A/N: The not so long awaited Chapter 5. I hope it answers at least one of your many questions. But that's good. I plan for this story to keep you questioning a little. Anyway, on with the tale of Sir Ash and his trusty companion Sir Pikachu (Joking)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon

Unknown Location, Johto

A pair of extremely pale violet eyes opened calmly as the large double-doors were pushed aside. The light cast from outside reached out timidly, as though it feared the presence of the seated man. Just as it seemed it would touch him, the doors swung closed, and swallowed the light. With the doors closed, the one who had opened said doors, a man of impressive height and build, strode forward and knelt before the violet eyed man.

"So the boy survived, interesting." the owner of the violet eyes mused thoughtfully

"Sir, if you don't mind my intervention, wasn't that your plan from the very beginning"

"No. If you remember correctly my plan was to kill him. To have you kill him."

The man being spoken to gulped, quickly falling to his knees once again; bowing in reverence and apology.

"However,"

The kneeling man looked up, with undeniable, and misplaced hope shining in his hazy eyes.

"You wouldn't remember that would you, after all, your disease prevents you from doing so."

The word disease was spoken with such sarcasm and contempt it made the bowing man quiver.

Flashback— the day after the Pallet Massacre

"Sir, I've returned"

The speaker was none other than the bowing man; his features waging war over they should be somber and depressed, or successful and relieved.

"So it would seem." A sitting man replied good-naturedly, "What have you to report?"

"Ash Ketchum, the boy you sent me to eliminate, is dead."

The man raised an eyebrow, "Is he now? Can you confirm the body?"

"There is no need for confirmation, Vigoroth punctured an artery in his chest and his body temperature was low enough that he will die of hypothermia or blood loss, whichever strikes first"

"Likely blood loss." The sitting man stood, staring down at the man below him, "Rise, Norman Maple"

"Yes, your highness."

"For your success in today's event, your family will not be harmed and I will go personally to make sure the boy is dead."

Norman's eyes widened, "Sir, allow me to go. If the boy still breaths I shall finish what I started."

The man, now towering over the kneeling Norman, sighed, "It is my duty to take responsibility for those who stand in my way."

"Sir, please do not go. I will go in your place."

The man's eyes widened in revelation, but they settled on a satisfied glare in an instant.

"I see. Your heart truly is noble, Norman Maple. However, it is my place to shatter all that nobility, and turn you into nothing more than motivation for Ash Ketchum to live."

Norman's eyes widened far further than those of the man before him ever did, "You planned for Ash to survive?"

The man chuckled, "Of course not. I planned on you letting him survive."

Norman choked

"How did I know? Well the answer is simple."

His eyes started to glow a deep violet tinted gray

"I am"

The gray began to pulse towards Norman

"The most powerful Psychic to ever walk the Earth!"

Norman fell to the ground, eyes quickly loosing their light as they blankly stared at a wall, filled with nothing but shock.

Flashback End

"What the hell did you do to me?" Norman growled, head now bowed completely in rage

"Simple," The man gave Norman a condescending scowl, "I used my psychic powers to interfere with the neural impulses of your mind. In other words, your 'disease' is merely my psychic powers interfering with your ability to process thought."

Norman sprung to his feet, eyes ablaze with fury

"You bastard." Norman hissed through clenched teeth, "What will you do to me now? Ash has escaped your shoddy imitation of Alcatraz and now he knows he was set up. You said it yourself; you have reason to fear this boy. Well guess what, now he has a reason to come after you!"

The man still appeared unbothered, dismissing Norman's furious statement with a flick of his hand,

"That is water under the bridge. Do you honestly believe that I kept him in my castle without doing anything to him?"

Norman faltered, convicted eyes growing ever more uncertain, "What did you do?"

"I did what was necessary to bring him to my side in this approaching storm. If he is on my side, not even the gods will have the power to stand in my way."

"You're insane!"

The man turned an appropriately crazed eye to meet Norman's accusatory glare,

"Maybe so, but only the mad can change the world!"

"The world will devour you!" Norman fired back, "Ash will stop you."

'He has to.' Norman thought privately, 'This world cannot fall into the hands of a madman. A world run by this man is no way for May and Max to grow up.'

"Now then, Norman Maple, prepare to become nothing but a pawn in a chess match that will enamor the entire universe!"

'Caroline, I put my faith in you. Raise May and Max to be nothing but perfection, and, if possible, rally behind Ash,'

The man raised his hand just as the tears began to flow from Norman's deep navy eyes.

"Remember nothing of who you are!" The man chanted victoriously

'And never forget.'

"Remember nothing of your past!"

"REMEMBER!" Norman cried to heaven as his glistening tears fell to hell

"Remember me!" The man's command was almost drowned out by the overwhelming gray light that shot forth the instant said man's suspended hand came down like the blade on the guillotine.

'Remember me' Norman pleaded desperately, in his last act of free will, as the gray light fully absorbed him.

Tohjo Falls, Johto

Thundering steps finally rained from the upstairs bedrooms, growing louder as the source trampled closer to the door.

"Gramps, who's at the door? And why's it so important?" The professor in training grumbled

"Hey Gary, long time no see."

"Ashy boy?" He gasped in shock. Then, without warning he ran over and gave his childhood friend a hug, "Where you been Ash? I thought you had died!"

Ash was in shock at his friend's reaction, but returned the hug apprehensively. Ash looked at the Pokémon Professor for an explanation, but all he got in return was that pure grandfather smile. Ash rolled his eyes and broke the hug.

'Guess Gary's just a big softie' Ash chuckled to himself.

"Professor, are you going somewhere?" Asked Ash, the teen remembering that Oak had opened the door without hearing his knock.

The old professor nodded, "I was going over to see Professor Elm. His lab is in Newbark Town. You've probably been there Ash; it's right on the harbor. His lab is the tallest building in town, you can't miss it."

Ash's face lost some color. That couldn't have been the place he had stolen the outboard from could it?

'I thought that was a supply shop, explains their lack of inventory though' Ash chuckled sheepishly.

"Yeah, I've been there. When I traveled through Johto." Ash said aloud

The professor smiled, "I thought so, but Elm can wait, I want to catch up with you, Ash."

Said boy nodded, and Oak senior directed them to the living room. This was the room where Ash's life would change forever. As he was about to begin his tale, he suddenly stopped; his mouth hung half open as images flooded into his mind,

Flashback

"You can't do this!" Ash rammed his shoulder into the cage in a desperate attempt to break free

"Watch us" One of the guards smirked coldly

"In fact, you are! You even get the best seat in the house." Another sneered heartlessly

"No!" Ash screamed, tears streaming down his face

The guards, heedless of his pain, opened his cell door with the intent of detaining him. Ash however, had other ideas. Throwing a right cross that sent the first guard to the floor he bashed the second guard against the wall, deftly stealing his handgun that had been stored on his belt. Ash turned on a dime and fired five shots, two into the guard he had stolen the gun from and three into the guard he had decked. Both dropped to the ground, unmoving as their life solution flowed freely from the gaping holes left by the 9 mm rounds, laminating the floor in a dark red casing. The only thing left untouched by the flowing red liquid was the only other occupant of Ash's former cell.

A chessboard.

But upon closer inspection it was clear that even the strategy game could not escape the death, for one of the white pawns was sprinkled with dark red fluid.

Ash simply stared in shock, not quite comprehending what he had just done. He dropped the handgun as he stared numbly at the gruesome scene before him. But not even the splashing sound wrought by steel alloy on blood could break him out of his horrified trance.

However, the paralyzing feeling began to fade as he took deep breaths trying to calm himself, but the prison turned house of horror had other plans. Footsteps and shouts echoing off the walls brought back the repressed internal anarchy. Ash turned tail and ran, walls and barred windows blurring as he dashed through the grisly maze. He didn't know how long he had been running, but he was beginning to feel like vomiting from sheer exhaustion. While his body begged him to stop his mind knew it had to keep going, his conscious clinging to the sublime belief that if he ran far enough, fast enough he would be free. But his naïve, fragile belief was shattered only moments later.

As he was running past the intersection of two hallways, he was tackled to the ground from the side and sent sprawling across the hard floor. A guard was on him in an instant.

Ash did not miss the killer gleam in his assailant's eyes. A gleam he was sure his eyes had held as he murdered those guards.

'Not murder' Ash thought, 'Penance'

With this revelation, Ash's mind went blank and his world became encased in a magnificent red hue; however, localized and upright stark white fire burned in extremely select places, the most notable being the one taking up the place of the guard in front of him. Ash connected the dots, mind racing through countermeasures to escape his current situation. His solution was presented to him in the form a rifle slung over the man's back and a tazer in said man's right hand. A predatory growl escaped his throat, his hands working diligently to take possession of the electric weapon. Once he did he sunk the short blades into the guard's throat, taking him out of the fight.

With precision he didn't know he possessed he flipped the safety on the semi automatic rifle off, and trained the iron sights on the nearest guard's head. Neither had time to react to the six precision shots fired, nor to think about the accuracy of the six shells now buried in the wall behind their head, or the red mist that diluted the air as their bodies fell to the floor with a dull, deceased thump.

With the red hue in Ash's vision being replaced with a more palpable one and the white fires being replaced with inanimate human corpses Ash dropped the assault rifle, staring at his hands in disbelief, desperately praying that the hands displayed in his vision hadn't killed those men. With no one stepping up to take the blame Ash steeled his resolve with a few deep breaths, picking the rifle back up and taking a large combat knife from the same guard he had knocked out. Ash was about to walk away when he noticed the guard he had tazed coming to.

The Pallet trainer didn't hesitate

Picking the man up and slamming him against the wall he started his inquisition.

"Where is the underground ring?" Ash demanded

The guard simply gave him a horrified look

"ANSWER ME!" Ash howled, his voice hitching with the sheer volume.

The guard snapped back to reality, but this didn't stop him from incoherently babbling. Ash remedied that by slamming him against the wall a second time.

"Take elevator 4B down to U1, there will be an emergency exit to your right, take that up as far as it goes." The guard rattled off expertly, and hurriedly as the fear continued to grip his body.

"You should have been a tour guide" Ash sneered as he tazed the man once more, sending him to the ground for the second time that day.

With the man going to be experiencing serious neural issues in the future Ash dashed down a hall, searching for any sign detailing where he was. He was running so fast he almost missed the first sign that came into view.

'4B'

"No shit," Ash grinned as he pushed the down arrow, calling the elevator.

While waiting, Ash got a sinking suspicion that something bad was about to imminently occur. Readying his combat knife, Ash positioned himself so he could still see the doors, but an unobservant occupant or an unsuspecting occupant wouldn't see him. As a ding signified the elevator's arrival, Ash's fingers tensed around the knife in preparation for the upcoming bout. The doors opened agonizingly slowly, but open they did and he was able to take note of the two guards armed with shotguns standing on either side of the elevator.

"Who the hell called the elevator?" One asked

"Who knows?" One shrugged, "Let's go, we don't want to keep the big man waiting"

Ash growled in frustration, immediately realizing his only solution.

"Hey!" He called in his best, pained voice, then again, he wasn't exactly acting, "I need some help! I've detained an escapee, but he got me with a handgun!"

"Shit" One's eyes darkened, "I heard some chatter about that on the radio, Epsilon guard said they engaged, but they went silent shortly after"

"If that's true then this guy could use all the help he can get"

Receiving an affirmative nod, both stalked around the corner, one crouching with the other standing with both barrels pointed outward. Just as they approached the corner, a gloved hand grabbed the barrel of the standing man's shotgun.

"What the hell?" The man was about to yank the gun free, but two tazer prongs were soon protruding from his throat, sending him down immediately. The second aimed the trigger and fired, but nothing happened.

"Next time" The mystery man chuckled, "Leave the safety off"

A flash of blinding light and the guard's world went black.

Ash picked up both their IDs before striding into the elevator and pushing the button designated U1. The black haired inmate stepped back and clasped his hands behind his back, waiting for the elevator to stop.

Once it did Ash turned and raced up the emergency exit stairs. He didn't stumble once, his boot clad feet glided over the repetitive ledges leading to what Ash believed to be his worst nightmare. Coming to a slight hallway with a zealous double door at the end Ash deemed this worthy of his given instructions and rushed toward said door, pushing the handle down and slamming his shoulder into the door. The alloy however, didn't budge and Ash was sent reeling from the impact. Growling in pain Ash fired six armor-piercing, frustration-venting shells into the hinges, kicking the door down once he had fired the sixth shot.

A/N: I planned for this chapter to fill the holes I left in the plot (Yes I planned those you non-believers), but I feel like I filled in some but dug some more for you to complain about. But that's alright. If you haven't realized it yet, I enjoy your suffering. But rather than complaining, why don't you be productive and try to figure out some stuff. Was Ash meant to live? Who is the standing/sitting/condescending/crazy/psychic guy who seems to be a puppet master pulling all the strings? Well I know who they are, but you could always make predictions and imagine. Isn't that kind of the appeal of fictional reading? Yeah the characters and 'my childhood hero becomes a badass' is grand and all, but I wouldn't read a story simply because Ash was a badass. I read for the enjoyment, a story that leaves me wondering what will happen next. This is my attempt to do that (No not just the chapter, the whole story in general). I'm new to this whole Plot thing though (Making fun of Proven), so tell me how I end up doing (Honestly). In plain English that means REVIEW.