"Pikapi..." Pikachu spoke up as he looked at Zack, who was cradling his hammer as if it would break any minute, "Whats up Pikachu?" Ash asked upon hearing his name, looking to the electric type curiously, "Pikachu-pi!" Pikachu stated, pointing with his tail towards a river, "you wanna go to the river? Okay..." Ash said, walking away from the others and towards the river: Darwin and Nicole didn't noticed as they worked to comfort their older brother - theY knew how much the hammer meant to him, and the prospect of it being damaged would be heartbreaking for Zack.

"Why did you want me to go the lake buddy? You thirsty?" Ash said, stopping in front of the river and watching as Pikachu jumped from his shoulder, turning to face the boy with an upset look on his face, "Chuuu...Pikachu. Pipipi chuchu pikachu!" Pikachu started shouting, moving his small arms around violently as small tears filled his eyes.

"You...you agree with Zack?!" Ash finally said after a few minutes, a look of betrayal passing over his face, "How can you say that Pikachu?! You know what went down! You know!" Pikachu frowned and shook his head, making Ash recoil slightly, "You saying you don't know?! Oh wait...i never did tell you what happened...i can't Pikachu, i just can't!" He exclaimed, his voice laced with hurt and betrayal as he ran further down the river and away from Pikachu, who watched sadly as the boy once again ran away from his problems.

- Further Down The River -

A small cat-like pokemon sat on the edge of the water, looking down at the water sadly, "Tennn..." The black and red coloured pokemon murmured sadly, small tears trickling down it's face as it looked into the water, a silhouette appearing behind it that made it jump up and turn in excitement. But the excitement soon left and was replaced with despair when the pokemon realised there was no one behind it, "Litten..." The pokemon murmured once more, settling back down by the water.

"Dammit! Dammit! DAMMIT!" Ash cursed in his head over and over again as he ran down the edge of the river, tears brimming on the edge of his eye lids as he finally came to a halt, "How can he pick there side?" Ash whispered as he slowed his running down to a slow walk.

Glancing into the water, Ash did a double take as his reflection seemed to shift: the height of his reflection getting shorter, his hair shortening and his eyes softening - Ash couldn't believe it! He was looking at his 10-year-old reflection! "What the-?" Ash gasped at his reflection, watching as the soft eyes of the innocent 10 year old looked back at him, eyes full of wonder, excitement and innocence. A look Ash hadn't seen for seven years.

"What changed Ash?" A voice echoed through Ash's head as he stared at the reflection, the lips of the reflection moving on their own: making Ash realise that it was his reflection! It was talking to him!

"I must have finally lost it..." Ash thought, "Not so much, your just having a mental breakdown" The voice continued, making Ash snort slightly as he continued to stair at the reflection, "A mental breakdown, huh? Got to say, thought it would have happened long ago..." Ash said to himself, watching as the reflection smiled whilst talking to him.

"This has been building for a long time - what happened Ash? What turned you into this mess of a trainer?" Ash grunted as he tried to look away from the reflection, but there was something about the 10-year-old reflection's eyes that made him unable to look away, "You know what happened - don't play stupid" Ash finally spoke up, his fists clenching as he continued to look into the eyes of his reflection, "I know that you need to let the past go - i know it hurts, but is trusting in other's really so bad? So you trusted the wrong people. You move on. You find someone worth trusting, that's how life works" Ash just shook his head, still bewildered that he was having a conversation with a reflection.

"I'm not just a reflection - I'm you. I'm what you want to be. The person you were before it all happened, the boy who loved people and pokemon, who loved to travel to new regions. The boy who would save the world in a heartbeat, not thinking it was a chore" Ash started shaking, the tears that brimmed his eyes starting to slide down his cheeks, "I know that's what you want - what we want"

Letting out a strangled sob, Ash fell to his knees as he continued to look into the eyes of his younger self, "How do i do it? how do i become who is was?!" Ash demanded, his voice full of emotions. The emotion in Ash's voice made his reflection smile, "You need to talk about the past. You need to accept what happened in order to move on. Thats the only way you will become who you want to be" Ash gasped as the reflection began to shift once more, transforming back to his normal reflection.

"No! I need more guidance!" Ash cried out as the voice faded from his mind and his reflection changed back to normal, making Ash sniff as he looked to the sky, "What do i do?"

"Litten?"

The characters of Zack, Darwin and Nicole, as well as some of the plot points all go to PokemonForever9000