Chapter 1

All was silent in the cozy town of Pallet, the moon was shining high and brightly in the sky, the pale luminescent glow contrasted greatly against the midnight blue star filled backdrop. It was a warm crisp night and there was not even a hint of a cloud in the sky, such a peaceful quiet, that not even the nocturnal Pokémon made much of a sound as they went about their nightly business. But even though on the outside all seemed well in Pallet Town, on the inside of one particular house, a ten year-old boy was twisting and turning restlessly in his bed, unable to sleep due to his excitement. Tomorrow was the day, the official day that he, Ryan Summers would become a Pokémon Trainer. Becoming a Pokémon Trainer was practically every 10 year-old's dream! It's like a rite of passage, from a kid into adulthood. Once you got your Pokémon, you were officially ready to hit the road and start your journey and no one could stop you, not even your parents! "Tomorrow is gonna be my day. I'll show Mom and I'll become a real strong trainer. Heck, I'll become so strong, that I'll be able to beat Dad and Jelly with my eyes closed!"

"You won't get a chance to beat your Father or Jelly, let alone make it out this house tomorrow if you don't go to sleep Ryan!" Said brunette winced slightly at his mother's harsh shouting and then smiled before peering out the window located beside his bed, his gaze swept briefly over the quiet fields of Pallet Town, before they reached the giant turbine that connected to the laboratory that doubled as a home for the infamous Professor Oak "I wonder which Pokémon to choose. . . maybe something feisty, like Charmander or quick like Squirtle! But then again, Bulbasaur's are pretty well rounded in terms of personality, the last thing I need is a starter Pokémon who won't listen or tries to attack me..." briefly his thoughts were plagued by images of a snickering and menacing looking Jelly before he shuddered and brushed those thoughts away "or maybe I'll get lucky like that one kid and get something cool, like a Pikachu! I hear he's doing pretty good, I think his name was Ash Ketchup or something." Shrugging unsurely to himself Ryan continued to gaze outside, until a twinkle in the sky caught his interest, something dark and fast shot by and had he blinked Ryan would've missed it.

His blue eyes widened and he released an amazed gasp "Whoa! A shooting star! I'll make a wish!" Closing his eyes and bowing his head, Ryan wished on the star, he wished that his journey would be filled with all types of action, adventures and wonders and he wished that he would make it far during the league and people would recognize what an awesome trainer he would soon be. Grinning Ryan opened his eyes and then sighed "well, I better get to bed. I hope my wish come true!" With that said 10 year old Ryan Summers crawled back under his Pikachu printed covers and drifted into a dreamless sleep, unaware of the life changing events that would soon unfold, not thanks to his wish but thanks to a little entity known as plot, I mean fate.

The next morning for Ryan was a fairly pleasant, if not exhilarating. His excitement was barely contained as he rushed through his daily morning ritual, having woken up about 10 minutes earlier than his set time. Ryan was raring and ready to go, he dressed simply in a comfortable long-sleeved red hooded shirt with a graphic black Pokéball emblem etched on the middle of his chest and a pair of blue jeans. He slipped on his socks and blue and white running shoes before reaching up and tightening the knot of the blue and white Pokéball dotted bandana around his forehead to keep annoying stray hairs out of his face while shrugging on his blue backpack.

"Okay mom, I'm ready! How do I look?"

Exiting from the kitchen of their two story home, a beautiful brown haired green eyed woman appeared, dressed in an orange shirt and some slacks, apron tied at her waist and wooden spoon in hand, her eyes ran appreciatively over her son's form "You look great dear! Just as handsome as your father when we were young." A wistful smile broke out on her face as she recalled the days of her youth "and boy was he handsome!" Ryan made a face at his mother "eww mom, do you have to use that kind of tone?" She grinned in response and moved forward, grabbing the boy in a hug, ruffling his brown locks "silly boy, when you get my age you'll be using that tone around your children too as you think about how cute your wife was, but I suggest you get out this house and get to Professor Oak's lab before your late son."

"Mom, quit messing up my hair!" Ryan pulled away from his giggling mother, fixing his already messy hair and kissed her briefly on the cheek before leaving the house "I'll promise to call when I can! Bye mom!" The trip to Professor Oak's lab was short and uneventful, mostly due to the fact that Ryan practically ran all the way there. He paused at the door of his lab to catch his breath and then knocked once before entering, he slowly pushed the door open and peered inside "Hello. Hellooo. Anyone here?" Blinking, Ryan glanced around the lab until he spotted three Pokéballs situated on the large container for the starters "Oh cool!" Excitedly, Ryan walked over to the Pokéball holder and studied the three balls, beneath them was the labels for which Pokémon was housed in each ball, from left to right, they were Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander respectively. He stared at the ball curiously before gently poking the one that had Charmander inside it "Hmm, I wonder if I'm the first one here..." mumbling this aloud to himself, Ryan wasn't actually expecting someone to answer "Yes, you are actually. Isn't that great, you get first pick at these three great starters!"

Startled, Ryan moved away from the Pokéballs and whirled around to meet the grinning faces of Professor Oak and his assistant Tracey Sketchit. "Uh… Hi Professor" grinning sheepishly, he waved at the two and Oak smiled "Hello, you must be Ryan, correct?"

"Yes sir, I'm here to get my Pokémon and start my very own journey!"

"I see. Do you have an idea on which starter you'd like to choose?"

"Well…" Ryan rubbed his arm as he mulled over the question "kinda... I think." Professor Oak's smile just widened before he walked over to the containment unit for the Pokéballs "well then, perhaps a small sample can help you decide" tapping the release button on each of the balls, the three infamous starters of Kanto appeared from their Pokéballs and glanced up in unison at Ryan, who smiled back slightly.

"Squirtle, Charmander, Bulbasaur." The trio turned their heads towards Professor Oak as he addressed them "This is Ryan and he's going to be taking one of you along with him to start his Pokémon journey." The trio shared a glance before two of them made a face at Ryan. Charmander was full of disbelief, Squirtle had a look practically similar to Charmanders and Bulbasaur just stared, cocking its head to the side curiously at the boy "Bulbasaur..."

"What's with those faces?" Ryan frowned sourly at the stares that he was given, before he stood at his full height and rubbed the bridge of his nose cockily "I'll be an awesome trainer one day and two of you are gonna be real sorry that you didn't wanna join me!" Charmander shrugged and Squirtle scoffed, brushing his comments off as though they were nothing, Ryan grit his teeth in annoyance, eyes glaring at the two nonchalant Pokémon "why you little…"

"Bulba! Bulbasaur!" Before Ryan could finish his sentence, Bulbasaur nudged his leg; blinking Ryan glanced down at the green Pokémon, whom in return smiled back up at him "Bulbasaur!" Professor Oak chuckled and recalled Squirtle and Charmander "I believe Bulbasaur wants to go with you Ryan."

"Eh? You wanna come with me Bulbasaur?"

"Bulba."

"Well, you do seem a lot more nicer than Charmander and Squirtle" He gave the seed Pokémon a toothy grin "Bulbasaur" the grass type returned the grin and Oak strode forward, handing Ryan Bulbasaurs Pokéball, along with five shrunken ones and a dark blue Pokédex, Ryan quickly pocketed both items and grinned at the Professor "Thanks a lot Professor Oak! C'mon Bulbasaur, let's get going!"

"Bulbasaur!" The grass starter quickly ran after its new trainer, following the boy down the lab's steps and straight towards the outskirts of Pallet Town, both completely unaware of the event that would soon change their lives, for either the better, or the worse.

x-X-x

All was nice quiet on Route 1, but that was soon about to change. Ryan and Bulbasaur walked casually down the route, the silence shared between them comforting and pleasant, but as the old saying goes, silence is meant to be broken. By the growling of one Ryan Summers empty stomach "Oh yeah, I skipped out on breakfast this morning because I was so anxious hehe," chuckling sheepishly to himself Ryan paused and shrugged off his back pack, digging through the bag until he found what he was searching for "haha success!" Ryan pulled out a medium sized bento that was filled with a small variety of foods and grinned, but his eyes were on one certain prize.

"Thank you mommy!" Reaching into the bag, he pulled out half a sandwich, it was a crustless beauty filled with lettuce and tomato, with a nice amount of mayo smeared on both slices of bread, while in the middle of it all was his mom's infamous Tonkatsu, pork cutlet, this piece of meat was something Ryan would die for and it's by far one of his favorite foods "Mm, I can't wait to take a bite outta this, it looks so yummy!"

Rubbing his stomach, Ryan was getting ready to chow down on the sandwich, but his gaze fell to Bulbasaur, who was staring up at him with a look akin to a hungry kitten "ah. . . " feeling guilty and somewhat embarrassed the boy scratched at his cheek briefly before lowering himself to the ground, sitting Indian style and placing his bag slightly behind him. Ryan then ripped the half in half and held the piece out to Bulbasaur, who summoned his vines and grabbed at it, sniffing the food cautiously before taking a small bite out of the corner, Bulbasaur chewed for a few moments before swallowing and Ryan had watched this all with a curious stare "well..." he looked expectantly at Bulbasaur "what do you think?"

"Bulbasaur." Bulbasaur nodded in approval and then took another bite, this one larger than before, out of its sandwich. Ryan grinned at this and followed suit, taking a large bite out of his own half "my mom makes some of the best tonkatsu around! If its one thing mom can do, it's make a mean meal, I think she packed me some leftovers and stuff, so we should have enough food to last us a few days."

With that said, Ryan stuffed the last bit of his sandwich into his mouth and swallowed it with a satisfied smile, he glanced at Bulbasaur who had also just finished its slice as well, smiling slightly Ryan blindly reached into his bag, to grab the other half of the sandwich so they could share it, but for some reason he seemed to be gripping nothing but air. Whirling around, he peered past his bag and noticed that his bento was flipped over and some of its contents were spilled onto the ground, while the rest trailed off into the bushes. Ryan's eyes widened as he eyed his now destroyed lunch and dinner, he turned back around and looked to his starter, whom was completely oblivious.

"Hey. . . Bulbasaur?"

"Bulba?"

"I think we just got robbed."

Bulbasaur just blinked slowly and tilted its head in confusion "Saur?"

"BulbaBulbaSaur!"

"Ow! Ow! Ouch! Cut that out! I said I was sorry and that I was gonna get the food back! Now stop hitting me!" Bulbasaur muttered to itself before stopping its assault on Ryan with Vine Whip, after the boy had told it someone had snatched the remainder of their food, the hungry Pokémon took its irritation out on the only available pummeling source, Ryan. Rubbing his stinging arms, where Bulbasaur had whacked him, he could feel the harsh whips despite the slight thickness of his shirt, Ryan pouted slightly at Bulbasaur "Bulbasaur. . ." the walking bulb grumbled low in its throat at the thought of having their food stolen.

Ryan laughed nervously at the glare his Bulbasaur was giving him "Don't worry Bulbasaur, I'll get the food back, promise!" He motioned for Bulbasaur to follow him and lead the seed Pokémon through the bushes that were behind them. They were following the trail of food that was left behind, with Bulbasaur stopping every now and then to eat whatever had fallen to the ground and didn't get too dirty, much to Ryan's chagrin, the boy wasn't as bold as his four legged companion, plus there was that whole five second rule, but considering that the path was littered with dirt and grass that people walked along daily, he'd rather just let Bulbasaur eat it, at least the Pokémon couldn't get sick or die from it.

"See, tolja we'd find em'! Look at the crumbs, they lead right to that no good food thief." Ryan grinned and stopped in front of the bushes that the thief was behind and then he crouched down in front of Bulbasaur, motioning for the seed Pokémon to not make a sound, he pulled back the bushes and opened his mouth, ready to yell at the person for stealing their food, but then he froze at the last second upon gazing at what had stolen their goods.

It was a Rattata, there was nothing special or even interesting about it, it just looked like a regular Rattata, with purple colored fur and a cream belly and cream paws, short whiskers, indicating it was female, large red eyes and big white teeth and a purple tail that curled near the tip. The only thing that stuck out the most on this nondescript rodent, was the bruises on its face, as it looked like it had been through hell and back, large chucks of dirt caked the mouse's rumpled fur, turning it into a dingy purple and there were a few noticeable cuts and some nasty looking bite marks as well as well, as though it had been struggling in a fight or something. The rattata was currently gnawing away greedily at one of the sandwiches his mother had packed for him, unaware that he and Bulbasaur were watching, and it wasn't until she finished off the last bit of the sandwich that Rattata noticed Ryan and Bulbasaur peering curiously at her.

Stiffening, she whirled around and bared her fangs at the duo, backing away slowly from the boy and his companion "Hey… easy girl, we're not gonna hurt you. Right Bulbasaur?" Ryan raised his hands in a defensive gesture and Bulbasaur nodded "Bulbasaur." The rattata narrowed her eyes and backed away some more, tail standing erect while her eyes cautiously and fearfully darted between the two before taking off towards some bushes to the right of it. Ryan and Bulbasaur shared a confused glance before shrugging and gathering what little food they could, that wasn't half eaten or damaged or littered in Route 1 germs "well, that was really weird" Bulbasaur nodded in agreement before Ryan shrugged "Oh well, let's get going Bulbasaur, we've got a long walk ahead of us if we're gonna make it to Viridian City before the afternoon."

"Bulbasaur!"

"But I wonder, what happened to that Rattata..."

A/N: Greetings readers! I'm Yashi and this right here is a rewrite of my previous story entitled The Next Journey. I'm rewriting the story, because, the previous one I believe was horrible, not well planned out and too rushed for my liking, but hopefully this rewrite will make up for it, as I'm going to pace myself this time and not rush into everything. After all good writing takes time, patience and proper planning right? Right. Well this story will not only follow the overly used cliche journey to be a Pokémon Master fanfic's on this site, I love journey fics, their some of my favorite! But it will also make continuous references and call backs to everyone's favorite pair Ash and Pikachu and the TR Trio.

This is set, while Ash is off in another region, the current region, being Isshu at the moment. So our protagonist is going to be dealing with the results of starting a journey after Ash Ketchum and dealing with the problems he might or might not have left behind, along with his own problems, because when you're semi important in the Pokémon Universe, bad and or unlucky things are sure to happen to you, even if you don't want it to. Will Ash and the protagonist ever meet? If I can help it, no and they'll probably never see each other, but Ryan might run into a Pokémon Ash has released or left for training, but that's about it. Romance? Yeah it'll be here, but this is more focused on his friendship and bonds with his Pokémon, you'll see. I also might make some sequels, mentally, I have it all planned up to Hoenn and parts of Sinnoh, not sure how many chapters I want for each region, but for now, lets see if I can make it to Jhoto. Anyway, I hope all you reader's will enjoy this reboot!

Edits made on 2/2/11: Fixed up some grammatical issues and changed a bit of the conversation with his mother and Professor Oak's dialogue, and I made a slight change to Ryan's clothing.