In Pokemon: The Movie 2000, part of the legend that tells of the balance of nature being wrecked goes "The World Will turn to Ash".
This is the sort of pun-legend I'd expect from Japanese writing...yet this is Ash's given name, and the original legend must be in Japanese.
So what, exactly, did the legend say about Ash being the "chosen hero" at that point in the story?
What I found from here is:
火の神、雷の神、氷の神に触れずべからず。
されば、天地怒り世界は破滅に向かう。
海の神、破滅を救わんと現れん。
されど、世界の破滅を防ぐことならず。
すぐれたるあやつり人現れ、神々の怒り静めん限り…。The god of fire, god of lightning, and god of ice must not be touched.
Else, heaven and earth will be angered and the world will face destruction.
The god of the sea will appear to stop the destruction.
But, it will not prevent the world's destruction.
Unless an exceptional trainer appears to calm the wrath of the gods....
If this is accurate, then there is no mention of Ash, but instead just that of a trainer in general.
It's a fortunate play on words made possible by the English translation, since Ash's name in Japanese is Satoshi.
So what, exactly, did the legend say about Ash being the "chosen hero" at that point in the story?
In my translation for the audio Japanese the legend at the start says:
The flame god, The lightning god, and the ice gold must not be disturb. should you do so, nature shall be angered, and the world shall face destruction. the ocean god shall arise try to stop the disaster but will fail to prevent the world's devastation. A great controller shall come forth to calm the wrath of the gods.
this is the dialogue you referring to in the Japanese ver.:
Slowking: "Unless we find the great controller the god's anger won't be calmed."
Furuura: "The great controller?"
Slowking (speaking to ash): "We only have two treasures"
Furuura: "If the great controller appears, can the world be saved?"
Misty: "Wait, that means... no way! Satoshi?"
Tracy: "I see, so that what's about"
Ash: "Me? it is really me?"
Pikachu: "Pikachu" (nodding for yes)
In other words, since ash considered in the festival "the great controller," he considered being the real one, as Ash mentioned: "But wasn't that festival thing supposed to be really easy?".
So while in the Eng dub ver. the chosen is Ash as written in the legend "Turn to ash" in the Jap dub ver. it is based on the festival.
It fits with Japan conception about festivals and such. While they changed it in the DUB version so it will be more realisable with out-of-Japan people.
