Author's note: hello, my fellow readers, Selene-daughter of the sea here. Sorry about not updating last month, but it was very hectic. Because of that, I'll be making this chapter longer than usual. Anyway, happy August, and hello to a new school year.

Key:

"Hello" – speech

'Hello' – thoughts

Hello – telepathy and emphasis on words

Hello – Pokédex entries

"Hello" – person over the phone

Warnings: Will include language, Fem!Ash, dark content (not much, I promise), and info from all six regions, including the newest region of Kalos from Pokémon X and Y.

Ages –

Ash – 20

May – 19

Brock – 25

Ritchie – 20

Paul – 20

Annabel – 22

Misty – 21

Dawn – 18

Max – 12

Lance – 25

Clair – 24

Sir Aaron – early to mid-thirties

Riley – mid to late-twenties

Lucy – 26

Cilan – 23

Iris – 18

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own Pokémon at all. I just really enjoy the games.

Chapter 4~

The Pokémon Summit

Ash sat at a table near the dais that the Kanto Elite 4 sat on, eating some breakfast and waiting for the others. It had been a trying few days as they waited for everyone who was coming to show up. Sir Aaron had told her that since this was an official meeting, she would have to wear her Guardian outfit during the duration of the Summit, as she would be representing the last of the Aura Guardians while Sir Aaron was representing Rota.

'At least I was able to convince lance and Agatha to get me a portable screen that I could use and control so that I could see whatever this was at a different angle,' she thought as she put a bite of fried egg in her mouth. 'I'm worried about what's going on,' she sighed silently and turned her head as she felt Professor Oak approach her.

"Professor," she said politely, if a bit stiff in greeting. Ash still remembered that he refused to let her reapply for the Kanto league again, even though it was within her rights as a trainer. Ash had reacted strongly to his rejection and, taking all her Pokémon with her in a specially designed bag from Kalos, left the laboratory, swearing to never step foot there again unless she had too.

"Hello, Ash," Oak replied. "I heard you were training with the Frontier Brains. How is that going?" he asked.

"Fine," Ash answered stiffly. She hoped the Summit would start soon. Sharing sight with Apollo to see the time, she rose from her seat, taking her plate with her. "If you'll excuse me, Professor, I want to try and find a good spot for the Summit," she said.

"Of course," Oak nodded. "Be careful," he warned before heading over to where the other Pokémon professors were.

Ash dumped her tray before leaving the room, Apollo next to her, guiding her. Reaching a deserted hallway, Ash yelled before hitting the nearby wall. "How dare him?" she seethed. "He acted like our argument never happened and acted as if I was returning to Pallet Town."

Apollo watched silently, giving her some space. He knew that Ash had some unresolved tension going on, but didn't ask her about it.

"Are you okay, Ash?" a voice asked and both human and Pokémon tuned towards the voice.

"I'm fine Gary," Ash said, recognizing her oldest friend's aura. "I just saw your grandfather earlier and it didn't turn out well."

Gary nodded. "Yeah, I heard about what he did. Tracy told me about a week after you left, since I had been gone before that. Where's Pikachu?" Gary asked changing the subject to what he thought was a less sensitive subject.

"Pikachu's in a better place," Ash said as she fought back tears. "I can take you to where he is some time if you like."

Gary bit his lip as he realized that was a more sensitive subject. "That's okay, Ash," he said. "Come on, I'll take you to the arena as I'm heading there myself," he said changing the subject. With that, the two friends walked to the main arena, not noticing the eyes on them.

'What happened, Ash?' May thought as watched them leave. Realizing the time, she hurried towards the arena as well.

00000000

Ash ended up in a seat by Trip, who was invited to the Summit as well. They were sitting in the area where the Trainers, Breeders, and Coordinators sat as they waited for the Summit to start. Normally, she'd be sitting with the other Frontier Brains, besides Brandon who was sitting with the Researchers, Professors, and Pokémon Watchers, but as they were keeping her identity as the final Unova Frontier Brain secret, she sat in a different area.

"This place certainly is different from Unova," Trip said while they waited. He had outgrown his dislike of things he thought were different and had gained a bit of a rep in the tournaments.

"Not something you'd expect from the Boonies, huh Trip," Ash said with a twitch of a smile on her face. She remembered her first competition here. It certainly was different.

Trip coughed awkwardly. "You're never going to let that go, are you?" he asked.

Ash shook her head as she held the portable screen in her hands. She could hear Lance call the Summit to order and heard about what it was concerning. "I can see why they called a Summit," she mused as the saw the marks on the screen with Apollo's help. Ash couldn't help but thing that they looked familiar so she began to cross-reference them with older marks that she'd seen before.

"How long ago did this start?" a voice asked, startling Ash out of her thoughts. She recognized Adrian's voice and realized that mikes were available for them to use.

"About six months ago," Lance said. "At first it started out small, and then it got worse."

Ash's eyes widened at that. 'That's around the time that I started having a bad feeling,' she realized and swallowed nervously.

"What do the Aura Guardians say about this feat?" another voice asked.

Ash froze before finding a mike in her hands. "This is as new to us as it is too anyone. What you have to understand is that our numbers were severely diminished by the Aura Hunters and there aren't many of us left." She took a deep breath before continuing. "The marks seem to be some kind of language, but it's an old one."

Sir Aaron made a noise of agreement. "The marks are similar to one's I saw when I was younger," he said as he sat with the Elite 4's, Gym Leaders, Frontier Brains, and Champions from the different regions. "I can't read it myself, but it is familiar."

Ash bit her lip as she looked at ancient writings, trying to one that was similar to what were carved on the Pokémon. She kept feeling like she was missing something.

"Have there been other areas affected so far?" Professor Birch asked. "This doesn't seem like it would be an isolate incident."

Cynthia took a mike next. "There hasn't been anything in Sinnoh, though I agree with the Guardians that the language is old. My grandparents are currently looking around to see if they can find any references to it.

The other Champions agreed with her, but before another question could be asked, Ritchie pressed a button, indicating that he had something to say and a mike was passed to him.

"I'm not sure if this is an isolated event," he started, "but about two months ago, in Rota, the local Legendary began to act differently."

Ash nodded in agreement. "There seemed to be something dark involved," she said. "I could feel it as Mew was affected pretty badly. It took most of what I had just to cleanse her of the taint as well as calm her down."

This caused a stir among the stands. Most were wondering about what would be powerful enough to affect a Legendary Pokémon, even if most of them had never seen one.

"Excuse me," Professor Ivy interrupted. "Are you saying you've seen a Mew before? Did you even report this to one of the Professors?"

"I've seen several in my travels," Ash said as she clenched her fist around the microphone, "and I've always reported it to that Region's Professor. I never said where I saw them, though as one threatened to kill me if I ever told anyone."

Several of the Professors nodded. "We've been keeping an eye out for them, but none of our researchers have had any luck," Professor Cedric Juniper said after taking the mike from Professor Birch. "In most cases, it's because they seem to be able to sense our thoughts and leave. Besides Ash, only N has helped us as he has seen them before as well."

"What about in Kanto?" a coordinator asked.

Ash swallowed. "I've only ever seen one here, the day I started my journey. I reported it, but Professor Oak said that it was most likely a mirage." She snorted. "Surprisingly enough, I've seen a researcher in Johto that has taken to following Suicune around to try and catch it. Eusine was quite persistent until a little under a month ago."

Ritchie snorted. "He was just put out that Suicune didn't choose him to be tested as a potential trainer," he agreed.

"What do you mean?" Cynthia asked.

"I'm sure you've all heard about the buildings being built around Unova," Ritchie said. As people nodded, he continued. "Unova was chosen to be the next sight of the newest Battle Frontier and thus those who were training were taking our final tests to prove ourselves."

Anabel took the mike from him before elaborating. "Frontier Brains don't just test a trainer's mettle in unusual circumstances. We also help to maintain the peace in the area that our arenas are. By befriending a legendary, we earn their trust and they help to keep the peace in the area."

"The Frontier Brain initiation's aside," Lance said taking control of the situation once more, "that is worrisome about Rota's local legendary."

Ash turned to the small projector in her hands as she listened to the theories going on around her. She froze when what seemed to be a match popped up and she sent the search button into looking for it.

"Has anything else like this ever happened before?" Nando, a trainer from Sinnoh asked, breaking her from her thoughts. "Not the markings, I mean, but Pokémon acting differently, weird changes in weather pattern, things like that."

Ash froze before searching for a picture of the Shamouti Island Prophecy writing. She didn't know how long it would take, but she thought that Nando was onto something. She also had that nagging feeling that she was close to finding something but not exactly getting it.

"There were some strange changes in the weather around an island in the Orange Islands a few years ago, but nothing like this," Professor Oak said. "From what I saw, it seemed that a collector had taken it upon himself to try adding to his collection, but caused a great disturbance in the area, affecting the Pokémon in the region."

"I remember that," Cynthia said in agreement. "My own Pokémon were acting stranger than usual for about a week before calming down."

More theories flew around as Ash bit her lip trying to think of why the marks looked familiar. 'It can't be from the problem with Mew not that long ago,' she thought. 'There weren't any marks on her and that dark energy,' she shuddered in remembrance, 'seemed to only want to test something not cause a whole lot of damage.'

Agatha spoke then, breaking Ash from her thoughts. "We'll take an hour break so you all can eat something as it is approaching the noon hour. Try and be back here in one hour unless we call for you to return sooner."

With that, most of the people in the stands stood and made their way to the nearest exit so that they could try to get a bite to eat before the Summit began once more. "Are you coming Ash?" Trip asked, noticing that Ash was still in her seat lost in thought.

"I'll be okay, Trip. I'm looking up something real quick and I don't want to lose the connection," she said. "Don't worry; I snagged an apple to eat before I left the cafeteria earlier."

Trip bit his lip. "I'll grab something and then come keep you company. It's different here and I'm afraid that Iris and Cilan might lay into me verbally if they spot me."

Ash nodded as she grabbed the apple from the pocket of the small pouch she was wearing. "Alright," she said. "I doubt they'd cause any problem though as Georgia's here as well and you know how well she and Iris get together," she sounded amused.

Trip snorted before heading to the exit. "That's for sure." With that, he left the arena and headed to the cafeteria.

Is everything all right, master? Apollo asked looking at Ash.

"I'm fine, Apollo. I just really wish I could remember why those markings looked familiar," Ash looked at her companion. She sighed and she continued to wait for the search to finish on the portable screen.

00000000

(45 minutes later)

As Ash perused through some articles on the prophecy stone on Shamouti Island, an alarm began to sound through the building. Ash cringed and put her hands over her ears as the noise began to bother them. "What's going on?" she asked.

I don't know, Master. Apollo said using aura to try to help block the sound. I think something happened and thus their alerting everyone so that they can come back here.

"You're probably right, but did the alarm have to be so loud?" she said shaking her head as the ringing in her ears subsided. She could hear people around her complaining about the shortness of their meal and how some only even got just a couple of bites in before the alarm sounded.

Once everyone was back in their seats, Agatha addressed them. "I'm sorry about the alarm everyone," she started, "but some new data has come in and I thought you would like to see it for yourself. I will warn you though, this is highly disturbing." With that, more pictures began to fill the main screen and Ash could hear the cries of shock at the images.

Ash looked through them on her screen and paled at the second to last one. She quickly pressed the button in front of her and grabbed the nearby mike that was handed to her.

"Do you recognize something, Ash?" Lance asked, alarmed by the fear in her eyes. He could see that something was scaring her, but he didn't know what it was.

"Turn back to the second to last image," Ash said, praying she was wrong. As they complied, the search she had started earlier pulled up the prophecy stone and she swore mentally. The writing was nearly the exact same. In the stands behind her, she could hear Dawn gasp as she recognized the picture.

"That's not possible," Dawn said.

"What do you mean?" Professor Ivy asked, sternly.

"That marking is the same as one of the more dangerous legendaries in the world," Ash said looking up from her screen. "I'm surprised that some of the trainers from Sinnoh don't recognize it as the Pokémon was often to be believed from that area."

Cynthia gasped as well. "You mean Arceus?" she asked, fear laced in her tone.

Ash nodded. "I also finally figured out why the language used was so familiar. It's almost the same exact replica of the writing on a prophecy stone on Shamouti Island. I'll send you the picture, Lance so you can put it up on the main screen," she said doing so as she spoke.

Lance saw the picture and paled before putting it on the screen where there were gasps from around the arena as other's saw the resemblance.

"What does the prophecy say, though?" Adrian asked, after he accepted the mike from Paul.

Ash swallowed before translating it. She remembered the fear she felt as she worked to help Lugia save the world and took a deep breath before she began to translate.

"Disturb not the harmonies of fire, ice, or lightning.
Lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world, in which they clash.
Though the waters great guardian shall arise to quail the fighting,
Alone its song shall fail,
Thus, the earth shall turn to ash.
Oh chosen one into thine hands brings together all three.
Their treasures combined tame the beast of the sea."

Silence followed as the arena pondered the words of the prophecy. Everyone could feel the weight of the words spoken, though only three truly knew what it was talking about.

Tracy looked over to where Misty was and they looked worried at each other. They had both been there when the disaster had struck and Ash had to act to help stop what was happening. They both also knew that there was loss as Lugia had fallen towards the sea trying to calm the legendary birds of the islands. 'Oh Ash,' they both thought silently as they looked over at said girl.

Ash swallowed as she heard murmurs come from the crowd surrounding her. She felt Apollo place a paw on her shoulder as tears threatened to escape her eyes. Lugia had almost died because Ash had faltered, trying to decide between helping the legendary guardian and collecting the last sphere to end the battle between the rampaging birds.

"What do you think this means?" a voice asked from the crowd.

Ash turned to the sound, slightly surprised to hear that it was Max that had asked the question that seemed to be on everyone's mind. She swallowed around the lump in her throat as Sir Aaron spoke.

"I believe," he said, "that the Pokémon trying to call for help in the only way they know how. For them, Arceus' chosen would seem the best bet to help stop what is happening to them." He sighed. "What we have to try and find out though, is why?"

Tracy pressed a button in front of him and accepted the mike from Gary. "Maybe what happened in Rota and what's happening here is connected," he suggested. "Do you think that a team could be assembled to check out the area from where the Pokémon are appearing from?"

Lance glanced at Agatha, who nodded. "That idea has merit, but who would lead it?" Agatha asked. "Most of us are needed to try and keep the peace just in our regions."

"Maybe," Ash began, "a small strike force can start out to find answers with a way to contact the Plateau. That way, people can mark their progress. It would have to be a small team though, of no more than six people."

"And who would lead it?" Cynthia asked. "And what about the other members of the team as tell? How would they be picked?"

"Isn't there a sheet with everyone's name on it who answered the summons?" Ash asked. After receiving a noise of confirmation, she continued. "Then why don't we have one person from each region picked out, excluding the Champions. I'm not saying that you guys wouldn't be useful, but it would be disastrous if any of you were killed."

"That is true," Bertha said after taking the mike from Ritchie, "but the question that still remains is who will lead the group. With that established, we can choose the others in this search."

Voices all around the stadium began to argue about who should be chosen. Some said a gym leader should while others said that one of the senior trains should be allowed to show their mettle. Ash closed her eyes as the voices continued to get louder, clamping her hands over her ears in an attempt to block the noise out. Flashes of symbols that had been carved onto the Pokémon flashed through her head along with that feeling that an old enemy was returning. Opening her eyes, she felt Lance trying to bring the Summit back to order, but with all the shouting, it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Ash stood, fists clenched at her side as the shouting continued before she threw an Aura Sphere into the air to gain their attention. Once the shouting stopped, she brought swallowed before making a decision that might be her last. "I'll lead it," she announced. "For some reason I have a feeling that the incidents here and in Rota are connected."

"And why should we let you?" an older trainer growled out. It didn't sound like he was mad that someone had made the decision, it was more like he was worried about the younger generation.

"From what we can tell, the Pokémon have been calling for Arceus' chosen to help save them from whatever is going on. I have a feeling that a prophecy was made some time before the end of the Aura Guardians about three hundred years ago that led the hunters to killing all Aura users they could find. If these incidents truly are connected, then someone who practices aura will be useful in the long run," Ash explained.

Sir Aaron looked at Ash in worry. He had seen what she did to bring back order to the meeting, but the coloration of her Aura Sphere worried him. He could from looking around that those who had studied the Aura Guardians were worried as well. Regular Aura Spheres tended to be a shade or two lighter than blue. Ash's, though, was a shade darker that same color, as if she had absorbed some dark aura some time ago. 'What happened with Mew, Ash?' he thought.

Soon, sounds of agreement rose from the stands as they talked amongst themselves about the opportunity of the Aura Guardians rising again. They were worried about what would happen if the group they were sending failed, but Aura Guardians were a class of their own.

"What if the Aura hunters are behind this though?" a voice asked from the arena floor. "If they get their hands on an aura guardian, they will kill them like they did all those years ago."

Ash froze as she heard that voice. It hadn't been one she'd heard in a long time. Sensing that Apollo was trying to share his vision with her, she opened herself to Aura so that she could see the person who had spoken. She paled as she realized who it was.

"What are you doing here, Damien?" Agatha asked as she stood from her seat. Other's rose from around the stadium as they recognized one of the last to beat the Kanto Elite 4 before the last champion died. One voice, though, broke the silence as everyone froze at what it said.

"Dad?" Ash asked, surprised.

Author's note: Whew, that was a doozy of a chapter. Do you know what the cool thing is though? The entire chapter, not including the two author's notes is 3700 words in itself. A surprising feat if I say so myself. Anyway, the revelations of Ash's dad will continue in the next chapter as well as the start of the quest to stop whatever is happening. So, stay tuned until next time. Auf Wiedershen!

~Selene-daughter of the sea