CHAPTER 425: A BALL TO CAPTURE TIME?!

A Bit Ago with Ashtwo

A while had passed, at least two months, and Ash had been busy. For one, he went on that "personal mission" which he just wrote down as searching for more traces of Team Meteor, but in reality, he didn’t really care. Well, he kind of did.

He said he was going to Mt. Silver, mostly just to let the Masked Man know, since logically, the signal from the mic on the mask would cut out there. So the Masked Man ordered D never to take off the mask.

That was funny. He still thought he was in control. Needless to say, Ash only said that so he could hack the mic. In fact, he was sitting on a beach drinking a smoothie right now.

As for that "kind of did" part? Well, let’s just say, next to him on a beach chair, Taka was also chilling, also drinking a smoothie. Yeah, they were just hanging out, since neither of them really cared about the "organizations" they were supposedly in.

And hey, Taka did say he wanted to hang out, so that’s what they were doing. Ash was reviewing footage from the secret drones he had planted in the Masked Man’s office. For someone who developed mind control tech, he sure was an idiot to not have counters to surveillance.

Not that it would’ve mattered, thanks to the programming and building from Rotom and Porygon-Z. The equipment Ash built was hack-proof, EMP-proof, nearly indestructible since it was made using materials from Paradox Pokémon, and totally untraceable. Ash might not be a great engineer, but they were.

Taka slurped noisily from his straw, the sound somehow louder than the crashing waves beside them.

"You ever think we’re the only sane people in this whole region?" he asked, squinting at the sun like it had personally offended him. His scarf, looser than Ash’s, hung more like a decoration.

D shrugged, sipping the smoothie under his mask. The scarf was loosely wrapped around his neck now. He didn’t look up from the flickering screen in front of him.

"That implies we’re sane."

"Touché," Taka replied with a lazy grin, raising his smoothie in a mock toast before taking another sip. "Still, I gotta say... if the Masked Man or Solaris knew we were sipping Oran Berry chillers on some nowhere beach, I think they’d implode or something."

Ash shrugged. "That sounds like a them problem. Besides, your dad tried to blow up a volcano, and the Masked Man... well," he tapped the side of his mask, "let’s just say he doesn’t take ’no’ very well."

"Hmmmm," Taka said thoughtfully, like he understood. "Yeah, I don’t know how you didn’t get mind controlled, but honestly, I don’t really care. I’m just glad you’re not some edgelord now."

Taka raised an eyebrow. "You really outplayed him, huh?"

"I wouldn’t say outplayed," Ash said, leaning back in his chair. "I just didn’t tell him that I wrote the operating firmware, and replaced the one on his computer with one that takes a screenshot of his screen every five minutes and sends it to a folder he can’t even see. Only I can."

"Oh. Yeah, no, that’s straight-up evil. You’d fit right in with Meteor," Taka said, stretching his arms behind his head. "Y’know, if we weren’t a glorified cult with a god complex."

"Didn’t stop you."

"Hey, I’m just here for the existential crisis and free snacks." Taka adjusted his sunglasses, "Besides, didn’t really have a choice. My dad’s the leader, remember?"

"Yeah, that sucks. Not gonna lie. What even is your end goal?" Ash asked.

Taka shrugged. "I dunno. I’m not really the one that handles all that. I just pretend to work hard and that’s enough. The only one that really cares about that is Solaris. Or, well... actually, there is one more person that kinda cares."

"Really? Who?" Ash asked, narrowing his eyes.

Taka sighed. "It’s this chick called Lin. She’s like... around the same age as us. She’s 14 and all. We found her after we took her from... let’s just say a not-so-nice place. And she’s kinda invested in all this, I think."

"What do you mean by you think?" Ash asked again, more curious than anything.

Taka sighed. "I mean, I say ’I think’ as in I don’t really know. She’s kinda... unstable. Crazy. I dunno. She’s pretty and all, but even I know the rule: don’t stick it in crazy."

"You can say that again," Ash said, raising his smoothie. Taka did the same, and they clicked their glasses together.

They finished their shakes as Ash started thinking. For one, he knew the Masked Man was on the move now, and he knew what he was trying to do. Thankfully, Ash was always prepared.

Now, next was Lin. She was... well, what could he say about her? Nice things weren’t really one of them. Sure, she was a tragic character, like most of the victims from the orphanage incident were, but still. She did what she did. She literally wanted to destroy the city for fun.

But also... she genuinely feels bad if she gets saved. She kind of gets redeemed if the player adopts her.

Either way, he didn’t know how to deal with that. But he did know things weren’t happening in the regular order, not even slightly. And things were changing. He didn’t even know if the rest of the characters from Reborn existed here.

Again, this was just a whole can of worms that basically translated into him getting bent over and slapped around in every way possible for everyone’s amusement.

And honestly? Even after all that, he hadn’t let it affect him.

Do you know how easy it would be for Ash to pull the most vile, cancerous strategies known to man? Togekiss was just a little twist, a pressure valve to let out some frustration. But he could get so, so much worse.

Like... any Toxic Spikes Pokémon, followed by a level 1 Magnemite with Sturdy and Berry Juice, with Recycle, Protect, Double Team, and Toxic. Just keep living at 1 HP, recovering with Berry Juice to full, and recycling it infinitely.

Or Compound Eyes Butterfree with Sleep Powder, Hurricane, Quiver Dance, and Substitute, holding Leftovers.

And that’s just a taste of how creative he could get, with the cancer. And that’s using real moves. If he really wanted, he could run Minimize Muk spam and have them slip into places no one would ever notice.

But that’s beside the point.

Anyway, that could wait. For now, he had already sent the information to the main body.

—

{Back to the present}

The Masked Man came to the cabin and walked slowly. He didn’t bother being stealthy. For one, Kurt lived away from town, only with his granddaughter. And two, Bugsy was out of town. Actually, all the Gym Leaders had left their Gyms for the tournament, leaving towns effectively in the care of the Rangers.

Anyway, the Masked Man walked up to the cabin door and broke it off.

Inside, Kurt was working on a Poké Ball. In the background, his granddaughter Maizie was playing with her Teddiursa.

Kurt flinched when he saw the Masked Man bust through the door. He immediately reached for a Poké Ball to defend himself, and was about to call out for Maizie to run and hide, but the Masked Man wasn’t going to wait.

He extended his arm, and it suddenly shot forward, wrapped in ice and snow, grabbing Kurt around the neck and yanking him close, away from the Poké Ball.

Now that he had Kurt, the Masked Man forced him to look directly at the mask.

"Hahaha... Now, Kurt, you will work for me."

Kurt struggled against the icy grip, but for some reason, the man looked like he was growing even bigger.

"W-What?"

"You must give it to me... the Poké Ball that can capture TIME itself!" the Masked Man finally revealed.

If you had asked Kurt a year ago, he would have looked at you like you were crazy. But after all his time researching the GS Ball...

He knew.

That was exactly what the Masked Man was after.

In his research, Kurt had discovered a few important things, one of which was that he’d actually managed to open the GS Ball.

And inside... was nothing.

It was completely empty. No Pokémon. No item. Just an unassuming, hollow Poké Ball.

But it wasn’t what wasn’t there that fascinated him. It was what was.

All Poké Balls are built with a special internal network, a miniature containment field, a kind of energy lattice that allows a Pokémon to convert to light and be stored inside. Normally, this lattice can be constructed from a wide range of materials, organic, metallic, or even crystalline, but this one...

This one was made of something else. Something Kurt didn’t recognize. Something ancient.

But that was neither here nor there now.

Kurt grit his teeth as he stared down the Masked Man, "You’re insane! A Poké Ball that can capture time? I haven’t the foggiest idea how to make something like that," he lied.

The Masked Man wasn’t fooled. His masked eyes narrowed as he glanced toward the background, then raised his other hand.

It shot out like a blur of frost, seizing Maizie by the back of her neck and lifting her off the ground.

"Do you expect me to believe that?!"

"Grandpa!" Maizie screamed, kicking in fear.

Kurt’s heart stopped. "DON’T!"

The Masked Man turned his gaze back to Kurt, cold and unreadable, "Don’t be stubborn. I’ll say this once more: Give me the Poké Ball that captures time."

Kurt looked back and forth, sweat beading on his forehead, his mind racing with what little time he had left to act, when suddenly, another voice rang out like lightning through the air, "[Iron Tail]!"

From the side, a blur of yellow shot forward. Pikachu’s tail glowed silver as he dashed in, slicing clean through both of the Masked Man’s arms in one elegant, precise motion just like he had before.

Kurt and Maizie dropped to the ground, coughing and gasping as the icy grip vanished.

The Masked Man staggered back and turned sharply to see his attacker, just in time to see Ash sitting on a tree branch, legs swinging casually, a smug smile on his face.

"Yo. It’s you again," Ash said, raising a hand. "Unfortunately, I can’t let you hurt these two."

The Masked Man’s face remained hidden behind the silver mask, his expression unreadable. Kurt had pulled Maizie behind him protectively, eyes wide, still trying to catch his breath.

"...You again," the Masked Man said, voice low and measured.

"Yeah, it’s me." Ash gave a lazy wave. "I figure I owe you for what you did to me, don’t I?" He pointed to his shoulder where the injury still ached.

The Masked Man looked at Ash long and hard. But instead of attacking, he spoke slowly:

"Fine. I shall apologize for what I did to you."

Everyone froze in confusion, but Ash didn’t. He narrowed his eyes slightly.

Yeah. He had a pretty good idea why he was holding back.

But then the Masked Man continued, his tone shifting, "But stay out of this. I would rather not be forced to use violence against you again."

Ash’s smile faded as his voice turned cold, "Sure. We can drop this. I’d like to not run your pockets again," he said. "Just leave Kurt alone. And don’t come back."

The Masked Man moved as if sighing. A slow shake of the head, "...Well, it looks like I have no choice. For leaving is not an option."

Ash stood up fully, his gaze sharp, "Then I guess we have to do this... don’t we?"

"Right," the Masked Man replied, just as calm. "A shame. I would have liked to leave things without more violence... just as I was starting to like you."

Suddenly, the severed hands on the ground began to melt into slush and vanish. and slowly, grotesquely, the Masked Man’s arms regrew before everyone’s eyes, icy flesh knitting itself together in a swirl of frost and shadow.

Ash jumped from the tree and landed softly in the dirt.

The Masked Man raised his newly-formed arms, and four Poké Balls snapped into existence between his fingers. He threw them high into the air.

They cracked open mid-flight, releasing bursts of light. and landing in front of him, ready for battle, were:

Two Houndour. A Gastly. And a Delibird.

All of them glowing faintly with some unnatural aura, like shadows creeping through the light.

They stood ready, growling, floating, or cackling, eyes fixed on Ash.

Ash exhaled slowly, then glanced at Pikachu, who was already crouched low, sparks dancing across his cheeks.

"Alright," he muttered, eyes locked on the Masked Man. "Let’s dance."

But then, by now Kurt had made Maizie run away, but he stayed as he finally grabbed his Poké Ball and stood up, "No, I’m here too, and if you’re after that, I won’t let you get away with this!"

Kurt held up his Poké Ball and opened it. Now, funny thing, remember that Ash had an extra Black Augurite? Since Ash knew Kurt might be in danger, he had taken a few precautions and... let’s just say, gave Kurt a few buffs.

Because, from the light of the Poké Ball came out a large Kleavor, who stomped in front of the Masked Man and glared down at him. He raised a giant axe-hand and swung it down.

The Masked Man, for the first time, looked rattled as he moved his head to the left, but half his body was still sliced, the blade cutting clean through him.

But the two halves quickly rejoined, reforming as he glared back, "You... you can’t possibly believe you can win!"

"Don’t need to," Kurt said, wiping his mouth. "I just need to break that super mask, don’t I? And I don’t even have to be the one to do it. Isn’t that right, Ash~?"

The Masked Man, for a moment, was taken aback. Then he turned around, just in time to notice Pikachu shooting toward him with another [Iron Tail].

He raised his arm and turned it to ice as Pikachu crashed into it and shattered it. And behind him, Ash was also smirking as he reached for his Poké Ball belt and looked up.

"You’re right about that. Now let’s raise this snowman’s blood pressure~."