So I've been gone a while, doing a little bit of this little bit of that. But, I've returned because I look back at The Betrayed Champion and realize, I can do so much better. So while this is technically a rewrite, this will in fact be a whole different story, with some vague similarities here and there. I don't want this fic to come off as just another betrayal/return fic, there were probably too man when I first started writing The Betrayed Champion, let alone now haha.
You of course do not have to have read The Betrayed Champion nor will reading it spoil anything for this fic. This is just my attempt at improving on something I wrote almost 7 years ago. Jesus, has it really been that long? Am I considered old now in fanficfion years?
I haven't forgotten about Katana though and other fics I've had in mind, I can't promise a specific update date but considering I am in the writing mood, it might come sooner than you may think. As for this fic though, I have a few chapters written up already so one week from now, this time on Sunday, the next chapter will be up. So without further ado, here is The Disgraced Champion.
"And Lucian's Alakazam is staggering!"
The roar of the crowd grew to a frenzy, watching the battle between the two incredibly skilled trainers before them left them in complete awe. A story they would tell for years on end. Back and forth the battle had gone, coming down to the last Pokemon for each of the competitors.
Lucian knew he was in trouble, he could see just how badly Alakazam's knees were shaking, barely able to hold itself up enduring attack after attack. He tried to scream out words of encouragement, but his message was simply swept away amongst the roaring crowd, now beginning to chant a single word in excitement.
"Ash! Ash! Ash!"
Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town had come a long way to reach this point, to be one Alakazam away from facing the champion of the Sinnoh region, Cynthia.
With his Pikachu bruised up but still raring to go, he knew that it was now or never.
"Pikachu!" He screamed, his voice trembling with eagerness and vigor, "Finish this battle with a thunderbo-"
Thud
Ash froze mid-command, the cheers and hysteria fell to a hush as Alakazam had dropped one of his spoons against the hard surface of the ground. The crowd watched in near silence as he began to waver, teetering back and forth on the battle ground, consciousness beginning to fade.
With his last ounce of energy, Alakazam raised his one remaining spoon above his head triumphantly, preparing for one final attack. But, it would never come. Just as the first spoon had fallen by his feet, so followed the second one. The knees finally giving out, and passing out before his entire body had ever even touched the ground.
"And that is all she wrote folks! Your winner, and conqueror of the Sinnoh Elite Four, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!"
"We did it Pikachu!" Ash yelled in delight, catching Pikachu in his arms and hugging his little yellow friend. He took a second to take it all in, looking around at the tens of thousands of people sat in the could barely make out a single word among it all as it all just sounded like one big concentrated roar of excitement.
Everything that he had worked so hard for, everything he had ever dreamed of becoming, was unfolding right before his very eyes. Ash looked up to the sky and hadn't even realized that the clear blue sky that was there when the match first began, had been replaced by the dark night sky. It seemed as though not even the stars and the moon had wanted to miss this battle for the ages.
With the spotlights illuminating the Pokemon battle area, Ash took a deep breath, knowing his dream was only one battle away.
"Hey Ash!" Though he couldn't hide the look of disappointment on his face, Lucian still had an appearance of genuine happiness directed towards Ash as he walked towards him.
"Thank you Lucian for that amazing battle, definitely one that I will never forget," Ash's words were those of pure honesty and respect, extending his arm wanting to shake Lucian's hand.
"You know, I had my doubts about whether you truly belonged here, within striking distance of our champion." Lucian paused for a moment, before reaching out and shaking Ash's extended hand. "Now I realize just how foolish I truly was. You proved to me and everyone else watching today that Ash Ketchum has what it takes to take on Cynthia."
Hearing his words gave Ash a rush of adrenaline, it really was sinking in that he had earned the right to challenge of the title of Sinnoh league champion.
"Thank you Lucian, I'm glad I could show you what I, and most importantly, what my Pokemon are made of. We don't back down too easily." Ash giddily proclaimed, letting go of Lucian's hand as he started to walk towards the stadium tunnel and into the back room where his friends were waiting for him.
"Just keep one thing in mind Ash," Lucian spoke out, just loudly enough so that Ash could hear him over the still roaring crowd. "You have one week to prepare for Cynthia. Beat her, and you're the champion of Sinnoh and you truly will be a Pokemon Master. But lose, and you'll have to start all over again at the Lily of the Valley Conference, if you want another shot at the champ."
Having planted the seed of doubt as a way of testing Ash, Lucian turned away from the trainer with his hand raised up in the sky. "Good luck!" Lucian shouted, leaving Ash to shoulder the full gravity of the situation at hand.
Although Ash's high from winning his match hadn't faded away, the fear of coming up short on the biggest stage of them all, and the repercussions of that failure were right in the forefront of his mind. Shaking his head and doing his best to mentally put that to the side, Ash grinned with excitement as he ran to the back room, wanting to share his victory with his friends.
Running down the tunnel with Pikachu in hot pursuit, he found the door he was looking for and without a moment's hesitation, opened it up and was immediately greeted with some familiar faces.
"Ash you did it!"
Before he could even register her words, May had jumped from the couch she was sitting on and embraced Ash. The warm, comforting hug by May was everything Ash needed in that moment, decompressing from winning the battle to what Lucian had said.
Though her hug of excitement soon turned into a death grip as Ash's face turned a slight shade of purple at the ferocity of it.
"May…slightly dying here," Ash barely croaked out, starting to see the light and a certain aura guardian at the end of the radiant tunnel.
"Oh, I'm sorry," May embarrassedly giggled, releasing Ash from her clutches.
"Ash you were amazing out there!" A pre-pubescent voice chimed in as Ash surveyed the room and saw all of his old friends, and even rivals.
May, Brock, Misty, Max, Dawn, and even Paul, who stood nonchalantly at the back of the room with his arms crossed, they had all come from regions across the world to come and see Ash take on the Elite Four.
"We're all really proud of you man," Brock proudly proclaimed, patting Ash on the back. For a second, Brock's mind began to wonder away, back to when they had first met when Ash was barely considered a novice at pokemon battling. He smiled warmly, thinking about all the adventures they had had that had led up to this point…That was until he saw what looked to be a pretty girl out of the corner of his eye, chasing after her to proclaim his love once more.
"Oh Brock," Misty just sighed as she walked up to Ash. "From getting lucky to win my Cascade Badge to defeating the entire Sinnoh Elite Four, you've certainly come a long way haven't you Ash Ketchum?"
Ash grinned, looking back at his original female traveling partner. "You and I both know that Pikachu and I had you dead in the water if we had liked," He jokingly replied as the two laughed at their old adventures.
Squealing with excitement, unable to contain herself, Dawn pushed her way to the front and gave Ash a big hug, just not as life threatening as May's. "Ash you won! And in my home region of all places, honestly I'm flattered."
"I'm glad I could do Sinnoh proud Dawn," Ash smiled, looking at the girl who had been with him his whole Sinnoh journey. "We had a lot of ups and downs up until this point, but I'm glad you were by my side through it all."
"Well of course!" Dawn flicked her blue hair, "you just needed the right girl traveling with you was all, to get to and beat the Elite Four," Dawn slyly replied with a subtle wink.
"Hey!" Misty yelled while May gave Dawn a mean look in retaliation.
"Kidding guys!" Dawn laughed, knowing her joke would ruffle a few feathers, "you girls are amazing, I can see why Ash chose to travel with you two."
With that all sorted out, Ash walked past everyone and to the back of the dimly lit room. With a couch in the middle, a few chairs sparsely spaced out, the dull beige colored walls, and a big TV hanging on the wall, there really wasn't much to this room. Ignoring all of that though, Ash stood face to face with Paul.
"So, what did you think of my match out there?" Ash curiously asked, trying to get a word out of his rival.
Paul stayed silent for a few seconds, his arms crossed and his head down being as still as a statue. Slowly though, he raised his head up and locked eyes with the raven haired trainer.
"I thought the way you handled your pokemon selection was sloppy at best, you definitely could've taken advantage of some obvious type advantages."
"Paul!" Dawn shouted, wanting those two to play nice with each other.
"Let me finish Dawn," Paul replied, with an ever so slight grin on his face directed towards her. "That being said, I thought you did very well out there. If I had to lose at all at the Lily of the Valley Conference, I'm pleased to know that the person who beat me is challenging for the title of champion."
This had been the closest thing to a compliment Ash had ever received from Paul, it almost took him off his feet he was caught off guard. Laughing and rubbing the back of his head, Ash was grateful to hear his words.
"I'm glad I could make you proud out there Paul." Turning away from his purple haired rival, Ash looked back at his group of friends, their sense of elation filling the room. All full of smiles, except for Brock, who had walked back into the room having failed on his female conquest.
"Another rejection buddy?" Ash called out, showing some empathy towards the downtrodden breeder.
With his head down Brock just sighed, "No, turned out it was just a guy with long hair and effeminate hips, even Croagunk took pity on me and spared me his jab."
Ash took pity on his longtime friend and patted him on the back, "How about we forget this whole thing and go celebrate with some food!"
"Yeah! It's not every day that one of our best friends wins the chance at battling the Champion of Sinnoh!" May proclaimed, happy for Ash but also ready to tear into some dinner.
"All right, let's go!"
Twenty bowls of food later
"Too…much…food," Ash was barely able to croak out, his body becoming nearly 50% meat and ramen after gorging himself, plate after plate.
"I think…we went a bit overboard," May followed suit. They had had a competition as to who could eat the most food among them, and considering how awful both of them felt after the fact, it was safe to say that both of them had lost.
"I didn't even think it was possible to eat a steak that big in one bite," Max exclaimed, always in awe at his sisters appetite.
The restaurant was definitely a more upscale one than the group was used to. With its dim lights, red painted walls, and decadent food, the group seemed out of place wearing their usual casual clothing.
Dabbing his napkin on each side of his mouth, Paul looked on in disgust at the barbaric way Ash and May had more or less inhaled their food. "And you guys would call me a monster."
"I never knew you had such proper manners," Dawn exclaimed, cozying up to Paul. "Using the correct utensil for each meal, keeping your elbows off of the table, sure know how to impress a girl."
Paul shook his head, paying no attention to Dawn's slight advances as he stood up from the table. "I'm heading back to the hotel now though, we have a training session tomorrow Ash and I expect you to be over your food coma by then."
"Ughhh," was all Ash could utter in that moment, his head laying on the table, unable to lift a finger.
"I'll go with you Paul, you could use the company," Dawn exclaimed, much to the dismay of Paul. Letting out a groan of annoyance he rolled his eyes and started walking, side by side the blue haired coordinator, who got a slight satisfaction from all of the teasing that she had been doing.
"And now one of the five of us is going to be stuck footing this horrendous bill," Misty muttered, turning his head at Max, "I hope you brought your piggy bank."
Max gulped thinking about just how much May and Ash had racked up the bill. Looking around the table and seeing the graveyard of white plates that had once contained mountains of food, he knew bankruptcy may be in his future.
"Actually," a waitress at the restaurant butted in, overhearing their conversation, "your meal is on the house! We'd be crazy to charge Mr. Ketchum after his incredible performance today."
"With such beauty only to be matched by your incredible charitable ways! Is this what they mean by true love!?" Brock cried out in joy as his heart fluttered for the waitress.
"Yeah yeah casanova go and proclaim your love to the pillow back at the hotel," Misty angrily said as he hauled Brock off by his ear, writhing in pain.
"Wait up guys!" Max yelled, not wanting to be left with the two people who had somehow overdosed on noodles.
After a few seconds passed and the area had quieted down, Ash willed his head back up, leaving the comfort of the table. With squinted eyes he looked around, seeing only May whose head had also found a home on the table.
"Hey May."
"Yeah Ash," she was able to mutter out, bringing her head up off the table.
"Where did everyone go?"
"I think we've been abandoned, left alone to decompose on these surprisingly very comfortable chairs."
"Now I know how Charmander must have felt," Ash said as he stretched out his limbs, "on the bright side it looks like our bill has been covered." Brushing the crumbs off his clothes he stood up from his seat, feeling a bit better. "You want to walk with me back to the hotel?"
"Wow, the soon to be Champion of Sinnoh is inviting me to walk by his side to the hotel? I am truly not worthy," May replied with a joking, yet friendly tone, performing a curtsy in Ash's honor.
All Ash could do was laugh at the little display May had given him, "Such humble words coming from the Princess of Hoenn," Ash shot back, extending his bent arm out for May. "Let us proceed?"
Grinning ear to ear, May locked arms with Ash, "Lets!"
So that was the first chapter of The Disgraced Champion. Tell me what you thought in your review, I'd love to get some feedback on how you think the story is going after the first chapter and if you've read The Betrayed Champion, the differences between the two first chapters. For starters, I'll say that there's clearly no Drew in this first chapter ,as opposed to the original. He will definitely still be in it, but he won't play a part in the downfall of Ash nor will he have such a sad and lazy ending.
By the way, this is set in Sinnoh obviously which means no Iris or Cilan just like the original, but, don't count Serena out just yet. This chapter may have had hints of advanceshipping but as I said this rewrite is a whole different story and I happen to really enjoy amourshipping.
Let me know what you think about advanceshipping and or amourshipping, as those two shippings are the ones I absolutely have in mind, maybe your voice will help sway it to one way or the other.
So the next chapter will be out one week from now on Sunday. So stay tuned and if you enjoyed this chapter, or flat out hated it, leave a review and let me know!