Here we are, the next chapter! I hope you guys have enjoyed the last chapter.

Now we get on to a few reunions. And don't worry, one of them will be very hilarious!

[Team Rocket secret headquarters]

The Riolu that had been kidnapped struggled on the examination table. His hands were clamped down and he had a steel bar surrounding his middle. He looked frightened as Team Rocket scientists surrounded him once more. One of them was holding a needle.

Behind a wall of glass, several higher ups and the new leader of Team Rocket watched as the scientists held down Riolu, who was still struggling. "It's a pity we weren't able to capture Brock," said one of the higher ups, "he is delaying our cause."

"And the other man that helped him," said another man. He was one of the Elites that had been at Asher's house, "He was very powerful. I believe Brock called him, Asher."

"Whoever he is," said the boss, "I want them both found. Tell all our agents in the regions that they must be ready; the final project will soon be ready. And then the Pokémon World will be ours."

Meanwhile, in the examination room, the scientists finally managed to pin down Riolu, and the scientist that was holding the needle injected whatever was in it into Riolus bloodstream. They stood back as Riolu struggled a bit more, then stopped. When Riolu opened his red eyes, they glowed brightly.

[Forest in Kanto]

Later that night, Asher, Thorn, and Charizard were sitting around a campfire, getting ready to settle down for the night. Asher was leaning against Charizard while Thorn was on the other side of the campfire in deep thought about what he had just seen earlier that day. Finally le looked up and said, "You're Ash Ketchum, aren't you?"

There came a few seconds of silence, then Asher said, "I was."

After a couple seconds of more silence, Thorn said, "You were a Pokémon Trainer."

"One of the best," replied Asher.

They both looked at Charizard as he gave a snort that said, Yeah right!

Thorn was about to say something else when his father said, "I have my reasons for giving it all up. War does that to you."

"What happened?" Thorn asked him.

For a moment, Thorn was afraid that Asher wouldn't answer. Then, Asher started to explain what happened to him, "After the battle was finished, your mother found me being carried away by a few of my Pokémon. She took them to a place where I could recover. It took me a few months for me to wake up from the coma, and when I did, the shock of the aftermath and another two years suffering from the depression that had seized me pretty much destroyed me. I nearly killed myself 5 times. I never saw things as I did before. But if your mother hadn't been there for me, I doubt I would be alive today. So I chose to start a new life for myself. Asher Ketch; that was your mother's idea." He smiled ruefully for a second and then continued.

"We moved on in our lives, though by hiding from the world. The world saw me as a hero, but I couldn't after that day. Eventually, your mother married me, and you know the rest of the story." He got up from Charizard and put a few more logs on the fire.

"So, who's Brock? I think I've heard of him before, but I can't think where," Thorn said.

"Brock was one of my first traveling companions, along with his wife, Misty. They were both Gym Leaders. Brock was the Gym Leader of Pewter City, while Misty was one of the four Gym Leaders of the Cerulean Gym. Sometimes I wonder how they managed to get it to work out; Rock Types and Water Types don't mx very well together." He chuckled for a second and then continued, "Your mother was one of my later traveling companions as I traveled through Kalos. We had met each other when we were younger, but I forgot about her until I came to Kalos, where she joined me and reminded me of when we had met."

"Who exactly is mom? I doubt her real name is Serenity."

"Your mother is a Pokémon Performer, a hero, a friend and companion, and a beautiful wife and mother. Her name is actually Serena Yvonne."

"So she's just as famous as you are," joked Thorn.

"Yup."

After a bit more silence, Thorn asked, "Why won't you let me be a Pokémon Trainer, Dad? I just don't understand."

"I wanted you to spend your childhood on the things that I didn't have. A better education for one." He laughed at that part, then continued, "I didn't want your life to be full of battling and fighting like mine was. I wanted you to actually have a childhood. Because of me being a Trainer, I became a man too early. I wanted you to be better than me and actually be young."

Thorn watched as his dad sat down beside Charizard again, and then asked, "Was it fun being a trainer?"

Asher laughed and said, "Besides saving the world the whole time, yeah, I had a pretty fun time. Now, are we done with Twenty Questions or are we going to get some sleep?"

As the fire died lower, Thorn asked one last question, "Dad?"

"Yes son?"

"Can you teach me to be a Pokémon Trainer?"

"We'll see, Thorn. We'll see."

[Forest outside of Pallet Town]

"There's Pallet Town," said Asher, pointing to a small town that they were flying to. "What's there?" asked Thorn.

"Charizard isn't the only Pokémon that I have," explained his father, "In case Team Rocket decided to strike again, I had a friend of mine, the new Professor, Gary Oak, take four of my Pokémon to a secret place. Even I don't know where the are. But Gary does, so we're going to go see him."

Suddenly, Charizard perked up. "What is it?" asked Asher. Suddenly the three of them saw it. Arcs of electricity were shooting through the air. Charizard swooped down lower to see a swarm of Beedril attacking two Pikachus.

"Dad, we should go help!" said Thorn. "Its nature son," said Asher, "we can't interfere."

"You're just not wanting to," Thorn said angrily. "Thorn-" Asher started to say, but was interrupted as Thorn leapt off of Charizards back and tackled one of the Beedril. Leaping off, he grabbed a sturdy branch and started to hold them off.

As Charizard dove down to join him, he sot a look at Asher that said, He reminds me of you way to much.

As Charizard and Trainer landed on the ground, Asher yelled, "Charizard! Use Flamethrower!" Charizard shot a stream of large flames at the Beedril, causing them to disperse into the trees. "Now that that's over-hey!"

The Pikachu had run over to Charizard and hugged his large legs. Charizard looked down with a mixture of sadness and bemusement. "Okay, get off!" said Asher, pulling on one of the Pikachus tails. Unfortunately, he forgot one of the rules of Pikachu; never pull on a Pikachus tail. The Pikachu unfortunately knew Thunderbolt, so he got pretty shocked by it.

Thorn was laughing so hard at his dad's Professor-Oak-gets-zapped-by-Rotom-look (or would it be what-his-hair-looks-like-when-one-of-Clemont's-inventions-explode) that he could barely stand up straight. Charizard said something to the two Pikachu that made them look towards Asher with teary eyes, and when Asher came to, he found himself being throttled by one of the Pikachu and Thorn gleefully petting the one that had shocked Asher. And it was obviously enjoying it very much. And Charizard was grinning as if he hadn't even said a thing.

"Can we keep them, dad?" asked Thorn.

"I do not need another Pikachu!" said Asher, struggling as the Pikachu squeezed tighter.

"So? We can keep them both, and give one to Tyson when we see the family again!"

Suddenly, the grip on the strangling Pikachu felt slack and as Asher stood up, the Pikachu fell off. Despite what Asher had said before, he suddenly felt worried and checked the Pikachu, seeing a Beedril puncture mark on its back. "Poisoned," he reported, "lets get to the lab."

(())

"Pikachu will be quite all right," Gary said as he put him into the small Pokémon healer device, "After a couple of minutes, it'll be as right as rain."

"Nothing's alright with rain," contradicted Thorn, "it's miserable to be in rain. You should know."

"Nice kid," Gary commented to Asher. "If you knew half the things he would do," said Asher, "you wouldn't think so. So, where are the Pokémon I gave you? Are they safe?"

"They're safe, Asher," said Gary. He pulled up a map and pointed to a mountain in between the boundary of Kanto and Johto, "They're at Mount Silver, at a cave close to the base. Oh, and before I forget," he turned to Asher, grinning, "don't you think you should visit your Mom before you go?"

Asher blushed a deep scarlet and said to Thorn, whose Pikachu was sitting on his shoulder, "Thorn, you stay here."

"C'mon. I want to meet Grandma!" complained Thorn. "Thorn," said Gary, putting a hand on the teenagers other shoulder, "Let them have some alone time. After all, she hasn't seen him for almost twenty years."

(())

Asher stood nervously at the gate to his moms house, trying to steel himself into walking up the sidewalk. But how would she react? Would she be shocked? Most definitely. Would she be angry? Possibly. Would she be scared? Eh, maybe not. Would she kill him? Absolutely! Shaking his head, he thought, lets just get this over with!

He opened the gate and started up the sidewalk, stopping in front of the door. After a few seconds, he knocked.

After a minute, Delia Ketchum, no longer red-haired but grey and spouting a few lines on her face, opened the door and came face-to-face with her son. "Hey, Mom," said Asher, a little bit shamefully.

Slam! The door shut in his face. Asher stood there, a confused look on his face as there came a sound of rummaging from inside. Before he could even peek in a window, his mother came back out, wielding an umbrella, which she started hitting her son with and saying, "Where. Have. You. Been. All. This. Time!"

"Ow! Hey Mom! Can you cut it out, Please?! Ow! Hey! Help!" This form of punishment kept on repeating itself for about five minutes-although to Asher it felt like an hour-before his mother stopped, dropped the umbrella, and wrapped her son in a tight hug. "Oh, Ash," she whispered, "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, mom," said Asher, not even trying to correct his mother as he felt tears starting to come out of his eyes. With his mom, she could call him anything.

(())

"So, Gary," asked Thorn, sitting down with a cup of water, Gary Oak sitting on the other side of him with a cup of water as well, "How do you know my dad? Were you two friends? Traveling companions?"

"For a short time in the Sinnoh region when I was investigating a group of Bagon for my Grandfather," said Gary, smiling, "and when there was this incident with Team Galactic. Truth is, me and your dad were rivals. Bitter ones at first, but slowly, we became friends."

"So, my dad asked you to help when Team Rocket showed up again, did he?" asked Thorn.

"After the incident with Team Rocket," here, the Professor frowned, "It was about three years after that, my Grandfather, the Professor Oak before me, gave me the title as the top researcher of the world. He taught me everything that I would need to know, and about a year after that, he passed on. Two months after he died, your father and mother appeared on my doorstep. Brock was visiting me at the time, and somehow, Ash knew about that.

"After getting over the shock of seeing them both again, Ash and Serena explained that Team Rocket might try to take over the world again. So, they had a contingency plan ready, and they needed our help."

Gary took a sip of water, watching the two, fully healed Pikachus playing with the other smaller Pokémon and Charizard and his Electrivire having an arm wrestling contest. "When there would be signs of Team Rocket uprisings," he continued, "Brock would go over to Ash's house with Charizard and Delfox. The rest of Serena's Pokémon would beat her mothers place, so she would go there while Ash remained behind in Kanto. I would put four other Pokémon in a safe place-not here, I might say-for Ash to collect after he had Charizard."

Thorn noticed him looking at the two Pikachu in sadness before asking, "What happened to my dad's first Pikachu."

"If you want to find out," said Gary, looking at the teenager, "You'll have to go to that cave where the Pokémon are with your father. The answers will be there."

(())

[Anistar City]

When Serenity had arrived in Kalos with her family and Pokemon, she had decided to change her name to Serena again and left her family with her mom, deciding to go see Olympia at the Anistar City Gym with the rest of her Pokemon; Delfox, Pangroo, and Sylveon.

"I'm glad that you decided to have an audience with me, Lady Olympia," said Serena as the two women walked along (or in Olympias case, floated) along the edge of the gym. "I need to know if you've had any visions concerning the battle to come."

"Is that why you have come Serena?" asked Olympia, turning to her.

"We have to be ready," explained Serena, turning to the Gym Leader as well, "I'm worried about Ash. He isn't what he used to be, and that worries me."

"I did detect you coming into Kalos, my dear," said Olympia, "I was going to summon you, but you coming here saved us all time."

"So, you did have a vision," said Serena, looking up at her. Olympia's indigo eyes turned into an amethyst color and her pupils almost thinned into slits. She spread her silvery cloak wide and projected an green smoky screen, on which, images appeared.

She continued to speak as Ash, Thorn, a red Lucario, an Alakazam, and a stylized red R appeared on the green screen, "Another war with Team Rocket is approaching us. They will have prepared new weapons in order to bring the world to subjugation. In order to meet this new threat, what Ash did must be done by others, and he is the one that must lead them into battle. An army of Aura's is united as one and Thorn and Lucario will appear as one in this battle, experiencing the same as his father has before him. The Pokémon grow restless and an Alakazam stands at their head to lead them against us. They will be another foe our world faces. On whose side they will be, with Team Rocket or against them and us, I do not know." Olympia then lowered her cloak, signaling the end of the vision, "Civilization as we know it will be destroyed, unless Ash Ketchum becomes himself again."

Serena appeared troubled and said, "This brings more questions than answers. Can I find them somewhere?"

Olympia looked towards the starry ceiling for a few seconds and then said to Serena, "Go to Mount Silver. An old…friend can give you the answers you need."

"Who?"

(())

"Team Rocket has taken residence in about every single major thing in the world," Gary said to Asher, ignoring the chatter of Delia as she talked to Thorn, Thorn's Pikachu, and Charizard. He looked at Asher, noticing that the other Pikachu had taken residence on Asher's right shoulder, like his Pikachu had done. "They have some of the more major news stations; they're in about every regions government; they're even taking over as Gym Leaders. They at least replaced Brock and have control of the Viridian City Gym.

"It doesn't look like they're strong enough to do a total takeover yet though," Gary continued. "People know what to look for, but the only out-in-the-open evidence that the news feed has caught is stuff that happens out in the open, like the attack on your house and a couple of Pokémon kidnappings, like Thorn's friend, Riolu."

"Have you heard anything from Brock yet?" asked Asher.

"No," replied Gary, "Or from Misty or their daughter, Petra. She is, however, journeying in Johto right now, so that could explain why we haven't heard from her."

"All sounds pretty bad right now, doesn't it?" Asher commented dryly.

"Yeah, it does." Gary finally rubbed a hand in between his eyes and looked at Asher and said, "We need you, Ash."

Asher stiffened and turned to Gary, saying angrily, "I don't go by that name anymore, Oak."

"And I don't go by Oak, either," Gary replied back. "I know that the pain is still there, but-"

"You weren't there at the Battle of Aquacorde, Gary!" Asher said angrily, "You didn't know what it was like, seeing your team, your friends, falling around you! You didn't see…" his voice trailed off as his throat tightened and tears threatened to fall from his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Thanks for helping Gary. Contact me if Brock calls and get everyone else ready. Thorn, Charizard," he called to his son and Pokémon, "time to go."

"Ash," said his mother, getting up and drawing her son into a comforting hug, "It was hard for me to see you go without saying goodbye. To see you go again…" now her voice trailed off for a second. Then, she said, huskily, "Just make sure you come home this time."

"I will this time mom," said Asher, "I promise. Son, let's go."

Thorn got pulled into a hug as well as his grandmother said, "Take good care of yourself Thorn."

"I will, Grandma." Thorn said.

Delia and Gary watched as Asher and Thorn took off on Charizards back with the two Pikachus. Delia remarked, "He's so…different from when he was younger."

Gary replied to her, "I've heard of people that go through so much trauma that they want to be someone else. Ash underwent that. He doesn't want to be who he was, but he does retain his memories He's going to have it rough, and Asher is going to realize that he has to let go in order for Ash to come back."

(())

[base of Mount Silver]

Four days later, Asher and Thorn hopped off of Charizards back in front of a large cave. Asher nodded to Charizard and said, "Can you call them out?"

Charizard nodded and gave a earth-shattering roar that echoed around the clearing and into the cave. As the Pikachus lifted their paws off their ears, three figures appeared in the cave.

Thorn watched in awe as a Sceptile, a Gigalith, and a Garchomp appeared in the cave, looking at Asher as if they had been waiting for him. "Hey guys," Asher said, not excitedly.

The Pikachu on Asher's shoulder hopped off and moved forward to greet the Pokémon with Charizard, who also moved forward to greet the team. Thorn gave a timid wave as the Sceptile looked in his and his dads direction. He jumped nervously as the Sceptile moved in font of his dad, then started nuzzling him. "Okay, okay, Sceptile," said his trainer, breaking into a smile and giving a slight laugh, "I missed you too."

Looking around, Asher noticed something, "Where's the last one?" he asked.

Suddenly, a shadow flited across the edge of Asher's vision, then again, and the bushes behind him quivered. As he and Thorn turned around, a Greninja stalked out of the bushes, looking at Asher accusingly. "Hello, old friend," Asher said, not cheerfully.

Ignoring the gaze of Greninja, he quickly explained, "Team Rocket is rising again, stronger than ever. I need your help to defeat them once and for all."

Not one of the Pokemon, not even Charizard, moves…except Greninja, who is still looking at Asher accusingly, and points to the cave as if to say, go in.

"I can't," Asher says to him.

"I really need your help, you guys," he says, almost pleadingly. But still, none of the Pokemon move, and Greninja keeps on pointing to the cave. "I can't go in there," Asher says again.

Thorn then notices that all the Pokemon start to look accusingly at his dad, except the Pikachus, who look confused at everyone, and he hazards a question, "Um, dad? What's in the cave?"

"Pain."

As Asher starts to walk away, Charizard suddenly moves in front of him, holding out a wing and blocking him. "Why can't you understand?" said Asher, "I can't face what's in there!" Charizards only reply was to push his trainer towards the mouth of the cave and as the team gather in a loose semi-circle around him, he says, "If you're not going to help me until I go in there, then it looks like we'll be here a long time; because I am not going in there. Not today, not ever."

You'll find out what's in the cave soon, but it's not the next chapter, I'm afraid.