To new readers of this fanfiction, please note that this story ignores the storyline of the Best Wishes series as it was started before there was any sort of conclusion to it, it will use characters from the saga but it will not reference a majority of the events that happened within it.

~Selina

Chapter One:

Ash Ketchum was only half awake in the bed he'd slept in so little in the last few years. After six and a half years of traveling the world it felt strange to be back in Pallet Town for as long as he had been. He'd honestly have been more comfortable sleeping on the forest floor like usual, or in a Pokémon Centre bed or even on the couches. It wasn't anything to do with comfort actually, just something about being out there, just made him feel that much more… alive.

But he had no where to go now, he'd been home for two months, and yet he had nothing left to do. He'd gone through every league, and the battle frontier as well, Kanto, Orange, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova. He'd been to them all, he'd challenged them all. There were no leagues left for him to face, and even if there was, he just wouldn't feel right going, because he just missed the people he'd journeyed with too much to even consider leaving without them.

He missed the days of traveling with Misty, arguing like they could kill each other and yet be willing to do anything to protect the other the moment danger came across their paths. He missed May, her constant good nature, her joy for contests, and her ability to find the perfect restaurant no matter where they were. He missed Max, the little pocket dictionary, who even with a Pokénav could get them lost who reminded them so much of himself at his age he couldn't believe the little guy would be starting his own Pokémon journey soon enough. He missed Dawn, her constant optimism and cheer, who could fuss over the littlest details of her appearance and yet still would take you down a peg or two and would always be there for you no matter what. He missed Brock, who'd been there from the start of his journey and had almost been their to the end, who had been like an older bother and a father figure to him, always knowing what to say, always had the right advice as well, unless it was about girls, then it was a good idea to avoid anything he had to say about it. Of course their was Iris and Cilan as well, but he just didn't miss them like he missed the others, with them it hadn't been as fun, there weren't the daily Team Rocket attacks or the half as many crazy adventures that they'd had which with the others they'd laugh about every night before they went to sleep.

But they had their own ambitions, their own dreams, their own responsibilities. Misty had her gym. May was competing in contests in Johto with Drew. Dawn was still competing in Hoenn. Max wasn't even able to start his journey yet, besides he'd want to start in a league that Ash had already done. Brock was in some Pokémon Centre in Kanto doing hands on experience for his quest to become a Pokémon Doctor. And Ash was just sitting here, alone, waiting for something to break, for something to just go right so he could finally achieve his own dream.

'Ash, honey, are you awake yet?'

Ash sat up slightly, attempting to flatten his ridiculously messy dark hair as he turned to face his mother who was standing in the open door way, 'Yeah, is something wrong?' he questioned, noticing the expression on her face.

'I suppose… I'm a little worried about you lately,' she admitted, sitting down on the foot of his bed.

'What do you mean?' he asked, quirking an eyebrow at his mother, seeing the worry in her eyes reflecting in her eyes only a few shades of brown lighter than his own.

'It's just… you've been home for two months Ash, and usually you would have run off on a new adventure by now, or training like mad for your next big competition… it almost seems like, well, you're fading Ash.'

Ash frowned biting his lip before responding, 'Well, it's not like I have much to do. Honestly I've taken on all six leagues, I've done the battle frontier, I don't really have much to do that I haven't already done. Besides, it's not like I have anyone to travel with, I've barely had a chance to talk to the others because they're all so busy, the only one I have managed to talk to is Tracey, and I'm pretty sure he's completely committed to working for Professor Oak. I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore really.'

'Oh Ash, you can't mean that. There's always the other battle frontiers, there's a great one in Sinnoh and-' she began but Ash decided to put her out of her misery.

'I'm not interested in that, and you know why mum,' he said, and his mother gave a small sigh, squeezing her son's hand.

'And it's not like you don't have anyone to travel with, what about Iris? Or Cilan? You seemed to get along with them.'

'I do, but I miss the others, the old gang, if I did have somewhere to travel with, there would still be no point, I have no where to go.'

'Well… have you tried talking to Professor Oak about this? Surely he'd know somewhere you could go,' she offered.

'Well usually he'd bring it up if there's something new. I mean, he sent me everywhere else, why wouldn't he say something this time? I don't know if I'll be able to find anything, and honestly part of me has given up a little-'

'Ash Ketchum!' his mother reprimanded sharply and instantly he regretted saying what he had, 'I did not raise a quitter, you're going to Professor Oak's Laboratory right now, and you're going to ask him to give you something to do! I will not have my sicken year old son laying around the house doing nothing! All day bemoaning his lack of a Pokémon journey to follow!'

Before Ash could respond however, his mother pulled him from the room, and marched him out the door, still in his pajamas, Pikachu still fast asleep on his bed. Delia lectured him the whole way until he found himself in the front garden feeling very confused. This confusion only increased when he heard the front door slam and the locks snapping shut.

'Mum!' he yelled, hammering against the door with his fists.

'You do not come back into this house until you've spoken to Professor Oak young man!'

'Wait, what? I'm still in my pajamas!… Why does Pikachu get to sleep in?!'

...

'Are you sure there's nothing left for me to do without repeating things?' Ash questioned desperately.

It was about an hour later and now Ash was sitting with Professor Oak and Gary in the living room of the Oak Laboratory. It had taken Ash a while to actually get to ask them what he'd wanted to know. After he'd convinced his mother to let him back in, got changed, forced Pikachu to wake up, he'd run over to the laboratory, but he could hardly get in the door fast enough before he was interrupted by his old Pokémon. Each of them more eager to see him then the next even though he'd only been there a few days earlier, he'd spent so long just laughing and being with his friends again that he'd almost completely forgotten why he'd come round in the first place. But the answer he'd received hadn't been one he'd liked to hear, even if he'd already known in his heart it would be the answer he got.

'Well Ash, I'm sorry, you've taken on the five main leagues, and the Orange League, and the Kanto Battle Frontier. Unless you want to redo one of the leagues or go to another Battle Frontier, then there isn't much else you can do,' Professor Oak explained sounding apologetic.

Seeing Ash's frustration Gary spoke up, trying to relieve some of the stress his old rival was clearly feeling, 'Would it really be too bad Ash? I mean really, there's up to forty or fifty gyms in each of the leagues, Hoenn's borderline sixty I think seeing as one of them was just reopened,' Gary told him, flicking back a fragment of his ever styled brown hair, 'You could go through the entire league without going to any of the ones you've faced before. It would be like a new adventure, usually you've just skated from closest gym to closest gym, or the more popular ones essentially.'

Ash just groaned, burying his head in his hands, 'You two just don't get it.'

'Well if you're really desperate for something to do, there's always becoming a Frontier Brain, you were offered the position remember?' Professor Oak reminded, clearly not getting why Ash had turned it down in the first place.

'It's not for me, not yet,' Ash said quietly through gritted teeth.

'Well… there is always- Actually, scratch that, I'm out of ideas,' Gary said hastily, attempting to cover his initial sentence, but Ash looked up again.

'What was the "there is always" thing about?' he asked suspiciously.

'Um… well…' Gary began, but stopped himself.

'If you are going to tell him about what I think you are, then I suggest you do it Gary, he'll find out eventually if you don't,' Professor Oak laughed.

'Will both of you tell me what I've missed?' Ash complained irritably.

'…Have you heard of the Eclipse Islands?' Gary asked weakly, and as Ash looked confused he sighed and continued, 'Of course you haven't you've never paid attention to a geography lesson in your life Ketchum.'

'Where's the Eclipse Islands?' Ash asked in confusion.

'It's south from Hoenn, in the middle of the ocean, middle of no where essentially. It's where the world's most difficult league in the world is held,' Gary explained.

'It's the hardest league?' Ash questioned, not sure how to respond to that.

'It's run by a group of trainers who're all better than most gym leaders. There are seventeen of them, twelve girls, five boys, each of which specialising in a Pokémon type, and elemental specialist. It's set up a little weird though, because it's such a small league and the trainers are all so tough, they don't have their own Elite Four and Champion like most leagues even if they do have a top five. But to make up for that, they've got a special system. If you win all seventeen badges, you are qualified to challenge any Elite Four of your choosing from any of the other leagues.'

'Any of the Elite Fours… are they really that good?' Ash asked.

He knew how it worked usually, to challenge the Elite Four, you'd have to win that Elite Four's regional tournament. Or become a gym leader and use that as a stepping stone to replace them. To go through the Eclipse League and instantly be qualified to challenge any of his choosing… that was an opportunity that didn't come along more than once in a life time, he'd never heard of something like this.

'Of course they are, before setting up the league some of them were part of the Elite Four, one or two of them were even a Champion for a time. I heard something about them being unsatisfied with only being challenged by the others in their Elite Four or the one annual trainer, so they set up the league,' Gary said almost carelessly.

Ash thought for a long moment, but the excitement building up in his chest was too strong to ignore as he thought about what this could mean for him, 'I can do it. I can do it,' he said confidently, a child-like grin spreading across his features.

'You must be careful Ash, to challenge the Eclipse League you are going to need you're strongest Pokémon,' Professor Oak said and instantly Ash looked confused by what the Professor meant.

'He means that you can't go around catching Pokémon and training them as you go,' Gary warned, 'You need to call in all the Pokémon you had before, because anything less then the best is not going to beat them. Plus, you can't keep using the same ones over and over, you'll fall into a pattern and they'll catch you out.'

'What do you mean by they'll catch me out?' Ash asked almost suspiciously.

'The seventeen of them are a very tightly knit group. They talk to each other, and if they think they're in any danger of being beaten, they'll focus in on you and warn the next trainer of what they observed in battle. Then they'll use that to defeat you.'

Ash frowned, before realising how hard it would be, the gym leaders he'd faced hadn't exactly been telling the next what he did in battle, they hadn't usually heard of him before he challenged them and he couldn't help but ask one question, 'How many people have beaten the league before?'

Gary took a deep breath and said simply, 'This is why I wasn't going to tell you Ash. Only a couple dozen trainers have ever made it to the final five. And so far only three people have actually won overall.'

'Three?' Ash asked, feeling the weight of the impending challenge already.

'Cynthia was one of them, and the other two were only narrowly defeated by the Champion's of the league's they challenged, only the best of the best have what it takes to get through the Eclipse League,' Professor Oak said, clearly wondering whether any one, let alone Ash had the potential to beat the league again.

'Really?' Ash asked quietly.

'Really,' Gary said simply, leaning forward black eyes sparking, 'Do you really think you can do this?'

Ash frowned before, leaning up to stroke the electric mouse, sitting on his shoulder who'd been listening intently the entire conversation, 'What do you think Pikachu?'

'Pi-ka!' it yelled, tumbling onto Ash's lap and jumping up and down in enthusiasm.

Ash beamed at his partner Pokémon before saying, 'Then I'll do it!'

'Hope you know what you're getting into,' Gary laughed.

'You will need to be at your best to topple the Eclipse League Ash,' Professor Oak said philosophically.

'…Then in that case I have something to do before I head out. I'm going to need to try to get the old gang back together. This journey is something I can't pull off on my own, especially without Brock, without him to coach me I didn't do half as well as I hoped in the Unova League. And if he won't come… even if he does come, I'm going to try to see if Misty, May, Max and Dawn… I want to see if they'll come, I don't want to do this without them.'

'Wow, you really rely on your friends don't you?' Gary asked a mix between curiosity and something else he didn't quite register.

The corner of Ash's mouth quirked as he replied, 'Well I doubt those fan girls you used to trail around with you through Kanto were much hope when you were going through hell.'

'Have you learnt sarcasm since I last saw you?' Gary queried, almost unnerved.

'It's necessary for surviving Unova,' Ash shrugged, 'So how do you know about this league exactly? I haven't even heard of it before, Cynthia didn't even mention it and I must have seen her half a dozen times in Sinnoh.'

'It's not very well known, most trainers don't make it past four symbols, plus it's only been set up for about two and a half, three years or so. I only knew about it because I met one of the leaders,' Gary explained, hoping Ash wouldn't ask but he was going to.

'Really? You met one?'

'I… I dated the poison gym leader at one stage,' he admitted, not seeming comfortable talking about it.

'You did?' Ash couldn't help but laugh.

'We broke up because neither of us had time for a proper relationship,' he insisted.

'And because her sisters didn't like you,' Professor Oak reminded much to the chagrin of his grandson.

'What?' Ash laughed at his rival's distress.

'When those girls make a joint decision, no one can break it. Maybe one or two of them didn't mind me too much, but that wouldn't have mattered.'

'Big family?' Ash grinned.

'You have no idea, so, what's you're plan?' Gary asked changing the subject hastily.

'I'll go to Cerulean City, and find out if there's anyway that Misty can come, and find out where Brock is station and try to convince him as well. I'll have to wait till May's done with the Grand Festival to talk to her, same with Dawn in Hoenn-'

'Ash, you do know that the Johto Grand Festival is today right?' Professor Oak interrupted.

'It is?' he asked in alarm.

'It starts soon enough, you're going to watch May right?' he questioned.

'Of course, and as soon as she's done I'll try to talk her into-'

'What's in it for her?' Gary asked suspiciously, 'There isn't a contest circuit in the Eclipse Islands?'

'I'll think of something, besides it'll be good for Max to come and see it, and he wouldn't be able to go without May-'

'Blackmail, I like it,' Gary smirked.

'You could probably talk to Dawn on your way to the islands Ash,' Professor Oak informed him, 'Going from Slateport City is the fastest way to get there from what I know.'

'This is going to be great, huh Pikachu?' Ash asked, smiling at the mouse like Pokémon.

'Pi-ka!' it cheered loudly.

He could feel the excitement pounding through his system, but a single silent thought was vibrating in the back of his mind. What if no one was coming with him? What if they were all to busy, or just weren't interested in it? He knew he couldn't do this alone.

Updated: 5th of July 2013