Chapter 1 An Old Friend & A New Adventure

As Ash returns to Professor Oak's lab in Kanto from his journey in Sinnoh, he meets up with an old friend. Could this be the start of a new adventure? You'll have to read to find out..

"R-Ritchie?" Ash was shocked to see his old friend visiting him Pallet town. He hadn't seen him since they saved the baby Lugia at Whirl Island.

"Hiya Ash! Its been a while; how've you been?"

"Just finished competing in the Sinnoh League; made the top eight actually."

"Wow, Ash; you sure have been training hard since I last saw you haven't you?"

"Yup." At this point Ash was becoming eager to hear why his friend was here. "So, Ritchie, what are you doing here in Pallet Town?"

"Well, Professor Oak said you were headed to Unova next."

"Yea, sure am! I'm gonna challenge the Unova League!"

A smile began to form on Ritchie's face. "So am I..and I was hoping that maybe I could travel with you."

"Of course you can, Ritchie! I would love for you to come with me."

Ritchie was excited to finally get to travel with Ash. He had been planning to ever since they met at the Indigo League, but at that point he couldn't because he had to take care of his sick grandfather in his hometown of Frodomar City.

"Really?" Ritchie clearly seemed suprised, yet estatic, by Ash's immediate approval of his request.

"Of course! Traveling with a long-time friend would be much better than traveling alone."

"True." Ritchie saw that Ash had a point there. But right now, he couldn't wait to get to Unova and explore all the new places with his old friend.

Professor Oak entered the room and announced that the SS Anne tickets to Unova had just arrived in the mail. He handed one to Ritchie and the other to Ash.

"Thank you, Professor!" Ash and Ritchie said in unison.

"I suppose you two should be off to Vermillion City now. Take care now, okay? And Ash, stay in contact with your mother this time."

"Ok' I will; bye Professer."

"Ah yes, I almost forgot. I called and told Professor Juniper in advanced."

"Professor Juniper?" Ritchie had never heard of her before; nether had Ash.

"She is the main professor in the Unova region. When you arrive, you should meet her in Nuvema Town at her lab so she can upgrade your Pokedex to the Unova version."

Ash and Ritchie had almost forgotten about all of the new Pokemon they'll meet in the Unova region.

"Alright, we'll make sure to do that right away."

"Well, you better get going then so you don't miss your ship." The professor saw that they were getting impatient.

And with this, our two heroes say farewell to the professor and depart to Vermillion City to board the SS Anne to Unova region! Stay tuned for Chapter 2!

Author's Note: "I don't plan to make this into a Leagueshipping (Ash x Ritchie) story. I'm trying to give it an anime feel. And as we know, Ash and Ritchie were really close in episodes 80-82 of the anime. And that's as close as they're gonna get in my story, at least for now...mwahahah."