Sorry about not updating, I was busy with some work for school. Anyways, here is a longer chapter 4.

Ash's other Pokémon

Scizor

Houndoom

Lapras

Aurorus

Chapter 4: Exposed

5 AM…

A man stepped into the quiet, empty arena with a cloak, and his two Pokémon. "We were lucky that the guards never wake up till six," Ash told his Lucario and Raichu behind him as he set his bag down.

"Yea, you guys go do what you do, I'll stay here and eat ketchup," Raichu replied as he took a bottle of ketchup from the bag and put it in his mouth.

"Oh no you don't, you're not getting off that easy. YOU ABANDONED ME!" Ash scolded at the yellow rat. "No ketchup for a month."

"Oh come on!" Raichu talked back at his trainer.

"A year!"

"I'll take a month…"

"That's what I thought," Ash said as he threw four pokeballs into the air as Lucario chuckled at Raichu's misfortune. "Absol, spar with Raichu. Lapras, spar with Aurorus. Garchomp, with Houndoom and Scizor. Lucario, you're with me," Ash finished as he took Lucario to the other end of the arena to spar with him.

"Lucario, ready to get your ass kicked?" Ash asked as he smiled at Lucario.

"I think you mean that I will kick your ass, master," the shiny Aura Pokémon corrected him.

"Your first move."

"Gladly, master," Lucario replied as he formed an Aura Sphere and shot it at Ash. Ash formed an Aura Shield which deflected the attack, which then materialized into nothing afterwards.

"My turn," Ash said calmly as he threw a barrage of Aura Swords at Lucario, who then caught two and destroyed the other swords flying at him. Ash and Lucario had been battling for an hour. "Should we take a break?" Ash asked his Pokémon.

"Okay, master," Lucario replied as he used Close Combat behind Ash, causing the hood of his cloak to fall off.

"ASH?!" a voice yelled from across the arena. The moment he heard it, he knew who the voice belonged to. Max.

"Damnit Lucario," Ash muttered, as his Pokémon, excluding Raichu and Lucario quickly went inside their pokeballs. Ash's old friends quickly ran to him and tackled him to the ground.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Clemont demanded.

"And why didn't you tell us?" Serena asked. At this point, most of Ash's friends had tears, besides Gary who tried to hold it in. Behind the wall of people, Ash saw one of his childhood friends, Leaf. (AN: I apologize for not including Leaf earlier, I sort of forgot about her… But I will include her in later chapters.)

"Leaf!" Ash yelled as he gave her a hug.

"Ash, it's been a while," Leaf said as she hugged Ash back. "But how? We all thought you were dead!"

Ash's POV

"I guess there is no choice but to tell you now, but you all have to promise to keep my identity a secret, for yours, and my own good," I said, sitting down on the ground, trying to avoid looking at my friends. "I'll start with who did this. After Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie left…"

Flashback Start

"Mom?" I asked as I entered. I got worried when she did not come greet me. She would have run to the front door and given me a bone-crushing hug, but she did not reply. I walked towards the kitchen, thinking that she was there. What I saw next made me cry, and sick. My mother, the one who raised me ever since I was a child, was dead on the floor. Next to her was her Mr. Mime. I fell to one knee, sobbing at the disgusting scene.

"How did you enjoy our welcome home present, Ashy?" a man with a hood asked me. What kind of sick-minded person would do this?! I thought.

"W-w-who a-are you?! And w-what do you want from me?" I asked them, stuttering.

"You mean you don't remember?" he asked, as several more appeared behind him. One by one, they took off their hoods. My eyes went wide after seeing all of them- Archie, Maxie, Ghetsis, Cyrus, Lysandre... and Giovanni, I thought.

"You will pay for this… all of you!" I scolded at them. I saw Giovanni take a pokeball out of his pocket and sent out his Pokémon.

"No Ash, it is over for you," Giovanni told me with a smirk as an orange fire-breathing dragon came out of its pokeball. "Charizard, end him with Flamethrower!" Giovanni commanded, as the Kanto starter breathed fire, at me, hitting my left eye. "Burn down the building, leave no evidence," I heard Giovanni say to the starter as he breathed fire on top of me. When I opened my eyes, all I can see was fire, no sign of Giovanni. Everything faded as I saw the roof collapse.

Flashback End

My friends gasped as I finished off with the story. I then showed them my left eye, which was healed, but had a gray iris.

"I'm sorry Ash," Serena told me as she gave me a hug.

"It's fine…" I lied.

"But where does the fact that you survived fit into all of this?" Clemont asked me.

"Mewtwo can answer that," I told them as I grabbed one of my pokeballs from my pocket and sent out Mewtwo. "Mewtwo, tell them what happened in the fire."

"They found out?" Mewtwo asked me.

"Yeah, can you explain the part after I was attacked? You do explain it better than me," I asked Mewtwo. Mewtwo nodded at me and began to explain.

Flashback Start, Mewtwo's POV

"Arceus, why have you summoned me?" I asked the Alpha Pokémon.

"I have been looking over the Chosen One, and he is in need of our help. The others are busy with important matters, and I have to stay and protect the Hall of Origin."

"I understand, may I ask where he is?"

"He is in his house, now go!"

I nodded in response and teleported to Ash's house. The next thing I knew, a beam was falling above me while I spotted Ash and Pikachu was lying on the floor, Ash unconscious, while Pikachu underneath him. I formed a sphere around us, and teleported to the Tree of Beginning.

"MEW!" I called out to the Pokémon I had befriended. Mew came out of a cave and rushed over to me to give me a hug. "Not now, can you please help the Chosen One?" I pleaded.

"Of course, it is the least we can do after all he has done for us," he answered as he teleported away, and came back with a rainbow colored berry I had never seen. We waited for a little while until we heard Ash groan.

"W-wh-ere am I," he asked us as he looked around. "A-and where is Pikachu?"

"You are at the Tree of Beginning, Pikachu is playing with Mew," I replied with relief, seeing him well again.

"Mom… Mr. Mime…" he muttered as his eyes began watering.

"Ash, I'm sorry," I said, sitting next to him.

"It's alright, but how did you know I was attacked?" he asked me, still crying over his fallen family.

"Arceus, but do not worry, we will all be by your side," I replied.

"We?"

"Us," Arceus said, as I turned around to find the legendaries from each region here. "We will all be with you."

Flashback End

Normal POV

"Wow," Cilan said with his eyes wide from listening from the two stories.

"We're sorry about your mother and Mr. Mime, Ash," Leaf said, giving me another hug.

"I'm fine, although I will always feel something is missing, I can still feel her by my side," Ash said calmly.

"How about we treat you to breakfast?" Brock asked Ash, then looking at Cilan.

"That would be nice, just let me clean up here, Mewtwo, will you escort them to their hotel rooms?" Ash asked the Genetics Pokémon. Mewtwo nodded in agreement as he began to lead the way. Ash noticed Serena stay behind. "Are you going with them?"

"No, I wanted to talk to you," she replied shyly.

"About what?"

"Why Ash? Why did you not tell us that you were alive?" Serena asked, tears forming from her eyes.

"I'm sorry Serena, but Team Rocket, Plasma, Magma, Aqua, Flare, and Galactic have all joined together. If they had found out that I'm still alive, I'll be putting me and all of you at risk."

"I'm just glad you decided to show up again," Serena said, as she directly looked at Ash's eyes. The two began to get closer as Ash put his arms around her and pulled her in for a passionate kiss. The two separated, a smile planted onto their faces as they walked out of the arena with their arms locked.

Somewhere around the Arena…

"That was quite some show, don't you think Saturn?" the red-headed Galactic commander asked her co-commander.

"With this information, and the good news from the southwest lab, I think we might get promoted," the blue-haired Galactic replied with a smile.

"Told you it wasn't a waste of time."

"Oh shut up about that already!" Saturn said, as Mars chuckled.

With Ash and his friends…

"We're here!" Ash and Serena said in unison.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Ketchum," Brock said laughing as he placed down a platter of sandwiches on the table.

"How did you find out?!" Ash demanded, as he and Serena blushed.

"Mewtwo," Clemont answered quickly, afraid of what Ash was capable of.

Ash was about to speak until Mewtwo interrupted and answered, "Don't get mad at me, they would not stop nagging to me about it once they realized Serena was gone, besides I saved your ass."

"I guess I can't argue with that huh?" Ash muttered as he and Serena sat together at the table along with Misty, Dawn, May, Max, Bonnie, and Iris.

"We made extras, just in case Ash eats it all… or maybe May," Brock said as he and Cilan sat down. Ash then turned his attention to May, who nodded.

"Bring out the extras! It's time to settle this eating contest once and for all," Ash said while grinning at May.

"You're so on, I probably have chances of winning this time around," May said confidently.

"Oh is that so?" Ash taunted her.

"Yep, you probably haven't eaten a lot in a while."

"Well, extras are served," Cilan and Brock told the two. The rest of the gang surrounded the table, with Brock, Dawn, Serena, Max, and Clemont cheering for Ash, the rest cheering for May.

"Alright, I want a clean match, no spilling food on the floor, if you do, lick it clean," Brock stated as he looked at the two. "Ready, set, go!"

The two friends began chowing down on their food. May went to look at Ash's plate to see him three fourths done with his plate, while May still had two fourths done.

"And Ash wins!" Brock declared as May pulled her head up to see Ash's spotless plate.

"How?" May asked.

"Sometimes, Brock and Cilan gave me cooking lessons when I traveled with them. So wherever I go, I can just go get the ingredients and make something out of it," Ash replied.

"Impressive," Serena giggled as she gave Ash a peck on his cheek.

"Well, you guys sit back, we still have to eat," Leaf said as she glared at the two.

"I'm still hungry," Ash replied.

"Oh no you aren't," Misty replied as she grabbed a mallet from out of nowhere.

"Oh please, that isn't going to stop me."

"You sure?" Misty asked as she attempted to hit Ash with the mallet. Ash grabbed the end and broke it into two.

"A lot of things change when you live in solitude," Ash chuckled as he went to his hotel room.

It might not have been as long as you wanted it to be, but I tried. Still the longest chapter I have typed though.