Serena woke in this comfortable room, Ash's head still resting on her chest. She had been exhausted, and yet he was the one still sleeping. Of all the strange places she had been to recently, this was the most comforting. The walls were lined with beautiful paintings of various pokemon. As she sat up Ash slowly blinked awake.

"They were my pokemon" Ash said, noticing Serena's gaze.

"They were?"

"I let them go, I had to"

"But..." Serena glanced over at pikachu who was curled up across the room on a chair.

"No matter what, somebody wouldn't leave me alone" Ash smiled.

"I have so many questions to ask you" Serena said.

"And I of you"

"So who goes first?"

"You start."

"Why did you ban pokemon?" She asked.

Ash paused for a moment, a pain flashing behind his eyes.

"I was afraid" he said. "Afraid of what happened to us happening to anyone else. That night was the last time-the last time that I saw my friends... the last time I saw you. N's ideology was just an excuse, a way to keep dangerous pokemon out of powerful people's hands."

"But you loved being a pokemon trainer more than anyone I knew"

"I loved being with my friends" Ash explained "Team Rocket tore everyone away, then went on a rampage. Working with N was my only way to stop them,"

This Ash sounded so detached. Years of isolation and war had changed him, yet something in the way he spoke left Serena with a sparkle of hope. Before Serena could push back, Ash began talking.

"So, now it's my turn" he said, "How are you here?"

"The last thing I remember was Team Rocket attacking our party. There was this weightless feeling that just never stopped until I found myself here... five years in the future. There was Bonnie, and Misty, and-"

"The others! They're alive?"

"Yeah... but they couldn't all make it here. Bonnie got hurt, she was being treated by that resistance group,"

Ash's eyes flashed again.

"Anyways" Serena continued "we traveled and traveled, until eventually I found you. It was all I could think of..."

"Why.. I clearly-"

"You clearly needed help!"

Serena stood up from the couch, now towering over Ash.

"You weren't making any sense, and now that I get here you say you did this for us?"

"Team Rocket wiped out the world's government! I couldn't keep playing trainer, I had to become a warrior," Ash stood up as well.

"Then, as a warrior, why did you give up hope? When did you stop searching for us? Why didn't you want to see me?" Tears started to build in Serena's eyes.

"Serena" tears rolled down Ash's face as he looked at her with the same familiar look that she was used to all those years ago. "I never gave up hope. I'm still going to save all of you,"

Was this his 'project'? Serena wondered.

A knocking at the door startled both of them.  As it clicked open, a brown haired woman walked into the room. Serena noticed her well fitted uniform, with buttons fit neatly down the left side, as well as a black backpack in her left hand.

General Gilda noticed the two of them standing together, looking as if they had just woken up in their clothes from the night before. She dropped the backpack in shock.

"Sorry, sir" Gilda said.

Serena blushed, looking around for anything she could pretend to have been doing instead of just standing there awkwardly.

"General" Ash stepped forward "whatever news you have, it must be important"

"Yes, leader" Gilda said. "Multiple bases in Unova have been attacked, including a data center. The attackers, who we believe to be remnants of RR, stole layouts of this Sato compound,"

"Gather the other Generals, we should meet on the hour to discuss this"

"Yes sir"

Gilda left the room, closing the large double doors behind her.

Were those two just... are they actually..? Never mind that, I have more important matters to attend to. Gilda thought.

Partially opened, the small black backpack laid on the floor of the room. 

"Tur-twig" 

Serena heard a sound coming from it.

"I'm sorry, Serena, but these people are counting on me" Ash said "I promise I'll explain more later,"

Ash stepped out of the room.

'Don't go' Serena mouthed as he left. As if perfectly on queue, a distraction appeared to wipe her mind of how much she missed Ash already. A small green pokemon waddled out of the backpack in the middle of the room, looking up at Serena with familiar eyes.

"You're Calem's turtwig!" She said with a smile.

"Tur-tur-twig!" the leafy pokemon responded.

"Is... is Calem here? Is he okay?"

Turtwig nodded.

Serena searched through Ash's closet for a moment, before finding one of his jackets that would fit her well enough not to rouse suspicion. Today I'm just going to be an officer in the Sato army, it'll totally work.

With her new outfit ready, Serena followed Turtwig down the hall and into the labyrinth of corridors that made up the compound.

The medical wing's bright white walls stood in stark contrast to the gloomy rest of the compound. Hurried doctors ran through the halls, stretched thin between injured soldiers.

Serena kept turtwig tucked under her arm, letting the pokemon guide the way. Up to this point she avoided any people in the halls, waiting patiently for them to pass. The jacket worked well enough, but up close they would surely see through her charade.

The small hallway eventually expanded into a large room of beds containing the wounded. Curtains were hung to give patients some privacy, but they did little but obscure a few bedsides.

One by one Serena scanned each bed, until she found a familiar looking boy. Calem looked so similar to Ash, even down to the jacket he wore.

Serena felt like prey trapped in an open field, but luckily none of the doctors paid her attention. She inched the curtain closed, and set turtwig on the bed. Calem woke up slowly, a fog lifting from his mind.

This isn't the forest, he thought, what happened at the battle, what happened to turtwig?

Then he noticed his partner pokemon there at his side, a wave of relief. Looking up he saw Serena. This must be a resistance base!

"Stay quiet" Serena said. "I don't know how you got here, but this is a Sato compound"

"Then what are we-" Calem was cut off by one of the doctors waking up beside Serena.

Now that Calem was conscious the doctor had some checks to run, though they paused after noticing turtwig.

"The pokemon is wild, it snuck in here, let it be" Serena spoke in a confident enough tone that the doctor just accepted it.

The medical staff didn't seem to know that Calem was an enemy soldier, treating him instead as one of their own.

Waiting here helped take Serena's mind off of Ash, yet it still wandered back to thoughts of him. He was the same hard working boy, except something in his eyes was off. Has he gone too close to the edge, could he be pulled back? Those eyes screamed for someone to pull him back.

For now, though, all Serena could do was wait. After having trained Calem and his pokemon, she felt responsible for his current predicament.

However she didn't start this war...

She just wanted to end it.