A/N: Well hopefully this'll start to answer some more questions and leave less questions than I normally leave. I think we're starting to wrap up here. I'm hoping to be done by the end of the Summer but of course it all depends on my free time and my muse. Part of the issue with this chapter is that I had it partially written but it just wasn't working so I had to restart and try a different approach.

A week prior to Ash's return.

Ever Grande City – Regenerator

Pacifidlog Town – Donto Island

The sound of a light breeze rustled through the trees and ruffled the cloak of the only man on the island at the moment. Momentarily he'd have visitors though and it'd be best if he prepared. A small smirk crossed his face. Yes indeed the Aura Guardian had initiated the meeting and he was interested to see if it was true.

The man didn't have to wait long. It was only a few minutes later that three Aura Guardians came in flying low right above the tree tops. Each was riding on their respective flying type pokemon. The cloaked Master of Team Aqua Rocket merely cocked an eyebrow, so they weren't here on Riley's behalf. It appeared that a few children had decided to try their hand at politicking.

He didn't say a word or offer any sort of greeting to the three as they attempted to feel him out with their Aura powers. Not that it would do them any good, he could keep his Aura tapped down to only inches past his own body if need be, so he simply redirected their senses around him. The foolish children felt nothing other than a normal human being.

Such a trick rarely worked on higher level Aura Guardians or those sensitive enough to feel it. Riley happened to fall in both camps, hence the reason he never deigned to meet with the man. No need to give Riley a reason to side with the League even after they more or less tossed them out on their asses after Slateport.

The four stood there in the clearing, neither party saying a word as they seemed to assess each other. The Aura Guardians appeared to be more concerned than the cloaked man did.

"You're the leader of Team Aqua Rocket…" One finally gathered the courage to address the man they had come to meet.

"I am." Master Ketchum responded with a small smirk.

Pacifidlog Town - Donto Island

Cynthia glanced over at Lucian. The man's forehead was brimming with sweat. They had already stayed here too long. She looked down at her calculations once more just to confirm they were right. Ash was supposed to appear here but it seemed as there was no sign of him.

"How are you holding up?" Cynthia whispered as low as she could before inching herself up a little further on her stomach upon the hill they had set up on. The valley below was where he was supposed to have appeared but with the Aura Guardians so close they didn't want to alert them to their presence on the nearby island.

"We can only stay here for a little while longer, Cynthia. Even with rotating my pokemon they are starting to get worn out masking our presence from the Guardians' patrols." Lucian replied with a frown.

Cynthia nodded and was ready to order a withdraw. It was another bedamned dead end. Just another long list of failures in finding Ash. She was about to start shimming back down the hill towards where Lucian was sitting cross legged when something caught her eye. Movement in the small clearing below.

Ever so slowly as to avoid causing the flash of the lens against the sun to be seen by those below she pulled out her binoculars and moved them up to her eyes.

"Cynthia?" Lucian queried concerned, he had felt the shift in her emotions from disappointment to surprise.

Without a response to her friend she worked on focusing in on what was occurring below. She could see a man standing there that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. She was about to get up and yell, it had to be Ash! The thought dyed when she felt the rush of wind from a trio of wings.

The two dropped to the ground as three Aura Guardians flew by overhead mounted upon their respective flying pokemon. A frown crossed her face. Did they sense Ash already? A frown crossed her lips if that was the case…

"Aura Guardians are out here on the island." Cynthia finally whispered back.

"Then we've got to get out of here. I don't know if I can mask us from Aura users that are this close." Lucian replied a hint of worry entering his voice. While masking their presence from any Guardian scout passing by or when they skirted around Pacifidlog Town wasn't an issue, an up close inspection could be disastrous.

"I know...but I think that Ash is down there and he'll need our help if it's him." Cynthia replied with a distracted tone. Her answer to if it was Ash or not came a moment later. The cloaked man threw off his cloak's hood and revealed his face to the entire group on the island.

It looked like the man that had confronted them near Slateport City back before Ash destroyed the city. Grey spikey hair that seemed to be in a perpetual mess, a thick grey mustache, hardened blue eyes, and a constant frown. It looked like time had hit fast forward and aged Ash fifty years or so.

"What's happening?" Lucian finally asked. He was becoming nervous with Cynthia's apparent disregard for his desire to leave.

"I don't know." Cynthia frowned as she continued to watch the two groups interact. The large man in the cloak known only as the Master to her clasped the hand of the leader of the Aura Guardians or at least she assumed as such. An alliance? A business deal? Whatever it was it didn't bode well for them.

Pacifidlog Town – Donto Island

"You can promise us safe passage, we couldn't risk going through any of the League controlled ports. If we left from our port too many people would notice." The leader of the merry little band of traitorous Aura Guardian's put it all out there.

"And you're sure that the information is correct?" Master Ketchum raised an eyebrow at the representative before him.

"Of course, we lifted the information directly from Riley." The young man responded.

Pacifidlog Town – Donto Island

"I think the Guardians just made a deal with Aqua Rocket." Cynthia finally whispered as she continued to watch the situation unfold below. If only she had the ability to hear what they were talking about. A small frown crossed her face when she saw one of the Guardians pull out a case.

They had to get closer to hear what was going on. She was about to order Lucian to pack it up and move in closer when an altercation broke out below. Her attention refocused upon the action occurring below.

Pacifidlog Town – Donto Island

"Well I certainly appreciate all the lengths that you've gone to." So that was where the Orb was, the Cave of Origins. He probably should have known in hindsight, still better safe than sorry. Now that he knew he could make his move. Once the orb was secured it would only be a matter of time before Hoenn fell. The remaining nations would fall before they could rally. That was for the future, for now he had to rid himself of these little pests. He lived by the rule to never trust anyone that would truly betray their leader.

"While I cannot guarantee safe passage through Aqua Rocket's territory like originally planned, I shall grant you safe passage to the afterlife." With a flare of his Red Aura he smirked in amusement as wariness was replaced by fear. The leader attempted to counter his attack but he was too slow.

With a brief pulse his Aura overloaded the outputs of the younger Aura Guardian. With a final pulse he pushed his power directly into the young man and started to overload the Guardian's core. The young man started to scream as he felt his Aura building up inside him but he couldn't release it with the outputs blocked.

"What did you do to me?" The leader screamed out as his power started to surge. He attempted to quell it but he was too weak to overpower the blocks that had effectively been placed on his core. He felt a burning sensation start in his chest as his core started to overload. The burning sensation started to spread out but it didn't help, the pressure continued to build.

"I've blocked your output, you'll find that you can no longer release your Aura powers. I was kind enough to destabilize your core and infuse it with my own energy. Your Aura is currently trying to overpower my own…of course that is causing the power to overload in your core. With no release, I've effectively turned you into a bomb. Struggle all you like but soon you'll explode." Master Ketchum informed the young Guardian with no small hint of amusement on his face.

The three remaining people in the small meadow watched as the young man fell to the ground. While Master Ketchum stood where he was, the other two Guardians stepped back from their friend. The scene reminded Master Ketchum of Ash Ketchum's fate…on a much smaller scale.

He watched the process dispassionately as the Aura Guardian let out one last scream of pain before he fell to the ground and started to claw at his face. The man's eyes started to glow purple from the combination of red and blue Aura. The power was finally coming to a head. The young man's skin started to fissure, revealing underneath lines of purple Aura. Finally when it seemed that his body could take no more the man disappeared in the blast of a small explosion that rocked the field.

The miniature explosion had caused a small circle of burnt ground around the man to spread forward around his immediate vicinity. Master Ketchum raised a hand and let a small bit of his red Aura appear in front of him to shield him from the blast. The charred ground spread around Master Ketchum as he had been more than powerful enough to deflect the blast.

Where once the Aura Guardian stood was now nothing more than a smoldering pile of human remains. The internal explosion had literally blown the man apart from the inside out. The chest burst open and appeared to be completely charred around the edges. His limbs were split down the middle with the skin coming off in sheets of molten flesh revealing bone and muscle below. The explosion had caused a spear of energy to lance out his neck leaving his head peeled off to the side.

"Hmmm…such a weakling." Master Ketchum commented to himself as he observed his handy work. It wasn't too much of a surprise really, no one would have the type of power Ash had. Whereas this man had been a powder keg, Ash Ketchum had been the equivalent of a nuclear bomb. The fight with Ash had been different and unexpected compared to what had occurred in the past when he used the power on Aura Guardians.

It had been helpful that Duplica had almost killed that troublesome Sinnoh Champion. Once Ash was no longer thinking clearly due to his perceived notion that she was indeed dead, it was merely an act of shutting off Ash's core in a surprise attack. The uncontrolled Aura caused him to turn into essentially a megaton bomb of potential energy. Ash had been much stronger and therefore had a much longer build up time until he exploded. The pain from the power build up had clearly caused him to go mad or else he doubted Ash would have wandered into Slateport.

It had all assisted his goals so he hadn't stepped in to stop the young man. Although if he was honest that mettlesome psychic pokemon, Mewtwo, had saved many important League icons. If enough had died in that incident he would have taken Hoenn by now. Such a frustrating situation that the pokemon had put him in, the sudden attack by the two remaining Aura Guardians broke off his thoughts.

Without missing a beat he leaned to the right and then to the left, dodging both Aura Spheres by the Aura Guardians. So weak…they couldn't even form any other attack than the Aura Sphere attack. Pitiful. With but a thought two red blades of Aura energy appeared on each hand. The manifestations of Aura energy seemed to float slightly above his hands.

The two remaining Guardians hesitated…and in that moment he struck. With a flick of his hands he let the beams of red energy extend and pierce through the throats of the two Guardians' necks. It left their uniforms intact which was just what he wanted. With the three dealt with and the information in his hands, it seemed it was time to deal with his uninvited guests.

Did they really think that they could hide by bending the Aura around them with the use of Psychic powers? It left a small but noticeable dead spot around the area. Perhaps a novice wouldn't notice but he knew they were there from the moment he appeared. Of course he had no need to handle them himself.

Pacifidlog Town – Donto Island

"We've got to..." Cynthia turned around and trailed off to find Koga standing there. Lucian had been knocked out and was slumped over behind the public face of Team Aqua Rocket. The Ninja Master raised an eyebrow when Cynthia's hand drifted down towards her pokeballs. A kunai was already in his hand.

"I suggest you don't." The Ninja Master ordered and before his prey could muster a defense he struck her in the side of the head just below the ear. The Champion of Sinnoh collapsed in a limp heap.

Koga shook his head in disgust. While they were both powerful trainers and excellent fighters, masters of stealth they were not. While he didn't have the power of Aura like Master Ketchum, it was easy enough to track the two since they arrived. They had made enough noise at least.

"Impressive as always." Master Ketchum commented as he made his way up the hill.

"You expected anything less than your second in command?" Koga noted the two bodies that were slung over either shoulder of the man. It was then that he noted the Aura Guardian uniforms that they still had on. "And just what will you do with those?"

"Does my master of stealth have to have it explained to him?" Master Ketchum chuckled in amusement.

"We're going to go steal the orb while wearing Aura Guardian uniforms. Once the survivors alert the League that Aura Guardians were responsible the League will of course counter by sending any Aura users against the Aura Guardians. It will help wipe out most of the Aura users in Hoenn before they go to ground."

Koga nodded in understanding although the Master never went into it, he had a strange obsession with wiping out everyone that could access the Aura be they Guardian, sensitive, or user. It mattered not to him, Master Ketchum had a standing order to kill them all. It was something that Koga always wondered about but the Master kept it close to his chest.

"What should I do with these two?" Koga asked.

"The purple haired one holds no use for me." Master Ketchum stated before he started to walk away without a care. He trusted that Koga would follow his orders without having to be watched.

A flash of metal caught the sun before a thin red line appeared across Lucian's throat. The Ninja Master left the body as he threw the Champion's body over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He knew not what the Master wanted with the girl but it probably would have been a kinder death to dispose of her like he had with Lucian.

Cynthia blinked as she came back to consciousness. Her entire head ached especially her right side. It felt like someone had taken a hammer to her head. A groan escaped her lips as she blinked. It took her a moment to readjust to the lighting. She was in a cell...which unfortunately happened all too often whenever she came to from being knocked out.

"Finally awake are we?" A sibilant voice came from just outside the cell.

"Where's Lucian?" Cynthia demanded as she took stock of her situation. She didn't see her friend anywhere nearby in the other cells.

"Dead." Master Ketchum chuckled in amusement as he stepped out into the light.

Cynthia's eyes widened, Lucian was dead? It was him...she was right. He had been the one back near Slateport that had...she still didn't know what he had done.

"Ah...you recognize me from before. Well I suppose I should properly introduce myself." With a flourish he tipped the hood back off of his head before he swung the cloak off of his body and around so that it rested over his shoulder. Underneath was a face that Cynthia would have recognized anywhere.

The Master had messy silver colored hair with shoots of black still left running through the messy locks. Dark chocolate eyes appeared weary and tired. The face minus some wrinkle lines was a dead match for Ash Ketchum.

Cynthia just stared at the man in surprise. Of all the possibilities...this...this was something she never would have expected. Ash's own flesh and blood had tried to kill him.

"Don't think I haven't kept up on your attempts to bring him back. I've always admired your dedication Cynthia…well every time fate allows it." Master Ketchum shook his head in amusement.

"You know I did this all for you. After the first time, I set it all in motion, the events to kill Giovanni were easy enough but killing Ash has always proved difficult...for some reason I always tend to run into…complications." Master Ketchum continued as he saw that Cynthia was still in a state of shock attempting to comprehend this revelation.

"How?" Cynthia finally whispered out as she stared at the man with hard diamond eyes.

"Oh quite simple." Master Ketchum chuckled as he lifted up one of his hands. A red Aura started to pulsate from the end of his fingertips until it formed into a small ball of energy. He absently bounced the small ball of energy up and down in his hand.

"You see I simply overloaded his system and turned him into a ticking time bomb. I burned out his ability to release his Aura and the buildup eventually caused him to implode, killing him." Master Ketchum explained before he snapped his hand closed and with it the Aura Sphere disappeared into thin air.

"Monster!" Cynthia screamed as her cool composure broke and she attempted to grab at Master Ketchum through the cell bars.

"Simply doing what needed to be done, you see the Ketchum line has been cursed for generations with the Red Aura. It only causes chaos and destruction. It lay dormant for generations until Ash's father showed promise in the field. Before I could kill him, Ash was born. The boy of course carried the curse as well." Master Ketchum shook his head as if it truly did sadden him.

"What about you? You use it too, you're a hypocrite if you're working to wipe out your own Grandson yet you live." Cynthia pointed out unwilling to admit the fact that Ash Ketchum was dead as this man claimed. Even while she called him out her thoughts sunk back to his previous words. It almost made it sound like had done this before…but no…none of her text had ever pointed to such a possibility.

"Grandson...of course." Master Ketchum chuckled before continuing on. "You see I've found a way to control it...at a great cost and I vowed to never let it happen again. The only way was to wipe the Ketchum line."

Cynthia frowned at the information given to her. The man was still being cryptic and hadn't really answered her questions although now she at least knew what had happened to Ash. Still... "If you only did all of this to kill Ash Ketchum then why are you working with Aqua Rocket, why would you give them the orb?"

Master Ketchum leaned closer to Cynthia for a moment a giant grin on his face. "Well if there is one thing we agree on, it's that Ash Ketchum survives the impossible and until I see his body, I won't believe he's truly gone. If he's still alive this will bring him out one way or another."

"So you'd let the world burn under Aqua Rocket just to make sure you've killed one person?" Cynthia questioned incredulously.

"Do you really think I'm so small minded? Of course the Ketchum line is the current threat to the world but any those sensitive in Aura always have the chance to develop the ability. To keep the world safe the only answer is to wipe away all the current Guardians and any line that has ever produced Aura users. In fact I believe you yourself use Aura...while not intentionally and you'd never be able to become any sort of Guardian it would explain your unnatural strength as a trainer and your bond with your pokemon." Master Ketchum conjectured with a thoughtful smile.

"And you believe that?" Cynthia asked incredulously. "You believe that wiping away anyone that could possibly go out of control later is the answer? Why do all this why didn't you try and teach Ash or his father to control it like you?" Cynthia continued to try and understand the man's line of thinking.

"You can't teach control." Master Ketchum. "The only question is whether you choose the path of the demon or the path of the warrior. Ash Ketchum has chosen the path of the demon...he lets it rule him and his actions. If he is truly still alive as you believe it will be kinder to put him down like the rabid dog he is." With that he left Cynthia below in the cells.

The blonde haired Champion stared at the door long after this Master Ketchum left her mind briefly going back to that day five years ago. It only lasted a moment before she forcefully shut the memory out. Now was not the time for her to get lost in her memories. If that horrible man also believed Ash was still alive there may still be hope yet.

Her thoughts turned to the conversation and the odd way he had hinted at doing this all before. The chance was slim she did recall a text that theorized if someone found Palkia the person could get caught in the space warp just like if someone found Dialga they would be caught in a time warp. There were many theories as to the extent of Palkia's powers. While Dialga was thought to be able to move someone much like Celebei back and forth across time. Palkia had the potential for much more, still, Cynthia saw no reason to jump at shadows and possibilities until she was able to research it. To do that though she'd have to work on getting out.

Master Ketchum shook his head as he left the cell. It was still jarring to see her alive and still so full of life. The last time he had seen her prior to their brief meeting five years was a long time ago. She still had that burning fire and the will to save Ash just like when he knew her. In the end it was misguided but she was never wavered in her belief that Ash could be saved.

He glanced down at his hands a small bit of his Red Aura leaking through before he clamped down on the power he had scarified everything in his world to contain. Sometimes he did wonder if it his path was the right one. It was certainly the just path and the one that minimized the deaths of those he once cared about but not for the first time did he wrestle with his decisions. "Still though..."

Two weeks after Cynthia's capture.

Ever Grande City -

Gary stared across the table at Ash with his elbows resting on the table and a cigarette dangling out of his hand. To Gary's left sat Wallace, the man looked like he wanted to be anywhere other than the current meeting. His eyes wandered towards the window of the conference room in the Ever Grande City war room. Finally to Gary's right sat Phoebe, the Elite Four member looked less than pleased with the fact she was stuck across the table from Wallace. It was a closed meeting that even the other members of the Elite Four had been excluded from for security purposes.

"Well you've certainly put us in a pickle here Mr. Ketchum." Wallace groused as he finally decided to call the meeting to order.

"I'd say I'm surprised but this is classic Ash." Gary commented as he brought the cigarette to his lips and took a drag off of it.

"Well we can't exactly declare that the Burning Nightmare has returned and saved us all from Aqua Rocket." Phoebe interjected as she tapped her fingers along the table. A steady gaze never left Ash as if he would jump up and disappear at any moment.

Wallace glanced out the window again and sighed. A beautiful sunset ruined by the mangled wreckage of the ship that Aqua Rocket had arrived in. It was still smoking from fires below deck that were still smoldering. He honestly had no idea what he'd do about that giant eyesore.

"You're still technically an enemy of the state Mr. Ketchum but I really don't want to do all that paper work." Wallace turned to Phoebe with his best puppy dog eyes. "Can you please do it for me my darling Phi Phi."

Phoebe's eye twitched a little but she refused to even acknowledge her commander. Instead she turned her attention to Ash Ketchum. "Wallace does have a point, while Gary Oak has been absolved of all warrants, you are still technically a criminal in the state of Hoenn. While I can overlook your presence here thanks to saving our city, the people won't welcome you here, not after Slateport."

Ash's carefree expression fell away at the mention of Slateport. Perhaps it was due to being in the future and the fact that Slateport incident was literally ancient history there but he had forgotten for these people it had only been five years.

"Oh Phi Phi, why do you have to be so logical?" Wallace complained in an almost whine. "The Burning Nightmare of Cinnabar died five years ago. Clearly this is just his brother that in no way caused the destruction of Slateport City."

"Oh sure, some man that looks just like Ash turns up and is actually a secret brother…very believable." Phoebe commented sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm so glad you're on board." Wallace grinned, clearly ignoring the sarcasm. As usual he got right under her skin and the dark haired girl turned away from him in a huff.

"Jerk." Phoebe muttered in annoyance.

"While I'd love to talk about whatever excuse Hoenn is going to shove down the public's throat, I'm more interested in getting back in touch with Cynthia and a few other people from Kanto." Ash finally decided to end the debate since he never really planned on staying in Hoenn anyway.

"Oh shit..." Gary muttered at the mention of Cynthia again. He had been so hung up on Ash's reappearance which if he was honest, he was still processing, he forgot about Cynthia. It was in that moment he remembered parts of their conversation. Cynthia was off somewhere looking for Ash but he couldn't remember if she told him or not.

Ash turned his attention to Gary and raised an eyebrow at his friend's utterance. Gary all of a sudden looked quite busy staring out at the window doing his damnedest not to make eye contact with Ash.

"Well that is a problem." Wallace mentioned vaguely as he looked down at the report that had been provided to him prior to the meeting. In fact they had more than just the problem of a missing Champion. No it appeared that the attack from Aqua Rocket was a possibly front to hide the movements of the Aura Guardians.

Phoebe narrowed her eyes before she reached over the table and grabbed the report out of her boss's hands.

"Phi Phi!" Wallace almost whined in annoyance at his subordinate.

"Tell me you weren't going to try and blow off whatever you were reading as if it wasn't any huge deal and I'll give it back." Phoebe responded absently as she started scanning the document. Her eyes widened for a moment, so, the Aura Guardians had finally picked a side it seemed. Roxanne dead and Flannery injured from the attack it was amazing they hadn't lost the entire team guarding the orb. This didn't bode well.

"What's going on?" Ash finally cut in his impatience finally getting to him. It wasn't helping him that the Champion of Hoenn didn't seem to take anything seriously. How he managed to hold the region together was beyond him.

"The attack you helped stop was a massive diversion." Phoebe responded solemnly. "They were after the orb that supposedly controls Kyogre. While Team Aqua Rocket kept us busy, the Aura Guardians hit the Cave of Origins and wiped out the guard we had placed there."

"That's not good. If they know how to activate it…" A frown crossed Gary's face. It meant they were too late. It wasn't like he'd even have the source material now to study how the orb worked and how it may be activated. The whole point of being here was to stop a Legendary from becoming active. Now he was dealing with something way over his head.

"Yes...that information Cynthia found five years ago may actually come to fruition. While I may be a water type trainer even I realize the world needs balance. Although it would make my spectacles at contests that much more beautiful...just picture it...my water pokemon creating a rainbow of colors against the back drop of the setting sun and the ocean waves." Wallace unexpectedly seemed to go into a daze as he envisioned the possibilities.

"Can you be serious for more than one minute!" Phoebe exclaimed before throwing her hands up in frustration. The normally cheerful master of Ghost types threw her hands up in the air to get out her frustration at the man but it seemed to do nothing.

"The Aura Guardians gave us some trouble last time but I never thought they'd do something like this…" Ash trailed off as he seemed to go into thought as well.

"You've missed a lot Ash." Gary interjected. "The Guardians were partially blamed for Slateport as they failed to bring the dangers of what was occurring to Stone's attention. If he had known he may have been able to stop Slateport from ever occurring."

"Oh…" Ash muttered more to himself than anyone else.

"So just when were you going to tell us that Cynthia and Lucian have been MIA for the last two weeks and Sinnoh is asking us for any information on them." Phoebe glared up at Wallace as she held up the report to her superior.

"Wait what! Cynthia is missing!" Ash exclaimed coming out of his thoughts.

Gary didn't say a word but now he really wished he had paid more attention to Cynthia's plan. If he had...dammit, he could have stopped her or at least gone along to help. How could he have known she was going to actually stroll into enemy territory though.

"Hello! Are you going to answer me you stupid idiot! This is an official request from Sinnoh. They found information left by Lucian detailing their plan and expected return time and they have yet to report in!" Phoebe attempted to gain Wallace's attention by throwing the report at her superior.

"Well I don't see why we have to get involved in that...it seems that Cynthia and Lucian went on a little excursion down to Donto Island and they haven't returned yet..." Wallace finally responded without actually responding to Phoebe's accusation of withholding information. The Champion of Hoenn was interrupted by Ash before he could go on..

"What are you going to do to find her?" Ash demanded as he slammed his fist onto the table for empahsis. This was the last thing he had expected upon his return. While he wasn't allowed near any history books he had more or less wheedled some information out of Stan and the young researcher had confirmed that Cynthia lived at least until he returned. Stan had been mum on the information after that but it didn't matter, Ash wouldn't lose another not after Leaf he had vowed never to allow it to happen again no matter what the cost.

"Well officially we can't do anything. All our resources are devoted to stopping Aqua Rocket and now it seems we'll have to label the Aura Guardians as enemies too." Wallace lamented about the situation before he seemed to be pondering something.

"Of course…I wouldn't stop someone from looking if they were off the book...someone that doesn't officially exist anymore...if that someone were to get caught the Hoenn League would deny any and all knowledge of their existence and actions. If they were caught within the borders of Hoenn I dare say we would have to claim we had no working knowledge of a criminal of the state working for us."

"Of course, it wouldn't do for you to be seen conspiring with a known element of destruction and what message would that send to the people about their government." Ash agreed with a small smile. So that was how they wanted to play it. That'd be fine, he worked better solo anyway. The plans were already churning through his head. He'd head down to deal with the Aura Guardians first. After all the trouble they caused him last time, he'd be more than happy to pay them back.

"I'm sorry to say we won't be able to offer much support once you leave. Even if you are successful and we end the threat of Aqua Rocket we won't be able to make anything public. You'll have to leave our region the moment the threat has ended." Wallace continued a serious expression momentarily crossing his face although it seemed to disappear behind his normal disinterest.

"No." Gary started the moment he saw that look on Ash's face. It meant a stupid idea was about to be hatched in that skull of Ash's and it was bound to be quite simple. Smash his way in and ignite anyone that got in his way using Charizard.

"What da ya mean no?" Ash responded with a raised eyebrow at Gary's annoyed look of resignation.

"I mean I did not just find you to lose you to another idiot quest that you go off on half cocked." Gary responded with a slight snarl.

"Who said he had to go alone?" Phoebe interjected. "We never announced your arrival. It would be quite easy to claim both you and Dawn died in the attack and your bodies were beyond our ability to recover."

"Hoping to rope Blue into the fight by using my supposed death as an incentive to drag Kanto into your little homegrown problem, don't think I can't see through that thinly veiled guise." Gary retorted with a roll of his eyes.

"The thought never crossed my mind, i'm just looking to help you and may I remind you that we would have never been put in this situation if Slateport hadn't been destroyed." Phoebe verbally jabbed the pair with a frown.

"Now Phi Phi these are our guests and they are doing us a favor by helping us out. Last thing we want is a war with Sinnoh over a missing Champion." Wallace decided to finally put his foot down. It was an accepted fact that every region used others issues to their advantage. The fact that they were currently so disadvantaged thanks to the prolonged war, they didn't have a lot of capital in the form of favors to be throwing their weight around.

Phoebe frowned but ended up conceding in the end by looking away from Wallace with a huff and the cross of her arms.

"Now, we'll simply tell your companions that you arrived early and we sent you ahead to study the orb. If they press we'll inform them that you are in a location that is beyond communication." Wallace went on without sparing his subordinate a glance.

"And when they learn that the Aura Guardians got through your defenses there and stole the orb?" Gary asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Once they arrive i'm sure they'll be too busy helping with the clean up after Aqua Rocket's attack. Besides...someone needs to help us move that giant eyesore out of the bay." Wallace gestured to the still smoldering command ship of Aqua Rocket that sat there half sunk in the bay.

"Nice...so you're going to use Kanto's reinforcements for exterior decorating…unbelievable." Phoebe muttered to herself.

It was not lost on Ash and Gary either. While at the start of the meeting it seemed that Phoebe was running the show, the moment it truly got serious, Wallace stepped in. This man was the leader of the Hoenn region. He hid away behind a mask of disinterest and boredom. Underneath he clearly was a cunning individual. If he kept the rest of the members coming from Kanto busy with removing the ship from the bay all day less time to question where Gary and Dawn disappeared to...also less chance they'd hear anything about the attack by the Guardians.

"Well then, it is best to get you all out now while everyone is busy cleaning up from Aqua's mess. Just remember to take your darling wife with you Gary, I really would hate to be on the receiving end of her ire." Wallace made a show of shuddering for good measure which caused Gary to roll his eyes.

"So how are we going to get out of here undetected…" Gary muttered in annoyance as the three made their way through the back gate and out towards the hilly forest by the side of the city. While not the safest due to the clean up needed there it was better than going through the port area or down into town.

"Well...Mega Pidgeot could take us all…" Ash offered up...it felt like he was forgetting something though.

"Oh...yes very stealthy Ash. Why not just throw up a giant sign. I'm sure no one will mind the powered up Mega Pokemon. Not like they were attacked by any under Aqua's control at all." Gary responded sarcastically.

"Well I don't see you offering up any better ideas...I'm sure we can use one of your flying pokemon to get us there...oh wait you don't have any." Ash mocked as he pulled a face at Gary to get his point across.

"The point is flying out is out of the question, this isn't going to turn into let's blame Gary for not planning ahead for your idiotic ideas!" Gary responded hotly a tic mark appearing above his eyebrow. Sometimes dealing with Ash made him want to beat the idiot senseless.

"Don't you have that legendary you can call on?" Dawn interjected before the two ended up in a heated argument that ended up drawing attention to them.

"Oh yeah!" Ash exclaimed. Right Mewtwo!

"You forgot about Mewtwo didn't you…" Gary queried flatly.

"Uh...well…" Ash scratched the back of his head as a lopsided grin crossed his face.

"I sometimes forget how much an idiot you are sometimes…" Gary muttered to himself as he just shook his head in mock disappointment.

"I didn't see you offering up that option." Ash responded petulantly.

"Well he's your pokemon numbskull!" Gary grumbled as the group got further and further into the forest and away from the bustling cityscape.

"So...umm...hmmm…" Ash began as he nervously scratched the back of his head once more...Gary wasn't going to like this.

"What…" Gary asked as he glanced over at the still grinning idiot. He had that look on his face...that look of "I broke something but I don't want to be in trouble" he got when he royally fucked up. He shared a worried glance with Dawn.

"So...yeah I can't exactly call him anymore…" Ash finally offered up with an apologetic smile as if that would make it all better.

"I thought you just called out to him and he heard it." Gary asked fearing the answer but he had a feeling it was something that was either so stupid it'd make him angry or poor planning on Ash's part. Actually both possibilities would probably anger him.

"Well...normally he just kinda showed up...he was kinda like some kinda freaky cat...ya know all emotionally distant but every once in a while he wanted affection and would come around and beg for attention." Ash let his explanation spill out and just ignored the fact it did kind of sound stupid.

"You're comparing a Legendary pokemon...to a cat…" Dawn asked hesitantly. Although Gary had told her all kinds of stories about Ash she had never realized he wasn't joking around when he said his best friend was sometimes an idiot. Internally she was somewhat worried that she was going into unknown enemy territory with these two. If they bickered all the way into the Aura Guardian's base they wouldn't make it far…

"Like a cat am I?" A sibilant voice broke through the bickering as it echoed throughout all three trainer's heads.

Ash looked up ahead in surprise at first and then broke out into a grin. "Hey...long time no see! See guys, I knew he'd eventually come around." As if to make his point he gave the pair a big thumbs up as if this had all been planned.

"..." Mewtwo stared contemptuously at his trainer...five long years and this was what he got. The legendary suddenly was reminded why he didn't follow the idiot around all too often. Just being in his presence for 30 seconds had surely cost him some brain cells.

"Aww...geez...don't be like that." Ash practically whined at the look he was getting. "We need you to transport us down to Donto Island discreetly I might add…"

"I'm not a Taxi service…" Mewtwo responded petulantly as he eyed his sometimes stupid "trainer" and perhaps by sometimes he meant every single moment of his life. First being compared to a cat then being used as little more than a transport service. "There is a reason Lapras is called the transport pokemon you dolt."

"Yeah but we need someone discreet and you're the only one that can do it...please!" Ash begged.

"This is just pathetic." Gary muttered to Dawn.

"Yeah he has to beg his own pokemon to help him...but I can kinda see why…" Dawn responded as she watched the exchange.

"Sadly it has always been like this…" Gary responded with a sigh. "And to make matters worse...I can even see where Mewtwo is coming from most of the time."

"So you believe it prudent for me to whisk you away to a new life threatening adventure right after you return five years after I believe you died without so much as a little bit of concern for what I've done without you for the past five years?" The question was rhetorical of course...his "trainer" rarely thought things through or from other people's perspective. The genetic pokemon half wondered if Ash even remembered him during his time away. Clearly Ash thought of it like one giant vacation by how he was acting. It was as if the moron just assumed everyone would pick up where they left off from five years ago with nary a concern.

"Well when you put it like that…" Ash grumbled "Still it isn't fair."

"Not fair that I use facts…" Mewtwo responded deadpan as he seemed to enjoy watching his "trainer" squirm under his intense gaze and rather accurate use said facts that Ash claimed were unfair.

"Ash's inability to fully understand the emotional impact his disappearance and supposed death had on everyone aside…" Gary took this chance to pile it on his hapless friend. The idiot really deserved some more crap for everything he went through not to mention Cynthia. "We could really use your help to get us discreetly into Aura Guardian territory."

"Very well...on the condition that you cease treating me like your own personal taxi service...I do not exist to make inconvenient trips easier…that being said." Mewtwo's face darkened into a vicious scowl as he lifted his "trainer" up and pressed him against a nearby large oak tree. "If you ever disappear on me again I will personally hunt you down and slaughter you."

"Do I make myself clear!" With a little extra push he embedded Ash into the tree.

"Crystal…" Ash gulped as he managed to croak out his answer under intense threats of death. Suddenly he remembered why Mewtwo was so scary and considered one of the most powerful pokemon in existence legendary status aside.

"Woah...scary…" Dawn whispered under her breath as she observed the entire incident. She wouldn't be doing anything to piss off Mewtwo that was for sure.

"Scarier when you remember Ash technically has control of a pokemon with enough power to crush almost any opponent he ran across." Gary whispered back.

"So why doesn't he have Mewtwo with him at all times?" Dawn inquired.

Mewtwo cut into the whispered conversation through the psychic link. Sometimes the legendary wondered how smart humans actually were. "Because if I was forced to be in the company of my idiot "trainer" at all times of the day I fear my powers would wane as my brain cells died."

"Can't argue with that." Gary agreed with an authoritative nod.

"I guess I can see that…" Dawn hummed in thought as she stared between the pokemon and Ash still trying to pull himself out of the Ash shaped indent in the tree.

"I hate all of you…" Ash muttered as he managed to extricate himself with minimal splinters.

"As if I cared." Mewtwo commented snidely as he glanced over his "trainer" for the first time. He was surprised he didn't notice it before but he could see it now, the suppression system was gone yet Ash wasn't going into a crazy fit of rage or being overtaken by the Aura. "You mastered your Aura powers while you were gone?"

"Er…" Ash scratched his head. "Well not exactly…"

Mewtwo simply raised his eyebrow in interest at Ash's confirmation that he hadn't actually mastered his Aura powers. It meant something else must be at play and it would probably piss him off.

"You see...like I told Gary yesterday I found a way to divert my Aura powers to my pokemon to allow them the ability to mega evolve." Ash started.

"Mega Evolve...so I take it you've found a way to use it without killing the pokemon?" Mewtwo knew the method that was used but he couldn't believe that Ash would literally drain the life force of those he considered friends.

"Yep!" Ash responded cheerfully. He glanced back to see Dawn and Gary taking notes...probably trying to work on how it all worked "Gary's grandson worked it out luckily before I died upon arrival. I was still overloading but he managed to fit me with this." Ash held up the glove which had multiple stones on it. "Normal trainers are able to buy charges to help sustain the pokemon and once it is drained it reverts the pokemon to normal form and it passes out before it can lose any life force."

Gary was a mite surprised that Ash was explaining this and it actually sounded intelligent...almost like he was actually paying attention...almost.

"My Aura uses the same concept...only the glove draws in my Aura power so it keeps it from reaching unsafe levels. I'm not able to really use my Aura too much but I can use it for simple things. I'm working with Lucario on it. So to keep me from going insane it distributes the power to my pokemon...which remind me…" Ash shot a grin before he held the glove up towards Mewtwo.

"Wha…" The genetic pokemon was hilariously cut off mid sentence as Ash depressed the purple stone on the glove causing the psychic pokemon to disappear in a beam of purple light.

"Did you just…?" Gary snapped his head up at the sudden disappearance of Mewtwo with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not a complete idiot…" Ash said with a roll of his eyes...a moment later he depressed the purple beam and the genetic pokemon materialized again.

Mewtwo reappeared with a glare at the sudden recapture and release. The only reason he allowed Ash to do it in the first place was the fact that if he was ever hurt on a mission and remained uncaptured by a trainer he risked capture by someone with less than savory goals.

"Now!" Ash depressed the crystal again and a purple beam of energy wrapped itself around Mewtwo. Without a cool phrase thought up quite yet he just allowed the change to occur to his pokemon. A moment later Mewtwo burst out of the cocoon of energy. Where once stood the pissed off genetic pokemon now stood a taller version of itself. The pokemon had gained height and bulked out. Mewtwo X took center stage.

Mewtwo glanced down to see his arms larger and that he now stood taller than before. He could feel the power coursing through his body. New moves came to mind unbidden. The preoccupation with the change diverted his rage with Ash for the moment.

"So whatcha think buddy? I can't keep it up indefinitely especially with your power draw but it could come in handy if I ever really need you." Ash grinned before he turned back to see the slack jawed Gary and Dawn. Even though the two had no actual Psychic or Aura powers they could feel the power radiating off the genetic pokemon.

"I approve...for once in our relationship I find myself intrigued by your abilities." Mewtwo said a slight smirk crossing his face.

"Glad you...wait...was that a backhanded compliment?" Ash gave a half hearted glare at the genetic pokemon.

"Put down by his own pokemon...how sad." Dawn commented.

"Um hmm." Gary agreed with a hum.

"Now...now I can punch through their barrier...yes I can take you all right to her...but wait...that can't be right..." Mewtwo's senses had expanded a blending of Aura and Psychic abilities raised him to an entirely new level. He could sense Cynthia...but she wasn't with the Aura Guardians...she was...no...the Pokemon's eyes widened when he identified the other presence. It didn't make sense…

"Mewtwo what's wrong?" Ash queried unsure what his pokemon had been about to say.

"It all makes sense now...everything makes sense. We have to leave now if we have a chance of stopping the plans put into motion." The Psychic pokemon didn't extrapolate on what he meant instead he gathered up his Psychic powers in order to teleport the group to their destination. Without little more than a thought he simply used his new powers to share his conclusions with the three.

A/N: Well there you have it...I had to stop it there since I needed a natural breaking point and I foresee the next chapter being pretty large. We're closing in on getting this bad boy wrapped up. I am foreseeing three-five more chapters. Next two chapters will mainly be some flash backing. Mainly what happened prior to Slateport to a certain extent along with the history of Master Ketchum. Then we'll have the final big battle for Hoenn and the epilogue.

Sorry again it has taken me so long to get this out. Life and such at this point. To make it a little better though I am going to concentrate on getting this story done so I won't be jumping around stories like I normally do at least not until this story is finished. Hopefully that'll make it a little better for everyone that does read this.

Again read and review let me know what you loved and what you hated. If I really messed something up I don't mind hearing about it.