Hello again everybody and welcome to chapter three of my story. I was debating whether or not I should get right to when the rest of the story will be taking place or have one more in the past chapter. I guess it would be the present but to the rest of the story it's the past. Anyway thank you to all who commented and I hope you all enjoy the chapter.

Name Under Construction: I get what you mean, Ash didn't just learn English the next day. I skipped ahead about seven years and I figured in that time Ash would be able to learn English and about the world plus its events.

Sailor Taichichi Vegeta: Sorry I didn't put in the Taillow fight. If I was to put it in though I'm not sure how well I could make it. It would be a slaughter, not really a fight. There will be more fighting later on though, I rated this M for a reason. You're right too, I tend to eavesdrop on people in my study hall blocks during school to catch up on what's going on and the teachers are some of the best sources. I had to put in Pikachu, it would be a crime not to right?

I don't own Pokemon

Chapter 3: The Burdens of Man

The bandits were laughing their drunk asses off, and this was starting to annoy him. Here he was, one of the most known mercenaries in Hoenn, Kanto, and Johto watching a bunch of bandits get drunk and dance around like a confused Spinda. It was aggravating to say the least. Sure he has had worse jobs, but that didn't mean he couldn't get frustrated with his current one. It's at times like these when he wishes Meowth was still around to entertain him. If not to entertain him, then at least he would have company. But no, his good luck never held itself up. Instead bad luck plagued him like King Giovanni's soldiers does to Johto. All he needed was for them to go to sleep and he could do this quickly and quietly. Pikachu wasn't even with him, he was making sure that no bandits patrolling around would renter the camp. He wash;t even sure why they were drinking. the sun was halfway down in the sky. It was too early to start drinking.

Ash sighed and muttered to himself "Why don't you just knock yourselfs unconscious you drunken bastards" but as usual, his prayers were left unanswered and the men continued to drink, eat and dance. Why did he agree to do this job again? Oh yeah, he offered to give him a Charizard. A big one at that. He could always use more additions to the team.

Ash continued to sit there waiting for the men to fall asleep when he noticed a small blue light coming from the bushes about 152 degrees to the left of him and he wasn't the only one. "He guys is that a Pokemon?" he heard a bandit ask. Before anyone could answer the blue light shot away front he bushes and towards the bandit that had asked the question and drove itself into his chest pushing him to the ground, and causing blood to erupt from his chest.

"What the fuck was that?" one yelled. Ash just sighed and muttered "Dammit Riley I was here first" with that he burst from the open and quickly impaled his sword into the closets bandit's chest killing him before he hit the ground and dragging all attention from the bushes to him.

"Who the fuck do you think you are coming to are camp and killing two of our men?" the bandit who appeared to be the leader demanded from him.

"Actually the first one wasn't me. But I do need to claim my target before the asshole who did kill that one did." Another figure burst from the bushes where the aura sphere originated from and ran over to where Ash stood "Hey Ranger, how are you doing on such a fine evening?" the to be Aura Guardian asks

"Riley you are such a dick. I was going to wait till they were asleep and then kill them. Now I have to face them in the open putting both our lives at risk here. Do you ever think before you act?" Ash asks, a look of annoyance on his face.

"Nope" Riley says, piping the P a little.

"And you wonder why your "master" hasn't made you an Aura Guardian yet" Ash says putting a lot of sarcasm on the word "master". He had never been okay with that. Having to address people in a way that made them appear greater than him. Sure, he knew many that requested to be called a certain title were better than him in some ways, but that didm;t mean you should go and rub salt in the wound by having them basically say "You are better than me therefore I am weak". It was just wrong and stupid. That didn't mean Ash didm;t know his place. He followed through with formalities and all that formal bullshit, but that did not mean he didn't like it. He was just good at covering it up.

Before Riley could respond a third figure cam from where Riley had originated. "Hello Sabrina, long time hop see" Ash says to his fellow mercenary. "Hello Ranger. Are you trying to steal my jobs again? You know what happened last time you did that, remember?" she says, ending the sentence with a sweet voice. Ash cringed at the memory. She had hung him upside down and left him to a pack of Houndour. Pikachu had cut him down though

"Hey Sabrina. Wow, first Ash now you. All that's missing is Pikachu and it'll be like Olivine all over again." Riley says in a cheery attitude.

Sabrina sighed "Riley if you keep bringing up Olivine than I'm going to have to kick your ass all the way back to Iron Island"

"Love you too Sabrina"

The bandits were just staring at all of them in shock. They were being completely ignored, like they were nothing. "Shut the fuck up all of you. You just killed two of our men and now you are yelling at each other like a bunch of kids. We will not be ignored like we're cannon fodder" the bandit leader yelled

"Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning" Riley says, a stupid grin still plastered on his face

Ash just groaned "Your eighteen for Arceus' sake. Fucking act like it will you?"

"ENOUGH!" one of the nineteen bandits yelled and charged forward towards the closest of them, which happened to be the physic who drew the dagger she had strapped to her belt. She held the dagger pointing directly at the incoming bandit, showing her inexperience and lack of knowledge about combat. But then again, she wasn't formidable for her combat skills. The bandit reached her and swung his sword in a horizontal arc downwards heading from left to right at Sabrina. If you paid attention to her eyes like Ash did, you would notice that they began to glow and the sword "magically" missed, going just above her head and giving her a wide and clear shot at his right set of ribs. She did not let the opportunity go to waste and plunged her knife deep into his ribs before pulling it our quickly and jumping backwards waiting for the next opponent.

The entire bandit group erupted into chaos and they all ran at one of them, weapons drawn and eyes full of anger. It was never good to attack while you're angry. Or have any emotion when in combat. This was one of the few lessons that Meowth hadn't taught him, instead it had been Riley who taught him that.

The first three men approached Riley and Ash and one attacked the same way the other had attacked Sabrina and a second stabbed at the same time towards Ash while the third drove his halberd at Riley who sidestepped and attempted to stab back, but the bandit jumped back before the blade made contact. Before he got out of attacking range though he swiped his halberd as he dropped back and managed to catch Riley's open torso and made a small gash.

Ash had to deal with the immediate threat and parried the strike coming from above with his dagger, causing the sword to slide down the dagger and hit the ground and swept the sword being lunged at him to the side before bringing the dagger he parried with, now held high above the bandit who was bent down due to the driving force he had behind his swing and drove it between the bandits shoulder blades. That one was down, but not dead.

He focused back on the second opponent who had brought his sword back it a defensive position. His stance was lousy though. His feet were parallel to each other making him squat awkwardly. Ash took advantage and swiped his swords to the side, which the bandit parried as expected and ripped the dagger from the falling bandits shoulder blades and drove it his open right flank. This one was down as well, but another bandit was already on him bringing his axe in a side swipe. The dagger did not have the strength in it to block such a powerful strike forcing him to bring his sword across his own body to block the strike. A fourth bandit took advantage and swung a cleaver across Ash's vulnerable flank leaving a two and a half inch gash going from his waste towards his sternum.

Ash winced and jumped back, ignoring the pain shooting through his chest. He noticed Riley had dealt with the bandit with the halberd and three others, now taking on a fifth. He appeared to be on the defensive though and had few cuts and bruises along his chest and face. Most likely from a few punches thrown in the middle of combat. He stole a glance at Sabrina who had only two bodies around her and appeared to be unscathed. Three men were cautiously advancing towards her however.

Ash brought his attention back to his enemies though and feinted a downward strike from the right at the man with the cleaver who brought said cleaver up to parry with the flat of his blade, but Ash quickly redirected his blade bringing his forehand strike to a downward stab like you would with a knife and drove it through the man's ribs into his heart killing him instantly. The body however took the blade with it as it fell leaving Ash with only a knife and the bow he had strapped to his back, which was almost utterly useless in the current situation.

"Alrght kid, you ain't half bad." The bandit wielding the axe says.

"Thanks, I am glad that someone apprecia-" just as he was about to finish his sentence he threw the knife at the bandit, catching him by surprise and killing him as the dagger entered the gap between his neck and his shoulder blade, cutting through the bandit's collar bone. It was an old trick that worked surprisingly well. While you are talking to someone you make a quick strike at a vital point in their body hoping for a one hit kill.

Ash ran towards his sword, it being the more suitable weapon to take from the one that had taken it with him when he fell, and pulled it out of the bandit's ribs and immediately got in a defensive stance. Awaiting the bandits that had stopped a few meters away, judging their opponent. One got tired of waiting however and ran at Ash bringing his sword in an upward strike from the ground, one of the worst attack to make on someone in a defensive stance. Ash simply parried the blade away driving the man's sword back and leaving his entire body open to an attack. Ash took the easy route and stabbed the bandit in the heart and pulled his sword out quickly when he saw another advancing from behind the now dead bandit's still standing body. He was bot fast enough however, because the bandit used his slowly falling comrade as a shield and pushed the dead body at Ash causing him to lose his balance and stumble back leaving the bandit an opportunity to strike his chest but Ash fell to the ground before he got the chance only to be back on his feet not a second later.

"Shit" Ash curses. His arrows lay strewn on the ground. This was why he used stealth, their sheer numbers were enough to kill him. Sure he had Riley and Sabrina, but that didn't make this a guaranteed win. He regained his balance and struck back only to parried. Ash began to strike small low powered blows at the bandit tiring the man out fast and it wasn't long before he saw his opening and plunged his sword through the neck and out of his back. He got back into his stance and deflected a blow from the left to only to kiss the fist of his attacker's left hook. He recovered though and drove his own fist into the man's gut, knocking the wind out of him and kneeing him in the face when he doubled over simultaneously dropping his weapon and and clutching his stomach. The bandit fell to the ground and Ash wasted no time stabbing him while he was on the ground defenseless.

He saw only three bandits left, not counting their leader who had been watching all of them fight while his men had thrown themselves at the enemy. Ash did a quick head count. There were nineteen when they had started and he had taken out seven and Sabrina four. Riley had taken out five and also was watching the bandits as they slowly retreated back to their leader. This was good, only four left now. The bandit leader spoke "You two, take the Guardian and you the girl. I'll take the brat with the bow. The bandits complied with his orders and began to attack their targets with renewed vigor, but the leader just slowly walked up to Ash. Taking his time as he went.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you" he says as he reaches Ash's position.

"Fuck you too" Ash responds, taking the defensive stance. The leader slowly took out his longsword from his back, as if trying to intimidate Ash to run away. He brought the sword up and rested the flat of the blade on his shoulder. He took one step forwards and lunged, bring the sword as if to cut Ash in half. Ash rolled under the strike and spun around to face his opponent again. "Well aren't you the speedy little Jolteon?" he says before beginning a barrage of attacks, not allowing Ash to take the offensive. Ash could feel the energy draining out from him. He was getting tired fast and needed to end this quick if he was going to survive. Ash ducked at a slash across his body and drove his fist into the leader'a gut, winding the man and bringing his sword up to stab the leader's heart, but found that his sword had been grabbed the blade by the leader causing blood to erupt from his hand and trickle down the sword. The leader held fast however and Ash couldn't seem to break his grip till let go of his sword and spun 180 degrees into the leader so they were both looking the same way and elbowed him in to the gut and grabbed his falling sword before it had dropped an inch from the leader's grip and stabbed backwards into the gut of the leader in a amazing display of speed with his hands still holding the blade about three quarters of the way to the hilt, cutting into his hands.

The bandit leader slid off the sword and fell to the ground dead. He focused his attention bad to his allies and saw Riley finish off his first opponent only to get cut by the other bandit and pushed to the ground. Ash wasted no time and took his bow from his back and grabbed an arrow of the ground and sent the arrow flying at the man, knowing it was good the second he released it. He watched as it pierced throughout the man's heart at an angle that barley caused the head of the arrow to sprout from the bandit's back.

He looked to Sabrina to see her on the ground with a large dirt smudge on her face and looking just to the left of bandit directly at Ash. He was sure she could;t see him though and searched for the closest arrow but before he could grab one he heard his lifelong companion's call

"Pika-chuuuuuu" Pikachu calls as he sent out a bolt of electricity that fried the final bandit instantly.

Ash sighed in relief. He didn't enjoy Riley's company all too much, but he had no problem with Sabrina. He would risk his life for both however. He began to walk over to Riley to check on his injuries but saw the first bandit he had taken out take the cleaver from another bandit and draw his arm back to throw it at Riley.

Ash had no time to react, Sabrina could't see anything, Pikachu was facing Sabrina, and Riley sat on the ground, eyes wide staring at the bandit.

Just as the bandit was about to throw a blue sphere came flying out of nowhere and drive into the bandit tearing his stomach open.

"Riley you were very impulsive here. If you hadn't had Ash and Sabrina for backup then you would be dead on the ground. What made you think you could take on nineteen bandits alone?" an angry voice asks Riley.

Riley just lowered his head, his hat covering his eyes. Sir Aaron emerged from the trees and sighed "Get up Riley, you need medical attention." Riley complied and stood up but kept his head down and began to walk int the direction Sir Aaron came from. "Aaron turned to Ash, Sabrina, and Pikachu next "You come with us as well. I'll treat any wounds you have as well." He turned around and began to walk away.

Ash walked over to Sabrina "Are you okay?" he asks

"Yeah I'm fine except for the punch to the face one gave me. That last one Pikachu took out threw dirt in my eyes when he was rising up after I pushed him to the ground with my physic abilities. Kind of a shit way too go if you ask me"

"Well then it's a good thing you aren't dying that way then isn't it? Come get up and Aaron will have a clean cloth to wipe your eyes with. I'd take doe of the bandit's cloths, but I doubt that's healthy"

"No kidding. I can still smell the alcohol reeking off them. And who's Aaron" Sabrina says as she rose and put a hand on Ash's arm so he could lead the way. They followed in the direction that the Aura Guardians had left in and soon came upon a camp site with a small fire pit and tow tents. Outside Aaron was treating the cuts on Riley's chest only glancing in their direction when they arrived.

"Hello again. Ash get a cloth from my tent and use it to wipe her eyes off, I'm a little busy at the moment." Aaron says as he returns his attention back to his student.

Ash bristled a little at being ordered around but grabbed the cloth none the less. "Hold still and close your eyes" Ash says. He took out his canteen of water from the tent as well, wetting the cloth with it and proceeded to wipe off the dirt and dust from Sabrina's face with it. He took a good look at her face when he was done and was satisfied with the results. "Okay, you can open your eyes again". Sabrina squinted her eyes for a moment before slowly opening them and blinking a few times to get the last of the dirt out.

"Thanks Ash I owe you one" Sabrina says looking at the raven haired mercenary.

"Not just me, you owe Pikachu a big favor" Ash says, a smile gracing his face for the first time in a while

Sabrina chuckled at that "I guess I do. She bent down and scratched Pikachu behind his ears earning a soft coo from him. The moment ended quickly when Riley took a sharp intake of air causing all attention to be diverted to him. Aaron had just put on some Oran beery paste on one of his slashes and while the healing effects were quick to respond. The initial application of the paste always stung like a bitch.

"Alright Ash your turn" Aaron says looking directly at Ash

"I don't know what you're talking about" Ash says glaring at Aaron. Stubbornly refusing any help for his obvious wound

"Don't be childish and accept my hospitality for once" Aaron says with an calm look on his face

Ash continued to glare, but took a seat next to Riley and took off his shirt, much to the dismay of Sabrina who quickly blushed and turned away. At least Riley had bandages covering his chest. Aaron looked at the wound fro a moment before taking out a Sitrus berry and some doe pottery handle with what looked to be an ashtray and began to grind up the berry. He was in no rush considering the blood had already stopped flowing and all that Ash really needed was some rest.

"So Ash have you reconsidered my offer?" Aaron asks, interrupting the silence that had loomed beforehand and looking up from his work to look Ash in the eye. Riley looked up in curiosity and Sabrina turned around, just as curious.

Ash just glared at him for a while before answering "No. My answer remains as it did from last time" he says coldly

Aaron sighs before putting some of the paste in his cut "I really wish you would join us. You're wasting your potential as a mercenary when you could be fighting for a good cause."

"Wait, wait, wait. What did you offer Ash?" interrupted Riley

Aaron looked at him for a moment "I offered him place in our ranks at the Iron Island"

Riley looked at Aaron incredulously. "You would offer a complete outsider and a mercenary a place in our ranks? Are you insane? The council would never approve of that and he does;t even have any aura to use. We'd be training a civilian" Riley shouted at Aaron

"Riley, silence yourself." Aaron says harshly. "Ash has more skill than you know and as for his aura capabilities, well he has more aura than most of the Guardians will ever have."

Riley just looked at Aaron wide eyed, Sabrina was looking at Ash curiously, like she had just found a new Pokemon that she wanted to dissect and Ash just continued to glare at Aaron. "How does he have more aura than me? He has no training of any sort. Just the guidance of his friend"

"Because he was born with it or he managed to steal, but no one knows how to do that except Mew. In any case with the right training he could become a powerful Aura Guardian, and your comrade" Aaron says.

"Really? You're going to train Ash? Why? You only took me on because the council ordered it. You never voluntarily train apprentices."

"Wait just a second" interrupted Ash "I have not accepted the offer and you're already talking about it like I'm your apprentice"

"Well why don't you Ash?" Riley asks "The life is just like the one you're living except we are respected and feared almost everywhere. People look up to us and treat us like heroes". "Yeah Ash that sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Why would;t you take it?" Sabrina says

Ash gritted his teeth "Because of personal reasons" he says, but this time he just looks at Sir Aaron sadly.

-FLASHBACK-

A fifteen year old Ash stands outside the door of a rather large house just inside the Hoenn region knocking on the door.

"Coming" he heard a gruff voice say before he saw a panel flip open to look at the visitor. "Who are you?" an old voice asks the strange boy on his front porch.

"Professor Oak?" the boy asks. The old man nodded. "My name is Ash Ketchum, I believe that you were supposed to be expecting me"

The professor's eyes widened when he heard the ahem of the boy he thought was long dead. "ASH!" he yelled and closed the panel before unlocking several different locks that could be heard through the door and then opened it. The old man ran out and hugged the startled boy. "I thought you were dead" he exclaimed. He released the boy from his surprisingly strong hold and held him at arms length. "My, my. You've grown so much. Last time I saw you, you had been in a crib playing with toys. But please come in. It's not safe here anymore" Oak said before he ushered Ash in and taking a look around then closing the door. He brought Ash into his home and led him to a small living room with some windows pointing towards a river that Ash was all too familiar with.

"So Ash, how have you been?" Professor Oak asked

Seriously? Ash thought this is hoe he's going to start this off? "I'm...Okay Mr. Oak"

"Please just call me Professor Oak or Professor. Mr. Oak was my father" he says with a grin

What the hell is wrong with this guy? Ash thought "Look professor, I have grown up without knowing who I was or who my family was. I am here because I found this note in a boat that apparently brought me to where I grew up. The note says, however that you were supposed to take care of me. So I would like to ask did you know my parents?"

Oak paused for a moment. "I knew you mother well, but your father. He left the moment he figured out your mother was pregnant with you". He paused o gauge Ash's reaction, but Ash was looking at him intently, wanting him to continue. "Your mother's name was Delia Ketchum and she was the most lovely and caring person you would ever meet. But she was purity in an impure world. Giovanni sought out your mother on a revenge quest and undoubtably took he life. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. From what I can see, there was nothing you could have done that would have prevented this from happening. But tell me, who was my father?" Ash asked

Professor Oak sighed " He is one of the greatest men to walk this earth. His name is Sir Aaron, and Aura Guardian. He was indirectly responsible for your mother's death. He and the other Aura Guardians had been attacking Giovanni's forces and pushing them out of Sinnoh and Hoenn. When the King learned that the only real threat standing in his way of taking the regions had a wife and a son on his doorstep. Well you know exactly what he did."

"Wait, why did my father leave us? What reason did he have?" Ash asked

"I don't know my boy. I really don't know. But don't blame him, he knew nothing of Giovanni's plans and when he learned what happened. He stopped all attacks against Giovanni, not wanting any of the other Guardian's families to be harmed. I haven;t seen him since he left."

"I see" Ash said and looked at the ground, his hair covering his eyes.

"I'm sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear, but that us what happened. You were born in Pallet Town, which is now nothing more than burnt wood and cinders. Your mother was going to send you here and when the forces showed up, she would hide in the woods and wait for everything to blow over. But their was only a few soldiers that came and a woman on a Salamance. They arrived a lot sooner than expected and I was already down here. I didm;t know that you were alive until now though. I thought she didn't send you off in time."

"Thank you professor. Do you mind if I stay here for a little, like two weeks or so?" Ash raised his head and had a small smile on his face and a slightly embarrassed look adorned on it.

The professor just smiled "Of course you can, come around at anytime you want. After all you're practically family"

"In that case can Pikachu stay here too? We're sort of a package deal" he said

"Yes, yes. Stay as long as you like, you're always welcome here. I wish Gary was still here. You and him could have been good friends. You might still, if he ever comes home."

-END FLASHBACK-

"It's getting dark out, let's go to sleep. I'll take first watch" Ash says changing the topic and leaving no more room to ask questions. Even though the professor had told him not to hold a grudge, he felt like Aaron deserved his disrespect. Aaron always tried to get him to go to the Iron Islands with him, but where was he when he actually was needed huh? Sitting on and island with his thumb up his ass, that's where.

The others could tell he was not going to let this go any farther and prepared to go to sleep. "I have my own gear at a campsite on the other side of the bandit camp. I'll go get and be back here in a little" Ash says. "Oh Ranger, could you get mine too? It's not far from yours, just a bit to the left". Sabrina asks, receiving a nod of confirmation from Ash as he walked away.

About ten minute later he came back with Sabrina's equipment and another ten minutes later, with his own. Ash sat down at the edge of the clearing so he could have a full view of everything that would move around the edges of the area and he could hear anything behind him. The others either went into their tents or in Sabrina's case, set up her tent then go into it. After a few hours Ash let Pikachu fall asleep in his lap, softly petting the electric type. He ;et his eyes close for a moment and made a big sigh.

"Long day?" a voice asks him. Ash's eyes snapped open and his head shot up, his brown eyes meeting Aaron's blue eyes.

"What do you want? I have about an hour or so till I wake you up for your shift" he says after checking the moon for the relative time.

"Nothing really. I just couldn't sleep"

That was a load of Tauros shit and he knew it. He probably planned to get Ash alone front the start. "Yeah, right" Ash says sarcastically "I'm sure you must be tired after using that aura sphere. But at least you were there for someone this time." Ash would never pass up the chance to make a crack about Aaron not being there. After his remark he saw Aaron wince a little.

Aaron sighs "I suppose i should have seen that coming he says before sitting cross-legged opposite of Ash "But you don't understand that as head of the Aura Guardians I cannot have a son as it would distract from helping the people. I had to serve Queen Rin regardless if Delia got pregnant anyway."

"Oh so you were hoping to get with Queen Rin too huh? Well you sure did a great job protecting her didn't you?" Ash knew that had to have been a sire spot. After the Aura Guardians had fallen back to the Iron Islands Queen Rin had been imprisoned and when Giovanni took Sinnoh and Hoenn, he was probably going to make her his wife even though he already had kid. And boy was that kid truly a basted son, Ash had seen him once and he kept going around addressing everyone as "peasant". How stuck up do you have to be to address everyone, even some nobles, as peasant?

"It was because Giovanni's attacking the others Guardian's families that I pulled back. Queen Rin understood when Giovanni offered to put them all the families on the coast so we could go to them if we wanted, but not be able to take them back to Iron Island"

"Him so abandoned a second wife too. Wow you must hold the title for wold's shittiest husband"

"I wasn't involved in Queen Rin romantically. Even if I wanted to I would have been cast out"

"Cast out eh? That's what mom should have done to you before you fell in "love" so deeply" Ash says putting air quote and a lot of sarcasm on the word "love".

"I did love your mother. She understood the responsibility I had to undertake and accepted it. I donut see why you can't"

"Because I can understand having to go away for work, but you straight out abandoned her, the Professor told me you left without a word. How low do you have to be to not leave without saying goodbye"

Aaron had nothing to say to that. What could he say, his son's hate of him ran deep. "I'm not asking you to like me, I'm asking you to do what you were born to do. Riley told me all about the aura training he gave you while I sent him to be on his own for his solitary training. You already have the basics down, if you just came with us back to the Ir-"

"Enough" Ash says in a dangerously clam voice. "I am not going with you to be an Aura Guardian. Beside according to you I would "distract you from helping the people"

"You wouldn't if you were training. You and Riley would be the top of the students if you came back with us. With you we could take back Hoenn and even strike at Giovanni. I know of a path that runs through Hoenn, completely unknown to Giovanni that could carry an army straight to Giovanni's palace. It's just inside the Tree of Beginning."

"Aaron I said enough. This isn't my war to fight, I'm just a mercenary trying to make a living."

"This is your war more than anyone's, Don't you want to avenge your fallen family?"

"My family is a pack of Mightyena, a Sceptile, and a Combusken. If Giovanni decides that they are suddenly a threat to him, then I'll join this war. But until then, fuck off"

"Ash, I'm sorry, I truly am. But can't we make up for the lost time by starting now? Riley may be on solitary training again, but You and I can go back and get you in as an Aura Guardian and you can join him."

"Is that your idea of making up for lost time? Having me train with Riley? Sorry but I'm going to decline that offer, again"

"You know that's not what I meant. But if you are insistent on not training with me, could at least stick around with Riley for a while? Not for me, but for him. You saw what he did out there, diving head first into the enemy and almost killing himself. What happens when he goes up against someone who is actually trained? Could you at least go around with him and help him mature more? He is too impulsive and could use the guidance of someone else his age."

"How do you know how old I am?"

"I don't"

Ash snorted "I didn't think so well I'm nineteen and as for Riley, maybe. I'll sleep on it. Speaking of which, goodnight." With that Ash stood up, rousing Pikachu who had still slept on Ash's lap throughout the hushed conversation and walked to his things and began to set up his tent for the night and then crawled inside with Pikachu to retire for the night.

And this ends chapter 3. Sorry about the sloppiness toward stye end there I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to work in this, someone at my school used an app called Yik Yak (allows you to post anonymous messages on sites, in this case the school website) to anonymously post that they were going to blow up the school. It was probably some kid who didn't want to take a test or something. They ended me up out in the newly fresh 1 foot of snow and falling snow in a light collared shirt and some jeans though. My school has no uniforms or anything. I am a little disappointed with the kind of abrupt end to this chapter, hopefully I'll find better stopping points for the later chapters, which remind me. I'm finally done with the skipping around. Next chapter Ash is going to be 24 years old and stay that age throughout the rest of the story, unless I have him discover his birthday and have or something. Anyway comments, suggestions, hate and anything else is always welcome.

-novaking2832