"You never heard of Lance?" Ritchie asked.

"Not yet" Ash responded.

"Well he's the Champion of the Kanto Region" Gary answered.

"Ah and what does Champion mean exactly?" Ash asked bluntly.

"It means he's the strongest trainer in the Kanto Region" Gary explained.

"Ah and what about the elite four?" Ash inquired.

"The elite four after Lance are the 4 most powerful and in order to challenge Lance you have to first beat the Elite four." Gary stated.

"Man I would love to fight him" Ash mumbled.

"You might be able to last a little with his Dragonite but his Pokémon are far stronger than you are and so I believe that you won't last for very long" Ritchie didn't think Ash would win even the power that his devil fruit provided.

"Yes, but Lance wouldn't go all out for fear of harming you so you would last far longer than you assume Ritchie" Gary said.

"Well let's go see him then" Ash smiled and got up with to see Lance and the Elite Four. So walking up they saw a SUV like vehicle and five people were standing there that Ash could only assume were the Elite Four and the Champion Lance. Professor Oak was standing in front of them talking about something to them that Ash couldn't hear. But he did see them hand something to Professor Oak who seemed to thank them and walk away while the others left.

"What you got gramps?" Gary asked.

"Oh just an artifact excavated from a ruin that seemed to cause a whole lot of trouble." Oak explained.

"What kind of trouble?" Ritchie gulped.

"Well that's the question because when the locals were asked, they refused to elaborate on what the trouble was" Oak sighed.

"Is it a good idea to have it here then?" Ash asked.

"Don't worry I used to be champion too back in the day, so we'll be fine" Oak assured them as he rubbed their hair and left. The day finally over everyone went to bed until the device (which looked like the device in Ancient Puzzle of Pokemopolis) moved and wiggled for a bit. No one would be able to predict what was to come when the whole ranch got swallowed in a shadowy darkness. A female appeared from the device. Her hair was long and slender and as black as the shadows that emanated from her like long black wispy flames. The rest of her body was covered in a shadowy dress that seemed to melt into the ground. The arms were covered all the way to the shoulders leaving very little skin showing. Her face contorted into a smile with her brown eyes scanning the room she was in.

"Ah finally back in the world of the living. Those fools thought they could keep me locked away well they were wrong and now they will pay the price for resisting me. The Queen of Pokemopolis deserves the world, it's only right that I get what I want and maybe a few slaves out of it as well" The mysterious woman declared before sinking into the ground and turning into a shadow and moved into the forest. Upon arriving at a cave, she unleashed her shadow barrier completely cutting off Pallet Town from the rest of the world. The one exception was with a psychic type as they always gave her trouble. But with the thousands of years that she has been waiting and perfecting her power, she was confident that she could dispatch any psychic type that tried to confront her.

'Ash wake up' Gardevoir shook Ash awake while speaking to him via telepathy

"I'm awake' Ash groggily got up from the bed.

'Something has happened" Gradevoir frowned.

'Ok why are you waking me and not the Professor?' Ash wondered.

'Because I refuse to put him in harm's way. He has nearly died many times on me, and I will not let that happen again. Also, you are the only one here with devil fruit powers so you can defend yourself.' Gardevoir stated.

'Ok then let me get the rest of the Oak's Pokémon' Gardevoir then teleported while Ash got dressed.

"Lucario you here?" Gardevoir yelled. Inside what could be best described as a barn.

"Yes" Gardevoir turned around and saw him standing next to the door with straw hanging out on one side of his mouth.

"You sense it to, right?" Lucario asked.

"Of course, plus a shadow has created a dome around Pallet Town blocking all means of escape except teleportation" Gardevoir informed.

"Well, you go get the others" Gardevoir instructed.

"What about you?" Lucario wondered.

"There is someone else I need to grab you go ahead without me; I'll catch up" Gardevoir replied.

"OK sure whatever" Lucario then left to grab the others while Gardevoir teleported to that Ash was ready.

"Ok whose ass am I kicking today" Ash smirked as he cracked his knuckles and neck.

'Don't know but let's leave' Gardevoir then led Ash out of the house.

"So how do you know where to go" Ash wondered.

"Can sense it that's how" Gardevoir responded as they walked through the forest to where the source of the disturbance was. Another thing that Ash noticed was the dark, shadowy like sky that seemed to surround Pallet Town. This could have been the power of devil fruit as there have been a few cases of devil fruits being brought by adventurers to foreign lands and not being eaten by them. Instead, the devil fruits in question were found by natives but how someone like Professor Oak not knowing about them was something that Ash didn't understand.

"We're almost there stay on guard" Lucario growled as the group of Pokémon walked through the forest.

"Why is this happening?" Arcanine asked.

"Why you asking me?" Lucario wondered.

"Well you are the aura Pokémon for a reason or was that all for show?" Arcanine shot back.

"Well whatever it is, is messing up with Aura and has effectively made me blind" Lucario answered.

"Well shit" Arcanine grumbled.

"Hold it I sense it coming from the cave" Lucario held up one of his paws as they approached the mouth of a cave where the darkness seemed to be the strongest.

"Well time to brave the darkness" Lucario led the group as they walked into the cave with each passing step seeming to being them to heart of the darkness. Until they would eventually come across a woman who seemed to be the one where the darkness originated from.

"Excuse me but who are you?" Gengar asked.

"After so many years of waiting I've finally found it. But it seems I have some unwanted guests but you all will make perfect slaves." She had a sick smile on her face that seemed to betray her sinister nature and thus the battle began.

*With Ash and Gardevoir

"Makes me wonder if this is the power of the Kage Kage no mi" Ash wondered.

"Kage Kage no mi?" Gardevoir asked.

"A paramecia type devil fruit that give it user the powers over shadows as well as the ability to steal them. Should you have your shadow stolen and come into contact with the sun before you get it back then you will burn away into nothing" Ash explained.

"But devil fruits don't exist here in Kanto" Gardevoir reasoned.

"Well let me explain then, there are only one of each devil fruit in existence like mine for example. So no two people can have the same devil fruit powers, a devil fruit first manifests itself in a fruit or some plant or in the case of the Hito Hito no mi mushroom. In this form they wait for someone to eat it and let me tell you, they taste absolutely terrible. Once you take even a nibble from one you are granted its power at the cost of being unable to swim. Once that happens the fruit itself will no longer grant anyone else it's power and just becomes a regular fruit. This power will remain with the host until death and when that happens the fruit will grow back somewhere back home. In a plant that was closest to persons death until someone else eats it. It's a cycle that continues forever, life and death and rebirth. But some of our people took uneaten devil fruits with them and those devil fruits have yet to come back into circulation which means one of two things. Either they have yet to be eaten or the host has yet to die and the Kage Kage no mi is one of those devil fruits." Ash went on.

"Well if that's the case then how come no one has heard of it" Gardevoir asked.

"Well perhaps it's the distortion energy that isolates Abend which is the name of my homeland. However I do know that multiple uneaten devil fruits were taken to foreign lands by adventurers so I don't know the full answer as to why" Ash conceded.

"Hm well thank you for your explanation but it seems that we have arrived" Ash noticed the entrance to a cave and entered and soon saw a bunch of Pokémon fighting and exchanging blows with a woman clad in black.

"You brought a human what the hell you thinking?" Arcanine yelled.

"I know what I'm doing and this human is different" Gardevoir defended herself.

"What the hell can this human do?" Charizard inquired huffing a bit.

"Watch and find out Ash would you care to do the honors?" Gardevoir asked. Ash smiled as he approached the woman in question.

"So they are desperate enough that they sent a child to deal with me?" She laughed not paying attention to Ash. Ash then twisted his arm as he ran at her.

"Gum Gum Rifle" He then smashed his fist into her stomach before sending her flying into a wall. She got up after coughing. She also noticed some blood coming from her mouth which she wiped off.

"You are not normal just who the hell are you?" She demanded.

"The name is Ash and I'm a rubber man" He smiled as he emphasized that last part.

"Rubber man?" She asked.

"Yep, I ate the Gomu Gomu no mi and it turned my body into rubber now Gum Gum pistol" Ash then stretched his arm at the woman who then sank into the ground as a shadow dodging the attack before rising back up behind him. Ash then moved onto one of his arms doing basically a handstand with one arm.

"Gum Gum whip" Ash then swept his leg across the room stretching it out as he caught the Queen by surprise before sending flying across the room. Before she managed to recover, she had to dodge shadow ball and an aura sphere. She sunk into the ground before they could connect and reappeared behind Arcanine.

"Oi gets an away from him or her Gum Gum Bazooka" Ash then sent his hands which were retracting as he got closer to her into her gut. This sent her flying away with some blood coming from her mouth.

"Looks like I need to eliminate the rubber man" She then created a giant club out of shadows and then slammed it into Ash trying to crush him.

"ASH" A cry of concern from the Pokémon as they feared that they let a human die on their watch while the Queen smiled. But then the shadow club bounced off as Ash appeared unharmed.

"WHAT" The Queen yelled in disbelief as Ash was completely unharmed.

"Hah seems you don't understand what I mean when I say that I'm made of rubber" Ash smiled.

"Let me guess this so called Gomu Gomu no mi grants you immunity to blunt force attacks so punches and kicks have no effect on you. Furthermore smashing, squeezing, crushing and stretching also have no effect on you" The Queen surmised and the silence from Ash confirmed her suspicion.

"Well if I can't crush you, I'll just impale you instead" She screamed forming a spear made of shadow before getting a hydro pump to the face sending her flying through the stone wall courtesy of Oak's Blastoise. Ash then came rushing out of the hole in the cave arm outstretched.

"Gum Gum bullet" Ash slammed his fist into her gut sending her flying through the forest upturning the earth as she overturned trees before landing into a giant rock causing it to break and crumble.

"So I do have one question" Ash said before cracking his knuckles.

"Oh and what's that" she said while breathing heavily.

"Why are you here?" Ash asked.

"That's for me to know and you to find out" She growled.

"Ok Gum Gum Rifle" Ash ran at her with his arm corkscrewing before he tried to land the hit only for her to dodge the attack. He then tried to slam his foot into her face with Gum Gum stamp which she caught and then pulled his foot towards her causing him to fly towards her. She then formed a sword intending to impale Ash through the gut only to for him top get teleported away. She then scowled to see that she was surrounded by powerful Pokémon and boy made of rubber. She would fight more but the injuries she has suffered and the drain from keeping the barrier up meant that continuing to fight could mean her demise.

"Well it seems I have outstayed my welcome" She then starting creating a black mist at her feet causing her to fly up and away. Only for Ash to inflate himself and then released the air stored in him. This sent him flying up towards her.

"Don't think you can escape that easily Gum Gum gatling" He sent a barrage of punches at her but due to her misty body they phased through her before one struck something crucial. The item inside of her that was the only thing keeping her in this realm. But somehow as she was trying to flee Ash's fist made its way through her misty body and struck the item. With how long she had been stuck inside of it after her initial death meant that her power was weak. However fortunately for her she had sensed another item from her country that was created to hold part of her. Which is where she went but before finding it, she got interrupted by Professor Oak's Pokémon and a kid with a power she never seen before. But Ash's attack destroyed the item, now the one thing tethering her to realm of the living was gone. Her body was now being destroyed.

"No I can't die here; I must live n" She got cut off as she finally disappeared for good. Ash fell to ground unharmed and smiled.

"Well that was fun" Ash commented.

"Indeed but let's not do that again" Gardevoir sighed.

"Yeah" Ash got back up and dusted himself off. When Professor Oak and Gary Oak ran up. Apparently, the trek and fight had lasted a few hours and now that the shadow queen was dead the barrier that she put was now gone and now the sun was about midway in the sky.

"What on Earth happened?" Gary Oak asked worriedly as he was catching his breath.

"We fought some shadow person, though luckily she didn't have the Kage Kage no mi otherwise she would have stolen our shadows" Ash noted.

"Kage Kage no mi?" Gary asked.

"A Paramecium devil fruit that allows you to control shadows however the fruit couldn't do the stuff that the crazy woman could" Ash stated.

"Oak allow me to explain" Gardevoir then explained the situation and how Ash finished the woman off.

"Hm interesting, it seems to me that your devil fruit took her by surprise." Oak said as the group walked back to the ranch with the danger over.

"So why did she go to the caves anyways?" Gary asked.

"Because an ancient city called Pokemopolis used to be here. There might have been an ancient artifact that was undiscovered in the cave" Oak surmised.

"So Professor were you a Pokémon trainer?" Ash asked.

"Yep, and you have already met my team" Oak said.

"Were you the champion?" Ash wondered.

"No no I decided that I would rather be a researcher rather than a trainer" Oak corrected.

"I do have another question why did your Pokémon battle her by themselves and why seek me out. You all seem quite powerful on your own." Ash asked.

"Because the Gomu Gomu no mi was complete dark horse that no one could account for" Gardeovir responded. Earning a few nods from the others.

" Well lucky me then" Ash grinned.

Weeks and weeks passed as Ash studied at Oaks ranch getting ready for the exam that was right around the corner. Gary and Ritchie would stop to brush up on topics that they were rusty about. But Ash had found that he had very little free time. Soon though the time was upon them to get ready to leave for the exam. Ash, Gary and Ritchie were in Oak's lab while he was going over the exam.

"Now before we go, I just want to say that I'm proud of all three of you. Ash the amount of work you crammed into three months is just unbelievable. Now for you two congratulations on passing the final for school. This grants you immediate entry into the Pokémon trainer exam and I'm quite surprised how very few actually passed the final. Now I'm sure you all know but each region cooperates so that peace can be maintained. It also makes sure that only the most qualified become trainers. Now the exam will be held in Johto this year so pack appropriately. Now the exam consists of a written and practical portion. The written is self-explanatory and the practical portion is to see how good your survival skills are. Because let me tell you that out there in the real-world wild Pokémon don't care about rules. Many of them target trainers first which has led to a lot of deaths leading to the survival part of the test. Now unlike Ash the two of you haven't been fighting Pokémon and superpowered people for 10 years so don't try and fight them head on." Professor Oak said. That went with out saying but from what they saw of Ash as he not only studied but trained himself was that he was a monster. Having fought some of the wild Pokémon Ash had grown stronger and became known as the human Pokémon hybrid monster because of his strength. So with only a few weeks till the exam all three of them had been pulling all-nighters to get ready until Oak asked to speak to all three of them.

"Now I know you three are all ready to become Pokemon trainers so a lot of potential Pokémon trainers will be there as well from across the world. Now this is so that all the regions can participate in making sure that only the most serious people were trainers. This was for a few reasons one was so that none of the regions became lax in the training of their future trainers so that they wouldn't go an die in another region. This problem had been the source of some tension between regions. Now that there was a universal exam that all trainers had to take no one could use the death of a dumb trainer as an excuse to blame their neighbor. Another thing to note is that the champions and elite four from each region will be there to proctor the practical portion of the exam." Professor Oak explained. Now Ash was really excited.

"Ash try to avoid the use of your devil fruit if possible, in order to avoid any unnecessary attention" Oak reminded Ash.

"Don 't you worry Professor Oak I will be very careful" Ash answered.

"Good now I would suggest each of you use this time to prepare yourselves" Oak suggested and then left. With the time they had left each of them got ready for the trip and soon they got on a plane and flew to where the exam was going to be held. After arriving at the airport and driving to the building where the exam was going to be held. Ash noticed that the building was a large domed building with a large private forest behind it. The building had two large wings off to the sides and a large theater like room at the end. Professor Oak had to leave them as he was not allowed into the room. Ash, Gary and Ritchie all saw that there were hundreds and hundreds of people here and that the room was enormous.

"Well I suppose we should go find our seats see you two in the practical part of the exam" Gary waved as both Ash and Ritchie took an open seat. When Ash took his seat, he noticed that sitting next to him was a girl with orange hair and a guy with spiky hair and darker skin, a green vest and an orange shirt.

"Hello there what's your name?" Ash turned to see the girl had asked him.

"I'm Ash how about you?" Ash asked.

"I'm Misty and what about you?" Misty asked the guy across from Ash.

"My name is Brock nice to meet you two?" Brock answered.

"So you two becoming pokemon trainers?" Ash asked.

"Nope in order for me to become the next gym leader of my parents' gym I need to pass this exam" Brock said.

"Huh so how about you Misty?" Ash asked.

"My sisters run the gym in Cerulean City and they taught me everything about Pokémon and battles. They want me to inherit the gym but as Brock said I need to pass this exam in order to become the next gym leader" Misty explained. Soon in the front of the theater a bunch of older people walked up and one of them walked up to the mike and cleared his throat.

"Welcome everyone to the Pokémon trainer license exam. My name is Professor Sycamore and I welcome everyone here, now I would like to explain a few things. One in order to become a Pokémon trainer you have to pass this exam. Two there are proctors stationed around the room to prevent cheating and three this just one part of the exam. So now we will hand out the written part of the exam to each of you and when you get, please begin and I wish you all good luck." Sycamore smiled.