A/N: Thanks for everyone for reviewing and for waiting so long for me to get back to all you guys. And we managed to hit 100 reviews! *Throws confetti* And even better, this is our 60th chapter, so we've come a long way up till now. Thanks for the support.

Ash had thought that the invaders had headed straight for the Imperial Palace, and as such, most of the damage had been done to the Imperial Palace and the surrounding city would have been spared. He had seen the damage done to the streets outside but it had been but a glimpse and not enough to prepare him for what he now saw on the ground firsthand.

The streets of Ponyta City were a mess.

"Half the city looks like it's collapsed," Ash said.

"Actually, we've done a quick survey and it's closer to 'round forty percent," Gulliver said.

"That really doesn't help," Ash said. Pikachu nodded. They had decided to break into teams with Misty and Brock staying back at the Palace and fixing everything that was there while Ash and Gulliver tried fixing things outside.

There were hundreds of injured people… and many more that were unharmed but very scared. Lots of them began to crowd around Ash and Gulliver as they made their way towards the docks. Most of them were asking what was going on and Ash and Gulliver tried their best to tell them that the threat was gone.

At least, it was gone for the most part. Ash and Gulliver ran into random stragglers from the invading army- people who either for some reason didn't believe what Ash had said or maybe had faulty communications devices and hadn't boarded the large ships to leave.

"So what do we do with all of them now?" Ash asked, dragging a fourth one who had been shocked unconscious towards a large pile.

"I dunno," Gulliver said.

"I was thinking of maybe just handing them over to, well you know, the normal people here but they'd probably kill them," Ash said. The sentence had sounded strange in his mouth… for one it was weird to refer to anyone as 'normal people' and on the other hand it was also odd that he had immediately come to the conclusion that the citizens of Ponyta City, if left to guard these soldiers, would kill them. But he had been in Galea long enough to realize that it wasn't all too remote a possibility.

"Well then I don't see any officers 'round here, but we- y' know what, I'll go round up some more fellas to keep these prisoners well, uh, captured," Gulliver said.

"Seems like a good idea," Ash said.

And it was then that Ash heard the scream. It was a loud, ear-piercing shriek coupled with sobs that emanated from a nearby collapsed store.

Ash walked over there to see what the whole deal was.

Right there, under the rubble, was the malformed structure of what was once a person with an older woman- a mother or wife perhaps- sobbing next to it.

At that moment, Ash didn't know what hit him. He didn't know- but he sure felt it. He felt a torrential wave of anger rush inside of him. There was a roaring sound in his ears and up till that moment, he had made sure to try as hard as possible not to rely on the Badge's powers up till now but he found himself reaching deep into them.

As the energy from them filled him, he felt it expand and push against his head along with his anger until it felt like his head would explode, and then within seconds he felt himself leave his body.

Now, out-of-body experiences were nothing new to Ash Ketchum. There was that time when he had wanted to defeat Sabrina and Haunter had taken his soul out when he had tried to catch a ghost type. But that time they had still floated around at what were normal speeds.

This time, it felt like he zoomed over the entire city in the blink of an eye and yet somehow within that short span of time managed to see everything… the people milling about, the stores that were still open, and that there were far, far, more people dead than he had thought.

But that was a temporary consideration as he found the mammoth ships that were carrying the people who had done this, and he unleashed his fury one them by raining lightning bolts on the hull of the ship. Some primal part deep within him actually wanted to finish the job and kill all of them, but some other part of him knew that was a bad idea.

"Ash!" a familiar voice- Gulliver's called out to him.

Next thing that Ash knew, he was lying on the floor. There was something dripping out of his nose which he wiped- it was blood. His chest felt like there were six burning holes in it and he could hardly see clearly.

His Pikachu was looking at him, worried.

But somehow, Ash's anger still hadn't subsided. He got up and snarled, "We need to go after them! We'll get them, every single one of them who did this!"

"Are- are you sure?" Gulliver asked. "I mean ain't it more important to take care of whoever's left 'round? Some of them could use medic help."

For the first time, Ash actually wished that Gulliver would start acting like one of his servants instead of trying to be his friend, ironically just when Gulliver had started doing the opposite only because Ash had kept telling him to do so.

"This'll just happen again," Ash said. "It'll happen to even more people. And I can't let that happen." He didn't want to stand around tending to people's wounds or comforting them right now, no, he wanted to go and plant his feet firmly in the behinds of the people that had done this.

"But we can't catch 'em all," Gulliver said. "They'll run away. It'll be impossible."

Gradually, Ash's anger abated and he was aware that he had been thinking like a huge jerk and that Gulliver was right.

At that moment though, a shadow passed over them and there was the cry of a Pokemon. A cry he recognized… an Altaria!

Ash whipped his head upwards, expecting a battle but instead saw that it was Duke Hamnet, rapidly descending towards them.

"Sir Ash," Duke Hamnet said and made a low bow. "Our towns… all of them are being assaulted as we speak. I was able to hold Cinnamon City for a few hours before I was able to get everyone evacuated. I have taken the imprisoned Gym Leaders and relocated them to a safe location where they will not be targets. What are your further orders?"

"Oh, great to see you," Ash said, really feeling relieved that help had arrived. "Uh, see, I think I already broke one of Selena's ships, and I think that you and Gulliver should go and take down the other one. We can't have them spreading from here to another place."

"Yes, sir," Duke Hamnet said.

Ash handed Gulliver his Fearow and Arcanine in case it would be needed- Gulliver wasn't that good of a battler yet but he was sure that the two of them could take on a large number of Selena's minions. From what he had seen, sure, they were tougher than other Trainers in Galea, but that was a very low threshold to be honest and they wouldn't be of much threat to them.

Ash sent out his Roserade- Aromatherapy would be useful in healing people especially as Ash wasn't sure about using the Badges right now.


By the time the sun was about to set (the sun had begun moving through the sky normally suddenly), their work was basically over. Ash felt like he could fall over- and even his Roserade was tired.

The scientist they had been looking for had thankfully arrived so Ash didn't have to go looking for him and he was being escorted by another familiar face- Celera who had helped fight off some of the other ravagers that had attacked them.

All of them- Ash, Gulliver, Brock, Misty, Celera, and Duke Hamnet were seated in Ash's room in the Imperial Palace. The telephones had been dismantled so that Selena would no longer be able to spy on them through them- which was probably why her soldiers had thought that Ash was still back in Vanessa's domain.

"I have grim news, Lord Ash," Celera said. "Their soldiers might be weak, but they vastly outnumber our own and they are stronger than those who have never fought a real Pokemon battle. Most of the people have fled the cities have migrated towards fortified locations, it doesn't help that most of the defensive walls around our cities have been torn down in the last thirty-two years- where many of them are building weapons to use against the enemy Pokemon. Selena's minions are taking prisoners but I do not know what she intends to do with them."

"Probably wants to use them hostage," Brock said.

Duke Hamnet said, "But why though? We wouldn't pay to get our peasants back. If they were nobles than perhaps I could understand but Selena has all the money that she needs."

Ash had difficulty wrapping his head around what Duke Hamnet was trying to say but when he did realize what he was saying he said, "I don't think she wants to ransom them for money- she wants to keep them hostage in case I ever attack her."

"Oh, yes," Duke Hamnet said.

"What about Wade?" Ash asked.

"I don't have any news from him," Celera said.

"Neither do I," Duke Hamnet said. "But my guessing would be that he is similarly trying to defend his domain against the invaders and is too overwhelmed to send a message to us."

"Right," Ash said. "So, on to why I brought all of you here. First of all, Dr. Stein," Ash said, addressing the scientist present at the scene, "Selena said that it would be possible for me to leave Galea by using the power of my Badges and go back to Kanto. Is that true? And if so, would it have any harmful side effects?"

"Well, see now that is a rather difficult question to answer," Dr. Stein said, stroking his white mustache. He kind of reminded Ash of Professor Oak, except that he was mostly bald and a bit shorter and fatter. "Well, you see, the intricacies of the balance between Galea and the outside world are precarious. We live in a delicate equilibrium maintained by the Barrier. Lady Selena has disrupted the Barrier and due to it we've seen all of these effects, but it seems that the Barrier has somewhat stabilized since then and the various strange occurrences like Pokemon suddenly appearing out of nowhere and ships vanishing have stopped."

"So do you mean that the Barrier's fine again?" Ash asked. "I thought Selena said it was collapsing…"

"It is," Dr. Stein said. "The Barrier's self-regenerating capacity is still present but we have crossed the point of no return a long time ago- without any intervention it will come crashing down upon us. But it has managed to stabilize itself in its present condition. As such, if we imaging the Barrier in likeness to a large wall, there are probably enough holes for one such as yourself to slip through without any problem any more."

"Right," Ash said.

"You're leaving for Kanto?" Gulliver asked. He, as well as Duke Hamnet and Celera, had alarmed expressions on their faces. Brock and Misty were also surprised, but the three of them looked downright scared.

"I'm not leaving forever," Ash said. "I'm leaving to get help. And this is where my plan begins." He turned to Brock and Misty. "I remember a lot of my journeys with you guys, and not just with you, with Iris, with Serena and all the others too. I've been to so many places and I've realized one thing- I've met so many people around the world. I know Elite Four members like Agatha, Drake, and Lance as well as all the Gym Leaders. And that's important because there's no way- no way at all that we can combat Selena with what we have. And the thing is that I've helped those people. And if I go outside and tell them what's happening in Galea- they're bound to listen. I'll take the Badges as proof and Clemont and Professor Sycamore will back me up. And with that, I'll get the Pokemon League of every region to send Trainers towards Galea, and with all of their help we'll defeat the invaders."

There was a long silence after Ash had finished. Ash began to sweat nervously- this wasn't the reaction he was waiting for.

"Ash, what makes you think that they'll believe you?" Misty asked. "I mean, yeah, there are people like Cynthia and Lance who'll take your word for it. But Professor Oak didn't exactly think that Professor Sycamore was sane when he sent us to Clemont's lab."

"But I'll be there," Ash said. "They can't explain the fact that I've been missing for so long any other way. Not to mention all of the signs like those Darumaka appearing- that means that they must have come from the outside world. And they have better stuff outside their too so something must show up once we go outside. Plus, there are the Badges."

"If I may interject," Celera said nervously, "But Ash, we aren't sure if the Badges will work outside of Galea or even if they'll want to leave Galea. If I'm not wrong, didn't you feel weird when you tried to take a Badge from one place to another?"

"Yeah, okay, ignoring them, they'll still believe me," Ash said. "There must be way too much of a ruckus for them to ignore what I'm trying to tell them."

"Are you certain that they'd want to help us anyway?" Duke Hamnet asked. "We did attack Kalos several millennia ago, what if they're still enraged about that and decide to launch an invasion? Not to mention that the people need to know that their leader stands with them, Sir Ketchum. You leaving would be seen as something like someone jumping off a sinking ship. It would not be good for morale."

"Okay, look, no one is going to try and invade Galea," Ash said. "We've progressed far beyond the point where we'd go and try to retaliate against another country just because of something that happened a few thousand years ago. And from what I can tell, if Galea collapses, it'll effect everyone across the entire planet, and so they'll have to help. Plus, come on guys," Ash said particularly to Brock and Misty, "just think about Lance, about Steven and Drake, or about Cynthia, okay you guys never saw her but all of them do know me pretty well. D'ya really think that they'd all just stand by? If even half of the people we visited decide to do something about it, we could completely turn the tide of this war right here."

"I dunno who those people are," Gulliver said. "But if they're really strong an' all, won't they might try to take your Badges?"

Ash shrugged. "My main thing's always been to get out of Galea, and now it's also to save Galea and everyone in it. I don't think there are many people who are capable of beating me- since I'll be able to use all eight of my special rules against them. And even if someone like Lance does beat me, well, he's the Pokemon League Champion of Kanto already so I don't see why'd he want to come to Galea and I'm sure that if he does, he'd be a pretty nice ruler anyway."

"The Pokemon League Champion of Kanto?" Celera asked. Duke Hamnet, Gulliver, and Celera seemed to have become even more alarmed when Ash mentioned that.

"Yeah, and of Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Kalos also I guess," Ash said. "They'd all certainly come here I guess. And if I can't beat Selena for whatever reason, I'm sure that one of them will be able to. And with their help, we'll be able to protect all this territory that we have."

"Sir Ash, I have to say that this sounds less like asking for help and more closer to… annexation," Duke Hamnet said.

Ash rubbed his face in frustration. The urge to shout at everyone and tell them that it was he that was in charge and that it was going to be his final decision and they should all shut their stupid mouths was really swelling up in him… till he repressed it and realized that there was a reason that Celera, Duke Hamnet, and Gulliver were so vehemently opposed to his idea.

They don't like foreigners, Ash realized. They were scared of what it would mean to suddenly have all of those people from outside banging at their front door.

"Look, I know all of you are afraid of what's going to happen," Ash said. "But I'll be supervising everything and I'll make sure that nothing uh, bad happens. "

"Ash, there's another thing," Brock said. "Even if they want to come to Galea, what makes you think that they'll be able to?"

"I'll get them in," Ash said. "And even if I can't they'll find a way in."

"This seems to be hinged on a lot of 'ifs' happening," Misty said.

And now, the urge to scream at them had overpowered everything else. "Look guys, I know that it sounds odd, but trust me when I say that I know what I'm doing. And that's that," Ash said rather rudely. He then calmed down a bit as there was an odd silence as no one besides him dared to speak and he said, "Gulliver, I've decided that if I'm going, someone needs to take one of my Badges to keep order here. We can't rely on only Wade. So I'm handing the Tempo Badge to you."

"Really?" Gulliver asked, looking shocked.

"Don't look so surprised," Ash said. "Back then, back when I saw the person who had died... you still wanted to help people while I just wanted to burn everything down. I think that now, more than ever, you're ready to handle one of them. Brock, Misty, I'm sorry, but I could I ask the two of you to stay behind? Both of you are great Trainers and could really help in defending the place. I know it's selfish and you two probably wanna go back home to-" Ash got no further as both Brock and Misty stood up and hugged him.

"Shut up stupid," Misty said. "You know we'll always be with you."

"Yeah," Brock said. "We'll be with you till the end of the line."

"Pika pii pii pika pii!"


Ash was sailing away on his Greninja towards the horizon. He didn't know what was going to come up, but he was sure that he would be ready for it.

His friends and allies were waving him off a bit reluctantly behind him. They'd tried pretty hard to get him to get him to stay but Ash had gone on with his idea anyway.

Gulliver stood out though, as he had the Tempo Badge pinned to his chest. It sparkled even in the fading light, and somewhere, Ash felt a fleeting pang for it, as if he wanted to claim it again. He shook his head- now that he had only four Badges he was feeling a whole lot better and didn't want to ruin it.

Ash hoped, deep down, that he wasn't turning into someone like the other Gym Leaders. He could feel how having the Badges was changing him... it had been all too apparent in the past few weeks that he had morphed into someone very different from who he was.

He had never told the others about it, but that was one reason that he just had to go back. He was losing himself… he could feel it, and he needed to go back and remember what he had been before all of this had happened.


"Wow, he's really gone," Misty said.

"I was kind of hoping he'd turn around," Celera sighed. "So I guess all we can do is wait around, huh? 'cept for you, Gulliver. You seem to be the new man in charge now."

Gulliver blushed but then he noticed something in the horizon. "Hey! There's something fast approachin' us!"

As it got closer, it was clear that it was pretty big, whatever it was, and then it let out a huge roar.

"It's a Gyarados!" Misty said, recognizing the silhouette even in the dim light.

"Is it Wade?" Duke Hamnet asked.

They all braced themselves, waiting for an attack in case this was an invader, but it did turn out to be Wade.

"I have had the worst day ever," Wade said. "I have fought hundreds- no, correct that, thousands of Selena's minions ever since the crack of dawn." He then noticed Gulliver's Badge. "Huh, so you have one too now?"

"Yeah, Ash left," Gulliver said.

"What'd you mean he left?" Wade asked. "And will someone please explain to me why the telephone lines are down? Or why Selena can suddenly attack us?"

Celera gave Wade a quick run down of what had happened, but then Wade interrupted right when Celera mentioned that the Accord was now null and void.

"Wait, there's no Accord?" Wade said, shocked. "But that- why didn't Ash call me then? It means that all the oaths we took to keep what happened to Galea a secret are also ineffective! We need to call Ash back before he goes and does something stupid like challenge Selena!"

"Why do you keep acting like Selena's unbeatable?" Brock asked.

"Because she's the Pokemon League Champion!" Wade said. "Selena is the original Pokemon League Champion, the one who united Galea over three thousand years ago! Do you think that anyone could beat her?"

A/N: On that note, we end this chapter. Thank you for reading. On a side note, when Ash gets back, he'll have to talk to people. So which of the foreigners would you like mentioned in this fanfic? I can't do everyone that Ash has ever met, most of them will just be mentioned casually in passing, but which few people would you like to see in detail?