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Satoshi had been suffering through the absolute mountain of homework he had gotten due to the upcoming tests, and Kukui had been swamped with not only paperwork for the Pokemon School but also for his other job as Alola’s main Pokemon Professor.
By the time it got to half-past three that Saturday, it was obvious that they were not getting anywhere anymore so Kukui suggested that they take a break and go to the market to get the groceries for that week.
So here they are, at the market. Satoshi had brought only Zap, his other Pokemon had been sleeping so he had left them behind, and the electric mouse stood on Satoshi’s shoulder as the teen looked through the various berries that one stallholder had out on display. While Kukui was across the walkway, paying for a fish.
He had just picked up a Leppa Berry when something, or rather someone, caught his eye.
Fire-red hair styled to look like a Pyroar’s mane. And the owner of said hair wore a black suit with red accents.
In that moment, Satoshi was no longer standing in a market on Mele-Mele Island, instead, he was floating up in the air above Prism Tower, his hands and legs restrained by those weird metal ball-like things as that light hit him and excruciating pain tore through not only him but his Pokemon too.
The Leppa Berry rolled out of his hand to hit the cobblestone path while the stallholder shouted at him for dropping something he hadn’t paid for while Zap tried and failed to get his attention.
All that he could focus on was pain pain pain, it felt like his very soul was on fire. The sound of his own screams and those of Greninja somewhere to the left of him, made his ears ring.
Kukui had been putting the fish he had just bought into his bag when a Pikachu’s shout of “Pikapi!” brought his attention across the walkway to a berry stall where Satoshi was.
The Kantonese teen was curled up on the ground, shaking more than slightly. Zap stood in front of him, trying to get a reaction from her trainer while the stallholder was also trying to do the same.
Concern and panic flared within him as he rushed toward the scene. Dropping all his bags, he kneeled down in front of Satoshi, close enough to touch but not touching him just yet.
“I’ve got it from here,” he told the stallholder who glanced worriedly at him and Satoshi for a moment before she stood up and returned to her previous spot.
He was aware that people were staring but that didn’t matter, what did was Satoshi.
“Sato?” he asked, gently. Zap had her ears pressed flat against her head, he was clearly also worried for her trainer. No reply.
Now that he was closer, he could see that Satoshi was actually crying, not just shaking as it first appeared from a distance.
What does he do? This has never happened before.
“Excuse me,” a feminine-sounding voice called and Kukui looked away to see a girl about Satoshi’s age standing close by, a Kalosian water-type biped - a Greninja possibly? - behind her.
She’s wearing a pink blouse and jeans, clothing definitely not suited for the hot Alolan climate, probably a traveller then.
“I know him, and might be able to help,” she told him after a moment.
Even though he didn’t completely trust what she said, he moved aside anyway because if Zap reacted as positively to her as she just did, then it makes it okay.
The girl knelt down in front of Satoshi. “Ash?” she asked.
It’s then that it clicked for him, Satoshi sometimes talked about those who he travelled with on his previous journeys and had mentioned a girl that he had travelled through Kalos with whose description fit this particular girl exactly.
“You’re not at Prism Tower, you’re at a market in Alola,” she told him. “Lysandre is dead, he can’t hurt you anymore,” Despite her attempts, there’s still no response from Satoshi.
Noticing this, the girl turned to look at the Greninja (?) who is still standing to her right.
“Think you can try to complete the Battle Bond despite not being on a battlefield?” she asked the water-type Pokemon. The Greninja croaked a reply and approached Satoshi.
Kukui officially had no idea what was going on anymore. What does she mean for the Greninja to ‘bond’ with Satoshi?”
As it seems, he gets no answers and more questions. String-thin beams of light reach out from the Greninja to touch Satoshi.
She had only been at the market because it had caught her eye as she was on her way. In hindsight, it was really good that she did decide to walk through the market.
Greninja had met her just outside of the airport, it looked like he had been waiting for her.
She also hadn’t intended to ask him to merge with Ash but it was the only other thing she could think of to get him cognizant again. Time was running out fast, the Kantonian boy couldn’t stay trapped in his memories much longer.
It’s amazing that he’s managed to keep his aura under this much control up to now but she knew from experience that his control won’t last much longer and when that happened, it’s better that he isn’t in the middle of a busy market.
Although the two are partially linked ever since the very first time they did the Battle Bond, they haven’t done the complete version since the end of the Crisis. Their partial link, according to Ash, allowed them to feel only each other’s emotions but the full Battle Bond allowed them to communicate telepathically and feel each other's pain in full.
She knows that usually, the pair would have to be on the battlefield or actually battling for the Battle Bond to work properly but she’s hoping it works this time otherwise they’re all going to have a lot of questions to answer.
The ball of water that encompasses Greninja confirms to her (and probably also to the Professor who’s still there, she realized) that it worked.
Amongst the burning pain pain pain, he can feel Greninja’s mental presence. If he can feel that, then that means whatever Lysandre is trying to do is working. He can’t let that happen.
“Ash, this has already happened. You are in an Alolan market with me, Serena and Zap,” Greninja ‘told’ him.
What? That can’t be right, he’s being held dozens of meters in the air, not in some market in Alola, or is he?
“I assure you, you are definitely in Alola,” Greninja ‘told’ him once again. “Concentrate, can you feel the ground?” he asked.
Ground? He was in the air!
Wait, no he wasn’t, he was sitting on something uncomfortable, rocks or cobblestone maybe?
The pain started to fade a little but wasn’t gone completely.
“Open your eyes, please,” Greninja requested.
He blinked his eyes open, confused (when did he close them?) and lifted his head from where it was tucked in his arms, he saw Greninja, but also Kukui...and Serena?
“Hi,” Serena greeted. “Fancy seeing you here,” she said, jokingly, although the look in her eyes clearly said ‘we’re going to be having a talk later’.
He could work out why she was here later.
“Hey,” he returned the greeting. “What happened?” he asked.
“You tell me,” she answered, unhelpfully. “What triggered it?” Serena asked instead. He didn’t say anything for a minute.
“Hair - someone’s red hair, and - and they were wearing a - a suit like h-his,” he told her, not quite whispering but not quite at a normal volume either.
“It’s not him, he’s dead, Ash, we found the body in the wreckage,” she insisted.
“I know that but it just looked so much like him and-” he cut himself off. Instead of saying anything, Serena offered him a hand up, which he accepted.
“Not that I don’t like seeing you again but what are you doing in Alola, Serena?” he asked, obviously moving the conversation on.
“I was coming to see you, actually,” the blonde told him.
Before he had a chance to ask Greninja what he wanted to, the water type changed back to his regular form with a quick splash of water.
He moved back so that the Greninja (Satoshi’s?) could approach the teen. He doesn’t know what he’s doing and these two, for some reason, clearly do so he resigns himself to watching it happen.
He knew that Satoshi is a great trainer, Great Tapu, from the battles and unorthodox training methods he’s seen, the boy is an extraordinary trainer but this Greninja was something else.
His question about ‘bonding’ was answered very soon as thin, string-like tendrils of light reached out from the Greninja to touch Satoshi and soon, the water type was covered in a ball of water?
When it cleared, the Greninja looked very different to what it (he?) had looked like just minutes before.
That’s the Bond Phenomenon, otherwise known as a Battle Bond. The Pokemon Professor side of his brain whispered.
He doesn’t hear anything being spoken but it’s obvious that something is unfolding right in front of him. Then Satoshi finally responds to something, as he looked up to see them.
“Hi,” the girl greeted. “Fancy seeing you here,” she said, a joking tone in her voice that Kukui doesn't quite understand why she used it.
“Hey,” Satoshi returned the greeting. “What happened?” he asked.
“You tell me,” she answered, unhelpfully. “What triggered it?” she asked instead.
He didn’t say anything for a minute.
“Hair - someone’s red hair and - and they were wearing a suit like his,” he told her, not quite whispering but not quite at a normal volume either.
“It’s not him, he’s dead, Ash, we found the body in the wreckage,” she told him. With a sinking feeling, he has a suspicion of who exactly they’re referring to, even without much context at al.
“I know that but it just looked so much like him and-” Satoshi cut himself off like he had swallowed the end of his sentence.
Satoshi quickly moved the conversation on, clearly not wanting to discuss that topic anymore.
After that, the girl - Serena, he learnt eventually - and Satoshi’s Greninja both accompanied them back to the house. She stayed for dinner, at the Kanto native’s insistence.
What surprised him was Serena asked Sato to battle her and it looked like it took the teen by surprise too. The girl doesn’t look the kind of person who would be a trainer (maybe that’s a little too rich coming from him, an Alolan native).
Kukui watched their battle from his seat on the steps of the porch which gives him a good vantage point to look over the two’s different battling styles.
Satoshi battles with a different energy to what he has seen the boy use, but he was still getting more involved than most other trainers would. But for this battle in particular, there’s something different about him. And even from where he’s watching, he can see that Serena must be a performer, or at least started out as one, based on how she commands her Pokemon, more about agility and movement than sheer force and strategies.
The battle ends in an easy tie, although it could have gone on for longer to determine a true winner but he suspected that they didn’t battle to win. It ends with Zap against Serena’s Sylveon.