solidad enters the classroom, and it turns out many of the students are fans of her. They carry on with the class about combo moves, even letting some of the students challenge her.
• During the lunch break, Solidad talks to a little girl named Lazuli, who aspires to be a coordinator like her one day. While giving her some advice, suddenly Solidad gets an idea for her rematch against Giovanni.
• After finishing the class, Mr. Henderson thanks Solidad for her help, and gives her a Slowbronite his son found months ago.
• The next morning, she tests the Slowbronite for Mega Evolution with Brock's help, as well as the power boost it gives to the attacks. Satisfied with the results, they decide to finish the training.
• That night, Solidad discusses with her parents her decision, and they watch together on TV a review of Ash Ketchum's battle in the Celadon Gym.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Two

• Ash and Co. arrive in Gringy City. Upon discovering its cleanliness, a citizen explained a Wealthy Philanthropist named Tokiomi Borealis cleaned it up.
• Jessie, James and Meowth receive praise from Giovanni for their capture of Felgrand, since he was looking for the infamous Orre criminal brothers for some time.
• They encounter Evanna, who blasts them off with her Power-Up Punch.
• The rest of Evanna's group arrives, Aurora, Vedia, and the leader, Belladonna.
• Belladonna is a Poison-Heart Bloodliner, and is responsible for the odd behaviour of the Poison-Types.
• The group are going to attack the Gringy City Power Plant, to kill a certain man.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Three

• A certain person in Gringy City reflects on all the good things the world has to offer.
• That person reunites a pair of kids with their Arcanine companion before a Big Blackout occurs.
• Belladonna and Aurora arrive at the control room, with Belladonna killing one guard and imprisoning another after he pleads "I Have a Family".
• Ash, Misty, and Iris investigate the power plant and discover it is being invaded by Poison-types. Misty recognises the expression on the Pokemon and tells the others that a Poison-Heart bloodliner is behind this.
• Learning Goldeen resents Misty for her using her Mind Control on her, Misty vows to never use it ever again, to Goldeen's approval.
• Ash, Misty, and Iris get past the Poison-types and make it inside the power plant, but have to deal with more Poison-types.
• Iris encounters Evanna and they and their Pokemon battle.
• The person who helped the kids reunite with their Arcanine arrives at the power plant and sees the situation before she has a Flashback:
  • She was raised by her uncle after her parents died. That same incident rendered her mute.
  • Her uncle is aware of the Bloodliner powers that grant her Telepathy. He loves her all the same, and comforts her when he realised she is saddened on how she can't reveal her powers to anyone.
• In Fuchsia City, Red and Yellow meet Lilo. Red and Lilo have a battle but it is interrupted. Lilo then tells Red about the Tag Team Tournament.
• Still in the Gringy City Power Plant control room, Belladonna is frustrated at the fact that Tokiomi Borealis is still alive.
• Aurora reflects on how events led to this:
  • Aurora is Tokiomi's daughter.
  • She used to live a good life, before Tokiomi discovered she's an Ice-Beam Bloodliner.
  • Tokiomi turned on her.
• Aurora doesn't want to go through with killing her father, but is too afraid to voice her thoughts. Tokiomi going from a loving father to an to a cold and abusive one caused her severe mental and emotional issues.
• Ash, Pikachu, Charmeleon, and Starmie encounter Muk, having been Mind Controled into attacking them. Ash attempts to recapture him, but Muk's subordinate Grimer keeps getting in the way. He ends up catching all of them.
• At Professor Oak's ranch, Oak runs from Muk and the Grimer all trying to hug him.
• Ash brings out Yanma, Butterfree and Snivy.
• The group splits up. Ash goes one way, Pikachu & Starmie another way, Yanma and Butterfree another way, and Snivy and Charmeleon yet another way.
• Charmeleon and Snivy find themselves surrounded. Snivy perfects Aerial Ace, and then evolves.
• Misty encounters Vedia, and they battle.
• Ash reaches the control room, where Aurora freezes him to the wall and Belladonna almost attacks him before Aurora stops her. Aurora says Ash and Belladonna look a lot alike.
• Belladonna notes the resemblances, but refuses to believe it unless he is also a Bloodliner and uses her second Bloodline to force Ash to tell the truth.
• Ash confirms he is a Lucario Bloodliner. Belladonna and Aurora are shocked, and Belladonna begins believing that she and Ash are half-siblings.
• Evanna's and Iris' battle continues. Evanna realises they're not so different Both girls had one family that was lost. They then had a new family, before losing that one too.
• Belladonna begins asking Ash things about himself. She deduces that he, like her, was raised by a single mother, but is surprised to learn that Ash's was loving and caring, unlike her own.
• Belladonna tells Ash about her life in the Old Cesspit, and the conditions she lived in, until the day her mother kicked her out for being a lesbian. She begins telling him the story on how she met Aurora, Evanna and Vedia and their respective stories.
• Charmeleon and the newly evolved Servine continue battling against the Poison-types.
• A Weedle tries to attack Charmeleon from the back. He casually flicks it away with his tail, and this triggers his evolution back into Charizard.
• The newly restored Charizard is not amused at having evolved against a small bug, again.
• Iris continues her fight with Evanna, their Pokémon already knocked out and unable to keep fighting. Butterfree and Yanma arrive to help Iris. Evanna panics at the possibility of losing family for a third time, and Flashbacks to the second time:
  • She saved a baby, but stepped on a Slowpoke's tail.
  • The people were ungrateful to Evanna's act of heroism. They try to kill her and her adoptive father, Kyle Narec.
  • Evanna manages to escape, but her father was killed.
• Belladonna finishes telling Ash her story, and how she ended up with three girlfriends.
• Ash, trying to buy time, asks her if she thinks she's above the law. Belladonna replies that since they're neither humans or Pokémon, they're not bound by their laws.
• When Ash seems ready to argue that her scheme is placing many others, not just Tokiomi, at risk of dying, Belladonna reveals that she waited until he was moved to a hospital specialized in treating people who ended up sick due to drug addictions and poor lifestyle choices, so that if anyone else dies, she feels they deserve it.
• Ash still argues that she's going too far, to what Belladonna replies that, if he ever experiences the rage of seeing a loved one hurt, the only way to deal with it is to punish the one responsible.
• Ash then realizes that he felt the same rage when Paul blasted Primeape into the sky. Belladonna then sees that Ash actually understands the pain she's going through. She actually tries to comfort him, and in the inside wishes to punish the one who made him suffer.
• Vedia has Misty pinned to the ground, and questions why she's opposing their goal. She has noticed that they have the same eyes, of someone who was neglected by her family. Vedia also notices that Misty has also found someone who cares about her, like she did Belladonna.
• A telepathic voice speaks in the heads of both girls, and then someone appears between them, sending Vedia flying across the hallway with a telepathic push, freeing Misty. The newly arrived girl introduces herself as Anabel.
• At the control room, Charizard breaks the door, allowing himself, Pikachu, Starmie and Servine to enter, and they immediately attack Belladonna and Aurora upon seeing Ash frozen against the wall.
• Belladonna's Golbat arrives to inform her that Tokiomi is finally dead, so they have no reason to stay anymore. Aurora brings out a Shelder capable of using Teleport, and they escape.
• Ash fills his Pokémon in about what happened during the confrontation with Belladonna, although he's still unsure if they're related or not.
• Ash is reunited with Iris, his other Pokémon and Misty, who has brought Anabel along. After a chat, Misty invites Anabel to travel along with them.
• Upon hearing the police sirens approaching, Anabel teleports them all away to escape the Power Plant, stopping only to pick up Ash's Sliggoo on the way out.
• At Team Rocket's HQ, Giovanni sees the news about the incident at Gringy City's Power Plant, of which the authorities have pinned the blame on Giva City for a dam they're building and causing trouble for the local Pokémon. Thanks to Jessie, James and Meowth, however, he knows the truth behind it.
• Giovanni comes to question Felgrand. He shows him a photo of Ash, whom he recognizes as the boy who busted his operation in Celadon. Then, he shows him a photo of Belladonna, and he becomes horrified at her sight.
• Felgrand then reveals that she looks a lot like his own mother, a bloodliner who could affect people's minds. The Seven Brothers of Orre were born in alphabetical order from the A to Felgrand himself, and the one with the E is the only one who is not a criminal. He reveals to Giovanni that he and his other brothers (bar E) killed their mother.
• Felgrand deduces that one of his brothers must be spreading around his children, breaking their pact, and demands to know who did it. Giovanni leaves him to ponder about what he just revealed.
• In Orre, Agrev and Gonzap of Team Snagem oversee Wes, who is training in the virtual simulator, surprised that he managed to beat all the simulations on his first try, even though somehow he suffers a serious case of amnesia.

Solidad Interlude

• Several days after her last attempt, Solidad comes back for a rematch with Giovanni, who is surprised to see her so soon.
• Giovanni begins with an Onix, silently trying to set up Stealth Rock. Solidad anticipates and sends her Pidgeot to use Defog and clear the field. Pidgeot defeats Onix without getting a scratch.
• Giovanni sends out a Sandslash, and Solidad switches for Ninetales. Ninetales wins, but not before Sandlash lands a Poison Jab to intoxicate him, forcing Solidad to recall him.
  • Giovanni sends out a Golem, and Solidad defeats it with Bellossom. The bout ends when Golem uses Self-Destruct and knocks them both out.
• The next Pokémon is a Nidoqueen, which Solidad faces with her Venusaur. Nidoqueen wins in the Hyper Beam/Solar Beam collission knocking Venusaur out, so Solidad sends Ninetales to finish the job. Ninetales subsequently faints from the poisoning.
• Next comes a Dugtrio, which Solidad defeats using her Butterfree's Bug Buzz.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty One

• Giovanni acknowledges Solidad's performance, even better than the first time around, but declares he won't stand up from his chair this time. Solidad replies that she doubts he'll be that way for long.
• Giovanni sends out his Rhyperior, while Solidad recalls Butterfree and sends Pidgeot.

Solidad Interlude

• Solidad uses Pidgeot to try and wear Rhyperior out and learn its attacks as much as possible. Pidgeot loses, but Solidad learns everything she needs.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty One

• Giovanni quips it was an improvement, to which Solidad replies he hasn't seen anything yet.
• Solidad then sends out her Slowbro, and immediately Mega Evolves him. Giovanni gets up from her chair and declares he's defeated more impressive evolutions.

Solidad Interlude

• Solidad's Mega Slowbro defeats Rhyperior by trapping him in a crytal prison, without receiving a single scratch.
• Giovanni gives Solidad her finalk badge, and she takes her leave to the Pokémon Center.
• That night, she shares her victory with Brock and Lucy, as well as her parents, having secretly recorded it with her cellphone.

Erika Interlude

• With Erika's ban on male trainers lifted, they start coming up one after another to challenge the Celadon Gym. She's beginning to feel tired.
• Erika checks the data about her next challenger, who is none other than A.J. Choosing her team, she decides to take a nap before he arrives.
• A.J. arrives to challenge, but after he notices Erika falling asleep, he offers to come later if she doesn't feel well. Erika assures him that she's fine, and ready to battle him.
• The battle is set as a three versus three without substitutions.
• Erika brings out her Ivysaur, and A.J. his Venonat from the Bug-Catching Contest.
• Erika's Ivysaur has the upper hand, but A.J.'s Venonat manages to land a Stun Spore/Supersonic combo right into his eyes, causing serious irritation and forcing Erika to withdraw him and send it to her assistants to get help.
• Erika brings out a Nuzleaf. A.J. is surprised to see a foreign Pokémon.
• Nuzleaf knocks out Venonat using Fake Out.
• A.J. brings out Sandslash.
• The battle is evenly matched, and it ends with a Double Knock Out, leaving both trainers down to one single Pokémon.
• For the final round, A.J. brings out his Beedrill and Erika brings out Gloom.
• Beedrill wins the match for A.J. after a tough battle.
• After giving him the Rainbow Badge, Erika asks A.J. some help in cleaning the boulders left on the battlefield. He agrees, feeling it'll be good training for Beedrill.
• Another challenger comes in even though Erika isn't ready yet. He tries to announce himself with a grand dramatic speech, only to find that Erika fell asleep and is not listening.

Jeanette Interlude

• After Erika lifted her ban and the pool of male trainers she could train against shrank, Jeanette resumes her journey.
• She begins setting up camp, before a sneeze results in a reflexive use of Sweet Scent.
• Remembering the day she discovered she was a Bloodliner and the day she revealed it to her parents, Jeanette doesn't notice a Beedrill approaching her as a result of the Sweet Scent.
• After winning his third badge against Erika, A.J. continues on his journey and sees Jeanette about to be attacked by the Beedrill.
• He initially tries to save her before stopping himself when Jeanette saves herself by using Leaf Storm, surprising A.J.
• Jeanette and her Bellsprout both use Energy Ball against the Beedrill, further awing A.J. After it was weakened enough, Jeanette successfully catches the Beedrill.
• A.J. makes his presence known, surprising Jeanette. Jeanette becomes even more surprised he doesn't mind she's a Bloodliner.
• Over dinner, Jeanette reveals to A.J. that she is a Victreebel Bloodliner, like her ancestor.
• Jeanette also tells A.J. about the events that led to Erika allowing Ash to battle her before she lifted her ban and offers to show him the Gym Battle Review episode on it. A.J. accepts.
• Jeanette also proposes they travel together after hearing that Ash, Misty and Iris travel together. Again, A.J accepts.
• While watching the episode, Jeanette remembers when she left on her journey:
  • Before she left, her parents gave her an important piece of advice.
  • That advice being that if she ever finds a boy who doesn't reject her for being a Bloodliner, to never let him go.
• The next day, before leaving, Jeanette uses Sweet Scent as a substitute for perfume, hoping A.J. would enjoy the smell. She considers taking his hand before deciding against going too fast.
• A.J meanwhile considers asking Jeanette out on a date before deciding against going too fast.
• Their Pokemon notice the mutual attraction and are supportive.

Gary Interlude

• Gary catches a Tangela and a Qwilfish.
• Three days later, at a Bug-Catching Contest, Gary catches a Pinsir, winning him the event.
• He encounters, battles, and loses to Casey Snagem who powered up his Chesnaught in an unusual way that his Pokedex has no data on.
• Casey takes Gary to his house, where they have a discussion on what it takes to be considered a Pokemon Master.
• Gary decides that a Pokemon Master has to, at minimum, win a major league tournament.
• Casey tells his opinion that a Pokemon Master is one who participates and merely does well in lots of tournaments.
• Gary sticks to his opinion, and after hearing Casey's life story, he leaves.

Wally Interlude

• Several weeks later, Wally gains the idea of meeting his starter long before he could get his Trainer licence, reasoning it would do him wonders, even if he can't legally own the Pokemon in his own name.
• He meets Brendan, one of Birch's Pokedex holders, who helps him catch a Ralts.
• Wally and Brendan promise to have a battle once Wally becomes a trainer.
• Sawyer tells Wally that male Ralts could become Gallade instead of Gardevoir, if they use a Dawn Stone in the Kirlia stage.
• Wally's asthma condition got worse. He's forced to drop out of the Rustboro Trainer School and says his goodbye to Sawyer.
• Wally moves in with his uncle and aunt in Verdanturf Town because of its cleaner air.
• He hears of Brendan on the BuzzNav. Upon hearing that Brendan might leave the region to compete in other leagues, Wally worries he might not have his battle with Brendan.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Four

• As a result of the Gringy City incident, Ash has an... unusual dream.
• Upon waking up, Ash, his Pokemon, Dexter, and John Archer's Gardevoir discuss the events that occurred at the Power Plant.
• Dexter concludes Belladonna was telling the truth of her and her girlfriends' pasts.
• Gardevoir is concerned by the number of people who look a lot like each other. She decides that she and the rest of John's team will go looking for more of them.
• During breakfast time, Ash tells Misty, Iris and Anabel about the dream he had and the possibility of him and Belladonna actually being Long Lost Relatives. He is especially concerned at how quickly Belladonna latched on to the idea.
• Iris concludes that it was because Belladonna really wanted a proper family since her own mother was terrible.
• They are then confronted by a drunk sailor.
• In Alola, Hala and Lilo have a conversation. After it ends, Tapu Koko appears in his home.
• Hala remembers the times Tapu Koko stole Z-Rings and gave them to people it found interesting. Among them were the twins Velvet and Frax Lono, who had dark hair, red eyes, and marks on their cheeks.
• Ash, Misty, Iris, and Anabel have easily defeated the drunk sailor.
• A waitress from the restaurant the sailor works at apologised on his behalf. Ash notes she looks a lot like his Ashley cosplay from the old timeline.
• The waitress states the restaurant has a rule where anyone who defeats staff gets to eat for free. When all their stomachs rumbled, including the waitress, Ash and Co accepted.
• The waitress introduced herself as Ashley.
• Hala has a lengthy reflection on ancient Alolan history. He then reads an incomprehensible prophecy.
• Ash mentally blames MissingNo for the existence of Ashley as he and the others arrive at the restaurant.
• As Ashley takes their orders, Ash notes her last name is Sennenryu.
• Ash receives a call from Professor Oak, who tells him, Misty, and Iris to get to Fuchsia City as soon as possible for the Tag Team Tournament. Professor Oak is not yet aware of Anabel.
• After leaving the restaurant, en route, Anabel teleports the group to Fuchsia when it starts raining.
• At Fuchsia, the gym is closed.
• In a hotel room, Ash embraces Muk, who is happy to be reunited and is glad Ash caught his old buddies. Bulbasaur isn't.
• Ash explains that they were being Mind Controled by his maybe half-sister, shocking his Pokemon who weren't present at the Gringy City incident.
• Ash is distressed by the possibility of him suddenly having a lot of possible half-siblings, with Ashley only reinforcing that stress.
• His Pokemon comfort him, and tell him he has a tournament to win, so he can recover his Tauros.

Hiker Interlude

• The Hiker enters the Rock Tunnel, eager to begin his training along with his Vulpix.
• He encounters a very small Krabby, an is about to catch it, until a voice calls out telling him not to.
• The Hiker's Vulpix doesn't seem to hear the voice, and then a silhouette appears.
• The Hiker demands that the silhouette shows itself. It's a young girl, no older than nine and dressed in some old rags.
• The girl asks for some water, and the Hiker complies. He takes notice that the girl never opens her mouth to talk, only to drink.
• The girl identifies herself Mizu, and when the Hiker asks her how she's talking to him without moving her mouth, she explains that she's not talking; she's projecting her thoughts into his head.
• Mizu tries to tell the Hiker that she's a Starmie, but the Hiker laughs, thinking that she just has a lively imagination, until she uses a Swift attack to prove it.
• The Hiker deduces that she's a Bloodliner, and asks her what she's doing all alone in that place. She explains to him that her family was kidnapped, showing him the images in his mind.
• The Hiker realizes Mizu was raised by Water-type Pokémon. Mizu then proceeds to explain that she tried to find help to rescue her family, but she ended up in the abandoned Kanto Power Plant and was driven away by the Electric-types residing in it, and she had to hide in the Rock Tunnel to escape.
• The Hiker offers to help Mizu, and she accepts. The two begin walking across the Rock Tunnel.

Big P Pokemon Race Interlude

• While waiting for the Fuchsia Tag Team Tournament to start, Ash and his friends spent their time training. For Ash, this includes training his Bloodliner powers. He attempts to learn Foresight with Anabel helping him. As a Psychic-Heart Bloodliner, she had faced a similar situation and learned Miracle Eye to be prepared against Dark-type Pokemon and Bloodliners.
• Meanwhile, Misty attempts to reconcile with Golduck and apologies for using her Mind Control powers on him. After being certain of the sincerity of her apology, Golduck admits he's not ready to forgive her completely, but is willing to work with her.
• During a break, Ash tells Anabel about his H.O.P.E glove, including how his model has the extra function of gathering data on Bloodliners. Anabel asks if Ash, Misty and Iris ever wondered if they have ever met other Bloodliners, saying the glove could be used to identify them. Ash admits he could, but says it's not something they'd just tell other people about.
• Jeanette suddenly sneezed. A.J., concerned, suggests they go see a doctor as soon as they reach the next town.
• Back with Ash and Anabel, Ash shares his opinion that it's not right for them to find out if another is a Bloodliner unless they are the ones who want to share that knowledge.

Laramie Gaiden

• At the Laramie farm:
  • Leeroy is telling Lara and Hex about his time in the Trainer-Ranger war while the latter two use their Bloodliner powers for farmwork. He clarifies that the current family motto of "Live in Harmony with Pokemon" and him establishing the Pokemon Reserve was to help him remember Jenkins.
  • Hex suggests petitioning the T.A.T.O. to let Leeroy see Jenkins. Lara shoots down that idea, but Leeroy is appreciative.
  • A stable hand suddenly shouts the Laramie Tauros are out of control, causing Lara and Hex to go deal with the issue.
• Meanwhile, at the Vientown Ranger School:
  • The students aspiring to be Rangers are excited because Jenkins, now a retired Top Ranger is visiting.
  • One student asks another student, Jane, who is Jenkins granddaughter, when he's arriving.
  • She assures him that she can see her grandfather coming in fast on his Mega Pidgeot.
  • Jenkins arrives, and after reflecting on how his granddaughter is a Pidgeot Bloodliner and has z-shaped marks, starts the lesson on Mega Evolution.

Hiker Interlude

• While walking across the Rock Tunnel, the Hiker begins talking to Mizu, who tells her that she's scared of the outside world and wants to go back home with her family.
• The Hiker then shares that the world used to be a lot more dangerous for people and Pokémon, but the efforts of many have made it a better place, and he wants to get to know it all.
• Mizu then asks him if he has traveled across the world a lot. The Hiker then realizes that he's spent so much time exiled in the mountains for training, he has barely traveled across his own region.
• Meanwhile, near the shore of Route 10, Captain Crook and his crew are recounting their latest catch, with his first mate Scuz saying they have enough to pay their monthly fee to the Phantom. However, Crook orders that they stay where they are, since they still have to catch a bloodliner girl who slipped away.
• When some of the crew members question about this, Crook replies that he's convinced that the girl will come to save her family of Water-types.
• The Hiker and Mizu come out of the Rock Tunnel in Route 10, and she shows him the pirate ship. The Hiker is surprised to learn he's going up against pirates, of all people.
• The Hiker then realizes he doesn't have a plan, so he tries to make one on the fly.
• Mizu wants to come along and help, but the Hiker doesn't want to endanger her. He finally agrees, on the condition that she stays out of sight and if things go downhill, she runs away.
• The Hiker sends his Golbat to cause havoc with the pirates, while he and Mizu surf on his Rhydon to sneak in by piercing the hull with Horn Drill.
• Golbat used its sonic attacks and Confuse Ray to get the pirates to fight against each other and keep Crook busy.
• Once inside the storage room, the Hiker and his Pokémon begin freeing the captives, while Mizu stays hidden.
• Scuz goes below the deck to check what's going on, and quickly goes back up to tell his captain.
• Crook decides to ignore the Golbat and goes below the deck to the storage room, finding the ones responsible. He engages the Hiker in a fistfight.
• Mizu, still hidden, sends her Krabby to help the Hiker.
• The Krabby pinches Scuz in the rear, and after taking it off, he recognizes it as the same the bloodliner girl he encountered earlier. He demands that the Hiker tells him where she is. When he refuses, he sends in his six Tentacruel.
• The Hiker's Pokémon, having released the last of the captives, engage the Tentacruel, while the Hiker, angered at Crook's Fantastic Racism, once again gets into a fistfight with him.
• Mizu goes to the last untouched Poké Ball Rack and finds her family, beginning to free them. Unfortunately, when she gets to the last Poké Balls, containing her parents, Crook grabs her by the collar.
• Crook turns her around to look her face to face, and asks her if she's got any words to say to him.
• Making eye contact, Mizu uses her bloodline to Mind Control Crook into letting him go. Though he resists at first, she presses on and succeeds.
• The Hiker gets back up, and seeing Mizu has dealt with the pirate, and his Pokémon with the Tentacruel, they take the Poké Balls and get ready to leave, but not before the Hiker calls his Onix to finish wrecking the ship.
• The Hiker and Mizu escape surfing on Rhydon's back.
• Recovering from the Mind Control Crook realizes his vessel is going down, and orders his crew to Abandon Ship.

Big P Pokemon Race Interlude

• After several more hours of training, Ash and Co see a Tauros stampede heading right towards them as two girls riding two different Ponyta try to stop them. Ash immediately decides to help and ropes his friends into helping. After they succeed, the Ponyta-riding girls give their thanks. Ash recognises one of the girls as Lara Laramie. After the introductions, Hex, the other girl, invites the four friends to the festival. They accept after everyone's stomach rumbled, including Lara's and Hex's.
• At the festival grounds, Lara and Hex explain that the large amount of Pokemon they're seeing are not actually theirs. The entire area is a Pokemon Reserve and the Pokemon Big P Ranch protect the wild Pokemon from poachers. Lara says that they lived in harmony with Pokemon since her grandfather's time.
• Lara also laments that because of the Fuchsia Tag Team Tournament, there isn't as much interest in the Big P Pokemon Race but says she'll win it in any case.
• Knowing the prize is honorary membership of the Laramie Clan, Misty asks why Lara is competing. Lara explains that it's because they don't let just anybody become a member and in any event, she has a score to settle with one of the other racers.
• Dario then arrives, where he proceeds to prove himself a Jerkass to Ash and his friends very quickly before he leaves. Hex drops a comment about how he might cheat again for this year's race.
• After arriving at the festival and buying food, Lara and Hex explain that the previous year, there were several incidents and a lot of people got hurt during the race. They suspected Dario was behind them but had no proof, so the only thing that could be done was win the race to deny Dario what he wanted.
• Meanwhile, Dario is punishing one of his cronies for failing to sabotage Lara, before deciding to do it himself.

Hiker Interlude

• The Hiker and Mizu are safe, and after releasing her foster parents from the Poké Balls, he destroys them.
• The Hiker thanks Mizu for making him realize he had to change his path to become strong, while Mizu thanks her for rescuing her family.
• After a little celebration, Mizu asks if she can travel with the Hiker, to what he gladly agrees. The Water-types bid their farewell and return to the sea.
• Meanwhile, Captain Crook and his crew are stranded on land, so they decide to go to a port town to steal a ship, and go to the Orange Islands, after one pirate suggests that many Johto Pokémon migrate during the season, and they have chances to catch them. Crook accepts, since he doesn't want to show before the Phantom without his fee to pay his dues.

Big P Pokémon Race Interlude

• The next day, Lara and Hex continued training for the race, before deciding to return home. Unfortunately, Dario had obtained a sniper rifle that fires tranquilising darts. Though his intention was to hit Lara's Ponyta so it wouldn't be able to race, the actual outcome of Hex being hit with the dart and Lara's Ponyta being startled enough to throw his rider off causing her injury was still in his favour. Ash's intervention in saving the two girls is the only reason things did not end up worse.
• In the Laramie's home living room, Lara is saddened by her broken arm and how Hex has been hospitalised, since she knows Dario was behind it. Ash, knowing history has repeated itself despite his attempts to avert it, offers his help by competing in the race in Lara's stead. Misty, Iris and Anabel offer their help as well. Lara is moved and accepts their offer.
• After taking them to see the track, Lara teaches Ash how to ride a Ponyta. He shocks the others by how quickly he learned and Lara wonders if that's really the first time he rode a Ponyta. Knowing that he can't talk about the previous timeline, Ash attempts to explain it as him having experience with Rhyhorn Racing, which he managed to learn a lot about from Serena.
• The group then discusses their plan to deal with further cheating attempts. Ash and Misty will be taking part directly in the race to keep a close watch on Dario, Iris and Anabel will be on the sidelines, ready to act, and Lara will be in the commentating booth to keep the spotlight on Dario so if he tries something, he's more likely to be caught.
• After Lara leaves, Misty gives Ash a long and uncomfortable look before she asks about Serena. Ash then realises he never mentioned Serena to her, Iris or Anabel. Ash's Pikachu and Lara's Ponyta immediately leave the area.
• The next day, Dario smirks to himself, thinking that with Lara unable to race, his victory is guaranteed, before he sees Ash riding Lara's Ponyta.
• In the commentary booth, the commentator Horace asks Lara about the rumours her injury is due to sabotage. Lara says whoever did it will get what's coming for them.
• After Lara introduces Ash as a Pokedex Holder picked by Professor Oak, Dario tries to assure himself that it does not mean that Ash is a good racer. Lara then continues to say that Ash has experience in Rhyhorn Racing and took to riding her Ponyta incredibly quickly. Dario is even more unnerved when Misty arrives with her Gyarados.
• Before the race begins, Anabel checks that Ash and Misty can hear her thoughts. They can, and they tell her to get ready as the race is about to begin.
• The race begins:
  • Dario takes an early lead, having the advantage of knowing the terrain better than Ash and Misty.
  • Anabel spots two snipers with tranquilizing darts at the top of a mountain and sends Iris and Charizard to thwart them, allowing the other racers to pass safely.
  • At a river crossing, the Water-types report to Anabel that some of the boulders for crossing the river are fakes, and Anabel relays this info to Ash and Misty.
  • Ash is frustrated that he can't share the warning with the other racers as they fall for the traps.
  • At the next section, where the racers can only continue after the Pokemon have eaten their meal, Dario is frustrated that his Dodrio's three heads fighting over who gets to eat first allowed Ash and Misty to catch up. He gives the signal for the ambush to attack Ash and Misty while Dario rushes ahead.
  • Iris and Anabel arrive and Misty stays behind to deal with them, allowing Ash to go ahead.
  • A trainer and his many Wartortle still attempts to stop Ash, but Ponyta's determination to win allows it to evolve, and it overcomes them.
  • Seeing Ash and to his shock, Rapidash, Dario activates bombs planted by his cronies, which results in Ash's and Rapidash's path getting blocked by a huge boulder. Ash orders Rapidash to use Flare Blitz to burst through the rock.
  • The spectators see Dario coming in on the home stretch before seeing Ash and everyone, including Lara, are shocked to see Ash was now riding a Rapidash.
  • Seeing Dario reaching the finish line, Ash refuses to give in. He keeps thinking he must win, for Lara's sake, and accidentally activates his Super-Empowering ability, giving Rapidash the speed it needed to overtake Dario's Dodrio and claim victory.
• After stopping, both Ash and Rapidash dropped in exhaustion. Lara comes up to them to congratulate them for their victory, before Dario accuses Ash of cheating. Lara is incensed and speaks against him. In anger, Dario almost had his Dodrio attack her before Anabel teleported in, bringing Iris, Misty, their Pokemon, and two of Dario's cronies.
• Iris and Misty force the cronies to tell the truth. The cronies reveal all of Dario's cheating attempts, and an angry mob forms because of it. Dario is forced to flee.

Pokémon G-Men Interlude

• Frey is in the middle of an undercover operation in Mahogany Town, investigating Team Rocket.
• During his shift, he learns that some of the Rocket Grunts are in cahoots with a serial killer who plans to attack a woman who lives alone with her 13-year-old daughter.
• Informing his superiors, Frey is given 24 hours to deal with this before returning to his duty.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Four

• Dan arrives at Saffron Gym to challenge the gym leader.
• He sees a rookie trainer running, before a force strangles the boy.
• Dan immediately releases his Crobat to force Ghost-types to reveal themselves, believing they're responsible.
• Crobat finds no Ghost-type, causing Dan to wonder on the perpetrator.
• Sabrina reveals herself as the perpetrator, and commends on his skill and experience in attempting to figure out what killed the other guy.
• Sabrina asks if Dan is worthy, declaring that there are too many people in the world, and the weak should be killed.
• Sabrina tells Dan to bring out his entire team, stating that she has managed to take care of the Pokeball limit. Dan does so.
• Dan declares that he will live, refusing to die without a fight.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Six

• Three hours after the battle began, despite his Pokémon putting up a good fight, Dan is down to his Typhlosion and Mega-Ampharos. He begins to recall some of the most important events of his life, resigned to accept his fate.
• Before losing consciousness, he gets to hear Sabrina uttering that he's proven too strong to die.
• Sabrina muses that challengers always assume that they'll die if they lose. She receives a visit from the Emissary of the Bloodline King.
• The Emissary comes to tell her that she's still got an open offer to be the Bloodline Queen, but Sabrina refuses, as she's uninterested in being married to the Bloodliner King.
• The Emissary and Sabrina discuss some things about dual bloodliners, including specifically Ash Ketchum's recent encounters with Red and Belladonna. The Emissary leaves afterwards.
• While planning on leaving Dan alive to lure more challengers, Sabrina becomes intrigued by Ash's thoughts about her, and decides to investigate further.

Pokémon G-Men Interlude

• Frey tries to approach the woman upfront to warn her that her life might be in danger, but she refuses to believe him.
• Frey resolves to keep an eye on the woman, but the murderer doesn't appear.
• An explosion is heard from the other side of town. As he arrives, Frey sees the woman's house has been set ablaze, and realizes that the real target was the daughter.
• Frey sends his Charizard to rescue any survivors, and checks his surroundings. He spots a person walking away suspiciously from the scene, and follows them.
• The person is a man in a dark trenchcoat. Frey tries to question the man about the fire that's happening, and he replies coldly.
• The man tries to leave, but Frey refuses until he answers his questions. The man punches Frey and runs away.
• Frey tries to send his Tyranitar to stop the man, but in his escape, the man drops an object that disrupts his Poké Balls.
• Frey's Charizard comes out of the fire, carrying the woman's daughter. Having to choose between helping her or pursuing the man, Frey chooses to stay and help the girl. He keeps the device the man dropped, intending to have it analyzed later.

Big P Pokemon Race Interlude

• The day after the race, Ash turns down his prize, saying he only wanted to help Lara. As they leave after saying their goodbyes, Ash reveals to his friends that his Super-Empowering ability had kicked in during the last stretch of the race and he questions whether it was fair to win that way.
• Anabel assures him that he didn't do it for himself, that he just wanted to help Lara. Ash is happy with that, and thinks to himself that if he ever needs to help someone, then there is no shame in using his secondary power.
• Lara received news that Hex had woke up and rushes to the hospital. There she finds her friend being restrained by the doctors since she was upset over missing the race.
• After getting the doctors to leave, Lara succeeds in calming her friend down and at her request, briefly recaps what happened after she was rendered unconscious.
• Hex remarks that if she finds him, she will use her Shadow Claw on him. Lara chastises her for being careless with the revelation of her Bloodline ability, but Hex retorts that Lara feels the same way in wanting to roast Dario, to which she admits she's right.
• Lara then laments the fact that the two Bloodliner girls can't use their powers in public but is glad their respective families were understanding and accepting. She then wishes they could have more Bloodliner friends.
• Meanwhile, Dario remains in hiding, muttering that he will never be caught alive by the authorities and other civilians angry at what he did.
• Sabrina then appears and says that they won't even find him alive, before proceeding to kidnap him.
• In Kalos, Pidgeot arrives at Serena's home, where she delivers Ash's letter. After reading it, Serena is concerned by the contents.
• Upon learning the letter came from Ash, Grace says Ash appeared on the latest episode of Kanto's Gym Battle Review program and the rerun is about to start and that they could watch it together.
• Before doing so, Serena tells Pidgeot that she could spend the night at their home. Pidgeot accepts, though she cannot shake the feeling that while she was gone, Ash and his friends were in grave danger.

Wicke & Nephew Interlude

• In Fiore, a group of Cipher soldiers, including Dakim, begin poaching Pokémon south of Ringtown.
• At the Ringtown Ranger Base, Spenser assumes it's the Go-Rock Squad causing trouble, so he sends three rangers to investigate. After they fail to report, Spenser sends three more to check on them.
• Three hours later, the rangers still fail to turn up, so Spenser sends aide requests to the other Ranger Base leaders to investigate, taking every ranger available, including Zilant and Garmon, Wicke's nephew and brother-in-law respectively.
• Spenser and the others find the missing rangers dead, having been killed by the Cipher soldiers. A battle ensues.
• Many rangers end up being killed and many more heavily injured. Among the latter are Spenser, who gets his arm broken by Dakim, and Garmon. The rangers manage to rescue 75% of the captured Pokémon, but their enemies escape.
• Spenser calls Garmon's wife, Pia, to inform her of the bravery displayed by her son and husband.
• The next day, much to Spenser's shock, Pia calls back to inform that she's filing for divorce.

A.J Interlude

• A.J and Jeanette return to the Matcha City Gym for the rematch.
• The battle begins. Like before, it'll be best two out of three.
• Round One: Raticate vs Hitmonlee. Hitmonlee wins barely.
• Round Two: Sandslash vs Primeape. Sandslash wins.
• Round Three: Tyrogue vs Hitmonchan. Tyrogue wins, and evolves into Hitmontop after his victory.
• Kiyo congratulates A.J on his victory and hands him the Martial Badge. He also offers to let A.J keep Hitmontop until after the Indigo Conference, seeing the results of his training. A.J accepts.

Gary Interlude

• One day before the Fuchsia Tag Team Tournament, Gary hears Casey's words in his head, and continues to dismiss them.
• He then sees Red and Yellow, and remembers all his losses against Red.
• Gary's shaken by the conflict between his view of what it takes to be a Pokemon Master and the fact he has yet to win a battle against Red.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Four

• On the day of the tournament, Ash searches for his partner as he Flashbacks to his battle with Anabel recently. Ash had smiled after their battle, knowing that despite her not quite being the same as the girl he once knew, she was still a good trainer, and may one day be better.
• Ash encounters Red & Yellow, learns Red is his partner, and notices Yellow's cheek marks.
• In Kalos, Alain challenges Vermell to a battle.

Pokémon G-Men Interlude

• Lance and Krysta are infiltrating a Team Rocket laboratory. They head to the mainframe room and hack the entrance to get inside.
• They hack the computer and access the files in the database. One of them, "Project R", is noted by Krysta not to have approval from Giovanni, but from Proton.
• Before leaving, Krysta notices one last file, labeled as "Project M2". She tries to access it, but fails.
• After the third forced access attempt, a failsafe activates and the lab goes on alert, initiating an emergency lockdown.
• As they try to escape, the door is shut, so Krysta uses Frost Breath to freeze it to near absolute zero, and Lance calls his Dragonite to use Dragon Rush and break it open.
• During their escape, they're intercepted by Proton and security guards.
• Krysta uses Blizzard to attack everyone by surprise. A short fight ensues, during which Lance snatches Proton's electric baton and zaps him with it before escaping.
• The duo reaches the upper heliport. Lance opens the hatches while Krysta holds off their pursuers. Lance calls his Dragonite, and they escape through the opening.
• To dodge the anti-air defenses, they fly through a rocky canyon, and head off for open sea, where they jump off Dragonite's back.
• Using rebreathers and Water-type Pokémon, they dive deep into the sea to escape, and head for the rendezvous point.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Six

• The Fuchsia Tag Tournament has begun.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Five

• Otoshi and Marowak are meditating in front of their Keystone, still trying to decipher its secrets. They've been doing so for 48 hours.
• Norman and Caroline decide to enjoy some time together since Max is asleep, and May has gone out for the night with her friends.
• A.J. shows Jeanette how building up tolerance to a Pokémon's weaknesses can be useful in battle.

A.J Interlude

• A.J and Jeanette arrive in Matcha City. A-J decides to challenge the local gym for his fourth badge.
• A.J loses, but the Gym Leader, Kiyo, offers A.J to help him train with the rematch by lending him a Tyrogue as a sparring partner. A.J accepts.
• Training for the rematch begins, including teaching his Pokémon new moves and studying Tyrogue's battling style.

Pokemon G-Men Interlude

• Frey meets up with Lance and Krysta as they fly over another mountain range, heading for the rendezvous point.
• The three agents enter the secret base and head for the conference room. Director Flagg is hosting the meeting.
• The agents discuss their findings, bringing up several incidents confirmed or suspected to have involved bloodliners, including the recent Gringy City blackout.
• Krysta confirms that the Poison-type Pokémon were being controlled by a Heart Bloodliner. The files with the recent witness accounts and the information they got from Team Rocket's lab point to Belladonna Tyrian as the one responsible.
• Lance extends a proposal to create a taskforce to handle bloodliner-related incidents exclusively, to apprehend the ones who pose a danger and protect those who mean no harm.
• The problem is brought up that most bloodliners in the present time are under the age of 16, and thus they cannot recruit them.
• Frey brings up footage of the bloodliner trio seen in Goldenrod City. They are men in the same age bracket as Krysta, so they propose to send a team to wait for their next appearance to approach them.
• Krysta volunteers to be put in charge of this mission, and Director Flagg grants her the request. The meeting ends.
• Lance and Frey go to the dining hall to eat something before leaving the base.
• Lance receives a phone call from Clair, who tells him that his father Halberd wants to see him.
• Lance decides to take the lunch on the go, and leaves the base, flying on his Dragonite to Blackthorn City.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Six

• During the tournament, Gary is paired with Paul, and they face their first opponents. Paul easily wins the battle for both of them.
• Gary asks Paul if he really has only four badges. Paul replies that he won every single badge from a Gym with prestige and power, and that he pushes his Pokémon beyond their limits to win his battles.
• Gary recalls his previous encounter with Casey Snagem about what it means to be a Pokémon Master.
• Ash and Red are up next. Red notices that, just like in the Battle Dome Tournament, his Victory Sight glitches due to having Ash as his partner.
• Their opponents bring out a Rhydon and a Bellossom. Ash calls in his Yanma and Red his Poliwrath.
• Much to Red's shock, Ash has Yanma use a lot of physical attacks (including pinning down Bellossom with its weight), throwing him and their opponents completely off guard. Red's Poliwrath knocks Rhydon with a Water Pulse.
• Ash's Yanma finishes off Bellossom with a Quick Attack winning the match for them. Red admits that Ash is pretty strong, with his own battling style.
• Ash, Anabel, Red and Yellow are now on the stands, watching Lilo's match, who is facing Assunta and Melissa. Yellow comments that Red and Lilo fought a while back, but didn't get to finish their battle, and that Lilo comes from far away and uses very rare Pokémon.
• Despite being on her own, Lilo manages to make a comeback and win the fight for her team. Red comments that it wasn't her all going out, and that she might be the strongest opponent in the tournament.
• Anabel mentally replies to Ash that while she's unsure that Lilo is the strongest, she does seem a very powerful opponent, in no small part thanks to her using Pokémon from outside Kanto.
• Coming up next, Misty and Iris take their turn facing a guy named Hugo and a girl name Rachael.
• Hugo calls a Nidoqueen. Misty brings out Staryu, recalling that Gyarados is resting at Professor Oak's place after they took part in the Big P Pokemon Race.
• Rachael brings out a Pinsir, creeping Misty out. Iris calls in Excadrill.
• During the fight, Misty and Iris make a great display of teamwork, while Misty ponders on how she was worried about Iris hurting her, and later that she would take Ash away from her.
• Misty and Iris win the battle.
• Red notes that they've gotten stronger. Ash replies that they train together to improve themselves and help each other. Yellow comments that they should do the same, and suggests that they go for dinner together. Ash and Anabel agree, and so does Red.
• Later at a PokéMart, Red is unsure as to what to do or say during dinner, other than perhaps discussing battle combinations with Ash. Yellow suggests that he should ask Ash some things about himself.
• At dinner, Anabel notices how much more comfortable she's felt in the company of Ash and his friends, even though they had travelled together for less than a week.
• While Ash exchanges some info with Red and Yellow, Anabel picks up some thoughts and conversations from the people around. Some of them are even commenting about Ash and Red's performance.
• Red picks up Ash's Pokédex, who takes no time in noting the similarities between the two. Anabel ponders that, despite looking similar in appearance, in personalities they're complete opposites.
• Anabel admits to herself that she likes people like Ash, who always tries to see the bright side of life, and helps people in need as much he can. Red, on the other hand, seems to feel quite unhappy, mostly by choice.
• Red asks Ash about his Yanma, noting that it used physical attacks, while Yanma as a whole tend to veer more to use special attacks. Ash replies that his Yanma prefers to use physical attacks and he decides to work with that, instead of forcing it to do things it doesn't like, leaving Red confused.
• Anabel picks up a stray thought, specifically of Ash arguing with Paul about how to train Chimchar in the old timeline, but she doesn't recognize where it came from.
• Meanwhile, in Hop-Hop-Hop Town, Belladonna is looking for a book for Aurora, whom she has noticed has been very depressed since Tokiomi's death, and wants to cheer her up. Belladonna also notices that Aurora likes it better when they do things legally.
• Vedia finds the book for her.
• Shortly after, they notice Anna walking along with Arnold and Laila across the street. Belladonna notices that Arnold looks a lot like Ash and her, recalling that recently they saw him on TV in the penthouse they raided for stay, during the tournament along with Red, making Belladonna think her father could have had more children around, and not just them.
• Belladonna considers questioning them for info about her father, but Vedia suggests that she'll first find out where they live, so they can do so while not in public.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Seven

• That night at Hop-Hop-Hop Town, Anna is going for a night snack while Arnold and Laila are asleep. Belladonna shows up.
• Belladonna uses her bloodline to try and get info about Arnold, and gets enough to determine that Arnold is another brother.
• She then asks for Anna to tell her more about Arnold, and Anna obliges even without the use of Belladonna's bloodline.
• Anna explains everything, including the Team Rocket attack on Hop-Hop-Hop town.
• Anna also offers a description on Belladonna's and Arnold's father. Anna doesn't have much, other than his physical description, his accent sounding Orrean and the fact he was quite a physically pleasurable lover, but lacked a "spark" she had with other lovers.
• After this, Belladonna thanks her and leaves.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Six

• At night, Ash once again has a MissingNo-induced dream. This time, however, he's shown a Bad Future featuring Clemont wearing a robotic exosuit, Latoya Parker, wearing a more heavily armored suit of Gligirl, and two others he doesn't recognize (Wes and Hapu). They discuss several incidents, including a "Bloodline War", during which Ash apparently teamed up with Belladonna. MissingNo notes that this used to be the future until a few weeks ago.
• In Alola, the twins Frax and Velvet Lono pass out in the middle of an exam.
• The next morning, Ash tries to look up information on a black Pokémon with a white top, but Dexter is unable to provide the one he's looking for.
• Ash and Red come up for the next round of the tournament, and they face the twins Elwood and Aideen. Ash recognizes them from Oak's Summer Camp.
• The twins bring out a Nidorina and Hitmonlee, while Ash and Red bring out Ambipom and Victreebel.
• Ash and Red win the battle and advance to the next round.
• In Saffron City, Sabrina has Dario captive. She tells him to his face how people like him, losers without talent, focus their efforts on sabotaging others more talented to make themselves look good rather than working to improve, before snapping his neck and killing him.
• Sabrina plans to do the same with a stage magician named Melvin, to get the world cleansed of useless people who crowd out the truly remarkable ones.

Pokémon G-Men Interlude

• Lorelei is at her hotel room in Celadon City. After getting out of the shower, she decides to watch some TV.
• Pokémon TV is broadcasting the Fuchsia Tag Tournament. Lorelei is surprised to see familiar faces, including Ash, Misty and Iris.
• Her phone rings, it's a call from Frey. The two relay what they've done in the past days, and discuss the possibility of spending some time together.
• Lorelei tells Frey that she's due for a lecture in Mandarin Island next week, and asks Frey if they can meet at her summer house over there. Frey agrees.
• Lorelei ends the call. She ponders about Frey's job with the Pokémon G-Men, but assures herself that he and Krysta can take care of themselves and handle anything.

Wicke & Nephew Interlude

• Wicke and several other Aether Foundation workers are working in the control of invading Pokémon species, operating on a group of Yungoos to neuter them so they don't reproduce.
• After getting the situation under control, Wicke delivers her report via video call. She manages to get a glimpse of a girl who has a passing resemblance to her nephew Zilant.
• After the call ends, Faba comes to inform her that she's got another call in wait from someone named Spenser about "family".
• At the video conference room, Lusamine is waiting. Wicke then activates the video monitor to start the call.
• After Wicke notices his bandaged arm, Spenser tells her about the incident of three days ago and its aftermath. He requests that she takes care of Zilant while Garmon and Pia are carrying out their divorce so he doesn't get dragged into the drama.
• Wicke accepts, and Spenser tells her he'll send Zilant in the next flight to Alola as soon as he can.
• At the Malie International Airport, Wicke waits for Zilant's arrival, until she finally spots him.
• Wicke and Zilant head for a local restaurant for something to eat. When they arrive, Zilant becomes a little unsettled at the extreme friendliness of the Alolans.
• That night, Zilant spends his time stargazing on the roof of the Aether Foundation while Wicke is at work, pondering on what he's seen in Alola, and wondering how he's going to tell her he's bisexual.
• Tapu Koko appears in front of Zilant, trying to give him a Z-Ring. He promptly refuses.
• Tapu Koko insists, but Zilant keeps refusing. Frustrated, Tapu Koko summons a storm to channel all of its power into a finger, threatening Zilant into accepting the ring.
• Zilant decides to use his power to get Tapu Koko to understand his emotions and ideals and explains why he doesn't want the ring. Tapu Koko is annoyed, but ultimately relents and leaves.
• The next morning, when Wicke is about to leave for work, she finds a Skarmory wrecking her car's roof.
• Wicke tries to scare the Skarmory away, but fails. Zilant, who just woke up, uses his Capture Styler to convince the Skarmory to leave and make its nest somewhere else.
• They go to a diner in Akala for breakfast. While they eat, Wicke notes a couple eating next to them, a boy with his hands burned, and a blonde girl who Wicke recognizes as the same from the video call the other day.
• Zilant and the girl seem to have disagreements on their tastes, judging by their reactions to each other, unsettling Wicke, who tries to keep Zilant distracted to avoid sparking trouble.
• Wicke suggests to Zilant that he can go play some golf while she attends her work in the Hano Grand Resort. Zilant agrees, as he needs to practice his putting.
• After practicing some putting, Zilant drinks some water and checks out an electronic board with photos of the best players of the week in the golf course. He notices the girl from the diner is among them, and her name is Betty Snyder.
• Zilant goes for a walk on the beach to distract himself.
• A Palossand appears and begins rampaging, attacking the lifeguards and beachgoers, and prompting Zilant to try and stop it.
• Zilant attempts to use his Capture Styler to pacify the Palossand, but a Sandygast gets in his way.
• After several more failed attempts, the Palossand begins sucking in trying to swallow Zilant alive, but a Giga Drain from an Eelektross stops it, while a Zebstrika comes up and takes Zilant to safety.
• Betty has appeared, and is ready to confront the Palossand, expressing her dislike for Ghost-type Pokémon.
• Zilant and Betty begin arguing, but they have no choice but to team up to stop the rampaging Palossand.
• Zilant gets a Pelipper to summon a rain to get Palossand wet, causing its body to harden and become immobilized. He's ready to capture it, but Betty beats him to the punch and uses a Great Ball to catch it.
• Before Betty leaves, Zilant is about to start a fight with her for the Palossand, but Tapu Lele appears, and takes him away.
• Tapu Lele drops Zilant in a pile of grass snippets. He goes to meet with Wicke.
• When Zilant tells Wicke about what happened at the beach, Wicke tries to reason with him that, even if their cultures are clashing with one another, each has its good and bad traits, the world keeps changing and he should try to see things from a different perspective.
• A few days later, at Aether Paradise, Lusamine asks Wicke how things are going with her nephew, while mixing a medicine for a group of Turtonator that are sick and might endanger their surroundings if they explode.
• A sudden tremor shakes the lab, and several of the vials with it. Wicke and Lusamine try to catch them before they break, but one in particular with a strange label falls and upon breaking accidentally splashes Wicke.
• The chemical has a strange effect on Wicke, causing her to fall into a daze and faint.
• Wicke suddenly experiences strange flashes of of an Alternate Universe:
  • At the rave where she was being made fun of seventeen years ago, she sees herself taking up Pia's challenge instead of laving home.
  • She then sees herself in bed with a man, as well as her sister Pia, clothes scattered all over the floor.
  • She finds herself in front of the Aether Foundation, where she meets a bald man dressed in red, with his edges pixelated. The man says some strange things, and then the scene changes again.
  • She sees herself a few years younger, with a little girl named Panonnicia who is apparently her daughter.
  • Finally, she sees herself asleep in front of a computer monitor, about to send an email. Before she can see the addresses, however, the dream ends.
• Wicke wakes up in her bed, finding a note from Lusamine, and ponders on the dream she just had, as well as the circumstances surrounding Pia's pregnancy and Zilant's birth.
• While Wicke recovers, Zilant has gone to the Alolan History Museum, prompted by Lusamine.
• He finds a strange tapestry that seems off with the rest of the exhibit. A girl who works at the museum, named Makanui, approaches him.
• Makanui tells him this tapestry was brought by King Kahele, as well as her own theories about it.
• In Melemele, Tapu Koko is upset that Zilant refused a Z-Ring, and copes with some root beer. Hala wonders if he should start practicing comforting people about rejection.
• In Po Town, Guzma and Plumeria find a Skarmory raiding their cereal supply. Plumeria decides to punish the bird herself when she sees an empty box of her favorite cereal.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Seven

• In Vaniville Town, Serena has written back to Ash, and sees Pidgeot off as she flies back to Kanto, musing that she won't be able to get back in time to help Ash in his current tournament.
• Pidgeot drops a feather after taking off, which Serena picks up, hoping that Ash answers her questions about his likeness to Red.
• The Fuchsia Tag Tournament continues.
• Gary and Paul prepare for their next match. Paul comments that "Red isn't half bad" surprising Gary. He then comments on how much Red and Ash look alike, which Gary realizes he hadn't noticed before.
• Their opponents are Giselle and a guy named Septimus. The latter sends out a Gyarados nicknamed Haku.
• Paul sends out his Raichu, while Giselle sends out her Cubone. Gary sends out his Exeggcute.
• Towards the end of the battle Giselle's Cubone gets a broken arm. Gary tries to apologize, but Paul uses the chance to attack the Gyarados with his Raichu's Thunderbolt, much to Gary's shock.
• The battle ends with a victory for Gary and Paul, the former being shocked about how far his partner is willing to go to win.
• Ash, Red, Yellow and Anabel are watching Lilo's next match. Red uses Ash's Pokédex to look up info about Lilo's Alolan Pokémon.
• Later, Gary decides that he doesn't want to deal with Paul and his attitude, so he goes off to find something to eat.
• He finds a good place to eat, but the line is extremely long. A young biker musician offers him a request for a song while he waits, and Gary agrees.
• Early the next morning, Dexter wakes Ash up to reveal he deciphered a glitch to duplicate Pokéballs, as well as a message from John Archer's Gardevoir. She and the others found another possible half-sibling in Johto, a young man named Cleff Matsuoka.
• After listing his past achievements, Dexter reveals that Cleff used his League winnings to build himself a house, and is apparently living with three bloodliner girls, sharing a romantic relationship with all of them at once and in full consent, much like Belladonna, to Ash's shock.
• Later that morning, Ash and Red have their next match, against two guys named Tim Mortis and Mike.
• Mike brings in a Ninetales who quickly sets up Sunny Day with Drought. Ash calls in Charizard.
• Tim brings out a Misdreavus, and Red calls in his Persian.
• Ash and Red's teamwork prevails, netting them another win.
• Later that day, while Ash and his other Pokémon are training, Misty, Iris and Anabel show up to tell him that they got a call from Lara and Hex at the Laramie Ranch.
• They tell him Dario vanished without a trace, and they only found his Dodrio. Ash wonders what could have happened to him.
• Yellow then appears along with Red, who has something important to talk about.
• Red reveals himself as a Fire-type bloodliner, as well as the fact he knows Ash is a bloodliner too. He also says that he wants Ash to stop "holding back".
• Ash doesn't quite get what Red is saying, so he reveals that he has a second bloodline that allows him to see the scenarios that happen to him, and also pick up when others are like him. Red then asks what he can do.
• Anabel intervenes, and reveals to Red that Ash is able to give Pokémon incredible power boosts, enough for a Charmander to defeat a Kingdra, much to Red's shock.
• Ash reveals that he doesn't use it for competitive battling since it only activates on its own when he gets stressed, and he considers it cheating.
• Red argues that it's not cheating, since there's nothing written in the rules that forbids it. Ash then realizes that Red is confessing having used it all the time against everyone he's faced, including Misty and Iris in the Battle Dome.
• Red then reveals that Ash's sole presence actually throws off his abilities, preventing him from using them since the tournament started.
• Both of them end up angry at the other for their viewpoints and ultimately Red leaves with Yellow.
• An argument breaks between Misty, who takes Ash's side, Iris, who agrees with Red to an extent, and Anabel, who remains neutral. Ash is too angry to participate.
• Hours later, Ash discusses what happened with Dexter and Pikachu. He still refuses to use his abilities on principle, but Pikachu, while fully supporting him, asks him what he'll do if there's something at stake. More specifically, what he will do if they lose the tournament, and if he's willing to risk the lives and the freedoms of the others to recover his Tauros.
• In Pallet Town the next day, Delia and Oak watch a rerun of the Unova League, before cutting to the ongoing Fuchsia Tag Tournament. They notice something off with Ash and Red.
• Their next opponents are Lilo and her partner. They send out a Mudsdale and a Pidgeotto respectively against Ash's Pikachu and Red's Haunter.
• The battle begins. Ash's Pikachu quickly knocks out Pidgeotto, but not before it leaves a Tailwind on the field, boosting Mudsdale's speed and turning it from a Mighty Glacier into a Lightning Bruiser.
• Ash and Red are unable to properly work together due to their argument, and things only get worse as Mudsdale's defense increases with each hit, thanks to its ability Stamina, plus Pikachu is unable to damage it with Electric Attacks. Ash decides to keep attacking until the defense breaks using Iron Tail.
• After a risky hit, Ash manages to throw off Mudsdale by hitting its hooves, but accidentally hits Red's Haunter, paralyizing it.
• The Tailwing peters out, and Lilo decides to unleash her trump card, her Z-Move, Tectonic Rage.
• Pikachu manages to escape the move using his tail as a spring, but Haunter takes the full brunt and ends up knocked out.
• Ash wipes some sweat off his face in relief, and then notices a strange sand-like substance in his hand.
• Realizing that he would have lost against Lilo when their previous battle was interrupted, Red is ready to accept defeat, but Ash and Pikachu are still in the game and refuse to back out.
• In Alola, Hala is impressed with Ash's skills, and makes a bet with Tapu Koko over one year of root beer: if Ash wins, they'll send him a Z-Ring, though Hala is rather puzzled that Tapu Koko wants to send it without a crystal.
• Back at the tournament, Pikachu tries to provoke Mudsdale into attacking, but fails.
• With the two Pokémon at a stalemate, Ash is unsure as to how to cause damage without risking Pikachu to get hit. He spots Paul, and then gets an idea. He orders Pikachu to gather electricity in his tail, and then slam the ground at Mudsdale.
• A large barrage of rocks rain over Mudsdale, impressing Ash's friends, the crowd, and many others all over Kanto and abroad:
  • Burgundy, still aboard the S.S. Anne, muses that she might have underscored Ash and Pikachu's compatibility, even for how well she judged it.
  • In Alola, Betty Snyder asks if they have Pikachu in the region, also noticing Ash has the same Z-marks as her and Zilant. Her boyfriend Jamie Oliver is preparing a meal with the help of Betty's new Charjabug.
  • Janine arrives at the airport, and realizes Ash will challenge her soon.
  • In their stolen hideaway, Belladonna cheers loudly, while Aurora and Vedia watch silently and Evanna sleeps.
  • In Pewter City, Pike Queen Lucy comments to Brock that she will probably be facing Ash very soon.
  • Sabrina is at the restaurant ran by sisters Rhoda and Rhonda who are impressed with Ash. Sabrina agrees, mentally recalling how she spared them thanks to Ritchie's intervention, as well as a lout named Keith, but she has already killed Seymour the Scientist and Melvin the Magician.
  • Lt. Surge shouts something unintelligible in excitement, recalling how his granny, the undefeated arm-wrestling champion in Agate Village, taught him to.
  • In Frodomar City, Silver begins getting ideas to pull something similar. His wife Regina gently chides him not to, since it'll only add more bans to his record. The two also notice Ash and Red's resemblance to Ritchie.
  • Atop a mountain in Kalos, Vermell watches the match via Internet.
  • Alex Davies relays the details of the match to Kaia, who calls it "crazy", and the former agrees.
  • Dan is recovering Saffron Pokémon Center, and seeing Ash on TV, begins to pray that he doesn't meet him on the Top 16 of the Indigo League.
  • Nanu gets up when his "riot senses" start tingling, and catches a glimpse of Ash on TV before leaving. He notices his resemblance to Balaur, a criminal he arrested two decades ago, but ultimately disregards it as nothing.
  • Giovanni watches the match, impressed with Ash's performance.
• Back at the stadium, Ash commands Pikachu one last Iron Tail, this time boosting it with Quick Attack. Lilo calls for Mudsdale to use High Horsepower, but Pikachu's attack prevails, winning the match.
• Paul, watching the match, is rather unimpressed and decides to leave, having realized Red and Ash's respective weaknesses, and begins to plan for the finals after he wins his current upcoming match.
• Red is at his hotel room, still reminiscing about the match when Yellow comes to tell him to go out and eat with Ash and his friends. He refuses, saying that he's not hungry.
• Red reminisces about his mother, Shinku, and how she taught him that he should always fight giving his best, and not doing so is a lack of respect for his opponents. He still feels angry at Ash because he managed to win despite, in Red's eyes, not bothering to give his all because neither he nor any of his previous opponents were worth it.
• The next match is about to begin, Paul and Gary vs Misty and Iris.
• Paul sends out his Raichu, leaving Gary puzzled. Iris sends out Excadrill. The battle begins.
  • Gary sends a Porygon he got recently and Misty her Poliwrath.
  • Misty and Iris manage to take an early advantage with their teamwork managing to put Gary and Paul against the ropes.
  • In a desperate move, Excadrill moves in to intercept a Thunderbolt from Raichu to protect Poliwrath, but takes a Tri-Attack from Porygon in the process.
  • Raichu is knocked out, but Excadrill suffers a burn from the previous Tri-Attack and faints too.
  • The battle continues between Poliwrath and Porygon. Gary calls for a conversion attack, but Porygon upgrades it to Conversion 2.
  • Porygon becomes Ghost-type, becoming immune to Poliwrath's Dynamic Punch. Gary then calls for a Charge Beam barrage for massive damage, winning the match.
• After winning, Gary runs off to hug Porygon for a job well done.
• That night, Ash is trying to decide which Pokémon he will use the finals, trying to figure out how to win without taking Red into account because he's still angry at him.
• A sound is heard from the nearby bushes, and a Raichu comes out, a very badly beaten one.
• Pikachu and Dexter confirm it's Paul's Raichu, the latter also adding that she was recently released.
• Red comes from behind, also recognizing the same Raichu. Ash explains that Paul always releases his Pokémon if they don't perform well enough to his standards or don't know the attacks he wants.
• Pikachu explains to Ash that Raichu didn't want to fight, but Paul still forced her to, and released her after the last one.
• Dexter suggests that Ash clones a Heal Ball to catch Raichu so she can be healed. Ash agrees, and offers Raichu to be sent to Professor Oak's lab, where she'll be safe. Raichu allows herself to be caught.
• Red decides that they have to beat Paul, and asks Ash to tell him everything he knows about him so they can make a plan to defeat him. Despite being still angry at Ash, he considers Paul to be worse, and is willing to work with Ash one last time to beat him.
• Ash proceeds to tell Red everything he knows about Paul, including about the possibility of him having a Torterra at this point.
• The next day, before the final match, Ash notices Gary looks uneasy.
• Paul calls in his Torterra, just as Ash predicted. Red sends out his Charmeleon.
• Gary sends his Blastoise. Ash sends out Servine. The final match begins:
  • Torterra opens up with Seed Bomb. Servine counters with Aerial Ace.
  • Blastoise sends out an Ice Beam. Charmeleon intercepts with Flame Burst, letting Servine hit Torterra.
  • Ash notices that Torterra used Curse without Paul telling him, and he shrugs off the hit.
  • Servine tries to attack Torterra with Attract. Torterra blocks it using Stealth Rock in "Formation 4".
  • Servine suggests to Ash that they take out Blastoise first so they can double team Torterra later. Ash agrees.
  • After dodging a Scald from Blastoise, Servine sends out a Leaf Storm hitting Blastoise.
  • Gary thinks Ash wasted an attack by doing this, and calls for another Ice Beam.
  • Blastoise aims each cannon at one of his opponents, who counter with Flame Burst and Leaf Storm respectively. Much to Gary's shock, Servine's Leaf Storm comes out stronger instead of weaker.
  • Paul calls for Torterra to use Seed Bomb, knocking Servine and Charmeleon to the floor. He then scolds Gary for not knowing that Ash's Servine has Contrary.
  • Blastoise uses Scald against Charmeleon. Servine jumps in to intercept with Leaf Blade, giving Charmeleon the chance to strike with Dragon Claw.
  • Blastoise uses Earthquake, afflicting Charmeleon. Servine jumps to dodge attack, while Torterra sends out his own Earthquake to counter it.
  • Ash orders Servine to "break the shock wave", and much to everyone's surprise, she does, by attacking the ground with Leaf Blade on the Earthquake's path.
  • Charmeleon attacks Blastoise with Flame Burst, and Servine finishes him off with Leaf Storm before he can fire a Focus Blast.
  • Servine and Charmeleon begin to attack Torterra, but he tanks all of the hits using Curse. Paul then reveals Torterra knows a fifth move: Stone Edge.
  • Servine and Charmeleon continue their attack, but they're unable to pierce through Torterra's defenses to cause good damage.
  • Servine then talks to Charmeleon and relays something to Ash, who relays it to Red. He says that in order to win, they need Charmeleon to evolve.
  • Ash tells Red that he can tell Charmeleon has the power to evolve, and just needs the proper motivation to do so.
  • Red tries giving Charmeleon a Rousing Speech, and though it's a pretty bad one, it works.
  • Upon evolving, Red's new Charizard has learned Heat Wave, which he quickly uses to defeat Torterra.
• Ash and Red win the match, and the tournament.

A.J Interlude.

• A.J and Jeanette are taking a break before going to their next destination: Cinnabar Island. A.J chats with his father via phone call and exchanges some Pokémon. Jeanette comes back with their ferry tickets.
• A ruckus is heard at the center's lobby, and they go check it out. The Fuchsia Tag tournament finals are underway, and they stay to watch it after seeing Ash and Red are competing.
• A few guys begin gambling on Paul's Torterra winning the match. A.J takes offense as his dismissal of Ash, and the guy asks if he wants to make a bet.
• Jeanette offers to cover for A.J, even gambling five hundred, and after giving it some thought, A.J accepts.
• The guy who gambled is left shocked after Ash and Red win the match, and is forced to pay the amount. A.J muses that he'll use it to buy something nice for Jeanette later, and they leave.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Seven

• The night after the tournament, Ash still continues to ponder about his earlier debate with Red. Misty still agrees with Ash, while Iris, despite admiring Ash's sense of honor and pride, still considers that Red isn't breaking any rules.
• When Misty and Iris begin to argue again, Ash has to stop them, because he doesn't want them to start a fight over it.
• Anabel offers her thoughs, telling Ash that maybe he shouldn't judge Red too harshly, because she could feel he carries a lot of pain inside and probably had a hard life, unlike Ash. On the other hand, she also notes that Red has no right to judge Ash either, citing examples of people who pull through despite having handicaps, and others who grow stronger by giving themselves handicaps. She concludes by saying that despite doing things differently, neither is necessarily wrong.
• Ash finally voices his opinion: he's not going to force Red to accept his beliefs. He will do things his own way and believe in his Pokémon strength, sticking to what he believes. The girls accept it.
• Gary is ready to leave for Celadon for his next badge. The bard from before is going there too and offers him a ride in his bike's sidecar, in exchange for protection from Beedrill swarms.
• A strange girl watches the aftermath of the battle, talking to a mysterious person over a cellphone, having recorded the entire battle on video. She is shown to know everything about Ash, Red, and many other half-siblings. She then changes her appearance, commenting that it's "her favorite look".

Head Gym Leader Drake Interlude

• At Kumquat Island, Travis becomes impressed with the display of power from Ash's Pikachu, and decides to begin his Pokémon journey, leaving for Johto.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Eight

• Ash, Misty, Iris, Anabel, Red and Yellow prepare to enter the Safari Zone.
• Before entering, Ash's group finds a couple of old Pokégears in a garbage bag. Anabel picks them up and Dexter proposes to use them as secondary bodies the others can carry so it can gather more data. Ash opposes, but is outvoted by his friends.
• Ash begins hunting for his Tauros, Misty goes with Anabel searching for Water-type Pokémon, Iris goes on her own to find Pokémon not native to Kanto, and finally Red goes with Yellow to find Pokémon to strengthen his own team.
• Misty and Anabel find a Slowbro, which the former catches. She pulls out her fishing rod to see if she can get something else from the pond.
• Ash and Pikachu find five Tauros drinking from a watering hole, recognizing three of them as part of his old herd. Ash decides to catch them all, including the extra ones.
• A Spearow gets in the way of one of the Safari Balls and gets caught instead. Before the last Tauros can get away, Ash tosses another one to catch it.
• Red is making his own captures, with Yellow keeping track of what they've found and what they still have left to find in a notepad. By this point, he has caught Scyther, Doduo, Nidorino, Sandshrew, Ekans, and a Psyduck.
• Red catches a Gyarados, and remarks his intention to find a Kangaskhan to Mega Evolve it.
• Meanwhile, at some mountains away from the Safari Zone, Otoshi and his Marowak have found a strange kid, who fed them after their supplies were stolen by a Fearow.
• The kid has taken Otoshi to a mountain range, intending to show him of a secret power capable of rivaling with Mega Evolution, Z-Moves and Bond Phenomenon, taking advantage of Marowak's Lightning Rod ability and Otoshi's Key Stone to trigger it.
• A flash from the sky hits Marowak, coating his arm and shoulder in a golden layer and powering it up. The kid explains this is called "Break Evolution".
• Back at the Safari Zone, Ash finds another group of five Tauros, including one he recognizes as the fastest one in the old herd.
• The Tauros are about to get into a fight with a group of ten Exeggutor, apparently over a plant both groups want to eat.
• Dexter remarks the plant they're fighting over is not normal food for Exeggutor in the wild, but usually given by trainers to prevent fungi growth. It also notes the Exeggutor seem to be rather low on weight and have traces of being released recently, with their Poké Balls being destroyed.
• Dexter suggests that the Exeggutor might not survive here, so Ash decides to catch them along with his Tauros.
• Misty and Anabel continue fishing in a pond, though they're beginning to feel they should go somewhere else, since they haven't found anything interesting here.
• Anabel suggests she'd like to find an Eevee, to which Misty agrees.
• Suddenly, Misty's line catches something, and after she pulls with Anabel's help, it turns out to be a Dragonair. Dexter's side body demands that they catch it, but Misty refuses since it's not a Water-type.
• Ash and Pikachu are walking up a rocky hill, and a Geodude throws a stone at them.
• Dexter gives some random trivia about Geodude, including that it has an Alolan form that is part Electric-type. Ash suggests he'd like to catch one of those, much to Pikachu's shock.
• As they continue, they find several Tauros lying on the floor, apparently defeated by, of all things, a Farfetch'd wielding three leeks, one with each wing and one with his beak.
• The Farfetch'd spots them, and Pikachu translates his speech. He apparently has defeated many Pokémon in the Safari Zone and wants to defeat more around the world, but he can't fly without losing his leeks. He wants to see if Ash is worthy of him.
• Ash tries to show Farfetch'd his badges, the Pokémon he's caught, and even his muscles. He finally convinces him by showing him a Power-Up Punch, and Farfetch'd accepts being caught. Ash then proceeds to catch the defeated Tauros.
• Ash continues his quest for the Tauros, and Dexter asks why he's trying to catch so many of them. Ash makes up an excuse by saying they live in herds, and Dexter seems to accept it.
• They run into a pool of steaming water, and Pikachu accidentally falls in. Ash notes there are several Pokémon relaxing inside, including four more Tauros. An Arcanine is in the back of all of them, using its fire powers to heat up the water for them.
• Somewhere else, Iris calls for Misty and Anabel, and leads them to a pool with a strange sign. She points Misty to it, reminding her of her goal of catching every Water-type.
• The pool is full of Basculin, rather voracious fish Pokémon. Iris shows them some tooth marks on her ankle, apparently caused by Basculin ten years ago. Misty decides to catch one, but after seeing how violent they get, they decide to take them all to stop their rampage.
• Ash finds a group of Kangaskhan, and in the middle of them two Tauros charging at each other. Pikachu recognizes them as being from their herd.
• Ash prepares to catch them, but the Kangaskhan get in their way. Ash uses Quick Attack to get behind them and catch the Tauros.
• Afterwards, Ash notices the shoulder of his shirt apparently got torn by Pikachu when he held onto it. The mouse apologizes, but Ash just shrugs it off.
• Red and Yellow find an injured Ponyta. Yellow uses her healing abilities on it and Red catches it.
• Continuing his hunt, Ash find an injured Tauros, and catches it. Pikachu confirms it was one of their own as well.
• Some digging Pokémon appear in front of Ash, a Diglett, a Gible and a Dweeble. Dexter demands that Ash catches the latter two for their rarity, but Ash refuses.
• Three Roggenrola appear. Dexter dryly remarks they're common and Ash doesn't want to catch them.
• Ash recognizes one of the Roggenrola as his own, and Pikachu confirms it, also revealing that it's female. Regardless, Ash catches her and switches one of his Poké Balls to restore her memories and put her up to speed with everything.
• Misty and Anabel find a strange canal, which Dexter remarks was probably made by a Gyarados.
• After the canal spits some bubbles, Anabel uses her powers to split the water and reveal what's down there. Turns out it's a Krabby fighting against a Shellder, which Misty proceeds to catch.
• With this, Misty's count of caught Water-types goes up to 17, and she thinks how much her progress has sped up since she met her friends.
• After telling Roggenrola everything, Ash assures her that they will find their other friends, including Palpitoad, even after they have stopped Cyrus.
• Roggenrola picks up a Tauros ahead, and they follow her.
• Ash recalls one time in the previous timeline he took one of his Tauros for a class as a favor to Professor Oak shortly after the Sinnoh League. He recognizes the Tauros he took for that time, and for some reason it's accompanied by a Vulpix.
• Dexter suggests that this Vulpix could be an offspring of the Tauros, and after noticing it doesn't feel well, Ash decides to catch them both.
• Ash wonders how this Tauros could have had an offspring, as well as how Professor Oak kept his Pokémon from reproducing left and right.
• Roggenrola picks up a Tauros stampede, and they follow after her.
• Red and Yellow find a Snorlax. The former wants to catch it, but hesitates, due to the fact that they eat too much and he's not sure he can afford it.
• Red recalls how Ash told him about his Pokémon staying at Professor Oak's lab when not in use, and becomes upset at it.
• Yellow realizes what Red is thinking, but points out to him that, if Ash catches the Snorlax and sends it to Professor Oak, he'd be using his full advantages.
• A female voice speaks behind them, and Red and Yellow turn around to meet a strange girl who seemingly appeared out of nowhere sitting on top of the Snorlax.
• The girl uses telekinesis to snatch Red's Safari Ball, explains that her eyes allow her to see into the past and future of people, and introduces herself as Naty.
• Naty explains she's from a "mysterious organization" that is interested in Red and Ash, and offers to help him. She gives Red a Rainbow Pass for the Sevii Islands, explaining that a friend of her, called Meg, runs a place where he could send his extra Pokémon to be looked after, much like Ash has Professor Oak's lab.
• Naty also gives Red a Kangaskhanite, encouraging him to find a Kangaskhan to use it. She then uses the Safari Ball to catch the Snorlax, promising to look after it while Red deals with his business in the Safari Zone.
• Yellow doesn't trust this girl, thinking there must be something bad behind her, but Red is willing to give it a chance, to increase his own advantages as much as possible. Red is confident that he can get out if it turns out to be something he doesn't want to do.
• Ash continues to search for his Tauros, letting Charizard out to burn away some thorn vines blocking his path. The Fire-type isn't amused at this, but Ash promises a role in the upcoming Gym battle to make up for it.
• Dexter receives a message from Gardevoir and the others, an update about another possible half-sibling. Her name is Meliae.
• After hearing of her league achievements, Ash asks her if she's involved in something criminal or illegal, which Dexter confirms she doesn't. Dexter also explains that she doesn't engage in Polyamory like Belladonna, but tends to go often for one-night flings. Ash ponders about it, but ultimately decides he's fine with that.
• Ash accidentally throws Dexter into a thorn bush, and calls Charizard to burn it away to get it out.
• Iris continues to wander off on her own for a while, and stops to eat some apples from a tree along with Axew.
• While Axew is eating, the same Gible Ash let escape a while ago appears from underground and begins to chew on Axew's head.
• Iris separates them, and realizes Gible is a Dragon-type. After telling each other's stories, the girl decides to take him along. She then calls mentally for Anabel to get her a Safari Ball from Ash.
• Misty continues fishing for new Pokémon, catching a Seaking. Anabel picks up on Iris's call and she teleports them to her.
• After giving Iris the Safari Ball to catch Axew, an Eevee appears on a tree. Anabel offers it an apple. The Eevee jumps to her, much to Misty's dismay, who also wanted it.
• Ash finds the rest of his Tauros, along with many more. The count will go up to 44, and he realizes they're going to cause a lot of damage at Oak's ranch. Dexter suggests that Ash buys Oak something to apologize in advance for the damages.
• Ash finishes catching the rest of his Tauros, sending them back home safely.
• Red and Yellow appear, apparently having found everything they were looking for as well.
• Roggenrola sees Red and notes how he looks a lot like Ash. Pikachu lets slip that they're probably half-brothers, and Red's Pikachu overhears it.
• Ash debates whether he should tell Red and Yellow about their possible relationship.
• Red's Pikachu asks about what he just said. Ash's Pikachu explains what he knows, leaving Red's Pikachu puzzled about this kind of behavior in a human. He wonders if Ash would tell Red about it, to what Ash's Pikachu remarks he has no idea.
• As they leave the Safari Zone, Ash has one last Safari Ball in his hand. He gets into an argument with his Pokédex, tripping with a root and dropping both the Pokédex and the ball.
• The ball rolls near the rustling grass, and a Shiny Chansey comes out, tapping the ball and being captured.
• Dexter begins Laughing Mad at this, remarking that Ash finally did something good.
• Back at the Pokémon Center, Ash and Co. call Professor Oak, who is pleased with their captures in the Safari Zone, also commenting that he plans to send them a set of Item Capsules very soon.
• Ash gets a call from the reception desk that there's a package for him. Professor Oak remarks that cannot be the Item Capsules he sent, it must be something else.
• The package has been sent from Melemele Island in Alola, and it contains a Z-Ring, but without a crystal. The sender signed it as "Kahuna and Guardian Deity" and enclosed a message of "figure it out".
• Ash grabs the Z-Ring and begins experiencing visions of several of his past battles, but each of them has his Pokémon using a Z-Move:
  • Pikachu defeats Lt. Surge's Raichu with Breakneck Blitz.
  • Kingler defeats Mandi's Seadra with Hydro Vortex.
  • Cyndaquil defeats Bugsy's Scyther with Inferno Overdrive.
  • Noctowl defeats Morty's Gengar with Shattered Psyche.
  • Grovyle defeats Norman's Slaking with Bloom Doom.
  • Snorlax defeats Greta's Medicham with Pulverizing Pancake.
  • Aipom defeats Gardenia's Roserade with All-Out Pummeling.
  • Pikachu defeats Tobias's Latios with Gigavolt Havoc.
• Anabel pinches him on the back of his neck to end the visions. Ash asks if they sent any crystals, but Misty says they didn't.
• Iris tells Ash he'd have to "figure it out", and he decides to do so after the Gym battle. He asks the girls if they want to help him train, and they all accept.

A.J Interlude

• During training, A.J and Jeanette visit the local Battle Club, and they meet A.J's mother, Asuka, who is battling Otoshi.
• After defeating Otoshi's Doduo, Asuka's Nidorina battles Otoshi's Marowak, who uses an incomplete version of Break Evolution for a power boost. The battle ends in a draw.
• After Otoshi leaves, A.J approaches Asuka, who is happy to see him. He introduces her to Jeanette.
• Asuka quickly takes a liking to Jeanette, and encourages her son to be nice to her. She also give's him a Beedrillite if he wants to use it, or give it to Jeanette. They have some sparring matches together in the Battle Club.
• A.J offers to share his Beedrillite with Jeanette, and she agrees until she gets a Mega Stone of her own. The training for the rematch continues.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Nine

• Ash begins training for his gym battle.
• Paul attempts to catch a Magikarp that wouldn't blast him upon evolving into a Gyarados.
• A.J. And Jeanette are fighting Blaine for their fifth badge.
• Ritchie is challenging Surge for a badge.
• Dan is challenging Brock for a badge.
• Solidad and Cross meet and battle.
• Erika gives some words of encouragement to Gary, who is still sulking from his experience at the Fuchsia Tag Team Tournament.
• Several days after training, Ash learns Janine has replaced her father as Gym Leader.
• Ash, Misty, Iris and Anabel meet Janine, who is standing on the ceiling, acting like she didn't notice them. Iris tenses and gives Janine a Death Glare.
• Janine drops down and is impressed. She was planning to throw shurikens, but Iris noticed.
• The Gym Battle begins:
  • Squirtle defeats Nidoqueen, but she managed to use Stealth Rock before being returned.
  • Weezing defeats Squirtle.
  • Butterfree defeats Weezing.
  • Golbat defeats Butterfree.
  • Yanma defeats Golbat.
  • Ariados defeats Yanma.
  • Ash's final Pokemon is Sliggoo. He's frightened by Ariados.
  • Ash gives him a pep talk, and he manages to overcome his fear and evolve, defeating Ariados and winning Ash the Soul Badge.
• Red finds and defeats a Team Rocket grunt with a truck full of stolen goods. He takes the following:
  • Six unidentified Pokemon.
  • Healing items.
  • Pokemon vitamins and food.
  • TM.
  • Poke-Gear.

Tracey Interlude

• Tracey prepares himself for a job interview in the Pokémon Association, to be in charge of drawing posters for several important events. Professor Oak wishes him luck, even reminding him that he still has an offer for Tracey as his assistant at the lab, but the watcher declines.
• One of the judges, Charles Embers harshly criticizes Tracey's submitted works, pointing out every single flaw in them. The others, while being more civil about it, agree with them. Tracey clearly feels hurt, but accepts it and leaves.

Hiker Interlude

• The Hiker and Mizu travel and have many adventures together.
• Returning to Fuchsia City to challenge the Gym for another badge, the Hiker sees Ash's group about to exit, and recognizes Misty as the girl who beat him in the Battle Dome. He also recognizes Ash as one of the winners of the Tag Tournament.
• The Hiker decides to challenge Ash to a battle to test his new training. After hesitating for a bit and some prompting from the girls, Ash accepts.

Main Story - Chapter Twenty Nine

• After leaving Fuchsia, Ash finds a waterfall and bathes under it. He is shocked that Iris is present and could see him naked.
• She says that though he managed to help her get stronger, Ash himself needs to be stronger.
• She shocks Ash by joining him in bathing, not caring that she would be naked alongside him.
• Iris comments that Ash is taller than when they first met, and is likely to surpass her own height.
• The next day, Sabrina goes over her list of kills and people she spared. She has learned that Hilda, who works for the Bloodline Prince, has her eye on Ash and Red.
• She decides that Ash's self-handicap on not using his Super-Empowering is not a luxury he can afford to have, and decides to improve him.
• To lure him to her, Sabrina has Primeape.

Tracey Interlude

• At Professor Oak's ranch, Tracey gazes at some of the Pokémon running around the field. He spots Ash's Farfetch'd about to fight some of his Grimer, and prepares to draw, but doesn't manage to, recalling Embers' criticism.
• Professor Oak notices him troubled, and assures him that, while Embers sometimes has a point on his critiques, most of the time he's just harsh to be harsh.
• Oak offers Tracey an idea: he needs to deliver a package to the Decolore Islands, and he could pay for Tracey's ticket so he can relax for a few days. Tracey tries to refuse, but becomes convinced once Oak tells him he'd save him some time if he did.

Lorelei Interlude

• One week after the Fuchsia Tournament, Lorelei and Frey are at her summer house in Mandarin Island, as promised, waiting for the Pokémon Seminar the following day.
• Meanwhile, Team Rocket agent Domino is walking around town, overseeing details for an operation. Upon learning that an Elite Four member is in town, she informs Giovanni, who tells her to call off the operation. She relays Giovanni's orders to the rest of her minions.
• A guy attempts to mug her in a dark alley, but she quickly knocks him out with a few kicks and her electric retractable staff.
• The next day, the Pokémon seminar begins, hosted by Professor Ivy who informs the crowd it will be about Pokémon evolution.
• Frey is on the front row, while Lorelei waits for her turn in the backstage.
• Among the guest speakers, there are Professor Westwood, William Masaki Sonezaki (AKA Bill the Poké Maniac), Doctor Quincy T. Quackenpocker, and even Professor Rowan via videoconference.
• Finally, Lorelei's turn comes, and she talks about the question about whether trainers should evolve or not their Pokémon, beginning a round of questions and answers with the attendees.
• The lecture ends, and Professor Ivy announces Lorelei will host some exhibition battles in the Mandarin Stadium.
• Meanwhile, some Rocket grunts, despite their previous orders from Giovanni and Domino, still plan to attack the stadium and steal Lorelei's Pokémon.
• At the Mandarin Stadium, Lorelei battles one challenger after another, defeating them with her Cloyster, Dewgong and Lapras.
• After the battles, the Team Rocket grunts take hostage some of the spectators on the stands and the commentator in the booth, demanding that Lorelei hands over her Pokémon, thinking that they'll be too tired to fight back now.
• In the midst of chaos, Lorelei tries to buy time while Frey, who is among the crowd, to sneak away and attack them by surprise from below the stand to rescue the hostages.
• Frey calls for his Charizard, Tyranitar and Feraligatr as he prepares to attack.
• The leading grunt becomes irritated while Lorelei continues not only to not give in to his demands, but to remain polite and calm all the while.
• Frey's Pokémon attack the Rocket grunts and the hostage espectators escape. Meanwhile, Frey's Charizard flies to the commentator's booth to get the leader.
• With all of the Rocket grunts thrown into the arena, Frey joins Lorelei to face them.
• The leading grunt asks Frey if he's Lorelei's boyfriend or something, which Lorelei confirms, as well as warning them he's the one ho taught her how to fight.
• They refuse to give in, so they send every Pokémon they have to try and fight them.
• Lorelei calls out two of her remaining Pokémon, her Mamoswine and Jynx.
• The Rocket grunts attempt to overpower them with sheer numbers, but they fail miserably.
• With all of the Pokémon knocked out, the leading grunt sends out his full team, composed by Magmar, Machamp, Nidoking, Rhydon, Dodrio and Victreebel.
• Despite a few lucky blows, he doesn't manage to cause serious damage to Lorelei and Frey's Pokémon. The couple decides to bring this to an end.
• Lorelei brings out her last Pokémon, an Abomasnow, and she and Frey reveal they have Key Stones. Much to the Rocket grunts's shock, they Mega Evolve Abomasnow and Tyranitar.
• Mega-Abomasnow uses a Blizzard to freeze the entire team solid, save Magmar, who tries a suicide attack with Flare Blitz. Frey's Tyranitar uses a Hyper Beam, finishing them all off.
• The Rocket grunts try to make a run for it, but Lorelei and Frey's Pokémon block their path. They promptly surrender. Frey uses his cellphone to call the police.
• After the police takes the criminals in, as well as Lorelei and Frey's testimony, many espectators come to ask about their relationship. They confirm they are together, and begin answering their questions.
• Domino relays to Giovanni what happened, and she requests that the helicopter coming to pick her up changes course and array another meeting point. Giovanni accepts.
• Lorelei and Frey go to the beach for a walk, and they reminisce about their time together.

Maylene Interlude

• Maylene is training with her Lucario when Reggie comes for a visit at the Veilstone Gym, asking her if she's ready for her big match tomorrow. She's a little unsure about being chosen as the heir, but is determined to win.
• The next morning, Maylene is ready to fight Tanimoto-sensei's son, Kiya. First, they will have a Pokémon Battle for leadership of the Gym, with Tanimoto-sensei as the referee. Reggie is also among the atendees.
• Maylene uses her female Medicham and defeats Kiya's Hitmonlee and Primeape, but the latter leaves her too injured and exhausted to continue.
• Kiya calls his Machoke and Maylene her Lucario. The fight is evenly matched, but Lucario wins in the end.
• With this, Maylene is officially declared the Veilstone Gym Leader, but she still has to defeat Kiya in single combat.
• Maylene manages to defeat Kiya, and tries to help him up after kicking him out of the ring. Kiya becomes enraged and sucker-punches her in the nose.
• Tanimoto-sensei and Reggie try to interfere, but Maylene tells them to stop and let her handle it herself. They accept.
• Maylene keeps fighting Kiya, and injures his collarbone with a powerful kick. Tanimoto-sensei decides to take him to see a doctor, and then have a stern talk with him.
• Reggie suggests that Maylene goes to see a doctor to check on her nose, and takes her as well.
• Later at Reggie's home, he's applying some ointment on Maylene's nose and places a band aid on it.
• Maylene asks Reggie what news he has of his younger brother, Paul. Reggie tells her he seems to be doing well, but apparently is bitter about losing to a certain trainer.
• Reggie admits to be a little worried about Paul, since he too used to be a lot like that in his days as a trainer. Maylene notes that not everyone learns to deal with defeats in the same way.
• Reggie offers to invite Maylene to all she can eat to celebrate her becoming a Gym Leader, and she agrees.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty

• Ash has yet another strange dream, where he encounters an older version of himself arguing with an unknown figure about how his tendency to help others distracts him from his personal goals without benefiting him. His older self only replies that the unknown figure would never understand altruism.
• The older self turns to talk to Ash, calling himself an incarnation of Ash's inner thoughts and concerns, as opposed to a future self. He goes on to say that Ash has to remember that whenever he questions if his actions are the right thing to do, he has to remember that purely evil people are extremely rare, such as Hunter J and Grings Kodai, and that even people like Belladonna, Red and Paul, for all their faults, do have people they care about or have some redeeming qualities, encouraging him to keep trying to bring out the best in people.
• After he wakes up, Ash's Pokédex has just downloaded an update with a new program. Hearing that Ash is having weird dreams, it offers to play some music to induce him more normal dreams, and Ash agrees.
• Sometime later, Jessie and James watch Ash running in front of a Tauros for training, questioning the methods as they await for Meowth, whom they sent to gather berries, to come back.
• Meowth ends up trapped in a tree, surrounded by a horde of angry Pikachu, internally cursing James and his entire family.
• Ash continues his training with Iris, with the help of one of his Tauros.
• Pikachu, Squirtle and Pidgeot notice a mountain in the distance, recognizing it as where they got lost and almost froze to death in the old timeline. Roggenrola questions if they plan to go through that place again, to which they simply laugh.
• After some more training with one of his Tauros and Roggenrola, Dexter suggests Ash brings Chansey.
• Ash continues training with Iris, developing his senses by trying to dodge Excadrill as he comes at him from underground. After the session, Ash's Chansey heals him to replenish his energy.
• An explosion in the distance alerts Ash that Charizard and Goodra have finished their training, and he goes to check them out.
• Dexter informs Ash of an update, and a program that will alert him when his Pokémon at Oak's ranch have eggs.
• The next day, Ash trains with Anabel, who almost sucumbs to the physical strain. Ash tries to apologize since the training was Iris' idea and she dragged Misty and Anabel as well, but his mind flashes to the memory of when they bathed under the waterfall and Anabel accidentally sees it.
• Anabel actually admits that she feels she's growing stronger.
• Hearing Team Rocket's motto in the vicinity, Ash and Anabel quickly rush to check it out.
• The Rocket Trio is harassing a passing old man who carries a couple of shiny Wingull on his shoulders. Ash and Pikachu quickly make short work of them and send them blasting off.
• The old man, named Masuda, thanks Ash for his help, and he invites them to come the next day to a party in 3-14 of Stone Town. Ash recongizes the address as the home of the Eevee brothers.
• After Masuda leaves, Anabel and the Pokédex prompt him to accept the invite, and Ash agrees.
• Arriving at the party, Ash spots some familiar faces of people he met in the previous timeline. The group also spots a mysterious woman with long silver blue har, who after noticing Ash, for some reason smiles at him and gives him a thumbs up.
• The group splits up, and Ash is suddenly boarded by a group of trainers his own age, four girls and a boy who bears a resemblance to him and his other half-siblings. It quickly becomes apparent that they're all fans of him.
• The group asks him for advice, as they plan to begin their journey together very soon. Ash gladly complies.
• Misty overhears some gossip around about the Eevee brothers and how one of them will have to give up his dreams very soon. She muses to herself that they seem very pessimistic.
• Mikey approaches the table to eat some cheese. Noticing he seems rather upset, Misty tries to get him to talk about his troubles.
• Misty assumes that Mikey has similar issues with his older brothers as she had with her sisters. Mikey however denies it, making it clear that it's not the case, and that they care for each other, surprising her.
• After the group of trainer leaves him, Ash runs into Masuda again, who comments on how he seems popular around the place and thanks him again for his help.
• Masuda leaves, and one of the older Eevee brothers, Sparky approaches Ash, not very happy to see him.
• Sparky asks Ash what he's doing in their party. Ash tells him he came because Masuda invited him after he saved him. Sparky relents on trying to get him to leave, but he warns him to stay away from their younger brother.
• Ash is confused about this, and Sparky explains that they want Mikey to succeed as a trainer, but don't want him to emulate Ash in trying to fight and win using unevolved Pokémon and fail.
• Meanwhile, Misty sees on a stage a performance of another Eevee brother, Pyro, and his Flareon, who tries to encourage Mikey to choose an evolutionary stone for his Eevee.
• Psyduck comes out and explains that Pyro is a Pokémon Coordinator, giving her a lecture about Pokémon Coordination he saw on a TV documental.
• The remaining Eevee brother, Rainer, approaches Sparky, and then when he sees Ash, has a similar reaction to him.
• When the two brothers begin to argue, Pikachu suggests that they try to slip away. Ash agrees.
• Before Ash can leave, however, the brothers decide to beat him in a battle so that Mikey won't try to emulate him, and challenge him on the spot.
• While they prepare for the battle, Anabel mentally relays to Ash the situation: the older brothers are fine with having to raise their younger brother in the last stretch before he becomes a trainer after their mother's death, but the idea of one of them having to give up the trainer career they love to take over the family business has put the elder triplets in a bad mood.
• The woman from before decides to step up to the challenge and offers to battle alongside Ash to make it two-on-two. Rainer and Sparky accept it.
• Ash chooses Pikachu and the woman brings out a Murkrow, while Rainer and Sparky use their Vaporeon and Jolteon respectively.
• Over the course of the battle, Ash and the woman quickly gain the upper hand, and they continue to argue about the pros and cons of evolution. Ash and the woman eventually win the battle.
• The woman, while conceeding that their points about evolution are valid, tries to get them to understand that gaining strength through evolution isn't the only way to win a battle, but the brothers insist that Mikey has to choose a stone to evolve his Eevee.
• Trying to illustrate her point better, the woman shows them her Umbreon, a non-stone Eeveelution, surprising the brothers.
• Ash adds that he understands that they want to help Mikey, but they have to let him make his choices, and trying to force him as they do will only do more harm than good.
• Mikey steps up, agreeing with Ash, and adds that he wants to find his own answer about what to do as a trainer, by having his first battle.
• Gauging the level of Mikey's Eevee, Ash offers to bring either his Vivillon or Spearow. Mikey replies he wants to battle the stronger of the two, so Ash chooses Vivillon.
• Eevee manages to battle well against Vivillon, displaying some strategies the older brothers hadn't taught him.
• Eevee wins the battle, prompting the older brothers to hug Mikey with pride.
• After the party, Ash's group is ready to leave. They comment about how things went during the party and how the journeys are full of surprises.
• The group runs into the woman from before, who is about to leave in her motorcycle as well.
• Iris asks her who she is, and she introduces herself as Karen, from the Johto Elite Four.
• Karen explains that Johto and Kanto share one champion and usually rotate members with each other for the Elite Four positions, commenting also that Koga plans to take a spot soon.
• Karen decides to give Ash a gift to help him in his journey, a Moon Ball. She promises to meet them again and wishes Ash luck at Indigo before riding off.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty One

• Ash decides to start training his Pokémon to break the four-move limit.
• In Vermillion City, Ritchie muses about his recent failure in a Bug-Catching Contest, as he watches Red in a battle. He gets a message from Silver in his Pokénav, about an old rival of his, who is willing to offer Ritchie an egg from a Tyranitar as a consolation prize. Ritchie marks the address and goes there.
• Ash meets Elwood and Aideen, who decide to challenge him to a rematch to get even from the tag tournament.
• Elwood and Aideen use Venusaur and Bellossom, respectively, while Ash uses his leader Tauros and Servine, eventually winning.
• As he goes to shake hands with the twins, they note that Ash's hand has some sort of green sand in it. Ash admits that he has no clue about what it is, though he does remember something similar happened to him during his battle with Lilo in the tournament. Elwood and Aideen suspect the Z-Ring might have something to do with it.
• Meanwhile in Kalos, Serena is at the waiting line of a pharmacy.
• The training to break the four-move limit continues. Ash sends Charizard away after he manages to successfully get his Seismic Toss back and brings Krabby, who managed to break the limit on his own, to help the others.
• Pidgeot learns Air Slash, but Dexter points out it evolved from Gust, and thus her move limit is still four.
• Misty, Iris and Anabel return from their own training. The latter is especially tired.
• The Pokédex suggests that Ash and the others should try and break their own move limit themselves, and thus they begin training too.
• While she trains with Ash to figure out how to perform Psychic instead of Confusion, Anabel decides to remove her shirt when it gets too sweaty. Ash becomes embarrassed, but admits that he likes what he sees.
• Thinking that he needs something to replenish Anabel's energy, Ash accidentally discovers he can use Heal Pulse.
• After using it on Anabel, she figures out how to do it herself, and they use it on each other to replenish their energy.
• While they heal each other, Ash praises Anabel's battling skills and tells her she could be a great trainer if she wanted. While she's unsure about competing on a league, she does express an interest for setting up a Battle Tower where everyone can challenge to go as high as they can without stopping.
• Ash trains with Iris to try and learn Dual Chop, but failing. Iris surmises that he might need more power, so she decides to let him rest for a bit.
• Iris asks him about his dream of becoming a Pokémon Master, and what he plans to do when he finally achieves it. Ash replies that he'll find out when he gets there.
• Ash continues training with Misty, with both of them trying to learn Water Pulse, but failing. Meanwhile, Pikachu successfully learns a fifth move, though instead of Volt Tackle as he expected, he learns Wild Charge.
• Misty becomes frustrated at not being able to perform Water Pulse correctly. Ash asks her how she learned her other moves, to which she replies she did because she had to, citing that she learned Waterfall to save herself from falling off of one.
• Ash ponders on it and realizes he learned his moves in times of danger or because he needed them, and thinks that perhaps Iris might have an idea to work with that. Misty quickly refuses, arguing that Iris might get the idea of setting things on fire so they have the need to use water to put them out.
• At the Celadon Battle Club, Gary successfully completes Don George's 50-Trainer Challenge, after evolving his Growlithe to Arcanine.
• Don George offers to use his Abra to teleport Gary to Gardenia City for more training with his brother, which he accepts.
• Once in the new Battle Club, Gary sees Paul having a battle with a rookie trainer who only has one badge to his name.
• As it turns out, Paul is training his newest Pokémon to put them up to par with the rest. He mocks Gary's Arcanine, calling it a "waste of a stone". Gary reveals that Arcanine helped him win a Rainbow Badge, mildly surprising Paul.
• Paul decides that he'll take that badge last, and Gary challenges him to a battle. Paul replies they've both battled today, and instead proposes that Gary brings his best team tomorrow so they can have a full battle. Gary accepts.
• Ash is playing around with a Moon Ball, replicated from the one he got from Karen. Suddenly, Jigglypuff shows up, and in a panic, Ash accidentally throws the ball to it and catches it.
• Back at Professor Oak's ranch, Jigglypuff arrives, and Bulbasaur runs off to warn the others.
• Later, Ash and Iris walk down a cliff after some training, and approach an open area with many trainers.
• Iris recalls her latest training session with Misty, trying to get her to use new moves by throwing acorns at her.
• Ash and Iris run into the Samurai, who has just lost a battle againts Joshua, who mocks him for using Bug-types and having only three badges.
• Joshua turns around and recognizes Ash, who is not happy to see him. He continues to mock him as well as insulting Iris, until Ash shows him he's got five badges.
• Ash challenges Joshua to a full battle, and the latter agrees. Despite not being at the top of his game due to his anger, Ash easily defeats each of Joshua's Pokémon.
• Iris takes notice of Ash's behavior and how it affects his performance, and makes a note to train him to control his anger.

Red One Island Interlude

• While on the boat to the Sevii Islands, Red has a strange dream about facing Ash as the Pokémon Champion. When the battle reaches the climax, he wakes up.
• After waking up, he sees Yellow sleeping and recalls how Ash told them about possibly being half-siblings. He also remembers having seen another boy with a passing resemblance to them, even with a Pikachu, lending credence to the fact they might have many more.
• Recalling Naty's offer, Red remembers his reason to come to the Sevii Islands in the first place, determined to find them for a place to train his inactive Pokémon, as the ship announces its arrival to Knot Port.
• After arriving, Red and Yellow begin discussing as to how they can find Naty's place. A girl overhears their talk and does some seemingly mocking comments. Red ignores her and is about to take his leave, until she mentions Naty's name.
• The girl encourages Red to continue his search for them, confident that he can find them, and then teleports away with an Abra.
• Red decides to explore the island using the Gyarados he caught in the Safari Zone to surf across the water. Unfortunately, its temper means that it only obeys him with a mix of Yellow's healing powers and keeping it on a leash using his Pikachu's electric attacks as a threat.
• After leaving Yellow on a beach, Red goes to explore some rocky cliffs with his Rhyhorn. When he complains about finding "nothing", a voice calls out to him.
• The voice belongs to Kalos Elite Four Siebold, who seems to recognize Red. Red in turn doesn't know who he is, but he does notice he has similar eyes to the Sensational Sisters.
• Siebold tells Red with a single glance that he knows the reason why Red is so far from home. However, he also tells Red that he's still missing something if he wants to master Mega Evolution, a step he seems to struggle with.
• Siebold reveals that he too has his own Gyarados, but already managed to get past the troubling stage. Red notices it has a crown of sorts with a Mega Stone imbedded in it. Siebold hops onto his Gyarados and sails away.
• When Red comes back, Yellow has gathered many pearls from the beach, and they plan to sell them to get some cash out of them.
• As there's no place for trading in One Island, Red and Yellow continue exploring towards a distant mountain. They take shelter inside a cave to avoid the heat from the path outside until it gets dark and it cools off.
• Yellow falls asleep, while Red uses his Pokégear SP to watch some videos to pass the time.
• Red watches a video of an Evergrande Conference battle between Casey Snagem and another guy named Rico, using a Tropius and a Fearow respectively.
• When Fearow uses Sky Attack, Red predicts that the battle is over and plans to pass to the next, but surprisingly, Tropius manages to endure it, and sends out an Energy Ball that manages to know Fearow out of the battle, giving Casey the victory.
• Red is surprised that it ended like that, wondering if it has to do with The Power of Friendship, and recalls how Ash convinced him to get his Charizard to evolve in the Fuchsia Tag Tournament finals. He also recalls the words from Siebold, wondering if that's what he's missing for Mega Evolution.
• Red decides to bring out his Poliwrath to try and bond with it. Poliwrath is at first surprised that there's no battling or training to be done.
• Poliwrath then runs off and finds a hot spring inside the cave. An hour later, Red, his Pokémon and Yellow decide to relax together in it while they wait for the night to end.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Two

• Gary and Paul meet for their scheduled battle, six-on-six.
• Gary starts with Arcanine, and Paul starts with Torterra. Gary immediately switches Arcanine for his Pidgeot.
• Just as the battle starts, Paul quickly realizes Gary is trying to use Pidgeot to counter Torterra's Stealth Rock, and switches for a Jynx. When Gary tries to switch out, Paul has Jynx use Mean Look to prevent it.
• Jynx defeats Pidgeot with a Blizzard.
• Gary brings back Arcanine. Paul switches Jynx for Nidoking.
• Arcanine defeats Nidoking, but ends up injured and poisoned in the process, so Gary switches him out for his Alakazam.
• Paul brings back Torterra, who defeats Alakazam.
• Gary realizes Paul had planned for his potential counters to Torterra and its Stealth Rock.
• Gary brings his Porygon, and Paul his Hypno. Both of them end up knocking each other out.
• Gary brings his Tangrowth. Paul brings out a Pokémon Gary doesn't recognize, and Gary assumes it was Wonder Traded. Paul replies that's not the case. The battle continues

Red Two Island Interlude

• After arriving in Two Island, Red and Yellow sell the pearls they gathered in a local trading post, and go to the local Game Corner.
• While Red increases their funds, Yellow watches a rerun of the Big P Pokémon Race, and calls Red to come and see it too.
• Red is mildly surprised to see Ash competing in that race, wondering why he would do that, but is otherwise unimpressed, and decides to leave.
• As he continues to try and solve his issue of bonding with his Pokémon, Red notes that he's making slow progress, but at least he's making some.
• Deciding to deal with Clefairy, Red goes with Yellow to find a secluded place, noting how the rest of his Pokémon are always uncomfortable around it and only Charizard and Pikachu tolerate its presence.
• Before he can release Clefairy, Red hears some noises behind a rock formation.
• After going to check it out, they find an old woman training three Pokémon, which use very powerful Grass, Water and Fire-type moves.
• Yellow goes off to approach her, despite Red's warnings, impressed by the display of power.
• The old lady introduces herself as Ultima, and proceeds to explain these are the Ultimate Moves, the strongest attacks any fully-evolved starter Pokémon is able to learn, and that she holds the secret to use them to their full potential.
• Yellow becomes excited and suggests that Red's Charizard should learn it. Ultima asks if she can see Charizard, and Red agrees. With a single glance, Ultima is able to tell Charizard evolved recently, much to Red and Yellow's surprise.
• Yellow insists that Red forgets about searching for Naty and her friends and instead tries to get Charizard to learn the Ultimate Move. However, Ultima reveals that she doesn't teach them to anybody, just to those who prove themselves worthy.
• Ultima explains that she usually submits trainets to some trials before teaching them the moves, but that day, she feels generous and decides to let Red experience it just that once. She offers to have a practice battle against Red's Charizard with her Dragonite.
• Before they can start, however, Red's Clefairy comes out of its ball on its own, and gives Yellow a Death Glare when she tries to ask how it got out.
• Clefairy glances at Dragonite, and Ultima can tell it wants a fight. Yellow suggests that Red at least directs Clefairy, since it only obeys him.
• The battle starts, and Dragonite has no problems in dealing with Clefairy, even without Ultima's orders. When it starts losing, however, Clefairy begins to get increasinly violent and refuses to listen to Red's orders, even biting Dragonite's hand and drawing blood.
• Dragonite uses an Iron Tail to knock Clefairy out. Once the danger is over, Ultima asks Red what's wrong with Clefairy, to which Red admits he has no idea.
• Ultima says that Clefairy has in its eyes a Killing Intent that was very common in the pre-Oak era, and that somehow it was triggered by her Dragonite.
• Yellow then recalls how Clefairy also went on a similar rampage back at the Battle Dome against Iris' Axew. Ultima is shocked to learn that it's not the first time it's acted like that, and also that Red hasn't done anything to find out the reason why or solve it.
• Despite everything, Ultima is willing to have Red try the Blast Burn as she offered, and gives him the bracelet explaining how it works, by channeling his energy and feelings through it into Charizard for the attack.
• The battle begins, and once again Dragonite fights without Ultima's orders. As the battle goes on, Red notices how Ultima's Dragonite is holding back, to which Ultima replies that since it's just a test of strength, they don't need to go all out.
• Ultima suggests that he tries using Blast Burn. Red complies, but the attack fails. Ultima points out that he needs to stop thinking about the power and focus more on his own feelings.
• Red continues to try and use Blast Burn, but while he improves, he still fails. At the same time, he and Charizard begin attacking more and more aggresively without realizing, still somewhat annoyed that Dragonite isn't doing his best against them.
• After one last failed Blast Burn that comes out stronger but uncontrolled, Ultima decides she's had enough and has her Dragonite use Draco Meteor to end the fight, knocking Charizard out.
• Ultima approaches Red, saying he has potential, but is still not ready to learn an Ultimate Move with her, citing that, while she can see his bond with his Charizard, it's still not strong enough, citing the last failed Blast Burn attack as proof.
• Ultima then asks Red what his Pokémon mean to him. When Red has no answer, she rephrases her question, about how much he knows about them, pointing out that he probably hasn't paid enough attention to his Clefairy's behavior.
• Ultima also points out that during the fight, Red and Charizard seemed bent in getting her and Dragonite to give their all. When Red argues about being taught to always give his all against his opponents, Ultima reminds him that it was a training exercise and having gone all out could have left his Charizard with greater injuries.
• Red is left speechless, and Ultima elaborates that, barring a life-or-death scenario, she wouldn't attack an opponent with the intent of causing permanent damage, to what Red recalls what Clefairy did in the Battle Dome.
• Red removes the bracelet to return it to Ultima, apologizing for failing. Ultima replies that her door is still open if he wants to come back when he finds what he lacks, and flies away on her Dragonite's back.
• The next day, after Charizard recovers, Red goes to fly on his back for a while, in an attempt to improve his bonds, and ponder on the recent events.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty One

• Ash's group later arrives to the coastline, where they run into village that it's mostly dock, and an Onix-shaped boat that comes in carrying some people. Iris calls them the "Boat People", who live in said boats and are mostly nomadic.
• The Boat People set up stands for sale and barter of many goods. Ash and the others decide to stay and see if they can get something there.
• While exploring the stands, Misty stops by one that offers a Mega Stone, run by an old woman. Having no physical money to buy, she decides to barter, trying to offer anything she can, so she can get the Mega Stone for Ash.
• After a long negotiation, the old woman offers Misty a deal: she'll give her the Mega Stone in exchange for her spare clothes, since she has a granddaughter about the same height as her, and there will be a holiday where she'll be able to restock on clothes soon. Misty accepts.
• Misty learns the Mega Stone is a Sceptilite, and thus Ash can't use it for any of his current Pokémon. Nevertheless, he still appreciates the gift, and thanks her, making her smile.
• As they discuss their next destination, Misty suggests that they use their next stop to get new clothes. Even Ash seems to need them, since his old outfit is worn down as well. They all agree to it.
• One morning, Anabel wakes up to find her hair has grown out, and thinks she needs to cut it.
• Ash wakes up too, going to shave himself. Anabel asks him if he has something that she can use to cut her hair.
• While Ash doesn't have anything else but a razor, he remarks that Anabel's hair looks nice grown out. Anabel asks him if he has a thing for long hair.
• In Cerulean City, Belladonna wakes up, thinking about the recent events, and how Aurora has been acting strange since her father's death.
• Aurora approaches Belladonna, but she notices something off, and quickly realizes it's not her. Belladonna demands that the imposter reveals herself.
• The imposter reveals herself as Hilda, keeping Aurora's appearance to avoid a potential attack from Belladonna. She then goes on to explain who she is and who she works for: the Bloodline Prince, who plans to overthrow the Bloodline King and eventually rule the world. She wants Belladonna to join their ranks.
• Belladonna refuses, saying that she has no interest in ruling the world. Hilda continues trying to convince her, pointing out that it's because of her and her other half-siblings that Aurora and the others became bloodliners. At this revelation, she begins to wonder whether Aurora's father would have disowned her had she not been born at all.
• Evanna comes and tries to strangle Hilda, but another girl, whom Hilda calls Siri, teleports in. She's a Gardevoir bloodliner, and Hilda threatens to take Evanna with them if she doesn't let go of her head, unless she wants to meet the Bloodline Prince. Reluctantly, Evanna complies, and thus Hilda and Siri teleport away.
• Evanna notices Belladonna's turmoil, and tries to calm her down reminding her that, even if what Hilda said was true, and she might have ruined Aurora's life, she also saved Vedia's, and that Evanna's own life would have played out the same regardless of whether she had been born or not.
• Ash's group arrives to Grampa Canyon, in the middle of a fossil search. The paleontologist in charge, Professor Cycad, invites them to his trailer until noon has passed, lest they suffer a heatstroke.
• After a lengthy explanation about Pokémon fossils, a female intern comes in with a finding of her own: Togepi's egg. While Ash is wondering how they'll take it, Professor Cycad asks if they want to take it with them, much to Ash and Pikachu's relief.
• That night, Ash's group sets up camp next to a small pool, and Dexter explains that Togepi's egg will take in their emotions and these will influence its growth. Ash asks the girls if any of them wants to keep it, but they all decline, even Misty.
• Dexter also reveals their current funds for their upcoming shopping spree. Ash is rather surprised he has that much to his name.
• Before their shopping spree, the group receives the Item Capsules they received from Professor Oak. They all work perfectly.
• The group arrives to their destination in time for Princess' Day.
• During the shopping spree:
  • The group buys some beds, and furniture to store more clothes.
  • They later stop by a 90%-off sale for socks, during which Pikachu's tail is grabbed at least three times, and Ash's Z-Ring is stolen at least sixt times.
  • Elsewhere, Midori's group escapes from an angry mob of women who want to take the last pair of shoes he got for his friends. They take shelter in the dressing room of a shop, and the girls decide to give Midori a fashion show to kill time while their pursuers calm down.
  • Meanwhile, Meowth watches Ash from afar, while Jessie goes off to take part in the local tournament to win the Pokémon Princess doll set, while James disguises as a woman to get discounts in a knick-knack shop. Team Rocket's Delibird shows up, and Meowth hands him a Poké Ball containing Jessie's Lickitung to put into storage.
  • The shopping continues, and while the girls are trying out clothes, Ash watches their bags, keeping away the women who try to snatch their stuffwith the help of Muk and several of his Grimer friends.
  • Ash glances at the Mega Ring he bought to put his Key Stone during their trip to an accessory shop.
  • The group continues shopping, and the girls remind Ash that he too has to try his own catalogue for them.
  • While the girls try out some swimsuits, Ash admits that he likes what he sees in all of them, and ponders that Brock would feel in heaven if he
  • Meanwhile, at the Pewter Gym, Brock sneezes in the middle of a match, costing him a round.
  • Ash tries out a pair of swimming shorts, and Misty gets a good eyeful of how much muscle he's gained. She also ponders about what Iris told her before, as well as noticing that Anabel is also starting to show an attraction for Ash.
  • The shopping continues, and the group makes it with everything they need, including new outfits for each of them.
• Two days later, the group wakes up, ready to begin a new day.
• As Ash wonders what surprises await them today, Iris is sure that there won't be anything they can't handle.
• An Abra appears, and teleports Ash and Pikachu to the Saffron Gym.
• As they realize where they are, the Abra attacks them. Pikachu hits it with an Iron Tail, while Ash punches out using Quick Attack.
• An Exeggcute rolls down and tries to send them a Stun Spore.
• Meanwhile, from another room, Sabrina watches the action. On the building map, she has marked the locations where she has Ash's Primeape held hostage, as well as her Marsh Badges.
• To escape from the spores, Ash and Pikachu run upstairs. Seeing a teleport flash above them, Ash throws Roggenrola's ball.
• Once he arrives up, Ash sees Roggenrola knocked out a Drowzee, and a Slowpoke launches a Flamethrower at them. Roggenrola uses Sand Attack to shield them.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Three

• After Ash disappears, Misty panics, Iris tries to find any trail to follow, and Anabel tries to remain calm and think what to do.
• Axew senses something and attacks a tree, causing the Team Rocket trio to fall and protest.
• Misty and Iris quickly assume they're the ones responsible for kidnapping Ash, but they deny it. Anabel reads their minds and confirms they're telling the truth.
• After some more arguing, Anabel sends the trio blasting off and tries to use her telepathy to find Ash. Since she has limited range, she tries to disconnect her other senses to extend her reach.
• Finding several similar flares, she realizes they have no choice but to try and teleport to them and hope one of them is Ash.
• They teleport, appearing next to the roots of the Tree of Beginning, where they meet the Mew guarding it.
• They ask the Mew about Ash. While Mew knows who he is, it has no idea where he is now, so they promptly leave and try again.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Four

• Still fighting their way through, Ash and his Pokémon attempt to break through the windows to escape the Saffron Gym, only to realize they've been reinforced with Reflect and Light Screen.
• As the Psychic-types continue to attack them, Dexter says it has a plan to escape, but needs some time to implement it. The Psychic-types continue to attack them. Ash tries to catch one, but realizes he can't, so they must belong to Sabrina.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Three

• Misty, Iris and Anabel appear in a hill. Misty almost drops the Togepi egg, wondering why she feels an urge to protect it.
• Suddenly, a voice talks to her, and she sees a young man who looks like Ash and Red with a Pichu, suddenly feeling entranced by some reason.
• The boy seems to charm her with his words, but then, Psyduck comes out and punches him out to snap her out of her trance. Misty tries to protest, but then Psyduck tells her the guy was trying to mind-control her to make her fall for him and is obviously up to no good. Misty quickly flees with the others, hearing the boy swearing things about Psyduck.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Four

• Seeing that doors and windows are reinforced with Reflect and Light Screen, Ash and his Pokémon decide to attack the walls to escape.
• Squirtle directs Pikachu to attack a small area together, slowly but surely they begin to crack one of the walls. However, they're interrupted by a wave of Kadabra wielding their spoons with energy blades and Exegguttor firing Seed Bombs.
• Ash's other Pokémon attempt to hold them off while Pikachu and Squirtle continue attacking the wall. However, Sabrina shows up and holds Ash to talk to him.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Three

• Misty, Iris and Anabel appear in a farm town. They spot another of Ash's siblings, a girl named Manna who looks like a female version of Ash, who is challenged by Otoshi.
• Otoshi once again uses Marowak's incomplete version of Break Evolution against Manna's Ivysaur, who suddenly enters a power boost with an unusually strong but violent Overgrowth.
• Misty, Iris and Anabel leave before the battle is concluded.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Four

• Sabrina confronts Ash, revealing that she knows everything about him after reading his mind. She tells him he can try and get a Marsh Badge from her by fighting his way through her Psychic-types if he wants.
• Ash is uninterested in the challenge and turns around to leave, until Sabrina reveals she's got Ash's Primeape in her basement.
• Sabrina reveals she found Primeape almost dead and saved him, figuring he would make a good bait to bring Ash to the gym, and once again teleports away to leave him to think about it.
• Knowing that he has a second chance to save Primeape, Ash decides to take her without hesitation.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Three

• Anabel teleports the group again, and needs to rest before she can do it again.
• This time they see Ritchie, who carries an egg just about to hatch into a Larvitar. He names it Cruise.
• Anabel recovers enough and teleports them away again.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Four

• As they fight their way through, Ash's Pokémon become determined to rescue Primeape. However, Squirtle brings up some potential issues.
• Squirtle wonders whether they'll be able to remind Primeape, or the issues that could come up from him still being the same he was before they became friends. He brings up also his own experience as a gang leader before the memory restoration got to him.
• Ash however decides that regardless of what happens, Primeape is their friend and whatever issues they might have, they'll work them out somehow.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Three

• Anabel teleports the group again, appearing above a pond. They quickly run off to hide before someone sees them.
• The group has appeared in a city park, where they spot Arnold playing with Laila and his Growlithe, before Anna calls them to eat.
• As the family enjoys their picnic, Anabel reminisces of when she did so with her uncle, whenever she needed some peace and quiet.
• They teleport away once more, appearing next to a lighthouse.
• While Misty tends to Anabel, Iris goes off to see if they can find Ash.
• Hearing a voice of someone playing with a Pikachu, Iris follows it. Much to her dismay, it's not Ash, but Travis using his bloodliner powers to play with his own Pikachu. She leaves before she sees them.
• Meeting with the others, Iris reveals to them they hit another dead end. Anabel decides to teleport them once more, despite her condition worsening every time. Misty insists that she rests a bit more before they try again, and Iris agrees.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Four

• Ash and his Pokémon continue battling, but one by one they go down due to exhaustion, overwhelmed by Sabrina's Psychic-types.
• Sabrina commends Ash for his efforts, but still attempts to get him to use his bloodliner powers against her. He still refuses to give in.
• Sabrina then proceeds to reveal what she knows about Ash's father and his birth circumstances, in an attempt to push him past the Rage Breaking Point.
• Pikachu becomes enraged and tells her to shut up, and Sabrina's Pokémon translate for her. She proceeds to show him her conversation with the Emissary to convince him.
• Unable to contain his anger, Ash orders Pikachu to launch a Thunderbolt at Sabrina. The mouse almost jumps in to attack her, but Squirtle blasts him with Water Gun, while Muk jumps on top of Ash to calm him down.
• Ash's Pokémon tell him not to give in to his anger, lest that Sabrina would win if he does. Dexter then reveals his plan: the Exeggutor he caught in the Safari Zone all can use Teleport, and he directed them to bring the rest of Ash's Pokémon from Oak's ranch to level the playing field.
• Ash's Pokémon break through the ceiling, and they quickly join the fray to help their trainer. Some Marsh Badges fall from the upper floor, and Squirtle quickly snatches one of them.
• Charizard throws Krabby at Sabrina, sending her flying and crashing through a wall.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Five

• One of the Tauros fights alongside his Vulpix daughter.
• Ash's three-leeked Farfetch'd engages the laser spoon-wielding Kadabra, and then an Alakazam wielding both of its spoons.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Three

• Misty, Anabel and Iris end up in Johto, where they meet another of Ash's siblings, a girl named Meliae.
• While Anabel rests, Iris talks to Meliae, who gives her some advice about the emotional part of relationships and sex.
• After Anabel rests, they leave again.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Four

• Sabrina recovers from Krabby's attack. She sees the rest of Ash's Pokémon engaged in battle against hers, turning the tide and giving Ash and his active team time to rest and recover with Chansey's help.
• Sabrina decides to call the Alakazam that leads the group guarding Primeape, and reveals it has an Alakazite.
• While Ash recovers, Sabrina uses her telekinetic powers to get him to float and get him to watch her as she Mega Evolves her Alakazam.
• All the fighting going on stops for a bit when Alakazam Mega evolves.
• Ash's Pokémon try to attack, but Mega Alakazam sends their attacks back to them. At one point, Ash has to save Yanma from crashing.
• Raichu saves Ash from a Slowbro. After thanking her, Ash gives her a Timer Ball and sends her to the basement to rescue Primeape.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Five

• The Team Rocket trio returns to the place where they had been sent blasting off.
• James proposes that they play Skat while they wait for Ash and the others to return. Jessie and Meowth don't get what he means.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Three

• Ash's female companions teleport to a house currently occupied by Belladonna and her girlfriends.
• Belladonna asks where is Ash. After some initial wariness, Misty explains what happened to him and how they've been trying to find him.
• Evanna pipes up and tells them about some rumors that the Saffron Gym leader is a Psychic-Heart Bloodliner, and she could be the one who kidnapped Ash.
• Belladonna decides they'll come along to rescue Ash, despite Misty's and Iris' objections, Anabel agrees that they could use their help. Aurora decides to prepare some medicinal herbs to help Anabel recover faster.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Four

• Back at the Saffron Gym, Raichu reaches the basement and finds Primeape chained. Much to her own shock, it's the same Primeape she blasted away while under Paul's ownership.
• Primeape sees Raichu, and believing she came to finish the job, tells her to just go ahead and get it over with.
• Raichu asks what happened to him. Primeape reveals that he almost died after being blasted away, but Sabrina rescued him and nursed him back to health, and then chained him to use as bait for someone named "Ash Ketchum".
• Raichu reveals that Ash is in the Gym and sent her to rescue him, showing him the Timer Ball. She reveals that Ash took her in when her own previous trainer abandoned her, but he took her in and promised not to force her to fight if she didn't want to.
• Primeape still doesn't understand why a random human would come to his rescue. Raichu reveals that she overheard some of the other Pokémon talking as if they knew him, so perhaps Ash knew him as well, revealing also that he was pretty mad for him getting blasted away. Primeape ultimately lets himself get captured and he's teleported to Oak's ranch.
• Servine continues to fight, and feeling tired, she snatches some of the enemies' laser spoons to use as weapons to recover some of her energy.
• Roggenrola finds herself outnumbered and surrounded, and wishes she could be faster. She uses her Rock Blast to send herself up into the air, and begins shooting a barrage of Rock Blasts at her incoming enemies.
• Several of Ash's Pokémon keep trying to attack Sabrina's Mega Alakazam all at once, but it keeps redirecting their attacks.
• Charizard grabs Mega Alakazam and throws it with a Seismic Toss, boasting that he feels lighter than the two regular Alakazam he defeated.
• Sabrina keeps insisting that Ash fights her using his powers, and he continues to refuse. He says that he'll find another way somehow.
• Suddenly, Ash's hand begins emitting energy, and forming more of that strange sand from before, but purple in color.
• A few seconds later, a Psychium Z crystal forms in Ash's hand, much to everyone's shock.
• Sabrina guesses that Ash has just used the method to create Z-Crystals used by King Kahele, but lost to time after his death.
• Ash quickly inserts the crystal into the Z-Ring and prepares to use a Z-Move, with Butterfree's help. Sabrina has her Mega Alakazam raise a Protect barrier.
• Ash's Farfetch'd uses Feint throwing one of his leeks to smash through the barrier and leaving Mega Alakazam exposed.
• Ash and Butterfree use Shattered Psyche, defeating Mega Alakazam.
• Dexter reveals Raichu has successfully rescued Primeape. Sabrina is determined to make Ash to stop holding himself back on and summons her remaining Pokémon for another go.
• Ash's female companions and Belladonna's group teleport in and attack Sabrina and her Pokémon.
• Aurora freezes Sabrina in place while Belladonna and Misty rush towards Ash to check on him.
• With Sabrina incapacitated, Dexter calls the Exeggutor horde one more time to help. Before leaving, the Exeggutor glare at Sabrina. Ash guesses Sabrina must have something to do with them being released.
• Everyone teleports away, leaving Sabrina behind a turmoil of emotions.
• Back to where they were before, Ash enters his Secret Base, wanting nothing more but to get some sleep.
• Anabel and Iris teleport in, intending to stay the night with him just to be sure he'll be safe.
• Belladonna pushes Misty inside too, as she too wants to do so.
• Misty finally relents, and Ash lends her a spare shirt so she can sleep. Anabel covers his eyes while she changes.
• Once she finishes, Misty tries to say something but is unable to. Anabel senses her emotions and assures her that they all feel the same way.
• Ash tries to tell them they don't need to do that, but Misty insists, so he finally relents, and lets them all sleep in his bed with him.
• Internally, Misty vows to become stronger to protect Ash.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Five

• Belladonna has a strange dream from the point of view of someone she doesn't know, and speaks with a voice that isn't hers. Suddenly, she's confronted by a Pikachu that attacks her. She then wakes up.
• Somewhere else, an Pikachu wakes up after having a similar dream.
• Elsewhere in Kalos, Mabel's Mawile also wakes up from having a dream, of her battle against Casey Snagem's Chesnaught.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Six

• Professor Oak returns from his surgery, feeling better than before. He gets a cup of coffee from a pincer, revealed to be from a Kingler, specifically Ash's, who evolved off-screen.
• At the field, Roggenrola is also revealed to have evolved back to Boldore, and tells Bulbasaur she's happy to have regained her lost limbs. Suddenly, a Serperior joins them, and Bulbasaur recognizes her as Ash's Servine. She seemingly evolved while in her sleep.
• Serperior seems upset at the loss of her arms upon evolving, and Bulbasaur quickly makes an excuseto get out of there.
• Ash wakes up feeling refreshed, while his female companions are still asleep next to him. He feels awkward to have them close.
• Outside, Belladonna's group prepares pancakes for breakfast, and the smell wakes up Ash's companions. They all come over to eat.
• While having breakfast, they all recount their respective parts of the previous day to piece the story together.
• Ash asks Belladonna why she came to his rescue, and she replies that she did so because they're siblings.
• After breakfast, Ash finds another waterfall to wash himself, and leaves Pikachu to stand guard in case Iris shows up again.
• While Ash showers, Dexter reveals some details about how Pokémon League Conferences handle data about their participants.
• After Ash leaves, Anabel decides to shower herself. Iris later joins her.
• The two begin talking, and Iris brings up the subject about their attraction to Ash. She asks for Anabel's help to get Ash's anger issues under control.
• After Misty washes, Belladonna and her group take their turn. Aurora suggests they should help people more often, and Vedia and Evanna seem to like the idea.
• Ash goes to check on Primeape to see if his memory was restored. Much to his pleasure, it was.
• Ash decides to do some training with Primeape and one of the Exegguttor. He also decides to try and create another Z-Crystal.
• Elsewhere, Hilda talks to the Bloodline Prince about the events that occurred in the Saffron Gym, including how Ash created a Z-Crystal.
• The Bloodline Prince finds it intriguing, and decides to analyze more the history of Alola, and expresses a mild worry of becoming evil like his father.
• Hilda assures him that he isn't evil, and points out that the concepts of good and evil are relative, citing the ongoing conflict between Trainers and Rangers as an example.
• Hilda tells the Prince to forget about those things for the time being, and the Prince gladly complies.
• Ash wakes up the next morning alone, still confused about his female companions' decision to stay the night with him from before.
• Talking to Pikachu and Dexter about it, Ash finally understands that his female companions' concern about his safety partly stems from the fact they all are attracted to him. Pikachu also reveals that it also extended to some female Pokémon, such as Latias, and even some guys.
• Later that day, Iris takes Ash to a wrestling camp, and suggests that they engage in some hand-to-hand combat training.
• The following day, Togepi's egg hatches, taking everyone with its cuteness. Dexter reveals it's male and Anabel suggests that Ash catches him so he's properly registered.
• The training for the group continues. Dexter brings info about another sibling, a boy named Fender from Unova runs an underground smuggling and info network in Johto. And like Belladonna and Cleff, he is in a relationship with multiple girls, some of which are non-Bloodliners.
• A few days later, Misty has another dream, where she sees many photos of herself with Ash having adventures she doesn't remember.
• Daisy appears, claiming that she's "a memory of a memory", and tells her that she's proud of her, and despite being the youngest sister, she's the best of them, beautiful and talented.
• The group arrives to the Seafoam Islands, and they decide to take a day off at the beach to relax.
• Ash takes notice that he's been looking more at his female companions physical attributes. He gets approached by a few attractive women who try to flirt with him, and some guys, while his female companions also grab some attention.
• They run into Midori and his friends, who are celebrating that Hoshi won a Pokémon Contest. The girls go off to talk, leaving Ash alone with Midori.
• Midori asks Ash if he's been working out lately, and Ash tells him it was Iris' idea, because of Janine.
• Ash quickly deduces that Midori feels self-conscious about his lack of muscle and wonders if he should train more. Ash points out that if his friends don't care about that and like him the way he is, he shouldn't worry about it. Plus, as Pokémon trainers, physical fitness is not as important for them.
• At night, Ash's group begins exploring the Seafoam caves for Misty to catch new Pokémon. They're attacked by a swarm of Zubat and Golbat.
• After knocking them all out, the group takes notice that the tide seems to be rising, and the bats will probably end up drowning if they leave them there, so Ash decides to catch them all for their safety.
• A cry is heard in the distance, and then, an Articuno passes flying by. Dexter is delighted, and the group takes notice that Ash has blue dust in his hand, from a failed Z-Crystal.
• Gary Oak knocks on Casey Snagem's door after his battle with Paul, getting to his knees to beg for training to become stronger. Casey quickly deduces that he lost badly to a rival he despised.
• Casey warns Gary that he'll help him only if he's willing to go through a very harsh training regime with him and his wife, but Gary assures him he's willing to do anything.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Seven

• At an undisclosed location, Dr. Fuji attempts to escape his lab, and intends to retrieve his cloned daughter Amber, reflecting on everything he did to try and bring her back after she was killed in a hit-and-run. His sanity begins to slip as he starts talking to himself.
• During his escape, he's intercepted by his last experiment: Subject #150, AKA Mewtwo, who uses its Psychic Powers to destroy everything in its vicinity, including him.
• Ash and Co. finally arrive in Cinnabar Island. Ash takes notice of how less of a tourist trap it seems now.
• The group goes to the local Battle Club, where they notice there's quite a crowd of trainers who seem to be eager to challenge Blaine. A red-haired girl and her Flareon let out a Big "SHUT UP!" and an Overheat to get everyone to quiet down.
• The girl, who is apparently Blaine's granddaughter, announces that with the large amount of challengers, and since Blaine is currently busy with research work, he won't be taking any challenges today.
• The local Don George announces they'll hold a tournament to sort out who challenges Blaine first depending on the ranking. Those who disagree decide to leave, while those who agree, including Ash, stay for it.
• The girl, who introduces herself as Alish, quickly takes notice of Ash, and becomes rather excited at meeting him, having seen him at the Fuchsia Tag Tournament, and hopes that he wins the tournament.
• Ash manages to win his battles rather easily, until he makes it to the finals, where he faces none other than Raymond.
• Raymond brings out his Golem and Ash brings out Squirtle. Raymond takes no time to make fun of the unevolved turtle.
• Squirtle defeats Golem with ease, much to Raymond's shock.
• After Raymond leaves, Alish congratulates Ash, and offers him and his friends to stay at the Big Riddle Inn for the night. They all accept.
• After checking in, Ash and Anabel go to do some training, specifically to practice Butterfree's Z-Move.
• Anabel points out that the Z-Move won't be useful at the Gym, since Butterfree is at a type disadvantage, and the move can easily be interrupted by a Quick Attack from Eevee before being executed. Ash agrees.
• Back at the Inn, Anabel overhears a man playing a song, and she's able to perceive the emotions behind it: of love for his first wife, whom he lost to an untimely death, and for his current wife, who offered him comfort and love during his time of pain. She wonders what Iris would think about it.
• After dinner, Ash finds himself relaxing at the hot springs, and trying to think of his strategies for the Gym battle.
• A trio of boys try to find a hole to peep through the wall dividing the men and women's sides. When they comment about his friends, Ash chides them for it.
• The guys ignore Ash's warning, and they trigger a security measure that causes the water to boil too hot if people gets too close to the wall, forcing them to get out of the water.
• On the other side, Alish reveals to Ash's friends that Blaine installed a sensor that triggers with proximity, due to a Dirty Old Woman trying to sneak in with a screwdriver to peep through the wall.
• Iris wakes up early before dawn, unable to sleep as he's got plenty of things to think about. Namely, what she will do once she has rescued her family from Hunter J, and whether she'll have to choose between them, and her new friends.
• At Pallet Town, Professor Oak gets a message saying that he won't be hearing news of Gary for a while. Meanwhile, Delia comes for a visit.
• Delia voices her concerns about Ash getting into trouble so often, as well as the fact that he's growing and now traveling with a group of nice and pretty girls.
• Ash and the others arrive at the Cinnabar Gym, which is now a traditional one as opposed to be hidden inside the volcano. After answering the entrance's riddle, the doors open for them.
• When Ash enters, he's surprised to see Blaine, who looks a bit different from what he remembered. Blaine in turn is shocked to see Ash alive, seemingly aware of what happened at the Saffron Gym.
• Blaine proposes that they have a five-on-five battle, to which Ash agrees. Misty, Anabel and Iris sit on the nearby stands along with Alish, while a robot comes out to act as judge.
• Blaine starts with a Magcargo, and Ash brings out Primeape.
• Blaine notices that Ash had seemingly prepared for a possible repeat of Janine's Stealth Rock strategy, and admits he'd normally have done that, but his Magcargo uses a different battling style, as it has the ability Weak Armor, making it faster as it gets hit, and forcing Ash to recall Primeape and switch for Goodra.
• When Magcargo tries to recover, Goodra uses Rain Dance to interrupt its action, and is able to defeat it with his attacks.
• Blaine brings out an Arcanine. Again, the opponent proves too much and Ash is forced to switch Pokémon, this time for Boldore.
• During the battle, Blaine asks Ash how long he's had Boldore, and how long since she evolved. When Ash answers, Blaine realizes that, despite being well-trained, she still hasn't fully mastered her power.
• Despite the difficulty Boldore manages to beat Arcanine, although Blaine's words echo in Ash's mind, as well and in the minds of his friends.
• Blaine brings out a Rapidash, and Ash brings back Primeape.
• Primeape does well against Rapidash, but Blaine brings out another issue: namely, how many of Ash's Pokémon have broken the four-move limit. Blaine suggests he should focus on that before the league, while also working on building up more power.
• Anabel realizes Blaine is right, since Ash's training helps his Pokémon be more adaptable to different situations, but they tend to be lacking in the raw power department.
• Primeape beats Rapidash. Blaine decides to bring out an old Houndoom as his fourth Pokémon.
• Alish explains Blaine has had that Houndoom for longer than she's been alive, and used to be one of his eight-badge Pokémon, but now he can only handle a seven-badge match using Mega Evolution.
• As it were, Blaine Mega Evolves Houndoom, who then sends out a Fire Blast at Primeape.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Eight

• Houndoom defeats Primeape, and quickly follows suit with Boldore.
• Ash calls Goodra back to the battlefield, who puts up a better fight than the other two, but ultimately loses, and gets knocked off the battlefield.
• Ash catches Goodra himself, which doesn't go unnoticed by Alish. Pikachu accidentally jumps into the battlefield, and the robot judge assumes he's the next Pokémon.
• Ash ultimately decides to let Pikachu battle, and thus he engages Houndoom himself.
• Pikachu manages to defeat Houndoom after a long and harsh battle.
• Blaine calls his final Pokémon, who turns out to be a Magmortar. Ash calls Charizard.
• The two Fire-types engage each other in one last battle, with Charizard having quite a blast at fighting such a strong opponent.
• Charizard defeats Magmortar using Seismic Toss, earning Ash his Volcano Badge.
• After Ash and Co. are gone, Alish asks Blaine if he noticed the same things she did about Ash and the others. Indeed, Blaine deduced that Ash and the others are Bloodliners, and he recalls how difficult Alish parents had it to conceive her before taking some measures. However, Blaine decides not to bring it up and annoy the boy about it.
• After the battle, Ash and the girls go celebrate with icecream, and Iris falls asleep on Ash's shoulder. Misty can't help but feel a little jealous, but lets it be because she knows the wild girl didn't sleep well the previous night.
• Ash tells them he wants to go back to Pallet Town for a while, so he can train for the League.
• Before taking the ferry off Cinnabar, Ash and the girls go to the beach for some last-minute training. Anabel takes Misty to do some meditation techniques.
• As she meditates, Misty accidentally learns to use Aqua Ring.
• Anabel helps Misty up, and they share some of their thoughts about Ash, Misty about how she wants to be stronger to protect him, and their growing feelings for him.
• Anabel then shares that she's sensed sometimes keeps something to himself, and it seems to hurt him for some reason, similar but different to Red.
• Misty asks her if it has to do with the revelations about his father, but Anabel denies it, saying it comes from before that.
• A Wartortle interrupts their thoughts, running off in a panic attack.

Blastoise Islant Interlude

• The Wartortle explains to Misty he comes from a nearby island, and a group of evil humans invaded his home and got his Squirtle and Wartortle friends captured, with him only escaping because his Blastoise King sent him off the island to get help.
• After Ash, Iris and the rest of their Pokémon come over, Misty decides to help them, and Anabel teleports them all to the island.
• Once they arrive, they see the place has been completely trashed by the invaders. Dexter informs them that a band of Pokémon smugglers has been sighted around the area and might be the ones responsible for the attack.
• The group explores the island, and eventually finds the smugglers fighting against the Blastoise King who tries to protect the remaining Squirtle and Wartortle behind him. The Pokédex identifies one of the smugglers as a mercenary named Dirk, who has Unovan Pokémon.
• Wartortle explains the smugglers arrived in a submarine, and Misty deduces they probably have the rest of his friends over there. Anabel suggests they split up so Ash and Misty deal with this particular group, while she and Iris go and storm the submarine to rescue the rest of Wartortle's friends.
• Misty and her Pokémon stay in hiding while they wait for Ash and his Pokémon to do their part. Charizard attacks from the sky with a Flamethrower.
• During the ensuing rampage, the smugglers throw electrified nets at Blastoise to subdue him, and place him in the back of their trailer to make a retreat. Misty jumps over Blastoise's cage, and ends up following with them.
• The smugglers end up noticing Misty followed them and hit the brakes of their vehicle, throwing her off, though she manages to land safely.
• After Misty easily disposes of the two smugglers who try to attack her directly, Dirk wisely decides to send his Escavalier against her.
• The Escavalier grazes Misty, and causes her to become paralyzed with fear, giving it the chance to wound her with its spear arm. Misty then realizes Escavalier is a Bug-type, much to her chagrin.
• Managing to calm herself down, Misty tricks the Escavalier into stabbing its arms into a tree, and then smashes a rock on it to knock it out.
• Dirk brings out his Zebstrika, a Braviary and a Mandibuzz to continue the fight. Misty keeps dodging the attacks until a rock ends up pinning her leg down, leaving her defenseless.
• Having no other choice, Misty summons a Whirlpool attack to fend off Dirk's Mandibuzz. When Dirk orders his Zebstrika to attack her, Misty throws a Water Pulse at it, causing it to become disoriented and hit Braviary.
• With Braviary and Zebstrika fighting against each other, Dirk summons his Tyranitar, calling for a Hyper Beam to kill her off. Before it can, however, Misty's Pokémon show up and blast it with their attacks.
• The battle continues, and when Dirk's Tyranitar sees a chance to attack her again, Ash's Squirtle and the first Wartortle show up to help her once more. While they keep Tyranitar distracted, Misty uses the chance to use Aqua Ring and heal her wounds.
• After knocking Dirk out for a bit, Misty frees Blastoise and the rest of the captive Squirtle and Wartortle from the cages, and they join into the battle. A loud explosion is heard in the distance.
• The battle continues, but with Blastoise and the others freed, the tide turns to Misty's favor. Three more smugglers show up to announce their submarine has been blown up.
• Dirk decides to recall his Pokémon save his Braviary, and flies off the island, leaving the rest of the group to fend for themselves and with no way to get out.
• When the thugs protest, Psyduck decides to shut them up with his psychic powers. Ash then calls Misty via the Pokédex secondary body, to inform her they're all done with the rest and they'll be teleporting off the island soon.
• Back at the Cinnabar beach, Blastoise and the rest of the Wartortle and Squirtle do a head count to ensure everybody is safe and sound. However, there's still the issue of them not having a home anymore.
• Misty wonders if they'd have enough room for all of them at Oak's place, while Ash's Squirtle elaborates on it, assuring them they'll like the place.
• Misty offers that they all come with her, promising to take good care of them all. Blastoise isn't fully sure, so he wants to test Misty's strength before agreeing to go with her.
• When Gyarados steps up to Blastoise's challenge, the turtle finally agrees to go without fighting, seeing Gyarados' loyalty to Misty as proof of her strength, and allows himself and the rest of his brethren to be captured into Net Balls.
• At sunset, the group boards the ferry to Pallet Town. Misty talks to Anabel about how good it felt to help Wartortle and his friends.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Eight

• In the Orre region, at the Realgam tower, Gonzap meets up with Ein, discussing about the latest dealings between Team Snagem and Cipher, specifically a raid of a Verich Shipping vessel and a Sinnohan ship, of which they obtained many Pokémon.
• Ein presents Gonzap the finished Snag Machine prototype. Although since it's too small for his arm, he'll have to give it to a subordinate, but he'll eventually get his own.
• Before leaving, Ein asks about the lack of Pokémon in their latest raid. Gonzap defends himself by saying that obviously one of the ships didn't carry as many Pokémon due to being of a different sort of cargo.
• Back at his hideout, Gonzap sees the sleeping Wes on his couch, whom he recently gave a pair of Eevee. He muses that, while he keeps his end of the deal with Cipher about the Pokémon they can keep for themselves, sometimes he justs takes a few off the record and goes without mentioning them in his reports.

Main Story - Chapter Thirty Nine

• At Team Rocket's HQ, Giovanni summons Jessie, James and Meowth to congratulate them for their job in keeping an eye on Ash, and assign them a new mission, but before he does, he grants them a question about why they've been assigned to monitor him.
• James ventures to try and piece together everything they know about Ash, and assumes that he might be Giovanni's son and wants to make him his heir of Team Rocket one day.
• Giovanni laughs at it, and explaining that he does have a son but it's not Ash, continues to explain: he knows that times are changing, with the recent increase in bloodliners numbers. He wants Ash to stand out as a heroic symbol of sorts, someone bloodliners could look up to as an example to follow, and in doing so, removing some of the competition in the criminal world for Team Rocket.
• Giovanni reveals that Ash has returned home to Pallet Town, and wants the trio to make sure he stays a good young man by removing anybody who could try to hurt the people he cares about and have him go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge for it.
• Delia is at home waiting anxiously for Ash's arrival, and as soon as she hears a knock on the door, she knows it's him.
• She quickly rushes to hug him, and suddenly notices that he's put up some extra inches of height, and some muscle. She also notices Misty, Iris and Anabel, who come in behind him.
• While at the kitchen preparing some sandwiches and tea for her guests, Delia is approached by Misty, who offers some help. Delia politely refuses, but since she's there, she takes the chance to ask Misty some questions, about what she thinks about Ash.
• Misty eventually tells Delia her version of what happened at the Cerulean Gym, and apologizes for having lashing out at Ash at the time. She assures him that Ash doesn't go around looking for trouble, it's usually trouble that finds him instead.
• Misty assures Delia that she's really grateful for meeting Ash, and while she can't promise he won't run into trouble in the future, she promises that she and the others will be there to watch his back if needed.
• Once the tea is ready, Delia serves some and gives Misty a tray with teacups and sandwiches, asking for her to take it to the others, so she can go prepare some last minute details for Ash's welcome party at the restaurant. Misty agrees.
• Once at Pallet House, the party begins, and Ash and the others enjoy themselves.
• Misty notices how Ash got himself caught between a few girls who want to dance with him, one of which mentions his last birthday party. Misty wonders if they should probably help him out.
• Iris doesn't understand at first, but Misty and Anabel explain that, unlike them, those girls only like Ash because of his looks and because he's becoming a bit of a local celebrity, so they should put some limits.
• Misty then goes off to take Ash away from the girls. Ash thanks her, but then Misty suggests that he could come and dance with one of them instead.
• After a good night's rest, the next morning Ash goes to Oak's ranch to do some training with his Pokémon, and discusses about what they'll do once they're done traveling through Kanto.
• Given the difficulties he had in the following regions, and how sometimes it came down to his old guard to achieve the most important victories, Ash decides he'll try to start fresh in every region to properly train his Pokémon. However, Serperior suggests that there's a chance his current rivals, like Paul, Gary or Red might follow him to the next region, and he would find himself at a disadvantage if facing them with new Pokémon in case they brought along their veteran ones.
• Bulbasaur steps in, suggesting that Ash could take three veteran Pokémon in case he fights his old rivals, and leave three free slots for the new ones so they can be properly trained too. Ash agrees with the idea.
• Misty is elsewhere training with her Pokémon, dodging the bites of the Basculin school she caught at the Safari Zone.
• A nerd-like boy with a Misdreavus shows up to challenge her to a battle. A Wartortle she caught when leaving Cinnabar, along with many more, steps to the challenge.
• After a while, the battle stops, and the boy introduces himself as Nelson. He explains to Misty that he plans one day to travel to the Raizen Mountains, and hopefully catch Entei, Raikou and/or Suicune. Misty listens to him as he tells her about his planned tactics should he find one of them.
• Ash, Iris and Anabel take a rest after doing some running.
• Anabel comments that Pallet Town is a nice place, and Ash agrees, though he admits it doesn't quite feel like home as much it used to be, possibly due to having traveled for so long.
• Ash continues his training the next day, with Yanma and one of the Exeggutor. A Grimer suddenly comes and shows him an egg with a Koffing-like mark.
• While her Eevee spars with Iris' Axew, Anabel continues to think about what she'd like to do, realizing that she's the only among the group without a goal of her own.
• While going to pick up a parcel for Professor Oak, Ash stops for a friendly battle with a rookie trainer. Togepi defeats the trainer's Mankey.
• The trainer asks Ash how he became so good, and Ash replies it was practice and it took him time to do so. The boy is in a hurry to get stronger, but his Mankey doesn't fare well against the Bug-types in Viridian Forest.
• Ash brings out Chansey to heal Mankey, and Serperior to teach him how to use Aerial Ace, so the boy can have a move to counter the bugs.
• Back at home, Ash tries to check whether his Counter-Shield is useful against Z-Moves, but he realizes that it's not, at least against Shattered Psyche.
• After doing some more training, Misty comes up to Ash asking for a battle. Recalling The Promise they made each other a while back, Misty wants to see how far she's come and how far from said goal she is.
• After Ash agrees, she proposes they battle with six Pokémon, sending her Slowbro first. Ash sends Ambipom.
• Slowbro defeats Ambipom through endurance.
• Pidgeot comes down, and offers to battle too. Misty calls Wingull for an aerial battle.
• Despite surprising with a Shock Wave attack, Pidgeot defeats Wingull.
• Pikachu wants in too, but Bulbasaur steps up. In turn, Psyduck follows suit for Misty.
• Bulbasaur defeats Psyduck the same way he did in the previous timeline: by tickling him and licking his head.
• Next, Butterfree versus Poliwrath. Poliwrath uses Water Sport to dampen Butterfree's wings, similar to Erika's Rain Dance, and knocks him away with a Dynamic Punch, winning the round for Misty.
• Charizard comes next, and Misty calls the Blastoise from the Island.
• The battle eventually reaches a stalemate. When Ash is unsure as to what to do, Charizard tells him to create another Z-Crystal. Misty, despite not understanding Charizard's speech, realizes what he means and agrees.
• Recalling what he did at the Saffron Gym, Ash focuses, and the resulting energies end up creating a Normalium-Z.
• Ash and Charizard immediately perform a Breckneck Blitz, while Misty orders Blastoise to use Protect. The Z-Move ultimately breaks through and defeats Blastoise.
• The final battle, Pikachu versus Gyarados, begins. As it goes on, Misty ponders on how far she's come, but realizes she still has a long way to go before giving Ash the battle he deserves, starting by the fact she needs to come up with original ideas for battle strategies.

Main Story - Chapter Forty

• Charles Goodshow is preparing for the upcoming Indigo Conference, reflecting on the latest uprising of talented rookie trainers.
• Somebody knocks on his door. He opens, and finds Electra Artisian, who comes to inform her about some concerns she has about the competitors of the league, namely Bloodliners using their abilities to have unfair advantages.
• Goodshow refuses to ban competitors solely on the fact they're bloodliners, citing many examples of gender-equality and foreign trainers issues he had to live through during his life, and everyone deserves a chance to try and achieve their dreams regardless of who they are. Electra accepts his stance, but warns him that he won't always be around to run the Pokémon League, and some others might have different visions about it.
• Iris has a strange dream, about living with Ash in a cave, along with Misty, who looks older than she should be, naked for some reason, and pregnant. She quickly realizes it can't be real.
• Shortly after, the scenery shifts to a cliff's edge, and she sees Ash's Charizard flying through the air before landing. Ash comes off of his back, equally naked, and another girl, whom she quickly recognizes as Dawn for some reason.
• Dawn is pregnant as well, and Iris notices that Ash has a scar across his right eye, quickly remembering that it came from fighting her father over wanting to take her to travel around the world. The shock is enough to wake her up.
• Ash has Pikachu test the Breakneck Blitz against Professor Oak's Dragonite. Dragonite barely endures the attack using Horn Drill and thanks to Multiscale, but is left exhausted in the process.
• Professor Oak tells Ash about an Alolan Professor named Kukui who is an expert in Z-Moves, and gives a USB drive with info about how to perform all the known ones.
• Later meeting up with the girls, Ash asks Iris if she's ever gone to Alola. Anabel says she's heard it's a nice place to go on vacation, while Misty expresses interest in the possibility of catching Water-types.
• Ash notices how Iris seems worried about something, but before he can ask questions about it, a thunderstorm suddenly breaks near them, and Anabel has them teleported away.
• Ash later trains Boldore in the use of Return against Serperior's Leaf Blade.
• Boldore feels frustrated of not being strong enough to overpower Serperior and leaves. When Ash tries to suggest something, Serperior steps in, saying that she might need another evolution to reach the level she feels she needs.
• Dexter reveals that Boldore and several other Pokémon can evolve through trade, which brings Ash bad memories about it. Dexter then suggests a "round trade" to circumvent any issues Ash might have about it.
• Iris is at a local park, where two old men are playing chess and commenting about how they can't believe Ash has come that far, while Gary is nowhere to be seen. One of them complains that Ash just got lucky.
• When their comments irritate her, Iris intervenes, saying that Ash has worked hard to come as far as he has, and luck has nothing to do with it. The man keeps complaining that Ash just got lucky for having an unusually strong Pikachu.
• Misty shows up to take Iris away, while the man is restrained by his friend, still complaining.
• Once they're away, Iris and Misty talk about what just happened. Misty says they shouldn't care about what those men think about Ash. She then asks about her current issues.
• Iris finally confesses that she's worried about what she'll do once she takes J down and rescues her family, since Ash and Misty have goals that will determine the course of their life.
• Iris then expresses that she has seen the world through the eyes of a Pokémon, and now she'd like to see it again through the eyes of a human. Misty replies that there's nothing wrong with that, since she's not planning to just leave her family never to see them again.
• At home, Ash asks Delia about his grandfather, and how he didn't want Ash to be born when he found out Delia was pregnant. Delia tells him that her father was a good if somewhat flawed man who could be tactless and blunt, but she knew he cared for her wellbeing, and is sure he'd have loved Ash as much as she does. Ash also reveals that he found out his father also sired plenty of other children, and he's had a few run-ins with some of them.
• When the girls arrive, Anabel suggests they should look up info about possible league opponents, to which Delia agrees. The Pokédex begins delivering a lot of data about some competitors of the last Indigo League.
• One of the competitors has a passing resemblance to Ash, and Delia asks him if he talks about him, but Ash denies it. The Pokédex continues his data dump, until Ash and everyone else just decides to ignore it.
• The rest of the Spewpa are revealed to have evolved to Vivillon.
• Ash continues training Togepi, and is pleased to see his progress, but Pikachu voices his concerns about it. Ash decides to let Charizard keep training Togepi and bring him to the league if he's good enough.
• When asking Pikachu about why he's so worried about seeing Togepi fighting, Pikachu reveals that he mated with Raichu, and she's going to have a Pichu egg soon, so it's kind of a fatherly worry.
• Ash assures Pikachu he'll be a good dad, and in turn Pikachu asks Ash to be the godparent of his offspring.
• Ash continues to train with the girls at the hills, to help their Pokémon break the move limit, sans Iris, who goes off elsewhere on her own.
• Suddenly, another thunderstorm occurs without warning, and the cause is revealed: an angry Zapdos flying over them.
• Before Anabel can teleport them, Zapdos paralizes her with Thunder Wave, so Ash and his Pokémon have no choice but to try and fight it back.
• Iris is having a sparring session with Axew, and becomes somewhat distracted about her issues, causing him to beat her.
• Axew finally notices her worries, and prompts her to finally come out about them. When she asks if she was forced to choose between their Dragon family and their new friends, Axew replies he'll stick by her side no matter what, and if their family has a problem with it, he'll personally give them what it's due, helping her ease her worries somewhat.
• Suddenly, a young man shows up and asks Iris if she knows where Ash is.
• The man introduces himself as a professional League trainer, the Astounding Mandi. After being kicked early from the previous league, he's seeking out talented rookie trainers in hopes of learning how to beat them should he find himself facing one of them in the early rounds of the league. Iris quickly deduces he's come to spy on Ash.
• When Iris tells him Ash is off training elsewhere to get stronger and that she's helping him, Mandi decides to challenge her to a battle, so he might get an idea of what Ash is capable of.
• Mandi sends his Exeggutor first, and Axew steps up to the challenge.
• Mandi is quick to underestimate the smaller Pokémon, who quickly counters Exegguttor's attacks and delivers a swift defeat.
• Iris tells Mandi to leave, and makes it clear that no matter what he does, if he ends up fighting Ash, he will lose.
• Mandi is about to send his next Pokémon, but then, Axew evolves to Fraxure. Mandi quickly drops the Poké Balls he was about to throw, revealing that this happened to him before. His Exegguttor does well in all of his battles, until he faces a Pokémon that evolves mid-battle and proceeds to trash the rest of his team without breaking a sweat.
• Mandi asks if Ash has Pokémon that could evolve mid-battle against his Exeggutor, and Iris confirms it. Mandi promptly leaves.
• Back at home, Ash reveals his Z-Ring has now an Electrium-Z, and Iris shows her evolved Fraxure. When Dexter blurts out about Ash's encounter with Zapdos, Delia comes out of the house in a rush and hugs everyone.
• Elsewhere, Cross muses about his recent encounter with a Zapdos, which left him and his Pokémon injured, though he's assured that they'll make a full recovery in time for the League.

Main Story - Chapter Forty One

• Paul celebrates his recent victory against Erika eating a meal in a Celadon restauraint, after winning his final Gym Badge against Erika.
• Otoshi has a battle against Alex Davis, using his Dodrio against the latter's Alakazam.
• Midori's friends force him to pose in his boxers for Monet to draw him a sketch, after finding out he feels physically inadequate. Mikey shows up and Rana decides to have a battle with him.
• Ritchie and Sparky have a sparring match against Duplica and her Ditto. They manage to win.
• Elwood comes out of the Matcha Gym with his seventh badge. Aideen shows up, meeting with him after traveling separated for a bit. Before entering to challenge the gym herself, she tells her brother of some rumors she heard while she was at Saffron City, apparently involving Ash.
• Jeanette and A.J celebrate with pizza after Jeannette wins a Scizorite in a Viridian tournament.
• Kaia comes out of winning her seventh badge, cheering her friendship with her Arcanine, Golbat and Squirtle.
• Alexander Silph analyzes the latest surge of talented rookie trainers and evaluates his odds against them with the help of his I.A Cepu. He decides to take measures for the upcoming Indigo League.
• In Pallet Town's hills, Ash continues his physical training with Iris, glad that she seems better today.
• Later, while having a chat with his Pokémon, Ash discusses with his Pokémon to train one more week before taking on the Viridian Gym.
• That night, Anabel has difficulties sleeping. While trying to force herself to sleep, she accidentally discovers she can enter people's dreams, first entering Ash's dream, and later Delia's.
• She tries once more, and this time she enters Iris' dream. At first, Iris is dreaming of training with Ash, but then it turns into something different altogether.
• Dream Iris notices her presence, and that snaps her awake. Anabel gets out of the dream and Iris mentally asks her to talk somewhere else so as to not to wake up the others.
• Iris and Anabel continue to discuss the possibility of sharing Ash in a relationship. Anabel points out that while she didn't feel as jealous as she expected when she saw Ash and Iris making out in her dream, she'd still have to convince Ash and Misty to get on board with it. Iris declares she has a plan for that.
• After waking up, Ash goes to meet Iris and Anabel to the clearing where the former liked to do physical training.
• Iris, after taking her shirt off, prompts Anabel and Ash to do the same so they can start training. Ash becomes distracted after seeing Anabel shirtless and Iris takes advantage of that to tackle him down.
• Elsewhere, Misty is helping Ash's Squirtle and Kingler with their training. Ash comes to her beaten up worse than usual, and explains to her how Iris dragged Anabel into doing physical combat training too.
• Later, Misty goes to talk to Anabel about the physical training. Misty explains that she's surprised Iris didn't rope her instead of Anabel for that, and admits she doesn't mind being ogled at by Ash a bit. The two decide to do some meditation training.
• Iris continues to help Anabel with the physical training. After a while, she asks Anabel to check on the dream she had about Ash losing his eye, just to make sure it isn't real. Anabel confirms it was just a dream.
• The next morning, Anabel meets Delia while she's making muffins for breakfast.
• While eating, Delia asks Anabel what goals she has. Anabel then realizes she doesn't have a personal goal to herself, and while she's content with having friends and seeing the world, she wishes she could do something to make the world a better place.
• Delia suggests Anabel could perhaps share her story around the internet so people can get to know her, and perhaps get people to change their stances about bloodliners.
• Anabel later comes to Dexter for help to set up a blog. While at first the Pokédex refuses, on the grounds that he's programmed to help Ash and not her, Anabel manages to trick the device into agreeing by using Reverse Psychology.
• Once the blog is ready, Anabel writes its first entry, and signs herself as "Salon Maiden".
• Ash is running an errand for Professor Oak in Viridian, and gets intercepted by a guy dressed as a Hawaian Shirt Tourist who promptly challenges him to a battle. He accepts, despite having some strange vibes from the guy.
• Ash sends Ambipom to fight an Alolan Raichu. Ambipom wins.
• In the second bout, Ash sends Boldore to fight a Golisopod. Boldore loses despite using a Z-Move.
• For the third, Ash sends Pikachu against a Midnight Lycanroc. Pikachu manages to win by evolving his Wild Charge into Volt Tackle.
• Ash finally demands that the guy reveal his true intentions. The guy drops the disguise and reveals he wanted to analyze Ash's trainer skills to better prepare himself to face him at Indigo. He then teleports away.
• Anabel reveals that she read his thoughts and got his name, Alexander Silph. Ash has the Pokédex look him up for information.
• The Pokédex reveals Alexander Silph is the heir of the megacorporation of the same name, and has won several League Conferences. He also reveals that he divides his Pokémon in Alpha and Beta tiers, the former stronger than the latterer than the latter.
• Ash then realizes that Alexander Silph held back just to get information about him, and despite winning two of the three bouts, the victory feels rather hollow. He then wonders if that's how Red felt when he refused to use his bloodliner powers to win in the tournaments.
• Once at the Pokémon Center, the Nurse Joy talks to Ash about the possibility of using a Trade Circuit machine, noticing Boldore's issues and how she wants to grow stronger.
• Anabel offers to use the machine with her Kadabra, so they both can evolve today. Ash ultimately leaves the choice to Boldore, who decides that she does want to evolve.
• Kadabra and Boldore evolve to Alakazam and Gigalith respectively.
• Back in Pallet Town, Delia organizes another party in the restaurant. Anabel then senses something, and while everyone is distracted, she goes to check it out.
• A Raikou appears before her and attacks. After she defends herself using her powers, it suddenly stops and speaks to her through telepathy, revealing itself as the original Raikou who was resurrected by Ho-oh centuries ago.
• Raikou takes Anabel for a ride, revealing that it came to observe the place where Ash Ketchum was born, as Ho-oh if Ash is destined to change the world for the better like Professor Oak did before him.
• Anabel asks if Ash is some sort of chosen one, which Raikou dismisses as Ash is only one of many humans pure of heart that could fit the mold of a chosen one.
• Anabel then asks if Raikou knows about why bloodliners are growing un numbers. Raikou denies it, although it suspects it could be tied to events such as Kalos' Ultimate Weapon and some meteor showers. Raikou then leaves and Anabel returns to the party.
• In Terracotta Town, Koga raids the hideout of Frank Gipani to help the police put an end to his criminal operations. He then confiscates some of his Alolan Pokémon, hoping that he can either add them to his roster or breed new ones from them, to have new options for the upcoming Indigo League.

Main Story - Chapter Forty Two

• In the Draconid Mountains, Zinnia and her daughter Aster see Steven Stone arrive on his Skarmory. Steven informs them that they've recently noticed Rayquaza behaving erratically, which the Draconids have felt as well. Zinnia suspects that Rayquaza might be reacting to a Pokémon tampering with the weather, but somewhere far from Hoenn, so neither Rayquaza nor Steven can go investigate or stop it.
• After Mewtwo's escape, Giovanni gets word from James that Ash is heading for Viridian for his final Gym Badge. Running out of options, he sends Butch and Cassidy to fight Ash to buy him some time while he prepares for the challenge.
• Ash and his female companions run into Butch and Cassidy blocking the Viridian Gym's entrance. Ash switches several of the Pokémon he prepared for the Gym battle with others that include Gigalith and Togepi, to dispatch Butch and Cassidy's quickly, then switches them back.
• Inside the gym, Giovanni asks Ash why he's here if he technically doesn't need the badge, which Ash replies he wants to be sure he's fully prepared for the League. Giovanni reluctantly complies and agrees to the challenge, making it a full six-on-six battle.
• The gym battle between Ash and Giovanni begins:
  • Giovanni sends out a Rhydon, and Ash sends Squirtle. Squirtle wins.
  • Giovanni sends out a Dugtrio, while Ash keeps Squirtle. The bout ends in a double knockout. Ash's female companions note that Giovanni is behaving oddly.
  • Giovanni sends out a Marowak, and Ash sends out Kingler. Marowak wins.
  • Ash sends out Yanma to battle Marowak. Yanma wins.
  • Giovani sends out a Steelix, while Ash keeps Yanma out. Steelix self-destructs to take down Yanma, knocking the bug towards Misty.
  • Ash sends out his lead Tauros, while Giovanni sends out a Nidoking. Nidoking wins.
  • Ash then brings out one of his Exeggutor to battle Nidoking. The bout ends in another double knockout.
  • Giovanni warns Ash that in the event of a tie he's not obligated to give Ash the badge before sending out his final Pokémon, a Rhyperior.
  • Ash sends out Serperior to battle Giovanni's Rhyperior. Serperior wins, ending the match with a victory for Ash.
• Giovanni tosses Ash the Earth Badge while he and his female companions are celebrating, and leaves without sparing a word.
• Back at Pallet Town, Delia places Ash's badges in a framed case for safekeeping, and suggests they throw another party to celebrate. Misty declines, and suggests they take another beach trip, which everyone agrees with.
• Anabel checks on the replies on her blog, replying to one comment questioning why she wants to be friends with "normal" people.
• Ash prepares to go to the beach with his female companions and asks Delia if she still has her old surfboard, while Delia is worried about attraction sparking between her son and his female companions.
• Near the Kanto shore, Red and Yellow return to the mainland from the Sevii Islands. A Dragonite flies by, knocking them away while they're having a picnic before delivering Mewtwo's invitation.

Argenta Interlude

• Argenta is disgusted by the prevalence of Smogon tactics at the Lily of the Valley Conference, resulting in little variety. She talks with Professor Rowan about it.
• Argenta criticises Rowan's selection of Paul as a Pokedex Holder. Rowan states that Paul met his requirements, his training methods are his choice, and that it is not accurate to call him a Smogonite.
• Unsatisfied, Argenta decides to hold a tournament to beat the Smogonites, to show them Smogon theories are not absolute. She wins 399 battles in a row.
• Afterwards, Argenta encounters Mitsumi, whom Argenta identifies as a Smogonite, though unlike the others, who almost invariably used Garchomp against her, Mitsumi uses Infernape.
• They battle, and Argenta is impressed with Mitsumi. She then witnesses the friendship between Mitsumi and her Pokemon.
• Argenta realises she was being too harsh in how she was handling the Smogonite problem.
• After hearing Mitsumi's story, Argenta gives her Rowan's address.

Maylene Interlude

• Sho challenges Maylene and wins. Maylene awards him the Cobble Badge, suggesting him to go to the Pastoria City Gym next.
• Reggie comes up and notices that Maylene seems happier than usual, and she says it's because she's finally given out her first Gym Badge.
• Reggie asks if Maylene's gotten any news about Kiya, but Maylene says that she hasn't, as only Tanimoto-sensei keeps in touch with him since he left to train on his own. They both hope he can learn to cope with defeat.

Sho Interlude

• Several months after challenging Volkner, after winning his second and third badges in Veilstone and Pastoria, Sho hears of a Bug-Catching Contest held in the Great Marsh, with the chance to win evolutionary stones, so he decides to stick around for a while to win a couple of Thunder Stones for himself.
• He loses on his first attempt, but manages to win in the second, using the Thunder Stone to evolve his Pikachu to Raichu.
• Sho tries a third time, and finds a Vespiquen, which he captures to ensure a win.
• He uses the second Thunder Stone to evolve an Eevee he had received a while ago into Jolteon.
• A girl named Kylie shows up, offering him anything he wants for the Vespiquen. Upon learning that she works at the Lake Valor Seven-Star Restaurant, he decides to ask for an all-you-can-eat buffet for himself and his Pokémon, as a reward for their hard work.

Wally Interlude

• Wally visits Sawyer at Rustboro City and borrows his notes, not telling Sawyer of the possibility he may not see them again.
• Wally goes to Meteor Falls, attempting to reach Brendan so they could have their battle.
• He reaches Fallabor Town. Checking his BuzzNav, he hears Brendan is going to Fortree City.
• On Route 113, Wally's condition worsens because of the volcanic ash. Ralts uses Heal Pulse to keep Wally healthy.
• After trouble at the desert, Wally and Ralts reach Mauville City.
• They meet Inver, and after winning an Inverse Battle, Inver gives them a Dawn Stone. Ralts evolved into Kirlia during the battle.
• Trying to cross the river towards Fortree City, Wally suffers an asthma attack and the pair are attacked by Tentacool on top of that.
• Kirlia uses the Dawn Stone to evolve into Gallade to save Wally from both situations.
• Continuing to Fortree, Wally's condition worsens still. Gallade begins worrying about Wally's deterioting health.
• At Fortree, Wally and Gallade learn Wally has been reported as a runaway child and people are searching for him.
• He sees Winona the Gym Leader, who invites him to see one of her battles. She defeats the challenger, using the now common tactic of using Steel-type moves to negate Electric-type moves.
• Winona bids both Wally and the challenger farewell. She only realises Wally is the runaway child after he leaves.

Steven Interlude - Chapter One

• Steven is at the Devon Corporation headquarters, filling in for his father on some duties, but is bored with the current paperwork.
• The secretary arrives to tell Steven that Roxanne and her students from Rustboro Trainer School have arrived and are waiting for him.
• Steven shows up before Roxanne and her students, and while they make the tour around the building, Steven asks Roxanne about the missing former student, Wally. Roxanne tells him there are still search parties trying to find him.
• Steven and Roxanne reminisce about their old times, when they were beginners, and how they have to work to prepare the new generation.
• Noticing one of the students separated from the group, and walked towards a restricted area, Steven decides to go after him.
• Steven finds the student, who is none other than Sawyer. The boy is surprised to see the Champion himself, who gently but sternly lectures him that it's a restricted area and he should go back to the rest of the group.
• Sawyer then notes that he saw someone coming out of that area, and then Steven realizes something could be afoot. He rushes further in, and finds a door cracked open.
• Sawyer notes the keypad has Magnemite burn marks, and suspects one was used to force the door open. Steven gets inside and begins searching around for anything stolen. Much to his shock, he realizes they stole a device known as "The Flower".
• Steven asks Sawyer if he saw the thief and if he could identify him. Sawyer says that he can, and goes with Steven to try and catch him.
• The thief almost makes it out of the building, but Steven intercepts him riding over his Shiny Metagross before he can escape. Sawyer recognizes him.
• Steven tries to reason with the man to get him to turn himself in, but he refuses. As he mentions Team Zenith, Steven is briefly shocked, and the man uses a Golbat with Haze to cover his escape.
• As he hears Roxanne's voice through the smoke, Steven directs Metagross to try and chase the thief. Much to his shock, Sawyer is still riding on it. Steven tells him to hop off, but Sawyer refuses, wanting to help. Steven reluctantly agrees, and their search takes them out of Rustboro and towards the Meteor Falls.
• Sawyer asks Steven about Team Zenith, having heard the man saying it before. Steven tells him it used to be a terrorist organization that sought to change the world trying to get control of Rayquaza, and that he had his fair share of run-ins with them during his early days as a trainer. They had dissapeared, although it was rumored that their members had split between Teams Magma and Aqua.
• As they continue searching for the thief, Steven mentions how they used to wear a ridiculous uniform, with green dragon-like coats. Much to their shock, Sawyer spots a person wearing said garb. While it's not the same they were following before, Steven thinks he might lead them to the actual thief, and follow him.
• An incoming Draco Meteor forces Metagross to shield Steven and Sawyer, causing them to crash on the ground. While they come out unharmed, and Steven is able to apply a Full Restore to Metagross, suddenly they find themselves surrounded by a group of the local natives, the Draconids, led by a young black-haired woman with a Salamence, who accuses them of stealing their lore.
• Steven tries to reason with her, but she doesn't listen, and has her Salamence shoot another Draco Meteor at them, forcing Metagross to use Protect to shield them. Steven proceeds to explain that they too had something stolen from them by the same people.
• Another Draconid shows up to tell the woman, named Zinnia, that they rounded up the invaders. Figuring Steven and Sawyer aren't in league with the thief, she tells them to come along to their village.
• As they walk into the village, Sawyer begins taking notes in curiosity. Steven warns him not to do it, since they're still walking on thin ice.
• Zinnia calls for her grandmother, the village's elder, and brings her to Steven. After exchanging some words, the elder invites Steven to her house to discuss things. Before going in, he tells Sawyer to wait for him and gives him a Cherish Ball so he can defend himself in case anything happens.
• Steven enters the elder's house, and while they enjoy some tea, it turns out the elder also knows about Team Zenith and its leader, Zevie. Steven asks what's on the lore they had stolen. The elder says that it's a secret passed from lorekeeper to lorekeeper and it's not something outsiders should know.
• A girl, Aster, barges in and calls for the elder to play. The girl is Zinnia's daughter, and her father was a Sootopolitan who raped Zinnia.
• Running out of time, and needing the Draconids' trust, Steven reveals what he knows about the Flower, and he gets the elder to convince Zinnia of revealing him about the stolen lore.
• Knowing they have some Zenith grunts captured, Steven requests that he's allowed to talk to them to get information. While Zinnia protests as they plan to execute them, the elder grants Steven's request.
• Meanwhile, Sawyer reminisces about his missing friend, Wally, hoping that he's alright, wherever he is.
• Suddenly, a voice gets his attention, and he sees a Draconid boy with a Swablu fighting an angry-looking Bagon.
• The boy pins the Bagon down, who struggles to break free. The boy spots Sawyer and recognizing him as a Sootopolitan, tries to attack him. The Bagon breaks free and knocks the boy to the floor.
• The Bagon tries to attack Sawyer, who throws the Cherish Ball he got, revealing a Shiny Beldum.
• Beldum defeats Bagon, and Sawyer checks it out. As it turns out, it had an injury on its head and was trying to stop the pain, hence why it was so violent. He heals it, calming it down, and surprising the Draconid boy.
• Suddenly, more Draconids show up, and seeing the boy, named Ryuga, on the floor, they assume Sawyer attacked him. Before they can attack him, however, the elder shows up to stop them, chiding them for jumping to conclusions. Sawyer leaves with Steven, leaving the Bagon to Ryuga to care for it.
• The Draconid women lead Steven and Sawyer into the caves, where they have the Zenith Grunts. The guards reveal to Zinnia they weren't unable to get nothing out of them.
• Steven decides to talk to the grunts himself. They begin to beg to be saved, but as soon as he offers to do so if they tell him about their plans, they refuse.
• Running out of patience, Steven brings out his Metagross, and reminds the grunts about everything he did since he was a Beldum, as well as threatening them with a Meteor Mash, hoping that one of them caves in. One does, revealing that Zevie plans to do something with the Flower and the stolen lore on Mt. Chimney.
• With this info, Steven promises to get the grunts released after they deal with Team Zenith, and relays it to Zinnia and the elder.
• The elder reveals to Steven there's a tunnel leading to Mt. Chimney they can use to get there quickly, and asks Zinnia to gather the strongest in their ranks for the upcoming confrontation.

Steven Interlude - Chapter Two

• As they walk through the caves to Mt. Chimney, Sawyer notices Steven seems worried. Steven tells him of his past encounters with Team Zenith, and that he feels he should have taken them down permanently. Sawyer assures him that they'll stop them no matter what.
• Steven notices that his Beldum seems to have taken a shine to Sawyer, and offers to let the boy keep it if he wants. Sawyer appreciates it, but tells Steven that he will receive a Treecko from Professor Birch as his starter. Steven nonetheless tells Sawyer to keep Beldum for now in case something happens.
• Steven walks forward and chats with Zinnia, who tells him he should have left Sawyer behind. Steven replies that he would feel better to keep him close instead of leaving him alone with the Draconids.
• While Zinnia seems to try and provoke an argument, Steven refuses to take the bait and replies that both sides have part of the responsibility in their ongoing conflict, and that he hopes it can be resolved peacefully one day. Zinnia decides to ignore it to focus on the matters at hand.
• Once the group reaches Mt. Chimney, they spot a Team Zenith contingent. Steven recognizes two of their female admins, Taylor and Carly, and overhears their conversation about a Megalith shard.
• Carly and Taylor spot Steven's group before they can act and attack them, forcing them to take cover. Zinnia and the Draconids offer to take care of them while Steven goes after their leader. A battle ensues.
• Steven reaches Mt. Chimney's summit, where he confronts Zevie himself, while he's working with the Megalith shard. The two bring out their full teams to engage each other.
• While the battle between the Zenith grunts and the Draconids continue, Sawyer stays at bay, unsure as to what to do.
• Taylor shows up and deduces Sawyer came with Steven, and decides to take him hostage to use as a bargaining chip.
• Ryuga and his Swablu attack Taylor, giving them the chance to run and hide. He also brought the Bagon from before along.
• Ryuga reveals he followed them through the caves to help as well, and asks if Sawyer has any ideas to beat them. Sawyer thinks about it, and asks for Bagon's help, trying to formulate a plan to take out the Zenith grunts.
• Ryuga goes out to get Carly and Taylor's attention. The latter catches him using her Bug-types String Shot to tie him up and use him as a hostage for the Draconids instead.
• The Draconids hold off, but they begin losing ground by the second due to the Zenith grunts' numerical advantage.
• Sawyer comes out of hiding and gets Carly's and Taylor's attention to get them to chase him.
• Sawyer sends out Bagon with a Headbutt attack with Swablu and Beldum's help. Carly and Taylor's Pokémon raise a Protect, but Bagon misses them altogether.
• Much to their shock, the attack wasn't aimed at them, but at the mountain wall to cause a rockslide. The Zenith grunts are sent running for their lives, and the battle's tide is turned on the Draconids' favor.
• The Draconids manage to round up Carly, Taylor and the rest of their grunts, but much to their shock, they laugh at the Draconids, revealing that they weren't trying to win, only to stall them so Zevie could complete their plan.

Steven Interlude - Chapter Three

• At Mt. Chimney's summit, the battle between Steven and Zevie continues. Steven tries to get to the Megalith, but Zevie prevents him from doing so.
• Steven and Zevie Mega Evolve their Metagross and Altaria respectively. The battle rages on.
• Zevie kicks Steven off into Mt. Chimney's crater and prevents his Pokémon from reaching him. Fortunately, Zinnia flies in with her Salamence and rescues him.
• Zinnia Mega Evolves her Salamence and goes off to destroy the Megalith while Steven continues to battle Zevie.
• Steven and Metagross manage to defeat Zevie and Altaria. Ryuga, Sawyer and the rest of the Draconids arrive as well.
• Steven calls for everyone to aim their attacks at the Megalith to destroy it, but Zevie, having regained consciousness, laughs at them, telling Steven they won't be able to stop it now. He then presses a button on a bracelet he's wearing, and activates the machine.
• The Megalith activates and begins to grow, breaking out of its container, absorbing the nearby Pokémon's energy and taking on the appearance of Mega Rayquaza.
• The Megalith begins its rampage, and Zevie declares his victory, but Steven decides to fight on.
• The Megalith sends out energy tendrils to attack everything in its vicinity, and resists every attack send out at it.
• Ryuga and Sawyer attempt to charge at the Megalith on their own, forcing Steven to save them.
• Ryuga says that Sawyer has a plan to stop the Megalith. Sawyer says that he's not sure it'll work, but he has the idea to shut down its power source.
• Steven goes toff to fight Zevie again, who keeps gloating over his imminent vitory despite the efforts of the Champion and his Draconid allies. However, he realizes too late that Steven wasn't trying to defeat him, but to cover for Sawyer to reach the Megalith's control panel and destroy it with Bagon and Beldum's help.
• With the power source destroyed, the Megalith becomes vulnerable, and Steven orders everyone to attack it,.
• Zevie becomes enraged and tries to salvage his Megalith as it goes critical.
• Steven orders everyone to escape, but when Zevie stays behind, he tries to tell them to come. The Zenith leader refuses, and Steven is forced to leave him to his fate.
• The Megalith explodes, sending out a cloud of smoke that becomes visible all over the close area.
• Steven, Sawyer and the Draconids have gotten to safety. When Sawyer questions whether Zevie is dead, Steven tells them he doubts it, as he has seen him survive worse, but for the time being, Team Zenith won't be causing trouble.
• Zinnia laments that they didn't recover their stolen lore, but Sawyer reveals he took it from the control panel, and gives it back.
• As thanks for their help, Zinnia offers Steven any favor he needs. Steven decides to call it in immediately.
• Meanwhile, Carly, Taylor and the rest of Team Zenith lament their plans ended in failure. Taylor is shocked at Zevie's apparent death, but Carly reminds her they still have a goal to accomplish and continue in his name.
• Back in the Meteor Village, Zinnia is angry that Steven used the favor she offered him to free the capture Zenith grunts and take them back. The Elder seems to be happy with the adventure, though.
• Ryuga then comes along, saying that he'd like to explore the world once he comes of age. Much to Zinnia's shock, the Elder gives him her blessing, but warns him that he'll have to be careful out there.
• Zinnia reminisces about the hostilities between Draconids and Sootopolitans, thinking that the Elder is too forgiving. The Elder agrees that the Sootopolitans did many horrible things to them, but she hopes one day Zinnia and everyone else can let go of their grudges. Zinnia leaves her daughter with the elder and goes off somewhere to be alone.
• Zinnia brings out a Whismur and reminisces about one of the last conversations she had with the original Aster, the previous lorekeeper, who also wished for peace between Sootopolitans and Draconids.
• Back at Rustboro City, Steven talks to Sawyer about their adventure. As thanks for his help, Steven gives him a Sceptilite to use in the future, while also letting him keep the Beldum for himself.
• Roxanne comes in, and asks Steven what happened. He promises to explain the story later.
• Suddenly, the secretary arrives to remind Steven of his pending paperwork. Steven in turn, reminds Roxanne that they promised her students a battle, and quickly leaves with her so they can have it.

Wally Interlude

• Wally and Gallade elude the search parties, even as Wally's condition continues to worsen to Gallade's great concern.
• Gallade reflects on his time with Wally over the course of the the past few months.
• They reach Lilycove City, where Brendan is. Brendan is shocked to see Wally, but keeps his promise of having their battle.
• The people of Lilycove watch their battle, awed by Wally's skill despite his age. Brendan wins their battle, before Wally collapses from his illness.
• Five days later, Wally wakes up in Rustboro City's General Hospital. Sawyer is there to greet him.
• Sawyer passes Wally a note from Brendan. Brendan praises Wally's battling skills, but tells him not to endanger his health like that again.
• Sawyer also tells him that Wally has become Famed In-Story as a result of his battle with Brendan and doing magnificently in spite of his age.

Head Gym Leader Drake Interlude - Chapter One

• At the Pummelo Island stadium, Drake is battling a challenger who defeated his first three Pokémon, but is only down to his Tyranitar.
• The commentator remarks that perhaps Drake was planning all along to use Ditto, Onix and Gengar to weaken the opponent's team and then finish them off using Venusaur, but internally, Drake knows that's not the case.
• Venusaur defeats Tyranitar, winning the match for Drake and keeping his undefeated streak. With the match over, he goes to the local Pokémon Center to rest his team.
• While his Pokémon are being treated, Drake decides to give a call to one of his fellow Orange Crew Gym Leaders, Luana, who is waiting for a call from her son Travis.
• Drake asks Luana if she has noticed the Orange League challengers have gotten stronger lately. Luana admits they aren't bad, but she doesn't feel they're having the same surge of talent other regions are experiencing lately, so perhaps they'll be seeing them after the upcoming Indigo and Silver Conferences. Drake thanks her and ends the call.
• Drake visits the Palace of Victory, the Orange League Hall of Fame, and watches both the images of the former leaders and the challengers who defeated them, noticing the last entry from before his time, Casey Snagem.
• Going for a walk at the local beach, Drake overhears someone who says he's going to beat him, and walks closer to listen to it.
• An argument is taking place between a local and two teenagers, a boy and a girl. The former begins talking without pausing to even breathe as he lectures the local about his strategies, until the girl prompts him to pull out a Musharna, who begins chewing on his head.
• The boy begins talking normally, sporting an Unovan accent, and continues his lecture as to how the local has the wrong strategy to defeat Drake. The girl introduces him as Black Gaiman, the latest winner of the Vertress Conference, and herself as White, his supervisor from the BW Agency.
• The local at first mistakes him for the Champion, but Black quickly clarifies that he just won the Conference, yet he's preparing to take on the Unova Elite Four and Champion. When this doesn't convince him, White points out that Black won his eight Gym Badges, and defeated all of his oppontents in the Conference tournament without losing. This prompts the local to leave.
• Drake finally approaches them, and asks them about what they were arguing before. Black and White tell him that he should already have picked up, by pointing out some of his latest challenges and how they turned out. In short, that his battling style and strategy have been cracked
• When Drake doesn't get it, White produces a tablet and shows him a website dedicated to build up strategies to beat him specifically. Every defeated challenger is able to learn more from him and add to it, and the next challenger use the info to tip the scales into their favor. If this keeps up, Drake will eventually lose.
• Shocked at finding the website, Drake leaves to the Palace of Victory again, and talks to the caretaker about it. He recalls that he promised his Dragonite they would reach the top together and never be defeated. So far he's kept it and wants to keep it that way.
• The caretaker suggests that Drake could announce his retirement undefeated while he still can, but given that he doesn't want to do that, he has two options: either he goes to train more Pokémon to create a mixed team to throw off his challengers, or find a way to strenghen his current team further.
• The caretaker offers to pay him a ticket for a plane to Shalour City, where he'll find someone named Gurkinn who might be able to help him.
• Aboard the plane, Drake overhears a couple of passengers talking about politics, and feels tempted to sic his Dragonite on them so they shut up, but he ultimately doesn't.
• Once he arrives in Shalour City, Drake gets a hotel room and begins exploring the city to find the Tower of Mastery and Gurkinn. Noticing people seem to walk around with their Pokémon, he lets Dragonite out to do the same.
• Passing by a nearby park, they notice an ongoing battle, where another Dragonite is defeated by a shiny Eevee, much to their surprise.
• After entering the Tower of Mastery, Drake and Dragonite see a statue of a Mega Lucario. Hearing noises of a battle downstairs, they go check it out.
• A battle is underway, a couple of young trainers fighting an old man whom Drake assumes it's Gurkinn, and uses a Machamp and a Lucario. Drake takes notice of its similarities of the latter with the statue he saw at the entrance.
• After hearing some more arguing between Gurkinn and the trainers, the old man activates the Mega Evolution with Lucario and defeats the trainers' Pokémon. After taking notice of Drake, Gurkinn tells him to wait for a bit.
• Inviting him for some tea, Gurkinn asks what has brought the Orange Crew Head Gym Leader so far away from home. Drake is surprised to learn the old man knows who he is.
• After Drake tells him about his issues, Gurkinn refuses to help him learn about Mega Evolution unless he's checked if Drake isn't "tainted" by evil; namely, to check if he doesn't have any bad apple in his family tree at least three generations back. He cites someone named Tarasque who used Mega Evolution for evil purposes, blaming it on the fact his own father had been in prison too.
• Annoyed that he wasted his time, Drake decides to leave, and pretends not to notice when Dragonite gives Gurkinn the finger.

Head Gym Leader Drake Interlude - Chapter Two

• Back at the Pokémon Center, Drake talks to an elderly Nurse Joy about his argument with Gurkinn.
• The elderly Joy reveals that the reason he's so stubborn about that is that Tarasque teamed up with a foreign criminal woman named Heratia, and together they killed an old billonaire who funded many things in the city, and stole all of his money bringing the city to the edge of ruin. She also reveals that his mindset has left him on bad terms with his granddaughter, Korrina.
• The elderly Joy gives Drake a map to Pomace Mountain, where she's sure he can find someone as good as Gurkinn and more open-minded. She recommends that he leaves in the morning, to avoid the current winds.
• As they fly over the mountain range, Drake spots an injured Salamence on the ground, and lands to see it up close.
• After checking it, he decides to catch it to take it somewhere to be healed, but it refuses. He finally manages to, and continues to Pomace Mountain since it's closer than the city.
• A bit later, Drake hears some people talking ahead, and lands to approach them on foot.
• A couple of Team Flare grunts are arguing with Y and Herbert, apparently trying to convince them to join.
• Y and Herbert tell them they're not welcome there and should just leave, noticing they used to be three before. Apparently one of them attempted a Mega Evolution with his Salamence, and didn't live to tell the tale. Drake suspects it's the same Salamence he found a while back.
• The grunts decide to challenge them, even though they've been beaten every time they try to challenge them, and after they notice Drake's presence, they drag him into the battle as well.
• Y brings out a Pidgeot, Herbert brings out a Simisear, and Drake brings out his Onix against the Flare grunts's Pokémon, Rhydon, Golduck, Accelgor and Escavalier.
• Y warns Drake to get his Onix to anchor to the ground and hide behind it, and then Mega Evolves her Pidgeot to blow away the Flare grunts with a Hurricane.
• Once the annoyances are dealt with, Y and Herbert ask Drake what brings him there, and he tells them. They offer to take him to meet their Mega Evolution master.
• Drake finally meets Mabel, surprised to learn the Mega Evolution master is actually a woman.
• Mabel asks Drake to come along with her, and calls Pendula to battle him, while a Hoppip uses Grassy Terrain to heal Dragonite from his exhaustion.
• Pendula accepts to battle Drake, three-on-three.
  • Pendula begins with Magnezone, and Drake uses Electabuzz. Electabuzz wins easily.
  • Pendula decides that she'll have to fight Drake not as a trainer, but as a performer, and brings out a Zoroark.
  • Zoroark uses its Illusion ability to take a human appearance, deterring Electabuzz from attacking, and wins.
  • Drake calls his Venusaur. Zoroark combines its Illusion with Double Team to transform into the Power Rangers to confuse Venusaur, but ultimately loses.
  • Pendula calls her Altaria, who manages to tank Venusaur's Grass-type attacks.
  • Pendula Mega Evolves Altaria, and defeats Venusaur using a Dragon Pulse attack.
  • Seeing Dragonite has recovered enough, Drake calls him to battle.
  • Deducing that Altaria is part Dragon-type, Drake has Dragonite use Dragon Pulse, but much to his shock, Mega Altaria is left unharmed. Drake then deduces that Mega Altaria must have gained Fairy-type as well.
  • Drake decides to try Dragonite's other attacks, first Thunderbolt. When Altaria manages to tank it, he deduces it still has the Dragon-type, so he calls for Ice Beam, which gets blocked.
  • The battle continues, and Dragonite finally wins.
• Once the battle is over, Mabel approaches Drake, asking if he's still concerned. Drake needs, and Mabel agrees to train him to overcome his fear of defeat. Mabel proposes that Drake battles one of her grandchildren every day during his stay.
• That night, before going to sleep, Drake overhears a conversation between Vermell and Mabel, with the latter saying that Drake doesn't need to learn lessons about love or power, but there are many other lessons aside from those.

Argenta Interlude

• Several months after her battle with Mitsumi, Argenta opens the Battle Hall, tackling the Smogonite problem from a friendlier angle, with anyone being free to use their favourite Pokemon, even if it is from the strongest tiers.

Gardenia Interlude

• In Eterna City, Cheryl has been missing for an entire week. Gardenia decides to close her gym for a few days and venture on the Eterna Forest to find her.
• Sho arrived with the intention of challenging Gardenia just as Gardenia is about to leave, and offers to help her find Cheryl.
• The two decide to set up camp for the night and continue their search in the morning.
• The next day, Sho finds a bag lying on the ground, which Gardenia recognizes as belonging to Cheryl. When she asks him where he found it, Sho tells her it was in front of a gate and saw a mansion on the other side. Gardenia realises it's the Old Chateau.
• Despite her fear of that place, Gardenia agrees to enter, and they begin searching for Cheryl.
• Gardenia tries not to lose sight of Sho because she knows it's a bad idea to separate from watching horror movies, but when he turns around a corner, he disappears.
• A ghost girl appears, and attacks Gardenia.
• Meanwhile, Sho notices he's lost Gardenia, and runs into a man who looks like a butler. Despite his suspicions, he decides to follow him, at a safe distance in case he tries something.
• A scream from Gardenia is heard, and Sho decides to go help her, running in the opposite direction he was following the butler. Suddenly, the butler appears in front of him.
• The butler transforms into a giant Haunter and attacks Sho, but a Rotom appears and fends him off, letting Sho escape.
• Sho finds Gardenia, who also managed to escape the ghost girl.
• The Rotom who saved Sho reappears, and gets them to follow him to a locked storage room.
• Inside, Sho and Gardenia find the remains of the Rotom's previous trainer, and a 2nd Generation Pokédex, which Rotom merges with in order to use its voice circuit to communicate with them.
• Rotom explains that his previous trainer was lured to the Old Chateau several years ago upon hearing of a fabulous treasure in that place, and he refused to listen to Rotom's warnings against going there, leading to his demise. He also explains that the ghosts keep themselves in the world of the living by sucking out their victims life force and plan to do so with Cheryl, who is trapped in a library in the basement.
• Rotom reveals that in the backyard there's a glowing stone that keeps the ghosts anchored to the world of the living, and they might be able to save Cheryl and get rid of the ghosts for good if they destroy it, but he needs their help. Gardenia decides to destroy that stone while Sho goes to the library to find Cheryl, although he lets her take along his Luxray and Magneton for additional firepower if needed.
• Sho goes to the library and finds Cheryl unconscious, but when he tries to get her out, the ghost girl appears and attacks. Sho fights alongside his Pikachu, Raichu and Jolteon.
• Gardenia and her Roserade and Cherrim, as well as Sho's Luxray and Magneton, follow Rotom across a hallway trying to get to the backyard. Unfortunately, the butler shows up to block their path.
• When the butler transforms, Magneton and Luxray decide to stay to hold him off, while urging Gardenia to continue.
• Gardenia, Cherrim, Roserade and Rotom arrive in the backyard, where Rotom shows them the stone. They try to attack it, but a barrier blocks their attempt.
• Rotom explains that he needs to weaken the barrier from the inside so they can attack it from the outside. Gardenia quickly deduces that this could actually put him in harms way, but it's the only way to save Cheryl, so she reluctantly agrees.
• Rotom gets inside the barrier, and urges Roserade and Cherrim to attack. They do so and the stone is destroyed.
• With nothing tethering to the world of the living, the ghosts of the girl and the butler are sucked into the afterlife.
• Sho gets Cheryl out of the library, while Gardenia carries Rotom (who barely survived the attack). The two meet up again, and Sho uses a Full Restore can he was carrying for an emergency to heal Rotom. Having no place to go anymore, and with the ghosts gone for good, Rotom allows Sho to catch him.
• Sho and Gardenia carry Cheryl out of the Chateau and quickly head back to the city to get her to the hospital.
• Cheryl wakes up and spends a couple days at the hospital, with Gardenia and Sho visiting her.
• Once Cheryl is back to full health, Gardenia reopens the Gym and finally takes Sho's challenge.

Joey Interlude

• After beginning his journey, Joey considers ways to shake off his Memetic Mutation reputation. One of them is going to Argenta's Battle Hall.
• He decides to enter the Cherrygrove City Tournament, where the prize is a rare egg.
• Joey makes it to the finals with his Rattata, where he battles Tristan and his Alolan Rattata.
• Hearing the commentary on the match, Joey realises people are still making fun of him, and he runs in tears. Tristan wins by default.
• Tristan finds Joey and tries to apologise by giving Joey the egg. Tristan also thanks Joey, saying that he liked his own Rattata. Joey's reputation gave Tristan the strength to stand up to his parents on his choice of starter.

Sho Interlude

• Having failed to earn a badge from Volkner, and with the Lily of the Valley Conference approaching, Sho has no choice but to earn his final badge somewhere else to be able to compete.
• Sho discovers his Top 32 opponent using illegal steroids and reports him to the League authorities. His opponent, Andy Xavier, is further investigated and he's discovered to be using stolen Pokémon, getting himself disqualified and barred from competitions for two years as a result.
• Sho makes it to the Top 16, but loses 4-6.
• He returns home, and it turns out his father has brought him a gift from Hoenn: an Electrike sent by his "Auntie Agnes", also carrying a Manectrite.

Happy Birthday, Lorelei!

• March 15: Lorelei is given a Surprise Party by Frey and her fellow Elite Four members. Other guests incluce Lance's cousin Clair, Professor Oak and some G-Men agents.
• Lorelei chats with Karen about her upcoming novel.
• Lance unveils a gift painting for Lorelei, called "The Empress of Ice and Water".

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