I've decided to do one of these, which I've always wanted to do. By 'one of these,' I mean an Ash gets betrayed story. I did my homework, though, so don't worry about the plot being too repetitive. What I mean by that is this won't just be an 'all Ash's friends betray him, he runs away to train on a mountain for exactly five years, he gets invited to a master tournament, he beats up all the traitors, then he rides off into the sunset,' type of fic. The only repetetive thing will be the actual betrayal. Though I must admit, I am a sucker for the cliche.
But no.
Ash will be a bit darker than canon, but he will not be an asshole. He will not be super-duper serious Ash, either. He'll just be a bit more knowledgeable about the real world and what can happen if you are too trusting. He'll be the same goofy badass we all wish he was.
There will be a harem, obviously. But I refuse to add May, Dawn, Serena, or, god forbid, Misty. I can't stand Misty. I may bend the rules for one or two of the other listed girls on the ban list, if you ask nicely. Oh, and Pokémon ARE allowed into the harem, if you readers so choose.
Only a couple of spaces in the harem are guaranteed:
Korrina (She's necessary for what I have planned in the story. Plus, I love her too much to not include her)
Phoebe (Hoenn Ghost Elite)
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As you can see, there are seven empty slots. That's the max I'm willing to go for now, because I know my limits and know when there are too many people for me to give equal screen time to. I will add more in the future, probably.
I will post a poll on my profile. You may also leave suggestions in the comments. The results don't need to be in for a few chapters now, so don't feel too rushed.
Alright. I think I've rambled enough. On to the story.
Prologue
As Ash recalled a fallen Greninja to his pokéball, the preteen boy couldn't help but feel… relieved. As if he had finally proven himself, despite having lost, to the entire world.
For him, this loss just screamed 'see? I can do it. I made it far.' His entire journey, he had been inching closer and closer to victory. Each and every league, he made some sort of progress. This time, he had made it to the very final trial- and lost, but barely.
Hence the relief.
Alain returned his barely standing Charizard, still mega evolved, after a good rub along the fire dragons neck.
And in spite of all the spectators calling out Alain's name, instead of Ash's, Ash smiled. He walked up to his opponent and shook his hand and left the stadium with his head held high, faithful friend pikachu clinging to his shoulder. They both knew that they had definitely grown in strength, and that the next time they were faced with such unfamiliar circumstances, they would win.
Too bad some people didn't see things that way.
"I swear, he just gets worse and worse every league!"
Delia Ketchum was tired of listening to Professor Oak ramble on about how terrible at battling her son was. It was annoying and, frankly, extremely disrespectful.
"Samuel," Delia's voice, cold and quiet, instantly cut through Oak's complaining. Silence fell. "I think I'm going to head home now."
"What?" Oak sputtered. "But we have to wait for the others to get here. Did you forget about the-"
"Samuel," Delia growled. "I don't care about the party. You are being way out of line right now, and I would like to leave." She stood, and started to pull on her coat.
"Here, let me help," Oak tried, reaching for Delia's arm. She snatched it away.
"Good night, Samuel. If Ash stops here first, send him straight home." And with that, Ash's mother stomped out of the labs front doors.
Oak sighed. "Maybe I shouldn't have-"
"Shouldn't have what?" Gary Oak strolled through the front doors as if he owned the place, tossing his jacket somewhere in the corner. Umbreon darted ahead of him to jump up on a chair. "Why was Delia leaving? And looking so pissed, too."
Oak hesitated. "When Ash lost the Kalos league, I just… realized something."
"What would that be?" Gary pressed, picking up Umbreon, sitting on the same chair, and placing her in his lap.
"Ash… is just not fit for the life of a Champion." Oak paused, as if scared that his grandson, aka Ash's friend, would snap at him like Delia did.
Gary's next words surprised him.
"Finally, someone else noticed. Yeah, he's gotten, like, super terrible at battling," Gary agreed readily, and Umbreon's ears perked up at the direction the humans' conversation was going. She started to feel uneasy. "Ever since he won the Orange league, he's never won anything else."
"Thank god you agree. So, what should we do about it?"
Suddenly, the doors burst open, and in walked Brock, Misty, and May and Max Maple.
"It really is so good to finally meet you, May," Misty was saying. "I mean, if you traveled with Ash, then you've probably went through the same pain as me and Brock." As she spoke, there seemed to be a tang of bitterness in her voice.
May smiled at the red head, charmed already. "If you mean watching him act a fool and lose the league, then yes."
Max had his arms crossed indignantly. "You guys have been talking bad about Ash since May and I got off the boat. Please, just stop."
"Shut up, Max," May growled. "It's not bad talking. We're just comparing experiences."
"Sounded like bad talking to me," Brock stated.
"Who's bad talking who?" Dawn Berlitz said in her loud, confident voice as she sashayed into the lab. "Because I am like, the best at bad talking."
The piplup in her arms made a mocking squeak.
Gary jumped at this opportunity. "Actually, me and gramps were just talking about Ash. We're concerned, you see." Umbreon, unbeknownst to everyone else, had her fur raised.
"Concerned? About what?" Dawn responded, sitting down in a chair and crossing a leg over the other. She let Piplup down onto the ground.
"Well, we've noticed that he seems… unqualified for his chosen path," Oak confessed, slightly nervous.
Dawn's crystal blue eyes widened. "Are you guys crazy?!"
"I don't think they are," Misty said. "Ash is really getting nowhere."
"At this rate, he'll end up dying a wannabe," May realized aloud.
"Guysss…" Dawn whined. "Ash'll be here any minute!"
"So? Let him hear!" Brock burst out, surprising everyone. "He needs to know what a mistake he's making, continuing this journey of his."
"Well, I don't want to be here when Ash walks through that door and hears what you're saying about him," Dawn said firmly. She stood up.
"And you act like you don't agree with us, Dawn," Gary argued, not noticing Umbreon sliding off his lap and onto the floor. "Don't you want Ash to be happy?"
"..." Dawn was locked in place. She didn't want to admit it, but she was kind of feeling the same way.
"Hello?" A petite, honey blonde haired girl with wide cornflower blue eyes stood in the doorway. "This is professor Oak's laboratory, right?"
"Serenaaaa!" A young blonde girl suddenly latched onto the older girl's waist. "Didja' find it?"
"Well, the sign does say 'professor Oak's lab' out front…" an older blonde boy said, panting slightly as he appeared, as if he had been running.
"You must be here for Ash, too," Misty said distastefully. "Aren't you that chick from Summer Camp that had, like, a huge crush on Ash?"
Serena blushed heavily. "W-what?"
"What? You mean someone could actually have a crush on that little kid?" A girl with wild purple hair demanded, pushing her way through the three blondes in the doorway.
"Iris…" a green haired guy sighed tiredly.
"I know, right?"
"Okay, will someone tell me what's going on here?" Serena exclaimed.
Dawn felt conflicted. But as she looked at Serena, and then May, who she could tell was definitely a girl in love- and then Misty, who was most definitely giving off a bitter ex vibe- she realized she had no reason to keep holding onto Ash. He clearly had multiple other girls pining after him. She- Dawn- was no different. What made her think that she ever had a chance?
"We think Ash is not in the right mental state to be a Pokémon trainer." And imagine everyone's surprise when Dawn uttered these words. Her eyes were cold and, if one were to look closer, hurt.
Gary, however, was not going to complain about Dawn's one-eighty. "That's right. He's only gotten worse over the years. We think that has something to do with his natural lack of talent."
As the group proceeded to slowly woo the new group of people into their way of thinking, though the purple haired girl, Iris, didn't seem to need much convincing, Umbreon and Piplup were conversing in the corner.
"What's going on?" Piplup whispered to Umbreon.
"I'm not sure. But what I do know is that it's nothing good." The dark type narrowed her red eyes at her trainer. "I don't like it."
"We should go and say something to Ash's Pokémon," Piplup suggested. "In the corral."
"Yes, I'm sure a heads up would be appreciated," Umbreon agreed. She easily melted into the shadows. Piplup huffed, and then started to make his way quietly through the room to the open door leading to the corral.
Once outside, they noticed that the sun was almost done setting.
"Bulbasaur!" Umbreon shot forward, catching the grass type starter Pokémon by surprise.
"Umbreon?"
"Something bad is going to happen. I'm no absol, but I can definitely say that disaster is near," the dark type told Bulbasaur.
"What do you mean? What's going on?" Swallow, who was soaring overhead, overheard the conversation and dive-bombed the group.
"Come listen for yourself," Umbreon invited, beckoning forwards the doorway to the lab with a dark paw.
Ash Ketchum was in a good mood.
Sure, he had lost the fight, but at least he still had his friends, his mother, and, most importantly, his Pokémon. These thoughts brought a smile to his face as he walked down Route 1, towards Pallet Town.
"Pikaaa," Pikachu cooed. He rubbed his cheek against Ash's.
Ash, undisturbed by the sparks of electricity coming from his partners' cheek pouch, reached up and scratched Pikachu behind the ear. "It sucks that we lost, Pikachu," Ash said. "But we've still got the rest of our lives to become masters."
…". .. "Pikachu," the electric type agreed happily.
"And besides," the raven haired boy continued jovially. "Who said it would be easy? A dream is called a dream for a reason, you know. We just need that extra bit of effort to make it a reality."
Pikachu twitched an ear to show he was listening. This was why he loved his trainer- he never gave up. Sometimes, the electric mouse thought that Ash was the one thing keeping him going every day.
A pidgey fluttered by overhead. Seeing the Tiny Bird Pokemon, Ash suddenly gripped the side of his head as a bolt of pain shot through it. He squeezed his eyes shut, catching Pikachu's attention, and stopped walking.
"Pikapi?"
Ash dropped his hand to his side and shook his head. "Sorry, Pikachu. Just…" he looked in the direction the pidgey disappeared to. "Just a headache. Let's go, I'm sure everyone's waiting for us!"
Pikachu, though concerned about his trainers behavior, went along with it for now. "Pika!"
Then, Ash proceeded to sprint the rest of the way to Pallet.
-TimeSkip-
As Ash and Pikachu approached the lab, Ash couldn't help but feel like something was off.
"Pii…" Pikachu, too, seemed a tad bit suspicious.
Shrugging off the feeling of unease, Ash grabbed the door handle and pushed the double doors open.
"Hello?" Ash called, loudly, as he walked deeper into the main area. The lights were off. Pikachu's Cheeks began to spark.
Suddenly, the lights all flickered to life.
"Surprise!" Came Professor Oak's voice.
Ash was astonished to see all the people he had traveled together with, all together in one room. He certainly hadn't expected this.
"Serena? May? Dawn?" Ash was stunned. "When did you get here?" His eyes found Misty, who was glaring quite intensely. Ash ignored it and opened his arms for a hug. "Misty! Brock!"
"I see you're still a little kid," said a familiar high-strung voice. Ash winced, but quickly hid it.
"Iris… and Cilan! It's great to see you all, really," Ash said sincerely. He dropped his arms once it became apparent that he wasn't getting a hug. "This is amazing."
"Don't thank us yet, Ashy-boy," Gary said, standing up and crossing the room to his former rival. "Have a seat. Take a load off."
"Uhh…" Ash didn't seem to have much of a choice as Gary practically forced him down into a chair. "Okay."
An awkward silence ensued.
Ash couldn't help but notice things, like the way Dawn was staring down at her boots and hadn't said a word since he came in- something that was unnatural for Dawn. And then there was Brock and Cilan, standing together and giving Ash hard looks.
"Um… so, how is everyone doing?" Ash said, desperate for some sort of communication.
"Cut the crap, Ash," Misty muttered. "It's not like you even care how we're doing."
Ash was stunned into silence.
"Oh, now you're speechless?" Misty continued, louder this time, on a roll now. "The great Chosen One Ash, of the purest of hearts, mister 'I must save every legendary pokemon' himself has nothing to say!"
"Misty," Gary said gently. "We agreed that this would not be done that way."
"What?" Ash was finally regaining his voice. Misty scoffed and looked away. "What's happening?"
"Ash," Oak said softly. "We have some concerns…"
"Stop trying to be nice, Professor," Brock sighed. "And don't use so many big words. He responds well to idiocy."
Ash couldn't believe what his old friend had just said. Sure, he knew he was kind of ditzy, but that didn't mean he was… well, an idiot. Pikachu growled softly. He never did like it when people implied that his trainer was less than intelligent.
"I'll do the talking," Gary interrupted. He seemed annoyed. "Ash, we've been talking, all of us, and we think it's best that you choose a different life goal."
The entire world stopped. Pikachu reacted first, his small body becoming covered from ear to tail in thin waves of electricity. He snarled, cheeks sparking.
Ash felt as if he wasn't even inside his own body, like he was on the outside looking in instead of vice versa.
"D'you think we broke him?" May asked casually.
"Of course not," Dawn scoffed, finally looking up. "He's smart- too smart. He just loves the attention."
"What's that mean, Dawn?" Ash demanded, standing up. Pikachu leapt down, landing on the linoleum floor, the cold material acting as a conductor for his discharges of rage-fueled power.
"What I mean, Ash Ketchum," Dawn snapped, "Is that you have been found out."
"Dawn…" Serena whispered from her chair.
"No!" The bluenette countered. "He should know that we know all about his little game."
"Game?" Ash said, voice barely a broken whisper.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You like having all these girls smitten over you. You're like the perfect player."
"What Dawn's trying to say," May interjected, "is that you can't possibly be so oblivious as to not notice all the girls you somehow manage to enchant."
Ash stiffened.
Gary, with a slight urgency in his voice, said, "Do you girls really have to make this all about you?"
"Yes!" Misty hissed. "We're doing this now."
"No, we are not," Gary stated firmly.
"We have other matter to address first," Cilan agreed.
"Ash, you honestly are not going to make it any farther in this world," Brock stated bluntly. "You only seem to be getting worse with each league."
"So true! I mean, he lost against a charizard using his greninja. Talk about not utilizing type advantages!" Iris lamented.
"He was mega…" And that was all Ash could say. He wanted so badly to just run, he could tell Pikachu wanted to as well, but he was rooted to the spot.
"That's no excuse!" May was saying. "Greninja was practically mega as well!"
"Why…" Ash was starting to feel needle pricks all up and down his arms and legs. Black began eating away at the edges of his vision. "What…"
"Ash." Professor Oak. "I am leaving you no choice. Please surrender your Pokédex."
As if a switch had been flipped, the black in Ash's vision slowly started to turn red.
"Where's my mom?" The boy demanded. "Where are my Pokémon?"
"Your mother had to leave early. But fret not, she fully agrees with this course of action we are taking," Oak answered.
"I don't believe you." Ash's tone was darker, angrier. "Pikachu…"
He had been waiting for his turn. The electric mouse immediately stepped in front of Ash, before promptly releasing an insanely bright flash of white light.
When the Flash attack finally faded from the traitors' eyes, Ash was gone.
"What the fuck did we just witness?" Piplup asked.
"A terrible thing," Umbreon growled, her naturally dark voice becoming even darker. "Bulbasaur, alert the rest of Ash's Pokémon…"
Before she could even finish her sentence, there was a yelp of surprise nearby.
The dark type and her fellow Pokémon were immediately on guard. Umbreon silently moved through the shadows to see what was happening further in the corral.
What she saw nearly stunned her.
It was Ash and that blue ninja frog thing, Greninja if Umbreon remembered correctly. Ash was wrapped around Greninja's body, practically crushing the taller frog in his hug.
Greninja was awkwardly patting his trainers back as he cried. Then, with his surperior night vision, he spotted Umbreon. Carefully, he detatched himself from the young boy. Ash said nothing, simply stepped back.
"Pikachu should be back right about…" Ash started.
A yellow blur tackled him in the chest. "...Now."
Ash crouched down and grabbed the bag of pokéballs Pikachu had dropped at his feet, stilling momentarily as his starter made himself comfortable on his shoulder. "Bulbasaur?"
The mentioned grass type ran up to his trainer, accepting being recalled without question. Ash then looked at Umbreon. "You won't say anything, right?"
Umbreon simply tilted her head, allowing her rings to pulse slightly.
Ash smiled. "Thanks." Suddenly, Pikachu darted off Ash's shoulder. He approached Umbreon and, without warning, gave her neck a brief nuzzle. She looked like a deerling in headlights as he ran back to Ash.
Ash laughed, returned Greninja, and grabbed a different ball off his belt. He tapped the release button and a large purple, blue, and white bat-like dragon emerged. He materialized in the air and did a few showy acrobatic tricks before landing.
Ash wordlessly hopped on. Pikachu clung to his shoulder, and Ash secured his grip on the bag of pokéballs. "Anywhere but here," Ash stated in response to Noiverns' silent inquiry. One large ear twitched in affirmative.
As Piplup and Umbreon watched, Noivern flapped his wings and lifted off the ground.
Who knew how long it would be before they would see Ash again.