Beep... Beep... Beep...

The constant beeping welcomed the man as he became conscious. He slowly opened his eyes, trying to orient himself. White. A white roof. White walls. A hospital? Looking to the side, he saw a drip which was connected to his arm. I'm in a hospital, alright. But why? For how long? For how much longer? As if on que, a lady which the man could've sworn he had seen before walked in.

"Oh my! Are you finally awake?" The lady asked. She had pink hair and was dressed in even more white, complete with a white hat that had a cross in front. A nurse?

"Y-yeah..." The man croaked. His throat was dry like a desert, and this only made him wonder even more: How long had he been here? "How l-long?" He croaked again. The nurse seemed to understand what he wanted to know.

"You've been unconscious for four days, mister Ketchum." The nurse said with a smile. Ketchum? Does she mean... me? Wait, why don't I know that? "Ketchum?" The man asked. This made the nurse raise an eyebrow.

"Yes, that's your name, or did you perhaps forget that?" She asked jokingly. She lost her smile at the man's answer. "I... I think I did... Who... Who am I?"

"Oh! Could it be... Amnesia? You don't remember anything... at all?" The man simply shook his head. Everything up to this point was blank. Friends, lovers, family. Nothing. His eyes teared up for a moment at the thought of family. Why? "Your name is Ash Ketchum, from Pallet. Does that ring any bells?" The man now known(?) as Ash merely shook his head. They could tell me I was a hero of prophecy and I wouldn't be able to deny it.

"Are you able to stand?" The nurse asked. Ash tried to get up from the bed carefully. He was a bit unsteady, probably because of the prolonged time without movement. "Hmm, you may need another day to recover. You've only just awoken, after all." Ash wanted to claim that he was fine, but as he tried to take a step forward, he lost his footing and nearly made acquintance with the floor. The nurse, however, was quick to react and caught him in his fall. Following this, he made no further attempts at proving her wrong.

As the day turned to night, there was a knock on the door, and a girl entered the room. She had honey coloured hair, a black top, and a pink skirt and hat. For some reason he felt like he should remember her aswell, but this time, too, he couldn't.

"Ash! I came here as soon as I heard you had awoken! Are you alright?" The nurse who was behind answered before Ash could. "It seems he suffer from amnesia, following the Incident. Not really surprising, considering what happened." She let out with a sad sigh, making Ash wonder what had happened. "Oh no! Is it true? You don't remember me, Ash? It's Serena. We travelled Kalos together!"

Ash wanted to say he remembered her, if only to make her feel better, but he'd rather just tell the truth and hope she doesn't take it too hard. "I'm sorry..." The girl, Serena, looked like she was about to tear up, but shook her head and presented a smile, which even Ash could tell was forced. "I guess what's most important is that you're finally awake."

"For now." The nurse interjected. "I believe it's best to let mister Ketchum rest, he'll be discharged tomorrow, should he not feel any worse. I take it you will be able to take him to mister Oaks residence?" Another name he should, yet didn't, remember. Ash wanted to ask why he was going to those "oaks" and not home, but a ominous feeling he had made him swallow the question.

The following day, they walked, or rather, Serena walked and Ash followed. Pallet seemed VERY familiar to him, yet if he were to walk alone he would without a doubt get lost. As they got closer to Oaks Lab, a large shadow descended on them. As the two looked up, they saw a massive, orange dragon. Ash was struck with fear and didn't dare move, while Serena for some reason looked calm. As the dragon landed, he looked at Ash and let out a roar. This compelled Ash to hide behind Serena.

"Ash, you don't need to be afraid. It's Charizard. Your Charizard." Serena had hoped that seeing his pokemon would bring back his memories, altho thus far it had only served as scaring him. "My...?" Ash looked at the dragon. There was something about it, too, that was familiar. "I... remember you..." Ash said, shocking Serena. "You... often shot a flamethrower in my face..."

Serena snapped her fingers. "That's it! If you meet your other pokemon, you might get your memory back!" Charizard just looked at them both, not quite sure what was transpiring, but flew them both back to the Corral. When they landed, Charizard once again let out a roar, calling all pokemon to his location. As they arrived, Ash was flooded with various memories. But something was still amiss, something that was blurry in all his memories. Something small, yellow and somewhat chubby. When he tried to remember who or what it was, he got a headache in result, as if he wasn't allowed to remember.

Serena hesitated at first, but finally decided. "Perhaps it's best if you return home. You might remember everything. Altho... I don't think you want to remember, provided what happened..." Ash looked at her questioningly. She continued. "It's a very sad memory for you... For everyone of Pallet. It might be best if you never remember it. But it's your choice." Ash thought about it. The way she were talking about it, he would probably be better off not remembering. But as he looked at the pokemon, HIS pokemon, it would be unfair to them just because he was afraid of a single bad memory.

"From what you're saying Serena, I take it it's something horrible. Perhaps you're right, I might be better off not knowing. But what, then, would my pokemon think? I won't run away, no matter how bad the memory is. Please, take me to my home."

And so she did. Seeing his house brought back some memories, but nothing definitive. As they entered the dining room, however, Ash got a massive headache as the memories came back.

-Flashback-

Ash had just returned home from Kalos, having ended up in top 4 in the league. It was a time to celebrate, despite he yet again had been unable to get closer to his dream. Others did not like the idea, however...

Men in black with a big red R on their chest stormed into the room from the back and front door.

"Team Rocket!" "Pika!" Ash and Pikachu yelled. A man in tuxedo entered after the others. "It is about time I dealt with you, Ash Ketchum. You have foiled my plans for the last time!"

"Giovanni!" Ash said in surprise. He thought he was behind bars! "Surprised to see me, are you? Don't worry, this is the last time we'll ever meet!" Giovanni said as he pulled out a gun and pointed it at Ash. Just before he pulled the trigger, Delia jumped in front of Ash and took the bullet meant for her son. "MOM! NO!"

"Couldn't wait for your turn, could you? No matter, your son will be joining you soon enough." Pikachu, having had enough, charged his energy and let out a Thunderbolt at Giovanni. Giovanni quickly released his Rhydon, Who absorbed the electricity. In return, Giovanni shot Pikachu aswell. "PIKACHU!" At this point, Ash lost it, and his latent Aura powers ran amok. Giovanni had not seen anything like it before, and was taken by surprise, just like his henchmen. With a roar of anger and sorrow, Ash's aura powers lashed out, killing Giovanni and everyone else in the room. Soon, Ash fainted, only to awake four days later...

-End of Flashback-

Now, everything had come back to Ash. His mother, Delia, as well as his first pokemon and best friend, Pikachu, was dead. He had been unable to do anything.

"Ash?" Serena asked. "It wasn't your fault. There was nothing you could've done. And remember, you still have me and your pokemon. We will always be there for you."

At this, the dam finally burst, and Ash fell down crying like never before. His pokemon, having followed him home, let out a collective roar to the skies above. As he was crying, Ash found the resolve to make a vow. He would make sure no one ever felt like he did, ever again. He would no longer chase his dream of becoming a Pokemon Master. He would instead chase criminals as a Pokemon Ranger.

Whoops, found some errors. Fixed all i could find, if any of you readers stumble upon a typo/grammatical error, do not hesitate to PM me about it. Also, please, do Rate and Review what you think about it, as well as what you think i could've done better.