AN: If you thought the last chapter didn't drop big enough bombshells, this one will certainly do the job. Mind you, because of what exactly happens in the backstory involving Ragnus, I won't be doing a second flashback story like last chapter due to the fact it contains content well above what a T Rating would allow, so I apologize for that. However, AO3 readers will be receiving the entire flashback as an uncut oneshot of sorts.

Truth and Ideals Chapter 52:


As Delia began to explain to Ash and his friends about the man named Ragnus, she could only tell so much out loud due to what all had happened.

She told Ash about a man she had known before she had met Sirius, and at one point during their lives, Sirius' relationship with Delia after they were married felt like it had heavily lacked the energy of themselves when they had first started.

"Sounds like you shouldn't have tried to enter a relationship with him so soon…" Bianca muttered, as Delia sighed.

"Still, it doesn't excuse me for what I did while I was technically still with Sirius…" Delia mumbled, as she could tell Ash was slowly, but quietly, rather furious towards her. As Delia shed a slight tear of regret, she continued.

"Ragnus, to put things mildly, was a sociopath; when he had tried to propose to me with a gift due to him believing I wasn't happy with Sirius, I had actually accepted. However, I did not know of how the gift in question was from a fragment of a freshly killed Phione." Delia stuttered at the last bit, as Ash calmed as he was listening more closely now.

"That is how I began to know who Victini from before your last stop here, Ash; it had met up with me while I was cursed into the form of a Phione while Manaphy took its rage out on me, and only after I was purified back into a human form by my sister, only then did Ragnus get what was coming to him." Delia explained.

"But why would you betray Sirius like that?" Ash asked Delia, sounding rather hurt in his tone.

"I was spending days upon days alone thinking he had ditched me for another woman, Ash! Had I known back then that Sirius had thought the other way around I would've cut all connections with Ragnus or Colress before I would have slept with either of them!" Delia told Ash.

"Well maybe if you hadn't been acting like a whore towards these two other men than maybe Sirius would still be alive!" Ash retorted, as Ash's aura had flared up as Cheren, Bianca, Iris, and Misty both moved away from Ash out of fright as to what feelings Ash was going through at the moment. Delia remained quietly, tears forming in her eyes as she still tried to look Ash in the eyes.

"A-Ash… You don't seem to realize how lonely and miserable my life was without anybody to share it with… I-I…" Delia tried to explain, as Ash tried to calm himself down from his aura activated state but found it very difficult to do so.

"So you decided to simply cheat on dad? Is that what you're willing to do in life if it means you'll never be alone?!" Ash asked from Delia. Delia was beginning to cry softly at this point.

"A-Ash… please… stop it…" Delia spoke, as Ash was still unable to find a way to calm himself down.

"He died alone in a cave with an abomination that had killed him and would later encounter me and almost kill me as well! Do you know how I feel knowing that dad had died such a horrifying death and with the feeling he was betrayed to his own grave?!" Ash spoke, as his aura intensified into its solidified state around himself, all the while Delia was getting scared as to how Ash had become so powerful; she had only seen such levels of power from Sirius before.

"Ash, calm yourself down! Please!" Cheren yelled towards Ash, as Bianca was sheltering her eyes from the intense aura radiating from Ash, her eyes practically watery due to how intense of an effect Ash's aura had on her eyesight.

"Ash, please, what do you want me to say?! I'm 16 nearing 17 years too late to simply apologize! Do you think anybody would truly forgive me now that it had been so long?! I truly wish I could simply rewrite the past, but even with having had a brief friendship with Celebi and Dialga even they both know that would be too much! If I could change the past to where Sirius didn't die, how could I even stand a chance against such a monstrosity and not simply befall the same fate he did and die knowing you're living without any parents after that! Do you know how terrible I would feel knowing that if I did indeed attempt to change the past like that but only failed and made it worse?!" Delia spoke out, as she was beginning to cry more audibly now. Ash had snapped out of his rage at that point, as his eyes widened as everyone in the room could feel Ash's aura begin to calm.

"Ash, I'm not sure of how to make this up to anyone for my terrible behavior all of those years ago… I know changing the past would be impossible by this point, but I want to do something for you, something to make you happy even if I have difficulty with trying to do so… Something that would make the two of us happy and complete in our lives…" Delia began to speak again once she had slowly stopped crying, as Delia slowly concentrated her vision to merely look at Ash.

"Could you take me to see Sirius' grave, please?" Delia asked of Ash. Ash, his gaze feeling heavy regret for nearly having panicked everyone in the room with his outburst, felt his gaze soften as tears began to form in his eyes. Without even questioning himself, his mom, his friends, or even speaking anything, he moved too quickly approach Delia and hug her as one could now hear him audibly cry.

Cheren and Bianca looked over towards Misty and Iris, just as Cheren gave Bianca a napkin to rub her eyes clean with, all the while Delia looked over towards the former two first, then towards the latter two.

"… You two can do what you feel is right; you two should probably head home to inform your parents you're home and then-"

"Stay, please…" Ash spoke towards the two of them, as Cheren and Bianca looked surprised.

"Are you sure, Ash? This is a very sensitive time for you…" Bianca asked, as Cheren nodded.

"She's not wrong, Ash; it would be best if we were to leave you alone to allow you time to calm your nerves…" Cheren told him, all the while Misty remained silent all the while mentally cursing at herself for her inability to speak, as Iris remained quiet due to being uncertain as to how to brighten the mood at a subject like this.

"I would appreciate it if you all stay by my side and help me calm my nerves… You've done so much to do just the same for six years prior to use becoming trainers, after all, even when I had told you to just go on ahead without me…" Ash spoke towards Cheren and Bianca, causing Misty and Iris' eyes to widen a bit as the two of them looked towards Cheren and Bianca.

Cheren and Bianca didn't know what to say; they knew Ash wasn't wrong, they did actually choose to selflessly delay their journey as Pokémon Trainers even as Ash had insisted on the two of them to just begin without him. Now, here Ash was after almost three weeks had passed since they had begun their journeys, as Ash was in a vulnerable state of emotions that was unlike the situation the three were in before they began their journey.

"… Ash…" Cheren and Bianca both spoke in unison, before quickly moving towards him as the two of them both moved to hug Ash tightly to get him to calm down. Even as Bianca's eyes were watering due to Ash's still active aura, she endured it just because one of her closest childhood friends had needed comfort after such a heavy situation.

"It'll be alright; we'll stay by your side to ensure you'll not have to be in this alone…" Cheren spoke to Ash first.

"Don't worry, Ash; we're not going to leave if you don't want us to…" Bianca spoke up, a few tears trailing down her face even if most of it was her eyes having been dried out due to difficulties with gazing upon Ash in his current state.

"Look, Ash… I may have felt like a fool for having shown up initially… but I no longer regret it now that I'm seeing you like this…" Iris spoke, as she moved to join in the group hug as well. Misty didn't say anything; she would much prefer to, but her lack of an ability to speak had made it impossible. So instead, she simply, and affectionately, moved to join in the group hug with both of her partners, her two friends, and Delia.

Delia only further helped Ash calm down as did his friends, feeling as the affection shown from the five of them had calmed Ash's nerves down. As Delia slowly watched as Ash's aura dissipated entirely as Ash finally calmed, neither of the five had moved away from Ash until they were certain he was calmed down.

"Are you feeling better, Ash…?" Delia asked her son, as she noticed something, which made Cheren, Bianca, Iris, and Misty all feel rather awkward all of a sudden; Ash had actually fallen asleep due to their comfort.

"… I think it may be best for me to take him to his room, now." Delia said, as she carefully moved to pick Ash up, before slowly walking and taking him towards his room upstairs so that he could get some proper sleep. Cheren, Bianca, Misty, and Iris remained downstairs all the while.

"We should probably get to training our Pokémon if he's going to be asleep." Bianca brought up, as the other three nodded.

"Yeah, good idea; I have yet to begin properly training Latias just yet, so it would be a good idea to train all of our Pokémon." Iris spoke up.

[Definitely a good idea; though I need somewhere safe to train my own Pokémon in particular.] Misty texted to Bianca's Xtransceiver in order to tell them that she had a certain Pokémon that could only train in a select number of areas.

"I'm sure whichever Pokémon it is, it'll be safe to train towards the coast of the town." Bianca told Misty, as Cheren nodded.

"Yeah, trust me; Kyogre will be safer to train there since Nuvema Town is impossible to actually manage to flood in any way." Cheren spoke up, as Misty's eyes widened as she texted Cheren next.

[… How did you know it was Kyogre?] Misty asked him, as Cheren shrugged.

"Process of elimination I suppose. You did say it would be hazardous to let outside of its Poké Ball a week or so ago when you had mentioned it would ruin the nice weather." Cheren spoke up, as Bianca and Iris nodded.

"It's not like Politoad would've done nearly as much extensive rainfall either." Iris mentioned.

"I agree; Kyogre would be the only Pokémon with Drizzle to cause that type of downpour." Bianca noted.

[… If it's alright with you three I suppose.] Misty texted them as to tell them that she was okay with training Kyogre alongside their other Pokémon.

As a loud crack of thunder could be heard outside, the four moved outside to have a look towards what had happened, as Altair and Raichu could be seen outside with the recently crashed Zekrom. Zekrom, slowly moving to stand, noticed how Altair and Raichu didn't even have a scratch on either of them, while it itself had numerous bruises on its durable hide.

"Again." Altair spoke, as Raichu charged up an electrical surge of energy within itself as it had unleashed telekinetic blast of energy towards Zekrom, taking the form of a massive sphere of fire that slammed down onto Zekrom. As Zekrom took the hit, Zekrom surged with electricity as it had flown up into the air, giving an immense pulse of electrical energy outwards, before slamming its electrically charged body down onto Raichu.

As Raichu grabbed Zekrom with a telekinetic force midair, Zekrom was tossed clean out towards the ocean as Zekrom was submerged into the water. Misty silently gave a giggling gesture as she called out a special Poké Ball, and tossed it out towards the sea; upon opening up, the large, Orca-like Legendary Pokémon known as Kyogre emerged and landed itself on the surface of the water.

As an intense level of energy had begun to surge and form around Kyogre, a crystalline sphere of raw, primal energy formed around Kyogre as a lowercase Alpha could be seen in bright blue on the sphere, before the sphere exploded upon as Kyogre let loose a loud, powerful roar-like sound, as Kyogre's appearance now had yellow colored lines across its body, a belly that was practically transparent, and much longer proportions in addition to being much larger overall.

Zekrom, flying out of the water as its own body surged with electricity, looked down towards Kyogre with a roar of absolute rage as it was directed towards the new challenger. Bianca and Cheren, looking at each other and nodding, both sent out Emboar and Serperior respectively as they had turned their sights towards Altair and Raichu.

Altair grinned a bit as he charged up his own aura as Bianca had gathered her own Heartsoul energy around herself, as Cheren did the same. Drawing energy indirectly from the both of them onto one of its fists, Altair slammed said hand and its other, aura charged fist into each other as a bright, powerful sphere of energy formed around Altair, before exploding as a bright, rainbow colored DNA helix formed over his head as he had Mega Evolved himself into Mega Lucario.

"Hey! Don't forget about me!" Iris spoke up, as Iris called out Latias from her Poké Ball next, Iris performed a flip as she had revealed a Key Stone on one of the bands in her hair, before tapping it as energy had surged into Latias, as Latias could feel a sphere of energy form around herself, before exploding as her reddish body became a purple colored, streamlined, flight capable Legendary Pokémon in the form of Mega Latias.

Meanwhile…

Colress had a clear view of the ensuing training from the four trainers from afar with his computer, all the while Ghetsis looked towards the eagerly waiting Hoopa.

'I'm actually surprised, really; I didn't think whatever power Ghetsis had taken would allow history to literally repeat itself like this…' Colress thought to himself, as he watched and waited upon Ghetsis and Hoopa's words, before beginning to explain to Hoopa about what he would do for the Prison Bottle.

"You see, Hoopa, whereas you had fought Arceus in the past and had failed to do anything to it, Ghetsis, on the other hand, had actually managed to do a number to Arceus in the past and succeed in stealing something from it. In other words, Ghetsis has the power to manipulate the Prison Bottle's seal; changing it from 3 days to 3 years with relative ease." Colress explained to Hoopa, all the while Hoopa grinned.

"Oooh, an enemy of Arceus I see? How do you know Big A is going to allow this, though?" Hoopa questioned, as Ghetsis darkly chuckled.

"It won't even have the chance to disapprove; it can't detect that you're even here in the first place, nor does it have any memory of its encounter with me all those years ago!" Ghetsis spoke towards Hoopa, as Hoopa chuckled.

"Alrighty then, Big G, so first thing's first; what wish do we get out of our hair to start off?" Hoopa asked Ghetsis, before Ghetsis would move over towards the Prison Bottle and unleashing the seal on it towards Hoopa, watching as Hoopa absorbed its power from within again as it had transformed into its giant, six armed form.

"First, we need you to secure not just one Digimon, but two; over the years we had identified two specimens, a Digimon named Flare known as WarGreymon, and a Digimon named Tempest known as MetalGarurumon; if you would please bring both of them into my own control, that would be the first wish." Ghetsis had asked, as Hoopa summoned forth a ring, moving a hand into it as he grabbed Flare from her own dimension, and almost immediately the corrupting device used by Ghetsis in the past was yet again placed on her shoulder.

"I'm afraid for some odd reason, I can't track down Tempest; he seems to have perished based on what I'm able to sense." Hoopa told Ghetsis, as Ghetsis sighed as he motioned for Flare to move towards the side with his cane.

"Whatever, we'll deal with that matter as it comes; next, I desire a reinforced, special material forged from Infinite Energy; a metal so powerful that the very force of Mega Evolution itself could be seen sealed within it. A casing in which to create a produce more of this metal would be gladly appreciated." Ghetsis spoke of, as Hoopa's eyes glowed red as he summoned the manufacturing device before Ghetsis through another of its rings.

"Done. Now, then, for your last wish…?" Hoopa asked, as its voiced seemed to slur a bit; it couldn't tell right now, but Ghetsis was utilizing his creepy, prosthetic arm from which he had stolen Arceus' power to manipulate Hoopa's mind for this next and final wish.

"Lastly, I require a Pokémon of my own choosing in the Poké Ball type of my own choosing; the rare, currently in-development Pokémon from Alola in its finished state, contained inside of a Luxury Ball; for my final wish, I ask for the Pokémon that can fight against and even kill deities! I ask for the Pokémon known as Type: Null to be added to my party of Pokémon!" Ghetsis spoke, as Hoopa's eyes glowed red as a third ring appeared and summoned forth this somewhat tall, chimeric, quadrupedal Pokémon with an armored head that Ghetsis referred to as Type: Null.

"Now then, your wishes have been granted, and now-" Hoopa didn't even get a chance to finish its line; almost immediately, Ghetsis had ordered with a loud, powerful shout towards Type: Null; the Synthetic Pokémon panicked as to Ghetsis' haunting call, as Type: Null turned around to face Hoopa and jump up into the air, before unleashing a powerful, sharp slash at Hoopa while it was still here, as Hoopa's eyes widened upon the realization as to what had happened.

"W-W-Why…?" Hoopa asked, as it had fallen into the ground as Hoopa couldn't even move with such a slash wound that had struck it from Ghetsis' Type: Null. As Ghetsis darkly chuckled, he walked over towards Hoopa and moved his prosthetic arm to grab as Hoopa's head, and then proceeding the tear off the ring-like jewel on Hoopa's forehead, as Ghetsis stomped his foot down onto Hoopa's fading away body.

"Because, Hoopa; you are no longer desired in this world of chaos…" Ghetsis told the Djinn Pokémon in a rather cold tone, before Ghetsis had struck Hoopa aside with his cane as Hoopa's slashed apart body had disintegrated as Hoopa could be faintly seen letting loose a few tears as to what had just happened.

After disintegrating entirely, Ghetsis looked towards the ring he had stolen from Hoopa's eroded corpse, before using his stolen power to shape it into the shape of an ordinary finger ring, as Ghetsis had placed it upon his prosthetic hand as he darkly chuckled as to the newfound power he had due to having stolen something from Arceus, and then having stolen something from Hoopa just after having slain the latter.

"Now, the second phase is complete; now begins the third phase." Ghetsis spoke in a low, growling tone as he looked over towards the silent, stoic Type: Null as returned Type: Null to its Poké Ball, before traversing through shadows into a room full of darkness with no obvious way out. As Colress was left alone with the now resting, corrupted Flare, he was quick to open up an anonymous message channel as he had typed rather calmly towards who he was texting.

[Delia, my old friend, we may possibly have a problem greater than we would have ever realized…]

To Be Continued…