Ash and Pikachu stood on the outskirts of Pallet Town, staring down at the town in silence: it had been nearly 2 months since everything went down in Sinnoh with the traitors - in that time Ash had pondered night and day on what he could do now: he had finished his mission and got his revenge, but what was next for him? That was the question Ash didn't have an answer for - until last week when the answer hit him. He had been looking over the badges he had collected over the year, when it hit him - A lot of his badges had been given to him, or he had won out of luck instead of skill - so then and there he made his decision.
Turning to look at Pikachu with determination in his eyes, Ash smirked slightly, "This time we will do it right - we will earn every badge the right way, and show the world what were capable of - right buddy?" Pikachu nodded at Ash with the same determination burning in his black eyes. Ash smiled and slowly began walking towards the small town, flipping his hood up to conceal his face - just in case his mother sore him: after their last encounter, Ash wasn't in any mood to deal with Delia.
As Ash slowly approached the town, he thought back to his absent traveling companions: it made him sad when they couldn't join him on his new journey - but they all had their reasons. A.J wanted to return to the Gym he built and make it an official gym by the Pokemon League standards - Richie had decided he wanted to explore either Hoenn or Sinnoh, since they were places he had only briefly been in thanks to Ash. Maddison said she had to return to Unova - saying she had unfinished business to settle back at home, whilst Jason and Natalie wanted to return to their family's in Vermillion City - but promised that when Ash got there they would travel with him.
Walking down the empty streets, Ash smiled to himself, "Guess no-one is awake yet huh buddy?" He asked Pikachu, who nodded, looking around at the empty streets around them - ir was barley dawn, so it was no wonder the streets were empty and the town was silent. Ash didn't mind - in fact he thanked Arceus that it was so early, the earlier the better, it meant he had less of a chance of someone recognising him. Quickly making his way to the lab, Ash knocked on the door, smiling at the professor as he opened the door, "Ash! What a pleasant surprise to see you!" Oak exclaimed, smiling at Ash and Pikachu, stepping out the way and allowing them to enter the building.
Closing the door as Ash walked in, Oak followed the boy into the living room, taking a seat with his legs crossed as he looked at the boy, his hands clasped together on his lap, "So my boy, what brings you here?" Ash smiled, moving his hood down as he started explaining, "Well you see professor - for the past couple months I've been kinda stuck about what to do next, after serving justice to those criminals I had no idea what I wanted to do next," Ash started, making the professor nod in understanding, "Until I was looking through all my old badges and realised something - a lot of the badges I have were either given to me, or I won them out of pure dumb luck, that's when it hit me - I needed to go back through the regions and earn my badges properly"
Professor Oak hummed in acknowledgement as Ash continued, "Our of all the regions, Kanto was the one I earned the least amount of badges - I only really earned 3 of my badges, and the others were either given to me for doing something else or for some other reason - not from me earning them properly - so I decided, Pikachu and my other pokemon as well, that if I was going to redo any region first it should be this one" Ash finished, leaning back against the chair he sat in, Pikachu jumping to sit his lap - making him raise a hand and scratch the yellow mouse's ear gently.
Oak nodded as Ash finished, uncrossing his legs with a smile, "That sounds like a fine plan my boy, but I have to wonder why you have come to me instead of starting your journey right away?" Ash smiled at the professor's question, "That's because I needed to talk to you about something - ever since I got that pokedex from you, I have only been able to fight with 6 of my pokemon at a time - meaning I can't train them all together like I sue to - so I was wondering if there is anyway i can take all my pokemon with me, but also be able to train them all?" Ash asked, thinking back to how, other than his 6 pokemon team, his poke'balls would shrink and turn a grey colour - not enlarging when Ash pressed the buttons, which proved to be a dilemma for the boy.
"I didn't bring it up last time because i was preoccupied with finding the others, but now that I'm planning to travel once more, i'd like to be able to train all my pokemon together again..." The raven haired boy trailed off, him and Pikachu blinking in bewilderment when Oak suddenly snapped his fingers and ran to his desk, rummaging through his draws before pulling out an object and shouting, "Aha! Found it!"
Oak sat back down as Ash and Pikachu arched their brow's at the square shaped box in his hands, making Oak smile, "This is my newest creation - it is essentially a portable storage system for trainers poke'balls: each can carry 50 poke'balls at any one time, which can allow a trainer to keep their pokemon on them at all time 0 but that's not all my boy - this device as a special mechanic that allows the trainer to enlarge the poke'balls and battle with the pokemon, regardless if they have more than 6 with them,"
Ash and Pikachu's eyes widened at Oak's explanation, looking at the box with excitement, "However -" Oak continued, making the two blink and look away from the box and back at Oak, "During gym battles and trainer battles, a trainer can still only use the max of 6 pokemon" Ash blinked but nodded in understanding as Oak held the small box out to him, "I usually wouldn't give this out to a trainer - but you have more than proven that you can be trusted to follow that rule, as well as being capable of handling more than 6 pokemon at a time"
Ash took the box with wide eyes, an equally wide smile spreading across his face as he clutched the box, "Wow professor...this is incredible, thank you so much..." He thanked the professor, who waved him of whilst pulling out a few more of the same boxes, "I have a feeling you may catch more pokemon whilst you travel, so take these with you as well - Just in case" Ash took the two identical boxes with a wide smile, placing them into his bag before standing up and hugging the professor, who blinked but smiled and hugged the boy back, "Thank you professor..."
Patting Ash's back with a soft chuckle, Oak pulled back and placed a hand on the boys shoulder, the two now walking to the door, "Don't mention it my boy - now get going, I know you eager to start your journey once more, I can see it in your eyes" Oak urged the boy, smirking when Ash when to object but blushed and grumbled, stepping out the door with a smile. Turning to look at the elderly professor, Ash smiled and tipped his hat to him, "See yah later" He told the man, before turning and walking down the steps - Pikachu running behind him and jumping to his shoulder as he quickly walked through the twon, once again standing on the outskirts:
"Watch out Kanto, Ash Ketchum is back"