Pokémon: Return to Kalos

Chapter 2: Sycamore (or less)

When Ash left the Lumiose City Airport, he headed straight for Professor Sycamore's laboratory. He was slightly tempted to go to Prism Tower to see Clemont, the Lumiose City Gym Leader, and his little sister Bonnie, but figured he would have time to do that afterward. It had been three and a half years since he had last set foot in Kalos.

There was a Clemontic Shower nearby. Ash walked up to it, placed Raichu inside, and smiled. He was glad to see Clemont's invention being employed in the Kalos capital city. The Shower slid closed and scanned Raichu, and identified him as an electric-type Pokémon. The touchscreen displayed this, and asked for confirmation, providing a red x-shaped button and a green check-mark-shaped one. Ash tapped the latter of the two buttons. Bolts of electricity burst from energy emitters inside the Shower, bombarding Raichu for ten seconds. Then the shower turned off, and opened up again. Raichu, now fully re-energised, jumped back up onto Ash's shoulder, and the two headed on to Professor Sycamore's lab.

When Ash entered the lab, he was surprised to find not only Professor Sycamore, but also Clemont and Bonnie.

"ASH!" yelled Bonnie, upon seeing Ash and Raichu enter the door.

"Hi, Bonnie, hi, Clemont," said Ash, "What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Ash", said Clemont. "Bonnie is becoming a Pokémon Trainer, now that she's turned ten!"

"Hello, Ash," said Professor Sycamore, entering the room.

"Hi, Professor", said Ash, "I just heard that Bonnie is to become a Pokémon Trainer, so I'm thinking she can use my old Pokédex."

"That sounds like an excellent idea, Ash," said Prof. Sycamore, who then turned to Bonnie and asked, "Have you decided which starter Pokémon you want?"

"Dedenne!" said Bonnie.

"Interesting choice. Very few Trainers choose starter Pokémon of any type other than fire, water and grass. As I'm sure you're already aware, Ash is one of them, aren't you, Ash?"

"Well," said Ash, "I didn't exactly choose Pikachu. He was the only starter Pokémon that Professor Oak had left, on that particular day. Still, he's stuck with me through thick and thin."

Clemont reached into his utility backpack and pulled out Dedenne's Poké Ball, which he Handed to Bonnie. "When I caught Dedenne, at your request," said he, "I promised you that he would be your Pokémon when you became a Trainer. Now that you are one, here is his Poké Ball. He's all yours now, Bonnie."

Bonnie released Dedenne, and pocketed the ball. Then she reached down, gently picked up the electric hampster, and placed him in her satchel bag, reminding Ash of their previous adventures in Kalos. Ash reached into his own backpack and pulled out a Z-Ring and a Z-Power Ring, as well as a little black velvet draw-string bag. He handed the Z-Ring to Bonnie and the Z-Power Ring to Clemont. "This is a Z-Ring," he told Bonnie, who had put the device on her left wrist. "It allows you and your Pokémon to perform special attacks called Z-Moves. You simply insert a Z-Crystal of the correct archetype into the rhombus-shaped slot, perform the correct motions, and say the name of the move. There are 18 type-specific Z-Crystals, one for each of the 18  Pokémon archetypes." He opened the small pouch, and poured the contents out into his left hand. He picked up a yellow Z-Crystal with a black thunderbolt, and a pink one with a silhouette of a humanoid figure with Butterfree wings, and handed them to Bonnie. "Dedenne is an electric-type and a fairy-type, so here's an Electrium Z and a Fairium Z. If you use the Electrium Z, Dedenne can perform the electric-type Z-Move Gigavolt Havoc. Alternately, you can use the Fairium Z to perform Twinkle Tackle."

"Why does Big Brother's Z-Ring look different than mine?" asked Bonnie.

"Clemont's is a slightly more powerful variant called a Z-Power Ring. It's compatible with the 18 archetype-specific Z-Crystals, as wel as seventeen additional species-specific Z-Crystals. There isn't one for Dedennes, but as you travel and catch more Pokémon, there's a good chance you might end up with one that does have a species-specific Z-Crystal. When you do, you can trade your standard Z-Ring for a Z-Power Ring."

"Can we have a battle?" asked Bonnie.

"Maybe tomorrow," said Ash, "There's still someone I want to see today..."

"Speaking of wanting to see someone," said Professor Sycamore, "Ash, I believe there's a certain Pokémon who wants to see you. Follow me." He then opened the door to the laboratory's backyard, and walked outside, followed by Ash.

"Greninja!" exclaimed Ash.

"Ninja-Ninja!" replied Greninja, giving Ash and Raichu a bro-hug.

Ash opened his backpack and pulled out Greninja's Poké Ball. Greninja pointed at the ball, then at himself, then at Ash, saying "ninja" each time he did so. Ash immediately understood what Greninja was trying to say. He held the Poké ball out in front of him at arm's length, toward Greninja. "Greninja, return", he said in a clear voice, causing Greninja to return to the Poké Ball which he had left uninhabited for the past 3.5 years.

When Ash and Professor Sycamore returned to the interior of the lab, Clemont and Ash began conversing about what signifigant things had happened to them in the time they were apart. Clemont explained how his Clemontic Shower was being utilised in every major city throughout the Kalos region, and how he had upgraded the same gadget to scan a Pokémon's type(s), and then shower it with the correct type(s) of energy. "Of course," he said, "I made sure to make the shower require the user to manually confirm the Pokémon's type, on the off-chance that the scanner gets it wrong. If the shower dispenses energy of a type against which the Pokémon is vulnerable, it could induce a negative effect on the Pokémon's health."

"It was good seeing you two today," said Ash, when the three arrived at Clemont's house. "I'll be staying in the region for a few weeks, so we're likely to meet again soon. Maybe we could have a battle then. Anyway, I'm headed for Vanville Town. There's someone there I'm really hoping to see again."

"Bye, Ash", said Clemont and Bonnie at the same time.

"See you tomorrow," said Ash, as he headed for the nearest inter-city bus stop.