My first true fanfiction, by none other than yours truly. I was formerly EpsilonAI80 of DeviantArt, but I deleted the account for personal reasons. I did write some Pearl Songfics before, but they're lost now, and I have yet to check my files for them. Regardless, I hope you enjoy this fic, and constructive criticism is appreciated, but flames...come on, why add fuel to that already burning flame of hatred?
Disclaimer: Since this is a fanfic, why the need for this other than the story itself being mine? Anyway, I don't own Pokemon
Pokemon (c) Gamefreak & Satoshi Tajiri
It was morning, and on the top of a mountain in the Kanto region-Mt. Silver to be exact-a figure stands staring at the rising sun, a calm expression on his tanned face. A Pikachu, perched on his shoulder, doing the same, but occasionally turning to his trainer in concern-which made sense given how often this happens after what happened a year back-but the teen either didn't notice or didn't care, but given his personality, it's likely the former.
He was wearing an all black outfit, with the only exceptions being the blue Poke Ball cap he wore during his journey in the far off Sinnoh region, and a Contest ribbon on a pin to his heart, also something from Sinnoh, although this was a gift from a certain bluenette from there. He had wild raven colored hair, which according to most, was untamed but suiting given his attitude at times, but he barely cared nowadays, and curiously had little z's on his cheeks. Yes, the boy was Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town.
Why was Ash in Mt. Silver-the roughest part in Kanto-all places? Believe it or not, but he lived there, even during the cold winter months of frequent blizzards. He had come here on special permission of Lance, Kanto's Champion to train himself to be the very best, like no one ever was. What happened last year made him into a recluse, although in reality, no one-that he knew really well-besides his mother Delia, Prof. Oak, Tracey Sketchit, who was Oak's assistant, Dawn Berlitz, a former but very close traveling companion of his from Sinnoh-it was her who gave him the ribbon-and Lance even know he's still alive.
Two years ago-he was sixteen at the time-when he had come back from his Kalos journey, he found his-now former-friends from his previous journeys waiting for him-Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena all remaining in Kalos for personal reasons-and after talking to each other about Ash, they soon thought he was a lucky but weak trainer, which wasn't right or wrong in hindsight, but it was mainly due to his many Legendary encounters and even having strong Pokemon, but still not making it to a League victory, and even his Orange Island and Battle Frontier victories being criticized by them, at least, except for Dawn, who found it hard for them to think of him as weak. Sure, he wasn't the best trainer in the world,-or the smartest outside of battle-but can you blame him? The teen still has-or perhaps had in the present time-a lot to learn about being a Pokemon Master. Heck, even the undefeated Sinnoh Champion-in trainer battles anyway-Cynthia once said to her, Ash, and Brock-another former companion-that the brunette had high potential to give even her a run for her money given a couple years-or something along those lines-of growth.
Dawn was the most reluctant-in hurting anyone really, Ash especially-of them all, and from her perspective, so were Brock, Max and Cilan, Ash's other male companions, and she tried to stop them from even hinting such a thing to him, but of course, it was in vain. While they did appear sympathetic when the girls-Misty, May, and Iris-began to berate Ash inside his house-Delia was at Professor Oak's at the time, and so was Tracey, and Gary was still in Sinnoh-it didn't stop them from nodding in agreement in the end. When told of the harsh criticism,-which again wasn't exactly right or wrong whenever he thought about it now-instead of an angry outburst or him crying like all of them expected, he simply went upstairs to his room, his eyes as emotionless as a hypnotized person, while Pikachu glared menacingly at everyone, his cheeks sparked in pure rage, but knew better than to lash out at the group. In response, they began laughing a bit, but he didn't care as he started to pack extra food and clothing.
Leaving was obviously the best choice, as he didn't want to bother to prove them wrong at that point. He was still sane, so he wrote a note explaining what happened to his mother and hopefully Professor Oak as well. When he finished, he went downstairs and looked at his friends, he noted the faces of the other males and Dawn's distraught face and as his best female friend, he could see the clear sympathy in her eyes as well. They stopped laughing and held questioning looks at the teen looking over them all, but he huffed and left without a word.
He went straight to Oak's lab, his face still emotionless-or perhaps unreadable-due to his kept in feelings of hatred and sorrow due to what they said. In fact, when he got there, he still didn't say a word and just took all of his Pokemon, and left, but not before hugging Tracey, Prof. Oak and his mother. Even when they questioned him, he only replied with a "I'm sorry."
The note explained everything, and after leaving Pallet Town, Ash just went to the Kanto League to request his permission to train on Mt. Silver. Within a week of the training, he went down to the Pokemon Center to say where he was staying to his mother-who in turn told Oak and Tracey-and Dawn, since he knew all of his friends home phone numbers. He didn't call Clemont or Serena because he knew they were busy, and didn't want to bother them, even though they obviously wouldn't have minded to help him, but with Ash being Ash, he preferred to help and not be helped in return as to not be a burden to them, and just the thought of calling anyone else made him...annoyed to say the least.
But that was more than a year ago, and the ribbon Dawn gave him was received about 5 months ago-26 weeks to be exact-and when he asked her about it, she only replied with a "I didn't want you to forget me, and I thought I should show my thanks" with a small wink at the end, which-almost-regrettably made him blush, and he was easily caught in that area, which only made Dawn smile widely, and of course as almost like his female counterpart-without being an actual sister thankfully-he soon smiled back, forgetting his male pride at the moment.
It didn't help that in the one year-he didn't see her at all in the year he was in Kalos-Dawn somehow managed to become more beautiful, at least in his eyes, although she did get a change of wardrobe, getting rid of her knit cap and wearing red glasses-she only needed them when reading, but many have openly admitted that she looks better with the glasses, so screw that she 'supposedly' looks like a nerd, heck, even Ash felt like getting one himself, as his sight while reading was slightly behind the norm anyway-and permanently wearing her winter coat-which was a long red trench coat dress with multiple pink buttons-and when asked about it, she replied with "It's universally great for any weather!" which was true for her, as it provided just enough warmth if it was cold, and wasn't too thick to be uncomfortable if she wore it in sunshine. She kept her golden hair clips, pink scarf, and black stockings, but her pink boots were replaced with blue ones. Overall, like him, only her clothing changed, but she kept parts of what she was remembered by in clothing and didn't let teenage aging get to her wonderful personality, in his words anyway.
As for Ash himself, he was still pretty much the same personality wise-even betrayal wouldn't kill the headstrong person he was-, but battle wise, his tactics changed to be even more unpredictable, using attacks that in most cases, wild Pokemon or Trainers-there were occasional trainers there in Mt. Silver as well-don't expect, and he tried calculating his opponents every movement from what attack they were planning on using, but even with that improvement, he still didn't feel strong enough. He even began to physically train all his Pokemon, making him even fitter than he already was, and quite the eye candy for girls his age-even some older women-but he paid them no heed, as his heart was already pretty much set on Dawn.
A chuckle left his lips, making Pikachu turn to him curiously. Ash turned to his best Pokemon friend with a small smile. "Just remembering the good memories of what happened last year" He says, making the mouse sweatdrop slightly, as he knew exactly what his trainer-friend/brother actually-was talking about, but at the same time, it soothed Pikachu, as it did relax Ash, and the Electric type was quite fond of the girl anyway, quite possibly the most before last year, due to her and Ash's nearly identical traits, obviously taking out the-normally exclusively-guy and girl parts of their personality. It didn't help that the Pokemon had started thinking of it's relationship with one of Dawn's Pokemon; Buneary. True, at first he didn't approve of the rabbit's affection of him, but like his friend, over time, grew to think otherwise, as Ash fell in love with Dawn, or at least showed signs of it just before the Sinnoh Grand Festival.
"I think it's time." The brunette said abruptly, snapping Pikachu out of his thoughts, and when he gave him a look of confusion, Ash chuckled again. "I think it's time. Time we and everyone else show the world how strong we've become. What do ya say?" He clarified, and in response, his partner nodded, and not without a fist up to the air. Seeing this made him happy, the two were practically brothers in every way, and almost anyone-apparently one of Cilan's rivals thought otherwise-agreed.
Facing the sun again, Ash let a wide grin cross his face, and put his fist to the air, feeling like how he first started his journey like what, 8 years ago? True, he still wasn't a Pokemon Master, but he definitely felt much closer than ever-only his loss against Tobias in Sinnoh felt so similar-to his dream, which like his bond with Pokemon-and Dawn-was unbreakable.
"You hear that world? Ash Ketchum is coming back!" He shouted to the heavens above, and began his trip back down Mt. Silver, unaware that his shouts were heard by two Pokemon watching over him.