Journeyman
Chapter 1: Kanto Beginnings
Slayer76: This is my first Pokémon story (on the internet) so I figure I should tell you exactly what you're in for if you choose to stick around. This will be an odd combination of the games, anime, and my original plot lines.
Don't expect updates every week, I have two other stories to write.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
In the small settlement of Pallet Town, the town of beginnings and endings, the first ray of morning sunlight filtered into a small child's bedroom. In that room, a boy was wide awake and methodically packing his bags for quite possibly the most important day of his extremely short life. Ash Ketchum was about to leave home and begin his journey as a Pokémon trainer.
But first, he needs to retrieve his starter Pokémon from Professor Oak's lab. Ash idly wonders if the professor will hand out Pokémon this year or will that job be delegated to one of his assistants.
He picks up his hat and sits it on top of his head, preparing to head out and take the first step towards his destiny. Ash can't fight the grin relentlessly tugging at his lips, this is the moment he's been waiting for for over 8 years. His stomach is tied in knots that would make the Gordian Knot look like the knot used to tie shoelaces.
Ash walks over to the steps and slides down the railing to the first floor. His mother, Delia Ketchum, is in the kitchen making breakfast for Ash and his Starter Pokémon. She knows that this is the last time she'll be able to do this. Her baby isn't expected to come back to Pallet for awhile. Even though she's known this day would come for longer than Ash has, she isn't ready to let him go.
Ash steps out of his house and takes a deep breath of Pallet Town's clean air. It has the cleanest air out of all the cities in the Kanto region. The fact that it's the least industrialized city in Kanto probably has absolutely nothing to do with it.
A Pidgey lands on Ash's shoulder before releasing a piercing trill and he realizes something that he forgot because of his own excitement. The bird migrations are happening soon. Most of the young Pidgey and Spearow are getting ready to fly away from Pallet Town in order to get stronger, and explore more than the forest between Pallet Town and Viridian city. At the same time, flocks of Adult Pidgeot and Fearow are returning in order to mate and lay their eggs. 1 of each will stay behind to look after their respective eggs and act as leaders for the new flocks.
Ash brushes down the ruffled feathers on top of the Pidgey's head. He can feel the Pidgey's excitement; he still isn't sure why he can briefly feel the feelings of Pokémon but he can. Pidgey has been ready to leave Pallet Town ever since he hatched. "It's almost time for you to go buddy."
Ash has known this Pidgey for 5 years, he was there when it hatched from its egg. He'll make sure he comes back to see it when it returns to Pallet Town as a Pidgeot.
Pidgey playfully nips at his hair before flying away. Ash smiles softly as he looks towards the sky to see Pidgey join his flock.
As soon as the flock goes further than he can see, Ash starts walking towards Professor Oak's lab. He's made this journey so many times that he can walk the entire route with his eyes closed. It's permanently etched into his memory.
The few shops in Pallet are just starting to open their doors for business. The doors aren't locked at night, this small town has a non-existent crime rate due to everybody knowing each other. It also helps that half the population is old people weary from traveling in their youth.
It isn't long before he arrives at his destination.
"Crap" Ash whispers as he turns around the corner and sees the crowd around the lab doors. He wanted to get here first. The further back in line you are, the more likely you are to get stuck with a worse Pokémon.
Last year, the guy at the back of the line had to start with a Pichu. Legends say that he never made it out of Viridian Forest. Ash doesn't believe that particular legend of course. He would have made it to Pewter City's gym leader before he hit a stone wall. Even then, he could loop around to cerulean, and beat that gym with careful planning. If he picked up a water type capable of walking on land in Cerulean, training it to beat Brock would have been easy to accomplish.
It doesn't matter what happened to him in the end. All that matters is that he never came back to Pallet Town and never became a well-known trainer.
Ash doesn't want to be that guy. At the end, he wants to be known across Kanto as a Pokémon master. Winning the conference is just step 1. After that he'll probably attempt to topple the Elite 4 and Lance then become Kanto's champion. And If Lance proves to be unbeatable at that point, it's time to travel around and find a way to reach the champion's level of power. But no matter what happens, he will become the champion of the Kanto region!
"Ash! Ash tree! Are you going to stand there pondering the universe, or are you going to get your Pokémon before I die of old age?" A familiar voice asks, snapping Ash out of his musings. Somehow he managed to ignore the crowd of kids vanishing 3 at a time.
Now Ash is standing in the middle of the street by himself.
"Professor Oak, you're actually here. Glad to see you're still able to get out of bed these days." Ash jokes as he walks towards the door. Professor Oak is surprisingly active for his age, he still does active field research.
Oak lets out a deep chuckle, "These old bones are still good for another 5 years or so. Hopefully Gary or Daisy will take this job before then. I want to enjoy retirement before they try to send me to a nursing home."
"Anyways, what's the odds of me getting a decent Pokémon. I already know all of the strong ones were taken." Ash questions as he looks around the barren lab.
"Not very good if you wanted to tackle Brock first," Oak shakes his head "The only one left is the Pikachu I caught because it was found nibbling on one of the wires outside and sucking out the electricity. It probably increased the electricity bill too. "
Ash sighs, "It's still wild. That makes the job way harder. Well I guess an adventure isn't fun if it's too easy."
"That's the spirit!" Oak says before releasing the Pikachu from its Pokéball.
Ash can feel the Pikachu's displeasure as soon as it rematerializes. It isn't happy with the new environment at all. Ash stares the Pikachu down as its cheeks start to spark with yellow electricity.
Flinching away is the worst mistake you can make when you encounter a wild Pokémon for the first time. As soon as you flinch, it will attack you. It probably won't try to kill you, that's not how most Pokémon act. Only dark types try going for the kill instantly.
Moments later, the sparks dissipate.
"Hello, my name is Ash. I'm your trainer from now on." Crouching down to eye level with the Pikachu, Ash stretches out his hand.
Smack
The Pikachu spun 180° and slapped his hand with its tail. Because of this, Ash notices that this is a male Pikachu.
"Well now that you have your Starter, let me go grab your Pokédex." Oak steps into the backroom of his lab. The Pokédex is a trainer's most valuable tool. It gives you info on every Pokémon in Kanto, it teaches you how to raise them too, and it also serves as a Trainer's ID.
"You don't like me" Ash states as he looks at his new Pokémon ( who still has his back turned towards Ash). This prompts Pikachu to vigorously shake his head side to side.
"Is it because I didn't battle you?" Ash has heard about this before. Pokémon tend to disobey Trainers that haven't earned their respect, which is typically done by battling them and catching them if you win.
Pikachu nods.
"So, if I use another Pokémon and beat you with that one, you'll help me?" Ash questions.
Pikachu reluctantly nods.
Ash smiles, this Pikachu is as good as beaten once he borrows Professor Oak's Ninetales.
The Pokémon Professor comes back into the room.
"Ah, here you go Ash." Oak says before depositing a red and blue Pokédex with a yellow stripe down the middle separating the other two colors. He's also holding a black belt that is designed to hold Pokéballs.
"Thanks. Hey Professor, can I borrow your Ninetales?" Ash asks, while gesturing towards the giant ball of golden-white fur in the corner. Ninetales is Professor Oak's oldest partner. That is, it's literally the oldest Pokémon that Professor Oak has. A healthy Ninetales can live for over a thousand years. If the good professor is telling the truth, this one is about 8 centuries old.
"She wouldn't say no, what do you need her for?" Oak responds. His Ninetales is quite fond of Ash, probably because he spent so much time at the lab and Corral as a kid and would give her leftovers from the previous night's dinner whenever he came.
"Pikachu says that he won't work with me unless I beat him in a battle." Ash replies as he walks up to her and starts petting her thick, glossy fur coat.
"I was afraid of that happening. It's a good thing you figured this out now, otherwise you'd have to figure out a different way to make this fellow work with you." Oak comments while looking at Pikachu, who's still refusing to face Ash.
"Wake up Ninetales, I need your help" Ash pleads while patting her on the head. Ash hears a rumble from the Fox Pokémon. It sounds like she's about to finally wake up!
Her 9 beautiful tails raise up…
PPPPPFFFFFTTTTTTTTTT
"Come on!" Ash exclaims while tightly pinching his nose. Ash would later swear that he heard Pikachu laughing behind his back.
Professor Oak's Ninetales finally decides to stand up and face Ash. When she does this Ash can feel the waves of displeasure rolling off of her. She really doesn't like being woke up.
"Can you help me? Pikachu is being stubborn." Ash asks while pointing at the yellow rodent. Intentionally triggering her maternal instincts.
After all, stubborn children must be punished.
The Fox's red eyes start to glow maliciously and she trots over to the mouse, wraps it up with 2 of its 9 tails, and runs to a new room before it can put up a fight. This room leads to the entrance of the place where Trainers keep their extra Pokémon.
As soon as they exit the lab, Ninetales tosses Pikachu into the air and spits out blue fire.
5 minutes pass before a plume of smoke enters the lab, which is followed by Pikachu stumbling out of the room while waving a white flag. His fur is singed and caked with dirt, but he doesn't look hurt too bad.
"Will you help me now?" Ash smirks while tapping his foot against the white tiles on the floor.
"Pika" Pikachu groans before nodding.
"Good, now get in the ball." Ash points at the Pokéball, getting a firm refusal from the Pikachu. He picks up Pikachu's Pokéball and clips it to his belt, "Fine, get on my shoulders."
Pikachu leaps up on to Ash's shoulders and they start walking towards the exit. This action is prevented from being completed by an orb of blue light appearing in the doorway. Once the light dissipates, it's revealed to be an Alakazam with blue glowing eyes and an egg case, covered in blue energy, floating behind it. Ash notices that it's also wearing a green and white hat on its head.
"Delivery for Professor Oak!"
The psychic intrusion forces Ash to hold his head. It feels like it's screaming directly into his brain!
"Ah. I was wondering when this egg would arrive." Professor Oak replies as he grabs the egg out of the air.
As soon as Oak has a firm grip on the egg, Alakazam teleports away.
"So, what's with the egg? Ash asks, his curiosity clear in his voice.
" For the past 3 months, Professor Elm has been researching Pokémon in an attempt to figure out why some Pokémon come out a completely different color than the rest of their sisters and brothers. This led to him having an abundance of eggs in his Lab, that haven't hatched yet. He already has quite a few specimens to study, so the extra eggs are being shipped off to other Pokémon Professors for them to keep." Professor Oak explains
"So what are you going to do with your egg?" Ash inquires.
"Give it to you." Oak replies before pushing the eggs case into Ash's arms.
"Why?" Ash asks, while repositioning his body to accommodate the extra weight.
"I study the relationship between humans and Pokémon, now I have the perfect opportunity to observe how baby Pokémon attach themselves to their Trainer and the other Pokémon in the group." Professor Oak replies before ushering him out the door "You're already late, your mother is waiting for you."
"He's so adorable!" Delia squeals while tugging on Pikachu's cheek. He was swiped off of Ash's shoulder as soon as he stepped through the door.
Meanwhile, Ash is sitting on the other side of the table stuffing his face with food in an attempt to hide the smirk on his face. The Aura of embarrassment emanating from Pikachu is music for his soul.
After gulping down an entire glass of "Orange Juice!: The Champion's Drink of choice," Ash grabs his bag, his egg, kisses his mother goodbye and rescues his partner.
"Let's go, Pikachu!" Ash shouts as he bursts out of the house.