The Human World. Out in a forest.
Out in the forest, Ash and Pikachu had come across someone who not only had knowledge about him but also knowledge about Time Leaks. It was thanks to their search for Ash's ancestor Lena Ketchum that they ended up here.
"Huh...You look familiar." Ash couldn't help but feel like he had seen Arezu somewhere before. So did Pikachu. Her appearance was starting to remind them of someone. It was mainly the face and hair that gave him flashbacks. He vividly remembered someone from Team Galactic who mirroerd Arezu perfectly but she had a more intensive stare than her.
"I do?" Arezu replied.
"Yeah...You look like someone from Team Galactic! Aaah, what's her name?!" Ash grimaced, trying to remember the name of this girl who looked a lot like Arezu but it just wasn't clicking for him.
"You mean the Galaxy Expedition Team?" She had a different name in mind. Or rather, a different name from the past which still had the theme of Galaxy in it but slightly longer.
"Is that what it's called now? Wait, are you from Team Galactic too?!"
"P-Pikachu?!"
"I'm not from that team. Or the Galaxy Expedition Team. But I am from a clan. The Diamond Clan. And I'm glad I finally managed to find you and it didn't take that long."
"Yeah? So why were you watching us then? And I could've sworn there was someone else with you."
"There's a reason for that. But first things first, I need to confirm something with you." Just then, Arezu dug into her bag, having something to show Ash. Something from the past. "It's all thanks to the Professor and the region he comes from. We were glad to have seen the use of his item known as a camera and took this picture with us."
From the bag, Arezu showed Ash and Pikachu a picture. According to her, a camera was brand new which only solidified the fact that she came from SInnoh 200 years in the past. But around that time, the camera was being made, still in its infancy compared to what it would become today. And on that image which was black and white, was the monument that Damos made for Ash and his friends.
"Oh! You have that?!" This was shocking since not too long ago, Ash recently saw Michina Town in the past when putting his head through the Time Leak. That was the same location where the Monument was built and in the modern day, it was still around.
"Is this you? And your Pikachu?"
"Oh, yeah. That's us. And my friends too. Dawn and Brock. That thing's still around back at Michina Town."
"Is that what her name is? I guess she was telling the truth about it not being her." Arezu added. "As for you, I knew the monument wasn't lying when I came across it. You're the person on that monument plus your Pikachu. I assume you travelled through time too?"
"Well, kinda. This is my era. But I've travelled through time here and there."
"Wait?! This is your era?! I thought you just went all over the place. How come you appear here then?"
"It's a long story. A lot happened." Ash chuckled. "But hey. Since you said that...are you looking into this time stuff too?"
"Right. But this isn't my era. I actually come from the past. A few hundred years from now." Arezu finally revealed that she was not of this timeline.
"Oooh...Just like the Alpha Pokemon." Ash slowly nodded as Arezu was in the same boat as the Alpha Pokemon. She and the collection of larger and stronger Pokemon were being pulled into the present. Or in Arezu's case, she willingly entered the present. "Hey. Have you maybe seen someone like me? Someone named Lena?"
"I have!" Thankfully, Arezu could answer that, leaning forward. "It's one of the reasons we came here. We're looking for Lena Ketchum and we figured that she was your descendant. But it seems like she might be your ancestor. Is she?"
"Yep. She's my really-great grandma from way back then. Way past 200. I saw an image of her that shouldn't exist but now it does so me and my friends are checking it out. I didn't think I'd see someone else from the past though. I've only seen Alpha Pokemon and I guess the Pillars too."
"Well, it's critical that we find her. We've actually been looking for your grandma this entire time." Arezu revealed more of why she was here in the first place. "The only lead we have on her are those Space-Time DIstortions that appear in the sky. Usually, it's on land."
"Space-Time Distortions? You mean the Time Leaks?"
"Is that what you call them? Well, anyway, I did see someone who looked a lot like you. But not exactly the one on the monument. I do believe that was your grandmother. She did appear in Hisui once."
"Awesome!" Ash jumped for joy along with Pikachu. Finally, they were getting somewhere. "Way to go, Grandma! So where is she now!?"
"That's why we're here, looking for her. You see, from what we've heard, your grandma jumped forward in time and possibly ended up in this era. If we don't find her, who knows what will happen? Back at Hisui, we've already had to deal with our fair share of Time Issues and now this one shows up out of nowhere."
"Everything's totally fine here. My friends and I thought the same thing but it looks like time's completely fine."
"I-It is? Nothing bad has happened in the future? Are you sure?" Arezu questioned, unsure if Time was completely fine. Lena Ketchum apparently threatened time because of how much of an oddity she was.
"I mean...if you wanna count all the wild things that we've been through, then yeah. But we've dealt with them and came out on top, so everything turned out fine."
"Oh...Then...Why did we even come here?" Arezu pouted. "I was hoping to solve the issue by bringing her back but it sounds like nothing went wrong."
"That's the cool part about these Time Leaks. A lot of Alpha Pokemon have shown up from them and Pikachu here even met his ancestor." Thankfully, Ash would explain to Arezu how things have turned out fine even with the Time Leaks being present.
"Pikachu!"
"Professor Oak figured that those Time Leaks don't mess with time at all. Pretty neat, huh? It's way different from other stuff."
"Is that so?" Arezu scratched her face for a moment. "That takes the fun out of it, honestly. Even still, I'd like to find her. After all, she was a lot of help back at Hisui. She's quite the explorer, going from place to place."
"Sounds like Grandma! Pikachu and I do plenty of exploring too. So what's up with your era? It sounds pretty serious if you really need Grandma back."
"We heard that it's something that could threaten the present which is the past for you and the future which we assumed would be this era. It hasn't shown up yet but whatever it is, it's the same thing that summoned these Time Leaks."
"Hmm..." Ash looked in the distance as he could still see the Time Leaks. Specifically, the glow that it let off. Its azure light could be seen even in the blue sky, truly sticking out from the rest. "Are you sure it's not Dialga?"
"Dialga?" Arezu raised an eyebrow. That name did not click for her at all. This surprised Ash since Arezu came from a Sinnoh in the past so he figured she'd have some knowledge about Dialga.
"Yeah. The Pokemon who's the Guardian of Time. Ya know...Dialga."
"Pika?"
"You mean Almighty Sinnoh? The Pokemon who made all of Hisui so vast that we could live freely throughout it. I'm not sure why you called it Dialga unless that is another name for it?"
"Uhh...I think you mean Arceus. Right?" Ash looked confused as that would be Arceus who was responsible for creating Hisui, AKA SInnoh. In fact, Arceus created the entire world and beyond.
"Who's Arceus?" Yet another aura of confusion hit the area.
"Man, this is getting nowhere." Ash sighed. "At least we both have the same goal. And it's awesome that someone who knows more about those Time Leaks is here with us. And you gotta tell me about my grandma since you've seen her!"
"Right. And I'm rather shocked. You're so close to your Pokemon. Just like how your friends were. Is this what the future is like?"
"Oh yeah! We're as close as we can be!" Ash held Pikachu up. The Mouse Pokemon waved, showing a bit of electricity from his red sacs. "Same goes for a lot of us in the present. What about you?"
"It could be better...Much better. Although Akari has a better handling at-" At that moment, Arezu gasped, realizing she was forgetting someone at the moment. She was talking to Ash for a while, getting into things and forgot about the other person she was with. "Ah! I forgot about her! Oooh, and she's running from them as well!"
At this very moment, Rainbow Dash and the others were pursuing this character by the name of Akari, who was here for the exact same reason as Arezu. And unfortunately for Akari, compared to how Arezu showed herself, she was not faring better at all.
Rainbow Dash and the others searched for those two strangers who were spying on them but immediately lost track of Arezu. Now it was just Akari. However, poor Akari had no chance of fleeing. With Audino hear, her footsteps could be heard with ease and with Pinkie Pie having one of her Slurpuffs out, her scent could be tracked.
Which is exactly what was happening now. One of Pinkie Pie's Slurpuffs was in the front, already picking up on Akari's scent. Poor Akari had no idea what Pokemon these were. She never even knew Audino existed until now when she heard her voice.
"Hah...Hah..." The mysterious girl from the past slowed down as she couldn't run forever. She would take a breather, realizing that she had been separated from Arezu already. "This is too much...I'll have to go with my second option."
"We've got you now!" Rainbow Dash shouted, showing herself to Akari. Akari this whole time has not shown her face to them, only focusing on getting as far away as possible and hoping they don't recognize her. "Alright! Who are you and why are you spying on us?!"
"Castform?!"
"Stand back and let me handle this." Budging in was Hilbert who wanted to be upfront, much to the annoyance of Rainbow Dash. Hilbert just had to show off even now of all times.
"None of your business honestly..." Akari said as she knew there was no chance for her to escape. She accepted that. However, she did not accept the possibility of her being captured if that were to happen. And when turning around, she finally showed herself, shocking Rainbow Dash and the others. What they saw threw them off guard as Akari very strongly reminded them of someone they know.
"Dawn?!" All of them said. Neither of them expected to see Dawn as her face was known by everyone. Including Hilbert and Hilda but they knew a different Dawn back where they come from.
"Oh, it's just you." Hilbert chuckled, shrugging this off. "You got us there with those clothes. Very funny, Dawn. But seriously, how come you were spying on us?"
"My name's not Dawn!" Akari rejected as she was not Dawn at all. But there was an obvious reason as to why she looked like her. "And since I can't flee from you this way, I'll try a different method!" From her hands, she suddenly revealed what appeared to be a Poke Ball. But there was something different about it.
Something ancient. It looked like it was made out of wood, having what appeared to be a latch in the middle instead of the button that everyone here has seen. And once she threw it, out of it came a Pokemon they were all familiar with. Pikachu.
"Pikachu!"
"Slur...Slurpuff." Now that everyone has stopped in one area, Slurpuff soon realized that Akari did not carry the same scent as Dawn. Her scent was very different, confirming that this was not Dawn.
"It's not Dawn?" Fluttershy translated.
"Huh? Hold on for a moment! We didn't mean to-" Hilbert waved his hands, trying to stop Akari from going any further. But Akari already made up her mind and was going for the second option.
"Attack with Thunder Shock!"
"Pikachuuuu!" From its body, Pikachu unleashed a quick flash of lightning which grazed part of Hilbert's hair. The Trainer from Unova grimaced as hair follicles came off. Pikachu somehow missed the attack while Hilbert was standing completely still, much to the chagrin of Akari.
"I missed?! One more time then!" Akari was prepared for a second Thunder Shock
"No way!" Hilbert raised his voice, startling both Pikachu and Akari. "You could've fried my hair, ya know! It wouldn't be as cool as before!"
"That's what you're worried about?" Hilda lowered her eyes at Hilbert's shout.
"Hold on, hold on. Let's not have a Pokemon Battle here." Applejack would walk over to de-escalate the situation. "We didn't know it was you...Uh, well it's not you. You're someone else. Just pretty familiar."
"And suspicious. Now that we know you're not Dawn, how come you were spying on us?" Starlight Glimmer narrowed her eyes, feeling very suspicious of Akari. She wasn't Dawn so this was not helping her case.
"Oh...You got me." Akari sighed, feeling defeat without even needing to battle. "Refrain, Pikachu."
"Pika?"
"I'm not this Dawn person you're talking about. My name is Akari." She finally revealed her name. "Sorry for...suddenly attacking you. That was my second option if things were to go wrong. And they did so quickly. And um...I'm sorry fo stalking you. I swear I had a reason for it."
"You seemed pretty curious watching us from the bushes. What's that all about? And who was that with you?" Starlight threw questions at her, not forgetting about Arezu's existence.
"Well...We were only focused on one person. And there was just too many of you to do something about it." Akari scratched the back of her head, admitting to her fear as she was greatly intimidated by the group. Especially since some of them have their Pokemon out in the open.
"Hmm...Something's not right here." Hilda had something else brewing in her mind. Akari's existence only added fuel to the confusing fire that was Lena Ketchum. "Huddle up for a moment." With her call, everyone would suddenly huddle together, deciding to speak in secret. Akari would just awkwardly stand there as this discussion would be about her. However, Hilbert did not join the group huddle as he was trying to make out why Akari resembled Dawn. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Totally. This can't be a coincidence." Rainbow Dash was on the same page as Hilda. "First Ash's Grandma and now her? What's up with that?"
"Do you think she could be Dawn's ancestor? Her very-great grandma?" Fluttershy asked, instantly going for the ancestor route. And with the way Akari looked, how could she not think that.
"I'm positive we're all thinking it," Starlight replied as all the others nodded. They couldn't agree more. It was practically screaming in their face. "How could this happen twice? I think it might be more serious than we let it on."
"Right? I was prepared for Lena but this?" Hilda grimaced, fearing the worst. "This caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting a second look-a-like. Now I have another reason to really worry about the timeline. That means we have two ancestors roaming the modern day. Akari being here proves that Lena showed up as well."
"Do you think Dawn knows about this? Does she have a Family Tree book too?" Pinkie Pie questioned while Akari just stood there, glancing at Hilbert and waiting for them to finish their group huddle.
"There was someone else with her. Do you think it's another ancestor of someone we know?"
"I'll bet ya'll 5 bits if it's Brock's ancestor," Applejack smirked, wanting to issue a challenge since the second person was unknown at the moment.
"You're on. 5 for me if it's uh..." Rainbow Dash scrunched her face, trying to come up with someone on the spot. "Oak's ancestor! How about that?"
"We're betting? Cynthia for me then!" Pinkie Pie chimed in.
"Take it seriously, girls." Hilda sighed before soon putting on a smile. "But I'd like to chime in as well. I'm guessing Roxie. Anyways let's get this over with." The group huddle came to an end as Hilda cleared her throat, ready to say what needed to be said. "Well, we have a lot of questions."
"Yeah. For starters...what are you doing here? Out of your own era too?" Pinkie Pie threw in the first question, getting straight to the point.
"I was here because Arezu and I came to this era on a mission. I was sent by the Galaxy Expedition Team. That one you call Ash Ketchum is well...no hard feelings, but a criminal?"
"A criminal?!"
"That's what Commander Kamado said. It's all thanks to Lena Ketchum and the monument that we were able to put two and two together. Both of them are moving through time and are potentially the cause of our problem back home." Akari elaborated. "They're both Ketchums so perhaps they're working together."
"Hold on! Ash isn't a criminal! And he isn't moving through time!" Starlight greatly rejected before thinking for a moment. She moved through time and Ash followed her through it. "Uh...For the most part!" She almost exposed herself but chose the right words to say. "Yeah. He doesn't Time Travel that much."
"Ash has time travelled before but it always turns out good. What's the big idea?" The Party Pony shrugged as from what she's seen, Time Travel with Ash has always turned out well. Why would there be a problem now?
"And how did you even catch wind of this?" Hilda wondered. "Judging by your clothes, you come from the past. And your appearance confirms that as well. You'd have to have seen Ash to know about this or something like that."
"You know Lena though. Ash's ancestor." Fluttershy stepped forward. "Could you tell us about her and where she is, please?"
"Ancestor? Is that who she was? I thought she was his sister or mother." Akari had something different in mind when she saw Lena and compared her to Ash. "As for how we have the monument from Michina Town to thank for that. But who are you all since you know about Ash? Are you moving through time too?"
"Nope! None of us have moved through time!" Starlight Glimmer crossed arms, replying the instant Akari mentioned that. She did not wish to expose herself as Akari was making it sound like this was a crime.
"Hmm..." The Dawn look-a-like doubted her greatly. "Well...I'm here under orders and if there's a chance to deal with the approaching problem, then apprehending Ash Ketchum is the way to go. Plus, finding Lena Ketchum since the last time we saw her, she moved through the Space-Time Distortions and seemingly entered this era."
"You can't arrest Ash though. He hasn't done anything wrong." Fluttershy added, seeing Ash as completely innocent. "He hasn't even Time Travelled in a long time and this sounds recent."
"It is recent. But all signs lead to him and his ancestor, Lena. Everyone at the Galaxy Expedition Team...well...Commander Kamado and some of the people at Jubilife Village feel that way. I'm not too sure myself when it comes to Lena but with Ash, I don't have anything to think about. It's assumed that those two are responsible for what's happening. My friend Arezu has a different opinion but she came with me anyway."
"What's even happening back in your world?" asked Hilda.
"Well, nothing bad has happened yet. But with these distortions in Space-Time, something could happen. Ever since Lena left, they start acting up at times. They send out Pokemon at random. Pokemon that are not native to the region at all.
There are so many Pokemon I've never seen before that show up there."
"Sounds fun!" Rainbow Dash saw this as a bonus, getting to see brand new Pokemon that have never been seen before. It was always thrilling to see new Pokemon.
"It's not fun!" Akari bellowed before thinking about it for a moment. "Well, I suppose it's a bit fun, seeing new Pokemon. But that's beside the point! We fear that if that Space-Time Rift remains, it could tear the foundation of both of them apart. And with Lena gone, the situation is random and up in the air."
"Hey, guys!" Returning to find his friend was Ash who was now with Arezu after speaking with her. Arezu was the one who did not see Ash as a criminal and came here for a different reason. Akari was merely here to try and bring him in, hoping in since he was connected to Lena. But right as Ash was approaching his friends, he saw one more friend that was all too familiar. "I...Dawn!?"
"There he is!" Akari made a prolonged gasp, vigorously pointing at Ash. "Nice work, Arezu!"
"I didn't really do that much..." Arezu sheepishly replied as she barely made an effort to bring him here. Ash did it on his own after talking things out with her.
"Ash Ketchum! We have you now and you have a lot of answering to do!" Akari proudly put her fists on her hips, feeling as if the mission was about to become a smashing success now that Ash had shown up, even though he wasn't restrained or even in any danger at all.
"What are you talking about, Dawn?" A confused Ash Ketchum tilted his head, still thinking this was his friend ever after seeing her clothes. They were made from the same material as Arezu and appeared to come from the same era.
"Pika-Pika?"
"It's not Dawn, it's Akari." She puffed her cheeks, already getting tired of being called the wrong name. But such was the consequence of being in an era where your descendant already exists.
"Uh, Ash. Let's just explain everything to you as soon as possible." Willing to let Ash know all about this as soon as possible without treading too long on it was Starlight Glimmer. Ash had quite a lot to hear as more knowledge about the Time Leaks had come out. As well as something between him and his ancestor.
"Oooh...I get it now." Ash was finally caught up, hearing everything Starlight Glimmer shared. At the same time, his Pikachu and Akari's Pikachu would start playing with each other as PIkachus normally do, already bonding. "That's why you wanna take me."
"Everyone here is vouching for you. And judging by your popularity, all of those people would vouch for you as well." Akari replied.
"I don't think you have to arrest him, Akari. He doesn't exactly seem like a criminal does he? Which means I was right." Arezu put on a smug smile. She was the one defending Ash and her side won with smashing numbers based on how many supported Ash.
"Alright, alright." Akari groaned. "I should've thought about that possibility as well. I was too quick to judge him, honestly. Maybe it's because of Lena. I still can't believe she just left like that. How could she?"
"So, do you know a lot about Ash's Ancestor? Sounds like she spent a lot of time in your era." Rainbow Dash asked, wanting to know more about Lena's actions in the past.
"Mhm. You see...one day, out of nowhere, Lena suddenly appeared. From what we know, she fell out of that mysterious Space-Time Rift in the sky. It appeared the same day as her. And it was pretty clear she was something else."
"'Something else' is an understatement. Compared to us, she really loved getting out there." Arezu would throw her own words in there, having her own experience. "Back at Hisui, people are terrified of Pokemon. We manage to bond with some of them but a majority are so hard to approach. But Lena made it look so easy."
"Talk about an inspiration. "It helps that she was older than us so it felt like I was learning under a mentor. Even if she had no clue what Poke Balls were in the beginning. She was rather clueless about a few things. She helped out in our region, dealing with the Alpha Pokemon and helping us approach Pokemon safely."
"Sounds like you, Ash." Rainbow Dash nudged the Kid from Kanto as this was already too familiar. "To think she's way older than all of us too. Was it just Hisui that was having a hard time with Pokemon?"
"I assume so but I don't know about the rest of the world." Akari shrugged. "Anyway, things were going great for us. But then one day...Lena just left. The distortions in Space-Time were starting to get out of hand. She didn't say anything or leave a message. She just left and we haven't seen her since. All we know is that she passed through one of the portals to this era and that is all. And that leads to today."
"Akari feels a bit betrayed by it. She and Lena were close and she looked up to her a lot." Arezu explained why Akari felt that way. Lena even gained the respect of the Galaxy Expedition Team too so they also felt betrayed. It's a shame too."
"I get it." Ash closed his eyes, understanding where they were coming from with this. "Grandma's gone and she's somewhere in this world. Maybe even back through the other world."
"What other world? There's another world?" Akari blurted.
"Oh, this is the Human World. "It's not actually the world you know. This is a parallel world that we're all just visiting at the moment." Fluttershy explained. "Back home is your world in the present day and we just came here since the Time Leaks can only be found in this world.
"But shouldn't you be getting back home? I mean, the Alpha Pokemon don't mess with time so I'm guessing you don't as well." Rainbow Dash wondered. "OR you're still gonna look for Lena, right?"
"We have to!" AKari stood up. "I really want to at least. She's out there somewhere and there has to be a reason why she left."
"I'm with you on that." Ash stood up, adjusting his hat as he made up his mind. "I'm itching to find my Grandma too. But now I've got a big reason to find her. Wherever she is, we'll get to her, I'm sure of it."
"So...you'll help us find her?" Arezu put on a wide smile as she was loving what she was hearing.
"Absolutely!" Pinkie Pie rested her arm on Ash's shoulder, agreeing to it. "I mean, that's what we were doing in the first place but we'd love to add more to the party! Hey, we should really come up with a Party Name since we go on adventures together a lot."
"Ahh...Somehow that makes me feel better." Akari placed her hand on her chest, feeling relieved. "First. Take us to the world that is originally ours. We've been searching across this world for a while now and no sign of Lena yet. So maybe, the other world is where she is.
"That's because this world is harder to travel. Pokemon are still new to this world. I mean, it's the same for ours since we had our own world..." Starlight scrunched her face, realizing how much she was to make sense of it. "We'll explain everything along the way.
Two girls from the past with one clear mission. To find Lena Ketchum. But for now, they would soon be brought into the world opposite to this where their descendants were born and raised in. They had no clue what was in store for them but Ash and his friends had no clue what was with Lena Ketchum and the Space-Time Distortions. What started out as something rather peculiar, turned into something that they should most definitely keep an eye on.
As the journey continues.
Chapter 227 End.