Ash and his friends have finally arrived at Ash and Gary's hometown: Pallet Town. They all decided to visit the Pokémon laboratory first before going to Ash's house to see Mrs. Ketchum. However, they were met with a pleasant surprise when they reached the gates of Professor Oak's Pokémon Laboratory. They were greeted by Ash's mother, Delia, and her Pokémon, Mr. Mime.
Now, Ash, his mother, his friends, and Pikachu were at the main entrance of the laboratory. Ash sighed and looked at the front of the laboratory.
"I haven't been here since Goh and I came here for information about Project Mew," Ash said.
"Project Mew?" Misty repeated with a confused expression on her face.
"We'll tell you later," Gary said to the red-head tomboy of a Cerulean City Gym Leader. He then opened the door to the laboratory and gestured for everyone to come inside.
"Hey, Gramps! Your favorite Grandson is here!" Gary yelled out as the group entered the Pokémon laboratory lobby. Professor Oak turned his sights to the entrance, as he placed down the Pokémon textbook he was reading.
"Ahh, Gary and Ash, my boys. Everyone, welcome. I've been anticipating your arrivals." Professor Oak greeted as he walked up to them from where he was sitting.
"Hi, Professor. How have you been?" Ash asked.
"Pika!" Pikachu squeaked to also ask the Professor.
"Very well, thank you. Cerise and Augustine Sycamore sent me all your Pokémon yesterday, so I placed all the Poké Balls in that storage box over there." Professor Oak said as he pointed out the box on the desk.
"Oh boy!" Ash exclaimed as he went towards the box to check on his Poké Balls. His Pokémon from Kalos, Alola, and the Laboratory in Vermilion City have all arrived safely, which caused Ash to sigh in relief. "Looks like everyone is here."
"I suggest we head to the Pokémon canal to see all of Ash's Pokémon." Professor Oak suggested as he began leading everyone to the backdoor. Gary suddenly remembered something and stopped.
"But wait, Gramps. What about Ash's surprise?" Gary asked as the thought came to his mind. Professor Oak stared at Gary for a second, but then the elderly Pokémon professor also remembered. He snapped his fingers with realization.
"Oh, that's right. Thank you for reminding me." Professor Oak said to his grandson. He then turned to Ash, as he reached for the front pocket of his lab coat. He picked something out of the pocket and handed Ash a small orange and yellow stone.
"Oh wow, this is a Charizardite Y. It looks exactly identical to what my friend Trevor has back in Kalos," Ash remarked with surprise. "We were all surprised when he revealed mega evolution as his secret weapon for the league."
Professor Oak cleared his throat. "Ah yes. Around three months ago, I got a call from Professor Sycamore in the Kalos Region who told me about a sudden appearance of multiple mega stones near Kiloude City. He and his assistants were able to recover some of these stones for research. He asked if I would like a mega stone of each Kanto Starter Pokémon. Now you know I couldn't refuse, so he sent them over later that day."
"So what are you doing with the mega stones, professor?" Brock asked. "If you are giving Ash the Charizardite, then what did you do with the others?"
"I gave Gary the Blastoisite for his Blastoise, while I've decided to give you this Charizardite Y for your Charizard. I'm keeping the Venusaurite for my research." Professor Oak explained to the group. "Professor Sycamore even sent me a keystone so I can test out mega evolution."
"Yeah, but I had to go to Kalos for my Keystone," Gary whined as he pulled out his necklace with a keystone as the centerpiece. He then grinned. "But at least it only took me a week to find one! I got help from this tall guy in black clothing. I even battled him and this powerful Charizard of his that can mega evolve."
Ash shared a glance with Pikachu and both gasped. "You mean Alain?"
"Pika?!"
Gary nodded. "Yeah, he said he's one of Professor Sycamore's assistants. He was accompanied by this girl with a Chespin. I think she's his girlfriend or something..."
"I didn't know Alain and Mairin are dating... heck! I didn't even know Clemont and Korrina were dating. If it wasn't for Korrina accidentally mentioning it to me when we met again, who knows how long they were planning on hiding it from everyone. I am gonna have fun talking to Clemont about this when I call him and Bonnie soon." Ash thought with a smirk creeping onto his face.
"Ahem." Brock cleared his throat and turned his head towards the raven-haired teenager. "Anyways back to the topic, we should go check on your Pokémon, Ash," Brock said, noticing the raven-haired teenager looking out into space. He appeared to have a distant smile as if he was plotting something.
"That's right. The quicker we get there, the earlier you can start your training." Tracey added his comments to the conversation.
"Alright. Anyways, thanks for the mega stone, Professor." Ash said with gratitude. He was about to walk to the backdoor with everyone else, but then Professor Oak stopped his movements, yet again.
"Oh yes, Ash. I almost forgot to tell you, but you received a package earlier this week." Professor Oak said.
"Yeah, I know. My mom told m-" Ash said, but was interrupted by the professor.
"No, no. This is another package. This one is from the Hoenn Region in Littleroot Town." Professor Oak said as he walked to another room and moments later came back with a parcel. "Here you go, my boy."
"What is up with Ash getting all these packages and gifts recently," Misty commented. She was starting to feel slightly envious of her raven-haired friend.
"I know right, Ashy-Boy sure is lucky. But don't forget to show us that other package at your house." Gary said to his childhood friend.
Ash ignored him and looked at the parcel. Who from Hoenn would send him a package at a time like this?
"So Ash, who sent the package?" Delia asked with a finger on her chin, while tilting her head.
"Wow, it's from Professor Birch!" Ash exclaimed as he finally noticed there was a name on the box. "I wonder what he sent me..." Ash carefully unwrapped the box to reveal a lot of packing peanuts, bubble wrap, and paper.
"Whatever it is, it must be tiny," Brock stated. "There is no way anything of regular size requires that many packing peanuts and bubble wrap."
Ash continued to go through the paper and packing peanuts until he found a note and two mega stones. Everyone gasped in shock when they also saw the mega stones.
"More mega stones?!?" Brock blurted. "This must be your lucky day."
"Hmm... the note says that Champion Steven Stone found these mega stones alongside a couple of others for Hoenn native Pokémon during one of his excavations," Ash murmured while reading the note that was provided in the package.
"It then says here that Steven gave them to Professor Birch for research. Professor Birch recalled me having a Sceptile and Glalie back then during my journey in Hoenn, so he decided to ship the stones for me as a gift," Ash said as he was continuing to read the note. "Oh hey, he also mentioned that he gifted May a Blazikenite for her Blaziken."
"Last time I talked to May was about half a year ago. She told me she traveled around with two other coordinators that she is friends with." Misty said.
"Yeah, I wonder how that girl is doing. I also heard that Max became a trainer about a couple of years ago." Brock remarked. He then turned to Ash as he remembered something he said.
"Hey, didn't we meet Steven Stone in Hoenn one time? That rock-obsessed guy." Brock questioned with a hint of remembrance in his tone.
Ash simply nodded. "Yeah, I met him in Kalos too when Team Flare was trying to take over. I was surprised when I learned from Sawyer that he became Champion of Hoenn. Who knows what happened to Wallace." Ash said with a shrug. "Maybe Wallace wanted to focus on his Contest careers and host more Wallace Cups."
"So, Ash. Now you have a Lucarionite, Pidgeotite, Tyranitarite, Charizardite, Sceptilite, and Glalitite." Misty counted in her head. Ash looked at her and realized what she was implying.
"Now I have more mega evolution training to do." Ash grinned. Something then crossed the raven-haired trainer's thoughts. "However, Heracross doesn't have a mega stone yet. Maybe I should go hunting for Heracronite in Kalos after a couple of weeks. While I'm at it, Gible and Gengar could get themselves a mega stone too... but I doubt Gible can evolve into Garchomp by the tournament. Gengar on the other hand has Gigantamaxing on its side, so it may not need mega evolution..."
Ash was snapped out of his thoughts by Misty waving her hand in front of his face.
"Ash! Hello in there?! Kanto to Ash!" Misty called out as she was trying to get his attention.
"Hmm?" Ash looked around to see his friends looking at him with concern.
"Are you alright, sweetie?" Delia asked while placing her gentle hand on her son's shoulder.
Ash nodded. "I'm fine mom, I was just thinking... I have all these mega stones. Why don't I go a step further and go to Kalos and get my Heracross a mega stone? I was planning on going to Kalos anyways for about a week."
"Hmm, that seems like a good idea..." Brock muttered and scratched his chin in thought. His eyes widened when he thought of something that confused him. "Wait, why are you going to Kalos?"
"Is it because... of you know who?" Gary teased with a smirk on his face.
Ash blushed a bit. Pikachu giggled to himself about Ash's situation. "Oh shut up you guys! Let's go see the Pokémon at the corral." Ash then marched his way to the back, with everyone else following closely behind. When they got to the back of the laboratory, they were greeted by a pair of familiar Pokémon. A Bulbasaur and a Squirtle.
"Bulbasaur! Squirtle! It's been a while!" Ash called out with a cheerful smile on his face. The two Kantonian starters looked towards the voice. The moment they saw who it was, they started running towards him.
"Saur!"
"Squirt!"
"Pika!" Pikachu greeted with a friendly wave and high fives. Pikachu, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur were always close, ever since their first journey.
"Great to see you both are doing well. Especially you Squirtle. I heard that you are taking an extra-long vacation from the Squirtle Squad." Ash said as he kneeled down to his knees to pet his loyal Kantonian grass starter on the bulb of his back. He then rubbed his Kantonian water starter on his shell.
"Squirtle, squirt!" Squirtle nodded and smiled at his trainer. It sure has been a while since he last saw Ash. When Squirtle was first sent back to the laboratory by Officer Jenny a while back, he caught up with all the Pokémon and got to meet Ash's newer ones too.
Ash got up and made a fist pump. "Bulbasaur, can you signal the others to come here with your Solar Beam, please?" Ash asked the seed Pokémon.
"Bulba!" Bulbasaur nodded as he began charging special lights one after another with his bulb. A few seconds of charging later, he blasted each solar beam variation to the sky, signaling all of Ash's Pokémon that their trainer is back in town.
A few moments later after Bulbasaur's various colored Solar Beams, the ground began to shake as thirty Tauros started charging in the distance. It didn't take long for the group to realize that Ash's very affectionate herd of Tauros was about to do their signature trampling dance on the raven-haired trainer.
"Pika pi..." Pikachu squeaked as he gave his trainer a salute.
"Oh boy, here we go again..." Misty muttered with a sweatdrop.
"Hey, Tauros!" Ash greeted, but then panicked as he realized he was going to get trampled on. Luckily, three sets of vine whips reached out for him and lifted the teenager up before all those Tauros could trample him in a stampede.
"Thanks a ton, Bulbasaur, Bayleef, and Snivy. I appreciate it." Ash said with a grateful tone. Snivy just crossed her arms with a sigh, while Bayleef started affectionately snuggling Ash.
"Oh man, I wish Serena would do this to me... wait... SNAP OUT OF IT ASH. No time for your horny fantasies."
Ash got up and rubbed Bayleef on her head, causing the Pokémon to murmur happily. Ash looked around and noticed that his Pokémon were starting to show up in small groups at a time. Charizard flew to where his trainer was and charred Ash with a Flamethrower.
"Ha, good to see you too Charizard." Ash greeted with a grin as soon as he recovered from the Flamethrower. Ash then felt something latch onto his leg and looked down. It was a familiar river otter Pokémon. Ash smiled as he knelt down to pet the Pokémon.
"Oshawott, how have you been?" Ash asked.
"Osha!" Oshawott happily cried. He was happy that his trainer was back.
After a while, all of Ash's Pokémon at the Pokémon Corral were accounted for. It took a while for Boldore and Snorlax to show up as they were the last ones to appear, but eventually, everyone showed up.
Everyone was looking at all the Pokémon Ash has. It sure was an impressive line-up from various regions.
"I wonder how much larger this group will grow," Brock said with a laugh. Misty and Gary also shared a laugh.
"We are about to find out," Tracey said, as he was drawing on his sketchpad.
"Hey everyone, it sure has been a while." Ash greeted with his usual attitude. "As you may have heard from Bulbasaur or a few of the other Pokémon, I am planning on entering everyone into the World Coronation Series Tournament. If we win, we get to battle Leon for his title as World Monarch, and maybe I can finally become a Pokémon Master."
All the Pokémon listened with their full attention and cheered at the fact that about all of them get to battle alongside their trainer again. A few months ago, Infernape got to battle alongside Ash again since Sinnoh. Now, it appears their trainer was giving everyone a chance to battle.
"But first things first. I have to do some introductions to some new friends. While also reintroducing... old friends." Ash declared as he grabbed the box full of Poké Balls. Some of Ash's Pokémon were confused about what he meant regarding old friends but were nonetheless excited.
"Okay first up, here are a couple of old friends that some of my Kanto Pokémon may remember!" Ash announced as he tossed up two Poké Balls up in the air. When they opened up, it revealed the Kantonian Bird Pokémon and the Pig Monkey Pokémon.
"Pidjah! JAHH!" Pidgeot cried out and extended its wings out.
"Primeape!" Primeape screeched, as it punched the air looking for any challengers. Hawlucha and Scraggy seemed impressed and made a mental note to challenge it later.
Bulbasaur, Charizard, and Squirtle went up first to be reacquainted with the bird Pokémon they were friends with during Ash's journey through Kanto. They also greeted Primeape and shook hands, paws, claws, and whatever. Then they were followed by every other one of Ash's Pokémon that greeted the veteran Pokémon from Ash's original journey.
"Okay next up!" Ash said as he took out two Poké Balls from the box. "Talonflame, Hawlucha, and Noivern, you are going to love this!" This caused the three Kalos native Pokémon to look at their trainer with curiosity.
"Greninja! Goodra! I choose you!" Ash called out. In a second, the balls opened up to reveal a blue ninja frog Pokémon and a slimy dragon creature.
"Nin-ja!" Greninja croaked with a hand sign. It then quickly disappeared with his stealthy tactics and reappeared, striking one of his signature ninja poses.
"Goodra!" Goodra cried out happily to the new and familiar faces and started embracing some of the Pokémon in hugs. At that moment, Ash realized that Goodra and Dragonite weren't as different as he originally thought.
"Everyone, these are Greninja and Goodra. Greninja is the final evolution of the water-type starter Pokémon of the Kalos region, while Goodra is a dragon-type of the region. Both are very powerful, especially, Greninja so I hope you all get along."
All of Ash's Pokémon greeted the two Kalos Pokémon, especially Talonflame, Hawlucha, and Noivern, who were overjoyed to reunite with their Kalos teammates. Squirtle and Oshawott admired Greninja with a passion for being strong-looking and for being a fully evolved water-type. Totodile, on the other hand, was simply dancing around Greninja. Charizard, Sceptile, and Infernape looked at Greninja with a look that says they approve of it and will be challenging it in the future. Greninja looked back and nodded, the Charizard and Sceptile reminded him of Sawyer and Alain's Pokémon, while the Infernape seems to be on a strong level as well.
"Next, for the Alola Pokémon!" Ash declared. He grabbed four Poké Balls from the box and got everyone's attention. "Come on out, all of you!" Out of the Poké Balls came a small grass owl Pokémon, a firecat Wrestler Pokémon, a canine wolf-like Pokémon, and an unusual giant metal Pokémon that appears to have a gold nut for its head.
All of Ash's Pokémon looked in awe at the newcomers. Pikachu told them stories about a lot of Ash's Pokémon that weren't brought to the laboratory and the Alolan Pokémon were ones that they wanted to meet the most, well besides Greninja. Greninja was a legend among Ash's Pokémon and they so wanted to meet it one day. It didn't help that Hawlucha and Noivern were exaggerating Greninja's power to the other Pokémon, which really psyched up some of the stronger Pokémon among Ash's team.
"Okay guys, so these are Rowlet, Incineroar, Lycanroc, and Melmetal," Ash explained. "Rowlet and Incineroar are the starter Pokémon of Alola. Lycanroc here is a rare variety of Lycanroc, while Melmetal is a mythical Pokémon from ancient times."
Infernape stared at the firecat Pokémon with his arms crossed, sensing a strong power, while Pignite admired him. Incineroar looked back at Infernape and gestured for it so they could talk. Rowlet quickly found a spot on Torterra and fell asleep. Lycanroc was socializing with some of the other Pokémon, while Melmetal was happily playing with some of the smaller Pokémon like Oshawott and Totodile.
"Okay, now for our newer additions to the team," Ash announced with a smile. All the Pokémon looked at Ash in anticipation as if he was giving them all presents on Christmas Day.
"Come on out!" Ash shouts as he releases five Poké Balls.
Out of the Poké Balls came out a large friendly yellow dragon, a venomous ghost, a bipedal aura wolf, a white duck with a sword and a shield made out of leeks, and an ancient dinosaur Pokémon that seems to be made up of two halves.
"You guys remember Dragonite, Gengar, Lucario, Sirfetch'd, and Dracovish. I introduced them to you during my last visit to the laboratory," Ash said to his Pokémon. "I caught them while I was working in Vermilion City." Ash's Pokémon reintroduced themselves to Ash's team that he had when he was in Vermilion City.
Charizard wanted to challenge Dragonite, but Dragonite thought the flame Pokémon wanted a hug. Goodra decided to give Dragonite a friendly hug since Charizard declined the offer.
Dragonite was happy to be surrounded by a lot of friendly Pokémon so he started hugging everybody in sight.
Lucario and Infernape eyed each other and then started a friendly spar, while some of the other Pokémon watched. Gengar hid in Misty's shadow, which freaked her out.
"My, your Sirfetch'd is very interesting, Ash." Professor Oak said while he was analyzing the Galarian native. "I have heard of regional variants that evolve into different Pokémon and it seems Farfetch'd from Galar is one of them."
"Ooh, what Pokémon is that?" Misty asked with interest, referring to Dracovish. "It seems to be a water-type Pokémon!"
"Yes, that's Dracovish. It's actually a water-dragon-type fossil Pokémon. I got it in Galar when Goh, Chloe, and I were looking into the special fossil resurrection techniques in Galar." Ash explained. Dracovish roared happily and nibbled on Ash's head. Totodile and Gible saw this action as competition, and so they too started biting on Ash's head, determined to show Ash their affection towards him.
"Alright, that's enough guys. I still have to introduce the rest of the Pokémon I caught." Ash said with a chuckle. Totodile and Gible obeyed and let go of Ash's head from their jaws.
"Now, meet some more Pokémon that I caught while at Galar!" Ash said as he threw more balls up in the air. Out of these ones, came out a large grass ape Pokémon with a wooden drum and a stick, a large bird Pokémon made of a steel substance, a scary imp Pokémon, a variation of Kantonian Slowbro, and lastly a small poison baby Pokémon.
"This is Rillaboom, Corviknight, Grimmsnarl, Slowbro, and Toxel." Ash introduced to everyone, as he pointed to each Pokémon. Ash's Pokémon couldn't believe how many new and old Pokémon their trainer has. Everyone was conversing and getting to know each other. All the bird Pokémon including Pidgeot were happy to meet another regional bird Pokémon.
"I can't wait to study the Galarian variation of Slowbro. It will make great field research." Professor Oak commented as he was observing the Slowbro Ash sent out.
"Ash, you basically got every regional bird so far. Pidgeot, a shiny Noctowl, a Swellow, Staraptor, Unfezant, Talonflame, and Corviknight." Tracey noted. Ash looked at all his bird Pokémon to see.
"Well, I never caught any Pokémon from the Toucannon line in Alola, so I guess that is the only one I'm missing." Ash responded, but smiled. Ash then reached into the box to get two final Poké Balls.
"Now, for the two final Pokémon. Come on, out!" Ash says as he throws the two final Poké Balls.
"Meet Tyranitar and Zoroark!" Ash says with pride. A couple of the Johto Pokémon appeared to look at Tyranitar with some familiarity. "For those who journeyed with me in Johto, this Tyranitar here was the Larvitar that traveled with us," Ash explained. "For the Sinnoh Pokémon, this Zoroark was the Zorua that we encountered with Brock and Dawn."
"Meema let me be Ash's new Pokémon." Zoroark said telepathically with a snicker. Then Zoroark shapeshifted into Ash.
"Mmm, you still need to work on hiding that tail of yours whenever you use Illusion," Ash said with a sweatdrop. "We will work on that later."
"Hehehehe..." Zoroark snickered and then reverted back into his regular form.
"Wow, Ash sure has one big family." Misty murmured to Brock and the others. Professor Oak simply laughed at Misty's comment.
"Well of course. Considering he journeyed through Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Alola, and Galar Regions. Also the Orange Islands and Decolore Islands." Professor Oak said as he was proud of Ash's accomplishment over the years. It reminded the elderly professor of another Kantonian trainer he was fond of.
Ash suddenly turned to Gary as a thought entered his mind. "Say, Gary how about you bring out your Pokémon?" Ash suggested with enthusiasm.
"Sure thing, Ashy-boy," Gary replied, sharing a grin of enthusiasm back at the raven-haired teenager. Gary quickly went back into the laboratory. He came back out with some Poké Balls minutes later.
To be continued...