1 week before the fall of the league
"I commend your tenacity Charles. I really do, but unfortunately, your little resistance ends here," a man in a black tuxedo smirked at an elderly man in a ripped beige tuxedo. He picked up the older man by the throat and shook him none too gently. "Where. Is. She?" he growled forcefully.
"I would…never…tell…you…!" Charles gasped angrily.
Giovanni's smirk only widened. "A shame… and here I thought you had some semblance of intelligence. Well, I guess this is…goodbye." Giovanni dropped the broken, bloody mess that was Charles Goodshow, but even before he could hit the ground, a Persian leapt at the elderly man, raking her sharp claws across Charles's chest. Charles screamed in agony, desperate to get away from the sadistic man and his crazy cat. The Persian smirked and lazily pinned him to the pitch-black shag carpet with a paw. But just before the Classy Cat Pokémon could land the death blow, the final strike that would end Charles Goodshow's life, two of his Pokéballs opened and his Rapidash, Striker, appeared along with his Luxray, Bolt. Goodshow barely managed to crawl onto Bolt while Striker used smokescreen as a cover for them. A full-on manic grin split Giovanni's face as Charles, Bolt, and Striker all sped off to safety. But for all of the torture, all of the pain he suffered at the hands of that evil man, it was his parting words that would haunt him for the rest of his life. "You may have escaped me this time, Charles, but remember this: if I can't kill you, I'll go after your family, your friends, your employees. I will kill as many people as I have to as long as you are one of them."
Line break
I woke up in a cold sweat. I clenched my fist so hard that blood dripped from my palm. I didn't want to wake the woman beside me up with bad news, especially about her surrogate father, but it was necessary. "Kore? Hey, Kore! Wake up!" I said, shaking her awake gently.
"All right, all right! I'm up!" Korrina grumbled sleepily. "Whaddaya—oh no…" Korrina paled at the look in my eyes. "Who was it?"
I took a deep breath. "Goodshow."
"No…no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!" she launched herself at me, crying into my chest. "Please, please, please tell me there's a chance that he—he's not—not…" she couldn't finish her sentence."
I held her. "I…I'm sorry." I said sadly. My heart felt like it was breaking. I'd never seen her cry like this before in my life. "This is my fault. If only I had trained a little harder with—"
"NO!" Korrina roared, making me flinch noticeably. "Don't you fucking dare start blaming yourself for this!" she hugged me so fiercely that, had I not had at least five years of training with the gym leader, my spine would've been shattered. "This wasn't your mistake!"
"You mean like it wasn't my mistake when Pikachu was killed?" I said bitterly. "Or like it wasn't my mistake when Pallet Town was obliterated? Korrina, how many people are going to take a bullet or a knife or a hyper beam for me before it becomes too much? Before I snap?" I whispered the last sentence.
She hugged me harder still. "That was in the past. And I'm sorry that happened but you aren't acting like the man I fell for! I want my Ash Ketchum back! The one who took on each new challenge with an unbreakable determination, an indomitable will! The Ash Ketchum that never, ever gave up!" she started crying harder. "W-where is the Ash that was willing to take a hyper beam for me?" I remembered that day clearly.
Flashback
"Pathetic. Lucario use Aura Sphere!" a vaguely familiar female voice commanded.
"You too, Lucario!" a voice I a lot better acquainted with called.
I climbed a tree to get a better look at the scene playing out before me. Korrina's Lucario was gracefully dodging a Close Combat that her opponent had called out. Her opponent was none other than champion Cynthia, her Mega Lucario looked like he was having a heart attack. "Lucario!" Cynthia called. The mega turned to look at her. "Fall back a minute." She used a full restore on the tired Pokémon.
"I hate you," Korrina muttered.
Cynthia smirked.
"That's IT!" Korrina shouted. "Lucario Power-Up Combat!" Lucario rushed forward, punching Mega Lucario harder with each consecutive strike, basically making Cynthia's full restore a pointless endeavor.
Cynthia's smirk vanished near-instantly. "Lucario, no! Damn it! I guess it's going to have to be this way then. Lucario, end them both!"
Lucario used Calm Mind repeated and then used Hyper Beam. As he was charging it, he was aiming not at Lucario but at Korrina. I charged an attack of my own between my palms. "Kame…Hame…"
"Hyper Beam, fire!"
I leapt nimbly from the tree in which I was in and landed in front of Korrina.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
A massive blue beam sprang all too willingly from my hands. My black jacket cape whipped about rather dramatically as the beams of energy collided with each other, orange against blue.
"The hell is that!? No matter, keep going Lucario! Full power!"
My Super Saiyan Blue aura began surround me, strengthening the Kamehameha until I cut through the Hyper Beam. But with a paltry 10% of my power put into the attack, it fizzled out before it could hit the mega aura Pokémon or it's trainer. It was probably for the best. A massive dust and wind storm kicked up with me in the center of it. Korrina couldn't believe her eyes. "Impossible…I—it…it can't be! You—you're dead! I watched the attack from Garchomp incinerate you!"
I smirked at Korrina. "You sound almost disappointed!"
"It's not that, it's just…you're here and alive and—"
"I'll explain everything later. I lov—I promise." I made a valiant attempt not to turn red. It worked. I resumed my hard glare a the Sinnoh Champion. "We'll be taking our leave now. Follow us and I will not hesitate in making you experience a very painful death. Am. I. Clear?" I grabbed Korrina's hand, making us both blush furiously, and disappeared.
Korrina put her hands on her hips. "Alright, explain. Where the hell have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere!" she suddenly broke her stern look, lunged at me, and gave me the first of many spine-shattering hugs.
'The time is now' I thought whilst returning the hug. "Korrina I—I'm so sorry I ran away. I was just to overwhelmed and hurt that I didn't know what to do! But that's besides the point, I want you to know that whenever I thought the pain was to much and whenever I thought I should give up, one person dominated my thoughts. She's kind and not necessarily gentle but loving and beautiful. That woman…is you, Korrina. I—I—I—I love you."
"Ash…" She gasped, tears of joy in her eyes. "I love you, too!" she kissed me passionately. There was no tongue no primal thrashing need. Just a simple yet beautiful kiss. she pulled away and hugged me tighter. "I've b—been waiting to hear those words forever!"
"I've been waiting to say those words for forever."
Flashback end.
I set my jaw determinedly "Your right Kore. I failed you once and I will never ever do it again."
"Is that a promise?" she asked.
I shook my head. "No. No, that's a prophecy."
She hugged me harder than ever before. "See, now was that so hard?"
I mock-glared at her. She giggled. "You're so lucky you're one of the hardest people to stay mad at."
"Don't be that way, baby," she said sultrily before kissing me.
I melted into the kiss. We probably would've gone at for an hour more had an unfamiliar piercing screech sounded off.
"PID-GEE-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
We jumped apart, startled, and faced to first rays of sunlight. A Pidgeot several sizes smaller that my own was waiting a for us with a note in it beak. Out of nowhere Charizard, Greninja, and Sceptile appeared ready to defend me if need be.
"Stand down. I come in peace," Pidgeot said.
"What business do you have with Father?" Greninja said challengingly
"League stuff"
"Be specific."
"Can't."
"Can't or won't?"
"Little bit of both."
"State your business," I commanded, rapidly getting annoyed with the back-and-forth.
"I am here to deliver the final will and testament of Charles Goodshow."
