Fixing Past Mistakes

Five Years Later

Five years later, a now-fifteen-year-old Ash Ketchum was traveling through the Kalos region with Elizabeth and their new friends, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie. It was currently three weeks before the Kalos league was set to begin, and Ash and his Pokemon were busy training hard. They knew they would have a tough league ahead of them, particularly concerning Sawyer's Sceptile and Alain's Mega Charizard X. 

Charizard. Just the word itself was enough to make Ash frown. He hadn't seen his own Charizard since he had released him five years ago. He didn't regret the decision-far from it-but he did wonder how things could have been if he'd been able to get through to the stubborn fire lizard. 

Even so, not keeping Charizard around had been extremely beneficial. Without the stress of trying to control a disobedient Pokemon, Ash's skill as a trainer had flourished. Nearly all of his Pokemon evolved to their final stages, the exception of Ivysaur who didn't like his final form. Apparently he thought it was ugly, a sentiment Ash couldn't entirely disagree with. But his Squirtle had become a Blastoise shortly before the Johto league, and his Cyndaquil and Chikorita had reached their final evolutions during the first few weeks in Hoenn. 

Ash's training style had changed as well. Instead of simply leaving every Pokemon he caught at Professor Oak's lab after every journey and only taking Pikachu to the next region, he deposited a few and took three or four of his old Pokemon with him. This had worked wonders for him, as he was able to sweep through Johto, Hoenn, Unova, and most of Sinnoh with ease. The only exception came against Tobias' Darkrai in the Sinnoh league finals, but he had managed to beat the legendary trainer with his Sceptile. Due to his improved training regime, Ash had been victorious in nearly every league he'd challenged since the Indigo league, the exception being Johto when his Typhlosion-then a Quilava-had fallen to a Blaziken. 

By far the best part of Ash's journey had been during his Sinnoh journey, when he received a call from Professor Oak. The Kanto researcher had been studying mega evolution, a little-known concept that allowed certain Pokemon to reach a higher stage of evolution, and had discovered that Ash's Blastoise, Sceptile, and Pidgeot (returned from her time in the wild) were capable of mega evolving. He had gone to the liberties of obtaining a key stone for Ash and a mega stone for Pidgeot, Blastoise, and Sceptile. The three mega Pokemon were in a class all by themselves, and could wipe out nearly anything that stood in their way. 

At the moment, Ash's current team consisted of Greninja, Pikachu, Hawlucha, Typhlosion, Noivern, and Sceptile. He could still remember the look on Sawyer's face when he saw Ash's Sceptile, who stood at least a foot taller than his own. 

No, Ash didn't regret releasing Charizard at all. If anything, releasing him had been the best decision he'd ever made. Still, it was hard not to wonder if their bond could have been as strong as the one between Alain and his Charizard. 

Actually, on second thought, there was no way that was true. 

Something of Ash's thoughts must have shown on his face, for Serena asked, "Is something wrong, Ash?" 

"Oh, not really," Ash replied, shrugging. "Just thinking about a Pokemon I used to own." 

"Who was it?" Clemont asked curiously. 

"A Charizard," Ash answered. His three Kalos friends' eyes widened in shock. 

"You owned a Charizard?" Bonnie exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell us? Where is he?" 

"The reason I didn't tell you is because I released him, and as for where he is I have no idea," the raven-haired teen answered. 

"Why did you release him?" Serena asked. 

Elizabeth answered this time. "Because Charizard was an arrogant, ignorant spoiled brat who thought he was too good for Ash and wouldn't obey him no matter what he or anyone else did." 

"Oh," was all Serena said to that. A pause. "Was he really that bad?" 

"Bad?" Elizabeth snorted. "I'll give you an example of what training with him was like. Ash gives him an order, and he either shoots a Flamethrower at him or goes to sleep." 

"Okay, I guess releasing him was probably the right move," Clemont agreed with a frown. He knew that Pokemon were free to be disobedient, but he couldn't imagine why this Charizard would want to throw away a trainer like Ash, who cared about his Pokemon more than anyone or anything in the world. 

"Do you ever miss him, though?" Bonnie asked. 

Ash shook his head. "What's there to miss? He made it clear that he didn't want me as a trainer, and the last thing I need is a Pokemon who's going to hold everyone else back," he responded. "Wherever Charizard is now, I'm sure he's perfectly happy."