Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or the Pokemon franchise. Like you didn't know that already, because if I did, this would be an actual game.
Fifty-Five Years Ago in the region known as Galea...
Another tear fell down the boy's cheek to join its comrades as his father repeated the same word that hurt him- that cut deeper into him more than the sharpest knife ever would.
"Failure," he said, an expression between disappointed and enraged on his face. "Your teacher has given up on you. She says you'll never be more than a mediocre Trainer."
"But-but- I try father!" the boy protested, his eyes now swelling with even more tears and his nose began to drip as well. "I do! I try so hard! But the other children somehow still-"
"Silence!" the father screamed. "I do not wish to listen to any more of your excuses. From tomorrow morning, you'll join me in tilling the fields along with your mother. You clearly have no future as a Pokemon Trainer and I will not waste any more of our hard-earned precious coin on your lessons. I always had high hopes for you, but perhaps the astrologer I asked when you were born was right- you will never amount to anything special."
With that final sentence the father left as rage engulfed the boy.
He had always wanted to become a great Pokemon Trainer. He had always tried as hard as possible. It was his dream.
He screamed. He screamed at the images of his classmates that swam before his eyes, at his father, but most especially, at his teacher.
He would show them. He would show them all, and prove how wrong they were.
He would run away. He would go far away, and train his Pokemon on his lonesome.
And then one day, one beautiful day, all of Galea would bow to him. All of Galea would acknowledge him as the greatest Pokemon Trainer who ever lived.
Galea, in what is assumed to be 'present day' according to their time...
Ash Ketchum remembered the storm. Oh yes it was something hard to forget as it had come out of nowhere, while he tried to sail on a small rowboat leisurely near the Sevii Islands, alone except for his most loyal Pikachu. It was supposed to be a reprieve for the two of them from the stress and to help Ash forget the bitterness of losing yet another Kalos League had ended with Ash still not winning another Championship, and his head was heavy with thoughts regarding his failure and how he had been unable to win a single Championship after trying for so long. It had even occurred to him that perhaps, it was time to try something new. Maybe he just wasn't cut out to be the very best, like no one ever was.
He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice the storm until Pikachu pointed it out. He remembered trying to contact someone, anyone as the clouds spilled across the horizon like ink across a sheet, but his PokeNav and other devices on board couldn't get a signal. He remembered a titanic wave crashing down on him and the world going black…
And now, he woke up, clothes, oddly enough, perfectly dry and with the sound of the sea nothing but a distant memory. He got up to see he was in some sort of forest clearing, and the first thing that hit his head was to look for his trusted friend and ally.
This was taken care of with a loud, "Pika pii!" as Pikachu tackled him and smacked his head against the ground. That relieved most of the tension in his head, because as long as he had Pikachu with him, he knew that things couldn't be that bad.
He found his bag a few feet away, and it still had a spare set of clothes, and seven Pokeballs, though problematically, no food, as all of it had been stored on the boat which was nowhere to be found. Strangely enough, his bag and everything in it was also dry.
From the sky Ash could tell that it was sometime around noon, and Ash did find his Pokedex nearby, though his PokeNav had been smashed to pieces next to it. Smashed, and the pieces were wet- the only thing among his possession which showed some signs of having been in the storm. His Pokedex was dry and intact completely.
Something was messing with his Pokedex though, as all it showed was a strange blue screen with a message on it. Pikachu pressed a button and it began reading it out:
Ash Ketchum, we have called on you as an instrument in order to fulfill our will. You are currently in the land of Galea, which we believe, is unknown to you. Put quite simply, thirty-two years ago as time currently flows in Galea, a great calamity threatened to destroy our land. The Elite Four and the Gym Leaders were divided on how to settle the issue, with the Gym Leaders overthrowing the Elite Four, and sending Galea into a sort of limbo away from the rest of the world…
There is little honor among thieves, but enough that the eight Gym Leaders agreed to share power, to a certain extent, and said that they would not interfere with each other's territory. Unfortunately, the people of Galea have suffered, due to increased taxes and brutal repression, and all contact with the rest of the world has been broken. As you may have guessed, the Gym Leaders need to be overthrown and the Elite Four restored.
You are currently in a region controlled by a Gym Leader named Marley, who controls Sandalwood Town, Sandalwood Forest, Deluge City, along with Routes 201, 202, 203, and part of 204 up till the ocean begins. He must be defeated, and his Gym Badge claimed by you, thereby making you the new ruler of his territory. The other Gym Leaders will protest, of course, but according to the treaty they have signed, will be unable to do anything about it.
"That's weird," Ash said. For one, the voice, or rather, voices sounded weird, as if there was interference from somewhere or the speaker was broken. Not to mention it didn't sound like any Pokedex's voice he had heard before, rather like four different people where talking at once.
"Pika pii?" Pikachu asked.
Ash didn't know what to make out of that. Sometimes even he couldn't understand what his Pikachu was saying. "It says here that they've increased taxes. Since when do Gym Leaders make taxes?" He then paused. "Come to think of it, I saw this movie about Kanto once. There was something called… the- oh yeah, the feudal system, in which the Elite Four Champion was the Emperor, and the Elite Four ruled below him, and at the local level there were the eight Gym Leaders who were like royalty, but that had fallen out of Kanto around three hundred years ago."
"Pi pii," Pikachu muttered, not for the first time wondering why Ash didn't seem to read anything or pay more attention to things.
Suddenly, Ash's stomach rumbled, and so did Pikachu's. "How long were we out?" Ash asked.
Pikachu shook his head.
"My Pokedex isn't working," Ash muttered, as it was stuck on that same weird message. "Maybe I should try turning it off and then turning it on again…"
That didn't work, but they did manage to find a tree with apples ripening on it, and the two decided to help themselves.
They were each munching their way through their third apples when a voice shouted at them. "Thieves! Wait up!"
A boy about Ash's age with dark green hair and eyes, but wearing what appeared to be some sort of tattered blue school uniform and with a large backpack filled with firewood suddenly appeared through the woods. "Thief!" he shouted. "Okay, you're not going to get away with this!"
"But, wait-" Ash said. Pikachu tried guiltily hiding the apple it was munching on. "We didn't know honest! Wait, I think I have some cash on hand so maybe if you'd just-"
"I got no time for your lies!" the guy shouted. He took out a Pokeball and sent out a Pidgey. "Time for you to pay!"
"Well if it's a battle you want," Ash said, "Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!"
Pikachu did indeed use Thunderbolt, and the Pidgey fainted, thus ending perhaps the most anti-climatic battle Ash had ever fought.
"Whoa!" the guy said. "You're way stronger than anyone I've ever met."
"So, I'm sorry about taking your apples," Ash said. He began rummaging in his bag, looking for where he kept his money. "How much do you want for them?"
"Um, actually, the apples don't belong to me," the guy said. "They belong to Lord Marley, you know very well what that means..."
A/N: Thanks for reading. This was originally an idea for a game I thought would look cool, but Pokemon Uranium clearly shows that that isn't going to go and end well, and I wouldn't be able to make a game anyway. So, I took it as a story instead. This is based slightly after the book series the Keys to the Kingdom and if you have read it, you'll notice some similarities. This will feature AshxMisty a bit, but not too seriously, and that is going to be a long ways in.
This starts after Ash loses the Kalos Championship. I know he won't have a PokeNav, but I've included it anyway. Also, I know Ash won the Orange League, but I don't really think of it as an official Championship though.
Also, if you're confused as to why I wrote that it is 'present day according to their time' that's because time between Galea and the rest of the world moves differently. It will be explained later. If you're wondering, the photo for this fanfic is a map of Galea. I originally drew it with hand but it didn't come up good, so I made a very, very, rough one using GIMP that you see. As you can tell, it is far too small and I don't know how to paste a bigger one. Don't worry, I won't rely on it since I know no one can read it.
Do please review, and/or favorite if you liked this.
