No, my Chosen One had not been gifted with an easy journey.

"Charizard, why won't you listen to me? Please, use Flamethrower! Ember! Anything, please!"

I made sure that he would be forged in the flames of defeat.

"CHARIZARD! USE FLAMETHROWER!"

"BLAZIKEN! DRAGON RAGE!"

Without any remorse, the Dragon Rage crashed through the Flamethrower and when the smoke cleared, it was clear that Charizard was down. He had lost.

Through trial after trial, he would come up short.

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail, FULL POWER!"

"Meowth, match it!"

When the smoke cleared, the results were evident. He had lost again.

But it would be worth it.

"Lucario, Aura Sphere!"

"Pikachu, Electro-Ball!"

The two Pokemon shot off their attacks and when the dust settled, it was clear that Pikachu was down for the count."

Because eventually...

"Pikachu, VOLT TACKLE, MAXIMUM POWER!"

"Latios, Luster Purge"

...

"AND WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT FOLKS! BOTH LATIOS AND PIKACHU ARE DOWN FOR THE COUNT! SO MOVING ONTO THE SINNOH LEAGUE FINALS IS... TOBIAS!"

I was so close.

When he overcame the mountains that I refused to move,

"Lucario, Bone Rush!"

"Pikachu no!"

Another loss, perhaps his worst.

He'd be the very best,

"C'mon Pikachu, you can do it! We're so close to our dream! I believe in you!"

"Gallade, you've got this! Just one more minute!"

But it was not to be, because at that moment...

Like no one ever was.

"UNBELIEVABLE! GALLADE FINALLY COLLAPSED! ASH KETCHUM WINS THE KALOS LEAGUE! ASH KETCHUM WINS THE KALOS LEAGUE!"

He collapsed to his knees.

He had done it.

He had won.

But in that moment, when the Chosen One would see victory within his reach and claim it, he would become something greater.

He would become a legend.

If asked, Ash Ketchum would say that he had a good life. He was champion of the Orange League and the Battle Frontier, both of which remained undefeated after he went through them, he had competed in five leagues, ranking highly at each one, and then finally, in the Kalos League, his Pikachu won a stare-down with a Mega Gallade, earning him the Kiloude Cup. He had a team of strong Pokemon that loved him, and friends that would back him no matter what. So yeah, Ash would say that he lived a good life.

"Chu-Pika, Pikapi?" The yellow mouse that rode on his shoulder spoke, concerned black eyes looking into large amber ones.

"Haha, no, I was just thinking, Pikachu," Ash responded. After travelling with Pikachu for seven years, he understood the majority of what his starter had to say.

"Pika. Pikachu pi?"

"I was planning on just going back to Pallet like we usually do after a league. We'll chill there and train until something new pops up. You know how it is; something always does. That sound good to you?"

"Chu!" Pikachu agreed, nodding.

Currently Ash was walking through the forest that connected Kiloude city to Vaniville town. He was giving his Talonflame a break from all the hard work he had put in to earn Ash the cup, and plus sometimes it was just good to slow down and walk. Kalos was, after all, beautiful. Besides, he would be doing enough flying once he got to Lumiose Airport. Plus he was walking Serena back to her hometown one final time before they were forced to part ways.

"Ash, do you wanna stop and eat? It's about noon right now, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that I'm hungry," The self-proclaimed genius of their little group stated. His younger sister immediately agreed, giving Ash the Growlithe eyes.

Ash chuckled. "Haha, yeah. I think I see a clearing ahead. We can stop there and eat," Ash replied. In reply, a chorus of 'yes!' echoed throughout the woods.

Once they reached the clearing, Ash set up supplies for Brock's No-chew lazy boy stew, his all-time favorite. After getting the stew started, the group decided to let their Pokemon eat and have some fun as well. Pouring food into six bowls, Ash let out Greninja, Goodra, Talonflame, Hawlucha and Aegislash, and Pikachu jumped off of his shoulder. Serena called out her Delphox, Pangoro, Meowstic, Masquerain, Altaria and Azumarill, who all cheered at the prospective break. Clemont released his Luxray, Helioilisk, Manectric, Jolteon, Ampharos, and Lanturn, while Dedenne scrambled out of Bonnie's arms.

Soon, it was anarchy, with 19 different Pokemon and four humans chowing down on their food. Ash, being Ash, finished long before anyone else and sat back with a gleam in his eyes; he loved his Pokemon and friends more than anything. He laughed when his eyes drifted to Aegislash, as to eat he skewered, no, impaled his food before shoving his blade into his mouth (?) Ash didn't know what to call it.

His thoughts began to drift back to every Pokemon he had the ones he released. He thought about his Kalos team, easily the most powerful team he had, with Gogoat and Avalugg back at the lab for now. He frowned, realizing that he had been neglecting his other Pokemon, besides his Kalos team. Bulbasaur, for example, he hadn't seen for over a year now while he was in Kalos. He could've trained the little guy, but no, he wanted to emulate a new journey every time he left for a new region. It was then that determination shone in his eyes as he thought a single sentence: "Never again will I neglect anyone."

He started to plan how he would get his Pokemon back from the wild or other trainers and put everyone on a rotation schedule. But before he got too far, he was snapped out of his musing. Everyone and every Pokemon were looking at him, eyes wide and jaws agape. He was confused; did he have something on his face? Clemont saw his confusion and simply gestured to look behind him.

Slowly, he turned around; facing whatever had the entire group speechless. When he saw it, he too was speechless, save for one single word that crossed his mind.

"Shit."

Behind him, a golden portal, about the size of Clemont, was open and he could see through to a group of islands, much like the Orange Islands but not as tropical. Looking closer, he saw that one island had a volcano, another was freezing, and yet another seemed to be crackling with electricity. For the second time that day, Ash mentally cursed, thinking the islands to be Shamoulti.

He shuddered, remembering what had happened there the last time he was there. Almost getting murdered by the elemental birds of Kanto was not an experience he wanted to repeat, thank you very much. He hoped that he wouldn't have to encounter the trio anytime soon. Boy, was he wrong. He heard deep laughing, and a higher-pitched giggling from above the portal. Snapping himself out of his musing, he whipped his head up to where he heard the sounds. His eyes widened to approximately the size of Russia when he saw two figures that he hadn't seen since the fiasco in Desser City. He immediately looked around for Rayquaza, Groudon, Kyogre, Dialga, Palkia, Reshiram, Zekrom, Regigigas, Lugia, Latios, Latias, and Kuyrem, seeing as they were there the last time those two showed up. For those two Pokemon were none other than...

"Arceus?! Hoopa?! What are you doing here?" Ash screamed. He made a motion for his Pokemon to get ready to defend themselves in case an attack happened again. Arceus laughed, a deep, echoing sound that was almost melodious to hear.

"Do not worry, Chosen One. We seek no harm this time." Arecus spoke. Ash visibly sighed at this, and motioned for his Pokemon to stand down. Hoopa saw this and giggled.

"Yeah! But we ARE here to give you the opportunity of a lifetime!" Hoopa chimed in. Arceus nodded.

"Chosen one, we have been waiting for a long time. We wanted to give you this chance, but we didn't want you to be unprepared. So we decided to wait until after you won a league championship to offer you this chance." Ash perked up at the mention of a challenge, and stood up defiantly.

"A challenge? All right! I'm in!" His Pokemon all roared their agreement, "Clemont, Serena, Bonnie? You guys in?" But before they could even so much as nod, Arceus interrupted.

"Err-herm. Ah, you see, Ash, this is a challenge that none other than the Chosen One himself is allowed to witness or take part in." Ash sighed, looking to his friends. He was about to deny the offer when Serena suddenly spoke up.

"Ash, go follow your dreams. We understand. And you'd be crazy to turn this offer down! I mean, the two most powerful legendries EVER have offered you an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You'd be INSANE not to take it!" Serena said, and her voice was unwavering and firm. Sure, she was sad that she couldn't see her crush for who knows how long, but he helped her with her dream. Shouldn't she help him with his? It was when Clemont and Bonnie chimed their agreement that Ash began to tear up. He spoke.

"You guys mean more to me than you can ever know. Thank you all so much for sticking with me through the ups and downs of this journey. I'll miss you, but as soon as this is over I'll be back again. Oh, and tell my mother that I'm gonna be a bit late home from this one."

Arceus smiled at this exchange. "Ash, are you ready? Everything you need will be provided for you when we get where we need to go." Ash nodded.

"Yeah. Let's do it." And with that, he recalled his Pokemon and stepped into the portal, nodding a final time to his friends.

"Well, uh, sooooo, what do we do now?" Clemont voiced after everyone got over what happened. Two shrugs met his query.

Ash was in unbelievable pain. It felt like his body was being squeezed and beaten from every angle. Looking down in his arms, he saw that Pikachu wasn't faring much better. This went on for about fifteen more seconds before Ash couldn't take it anymore, and his thoughts started drifting to how Hoopa did this all the time. When he had first met her, it had looked painless and fun, but now that he was experiencing it himself, he had second thoughts on the process.

Plus, he thought, when Hoopa did it, it looked like the process happened within the span of a millisecond. A stray thought passed his mind about time slowing down in the portals, but he quickly brushed it aside.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, he saw the same image that he had seen when he first looked into the portal. Only this time, when he looked side to side, he saw that there were more than just the three islands. A quick breath of relief escaped his lips as he realized that the islands weren't Shamoulti. Suddenly, the image expanded, and everything went white.

When he regained his vision, he saw that he was a marble floor in the middle of a massive room. He looked to his side, expecting to see Pikachu, but instead, a purple demoness greeted him.

"Boo!" Said demoness yelled into his face. Ash let out a manly scream and shot to his feet. Suddenly, he heard two voices laughing. Turning around, he saw Arceus chuckling and Pikachu rolling around the floor in hysterics. The little traitor. When the two had gotten over 'his incredibly manly scream and incredibly manly facial expression' Arceus sheepishly spoke.

"Err-herm... It seems to have slipped my mind that inter-realm travel for the first time hurts. Also, you're a human... You're not really supposed to go through those. Sorry. We'll fix that real fast." Suddenly, Ash felt different. Not in a bad way, but not in a good way either. Just... different. Arceus noticed this and said "And so it worked. You should be able to go through those portals with no problem now."

Hoopa laughed, "Which is good, because that's how you'll be travelling from now on." Ash noticeably paled at this, causing the three Pokemon to burst into another fit of laughter.

A couple minutes later, Ash, Hoopa, Arceus, and Pikachu (who resumed his position on Ash's shoulder) were getting a tour of what would apparently become his new house. It was big, but not to the point where it was overwhelming. So far, the kitchen was his favorite room. Arceus had enchanted it with a pantry and fridge that held whatever food Ash wanted and never ran out. Needless to say, the boy with the appetite of a Snorlax and the Pikachu with a ketchup addiction were ecstatic. After leaving the kitchen (read, 'After Hoopa opened a portal under the duo's feet into another room), Ash saw what would become his bedroom.

It was on the second story of the building, and it overlooked what seemed to be a massive grassy field. The entire island that the mansion was on was completely surrounded by eighteen different islands, and, well, water.

He saw that three that he had seen earlier, with the volcano, electric terrain, and snow-capped mountain, and then, looking at the fifteen others, he saw that they all had distinct features. One had a jungle on the entire island, another had a mountain with no snow and another that Ash could see had what looked to be a massive opening in the ground. Yet another had a creepy old tower, much like what Ash pictured the Lavender Tower would look like after about 100 years of disrepair, and even another had what looked to be a swamp. Ash was broken from his time at the windowby Pikachu, who was gesturing for him to come onto the balcony. Ash did, and when he stepped out and looked down, he nearly passed out from shock. Because in that massive grassy field- which Ash now saw had a lake in the middle- was every single one of his Pokemon. All of them. Even the ones he had left with others or released, like Pidgeot, Lapras, Primape, Gliscor, and Lavaritar! Furthermore, he even saw Pokemon that he had helped over the years! Suddenly, a massive shadow loomed over Ash and he looked up to be greeted by a flamethrower to the face.

"Well, it's good to see you too, Charizard..." Ash deadpanned, wiping the soot out of his face and hair.

Charizard grunted, probably his form of laughter, and motioned for Ash to get onto his back. Ash complied, and Charizard immediately shot into the air. But it was only brief, as Charizard was heading straight towards the middle of the field. As soon as he landed, he was crushed by his many Pokémon and their odd ways of showing affection. Toxic hugs, body slams, flamethrowers, tackles, and nuzzling against him, Ash could barely stand up thanks to his Pokémon, no, family. Again, he heard the now-familiar chuckle of Arceus coupled with the higher-pitched giggle of Hoopa. This caused his Pokémon to stop, some shuddering at Hoopa's laughter. 'They were probably brought here by Hoopa' he mused.

But then, Arceus began a speech.

"You might want to sit down, Chosen One, because this is going to be a long talk. Like I said earlier today, we legendries waited for you to win a League Championship to allow you to take part in this."

His Pokémon roared at the mention of the win, but quieted down when Arceus started again.

"...but we never explained what 'this' is. So here it is. I'm guessing you already saw the eighteen islands, right?"

Ash nodded in conformation, "Well, on each of those islands reside the most powerful Pokemon of their type. I'm sure you noticed that every island was different, right?"

Another nod, "Well, each island represents a certain type of Pokemon. On that island, every Pokemon you see is fair game to catch,"

A grin started to appear on Ash's face at the mention of this Safari-Zone like catching spree he could go on.

"However," Ash's grin started to falter, "Each of these Pokémon is capable of single-handedly taking down Brandon." Ash's jaw dropped at this. Just what kind of Pokemon were they?! "Also, there are legendaries on each island, and, well, they're fair game too, if you can manage to capture them."

If Ash's jaw could drop any lower, it would've. His Pokemon were all similarly stunned, save for Charizard, Infernape, Sceptile, and Goodra sharing a four-way high five in the back of the group. "So what I'm saying is, train the hell up. You have four weeks before your first island. Use them well." And with that, Arceus and Hoopa walked through a portal.

Ten minutes later, Ash spoke.

"Guys, we'd better get our stuff together. We've got one heck of a challenge here."

Over seventy roars met his cry.

Over the next four weeks, Ash and his team trained themselves into the ground. Every Pokemon that could evolve did at least once, and if they weren't fully evolved, they were close. It had seemed that Arceus had said something to his Pokemon to get them to change their minds on the whole 'not-evolving thing,' and to be quite frank, Ash was pretty happy about it.

Heck, even Bulbasaur had evolved into Ivysaur and was really close to evolving again! So, finally, at the end of the four weeks, Ash and his group of Pokemon were discussing which island they should choose, if they had a choice about it. Ash looked at his team, and then thought about the type-matchups. He only had one Pokemon that chad an advantage over Fairy Types, which had advantages over most types. (Seriously, they're like the Gen 1 Psychic types of Gen 6.) However, he had a few really powerful Fire types, and a couple Ground Types… And both of those types had an advantage over Steel… Which then had an advantage over Fairies… And suddenly, he knew where he was going. He bolted to his feet, startling most of his Pokemon and proclaimed,

"I've got it! We're heading to the Steel Island first!" His Pokemon all cheered.

"But, most of you are staying here."

Less cheers at that one. He continued,

"Alrighty! I need Torkoal, Infernape, Charizard, Typhlosion, Emboar, Gigalith, Krookodile, and Donphan on me asap." The aforementioned Pokemon cheered, scrambling over to him. The rest of the Pokemon looked a little dejected, so Ash continued.

"Hey, don't be bummed! Each one of you will get a chance to battle. I'm giving everyone a chance here; if you have a type advantage over a certain type, you're coming. I know I never cared much about type matchups before, but now we can't afford to screw around. Got it?" His Pokemon all perked up at his little speech, some giving roars to show their enthusiasm. Ash spoke one last time.

"Oh, one last thing. Just because I'm gone, that's not an excuse to stop training, right?" The Pokemon staying behind let out an indignant cheer.

"Well, it seems you have figured everything out,"

Arceus said, scaring the crap out of Ash and his Pokemon, most of whom had their backs to him. "So, what island did you choose?" Hoopa inquired. Ash spoke, exited now that their first adventure was within reach now.

"Well, I think the choice is an easy one. I choose… Steel Island! Registeel and Dialga, watch out, because here I co-"

Before he could finish, however, he found himself face-down on the floor of what looked like a factory, with the faint laughter of Hoopa in the background.

"Damn genies," Ash muttered. Getting to his feet, Ash looked around. He saw that his initial guess of the place being a factory was correct. Lining the walls were old, broken-down machines and gears. Broken wires were everywhere and Ash could see a couple Magneton sucking the power out of the cables.

Turning slowly, Ash could see four doors. Three of them were open, and one of them had dots above it and was closed. Ash figured that that was where Registeel was. But to be honest, Ash didn't really know what he was supposed to do. He knew that he was supposed to beat-and catch- the steel legendaries, all the while catching any Pokemon he wanted, but other than that, he wasn't sure what to do. So he walked through a door.

He had a bunch of Pokemon in mind that he wanted to find and catch. Empoleon, Bisharp, Exadrill, Probopass, Magnezone, Bastidon, if the factory had any, and Skarmory. Suddenly he tripped over something. Looking down, he saw a bracelet with a stone inside. He flashed back to the Kalos League, when he saw that specific item last.

Flashback

"Alright! Gallade, ready to take this battle to the next level?" His opponent asked. Ash was confused, they were already pushing him near to his limits. Were they not using their full power? Gallade nodded, and suddenly his opponent thrusted his arm into the air and said, "Alright! Gallade, lets Mega Evolve!" Ash thought the guy was insane until Gallade erupted into a bright pink light, forcing Ash to look away. When he looked back, he saw a whole new Gallade. His opponent smirked, "Alright! Lets ROCK THIS!"

Mega Gallade, or whatever it was called, then took out two of his Pokemon before Pikachu finally overcame it.

Flashback End

Was this one of the bracelets that allowed Pokemon to Mega Evolve? Pikachu nudged him. "Huh?" The mouse held his paws out, revealing a note. Ash read aloud, "Ash, this is a Mega Bracelet. I'm sure you've seen a couple in action, but you never got a chance to try one yourself. This bracelet allows compatible Pokemon to evolve into a stage that is near legendary level." His jaw dropped, "All you need is a bond with the Pokemon and a Mega Stone, which I have not included. If, by any chance, you catch a Pokemon that can Mega-Evolve here, they will be holding their stone when you let them out of their Pokeball. I have also included a list, organized by type, of the Pokemon that can do this. Good Luck! By the way, you missed a legendary that happens to be steel type..." Ash finished. 'Hmm. I know Registeel and Dialga, but another? Heatran maybe? Coballion? Mayb-"

He was cut off by the sound of giggling.

Jirachi.

When Ash turned around again, he found himself face-to-face with a giant hunk of steel. That moved. Slowly looking up, Ash saw the face of a massive Steelix staring back down at him. "Arceus, Steelix! You about gave me a heart attack! Anyway, I challenge you to a battle!" But before Ash could even pull a Pokeball out, Steelix was gone. In its place was a massive hole. Ash sweat-dropped. "Uh, don't attack yet... I have yet to release a Pokemon..." He heard a faint roar. "Umm, alrighty then. Charizard, I choose you! Steelix, its fair game now!" He said, bolting to the side of the room.

Suddenly, a Stone Edge burst through the ground where Charizard was standing, scoring a direct hit. Charizard roared in surprise and flew up into the sky. "Charizard! Flamethrower into the hole!" Still in the air, Charizard complied, sending a massive flamethrower into the hole that Steelix dug. Somewhere deep in the earth, Ash heard a roar.

Suddenly, the ground started rumbling and Steelix popped out, spinning in a Gyro Ball. "Charizard! Dodge left!" Charizard bolted to his left, narrowly missing him. "Fire Blast!" Out of Charizard's maw, a massive kanji-shaped blast of fire erupted, exploding against Steelix's side. The Iron Snake Pokemon roared, diving back down into its tunnel. A couple seconds later, Ash heard a sizzling noise. 'That smart bastard! He's got water down there!" He thought.

Then aloud, "Alright! Charizard, we need to get that water out of there. Launch a Blast Burn into the hole!" The Fire Lizard complied, charging a massive ball of fire in his mouth. A few moments later, the fireball shot from the dragon's maw and flew down the hole. A couple minutes later, Ash heard a louder sizzling noise, like water dropped onto hot cement, and an earsplitting roar. Ash smiled.

"Thanks Charizard, you did awesome. Return."

He recalled the lizard and grabbed another Pokeball. "Alright! Krookodile, I choose you!" The bipedal crocodile busted from its ball, red shades in hand. (He seemed to be good friends with Blastoise...) "Dig! Then bombard Steelix with Fire Punches until he faints!" The 'dile nodded and started to dig a hole. Ash sweatdropped, "Uh, you could just use Steelix's hole." In response he got a mound of dirt to the face. He waited about five minutes before lobbing an Ultra Ball into the hole. Another five minutes later, Krookodile emerged from the hole, beaten and battered, But holding an Ultra Ball in his claws.

"Alright! I caught a... Steelix!"

"Pika!"

But their celebration was short-lived. Again, they heard the giggling. Ash pocketed the Ultra Ball, deciding to truly meet Steelix later, and looked around for the owner of the giggles. However, even after turning a full 360 and looking every angle, Ash couldn't see Jirachi.

Suddenly, Ash felt his hat being lifted off of his head. He instinctively grabbed for it, catching the hat in a vice grip and not letting go. However, looking up, he saw that it wasn't Jirachi who had the hat.

Well... It was, technically. It was her Psychic attack. Ash and Pikachu found themselves ten feet in the air, holding on to Ash's hat. They were slowly making their way through the maze of a factory, while getting odd looks from the residential Pokemon. Finally, after dodging some weak rocks thrown by some playful Nosepass, the hat finally descended into a large hole in the ground. The hole, which started at about ten feet wide, got narrower and darker until Ash could barely fit and couldn't see PIkachu on his shoulder. But he could hear him juuuust fine.

The little mouse was screaming his head off, making cries of 'Pikapi Chu!' and 'Pikaaaaaa!' echo through the area. Ash couldn't blame him though. The little guy was completely out of its comfort zone.

Suddenly, the tunnel opened up into a massive arena. Once again, Ash could tell that it was a Steel themed island. Lining the massive arena- the battlefield was easily 200 by 200 yards- Were steel beams and floodlights. Looking behind those, Ash saw both metal and stone bleachers that housed hundreds upon hundreds of steel type Pokemon, all exited for the battle to come. Scattered across the field were upright steel beams, giving the battle arena a look similar to Spear Pillar on top of Sinnoh's Mount Coronet.

Suddenly, Ash was dropped into the middle of the field, right in the middle of a Pokeball design on the ground made of more steel beams. He landed in a crumbled heap, much to the amusement of the surrounding Pokemon. His hat drifted onto his head, causing even more of an uproar with the Steely Pokemon. He slowly got up. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up," Ash grumbled, causing the entire arena to burst into unconstrained laughter Ash realized with no small amount of bitterness that his voice was being projected. Suddenly, Jirachi descended from the ceiling. She spoke,

"Hey Ash! Its good to see you again!" At this Ash was understandably confused. Didn't Jirachi go into a slumber for 1000 years? And did he know this Jirachi? Said legendary giggled.

"Yep! You know me! Just like you know most of the legendaries here! And before you ask, I'm psychic. You're an open book to me. Well, since I'm the first legendary you encountered, I have to give a little shpeal from Arceus. Ahem. 'Good job Ash! I knew you could do it. Now, on every island, there are at least two legendaries, unless there are not enough legendaries that fit the type criteria. Now, most legendaries you'll have to fight. Some, however, you have already proven yourself worthy to and will come with you willingly. Even others you HAVE proven yourself to them, but you still will have to battle them, just because some legendaries are like your Charizard."

Ash visibly paled. Jirachi continued, "...Good luck to you, and may you finally 'Catch Them All.' Well, thats that! As for me, I fall into the second category. So if you would do the honors? Oh! One last thing. Do you have a Luxury Ball?"

He didn't.

He about cried.

So close to catching a legendary and he was stopped by the trivial fact that he didn't have a f*cking Luxury Ball.

But before he could say anything, Jirachi hit herself with one of her ribbons. "Oh! Silly me! I forgot to give you this!" She levitated Ash a brown burlap bag, no bigger than a volleyball.

"Here! This is a maaaaagicall baaaaaggg! Just think of any Pokeball, and it will appear! Cool, huh!" Ash was floored. A magical bag? ANY Pokeball?! He was about to burst from excitement, and would've if Jirachi hadn't slapped him with a ribbon. "Did you hear a word I just said?!" She sighed, "Why do I even bother... Capture me, you dimwit!" Ash complied, reaching into the bag and thinking two words: 'Luxury Ball'

Suddenly, his hand closed over a circular object. Pulling it out, he was a little shocked to see that the bag worked. For in his hand was a sleek, metallic Luxury Ball. Without any hesitation Jirachi floated over and smacked the button on the middle of the ball. The ball didn't even shake, signifying an instant capture. Ash gaped.

"A-Alright! I caught... A Jirachi!"

"Pika!"

Most of the steel types watching cheered as well.

Suddenly, he heard a deep, rumbling chuckle. A voice boomed over the stadium and the lights dimmed.

"Congratulations. But don't expect me be that easy. Get ready, Chosen One! I'm coming for you with everything I've got!"

In response Ash palmed one of his pokeballs. Grinning, he tossed the sphere upwards. In a burst of red light, Infernape appeared, roaring his arrival. In response, Ash saw the dark silhouette jump almost as high as the roof of the cavern and then slam into the ground with such force that every stone pillar crumbled. The quake also knocked Infernape and Ash off of their feet, sending the duo to the ground.

Suddenly, Ash found himself on a raised platform on the edge of the field. The lights cut back on, allowing Ash his first real look at the colossal creature. Standing at over eight feet, the Iron Pokemon towered over the one that Brandon owned. Suddenly, the metal Pokeball design at the middle of the arena burst into blinding red light, forcing Ash to look away. When he looked back, he saw that the design had transformed into the same design Registeel had on its face.

"Now that's more like it! Lets get this show on the road, eh?"

Then, with blinding speed that the legendary should not have possessed due to it being made of steel and the fact that its feet were stubbs. Closing the large gap between itself and Infernape in a matter of seconds, Registeel suddenly cocked one of its fists back and slammed it into Infernape with enough force to send him flying into a wall and crack it. Ash was dumbfounded. The Regi didn't even use an attack! It just punched Infernape and knocked it out! Was this truly the power of a legendary? Registeel yawned.

"Booring. Am I going to get a real challenge today, or are you going to get it together and suprise me?"

Ash scowled. It wanted a challenge? Well Ash would damn well give one to it. Reaching down into his backpack, Ash grabbed not one, not two, but every Pokeball he had on him- save Jirachi- and threw them towards the arena. Twenty Pokemon burst into existence, filling the chamber with fierce roars. Ash smirked.

"Everyone use your most powerful attacks! Hit him hard!" 3 Blast Burns, Iron Heads, Stone Edges, Earthquakes, and various other attacks rocked the arena, combining and creating a massive explosion that obscured everything from Ash's view. When the dust faded, Ash's jaw dropped. There, in the center of the explosion, was Registeel, chuckling softly.

"Now now now. You're gonna have to try a lot harder than that to defeat me." He sounded unfazed, but Ash could see that so many powerful attacks had taken their toll on the iron beast. Then, in the blink of an eye, Torkoal, Emboar, Exadrill, Bastidon, Bronzong and Probopass were down. Ash cursed under his breath, cursing again as he was reminded that his words were broadcast around the entire arena.

To be honest, Ash was scared. He couldn't do anything against the legendary, who was currently leaning against one of the demolished metal pillars, casually waiting for Ash to make a move. If it had a mouth Ash knew it would be smirking. He had lost all hope until he remembered Arceus' gift to him when he had first arrived.

Flashback_

Looking down, he saw what had caused him to stumble. A bracelet, almost exactly the same width as his forearm, was lying on the ground with a note attached to what seemed to be a stone in the middle of the band. Ash skimmed over the note, pausing at the part that explained how to use the bracelet. 'Alright. Look at the Pokemon you want to Mega Evolve, and if they're compatible and holding their stone, press the stone on your bracelet down and they will Mega Evolve.' Ash thought. Easy enough. He kept reading. 'Be warned, however, that only one Pokemon can undergo this process during any given battle due to League rules.

Flashback End_

Now, all he had to do was pick which Pokemon would work best against Steelix. He ultimately picked Metagross, because her psychic powers could give them the upper hand in the battle. However, before he Mega Evolved her, though, he had a thought.'If League rules don't apply here... Well... If this works,' he thought,' we might just win this battle.'

He spoke aloud, "Guys! Get ready! This could be epic!" Then he thrust his wrist up. Pressing the stone on his bracelet in, six of the twenty Pokemon erupted into a bright, pink light. Ash grinned like a madman. Not even bothering to contain his excitement, he yelled two words:

"MEGA EVOLVE!"

Anywho, heres a list of the Pokemon Ash captured when we weren't looking in this chapter: Scizor, Mawile, Steelix (Duh) Metagross, Aggron, Bronzong, Empoleon, Bisharp, Magnezone, Probopass, Exadrill, Bastidon, and Lucario.

Also, I know Nosepass isn't a steel type. However, Probopass is.

Peace!