Hey everyone this is my first story, feel free to leave reviews and tips. There won't be any Aloha Pokemon in my story, this all takes place after the Kalos League.

On a plane bound for Viridian City airport from Lumiose City a young pokemon trainer was in a restless sleep. Flashes of past battles played through his dreams. His Charizard sleeping in his Indigo League battle, Blaziken taking down Charzard, Meowth out lasting Pikachu, Latios and Pikachu fainting together, Lucario's Aura Sphere bringing down Pikachu, and Mega Charzard over powering Greninja. Even with all those losses he would never for a second dream of blaming his pokemon, he could only blame himself for over confidence or lack of effort on his end.

The young raven haired trainer was awoken by a gentle shake of his shoulder "Mr. Ketchum we're about to land in Viridian City.", said the flight attendant.

"Thank you ma'am." ,he replied with a small smile. He looked out the window while stretching his stiff joints, he glanced down with a chuckle, "Wake up Pi we're almost there." Pikachu slowly opened his eyes with a "Chaa" and a stretch. Pikachu gave the young man a strange look, "Pi pika?"

"No I slept a little rough buddy, but it's ok we'll be home soon then we'll figure out what our next move is." he replied with a small smile and a hint if sadness in his voice.

An hour after the flight landed the young man with his ever faithful Pikachu on his shoulder reached the edge of the city, as they walked the forest he smiled, "Remember our first day together Pi," Ash said with a chuckle, "you hated me and so did all those Spearow. Man time flies seems like just yesterday you and me were running to the pokemon center after frying Misty's bike."

"Cha pi pkia cha." Pikachu chuckled remembering it fondly.

As the duo crested the top of a hill they were greeted with a welcomed with a familiar sight, Pallet Town its small town feel, green rolling hills, and the windmill atop the famous Professor Oak Laboratory. "Come on buddy let's race home!" Ash called as he took off down the hill.

"Pika pi!" ,Pikachu yelled out after him.

As Ash was reaching the fence on the edge of the yard a yellow blur streaked past him onto the front steps "Pika pika pi." the yellow mouse said with a smirk.

"I did't cheat, you just took off too slow." Ash chuckled "Next time I'll beat you."

"Cha cha." Pikachu laughed.

"I am not a sore loser, you used Quick Attack thats cheating." Ash replied as the yellow rodent jumped onto his shoulder with a small thunder shock causing him to twitch,"Hey, those still do hurt, I'm not a ground type." he grumbled as they entered the house.

"Mom I'm home!" the raven haired trainer called out.

"Oh my little Ash is home!!" Delia yelled out as she pulled him into a bone crushing hug, "I missed you so much while you were gone, look how much you've grown. I still remeber the ten year old who over slept and ran all the way to the professor's lab in his pajamas. You looked so young and had chubby little cheeks. Now look at you all grown up, taller than me and your chubby little face gone. You are so grown up, now young man you need to shave you are starting to look homeless." she said with a small chuckle.

Ash ran his hand over his chin feeling the stubble, "Sorry I must have forgotten with everything that happened since the league ended." he sheepishly replied.

"Congratulations on making it so far in the league, I'm sure next time you'll defiantly win it all." she said with a bright smile.

"Thanks mom, I'm proud of all my pokemon the worked so hard for me." he said with hint of sadness but covered it with a smile, " I'm gonna go shower then head down to the lab and see all my pokemon." Delia watched her son walk up the stairs noticing the slight slump in his shoulders. "Pikachu he seems so down, maybe I'll call his friends and let him know that we all support him no matter what." as looked down to Pikachu who replied with a thumbs up and smile.

After getting cleaned up Ash headed to the road to Oak Laboratory with Pikachu on his shoulder. Ash knocked on the door and heard steps coming down the hallway, as the door he was greeted with a surprising face, "Well if it isn't Ashy-boy." said a young man around Ash's age with spiky brown hair.

"Gary what are you doing here I thought you were out doing research still?" Ash said as the two former rivals smiled and hugged.

"I'm doing some work with grandpa so I can get my degree done and become an official Pokemon Professor." He replied.

"That's awesome man I'm glad you're making so much progress towards your dream. I know you can do it and be one of the greatest Pokemon Professors there has ever been." Ash said with a confident smile.

"Thanks Ash that means a lot man." Gary replied with a small embarrassed smile. The the two boys continued through the lab towards the ranch where all of Ash's pokemon were waiting for him, since Pikachu went a head to gather all of them.

"Well Ashy-boy I gotta get back to work I'll let gramps know you're here I'm sure he has lots of questions for you about the Kalos region." Gary said as he walked back into the lab. "Ok sounds good Gary I'll be here of a bit so we've got plenty of time to talk." Ash told him as he walked through the door. As Gary walked back to the study he couldn't help but notice that Ash wasn't his normal happy go lucky self. He made a mental note to ask him about it a little later.

It had been a few days since Ash had returned from traveling and it had been fairly quite, training his pokemon, talking with the Professor and Gary answering their questions, and trying to think of his next move. The fourth day of being home Ash was walking home along with Professor Oak, Gary and Tracy he just assumed his mom invited them for dinner since she loved to cook. As he entered the door he was taken by surprise to see his friends there with smiles on there faces holding a banner that read CONGRATULATIONS ASH", he couldn't help but smile his first real smile since he got home. The group was Brock, Misty, Max, Dawn, Paul( which caught him off gaurd), Iris, Cilan, and lastly May. He couldn't figure out why but seeing May agian made is heart race slightly and he felt as though the room temperature had risen a few degrees, he just put it to the fact that all his friends were there to see him and he was very happy to see them all.

Most of the party was spent catching up with his friends he found out Brock was almost finished with school to be Pokemon Doctor. Misty is still the Cerulean Gym leader and it had become one of the strongest gyms in Kanto. Her and Tracy had recently found feelings for each other and began dating. Tracy has continued working for Professor Oak and had many drawings published worldwide. Max started his journey with a Treecko and had placed in the top 8 in Hoenn and top 8 again in Sinnoh and been traveling through Johto region. Dawn had traveled through Hoenn competing in Contests with May off and on, she just beat May in the Hoenn Grand Festival to win it. During her travels she ran into Paul, after a few weeks of traveling they came to realization that they had feelings for each other and have been a couple since then. Paul had traveled through Sinnho after his loss to Ash to train and find himself after a year or so he went to challenge the Hoenn League where he was runner up and had met Dawn. After they traveled through Kanto together Iris and Cilan returned to Unova to continue there dreams. While training her dragons Iris ran into Cilan just before he was awarded is S class rating. They went to dinner to celebrate which led them to share a kiss and becoming a couple shortly afterwards. Lastly May had traveled and competed in contests though Sinnoh and Hoenn again this time winning the Grand Festival. Ash couldn't help but notice how much the brunette had grown in the time a part. 'Why am i thinking of May this way?' he pondered but couldn't quite put his finger on the reasoning.

After a few hours Ash stepped out to get a little fresh air and clear his head. It seems all his friends either had accomplished there dreams or were almost there. He couldn't help but feel ashamed having failed so many times. Ash was lost in his thoughts when he heard someone come outside he looked and seen it was Gary. " Hey Ash you ok? Its not like you to be so distant during a party like this, and no lying I've known you your whole life I know somethings on your mind." Gary stated. Ash let out a sigh and leaned against the deck, "Gary I've been competing in leagues for seven years and I still haven't won a league. I really thought Kalos was the one I thought I trained enough but I guess I was wrong." Ash sadly replied. Gary and Pikachu gave him a concerned look they've never seen Ash this down he was always so positive and up beat. Gary wasn't sure what to say when Ash continued, "For the first time since I started my journey I don't know what my next move will be."

After that was said Gary let out a little sigh, "Ash I'll level with you, all those years of us growing up and treating you the way I did it was because I was jealous of you." Ash looked and Gary with a slightly shocked look, Gary Oak was jealous of him? "You're a natural with pokemon even the really shy scared ones, hell look at you and Pikachu, even gramps couldn't bond with him. I knew then and I definitely know now that you would be and are by far a more talented trainer and battler than I am, even if I didn't want admit it then, but, if you repeat that I'll kick your ass." He added with a laugh. "From how you are talking though it sounds like you've already made up your mind on your next move." Gary finished as he took a drink of water. Ash stood there for a moment letting everything Gary said sink in.

After a few moments of silence Gary looked at Ash and said, "I can tell you're planning something big Ash I can see it in your eyes." Ash thought for a moment of how to say what he was thinking. "Gary I've been thinking of this plan since I came home and I plan on following through with it no matter what. I'll tell you but you have to swear you wont tell a soul."

"Ash you have my word, unless its deadly or dangerous." Gary said with slightly stern tone.

"I plan on going out alone to train and find myself. I can feel something calling out to me but i can't explain what it is." he took a second before continuing. "I plan on taking all my pokemon to train in the harshest places to become the strongest team ever. I don't know how long it'll take but this is my plan no matter what."

To say Gary was shocked was understatement, "Ash it sounds like you plan on disappearing." Gary said.

"I know it seems brash but if I don't do it this way mom wont let me go and neither will everyone else. They'll say its too dangerous but I feel like this is what I need to do." Ash explained.

"When did you plan on leaving then?" Gary asked.

"Tonight, I have everything ready except my pokemon. I'm actually glad I'm telling you about this because I'm going to need your help to get them tonight while everyone is sleeping." Ash told his friend as he looked towards the setting sun.

"I'll help you on one condition Ash, you have to contact me once a month so I know that you're alive and that you're doing ok." Gary said.

"That sounds fair enough to me." Ash replied as the pair shook hands.

"I've written a letter to everyone explaining to everyone why I'm doing this and to not worry too much." Ash told him as he reached up to scratch Pikachu's ears earning a happy 'Chaaa' from the yellow mouse. "Well we better go back in so no one gets to suspicious of why we've missing." Gary said as they turned back towards the door, seeing everyone enjoying the party and the good company.

POV Change

May noticed Gary and Ash walk back in from the deck, she felt her heart give a small flutter seeing his warm chocolate brown eyes. 'Tomorrow I'll tell him what I've been feeling lately' she thought while looking at the raven haired trainer.

Time skip four hours

Ash gave one last look at his sleeping friends spread through the house with on last small sad smile placed a note on the kitchen table. He quietly walked past the living room where May slept soundly on the couch, before he walked out the front door he turned into the front room for an unknown reason to him he placed a light kiss on her forehead. As he walked to the door he muttered, "Goodbye May I'll see you agian, please don't hate me too much."

With that Ash and Pikachu quickly ran to the Professor's lab where Gary was waiting in the shadow of the door way. "You're sure about this Ash?" Gary asked once again.

"Yes this is something I have to do on my own." Ash stated.

"Ok then here are all your poke balls buddy, I noticed that you only have one Tarous left, where are the others?" Gary asked.

"I felt bad that I only used one of them to battle, so I talked with then and they agreed to be traded or loaned out to local farmers." Ash said as he put the bag of poke balls into his back pack.

"Well that does make sense then, you really have grown up Ash." Gary said with a quite laugh.

"I had to some time right," Ash said with a smile "Well Gary I guess this is goodbye for now, I can't thank you enough for your help. Keep an eye on everyone, they'll need as many friends as possible to help understand all this."

"No problem Ash, just remember to check in as often as you like so I can make sure you're still breathing." Gary said with a stern tone.

"You got it man." Ash said with one last hand shake, "Charizard come out buddy." As the light faded Ash's faithful red lizard stood before him, he lowered himself down so Ash could climb onto his back. Just as Charizard stretched his wings Gary told him and Pikachu, "Look after him you two he'll need it."

"Pi pika pika." replied Pikachu with a wave. Charizard gave a growl and nodded his head as they lifted off from the ground and flew into the night sky. "Well this is it guys lets give it everything we have, and lets go find some old friends." the young raven haired trainer said with a confident smile on his face.