I decided to reread this today because I suddenly have a lot of free time and I do not regret it at all. The first time I read this, i wasn't even in high school yet. I would always reread it because I was so excited for TAC II even though I didn't get the entire story. Now im (hopefully) going to college in a few months and its so weird to me. This story is still one of my absolute favorites and I still enjoyed rereading it even though its like my 20th time. Its so well-written, I love the flow, I love the characters and their backstories and how its connected to the actual series. Appreciated it a lot more now since i get the politics and i see all the foreshadowing. so yeah sorry for going off but thank you for writing such an amazing story.

I was wondering when Looker would grace us with his appearance! This is amazing and I love it so much! This is grade S class fanfiction!

Oh Arceus, this is really heating up! If it was socially acceptable at the moment, I'd be bouncing. I love the rotating PoVs and that Drew called it, and then everyone pieced it together.

Oh boy, whelp. I guess I'll be sticking around for a while because I am Intrigued.

OMG!

is it bad that I really wanted Leaf to follow Lance's orders? why didn't she think about her place in the G-men when she made this choice? the consequences? Hiding 14 people in plain site isn't really that easy, especially when pokémon trainers wander about. And would this impact Lance's trust in her?

I don't think I've ever been nearly as emotionally invested in anything on this site as I was in this. I'm not usually one for reviewing, but in this instance I feel I have to make it known just how much I loved this story. The connection between Ash and his friends is so beautifully explored, and with such a staggering amount of characters to work with, it's so ridiculously impressive that you managed to give them all their individual moment or moments to shine. There was the nostalgia and warmth that comes from the faithfulness to the anime (the main reason I involve myself in Pokémon fanfiction), but you also fused that with a new kind of maturity, a darker, grittier perspective of the pokémon world that I always wished to see, but never got the chance to because of the characters not getting any older etc.

I also feel the romance elements were really well implemented - particularly how they developed slowly over time and didn't seem jarring when they finally came to fruition. The pokéshipping was especially pleasing in this regard; I won't deny that I was anxious to see a big confession of love at the end, but on reflection, I think the way you did it was much more in-keeping with their characters, and I can't stress just how valuable of a thing that is to achieve.

Lastly, I love that you took a few little liberties with the canon - nothing major enough to have made it an AU story, which I'm personally not into at all, but just a few little loose ends tied up - to add more richness to the world of Pokémon. Drayden being Lance's father, for instance, and likewise, Brandon being the father of Paul and Reggie. Although they're not confirmed or denied in the anime, they actually make a surprising amount of sense. On a similar note, including game- or manga-exclusive characters like Silver and Leaf was initially a bit unsettling, I'll admit, but by the end of the story, it became bizarrely difficult to imagine the anime without them now.

Apologies for the long-winded review, but I just couldn't leave this story without letting you know how much I adored it. My own stories are still quite trivial, by comparison, but I hope to write something more expansive like this one day, and reading 'The Ash Connection' has been a huge inspiration for that. I expect I'm extremely late to the party in expressing this sentiment, but you should feel incredibly proud of this story, and I'm very much looking forward to getting stuck into the sequel. Thank you.

Yesssssssssssssss! I was waiting to review until the end but YESSSS that’s all I have to say xD

I'm floored by how satisfying this was. I've been a Pokémon fan for years and will sometimes peruse FFN to sate these random bursts of nostalgia I get from time to time. I'm glad I finally decided to give TAC a go! To read about all my favorite characters (and shippings) in one place (well, many places), on one grand adventure...Wow.

From the bottom of my heart - thank you, Lu.

Ha! I knew it! I knew Ash knows he's the chosen one! I mean after everything he has done, it's sort of irrefutable at this point. He really can't say he isn't, especially not after the whole thing with Arceus.

That’s interesting. Why switch Red with Silver?

All these years later and this story still holds up as one of the most remarkable things I have ever read.

Thank you Lu. I hope your doing well

This was such an epic adventure. I didn't watch the later seasons of Pokemon so I wasn't familiar with all the characters but you made me fall in love with each and every one of them.

Okay to be honest this story was for me impressive on one side and disappointing on the other.
Its a shame that we have never a real showdown between Ash and his father and he still didnt know anything about his second son.

And I think this story has really to much charcaters. You split the spotlight between all chracters and with so many is it to much for me.

This story has official Ash and Misty as part of the main characters and advenutre/romance. I see the adventure but the romance also the romance between Ash and Misty is pretty low and weak.

I mean the ending for Ash and Misty makes me more sad then happy. Ash isnt such a idiot,he knows the difference between a female friend ( girl friend) and a "girlfriend".

DAMM DAM DAAAA The good old "Giovanni is Ashs Daddy" plot :)