"Congratulations! It's a boy!" The doctor showed Deliah Ketchum the screaming, black-haired bundle, and she looked at here son and held out her arms. The little boy immediately ceased his cries and burbled happily, trying, and succeeding, to escape his blanketed confines, and wiggled his pudgy arms around. Deliah looked surprised at the newborn's ability to move so strongly, as she had heard baby's that young very rarely possessed enough upper body strength to hold their own heads up, let alone wiggle around. She looked at the doctor questioningly, which he returned with a calm smile.

"That kid's gonna grow up big and strong, just like his daddy." He said, then winced as he saw a cloud of sadness and loss cloud the recently 'widowed' mother.

"I'm sorry…" She just shook her head, and tickled her child, who bubbled with giggles. As his arm reached out to her however, she froze, face falling as she noticed the underside of his arm.

"W-where's his sign?" She stuttered, looking at the doctor, horrified. He refused to meet her eyes as he turned to leave.

"He doesn't have one. Never seen anyone without one, but he doesn't. An anomaly; I'm sorry." He opened the door, letting the two creatures that had been, for lack of a better term, standing watch, inside. On his way out, he turned to the squat pink one, who was wearing a medical apron over its pink and white belly. His own sign, a cross, glowed slightly golden as he looked at his Pokémon. "Chansey, please make sure Mrs. Ketchum gets something to eat." The Pokémon nodded, and the doctor closed the door behind him.

The other Pokémon who had been waiting outside all but disappeared as it sped to its mistresses' bed, and clambered up to meet the new addition to the family. Deliah's own three-ringed target glowed a faint pink as she rubbed the little Mime Jr.'s head softly, letting go of the infant's own hand for a second to do so. The baby, however, began tearing up at the sudden retreat, and Deliah immediately took her son's hand in her own again, which settled him down. As her son faded to a content sleep, she continued stroking the abnormal bareness that should've marked his Pokémon mastery. She sighed, then released the appendage, hugging her child close to her.

"I don't care if you never have a pokemon. You're my son… you're his son, and you'll always be my little baby. Ash…"

- Four Years Later -

"Mommy! Mommy!" The small toddler ran into his house, slamming the door behind him in his rush to find his mother. Deliah stood at the stove, her newly evolved Mr. Mime holding open a recipe book as she stirred a thick vegetable soup. She looked up and barely had time enough to brace herself as her son came barreling into the room… and straight into her. Wide-eyed, she looked down at the boy's usual hat, which had been a birthday present from his godfather, Professor Oak, his previous birthday.

"Ash? What's wrong?" She knelt down to see her son's teary eyes and bruised lip. She brushed his thick black hair from his eyes as he let go of her and rubbed the moisture out of his eyes.

"De otha kids were makin' fun o' me again…" He said, toddler voice scratchy as he spoke over the knot in his throat. Deliah shook her head in despair. This always happened.

"Ash, what did I tell you?" She asked, sweet voice making the child brighten immediately, though not by very much.

"I'm special, 'cause I don't got no sign." His mother nodded.

"That's right. Since you don't have a set element, you can bond with whatever Pokémon you want! And more than one too!" She said, having gone over this many times with her son, as well as her father. Ash looked up at her, determination replacing the defeated look in his eyes. This usually would've been strange on someone that young, but Deliah had gotten used to it.

"Then I'm gonna catch every single Pokémon evah, and be da pokemon masta!" He said in a rehearsed and dramatic voice. Deliah laughed, obviously pleased with this turn of moods, and patted her son's capped head.

"That's right! Make your mommy proud!" She smiled after him as he nodded, and raced back outside, not even shutting the door this time. But her smile faltered as Mr. Mime turned his head to glare after the young boy. With a sigh of long-suffering, Deliah cleared her throat, calling the Pokémon's attention back to her. Her long-time companion grinned happily as he returned his attention to his bond-partner, and happily pointed out a step she'd missed in the preparation of her stew. She nodded sadly, but didn't move to do the task, instead prompting Mr. Mime to complete it instead.

That was one thing that made Ash's… condition really hit home. Pokémon, as a whole, were able to 'read' people's auras, and through that identify the human's given mastery. Hence water Pokémon were drawn to water masters, electric to electric masters, and, as in her case, psychic pokemon to psychic masters. Of course, there were different levels of mastery, attracting the pokemon of the type depending on their 'level', or strength. Mastery level was easy to detect by the intensity of the glow emitted from the birthmark on each master's wrist, which indicated their mastery to other people; the stronger the glow, the stronger the master. Master masters were near-luminescent when they interacted with their own Pokémon, which gave them a reasonable excuse to cover their mark. Which, of course, the rest of the world followed, giving the element of surprise to any Pokémon battle, and hiding the type, or as in Ash's case, lack thereof, of mastery mark.

This fooled humans well enough, but Pokémon's natural senses weren't so easily dissuaded. Abra, another one of Deliah's pokemon, had nearly killed Ash when he'd been brought home. He'd communicated to Deliah that there was an 'abomination' invading the home. Though Mr. Mime, then Mime Jr., had quickly brought the teleportation pokemon up to speed, Deliah's subsequent breakdown had the two pokemon caring for her and (grudgingly) her child for hours.

As Ash grew, however, the psychic Pokémon grew more and more wary of the 'unclaimed one', and never hesitated to show it. Deliah had given up trying to convince them otherwise a long time ago, and Ash didn't know any different.

Mrs. Ketchum sighed again, turning to help her Pokémon cut the celery. Ash was a strong boy, and she had to keep up faith that he'd be able to find his way in the world… with or without Pokémon.

- Thirteen Years Later -

"Thanks Professor." Ash said once again, bowing shallowly to his godfather, Professor Oak, who smiled kindly.

"Now Ash, where would I be if you hadn't wanted Machop… well, Machamp now, as a sparring partner? Well, for starters, he'd still me Machop, wouldn't he!" The eccentric man laughed, but a second later became serious; just another random mood swing Ash had become accustomed to over the years.

"However…" The professor looked over Ash. His seventeen-year-old godson had grown into a handsome (or so he was told), young man; about 6'1", with eternally-messy black hair, sparkling brown eyes, and a toned body he spent years working on with the man's various pokemon. Ash was a 'master', per-say, in about four martial arts, had the agility of a Pikachu, and the strength to almost match a Machoke. Of course, no human being could ever hope to win against the fighting Pokémon in a contest of brute strength, but to the professor's astonishment, Ash had managed to both outsmart and outmaneuver the Machamp into a defeat, one he had just recently walked away from victorious.

There's got to be an award for something like that…the elder man thought, not for the first time, but once again his over-intelligence beat him to the punch, reminding him that humans alone didn't receive rewards anymore… only ones with Pokémon, and well trained ones at that. The professor bit his lip, carefully thinking over his next decision one last time as Ash toweled the sweat of the bare upper half of his body, and slipped a dark t-shirt over it, one that clung to every bit of him.

Ash had just turned to leave when Oak chose. The professor cleared his throat, and Ash promptly turned about face, and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Well Ash… um… just – just follow me, 'kay?" Oak stuttered, but Ash just shrugged and indicated for the elder to lead the way.

The professor led his student into his laboratory, which was cluttered with papers, and full of expensive machinery Ash still had no idea of what they did. And secretly, he doubted the professor did either, what with the years he had spent with him that conspicuously didn't involve even a mention of the machines...

The almost-adult followed the near-past one into his office in the rear of the lab, closing the door behind him at Oak's request.

"Well, Ash. I have a surprise for you!"

Ash quirked his eyebrow.

"Well, it's been a few years in the making… but I think I've finally done it!" The professor let out a cheesy evil laugh, which Ash pushed aside as normal, and pulled from his pocket a small, plain pokéball. He petted it.

"Here, Ash, is a pokéball. Plain and simple-looking, yes, but inside rests one of my greatest creations!" He released the pokéball in a flash of light, which formed into…

… the Machamp Ash had just defeated. The teen sagged in disappointed disbelief, barely hearing Oak's next statement.

"... Held by my Machamp."

The Pokémon in question rolled its eyes at its partner's eccentric nature, and held out a small, unassuming wristband, with a pokéball symbol embroidered into it. Ash looked at the thing skeptically, but took it and slid it on.

Nothing happened.

"Uh… Professor?" Ash questioned hesitantly, eyeing the object on his wrist cautiously. Oak grinned, then sent out another Pokémon. The Charmeleon appeared and looked around curiously and, upon noticing Ash, warily. What didn't happen though, much to Ash's surprise and Oak's pleasure, was the usual ember attack that had, up until then, been the Pokémon's customary reaction to the boy. In fact, as the fire lizard lost a bit nervousness upon seeing Ash, he actually sauntered up to him and nudged his hand with his clawed one.

Now, anyone who knew pokemon behavior knew the significance of having a seven-foot-long fire-breathing lizard known for its rather aggressive temperament. Ash and Oak stood stone-still as Charmeleon sniffed Ash's hand again, nodded with a puff of black smoke, and sat staunchly by its newly-accepted acquaintance. Ash looked at the wristband in awe.

"Professor… what is this thing?" Ash whispered, still shocked at this sudden turn of events in his life. Oak grinned widely.

"That, Ash, is what I like to call an 'Aura-Emitter'. It sends out an aura, non-specific, that Pokémon recognize. I couldn't get it to fix in on one mastery, so it's really just Pokémon in general that notice it. The only other issue is that, without a recognizable aura type, Pokémon are rather cautious of it." Oak answered nonchalantly, fiddling with a few papers around him.

Ash looked at the pokemon who was the first to willingly approach him in his life, and then at the wristband that had allowed it, and frowned.

"Professor… why did you do this? I mean, not having a mastery never really bothered me -" Ash lied blatantly, but his godfather cut him off with a careless wave that nearly took the teen's nose with the flailing hand. Ash flinched, but Oak took no notice.

"Don't lie to me Ash. Ever since you were a kid you wanted to be a pokemon master. Not in the basic sense of the term either. You spent hours pretending you were a Master master; throwing rocks around, acting out battles… as I recall, Pikachu was your favorite secret weapon, yes?" Ash opened his mouth to defend himself, but the eccentric man just continued rambling.

"Yes, yes. Along with that though, the countless hours you've spent studying Pokémon, their traits, skills, and 'moves'; it's painfully obvious to anyone with half a brain would know of your desire." The professor trailed off, but didn't miss Ash's next comment, though he obviously hadn't been meant to hear it.

"Guess that excludes Gary…" Ash whispered, then chuckled, but fell silent as he realized he'd been overheard. Oak frowned at him chastising-ly.

"Ash, you know Gary's finding out was an accident that wasn't supposed to happen; unfortunately though, it did. Now, my grandson may be a little ostentatious," Ash rolled his eyes. "But that doesn't give you the right to insult him behind his back."

Ash smirked. "Don't worry. I insult him to his face just as well."

Oak let out a long-suffering sigh of defeat as Ash continued to play with his new fashion accessory. Since Gary, who was blessed with an advanced Dark mastery, discovered Ash's lack of one, the professor's grandson and godson had become staunch rivals. Ash would do something, and Gary would (usually unsuccessfully) attempt to show the younger boy up. Ash retaliated violently every time his rival succeeded, leading to the start his rather fiery daily sparring and training session with what was once Oak's Machop.

The Machop had, at first, been just as hostile to the youth when Oak had ordered him to spar with the then 8-year-old, but as Ash's skill grew alongside the pokemon's, the fighting pokemon's own, Machop's respect for Ash held through his two evolutions. The fighting Pokémon was, contrary to popular belief, much smarter than it looked, and knew the value of a good sparring partner – regardless of birthright.

Gary's own Pokémon had been staunchly trained by their master to hate Ash with every fiber of their being, not that they really needed any more reason to do so with the boy's lack of aura, but with Gary as their companion Ash had to fear outright attack from any of them rather than the customary non-violent hostility he'd come to associate with most Pokémon.

Of course, Ash hadn't taken the mistreatment sitting down, and had all but earned the malice afforded him from the hostile creatures and their owner. He had, at every opportunity, pulled every stop to pay back what had been most recently done to him. A Magikarp in the bathtub was returned with a slug-filled soap-box, or when his 3rd grade project (a paper-mache Pikachu) was lit up by his rival's young Houndour, Ash returned the favor by dousing Gary's hard-wrought paper-mache volcano, which turned to sludge and wet paper.

So, the two had continued on a rivals since a young age, and it in turn was part of what defined the two. Everyone (although that wasn't many) in town knew of the two's 'competition', though only a select few knew the true reason for it. And Ash had always held back from that line that would, when crossed, mean the end of his secret by the hands of his mentor's grandson. So, they continued on.

But this… this new invention, would change everything.

"Ash, before you go do something reckless, there are a few things you should be aware of about that emitter."

Ash stopped messing with the wristband, and looked at his godfather.

"Yeah?"

"Yes. For starters, since the emission is non-specific to a type, it'll be a lot more dangerous for you to go exploring around wild Pokémon's territory. They'll see you as an anomaly, and the more brash ones will be more aggressive to a strange new thing than they usually would be with someone with a definable mastery. Not only that, but any Pokémon you do manage to catch will have a more difficult time trusting you. Now as you know, usually Pokémon caught will recognize their master's mastery, and trust in that, but with you, you'll have to work hard to gain their trust.

"However, since you don't have a single mastery to dictate your Pokémon, you can catch, train, and master any one you're able. This also opens you up to becoming more involved and even meeting one of the Legendaries!"

Ash blinked.

"But I thought it was nearly impossible to even get close to a Legendary."

The Professor wiggled a finger.

"It is, for anyone with a strong mastery. Legendaries will almost always run from any sense of a mastery, which all who have one emit. But you don't. So, they'll either be curious about the abstract nature of your aura and wait around long enough to find out what it is, or they'll attack the strangeness. Either way, you're probably one of the most likely people in the world to meet a Legendary!"

Ash made a soft, non-committal noise and shrugged. "Professor, I think I'm perfectly happy just to be able to have anything. A Legendary? I'll stay slightly more realistic for now, thanks."

Oak shrugged too.

"Well, you've always been one to take whatever life throws at ya, I don't see why'd you'd do any different now. Anyways, I've got one last little present for you."

He walked back over to his work desk, and fumbled around in one of the drawers. Wincing as he pricked himself on a long-forgotten push-pin, Oak walked back over to Ash, a small regular pokéball in hand. The teen took it in his own, and pressed the button.