Pokemon World Disaster

Enter Dawn and Paul

The group arrived in Sinnoh three hours later. They landed in a town called Veilstone City that Ash mentioned was the hometown of one of his former rivals. Greninja remembered Ash mentioning someone named Dawn and wondered if she was nearby too.
"Hey, Ash! Long time no see!"
The group spun around at the sound of a teenage girl's voice. Greninja saw that a blue-haired girl was waving to them from afar, a Piplup running beside her.
"Hey, Dawn. Good to see you too," Ash said, grinning back at her.
Oh, so this is Dawn, Greninja thought, giving the girl a quick once-over. She seemed like an all right person.
"I can't believe I ran into you. Oh, hi there," Dawn said, glancing over at Lillie. "What's your name?"
"My name's Lillie. I met Ash in the Alola region," Lillie introduced herself.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Dawn, Ash's friend from his time here in Sinnoh," Dawn said back.
"Hi, Dawn!" Pikachu said, waving at the blue-haired girl. "Hey, Piplup."
"Hi, Pikachu!" Piplup chirped, waving a small flipper at the electric mouse.
Dawn smiled at Pikachu. "Hey there, Pikachu," she said kindly. "How've you been?"
"Pikachu's been doing awesome. He's gotten a lot stronger," Ash said proudly. Pikachu nuzzled his trainer's face affectionately at the praise. "And speaking of which, I'd like you to meet one of my other Pokemon. This is Greninja; he was one of my partners in Kalos."
"Nice to meet you," Greninja said with a small wave. Dawn's eyes widened as she looked at him.
"Oh wow, is that the Greninja that could transform?" she gasped. Greninja was surprised; he hadn't realized there were trainers in other regions who knew about the bond phenomenon. Then again, the Kalos league had been televised, so maybe that was how she knew.
Ash chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, you got it," he replied, sounding a bit embarrassed.
"So cool! Do you know where I could get one?" Dawn asked excitedly.
"Well, your best option would be to go to Kalos and pick up a Froakie and raise it," Ash explained. "They're are almost impossible to find in the wild since they're ninjas in every sense of the word, not to mention that since they evolve from one of the Kalos starter Pokemon it's unlikely that you'd find one that doesn't already have a trainer."
"Maybe I'll check out Kalos sometime soon, then," Dawn mused.
"Actually, we came here to ask if you would mind going to Kalos for a bit," Ash replied. Dawn looked surprised.
"Sure, but what for?" she asked. Then her eyes cleared up. "Oh, does this have anything to do with the attacks that have been happening?"
Ash nodded. "I assume you've been having problems in Sinnoh too?"
"Yeah, for the past two months," Dawn answered. "I've been staying here in Veilstone City because the Pokemon here seem to be safest."
Two months...so that would mean the attacks started here more recently than in the other regions we've been to, Greninja thought to himself.
"So that's what you're doing here. I was wondering," Ash remarked. "Anyway, Greninja, Lillie and I have been traveling around to gather friends of ours to help fight against the things that have been attacking the Pokemon. We came here to ask for your help too."
"All right, I'll do it," Dawn agreed. "And actually, you might want to ask Paul to come along too. He'd be a lot of help too."
"Who's Paul, Ash?" Greninja asked curiously.
"Paul was my main rival in Sinnoh," Ash answered. "He lives somewhere around here with his brother, Reggie."
"I guess we'd better go see him, then," Greninja commented.
They walked down the road towards a small ranch. Ash and Dawn walked ahead, talking about Dawn's latest contest. Apparently she had won her fourth contest ribbon and had been planning to win her fifth ribbon before the attacks started.
"Hopefully I'll be able to get back on the contest track when this whole mess is over with," Dawn added as they arrived at the ranch. "Hey, we're here."
Greninja looked around himself. Several Pokemon were busy training, although he couldn't see their trainer anywhere. It seemed that this Paul guy was an extremely serious trainer and that his attitude had rubbed off on his Pokemon.
"All right Electivire, use Thunder Punch!"
"Fly up and dodge!"
Ash jumped at the sound of the voice. "That's Paul and Reggie!" he exclaimed. "Come on, I think they're behind the house!"
Greninja followed Ash around the back of the house, where a trainer with purplish-gray hair and his Electivire were battling against a taller dark-haired trainer and his Staraptor. They arrived just in time to see Staraptor soar into the air right before Electivire could strike with Thunder Punch.
"Now Staraptor, use Brave Bird!" the older boy ordered.
The purple-haired trainer just smirked. "Thunder, Electivire. Go," he said calmly. As Greninja and the others watched, Electivire unleashed a powerful Thunder attack that knocked Staraptor right out of the sky. "I guess that's it, Reggie."
Reggie sighed and pulled out a Pokeball. "Great job Staraptor, return," he said, recalling the exhausted bird Pokemon. "Thanks for your help."
"Hey, good battle you two," Ash said, walking up to the pair.
"Yeah, that was awesome," Pikachu said excitedly. Reggie and Paul (Greninja assumed the purple-haired boy was Paul) both looked surprised to see Ash.
"Ash, long time no see," Reggie greeted him. Paul just nodded coolly.
"Someone seems friendly," Greninja remarked sarcastically.
"Don't mind him, he's rude to everyone," Pikachu told him. "He was a real jerk when we first met him."
"So what brings you here, Ash? And who are your new friends?" Paul asked, speaking for the first time.
"This is Lillie, I met her when I was in Alola," Ash replied, gesturing towards the blond. Lillie waved at Paul and he nodded back at her. "And this is Greninja, he was one of my partners in Kalos."
"Hey," Greninja said, waving. Paul looked at him, a spark of interest entering his eyes.
"He looks like a strong Pokemon. What do you say we test that strength in a battle?" he suggested. Ash looked faintly surprised by the offer.
"Funny, usually I'm the one asking for a battle," he remarked, to Greninja's amusement. "All right Paul, you're on. But this will have to be a quick one on one-I didn't come all the way to Veilstone City to challenge you to a battle, as hard as that might be to believe."
"Let's go, then," Paul said with a laugh, surprising Greninja. He hadn't thought that Paul knew how to laugh. "Ursaring, stand by for battle!"
A large bearlike Pokemon popped out of a Pokeball and roared loudly, forcing everyone to cover their ears. Greninja was impressed; clearly this Ursaring was a powerful Pokemon.
"You ready to go, Greninja?" Ash called out to him.
"You bet, Ash!" the frog-ninja Pokemon answered. He couldn't wait to battle alongside Ash again.
"The one on one match between Paul and Ash will now begin," Reggie announced. "It will end when one trainer's Pokemon is unable to continue. Ready....battle begin!"
"Greninja, use Cut now!" Ash ordered quickly. Greninja struck Ursaring with Cut, but to his shock instead of its normal white color, the blade was purple.
"Whoa..." he said, looking at his hand.
"Awesome, you just learned Night Slash!" Ash cheered.
Meanwhile, Ursaring was shaking his head and wincing-clearly Night Slash had done quite a bit of damage. Greninja looked back at his trainer and grinned. He hadn't had a chance for a real battle in a long time and was happy to be getting his opportunity again.
"Ursaring, use Hammer Arm!" Paul gave his command next.
"Dodge it, Greninja!" Ash yelled.
Greninja jumped out of the way of Ursaring's Hammer Arm. He landed in front of Ash and turned to look at his trainer. Ash smiled back at him, and he knew he didn't have to tell him what he wanted. They were going to bring back their full power.
"All right Greninja, now let's get stronger together!" Ash shouted.
"Ready when you are, Ash!" Greninja answered. His vision went hazy for a split second as a torrent of water erupted around him before it split to form a giant shuriken on his back. He felt the familiar rush of power and grinned-even after three years, they still had it.
Paul stared at Ash-Greninja in shock. "What in the world is-" he broke off and shook his head. "Never mind. Ursaring, use Hammer Arm again!"
This time, Ursaring was able to make contact with Hammer Arm. Greninja winced as the attack pushed him backwards slightly. It hurt like hell, but not nearly as bad as it normally would have since Ash had taken some of the damage for him.
"Not bad, Paul," Ash called, though Greninja could tell he was in pain from the Hammer Arm as well. "Now Greninja, use Water Shuriken!"
Greninja reached over his shoulder and hurled the shuriken on his back towards Ursaring, the force of impact knocking the bearlike Pokemon into the air before he came crashing back down to earth. He didn't get back up again.
"Ursaring is unable to battle. Greninja and Ash are the winners," Reggie announced.
"All right, great job Greninja!" Ash said excitedly. Greninja felt the rush of power fade as he reverted back to his normal form and high-fived his trainer.
"Man, I haven't had a real battle in a long time. That was fun," he said happily.
"Thanks, Ursaring. Return," Paul said as he recalled his fainted Pokemon. He straightened up and smirked slightly at Ash. "I must admit I'm impressed, Ash. I've never seen power like your Greninja has. Tell me though, why did it look as though you took damage from Ursaring's Hammer Arm?"
"That's the bond phenomenon-whenever Greninja and I activate it, I see and feel everything he does," Ash explained. "That also means I take some of the damage he would normally suffer during battles."
Paul chuckled a bit. "It figures you'd be the one to do something like that," he remarked.
"I guess," Ash agreed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Come on, let's get our Pokemon fixed up and then I can tell you why I came here."

"So I assume you know about the attacks that have been happening?" Ash asked.
They were seated in Paul and Reggie's living room, eating sandwiches Reggie had prepared for everyone. Greninja watched as one of Dawn's Pokemon, a Buneary, flirted with an extremely uncomfortable-looking Pikachu. He held back a snort of amusement as Buneary tossed a piece of Pokemon food into the air and caught it, winking at Pikachu as she did so.
"Of course I do," Paul replied, snapping Greninja's attention back to the trainers. "It's all anyone's been talking about."
Ash nodded. "Well, I've been traveling around to different regions to ask people if they would help fight against the attackers," he said. "I was wondering if maybe you join in."
"But we don't even know who could be attacking the Pokemon. How are we supposed to come up with any sort of strategy?" Paul asked.
"Actually, we do know," Lillie interjected. "They call themselves the Shadow Beasts. Ash actually had a run-in with one just the other day."
Paul looked intrigued. "Shadow Beasts?" he repeated. "I don't think I've ever heard of them before."
"I doubt anyone has, and they're dangerous too-to people and Pokemon," Ash replied grimly. "So what do you say, Paul? Will you help us fight the Shadow Beasts?"
Paul hesitated for a split second, then nodded. "What do you need me to do, Ash?" he asked.
"You and Dawn go to Lumiose City and ask for the gym leader, Clemont. His sister Bonnie is friends with Zygarde-he'll know where to take you," Ash replied. Paul opened his mouth to speak, but Ash cut him off. "No time to explain. We need to be on our way soon too."
"I'll go along too," Reggie spoke up. Paul and Ash both seemed surprised. "I know I said I was done battling years ago, but this is different. Paul, Dawn, let's go. We'll see you in Kalos when you arrive, Ash."
"Uh...okay," Ash agreed. "Thanks, guys. We'll see you all soon."
"Yeah, see you," Paul echoed.
"Good luck, all of you. Be safe," Dawn said cheerfully.
After struggling to pry Buneary away from Pikachu, Dawn, Paul, and Reggie disappeared off the ranch. Meanwhile, Greninja, Ash, Pikachu, and Lillie continued on towards their next destination: Unova.