"Legends die. But the fire they leave behind becomes tomorrow's sun."
---
There was no fanfare when the world restarted. No divine song from Arceus, no triumphant cry from the heavens.
Just silence.
And light.
A soft, unfamiliar kind of light.
Cynthia stood on her balcony in Celestic Town, watching a sun she didn't remember rising over a sky she didn't recognize. There were no tears in her eyes—because she didn't yet understand what she had lost.
Or more hauntingly…
What had been taken from her memory.
Behind her, a bedroom she didn't remember decorating. A Poke Ball case that held her partners, perfectly aligned—but without the wear and scuff of years.
Time had rewritten itself.
She lived. But Ash did not.
Or so the world believed.
---
Hall of Origin — Edge of Eternity
Ares stood before the last remnants of the Glitch War—a graveyard of broken Ultra Wormholes, fractured badges, and corrupted Pokéballs.
In his hand, he held Ash's hat.
The red was faded. The white circle, torn.
He had never taken it off since that day.
"Dad…" Ares whispered. "I'll find you. Even if the world believes you're gone."
The Hall responded with silence, save for a gentle hum from the Final Flame—a flickering torch left behind by Ash. No fire. No heat.
Just a dim ember… refusing to die.
---
Flashpoint Memory – The Fracture Beyond Time
Ash Ketchum wasn't dead.
He had become something else.
Trapped in a realm between realities—a bleeding wound between timelines, a paradox given flesh.
His body shimmered between ages, his voice echoing in languages that hadn't been invented yet.
But his mind?
His heart?
Still intact.
And so was the memory of Cynthia.
Of Ares.
Of every friend. Every journey. Every fight.
And with each second that passed in the void…
Ash trained.
Not to be Champion.
Not to be the best.
But to return.
To find a way back.
Even if he had to tear open the fabric of the world itself.
---
Sinnoh – Reforged
Peace had returned, but it was false. Artificial. History books claimed that the Glitch King was destroyed by the Trinity Protocol—Ares, the Goddess of Time, and the Will of Origin.
No mention of Ash.
Only a vague line:
> "The Unknown One who gave all."
But some remembered.
Professor Oak never stopped writing letters he could never send.
Goh wandered, never catching another Pokémon.
And Misty lit a candle every morning by the Cerulean Gym's old photograph of their travels.
The world had moved on.
But his fire hadn't.
---
Cynthia's Dream
It came suddenly.
She was standing in a ruined League Hall, surrounded by fire. But she wasn't afraid.
Ash stood before her—taller. Worn. Eyes glowing with fire that wasn't of this world.
> "You don't remember me," he said, softly.
"But I remember every moment with you."
She reached out. "Ash?"
He smiled.
> "Not yet."
And then… he vanished.
She awoke with tears in her eyes and whispered,
"I remember you."
---
Final Scene — The Ember Reignites
In the Hall of Origin, Ares stood again before the Final Flame.
This time, it sparked.
A voice crackled through the silence.
> "I'm not done yet."
Ares smiled for the first time in weeks.
He whispered to the void:
> "Then I'll be waiting, Dad."
Because legends die.
But the fire they leave behind…
Becomes tomorrow's sun.