Chapter Text
As Ash arrived at the Evolution Ceremony having saddled his Skiddo, and followed Grace on her Gogoat, the first thing he notices is the atmosphere. While he wasn't expecting anything negative, it still took him by surprise when he feels how welcoming and joyous the people seem to be.
The second thing he notices is that a majority of the people have a Pokemon partner out, and a good chunk of those that have one out, their pokemon still have a evolution to go. And while Driew has been welcoming so far, he raises his guard unconsciously as he flashes back to Lt. Surge and the Eeveelution brothers back when he started his journey.
Pikachu hops down to his shoulder from where he was on Ash's head, and comfortingly nuzzles Ash's cheek with a small squeak.
They look around in curiosity, almost overwhelmed by the amount of energy in the air, hesitantly, he reaches out to Grace and taps her shoulder to get her attention.
“What’s up?” She asks
Ash waves a hand at the party, “Explain, please. I am terribly lost”
Grace makes a noise of understanding, “Right, none of the other regions have these.” she turns to give Ash her full attention, “So an Evolution Ceremony is where the people of the community come to celebrate their bond with their partner pokemon, and formalize their partner pokemons choice to evolve or not”
Ash blinks owlishly at that, “Wait, so you're telling me that the choice to evolve is in the Pokémons metaphorical or not hands?”
She nods with a smile, “Yep! Here in Driew, we prefer to let our pokemon partners be able to choose their path, it’s only the least we can do to our dear helpers and friends.”
She points out a kid, looks to about nine or ten who has a bulbasaur next to him.
“Take a look”
The kid seemed to be talking about his pokemon in a worried manner:
“Ivy, are you sure you want to evolve? I hope I didn’t put pressure on you to evolve. If I did I’m really really sorry and…”
The boy looked ready to start crying when I kind ginger lady with a pokeberry basket and a Goodra on her side started talking to him and to ‘mon’, after a while the child calmed down and hugged their leafy friend.
“See… A trainer imposing their wishes upon their pokemon is frowned upon, unless the ‘mon’ in question is heavily hurt and evolving could save their lives, we don’t do it without their approval first. That’s why the EvolParty happens every year, in case old pokemons decide to finally evolve and new mons decide not to.”
Grace looked deep in thought, when suddenly the lights went out and a man’s voice was heard throughout the area.
“Goodnight, Lasses and Lads! I’m your pokemon professor speaking directly from this balcony in front of you!”
People seemed to laugh at the man’s jokes when the person in question walked onto the stage.
The man was around his mid 30’s, had platinum blond hair, a lot of scars in his arms and face, sported sunglasses despite being night, and wore a tuxedo under a coconut themed t-shirt.
“A year has passed since the last time we were here, my friends! Let’s see what new evolutions, or not, will happen today! Who will come first, huh?”
“Me!” Exclaimed the boy with the bulbasaur. “We want to go!”
“Then come up here Paul. Beware of the staircase.”
As if on cue in the middle of the staircase the boy trips and his ‘mon’ had to save him from taking the fall.
“Sorry!”
Ash looked around and everyone seemed to be smiling at the child’s antics. The energy in the air was starting to become more bearable.
“So~ Paul. Tell us what was your ‘mons’ choice!”
“Ivy wants to evolve, Professor!”
“What wonderful news, kid!”
The professor took out a leaf stone and gave it to the boy, who knelt in front of their friend and said: “To our continued friendship!”
Then the bulbasaur proceeded to extend her paws and touch the stone, kickstarting their evolution. After the pokemon started to shine and her body started to change, a newly evolved Ivysaur stood in it’s place.
“Saur!”
“Congratulations on your evolution! Now who will come next?”
“Th-that would be me professor!” A teen surrounded by 3 Mareeps and two Flaaffy was the one who raised his hand this time.
“How wonderful! Come on Francis, did some of your herd decide to evolve?”
The boy, Francis, clearly hated the attention, but looked determined.
“That’s right professor. These 3 have decided to evolve into Flaaffy and these two are aiming for Ampharos!”
The teenager walked up to the stage with his ‘mons’ and received their Electric Stones
As the Mareeps and Flaaffys evolved the people around Ash made a couple of comments that caught his attention.
“Francis is truly a talented shepherd, every year he gives his all to protect our herds in those seasons despite his fear of wild pokemon and of those pests.”
“With these two new Ampharus the Lighthouse of Mareep Port, the one in the Reverse Mountains and the one of Midnight Bay are finally going to be able to work throughout the year!”
Was there some sort of story behind the name of the city and the shepherd status? What season are they talking about?
New trainers and their ‘mons’ continued going to the stage, 3 trainers and their mons chose Everstones, 5 said that they would wait some more and other 2 decided to evolve. The party was coming close to an end.
“Hey… let’s go, Professor Sand is probably going to find us on the backstage.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Grace led him to the backstage, Ash contemplated what he had just seen. A celebration where pokemons and their trainers announced their choice of evolving or not. Something outstanding. Oh, how he wished this existed in Kanto when he remembered Lt Surge.
“Professors! I have brought the Assistant over. I think he liked our party!”
“How wonderful! I must say that once again this year was a blast.”
Ash takes Professor Sands hand in his for a handshake, and he feels that the Professor’s hand is calloused, and while some of the callouses are the typical ones from being a Pokemon trainer, such as handling Pokeballs and such, Ash feels callouses that remind him of the Fighting type gym leaders he has battled in the past. The callouses of one who exercises their hands and fists often, strange thing to feel on a Professor, much less one that looks so much like he stays in the lab, despite his strange choice of attire
“Professor Sand,” the Professor states, “A pleasure to finally meet you, I've heard a lot about you”
“Ash Ketchum,” Ash replies, “And I can't say the same about you unfortunately. the internet didn't have much on you”
Sand chuckles as he pulls his hand back,
“It’s how Driew works, we like to keep our cards close to our chest, although, if you go looking, you can find some of my old records. Just don't tell anyone I told you,” he informed Ash with a wink
Ash nods his head slowly in confusion and agreement, wondering what is up with this Professor.
“Now,” Professor Sand begins, “Let’s head to somewhere private so we can discuss what brought you here.”
Ash nods again, and follows Professor Sand as he weaves his way through the crowd, Professor Oak and Grace following behind him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Several minutes later, Professor Sands leads the group into what appears to be a simple research lab. Bookshelves line the walls, ranging from topics about Type Energy to regional Variations in Pokémon
The Professor motions towards a table, as he goes and grabs a tablet, and then sits down with them, a Delfox walking out of the attached kitchen area with tea and what smells like coffee
“Thank you Del,” Professor Sand murmurs, as the Delfox replies with a short, “Fox’, and walks back
Professor Sand chuckles as he sips some of the prepared coffee, “Please, help yourself, something tells me that you will need something for your throats as we talk.”
Ash raises an eyebrow, beginning to get annoyed with how the Professor doesn't seem to be taking the potential news he carries seriously. Ash grabs a cup a tea, and is surprised at how he actually enjoys it
Professor Sand than clears his throat and leans forward a bit, “Now, Professor Oak has led me to believe that the Ultra Beasts have finally begun to make a move towards other regions”