"You can bury fire beneath ashes. But it still burns."
---
The stars over Mt. Coronet pulsed with unease.
It had been six months since the war ended. Six months since the world began pretending it was whole again. The League resumed. Regions rebuilt. Statues were erected in honor of those lost.
And yet… the boy named Ares Ketchum never stopped climbing.
He stood alone at the summit, wind screaming through the ancient stones, cloak whipping like a banner of mourning. In one hand, he held the Final Flame—the small, stubborn ember left behind by Ash. In the other, the Godslayer Blade, forged from the remnants of Eternatus's shattered core.
His eyes burned with the kind of grief that no ceremony could bury.
"Mom remembers you now," he said quietly to the flame, as if it could hear him. "She cries when she thinks I'm not listening."
The flame didn't flicker.
But the air changed.
He turned, sensing a presence.
From the shadows stepped a woman in black.
Sabrina.
Except… this Sabrina had eyes that bled violet. And behind her floated six Poké Balls pulsing with psychic energy so intense, the very rocks beneath her feet levitated.
> "You're not supposed to be here, Ares."
Ares narrowed his eyes. "And you're not really Sabrina, are you?"
She smiled. It was cold. Mechanical.
> "Correct. I am the Will of Null. I exist to ensure the return of your father does not occur."
Ares didn't flinch. "Then you're already too late."
He stabbed the Final Flame into the summit stone.
And the world shook.
---
Elsewhere – The Dimensional Maw
Ash stood at the edge of reality, gazing into a sea of broken reflections—each one a different version of him.
Some old.
Some corrupted.
One still a child, staring up with wide, innocent eyes.
They whispered to him in languages long dead.
> "You do not belong here."
"You traded mortality for memory."
"You are legend now… go back and die."
But Ash didn't listen.
He tightened his grip on his cap, worn and frayed but still his. His body was slowly stabilizing, no longer flickering between states. He had anchored himself on a single purpose:
Ares.
Cynthia.
Home.
Suddenly, a tear opened in the void—a jagged portal of blood and silver.
Someone was calling him.
---
Sinnoh – Present
Cynthia stood in the ruins of Spear Pillar. Her long blond hair tangled by wind, her eyes hollow but alive.
She had remembered everything.
The final kiss before Ash vanished.
The battle where he held back a dimensional collapse with nothing but raw will.
The night Ares was born beneath a sky of falling stars, and Ash whispered, "You will burn brighter than me, one day."
She placed her palm over the sacred stone and whispered:
> "Find your way back. No matter what you've become… we're still waiting."
The stone glowed.
The Echo Seal broke.
Ash's presence returned to the world like a scream beneath the skin of reality.
---
Back on Mt. Coronet
Ares fought.
It wasn't just the pseudo-Sabrina. It was a legion now. Echoes of erased champions. Inverted versions of Kanto's Elite Four, twisted by the Glitch King's final curse.
He bled.
He screamed.
But he didn't stop.
Every time he was struck, the Final Flame flared brighter.
Sabrina advanced, eyes wild. "You cannot change fate, child!"
Ares grinned through bloody teeth. "I don't need to."
And then the sky split.
A white streak shot through the clouds.
A collision of light, wind, flame, and shadow.
When it cleared…
Ash stood before his son.
Taller. Hardened. A black coat with the original League symbol sewn in gold. One Pokéball in hand—its color inverted, pulsing with legend.
Cynthia arrived moments later, breathless.
Their eyes locked.
No words. Just a universe of meaning.
Ash turned to Ares.
> "You kept the fire alive."
Ares choked back tears. "I couldn't let it go out."
Ash looked forward, toward the descending storm of corrupted champions.
> "Then let's finish this. Together."
Cynthia stepped beside them, Garchomp roaring to life behind her.
The family, broken by war, now stood united against the ashes of false peace.
And the Final Flame exploded into a phoenix of pure light.
---