(Ash POV)
    As I walked down the shady streets that was once the central area of Lumiose City, I thought to myself many thoughts. What did the thieves want? Why did they choose Professor Sycamore of all professors? And how will this effect the war? All these questions flooded my mind as dark clouds began to roll in. It was supposed to storm tonight, meaning water would fill the lab as a result of the hole in it. Pikachu was sleeping in my backpack as we kept walking down the streets. I could hear smaller Pokémon run on the hard cold concrete. It was eerie...
      I walked to a familiar spot I've been to too many times. It was where I first battled Clemont. It was a public battlefield. I sat on the bench looking down at my hat. Tons of dust particles were on it. And part of it was burnt. I felt a drop on my face. And soon it began to rain. Hard. I didn't even grab the umbrella from my backpack. I just sat in the rain. I tried remembering what the News said... That my team was trying to stop Team Red... What are the odds of that happening. My army is tiny compared to the other two. The Citizens of Kalos all stayed with their side, and barely any have joined. The rain kept falling onto my hair making it wet and cold. Lumiose Tower wasn't even lit. It was dark. To think this was a popular city now seems like a Ghost Town. Yet this ain't Lavender Town. No Ghost haunts these streets. Well... As far as I know...
I got on my Rotomphone and began searching the news. All I could see is the Diantha Missing Headlines. I tried calling her, and I got nothing. I tried calling AZ to see if he knew anything. No response. It was currently 11:32 P.M, I wonder if he's sleeping. Finally, I had the courage to check the deaths of this war headline. Now a total of 2,000 people have died. I looked at the images to see towns with tons of shields and other things to protect the people on the streets. You could see people putting helmets on themselves and Pokémon. Not to mention pictures of Officer Jennies and Nurse Joys struggling. The fact N is staying quiet was also worrying. I kept reading the subheadings and captions. All while the rain poured onto my rotomphone. The more I looked at the news, the more guilt I felt.
At around midnight, after 30 minutes of looking at the news, I began to walk back to the lab. Except I might've forgotten where it is. My phone at this point was way to wet to even type on, and the streets were way dark to even look down. So I was just aimlessly trying to find a building. Not to mention the silence... It was eerie... Wait I already said that. Yet the silence wasn't something I was used to. At minimum I would hear a Pokémon making its noise, but there was nothing here. It was like a black abyss. A black void even. My footsteps would echo down the streets, And you could hear each and every drop of water fall onto the streets. Despite that, I kept walking. Although I will admit I got really cold. I could even feel Pikachu shivering in my backpack violently. The wind had picked up...

And the rain kept hiding my tears.
The wind made it hard to hear my sobbing.
The world was split up. So was my heart.
My feelings... Did they even matter... No.

Eventually, I found the lab. Although my vision felt like I was trying to look through vantablack. When I walked in, I saw Professor sleeping in an office chair. Professor was clearly wet like he had just dived into a swimming pool and gotten out. I grabbed a rain jacket and put it over him. The computers were short circuiting, and I could see Gary feeding his Umbreon. Which that Umbreon was just about the only thing in the lab that was a light. Gary soon noticed me and waved...
"Ashy-boy, can you tell Gold not to go..." Gold stayed with fear in his voice.
"What do you mean by, not to go?" I questioned him.
Gary shrugged and pointed upstairs. He was telling me to go and question Gold myself, because Gary is too lazy to just come out and say it -_-. So I went to go check on my general. I walked up the broken stairs that had its boards torn up by the thieves most likely. It creaked which actually woke up Pikachu. I walked to the room I haven't been in for quite a bit actually. I could hear Gold inside moving things, and underneath the door I could see Explotaro's Flames emitting a nice light. I slowly turned the knob and opened the door slowly...
Explotaro shot a flamethrower right by my head! It thankfully it the wall, but Explotaro began to growl at me. "Explotaro! What are you doing!?! Down Boy! Down! Sorry Ash..." Gold yelled. I could see Explotaro's Face change immediately. I see Gold packing a ton of things in a bag. Not to mention I notice that the ticket that'll take you anywhere is on the floor laying there. "Gold, where are you going? Gary sai..." I tried to ask before I got interrupted. "I'm going to Johto to find my family and friends. This picture has their faces crossed out. I must know what they did to them. I'm sorry Ash, but this is kinda personal..." Gold explained while closing his bag up. Gold soon out his hand on my right shoulder. "I didn't want to leave you... Especially after what those thieves did to this place... But... I can't not know what happened to them. Especially after, you know... What that elite trainer A..." I paused Gold right there. I stayed silent the whole time, but I couldn't hold it in. I had my cap down since you could probably see tears rolling down my face if I didn't. "It's ok Gold... Find your family... I understand the situation... I'll be fine, just... when will you return..." I said trying to sound natural and not sad. Gold just shrugged and picked up his bag.
"I'll have to leave now however... I wanna arrive there early tomorrow morning..." Gold explained. I needless to say could feel more tears run down my face. "Ash, I'll make sure to keep you updated. Maybe, Idk. If I don't respond for 2 days in a row come look for me... Please..." Gold told me. He patted the left side of his leg and Explotaro came to his side. "Don't die Gold out there." I told him. He smiled and walked away. I could hear him say farewell to Gary. I looked out the window to see him walking down the streets holding an umbrella. Eventually I couldn't see him anymore. I could feel Pikachu rub against my leg. So I just began to lay on the floor. Eventually I feel asleep in the cold, soaking wet.

The Next Day...

I woke up freezing cold and the Sun shining brightly onto my face. Pikachu was on my lap sleeping. I saw Gary in the room sleeping peacefully. Downstairs I could hear somebody typing on a computer. Professor Sycamore definitely. His assistants weren't here to help him since they had to help their families out. So he was a one man team. I could see a TON of notifications on my phone from popular news teams. Although I only payed attention to one that Gold and AZ sent. I checked AZ's First, and he texted me,
Leader Ash Ketchum,
According to General Brock, Red has headed to Mt.Silver to "train". Although I heard rumors that he's constructing a powerful weapon up there that will destroy Team Delia in one Swoop. I will look more into this. And also... Hold up a General is c...
The text ended there. I'm guessing by C, he means coming. That was sent 2 hours ago, at 7:31... He hasn't responded since. Hopefully he didn't get caught.
Then I checked Gold's Message stating,
I have arrived in Johto. I'm staying in my old house since the town seems to be completely abandoned. However, when I arrived in the Airport, everyone began attacking me. In fact I currently have a black eye right now. Explotaro is trying to help me heal, but I have found nothing has helped me. Please don't worry about me tho. I'll be fine, I just have t suck it up. I'm acting like such a baby... Anyways, just text me when you see this message.-Gold.
Great. Now my general has a black eye. That's what I need. I texted him a thumbs up. That's when Gary walked out the room in some pretty fancy clothes. "Ash... I just got news that Professor Oak got attacked by Champion Steven. He's in the hospital barely holding on... I have to check on him... The doctor told me he was barely hold-" I stopped him right there. "GO CHECK ON HIM RIGHT NOW GARY! YOUR WASTING TIME TELLING ME THIS! GO NOW!" I yelled. Gary actually fell back. "S...sorry ashy-boy..." Gary said. He ran down the stair and called out his Pidgeot and flew away. Pikachu shocked me hard with a thunderbolt. "What was that for!?!" I asked him. Pikachu seemed mad at me, but what did I do? All I did was... yell... I ran to the bathroom to look into the mirror. All I saw in my reflection was Red. I was acting like my father for a moment. I splashed my face with water, and looked back into the mirror. My face was back and not red. I could hear Professor knocking on the door asking what was going on. I looked at my MegaZ-Ring to see it slightly glowing. Wonder why. I just sat on the floor looking at my hands. More specifically my fingers. Pikachu began to sniff them too.

Was I becoming my Father... No... God No...
If I am... Will I eve... That's when Pikachu zapped me slightly. He began to put his tiny hands in the air and point at me. This time around I couldn't tell what the heck he was trying to say. But whatever it was, It made me want to get out the bathroom. So I unlocked the door to see a worried Professor Sycamore.
"Ash!?! Are you ok!?! I heard this door slam loudly!" He questioned. I rubbed my stomach while giving a thumbs up. "I saw Gary run out the door and fly away. He seemed scared and worried..."Professor told me. "Professor Oak could be dead. He's checking on him. As for Gold, he's trying to find his friends and family." I explained. Professor stayed quiet for a few moments.
     "Everyone is dealing with something right now. And I have a feeling that splitting up is something that could help the team. We can gain more information in different regions at once. So this is super handy. The more information, the easier it will be to put both teams down." I told him. That's when I realized Professor had walked away while I explained this. I saw heard him yell from the kitchen, "Breakfast is Ready!" I began to slide down the rail of the stairs. That is until I heard a huge
BOOM! BOOM! CRASH!
That noise came from nearby. In the distance I could see smoke. Tons of it. Not to mention it was from the Old Battlefield. Now, everyone has been fighting recently. But I could hear tons of screams. I quickly changed into my Sinnoh Clothes and released Charizard. Professor looked at me with a confused look. "Hold on to that food Professor! I gotta check to see what's happening!" With that, I flew towards the old Battlefield. Smoke filled the air, and I could see people laying on the floor. Lifeless. And soon I began getting attacked. And a good ice beam hit Charizard and... Everything went Black...
End of Chapter 23...

Author's Note: Ok I have to seriously address this. Recently a TON of people have PM me about updating this recent chapter. They have been asking rudely and I have received a few threats. I won't point any fingers, but please know I haven't abandoned this story and that I do work on this whenever I have free time. However, I have interests in others things and I work in those fields too! This isn't my only story I have. Also, please note that all of this that you see is typed on a phone: Not a computer. So my arms will get tired of holding the phone. Not to mention I have a condition called hyperhidrosis disorder. If you don't know, it is a condition in which I sweat excessively. This can be caused by heat (which btw I radiate a lot of normally) or just happen randomly. As I said earlier, I type on a phone. Thanks to the sweat, my typing gets messed up easily and the phone gets super crusty, making typing hard. And yes, I have tried washing my hands with water. That only lasts for 4 minutes before my hands are wet again. And keep in mind I wear fingerless gloves as I type these chapters so the sweat ain't too bad. Yet it still is. So half the time I have to go back and check to see some errors I made and struggle to fix them... It's a long process. Typing chapters this long is how I try to make up for it, but people apparently still aren't satisfied. So to those who PM me asking for the next chapter, I'mma say it again: It'll come out soon. Be patient. I wanna make this enjoyable for everyone and try not to make a bias choice. So I have drafts handwritten of how I want this story to go and I just need to type it on here. I promise you I remember this book. I think about it everyday. So just be patient please... And stop threatening me too.

On a little bit of a higher note (and yes my hands are ultra wet as I type this) I would like to thank y'all for 4K views! I didn't think I'd get this far honestly. I'll keep trying for those people who do enjoy reading this. And I'm sorry if I haven't uploaded in a while.
I have been into Amino recently and have been uploading there a lot (and people joined the amino and PM me to release the next chapter -_-) If you wanna see what I upload on there, it's in my description of my profile. It is an UnderTale Amino where I have created an AU. It is a dying Amino, but I work there pretty often. Go check it out if you wanna see another story I wrote or like UnderTale. Just scroll to the bottom and work your way up. I suggest reading the Parts if you only want the story. Just follow the link in my description and you'll see my profile. Hope you have fun there...

Anyways, I'mma end this Author Note right here. Sorry for it being super long, but the threats I was getting was kinda out of hand. So thanks for 4K and cya next Chapter!
Word Count: 2609 words