Cerulean Arc Part 1: Despair

**"Cerulean Arc Part 1: Despair"** is the eighth chapter of *Pokémon Reset Bloodlines.* After waking up from his MissingNo-induced dream, Ash realizes that his other friends might still be in danger or worse, and resolves to do what he can to protect them. And despite their initial intent to skip Cerulean City, circumstances force Ash to go there in order to save Misty's life.

## Plot

Still in the Cerulean City Pokémon Center, Gary Oak runs into his grandfather, who has a couple of packages with him. He gives Gary one, who opens it to find a strange glove, which the scientist explains that something he built up to optimize Pokémon rotation (a step up from an incident with a Pokédex button that caused a Magikarp to vanish from existence) the H.O.P.E. (Handheld Omni-Powered Expediter) Glove, which will enable to transfer Poké Balls from anywhere within range of their Pokédex, and also includes an app to send a wireless signal to Oak's lab so as to tell which Pokémon he needs for transfer at any time. Professor Oak explains that he made only two prototypes, one for him and the other for Ash, and is looking for the latter to give it his own. Right then, Nurse Joy approaches with a package of her own that is to be forwarded to Ash as well, apparently sent from Rota.

Back with Ash, the trainer wakes up from his nightmare, relieved that it's finally over and trying to convince himself that it was just a dream. Until Pikachu wakes up too and muses about having the same dream, making Ash realize that no, it wasn't a dream at all. He gathers his six Pokémon around and they discuss what happened (barring Charmander who's gone off to train on his own nearby). Pidgeotto suggests that she might be able to fly and give messages to Ash's friends, but Butterfree quickly shoots her down on that, as in her current evolutionary state she can't fly all the way to faraway regions, plus the rest of Ash's friends (other than Serena) don't even know him yet and would probably be shocked that a random person sends them a message. The conversation eventually deflects to try and use internet media to contact them, and then Ash's Pokédex beeps, accessing Ash's account on its own.

Much to Ash's surprise, the device has done updates to his account, including befriending Brock and reporting his latest achievements with the Pokémon he's captured and the Boulder Badge, and has gotten congratulatory messages from Oak, Delia and Gary. Once he's gotten over the shock, Ash requests to find May in Petalburg City, having to narrow the search in order to pinpoint her. He sees a family photo of May looking older, reporting in as having just turned thirteen years old, which Ash admits makes her look attractive. Ash then asks for Tracey Sketchit in the Orange Islands, and he is quickly found, still working as a Pokémon Watcher in addition to being a freelance artist, currently visiting Sinnoh's Great Marsh. Ash then requests to find Dawn in Twinleaf Town, but no records are found. He then tries for Cilan in Striaton City, but the only record found was that he and his brothers were apparently abducted from Striaton City's Children Hospital about ten years ago, much to Ash's horror. Asking next for Iris in Village of Dragons, the Pokédex only finds (after hacking) a classified document with the record of a girl named Iris who was abandoned by her parents in a forest to die, and was never found (both parents serving jail time, with the mother set to be released in nine years due to being browbeaten into it by the father). Ash, now despondent, asks for Bonnie and Clemont in Lumiose City, who are also quickly found, but that does little to snap Ash out of his funk over the possible loss of his friends, causing him to collapse to his knees.

The Pokédex then plays out a message recorded by Professor Oak, apparently on the event that Ash would fall to depression and lose his will to live, urging him to move on and live for what he has, and face adversity no matter how hard things can get. Ash then gets up and addresses his Pokémon, telling them they need to become stronger so they can protect the friends they still have, and live to honor the memories of those they've lost. Despite still being in pain, Ash decides that he'll keep strong for his Pokémon rather than sit down and do nothing.

Later, Misty wakes up and after taking a shower, sees Ash training with Charmander (or rather, Charmander attacking Ash) making him wonder if he's gone crazy. Psyduck suggests that Ash is training himself like he and Misty's other Pokémon do when sparring with each other. When the rest of Ash's Pokémon join in, Misty reluctantly has to admit that Psyduck's suggestion makes sense.

Few days later, Ash and Misty stop by the Pokémon Tech school, where after being lured by the students into battling, they pretty much demolish every single student who tries to challenge them, while they're watched by Noland, a teacher at the school, and Scott, who is rather impressed with their abilities to defeat talented students so easily, especially Ash, whom he thinks will be interested in his future operation to expand the Battle Frontier, and would like to see him as a challenger. Scott then asks Noland if he's interested in joining, and he agrees, deciding to set up a Battle Factory. Sometime later, Ash and Misty are offered a feast of everything they can eat as reward for their trouble.

The trip continues, and upon arriving to the Nugget Bridge, still undergoing repairs, Misty is pleased that they won't have to cross through Cerulean City. She starts daydreaming about Ash, how much she's seen him train in the past days with his Pokémon, wondering if it's just a thing of his discovery of being a Bloodliner, or if there's something in his mind he's trying to distract himself from. In fact, she's so distracted herself that she doesn't notice she's walking towards a nearby Vileplume.

Not long after, Ash and Pikachu, who'd just finished their training, find Misty lying on the ground covered in toxic spores while the Vileplume runs off. The Pokédex quickly describes that Vileplume's spores can be deadly if an antidote isn't administered quickly, which Ash realizes he does not have at hand. The Pokémon start arguing about taking her to a hospital, but the nearest one is in Cerulean and, first, she explicitly told them to not to go there, and second, the bridge is under repairs and they can't cross it easily even if they wanted. Just as Ash picks Misty up, a Squirtle comes out of the nearby river, vowing revenge for the Squirtle Squad.

## Continuity

* First appearance of Scott and Noland, as well as the first mention of the Battle Frontier.
* Ash and Misty's visit to the Pokémon Tech is further expanded in the *Giselle Interlude* side story.
* Ash's Squirtle arrival is explained in the *Squirtle Squad Gaiden* side story.

## Characters

### Humans

* Gary Oak
* Professor Samuel Oak
* Nurse Joy
* Ash Ketchum
* May Maple (Image)
* Tracey Sketchit (Image)
* Clemont (Image)
* Bonnie (Image)
* Misty Waterflower
* Noland Datsura
* Scott

### Pokémon

* Pikachu (Ash's)
* Charmander (Ash's)
* Pidgeotto (Ash's)
* Butterfree (Ash's)
* Bulbasaur (Ash's)
* Aipom (Ash's)
* Venonat (Tracey's; image)
* Marill (Tracey's; image)
* Scyther (Tracey's; image)
* Psyduck (Misty's)
* Staryu (Misty's)
* Starmie (Misty's)
* Wingull (Misty's)
* Vileplume (Wild)
* Squirtle (Wild)