Ignore how this is all centered, i hate it too.

Also I know the plot for this one is stupid and that it is very all over the place. It also feels a bit inconsistent to me but whatever.

~~~

"Ash! We need you or someone in Kalos as soon as possible!"

"I'll come as soon as I can, Greninja."

"I wonder what Professor Cerise wants us to research." Goh spoke, snapping Ash out of his conversation.

"Yeah," Ash spoke in reply, "But whatever it is, I know it's going to be a lot of fun!"

Pikachu nodded in agreement as the duo walked into the room where Professor Cerise was waiting for them. They had a short catch up conversation before Professor Cerise told them what they were doing and where they were going.

"You'll be going to Kalos to study the vines that have been randomly appearing and the three Pokemon who have been destroying them. I've already bought tickets for the two of you to fly into Lumiose City-"

Vines. Lumiose City. Destruction. Lysandre.

Whatever Professor Cerise was saying had blurred into nonsense as Ash zoned out into nightmare. Pikachu was quick to press himself even closer to Ash as Greninja made the attempt to snap Ash out of it through the bond.

"This is going to be a lot of fun. Right, Ash?" Goh spoke.

There was a moment of silence before Goh started to move to speak again when Ash snapped out of his thoughts. He exclaimed "Yeah!" although he was unaware what Goh had asked. The duo then left to pack, but Goh stared at him strangely. Ash ignored it, atleast until they had checked in at the airport.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ash finally questioned.

"You were acting weird back at the lab." Goh replied.

"I was...?" Ash questioned.

"Yeah, you kind of seemed zoned out. Plus, Pikachu was pressed closer to you than normal." Goh spoke.

"I guess... I was just thinking about the vines. I know what caused them and why the three Pokemon are destroying them." Ash shared.

"You know?" Goh asked, dumbfounded.

"Mhm." Ash spoke as Pikachu pushed closer to Ash again, " It was... maybe... one year ago? Two years ago? It's hard to keep track of time anymore."

"Maybe 1 and a half...? That sounds right I think...?"  Pikachu suggested.

"That does sound right, buddy. Yeah, It was one and a half years ago." Ash said, petting Pikachu.

"Are you saying that they were somehow caused by the Kalos Crisis? Because that was about a year and a half ago." Goh spoke.

Ash momentarily stiffened before speaking as if it hadn't affected him at all, "Yeah. It's all left over from the big rock they had to destroy."

"Why didn't you just tell Professor Cerise then? He would've still let us go to Kalos." Goh questioned.

"I wasn't thinking. I'm needed in Kalos right now and that's what I was completely focused on. A friend needs my help." Ash answered, "I probably should have told him."

Pikachu mumbled something incoherent.

"Oh." Goh replied as the the intercom turned on to call a flight, which happened to be their flight.

The flight was rather uneventful, but Ash's anxiety over returning to the epicenter of the Kalos Crisis was on the rise. After landing in Kalos, Pikachu and Greninja both were constantly reassuring Ash that nothing bad would happen while in the city as Ash led Goh to the forest outside of it.

"Where are we going?" Goh questioned.

"You'll see." Ash replied, although he wasn't even sure. He was just following his bond with Greninja to find him.

After they left the city, Goh started catching Pokemon, including a Skiddo, a Furfrou, and a Pancham. They stopped for a short break at a clearing, where Pikachu started talking to some of Pokemon native to the area. After a Minun gave him some information about "the hero Greninja" frantically searching, he ran up to his trainer, checking if that's why they were here.

"Yeah, buddy. That's why we're here." Ash replied, "I would've told you sooner but y'know."

The electric type understood exactly what his trainer meant and answered with a simple "Yeah." before returning to his conversations with the wild Pokemon.

Goh watched on in confusion as he finished eating his lunch. Ash and Pikachu had finished earlier, so now they were just waiting for Goh to finish his food. When Goh had finished and had just put up his things, Ash started dying of laughter.

"Ash? What's so funny?" Goh questioned, extremely confused.

Ash shook his head and simply pointed to the tree in front of them. Pikachu seemed to understand what was going on from this vague pointing and proceeded to stand in front of Ash.

"Please, Greninja, please water shuriken them out of the tree. Just because it'd be funny."

The frog Pokemon seemed to comply as a few seconds later, Team Rocket had fell to the ground in front of Pikachu, who had proceeded to thunderbolt them into blasting off. Goh stood off to the side, shocked at what he just saw. It was at this moment Greninja chose to make his appearance, landing exactly where Team Rocket had fallen. Pikachu hopped onto Ash's shoulder. Goh wasted no time before scanning it with his Rotom Phone and grabbing a Pokeball, interested by the form difference compared to the one in the pokedex. Before he could throw it, however, Ash grabbed his arm, preventing him from throwing it.

Ash stared at the Greninja.

Greninja stared back.

They stared.

And stared.

And stared.

And-

"What in the world is going on? Why are you and the Greninja just staring at each other?" Goh questioned after a solid two minutes.

There was no response.

Meanwhile, Greninja was giving Ash information about the current issue.

"Once we get to the cave they're in, Z2 and I can give you more information about what happened."

"Alright, lead the way."

With that, Greninja started running off, Ash following closely behind, finally letting go of Goh's arm. Goh trailed behind them, extremely lost about the current situation on hand. They momentarily stopped once they reached a cave before the Greninja led the way in. Ash was quick to follow once again, leaving a still confused Goh standing outside of the cave. Pikachu had hopped off Ash's shoulder and opted to wait with Goh, that way he could lead Goh to them whenever he snapped out of confusion.

Ash and Greninja ran deep into the cave until they came across the two Zygarde, one in 50% forme watching over the other, who was laying on the ground in 10% forme. The 10% forme was obviously sick. Ash bent down to feel the 10% forme's forehead as he glanced at Greninja. While Z2 and Greninja relayed everything they knew about the 10% forme, Squishy, falling sick, Pikachu was finally able to lead Goh to the group. Goh pulled out the same Pokeball from earlier while staring down Z2, but was stopped from doing anything by Greninja, who was still staring at Ash.

And Ash was staring back.

They continued to stare.

And stare.

And stare.

And stare.

And stare.

And stare.

"I'll see what I can do." Ash finally spoke, glancing at Z2.

The Zygarde seemed to nod and continued to watch the trainer as he attempted to talk to Squishy.

"Hey, Squishy, do you think you could get out of 10% forme for me? I can't really do anything but take you to a Pokemon Center at this point." Ash spoke after trying a few other solutions and coaxing Squishy into replying, Goh and Z2 observing through all of it while Pikachu and Greninja helped.

"I can try..." Squishy weakly responded.

The 10% forme weakly stood up and closed its eyes before collapsing again. It tried a couple more times before giving up.

"I'm sorry... I cannot..." Squishy spoke.

"That's... fine. Would it be alright if I temporarily caught you just so I can easily get you to the Pokemon Center without causing you anymore pain? I can release you, or give your Pokeball to Bonnie, afterwards." Ash questioned.

"Give it to Bonnie..." Squishy replied, consenting to the plan.

Ash nodded as Greninja handed him a Pokeball he got out of Ash's bag while he was talking. There was a moment of staring before Ash turned back to Squishy and carefully tapped the Pokeball on them. The Pokeball dinged without as much as a shake.

"Zygarde has been registered to your Pokedex." Came Ash's Rotom phone's voice.

~~~

"Nurse Joy! We have an emergency!" Ash yelled as he ran into one of the Lumiose City Pokemon Centers, Greninja, who was holding Z2, who was now just a core, following close behind.

Goh was also following, but he was a bit further behind, knowing Ash needed to get to the Pokemon Center as soon as possible and not wanting to cause any distraction.

Nurse Joy's Wigglytuff brought out a stretcher as Ash started explaining what happened. He released Squishy onto the stretcher as soon as it was brought out and the nurse duo immediately took it to the back. Ash moved to the videophones, using one to call his favorite blonde Kalosian duo.

"Clemont, Bonnie, hey!" Ash spoke as soon as they picked up.

"Ash! Hi!" Bonnie spoke.

"Hello, Ash!" Clemont spoke.

"Uh, would you guys mind coming to the Pokemon Center right by Professor Sycamore's Lab? There's kinda something I need to hand off to Bonnie, and Squishy's sick." Ash verbalized the current situation.

Bonnie looked over at Clemont as he began talking.

"We'll get there as soon as we can."

"See ya soon!" Ash spoke.

"See ya!" "Bye."

With that, the Lumiose siblings hung up as Goh walked into the Pokemon Center.

"Why do you and the Greninja just keep staring at each other?" Goh questioned Ash, confused.

"Oh, that. I didn't even realize we'd been using it."

Greninja and Pikachu both glanced at Ash.

"Anyway Greninja, you okay with dropping it for a bit? You've been in it for a year and a half at this point."

The ninja Pokemon nodded, and its form changed within an instant. It now looked like a Greninja from the Pokedex, rather than a different form.

"It's form just changed?" Goh questioned, "Now it looks like the Greninja in the Pokedex."

"Professor Sycamore said it's called the Bond Phenomenon. We call the form Ash-Greninja, though. Basically Greninja and I become one." Ash failed to explain.

"Eh? What does that mean?" Goh questioned.

"Sharing vision, communicating without doing anything visible, sharing memories, stuff like that." Ash spoke.

"And sharing pain." Greninja added, pointing out the important point Ash forgot.

"Oh yeah, and that." Ash added.

"And what?" Goh asked, not being able to understand Greninja like Ash.

"Sharing pain." Ash shared to Goh.

"So you mean if you were to use it in a battle, you'd feel all the hits?" Goh questioned, curious.

"Yeah! It's a lot of fun!" Ash exclaimed as Goh stared at him with wide eyes.

"It's... fun?" Goh confusingly repeated.

"Yeah! It's like I'm actually Greninja and attacking, even though it's still Greninja who is." Ash spoke, "Though that kind of threw me off at first."

Greninja glanced at his trainer again, "It more than threw us off, but we were both thrown off."

"Okay, fair. Maybe fainting when we used it everytime back then did mean it more than threw us off." Ash replied, "And we might have been able to beat Diantha if it weren't for that."

"You mean the Kalos Champion Diantha?" Goh questioned, glancing back and forth between Ash and Greninja after Ash nodded in reply.

Just then, the Pokemon Center doors opened as a small blonde girl launched forward and practically tackled Ash into a hug.

"Bonnie!" Ash exclaimed, happy to see the younger Lumiose sibling.

"Ash! It's so good to see you again!" Bonnie exclaimed as Clemont walked into the Pokemon Center, out of breath.

"It's great to see you both as well!" Ash exclaimed in reply.

"Yeah, it's great to see you!" Clemont spoke after he had caught his breath.

"Who are they?" Goh questioned as Bonnie caught sight of Greninja and moved to tackle him. Dedenne hopped out of her bag and moved to greet Pikachu, who was on the nearby couch.

"This is Clemont, and that's Bonnie. They travelled with us through Kalos!" Ash explained, "And Clemont, Bonnie, this is Goh. We're currently research fellows at Professor Cerise's Lab in Vermilion City."

"Well, Goh, it's nice to meet you." Clemont spoke.

Goh nodded, "It's nice to meet you as well." He then turned to Ash, "Why do you know everyone everywhere we go?"

"I don't...?" Ash spoke in reply, "I didn't know a single person in Galar."

"Besides Galar." Goh added.

"He's not quite far enough along yet, is he?" Clemont questioned the immortal ten year old, "I mean, he's met some, like he's just met Squishy and Z2, but he's not there yet, right?"

"He's getting close." Ash shared.

"Close to what?" Goh questioned again.

"You'll find out soon enough." Ash ominously spoke, "Hey, Bonnie? Can you come over here for a second?"

"Huh? Yeah!" Came the girl's reply, letting go of Pikachu, who she was now hugging, and walking over to Ash.

Ash brought his voice down to a whisper, "Hey, don't tell Clemont I'm giving you this." He then proceeded to set Squishy's pokeball in her hand, "It's Squishy's. He asked me to give it to you."

"Thank you!" She replied, putting the Pokeball in her bag before hugging Ash again.

Clemont raised an eyebrow at this, "You're giving her a Pokeball?"

"Squishy asked me to." Ash replied.

Clemont nodded as Goh spoke, "Why are the Zygarde cores called Z2 and Squishy?"

"Well, when we found Squishy sleeping in Bonnie's bag, we didn't know what he was-" "Though I had a gut feeling they were a legendary and was going to lead to something big." "And the Pokedex couldn't identify them- "So I named them Squishy!" Clemont explained, Ash and Bonnie interupting, "As for Z2..." Clemont did a motion with his hand, "Called them that. Speaking of which, Ash, did Greninja ever get a new name for them or are they sticking with Z2?"

"Z2." Came Ash's response, "Because it's not really associated with the bad anymore since we started calling them that."

Clemont nodded as Goh spoke up again, "What in the world is-" Goh copied the motion Clemont did, "And what is 'the bad'?"

Everyone apart from Goh glanced at each other, clearly not wanting to mention them.

"We can't say...?" Bonnie spoke, although it came out more like a question.

"Both of those are the same people that caused the thing. You mentioned the thing earlier at the airport. It's kind of an uncomfortable topic to talk about." Ash shared.

Goh nodded, understanding, as Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff walked out of the back part of the Pokemon Center. They approached the group that had congregated within the waiting room, Joy holding a green blob in her hand. Squishy noticed Bonnie and leaped off of Joy's hand, towards her. The nurse duo left the group after this.

"Squishy!" Bonnie exclaimed as she caught the Zygarde Core.

"Bonnie, it's good to see you again." Squishy spoke.

"You too! It's been so long!" Bonnie replied happily.

As Bonnie and Squishy were having their joyous reunion, Goh was talking with Z2.

"Would it be alright if I caught you...?"

"Absolutely not!"

"Z2, listen to what he has to say first, okay?" Ash intervened.

"Fine..."

"Look... I know your job is to keep balance, so if I were to catch you, I'd offer you something similar to Suicune, who is still roaming. Me catching you would simply be for your protection and would help me reach my goal at the same time. See, my goal is to catch every single Pokemon and work my way up to Mew! So, whatdya say?"

Z2 turned to Ash, "You're allowing this?"

"What else am I supposed to do? Besides, who knows, maybe one of them will take a liking to him." Ash replied.

Z2 turned back to Goh, "While I would prefer him, you are one of his friends, so that means I can probably trust you. So, I'll allow it."

"Really? Thank you so much!" Goh exclaimed as he pulled out a Pokeball, tapping it against the Zygarde core's head.

The Pokeball shook a few times before dinging.

"Zygarde has been registered to your Pokedex." Goh's Rotom phone chimed.

Once Pikachu had returned to Ash's shoulder and Dedenne and Squishy to Bonnie's bag, the group of trainers and Pokemon walked outside.

"Greninja, ready?" Ash asked.

The ninja Pokemon nodded before allowing itself to be enveloped by a veil of water. When the veil subsided, the form from earlier was revealed.

Turning his back to Greninja, Ash spoke, "I guess this is goodbye again. You've still got a job to complete and-" "Ash, tell me. Do you sense any of that anywhere? Because I know you know as well as I do there is no more negative energy around amd that the job is done." Greninja interrupted, placing a webbed hand on Ash's free shoulder.

Ash turned around and stared at Greninja. After taking a moment, he spoke up again, smiling, as he hugged the water and dark type frog, "I guess I was too focused on everything else happening to notice."

In response, Greninja said one simple word, "Dumbass."

Completely ignoring Greninja's comment, Ash turned to the others as he released the hug, "Greninja, Pikachu, and I will be back in a minute! We've jut got to go back inside and use one of the Pokeball transfer machines so Professor Oak can send over Greninja's Pokeball."

The others seemed to understand this, and so Ash and Greninja walked into the Pokemon Center, ready to face the world side by side once again.

~Fin

~2972 words

I couldn't find anything to help me write Squishy's personality, so I just avoided writing too much of Squishy.

Z2 does not care about your feelings.

Also, if the ending seems rushed, that's because it was! The last 500 or so words were all written within one night whereas the rest of it spanned at least two months.

Published:December 21st, 2021

Question Of The Chapter:What's your favorite Sinnoh Starter?

So, while most people dislike Prinplup, saying that it's awkward, it's actually my favorite from the Piplup line, which is my favorite Sinnoh Starter line. I think it's absolutely adorable, even more so than Piplup.

~Vannah