"That's enough for today, guys."

A large group of Pokémon that had apparently been training stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction of the sound, seeing Ash, their master, and cheered.

Ash, tired after the intense training they did each day, walked over to the edge of the coast, staring out into the sparkling blue sea, faithful yellow buddy on his shoulder.

"It's been four years since we left, hasn't it Pikachu?" He said changing his view to the starry sky, not knowing that far away, their friends were having the exact same conversation.

"PikaPi Pikachu Pika", the yellow rodent said, with a questioning look on its face.

"No Pikachu, I don't regret leaving and I don't want to return now. This is my new life. The Ash Ketchum they knew is long dead."

"Chaaa", Pikachu sighed, knowing that attempting to talk some sense into his trainer and life-long friend would be useless, he had long ago retreated into a deep void of self-pity and darkness.

It wasn't that he was cruel or anything, it was just that he no longer cared about anything besides training. It seemed he was lifeless and no longer had a soul.

Everyone and everything he once had and knew had been long ago consumed and destroyed by the criminal organization known as Team Rocket, as payback for all the plans of theirs that he had ruined.

He had since trained all around the world. They had trained in the rough deserts of Orre, the snowy peak of Mt. Silver, travelled the Ocean, training on islands and had gone to places no one had ever heard of.

The two of them just stood there thinking for a while, the serenity of the sea and sky calming them. They had all the time in the world to think. There was nothing to distract them and on a remote island like this, the chance of someone finding them was next to zero.

Ash and his Pokémon friends had found this island to train on. It was perfect; free from human taint and far away from civilization.

The raven-haired boy had been training for four years now. Every day he would wake up, eat, and get back to training. The only company he had now was that of his family – his Pokémon. They were the only family he had left. His father had long ago abandoned him and his Mother…

Ash was snapped out of his trance as a loud sound was heard. He turned around and saw a black figure speeding towards the island, the air trailing behind it as it broke the sound barrier.

"Master! A Pokémon is approaching the island at a very high speed; its aura seems to be that of a Pidgeot's, with a human's aura on top of it." A blue, dog-like creature with spikes on its hands and chest transmitted to Ash through aura.

Ash rushed over to the spot that the Pidgeot seemed to be stopping at. He watched as his Pokémon surrounded the intruder, just as he had taught them to, in case any strangers happened to find the island.

The man that hopped off the Pidgeot seemed unperturbed at the large amount of glaring Pokémon surrounding him. He looked around before spotting Ash, and started walking towards him. He continued walking until he was only half a meter away.

He looked up at Ash and saw that the boy had changed a lot from the 10 year old boy that started his journey to become a Pokémon master 7 years ago. His hair was still messy and unkempt, but now was far longer. No longer was he a weak, skinny boy. Years of training had given him a strong, bulky look. However, possibly the most significant change, was his eyes. The warm, caring eyes that he once had were now replaced by cold, emotionless orbs that revealed nothing.

"Scott." Ash simply said.

"Is that anyways to greet an old friend?" Scott said, with a big smile on his face.

Ash simply grunted and said, "What do you want here and how did you find me? I thought I cut myself off from civilization."

"That you did, that you did. It took me weeks of hard work just to find you Ash, but I can see now it was definitely worth it. Judging by how strong your Pokémon look, you are one strong trainer now." Scott replied, still with his trademark smile on his face.

"Anyways, the reason I'm here is to tell you about a challenge I think you'll be interested in."

Ash nodded and said, "I'm listening."

"It's called the Tournament of Arceus and it's only hosted once every 50 years to honour Arceus. Seeing as how famous it is and how rarely it's hosted, powerful trainers love to go there to test their strength. The best of the best will be there Ash, it'll be the toughest challenge you've had but I assure you you'll enjoy it." Scott explained.

The trainer simply looked to his Pokémon and said, "Well, I have been away from competitive battling for a while now. I guess I should enter. Do you guys think we can do it?"

All the Pokémon cheered.

Ash had all his Pokémon with him right now. Looking at them all, he saw Venosaur, Kingler, Muk, Tauros, Snorlax, Heracross, Meganium, Typhlosion, Totodile, Noctowl, Donphan, Swellow, Sceptile, Crawdaunt, Torkoal, Glalie, Staraptor, Torterra, Infernape, Floatzel, Primeape, Charizard, Blastoise, Pidgeot, Lapras and Gliscor.

He had found new Pokémon though. He now also had a Lucario and a Scizor. Though, he also had two extremely powerful Pokémon with him. They hadn't joined him for long but had easily become two of his strongest Pokémon on his team. Thinking about how he met them made him smile internally.

All of his Pokémon had evolved to their final stage of evolution (Except Pikachu of course!), but for some reason, Totodile refused to evolve. Perhaps a dancing Feraligatr wouldn't look so… normal?

Charizard had found him somehow, perhaps knowing where he was through their close bond, and flew all the way from the Charific Valley to be reunited with him. Squirtle had done similar, but had instead had Officer Jenny bring him. Lapras had even come all the way from the Orange Islands!

All the Pokémon Ash had caught had trained with him over the four years (Except Butterfree, who Ash had assumed was dead. Bug Pokémon usually didn't live very long in the wild) and had thus become a very deadly group of Pokémon, all ready to battle to the end for their trainer.

"I think you have your answer then, Scott." The smiling trainer said.

A certain raven-haired trainer with a yellow rodent on his shoulder was standing on a grassy green hill overlooking the town of Pallet.

"I guess we're home. The place sure hasn't changed, even after all these years. I guess we should go to Professor Oak's lab, it's not like we have anywhere else to stay." Ash said to Pikachu, staring over at his hometown.

"Pikachu Pi!"

Walking up to Professors lab he thought, 'Well, now or never I guess. If I reveal myself to the world, there'll be no going back to the peaceful, solitary life I had before. I suppose it's time for me to return anyways. It's been four years, after all.'

The door to the Professor's lab opened, and in front of him stood Tracey.

"Hello, Is there something you need?" The Pokémon Watcher asked.

Ash didn't say anything and simply removed his hood, revealing his face to the person in front of him.

Tracey's eyes widened as he saw who it was, and he ran off shouting, "HE'S BACK PROFESSOR! HE'S FINALLY BACK!"

Ash raised his eyebrow as he saw Tracey running around the room shouting, and sat down on a nearby chair, watching the display with amusement.

Professor Oak finally heard Tracey and came down. When he saw Ash, he smiled and ran up to him, taking him into a hug while saying, "Ash my boy, your back! After all these years you've returned!" Ash didn't return the hug, but didn't push the old man away, merely accepting it.

The two of them, recovering from the initial shock of seeing someone for the first time in four years, sat down with him.

"It's not that we aren't happy to see you Ash, but why have you returned? When you left you made it quite clear that you probably would be gone for much longer than you have been gone." Oak asked, even though he thought he already knew the answer.

"I'm sure you've heard of the Tournament of Arceus. Scott found me and told me about it, so I decided to return early and enter the competition."

"I don't believe it! Ash Ketchum is back! Wait till I tell the others!" Tracey continued with his crazy outburst.

"You will not tell the others I have returned." Ash said coldly, stunning Oak and Tracey for a moment with the lack of emotion in the sentence.

The watcher turned around and look at him strangely, "Don't you want to reunite with your friends? They all miss you a lot. After you disappeared, no one did anything but sit around and mope for at least a month! Max even stopped training when he heard about your disappearance!"

"No. I don't want to reunite with them. Not yet at least. I threw away my old life when I left, I don't think I can return to it that easily." Ash said with a deadly look on his face.

He sighed and continued, "I really miss them, I really do, but it's been too long. I'm no longer the same energetic boy that they once loved. There's no way they would even recognize me now."

"Don't worry Ash; I'm sure they'll see that you're still the same person deep inside. They're your friends Ash, it's not like they'll hate you for changing. Anyways, it's a coincidence that you arrived today to enter the Tournament of Arceus, the others just left yesterday." The Pokémon Professor said.

"Aren't you and Tracey going then? If it's so famous, I don't see a reason not to go." Ash asked, with a puzzled look on his face.

"Sorry Ash, but I won't be going there. I'm far too old to go but I'll cheer you on from Pallet. Although, Tracey will be going, but he had to clear up a few things, but he's leaving today. Say, why don't you two travel together?"

Ash simply shrugged and said, "Why not?"