I realised in the last few chapters that people may be confused about the ages of people for the timelines so for the sake of this fic I'm changing people's ages slightly…

Sam is 60 (just turned)

Delia is 42

Giovanni is 57

Blue is 43

Red is 43 (disappeared age 31)

Silver is 31 (disappeared age 21)

Ash is 12

A shorter chapter as its more of a filler. Hopefully my maths is right.

Chapter 33- What did you just say?

Giovanni was sat in his office looking at a photo that was always kept under lock and key. It was a very old picture of him and Delia. Growing up they had always been very close, even though Giovanni was a good fifteen years older than Delia, he had always felt protective of her. No boys dared make fun of her when he was around as he wouldn't think twice about hitting them. Casting his mind back he recalled the day she brought her first boyfriend home age fifteen. Giovanni was instantly mistrustful of him, but he was wary of the fact his sister was in love and wasn't quiet about telling him she was her own person. He felt vindicated when he heard that this Red bloke had abandoned her but then he soon came creeping back around. By this time, he recalled who Red was. He had been beaten by him several years before during Reds challenge for the League.

Giovanni however was too preoccupied during those years as he found out that he had had a son. It was from a very brief affair; feelings weren't attached from either end, but she was the daughter of a rich man, and he wanted her contacts to help fund his push for the League president. He failed when it came to light he was the one to father her illegitimate child. Her father used his considerable power and influence to nix any thought of him getting the top job at the league. So instead he settled for being the Eighth Gym Leader, still someone whose word was listened to but not the job he wanted. He was also banned from any contact from his son until his son turned sixteen. Those years were often very lonely for Giovanni. He had developed a closer relationship with his sister, he even got on with her husband!

It was Delia and Reds third wedding anniversary when Giovanni told them both about Silver. Red offered to help him as he had a much higher-ranking job as Champion, but Giovanni put a halt to it, he didn't want to put anyone in an uncomfortable position. Silver was seventeen when he first appeared on the scene. He gate-crashed a party Giovanni was having celebrating his thirteenth year as Viridian Gym leader. He immediately knew who he was, he was the spitting image of his mother, he even had the same dark red shade of hair colour.

He had spun Giovanni the story of how he had hated growing up in Johto. How his grandfather would never let an opportunity slide to insult Giovanni. He claimed he wasn't even told his fathers name until his grandfather, on his death bed told him. His mother had taken over the family business, but on Silvers 20th Birthday he would gain full control so for the meantime he wanted to travel before he was stuck in Goldenrod City for the rest of his life. Giovanni welcomed him with open arms but during the following years Giovanni knew he was being lied to about something big. He just didn't have any proof. It all came to a head on Silvers 20th birthday when he was told by Silver who he really was. Giovanni was disgusted at the fact he had fathered a child with the daughter of one of the worst criminal gangs there were. And his son was now the leader! Of course, he couldn't tell anyone, Silver was still his son after all.

The eighteen months that following was horrible. The league leaders and officials had countless meetings about Team Rocket and what they were up to. There was a rumour that they had captured a Mew fossil and began experiments on it to clone it. Every time he saw Red he wanted to tell him, but he couldn't give up his only son. He told Delia and Red that Silver had died to try and keep any connection from Team Rocket from them. Things came to a head a few months later when the Elite Four raided a den in Johto and discovered that the Rocket Boss had cloned a Pokémon successfully. Giovanni had been horrified at the findings. Eighty failed experiments, all using live Pokémon as test subjects. They still had no idea where the lab was located, after all they had no idea one of their own was working for Team Rocket and keeping that information to himself. And then the explosion happened, and everything changed.

Red had captured the man who was behind all the cloning experiments, in a lab connected to Blaines Gym. Every one of them knew they had been duped and deceived by Blaine for years. Giovanni knew it was only a matter of time before Silver was revealed to be the boss and they realised he had duped them too. As far as he knew they had nothing to link Giovanni to Team Rocket but should anyone talk Giovannis life would come crashing down too. A week later Giovanni had travelled to the Goldenrod Radio Tower to confront his son only to discover Silver had left for Kanto the day before. Immediately catching the newly built Train he was back in Kanto the next day and his life was over. When he arrived in Viridian City he was told by Blue what happened and Giovanni was heartbroken. Not only had his sister lost her husband but he had lost his son too. How could he look her in the face and tell her he knew who the boss was?

He decided to aid in the investigation, heading off questions at certain times. He painted himself as a crusader for his sister, a vengeful brother on the hunt for his Brother-in-laws killer. He was certain at times that he would be found out, but he never was. Every time he saw his sister he was desperate to tell her everything but as the years rolled by it became easier to just not tell her. When Ash started looking into his father's disappearance Giovanni knew the lies were about to come crashing down. He knew Ash would discover who Rockets Boss was and therefore uncover all of Giovannis manipulations. Ash was far cleverer than he let on. Oh, people knew he was smart. But he had the most amazing analytical mind he had ever seen.

The year had flown by and the rumours of Team Rocket resurfacing grew stronger by the day. When they attacked Viridian City Giovanni was desperate to hear any news about his son and went to interrogate the three Ash had captured only to find out they had been moved overnight by the league. They had left their Meowth behind though, so Giovanni claimed it for 'rehabilitation purposes'. He was amazed to find out it could talk but under interrogation it revealed nothing about Silver. So, he simply kept it in his gym along with his other Pokémon and forgot about it. Giovanni had been genuinely terrified when news reached him about Porta Vista and what Ash had done. He knew what it felt like to lose a son so he helped Delia as much as he could from afar.

The next few months Giovanni kept a desperate ear open for anything out of the ordinary. The explosion off the coast of New Island was eerily familiar, the random attacks on Legendaries, Pokémon Land exploding, Lavender Town being under psychic command, people going missing and turning up with no memory of what happened, even Meowth being stolen from his gym. It all culminated on yesterday's events though. He had been informed by his assistant that Ash had waged war on Rota. He knew instantly it was about the Time Flower, why else would he attack Rota, and should Ash get his hands on it he would show it to his mother who would know who the leader of Team Rocket was. So here he was now, sat in his office waiting for the inevitable.

The buzz of his intercom shook him from his thoughts.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Sir, Blue and Lance are here." His receptionist said, "They have some information to share with you."

"Send them in" Giovanni said as he stood up and went over to one of the walls. Punching in a code he pulled a thick file out of his safe and walked back over to his desk where he poured himself a drink and waited. Soon enough Blue and Lance entered. Lance looked pensive, Blue looked livid and Giovanni knew the game was up.

"What can I do for you gentlemen?" Giovanni asked.

"Cut the crap Gio" Blue said "you're coming with us to the League. There are some questions we'd like you to answer."

Looking at them Giovanni gulped his drink down and placed the glass on his desk. Grabbing the file, he walked over to his jacket and put it on. "Very well. Let's go, shall we?"

Giovanni called out his Alakazam, Blue doing the same and all three were transported to the League HQ reception desk. Charles office was warded against direct teleportation, it would be far too easy to kidnap him after all should that be the case. Silently they all walked up to the elevator and made their way to the top. Walking through the door he followed Blue and Lance to the boardroom and stopped short when he saw Delia and Ash sat down next to the other Elites, Charles and strangely Queen Ilene. Taking a seat facing them all he took his jacket off and straightened the file.

"Who wants to begin?" he asked.

"Silver" Delia said icily.

"Yes, I thought you'd want to start there" Giovanni said "For those of you not in the know Silver is my son. He was born thirty-one years ago after a one-night stand with the heiress of a company I was schmoozing to help fund my push for League President."

"I remember that. You'd have been a good candidate to take over from me" Charles said, "The bid quickly went away though."

"Yes" Giovanni said "her father found out it was I who fathered his daughter's child, accused me of treachery and then used his money to blackball me from the presidency. I had enough money of my own from my own businesses, so I wasn't completely broken by it. And I had enough of my own connections at that point to challenge him but we all knew I wouldn't have been successful. Money talks after all. Instead, I settled for the Viridian Leaders job and promoting the League at functions, a job I know I excel in. Back to Silver. I found out about him accidentally. I was speaking with an acquaintance at Silph Towers who mentioned Alexis had a child a few years before. I knew he was mine, so I reached out. I was told in no uncertain terms that he was off limits until he was sixteen and could decide for himself. Silver approached me when he was seventeen. His grandfather had just died, and he was due to take over the family business when he reached twenty, so he wanted to decide for himself what I was like."

"When did he become the leader of Team Rocket?" Delia asked glaring at him.

"When he was twenty. The few years I knew him was often marred by strange happenings around him." Giovanni said "I told you he had died, partly because I knew you would stop asking me about him out of pity, something I wished I could do myself. How do you explain to the people who love you that their nephew, my son was the leader of Team Rocket? Instead, I said he died and continued to meet with him outside of Viridian City. At that point you were far too busy with your own pregnancy, and I didn't see the point in worrying you."

"What happened at the Gym?" Blue asked.

"From the CCTV we recovered Red and Silver fought and Red won. After that the power was cut and I don't know. I suspected they both died but as there was no body found? All that remained was the Time Flower."

"How do you know about the time flower?" Ash asked, "we haven't mentioned a Time Flower."

"I led the investigation after Reds funeral." Giovanni said looking at Ash "the officer in charge of labelling evidence told me about it. I knew what they were. Red had told me of their significance and what they do so I knew that Red leaving one behind was not a coincidence. When I went to find it though it had gone."

"Ilene here was the culprit" Agatha said.

"You were?" Giovanni asked looking at her confused "why? You can't use Aura and what I know of the guardians they would not help you discover what secret it kept. Not even you being their Queen would override their sense of honour."

"Spite" Delia said glaring at them both "you know how much she envied that I was married to Red. Getting back to the point. What happened to Silver?"

"I do not know" Giovanni replied "everything I have heard, everything I was told I wrote down in this file. It spans the last five years. Rumours, off the cuff remarks, anything that mentioned my son or Team Rocket. This last year though has gained me three times the information I had in the previous four. Disappearances, attacks, explosions, raids. Everything my contacts have told me is in here. The biggest one though is Blaines death. I have reason to believe it was Fuji aided by Mewtwo. Oh yes, I know about Mewtwo. Question, why the hell did you not kill Fuji when you had the chance?"

"We were a day away from legally being able to do so" Lance said shrugging his shoulders "we had all the evidence we needed with Red and his results from his investigation. And then he disappeared."

"Along with my son" Giovanni said angrily "it's pretty evident to me that placing all your eggs in that one basket was ridiculous."

"You seem to believe we would have spared your son had we caught him" Blue said looking thoughtful.

"No" Giovanni replied "I am not that naïve. But at least I could have seen my son one last time before he was led to his death. I do not ask for any forgiveness; it is far too late for that. But I did what I did to protect and aid my son seek redemption."

"Redemption?" Delia said bewildered "your son authorised the death of hundreds of people, Pokémon as well. He financed the creation of a Pokémon that went on a rampage killing its creators, it then aided Silver in killing Red. We saw what it did in the Time Flower. Your son was beaten and Mewtwo finished Red off after your son cowardly fled the scene."

"We don't know Dad is dead" Ash interjected "the vision went dark before we found out what happened at the end."

"The fact still remains that for the last fifteen years Giovanni has known who the leader of Team Rocket is and said nothing" Bruno said, "as far as I'm concerned, he's no better than Blaine."

"You have some nerve comparing me to that monster" Giovanni shouted standing up and slamming his fist on the table "Who was it that let him go back to his everyday life rather than imprisoning him? Do not dare try and take the high road with me Bruno. Everyone in this room apart from Ilene, Ash and Delia played their role in what happened at Cinnabar. You knew for months where that lab was located and did nothing. It's all here in this file. So, you're as much to blame as I am. Do not forget that."

"He's right" Lance said shutting down any retort "but now we must decide what to do with him."

"Do with me?" Giovanni said "there is nothing you can do with me. Should I be sacked I will leak everything to the media and soon enough all five of you will be joining me at the Job Centre and you know it. I have done nothing except father a monster. That is my only crime."

"Is it?" Delia asked glaring at him.

"Legally yes" Giovanni said sighing "I'm aware my crimes to you are of a more personal nature but ask yourself this. Should the roles be reversed, and it was Ash, what would you do to help him? You don't have to like it, or ever forgive me Delia. I don't expect it. I just wanted you to hear my side before you judge me."

"So, the question remains, where do we go from here?" Blue asked.

The next few minutes was in complete silence. "What about Silvers mother?" Ash asked, "Is she still alive?"

"Alexis will not help you" Giovanni said quickly "she raised him to be the next Boss after all and she loves her son."

"I'm not saying she will" Ash said thinking out loud "but if we arrest her, Silver is likely to come out of hiding, no?"

"And face a billion pokedollar lawsuit?" Giovanni responded, "no one would go along with it."

"What if we made Silver believe she was kidnapped?" Ilene said. "I'm sure she has to travel for her role in Team Rocket sometime. If we kidnapped her on route, would he take the bait?"

"We're talking about kidnapping a human being here" Lorelei said looking at them with disgust.

"To draw out the leader of the evilest organisation in Kanto for over a century" Ash said looking determined "I'll make this plain, if nothing is done soon, I will hunt him down myself Giovanni. Cousin or not he is directly responsible for the suspected death of my father. And for eleven years you have known that information and lied directly to our faces. Should I face him, I will not hold back."

"Do you really think killing is that easy boy?" Giovanni asked sternly.

"My body count is likely higher than most sat around this table" Ash said without flinching. Gasps rang out from around the room at his revelation. "Do not sit and pretend you don't know. Bruno himself confronted me about the Power Plant incident. I know you all suspect what I reported wasn't the truth. I made peace with what I had to do long ago. So, if I have to torture or kill Silver to get the location of my father then I will."

"Then I will stop you" Giovanni said.

"How?" Ash said snorting "I've already beaten you in battle, and I beat your Elites to do so."

"Do not make the mistake of thinking he will be alone Giovanni" Blue said standing up "as far as I'm concerned, you and your son are in my way of regaining my best friend. So, will you help us willingly or not?"

Sighing Giovanni thought over what had been said in the last hour. Silently he pulled his wallet out from inside his jacket and looked inside. On the left side was a picture of him and Alexis, taken what seemed a lifetime ago. Knowing he had a son with her had always filled him with enormous pride, even though he was banned from seeing him he still kept tabs on them. Pulling out the photograph he looked at it for a moment before throwing it onto the desk where Blue picked it up.

"She's very pretty" Blue commented looking up "I don't know how this helps us though."

"The other side" Giovanni said. Turning it over Blue saw writing on the back. Reading it he realised it was an address. "It's her private residence when she's not in Goldenrod. Her watch and earrings are tracking devices. If she's wearing neither then she'll be wearing a hair clip shaped like my Earth badge which has one also."

"Why?" Delia asked curiously.

"It was never our choice in life to fall in love" Giovanni said standing up looking at her with a sad smile "but she was groomed to fill a role for her entire life and in turn groomed Silver. The death of her father would normally have created an opening however she knew she was being watched, waiting for her to slip up. It is our lot in life Delia. Not everyone gets a happy ending. I ask one thing."

"Do you want us to let you know when we have her?" Charles asked.

"No" Giovanni said putting his jacket on and straightening himself up "I will know. Just don't harm her if you can help it." Turning around he walked out of the office thinking over what had happened. He felt an enormous sense of guilt for being party to this, but he owed Delia. And he adored his sister despite what he had done. He just hoped she would forgive him in time.

The meeting broke up very quickly after that with Blue taking Ilene home. Delia ignored her and Ash followed her to the reception of the Plateau. Before he left, he dragged her over to the picture of Red. Smiling she touched the picture. "We'll find him mum" Ash said quietly giving her a hug "I promise you."

Releasing Charizard Ash told him they needed to fly to Mt Moon as that's where his mum had left her car. Nodding Charizard lowered himself so they could get on and in two strong wingbeats they were in the air and headed for Mt Moon. An hour later they landed. Thanking Charizard Ash recalled him as they got in the car. On the drive back Ash told his mum about what happened at the Tree of Beginning. His voice was very hoarse by the time they had finished. It was nearing midnight when they reached Delia's house.

Before they went their separate ways Delia asked him "you said you were required to give something up, but you never said what it was."

"I know" Ash said "it was a tough choice, but I couldn't give up you or my Pokémon. It took a few minutes to think of something nearly the same value."

"What was it?" Delia asked nervously.

"Love" Ash said sadly "I gave up the ability to find love." Turning around he headed up to bed where for the first time in months he cried himself to sleep. He had no idea his mother did the same.

Elsewhere

"They found your Time Flower then?" a man said.

"Yeah" Red said happily "I'll soon be reunited with them."

"And you think all will be forgiven?" the man asked sceptically.

"Well, it's not as if I have a choice in being here, is it?" Red asked sarcastically "you've still never told me where here is either."

"You know where we are" the man said "don't play dumb Red."

Nodding Red looked around "How did we get here though?"

"I have no idea." The man said laughing "what I do know is the world is about to be placed in terrible turmoil. And your son will be at the centre of it."

"I hate at times that he's been set this task" Red said frowning "I wish I could help."

"You already are" the man said "his determination to find you is what's got him through all the trials so far. He's unbelievably resourceful and unbelievably lucky. He'll find this place and you'll be set free."

"We'll be set free" Red corrected.

"No" the man said smiling "my time is almost up. Soon you'll be alone, but you must promise me to never give up."

"What do you mean?" Red asked horrified "we're both going to be getting out of here together like we always said."

"Red" the man said gripping him on the shoulder "I don't have a body to go back to like you do. We are currently in limbo, this house, the lab, the rooms, they don't exist. We have made all these up to stay sane. Our souls are in limbo and with your son doing what he did yesterday means I am no longer needed to power the Tree."

"Aaron" Red said pleadingly "come on mate, you can't believe that?"

"It is the truth" Sir Aaron said letting Red go "in a few days my soul will have been totally absorbed by the Tree of Beginning and my aural presence on Earth will disappear into the wind, as it should have done centuries ago. I have no idea why it held on this long, maybe my interaction with Mew held more surprises than we thought, maybe my time was always destined to be up when my descendent sacrificed something on the same spot I did. Who knows? But I can already feel myself fading. Don't mourn me Red. I am very proud to have been able to get to know you. Now, enough of this being sad nonsense, I'm hungry."

Laughing Red and Aaron walked into their kitchen and began cooking. They had long since cared about the fact they were making something that didn't exist.

Ash

It had been a few days since he talked with his mother, he had spent most of the time at his new place which was looking more and more house-like by the day. He had deliberately kept away from his mum as he knew she'd want to talk about his sacrifice. Ash didn't, so he kept himself busy. He still hadn't seen Sam either. He knew the man would be angry at Ash for what he did to Ilene, but he didn't care that much as he had got the information he needed. He wouldn't have got it otherwise as Ilene would have had them tied up in the courts for months, and that was months they couldn't afford to wait.

Feeling a presence come up behind him he saw that it was Venusaur. He had been very quiet the last few days which concerned Ash.

"Hey Pal" Ash said as he sat down on the hill overlooking his house "are you ok?"

"No" Venusaur said "I'm struggling to adapt to this new body. I'm very slow, it took me half an hour to walk up this hill to talk with you. I don't like it."

"I'm sorry mate" Ash said sighing as he looked at him "I really am. I know you'd have been happy to be Ivysaur for the rest of your life. But this is the reality now. We both lost something that day. Something we can never get back" he finished clutching his chest unconsciously.

"What happened?" Venusaur asked concerned "apart from Pikachu none of us know what happened."

Sighing Ash stood up and looked at his friend. "Come on, I may as well tell you all at the same time. You're all going to need to know at some point." On the way down to Pallet Town they chatted about what plans they had for the massive garden they were going to construct.

"It's going to have a path leading directly to Wartortles Lake" Ash said "I want either side of the path to be filled with flowers, there's going to be an overhead archway on the entire path made of trellis and it'll open up onto Wartortles Lake. I've already spoken to the contractors about feeding it from the river and it's been approved by the council because it's a long-term conservationist project. It's going to look beautiful."

"It really is" Venusaur said "I'm concerned about the size of it though and my ability to look after it on my own."

"Oh" Ash said "you won't be on your own. I've received emails from various places that fund areas of outstanding beauty and they're going to be providing us with Pokémon for you to train up. Combee, Butterfree, Ledyba etc. I'm planning on heading to Viridian Forest tomorrow to see if any of the Royal Pidgeots flock want to come and make a nest in the trees to help out too with protection, no one will ever be attacked by Spearow leaving Pallet Town again. It's all in hand. And you're in charge Venusaur of the garden and woods. This is your home for as long as you like. Mums already held interviews for staff to begin running this place. You tell me what you want, I'll tell them and it'll get done. The house will be finished in a months' time and they're going to start on the lake afterwards. They just need to make sure the land can support water. It should seeing as though there's a river not two hundred feet away from us."

"Wow" Venusaur said as they walked on in silence. A few minutes later he asked, "how do you do this?" seeing Ash's confused face he continued "you have so much going on, how do you do it all?"

"I'm not alone" Ash replied as they walked into Pallet Town "I have a great family, and I have a lot of help because I'm not afraid of asking for it should I need it. Professor Oak has been integral to my life. He's been my father for the last twelve years along with being my mentor. Everything I have is thanks to him and my mother. It's strange how much I've changed over the last year. Before then I would never willingly interact with anyone, I was very much a loner. But travelling with you all, listening to people tell me their stories and life really has helped me realise I can't do this on my own."

"So why haven't you spoken to him since you got back home?" Venusaur asked.

"I'm scared" Ash said simply "I know I disappointed him with what I did at Rota. Don't get me wrong I would still do the same if I could re-wind time. We saved Mews life after all with what we did. But I probably should have listened to him more. He deserved that from me."

"Well said" a voice said from behind Ash. Turning around he saw it was Professor Oak walking along behind them with Mrs Hakiri "thank you for that Ash."

"It's the truth Professor" Ash said shrugging his shoulders "everything I have is thanks to you and mum. And while it all worked out in the end, I'm sorry if we gave off the impression that your opinion didn't matter."

"Then let's forgive and forget, shall we?" Sam said.

Nodding Ash greeted Mrs Hakiri "Hello Ma'am, this is Venusaur. He's going to be my head gardener at my new house. Has mum already spoken to you about getting your daughters help?"

"She has, she's already ordered all the plants. Erika from Celadon is sending some of her best apprentices to help with the project. There's going to be a lot of activity soon isn't there?" she replied.

"There is, but it'll die down when it's all done." Ash said turning to Venusaur "her daughter is on the board of governors for the preservation of outstanding beauty. She's the one in charge of finding the plants for you. Remember what I said though, they plant them where you want them to go."

"A Pokémon in charge?" Mrs Hakiri said "well, you see something new every day."

"He wanted a garden to look after, so he's going to get a garden" Ash said simply "Professor, are you free tomorrow?"

"I should be after twelve. Gary will be here though so no antagonism." Sam said.

"I never start it professor, you know that." Ash replied raising an eyebrow.

"I know. Its simply a warning" Sam said. Nodding Ash parted to go to his mum's house. Heading into her back garden he called all his Pokémon out; Pikachu had stayed behind to play with Togepi to give Sylveon and Cleffa a break but joined him when he saw Ash.

"Venusaur asked what happened at the Tree of Beginning. And I'd rather tell you all at once rather than individually as you may notice a change in my personality because of the events." Ash said. Over the next few hours he talked and clarified questions they asked until finally he finished with the plans to kidnap Silvers mum.

"We won't be taking part in that" Ash said "we likely won't be in Kanto at that point. I plan on speaking with Sam tomorrow about our training."

"So, you lost the ability to feel love?" Bagon asked confused "how does that work?"

"I'm not sure to be honest as my feelings for all of you haven't changed. That's one of the things that's been puzzling me" Ash said frowning.

"Maybe it's your ability to find a mate?" Charizard asked "you did say you focused on that when transferring your aura to Mew."

"You could be right" Ash said shrugging his shoulders "either way we'll find out sooner or later. Now, from Monday we will be leaving this place and won't be returning to civilisation for at least six to eight weeks. We will then come back home and rest for a few weeks before heading to the Plateau for the League. Now the training will be far more intense and harsher than ever before. We have a League to win."

The next day Ash made his way to Sams lab. He felt much happier knowing he still had Sam on his side. He would have hated to fall out with him fully. Walking into the lab he made his way to the office and found Sam sitting down at his desk. He wasn't alone though as Blue and Gary were there too.

"Ah Ash, take a seat. We were just waiting on you." Sam said.

"Why is he here?" Gary said sneering at Ash who simply raised an eyebrow at Gary and smirked.

"Here is here Gary because I asked him to be" Sam said sharply "Now, out of the four that left Pallet Town last year you two are the only ones that made it past badge three. The fact you got eight and ten respectively is very good so congratulations. That was the easy bit I'm afraid. Now comes the true test. The League is three months away, you are required to be there three days before it starts, I suggest you get there a week beforehand to make sure you register on time. Now, pass me your Pokedexes."

Handing them over Gary immediately saw his was different to Ashs "Hey, how come mines different to his?"

"That's none of your business" Blue said shocking Ash and Gary "we've already been over your attitude, carry on giving your grandfather lip and I'll ban you from participating in the league myself." Gary simply folded his arms over his chest and sulked.

Scanning them Sam waited for the results to appear on the screen.

GARY OAK: Pokémon Seen 87, Pokémon Caught 110. Collective Battles 762, battles Won 689, Battles lost 73.

He smirked until Ash's stats came up where his face fell.

ASK KETCHUM: Pokémon Seen 137, Pokémon caught 20. Collective Battles 976, Battles won 975, Battles lost 1.

"Damn" Ash said "can we get that loss stricken from the record? It was unsanctioned by a gym leader after all and wasn't an actual battle."

Laughing Sam just handed Ash his Pokedex back. Gary however was still staring at the board. Ash had only lost one battle in ten months? Ash had seen more Pokémon too. At least he'd caught more though. Coming back to himself his arrogant look came back to everyone who was watching him. "Not so great at the catching though eh Ashy Boy?"

"I caught two legendaries" Ash said wiping the smirk off Garys face "I would say that wins."

Snorting Sam handed Ash a piece of paper. Looking it over Ash quickly signed it and handed it back. "Your request has been approved. How long will you be there?" Sam asked.

"Probably two months" Ash said "I plan on coming back here to oversee the finishing of my house and to relax before flying to the league. I've booked a Chalet with four rooms if you want to join mum and I?"

"He has a chalet" Blue said, "as the regional professor he has one next to the Elite Four building."

"Ah right" Ash said nodding "that makes sense. Well, if you get bored and need company my door is open. It's just down the road from the village, chalet 7. You too Blue. Bring Aunt Laura if you like."

Surprised at the invitation Blue simply nodded. Ash stood up and shook Sam's hand before leaving.

"What was that he signed?" Gary asked curiously "and did he really win all of them battles?"

"League business" Sam said "and yes, he did. His loss was against Brock's Golem with his Pikachu."

"I didn't face a Golem" Gary said confused.

"No, you didn't" Sa said "Ash had a much different challenge than you did. Now I suggest you go and prepare for the league. Three months is not a great amount of time to prepare."

"I'll be fine" Gary said before leaving.

Shaking his head Blue waited until Gary had left before saying "does it make me a bad person to bet against my son if it comes to a battle between Ash and him, or wish he was more like Ash in how serious he's taking this?"

"No" Sam simply said "it makes you smart. Gary won't win the league, not with that attitude."

"I worked hard to reach Champion status" Blue said sadly "I know I was beaten days later by Red but I still trained to the bone to reach the summit. Hopefully his loss at the league makes him realise that talent can only get you so far. Without hard work and dedication, you'll always come off second best."

"I agree" Sam said looking at the door "I'll be surprised if he makes it past the top sixteen."

"Me too" Blue said sadly before standing up and leaving his dad to get on with his work.

The next few days Ash packed for what was going to be an arduous task. He would be alone on Mt Silver for the next eight weeks. He was still wary of Mewtwos plan happening, but he couldn't put his life on hold waiting.

"I'll keep in touch as much as I can mum" Ash said as he was standing at the door "I'll be heading to the Pokémon Centre once a week to answer emails and phone you but apart from that I'll be off the grid."

"Stay safe Ash" Delia said smiling sadly at him. "I'm so proud of the man you're becoming. Your father would be too."

Giving her a hug, he mounted Charizard and instructed him which direction to travel in. It would be a two-day journey so he told him to take it easy. Two full days of travelling, especially flying on a Pokémon with the wind battering you was not fun. Ash was lucky he had aura to protect him but even then it was minimal. At dusk on the second day an exhausted Ash and Charizard landed outside the gate to Mt Silver. He knew there would be several security checks, after all he was entering a restricted area, so he patiently handed over his ID and waited for it to be cleared. An hour later he was released and headed along Route 28 to Mt Silver. They came across several Pokémon he hadn't seen before, Sneasel looked interesting but as he had no desire to catch anything he simply walked on and an hour later he reached the Pokémon Centre. Heading inside he wasn't surprised to find it empty; it was nearly 1am after all so he simply scanned his Pokedex on the wall and went into the professor's room where he lay down fully clothed and fell asleep. The next day he introduced himself to Nurse Joy and informed her of how long he'd be there on the mountain. Handing over his Pokémon he made some final preparations before getting them back.

Setting out from the centre Ash took a look around and was stunned by the views. Below him lay Kanto, as far as the eye could see. It really was a very beautiful place. From this distance he could just about see the sea at Vermillion. Turning around he walked up to the entrance of the mountain where a hut was located. Knocking on he spoke to the guard there and informed him of who he was, wrote a phone number for his mum down in case of an emergency before heading into the mountain. A few hours later, after one or two battles to warn off the inhabitants and many tunnels and bridges crossed Ash came across a waterfall that fell into the abyss below. Ash couldn't even see the bottom; he could hear it though and it seemed quite a drop. Off to the side of it he spotted what looked like a cave. Scaling the wall, he pulled himself up onto the ledge there and headed into the cave. It was extremely spacious. Ash decided as he set up camp that this would be his home for the next eight weeks.

The next six weeks flew by. Ash very quickly had to battle many of the inhabitants and explain they weren't there to steal anyone's territory, they were simply there to train to get stronger. And stronger they got. Wartortle evolved into Blastoise not long after they got there during a battle with a Pupitar, Bagon had evolved into a Shelgon, Charizard had become much more in tune with his inner fire and wasn't as affected by Solar Power anymore, Pikachu had become a powerhouse and could be regularly seen to be sparing with the local tribe of Tyranitar that was passing through on the way to their mating grounds. Machoke had asked to be evolved but that would have to wait until they got back to Oak's ranch so he could be traded and Venusaur had become much more able to use his weight to move around quicker. Ash had been training alongside them too and had grown a few more inches. He was very tall for a thirteen-year-old now at 5 foot 8. His body had developed into quite a muscled figure too. All in all, in a few years he would look incredible.

It was as their seventh week started that they felt an enormous spike in the worlds Aura. Concerned Ash packed up and left Mt Silver as quickly as he could. He had long since got used to the various passages and found shortcuts to exit the mountain. As he exited, he walked back to the Pokémon Centre where he was surprised to find Nurse Joy standing outside looking off into the distance. So as not to scare her Ash stayed about ten feet from her and kicked a rock in her direction. Confused she looked around before spotting Ash and smiled at him before frowning again and looking off into the distance. Ash joined her and had to hold in a gasp. There in the distance a huge spike of blue light was hitting the evenings skyline, from it huge black clouds were appearing.

"I need to go" Ash said calling out Charizard and quickly flying off into the night "we need to go home first pal. Then onto wherever that is located. We'll rest along the way, but it looks like Mewtwo has dealt his hand" the rest of the journey was done in silence. Charizard had become stronger in the six weeks and was able to make the journey in just over a day and a half. Recalling him he quickly made his way into his mother's home where she was sat on the couch watching the TV.

"Mum" Ash said surprising her. She leapt from the couch and gave him a desperate hug.

"It's time" she said worriedly.

"It is" Ash said as both of them looked at the TV. It was indeed time.