( Nervously comes forward )
So, umm.... Hi there, I guess....
Greninja : Hey!! Get to the point already!!

Alright, Alright, geez... So I haven't exactly posted a chapter in a long while. That was mainly due to some personal issues, for which I am sorry. Also, you may notice that the passage from the preview chapter isn't there in this chapter. This is due to only one reason, the chapter in itself is currently at 4200 words!! If I put everything in this chapter, it will easily surpass a 10000 words count. So that will most likely be in the next chapter after this. Also, if some of you may think that ash being 60 years old was a big thing, you haven't seen anything!!!Ash is going to be  an ancient, no primordial entity!! But you may say that might make him too overpowered, but the thing is, he isn't the strongest guy in the neighborhood. Think of it as Dragon Ball, where the protagonist is quite powerful, but he isn't the strongest guy in the cosmos. Ash will be like him too. Now since that's out of the way, I wanted to -

Greninja : Stop stalling and get on with the bloody chapter!!!

Alright, but just two things. First, I would like thank WriterRaichu   for judging my book and giving suggestions. Massive thanks for that!! Also you should try reading his fanfic  ' JADE' because it's super interesting.
Also I would like to tell everyone about another amazing book, which is 'Difficult Love ' by SylveonPink
It's an amourshiping story and definitely worth a read!! Now since that's out of the way, let the story begin!!!

NO ONE'S POV

By the time everyone came out, it was already evening. The legendary dogs and the legendary bird trio along with ho-oh and lugia were waiting for ash outside the temple. Ash himself was surprised to see all of them together. He spoke in an angry tone, "Lugia! Ho-Oh! What is the meaning of this idiocy ?! I asked only one of you to come here, not bring an entire caravan!! "

The legendaries, obviously scared by ash, asked him "We thought it would be better i-if we all came together. I don't mean to intrude... But where is pikachu??" As soon as lugia finished speaking the final sentence, ash looked so furious, that if looks could kill, lugia and the other legendaries would be dead over a hundred times by now.

Ash replied with a shaky tone, "P-Pikachu... Is dead... " The legendaries obviously wanted to ask ash something but we're interrupted by virizion, who explained all that had been happened, through telepathy. The legendaries, furious told ash, "You just give us order master, and we punish those bastards who dared to hurt Lord pikachu !!"

Ash answered in a tone of rage,
"No!! I will burn down Team Flare with my own hands!!!"

Ash then spoke, "Lugia I will be traveling on you! Ho-Oh! You and the other legendary pokemon should take the others and leave them at their home! Including the champions.. "

Aria, not exactly keen on the idea of leaving ash after meeting him after such a long duration protested and said "Not a chance ash! We are your friends! We are not going to leave you at a time like this! "

Ash only replied blankly, " Keeping you with me, will only increase the burden I carry.. "

The champions seemed both surprised and angry by his statement. Steven said with a hint of anger, " We, the six champions are the strongest trainers in the world! How can we be a burden is beyond my understanding.. "

Ash let out a dark chuckle and said, " Of course it is! You never were one the brightest of them all but I hoped you might understand but still! You see Steven, when greninja fought against virizion and gardevoir, he wasn't even using ten percent of his power. You champions are not even near the level of power at which I fight!"
Steven obviously angered by Ash's statement wanted to say something in return, but was stopped by Cynthia who gestured him not to make a scene.

Lucario but then suddenly spoke in human voice (through his mouth) rather than telepathy, he said "Master, I think it would be wise for us to get somewhere else as staying here will only complicate matters. Also, I think your presence is required somewhere important. "
Everyone, surprised by lucario's ability to speak was obviously in a state of shock.

However, ash not caring about them, just wanted to get away from that place in order to calm down his mind and Aura. He boldly said, nearly shouting, "Greninja!! You stay here and take care of the camp and the mortals along with the legendaries !! Lucario!! Come with me as I will be away for a while!"

Calem, certainly not willing to waste this opportunity in order to mock ash said, "You really think we are letting a murderer like you escape while we sit here and be your hostages?!!"

Ash turned back and said "Choose your next words very carefully Mr Xavier, for you may not know what you are speaking of.. "

Calem boldly proclaimed "Why should I stop? I mean, I am just saying the truth. If you can kill so many people without second thoughts, who knows how many people you have killed in your lifetime? Perhaps some from family, your friends, your mother or your father or even perhaps, a loved one... "

One could clearly see veins popping out of Ash's forehead. He said very clearly, "Even an angel turns his face on the third time.. And you, Mr Xavier, you just hit your third time.. "

Calem grinned and said, " Oh... Seems like I hit a spot, now didn't I? Tell me, how did you brutally kill this loved one of yours? Did you perhaps kill him or her with a knife stab in the head or with a gun shot or perhaps.... You killed that person with your bare hands like you did with those soldiers back there!!!"

The final statement was the breaking point for ash as flashbacks from all those years returned to him. Unable to contain his rage, Ash dashed towards calem and punched him right on his right shoulder. He then quickly grabbed his right arm and then flipped right behind calem and pinned him down in such a way, that he was choking calem's neck with his own broken arm. Ash was ready to kill him at that moment by suffocating him, but he was stopped by an extremely horrified and angry voice.

It was Serena who said to him, "Stop this Madness right now Ash!!"

Ash looked at her with an expression of insanity, while still trying to choke calem and said, "What you call insanity, I call it simple revenge !! And don't worry, I won't kill him..... I will just snap his neck and completely paralyze him for the rest of his life!!!"

Serena, still horrified by this, shouted, "Stop this you monster!"

Ash felt the disgust in serena's voice and stepped back as it was the final breaking point for him. He got up from calem and left him alone. Serena immediately ran towards calem to check him and found he was still alive but had a severely fractured arm. Ash stormed away from the camp without saying anything. He was soon followed by lucario and greninja .

Ash's friends, Clemont and bonnie, along with the champions wanted to follow him but were signaled by virizion not to do so.

Serena without initiating any sort of contact with others, started to set up her tent. She was deeply disturbed after seeing ash act like this. The one she thought she loved had just turned out to be a merciless murderer. She hastily finished setting up the tent and gently supported calem and carried him inside for treatment and first aid.

Timeskip, At the camp

Everyone (except for serena and calem) including the legendaries were sitting around the camp fire with a sort of gloomy look on their face. Steven suddenly spoke out angrily, " The nerve of that kid. Who the hell does he think he is? Calling the champion of hoeen weak! And to think I actually respected him! "

Alder spoke up and said, "Calm down Steven. I know ash would not have disrespectful to you without a reason. I think he's just a bit... Disturbed, I guess.... "

Steven raised a brow and said, " What reason could he possibly have to disrespect the champions and brutally slaughter the people back in the temple?"

Lance spoke out in a dull tone and said, "That's the thing I am most worried about. Someone who commits something as great as a sin like murder, no matter how brave, will have a bit of hesitation and a hell lot of guilt. Ash expressed neither of these things. This could only mean one thing, It's not his first time taking a life.... "

Bonnie, clemont's younger sister said with a fearful expression on her face "B-But a-ash is always so cheerful and happy. How could he be accustomed to killing??"

Clemont then said angrily, nearly shouting, "Open your eyes bonnie!! Ash just brutally murdered all those people!! Ash is not who we think he is! I am really starting to wonder if this is the same ash I agreed to travel with...."

Diantha spoke up and said, "And the way in which he killed the grunts... He had claws protruding from his hands.. And he didn't just blindly attack them, he precisely attacked their vital organs. It seems not only ash is accustomed to killing people, he is also quite trained... "

Aria had an angry expression on her face as she said " How can you all treat ash like he's some sort of a criminal!! He didn't just lose his best pokemon but his best friend!! And I am sure he must have a quite a good reason for killing all those grunts! "

Steven spoke up angrily and said "Sorry your Highness, but I disagree with you. Ash of course is a murderer, there no doubt about that!!! And while I do understand your feelings for ash, I don't think there any place for feelings in the court of law!!!"

Aria covered her face with her hands to hide her blush and embarrassment. Clemont, shocked by this revelation, said
" Wait a minute! I think I clearly misheard you Mr. Stone. ( Stone is Steven's last name 😂😂) You're not suggesting that the princess of the entire kalos region fell in love with an ordinary trainer??"

Clemont looked around expecting an answer but all he got was silence. As realization of the current matter hit him, his jaw nearly dropped to the ground as he screamed
" HOW THE HELL DID ASH MAKE A PRINCESS FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM!!!"

Bonnie too shouted and said
" No!! I won't accept this!!
No one, not even the princess of kalos gets to ruin my OTP!! I only support amourshipping, nothing else!"

Clemont said to his sister, " Calm down bonnie. I don't think children should interfere in matters of adults. "

Bonnie replied with an irritated expression on her face and said
" Oh please big brother.. I definitely am not going to take it relationship advice from someone who didn't have the guts to confess his love since the last two years! "

That statement was all clemont needed in order to effectively shut this up. Bonnie then turned to aria and said, " Why do you want to come between Ash and Serena?! Do you want to snatch ash away so that Serena gets depressed and thus she is finally unable to compete in the pokemon performances and hence she loses and you get to keep everything and even your stupid title!!!"

Aria raised her hands in a defensive position and said,
"No! No! You have got it all wrong! I couldn't care less about the kalos Queen title, and for me, it's nothing more than a title. And you know, if serena really wanted it, serena could have it without any competition at all.
All I wish for is Ash's happiness. And if it lies with serena, I definitely am ready to step back and let him be happy.... "

Cobalion, the leader of the Swords of justice, suddenly spoke up and said, " That's quite noble of you, your highness, but I don't see why master wouldn't be with the both of you." The others were obviously shocked by cobalion's statement.

Alder said in shock,
" Wait a minute cobalion! what the heck are you talking about?"

Cobalion simply made a confused expression and asked to the now blushing aria,
"Please don't tell me this thought didn't cross your mind your Highness. I mean it was quite common for a Kingdom to have a single king but two Queen's in the days of old... "

Clemont got up, nearly shouting as he said " Have you lost your sanity!!! Do you even know what you are saying!!? You are literally saying that the Queen of the entire Kalos region, Miss. Aria and possibly the second best performer in the region, Serena, to marry an ordinary trainer who hasn't won even a single league in his life!!??

Terakion roared with an angry expression on his face,
"An ordinary trainer!!!! Do you realize that master belongs to the greatest royal family in the world!! And about winning those worthless leagues of yours, master lost them because he wanted to!! If he really desires, he could beat all you champions along with us legendaries with just sir greninja alone!!"

Virizion stepped in front on terakion and said " Calm down terakion ; I am sure they didn't mean to insult Lord, they just don't know who he is.. "

Cynthia, spoke up after pausing for a few moments and said
" So you mean to say ash is far more powerful than us and also he has royal blood in his veins??And if yes, why is he hiding his strength from us??"

Cobalion calmly replied,
" Whatever master does, he does for a reason. Besides he didn't want to attract unnecessary attention.. "

Clemont said in an unsure tone,
" Even if what you say is true cobalion, how can you explain Ash's murderous tendencies??"

Virizion said in an understanding tone, " Allow me to explain master's intentions in a language you would understand. What you call mindless murder is in fact, justice in its most unadulterated form. Master's most trusted partner, Sir lucario, and him both form a sort of a living, breathing and sentient court of justice. Here, Sir lucario acts as a lawyer as he , using his aura powers judges a person's good as well as bad deeds, committed in his life. The deeds are then instantly conveyed to master using telepathy. Now master here acts as both the judge and the executioner(someone who kills criminals ). According to the persons deed, master punishes him with a suitable form of punishment. For lesser and small crimes, he'll either leave him, or inflict pain or at the most chop off his limb or two. But for extremely serious crimes, he reserves an excruciating and painful death. Such is the nature of Master's Court of Justice. "

Clemont had an unsure expression on his face as he said, "Even if what you say is true, what ensures that ash will not be carried away by his emotions and will always come the right thing?"

Virizion sighed and said,
" Alright... Seems like I have to present the last proof of master's innocence... "
"You see Sir. Clemont, master is in fact a Warrior of Light.... "

Suddenly diantha stood up with a shocked expression on her face and said, " Are you sure about what you are saying??!!

Virizion replied in a calm manner, " I couldn't be more sure about anyone else on the whole world, Miss. Diantha... "

Steven spoke up and said, " Two things diantha; One, what the heck is a warrior of light; and two, Why the heck are you freaking our so much over three simple words????"

Diantha calmed herself down and said, " Any living being, mortal or immortal, capable of using the mystical arts ( magic ) falls under two categories : Warriors and Mages. Both Warriors and Mages are further divided into two categories, those who use the powers of Darkness, and others who use the powers of light of Light.... "

Alder suddenly interrupted diantha and said,
" Wait a minute, wasn't darkness supposed to be bad??!!"

Cynthia however chuckled and said, " Oh no, you see that's a common misconception that people have. Both darkness and light fight for good, the only real bad thing is evil. The only difference between Light and Darkness other than their powers is their ideologies. While users of Light are generally calm, composed and courteous in their behavior. Also users of light believe in following the rules set by both the social structure as well as of morality. Also, they will always value the life of others than their own. They always put their morals and their duty over petty things like emotions and their own personal preferences. They would rather save the life of a complete stranger rather than their own Family members. Also they have no problem with making sacrifices for the greater good, of either themselves, or of others.
Now, on the other hand, users of Darkness are generally rash, imprudent, arrogant in their behavior. Also they are generally considered rebels of sorts, as they don't follow the rules of morality, at the same time having an utter disregard for rules. Also unlike users of Light, they don't believe all people need to be saved. If given a choice between saving their loved ones and a complete stranger, they would most certainly choose their loved ones. Also, when it comes to battles, while users of Light will always fight a honorable fight and they would rather lose the fight than losing their honor, Users of Darkness will resort to any means necessary, as long as they win. "

( For those of you who don't get it, a good example would be a Knight would be considered a warrior of Light, while a ninja would be a warrior of Darkness. Or better example would be Captain America would be a warrior of Light while Tony Stark would be a warrior of Darkness. 😉😜)

As soon as Cynthia finished her explanation, everyone had a surprised look on their faces.
Lance asked Cynthia, " H-How the heck do you know so much about this topic??!!"

Cynthia had an annoyed expression on her face as she said, " Really Lance!!! Tell me, out of all us champions, who is the one that ACTUALLY does both read and research mythology!!!

Steven spoke up and said, " Alright, calm down. Jeez, it isn't that big of s deal. Besides, even if ash is a quote on quote
'Warrior of Light ', what makes you so sure he won't commit a wrong deed??"

Diantha sighed and said, " If he he did kill someone who was in fact innocent, he would no longer be a warrior of Light. He would transition to Darkness. And since the a user of Light was born to use the powers of Light, his body and mind are not accustomed to Darkness. Once the user goes in a phase of transition, he will soon lose all sense of morality and eventually, turn to evil. That person will become the thing which he despised and fought against. "

Steven had an unsure expression on his face as he said " I still don't see why this proves Ash's innocence. "

Cynthia sighed and said, " I really am starting to agree with Ketchum in regards of your intelligence levels. "

Steven replied with an annoyed expression, " Hey!! I am not that stupid!"

Cynthia smirked and said, " Oh, so you atleast you agree that you are stupid!!"

Steven wanted to say something, but was stooped by Diantha ad she interrupted him and said,
"You two stop squabbling like children!! Steven, No one here is questioning your intelligence. And you cynthia, just because you like having fun, doesn't mean you are allowed to ridicule the other champions!"

Steven even though was still angry at Cynthia's comment, he calmed while cynthia merely retorted and said, " OK OK calm down! Jeez! Just because you are over 30 doesn't mean you have to act grumpy! I mean, look at Lance, he's over 40, still he doesn't act mature.... "

Lance was annoyed, but he seemed to have a better control of himself, atleast more than Steven. He simply said,  " What diantha means is that the fact that ash is definitely a warrior of life as evidenced by the fact that he had blue protruding claws, most  likely made from aura,  which is light based and also the fact that virizion herself has confirmed it. Thus we can conclude, that since ash is still a warrior of light, he hasn't done anything evil in his entire life until now atleast, otherwise he wouldn't be a warrior of light. "

Steven had an unsure expression on his face as he said, " Alright, even though I'm still not entirely convinced, I'll take your word for it. "

Suddenly everyone heard s ringing sound which was actually coming from Diantha's holocaster. She picked up the call and one could see the hologram of a middle aged man with thick glasses and a lab coat.The man spoke in a hurry and said,
" Miss. Diantha!! I just finished analyzing the data that you sent me and the results are incredible!! I have sent them on your holocaster!! Please view them right now!! "

Diantha spoke in a consoling tone as she said, " Calm down Carl, I will see the data, but you need to calm down first. If there's any other problem, I will contact
you."

As soon as diantha finished speaking, she disconnected the call. She looked towards everyone and said, " I have got the results about the data I sent the Archaeological Department regarding the carvings and inscriptions on the temple. I really think the way Carl, our head of research, was speaking about it, we really should take a look. "

Aria looked surprised as she said, " When did you gather this data in the temple??!! "

Steven sighed and said, " You see Your Highness, unlike you and Miss. Yvonne back there who were just busy admiring your crush, some of us were actually doing work.. "

As soon as Aria heard Steven's taunt she was taken aback as she  blushed furiously.

Diantha merely chuckled and placed her holocaster in the middle and said, " Well, let's take a look at the results... "

However, she abruptly stopped as she remembered something and said, " Your Highness, will it be alright to disclose such pivotal information?"

Clemont looked at Diantha with a confused expression and said,
" What's that supposed to mean?"

Aria looked at clemont and told him, " Allow me to explain
Mr. Citron. You see,  earlier, I said that I only came here since it's my duty to preside over important archaeological sites which nay prove important from the world history's perspective. However, that's not entirely true. You see, we, the House of  Breze's  have a much deeper history with the Aura Guardian. He was basically a sort of patron God for our family. Even today,  we Breze's still worship him. "

As soon as aria finished her explanation, everyone except for the champions were shocked. However, alder was the one to speak up as he said, " Although I knew that your Royal family, the Breze's , worshiped the
Aura Guardian instead of arceus unlike, you know, the whole world.... I always did wonder why you did it??"

Aria only smiled gently as she said, " Part of me worships the Aura Guardian due to my heritage. Him being our family's patron God and the fact that my ancestors were deeply, deeply devoted to him, but that's not the only reason. You see, if you compare the Aura Guardian and Arceus, there exist quite Stark differences between the two. On one hand, there's arceus, a god who rarely ever appears physically throughout history and has done nothing significant for us humans besides creating our universe, and on the other hand, we have The Aura Guardian, who was in fact, very much present throughout history for quite a long time. And he wasn't just helping us like protecting us from disasters, appearing in times of distress but also helping us in many other ways. He has had a deep impact on human history. He basically wrote influential books like
' The Art Of War ', an important book on warfare and strategy, helping in times of war,  to the various books composed of music and other arts, helping in times of peace!! Then how did such a person just disappear from the pages of history?? That's what I am hoping to find from this excavation.... "

Diantha sighed and said, " Well now that we have got that out of the way, let's take a look at the results shall we??"

Diantha placed her holocaster on the ground, in the middle, so that everyone could see it. As soon as it was placed on the ground, the holocaster started projecting a hologram of certain images which seemed to be documents or reports of some sort. Soon, everyone started to read the documents, or atleast tried to, since not everyone could comprehend what was written in the documents. However, the three people that were able to do so, had evidently expressions of pure shock and terror on their faces.

Clemont was the first to speak up, or more accurately shout up as he said, " This has to be some sort of mistake right??!! There's no way that this report is  true!!!"

Cynthia however, was better at calming herself down as she said,  "So this is what Carl meant when he said that the results were unbelievable and incredible. Interesting....... "

Aria spoke up as she said,
"Miss. Diantha, what is the meaning of this?? What do the results say and why are
Mr. Clemont and Miss. Cynthia so shocked?? "

Diantha took a deep breath and said, " I assure you
Your Highness that the results of the archeological department are highly reliable and trustable. These reports are compiled by some if not the best scientists in the world. And from  what is written at the end of the reports, these were verified, not once or twice but rather a total of eight times. "

Aria had an nervous  expression on her face as she said, " And... What do the reports say?? "

Diantha took a deep breath as she said, " Both the inscriptions and carvings in the temple conclude the fact that arceus was not superior to the Aura Guardian. In fact, the inscriptions and carvings only point to one single, clear  fact. Arceus didn't create the Aura Guardian, The Aura Guardian created Arceus.....
                       
                          ƒíղ

So, how  was the cliffhanger?? Now you may have noticed, the lore of this universe is quite different from the normal lore that we know. And don't worry, arceus's role and lore will be explained in the later chapters. This is Thomas signing out,          
                 GOODBYE!!!!!