Unova. Virbank City. The Pokemon Festival. PokeStar Studios Film Festival. Day.
Here at PokeStar Studios where the Film Festival merged with the Pokemon Festival, Livadi and one other familiar face were present here. Having a similar face as Ash and even wearing the exact same clothes Ash wore during his adventures throughout Sinnoh, just by looking at him, Ash and his friends could tell that this must be another counterpart situation.
"Look at this! Only 4 weeks and I made it possible!" He boasted, showing off the image of his film that he apparently made in 4 weeks. "Anyone? Please?" But people just passed by his film, looking at his image and not showing any interest. No one was impressed, much to the chagrin of this Trainer.
"Hmph! Nice try kid. But no one's here to watch something as childish as that." Livadi cackled. "You should have had the Smeargle do it for you instead of your own.
"No way...It's totally not childish. Right?" He took a closer look at is image, seeing what it entailed. It wasn't that it was childish. It was simply chaotic. It was a mess of Pokemon, most notably Sinnohan Pokemon and there was no clean composition. Naturally, something "Aww...I should've asked the Smeargle for help."
"Let me see!" But of course, there were children here and two of them were Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, who were pulled in by the image.
"Well, at least someone's noticing it..." He sighed. His movie might be shaping up for something that would be for kids only.
"By the way. You look a lot like Ash. What's up with that?" Sweetie Belle asked, bringing up the most obvious thing here.
"Ash? Wait a second..." He felt like he had heard that name before. Mainly from Hilbert and the others. And upon raising his head, he looked over at the character in question who was standing there, taking in Lucas's appearance. Soon, the two of them noticed the similarities. For Ash, it was the face and clothes and for him, it was just the face. "No way! Are you the one Brendan and the others brought up?!"
"That's me. And you are..."
"Lucas is the name." He introduced himself. "Hailing from Sinnoh and apparently another one of those counterparts. Or so I've heard. You've heard of me, right?"
"Yeah, I know you." Ash nodded. The name Lucas has been spoken of before. "Did you just show up 4 weeks ago?"
"4 weeks is right. I mean...I would've shown up sooner with the others but I was too late to pass that gateway." Lucas grumbled, clenching his fist. "You have no idea how hard it was for me to find that Infinity Gateway again. It was not easy. But at least I'm here. And honestly, this place is almost an exact mirror of my universe with some changes here and there."
"Sweet clothes, by the way! Just like what I wore once!" Ash admired the clothes since he wore the exact same pair. The only difference was the hat, but that was rather common for his counterparts to have different hats.
"I saw you wear these clothes when you showed up to Equestria the first time, Ash." Apple Bloom pointed out.
"Yeah. But I didn't have these clothes Rarity gave me so I just went for what I know."
"Hey uh...Could you maybe make others flock over to see my film? I mean, I know you're famous in this world, so you'll advertise it expertly."
"Well, Ash is only popular in Equestria, actually." Rarity explained, approaching Lucas. "At best, you'll get Equestrians to see it if Ash spreads the word. Anyone else beyond that might not even bother."
"G-Gotcha." Lucas lowered his head. "Hilbert is usually the one who's good at this. Man, if I had gone along with him and the others and caught that Infinity Gateway, I would've totally picked up some pointers! I even had to go solo making this film!"
"What's it even about?" Sweetie Belle grabbed the artwork, taking a closer look at this image that caught her attention. Even though it interested her, she had no idea what she was looking at.
"Ah, just some stuff about what I did in Sinnoh. I even went through the effort of recreating certain moments. Granted, I left the studio I worked on in absolute shambles but...It was worth it." He shrugged it off. "All that hard work's gonna pay off, believe me! I even had to go back and forth between this world and my world to get the right Pokemon."
"Wait, you did?" Fluttershy's ears perked up after hearing that. So did everyone else's and especially Livadi, who was going to listen to this closely. "That makes it sound like you had no problem travelling through worlds."
"Well, yeah. I came here with the Infinity Gateway and I left with the same gateway." Lucas casually dropped something critical. "It follows me wherever I go. Pretty convenient."
"You showed up 4 Weeks ago and you just have this knowledge!" Rarity got up the table, getting up close and personal with Lucas, startling him.
"I-I thought it wouldn't matter to you guys! It only goes back to my world, that's all!" Lucas held his hands up, trying to explain himself.
"You're saying it follows you around? Just you?"
"I mean, I don't see anyone else trailing with it. So yeah, it's just me." The Sinnohan Pokemon proudly held his chest high with a bright smile. "And I know why. I don't need Brendan to tell me how with all of his smarts. I've got my fair share of experience with space, ya know."
"Ya don't look like ya do," Applejack observed.
"I totally do. Get this. And this is part of the movie..." Lucas moved his finger forward, prompting the others to get even closer. "What if I told you...that I can freely travel through space?"
"...Nuh-uh." Sweetie Belle denied that in a heartbeat. Lucas as capable of travelling through space? So freely? A majority of everyone on Earth can't do that. Only a select few.
"Yuh-uh." Lucas nodded. He wasn't bluffing at all. "I don't mean to brag...cause then I'd just end up sounding like Hilbert, but I've got that easy access and it's for a reason. It's because of Palkia."
"Oh. So Palkia must've done something to you?" Ash questioned.
"Best believe it. I'm the luckiest Lucas out there. My encounter with Palkia was something else. I was battling against it and the Spatial Rend managed to reach me. But instead of splitting me in two or something like that, I was able to mess around with space."
"Rainbow Dash had something similar happen to her, right? How come she can't do the same?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Mmm? Random chance?" Appleack shrugged.
"That's why I'm lucky. That's why the Infinity Gateway's following me. Red and the others don't know about this yet so I'm gonna surprise them."
"Aw, but it only goes to the other Pokemon World." Sweetie Belle groaned. If only the gateway connected to Equestria and different regions. That would make things much better. But alas, that was not the case and the excitement quickly died down. At least in the eyes of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.
"Ah, it's still exciting. Plus, I've got the Infinity Gateway stalking me so if you ever need to use it, you know who to find."
"Interesting. If only you could go elsewhere." Commenting on this was Livadi, who obviously had to listen in on this. "Frankly, it's disappointing that you're so limited. Only this world and your world?"
"If I could go somewhere else, I totally could," Lucas grumbled. "I can show you what else I can do! And this film will give you a sneak peek to it all. Come and check it out for yourself."
It was settled. They would view Lucas's film to see what he had experienced. Some of it would be his adventures in Sinnohu but a part of it involved his experience with the Infinity Gateway and such. He's only been here for 4 weeks but has already done a lot.
Outside Virbank City.
Located at the outskirts of Virbank, away from the Pokemon Festival and the Film Festival was the very gateway that Lucas showed up in. The Infinity Gateway. It was near the docks and waterways of the city, hovering over the seas. It was still an absolute mystery and a result of the Jirachi putting everything together.
Very few have used this gateway and now, during the Pokemon Festival, it's made its return. But as always, it was ust sitting there, unbothered for 4 weeks. Eventually, it will have to move. But it will only move if Lucas moves. However, that didn't mean no one couldn't interact with it. And eventually, someone was bound to do so.
Appearing from the seas by opening them up as if they were a door, was none other than the Embodiment of Chaos. Discord. He opened a door from the sea, emerging to witness te Infinity Gateway.
"Hooh...Finally." Discord shook his head as he was rather winded. He looked like he had been in a rather wild event, even for him and he was just now feeling the after-effects of that event. "I thought I was done for there. It's wonderful that everything about this new universe is chaotic enough. Now as for this..."
He rubbed his claw and paw together, excited to see the gateway. He's been thinking about the gateways himself but even with all of his power, the gateways eluded him. Both in their locations and the mysterious cosmic power that they have Discord shares the same ideals as his friends and does wish the best for them. While also wishing the best for himself. He grabbed onto the Infinity Gateway, seeing what he could do about it.
It was the only other gateway that was out there in the world apart from the Pallet Town Gateway. It had the most unique shape out of all of them and was completely random instead of staying in one set location. Discord analyzed it by turning his eye into a magnifying glass, deducing the deep and complex parts of this cosmic energy. He was essentially doing what Starswirl did but differently.
"Hmm.." Discord has never really interacted with the gateways all that much. The concept of the gateways were simple but everything about them was complicated. Discord continued to examine the Infinity Gateway, licking it to see what it tasted like. He made a grimace as the taste wasn't all that pleasant. It was surprising that this gateway even had a taste.
The Master of Chaos moved back, holding his hands out and placing them in a camera position to perfectly capture the gateway. He ended up snapping a picture with his hands, even sending a flash. After taking the picture, he attempted to replicate the Infinity Gateway as he would pull out a second one. He could at least do that. Duplicating something wasn't that difficult for him.
In his hands, he held a copy of the Infinity Gateway but it was nowhere near as good as the original. For starters, nothing could be seen beyond it. There wasn't a city, town, island, forest, mountainside or anything. It was completely devoid of scenery. Even the energy wasn't flowing. It was simply static and dry.
Discord frowned at this outcome. He even knocked on the copy Gateway as it ended up being completely solid, making a hard sound in the process. Discord tried to add a scenery to it and that would be his own Chaos Realm. But alas, even that failed to work as the Rift's Energy once again overruled Discord's Chaos Magic.
"Bah!" Disappointed, he threw the gateway aside. Even after these 4 years have gone by, the power that the Rift has over Discord's Chaos Magic was still present. Discord knew that there were greater powers out there without a doubt. But it annoyed him that they were limiting him. That rarely ever happens and when it does happen, it doesn't last for that long. This, however, lasted for a long time and could continue to last in the future if the Rift never leaves.
Discord rarely gets stumped but now was looking like the perfect opportunity for him to hit a brick wall. What could he do to solve this issue? "Eehh...Nothing at all. What a shame." Nothing came up. But even though he was struggling to come to a conclusion, he had other resources at his disposal. "I know. Twilight's been working on solving this herself so she has to have come up with something by now. If not, I'll be very disappointed. I'll pay her a quick visit before I can truly enjoy this festival."
Discord wasn't yet aware of what Twilight Sparkle was doing with the gateways. He was rather occupied with a few things and it was only until now that he's made a reappearance. After this is all solved, he can enjoy the Pokemon Festival. In his own way, of course. Unless the Pokemon Festival can do something that can truly entertain him.
Virbank City. PokeStar Studios.
The film that Lucas made was shown to Ash and his friends, which was a retelling of what Lucas did throughout Sinnoh. It was basically a life story movie, based on true events. And in this case, no one was going to dispute it for two reasons. For starters, this was the Pokemon World so anything could happen and secondly, Ash was already getting flashbacks looking at this.
He was glued to the seat, watching the film that showed very familiar scenes. As well as familiar faces. His mouth opened as he ended up seeing Dawn on the screen. There she was, present in yet another universe. He shouldn't be too surprised by this since counterparts can exist but it was still wonderful to see. Especially since Lucas seemed to go down a similar path to Ash's Sinnoh Team.
Lucas was seen with a Chimchar that was with him since day one. Eve though Ash found Chimchar a little bit later during his earlier days in Sinnoh. Lucas was casually lounging on the seats, smiling as he saw his own progress.
"I caught another Chimchar doing my journey, so I had to recreate the moment I met him that very day," Lucas explained. "I already have Infernape with me and even a Monferno."
However, there were only three more similarities. Garchomp, Staraptor and Floatzel to be exact. While Ash did have a Staraptor, his Buizel was still in his first stage of evolution. The same went for his Gible. Ash even thought back to Red, Ethan, Brendan and Hilbert. He's seen Red's Pokemon and those are Pokemon he also has but some haven't fully evolved either.
He had a Quilava while Ethan had a Typhlosion and Brendan had a Sceptile just like Ash. Their teams seemed to perfectly mirror Ash's in many ways, even though Brendan's full team hasn't been seen as Hilbert seems to be the only one who carries a different team with him. At least, so far.
The movie was also a good watch surprisingly. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom pointed their hooves at certain scenes that perfectly match what Ash told them. Ash already told them about some of his adventures and now they were seeing a different version of it. Lucas made sure everything was authentic, gathering all the Pokemon he's caught throughout the years.
The way he filmed this movie was by making it an anthology. It was all in chronological order, telling a story that had a definitive ending. And that as the engaging part. The length of the movie, for something that was made in just 4 weeks, was also long enough to fit a lot of things in. 2 hours and 43 minutes max. Although, Lucas did have to trim some things down.
However, when watching the movie, one important part stuck out more than anything else. It was the scene where Lucas was seen coming across something that came from space. Was this the Palkia encounter he spoke of? Everyone leaned in to see for themselves.
The scene showed Lucas in a lush field, taking a break with his Pokemon. This was in the later part of the film which would soon reach its end. But this was not the Palkia encounter. Not at all. Instead, from the skies above, a cosmic crack appeared that did not match Palkia's colours.
The colours seemed to match the Rift instead That immediately made all of them open their eyes to what this could be. And falling from that crack was a Poke Ball with a lightning bolt on it. Ash has seen that Poke Ball before. Mainly because that was the same Poke Ball his Pikachu was first seen in on the day they both met.
Lucas held his hand out as the Poke Ball dropped on his hands. From it, emerged Ash's Pikachu. Specifically, Pikachu wearing Ash's Sinnoh hat. This was a scene Lucas felt like putting in because of how surprising it was to him. It was surprising to everyone as well.
And then it all clicked. Ethan and Brendan talked about this before. There was a moment for all of their friends where they each received a Pikachu wearing a different hat. And these Pikachus all came from an unknown Ash Ketchum out there but from different periods in time.
"Oh, wait!" Ash exclaimed. "So that's how it must've happened for all of them! So you have my Pikachu too?!
"Pika?!"
"Yep. Ethan and Brendan told you this already, probably but it's been a while, hasn't it? You sent me Pikachu. You entrusted him to me so I wasn't gonna let you down. I mean, I never met you but you brought a letter along inside of the Poke Ball."
"Sis...You don't think he's..." Apple Bloom slowly turned to face Applejack.
"I hope not. He might be Prisma..." Applejack was thinking the same thing. Could this mysterious Ash Ketchum be the Prisma Character that is said to be a threat? Rift Energy was seen in there and Ash isn't exactly a user of such power.
"Not sure why though. Heck, I don't even know why you have so many Pikachus. What's up with that? And how'd you get a specific one from a different time?" Lucas pondered. "Do you have Dialga on your team or something?"
Lucas raised a good point. Ash never really thought about it all that much. But now that conversation about Prisma has come back up recently, this was probably something else related to Prisma, if that was the case. Another world and time was certainly involved here somehow.
"Lucas." Ash turned his attention away from the movie, focusing on more important matters. He had one request and one thing he wanted to find out for himself. This involved, him, Lucas, the other counterparts and equally as important; Pikachu. "Could you take us to the Infinity Gateway?"
As the journey continues.
Chapter 284 End.