his story may end but his adventure continues here in ultern!!

[goingallout]

[ROUTE 2]

[It seemed like any other ordinary day, but for some reason Ash and Pikachu could be seen standing in the middle of the road looking from left to right whilst wearing a dumbfounded expression.]

Hey Pikachu, are we...?

Pika-chu...

[From the farms, to the wind turbines, to the strong breeze. And of course, the familiar sight of Overlook Hill towering amongst everything else in the landscape. There's no doubt about it... he's back.]

---

[TURNBLOOM CITY]

[It felt like forever since Ash last stepped foot in this city. But there was one thing he clearly missed from Ultern, and that's the taste of Ultern's island cuisine!

So here's Ash and Pikachu sitting on a bench near a food cart, happily eating Sugar Doughnuts together.]

Man, it's been so long since we've had one of these! You don't find these anywhere else but in Ultern after all!

[The mouse Pokemon chirps in agreement.]

---

((OOC: For those familiar with Ash or have been keeping tabs on him, they might notice that he's actually been gone missing for a good chunk of the week. Well worry no more! Here he is back in Ultern, canon updated, sporting new shoes, and more than ready to take on new adventures! Also today's his birthday but due to timey-wimey shenanigans, he thinks it's not his birthday yet-))

Comments

Turnbloom City

[radleyslittleevie]

[Evie comes rushing over happily.]

You're back!!!

[gold_drum]

Gold's just taking a walk on his day off, minding his own business, when oh hey, it's Ash! ...Standing in the middle of the road, looking kind of spaced out. Gold jogs over to meet him.

"Heeeey, Ash!" he calls out, waving. "It's been a while!"

Route 2

[snakewithacape]

[Man, it surely has been a while since Kebi's seen Ash. Did the Seviper miss his pretend trainer going on a ferry or something? The amount of time he's been gone is a bit worrying and Kebi may have to find a replacement fake trainer soon!

...Or not, since JUST NOW, Kebi spots Ash and is surprised to see him suddenly appear again! The Seviper quickly slithers up over to Ash and greets him with a bow, then will point to him and tilt his head a little as if questioning where he's been.]

[goingallout]

[Oh!! Ash immediately recognizes that voice anywhere and perks up at the sight of an old friend.]

Evie! Wow, it's been a long while! How's this place been treating you while I'm gone?

[Pikachu jumps down from the bench and starts rubbing his cheek against Evie, ecstatic to see her again!]

[goingallout]

It was a good thing Gold showed up, as hearing his voice was enough to startle Ash away from his thoughts. And upon seeing the other Trainer, Ash excitedly waved back.

"Gold, Ulsai!!" and he beamed before continuing, "It really has been a while! How have you been doing?"

[goingallout]

[Oh hey! Isn't that the Seviper that's been following him a lot back then?]

Seviper! Wow, it's been a while since I last saw you. Have you been doing well?

[Pikachu wags his tail, happily seeing a old friend again.]

Hi Kebi! We're back again, it seems!

Route 2, let's go kakugo-

[brightasmoone]

[Surprise! Elio's barging in riding on top of Nebby. Said Sunne Pokemon takes a moment to circle around Ash, sniffing curiously until Elio gave a laugh.]

Easy there, Nebby! It's just Ash and Pikachu!

[Smiling still, he gives a wave clearly delighted seeing Ash.]

Ulsai, Ash! I'm happy I caught up with you today!

[radleyslittleevie]

It's been great!

[Evie happily rubs Pikachu.]

But it hasn't been that long here! How long has it been for you?

[gold_drum]

"Ulsai!" Gold replies. He keeps forgetting about the local greeting, despite how long he's been here. "I've been fine!" Gold says with a smile. It's a bit of a lie, but he doesn't really feel like talking about his troubles with Ash. "Got a part-time job at a cafe, that's been fun. Oh yeah, that reminds me, you're from the same world as Trip, right?"

Turnbloom City

[serperiority]

... Ash? Where did you get those shoes? [Yes, that's what Trip zeroed in on.]

They don't sell those here.

[He is absolutely sure of this, okay, they don't have THAT many shops here.]

[timidlyblooming]

[It's Lillie's birthday too, but it's a bit lonely without her family... but, seeing Ash again, after a while of not seeing him, made her so happy!]

Ash! Alola! ... Ulsai, too.

[All the greetings for her friend!]

I haven't seen you in a while!

[But, the way Ash and Pikachu spoke, it was almost as if they'd been away from the region as a whole... that couldn't be right, could it?]

[goingallout]

Eh? It hasn't?

[Huuuuh that's... strange. Ash cups his chin as he thinks about it.]

Well... I've managed to come back home, and I dunno weeks? It's been a couple of weeks or so... I think.

[snakewithacape]

[Kebi takes another bow for the Pikachu.]

I greet you as well! May I ask where you've been?

[goingallout]

Oh wow, it sounded like Gold had been doing pretty well for himself on Ultern. And to Ash, that's honestly the best news he wanted to hear from him. However the next question got Gold to earn a curious look from Ash.

"Yeah, you're right about that." Though the mention of Trip's name also got him to wonder if Trip had managed to return home... "Why'd you ask?"

👻 GO GO GO GHOST-O 👻

[goingallout]

Hey! Ulsai, Elio and Nebby!

[Whenever Nebby decides to stop, Ash takes the opportunity to pet him. It's nice to see the two again after so long. Though what does Elio mean by what he said just now?]

Hm? D'you need something from me?

[goingallout]

Hunh!?

[Well what a surprise! He didn't expect to see Trip's still in this world. At least he looks fine?

Ash however blinks at Trip's question before looking down at the shoes he's wearing.]

Well, my Mom gave them to me... the ones I wore were pretty worn out.

[gold_drum]

"Well, we've been talking a lot since we work at the same place, and you come up sometimes! And this one time we talked about how our worlds are kinda similar in some ways, and, uh..." Though Gold is talking casually, this is kind of awkward to ask out of nowhere, but he'd already decided he'd try and ask Ash about this the next time they met. "You know Lance, right? You battled him in the... Masters 8 tournament or something? What's he like in your world? 'Cos I met him in my world and we were wondering if he was the same kinda guy in both worlds."

Gold doesn't know Ash won the Masters 8, of course, or he'd congratulate him.

[brightasmoone]

It's your birthday today, isn't it?

[Elio of course remembers what day it was! He wouldn't miss out on Ash's birthday of all things. Elio will begin digging into his bag. Nebby meanwhile gave a purr in response to Ash's pet.]

I got you something special just for this day!

[As soon as he said that, he pulls out an egg incubator that's been carefully wrapped around in a soft blanket.]

[goingallout]

[Ash blinks once at the incubator.]

My... birthday?

[He slowly takes the container, his perplexed expression still remains. Then he blinks twice at Elio.]

What d'you mean it's my birthday? It's not even April yet.

[brightasmoone]

[Elio froze. What did Ash mean? It was clearly April now...?

He looked over Ash up and down, and to Nebby who glanced up with a light snort.]

It just turned April here, Ash. How do you not know...? Aren't those new shoes you're wearing a birthday day gift too?

[goingallout]

Huh? No, I got them from my Mom...

[?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?]

W-What do you mean it just turned April here?! How long has it been since I left Ultern!?

[serperiority]

... this place got your mom?

[Trip looked surprised and a bit wary.]

Is she a trainer, at least?

[He seemed to have misunderstood...]

[radleyslittleevie]

Did you get to see everyone?!

[That sounds amazing.]

[goingallout]

[?? ¿??? ¿]

Wha-? No! My Mom's back home!

[Ash puts his box of Sugar Doughnuts aside to which Pikachu gladly snacks on some more-]

I meant that I got them back home. As in, I got back, drifted back, to Pallet Town!

[serperiority]

You... got to go back home?

[Trip needed a moment to process that. His first expression is one of shock, then, very briefly, a bitter and reproachful one (why Ash and not him?), then lastly...]

Do you remember how you got there? Did you come back because you wanted to?

... and, how was it?