"So he can sense Aura, just like Lucario. Let me check Lucario's data," Ash said to himself.
When he first met Lucario at the castle, he hadn't known much about it. He only knew from the Queen that Lucario was an Aura Pokémon.
Pokédex: "Lucario, the Aura Pokémon. The evolved form of Riolu. It can read its opponent's thoughts and movements by sensing their Aura."
"That's amazing. I want to catch a Lucario too," Ash said excitedly.
Normally, catching Pokémon was supposed to be about fate, but after seeing the data on both Pokémon, Ash couldn't help blurting out that he wanted one. He really was still a kid about these things.
Still—catching a Lucario wasn't happening any time soon. That would have to wait years.
Lucario's death in the movie was something many fans still felt regret over. Even when Ash later encountered a Riolu during his time in Sinnoh, everyone assumed he'd catch it then, but it was only a passing encounter, not a capture.
It wasn't until much later, in the Kalos region, that Ash finally caught a Riolu of his own, which felt like it finally fulfilled that old wish.
"By the way, let's check that Infernape you mentioned, Gary," Ash said, remembering the Pokémon Gary had said he was interested in.
If Gary was thinking about it, it had to be worth a look.
Pokédex: "Infernape, the Flame Pokémon. The evolved form of Monferno. Its temperament is as fierce as the flame burning on its head, and its agility rivals anyone's."
"So this is Infernape. So cool," Ash said.
"Ha." Gary smiled, silently wondering whether he should try to intercept Ash's Infernape.
After all, aside from the Lily of the Valley Conference, Ash never really used Infernape again afterward.
Ash's Infernape in particular had an EX Blaze, which made it genuinely worth trying to intercept.
"It should be with Paul right now," Gary thought to himself.
Based on the timeline, Paul should have already returned to Sinnoh after his trip through Kanto, preparing for the Lily of the Valley Conference, and would use this Pokémon in his first three-on-three battle against Ash.
In other words, Paul had already caught the little Chimchar. If Gary wanted it, he'd have to wait until Paul abandoned it.
But Paul abandoning Chimchar wasn't only because it couldn't control Blaze—Ash's own actions during that period played a big part in it too. Without that influence, Paul might never have let it go at all.
It was a genuine headache.
Never mind. Better to focus on catching the shiny Metagross first.
There was a ferocious shiny Metagross living outside of Windvale Town in the Sinnoh region.
Metagross was an extremely dangerous wild Pokémon. Even though it was a Steel-type, it was a true predator. It ate meat, and it did so in a brutal way.
Instead of killing its prey first, it would pin its opponent down with its body and then eat it alive using the teeth hidden in its underside. The prey would be forced to watch itself being consumed piece by piece, eventually dying from blood loss.
For the sake of the region's safety, Gary decided he needed to capture this Metagross.
"Ding-dong!"
"Dear passengers, the cruise ship has arrived at Sandgem Town. Passengers disembarking here, please do so before 4 PM. Please remember to take your luggage and personal belongings with you."
The ship had docked at the pier in Sandgem Town.
"Ha, we're finally here!"
"Pikachu!"
Ash and Pikachu were both excited. A new journey was about to begin.
"Let's go grab our luggage from the room."
"Okay."
Gary and Ash went back to get their things and disembarked together.
"Gary, let's go to Professor Rowan's lab," Ash said.
"You go. I'm not going," Gary said, declining.
"Huh? You don't want to visit him?" Ash asked.
"I'll visit him later. I have something else to take care of first," Gary said, and walked off in a different direction.
"Seriously, why are you being so weird about this?" Ash said, reluctant to part ways, since he usually had company while traveling.
But Gary was firm about leaving, and there wasn't much Ash could do about it.
"Come on, Pikachu, let's go see Professor Rowan," Ash said.
"Pika!"
Pikachu nodded, and the two of them headed off in the other direction.
In order not to disrupt the storyline, this is the only way, Gary thought.
Gary was unwilling to go with Ash to Professor Rowan's lab because he didn't want to interfere with the original sequence of events.
Based on what was supposed to happen when Ash first arrived in Sinnoh, Team Rocket would capture Pikachu, and Pikachu would eventually escape and meet Dawn. Ash would learn from Professor Rowan that Pikachu had been seen with a girl, prompting him to head out into the wild to search—during which he would come across a Starly and catch it.
Gary knew that if he stayed by Ash's side, the Team Rocket trio likely wouldn't dare try anything, so he chose to leave in order to avoid disrupting events.
Starly would go on to appear many times throughout Ash's later journey. If Ash never caught it here, it could throw off everything that came after.
As for why Gary cared so much about preserving Sinnoh's storyline exactly as it happened—it was because Sinnoh was home to a near world-ending event, one that eventually led Ash to Michina Town and a confrontation with an enraged Arceus.
If Dialga hadn't sent Ash and the others back in time to resolve that misunderstanding, the world wouldn't just have been in danger—Sinnoh might have been completely destroyed, and Michina Town would certainly no longer exist.
Gary wasn't willing to gamble on the scale of Arceus's wrath. If it decided to wipe out humanity, that would be catastrophic. So it was safer to make sure Ash's journey unfolded exactly the way it originally had.
On top of that, the events set to occur in Sinnoh were already terrifying enough on their own. Before long, Dialga and Palkia would clash near Alamos Town. After that, Giratina would emerge to fight Dialga, and a man named Zero would seize the opportunity to copy Giratina's ability to enter the Reverse World, nearly destroying the glaciers of Sinnoh in the process.
The events in other regions were still relatively containable—even when Legendary Pokémon got angry, they usually just dealt with whoever provoked them and moved on. But the events tied to Sinnoh always seemed to spiral into space-time collapse, shattered glaciers, and near-total destruction. It was genuinely frightening.
Gary needed to keep his distance from Ash for this entire stretch of the Sinnoh journey. As for anyone hoping to exploit the chaos of these events for their own gain, Shaymin made for a fairly safe target to pursue instead.
Although Shaymin was a Mythical Pokémon, it wasn't especially powerful, and it migrated seasonally. As it happened, this was Shaymin's migration season—groups of them would travel toward fields of Gracidea flowers and transform into their Sky Forme using the flowers' pollen.