AN: Hey people. Before I begin I'd like to address a review I got from the last chapter. The person asked if I knew I put the Altomare Bianca instead of the Unova one and that I had made a mistake…but I actually didn't. I knew EXACTLY who I was putting and actually like her as a character and the movie she stared in was my favorite of the Pokémon movies. So it was NOT a mistake.

AN2: You'll find that in this chapter I seem to cut off at a few strange points…well that wasn't an accident. I'm not revealing exactly what Ash and his Pokémon will be training in until the Pokémon league (which starts next chapter) and his training, as well as his new Pokémon, will be revealed throughout the tournament and explained in flashback so you don't get to know soon! (MWAHAHAHAHAHA)…well for the most part. You will see a couple of his new Pokémon this chapter and next chapter starts the conference.

From Death I am Reborn

Chapter 2

-Ash-

Stepping over the property line of the Oak Ranch he gave Pikachu a shaky nod as the diminutive electric starter fired a thunderbolt into the sky to call the various Pokémon over. First to arrive was Pigeotto who nuzzled him before noticing his shaken appearance and began asking Pikachu what was wrong. Next the ground began to shake beneath his feet as his heard of Tauros charged over, Primeape in their midst, with Squirtle, Krabby, and Bulbasaur riding on their backs while Muk brought up the rear.

Gazing around at the horde of Pokémon that surrounded him…he felt despair and heartbreak. No matter where he looked in the mass of Pokémon he saw no sign of an orange fire dragon…no sign of Charizard. Pikachu was able to instantly see his despair as well as realize the reason for it, as did Pigeotto who he assumed had learned of what had happened by Pikachu.

Taking in a shaky breath he was about to try and explain to his Pokémon, his family, why Charizard wouldn't be around anymore when a draconian roar shook the world from heavens to earth. Whipping his head in the direction of the noise he saw Charizard flying straight at him, diving down at a breakneck speed before angling up, pulling out of the dive and landing with a crash in front of him.

As Charizard stared at him, and the adrenaline of the stunt wore off, the massive powerhouse looked down almost…almost shamefully before hesitantly offering out the Pokéball with a sad sounding huff. Looking into his friend's eyes he saw regret, he saw shame, he saw fear…but most of all he saw determination, a drive to right the wrongs that had been done in their relationship. Smiling widely at his friend he accepted the Pokéball before clipping it onto his belt and giving the fully evolved fire dragon a massive hug which was happily returned as the rest of his Pokémon, after getting over their shock of Charizard not trying to turn him into a barbeque, roared happily and joined in onto the hug, glomping him as the happy hug dissolved into a dogpile.

"Alright guys," he said with a wide grin, "we've got some training to do! Three months from now we'll be battling in the Indigo Conference and I intend to show the world our power.". Loud roars met his statement as fire burned in his pokemon's eyes, a passion for victory that couldn't be quenched. "But we won't be training here," he continued as some of his Pokémon blinked in surprise "I plan to ask the Professor for a temporary team extension so I can take you all with me while we travel and, maybe, catch a few more family members.".

At his words the herd of thirty Tauros looked at each other before they huddled together, having a conversation in Pokéspeach for about thirty minutes, and then separating as a single Tauros, one that looked noticeably stronger than the rest, stepped forward proudly. "I'm guessing you're the herd leader?" he asked the single Tauros who let out a proud call and nodded as he hesitantly, not entirely sure about his understanding of the situation, asked "Are you saying that they want only you to travel with me?".

The lead Tauros nodded and let out several varying moos and portions of its name as he tried to interpret both the Pokéspeach and the facial expressions of his family member, "Y-you're saying that they feel that having all thirty of you travel with me would hinder the training of both everyone here and everyone not yet caught?" he asked "That…that you'll be trained and then teach them what you learn so they can get stronger and that whoever leads the herd will battle by my side while the others protect the ranch or whoever I make my home?". Tauros nodded happily before nuzzling him as he smiled and stroked the bovine pokemon's head.

"You know…it'll be kind of awkward trying to differentiate with thirty of you," he mused as he stroked the pokemon's head "how about you, as the leader, be called…Minos?". Tauros seemed to think about it before making one more attempt at conversing with him as he tried to translate "You're saying that should be the name of whichever leads the herd at whatever given time? More like a title than a name?", once more getting a happy roar.

"Alright guys," he said with a grin "I'm going to go talk to the professor about a team extension and when I get back we'll go over where we need to train to improve and we'll head out tomorrow.".

Walking into the lab he found the elderly Oak sitting at a computer, going over notes and research. "Hey Professor," he called out as the old man blearily looked up from the computer screen, looking more like a zombie than a human "I was wondering if I could get a team extension so I can take the rest of my Pokémon with me as I journey around to train before the convergence…or some of them anyway. My Tauros elected that the herd leader travel with me while the rest stay here to protect the ranch.".

"Of course Ash," the Professor said with a smile "there's actually no rule about how many Pokémon you can take with you, the only limit cap is on how may can be used in a battle. Most people just stick with the six because they can't work with too many at once or afford to feed them all.".

"Thanks Professor," he said gratefully as the elderly man took his Pokédex to input a few codes into it "this means a lot to me. I won't let you, or Pallet Town, down.".

"I know you won't Ash," the Professor said with a proud smile "you and Gary are the finest young trainers I've seen in years and I know you'll bring glory to this town.".

Stiffening a wince at the name of his rival, he smiled gratefully and took back his Pokédex before going out with his Pokémon and leading them over to an isolated lake on the Ranch so they could go over each other's strengths and weaknesses to devise a training schedule. "Alright," he said once they were settled "let's go over this one by one starting with Pikachu.". and so they went over each other's strengths and weaknesses for the next few hours.

The next day he could be found just outside of Pallet Town, Pikachu on his shoulder and the rest of his Pokémon in Pokéballs on his belt and the inside of his jacket. Noticing a river coming up he grinned and ribbed Misty as he gestured towards the water, "Hey Mist," he called out "look familiar?".

At his question he could feel the girl's irritation as she glared at him, "Yeah, it's where you barbequed my bike!" as she finished her statement she brought out her hammer and swung it at him as he dodged "And you still haven't paid for it yet!".

"Back evil she beast!" he yelled out in mock panic as he ran and hid behind a cackling Brock "The Damn thing's already fixed!".

At his statement Misty blinked at him in confusion as the hammer slipped from her fingers, "Um…huh?" Misty asked confused as he sighed and explained.

"The Nurse Joy of Viridian likes fixing things in her spare time. I paid for the parts she used to fix the bike as well as for the labor put into it with my winnings from my various battles." He told them as they gave an 'ah' of understanding.

"So how are you guys going to get to Pewter and Cerulean?" he asked them after they had walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"We're taking a bus that will drop me off at Pewter and then take Misty to Cerulean so that we can skip Viridian forest and the bugs." Brock explained as Misty shuddered, muttering about 'unholy abominations' causing him to snort at her over the top fear.

Sure enough, after getting to Viridian an hour later, they found the bus waiting for the two gym leaders as he stared at them awkwardly, "Well…I guess this is it then." He said sadly, knowing that he had to do this but also not wanting to leave his constant travelling companions for the past year.

"Chin up there Ash," Brock said with a weak smile but he could see that the rock gym leader was sad as well "we'll see each other again in a couple months when you win the Indigo League.".

"If he gets past the first round." Mist teased causing him to glare playfully before giving them one last massive hug before they boarded their bus and it drove off. Sensing his sadness Pikachu nuzzled his cheek with a small coo as he smiled gratefully and scratched the little starter behind the ear, getting a happy 'Cha' in response before he turned towards a small forest area to the west of Viridian. While the path normally led up to Mount Silver, which is where he knew the Johto Silver Conference as well as the Kanto and Johto elite four resided, and normally was blocked off to travelers but with eight badges he should be allowed to visit at least a limited part of it and maybe find a few new Pokémon.

"Be careful up there," the gate guard for the Mountain warned him after he showed his badges to gain access, "there are rumors of a gang of Pokémon Poachers on the mountain. They used to be trainers but had their licenses revoked for abuse.".

Growling at the knowledge he nodded, not realizing that his anger was causing his eyes to gain more purple than they had before, and promised "Don't worry. If I see them…well we'll just have to see how they like getting blasted off the mountain by my Charizard's flamethrower.".

"Ten extra points if you make them land in front of the Police Station." The guard retorted with a smirk as he shook the man's hand.

"Challenge accepted." He grinned before walking towards Mount Silver, finding a trail up the mountain and walking, finding surprisingly few Pokémon as he walked…until, after a few hours he heard the sounds of machines going off, of human's yelling in anger…and Pokémon yelling in fear.

Shooting forward he ran towards the sounds, dashing in between trees as he tried to get closer and closer to the sounds, sliding to a stop in front of a cliff before looking down to see a group, who he could tell were the poachers that he had been warned about, trying to shoot a male Nidoran as well as another small Pokémon that was green with electric net launchers.

Seeing this vile act, the cruel methods being used to capture the two small Pokémon as well as the other Pokémon the he noticed in an electric cage on a truck…he snapped, not realizing that his eyes had fully changed, not a dark purple with swirling black smoky designs constantly shifting within his iris. Letting his instincts take over he let out a furious roar before leaping off the cliff and down at the poachers who looked up at the sound and, in their panic, fired the electric net at him…only for it to be sliced in half as he swung his hand at it, each of his fingers covered in an ethereal purple claw that let of tendrils of black mist, noting the same thing on his other hand as well, before he landed on the ground with a thud but no damage from the massive drop.

"You know," he growled lowly as Pikachu leapt off his shoulder, lightning arcing off his starter's electricity pouches, "I really hate poachers.".

"Get out of here kid," a large buff man that he assumed was the leader said with a scowl "this doesn't concern you. So leave before we decide to…remove you.".

"Wrong thing to say bub." He snarled before shooting forward, ducking under the nets fired at him and slicing through the man's net launcher, as well as those of the other poachers. His somehow enhanced fingers cutting clear through the metal with no resistance.

Ducking under a knife slash from the leader he kicked out, causing the man to stumble back before he once again let his instincts act for him as the glowing claws faded from his fingers…and a black and purple orb appeared between his hands before, with a scream, he launched it at the poachers and blew them clear off the mountain and towards Viridian. Feeling his energy draining away he quickly moved over to the electric cage and barely managed to coat his fingers in the energy to cut through the bars before the last dregs of energy left him and he collapsed into blissful unconsciousness.