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Martha is getting very tired of following the Doctor to different places where he ignores her. She’s honestly trailing after him like a lost pup at this point. But still, when he mentions that he’d like to watch a major event in the year 3000, who is she to refuse?
As he pilots the TARDIS, he tells Martha all about a kid named Ash. Well, he ‘tells’ her. It’s not like the Doctor actually tells her anything. A slight overview of Ash is all she gets, and the Doctor explains that he wants the kid to be able to handle things on his own without the Doctor. So, they’re going to observe, not get involved.
And so, they land on an island, right as the inhabitants are in the middle of a celebration. After a few minutes of watching the celebrations from afar, a storm breaks out over the horizon, pulling a ship to shore. The Doctor leads Martha down there, making sure they get there before any of the islanders notice the TARDIS or ship and come look. Apparently part of just observing includes blending in with this Ash character and his traveling party.
Until the Doctor goes sauntering up to an 11-year-old and says “Hey, Ash! It’s me!” The 11-year-old, to his credit, looks very confused.
“Who?”
“Oh, yeah, you haven’t seen me like this yet, have you? Well, you can call me Ten.”
“Doctor!” Ash beams. “Are you here to help us with something?”
“Just to spend some time,” the Doctor says, sitting down. He does not leave a chair for Martha.
Ash shrugs since the Doctor mostly just watched the last time he met him. He turns his attention to Martha, “Who are you?”
“I’m Martha. How old are you?”
“Oh, I just turned 11 last month! And my name’s Ash, I’m from Pallet Town! This is Misty, and Tracy.” he nods at his companions. Martha doesn’t know which one is which, but Ash is already asking her questions about her time with the Doctor. She can barely keep up with them. “How long have you known the Doctor?”
“A bit now. You’re a Pokemon trainer at 11?”
“We start at ten, but I guess you aren’t from now, right? Neither was Amy. Do you have a Pokemon? What do you do?”
That’s a lot of questions, but Martha answers them in order: “No, I’m from 2007. I do have a Pokemon, she’s in her Pokeball right now, but I can take her out if you want to meet her. I’m a doctor.”
“Can I meet your Pokemon?” Ash begs. “I love Pokemon, and I really love meeting new ones!”
“Ash,” a girl with ginger hair jumps out of the boat, landing next to him. She’s holding a togepi. “Who are they?”
“Oh, Misty, this is Martha and 10. 10 is a friend of mine, and Martha is his friend.”
“Oh, cool! Nice to meet you both,” she smiles. Her togepi trills. Tracy follows her out of the boat and introduces himself, wrapping it up right before a crowd of islanders come to the boat. Ash isn’t too bummed about it, since he’s sure he’ll meet Martha’s cool Pokemon later.
Except, things get weird pretty fast. A young girl named Melody from the group greets Ash with a cheek kiss, which he seems pretty uncomfortable with, and then they all cheer when they find out he’s a trainer. Apparently, there’s some sort of prophecy about a trainer coming to the island, and so they decide to throw a banquet in his honor.
All the while this kid just stands there awkwardly, Misty staring daggers into the girl who kissed him, and Tracy looking rather bored. They’re all then led into a hall where a feast is served, music is played, and Melody tells Ash about the prophecy. Apparently, he’s a chosen one, and he needs to collect three symbolic glass orbs from a trio of nearby islands.
As the Doctor watches this unfold, Martha already feels like she should be reminding everyone on the island that Ash is eleven, and in no way ready to be a chosen one.
As the festival starts taking place, the Doctor drags Martha away from Ash and his friends to get them food and drinks. “Doctor, he’s a child,” she says, “Is it safe to let him take on any sort of ‘chosen one’ duties?”
“It’s fine!” the Doctor reassures her. “He’s already died once.”
“That doesn’t reassure me at all!” She’s about to continue when she hears Ash say something. Apparently his partner Pikachu grabbed his hat off the table and has gone running off. He decided to take this as a sign to skip the festivities and get right to his chosen one duties. He asks his friends if they want to go with him and they refuse, Misty saying some rude things in the process. Ash just shrugs and runs off, their boat driver accompanying him. Martha turns back to the Doctor, “Everyone’s just going to let this 11-year-old go out to sea in the middle of this storm!?”
“I am observing.”
Martha grits her teeth, looking after Ash. “Well I’m not!” she snaps. “Come with me or don’t, I don’t care.” and with that, she runs after Ash.
She follows Ash to the boat. “Oh, are you coming with me?” Ash asks.
“It could be dangerous.”
“I’ll be fine! I’ve already died once!”
“That really isn’t as comforting as you and the Doctor seem to think it is.”
“Oh, sorry. I know I shouldn’t tell people like my mom and Professor Oak that I’ve died ‘cause it’ll upset them, but I didn’t think someone hanging out with the Doctor would get too upset about it.”
Martha might be about to kill the Doctor if she wasn’t sure that wouldn’t work.
Ash climbs up onto the boat and tries offering Martha a hand up, as if she’s not much taller than him and the only adult who’s going on this boat. Once they’re all aboard, his boating friend– a girl named Maren who can’t be more than 16– starts sailing them out onto the stormy seas.
And stormy they are! The winds and the sea are whipping around them. It’s slightly terrifying, and Martha wishes she had a better explanation for why it was happening than “this stuff happens when the Doctor’s around”. Although maybe this stuff happens when Ash is around, too. That must be horrid for Ash.
They do end up on one of the islands, Martha following close behind Ash as he runs off after Pikachu again. Maren stays behind on the boat. Martha follows Ash up through the island until they find some sort of ruins, including a statue of what might be a bird. Within the bird’s stone beak is a glowing red orb. Ash pulls the orb out, needing to use so much force that he nearly falls over in the process. With that done, Ash simply puts the orb in his pocket and turns to leave.
That’s when another pair of teenagers show up, one with pink hair and the other with blue. Apparently, Ash doesn’t like them, telling them to go away.
However, they don’t go away, and now Martha has more teenagers in her little group.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Jessie!”
“And I’m James!”
“And I’m Meowth!” says a Meowth.
“How are you talking?”
“My tragic backstory,” Meowth says, and Jessie and James nod sagely. “We’re Team Rocket! Who are you?”
“I’m Martha. How old are you?”
“Old enough!” James says.
Martha sighs, turning to Ash. “What does Team Rocket do, Ash? Why don’t you like them?”
“They’re part of a group of really bad people who steal other people’s Pokemon!”
“Yes,” Jessie smirks, “and we’re after the twerp’s Pikachu! It’ll make such a lovely gift for our boss Giovanni!”
Martha blinks, realizing that these teenagers are in some sort of mob. She’s not that religious, but Jesus fucking Christ.
Below them, another boat arrives, with Ash’s companions and the girl who kissed him on the cheek. Among them, Martha can see the tall scrawny stick of the Doctor. Well, there he is. Took him long enough, but she guesses he can’t “observe” Ash from an island away.
Apparently, the boat that Ash, Maren and Martha took had its rudder break off on the hard trip over, so they can’t get out of here using that. Melody’s boat is also damaged, but apparently it can fly so it’s not too big of a deal. Add ‘flying sailboat piloted by an 11-year-old girl’ to the list of questionable things Martha has encountered tonight. And she’s seen a lot of flying vehicles, including cars to nowhere. At least the boat can go places.
“Hey?” she asks as they’re all catching up, noticing a very angry-looking yellow bird that seems to be flying right toward them. “What’s that bird?”
That bird ends up being an electric-type Pokemon that doesn’t seem to be incredibly happy with their presence on the island. When it starts shocking Pikachu, Martha nearly throws a fit.
And then the talking Meowth says that they’re just communicating.
This surprises even Meowth’s companions, who asks for a translation. Apparently, the bird is a Zapdos who is trying to claim the island because its guardian, Moltres, is nowhere to be seen. Seeing an opportunity to take over the territory, Zapdos went for it.
Zapdos is about to start trying to force the humans off of the island when, out of nowhere, a series of large lightning bolts come crashing out of the sky, hitting Zapdos and making it wail. It’s so powerful that everyone is pushed back by a shockwave. By the time Martha has recovered enough to look again, Zapdos has been put into some sort of odd metal cage… And the humans have been, too.
They’re pulled into the inside of a large airship, all while Ash tries to throw himself against the bars holding them all. Except the bars have electricity coursing between them, so all he gets is a good shock. Martha prevents him from throwing himself back at it, forcibly pulling him away from it. “Getting hurt isn’t going to help!”
“I’ve gotta do something!”
But he doesn’t get to, as their captor approaches. It’s a man, with pale sickly green hair. His name is Lawrence, and he’s capturing the Pokemon for his own evil collector gain. Martha watches Tracey’s eyes land on the captured Zapdos and Moltres.
Lawrence says that it’s his plan to capture the birds, and kindly lets Ash and his friends go. When he leaves the room, Martha wanders over to the stone in the middle. Melody follows her.
“It’s a prophecy,” she explains and reads it out loud.
Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice, or lightning, lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash. Though the water's great guardian shall arise to quell the fighting, alone its song will fail, lest the earth shall turn to ash. O Chosen One, into thine hands, bring together all three. Their treasures combined tame the Beast of the Sea.
Martha has been studying the sciences long enough to not believe in prophecies. Unfortunately, she’s also been traveling with the Doctor long enough to know that weird shit does indeed exist. And, more importantly, Ash is most certainly going to believe this. Though, at the moment, he’s more preoccupied with trying to physically break the cages the birds are in.
“Ash, that isn’t going to work.” They’re weird magic cages of something. Even if this 11-year-old was freakishly strong, he wouldn’t be able to break them.
“I have to try!”
Well, he is freakishly stubborn. All Martha can do is watch and hope he doesn’t get electrocuted. And he does. Of course.
Finally, they pull out Pokemon. Team Rocket’s Pokemon are utterly horrible at breaking the cages, but they do all manage to free the two bird Pokemon after making the cages explode.
Unfortunately, the bird Pokemon start fighting, and the ship gets destroyed. It crashes down onto Lightning Island, and the gang runs out.
The ship has destroyed the pedestal, causing it to break and the Lightning Sphere to roll out. Ash grabs it, and the group runs over to Melody’s boat. Overhead, the Pokemon– with the addition of Articuno– battle.
They thought that the storm earlier was bad sailing conditions. That was a sunny day compared to this, waves towering over the boat and threatening to swallow it. Instead it chooses a much less dangerous way to deal with the boat, throwing them way off course.
They get tossed up onto an island, with a shrine in the middle. A Slowking waddles up to them, somehow able to speak, and it guides Ash and his friends to where to place the orbs. Tracey and Misty whisper something about telepathy, so Martha doesn’t really question the talking Slowking. She's already met a talking Meowth today. What’s another talking Pokemon?
Ash looks at the different bird statues they were led to for a while, until he looks through the mouths and realizes he can see each of the islands. He puts the Fire and Lightning orbs in their corresponding bird-statue-mouths, before turning back to Slowking.
It sighs, “It seems you’re one short.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You must obtain the Ice orb, or the worst will happen.” It sighs, sounding somewhere between tired and depressed.
Ash nods, turning his gaze to the stormy sea. In the distance is the frost-covered island, barely visible over the crashing waves.
Martha goes up to Ash, “You aren’t seriously thinking of continuing, are you!?”
“I’m the chosen one. And look at what’s happening! Everything is falling apart, and me getting that orb and taking it back here might be the only way to stop it. I’ve got no choice.”
Above them, the bird Pokemon dive down towards them, but a Lugia appears to fend them off. However, it falls, and Pokemon appear around them. They seem to have appeared from the frozen sea, but Martha can’t understand exactly why they’re there.
Beside them, Melody lifts her instrument. Gently, she plays the same tune she had played at the ceremony. Lugia lifts up, invigorated and ready to fight again. Ash looks over at Martha, “I’m going.”
For some reason, Misty, Tracey and Melody all simply nod, not offering to go with him or anything. Why is everyone buying this ‘11-year-old chosen one who must do everything alone’ crap!?
“I’m coming with you,” Martha decides.
“Martha, I’m in the prophecy! ‘The world will turn to Ash’, remember? Misty pointed it out to me.”
Martha still frowns and crosses her arms. “And you’re going to stop me, mate?”
Ash thinks over a response. On one hand, chosen one. On the other, really cool time traveling lady offering her help on this pretty terrifying quest. He eventually swallows and nods, “Okay. You can go with me.”
Martha nods, and they all go to the shore. They pull together what remains of the weathered boats and say goodbye to their companions, Martha ignoring the look of disapproval she’s getting from the Doctor. Who gives a shit about him?
With Lugia, they head towards Ice Island.
The sea seems to calm down ever so slightly, probably because of Lugia’s interference. Without the fear of being swallowed by waves and with it being just quiet enough to hear another person’s voice, Martha decides to talk. She looks over at this child, who has the entire fate of the world on his shoulders thanks to some stupid prophecy, and sees how worried he is. So she does what she was taught to do with child patients who are nervous: ask questions to distract them.
“Hey, Ash?”
He looks over at her, “Yeah?”
“Why do you do this? Not why you like doing it. Why you do it. Why you wake up every morning and get up and train yourself and your Pokemon.”
Ash shrugs. “I guess it was just what I was born to do.”
“Like the Chosen One?”
“No, like… my dad, he was one. Or, that’s what my mom said he was. And my mom’s always wanted me to do what I love. And I love Pokemon. They’re the most important thing to me. Why are you a doctor?”
“I like saving people. I mean, I’m technically not a Doctor yet. Still PreMed. I’ve got to pass my exams first. But I want to save people. I want to make a difference.”
“You’re making a difference to me!”
“Thanks, Ash. Tell you what, I’ll show you my Pokemon after all this. Maybe we can have a battle, although I’ve never done that before. Now, I do want to know why you care so much about this. About adventuring and being the one to save the world. I mean, you’re only 11. Aren’t there adults that can do that?”
“If there are, I haven’t met them,” Ash starts. “I mean, I know there are adult trainers. There are champions and professors and stuff. But I’ve only really noticed trainers around my age getting into situations like this. My mom told me about some of my dad’s adventures and they all happened when he was about my age, and Professor Oak has told me about his adventures when he was my age. But I’ve never heard of them going on any adventures like this when they’re older.” He shrugs, “I… I guess they realize that someone younger will jump at the chance for adventure, so they don’t have to do anything about it. That, or they die from their adventures. I’ve died before, and it wasn’t fun, but I came back. I think that means I’m supposed to keep doing this stuff.” He then laughs, almost nervous, “I’m talking too much, Misty says I do that. Anyways, the only adult I’ve seen do this stuff was, well, the Doctor. I met him as 11 last time. He and two of his adult friends were there, and they came along for the adventure. And now 10 is here, and you’re here.”
“So, you don’t see adults doing this ever? And you doing it is the only way to stop other kids from doing this?” Ash nods, and Martha wants to scream. She doesn’t have a maternal bone in her body (she’s never wanted kids, let alone kids younger than fifteen), but every inch of her wants to protect this child. It doesn’t help that he keeps making mentions about his parents– what kind of parents would let their kid go off and do this sort of stuff? “What are your parents like?”
Ash blinks, taken off guard as he pulls a lever on the boat, helping it surf over a wave. Do all of the kids here know how to operate boats? “My parents? Well, my mom is named Delia Ketchum. She’s super nice, she’s always put up with me being… Well, me. Her 29th birthday was a few days ago, and I can’t wait to call her when I can finally find a Pokemon Center on one of these islands. I call her as often as I can, and I caught her a Mr. Mime to keep her company.”
Martha blinks, not needing to do much math before she starts sympathizing with this Delia woman. “And your dad?”
Ash shrugs, “Never met him. He was a trainer like me, he met my mom while he was in a nearby town for a gym battle. She went on a few dates with him, and hasn’t seen him since. She says that he spent their entire time together telling her about his adventures. I know them all. She ran out of new ones to tell me pretty quickly, so she’d just tell me the same ones over and over again.”
“Ash–”
“Anyways, he’s not all that important. To me, or my mom. I’ve never needed him, and I think she’s found someone else that’s important to her. I don’t know if I’ll ever end up with that guy as my stepdad, though.”
Martha is about to ask, when their conversation is cut off by one of the elemental bird Pokemon swooping down around them.
The bird Pokemon try to stop them, almost succeeding when Team Rocket speeds to them on a motorboat.
“What are you doing helping us?” Ash asks as they beckon them onto the boat. Martha looks at the two teenagers and sees fear in their faces. Of course they’re helping them. They don’t want to be hurt, and she doubts they even really want to be evil.
“Shockingly, we don’t want the world to be destroyed! Get in!” Martha and Ash clamber into the boat.
They reach the island and run onto it, quickly finding the snow far too deep for them to walk through. Martha’s trying to think up a plan when Ash suddenly calls out his Pokemon and starts ordering around, having his Charizard rip some metal from the busted up heap that was their boat, now beached on the icy shore. Ash and Martha sit on the metal and Ash pulls his Bulbasaur into his lap, instructing it to use its vines to wrap around Charizard and a few of his other strong Pokemon. Mere moments later, they’re being pulled over the snowy landscape in a makeshift sled.
As they glide over the snow, Martha remembers what they were talking about on the boat. “You said your mom liked someone.”
Ash perks up. “Oh yeah! His name is Spencer Hale. I don’t think they’re going to do anything about it, though.” he frowns slightly. “There’s… a lot going on.”
“Does that make you sad?” Martha asks, remembering the mild psychological training she got in med school. Ash considers it.
“I guess. I want my mom to be happy, and I know she’s bummed about everything going on with him. I think it’s because she likes him, but it could just be the stuff going on.”
“What’s the ‘stuff’?”
“Oh, well, Mr. Hale is married. He’s got a daughter named Molly– I met her once when she was a baby, but I don’t really remember her. Mr. Hale and his wife are– were?-- researchers. I don’t really know what happened, but I know that one day, they were at work and Mrs. Hale just… disappeared. No one has any clue where she is. I don’t know what’s going to happen about all of that. I don’t know if I should even know about the stuff that’s going on.”
Well, that seems like something the Doctor would find very very interesting. Martha is never going to bring it up to him. Instead, she lets Ash talk, changing subjects and rambling until they reach the ice orb’s shrine.
Ash hops out of the sled, thanking all of his Pokemon before returning them to their balls. All except for his Pikachu, who seems to be concerned. Whether the concern is about what it just overheard or about the state of the world is unclear. Either way, it cries out “Pika pika!” before leading its trainer and Martha up the steps of the shrine.
Ash sprints up, a hand already out, like that would get the orb out of the statue any quicker. But the legendary birds are swooping down to attack them. Ash jams the orb out of its place and comes to stand by Martha. Before they can be attacked, Lugia comes to protect them, Team Rocket already on its back. They hop on, thankful for its help.
The only problem is that Lugia isn’t quite strong enough to carry all of them, so Team Rocket lets go, sacrificing themselves to help Ash. Martha has to grab his shoulder to stop him from jumping after them. “If you do that then what they did would be in vain! And besides, they’re going to land in the water.”
“Yeah, but… It doesn’t feel right.”
She nods, “They’ll be fine, though. We have to return the orb, just focus on that. We can worry about them when the world isn’t on the brink of disaster.”
“Right!”
“But, Ash, let me tell you, that compassion is supposed to keep you going, alright? It’s good that you care about them even though you fight with them.”
“Is that something the Doctor told you?”
“No, it’s something I’ve learned from being human.” Ash nods, and looks below him, to where there are Pokemon gathered everywhere. He frowns and looks down at Lugia.
“Why are there so many Pokemon gathered?” he asks.
Lugia closes its eyes, its worlds floating through the air without a logical source. “Because they know the peril the world is in. They want to save it as much as you or I. They simply don’t know how to.”
“Then I’ll just have to save it for all of them, then.”
Lugia nods, and swoops down to the final island, trying to get Ash as close to the Shamouti Island shrine as possible.
But Lawerence, in the remains of his ship, still wants to get at the bird Pokemon, and he divebombs them. Lugia manages to take him out with an Aeroblast, as well as the remaining bird legendaries, but it drains it.
Lugia plummets into the sea, unconscious.
Ash gets knocked out as soon as they hit the water, and it takes an effort for Martha to stay conscious against the fall. She gasps as she breaks through the surface, the water wild and angry. She has to fight to get to where Ash is drifting, getting there only moments before Misty.
Misty and Martha work together to get Ash to shore, Tracey pulling them along thanks to a rope tied around Misty’s waist. As soon as they land on shore Misty starts resuscitating him.
Calmly, Martha pulls her away, quickly saying “I’m a doctor, let me.” She starts CPR, concerned because Ash isn’t breathing normally, although his heart is beating.
Ash jolts awake a few moments later, and his friends smile and grin. Misty even shed one tear exactly.
“Come on,” he says, “we have to finish with the orbs!”
Without waiting for a response, he jumps up and starts trying to run to the shrine, ignoring the fact he’s stumbling and out of breath. He ignores his friends' complaints, saying that he needs to do this. That is, until Martha decides enough is enough. She catches up to him and wraps his arm around her shoulders, holding him up and helping him to the final shrine.
The rest of their party follows them to the shrine, where he puts the last orb firmly in its place. ‘
Each orb starts shining and glowing. As they dazzle with their brilliance, Melody starts playing Lugia’s song, waking Lugia and bringing harmony to the legendary bird Pokemon.
Ash lets out a relieved breath, exhausted. Pikachu gently kneads on Ash’s shoulder, keeping him awake.
Lugia breaks through the water’s surface, flying with the other birds as Ash looks over at Martha. “The day’s saved?”
“Yeah,” Martha says, “the day’s saved.” Ash grins, properly hugging her. He’s just a kid, and she hugs him back because he might be hiding the fact he’s crying in the hug.
“Thank you, Martha.”
“No, thank you, Ash. You’re the one that saved the day.”
As if it were a scene in some movie, a rainbow spreads across the sky as the ocean calms down. Ash eventually sits on the ground, watching the horizon as he recovers from almost drowning. Meanwhile, Martha has pulled Ten away from everyone else to give him a piece of her mind for trying to make him do this alone, and Melody and Misty are giggling about how much Ash can be. Tracey is too busy sketching the shrine to notice any of this.
After about an hour of winding down, the sun begins to set. Everyone is about to go back to the festival house to celebrate Ash’s heroism when a helicopter descends near them. Three people get out, and an adult woman with brown hair immediately runs toward Ash and scoops him up into her arms. Ash immediately hugs her back, calling her ‘mom’. Martha smiles.
“See, Doctor. He’s just a kid.”
“He’s a kid who can do this himself.”
“No eleven-year-old should have to do this himself,” Martha states, and then approaches Ash, his mom, and the man in a lab coat. As Ash and his mom talk, Martha introduces herself to the man in the lab coat.
“I’m Professor Oak,” he replies, “you helped Ash?”
“He didn’t need it, but he also shouldn’t have had to undergo this himself.”
He nods, “I saw a report about the concerning weather patterns on TV. As soon as Delia told me that Ash was here as well, we rushed over to try and help him. It appears we were too late, but thankfully Ash handled himself.” Professor Oak closes his eyes, gaining a thoughtful look. Like he knows something. “Ash is a very capable young man, who finds himself in situations like this frequently. I do wish he wouldn’t land himself in these situations, but I find it better to be thankful he can take care of them.”
“Yeah, I guess. I’m just glad he was mostly unharmed. He still probably needs to go to a hospital. But I’ve got a healer Pokemon, so I might let him have a minute with Audino.”
Professor Oak nods, assuming she has a Chansey nicknamed Audino. “That’s a good idea. Go talk to him and Delia, I’m sure he’ll like meeting your Pokemon.”
Martha smiles and steps out of the conversation with Oak to talk to Ash and Delia. She introduces herself to Delia, who is very thankful that she didn’t let Ash run off himself. And then Martha turns to Ash.
“I promised you that you could meet my Pokemon, right?” she says, taking out Audino’s Pokeball. “Where I’m from, you usually don’t get a Pokemon when you’re ten like here, and I technically wasn’t supposed to get a Pokemon until I was certified. The Doctor, however, let me get one when I first started traveling with him.”
And with that she releases Audino. “Whoa!” Ash says, “I’ve never seen a Pokemon like this before!”
Professor Oak zips over, looking at Audino with wide eyes. “Why, I’ve never seen a Pokemon like this, either, Ash!” He looks over at Martha, “Where are you from?”
She opens her mouth to answer, but the Doctor appears next to her, as if from thin air. “It’s about time to head off again.”
“Sure. What will it be this time? More creepy statues? Another run as a human?” her voice is bitter, but the Doctor doesn’t hear it.
“We need to charge the TARDIS.”
“Alright. Just let me heal Ash.”
Martha smiles and lets Audino help Ash before pulling back into her Pokeball. “Bye, Ash. Remember to take care of yourself, and have fun on your journey.”
“Thanks, Martha. I’ll see you, Ten!”
“I’ll see you, Ash,” the Doctor replies, and with that, he takes Martha’s arm and turns them so that they can head back to the TARDIS. Unfortunately, that means they have to take a boat, but Martha doesn’t say anything. She just stares out into the ocean, Pokemon dancing around her.
“Are Pokemon aliens?” she asks.
“Might be,” the Doctor replies, “but they aren’t harmful, so we keep them around.”
“Cool,” Martha says, letting her fingers glide over the water. “So, off to the next adventure then?”
“For us and for Ash.”