A/N: In the word of the great Dominic Fera, "procrastination makes perfect." In other words, holy fuck it's been a minute. Sorry for the huge delay, and without further ado, here is the second chapter to Rebirth!

Swshhhh….Swshhhh….

A wave of clear turquoise water was sent crashing against the land and withdrew again, leaving the sand below brown and soaked. The sun beat down on the shore, a fiery ball of sharp yellow in stark contrast with the rich cerulean sky, leaving the grains that weren't fortunate enough to be near the cooling sea parched. The palm trees sat only a few meters away, swaying in the salty sea breeze and providing shade to the patches of bleached grass underneath. It was a perfect scene – a romantic one, almost – ruined by a reddened back belonging to a body by the shore.

Kuh…

Ash was awake. Or to be more accurate, he was conscious. He was aware of the scorching sun above him, the droplets of water from the tumbling waves beside him splashing onto his face, and the gritty sand inside of his mouth. But try as he might, he couldn't move a single bit of his body. So he lay there in a stupor, not able to do anything except feel the heat on his back.

"Hey, you're finally awake."

What finally broke his trance was a voice, if it could be called that. It was a mangled sound, a guttural one, as though if the very act of speaking tore through his vocal cords and left nothing but pain.

"Took you long enough. I've been waiting for so long, my tails about to fall off."

Tail?

Ash tried to respond, but the only thing that came out of his mouth was a grunt. The sand in his mouth had drained it of all moisture.

"Oh, you can speak! That's impressive. After you almost killed yourself like that, I thought you would have become a complete pinhead."

Something about this voice was bothering him. He couldn't put his figure on exactly what, but it was annoying. Ignoring the jeer, he attempted to move his hand.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Shut up, he thought. He tried again, but it felt as though his entire body had been filled with sand, leaving him heavy and lethargic. Is this what a steel type feels like?

"No, it isn't. Again, I really wouldn't-"

Ash mustered all the specks of energy he had in his body and attempted to move one final time. This time, his hand moved.

Instantly, a lance of pain shot directly through his arm. Then, another one shot through his chest, and another one through his stomach. Soon, his entire body was convulsing. It felt as though if thousands of glass shards had pierced into his body and were now twisting around as they tried to escape. The pain was excruciating, and he could already feel his already thin consciousness dimming away.

"Well, I did try to warn you" was the last thing he heard before his mind drifted back into the murky darkness.

{line}

When he came to again, the first thing he noticed was that he was able to open his eyes. He was lying face up on what he guessed was a rock. The scenery this time was different – dozens of trees covered the sun, filtering its rays though and protecting against the shade. The entire place was a vibrant green, having been nourished by the sun's rays instead of seared by it. He could hear water rushing near him, and faint cries in the distance. He could also hear two voices right next to him, obviously very pissed.

"…What I don't understand, Mewtwo, is what the everlasting FUCK you were thinking?" The first one rang out. Despite the fury it held, the voice was beautiful. It reminded Ash of flowers growing in a meadow.

"How was I supposed to know he was stupid enough to try and move immediately after waking up!? How was I supposed to know he had enough strength to do it in the first place? I'm not Arceus, Celebi; I can't control his choices!" The second voice shouted back. It was that same mangled voice that had sniped at him earlier, except this time it wasn't bothering him as it was before.

"That's bullshit. You know very well that if you wanted, you could stop him just as easily as you could kill a Spinarak."

"Eugh! Please, don't mention those nasty critters. Disgusting little bugs types."

"That's not the point! You know how important he is to us, right? Do you know what would have happened to us and to the world if he died right here? Or even worse, if he-"

"Quiet! He's awake."

At this point, Ash had been able to turn his head and glance in the direction that the voices were emanating from. What had greeted his eyes were a small green fairy and a tall humanoid gray mouse yelling at each other. Both of them were floating and obviously agitated as they shouted at each other. The strange thing was, despite them shouting what must have been their names as they griped at the other, he could understand them perfectly, as though if they were speaking English. Presently, they were both staring at him, one worried and the other satisfied.

"See? I told you he-"

"Shut up."

"Tch. Swearing doesn't suit someone as small as you. Takes away from your cute little image."

"I said shut up."

The fairy drifted down towards him and seated itself down on a protrusion in the slab of rock next to him.

"Are you okay?"

It was odd. Her mouth – as it seemed to be a her - wasn't moving now, but he could still hear her words, almost as though if the sentence had been projected straight into his mind. It took Ash a moment to realize that she was using telepathy.

"Where…am I?"

"You're still delirious. Rest some more, and then we'll talk."

"But…"

"Enough. Sleep." The fairy tapped the top of his head, and Ash collapsed once again.

"…"

"…So, what's the plan now?"

"We wait. Until he's able to stabilize his ability, we need to keep him here and care for him. Once he's healed, we take him to Arceus and then decide what to do from there."

"Are you sure he's ready?"

"He has to be. The events have already been set in motion, and though we still have time, we must be patient. The one good thing we've been able to verify is that He's finally awake.

"…You're right. I shouldn't have let him almost kill himself like that. I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't be apologizing to me. Besides, there's nothing we can do now but wait. He's been regaining power for so long, and we can only hope that Ash will be able to stop him."

"…I still don't think that this plan is a good idea."

"Well, what else do you propose that we do?"

"…"

"Again, all that we can hope to do is wait. Ash has been put through hell for these last months, and we can only hope he still has the light inside him that we saw that first time. We can only hope he still has the strength to face the world unabashedly like he has for so long. Otherwise…."

A sigh can be heard.

"Please be strong, Ash…."

{Line}

Somewhere, inside of a room made of an unknown material, we can see a tall figure walk through a door engraved with a sharp S, quickly followed by two other figures before it seems to vanish into thin air. The ceiling is visible, and yet seems to extend onwards for an eternity. The floor is black, with white lines piercing the darkness to create a square-shaped pattern. The walls are completely black, giving the room the illusion of a field of black that stretches on to infinity, only broken by the tiles below. In the middle of this illusion is a spinning black cube tilted on one of its corners. It stays suspended in the air, with no other objects to indicate its presence other than a large stalactite and stalagmite hanging above and below it, ever visible and yet not disturbing the image that has been created.

The leading figure holds a clipboard in his hand, and a pen in his ear. His legs are eerily thin, as are his arms. Despite this, he walks with power and purpose. He carries a cold, calm, calculating air around him, one that would make others shiver if they were exposed to it. His clothes are those of a scientist, a lab coat and glasses. He continues walking directly towards the cube in the middle and stops around a meter before it. The cube had started spinning as the shadows had approached and is now rotating slowly as they stand there.

The second figure is a striking one. The most noticeable feature of his is his hair, a long mane that goes above and behind him and only ends at his feet. He is well-built and stands tall at all times. His clothes are shorter than the others, exposing his arms and shoulders. He has a smoldering aura, as though if he might explode at any time. At this point, however, he stands in perfect control of himself.

The third figure is the most unique of the three. She wears dark gray jeans and a slightly darker tank top, covered by a flamboyant cape lined with fur. She has long hair that goes down to her knees like the second one, with strange extensions added at some parts. Despite being perhaps the least intimidating of the three physically, she has the most dangerous aura of them all – an aura of someone with extreme power.

As the three figures stand and wait, a voice echoes out from suspended cube.

"Still no leads, huh?"

The figure in front answers the question. His voice rings out, high-pitched yet powerful and confident.

"Unfortunately not, my king. Recently, there was an aura explosion near TCO's hometown, but when our forces reached there, nothing could be found. Our previous theory that he had died out somewhere in a forest can now be safely identified as false, and our next plan of action should be to-"

"Silence."

The first figure stopped.

"I apologize, my king."

"I had expected better of you. What is the status of our army?"

The second figure spoke up this time. A deep, booming voice came out of his mouth.

"Currently, we have people in every region at various social standings. Our lowest ranks in Kanto are currently in the process of erasing TCO's town from the map. The admins are figuring out how the finer details of genesis x. We are also constantly recruiting new members and inoculating them into the following."

"Excellent. And what of our latest project?"

The third figure responded. Her rich and alluring voice flows out.

"I'm almost done. I must say, he's a finer specimen than any of us could have hoped. He might just be a bigger threat than any of us."

The second figure scoffed. "Impossible."

"For me, perhaps."

"Hmph."

"Continue."

"I was originally projected to finish him next week, but I had a breakthrough, so I was able to bring him in today. Everyone, say hello to our newest member."

The strange door reappears, and a coffin floats into the room. The body of the coffin is built with a rich oak wood, with the heavy glass lid revealing the figure within. He wears grey sweatpants and a blue-and-white shirt covered by a black coat that has a grey zip with two buckles protruding out. On his two hands he wears fingerless gloves, and on his right wrist a bracer is attached. His eyes are a deep shade of blood red. On his neck, a fluffy blue scarf extends out behind his body.

"Wonderful. I expected no less of you, Nkri."

"Thank you, my lord."

The voice lets out a booming laugh that fills the room. It's an unnatural laugh, one that chilled a person to the bone and made their hairs stand on end.

"The pieces are set. The plan is in action. My dear old friend up there in the sky, I have waited so long for this day, the day where I finally start to take back what is rightfully mine. I hope that you enjoy the changes that are about to come."

He continues to laugh, and as we zoom out of the room, out of the structure that houses it and up into the night sky, we can see a single star wink out of the night.

A/N: Welp, this took forever to get to. I'm so sorry to everyone who's been waiting.

On another note, NEW CHAPTER! I'm trying to take this in a different direction than the usual Ash Revenge stories so that it doesn't become cliché. I modeled two of the three new characters as OC's, and one of them as an actual character in the pokemon universe. Can you guess who it is? Let me know if you figure it out :3.

Oh, also, in this specific world Ash has never really met any of the legendaries, since usually he only meets them in the movies and I'm basing this dimension solely of the anime with a few little twists of my own.

I'm gonna try to get this back to updating semi-regularly again while I'm stuck in my house because of quarantine. To everyone who's reading this, STAY SAFE! Just because many of us are young doesn't mean we aren't at risk. Please, please, for the sake of you and everyone around you, wash your hands and practice healthy hygiene!

OK, that's all for right now. As always, thank you so much for reading, and please leave a review as it really helps. I love you guys! Bye!