What's popping. Yep I'm finally back with a new story. Lately I've felt motivation to write again, probably because of the sword and shield anime. I ain't gonna lie, the sword and shield anime is looking really good so far and it had a lot of potential to be amazing. Ash's team is looking to be OP too xD. Enough of that, this is a new story and the Galar region isn't going to be included in this. This story starts right were Ash lost (he should have won) the Kalos League. If I can stay motivated (I'll try my best), this story is a big story, not a small one like my others. There's also some changes I made from the actual anime, you'll understand once you get to it. Welp here it is.

(Edit: 4-23-22)

(Hello, it's me again, back from the dead. Felt the urge to write again, and since its the start of summer and I figured why not try to return. I'll start updating with new chapters soon. Currently I'm just re-reading my stories to get a feel and making edits and fixes to them. Well let's hope I stay the course)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon

"WATER SHURIKEN!"

"BLASTBURN!"

A giant flaming shuriken was held by an odd-looking Greninja, preparing to throw. On the other side of the battlefield, a blue and black colored Charizard glowed blue with power and slammed its fist into the ground, creating cracks that were spilling out with heat. Both Pokemon were using their max strength and were getting strength from their trainers. The two Pokemon stared at each other for a moment before making their move. The Greninja threw the hulking shuriken at Charizard while Charizard's blastburn traveled the length of the field.

"BOOM"

Two huge explosions filled the arena, one explosion being mist while the other was smoke, shocking the spectators. The two trainers shielded their eyes from all the dust in the air, but they kept trying to look onward, anxious to see their Pokemon standing. One of the two trainers felt the pain his Pokemon was feeling and felt like collapsing, but he continued to stay up for the sake of his Pokemon. He couldn't collapse, he needed to be strong for his Greninja.

As the dust cleared, with the whole arena off their seats, leaning forward, they saw both Pokemon still standing. Charizard looked like he was going to fall, but he caught himself, only slightly stumbling. But as for Greninja, that was his limit. The arena watched in slow motion as Greninja collapse to the ground as Greninja's trainers also fell to the ground in exhaustion. His long time buddy Pikachu looked over at him with concern.

He lost.

"Greninja is unable to battle. Therefore, the winner is Alain and Charizard!" An explosion of cheers came from the crowd, but the Greninja trainer didn't hear them. He looked down to see Pikachu with a defeated look, laced with concern, but he gave a sad smile to his best friend. He picked up Pikachu who nuzzled into him dejectedly.

"Cheer up buddy, let's go to Greninja." The trainer said groggily, forcing himself to get up and move towards his defeated Greninja.

Two weeks ago it's been since he lost in the Kalos League. Two weeks ago he fell a step short to furthering his dreams to become a Pokemon Master. Most would assume that the trainer was completely crushed, coming in second in a major Pokemon league. But most trainers weren't Ash Ketchum. While saddened at the fact that he lost, like his positive nature, he cheered himself up and took the defeat as a sign that he's making progress. Especially after the abysmal Unova League that he doesn't like to think about.

Between those two weeks, he parted with his friends and Goodra who had to take care of his home. Clemont and Bonnie were staying in Lumiose as Clemont told him he still had a lot to learn to improve himself as a gym leader. Serena decided that she would like to take part in Pokemon Contests held in Hoenn. Before she left for her flight however, she quickly gave Ash a peck on the cheek, leaving everyone, including Ash, shocked by her bold action.

Now he was back at home in Kanto, relaxing outside at Professor Oak's lab. Having just awoken from his nap, he picked himself off the tree he was sleeping in and stood up to look around. His vast amount of his Pokemon played with the newest members of his team. Talonflame and his Noivern fit right end with his other flying-type Pokemon. They zoomed past him with incredible speed, clearing racing each other. Hawlucha and Scraggy had also gotten along, albeit in an odd way. Because of their very proud attitudes, he often found them sparing against each other or trying to show off to his other Pokemon. It seems like only Gible really paid any attention to them. He chuckled at that.

His Greninja had also fit into another group. All his powerhouse Pokemon, minus a missing Charizard. Greninja was leaning against a tree with his eyes closed. To the un-keen eye, one would think that Greninja was sleeping, but Ash knew that Greninja was more alert than anyone. Beside him to another tree was Sceptile who was doing the same thing as Greninja, eyes closed but surveying the area.

As much as he enjoyed the relaxation from constantly traveling, he was growing restless. Ash headed into the lab in search of Professor Oak. Maybe there was another region he could explore!

"Professor Oak?" He yelled entering the building. Nothing, he heard nothing. Walking around a bit, he later found the Professor at a desk, seeming to be very invested in a mess of papers spread all over the desk. Some of them were even on the floor. He picked up the papers off the ground and looked at them. While most of the papers he couldn't understand, full of graphs and big words he couldn't understand, he did catch a few words on the papers which made his eyes shoot up.

"Ash! What are you doing?" His head quickly snapped up to the aging professor, who looked at him with paranoid eyes. Feeling like he did something wrong, he thrusted his hands full of the papers he just picked up.

"Sorry professor, I just wanted to help." Ash fretted, a bit perturbed with how Kanto's most famous professor was acting. The professor quickly snatched the papers from his hands before cleaning up the mess of papers on his desk.

"Sorry Ash. I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just these papers are sort of private." The professor explained, still cleaning up the mess of papers. Ash stared at him confusedly while thinking about the words he just read.

"What's Melemele? Is it a place?" Ash questioned the professor. The professor snapped his head up at the 16 year old boy similarly to how Ash did a few minutes ago.

"How do you know about that?!" The professor demanded. His hands had scrunched up the papers as his face scrunched up. Ash felt a bit scared at the professor's tone, not usual to the professor being so harsh with him, but he did notice how the professor seemed nervous.

"I-I glanced at one of the papers I picked up." He blurted out, hands up to his side, still confused as to what he did wrong. Professor Oak just gave him a hard look as his body tensed up. Ash was prepared to get a scolding from it so he also tensed up, but instead the professor let out a sigh.

"Is that all you read?" Ash shook his head rapidly up and down, still in fear of Professor Oak's unusual mood.

"Yes, Melemele is a place. It's an island in Alola." Professor Oak explained, setting down the papers that were in his hands as he sat down. Ash had never heard of the region Alola.

"Why didn't you tell me there was another region to explore?" Professor Oak sighed again hearing Ash's question. The professor took his time before answering him.

"Well… I don't want you to… explore it." Professor Oak slugged his words across. Ash gave him a confused glare. Why wouldn't the professor want him to explore a new region? The more he thought the less Professor Oak's answer made sense. Sensing his puzzlement, the professor tried to clarify his answer.

"See Ash… uh… I don't want you… to go to Alola… wait?" Ash saw the professor become blatantly confused at his words. Professor Oak gave out an exasperated sigh.

"That wasn't worded correctly. Ash I can't tell you much, but I do want you to go to Alola." Processor Oak said. He became more confused at the contradiction between the professor's last two answers. Does Professor Oak want him to go or not?

"I don't want you to go right now." Oak stated.

"Why not?" The raven-haired teen asked.

"I can't really explain right now, but I promise you I'll tell you soon." Professor Oak assured. Ash pondered on why the professor was acting so strange about the place, Melemele, and why he didn't want him to go to Alola, but he concluded to trust him.

"Alright. Well how long is it until I can go?" Ash asked. While he trusted the professor to give him an answer, his natural curiosity made him wonder. Maybe a few days or a few weeks? The professor grimaced at his question, which caught the attention of Ash making him nervous.

"Well maybe… a few months." The professor squeaked out, sinking into his chair. It took a few seconds before the words registered in his head.

"..."

"A FEW MONTHS!?"

In a region far more hot and humid

"That wraps today's class and the school year!" Professor Kukui announced to his relatively small class in his usual cheery tone. The class being made up of only 4 students, began packing their things.

"Lana, what are you going to do on your break?" A tan, green-haired girl wearing gray overalls asked a pale, slender blue-haired girl, Lana. Lana had zero hesitation for her answer.

"I'm going to fish up Kyogre!" Lana exclaimed passionately, fire burning in her eyes.

"I shouldn't have even asked. Of course you were going to say that." Mallow giggled. Most people would be skeptical by Lana's goal, but not Mallow. She had full faith in her blue-haired bestfriend, and for good reason. Lana was a talented water type trainer, fisherwoman and swimmer. Anything to do with water and Lana was probably good at it. If anyone could fish up Kyogre, it would be her.

"Aren't you shooting yourself a bit too high?" Came another voice belonging to a short, orange-haired kid with a Togedemaru by his side. Lana simply glared at him with the fire still burning bright in her eyes, making the orange-haired kid shut his mouth up quick.

"Aha, I was just… joking." He said unconvincingly with a nervous chuckle. Everyone could see that he was sweating buckets.

"You better have been Sophocles!" Lana's glare didn't falter until she swung her head to the only other person in the room who hadn't said anything. "What are you going to do Kiawe?"

The dark-skinned boy, who for some reason didn't wear a shirt turned to look at Lana with similar, if not greater, fire burning in his eyes.

"I am going to train my Pokemon to become the strongest fire-type Pokemon in the world!" He exclaimed loudly with his fist raised. His fiery passion keenly demonstrated, causing Lana's eyes to relite as they set high goals for themselves. Mallow gave out a giggle hearing those two.

"Aren't you two a tandem." Mallow chortled, but she too was feeling pumped up from Lana's and Kiawe's burning passion. Both Lana and Kiawe gave out a laugh realizing how silly they were acting, but the goals they set couldn't be any more serious.

"I'm going to guess you'll be working at the restaurant." Kiawe guessed after calming down from his laugh. Mallow nodded.

"Yeah… I don't have your guy's lofty goals, but that's fine!" Mallow giggled. Content on her goals for the break. "What about you Sophocles? Are you just going to work on new inventions?" Sophocles perked up when listening to Mallow. He gave a bright smile.

"Of course. Me and Togedemaru are going to design and invent amazing contraptions. I already got a dozen ideas in my head!" He beamed. The group gave a small laugh before Mallow gave out a sigh.

"Well we got our plans set. You guys better come to the restaurant so we can hang out!" Mallow declared. "I'm not waiting a couple of months until we go back to school to see each other again."

"Ahem." The group turned to the only other person in the room, Professor Kukui. "So here's the thing. There isn't going to be this 'school' after the break. Not for you four at least." The professor announced, shocking the whole group. Sophocles was the first to break out of the shock.

"Wait why not?" He whined, putting a sympathetic smile to Kukui's face.

"Because I won't be teaching you guys here anymore." The group stared at him with confusion. The professor sighed. "I will be teaching you all somewhere else!" He added with a bright smile, hoping they would catch on. They didn't.

"Wait you won't be teaching here anymore?!" Came a shriek from Mallow. Professor Kukui had to stop himself from smacking his hand against his forehead. He tried his best to hide a chuckle from the group, but they noticed it, causing them even greater confusion. They were perplexed as to why their professor would think this situation was funny.

"Because you guys will be learning from somewhere else!" Professor Kukui grinned. The gears began turning in their heads and not too long did someone finally catch on to what he was saying.

"You're going to be teaching us somewhere else, like at a different school?" Lana asked. Professor Kukui somehow gave a brighter grin while he spread his arm out nodding.

"You guys are invited to learn at a Pokemon academy!"

The night air was crisp and cool as the skies were laced with a few clouds. The stars and the moon shone brightly over the large city of Hau'oli. Tourists and citizens walked through the city, entering different shops and restaurants, enjoying the calmness and the gentle joy the city was known for.

A lone figure sat on a cliff's edge, overlooking the vibrant city. His dark clothes blended into the night, but his bright blond hair and pale skin stuck out. His eyes were unfocused staring down at the city, his mind focused on over things. He sighed into the cool night, taking the rare opportunity to relax himself.

"Dude, why do you always look so depressed?" A very tan and dark green haired teen walked up with his hands behind his head, breaking the blonde-teen peace. He gave an annoyed grunt and turning his head to the side to look at the forest before he finally starting speaking.

"You know, you've asked this question too many times Hau." His tone was sharp, but that didn't affect Hau in the slightest. Hau actually shook his head in a chuckle, a smile adorning his face.

"And you've never answered the question Gladion." Hau shot back. Gladion realized what a good point that was, but he wasn't going to voice it. Instead he responded with a grunt and looked back at Hau'oli city, hoping Hau wouldn't try to continue the conversation, but he knew his hopes were about to be crushed. He had traveled with the energetic trainer enough to know that Hau loved to talk.

"So you're much more interested in looking at Hau'oli than talking to me? Aww, I'm so sad." Hau jokingly said, pretending to fake cry before he started to give a bellowed laugh. Gladion rolled his eyes, still wondering why he chose to let Hau travel with him.

"Wow, it is a beautiful view though." Hau murmured, taking in the view of the stars and moon shining upon the lit up city. Gladion did have to agree, the view was breathtaking. The peace, calm, and barely audible of people talking and laughing down at city was a mood he couldn't explain. But as quickly as he settled into the mood, it was broken.

"Welllllll, I'm going to do some training! After me and Raichu's lost to you in the Alola League, you lit a fire in me to become the best I can!" Hau shouted loudly into the night, breaking the peaceful scene in the matter of seconds. Gladion's eye twitched in annoyance and he considered calling out Type: Null on Hau, but he calmed himself before he did anything rash, though he was still frustrated with the joyful boy.

"You want to join me?" Hau asked, his eyes blazing and his fist pumped.

"No." Gladion replied curtly, making Hau sweat-dropped before he perked back up again.

"Alright, well if you want to, you'll know where to find us from the explosions of improving me and my Pokemon improving ourselves!" Hau resounded, before sprinting off into the forest to do some training.

"That kid." Gladion wearily said, but chuckled at the kid's attitude. While he found Hau extremely annoying at times, he did respect Hau's motive to become better. He sighed into the night, continuing to stare at the peaceful scenery of Hau'oli City.

She was frozen. Rooted to one place as she stared at the being with fear. Her conscious shouted at her to move, but her limbs felt like they were stuck in ice. Her eyes started to water as she feared for life.

The white jellyfish looking Pokemon slowly advanced towards her, bringing its tentacles closer to her. She was shaking now but she still couldn't move. She cursed at herself for being paralyzed with fear. Why couldn't she at least run away from that monster.

The monster came up to her and started to wrap its tentacles around her, enclosing her in a restricted trap. She couldn't escape now. Out of all the times her paralysis could have gone away, it had to be the time where the monster had already wrapped itself on her.

She struggled, throwing herself around in hopes to break free from the monster's grip, but the being wrapped her tighter. She tried to scream, hoping that someone could rescue her, but when she tried to shout, nothing came out. Her voice was mute and she couldn't breathe.

She looked up at the monster's non-existent face as the being started to glow.

"AHHHHH!"

She gasped and started to hyperventilate, fearing she couldn't breathe. Her nightwear was drenched with sweat but she felt extremely cold. She could feel herself shaking but she couldn't do anything to stop it. Finally sure of herself that she could breathe, she finally started to calm down a bit, but a knock at the door made her jump and almost scream.

"Ms. Lillie! Are you okay? I heard you scream." A paranoid maid asked from the other side of the door. Lillie sighed. Of course she wasn't okay but she wasn't going to admit that.

"I'm f-fine. Don't w-worry!" Lillie responded. She looked to her window to see sunlight peeking through the blinds. She assumed it was early morning.

"Are you sure?" The maid asked again. A sad small smile fell on Lillie's face. She appreciated the concern, but it's not like anyone could help her.

"Y-yeah. I… uh… I-I stabbed my toe… r-really hard." She answered, though it didn't sound convincing in the slightest. She cringed at how poorly she was able to lie. She knew that the maid didn't buy it one bit, but she also knew that the maid wasn't going to press her.

"Alright Ms. Lillie. Do you want the usual breakfast?" The maid asked.

"No, I'm good." She responded quickly, not in the mood to eat. She felt like throwing up.

"Okay Ms. Lillie. Well call me if you need anything." Lillie heard the maid walk away. She sighed again as she flopped onto the bed. She couldn't believe she had another nightmare about that thing, whatever it was. She didn't even know what it was or why she had nightmares about it. Her mother told her she would get over. That the thing in her nightmares with nothing more than her mind playing tricks on her.

She heard another knock on the door. She grumbled, usually the maid wouldn't come back again to check on her, but to her surprise, it wasn't the maid. The door opened and she saw a rather tall, fit woman, with platinum blond hair and pale skin in the doorway, her mother.

"Mom?" Lillie almost didn't believe it was her until she saw her mother rush to her in a hug.

"Oh Lillie, I heard you've been having nightmares." Lusamine stated, not letting go of her. The maid's have definitely been telling her about the nightmares. Getting over her shock of seeing her mom, she wrapped her arms around her, feeling safe in her mother's embrace.

"Mom, why are you here?" Lillie asked after pulling out her mother's hug. Lusamine smiled at her daughter.

"Can't a mother want to see her daughter?" Lusamine teasingly asked. While in most mother and daughter relationships that would be a normal and fair response, Lillie knew that was further from the truth. She gave her mother a deadpan look, making the tall beauty sigh but her smile did not falter.

"You know me too well. I have some news." Lusamine excitedly said, making Lillie's eyebrows rise up in question. What news could her mother have that could be more important than her work, especially for her to tell her in person instead of on a phone call.

"What is it mother?" She saw Lusamine's smile turn into a bit of smirk, but her eyes twinge with slight regret. She had the feeling that whatever her mom was about to say, she wouldn't like it one bit.

"Well…" Lusamine drawled, "I may have enrolled you into something." She announced. Lillie eyebrows stayed glued upwards in question. Did her mother sign her up for more piano lessons or ballroom lessons? She's taking dozens before so why would her mother come all the way from work to tell her in person she thought. Unless they were something different she concluded. But was it?

"Mother, what did you enroll me in?" Lillie asked, leaning forward. Her mother's eyes filled sympathy, causing her to feel nerves through her body.

"Congratulations Lillie, you've been accepted and enrolled into a Pokemon Academy!"

So, there was two major changes I made. Lillie hasn't gone to Professor Kukui's class. The reason as to why I did that will be further explain in later chapters. Also Hau and Gladion have traveled together, well kind of. It will be furthered explained in future chapters. Also I decided to change Serena's kiss to only a kiss on the cheek, I'm cheeky like that xD (god I hate myself). I feel a full kiss would be kind of hard to write down cause Ash would of definitely thought about it more which I didn't want, so a kiss on the cheek was the answer.

Also the characters in the story are mostly around the age of 16, but Gladion is 18. I think that covers up. Welp you guys tell me how you feel about the first chapter, hopefully it was good.

That's it for now

Read and Review

I'll catch ya in the next one