The sun was shining brightly through the bedroom window of Ash Ketchum, the very first aspiring dragon master of Kanto. Seeing as the closest Dragon type Pokémon are miles away from the peaceful town of Pallet, you can call it an unusual path to follow. As he was getting ready for the most important day in his life, Ash's thoughts took him back to that fateful day when he was shown his path in life.


(Flashback)

A young boy of seven was walking through the forest near his home in Pallet Town, hoping to get his first glance at a wild Pokémon. He was thinking back to the way Gary Oak, grandson of the world famous Pokémon professor Samuel Oak; was showing off with his numerous tales of seeing so many wild Pokémon during his latest trip to the Celadon radio station with his Grandpa. Not only was he showing off, but the way he was mocking Ash for being the only person in Pallet town to not see a wild Pokémon had the future Pokémon master of the world fuming.

'I'll show him! I'll see lots of wild Pokémon, and my first one will be a legendary.' Thought Ash as he went through some brambles

'And when I do I'll…' Ash's thoughts were interrupted by some scuffling sounds coming from further ahead.

'That must be a Pokémon' he thought as he ran through the forest, closer to the sounds. The sounds got louder and louder until Ash heard the scuffling change to a deep voice speaking rather tiredly.

"You can do it Haxorus! Try steel claw again to climb out of this hole" This was followed by A gruff but weak sound of "Hax" Followed by a sound of something hard digging into ground. However, the only follow up sound was of something heavy falling to the ground.

Ash broke through the brambles to a clearing, immediately his vision was met with a lot of metal bear traps that were no doubt preciously covered by a lot of leaves that were now displaced. On the opposite edge of the clearing was a large hole.

Ash was about to run to the whole when the sun reflected into his eye off one of the bear traps still open. Thinking on the spot, Ash gathered as many heavy sticks and stones he could gather from around him and started throwing them at the traps. Once all the traps had been activated Ash picked up the largest of the sticks and cleared a path ahead of him towards the hole.

Ash cautiously peered over the edge of the hole, what he saw stunned him to say the least, he was frozen on the spot. There was a tall man with white hair and white beard shaped as a jaw lying down with a lot of blood pooling under a leg that seemed to be very badly injured, no doubt by one of the bear traps, said trap was only a yard away from the man with blood over its blades.

What had Ash frozen though, was the large green Pokémon slumped on the ground. It was mostly yellow-green in colour with its face, chest, stomach and legs being black. It had its eyes shut at the moment so Ash couldn't see its colour. What Ash could not miss though was the very large red blades on either side of its check. The Pokémon had bruised and a few red gashes in its hide.

A groan coming from the man had Ash come out of its stupor. Seeing the condition of the two beings had Ash thinking of a plan to help them.

"Excuse me sir! Can you hear me?" Ash shouted down to the man that was barely conscious. Another grunt was followed by the man looking up for the first time. Eyes a shade darker than his hair met Ash's own chocolaty brown. Looking at the pain in the man's eyes made Ash's own shine with determination.

"I will help you get out of the pit, give me a minute" the man grunted in reply, in too much pain to talk any more. Ash Hurried back through the path he made on his way to the pit, he rushed to a large tree; he could see it was covered in a lot of heavy vines. Ash pulled down at a vine within reach, the vine was sturdy beneath his grip and he kept pulling. Eventually he had enough vine, he picked up a sharp rock and cut the vine.

Carrying the large bundle back to the clearing Ash tied it around the nearest tree tightly. He then cleared more of the traps in the clearing using the branch from earlier, with the bundle of vine held loosely in his hand he made his way of to the pit. Once there he slowly lowered the vines down, pulled on the vine once to make sure it was tied properly and lowered himself down into the pit slowly.

Once in he immediately tied the vine several times around the barely conscious man's torso, then looked over at the Pokémon. There was no way he could get that giant out of the pit himself. He spotted a red glint next to the man, he realised it must be the giant's poke ball. He wasted no time in picking it up and clicking the button, immediately the Pokémon turned to red energy and was sucked into the ball, he pressed another button shrinking the ball and placed it in his pocket.

Holding on to the vine he climbed back out of the pit, on his way up he could see a lot of gashes across the side of the pit and realised it must be from that large Pokémon trying to get out. Once on the surface Ash began pulling on the sturdy vine. It was a long and arduous task, for a while there Ash doubted he could go on, then remembering the injuries on the man and his Pokémon steeled Ash's resolves and he kept pulling. Eventually the man was over the edge.

Ash collapsed on the ground and took a few deep breaths, sweat pouring down his face and into the dirt. After a short respite, he picked himself off the ground and quick as he could, he made a makeshift stretcher using the vine and branches from earlier. Twenty minutes later he was dragging one end of the stretcher back towards Pallet Town, trying to be as careful as he could to not hurt the man.

It took Ash over an hour to get back to town, not surprising seeing as he was dragging more than double his bodyweight along with him. Soon though he could make out the hilltop of Professor Oak's Ranch, seeing this invigorated the young hero as he picked up his speed. As soon he was within the boundaries of Oak Ranch he yelled out for help.

"PROFESSOR OAK! HELP!" yelled Ash over and over again, he knew the old man would either hear him or get his message from one of many trained Pokémon within the ranch. Eventually he could hear the beating of wings and he looked up. There was professor Oak, sitting astride his magnificent Dragonite.


Samuel Oak was working on a poem for his next radio broadcast in Celadon when he heard the familiar growled shouts of his oldest companion. These shouts however were in distress. Quick as he could he dashed out the back door of his lab to see his large yellow friend waiting for him. Dragonite crouched down as soon as he saw his trainer and signalled him to get on. Years of experience and friendship taught the old professor not to question this side of his usually jovial and carefree Dragonite. He hopped on.

Professor Oak immediately spotted the cause of Dragonite's distress when the large Dragon Pokémon speeded towards the western boundary of the ranch; down below was a young boy the old professor immediately recognised as Ash, one of his brightest students. The disturbing part for the professor is he seemed to be dragging a badly injured person behind him.

As soon as Dragonite landed Ash dropped to his knees, knowing the badly injured man and his Pokémon would be taken care of. He started to explain what he knew to his mentor in whatever breath he could spare.

"Professor… Man… In pit… bear traps… helped" that's as far as Ash got before exhaustion took over him. Oak grabbed the young boy in his arms before he could fall as he lost consciousness and placed him on the ground gently. He then rushed over to the wounded man and recognised him immediately.

"Drayden…" Oak whispered under his breath before he quickly picked him up in a fireman's lift and placed him gently across Dragonite's back, he repeated the process with Ash and got on Dragonite's back himself. Dragonite kicked off the ground using his powerful legs, the extra weight slowed him down but he eventually got back to the lab.

Soon the man now identified as Drayden and Ash were lying in separate beds in the hospital section of Oak's lab. He already realised Ash was just really exhausted from whatever he had to do to save Drayden and was now just sleeping. He realised he has to call Ash's mother, Delia and let her know where her son is. But first, He has to treat Drayden.

After looking over the man, professor Oak noticed some bruising around his shoulders, back and chest which will heal in time. However the injured leg will need a heavy stitching and bandages, luckily the bone did not break. Also, he needed some blood replenishment. A few hours later and professor Oak deemed Drayden to be fixed and healing. After a quick call to Delia he made a couple of coffee's and got prepared to wait for Ash to wake, no doubt it would be him first.


Ash woke from his sleep and could feel his head throbbing something heavy. He stopped his movements however when he remembered what he was doing before he fell asleep. His eyes shot open and he came face to face with eyes identical to his but surrounded the face of his mother.

"Good morning Ash! I'm so proud of you son" were the first words out of his mom's mouth before he was engulfed in a tight embrace.

"Ugh… Mom I can't breathe" came Ash's rasping breath.

"Oh sorry honey" his mom replied before letting go, as soon as Ash could breathe again he asked hurriedly "Is that man okay?"

"Yes he is now, Professor Oak says he's managed to fix him up and he's just sleeping now" reassured his mom.

"That's great!" Ash replied exuberantly before he spotted he was in his pyjamas; he looked over to his clothes on the bedside stand and noticed the small bulge in his pants pocket.

Ash took the poke ball out of his belt, "Mom, I have to give this to professor Oak, it has the man's Pokémon in it and it's badly hurt" Ash explained before dashing off to find the professor.

"Ah, Ash you're awake, how are you feeling my boy?" asked the professor exuberantly.

"I'm good professor, but you should take a look at this Pokémon it was injured in the pit along with the man" Ash said as he handed the poke ball to professor Oak.

"Hmm it must be…" Professor Oak trailed off in his own thoughts as he took the ball to the lab medical facility.

As the professor was dealing with the Pokémon Ash went out for some fresh air, his thoughts with the injured Pokémon.

'I wonder what that Pokémon was, I've studied about Pokémon hard for two years now but I still couldn't recognise it. I'm sure I would remember such a powerful one if I had seen it before… no matter, when I'll talk to the man when he's healed and maybe he has others the same' Ash thought, excited of the prospect of seeing more rare Pokémon he's not seen before.

As Ash was sat outside the lab daydreaming of seeing rare Pokémon, an injured man was rousing from sleep, Professor Oak rushed to his side when he realised this.

"Hello Drayden, I must say I didn't expect to be seeing you after so long in quite this way" chuckled the old professor.

"Samuel" acknowledged a raspy voice "here drink this" instructed Oak as he passed over a glass of water

Drayden took some small sips before trying to speak again "how did I get here? By the looks of it I must be in at your famous ranch" he said as he took in his surroundings.

"You were in luck, one of my students just happened to be wandering a dangerous forest, which he shouldn't have been doing in the first place, and happened upon an injured Dragon master and his fabled Haxorus" explained professor Oak.

"I must thank him" replied Drayden after chuckling at the professor's choice of words.

"I'll call him for you, you're still weak from blood loss so don't try to get out of bed" Instructed the professor as he went out in search for his pupil.

When Ash entered the room Professor Oak directed him towards he was hesitant to walk in upon seeing the man he saved.

"Hello, you must be the boy who saved me earlier, Professor Oak didn't tell me your name" Drayden spoke first.

"Hello sir, my name is Ash Ketchum" Ash greeted quietly, a little intimidated by the large man with scary beard.

"It's nice to meet you Ash, my name is Drayden and I would like to thank you for saving me in the forest, you're a smart and brave boy" Ash beamed from the praise and forgot all about being intimidated as he sat on the chair next to Drayden's bed.

"Thank you sir, it was my pleasure" replied Ash cheerfully.

"Well Ash, what were you doing so deep in the forest in the first place? Not that I'm complaining of course" he asked the young boy.

"I was out looking for wild Pokémon, we see a lot of Pokémon in the ranch that belong to trainer's, but the kids at school are always bragging about how they've seen lots of wild Pokémon and I haven't seen any" Ash complained… err explained to Drayden.

The two sat there chatting for a while and Drayden could tell the boy had a pure soul that was also as fiery as a dragon type Pokémon. Just what was necessary for an aspiring elite Dragon Master, he reminded Drayden of himself in his youth, which was of course a very long time ago. He was brought out of his musings by Ash's next demand… err question.

"So, professor Oak explained on the way here you're a Dragon Master, what is that? And what other Pokémon do you have other than Haxorus? Professor Oak told me the name of that Pokémon, how powerful is he?" Ash asked excitedly.

Drayden chuckled before replying 'yep, definitely reminds me of myself' "well Ash, first of all A Dragon master is a trainer who trains only Dragon type Pokémon and has been deemed an expert in the profession. I have a full team of dragon type Pokémon on me at the moment but they got too injured to fight earlier that's why you only got to see Haxorus. And finally Haxorus is my oldest friend and he is very powerful if I do say so myself." Answered Drayden all in one breath, the same as he was asked those questions, he chuckled again at Ash's awed expression; he seemed to be chuckling a lot since he met the young boy despite the circumstances. Then he remembered why he was in Kanto in the first place.

"Well Ash, I'm glad to have met you and got a chance to talk to you but I would need to get going now, can you call professor Oak for me while I get changed please?" Ash looked disappointed but went to call the professor none the less.

As Ash, Professor Oak and Delia got back to Drayden's room they saw he was already dressed.

"Well Samuel, It's been nice meeting you again and thank you for healing me, unfortunately I'm on a special assignment from the G-men on Lance's request as he is busy on another assignment so I have to get going" Drayden explained as they all walked outside.

"Think nothing of it, I was glad to help and good luck on your assignment" replied professor Oak cheerfully before adopting a serious look "you will have to get the stitching on your leg checked tomorrow on by the latest and try not to move around on it too much" Instructed Oak.

"I'll be sure to do that and Mrs Ketchum, you have a wonderful son you must be proud of him" said Drayden as he beamed down at his young saviour.

"Oh yes, such a wonderful boy my Ashy is!" exclaimed Mrs Ketchum as she hugged her boy again.

Ash blushed under so much praise and let out a weak "Mum!" The adults chuckled at the young boy's shyness before Drayden got out a poke ball and knelt down next to Ash.

"Well Ash I know you're only seven but to show you my gratitude I would like to give you your first Pokémon friend" Drayden pressed a button on the ball "Come on out Axew!" He exclaimed as a small green Pokémon shot out in a red beam.

The Pokémon was green all over with a darker shade skull with a single large horn on top; it had a light green around its collar with two jaws sticking out from either side of its mouth. It had a small green tail and vibrant, big red eyes. Ash was amazed at the rather cute looking Pokémon.

"This is Axew Ash, and Axew this is Ash your new friend" Axew looked at the boy in front of him and stared at his deep chocolate brown eyes.

"Axew!" exclaimed the Pokémon and jumped onto Ash's shoulder and nuzzled his cheek. Ash let out a small giggle as he got out of his stupor. He couldn't believe he was getting his first Pokémon pal already!


(End Flashback)

Ash was brought out of his thoughts on the best day of his life by his door being thrown open and being slammed into a tackle-hug by a Pokémon nearly as tall as his 5"5' frame.

"Frax Frax! Fraxure!" shouted Ash's starter excitedly. Ash laughed alongside his friend, it seems Fraxure was just as excited as him to get started on their own adventure around the world and meeting new friends.