Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon or any of these characters. But all of you alredy know that.

Author's note: Well. Here it is. My first story published on to the internet. And it is about Pokemon anime. And I loved Diamond and pearl series. Ash is finally acting more mature, doesn't forget on his old pals at the Oak's lab and the battles were intense. That was a great progress with the show. But then Unova happened and everything that Ash learned went out of the window. So I will be reimagening that in this story. Let's just pretend that Unova, Kalos and Alola hadn't happened yet. I will try to make this story more humorous with romance in it. It will have some drama, but nothing spectacular. If you hadn't read the summary this story should tell you with who will he end up with.

Ash here will be more of a witty, sarcastic character than he was in the anime to make him more interesting. In the prologue here he will be 13 years old. And I will definitely be using his Aura abilities to make him badass. There was so much potential with aura too... But that will come later.

And I want to apologize for mistakes that are in there. I am not an English native speaker so I am sure that there are mistakes. I ran this story through some grammar corrector, but still. M rating is in place just for safety. Some curse words may be heard here and there.

"classic conversation"

"thoughts"

That is all for now. Enjoy.

Prologue I: Facing fears

"And the winner of the quarter-final match is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!" proclaimed of the Lily of the Valley Conference said enthusiastically.

Upon saying those words whole arena went nuts. Even though most of the audience aren't Pokemon trainers, they can acknowledge a great fight. And great fight it was indeed. The final battle between Infernape and Electivire was one of the most heated fights in this years Sinnoh League. And fans absolutely love that kind of battles. After a few minutes stadium finally calmed down.

"We did it Infernape! You were amazing!" said happy Ash, as he ran to his tired fire comrade.

"Fer nape." bruised monkey Pokemon replied happily before his legs gave up and he starts to falling to the ground only to be caught and supported by Ash.

"Take it, easy buddy. You deserve very long rest." said Ash to his tired Sinnoh powerhouse with a smile on his face.

There was a moment of silence in the stadium until. "Electivire return."

Ash's opponent and rival, Paul, recalled his fainted Electivire without a word. Which was rather surprising, due to the fact that when his Pokemon lost, he always said some nasty stuff to them. But he didn't to Electivire. In fact. None of his Pokemon were on the receiving end of his harsh words today. "He has a heart after all." chuckled Ash to himself. As these thoughts were running through his head, Paul made his way to him. And to his surprise, he offered a handshake. To the others, it may not be a big deal, just a casual sign of a good will and a good fight. But to Ash, it was more. It was a sign of acknowledgment which he never received from Paul. In their previous fights, he never shook his hand. Not once. So naturally, Ash gladly took it and shook it.

"Great battle Paul. I thought you had me there for a second." said Ash in his joyful tone.

"That would make two of us." replied Paul in his classical monotone voice.

"And here I thought that I would live to see some recognition from you after this" said Ash back.

"As painful as it is for me to say it, I respect you as a trainer." said Paul in his monotone voice again.

That was a little unexpected. But welcomed nonetheless. It was all that Ash ever wanted to hear from him. And it finally happened.

"Thank you." said Ash in a serious way. And after this, the two trainers gave each other a smile and parted ways to the different exits of the stadium, with Ash still supporting the champion of this fight and with his best buddy Pikachu on his shoulder, who just watch the whole exchange between two rivals with a smile on his face.

Meanwhile, in the VIP box, there were two smiling and clapping people which joined the clapping audience to pay tribute to an awesome battle that just took place here.

It was very late in the evening and a moon was hidden behind clouds. It was around 10:30 pm and Cynthia Shirona, the Sinnoh Champion made her way to her favorite ice cream stand on the Lily of the Valley island. It was unlikely that the stand would still be open. But she needed a long evening walk after today to cool herself off anyway. Opened ice cream stand would be just a cherry on the top of this refreshing chilly evening. It was a long and exhausting day for the Sinnoh Champion. To oversee all the quarter-final matches isn't the hardest job to do. She knows that. But the weather in the Sinnoh region is unusually warm this season. And sitting whole day in that VIP box of hers with Charles Goodsnow and be crammed on by those damned sun rays is really tiring. To top it all of, this weather should last the whole tournament! If this goes on and on she will be fried in that black coat of hers at the end of the Lily of the Valley Conference. Well, at least she has a good excuse for her addiction to eating ice cream all the time. "God, I will have to exercise a lot more if the weather lasts until the end of this year conference. Those ice creams won't disappear by themselves." she thought, as she made her way for her record-breaking 16th cone of ice cream today. And hopefully, the last one.

"Ahh, Lady Shirona. A pleasure to see you here. Take your time as always." said a man in his forties as he pointed to the various ice creams his stand has to offer. Despite his age, he had long black hair to his shoulders, black mustache, and an oval face with green eyes. Overall he looked like a retired singer from some rock band with a white shirt, white pants and an apron. And a cap with an ice cream logo on it.

"Hello, Oswald. Thank you and call me Cynthia." Cynthia said in her soft, sweet yet a little serious tone.

"I don't think that is possible Lady Shirona." Oswald replied to the blonde beauty.

"You know that I don't like when you out of all people is formal with me." answered Cynthia in a serious voice.

"Well, you are the Champion of the Sinnoh region. It is my obligation to refer to you in some respectful way."

"You will never drop that will you?"

"Nope"

Cynthia just sighed at this. It is always like this. Oswald could be considered Cynthia's personal ice cream maker. Thanks to her appetite for ice cream, his ice cream stand is able to survive on just one customer. So if you see Cynthia somewhere, Oswald is always close by. It is a year and a half since they met and became friends and he still won't drop those titles. Lady Shirona, Champion Shirona, miss Shirona, the Ice Queen and many more titles they gave her. And it is not just Oswald who treats her like a royalty. And she hates this. She just wants to be Cynthia. A regular fifteen-year-old who is treated normally.

"So... I guess it will have to be lady Shirona again..." said Cynthia quietly with a sigh.

"Lady Shirona it is for today! So would you like to choose a flavor for your ice cream Lady Shirona?" said happy Oswald as he pointed at his stand.

"I have already chosen."

"Really? That's unusual."

Smiling Cynthia chuckled slightly and answered. "Well, I just want to cool myself after this unexpected sunny day. I would like to have one chocolate slope and one strawberry slope in one cone. Please."

Oswald then did his job and gave Cynthia the ice cream cone.

As she was eating her ice cream she asked Oswald one last question. "Oswald? Why do you have still open? I mean I went here and expected you to be closed off already."

As soon Oswald gave Cynthia the cone, he started packing his stuff into a cart. He stopped for a moment when she asked the question. "Ahhh yes, I planned to close 30 minutes ago. But then this young lad with Pikachu on his shoulder came by and asked for two cones of ice cream." said Oswald. "And few minutes after him you came here too."

This caught Cynthia's attention. She knows very well who is Oswald talking about. "Ash Ketchum...". She then realized that she dozed off for a few seconds, with just a thought of his name. She quickly shook it off, paid Oswald, wished him good night and walked around the island with nothing in mind. Well, that's what she thought it would be like. Along the walk, certain black haired boy crawled his way inside her mind here and there despite Cynthia trying to resist those thoughts.

"It will be impossible Pikachu." this sentence brought Cynthia back to Earth from the walk and from her thoughts. Cynthia then looked in the direction of the sound and saw him. The lad with Pikachu on his shoulder was sitting on the bench in the backyard of the Pokemon Center 3B looking located on the training field. Curious where his conversation with his Pokemon will be heading, she began eavesdropping on them. When a curious archeologist meets the boy that unwillingly got into her mind you can expect her to spy on the said boy.

"Pikaaaaaa..." said sadly a little yellow rodent.

"You think that too huh." said the boy.

"Pika pi pi pika chu pi pikapi!" replied a Pokemon trying to explain something to his trainer.

"I know we did. But this guy... He is nothing like Brandon or Noland. His Darkrai is on the completely different level. I can feel it. And if he has Darkrai then God knows who else he has. Damn, he might have God himself. And don't get me wrong, I trust you guys. But we wouldn't last a second against Arceus." replied the boy to his yellow friend.

"Pika pika." said Pikachu with a laugh at the end.

"Yeah, that's probably a stretch. But still. Who knows what he has under that coat of his." said the boy as he looked into the ground. Then he resumed talking. "I will be honest with you Pikachu." And then he sadly looked at his Pokemon on his shoulder "for the first time in my journey, I think that I can't win a battle no matter how much I'll try."

"Pika?!" nearly shouted his Pokemon.

"I'm... I'm sorry buddy but think about it. We saw his matches. How could we possibly take down that Darkrai and then still win? He beat all the Gym leaders with just him. We saw that too this afternoon. Remember? Wolkner, Fantina, Crasher Wake... all of them. He took them all down in minutes. I- We can't beat him Pikachu!" in this defeated tone both the trainer and the Pokemon hung their heads low. Even Pikachu now started to realize that it was a lost battle already. Well, he already knew that, but he hoped that Ash would come up with something like he usually does. Seems like it is a dead end.

"We are on the same page now huh?" said the boy with his head still low.

"Pi..." and his little yellow companion just sadly nodded. Realizing that their chances of winning are zero.

"NO WE ARE DEFINITELY NOT ASH KETCHUM!" someone shouted really, REALLY loudly from behind of our two brooding heroes which startled them greatly. Pikachu was suddenly on the ground and Ash jerked his head back and hit the back of the bench.

"Ouch..." said the boy as he rubbed the back of his head "next time little louder, please. I think you haven't woke everyone up in the Pokemon Center." said the boy acidly.

"Pikachu chu pikachu pi pikapi!" yellow rodent lost it and started shouting clearly angry at the person behind them.

The person then revealed himself. Herself. Suddenly Ash's sarcastic remarks and Pikachu's shouting were calmed down. Before them in the light of the street lamps stood very angry and very beautiful girl. Now that Ash was looking at her he couldn't tell if she was more beautiful or more angry. Her incredibly long blonde hair was according to him just gorgeous. But that beautiful grey eye from behind those blonde hair was giving him an equally scary death glare.

Unknowingly to both of them Ash with a slight help of Cynthia just reawakened something that has been sleeping for thousands of years. And haven't been seen an equal amount of time. If the two humans would be paying attention to their bodies, they would register slightly painful sensation on the left and right side of their abdomen. But one was really angry and the other was in trance of shock and fear to notice that slight tension in their bodies.

Only after the thoughts of how beautiful and angry the woman looked Ash realized who she is. Pikachu's mind was a little faster in that department.

"I- I would- Ther-" Ash started to stutter. But few seconds after he regained himself. He is Ash Ketchum. Even if she is really gorgeous he would not stutter in front of her. That is not him! But more importantly. "Wait a minute! What is the Sinnoh Champion doing here in the middle of a night?" asked confused Ash.

"I am here to KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO YOU!" shouted Cynthia nearly waking up whole Pokemon Center again.

"Yeah. About that. I think that this wooden guy beat you in the knocking department." said Ash with sarcasm and knocked on the bench with one hand and rubbing his head with the other.

"ZIP IT ASH! FROM NOW ON YOU WILL SPEAK ONLY IF I'LL ASK YOU SOMETHING!" Cynthia was now losing it over the Pallet Town knucklehead. She didn't even care if someone heard her. She knows what person Ash is. Even when she knows him just a while she saw it in him the first time they met. That fighter. This whiny brat who gave up even before the battle started angers her to no end. This isn't Ash. She knows the real Ash. The one who goes against the odds. The one who never gives up. The one that battles to the last breath. This. This person who is before her isn't Ash Ketchum. It's just his poor image. She wants that battle-hardened warrior back she saw with her very own eyes in real life and on the computer screen. The one that she... admires. She shouldn't get this attached and frustrated, because of a person she knows only for a while. But the potential. She sees the great potential in Ash. Such an unpredictable trainer with strong Pokemon will get far. If he will stay on his path that is. And right now, he is going off this path. It's time for someone to get him back on the tracks.

"Okay, mum." thought Ash as he looked at his yellow friend who climbed his way back on his shoulder. When Pikachu nodded to Cynthia's request he just sighed and nodded too.

Cynthia finally calmed down and sat right next to Ash and Pikachu. "Okay, Ash. Sorry for my little outburst. But you depreciate yourself too much. I think you can beat Tobias." she said in that soft calming voice of hers.

"How?" asked Ash.

"What did I say about the talking?" asked Cynthia in a dangerous tone.

"That goes for you Pikachu too." said Cynthia switching the to her sweet angelic tone. Giving Pikachu scratch behind his ear receiving cute "chaaaaaaaa" from the yellow mouse.

"Damn she is switching attitudes as fast as I am getting into troubles." thought Ash to himself and nodded to Cynthia's remark.

"Ash I don't know how exactly to beat him." she said and Ash just dropped his head looked at the ground beneath him. This isn't helpful at all. "But you have Pokemon strong enough to beat him" Ash now looked back at her with a glint of hope in his eyes. If Champion think that his Pokemon are strong enough to take him down under his leadership then maybe. Maybe. MAYBE. It could be possible. But then again. It could be a bunch of lies to soothe him.

"I saw your video records from your battles earlier. You have a lot of potential with the way you think on the battlefield. You are very unpredictable. You can cook delicious counterattacks from nothing. That is your biggest advantage against Tobias. And as for your Pokemon..."

"You just need to use your aces." well that wasn't Cynthia. Our trio looked behind them and saw none other than Ash's Sinnoh rival number one. Paul Shinji. And he looked sleepy. Cynthia's shouting woke someone up after all.

Ash was about to say something but Cynthia put her finger to his lips. "Nononono Ash, we have some rules aren't we?" Ash was surprised by this act but went along with it. And, in a weird way, he even enjoys Cynthia shushing him. "Why? Why is her finger so soft and smell so good. Wait. What?! Arceus what in the name of... well... Arceus, is wrong with me!" Ash thought before getting his attention back to the topic at hand.

Paul was surprised that Cynthia and Ash were sitting on the bench together in the middle of the night and he decided not to comment on that but rather on the conversation that they were having. "I was expecting them against myself but you withhold them. And it nearly cost you the victory. When you released your 3rd Pokemon I realized that I will not have the pleasure to fight against them."

Cynthia looked back at Ash "He is right you know. I watched your matches and Paul did too. That Charizard of yours. He took down Articuno. He could take down Darkrai. And Sceptile. He is as fast as a bullet. Brandon's Regirock had a hard time against him even though you were not yourself." she said. Watching that battle was terrifying to Cynthia. It sends shivers down her spine just by thinking about it. Now that she thinks about it, she doesn't even know why she was so interested in Ash Ketchum. He was just another trainer when she met him, but something about him just clicked and she had to feed her desire for information about him. And after she saw his videos, it was clear that he was no ordinary Pokemon trainer. A trainer with a great potential.

"And from your stats on the official Pokemon League website, your Snorlax is really dangerous opponent too." said Paul before asking an important question.

"Why do you think that you can't beat him?"

Ash looked sadly at Cynthia. Cynthia nodded and with a warm smile she encouraging him to answer. "I am afraid. OK? Tobias can have anything. ANYTHING with him. How can I prepare myself for battle when I don't know what should I prepare for. The only certainty in this is his Darkrai. And even him is incredibly strong. Stronger than Brandon's Regi trio or Noland's Articuno. I can't fight against this. Maybe I can take that Darkrai down. But at what cost? It will take at least 3-4 of my Pokemon to take him down. I can't win with half of my team out!" said Ash sadly, but loudly and he returned back to keeping his mouth shut until Cynthia asks again. Pikachu, who was mesmerized by the beauty of Cynthia's blonde hair couldn't resist and decided to jump onto her head. But it was not just the hair that caused Pikachu to jump there. Pikachu doesn't know what to say to Ash right now. But maybe Cynthia will now. And to give her the push to say something to his trainer that would pull him out of this depression, he jumped on her. It surprised Cynthia, but Pikachu was light and she didn't mind. Pikachu even grabbed her hair with his paws and lied down on top of her head.

Paul looked at Pikachu on Cynthia's head and then back at Ash who was now observing Paul carefully before Paul started speaking "Look. I think that you can do it. And I hate you. That should say you something. And you have a freaking champion of Sinnoh herself saying you that you can do it. You just forgot how powerful your Pokemon from the other regions are. Your aces took the legendary Pokemon once. What makes you think that they can't do it again? I bet my Pokemon, my house, my brother, my future wife and children that if you would put that Sceptile of yours or that monstrous Charizard of yours against Darkrai that one of them would certainly win. You just don't realize it yet. That Darkrai isn't invincible. No one is. Even if that dude would throw an Arceus at you. Arceus can be beaten too from the stories I heard. All you need to do is what you always did. Be unpredictable. Can't you predict his team? Yes. But you can predict his moves. I'm sure you know what his favorite combo is. He can't predict your Pokemon too since you have so many of them. But more importantly. He can't predict your moves. No one can. And that is why I copied your style in the quarter-finals. It is god damn hard to fight against it. So stop being a fucking crybaby and just flummox his head as you always do to your opponents and win is yours." Paul finished his long speech. But not before adding one simple line. "Even that mouse think you can do it." he said as he pointed to Pikachu laying on Cynthia's head with his paws holding her hair, both smiling at Ash.

"Pi pika pi!" shouted his longest partner from the top of his little lungs while still holding Cynthia's hair with one paw.

"Couldn't have said it myself better Paul. Just believe in yourself as we believe in you and you are going to win. So. What do you say?" said Cynthia to Ash.

Ash was on the verge of tears when he looked at Pikachu on top of Cynthia's head. Those were some good speeches that they presented to him. And of course, they were right. Most of Ash's wins were due to his unusual tactics in battles. Being able to do the unthinkable. That was his thing. And if he could pull something even more unthinkable on the battlefield two days from now, then he could really pull the win off. Bring the best of the best, come up with some crazy strategies and moves and he could battle against anything. This is who he is. Ash Ketchum. The definition of the word unpredictable.

Ash finally, looked at his friends and said to all three of them. "Thanks. I needed that." But then he added one of his sarcastic remarks. "But Paul. Next time when you'll be betting something, bet something realistic. You finding a wife? The hell will freeze before that."

"Aaaaaand I regret helping you already." said Paul with a chuckle, which was very rare for him. But at least he can take a joke.

Cynthia, on the other hand, conjured another lovely smile. This is who Ash is. Not that whiny, depressed and insecure guy she saw earlier. She just has one last question for him.

"Now for my last question. What are you going to do?"

"Win this conference."

Author's note: Sooooo yeah. That's how I started. I thought that this chapter will have the maximum of 2000 words. BOY WAS I WRONG. Hope you guys will like it. The next chapter should be the battle between Ash vs Tobias and Dawn and Brock will finally appear.

Reviews are appreciated.