AN: Hi guys! Welcome to the first story that I will be posting on this new account. Please note that all of these characters, except Ash, are my own creation. I hope that you enjoy and will see you at the bottom!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

Note: This chapter was revised and re-uploaded on 1/10/18


Chapter 1.


I stood from my seat, sighing.

"Dammit Ash..." I rolled my eyes, talking to myself. "Of course you're late. You've probably forgotten all about it, didn't you?" I stepped across the room, picking up the pale green backpack from my bed, pausing momentarily to check that I had everything I needed. "Right, Pokeballs, notepads and pens, sketchpads…" I trailed off, silently going down the list of things I had packed, checking for the third time in the last hour and a half that I'd been waiting that everything was in order. "I think that's it…" Absently, I scanned the room, then facepalmed when I noticed the pink phone sitting on my drawer, just beside the mirror. "Pokegear, of course!" Quickly making my way over to it, I grabbed the device, opening it to check everything was in order there too. The lock screen flared to life, and I smiled gently at the picture of the group of five that greeted me.

Standing at the back were two girls, both a few days older than ten, with an arm around each other's shoulder. On the left, the girl had shamrock green hair that was just at her shoulders, with the slightest bit of ruffling at the bottom, making it a little bushy, and bright blue eyes, like lakes. She had a small grin, and was giggling slightly at something. On the right, bright- almost neon- pink hair, curled slightly at the bottom in neat little waves just past her shoulder blades, and sky blue eyes were the most distinguishing features. Her smile was massive, though it wasn't clear what she was laughing at. Both of them were in travelling clothes, with the girl on the left wearing a blue-grey jacket and purple trousers, while the right was wearing bright yellow and orange in a way that didn't quite clash, but still hurt to look at. These two were my elder sisters; twins, in fact, although you wouldn't have thought so just by looking at them. The green haired girl was Bella, the younger one, while the pink haired, affront-to-common-sense outfit one was Amy, our eldest sister. Bella was the more sensible of the two, which you might have gathered from her choice of travelling clothes. Both clearly had a bag on, but it was mostly hidden by their stance. The only really visible details of these were the black straps poking out.

In front of them were three others. The girl in the centre had ice blue hair and red eyes, although from the picture, or a distance, you would be forgiven if you thought they were brown. Her hair was longer, reaching down to the lower part of her back, though you couldn't really tell that from the photo, since her hair was brought over her shoulder and reached just above her stomach. It was braided quite tightly, too, so that also made it seem shorter than it was, and was straight, but with a pointed tip at the bottom, which had clearly been cut that way. She looked to be about nine, though only by a few months, and seemed to be in the middle of an exasperated sigh, though she was smiling too. This was my cousin, Crystal. She was also quite a mature person, not being as active and playful as Amy was, but she was still happy to try and embarrass one of us in whatever way she could, not matter how long ago the event in question might have been.

On the left, standing next to Crystal and just in front of Bella, was the only boy in the group. He was quite short, a little smaller than Crystal was, with dark blond hair and green eyes, which were a little darker than Bella's hair, but seemed lighter than emerald green. His hair was short and messy, spiked up slightly at odd angles in places, though it looked like it had been forced down somewhat. He had a pout on his face, and had his arms folded with a slight frown. There was still a hint of a smile on his face, though, but it was clear that he was displeased with whatever had been said. This boy was Leo, my twin brother, when we were eight. He'd always been a bit more stoic than the rest of us, a bit more shielded, but still a cheerful boy all the same.

Finally, there was a girl on the right as well. She was the same height as Leo, maybe a little taller, with bright blonde- almost gold, but not quite- hair, and washed out, sea-foam green eyes, a strange colour that stood out quite nicely against the rest of her face. Her hair was straight, with no real waves in it at all, at odds to the rest of the group. Of all of them, she was both the most plain, and the most interesting. There was a little light in her eyes that made her different, more so than her looks against the pretty faces of the rest of her family. This was me, Alex. And yes, I'm this critical and flattering of myself often.

I grinned again, before checking the battery, as I had meant to do a few minutes ago, then turned it off and snapped in shut, holding the phone in my hand. As I turned away, a small certificate hanging on the wall caught my attention, and I looked at it.

'Alex Goldhart. Second place in the Juniors Rental Team Competition.'

I smiled gently at the award. A rental competition held in my hometown- the one from before I'd moved to Pallet Town- that we'd competed in. I'd been seven at the time, so it was a year before Bella and Amy had left on their journey, and me and my twin Leo had competed. Out of about a hundred people, all under ten- it was like a competition to get people used to commanding Pokemon, though my elder family hadn't wanted to join- Leo had come in the top twenty. If there was one thing I was better than my twin and cousin at, it was battling. Unless it was a Mr. Mime. Those things sucked.

In honesty, I might have been better than my entire family at battling, at least in most cases. I was pretty good at analysing the field on the fly, though I could take a few moments trying to prepare some sort of plan to actually fight. That was the main reason I'd done well in that tournament, honestly; I'd picked up a Haunter, Ninjask and Electrode, letting them move quickly around the battlefield and buying me some time to make a plan. I knew it wouldn't work very well in a real battle, since I wouldn't necessarily have the Pokemon to do it with, but it had clearly worked well enough then, so it was good enough for me.

"Damn, I'm getting sidetracked again." I sighed. "Need to stop doing that and get on with things." Moving back to my bag, I dropped the pink device into it, lifting it onto my bag and buckling slightly from the weight. "Damn, that's a little heavy. There's another thing I'll need to get used to as I travel." Glancing at the clock, I rolled my eyes. "And now it's ten o'clock. Of course Ash still hasn't shown up." Quickly leaving the room, I locked my door and walked down the stairs, heading towards the other furthest door from the front, painted a pale orange colour. Surprisingly it was a much more calming colour than you might think, being orange, but it was eye catching nonetheless. Opening the door and looking around, I took in the mostly empty room with a bit of sadness before calling out. "Spark! It's time to go, come on!" A little yellow blob bolted from the furthest end towards me, followed by a streak of pink-purple. A Pikachu stopped in front of my feet, looking up with a happy grin. A second later, a shiny Dratini curled up there as well, staring at me with sad eyes.

'Great!' Spark, the little Pikachu that was one of my partners, cheered. 'Ash is here on time?'

Oh, did I forget to mention that I understand Pokemon? Yeah, it's a family trait. All of us understand Pokemon without issue. I'd say why, but, well... there's a time and a place for everything, but not now.

"No, Spark." I giggled. "You already know that we can't rely on Ash to be on time to anything important."

'That's not true!' She protested, defending our friend. 'There was that one time when... wait, no, Ky went to get him then...' As she faded into mumbling, trying to find an example, Kydyur the shiny Dratini spoke up.

'Aaaalllleeexxxx?' She whined. 'Why can't I come?'

"I already told you why, Kydyur." I sighed, gently patting her head. "You're a shiny Dratini, one of the rarest Pokemon outside of Legendaries. If you come, we might get into trouble with people who want to steal Pokemon."

'Like those Team Rocket people?' Kydyur asked.

"Yes, like them." I picked her up with a small huff of effort. "I'd love to bring you with us, and I promise I'll come and pick you up at some point during the trip. But at least for the start, I'd like you to stay here where it's safe."

'But I'm powerful!' She protested. 'I can protect myself better than any of the others! No offence, Spark.'

'None taken.'

"I know, Ky. But I still don't want to bring you with me for a little while. Heck, the only reason I'm bringing Spark is because I know that there's only three Pokemon at the lab available, so I need a Pokemon. Otherwise I'd be starting completely fresh."

'...Fine. But you better come get me soon.' She huffed.

"Thanks sweetie." I patted her once more before putting her down. "Can you throw me Spark's Pokeball please?" As my purple snake slipped off, Spark climbed up to my shoulder.

'Why bother? I'm not going to use it anyway.'

"Just in case Spark. You know how it is." I gently smiled, patting her head. "Now, we'll go wake Ash up, and we should be able to get on the road by half ten." A ball bounced to a halt at my feet, and I crouched down to pick it up and clip it to my belt. "Ky, I promise I'm come get you soon. Cross my heart."

'Ok, I get it. You feel bad for not bringing me.' She huffed, halting at my feet with another Pokeball- her own. 'Let's just run over to Ash's and kick him out of bed.' My older Pokemon had a small bag around her neck, which she would use to carry her Pokeball on her own if I was busy. For now, it was going to be for Delia to use.

"Sounds like a plan to me." I nodded, taking the second ball and clipping it to the other side of my belt, taking the bag from around her neck and holding onto it in my free hand. "It's nice of Delia to take you in for a while."

'I much prefer her to Professor Oak,' Ky yawned slightly, sliding along right next to my heels as I walked out. 'He's a great guy and all, but a little weird sometimes.'

"I think all scientists are, to some extent." I responded, chuckling. "But yes, he can be a little strange." I locked the door behind us, and we walked along in silence for a while.

'So how much do you want to bet that Ash hasn't even woken up yet?' Spark joked.

"It's probably pretty likely, but we don't really need to guess. We're here now." I knocked gently on the door to my friend's house. A few things rattled from the back rooms- probably Delia baking again, since she did that a lot- before the door opened, and Delia Ketchum smiled down at me.

"Hello there Alex." She welcomed cheerfully. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm fine, thank you." I replied politely. "I'm just dropping in to get Ash and leave Kydyur with you." My friend's mom nodded, patting the small snake on the head.

"I'll be glad for the company. Hold on a moment, I'll go and get Ash. I think he's still packing." As Delia left the doorway and headed up the stairs, Spark blinked.

'Wait, Ash is actually up for once?' I chuckled.

"He's not always awful at getting up, he's just not very good at getting up on time for things." I reminded her. "Though I'm willing to beat he overslept this morning at least a little."

'Ten minutes.' Spark guessed.

'Twenty.' Countered Ky.

"Ok you two, knock it off." I paused. "Fifteen." The two Pokemon broke down into giggles, which they quickly stifled when Ash and Delia came back down the stairs.

"Hi Alex, sorry I'm late, I overslept a bit, I broke my alarm and woke up about a quarter an hour late." The black haired boy said quickly.

"Don't worry Ash." I laughed. "I'm sure we still have time. Anyway…" I looked back to Delia, giving her the Pokeball for Ky. "This is Ky's. She's got a little bag for it, and it can shrink down if you tap the centre button. She should be fine looking after it herself, but it's there in case you need to go somewhere and don't want her to draw too much attention, or to her out of the way for whatever reason."

"I'm sure she'll be fine." Delia gently took the ball from my hand along with the bag, touching the button to shrink it before putting it in Ky's bag. "Now, you three had better run off and get to Professor Oak's lab before all of the Pokemon are gone."

"Right. See you later, mom!" Ash waved, running full speed in the direction of the lab without a second thought.

"Ash, wait up!" I called after his retreating figure. "That boy, I swear… See you soon, Delia." I looked at Ky. "Don't cause trouble."

'I won't. Now, go enjoy your trip, and remember to come get me soon. And you won, by the way.'

"I know, and I will." I sprinted after Ash, giving a quick wave behind me to my friends. Pushing out a bit of extra speed, I caught up with Ash and tapped his shoulder. "Calm down. We're practically there, and there's no need to worry too much."

"I guess." He panted back, slowing slightly. I followed suit as he continued, "But I don't want to get there too late and find out that there's no Pokemon left, and that we need to wait another week."

"Hey, like I said when I stopped back before, a week's nothing. I've already waited two, so it's no big deal." I assured him with a smile. "And besides, I don't need a Pokemon, so I'm pretty sure the Professor is going to have at least one Pokemon there."

"Right." The other trainer to be blushed, slowing to a walk as the lab got into sight. "I'd sort of forgotten that you were starting with Spark."

'Wow, forgetting about me? I'm offended.' Spark gasped mockingly, putting a paw on her chest in feigned offence.

"Spark, behave." I told the Pokemon on my shoulder. Ash looked at me curiously, not understanding what she'd said, so I translated her words for him. He laughed.

"Sorry Spark, I didn't mean to offend you. I've just got a lot on my mind at the moment."

'It's ok, I don't really mind.' She waved him off with a smile.

"She doesn't mind." I repeated, before sneezing. "I have the strange feeling I'm going to be doing that a lot this trip."

"That's pretty likely, since you can understand Pokemon while I can't." Ash nodded, stopping in front of the door to Professor Oak's lab. "After you?" I smiled, pushing open the door and walking into the lab, the raven haired trainer following. The elderly Professor looked up as we did.

"Oh, Alex, Ash!" He smiled. "How are you two?"

"I'm alright, thank you." I replied politely. "Spark's all ready to go as well."

"Ah, good. Where might Kydyur be, though? I was under the impression that she stuck to you."

"She's going to be staying with Delia for the time being, at least for a little while." I explained. "She's a pretty powerful Pokemon for the start of a journey, so she's staying with Delia. I dropped her off when I went to meet with Ash."

"Hey Professor." Ash waved.

"Good morning Ash." He replied. "Well unfortunately, you are a little late, which means there's only one Pokemon left, Bulbasaur." Ash sighed quietly, and I knew he hadn't really wanted Bulbasaur. "I'll let you pick him up and let you meet him, then I'll register you as a trainer so the two of you can head off." As the Professor turned around to go to his desk, Ash caught my eye, a question clearly written there.

Can I just blow him off and wait a week?

I shook my head in response. I would have actually responded vocally, but Spark's ears pricked up and she tilted her head, tickling me and effectively gaining my attention.

"What's wrong?" I whispered.

'There's another Pikachu here…' She replied, just as quietly. I perked up.

Ash always did complain that Pikachu were so rare that he'd never get one, even though he wanted one… I thought. "Where?" A flash of yellow lit up the room next door, a startled shout echoing through it, and she sighed.

'There.' Spark jumped down from my shoulder and ran into the next room, wanting to see what had happened. Well, more why than what; it was pretty clear from the lightning what happened.

"What was that?" Ash asked, hand hovering over the Bulbasaur's Pokeball.

"According to Spark, there's another Pikachu here." I told him, following my starter.

"Think I've got a chance to get it?" Ash wondered, following me.

"Pikachu, what are you doing in here?" Oak scolded. "I've told you to stay out of the lab!"

'And I've told you to shut up and let me leave, but you don't listen to me, do you?' He replied snobbishly, sticking his nose in the air and turning away. 'Stupid old man.'

'Wow, you're a rude one.' Spark noted. 'There's no need to be a douche.'

'Who're you to judge?' He scowled back. 'Not like I want to be here, anyway. I just want to get back home.' He noticed the two of us in the background. 'Huh. More pathetic humans. Great.'

Now I was the irritated one. Though I disliked it, I could understand the Pikachu's rudeness if he wanted to go home, but to call myself and Ash pathetic humans?

Oh Arceus no.

Although…

"Hey, there's no need to be so rude." I scolded. "Ash isn't pathetic, and neither am I."

The Pikachu froze at that. 'You can speak?'

"Not speak, no," I shook my head. "But I can understand, and that's always been enough."

'Humph.' He snorted. 'Still useless.'

"Professor," I said, ignoring him. The little golden wheels of thought in my head were already turning, and I smirked mentally as they finally landed on a plan. "Why not give this Pikachu here to Ash as a starter?" Everyone looked at me, surprised, but a quick mental command to Spark, given through the look in my eye- she could read me well- told her to play along with my plan. "This Pikachu's been misbehaving for you because he wants to go home, but you've captured him before he could leave to do so. Give him to Ash, then we can get him back to his home when Ash has an actual team." Pikachu went to protest, but Spark went over to him.

'Just roll with it, why don't you?' She hissed. 'It'll get you out of here.'

'Fine.' He growled. 'If it'll get me out of here, I'll travel with the kid.'

"I suppose it's better than just releasing him. At least this way I know he'll get home alright…" The Professor nodded. "Alright, give me a moment." He went to the computer and started typing, no doubt adjusting Ash's trainer profile to show that his starter was Pikachu, before picking up a pair of Pokedex's and handing them over. "These Pokedex's will show you information on Pokemon you scan. Alex, I know you know a fair bit, so help Ash out. They also show that you're sponsored by me, and if you hand them to the Nurse Joy in Viridian she can register you for the Pokemon League using them." I nodded, Spark climbing back to my shoulder. "Ash," My dark haired companion looked up from his Pokedex. "This is the Pokeball for your Pikachu. I hope you can learn to get along, at least until he returns home." A shrunken ball was handed over, and Ash hastily put his Pokedex away to accept it.

"Thanks Professor." He replied, expanding the ball to normal size. He pointed it towards Pikachu, the red line shooting out to return him, but he dodged away, snarling.

'I'm not going in one of those things!' He barked. 'If I'm to travel with you, then I'm doing what she's doing!' He pointed up at Spark, causing both others in the room to look at me.

"He doesn't like Pokeballs, so he wants to travel like Spark does." I explained.

"That's fair." Ash nodded, clipping the now downsized ball to his belt. Crouching down, he held out his arm to Pikachu, who gave him an odd look. "You said you wanted to travel like Spark, so come on up."

He blinked. '…Thanks.' He nodded, running up his arm to his shoulder, balancing precariously on it.

'Be careful.' Spark said. 'It's difficult to balance if you aren't used to it.'

'I don't need advice.' Pikachu replied stubbornly. Spark opened her mouth to snap back, but I tapped her on the back of the head. Her tail hooked under my arm, preventing her from falling, and I snickered.

"Careful, little Sparkler. Now's not the time to rile your teammate up, is it?" She stuck her tongue out at me.

'Don't call me that.'

'Your name is Sparkler?' Pikachu asked, incredulous.

'No, it's Spark.' She denied. 'Sparkler is just the annoying nickname Alex came up with.'

"You liked it." I reminded her.

'Until you told Kydyur about it.' She returned. 'She wouldn't stop calling me that.'

'Kydyur?' Pikachu asked, seemingly despite himself.

'Alex's Dratini.' Spark answered him. 'She's staying with Ash's mom for most of the trip, but we'll probably pick her up later. She's nice, but… a little eccentric.'

"Just a bit, Spark?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

'Yes, actually. She's not all that bad, unless you really annoy her.' She glared at me. 'Still, I guess you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?'

"Quiet." I scolded, hiding a smile. "Come on Ash, let's get rolling."

"Sure." Ash replied, a jealous look on his face. Before I had time to wonder more about that, he'd turned away, heading for the door. "See you, Professor."

"Goodbye you two. Good luck on your adventure." He responded, going back to his computer.

Good luck indeed. I thought to myself, looking up longingly at the sky for a few moments. It took rather more willpower than I expected to suppress the urge to just fly off and leave everything behind for the clouds, at least for a while. I think I'll need it, if I'm honest with myself.


AN: Right, this is done.

During my little holiday from updating, I began to work on rewriting some of the chapters from this story. The very early chapters made me cringe, both at my poor writing and the length.

Pixie: None of us thought that the earliest chapters in this were all that good, so we banded together to fix them up a bit.

Trixie: Hopefully, by the end of the rewritten chapters, everyone will be much happier with what we've done.

SV: I've rewritten most of the story, to be honest. I really didn't like what I'd done for a lot of stuff, and endeavoured to change it, among working on my current three fics and a few new ones. I should stop overloading myself. Anyway, see you later!