The sun beat down on Pallet Town in the Kanto region. Bird pokémon flew over the houses and trees, the young children ran through the neighborhood playing with their family pokémon. The whole day was radiating simple happiness and peace, for everyone except one person, Ash Ketchem. Ash was lying on a hill under a tree near Professor Oak's lab, he had his hat pulled over his eyes, and if a Lucario had been within a hundred feet of him they would have turned around because of the negative emotions in his aura must be emitting. Pikachu sat next to Ash looking at him sadly, Ash had been like this for weeks, ever since he had returned from Sinoh.
Pikachu and all of Ash's other pokémon had spent two happy weeks with Ash after returning to Pallet, but then Ash had fallen into a slump. After traveling through Sinoh and taking on eight gyms Ash had taken on the Sinoh league gotten into the top four only to be beaten before even taking out two of his opponent's pokémon. Delia (Ash's mother) and Prof. Oak believed that Ash was also upset about having to leave his friends, as Dawn had decided to stay in Sinoh to plan her next move, and Brook had returned to Pewter City and planned to begin studying to become a pokémon doctor. Unfortunately for everyone all Ash had been willing to do lately was mope under a tree on a hill.
Ash didn't blame his pokémon or himself for their loss, instead he blamed his loss on the only thing he was able to think of, unfair advantages. His opponent had simply had an unfair advantage, Ash told himself, after all how many people came to tournament with pokémon considered to be legendary in their party? It simply wasn't fair, it wasn't as if many people had experience battling these pokémon including Ash, so he was at a disadvantage to begin with. After a few weeks Ash had managed to convince himself that it was only because his opponent had an unfair advantage that he had lost, his mild disappointment had turned to anger. Why in the world would pokémon of that caliber even be allowed in these tournaments? Researchers even theorized that these pokémon were possibly responsible for helping form the planet, and Pokémon League officials actually allowed trainers to enter tournaments with them.
"A Darkrai and a Latios," Ash muttered angrily to himself, "What else did that guy have on his team? He probably had a Latias, a Cresalia, a Heatran, a Ho-oh, heck the guy probably had Mew on his team." A few times Ash had even thought that if his last opponent hadn't entered the tournament he would have won. "I was the only trainer there that even managed to take out his Darkrai, therefore I was the second strongest trainer there. I would have won." At one point Ash had even voiced these thought to Prof. Oak, the professor only told him that thinking like that would only prevent him from moving forward as a trainer.
Legendaries were infuriating. How many times had they caused trouble for Ash? Ever since the beginning of his journey, legendaries had been running amuck. Sometimes on instinct other times after being provoked by humans, either way Ash had had more than his fair share of troubles due to these so called legendary pokémon. And now this. Why, why did this loss hurt so much? Ash had suffered losses before, and always he had been able to learn something from them but this time it seemed impossible to take anything from this loss except anger. Anger at the rules, anger at his opponent, anger himself, even anger at pokémon.
"This is so annoying. I've had losses but I also had a lot of great victories. All my gym battles, the Orange League, the Battle Frontier…" Ash stopped muttering to himself, he started thinking fast. The Battle Frontier! Why hadn't he thought of that before? He had battled plenty of legendaries on that journey, an Articuno at the Battle Factory, not mention the Legendary Golems against Brandon at the Battle Pyramid. It wasn't as if these legendaries were unbeatable, it just took the right amount of experience. He hadn't beat Brandon on his first try, but he had won in the end, so what did those losses matter? "That's what I have to do"
Ash got up and dusted himself off, Pikachu looked up wondering what Ash up to. Allowing Pikachu to climb on his shoulder Ash began to walk back toward Prof. Oak's lab, he had to talk with the professor and his mother about his new plans for the next part of his journey. He knew he wouldn't tell them all his plans, but he at least had to tell them that he would be gone for awhile again training, and that they didn't need to worry, the usual talk. As he continued to walk, Ash thought about what pokémon he would bring with him, that was always the hardest part in a journey. Of course he would bring Pikachu but after that it was always a hard decision. He would bring Sceptile, Ash knew he would want to battle a lot now after his loss against Latios. Gible would come too, he didn't have as much experience as some of the other pokémon, but he had a lot of potential. Buizel also had a lot of potential and Ash wanted to have a pokémon with as much passion for battling as Buizel along with him. After Cyndaquil had evolved into Quilava Ash hadn't been able to battle with him much, now seemed as good a time as ever to see how far he had come. That still left one spot open, but that was always the hardest spot to fill. At this point Ash looked up and found that he was already at the lab, he walked in and called out, announcing his presence.
Walking into the living area of the lab, Ash found Tracey with his Marill looking over notes on pokémon feeding, Prof. Oak was sitting in another chair critiquing some of Tracey's pokémon sketches. "You're sketches keep improving Tracey," the professor said without looking up, "This one captures the intimidation that Gyardos radiate, it would probably even scare a young pokémon." Prof. Oak set aside the sketch book looked u up. "Oh Ash, I'm sorry I heard you come in, but I was busy," Standing he continued to talk, "you're just on time for lunch." Ash smiled, talking about the next step in his journey could wait until after lunch.
Ash walked into the dining room and was slightly surprised to see his mother setting out a meal. Looking up Delia smiled at him, "Hello Ash dear, I was hoping you would join us today. Are you alright dear? You look like you have something on your mind." Ash hid his surprise at how easily his mom was able to read him, but simply responded that there was something he needed to tell everyone. Sitting down to lunch Ash tried to find the best time to and way to tell everyone his new plans. Zoning out while listening to Oak ramble on about new research being done on Ditto and its transforming abilities, Ash came back to attention when he heard the professor addressing him.
"Ash, it has been awhile since you have seen any new Pokémon," Oak was speaking in a serious way, Ash knew the professor was trying to encourage him continue toward his goals instead of continuing to mope. In the terms that Ash would use, he should get off his butt and get to work. "I think that you should go travel for awhile, perhaps not out of Kanto but at least Pallet Town, you should spend time with your pokémon. I know that your loss has hit you hard but you need to use that experience to improve, for both yourself and your pokémon ."
"Actually professor, that was what I wanted to talk to all of you about," Ash said looking at everyone, "I've decided that I'm going to go on a training journey, I'm going to stay in Kanto but I plan to go train with my pokémon, we're going to get our confidence back." Ash saw that Prof. Oak and his mother were visibly relieved, probably happy that he was starting to get back to his old self. "I plan to leave tomorrow morning I'll be taking, Pikachu, Gible, Sceptile, Buizel, and Quilava with me, I'm not sure who will be my sixth pokémon but I'm sure I'll figure that out before I leave."
"Well dear I'm sure you know what you're doing," Delia began, "I hope you and your pokémon find what your confidence, and come home safely."
"Yes Ash I'm happy to hear you made your decision," Oak said, "And don't worry, you can count on Tracey and I to take care of your other pokémon you leave in Pallet Town." Ash looked around at his friends and family, he suddenly felt like telling them the rest of his plans but restrained himself, instead he just decided to thank them.
"Thanks everyone, and don't worry mom I'll come home safely, I don't know when but I will." The rest of the meal was normal, Oak continued his to give speeches on various species of pokémon, Tracey took notes, and Delia kept insisting Ash eat more.
The next morning came and Ash was once again standing at the front of Oak's lab, he was ready to go, except that he hadn't been able to select a sixth pokémon. He had his five pokémon with him and was trying to think fast to figure out what pokémon he should take. After thinking for fifteen minutes and being unable to decide what pokémon to bring Ash decided to just take five pokémon for the time being, and have a sixth sent over latter.
After the usual goodbyes with his family and friends, his mother reminding him to change his underwear every day, Oak and Tracey wishing him luck Ash began to leave. Hearing a sudden cry he turned around to see his Bayleef charging toward him. Ash braced himself as Bayleef jumped on him knocking him over. He couldn't help but smile as his old friend rubbed its head against him affectionately.
"Oh Bayleef, I guess you haven't come with me in a long time huh?" Ash made his decision of who to bring with him, turning toward the lab he called, "Hey Tracey could you get me Bayleef's pokeball? I've found the sixth member of my party." Tracey disappeared into the lab and quickly returned with the pokeball, after wishing Ash luck one last time Ash turned and began walking away again, this time without interruption.
On the outskirts of Pallet Town Ash started thinking about what was ahead of him. He was going to have to train hard if he wanted to avoid a loss like the one he faced at the Sinoh League, it might not be easy but then maybe it wouldn't be worth it.
"There are only two ways to beat a legendary pokémon," Ash said to himself, "One, be so strong that even they can't stand up to you. Or two have the experience that you know what to expect, and you don't give into the pressure. And that's where this training comes in. It's time to hunt some legendaries!"
Ash Ketchem had officially started the next part of his journey.