AN: My first Pokemon series fic! I've been wanting to do one ever since Kalos but I kept holding it off because I was hoping there would come a time when Ash's journey's were over and they have! This fic is inspired by Alternate Starting fics for Ash including ones where Pikachu betrays him such as When One Door Closes, Two More Open by Dragonsrule18 and Starting Things Differently by Kyuubisama201.

Now a few things to note, this fic will mostly be based on the Anime but will have some Game and Manga stuff as well as a few original things. I intend to expand the Pokemon world to make it more realistic, detailed, and add things that would need to explained such as Pokemon being different both civilized and wild, politics, Pokemon behavior, how the League would realistically be run, etc. I also intend to add some of my own plots and character drives to make certain characters more fleshed out.

My goal is to do every region of course, but Year Zero starts off with Ash needing to delay his jounrey for a year to recover from what's happened. Which means a lot of things happen thanks to Ash not going on his journey and various events playing out without him. Now a few things to note:

One, Ash is a Chosen One so he does have to deal with saving the world stuff.

Two, Ash will have Aura but not a super lot of it. He's not going to get an Riolu or anything (At least not for a long time) and he isn't going to be a super powerful Aura Knight.

Three, the Legendaries do have a council thing going on.

Four, Giovanni has more personal reasons as to why he is running Team Rocket then just "Ruling the world"

Five, Red is Ash's Dad and is going to have his own backstory. There is a lot of original stuff I'm adding to this so this isn't the "Prime" Pokemon Timeline but one close to it. Celebi will explain that later in the story.

I want to also want to say a personal thanks to Kinrah, because their "Chosen One's Adventure(s) with Legendaries" series is what inspired me to make this at last.

As well as a big thanks to my friends All0412 for designing the cover art and my friend Joe Toon for editing.

Anyway, enjoy the prologue and first chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon

Every Pokemon in the world is unique. Not just in terms of appearance, moves, abilities, and design, but also in culture and traditions. While some Pokemon shared similar mindsets due to type, region, and environment similarities, every single Pokemon distinguished itself by living their lives differently. Be it from mating rituals, family structure, lifestyle choices, worshiping of the Legendaries, dietary needs, or personal celebrations due to achievements in one's life. There was no doubt that even if any Pokemon Professor spent their entire life studying Pokemon they could never fully grasp all the differences between one thousand and more species.

Even if common knowledge was known about particular Pokemon, their true details as to why still eludes to most humans. It wasn't just because humans couldn't understand the Pokemon's language (and yet somehow they could understand humans perfectly regardless of the language used), it was also because humans were just as diverse and culturally alien to the Pokemon they lived in this world with. They had no special abilities, no longer lifespan, couldn't fly, swim fast, and only a few could use abilities like Aura or Psychic powers. And yet despite all this they could build, think, survive, and imagine in ways that no Pokemon could ever do so. Pokemon might have been powerful, but humans were ingenious. It was this balance of power and knowledge that allowed them to co-exist despite issues along the way.

With this balance formed two types of Pokemon societies: The Civilized and the Wild. The Civilized are those who lived, trained, and were raised in the human cultures and societies which made them develop alongside their human friends and family. In contrast, the Wild are those who still live outside of human civilization, all maintaining their ancestral tradition of natural order and living their lives as Arceus designed them to be. Neither were superior and both were necessary. That was how many of the wisest of Pokemon saw it. And the Absol were among them.

While various Pokemon races had evolved over the long millennia, the Absol had never forgotten their purpose in the world. Arceus designed them with the ability to sense dangers and disasters that would result in the destruction of not just the environment, but of lives as well. When the early Absol discovered this, they vowed to make it so that they would use these powers' responsibility to guide and protect those who lived in danger of having their lives snuffed out by the cruelty of fate. Unfortunately, this resulted in a superstition that the Absol were a sign of ill omens or worse, cursing their kind to be feared and hated across the world.

It was because of this that the Absol race adopted a lifestyle of isolation. They didn't have clans, packs, or sought the company of others except on rare occasions. It was even rare for Absol to seek each other out unless the situation was dire and their Danger Sense predicted an event of cataclysmic proportions. There were of course, expectations, such as Absol who were captured by Pokemon Trainers or chose to leave the isolated lifestyle of their own choosing. There was no discrimination if this happened. Fate was fickle and choice often forced her to change her ways.

However, commonly an Absol was most likely to meet their parents, mate, and children for the entirety of their lives in terms of seeing other Absol. For Sierra, mother of three recently born male Absol, it was a fate her children would live should they follow tradition. Of course, she would be raising them on her own. Her mate, Umbrus, had never returned from whatever it was that his Danger Sense warned him that he needed to attend to. It was four months before she accepted that Umbrus was taken by Yveltal to Arceus's Paradise. Sierra mourned, but only for a short while. Absol don't typically mourn for long when it comes to the deaths of their loved ones and friends. Death to them was seen as a release from the burden of their duty. Above all else, she needed to be strong for her children because they would grow up without a father and she had no time to find a second mate. She would raise them until they were strong enough to set out on their own, never to see her or each other again. Only then would she allow herself to wait her remaining years before joining her beloved in the next life.

Until then, she would prepare and love her children properly like any mother would.

If there was one benefit to being a mother it was that the Danger Sense never went off in Sierra's head. Her mother told her that parental instincts overrode them and she would not gain it again until she was certain her younglings could survive in the world without her. Sierra didn't mind. She lived in a nice spot in the mountains of Sinnoh with fresh water from a river that had fish and berries near the bushes and trees. It provided good shelter and protection from the more dangerous Pokemon out there, but she rarely saw any save for the occasional Starly and their flock or a Geodude or two resting in the mountains. One time she was sure she spotted a Lucario and Riolu in the distance during her sixth month into her pregnancy, meditating without addressing her. No double a parent and child training together that she had no intention of interrupting.

Giving birth had been hard, especially alone, but she preserved and brought forth her three children: Damus, Azrael, and Sigil. Naturally, taking care of a litter of little curious babies was a tiresome task but they were good boys.

Damus was the most curious and often asked about the world beyond. He was also the first to awaken his Danger Sense. He said he felt something happening down the mountain, something bad. Curious, and wanting to make sure there would be no threat to her children, Sierra went to investigate. What she found was a young Pokemon Trainer and his team, all dead and slaughtered, with the scent of a nearby dragon type Pokemon in the area.

An unfortunate fate, but the world was often not kind. She buried the bodies, said a few prayers, and went back to her children to start teaching them the duties of an Absol. Of all of them, Damus took it to heart the most with no questions. It was clear he would be the first to leave.

Sigil was quiet, more so than the others, and he was often sick. He was weak and ate very little. At first, she worried he wouldn't survive and die young, but he preserved longer than was expected and even improved as time went on. Alas, it was all for not in the end. She, Damus, and Azrael sensed the danger in Sigil as their youngest quickly deteriorated due to illness. Sierra did everything she could, but in the end her beloved youngest passed away with a small whimper. It was the first time her children saw death. They were confused and confused, not helped by seeing their mother cry for the first time in their lives.

It was the day they learned about death.

It was a long and bitter lesson and the two boys took it hard. But they took it to heart and would grow stronger from this loss. And it was at least a comfort that Umbrus could finally meet one of his sons in the afterlife.

And then there was Azrael.

Azrael, the middle child, was always cautious about danger and yet was also a determined fighter. Only once did Sierra have to protect her children and that was against a starving Luxray who wanted to eat something. Her horn made quick work of him before he could let out a single lightning attack and it was to her benefit that his starvation weakened him to the point that a few good blows did him in as she casted him off the mountain to his doom.

At least he wasn't hungry anymore when it was all over.

Azrael had seen it all as his eyes went bright. Unlike Damus, who wanted to focus on Danger Sense, Azrael wanted to focus on combat. He wanted to learn how to fight, move, counter, and feint so as to protect those he cared for. He wanted to make sure he could protect the weak like his brother was. Even though he couldn't defeat death itself, he wanted to be strong to try and prevent it as long as possible. In some ways, both her boys had developed the true duty of what it meant to be an Absol, but in different ways.

And Sierra vowed that they would both be ready for their duty when the time came.

Then came the night that changed everything.

A dream.

No, a nightmare.

A nightmare that had Azarel's screaming wake both Sierra and Damus. He had practically sweated up a storm, gasped for air, and looked more scared than ever. When asked what he saw, he only said one thing as he cried, "I saw a human being murdered by a Pokemon."

The description of the Pokemon was a Pikachu. One that the human was trying to befriend. The human sounded young, a child most likely. Much like how Absol eventually left their families to grow up, human children left to become trainers. This Pikachu, this partner of this human, hated him. Cursed him. For nothing more than being a human. The hate in his eyes was intense. Like a fire that was wild and enraged at the world. It then shocked him with lighting. Over and over again. The flesh turning black, the eyes crisped, the body twitching until it was silent and unmoving.

And the Pikachu left him to rot.

Azrael had tried to do something. Anything to save the human boy. But he couldn't.

Sierra just told him it was a dream and that it was not real. Even if she was confused by how he knew what a Pikachu looked like despite never seeing one.

But then he said something about the human that made her pause.

("His name is Ash.")

The dreams continued after the first. It was the same one over and over again. Sometimes it was after a few nights, other times it was daily. Azrael kept trying to save "Ash" over and over again, but try as he might, all he could do was watch the human boy die. Azrael wanted to save him. He kept trying over and over again. This led him to train harder as if he was hoping that whatever he was learning in the real world was going to help him in the dream world.

After nearly six months of this happening, Sierra could deny it no longer. She heard of it a few times from her own parents, but she never imagined she'd witness it. A tale even among the Absol.

A Danger Dream.

Unlike the usual Danger Sense, these were less instinctual and more prophetic in nature. Whilst a Danger Sense could warn of a disaster ranging from an earthquake to an illness, danger dreams are visions of disasters of a catastrophic scale. These were ominous warnings of the future; a foresight to dark times ahead (which were ironic considering that Absol were a Dark race as opposed to a Psychic one). According to legends, only Absol who were chosen by destiny could be granted such visions, and each time meant the fate of the world.

She knew of the tales. She heard of how Absol with danger dreams went on to become saviors of kingdoms, societies, and more. How they risked perils all the way to the end with more than a few meeting their deaths while preventing such catastrophes. As a mother, Sierra wanted her children to live long fulfilling lives, not end so short, not even for such a glorious endeavor. However, as an Absol she knew that she had to put the greater good before her own feelings.

In the sixth month, Azrael kept looking in one direction in silence for hours on end. She knew it was the call. Both the Danger Sense and the dream were calling him to go forward and change the destiny of this "Ash" whom he now shared an unseen bond with. An unknown human that Azrael needs to save for the greater good of the world.

He was still a year or two younger than most Absol's coming of age, but in her heart Sierra knew there was no time to waste.

("Go,") Sierra said to her son that day she finally accepted that it was time. ("Go to him. Find this "Ash" and be well.")

Azrael merely stared at her for a long time. He then nuzzled both her and brother, and without a word sped off down the mountain. A tear went down Sierra's eye and she said farewell to her second child forever.

Dumas would leave a year later. It was a small but loving goodbye.

She would never see her children again. Most Absol never do anyway.

Sierra would live on the mountain, occasionally going down to fulfill her Danger Sense role, until she grew old.

So old that she went to sleep and slept forever more.

Never to awaken again.