♛ 𝔽𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝔹𝕪 𝔻𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕪 (𝔸𝕞𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕡𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕘) ♛

Chapter 65: Trouble Dealings

Author's Notes

Henlo, people. Been busy lately so unfortunately, this chap's on the shorter side.

To explain, the first chapters of each regions are gonna be introductory chapters, meaning they're setups for the story. So even if this is short, rest assured the contents more than make up for it. Especially since there's some world-building on the... 'Incarnations' stuff.

With new characters and new adventures, I've also been thinking of a 'theme' for Ash to learn and grow. Y'know, like how each region he grows as a person... untilBWcompletelymassacredmyboy.

And the theme I came up with is 'Good and Evil'. And during this chapter, a certain someone re-enters the story to give Ash the push he needs to start thinking more about it.

With that, reviews time!

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C0rrupted1:

I figured he had his issues but thought that mostly stemmed to his guilt in his mother's death and the sense that he needed to make up for it like it's his fault she died. Didn't think that 'love' would be warped to this extent.

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Thanks for the review m8. There's a couple more of your review down the line that I'll address individually so let's begin with this:

Yep, 'love' is a completely warped subject for Fated!Ash and serves as sort of 'twisting the canon' trope. In canon, Ash is still 10(somehow), meaning he gets a pass for not understanding 'love'. In Fated, I've twisted that trait and dialed it up to 11 from 'love is something Ash doesn't get' to 'Ash's idea of 'love' is broken and incomprehensible'. Delia's death reinforces it for him to the point where his beliefs are somewhat indestructible... until a certain someone comes in.

Of course, I'm not revealing it this early in the story but always keep in mind that Fated!Ash is very distorted as a character. (Deservingly so since he's derived from Shirou but in his own Pokémon canon)

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I'm just going to take my shot and say that Serena and him are going to have an argument about that once he lets slip his honest feelings, which will horrify/upset her and she won't talk to him for a bit until she can calm down... in which he still won't get it. Taking place before they meet up since them being together should be a bit happier and have this baggage somewhat mitigated before they dig into that... course probably best it get settled once they're actually in front of each other.

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This is a great idea... if I was going the 'normal' route of Ash's journey retelling fanfics. It's true that the baggage is detrimental to their relationship and should be discarded after the initial 'slip-up' like you said...

But Fated doesn't work like that. The fanfic's name itself is irony.

Remember when I said Ash isn't gonna have a smooth journey? Yeah, the story itself is actively trying to screw him over in a meta sense which becomes VERY apparent once we've reached the mid-regions (Especially Sinnoh, arguably the most important region for Fated!Ash)

TLDR: Ash is definitely getting screwed by plot before he even gets a chance to unload said baggage.

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The rest of reviews will be continued at the bottom since it's spoilers for the current chapter, so I'll see you down below!

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Chapter 65: Trouble Dealings

"Zzz…Heh?! She just dodged the question!"