Chapter 1: A New Beginning
The breeze whisked through Ash's hair as he dashed towards the Professor Oak Pokémon laboratory. Coming off of a loss in the finals in the Unova league, he was excited to get home and release all of the Pokémon he got in Unova into Professor Oak's laboratory, and interested to see how they would get along with Pokémon he had caught in other regions. They had all been kept at Professor Juniper's lab in Unova until he picked them up before he grabbed the plane for Kanto.
Now here he was, running along the path, and he said as Professor Oak's laboratory came into view, "There it is Pikachu! We're finally home!" He hadn't gone straight home because while he was on the plane, one of the flight attendants had told him that his mother called and told him to go straight to the lab. He was fine with that, especially carting nine Poké Balls with him.
He pushed up the steps as he reached them and ran straight up to the door. He rang the doorbell and Tracey answered it.
"Ash! It's been so long!" he exclaimed.
"It sure has," he said, "Where is everybody?"
"They're all out back," said Tracey, "Follow me!" Ash walked inside with Tracey and shut the door behind him. He felt the four extra Poké Balls on his belt expand, signifying that he was on home turf and could release all of his Pokémon at once. Tracey escorted him outside and Ash was met with a huge assembly of Pokémon as he exited the building. They all ran up to greet him.
"Welcome home Ash!" his mother and Professor Oak exclaimed.
"Thanks," said Ash as he bent down to greet the smaller Pokémon. All of his Pokémon from his past adventures were there, from Bulbasaur to Gible. As he and Pikachu greeted them all happily, he remembered that he had his Unova Pokémon at his fingertips. He got up and reached for the nine Poké Balls at his belt and threw them in the air one by one.
"Come on out guys!" he called as the Poké Balls opened up.
His nine Unova Pokémon came out of their Poké Balls one by one, and each of them, from Unfezant to Krookodile stood before the large congregation of Ash's older Pokémon.
"That's quite a crowd," said Delia Ketchum.
"It sure is," said Ash, "They're all really awesome friends." The older Pokémon stared at the newer, some with different reactions. Staraptor seemed to take particular interest in Unfezant for example, and Totodile and Oshawott were observing each other quizzically. The others simply got caught up in conversation with Ash's older Pokémon.
"They seem to be getting along," said Ash.
"Well that's typical," said Professor Oak, "They were all raised by you and have had your influence."
"Why don't we go inside for tea?" asked Tracey. Everyone agreed and left the Pokémon to their conversation as they went inside.
As they sat down in the living room, a Buizel jumped up onto the couch and began sniffing around Ash inquisitively. Then it looked up at him and tilted its head to the side.
"This isn't my Buizel is it?" asked Ash in confusion as to why the Pokémon had taken such a sudden interest in him.
"Of course not," said Professor Oak, "That's another Buizel from here in the garden that we call Bui."
"Wow, you have name for him?" asked Ash.
"It wasn't our idea," said Tracey, "It was your Buizel's idea." Right on cue, Ash's Buizel jumped up from behind the couch and then down on the cushions next to the other Buizel.
"So you've taken to this little guy huh?" Ash asked Buizel. The younger Buizel had embraced his own and hidden behind him, in sudden fear of Ash's presence. Pikachu jumped down to say hello.
"Well Ash, you catch on quickly," said Professor Oak as the Pokémon conversed, "Your Buizel and that Buizel have had such a parent-child relationship since we first discovered the younger one and his sister in the garden. As a matter of fact, from so much observation, we think that this young Buizel could very well be your Buizel's child."
"Cool!" said Ash, oblivious to the last statement that Professor Oak had stated, "So you're taking care of the little ones now!" Buizel seemed confused at Ash and then patted the Buizel who was presumably his son on the back so as to tell him to go out of the lab. The young Buizel nodded and waved at Pikachu before departing through the open window.
"So you placed second in the Unova League!" Delia exclaimed, restarting the conversation, "That is higher than you've ever gotten right?"
"Yep," said Ash, "Before that, the farthest I'd gotten was the semi-finals in Sinnoh. That was a hard battle."
"You weren't up against legendary Pokémon this time though," said Professor Oak, "That might have been a contributing factor."
"Nah," said Ash, "I think our skill and power went through the roof of that place!" They all laughed heartily.
"Well then, what are you going to do now that you're done in Unova?" asked Tracey. Ash thought for a few moments.
"I might stay home for a while," he said as Pikachu jumped onto his shoulder, "I never stay home for longer periods of time."
"Oh Ash, it's quiet without you here," said Delia teasingly, "I think it'd be nice if you went off on another journey."
"Mom…" said Ash.
"I'm just kidding," said Delia. Muk suddenly came up from behind the seat Professor Oak was sitting in and swamped him.
"Aughh!" Professor Oak cried, "Muk!" Everyone laughed at Muk's usual antics when something suddenly came to Ash's mind.
"Hey, I just realized that I've never travelled with Muk," said Ash, "Maybe I should take her along the next time I go on a journey." Muk swamped Professor Oak even more in order to get over to Ash in excitement. She tumbled off of Professor Oak and onto the floor and proceeded to go under the coffee table and climb onto the couch next to Ash in order to hug him. Pikachu jumped off of his shoulder and onto the arm of the couch.
"Hey!" Ash cried as she swamped him, "Yeah, I know you like me! Get off!" Muk tumbled back onto the floor.
"Well it seems Muk likes the idea," said Tracey.
"Most certainly," said Delia.
"Yes, I think that would be a weight off of my shoulders," said Professor Oak, still trying to recover from the most recent Muk attack, "Quite literally. It gets old having Muk try to strangle me all the time."
"Well she does really like humans," said Tracey.
"I know that, but I'm just saying," said Professor Oak. The phone suddenly rang from the next room.
"I'll get it!" said Tracey before anyone else could get up. He ran into the next room and the others in the room waited for him to get back. A few minutes later, he came back and said in a serious tone, "Professor, it's for you." Professor Oak got up and walked into the next room. Not five seconds later he called, "Ash, can you come here?" Ash hesitated before getting up, Pikachu back on his shoulder and Muk and his mother following him.
As he entered the room, he saw a man with brown hair and glasses on the screen of the phone. The man wore a labcoat.
"Ah, hello," said the man on the screen, "You must be Ash."
"Yeah, that's me," said Ash.
"Ash, this is Professor Krane from the Orre region," said Professor Oak, "He does research on how to help Pokémon with their problems."
"Now Oak, we don't have to conceal anything," said Professor Krane, "What I really study is Shadow Pokémon."
"Shadow Pokémon," said Ash, contemplating the idea, "What are those?"
"Shadow Pokémon are Pokémon that have been turned into fighting machines by people, having their hearts closed to the world," said Professor Krane, "They were a particular threat in the Orre Region five years ago. My old friend and I were studying how to open their hearts in an easier manner before he died. Then they showed up again just last week, under the influence of the same organization that had turned them into Shadow Pokémon in the first place. We need the help of some strong trainers to find out exactly what is going on."
"I'd be happy to help," said Ash.
"Excellent," said Professor Krane, "You better hurry though. I sent a note to the captain of the S. S. Libra, which is leaving from Kanto at three o' clock. I'll look forward to your arrival." The screen went blank.
"Well, I guess you'll be going on another journey after all," said Delia.
"Yep," said Ash, "And Muk will get to come along as well!" Muk tackled him in glee and everyone laughed.
The salty ocean breeze blew past Ash as he looked over the sea from the deck of the Libra. It was now four o' clock, and they were certainly enjoying the start of this new journey.
"This is great," said Ash, stretching his limbs, "Soon we'll be in the Orre region!" The first mate came up beside him.
"Not for a while actually," he said, "We won't be arriving until tomorrow morning."
"I know, but it's exciting," said Ash. Muk swamped him for the third time since the start of the trip, and Pikachu landed on the deck next to the two of them. The first mate laughed heartily.
"You seem to be really close to your Pokémon Ash," he said.
"Yeah…" said Ash from underneath Muk, "I really am aren't I…"
That night, Ash was unable to sleep. Pikachu was snoring on his chest, while Muk resided under the bed. Ash himself stared at the ceiling, excited for what might happen in Orre. He still had questions about this whole Shadow Pokémon idea, and he wanted to ask them to Professor Krane as soon as he got to Orre.
He began to doze off, and when his mind became clear again, the darkness was still around him. Then he heard something from outside. He sat up and Pikachu awakened from his deep slumber.
"You hear that Pikachu?" Ash asked. Muk was up now too, and Ash had gotten up to look out of his cabin's window. It was the only open space, since most of the rest of the ship had Pokémon being transported to Orre on it. He looked out and up and heard the sound more clearly; it was the sound of helicopter blades turning quickly.
Ash and his two Pokémon looked up in shock as they saw three helicopters train their searchlights on the ship. Then, another dark figure formed in the night above them. Ash couldn't tell what it was exactly, as it was so dark, but it looked downright evil. He heard the scream of a Pokémon, and suddenly, a huge purplish light pierced into the ship. Ash, Pikachu, and Muk were all thrown to the ground. Ash felt the ship being lifted up, swaying back and forth. He quickly stood up and shut the window so none of them would fly out. Then he was thrown to the ground again, and he hit the bed with his head, and was knocked unconscious.
A/N: Yes, I know it is a very childish and short beginning, but don't we all agree that this is how most of the anime series started? Ash becoming obligated to go to another reason for whatever reason, usually to beat its Pokémon league (or to deliver the GS Ball)? Yeah, I thought so. I started writing this story long before the Unova League so the conversation at the beginning skews the timeline, but that's alright. This story will get more serious and less childish as I go along (I hope) but Ash will be Ash (although we will see some of his more interesting traits come out through the course of this story). And I am deliberately publishing this on the exact day I joined fanfiction 2 years ago, simply because I can. :D
I do not own Pokémon, it belongs to GameFreak and Nintendo.