A/N:
Okay, okay, so Episode 001: The Origins Of Love, isn't technically over yet at the time of this writing (July 17, 2012, for those of you keeping track). But we know how it ends, right? The adventure will just be in how we get there. Besides, I've been itching to write some Ashy-boy into the story, so I wrote ahead into this one. Yep, I'm the type of gal who has to have at least SIX projects going on at once to be happy because I have the attention span of a Zigzagoon that's just drunk six cans of Red Bull.
As an update to what you can expect from me in the near future, I actually have the seventh chapter of The Origins of Love written up, but I need to sit on it for a few days to perfect it. I'm also working on a long-awaited seventeenth chapter to Tarnished HeartGold and SEVERAL requested Worldhopper's Pokedex articles (Mew, ghost-types, Aron, and possibly one other one), as well as my Sonic the Hedgehog fangame project and an original franchise plan with some big ideas going into it, so don't be surprised if it all goes at a slower pace than you'd like. (Tragically, while I've already agreed to an epilogue to Jessie's Christmas Carol, I'm at a brain-block as to how to actually implement it. Pray for me on this, please!)
Without further ado...
Pokemon Max Revive Episode 002: The Journey Begins
Chapter 1: I Wanna Be The Very Best
"A-a-a-a-ash! Wake up...!"
Ash Ketchum drowsily bolted out of bed, a paradoxical action that resulted in him lying sprawled face-down on the floor. His mother, sighing, helped her son back to his feet, just as she had been doing every day for the past several years. Ever since Ash had gratuated from crib to bed, the exact same thing had happened every single morning.
Every. Single. Morning.
"I'm up, Mom, I'm up," Ash reassured, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "What time is it?"
"Time for you to start actually using that alarm clock your father sent you," Mrs. Ketchum scolded. "One of these days I'm going to sleep in and you'll miss the school bus."
"That would be fun," grinned Ash. "Then I could stay home all day and train Raticate."
His mother, Delia Ketchum, rolled her eyes. Ash's "Raticate" wasn't even a Pokemon – it was a hamster that his parents had given him to help train ASH to take care of other living creatures. "Raticate" was supposedly practice for when Ash actually became old enough to train actual Pokemon, but secretly, Delia had hoped that Ash would decide that caring for a creature was too much trouble and forget the whole thing.
He hadn't. The fact that "Raticate" had a transparent red-and-white hamster ball and could bite sticks in half on command severely disturbed Delia Ketchum, who hadn't wanted her only son to become a Pokemon trainer at all. Her husband had already left home as a trainer; she didn't want to lose Ash as well. But Ash had cut his teeth on Pokemon (not literally, thank goodness); he'd grown up alongside his mother's Mime Jr., which was now a fully evolved Mr. Mime that did most of the chores that Ash was too busy training "Raticate" to pay attention to. Mimey, as he was affectionately called, often retaliated by "innocently" washing Ash as if he was a piece of furniture. This was about the only way to convince Ash Ketchum that it was in his best interests to actually take a bath.
Delia sighed. "I made pancakes for breakfast, Ash..."
Suddenly much more wide-awake, Ash gave a happy yelp of anticipation and raced down to fill his stomach at high speed, leaving his bewildered mother sitting in his room with no other companionship but a hamster in a cage full of variously sized and heavily gnawed plastic poke-dolls. The cage wasn't the only thing plastered with Pokemon memorabilia, either – the entire room, from top to bottom, was practically a shrine to gym battles, powerful Pokemon, and champions of the past and present. To say Delia was a little overwhelmed would have been an understatement – and that itself was an understatement of an understatement.
"They grow up so fast..." his mother sighed.
Pokemon! I CHOOSE YOU!
Through fire and water and forest and grass
Through earth and through sky and wherever I pass
The journey is hard and the road is unclear
But this is why I'm here...
Pokemon!
Leaving home with a friend by my side
It's Pikachu and me
We'll rack up wins, we'll make some friends
We'll find our destiny
Always and forever I'll do my best
Can I complete this? That's my test
Forever and always I'll stay true
As long as I'm here with you (Pikachu!)
Through fire and water and forest and grass
Through earth and through sky and – through that girl's DRESS? ("Eek!")
The trail is hard and the way is unclear
But I know you're always near...
Pokemon!
I go to sleep, battles fill my head
It all comes back to me
The fires that burned, the winds that blew
To shape my destiny
Perhaps my foes will change someday
My friends will all stay true
I'll be a Master anyway
As long as I'm here with you (Pikachu!)
Always and forever I'll do my best
Can I complete this? That's my test
Like a Cherrim bud that will someday bloom
When a Sunny Day shines through...
"PIKACHU! I CHOOSE YOU!"
POKEMON!