DarkFoxKit: *Slowly comes out and looks around* … Hi everyone. So, looks like I was able to get the next arc out sooner than I predicted, which is good news for you readers since you'll get to finally see the next anticipated arc. The arc that will lead into the big war that's been foreshadowed since Shadows of Kanto. Oh, and I have a surprise friend with me this time! … *Waits* ….. *Ahem* … Hey, get out here. Come on, hurry up! … I know you're scared, but if you don't come out soon then I'll just be standing here looking awkward all day.

Donfyre: …. *gulps before finally walking up to Fox* … A-alright, fine, I'm out here now, happy? I still don't see why you wanted me to be here so badly.

DarkFoxKit: Hey readers, meet my little Wooper boy Donfyre. He's a good friend of mine and he's hoping to make a good impression on everyone. He's nervous so be nice, please!

Donfyre: H-hiya everyone! I… was here at another time in the previous story, but was kinda just there. But this time! … I'm also kinda just here, but to help make the ANs more "peppy" to celebrate the arrival of the third story in the series. ^^; Which a lot of you seem to have been oh-so excited to see. XP

DarkFoxKit: *Grabs Fyre and starts dancing around with him* This IS exciting! Why wouldn't it be?

Donfyre: Wah! DX *is swung around as Fox attempted to dance with him by using his antennas* Y-you wanna get on with the story now? They're all probably really excited to move on to that instead of watching a crazy fox dance with someone who doesn't even have ARMS!

DarkFoxKit: On the contrary, I think people would be interested in a crazy fox dancing with someone who has no arms. XP Oh! But I must explain something else before we move on. *Puts Fyre down before clearing her throat* Now as you may have noticed, Key isn't on the ANs. Why? Well he's pretty busy with his own life, so please don't ask me to bring him here. Besides, I think it'll be just as fun, if not more so, to play with my little new toy here. :3

Donfyre: H-HEY! *pouts at her* If I recall… the ANs with you and Key were usually just bickering with each other with Mew sometimes coming on to play.

Mew: Did someone say my name? *floats over to Fyre with a big, excited smile*

Donfyre: *sweatdrops* Speak of the…. Okay! M-maybe you should just move on now, Fox, before a certain someone decides to something… destructive on camera. *is slowly inching away from the floating feline*

Mew: Oooh, a new, fresh toy to play with~ *floats towards the scared Wooper*

DarkFoxKit: Errr… get on with the story, there's nothing to see here! *covers the camera* Wait Mew! MEW DON'T-! *static*

The Child of Mew

The Great War

Chapter 1: A Stormy Sea

A lot has happened to the boy called Ash Ketchum. Losing his parents at the tender age of three, Ash was adopted by a legendary Pokemon called Mew. Since then, he was raised under her care by playing with her Mew Games. On the day after his tenth birthday, Ash decided to go on a journey to collect Pokemon, train and battle with them as friends and partners. Along the way, Ash had made many friends and enemies. It was during his journey that he learned about other humans that were raised by other legendary Pokemon of the world, and they were hybrids of these Pokemon, infused with their power so as to make them true Children of Legendaries. Ash himself was still human, though, and because of this, he was mostly under the hybrids radar.

These human hybrids were raised by two different sides, those that were with Mew and the others that were against her. Because of an incident that Mew was responsible for, tension was raised high, as war between the legendary Pokemon and their children threatened to break out at any moment. Now Ash had to prepare for this war with his Pokemon team, as well as the other legendary Pokemon and their children on their side. Now, with eight of the Elite Kanto gym badges under his belt, Ash received a mysterious invitation to a place called New Island. Hoping New Island will help make himself and his team stronger, Ash took the invitation, and is now on his way to the nearest port.

Ash, with Storm the Pikachu, his starter, on his shoulder, was walking calmly through a small town.

"Are we almost there?" Storm asked.

Being raised by Mew, Ash had learned how to understand the Pokemon language.

"Yes, Storm. The port is just up ahead," Ash said. "Now, when is Andreas going to catch up? Last time I saw him, he went diving into the ocean."

"Maybe he decided to swim there himself," Storm shrugged.

"Look down into the water," a voice rang into Ash's mind.

Ash stopped walking when he heard the voice in his head. The boy peered over the ocean, seeing a shadow swimming there, before the head of a young Lugia popped out of the water. The Lugia in question wasn't too young, but was still young enough to be considered a pre-teen, and the rims on its eyes were a bright red instead of the usual dark blue.

"Andy, what are you doing?" Ash asked. "If you're going to take a ship there, I would suggest you're not a Lugia."

Andy shook his head. "I can sense a powerful storm in the direction we need to go. If the captains are aware of it, they won't be willing to sail those waters until the storm breaks."

"A storm? But there's not even a cloud in the sky!" The Pikachu said, looking up at the clear blue sky.

The Lugia made a movement with it's wings akin to a shrug. "I've never been wrong about a storm before. And this one feels bad."

"So… are you going to swim there?" Ash asked. "Memma did say she had an uneasy feeling about New Island, so she went ahead to go check it out. I'm surprised she hadn't teleported back yet, it must be pretty far."

The Lugia nodded. "Several other trainers will probably try and brave the storm, and I don't want to risk flying lest they see me. If you'd like, I can take you with me."

Ash looked over at the port and said, "Why don't you wait here then? I'm going in to see if this is true."

Ash walked into the building, seeing a lot of other Pokemon Trainers. Many of them had their Pokemon out, feeding them or grooming them.

"Whoa, I've never seen a place so full of Trainers before, not even in a Pokemon Center! Did all these people get invited to New Island?" Storm asked, surprised by the amount of people there were here.

"Looks like it," Ash said. "This should be interesting."

Ash and Storm sat down on some chairs as they wait for the ferry to New Island to come in.

Not even an hour later, the winds began to pick up, dark clouds covered the once clear sky. The ocean waves began to move harsher and harsher, rain began to pour down. Pretty soon, the clear weather had transformed into a horrible storm. The winds were harsh, the waves were splashing against port, and the rain was a torrent.

Ash looked out the window, frowning. "Huh… looks like Andy was right all along, there really is a big storm, Storm."

The Pikachu grumbled as Ash was chuckling at how his name fit in with the situation.

"Well excuse me, I didn't think there would be any rain today, let alone a freakishly large storm that literally came out of the blue!"

"ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS. DUE TO HOW BAD THE STORM IS, ALL SHIP AND FERRY TRIPS HAVE BEEN CANCELLED." Came the announcement.

"What!? The trip is cancelled!?" Someone yelled.

There was a crowd gathered by a big screen TV, showing the heavy waves out there, how and why there's a camera out there Ash didn't know. Officer Jenny was trying to calm the people down, while a middle age looking lady with blue hair was looking calm despite the situation.

"I've got to get to New Island!" A young lady complained.

"This could be the worst storm ever," Jenny said. "If we sent out our ships then they could sink out there."

"You must listen to me, the winds and water have never been this rough. Legends has been passed down that the last time a storm was this bad, many lives has been lost, that is until the tears of Pokemon brought them back to life. The tears of Pokemon are said to have the power to revive one from death," The middle age woman said.

"Isn't that just a legend?" Officer Jenny asked, looking surprised.

"For every legend, there is a truth to them. However, there are no Pokemon tears today, just water in which nobody can survive."

Ash managed to squeeze himself through the crowd, with Storm still on his head.

"Our tears can bring the dead back to life? Huh, next time I'll cry over one of my dead relative's grave and see how that works out," Storm chuckled.

"Well, you know what?" A young man who seems to be in his teens said. "I'm going to New Island anyways. All my Pokemon are Water type, we'll just swim to that island!"

A Trainer who raises one type… that's gotta be a brave move. Ash thought to himself.

"I warn you, the waves are savage, you may never make it," The middle aged woman warned.

"And besides, if you pulled that stunt and your Pokemon got hurt, you'd be out of luck because we had to close down the Pokemon Center!" Officer Jenny snapped. "The Nurse of the Pokemon Center disappeared last month, and if anyone has seen her, please report to the authorities right away."

Ash looked around as the people began splitting from the crowd. The Pokemon Trainers were going outside into the storm.

"Ash… please don't tell me you're going to actually swim to that island, are you? I don't think a Squirtle is going to be enough…" Storm said worriedly.

"Relax Storm, we're not going out there on Kooper," Ash said.

"Hey! Where do you all think you're going!?" Officer Jenny yelled at the Pokemon Trainers releasing their Water or Flying types into the sea before jumping on them.

Ash quietly snuck away from Officer Jenny before running out into the storm himself.

"I hate you," Storm growled as his fur was soaked in the rain.

"I love you too, Storm," Ash chuckled.

Ash ran out into the pier, looking around. Wow… I've never seen waves this bad… I wonder if Andy would even be able to handle it…

"Told you," Andy's voice came into his head again.

"Yeah, we can see that," Ash said. "Do you think you'll be able to carry us to New Island like this? I've never seen a storm this bad before… and I've been in a lot of storm-based Mew Games."

"Not a problem. If we swim deep, we should be able to avoid the storm entirely. I can hold an air bubble around your head to keep you from drowning."

"Just make sure the air bubble doesn't pop!" Storm said nervously.

"Alright, let's do this! No stupid storm is holding me back from any challenge!" Ash said before jumping into the sea and swimming down to the Lugia's back.

Andy turned around. "Hold on tight," he said, Psychically creating a bubble of air around Storm and Ash's heads, as he bolted off underwater at a surprising speed, diving deeper to escape the storm's influence on the sea.

Ash and Storm held onto the Lugia tight, not wanting to let go and risk drowning. The deeper in they went under, the less rough the ocean became. Ash and Storm both sighed in relief, glad to be out of most of the storm.

"So how long do you think it'll take us to reach New Island?" Ash asked from within the air bubble.

"If the currents favor me, it should only take an hour."

"Do you think the other Trainers will be okay?" Ash asked, worried for the other people out there braving the storm.

"Well if they die, it's on their own heads," Storm said.

"There's no telling. The storm is pretty horrible. Almost as bad as something my Memma could whip up. I wouldn't be surprised if a few trainers don't make it to the island."

Andy continued to swim underwater. The currents seemed to favor them, which helped the trip move quicker than expected. They should be there soon.

"Hey Andy… I've been wondering. Where did you hear about me? I mean how did you know there was a child of Mew? I've been called a fraud before because I wasn't a Mew myself," Ash asked.

"We heard it from some rumors that Kyogre picked up, though she neglected to tell us where she heard them."

"Hmm… do you think this island will have some hybrids on there? From what I could see, they're pretty tough when it comes to Pokemon battles," Ash said. "Chances are they've been invited to this New Island event too."

Andy nodded. "It's probably safe to assume that we'll see a few of them."

Meanwhile, somewhere above the stormy clouds, flew Mew. She flew past the full moon of the calm skies above the raging clouds below. Using her Psychic powers, she could see a cluster of power just below the clouds, and she flew down.

Through the clouds, there was an island down below. The island was pretty big, full of buildings, almost like a small town. There was one tower that was taller than the rest, and it's what caught Mew's attention. She floated towards the tower, looking around curiously.

Unbeknownst to the Mythical Pokemon, there were two more pairs of eyes flying above the clouds. A caped figure flew astride his Dragonite, investigating the strange island that didn't appear on the maps used by the League. "Alright. Let's see what secrets this place is hiding." Both Pokemon and trainer looked around before they caught sight of the flying pink cat. "There's no way. Is that… a Mew?"

Mew still hadn't noticed them yet, and was still trying to see what was in the tower, before she flew back a bit. Mew curiously looked at the giant windmill that was most likely powering the place. Feeling a little playful, she floated over to the fan and sat on one of the blades as it was going up, before it went over the top and she fell down on the next blade, then the next. This went on for a little bit as Mew began giggling at how fun it was.

Lance blinked and shook his head. What on earth was a Mew doing just playing around on a mysterious island in the middle of a storm? "Let's go and see what it's doing here. And see if we can get it to leave. It might be dangerous here."

The Dragonite nodded and flew toward the windmill.

Mew soon took notice of the Dragonite approaching her and she flew off the windmill, looking at it curiously, before she noticed there was someone riding it. Surprised that there was a human here, Mew flew back and away from them.

"I'm not here to hurt you!" Lance shouted over the storm. "You need to get out of here! It might not be safe here!"

Mew gave a frown, not liking that. She turned back towards the island. These buildings all looked new, as if someone just built these here. Seeming to ignore Lance, Mew flew down towards the island.

Lance reached out as if to stop her. "Wait! Darn it, follow it. It might get into trouble."

Once again, the Dragonite complied.

Mew looked back to see the Dragonite was coming towards her pretty quickly. She noted that it must've been really well trained if it could keep up with her. When they got close to the ground, Mew began flying between the houses, using her small size to her advantage.

Lance frowned, noticing that it seemed to be intentionally trying to get away from him. But his Dragonite wasn't going to be outflown so easily. With surprising dexterity for his size, he followed Mew's path almost perfectly, not losing a bit of speed in the process.

Mew gave an annoyed look, there were several ways she could easily lose the two from her trail, teleportation was an easy one, or turning invisible or just simply using transformation. However there was something she wanted to know. After flying around the island for a bit, she flew back up into the cloud.

Dragonite didn't even need to be commanded as he followed her effortlessly.

With the two now above the clouds, Mew stopped flying away and floated there, watching Lance and the Dragonite.

Noticing that it stopped, Lance spoke up again. "You need to leave! We have reason to believe that Team Rocket is involved with this island somehow!"

Mew tilted her head as she said, "Mew?" Looking like she didn't understand him.

Lance sighed. "They're bad people that won't hesitate to try and catch you and use you for their own ends."

Mew closed her eyes for a second and seemed to be concentrating. Before long, Lance heard a voice in his head.

"Why are you here?"

Lance blinked, surprised by the sudden use of telepathy. After a while, he answered. "I'm here investigating the island. It appeared out of nowhere a few weeks ago, and it's been giving off some strong energy signatures. Shortly after, messages were sent out to some of the region's top trainers inviting them to the island. The League thinks Team Rocket is involved somehow."

"Why do you think that?"

"We registered a similar energy signature at one of their bases several months ago."

Mew looked troubled about something. "... There is an enormous cluster of power gathering in this spot. I can't just leave it alone."

"Than let me take care of it. The League wouldn't have sent me if I couldn't handle it. But you need to get somewhere safe. There's no telling what's down there, and this storm is just getting worse."

Mew gave him a look, wondering if this guy thought she couldn't handle herself. Still, she decided it's best not to argue, for now.

"Sure, you can go handle it." Mew said, nonchalantly.

Lance blinked. "That's what I'm here to do. But I need to know that you'll leave this place."

"Yes, Mew will leave this place," Mew said.

Lance blinked again, wondering if he should believe her. But it wasn't as if he could force her to do anything. He just had to hope that she wouldn't do anything reckless. "Take us down, Dragonite!"

Dragonite did as commanded and flew down below the clouds.

Mew watched them leave before transforming into a Pidgeot and flew down herself, fully intent on investigating the island her child was coming to.

Meanwhile, back under the sea, Ash and Storm were still riding on the shiny Lugia hybrid's back, the air bubble keeping them from drowning.

"Hey Andy, what's it like being raised by a Lugia?" Ash curiously asked.

"Ugh, please let there be land soon…" Storm groaned, looking a little sick.

"Amazing," Andy responded, "although I may be more than a little biased. There is so much more to see under the ocean than there is on land. And there's so much freedom out here in the water. I almost prefer it to flying."

"Are you kidding me? The sky and sea both make me sick to my stomach. I'm sticking with land, thank you very much!" The Pikachu groaned.

Andy chuckled, which sounded odd coming from the Lugia. "We should reach the island soon. I can sense land not too far ahead."

"It must be nice to be able to have both land and sea as your own playground," Ash said.

Andy smiled. "Once your Memma finally makes you her Child, you'll have not only the world, but all of space and time at your disposal. If anything, I envy you."

Ash gave a curious look, "What do you mean?"

"Mew isn't the Creator of Pokemon without reason, Ash. I thought you knew that by now, being raised by her," Storm said.

"Your Memma can breach the barrier between dimensions and cross into other worlds identical too and different from this one, and even open wormhole to travel through time itself."

"Well… being raised by her hadn't been cakewalk exactly…" Ash sighed. "It was mostly me trying to survive her games."

Suddenly, Andy perked up. "We're here." He slowly began making his way towards the surface.

As soon as they splashed up into the surface, they see the clouds above them clearing away. Revealing the full moon in the starry sky.

"It's night already?" Storm said in surprise.

Andy frowned. "Surely I haven't been swimming for that long."

"Let's just get out of the water first," Ash said. "At least the storm isn't bothering this place."

Andy swam onto shore, getting on lands. The Pikachu immediately jumped on all fours and shook his fur. Ash sighed tiredly as he sat down. "Well… we made it here… now what?"

Andy transformed, walking up next to Ash. "Now, we wait."

"What are we waiting for? Can't we just explore this place?" Storm asked.

Before Ash could answer, more Pokemon and their trainers began popping out from under the water. Some trainers that flew to the island came in through the sky.

Andy looked around at the other trainers. "We'll probably be greeted once all of the trainers arrive."

These trainers had strong looking Pokemon, such as Gyarados or Pidgeot. Ash felt a little less confident seeing all these fully evolved powerhouses as their confident Trainers came to the island.

"I knew Gyarados could brave through those waves with a breeze," One of them said.

"Those winds were nothing for Pidgeot here," Another said proudly.

Andy looked around and nodded. "Looks like the invitations were sent out to the top trainers of the Kanto region."

"Yeah, looks like," Ash agreed, looking nervous. "Do you… really think my Pokemon could stand up to these guys?"

"You wouldn't have been invited otherwise," Andy said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ash said, though he still unsure.

"Hey, if I can beat a Raichu, I'm sure your little Squirtle can beat a Gyarados," Storm said.

The Trainers all began to gather around, talking to each other about how they're the best and why they were invited to New Island. More trainers started coming in, though Ash recognized some of them, like Jayden and Dustin. They were here.

Andy frowned, trying to use the crowd to keep himself out of the two Rocket Elite's line of sight. Ash and Storm were hiding behind a rock, they didn't want to be seen either.

"Is there any more?" Ash whispered to the Pikachu.

"I don't know, I'm not going out there to look," Storm grumbled.

"Hey, you're just a random Pikachu to them, so it shouldn't hurt for you to look," Ash said.

"They're half Pokemon, they could probably tell which Pikachu I am!" Storm hissed.

"... Hey Andy, why don't you go see if there's any more?" Ash suggested to the Lugia hybrid.

Andy blinked and sighed. "They'll recognize me if they see me. But I'll try and stay out of sight." He began making his way through the crowd, ducking his head. Thankfully, Raela was still in her Pokeball. Having her around his torso was the most recognizable thing to those who knew him.

He saw a hyperactive golden Hoopa with red eyes coming out of a hole in space and time, with a shiny Minccino on its shoulder.

"Heh, that storm was easy," The Hoopa chuckled.

"Says the one who can teleport anywhere," Dustin replied, grumbling under his breath as he glanced to the side.

"Oh hey Dustin! Isn't our Leader coming here too? Didn't she say something about a new recruit?" The Hoopa asked, not at all phased by Dustin's annoyance.

"Yeah. She said she'd meet us here, but I just hope she doesn't hurt herself..." Dustin sighed at the thought, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Did this guy invite all of us?" Jayden spoke up from behind Dustin. "Sheesh, and just before the Indigo League too..."

"I just hope you're happy with that shiny Eevee I had to bust my butt and my wings to find," the Victini hybrid grumbled, giving Jayden a small glare.

"Hey, you owed me for sending me, a Grass type, into a freaking VOLCANO! Besides, I nearly died of poison back there!" Jayden hissed back.

"You were the one who volunteered to go when you heard it was a tourist island…" Dustin grumbled under his breath, his eye twitching.

"And you didn't tell me I had to go into an active volcano despite the fact that you knew about it," Jayden said back.

"Hey, hey, hey, let's save our fighting for the actual battle. Do you think this place will draw in Mew?" The Hoopa asked.

"Well… maybe. There's a lot of psychic energy similar to her's coming from that tower," Dustin replied, shaking his head dismissively. "But otherwise I wouldn't count on it- there's too many of us here. Now would you please turn back to your human form? There are some trainers here who aren't used to seeing Legendary Pokemon."

The Hoopa rolled his red eyes. "Fine."

The shiny Minccino jumped off the Hoopa before his body glowed and grew into a more human-like form. When the glowing faded, it revealed a boy in his early teens.

"So is it just the three of us so far?" Jayden asked.

"Who knows, there might be more hybrids among the crowd," Dustin shrugged, glancing around for a moment.

"Hey, hey, so what do we do now?" The boy, Matt, asked in excitement.

"Isn't it obvious?" Dustin gave Matt a tired look, rubbing the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "We go into the tower and show our invitation to someone so we can go inside and start this game."

The other trainers in the area were already getting that idea, seeing how many of them had stopped talking and lingering around. Everyone was starting to move towards the tower, which meant that was where the main event would take place.

"So… how was it?" Ash whispered when Andy came back.

"Three of them are here so far," Andy answered. "Jayden, Shaymin's daughter, Dustin, Victini's son, and Matt, Hoopa's son. They've started looking for your Memma. They think this might have drawn her here."

"So there's just three of them, right? We could handle three Elite Rockets… right?" Storm said, looking nervous.

"Three Elite Rockets… but what if the other trainers are also hybrids they recruited?" Ash frowned. "Tyra did say they had been recruiting other Legendaries lately… Speaking of which, do you think Blue and Yellow will be here?"

"Does it matter right now? More trainers are still coming in, so maybe there'll be some late comers… Why don't we go into that big tower? That's obviously where everyone else is going," Storm said, growing impatient.

"Would that be wise?" Ash frowned. "I mean we don't even know how many are our enemies, and if they see us we'll be cornered pretty quickly."

"They wouldn't dare attack us with so many witnesses," Andy said. "Even if they do manage to pick us out from the crowd, we'll be safe."

"Maybe I should've packed some disguises before we came…" Ash sighed. "Alright, I guess we can't stay out here forever. We'll have to face them some time… let's go."

The Pikachu climbed on Ash's shoulder as he and Andreas made their way into the tower along with the rest of the trainers that made it past the storm. It was surprisingly a large crowd, Ash thought a storm that rough would've made it difficult if not almost impossible for most people.

"Welcome, please show me your invitation," A seemingly young woman said. There was something off about her, something almost lifeless.

Ash took out the invitation from his pocket, showing it to her. The hologram showed the same lady.

"The bearers of this invitation may have access to the island," The hologram said.

"Very good, please go right on in. My Master will be arriving soon," The lady said, gesturing to the doorway.

Andy frowned as they passed her. "Something's wrong with her. There was something… off about her Psychic energy."

"Psychic energy?" Ash asked as they were walking down a dark corridor. "What do you mean?"

"Everyone emits there own unique Psychic energy. It's somewhat like your aura. Psychics can use it to recognize people before actually seeing or hearing them, and the most powerful Psychics can even use it to track people. But her's… it was being blocked somehow. Something was overpowering it."

"That… doesn't sound very good…" Ash frowned. "You don't think she was being controlled, do you?"

Andy shrugged. "I couldn't tell you. I've never felt anything like it before."

They opened bigger doors at the end of the corridor to find a Great Hall. There were many trainers and Pokemon around the place, tables, a big spiraling staircase, and a large fountain big enough to hold a Gyarados and then some.

"Whoa… what even is this place?" Ash said in awe.

"I have no idea," Andy said. "But whoever did this has a lot of money to burn."

Ash looked around, seeing the trainers mingling with each other like it's some kind of party, and most of them let out their Pokemon to roam around.

"So… are we just going to wait here until this big guy comes out?" Storm asked.

"That seems to be the only option," Andy said. "If they're going to greet us, this would be the place to do it."

Ash and Andy went to the nearest empty table to sit down, when a familiar voice spoke up.

"Well, well, well… look at what the Meowth dragged in."

Both Ash and Storm became tense when Dustin came by. Andy tensed up as well, not expecting the Elites to spot them so quickly.

Noticing the trios' tense expressions, Dustin sighed, sitting down heavily in an empty chair. "Relax. I'm not going to start any trouble while we're all in public… Unlike the lower-leveled grunts, I'm not stupid enough to attempt anything here. I just couldn't take Matt's hyperactive nature or Jayden's annoyed glares for another second…"

Andy raised an eyebrow. "And you just decided that we'd make better company?"

"Right now? You're the only others that I care about in this place." The Elite Rocket shrugged, lazily tossing a Pokeball up in the air. "I haven't noticed any other Children here yet, and as far as I'm concerned, we're all just fellow Trainers in a tournament."

Andy still looked at him suspiciously. "That's not quite what I heard a few moments ago."

"Hey, believe me or don't, that's up to you." Dustin just gave Andy a small smirk, raising an eyebrow in return as he caught his Pokeball and placed it back on his belt. "But right now, there's no real reason to push me away- 'keep your friends close, but your enemies closer', right?"

Andy scowled. "That phrase has gotten people killed numerous times."

"Don't worry. As soon as the tournament starts, I'll get out of your hair," was all that the Victini hybrid said in reply as he gave a small shrug.

"... Hey, Dustin… how have those badge stealing jobs been going for you?" Ash asked the Victini hybrid in a cold tone.

"Heh. It's on a need-to-know basis, and I don't exactly feel you need to know." Dustin glanced at Ash, examining the Trainer for a moment. "Still, I'm surprised they gave you an invitation… Or are you just acting as Andreas' cheerleader?" He smirked at the thought, chuckling to himself.

"Hey! Ash was invited here himself, I'll have you know! Andy wasn't even going to tell Ash about the invitation thing until he got one of his own!" Storm snapped.

"I know I lost to you before," Ash admitted. "But I've gotten a lot stronger since then, you know."

"Well, if you manage to face off against me or one of my colleagues in the tournament, I'll see that for myself, won't I?" Dustin's smirk grew a little, before it faded as he grew a bit serious. "Still… I have a feeling there's more to this tournament than meets the eye."

"You felt that too?" Andy asked.

Dustin nodded, sighing. "Think about it… I may not be known as a Rocket member, but if this host has done their research, they would know about some of the people here being Rockets. And yet, they still invited well-known criminals."

"At least you admit you're criminals," Ash said bitterly.

"As far as the public knows, we are." The Child shrugged, crossing his arms. "And it isn't just Rockets here, either… I've seen Trainers who have various jobs here- the only requirement seems to be that you have to be skilled with Pokemon."

A certain Minccino then landed on top of Dustin's head, saying cheerfully, "Hey Dustin! Didja know that Matt was asking for you? He wanted to know if the Leader was here yet! Is she? Is she? Is she?"

Dustin's eye twitched, and he glared up at the Minccino on his head, growling out, "No, she isn't. Now. Get. OFF."

The shiny Minccino ignored him and smiled to Ash and Andy, waving happily. "Hey, it's the Ponyta rider! And… who are you again?"

Ash sighed to himself. This is going to be a long night…

Andy couldn't suppress a chuckle at the hyper Normal type. "We haven't met," he said simply.

"Will someone get this walking fur scarf off of my-!?" Dustin froze before he could finish, seeming to hear something. His lips thinned out into a narrow line, and he looked up at the Minccino, whispering, "...She's here. Alert the others."

The Minccino gave a vigorous nod before jumping off of Dustin's head and running across the floor, under some trainers and bigger Pokemon's legs.

"Hey, what was that about?" Ash asked, noting Dustin's weird behavior.

Andy frowned. "I don't know," he said. "But I have a feeling we'll be finding out soon…"

Dustin chuckled at that, shrugging. "It's nothing. Just got a… 'message', you could say." He then glanced back at the doors meaningfully, shrugging. "Who knows? Maybe you'll get to see what I mean in a second."

"Um… is this the right place?" Said a timid voice.

Ash looked up to see a young boy who appeared to be around Dustin's age, if not a little younger.

The boy looked at Dustin before he said, "O-oh hey, Dustin… So I take it this is the right place, right?"

"Heh- got it in one." Dustin nodded, giving the boy a grin- it seemed he knew him. "Didn't have too rough a time coming out here yourself, right?"

"Heh… well, the rain and sea isn't exactly an ideal place for my team… considering what I train," The boy chuckled sheepishly.

"Still, you got here in one piece, so that's a start." Dustin smirked, glancing at Andy and Ash. "This is Don. He's a… new recruit who's been doing well at the tests we've given him so far."

"Who are these people, Dustin? Are they new friends of yours?" Don asked curiously, looking at Ash and Andy.

The Victini hybrid flinched in disgust at the notion, shaking his head. "Friends? Not likely. We're… I guess you could call us acquaintances at best. Still, we're on a temporary truce until the tournament's over. It'd cause too much of a scene, otherwise."

"So what do you think's going on here?" Andy asked Dustin, eager to take advantage of this 'truce' to try and find out why this all felt so wrong. "The woman that greeted us had her Psychic energies inhibited. Did you notice that?"

"You're insulting my skills there," Dustin scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Of course I noticed. Whoever it was, though… they were skilled. I doubt an ordinary Pokemon could have noticed the changes, whether they were a Psychic type or not."

"It would take a lot of power to override someone's natural Psychic energies like that. Only a pure Psychic type would be able to pull that off, and even then one with a lot of power at it's disposal."

"A Pokemon like Mew, you mean?" Dustin raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly.

"Hey, Me-Mew had nothing to do with what happened to her," Ash argued.

"Heh. Whatever you say… I know it'd be hard for you to accept, after all." Dustin shrugged, his mind obviously made up, before he glanced back at Don. "She's around here too, right?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, she's-"

"Right here," A feminine voice spoke up from behind Dustin and Don.

A young lady approached them, she appeared to be in her late teens or possibly early twenties. She gave them all a smile.

"Hello, I don't believe we've met," she said to Ash and Andy. "My name is Celeste. It's nice to meet you two boys. I've heard a lot about you from my friends."

"C-Celeste!" Dustin nearly jumped out of his seat before he restrained himself and carefully sat back down, frowning. "Are you doing alright? You're not straining yourself, are you?"

Ash was rather surprised at Dustin's sudden display. He had mostly seen the cold and condescending side of Dustin, so it was strange seeing him fussing over this girl.

"I'm fine, Dustin. Just because I don't get much sleep doesn't mean I'm suddenly super ill," Celeste grumbled at him, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.

Andy frowned. "...You're her, aren't you? Jirachi's daughter. The one that started all of this."

"It depends on what you mean. Because I certainly didn't send out invitations to other people to bring them here," Celeste chuckled.

"You know what I mean," Andy said. "You're the one trying to kick start the war. You're the one trying to take out Mew."

"'War' and 'taking out Mew' are such strong words," Celeste said in a light tone. "Besides, this war had long been coming, way before I was even born. All I'm doing is fulfilling the last wish I heard from my so-called Memma."

"Your Memma wished for this?" Ash asked the Elite Leader.

"Those were her last words to me before she fell back into the 1000 years of sleep Mew had cursed upon her," Celeste said. "Can you imagine… being forced to sleep for a thousand years, only to wake up for seven short days to see the world around you had changed drastically? And then you're forced to go back to sleep for another thousand years? Any friends you've made during your short seven days of wakefulness would be long gone by the time you wake up again. And the cycle continues on and on, it's a pathetic way to live."

"Celeste…" Dustin frowned, clearly still anxious about the girl in front of him. "Don't strain yourself by talking to them. They're not going to understand, and you need your energy…"

Andy frowned. "That's not the version of the story I heard," he said.

"And what, pray tell, is the version you heard?" Celeste asked him.

"That Jirachi was taken by some illness or another, and the only way she could remain alive is if she was put into a stasis sleep. Mew and Jirachi were among the best of friends. I doubt she'd want this war started. And the fact that you call her your 'so-called' Memma… You aren't on the best of terms, are you? Are you sure you're not taking advantage of her situation to manipulate the people around you into starting a war that you want?"

Celeste gave a humorless giggle before she said, "I'm not on the best of terms with Jirachi because she told me to this. She's the one who turned me into a Jirachi hybrid, and I've only known her for a week. She expected me to call her my 'Memma', and then said the words 'I wish' before she fell into that sleep again. I hate war, and I never wanted any part of what's going on with the legendaries, but well, here we are."

Andy frowned. "And now I'm supposed to believe that you're just fulfilling a wish against your will? Because it seems to me like you have no issue with what's going to happen."

"Alright, that's enough- Celeste needs her energy for the tournament ahead!" Dustin interjected at last, standing up and glaring at Andy. "I may not be willing to fight you as an Elite, but continue to push my friend and you will regret it," he growled out, his fists tightly clenched at his side.

"I'm trying to understand why all of you want to start a pointless war that will probably leave several of us as orphans and kill several innocent bystanders along the way. Or are you that heartless that you haven't even considered the consequences?"

Celeste just continued to smile, "Oh it's been considered, probably way more than it's healthy."

"H-hey, uh… m-maybe we should just stop and relax for a minute? I'd rather not get too tense before the tournament even starts," Don said nervously.

"Maybe we should've just stayed back in Pallet Town," Ash said to Storm. "I wanted a good warm-up for the Pokemon League, not have myself get demolished."

"Yeah, I'm starting to think the same thing…" Storm frowned.

Before anybody could say anything more, though, a loud voice boomed through the entire Grand Hall. "I see you have all made it… welcome." The Trainers murmured to themselves for a few minutes, looking around, before a large purple Pokemon began floating down center of the staircase.

Andy winced, feeling powerful Psychic energy rolling off of the figure in waves.

The woman walked up next to the Pokemon as it landed, turning around and gesturing to it as she spoke. "This is the world's greatest Pokemon Master. I know you are all surprised… but he truly is the strongest in the world."

"Tch…" Dustin did his best to act calm about the situation, but despite his bored expression, his eyes carefully watched the figure. "Looks like that's the Pokemon who blocked the woman's Psychic signature. I can sense its power from here…"

"That Pokemon…" Ash paused, looking at it. "I… I feel like I've seen it before."

"I'm getting bad vibes here," Storm trembled.

"Hey, is this Pokemon our host here?" A random trainer said.

This got the other trainers in the tower to whisper to each other. Except the Hybrids. They were all staring intently at the figure, a foreboding sense of danger rolling down their backs.

"Quiet, human," both the woman and the Pokemon suddenly said in unison. "While you are on this island, I am the one who makes the rules. Disobey them… and you shall pay the price."

DarkFoxKit: Oh and this is a message to all you artists. If you'd like to draw the cover page for this story, please PM me ASAP. If I can't find someone soon, I'll have to find my own cover image. That is all, I hope you guys leave your thoughts and comments on the story.