Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or anything else like that. I own the story and my interpretation of Ashley.
It was about a week after Ash had received the letter. He was still within the Tree of Beginning with plans only to go to Alola one week before registration began.
After all, it would do him no good to have his partners show off their skill while training in public. It would both be too revealing to the eyes of many he didn't want to see, and would probably cause too much destruction.
Currently, the boy was meditating near a waterfall that ran through the tree, one of the major sources of water for the inhabitants. The sound of the falling water put him at peace, allowing him to let go of any overbearing emotions.
As he was doing so, he felt a pull in the back of his mind.
Recognizing it, he let it pull his consciousness to wherever it was dragging him.
When Ash opened his eyes, he was no longer within the Tree of Beginning. Instead, he was in a grand room that was mostly white with several thrones of all shapes and sizes. Sitting on each of those thrones was a Legendary, though not every single one.
In response, Ash bowed slightly, taking notice of his slightly transparent body as he did.
"Arise, my Chosen One," Arceus spoke.
Ash did so and smiled at the Legendaries. "While I'm fine with seeing you all again without having to run across the world in the midst of catastrophe-"
A few Legends snickered.
"-why have you summoned me?"
"We have heard from the Mew of the Tree that there is a tournament going on," the Alpha Pokemon spoke, his voice serious. "Along with that, there is also a chance that those who have wronged you, both the ones who betrayed your trust and the ones who are after you for your power, shall be there."
Ash nodded. "While I am wary of seeing some of them again, I cannot hide forever. The truth must come out and those who are after me must fall."
"You do understand what can happen to you if you are caught?" Dialga questioned.
"I do, but I am willing to take that risk. The time to rise has come."
Ash then grinned. "Besides, even when everything goes horribly wrong, I'll probably still find someway to fix everything. That seems to be how it goes most of the time."
"Even still," Arceus said, "I ask that you have one Legend on hand or beside you at all times. They will be after you and only you, given what happened… last time."
Ash nodded, his body slightly tense at the thought. He remember this last time well, one of the few moments he had lost control, all his mental teachings being thrown out the window for just a few moment.
And it turns out all the mental teachings were rather important, as stuffing the three major powers of the Pokemon world into a developing (at the time) boy could get rather dangerous if it weren't for the level of control he possessed from years of teaching. (1)
If it weren't for the situation and who was on the receiving end, and what they had done to even trigger him to lose all control, Ash was sure he would have been given a huge punishment for the amount of damage he caused in but a few short minutes. Instead, he was given a few months of increased practice and several warnings about why he should never let it happen again, more for his safety than as a punishment.
"I fear that all your years of self exile will accumulate in this tournament," Arceus continued, snapping Ash from his thoughts. "The danger will be great, with many enemies in the shadows, some in plain sight. And there is no one outside your group who can help. Some might make it even worse if you try to involve them."
"I understand," Ash replied. "I shall do all I can to both stay safe and keep all others, be it within my group or simple bystanders, safe. Though, on the subject of the tournament, is there any of you who wishes to be used in battle during the tournament?"
Around the room, different answers came.
Some of the smaller Legendaries all were fine if they were called out at any point, as they were considered on the lower end of the scale in terms of pure power and capabilities.
A few bigger ones also agreed to be used as desired, though most of them either wanted to be used against someone who had harmed Ash or someone he respected in terms of battle.
The few Legends that were considered God tier told Ash that they probably wouldn't do more than one battle near the end, if any, seeing as how powerful they were, and how many greater targets it would put on his back, mainly from those who didn't know about him and what he could do, with or without Pokemon.
With all that said and done, Ash bid goodbye to the Legends in the room and closed his eyes once more.
When Ash opened his eyes, he was back in the same spot as before, by the waterfall.
He was about to slip back into peaceful meditation again to mull over what he had been told, only to hear a loud explosion off in the distance.
Ash rolled his eyes. "Not again…"
He arose from his sitting position and headed down the paths of the tree.
In a large, open room, Ash found several Pokemon, all locked in heated combat.
Thunderbolts, Flamethrowers, Water Shurikens, Leaf Storms, and other such moves were all being thrown around, some of them creating a no holds brawl between the Pokemon dishing them out. Though it was hard to tell exactly who it was, or even how many, given the fact that there was a huge cloud of debris that had been kicked up around the group.
Ash again rolled his eyes, noticing the amount of damage the room had. He eternally thankful the room didn't have any effect on the Tree, otherwise his friends might have been kicked out long ago for extensive damage. (2)
Wanting to break up the intense training fight, Ash took a deep breath and sent Aura into his throat.
Mew and Sabrina were casually talking to one another as they overlooked the Tree's beautiful internal structure.
Then there was a loud roar off in the distance, one that seemed to shake the entire tree.
"What was that!?" Sabrina asked in shock.
She turned to Mew, who was currently shaking like a leaf.
'Ash Roared,' she said in a timid voice. 'Loud.'
In another part of the Tree, a rather opened part, several Pokemon had all stopped what they were doing and were now shaking.
Nearby, a woman overlooked the group and shook her head at the sight.
"Ash really needs to control how loud he does that," she told herself. "It's scaring all the other Pokemon."
"Mommy!"
The woman looked to see Ashley running to her. She smiled at the sight.
"What is it, dear?"
Once Ash closed his mouth, he looked to see several closed Pokeballs and one Pikachu who looked to be in horrible pain as he covered his ears.
"Dang it, Ash!" Pikachu shouted. "Did you have to do that!?"
"I was trying to stop you for a bit," Ash explained. "If I tried fighting or using an offensive attack instead, it wouldn't have solved anything."
Ash then picked up his starter in his arms and levitated the Pokeballs before letting out all the Pokemon inside of them.
There was a flash of light as all the Pokemon were revealed: Charizard, Sceptile, Infernape, Krookodile, Greninja, Dusk-Lycanroc, and Lucario. To Ash and those who knew him, they were considered the Power Team, all of them being Ash's strongest in terms of pure brute force and power.
All of them had their ears covered with closed eyes, only to open them and remove their paws once they realized the sound that trapped them was gone.
Ash shook his head at the group. "When I said 'training', I didn't mean beat yourselves to a bloody pulp."
"This is just how we train, Ash," Lucario said. "We know you will be in danger in the coming month, both physically and mentally. We want to make sure we are ready."
"And you won't be ready if you're injured or exhausted," Ash remarked. "Either way, I don't think Mew likes it when you threaten to break rooms in the Tree."
"We weren't breaking anything," Charizard stated.
In response, Ash pointed to the walls behind them.
The group of Pokemon all turned to see that there was several deep holes in the wall, along with some soot. All of them sweatdropped at the sight.
"I understand you want to protect me," Ash continued, "but you need to settle down a little. Save some of your strength for later and give yourself a chance to relax."
"Fine…" Was the reply Ash received.
"However!" Sceptile suddenly added. "We want to go up against anyone who has wronged you, not matter what."
All the Pokemon nodded, determination and anger filling their expressions.
Ash sighed. "I understand you have taken the betrayal hard. Even those who weren't personally there to experience." He looked to Lucario and Lycanroc. "And I will use you against them, but try not to hold any seeking for revenge in your hearts. Revenge will do us no good." (3)
Again, all the Pokemon nodded.
"But if they try and hurt you again," Charizard said, "no mercy."
Ash gave a faint chuckle at that. "Like I said, just don't push yourselves to far. Otherwise I'll sic Jigglypuff on ya to get ya to rest."
Pikachu decided to hop onto Ash's shoulder while the others went off to do their own thing, taking Ash's advice and small threat to heart.
"You seriously gotta stop doing that," Ash told Pikachu as they walked along the paths of the Tree.
"Hey, we're the power team, we can't help it," Pikachu commented.
"Still, don't break the room," Ash said. "You know what happens if the Tree gets too heavily damaged."
"Yeah, yeah. I get it, we'll start practicing outside."
"Or get Giratina to let you into the Reverse World."
"Well, she ain't here right now."
The two continued talking, their conversation shifting to the tournament.
"Ash, do you really hold no hate in your heart from those… traitors?" Pikachu asked, venom in his voice on the last word.
"I am angry with them, and if they dare try anything against me, they will be dealt with," Ash explained. "But in the long run, it does me no good to hate them now, when I can give them the benefit of the doubt and call them ignorant and naive."
"But they still wronged you, even threatened you," Pikachu said. "How can we not hold hatred in our hearts for those humans, who threatened to separate us?"
"Again, they were ignorant, and they thought they were doing the right thing. Though I know some of them were driven by more sinful causes, even if they don't see it that way. And there clearly wasn't any weight in their threats, seeing as none have come to fruition."
"Well, even if you won't be gunning for them," Pikachu stated, "What about the others? You know they'll be there, so what if they see a traitor? They care for you just like we, your Pokemon, do, and they will not be happy with them."
"If they really want to seek out revenge for me, that's fine, though I will tell them they don't need to. They should only feel the need to if they make any attempts on me or those I care about for whatever reason."
He then took out a phone. "Speaking of which, I'd better text them just to make sure they all have an invite or know about it."
"Make sure your girlfriend gets one, otherwise you'll be in hell when you get there."
Ash blushed slightly, but chose not to vocalize any response.
In Kanto, a woman was in a dressing room, numerous costumes and disguises around her. Just as she was getting one on, her phone beeped, causing her to stop to see what it was.
A Ditto came up to her as she sat at a desk, looking at the phone as well.
"Whaddya think?" She asked the shapeshifter once she was done reading. "Think you're up for some battling?"
In response, the Ditto jumped off the table and turned into a mighty Dragonite, letting out a fierce roar.
In Johto, a woman dressed in witch themed attire was looking through a book, a Murkrow on her shoulder. When he phone binged, the crow Pokemon flew over to her bag and grabbed the device for her.
"Thank you." She said as she grabbed the little machine.
Reading the message, the girl packed away her book and anything else that was out.
"I'd better go check my mailbox to see if I got invited formally. Either way, I certainly want to see Ash battle and help him with any loose ends."
Still in Johto, a girl was sitting on her bed, looking down at her phone.
An Unown popped out behind her, reading the message. She then turned around to face the Pokemon.
"We'd better go tell Daddy," she said before she rushed off through the halls.
In Honen, a boy was on the trails when his phone beeped in his pocket. While reading it, another Pokemon on his shoulder made its presence known.
'You're not going to be able to avoid her now,' it spoke telepathic. 'She will be there, probably with them, and she will find out about everything.'
The boy dryly chuckled. "Let her find out then. She made her choice, I made mine. Even if she can fix it, it'll still be awhile before I can even trust her again after the stunt she pulled."
Over in Sinnoh, a man was sitting on his Torterra as he looked at the message.
"It's finally time, huh," he said, mostly to himself.
He then smirked as he sat up. "Time to show the world then."
In the Unovan skies, a man rode on a large white dragon as he read the message.
"The time has come my friend," he told his companion. "The time has come for the world to know the truth."
"Then the truth shall be given!" The dragon stated with a mighty roar.
Way over by Kalos, a man stood next to his Charizard, looking at his phone.
"Better get ready," he told his partner. "If Ash is coming, then things are bound to get hectic."
The Charizard grunted in agreement before letting it's trainer hop onto is back, ready to find a place to train.
A few miles away from him, another girl looked at the message.
"Don't worry, Ash," she said. "I'll make sure you get through this alright."
Beside her, her Pokemon nodded.
'And this is why I let you become my master.'
Finally, in Alola, a group of six were talking, enjoying some time outside. Three boys and three girls were their numbers.
All of their phones went off at once, causing them to check their messages.
By the time they were done reading, they were all either excited or smirking. None more so than one blond haired girl, who wore an amused smirk with excitement in her eyes.
As all the others looked at her, she only had one thing to say.
"This will be fun."
(1): The three 'major' powers of the Pokemon world will be formally revealed at a later date. A little hint if you want to guess, I got the idea from Ashes of the Past. I gave Ash all these powers because… well, he's the Chosen One! Wouldn't you want your Chosen One, in the face of all danger, to be prepared and have more than one option in case something knocks out one?
(2): Either the Mew of the Tree would kick them out for recklessly damaging the place or the immune system of the Tree would activate, and we don't want that.
(3): I actually saw a video on revenge in the process of making this chapter, and it described how revenge doesn't always make a person feel better, in fact it can even make a person feel worse in some cases. Seeing as how Ash is said to have three major powers in him and a buttload of mental teachings, it's not unlikely he wouldn't actively seek revenge or even hold hatred in his heart, as he has been told to let go of all those negative emotions for his own safety. That doesn't mean, however, that everyone else won't be trying to get revenge for Ash.
Reviews (Thanks be to the Reviewer):
HydroK Operations: Glad I could catch your interest.
w00za & Guest: Thanks for the support you two.
Temporal King: Okay, so going in order of your paragraphs. Yes, the traitors did cross a line, as mentioned in this chapter. However, they saw it as protecting Ash, like they were stopping a suicide given how much Ash dies or almost dies. And, as stated in this chapter, Ash is the Chosen One, though I believe I will make it a little more than that, with the 'truth' that everyone keeps mentioning. I also changed Ash's stage name from Red to Ashura, mainly because I like the name more and it still has his initials. As for the mystery girl, I did mention her again here, but it is not any of those you mentioned.
Here's your new chapter! This is just a little bit of what's going on before Ash gets to Alola, and a bit of work at trying to show whose in this 'group' that is mentioned.
Ash: No sign of the traitors yet.
Yeah, I wanted to focus a little bit more on you while letting people guess who your new friends are.
Speaking of which, if you want to guess who Ash's new friends mentioned at the end of the chapter are, feel free to leave a review.
Ash: And next chapter the ball will get rolling?
Yep! Look forward to it.
And to all my Readers, Watchers, and Reviewers, Stay Golden!