AN: This begins just after the first Pokémon Movie and there are a few changes. The major one is that Mewtwo doesn't wipe their minds meaning Ash remembers dying which I think would mature him greatly and give him a new outlook on life. There are a few more differences but you'll see as you read.

From Death I am Reborn

Chapter 1

-Ash-

Sighing he laid back on the roof of his home as he stared up at the stars, his mind lost in thought as he remembered what had happened to him a few days before. The events of New Island…the battle between the clones and the originals…dying at the hands of two legendaries…it was almost more than he could process. After he had been brought back, he theorized that the barriers between the worlds was thin due to the massive amounts of energies released by the two clashing legendaries allowing a catalyst, in this case being the despairing emotions of the Pokémon, to bring his soul back into his body and reverse his stone transformation.

Mewtwo had planned on erasing his memory, along with the others, but he pointed out that Mewtwo openly stated he had learned an important lesson but if they had their minds wiped they would have learned nothing. Mewtwo wasn't happy about it but knew he was right and accepted it, after getting them all to promise not to tell anyone about the existence of the Clones. As soon as he got back to Pallet town he had gathered all of his Pokémon at the Professor's Ranch to try and hash out a training plan for the Upcoming Indigo Conference in three months.

-Flashback-

Getting out onto the ranch he grinned as he looked at Pikachu and gave a nod causing his starter to grin widely and fire a massive thunderbolt up into the air as the ground beneath his feet quickly started shaking before he saw a stampede of thirty Tauros along with his Muk and Krabby. "Hey guys." he said happily as he stroked Krabby's shell and gave each of his Tauros some attention before being glomped by a happy Muk. "Alright, alright," he called out as he clambered out from his exuberant Pokémon "just let me release the others. I want to go over a training schedule so we can get ready for the Conference in a few months.". At those words Pikachu cheered happily as did Krabby and Muk while his Tauros roared in joy.

"Alright guys, come on out!" he yelled as he threw his Pokéballs into the air and released Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Pigeotto, Charizard, and Primeape who he had gotten transferred back to him from Anthony. "Alright everybody," he said to the now released Pokémon "we need to hash out a training schedule for the Conference coming up. First I'd like-" he wasn't able to go any farther before Charizard roared and fired a flamethrower at him as he dove to the ground, not feeling like taking a second trip to the afterlife before the draconic fire Pokémon flew off and went to sleep.

"Oh…" he said softly as he had to fight to keep his tears from leaking out "I…I guess we'll work with Charizard later." As he continued to work with his other Pokémon he had to fight hard not to cry…having hoped that Charizard's tears upon his earlier death meant that the fire Pokémon was once again his friend.

-End Flashback-

Shaking his head to leave the memory he wiped away the lone tear that fell down his eye before sighing as he knew what he had to do. Crawling back into his bedroom he made sure Pikachu was settled before grabbing Charizard's Pokéballs and walking out of the house, following the road until he got to Professor Oak's land and stepped just inside the Ranch, ignoring the sleeping Pokémon off in the distance.

Silently he pressed the button on the Pokéballs as Charizard popped out and looked like it was about to roar, and possibly release a flame thrower, when he coldly commanded "Charizard…shut up." Causing the massive fire dragon to stare at him in shock. "I'm going to get right to the point Charizard," he said as he tried to avoid breaking down just as his heart began to shatter "I'm going to give you two choices right here and now. The first is that you shape up and start listening to me as your trainer and as your friend…" Charizard looked like it was going to answer him with a flamethrower at that point so he continued "and the second is that you smash your damn Pokéballs and leave.".

At those words Charizard actually stumbled back from the shock of his statement, the dragon's eyes wide at what he had stated. "I'm tired Charizard," he said as his voice began to crack "I'm tired of…of trying to help you, of trying to be your friend…of trying to have you as part of my family when all you do is treat my efforts with scorn and disgust. Was…was all that we went through when you were a Charmander really so meaningless to you?". At this point he felt the tears begin to fall and knew he wouldn't be able to stop them so he pressed on before he lost what little nerve he had left "I still want to be your friend Charizard…for you to be part of your family…but I'm not going to keep you here if you don't want that. So the choice is up to you. I'll be back here in the morning to train with the others. If you're still here then I'll know you still want to be my friend. And if you're not….well I wish you happiness wherever your heart may take you.". and with that he pressed Charizard's Pokéballs into the stunned dragon's clawed hand before turning around and walking back to his home to cry himself to sleep, not noticing his eyes beginning to shift and change, developing a hint of dark purple in the usual brown orbs.

-Charizard-

The crackling of his tail fire was the only sound that accompanied him as he sat upon the cliffs of the Oak Ranch, staring at the Pokéballs in his hand as he thought back to what his trai-…to what Ash had said to him. He didn't deserve to call Ash his trainer after the things he'd done….after how he'd treated his first and truest friend. Ever since he had evolved he had spat upon everything Ash had done for him since that day in the rain…and he couldn't loathe himself more than he did now. At first he had felt that Ash was abandoning him and had very nearly shattered his Pokéballs before he froze, remembering the agony in Ash's eyes, the suffering in the human's voice as Ash lamented about the loss of their friendship….and he felt horror and disgust with himself at that one, startling, realization…he had become like Damien.

He had refused to listen to Ash because he thought Ash was weak when he was now strong, he had attacked Ash because he felt he was strong and Ash wasn't…he had hurt Ash because of what he had thought…just as Damien had done to him. The question he struggled with now though wasn't if he felt Ash was worthy of being his trainer and having his friendship…the question he asked himself was if he was worthy to even be on Ash's team.

-Ash-

Sighing he splashed some water onto his fast as he stared at his bloodshot eyes in the mirror, shrugging off the flecks of dark purple as a trick of the light or a result of him not being able to get to sleep until a few scant hours ago after he finally succumbed to exhaustion. "Ash!" his mother called up to him "Breakfast is ready! Come on down!".

"Be there in a moment!" he called back as he sighed and hoped nobody would notice how his eyes were somewhat bloodshot. Toweling off his face he walked downstairs and saw his mom laughing happily along with Brock and Misty as they played keep away with Pikachu using a bottle of Ketchup while the little mouse Pokémon tried in vain to steal it for his breakfast.

Chuckling softly he walked over silently and, just as Pikachu was about to get the bottle, snatched it up as his starter tumbled and looked up at him with a pout while the three other humans laughed happily at the sight. After getting in a chuckle or two of his own he handed his little starter the bottle as the electric mouse's face lit up with glee and the thundric titan began chugging down the red substance.

"Are you alright Ash," his mom spoke up with a frown as he looked over at her and saw the merriment slipping away from their faces, Pikachu doing the same after looking up from the bottle of Ketchup "and your eyes are bloodshot…have you been crying?".

Sighing he sat down in the chair and ran a hand across his face before explaining the ultimatum he had given Charizard the night before. Mist had looked like she was about to start a rant at him before his mom placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "You did the right thing Ash," she told him as he placed his hand over hers, drawing strength from the maternal comfort "you can't force Charizard to stay with you or else things will only get worse. I hope he chooses to stay, I truly do, but it's his decision to make now.".

"I know mom." He said as he stood up and hugged her tightly, trying to convey through that simple contact how much her words meant to him.

"So Ash," Brock spoke up after a moment "what are we gonna do for the next three months before the Conference?".

"Actually," he said with a wince as he decided to reveal a decision he had made "I think I need to journey by myself for a little while.".

"WHAT?!" Brock and Misty yelled in shock as he winced before holding his hands up pleadingly for a chance to explain.

"Let me explain!" he said quickly and, after getting stiff nods, elaborated "We've been travelling together for a year now guys and while we've visited my mom…have you guys been able to see your families since we left your home cities?" both Brock and Misty winced at that statement. "I want to give you two time to spend with your families and…my gut is telling me that I need to do this. To just go out and travel, training with my team and maybe even catching some new ones as we work on connecting with each other. And…well I need to learn to stand on my own two feet, to see if I can actually be strong enough to get by without Misty to knock some sense into my head to get me focused or Brock to get me on the right trail or to cook. I…I need to see if I'm actually worth anything by myself or if I only got as far as I did because you guys were there to pick up my slack.".

"You…you're right Ash." Brock sighed "I left my gym because I wanted to see the world and see if I could make it outside of the Gym life, same here with Misty…we can't take the chance to learn that from you. But know this," here Brock gave him a smirk "we're both going to be with you at the Conference, cheering you on every step of the way.".

"Thanks Brock," he said gratefully as he gave the Rock trainer a 'bro hug' before turning to Misty and staggering back as she pulled him into a back breaking embrace "you too Mist." He whispered as he returned the fierce hug.

"Well tomorrow I'll cook you three a big breakfast before you all go on your way," his mom said with a small smile at them "I know that Ash will want to get started right away and you two will likely want to see your families again.".

"Thanks mom," he said gratefully before glancing at the clock and sighing "I'm going to eat and then…then I'm going to go see what Charizard's decision was.".

Nodding his mom ran her fingers through his hair and placed a soft kiss on his forehead before placing a stack of pancakes in front of him as he slowly began eating, idly noting that ever since he died his appetite had been dulled somewhat. Thirty minutes later he was walking along the dirt road to the Oak Ranch, his mind on only one thing…what would be Charizard's decision.

AN: Alright peoples of the internet, as you can see this is going to be a, hopefully, intriguing story. Over the three month period I intend for Ash to catch a few Pokémon. I have about ten already selected, you can find out which ones as the story progresses, but I am more than willing to listen to any requests for new Pokémon in a review. Just list them down there and if I like it, and it wasn't already one that I had planned to use, then I'll give that person a shout out in the chapter where it shows up. Also, while one of the Pokémon he gets isn't going to be a Kanto native, I would like for all the others to be or at the very least from Johto.