Return to the Mirror Dimension, Ash vs Ash!

"Just like we practiced?" Marnie turned to Zach who smirked in response before swiftly nodding.

"Tyranitar, box him in with Stone Edge!" Her Mega Tyranitar let out a roar before slamming his foot into the ground, causing four massive rock pillars to burst out and swiftly maneuver across the battlefield before boxing Pikachu in, Tyranitar didn't bother outright attacking Pikachu just yet as he left an opening for his partner's teammate to come swooping in with an attack first!

"Heat Crash!" Mega Charizard X became surrounded in a fiery sphere of energy as he flew up into the air, hovering up above Pikachu before forming a smirk as he began crashing down like a falling meteor, striking Pikachu and pinning him hard against the ground as the electric mouse let out a pain filled cry. Ash couldn't help but flinch as the sound Pikachu made was only he needed to know that the two were indeed vastly stronger than their counterparts from his earth, very few trainer's Pokemon could make Pikachu cry out like that!

Once Charizard flew out, Tyranitar squashed Pikachu between the rock pillars, keeping him squished there for a good minute as Charizard readied up his next attack, his tail glowed a bright purple before he began swinging it about in a rough and aggressive manner as he utilized "Breaking Swipe!"

Pikachu's body began getting battered as the two Pokemon kept relentlessly going on tossing him back and forth like a toy, any time Ash attempted to fire an attack Charizard and Tyranitar merely battered him to the other, locking him out of attacking! Both trainers looked rather unusually satisfied as they watched Pikachu getting battered about and if they kept this up they'd likely kill him, especially since Pikachu would refuse to go in his ball! Ash reached for the ball containing his own Charizard before pausing as he realized that if they had prepared for Pikachu, they likely had a counter measure for Charizard as well given it was his second well known Pokemon and unfortunately nothing else on hand would be a match for them cause as strong as Latias and Gardevoir were in their Mega forms, regardless which he chose they wouldn't be enough to handle both at once! Ash was forced to play the pleading card, hoping that he'd manage to break through and connect to his friends despite them not being the versions he knew.

"S-Stop... please stop... you're killing him!"

"Well yeah, that's the point." Marnie coldly replied before ordering Tyranitar to drop a rock slide on Pikachu.

Zach shifted his gaze towards Ash for a moment before returning to the attack. "Flare Blitz!"

Charizard began cloaking himself in flame as he prepared to attack once more while Tyranitar readied up a Hyper Beam attack. Ash glanced between the two and let out a reluctant sigh as he realized that pleading was useless. Whatever his counterpart had done it appeared to blind them to the fact that they had the wrong Ash.

"Surf!" Ash suddenly ordered, being the only attack Pikachu had capable of getting away and actually causing damage to his opponents. The order took Marnie and Zach by surprise as Pikachu summoned up a large wave before crashing it down upon Tyranitar and Charizard X! The attack wasn't enough to finish the Pokemon off but both Charizard and Tyranitar stood there looking as bewildered as their trainers at Pikachu's sudden strange attack!

"How did you learn Surf?" Marnie asked with narrowed eyes, Zach's eyes glowed bright blue beneath his mask as he silently looked Ash over.

"Don't you remember Marnie? His Alolan Raichu taught me while we traveled through Hoenn together!"

"I've never traveled with you and Zach doesn't even own a Raichu!" Marnie spat out with a distrustful look. "I've only ever seen you once before we created the resistance against you, that was the day you... well you know what you did!"

"No I don't know what I did!" Ash shouted out with a growl of impatience. "Can one of you please explain what's going on here?!"

"Your aura is the same but different..." Zach remarked as he stroked his chin. "You'd either have to be a past version of our Ash or you're an alternate dimension of Ash and based on what you say and Pikachu knowing Surf, I'd have to say that's the case. Let's see how well you really know us, name Marnie's husband!"

"What?! But I-?" Ash's face shot bright red, flustered as jealousy began flaring through him. "I-It's not you, is it...?"

"Hahahaha!" Marnie let out a laugh with Zach joining in before the two were quick to shake their heads.

"Arceus no, he's like a brother to me. That's gross!" That part seemed to be one of the few consistent similarities Ash noticed these versions had, they were still fairly close despite everything.

"Besides I was just messing with ya, Marnie's single!" Zach snickered before tapping his chest. "I'm the one that is married!"

Ash let out a sigh of relief upon hearing that causing Marnie and Zach to both look at him with raised brows before looking at one another.

"To May or Mallow? Congrats!" Ash was quick to chime in.

"Who?" Ash realized that Zach had likely not gone to Hoenn or Alola if Marnie hadn't traveled with him here, that meant he didn't know them either! Assuming they were alive?

"Well regardless we should take you to our resistance base for further testing, to see if you're telling the truth." Marnie crossed her arms before looking towards Zach. "Given we can't trust him yet, you want the honors or shall I?"

"I'll do it!"

"Do what?" Ash was quick to ask before feeling a large object strike the back of his head.

"Well that was oddly satisfying." Ash heard before he passed out.

"Well what do you think Avery? Is it our Ash playing some sick and twisted game or it actually a different Ash?" Marnie growled out as she stood by the operating table Ash would awaken to finding himself strapped to. Ash let out a groan before turning to see a blonde trainer standing next to Marnie, his eyes glowing as he probed Ash's mind.

"Hm... most definitely, if he had placed a psychic set of memories within his head I'd know it. These are definite genuine memories!"

"Told you he wasn't from our earth," Zach could be heard. "Now if you excuse me, I've gotta check on my family!"

Marnie let out a sigh before freeing Ash from his restraints. "Damn it, we were so close to ending your-sorry his tyranny! Sorry for the misunderstanding, we were both certain that it was you. It's a good thing you used Surf otherwise we'd likely have fried you after destroying Pikachu, we were so invested in our hard thought plan that we didn't notice the little similarities!" He was cute for one but Marnie wasn't going to say that aloud within ear shot of her fellow resistance members, they might get the impression she plans on leaving to hook up with the enemy!

"About that, can you please explain what's going on?" Ash asked.

"You sure you want to hear about that? I mean... it's not pretty." Marnie rubbed her arm as she didn't want to recollect everything.

"Could you start at the beginning? How did I-he end up this way?"

"Well it started when you lost the Kalos League."


"Greninja is unable to battle, that means that Alain wins the Kalos League!" The crowd cheered loudly as Ash hung his head upon losing yet another Pokemon League, he came so close this time it wasn't fair!

"Go Alain, yeah!" Bonnie cheered.

"Yeah!" Clemont shouted.

Serena waltzed down onto the field and delivered the winner a kiss, causing Ash to look up with his eye twitching at the sight as a murderous expression crossed his face as Alain and Serena began making out in front of him. "I'm dating a real man now!"


"Hold up Serena would never do that, we never dated and she'd certainly not cheat on whoever she did hook up with!" Ash exclaimed in defense of his friend.

"You gonna let me finish?" Marnie questioned.


Ash and Alain were battling Lysandre atop of Lumiose Tower, Lysandre's Mega Gyarados began to fire off a Hyper Beam attack which knocked Alain's Mega Charizard back and pushed Alain close to the edge. He began teetering back and forth as he stood right on the edge, a wrong move could send him plummeting to his demise! Ash noticed this and couldn't help but smirk as he slowly edged closer to Alain, Lysandre halted the attack as he watched on with a curious expression.

"Ash, help?" Alain asked only for Ash to respond with a sinister smirk before pushing the man that stole his League victory and girlfriend right off the edge, Alain screamed as he went plummeting down to the ground below. Mega Charizard took off after him but a large water shuriken from Ash-Greninja caused his wings to stall and resulted in them both landing on top of each other before going motionless on the ground below!

Serena let out a scream from down below as Ash looked down at her with a sinister smile before turning to Lysandre and bowing his head. "I want to be your apprentice," The man smirked in response and the two continued to reign chaos over Kalos, soon every single major town and city resembled Lumiose and Kalos was nothing but a wasteland with very few survivors.


"And that's why it's the perfect place for our headquarters, you-he would never step foot here as it brings back too many memories and no Pokemon or man is foolish enough to attempt living in these wastes!"

"I'm guessing it didn't stop there..." Ash looked towards Marnie's robotic arm and eyepatch with a worried look, Zach probably got off just as bad but given he'd yet to remove his armor Ash couldn't get a good view of anything other than the mouth.

"Nope! After that you and your Pokemon went on a revenge spree on the ones that betrayed you, I mentioned that all of them decided to randomly appear and dump you as a friend right? You didn't stop there though. You kept going and going! And once the champions were gone, nobody could stand up to you anymore! That is when Zach and I got together and began forming the resistance, we've been fighting for over a year to try and stop you! And now we're fighting for a new generation," Marnie spoke as they walked through the halls of the building, glancing towards Zach as she said that as her fellow leader could be seen with his head leaned up against Korrina's while they rested against a wall, a baby held within Korrina's arms that looked like a combination of the two. She had both her mother and father's white skin tone, but her eyes were a chocolate brown like her father's while her hair was blonde like her mother's.

"So all my friends are...?"

"Huh? Oh no, you locked most of them up and went after their loved ones! Zach tried to free them once but we decided against any future attempts after evil you nearly burned half his face off!" Ash took a closer look at Zach now that his helmet was off, Korrina obscured most of the view but a good amount of hair was missing from the left side of his face and there was a massive burn mark spread across the left! Ash couldn't help but flinch at the sight, thankful that he at least managed to find some manner of peace.

"And now we've got to get you home, I'm sure the Marnie and Zach you know want you back."

Ash clenched his fists before turning to face Marnie. "I don't think so, not until I help you deal with evil me!"

"Ugh can we please just refer to 'evil Ash' as something else?" Zach groaned out as Korrina walked away to put their kid to bed for the night. "Call him Rath or something, make it easier to know which Ash we're referring to." He stated while placing his mask back on, giving Ash the impression he wasn't comfortable showing his face unless Korrina was around. "We could use your help for sure, the two of us have tangled with him before but you're a wild card. Rath wouldn't expect you and if you got something that can absorb Pikachu's electricity?" Zach pounded his fist with his other hand. "Boom, got him! Your Pikachu alone could easily take the rest with Charizard X and Tyranitar backing ya!"

"Well I do have one idea that could work... but how will we find him?" Ash questioned.

"You made a castle in Pallet Town and declared yourself 'king of the world'." Marnie explained causing Ash to sweat drop.

"Seriously? This world is just messed up."

"How about we strike now while the iron is hot?" Marnie suggested. "Before it gets out we've got another Ash around, no doubt Rath will come looking for him if that occurs."

"Good plan, I approve. Sooner he's dealt with, sooner I can avenge my Pokemon and ensure my daughter will grow up in a free world!"

"Y-You can't go talking like that in front of a version of him!" Marnie hissed out.

"What? I'm not sparing him after all this and nor should you! If he lives he'll just break out and the cycle will continue. I don't want to risk my daughter getting orphaned like I was!"

"We'll see!" Marnie sighed out before leading the way outside where Zach was quick to release his Charizard before climbing onto it's back, he looked back expectantly for her to follow as she didn't have a Flying type and always rode with him. Her gaze shifted towards Ash's own Charizard as it appeared.

"I'll meet you there, I'll make sure that he doesn't get lost." In reality Marnie simply wanted to ask some questions to Ash in regards to his home world. More particularly what she was like!

"Got room for one more?"

"Yeah, I've got plenty of room!" Ash smiled before moving closer to Charizard's front, allowing plenty of room for Marnie to climb aboard. She placed her arms around Ash for support as Charizard took off, she couldn't help but feel a warm feeling fluttering through her chest right now as she leaned against him. Ash blushed and really wasn't sure how to properly react, it was Marnie and yet it wasn't.

"So Ash... what am I like in your world. Zach and I aren't... are we?" Marnie had to ask seeing how Ash immediately assumed they were together upon being asked.

"Oh no, no not at all! Your friendship is almost as strong as it is here! Besides Zach is kind of with two different women." Ash explained while rubbing the back of his neck.

"He is? Well can't say I'm too surprised, he did have looks before... well you know." Marnie looked away before looking back. "What about me though? Surely I found somebody there?"

"Um..." Ash felt a bit awkward answering that as he wasn't sure how she'd react to the news. "W-We sort of... you... I..."

"Oh Arceus, we're together aren't we?" Marnie guessed with a laugh before patting his shoulder as his face beat bright red. "Well I must say the other me has excellent tastes!"

"Marnie we're approaching the castle!"

"Zaaaap!" A Zapdos suddenly swooped down from the sky, delivering a powerful jolt to the other Charizard and sending it plummeting to the ground below! Zapdos then swooped on towards the ground after them, looking to finish the job.

"Zach!" Ash looked over the side of his own Charizard. "We have to go back!"

"No you idiot, he'd want us to advance! Rath already knows we're coming, that Zapdos belongs to him! We need to get you there stat!"

"I-I own a Zapdos? What else should I know about?"

"That I'm right behind you?"

"Gah!" Marnie and Ash leaped up as Rath had teleported straight onto Charizard's back using an Alakazam. His clothes greatly resembled Ash's own but instead of the blue and white color scheme, Rath's was red and black. He eyed the two before letting out a tsk. "So these are the resistance's leaders and greatest heroes? You're so called plan was to sic a weaker version of myself against me, ha!"

"Wait a second... I know you! You're that crybaby version of me! Finally snapped from being pushed around I'm guessing?" Ash theorized. It'd explain a lot.

"Heh, hey again." Rath smirked as he recognized Ash, looking him up and down. "You come from a fresh world? Lately this world's bored me, perhaps after I eliminate the two of you I'll take your place in that one and start over, maybe even removing her from the equation first!" Rath laughed

Ash let out a growl as his evil counterpart threatened his girlfriend. "Why you!" Ash lunged forward and tackled Rath right off Charizard's back, Charizard let out an alarmed cry as he looked back before quickly swooping down after him. Rath merely smirked and gave Ash the bird before teleporting from his grasp, causing Ash to fall by himself until Charizard grabbed a hold of him. Rath meanwhile appeared at the top of his castle and beckoned Ash to join him.

"I can see that I struck a nerve," Rath let out a villainous cackle. "Attachments only hold you back, if you just let go and had no friends or loved ones then you could be as powerful as yours truly!"

"I don't believe that, deep down you're still hurt that Serena left you!" Marnie retorted with a smirk as Rath growled out, his eyes flashed bright red as Marnie brought her up. "See? You wouldn't react that way if you didn't, a true champion embraces the connections they have and work hard to get where they end up! In fact I-Urgh!" Marnie keeled over as Rath's Pikachu shoved itself, delivering a powerful shock to Marnie's body followed up by Greninja, Charizard, Sceptile, Heracross and Infernape all joining in!

"Marnie!" Ash's eyes widened while Rath's Pikachu delivered a mocking smirk. It wasn't his Marnie but the sight of his loved one losing her life was still quite the terrifying sight! Ash clenched his fists before turning to glare at Rath. "This ends today, Pikachu use 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt but instead of draining the clouds... focus on him!" Ash pointed at Rath's Pikachu, Pikachu gave a quick nod as the two began moving in synch, Pikachu's cheeks began to spark as he focused his attention on Rath's Pikachu. It took longer than it usually would to charge the attack but eventually Pikachu began to drain Rath's Pikachu of his electricity. Rath's Pikachu halted his movements and looked down at his hands in shock before trying to electrocute Marnie again only for nothing to come out!

"W-What?! H-How's this possible? W-What did you do?!" Rath stuttered, falling down onto his rear from the shock of his most powerful Pokemon essentially being drained like a battery, supercharging Ash's own Pikachu as his cheeks sparked dangerously with a powerful dose of electricity.

"Fire at the others!"

"Pika...chuuuu!" Pikachu blasted off multi colored streaks of electricity, appearing much larger and stronger than his usual z-move which was already quite powerful on it's own! The blast struck Rath's other Pokemon and sent a powerful dose of electricity flowing through all of them before they started falling one by one into a state of unconsciousness!

"No... Nonono! This can't be happening!" Rath stood up and began stomping his feet like a toddler having a tantrum. "It's not fair, I'm supposed to be the superior Ash! You're nothing but a pale imitation!"

"Oh shut up!"

"Huh?" Pow! A heavily armored fist smacked his face resulting in Rath going into a similar state of unconsciousness as his Pokemon while a battered and bruised looking Zach stood over him, clutching at his side while letting out a grunt. "Ow." His eyes soon saw Marnie's predicament however causing him to quickly race over as fast he could with a limping leg while Ash was already at the alternate version of Marnie's side.

"No no no, Marnie!" Zach had fallen to his knees as Marnie managed to give off a small smile at the sight of her close friend. "We were supposed to rebuild together, you're the smart one I can't do it by myself! It should be me going..."

Marnie weakly reached for his mask and pulled it up, wanting his face to be one of the last things she saw and not his mask as tears fell down across his face. "Don't... talk like that... you're plenty... smart. Y-You can manage without me, y-you better cause... else I won't let you hear the end of it when you finally join me!" Marnie chuckled before touching his hand, placing Tyranitar's ball within it as she entrusted him into his care. "And take good care of Korrina and your kid, they deserve happiness as much as you..."

"Marnie, it's Marnie... we named her after you." Marnie formed a smile before turning to face Ash who sat next to her and look a bit traumatized by the sight.

"T-That's right, you and I are... dating where you're from. M-Must be even worse for you..." Marnie sighed out, placing her other hand on Ash's before gazing into his eyes with a warm smile. "I never really wanted to have a family until I saw how happy it made Zach, I-I can't get that chance now... b-but it'd be nice to know that somewhere out there I-I did manage to get love, maybe even have a family someday... t-take good care of her, I-"

Marnie cut off as she laid motionless before them, the tears on Zach's face turned into a geyser as the tears just burst out. Pressing his head up against Marnie's jacket, though it hurt Ash to see that he knew that it was hurting him a lot worse. With no Lucario and Cinderace around, and Sonia and Nessa likely being gone too it was likely that Marnie was the only one other than Korrina that he was close to. Ash placed his hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner before his gaze turned back towards his evil counterpart.


"And with that, Rath will never escape! Pikachu's completely powerless and his other Pokemon turned out to not be okay with his plans, he'll spend the rest of his days rotting in that cell with only Pikachu for company!" A version of Anabel spoke up before pounding against the metal cage door they sealed him within.

"I'm surprised that you don't... you know, you clearly wanted to." Ash hinted at only for Zach to shake his head, his armor laid dismantled to the side as he was back wearing normal clothes like everyone else. Or at least close to get normal as he could given everything was ragged, tunics, or robes in these present times.

"Marnie didn't want that... besides I'm no longer merely a protector, I left the leadership stuff up to Marnie but with her gone I have to give the people somebody worth looking up to. I can't be that person by killing those I don't get along with, sends the wrong message. The world may never be how it once was but I want to make sure my daughter grows up in a good one and doesn't have to grow up knowing fear!"

Ash nodded his head lightly in agreement before suddenly going pale. "W-Wait! What about that dimensional portal you were making me?!"

"Huh? Oh don't worry, I keep my word. It's just like I said, Faba's not going to instantly make you one. It'll take a few days maybe even a week!"

Ash hung his head at the thought, after seeing this Marnie go he was really hoping to see his own Marnie again as it really made him miss her! Zach placed a hand on his shoulder with an apologetic expression before walking off towards Korrina and his daughter as they stood waiting for him nearby.

"So I'm stuck here for a more few days?" Ash groaned outward while Pikachu let out a similar groan of annoyance.

"Sir, there's a man and a girl wearing spacesuits at the front of the facility! They're asking for Ash, should we let them in?"

"Huh?" Zach looked at the man with a confused expression before grabbing a hold of the ball containing his Charizard as he walked towards the door in a cautious manner.

"H-Hold up! I think those are friends of mine!" Ash called out as he raced after him.

"You're friends with cosplayers?" Zach questioned.

"They're aliens actually, they come from somewhere in Ultra Space. If they're here then perhaps they can get me home!"

"Aliens?! Neat!" Zach smirked, allowing his former lighthearted personality to sneak back in for a brief moment.

The door would open up to reveal Dulse standing before a Lunala with his arms crossed as he waited while Zossie perked up immediately upon Ash exiting the building. "Hi Ash! We've been searching the multiverse for you for hours and we finally found you!"

"I-Is that Cosmog?" Lunala let out a happy cry before nuzzling Ash, confirming his suspicions as Dulse tapped his foot impatiently.

"Can we go? I wanna save my people and we can't do that until we get you home!"

"Yeah sure, I bet everyone's probably worried sick about our disappearance!" Ash exclaimed before turning around in order to give Zach and Korrina a wave goodbye. "I guess I'll be seeing you, good luck rebuilding the world!"

"Thanks again for the help, may you succeed in becoming a Pokemon Master!" Zach and Korrina waved him off until he and the two space aliens disappeared through an Ultra Space portal with Lunala.


"Ash!" Everyone was quick to shout upon his return, everyone including the usual reserved Gladion rushed forward to surround him as they all simultaneously voiced their relief at seeing him again! Ash couldn't help but take a quick glance around at first to ensure that it was the real forward, his eyes looked towards Zach first whose face wasn't half burnt before turning to look at Marnie whose eye was perfectly fine and both her arms were in perfect condition, no robotic arm! Ash was about to race forward to hug Marnie but Lillie was quicker than he was, the blonde girl pulling him into a tight hug while leaning her head up against his chest. Ash formed a smile before returning the hug though his gaze lingered on Marnie as the sight was still very much fresh in his mind. Marnie raised an eyebrow as she wondered what he was thinking about as he looked a bit weird. She didn't stop herself from walking forward to greet him in a hug of her own though, joining Lillie as they kept their arms around him. Ash felt rather pleased by the feeling through his body, relieved to be back home and all of his friends alive and perfectly well!

And so that's done. Originally it was going to be Marnie who had a kid but that felt wrong having Ash have to see that given it wouldn't be his so it changed to Zach having one instead. Showing that the world can be rebuilt and not leave on a dire note! Will the main versions of them get Tyranitar and Charizard? Let's put it this way, just because it happens in one universe doesn't mean it'll be canon. Ash owned a Fearow in one of the manga but he never caught Fearow in the anime

As far as 'dark' goes, this is probably it for awhile. I don't much care for that stuff so if it bothered you don't worry, the main point here was to show that a Ash pure of heart is better than the dark edgy Ash people seem to like for whatever reason. Hope you enjoyed it!