Misty carefully stretched as she woke. Her hair had been loosed and was running wild in her face. She began fighting with it momentarily as she wondered why on earth she would ever let it down before something struck her.

She remembered last night. She jumped to her feet and glanced around the room. But there was nothing there. There was no one.

Nothing except the letter. As Misty strode over to it, tears once more forming in her eyes, she found something strange. On top of the letter was a note:

Misty,

Please forgive me. I would have stayed with you forever, but there is something I must take care of first. I am still fighting with myself and with others over Pikachu's death. I have come to this tournament to handle this and move forward.

I still believe what this letter says. I never have deserved your love. But the fact is I would move mountains for you. And I do love you.

So I want to finish this. During this tournament, I will be Red Satoshi. When we are seen outdoors, I will have to act as if we have not met and as painful as it wounds, please do the same. No one can know I am here.

But I promise you this. I want nothing more than to spend time and be with you. If you want the same, simply leave your door unlocked tonight and once the Pokemon Center settles down, I will come and I will answer any questions you want.

If you don't want that, lock your door and I will understand.

I'm ready to be Ash again.

And I want to love you, Misty Waterflower.

Ash Satoshi Ketchum

Misty's hands shook as she read the letter. He had left, but it had been to give her space. There were tears threatening to spill again. Misty shook her head. Ash, the dense fool, he had admitted that he loved her. He was offering her so much. But did she dare take it?

It was a lot to think over. Misty grinned as she set the letter down and took off to jump in the shower.

VXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVX

Red was strolling through the lobby. He was a Pokemon Master. He had lived for 8 years on his own on what was considered the most dangerous place in the known world. The pokemon who inhabited his home were not just tough, they were dangerous. And it had made Red as deadly as his Pokemon.

As Red walked through, he came across Jason leaning on the counter, talking to Nurse Joy.

"So tell me Nurse Joy, is it true there is a Pokemon Master in the tournament?" The older man offered the Nurse a grin which seemed almost dangerous. Red shuddered momentarily as he walked up. His own feud was with not only himself but with Jason. After years of thinking and reliving Pikachu's death, Red had found something which desperately made him want to once again become Ash. That was why he was here. That was why he was in this tournament.

"You will have to wait and see Jason, just like everyone else." Red stepped in. His comment drew a look of ire from Jason, but Nurse Joy gave him a grateful look. She was the youngest of her sisters, having only taken on this role a few years back. She was the same age as Ash and Gary in fact. The pink haired beauty was becoming flustered, and not in a good way, by the ever pushy, self-proclaimed Pokemon Master.

Of course she was one of the few who knew the truth about Red since he'd had to register with his trainer card. The league had been rather free, letting Ash be known in tournaments as Red, but the fact was that his trainer card still read him in as Ash Ketchum.

Jason turned and glared at the trainer who had interrupted him. He'd been planning on putting the moves on Nurse Joy. He had a special interest and this one seemed one of the easier ones to fluster. So Jason was hoping he could get her into going out with him and hopefully also giving up the information about this mysterious trainer, seeing as the last Pokemon Master anyone was aware of had left training 8 years ago. Jason stood, trying to intimidate the trainer.

Jason stood at around 6'3" and was a well-built young man. At 26, he was still young in the game. He was also a strong trainer. Maybe not a good trainer, but he was strong. He had not lost a match to anyone in 5 years. It was a statement everyone was proud of.

Of course as he tried to intimidate Red, Jason felt his own confidence fade. The look in Red's eyes was flat out dangerous and somehow Jason knew he did not want to mess with this character. And that thought angered Jason. He drew in a breath trying once more to intimidate the trainer. This only drew a laugh from Red.

"Don't puff up too much mate, you'll pull something."

With that, Red simply walked away. He knew Jason was too worked up on him now to worry about Nurse Joy. That was the reason he had stepped in. He hated to see anyone placed in those uncomfortable situations and the poor nurse was being pushed hard by this jerk. Red smiled when he heard Jason call after him.

"Wait up jack ass."

There were mothers around the lobby who grabbed their children's ears at hearing the champion use that sort of language. Everyone understood that language happened, but Jason did not even try to hide it. He'd created a mess a few years back when he cussed out a young trainer who had challenged him. Jason had merely laughed in the trainer's face and offered some poor choice words which quickly blew up. The fact was that Jason did not care. The world had decided to hate him so he was going to hate it back.

But Red was something different. The rest of the world hated him, but he could intimidate them into submission. The rest of the world would do what he wanted because he was the world's strongest trainer. Red didn't seem to care and it annoyed Jason to no end.

"What the hell do you think you're doing treating me of all people like that in public, don't you know who I am?"

Seeing they were now alone on the training field, Red decided it was time to fire back.

"All I see is a jack-ass who thinks he is capable of pummeling anyone who disagrees with him into submission."

Jason fired back. "Pity you don't have the guts to take me on."

Red simply stared. There was no anger, no sadness, and most importantly to Jason, no fear. Jason felt his face flush with Anger watching Red across from him. After a tense moment, the dark haired trainer turned his back and simply began to walk away.

"Don't turn you back on me, you son of a bitch!" This caused a ruckus. Before Jason knew it, Red had turned and launched himself into Jason. Jason was a big guy, but the ferocity of Red's attack was too much even for him. He collapsed on the ground with Red on top of him.

"Call me whatever you like, but ever dare to insult my mother, friends, or pokemon and you will regret it." Jason could not even gulp from the pressure of Red on him. For the first time in his own life, he felt fear. It must have shown in his eyes as Red stood up. "As for being scared, just wait and see." Red called back as he strolled away.

Neither saw the young couple which had caught the entire interaction.

Iris and Cilian stood behind a tree. The two had just arrived after much arguing. Iris was still sore over having lost the championship to Jason and was not sure she wanted to come, but Cilian had to. He was the Pokemon Connoisseur tasked with reporting on this tournament and the fact was the no matter how angry she was, Iris would always support Cilian. He had been her biggest fan when she became champion and still supported her after her loss. The two had finally given in and become a couple about a year ago.

And now they stood watching what was happening. They had not caught names, but Iris had read up enough on trainer lore to know who it was that had just handed Jason's ass to him. And it made her laugh. She held it well enough while Jason walked away, but as soon as he was gone, she let out a roaring laugh. This drew a look from Cilian.

"Now what on earth is that, Iris?" Trying to contain herself, Iris offered her answer the best she could.

"Oh, goodness that was good. Oh man. Cilian, do you know who that was beating the shit out of Jason? Out of the 'world's strongest triner'?" She placed the air quotes around Jason's title and Cilian shook his head to say no.

"Cilian, have you ever heard of Red Satoshi?" After a moment's pause, Cilian's eyes widened in realization.

"You're kidding, right?" Iris shook her head no and Cilian jumped up with fire in his eyes. "As a Pokemon Connoisseur, I must see him battle! I wonder if we will ever get to!" At his final words, both stepped from behind the trees. They needed to go settle into their rooms before the tournament started. The first round would be announced later today, so there probably weren't many rooms left.

As they walked into the Pokemon Center, hand in hand, Iris glanced in the direction where Red had gone, considering the thought herself. "I wonder…"

VXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVX

Red finally found a nice quiet spot. He had collapsed under a tree. Being with Misty, he had not slept well. He wanted to take the crying red-head into his arms and never let her go. He wanted to tell her everything.

But he couldn't. Not yet. It was too dangerous.

That was why he had left the letter. He was going to give her the chance to walk away. If she still wanted to see him tonight, he would give her some of the info.

As he sat, contemplating all of this, Red felt a shadow fall over him. He looked up into the eyes of his mother and Professor Oak. Well, now it was just Samuel. The man had retired, leaving his lab to Gary. Red had managed to pick up on that, looking through news. He still had papers delivered daily from each region during his time on Mt. Silver.

Red sat quietly, waiting to see what their response would be.

"Excuse me, Mr. Satoshi?" Samuel began the questions. His mom merely flinched at the name. Red nodded his approval to continue. "Would you mind walking and talking with us for a while?" Red considered it. Could he handle this? Was he up to this? He wasn't sure yet whether it meant hiding his secret further or letting them discover it, but was he really ready for either one? After a moment's consideration, Red relented and stood.

"Thank you Mr. Satoshi."

"Call me Red."

"Thank you Red." This time it was from his mother. Red smiled at her. "No problem. I could see my last name made you uncomfortable."

The two older adults merely looked at one another before leading the young man to a table. As they sat, his mother offered to start.

"Red, we wanted to explain and apologize for Ms. Waterflower yesterday when you et us, but there are some personal things affecting the situation." There was a lost look in the eyes of both individuals. Red decided he would shock them.

"I know. I went back later to apologize to Ms. Waterflower and she explained everything to me."

"Oh?" Samuel gave him a deep studious look at this. Red smiled, wondering if they would overcome their skepticism and see who he was. Sure enough it was his mother who saw it first.

"Ash?" Her voice was so quiet, Red almost did not hear it. She sounded soft, hopeful and broken all at once. The look in her eyes told Red to be careful. And her words caught the ear of Samuel Oak as well.

"Not here. Please join me in my room and we can discuss this further." The look Red gave over his glasses was deep and meaningful and quickly stopped all questions coming from the two older adults. They merely nodded and rose to follow him.

As they exited the elevator, both were shocked to see they had reached the suite level. Ash, on the other hand, was shocked to see none other than Misty and Gary standing outside his door holding a whispered conversation. He cleared his throat as the three approached. Gary looked up first, catching his grandfather and Ash's mother.

"A-nd Mr. Red is here Misty." Gary nudged the red head. She had yet to turn around. She'd heard his throat clearing, but was too nervous to face him yet. Finally she drew herself up and turned on her heel to fully face him. There was a cocky grin on his face and Misty felt her own face flush.

"Please, if you wanted to talk to me, you could have asked around." Red said in a very smug voice. He quickly stepped between the two and opened the door. After carefully escorting his mother and Samuel Oak into the room, Red turned to Misty and Gary.

"I'm guessing Nurse Joy told you which room was mine?"

They nodded sheepishly before Misty added, "Yeah, but it took some convincing and flirting from Gary." This led the gym leader to blush and Red to let out a laugh.

"Well I told her to let you both know, but apparently she had her own little plan. Wont you please both come in?"

Once everyone was settled, a silence fell over them until Deliah offered her question again.

"Ash?"

The entire room turned to face Red Satoshi. His shoulders slumped before he stood. The young trainer walked into another room first and they heard his pokeballs releasing and then the cries of pokemon.

They watched his team come out to stroll through the large room. As the 6 pokemon filled the room, Gary, Misty, Deliah, and Samuel realized just how large the suite they were in actually was.

First was the metagross. Gary was not chocked by this pokemon, but it threw off the rest of the team. Especially seeing one so large.

Next to arrive was a charizard. This Charizard was larger than the other pokemon of its type as well, but even in just walking the team could see how graceful it was.

After Charizard, arrived Sceptile. Once again this large pokemon shocked them all as it was so large, yet so graceful.

Then arrived the Snorlax. This was a unique snorlax in the fact that while as large as the others, it seemed far more active. To the point it was absurd.

Stealthily out strolled a greeninja, posing just long enough to be seen before disappearing. The ninja frog was brilliant and fast.

Finally there came a Lucario. But this lucario was special. The humans could feel the energy rising off of this Lucario. It was a strength and calm like no other.

And each pokemon matched a story about Red.

And each pokemon was one which Ash was known to have had.

Finally the man in question strolled back out himself, an old ball cap in his hands, the glasses gone. He entered the room and stood before the now trembling humans. Misty and Gary because they knew, Samuel and Deliah because they hoped.

"This was Ash's hat." Red paused looking at it, then he carefully slung it onto his own brow. "Hi mom, professor Oak."