A/N: Hiya! Welcome to my first fanfic. I promise a few twists and turns, maybe even some bitter betrayals… but probably not. So remember, read, review, and repeat.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the shirt on my back and my head full of dreams.

It was a bright day in Blackthorn city, the sun was shining and there were pokemon everywhere. A garchomp and a flygon were conversing idly, a dragonite was telling of her adventures to the young dratini in the lake, a hydreigon was arguing with itself, and finally, a man resting near a raichu and a charzard near the entrance to the den of dragons. This last event may have seemed serene to the casual observer, but this man had led a full life, and he was still plagued by the scars of several events.

The man woke to an eerie call, and he was unable to determine whether it was pokemon or something else. He stood up quickly and saw a lapras with a purple haired girl on its back.

"Hello," the girl on the lapras shouted, "I need entrance to the Den of Dragons."

"I need proof that you are worthy. Do you have the Rising badge?" The man questioned.

"Uh…" the lady thought for a moment. "No, but I need to enter immediately. I will force my way in if need be!"

The figure standing by the entrance to the cave seemed angered by this response. "You have not been allowed to enter this sacred place, yet you attempt to anyways, that is an unforgivable act." As the man said this he swept back the hood of his brown cloak to reveal a mess of raven hair and chocolate-brown eyes. "I was the shadow of Mount Silver; I have battled Lance to a standstill. I am Ash Ketchum, a dragon master, the guardian of the den of dragons and I will defeat you here."

The girl on the approaching lapras simply smiled. "Huh, in my years traveling with you I never imagined that the little kid you used to be would become the guardian of the Den of Dragons."

The raichu, charzard, and Ash were all taken back by this. "Iris?" Ash asked, completely taken off guard.

"Yep!" Iris responded before leaping off her lapras.

"Not that I am not glad to see you, but why did you come here." Ash queried.

"Well, I came looking for Lance because there will be a special tournament for distinguished individuals and I was told to invite Lance," Iris told him, "although I could probably pull a few strings to get you entered if you want, seeing as you are the current guardian of the Den of Dragons."

"Hmmm… I don't know," Ash was looking down as he said this, twiddling with the fold of his robes, "I haven't made a public appearance since the Unova league which was about fifteen years ago and I still have to remain here guarding the entrance…"

Iris' face fell as Ash spoke. "Well I guess that's fine. Do you know where Lance is?"

"Yeah, he is at the shrine. Seeing as you are champion of Unova, I can let you in." Iris was about to walk into the cave when Ash asked, "By the way, where is the tournament taking place?"

"The tournament is in Alto Mare, you know, the island south of Azalea town, the city guarded by a latios and a latias." At this Ash gave a small start of surprise, remembering all the events that took place there, from Latios and Latias, to the Soul Dew, to the DMA, to Latios giving his life, but most of his promise to Latios.

Flashback

All of the water from the canal retreated into the sea.

"Oh no!" Lorenzo exclaimed," The prophecy was true, the Soul Dew has been out of the pool for much too long! It is dying!"

"What!" Ash was shocked as he looked at the dried up canals of the city. "All of the water has disappeared."

"And I'm afraid it will be coming back." Lorenzo replied eerily.

"What do you mean?" Misty asked innocently.

"The water will well up to create a tsunami."

The dreaded wall of water appeared on the horizon and slowly moved toward the city, destroying all in its wake. A brief discussion between Latios and Latias and they both knew what they had to do. Latios and Latias took off at breakneck speeds toward the wave.

"Latias!" Ash screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Latios!" Bianca cried concern evident in her voice.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu called out, his worry made clear.

The eon twins were enveloped in a bright blue light as they charged into the wave. When the light died down, the wave was nowhere to be found, but neither were Latias and Latios.

The water did return in a less forceful manner, and when it did the group got in a boat to search for the twins. Latias was quickly found being carried by a mantyke, but Latios was never found.

Lorenzo sighed, "Like his father, Latios gave his life to save the city and become the next Soul Dew." Latias cooed unhappily at this.

It was nearly an hour later when Ash, carrying Latias, made it to the secret garden and promptly collapsed. He had decided to carry a sleeping Latias back to the garden. Ash was too tired to move a muscle, so he simply fell asleep. He had one strange dream that night.

When Ash opened his eyes, he saw nothing but a black void, with Latios floating before him.

"Latios!" Ash was in shock. He thought that Latios was gone.

Latios sighed. "Yes Ash, it is me. When I hit the wave, I gave the rest of my power to protect my sister. Now I can't be there to protect her, I need someone else to now. Ash, when you get done your journey, I need you to protect her. Please, I am begging you."

Ash was shocked at the turn of events, but he would help nonetheless. "Alright, when I am finished with my journey I will come back."

Latios simply smiled. "Thank you Ash and goodbye… for now."

Flashback

"Anyways, see ya Ash." Iris said as she walked off.

"Iris, wait. I will take part in the tournament." Ash replied, This will also give me an excuse to find Latias, he thought silently.

"Really? Great!" Iris replied cheerfully before skipping off to find Lance.

Huh, and she thought I was a kid, oh well, Ash thought as he put his fingers to his mouth and let out a shrill whistle. His entire team had arrived, Charzard, Flygon, Dragonite, Hydreigon, Garchomp, and Raichu.

"Okay guys, it is time to fulfill a promise I made far too long ago."

A/N: I know that Red was "technically" the shadow of Mt. Silver, but in my story Ash was.

So what did you guys think? Love it, like it, hate it, or did it make you want to throw your computer out the window? Tell me what you think and how I could improve.