Authors note- Howdy, so this is my first Fanfiction. It was an idea I've had for a while now, but never found the time to sit down and write the story. Recently, I have acquired a lot of free time. So I decided to seize the opportunity to start this story. Please leave a review if you enjoyed it, I will be including some OCs in this Fanfiction as Ash's traveling companions, I would love to hear your thoughts about the Story and Characters. And please don't flame me too hard if I make any mistakes, after all it is my first fanfiction and it is rather hard to please everyone. Feel free to leave constructive Criticism and ask questions about the story and I will try my best to answer those questions as well as take any advice left behind. Anywho please enjoy the first chapter of Steps To Becoming Pokemon Masters: Kanto Arc.

Chapter 1

Meet The Trainers

It was late one evening in the small town of pallet in the Kanto region. Four young kids could be seen standing at a crossroads, a single street light lit up the area. One was a short girl with long, fiery red hair; she wore an orange sweater with a red skirt. If you were to spot her from a distance, you might think she was on fire. Her name was Macy Cinders. She moved to Pallet Town 5 years ago from Cinnabar Island with her best friend, who is now her crush. She is a very passionate girl who cares deeply for her friends and Pokémon. She also loved competitions and is a good sport, because of this she never had a hard time making friends. Her main flaw was that she has a very fiery temper.

The boy standing next to her was the tallest in the group, he wore a black jacket with a gray T-shirt underneath, and dark blue jeans. His hair was dirty blond and covered the tips of his ears and he had bright blue eyes. His name was Thomas Stars. He moved to Pallet Town from Cinnabar island along with his best friend Macy, they met Ash the very first day they arrived. They remained friends ever since. He was the glutton of the group, he often ate when he could but still he remained skinny. He has a very calm demeanor and can be very caring and intelligent, when he is not eating that is.

Across from him stood a honey-blond girl who was in a black shirt with a white-collar and a red blouse with black knee socks, her eyes where also a light blue color. Her name was Serena Jewels. She moved to Pallet town from the faraway Kalos region. When she moved her mother made her attend the Pokémon Summer camp in hopes that she would make friends. That is where she met her wonderful friends that stood with her at that moment, and her Crush, who stood right next to her. She is a very kind and sometimes shy person, but can be very outgoing when she sets her mind to it.

Standing next to her was a raven haired boy wearing a black T-shirt and blue jeans; his raven hair was messy and spiky, and he had kind brown eyes. His name was Ash Ketchum. Like Macy, he cared very deeply for his friends and Pokémon, but sometimes he makes rash decisions that often landed him in trouble. He loved to have fun and be with his friends. And tomorrow was the day they could all receive their starter Pokémon from Professor Oak, and start their Pokémon journeys.

The four friends said goodnight and waved goodbye as they each went down a different road, each one lead to one of four houses, all of which looked very similar except for color.

On the second floor of the red-painted house, Macy had changed into her night-gown and tried to get to bed early, since tomorrow would be the day she would set out on her Pokémon journey. Unexpectedly, the phone on her nightstand starting to ring, she picked it up.

"Hello?" asked Macy, wondering who would be calling her at this time of night. On the other side of the phone, was Serena, she was also in her pajamas. "Hi Macy, sorry to call you so late, but I just can't sleep" Serena replied apologetically.

"Its fine, I don't think I could sleep either, I got too much on my mind." Macy replied, she sat on her bed. "Tomorrow is the day we finally become trainers and can leave Pallet town to travel the region" she said, her crimson eyes full of wonder and excitement.

"Yea, it sure is exciting" Serena replied, but there was one thing that bothered her. "but I don't want to travel alone. It would be my first time out of Pallet town and it wouldn't be very fun traveling all alone. I was thinking about asking Ash if I could travel with him" a slight blush came to her face.

"Hehehe" Macy giggled; "I knew you would say something like that, but, truth be told, I was thinking about asking Thomas if I could travel with him also." she began blushing as well, she had a crush on Thomas ever since they were young.

"Oh really? Maybe we could all travel together!" Serena said excitedly. The thought of traveling the region with her friends, including her crush, Ash Ketchum, made her giddy with excitement.

"That's a great idea!" Macy replied "but now we should probably focus on getting some sleep so we aren't late". She brought up a good point, after all, none of them wanted to be late.

"That's probably a good idea, see you tomorrow at the lab." Serena said while yawning, she promptly fell asleep on her bed, forgetting to hang up the phone.

"Hello?" Macy's voice can be heard through the phone speakers, "Serena? Are you there?". All Macy got in reply was the sound of Serena's snoring, Macy laughed, for as delicate and shy as Serena was, she sure did snore loudly.

It was early morning in Pallet town, just about everyone was up and ready to start the day. Except for new trainer Thomas, who was still loudly snoring in his bed. His snoring got so loud to the point where it shook the bed. The alarm clock on the shelf above his bed decided it had enough, and fell off the shelf to smack Thomas in the forehead.

"Owwwwwww" Thomas moaned as he woke up and rubbed his head, his eyes shot open as he picked up his clock and looked at the time. "WHAT, 9:45! I GOT TO BE AT THE LAB IN 15 MINUTES". The 12yr old boy quickly jumped out of bed and struggled to get dressed. Fortunately, he wasn't the only one who had problems waking up that morning.

"Ash! Go go go! You're going to be late" shouted Delia Ketchum as she shoved her 12yr old son out the front door. "You don't want to keep all your friends waiting, do you?"

"Of course not mom" the raven haired boy replied as he got into a running stance. "Now if you will excuse me I got a Pokémon to choose." He darted down the road as fast as he could towards the Pokémon lab, leaving behind a trail of dust. He caught up to Serena, who also woke up late and was running to the lab.

"Good…..morning…..Serena" Ash said between breaths as he continued running alongside her. "Morning... *gasp*... Ash" Serena replied, also running out of breath.

"Guys! Hey wait for us!" a voice shouted. Both Ash and Serena turn around to see their friends Macy and Thomas running just a few yards behind them, Thomas was holding a half-eating breakfast muffin in his hand.

"Come on guys we are almost there! Today we become great Pokémon trainers!" Ash shouted with a grin, he jumped into the air with excitement, causing Serena to smile at him.

The group finally reached the lab, even though it looked more like a farmhouse than a laboratory, each one of them was completely out of breath. Everyone was wearing their same clothes from when they met at the crossroads last night, except Serena now had a pink felt hat and Ash had a green and blue jacket with an official pokemon league cap on his head.

"Let's go inside!" Thomas said enthusiastically, still panting from the long run. Every one nodded in agreement, and they entered the lab together. The lab was filled with impressive machinery, and standing in the middle of the room was an old man, about 60, he had old gray hair and a kind smile, he was non other than Samuel Oak himself, the Kanto regions top Pokémon researcher. He also had the responsibility of gifting new Pallet Town trainers with a starter Pokémon and a Pokedex.

"Well cutting it a little close aren't we" Prof. Oak said, looking at the trainers with a face of interest, as if he was studying each one of them.

"I apologize, it seems like we all woke up a little late" Serena chuckled; she found it amusing how they all managed to wake up late on such an important day.

Professor Oak smiled warmly. "Well, better late than never I always say." he said "But now it's time for you to receive your starter Pokémon. He led the group over to a wooden table, 3 pokeballs sat on the table.

"As you may already know, the Kanto region starter Pokemon are Charmander, a Fire type. Squirtle, a Water type. And Bulbasaur, a Grass type." he said. "And you should also know that Pokemon are not just pets or tools for battle, they are your friends and loyal companions. They should be treated with the love and respect they deserve."

"We know that professor, go ahead Macy, you choose first." Said Thomas, the other nodded in agreement.

Macy blushed slightly, she also thought to herself how lucky she was to have such kind friends like Thomas, Ash and Serena. She walked over to the polished wooden table."Well I didn't have to think very long to know which one I'm choosing" Macy said confidently. She picked up the pokeball in the middle of the table.

"Charmander! I choose you!" A white light was released from the pokeball and an orange salamander Pokémon that walked on two legs appeared on the table, the tip of its tail had a burning flame.

"Char charr" the Pokémon exclaimed as it stretched out its arms and looked around the room.

"Aw it's so cute" Serena squealed with delight.

Macy looked at the Charmander and smiled. "Hello Charmander, my name is Macy and I love fire-type Pokémon" She said kindly, a warm smile spread across her face. " I was wondering, would you like to go with me on my journey?" she asked

"Char charr!" the Pokémon said while nodding. It leapt into Macy arms.

"Oh I know! Why don't I nickname you Lizzy? Macy asked the little Pokémon, the Charmander nodded in approval, it liked its new name.

"Ok Serena, why don't you go next." Ash said, motioning for her to walk over to the table.

"Oh, ok." She said nervously, she knew that the Pokémon she choose today will be her lifelong partner; she didn't want to make the wrong decision.

She picked up the pokeball of the left side of the table

She gulped. "Well here it goes. Squirtle, I choose you!" Serena said as she pressed the button on the middle of the pokeball. A small white light hit the table, and a small, light blue turtle Pokémon with a curled tail appeared. It seemed a bit smaller than other Squirtle, but it had a heart-shaped marking on it shell. Which Serena found interesting.

"Squirtle squir" the little turtle Pokémon said as it looked around the room, soon fixating its eyes on its new trainer.

"Hello Squirtle" Serena said happily "Would you like to travel with me?"

The little Pokemon didn't say anything, instead it danced around the table and jumped up into Serena's arms and gave her a huge smile.

Serena almost died of cuteness overload. "Yay! I just know we are going to get along great Squirtle" she exclaimed excitedly, cuddling her new partner.

"Squirtle!" the Pokémon said happily as it nodded in agreement.

"Well, do you mind if I go next Ash?" Thomas asked while looking to his friend

"Sure buddy, go ahead" Ash said, smiling.

"Awesome" Thomas said. He approached the table. "Well good thing you guys left the Pokémon that I wanted" he said as he picked up the remaining pokeball. "Bulbasaur come out and say he-AHHHH". When he pressed the button, instead of a Bulbasaur popping out, there was a flash of white light and colorful confetti and toy Ekans flew everywhere from inside the pokeball, startling Thomas so bad he fell backwards.

Inside the pokeball was a little note, it said "Ha-ha I see you tried to choose Bulbasaur eh? Well looks like I got it first! Later loser! – Gary Oak".

"Why that little-"Thomas said as he stood up and was about to lose his temper, but Ash put his hand on Thomas's shoulder trying to calm him down. "It's ok man, what else can you expect from Gary" he said calmly. Thomas began to cool down, but Macy however, was boiling inside.

How he dare play such a cruel joke on Thomas, I swear when I get my hands on Gary I'm going to-

"Uh, Macy, are you ok?" Thomas asked, concerned.

"Huh?" she replied. She looked down and realized her fists were balled up. Her face turned a light shade of red. "Uh yea I'm fine" She chuckled nervously. Ash and Thomas shrugged, oblivious to the true nature of Macy's upset.

"Uh, Professor Oak? Do you happen to have two more Pokémon lying around that we could take?" Ash asked worryingly.

"Well I do have two more Pokémon, but I must warn you they are a little different." Oak said as he took two pokeballs off of a nearby shelf. The pokeballs had a fine layer of dust on them.

"We don't care, let us see them" Thomas said energetically, clearly excited to meet his new partner.

Professor Oak held one of the pokeballs in each hand, Thomas picked up the right one and Ash picked up the left one.

"Well, he goes nothing" Thomas said to Ash, they both grinned at each other and simultaneously threw the pokeballs and said "Pokémon! I choose you!"

The Pokémon that materialized in front of Ash was a small yellow rodent Pokémon, it had long pointed ears with black tips and a lightning bolt-shaped tail. In front of Thomas a small brown Pokémon wearing what appeared to be a skull on its head looked up at him, it held what appeared to be a small bone in its hand.

The Pokémon were Pikachu and Cubone.