Okay, I apologize for taking so long without an explanation. I plan to update this story about once or twice a week - primarily on the weekends. I'll try to alert you if I may not be able to do that. Hopefully this might be finished somewhere in January, since it is not planned to be especially long. Thanks and Enjoy!

Samuel was scared.

He had a right to be scared, though, when his partner of twelve years had been knocked out with a few well-placed attacks from the Ninetales that was now casually walking away with the hooded man as if there wasn't a full scale battle happening behind it.

He had given orders for the League troops to fall back to the coastline thirty seconds ago, but it seemed like that had been hours in itself. The Orrean troops had cut through their numbers like a hot knife through butter – leaving the League force a skeleton of its former strength.

The com-link was abuzz in Samuel's ear; Lance was demanding constant updates. Samuel just told him that they were retreating – he didn't have the breath to speak any more since the blasted dust kept robbing him of breath.

An explosion rocked Samuel's world for a quick moment, knocking him clean off of his feet to land in another crater that had been opened up by a trainer's Nidoking.

He groaned upon noticing that he was not the crater's sole inhabitant. A Flygon loomed eerily above him, staring at his face with narrowed eyes as if it were judging his entire being.

Samuel wasn't entirely surprised when it charged a hyper beam between its hands. He also wasn't surprised when the world went entirely dark two seconds later.

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He paced the room relentlessly, trying to release some of the tenseness that had seeped into him since the man in the cloak had fired the first shot into the air and signaled the charge against the League.

Lance Wataru was not a patient man. He preferred to get things done himself, and seldom trusted others to handle important tasks for him unless they'd proven to be reliable.

He'd sent Samuel Hashira into Orre as the leader of the League forces because he'd been one of the best that the G-Men had ever turned out.

He had been reliable, confident, and his team could rival even the Elite Four of Indigo. His character was solid and he constantly strove for the betterment of people and Pokémon.

Now he was dead, and the force that had invaded Orre along with him.

The Orreans had quickly decimated the soldiers that encircled the mountain range, cutting down those who stood and fought and picking off those who retreated. Perhaps twenty out of the entire force sent into Orre made it back to the boats – and seven more were blown out of the water.

It almost made Lance sick to think about. The entire League force had comprised of four-hundred sixty five men and their Pokémon. Thirteen had returned alive and none of them had their full team with them.

This meant that along with the Orrean deaths, approximately over a thousand people and Pokémon had died in the last few hours in the failed invasion. All for nothing.

Now the vengeful Orre trainers were invading Indigo. They had already taken the southernmost cities and towns along the Kanto peninsula up to Pewter City and extending eastwards towards Celadon City. Westward in Johto they had captured all of the coastal cities, stopping their advance short of Ecruteak City and Goldenrod City.

This meant that the Indigo League was deprived of all of its major ports and was cut entirely in two – unless people were willing to traverse the dangerous Mount Silver area.

Very few people had actually lost their homes or their lives unless they fought the invaders. Even so, the reports that Lance had received said that at least five hundred more lives had been lost since the Orre trainers had arrived.

Soon Indigo would be facing economic crises if it didn't get its ports running again; the Orreans had stopped all ships from leaving as soon as they'd arrived.

He had quickly come to the realization that he would have to do some major politicking to restore order to Indigo. Luckily the other champions had agreed to help him, for fear of Orre exacting revenge upon them as well.

First though, he had to establish contact with the enemy.

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Jacquelyn Emeritus laughed at her Torkoal as is rolled around on its back after tripping on one of the stairs to the Pokémon center.

Being back in Kanto after so long was a relief to her. Getting away from all of the dust and heat of Orre for the cooler northern air was soothing.

She was also very happy to exact her revenge on the idiots who had tried to take her country from her whilst labeling her a murderous criminal. That was definitely another plus.

She and her team had been the force that captured the small town of Pallet; even Professor Oak knew that he was outmatched against the hardened Orre fighters.

Her team had sprinted to the lab immediately after her Pidgeot dropped them off at the small town, totally ignoring the townspeople when they peeked out from their houses. The kindly old professor had easily capitulated, on the terms that she or her Pokémon would swear not to harm anyone.

That wasn't her goal – unless one of them attacked first – so she easily agreed.

Now she and her Pokémon had taken up residence in the new Pokémon center that had sprung up recently.

It was surprising to her when the professor came to speak with her again though. Apparently Lance Wataru, the man who had started this mess, wanted to speak with the leader of Orre about settling the conflict.

He had asked the professor to speak Jacquelyn, knowing that the professor was cool headed under pressure and very persuasive.

"I'd be happy to pass along the message, Professor. I can't promise they'll listen, but I'll set Pidgeot to it right away." She told him.

He grinned tiredly at her, and Jacquelyn felt sorry for the aged researcher. She knew that he had probably not had anything to do with the invasion/ Pallet town being caught in the crossfire must have pained him to no end; what with the town being his own little pet-project.

"I'm happy to hear that. Lance simply wants to meet with this man and speak terms. Finding a place to meet would be a good start, I'd imagine." He told her.

She nodded to the professor and he left her alone in her room. She walked over to the dresser, nudging her Torkoal out of the way with her foot, and grabbed a pencil and a sheet of paper and began writing.

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Ashton Richardson,

This is Jacquelyn Emeritus, and I currently am occupying Pallet Town and the immediate area around it.

I was recently asked by Professor Samuel Oak to pass a message on from Lance; that he wants to speak with you about the current crisis facing Indigo. He is willing to let you set the place and time, so long as the latter is at reasonably soon.

The professor seemed very weary at the time, and Lance seemed to be more desperate than anything in his request. I personally recommend complying and starting a peace talk with him.

Thank you for your time,

-Jacquelyn Emeritus

Ashton Richardson finished the letter from the young woman whose Pidgeot had interrupted his morning coffee.

Besides him, Ninetales quietly read over the letter that he had lowered to her height, and snorted at the finishing remarks. He sent her a curious look that she returned with a short string of thoughts conveyed through telepathy.

Ninetales - or as she preferred to be called; Willow, after the tree that resembled her resplendent tails – and he had been through a great deal together.

She had been his one solace during the harsh space of time that had followed the loss of his trainer license. Professor Oak had given her to him so that they could bond together and fill the void that came with the mutual losses that they had.

Over time and many travels, they had grown strong together. Ashton had learned to control the strange power that he'd always had a connection to; Aura, and Willow had been gifted the unique – and normally impossible for her species – ability to utilize psychic powers.

This ability had allowed her to take the hypnotic affect that her species was well known for and turn it into a highly effective weapon to use against her enemies.

That combined with her already formidable elemental attacks and Ashton's aura abilities had allowed them to take the Orre region by storm.

Willow would immobilize their enemies while Ashton would go up close and annihilate them with powerful strikes. Together they had become an unstoppable team. Not many would ever dare enter the Orrean desert with only a single companion, but they took this lack of additional allies and turned it into their greatest asset; becoming closer than ever before and synchronizing their movements so well that they appeared to be of one mind.

In this fashion they had conquered Orre and wrested the mountain territory from the five previous occupants – no mean feat considering each of the five had a full team of six Pokémon all working in tandem to kill both of them.

Months later they had faced their greatest challenge together; the legendary Pokémon Moltres had appeared in the Orre region, and was moving towards the mountain range. He and Willow had left their home to fight the firebird, resulting in a clash that cemented them in the minds of Orre as a pair that was not to be crossed.

Moltres has fought them to the very greatest of its abilities. He and Willow both sustained terrible burns – which resulted in the cloak he now wore – and the area of the battle could still be seen to have glassed over when the wind blew away the dust that covered it.

They had won, barely. Ashton and Willow both did not come away unscathed. Willow had been permanently scarred by the swipe of an obsidian talon, and he himself had burn scars along his arms and much of his torso. His voice was also seldom used anymore since the heat had scorched his throat.

At the end of the battle he had bandaged Willow and himself up and then moved on to Moltres. The firebird, when it woke up, had just looked at the two of them for a long time before launching into the sky and leaving Orre.

The inhabitants of Orre had held him in awe ever since; not once challenger had dared to assault their territory and risk the wrath of the infamous duo.

'I think that Altomare would be a fine place for a peace-talk. It isn't a part of the League, and since you commanded it be left alone with Ilex and the other sanctuaries, the League can't say that you're forcing them into Orre territory.'

Willow's voice was soft and maternal, conveying wisdom beyond her years to the receiver. He had come to enjoy the voice and he loved her as a father loves a daughter, and a brother a sister. They were family, and their bond transcended that of a normal trainer and their Pokémon. Not even his first Pokémon had gotten as close to him as Willow.

His own rough voice replied to her, "Very well then. We can see Bianca and Latias in the meantime. I'd actually like to show Bianca the drawings I've done since we last visited. I think I've gotten better, don't you?" he said.

'Saying that you've gotten better is an understatement. Bianca will fall out of her seat when she sees your work. To think that you used to not even be able to draw a simple Pichu!' The Ninetales' voice replied back inside his head.

He rose from his chair, taking quick strides over to his desk where he began to gather different papers together. Drawings of different Pokémon and landscapes made up the majority of what he carefully stored in a rucksack. He also filed away some texts and books that he'd previously written.

One tended to have a lot of time to spare when they spent years relatively alone in a hallowed mountain range.

'Ash, you should at least send a reply first. Send it with Maron, she can take Bryce to Indigo and work as your representatives until we get there. We're not in a particular hurry after all' Willow's voice chided him.

Maron and Bryce were Ashton's second and third in command. They held the territory directly surrounding the mountains, and were the final trainers that one had to get past before challenging Ashton and Willow. They had never challenged his authority, preferring to live where they could see other people more often, and Ashton trusted them with his life.

When Moltres had fought them, Maron had been the one to give Willow and Ashton first aid; though she would not treat Moltres.

Bryce was a man who had made it his life goal to become the strongest trainer in the world. He specialized in fighting and ground types, and was a master of all the mineral-based typings of rock and steel as well.

Both had taken their territory directly after Ashton had taken the mountain range, and they stood in an alliance that none in Orre challenged without months of preparation. So far since their rise to the second highest position of power in Orre, they had remained undefeated, only retreating once when the League had invaded.

"Fine. Let me grab my pen and you can teleport us over to Maron's place." He said in reply to the elegant fox.

He wrote a quick message to Lance, saying that he would arrive in Altomare three days after the message got to him. Maron and Bryce would serve as his temporary ambassadors in the meantime.

'The pyres are burning. I can see the smoke column. I'm guessing you'll oversee the spreading of the ashes while Maron and Bryce are away then?' Willow's voice questioned him.

"Yes, I wouldn't dare leave them to sit while I'm away. The ashes of the fallen must be spread and at rest before I ever consider letting Indigo off. The only reason their troops haven't had the same honor yet is because I don't know if they'd appreciate that or not. I'll probably just ask who would like to have whichever person buried in Indigo. It would be disrespectful to just assume otherwise." Ashton told her.

He knew that there were some who had plans for their burials made for them beforehand. The League had its own graveyard for any of its servicemen to be buried in if when they died. He wouldn't take that away from them.

Those that had fallen in service of the League were being stored in a funeral home in Phenac City, where they wouldn't be touched by the elements. Normally those who died in Orre were cremated, but there were a few who desired a different end.

Finishing his letter, he scratched Willow underneath her ear before they both walked out the door.

Their home was situated in the center of a small lake that sat near the center of the mountain range. This was because the constant earthquakes that ravaged the area made it impossible to build a stable dwelling on land. Previous inhabitants normally just rebuilt whenever their house was destroyed, but Ashton had wanted a place of stability, so he had built a large raft and made his home on it.

Willow used her psychic abilities to teleport them to the edge of the range. A few hundred yards away a small shack could be seen, with a line of pyres sending their smoke into the sky next to it.

Ashton smiled, and he and Willow made their way over to Maron's home.