Ash's hopes and dreams plummeted as he saw Pikachu, his final hope, collapse on the hard dirt floor. He sighed dejectedly as he heard the Announcer of the Unova League call out.

"And after a gripping battle, Pikachu is unable to continue! Since he is out of Pokémon, Ash Ketchum has lost the battle. The Battle Victor and Winner of the Unova League is Trip!"

Trip smirked as he spoke;

"Just as I thought, there's no way that I could lose to a pathetic little nobody from the Boonies!"

Ash's face went red with rage before he calmed down and walked towards the field, scooped up Pikachu and exited without so much as saying a word. Up in the stands, Ash's friends and family sighed sadly. Ash was that close to winning, they honestly thought he had it.

Meanwhile

Ash said nothing as his Team was getting healed by Nurse Joy. The nurse herself spoke;

"If it's any consolation, I saw your battles, and I believe that you did extremely well."

Ash didn't smile. What Nurse Joy said had actually made the feeling worse. He had been journeying since Kanto, and he never was able to successfully complete a Pokémon League Tournament. Not one! After nearly 5 years of training and traveling, he had barely anything to show for his accomplishments. Yeah sure he won the Orange League and the Kanto Battle Frontier, but that doesn't make him feel better.

Nurse Joy could see he was still upset, so she collected his newly healed Pokémon and returned them to him before she watched sadly as the 15 year old boy walked out of the Pokémon Center. Pikachu said nothing as he crawled onto Ash's shoulder. His eyes were closed as he refused to look Ash in the eye. Upset over the loss. He thought to himself.

'I'm pathetic. I failed Ash…AGAIN! I've been with him the longest out of all his Pokémon, and at the end of every single journey, I let him down. I could have SWORN we had it this time! But I guess I got overconfident and completely threw the whole thing.'

Ash could see Pikachu beating himself up over their recent loss, so Ash spoke;

"It's not your fault Pikachu. I'm the trainer; it was my poor judgment that cost us the win. It's my fault. Maybe Trip was right…maybe I am pathetic."

Pikachu frowned as he spoke;

"Trip is wrong! You aren't pathetic. You are anything but. It's my fault we lost, not yours. I'm the pathetic one."

Ash frowned as he spoke;

"No you're not. The truth is that we're not strong enough. Every time we lose a league, we simply head off to a new region, leaving everyone else behind and try again, only to fail. Well No more. I think we should train for a few years. Get more prepared. Work with the Pokémon we already have."

Pikachu nodded in full agreement as Ash used his Xtransceiver to call Professor Oak. He had a request to make.

To say Prof. Oak was shocked was an understatement.

"I'm sorry Ash, but you plan to do WHAT?!"

Ash's face remained hard and determined as he spoke;

"I plan to disappear for a few years. Train all my Pokémon. I'm absolutely tired of losing Leagues, so I'm going to try something different."

Oak sighed as he spoke;

"I admit that is a more tactical approach, but what about your mother and your friends? You're simply planning to just drop everything and disappear without so much as a goodbye?"

Ash frowned as he spoke;

"If I let them know before hand, they're obviously going to hate the idea and try and talk me out of it. And this is something that I can't afford to be talked out of."

Oak sighed as he spoke;

"Alright then, fine. Where are you going?"

Ash smiled sadly as he spoke;

"I can't tell you that either. You could tell one of them and they can try to track me down. It's better in the long run if you don't know."

Oak blinked before he spoke;

"But if I don't know where you are…how am I supposed to exchange Pokémon with you? You plan to train all of them, so you need me to exchange them with you."

Ash smirked as he spoke;

"And there is the question I was hoping for. Is there any way to carry them all at once?"

Professor Oak blinked, before a sly smile spread across his face as he spoke;

"Oh have I got just the thing for you."

The professor pulled away from the terminal to dig around his desk for something before he pulled out what appeared to be a disk and spoke;

"This CD contains an upgrade for the Pokédex, allowing the amount of Pokémon that can be carried at one time to me unlimited. You can carry every single one of them, without a limit. Only downside is I need to upgrade the Pokédex in person, but that will allow you to collect all of your other Pokémon and inform them on what you plan to do. I also advise you try to go and….reunite with Pokemon you released or have placed in training, like you did with Charizard."

Ash smiled as he nodded and spoke;

"I'm on my way back to Kanto now with everyone else. If everything goes according to plan, I can have my Pokédex upgraded and leave by nightfall!"

Professor Oak frowned as he spoke;

"Ash…I still advise against not informing your friends that you plan to leave. You'll seriously hurt them."

Ash frowned as he spoke;

"What if I leave a letter explaining everything? That way, I tell them I'm leaving, but they don't get the chance to try and talk me into staying."

Oak sighed, but seeing it was the best he was probably gonna get considering how determined the boy is, he nodded.

Ash grinned as he hung up the call. He had some work to do. But in the end, it will all be worth it.

OK That went perfect. Just to Clarify, there will indeed be a shipping between Ash and a female character, but I'm torn between Advanceshipping and Pearlshipping. I'll leave that decision to all of you. Post in the comments your thoughts.