As a big fan of pokemon Ash made sure that he studied all the Pokemon books he could read, so therefore he knew exactly which Pokemon he would be picking to become his partner. Then he had gotten too excited watching the battles on t.v. and his clock had been ruined causing him to sleep in. He had been devastated when he finally got to Professor Oak's lab to find that all of the starters had been taken. It meant that he would have to wait another year. He would never hear the end of it from Gary. So he begged, Oak had to have something left. He'd even take a magikarp at this point if it meant he could start his journey.

"Actually I might have something." Oak said "But you wouldn't want it, it's a hard pokemon to raise."

"I'll take it."

Ash released the pokemon from the ball only to see what looked like a Pikachu, but something about it looked wrong, "What is that Professor?"

"It's a pikachu my boy."

Ash took another look, he'd never seen a Pikachu in the books that had its head on such an awkward angle, or that looked as if it's eyes were doodled on its face. "Are you sure Professor Oak?"

The professor sighed, "I found it eating my power cords in the back, and it tried to fry everyone around it with a thunderbolt, so yeah, I'm sure that it's a Pikachu."

The not pikachu stared at Ash sadly, and Ash felt a sting of pity, whatever this thing was, it was a Pokemon. It would allow him to start his journey now, rather than having to wait. "I'll take him." He said, and the not Pikachu screeched happily as it burrowed into his arms.

"Well he likes you, that's good."

As soon as Oak had given him his new pokemon and he had been off after stopping at his mom's to grab his traveling gear he finally tried to scan his 'Pikachu'. The pokedex had buzzed before saying that some pokemon were as of yet undiscovered. Ash felt tempted to laugh. How had Professor Oak missed this? Hadn't he tried to scan this weird looking Pikachu when he had caught it? Then again, everyone knew Oak was 'the' expert in Pokemon for the region, perhaps he had seen this 'pikachu' from the back and had just assumed that it was a 'pikachu'. Without the data from the pokedex, Ash had two options, one he could try to remember all the attacks Pikachu could know from the books he had read, or two, when he reached the Pokemon center in Viridian he could ask Nurse Joy. Either way, it was not how he had envisioned starting out from Pallet, but it was better than having to wait another year. As they started out together Ash spotted what he thought was a pidgey, and ordered his Pikachu to thunderbolt it, unfortunately for both of them, it seemed the Pikachu was unused to using it's attack, and it missed completely, instead zapping a small rattata that had been hiding in the grass next to it. As he watched the now identified Spearow take off into the sky, Ash let out a shaky breath, it was a good thing he hadn't hit the Spearow. He didn't want such a tempermental pokemon on his team anyway. But the Rattata, it had potential. Sure it was smaller than any he had ever seen before, but as he went to capture it, he noticed that it had an unusual color scheme.

"A shiny Pokémon" he breathed, not really believing it even as it was captured, sure everyone knew that shiny Pokémon weren't really any better than regular Pokémon, but he couldn't wait to brag to Gary about the fact that he had caught a shiny Pokemon, and on his first day too! He might have started celebrating too soon though as the Spearow came flying back at him, but this time instead of being alone, it had brought friends, a lot of friends. "RUN!" he yelled, as he scooped up Pikachu into his arms and ran for all he was worth, coming to a waterfall he did the only thing he could, he dived down, holding Pikachu close, hoping that everything would turn out all right. The water churned over him, turning him over and over, confusing him. Which way was up? He was running out of oxygen when he felt a tug on his jacket, and he was unceremoniously tugged from the water.

"Aww, it's just a kid."

Ash looked up happily, "Thank you for saving me."

"What were you thinking? Waters like these shouldn't be swam in unless you are a professional! You could have been killed!"

Ash hung his head, "I didn't really have a choice, you see I angered some Spearow and..." Ash didn't have the chance to finish his sentence as he heard an angry squawking over head, "Oh no, here they come again!"

Looking around he realized pretty quickly that he would be unable to fight his way out of the situation. Pikachu was not looking well and the only other Pokémon he had was the shiny Rattata, but it would be at a disadvantage on the ground. Then he spotted the girls bike, "Sorry, I'm going to have to borrow this!" He grabbed the bike and shoved Pikachu into the basket, pedaling wildly, hoping that he could get to Viridian where there would be an Officer Jenny that could help him fight off the Spearow. It was looking hopeful until Ash hit a particularly large pothole in the road and went flying. Ash looked up to the Spearow above him, and then at Pikachu, "You have to get into your Pokeball." He said tiredly. But Pikachu shook it's head no, "Please, I don't want you to die." Pikachu shook it's head again as rain began falling on the pair.

Ash smiled at his new friend as he stood up in front of him, at least he could buy some time so that Pikachu could escape. But before he could say anything more Pikachu ran up to his shoulder and released the largest Thunderbolt Ash had ever seen, crashing directly into the Spearow flock. They squawked again as they looked at Pikachu murderously, but miraculously they flew off. Ash let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding in as he laughed. Then, as the clouds dissipated and the sun shone brightly through the sky he saw a golden bird flying overhead, its large tail ending in a beautiful rainbow. It looked down at him and the cry it let out somehow warmed his heart as a single feather fell down in front of him. Ash pointed the Pokedex at the strange Pokémon, only to have the Pokedex tell him that there was no data.

"Well I guess some things are meant to remain mysteries. Come on Pikachu, let's go."

End Chapter