AUTHOR'S NOTE: I deleted the summary from the previous chapter so because that page was so short. I hope you all don't mind.
This genre is like other story of how Ash was betrayed by his best friends. But mine was for a good cause. Friends do things for friends and even sacrificing their friendship to help their good friend to make their friend's dream come true. This is what this story was all about. At the end, Ash will have to decide whether he will forgives his friends or not. I hope you like it.
Summary: Ash Ketchum was betrayed by those he called friends. He disappeared from the world and returned 7 years later with 2 new mysterious identites: Shakt Etumch and Red Satoshi. The Kanto World Cup Tournament is coming up and many people come to see the new Kanto Champion. Ash will be there as two people and his friends cannot wait to see him. You know what they said "There's more to the story than meets the eye."
That's it! Enjoy! :)
Chapter One
Pallet Town
It has been seven long years after Ash Ketchum and his dear good and loyal partner, Pikachu, had left Pallet Town. Once in awhile, his friends all came to visit his mother, Delia Ketchum, hoping that he would return home, but he didn't. There's was no news of him where did he go, did he enter any Pokemon League, what region have he traveled to, or is he doing well. It was like he disappeared off of the Earth and was dead to the world. But they all had faith in him. If there was one thing they knew about him was that Ash Ketchum would always survive, and he will come back.
Exactly around this time, the missing Ketchum boy's friends came back to his hometown to check if he came home or not. All of the old gangs are all here, every single one of them. They took a little break from their journey and came to pay their respect to Delia. After all, it was their fault that her son disappeared and left without a trace.
May, one of Ash's traveling buddy through the Hoenn Region, entered Ash's room. The room looked the same. Nothing was touched. Not his awards, gym badges, bed and stuff toys. Delia made sure that everything was the same until her little boy returns home. She cleaned it everyday and tried to make sure that there were no dust in the room.
May is a Pokemon Coordinator from Peltaburg City in the Hoenn Region. Her father is a gym leader, and he is very strong. This young girl has long brown hair with a single fringe at the center with three edges secured by a red and white kerchief, and blue eyes with long eyelashes. Her single fringe on her long brown hair is nearly identical to her father, Norman's. She wears a red shirt with a navy blue semi-circle on it, a yellow fanny pack, white and navy gloves, a white mini skirt over dark blue cycle shorts, and black ankle socks along with red shoes with black and yellow stripes. This was the outfit she wore when she first met her dear friend and mentor, Ash and his Pikachu who barbequed her bike. She regretted for what had happened seven years ago. Ashe had helped her everything, and she just turned her back on him. He was her mentor, he was the reason why she starts to like Pokemon. If it wasn't for him, she will be some true Pokemon trainer beginner because when they first met, she was clueless about Pokemon. And look at her now, she grew up and she loves Pokemon everyday.
The young Hoenn Coordinator sat on the bed as she weeps hoping that he would just entered the door and says "I'm back!" But she knows that it would never happens because if he has, then he wouldn't wait seven years to come home.
While she was in his bedroom alone weeping, two of his old traveling buddies, Misty and Dawn, along with her thirteen years old brother, Max, entered the room. Max had never saw his sister cries for a very long time, except for first loss at the Kanto Grand Festival against Solidad. That was the last time she cried after she went on her journey alone to the Johto Region.
Misty is a gym leader in the Cerulean City Gym in the Kanto. Her hometown wasn't far from Pallet Town. This gym leader has orange hair, tied in a ponytail, green eyes and white skin. She wore a yellow sleeveless vest with a dark blue button, a dark blue collar, red swimsuit, yellow shorts and orange shoes. She was the first person in the gang to meet Ash and Pikachu. She met them on the same day when Ash first became a Pokemon trainer. She fished them out of the water when he was trying to get away from a flock of Spearows. He stole her bike and tried to get his Pikachu to the Pokemon Center, but the bike got wrecked by Pikachu's Thunder Shock. She followed him on his journey so that he will pay her bike back, but she totally forgot about and enjoyed their adventure together. She became his closest friend ever since.
Max is now a thirteen years old kid and a highly skilled Pokemon trainer. People called him the Boy Genius. He knew a lot about Pokemon because he had studied all of that from Professor Oak's lecture through television, radio, poems and books. He's a big fan of Professor Oak. This kid has short, black hair and brown eyes. He wears a money-green colored T-shirt with a white collar and button, charcoal-colored shorts and green, black and white slip-on shoes without socks. He also wears black, framed half-moon glasses. Long time ago, he traveled through the Hoenn and Kanto Region with Ash, his big sister, May, and Brock. He took notes of those journey and put it to good use when he took on a journey of his own when he turned ten years old. He picked a treecko as his starter Pokemon and traveled through his home region to earn gym badges so that he can compete in the Ever Grande Conference. This kid looks up to Ash and his father. Ash is his inspiration to be a strong trainer and his father is his hero because he wants to be the most powerful gym leader just like his father.
And the last traveling buddies is Dawn, a Pokemon Coordinator from Twin Leaf Town who had traveled with Ash and Brock on their journey in the Sinnoh Region. This Sinnoh native had long blue hair and blue eyes. Her outfit resemble to a mini dress, consisting of a black V-neck top with a white undershirt with a short pink skirt and a red scarf. On her head, she wears a white beanie with a pink Poké-Ball print on it. She also wears gold hair clips that hold up her hair in front. Her Poketch' from Sinnoh was replaced with a Unova's gadget, Xtransceiver. On her feet, she wears pink knee-high boots with black over-knee socks underneath. She also has a small yellow backpack with all her personal belongings. This young girl met and saved Ash's Pikachu from Team Rocket and they became traveling buddies on her first day as a Pokemon trainer.
"May, what are you doing in Ash's room?" Misty asked as she hold her newly evolved Marill.
"I missed him, guys. I missed Ash. We shouldn't have said that to him. Now he's gone and he's never coming back."
"You only missed him because there's no one to argue with you besides me," her brother teased. He was right. There was only two people that she argued with the most: Ash and Max.
Dawn puts her heavy fist on the boy's head and scold him. "Max, shut up! You're making it worse for her."
May slowly smiled a bit. "Max is right. I do miss that."
Dawn sat next to May's right while Misty sat on the other side. Dawn sighted heavily. "We were all wrong to say that he will never become a Pokemon Master. We should have put a lot of faith in him, same way he did it to us. He would always supported us no matter how badly we treated him."
"Well, we did what we could do to push him to his limit." Misty went to Ash's desk and grabs a picture frame. It was a picture of her, Brock and Ash on their return to Pallet Town after Ash's defeat at the Indigo League. Her eyes were filled with tears and sadness. "Ash is a strong trainer, but he plays around too much. All he needs is a little more push to take his training more seriously. I only hope he's okay."
Flashback- 7 years ago
Iris and Cilan made it to Kanto after they and Ash departed in the Unova Region. Ash decided to take a cruise back to Kanto so that he could see all different kinds of Pokemon on the way. Both Iris and Cilan made it to Kanto by taking a plane. They met the rest of Ash's old traveling buddies in Ash's hometown, Pallet Town. They were all waiting for Ash to surprise him in his own home.
Brock, the former gym leader in the Pewter City who was a Pokemon Doctor in training, gathered the troops to the Ketchum living room. They all took a seat and listened to what he has to say. Brock told them of his plans to help Ash to become stronger to become a Pokemon Master. This will take risk and a lot of sacrificing, which this makes everyone uneasy. Because Brock's plan was to betray their dear friend who was the one that gather them altogether.
"WHAT?!" The Cerulean Gym Leader yelled across the room frightening everyone with her loud and majestic voice. "ARE YOU CRAZY, BROCK?!" She gives him her death glare, blazing fire in her eyes, showing the anger she has in her eyes right now. "After everything we had been through, life and death, you want all of us to betray him. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND?!"
"It's not for real, Misty. It's only for pretense." Brock sighed heavily as he looked at one of his oldest traveling companions. "Did you really think I want to do this?" She didn't answer him, just glaring and waiting for him to continue. "Ash is not taking his journey seriously. He's not learning anything. He depends too much on us. What happens when he actually become a Pokemon Master? A trainer approach him with an injured Pokemon and he had no idea what to do. A Pokemon Master is a person that trainer will look up to the most. No one will respect him if he is clueless. He can't depends on us forever. He needs to learn to depend on himself. He needs a little push."
"A little push?" Max joined in the tension. "For what? Ash is already a strong trainer."
"Ash is strong, yes, but he is slacking off. He could've been a Pokemon Master if he takes his training more seriously. He could have won a league if he takes it more seriously. That is his problem. He went easy on his opponents. I don't want to do this either, guys, but I'm afraid that once we succeed our dreams, what about him? He will fall behind and think that he should have tried hard enough in the past. He will feel sad and then just disappear." He paused for a minute and continues. "We are his friends, the people who support him the most. If we...if we broke his heart, hurt his feeling, he will not give up and train and push himself to his limit. He will become a Pokemon Master sooner than we thought."
"Your plan sounds reasonable, but will it work?" Cilan a Pokemon Connoisseur asked.
"It will work," Brock assured his friends. "Whether you help me or not, I'm continuing on with my plan."
"But Brock, Ash is our friend," May hesitated.
"Because he is my best friends, that's why I'm willing to sacrifice my friendship with him to make his dream comes true. It's a huge sacrifice I'm willing to take. This plan will work. Trust me. I will do this with or without you. Take your time to think about it. We have a week left until ash returns home. Think carefully." He walked away to the kitchen to help prepared for dinner.
Present Time
"What's done is done." Misty puts the picture back where it belongs. "We can't change that." She went to sit back next to May.
The youngest Pokemon trainer sat on one of the bean bag chair across from them. "Misty, where is Brock?" He asked. "I thought you two came here together."
Misty sighed. "We did, but once we got here, he went to steal all of Mimey's chores, fighting with Cilan over it."
Dawn crawled her body into a ball. "Brock sure likes to keep him busy at a time like this." Her voice was saddened as she looked at her friends. She's the next one to cry. Her eyes were ready to rain.
The Princess of Hoenn nodded slowly. "He must have felt guilty planning a stupid plan like that to Ash. It was a good plan to push Ash to betrayal, but now he is gone forever."
The Sinnoh Coordinator puts a hand on the Hoenn Princess's shoulder. "No, it's not. It's not forever. Ash will come back. You'll see. No need to worry, right?"
Before May can reply, a dark skin girl with two big ponytail hair girl entered the Ketchum house followed by a Haxorus. "HEY, GUYS!" The young Dragon Master called out. "ALL OF ASH'S TAUROS ARE MISSING!"
This stunned everyone of the shocking news. Everyone left whatever they're doing and ran as fast as they could to the famous Professor Oak's lab to meet with him.
Once they got to the professor's science lab, they saw him talking to his assistant, Tracey Sketchit; the gym leader of Peltaburg City in the Hoenn Region, Norman, and his wife, Caroline; and Delia Ketchum. They were all talking to each other in a small circle until they were approach and join by the gang.
Brock was the first one to speak before all of his friends. "Professor! Is it true that all of Ash's Tauros were missing?"
The old professor nodded sadly. "It's true, Brock." This made everyone gasped. "I searched all morning for them. All of his Tauros, Ivysaur and Meganium were gone. There are none left."
"Not to mention," Norman continued explaining the disappearing of Ash's pokemon, "Ash's trainer license database was completely wiped out clean. There's nothing left. It was like he doesn't exist anymore." This made everyone gasped and looked at each other to say something.
"Don't you guys have backup files in case something like this happen?" Misty asked. She looked at Tracey.
The assistant shook his head. He can't even made eye contact with her. "That is gone as well."
"Do you think Ash did this?" the young hoenn kid asked. "I mean, is it possible for Ash to come back to Pallet Town, wiped clean his license and took the rest of his Pokemon?"
The oldest man puts a few finger soon his chin and think. "Hmm. I don't think so. Ash has been gone for seven years. I had Volkner, the Gym Leader of Sunyshore City, to help install a virus to protect my computers and research files three years ago. No one can get pass it without a password. Even my surveillance cameras were down exactly at the same time when his license were deleted."
"You have surveillance cameras too?" May shouted. "Since when?"
"We installed some security cameras the same time we installed the virus, considering the fact that Team Rocket likes coming here for Christmas presents." Tracey answered. "Professor Oak and I are trying to make sure that Team Rocket would never dare coming here again."
Cilan did the same thing that the professor did putting his fingers on his chin and thin. "Hmm. There's no way Ash could have done this."
Iris rolled her eyes in annoyance because she knew what was coming next in the connoisseur's mouth. "Uh oh. Here we go with the Connoiseur Detective Cilan again."
"Hax, Haxorus," the dragon Pokemon followed his trainer's face expression with a sweatdrop.
"It's time for detective time!" Cilan exclaimed excitedly.
The Dragon Master sweatdropped. "I knew I should have kept my mouth shut."
Everyone sweatdropped as well. None of them had ever saw this side of Cilan before.
Dawn leaned closed to Iris to whisper. "Iris, what just happen?"
Iris covered her face with embarrassment. "Please don't ask. You do not want to know."
Cilan continue to ignore the look that everyone gives him. "Ash said that he's not coming back until he achieved his dream. This room has no footprint or fingerprint. It should be something that Ash would carelessly left if he did it, but there are none. Ash didn't do this. I mean, Ash has never touched a computer his entire life."
The purple long hair girl nodded. "I agree with Cilan. It will take Ash longer than seven years to pull this off. I mean, he still act like a kid even though he has travel for a long time."
"I think it's time for you to report this to Officer Jenny, Professor Oak," Caroline suggested. "This is major crisis that should be investigated."
"Good idea, Caroline," the professor agreed with the wife of the Peltaburg Gym Leader.
The oldest gym leader stared at the children with both of his arms crossed to his chest. "I don't get it. What did you said to Ash to make him leave like that?" He stares into each and everyone's eyes hoping that they would answer his question, but none of them said a word. Just with silence, he knew that they must have said terrible things to him. Words that they all wished they could take it back, but it was too late. He saw the face expression on Brock. It looked worse than the rest. Brock looks like he haven't had a meal in years. The man who once dreamed to become a Pokemon breeder who was always had a smile on his face, now had a depression one. "I guess I won't need an answer to that, but why would you do that to him? You kids are friends. No matter what, you have to support each other."
"We were wrong, Dad! We wished we can take all of it back, but we can't." She blurted angrily to her father, showing how guilty they all felt. "We were all trying to help him to take his journey seriously, so he would become a Pokemon Master. We never meant to hurt his feeling this much."
"It was my fault," Brock said sadly. "I made everyone pretend to turn against him because I was afraid that he would fall behind if we all succeed in our dreams and he's not. I did all of this because I felt bad for his Pokemon whom he left behind over here. I want to push him so that he can be the best Pokemon Master there is. I never realized that my stupid pushed my friendship with him away forever."
"I didn't do anything, so I guess I don't need to feel bad," a voice said behind them at the door. It was from a man in his early twenties with spiky and messy auburn hair and black eyes. He also wore a lab coat like Professor Oak's and a black collar shirt, dark green pants, and black sneakers. This young man is none other than the young Professor Gary Oak, the famous Professor Oak's grandson.
Follow behind him, there were two more boys in his age. The first boy had purple short hair, wearing a purple jacket, dark gray pants and purple sneakers. The second boy has dirty blonde hair and ice blue eyes. He wears a violet undershirt, and an orange jacket over a dark-gray hooded sweater, and a black waist-belt. He also wears white pants with black and white sneakers. Everyone tared at their friend's three rivals from three different regions: Kanto, Sinnoh and Unova.
Dawn saw the Sinnoh rival's eyes looked at her coldly. "Paul?" His name was the only thing that came out of her mouth.
Cilan waved at the Unova rival. "Hi, there, Trip. How's it going?"
"So, it's true. Ash Ketchum is really gone." Instead of greeting the people, Paul said in a rudely and coldly voice.
"You're Paul, Ash's rival in the Sinnoh Region, and that is Trip, Ash's Unova rival. You guys are strong Pokemon trainers who entered the Pokemon League with Ash. I'm Max, nice to meet you." The excited Hoenn Pokemon trainer who was so excited to meet his friend's rivals introduced himself.
"I'm May, Max's oldest sister." The Hoenn Princess introduced herself next.
"My name is Misty, and I'm the Cerulean Gym Leader in the Kanto Region."
"It's nice to finally meet you, Trip. I'm Brock, a Pokemon Breeder who is training to become a Pokemon Doctor."
"I'm Cilan, a Pokemon Connoisseur and also one of the Striaton Gym Leaders. Nice to meet you, Paul."
"I'm Iris, and this is Haxorus."
"Hax, Haxorus!" Her dragon Pokemon waved at them.
"I'm Norman, the Peltaburg Gym Leader in the Hoenn Region. This is my wife, Caroline. We are May and Max's parents."
"I'm Tracey's Professor Oak's assistant."
"Well, you boys know me as Professor Oak. This is Delia Ketchum, Ash's mother."
"Why are you boys here in Pallet Town?" Delia asked. "We don't have a lot trainer coming here."
"I'm here to have a rematch with Ash. I didn't want to believe it when I heard that he's gone. I guess it's true." The Unova native replied.
Paul rolled his eyes annoyed by the fact that he traveled thousand or maybe hundred thousand miles just to have a rematch with the famous Pokemon trainer of Pallet Town. "Is he really that dense to run away?"
"It's not that?" Brock said sadly. "This whole mess is my fault. I pushed it too far for Ash to take his training more seriously. I told everyone to pretend to betray him so he will felt the pressure to train hard. You see the results how it turns out."
"What exactly did you say to him" Trip asked curiously.
Flashback
After the Unova League was over, Ash Ketchum returns home taking a cruise back to the Kanto Region. He had saw many Pokemon on his way and meet lots of new friends. He even met a journalist named Alexa who was from the Kalos Region. Once he gets home and have lots of rest, his next journey will be at the Kalos Region.
It took home ten days to finally reached Kanto since he kept taking break on island hopping. If he didn't island hopping, then he would have made it in seven days.
Ash stood on cliff in Pallet Town with his loyal and number one Pokemon, Pikachu who was on his shoulder. The both of them looked over at their hometown with a big smile. It seems like only once a year thy get to see their peaceful town.
"Well once again, we are back home!" he said enthusiastically. "Right, Pikachu?"
"Pika pika," the yellow rodent nodded agreeing with him.
"Let's hurry home, Pikachu. I'm starving."
He ran down the road and try to make it to his house. Like usual when he comes home from a long journey, he always saw a familiar Pokemon sweeping the sidewalk. "We're back, Mr. Mime!" .
"Mr. Mime!" the clown Pokemon called back waving at them.
Pikachu jumped off his trainer's shoulder and jumped to the clown Pokemon's arms giving it to a hug.
The young boy entered the house quickly taking off his shoes and putting on a white slipper. "Mom! I'm home!"
"Welcome back, Ash!" Multiple voices called his name at the kitchen.
The three of them entered the kitchen and saw many of her friends. Ash was surprised to see everyone in his house. It has been a long time that he saw them. Every single one of them that he had traveled with are in his house. He is really happy to see them, but he's more excited about the food. The dining table had all of his favorite foods.
"Guys, you're all here? What are you doing here?"
"Iris and Cilan gave me a call and told me that you are coming home from a cruise," the professor answered. "I spread the word and they all came to see you."
"Cilan and I thought that we come here to surprise you." Iris smiled. "Are you surprise?"
He nodded with a smile. "Very. Thank you, Cilan and Iris."
"We really like to hear about your journey in the Unova, Ash," Brock put down a dish of a roasted chicken in the center of the table. "But I'm guessing you would like to eat first."
Ash quickly take a seat and Pikachu took his seat next to his buddies: Azurill, Piplup and the newly evolved Fraxure on the ground. "Damn right, I do. I had been running all the way here and I'm starving."
"Then let's eat, everyone." His mom said.
After dinner, Cilan helped Mr. Mime do the dishes while Ash and the other talked in the living room. Delia was in the kitchen making some tea and desserts for everyone. She is trying to give the children some privacy since it has been a long time that they get to see and talk to each other like this. She was very happy for everyone to be together.
"Professor Oak, how come Gary isn't here?" Ash asked.
"Gary is still in the Sinnoh Region doing research about fossil," the professor replied.
"Gary has been working hard. We got to work hard too, right, Pikachu? We can't let Gry become a Pokemon Researcher before we become a Pokemon Master. We will not fall behind! Right, buddy!"
"Pika Pikachu!" The yellow rodent raised its tiny hand into the air and starts cheering.
The Dragon Master in training shrugged her shoulder with a sweatdrop. "What a kid. You do know that it will take you a longer to become a Pokemon Master, right?"
"Then we will just have to train harder than ever, right, Pikachu?"
Pikachu jumped onto his shoulder and nodded. "Pika Pika Pikachu!"
"You said you will train hard, but you always slacked off," the water gym leader said with her arms crossed. "You may have gotten stronger, but you can never win a single Pokemon League."
"Maybe it was because those trainers are really super strong and they know how to counter my Pokemon's attack." He rolled his eyes. "You don't need to be so mean, Misty. You know that no matter how tough my opponent is, I will never give up."
"You sure can talk, but can you do the walk," Dawn said rudely. "From what I remember, there's only two people who you had a hard time beating: Gary and Paul."
"Dawn, you do remember that I beat him in the Lily of the Valley Conference, right?"
"Still, you lost to Tobias," May mumbled. "What's so great about that?"
"What's going on here?" Ash asked. "Why are you guys ganging up on me? Did I do something wrong for all of you turn against me like this? Max, what's going on with everyone?"
"Ash," his voice stuttered and his eyes were filled with tears and sadness. "I think you should just give up that silly dream of yours."
"What?" Ash's eyes were wide opened with shockness. He just cannot believe his ears. The boy who admired and looked up to him told him to give up his dream. He cannot believe this is happening to him. He just came home and all of his friends are turning against him.
"Ash," the young boy continued talking but he refuses to make eye contact with his idol, "you had traveled longer than all of us, but you still haven't learned anything on your journey. You kept depending on us to help you each time you got yourself in trouble. If you're serious with your dream, then you would have taken a break and trained all of your Pokemon together to become Pokemon Master. It seemed like you had abandoned them."
"That is not true!" The Pallet boy shouted. "I love all of my Pokemon equally. I would never abandoned them." he turned his attention to the Pokemon Doctor in training who he looks up to the most. "You think like them too, right, Brock? Is that why you're so quiet?"
"Actually, Ash, I'm the one had this talk with everyone." He said sadly. "Ash, how many training have you done each day with your Pokemon? Have you trained you other Pokemon that was over at Professor Oak's lab who were waiting for you to come home? Have you rotate them and spend some quality time with them? You have to give up your dream if you're not going to take it seriously."
Ash stared at him. His eyes are full of blazing fire. He cannot believe what he just hear. His human best friend, the one he looks up like a big brother or father figure was the man behind this plan. He was the one that turned everyone against him. He had never thought that his oldest best friend had betrayed him like this. This is not something he would enjoyed coming home.
"I can't believe you, Brock." He clenched his fists. "If you got something to say, why not just say it? I know that this is something Misty and Iris would come out and say it, but I had never thought that it will come from you."
"We do not do that!" The water gym leader denied.
"It's what you always do!" Ash argued back. "You two treated me like I was still a kid who just started his journey. You didn't understand that every trainer learned at a different pace. They don't need to be a different person for others to like them. They're already perfect the way they are. I can't believe my own friends turn on me." He stood up from his seat and walked to the front door. Before he opens the door, he turned around and looked at all of their faces one by one. "I'm going to travel on my own and become a Pokemon Master. I will not come back until I achieve my dream, and once I do become one, I will make you all pay for it. I will make you suffer and wish that you had never MET ME!" He walked out of his own house with the door closed loudly behind him.
Back to Present Time
After telling the two rivals the whole truth, the Sinnoh native rival clenched his fists in anger. His eyes burst in flames. "What kinds of friends are you? Crushing his dream like that even if it was for his own good! From what I've seen so far, Ash is already strong at his own pace. Look at him with Infernape, for example. He got Infernape evolved and under control with Blaze. If I didn't think that Ash was a worthy trainer, then I wouldn't let Chimchar go with Ash. It was because I know that Chimchar needed a worthy trainer like Ash, that's why I let him go. Ash had accomplished a lot of things in his life, and it wasn't still good enough proof to you. SCREW YOU!"
The Unova native rival nodded agreeing with the Sinnoh rival. "I agree with you, Paul. I, too, have seen Ash's battling skills. Even though ASh may be an energetic and naive person and he trained his Pokemon with "love," but I can still see that it was his way of making his Pokemon stronger. It was the bond between him and his Pokemon that makes it stronger. People had their own pace of training. Nobody is perfect!"
"This world is a very big one. There are a lot of pokemon that has never been discovered. Maybe Ash still wants to travel more because it will be a great experience for him to be stronger than he is now. We all want him to be stronger. That is what we all like about him. His battling skills inspired all of us to be strong like him. No one battles like he does." Gary, the grandson of the famous Professor Oak said as he leans behind the wall. "I understand you all want him to be serious in his training, but you guys went a bit too far." He begins to smile at the gang. "I'm sure Ash understands your feelings, and he is training right now to prove how wrong you are."
"Do you know where he is, Gary?" the old Professor Oak asked.
"Last time I saw him was in Sinnoh three years ago with Cynthia." Gary replied taking a seat on one of the rolling chair. "He was training with Cynthia. If I remember correctly, Lance was there too."
"Why didn't you tell us this sooner?" Brock yelled at the Kanto rival.
Gary jumped back in fear of the former Pewter Gym Leader's voice. This was the first time he heard Brock raised his voice at anybody. "I wish I could, but he told me not to. He said that when he comes back, he will surprise you."
"Do you have something to do with Ash's missing Pokemon?" Tracey asked. "It seems like you're the key to find Ash since you know what he had been through ever since he disappeared."
"What? No." Gary shook his head. "What I told you about his whereabout in Sinnoh was the truth. That was really the last time I saw him. If I know where Ash is, then I would have been with him and not stand here at all." He paused as he sighed. "If you want to know where he is, then you will have to find Red Satoshi. He knows the answer to everything."
"WOW! RED SATOSHI!" Max screamed excitedly, but then his scream faded. " THE KANTO CHAMPION! Wait a minute. How do you know that Ash and Red know each other?"
"Because Red was there too." He pulled out a picture from his pocket and showed it to everyone. "See for yourself." The picture was in Lake Verity, the same lake where Dawn and Piplup first saw the projected soul of Mesprit. There are four people in the picture with him and Ash. There was a woman there with beautiful long blonde hair and gray eyes. She wore a black trousers, a long black coat with black feathers rimming the cuffs and running down the end of the coat and a large teardrop shaped ornament on the center of the coat, probably used as a fastener, she also dons a black top underneath. Her outfit is finished with black heels and a yellow stripe on each shoes. For accessories she wore a large, black feathery ruff around her neck with 2 hair clips in her hair, both resembling two teardrop-shaped object conjoined with a pale yellow stripe. She stood next to Ash on her left and Gary on her right. Gary's Umbreon was in his arms as he smiled to the camera. Ash's Pikachu sat on his right shoulder as always. Next to Ash was a tall thin man with bright scarlet red spiked hair, pale skin and dark eyes. He wears a medieval-looking navy blue tunic with red-orange trim, a brown belt around his waist, and large black boots with orange two rings around the top of each boot. The cuffs of his long sleeves are black with orange zigzagging trim separating the cuff from the navy blue part of the sleeve. He sports a long, flowing cape around his neck which is black on the outside and crimson red on the inside. This guy is none other than the Johto Champion, Lance who happens to be a Pokemon G-Man. Next to Lance's left was a tall mysterious person who wore a big black hooded cloak and black boots. The face was completely covered with a black mask from the mouth and was no way to tell if it was a male or female. Last but not least, a tall man around Ash's age stood behind the mysterious man. He had short spiky blonde hair and ocean blue eyes. He wore a black collar shirt, which he didn't buttoned the two top button; a black jeans and boots. He also had a Pikachu on his shoulder, but it was on the left. This Pikachu's fur was spiked a little on the left of its head. Gary smiled at them, holding the picture. "That's me, Cynthia, Ash, Lance, Red and Shakt Etumch."
"The famous Shakt Etumch who won the Kalos League six years ago was also there too?" Once again, the Hoenn Pokemon trainer screamed excitedly. "Why didn't you tell us that you two know him as well?"
"Shakt is very shy. He doesn't like to socialize with people. It took me a lot of time to ask him to get a photo taken with him, and I finally got a photo with him. How Ash know Red and Shakt is beyond me."
"Red Satoshi always wore his cloak all the time," May looked at the picture closely. "Even on magazine, talk show, anywhere, his face was always covered. It seems like he was ashamed of his face. Have you ever saw his face before, Gary?"
Gary shook his head again. "No, I never. This guy really is a mystery."
Just when Gary was finished talking, Trip turned around and was about to walk out of the room until Iris voice stopped him. "Wait, Trip. Where are you going?"
"I'm going to look for Ash. I may not be his friends but unlike you, I'm not going to stay here and wait for him to come back. You called yourself his friends, what a joke. You should be ashamed of yourself." He stared coldly at the Pokemon Doctor and walked out of the room followed behind by the Sinnoh rival.
"I'm coming with you if it's alright," Paul asked to come along with him.
"I usually traveled alone, but sure." Trip smiled to the Sinnoh native trainer. "Some company and a serious rival of Ash Ketchum will be nice." Together they walked out of the Oak Laboratory and onto the dirt road to find the missing Pallet boy.
While the two rivals left, May opened the window and looked around the grassy field. It was really quiet since Ash's Tauros were missing. Those Tauros loves to run around on the ranch making a huge ruckus and breaking the fences. Now it was so quiet like nothing had ever happen. She looked more around the ranch and saw a huge mansion next to a white building with a huge letter "P" on it. The white building must be Pokemon Center. The mansion and the Pokemon Center were on top of the hill in front of the road to the forest. This huge mansion was surrounded by different types of berries trees and a huge black gate. She kept her eyes focus on the mansion. She has been to Professor Oak's lab and ranch many time before, but she had never saw that beautiful mansion on that hill before.
"That's weird. I've never saw that mansion before."
"Which one, May?" Misty asked.
"That big mansion up there," the Hoenn Pokemon Coordinator pointed to her right side. Everyone then crowded to the window to have a closer look at the mansion, squishing her. "HEY! YOU'RE KILLING ME HERE!"
"Sorry!" they all apologized to her and laughed weakly as they stepped away trying to give her some space..
"That mansion was built two years ago," the old professor explained. "No one know who owned it and no one dared to trespass over there. When it was first got done built, there are people in weird clothes entered that hill."
"What's behind that hill, Professor Oak?" Norman asked. "Do you know what is it?"
"The beach and an island that Pokemon took refuge. For some reason, I'm not even allowed to go to the beach anymore. " He answered. "Whoever the mansion belongs to, he or she bought hundred to acres of the land over here and three-fourth of Pallet Town." This shocked everyone. Three quarters of Pallet town was now owned by a mysterious person. Who would buy lots of land like this? And what is he or she going to do with the land?
"Should we check it out?" Misty asked. Everyone nodded with excitement written all over their faces, except, Gary.
The young researcher took a seat near the computers sighed heavily. "You guys go ahead. I had lots of research to do. Not to mention the data that was deleted. I'm going to try to recover it if I can." Everyone left the room and went up on the hill. Once they were gone, Gary pulled out his cell phone and texted an unknown number from his contact list. "Everything went according to the plan and it's successful. They're going to the mansion now." He sends it and makes sure that no one saw him on the phone.
A couple minute later, a reply came back to his phone. He opened and reads the text to himself. "Good. All there is left to do is up to Tommy. I'll be home soon."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is Chapter 1. I'm sure you're all curious who is this mysterious person that Gary Oak is texting to and who is Tommy. Those two questions will be reveal in the next chapter. Let me know if you like this chapter or not. Please don't judge if you had a problem with it or don't like it. Because I already made myself clear on my profile that I'm not a good writer. I working on my writing to improve it by writing story. And this is my first story of Pokemon. I hope you like it. See you next time. To be continue.