Hello all, I am Swallow The Sun and this is the new and improved version of my first story 'Departer'.

If you are new to this story then welcome! I hope you enjoy it.
If you are not and are wondering what has been changed but can't be bothered reread these long chapters, please refer to the author's note at the end.

Here's the background to this story:
Ash started his journey at 13, because no sensible mother would send a 10 year old into the wilderness.
He followed the Anime journeys but after Unova he decided to redo Sinnoh, again with Brock and Dawn, instead of going to Kalos.
He competed in the Lily of the Valley Conference and reached the finals, which is where this story starts.
Kalos will be mentioned, and Mega-Evolutions will play a big role, but Ash's journey there won't happen.

Ash is now 20, Misty 21, Brock 26, May 20, Max 15 Dawn 18, Iris 20, Gary 20, Cilan 23, Tracey 24.

Also Pokémon will have amazing healing potential in this story, so don't be too alarmed by seemingly grievously injured Pokémon. I will make it clear if a Pokémon has suffered any really dangerous wounds.

I feel I must confess that I have not actually watched the Anime beyond the Orange Archipelago, so nearly all interpretations of all characters not featured in the Kanto and Orange seasons will be based off the many stories I have read here. I apologise for any incorrect assumptions which I may have thought of as canon.

I must warn you that this story will be violent and gruesome; there is a torture scene pretty early on and there will be a lot of beloved character death. I am unsure whether I will write any lemons in this. That will be up to you. But there will mature implications and humour.

A series of x's separating two paragraphs means that the setting has changed, either to a different character or location or time, etc.
However a series of dashes separating two paragraphs means that it is still in the same setting, but the point of view has changed to someone else in that setting.

Please read and constructively criticize, comment on problems you find. Thank you.

Flames will be ignored.

I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter 1: Enter The Colossus

Lily of the Valley Island; 23/03/2013
Finals:

A Trainer and his Pokémon walked into the room.

The raven haired man sat down and scooped up his pikachu; he remained there awhile, tightly hugging his companion as his mind traveled back to a happier time when he had first been given Pikachu as his starter Pokémon and the adventures the two of them had shared since. He wanted to cherish those memories forever as he knew he wouldn't be able to for much longer.

He remembered the countless nights they had shared staring up at the stars, all the grand sunsets they had watched together. He remembered training with him, perfecting the little mouse's electric techniques while he himself built up a little muscle. He remembered all the times that they faced impossible odds and yet his little mouse always persevered and succeeded, and when they didn't succeed, well he still could not be more proud of his best friend. The bond that he shared with his first Pokémon was very rare indeed, matched only by a few people in the world. He had met one once, he had also had a pikachu.

The Trainer supposed that his bond with his Pokémon was why those who had approached him had selected him. They knew that his Pokémon would do anything for him… even die. He suddenly felt it coming with trepidation; they said it would be uncomfortable, for both him and his Pokémon.

Suddenly the air in his lungs felt hot and putrid, he felt as though roots were slowly climbing up his spine and filling his skull. He felt as a volcano, about to erupt. He felt as though he had not enough skin to cover his body, as if he was expanding and his flesh was straining. He felt darkness filling his body, flowing through his veins, filling his fingers, burning his throat and chaining his heart. He clutched his head and screamed in pain, briefly wondering if he was screaming louder than his pikachu was. They had said it would be uncomfortable, but they never mentioned the pain.

The pain didn't fade, but it eventually did dull. He steeled himself, catching his breath before kissing his starter on his head and stood up, "You ready Pikachu? This is it now, there's no coming back from this." He said, his voice cracking in despair. The pikachu gazed sadly amidst winces of pain at his master before solemnly nodding at him. The raven-haired man stifled a sob at his pikachu's broken expression and turned his face away. "Let's go then, it's time to fulfill your… destiny…" The man spat out the word 'destiny' as if it were a vile taste in his mouth.

A Trainer and his Pokémon had walked into the room, two martyrs walked out.

#########

The crowd was roaring with anticipation and the ground was trembling slightly under the immense weight of all the spectators moving about in excitement. The cheers of the crowd washed over the man and caused his skin to prickle with the familiar sensation of goose bumps.

Paul opened his eyes and smirked; this is what he lived for, to feel the might of his fans behind him as he crushed his opponents into the ground with his superior Pokémon team. He was particularly excited today as not only had he made it to the finals of the Lily of the Valley Conference, but his opponent was none other than his rival, Ash Ketchum, a man he had come to respect almost as much as he despised.

He admitted that Ash's way of training seemed to produce some very admirable results, but Paul was determined to show Ash that power should come first when training Pokémon, and what better way to prove that than defeating him in front of several thousand people?

Paul assumed his usual apathetic expression as he strode forth under the gaze of his many fans to the centre of the stadium, where Ash Ketchum awaited.

The lavender haired man grimaced as he heard Dawn's shrill screams piercing through the cacophony as she cheered for Ash; even amidst a crowd of several thousand people that troublesome girl managed to somehow make herself heard. He thought he could see Ketchum's other friend, the horny one, smiling proudly at Ash with his arms crossed. Paul scoffed and then focused his attention on his opponent.

Ketchum stood with his arms crossed, unsmiling and unwavering and with an expression of… sorrow? Paul frowned; considering that he himself could barely contain his excitement and that Ketchum seemed to have a penchant for immature displays of eagerness, Paul would have thought that the raven haired boy would literally be bouncing up and down, not seemingly about to break down into tears. What was wrong with him?

Mentally shrugging Paul decided to ignore Ketchum's strange attitude and as he reached the centre of the stadium, he stretched out his hand and greeted his opponent. "Good luck Ketchum, may the better Trainer win," he said surprisingly politely. Ash stared down at Paul's hand with barely concealed agony before grasping his hand and raising his eyes back to Paul's face and speaking, "I really hope you survive this O'Connell, they'll need you before the end."

#########

Brock frowned; what the hell was that? He had seen the confrontation and although he couldn't hear the words exchanged, it was clear that Ash had said something that disturbed Paul. Dawn also noticed it and turned to Brock. "What was that Brock? What's wrong with Ash?"

Brock shook his head and replied. "I'm not sure Dawn." Then, deciding to comfort Dawn. "But I'm sure everything's fine, Ash is probably just feeling a bit nervous, Arceus knows I would be acting strange in his position." Dawn smiled and agreed. "Yeah that must be it, he's come too far to lose now, the pressure he must feeling would be too much for me to handle." Brock smiled at Dawn's optimism, but inwardly frowned; his gut was telling him that something was wrong… very wrong.

#########

Paul narrowed his eyes in shock and confusion, there was definitely something wrong with Ketchum. Since when was Pokémon battling about surviving? And since when did Ketchum go about referring to people by their surname?

And what was this about the 'end'? Sure battling your rival in the finals of the Lily of the Valley Conference was a pretty epic occurrence but it could hardly be compared to a battle to the death, a prospect that Ash seemed to refer to by speaking about the 'end', also, why the hell was he so sad? Had somebody just died?

Paul, still frowning in confusion, hastily turned around and walked back to his podium at a rather uneven pace as he tried to grasp what just happened. Although almost definitively overreacting, his thoughts had begun to dangle on the edge between common sense and indescribable dread; he had the terrible feeling that something bad was about to happen.

He turned around to see that Ash had already reached his podium and that the referee was about to begin the battle. The referee stepped forward and gestured all around to quiet the crowd down. It took a while but finally the deafening cheers began to die down.

Eventually a state of absolute silence was reached, so piercing that one could probably hear a ninjask's wings humming softly were there one present. The referee took a deep breath and then began to shout, his microphone amplifying his voice so that it echoed around the entire stadium. "This is a 6 vs 6 Pokémon battle between Paul O'Connell of Veilstone City and Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, the victor of which will take home the Lily of the Valley trophy and be given the chance to face the Sinnoh Elite Four and finally the Regional Champion, Cynthia!"

The crowd erupted in cacophony, screaming and cheering in pure excitement and joy as the prospect of a Pokémon battle of epic proportions beginning just a few seconds away filled their minds. The referee gestured again and once that same piercing silence was achieved again, he smiled widely and shouted. "Now! Trainers… CHOOSE YOUR FIRST POKEMON!"

The crowd roared once again as Paul picked a PokéBall from his belt and proceeded to toss it out onto the open field, "Aggron! Deliver unto my foes your relentless carnage!" The referee, and a few others in the crowd, winced slightly at Paul's introduction but Paul didn't really care all that much, he had always been a bit of an absolutist.

#########

Back in the stands Dawn was openly laughing and even Brock had traces of mirth around his worried face. Dawn turned to Brock and said "Haha! What a ridiculous way to introduce a Pokémon eh Brock?" Brock, despite his feeling of dread, replied with a large smile, however it was quickly wiped off his face when he glanced at Ash… What the hell was he doing?!

#########

A huge bipedal figure appeared on the field and roared thunderously as it stamped its steel-clad claws into the ground, making the stadium quake tremendously. Primarily black and grey, it had a huge girth and a long, thick black tail. Upon its head appeared to be a steel skull resembling that of some prehistoric carnivore, with two lethal looking horns protruding directly above its piercing blue eyes.

Paul and his Iron Armour Pokémon Aggron proceeded to stare ahead at whatever Pokémon their rival had chosen for the first round, but to their shock they found not one, but three Pokémon on the field. Every few seconds or so they seemed to cringe as though they were in pain, so did Ketchum, Paul noticed. In the centre was Ketchum's most famous Pokémon, a small yellow mouse with long black-tipped pointy ears. Two red spots were present on the mouse's cheeks while its tail was shaped like that of childish depiction of a thunderbolt, its root the same dark brown as the horizontal stripes that ran down his back. Paul thought that there was something slightly different bout the pikachu, but he was far more concerned with Ketchum's actions than his Pokémon.

To the left of Pikachu was a floating ore of obsidian with two horns protruding from amidst the exoskeleton of ice that surrounded its body and framed its piercing blue eyes and flat teeth. To the right of Pikachu was a large butterfly, its snout the same colour as its pale blue legs and paws. It had large black-veined white wings and huge red compound eyes that watched everything on the battlefield simultaneously.

The crowd cried out in outrage, prompting the referee to move forward and call out, "Trainer Ketchum! This is a single Pokémon battle! Choose one Pokémon and recall the others now or you will be disqualified from the match!" The raven-haired man ignored the referee and gazed sorrowfully at Pikachu, who returned the gaze, then, his voice breaking as the full implications of what he was about to do hit him, he began to shout out commands to his team: "Butterfree, use Stun Spore and then use Gust to spread it all around the stadium. Glalie! Use Double Team and begin orbiting Pikachu, then use Gyro Ball but don't target anything! Pikachu use Light Screen; don't let Butterfree's spores paralyze you or Glalie!"

Paul watched helplessly and with shock as golden spores began to pour out of Butterfree's pores to form a thick cloud around the butterfly. Then Butterfree's wings flapped forward and sent the cloud rushing throughout the stadium. The spores entered through all of Paul's orifices and his body immediately sensed an overload of foreign particles.

In panic his brain sent electrical impulses down his spine as it tried to urgently relay the message to his immune system to destroy the spores. However the relentless wave of electrical impulses, its power amplified by the secondary effect of the spores, only caused more problems as it temporarily fried Paul's nerves and synapses, freezing him in place and effectively paralyzing him. The only organs and muscles he could use were those of his lungs, throat, nose, eyes and tongue; he could still breathe, see and talk, as was the case for everyone else in the stadium.

#########

"Brock! What's going on! What's wrong with Ash? What's he doing?!" Brock's earlier feeling of dread returned a thousand fold as he stared at Ash. "I don't know Dawn! I've never seen Ash like this!" It was true; what he saw on Ash's face wasn't fear, it wasn't hate, it wasn't happiness or ominous fury… it was pure unbridled agony and sorrow…

Brock's words did little to comfort to Dawn and she began shaking in fear as frightened tears squeezed from her tightly shut eyes. Around her people were reacting the same way; it seemed no one could make sense of what Ash was doing, and they were absolutely terrified because of it.

#########

Meanwhile rotating around Pikachu were several glowing Glalie, its use of Gyro Ball temporarily creating a metallic aura and therefore gaining the magnetic properties of certain metals. Ash gasped, dragging himself out of his pain and sadness and congratulated his Pokémon; "Good work Butterfree! Come stay with me and help me get out of here when the time comes; I can't move either."

"Pikachu use Reverse Magnet Rise!", "Pika!" Pikachu slammed his tail into the ground as his body became surrounded with intense sparks, absorbing the roaming electrons surrounding the multiple Glalie thus making Pikachu's skin negatively charged and the white aura of the Glalie positively charged. Due to the natural attraction between positively and negatively charged objects, the Glalie begun to slowly drift towards Pikachu until they had tightly packed the little mouse in the centre of a revolving circle.

Ash paused then and, with tears streaming down his face and a broken voice, whispered, "Goodbye my old friend…" before shouting out the last words his Pokémon would ever hear, "Pikachu, use Thunder and Glalie, use Explosion! Butterfree! Get me out of here!"
Ash squeezed his eyes shut and screamed in sorrow as he heard Pikachu's last confirmation. His mind was again flooded with memories of Pikachu with him on his journey, from the day they had met to this morning. And as the memories broke him down, he whispered while sobbing, "I'm so proud of you buddy, I will always love you. Farewell."

#########

Time seemed to slow down to a standstill for Paul as he and the thousands of people around him watched on in horror while the multiple Glalie began to glow a brilliant white. He didn't realise he was crying, or that he was on his knees. He didn't hear the terrified screams around him as people desperately tried to move their limbs in order to flee the impending disaster. He didn't notice Butterfree land on a weeping Ketchum's head and use Teleport, warping his particles and tearing a hole through the fabric of reality to disappear into thin air.

He also didn't see that Pikachu's Light Screen had unintentionally protected Aggron and that it had resisted the Stun Spore until it had leapt up onto the podium, gathered Paul in his arms and used Iron Defense in one last act of incredible bravery and compassion.

#########

Dawn screamed in fear along with everyone else in the stadium. She was openly weeping now, trembling and emptying her bowels. Brock could only stand still in shock as the man he loved as a brother ordered genocide. He glanced around the stadium and watched as people frantically tried to break free from their paralysis. He saw mothers and fathers frantically screaming at their children, trying to reach out to them to envelop them in one last hug, but remaining still as statues where they were. He was startled to find tears dripping off his cheeks as well; he hoped his family would be alright without him.

Brock gazed down at the small, trembling blue haired girl next to him and with indescribable pain and sorrow he decided to offer his last few words of comfort and brotherly love to her. "Dawn… Dawn listen to me… Everything is going to be fine, just close your eyes and think of the happiest time of your life. Cherish that memory and nothing can hurt you, you'll see, there's no need to wor-"

The mass of white light that was Glalie and Pikachu suddenly intensified as a massive fork of lightning struck it from the now cloudy skies. The light expanded rapidly, encompassing the entire stadium and blinding everybody. Within the white light ran strong electrical currents that shocked everyone with the intensity of the lightning from the skies. Clothing was ignited and flesh was roasted, organs were liquefied and bones were shattered. And then the light exploded.

The sound of concrete shattering and bodies being ripped apart could be heard for miles in any direction. The screams were instantly silenced as incredible heat melted through what remained of flesh and bone, igniting hair and the plastic of the chairs. Several thousand lives were ended abruptly; adult, child and Pokémon alike.

#########

Nothing and only one person escaped the might of Ash Ketchum's Pokémon, for as the dust settled, revealing bloody mist and crumbling walls where the entire stadium had once stood, there lay the charred corpse of Aggron and beneath him, wrapped tightly in his arms, lay Paul O'Connell, who could only listen not to the people's cheers and screams of excitement as he felled one of Ash's Pokémon, but rather to the deathly silence of the aftermath of a massacre.

Paul's mind barely registered that he was alive and that it was because his own Pokémon sacrificed his life for him, he briefly wondered whether his brother had made it to the match in time and if he had been incinerated as well before the dark clutches of unconsciousness grasped him and dragged him into the recesses of his mind.

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Somewhere; somewhen
Somehow:

The blade dripped crimson while the mess of bloodspots on the floor grew ever larger and more complete as the victim screamed and thrashed against his bonds. The wielder of the blade grinned as he felt the reverberations of his victim's screams through the steel of his knife as it skittered upon his victim's flesh like a Yanmega upon the surface of a still pond, carving deeper and deeper and yet never inflicting any mortal wounds.

Briefly the wielder wondered how much pain a man could take before even a blissey couldn't keep the man alive. He smirked as he realized that his Alakazam could probably keep anyone alive no matter the pain they went through; it was a prime specimen after all. He wagered that his Alakazam could ensure the victim would live through a skinning and then place the flesh back upon his bones as if it were never peeled off.

The wielder sneered; that idea could be put to use later, a last resort to get this man to break.

A gurgling rasp amidst the screams and moans snapped the wielder back to what he was doing. He cursed and wrenched the knife free of the deep puncture wound he had accidentally inflicted while lost in his thoughts. He turned to Alakazam and gestured to the wound, Alakazam nodded and crossed his spoons, his eyes began to glow an ethereal blue as his mind utilized the thousands of IQ he had to warp the fabric of reality and perform the move known as 'Recover'.

The victim's entire body was suddenly surrounded in that same ethereal blue and he gasped as his body began to convulse. The convulsions stopped almost immediately and instead his body began to quiver. All his wounds began to slowly close up living only pink scars until they too began to turn white and then fade away.

The wielder smiled; 'Recover' was a fascinating move, the user of the move delved deep into the body of the receiver and copied the structure and formula of the receiver's unique white blood cells. Once the data of the cells had been memorized, the user then began to replicate the blood cells radically and then spread the cells to all the sites of infliction on the body. All the replicated blood cells were suspended in that ethereal blue aura so that when the process was complete and the aura had faded away, the blood cells within faded away as well so as not cause a huge chemical imbalance in the receiver's body.

The wielder grimaced; he had seen that once. When his alakazam was just a kadabra and it tried to heal another of his Pokémon, it had failed to successfully dispel the healing aura. The Pokémon's white blood cells malfunctioned and began to attack every other cell in the body. The wielder had decided to put it out its misery when its flesh began to dissolve.

When Alakazam was done, the victim's flesh looked like that of a newborn, any scars or blemishes prior to the torturing also having been healed. The wielder wiped his blade clean with disinfectant-covered cloth, it would certainly be anticlimactic if his victim died from an infection after all, and he looked upon his victim.

He smiled as he heard the whimpering and ragged breaths; 'Recover' only healed physical trauma inflicted upon the receiver, any emotional trauma the receiver had experienced was there to stay.

The wielder moved closer, blade in hand, as he once again attempted to interrogate his victim. "Come, come, Mr. Ketchum, you must ask yourself if all this pain is really worth these secrets. After all, you haven't seen your wife in at least 20 years and you haven't even met your son, they probably don't care about you anymore, so why should you care about them? I don't even care about your wife, all I want is your son and you've never even met him so you should have no emotional connection with him at all. So tell me, where is Ash Ketchum?"

As he spoke he twirled the blade around his fingers with skill and precision; he was very experienced with the blade, as he was sure Mr. Ketchum realized for himself while it was cutting his flesh earlier.

Although the victim's hands were bound tightly to his side he managed to gesture the wielder to come closer with a curling of his fingers. The wielder grinned and leaned to hear the victim's whisper. The victim managed to groan out his words, "Why don't you take one of those lovely spoons of your Alakazam over there… and then proceed to go fuck yourself with it."

The wielder's grin only intensified and as he turned to Alakazam, he spoke rather gleefully, "You'll soon be repenting those words Mr. Ketchum," he said to the man, and then to Alakazam, "Fetch Kabutops but don't teleport or project your thoughts to it; you need to conserve your psychic energy, you're going to have to if Mr. Ketchum is to survive his ordeal."

The wielder turned back to his victim and spoke all too sinisterly, "I would say that I had been hoping it wouldn't come to this, but then I would be lying and far be it for me to lie to a clearly honourable man such as yourself."

The wielder chuckled briefly before continuing. "The truth is I have been looking forward to this for a very long time Mr. Ketchum. Now, I've noticed that, aside from a whole lot of screaming and groaning, you're not really using your tongue much are you? Well, far be it for me to let you prance around with such a useless organ if you don't even need it!"

The victim chuckled, much to the agitation of his torturer, and with a condescending voice, spoke. "And how do you plan to learn what I know if I can't form the words?" To the victim's dread, the wielder started laughing uproariously.

The wielder wiped his eyes before explaining. "My dear friend, although Psychic Pokémon cannot force their way into our heads, which is infuriating to say the least," The wielder glared at his Alakazam as if it were somehow his fault, Alakazam just returned his glare with an empty stare.

"Alakazam can pry the secrets from your head when you surrender to him, so I have little use for your tongue as well. And if removing your tongue doesn't loosen it," the wielder paused and chuckled a little at his unintentional pun, "You needn't worry; Kabutops has plenty of ways to make you talk Mr. Ketchum. I've seen him eviscerate a man in the space of two seconds, I'm not sure that he actually even felt it at first, but after a few seconds his facial expression was a great source of amusement to me!"

The wielder paused to lose himself in memories of excessive violence as his psychopathic mind delighted at them. "When you are ready to be cooperative project your thoughts to Alakazam, the torturing will cease immediately."

The victim shuddered and whimpered as the wielder began to chuckle ominously at the sight of Alakazam returning with an accomplice; a bipedal crustacean whose wicked claws clacked against the cold steel floor, it had a dark brown exoskeleton that covered its head and extended down his back, where it jutted out in a mess of spikes and ridges. Its chest was covered in hard pectoral bones, which extended down to cover its abdominal region as well.

But what was most frightening about the creature was that instead of hands, the creature had vicious looking scythes that shone through countless years of honing and polishing, those blades could most likely slice through the hard exterior of a steelix like a hot knife through butter, never mind the soft flesh of a human.

The wielder greeted the new arrival with barely contained glee, "Kabutops, don't go easy on him, Alakazam will ensure that he survives and will stop you when he hears a result." The wielder turned away and began heading towards the exit as he saw the creature's blades descending, the muffled screams had already started before he had taken his second step and as he approached the door, his grin only grew.

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Twinleaf Town; 26/03/2013

Johanna Berlitz stood quietly as she fiddled with her black dress, absentmindedly tugging at her belt buckle as she wondered what her daughter was up to; how far had she gone on her journey? Why was she wearing black of all colours? How close was Dawn getting to her next Contest ribbon? Had she already won several? She really loved Dawn dearly, and she wished she could see more of her, she wished she could hear Dawn's signature catchphrase 'no need to worry' once again.

"No need to worry"

She smiled as she heard it again in her head, said in Dawn's own sweet voice. While she missed her daughter she knew she was in good company; with the mature and incredibly sensible Brock looking after her and Ash, the good-natured and friendly Pokémon Trainer. Ash was a decent boy and a formidable battler, he had his morals in the right place and he was a lying, massacring psychopath. Johanna frowned; where had that come from?

"No need to worry"

"Mrs… Mrs. Berlitz? I'm s-so sorry for your loss, D-Dawn didn't deserve this… No one deserved this…" Johanna snapped her head up, startled, as she heard someone addressing her. There in front of her stood Kenny, his hands nervously smoothing the invisible wrinkles in his black suit and his combed auburn hair framing his face as his coal black eyes glistened with tears. "…What? What didn't Dawn deserve?" Johanna asked in honest confusion.

"No need to worry"

Kenny widened his eyes with concern and confusion as he asked Johanna, "Mrs. Berlitz, are you alright?" Johanna blinked in confusion and began to take in her surroundings. She was standing in a cemetery on an overcast day while people milled around her, also all dressed in black. She caught a few pitying and sorrowful gazes thrown in her direction and began to wonder what was going on.

"No need to worry"

She glanced behind Kenny to see a closed empty casket. She paused; how would she know that the casket was empty if it was closed? Her gaze trailed up the casket and eventually reached a slab of stone with words etched upon its surface. She read the words with trepidation.

"No need to worry"

'Here lies Dawn Berlitz,

A loving daughter and a friend to all,

Her beautiful smile and spirit will remain forever in our hearts.

(1994-2013)

R.I.P'

With an anguished cry Johanna fell to her knees and began heaving, but nothing came up. She remembered everything; the casket was empty because all that was left of her daughter was her murderer's namesake. Johanna had a very loving and gentle spirit, a thing that her daughter, "No need to worry" had inherited, but Johanna knew without a doubt that she wanted Ash Ketchum dead; she wanted to spit on his bones before they were grinded into oblivion by her Kangaskhan. She wanted Ash to feel the pain that her beautiful baby girl had felt before her last breath.

"No need to worry"

Having finally stopped retching, she threw her head back and let loose a heart wrenching scream of absolute pain as she heard Dawn's voice over and over again, "No need to worry", before her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed in a heap in front of her only daughter's empty casket. The last thing she heard before slipping into unconsciousness was her darling daughter's dear voice.

"No need to worry, I'll be back before you know it!"

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Pewter City Gym/Harrison household; 28/03/2013

Lola glanced worriedly out the window as she washed the dishes and what she saw was the cause for her worry. Ever since the funeral two days ago, Forrest had been training his Pokémon brutally and without rest. His Pokémon were tired and ill and could hardly find the energy to move, never mind battle, yet still Forrest commanded them to battle each other and never let up. She could feel the cold waves of anger radiating from her now eldest son that had been present since Brock's funeral.

Aside from Rhyperior, his strongest Pokémon, Forrest had a full team of ruthlessly strong rock Pokémon that cared for him as deeply as any Pokémon would for a once loving Trainer like Forrest. Surrounding him was Onix (the offspring of Brock's steelix), Golem (the offspring of Brock's geodude), Tyranitar, Omastar, and Aerodactyl, the last two a gift from the local museum curator for earning the status as one of the toughest Gym Leaders in Kanto, behind Misty and Sabrina.

Suddenly Rhyperior fell down, beaten and unconscious and causing his fellow teammates to stop battling as they gathered around him in concern. "What's going on? What's happening?" Forrest demanded as he tried to shove his Pokémon out of the way. When he reached the fallen Drill Pokémon his eyes widened in fury and began to prod the Pokémon in order to wake it up. "Rhyperior! Get up now! Don't start slacking; only weak Pokémon slack and I don't train weak Pokémon!"

The mass of rock was unresponsive and this only served to agitate Forrest further, his prods became more solid until he began punching and pounding the Pokémon. "Get up! Get up and fight you pathetic lump of shit! Ash is out there alive and well and you are just lying around doing nothing?! I won't let that bastard get away with this! I won't! I can't! YOU HEAR ME ASH KETCHUM! YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS, I WON'T LET YOU! I WON'T LET YOU!"

By now Forrest had stopped beating on Rhyperior, his hands a bloody and broken mess cupping his face. He wept as he thought of his brother, a man he loved more than anyone, perhaps even more than his father. He thought of his brother's killer, a man Brock trusted more than anyone else in the world, perhaps even more than his own family. Ash had repaid that trust with a violent death that someone like Brock didn't deserve.

Lola dropped the bowl she was currently drying, uncaring of whether it broke or not as she ran outside to her distraught son. Forrest's Pokémon were standing around him in a circle staring down at him with sad eyes when Lola reached him.

Lola paid them no heed as she pushed Omastar out of the way to reach her beloved son. She fell to her knees and wrapped her son in her arms and held him tight. Forrest's Pokémon huddled around them willing their love into the heartbroken pair. It was a sad time in the household of the Harrison's as mother and son held each other and wept, mourning their fallen son and brother.

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Viridian City Police Station; 01/04/2013

Delia Ketchum sat in silence and stared vacantly into space as the woman sitting opposite her flipped through some papers attached to the clipboard she held. Her dazed mind couldn't focus very well since news of what was now being referred to as a terrorist attack on the Lily of the Valley Island, now cruelly dubbed 'The Valley of Death' despite there being no valley on the island.

How was she supposed to believe that her son, her dear, loving Ash Ketchum, was responsible for killing one hundred thousand people? The other woman sighed and shook her head, causing her neat pale blue hair to whip around her face. "Look Mrs. Ketchum, the sooner you tell us more about your son, the sooner you can leave. Please, is there anything, anything at all that you can think of when you last saw Ash that could've given you some indication about what he was planning?"

Delia snapped out of her daze and narrowed her eyes at police woman opposite her. She then spoke with the ferocity of a mother bear protecting her cub. "I will not tell you anything about my son because he is innocent; there is no way Ash would kill all those people and two of his closest friends like that! He has the gentlest soul I have ever witnessed and I consider myself blessed that I was the one to birth and raise him. That wasn't Ash on that podium that day, that was just some… devil who dared called himself an angel!" With a start Delia realized she was standing, her hands placed on the metal table between the women and her eyes glaring threateningly at the police officer.

Jenny spoke back calmly, years of training as a Police Officer had hardened her resolve, an angry mother bear was a common occurrence for her. "Mrs. Ketchum the man on the podium that day was definitely your son; he had Ash's PokéDex with him, he had the same height and weight as your son and the same Pokémon as your son. While I perfectly understand your reluctance to believe that Ash is a mass murderer, I'm afraid the evidence is simply undeniable."

Delia stared incredulously at the Policewoman. "How on earth could you possibly know that that man had the same height and weight as Ash? You'd have to measure and weigh both him and my son to come to that conclusion." Jenny grimaced; she had not meant to say that. She sighed, she needed this woman to work with her and if a few secrets had to be divulged then so be it.

"Mrs. Ketchum, not many people know this, in fact this information is only known by Police Officers, Pokémon Centre staff, the Elite Four, the Regional Champions, the Regional Professors, the G-Men and the League Officials. Each PokéDex handed out to a Trainer has a built-in-body scanner that measures and weighs the Trainer, without their knowledge, each day and stores this information. When the device is handed to a Nurse Joy when a trainer signs up for a tournament or a contest, she transfers the latest measurements to the Centre Database, a network of information that can only be accessed by high-ranking police officers, the G-Men and of course Nurse Joy."

Jenny took a deep breath, trying to ignore Delia's steadily increasing anger.

"Now, every podium in a stadium or a contest has a similar scanner installed in it that is activated whenever someone steps on it. It stores the measurements of whoever happens to be standing on it and then sends the info to the Centre Database where it is linked to a corresponding set of measurements. Once this link is established the information about the Trainer is downloaded into the podium and the podium confirms that the person on the podium is indeed who the Database says it is. The whole process takes but a fraction of a second to complete and once it has and the Trainer is confirmed, a bracelet worn by the referee begins flashing green thus signaling the referee that the right people are in the right place. A message is sent from the podium to the Database as well to inform it of the results."

Delia frowned; the Regional Professors knew of this outrageous breach of privacy? She'd had to have a few stern words with Professor Oak when she got back home. "So this Database has confirmed that that man is my son? Have you seen the results yourself?" Jenny leaned back, wide-eyed and stuttering. "I- you see… well no… I haven't seen the results yet but I am sure that my colleagues would have informed me were they not satisfactory."

Delia bristled in anger at the officer's words. "Satisfactory? Proof that my son is a mass murderer is a source of satisfaction for you people?! You sit there and tell me that my son killed several thousand people and that that fact is irrefutable despite not even knowing what your outrageous breach of privacy Database has to say about it and expect me to cooperate with you by condemning my son?! If everyone had the same thoughts as you then no one would check the damn thing, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case since you seem to be a pretty high-ranking officer and you're fucking incompetent!"

Delia very rarely swore, especially at others, but right now she was absolutely furious. "We're done here; go find some other mother to bother." With that Delia stood up despite the officer's protests and began to make her way around table and towards the door. However before she could open it the door swung open and was replaced by an imposing figure.

"Now now Mrs. Ketchum, there is no need for hostility." The figure smirked at Delia before he turned to the other woman present. "Officer Jenny you are dismissed, please excuse yourself." While he spoke to Jenny, Delia managed to get a good look at the man; he had stupidly bright red hair that matched the inside of his cape and the bands at his wrists and knees. The front of his outfit shared the same colour while his sleeves, trousers, boots and the outside of his cape were a pitch black colour.

His impressive height and strange clothing managed to somehow strike an intimidating cut, but Delia decided instantly that she did not like this man; she was certain his eyes had been roaming up and down her body as he walked into the interrogation room.

Delia was no idiot, she knew she was a very attractive woman, especially for her age; some of Ash's more perverted and obnoxious friends, such as Brock and Gary, had often remarked that she was a MILF when they thought she couldn't hear them. Whatever that meant, she was sure they weren't talking about how good of a cook she was.

Many lonely men in Pallet Town had attempted to woo her before but despite not having seen Ash's father for almost twenty years and being quite unsure of his whereabouts; she was still madly and hopelessly in love with the man and therefore never returned any affections shown towards her. She wasn't sure if she could ever care about another man as she did for her husband but she certainly hadn't found one yet. Besides, this man seemed far too full of himself for her tastes and she found him quite uninteresting already.

Jenny raised an eyebrow. "I know who you are sir, but this a police investigation, I don't think you have the jurisdiction to take over it yourself." The man smirked and glanced quickly at Delia, or rather, two quite large assets of Delia's that he really had no business looking at. He quickly looked away before the owner of said assets could catch him peeking; though unknown to him he was too late.

The man turned so that his back was facing the two women and cleared his throat; it was clear that this particularly fine specimen of a woman had no clue who he was, he sought to remedy that as soon as possible. "I am Lance Wilson, Champion of the Wataru Dragon Clan, strongest of the Kanto Elite Four, Regional Champion of Johto, Official Investigator of the Pokémon G-Men and the most powerful Dragon Tamer alive, but you may simply call me Lance. I must say I am honored to be in the presence of such a clearly magnificent woman like yourself Delia, if I may call you such."

He turned back to witness the reaction of the women, but was mightily disappointed when he saw that Jenny still had an incredulous look on her face and that Delia was yawning with her eyes such tight and her hand over her mouth. She then began to speak. "Well Lance, you may not call me as such, now could you please explain the purpose of your being here so that I can go home and watch the latest episode of Bruno's Shortcut to Six-Packs that I recorded earlier today."

That was a joke of course, but Lance didn't know that. She just said it because she knew that Bruno and Lance were seen as the most eligible bachelors of Kanto and that Lance had publicly displayed his dislike of Bruno before; probably because he jealous of the mountain of a man. Jenny barked a laugh, though she was blushing quite heavily for some reason, and threw a thumbs-up in Delia's direction, who, despite her anger at the policewoman before, smirked back.

Lance's expression fell but he it seemed that he wouldn't go down without a fight, his smirk returned and with a hint of anger in his eyes he said "Well Mrs. Ketchum, you seem remarkably lively for a woman whose only son has recently committed mass-murder, perhaps you are not surprised? Perhaps you aided your son?" Both Delia and Jenny stood in shock as Lance chuckled at his rather rude accusation.

#########

Jenny glanced at Delia with sympathy; that was a remarkably unprofessional jibe at her and was totally uncalled for. Jenny too had seen Lance's not so subtle leers at Delia's voluptuous body, an act which she found as disgusting as she did offensive; what was she… a wooden plank? She glanced down and sighed; she might as well be, police training wasn't exactly devised to increase the allure of a woman. Not that she was at all interested in Lance; the man quite obviously had his stupidly bright red head wedged firmly 'twixt his buttocks and besides, what he had just said was a horrible thing to say to an obviously faithful and diligent mother such as Delia Ketchum.

The door opened again but this time another woman strode in, Jenny jumped in shock as she realized who the new arrival was; the woman was wearing polished black high-heels that were barely visible under the formal black trouser wear and long black coat that she wore about her skintight black top, only one stony grey eye was visible and her luscious blond hair that fell all the way down to her knees covered the other eye. In her hair she wore strange black clips that somewhat resembled the ears of a lucario.

The woman glanced sympathetically at Delia; she had obviously heard what Lance had said, and nodded her head at Jenny, who returned the nod with a stunned expression.

She then turned towards Lance, who was quite flustered as he was now in the presence of two very gorgeous women. He quickly glanced at Jenny and gave her the same treatment that he gave Delia upon entering. Make that three. The new woman glared at Lance with such ferocity that he began to worry for his safety.

He spoke. "Cynthia, I-", "Lance, just shut up, you have just jeopardized the investigation with your ignorance and obnoxiousness and quite frankly, I'm not surprised. When I get the chance I will request a meeting with the rest of the Council to discuss your permanent removal from the Council and thus the G-Men. I suspect that the odds shall not be in your favour. Now get lost." She turned to the two women. "Officer, could you please escort Lance out of the station? Bruno will be waiting for him; he will take Lance back to the Plateau. I'm sure Lance would greatly appreciate Bruno's assistance."

Jenny barely contained the smirk that threatened to break out on her face as saluted the Sinnoh Champion. "Yes Ma'am, at once Ma'am." Cynthia grimaced, though her face somehow remained flawless and serene. "Please Officer, call me Cynthia, I'm not your boss and neither is Lance, so don't go easy on him if he causes any trouble. Oh and please come back when you're done, I wouldn't want to displace the officer in charge of this investigation now would I?"

#########

Cynthia turned to Delia as Jenny, now openly smirking, began to drag the spluttering Lance out of the room. Cynthia briefly wondered why Jenny seemed really excited about her new task but decided it was probably just the chance to humiliate an arrogant idiot. She sighed, first impressions were everything and now Delia's first encounter with the G-Men had been less than pleasant. The blonde woman was going to need to pull out all of the stops to get this woman to trust her.

"Mrs. Ketchum, I am terribly sorry for Lance's attitude, he's always been a bit headstrong." Delia's frown slipped slightly before she nodded her head, accepting the apology. Cynthia smiled mentally, "I must apologise again as I really need to speak to you about your son. Do you mind?" Delia's frown returned and she sighed. "Actually yes I do mind, but you seem a lot more professional than your colleague, so I will help you." Cynthia smiled warmly while cheering mentally, it had worked! "Thank you Mrs. Ketchum, your cooperation means a lot to us. Please, have a seat."

Delia did so while Cynthia took the seat previously occupied by Jenny opposite of Delia. "I understand that you believe the man on the podium and your son is not the same person, this is correct?" Delia ignored the question and asked her own, much to Cynthia's chagrin. "You have access to the Centre Database right? Could you show me the results of the podium that day? Officer Jenny hasn't checked them yet and I get the feeling that you haven't either."

Cynthia stared in astonishment before glancing at the door and sighing, she began muttering. "There's a reason that the Database isn't public knowledge." She glanced up towards Delia. "I do have access but I won't let you access it. I will check and inform you of the results later today. There's simply too much private information on that Database to show to someone who is not a Nurse Joy, an Officer Jenny or a G-Men Agent."

Delia sighed but grudgingly nodded her head. Cynthia smiled and began to talk.

"Now, did your son make many friends on his journey? Was he a well-liked individual or did he keep to himself?" Delia laughed, her mood suddenly reversing, "Ash?! Many friends?! Did you not meet the man? Who doesn't like my son?" Cynthia smiled; Delia was laughing! Perhaps this wouldn't be so hard… The G-Men Officer continued with her questions.

"Who were Ash's closest friends? Where are they now? I would like to ask them a few things about Ash." Delia's smile faltered. "Ash's closest friend, in fact more of a brother, is dead. Brock Harrison, may he rest in peace, can't help you I'm afraid. The same goes for Dawn Berlitz, a sweet girl from Twinleaf in your home region. They were present at the stadium that day, cheering on who they thought was their close friend." Cynthia watched Delia close her eyes and mutter a quick prayer to Arceus; so the diligent mother was religious was she? Delia finished her prayer and as she raised her head again Cynthia quickly ducked her head and pretended she was praying as well. Delia seemed surprised, "You're a Servant?" she asked.

Cynthia nodded while inwardly groaning; Servants were people who religiously worshipped Legendary Pokémon. There was a bit of controversy surrounding the Servants, who believed that a human would one day be chosen by the Legendary Gods to save the world from itself. Most people, like Cynthia, knew that Legendary Pokémon existed, but didn't worship them. Rather they respected their power and left it at that.

She composed herself. "What of Ash's childhood friends? Who did he grow up with in Pallet Town?" Delia's smile slipped and she shook her head sadly, "Pallet Town is what some may call a backwards and superstitious community and many of its residents don't like others prying into their business. We're a cranky lot and unfortunately cranky people don't get along well with people like my son; his natural curiosity and concern for all things living, people and Pokémon alike, rubbed them the wrong way as they saw it as an invasion of their privacy. It was an unwritten rule in Pallet that everybody minded their own business and no trouble would be caused, Ash's stretching of that rule led to many of his own age, and their parents, to distrust him, and of course, Gary Oak didn't help either."

Cynthia frowned; she had met Gary Oak, he was the grandson of the prestigious Professor Oak after all, and while he was a bit flirtatious and obnoxious, he seemed pretty harmless and actually quite a decent guy. She couldn't imagine Gary doing anything to cause Ash to struggle to make friends in their home town.

"Gary? What did he do? He seemed nice enough when I met him." Delia smiled, "Gary is a brilliant and mature young man, I don't approve of his disregard for monogamy but his heart's in the right place. But he wasn't always so nice. When he and Ash were growing up, Gary made Ash's life a living hell. My husband had left before Ash was born and in Pallet Town, everyone had two parents, everyone except for Ash and Gary that is. But while Ash had me Gary had only his grandfather. Of course no one was going to make fun of the Professor's grandson, but Ash… Ash was a different story."

Delia paused as she became lost in the past while Cynthia tried to hide a yawn; she really regretted asking about what Gary did as she couldn't care less about Ash's childhood, but if she wanted this woman to trust her she had to appear genuinely interested in her story. Though one aspect did intrigue her; Ash had had a rough childhood had he? A classic characteristic of a psychopathic killer if ever there were one.

Eventually Delia continued, "No one bullied Gary, but no one befriended him either. He was lonely at school, very lonely, but he soon witnessed what the other kids his age were doing to Ash and he saw an opportunity to finally fit in. So he joined them, and then he led them. They used to say horrible things to my boy, 'a fatherless brat' they'd call him, or 'a waste of space'. Ash once told me that Gary had called him a 'broken condom', though I don't think either of them had known what it meant at the time," Delia chuckled while smiling wistfully.

"Ash would retaliate of course; he was only too glad to bite back at Gary. 'At least I have a parent' he'd say, and then the fighting would begin. But the local school's main shareholder was the Professor, they couldn't let his grandson be bullied. So while Ash was meted out a harsh punishment almost every day, Gary got away with a slap on the wrist. Ash didn't understand, what child could understand? He was being punished for being the victim."

Delia paused and stared off into space with a bittersweet smile on her face as she reminisced on her son's childhood. Cynthia was surprised to find herself genuinely smiling; it was obvious that Delia cared deeply for her child, such cherishing devotion was a heartwarming sight to say the least.

Delia seemed to realise that she had been spacing out and shook her head before she continued speaking. "And then puberty reared its ugly head. The boys began noticing girls and vice versa, but while Gary grew taller and stronger and his voice began dropping, Ash remained small and scrawny and his voice remained as high as ever. Girls began to pine after Gary and Ash was left in the dust. Those few girls who Ash managed to catch the attention of were eventually convinced by Gary that they could do better."

Cynthia sat forward, no longer trying to hide yawns; this story was actually pretty interesting! Delia continued, "When Ash turned 12 he eventually built up the courage to ask his crush out. She was a pretty little thing called Leaf, and she seemed to be the only girl who wasn't completely revolted by Ash. But Gary had gotten there first and for the first time my little boy experienced heartbreak. For the next year Ash sheltered himself from everyone, including me, and it broke my heart. I became very worried when he would hardly leave his room except to eat. And then he stopped doing that."

"By the time his 13th birthday came around I was distraught, I learnt that Ash had been skipping school, instead sneaking off into the Professor's Corral and playing with the Pokémon there. But when I caught him, surrounded by the Professor's Pokémon, there was a beautiful smile upon his face that I hadn't seen in far too long. It was then that I knew I had to let him go. He needed his journey more than he needed me at the time and while it broke my heart, I could rest easy knowing my baby boy was finally happy." Delia sniffled, becoming lost in her bittersweet memories of watching her son leaving her for the first time.

Cynthia was shocked to find her own throat aching, with tears dabbing the corner of her eyes. Delia's story had moved her and she could tell for certain now that Delia believed with her every being that Ash was innocent of the occurrence in Sinnoh. Cynthia, wanting Delia to continue, gestured to the auburn haired woman to go on.

Delia continued, "But Gary began maturing when Ash beat him in the Silver Conference; he realized that Ash was a stronger Trainer than him and after failing to get the attention of a certain red-head that accompanied Ash at the time, he also realized that Ash wasn't a loner anymore. My son had met and changed so many people's lives on his journey, including Gary's to a certain extent, that it wasn't right to call him 'a waste of space' anymore. Gary never apologised but he didn't need to, when Ash saw that Gary wanted to put their past behind them, he did so without a second thought. The two quickly became close friends as it wasn't within my son to hold a grudge against a person; he is far too trusting and forgiving sometimes."

Delia glanced up having finished her story and Cynthia smiled encouragingly as she took out a small notepad and pencil from somewhere in her coat and jotted down Gary's name, "That was a touching story Mrs. Ketchum, I will make sure to get in touch with Gary, perhaps I'll give him a rough time in my interview," Delia chuckled at Cynthia's little joke before the blonde continued, "Okay, so aside from Gary, who has known Ash the longest? What about this red-head you mentioned; she sounds close to Ash." Delia smiled softly. "Her name is Misty Waterflower and she might as well be my daughter. Never will you find a girl as sweet and as passionate as her."

Cynthia blinked in surprise. "Misty Waterflower? The Cerulean Gym Leader Misty Waterflower?" After Misty had left Ash to take care of her family's Gym she quickly gained a reputation as one of the toughest Gym Leaders in Kanto, eventually she was the toughest Gym Leader in Kanto, stronger even than Sabrina. Cynthia had watched a few of her battles and was very impressed with her immensely strong Pokémon, she reckoned that Misty's Gyarados and Golduck could probably take on one of her own Pokémon, not Garchomp or Spiritomb of course but probably any of the others.

Delia's expression fell. "Yes, but she's not doing too well at the moment; what she felt for Ash was far beyond just friendship. Recent events have been a huge shock to her and she's a bit unstable at the moment. She lost Brock, one of her closest friends, he might as well have been her older brother, and he was certainly more of a sibling to her than her pathetic sisters are, or were at least. She believes she has also lost Ash, which is too much for her to cope with right now."

Cynthia, not noticing that Delia had become very quiet and that her shoulders were shaking, was confused. "What? If Ash is proven innocent then he will be free to do as he pleases, he would be able to return to his ordinary life, what's the problem?" It was Delia's sniffles that finally caught Cynthia's attention. "Mrs. Ketchum? Are you alright?"

At this Delia's head snapped up and Cynthia was shocked at the amount of pain and sadness and even anger she saw in those eyes. "What's the problem?! You're a G-Men agent Cynthia! Surely you would know why Ash can never come back! Even if he were proven innocent how could he possibly live a normal life?! He would be a target, if not for the Government and the League, then by the common folk; Trainers, Coordinators, Rangers, Researchers, Watchers and Connoisseurs would all despise my son and how could they not? A man accused of rape would find it very hard to live an ordinary life even if he were proven innocent. It's the same thing with Ash. Besides, Ash was missing that day which means that that… demon in Sinnoh has my son! What would a man like that do to my son?! Certainly never let him go! My son is probably as good as dead! Dead Cynthia! Dead!"

As Delia broke down weeping Cynthia sat still in shock; she saw now the pain that Delia had been feeling since the attack. She saw the pain of a loving mother whose only child had been declared a mass murderer. She saw the pain of a loving mother who believed her only son was probably dead.

Delia, the pain of the past few days having finally caught up with her, slouched in sadness and sorrow as her weeping died down to a pathetic whimpering. "I wish that I had at least been there with him, that he didn't have to die alone, cold and scared. I wish he was here in my arms as I listened to yet another adventure that he had experienced on one of his journeys."

Delia began to smile sadly, becoming lost in her fantasies. "I wish I could have seen the joy on his face when he watched the love of his life, Misty most probably, walk down the aisle all dressed in white. I wish I could see the excitement in his and Misty's faces when they told me that they were expecting. I wish I could share all the embarrassing stories of his childhood with his own children. I wish I could smile with pride as my grandchildren told me and Ash and Misty all about the snowman they had built that morning as we all sat around the dining room table, eating stuffed turkey on that cold Christmas afternoon. I wish that when my time came, I could go peacefully knowing that I could finally tell my husband, if he had passed already, about how our precious little baby boy had grown up to be a great man, one who had a loving family and many loving friends, who had two loving parents waiting for him up in heaven. Waiting to finally greet him and tell him how proud we were of him and how much we loved him."

Cynthia's throat ached and her eyes watered a bit; forget pretending to care, this was the real deal. Never had she witnessed such powerful love and devotion before, sure she had loving parents and grandparents, but they had their own life too, they had other things to love as well as her. It sounded to her that Delia had devoted her entire life to her son; that her only reason to living was to ensure that her son got all the love and care he could get from her.

Cynthia stood up, walked around the table and rested her hand on Delia's shaking shoulder. Both women remained still, one sitting the other standing, one shaking the other steady, one weeping the other supporting. Delia sniffed and wiped away her tears as she whispered her last wish. "Above all I wish my baby boy was home again."

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Jenny groaned and rubbed her temples as Lance began to, yet again, moan and whine about unfair Cynthia always was to him. Was this man really a Champion? He was pretty pathetic. The only reason she had accepted the task of escorting this bumbling idiot out of the station, besides her respect for the Sinnoh Champion, was because of who was waiting at the pickup destination. Although she had found Mrs. Ketchum's dig about Bruno at the Johto Champion very amusing, inwardly she had been blushing in extreme embarrassment because, unbeknownst to both Lance and Delia, the latter had described Jenny's favourite pastime that she always participated in on her few days off.

Unfortunately, because of where her mind had wandered off to, Jenny had developed a very prominent blush on her face and Lance, who had been prattling on about how the only reason Cynthia acted so untoward to him was because she was secretly harboring some sort of secret crush towards him, mistook Jenny's blush as something very different.

Jenny, who had since returned to her senses, noticed Lance had a god-awful smirk on his face as he leered down at her. "Jealous are we Jen? Don't worry I won't ever give in to her advances; I will always be free for you." Lance winked at her before his gaze once again dropped lower until her face was definitely not the part of her body that Lance was looking at. It appeared chest size was of no concern to Lance; he seemed to accept all sizes.

Jenny felt like retching, Lance truly was a disgusting pig and his opinion of himself was far too bloated. Jenny smirked; she was keen to deflate that ego of his. "Lance if there is any hotshot League Trainer that I am willing to bed, it most certainly isn't you. Quite frankly you are a disgusting person and I really can't see why even the easiest woman on earth would want to sleep with you. So be a good boy and leave me alone so that Mr. Siba can take you home and tuck you into bed with no complaint from me." Lance's smirk faltered briefly before returning tenfold. "Yeah well what would you know, you're just cruddy police woman."

Jenny gasped and was about to retort when a deep and rich voice cut through the air, running through her body and leaving breathless, "Lance leave the poor lady alone, it's obvious that she wants nothing to do with you so just leave her be." Lance jumped slightly as Bruno's deep voice rang out. In his pestering of Jenny he had failed to notice that they had exited the station and were now standing in front of a beaten up old Beetle.

Bruno's voice had a very different effect on Jenny, whose knees trembled slightly and heart pumped furiously. Directly in front of her stood a mountain of a man whose immense muscles bulged under the black formal suit he wore. His face was scarred over years of the brutal training he put himself under, fighting onix and sparring with his own ruthlessly powerful Pokémon. He had thick black eyebrows that accentuated his angular and somewhat rough features. His long and spiky raven hair was tied back in a ponytail that reached down to the middle of his back.

Seeing him not in his usual Karate outfit but rather in formal attire was a blood racing sight for the Police Officer to behold. Years of his workout videos could not have prepared her for how massive this man truly was; he stood at 7 feet and his arms were as thick as those of his machamp's. He made Lance seem a child in comparison, indeed Jenny herself reached only to his chest.

Bruno turned to Jenny and began smiling gently. "Pleased to make your acquaintance ma'am, Bruno Siba at your service, but please just call me Bruno. I hope Lance wasn't too much trouble for you, I'll be glad to take him off your hands either way."

Jenny, as red as her hair was blue, stuttered as she attempted to form a cohesive sentence in front of her crush. "M-Mr. Siba sir, I-I mean B-Bruno… S-sir. T-the pleasure's all mine." It really was; her neighbours had often complained about the noise she made whenever she was with her 'boyfriend', whom they thought was called Bruno having heard his name yelled out many times. They said that they were glad she had a man that could please her so, but to please continue their activities quietly as they had kids that were trying to sleep. They didn't realise that she didn't have a boyfriend, or that the TV was on and showing a certain popular workout video, or that there may have been a distinct vibrating sound in the air.

Jenny composed herself somewhat; she was an officer of the law, not some horny schoolgirl. "Honestly Bruno, Lance is a pain in the arse and I would love it if you could take him away." And me as well, she thought giddily. Bruno barked a laugh and his smile widened. "I like you, you're not afraid to say what you want and I agree, Lance is a pain in the arse!"

Lance spluttered in outrage as Jenny flushed a bright pink; her mind going into overdrive at the prospect of Bruno liking her. Jenny decided to risk it and ask her crush out; when was she going to get another chance? "B-bruno, I-I was w-wondering i-if you'd like to go out for some coffee sometime?" Jenny looked down at her feet, awaiting Bruno's reaction. When Bruno made no noise and Lance began snickering, she began to lose what little confidence she had scraped together.

Without glancing up she turned on her feet, "Sorry Mr. Siba sir, I don't want to waste anymore of your time," she said with traces of tears in her eyes as she rapidly walked away. Bruno smacked Lance on the back the head, the force of the somewhat relaxed blow sending Lance to the floor, before striding after Jenny. He grabbed her hand and spun her around. "Wait! Jenny!"

Jenny reeled back in shock, a warm feeling rising up in her stomach at hearing Bruno use her name. "I would love to go out with you, however I can't promise I would be a good boyfriend; I am one of the Elite Four after all, I have a very busy schedule" Jenny smiled brightly. "You'd be a great boyfriend! I can't believe you accepted! Here's my number, I'll be sure to call you soon."

Bruno took the piece of paper with a large smile on his face; this particular Jenny was very pretty after all, not that that was at all his sole reason for accepting her invitation, she seemed to be a very spirited and strong individual and Bruno admired strength of the soul above all in people. "I'm afraid we must part ways now Jenny, someone's got to look after that bumbling idiot. But I am looking forward to our next meeting, until then."

Before Bruno could depart Jenny grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards her and into a hug, surprising him with her strength. Bruno began to blush heavily as Jenny pressed her body tightly against Bruno's before grabbing his head and pulling it down to apply a chaste kiss upon his cheek. She let go, giving Bruno a coquettish smile and wink before turning around and rushing back into the station. Bruno flushed red, even when hurrying the police woman had managed to maintain that seductive sway of her hips, how do woman do that?

As Jenny reentered the station she squealed with joy, causing several people in the station to look at her strangely. She didn't care; she had the feeling that the neighbour's kids wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.

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Lance was rubbing the back of his sore head and glaring at Bruno as the mountain of a man approached, returning the glare tenfold. "What is the matter you Lance? Being a pervert isn't enough for you is it? You have to be a rude idiot as well. Jenny is a perfectly respectful woman and should be treated like one, so stop harassing her and at least try to act professional, although you clearly are not. Now come, let's get back to the Plateau, we have much to discuss."

Lance, bristling in anger, took one look at Bruno's beaten up old Beetle and snickered. "I wouldn't be seen dead in that hunk of metal Bruno, Dragonite can take me there, and if you think you and Cynthia will succeed in getting me fired, you've got another thing coming." With that Lance grabbed a PokéBall from his belt and pressed the centre button to expand it before pressing it again to let the ball open and a large shapeless white light spring out of the contraption.

The white light formed a bipedal figure before fading so that the figure could be seen in its entirety. The creature was of a dull orange colour that covered most of his body and the outside of his wings. With three viciously sharp claws one each paw and foot, it had hard horizontal plated scales reaching from its neck all the way down its body, covering its chest and stomach, going in between his legs and coating the underside of his tail. Atop his head were a somewhat small horn in the center and two magnificent, sleek and streamlined curly horns situated above its eyes. Its massive wings, large enough to completely wrap around its body and then some, had dark green webbing coating the inside.

The dragonite roared powerfully and flexed its wings as Lance clambered up its body and settled on its shoulders just in front of its wings. He sneered at Bruno one last time before digging his heels in and yelling at Dragonite to fly. The dragonite spread its wings and lunged up into the air so suddenly that the force of its takeoff caused Bruno to take a step forward to balance himself. An ordinary man would have been floored.

Bruno shook his head and turned to his tiny car. He opened the door then attempted to slide into his seat, once settled in his knees were pressed up against the steering wheel and his head was forced down by the ceiling of the car. He turned on the engine, then pressed and held down the clutch and put the car into first before accelerating while slowly releasing the clutch; it was far too easy to stall this old car and he didn't want to look like an idiot in front of the station that his new girlfriend worked at.

As his car began chugging away down the road, he briefly saw what appeared to be a bright orange blur heading straight for Lance's shape in the sky. He shrugged, as much as he hated to admit it, Lance was an incredibly powerful Trainer; he could handle anything thrown at him, besides an insult. What was the worst that could happen?

Lance's lifeless body smashed onto the front of his car causing it to come to a screeching halt and the windshield to crack. Bruno barely had time to react before Dragonite's body slammed down onto Lance causing the sickening sound of bones crunching and the horrible sight of blood spraying out from under the beast.

Okay, so the changes in this chapter are as such:

-The scene where the trainer and his Pikachu are crying in the locker room has been moved to the beginning, and a bit of extra detail of what happened to them is included.

-Cynthia is no longer even mentioned to have found Ash attractive, they're relationship in the past has been completely platonic and will remain so, or will it?

-A very important aspect has been added, there are people called Servants, who worship Legendary Pokémon as gods and prophesize that a human will one day be chosen to save the world, etc. etc. Delia is a Servant, so Cynthia pretended she was as well to seem more trustworthy to Delia.

-Ash's childhood has been more fleshed out, more detail on why Gary bullied him and how Ash had no friends in Pallet, mainly because Gary had no parents and he was jealous of Ash of having at least one.

-Cynthia has become less friendly and more conniving; I wanted to depict her as a woman who gets shit done no matter the consequence.

-Lance's jerkiness has been dialed down a bit, to make it more realistic.

And I think that's it.

If you are confused about something, or you want to ask me something, please feel free to PM me and I will try my best to reply without giving away spoilers unless you want them.

-SwallowtheSun