Rebooting Heart

by WerewolfAlpha

When a life ends, they expect to move on to the next great adventure, right? Well, maybe Dumbledore was right for once, Harry may not get a do-over, but this time, he'll get the story right. And make plenty of friends along the way.

Hey guys, sorry for the long time between posts. I've been writing this behind the scenes until now, and I wanted to share it with you all. Rebooting Life's next chapter is coming as soon as I can get past the chronic writers block that always pops up when I try to write it.

Summary: When a life ends, they expect to move on to the next great adventure, right? Well, maybe Dumbledore was right for once, Harry may not get a do-over, but this time, he'll get the story right. And die trying.

Disclaimer: Rowling is the mistress of magic, and I am but a lowly servant moving the pieces. Nintendo is awesome too. Do not own.

(Opening is mostly the same as Rebooting Life, but different world)

*Note: I changed the stats to what they should be, I was working from the wiki average, but I recently found a stat calculator that makes a whole lot more sense

Harry Potter stood, facing the man that had been his tormentor for the best part of his life, and gave up.

How could he win? How could he defeat this monstrosity that had killed hundreds of experienced wizards and witches with a meagre flick of his wand? How would he do what no man could ever do and defeat the holder of the Elder Wand? Voldemort had all the power in the world, and Harry was nothing more than an insect to him. Maybe his death would serve a purpose? He had no idea, but he knew that there was no way he could win now.

Harry clutched the stone of resurrection in one hand, and gripped his father's cloak in the other. He couldn't bear the thought of Voldemort getting it, but it seemed that that was how things were going to turn out.

Harry glared at Voldemort, gave a nod to the silenced half-giant who had made his life worth living, and accepted his fate.

-thereisonlyonegod-

Voldemort smirked as he looked at his enemy, the boy was unarmed in the middle of a death eater gathering, what reckless foolery. Well, it seemed as though the boy was finally going to die. It seemed fitting to give the boy an end that befitted the enemy of Voldemort, and really, he wasn't going to take the chance that the boy had lost his mysterious resistance to Avada Kedavra after all. He drew upon the knowledge he had stolen from his death eaters and found a spell that would truly end the boy. He gave a long hiss, and spoke the incantation that would change the fate of two worlds forever.

"Tantibus Hastam!" A beam of pure darkness erupted from the end of his wand. It coalesced into a long spear that shifted and turned as if it was made of pure darkness. Hefting it over his shoulder, he gave a fierce cry and launched it into the body of the-boy-who-lived. It sunk deep into the boy's heart, only the end of the Elder wand showing. He grinned, and as the boy collapsed onto the ground and closed his eyes for the last time, he laughed, a cruel, sickening thing that wound its way into the hearts of his followers and filled them with fear.

Then, the spell worked its final magic, creating a pit of darkness that swallowed up the corpse, and left nothing left. As the darkness disappeared, Tom Marvolo Riddle stopped smirking, and got a furious look in his eye. His Wand! The instrument of his victory! Even in death, the boy ruined his plans. Giving a feral roar, the dark lord screamed at the heavens. "CURSE YOU POTTER!"

-hisnameisRobinWilliams-

Harry groaned, his head felt like a bludger had hit it, and he could swear that he had just been impaled, so why was his head aching? Wait, he was dead! Harry jumped and looked around. He was suspended in an empty black void, with nothing visible except a giant wall of flashing text that had 'GAME OVER' written in big friendly red letters.

…Wait, What!

As if responding to his incredulous thoughts, the text flew straight at him, stopping right in front of his nose and shrinking so that he could read it. It flickered, before changing into a colourful box with two buttons on it. There was something written on it too, yellow text that said, 'New Game?' Shrugging, and having no idea what was happening, he pushed the green 'Yes' button, hoping that whatever was happening wasn't too bad and wouldn't make him spend the rest of eternity with Myrtle in the girls' bathrooms.

The floating box disappeared, and he was jerked forwards by an invisible force at an enormous speed, coming to an abrupt stop at another glowing box, this one being far bigger, and having what looked to be people standing in a row. He could make out a guy (Girl?) with long green hair that spiked out like a palm tree, a kid with black hair and some sort of sword on his back, a pale kid with strange black clothes and three weird white lines through his hair, a guy holding a glowing sceptre and dressed in green and gold armour, a tiny blue cat with a fish in hand and white wings sprouting out of his back, a teen with a red and white hat and some kind of ball of the same colour in his hand, and a girl with long black hair wearing a coat made of a strange material and a black ring on her finger.

Above all of them was the writing 'Character Selection, touch to select'. Having no idea what was happening, who any of the people were, and almost convinced that this was a delusion made up by his dying mind, he closed his eyes and stuck his hand out, nudging one of the characters. With a flash of light and a painful, ripping sensation, Harry Potter faded away.

-upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart-

In a messy bedroom filled with red and white memorabilia, a young boy stirred as the morning sun filtered through the window. The boy that was once Harry Potter slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He was lying on a bed in a room that looked like it belonged to Dudley. There were far less toys, but they looked badly taken care of, just like his cousin's belongings. There was a TV, and some sort of game system in the middle of the room, and there was a broken alarm clock lying against a wall. Feeling a weight on his lap, he discovered a book with the words 'DON'T PANIC' written in the same friendly writing as in his dream, although, from the looks of things, it wasn't exactly a dream.

Reaching for the book, he paused as he noticed that his hands were soft and lacking the calluses he had gained over the years. He also felt lighter than he was used to. Feeling his body, he noted that all the muscle he had built up from playing Quidditch was gone, and he felt a bit smaller, about the same size as he had been while being terrorized by the toad in pink. Reaching for the scroll again, he got yet another surprise, one that left him reeling and trying to keep his identity.

His mind was wracked with the thoughts and memories of a different boy, one who had grown up happy and sheltered by his mother and ignorant of the workings of the world outside his home town. He remembered spending hours each night studying about the world of Pokémon, spending a childhood playing with the pokémon living at the professor's ranch and getting into fights with Gary, Professor Oak's grandson. His mother was everything he'd imagined Lily to be, happy, cheerful and always looking out for him, even when he got into stupid situations. His father had left before he was born, but the professor had become like a grandfather to him, and Mimey had been the best caretaker there could be when Delia was busy. He was a bit of an idiot, and outright oblivious sometimes, but he was well cared for, and happy.

He was waiting to be a pokémon trainer, and while his former self hadn't cared about his education other than learning typing and move sets, the boy who was Harry felt nothing but excitement. He had always held back in his past life, at first to stop the Dursleys from making his life worse than it already had been, and then to be able to stay friends with Ron and Hermione – both of which had hated when he was smarter than them. But here, in this new world, he could be as smart as he liked! He didn't have to dumb himself down for anyone, and he didn't intend on doing as such. Speaking of which, who was he? He clearly remembered being Harry, the boy-who-lived, but he also remembered being Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, and he didn't really know how to differentiate. Shrugging, he put that aside and focused on the task at hand. He was whoever he wanted to be, and bugger anyone who said otherwise.

Grabbing the scroll again, he finally clasped the edge and opened it up. There, to his shock, was another one of the glowing boxes, although this one was simply labelled 'Activate Gamer mode?' Staring, he thought it over before clicking the green button, after all, what could go wrong? He was proven to be an idiot when his whole world exploded into floating little boxes that obscured his sight of the apartment. Not knowing what to do, he flailed in place for a bit before pushing at the 'info' box, hoping to get some answers.

What he got wasn't nearly as helpful, as a large screen of text appeared in front of him, blocking everything else out in its hugeness.

'Welcome and thank you for using the Gamer v1.3.7! We here in the gap between worlds advise you not to panic, and to follow our easy instructions to have an enjoyable gaming experience. Firstly, an introduction. The Gamer is a system which lets the user go through life as if it is a game. This means Skill points, perks, titles and everything else that you'd find in a good RPG. Some of the more necessary functions are the menu screens. To activate them, simply think or voice which one you would like to view. There are 4 main screens that the average beginner should be worried about; Inventory, Character Info, Skills and Quests.

Inventory is a void space in which the player can store various items, and rewards for quests will appear here also. Objects stored will be kept in suspended animation until retrieval, and can be stored indefinitely. It can now be tethered to an item such as a bag or satchel with the bind icon, allowing access to your inventory without having the appearance of pulling objects out of thin air, which was a major complaint in previous versions. Changing this function also destroyed the 'Pause' function that used to be able to freeze time while you retrieved your items, but that function was revoked prior to the 'bind' update due to abuse of its power in non-inventory accessing actions.

Character Information is simply that, your information. It shows your Stats – a representation of your physical and mental aptitude, your titles – which are skill-boosting names you can receive from unlocking different criteria, that NPC's (Non Player Characters, or other people) may use to talk about you when active. You may have 3 equipped at any time. Perks are also shown, passive abilities that are acquired from displaying certain traits, or from having things about you that impact your life. These can be earned and taken away whenever you meet requirements, but there are also negative perks, which you get for having achieving bad criteria, and can only be removed via hard work and training yourself to not meet the criteria. It has been noted that certain other information can be displayed when some skills are high enough, but that is not covered in this area. Perks are not available in this game.

Skills are just that, abilities, or 'moves' that you possess that can be used on a whim. These skills can range from everyday tasks like jumping or throwing a ball, to complex abilities like moves. Some can be learned by constant use of similar skills and/or skill disks, also called Technical Machines and Hidden Machines, while others must be learnt from specific teachers.

Quests are tasks given to you by either NPC's or by doing miscellaneous actions to activate them. They often have rewards that you can use to enhance yourself, and bonus quests, or side quests branching off of a main one, will only increase your reward. These quests are advised to be taken, as they can be very advantageous.

There are other screens that will appear throughout your gameplay, but their use is not necessary to obtain the full game experience. For now, relax, and enjoy the game.

Harry, (or was it Ash now?) frowned. Well, that had explained what these boxes were about, and while Harry had never played a video game in his life, Ash had a little experience with such games. His favourite was 'The Adventure of Red'. Shrugging, he called out "Character Info."

Immediately, screens popped up, not exactly what the boy expected.

ERROR

Unknown Typing not registered

Automatic typing of Psychic/Dark

Error Resolved

Name: Ash Potter-Ketchum

Gender: Male

Race: ? (Psychic/Dark Type)

Affiliation: None

Level: 1

HP: 13/13

Attack: 6

Defence: 7

Special Attack: 7

Special Defence: 7

Speed: 7

Nature: Modest

Ability: Synchronize – Passes a burn, poison or paralysis to a foe.

Titles:

STAB: 50% PSYCHIC Damage, 50% DARK Damage.

Typing: BUG 4x Damage taken, FAIRY 2x Damage taken, PSYCHIC has no effect.

Status: None

Equipped Item: None

Description: [Not yet available]

Pokémon:

N/A

Well. He knew for a fact from Ash's memories that only pokémon were supposed to have types, but then there was that whole unknown race thing. Maybe he was some kind of super-human? His musing was interrupted by a new box and the sound of an angry mother.

'New Quest: Get to the Lab!'

Today's the big day, and you're getting a pokémon! Get there in time or the pokémon will all be gone.

Objectives:

-Get to the Pokémon Lab in under 40 min.

Bonus Objectives:

-Get to the Pokémon Lab in under 15 min.

Rewards:

- Pokédex

- A starter pokémon

Failure Consequence:

- ?

"ASH KETCHUM! Get down here or you'll miss out on getting a starter pokémon! This is the last time I'm going to call young man!" Holding back a curse, Ash (he might as well take the name if everyone kept calling him that) leapt out of bed and grabbed a shirt and pants out of the closet, dressing hurriedly. If he missed this, he wouldn't be able to go on a pokémon journey for another whole year, and that wasn't something he wanted to happen. He didn't like the look of that unknown consequence either. Also, the Professor was letting Gary go this year, so this had to be the year he got a pokémon. Rushing down the stairs, he snagged the piece of toast hanging from his mother's hand and yelled a thank you as he bolted out the door.

Delia sighed. Her boy was always moving, he never had time to sit quietly and talk with her, and now he was going off on a journey like her horrible ex-boyfriend. Walking up to her son's room, she got his backpack and started gathering the things she thought he might need. He was always hopeless at that.

-fireishotmostofthetime-

Ash panted with a grin as he found that he'd gotten to the lab before anyone else. Gary would throw a fit when he found out that he'd been beaten to the selection. Indeed, there was a quest box to prove it.

'New Quest: Get to the Lab!'

Today's the big day, and you're getting a pokémon! Get there in time or the pokémon will all be gone.

Objectives:

-Get to the Pokémon Lab in under 40 min. *Complete*

Bonus Objectives:

-Get to the Pokémon Lab in under 15 min. *Complete*

Rewards:

- Pokédex *Obtained Externally*

- A starter pokémon *Obtained Externally*

Bonus Rewards:

- First choice of starter pokémon

- TM54

Knocking on the glass doors, he gave a grin when the smiling face of Samuel Oak appeared. "Ash!" the older man welcomed the boy in. "I'm glad you made it in time, it's great to see you on time and ready for once."

Not really knowing how to reply to that, he followed Oak inside to a podium with three pokéballs sitting under a glass covering, each with an elemental insignia. Oak pressed a button on the side of the machine, lowering the glass. "You're lucky, there are still all three pokémon here, and since you got here early, you get to pick which one you want, rather than be left with the leftovers."

Ash looked at each pokéball closely. Before today, Ash had always wanted a Squirtle, mainly because it looked cool when it evolved into Blastoise and it had fewer weaknesses than the other two. But everyone knew that, and if he faced a grass-type early on, which he probably would considering that Kanto was dominated by forests, then he would most likely lose. Also, Gary and the other trainers coming from Pallet would know he wanted a Squirtle and would choose a Bulbasaur if they found out that he was here first, which would put him at a disadvantage.

That left Bulbasaur and Charmander. Bulbasaur was alright, but it was both grass type and poison, which made it lose its advantage over ground types and made it weak to psychic. It also evolved into a slow, cumbersome giant that was awkward to travel and fight with. One of the few advantages would be a type advantage over the newly discovered fairy type, which was always difficult to guard against, and was even worse when it hadn't been discovered and people had been scrambling to explain the seemingly random Marill that somehow defeated a Dratini. Charmander however was hard to train, but gave greater rewards. It had a terrible weakness to rock types as a Charizard, but the flying type advantages it gained evened it out, and the weakness could be trained out. Charizard was also slightly humanoid, so it had heightened manoeuvrability and ease of travel, and it could learn to carry you with the right HM, so it was a much better choice. "I'll chose Charmander."

Professor Oak gave him a strange look, but he ignored that in favour of picking up the pokéball with the fire symbol and giving it to the professor, watching as Oak placed it into a separate machine next to an empty pokéball. The machine briefly showed the Charmander profile before a digital image of the pokémon followed an arrow from an image of the marked pokéball to the empty one. Oak handed the pokéball to him. "There, now it belongs to you. I would have thought you would pick Squirtle, you always went on about them."

Ash shrugged. "Everyone thought I would, but I only said that because Blastoise looks cool, and I said that before I realised that pokémon are more than looks. Plus, since everyone will thinks I have a Squirtle, the next person here will pick Bulbasaur and be at a disadvantage. Charmander are strong against the pokémon who live in the forests, so I can train it there until I can overcome the earth, rock and water type gyms. If I can get to the level that I can beat them with a fire type, the rest should be much easier."

Oak gave Ash a proud smile. "Well done Ash, that's very good logic. Just make sure you don't pick pokémon just for their typing. Pokémon aren't restricted by their typing, they can be trained to defend against bad type match-ups, and those pokémon are often the most dangerous of all. Vice versa, some of the weakest pokémon are those who forget to train themselves to resist the types that they are naturally weak against, and they can lose that advantage. Try to have a well-rounded team that covers all bases. Speaking of which, I have something for you." The Professor turned around and grabbed a red rectangle off of his bench, along with six red and white balls. "This is your Pokédex. It is an electronic pokémon database, and it holds a digital version of a trainer card. And these are your pokéballs. You do know how to use them, right?"

Putting the extra pokéballs and the Pokédex into his pockets, Ash thought to the things that his other self had learned in this life before shaking his head. It would be best to get another lesson just in case. Oak sighed. "Well, I knew it was a long shot to think you were going to become a master trainer even after your display of logic. Follow me, the others will just have to wait a bit more. The Professor walked over to a panel on the wall and pushed a green button, causing it to slide up and reveal an immense field full of pokémon. It was an entire 5 Acres of pure field, with what looked to be a miniature forest and a lake, and a cave that was seemingly dug into a nearby rock face. From Pidgy to Kangaskan, there was an unbelievable number of pokémon just living in Professor Oak's backyard. Ash couldn't stop his jaw from hitting the ground, and Oak let out a laugh.

"Oh dear, the expression they get is always humorous. If you're done looking, I can explain to you what this is." Ash tore his eyes away from the sight to look at the Professor in question. "This is my pokémon ranch. It's a place where I keep trainers' pokémon that they cannot keep with them on their journey. I also have a large amount of free pokémon that come to mingle with the captured pokémon and to eat all of my food." The professor said this with a rather rueful tone, but he immediate started walking towards a forested religion, and Ash had no choice but to follow or be left alone.

When they reached the forest, Professor Oak stopped Ash before drawing a strange white pipe out of his lab coat and blowing it. A strange noise came from the instrument, and Ash was taken by the strangest urge to walk up and hug the Professor and make sure he kept making that sound forever. He fought it down, watching as a small Rattata came up and sniffed the Professor, before doing something that stunned Ash, and made him look around for someone else hiding behind him. Hey! Old guy! Keep making that sound please, it's really pretty!

Not noticing Ash's strange behaviour, the Professor kept all of his attention on the small pokémon, only talking to Ash without registering if he was listening. "Now Ash, look here. This is a wild pokémon. You can tell because it doesn't have a 'caught' status." Blinking, Ash turned to the Professor, who was holding what seemed to be an advanced version of the Pokédex that he'd just gotten. The professor continued to talk with his back facing Ash. "A pokéball emits a constant spike of background radiation that is completely harmless, but ideal for using as an identifier. Pokémon who have been caught are exposed to the source of this radiation and are semi-permanently marked with a similar spike. The Pokédex has the ability to detect this radiation and identify it as a caught pokémon. Therefore, trainers with a Pokédex will always be able to identify other trainer pokémon, and they can avoid trying to catch them."

Ash couldn't make sense of the scientific mumbo jumbo, but he at least understood that the Pokédex could register whether or not a pokémon was owned by someone. The Rattata didn't seem to care about the science either. Hey, old man! Make the sound again!

The professor ignored what the Rattata was doing to search through his satchel. "To catch a pokémon, you must enlarge a pokéball." He took a small ball the size of a ping pong ball and pressed the large button in the middle. Instantaneously, it swelled to the size of the baseball. "Next, you throw it." Professor Oak threw the ball at the Rattata, who gave a squeak of alarm as it was absorbed by a red beam of light. The pokéball dropped to the ground, shaking about with the button flashing red before it stilled. Professor Oak smiled as he walked over and picked it up, finally turning around to face Ash. "Now, the pokémon belongs to me. Normally, I would have to weaken it before throwing the pokéball, but this was a weak pokémon, so there was no need."

He threw the ball again, and it opened to reveal a white light that formed into the Rattata that had just been caught. The little pokémon seemed to blink for a moment, before it walked over to the Professor and started nudging his lab coat with its paw. Hello. Are you my master now old man? Alright.

Ash stared. The little pokémon hadn't even seemed to know what a pokéball was before, and now it was completely ok with being owned by the professor. That was so creepy. Oak noticed the look, but took it the wrong way. "I see you've noticed the change in behaviour young man. Are you interested? You see, every pokéball has a sort of, 'adaption' mode. It gives the pokémon basic information about being an owned pokémon, and it dampens the parts of the brain that regulate fear, panic and unease to help the pokémon adjust. It stops after a week or so, and at that point there is often a period where the pokémon either adapts or gets violent, however most pokémon manage to adapt because of the time they have spent with the trainer.

The technology is very similar to the Capture Stylus technology used by Pokémon Rangers, which calms pokémon and gives them a weak temporary compulsion to help."

Oak seemed to think about something for a moment, before recalling the Ratatta and showing the ball to Ash. There was a small white panel under the near-invisible hinge, and when the Professor flipped it up, it showed an on/off switch, and a small blue button.

"These are the switch that regulates the adaption process and the release button. Turning this switch off will negate the artificial calm the pokémon is given, while the release button will unbind the pokémon from the ball. Due to the effort needed to befriend a pokémon and earn keep it calm without using the adaption mode, not many people even bother to learn about these. Fortunately for the companies that produce pokéballs, most people break the pokéball instead in order to release them, increasing demand."

The professor pressed the blue button, and the pokéball flashed white before the white energy formed and the Ratatta appeared. The poor pokémon gave a quiet squeak as it looked around groggily, but froze as it locked eyes with the Professor. With wide eyes, the creature backed away into the undergrowth, not uttering a single word. Ash shivered. With the combined experiences of being under Imperius and having Snape and Voldemort digging around in his mind, he couldn't stand the thought of his mind being altered.

"Come on Ash, I have to get back to the lab, or else no-one will get their starters." Shaken out of his thoughts, Ash nodded and followed Oak out of the forest. Looking around, he noticed that he could pick up faint traces of conversation. Judging from the conversation topics, it was probably the pokémon talking, but how he understood them was a mystery. It was well known that pokémon were as intelligent as humans, and understood English perfectly, but no-one had ever been able to understand pokémon. Silph had funded numerous projects into the subject, but they had always failed. "Ash! You can't stand there all day, get up here!" Ash shook himself when he realised that he'd stoped again and hurried to catch up with the professor, who was waiting for him at the door.

"Sorry Professor" Ash couldn't wait to get out of the lab. He loved the professor, he really did, but he needed to get away from the old man and think. Giving a passing wave to the man, he left the lab, ignoring the shocked looks on the faces of Gary and the other Pallet town trainers. He heard Gary call out, but ignored him and made his way home. Giving Gary attention would only inflame things, he was just like Malfoy.

Walking down the dirt road to home, Ash looked at his starter Pokémon's pokéball. Opening the hidden panel, he flicked the switch, turning the control off. He'd much rather help his pokémon adjust himself rather than mess with their heads. Shrinking the ball back down, he attached it to his belt's magnetic slot, the design allowing the pokéball to hang without falling. Ash, Hello!

He looked ahead to see Mimey waving at him cheerfully, and gave a smile back. He opened the front door and ushered Mimey inside, getting a grateful thanks in return. He walked in to see his mother holding his backpack and trying to stuff an impressive amount of gear into it. He coughed, and she turned around with a frantic expression, only to stop and beam at him. "Oh Ash! You came back to say goodbye!"

Ash almost choked as he was wrapped in a strong bear hug. He returned it, ignoring the slightly damp spot on his shoulder. "Of course mom, I wouldn't leave without my bag, after all."

His mother's head leapt up, probably about to start shouting at him, but he grinned to show he was joking, and the fierce expression slowly turned into laughter. "Oh Ash, you almost worried me there. Don't do that!" She seemed to think, before realising something. "Oh, did you get a pokémon?"

"Yeah, I got there first, so I got first pick."

Delia seemed to be waiting for something. "Alright, so can I see it?"

"Sure" He threw the ball upwards, and white light erupted out of it. As the pokéball fell back into Ash's hand, the light condensed into a small form. It was 2 feet tall, with an orange body and a flame on its tail. The small pokémon stood for a moment, blinked, gave a squeak, and ran upstairs. Both Ash and Delia blinked. "Is that supposed to happen?"

Ash shook his head. "No, I think it's scared. Let me handle it." He walked up the stairs, trying to follow the movement, and came to a stop at his bedroom door. Sighing, he opened it, and huddled in the corner of the room was the Charmander, tail in hand. He walked over and put a hand in its shoulder. "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you."

The Charmander turned its head to look at him. You're going to make me do what you say like the other people did, aren't you? The voice was obviously male, and it sounded like a teenager. Like him.

Ash shook his head. "Nah, I won't do that. I had that kind of thing done to me once, so I would hate doing it to someone else. Besides, I'd rather be your friend than make you do what I want."

The pokémon blinked as its mouth dropped open. You! You understand what I'm saying! None of the other humans ever understood what I said! It seemed to blink as it registered what he said. You mean, you won't make me do things?

Ash shook his head. "Nah, I'll only ask you to do things you're ok with. I'm not going to make you fight if you really hate fighting that much."

The Charmander drew its head back. No, I like the idea of fighting, it's fun to see who the stronger pokémon is as long as no-one gets hurt too much. The other people didn't use me for battles though. They made made me serve them food and clean their clothes, and when I did something wrong, they hurt me. I wasn't allowed to do anything I wanted to!

Ash gritted his teeth. The other him, the one that was born in this body, had heard of people who did that. The insanely wealthy, and the lazy rich. They loved the idea that they could get such powerful fighters to do their work for them. To the him that came from the wizarding world, that sounded a lot like Dobby's old situation with the Malfoys, and his own with the Dursleys.

"Yeah, I hate stuff like that. Mom's Mr. Mime helps out because he wants to, but people who force pokémon to work for them, and punish them like that? They're trash." He held his hand out to the Charmander, who let go of its tail and hesitantly accepted. He gently pulled the pokémon to its feet. "So, what do I call you? Did your mom give you a name I can use?"

The Charmander shook its head. My Meema? I never met her. I was already in the bad man's house when I hatched. But that nice Chancey I worked with one time called me Ignis.

Ash smiled. He recognised that as Latin, and it meant fire, or something similar at least. "Then Ignis it is. My name's Ash, ok?" He heard a muffled thud from downstairs. "Hey, do you want to meet my mom? She's a really nice person." Ignis gave a shy grin, which looked much better than the fear that had been displayed earlier. He stood up, Ignis clutching to Ash's pants shyly as he walked out of the room. He saw his mother finishing the packing of his bag from the stairs, and he grinned as he saw that she wasn't turned his way. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he cleared his throat, making his mom turn around and Ignis clutch his leg a bit tighter. "Mom, this is Ignis. He's a bit shy, so don't be too enthusiastic, ok?"

He got an exasperated expression from his mother. "Ash, come now. I raised you from birth, I can handle a shy pokémon." She turned to Ignis kneeled on the floor, holding out a hand. Ignis took it, and smiled weakly as she beamed at him. "Hello Ignis. I'm Delia, Ash's mother. It's nice to meet you."

She took the hand not holding Ignis' and made to stroke the Charmander's head, but the fire pokémon jerked away and ran back over to Ash, hiding behind the human. Master, she tried to pet me! Only the Master is allowed to pet me! Please don't hurt me Master!

Ash sighed. He thought this would happen. After Dobby was released, the elf had been obsessed with helping Harry before the term ended. Whenever Dobby slipped up or made a mistake, he started preparing himself for punishment even though he knew that Harry wouldn't punish him. He'd been taught to receive punishment, and he couldn't stop. This part of his personality was probably subconscious, that's why he had acted so different before now.

Harry had gotten rid of the response by weaning Dobby off punishments by giving lesser and lesser punishments gradually, until Dobby stopped automatically punishing himself. Harry had just been lucky that the Dursleys hadn't forced him into similar habits, but then again, they had always been concerned about their image, so it made sense that they would make sure he would act normally in public. Ash would probably have to try the same tactic with Ignis. "Sorry Mom, I guess he doesn't like to be touched by anyone just yet. Maybe I can mellow him out on my journey."

Delia sighed. "Well, I hope you have a great time, but make sure you call, ok? I won't have you forgetting all about me while you gallivant all over Kanto!" She brought him into a fierce hug. "Make sure you look after yourself and don't talk to strangers and always eat your vegetables and always change your…"

Ash laughed at his mother's worrying and hugged back. Maybe the old Ash would have needed this kind of reminder, but he didn't. He wasn't going to treat this like a game, even though it seemed to be judging by the popups that kept appearing. This was a new life, and he was taking it and not letting it go. "Mom, I'll be fine. If you keep worrying this much I'll get Mimey to make you lie down for a rest."

That did it, Delia shot out of the embrace and whacked him over the head at the sound of Mimey's soft laughter. "Ash Ketchum! I am NOT that old, and you know it!" Her expression softened. "But Ash, please make sure you come and visit every so often, ok? It doesn't even have to be until you get all the badges, just come back."

Ash hugged her again. "Yeah, I know mom."

They stood there for a few moments before Ignis pulled on Ash's pant leg in discomfort. They pulled apart, and Ash gratefully accepted his bag, swinging it over his shoulder and almost sagging at the weight. He walked to the front door with Ignis trailing behind him only to stop with his hand on the knob. He turned and smiled at his mother and the Mr. Mime holding her hand, before opening the door and walking into the future.

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If by future, you mean tripping over the doorframe and falling flat on your face, bringing giggles of laughter from three people, and a grumpy frown from the fourth. Brushing himself off, he waved to his mom and Mimey before gesturing for Ignis to follow him, walking off.

DOYOUREMEMBERTHECARROT?

Ash groaned loudly as Gary Oak stepped out of the lab with a smug grin as he walked past. He stepped in front of Ignis as the Gary Oak fan club rose into a cheer and surrounded him. "Gary, Gary, he's our man! If he can't do it, no-one can!"

Ash sighed. If the fan-girl mob was in the way, there was no way he'd get through until Gary was out of the way. A mocking chuckle announced the presence of that very idiot. "Heh, if it isn't that little Ash dweeb. Waited for me to come out did ya? Well, at least you got to meet me before I ruin your chances of catching any more pokémon."

Ash frowned. Gary was pretending that they'd never met? He'd been saddled with the moron since childhood, so what was that about? "Gary? What, did you lose your memory or something? We've known each other for ages, what do you mean 'meet' you?"

Gary sneered. "As if I'd bring myself to your level. It's Mr. Gary to you. And anyway, since you got here first, and me second, I was able to choose a pokémon that can beat yours any day Ketchum!"

Gary looked so proud of himself. Ash had to stop himself from laughing. "So, if you got a pokémon that beats mine, what is it? The Professor doesn't tell us who got which pokémon after all." Ignis stirred unseen from behind Ash's legs, but he put a calming hand over the Charmander's claws.

Gary kept sneering. It was if someone had gotten a clone of Malfoy and given it brown hair and a squeakier voice. "Of course you picked Squirtle. You wouldn't shut up about the thing. And now, I have a Bulbasaur, so my pokémon will always have a type advantage. I thought you knew how these things worked, I didn't know you were so ignorant that you didn't check the typing." Ignis poked his head around Ash's legs, making Gary and his entire fanbase jump back. "Hey, where'd that thing come from? You got a Squirtle, so why are you hanging around with a Charmander? Hey, dweeb! Turn around and face me!"

Ash didn't answer, he only smirked and pushed his way through the crowd of tittering fangirls, leaving a steaming mad Gary to scream at his back. He made his way down the dirt road that lead straight through the town, waving at the few adults who were standing in their front yards waiting for the new trainers, probably their kids, to walk past.

Finally, he reached the end of the rows of houses, and stood at the beginning of Route 1. Glancing down at Ignis, who gave a timid smile back, he took a deep breath, finally on the way to starting his pokémon journey.

So, that's it for the first chapter, please review and tell me what you think. I promise I won't stop working on Rebooting Life, so please don't worry about that. Thanks for reading everyone, I'm out!