“That was… uhm,” Max said, blinking a couple of times, as they carried Bagon back to the Pokémon Centre. “That was, really impressive, but… how did you do that, Ash?”
“Do what?” Ash replied.
“The tree!” Max said. “You picked up a tree about three times as tall as I am and threw it! You’re not that much bigger or older than me, are you?”
Ash frowned, then visibly realized what Max was talking about.
“Oh, yeah, that!” he said, chuckling. “Yeah, it’s just normal for me, I guess it’s kind of a long story…”
“What kind of long story could explain that?” May asked. “And how haven’t we heard about it yet?”
“Because I didn’t actually find out about it for a while after it happened?” Ash said or possibly asked, shrugging.
“Pika kachuu,” Pikachu declared.
“Gon?” Matt’s Bagon said, looking confused.
Pikachu shrugged.
“Anyway, I’m technically made of animated rock,” Ash resumed. “I… think it’s basalt?”
“Actually it’s a welded ignimbrite,” Brock supplied. “Because it’s made of Ash.”
Ash nodded, clearly immediately forgetting the technical details.
“How does that… what?” Max asked, staring. “Is that… how does… I don’t even know the right words for that! How did that happen?”
Ash chuckled. “Uh… I actually don’t remember,” he admitted, which got Max to stare daggers at him, not that Ash noticed. “Well. Mostly I don’t remember. So what happened was, before my first Pokémon League I ran into the middle of a fight between Mew and Mewtwo.”
That did not seem to clarify the situation.
“You mean the Mew from Rota?” May said.
Max snapped his fingers. “Is that where Doctor Yung got the idea from?”
“What are you talking about?” Matt said, his voice vague and unclear, and Bagon shrugged.
“It wasn’t the Rota Mew,” Ash replied. “I… think. But anyway, I got turned to stone, which I guess might or might not have killed me, I don’t actually know and we’ve not met Yveltal yet who’s the one who’d have an expert opinion…”
He was silent for several seconds.
“Maybe Xerneas?” he asked.
“Not the point,” Max sighed.
“You died?” May asked.
“I don’t know if I died, I said,” Ash replied. “I mean, I don’t have a great memory of what happened so some of this is what Mewtwo told me. Anyway, a lot of Pokémon cried, and now I’m alive again, if I stopped being alive that is, but it didn’t turn me back from being made of stone.”
He shrugged. “Because, uh… if it turned me back from being made of stone but didn’t make it so I was alive, then I guess I’d be dead of being made of stone? Is that a syndrome? It feels like it should be. And if it made me alive again, it didn’t need to bother with making it so that I’m not made of stone, because… well, Brock alone has at least two Pokémon who are alive even though they’re made of rock, so it’s the same kind of thing, right?”
“I still can’t get over the bit about how you died,” May admitted. “Or… didn’t die. Whichever it is, it’s still weird, right? You get that it’s weird… right?”
“It probably is weird or something,” Ash shrugged. “I actually didn’t realize this until we met Mewtwo again, because Mewtwo wiped our memories, and I guess whatever was going on meant I could still eat and stuff. I’m even still the Chosen One!”
Then he frowned. “Wait, am I Lugia’s Chosen One or the Chosen One in general, or is it kind of a mix?”
“I thought I was Jirachi’s Chosen One,” Max said, thinking. “And I bet May is Manaphy’s Chosen One. But there was the thing with Lucario…”
Brock chuckled. “I can think of one Pokémon from Altomare who probably wants you to be her Chosen One,” he said.
Ash frowned. “Huh?”
“I’m sorry, what is up with you people?” Matt demanded. “You’re – he just said that he’s a rock that died and came back to life and you’re treating it as normal?”
“No, not normal,” Ash replied. “Ghost Rock, if anything. Hey, Brock, are there any Ghost Rocks or would that be a new type combination? I can’t remember. Maybe we should contact Professor Oak about it?”
