Chapter 1 – Thrust Back

A small moan broke the silence in the quiet forest as Ash used the strength he had left to stand up. For some reason he felt really exhausted, as if he had been running for quite some time, but he hasn't. The trainer scanned his surroundings and tried to figure out where he was. No such luck; he was lost. "Hello?" he called in hopes for someone to respond. "Brock? Dawn? Pikachu? Anybody..?" Ash already had a bad feeling he wasn't where he used to be. What did that boy do to him? He recalled the last words he heard before he blacked out. 'Forgive me Ash.'

"How did he know my name..? I...I never said it to him..." he mumbled.

The trainer decided to walk further in the dark forest to see if he could end up somewhere. A town would be nice...at least a place with people in it, then he could ask where he was.

Ash only trotted a couple meters though when he found himself standing on a narrow cliff...and facing an amazing view. He could see a village not far from where he was, and also a magnificent castle on the horizon. It was like he was seeing something centuries ago, because he couldn't recall an area that looked like this-"Wait a sec!" the scene looked really familiar to him, like he had seen this before. But where? In a book of sorts..? Or maybe in a painting...

The crag wasn't that high up from the ground below, so he took position and defied gravity for a few seconds before landing on a soft bush before stepping on the grass. Thankfully the shrub was big, or he may have gotten some injuries in the process. He was close to the settlement, Ash was sure of it because he could hear the hustle and bustle of a market and the sound of a river. The boy ran avoiding the trees and branches blocking his way and was surprised by the sudden bright light that shone on his eyes when he came out of the big group of plants.

He soon adjusted to the brightness and gazed at what he saw. Ash saw people tilling fields with hoes and their bare hands; he saw children playing tag as if they had no care in the world; he saw pokémon helping out the other humans by carrying large crates of goods in to the market; he saw houses made of wood and stone instead of cement; and he saw the castle that loomed over the entire village in its glory. The boy also then realized their clothing were as if they were from a long time ago, like the time when Sir Aaron-

"Wait...the castle-can it be-?" his thoughts were interrupted when he saw a man dressed in a blue and grey outfit with blue boots, matching gloves with both a jewel attached to it, a midnight blue cape and a black and blue hat. Beside him was a pokémon he would recognize anywhere. "L-lucario?"

"Master, shouldn't we be training?" the jackal-like creature asked. Sir Aaron showed him a brief smile. "We have to rest sometimes...and the Queen said we needed to help the chef with his ingredients."

"But...why us? Wouldn't it be better for someone else to do it?" the man chuckled. "Yes, but it gives us time also to enjoy life's simple pleasures while we can."

Ash couldn't believe it. Here he was; seeing the two heroes that sacrificed themselves to save the palace alive and well. "B-but how is this possible?" he muttered in shock.

"Simple. Time Travel." another voice suddenly came out. The boy jumped and quickly turned to see who it was. But there was no one talking to him; was it just his imagination? "What are you waiting for? I thought you wanted to meet Sir Aaron in the flesh?" the voice went again.

"Who are you?"

"...that I cannot say, but all I can tell you is that you must be cautious of what you do here. Or you may end up changing the future more than you have previously thought."

"Can you bring me back to my friends?"

"Why the rush boy? You wished to meet the hero and here he is. Take the chance while you have it, or you'll end up losing that single one." out of the blue Ash felt the presence that was talking to him disappear. "Great, just great." he mumbled. But whoever he was conversing with was right, he wanted to meet Sir Aaron...but he didn't think it would come true. The trainer had to face reality though. He was in the past, and the man was still alive along with Lucario. The war probably hasn't started yet since nobody looked agitated in any way. He felt nervous, but what the heck? He ran to catch up with the pair.

The child soon found himself in front of the castle gate that guarded Cameran palace. The view was still breath-taking, but how was he going to get inside?

All of a sudden his fatigue had caught up with him, making him fall on his knees while panting heavily. Ash didn't eat lunch either, and he was seriously hungry. The boy's vision began to blur unexpectedly, and he felt wobbly too. "Oh man...I never...knew...I...was...so...tired..." he muttered before he collapsed on the ground.

-o-

Ash groaned and opened his eyes. He blinked a few times and he slowly sat up from where he was and rubbed his head with his hand. To his surprise, he was sitting on a soft bed with a thin blanket on top of his body, and when he turned he was faced with a window that showed the whole village below him. "Where am I..?"

"I see you are awake." a man's voice came beside him. Ash didn't notice there was someone there, and that person to be Sir Aaron. "We found you outside the castle gate. Can you explain how you ended up there in that state?" the boy still couldn't believe that it was really the Aura Guardian in front of him; speaking to him. That's when Lucario entered the room with a tray filled with food.

"I have what you have requested Master." the aura pokémon said as he handed it to the boy.

"Thank you Lucario." Sir Aaron then turned to Ash. "I assumed you must be famished so I asked for them to prepare some food for you."

"T-thanks..." he said in gratitude as he picked up a piece of bread and took a small bite. He was a little surprised at how good it tasted and soon found himself gobbling up the whole thing. The trainer took another piece and ate it as well in happiness. "This bread tastes great!" he said with his mouth filled with mush up food.

The Aura Guardian chuckled. "I'm glad you like it so much."

"Hey um...thank you for taking me in..." Ash suddenly murmured while staring at the empty tray.

"You are most welcome. My name is Aaron, what about yours?"

"My name is-" out of the blue the same voice that was talking to him not long ago spoke again. "Do not use your real name. Trust me you won't regret it."

The boy immediately followed what it said. "M-my name is Aiden. Nice to meet you Aaron."

What the heck did I just name myself?

"Aiden..." the man gave a soft smile which made Ash less tense about the situation he was in. "So what were you doing there on the ground..?"

"I-I was..." he started. This was bad, he couldn't think of any excuse at all. The elder male seemed to have noticed this, and changed the subject. "Where are your parents?"

"My parents?" he repeated. Ash didn't expect that question. "...they're not here. Honestly...I never met my dad...and I haven't seen my mom for three years now." at least that was the truth. He just left some of the major details out. Like the reason why he hasn't seen her was that he was on a journey to be the best trainer. Still, this could work to his benefit.

"Oh...so you live with someone else?"

"I travel with my pokémon and my two companions and go to different places. But I got separated from them recently and I've been trying to look for them ever since." the child was surprised how quickly he was able to come up with the story. Was it really this easy to lie to another? Well, it was sort of true in a sense anyhow.

"I see...if you want to, you can stay here for the night."

"Thank you...it means a lot." Ash only then recalled that Lucario was there with them in the room and hasn't said a single thing. The aura pokémon just stood there, leaned on a wall with his arms folded and a serious expression on his face. He looked back to Sir Aaron and the man smiled. "You do not have to worry about Lucario, he won't hurt you." the child knew the steel/fighting type wouldn't attempt such an act, but the cold glare was intimidating him.

Out of the blue Sir Aaron stood up from his seat. "I apologize Aiden, but I must leave now."

Ash smiled. "It's fine. Thank you again for letting me stay here."

"You are most welcome." he replied. "Let us go Lucario."

"Yes Master." and with that the two of them left the room and closed the brown door behind them.

The boy sighed as he shifted his view to the scenery. "This is definitely not a dream, and I just met Sir Aaron too. So that guy...he brought me to the past..." he looked down on his two hands. "How am I going to get back to Brock and Dawn? I can't depend on the same person to pull me back..." as Ash thought of this, he did not notice that the pair were standing outside of his room. But they couldn't hear what the onyx-haired trainer had mumbled to himself.

"Master...his aura..."

"Is the same as mine." the man finished. "This is interesting...maybe he can be trained to be an Aura Guardian as well."

"Y-you're going to take him in?" Lucario asked; clearly surprised.

"...it is possible."

The pokémon did not like his teacher's grin one bit.

A/N : Sorry for all the confusion and over-use of dialogues, but well, it was really hard to approach this chapter you know. ^ ^;; I never knew this story would grab so much attention even though I only wrote down the Prologue. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Oh yeah, please don't judge why I used the name 'Aiden'...my little sister said it was too cool for Ash to think on the spot. But...but...I like it! XDD

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