Repairing Broken Bonds (Collab with Ray Chiu)

Chapter 1: Devastation Strikes.

Ash was coming back home to Pallet Town with his partner Pikachu who was very happy and cheerful after both of them had managed to defeat Leon and his Charizard in the finals of the World Coronation Series' Masters 8 Finals! His friends had gone to Pallet Town to celebrate at Oak's lab, and Goh and Chloe along with Goh's Galar Starters, and Chloe's Eevee also decided to attend as well when going with Ash. When they arrived, most of Ash's old friends, along with Gladion and Professor Oak, for some reason, were there. The only ones missing were Serena and Lillie.

"Hey guys!" Ash greeted them, "You guys doing well?"

"Ash, we need to talk to you..." Brock sighed while putting on a fake smile, causing Ash to be confused.

"Sure? What's the issue?" Ash wondered as Misty stepped up.

"Oh you know why!" Misty shouted, "It's time you gave up on your dream!" Ash, Pikachu, along with their friends from Vermilion were shocked by this outburst!

"Wait, what?!" Ash gasped, "Guys what's the matter?!"

"For starters you've dragged us along for dangerous adventures!" Brock stated, "And you failed to beat 6 of 8 leagues, one you didn't participate in, and one was the first!"

"Yeah, it's clear that you couldn't have beaten Leon fairly, you drugged your Pokemon!!" Dawn exclaimed, making Ash offended.

"EXCUSE ME?!" Ash shouted, "I won fair and square!"

"Yes you did, and your stupid idea has left a sour taste in my mouth!" Cilan said, making everyone confused.

"You kept causing my machines to blow up!" Clemont shouted.

"And you've caused so many problems in Alola as well!" Kiawe exclaimed, as Mallow, Lana, and Sophecles nodded.

"And I can't believe my own sister, let such a stupid person into our house as well!" Gladion shouted, which caused Ash to feel hurt and angry.

"EXCUSE ME?!" Iris shouted, "Why are you being so cruel?! He won fair and square!"

"Yeah!" Max and Bonnie shouted together along with Goh and Chloe standing up with Ash.

"You guys really think I'll give up? NEVER! I'll never give up until it's over!" Ash shouted, "Professor, you don't agree with them right?"

"Well I'm afraid you'd say this and continue, which is why we have a back-up plan." Oak stated.

"Back up plan?" Goh wondered as they saw Gladion grab a Pokeball with a Snowflake symbol on it, and Z-Ring, but not just any Z-Ring, the one his father had before vanishing, or the one Lillie used, "A Z-Ring?" Goh and the others were confused, but Ash quickly realized who the item belonged to.

"Lillie's Z-Ring?!" Ash gasped, now remembering  that Lillie wasn't present, "What did you guys do with Lillie?!" His outburst caused Snowy to rush out of the forest with and take it towards Ash as the traitors smirked.

"Well, originally we WERE going to have her help us confront you as well, but no matter what we did, even Faba's Hypno using Hypnosis on her, wasn't enough to make her say harsh things about you, so we decided to take things into our own hands." Kiawe stated, "Let's show them!" Professor Oak and Gladion went into the lab and brought out Ash's precious blonde friend, who was close to fainting.

"Wha-LILLIE!!!" Ash shouted, he rushed to Lillie's aid as Gladion threw her at the ground, as Ash got to her, he realized several bruises on her arms, legs and head, and possibly some broken bones. Whatever they did was very painful to be through, "Oh no, what in the world did they do to you Lillie?!" Lillie looked at Ash with a weak smile as unknown to them, Gladion put his right hand into a snapping placement.