Pokemon - Odyssey

As Ash sat on a grassy hill in Sycamore's garden, he sighed contentedly. It had barely been three hours since his friends from multiple journeys had arrived, and he was already exhausted. From lunch being served by Cilan, Brock, and Clemont, to a scorching battle between Drayden and Iris, Ash was feeling nothing but exhaustion. As he watched his friends talking, and the pair of Max and Bonnie playing with a few Fletchling, Ash leaned back and fell onto the grass with a sigh.

"Ash, right?"

Ash looked up to see Red sitting down next to him.

"Yeah, and you're Red?" Ash said.

"I am."

"Can I ask you something?" Ash said.

"Shoot." Red replied.

"I heard you're a Kanto Champion, but why do you hang out at Mount Silver in Johto?"

"I do more than hang out, Ash." Red said. "I train myself and my Pokemon to their maximum potential and beyond. When I battled...Gary, his Pokemon may have been strong, but they were nowhere near the strength they could achieve. Like I said earlier, once you have reached your dream, find me. You will ascend the stars and reach glory."

Ash looked over at Red in curiousity.

"Anyway…" Red said. "I noticed you have a Pikachu with you. If I may, I would like to test its strength against my own Pikachu."

"Sure." Ash said. "When?"

"Sometime later. We have many pressing things to deal with." Red said, standing up. Ash nodded and followed him back into the lab, his last sight of the Garden being Sycamore's Garchomp flirting with Cynthia's Garchomp, with everyone laughing at the sight. Ash looked into the workroom and saw Clemont working with Clem-Bot's assistance on the Dimensional Shifter, now looking half-repaired.

"How's it going?" Ash asked. Clemont sighed and wiped off his glasses before looking over at Ash.

"Fine, as of now. The Schematics I got from the Mossdeep Space Center are helping. But I don't know when I'll be able to fully fix it." Clemont replied.

"At current estimate, we are 45.64 percent done with repairs to the Dimensional Shifter." Clem-Bot said.

"Thank you, Clem-Bot." Clemont said. Ash nodded and walked back downstairs, walking over to where Dawn's Buneary and his Pikachu were taking a nap together. Ash couldn't help but feel slightly touched at the sight. He looked over to the Garden, and saw Alain's Charizard entertaining some of Sycamore's Pokemon. He sighed and leaned back on the sofa.

"Ash?"

Ash looked over to see Norman walk over.

"Hey, Norman. You okay?"

"Well, Ash, it's complicated." Norman said. "You know May is my daughter, correct?"

"Yeah?"

"One of the missing trainers is my other child. His name is Mason. He lived in Johto for a short while, before he moved to Hoenn to be with us. He started his journey a year before May did. When May heard the news about Mason's disappearance, she was distraught. It took quite a bit to convince her to come."

Norman looked over at May, who was laughing at Max and Bonnie's antics with a Fletchling and a Few Scatterbug.

"On the outside, she's very lively. On the inside...it's a different story." Norman said. "I'm terribly worried as well. I was there when the blast happened. I could've saved Mason at least, but I know that's wishful thinking. I just wnat to see my son again, safe and sound."

Ash sighed.

"I know you will, Norman. You're a great person, and a great Gym Leader. I could say you're a great dad, but we're not related. I know Mason's alright. I just know it."

Norman looked over at Ash, and he sighed and smiled weakly.

"Thanks, Ash. That means a lot. Mind helping me, Brock, and Cilan with dinner?"

"Sure!" Ash said. As they walked into the kitchenette, Ash's nose was filled with the scent of Cilan and Brock's all-to-familiar good cooking.

"Hello, Ash!" Cilan said, sprinkling cheese on a bowl of Spaghetti. "How's life?"

"Great!" Ash said.

"Good to hear it!" Brock said, coming in with a plate of Brownies, fresh from the oven. As he set in on the cooling rack, Ash and Norman looked at each other, then the brownies, they suddenly got very mischievous smiles. As they neared the brownies, they thought nothing had noticed. Until….

"GAHH!" they both screamed, flying to the floor. Ash looked over and saw Brock's Croagunk standing with his hands glowing a dark violet.

"What was that?" Norman asked, clutching his side.

"That was Croagunk's Poison Jab." Ash said, rubbing his bruised side.

"Well, well, Ash." Cilan said. "You know you don't eat dessert first. It ruins the palette."

"Thanks for the tip." Norman said.

"Well, you now know how It feels." Brock said. "Believe me, whenever I see a pretty girl, that happens."

As the group laughed, they failed to see a blue-and-white Pokemon with a potbelly walk up and slowly take the brownies off of the shelf.

"Speaking of…" Ash said. "Where'd they go?"

Cilan, Brock, Ash and Norman scanned the room, and they immediately locked eyes on May's Munchlax snarfing the whole pan of Brownies down like a rabid Mightyena.

"GAHHHHHHH!" Brock yelled. "My best pan of Brownies!"

"NO!!!!!" Ash and Norman yelled.

"Munch!" Munchlax added, before letting out a Belch attack that sent the trainers flying. As the trainers recovered from having their ears assaulted, May and Dawn walked in.

"Hey, has anyone seen…" May said, before locking eyes on…

Munchlax, whose face was covered in fudge icing while holding an empty Brownie pan innocently…

Her father, Ash, Cilan, and Brock wincing from the pain coming from their now red ears…

And the Kitchen a near catastrophe. Both Dawn and May couldn't hold it in, and they promptly fell over, laughing.

"May!" Brock yelled.

"I was looking for Munchlax, you know!" May said. "And we heard that Belch from down the hall. Nearly gave everyone a heart attack."

"Figures." Ash said. "That was worse than my Noivern's Boomburst."

"Or a Hyper Voice." Cilan said.

As everyone laughed and started to clean up, May wiped Munchlax's face and chin clean of fudge icing, while the others helped tidy up. Pretty soon, dinner was served on schedule, though Munchlax was constantly being eyed by all five of them throughout the meal. Soon, as everyone retired for the night, Clemont was left awake, fixing the Shifter. His Chespin, Bunnelby, and Luxray were sound asleep. Clem-Bot had powered down due to low battery, and Clemont was nearly done. As he twisted the last bolt into place, the energy from the main reactor flowed into the center ring, forming a dormant rift. Clemont sighed and switched off the device before heading to bed. But as soon as he left, a Fly Drone flew in and began scanning the schematics and the device. As it left as quickly as it came, The leader of Team Nova retrieved the drone from his station in the street. Placing the drone into his pocket, he smiled and walked off.