Hello guys, thank you for all the support thus far. I hope you'll continue to enjoy this story.

In conversations unless otherwise stated this is how you can tell what kind of speech is being used.

'- Poké Speech

"- Human speech

"- Aura/Telepathy

Without further ado let the chapter begin!

The next ten days flew by for everyone especially Ash and Paige and before they knew it the day of the tournament had arrived. Ash looked outside where he Pokémon had started their daily training and was amazed that Rockruff and Wimpod had quickly integrated with everyone and it was as if they'd been part of the family for years. Ash heard clattering behind him and saw Paige placing her plate and cutlery in the sink, he chuckled at the way she was so careful about it. She then walked over to Ash and hugged him as they watched the Pokémon training.

"So, today's the day where you begin your dominance of this tournament. Have you chosen who you're going to use in the first match?"

"Yep, I have and we're going to put on one hell of a show. Now you wait here while I get changed."

Paige nodded and reluctantly released her hold on Ash, she then watched Ash bolt up the stairs. A bemused look appeared on her face as she wondered why Ash was changing since he had already been wearing his normal cloak. Her confusion only intensified when he came downstairs in an outfit she'd never seen before.

"What's with the new outfit? You trying to be Ryu from Ninja Gaiden now?"

"Says the one who looks like an Assassin's Creed cosplayer."

Ash and Paige started laughing each-others reference, the siblings quickly calmed down and Paige once again looked at her brother in confusion.

"Seriously though why have you gone for this new look? And why is it armoured?" Paige asked sounding a little more worried with her second question.

"Well there's going to be camera's everywhere in the stadium and it'll just take one side shot of my face to reveal who I am and have the police after me. I sent a message to a friend who made this outfit for me. Wearing this covers my face so I don't have to worry about that. As for the armour, I'm just being cautious since there are still several evil teams running around out there. If something bad happens then I've got some protection. Is there something wrong with this new look?"

"No, I just liked it when we matched." Paige muttered.

Ash saw the pout forming on his sisters' face, so he crouched down and pulled his little sister into a tight hug. He pulled back slightly after a few moments and rested his forehead against hers. This was a common interaction between the two, it was simply another form of showing affection to one another.

"I'll see about getting a similar outfit made for you."

"Thank you, Ash."

"No problem, I'll message her as soon as possible about making you an outfit. Now we better get going before Scott starts calling wondering where we are."

Paige nodded in agreement and followed Ash as he walked out to where his Pokémon were and recalled the three he was taking to this battle. He then asked Pidgeot to fly them to the main stadium which she was more than happy to do. The siblings got on to Pidgeot back and she shot into the air, headed towards the Indigo Plateau stadium.

They arrived at the stadium a few minutes later, Ash thanked the faithful flying type and gave her permission to return to their temporary home. Pidgeot nodded and propelled herself into the air, disappearing in a few seconds. Ash and Paige walked into the stadium and brushed past anyone who got in there way, the pair didn't acknowledge any of them knowing that they were not worth the time or effort, so they just ignored the peoples annoyed yells. They got to the stairs leading up to the V.I.P box and quickly ascending them, spotting Scott was stood outside presumably waiting for Ash.

Their presumptions were right, Scott had been starting to think that Ash wasn't coming and was on the verge of driving home and dragging him here. That was something he hadn't wanted to do for several reasons, so he was relieved to see the siblings coming up the stairs. When he got a better view of Ash he was surprised to see the change of attire, but he quickly understood the decision. There were camera's everywhere, and people would do anything to reveal someone's identity which would be easy to do with just a hood. Whereas covering his face like he had pretty much guaranteed that no one would be finding out who he really is.

"Good morning Thanatos." Scott said as he offered his hand to Ash.

Ash nodded in response and shook Scott's hand, the large man then turned his attention to Paige who simply turned away, it was obvious that she still wasn't a fan of Scott which didn't surprise the larger man. He knew that ever since he had 'persuaded' Ash to attend these events he had immediately gotten into Paige's bad book which he was quickly realising was a bad move on his part. The young girl was clearly Ash's priority in life which meant getting to Ash would involve having Paige onside. This was something that would be nigh on impossible for him however there were others who might be able to at least be on good terms with the young girl.

"I was starting to worry you wouldn't show up."

"I made you a promise and I keep my promises." Ash said repeating what he said several days before.

"Well I'm glad you're here, please come inside, Charles is about to begin the opening ceremony."

The siblings nodded and followed Scott in, they quickly spotted a couple of vacant seats that were as far away from everyone else as possible and took a seat. Many of the people in the room started to murmur amongst themselves, some wondering why Thanatos had changed his attire while the majority debated on how strong Thanatos was since many believed that the stories of his dominating performances against Agatha, Brock and Misty were exaggerated.

One thing Ash had noticed as he looked around the room was that Sabrina was for some reason missing, he was curious for a moment wondering how she had managed to avoid being stuck in her but shrugged it off. The room suddenly went silent as they saw Charles pick up the microphone.

"Hello everyone, I am Charles Goodshow and I'd like to welcome you to the beginning of this Decennial Tournament of Legends. Here we will decide who is the greatest trainer in the world. As I'm sure you all know it is a great honour to be selected for this tournament and I hope everyone knows that there will be no such thing as an easy match in this tournament. Now every trainer will have three battles in the first round, the battle style will be randomly chosen before the match begins. If you win two of your matches you will advance to the next round where standard tournament elimination rules will be used. You are the best trainers in the world and this is your chance to prove it. Good luck to you all."

"Dear Arceus, he rambles." Ash groaned.

"He must love the sound of his own voice." Paige replied.

"Well someone has to I suppose."

The entire stadium began applauding Mr Goodshow while Ash and Paige had their private conversation. The old man waved around at the crowd and then sat down at the front of the V.I.P box. Ash, Paige, Pikachu, Riolu and Froslass all let out relieved sighs now that the old man had finished his speech. Suddenly Scott got up and took the microphone that Mr Goodshow had been using, he glanced at Ash and then turned his attention to the rest of the stadium. Ash had seen the look and was almost certain that he knew what it meant so he got up and left the V.I.P box with Paige just behind him.

"To kick this tournament off with a bang, the first battle will be between Derek Thompson and Thanatos."

Scott turned around to see the reaction of Ash but was surprised to see no trace of him, his sister or the Pokémon that had accompanied them. He looked out the window and saw them walking down the steps towards the stadium. He turned his attention back to the people in the V.I.P box who were all staring at him, some had looks of confusion, others looked angered by the mention of the young man and a few just kept a blank expression.

"Scott why did you decide to put Thanatos in the first match of the tournament?" Mr Goodshow asked.

"Well people have been questioning my choice to choose Thanatos as my wild card representative for the tournament, so I just thought it would be interesting for everyone to see what the unknown can do."

Everyone turned their attentions back to the battlefield interested to see how he will do in the first match of the tournament. Most of them hoped he would face a crushing defeat as punishment for his actions thus far while some wanted to see Thanatos prove to the majority of people here just how wrong they are.

Meanwhile Ash and Paige continued their journey to the battlefield, when they got to the wall Ash leapt over the barrier and landed on the ground. Paige followed shortly after and landed safely in Ash's arms. She hugged Ash briefly after he put her down and then the siblings walked over to the bench behind Ash's trainer box. Paige sat down to watch Ash who looked at the Pokémon sat on his shoulders.

"Pikachu, Froslass stay here and keep her safe. You have permission to act as you see fit if there appears to be any kind of danger."

Both Pokémon nodded and sat either side of Paige immediately looking out for any potential threats, Ash gave them a grateful nod and then headed to his trainer box. He stared at his opponent stood opposite him while he waited for the referee to declare what the rules for the match were. Everyone watched the electronic board to see what the random generator would decide and were disappointed to see it was just a standard battle.

"This will be a standard match which means that this is a three versus three battle. When one Pokémon faints both trainers must switch Pokémon, the first trainer to lose all three of their Pokémon loses. Thanatos will choose his Pokémon first." The referee declared.

Ash wasn't bothered about picking first, it didn't matter either way, he was going to crush the guy he was against. He took the first Pokéball he'd brought with him and threw it towards the battlefield

"Ampharos battle time."

The electric type burst out of the ball and released some sparks as a warm up, it had been a while since she had battled someone new and she was really looking forward to it. Derek smirked at the sight of the sheep, he watched as a little electricity crackled from its body as it warmed up for the upcoming battle and felt extremely confident and was certain he had this first match in the bag.

"Go, Excadrill let's get a quick win."

The mole appeared on the battlefield and felt confidence surge through him at the sight of his opponent, he was sure that with his type advantage this would be an easy win for him.

"It'll take a lot more that type advantage to beat my Ampharos."

"We'll see about that, Excadrill finish this quick with Earthquake."

"Magnet Rise." Ash whispered so only Ampharos heard.

Excadrill raised his arms above his head and with all his might he slammed them on the ground creating a shockwave that shook the stadium. Derek smirked as he felt the battlefield shake and was certain he'd see a badly damaged Ampharos or maybe even a fainted Ampharos if he was lucky. He looked up but was shocked to find the battlefield devoid of any other Pokémon, he spun around trying to spot the sheep but could see her anywhere. Excadrill glanced back at his trainer and saw he was looking in the air above them, the ground type followed his line of sight and growled as he saw Ampharos waving at him.

"What? How is that possible?" Derek asked in shock.

"It's called Magnet Rise, it creates a platform of electricity which allows her to dodge nasty little moves like Earthquake." Ash replied.

"Well I don't need Earthquake to beat you. Excadrill use Focus Blast, knock that sheep out of the sky."

"Send it back with Fire Punch."

Excadrill put his hands together and formed a blue orb between them, he then launched it at Ampharos who was still standing on her electric platform. The electric type watched the orb rocket towards her and merely smirked, everyone watched as Ampharos made no move, her arms hung by her side. Seconds before the orb was about to hit Ampharos her right arm was engulfed in flames and she punched the orb straight back at Excadrill. The now flaming orb shot back at Excadrill and slammed into him before he could anything about it, the power of the attack drove Excadrill back and he grunted in pain.

"Ampharos use Brick Break, then throw Excadrill in the air and use Focus Blast."

Ampharos arm glowed white and she leapt off the cloud of electricity she was on, she aimed herself towards Excadrill with her arm raised ready to strike. The ground type looked up and watched as the electric type headed towards him, he tried with all his might to move his legs, but he was still weakened by the flaming Focus Blast he had taken moments before. Then in the blink of an eye Ampharos swung her arm downwards and it slammed on top of Excadrill making him let out a pained grunt as he fell to his knees.

Ampharos then grabbed the blade coming out of Excadrill's head, Derek smirked at the sight, he knew that there was no way that sheep would be able to lift his Excadrill let alone throw him in the air. The smirk quickly faded when he saw Ampharos not only lift his Pokémon off the ground but start to swing him around before finally releasing him and launching him into the air. Ampharos then formed a blue orb between her arms and launched it at Excadrill. The orb slammed into Excadrill creating a small explosion earning another pained grunt from the ground type.

"Finish him off with one more Fire Punch."

The electric type nodded and watched Excadrill start plummeting towards the ground. She judged where the ground type would land and flames suddenly engulfed Ampharos' arm again. She started running towards where Excadrill was going to land and threw her arm forward connecting with Excadrill's face sending the ground type flying into the stadium wall. Excadrill slammed into the wall and slumped to the ground unconscious.

The stadium was silent as everyone was astonished that Ampharos had so easily beaten a Pokémon that's she's weak to especially when she couldn't use her most powerful attacks. Ash smirked, proud that he and Ampharos had managed to silence the crowd. The referee was the first person to get over his shock and quickly got back to his job.

"Excadrill is unable to battle, trainers select your next Pokémon."

"Nice job Ampharos, you can go and sit with the others if you'd like."

The electric type nodded and walked over to the bench where the others were sat, she hugged Paige and then like Pikachu and Froslass went onto sentry duty. She knew that Ash was worried about someone attacking his loved ones while he was distracted so she was more than happy to help protect their family while he battled.

Back on the battlefield Derek was still in shock that he had lost so easily when he had a type advantage. It was obvious to him that this Thanatos was a powerful trainer, a smirk appeared on his face as his excitement grew. While most would have been intimidated by the power of the trainer across from him it only made him want to battle more.

"Meganium battle time."

"That's a powerful Ampharos you have there, let's see how your Meganium does. Go, Galvantula start with Bug Buzz."

"Meganium let's show everyone a real Earthquake."

The Pokémon appeared on the battlefield and the blue tufts on Galvantula's body immediately started to glow red. The tufts then started to vibrate, and red sound waves come out of them, creating a siren-like sound. Meganium blocked out the sounds to the best of her ability and slammed her feet down on the battlefield with as much force as she could. The tremors shook the very stadium and caused Galvantula to cry out in pain, the pain made him lose focus and his attack ended. The grass type shook her head to get rid of the ringing in her ears and stomped the ground again damaging the spider even more.

"Galvantula use Thunderbolt before she can use Earthquake again."

"Use your vines to push yourself in the air, then use Body Slam."

Sparks crackled around Galvantula's body and he shot a bolt of electricity at Meganium. He knew the attack wouldn't do that much damage but like his trainer he was hoping the attack would paralyse Meganium and make it easier for them to land some attacks. As the bolt neared her Meganium released her vines and used them to launch herself in the air dodging the Thunderbolt with ease. She then started to plummet towards the ground, aimed straight at Galvantula who's eyes widened in fear at the approaching grass type. He tried to move out of the way, but he had waited too long and was crushed under Meganium, he was buried in rubble as the ground beneath them collapsed.

"End it with Solarbeam."

The grass type nodded and kept the spider pinned beneath her as the petal around her neck started to glow and a green orb formed in her mouth. Galvantula could feel the power radiating from the orb and desperately tried to free himself but was unable to. Moments later Meganium leapt away from Galvantula and fired a beam from the green orb straight at the bug, the slammed into the spider knocking him out and driving him through the battlefield until he came to a stop in front of his trainer.

"Galvantula is unable to battle, trainers choose your final Pokémon."

Ash watched his opponent recall his Galvantula and then saw Meganium headed his way, he stroked the grass types head and asked her the same question he had asked Ampharos. The grass type shook her head and decided to stay by Ash's side instead making the man smile. Meganium smiled at her trainer and nuzzled his side affectionately, it was no secret that she loved her trainer deeply however she was no longer harbouring a crush on Ash. She had moved on from him to a certain Hoenn starter who had become her mate a long time ago and she now loved Ash like a brother. Ash hugged Meganium to his side and then turned his attention back to his opponent who had looked resigned to his fate but determined to fight to the end.

"You're the strongest trainer I've ever met Thanatos, I may not win but I'm not going down without a fight. Go, Emboar."

"Lucario battle time."

The fighting types appeared on the battleground, they stared each other down and smirked knowing that this would be fun. Emboar released some flames to try and intimidate his opponent while Lucario summoned his Aura to surround him in attempt to do the same. Neither Pokémon were affected by the others efforts and they were both impressed by their opponent.

"Emboar melt that jackal with Flamethrower."

"Defend with Bone Rush, then end this battle."

Everyone in the stadium was shocked by Thanatos' declaration and watched as Emboar shot a powerful burst of flames at Lucario. As the flames approached him, Lucario put his paws together and spread them apart, creating a light green bone of energy. He then spun the bone around which deflected the flames away in every direction, to the surprise of everyone spectating.

The Aura Pokémon then charged towards Emboar and struck the fire type in the stomach with the bone. The strength behind the attack made Emboar fall to his knees as he gasped for breath, everything went dark for the fire type moments later when he felt the bone slam into the back of his neck.

"Emboar is unable to battle, all three of Derek's Pokémon have been defeated which means the winner is Thanatos."

Ash and Derek thanked their Pokémon and then returned them, Ash expected to see his opponent leave the battlefield without a word, so he was surprised to see him walk over to him and extend his hand. Ash looked at the offered hand and shook his opponents hand which gained a loud cheer from the crowd.

"Thanks for the battle Thanatos. You're the strongest guy I've ever met, I don't think I could ever get anywhere near you power. Have you got any tips?

Ash considered just saying no and leaving but the boy in front of him reminded him so much of himself when he was just a kid before Cynthia decided to train him. So, he decided to give him the advice that most trainers could do with hearing.

"After this tournament go find yourself a secluded island where you can just train and live side by side with your Pokémon for a few months. You'll grow far stronger than you would by heading straight off to another region."

"Okay, thanks for the advice and good luck in the rest of tournament."

Ash nodded and turned away from the boy, he walked over to where his family was sat and hugged each of them. He then returned Ampharos, Meganium and Lucario while Pikachu and Froslass took their usual places on his shoulders. Ash could sense that once again something was wrong with his best friend but knew that asking him now would get the same response as always. He decided he'd push the subject with Pikachu later and led Paige down the tunnel and out of the stadium.

Once they were outside of the stadium reporters immediately swamped them and started barraging Ash with questions, the group all glared at the reporters which momentarily silenced them and made them take a step back in fear. One of the reporters finally regained his nerve and stepped forwards to once again question the mysterious trainer.

"Hello Thanatos, you're such a powerful trainer and yet no one has heard of you, why?"

"I prefer to stay out of the spotlight."

The reporters stayed silent hoping that the man would elaborate on his rather short response but were disappointed by the ensuing silence. They all glanced at one another confused at the silence and wondered how they could get more developed answers from the man.

"Did you know that after that display of dominance you have already garnered a lot of fans. The stadium is still erupting with chants for you."

"I really don't care, fans are fickle. In ten minutes' time, they'll be cheering for someone else. The only fan I care about is standing right by my side."

"Well that's an… interesting way to look at it."

Once again, the reporters were momentarily surprised by Thanatos' abrupt response to the statement and weren't quite sure what to ask next since they weren't getting particularly good responses. Suddenly one reporter pushed all the others out of the way and held his microphone out.

"Whilst we're on the topic of fans, some of them are wondering if there is a special lady in your life."

Paige, Pikachu and Froslass were all getting immensely irritated by the reporters and their probing questions, Ash on the other hand simply smirked at the reporters. He glanced to Froslass who was on his left shoulder and gave her a nod, the ghost type smirked back at Ash and slowly levitated off his shoulder. She turned her attention to the members of the media and a purple aura started to surround her. An unseen force suddenly made all of the reporters focus on Froslass, as they had no choice but to stare into Froslass' increasingly horrifying gaze they felt shivers run down their spines and many started to shake in fear. Moments later the reporters all heard voices whispering in their heads and with a scream they ran away, dropping their notepads, cameras and phones.

"Well that was effective, nice job Froslass." Ash said.

'Thanks Ash, happy to help.'

"I just hope that that will be enough to dissuade the media from pestering us anymore although I seriously doubt that'll happen."

"Yeah, I really wish people would just leave us alone."

"Don't worry Nemesis, after the tournament is over we can go home and only see people we want to."

Paige cheered happily and hugged Ash who quickly returned the embrace, the siblings then broke the hug and started walking towards Scott's home. The siblings carried on down the path until a hand clamped down on Ash's shoulder. He turned around ready to deal with some random reporter, he turned around and saw the large form of Scott stood behind them. Ash sighed in disappointment, he'd been hoping that he would escape but Scott had cut off any chance for that.

"You wait right there. You didn't really think you were getting out of here that easily now did you?" Scott asked.

"His Pokémon need healing, so we're going to the Pokémon Centre." Paige replied.

"A plausible excuse except for the fact that you were heading towards my home when the Pokémon Centre is in the opposite direction. Remember you made me a promise and I expect you to keep it."

Ash sighed again in resignation and reluctantly followed the larger man back into the stadium. Paige followed close behind him and at first, she grabbed Ash's right hand, lacing her fingers together with his, until he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him. A soft sigh emanated from Paige and she gladly wrapped her arms around Ash, just enjoying being so close to her brother. The presence of both Paige and the Pokémon perched on his shoulders made Ash smile even though he knew that they were going to be stuck in the V.I.P room for a long time.

Notes

Hope you enjoyed this chapter.