With the world of Traveler being a little darker than canon, there are bound to be some moments that will start the waterworks
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- Infernus's temporary death during the time Ash is training with Lance on Knot Island. It's obvious that Ash blames his mentor for his friend's death since it was Lance's idea to go after Moltres and Lance doesn't blame his student in the slightest.
- Ash's temporary death on New Island. Unlike canon where it was an accident, Mew purposely kills Ash as part of a gambit to get Mewtwo to stop his plans to enslave the planet.
- Ash finding Delia in the crystal covered wasteland that was once the Spencer Estate. The woman is so far under the Unown's control that she doesn't recognize her own son and disowns him.
- A minor one but Ash is lost when he becomes master of the Unown that he summons Lance to his side to ask for help. All Lance can think of is healing his hurt pride after getting caught in Molly's dream world and tries to get Ash to hand the Unown over to the League.
- In the aftermath of Greenfield, Delia cannot meet with many people until, including her own son, unless she gets the okay from a psychic therapist since she cannot differentiate her real life and the memories the Unown planted in her on some days. While living her day to day life as before helps, she still has lapses.
- When Ash visits Spencer and Molly, the memories Molly has of Ash’s team is from the ones she met belonging to the copy of Ash she made to be her brother. Ash still laments the loss of his copy and doesn’t have the heart to tell Molly that his team had never met her until he came to visit.
- Ash performs Lugia's Song for the Legendary Beasts in the ruins of the Burned Tower, getting glimpses of their lives from before the fire.
- Suicune being tired from their immortal existence.
- Wes is no longer a living person. Ho-oh revived him but he is now part of the Storm's End as one of its personae. He even had to chase away his team so they wouldn't suffer being with him.
- Ash encountering Jirachi's shrine. He finds the room with the chrysalis filled with the remains of humans and pokemon who fell under the sway of Jirachi's power due to their personal wishes. What does his biggest wish boil down to? To fix all the wrongs done to the people he loves and to be able to protect them.With the crystal, he could leave the troubles of the world behind. Abandon humanity and take his family somewhere far, far away. Somewhere nobody could ever find him or drag him into human responsibilities. They could grow strong there together, honing their skills to perfection and relishing the connection no human or pokemon could match. The League couldn't reclaim him. When the Legends came, they would move on to a new place. They were at peace.
With the crystal, he could heal his mother. The Unown had broken her, shattered her memories like a rock through a window, but why did she have to stay that way? All he had to do was bring the crystal to her. She could be herself again, could forget Spencer and Molly and things could go back to normal. Things could be RIGHT!
With the crystal, he put the Legends back to rest. He would heal the earth as he had Greenfield. They would never return. Mewtwo annihilated and the Birds at peace. Ash could forget them. Lance and Steven - even Cynthia! - would congratulate him, he could become a Champion in full, and he could live up to all their expectations. Without the Legends, Ash could topple Lance and set him free. He could live without their shadow! He could live the life he should have!
With the crystal, he could fix all the wrongs in the world. Gary would have his parents back. His mother's heart would never be broken. The Rockets would never rise to power. Giovanni would never hurt anyone. The St. Anne would never have sunk. Infernus would never have died. Mewtwo's hurricanes would never have hurt so many people - Mewtwo wouldn't even exist. Agatha wouldn't have to die. Molly would have a mother.
With the crystal, he could make Giovanni suffer for everything he did.
With the crystal, he could learn all there was to know.
With the crystal - - Ash keeping Jirachi's location a secret because he does not trust the League or Lance given what the latter did after Ash gained control of the Unown.
- Cynthia's journey to befriend her Spiritomb, which is an embodiment of Wrath.
- Agatha's death. She had been used as an experiment by her grandfather to meld together a Ghost with a human body, causing her to age at a rapid rate. She retires to Orre for her final few months helping Michael get the region under control.
- Ash gets notice of her death from Professor Oak, who he urged to go and battle Agatha one final time before her death. Despite only having met her four times, Ash is stricken with grief over the woman's death.
- Steven gets a piano delivered to his apartment. When Ash asks about his skills, he starts talking about his cousin Pierce, the Rocket Admin who betrayed the Stone family and almost killed Ash, Jonathan, and Amelia at Mount Moon. He stops himself from continuing. It's safe to assume the two were close in their youth.
- Ash is given Lorelei's old room at the Plateau once the Ice Master retires. It's obvious that Karen misses her old co-worker.
- The fates of Chinatsu and Mamoru, the Ninetales and Rhydon that fought alongside the first Kanto Champion Mamoru. Chinatsu roams the lands near the Indigo Plateau and her late companion Shinobu’s grave and will occasionally makes herself known. Meanwhile, Mamoru lives in a cave near Fuschia City guarding a memorial to his friends and the grave of his late Master. Neither of them truly got over their Master's death and simply exist, Mamoru being particularly tragic as he hunts down Everstones to graft to his body in order to halt his evolution into a Rhyperior.
- Ash runs into Tobias again and gives him some food, water, money, and some fresh clothes. This ends up jogging Tobias' memory of his life before his insanity and is hinted might have slightly restored his sanity. The man has been wandering the land for six years and was often avoided due to his connection to Distortion, but if someone had reached out to him sooner then maybe he could have been saved.
- Chapter 70's title alone. It's called The Upset.
- After having an amazing time at the Wallace Cup and a memorable New Year with his team, Ash finds out that attacks happened all over Hoenn. One of the attacks was on Devon. Two of the bodyguards protecting Steven's aunt were killed, a dozen revived fossil clones were stolen, and all the fossils in the development pods were killed during the attack, including the Anorith Steven was going to give Ash when their time together was over.
- Chapter 71 deals with the fallout of the Hoenn attacks. After such a heartwarming holiday season, everything went wrong in the span of a day.
- Anorith's funeral. Ash gets permission from the Ancient to bury his almost teammate at the Stone family's Beldum colony. Even Ancient tries to provide some words of comfort concerning the situation.
- The aftermath of Zinnia's attack in chapter 73. Ash's team barely made it out with their lives and Ash himself acknowledges that if it had not been for Durand coming to help him, then at least one member of his team would be dead. Even with Durand's help, most of Ash's team is beat up, with Tangrowth needing at least a week to regrow and Nidoking needing the tip of his tail regrown from Ditto cells.
- Steven's breakdown in Chapter 73. After hearing that someone tried to assassinate Ash, he comes to the Sky Pillar to find his student covered in blood and being fretted over by the Ever Grande League before Ash is teleported to get medical help. When Ash wakes up, he discovers that Steven has not slept in 97 hours and is planning on hunting down Zinnia himself while urging Ash to leave Hoenn for safety.
