"Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to the inauguration of the Pokémon Master. In keeping with the traditions, the new Master, known only as 'The Champion' will accept a fight against any trainer that wishes to test themselves against him, for the first month of his reign. However, with his already stated intention to avoid the media, it is unknown if 'the Champion' intends to make an inaugural address after he is crowned"

The stadium was completely packed, this was an event that nobody wished to miss, the inauguration of a new Pokémon Master. Every Gym Leader and Elite Four member from Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, Hoenn and Unova were present, as were many of the famous researchers from around the regions. Professor Oak had been invited and had gone, but the rest of the gang were left behind, sat around the TV at the Ketchum residence watching the event. As usual, Max was ranting about his new idol although he had finally shut up when the TV commentator began to speak.

In the middle of the stadium, Mr Goodshow was just standing up, and gesturing for quiet throughout the stadium. As the crowd finally began to settle down and listen, Mr Goodshow pulled out a microphone and began to speak.

"Welcome to all of you! We are here to confirm the appointment of a new Pokémon Master, after he won the title from his predecessor, Cynthia. And now, Ladies and Gentleman, please welcome for the final time as Pokémon Master, the beautiful, Miss Cynthia Shirona!"

Applause erupted around the stadium, with the Sinnoh-native being given a standing ovation. Whilst she was well-known for her prowess in battle, Cynthia had become popular for her down to earth nature, and her willingness to help upcoming trainers. Many in the Pokémon world would miss her reign at the top, which had been far shorter than anybody had ever anticipated. As she reached Mr Goodshow, she took the microphone, and turning to face the crowd, she waited for silence.

"Thank you." Her voice, level, refusing to let any weakness show. "I am honored to have my departure treated in such a way. Throughout my reign as Master, I tried to keep the League strong. Three years ago, I promised you that I would aid the leaders across regions as well as any upcoming trainer. In that time, I would like to think I have honored my promises. Now, as my reign comes to an end, I retire in the knowledge that I did my best. Thank you for your support through the years, support that I hope you will extend to my successor."

Cheers and applause rang out once again as Cynthia turned to Mr Goodshow who had managed to find another microphone from somewhere, and his voice rang out across the stadium.

"It is now my pleasure to introduce a man who went through the entire tournament known only as 'the Trainer'. When he first arrived, he refused to give his name, merely displaying the badges from all 4 regions, and requesting to enter the tournament. Now, at its end, he has emerged as not only the champion, but as one of the most powerful battlers I have ever seen fight. He has truly earned his rank, and the name he has been given reflects his ability. So, please put your hands together for legend among trainers, it's the new Pokémon Master, 'the Champion'!

Ash strode out into the stadium. He was dressed in his usual black, his hat covering his face once again. He didn't acknowledge the crowd, but merely reached the center, rejecting the offer of a microphone. He knew that the crowd didn't love him like they loved Cynthia, yet they made nearly as much noise for him. As he turned to face the women he had defeated, the crowd began to die down again, allowing her voice to be heard cracking slightly with emotion as the day she thought would never come was upon her.

"Champion, having defeated me, accept my title as Pokémon Master, and promise to lead the Pokémon League to the best of your ability, until you are incapable of the role. Judge fairly, lead wisely and uphold the values on which the League was founded."

Without any emotion, his voice completely neutral even as it was amplified around the stadium, Ash responded as expected of him. "I accept both the title, and the challenge." Nobody had heard him talk normally, during his battles, he had rarely spoken, giving only a single command at any point. Cynthia then turned and walked up to a platform in the stadium where she picked up an emblem and handed it to Ash who had followed her. The emblem represented the Pokémon Master, and was a solid gold badge, with a different part of it devoted to each type, a lightning bolt for electricity, a flame for fire and so on. With the passing of the emblem, Cynthia passed over her title, her rank, her whole life. All this Ash accepted without any emotion or even words. Cynthia then stepped down, and joined Mr Goodshow at the foot of the platform. They turned expectantly to the Champion as he looked towards the stadium.

Ash looked out with an even gaze. He had planned for this moment through the years, thinking of something to say. He knew his inaugural address was expected to set the tone for his reign, and as a result he knew he had to be careful. His ideas could be considered radical. Whilst he might be considered cold, and cared for few beyond his Pokémon, he did still understand what other people expected. He realized he had paused for too long, and looked out into the silence once again. Clearing his throat, he began speaking, his voice being amplified across the stadium despite no visible microphone.

"Elites, Gym Leaders, Researchers, Trainers. Anybody with an interest in Pokémon. I stand before you as your new Champion. I expect that all of you have questions for me that you would like to ask. So I feel that I should clarify somethings first. As has already been made clear, I shall never give interviews to the media. Equally my name shall not be revealed. Mr Goodshow has agreed to oblige me in this. With respect to..."

"This guy is intense" muttered Gary. "I don't even know where to start in analyzing him."

The gang was still sat around the TV, unable to look away. 'The Champion' was working his way through how he would work as Champion. It became clear that underneath his cool exterior, there was a fearsome intelligence driving the Champion. However, what they were waiting for, was his plans for the Pokémon League.

"Now, my plans for the League itself. During her reign, Cynthia tried to make sure that the gym leaders across the regions would be able to maintain the high standard expected. This I agree with. However, Cynthia also believed that she should devote a considerable amount of her time to teaching young trainers. I disagree. I plan to ensure that there is a structure in place that means that any young trainer can become great by working with the Gym Leaders. As such, I shall be carefully watching the gyms, and ensuring that they are not only up to the very high standard expected, but also doing their traditional role; teaching trainers. At the founding of the Pokémon League, gyms took in a large number of trainers and taught them. It required gym leaders to be far more versatile than just battlers. I will make sure that this is true once again, and any leader who is unable to complete the tasks required of them will be replaced, either in training new trainers or in their abilities to defend their badge. It is possible that you will think I am being harsh. To you I say, I intend to uphold all the traditions of the League, and this is merely the first. However, when the League was first founded, the Pokémon Master did train a select few. The strongest trainers around that do not necessarily wish to be part of an Elite Four, would expect to be allowed to demonstrate to the Master what they could do, and if they were deemed good enough, they would be trained. This, I shall do. So, in an appeal to the strongest trainers out there. If you believe you are good enough, perhaps the best in your chosen type, or you believe you are a fearsome enough trainer, then come. Show me you are worthy, and I shall accept you as a student. Thank you, and once again I shall strive to fulfill everything I have promised, and to give you a league you can truly be proud of."

Silence reigned in the Ketchum house. None of them believed what they were hearing. Did he honestly plan to fire gym leaders? There hadn't been a gym leader actually fired for more than 30 years! To think that people they knew could soon be removed was shocking. However, as the final part of his speech sunk in, Misty suddenly gasped. She knew she was a good trainer. She knew she could be considered perhaps the strongest Water Pokémon trainer around, having won the Whirl Cup the previous year. And the Pokémon Master had just announced that the strongest trainers would have a chance to prove what they could do, and then train under him. This was an opportunity that she could not pass up if she wanted to fulfill her dream. She then realized that the others were still discussing the speech.

"Uh guys..." Misty started. Then stopped when they all turned to look at her. "Err... I think..."

Tracey smiled. "You think you should try to get him to train you, don't you Misty?"

"How did you..."

"Misty, I'm dating your sister. She knows how desperately you want to become a Water-Pokémon Master, and you phased out as soon as he said that he'd train the strongest trainers. It wasn't hard for a Watcher."

"Misty, are you sure about this?" Brock asked. "I mean, how do you show that you are one of the strongest? I know your good, and I know you've improved massively from when you started, but a lot of great trainers are out there. How do you prove you're the best?"

And there was the stumbling block. Nobody was sure how to persuade somebody with the power of 'The Champion' that they were worth training. Max suggested telling him that she had won the Whirl Cup, but as Gary pointed out, so had a lot of people. That put you high, but not at the top. Her gym record spoke for itself, but again it wasn't enough to prove she was the best or even that close. She could potentially even get a recommendation from Professor Oak, or some of the other gym leaders, but it could easily be ignored. Then Drew started to laugh.

"Whats so funny?" snapped the Water trainer. "If you have an idea, spit it out."

Drew flicked her hair, and grinned. "Isn't it obvious? If you want to demonstrate how good you are, show him."

Even May looked a bit annoyed at this one, pushing his arm away from around her shoulders so she could twist and glare at her boyfriend. "Drew, that's what we are trying to work out, how to show him."

"I know. But I meant literally show him. He has just been sworn in as Pokémon Master. For the next month, anybody who wishes to test themselves need only go to the Indigo Plateau and ask to fight him, and he has to accept. If you want to show him how good you are, fight him, and show him that way."

Misty gulped. This was, as Drew had pointed out, blindingly obvious. However, having watched him battle, she was terrified. Did she really want to fight the most powerful trainer in living memory? She had watched him battle Cynthia, and watched one Pokémon wipe the floor with her. Then Brock spoke again;

"Misty, I know you don't want to face him. But think, if you want to train with him, you cannot be scared. You have to be able to capable of facing him, and doing your best. You won't win, in fact, its unlikely that you will even knock out one of his Pokémon. But if you fight well, you might just do enough to make him think about training you. And whilst it will hurt to think about it, if Ash were here, what would he suggest you do?"

There was no counter to that argument. They all knew what their friend would have suggested. Try. Even rushing into it. Face it, rushing into things was Ashs specialty. He never thought anything through. However, Misty was still unsure, but May then spoke up. "Misty, you know you'll have our support. We'll be there cheering you on. You can do this."

Jessie then jumped in; "Face it twerp, if you've trained at all recently, you must be pretty good. You were always good enough to thrash us before. How hard can a battle be? Worst case: You lose. Badly. Like everybody else has, even the old Master. Anything over that is a plus."

Misty looked at her, but then felt a small tug against her leg. Looking down, she saw Pikachu looking up at her. She knelt, to pet him. "What do you think Pikachu? Should I do it?"

With a nod, the little mouse said "Pika. Pika chupi, pikachu"

Misty looked up, a determined smile on her face. "Fine. I'll try it. Tomorrow, we'll go to the Plateau, and find out how many people are battling him and how long till we can."

Later that afternoon, Gary took Misty outside to train. However, they both knew that whilst he still trained, his research meant that his Pokémon wouldn't stand a chance against hers. However, when she had pointed this out, Gary had laughed and said "Don't you think your being a bit arrogant? I was Ashy-boys rival after all!"

Facing each other across the field with a river to the side, Gary suggested a 1 on 1 battle, to test the strength of Misty's best. Misty knew what this meant. Gary would use his starter, his Blastoise. She knew its power, but also that she could beat it easily. Pulling a Pokéball off her belt, she threw it, calling "Misty calls Gyarados!"

The Atrocious Pokémon materialized in the river with a roar, dove under water and then drew itself up to its full height, glaring at Gary, who smirked.

"Misty, I believe you're going up against a powerful opponent? Well, I have nothing that could help you, aside from and old friend of yours. Whilst I doubt he is as strong as what you'll face, his typing should make things a little more challenging. Pikachu, would you do the honours?"

Misty looked askance at Gary as the little yellow mouse darted out into the field. Gary just shrugged.

"When Pikachu heard what you were planning, he wanted to help you train. He is probably the strongest electric type we have, and that is what your Pokémon will be weak against. Whilst the Champion probably won't bother with a type advantage, the strength of his Pokémon means that this should be good training for you. Now, shall we?"

"Gyarados, hydro pump!"

"Pikachu, dodge it, then use thunderbolt."

The giant serpent fired a huge torrent of water at the mouse who darted to the left, and retaliated with a bolt of electricity. The Atrocious Pokémon didn't wait for an instruction, but dived into the water letting the bolt fly over its head. Its tail then swung out and caught Pikachu, throwing him across the field. As the rodent skidded to a stop, Misty called "Flamethrower"

"Agility"

"Follow it"

Pikachu tried to avoid the torrent of fire, but it followed him, gaining ground.

"Pikachu, Volt Tackle away from it, and arc round towards Gyarados"

Pikachu was surrounded by electricity, and raced away from the flamethrower. He then doubled back, and threw himself at Gyarados, with the collision causing the serpent to roar in pain.

"Gyarados, catch it now, and use hyper beam."

Before Pikachu could get away, Gyarados' tail snaked around it. The mouse looked up to see the Pokémons head facing it, an orange beam forming in front.

"Pikachu, get away" shouted Gary, fearing for the Mouse Pokémon as it wouldn't be able to withstand the blast, but despite its writhing, Pikachu was unable to get free.

"Misty, I for…"

"PIKA-CHUUUUUUUUU"

As the hyper beam raced out at Pikachu, he released a huge lightning bolt at it which caused a massive explosion. The mouse was thrown across the field, where it lay, before wearily climbing to its feet, and facing the cloud of smoke. Suddenly, Gyarados threw itself out at Pikachu, a look of rage on its battered face. The effects of Pikachu's counter were clear, but the serpent was still able to fight. Pikachu was sent flying by the collision, but righted himself and landed on his feet. However, before he could attack again, Gary called out "Misty, enough. If this goes on, one of these two is going to get seriously hurt."

Pikachu looked back at Gary, who nodded, gesturing him to return. Misty held out her arm with a Pokéball. "Gyarados, return."

She looked up, to see Gary approaching her, Pikachu by his side.

"Impressive. Pikachu is one of the most powerful electric types I've seen, and your Gyarados held its own despite the double-type disadvantage. He may even have won…"

"Pika, pika chu!"

"Ok Pikachu, he might not have" Gary chuckled. However, admit it, he was strong." Seeing the rodent consider his statement, Gary turned back to Misty. "I know he is your strongest so the others won't be as powerful, but Gyarados was fearsome. He would outclass most of what I have. You have come on a long way, Ash would be proud."

Misty smiled. She had matured a lot over the seven years, no longer with such a fiery temperament, although she could still anger quickly. Her friends all knew how upset she had been when Ash had vanished, and even worse as time went on. She had focused that into her training, vowing to "Make him proud" and Gary was just seeing the results. She bent down and scratched Pikachu behind his ears making him coo, before looking up at Gary. "Thanks. I still hope I'm ready. He is going to be hard to fight. Can you ask Max if he made a recording of the battle against Cynthia? I want to see how he fought her Milotic. I'm going to head out for a bit, get some training in."

"Sure" Gary replied. "And Misty? Good luck" And with a small smile, he turned back to the Ketchum residence.

Misty walked down the river, finding a spot where she could dip her feet in. She sat there, and threw her Pokéballs out, allowing her entire team to appear in front of her. She watched them as they settled down in the river, close enough to hear her speak without her having to raise her voice.

"Today, a new Pokémon Master was sworn in. He has promised to personally train the best trainers around. I feel that we should make ourselves fit into that category. Therefore, tomorrow we shall be heading to the Indigo Plateau to show to him what we are made of. However, it will be brutal. He is the most powerful trainer in the world, and we shall have to fight him. Since you are the ones who will be taking the battering, please, tell me now if you don't want this."

Her team watched her, in silence. Almost pitying in their looks, like she didn't understand something. Misty looked at Gyarados. "Gyarados, it was a fearsome battle you fought earlier. The match against 'The Champion' will be far harder. Are you sure that you are going to be able to stand it?"

Gyarados roared, as if it was insulted that she was suggesting it couldn't fight. The other Pokémon copied, and adopted fighting stances. Misty watched, with tears in her eyes, as she realized that they would fight for her. In fact, they would do almost anything for her. It was a sobering thought, but she pushed it aside.

"Thank you. Thank you all of you. Now, to be at our best for tomorrow, we are going to have to train today. I don't want you hurting each other, but I want you to work on speed and evasion."

It was some time later that Misty returned to the Ketchum residence, somewhat tired, but buoyed up for the following day. She found that Gary had left the video she asked for by the TV, so she settled down to watch it in the time before Mrs Ketchum managed to cook dinner with the help of Brock. She watched as 'The Champion's' Charizard destroyed Cynthia's team, and how, despite its type weakness, its attacks burned straight through to Milotic. It was at the end, where a Flamethrower went straight through a Hydro Pump and knocked Milotic out that Misty knew she was in trouble. She didn't know what 'The Champion' would use, but if it possessed the power of his Charizard, she would not stand a chance. As the video came to an end, with Charizard slamming Garchomp into the ground with a deadly Seismic Toss, before firing a Flamethrower attack at it to knock it out, Misty heard a voice from next to her.

"Watching you reminds me of him." Mrs Ketchum had come to find Misty, and sat next to her. She had heard about the Water-Trainers plan, and knew that she would need some comfort. "With you out training, travelling to become stronger, and now preparing for a battle tomorrow, you are doing exactly what he did."

Misty didn't know what to say. She didn't want to remind Delia about her son, but she wanted to keep doing what he would have wanted her to do. But before she could try to say something, Delia carried on.

"Thank you Misty. Without you in a way fulfilling his dream, I don't think I could carry on. I know he would want to be where you are now, but I know that if he couldn't be, he would want nothing more than to have one of his friends doing it. You do him proud, and you do his memory proud. Thank you for honoring my son."

With that, Delia got up and walked slowly away. At the door she turned and said with a sad smile "Dinners ready, if you want to come and eat like him too"

Inside the Indigo Plateau, Ash was standing in his office, looking out the window. There was a knock on the door. "Enter" came the curt command. Cynthia pushed the door open, and walked in, looking slightly apprehensive. She looked around and saw the figure by the window, before noticing his hat on his desk, behind which was a very simple chair. The office was very simple, having already been redecorated by Ash himself. The changes weren't numerous because Cynthia had simple tastes, similar to Ash. Cynthia was reflecting on this, when a voice caused her to jump. "Sit". Ash had moved to behind the desk, and sat in the chair there. Looking round, Cynthia realized he was gesturing towards a chair opposite him, across the desk. She quickly moved to the chair, and sat down. She looked across the table, and for the first time, saw the Pokémon Masters face without it being hidden by his hat. He had a sharply defined face, but what caught her attention were his eyes. One was dark and utterly void of anything. The other was electric blue, and dancing with energy. They were quite unlike anything that Cynthia had seen before, but her staring was interrupted by a chuckling from the man to whom they belonged.

"If you are going to spend the entire time staring at my eyes, I'll put the hat back on. I just thought it might be useful for the purposes of this meeting for you to see me properly."

Blushing, Cynthia looked down and muttered "No, it's fine. Sorry, just they are so… unusual."

"Don't worry about it. I understand that they are not what you're used to. Now, I suspect you are wondering why I asked you for this meeting. Put simply, I have a proposition for you. As you heard, I will not train upcoming Pokémon trainers like you did. I shall be devoting my time to other matters, as well as training a small group of elites. I expect gym leaders to be taking charge in training youngsters, but there will also need to be somebody coordinating the effort, as well as evaluating the stronger candidates. I would like you to be that person."

Cynthia was shocked. This man had publicly stated that he would not take an active role in teaching except to a few, and then invited her to do exactly what he had just said he wouldn't do! It was a maddening bit of politics, and infuriating to be manipulated like this. Because the job would be perfect for her after her defeat, and she suspected that the man sat opposite her knew it. Such an opportunity was unlikely to come around twice, so she knew she should probably take it. And she might have been about to agree, when there was a knock on the door and a man entered.

"Sir, there is a challenger here, claiming the right to battle you."

Ash looked at him. "The first one? About time, I was beginning to think that nobody would battle me. Very well, who is it?"

"A Misty Waterflower, Sir. The match is scheduled to start in 30 minutes."

"Thank you. I'll be along momentarily. Cynthia" at this she looked up "Can I expect an answer after the battle? Please think about it, I believe that you really are the right person for this. Now, if you'd excuse me." Ash stood up, rounded the desk and strode out, leaving Cynthia to contemplate what had just happened. She then realized she could go and watch a match between a trainer that had crushed her and a Water-Trainer who she had been following for a while. It was a match she really wanted to see, and so she hurried out of the office, not seeing the door that swung shut behind her by itself.