Chapter twenty-one (AKPKMN)

**Announcement:** This is the final chapter and after the Lumiose Conference you'll all see what Ash's dream was.

**Review Responses:**

**Spectrer:** Yes, Ash will get Ash-Greninja.

**Phenomenal Ultra Instinct:** I was trying too write them as self-centered, lazy, and entitled.

**Yaw6113:** Thanks.

**Guest:** I'm glad.

**John50:** And then you'll see. This is the last chapter. I couldn't make the story any longer while staying realistic. Ash is only a big deal in his home nation, and even then he's not very high profile. They won't know who he is unless they know him as a Professor or travel abroad a lot. Buying Lysandre Labs made him a household name in Kalos, but without that few would know who he was.

The pre-party for the Lumiose Conference was somewhat interesting. Ash had managed to gather info on his possible future opponents and had confirmed that Alain was here and was likely the biggest threat to Ash's victory. Ash wasn't dismissing the others, but Alain was simply the biggest obstacle.

After this conference Ash would train for a year, challenge and defeat Arius, and build a family and love and actually be around for them, which meant that he would have too settle down for at least eleven years. Ash was gonna defeat Arius and become the Kanto Champion and further reinforce his Master rank. Ash was even considering winning the Johto championship off of Lance sometime.

And then there were Ash's secret plans... which he believed everyone would enjoy once revealed.

After an announcement from the lovely Diantha, the match-ups were announced and Ash would face Titus first.

Unfortunately Titus would prove unchallenging for Ash and he would be defeated with laughable ease. Astrid would soon prove just as disappointing for Ash, but he was looking forward to battling Sawyer.

The battle started and Sawyer sent out his Slaking and too everyone's surprise Ash sent out his Aegislash. They doubted his wisdom at first, but Ash quickly reminded them all why he was a five-time champion... Aegislash used Toxic, Attract, Destiny Bond, and then he barraged Slaking with Sacred Sword and Brick Break... poor Slaking never stood a chance.

"Slaking is unable to battle! Sawyer send out your next Pokemon!" The referee commanded.

"Go Salamence," Sawyer said.

Sawyer quickly ordered Salamence too use Incinerate, but Aegislash used Protect and then followed it up with Shadow Sneak and Head Smash, causing Salamence to crash into the ground.

"Salamence is unable to battle! Sawyer send out your next Pokemon!"

Next Sawyer chose Slurpuff despite its disadvantage and had it use Flamethrower, which was stopped with Aegislash's Protect and then Slurpuff was hit with Toxic and Iron Head.

"Slurpuff is unable to battle! Since Sawyer has had three Pokemon defeated there will be a short break."

Ash got a sip of water and returned Aegislash to rest.

When the battle restarted Sawyer chose Clawitzer and Ash chose Delphox, surprising everyone once again.

Sawyer ordered Water Pulse, Ash had it redirected with Psychic and had Clawitzer hit with Will-O-Wisp, restrained with Psychic and then defeated by a Solar Beam.

Sawyer was in a difficult position, Ash had calmly defeated his Pokemon and seemed to predict which Pokemon Sawyer would choose. Sawyer's chances of victory were almost non-existent now. Even worse, Ash Ketchum was either a Move Tutor, knew one, or had just bought a lot of TM's.

Sawyer was still somehow surprised when Ash's Delphox defeated his Mega Sceptile and his Aegislash and was only half listening as the referee proclaimed Ash the winner.

Ash simply left, already planning for his battle with Alain for the conference championship. It was quite sad that someone so overly reliant upon Mega Evolution was his biggest obstacle, but such power helped those less skilled compensate for lack of skill, knowledge, and experience. Alain needed to learn and be forced to develop greater levels of skill because his Charizard was an underdeveloped paper dragon; chubby, short, lots of experience and power, but no noteworthy physical conditioning to fully develop its potential. If Alain had trained it properly then it could be near equal to Ash's own.

Alain, a quite skilled trainer, was humiliated and was dealt a clear and decisive defeat. Alain was standing, looking down at his defeated Charizard in shock... His Metagross, Tyranitar, Unfezant, and Charizard were all defeated by the same Pokemon. Ash's Greninja. A Pokemon that had power far beyond Mega Evolution. Ash's Delphox quickly defeated Alain's Weavile and Bisharp.

And now Ketchum was coming over to him.

"Would you like to know why I didn't hold back as much and dealt you such a severe defeat?" Ash asked.

"Why?" Alain asked in dread.

"You believed that you were reaching the heights of your strength and would have slacked off if you weren't defeated. You still have a lot too learn and do before you even get close to your limit." Ash said and Alain nodded.

Meanwhile the announcer had recovered from his shock and began talking...

"And our winner is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!" The announcer said as cheers broke out. "This is Ash's sixth championship win! Not only that, but Ash has also just matched his own previous accomplishments at the Silver, Ever Grande, Lily of the Valley, and Vertress Conferences and none of his Pokemon have fainted during the entire Lily of the Valley Conference! This is Ash's sixth league win in a row and Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town has become the first in history to achieve this, and has added to his world record..."

"Ash has just set two more national records... No Pokemon fainted during the Vertress Conference. A national record. No Pokemon fainted during four League Conferences... a national and world record. Here comes the Champion Diantha to present Ketchum with his trophy!"

"Congratulations, Ash," Diantha said with a smile. "I present you with your trophy; proof of your victory, and one million Poke dollars will be transferred into your account. Your winning the Lumiose Conference grants you the right to challenge Kalos' Elite Four and myself at any time you desire, and you will also bear the title Champion of the Lumiose Conference until next year."

"Thank you," Ash replied. "Don't worry, though. I have no intention of challenging you for your title. Kalos is too far from home for my tastes and I'm going too work towards my other dreams now."

And with that, Ash Ketchum left Kalos, and began training his Pokemon, constructing stadiums, recruiting trainers and selecting competitors for his next project, and also devising new gyms.

Ash defeated the Kanto Elite Four just after turning eighteen years old and Arius' death themed team was overwhelmed... Ash became Champion of Kanto and he quickly scheduled a meeting with Lance, Arius, Steven Stone, and Misty Waterflower.

"Please tell me you aren't scrapping nearly the entire Kanto Elite Four," Lance said in concern.

"No, this is for another project of mine. You four are all some of the best trainers around; champions and former champions, and Misty whose nearly at that level. I'm building something called the Crucible where the Elite Four will be champion-level; the best of them, and the Gym Leaders will all be Elite Four-level." Ash said and Arius, Misty, and Lance were all very interested.

"I'm not sure if I'm able too, Ash," Steven replied. "I'm actively looking for stones, ruins, and studying history most of the time."

"You'll still be able to do that. The placings of the Elite Four haven't been decided yet... it'll be weakest too strongest. You might be the third or fourth elite faced and it's unlikely that you'll have to battle much if you are." Ash said, convincing Steven to give it a shot.

"I'll try it for a year then," Steven said.

"Why are you the defacto champion though?" Misty asked.

"Girl, don't even think of battling him," Arius said in amusement. "No one else is questioning it. Ketchum is that powerful, none of us question his power, skill, or worthiness. He dominated me in our battle."

"Yeah. I don't need that question answered either." Lance added.

And so began the elite tournament... each member would battle and the strongest would be last.

Steven scraped a victory over Lance and Misty; having trained to beat Ash. Arius beat all three of them with only moderate difficulty; he reigned as champion for twenty years and had power and skill in spades. Lance beat Misty despite her exploiting his Dragon-types weakness to the Ice-type. Arius would be the fourth and final Elite Four, Steven would be third, Lance would be second, and Misty would be first.

It was the Gym Leaders that were difficult though...

Koga agreed to serve as the Poison-type Elite Gym Leader and he could also spend more time with his daughter Janine. Another gym was constructed close to Koga's former gym.

Bruno agreed to serve as the Fighting-type Elite Gym Leader.

Agatha agreed to serve as the Ghost-type Elite Gym Leader.

Drake and Sidney agreed to serve as the Dragon and Dark-type Elite Gym Leaders.

The other positions were filled with other Elite Four-level trainers, broadcasting arrangements were made, medical staff was recruited and hospitals were built, vendors were hired, and The Crucible was soon ready to be opened.

With The Crucible's opening imminent, Ash and his Elite Four had too invite trainers to participate and those trainers all had to be very strong and skilled. They also had to invite high profile guests to increase their exposure.

Those invited were May and Max Maple; May was just a famous guest, Sawyer, Alain, Tierno, Paul, Conway, Jon Dickson, Harrison, Virgil, Cameron, Wallace, Red, Blue Oak, Cynthia Shirona, Alder, Diantha, various regional professors, and many others, along with many reporters.

"Thank you all for coming," Ash began, after everyone silenced themselves for the opening announcement. "Welcome to The Crucible and for those of you who don't know a crucible is a trial or situation where forces interact and cause or influence change or development. A fitting name for this venture of mine. I sought to create the ultimate test for trainers who are all beyond the average level... The end result was an Elite Four with some of the strongest current and former champions around with a champion that can easily beat them in a battle."

The shock and awe was obvious on everyone's faces.

"Oh, I have your full attention now?" Ash asked teasingly. "As for the Gym Leaders, they have been tested and confirmed to be at the Elite Four-level with some being current or former Elite Four or candidates. But eight badges isn't enough to advance to the tournament... there are eighteen types of Pokemon. To advance you need to face a majority of those types, ten at minimum. If you win the Elite Conference then you will win two million Poke dollars... defeat the Elite Four and myself and you will win an additional three million and the champion title."

"The Crucible is designed to test those competing and push them to their absolute limits! You will compete against the best trainers around! You will suffer or deal out defeats that will force you to either grow stronger or wither away and die as trainer! But... win or lose you will have the honor of competing against the best there are and will grow in skill, wisdom, and knowledge." Ash said. "But the question remains... Who will stay and test themselves and who will flee in fear?"

No one left and Ash smiled.

"Good," Ash said, still smiling. "For those of you who don't recognize them, I will now introduce my Elite Four in the order that they are faced. First up is Misty Waterflower of Cerulean City... she currently holds a place on the Johto and Orre Elite Four in addition to her place on mine. Second up is Lance Wataru... he is currently the Johto Champion and a member of Kanto and Orre's Elite Four in addition to his place on mine. Third up is Steven Stone, former Hoenn region champion and my third Elite Four. Our fourth and final... the former reigning champion of the Kanto region for twenty long years, the Master of the Dark, the dread Arius!"

As they were introduced, each Elite Four stepped forward and received applause.

"Any questions?" Ash asked.

"Why was I invited?" Cynthia asked.

"Thought you might be interested in competing and if you weren't then I could always just flirt with you," Ash replied, causing some laughter and a smile from Cynthia.

"Was I invited for a similar reason?" Diantha asked, smiling.

"Yes, but it was mostly Steven that wanted to flirt with you. Congratulations, you have beauty, brains, and a great personality... it only took a few drinks to get Steven too say that." Ash said, teasing Steven who looked embarrassed. "Anymore questions?" None. "The Elite Tournament will begin in one year... prepare, train, and battle hard and perhaps you can give this speech next time."

Some stayed behind too socialize but most left to begin collecting badges.

Steven and Diantha talked, which Ash had hoped for, and Ash managed to schedule a date with Cynthia.

Few were surprised when Red himself won the Elite Tournament, having beaten all eighteen gyms. Blue was the runner-up with Max and Conway joining them in the Top 4. Ash was so proud of how far Max had come and it was a feeling that Max's family shared.

Ash was more pleased with how well his relationship with Cynthia was going and was even contemplating proposing to her.

But right now Ash had a battle to win... against his role model the legendary trainer Red.

"This battle between Ash Ketchum and the legendary Red for the title Elite Champion will now begin... an epic clash of Pokemon Masters in which only one can prove themselves the superior." The announcer said.

Red silently sent out his Charizard.

"Come on out, my friend," Ash said, sending out Gyarados... his first Pokemon.

Red started them off with an order to use Mega Punch, but Gyarados met it with an Aqua Tail as the force of the clash shook the stadium. Charizard got in a Mega Kick but Gyarados hit Charizard with a point blank Hydro Pump that sent Charizard flying into the stadium walls badly injured.

It wasn't enough though, Ash mused.

Charizard used Flare Blitz and sent Gyarados flying into the wall.

"Thunder!" Ash ordered and Gyarados roared as Charizard was struck down by lightning pouring down from the heavens.

Red was shocked that his Charizard, which was level 170, was beaten so easily.

This Ketchum kid is tough. I'll have to use type advantages. Red thought, refusing to even consider losing.

Red sent out his Pikachu and had it use Thunderbolt, but Gyarados countered with Protect and used Roar too bring out Red's Blastoise and then defeat it with a single massive Thunder that lit up the entire stadium... Blastoise was left unable too battle, shocking the entire stadium and Red.

Red sent Pikachu back out and Ash decided that it was time...

"Gyarados! Mega Evolve!" Ash said and the Mega Stone, Key Stones, and Gyarados all glowed as Ash's Gyarados took on its final form.

Red's Pikachu still beat Ash's Gyarados decisively, only taking moderate damage from the higher leveled Gyarados.

Ash sent out his Charizard next and Red swapped Pikachu for Lapras.

Lapras used Thunderbolt, but Charizard was unaffected and used Giga Impact too send Lapras flying into a wall, but Lapras used Ice Beam on Charizard... Charizard used Flare Blitz to avoid being frozen and used Solar Beam in retaliation.

Lapras was barely able too fight and was quickly finished off with a Dragon Pulse.

"Red has lost three Pokemon," the referee said. "Trainer Red, would you like your optional break?"

Red replied by sending out his Snorlax and ordering it to use Toxic, which was quickly countered with a Flamethrower and ignited, bathing Snorlax in the burning fluid.

With Snorlax being able to take immense amounts of abuse, Ash had little choice but to Mega Evolve his Charizard and begin beating it into submission... Blast Burn, Giga Impact, Draco Meteor, Hyper Beam, and Solar Beam were all used to leave Snorlax unable to battle; horribly damaging the battlefield in the process.

Red's Pikachu was next and was narrowly defeated, but Ash returned Charizard and sent out his Tyranitar too fight Red's Venusaur.

Tyranitar's Sand Stream ability quickly gave Ash an early advantage... that and Stealth Rock, Stone Edge, Flamethrower, and Ice Beam allowed Ash to secure yet another victory over Red while only taking moderate damage from Venusaur's blind attacks. The damage was still severe enough that Ash opted to swap his Tyranitar for Gengar to face Red's final Pokemon: Espeon.

"It all comes down to this folks," the announcer said. "Ash Ketchum is on the verge of defeating a living legend and proving himself to be the strongest of the two Pokemon Masters."

Red looked annoyed by the announcer and so did Ash.

"Sorry, Red. The announcer is under contract and he's only trying too add drama and suspense." Ash stated in mild amusement.

Ash started them off with Destiny Bond for added insurance and Red ordered a Future Sight and Psychic, knowing that he had already lost. Worse still was that Psychic was Disabled by Gengar's Cursed Body and Gengar landed a Hypnosis attack which was quickly followed up by Toxic, Venoshock, Hex, Nightmare, and Dream Eater.

Espeon was defeated.

Ash had wanted to surpass Red for most of his life, Ash wanted to be the best, be wealthy and successful, and create The Crucible... Ash was only disappointed with the first. Ash had defeated and surpassed Red, but it wasn't everything that he hoped that it would be. Ash took his win in silence, shook Red's hand, and then went on with his life.

Ash and Cynthia would marry later that year and would conceive their first child shortly thereafter... Samuel Ketchum would be born nine months later and would be followed by a brother James Ketchum and his twin sisters Delia and Lily Ketchum. Each would grow up to become Elites and Champions like their parents.

As for Ash?

He was eternally youthful and reproduced the Philosopher's Stone and Elixir of Life for Cynthia and their children, but eventually shegrew tired of living and outliving her friends; human and Pokemon... Cynthia left Ash and their family behind at the age of 300, still just as beautiful as the day Ash met her.

Ash was eventually defeated by his son James and left Kanto shortly after, his family no longer needing him, and Ash continued his travels and winning streak... eventually becoming known as the Undying Master and defending Earth for over a thousand years before remaining behind to evacuate a dying planet of all life.

But Ash wasn't reborn this time... he finally passed on and he was reunited with his loved ones; human and Pokemon, in the afterlife... and was even able to visit those from his first life too.

But even in death Ash was powerful... his magical power was so immense that it could sustain hundreds of Pokemon and from his magical power, having enveloped the Earth as he died, Earth would slowly recover as if by magic.

And so Ash Ketchum died and was remembered for eternity for his incomparable accomplishments and the energy that he left behind to heal Earth. Ash Ketchum, the best there ever was and the great hero... Earth would soon be restored and repopulated and Pallet Town and The Crucible would become memorials too Ash, the man who saved the world countless times and eventually provided the power for it to be reborn.