Hey Nuggies! Well I really shouldn't be doing this, but here I am writing another fanfiction since I have writers block on a few of my other ones, and because this won't leave me alone. Here is your warning this will be SLASH! I have decided though that this will not have M!Preg.

Main Pairing: AshxPaul

Side pairing: AshxGary (One sided on Gary's part)

Rating: M (to be safe)

Chapter Warning(s):

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon it belongs to Game Freak, Nintendo, Creatures, The Pokemon Company, etc, nor do I write this for profit. This is for entertainment use only!

Please don't forget to head over to A03 for the discord link! You don't need an A03 account to do it.

Enjoy!

His body felt weird. Like he was floating in water, but there was no sound. No movement. Just him. Who was he again? As much as he tried he couldn't open his eyes; so he just laid there in the silence and just breathed. In and out. Slowly. He couldn't feel his body at all, but it wasn't a numbness that took away his sense of feeling. It was like he had nobody at all.

He couldn't put a time onto how long he felt that way. It could have been seconds, minutes, days, or longer, but he couldn't tell how long he was floating. Then finally after what felt like a lifetime he felt something. It was warm, like a hug from his mother. It warmed his body and made him feel again, but it brought the pain along with it.

He let out a cry, more of a gurgle of one, but the warmth soothed over his body making it go away for a moment. He forced his eyes to open and blinked away the blurriness from them only to see that he was suspended in a bubble of blue. A very recognizable blue. He let out a gasp as he felt the pain again and when he turned his head he saw something crawling along the bubble around him.

It was dark and moved its way around the bubble like an Octillery would along the bottom of the ocean in search of food. A bashing sound made him turn his head to another glob of the darkness banging its tentacle on the bubble. As soon as that one started to bang on the bubble it was like a signal for the other globs to start banging on the bubble with it. He couldn't do anything. He was stuck. He couldn't move his body at all no matter how hard he tried to.

Crack!

He turned his head quickly to the sound and saw that one of the pieces of darkness had hit hard enough to crack the bubble he was in. The crack, no matter how small it was, seemed to make the dark globs pick up in frenzy as the cacophony of bangs picked up. He curled up, as well as he could, into a ball and placed his hands over his ears to try and block the noise. He began to hum a soft tune his mother used to hum to him when he was having a nightmare hoping that it would bring him a bit of peace before the globs were able to penetrate his bubble and get to him.

'Please, help me!' He thought desperately as if something could hear the silent plea and help him only for another crack appeared on the bubble followed by another. Just as he thought this darkness was going to get into his bubble a bright blue streak appeared behind the darkness making one of the globs fade away with a shriek. His eyes widened as he saw more and more of these streaks of blue hit the globs all the while the other globs continued to bang away at his bubble.

The streaks were soon followed with waves of the blue, similar in color to the bubble around him, taking away more and more of the darkness. He watched with wide hopeful eyes as the waves got rid of every single bit of darkness around him and even went as far as to patch the cracks in his bubble. He felt the warmth once again as this other blue thing covered his bubble like a hug.

"It's time to wake up, little one. You're safe now."

The sound of a mans' voice caught him off guard, but it was deep, soothing. The bubble around him almost seemed to tell him that there was nothing to be afraid of from the voice. That he was there to help him.

"Okay," he said out loud softly and in that moment his body fell limp, but stayed floating in the bubble.

When Ash woke up next it was to his rolling stomach, rejecting everything that was in it, but a strong hand on his chest kept him from falling off his bed and into the sickness below. Another strong hand rubbed his back as a familiar voice rumbled in his ear telling him that he was okay now. Ash flopped back against his pillows as he took a few deep breaths and a cup was placed at his mouth.

He let out a small whimper as he felt cool water trickle into his mouth and he desperately sipped it down his burning throat. Ash pulled back as he felt his stomach churning a bit and forced his eyes open. The room was dark, thankfully. The lights had been turned off except for one light on his side table, and the curtains had been drawn closed. Sitting on the bed beside him was a man, wearing mostly dark colors with a blue coat, and wore a hat over his spiky hair. He watched as the man pulled off familiar gloves and placed them in the pocket of his coat.

"Wh-Who are you?" Ash rasped out before he started to cough a bit. His throat really hurt after getting sick even if the water did manage to soothe it a bit. The man did quick work in cleaning up the mess Ash had made, much to his embarrassment, before sanitizing his hands.

"My name is Riley," the man said with a crooked smile on his lips and Ash couldn't help but find his voice to be really soothing, "I'm an Aura Guardian. I, along with my Lucario, felt your Aura in distress even as far away as we were and rushed to your side. Any later and I wouldn't have been able to help you."

Ash nodded as he moved to sit up a bit. He felt a little weird laying there with a man sitting beside him. "Thank you," Ash said while giving the man a smile.

"You're very welcome," Riley said with a short nod, "Do you know where exactly you had come across this? Do you know what it is?"

"Yeah," Ash answered, "It's Corruption, well Corrupted Aura at least. Corrupted Aura users use it, but I didn't fight one of them. I was helping a pokémon out that had been in contact with it, and some of it must have attached itself to me. That was weeks ago."

Riley let out a hum as he nodded. "Okay," he said, "that gives us a time frame then. How far are you in your training? I assume you have a teacher? Why are you not with them?"

"I don't have a teacher," he said, "I'm still very basic in my training. I've only just started being able to sense things around me a few months ago, and I was able to access a Time Flower. I'm also able to purify Corruption in others when they become infected."

"I see," Riley said as he looked into Ashs' eyes, "you've done well so far even without a teacher. For now I'll take up the mantle as your teacher until you can at least fend off one of these Corrupted. My Lucario can take care of your Riolu in the meantime."

"Okay," he said to the older man, "can I get up yet? I would like to see my pokémon and my mother. As well as use the bathroom."

"Of course," Riley replied as he stood up and pulled back the covers for Ash, "take it slow. You've been out for a few days and your body will feel a bit weak. I'll head downstairs and ask your mother to heat up some soup for you to eat to get your strength back up."

Ash thanked him as he placed his feet on the ground and slowly stood up while keeping his hand on the wall beside his bed just to make sure he wasn't going to fall over. Once Riley had seen Ash stand and take a few steps, without swaying or any discomfort, he let the room so Ash could do what he needed to do. Ashs' first stop was to the bathroom to get cleaned up and such before putting on clean clothes. He had sweat through the pajamas he was wearing and honestly felt disgusted with himself.

After putting on some light clothes he made his way downstairs where he could smell his mothers' homemade chicken and veggie soup. She would always make it when he was sick and usually kept a few storage bowls filled with it in the freezer for when they were both sick and she didn't feel like cooking. His mouth watered just smelling it and his stomach grumbled in want. As he entered the kitchen he saw his mother, and Riley, speaking softly while Pikachu nibbled on a berry his mother must have given him.

The sound of his slippers hitting the tile in the kitchen must have caught Pikachus' attention as the next thing Ash knew was his bottom hitting the floor and Pikachu in his arms rubbing his cheek pouches against his own cheek. Ash didn't mind the static, even though it made his hair stand up on end, as he let out a laugh and held the mouse close. He must have really scared Pikachu the other day for him to act like this.

"I'm okay Pikachu," Ash said as he ran his hand down Pikachus' back and then gave his ear a scratch. He got up and sent his mom a small smile when he caught her eye as he placed Pikachu back down onto the table.

"How long have I been out?" Ash asked as he sat down.

"Only a few days," Delia said as she hurried to place a nice warm bowl of soup in front of her son with a side of bread to dip in it, "you really worried me there, honey. I didn't know what to do until Mr. Mizushima arrived on our doorstep. He explained that what you were sick with was Aura based so I let him in without another thought. Thank Arceus above that I did."

Ash nodded and began to eat his soup, slowly at first to make sure it wasn't going to sit too heavy on his stomach. His stomach gurgled as the warm soup hit it, but didn't make any fuss about it. Once he was full and warmed up from eating he inquired about his pokémon only to learn that they were at the pastures minus Riolu, who was in the back gardens with Rileys' Lucario, and Pikachu.

"They've been out there since this morning," Delia said, "I've offered food and water to them a few times, but they've just continued training."

"You've done well with Riolu so far, Aura training and physically wise," Riley said before Ash could open his mouth to say anything, "Lucario is merely giving the pup some tips and tricks at the moment. He wanted to wait until you were up to get your permission to train the pup before he went further."

"Thank you, but I can't take all the credit," Ash replied softly before he explained about the cave and the memories the ghost Riolu had shared between them.

"I see," Riley said and let out a short hum, "perhaps after you have recovered and have won your last gym battle you can take me to this cave. I would love to see it."

"If there's time before the Indigo League then I would be happy to take you," Ash replied as he gave Riley a small smile.

"For now," Riley said as he got up and gestured for Ash to follow him into the living room, "how about we begin your training? We'll start off slow since you did wake up about an hour ago. Have you been able to get to your core before this all happened?"

Ash nodded his head as he sat on the couch, making sure he got comfortable, and dragged a blanket over his legs to keep warm. He had already made a mistake in not getting comfortable before a meditation and when he became aware again his body ached and cracked like an eighty year old man. He closed his eyes when he was indicated to and took slow deep breaths as he focused on his Mentors' voice until he was surrounded by familiar blue.

"Are you sure you're ready to leave? You've only been up and about for a week and even then you were doing training and such," Delia fretted as she kept packing things, more than he needed to take honestly, into his bag.

"Yes mom," Ash said as he grabbed her hands gently and pulled them away from his bag, "I'm more than ready. Riley has even remarked on how restless I was becoming before he left for Hoenn."

"If you're sure," Delia replied with a small sigh before grabbing her son into a strong hug before letting him go with Pikachu on his shoulder and Riolu walking next to him. A week had passed since he had woken up and he was more than ready to leave, to continue on his journey again, and his pokémon were the same. Unfortunately before he could get far in his own training, Riley had been called out to Hoenn to finish what he was doing before Ash needed him. He, at least, had Rileys' number now in case he needed anything or if he came across any more Corruption.

After leaving the house, and after promising to call his mother when he got to Viridian, he made his way to the pastures to grab the others. When he arrived he saw Gardevoir cuddling up to a Gallade, a shiny like she was, while Leafeon found a rather large Umbreon that wasn't put off by her coloring like the other Eevee evolutions he had seen giving her looks. Tyrantrum greeted him with a loud roar and a very wet lick along his face while Krookodile looked him over for any injuries before pressing his nose against his dryer temple. Charizard wrapped his arms around Ash and held the teen closely as the others came to greet him.

Ninetales let out a soft croon that bathed Ash in cool air before she rubbed herself against his unoccupied side while the twins huddled by his feet. Kingdra let out a snort and bowed his head before twirling as Zoroark let out a few barks. Aegislash merely placed her ribbon against his back as her eye gleamed and Luxio, the last to greet him, let out a loud rumbling purr as she blinked slowly at him.

"It's good to see everyone all together again," Ash said softly after a moment of soaking up the feeling of happiness and love he felt through their Auras, "It's time to get going again. Who wants to stay? Who wants to go?"

Charizard was the first to declare that he was going with a loud snort and a stomp of his foot which was followed by Kingdra coming closer to them. Aegislash, of course, indicated that she was going while Ninetales let out a bark. Tyrantrum let out a snort and shook out his body making his iron tough feathers clink as Nidoking flexed his claws and stepped up.

The others shook their heads, a few who had surprised Ash, and the teen nodded as he recalled those that were coming with him. He gave the others a few scratches, soft words, and their training for while they were there in the pastures. In the end, as he was leaving Pallet, he was happy to have the ones in his belt there going with him. It had been too long since he had fought beside them and he couldn't wait to see how they improved since he had last seen them. It was too bad that Krookodile had decided to stay behind to keep training with Aggron and Tyranitar, but he would always let his pokémon do what they wanted to do unless it endangered them.

He was halfway through the Viridian forest when he got a call on his watch. Riolu, who had stayed out of his ball to keep training his Aura, perked up at the sound in the otherwise quiet forest. Ninetales, who was carrying Snom, stopped when he did. Peering at the watch face Ash was met with Lances' name and he had a feeling that he would need to plug in his earbuds in for this call.

"Champion Lance," Ash said as he answered the call after placing an earbud in his ear leaving the other uncovered to listen around him.

"Ash," Lance said and Ash could see a heaviness in his eyes, "I looked further into the documents we had retrieved."

Ash nodded indicating that he knew exactly which documents the man was referring to. He hoped to Arceus above that Lance wasn't about to say what Ash had been thinking all along. Ash knew that if it was true then it would hurt Lance.

"It's him," Lance said as he placed his face in his hands, "It's my gym leader."

"How did you find out?" Ash said softly, almost a whisper level.

"About a week ago during one of the bi-monthly meet ups I hold for all my gym leaders," Lance began as he lifted his head up, "something he had 'jokingly' said to another gym leader made it all click. I had one of my special ops look further into him and she uncovered so much. What he's been doing has been going on for decades even from before he had become a gym leader. Turns out he was the one at fault for the last Viridian Leader that went 'missing' along with a few others within the Leagues' employ."

"So what's going to happen now?" Ash asked as he moved to sit down in the shade.

Lance took in a deep breath before slowly releasing it. "I'm holding a raid tomorrow night at his house," Lance said softly, "I want you there. Bring your heavy hitters with you. I'm expecting a tough fight."

"I have everyone I could need on me right now, but I do have a couple of babies as well," Ash said as looked down at Ninetales, who had Snom on her back, then to Larvesta, "I can be where you need me within an hour for any debriefing. Am I meeting you at the League?"

"Yes, my office. I'll have the others here as well," Lance said wit a sharp nod, "I'll see you then. And Ash, thank you for coming."

"Of course, Lance. Whenever you need me," Ash replied before he hung up the call and immediately called Oak to get Gardevoir for him. Thankfully he wasn't so far out for her to not sense him and she was quickly by his side only to teleport him back to Pallet. Ash, having only explained the basics to Oak, rushed back home to ask his mother to watch over Snom, Larvesta, and Riolu with the help of Ninetales and Persian, who had brought along Luxio.

He grabbed Krookodile, Gardevoir, and Zoroark before asking his darling girl to teleport them to the League with only a few minutes to spare before the hour he promised was up. Ash rushed past the guards at the front door, who had yelled at him to stop, but he paid them no mind as he bee-lined his way to Lances' office. Ash opened the office door, as it had been cracked open waiting for him, and stepped it before closing it behind him.

Standing in the room, now looking at him, were the other gym leaders he had previously fought along with Lance and a few others Ash had never met before. Ash paid no mind to the looks as he walked forward only to stop by the adults.

"Now that Ash is here we can start this meeting," Lance said as he pressed a button on his desk which dimmed the lights and turned a projector onto the only blank wall in his office.

"What about Giovanni?" Erika asked, "He isn't here yet."

"That's because he wasn't called to this meeting," Lance said as he started the debrief, "this meeting is about him. A couple of months ago Ash and I had gone to a just destroyed Team Rocket Hideout to see what we could find in the wreckage. What we discovered there has only just been fully uncovered. Team Rocket is being led by Giovanni."

"How?"

"What?"

"He can't be!"

"There must be a mistake!"

"Enough!" Lance said and it was enough to get the others to quiet down, "The eyes I have on Giovanni have followed him to a house deep within the Kanto mountain range that borders the Johto border. Upon further inspection they found the Rocket Admirals speaking to him on more than one occasion and he has had a few Grunts within the home to give them orders. There also seems to be a teenager about Ashs' age within the home as well. All that was found about the boy was his name, Silver, and the fact that he is Giovannis' biological son."

On the wall, as Lance spoke, were several pictures of the man speaking to the Admirals and Grunts as well as a few of a red head teen with a scowl on his face. There were also a few audio-less videos playing showing the man in motion as well as of a few pokémon walking around. There was at least a Golem, a Rhyperior, a Nidoqueen, and a Persian on the property, along with a few other pokémon that Ash could only assume belonged to Giovannis' son and other house occupants.

"The person sending me this information has overheard that Giovanni is having a meeting tomorrow at the house with his Admirals and quite a few of his grunts. Why I need so many of you there is because I don't know what pokémon we are going to run into, if he has traps around the property, or if he has any hidden aces in his sleeve like he has had previously," Lance said as he shot Ash a look making the teen nod in understanding. They wouldn't know if Giovanni had any pokémon like Mewtwo in his possession.

"I would rather be over prepared than underprepared," Surge said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Are we aiming to disarm and arrest them? What if they get away? Are we pursuing?" Brock asked from where he stood.

"We are aiming to arrest," Lance said, "I would like to try and get them all, but if we have to at least get Giovanni."

"What about his son?" Ash asked, making everyone turn to him, "If we just capture his father what will that mean for him? Will he become the new Rocket Leader or do we take in the son as well? What if he doesn't want to go into 'family business?'"

"Take the kid as well," Lance said after a moment of silence, "If he has nothing to do with his father he will be released to a next of kin or fostered by someone in the League. If he has something to do with the Rockets and his father then his punishment will be decided on later."

"Surge, Brock I want you two with me in the front making a distraction while Ash, Sabrina, and Koga slip in the back. Daisy, Violet, Lily, I want you three to stay back watch over the medical team and make sure no one comes after them. Erika, Misty and Blaine will be on backup duty along with the Ace trainers and officers that will be coming with us," Lance said before he turned to Ash, "Do you think They will want to be there?"

Ash bit his lip softly as he thought it over for a moment. "Perhaps," he said after a moment, "I would have to ask, but I see no reason why They wouldn't. If it's all three then-"

"Who is this 'They' you two are talking about?"

Ash turned to see who spoke and saw that it had been Koga who had spoken up. The teen looked back over at Lance and saw the man looking at Ash making him shake his head softly at the unspoken question Lance had in his eyes. Mewtwo didn't like other humans and it was a miracle that They tolerated Lance even knowing They existed. Ash didn't want to break the trust Mewtwo had in him to keep Their entire being a secret.

"I can't tell you that," Ash said as he turned to look at Koga, "I won't break the trust They put in me into keeping Their existence a secret. If They want to reveal Themselves for this raid then, and only then, I will tell all of you who They are, but until then I can't."

The older man, his expression stoic, merely gave him a small look and a nod as if he were accepting the answer Ash had given him with a grain of salt. Ash took a deep breath as he turned back to the Champion and gave the man a small nod as if he were asking Lance to please continue the debriefing without speaking the words. Ash listened on as Lance explained what they knew about the property among other things.

Once the meeting was over they were each handed a small folder that held all of the information Lance was telling them in case they wanted to read over it during the night. As it was not even noon yet many of the others, including Ash himself, made their way outside to the training yards so they could meet each others' pokémon. As well as for the pokémon to meet who they were going to fight beside.

Brock had a Steelix, a Golem, a Swampert, a Gigalith, a Probopass, and a pokémon Ash had never heard of called a Coalossal. Brock told him that it was a pokémon from Galar and that a friend had given her to him.

Unlike Brock, who had a full team, the Waterflower sisters only had a few pokémon between them. Lily had a Blastoise, a Vaporeon, and a Floatzel. Daisy had a Samurott, a Poliwrath, and a Dewgong. Violet had a Milotic, a Slowbro, and a large Walrein.

Erika had her Vileplume and Ludicolo, both of which Ash had already met, along with a Tangrowth, a Victreebel, a Shiftry, and a Roserade.

Surge had his Electivire, Luxray, and Raichu along with a Magnezone, Jolteon, and a pokémon called Toxtricity from Galar like Brocks' Coalossal.

Koga had his Crobat, Toxicroak, Arbok, and Ariados along with a Dragalge, another from Galar, and a Drapion.

Blaine had his Magmar, Ninetales, Arcanine, and Camerupt, but he also had a Houndoom and a Charizard of his own.

Sabrina brought out her Kadabra, Gothitelle, Gallade, and Slowking as well as an Espeon and a Medicham.

Ash was last in releasing his pokémon and he couldn't help but let out a laugh as he saw the looks he and his pack had gotten. Tyrantrum let out a loud roar and was joined by Nidoking, Krookodile, and Charizard as the others gave their own calls in forms of growls, snarls, or in Gardevoirs' case, a polite telepathic greeting to them all.

"Absolutely filthy," Surge said a moment after the initial shock of seeing most of his pokémon had left the others, and Ash, who had the joy in seeing the incredulous looks the other gym leaders gave Surge, who didn't even look their way, let out a louder laugh. Surge really was his favorite Gym Leader.

"How about we get to training?" Ash asked as his pokémon walked closer to him and turned to look at the other pokémon with an air of absolute eagerness to begin a fight.