Hi everyone,

So it's been a while since I last updated this story and for that, I apologise. The big issue has been the fact that I rather stupidily over complicated things for myself by trying to take the original version and force two more love interests into the story. This has caused the story - well at least the parts you haven't seen yet to be very inconsistent and to be honest poorly written as I tried to craft separate stories for Sabrina, Anabel and Cynthia so they could all be with Ash and have a good reason to be with him.

These problems led to me making this update and wondering what to do with the story from here. What does this mean for The Exiled One Returns? Well it's not the end but it will certainly be a new beginning, there are flaws in the story that really need addressing and not just the ones revolving around the love interests. The problems within the story have led me to consider completely removing from here and starting from fresh.

I would use the same concepts for the story and in time would probably bring back scenes from this. First though I would properly flesh out the events before the tournament, meeting the few people he trusts and probably even being with a love interest prior to the tournament so I wouldn't have to focus on building a romance up during the tournament.

And I already know I'm going to get hell for this from some of you because I've already started a rewrite, well I'm sorry but the fact of the matter is what I have done thus far is not good enough in my opinion and since I do this as a hobby I write this for my enjoyment. I want this to be as good as it can be and I only rewrite because I know I can do better.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, any suggestions for love interests (maybe someone a bit more obscure), storylines you'd like to see, any pokemon you'd like to see Ash catch etc.

Thank you for supporting The Exiled One Returns, I truly do appreciate each and every one of you who has taken the time to read this story. Special shoutouts to everyone who spent a few moments just leaving a review and/or giving me some ideas. Once again thank you all and I'll either talk to you soon or see you when the reboot is started.