Once again, I don not own Pokemon, etc etc... Now onto the Story!

Professor Oak was by the kitchen making himself a cup of tea, whilst at the same time getting Ash a glass of water, seeing as the young man had asked for a glass politely. However though nobody could see it through the calm face, inside the professor's mind his thoughts and emotions were flying all over the place. One second Oak was feeling relived and happy that Ash had returned seeing as he had missed him greatly; the next he was angry that Ash hadn't even bothered to call him once and ask how he was, and finally he was sad as he couldn't imagine what could have happened to Ash during his solitude and the horrors he must of faced.

Rubbing his head and smoothing out the ever increasing number of wrinkles on his head due to old age, the professor grabbed both glasses and shuffled to the table in the living room. Placing both cups on the table, the duo silently sipped at the drinks, though both were thinking different things. Oak was thinking of a way of trying to ask Ash what he had done on his journey, but he didn't know what to say in case of angering him. Ash on the other hand was thinking that if the professor didn't ask him a question any time soon, he was going to leave and do what he had to do.

Moments passed and both of them were twiddling the thumbs, the mood having turned awkward, before eventually Ash began to get up from his seat as if to signify that he was leaving when Oak piped up with a question from his seat.

"Why Ash? Why did you leave?" He asked, never looking up from his cup of tea. His face was trying to convey the emotion of angry, but his voice betrayed him as it was laced with sadness and sympathy. "Why did you have to leave so suddenly? I was so shocked when you left with no warning, and you couldn't imagine the heartbreak I had felt…"

A once younger professor began to make his way to his laboratory, while letting out a huge sigh. Filled with stress and anger, the past couple of weeks had been truly life changing and to be honest he wanted the once quiet life back.

Placing his key in the door, he opened it and went inside before closing it gently then proceeding to make himself a cup of tea. In situations like these that always made him feel better. Once the water was boiling the professor made his way to his fridge and took out a bottle of milk before he noticed a letter on the table addressed to him.

Puzzled by this he put down the milk took the letter before sitting down and read what it said.

Dear Professor,

As you know the past couple of weeks have been truly life changing for me and I don't feel like the same person anymore. Ever since those events two weeks ago mostly everyone around me has changed towards me and I don't think I can cope with that. That is why I have decided to leave Pallet and my friends...to make them happy, as well as me. If I don't manage to speak to you again I thank you for everything you have done and the great adventures you have told me to go on. If you look out into the garden, you'll notice that my Pokémon are gone but please don't be alarmed. I have simply taken them along with me on my journey, so that at least I will have some company with me.

- Ash.

"Oh Ash" The professor said, hot tears running down his face as he read the letter. Why was it always the good people that had to be picked on and tossed aside like they were nothing? The professor began to cry softly as he read the letter, not knowing what to do. After crying for a good 10 minutes the professor got up and went to his safe and opened it before depositing the letter in their in case it was needed again.

Ash was silent when he heard the professor recap of that fateful day, Ash could remember it so clearly. When he was writing that letter, his emotions were the same as the professor; he was filled with a huge amount of sadness whilst crying his eyes out due to the fact that he had to leave his home. But now he had changed. He wasn't the weakling all those years ago. No, he was now emotionally stronger. He wouldn't cry at the slightest thing anymore, nor would his emotions get in the way of anything.

"Professor, I'm so sorry for the grief I caused you on that day." Ash said as he twiddled his thumbs. Inside the slightest feeling of guilt was slowly rising inside him. Did he really mean to cause the professor to feel like what he did that today? He didn't mean to, but looking back at what the professor just said...well Ash was having second thoughts.

They were both silent for a couple of minutes, not knowing what to say at all. However, Ash decided to take the innovative and broke the silence. "I didn't want to go you know." He said, not looking at the professor, preferring to fiddle with his fingers, which Ash had begun to see was a typical sign of nervousness for him. "It was just after the Sinnoh League, and with all the events that had taken place, I just couldn't cope with it anymore." He said before proceeding to tell Oak what had happened.

Ash was walking down route 1 after returning home from Sinnoh; although he had lost to Tobias he was feeling proud of his Pokémon for beating his Darkrai and that was all he wanted. After a 20 minute walk he could see the outskirts of the town, and Ash couldn't keep his excitement of returning home away at all. Running all the way home, it only took him 5 minutes to get home. He paused outside the fence to his house, taking in the site of the old family home that he had missed so much before he rushed inside.

"I'm home mu-" Ash began to say but he was stopped by the monster cuddle he was getting from his mum, as she rushed all the way from the kitchen to give Ash a hug as soon as she had heard the front door being opened.

"There's my little champion! How are you? Have you been eating enough? You look thin? Have you been changing you pants all the time…?" She said with the questions continuing on and on with Ash only being able to give a mumble for each answer. Eventually she let Ash go and turned back towards the kitchen where wonderful smells of home cooking began floating through when Ash realised that his stomach was rumbling.

"Hue hue, looks like someone has missed some food in a while." Ash joked patting his stomach before he started walking into the kitchen before he suddenly stopped. The sight in front of his eyes was simply astounding; it looked like there was a feast on the table which was fit for a king! There were simply just mountains of food everywhere on all different plates. "OH MY GOD!" Ash shouted, and as usual by thinking with his stomach, he rushed to the table and picked up a spare empty plate before pilling up on food after food on it ignoring the look from his mother's face.

"At that moment I thought everything was going fine. There was no trouble at all. I was happy at last; the defeat to Tobias was far gone from my mind, plus the fact that I was too busy shoving food into my face." Ash said letting out a little chuckle before proceeding on with the story.

Ash was lying in his bed, looking out at the stars from the window, whilst Pikachu was sleeping at the foot of the bed. Now that he had finished the Sinnoh League, he was left thinking as to what he could do next; was it worth his time to maybe too go back and go through Kanto again? Or was it time to settle now in Pallet? He gave a sigh as he mulled over these decisions, leading him to begin thinking that his journey was now over. Looking over at Pikachu, Ash let out a small smile. He knew that as long as Pikachu was with him, as well as his other Pokémon his adventures were never over; as long as they were together, new ones would keep on popping up all the time. Content with this, he closed his eyes with a smile on his face, ready for the journeys that awaited him as he slowly drifted off into the depths of sleep.

Ash woke up to the heat of his bedroom, and his initial reaction was that it was just his duvet that was making him hot. However as he kicked it off to try and get some air onto his body he noticed that instead of the heat disappearing, it was actually becoming more intense as the seconds passed on. Opening his eyes he saw the flickering of orange and yellow underneath his door. He had no idea what it was until he began coughing from the smoke that was seeping through as well. There was no denying that it was a fire, and instantly his heart was pumping away from adrenaline. He had been in life or death situations before, but never had he encountered a fire before. He took in deep breaths as he tried to evade the feeling of death as he let out a small chain of coughs, before the fear of death was soon replaced of the fear of his mum so he scrambled out of the bed to get to his belt.

"Buizel! I need a Water Gun attack quickly!" Ash shouted as he scrambled for his pokebelt that was lying near his bed and chucked the pokeball out; soon the sea otter materialised out into the open, and started spraying water at a high pressure around the door to get rid of the flames that were licking around it.

"Mum!" Ash shouted as soon as the fire was gone, before he pushed open the door and started running along the hall; adrenaline was rushing through him even more than a few minutes ago, as well as the mixture of horror. If anything happened to her, he would never be able to forgive himself…

Getting to her door, Ash started pounding on it whilst screaming, trying to grab her attention at least; but it was to no avail as he heard nothing at all coming from behind the door. Determined to get in there as quick as possible, he shoulder-barged the door as hard as he could, and after a couple of attempts the door collapsed, greeting Ash with the vision of flames covering the entire room. Ash had Buizel instantly use Water Gun as soon as the otter had made its way back to him. It gave a small nod before releasing another volley of high pressured water from its mouth, which cleared most of the water out of the room. Rushing over to his mother who was lying on the floor, Ash began to feel the hot prick of tears that were forming in his eyes as he reached her. All of her clothes were burnt right through with multiple holes everywhere on them, but her body was the worst. Her arms and legs were covered black, presumably from the soot but also from the burnt skin, although remarkably her face was fine, although there were a few blisters forming around her cheeks as the skin slowly turned black as well.

"You're going to be ok mum" Ash said, the tears falling down his face, while hugging her softly; he didn't want to cause her any more pain at them minute, as he knew that the burns would hurt even more if pressure was applied onto them. "We're going to get help for you." he said but Delia gave a small groan, before she slowly raised her hand and placed it on Ash's cheek. "You were always a bad liar you know Ash..." She said with a sad smile. "Just let me tell you this..." She said, before coughing loudly, before her hand faltered a second on his cheek. "I want you to promise me that you're going to look after yourself and your Pokémon for the future OK?' She asked, her voice getting weaker by the second. "I promise, Mum." Ash said, the tears still falling down his cheeks. "Thank you…" She said, before her eye lids began to flutter before closing, and her head slumped to the side, showing that it was all over for her now. Ash began to cry into her body, shouting out to her to wake up, even though he knew that it was of no use now. But that didn't stop him at all, he wasn't going to give up at all.

"So that's what happened on that night." Ash said and when he went to scratch his nose. He felt the wetness of his cheeks and realized that there were tears falling from his eyes, even though he didn't feel like crying at all. It seemed that just thinking about that night always made him sad, and now was no exception.

"I always think back to what I could have done to change things but inside I know that it was my fought all along." Ash said. The professor just sat there, tears rolling down his face as well. He was as shocked as the entire population of Pallet was when they heard the news, but it was worse for him seeing as he only lived down the road. He was given a brief story from the fire-fighters as to what the cause of death was, but he had never been able to get the eye-witness account though.

"I feel so sorry for you Ash but what actually happened? Why did you leave so suddenly? I would have been able to of helped you, as well as your friends being here for you." Oak asked, still none the wiser as to what could of caused Ash's departure. Ash just looked up at him and gave him a thin smile, all though his eyes lied to him, as they were filled with anger. "You might have seen them as friends, but after the fire, I truly learnt what they were all like. Plain liars." He spat, taking in a deep breath as he continued to tell the story.

Author Note:

I can't believe how bad this was when I went over it; I managed to add another good 500 words from editing from this. *shakes head* Anyway, Hope you enjoyed it, and if you're like Magikarp and saw the first version, then you know what's going to happen. But if not, don't ruin the surprise, and join me next week for the instalment of this story!