Author's Note: Now that a lot of time has passed since Ash's so-called death a lot has changed, Brock achieved his dream, and is now 21 or 22. Misty is now 20. Serena is 19, Gary is 20, and all his other friends are of about the same age. Not everyone reached their goals, and many still miss Ash.

"I'm here Brock", Red speaks to himself before walking into the Pewter City Gym. The Gym has changed a lot considerably. It was now bigger, more rocks here and there, and on one of the walls was a photo of Brock and Ash. Red smiles looking at his photo. He then walks towards the Gym Leader.

"Hello, my name is Forrest, the Gym Leader of Pewter City Gym", a young boy, about 16 or 17 years, tells Red.

"My name is Red", Red introduces himself.

"Trainer Red, are you here for a battle?", Forrest questions Red.

"Yes", Red replies. After that, the rules are explained. Red, along with his Lucario defeats the Gym Leader and earns the Boulder Badge.

"Your Lucario was tough", Forrest replies Red.

"Thanks" Red calmly replied.

"Why don't you go to the Cerulean City Gym next? You could meet my brother, the former Gym Leader of Pewter City Gym, he's working in Cerulean City as a Pokémon Doctor", Forrest tells Red.

"I see", Red talks to himself, "Thanks, that was a great battle!", Red tells Forrest with a bright smile, he then turns back and leaves the Gym. Red was now walking through the forest and was on his way to the Cerulean City when he hears some noises through the bushes.

STAND TALL

"Who is that?", Red questions walking towards the bushes. Just then, a Spearow runs out of the bushes. It was followed by a giant bird, Fearow.

"Some things never change", he tells himself, he grabs his pokéball. "Lucario, use your Aura and defeat the Fearow", he says releasing his Lucario. But well, it was too late.

"PIDGAW!", a bird yelled it scared away the Fearow.

"Some things actually never change", he giggles and walks with Lucario by his side. He continues his path and reaches the Cerulean Cave. He plans on staying there for the night. The next morning, Red wakes up in the good season, all the Pokémon in the cave were standing next to him.

"Happy Birthday Ash!", Mewtwo says to Red.

"Oh, thanks Mewtwo", Red replies.

"Happy Birthday Master!", Lucario speaks to Red through its Aura.

"Thanks, Lucario", Red replies the Pokémon with a smile. All the other Pokémon in the cave were rejoicing. "Happy Birthday Greninja", he speaks to Greninja through his mind. The Ninja Pokémon responds and greets it's Master back.

Meanwhile, in Pallet Town, Gary goes to Ash's house, to greet Delia.

"Hello, Mrs. Delia", Gary greets her.

"Hey, hello Gary", Delia greets Gary back.

"You know, it's Ash's Birthday today, isn't it?", Gary replies Delia in a low voice. Delia's smile slowly turns down. Tears were gathering in her eyes.

"Yes", she says, releasing the tears from her eyes. Gary also starts to feel sad.

"I'm here to call you for dinner tonight, Gramps said he'll cook", Gary tells Delia.

"Thanks, Gary, I'll be there", Delia replies slightly smiling.

Meanwhile, Red already reached the Cerulean City Gym and is now in a mid-battle with Misty.

"You sure, are a tough opponent and your Lucario is really strong", Misty tells Red. Red has managed to knock out, two of Misty's Pokémon already and weakened Misty's Gyarados. Brock has just entered the Gym, to inform Misty about Professor Oak's invitation today.

"Now, Lucario, finish it off with Aura Sphere", Red commands, Lucario obeys. Misty's Mega Gyarados reverts back to a Gyarados and it faints. Brock could do nothing but clap.

"You reminded me of my friend", Misty tells Red.

"Well, I have heard that seven times before, from three different Gym Leaders and four champions", Red replies, with a shrug.

"Here, the Cascade badge", Misty says handing the badge to Red. Red places it in his badge holder, it looked familiar to Misty. All Ash had after the explosion was his old badge holder. But, Misty just snaps it out, she turns to Brock.

"Hey, man what's up?", Misty questions Brock. Brock comes running to Misty.

"Remember, today is Ash's Birthday?", Brock replies Misty.

"Yes", Misty replies in a low tone, her head facing down.

"Professor Oak, called us for a gathering, everyone is coming", Brock tells Misty.

"Oh" was all Misty could say.

"We better start now, or we'll be late", Brock tells Misty. Brock was also sad, but he could cover up his pain with a smile. They both start to leave, Red was still standing in the Gym.

"They still remember my birthday", Red speaks to himself. Misty looks back at Red.

"Hey, you", she calls after Red, he turns towards her, "why don't you join us, you'll find plenty of Pokémon at Professor Oak's lab", Misty tells him.

"Thanks", Red tells walking towards Misty. The three leave to Pallet town. They kept walking silently until Misty decides to break the silence.

"So, Red, meet Brock, and Brock, meet Red", Misty introduces them to each other.

"Hello Red, my brother told me about you", Brock says smiling.

"Hello Brock", Red and Brock shake hands.

"So, Red, where are you from?", Brock asks. Red doesn't know what to tell, he quickly makes up something.

"I don't know as far as I remember, I was lost in a forest and it was Riolu who helped me, since then, me and Riolu became good friends", Red replies.

"I see", Brock replies, "I once knew someone, who looked a lot like you, but his eyes were different, and he never got a proper haircut, he was my best friend, I think you've heard about him, Ash Ketchum".

"Well, yes I did, and I wanted to become like him", Red tells them. When they were talking about all this, the two observe Misty, she was shivering.

"What happened to her?", Red questions Brock.

"Well, how should I tell you, she is scared of Bug types", Brock replies.

"Misty, don't worry if you want we can hold hands", Red tells Misty, giving her his hand.

"Thanks, Red", Misty says accepting Red's offer. It was evening and the three of them reach the outskirts of Pallet Town.

"Long time", Red whispers to himself looking at Pallet Town. But inside of Pallet Town, two eyes opened, the meditating Pokémon opens its eyes. Red feels it. "Greninja, I'm back, but you still have to keep the secret to yourself", Red speaks to the Pokémon through their minds. Brock observes that Red had stopped walking.

"What happened Red?", Brock questions Red.

"Uh, nothing, I'm fine, it's just that this place is new to me", Red says covering up and catches up with Brock and Misty. Greninja again closes its eyes. Red continues walking towards the town. Misty leads him to the Oak Laboratory.

"Hello Professor Oak", Misty greets Oak.

"Hello Misty, how have you been?", Oak replies to Misty.

"Great, what about you?", Misty questions back.

"Doing great for my age", Oak replies laughing. Behind Oak was a small creature, Pikachu.

"Pika Pi!", Pikachu looks at Misty, amazed and happy.

"Hey Pikachu", Misty replies Pikachu. It climbed up Misty's shoulder. Red looked at his old pal, tears were building up in his eyes, but he just covered them up.

"I see you've bought a guest", Professor Oak says.

"Yes Professor, meet Red", Misty introduces Red to Professor Oak.

"Well, we must see that he gets proper attention, and food. He looks so thin", Oak replies. Pikachu just keeps looking at this mysteriously familiar trainer. Red is getting tensed.

"Yes Professor. Professor, where's Gary?", Misty questions.

"Oh, he's in the yard, with the others", Oak replies.

"Oh, let's go you two", Misty tells turning back, "Where's Brock?", she questions as she just sensed Brock's absence.

"He went towards the Kitchen", Red simply replies. Misty grabs Red by his hand and takes him to the ground. Red looks at all his friends. Everyone was here, Delia, Grace, Principal Oak, Tracey, Gary, Max, May, Dawn, Bonnie, Clemont, Cilan, Iris, Alain, Paul, Trip, Kiawe, Sophocles, Professor Birch, Professor Sycamore, Professor Kukui, Professor Burnet, Lillie, Gladion, Lana, Mallow and finally her, Serena. Everyone was really moody. Serena has changed a lot, appearance-wise. Brock again joined Misty and Red. The three look around.

Professor Oak comes and joins them.

"Hello everyone, present here, we're here to celebrate Ash's birthday. Ash wouldn't like it if his birthday was celebrated in this mood", Brock says trying to cheer up everyone. No one change expressions, except Gary.

"Everyone, did you listen to what Brock had just said?", Gary questions. Slowly everyone starts lifting their heads.

"Yes, I agree with them", Dawn replies.

"Ash wouldn't want us to be sad", some of them reply in unison. Delia and Serena smile.

"Ash has such great friends", they think to themselves. Sometime into the Party, it was finally time for the cake to be cut. Greninja takes the privilege to cut it. No one knew it was Greninja's Birthday too, but on this day, Greninja was always the one to cut the cake. Red looks at all this and feels happy.

"Even, if I died, they, are still celebrating my birthday, like always", he thinks to himself. From a distance, Infernape was watching this mysteriously similar man. After the party was over, everyone started to go into the Oak lab for the night. But, Gary invites Red to his house. They both enter the house, Gary locks the door.

"You may stop hiding Ashy Boy", Gary tells out of oblivion. Ash was shocked at what Gary just said. How the hell did he even know it was Ash.

"Wait, Ashy Boy, do you mean Ash Ketchum, I'm not Ash, my name's Red", Ash replies stammering and covering up his fear.

"Shut up you dickhead, four years, four fucking years, did you ever think of how much we missed you, okay, put us aside, how much Serena and your mom missed you?", Gary yells.

"I did, I was always checking after you people. But, how, how did you know it was me?", Ash asks Gary shocked.

"When you died or pretended your death, I had a glance at all the corpses, all I could find were corpses of people wearing clothes with the R emblem on them, I had a hope that you survived it, and then after around three years I heard about a trainer who was chasing after the same dream that you were. Recently, Gladion told me about this "Red". And today, I had looked at you, with my own eyes, and by the way, the way you eat haven't improved a bit", Gary replies almost yelling his throats out, "Now tell me what is all this about?", he asked quietly.

"I'm sorry Gary, but I had to, and I have to, I can't tell you why, please promise me you'll keep this a secret", Ash replies.

"I knew it, I knew it was you, but why?", Gary starts to cool down.

"I told you not to ask about it, but please promise me, that you'll keep the secret", Ash requests Gary.

"If that's what I can give my childhood friend on his birthday", Gary replies with a smile. There was awkward silence for a few minutes.

"Happy Birthday Ketchum", Gary breaks the silence and hugs Ash.

"Thanks, Gary", Ash replies.

Meanwhile, at Oak Laboratory, all of Ash's other friends and Rivals are just sitting and talking about their new adventures.

"So, uh Clemont, did you battle, this guy who came to the party today?", Cilan asks Clemont.

"My brother didn't, I did", Bonnie replied.

"Yeah, and he was tough", Clemont adds.

"I battled him too and that's just today", Misty continues.

"Add me to the list", Gladion tells them.

"Did you guys notice something similar in him, anything?", Cilan questions.

"His battle strategies", Misty and Clemont both reply in unison.

"His attitude reminded me of an old friend", Gladion replies.

"And his eating habits, he ate like there's no tomorrow", Brock adds.

"Well, maybe he could be", May starts.

"Ash!", Dawn continues.

"Come on you guys, we all saw him die, in front of our own eyes", Kiawe enters the conversation. The Alolans just move their head in agreement, but Gladion doesn't seem to be convinced.

"Hey, just snap out of it, there could always be another guy like you", Max joins.

"Well that's true, even you eat just like Ash", May giggles, teasing her brother.

"Hey!", Max yells at her sister.

"Let's not think about it, there is no chance Ash is still alive, goodnight guys", Clemont says yawning. Meanwhile, in Ketchum Residence Grace, Delia and Serena just got cleaned and were sitting in the living room.

"Serena how was your day?", Delia questions Serena.

"Great Aunt Delia, what about yours?", Serena questions Delia back.

"That's great, what about Grace", Delia questions Grace.

"Great Delia", Grace replies. The three have a usual chat with each other.

"Delia, did you notice this kid today?", Grace questions Delia.

"Yeah, he was great at treating Pokémon", Delia replies. But their discussion made Serena a bit sad, the two look at Serena.

"What happened Serena?", Delia questions Serena. Serena starts to wipe a tear off her cheeks.

"That guy, he reminded me a lot about Ash, his behavior towards Pokémon, the way he talks, the way he eats, everything about him, reminded me of Ash", Serena replies sobbing.

"Well, it did for me too", Delia replies.

"Hey, you two, stop", Grace starts to get worried. Serena wipes off her tears and.

"I'm strong, I won't be crying, Ash is still alive, he is with me always, with my soul, he is in me, not only with me but with everyone, who loves people and Pokémon", Serena replies, which makes Delia smile.

"It's getting late, we should be going to sleep", Grace tells them both. The three tell goodnight and leave to their rooms to sleep.

BE A HERO