Ash Ketchum was perched on a tree branch about three meters up from the ground. One of many that littered Unova's acclaimed White Forest, the thick foliage of the tree prevented him from seeing very far in any direction but down. Thankfully, his ears still worked fine, and he grinned as he heard voices approaching the tree, following the path that happened to lead directly underneath the teen's hiding spot.
"All I'm saying is if you want to get access to the tree hollow than you need a recommendation from someone higher up than me. Generally anyone who beats one of the elite four gets one, but—"
The two trainers walked right below Ash's hiding spot, and the thirteen year old grinned. It was exactly who he was looking for: Drayden, the gym leader from Opelucid City. Two hours ago the man had had the gall to laugh in Ash's face when he asked him for an apprenticeship.
While Ash was generally very accepting of being turned down—it happened nearly daily—most of those he asked were at least polite enough not to laugh in his face. But no, Drayden had to be different and point out each and every reason it wasn't possible—he knew he was short alright? But he wasn't a child, no matter what the gym leader said.
Grinning, Ash released his ammo, before dashing to another branch and then another before switching trees. The White Forest had been his home for the last four years: he knew how to get around. As he made his escape Ash couldn't help but laugh—behind him, increasingly further away, he could hear Drayden's and his companion's voices screaming in outrage. Ash had hit them with one of his personal favorites: the nectar from a Gloom. The stuff was sticky and smelly and impossible to wash off completely for weeks and, Ash thought, a perfect revenge prank to someone whose personality stank as much as the nectar.
Ash, finally far away enough that he felt safe, jumped down to the ground. He had traversed about half the length of the White Forest and was now near the edge of the actual forest that was nearest to Nimbasa City. He allowed himself a few more seconds of straining to hear the angry shouts in the distance before turning back to his work: getting his apprenticeship.
He walked towards the gate, scoping out his next potential master. Ash wasn't very picky—anyone who would let him start his Pokemon journey early was good in his books.
Contrary to what most of the trainers who frequented the White Forest thought, he was actually able to start his Pokemon journey at 13. It was simply that most waited until they were 15. Ash didn't want to wait. He had been trying to start his journey since he and his mother moved to Unova, and truthfully even before then.
But several years before Ash was born all of the regions had decided that the previous usual age to start Pokemon journeys—ten—was too young, and they had all come up with different solutions to that. Ash's birth region, Kanto, as well as Sinnoh and Johto, had moved the age up to fifteen and regulated the entire process more. Unovans did it a bit differently.
In Unova, so long as you had an apprenticeship with someone who had five or more badges than you, you could start at any time. If you did not want or could not get an apprenticeship you could set off as a group at 15 until you had three badges (the minimum for traveling alone), but even if you had three badges if you were under 15 you still had to have an adult with you who had at least five badges to 'keep the youngsters safe'.
Most chose to simply wait until they were fifteen, then begin their journey with a few choice friends. Ash did not want to be one of those people.
So far the only people who'd come into the Forest obviously didn't have five or more badges. Two teens, madly in love, leaned into one another, staring dreamily in each other's eyes as they staggered past the gate. A boy was dragged through by his mother, who was screaming something about him needing to spend time outdoors. A merchant drove his motorcycle through the gate to deposit a new load of what looked like evolution stones at one of the stores. Ash was by this point nearly on the gate, and getting an evil eye from the guard there—he'd tried to sneak out without an adult before, and she'd been the one who'd had to chase him down the last three times.
Just as he was about to abandon his post in response to his grumbling stomach, a new man ambled through the gate.
Obviously getting on in age, he had a sort of vacant expression which did not speak well to his intelligence. What kept Ash from dismissing him, however, was the man's belt: there, on either side of the buckle, were not one, not two, but twelve pokeballs, of all different sizes and colors. The man gazed about the Forest for a few seconds before turning to a patch of grass at his right. He pulled out a machine and fiddled around with it a bit, obviously comfortable where he was.
The man was obviously not very bright, but it was equally clear that he had at least some badges. Should Ash ask? Or was the man not worth the effort?
Ash stepped forward.
"Um… Hi? Hello?" Ash asked, trying to get a sense of the man's awareness.
"Hello, young man." The man responded immediately, still fiddling with the device.
"Well, I'm Ash, and—"
"My name's Baoba. That's an interesting name. 'Ash'. I don't think I've ever heard it before. I wonder why your parents named you after the remains of a fire."
"Well your name is weird too!" Ash snapped, before calming himself. He had to remember the goal: get a master, get a Pokemon, battle the Elite Four, become Champion. "Sorry. My name's short for Ashton."
"Well, I suppose Baoba is a weird name. It's familial, so there's not much I can do about that." The man turned and looked at Ash. "Is yours?"
"Familial?" Ash asked, wondering how he had gotten so off track. "I dunno. Look, I was just wondering if you had five or more badges."
"Why, yes. I have eight from Kanto and five from Johto—I got rather bored after that, you see, and simply stopped competing."
Bored? Of battling Leagues?!
"That's great! So will you take me as your apprentice?"
That got Baoba's attention, for all that his expression didn't change. "What?!"
"You know, apprentice. So that I can start my journey early. I'm thirteen now, I think that's plenty old enough, but the government disagrees. But they have an exception, see, where if I am in an apprenticeship then I'm allowed to travel around with my master and compete in gyms while I do. So will you?"
"I don't even know if I'm staying in Unova yet!" Baoba said.
"I'll make it worth your time! I don't really have any money, but I can cook okay, and I will run errands and stuff, and I—I just really, really want to go on a Pokemon journey."
"Why?"
"To be a Pokemon Champion!"
Baoba laughed. Ash scowled and turned to storm off, already thinking of his Gloom nectar revenge.
"Wait! I just meant that that's a bit of a lofty goal." The man said.
"Well, I can do it! Just you watch!" Ash shouted back.
"Got a bit of a temper, do you?" Baoba smiled. "Have you ever thought about just sitting back and taking things slower? Not everything's a battle, you know?"
"I know that!" Ash retorted, but judging by Baoba unfading smile the man didn't believe him. "I do!"
"Do you want to know what I do for a living?" Baoba asked. Ash blinked at the non sequitur, before shrugging and nodding. "I own Safari Zones. Have you heard of them?"
Ash racked his brain, trying to remember, before finally drudging up an old memory. "Isn't there one in Kanto? I used to live there, and I heard something about a change of ownership?"
"Yes, I decided to start a new one overseas and left the old one in the hands of my good friend Kaiser. He's a lot like you, you know. Always a little riled up. Regardless, the point of Safari Zones is to preserve the rare populations of a region while also giving trainers a chance at getting their hands on them. I did this by banning battling inside the—"
"What?! How could you do that?!"
"You can still catch Pokemon!" Baoba laughed. "You just have to convince them to come with you somehow." At that Baoba paused, and looked at Ash unblinkingly for a few seconds (it was very off putting), before speaking again. "Tell you what, I have a couple Pokemon from my last Safari Zone in some of these pokeballs, and if you convince one to follow you—without battling—then I'll take you as my apprentice for as long as I'm in Unova."
"You've got yourself a deal!" Ash grinned, jubilant over finally getting an apprenticeship. Well, after one last test.
Unfortunately, as it was nearing dinner time, Baoba refused to perform the test immediately, so Ash invited him over in the hopes that the test could be done right after.
Ash's leg was jiggling hard enough to rattle the dinner table. While his mother had been… surprised… to learn that they had an unexpected dinner guest, she welcomed Baoba with open arms and they were now in a deep discussion over the Ketchum's move from Kanto to Unova. Four years ago Ash's mom had gotten a lucrative job offer as a store manager, so the small had packed everything up and relocated to the White Forest. Baoba was most interested in whether she thought a Safari Zone was viable in Unova compared to Kanto, but they segued into many other topics too—apparently Ash's name wasn't familial, his mom just thought it sounded nice.
Ash had tuned out of the conversation ages ago, and had scarfed down his meal in minutes, so now he just sat there, becoming increasingly agitated that he couldn't get to the test already. By now he was certain that both Baoba and his mom were purposefully making this take longer than it should just to irritate him.
Finally Baoba wiped his mouth and moved to stand.
"Thank you for the wonderful meal, Delia. You truly are a great cook, but I think young Ash may explode if we don't get to the test."
Ash's mom laughed. "I am sure you're right." She turned to her son. "Good luck Ash, and remember to thank Baoba no matter what happens."
"I know!" Ash whined, before sprinting to the door. "Let's go!"
Another two minutes found Ash and Baoba standing on an unfrequented path, relatively clear of any tall grass. Baoba fiddled with his pokeballs, before grabbing a couple from his belt. He released all of them at once, and immediately three Pokemon materialized.
"I got these from Johto." Baoba said conversationally. "The one on the left is a Totodile, the middle one a Cyndaquil, and the one on the right a Chikorita. All three are extremely rare in the wild."
Ash stared in awe. He was surrounded by Pokemon every day—a side effect of living in White Forest—but one of these would (hopefully) be his first Pokemon. While he would be ecstatic for any of them, the one in the middle—an obvious fire type—was Ash's #1 choice. Fire types were, after all, the best.
"Hey there, little guy." He said, inching up to the Cyndaquil. It inched away, scared and darted behind Baoba. "Wait!" Ash shouted and ran to catch up with him, but the Cyndaquil immediately darted away. It skittered up one path and down another, and tried to lose Ash in every conceivable way as the young teen sprinted behind him, desperate to prove that he could own a Pokemon.
Ash scraped his knees as he leapt over a bush just in time to see the Cyndaquil skitter into a copse of pine trees. He dove under the branches only to see a small flame escaping out the other side, immediately out of sight. He finally caught sight of Cyndaquil two minutes later in an oak grove only to immediately lose sight of the fire type again as it fled into a patch of tall grass.
An hour passed in that fashion, with Pokemon and human flying from one end of the White Forest to the other and back again, before Ash finally admitted defeat. He'd lost track of Cyndaquil a full five minutes ago, unable to keep pace with the fire type, and now sat slumped against a tree. He took a deep breath and tried not to cry.
"I'm sorry for scaring you, Cyndaquil. I just wanted you to be my partner. I want to be a champion, the best of the best, that specializes in fire types because they're the best too, and… well, no one's really given me a chance. They all take one look at me and think 'oh, he'll never be champion.' So when Baoba did give me a chance I was… really, really excited, and he said if I could make you or one of the other two Pokemon like me then I could be a trainer. And I really wanted to be partners with you, so when you ran I chased you. I was so sure I could catch you and make you my Pokemon that I didn't even think if you wanted to." Ash's head fell in his hands and his voice faded to a whisper. "I guess I failed the test."
He sat, unmoving, for almost a full minute before he felt something brush against his leg. It chirped and Ash looked up.
"Cyndaquil?" There, just to the left of his left leg, sat the little fire type. It chirped again and then climbed clumsily into Ash's lap. "You mean—you mean you'll be my Pokemon?!" Ash shouted. The Cyndaquil nodded, before snuggling deeper against Ash, obviously worn out from the long chase. Careful not to jostle the young first evolution too much, Ash got up and started sprinting back to where he'd last seen the Safari Zone owner.
"Baoba! Baoba! I did it!"