Innocence Proven

"What's the news, Tracey?" Ash asked

"You're Innocence have been proven." Tracey said

"Really? That didn't take long." Ash said surprisingly

"It was a cinch, we got it all figured out." Tracey said. "Here's how we did it."

Flashback

Tracey & Bede arrived at Leon's house & rang the doorbell before Leon opened it.

"Oh hello there, may I help you." Leon said

"Yes, my name is Bede & this is Tracey, we've come to speak with you." Bede said

"Come right in." Leon said

Tracey & Bede entered the house into the dining room where they saw Hop

"Now, what is it you wanna talk about?" Leon said

"Mr. Leon, I'm a friend of Ash, I know you might be angry over the loss of the World Coronation Series, but you gotta know, Ash would never drug his Pokémon in order to win. I've been his traveling companion through the Orange Islands where he won the Orange League & not once have I caught him use drugs. Please sir, you gotta to believe me." Tracey said

"I believe you." Leon said

"Wait, you do?" Tracey said surprisingly

"Of course, I never believed Ash used drugs, as a matter of fact Hop & I were just trying to process about all this." Leon said

"Yeah, I mean it all just happen so suddenly, it was like it had come completely out of the blue." Hop said

"That's exactly what I said." Tracey said

"Now that we know that you believe Ash was innocent, we need your help in proving his innocence." Bede said

"Alright, what do we do?" Leon said

"I've gathered all the people who believed Ash's innocence to my mansion, here's the address." Bede said as he gave Leon the address

"Good, we'll meet you there." Leon said

Later Leon & Hop got to Bede's Mansion, when they entered, they saw the large group of people in the living room. The people were Luana, Danny, Cissy, her brother Senta, Drake(Orange Islands), Casey, Angie, Macy, Vincent, Morrison, Conway, Nando, Virgil, Stephan, Sawyer, Ursula, Georgia, Burgundy, Harley, Sanpei, Miette, Nini, Hau, Hala, Marnie, The Galar Gym Leaders, Professor Ivy, her wife Melinda, her assistants Hope, Faith, & Charity, Clembot, Professor Magnolia, Sonia, Scott, Don George, Porter, Blaine, Wattson, Pryce, Juan, Ramos, Agatha, Bertha, Drasna, Clay, Newton, Spenser, Alder, & his grandson Benga.

"I assume all of you are here because you wanna prove Ash's innocence." Leon said as everyone nodded

"Alright everyone." Bede said as he sat down "As you all know, Ash Ketchum has been accused of destruction & illegal drug use, am I right? Any thoughts on that?"

"I think it's all just ridiculous, why would Ash cause destruction anywhere." Harley said

"I agree, Ash wouldn't have just destroyed a town like that for no reason." Morrison said

"Besides, he's too good-hearted to commit such an evil act." Nando said

"Yeah, the thought of Ash being some sort of evil psycho maniac is just laughable." Georgia said.

"What about the drugs?" Bede asked

"I'm not saying he did do it, but if he did, it could be an act out of desperation." Conway said "After all, he did lose the previous league conferences, it's pretty understandable but it's still illegal."

"I don't think Ash would be desperate enough to use drugs to win." Scott said "Besides, Ash is the type of guy who wants to earn his win."

"Does anyone have any idea where he went?" Alder said

"Permission to speak?" Clembot said as raised his hand

"Yeah, go ahead." Alder said

"It was on the day Ash was falsely convicted, Clemont & Bonnie were out to confront him while I was alone at then, then out of the blue a small ball of light floated down towards me & went into my mind, the next thing I know I have my memories back." Clembot said "I have a feeling that light was from something or somewhere."

"You think it might have been Arceus' doing?" Newton said

"No, why would Arceus do that when he believed Ash was guilty of the crimes, it could have been something else." Tracey said

"So, what's the plan since all of us are here?" Stephan asked

"Well, the news never said which town Ash had destroyed or how, all we saw in the video was him surrounded by the town that was burning on fire." Bede said

"So we need to find out which town was destroyed in the video." Leon said

"Yeah, maybe there are survivors who know that Ash didn't do it." Cissy said

"I suggest we all use our flying Pokémon to look around." Conway said as everyone agreed

About 2 hours went by, the believers had looked everywhere & for some strange reason, they couldn't find anything as all the towns & cities were in perfect condition. When they met back at the mansion

"Has anyone found anything?" Bede said

"Negative." Clembot said

"Not a single burned debris." Virgil said

"That's very odd, why would there be a town that was on fire?" Hop said

"Yeah, I mean everywhere else is looking good as new unless..." Tracey said as he realized something

"Unless what?" Ursula said

"...Unless there was no town." Tracey said

"No town? What are you talking about?" Stephan said confusingly

"Don't you see, like what Bede said, the news never said anything about which town Ash destroyed. It was a town with no name & no location because the town doesn't exist!" Tracey said to everyone's realization

"Oh my gosh, he's right, then there was never a town that was destroyed." Macy said

"Clembot, can you play the video that was on the news?" Bede said

"Affirmative." Clembot nodded as cords came out of his back & plugged to the TV which showed the video

Everyone watched the video on replay for a moment, until Tracey noticed something

"Wait! Clembot, zoom in on Ash's face!" Tracey said as Clembot zoomed in "Do you guys notice something different?"

Everyone looked closely until Scott figured it out

"Wait a minute, his birthmarks!" Scott said

"His what?" Georgia said

"You know, the little Z-shaped marks on his cheeks, Ash doesn't have his birthmarks in this video." Scott said

"Then that means this video's a fake!" Morrison said in outrage

"That's one puzzle solved, but what about the drugs?" Georgia said

Just then the doorbell rang, when Tracey opened the door, he saw a guy with red hair & gray eyes wearing a high-collared navy coat with red trim, dark violet pants, a black belt around his waist, & navy shoes with red trim that match the colors of his coat.

"Hello, may I come in?" The guy said

"Who are you?" Tracey said

"Someone with something you need." The guy said

"Tracey, who's at the door?" Bede called out

"I don't know, should I let him in?" Tracey said

"Let's see who it is?" Bede said

When the guy entered the mansion, Vincent recognized him

"Silver?" Vincent said surprisingly

"Hey Vincent." Silver said

"You know this guy?" Tracey said

"Yeah, he's my friend Ethan's rival." Vincent said "What are you doing here?"

"Like I said I'm someone with something you need." Silver said as he pulled out a disc

"What is it?" Tracey said

"Play it." Silver said

Tracey took the disc & put it in the disc slot inside Clembot which played on the TV

"Hey, this is the security footage from the Wyndon Stadium." Hop said

"Yeah & in the upper left corner is Ash battling Leon at the battlefield, & on the lower right corner is the locker room." Silver said

"Hey, look, someone's in the locker room." Senta said

"Clembot, put the locker room at full screen." Tracey said

Clembot put the locker room footage at full screen as everyone saw a gray cloaked figure, the figure then pulled out a pill bottle

"It's the drugs that were in Ash's locker." Ursula said surprisingly along with the others

"I knew it, it was all a set up!" Tracey said angrily

"We must show this to the world at once." Magnolia said

Later, on the news

"Breaking news, Ash Ketchum who had been accused of illegal drug use & mass destruction has been found innocent of the crimes." The news reporter said "We have a message from Galar Champion Leon who has evidence of Ash's innocence."

"Hello, to those who believe Ash was guilty of the crimes, it appears that all of you were wrong." Leon said as the videos came up "As you can see the video of Ash destroying a town was a fake, me & others who believed Ash was innocent had searched everywhere since the town didn't have a name or a location, that's when we all realized & there was never a town that was destroyed. So we looked at the video & noticed that the birthmarks on Ash's cheek were missing in the video implying that the video was fake. As for the drugs, we were given the security footage of the Wyndon Stadium & it appears that Ash was battling me while someone in a cloak deliberately put the drugs in his locker."

"Well, there you have it, it looks like all of us were wrong about Ash." The news reporter said with dread

Back at the mansion, where the believers were

"We did it everyone, we proved Ash's innocence!" Tracey said as everyone except Silver cheered

"Mission accomplished." Bede commented

"Bede, Silver, thank you so much for your help." Tracey said gratefully

"It was my pleasure." Bede said

"Don't mention it." Silver said as he turned his back "I have to go."

"Wait, Silver, don't you wanna know where Ash is?" Vincent said

"It's fine, I just came here to help, so it really doesn't matter." Silver said as he left "See you around."

"Alright, now the next thing we gotta do is find out where Ash is." Scott said "Does anybody have his number?"

"Scott, those scoundrels who betrayed him took his Rotom Phone away, remember?" Pryce said

"Oh, damn I forgot." Scott said

"It's okay you guys, Ash called me after I met Bede." Tracey said "So I have his new phone number."

"Well, what are you waiting for, whippersnapper? Call him!" Clay said

"Okay, okay, I'm calling him." Tracey said as he pulled out his Rotom Phone

Flashback End

"& that's how we did it." Tracey said

"Wow, it sounded like it was easy." Ash said "So, everyone who believed me is there with you?"

"Yeah, I'm putting you on speaker." Tracey said

"Hey Ash." the believers said

"Hi everyone." Ash said

"Ash, how've you been pal?" Scott said

"I'm doing fine." Ash said

"We're so glad you're okay, Ash." Sonia said

"Indeed, we feared the worst for you." Magnolia said

"Don't worry, Professor, it's gonna take more to bring me down." Ash said

"That's the kind of attitude, Ash." Stephan said

"Now that you're Innocence has been proven, you can stop hiding & come back." Angie said

"Yeah, come on home." Vincent said

"...Guys...I'm sorry to say this but...I can't." Ash said apprehensively

"You can't? What do you mean you can't, sweetheart?" Melony said

"Listen, there's something that you should know, you see my entire Pokémon journey...it was sabotaged." Ash said

"Sabotaged? What the hell are you talking about?" Piers said confusingly

Ash had told them every detail about his Pokémon being sabotaged by his mother, Oak, his fake friends, & godparents. Everyone was aghast at this

"Delia never wanted me to follow my dream, she wanted me to live a life that SHE wanted where I'll have no choice but to comply." Ash said "What's worse is that those who pretended to be my friends went along with it & never bothered to warn me."

"Damn, Ash, that really sucks." Raihan said

"I knew May was no good the moment I saw her!" Harley said

"Same for me, I had a feeling there was something about Dee Dee that I didn't like." Ursula said

"Aha! I was right about Cilan all along!" Burgundy said

"I'm a bit surprised that Iris would be hired to slow you down. I mean, I bet the reason why she became Champion was because she wanted to rub it in Ash's face." Georgia said

"Pryce, Clay, Juan, Blaine, Wattson, Ramos, were you in on this despicable plan?" Magnolia demanded

"We had no choice! They threatened to do terrible things to us & our Pokémon along with our families." Clay said

"Ash, words can't describe how sorry we are for our actions, we wanted to warn you but we were scared of what would happen if we did." Pryce said

"Yeah, besides, you're so-called 'friends' were with you, so if we had told you, they would have informed them." Wattson said

"It's okay, I'm not mad at you " Ash said

"Ash, we really tried to talk some sense into them, but they would stop at nothing to make you give up on your dream & live the life they wanted." Ramos said

"I know, which is why I'm not coming back, not yet." Ash said "Have you figured out who framed me?"

"Negative, the figured face & body was completely covered, & when they pulled out the drugs, their hand was covered in a glove & a long sleeve." Clembot informed

"This has to be Team Rocket's doing or the other leaders of the criminal organizations." Tracey said

"No, it wasn't them?" Ash said

"What? How do you know that, Ash?" Tracey said

"It's a bit of a long story." Ash said

Ash told them how he was saved by Lady Arceus & confronted the Team Organizations & villains he defeated.

"I never knew Arceus had a sister." Newton said

"Ash, are you sure they weren't lying?" Ivy asked

"They were not lying, Professor, I'm positive." Ash said

"Then if they didn't frame you, who did?" Sawyer said

"I don't know, Lady Arceus never told me." Ash said "You guys don't have to do an investigation about it, I'll find out on my own."

"Ash, are you planning on getting revenge when you come back?" Alder assumed

"It's not really about revenge, Alder, it's about Justice & Freedom." Ash said "Justice for how they screwed up my life without a second thought & with no regret or remorse."

"& Also to be free of them so you can live your own life." Marnie assumed

"Yes..." Ash said

"Well, we don't blame you, Ash." Alder said "As a matter of fact, we told your betrayers that they would have brought it on themselves if you came back for revenge."

"Yeah, so we won't stop you from doing that, even if you're siding with Team Rocket & the other criminal organizations in order to get revenge which will be no surprise." Scott said

"Ash, you haven't told us where you are." Tracey said

"Oh yeah, this may be unbelievable, but I'm in an alternate universe." Ash said

"An alternate universe you say?" Magnolia said

"Yeah, Lady Arceus had given me a second chance to restart my Pokémon Journey without it being sabotaged." Ash said

"That's wonderful, Ash, we're happy that you have another chance." Hala said

"Thanks, but a lot of things seem to be different here in this universe: the towns, cities, the Professors, Gym Leaders, maybe even the Elite Fours & Champions." Ash said

"Are there any new Pokémon?" Tracey said

"Oh yeah, I saw one Pokémon, it was called a Babeaker." Ash said

"Babeaker? I don't think I've heard of such a Pokémon." Conway said

"That's strange, I just looked it up on my Rotom Phone & there's no data on it." Ivy said

"Then that means Babeaker doesn't exist in the original world, I'll show you a picture." Ash said as he sent a picture

"Oh, what an extraordinary Pokémon." Spenser said

"It looks like a Flying Type." Burgundy said

"It is, & there may be even more Pokémon that don't exist in the original world." Ash said "But there are other creatures that I've encountered & they're not friendly."

Ash sent a picture of a Heartless

"Whoa, that looks badass." Piers said

"It looks very threatening, what is it?" Sanpei said

"It's called a Heartless, it's a living manifestation that's born when people's hearts are consumed by darkness." Ash said

"That sounds dangerous, Ash, I hope you'll be very careful." Allister said

"Don't worry, I will." Ash said "Oh, Nando, you're gonna be happy about this, but I'm competing in contests now."

"Oh really? So you're doing both gyms & contests like me?" Nando said surprisingly

"Yep." Ash said

"That's splendid." Nando said

"Have you won any ribbons, Hun?" Harley asked

"No, not yet, I lost in the first contest." Ash said

"What about badges?" Clembot asked

"I just got my first badge recently." Ash said

"Ash, do you want us to retrieve your Pokémon, so we can send them to you?" Ivy said

"No Professor, those idiots can keep them." Ash said much to the believers surprise

"Are you sure?" Ivy said

"Yes, I don't want them anymore." Ash said "Besides, I already had some of them replaced."

"Replaced? I thought you were against the idea of replacing your Pokémon?" Burgundy said

"That was BEFORE I was broken by their betrayal after everything I did for them along with giving them love, care, & mutual trust." Ash said "So why should I want them back if they never fully trusted me."

"We understand, Ash, that's your decision, not ours." Don George said

"What Pokémon do you have now?" Tracey asked

"Ihavea Shiny Pikachu, Shiny Eevee, Meowth, Riolu, Aipom, Croagunk, Psyduck, Gastly, Tauros, Nidoran, Bellsprout, Rattata, Shiny Pidgey, Pichu, Butterfree, Kakuna, Pineco, Dracovish, Mime Jr, & Dracozolt." Ash said

"That's a really good haul." Gordie said

"I know, some of them were the ones I escaped with, & a few of them happen to be Pokémon I've known from my past journey." Ash said

"I see, so are you continuing your dream of becoming a Pokémon Master?" Scott said

"Yep, definitely." Ash said

"Are you traveling with anyone?" Tracey said

"Nope, I'm traveling alone from now on." Ash said "You can't trust anyone to travel with you."

"Mm-hm, I agree with that." Ursula said

"Well, we're happy that you're alright, we were worried when you disappeared." Alder said

"Yeah, we'll let you go so you can live your dream." Scott said

"Thanks, I'll call you as often as I can & maybe I can bring you to this world if I can." Ash said "One more, the timeline between our world & this world is different. I've been here for 8 years, so you'll be seeing me in 8 months."

"Sounds good to us, see you in 8 months or sooner." Stephan said

"Okay, & thanks for letting me know, it makes me feel a lot better because I've been having a couple of nightmares." Ash said

"No problem, Ash?" Tracey said

"Bede, thanks for helping everyone clear my name."

"You're welcome." Bede said

"Hey Vincent, if you see Silver, please thank him for me." Ash said

"I will." Vincent said

"Okay, bye you guys." Ash said

"Bye Ash." The believers said as Ash hung up

"Whew, what a relief." Ash sighed

"You know, they never mentioned anything about the traitors." Eevee said

"Yeah, I wonder how they, along with the Legendaries reacted." Pikachu said

Meanwhile, at the Ketchum Residence, the traitors Delia, Oak, Blue, Green, Gary, Misty, Brock, May, Max, Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Clemont, Bonnie, Serena, Lana, Kiawe, Sophocles, Mallow, Lillie, Chloe & Goh were in shock as they were celebrating Ash's disappearance.

"Ash was innocent the whole time!?" Dawn exclaimed

"But that video looked so real, how could we not notice that Ash's birthmarks were missing?" Cilan said

"That means we turned our backs on him for nothing!" Lillie said

"Oh no..." Delia said in horror as she fell to her knees

"Delia?" Green said as she reached out to her

"Don't touch me!" Delia snapped as she started her hand "This is your fault!"

"What!?" Blue said incredulously

"You two told me that he would turn out rebellious & make bad decisions if he kept going on his journeys!" Delia said angrily

"But Delia, we were only–." Green said

"No, just get out & take your brat with you!" Delia demanded

"Fine, be that way, you ungrateful bitch!" Blue said angrily as he along with his Wife & son left.

"That goes for you too, Goh." Delia said

"What!?" Goh said shockingly

"You heard me." Delia said as she pulled out adoption papers & ripped them apart "Consider your adoption revoked."

"But I just packed my stuff back at my house!" Goh said in outrage

"Then you better go home & start unpacking." Delia said

"Fine! After everything I did to slow Ash down for you! Who needs you, you old hag!" Goh said angrily as he stormed out

Ash's old Pokémon had saw the news as well

"Oh no, Eevee was right, Ash was framed." O. Pikachu said in shock

"I can't believe it, I just don't believe it!" Charizard exclaimed "How could we have been wrong!?"

"What's worse is that we turned our backs on him without a second thought." Bayleef said tearfully

"Damn it, why didn't I use my Aura to see if he was telling the truth!?" Lucario said

"Yeah, he was our Trainer & we never believed him." Corphish said

"Alright, guys, don't panic, I'm sure Ash will come back & we'll apologize, then he'll forgive us & everything will go back to normal." O. Pikachu said

"But Pikachu, what if he doesn't forgive us? Have you forgotten what we did to him when we betrayed him?" Glalie said

"Yeah, we jacked him up very badly." Sceptile said

"What if Ash had already gone on another journey & has us...replaced." Scraggy said

"Come on, you guys, Ash would never replace us." O. Pikachu said

"Yeah, he refused Burgundy when she told him to replace us." Oshawott said

"Also Ash already traveled through Kanto, Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, & Alola, & he already beat the Galar Champion Leon, so there would be no point in traveling through Galar." Pikachu said

"Pikachu's right, there's no other Regions left for Ash to travel." Lycanroc said

(A/N: Paldea doesn't exist in the Original World)

"Exactly, so let's not lose hope, Ash will come back." O. Pikachu said

In the Hall of Origins, Arceus & the legendaries were having the shock of their lives.

"No, this is impossible!" Arceus exclaimed as he looked at Celebi "Celebi, are you certain that the future you saw was right."

"Yes, I was sure about what I saw in that future." Celebi said

"Then go check again!" Arceus demanded

"Yes sir." Celebi said as he went through a portal.

"How could we had been wrong about Ash." Virizion said

"The clone Pokémon were right, I should've used my psychic powers to see the truth." Mewtwo said dreadfully

"Once again, I had jumped to conclusions!" Arceus said frustratingly "Why am I so flawed!"

"Maybe because you should've talked to Ash in person instead of sending Celebi to the future after you had found out about that video!" Tapu Bulu said angrily

"Indeed, & what's worse is that we attacked & almost killed him for absolutely NO REASON!" Zapdos shouted

"Now now, we can fix this, just keep searching for him, so we can make things right with him." Arceus said "Lugia, tell Goh that he's been stripped of his Chosen One title."

"Yes sir." Lugia said

Meanwhile, Silver was walking through a path until a Team Rocket grunt confronted

"Silver?" The Grunt said

"What is it?" Silver said

"Come with me to headquarters, your father wants to see you." The Grunt said

There you go, Ash has been proven innocent, I know it may have been too early, but that's just how I am, plus I didn't wanna keep y'all waiting. But if that's a problem for some of y'all, then you can read something else, I know my stories aren't for everybody. Like I said a couple of chapters ago, I'm not a writing professionalist. I also know that some of the believers believing Ash was innocent may seem out of character, but that's what fanfiction is for. It's a shame that Silver never made an appearance in the Pokémon Anime except Pokémon Chronicles, but still. Anyway, stay tuned for another chapter. Morpho Out