I am not dead.

7 fucking months... H-How are you all doing?

Anyway, welcome back to the long awaited 22nd chapter... That has taken over a year to write because writers block is a biiiitch. If you've been lost in the vast ravines of time and have forgotten who I am, I am Jack... Or Aniimeziing, call me anything you like because i deserve it. But we're here now, we're here with a chapter that may seem weird and out of place or you may have completely forgotten the story which I cannot blame you for at all.

So, why such a long wait? Well there are several things: 1. Writers block. This has been a big issue with all my stories for a long time as now I have about 5 that I need to update and upload on so my ideas get jumbled and my mind wanders to bigger parts which leads to chapters like this where big reveals are not really happening or where big battles aren't happening quite difficult'; in fact, I've had the ending and the big reveals in this story planned since nearly the very start but getting to the point where I can actually reveal them and make the meaningful has been and will be difficult.

Reason 2. School 'N Shit. Over the past 6 months, I have had not only a large block of time for a set of mock exams in March (they started on my birthday and I wanted to die that week) which completely drained me, I also had the biggest and most important exams of my whole life shortly after that for a bit over a month so all my brain power was put into that , into studying and learning knowledge and stuff so that I could actually pass to the point where y imagination and creative drive took a nose dive and I could barely write anything. In fact, I wrote 1 thing in that time frame and even that took me about ages to complete. But now I have like 3 months off for Summer and I have finished at that school so... YEEEEESSSS!

And reason 3. Video Games... This one I have very little excuse for except that I got seriously hooked on video games the past few weeks with my new free time and I've literally just been playing those. Like I finally played Persona 5... And I just love it, favourite game of all time, hands down... Like I cried for a straight hour during the epilogue and cried throughout the game itself cause I love it so much... And I'm also playing Final Fantasy XV right now, thats good too... SO yea, video games! I am so sorry...

But now I'm back! And you all get a much longer chapter then you're used to cause I'm a piece of shit! Woop woop!

And can I just say... 700 followers and 200k views? W-What? Just... Huh? I do not deserve that so just... Thank you. Thank you for making me feel welcomed and making me feel happy for writing and coming back because I do this all for you guys and to see you all so happy and so willing for this story to come back is the main draw so just... thank you.

Now then, reviews! (I've wanted to say that on this story for so, SO long!)

Poke-Jedi Master Stotler: Nope, I'm just reaaaal lazy and I will not abandon stories without massive amounts of thought, just know that if there are massive breaks then something important is happening or I'm just doing other stuff; I will always post another chapter of something and I will finish all my stories at some point. Even if it takes literal years.

Guest: Where are the Lemons... Guess I didn't guy any. But seriously, I wanted to build up to the Lemons to make sure that it felt natural, that there is meaning behind the sex and its not just sex for being sex, that it has some narrative reason and build up. That's why its taken so long.

Guest: There are a lot of moments where people fuck up... Like every moment that I haven't been uploading for the past 7 months.

IDotPart1: You know when I read this comment I burst out laughing... Then I cried for 5 days to my friends about how worthless I am. But seriously, thanks for the support.

HestiaIsBestia267: I agree with this username. And thank you but it is not good enough for that many 'updates.'... Its worth like one at most.

Phoenix: I do have a twisted mind indeed. I like darkness in stories that usual have a lot of light to show off the pain that everyone, even people in childish anime or cartoons can have if you pair them with that scenario. And about your OC and OC's in general, I can add him but I cannot give him that backstory with good conscience. I'm happy that you have built a character around the scenarios in my story but you've just made him far too srong, far too powerful and far too broken for this kind of story' yes it is not grounded heavily in reality but being the son of Legendary is sort of crossing the line. And I don't think having someones OC as another Aura Guardian would be very good for reasons evident in this chapter. I'm happy to implement your OC, just not to the degree you've given me, I'm really sorry. I just don't think I can write that with any logic or reason and while it may sound selfish, it may outshine my own characters and plot if I include someone as strong as that. So yea, I'll also be limiting the amount of OC's I use because I honestly only have a clue of like 2 of the OC's people have given me and who they actually are with character beats and how they act so its difficult for me to track and stuff so if there is a good OC with enough development and is grounded enough in reality with character and personality then i will add then. For anyone that has previously sent in an OC please review or PM me and tell me how yours acts and what kind of mannerisms they conduct and do so I can make the story better and so I can respect your characters. but seriously Phoenix, thank you for the support and everything that you have said, it really helps.

MrMeow13: 13 is the best and luckiest number... And ask and you shall receive, if 7 months late... Heheh

RedSatoshiKetchum: Ah yes, this review. While I appreciate the support and the joy towards my content, I will ask you to reframe from using the reviews to attack and go after other people. Yes they may do things that you disagree with or have things you don't like about them such as with King but please PM them and don't use me and my story as a middle man for you argument; I want my story to be a conversation starter on darker and lighter topics with those that read it, I want to bring joy and make people happy with my stories but things like this just hurt to see. King PM'd me and said you'd sort it out so I am thankful for that and if anyone wants to have a friendly conversation in the reviews with other people then i am more then happy to support that, even a debate about what certain things mean is good but just outright hate towards others is something I can't really tolerate. Like I said though, I'm happy you enjoy the story.

TCLANP: Dammit, I thought I got away with it. Its just a cool way of describing Feraligator is all.

Guest: Well... 'Irish'. I'm like a quater on my Dad's side and I know my way around Ireland so I'm sort of Irish but mostly English. Click-bate, I know. But thank you for the support!

MeekaStoickZ: I'd say I'm a 'meh' writer, but thank you very much for the support. P.S I am currently writing a chapter of Slayer's Flame that should be out soon, it's like half-way done.

Guest: LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORD!

POKMON-MASTR101: Hehe, I'm happy that I could make you feel that way, it's one of the main reasons i write to be honest.

TheRealCacto: Yea, I really do understand that now and I have actually grown quite a lot since writing this chapter so I can see my mistakes so thank you for you input. For now, the Drugs Conflict and the Dad Conflict will stop for a short time while some other stuff happens but soon all the conflicts will come together and you'll understand why I put so many in. And on't worry, more girls in the future and I've actually learned how to write differing characters! Like personalities and stuff so they should be diverse enough now, I hope anyway.

Verduga: Never had a girlfriend so I have never had to be put through that fortunately (or unfortunately however you look at it)... And I always run when my sister and Mom try to get me to go shopping so... Yay. God likes harems... Probably.

MiguelGuiliano-Co: Gracias mi amigo, mucho gracias y estoy muy feliz de que te guste mi historia. (First time I used Spanish outside of school, well worth it)

Nick: ALrighty Nick, here we go again. 1. Just watch the show, they get all their mons there and it'd take too long for me to just say it. 2. And depending on when Ash met them, like 6-8 years. 3. Read chapter 3 and then chapter 6 and you'll be good. 4. Training. 5. 5 years. You know all of these questions are answered in the story... Have you even read it? Just asking cause all the answers are there...

Guest: Deep.

ButterMan274: So do I... More butter on my bread indeed.

Cobalt027: That would be funny... If i ever actually wrote the girls into the story...

Te-Nellis: Drama. Drama. Drama? Drama. DRAMA!

Yaw613: I have and thank you for the support.

Lycoan Wolf Entity: Um... Yea things changed but he will be in it (Also please check RedSatoshiKetchums reviw response for my new response to OC's)

MikeKromer: Sexy/Loving scenes will be coming, just need to build up more narrative plot and stuff.

InfernoKing: Yea Delia is in a bad way... ANd we won't be seeing her for quite some time.

UltimateCCC: Maybe it is, maybe that is a reason for concern... Or maybe its something else entirely.

Guest: Sure, list will be at the end of the chapter.

Fanfic Meister: Me to man... Me to.

JBL2Apple: Yea shortness is something that I have tried to amend this chapter and it really isn't that good.

MidnightScar17: Sad review.

UsanMusho: DEPRESSING IS WHAT I DO BEEEEEEEEST!

AnimaMan: I like showing the humanity in seemingly perfect characters, that flaws are required to create good characters even when they aren't obvious. And I might add Z Moves but I dunno, I'm still thinking about it. And yes, catch up times will be the focus of the next few chapters while stuff calms down.

Espeon44: We got an extra 100 from doing nohting for 7 months... *sigh* I'm so sorry.

NOW ONTO CHAPTER 22! LETS GO EVERYONE!

Breathless, Ash sat suspended on the edge of the cliff.

Like the lost, wandering soul that he was, he let his eyes dart and cross the unrestrained, unshackled wilds of the ocean that sat before him; every now and again, a soft jet of foam would brush past his feet and soak his soles before dissipating back to its uneven world of water, leaving him alone once more. It was almost as if the water itself was trying to comfort him, offer small samples of its attention in bursts to try and awaken some semblance of liberty within the young Trainer's heart, hurt and damaged as it was. Even the rocky outcrop where he sat had been tainted by wet moisture, dampening the stone he sat upon in order to dull its edges for his body in its fragile state. However, it was all for naught.

Sucking on his tongue, the raven-haired teen leant forward, allowing the streams of azure to smack his face which, in turn, cooled and relieved him somewhat. From this position, he could see the ripples of fallen sky dot and mare the landscape that the liquid-mirror created, cracks and shifts of white breaking through the surface as a thin veil of holy, ethereal light penetrated and shattered the recklessness and instead transported it to a place of tranquillity. A setting sun could be seen bobbing and shifting above the waves, the tide pulling its appearance apart in strands as Ash just quietly sat and looked upon it: to see such a thing of power, of majesty be pulled apart by circumstance and ripped apart by the desires of others really struck accord within him- perhaps it was because he could understand its plight, perhaps it was because it perfectly mirrored the way he thought people would view him if the news of the last few days leaked and corrupted the shores of this island nation or maybe it was because he couldn't bear to part with the pieces and fragments of ethereal power that existed within him. Personally, he couldn't tell but all three carried bits of deserted past and broken future. And to think, Ash could be thinking all of this shit when he lived in a world inhabited by Pokémon.

Smirking, he bounced back up and lay his spine across the tiny ravines and canyons that existed beneath him, turning his face to the sharp and warm colour of a melting sky. It was nice, like some sort of caramel that, if he believed hard enough, could just drip and dribble into his mouth and take him far away from the trouble and agony that this island had put him through; however, if he did, he knew that he would also be sacrificing the endless bounds of happiness that this place had granted him too so he was stuck between a rock and a cloud at this point. Sighing, Ash let his mind wander once more, twisting and turning through the labyrinth that he had built for himself and think back to just a few hours ago, right after the tournament.

After dropping off his mom, the teen had just stood outside her door for a few minutes, letting everything climb up his frame and creep into his head before slipping to the floor, skull in his fingers as he kneaded and played it like a drum. Inside, his mind was going a thousand miles an hour, bouncing off the walls of his imagination, reinforced by his bones, like a jack-hammer as he just tried to… comprehend all that had happened. His mother had been lying to him, overtaking prescribed medication just to let the pain free her from its embrace, his father had been a perceived psychopath turned redeemer and all the while he had been neglecting and ruining the present of his mates, of his friends and family while he slowly succumbed to his madness. Truly, it was nothing short of maddening.

Then, he let his feet follow in the footsteps of his head: it ran free against the wind. He didn't know for how long he walked for, how far he walked for, how sore he was afterwards cause none of that mattered to his scarred features, all that mattered was running away. It was ironic really; a few nights ago, he had freely sprinted into the embrace of this competition as it allowed him to reconnect and love once more… But now he was trying to escape that, break free of a shitty illusion that had enslaved his mind to a view of a false fantasy. Maybe he deserved this; maybe, coming here was a mistake… No matter how many times these thoughts invaded his head, he couldn't help but justify himself by talking about them.

About Misty's temper and how he had missed it so dearly, how it had evaded his cold, frozen heart and forced him to feel the fires of her love for again and how he hadn't experienced enough of it since he got here. About May's bandaged love and comfort that seemed to leak out from her heart and head, sparkling all over the world that surrounded this dumb, stupid boy and how he wanted to stand in it for so much longer then he had been. About Dawn and her childish sense of freedom and liberty that always managed to free form his duties, acting as a key to his chains and a lock for his troubles and how he hadn't managed to let her embrace his form like that since he had gotten here. About Iris and how her wild nature allowed him to let ago and remember how to enjoy life, view it as a game that he needed to win and beat that smug little girl that he loved so much and how he hadn't been able to play it for a long time now. About Serena and how her professionalism and charm lied in her traditionalism, how she played him like a fiddle whenever she was near without even meaning to and how he hadn't heard a song from her in quite a long time. About Aria, and Angie and Cynthia and how he had been apart from them for even longer, the borders of each region trapping him from their wanting embrace and how he dearly wished to hold them again. About… the other people who had snuck their way into his life, into his heart that he had yet to become reacquainted with, how he was beginning to think their parts would be forgotten in the crappy play that was his dramatic life.

Letting out a sigh, Ash began to chew and bite the rough skin at his lips as he continued to think about what happened after he and his mother departed. After contemplating life and the meaning of love, the raven-haired teen wandered about the island for quite some time, not stopping to rest or pause in his movements until he reached the stony shores of the beach. For a while, he just let his eyes walk all over the land as the distant shouts and bursts of noise erupted from the stadium (which he could still hear despite the distance between the two), completely immersing him in the fantasy land of the island once more. It was addictive, like a drug that was constantly bombarding his systems and mind, forcing it awake or forcing to relive happiness despite the pain it inflicted unto his physical form. Then, he had just sat down, watching silently for hours as the tide ripped and shifted before his eyes, moving the different Pokémon that drifted by in the skies or even the clouds themselves in a rhythmic pattern that rose and shrank with the soft, swish of the ocean.

And here he still sat, contemplating his life as it continuously tore itself apart and implanted seeds of regret, sadness and anger within himself. Running his hands up his prone form, Ash found his fingers running over the outfit that the girls had given him, how it fit him so perfectly and complemented his juxtaposing mind so well; every part of his body fit so well into the suit that he thought it may have been destined, but then the dark feelings that rose from his heart simultaneously were trapped within him so… He didn't really know how to feel. Then his hand trailed up to his shoulder where Pikachu would usually take his perch, take up his position as a guard or just a friend, which was now empty and vacant with a cold breeze. He needed to take him out more, in-fact he had barely interacted with him in the few days that they had been on this island. Then it was to his hat, hanging low on his brown so that it covered his shifting and fragmenting gaze from the self-destructive sea that stood before him. It was covering his face in much the same way that he remembered his mother doing before he left for any kind of adventure; she would take his hand and sit it on his head before plunging the end of the cap down so that his eyes could no longer be seen followed by bouts of laughter from the two of them… Laughter that he was surely going to miss in the following few weeks.

No.

Bouncing back up to a sitting position, he hung his arm over his knee as his mind warped and moved with curiosity and fire. No, he wasn't going to sit here any longer, welling in self-pity and self-loathing because of the actions he had committed up to this point in his life; no, he was going to rise above all that, he was going to go and live life to the fullest with the girls he loved, he was going to enjoy himself with his Pokémon, he was going to get help for his Mother so that she would never have to stop smiling again and his Father… would require a different approach but he would still try to get him to connect, to learn more about him and why he did what he did in excruciating detail if need be.

Smiling, Ash prepare to stand, to march on over to the stadium and rebuild the crashing skyscraper that was his life before he caught wind of something in his subconscious. His father… Was the only Aura Guardian on this island and he wore that mask that he had seen in his Aura Induced nightmare a few nights ago, where the Misty, May, Aria and Angie were… Defiled by someone matching his description and outlook on life but when he met back up with him, he seemed different so the question plaguing Ash's mind was; who caused him to have that nightmare and who was stalking his figure throughout the island since he got here? Was it his father? That would be the obvious answer, it was his face and his voice and his Aura but then again, he didn't even suspect that he was here until he showed his figurative face to him (he had hidden his Aura very well) so there was all the chance that there was someone else here… Controlling him again. Or could it be that his Father was real-

A sharp spike of quick pain entered his mind.

Jolting forward, he hissed slightly as he body shook and his eyes clamped themselves shut. Simultaneously, he felt his mark flare and the heat emanating off it begin to boil at heat at the flesh surrounding it. Stumbling forward, he regained his balance after a few seconds before pushing his hands back up to face, rubbing it once with gritted teeth. Then, he reopened his eyes to see… Darkness. Blinking once, Ash twisted on his heels to see that he was surrounded by pure darkness and nothing else. Suddenly, he became wide awake, causing his Aura at flare and begin to combat the surrounding darkness with its endearing and all-encompassing light. Narrowing his eyes, Ash noted that his Aura was fluctuating, rapidly switching back and forth from red and blue, bathing his body in a luminescent glow that washed over his form in conflict hues. Pulling his hand up to his face, the raven-haired teen allowed the lights to shine bright before his eyes, pulling his attention towards the lightshow currently erupting around his body rather than the darkness surrounding it before he gazed at it with a confused, longing expression.

"What the Hell is this…"

Shaking his head, Ash began to close his fist and snap his eyes shut before opening them to a completely different scene. Now, the darkness was simply a claustrophobic, cubic room with no deviation or reason and instead only kept to the theme that every wall was a mirror, broadcasting his own position; looking down, he even noted that the floor was reflective, coming face to face with his own person as her peered down. Snapping his head around the room, he just kept finding himself face-to-face with himself, unable to escape his own calculated gaze. It got to the point where he swore the room was beginning to close-up and shut in on himself, with the figures in the mirror watching with little regard; in fact, despite looking like him, each of the six paths held a contrasting and confusing mess of emotions in their broken faces that went against his own, all of them different but the same. What… What was going on? Was this some sort of Aura induced hallucination? Or was his mind finally slipping and succumbing to the madness of his trip? The whole situation reminded him of that night from a few days ago, were he was plunged into another reality from the work of some of Aura user but his Father had already left the island, right? So, it couldn't be him…

Letting curiosity take a-hold of his frame, Ash stumbled forwards with morbid curiosity of his surroundings and pushed his hand to the mirror straight ahead of him, before finding himself further confused when he felt no semblance of force pushing against his hand; Hell, it was like the mirror wasn't even there at all. Biting his lip, the Trainer shook his head and look back up to his head only to find himself shocked at what he saw. Before him, stood a figure imitating his every move, another version of him like the ones that scattered the room, but now he held a sickly smile on his face, stretching the skin into a disturbed smirk while he eyes held that similar black and red, almost ghoulish, appearance that he knew he took on sometimes. B-But he wasn't making that face, in fact it was quite the opposite; he was shaking slightly, with a frightful expression in his eyes and his Aura paused on a faint azure (he even looked over to the mirror at his left side to check that he wasn't wrong about that fact) so what the Hell was up with this mirror.

Then, it chuckled darkly. Snapping its eyes even further open, this Pseudo-Ash somehow make his grin only increase in size before lunging forward, hands in a gripping motion aiming directly for the boy himself. In a quick moment of fight-or-flight, Ash threw his hands before his face, waiting for a hit that he suspected would never really come. Not too long after, the world around him exploded. All around the teen, the sounds of heavy wind and the flapping of wings hit his body hard and shook his fragile form even further, while the lights and hues that penetrated the barricade of his eyelids rapidly shifted between crimson and blue once more. Allowing one of his pupils to emerge from under the web of skin, Ash found himself confused and enthralled once more as he found the mirror room that he was previously in gone, and instead was now standing in the middle of a hurricane of Butterfree, all circling his form at the eye of this Pokémon Storm. If that wasn't strange enough, these Kanto Natives didn't even look like normal Butterfree, with some possessing intricate blue and black patterns that danced across their bodies while others held red and black markings in a similar fashion, causing a myriad of constant change within Ash's optics.

For what seemed like forever, this swarm just continued to circle and spin around his stagnant figure before a high-pitched hissing noise emerged from behind Ash. Spinning on his heels, the teen barely had time to process the massive collection of red Butterfree before he felt a hard and harsh impact on his cheek which caused him to stumble backwards. However, that didn't help much as he just collided with the wall of Pokémon and was sent spiralling back towards his attack who reached out and gripped him by the front of his shirt. Regaining a semblance of courage despite the stinging pain in his cheek, Ash's eyes shot open only to find himself face-to-face with his body double once more, darkness induced fire still dancing within his eyes while his horrid grin remained on his face. Although, from this distance he could see the tips of his low hanging hair and saw that they were dipped in crimson, imitating his own blue dipped ends in a grim and strange light. Gritting his teeth, Ash tried to fight back against the tough grip of himself, only now noticing that he was emerging from the cluster of Butterfree (with only his torso poking out of their collection of wings), but to no avail as he succumbed to the rough grip of his double. After a few seconds, and another sickly smile, Pseudo-Ash spoke something in a rough, reversed language that sounded foreign to the Kanto boy's ears before looking him straight in the eye and roughly chucking him backwards.

At first, the teen thought that he would just be sent straight into the clutches of the Pokémon once more, but instead found himself falling. Shuddering at the loss of earth, Ash could barely see the blue stained skyline before colliding roughly with the earth below him. Tumbling across a rocky and hard landscape a few times, Ash groaned and moaned before he found himself roughly pulled away from the ground once more, feeling the air leave his lungs as he plummeted down some sort of hill (the soft feeling of a grass-like texture tickling his exposed flesh as he rolled). Finally, he came to a stop. Clutching his injured skull once again, he forced his heavy lids to open and reveal the fake world that he lay in; he didn't expect it to be this one though. Through a confused and nonsensical gaze, Ash found himself staring at his old home, in Kanto, in a patch of grass just outside it the world around him remained frozen, evident by the silence and the way that the blades of grass were suspended mid wave like the few Pidgey and Spearow the hung in the sky above his prone figure. What shook him even further was that he recognised this day; it was the day that he learned of Gary's plan to 'betray' him and just throw him to the wild.

Pulling his form off the floor, he shakily wandered over to the window of his house, peering inside to confirm his suspicion. As he suspected, the younger versions of his male friends sat mid conversation, all of them frozen in a state of aggression or annoyance. Now, viewing this scene with Gary's context in mind, he could see the conflict and the anger in the young man's face, his eyes turned to the floor in shame. Running his fingers across the window, he let them rest against it a few times before moving to the door. Gripping it, Ash allowed it open. Before him, sat the stagnant figures of the girls he loved, all of them naïve and holding such a large amount of childish innocence that it threatened to burn Ash's very soul. Staring at them, he allowed himself to smile; he hadn't ever seen this part of them that day, the five of them waiting for him to come back from the Lab, all waiting patiently. No doubt, they were probably going to talk to him about their feelings even though they were all of the tender age of 13 or 14, barely able to grasp the concept of love, never mind feel it. But then something dawned on his mind as he watched their anxious smiles and frozen laughter.

He wasn't here to see this… So why can he remember it?

During this point, he had been walking back from meeting his Pokémon and the only real memories of this event came from a jaded and broken point of view so he never saw this side of the boys or the girls so whose-whose memories were these? Was he looking into the mind of one of the girls? One of the guys? Perhaps it was just something to do with Aura, that it had sensed all of these moments and was now allowing him to relive them, or was it someone else, someone watching from the shadows as some sort of sick observer?

Gritting his teeth at the lack of answers and the twisted possibility roaming around his disturbed skull, he turned on his heel to leave and investigate only to become frozen as he did. In front of him, stood the younger version of himself. Ash couldn't help but become wide eyed once more, he head running rampant with ideas and thoughts about how he got here. Then he spoke.

"What are you doing here?"

Getting over the initial shock at how he looked and sounded at this age, the higher pitch causing him to shudder involuntarily, he spoke back.

"Uh… I don't actually know."

"Oh well, at least you're here with me and not those traitors."

Quirking his eyebrow at the younger version of himself, he responded.

"Wait, this is my mind so shouldn't you know that Gary only did this to protect everyone? That we were a potential danger and so needed to be taken out for a brief time?"

The younger him huffed.

"Bullshit: he did it cause he's jealous and angry at our power."

Now those were words he never expected to hear come out of his own mouth.

"No, that's completely wrong. He was sorry and apologetic and angry at himself for having to do this, why would he be jealous at something that could potentially destroy all of this?"

Gesturing to the room and the people that surrounded them, Ash waited for a few seconds as his younger body tried to process what he just said. Then, he heard him let out a harsh, dark laugh.

"Gary always hated us, wanted to be better than us on all levels. Then, when he learned that we had THIS, he realised that he would never be on top again."

As if to emphasise his point, 13-year-old Ash let his body become engulfed in the same sickly red Aura that he himself held as apart of himself today, watching as it flicked and distorted the child before him.

"Gary was arrogant, sure, but never to that extreme level."

"Oh yea? Where's your proof?"

"Were the years of friendship that we had after that not evidence enough?"

"Not for me, and I know that it wasn't for you either 'Ashy-Boy.'"

Opening his mouth to speak, Ash found his voice gone from his throat. Wait what? No… No, Gary and Ash were always friends, rivals and comrades but never going so far as to attack the other verbally or physically so why… Why was he making so much sen-?

"Oh well, I guess you really haven't learned anything after all"

Snapping his head back up, the raven harried trainer barely had time to process what had just been said before he felt a bone breaking blow of pure, crimson energy smash right into the front of his face. Unable to stop himself, the trainer just felt himself fly back through the hollow, empty feeling walls of the house with minimal effort before a loud smashing sound pierced his eyes and he abruptly stopped with a harsh collision to the back of his head. Accompanied by the dull sound of cracking and the falling of fragmented glass, the boy could only hiss in pain as he collapsed to the floor, allowing whatever cool material engulfed the world to freeze his face in aa cold comfort.

Then his eyes shot open.

Cold? Twisting his distorted vision to the floor once again, he found himself springing back involuntarily as he bore witness to the appearance of another mirror, another Ash staring back at him with wide and uncertain eyes that were very dissimilar to his own. Cursing the situation, he slowly shambled to his feet, spinning to see that all of the mirrors were back in full force, now making up some sort of Demonic and detrimental force that was looking down upon him, blocking him inside the twisted labyrinth that appeared to be his own mind. However, one was cracked, shattered right from a spot in the middle, causing his image to become demented and distorted beyond measure, alongside the creepy smile and ghoulish eyes that managed to peak out from between the fissures.

Clicking his tongue, Ash casually tried to walk up to the broken mess as though he didn't feel eyes gazing over his ever movement, before running his finger up the destroyed substance. It felt brittle, sharp and clean while also feeling tough, dull and rough beneath his fingers as they wound their way up the shiny sheen of the mirror. As he continued to do this, Ash forced himself to stare deep into the blackened eyes of the double, staring deep into the void until he could feel it staring back, soul to soul, heart to heart.

On the surface, he looked torn between figuring out what was going on and being disgusted by his horrendous form but on the inside of his mind, his gears were working and spinning as to figure out what he was gaining from coming here. Why had he been forced to witness what he just had? Reliving a childhood memory as shitty as that couldn't have been mere coincidence or just pulled from sort of metaphysical hat for 'Old-Times-Sake'. No… He had seen that for a reason, he had seen Gary for a reason, he had seen the girls for a reason and most importantly, he had seen himself for a reason; he had gotten to speak to the childish, immature version of himself that strived on arrogance and belief in his own ability alongside the power of others. To be honest, he thought that he had driven that part of himself out when he lived on Mt. Silver, forcing his psyche to push those shackling thoughts out of his head in order to focus on the bonds he felt between his companions but the very existence of this figure in his head meant that his mind was trying to tell him something, call out in a cry that he could only hear and understand through trauma. What that message was still eluded the teen unfortunately.

Finishing his expectation, Ash pulled his fingers away with a sigh. Although, he couldn't help but hear the faint falling of several small objects and so turned his face towards the floor to see more cracked fragments of glass. Quirking an eyebrow, he thought very little of it until turning to his own hand to see a shard of thin glass sticking out of his index finger, proudly presenting its cruelty to the closed off room. Questioning the lack of pain and agony that would usually come from glass, the raven-haired boy flicked the piece out with his thumb which unfortunately had the aftershock of generating a thick drop of crimson to emerge from his skin. Slowly, it began to fall.

Then it struck the floor with a poignant crash that echoed and shot off every mirrored wall. Suddenly, a child engulfed the room as the scene changed into a group of six, red tinted mirrors all the same shade as the blood that had just fallen atop the floor. Now his already distorted image was only added to by the inclusion of the foreboding colour and how it just twisted his figure even more, giving his skin a Demonic tint alongside his darkened gaze.

Before he could move, a dark chuckled flew through the air. Jolting forward in surprise, Ash almost found himself colliding with the mirror before him as he found his feet stuck, cemented in one place with bone-breaking tightness. Hissing, he looked down only to gape and become cold at the sight; two gloved hands were wrapped around his ankles, gripping onto them as though they were the only means of escape for this entity, this thing, while the beginning of a face poked out from the melting fixture of the mirror, smiling and smirking in disturbed glee.

Without warning, he was yanked under.

For a few seconds, Ash felt as though he was drowning on air. It filled up his lungs to the point of exploding, pumping him full of concentrated and pure cloud fodder until he could no longer take it. Once more, the sensation of falling erupted all over his figure as wind rushed past his face and absorbed him whole. Curiously, he felt himself becoming wet with rain and shoot, soaking his suspended figure as it plummeted. After a few seconds, his soaked form collided with the earth with a sickening crunch.

Several moments passed in deep silence with only the shudder pitter-patter of what sounded like rain absolving Ash's mind of reason as he tried to recover. Then, after a while, he stood up and was immediately bathed in a soft warming pink glow. Wincing at the sudden intrusion of light, Ash let his body become stagnant as his eyes slowly cracked open to reveal a large building of two or three floors surrounded only by darkness and empty space, nothing embracing it for miles and miles; in fact, from his brief view of the night lit world, the only thing that was remotely close to the place was the broken and cracked stretch of road that he was standing upon. Engraved upon the bust of the building was a numerous amount of shining 'X's' with the words 'The Liberty Club' also burned into it, which was the source of that rose lighting. Finding himself drawn to the warm, comforting exterior of the building, modelled like some sort of older Kanto establishment which struck a chord within himself.

Curiosity killed his caution as he wandered forwards and into the dull lights of the club.

Walking in, the trainer found himself instantly hit by the rich and deep smell of hard hitting perfume and the thick stench of musk that hung around the long corridor. Shaking his head to get some of the rain off his hair tips, he couldn't help but overhear the over played and drawn out giggling that was emerging from the large double doors at the end of the corridor accompanied by the soft beats and rhythmic drops in tone that also burst quietly from the room. Slowly, he waltzed over to it, feeling abandoned and alone once more despite the comfort.

On his way, down to the room however, different sets of laughter and giggling shook his head from various room that dotted the corridor. When he passed it at first, the giggling seemed natural, just a woman having fun with her significant other… But as it continued, with the same pandering and rhythmic giggle reverberating off the wooden interior, he began to grow concerned and curious once more. Allowing his feet to wander close to one of the rooms that sat closest to him, the door slightly ajar to let a small sliver of orange light bathe the darkened corridor in even more light.

Creeping his head into the exposed piece of space between the door, Ash couldn't help but let his eyes expand and a gasp to tumble out of his mouth. Before him, in a tiny, claustrophobic room was woman dressed in very little with her only defining feature being a large red veil falling over her face. From what it seemed, she was alone but was dancing and swinging around a pole as she ground and contorted her body into a myriad of exotic and seductive poses. Pulling his eyes from her swinging form, Ash looked down at the door to see a thick lock attached to the door, enclosing and entrapping this woman inside of her own room from the look of it.

Concerned, he spoke up.

"U-Um, hello? Are you okay?"

No response, only more dancing. In fact, it seemed that his voice did nothing to stop her as she began to speed up, what little clothing she had allowing her body and her exposed flesh to roll and shake around the room with increased enthusiasm. Fighting through any type of arousal he felt, Ash spoke up again to see if there was something wrong.

"Hey! Can you not hear me?"

Once again, the woman only sped up and to add insult to injury, she seemed to begin moaning and cursing lightly. Pushing himself away from the door, Ash found himself lightly panting and sweating at the display. If this truly was his mind then…

"What the actual fuck is wrong with me?"

Grunting, he spun on his heels and began a light jog down the corridor, stopping at every door to check the conditions of the inhabitant. Just like the first room, each housed a dancing woman who was performing very outrageous and seductive dances to absolutely no-one while remaining locked inside their rooms by massive, clunky metal locks. After a while, he finally reached the big double doors at the end, standing proud among this strange pit of fester and desire. It felt foreign, it felt off and strange as he stood among people living out lewd fantasies and lewd jobs that held nothing but torment yet they all seemed to be enjoying it. In the back of his head, he heard a small voice crying for him to just leave and walk out into the rainy night once more but the other voices just drowned him out, yelling at the captive to continue on his train of twisted emulgents and curiosity. So, he did.

Like a palace for dirtied royalty, the doors swung open at an excruciatingly slow pace, cutting across the ground with a rich, indulgent nature that seemed to leak throughout the whole establishment. Not even allowing them to open fully before entering, Ash stormed through the barriers and let them loosely fall to his side as he was struck with intense lights and even more intense music that seemed to shake his very mind and his very frame. For a few moments, he couldn't even open his eyes, unable to adjust to the sudden intensity, but after a while he did; and what he saw left him floored.

Flanking him for every which way before him, Ash could make out the writhing and hypnotic frames of each of the girls he loved dotted around a drab and dreary looking room, dancing and grinding into the air or a thin piece of metal in what looked like ecstasy induced delight. Under low red lights that seemed to flicker and burn under his very gaze, the raven-haired teen felt lost and out of place watching as they all moved to an invisible beat, a baseline unreadable to his mind and his ears while they continued to become slaves to its daunting dips and drops in tone and mood, relishing them all in perfect white noise.

Spinning around, the trainer wandered forth in a trance, confused and somewhat broken inside as he stumbled forward to his right, dodging around tables or chairs when he needed to, as he made his way towards a lovely looking green haired girl… Angie. Sucking in his breath, Ash watched with twisted delight as she curved her body around a pole, contorting and dancing with a wide smile on her face as she surrounded herself with a red fabric room on all sides. It all looked very… Complementary, her green against the rich reds, which also extended to what she was wearing; very little, enticing him with her pale body and lighting up a very difficult to put out fire within him. Clenching his fist, Ash took a long down and noted the thin veiled piece of rope keeping Angie to her own, confined cell of pleasure and found it very similar to the locks on the doors of the other girls, just more aesthetically pleasing while still acting as a way to keep him out. Swiftly looking over the woman before him once more, he bit his tongue and turned around, ready to look around some more.

Frantically, he zig-zagged from corner-to-corner, wall-to-wall looking at the girls in a slow methodical pace, not letting his mind rest as he stared upon them. Directly across from Angie was May, who was writhing on her own with some sort of thin sash of velvet, twirling it around her shapely form as to bring in the eyes of these invisible people… And it worked, on Ash at least. Her flesh was free and available for him to look at which excited him, yes, this was one of the girls he loved at all, merely seeing her face would lighten his mood, but to see her like this was something else, something that felt right… But it shouldn't, should it? Next up was Misty and Aria who appeared to be performing some sort of duet, spinning and twirling around each other which did wonders for his brain and his eyes but he once again found himself asking… Why did he enjoy all of this so much? Why was he taking in the information presented to him in a good way? Just… Why?

For another few minutes, it was nothing but them once more. Dawn was very energetic, very into this misshapen ideology of flesh, enjoyment clear on her face as she danced free, her own skin on almost full display and causing Ash to feel nothing but confliction once more. Then it was Iris, who was just as free and content to just allow her body to please those around her without any need for a dance, and while she succeeded, the person it was affecting couldn't help but wallow in self-loathing and despair. Then it was Serena, the innocent girl with honey hair sultry dancing around an apparatus with skill and flare that left Ash reeling and once again, questioning himself and his sanity.

At a few minutes, he had finished and his gaze was now cold and angry, angry at himself and why he was feeling this way and wanting the cold to just eat away his desires. However, he cast his eyes to the very back of the room only to see shadows, darkness just sitting there as musical notes passed through it rhythmically to impact and be absorbed into the dancing of the girls. Curiosity grew, action followed.

Walking forward, the teen didn't have to wait long for the shadows to dissipate, falling victim to the crimson lights once more and sending them away in an instant to reveal stairs and stairs, and a figure atop a throne of sin, of lust and desire that sat above everyone else. The frame was male and was leaning back, bathed in what little darkness was left, but to Ash's surprise, he could clearly make out the docile form of Cynthia to the side of the chair, lounging around in such a seductive and pleasing position that Ash briefly forgot where he was, much like with his encounters with the other girls. Before he could open his mouth, a dark, familiar chuckle passed throughout the air.

"Like my… Collection?"

Growling from the back of his throat, Ash's resolve hardened one more at the sight of that fucking mask, red jewels glaring and staring straight at him with their imposing and dominating scarlet colour scheme. From the sight of those two things combined (mask and voice), Ash slowly concluded that this was his Father… But something was off… In the back of the mask, he could make out a few stray threads of black hair tipped with a low red glow that his Father, or whatever figure was in his head, did not possess alongside the change in attire to a more battle orientated, trainer suit that look vaguely similar to Ash's own and the higher voice that also sounded similar but due to the anger clouding his mind, he guessed that logical thought escaped him. Leaning forward, Ash could tell that this man was smiling behind that mask, gloating at him in silent rebellion.

Craning his neck towards Cynthia, the figure nodded. Quietly, the blonde woman leaned up with such a subtle case of seduction that Ash almost missed it, and slowly began to rip the mask off of his face. For a few moments, Ash was confused; why was this man revealing his identity to him if he was willing to put him through this… Then the face was revealed and all that washed away in an instant, horror taking over in its place.

Before him, sat as the King of the palace of desire, was himself.

Just like back at the mirrors, he held the blackened eyes of a monster, complete with red iris' and an intimidating crimson gaze that managed to bite away at Ash's psyche. Was this really what he looked like when he used red Aura? Did he look as ghoulish and horrifying as this to those that he knew… If so, the incident at the beach must have been a harsh and hard impact to those that witnessed it. Shaking his head, he returned his corrupted self's stare, determined to break it or match it no matter the cost.

"You like it, don't you?"

The question seemed so insane, so wild that for a second, Ash thought of rebelling; Hell, even his doppelganger wasn't taking this seriously, spinning his discarded mask around his finger with little care. However, before Ash could make a retort, go against his claims, his head took over his heart, his judgment took over his wants and he found himself agreeing with his Shadow… He truly did enjoy looking at the girls, taking in their flesh and their forms that shook and moaned in ecstasy because it lit a fire of desire within himself, one that he had felt for some time but was too ashamed to admit it. But this, whatever this whole thing was, still seemed wrong and estranged, something to be worshipped and gawked at instead of admired and that broke the teens heart, the fact that he was enjoying and partaking in something of this standard. To coincide, these twisted thoughts left his head and managed to infect his heart, managing to feel sorry for either himself or the person that cast this strange case of black heartedness upon him.

"What's wrong Ashy? Something caught your tongue?"

Grunting at the assumption made by his double, he huffed and began to menacingly walk forward.

"Fuck you and fuck this place. I-I feel nothing, understand?!"

Though he said it as a threat, the figure seemed to soften and sigh out and gained a posture not too dissimilar of the younger version of himself from his previous vision.

"Damn, you really are worthless…"

Leaning back, his Shadow simply clicked his fingers with a look of disinterest and annoyance, that Ash's mere presence here meant nothing and that he was some sort of nuisance. From that click, Ash saw the lights flicker and fade for a mere second as a wave of darkened Aura passed over him and the whole place before he found himself surrounded, trapped by flesh.

After adapting to the unfamiliar environment once more, he couldn't help but let out a gasp at the sight of several of the girls dancing and grinding into his stagnant form, giggling and moaning the whole while in sickened glee. He was in such shock that he couldn't even move, a dark blush slowly falling over his face as they moved, each press of their bodies into his own too much for his cognition to the point where he couldn't even tell who was around his body, just that it all felt soft and warm. To his surprise, he didn't fight it either, but couldn't embrace it completely as he just stood a gape as the girls surrounded and encapsulated him. It was to the point where he didn't even notice his double wandered towards them, a look of anger and annoyance apparent once again until he finally reached him, staring through his very soul with disregard and regret.

Without another word, he pushed his two of his fingers into Ash's cranium with a hard and harsh hit, sending him sprawling backwards as the lights dimmed and the room collapsed in on itself. For a few seconds, Ash just felt himself falling, through the air, through a void, he had no clue other than the fact he was falling. Then he landed. Crashing roughly into a cold and sharp material, the teen knew where he was immediately; he was back in the room of mirrors, feeling alone and abandoned once again.

Gritting his teeth and his fist, the trainer pushed himself to his feet with a linger presence of aggression washing over him as he stood face to face with himself once more, watching with disgust as this figured copied his every motion. Glancing down, he noticed that the floor which he stood on remained cracked and fragmented alongside one of the walls which stood to his left… These were where he was pulled into the hazes, right? Where he was forcibly dragged into visions of annoyance and nostalgia, of lust and desire?

Shaking his fists in frustration, he walked forwards and towards one of the mirrors yet to be cracked and just stood there, watching with sickening anticipation at these figures next move. He knew there was more, there had to be if he was going to get any answers, so he just tried to steel himself for whatever was coming and how he would prepare for it. However, as he continued to stand there and just stare at himself, his mind began to wander to his previous threads of thought once again; why had he seen that? Unlike the last one, the scenario that had just been painted before his eyes was not real, it had not occurred, so what was it? And why had he been the ring leader, the man atop it all, the one taking in the desire and frustration given off, why was it him standing atop the corpses of innocence that the girls had painted before-hand? As he dived deeper for answer, all he pulled up were more questions.

Suddenly, another low, rough laugh entered the room.

Shocking himself out of his stupor, Ash's eyes shot up in preparation only to encounter the eyes of himself again, staring at him with intrigue and enjoyment through blackened sclera and reddened iris'. What managed to shake him, though, was the appearance of multiple distortions of his stagnant form in the mirror, standing shoulder-to-shoulder behind the one before him. That was when he felt a heavy impact on his right shoulder which was soon followed by the rough coughing of several figures behind him. Steeling himself, Ash swerved before suddenly becoming still and frozen once more at the sight he witnessed; before him stood hundreds of himself, stretching far and wide into the distance while they all gazed at him with aggressive longing fresh in their eyes; their dark, soulless looking eyes.

Growling, the trainer pushed himself forward as to try and break their hold only to be rocketed back by a human barricade, of which slammed into him with enough force to take what little air was left in his lungs. This was shortly followed by an all-encompassing darkness that swept over the entire scope of the land, twisting and distorting around Ash's prone figure with all the poise and positioning as an inky serpent, rising and coiling around its prey. For a few seconds, the teen just waited in the darkness, frozen and still for whatever was coming as he tried to regain a semblance of his breath. Then, he flew. Rocketing up and towards the ceiling with tremendous speeds, Ash collided with the mirror hard, outlined by the hundreds of broken mirror shards that lay shattered around his suspended form.

Just like the last two times, he felt himself choke on the sky before roughly crashing into a barren and deserted piece of rocky land. Moaning and crying out as he rolled and bounced off of the earth, Ash cradled his form lightly while he hissed and clawed at his scrapes and battle-damage. He had a plan in his head though, he knew that he couldn't stay prone for too long. Clenching his fist, he slammed it into the world below his figure and was pleasantly surprised when he felt the rocky and hard ground and not some warped dystopian society.

That is, until he looked up.

A stark look of shock and abstract terror crossed Ash's features as he looked around where his vision had put him; a barren world filled with absolutely nothing but destruction and rubble, where no city or tree or rock formation stood tall and instead had either withered and died, or joined the corpses of their fellow landscapes that dotted the world. It was strangely comforting while also being intensely creepy, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on sharp guard while goose-bumps ran rampant throughout his body. Finally standing up to his full height, the raven-haired teen bit his lip in anticipation, once again ready for whatever piece of shifting horror lurked out in the wilds, for whatever could have done this.

A loud, piercing cry followed by an intense explosion of light was his answer.

Shielding his eyes from the ethereal gaze that the light gave off, Ash could even feel his skin burning and singeing under the glare he received as smoke and debris flew all across him, dirtying his face and clothing in soot and ash. This continued for a few seconds before it seized all together, leaving the world cold and silent once more. Huffing at the sudden and colossal intrusion, the teen began to slowly open his eyes, allowing the cracks in his flesh to witness what had just seemingly collapsed the earth once more. What he saw did not disappoint.

Before him, floating in a devastatingly peaceful stance, was Arceus. The very presence of the beast gave Ash anxiety, seeing him here meant that he could be under the same influence that the previous two sets of vision were, how they were twisted and demented versions of reality or… whatever that other one was. Shaking his head, the teen held a tiny piece of hope in his heart that this time it would be alright, that he would get answers and that he would get no more questions; that's what he hoped anyway. Stumbling forward towards the Legendary being, Ash began to pant and hiss at the heat and the light being given off, Arceus' mere presence eluding a sense of wonder and amazement not felt by the boy before now despite his status… Yet it felt different, altered, changed to be something else, that it was no longer looking out for the boy and rather that the God was locking a heated gaze onto the teen as he gazed at him with contempt and hatred deep with his piercing crimson eyes, glowing with intent and an over bearing passion that could very well convert and manipulate a lesser man.

"A-Arceus? What is going on here?"

Silence, accompanied by a much colder stare.

"Can you even hear me?"

More silence.

"What the fuck is going on?!"

Smashing his foot into the ground, Ash huffed and growled at the beats before him. However, before any more questions could be asked, a familiar chuckle invaded the air. Smirking darkly at its appearance, Ash sucked on his dry lips at the mere sight of a vague flash of red on the God's back and what stepped forward from the flash.

Before him appeared to be another version of himself, yet it held itself in much higher regard then any before it. Like the one at the club, this one was wearing that damned mask and was wearing it proudly, accompanied by large strokes of red mixing in with ink on what little hair managed to break free from the masks hold. His outfit had also changed, becoming much darker and much colder, much more refined and reformed with some sort of darker undertone to the whole piece. In fact, only his arm appeared to be free, glowing bright with the appearance of scarlet on his mark while a large array of crimson shot out from behind him. Even though he couldn't see his eyes, Ash knew his Shadow was glaring at him.

This silent standoff continued for quite some time, the two just looking at one another as their different Auras burned subconsciously around the deserted and decimated battlefield. After a while, Ash grew tired of waiting.

"What? No speech about how I should be enjoying this destruction? About how this is how it feels to control God? About how I'm weak? Nothing?"

The figure huffed. Arceus craned his head at the man. He nodded.

Without even another word, the skies exploded in bright, deranged colour and sheer force that it sent Ash flying, catapulting his through the air until he reached another collision with the rough earth. For a few seconds, it was quiet except for his wheezing. Then, out of nowhere, the cries of anguish and imminent doom began to spill out from Heaven and crash into the earth like a tsunami, washing over Ash's stagnant form and eating away his confidence, his intimidation, his pride. All of it was corroded by the roars emitted from whatever creatures were just summoned from Hell, where their supremacy reigned and fickle things like him were constantly told to lay down and die, where he was worthless.

Steeling his resolve, the raven-haired teen pulled his shaky and frightened frame, his frozen and broken eyes up to where Arceus once stood alone and couldn't even gasp at what he saw, the words robbed from his mouth by these phantom thieves of Legend. Before him stood the creatures of myth, the Legendary beasts that he had helped, that he held such passion and care for, all stood there with the same piercing stare that their Lord held. All of them silent, all of them still; all of them ready to decimate him if he even made the slightest movement.

Gulping down his apprehension, Ash began to survey and go over the behemoths, becoming entrapped and enchanted by their stares of red, their eyes the thick crimson colour of Aura that burned deep within them and power and energy expelled itself from their bodies and into the world around them. If Ash was cynical, he would have said that their power was corrupting the skies but no matter where he was, he couldn't help but marvel at them, take in their power and just appreciate it while the land burned in scarlet fire. However, their majesty didn't allow his mind to be swayed as he was confused and intrigued at their eye colour, how it had changed the blues or the blacks, the greys or the greens of some of their eyes before and how they were all block red, glowing with the intensity of a burning fire and all of it was coming down on him and him alone.

Shifting his eyes towards Arceus once more, he felt his voice exit his body as he watched on in horror. The figure, this Shadow stood there bathed in ethereal red light, hands contorting and cracking with the same dark energy as threads of power hooked up and were strewn in between each of the Legendries, their wills robbed by the man… By him. Behind the mask, he could tell that the figure was smiling, that he was smirking at his torture, to see the Pokémon that he had helped and reconciled with stare at him with such hatred and pain while being surrender to the Shadow's very will and movement.

Glancing down at him, the figure laughed his disturbed laugh, making his twisted notes poison the air even further before clicking his fingers and pointing at the defenceless figure of Ash. Red burst all over the skyline as power shot through the lines connecting each legendary, filling them with power and energy in such a short amount of time; even their already glowing eyes appeared to burn that little bit brighter and with a little bit more hatred towards the boy they had previously praised. Ash was broken, he was unable to do anything so instead he opted to watch the world burn in the glory of these beasts. Then, one by one, each of the Legendries began to gather power, building up massive amounts of built up energy in their jaws, in their hands, in their whole bodies to unleash upon the poor, battered world; one by one, they set themselves up to kill this one person.

Sparing one last look at the Shadow, Ash narrowed his eyes at this man and his power, how he had these powerful creatures under his thumb and could control them with such ease, how the power he himself wielded could be used against the world in such a way; it sickened him, deep down to the deepest pit of his stomach. Spitting on this fake earth, the teen relented. Whatever this disturbed reality had for him, he would take it and push back... That was what he wanted to believe anyway.

Suddenly, the sky fractured with the amount of power released in blast, the differing colours twirling and mixing around each other as the attacks collided, spinning round and round in a spiral pattern that could encompass the entire world if it so wished began shooting forward towards Ash. If this were a different situation, this sort of thing could even be considered beautiful, mesmerising, the different shades and the differing identities of colour painting such an image against the bleak world that the teen forgot to even shelter himself from the attack, instead opting to look upon the skies with awe. It travelled with such grace that its destruction could be seen as art, tearing away the world with its power and majesty to the point where even the bleak and empty sky was bowing down to its strength. Something so apocalyptic had never looked so beautiful.

Somehow, before Ash could be hit by such aa colossal attack, a single word began to echo through the entire world, shooting through the skies and burying itself deep into the ground with the same intensity the entire way through. Despite how insignificant the word may have seemed to others, just the idea of its appearance to Ash was enough to boil his blood.

"Worthless."

Then the world ignited in a bright white flame.

Cheering…

Ash could hear cheering.

Pulling his arms away from his face and blinking in surprise, the raven-haired teen suddenly found himself in-front of the stadium holding all of the battles for the tournament. Spinning in a circle to make sure that he wasn't still in some twisted amalgamation, Ash began to pant lightly at the appearance of the real world; of the lush green grass sitting at his feet instead of the bleak emptiness he had witnessed before, of the beauty and purity of the ocean off in the distance in place of the boundless wilds of shattered earth, of the metallic looking buildings and the stadium filled with people who weren't himself, of people who weren't as twisted as he was. Running a hand down his tired face, he let out a chuckle… A dark chuckle.

"What the actual Hell did I just witness?"

Not only had he somehow travelled from the cliff-side to the stadium during his waking nightmare, he had also been graciously introduced to concepts and ideologies seemingly hidden within his own brain that were pointing towards absurd fantasies, or disturbed remains of past memories. It could be considered as funny, what he had seen; after all, interacting with several heavily fucked up versions of your own psyche would be considered funny if it wasn't so damn terrifying. As he stood in a seemingly empty street, Ash began to relent. Why had he seen those things? Despite the fact that he knew he didn't have the answers and that he had even poised this very same question into himself several times in his 'dream', he couldn't help but ask. Seeing an arrogant past version of yourself who may have revealed some hidden agenda that you kept when you were young, being a part of a strange lewd fantasy staring your lovers and the twisted vision of yourself above them or witnessing the end of the world seemingly at your own hand would mess someone up if they happened individually so to see them in one trip was maddening.

Past that, what could each of these twisted images represent? He was a stupid, arrogant kid who got by on luck? Well he had realised that a long time ago but maybe there was more to it that he didn't realise. Or how he liked seeing the girls in those situations, was it because of some deranged list of kinky fantasies within his skull or just that he appreciated them as beautiful people? And why was he there as some sort of ring leader? However, the one that intrigued him the most was the last one, the one with the Legendaries. Did he truly have that power, the power to control even Arceus himself? He assumed it was himself anyway… It had the same hair that he had seen and the same deep voice but as this stage he had no clue… Just that his brain was truly a messed up place right now.

Even then, why did that happen? He remembered that he had learned about something known as 'Aura Backlash' while on Mt. Silver but had never looked into it too much because it had never happened to him, so it could have been that… But he hadn't been using too much Aura recently. Perhaps it's based on how much stress has been put on his mind and body in the last week accompanied by his Aura. Then there's also the case that it could be another Aura user, twisting and contorting his mind like before, but then there's also multiple problems with that theory as well due to the fact that his Father was seemingly off the island, and that he knew of no other Aura users on the island at the time being; could there be someone following him again, stalking him and messing with his mind? The way his mark had been tampered with was different than before, it had hurt more than before and was a distinct colour so it could be a different Aura user… Or it could have just been himself…

Speaking of his Aura, the trainer took a glance at his Mark which stood free to the world only to see it burning a rich red, just like the different Shadow versions of himself were in the visions. Frowning, he couldn't see why as his eyes appeared normal (at least in the reflection in the glass windows of the stadium) and he wasn't expelling any Aura at this point so his Mark was burning for no reason. However, it suddenly stopped and faded after he had been staring at it for a long enough period of time. Once again, Ash found himself floored for answers at what had just happened and so just pulled his sleeve down over his mark, hoping that could clam his rocketing anxiety and anger.

Huffing heavily at this entire situation, Ash just gave up for now. Perhaps he will get to revisit that sequence later, that he will get to explore it and venture into the parts of his mind that he dared to venture this time round. Perhaps this was the last time he would visit it, the questions continuing to haunt him for the rest of his days; right now, he had no idea.

What he did have an idea of though, was what he said to himself before he entered the sequence… That he needed to remember how to live, how to be a good person and a good trainer, to be there for the girls and for his Mom, to be there for his friends and tell them that he knew why they left him go, be there for his Pokémon and stand by them, train like they used to and not like they did on Mt. Silver, he needed to be there for everyone so that they could all be a family once more. Smirking, he flipped his hood over his shaggy hair, hiding his face away from the world as he shot off his Aura, trying to determine who was still in the stadium that he knew. Thankfully, quite a few of his friends and confidants were there, lounging and watching the matches paly out; in fact, it seemed that Quincy was fighting someone right now. Rolling his tongue, he began to make his way inside and to the stands.

Thankfully for Ash, most people were inside the stands already, most of them had probably been there all day if he was to have a guess, so there weren't many people outside the stadium or even in the reception/hall area if the metallic dome. Playing and messing around with his fingers to allow time to pass, Ash began to wander up the steps and into the dark corridors that led to the stands, subtly using his Aura to weave around the few stragglers or pieces of the interior as he walked. After a while, he finally made it to the stadium's dome interior. Allowing himself to be absorbed by the deep droning noises of the crowd, of the cheering and the bright lights, Ash just stood in the warm evening air, allowing his mind to rest from the struggles he had faced today; the lights and the noise made him feel calm, it was familiar and powerful enough to wrestle his unrestrained spirit and force it to cooperate with the world for the time being… And that's just how he wanted it to be.

Taking off down the different aisles and rows of people in order to reach his own group, Ash couldn't help but chuckle at the smiling and cheering faces of the crowd as he walked on by. When he younger and had to sit in the stands, he would solely focus on the stage and who was battling, never allowing his young mind to take in the sights and the noise around him, never take in those that were cheering for both him and the people battling. Even at contests where May or Dawn or Serena did their performances, he was always focused on them and never the crowd; however, those were different circumstances. Fortunately for his steadily darkening blush, he had reached his destination.

Sitting comfortably before him in a row of seats were Iris and Angie, talking about wild Pokémon and intensely commentating on the battle before them while Serena and Dawn were chatting about contests and what they would each do for different combos and the like. For a few seconds, he just stood there, expecting one of them to spot him and talk to him, after all he wasn't really all that inconspicuous despite his best efforts… Instead they just ignored him. Huffing at the lack of contact, he crouched down, not wanting to be in the way of anyone watching the match, and instead leaned forward and coughed right next to Iris' ear. She then jumped out of her seat in fright.

"Ah! What the Hell was- Oh it's you."

In a split second, the Unova native went from shocked and worried to almost completely monotone and bored sounding. To be honest, it sort of hurt.

"W-What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing… I just thought that it was someone more important is all."

Alright, now she was pushing it. However, he couldn't really fault the cheeky grin that had spread all over her face, so instead he decided to just ignore her. Turning his attention to the other girls in the row, he gave them all a wave.

"Hey girls, how are you all doing?"

Hearing his voice caused the Contest combatants to turn their head towards him while Angie finally decided to speak up against his abuse that he had to endure from Iris… Who was now looking quite annoyed at being completely upstaged and ignored.

"Ash! It's you!"

Not surprisingly, Serena was first to point out his appearance, a thick cloud of red dusting her cheeks with a bright smile on her face. Ash couldn't help but emulate it.

"Who else would it be… Someone more important?"

He saw Iris twitch out of the corner of his eye.

"Hm? Doesn't matter. Anyway, where have you been? It's been hours since your match and you said you'd meet us right back here after it the other day so, what gives?"

Ever the energetic and upfront one, Dawn began leaning forward and pouting towards his general direction to make him begin to feel that ever bit guilty… And she got him hook-line-and-sinker.

"Hehehe… Sorry about that, I had… Um…"

"Man, you've got him tongue tied, Dawn. Good job."

Seizing his mumbling, he turned towards a smirking Angie who was calmly leaning back in her seat, just content with watching this whole train-wreck play out. Adding insult to injury, Ash couldn't think of a good comeback in time.

"… Shut up."

All around him, he heard the quiet giggling of the girls, only putting him further into a slump. This was when Iris decided to speak up once more.

"So, what's up then Ashy, decided to sit on the floor, have you?"

Peaking his head up, he did notice that he would have absolutely nowhere to sit apart from the floor… Except… With cold, almost motionless eyes, Ash stood up, quietly walked towards Iris (the shortest and lightest of the group) and despite her strange and quirked expression, picked up her swiftly before sitting in her spot. He then sat he down on his lap.

"W-What d-do you t-think you're doing, h-huh!?"

Smirking, he replied.

"I'm sure someone more important needs that space more than me, don't you think? Plus, you're the lightest and smallest here; easiest to pick up."

A creeping red blush engulfed the girls face as she began to sputter and mutter quietly as something along the lines of 'Stupid little kid' left her mouth. However, she didn't move and instead just leant back into his chest, wild purple hair sitting directly under his chin which he then sat his own head upon for leverage and breathing room. Happy with their arranged seating, the Kanto teen turned his attention to the others who were just watching with confused or joyful grins.

"So how have the matches been?"

"Oh, they've been good; Carrie and Selina got paired up against each other and so they had to fight each other with Selina eventually winning but they both did very well, then Tino won against a girl from Johto and won against her. Unfortunately, Allie lost her match against a boy from Sinnoh and Axel hasn't had his match yet but it should be right after this."

"And Quincy is beating this guy, now right?"

After listening to Serena's quick synopsis, he went over the information of who he could be fighting next round before glancing down at Quincy and his Flareon going up against a guy and his Torterra. As to extend and back up his point, after he spoke the crowd began to roar and shout as a nasty Flame Thrower left the Torterra burned and stumbling on its last legs in the centre of the arena.

"It was actually pretty close in the beginning but then Quincy just began to beat the guy into the ground when Flareon came out."

Angie quickly answered, leaning over in her seat to rest her head upon Ash's shoulder for some extra warmth and comfort.

"Hm, sounds good. Hope I get to battle him next round."

It was at this point that Ash began to recall that he hadn't heard several voices for some time. Leaning forward and bringing the girl on his lap with him as he rocked, he noticed the absence of May, Misty and Aria.

"Hey, where are the others? I would have thought they'd be here by now.

Turning her head to the side in a slow but cute way, Dawn pushed her finger to her mouth for a few seconds before clicking.

"Oh yea! We haven't really seen May all day, only this morning and even then, it was only for a few minutes… Anyway, she asked if Misty could help her with something and we haven't seen them for the rest of the day. Then after a few hours after you left (*glare*) Aria went to look for you and then check up on those two and now she hasn't been back since then either. And Cynthia has been in the Champions Box all day, with all the Champions and all of her other friends that aren't us..."

Sulking in her chair, the Sinnoh girl turned to Serena with another pout while Ash thought about what she meant… And it all lead back to a certain Legendary Prince.

"Why do people keep ditching us Serena…"

A nervous chuckle followed.

"I-I don't think there are being that harsh Dawn, d-don't worry okay?"

Slowly, the honey haired girl turned back to Ash and looked him in the eye.

"Um Ash… Where have you been for the last few hours? We were all pretty worried when you didn't come back."

To accentuate her point, Serena began to rub her arm as a sign of comfort. Sighing, Ash leant over with the arm that wasn't being held onto by Angie to rub the worried girl's hair, which was free from the confines of her hat for once.

"I was just thinking about stuff and things, you know… Nothing too serious."

"'Too serious'? Then it's a little bit serious, huh?"

Finally finding her voice again, Iris looked up towards the brown doe eyes of the Kanto boy with a teasing grin.

"Oh yeah, serious things that some 'little kids' shouldn't be thinking so I'll have to tell you all about it when Iris isn't here, sorry."

Silence.

"What!? How dare you be so damn rude to me! I am not some little kid I will- "

As Iris continued to rave and rant about her 'mistreatment', Ash could only laugh alongside the others at her behaviour. This… This is where he belonged, with them, sitting here having fun and not worrying about the dangers of the world, of the dangers of his own mind… He doesn't need to worry with them around. Subconsciously, he wrapped his arms a little tighter around Iris, just to make sure that this was real, that he was ready for all of this. And he was.

He just hoped that fate would allow him to be happy, at least for a little while…

DONE! YES! FINALLY, ANOTHER CHAPTER DOWN! I really hoped that all like this chapter and if you are confused, there are quite a few secrets and little hints at a lot of things throughout the whole picture hidden within this chapter and it acts as a way for me to set up something much bigger and to set up a new conflict, an internal conflict between Ash. However, the next few chapters will be forcusing on his relationships with different people and how he aims to mend them.

Also, I tried to add a bit more character and personality to each person to flesh them out more as when I first started writing, I had every girl basically be a carbon cut out of each other without any distinct personality changes or anything like that so now I have tried to add some more character to them and even Ash himself so I hoped you liked that.

Gonna be honest, dunno when the next one will be out but it will not take 7 months, I promise you that. And leaving you, here is the harem list (P.S Keeping the poll up still as this chapter may remind people that it's actually there, will be closing next chapter).

Misty

May

Dawn

Iris

Serena

Angie

Aria

Cynthia

Miette

Korrina

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SO WITH THAT I SAY GOOOOOOODBBYYYYYYYYE!

P.S Please PM me any ideas or concerns you have or if you just wanna talk, i really don't mind, okay?

-Jack