A/N: I sincerely apologize for this chapter being released later than usual. School's been a real pain to me in the past couple of weeks, and I had a bunch of tests to deal with. And let's not forget about my sleep patterns; man, those have been REALLY out of whack, even moreso lately. Like, holy crud, I have too much stuff on my hands and so little time! It's unbelievable... But fortunately, spring break just started for me, giving me the time I need to finish my work on this chapter! And just in time for the story's five-month anniversary! :D

Now, before we begin with this chapter, I would like to provide an update on the situation I mentioned in my previous Author's Note. The aforementioned issues have been mostly resolved, but the CAPTCHA code is still missing as far as I know. I actually haven't tried to figure it out for myself, but others are saying it's gone, so...

In addition to that, no one is able to access the lists of their Favorites and Follows in their private accounts. I honestly didn't try that one either, but I trust everyone's word that absolutely no one has been able to access these lists, at least without problems. It seems to be another by-product of the fixes done to the site. Be sure to spread the word about that.

Alright, that's enough rambling from me. On with this late chapter! ENJOY!

P.S.: This story just reached the 100th review mark! HOORAY! I haven't celebrated that milestone in SO LONG! Now this is a very welcome surprise to me!

P.P.S.: Did anyone see the newest "Avengers: Infinity War" trailer? Man, that movie keeps finding new ways to increase my psyche levels! Can't wait to see it!

The Beauté Hotel

Yancy Ketchum sat at the edge of her bed, twiddling her fair-skinned fingers nervously. She proceeded to stare at the sleeping form of her new friend Blanche, who was occupying the bed next to her. Then, the pink-haired girl began to reminisce about recent events.

It had only been a week ago when she first realized that she had traveled back in time as an indirect result of Celebi's attempt to protect her. The time-traveling aspect was confirmed to her when she awoke in a smaller Santalune City and met her Aunts Alexa and Viola. The two sisters mistook her for a present-day Pokémon Performer, which she decided to go along with out of caution towards the dangers of tampering with the original timeline. As a result, Alexa and Viola redirected her to Kiloude City, where an Exhibition Showcase was conveniently taking place.

She then arrived at what she assumed was Vaniville City, which was nothing more than a medium-sized town at that point. She wasn't sure if the Kalos Monorail system was in service during this time, so she merely continued onward to Kiloude on foot. On her way there, she met and befriended Blanche, Kazalie, and Shulin, who were also Performers. Together, the quartet spent a couple of days reaching Kiloude, upon which they (or more like Blanche, Kazalie, and Shulin) began exploring its streets and locales for the first time.

And now, they were staying the night in the Beauté Hotel, a nice, quaint hotel located in the so-called "Old Town", which was the northeastern region of the city. It was a good thing Shulin elected to pay for their stay, because Yancy knew she lost her Poké Dollars during the time-traveling incident.

Now that she was here, Yancy started to become nervous. After all, she remembered her parents telling her, time and time again, about how they first fell in love in Kiloude City, during this very Exhibition Showcase. This meant her parents (or at least their teenage selves) were here as well. There was a chance she would encounter them. Though she wanted nothing more than to seek their help, Yancy feared that such an interaction would have disastrous consequences for the future. And she didn't want to do anything that would erase her own existence.

"Yancy?"

The pink-haired girl turned her head towards her longtime friend and first Pokémon, Florges; the Garden Pokémon was looking at her with concern.

"I'm alright, Flo," Yancy replied. "Don't worry about me."

But Florges was unconvinced. "You can't fool me, Yancy. Not with that aura of yours. ...You're worried, aren't you?"

Knowing that she was caught in a lie, Yancy sighed heavily. "That's the understatement of the century, Flo. I mean...do you know where we are?"

"Kiloude City, some years ago."

"I know that. But...this is just like the bedtime stories Mom and Dad used to tell us. The stories of their adventures. This has to be the one where they realized their feelings for one another...during this Exhibition Showcase."

"And you're worried about meeting them here and having to ask them for help."

Yancy sighed again. "Yeah, pretty much..."

"Well..." Flo started thinking. "You can't tell them you're their daughter...but..." She looked at her Trainer with a knowing expression. "That still doesn't mean you can't seek their help."

"Huh?" Yancy looked at her Garden Pokémon with confusion. "What do you mean, Flo?"

"Just don't tell them you're their daughter from the future. Make up something, anything! Just have them help us look for Selene, Nate, Evelyn, and Celebi. And once we find all of them, we get your parents to look away and that's when we travel back to our timeline!"

Yancy's blue eyes widened, as a lightbulb figuratively appeared at the top of her head.

"That's IT!" she exclaimed. "Flo, you're a GENIUS!"

"H-Huh...?"

Yancy covered her mouth in alarm, and she and Flo watched as Blanche's eyelids fluttered open. The petite, bluish-gray-haired Performer sat up on her bed and rubbed her eyes, while Kazalie and Shulin were also stirring in their beds at the opposite side of the hotel suite.

"Y...Yancy...?" Blanche moaned, as soon as she stopped rubbing her eyes. "W-Who are you talking to...?"

"No one!" Yancy replied quickly, while Flo simply remained quiet.

"Oh. O-Okay..." The Performer took a brief moment to yawn. "I thought I heard voices..."

"Oh, don't tell us you're going crazy, Blanche," Shulin replied, her eye glinting slyly. "That'd hurt your chances in the Exhibition Showcase..."

"I'm not going crazy, Shulin!" Blanche squeaked, her eyes shimmering in an adorable expression. "Especially not directly before the Showcase!"

Kazalie and Shulin both merely chuckled at Blanche's reaction. Meanwhile, Yancy sighed with relief, and as quietly as she could. For a moment, she thought that she had been caught in another lie tonight, and that she would have to explain everything to her newfound friends.

And Arceus knew how hard and unbelievable such an explanation was going to be...

Near Kiloude Square

"D-Daddy?"

Ash was flabbergasted beyond belief from what he had just heard coming from Selene's mouth. Knowing Serena was the little girl's mother was one thing but...him, the father? Surely his hearing was deceiving him! But judging by everyone else's reactions of shock, surprise, and disbelief, the Pallet Town native knew he certainly didn't mishear anything. That didn't make the entire revelation all the more comforting...did it...?

As for Serena, her mind was racing at Selene's words, but her heart was fluttering like a Butterfree. It seems that the whole mystery of Selene's father's identity was now finally solved...and it was even better than she had ever hoped it'd be! Ash Ketchum, the kind, courageous, selfless boy she loved for so long, was the father of her future daughter...and therefore her future...future... She was EXTREMELY glad that Miette wasn't around to witness this newest revelation.

And as for everyone else in the group, their jaws might've as well been touching the ground...with the possible exception of Grace, Layla, Moose, and Summer, who had already heard Selene out Ash as her father back at the Blue Suns Deluxe Hotel. But that didn't mean they already accepted this revelation since that time.

"I-I'm sorry, Selene," Clemont piped up; the inventor hastily adjusted his glasses when they threatened to slide off the bridge of his sweaty nose. "Wh-What did you just call Ash?"

Selene shot him an adorable look of innocuous confusion. "Daddy, of course," she replied.

"Oh." The blond inventor blinked twice. "So, Selene...what did you just call Ash?"

Selene giggled. "You're so funny, Uncle Clemont!"

"Selene's telling the truth," Grace said, attracting everyone else's attention. "When she saw Ash fall out of that machine on the TV, she called him 'Daddy'."

"We were there to witness it," added Layla.

"Sooooo..." Bonnie said, her blue eyes narrowed, "does this mean Ash and Serena will be married in the future?"

"Duh," Selene replied, looking at her past aunt with a look of disbelief. "That's why I call them Daddy and Mommy, Auntie Bonnie!"

"Pika..." Pikachu said, just as shocked as his Trainer. Even Greninja was taken aback.

"Nene..." Dedenne added.

"Pichu!" Pichu squeaked, just as much of a know-it-all as her unofficial owner.

It was awkwardly silent for a few seconds. During that time, a glum Shauna implicitly handed Bonnie ten Poké Dollars. The little girl grinned triumphantly as she counted each bill.

"Wait a minute," a girl's voice suddenly said, her voice laced with a hint of hostility and suspicion, "what's this about Ash getting married in the future?"

Clarice stepped forward, her Fletchling perched on her shoulder, and Ash realized he had forgotten about her being in close proximity to the group. How much exactly did she overhear?

"Who are you?" Serena asked, taken aback by Clarice's sudden appearance. Ash also realized that Serena had arrived right after the others were discussing on what to do with Clarice.

"My name's Clarice," Clarice replied, gesturing to herself while a smug expression appeared on her face, "and I'd really like to know the identity of the girl who's apparently marrying Ash."

Everyone saw Bonnie's triumphant grin widen even more as she pointed an index finger towards Serena. The honey-blonde wanted nothing more than to throttle the little girl, here and now, for being the teasing troublemaker that she was. But that feeling of outrage was buried by her growing annoyance at the sneer that was forming on Clarice's face.

"You, huh?" the black-haired Performer said, her voice cold and slow. Her eyes narrowed at the honey-blonde as she examined her from head to toe. "I remember you. You're that Performer from the Coumarine City Showcase. The one with the Fennekin that tripped." She bared her teeth, making her sneer look even more nasty. "Poor, poor Fennekin. What an embarrassing way to lose. But I really can't blame the Pokémon. After all, it all boils down to the quality of the Performer's methods."

Recognizing the implicit insult in Clarice's words, Serena retorted cleverly, "Well, if I can recall, you're the one who just slapped a tie and a top hat on your Fletchling for the Theme Performance. If anything, your clothing choices just made poor, poor Fletchling look terrible!"

The color drained from Clarice's face, and Serena grinned triumphantly at her throwback. Then, Clarice growled, "Listen here, blondie, you've got some nerve. I mean, who do you think you are, calling dibs on Ash like that?! I'll have you know that Ash rescued me twice in one day. One day. That's how much he cares about me!"

Serena's eyes bulged out in disbelief. "Really? That? That's all you got?! HA! I've known Ash since I was a child!"

Clarice paled even more at Serena's retort, but then, Calem piped up, "But I thought you only knew Ash from that one summer camp way back when-"

"ZIP IT, CALEM!"

"Ahhhhhhhhhh, so you haven't known Ash for that long!" Clarice exclaimed.

"I've still been traveling with him for months!" snapped Serena. "That's WAY longer than the amount of time you've known him for, obviously!"

"That doesn't amount to anything!"

"Of course it does!"

"No, it doesn't!"

"YES, IT DOES, YOU DWEEB!"

"WHAT'D YOU CALL ME?!"

"Uh, guys...?" Ash asked, confused about what was going on. (Hey, just because he learned he was about to be Selene's father doesn't mean he was no longer oblivious to the concept of romance.) "Can't we please just talk about...whatever you're talking about as friends...?"

"Pika!" Pikachu squeaked in anguished agreement.

"NO!"

Serena and Clarice's combined outburst of rage and hatred shocked and terrified not only Ash, but everyone else in the group, sans Selene. Instead, the little girl puffed her cheeks out, and then stood between Serena and Clarice as the two Performers now stared daggers at each other. Her move attracted the attention of both Serena and Clarice.

"Selene!" Serena exclaimed in a wheeze.

"Who are you?" Clarice asked, legitimately surprised by, and curious about, the newest appearance.

"You stay away from my Mommy and Daddy!" Selene shouted. "Mommy and Daddy belong together and that's that!"

Clarice blinked, then she looked up at Serena with a bitter frown. "Keep your little sister outta this! It's not healthy, filling ridiculous and nonsensical ideas into children's heads!"

"You're a meanie and a homewrecker!" Selene continued to shout. "And-And-And your cl-clothes aren't even cute!"

The Performer's eyes widened in outrage, and then they narrowed into slits. "Excuse me?! How RUDE!"

Serena's eyes widened at Selene, and she couldn't help but admire her future daughter's spunk. As for Clarice, she shot both of them a hateful look before turning her back on them.

"Hmph! Let's settle the matter of who Ash should be with with our Exhibition Performance match!" she declared boldly. "The one who gets the farthest or gets the most points gets to keep him!"

Serena's eyes widened at such a challenge. But before she could respond, Selene squeaked, "You're on! And Mommy's gonna kick your butt for sure!"

Clarice shot Selene an expression that was a mixture of outrage and confusion. Then, with one last huff, the black-haired Performer marched off, Fletchling looking at her with concern all the while. Everyone else watched the girl go, and they could feel the awkward tension in the atmosphere subsiding in the process. Once she was gone, Serena looked down at Selene.

"You didn't have to do that, Selene," she said.

"But I had to!" the seven-year-old protested. "I'm not gonna let her take Daddy away from you! Not when we're in the past!"

"That does make a whole lot of sense..." Nate remarked.

"Well," Summer said awkwardly, as she dusted her hands aimlessly, "now that that drama's done, I say we take Selene and Celebi back to the Pokémon Center-"

"We can't," Ash interrupted. "It's been totally destroyed in the battle."

"Really? Aw, great. What am I gonna tell Nurse Joy now...?"

"And what're we gonna do in the meantime?" Shauna asked. "Selene and Celebi need a place to stay, and Celebi needs more healing!"

To Ash's surprise, Selene latched onto his leg again. "I wanna stay with Mommy and Daddy!" she proclaimed.

"Wh-What?!" Grace exclaimed, surprised.

"S-Stay with you?" repeated Serena, just as surprised by the proposal.

"Mm-hm," Selene nodded adorably while rubbing her face against Ash's pant leg. "I feel a whole lot safer with Mommy and Daddy..."

"Wherever you go, I'm going too," Nate replied. "I'm not gonna lose sight of you again, Selene, and we still have to look for Yancy and Evelyn, wherever they may be."

"But we can't possibly afford two extra persons in our group!" Moose said. "C-Can we...?"

Everyone's heads turned towards Grace. The former jockey looked from each person to the next, puzzled at all the attention at first. Then, when she deduced their shared train of thought, she sighed heavily.

"Fine, fine, I'll call your Uncle Dawson, Serena," she said. She then exhaled sharply. "It's a good thing it's morning time where he lives..."

Unbeknownst to anyone in the group, they were being surreptitiously observed by a Hoppip, Skiploom, and Jumpluff. The trio floated high in the air, at a safe distance, using their advanced cameras to record each and every movement made by every last member of the group below.

Room 30025, the Blue Suns Deluxe Hotel
A couple of hours later

Fortunately for the group, Serena's Uncle Dawson was in high spirits enough to book additional reservations for Selene and Nate without asking any questions. Now, the two of them were honored guests at Room 30025, the room belonging to Ash, Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, and their Pokémon. As for Celebi, it was examined again by Nurse Joy, who said it did not sustain any further serious injuries while it was temporarily back in captivity. As a result, Selene volunteered to watch over the Time Travel Pokémon while it recovered from its injuries, including a broken arm.

And now, the entire group (sans Grace, Layla, Moose, and Summer) was congregated in the middle of Room 30025, talking to Selene and Nate about what was in store for them in their futures. And boy did they learn quite a lot about their future selves!

A few months after the Kalos League, Trevor started seriously pursuing photography as a career. As a result, he became Viola's apprentice, and she taught him many skills in the art of the field. Once his education was completed, he became a professional photographer specializing in people and Pokémon alike. As an adult, he married and had two children, Mackenzie and Tyler. The former followed in her mother's footsteps and became a Performer, while the latter became Trevor's own apprentice in photography.

Tierno continued to incorporate dancing in his battling strategies, and he became quite good at it. His love for dancing eventually culminated in him founding an academy that taught Trainers and their Pokémon how to incorporate dancing into battles, Contests, Showcases, Musicals, and so on and so forth. Like Trevor, he married and had two children, Benji and Nali; the former followed in his father's footsteps, while the latter was a young, shy little girl still pondering on what she should do when she got her first Pokémon.

Shauna eventually replaced Monsieur Pierre when he retired from hosting Pokémon Showcases due to a bad back that would always give out. Not unexpectedly, Shauna was a natural at it. She also married none other than Calem, who by that point had become an assistant to Alain, who was now the head Pokémon researcher studying Mega Evolution. Together, the two had two children, Savannah and Elio; Savannah was a Performer like her mother, while Elio was one of Selene's best friends. The present-day Shauna was shocked, and a little pleased, at the revelation of her marrying Calem. Calem, on the other hand, was conveniently in the bathroom at the time and did not learn that he would be marrying Shauna, for everyone chose to stay silent about it for Shauna's sake.

When she came of age, Bonnie started her own Pokémon journey with Dedenne as her starter, and she also gained full ownership over Squishy, much to the excitement of her present-day counterpart. She followed in both Ash and Serena's footsteps simultaneously, juggling between dual goals of winning the Kalos League and becoming Kalos Queen. In the end, she made it to the Top 4 in the Kalos League before losing. She also made it to the semifinals of the Master Class before losing. As an adult, she married Max Maple, Ash's traveling companion in Hoenn, and settled in Petalburg City with him when he became a Pokémon Professor specializing in the impact that Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza had on the world. The two had twin daughters, Allie and Maddie, also good friends of Selene's.

Clemont finally overcame the flaws his inventions kept having, and eventually became the most revered inventor in modern history, being responsible for creating much of the technology the world would be using twenty years from the present day. His most famous invention was the Pokémon-Amie system, which would scan a Pokémon; use the acquired data to measure its affection, fullness, and enjoyment under a Trainer's care; and give advice to Trainers on what they could do or not do to increase these stats even more. In his personal life, Clemont married Korrina, the Shalour City Gym Leader, and had two children with her, Dash and Finn. Dash was selected by his great-grandfather Gurkinn to become the next Successor, while Finn chose to follow in his father's footsteps, even though his attempts at inventing devices were just as explosive as the present-day Clemont's. Finn was also Yancy's childhood friend.

As for Serena, she decided to experiment with Pokémon Contests, going to Hoenn once Ash was done with the Kalos League. There, she became a full-fledged Coordinator and became rivals with none other than May and Dawn, Ash's old traveling companions (much to the dismay of the present-day Serena, for she remembered Dawn as a possible girlfriend of Ash's). During her travels in Hoenn, Serena had encounters with the revived Teams Aqua and Magma, both of whom she eventually helped defeat. She also managed to compete in the Grand Festival, but lost to a Coordinator named Lisia in the finals.

Following her stint in Contests, Serena returned to Kalos, where she decided to participate in a brand-new competition called the Double Battle Maison, which naturally emphasized Double Battles. A combination of Contests, Showcases, and the Battle Chateau, the objective was to travel to four different "Battle Maisons" located across Kalos, partner up with another competitor (who would be one's partner for the rest of the season), battle a dozen other competitors in stylish Double Battles, and win "Maison Items" (two individual articles of regal clothing, one for each member of the pair). Afterwards, all four Maison Items were to be used to make a formal, medieval-style suit and dress, which each pair of competitors would have to wear for the fifth and final competition that was always held at the Laurier Maison in Kiloude. The pair who emerged victorious would be crowned Maison Duke and/or Duchess.

As fate would have it, Serena's partner for the first-ever Double Battle Maison season was Ash. He had heard about the competition and decided to participate, naturally without getting proper education on the sport. And it was during that time when they properly reciprocated their feelings for one another.

Following this, Serena decided to participate in Showcases again (coincidentally at the same time as Bonnie did), with Ash cheering her on all the way. This time, she defeated the reigning Kalos Queen at the Master Class (who, interestingly enough, was not Aria at that time) and became the new Kalos Queen. Serena held on to the position for five years, during which she became a worldwide celebrity. She was eventually dethroned, fittingly, by a Pokémon Performer in her first Showcase season. Soon after she had become Kalos Queen, Serena married Ash and had three children with him: Yancy, Red, and Selene, of course.

"What do I do after I'm no longer Kalos Queen?" Serena asked, after listening in awe to Selene and Nate's story.

"You become a big movie star!" Selene exclaimed excitedly.

The honey-blonde's eyes widened with surprise. "A-An actress?" she repeated. "Y-You mean like Diantha?"

The girl nodded. "Yep!"

"Pichu pichu!" Pichu squeaked excitedly.

"Wow, you're a movie star, Serena!" Bonnie exclaimed. "I'd love to see the movies you're in!"

"Dedenne!" Dedenne cried, while Squishy chirped with interest.

"What kind of movies am I in?" Serena asked.

"Mostly mushy, lovey-dovey stuff," replied Selene, who briefly had a disgusted expression as she fed Celebi a small Occa Berry. Then, her face lit up again when she remembered something. "But I just LOVE the TV show you're in!"

"What show is that?"

"Eevee's Café! It's set in a world where there are no people, just Pokémon! Except they live just like people! There's a cute little Eevee and all of her evolved forms running a small café in a big forest city." Selene started to squirm with absolute delight. "It's so funny and so cute!"

"Wow, that sounds like a cool show!" Ash exclaimed excitedly. "I mean, a world where there's just Pokémon? That sounds interesting! I'd love to see it!"

"Pika!" added Pikachu.

Serena was also impressed by the description. "I guess I'm voicing Eevee," she said.

"Actually, you're Sylveon," Nate said.

"Really?" An image of her beloved Sylveon flashed across Serena's head for a second. "Sylveon?"

"I think Serena would be a great Sylveon!" remarked Bonnie.

"Me too!" Tierno added, hearts literally in his eyes. "It just suits her so well..."

Shauna merely sighed and shrugged at her friend's behavior.

"Wow..." Serena blinked slowly, but with surprise, as she continued to absorb all of this information about her future. She could imagine her older self, on the top of the world, maintaining a highly successful career, and on top of it all, living a good life with Ash and her children. It...It was such a great future to look forward to!

"What about me?!" Ash asked, his voice dripping with anticipation; he sounded like a little kid awaiting his Christmas present. "What am I like in the future?! Oh, oh, do I win the Kalos League?!"

"Not really," Nate replied.

Everyone could've sworn they saw Ash's heart splitting in half. Even Celebi looked at the Pallet Town native with concern.

"WHAT?! W-Why...?"

"Pika?" Pikachu added.

"You lose to Alain in the finals..." Nate sweat-dropped. "You really don't wanna know the details..."

Ash hung his head low in absolute shame. "Not again..." he moaned.

"Pika-pika..." Pikachu said, the Mouse Pokémon looking at his Trainer with a mixture of sympathy and concern.

But Nate smiled. "Don't worry, Ash! After that, you become a whole lot more awesome!"

The raven-haired Trainer's head shot up, and the youthful, eager look was back in his face. The same thing unanimously applied with Pikachu as well.

"Really?! How?!"

"Well, first thing's first, three years from now, you will lead a massive resistance against Team X."

"Team X?" Clemont asked.

"What's that?" Trevor asked.

"Pika?" Pikachu asked.

"An organization that wanted to use the Legendary Pokémon Xerneas to make everyone across the world immortal."

"Xerneas?" repeated Serena. She, as well as Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie, immediately remembered their encounter with Xerneas in the Allearth Forest.

Nate nodded in response. "Mm-hm. Their leader, a guy named Xander, lived a life full of tragedy. He kept losing everyone that he cared deeply about, one after another. So, he wanted to capture Xerneas and use a so-called ultimate weapon to spread its powers of eternal life over everyone. That way, he and everyone else would never have to live through the pain and suffering of losing a loved one ever again."

"That sounds very sad..." Bonnie said, while Selene nodded sympathetically.

"Nene," Dedenne added.

"But wait!" Calem exclaimed suddenly, looking rather alarmed. "If that Xander guy got what he wanted, then absolutely no one would die! As awful as dying would be, what would be the point of life if you're just gonna be on this earth forever? If anything else, it'd become awfully boring!"

"Oh yeah, that's true..." Bonnie replied, while Selene nodded again sympathetically.

"Nene," Dedenne added.

"That's exactly why you had to stop him," Nate said, looking at Ash. "And stop him you did. You became a big hero in the process. Everyone knew your name. Everyone admired you." The brown-haired boy then rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Including me."

"So after I stopped Team X, then what?" asked Ash. "What else happened to me? Or, I mean, what else is gonna happen to me?"

"Pika?" added Pikachu.

"Well, after you stop Team X," replied Nate, "you will merge the Pokémon Rangers and the International Police into one law enforcement superpower organization: the Guardians. They're the top law enforcement agency in the world, and you are the leader, even though you don't really do much."

Ash blinked. "The Guardians?"

"Yeah. You named it after the Aura Guardians."

"Aura Guardians?" Bonnie asked. "What are those?"

"They're like the Pokémon Rangers, Bonnie," replied Clemont, "but they all existed a long time ago, in a time when Poké Balls weren't even invented yet. The Aura Guardians no longer exist."

Bonnie blinked in shock at the revelation. "Really? No Poké Balls? But...where's the fun in catching Pokémon?"

"Actually, Clemont," Ash piped up, "the Aura Guardians do still exist. Sorta, at least."

"Really?" Clemont looked at his friend and adjusted his glasses. "How do you know that, Ash?"

"I met two on my journey. One of them was named Riley. I met him in Sinnoh, and we worked together to defend a place called Iron Island from a group of villains named Team Galactic. The other was a Lucario. He..." Ash smiled as he reminisced about his brief time with the Aura Pokémon in the lands of Rota. "He was one of the bravest and truest souls I've ever known. You see, Pikachu was in a bit of a pickle, and if it weren't for Lucario, I wouldn't have gotten Pikachu back." He sighed sadly. "I still miss him..."

"Pikapi..." Pikachu said, patting his Trainer on the back of his head.

Meanwhile, Clemont was rubbing his chin. "Well, it does make sense for Pokémon like Lucario and Riolu to be more in tune with Aura than other Pokémon species..."

"And, uh..." Ash rubbed the back of his head. "I actually can use a little Aura myself..."

It took about ten minutes for Ash and Nate to calm down all the shocked clamor from everyone else. Once that was done, Bonnie looked at Nate and asked, "What else does Ash do in the future?"

"Well, he's a Frontier Brain," he replied.

"I am?!" Ash exclaimed in surprise, as he remembered Scott offering a Frontier Brain position after he defeated Brandon. Did he reconsider turning it down then?

"Yeah. After the whole Team X incident, Scott approached you with an offer to become a Frontier Brain and you agreed. You helped him set up Battle Frontier facilities in Kalos, and since then, you've been the Tower Knight. Your facility is the Prism Tower in Lumiose City."

"Really?" Clemont asked, surprised. "So Ash and I live together?"

"Nah, you closed your Gym, gave Prism Tower to Daddy, and moved in with Auntie Korrina at her Gym!" Selene replied.

"Oh. So I'm no longer a Gym Leader twenty years from now, huh?"

"No. You're a member of the Elite Four!"

"Pichu pichu!" Pichu squeaked, her mouth currently full with Grepa Berries provided to her by Clemont at Selene's request.

...

...

...

Clemont's face paled. "Th-The-The Elite Four, y-you say?"

Selene nodded. "Mm-hm!"

...

...

...

...

...

The inventor slowly stood up and shakily asked, "Can you excuse me for a sec?"

He proceeded to leave for the bathroom, and Bonnie merely shot her older brother a crafty look before refocusing on Ash and Nate.

"So Ash is a Premier Brain-" the young blonde girl said.

"Frontier Brain, Bonnie," Serena corrected quickly.

"-An Aura Guardian, the leader of a bunch of special cops, and someone who saved the whole wide world?"

"Yeah, that about sums it up," Nate replied.

"Well, I wouldn't call myself an actual Aura Guardian..." remarked Ash modestly. "I only know how to use Aura. There's a big difference between those two concepts, Bonnie."

"But still," Shauna said with admiration, "you sound like a really awesome person in the future, Ash. Everyone else's futures totally pale in comparison."

Ash chuckled sheepishly. "Ah, I don't know about that, Shauna..."

"It's true, Ash," Nate responded, his face glowing brightly with almost childlike admiration. "You're a real hero to my generation. I...I've always wanted to be just like you..." Then, he quickly added, "So did every other guy in my Trainers' School class."

Ash's auburn eyes widened at Nate's honest, heartfelt admission. He simply couldn't believe he was that famous twenty years from now. Not that it surprised him; after all, he had been accomplishing so many astounding and outlandish feats ever since he got Pikachu as his first Pokémon. It was just...so foreign to him, knowing that his identity was a household name to many households across the world in the future. The Pallet Town native had been so absorbed in training Pokémon, trying to win Pokémon Leagues, and getting closer to achieving his goal of becoming a Pokémon Master, that this possibility never crossed his mind, and with good reason.

He honestly didn't know what to think of all of this...

"So," Bonnie said with curiosity, dispelling Ash's thoughts in the process, "what do you do, Nate?"

"Nenene!" squeaked Dedenne, while Squishy chirped with interest.

"Well," the brown-haired teenager replied, "twenty years from now, I'm traveling around Kalos, like what you guys are all doing. I'm traveling in a group of five, including myself."

"Really?! Who are your friends?"

"Well, there's Lane. He's a hitchhiker and cartographer who has made it his mission to document the geography of Kalos, even all the places no one else has ever been." Nate smiled a little. "He's also one of the best chefs I've ever seen."

"Sounds like my friend Brock," Ash remarked nostalgically.

"Then there's Constance. She wants to make her Pokémon go beyond their maximum point of strength and endurance. Her goal is to beat the Kalos League and become the Champion, since she tried three times before and could never get past the semifinals. She's pretty tough to people and Pokémon alike, but she can be a nice person too...in her own way."

"Huh," said Calem. "Sounds like someone I'd like to meet and battle..."

"And then there's Finn, your-" Nate then noticed that Clemont was still in the bathroom. "I mean, Clemont's son. You already know what he wants to do."

"Yeah, he sure does remind me of a certain someone..." Bonnie replied slyly.

"Huh?" Selene asked, tilting her head in curiosity. Clearly she had no idea what her past honorary aunt was talking about.

"And who's your fourth friend?" asked Serena, though she had a pretty good idea on who it would be.

"Yancy." Nate smiled softly as he reminisced about his pink-haired friend. It was a look that puzzled the honey-blonde a little. "She's a great Pokémon Performer, just like you, Serena..."

"Really?"

But before Serena could ask Nate for more information, Trevor suddenly asked, "And what're you doing, Nate?"

"Why, I'm challenging the Kalos Battle Frontier," replied Nate.

"Really?" Ash's interest was piqued even more. "How many Symbols do you have right now?"

"Four." Nate reached into his pocket, pulled out a gray metal case, and opened it, revealing four golden Symbols that Ash had never seen before. "They're the Passion Symbol, the Adaptability Symbol, the Strength Symbol, and the Swift Symbol." He then looked at Ash with a determined gleam in his eye. "You're the last Frontier Brain that I need to beat. You hold the fifth Symbol that I need to conquer the Battle Frontier: the Bond Symbol."

Ash continued to stare into the four brand-new Symbols, all the while remembering his own seven Symbols sitting in a wooden plaque back at home.

"Bond Symbol, huh...?"

"Yep. That's what it's called." Nate put his Symbol case away and raised a clenched fist of determination. "And I'm training really hard to make sure I win that Symbol on my first try!"

"Well, I still think that's not gonna happen!" Selene exclaimed defiantly. "Daddy will beat you for sure! You're gonna have a very hard time getting that Symbol, Natey!"

Nate grinned back at the little girl. "Oh, we'll see about that, Selene! I think I'm strong enough at this point to beat Ash!"

Selene shook her head. "Nuh-uh! It takes infinity times infinity years to beat Daddy!"

"Ah, grow up, Selene. I think it's about time you saw your daddy lose!"

"In your dreams, Natey!"

Nate and Selene both stared at each other, a fiery passion alive in their eyes. Everyone else could've sworn they saw volts of electricity shooting between their eyes.

"I bet you that even young Daddy can beat you in a battle!" Selene declared.

"What?" Ash asked, stunned by Selene extending this challenge.

"Oh, really? HA! You're on, Selene!" Nate looked at Ash with a certain gleam in his eye. "What do you say, Ash? Wanna battle me tomorrow, see how strong your Pokémon can match up to mine?"

The Pallet Town native blinked in surprise. "R-Really?"

"Yeah! I need as much preparation for my upcoming match against your future self anyway. And since I'm already here, twenty years in the past, I thought that battling against your future self's past self...as in you...would be the perfect form of practice for me." Nate chuckled a little. "Can't believe I said something like that..."

Before he could even consider his options, Ash's mind was immediately filled with the memory of Nate's strange Emboar, which seemed to boast the same ability as Greninja. Realizing that this was the best practice he and Greninja could get for utilizing the Ash-Greninja form, the Pallet Town native smiled determinedly.

"You got it, Nate!" he replied. "Challenge accepted!"

"Alright! We'll battle tomorrow!"

"Tom-Tomorrow?" Serena asked. "But the Exhibition Showcase is tomorrow!"

"Well," Shauna remarked, "it does start at noon. I think Ash and Nate will have enough time to have their battle."

"Then it's settled!" exclaimed Nate. "Ash and I will have our battle tomorrow morning!"

"Sounds like a good idea," Ash said, nodding his head in agreement.

"Yippee!" Selene cried, raising her fists in excitement. "Young Daddy and Natey are gonna battle! It's gonna be so, so, SO awesome!"

"Pichu pichu!" Pichu squeaked with just as much excitement.

"Biiiii..." Celebi responded with interest.

"Wow, a battle between Ash and Nate," Trevor remarked. "I can't wait to see who'll win. Both of you guys seem like powerful Trainers if you were able to take down a guy like Parker!"

"I'm also pumped!" Tierno added.

"Well," Serena said, raising her index finger and wagging it, "we're not gonna have a good battle if we're not all rested up by tomorrow."

"Yeah, I think we should all go to sleep now," added Shauna. "We've spent too much time talking about the future."

"Awwwww..." Selene and Bonnie moaned at the same time. "But I'm..." Both girls yawned simultaneously, and their voices then became a little groggy. "Not sleepy..."

"Nenene..." Dedenne groaned, the Antenna Pokémon also struggling to ward off its drowsiness.

"No buts, girls," Serena replied sagely. "We all have something fun to look forward to tomorrow, and how are we gonna have the most fun out of it if we're all just gonna be tired?"

"She's got a point," Calem remarked in agreement.

"But I still have a bunch of questions to ask Nate!" Tierno moaned childishly, his shoulders slumped.

"Same here!" Trevor cried.

"Then you can just save them for tomorrow!" replied Shauna. The dark-skinned Performer stood up, grabbed Tierno and Trevor, and half-dragged them out of their sitting places and out of the room. "Good night, guys!"

"Good night, Shauna!" Serena called. "We'll be seeing you tomorrow!"

After Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor all left, Calem stood up as well.

"I guess I'll be retiring for the night too," he said, glancing at Serena. "Night, cuz."

"Good night, Calem," Serena replied.

At that moment, she remembered Nate saying that Calem would be marrying Shauna in the future, while Calem was conveniently in the bathroom. She wondered if she should tell him about the revelation, but before she could reach a decision, she realized that her cousin already left. As a result, she decided that Shauna would tell him for her. They were sharing the same bedroom anyway, after all.

That last thought made Serena giggle a little.

"Alright, let's go sleep now!" Ash proclaimed. He looked at Nate with a determined look. "I'll be seeing you tomorrow!"

"Same here!" replied Nate as he began setting up a makeshift bed on the sofa he had been sitting on.

"Wait," Selene suddenly said. "Where am I gonna sleep?"

"I guess with Bonnie," replied Serena. "She's small so there's still a lot of room on her bed."

"HEY! I'm not small, Serena!" Bonnie exclaimed, her cheeks puffed out.

But as for Selene, the black-haired girl was extremely overjoyed at the prospect. "YAY! I get to sleep with Auntie Bonnie! Yay yay YAY!"

"Pi-CHU!" Pichu squeaked happily.

With that, Selene hugged Bonnie tightly, much to the other young girl's dismay.

As for Clemont, he was still in the bathroom, doing Arceus knows what.

Room 30024

"I still can't believe that this is happening..."

Having just overheard portions of the group's conversation in the next room, Grace nervously paced around her own hotel suite, biting her fingernails and tapping her hip compulsively as she did so. Layla and Moose sat on the bed they shared, watching the former jockey deal with the completely confounding nature of the whole situation. As for Grace's Fletchling, it was perched on the bedpost of its Trainer's own bed, watching Grace with worry.

"Why are you so worried, sis?" Layla asked. "I think it's a relief knowing Serena's guaranteed to have a good life ten, twenty years down the road!"

"Maybe we should ask those kids about our future, honey..." Moose remarked with a legitimate look of intrigue on his face. "Perhaps they'll tell us something about our own kids."

"I would like to know how good our parenting will be..."

"You don't need to know," Grace interjected, still pacing as she spoke. "We all know you two are gonna be great parents to the girls."

"Thanks for the support, Grace, but to be honest, that's not all I'd like to learn about."

"The future holds a lot of stuff unknown to us," Moose added. "Maybe if we could make at least some of that stuff known-"

"If you're gonna worry about what's gonna happen in the future," interrupted Grace harshly, "then the chances of that happening are just gonna rise! Bad thoughts lead to bad choices, which lead to bad things!" She suddenly retched a little. "My goodness, I can't believe I just used one of Mom's lines!"

"Wow, I can't believe that either..." deadpanned Layla.

"One of Mom's lines! One of..." Grace stopped, and then let out a sharp sigh. "I guess I really have become that old..." The former Rhyhorn Racer went over to her bed and collapsed on it, burying her face in her luxury pillows. "I can't believe I've reached that point..."

Layla blinked. "Is that why you're so fidgety about this whole thing, sis? You're...You're having a midlife crisis?"

"Why?" Moose asked, puzzled. "You're still a bit young, Grace!"

"Yeah..." Grace replied, her voice muffled by the fabric of the pillows. "A bit young..."

Layla surreptitiously elbowed her husband in the stomach (a little too hard) before saying, "Oh, come on, Grace. Just because you met your granddaughter twenty years too early doesn't mean you're getting old!"

"No, it just proves to me how much time I've got left before I wither away and get dumped over at a nursing home..."

"Serena would never do that to you."

"Literally, maybe. But what about figuratively?" Grace lifted her head and looked at Layla. "Layle, no matter what happens, I'm gonna be in one home or another, lonely, with nothing to do but watch the flowers grow and wonder when my grandchildren are gonna come visit me again? You don't have to worry about these problems now because you're still so young-"

"So are you, sis," Layla interrupted. "You're just five years older-"

A part of Grace's soul seemed to die in her eyes. "Gee, thanks for reminding me..."

Now Layla wanted to elbow herself in the stomach.

Grace heaved out a sad, heavy sigh, just as Fletchling flew over and landed on top of her head.

"I miss the good ole days when I was a Rhyhorn Racer, riding with the wind every other day, going for broke, young and single..." she moaned.

"Huh..." Moose said, as he was still recovering from being elbowed in the stomach. "It honestly sounds like a boyfriend would be the answer to all of your problems-"

"Fletchling, use Peck," Grace suddenly, coldly ordered.

Before Moose could react in time, the Tiny Robin Pokémon used the attack in a...rather unfortunate place on his body.

"AGH!" The poor man curled into a fetal position. "Wh-Whhhhhyyyyy? I...I-I didn't do anything..."

"I don't need a boyfriend!" Grace snapped defiantly.

Selene didn't know where she was.

The last thing she remembered was falling asleep beside her young Auntie Bonnie, with Celebi safe and secure at the foot of the bed. And then...she regained consciousness in this...this valley, in the middle of the day. She didn't know how she got there, but there was no way she could have sleepwalked there.

"Hello?!" she called. "Hello? Natey? Mommy?" She proceeded to walk up one particularly large, steep hill. "Daddy? Auntie Bonnie?" As she continued to walk up the hill, Selene started to note the beautiful scenery of Vivillon flying around in all directions. "Hello?! Can anyone hear me?!"

"I can hear you, Selene!" a familiar voice called from the distance. Selene's eyes widened with surprise.

"Mommy...?" she asked. And it wasn't the Serena of twenty years in the past; it was her Mommy! "Mommy, where are you?!"

"Up here, honey!"

Selene looked up towards the top of the hill, and saw two figures standing there, waiting for her. Though they were at a distance, the seven-year-old immediately recognized them as her parents. Her lips broke into an excited grin.

"Mommy!" she cried. "Daddy!"

"Come over here, Selene!" Ash replied, stretching his arms out wide. "Come to Daddy!"

Selene immediately burst into a run. "I'm coming, Daddy, I'm coming!"

"We were so worried about you!" Serena called.

"I was so worried too, Mommy! But I think I'm ready to go home now!"

"It's okay, Selene, it's gonna be okay. We'll go home, I promise."

"YAY!" At this point, the black-haired girl was getting closer and closer to her parents. "I can't wait!"

"Of course, my dear. All you have to do, Selene, is give us Celebi."

Selene stopped dead in her tracks. "What...?" she asked.

Then, to her horror, the images of her beloved parents turned into shapeless shadows. They flailed and writhed like fire, and Selene could've sworn she could see eyes in the unknown, eldritch mass. But she didn't want to find out anymore about this...this thing. The only thing in her mind now was retreat.

And retreat she tried to do. But the moment she turned around, the beautiful valley transformed into a dark, barren desert, and the clear, blue sky started to turn into a sickly purple. Selene tried to run, but it was like running on one of those treadmills she saw her parents use: the ground was moving, but she wasn't going anywhere. She felt massive beads of sweat dripping down her face, and her heart hammering against her sternum, threatening to burst through it like a monster from a horror movie. She could still hear the monster grumbling and groaning behind her.

After running for what seemed like an eternity, Selene looked behind her...and her eyes widened even more.

The dark mass had finally taken on a shape...and it resembled a twisted, nightmarish version of Parker. He towered over her like a skyscraper, reaching out a massive hand towards her.

"Be a good little girl," the abominable Parker boomed mightily, "and give me that Celebi."

"NO!" Selene squeaked defiantly.

At that moment, she felt a weight in her arms; looking down, the girl realized it was Celebi...a badly bruised and broken Celebi. The Time Travel Pokémon whimpered in terror and clung on to her shirt like a needy baby.

It seemed that looking down at Celebi was enough distraction Parker needed, for Selene felt an unknown force wrap itself around her body. She screamed as she felt her feet leave the ground, and seconds later, she found herself staring into a pair of gargantuan, red, bug-like eyes. The little girl struggled, but the grip on her was like a vice. Then, to her absolute horror, she saw Celebi being forcibly pulled out of her grip and towards the eyes.

"BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Celebi screamed.

"CELEBIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Selene shrieked.

The bug-like eyes transformed into a vortex of a mouth, and Selene stared helplessly as the Time Travel Pokémon was sucked into it. She could still hear Celebi's fading scream.

Then, without warning, she was tossed into the same mouth, and everything became dark-

"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH! MOMMY! DADDY!"

At first, Selene thought she was still inside the beast's mouth, for she was totally enveloped in darkness. Then, her vision was assaulted in just a split-second when light flooded the room.

"Selene?!" Ash exclaimed, shooting up from his bed.

"Pika?!" Pikachu cried.

Selene continued clawing at the air, her brain having yet to comprehend her current surroundings. "HELP ME, DADDY, HELP ME!"

"My Arceus, Selene!" Nate cried as he sat up on his sofa.

"Pichu pichu!" Pichu squeaked with concern. She quickly scrambled onto the bed, her cheeks sparkling with electricity. "Piiiii-CHUUUUU!"

She fired a small Thunder Shock, which hit her unofficial owner. Selene screamed again, but this time comically at being electrocuted like this. When Pichu stopped releasing electricity, the girl collapsed back on the bed, beside Bonnie. At that moment, Serena got out of her bed and ran towards Selene's bedside.

"Selene!" she cried. "Selene, is everything alright?!"

To her relief, the little girl had calmed down, the Thunder Shock being the thing everyone needed for her to realize she was no longer dreaming. But nevertheless, Selene's eyes were welling with tears. A couple of seconds later, she started crying, and then she shot up from her bed and hugged Serena as tightly as she could.

"Mommy!" she bawled.

"I-It's okay, S-Selene," Serena stuttered, startled by Selene's latest move and struggling to choose her words. "I'm-I'm here." She then stroked Selene's hair smoothly, making sure to use the same kind of caress she would use whenever brushing her Fennekin or Sylveon. "I'm here..."

"Wha...What happened...?" Bonnie asked with a slight hint of irritation; she looked the most drowsy out of the four.

"Nenene..." Dedenne groaned softly, while Squishy merely turned over on its side inside its special compartment in Bonnie's satchel.

At that moment, the group heard voices and other noises in the neighboring rooms. A few moments later, the noises filled the hallway outside, and then the door opened up. Grace and Shauna immediately stuck their heads inside.

"We heard screaming," Shauna said.

"Is everything okay?" asked Grace.

"Yeah, it sounds like Selene just had a bad dream," Clemont concluded, having just finished putting on his glasses.

"A bad dream, huh?" Ash replied. Then, he stood up, walked over to Selene and Bonnie's bed, and sat down beside the former; Serena was on the other side. "Don't worry, Selene. The dream is over."

"But it was so scary!" Selene squeaked between sobs. "It was...the bad man..."

"The bad man? You mean Parker?" Selene only nodded in response. "It's okay, Selene. He's in jail. And Celebi's safe! Look!" Ash went over to the straw basket carrying Celebi, picked it up, and showed it to the girl. "See? Celebi's all safe and sound."

"Bi," Celebi said. It reached out towards Selene in concern, prompting Ash to hand the Time Travel Pokémon over to her. Selene took it without a second thought and hugged it softly.

"I'm never gonna let you go, Celebi!" she declared as she still sobbed a little. "I'm never gonna let that bad man or any other bad people touch you ever again! I promise you that, Celebi!"

"Wow, spoken like a true friend, Selene!" Nate replied encouragingly.

"Biiiii..." Upon hearing those words, Celebi clung on tighter to Selene's pajamas, causing the girl to giggle.

Grace and Shauna both let out sighs of relief.

"Well, I guess we're no longer needed here," Shauna remarked as she withdrew her head.

"What a relief," Grace said. "And I thought I had to call Summer over here." She smiled a little. "Good night, you guys."

"Night, Mom," Serena replied.

"Good night, Grandma!" Selene chirped.

Grace paused a little. Then, with a soft smile and one last look at both Serena and Selene, she closed the door behind her.

As soon as it became clear that Selene had calmed down, Ash spoke up. "Alright, let's get back to sleep, guys. We've got a big day tomorrow and we don't wanna spend it being all sleepy!"

"Yeah!" Serena and Nate replied at the same time.

"Wait a minute!" Selene piped up, suddenly looking worried again.

"What is it, Selene?" asked Clemont.

"I wanna sleep with Mommy and Daddy."

...

"What?" Ash and Serena both asked simultaneously.

"I wanna sleep with Mommy and Daddy."

...

"What?" Serena asked again.

"Heh heh heh, you're silly, Mommy." Selene's eyes shone a little. "You and Daddy always let me and Pichu sleep between you whenever I have a bad dream."

"Pichu, pichu-pi," Pichu added, nodding in agreement.

"You sound fine," Bonnie remarked irritably.

"But I wanna feel safe! The bad lady's still out there." Selene then proceeded to give Ash and Serena the most adorable look of expectancy. "And I feel safe with Mommy and Daddy..."

Serena's heart immediately melted at the sight of her future daughter's face.

"Ohhhhh, of course we're gonna let you sleep with us!" she exclaimed in a near-squeal, before she could stop herself.

"Wait, what?!" Ash cried, surprised by his friend's sudden acceptance.

"Pika?!" Pikachu added.

"What?" Serena replied, her mind blanking out a little.

"You said it was okay for Selene to sleep with you and Ash," Bonnie said. Her irritation was finally gone, and the sly grin was back on her face. "On the same bed..."

"I WHAT?!" Serena's voice cracked noticeably at the last word, prompting Selene to giggle for a brief moment.

"That's what you said, Mommy," the black-haired little girl replied.

"I-I...I, uh...I..." The honey-blonde Performer glared at Ash and mouthed out wordlessly, "Help me."

Unfortunately, Ash was just as dense about words being mouthed to him as he was about romance. So, the Pallet Town native simply said, "Well, if it'll help Selene feel safer, then I don't see why that'd be such a bad idea."

Then, he thought privately, "Wait, I'm okay with this...?"

Serena's blue eyes bulged outward in surprise. "Wait a minute, you're okay with this?!"

"I'm okay with this?!" Then, Ash looked towards Selene, who was smiling from cheek to cheek. And then, his own heart melted, and an unfamiliar instinct washed over him. "I guess I am."

"HOORAY!" Selene cheered happily.

As for Serena, she thought, a mile in a minute, "I can't believe I'm gonna sleep with Ash! My goodness, I can't believe I'm gonna sleep with Ash! I'm gonna sleep with Ash! I'm gonna...I'm gonna-"

Several minutes later

The sleeping rearrangements were finally put in place. Nate was still sleeping on the sofa, and Clemont was still sleeping on his bed, but Bonnie finally had her bed to herself again (much to the blonde girl's pleasure). As for Ash, Serena, and Selene, they were occupying the same bed; Ash took the right pillow, Serena took the left pillow, and Selene was lying directly between them both, a cheeky grin plastered on her face. Pikachu and Pichu were both sleeping at the trio's feet, and Celebi was sleeping in the same straw basket at Ash's bedside.

Ash and Serena simply didn't know what to make of this. Before tonight, they and their friends always assigned their beds according to gender. It wasn't like they believed in cooties or anything (actually, Bonnie did), but the idea of a boy and a girl sharing a bed just seemed...well, awkward to them. And that much was proven when the two finally shared their first bed. Naturally, some of that awkwardness was mitigated by the fact that it was all for the sake of a little girl's mental well-being.

But then again, that same little girl was supposed to be their daughter...from twenty years into the future!

"Ahhhhhhhhhh..." Selene breathed out. "This is more like it!"

"Feeling better now, Selene?" Ash asked, averting his gaze from Serena.

The girl nodded. "Mm-hm!"

"That's good to know, Selene," Serena replied, her own gaze averted from Ash.

"Young or not, this all feels the same to me! It's just right, just like Goldilocks and the Three Ursaring!"

Ash and Serena both stifled giggles as they remembered their childhood fairy tale.

"Goldilocks, huh?" Ash asked.

"Do we read you that, Selene?" Serena questioned.

"Uh-huh. It's one of my favorite bedtime stories! But the bestest bedtime stories have to be your adventures!"

"Our adventures?" repeated Ash.

"Yep!" Then, Selene got an idea. "Ooh, ooh! Tell me one right now!"

Serena could sense Bonnie grinning again. "Tell you one?" she repeated. "Which one do you want to hear?"

"The one where you beat Team Flare!"

...

"We beat Team Flare?"

"I don't think we've done that one yet, Selene..." said Ash.

Selene blinked with surprise. "Really? But it's so awesome! Especially the part where you and Uncle Clemont and Auntie Bonnie and Squishy and Mrs. Diantha and-"

"Okaaaaay, spoiler alert!" Serena said, giggling a little. "If you know those stories so well, then maybe you should tell us one."

"But you and Daddy tell them the best!"

"But how are we gonna tell them to you when chances are we haven't done them yet?"

"...Oh, yeah... That's right..."

"How about you guys tell her about the time we all met?" Clemont piped up. "We definitely did that one!"

"Oh, yeah!" squeaked Selene. "Tell me about the time you and Daddy met in the forest, Mommy!"

"...That sounds like a good idea as well..." Clemont said glumly.

"The time Ash and I met?" Serena's sapphire-blue eyes finally met Ash's for the first time in several minutes, and the two stared at each other awkwardly, yet longingly.

"Well," Ash began, finally looking down at Selene, "the two of us attended the same Pokémon Summer Camp when we were children. It was my hometown, Pallet Town."

"I think we were about your age," added Serena.

"Ohhhhh..." Selene replied, interested; Ash and Serena didn't know if she was pretending or if she really did become that interested in the story all over again.

"Anyway," Ash continued, "we didn't know of each other's existence at first. We were actually in different groups. But I did remember her always wearing that straw hat of hers. There was no other hat like it."

"As for me," Serena explained, "I didn't want to come to Pallet Town in the first place. My mom, your, ahem, grandma was participating in one of her Rhyhorn Race events, we had relatives living near Pallet, and they all thought I should attend the camp so I could make some friends in the meantime."

"Wait a minute..." Ash looked at Serena, surprised. "You have relatives living in Pallet Town?"

"Near Pallet Town. They live in Viridian City, actually. A third cousin of my mom's, his wife, and their daughter. Or maybe it was a fourth cousin. I can never tell."

"Viridian City, huh? What're their names? Maybe I know them."

"The cousin's wife I mentioned, she was the resident Nurse Joy. I'm pretty sure their daughter took over the Pokémon Center when her mom retired."

"Really?!" Ash immediately remembered the first Nurse Joy he met on his journey, the one who headed the Pokémon Center where he first met Team Rocket. "She's your relative?"

"I told you, Ash, I have a really big family, spread out all over the world." Serena chuckled a little. "Chances are you met a relative of mine every other week while on your journey."

"Whoa..."

"Um, Mommy?" Selene asked, tugging at Serena's shirt. She then tugged at Ash's own shirt as well. "Daddy? Can you please continue the story?"

"Oh, right!" Serena replied, surprised. "Let's see, where was I...?"

"You were talking about why you were in the camp."

"Oh, that's right! Anyway, I didn't enjoy the camp, and I definitely did not make any new friends there. Not that I was good at making friends in the first place." Serena frowned unhappily for a moment before clearing her throat. "Anyway, on the third day of the summer camp, all of the groups had an activity in the forest near Professor Oak's lab. I was the only one who didn't want to go in, since I was afraid of forests."

"Oh, yeah," Ash interrupted. "I remember you making quite a scene about it, and the chaperone pretty much dragged you into the forest."

Serena sweat-dropped at the extremely unpleasant memory. "Yeah... That happened..." She cleared her throat again. "And then-"

"You got lost!" Selene piped up.

Serena sweat-dropped again. "Yes...yes, I did..." She then wagged a finger at Selene. "I'm pretty sure my future self told you something about interrupting people."

"Oh. Right." Selene bowed her head a little. "I'm sorry, Mommy."

"Thank goodness," Serena thought. "I teach my children manners." Then, she said aloud, "It's alright, Selene. We all do it sometimes."

She then stroked Selene's hair, drawing out a satisfied coo from the little girl. At that moment, Ash took over the story.

"As for me, I saw a wild Poliwag, and I wanted to pet it. But it ran away and I followed it. Sadly, I lost track of it, but that was when I met Serena." He cleared his throat. "Your, um...mommy."

Serena blushed at this.

"Y-Ye-Yeah," she replied. "I hurt my leg because I got scared by Poliwag. Then, your d-da-daddy showed up out of nowhere."

Now it was Ash's turn to blush, but he didn't say anything and instead continued to listen to Serena's side of the story.

"He immediately forgot all about Poliwag when he saw me. He noticed I was hurt, and so he wrapped my boo-boo with a handkerchief he had on him. But it still hurt, so he cast a magic spell on my leg."

"Did it feel better?" Selene asked with wonder.

"Not really. I still couldn't stand up. But he didn't give up on me. In fact, his exact words for me, in that moment, were 'Never give up till the end.'" Serena chuckled as she reminisced about those six special words. "I'll never forget that time he said it. After all-" She stared at Ash. "He said it with so much passion."

"W-We-Well," Ash stuttered nervously, entranced by the honey-blonde's emotional stare, "I knew you had it in you. You-You just needed a little push. In the right direction, that is!"

"And then what happened?" asked Selene.

"Well, your d-daddy helped me up on my feet, but he pulled my hand so hard that we accidentally bumped into each other and hugged."

"We did?" Ash asked, surprised now.

"Yeah! You don't remember that?"

"Well...not really..." But this revelation seemed to trigger something in Ash's mind. He didn't know what it was, but it had a degree of familiarity to him.

"Oh..."

"That's SO sweet!" Selene squealed, the girl squirming with excitement. "And then what happened?!"

"And then your daddy led me back to the camp, where a nurse helped make my leg feel better."

"Woooooooooow..." Selene's eyes were shimmering with awe. "What did you and Daddy do afterwards?"

"Sadly, we weren't able to do anything else together. I had to sit out for the fourth day of camp, and on the fifth and final day, it was just an assembly event where none of the groups interacted. Right after the assembly ended, I tried to return the handkerchief to your daddy, but some boy called Gary led him away."

Ash stifled a giggle at the mention of Gary. He vaguely remembered his old rival calling him over to show off something related to the activity on the third day of camp.

"Ah, phooey," Selene replied.

"Anyway, that's how your daddy and I met, Selene," Serena said, her composure now totally relaxed as she reminisced. "Ever since the camp ended, we didn't see or hear of each other until ten years later, when your daddy first arrived at Kalos to participate in the Pokémon League."

"You recognized him when you saw the TV report about Daddy saving Garchomp!"

"That's correct, Selene. And that was when I set out on my own Pokémon journey, so I could find him and properly return the handkerchief to him."

"And then it all went uphill from there."

"That's right. It went uphill from there."

Selene sighed contently. "What a great story! Thank you for telling it, Mommy and Daddy!"

"Well," Ash replied, "your m-mo-mommy did most of the work."

"Oh, stop it, Ash!" Serena responded, playfully and gently shoving her crush's shoulder. "You said your pieces when you needed to!"

"Yeah, you were a great storyteller too, Daddy," said Selene. Then, she let out an elongated, loud yawn. "Okay... I think it's time for me to sleep..."

"Yes, it is. Good night, Selene honey. Sweet dreams."

"Be brave if you see Par- I mean, the bad man in your dreams again," Ash instructed.

"I will. Good night, Mommy, Daddy." The black-haired girl then looked at Pikachu and Pichu. "Good night, Pikachu, Pichu."

"Pika pika," Pikachu replied.

"Pichu-pi!" squeaked Pichu.

Then, Selene called, "Good night, Celebi."

Ash heard Celebi softly saying "Biiiii..." in response.

With that, Selene yawned again and then closed her eyes. Ash and Serena both gazed at their future daughter for a few minutes, observing as she fell into the grace of the sandman. Out of instinct, Serena leaned forward a little and kissed the girl on the forehead. Then, her sapphire-blue eyes met with Ash's auburn ones. Both of them blushed, but this time, they refused to break their eyes away from each other.

"G-Go-Good night, Se-Serena..." Ash stuttered.

Serena giggled a little, then replied, "Good night, Ash."

Hoping to dispel the awkwardness, Ash called out, "Night, Clemont. Night, Bonnie."

"Good night, Ash, Serena," Clemont replied. "That was a..." He briefly yawned. "Great story."

Bonnie simply snored in response.

"Oh, and good night, Nate!" Ash quickly added.

"Night, Ash," replied the brown-haired Trainer.

Silence fell upon the room within several seconds, and Ash took this time to look back at Serena. Fortunately, she had fallen asleep as well. She could hear her soft breathing, smell the sweet strawberry shampoo she used for her hair, see her luscious lips curved into a small smile of contentment, watch her slim abdomen as it moved up and down by a few centimeters with every breath she took...

Ash shook his head. Why in the world was he noticing all of these things with Serena?! He never acted this way before they...found Selene...

Unable to process the two different feelings he had for his honey-blonde friend, the aspiring Pokémon Master decided to close his eyes, hoping that the kind embrace of deep sleep would be all that he needed to relieve his tension.

His dreams were filled with honey-blonde hair, blue as clear as sapphires, and beautiful voices for the rest of the night.

As the group slept, none of them overheard the two Hoppip, one of them normal-colored and the other Shiny, hovering directly and discreetly over the balcony outside. Peering through the window of the door, the two Cottonweed Pokémon took several pictures of the suite's interior before quietly leaving.

The Jovial Propriétaire

"I want you back in one hour, on the dot. Understood?"

"Y-Ye-Yes, Adam s-sir."

Adam Glazing briskly walked towards the fancy restaurant, his facial features partially obscured by his olive-green, wide-brimmed hat and fancy brown sunglasses. He recognized the absolute absence of necessity for these accessories, given it was still in the middle of the night, but he wanted to make sure his identity was kept private, in case things didn't go according to plan and he had to cut all of his losses.

As he approached the entrance, he heard his private limo speeding away, the screeching of the tires all he needed to know how relieved his chauffeur was to be rid of him for even an hour. Once he entered the old but otherwise well-kept building, he removed both articles of clothing and addressed the pretty waitress at the front desk.

"I'm with the Glazing party," he said.

"Oh yes, them..." The woman cleared his throat. "This way, please."

She led the way, and Adam followed behind like a pesky Houndour; his yellow eyes were glued to the waitress's exposed legs, attracted to the way they walked...

Soon, Adam's view was interrupted by a rambunctious clamor coming from one of the oblong tables. The rowdiness of the occupants was unmatched by all the other surrounding tables, whose owners merely glared hatefully. It didn't take a genius to know whose party was at that bursting table.

"Oh, hey!" exclaimed a small, rotund, orange-haired man whose clothes gave him the overall semblance of a Dedenne. "Look who's here, guys! The man of the hour!"

"The jewel of the crown!" cried a woman with cinnabar-colored hair.

"The big boy of the bunch!" another man cried, his blue hair fluttering over one side of his face like a veil.

Adam sighed with embarrassment. The people seated at his table were self-proclaimed acquaintances of his for years, though he felt freeloaders were more appropriate descriptions of them. He knew the Dedenne-like man, Nick Nigaud, the longest, for the two were roommates in college...before Nick dropped out two hours into his first semester and became a squatter in their dormitory room. He went on to found his own construction company, for reasons Adam could only pinpoint to a potential lost bet. Naturally, the company's only client was Adam himself, who more or less used it as a means to mask illegal business activities.

The other occupants were some of Nick's employees, specifically his favorites: Cecile Rouge (the cinnabar-haired woman), Floyd Minable (the blue-haired man), Floyd's twin brother Lloyd (who resembled Floyd to a tee, with the exception of his mirrored, scarlet hair), and Sid Malin (perhaps the most tolerable person in Nick's group in Adam's eyes, though that was still a stretch).

"Please control your, ahem, acquaintances, sir," the waitress said, her expression one of bitter annoyance. "Their rowdy behaviors have been upsetting our other guests ever since they arrived here."

"Will do," Adam replied while shaking his head. When the waitress scowled disapprovingly at him while leaving, he glared menacingly at Nick and the others and said, "Look, just because I invited you to this fancy restaurant, gave you all this top-class food, and agreed to pay for everything, doesn't mean you should act like a bunch of spoiled, uncultured brats. ...Oh, who am I kidding?! You all are spoiled, uncultured brats!"

"Why can't we act this way?" Lloyd asked, completely oblivious to the insult as he chewed on a drumstick like a ravenous beast. "This is a first-rate, all-you-can-eat buffet!"

"And we haven't eaten this kind of food in, like...forever," Floyd added.

"I think this is the first time we've all eaten this kind of food," remarked Cecile.

"Well, duh!" exclaimed Nick, as he popped a few well-cleaned grapes into his mouth.. "That's 'cause we've been totally broke our whole lives!"

Adam's face turned with red with shame and embarrassment; the well-dressed man was looking around, noticing the unsatisfied looks the other patrons were giving his party.

"You're not in a Kalos Fried Combusken restaurant, you dimwits," he snarled angrily. "You're in a restaurant that caters to the rich and powerful, and there's a certain etiquette that one must precisely follow at all times whenever they're in such an establishment."

"You're one to talk about following etiquette and whatnot," Sid replied casually, after the periwinkle-haired, eyepatch-wearing man took a sip of his strawberry lemonade juice. "You're not exactly a member of this elite either."

All of a sudden, Adam powerfully slapped his palm upon the table, stopping the others dead in their tracks. The five members of the working class all stared fearfully at their benefactor, who was wearing an absolutely terrifying expression of fury. His eyes were literally smoldering, and the others feared that his very vision would burn them alive. Nick's lower lip quivered, and he carefully slid one plate of food to Adam.

"C-C-Care f-for s-s-some r-ra-ramen...?" he stuttered.

Adam looked down at the bowl of ramen noodle soup, and Nick feared that the green-haired man would finally lose it and flip the bowl over, wasting perfectly good food. But fortunately, the aroma of the soup seemed to calm him down, and Adam sat down beside Sid, directly opposite from Nick.

"I can't," he replied with a low voice. "I'm watching my cholesterol."

"I see..." Nick promptly, and nonchalantly, took a sip of his orange juice. "So, what was the job that you mentioned to me, Adam? I believe you mentioned something about an extraction from some jail?"

Upon the mention of his brand-new plan, all of the anger within Adam disappeared, and the green-haired man started to think about the infinite possibilities that were now before him. Before today, he thought that he was going to be stuck in this meager existence for the rest of his life, that he would remain a useless secretary until he drew his last breath...that he would be forever shrouded in the shadows of his accursed brother and niece.

But not anymore. Now, he had a real chance to make it big, to become the person he aspired to be, to finally be respected as the wonder that he was!

Adam leaned his head forward and grinned at his companions, surprising them.

"Ohhhhh, you could say that," he said deviously. "Now listen, here's what we're going to do..."

Mt. Kiloude

To uneducated tourists, the snow-coated mountain towering over Kiloude City from a distance, the very source of the city's landmark river, was nothing more than just a mountain. But the townspeople knew better than to assume it was just some dainty, innocent mountain that was just there for the city's convenience.

No, they knew all about its long, infamous history. And they knew why all nature trails in the area were required to end many miles away from its base. Not that they'd ever go into detail about it. After all, no one wanted any foolish, idiotic youngsters to get any ideas!

Especially not this week, of all weeks.

In the skies above Mt. Kiloude, a cry echoed through the air, barely audible to the citizens living at the edges of Kiloude. Moments later, a silhouette of a winged being soared majestically through the clouds, leaving behind a trail of crystal-blue sparkles behind its tail.

It cried again as it disappeared within the windy, snow-capped peak of the mountain. The trail of blue sparkles it left behind glittered for a few more moments before fading into nothingness...

A/N: This definitely has to be the longest chapter written for the story so far. But how could it not be?! After all, a lot of exposition had to be dished out for this chapter!

So, just in case readers decided to skip through the blocky walls of text that detailed all the characters' futures (because I know a lot of detail was put into each and every one of them), here they all are in summary form:

-Trevor's now a professional photographer.

-Tierno's now the head and founder of his own dance academy.

-Shauna's the new Monsieur Pierre of Pokémon Showcases, and she's married to Calem.

-Calem is an assistant to Alain, who's now a Pokémon Professor.

-Bonnie now lives in Hoenn with her husband Max, who's also a Pokémon Professor.

-Clemont's now a member of the Elite Four, and a very famous inventor.

-Serena's now a successful actress.

-Ash is now a Frontier Brain who helped establish Battle Frontier facilities in Kalos, and he's also the head of a new law enforcement agency, not to mention a household name known all across the world for his heroics.

Here's also some tidbits of trivia, in case anyone's interested:

-Eevee's Café, the show Future Serena's mentioned to star in, was actually inspired by something I found on DeviantArt. It's a comic series called "Eeveelution Squad", and it's by PKM-150. I just took the basic premise (Eevee and all of the Eeveelutions living under the same roof in an alternate world) and put it in a completely different setting. I recommend checking PKM-150's works out; they're very good and funny and cute.

-The Double Battle Maison, which Ash and Serena would participate in together in a few years, was obviously something of my own design. Since the anime doesn't depict traditional Double Battles that often, I decided to create a new battle competition that revolved around the concept. This was also born out of a personal interest in seeing the anime devote an entire season to this kind of competition. I thought there'd be the potential for new stories and types of character interactions.

-Not only did I bring back and reboot Adam's cronies Nick, Floyd, and Lloyd, I also did the same for two characters from my now-deleted "Judgment's Fall" fic: Sid and Cecile. They were Adam's new accomplices in that story, and Sid and/or Cecile were supposed to be Adam's cousin(s). But they're no longer biologically related to Adam in this story, since I want the Glazing family drama to be restricted to him and Amelia.

-I designed Mt. Kiloude with Washington state's Mt. Rainier in mind. That's all I'll say about it.

Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to thank the following people for reviewing:

-AmourShiper35: Thanks for the review!

-Childhood Reality:

1) I apologize for wrecking your sleep. XD

2) As you predicted, things are a little awkward between Ash and Serena. Especially since they have to read Selene a bedtime story!

3) Thanks! I love describing scenes, especially action sequences, with a lot of detail and eloquence. But I'm pretty sure you can write a paragraph of your own! All you need to do is read a good book (for me, it was the Harry Potter books) and then use the writing style as a template to go by. If you keep writing long enough, you'll settle on your own style.

-Rajiv A. Rajaram:

1) Yes, Nate has the Bond Phenomenon too. You'll be seeing more of that in the next chapter or two.

2) But obviously Clarice isn't gonna give up! She's gonna try and fight against the rules of time (unknowingly)! So you haven't seen the last of her yet!

-Dragon King Rouga: Thanks! What an eleventh-hour revelation, huh?

-Ooobserver:

1) Actually, I thought it would be unrealistic if Ash was still the only person with the Bond Phenomenon twenty years down the road. Thus, I gave Nate the same ability. But don't worry. I'm gonna try and do something different with his case. ;)

2) Oh, my dear friend, Adam's plotting is to die for! ;) (Hope you got the reference.)

3) Indeed, Ash is starting to realize how important he is to Serena. And it's only gonna grow from there, especially since he also knows he's Selene's father.

-Guest reviewer #1:

1) You're being way too devoted. Please, no one needs that much empowerment, especially if it's coming from the same person. Just use your "motto" in your first review for the story and then leave it there. I'm very tempted to delete your reviews now because they don't tell me a lot about what you want from the story, and they're mostly concerned with that motto of yours.

2) Why do you dislike Palermo again? Not sure if you answered that for me already, but please, I do need a refresher.

-RougeClyde: I'll see if I can fit Serena's father somewhere in here. If I was able to fit Adam and co. into this story, then perhaps that subject will also be manageable for me. We'll see about that. ;)

-Guest reviewer #2:

1) Yeah, I noticed some of the missing words you were talking about. My apologies for those errors. I sometimes get way too excited in writing out a scenario that I overlook these kinds of things.

2) I should've made Future Ash a professional skydiver. XD

3) Maybe it's because the battles are not in a formal setting? Like on a battlefield? I don't know; hopefully you'll see some difference in quality when I dish out the friendly battle between Ash and Nate in the next chapter!

4) Same here. I mean, I get that it was supposed to be a rare, unique ability one person has at a certain point of time. But I thought a little more people should've had it as well, since the Bond Phenomenon doesn't seem that hard to pin down.

5) Aaaaannnnnddddd Grace reacts to the news with...a midlife crisis! XD

6) Obviously, you're better at making up scenes than I am if I forgot to include a hilarious scene about Serena realizing the birds and the bees. But then again, the story IS rated K+ since I wanted it to be closer to the tone set by the XY saga... I'll see if I can include it somewhere else, though. XP

-Ron the True Fan: LOL. Awkwardness inbound.

-Guest reviewer #3: I'm sorry, what? You didn't finish your review...

Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter! TheCartoonFanatic01 is out. PEACE!