A duo of footsteps echoed through the otherwise empty hall as a raven haired man walked briskly, followed by a young, red haired woman. The man's eyes were cold as he threw a nearby door open, the woman following him.

"You know this had to happen eventually, right." The woman spoke up, the hint of a smirk on on her face as the male plopped himself behind a desk and turned in his chair to the window behind him.

"Shut it." The male growled. She responded with a coy look.

"Oh now don't be like that. It's been fifteen years Ash-Sama. You need to face your past."

Fifteen years...

"We need to talk Ash." The redheaded girl huffed. The boy, fresh from Kalos and surprised to find almost all of his former traveling companions, sans Cilan, Serena, Bonnie, and Clemont, gathered at his house, stared in confusion. He wasn't the only confused one it seemed. Iris seemed just as confused as he was.

"Uh... Okay, so what's this about?"

"This stupid dream of yours, you need to give it up." Pikachu's tail twitched as he looked up at his trainer, who seemed even more confused now.

"Huh? I don't understand."

"Ash." May sighed. "Let's face it, you're never going to become a Pokémon Master. You lose every single pokemon league you enter, you could have some pretty powerful Pokémon, but you don't cause you don't evolve most of them completely, and you're an idiot who brings trouble wherever he goes, in the form of villainous teams, an incompetent group of Team Rocket Grunts, and Legendary Pokémon with the power to wipe out entire continents!"

"Okay, first of all, I came in sencond in the Kalos league in a narrow match, which means I still have room to improve. Second, I let my Pokémon evolve at their own pace, if they don't want to evolve, I won't force them Dawn." Ash cast his eyes toward the blue haired trainer, who jumped.

"Hey, don't pull me into this! I'm a Coordinator, I don't need an Empolion!" Ash huffed.

"And finally, I didn't ask to be stalked around the world by Team Rocket, I'm pretty sure those villainous teams were established well before I showed up, and Legendary Pokémon have been duking it out for eons! I actually had a hand in stopping some of those fights!"

"Those sound like excuses." Max said as he adjusted his glasses. Ash felt his blood boiling.

"Hold on." Iris poked in. Don't you guys think you're being a bit harsh. I was watching the Kalos League finals and Ash's loss seemed very narrow. Maybe with some mpre training-"

"Don't defend him you flat chested nut!" May snapped.

"...Excuse me?" Ash silently turned to his mother, who had been lurking nervously in the corner.

"Mom? Don't tell me you agree with them." Delia looked reluctant to speak.

"Ash, sweetie, it's not that I think you're a bad trainer. You're an amazing one. "It's just that I rarely see you at home anymore..." Ash's brows furrowed.

"It's good to know that at least some of them continued to believe in you. Your own mother and even some of your own Pokémon abandoned you. How ungrateful." The woman smirked.

"I told you to stop reading my mind." Ash growled as he sat behind his desk.

"Can't help it." She giggled. "It was that Oak guy who put them up to it right? He threatened to frame you for Pokémon abuse unless you let him experiment on Greninja. He showed his true colors that day. From what I understand, things got pretty violent after that."

Ash's eyes were obscured as the past few minutes had left the Pokémon Corral in flames. What few Pokémon had remained loyal to him, Snivy, Oshawott, Pignite, Charizard, Sceptile, Talonflame, Hawlucha, Noivern, Bayleef, Gliscor, Krookodile, Quilava, Totodile, Bulbasaur and Squirtle stood bruised and panting around him, ready to continue fighting if need be. Iris was nearby, nursing a dislocated shoulder as Axew stood guard. In Ash's arms was Pikachu, a large, deep gash in the Electric mouse's side. Ash's hand was slick with blood as he tried to staunch the mouse's wound. The mouse shuddered, before stilling.

"Pikachu...?" The raven haired boy boy tried, but the Electric Type dud not respond.

"Psycho Cut!" Ash's eyes widened as a blade of Psychic energy was sent his way, only to suddenly freeze in the air, before bolting in the direction it came from, sending Max and his Gallade flying in the resulting explosion. Ash's eyes went wide as a figure morphed into view.

"Hmph. Such inferiority." Purple eyes turned to meet his brown ones. "Wouldn't you agree Ash?" Ash's knees gave out, and he blacked out as he hit the ground.

"When you woke up you were in Kalos with your loyal Pokémon and friends." At this point, Ash turned to her, his eyes flashing an angry blue.

"Get out of my head!" There was a flash of blue light, and the woman's head jerked back, blood now flowing from her nose. Despite this, she was fairly unfazed, instead raising an eyebrow at Ash.

"Here we are, fifteen years later. You can't run from the past forever you know. The Legend's Tournament is one of the biggest even in the world, only happening every one hundred years. Of COURSE those traitors are going to show up." She sat on Ash's desk her fingers trailing up his cheek. "But Glacias is YOUR region. They don't know that. This is your chance to turn the tables on them, Mr. High Prince." She cupped his cheek, and he batted her hand away.

"I'm married." She scoffed.

"Serena doesn't need to know. Don't deny it-"

"It's never going to happen Latias." He stood up, his hand glowing blue as he flicked it in her direction. He form broke, revealing a red and white, bird-like dragon. She shook her head, blinking away the stars as Ash left the room. She retook her human appearance and ran to catch up with him.

"Damnit you know I hate that!" She complained, wiping the blood from her face.

"Call everyone and set up a meeting at 6:30 tonight." Latias scoffed. "Don't give me that crap. Either everyone's there on time or I look for a new assistant. EVERYONE. I'm not having a repeat of that stunt you pulled with Ruby last time"

"It was a simple miscommunication." Latias fluttered her eyelashes."

"My ass." Ash grunted.

The Houndoom caught the Pokepuff in her mouth, chomping down on it almost instantly.

"Good girl." Ruvic responded, patting her in the head.

"Uncle!" The purple haired man jumped as a young girl stormed into the room, holding a frozen pizza. "All you have is supreme. You couldn't have gotten any Alolan Pizza!?"

"To be fair Belle, you staying here was kinda last minute." She scoffed. "Whatever. Show me how to make an omelette!"

"So much like your mother." Ruvic muttered, getting up to follow her to the kitchen. His phone went off, showing a text from Latias. Houndoom grabbed the phone in her mouth and set off following them.

"It's one of the High Knights!"

"Didn't he used to be a Team Venom Admin?"

"Oh yeah, I do remember that."

"Why did the High Prince let him become a High Knight then?"

"I'm not sure. Do you think he can be trusted?"

"Let's keep our distance, just in case."

"Every damn day." Marik sighed, adjusting his hat as he was handed his order.

"Ah, don't let them get to you Marik-Sama." The bubbly waitress chirped. "Your past is just that. Make use of your present and look forward to the future!" Marik cocked an eyebrow.

"Er... Thanks Elise." He looked down to his curry, not immediately noticing his phone buzzing with a text.

Blonde locks cascaded over the woman's face as she knealt in front of an altar. She was silent until a tray of food was placed in front of her. She jumped, turning to look at the wheelchair bound girl.

"My grandma says you need to eat before you get any skinnier."

"Oh, yes, thank you Karen." Bonnie sighed. "Sorry I was just thinking." In her hand was an old photograph, showing a large man, a short, blonde boy, and a blonde woman holding a baby. "I wonder if she'd be proud of me..." Karen smiled.

"Dracius Village is in her blood. You read the letters. You were always meant to be her heiress." Bonnie smiled, looking toward the altar. Sitting on the altar was a small, green, cell like creature. He looked up at Bonnie, who reached over to pet him.

"Hey, I'm taking a break from my studies at the moment." Karen chirped. "Can you tell me that story of how you traveled Kalos with the High Prince?" Bonnie chuckled.

"Well, you know he wasn't the High Prince at the time, but sure." For the time being, the text alert on Bonnie's cellphone was ignored.

Blows were traded as the two Pokémon clashed. The unassuming shiny Mawile against the battle ready Mienshao.

"Aura Sphere, go!" Mienshao's trainer called. The Martial Arts Pokémon formed a blue sphere of energy and hurled it at Mawile, who charged energy into her fist and punched straight through the attack, before blitzing forward, grabbing Mienshao's whip-like fur and slamming her forhead against his, before opening her mouth and firing a point blank Flash Cannon into the Fighting Type's face. Mienshao stumbled back before crashing into the ground, unconscious. On Mawile's side of the field, a milky skinned, red eyed human sighed.

"This is a good waste of my lunch hour." She brushed the white, curly locks of hair from her eyes, smoothing the skirt of her school uniform in the process.

"Hey, I want another match!" Her opponent, a boy younger than her wearing the boy's uniform, called from the other side of the indoor arena. Ruby red eyes flicked towards him briefly.

"Or I could just have Mawile blast you instead. You may even end up ICU." The corners of her mouth twitched as her opponent recoiled. "I'm going to go eat lunch now." She turned on her heel, walking up the stairs behind her as Mawile followed. She made her way into the cafeteria above the battlefield, making her way to a table and grabbing the food in front of her. "Swear to Arceus my Ramen better still be hot. There were three other's at Ruby's table: A purple haired girl her own age with light pink eyes, and two younger kids, both eleven years old. The girl had short, messy white hair and purple eyes, and had a generally tired and timid look about her, while the boy had royal blue hair and golden yellow eyes, and gave off a more cocky vibe.

"That looked fun." The purple haired girl quipped.

"There's nothing fun about battling when all of them end up as a curb stomp Lumina." Ruby shot back.

"Is the Legend's Tournament not coming up? Perhaps you can find a more able opponent there?"

"Speaking of..." Ruby's eyes flickered between the two younger children at the table. "I need to know by Friday if you two plan on entering. It's optional, so don't feel like you're forced to enter.

"Of course Sensei." The boy quipped, while the girl nodded silently. Their little group was suddenly joined by a fiifth addition, a twelve year old boy with chin length, honey blonde hair and dark brown eyes.

""Ah, Arvo! Sit down and join us little bro." Ruby chirped. Arvo sighed.

"Ruby, who's Laura, and why is she texting me details for a meeting YOU need to attend tonight?"

"Laura's the name Latias takes when she's in public as dad's assistant." Arvo's eyes flicked to Lumina, who, thankfully, was too distracted buttering her roll to pay attention.

"That doesn't explain why she's texting me though."

"Oh, because she hates us." Arvo blinked, pointing to himself. "Yes, us as in you and me. You know she has a thing for dad. Thing is, she'd much rather deliver an important message with you as proxy than talk to me directly."

"You... Seem to know quite a bit about this."

"She likes to use Latias' hatred to rile her up. They've gotten into physical arguments." The white haired girl muttered quietly.

"Yes, thank you Kiriko." Ruby rolled her eyes.

LATER THAT NIGHT:

Ash sighed as he turned to the table qhere his High Knights sat, Latias being off to the side ready to jot down notes.

"As you know, the Legend's Tournament is coming up, and given the scope of this tournament, combined with the fact that Glacias only holds the tournament once every hundred years, many trainers from all over the world will be flocking here to enter. That is very likely to include some... Undesirables that I knew a long time ago."

"What's that mean, undesirables?" Ruby questioned. "You got an ex girlfriend or something you don't wanna see?"

"Ah..." Bonnie spoke up. "Ruby, sweetie, your dad has a very... Troubled past." Ash sighed.

"It's fine Bonnie." He shook his head. "About fifteen years ago, I dreamed of one day becoming a Pokémon Master. After I lost in the Kalos Pokémon League, a group of people who I thought were my friends and family attempted to, quite violently, force me to give up that dream. Those same people are very likely to show up for the Legend's Tournament.

"Wait, is that why you never want to talk about your mom?" Ruby questioned. "Honestly, Arvo and I thought she was dead."

"Ruby..."

"No seriously, we thought she died in a horrible accident or something. We couldn't even get Grandma Grace to talk about her." Ash pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Look, just... I want you to keep an eye out for these people, it's been fifteen years so I don't know if they've mellowed out or gotten worse. Dismissed." The group got up to leave, and before Latias could try to make a move on Ash, Ruby bolted up to them.

"Hey, Iris is gonna be at the tournament right?" Despite his general attitude, Ash couldn't help but smile at her excitement.

"I'd imagine so Ruby. As Unova's champion she's pretty much obligated to come."

"Awesome! We got some Dragon Types imported from Galar. She's gonna flip!" Ash blinked.

"Galar's an independent Region, how'd you manage that?" Ash asked as he and Ruby left the room, leaving Latias fuming.