A man stood silently at the peak of Mount Silver, flanked by a jackal-like Pokémon on his left side and a rodent on his right. He was dressed in a simple black t-shirt, with black jeans and shoes and a black and white hat to top it all off. Normally, a person would need a jacket on Mount Silver as it was under extreme cold weather conditions, yet this 20 year old young man didn't seem fazed by the harsh winds and thick snow.

He was gazing intently into the distance, yet his mind seemed to have wandered off somewhere. The canine pokemon noticed this and sent a wave of soothing aura to break him out of his reverie, startling him.

"Are you alright master?"Lucario asked.

"Yes."

"You do seem a little…distracted. What were you pondering about?"

"That incident."

"Ah, I see." Lucario nodded. "But don't let that bother you. If they see you in your current state, they'll be surprised." Hearing this, Ash cracked a half smile.

"I suppose…"

Five years ago…

Ash Ketchum had just finished the Kalos league as runner up. Sure, he'd lost to Alain in the finals, but he was happy that his team gave their all and fought to the end. His current travelling companions, the two blonde siblings Clemont and Bonnie, and Serena.

Serena.

Ash secretly had a crush on Serena but just couldn't bring up to her and told his two other companions about it to get it off his chest. They promised to keep it a secret and help him with it. Even though Ash was relieved, he still couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling that something bad was about to happen.

As he arrived at the front door, he stopped and took a deep breath, remembering all the good times he had with his companions. Going through hell and back, they understood each other very well and looked out for one another.

At least, that's what he thought.

He pushed open the door and was greeted by a colourful stream of ribbons.

"Surprise!"

All his old travelling companions were there. Brock, Misty, May, Max, Dawn, Iris, Cilan and weirdly, Calem. Ash had goosebumps all of a sudden. He didn't like Calem's presence at all. His suspicions were confirmed when Calem strode over to Serena and hugged her. To make matters worse, she hugged back.

"Hey."

"Hi Calem!"

Ash felt a stab in his heart, but he still managed to keep his composure and not give anything away. However, when the duo walked out, Ash turned to Clemont.

"Are they?..."

"Yeah. Yeah they are." Brock answered.

Ash felt sad, which was then quickly replaced with anger.

"You all knew?" Suddenly, it seemed like everyone was interested with their feet.

"How long?"

"Days…months." Clemont mentioned sorrowfully.

"Come on Ash, move on. We all know that you can't accept the fact if we told you that she'd fall for Calem already. Calem's better for her than you anyway." Iris spoke up. Ash froze up and glared hard at her. Not surprisingly, everyone else backed her up.

"Yeah."

"There's plenty of fish in the-"

"No. I don't care about that. You all knew, AND YOU DID'NT TELL ME?!" Ash eyes turned dark.

"Ash, we-"

"Save your crap and shut it. From now onwards, Ash Ketchum is now dead, and the next time we meet, it'll be under less pleasant circumstances." Everyone felt a chill go down their spine. With these final words, Ash spun and walked away, leaving Pikachu in the room.

"Pika pika chu pika pikachupi PIKAPI!" Pikachu was livid with everyone in the room, gesturing wildly and it seemed like he was actually cursing at them. Satisfied after his rant, the rodent ran out of the room to find his best friend.

Several moments later…

Ash had told Professor Oak about the whole incident and he was sympathetic towards Ash. He gave Ash the permission to carry all his pokemon with him and decided to change his pokedex ID.

"So… where to, Ash?" Professor Oak inquired.

"Mount Silver. It's time I made my dream a reality. Tell my mom I won't be seeing her anytime soon. Do look out for her for me, yeah? I don't want her to do anything rash."

"No problem at all, Ash."

"Ash." He turned around to find a spiky-haired boy looking seriously at him. "Prove them wrong and show them, Serena made a wrong decision. And I expect a rematch when you're back." Ash smirked at the last part.

"Sure thing."

"Now go forth." Professor Oak nodded encouragingly to him and Gary flashed him a thumbs up. Smiling, Ash hefted a pokeball as Pikachu climbed to his usual spot on Ash's left shoulder.

"Charizard let's go!"

Present

"Pikapi!" Ash was broken out of his reverie one again again, this time by Pikachu, his faithful starter and best friend. He smiled and scratched the rodent's ears, earning a small 'chaaaa' squeal from the rodent. As he was doing so, he spotted a pidgeot from a distance. The pidgeot neared him and dropped a scroll into his hands.

"You're a messenger?"

He nodded. Ash slowly unrolled the paper. The paper was in bad condition due to the harsh icy wind. He glanced at the pidgeot. Though it stayed still, he sensed that it was uncomfortable and decided to make it feel warm.

"Charizard, can you warm pidgeot up in the cave?" Charizard grunted in affirmative and waved over to the pidgeot to join him. Ash turned back to the contents on the paper.

Dear Satoshi,

You have been invited to join the Pokemon World Tournament held in two weeks time from now. It will be at Lumiose city. Do register at the nearest Pokecenter to confirm your attendance in this tournament. Champions, the elite fours and gym leaders are all participating. Do give it your best shot!

Charles Goodshow

-PS It was hell trying to track you down but I did it! Unfortunately, those 'friends' of yours are also coming. Do give Calem a good beatdown!

~Scott

Ash smirked and wrote a reply on the paper, before handing it over to pidgeot. As he soared away, Ash gathered all his pokemon recalled them except for Charizard and Pikachu. Jumping onto Charizard's back, Ash, Pikachu and Charizard flew off to the distance. Next stop, Lumiose city.

I've been waiting for this for too long, and now, it's time.

And that marks the end to the first chapter. Wew! I do hope that this was a good start to the story. Now, I have an important announcement to make. I will not be posting another chapter till late November as that is when my examinations end and I can work on this story full time. Until then, read review and give constructive criticism on how I can improve. Till next time!

C00k33s