Pokémon: Like No One Ever Was
Prologue
(Insert 'World of Pokémon' music here)
Welcome to the world of Pokémon! Dazzling and amazing creatures that inhabit the planet alongside humans, there are hundreds that we know of, but potentially thousands that we don't. With personalities and traits that make every one unique.
Living side by side with humans, we improve our lives be it building, teaching, researching, traveling, or any dozens of other ways. Pokémon professors study everything to do with Pokémon: behavior, habitats, migration, you name it. Pokémon breeders spend their time nurturing, evolving, and helping them find and start families of their own. And then there are Pokémon trainers: people who have the Pokémon that they've caught battle other trainers. The best are known as Pokémon Masters.
Today, our adventure starts with Ash Ketchum from Pallet town. From a young age, all he desired was to be a Pokémon Master, and learn as much about battling as he does about Pokémon themselves. On his upcoming 10th birthday, he can claim a Pokémon of his own, and embark on a journey to see the world and challenge other trainers.
Our story begins the night before his 10th birthday, at home, upstairs in his room.
Ash is watching a rerun of the previous years' Indigo League qualifiers on his tablet, daydreaming of one day standing in the Hall of Champions as a Pokémon Master. When the episode ends, he becomes aware of an argument downstairs between his mom, Delia, and his older brother, Red. There had been arguments every night for the last week, but Ash hadn't paid any attention to it, as he'd been consumed with his decision on which starter Pokémon he would choose: Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle. This night, however, the argument had raised several decibels, and Ash could hear it clearly.
"…news, the world is not that dangerous. He doesn't need a babysitter, and I should be training for the League! Why do you insist on debating this with me?!" Red said. Ash crept out of his room to the railing of the staircase. His mom retorted, "You watch your tone, Red. You may be a young man but I am still your mother. As I've said before, Ash doesn't have the same experience you did before you became a trainer, not since the League changed the rules." There was a deathly silence. Ash never knew why but whenever someone mentioned the Pokémon League rules or how it was previously run, Red would get close-mouthed and angry, and Delia became sad.
"I have to follow the League rules, but I don't have to follow YOURS mother!," Red spoke with venom in his voice. Delia was taken aback. Ash had never heard Red speak to his mom that way before. "Your fear of storms, deadly wild Pokémon, disease, and even those Rocket hoodlums are blown far out of proportion. I knew less about the world at 10 than Ash does now and managed well for myself. I have spent an eternity waiting to get back into the Pokémon League and I will not be turned aside this close to victory because you want me to play bodyguard!" Delia started to tear up.
"Red, you are the most gifted Pokémon trainer I've ever met. You've become a strong young man, capable of handling the worst that this world can put in your path. Ash can't. And I don't want him to be crushed somewhere unsafe on his journey the way you were at the League. He's your brother. Why won't you just help him get to a well-rounded level where he doesn't need you?" As the tears started falling, Ash came down the stairs and hugged his mother tightly. Silence fell again. Delia and Red stood shocked knowing that Ash had heard the argument. Finally, Red turned and left the house, heading to Professor Oak's Ranch which was close by.
"Mom, are we going to be okay?" "You are going to be fine, Ash," Delia said as she bent to his level and looked him in the eyes. "I will too. I'm your mother, that's my job." She wiped the tears away. "Red, well…when he lost at the League he took it exceedingly hard. Much of what used to make him happy was lost at the same time, too. She smiled at him. "One of my greatest wishes is that he can recover that happiness someday. Of course, that's outdone by my wish that the two of you will always be safe." "Okay mom." "Now, you have a big day tomorrow, and you should be well rested for it. So back to bed you go", she kissed him on his head, "and dream of better days ahead."
Ash went back upstairs to his room. As he lay down to sleep, the argument was soon forgotten in his excitement for what would happen tomorrow once he chose his first Pokémon.
Red reached Oak's Ranch quickly on bicycle. Stopping alongside the pen where his Pokémon would gather, he spoke into the darkness. "We may have to make some changes to our plan, my friends."