~Somewhere underground Kalos~
"Excellent!" An old man said looking at the surveillance screen in front of him. He was sitting in pitch dark, as usual. "I knew it was a good idea to convince the boy to make amends." He said evilly. "Their reunion is working out even better than I had hoped!"
"Sir." Kane said once again, entering the dark room. Whether he liked it or not, it seemed his job was now officially to be the messenger. "Is everything alright?"
"Better than alright Jim!" He said swiveling around to face the young man. "The chosen is almost ready! He is in the process of being consumed by his own resentment and misery! As soon as it consumes him completely, he'll be ripe for the taking! That brat has been more helpful than he knows. My plan will begin within the week."
"Brat?" Kane asked.
"I posed as a kind old man and convinced one of the chosen's betrayers to try to make amends." The boss explained. "He was so easy to manipulate. I knew that seeing him again would cause the chosen so much pain. Soon his anger will turn his friends against him, and he will fulfill his destiny."
"Destiny?" Kane was so lost. He wasn't sure that his boss had all of his assets together. "Sir forgive me, but I've been holding this in for a long time. You keep calling Ketchum 'the chosen' and ask us to refer to him as such too. You keep metioning destiny but what do you know of destiny? No human can see the future." Kane said.
"Maybe not normal humans, but the Aura Guardians were able to see snidbits of the future with enough training." He replied coldly. "Tell me," He said his tone shifting from cold to smooth. "what do you know about the Aura Guardians?"
Kane really didn't like where this was going. "They were a group of heroes who could feel the mysterious force called Aura, which surrounds everything, and trained aura sensitive pokemon like Lucario's and Riolu's to be their partners. After the death of the legendary Sir Aaron thousands of years ago, an unknown group of people hunted down and killed the Aura Guardians driving them to near extinction. There are no documented survivors of the purge. Though Aura sensitive people still exist, there's no one to train them." Kane answered. "After their extermination the group of assassins vanished into the general population. No one was ever able to give the Guardians justice."
"Not all of them are dead, Jim." He told him. "Though thousands of Guardians died through that purge, few escaped into hiding."
"But that was thousands of years ago. Even if they survived, they would've passed away by now."
"One remains. A single Aura Guardian remains of the thousands that once roamed this planet." The old man informed him.
"That's impossible! That Guardian would around a thousand years old! How could they survive?" Kane asked. This was getting way too weird for his taste.
"Through an ancient forbidden teaching of the Aura Guardians." The boss answered. "Guardians could not only tap into the aura but manipulate it as well. The possibilities of aura are seemingly endless. Using the Aura located in another being, one can regain youth! True, the victims never survive, but that's the price for immortality."
"What?! How do you know this?!" Kane asked.
"Oh, dear Kane," He started. Kane flinched a little at the sound of his true name. All this time his boss had been calling him Jim. He thought that the old man was just losing it, but maybe he's not as senile as he thought. Had he been messing with him this whole time?
"I know because I'm the last Aura Guardian! I'm also the one who had the other Guardians exterminated." He revealed with a devilish grin on his face. "Only another aura sensitive person could've distinguished guardians from civilians. Their ways were ineffective and only prolonged problems. Their code that they had sworn to had made them weak! To solve a problem, you need power! The more power you have, the more problems can be fixed."
"Why are you telling me this? You do realize you just confessed to the murder of thousands of heroes, right?" Kane asked him. What's stopping him from turning and calling Officer Jenny?
"Exactly. I had thousands of highly trained Guardians exterminated. I could easily take care of you." He threatened. "Anyways you're a loyal man, just like your father. Besides, even if you did tell Jenny, nothing she could do could stop me. This plan has been in motion for 3,000 years! I foresaw the chosen one's birth, I foresaw him pursuing the path of a pokemon master, I foresaw the power he held, I manipulated his friends' emotions, their resentment for him was there, I just needed to magnify it, and finally I foresaw him growing in power beyond any of his peers!"
"So, this has all been your doing? You realize you mentally scarred this 14-year-old boy, right?"
"All in the name of the greater good. You must understand that the means may be a little off-putting but the ends with be worth it." He implored him. "Your father would understand." He smiled at him. "Your father would understand."
'Father.' Kane thought. His father was the boss's number two for years. After a horrible accident in the field, his father was killed. Or so that's what he was initially told, Aaron had brought up the possibility of foul play. His dad had made many enemies over the years. All he wanted was to be like his father. If his old man believed in this cause, then so did he. "I understand sir." Kane replied. "I'm with you."
"Good man. As long as you stay loyal to me, you're making your father proud." He said smiling warmly. "Now leave me, I need to meditate."
Kane left the room leaving his boss by himself in the area for his alone time. On the outside of the room he found a familiar purple monkey. The same purple monkey his father had given to him when it was still just an egg. His best and only friend. "Aipom. What's up buddy?" He asked sticking out his arm. The little pokemon quickly jumped on top of his arm and climbed to his shoulder.
"Aipom."
"Boring day, huh? Come on. Let's get some dinner, buddy."
XXXXXXXXXX
"Jirachi!" Max said still inn disbelief. "What are you doing here? When did you wake up? Why didn't you contact me?" He rattled off quickly.
"Uhhh..." The pokemon stuttered. "I'm talking to you, I can't tell time, and I can't use a phone." Jirachi answered innocently.
"Aw. Just come here!" Max said folding out his arms. The wish pokemon descended into the 11-year-olds arms.
"Why didn't you just wish to see me?"
"Abel and I agreed no more wishes." Jirachi stated. "Besides, I knew I'd see you again. That was my heart's wish. And now you and Ash are back together too!"
Max lowered his head. "Yeah...Ash. Listen me and Ash aren't on the best terms right now. He doesn't like me as much as he used to."
Jirachi tilted his head. "Why?" He asked innocently.
"Because-"
"Jirachi!" Abel shouted from their side. He aproached the two boys. "You going to introduce me?"
"Right!" Jirachi nodded happily. "This is my friend Abel. He's promised to protect me while we travel the world. Abel this is Max the one I told you about."
"That Max? Who'd of thought. Can't imagine why Ash is screaming at you of all people." Abel said.
"Yeah about that-"
"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Abel asked him.
"No, I'm fine. If you'd just let me talk-"
"Abel, would you please go back to Sycamore so I can finish my talk with Max." Ash butted in.
"You were seconds away from punching the kid when I got here, and you expect me to just leave you alone with him?" Abel asked.
"I wasn't going to punch him! If anything, I saved him! Paul wants his head on a gold platter! You don't even want to imagine what Serena would do to him given the chance. I'd wager I'm being a saint given the circumstances!"
"A saint? You can't be serious!" Abel exclaimed. He turned his back on Ash and looked Max in the eyes. "Max hand me your holonet." The boy handed over his device to him. "I don't think Ash is gonna let you stay here much longer. Here's my contact info. Now that you and Jirachi are reunited, he's going to want to see you more often." Abel smiled handing the device back to Max. "Call me and we'll arrange a date without the Gyrados, just you, me, and Jirachi."
Max was tempted. On one hand, he really wished to just walk away from all of this and just think about Jirachi. He could always come back after Ash had cooled down some. But the practical part of him knew the longer he put this off the worse it was going to get. One last try. "Thanks Abel. I leave in one second." He made his way past Abel and Jirachi and came to a stop right in front of Ash. "I know you don't want to see me, so I'll leave. Just know that I really wish it hadn't gone down the way it did but I couldn't let them have my Treecko. You're still my hero no matter what you think of me." He turned his attention to the mouse sitting on Ash's shoulder "Take it easy, Pikachu. I'm sorry to you, too." He turned around to see Jirachi right in front of him. "Goodbye, buddy." He said hugging him. He proceeded to leave the lab knowing full well Ash was staring holes into the back of his head.
"Pika." Ash's best friend said from his shoulder. "Pikachu."
"What?! What are you on about?" Turning his face to meet Pikachu's.
"Pika pi." The rodent spoke back.
"Unreasonable? Brother you've gone soft!" Ash shot back. "From a Pikachu to a Mareep in an instant." He scoffed. "I said what the kid needed to hear."
"What is wrong with you?!" A new voice joined in. The two broke from their conversation to see Abel glaring at them. "Are you insane? That was a defenseless kid you were yelling at! Shame on you, dude."
"The brat deserved it." Ash answered simply. "And didn't I tell you not to pretend to know what's going on here?"
"Then enlighten me please! Tell me why you think it's okay to treat someone like they're just a waste of space!" Abel yelled.
"He is a waste of space."
"You can't mean that." Abel shot back
"Pika." Pikachu nodded.
"See?! Even Pikachu can't back you up on this! Now you can't deny the fact you're in the wrong!"
"Maybe you should stick to being carefree, you become very annoying when you're angry." Ash retorted calmly. "You don't know what he's done."
"Is this about whatever happened a year ago? You need to let it go!" Abel shouted.
It was at that moment that something snapped. Who did this kid think he was? Here he was finally getting back at one of the people who nearly ruined his life, and this little bitch had to come and ruin it. Defending someone he never met. It reminded Ash too much of his former self, a self he wanted to forget. Abel had finally pushed him over his limit. He turned to Pikachu and gestured for him to get off his shoulder. Once the little mouse had climbed off his friend, he was surprised to see what happened next. His best friend Ash pounced onto the other boy knocking them both to the ground. Ash quickly reared back his arm, fist clenched, and thrusted it back towards Abel with as much force as he could manage. Abel, luckily, quickly moved his head a few inches to the left to avoid what would've been at least a broken nose.
"Pika!" The little mouse cried. He turned towards Ash's trusted gecko pokemon. "Pika pi." He cried to him. Sceptile just nodded in turn. Luckily Sceptile was able to pick Ash off Abel before any real damage could be done.
"What was that for?!" Abel yelled. "You could've just challenged me to a battle, you know!"
Ash was about to retort when...
"Ash!" The four turned to see Serena, Anabel, and Infernape running towards them. "Are you alright?" Anabel said coming to a stop in front of him. "Nothing broken?" Ash just shook his head. "Sorry about Abel, you look away for one second and they're gone." He also saw that Serena was wasting no time chewing Abel out.
"It's fine Anabel, but you," He said pointing at Infernape. "I thought I said to keep Serena at our spot!" He scolded the monkey. Infernape didn't say anything, he just held his hands out in front of him and opened his palms revealing a pile of red and orange pokepuffs. Ash facepalmed himself as hard as he could. "Of course, silly me. It's not like you could've waited and had some later, after I was done with Abel!" He sighed. "This is what I was afraid would happen." He said referring to Serena who was still scolding Abel. "Serena, it's fine. I can take care of him."
"And why are you scolding me?!" Abel said finally getting up from the ground. "He attacked me! Are you seriously so head over heels you can't identify when it's him that's in the wrong?"
"He's got a point you know." Anabel cut in. "It'd be one thing if it was just Max. But you tackled Abel. Did you try explaining things to him first?" She asked Ash knowing full well he didn't. "Don't get me wrong, honey, I understand more than most will, but you need to at least try using words."
Ash sighed. "Fine. maybe it was rash, but he shouldn't be sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. And telling me to let go? Who does he think he is?"
Anabel could feel Ash's anger swelling up again and decided that it would be best if she handled everything. "Hey, why don't you go call Brock?" She suggested. "It's been a couple weeks since you last spoke, right? He should have Serena's new pokemon by now." As soon as she mentioned Brock, Ash's anger began to die down once again. "Serena and I will talk to Abel."
"I guess." Ash replied. "Pikachu!" He called. The little mouse's ears twitched, and he turned his head towards Ash. "Wanna talk to Brock?" He asked the rodent.
"Pika!" The mouse said running towards his friend.
"Come on, buddy."
XXXXXXXXXX
"And then he has the audacity to tell me to let go! Can you believe that?!" Ash yelled at the screen. On it was a tall, dark, spiky haired man.
"Ash, you know I'm always on your side, but don't you feel what you did was in the least bit wrong? Don't get me wrong, I get where you're coming from, but it sounds like the guy just doesn't understand." He told him
"Funny Brock, Anabel said the same thing." Ash pouted. "And is it so wrong to just wish he'd mind his own business?"
"Sounds like Anabel." Brock commented. "Look Ash, I'm not saying he was right in assuming he had enough knowledge of the situation to put his two cents in, what I am saying is you shouldn't have tackled him." He reasoned.
"Yeah, yeah." Ash commented half-heartedly.
Brock could feel Ash wasn't ready to accept an opposing point of view "I feel like we need a change of subject. I've got the pokemon." Brock said. He motioned for an off-camera person to come into view. One of Brock's younger siblings came on camera holding a pokemon Ash had encountered many times across his journey through various regions, Vulpix.
"Hi Ash." The boy waved.
"Forrest. Good to see you again. How's the gym doing?" Ash asked
"Good. Although things have been awfully slow lately." Forrest answered
"This is the little girl I told you about. Some Team Rocket reject abandoned him just outside route 28."
"Team Rocket reject?"
"Yeah. You know, outrageous clothes, ridiculous hair color, obviously up to no good, the usual." Brock quipped. "There have been several disappearances across Kanto and Johto lately and the Jennies asked the Gym leaders of Kanto to step in. After Forrest told her he was too busy I volunteered as former gym leader to take his place on the task force."
"You think this person has something to do with the disappearances?" Ash asked his long time friend.
"Ash, in your experience, if someone has a formal outfit, what does that mean?"
"They're part of an evil organization and working to undermine everything we love." Ash answered instinctively. There was a slight pause between the two. "Oh." Ash let out. "I see your point."
"Yeah, see. And when Jenny asked me to help her out, well you know how I get." He chuckled slightly. I kinda thought it would just be the two of us when I agreed." He admitted sweating a little and pushing his pointer fingers together.
"Anything to get a leg up on the competition." Ash responded.
"But enough of that, it's not like you're part of the task force. Back to this little girl. This is Vulpix." He said scratching behind the fox's ear. "After being left behind she fell into a deep depression, the only reason she's willing to let someone see her is because she found some solace in pokemon performing. I promised her if she started smiling again I'd deliver her to a performer friend of mine."
"Serena." Ash said. "Alright, transfer her over."
"Yeah thing is," Brock said. "My transporters on the fritz. I'll need someone to come and pick her up in person."
Ash gave out a groan. "Fine, I'll send Serena over on one of my pokemon. Hopefully they'll be there later today." Ash suddenly heard a rapid beeping from the other side of the screen. "What's that?"
"A pager. Listen I have to end our call. Jenny told me she'd only use the pager if someone else went missing. You understand. Yolanda will be waiting for Serena at the house."
"Got it. I'll send her and Charizard over right away. Charizard knows the way best. Keep me updated on the situation and don't get yourself kidnapped out there." Ash quipped.
"I'll be careful." Brock nodded.
"Bye Ash!" Forrest shouted from the background.
XXXXXXXXXX
(Back at the Corral)
Ash was standing with Serena and most of his pokemon in their spot at the corral. All his pokemon were there save for Staraptor, Noivern, Talonflame, and Gliscor who were flying around above them. "So that's about the state of it. You and Charizard are going to leave immediately." Ash told her. "Don't worry, if there's any trouble I have the utmost faith that Charizard can take care of it. Right, buddy?" He asked the dragon tapping his back slightly. The flame pokemon just belted a stream of fire into Ash's face in response. Ash coughed and chuckled lightly. "See?" Pikachu then jumped off of Ash's shoulder and began to shake off all the soot.
"Are you sure you won't come with me? I could use the company." Serena asked batting her eyes at him.
Ash laughed again. "Serena, you know lillipup eyes don't work on me. I need to stay behind and do some training. Besides Charizard is great company. All that fire breathing and those threatening roars are just a decoy, his heart's pure gold."
"What do you mean training? Are you going to enter the league again?"
Ash had completely forgotten that the training was supposed to be secret. "Uh, yeah. The league. I'm finally feeling up for it again, so it's back to the spot for me."
Serena jumped forward and hugged him. "I'm so happy for you! You're finally going after your dream again! Alright, I won't keep you any longer. With that Ash handed her Charizard's pokeball, she recalled the dragon, blew Ash a kiss and ran out the door. Ash sighed heavily. He was lucky it was Serena. Only she would get so excited that she wouldn't see he was lying. Brock, Anabel, and probably even Clemont would have called his bluff for sure.
"That's a nice girlfriend you got there." A foreign voice said. Ash snapped out of his trance and turned to see a nicely dressed man walking towards him. All Ash's ground pokemon immediately took battle stances.
"Easy kids, I'm not here to fight. But just in case," The man pulled out a black pokeball and threw it directly upward. What came next shocked all of them. In front of them now stood a Registeel in all it's intimidating glory.
"A legendary pokemon? Where did you get a Registeel?" Ash asked.
"There are several hanging around at the Tree of Beginnings. Wasn't too tough to find them."
"Somehow I have a felling someone like you shouldn't be desecrating a place like that." Ash shot back.
"I'm hurt." The man said sarcastically. "And I suppose it was perfectly fine when you went there and upset the native pokemon with your meddling?" The man smirked.
"How do you know about that?! I haven't told anyone besides my friends about that place! Just who are you?"
"They call me Sketch. We know much about your travels, chosen. The Tree of Beginnings, The Reverse World, Samiya, the Azoth Kingdom, so much excitement you've seen, my chosen."
"I'm nobody's chosen. Especially not yours." Ash retorted. "And just because you're a creepy stalker, doesn't mean you know me."
"I don't, but my boss does. Your time is coming chosen, don't fight it. I have a message from my boss. The time is nigh for you to join us and fulfill your destiny at his side."
"I happen to be in a very good mood today, so I'll tell you what," Ash started not taking his eyes of Sketch. "You leave now and quit calling me 'chosen' and you won't get hurt, refuse and... well..." Ash snapped his fingers causing a solarbeam and a focus blast to fire two inches to the right of Registeel and Sketch. They both turned to see Sceptile glaring at them and the bud on Bulbasaur smoking slightly. "next time I won't miss." Ash threatened.
"Cute." Sketch replied. He grabbed another pokeball from his pocket and let out another pokemon, Alakazam. "You're clearly not ready yet, but you'll get there. Keep in touch. Oh, and if he contacts you again, tell your dead friend all the training in the world can't beat us. Alakazam, take us out of here." With that the trio transported to Arceus knows where leaving Ash to ponder what just happened. He could accept that they knew of all his travels, but to know that Lucario had contacted him and knew what he told Ash.