"Pikachu use Iron tail, Greninja counter with cut!" Ash shouted to his two pokémon. It had been four days since everyone went their separate ways. In those four days, Ash has been nonstop training for the upcoming Kalos league. He's been waking up really early every morning, and training until sundown. His pokémon have become noticeably stronger too. They're just as determined as he is.

"Pika!" Pikachu took to the air and his tail began to glow. He somersaulted mid-air and began to crash down on Greninja. Greninja readied himself with two water-kunai he had made to use his cut attack. Pikachu came crashing down with sheer ferocity but Greninja simply blocked the hit.

"Greninja, use water shur-"

"Ash!" Ash turned around to see Clemont standing a few yards behind him. "Come eat, food's ready!"

Ash turned his attention to his pokémon, "You guys hungry?" His two pokémon immediately perked up at the offer. "Pika!" "ko!"

"Let's eat!" Ash began walking towards Clemont with his pokémon following him. Clemont held a branch for him so he could get through. As they were walking back to their campsite Clemont spoke up "Hey Ash, have you decided what Pokémon you're going to use in the league?"

"Uhh, no. I haven't really given it much thought. I was just thinking of going all the way to the top with the Pokémon I have now."

"You need to strategize. If you use the six you have now, anyone in the league would be able to counter you. The elimination rounds are one on one matches. The top 12 are three on three, and the top six are full six on six matches."

"I didn't know the brackets worked that way. I guess I will have to strategize, then." Ash smiled to himself "I guess now I can finally figure out my ultimate team."

Clemont smiled. He looked in front of him and saw the clearing of the forest towards their campsite. "We're here" He held open some branches for Ash to walk through.

When Ash emerged he smelled Clemont's cooking. He loved it. He liked Brock's cooking more, but beggars can't be choosers. He began walking towards the table, he then heard some rustling in the bushes to his left. He quickly snapped his attention towards the rustling and waited for whatever was there to emerge. Clemont then looked over "That's probably Serena and Bonnie. I asked them to get some berries and fruit for dinner." A small malicious smile made its way onto Ash's face. He bolted back into the forest, leaving his two pokémon confused along with Clemont.

"Bonnie, I think you bit off a little more than you can chew with that." Serena said to the younger blonde girl. She was holding the end of her shirt in a basket fashion. In her shirt-basket was more berries than anyone can count. "pfft. You say that because you aren't as strong as I am. That's why you're using your bag to carry the fruit." She lifted one of her arms and made a flexing motion with a large toothy grin. Quickly regretting her actions as half of her berries made their way to the ground. "Nooooo!" she shouted.

Serena giggled uncontrollably. "I guess that's instant karma for you."

Suddenly Serena's eyes and mouth were shut by two hands. She was pulled away from Bonnie who was too busy picking up her fallen berries. The mystery hand came off of her eyes, she turned around to see who the culprit was and to her surprise it was her boyfriend, Ash. He had a finger over his lips signifying her to stay quiet.

"Huh? Serena, where'd you go?" Bonnie wondered out loud. "Wait! Did you leave to eat without me?!" Bonnie then bolted away towards the campsite yelling something about how she won't be left behind.

Ash waited until Bonnie's voice disappeared into the distance. He took his hand off of Serena's mouth and exhaled.

"What was that all about?" She questioned.

"Well, I haven't seen you all day." He pouted.

"That's your fault. You're always trai-"
She was cut off to his lips crashing into hers. She accepted it with a smile. She wrapped her arms around his neck. She loved when he would cut her off with a kiss, not that he did it often, but it'd take her by surprise every time.

Ash broke apart the kiss, smiled at her, and spoke "We should probably go back before they think we're doing something else."

"What else would we be do-" She went beet red. Ash started to laugh as he lead the way.

As they emerged from the forest, they saw Bonnie setting the table, and Clemont stirring the pot he had made their food in. Serena approached Bonnie to help her set the table "There you are!" the young blonde shouted. "I thought you had gone ahead and started eating without me."

"I would never! I was just a little… Preoccupied." Serena looked at Ash and blushed. He was chatting with Clemont happily, she smiled lightly at that. Bonnie looked up at Serena and smiled. She knew what Ash meant to her, she was happy for them.

The group had just finished eating and Clemont, Serena, and Bonnie were chatting amongst themselves. Ash was uncharacteristically quiet. Serena looked at him "Is everything okay?"

Ash was pulled from his thoughts "huh? Yeah, I'm fine."

"You've been really quiet today, ever since I told you about the league." Clemont chimed in.

"Yeah, I've just been thinking about what pokémon I should use, and what would be my ultimate team."

Clemont, Serena, and Bonnie all looked at him in curiosity. The looks told Ash to continue.

"My ultimate team. You know how Owen had his ultimate team, Diantha, Cynthia, and everyone else. They all had super strong pokémon from every region. I'm just thinking about what my ultimate team would be."

"Oooh, I get it. But wouldn't that come on the spot?" Bonnie asked.

Ash took a moment to think about the question "You know what? You're right. My ultimate team will come on the spot. But for now, I'm gonna train until the day of the league."

Serena grabbed his hand to reassure him. He looked over at her and she shot him a confident look. Owen's words then shot into his head 'I think you'll do great this time around, look left' He remembered when he looked to his left, Serena was there. He simply smiled back at her.

-Three weeks later-

There were countless trainers all gathered around. This was the Kalos league. Ash looked around and saw tons of super strong pokémon around. Pangoro, Arcanine, Haxorus, Steelix, Garchomp, Blaziken just to name a few. He was getting heated up for battle. Ash had trained nonstop for this; he wasn't going to get a little competition get to him.

"Contestants, Gather. We will now be drawing tickets for the elimination round brackets." A long line formed in front of a box with lottery tickets inside. Each ticket had a number, two numbers would be paired up and they would battle (I.E. 1 vs 2, 3 vs 4).

It was Ash's turn to draw a ticket. He reached in the box, shuffled around and pulled his hand out. His ticket had a big, bold 2 on it. He walked over towards Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie "Looks like I'm first to battle." He flashed his ticket to them. "I think the battles are gonna start in about an hour. I think you should go hurry and find seats." He said to them.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Let's go, Serena, Bonnie. Good luck Ash!" Clemont waved him off with Bonnie following shouting good luck. Serena gave him a small peck on his cheek "I know you'll win." She said and she ran off towards Clemont and Bonnie. Ash smirked and cupped his cheek. He turned around and walked towards the crowd.

"I guess you're up against me." Ash looked left and saw a peculiar figure with a red Mohawk. He was wearing a black and red biker jacket and black pants.

"You're number 1?" Ash asked. The man flashed his ticket and there was a big, bold 1 on it. "I think it says a lot. I'm gonna come out number one in this whole thing."

"We'll see about that; you're battling me after all." Ash retorted.

The man smirked. He was about to fire back but the loud speaker interrupted him.

"Contestants one and two, report to battlefield one."

"I guess that's us. Let's go." The man told Ash. He began to walk away and Ash followed. Ash and the mystery man were walking down a tunnel for about a minute in silence. They were then met with two guards standing at two doors on opposite ends. The guards motioned them to walk through different doors. After a bit of walking Ash emerged from the tunnel. There was a battlefield in front of him and a screaming crowd. The battlefield was grassy. It had a small stream in the center with a few small hills scattered about. He looked around and saw Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie waving to him. He smiled and waved back.

Ash looked at the opposite end of the field and saw his opponent. "Take 'em down, Brandon!" he heard in the distance. He figured his opponents name was Brandon. He smirked towards him. Brandon smirked back. The referee looked at the two of them and announced the start of the match.

"Both trainers, select your pokémon without revealing it!" The referee shouted.

Ash and Brandon both reached for their pokéballs and held them in their dominant arms.

"When both trainers are ready, release your pokémon." The referee announced.

"Hawlucha, I choose you!"

"Go Nidoking!"

Both pokémon entered the field. Both of which took a stance.

"When both trainers say they're ready the match will begin!"

"Ready!" Brandon and Ash said in unison.

"Begin!" The referee announced. The crowd went wild.

"If you won't move, then I will! Nidoking, use mega punch!" Brandon commanded. Nidoking took off towards Hawlucha at full speed. Which wasn't too fast.

"Hawlucha, detect!" Ash's Hawlucha prepared to block the strike and glowed a red color. The Nidoking's fist struck Hawlucha but Hawlucha protected himself. The force of the blow was evident, however. A small shockwave was sent through the arena.

"Nidoking, keep up the blows!" Nidoking went on a full relentless strike on Hawlucha. After a few strikes, the force of the punches seemed to be getting stronger, as small rocks were being lifted whenever Nidoking's fist would connect with Hawlucha's detect. Then the rocks began to get a little large.

"Nidoking, use your tail!" Nidoking seemed to understand what its trainer meant. Nidoking swung its powerful tail and slammed a large rock into Hawlucha. Knocking him back a few feet.

"Hawlucha, get up and jump!" Ash shouted.

"Nidoking, don't let it get away! Follow it and use Ice punch!"

Hawlucha was able to jump into the air just before Nidoking's attack struck.

"Now, use High jump kick!" Hawlucha dove down towards Nidoking and somersaulted into its high jump kick stance.

Hawlucha was too fast for Nidoking to react, the attack landed square on Nidoking's head knocking it back.

"Hawlucha, use flying press!" Ash shouted.

Hawlucha kicked off of Nidoking and took back into the air and spread its wings and began to glide towards Nidoking who was trying to shake off the pain. Nidoking was knocked on its back by Hawlucha's attack.

"Nidoking, thunderbolt!"

"Hawlucha, Karate chop!"

Before Nidoking could charge the energy for the thunderbolt attack, Hawlucha landed a swift karate chop on Nidoking's neck. Rendering Nidoking unable to battle.

"Nidoking is unable to battle, the Victory goes to Ash Ketchum from Pallet town!" Announced the referee.

Ash rose his fist into the air and Hawlucha did the same. "Number one seat, I'm coming for you." He said to himself.

The crowd was cheering uncontrollably. The Kalos league had kicked off to a phenomenal start. Serena was staring at Ash in admiration. It was an incredible battle, and she was very happy for him. She couldn't stop smiling.

One after the other, Ash kept beating his opponents in the elimination rounds. He was rising the ranks quickly. His intense training really paid off. He was already one of the hottest talked about trainers in the league. But he kept hearing about a mystery man who only fought using a Charizard with weird metal plates around its neck. He was currently on a break from his last battle. He had used Pikachu to fight off a Floatzel. Pikachu had won easy because of the type advantage, but the Floatzel had gotten a few good hits on Pikachu.

The door to his room opened and in came Clemont, Serena, and Bonnie. Serena immediately approached him and sat on his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck to keep from falling off. He smiled at the action.

He looked over at Clemont "Have you heard of a trainer using only a Charizard with a metal plate around its neck?"

"Yeah, I saw one of his battles. His Charizard is really strong. It hasn't take damage whatsoever in any of his matches." Clemont answered.

Ash smirked. "Don't tell me anymore, I'm excited to face him. Whenever that will be."

Clemont looked on at him. He noticed Ash had matured since the events surrounding Mewtwo and the Pokémon Champions.

"Ash, after this next round it's the top 16. That means battles are going to be two on two's. Do you know what pokémon you have in mind to use?" Clemont asked.

"No idea! I'm focusing on what's in front of me. I'm gonna give Greninja some action on this last match." Ash stated. A few minutes later he was called for his match. Serena gave him a quick peck on the cheek for good luck. He smiled and waved off his friends and girlfriend.

Ash entered the stage and saw the battlefield. It was a rocky, barren wasteland. No sign of life anywhere on the arena. "Well, well, well. Look who we have here."

Ash quickly snapped his attention towards his opponent. She was a brown haired girl. She wore a white bucket hat, blue tank top, red skirt, long socks, and sneakers. Ash recognized her.

"Blue?! What are you doing here?" Ash asked, completely surprised with her presence.


Hey everyone. It's been a little while since I uploaded. Work has been a disaster. I think I did 15 hours overtime last week, it's crazy. Anyways, i'm gonna be releasing the epilogue in parts. I think it's gonna be four parts total. I'm not too sure. Anyways, ASH AND SERENA IS CANON. I'M SO HAPPY ABOUT THAT! her development throughout the Series was phenomenal. I'm so proud of her that she'd do something so bold! Go Serena! The ship is in full sail! #bringserenatoalola