This prologue here has been in the works for a while now.
A complete redo of my first Pokemon story – Path Of A Master.
Path Of A Master: From Dusk To Plateau!
Prologue
Begin!
"Are you serious!?" Ash Ketchum demanded hotly. He couldn't believe his ears. This couldn't be happening. Not today, not when it was supposed to be one of the greatest days of his life.
Professor Samuel Oak of Pallet Town, a tall older gentleman with short tidy, greying hair and a strong square jaw merely nodded solemnly, "I'm sorry Ash." He replied, "There are no suitable Pokemon left here at the ranch for you to start your journey with."
Ash couldn't keep the disbelief from his face. His amber eyes wide with the emotion shown clearly to all who would dare to look. His knees felt weak, so much so that they nearly gave way beneath him.
He just couldn't believe it. He'd been awaiting this precise day excitedly for more than five years now. Ever sine he consciously understood what being a Pokemon Trainer meant. And now it was ruined, all because his stupid Voltorb alarm clock somehow broke during the night.
"...How long.." Ash began weakly, raising his eyes to look the older Professor in the eyes. He swallowed heavily, already dreading the answer, "How long would it take for you to get another starter Pokemon ready for me?" He asked.
Oak sighed, "Three months at the very least." The Professor replied, "It would need time after hatching to grow to an acceptable size and then require training so that the Pokemon would be strong enough for a Trainer to rely on in the beginning of their journey."
Ash's fist clenched at the answer. Three months, that was a long time. By then Gary and Leaf would be miles ahead of him. He could just imagine Gary's condescending voice laughing at him for being so far behind.
He withheld the urge to shout at Oak in a rage, albeit barely. It wasn't his fault that he'd had to give up the Pokemon held for him. Today was the day He, Gary and Leaf should have all gotten their Pokemon together. It wasn't Oak's fault that some bigshot from the League began causing trouble and making demands for a starter Pokemon for his own child. If he'd been here earlier, he would have gotten the Charmander instead of that spoiled brat.
The young raven haired trainer-to-be sighed in dismay, his anger deflating. It wasn't like he was even picky about what Pokemon he got. A Pidgey, Caterpie, hell even a Magikarp. He'd played with all kinds of them out in Route 1 as he was growing up – well, until that nasty flock of Spearow migrated there a few months back and began causing trouble.
He perked up suddenly, both a grin coming to his face and an idea coming to mind. "Hey Professor, why don't I just catch my own Pokemon?" Ash asked.
Oak's eyes widened in alarm, "Absolutely not!" He denied him vehemently, "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is!? Even a Rattata could kill you if it was angered enough boy!" He exploded.
Ash scowled at him, "C'mon Professor, it's not like it'd be any more dangerous than whenever I played with the Pokemon out in Route 1." He shot back. While it was true it could be dangerous, and he'd had a few close calls – mainly from angry parental Pokemon when he tried to play with their young – it wouldn't exactly be hard to capture a Pidgey or Caterpie. The young ones didn't have the necessary strength to overpower the capture mechanism of even the basic Pokeball.
Well, unless they were born from extremely powerful parents. Like that one Pidgey he'd been playing with a while back that uprooted a tree with an Uproar attack. That had been awesome.
Professor Oak sighed, "Capturing Pokemon is different Ash." He replied, "While it's possible you could capture the likes of a Pidgey or Starly alone, there is no guarantee that they will willingly follow you and may just turn on you and attack you the moment you release them from the Pokeball."
Ash's scowl deepened as the Professor continued lecturing him, "In fact, many would be more inclined to attack you because of the sheer fact that you didn't defeat them in a battle to earn their respect or obedience."
Taking a deep breath, Ash calmed himself. "Look Professor," He began, "I'm not willing to wait months for a Pokemon because the one that was supposed to be mine was given away." He already had a dozen or so Pokeballs of his own already, and while a Pokedex would be a massive help he'd make due with a Trainer guide book or two.
Ash took one of the empty Pokeballs strapped to his magnetized belt and held it aloft, "I've already said my goodbyes to my Mom, have all the supplies I need packed and refuse to fall behind Gary so if you can't give me a Pokemon I'll catch one on my own." He said. There was a sharp edge to his voice that told he would not be dissuaded.
He'd already received his 10th birthday certificate from the Indigo League declaring him of age to become a Pokemon Trainer. Being gifted a starter Pokemon was a mere formality, he was still a trainer with or without one.
Oak pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply, "Very well." He muttered in defeat, shoulders slumping. "There is one Pokemon I have that may fit the bill, follow me." Turning on his heel, the older man beckoned Ash over his shoulder and left the lab they were in.
Raising an eyebrow in curiosity and squashing the sudden uplifting feeling of excitement in the pit of his stomach, Ash followed Oak out of the lab and through the hallways of the massive building that the old man called home.
They came to a stop at a door almost on the other end of the building from the lab. When Ash followed the Professor in, he couldn't help but stare in wonder as he entered into a large room even bigger than the lab.
And most of all, sitting behind a multitude of playpen gates were young Pokemon, loads of them.
Oak led him to the back of the room, and Ash couldn't help but gaze at the young Pokemon in wonder. There had to be at least fifty of them. Nidoran, Rattata, Oddish, Sandshrew even a little Pichu. They were all so tiny, some barely bigger than even his hand.
Baby pokemon, Ash realized.
But why did Oak bring him here? None of these Pokemon were fit for battling yet.
He got his answer when they came to a stop at the final pen and Oak pointed at the pokemon within. Following the finger, Ash's eyes went wide.
There, standing barely taller than his ankle was a quadruped Pokemon covered in fluffy brown fur. It had long ears that stretched above its head, a bushy tail a neckline covered in scarflike cream fur and a small, round face.
An Eevee!
It was as cute as it was rare. In fact, this was Ash's first time seeing one in person. He'd only ever saw them on T.V or in books.
But this Eevee, even from just a glance Ash could tell it was different then any other Eevee he'd heard of. They were usually a rather kind, playful and docile species of Pokemon.
This Eevee was glaring bloody daggers at him and its lips were pulled back into a snarl. It looked like it would attack at any moment.
Oak sighed, breaking him from his stare of with the Pokemon. "This particular Pokemon is at a suitable level for a beginning Trainer."
Ash raised an eyebrow. This was definitely odd, a well bred Eevee could be worth a small fortune, and while this one was a bit small by the looks of it, it was still an amazingly good looking Pokemon.
Besides the rather frightening snarl tugging at its lips, that is.
Something was fishy about this. "You're giving me an Eevee?"Ash asked, his voice seeped with dubiousness.
"Yes." Oak answered succinctly.
"...Why?" Ash just had to ask. Despite the excitement welling in the pit of his stomach and the urge to just grab it into his arms and hug the living daylights out of it, Ash couldn't help but wonder just why nobody else would have taken it by now.
It was young, and there was no sign of any other Eevee anywhere. And considering Eevee eggs were laid in groups that was confusing. Ash expected there would be a couple of its litter mates about.
He was broken from his thoughts by something nudging his shoulder. He blinked, finding it to be Professor Oak probing him with the closed form of a Pokedex.
Oak sighed again as Ash held out his hand and took the Pokedex, and the five standard shrunken Pokeball's given to trainers when they start their journey. "This Eevee is rather aggressive." Oak stated.
"Uh-huh..." Ash hummed. "And why is that?" He asked.
"As you can no doubt tell, Eevee is rather small and was the runt of its litter." The Professor replied, "In order to stand out amongst it's bigger siblings, it seemed to want to prove it was stronger and thus became very aggressive during practice battles."
Ash nodded his head. That wasn't to far above his head for him to not understand. People did that too, kids who were teased for their height if they were short mostly.
He definitely understood that, Gary's bloody nose a year back was testament to that.
But still, that didn't answer the question as to why it was here and not with its litter mates.
Ash was about to open his mouth to question why, but had no need to as Professor Oak began to speak again. "The problem is that it is too aggressive." He revealed, peaking Ash's interest even further, "That specific batch of Eevee were bred precisely for a rather rich patron of mine who lives in Sinnoh – he is a collector of sorts who has all sorts of rare and docile Pokemon living within a private habitat."
The pieces were beginning to fall in place now, Ash mused. "So then what did your patron want done with this little guy?" Ash asked, crouching down to eye level with the Eevee. It boldly sniffed at him through the small bars separating them before going back to glaring him a moment later when it seemingly found whatever it was looking for.
"Nothing."
A beat.
"Nothing!?" Ash all but shouted, standing up and whirling around to face the Professor. "This little Eevee is probably worth more than a top of the line sports car and he said nothing!" The young beginner trainer practically choked on the word.
While he and his mother never had any money problems. They lived a modest lifestyle, his mother worked part-time as a chef at the local restaurant and sometimes as an assistant to Professor Oak since she studied under him in her teenage years.
He'd never had the kinda of money to throw around like Gary. Who he might add started out his journey in a Convertible with a group of hired cheerleaders to top it all off.
Ash knew that if he made it far as a Trainer – which he planned to – he would make quite a bit of money himself. But still, it boggled the mind how wasteful rich people could be with their money.
Oak shook his head, "Nothing at all." He replied, "In fact, he gave Eevee to me to keep. Which is why I've decided if you can get it to accept you as a Trainer I'll let you have it as your first Pokemon."
There was silence for a moment. Excitement roared up from the pit of Ash's stomach, electrifying his body in a way he couldn't quite describe.
It was making him not think straight, or so he'd later claim for the act of stupidity that he performed straight after hearing those words.
Turning on his heel, Ash bent over the pen the Eevee was in and startled it mightily when he grabbed it by the scruff of the neck like he'd seen his mother do to couple of Growlithe pups and lift the little Pokemon straight up, face to face with him.
Or he would have if the Eevee didn't smash his hand away with its tail, hard enough to rattle the bone. Despite how fluffy the tail was, it packed some serious muscle. And then, while Ash was cringing in pain the Eevee snarled, black mist pooling around its small fangs and it sank its teeth deep into his forearm.
Oak watched on with wide eyes, a massive urge to get the rabid Pokemon away from Ash and as well as berate him for such a stupid action. He didn't though, because of the way Ash acted in response to taking the Bite attack.
The boy grimaced, but didn't cry out in pain.
Ash held the Eevee aloft, holding it up by the teeth where it bit him. It hurt, it hurt like hell. It wasn't just a normal bite either, it was the actual Pokemon attack Bite. And he could feel a chilling sting being pumped through the puncture marks the bite made into his arm.
But he refused to cry out in pain. This wasn't the first time he'd been hurt for being too overzealous, be it Pokemon or human that caused it. Admittedly he had wanted to drag the Eevee into a stare of, make it respect his strength by showing it no fear, despite how easy it would be for the Pokemon to cause him a lot of pain.
This though, this worked out even better.
Ash smirked, his amber eyes glittering wildly with raw determination, "Is that all you've got!?" He demanded, shouting in the small Pokemon's face, "Bite harder you little shit! Show me this strength of yours that you cherish so damn much!" He bellowed.
The fangs tightened around his bone, blood pooled in a slow trickle staining the Eevee's teeth red and dripping onto the floor. Despite the intense pain, the feeling that his bone was cracking under the strength of the Pokemon's attack, Ash grinned.
"That's the way!" He encouraged. Ash shook his arm, gaining the Pokemon's attention and making it meet his eyes, amber on chocolate brown. "You wanna be strong right!? He demanded.
The narrowing of the Eevee's was all Ash needed to see to see he caught its attention.
"Then be my Pokemon!" Ash declared, bringing his injured arm and the Eevee up closer to his face, until they were nose to nose. "I'm aimin' for the very top, the best of the best, so become my Pokemon and I'll make you strong enough to stand at the very top at my side!"
He breathed deeply after that for a few moments. Ash grunted as the fangs in his arm tightened a bit more before thankfully lessoning and disengaging.
The Eevee dropped to the floor at his feet, standing with its chest puffed up in a proud manner and Ash couldn't help but grin as he continued to ignore the woozy feeling that came with losing such an amount of blood.
Clicking his fingers, Ash accepted that as Eevee's consent. Tuning on his heel, the raven haired trainer grinned at Oak who was pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "That's how you win the allegiance of a pokemon Professor." He boasted with a laugh.
Eevee at his feet barked something akin to a laugh aswell and together they laughed the situation away.
Professo Oak though began to massage the bridge of his nose, "Oh Arceus, what monstrous team have I created this time?" He lamented.
The headache that had begun to form became intense and throbbing a moment later when Ash revealed one last declaration, "From now on your new names Fang!" He said, "A wild name for a wild guy like you and to show how separate you are from the crowd of nobodies!"
Ash's Pokemon:
Fang/Eevee – Male – Quick Attack, Bite, Shadow Ball, Sand Attack.
Personality: Aggressive and proud. Using the official terms from Tv-Tropes, Fang takes the Blood Knight position on the team.
There we go. I've been meaning to begin this story for a while now. This is the official release of the re-write of Path Of A Master combined with elements I introduced in Working Sinnoh With Skill.
Ash won't be catching alot of Pokemon. About eight in the entirety of his Kanto journey.
I'll probably begin the official chapter 1 tomorrow. I'd do it tonight but I'm busy grinding in Runescape, bothersome as hell.