Hey everyone! Sorry that it's taken so long to get this out. It's time for some new content by yours truly! So let's get into it! Enjoy ;)

3 Months Ago

Location: Hearthome City, Sinnoh

3rd Person POV:

In the Sinnoh Region, there are many big cities where people and Pokémon live in harmony. One of the these big cities is Hearthome City and it lies close to the middle of the entire region. It also lies close to the Mountain that rests in the center of the region known as Mt. Coronet. It is the tallest mountain in the region and one of the tallest mountains in the world. It is also said that the entire region of Sinnoh was born from this mountain and at its peak lies the remains of the Temple of Sinnoh. Due to an incident from hundreds of years ago, most of the temple was destroyed and the remains have been given the name, Spear Pillar.

One of the many great places that lie in this city is a building called the Cathedral of the Arc. Here is where many people come to worship Arceus, along with the other Legendary and Mythical Pokemon that helped create the world. There are many smaller churches that are in the Sinnoh Region but the Cathedral is the most well known one.

The origin of the church dates back all the way to the ancient region known is Hisui. Around the time when the two major clans, the Diamond and Pearl Clans, came to something of a peace. It was around this time that the Legendary Pokémon known as Arceus, revealed itself to the world again.

Once the Original One had revealed itself, the Diamond and Pearl clans started working together more. The wounds of their pasts slowly began to heal once the question of the Almighty Sinnoh had been answered. Both of the clans had started building up the Hisui region with more human settlements. Eventually, the region was renamed to Sinnoh as a way to give respect to what they believed to be the region's creator, Almighty Sinnoh. There were even many that had gone out to other regions and spreading the word of Arceus around the world.

Soon enough, these missionaries would come across that these other regions had their own cults and religions with other Legendary and Mythical Pokémon. Eventually, the missionaries convinced these clans that Arceus has even created their deities too. When that had occurred, the cults and clans had fully submitted to the Arc Church.

These regional religious groups still will believe in their local legends but all now recognize that Arceus was the beginning of them all. The most prominent figures of the groups were all chosen to represent one of the Legendary or Mythical Pokémon in their region. As a way of showing their faith, they would change their names to either a person with connections to their deities in their legends or a certain combination of characters of their deities.

Every three years, these most important members of the Church would come to Sinnoh in order to pay respects to all of the Legendaries and Mythicals in one place and time. However, the main reason is to pay respects to Arceus for being the one to have created the universe and everything in it. They would make a journey to the top of Mt. Coronet and offer their prayers to him and the other Legendaries. Once they did that, they would go down to the Arc Church in Hearthome City and recite the rituals again on film for those in far away regions to watch and say their prayers. This event is known as The Sinnoh Pilgrimage and it was time for the journey to begin.

On this morning, Thomas was getting ready for the arduous journey up the mountain. He and his Pokémon were in the sacristy of the Hearthome City cathedral, saying a prayer to bless their journey. They were kneeling down in front of a wall painting displaying the Tale of Creation. The picture was Arceus with eighteen different colored plates circling it. The picture also showed six Pokémon circling Arceus. The closest Pokémon circling it were Dialga to its left, Palkia to its right and Giratina beneath. The three Pokémon circling them were the Lake Guardians, Mespirit above Arceus, Azelf underneath Dialga and Uxie underneath Palkia.

"...And Great Arceus, please bless us as we make our journey to the Temple. May you give us the strength and perseverance to complete our tasks, no matter how challenging they may be. And as we make our way, may your everlasting grace wash away our sins. May you listen to our prayers and hear the voices of all those you have blessed, sing of their faith in you on this day. Amen."

After he was done, the door to the sacristy opened. Thomas and his three Pokémon looked to see an older man in the doorway. He was a taller and much older man with short white hair with a similar red streak in his as Thomas had.

He also wore a cloak similar to the boy but it had more gold coloring and a different design on the back. Underneath the symbol, there was a strange looking goldish orb. On the front of the cloak were these three ring like objects that went down the center, but never connected and had sharp points on the ends. On both sides of these rings, was a black wing that had three red triangles on it.

Thomas and his Pokémon immediately stood on their feet, clasped their hands together and took a slight bow.

"Father Atin," Thomas said. "I have completed the preparations for our journey."

"Good job," Atin replied. "It's good to see that you continue to take your tasks seriously. You are doing me and Arceus proud."

Upon hearing that, Thomas and his three partners faces were full of glee. Atin began looking at the mural on the wall in silence for a few seconds. Thomas and his partners unclasped their hands and looked to it as well.

"It's almost time for the journey to begin," he said. "This time will certainly be more tense than any of the ones I've done before."

Thomas just stood there in silence. He understood what he meant and his smile disappeared. It had been nearly four years since the Lumiose City disaster and four years since the last pilgrimage. Usually it is held every three years but due to the damage sustained to Kalos, the high priests haven't been able to attend with them trying to help those at home.

"I can't even begin to imagine what it has been like over there," Thomas replied.

"I can't either," Atin replied. "But that is all the more reason why we have to make sure all goes well this time. People are afraid that something like this could happen again and any point. They need some reassurance after everything that has happened. A way for us to show that even in the darkest hour, there is still something to put their hope into."

They both put up the hoods on their cloaks and walked out into the main area of the Cathedral. There were rows of empty seats lining both sides of the structure. The room was massive and had gigantic panes of stained glass on its walls. The stained glass had depicted events throughout the history of the world. There was even one high on the wall behind the stand depicting Arceus creating Mew. Right at the stand were two other people: a man with short silver-ish blue hair and a woman with longer silver-ish pink hair.

Both of them were also wearing cloaks with different symbols on them. The woman's cloak had golden stars in various places on it. On its back, there were two objects resembling wings over a circular object. Said object was white with pink accents and a pink spherical gem in the center of it. The man had a cloak that had a clock in the front of it. The clock was centered at the cloak so it went right down the middle of it. On the back, there was a a crest like object with five prongs with a slight curve. Under the curve was a blue gemstone that looked to be in a pentagonal prism.

Both Thomas and Atin bowed to the two of them and the two bowed in return. "Brother Gial and Sister Lika. It is good to see you two in good health today," Atin said.

These three were at the top of the hierarchy of the faith. The faith had seen the concept of Trinity as sacred due to the gods themselves mostly grouped in trinities. So, there would always be three at the top of the church unless one someone died. If that did happen, a new person would be chosen to fill their spot through a lengthy selection process. You must also be renamed using only the letters of whichever god you are chosen to represent.

"Same can be said for you Atin," Lika replied with a slight smile. She then turned to Thomas. "And I can see that your son is in good health as well."

"Yes he is," Atin replied. "He is ready to carry out his task without question. I have full confidence in him."

"I'm sure that you have confidence in him,"Gial said. "But do you believe that you can do this?" He asked turning to Thomas.

"I am ready," Thomas replied. The tone of his voice was firm and his eyes full of determination.

"I hope you are," he replied.

The door to the chamber opened up and all four of them faced it. Whom entered were at least fifty people that were wearing the same cloaks as them. Where they differed were small designs of on the front of their robes. They all had different images on them to show what Legendary or Mythical Pokémon they represented. They also were wearing headpieces that looked similar to the Pokémon.

Thomas had noticed that even with all of these priests here, there were still a few Legends and Myths not present. He noted in particular that not a single person from the Paldea region was there despite having some Legendary Pokémon.

Every couple of years, all the high priests get together to discuss certain things important to the faith. Things like making sure theological sources are accurate, if they are teaching the right practices and so forth. One of the major things they talk about though, is whether or not a Pokémon classified as Legendary or Mythical is worthy of worship or not.

One example of this is a more recent Pokémon named Mewtwo. Mewtwo was a recent Pokémon to be given the status of Legendary as it being a clone of the Mythical Pokémon, Mew. When the church heard that, the next time they had a council, the discussion of Mewtwo was at the forefront of the meeting.

A few of the priests had accepted Mewtwo with being submitted into the church as some had seen it as a child of Mew itself. Some had even thought it was a reincarnation of the very first Mew in existence.

However, most of them said that Mewtwo could never be worshipped in the same vain as the others. It is a man made creature and a perversion of what Arceus had wanted Mew to be. A few priests at the time even went to the extreme of saying that Mewtwo should be hunted down. They viewed this kind of corruption of Mew, a child of Arceus itself, to be nothing short of blasphemous.

That's how it has been for the more recent ones too. The Pokémon Genesect had a very similar reaction when it first showed up. Magearna was quickly shut down since it's more of a metal husk with a soul inside it. Deoxys is still debated as it is extraterrestrial life and no one knows for sure as to what it could be.

Paldea has no legendary Pokémon that are represented in this church. The only legendaries that have been recorded in that region were known as the Ruinous Quartet. The only thing they were known for is bringing destruction to the Paldea region and being sealed away since then.

Behind the priests, came in a group of about two dozen other people also wearing white cloaks but only with the Arc symbol on the back. They also had swords at their waists, showing that they were guards for them.

"We are very glad that everyone could make it here today," Gial said. "Arceus has truly blessed us to be able to meet with each other on this day. I'm sure many of you know it has been many years since we last gathered here. But now that everyone is finally here, we can begin with our task. Let us set off!"

Everyone then put their hands to their hearts and said in unison,

"As Arceus wills it."

——————————————————

After a few hours of walking, they finally made it to the top of the mountain. From the top, someone could see most of the Sinnoh region. Feeling the cold but gentle wind blowing past you and the sun shining down on you was very blissful. Looking down the slope of the mountain, seeing the clouds moving below could take anyone's breath away. It truly felt like you were closer to heaven and the gods themselves.

They walked further into the ruins of the Sinnoh Temple on the mountain. The temple that used to be here was built by the ancient people of the region that prayed to what they called, the Almighty Sinnoh. It was also built to honor twelve Pokémon that were said to be gifted the power directly from this Almighty Sinnoh and protected the Region with the ancient Hero of Sinnoh.

But long ago, the temple was destroyed when it was finally revealed what Almighty Sinnoh was; both Dialga and Palkia. Both of the Diamond and Pearl clans thought they worshipped the true god but never realized until that moment that both of their gods had existed.

While ruins were all that was left of the temple, that did not stop people from coming to offer up thanks and prayer. If anything, it caused visits to escalate more and more. With the legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh all coming to this mountain in the last few centuries, it's no wonder.

The guards had been the first to walk up to the ruins. The were in a V formation with Thomas at the front of it. Behind them, all of the high priests had walked in two columns. Once they got to the stairs of the ruins, the guards stopped walking and formed two lines that went to the opposite sides of the stairs. The priests continued forward and when the last two were up the steps, the guard reformed their V formation and followed.

Once everyone was within the Temple Ruins, everyone had stopped walking. Both lines of the priests and the guards went off to the sides of the Temple, forming an aisle in the center. They all went down on their knees, hands clasped together. The only ones that weren't were the three in front; Gial, Lika and Atin.

They walked out to where the pillars of the ruins ended and all that remained was the stone floor. All three then turned around to face everyone else.

"Let us begin," Lika announced.

Four of the others in the front got up and moved towards the other three. Three of the four had symbols on their white cloaks that looked like two tails with gems in each of them. These tails were also inside of a circle that had different colors for all three of them: blue, pink and yellow. The fourth one was very young, no older than ten years. Their cloak had slight pink accents and a different symbol on the back, a double helix.

All four of them stopped right in front of the other three. All that could be heard was the wind rushing past our ears.

Then after a few seconds of silence, the youngest one spoke. "The blessings of Arceus is with you," he said.

"And also with you," the three returned.

"It was said that many years ago, when Sinnoh was founded, the creator and its children first appeared at the Sinnoh Temple. When the creator first appeared, it was by the music of the Azure Flute that it revealed itself to us. And now we shall play the music of the creator. So they may be here with us in spirit and hear our prayer from the heavens."

Gial, Lika and Atin all pulled out something from inside their cloaks. The item appeared to be a small purple shell with many holes in it and a red mouthpiece. These, however, were replicas of the Azure Flute. What is claimed to be the real one is in the cathedral, encased behind thick glass.

They all put their lips on the instrument and started playing. The tune that played started as fast and chaotic melody before a brief moment of silence. Then it turned into a much slower and controlled song. This was said to have been a song that represented Arceus's rapid emergence followed by its creation over the universe itself. As soon as the song ended, the three lowered the flutes and put them back under their cloaks.

Suddenly, something strange happened. It had felt like a wave had washed over the area. Almost as if something else was here, watching them. This had thrown everyone off from their prayers and made them look into the sky.

They looked to the sky and see a large crack, resembling broken glass. A second later, a bright light bursted from the crack and unleashed a shockwave. This shockwave knocked everyone off their feet and onto the ground.

When everyone regained themselves after that, they looked towards the light. In place of where the crack was, now there was a massive hole in the sky. The hole was white, blue and purple and looked as if a tube was protruding out of it. It looked like a hole that led to nowhere.

"What the?" Thomas thought. He's heard about wormholes opening in places across the world but never see one up close. It had a mysterious yet ominous aura to it. Everyone was looking at the hole with curiosity and anxiousness. No one seemed to know what to do.

Nothing had happened for a few minutes, until something could be heard coming from the hole. It was a low growling noise with a loud echo. It almost sounded like stones being dragged across something. After a few seconds, something quickly flew out of the hole and crashed into the stone platform in front of everyone.

The crash kicked up dust and stones into the air. When the dust cleared something odd appeared in front of everyone. It seemed to be a wide pillar of dark gray bricks.

After the pillar crashed and the dust settled, one of the bricks seemed to turn inwards, going from gray to black. Once that happened, a small blue circle with a black inner circle appeared. It resembled a blue eye and it began moving around, scanning the area.

After a few seconds, it stopped and looked straight at the crowd. All of the sudden, the blue circle turned red and the lines separating the bricks glowed red. From the bottom of the pillar, rocks started forming at its four corners. They started stacking on top of each other, forming what looked to be legs.

"By the gods, what is this?" Thomas said under his breath. He had heard of sightings of strange creatures appearing from these wormholes but never seen one this close. He quickly looked over to his fellow guards too see their curiosity quickly changed to confusion and fear.

Eventually, the creature stopped growing and stood still, towering over them. It let out another cry, shaking the ruins around it.

Upon hearing that, Thomas had rushed forward, sending out Sparky from his ball. Upon seeing that, the massive beast started blasting its stones at Sparky. He was able to dodge them without too much difficulty as he maneuvered in the air.

"Sparky! Use Psyshock!"

Sparky soared over to behind the creature. He charged up two purple spheres in its hands. He then put the two spheres together, making a bigger sphere and it fired three beams of psychic energy.

The beams almost hit the creature but at the last second, a massive hole appeared in the side of it. The beams passed through the hole, flying harmlessly through the air. Sparky was confused as to what just occurred.

He didn't have any time to rest as the creature started deconstructing itself. It was taking apart the stones making up its body and launching them. Sparky quickly started dodging the attacks. He was also using his Psychic to make the stones miss, but a few managed to hit him. When the stones stopped being thrown, they started returning to the main body.

"It seems very smart," Thomas said. "All those stones seem to have minds of their own."

Every time that the stones missed, they moved back to the main body on their own. But Thomas also noticed they tried hitting Raichu when they did. That was also seen when the stones moved every time Raichu attacked it.

Thomas knew that he couldn't beat this thing alone. So, he turned back towards all the guards behind him. "Everyone! On your feet! This beast defiles the holy temple!"

When he said that, all the other guards quickly stood up. All of them rushed to Thomas's side and threw their Pokeballs. Out of them came various Pokémon of all shapes and sizes.

Once they did, the strange creature let out another loud roar. When it did, it started launching more of its stones at the new Pokémon.

"Everyone, attack the stones when they get close!" Thomas shouted. "That seems to be the only way we can damage it."

"YES SIR!" everyone else shouted.

The creature started launching more of the stones at all the Pokémon. The others started firing off all kinds of attacks at the stones. Fire, water, electricity, ice; any and every kind of attack was used to combat the beast.

The stones were being launched and blasted back at all the different Pokémon. When attacks got close to hitting, holes would form in the beast and the attacks passed through it. This had gone on for several minutes with neither side giving an inch.

Meanwhile, Sparky was above the beast, punching stones away with Thunder Punch. While he was doing that, he had noticed something. The stones that were being launched at the others were mainly from its sides and legs. But no stones had been used from the top of the creature.

Thomas noticed it too and didn't waste time. "Sparky! Get on top of it and use Shock Wave!"

Sparky nodded and boosted towards the top of the creature. Stones were launching themselves toward him but Sparky maneuvered himself around all the attacks. When Sparky got closer to the creature, he stopped flying and dove towards it. When Sparky landed on the creature, he grabbed the top of it and gripped it as hard as he could.

Sparky's cheeks started glowing a bright yellow and sparks of electricity cracked around the beast. Small yellow balls of energy could be seen floating around him and flying into his cheeks, charging them further.

Thomas turned toward the rest of the guards. "Get everyone away quickly!" he shouted. Everyone started backing away, a few taking injured people and Pokémon away, as fast as they could. The creature was desperately attempting to get Sparky off of it. It thrashed its head around and launched its stones, hitting him several times. But no matter what, he kept a tight grip onto the creature, never letting go. After a few seconds of charging, Sparky unleashed its attack.

"RAIIII-CHUUUUUUU!" Sparky cried.

Suddenly, a wave of bright yellow electricity engulfed both Sparky and the creature. Lightning bolts cracked in a small area around the creature as well. The creature cried out in pain as the attack continued. It tried shaking and tossing off Sparky as much as it could but he held on with all his might.

The attack went on for a minute until eventually, Sparky's grip had run out. One final shake had thrown Sparky off of the creature and into one of the ruined columns.

"Rai!" Sparky exclaimed in pain as it collided with the column. He fell to the ground with a thud, breathing heavily and he couldn't pick himself up. Thomas ran over to his partner, while keeping his eye on the strange beast.

The creature started stumbling around, barely able to keep itself standing. All of the stones had turned from a light blue to a bright red had all returned to the main body. The beast let out another cry, this one far less powerful than the last one.

Once it did that, it mustered all of its strength to launch its body into the sky and into the hole. Once it did that, the strange hole faded away and the sky returned to its normal state.

Everything had finally gone quite. All that could be heard was the wind blowing through the ruined structure. No one could find the words to express what they had witness. All they had were expressions of confusion and horror.

Present Day:

Location: Alola Undersea Lab

"...and that's the reason I am here now," Thomas concludes. "They are mad that these Ultra Beasts are harming people and have been desecrating holy sites. I looked further into it and said that most of these sightings have occurred in Alola. So, they sent me to figure out what exactly is causing these things to appear."

"They seem like they are very serious about this issue," Sycamore says.

"You don't know the half of it," Thomas replies. "Some people in the Church have even going as far as to say it's a sign that Judgement Day is close at hand."

"What do you mean by that?" Kukui asks. Before he could answer, the conversation is cut short. The four Trial Captains come up to the three of them.

"We just want to say that we are going to take our leave now," Lana says.

The three turn to them upon hearing that. "Leaving so soon?" Kukui asks.

"We really need to get back home and to check on our trial stations to make sure things are still okay," Kiawe replies.

"Plus it seems that Lillie will be fine here with you guys," Mallow says. They all turn to see Lillie having fun with everyone's Pokémon. She's petting Mallow's Leafeon with a big smile on her face.

"It also seems like that all the Pokémon have gotten to know each other a bit," Sophocles said. While everyone was focusing on making Lillie more comfortable, some of the Pokémon were shown to be having fun, getting to know each other.

Alain's Charizard and Kiawe's Charizard were busy, competing with each other. Launching flames into the air and flapping their wings. It seemed like they wanted to assess each other to see who was stronger.

Serena's Sylveon went over to greet all the other Eeveelutions in the room. She was using her ribbon feelers to show affection to them. Wrapping them around their heads and bodies, almost like hugging.

Clemont's Quilladin and Sophocles's Togedemaru started rolling around, chasing each other. This led to Mairin's Chespie to start rolling around with them. This chasing around eventually led them to start racing each other around the stadium floor.

Both Mairin's Mawile and Max's Banette were taking turns trying to scare one another. Banette was using is Ghost abilities to appear all around Mawile, to try and freak her out. Mawile would then respond by using her giant mouth to startle Banette. After each attempt, both would just start laughing with each other.

Korrina's Lucario and Mienshao along with Max's Gallade were sitting next to each other, meditating. Their aura could be seen emanating from both of them.The rest of the Pokémon stayed in the same general area. They were seen talking with each other and doing other forms of playing.

"Hey everyone, it's time for us to go!" Mallow calls over. When she said that, all the Captains Pokémon came over and were put inside their Pokeballs.

"Aww, you guys are leaving now?" Bonnie says with a sad expression.

"Sorry about this guys, but we really need to get back home," Lana said. "We've been gone for a while and our folks are probably getting worried."

"We also have to make sure our Trial Stations are all right too," Sophocles points out. "We stuck around as much as we did to make sure Lillie was alright."

"We shouldn't be too long though," Lana says. "We'll come back when we are all done."

"Well good luck and be safe out there," Sawyer said. All four of them nodded and headed towards the elevator. Once all of them were inside, the elevator doors shut, going up to the surface.

When the Captains left, the rest of the Pokemon start talking to each other. Dedenne began going around, getting reacquainted with everyone. The first group that he went up too was Clemont's Pokémon.

[Bunnelby!] Dedenne exclaims. The small Pokémon jumped toward him in an embrace. [It's so great to see you again!]

[Dedenne, it's great to see you too], replies Bunnelby. [How has your adventure been going]?

[Oh it has been going great], Dedenne says. [Hoenn and Alola have been fantastic! Hope everything has been good in Lumiose].

[Things have been going pretty well. The Gym is still around, so we are all in top shape].

Suddenly, Quilladin comes from behind Dedenne and picks him up. [Hey buddy! It's so great to see you again buddy.] Quilladin then pulled Dedenne in for a tight hug.

[Hey buddy], Dedenne responds slightly uncomfortable from his embrace. [You've really changed since the last time I saw you].

Quilladin releases Dedenne and put him on the ground. [You bet I did!] he replies. He flexes both of his arms and puffs his chest out. [I'm getting stronger every single day. I'm not the Chespin that you left back in Lumiose]. He puts his arms to his side and had grin on his face, full of pride.

[You say that, but you don't sound too different from the Chespin I knew.] Quilladin turned his head to see Serena's Pancham standing there, smirking.

Quilladin put on his own smirk and turned around fully to face him. [And I see you haven't changed much in comparison, Pancham.]

[Maybe not much physically. But I still think I could be you in this state.] When Pancham said that, he cracks his knuckles.

Quilladin smirks at him and says, [Well, would you like to prove that?] When he says that, he punches his right fist into his left hand.

Before anything happens, two white and pink ribbons touch both of them. [You two need to calm down], says Sylveon. [You two finally see each other after so long and already want to fight?]

Pancham crosses his arms and says, [Only if he wanted to]. Pancham curls his paw into a fist and stretches it out toward Quilladin. [But I'll admit, it's nice seeing you again].

Quilladin made a big grin and stretched out his arm to Pancham, making a fist-bump. [Same here man], he says.

Quilladin turns to Sylveon and says, [And it's nice to see you again Sylveon!]

[How have you been?] Bunnelby asked.

[I've been doing well], she replied. [And it's very nice you see both of you as well]. She extends two of her feelers towards them and both of them grab the feelers, shaking them.

Dedenne turns and sees another familiar face. [Delphox, it's great seeing you again too. You've evolved since I last saw you].

[It's nice to see you too], Delphox replied. [And yes, I managed to get like this during our Hoenn adventures.]

[Wow! That's amazing!] Dedenne exclaims with stars in his eyes. He looks behind Delphox to see both Altaria and Meowstic standing there.

Delphox noticed Dedenne looking over at them. [Oh right. You haven't met our new friends that we made], she says. She looks over to the two of them and gestures for them to come over.

[These are Altaria and Meowstic. They decided to join his in Hoenn.] She turns to both of the others and says, [This is Dedenne. A good friend that we met during Kalos.]

[It's nice to meet you two,] Dedenne says.

[It's great to finally meet you!] Altaria says with stars in her eyes. She places one of her soft, cotton wings on top of Dedenne's head. [I finally get to meet another one of the heroes of Kalos!]

[Hero of Kalos?], Dedenne asks slightly confused.

[I mean, you were one of those who went against Zygarde during Lumiose City. That's what I was told.]

[Oh. Well, I guess I did do that], Dedenne replies. He puts one of his paws behind his head, clearly embarrassed by the praise.

[Your friends tell a lot of stories and she has taken a liking to them], Meowstic says. He walks over to to the small Pokémon and says, [It's also nice to meet another friend of Serena.] He places one of his paws out and Dedenne shakes it.

[It's nice to meet you guys too], Dedenne replies. He turns over to Delphox and says, [I should introduce you guys to some of our new friends too]. He turns around and yells, [Hey you two, get over here.]

Bonnie's Meowstic and Roselia walk over to Dedenne. [These are two are friends we managed to pick up while on our journey.] Both of them wave at all of Serena's Pokémon and put a small smile on their faces.

[It's nice to meet all of you], says Roselia. [If only it could be under better circumstances].

[Ughh, you are being such a downer], Bonnie's Meowstic says, rolling her eyes.

[Meowsy, how can I not be a downer with us stuck down here?]

[Down here, we are all safe from any danger. It's not like we are close to death or anything].

[Well they could have at least tried to make the place look nicer. It's like the only colors that are here are white, black and grey. The color palette is awful and they don't even have the decency to put any plants in this place!]

Roselia crosses her arms, with an angry expression on her face. Meowsy rolls her eyes and shakes her head, clearly annoyed by her behavior.

Before long, Meowstic approaches both Meowsy and Roselia with an enamored look on his face. [I wasn't aware that Serena's friend had two lovely ladies with her].

He looks over to Roselia and says, [I've seen plenty of flowers but none were ever as beautiful as you. Even your thorns only add to your gracefulness.]

He looks over to Meowsy and says, [It is also nice to see another Meowstic here. Especially one that is as pretty as you. Your fur looks more precious than opals and sapphires.]

Meowsy and Roselia are taken aback slightly. Both of them are flustered and blush a little at his words.

[There he goes again], Sylveon says, shaking her head.

Pancham leans over to both Bunnelby and Quilladin. [It's nice to see you guys again for that two], he whispered. [He's the only guy that I've had to talk to.] His expression has a look of unamused and exhaustion.

Meowstic grabs one hand of both of them and says, [If you girls want, we could leave this place for a bit. I'd love to get to know both of you a bit more.]

Before anything else could happen, Pancham walks over to Meowstic. [Okay that's enough out of you, lover boy], Pancham says, pushing him away.

While he was being pushed, Meowstic says, [But I hadn't even finished what I wanted to say.]

[I have a pretty good idea at what it was. Don't go scaring off people you just met with how you are.]

[You always have to ruin my fun.] He brushes the white fur on his head to the side. [You being a stick in the mud is why you'll never get any appeal with women].

[I'll have you know, I have enough appeal. I just don't constantly use it to try and get my rocks off.]

Before the argument could progress further, a large thud was heard. [DON'T FORGET ME], a large booming voice says. The talking stops and they all look up to Tyrantrum looming over them.

[Oh yeah, you guys remember Tyrantrum from Kalos], Dedenne says. [We went back and got him too].

[I remember him], Bunnelby says. [It's nice to see you again. You seem to have changed a bit since I last saw you].

[TYRANTRUM GET STRONGER!], he says. He lets out a loud roar that shakes the entire room. After the shaking stops, Tyrantrum looks down with a massive smile on his face. The moment just causes the Pokémon to start laughing.

Dedenne looks around at the entire group. Everyone is laughing and in good spirits. But a thought crosses Dedenne's mind and he starts feeling sad. His smile fades away and his eyes seem full of sorrow.

Bunnelby notices and turns to his friend. [Whats wrong Dedenne?] he asks. When he asks that, everyone stops doing what they are doing and turns to the small Pokémon.

[Well, it's just, it really nice to finally see all of you guys again], he says. [But I just wish that everyone was around for it]. When he says that, all of the Kalos Pokémon's happy expressions faded into sorrow. Lillie's and Thomas's Pokémon all looked confused at his comment.

The area went quiet for a few seconds. Everyone who was there for the Flare Incident immediately knew what Dedenne meant. None of them had heard any word of Ash or his whereabouts since he left. Many different emotions were present in the Pokémon when the subject was brought up. Feelings of sorrow, anger and confusion, among many others.

However, one feeling everyone felt about that situation was worry. Worry about where he and Pikachu were. Worry about what he was doing since Kalos. Worry that he had gotten into trouble and no one knew.

[It's been four years and I still don't understand why they left all of the sudden], Dedenne says in a saddened voice.

Sparky didn't quite understand why everything went quiet. He looked over to Glaceon and Togetic who just shrugged in confusion. He looks to Snowy and Glacie for any kind of explanation. But when he looks, they are confused too. [Did something happen four years ago?] Sparky asks.

It is quiet for a few seconds until Bunnelby responds. [Some very close friends of ours disappeared. You've heard of what happened in Lumiose City correct?]

[Absolutely], Sparky answers with a hint of anger. [An organization called Flare had attacked and nearly destroyed the city. Those fools even had the audacity to corrupt the Legendary Zygarde to do it.]

[Well most of us along with our friend, Ash, were there when it happened. Shortly after it ended, Ash along with his two Pokémon, Pikachu and Greninja, just left. No one knows where they went.]

[They just left without saying anything?] Snowy asked. [I thought he was your friend.]

[It is odd], Delphox says. [After everything, I would've thought he'd stay and talk. Instead he just left a letter.]

[I'm sure that the blame he places on himself is the biggest reason,] Sylveon says. [He probably felt like he didn't deserve to face any of us after what happened.]

[I don't understand why though], Dedenne said. [It's not like he had anything to do with what what happened to everyone afterwards. It was all Team Flare's fault.]

None of the other Pokémon spoke up when Dedenne said that. Delphox glanced over to Bunnelby, Quilladin and Luxray. Quilladin puts his hand behind his head, Luxray glances away and Bunnelby looks down at the ground. Those looks told Delphox everything and she had a look of sorrow and disappointment on her face.

[Bonnie thinks about him a bit], Dedenne says. [I remember when traveling through Hoenn, there would be a few times when Max and her would talk about him. Every time when they did, she always looked sad.]

[We have heard a lot of those stories too], Gallade says while walking over. [While I never knew Ash myself, Max spoke well of him and Pikachu when he was brought up. When Bonnie told him that he had gone missing, he was speechless. Their disappearances seem to have hit him a bit too.]

[Speaking of which, it also seems Pikachu decided to stick with him], Luxray says. [I mean, if he's still missing, that only means they are with each other.]

[Those two are as close as friends can be,] Bunnelby says. [I'm sure that whatever Ash decides to do, Pikachu would be with him no matter what.]

[I don't know about that], Quilladin disagrees. [Even as close those two are, I'm sure that Pikachu would go against Ash if he did something like this.]

[Theres also Greninja too], Sceptile chimes in. [We haven't heard anything from him since that day either].

[Well, Greninja is also a close friend of Ash and is very loyal], Charizard points out. [Even if he disagreed with what Ash did, I imagine he still stand by him.]

[Perhaps there's a chance of finding them while we are here], Flaaffy says with a bit of optimism. [I mean, with all the strange things happening, maybe he'd come over to check things out. Then we could get some answers.]

[I'm not too sure about that], Magnezone says unconvinced. [The odds of them being here are pretty low and I'd imagine finding them are even lower]. Magnezone looks to Metagross and asks, [Metagross, could you run some calculations on us finding all three of them?]

[ANALYZING PROJECTED VARIABLES...], Metagross replies. It's eyes suddenly turn black with green numbers and words appearing in them. After a few seconds of this, Metagross's eyes return to their regular red.

[CALCULATIONS COMPLETE...

SUBJECTS: ASH KETCHUM, PIKACHU AND GRENINJA

LOCATION: UNKNOWN

STATUS: UNKNOWN

PROBABILITY OF SUBJECTS BEING IN CURRENT REGION: LESS THAN 10%

PROBABILITY OF LOCATING SUBJECTS IN CURRENT REGION: LESS THAN 1%

SITUATION: IMPROBABLE]

When that was said, the room grew silent again. Everyone was already sad enough, hearing those odds being said made things seem more grim. Like a knife was stabbed in their hearts and was slowly being twisted.

[I think worrying about it won't do us any good], Charizard speaks up, sensing the unease in the room. All the other Pokémon look to him when he did.

[I see that everyone is worried and rightfully so. But none of us are really in a position to do anything about those three at the moment. I also don't think any of those three would want us to continue moping and worrying. They would want us get up and keep going forward. All we can do is what our trainers are here for and do it the best we can.]

All the unease and worry everyone had seemed to almost vanish when that was said. The silence was no longer due to worry and sadness like it was before. The silence was in amazement from hearing Charizard give this speech. Of all Pokémon to say that, they wouldn't have expected it to come from him.

[I agree with Charizard,] Sceptile says breaking the silence. He walks over and stood next to Charizard. [All we can do is what we are here to do. Also, those odds aren't guaranteed and maybe we'll get lucky and find them eventually. I'm sure that Greninja would be happy to have another match if we do see him.]

[Hold on there Sceptile], Gallade says. [According to my trainer, Ash had promised him a battle a long time ago. You and Sceptile will have to wait in line].

When Gallade said that, Banette, Mightyena and Flygon shouted [Yeah!] while thrusting their hands in the air.

Charizard let out a slight chuckle at their remarks. [Well, if we do see Greninja again, I think he'll want to fight me again].

Both of them turn to face the Fire-type. [I mean, even after all the fights we had, he never one once. I'm sure if he sees me, he'll want a rematch first].

All three of them stare at each other with determined looks. They all had smirks on their faces and fire in their eyes. Their competitive spirits had been sparked to life for a brief moment.

[I would be glad to have another go at Ash], Lucario adds, clenching his fist. [I want to see how much Pikachu has improved since our Gym fight].

[Sorry Lucario], Luxray says. [But if anyone gets to fight Pikachu first, I get first dibs. Unlike you, I haven't been able to test my Mega form on him yet.]

[Well, before any of you guys get a chance to fight, I think all three need to be giving a stern lecture when we find them], Sylveon comments.

[You got that right,] Pancham agrees.[Those three are making Serena worried sick. They need to be taught some manners.]

[Damn right they do], Quilladin agrees, clenching his fists. [If we see them, let's whack some sense into them.]

[I'm sure we all know what would happen if you tried], Heliolisk says with a slight smirk on his face.

[Really dude?] Quilladin says, turning around. Some of the other Pokémon start chuckling. Even Lillie's and Thomas's Pokémon chuckle a little.

Dedenne looks around at all his friends in somewhat disbelief. Just like that, everyone was back to smiling and having fun with each other. Almost as if the whole conversation hadn't happened.

Upon seeing this, the worry that he was feeling minutes ago started fading away. It was replaced by a familiar sense of calm and security.

A small smile forms on his face and he thinks, It's nice to see them all happy again. I just hope to see this with you three there as well.

Location: Aether Paradise

The boat that Dulse and Zossie were on finally docked at Aether Paradise. When the two got out of the boat, there was a man standing on the dock. The man was wearing a white uniform and a white hat on his head. The uniform also had several gold circles on it and four big pockets that almost looked like small bags. When the two got off the boat, the man straightened his posture and saluted them.

"Glad to see you are back. President Lusamine wants you in the Meeting Room immediately," the man said while saluting.

"Roger that," Dulse replied. "At ease."

"Sounds like things are getting a little serious," Zossie said.

Dulse nodded to her. He handed the keys of the boat to the man before both he and Zossie started walking up the stairs.

They began to walk through Aether Paradise on their way to their destination. The place looked like a massive laboratory.

Along the way, there were men and women all over the place. They were all wearing the same white uniforms with a white hat. They were all doing various tasks around the facility. Moving supplies from the docks, carrying around lots of paperwork and studying the Pokémon and plants that are around the facility.

They also saw some people were wearing different symbols on their uniforms. While most had the standard Aether symbol on them, a few were seen having a small flame symbol on theirs, a few had a symbol that looked like a golden "G" and a few had one that looked like a blue "P".

Both of them walked into a big room that only had two windows overlooking the island, a few shelves with books lining the walls and a massive table in the center.

At this table in the room sat a good number of people, who all turned to face them when they walked in. The three Galactic Commanders, Lysandre along with the other five Flare Admins, The Shadow Triad with Colress, Phyco and Soleria were seated. At the head of the table, furthest from the door, were Faba and Lusamine.

"You two sure took your time," Soleria said looking at the two of them. She has an unamused expression on her face.

"Sorry we were late," Zossie replied with a smile. "You get easily distracted with the beauty of this region, you lose track of time."

"You should be focused on nothing but the mission at hand," Soleria replied.

"Silence, both of you," Lusamine said. Both of them stop talking and immediately look at her.

"Now that everyone is here," Lusamine said with a grin forming on her face. "We can get started with this meeting. I want to hear a full report on everything that has been happening."

To be continued...

Hope everyone enjoyed that chapter. If you want to stop reading, you can. I just figured I'd include this little bit at the end of this chapter.

As I am writing this, Ash and Pikachu have left the Pokémon Anime. This will not affect this story as I will still be writing it but it's sad for me. I remember first watching Pokémon around the time when Advanced Battle was airing.

The 1st episode that I watched was Advanced Battle Episode 40: The Right Place and the Right Mime. It was the one where the Advanced gang go to Pallet Town and meet Misty, Tracey and all of Ash's old Pokémon. I remember just being blown away seeing all these Pokémon in motion after only playing Pokémon Emerald before hand.

I was 5 years old at the time and have been watching it weekly since then. Now, here I am, 18 years later saying goodbye to the two who made my childhood. It is gonna be weird not having Ash and Pikachu here but I'm happy they finally got a good sendoff.

A cheers to the friends that we made along the way to get here:

Ash, Misty, Brock, Tracey, May, Max, Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Clemont, Bonnie, Serena, Lillie, Lana, Mallow, Kiawe, Sophocles, Goh and Chloe.

Thanks for all the good times you've given me over the past few decades. I'm gonna miss all of them and I hope that the new kids, Liko and Roy, can fill Ash's shoes. Farewell to the legends, until we meet again.

Anyways thanks for reading, see you next time and keep on catching ;)